Chapter Text
**33 hours till the cannon event**
Gwen swung as fast as she could through the high-tech city, narrowly missing the flying cars and glossy skyscrapers. She glanced behind her and Pavitr followed her. She’d picked him up to meet in Peni’s dimension to come up with a plan.
It’s only been a few hours since Miles escaped Miguel’s clutches and Gwen was banished to her dimension. Hobie thankfully made her a watch so she could get back in contact with the other spiders, but now they have to figure out what to do. And fast.
Because the Go Home machine didn’t send Miles to Earth-1610. It sent him to Earth-42, where the spider that bit him was from—or at least, where it was supposed to go.
So the obvious plan was already unspoken: Make it to Earth-42, and get Miles to Earth-1610.
But what about after that?
Miguel would stop at nothing to keep Miles from saving his dad. He was one of those spiders that followed the original Spiderman code to the T: if you have to choose between saving the world or saving that one person, you save the world with no hesitation. If you try to make exceptions, the universe will pick for you.
And the world is usually seen as more important than that special somebody.
Because Spiders are created to save entire worlds. Their number one priority is always everyone else. Sometimes, Spiders can’t save everyone. They all learn that the hard way. And with time, they all have to learn to forgive themselves for it. But forgiveness isn’t easy, especially when the person you have to forgive is yourself. Miles wasn’t willing to put himself in a position where he had to pick his dad over the world. He knew he’d never forgive himself if he didn’t do something. He knew that he’d never recover if he let his dad die just to save the world.
Gwen feared for him, but she also admired him with everything in her.
In many ways, Gwen always thought of Miles as the strongest of all of them. Aside from the fact that he outran, beat, and escaped hundreds of Spider-people in less than 20 minutes, he was the only one selfish enough to do what they all wish they would’ve done.
Risk it all. Save that one special someone. Forget about the rest of the world.
He was so amazing, it hurt.
Miles was gorgeous. God, he was the prettiest boy Gwen had ever seen. He was full of so much light and passion, and he was so beautiful; the sun peaked out between his teeth every time he smiled. When he was sad, the light would hide in his throat. When he was angry, she could see the ball of flame circling in his eyes. The fire in his otherwise warm and playful brown eyes. Sometimes it was so blinding, so suffocating to be in his presence, talk with him, share silence with him, or just watch him smile.
By God, his smile. She might never see it again. She wanted to cry just thinking about it.
Miles was the sun. Overflowing, melting with burning, flaring aspiration. And she wanted him to be the center of her universe, so she could spend the rest of her life drawing perfect circles around him. Forever next to him. Forever with him.
She never wanted to hurt him.
Most days she just wanted to hold him and never let go. Hold his face and press gentle kisses against his skin. Breathe his air and share his warmth.
Right now, she wanted nothing more than to hug him and sob into his chest.
But would he even look at her now? Probably not.
Gwen and Pavitr swung into Peni’s penthouse from her open balcony and raced down to the main floor where the others had gathered. As they grew closer to the door, they snatched off their masks, knowing that there was no point in keeping them on. Inside, Peni, Margo, Peter B. Parker, Spiderman Noir, and Hobie had been waiting for them.
Everyone’s faces were riddled with guilt, except for Hobie’s. He knew he hadn’t done anything wrong. While his face was neutral (as it always was), there was a keen glint of disappointment in his eyes. He expected better out of them. Especially Gwen.
Gwen locked eyes with Hobie and fought the urge to grimace at the silent judgment in his eyes. She’d have to give out a lot of apologies by the time this was all over.
But she only really cared if that one special someone accepted it.
Peni sat in her Robo-Spider suit next to Margo, 20 fingers dancing across Peni’s computer. Neither of them even looked up when Gwen, Pav, and Noir entered the room. Margo’s avatar duplicated a few times, tapping against screens.
“They’ve been in the zone ever since Hobie sent out that message,” Spiderman Noir spoke up. “It’s kind of difficult to locate Mile’s exact location on Earth-42 and track Miguel’s exact location in 1610 without Spider Society finding out.”
“They're trying to work around LYLA,” Pavitr stated, walking towards the center of the room. “Makes sense. If we can somehow figure out a way to get ahead of Miguel, our chances of helping Miles are greater. Best leave them to work.”
Childish babbling made Gwen, Pav, and Noir look dead right, where Peter B. Parker bounced Mayday.
Pav gasped and rushed towards them. “Mayday!”
Gwen fought the urge to facepalm. “You brought Mayday with you?”
“What? I wasn’t going to leave her alone,” Peter responded, stating it as if it was obvious.
