Part 1 - Fires of Revolution

Chapter 1 - The Golden Gates

Miles Morales was swinging through the streets of New York, suspended only by the spider webbing fired from his web shooters. Everything seemed to be quiet today. However, all he had to do was keep his eyes open and wait a bit until night fall when criminal activities reached their heights. He landed on a roof top to take a break, and crouched down low on the edge, watching the yellow taxis roll tediously by through the rush hour traffic. When he had become bored of watching them, he stood up with the intention of getting back on his way. But as he did so, his spidey sense burst into a flurry of activity. Thinking there was a bullet, or some other projectile, coming his way, he leapt to the side and turned to face his attacker, ready to fight. But there was no assailant, only a golden circle of flames that glowed with enough brilliance to make it easy for even a normal eight-legged spider to see. Miles looked at the anomaly curiously, unsure if it was something dangerous which could wipe out New York or was harmless.

"Maybe I should step through?" He thought to himself.

Indeed, there seemed to be something that pulled him towards it. He took a deep breath and took a few steps forward through this golden gate.

When he reached the other side, the gateway slammed shut with a hiss like fire being extinguished and a shower of golden sparks. Miles looked around. The air smelt foul, the heat blinded even his so finely tuned spidey sense. Yet through the haze, he could make out a familiar person.

"Gwen?" He said in a raised voice over the dreary moan of the wind.

"Miles?" She replied questioningly, unsure if it really was him.

"What are you doing..." They both began to say in unison, then stopped and began to laugh.

Miles pulled her into a hug, but they had to pull away from it quickly because of the heat.

"I'm guessing it wasn't you who chose this place as an ideal spot for a date." Commented Miles, looking around at the desolate wasteland.

The only thing that broke the sandy dunes was a massive skyscraper which reached far into the clouds.

"No, it wasn't. There was this weird golden ring of fire that I felt like I should walk through. Was it the same with you?"

"Yeah. Maybe we should go to that building. There might be some shade."

"I hope so. If the heat doesn't kill us here, I bet something else will. There's probably snakes and scorpions, and nothing close enough to fire a web to make an escape."

They began to walk quickly towards the lonely skyscraper, taking their masks off in a desperate attempt to cool down.

"What do you think happened here?" Asked Gwen.

"No idea. But at least I know why I'm so sweaty this time."

Gwen gave a smirk, recalling the first time they properly met.

After a short but blistering walk to the lonely skyscraper, they collapsed on the floor inside. The temperature inside was a much needed relief from outside. As they sucked in the cool air, there was a series of clicks from a stair case to their side, like an old light flickering on. The pair looked curiously as an arrow was illuminated, pointing up the stairs. Underneath it was some writing. Miles stood up and read it aloud.

"It says 'hurry up. I haven't got all day'. What does that mean?"

"Pretty obvious I think. Someone is waiting for us."

"Who would live here?"

Miles offered Gwen his hand. She grasped it and pulled herself up. They began the long ascent up the stairs, wondering how any normal person would ever be able to climb all the way up.

By the time the two spider people reached the top, they were gasping for breath. Their throats were parched from the dust and heat. However, they were determined not to be defeated by a stair case of all things. They looked at their new surroundings: a long corridor, at the end of which was an open doorway.

"Is it just me or is someone sitting at a desk in there?" Asked Miles.

"Nope. It isn't just you. Maybe they can tell us where we are?"

"Or maybe they want to kill us? Why else bring us to this hell?"

"Only one way to find out."

Gwen began to walk forward as confidently as she could, despite her exhaustion. Miles followed reluctantly. The person at the desk turned out to be a teenage boy of a similar age to themselves perhaps. Or so they thought. As soon as they had walked through the door, the boy spoke whilst typing away on a computer in the corner of his desk.

"In most dimensions it's common courtesy to knock before you enter."

Miles and Gwen looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

"Err...sorry." Miles replied.

The boy shrugged.

"So..." Gwen started but was interrupted.

"Again, try knocking."

Gwen sighed and knocked on the door frame.

"Ah...at last. Come in."

The boy turned away from the computer. When the pair were both well inside the large square room, he turned to his right.

"Corbo. Door.

"Aye."

Instead of the flimsy wooden door that hung on the hinges the spiders believed was going to close, enormous steel doors slammed shut behind them. The pair were trapped. They tensed up, preparing for a fight. The boy chuckled.

"If I were going to kill you, I'd have done it by now. I have better uses for you two. So, everyone who comes here asks one of three questions before anything else. A, B or C. A: Who am I? B: Where are they? C: Why are they here? Which will it be? Tick tock, hurry up! The clock is ticking."

Gwen and Miles exchanged a look. They knew each other well enough to know they were thinking the same thing: this guy was crazy.

"We'll go with A." Replied Miles.

"Ah, the most popular. Fifty-three percent ask that first, but I'll answer all three now, because why not? My name is Conall. That's a name in the old language of Scottish Gaelic that means 'strong wolf'. I like to think of myself as a wolf sometimes. Hunting the unsuspecting prey which thought it would break the rules and go unnoticed."

The pair looked at each other again, struggling to control a laugh. Conall sighed.

