For 30+ Advance/Early chapters :p
atreon.com/ScoldeyJod
The descent into the subway was a plunge into a different world. The air grew thick and heavy, charged with the smell of ozone and the unsettling, low-frequency hum that seemed to vibrate in their very bones. The only light came from the erratic, blue-white sparks that danced along the damp walls and the flickering, strobing emergency lights that cast long, distorted shadows.
Spider-Man moved with a silent, arachnid grace, clinging to the ceiling as he navigated the treacherous stairwell. His lenses automatically adjusted to the low light, filtering the chaotic flashes into a clear, tactical view. Every one of his senses was on high alert. The constant crackle of electricity, the scent of burning metal, the deep, resonant hum—it was a symphony of wrongness, and his danger sense was a constant, high-pitched alarm at the base of his skull.
Wonder Woman, in stark contrast, walked down the center of the stairs. She moved with a calm, deliberate purpose, a beacon of serene power in the heart of the chaos. The arcing electricity seemed to shy away from her, bending around her as if repelled by her divine presence. She did not need enhanced senses to know this place was a violation; she could feel it as a deep, discordant note in the song of the world.
"This is definitely not in the MTA's quarterly maintenance report," Spider-Man quipped, his voice a tinny, amplified whisper from above. The humor was a thin shield, a familiar coping mechanism against the palpable dread that saturated the air.
"This is not the work of mortals," Wonder Woman stated, her voice a low, steady anchor in the flickering darkness. Her gaze was fixed on the platform below.
They reached the station level. It was a scene of controlled pandemonium. An abandoned train sat on the tracks, its windows dark, its doors agape. Sparks danced along the third rail like malevolent sprites. The humming was louder here, a physical pressure that made their teeth ache. A section of the tiled ceiling had collapsed, scattering debris across the platform.
Suddenly, another tremor shook the station. A massive chunk of concrete and steel rebar detached from the ceiling directly above them. Spider-Man's danger sense screamed, but before he could even fire a web, Wonder Woman was in motion. She didn't dodge. She stepped forward, raising her arm, and deflected the multi-ton slab with her vambrace. It struck the indestructible metal with a deafening clang and was sent careening into the side of the train, which groaned under the impact.
Spider-Man dropped to the platform, landing in a low crouch beside her. "Nice block," he said, genuinely impressed. "You play any sports?"
She ignored the joke, her gaze fixed on the far end of the tunnel, where the humming was loudest and the light flashes were most intense. "The anomaly is that way. Its energy is destabilizing the structure of the tunnel."
"Right. Destabilizing things. Fun," he muttered, following her gaze. "Let's go tell it to knock it off."
They moved down the tracks, their path illuminated by the chaotic light show ahead. As they got closer, the air grew colder, and the humming intensified into a roar that consumed all other sound. They rounded a final bend in the tunnel and stopped, the sight before them stealing the breath from their lungs.
It was not a machine. It was not a person. It was a wound in the air itself.
A shimmering, unstable tear in the fabric of reality hung suspended between the tracks. It was roughly the size of a city bus, shaped like a shard of fractured glass, and it pulsed with a sickly, violet light. Tendrils of raw, untamed energy lashed out from it like whips, striking the walls and tracks, carving molten-hot gouges into the stone and steel. The rift was pulling debris into its center, which vanished with a silent, hungry finality, while simultaneously spewing waves of chaotic energy.
"Okay," Spider-Man said, his suit's sensors going haywire. The readings were nonsensical, a chaotic jumble of exotic particles and dimensional shearing. "That is new. And by new, I mean terrifyingly, existentially new."
"It is a rift," Wonder Woman said, her voice a grim whisper. "A tear between worlds. It is bleeding."
"Bleeding energy, and I don't think it's going to stop until it rips this whole block apart," he analyzed, his mind racing. "We can't just punch it. That would be like trying to punch a hurricane."
"A wound must be closed," she stated, her warrior's instincts taking over. She took a step forward, her hands glowing with a faint, golden light.
"Whoa, hang on, Xena!" he yelped, shooting a web to grab her arm gently. "If you just pour raw power into that thing, you might just make it bigger. It's unstable. Like a chemical reaction without a catalyst. We need to stabilize it before we can seal it."
She looked at the web on her arm, then back at him, her expression shifting from raw determination to thoughtful analysis. She recognized the logic in his caution. "Explain."
"Think of it like a dislocated joint," he said, the scientific metaphor coming naturally. "You can't just jam it back in. You need to apply steady, equal pressure to guide it back into the socket. That thing is pulling and pushing at the same time. If we can apply an equal, opposite force to its outer edges, we might be able to stabilize the event horizon. Pinch it shut, basically."
Wonder Woman looked at the pulsing, violent rift, then back at him, her mind processing his theory. "My power could provide the necessary force."
"Exactly," he said, his own plan forming with a manic, adrenaline-fueled clarity. "But your power is a broadsword. We need a scalpel. If you just blast it, the energy will be too diffuse. But... my webs are non-conductive. A near-perfect insulator. I can spin a containment net around the opening, a sort of... focusing lens. I can create a webbed 'socket' around the joint."
"And I will provide the force to set it," she finished, a look of profound understanding in her eyes. She saw the symbiosis of the plan. His intellect and precision, her raw, overwhelming power. A perfect union of their strengths.
"It's going to be tricky," he warned. "I'll have to get close. And once the net is in place, you'll have to channel your energy through it, perfectly evenly. Too much on one side, and the whole thing could collapse."
"I will not fail," she said, the words a simple, unshakable statement of fact.
They looked at each other, a silent pact forged in the roaring, violet chaos. They were no longer just two heroes who happened to be at the same place. They were a team with a single, desperate purpose.
"Alright," Spider-Man said, taking a deep, calming breath. "I'll start spinning. You get ready to work your magic." He turned to face the rift. "On my mark."
Wonder Woman nodded, planting her feet firmly. She brought her vambraces together with a resonant clang, and a wave of pure, golden energy washed over her, a calm, steady light against the violent, chaotic storm of the rift. The battle for the heart of the city was about to begin.
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