“...Right, so,” Gwen cleared her throat and stepped deeper into the room. “We need a plan. Miguel is waiting on Earth-1610 for Miles with God knows how many other spider people, Miles is somewhere on Earth-42 with no way of leaving or communicating with anyone, and we need to figure out how to repair Miles’s universe after he breaks the canon.”
“And also figure out how to stall Miguel and whoever he has as backup while Miles saves his dad,” Pav added. "And defeat Spot."
Gwen’s eye itched to twitch.
“Right. Those too. Any ideas?”
“Peni and I have been planning out a route for Miles to use when we take him to 1610, assuming he comes with us when we go to get him,” Margo muttered, doubling again. Gwen’s stomach curls in a way that makes her feel sick. One of her duplicates swings up and taps against one of the TV screens surrounding her and Peni. “It’s the fastest way to get Miles to the scene of the canon event without any hiccups. All we need to do is keep Miguel and his little trio away from this area,” A map with a highlighted route popped up on one of the screens. One of the dots is black and the other is red. “The Red dot is where you guys will spawn after you grab miles. Green is where the canon is meant to take place.”
“And these dots,” Peni speaks up, shoving a handful of chips into her mouth and pressing a few buttons on her keyboard. Three blue dots pop up near the area of the green one. “Are Miguel, Jess, and Ben Riley. Of course, we’ll have to be prepared if he calls in everyone to contain the situation.”
Peter walked closer, trying to conceal his stress. “Okay, and what would that look like, hypothetically? If Miguel did summon everyone?”
Peni and Margo shared a painful glance before Peni tapped against a few more buttons and then turned around to face the screen with the map.
Hundreds of blue dots huddled together around the green one, consuming the route and surrounding it in a pool of sapphire. The shape evened out and curled up into a symmetrical shape: the perfect spider web.
Yeah. Gwen felt sick to her stomach.
Pav whistled with a far-off look in his eye. “That’s a lot of spiders…”
Sure, Miles was able to somehow beat all of those spider people, but he was Miles. Miles was incredible, of course, he’d be able to do that.
But could they do it? Could they somehow pull this off?
“And amid all these spider folk, our main concern is Miguel,” One of the blue dots outlined in white, “Because if we can’t keep Miguel away, or worse, if Spot shows up…” All the dots on the map flashed black, and the spider web melted into shadow. Peni turned back to the team. “Game over.”
Gwen fought a shiver. God, I could throw up right now.
“And aside from that, we also need to figure out how we're going to repair 1610 after Miles breaks the one thing holding it all together,” Margo points out, pulling up the diagram of 1610. A map of the earth popped up. “Most earths are stable as long as the original storyline keeps going. However, according to Miguel, when Cannon breaks,” Black holes pop up around the globe. “It's like the universe starts to consume itself to try and seal the holes. Which causes it to fade away.”
A heavy silence filled the room. Except for Mayday’s occasional squeals.
“Right so, current problems,” Gwen began to pace back and forth, her mind running a million miles per hour. “How to beat Miguel and his army of Spiders and how to stop 1610 from eating itself…” Poor Miles…
The spider crew watched Gwen mutter to herself as she tried to come up with a solution. They all gathered on one side of the room.
“Do we even know anyone that could possibly beat Miguel?” Peter B. whispered to Peni and Margo.
“The only person that I feel like has a good chance to do it is Jessica,” Margo said. “But we all know which side of this she's on.”
“I always felt like Hobie or Noir would have a good chance at doing it,” Pav said, glancing over to where Hobie stood against the door. “Since Noir fights Nazis and Hobie's killed the president before.”
“I appreciate the compliment to my strength, but I've seen Miguel fight before,” Noir said, crossing his arms with a thoughtful expression. “I do not feel that my abilities alone would be enough to hold him off. He’s quite ferocious.”
“As much as I'd like to gas myself up, I don't think anyone could take on that rapid excuse of a man alone and win,” Hobie finally spoke up. His British accent felt harsh in Gwen's ears. “I mean, I'd do it for Miles' cause… he deserves to have at least one person in his life that’ll fight someone like Miguel for him without selling out,” Gwen’s face scrunched up in a wince and Peter B. took a deep breath. “And I’d try my best for him but… no promises. Might not last long enough for Miles to reach his old man.”
Noir’s face lit up with realization and he whispered to Peni that he was stepping out to look for something. He slipped out, tapping against his watch.
