Part 4 - Resurgence
Chapter 71 - Ethereal Hunt
Having discussed what Thor had told Miles about the Animator, the spiders were left with a dilemma. They needed an Ethereal plate to keep going. Sitting in Miles' quarters at HQ, Gwen had just proposed an extreme solution that Miles hated.
"For the last time, I'm not gonna kill you."
"Why? You'd be doing a lot of people a favour and you'd have a plate."
"Because I need you more than a plate."
"Miles, as soon as Lucifer is dead, people will come for me. You promised you'd be the one to kill me when it came to it."
"It hasn't come to it yet, and I doubt it ever will. We're gonna find another one."
"Well then, where should we find one?"
"I don't know. Where does the Empire keep them?"
"Lucifer kept that information from me. I know the Subtle Knife is in Pandora's Vault, 9559, but that's it."
Miles scratched the stubble on his chin as he tried to figure out where he might have run into one.
"Do you remember the Relics of Eden?"
"That thing Doc Ock did a deal for in 9633, only to be murdered by Conall a few minutes later?"
"Yeah. Conall said they form a plate."
"And where would you find them?"
"Good point."
After a few more moments of brain storming, Miles asked:
"Did the Empire return the plates to their own streams?"
"I think so."
"Then we can find one. Stream three: the Void plate. There's only one dimension."
"But it's constantly growing and changing."
"So it's likely the plate is somewhere near the centre so it's not as easy to lose."
"It could still take months to find it."
"If you're near another plate, can you sense it?"
"No."
Miles sighed, sitting down on his bed. Gwen snuggled up to him, wondering how they could ever find such an elusive object.
"Maybe Stanley and Lisa can come up with something to help out?" She suggested.
"It's worth a shot."
Gwen explained to the scientists what they needed.
"We can do it. Not right now, bit give us a couple of days." Said Lisa.
"Great. Any ideas about what we can do to help in the meantime?"
"Miguel was muttering something about investigating dimension 9674. He and the others are holed up in 6472."
"We'll talk to him. Thanks."
6472 was the very definition of a war zone. Crumbled buildings littered the landscape; Reapers were landed, letting out undead troops. Miguel and the others were in a bunker beneath the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. Guns were aimed just seconds after Gwen and Miles warped in.
"Woah! We're on your side!" Said Miles.
"Stand down, soldiers." Ordered Edward.
The ex-admiral and Miguel came over.
"Have you figured out the Animator?"
"We're making progress. With an Ethereal Plate it can revive entire dimensions. The only..."
Miles was interrupted by a muffled booming sound overhead. He looked up as a small shower of dust fell from the roof.
"Air raid. Ignore it. The Empire's been at it all day." Said Edward.
"Right...err...yeah. We need a plate and don't have one."
"But we do have one. Gwen has a plate. Sooner or later these people are going to look for someone else to satisfy their thirst for blood. You may as well kill her now." Replied Miguel.
"I already suggested it." Gwen breathed.
"I'm not killing Gwen just to get a plate. Stanley and Lisa are working on a device to find one. In the meantime we're looking for something else to do."
There was more booming overhead. Gwen noticed a crack forming in the roof.
"If you'll excuse me."
She forced open the door to the bunker, spreading her wings and shooting up through a building. Immediately, she spotted a squadron of Phantoms circling. She streaked towards them, destroying one and scattering the other three. One spun around and opened fire; Gwen crossed her arms until gun had overheated before hurling a ball of energy at it. Two down, two more to go. She narrowly avoided a missile and trashed the third aircraft. The fourth decided to take a different approach: it thundered ahead before turning so sharply that Gwen overshot. Its guns chattered, missiles flew, and Gwen suddenly found herself the defender. Before now, she hadn't understood quite why these aircraft were so advanced, but she couldn't shake it no matter how hard she tried. Finally, she pulled the last manoeuvre she knew: pulling up hard and practically stopping in mid-air. The aircraft smashed into her back, falling in pieces onto the deck of an aircraft carrier below. She returned to the bunker casually.
"OK..." Muttered Edward.
"You want another mission?" Asked Miguel, continuing as if nothing had happened.
"Lisa mentioned something about 9674?" Prompted Miles.
"Yeah. Peni Parker was doing some reconnaissance around the multiverse and noticed there was no imperial activity there whatsoever."
"Lucifer mentioned 9674 once." Started Gwen, "He said if I ever went there, he'd kill me in the most brutal way he could imagine."
"He's hiding something. I need you to find out what." Concluded Miguel.
"Alright. We've got it covered." Replied Miles.
9674 seemed quite normal. Gwen tapped Miles' shoulder and pointed to a flag pole. At the top, neither the resistance flag nor the Jolly Dodger flew. Instead, it was just a plain old American flag.
"Wow...it feels so refreshing to see something normal." She whispered.
"Yeah."
Suddenly, a police car rolled up and two cops stepped put with their guns drawn.
"Hands up!"
Gwen was going to resist them being handcuffed, but a look from Miles silenced the temptation.
Miles was still handcuffed when a woman walked into the interrogation room he had been put in.
"Let's start from the top. Who are you?" She asked.
Her voice was stern, but oddly kind at the same time.
"My name is Miles Morales."
"Any middle names?"
"Gonzalo."
The woman took some notes.
"Would you care to explain to me why you walked out a purple hole in the middle of a government campus wearing a Spiderman costume?"
