The Spider Brothers
PenPatronus
Chapter Four
Spider-Man Powers

The witch's sons dragged Peters One and Three out onto the restaurant floor and dumped them in front of their mother. Peter Two lay on his side half under a table, like he'd been kicked away. Fresh fury erupted in Peter One's chest. Peter Two looked white as a cloud. Blood dripped from his bandage and from a cut in his throat. His eyes were closed. He looked…

The witch was speaking, but Peter One didn't hear a word. All his focus was on Peter Two. One narrowed his eyes, aimed his ears, desperate to sense any proof that his brother was alive. Back in the meat locker, Two had sensed that Three was alive, nearby, and in pain. Now One tried that trick – put all his effort into sensing his brother. He didn't hear the heartbeat. At least, not with his ears. He didn't see it, smell it, touch it, taste it… He felt it with a sixth sense – something connected to his tingle. The heartbeat landed on his heart like a honeybee onto a flower petal. Peter One knew then – Peter Two was still alive.

"…might do the same thing if I was in your shoes," Peter Three was saying when One returned his attention to the witch. "I'd give anything to see her… But I wouldn't TAKE anything. I'd never take a life."

"Then maybe you don't love her as much as I love him," the witch declared, "because I'm willing to TAKE."

Peter Three shook his head. "Don't do this. It's not good for your soul."

The witch dragged a jagged blade across Peter Three's chin. "You're just saying that because you don't want to die."

"I don't care if I die," Peter Three whispered, and everyone in the room could tell he spoke the truth. "I don't want THEM to die." He looked at Peter Two, and then at Peter One, and One was blindsided by the intensity in his eyes. "Please… Do whatever you want with me, but let them—"

Peter Three froze so suddenly, and went so still, that Peter One briefly wondered if he'd had a stroke. Three then looked past the witch to where Peter Two lay on the floor. Two's eyes were open. Peter One watched, as confused as the witch and her sons, as Peters Two and Three stared at each other without blinking. Nearly half a minute passed, and then the witch smacked Peter Three across the face. "Look at me," she said. "Understand that your sacrifice might reunite a husband and wife, and a father and his sons. You're about to die, but you'll die for a noble purpose. I sincerely hope you take comfort in that."

The sapphire witch raised the knife above Peter Three's heart. Peter One tried to rush forward, but his exhaustion and the son holding his left arm kept him stuck. All he could do was watch.

Watch as webs erupted from Peter Two's wrist.

The webs snatched the knife out of the witch's hand, and it landed in Peter Two's palm.

Lightning-fast, Peter Two threw the knife at Peter One who – with nothing but instinct – completed the triangle by throwing the knife to Peter Three.

Three rose higher on his knees, swung the knife upwards toward the witch…

…and slashed it right through the sapphire cuff around the witch's wrist.

Instantly, the cuffs around Peter One's wrist, Peter Two's wrist, and Peter Three's wrist fell off and disintegrated into a million glittery pieces of sapphire.

Peter One felt like someone stabbed his heart with a syringe full of adrenaline. He was on his feet before he even told himself to get on his feet. Full strength, full speed exploded out of him. Webs flew over his head, wrapped around the sons' guns and then swung them through the large, newspaper-covered window. Peters Two and Three were up, too, and together, the threesome started fighting.

One and Three knocked the sons aside while Two webbed up the witch as fast as he could. With her fingers glued to her side, the witch couldn't aim her magic, so tendrils and sparks shot uselessly down into the hardwood floor. The three spider men surrounded her – Two still spitting webs until she was cocooned up to her nostrils. She toppled over on to her back and Peters One, Two, and Three stood above her, out of breath but triumphant.

Three sidestepped One and embraced Two. "Dude!" Peter Three shouted. "I totally heard you in my head that was – That was insane! How did you do that? Could you hear me sending my thoughts back?"

"Wait, wait, wait – You two communicated by thought?" Peter One exclaimed. "When you were looking at each other – that's what was happening?"