Gwen twiddles her thumbs, regret written all over her face. “Look, I… I’m sorry, Hobes, okay? I didn’t want to hurt him—”
“But you did,” Hobie cut her off, a blank expression on his face. “You did hurt him. You hurt him in the worst way possible, both of you did,” Hobie spared a glance at Peter B, who looked away in shame. “Doesn’t matter whether or not you wanted it to happen, it just did. I’m not the one you need to apologize to, Gwen.” Hobie took slow steps towards Gwen, whose face paled as he got closer. “You lied, sided against him, and chased him around Nueva for half an hour just cause he's tryna save his dad. The question is,” Hobie stopped in front of her, towering over her; a stable force of truth demanding change. “What are you gonna do now?”
Gwen blinked a few times and swallowed hard, her fist clenching as anxiety rushed through her. “I… I’m going to help him. I’m going to help him save his dad and… apologize afterward. Figure out how to make it up to him. Work towards getting his trust back.”
“Hm. Yeah, I figured that much,” Hobie clapped Gwen on the shoulder. “You've also gotta be prepared for the possibility of him not forgiving you, you know that right, Gwendy?”
Gwen’s eyes burned as she nodded with a small smile. She’d been fighting the urge to cry ever since Miles told her goodbye. But she couldn’t cry right now. She’d cry when this was all over.
“Guys! Guys,” Noir burst back into the room with hope written in his eyes. Which was exactly what they needed right now. “I believe I know who can help us beat Miguel and take down the Spot.”
Everyone perked up. Even Hobie.
“Y-You mean it? You know someone who can do it?” Gwen’s voice trembled as she rushed toward Noir. “Who can take down Miguel and stall the other Spiders long enough for us to help Miles?”
“Yes, I do.”
“He must be one hell of a Spider then,” Hobie whistled, approaching Noir along with Pav, Peni, Margo, and Peter B.
“Not he,” Noir raised an eyebrow as he tapped a new button on his watch and pointed it toward an open space. “She. And she’s the only one I know who’d know how to do this. She's perfect for this kind of damage control. We've just got to convince her, somehow. Come on, we've got to take a small trip to Earth-3231.”
Noir opens up a portal that swirls in orange, red, yellow, and purple. Questions erupt around the room.
“She?”
“My bad for misgendering.”
“Wait wait wait—”
“Which spider are you talking about?”
“Oo! Oo! Do we know her? Is she nice?”
“How do you know her?”
“Are you sure she's strong enough to take on Miguel on her own?”
“What do you mean convince her? Noir, we don't have time for—”
“Guys, please, you're going to have to just trust me on this,” Noir turned back to the group, mask, and hat in hand. “Please… I know her. I know she can help us, just… promise me that no matter what happens out there, you'll let me do the talking and you'll save all the questions until after we help Miles. Please.”
There was a small extended silence, where many thoughts and questions ran through the heads of the other spiders, but one question stood out amongst them all.
Pavitr seemed like the only one brave enough to ask it.
“Is she your girlfriend?”
Noir chuckled with a fond smile and pulled his mask on. “No, but I guess you could say she's an old friend from way back when,” Noir fixed his hat on his head, his tone light and airy. “But don't call her my friend in front of her. Ever. She’d skin me alive.”
The spiders blinked, but Gwen recovered quickly, excited that they might gain another team player who'd be strong enough to defeat Miguel. Someone who could help them save Miles.
“Let's go!” Gwen pulled on her mask, following Peter B, Pav, and Hobie. “Peni, Margo, you stay here and keep watch! Let us know if you see anything weird! Watch Mayday!”
“You've got it!” Peni's robot suit slid over, scooped Mayday up from Peter’s arms, and crawled over to the computer station, pulling more snacks seemingly out of thin air.
“Stay safe, y'all!” One of Margo's clones spoke up while the rest got back to work.
Noir inhaled deeply, facing the portal. He hadn't seen this particular person in quite some time now. He wasn't sure if he was ever allowed to talk to her again after what happened. But she always did tell him that no matter where they stood in terms of relationships, if it was an emergency, he was to come get her help.
No matter what was going on, she promised to put it aside to help him.
Noir's nerves jumped beneath his skin, excited to see her face again, nervous to face her wrath. Because this particular spider was an old friend, she truly was. Even though parts of Noir’s body missed the way hers would press into his when she’d hug him close. Even though parts of his soul wished that she was more than just a friend.
Ah, friend. Is that even the right term anymore?
Noir released his breath and jumped through the portal, not giving himself a chance to talk himself out of it. Gwen, Peter B, Hobie, and Pav followed after, and the swirling hole in space and time shut behind them.
Gwen's heart soared as she traveled through the spiderverse. I'm coming, Miles.
I'm going to save you.