NONE OF THESE CHARACTERS BELONG TO ME. THEY ARE ALL THE PROPERTY OF MARVEL.
Takes place around a month after the events of Into the Spider Verse
Miles walks through a pair of doors into a diner and spots a familiar haircut sitting near the back. Since the person has their back to him he has no way to know for sure if it is who he thinks unless he walks by. He tries to play it cool until he sees no one is looking at him so he walks normally. The booth draws closer
Miles is hardly breathing when he manages to ask "Hey do I know you?" The girl turns around in her booth and looks at him with a smirk. It's Gwen Stacy.
"I think so." She says with laughter in her voice. They exchange smiles before things turn awkward as they have no idea what to do. They had talked across the dimensions once when Gwen contacted him in his dorm room but otherwise they had mostly just thought about each other. Gwen jerks her head towards the booth across from her. He sits gratefully and they chat a little bit about trivial things before Miles asks the big question.
"So how did you get here? Not another collider." Gwen smiles at his feeble joke.
"No I have a dimension transportation watch. I need your help. I knew you would come here to eat eventually." She shows him a wanted poster of a man. "This is my dad. He's a cop and for some reason he has been framed for a murder he didn't commit. It may seem trivial and small but recently other cops have been fired or even murdered for various reasons. Someone is trying to get the cops out of the way and we need to find out why. Miles please, there are two reasons I came here. First it is where the watch took me, but second I trust you Miles so if our friendship means anything to you I need you to come back with me before we have to involve other dimensions again because, let's face it that was messy." Gwen finishes her speech and looks at Miles who, in turn, looks at his hands. His face is downtrodden and sad. All of his worries are too much for him. He opens his mouth and tells her in a solemn voice
"Alright let's do this thing." Gwen perks up happy to have him as her teammate again. She gives him a quick bear hug but then straightens up to adopt her more professional manner.
"Right, let's go!" Miles hesitates with a look of sheepishness and coyness.
"Uh Gwen the receipt?"
She glares at him.
"You're the one who lives here!" She tells him angrily
"Yeah well I'm the one who's going to rescue your dad!" He fires back. She drops her glare and says
"I know I'm only teasing you." She grows more serious "But honestly Miles I really am grateful for what your doing and my dad will be too." Under her breath where Miles can't hear she adds "I hope." She then walks out of the diner as Miles runs after her and they fall into a rhythm. Gwen turns into an alleyway. Miles looks on ,confused, as she fiddles with her watch before it responds
"Gwen and guest you are now returning to Earth-65." Miles grabs onto Gwen's wrist as they fly into another dimension. Gwen lands expertly on her feet but Miles falls onto his face luckily not breaking anything. However he is bruised and scratched on his cheeks and chin. Gwen moves confidently through the streets over to a building that looks like an office.
"This is the regular police headquarters where my dad normally works but they do have a couple of holding cells in the sub basement." Miles nods and they walk through the doors. The security guard on duty nods at Gwen and says
"Evening Miss Stacy. Your father is a little frantic but you know how he can get. When his mind starts worrying it won't ever stop. Well you better get down there and calm him down before he busts out himself. Then we would have to put him in an actual prison." The two walk on and meet another guard by the elevator who's a little less friendly.
"Who's your friend?" He growls at the pair.
"Oh he's my friend." responds Gwen just as Miles says "Brother".
Gwen quickly improvises by saying "he is the brother of my best friend." The guard raises an eyebrow but hands them two IDs and lets them on the elevator. As the door closes Miles blushes and says apologetically
"Sorry, I should have let you do your thing. You know these people, I don't." Gwen looks at him and agrees gently
"That's true Miles, but it worked out so let's focus on what's in front of us not behind ok?" Miles nods in agreement and they arrive in a hallway with heavy doors. Gwen walks through the second one and scans the barcode on the ID they were given. Right before she walks in she turns and appraises Miles. She then walks back to him and whispers
"Ok a couple of things before we go see my dad 1) always address him as Captain Stacy 2) he is a very proud man who can not stand to ask anyone for help and that includes his family so don't mention anything about his predicament. 3) We are going to have to fix your appearance because I'm visiting with a boy and even though we're just friends he definitely won't see it that way. So just dust yourself, fix your hair, uh maybe try to hide those scratches and let's get this over with." Miles takes in her wisdom and fixes his appearance. His fingers brush one of the scratches knowing it's visible and will automatically make him an easy target. After Gwen is satisfied with his physical appearance they both scan their IDs and walk in. She immediately rushes over to a tall man sitting behind a desk and gives him a ginormous hug while telling him
"Hi Dad! Sorry I'm late but I decided to walk. Um also I'd like you to meet Miles. He's been helping me out." Her dad stiffens and looks straight at Miles.
"Son come over here." He barks. Miles walks over slowly. "Lean in I have something important you need to know." Miles leans in trying to appear confident. "If my daughter ever tells me you hurt her in anyway your dead meat." Miles eyes widen but he keeps himself from making a nervous joke. He knows not to joke around with this fierce cop.
"Yes sir." He says respectfully. Gwen hurries forward and pulls Miles away from her father.
