Chapter Text
“NOOO!!!” The Spot screamed.
Miles’s lungs burned. There was too much smog in the air from all the fires. Despite all the help he was getting from spider society and Gwen’s Spider-band, his city was still set ablaze. But at least…
But at least, his Dad was saved.
High above, on the Empire state building, pinned beneath the Spot, Miles looked down to see Miguel holding his Father and a boy in his arms. Miguel was looking up towards Miles. There was no way Miguel could probably see him, but he sent Miguel a nod of appreciation anyways.
“You and your meddling spiders!!!” the Spot spit. “You know what! There’s still time to rectify this.”
A portal was quick to open behind Miguel and his father. It zipped in their direction. Miles’s heart skipped a beat. Where would it go? What was the Spot planning? All of Miles’s panic was made pointless as Miguel back flipped over the portal with ease. Before Miguel even landed, he opened up his own portal and disappeared with a bright red glow.
“What?!? Where did he go?” the Spot growled.
“Somewhere you can’t hurt them,” Miles’s huffed between horse breaths. His father was in good hands. Now to deal with this villain of the week. He just had to hold him off till Hobie and Margo finished the machine.
“You know what! Sure, maybe your Dad is safe right now, but your little girlfriend is still running around out here,” the Spot cackled.
Without skipping a beat, Miles’s face turned dead serious. Spot picked up Miles by the back of his neck. Miles fought desperately against the Spot’s grip, but his punches and kicks kept getting absorbed into a portal. Another portal opened above them. The darkness swallowed them whole.
They reappeared high above central park. Spider society had been working hard evacuating people from the city. But with many of the roads blocked, some had started gathering nearby people here, away from all the burning buildings. People below screamed at the sight of the Spot floating above. Spot paid them no mind. No, his attention was spent sweeping his gaze across the nearby Spider-heroes. They in turn looked back at the Spot with panicked eyes. The more senior heroes swung toward Miles trying to help, but the Spot simply portalled them away with ease. “No not here,” the Spot grumbled.
“Please, she has nothing to do with this. This should be a fight between us,” Miles weakly pleaded.
“She was one of those original spiders, wasn’t she? The ones that got transported here that first time. I knew she looked familiar. When I think about it, she is just as liable as you are,” Spot said darkly.
They continue to blip across the city. The Spot dead set on his quest to find Gwen. For what felt like the longest five minutes of his life, Miles tried to think of something. Reasoning with the Spot would be futile. The time for talking had long passed. Miles would have radioed Gwen, but his radio had long been broken by Spot. Fighting back was a waste of energy. Something Miles was in desperate need of regaining. God, the last time he felt this helpless was when he was watching his Peter die.
Spot stopped in the center of the Vessel. A huge honeycomb like structure that stood 16 stories high. The artsy structure was empty of people. Something that didn’t surprise Miles. The Spot threw Miles into the ground, cracking the concrete with the hit. “Gah! I swear I saw her earlier!” the Spot cried.
Even though his body was throbbing in pain, a bit of relief washed over him. Did Gwen by some chance know to hide? Miles knew she had a strong spider-sense, but this would be on another level.
A black and white figure flashed between the many golden floors. No… Please don’t be her…
The Spot was too busy looking down at Miles’s pained face to notice the figure growing closer. They were holding something in their hands, it wasn’t until they zipped into the Vessel that Miles died a little inside.
Emerging from behind, Gwen yelled, “Let this be a sign to you Spot,” as she swung a stop sign at him. The hit sent him flying two stories high. Gwen slid in, standing protectively over Miles. “Did I ever tell you I played softball for a bit as a kid?” Gwen winked.
As Gwen helped Miles up, he ordered, “Gwen you need to go. Spot failed to kill my Dad. Now he’s out to kill you.”
Gwen shook her head. “I’ve had a lot of people swear to high heaven and above that they will kill me. Spot is not the first and he certainly won’t be the last. I won’t abandon you,” Gwen said firmly looking into Miles’s eyes. “Now come on. Look alive. Margo and Hobie are almost done.” Gwen turned to the Spot, her stance in defiance of Spot’s mayhem.
