#he doesn't use them often bc 1) they're exhausting and b) they're kinda fucked up

[waitineedaname]

per @raythecomputerart‘s request, here’s that Dirk snippet! I shat this out in 45 minutes back when I was first figuring out Dirk’s powers, so pardon the roughness. Also, I have no idea who Arachne is, she’s just a random spider lady lol

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I’m contacting the others right now. Help is on the way, just keep yourself alive until-

Dirk’s head smashed into the wall, and Hal’s message disappeared along with every other display on his helmet. Dirk gritted his teeth and bit back a shout of pain. Arachne laughed, and he glared at her through the completely shattered portion of his helmet.

“You know, you’re only making this harder for yourself.” She said, sitting back on four of her legs. “You have to realize I’m just toying with you at this point. Mother always said not to play with my food, but it’s so fun when you fight back.” 

Dirk didn’t answer her, too busy running through his limited options. His sword had been knocked across the room when she threw him, but it wasn’t worth it to try and dash past her to get it; that would give Arachne the chance to attack him again, and his blade had yet to actually inflict damage on her. With his suit battered and out of commission, any other weapon was inaccessible, and he couldn’t use Hal on any tricks. 

 “You’re prolonging the inevitable, Amour. Just give up! It’s not like you have anything to fight back with, anyway.” Arachne said, as if reading his thoughts. She narrowed all eight eyes and smiled cruelly. “I promise I’ll make it a quick death.”

The horrible realization that he might die slid through him like an ice pick in his skull. That this might be his last day on earth, that he could be wiped out of existence and never be able to repair things with Jake, never be able tell Dave how proud he was of him, never feel another one of Roxy’s hugs or hear Jane’s laughter. 

Death was entirely unacceptable.

Something thrummed deep in his chest, and he stood up.

“You just don’t know when to stop, huh?” Arachne laughed.

“Not one of my skills, no.” He said, outstretching his hands. He could see his own dark brown skin between the cracks in his broken armor, and his left thumb looked like it wasn’t in the right place. That was going to hurt like a bitch when the adrenaline wore off.

“Now what are you doing? You’re just full of surprises.” She said, full of the smug amusement of someone who’d never been at the receiving end of a beatdown. Dirk took a deep breath.

The energy that had been coiling in his core, pulsing in time to his own heartbeat, suddenly snapped out like a whip. There was a split second where fear flashed across Arachne’s face for the first time, and then he felt that energy from deep in his soul wrap around Arachne’s. 

“What are you doing?” She repeated, voice now shrill with panic. Dirk’s fingers were glowing, he realized. He curled them into a fist and pulled. 

The scream Arachne let out was horrible and bloodcurdling as it echoed off of every wall. Dirk almost thought he was seeing double; there was Arachne’s body, arching in pain, and just a few feet in front of her was a perfect outline of her in glowing light, the two forms connected with blurring lines between them. Dirk was shaking, but he pushed past it, continuing to pull and pull. The distance between the Arachnes grew, the bonds attempting to keep them together stretching out until-

They snapped, and Arachne’s body crumpled. Arachne’s soul hung in the air, still trapped in Dirk’s grasp. Her scream continued to bounce around in his eardrums, a long, piercing note, and he was beginning to get nauseous. He held her there for a moment, then pulled his hands in opposite directions, watching as her soul shattered into nothingness. The silence was sudden.

His knees buckled beneath him and he only had a moment to register Roxy bursting through the door and Rose’s shouts just behind her before he finally passed out on the floor.