Chapter Text
“I’m Miles Morales.” The voice, uncannily similar to his, spoke. “But you? You can call me ‘The Prowler.’”
Miles stared at his counterpart for a second. It all made sense, the spider, him being an anomaly, what Miguel had told him.
This was a universe scarier than anything Miles could face. This was a universe with no Spider-Man.
Miles gulped, closed his eyes for a second, trying to regain his senses. Surely this shouldn’t be too bad, right? This was just him, in another universe. He knew himself, of course he did, he could even reason with this guy, get him to let him go - God, is this how the other spider-people feel seeing their counterparts?
“Please,” he begged, getting lightheaded from the punching bag’s swaying. “If you don’t let me go, our dad is going to die.”
He spotted the moment the other him’s face shifted. It was ever so subtle, but ever so present. His eyebrows furrowed slightly, his face darkened.
“Why would I do that?” Miles G. placed his right hand that was now curled into fist next to his face; he could hear the clinking of the metal claws from the Prowler suit clearly now. “My father is already dead. What’s yours is not mine. Your father is going to die. Mine? Mine is already gone.”
Miles’ breath hitched. He knew it was true, of course it was, it was his fault, dammit! His father was going to die, and the weight of his death was going to follow him forever. Like Uncle Aaron.
Speaking of him, the man was doing jack shit nothing.
Miles’ hands squirmed under the intensity of his own glare, brushing against the chains keeping him captive.
Suddenly, it hit him. Energy.
His fingers began to vibrate, unknown to everyone but him, and he began to channel the energy through his left hand.
He knew it wasn’t enough, dammit, it wasn’t enough!
‘Use your palms, not your fingers.’ A cockney accent reminded him in his mind.
He tried to place his palms on the whole chain, trying to be discreet. Meanwhile, Uncle Aaron watched silently, looking at Miles G.
“What’re we gonna do about this, hm?” He muttered.
Miles G. narrowed his eyes and looked at his Uncle. Before he could respond, Miles took his chance and placed his palm fully around the chain, channelled the energy and —
BANG!
They stumbled back, whilst Miles rubbed his body due to the soreness of the chains. He caught their eyes, his own eyes, filled with anger toward himself.
He bolted. So did Miles.
His web shooters shot out, latching onto a nearby window and he slid through it, carefully manipulating his form to fit through it. He went from building to building, rooftop to rooftop.
But it wasn’t enough, it was almost as if they matched each other’s - right. Same guy, just a different variant.
“Don’t you care? That you have a chance to save your father? Do you really want him to - to die? Again!?” He yelled behind him, knocking over a few boxes as he swung around.
“Who are you to tell me how to feel?” Miles shot back, his voice back to that robotic tone. “My father is not your father! My father died a hero!”
“And mine isn’t?”
“Your father means nothing to me!”
Miles faltered. Prowler him jumped on him, pinning him to the ground, with a grip he couldn’t escape.
“… my Uncle Aaron was the prowler in my universe.” Miles began after a few silent moments. “He died because of me. Please I can’t- my dad can’t leave me too. He’s all me and my mom will have.”
Miles noticed the other’s grip loosen up. He continued.
“You can’t seriously want this life, right?”
“Hah- you really think I would do this willingly. Hell no. But this place is corrupt. It’s crime ridden, controlled. This is my only way of life to keep safe.”
“By endangering other people?”
“By defending them. This isn’t like your universe okay.” His grip left and he sat on the rooftop next to him. “It isn’t full of sunshine and rainbows. This place is cruel, desolate. Again, it’s corrupt. Mierda, it’s full of crap. My dad? He died a hero. I’m gonna die protecting my mom. My uncle.”
“You say that like it’s final.”
“Pardon?”
Miles huffed, pulling down his spider mask. “You say it like you know you’re gonna die in battle. That’s the difference between you and I. I’m not standin’ around just waiting for my grave so I can sleep in it; I’m living. You? You’re living a dead man’s life.”
“Fuck you sayin’ to me?” Prowler Miles gripped the other’s neck yet again.
“I’m not throwing shade, don’t get me wrong.” He put his hands up. “But if there’s a will, there’s a way, y’know? We can save this place, but please. I just need to save my dad and then - then everything will be all right.”
“You sound unsure,” Miles G. raised an eyebrow.
A sigh. He recalled everything that had happened during the last few hours. Surely it couldn’t get worse, right? “Today. Has been a long day.”
- - -
“So my brother is alive.”
“Yes.”
“In your universe.”
“Yes.”
“But not for long.”
Well. That’s one way to put it.
“… yes.”
Uncle Aaron being there was hard to adjust to for Miles, it had taken ages to get over his actual death but this? Well, he was gonna take it for granted.
Seeing the two boys was also a hard thing to comprehend; I mean, two versions of his nephew? Weird.