In the past two days, Gwen had done a lot to prove herself worthy of his trust again. She had formed a group loyal to him and his cause. Sacrificed her own safety time and time again to make sure Miles could get home. Now she was here risking her life to help save Miles and his family. At the start of the day, he didn’t know how he felt about Gwen. But now, there was no one else he’d rather have by his side.
Miles took to Gwen’s side and turned his gaze to Spot. Spot was clutching his head as he pulled himself up shakily. “We overwhelm him. He can’t make a portal if he doesn’t have time to think,” Miles opened.
Gwen nodded. The two of them shot lines and swung off in different directions. They were relentless. The many openings in the structure made it easy to zip in and out of the Spot’s view. It was almost too easy. They caught him off guard many a times with a flying kick or punch. Miles could see the Spot grow more frustrated with every hit.
After being sent flying down a flight of stairs, Spot’s holes detached from his body, hovering just inches off his pale skin. Gwen and Mile paused their assault unsure. “Oh, how cute of you two,” the Spot said in a plastic voice. “Working so hard to take me down. A real power couple. Why don’t we level the playing field?”
The Spot’s hole spun off his skin, creating a tornado of portals in and out of the Vessel. It was madness. Portals zipped and whizzed by inches from them as they retreated to somewhere out of view. By the looks of it, getting sucked into one of these unstable portals could easily be a death sentence. Miles watched loose papers get sucked in and shredded out another.
Safely hidden high above, the duo looked to each other. Miles could see Gwen was a bit unsure at the situation they found themselves in. Her gaze turned to the tornado, trying to figure out if there was a pattern to the movement of the portals. He reached out and held her shoulder, feeling her relax under his grip. Gwen looked to Miles again. Wordlessly, they both nodded to each other. A silent agreement to go on a little longer.
Graceful as always, Gwen dodged and ducked around portals like she was in an arial act. As she kept the Spot distracted, Miles, on the other hand, focused on landing solid hits to keep the Spot reeling. He couldn’t get close but Miles would break off bits of the granite railing and send it flying at the Spot.
After one hit to the stomach knocked the air from Spot’s lungs, Spot screamed, “ENOUGH! YOU ARE NOTHING!!!” The tornado of portals dissolved away. “You fight so hard for a doom relationship. You know that?”
Standing high above on a stairway, Miles just shook his head. “We determine our own fate! Nothing is written in concrete,” Miles argued back tired of this conversation.
“You’re a fool to think an interdimensional relationship will lead to anything other than tragedy. You two are messing with forces you know nothing about. You and your kin will never know peace,” the Spot said ominously.
Below Gwen challenged, “What do you know? You predicted you were going to kill Miles’s Dad, but you failed. I’d hardly call any of your other predictions accurate.”
“I am practically the god of space and time! Since you seem so convinced I’m wrong, why don’t I show you.” In the Spot’s hands a black almost orb shaped object took form. Dark energy flaked off unstably.
That looked really bad.
Their spider-sense blared like a clocktower bell. The orb grew rapidly. Gwen tried to turn away but was swiftly caught. The darkness looked to be absorbing her. She looked back at Miles, eyes wide with panic as she reached out for him. Without thought, Miles jumped towards her, reaching to pull her out. Just as he was about to grab Gwen’s hand it was sucked in. Without thought, Miles dove into the orb after her.
-o-0-o-
Miles opened his eyes to find himself in a strange smoky room. The place didn’t look like anything he had ever seen before. The building had a techno, ancient Greece look. Advance computers and technology line the marble structures. Miles’s mind scrambled to remember what he was supposed to be doing. His head felt so fuzzy. Memories of fighting with the Spot bubbled up first, but a nagging sense in the back of his head told him that was wrong. They had defeated the Spot almost a decade ago.
No, Miles was here on a retrieval mission. They had stolen his infant daughter. He and the spider-band were leading an infiltration mission to get her back, but everything was going wrong. Noir was dead. The others weren’t far from it. And his wife? Wait, Gwen was his wife? Miles held his pounding head. It felt right. They had gotten married 3 years ago. How could he forget? And where was she? They were just together not that long ago.
