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Miguel crouched on the rooftop; rain and anger sizzling off his nanotech suit, scanning. Miles. The Spot, Canon, anomalies, collapse. He would stop it. He was going to clean up this whole shocking mess even if took the rest of his miserable shocking life.
He would save this world, this reality. He would save them.
He would protect them.
He would protect her.
That’s why he sent her home. To protect her. She needed to be protected from…...him.
Miles or you, burro?
Miguel shoved that thought away and focused on the data scrolling in front of his eyes. Ben wasn’t answering his comms and neither was Jess. He didn’t have a Spidey-Sense but he knew something was already wrong. A riot of color and music erupted behind him. He barely had to flick his eye to the suit's new readout to know what was happening.
Hobie and the now solved mystery of the stolen gateway parts.
God, even the screech of his dimensional tunneler sounded disdainful of authority. Miguel sighed and rose. Readying himself for Hobie’s lecture or attack. But Hobie wasn’t the spider-punk standing there smirking at him.
Gwen Stacy was.
The blonde teenager cocked her head and smiled at him.
“I’m putting my own band together. Wanna join?”
She got a growl for her answer, that beautiful gap-toothed grin wasn’t getting her out of trouble this time! Not this shocking time.
“You didn’t listen to me.” She shrugged.
“Come on Boss Man, how often do I actually listen? 60% of the time? Gotta be a high of 75%. You can’t be that surprised.”
“You’re going home.” He advanced on her.
“Nope.” She didn’t move or assume a battle stance. The arrogant little mocosa. She would have to learn a lesson today. His mask flickered away; she wasn’t wearing hers. Fine, she would look into his eyes and he would look into hers.
“Gwen Stacy, you’re going back to Earth-65 even I have to throw you on my shoulder and carry you there.”
“Put a pin in that ‘throw me over your shoulder’ idea for later but going home? Not happening. I’m going to save my friend, I’m going to save his father, I’m going stop the Spot and save the multiverse. And you’re going to help me.”
Nina arrogante obstinado! How could she still not understand? Miguel roared in frustration.
“TRILLIONS WILL DIE. IT IS OUR DUTY TO STOP THAT. NO MATTER WHAT THE COST. IF YOU CAN’T MAKE THAT CALL THEN I WILL.”
He leapt at her, she was tough but he would finish this quickly and get back to work. He would stop Miles, stop the villain. This world would be safe. The people wouldn’t die in horror because he failed, because he was selfish. It wouldn’t happen again, the Gabi of this world would grow up. Safe and happy. He would make that happen even if he had to something terrible to this little girl that had built a web in his heart.
Spider-Man 2099 flipped and came down on Spider-Woman like a falling meteor. The rooftop cracked under the force of his landing and fists that could shatter concrete shot forward and……stopped.
He was standing over her, looking into her blue eyes and panting. One fist on either side of her head. Talons that could rend steel hovering a millimeter away from her skin. Gwen didn’t shoot webs at him, nor did she kick or punch him. She didn’t back flip or pirouette away but she still stopped him with one move.
Gwen’s hand had come up and she placed it, palm-first, over his heart. Halting his attack without breathing hard. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Sorry boss but it’s time for feelings. I know! I know! Both of us would rather fight three Sinister Six variants at the same time with no web-fluid then talk about our fucking feelings but....it’s also hero-time so we both need to suck it up.”
She took a deep breath and thumped on his chest.
“I need you to listen to your heart. My father quit his job, he’s not captain Stacy anymore. Miles in on Earth-42 because the Go-Home machine scanned his spider-DNA and sent him there, not here. That world is still standing despite not having a Spider-Man. Listen to me, listen to me, we can change Canon.”
Miguel started to protest but she thumped his chest again.
“Nope, keep those fangs together. You’re Spider-Man. Not because of that spider-juice you shoot up with, not because you can make the hard calls or because you’re brave enough to face down psychos in animal-motifs. You’re Spider-Man because you always knew what Miles said was true. Every of one us does.”
“Anything is possible.”
Her other hand wrapped around the first two fingers of his left hand and squeezed.
“Now, look into that heart that I know is as big as the rest of you. Look past the fear, the guilt, the regret, the sadness, how much you want to protect everyone and yeah; that includes how much you want to protect me and look. I just told you what’s gonna happen. What does your heart say?”
Red eyes stared down at blue ones for a long moment. Then he knew, it was illogical, impossible and went against all available data.
Gwen Stacy was going to save them all.
His talons retracted and instead of punching her, his large hand cupped her cheek. Gwen leaned her head into his touch.
“Alright Mija, you win.” Her grin made him feel like a hero again.
“I always do with you.” Miguel rolled his eyes.
“Not every time.” She began listing his wrongness.
“Earth-1987 when I wanted to try Dutch-Chinese food. Earth-34D3 when I wanted to go ice-skating with you. Every time you went, ‘No Gwen! We can’t do this again!’ and oh! Right now, right here. You just agreed to join my band.”
He grumbled and put his hands on his hips.
“I can’t play any instruments and you know how bad I sing.” Gwen tapped her chin with one dainty finger.
“True, I have been subjected to your shower ballads. Mmmmi, I’ve got it!” She snapped her fingers and pointed at him.
“But every band needs a manager!” He raised an eyebrow.
“Manager?”
“Yeah! Every band needs someone, not necessarily in charge per se, but a fuddy-duddy who makes sure all the instruments are packed, the hotels are booked, we’re all on the bus at the right time and we all had dinner before the show! You know, a nerd with a hard-on for organization! Sound like anyone you know?”
Miguel frowned.
“Gwen, did you not eat dinner before you started this mission? I’ve told you a million times that our enhanced metabolisms require a sufficient number of calories to perform at optimum levels.”
She smirked and yanked his head down while going up on her tip-toes. She kissed him deeply and his hands fell to their customary positions on her hips. She traced his fangs with her tongue before drawing back with an exasperated expression.
“I just had to pick the one Spider-Man in the entire multiverse with no sense of humor, didn’t I?”
Gwen danced out his hands and activated Hobie’s watch. The space in front of them exploded and she put her mask back on and yelled out as she jumped.
“Come on Miguel! Let’s go save…...everything!”
His mask flashed into his face and he followed her.
He followed his heart.