THE MOMENT
Joseph was in the dark. He woke up tied to a chair and heard movement as soon as he was conscious.
"Oh good, you're awake; this little show can start now," an almost friendly voice said. The only light in the space came from a set of four camera monitors ahead of him. He had a thick metal collar preventing him from looking too much in either direction and could only stare forward. Other than the faint light, the rest of the room was pitch black and he had no idea where he was, nor how large the space was. A young woman, maybe in her late 20s, walked closer to where Joseph could see her. She was short with a purple fauxhawk and a long black leather duster. As far as threatening supervillains went she was more of a common, edgy street punk than the usual walls of muscle that often gave Joseph trouble. She wouldn't stand a chance.
"This was really stupid of you..," he chuckled. "You shouldn't have done this because," as if on cue, a loud crash was heard in the distance, and Joseph smiled as all the security cameras suddenly turned to static. Joseph's wife, Georgia, was the planner in their marriage; he usually preferred to fly by the seat of his pants. But, it was funny to him. Even she couldn't have planned that moment better. "... my wife is here now."
"Your wife?" his captor asked the question with a smile in her voice, then she knelt down in front of his chair. "You mean, The Glass Spider herself has come to rescue you the way she always comes to rescue you?"
"You planned this?" Joseph looked down and laughed harder at that. "You're stupider than I thought!" No one understood his wife's powers really, even if they knew her superhero persona. People tended to think she was just another spider-themed hero. They assumed wall-crawling was the extent of it, and her 'glass webbing' was the gimmick that made her dangerous. But, her true power was stronger and somewhat creepier. Even he had trouble coming to terms with it at first.
His wife, Georgia Glass, could summon spiders from within herself. She never fully explained it and he never wanted to know more. Georgia could summon spiders, massive swarms, and control them completely.
"I didn't plan anything, I'm just a hired hand," his captor shrugged. "But...," she smiled and held both her palms out to him. "...I think I'll be okay;I do have a way with spiders after all," she said. As she finished the statement, a dozen tiny white spiders crawled out of her empty palm, exactly the same way Georgia could do it. He'd even seen those white spiders before and he realized that was probably what was keeping him tied up. The small white ones had incredibly strong webbing. He was suddenly less sure about his wife's safety. But it was too late.
"I really wish you'd stop looking for trouble...," a new, familiar voice spoke up.
"Sorry dear!" Joseph did actually regret it that time. Ever since Georgia became 'The Glass Spider', he'd been extra reckless. It was honestly entertaining watching her take down a squad of Super thugs to save him. He enjoyed seeing bullies get their due.
"Have you out in a sec," she said at the same moment he felt tickling legs crawling all over his hands. Meanwhile, his captor stood upright again and turned to face Georgia as she approached. Despite the darkness, Joseph could see the reflective outline of 'The Glass Spider's' costume catching the snowy static from the monitors as she came closer.
"He can go, it's you I'm after," the woman with the fauxhawk said.
"Then, come and get me!" Georgia replied as an orange glow radiated out from her feet. Joseph watched with impressed awe as he realized they were flaming spiders. A whole swarm of ignited spiders rushed across the floor toward his captor almost like a lava flow. The villain in the black coat laughed and shook her head.
"I've had time to set up; I've already got you," she said. The woman snapped her fingers and light filled the room. It was as big as an airplane hanger with three giant pitch-black spiders already approaching Georgia. Each one was bigger than a minivan.
"NO!" Georgia leaped up and launched a web to get to the roof, but her webline didn't stick to anything. Joseph had to lean back to look up and the ceiling was covered with smaller, shinier black spiders. He'd never seen them before, but it was obviously the reason why Georgia didn't get anywhere and landed back on the floor in time to be attacked.
"GEORGIA!" Joseph felt his wrist bindings break and hopped to his feet to get to his wife; but, his feet were still bound and he landed face first on the ground.
"I said you could leave, you should," the woman told him. "You can't save her...,"
Even as she spoke he heard his wife scream. He frantically tried to roll his body around to get a look at her because he couldn't lift his head and needed to be lying sideways to see her. Her screaming stopped by the time he found an angle that worked and all he could see was fragments of her costume and lots and lots of red.
"Georgia! GEORGIA!!!!" he wriggled himself closer to the body while the giant spiders seemed to be done with their job, they all turned and walked toward the woman in black.
"Well, that's done," the woman said. His neck brace sprung open and the webbing on his legs dissolved. Joseph got up to run the rest of the way to his wife; but, there was almost nothing left except a wedding ring and some unidentifiable matter. "I'd say see you around; but, I kind of doubt it," she giggled.
"I'll hunt you down!" Joseph turned to yell at the woman. He realized he couldn't do anything then and there as he watched the giant spiders seemingly crawl into her black jacket from behind and disappear.
"You can try, I'm not even from this Earth," she waved at him as her jacket disintegrated into a swarm of black spiders to envelop her. The spiders took her to a different universe where she found Georgia waiting.
"Poor guy...," she shook her head as she sat down next to Georgia. "I get that you wanted to fake your own death; but, did it have to be so traumatizing? That felt kind of crappy to him."
"It needed to be," Georgia nodded. "Joseph's a nice guy; but, he's kind of dense sometimes. It was important for him to see it. And.. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit bitter," she shrugged.
"Once I became a Superhero, he thought he was untouchable and he went out of his way to find trouble so I could save him. If he thought I was still alive, he might keep doing it expecting me to come to his rescue even if we got divorced or separated. It'd be more dangerous for him,” she shrugged. “I know him, and he won't feel that bad for too long. And, now that I'm with the Court of Spiders again, I'm never going back to that Earth anyway.”