Miles raced back, retracing his steps. The areas he traveled through were strange. Despite the destruction, Miles could see the ornate design each room held. Every room seemed to have its own color scheme and tone. The furniture looked hand crafted with its silver and gold trim. The wealth of the owner must be overflowing. He let his gut guide him. As he followed, each room he traveled through became more destroyed. The smog grew thicker and thicker.
Slipping through one of the holes in the floor, Miles was confronted with his reflection in a broken Mirror. He looked different. Taller and bit broader than he remembered. The red pattern on his suit looked like a mix between his old and current suit, but the web pattern was made with white lines. Cautiously, Miles peeled up the mask of his suit, revealing his face to the mirror. The face looking back at him was familiar, just older with some stubble growing. Though it didn’t look on purpose. He looked as though good sleep had eluded him for some time. Most curious was the freshly healed scar just under his right eye. It was long and narrow, spanning from his nose to just an inch from his ear. When did he get that?
You’re wasting time, something told him. Your wife needs you!
Right, Miles told himself. He yanked down his mask and continued his search. The next room Miles entered was so smoky he could barely see five feet in front of him. His spider-sense went off, but not because of danger. It was telling him another Spider-totem was near.
“Gwen. Gwen!” Miles called.
“hERe,” a weak voice answered.
Miles whipped his head in the direction of the voice. He could almost make out her figure in the shadows of the smoke. As he grew closer, a faint whimpering grew louder.
He found them. Gwen stood, one hand clutching a doorway, the other trying to soothe an infant in a sling made of webbing. Her suit was tattered and her mask was missing entirely. She looked utterly exhausted. Miles dashed to them. His figure swallowing them in his hug.
“Miles!” Gwen cried.
“It’s ok. I’m here now,” Miles hushed.
She breathed in a sigh of relief and nuzzled into his chest. For a moment, they forgot about the grave danger they were in. It was just them and their daughter holding each other.
Gwen broke away from the hug first and pushed Charlotte into Miles’s arms. “Miles, you need to get her out of here. I was able to lose them, but I don’t know for how long,” Gwen pleaded.
“What are you talking about? I’m not leaving you,” Miles answered, offended by the idea itself.
Gwen coughed hard. Blood spattering onto her hand. Her breathing turned into wheezing as she leaned against the wall. Miles noticed how she was now holding her side. A dark, wet pool of blood was growing larger there. Miles needed to get her to a medic now!
Wheezing between coughs, Gwen tried again, “I’m just going to slow you-,”
“No, we are not having this argument,” he interrupted. Miles would carry her himself if he had too.
A deep cackle made them both freeze in their spot. How had they found them so quickly? Large looming shadows appeared in the fog. They might as well be agents of death.
“I’ll hold them off. You-“ Miles was cut off by Gwen pulling up his mask and kissing him.
“I love you. I’m sorry to make you raise our daughter alone,” Gwen struggled. Before Miles could even process what he just heard, his wife shoved him hard. He was sent stumbling back. Without skipping a beat, a thick metal door slammed down between them, separating Miles and Charlotte from the true danger. Only through small square windows could Miles view what was happening on the other side.
“Gwen, don't do this!” Miles pleaded. Their infant started crying out in earnest, like she knew something terribly wrong had just happened.
It didn’t seem like she could hear him. Gwen turned her back from Miles clutching her side. She was barely holding it together. What was she planning? The smoke in the room started building up with the door being closed.
Gwen fished two green vials from her pocket, holding them up into the little light that trickled into the room.
“No!” Miles yelled. He whaled at the door with all his strength. The metal doesn’t bow under his fist. Miles had seen those vials before. They were mutagens. Ones similar to the ones her Peter once took. Miles had always hated that she carried them around. Sure, in small doses they can be used for regenerative healing, but they were dangerous all the same.
Her hail mary play.