It was almost endearing though. The difference between the two was stark, but so were the similarities. They were bickering like siblings and they only met an hour and a bit ago.
“I still don’t trust you,” Miles G. helpfully said, looking at the other eating cereal like it was a competition.
“Mhm, sure. Which is why you showed me your face minutes into meeting me. Call me stupid, but I don’t think you would do that to just anyone.”
“Haha-! He got you there, Miles.” Aaron laughed. “No but seriously, why did you do that? It’s unlike you.”
“I felt as though I could. It didn’t feel bad. But it was impulsive, sorry.”
“Nah, don’t apologise, kid.” He placed a firm hand on his shoulder. He noticed the new Miles watching and brought him closer too. “The real problem is how we’re gonna sneak past your mom.”
The two boys looked at each other. Uncle Aaron could almost smell the bad idea forming from both of their minds.
What he didn’t expect was to be used as bait.
Rio had arrived, not too long ago. He stood in the doorway.
“… so how was the hospital?” He started, recognising her exhaustion. She sighed and rubbed her face.
“Tiring. This patient, they had—“ Her voice slowly drowned out as he watched his nephew(s) try to be discreet in sneaking around, the new Miles tripping over a misplaced shoe on the carpet whilst the other glared at him.
“And — are you even listening to me?” Rio’s head began to drift towards where Aaron’s confused look was focused.
He snapped out of it. “Yes! Yes, I am. Mhm. Continue.” He desperately hoped they would hurry up.
“Well, I guess that’s it really. I mean I guess I’m stressed. Miles, you know?” She murmured, motherly concern seeping into her voice. “He’s a kid, but it feels like ever since Jeff.. he hasn’t really been the same. It’s like he lost that light. The light he had talking about his interests…”
Both Miles perked up - hah, Miles and Kilomiles, hilarious - as she spoke about him.
Them? This was really getting confusing.
Aaron listened this time, truly. He agreed. His brother’s death took a toll on all of them, but undoubtedly left the worst impact on Miles. And now look, the Prowler.
What an amazing uncle he was! His brother was sure to be jumping for joy up in the heavens!
“Yeah, I get it. Seriously I..” he took a breath. “I do. He’s changing, it’s scary and… I don’t know if I’m the best guy for him to look up to now. You know…?” He was cut off as he saw them almost knock off a family portrait off the wall, staring at them in confusion.
Rio frowned and turned around. Miles G. quickly hid behind a pillar whilst Spider Miles turned invisible.
Huh, didn’t know the kid could do that. Aaron nodded approvingly in his head.
“Did you… hear anything?” She tilted her head.
“Nope!” He said, way too enthusiastically. “You’re hearing things. Go rest, take a nap. Have a warm bath. Or something. I’ll take care of everything. Kay?”
Hesitantly, she agreed and left the room. Unsatisfied but Rio really needed her rest.
They all scrambled to Miles’ room, desperately trying to find a solution to the problem. They settled on a mattress.
And so, the first night. (And maybe the last.)
- - -
Miles G. Morales was most definitely a Mama’s boy. Undoubtedly, 100%.
Vice versa, his mother cherished him. Loved him more than anything. He was her entire world.
Every night, had she had the chance, she would tuck his blanket a little tighter, give his forehead a little kiss, close the curtains a little tighter. Rio wasn’t stupid, she knew something was wrong. But she’d never pressure him, never force him to admit anything. And so she was patient.
Slowly, she opened his door, took a step and almost stepped on - Miles? On the floor with a mattress? And the braids were still undone?
Okay… weird choice of sleep but you know. Not harming anyone so… she kissed his forehead lovingly.
She heard the sound of someone brushing their teeth from his bathroom, the light on.
She paused.
Wait… if Miles was here, then who the hell is in the bathroom?! Cautiously, she teetered to the bathroom door, which was unlocked.
She knew it was a bad idea, but she opened it and saw —
…
Miles? Her Miles, with the dreads and eyeliner.
He looked at her expression, confused. Pure confusion.
He stared back, toothbrush halfway through brushing his teeth, eyes widened and mumbled. “I can explain —“
“You better,” Rio fixed him with that stare.
After a long and lengthy, and quite frankly, difficult to comprehend, conversation, Rio was more than happy to nurse another Miles under their roof.
Miles tried to sleep, really! But it was difficult. Insanely difficult. Within the past day, he’d figured out The Spot was genuinely an evil guy, Gwen and Peter was keeping the fact that he was an anomaly secret, he was an anomaly, his dad was going to fucking die and he’s trapped in another dimension with a Prowler version of himself.
Shit, it’s almost like he’s the main character of something. A movie? Perhaps comics — whatever.
He gently opened the curtains and window and slipped out into the night. Probably not a wise idea considering he was alone in an unfamiliar environment but nothing worse could happen. Right?
