“Dad, the Superstate prognosticators, mom made a mistake! Alexa is innocent! You have to help me! They are wrong to sentence my friend for one hundred thousand years!”

“Son, you worry far too much. It’s much less than that in real life and she won’t remember all of the years anyway. The stasis will help her become a better person. It’s perfectly safe. Not a single person died in it. She’ll be perfectly fine and back to you in no time at all and you’ll hang out and go to the arcade.”

“Dad, just listen. I’m awake and… I don’t want to be a hero anymore.”

“Nonsense! You’ve been signed up for a spot in the academy since you were born. Our family is generations upon generations of heroes. You’re just having a rebellious phase; I knew it would come to this sooner or later. This is perfectly normal, hormones and whatnot. Why, I remember when I was a teenager and I...”

His dad wasn’t listening. Martin turned around and walked out of the living room.

[Spiderbro? Are you still there?] He thought to himself.

[Yes, boss. Always.]

[I haven’t heard much from you. I was beginning to get worried.]

[Ah yes. The trip to my homeworld had stripped off a lot of my individuality and I became a mere song in the background of your mind, entirely synched to your own thoughts. Not a good time, I would say. 0/5 stars.]

[Are you channeling Alexa? I miss her.]

[I am well aware that you do. You do not stop thinking about her.]

[Can we reach her in stasis?] Martin thought with a bit of hope.

[No. Her body along with Tickles has been suspended somehow while her mind has been digitized to experience life a million times faster than normal. I do not believe that she will survive this experience. As I understand from her letter, there is a secret organization out there that controls the Superstate. From what she wrote I deduce that they will attempt to attack her while she is in stasis.]

[Thanks for being positive.] Martin frowned.

[She will likely not remember you when she emerges from the simulation. She will either become an entirely new person or a mindless puppet for us to wield. Perhaps you should have made a backup of her personality if you care about her so much.]

[Well it’s too late for that, damn it!]

[I find that hanging out with her is detrimental to our continuous survival. She seems to draw danger to herself on purpose as means of using said danger to manipulate and influence others. It would be far beneficial for us if she became a vegetable while in stasis. Also, consider eating more vegetables while we are on this subject. There is not enough variety in your diet. You need to grow big and strong for my continuous reprodu…]

Martin muted Spiderbro. These thoughts of vegetables and making more brain spiders weren’t putting him in a good mood. The current amount of spiders under his control was already making him feel like some sort of a hive mind and not a human being. Power held a lot of influence over people, Martin knew. Ember did not start out as the butcher of humanity. Her ability of killing people and unkilling them, making copies of herself and ending them had made her lose all empathy.

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[Are you thinking of me? Please stop. Let me lament in peace,] Ember mind texted from her room.

[You can’t hang out in your room forever, Em.]

[It’s called depression, Martin,] Ember responded, sending a whole slew of negative feelings his way.

Martin instinctively reached out for Cottie as his shield.

[I’m not your shield, Martin.] Cottie seemed frustrated. Regardless of what she said, she immediately sent Martin a bunch of serene memories. [I’ve done whatever I can through the Equalizer order, but it doesn’t seem to be enough. The Superstate isn’t buckling. I’m about to consider the final option.]

[Final option?]

[Becoming an outlaw. Killing supers until they free her. There is already someone who deserves it.]

[You would do that for her?] Martin and Ember thought in unison.

[She had shown me the world for what it is. Full of liars and monsters. There is a monster out there which we must end. Mr. Canard. It’s his fault that she was taken. His testimony doomed her.]

[Great. Now we have an unstable Equalizer on our hands who doesn’t believe in following the orders of Equality,] Ember commented.

[Enough!] Cottie snapped. [If we are to share mental communion, ex-hero, then we WILL work as a team, so help me! I’ve had enough of listening to your useless moping! It’s incredibly distracting! Let me in please. NOW!]

Martin blinked. He felt that Cottie was standing outside of their house. He rushed to the front door, letting her in. She looked extremely disheveled, like she hadn’t slept or rested at all. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was askew with frustration.

[You…] Martin looked at the exhausted-looking Equalizer.

[I don’t give a damn what I look like! There’s no point to being presentable! There are no gods above me!] She shot back.

[Oh wow, an angry Equalizer. This is new,] Ember drawled from her room.

Cottie slid past Martin, rushing upstairs, gray cloak fluttering. Martin was impressed how quickly she could move in her armor.

A carbon fiber steel boot shot up in the air, armor clinking at the knee. Then the boot came down upon the door of Ember’s room.

“EEeeeeeek!” Ember yelped as her door flew off its hinges with a bang, door lock shattering right through the frame with splinters ricocheting all over.

Cottie marched into the room, grabbed Ember by her red hair and began to drag her out of her blanket fort, revealing that the ex-hero was wearing a set of pink pajamas that were now far too large for her.

“Help me, she’s crazy!” Ember cried.

Martin idly noted that her pajamas featured kittens playing with strawberries on them.

[I’ve had enough of your endless self pity!] Cottie shook Ember. [I’ve had enough of enduring your pointless suffering. Same thing over and over and over whether you’re asleep or awake! Snap out of it!]

“Eeeeee!” Ember squealed indignantly. A hand slapped her face leaving an imprint. Martin retreated from the anger of the Equalizer.

Ember blinked, her eyes filled with tears. She was about to yell for dad to help her. Cottie spun around and kicked at the window lock, flinging the double window open. Ember opened her mouth and then a blinding nuclear explosion entered into her mind. A city burned, ashes rained from the sky. A girl grabbed a metal straw and flung herself into the bathtub.

Cottie’s hands wrapped around Ember as she was momentarily blinded, confused by the brute-forced memory. She lifted the ex-hero, pijamas and all and flung her out of the window.

“EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEee!” Ember screamed and she flew down from the second floor onto the immaculate lawn.

[What the shit?!] Martin reasserted control, vanishing the vision of the burning city out of his head.

[Both of you are sitting around moping, while there’s still a self-replicating monster from the future out there, may I remind you?! Yes, I know everything! I’ve been sorting through your recent memories!] Cottie shouted in his head. [As I cannot shut off the connection to your mind, I am forced to disrupt your state of being with physical force. Out you go!]

She grabbed Martin and flung him right out of the window right after Ember.