Hand bloodied and bruised, Miles pressed his head against the door. “No. Please, don’t take her away too,” he pleaded. Lord knows, he’s already lost so many friends in this fight all ready. He couldn’t bear to lose her too…
He willed his eyes open to watch. They were closing in. Their figure grew more visible by the second. Gwen popped the cork on each vial, downing them like a shot. The effects took immediately. She collapsed to her knees and curled over in the smoke. The two figures that were chasing them stopped. Their glowing red eyes watching Gwen’s shadowy figure below. Her cries of pain turned inhuman.
Then, there was only silence.
What rose wasn’t a human-lizard hybrid. No, instead there was a ghostly white, spider humanoid that towered before the door. Miles couldn’t even see what her head looked like. All he could see was her broad shoulders sporting four arms. The white hairs on her exoskeleton bristled as she took an aggressive stance towards the shadowy figures. It was like watching a cornered wild animal. Miles's eyes burned with tears.
Gwen pounced into the fog. And just like that she was gone from view.
Miles took in a deep, heavy breath. Even with that power boost, Gwen still stood no chance against them. Miles willed himself to run away as far as he could from that door. He wouldn’t let her sacrifice be in vain. Looking down at his red face, crying daughter, Miles struggled to take in that this was the last living piece he had of her. They had gone through so much together. He cradled his child closer as he took off down the hall.
But then the hallway stopped, consumed by a living darkness. The shadows rapidly raced towards them. There was no escape. Miles turned his back to it, curling protectively over his distressed daughter.
"Shhhh, Daddy’s got you,” Miles whispered to her. He gentle kiss Charlotte's head.
The world disappeared.
-o-0-o-
The darkness evaporated. Miles was back at the Vessel.
What just happened?
The buzzing in his head was slow to fade away. Miles felt haunted by how light his arms were. Just a second ago, he was clutching his daughter. He reached under his mask, feeling his clean shaven face. That wasn’t real. It was just an illusion… Right?
Thinking back, memories of fighting the Spot flashed in his head. He and Gwen had been caught in some weird portal orb. But where was she! He whipped his head wildly around looking for Gwen, his wife? Just a couple feet beside him, a still human looking Gwen had her mask halfway up and was losing her lunch over the edge of the railing.
Miles was at her side in the blink of an eye. She was trembling in his grasp. Other than the vomiting, Gwen appeared to be fine. A couple cut, but not bleeding out like she once was in that… Well, whatever that was. Miles finally felt like he could really breathe now.
“It’s okay. You’re still you,” Miles comforted. He repeated it over and over again. Like he was also trying to remind himself too.
When Gwen finished, she just leaned her whole weight into Miles as she held herself. Voice haunted, Gwen spoke, “I felt myself change. I could feel my skin stretching and hardening. The pain… I… That wasn’t real, right?”
“Oh, it was very real,” the Spot answered. He loomed overhead in the air like he was standing on a platform made of glass. “It doesn’t matter if you defeat me, you two will never live happily ever after. Honestly, me killing you two would be a mercy.”
Gwen curled in more, horrified. But Miles held her steady. He stared up at the Spot and shook his head with defiance. “It won’t happen. I won’t let that happen.”
“You heroes always make promises you can’t keep,” the Spot sighed. He disappeared and reappeared right next to them. His face mere inches away from Miles, the Spot continued, “But not everyone can be saved. Wherever heroes go, a long list of casualties is sure to follow. I’m proof enough of that.”
Gwen nailed Spot in the face. He stumbled back into the railing holding his chin. With a slight tremble, Gwen yelled, “Why don’t you start taking some fucking responsibility for all the damage you’ve been causing! We’re not forcing you to destroy the city. Yeah, what happened to you sucks and shouldn’t have happened. But why were you working for the Kingpin! You had to have known that the science you all were up to wasn’t something you could get away with at any other respectable lab. And when your life turned to shit from your choices, you decided to pin the blame on him.” Gwen pointed back at Miles. “And now your tantrum is destroying this city. The blood here is on no one else’s hand other than your own,” Gwen finished, sending a cold stare back at Spot.
She was right. The Spot had no right to try to pin this all on him. At some point, he needed to take responsibility for his own decisions. Missteps were made on both their parts. But at the end of the day, Spot decided to take his frustration out on innocent people.