- - -
Gwen stood, surrounded by several other people. Peter B, Spider Noir, Hobie, Pav, Peni, Margo and Spider Ham. She tried to not let her anxiety show.
If she was this nervous for Miles, imagine how he felt right now? Isolated, alone in a universe unknown to him. She didn’t know how she knew. How her spider senses could sense that he was in danger.
She didn’t want to think about it. Not now. Not later. Never.
He didn’t want to speak to her, understandably. But dear God did she miss him and it was only a few hours since the situation.
“Gwendy, you okay?” Hobie placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it for comfort.
God bless Hobie, she closed her eyes and sighed.
“Yeah I’m just … worried for him.” She admitted after a moment.
“Ah, he’ll be fine. He’s a smart guy, that one, yeah? Don’t pull ya’ hair out thinking too much of it.” The Brit reassured.
Gwen visibly relaxed. Hobie stretched out his arms and looked at the others.
“So. What’s the plan, ey?”
Silence.
“We don’t have one do we?”
“The plan…” Spider-noir began, dramatically.
Gwen cut him off. “We don’t have one. In this situation, it’s too unpredictable. It's hard to find out what to do. We can only improvise.”
“Maybe that’s the solution!” Peni perked up. “To beat the unpredictable you don’t have a plan. All you have are —“
“Instincts,” Pavitr finished with an enthusiastic nod. “We can just go with our gut feeling, yeah!”
Mayday babbled in agreement. They all got to work, individually. Trying to get Miles back.
—
Margo was the one to crack the code. Not unsurprisingly.
Working in the spider society, using the go-home machine… she picked up things unusually fast. And seeing Miles in that? It was hard to forget that look. The look of desperation, fear.
She let him go because, surprise! She’s not a dickhead! And had caught a glimpse of the universe number in the process.
It ended with two, and was a two digit number and remembered the overall general gist of the universe he was in.
After forty one tries when, quite frankly, she was losing all motivation and will to live, she put down forty two down.
“Guys!” She scrambled up. They all perked up. “I got it - I fucking got it!”
“Are you sure?” Peter (Porker this time) frowned looking into the hole that looked… barren.
“I’m sure.”
They headed in.
Gwen was starting to really get worried for Miles as she glanced around the place. This universe? It looked unfinished. Like a draft almost. The first attempt that never really got far enough to love like a final piece.
Miles was in trouble.
—
“Man, this Miles guy is really starting to piss me off.” Miles G grumbled.
That’s what he thought putting his prowler gear on reluctantly after seeing his alternate version not sleeping on the goddamn mattress he set up.
Sure, he couldn’t blame him; after hearing about his day, sheesh. He would be all frazzled up too. Still, warn a guy could you?
Rio wasn’t happy finding out her son was the Prowler, what parent would have? But bless her, she was too confused by everything else that had happened, he (thankfully) didn’t get the worst treatment. Just disappointed sighs and apologetic looks. She definitely knew already, or at least knew something considering her lack of reaction. This was just confirmation.
Miles G. placed a note on his bedside table:
gone to look for other me. won’t be too long hopefully. love you
He didn’t usually do this. He felt the need to today.
Finding Miles wasn’t hard for him, considering their minds worked the same. He spotted him, sitting upside down on a skyscraper.
“Oi. Dracula. Get your ass back up here.” He called out to him. Miles obliged. “What’s wrong this time?”
“Can’t sleep,”
“Why,”
“You know why,”
“I’m not a mind reader — “
Their bickering was cut short by a female voice yelling.
“Miles!”
They both turned. A girl, their age in a white spandex suit with black in the middle of it paired with a hood came up to them.
“There’s.. two of you? Whatever, you’re okay I-“
Her eyes were wide as she attempted to hug Miles, several other funky looking people following.
Miles, not him Miles, the other Miles - looking down, bottom lip trembling but with a glare that could kill as he looked at Gwen and backed away before they could embrace.
“Go away, Gwen. Remember what happened last time you came for me?” Miles put on a brave facade. Miles knew this was bullshit but decided to not intervene.
She faltered. He continued, doubling down.
“I’m an anomaly. You hear that? I’m abnormal. A failure. A mistake,” he repeated Miguel’s words. “I wasn’t meant to be Spider-man and you knew! That shit stings. Not just you but Peter too!”
He gestured to the man holding a kid.
Who the hell is bringing their kid - whatever, Miles could contemplate his other version’s taste in friends later.
“Did you enjoy that!? Huh? I meant what I fucking said. You should have never come to see me.”
A beat.
“God, I wish we never met Gwen.” Miles muttered, bitterly.
Gwen was taken aback. She knew it was true, that what she did was shitty, and totally unfair to Miles. But hearing that? Hearing it from his mouth, not speaking the things that usually made her stomach turn with giddiness?