"I'm from another dimension."
"I see. And what sort of drugs have you been taking?"
"Err...I took some paracetamol for a headache a few days ago. Does that count?"
"Do you think this is all some sort of joke? You appeared, out of thin air, in the middle of a government campus. Do you realise that's trespassing, and a threat to internal security?"
"If I was taking this as a joke, you'd be rolling on the ground laughing. I'm taking this seriously. Let me ask you a question: have you heard a of a man named Lucifer? Or he may go by 'Satan', the devil, I'm sure there's some more."
The woman narrowed her eyes at the mention of Lucifer.
"What is it to you?"
"Have you heard of him?"
"I know him, yes. Do you?"
"Give me a break. He's tried to kill me more times than I can count, he's massacred billions, he sits on a throne ruling over his Empire."
"I don't think I know this man."
"Really? You act like he's kinda important. If not to you personally, then to someone you know. He's the devil; scares people to death with his true face, wears a suit, invulnerable."
The woman looked somewhere between worried and confused.
"Where is Lucifer now?"
"Probably slaughtering some more innocent people for not saying their prayers to him."
The woman shook her head, as if trying to force herself to believe he was lying, but she seemed to decide it was time to open up a little.
"My name is detective Chloe Decker. I used to work on murder cases, then after Lucifer left I was transferred to a new unit investigating paranormal activity. You and your partner are the first case we've had in a couple of years."
"Is Gwen OK?"
"If you are referring to your partner, she freaked out and escaped."
"Did she hurt anyone?"
"Some minor scrapes on a couple of officers. Otherwise, no."
"Don't follow her. She needs space sometimes. Can we talk more about Lucifer?"
"That depends on what you want to discuss."
"Is there a way to kill him? Or to restrain him?"
"If you want to kill him, this conversation is over."
"It's the only way. Unless you're willing to come and negotiate. Obviously you have some sort of relationship with him."
"If you want to kill him, I'm not going anywhere near him."
"Is that because you weaken him or something?"
Chloe sighed.
"This investigation is over. You're free to go."
She uncuffed Miles and showed him out. Miles sat down on a bench a couple of streets away from the police station. His attire attracted some curious glances, but he didn't care. Chloe was one of Lucifer's weaknesses. He just need to pick the right time to exploit it.
Miles didn't see Gwen again for nearly three days. He had considered going to find her, but he also knew that if he found her while she was under the control of the plate, he would be dead. The wrist of his spider suit began beeping; he tapped it, not bothering to sit up from where he had been trying to get some sleep on his bed.
"Morales speaking."
Stanley spoke on the other end.
"We've finished up your device and Gwen has some information."
"I'll be there in a minute."
"That was a very long minute."
"Well...Einstein said time is relative. Maybe it was a minute for me?"
Gwen giggled and looked to Stanley who was holding a device no larger than a phone.
"I believe this device is what you're looking for. It tracks pure Ethereal energy. The key word in that is 'pure'; it won't track Gwen. You'll need to find a dimension with a plate first, but then it will start homing in."
Miles took it and looked it over, tapping the screen to read red text saying 'no contacts'.
"So, Gwen, you had some info?"
"Yeah. I located a plate, but you won't like where it is."
"Is it on Lucifer's crown?"
"No, actually. Do you remember eight years ago when we failed to get that plate back from the Borg?"
"You were assimilated. I couldn't forget it. So it's with the Borg?"
"Yep."
"Oh great. Well, what are we waiting for?"
"Nothing. Let's go."
"Right. Thanks, Stanley!"
Stanley gave a quick wave and returned to his work.
From the very edge of Wakanda, Gwen and Miles stared up at the Borg unimatrix hovering overhead. The tracker said it was on board, they just had to get up there first.
"You could just fly us both up there and smash through the hull." Suggested Miles.
"They'd have drones there to assimilate us before we realised we were even aboard. And I don't want this ending the same way it did eight years ago."
"Yeah. You got any better ideas?"
"No. So smashing through the hull it is. I hope the Borg packed their space suits."
Gwen spread her wings, flew up a little, picked up Miles and rocketed towards the Borg command ship. It took less than twenty seconds to get up there, and she didn't stop. She let Miles go, folded her wings back into a delta and smashed through the many feet of solid metal. Miles swung up, into the hole and shuddered at the sight.
"Oh...there's some bad memories."
"Tell me about it."
He checked the tracker. A dot had appeared towards what he believed to be the bow of the ship.
"You could have broken in a little nearer the front."
"You have the tracker, not me."
It took nearly half-an-hour to walk to the front of the unimatrix. Along the way, they found surprisingly few Borg drones; perhaps they had been lost trying to assimilate Wakanda. Their eyes fell on the plate: exactly where they remembered it had been all those years ago. Miles pocketed the tracker and made to grab the green object. However, as his hand closed around it, something happened. It was nothing to do with the plate, but it freaked him out. The voice of the Borg spoke:
"We are the Borg. Surrender the Ethereal Plate. You will be assimilated. Your biological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."
Gwen drew a katana, holding it ready as a pair of Borg drones approached. Miles tapped her shoulder; she spun round and almost decapitated him out of fright.
"Woah! Come on, we don't need to hang around here."
She created a gate and they sprinted through before the drones could get them.
Crossovers in this Chapter
- Avengers
- Lucifer
- Star Trek