The Spot only looked back at Gwen furious. She had laid him out and he wasn’t having it. “You know what, I’m going to enjoy killing you so much more than I expected.”
Their spider-sense went off, but it was too late. A portal opened beneath their feet. They fell through landing on some stone structure, high in the air. It took Miles a moment, but he quickly realized that the Spot had brought them to the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Fuck no,” Gwen immediately moved away from the edge of the tower.
“Glad to see you recognize this place,” Spot said ominously.
“Huh? Why is this place so important?” Miles asked.
“This is the place where a lot of my variants tend to die near,” Gwen answered, a bit of panic creeping into her voice.
Miles looked back to the Spot who seemed to be taking in their panic with glee. “You psycho,” he called as he tried to punch Spot, only to fall through him.
“Come on now. Let’s not put off the inevitable,” Spot teased. He opened up another portal to sweep Gwen up. She jumped over the portal, but at breakneck speed, the portal changed directions to go up. Just like that, Gwen disappeared.
“No! Where did you send her,” Miles demanded.
All the Spot did was point up. High above and over the river, Miles could barely see a figure twist and fall in the sky. It was Gwen. There was no way she could catch herself. Spot had dropped her in the middle of the river far from the bridge or anything she could use to slow her descent.
She was falling.
There was nothing Miles could do to stop this.
He couldn’t go catch her. He couldn’t radio for help. All he could do was watch, helpless. Miles turned to Spot slowly. He was just watching Gwen fall with anticipation.
Miles was pushed past his breaking point. He just wanted all of this to be over.
Cackling, Spot teased, “It’s too bad she’s so far that you can’t hear her-“
Miles webbed a flag behind the Spot and ripped it off its pole. The many holes on the Spot sucked in different bits of the large flag, getting tangled around him. Distracted, Miles gifted Spot with a solid uppercut to the chin. The Spot staggered back. But Miles was quick to close the distance, he slide tackled the Spot. In vain Miles tried to web the Spot to the ground, but the Spot made a portal beneath himself and reappeared floating in the air. With gusto, the Spot tore apart the flag, sending the shredded bit to the wind.
“Is that the best you can do?” the Spot puffed, only to find Miles was nowhere to be seen below.
In a flash, Miles uncamouflaged to the right of the Spot. He snatched Spot by the back of his neck and sent a Venom blast through his system. They fell from the sky, but Miles didn’t let go. He held Spot so that he was forced to uncomfortably kneel.
“Make a portal and save her,” Miles demanded. The moment his spider-sense triggered, he shocked the Spot again. “You’re not portalling away this time.”
In a gritted voice, the Spot answered, “I’d ought to kill you right now, but I’ve never been much of a liar. I’m going to make good on my promise of taking everything from you. Just you wait and see.”
Even now the Spot still thought he had the upper hand, Miles thought glumly. Oh, how he was about to change that.
Using every last bit of energy he had in his system, Miles put everything into his venom blast. They lit up the dark cloudy sky. The scream Spot released could be heard throughout all of New York. When Miles finished, the Spot collapsed against the stone. Spot slowly turned to look up at Miles, growing more and more unstable by the second. His whole body was turning into a flickering shadow.
Miles didn’t care anymore.
He just wanted this all to end.
Gwen was still falling, her watery doom nearing every second.
“Miles!” a voice called.
Miles looked up to see Hobie and Jess come jumping out of a portal. Both were holding unusual looking guns.
“Miles hold him still,” Jess called as she dashed over.
“We got the cure. We’ll shoot on one. Miles, be ready to run!” Hobie added.
Before the Spot could try to slip away, Miles sent another venom blast through his system. He held Spot down using his hands like tasers. They both took stances on opposite sides of the Spot. As they readied their lasers, Miles started coming back from the shock of them showing up.
“Alright. 3…” Hobie started.
Gwen was still falling, Miles remembered.
“2…”
He still needed the Spot to save her. “Wait Gw-“
“1...”
Miles rolled away from the Spot just as the two lasers were triggered. The bright light from the yellow beams forced Miles to close his eyes and look away. The light became all consuming. But there was no heat to be felt. A rush of cool air shoved its way around Miles. He had to hold on to the stone tower with all his might to not fly away.