She hated it. She hated herself.
A boy in the back with jet black hair and a red mask adorned with a bindi on top tried to step in, but a taller man stopped him, muttering a ‘don’t interfere, they need to talk things out.’
Well, screw that guy with the spiky jacket! Miles G. placed a hand on the other’s shoulder and narrowed his eyes.
“It would be appreciated if you left. You’re only making things worse.” He told the blonde.
—
Miles did not think the day could get worse.
God fucking dammit, it just got worse, didn’t it? Add meeting Gwen (again!) to the list and facing public humiliation in front of all his spidey friends as he was on the verge of breaking.
And now the Spot came. Again. Talking about some “you ruined my life.”
Good lord, get over it! Maybe that was insensitive.
Miles didn’t really give two shits anymore if he was, his dad was gonna die.
Saying that out loud makes it feel a lot more real, don’t it? Acknowledging the situation.
Whatever, let’s get this done with.
Fighting a bunch of spiders with various skills should have been a total loss on Spot’s part.
Damn this guy and his inter dimensional voids, no one could even touch him.
“Ha ha ha! Spider-Man, don’t you see? I’m not a villain of the week anymore am I? Am I?!” The Dalmatian ass looking thing cackled.
“I said that once! I don’t mean it, okay!? I’m sorry for - “
“ - for ruining my life?” His form distorted and his voice grew deeper. “You can’t apologise now, Webhead. It’s too late.”
His voice grew louder and louder.
Thankfully, they all struck from the back, simultaneously hitting him with their individual skills. He yelled in agony. Miles winced.
Before The Spot fell, he yelled. “Something worse is awaiting you! If not me, someone else! You can’t escape a canon event, Spider-Man. Your dad will-“
He fell into one of his holes.
Not in a dead way, in an unconscious way (unfortunately.)
Miles breathed a sigh of relief, trying to push away what the last message was implying.
“Well!” Pav clapped his hands and grinned. “This time really was an easy adventure for Spider-ma — !”
But because you can’t have shit when you’re a vigilante, a remaining hole from the spot engulfed all of them whole and brought them to a completely new universe.
—
“So let’s run it back, okay?” Barbara Gordon spoke gently, as if Jason was going insane, as was everyone else.
He wasn’t! Why was it so hard to comprehend what he had just seen!
“Fine, yes! I was patrolling! In Crime Alley! Like usual!” He began, recalling the events. “Then suddenly, boom. I see a weird ass -“ he made incomprehensible sounds while spinning his hand around.
Silence.
“Haha - have you taken your meds today, old man?”
God, Jason was gonna kill Stephanie one of these days.
“What! I’m not lying! Dick!” He looked to his older brother.
“Ah… Jay bird, why don’t you head to bed, m’kay?” Dick began, placing his hands on his shoulders.
“Unbelievable,” the boy scoffed while looking around. “This is Gotham! What on earth could possibly be so confusing for a group of trained vigilantes?”
“Everything.” One of the little shits muttered.
“Who the fuck -“
“Jason, for God’s sake, please hurry up.” Barbara sighed, leaning back on her wheelchair.
“Listen, okay. There were loads of them. A purple one, a spiky one, a monochrome one… you name it. Even a talking pig!”
“Sure you didn’t just meet a cop?” Duke and Tim said at the same time then fist bumped.
If he wasn’t in such a bad mood, Jason might have laughed at that.
Jason continued. “They all, like. Had these things coming out of their hands. Like this white, sticky, elastic thing! Then they swung around and - you guys think I’m insane.” Jason ran a hand through his hair, frustration bubbling up inside of him,
“Hm. So they were akin to spiderwebs, perhaps.” Damian commented after thinking for a second.
“Yes! Yes, god bless you, demon spawn!” Jason clapped his hands together.
Damian scrunched his little nose up at the nickname and rolled his eyes, trying to refrain from commenting on how that completely juxtaposed each other.
“What, so Spider-people?” Bruce, who was uncharacteristically quiet up until now, spoke.
“I guess so, yeah.” Jason thought back. He remembered locking eyes with the one with the leather jacket and the spikes, but it was hard to tell with how their mask looked if they really spotted him.
“Meta.” Cass simply deduced. They all looked at Duke.
He paused while eating his granola bar. “What!? You think all metas know each other? Seems a bit narrow minded.” The boy retorted.
He could practically smell the ‘you’re from the Narrows, Duke!’ joke forming in Jason’s brain.
“Of course not, Duke.” Bruce faced him. “But considering your shift is next anyway… it wouldn’t be hard to try and … you know. Find out about these guys. Especially if you have something in common.”
“And if they even exist!” Steph joked, promptly getting attacked by Jason.
Ever so reluctantly, Duke agreed and wore his Signal gear.
Never too late to make new friends. Right?