"I know everything you say, do and think right now. My job is to protect the multiverse. Or the Spiderverse as you like to refer to it as. I don't know why; not every one of them have spiders, and it's a lot bigger than you think. Which brings us onto the second question: where are you? Dimension 01. This place is over ninety billion years old. Whilst I may look far too dazzling for my age, I'm also that old. I was born with this place, but will probably outlast it. I hope."

Miles noticed Gwen had relaxed a little. He did the same and asked:

"What happened here?"

"The Sun went out. Earth is a wandering planet. It's currently passing through a red giant star system which is why the light is all red and everything is so hot. Question C: why are you here? Well...as I said, I look after the multiverse. That means I keep everything in its own dimension, and I protect the inner workings of this delicate system. I think you can probably see why you're here now."

"Because we've been hopping between dimensions." Gwen replied.

"Exactly. Those watches that guy Miguel gave you only work for a single reason. The same as many, but not all, dimension hopping devices. There is a machine in one dimension that is constantly wearing down the barriers between the dimensions like sandpaper. You two hopping around to go on your romantic dinner dates doesn't help the integrity of those barriers. So, you've caused me trouble, now you'll help me fix it. I've finally found this machine, and you're going to help me destroy it before I send you back home."

Miles opened his mouth a little, unsure what to say. He was being told he had to leave the girl he loved so dearly and that he had no choice in the matter. Conall stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully, reading his mind.

"I must say your situation is unique. This is the only time I've seen an interdimensional relationship. It certainly puts the meaning back in long distance relationship."

Gwen turned to Miles.

"We've clearly done something bad. I love you, but if it's..."

"Now wait just a minute." Conall butted in, "I never said you couldn't keep seeing each other. The way I see it, you have two options to save the relationship."

The pair looked him dead in the eyes, desperate to find a way.

"Tell us." Miles pressed.

"Your first is the simplest for all three of us, but would require a choice and sacrifice I don't believe either of you have the strength to make. One of you could leave behind your friends and family and move to the other's dimension. Those watches will still prevent the glitching even when the machine is gone."

The two teenagers looked at each other, trying to decide if they should do it and if so, who it should be to move.

"It should be me." Gwen said quickly. "I only have my dad, and he's managing fine. Miles is the only other important person in my life."

"But you can't just leave your dad like that. He'll miss you and get lonely. And what about your New York?" Argued Miles.

"There's no other choice unless we want to have to break up."

"This guy just said there were two options for saving the relationship. Let's hear the other one."

Conall nodded, seeming to find amusement in their dilemma.

"The second option is this: you can keep hopping between dimensions. I can provide you both with gateways at a pre-arranged time every now and again,but that takes up my time as well. So, to combat it being wasted, you two will work for me. You will become what I'm going to call 'temporal agents'."

"Isn't temporal to do with with time and stuff? In Star Trek it is." Miles enquired.

"Yes it is. Dimensions are a little more complex than you think. They aren't just different states of being; they are points in time. Think of it a bit like a really complex conveyor belt system that's constantly changing. Some conveyors link to some, others link to others. Occasionally, they'll be changed so that they link to the same one but at a different point. Then there's the alternate realities. They all start the same, but some will break off onto parallel conveyors. Anything can break them off. For example: if, let's say, you, Miles, chose to propose to Gwen. Most likely she would say yes. So you two would go off in that direction. But there would be a parallel conveyor where she said no."

"That's...not confusing at all." Gwen muttered.

"You'll get it eventually. Now, choose your option. A or B. I've got things to do so hurry up."

"Can you give us a minute?" Asked Miles.

"I've been waiting plenty of minutes, one more couldn't hurt."

Conall turned back to his computer and resumed typing. Miles and Gwen turned away.

"We can't choose A. We both have a person or people we care for in our dimensions. Plus if we leave, who looks after New York in our places?" Said Gwen.

"Good. You changed your mind."

"Yeah. After hearing B."

"I'm just worried what sort of work he'll have us do. He's obviously crazy."

"We can only wait and see. But surely it's worth it to keep what we have?"

Miles nodded his agreement.

"B it is then."

Conall clapped his hands together, having listened to the conversation.

"Good choice. Now, we have a machine to destroy."

He stood up and raised a closed fist in front of him before pushing it forward and opening it simultaneously. Another flaming golden gateway appeared in front of them.

"After you."

The pair put their masks on and stepped through the gateway. Conall sighed and followed them.

"Bloody lovers. Always ruining everything." He muttered.

Note
Hello reader. I recently got into Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse and felt like checking out some of the fan fiction. However, I found a rather large quantity of it revolved around Miles and Gwen's relationship, and contained them doing a lot of...dodgy things, shall we say. Of course, this is the internet so that's to be expected. However, I felt that the cinematic masterpiece that the film is deserved more respect. That was when I decided to return to my days of writing fan-fiction and provide everyone with a story where Miles' and Gwen's relationship is very much present, but is a side part of the story instead of the central plot point. I'll try to do my best, but I've never considered myself a great writer so some of the dodgy fan-fics may end up having better stories.

So, I hope you will consider keeping up with my rollercoaster ride through the multiverse, introducing new characters, new universes and most likely a few crossovers. I've no idea where I'll take this, but I hope you will enjoy it whichever direction it goes.

Crossovers

There are A LOT of crossovers in this story. So many, in fact, that I didn't know what crossover category to put it in so I've left it as just a regular fan-fiction. However, I'll list all the crossovers at the end of the chapters they're in. There weren't any in this one.