Only when the air became still did Miles try to look around. A sickly pale looking scientist was lying on the stone. The man they once called the Spot was nowhere to be seen.
“No,” Mile muttered to himself.
Spot sprung up and tried to create a portal to escape. Nothing happened. That’s when he noticed his human looking hands. Spot started to touch his face, feeling the familiar curves of his nose and cheek. The look of glee on his face felt unearned. The horror he had just caused. Miles would have gone up and socked him, but he had more important matters to attend to.
He whipped his head to Hobie, who was looking upon his work with pride. “Hobie call Peni, Margo, or someone who can fly. Gwen needs help.”
“Wait, she's here!”
“She’s falling,” Miles pointed.
“No, Gwen’s fine.” Jess had her hand held to her head, peering over the river.
“How is she fine?” Miles argued heatedly.
“When you’ve traveled to as many dimensions as I, you know Gwen and falling can be a deadly combo. I’ve prepared her for this eventuality. She’s not falling,” Jess pointed out. It dawned on Miles how slowly she was coming down. She moved through the air with control he wouldn’t have expected her to have. “She’s gliding.”
This was something he had seen Miguel do all the time, but he hadn’t realized Gwen could glide too. Man, he needed to get a suit that can do that too. Maybe he could ask Gwen for lessons. Miles could see where Gwen was aiming. There was a small patch of green on the riverside. It was too far for Miles to tell, but it looked like she landed alright in a tree. The trio called reinforcements to collect Spot and portal to Gwen’s location.
When the trio arrived, they were met with Gwen laying splayed out on the grass surrounded by broken branches. It looked like Gwen fell through the tree rather than landing in it.
Jess sucked in a tight breath at the sight. “Still need to work with her on her landing though. She’s probably alright,” Jess said. Miles sent Jess a hard side eye. “Don’t look at me like that. You’d be surprised by how hard that girl can take a hit and just keep going.”
Hobie nodded in agreement, “Gwen’s a trooper.”
Miles raced over anyways and helped her up. “Gwen, are you ok?”
She looked back up at Miles, her gaze a bit unfocused as she clutched her head. Turning to look too far to the right of Miles to be normal, Gwen answered. “I’m not dead, so that’s a plus. Maybe a little concussed.”
“Gwen, I’m over here.” Miles waved.
She pivoted hard to the direction of Miles’s voice. “Scratch that. Probably severely concussed. These lights are too damn bright.”
Jessica slid in, “You did good kid. Let’s get you to a medic.”
“Thanks,” Gwen replied, tired. “I’m ready to take a fat nap.”
“Yeah no. Be ready to stay up for another 12 hours, kiddo. Can’t sleep till we know you're clear,” Jess rained in on.
Gwen groaned in response.
“Go check on your family Miles. We’ll get her to a medic,” Hobie nodded.
Miles looked back to Gwen unsure, but she just waved him off saying not to worry about her. Miles couldn’t help but be impressed at Gwen’s resolve. He could still see how Spot had shaken Gwen to her core. Whether it was more because of that weird vision or the way he just dropped her over the river, Miles couldn’t tell. In all honesty, Miles would accept if she didn’t want to be around him anymore. The thought hurt him like hell, but he understood why. It seemed like the universes themselves were against them.
But Gwen’s hand still found itself interlocked in Miles. Miles gave her a gentle squeeze, a silent gesture to the possibility of them.
“I’ll check in with you later,” Miles decided. He really did need to go check to see if his mother was alright.
Miles thanked Jess and Hobie and took off for his Mom’s hospital. Miles still couldn’t shake off what Spot showed them. Was that really their future or some illusion he cooked up? As much as Spot’s prediction was incorrect, there were still slivers of truths to be found. All he could do right now was shove that into a corner of his mind. He and Gwen could talk later.
For now, his city and his family were safe. After the last two days he’s had, he just needed to revel in that. The villain had been defeated. Tomorrow problems can be handled tomorrow.
Miles swung on, feeling a little lighter than he had at the start of the day.