Peter Two braced his hands against his knees. He was gasping and sweating more than the others. "I couldn't hear you," he told Three, "but – I don't know, it just occurred to me that maybe I could send a thought you. It was just… Instinct! I saw the cuff around her wrist," Two said, explaining for One's sake, "and I told Peter that I would snatch the knife away, get it to him, and he could slice it off her!"

"Why couldn't I hear anyone's thoughts or send any thoughts?" Peter One all but whined. "What, are my senses just not mature enough yet?"

"Kid," Peter Two said fondly, "you caught and threw that knife instinctively. Maybe your senses are so good that you don't even need to hear a thought."

Below them, the sapphire witch squirmed and shrieked under the webs.

"Thanks for saving me, dudes," Peter Three said. He held his long arms wide open. "Bring it in, boys, bring it in." The three Peters hugged tight.

And then they immediately separated and took fighting stances, because all three of them felt the tingle of danger.

Beneath them, the hardwood floor started to tremble, earthquake-like. Aimless, source-less wind started whipping around them. Candles fell off their perches and caught rugs, curtains, and the old wallpaper on fire. The boys' jaws dropped as one when the witch's three identical sons emerged from behind the cash register. They lined up side by side, shoulder to shoulder, shoe to shoe. Their eyes glowed blue.

"They're wizards," Peter Two concluded.

"Yep," said One and Three.

"We, uh, didn't know they were wizards."

"Nope."

The three sons aimed their hands at the three brothers. Blue energy built up in their hands. "That one," the three men said with one voice. They pointed their hands directly at Peter Three, and launched their spell like a missile.

Three things happened in less than a second:

Peter Three shut his eyes – prepared to meet his fate.

Peter Two stepped in front of Peter Three to block the spell with his own body.

And Peter One stepped in front of Peter Two…

The spell hit Peter One in the chest and launched all three spider men backward through the half-broken front window of the burning restaurant. They landed in the middle of the street in the middle of the night in a dogpile. Peter Three did his best to gently untangle himself from his brothers, cradling their heads as he eased them onto their backs. "Oh god, no," Three gasped when he took a close look at them. Peter Two was dead still, unconscious, white as a sheet. Peter One was unconscious but his body was vibrating like it was getting electrocuted, and smoke rose from where the spell burned a hole in his shirt.

The sound of more shattering glass drew Peter Three's attention. He looked up in time to see the witch and three wizards burst out of the glass front door of the burning restaurant. All their eyes glowed a furious blue. They marched toward him. Peter Three squeezed Two's still hand, and One's trembling hand. "I got this, guys," Three told them, voice trembling. "Y-You just wait here, all right? All right." Peter Three stood up on wobbly feet, and then collapsed back down again. He tried a second time with the same result. "Or maybe I'll just sit here with you…"

The witch and wizards raised their hands. Peter Three held his brothers' hands and used the only defense he had left: a ferocious glare.

And then a hand landed on his left shoulder.

Peter Three looked up to see a beautiful woman in jeans, a red t-shirt, and a long coat smiling down at him warmly. "It's ok, Peter," she said, "we'll take it from here." And she held her hand up, summoned scarlet energy, and blocked the blue spells.

"Whoa, dude," Peter Three breathed. He sensed movement on his right, and looked up to see Dr. Strange. On his other side stood a man with one metal arm, a woman with wings on her back, a shorter dude in red and white armor, and a broad-shouldered guy aiming a bow and arrow. Peter Three looked to his left and saw three people approaching him and his brothers. A blonde woman wearing a metal suit rushed to Peter One's side, held his chin, and called his name, voice full of desperation. A tall man wearing red goggles hefted Peter Two onto his feet, threw him over his shoulder, and raced toward the next intersection – an intersection where a large jet had landed. Finally, an older, nervous-looking man with glasses and curly hair knelt in front of Peter and offered a hand and a smile.

Peter Three took that hand. "You're the Avengers."

The man nodded. "I'm Bruce," he said. "Let's get you out of here, Peter."

To Be Continued