"Alright Dad, as much as I love you threatening my friends I didn't bring Miles here so you could embarrass me. I brought him here because he is a Spider-Man. We need his help to find the real criminal." Gwen's father asks secretively
"So you know her secret?" Miles nods knowing not to say it aloud because of the cameras. Her father relaxes and leans back against his chair "Well your visiting time is up but honey we will figure this out. For now, stay a distance away from my daughter young man." Gwen hugs him once more while saying quickly
"Bye Dad!" while dragging Miles by the arm from the room. Once out of the building she turns down the street and after walking for a while Miles tries to start a conversation.
"So uh where we headed?" Gwen looks over at him and responds briskly
"To my house." Miles gives up and looks at everything around him in curiosity until they arrive at a simple yellow two story. She uses a key and unlocks the front door. She leads Miles up to her bedroom where there is a poster announcing the Mary Janes, newspaper clippings about Spider Woman pasted to the wall, a mirror, and a large wardrobe with a lock on it. Gwen goes straight to the wardrobe and unlocks it showing all that is in their is her costume. She throws off her jacket revealing a tank top underneath. Then she dresses in her costume right after she practically shoves Miles out of her bedroom. Once she is fully dressed in her Spider-Woman costume and Miles has put his Spider-Man costume they web out of the window through the city where Gwen leads him to her favorite place to sit and survey the city.
Miles asks "So are The Mary Janes a popular band around here?" Gwen laughs
"I guess. I'm the drummer and as you can guess Mary Jane Watson is the lead singer along with Gloria Grant and Betty Brant. Everyone here is younger then in your world. May and Ben Parker are still alive." Miles doesn't respond knowing this is a sore subject for Gwen. Especially since her Peter Parker is dead. After looking at the city in silence Gwen looks at Miles and asks quietly
"Do you ever way wish you had better powers?" Miles looks over at her.
"What do you mean?" He asks.
"Yeah we have powers that can save lives but they can't prevent all the death. If I could improve my power I would be able to prevent all death." rants Gwen. Miles looks away and says
"That's a lot of power for one person to hold. Maybe too much." Gwen looks at him angry at his comment.
"What? You think-" she stops and looks out at the city. "Hold up I see him. It's Wolverine!" Miles looks over confused
"Wolverine? Who's that?" Gwen gives him a "duh" look before remembering he doesn't live in her world.
"Oh he's a guy that goes around and does the dirty work. He is basically a henchman." Miles nods and they both stand up and web down to him. He starts and then glares at the pair while giving a dark smirk.
"You think because your spider people and I'm outnumbered I'm going to give up?" Miles responds smartly
"No but we're hoping you'll realize your mistakes. If you don't want to that's fine too!" Wolverine rolls his eyes and yells
"Your about to be taught why you shouldn't make the Wolverine angry!" Gwen yells out
"Watch out Miles! He has claws that pop out of his hands!" Miles barely dodges then throws a web at his hands but the Wolverine easily slides through it.
"Your attempts to subdue me are funny but it is a small gap from funny to angry and trust me if you cross it you can't come back" Gwen rushes forward
"Alright enough death threats from you Wolfie. Let's put you back in your kennel." She webs his legs together while yelling over to Miles. "This guy is indestructible so we can't wound him but we might be able to knock him out and put him in containment. Put your webbing where his claws can't reach!" Miles nods and webs the back of his legs together causing Wolverine to fall before Gwen punches him in the face knocking him unconscious. They wrap him in webs and then call the police. Once they arrive Gwen hides and pulls Miles with her.
"Why are we hiding?" asks Miles in a whisper.
"You know how your dads a cop and the cops were after all of us in your universe? Well in my universe since Peter died after fighting Spider- Woman everyone assumes I'm guilty so even though I'm saving everybody everyday they would still arrest me for that one death." She finishes and stays quiet for a long time. Once the cops are gone Gwen slinks out and webs away leaving Miles behind. Miles tries to follow but Gwen lost in her thoughts forgets she has to slow down for him. Miles wanders the streets noticing some of his friends look different and that some of his favorite spots are not around. As he walks by a house he notices it looks similar to Gwen's so he climbs on the second level and sees it is her house. He climbs through the window and sees the room is in a frantic state. Gwen is not their and after examining the whole house he sees she is not anywhere in the house.
As he waits on the windowsill of her room he notices her walking back slouched over and dejected. She is wearing civilian clothing over her costume and doesn't notice Miles. She walks inside and when he hears her coming up the stairs he waits patiently. When she opens the door she doesn't look at the window at all and goes straight to her closet and takes off her jacket. She sighs sadly before Miles jokes
"Rough day?" Gwen spins around and practically yells
"Miles! Your ok!" Right before she comes right next to him and punches him in the arm.
"Hey what was that for?" Miles asks indignantly.
"For getting lost doofus!" She says. Miles raises an eyebrow
"Really? How am I supposed to keep up with you when you take off like a rocket and don't wait up?" Gwen's eyes widen as she remembers.
"Oh man. I'm so sorry Miles but after seeing the cops and remembering the Peter I..I..just had to get out of there. I thought you were right behind me." Miles drops down from the windowsill and puts his hand on her shoulder gently. It makes her smile as she remembers their awkward first meeting in the hallway. Miles remembers it too and removes his hand but gives her a gentle smile.
"I am here for you even if we're in different dimensions ok?" Gwen gives a sheepish smile while saying
"Ugh. I thought these emotions with Peter were buried but then they just come out at weird times." She then turns to a pin board and looks at it. (To be continued)