Part 1 - Fires of Revolution

Chapter 19 - Preparation

Miles and Gwen were kissing. They had been for almost ten minutes now. Both were scared of losing each other. Miles had been discharged from the medical room only fifteen minutes after arriving since his worst injury was a cut on his arm. Gwen had taken a little longer, however; Borg nanoprobes were extremely difficult to deal with. Even now, the veins around where the tubes had caught her were black, although the darkness was slowly retreating. The holes made by the tubes were visible as scars and would be for the rest of her life. The pair broke apart as there was a series of beeps from the door to their quarters aboard headquarters.

"Have we ever managed to do that without be interrupted?" Asked Miles quietly.

"Yeah. Only once. In the interrogation room."

"That sounds so weird."

Gwen gave him a wink and walked to the door. She tapped a button beside it, causing it to slide open. Edward was leaning against the wall opposite.

"Sorry if I was interrupting anything."

Gwen raised her eyebrows questioningly. Edward chuckled.

"I'm an admiral. I spend my life inspecting uniforms. I notice the smallest things. Your shirt is crumpled."

She looked down at the standard issue clothes she and Miles had been given to wear when not wearing their spider suits.

"Anything could have caused that."

"I'm guessing you weren't rubbing yourself on a wall, and most people don't lie face-down while sleeping unless they want to suffocate. Anyway, enough of that. I came because I need to take you both up to briefing room five. There's a mission for you."

"Now?" Enquired Miles, appearing at Gwen's shoulder.

"ASAP. Sooner the better. There's a team waiting for you."

"Oh. Let's go then."

A few minutes later, Edward opened the door to the briefing room. There were a few people inside. The only one the pair recognised was the Doctor. The Doctor gave a wave and they waved back. Miles turned to look at Edward but he had disappeared, closing the door behind him. He sat down and Gwen did the same. The Doctor stood up.

"So, now we're all here, let's introduce ourselves so it isn't so awkward. I'm the Doctor."

"Is that it? Just the Doctor?" Asked one of the strangers with a strange glowing blue object in his chest.

"I never tell anyone my real name. It's not a language you would understand."

The man shrugged. The stranger on his right raised his hand.

"Steve Rogers, otherwise known as Captain America, or Cap."

"Natasha Romanov." Said the other stranger on the man with the blue object's right.

The man sat forwards.

"Tony Stark. You two don't need to introduce yourselves." He pointed at Miles. "You're the kid who's ribs I broke when you were working for Conall. And you're magic girl."

Miles narrowed his eyes.

"I knew I recognised you from somewhere. I'm Miles Morales."

"Gwen Stacy. Or 'magic girl' apparently."

"I prefer magic girl. It has a nice ring to it, nice and simple." Stark replied.

"Can we focus please? This mission isn't going to be a walk in the park, although it will contain a lot of walking." Interrupted the Doctor.

Stark didn't reply.

"Good. Now listen closely. When the Borg ditched us they took three of the four Ethereal plates we had collected."

"Fortunately not the one matching magic girl's suit." Joked Stark.

"Tony." Said Cap, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just quite funny that they forgot that one, not the green one. That would look horrible..."

"Oh my goodness, will you shut up before I web your face." Said Gwen grumpily.

Silence fell once again. The Doctor took a deep breath.

"Thank you. As I was saying, they took three Ethereal Plates. Our mission is to retrieve them. They're stored in one of the largest ships in the multiverse, although not the largest: a Borg unimatrix."

With a tap of a button, an image appeared of the enormous Borg cylindrical ship; the ship that had the holes in either end.

"She measures roughly eight and a half kilometres in length. Crew complement of a couple million drones. The plates are held in three separate compartments here, here and here."

The image highlighted three sections on the ship. One was a quarter of the way from the front, one halfway down the ship and the last a quarter of the way from the rear of the ship. At least that was the direction Miles figured it was facing. Truthfully he had no idea.

"Unfortunately our only external resource on this ship is a video game in 9633 called Star Trek Online. She never appeared in any films or TV shows. In this game you only see the outside of the ship. Our other source is the few times people have boarded it. That's how we know where the Plates are held."

"This is all assuming they weren't moved." Said Cap.

"Yes. But given that this ship is so large that next to nothing threatens her, she is the perfect hiding place for the Plates."

"Conall is smart. He may have anticipated us thinking that." Said Miles.

"And thus he will leave them there thinking we'll think he moved them, so he'll think it's the last place we'll look."

"Or...he just left them there?" Miles suggested.

"Or just that but that isn't as fun to say. Anyway, that leaves us with one issue to resolve: how to get aboard. The TARDIS can land with ease, but there is the problem of the shields."

"Magic girl, what's the largest thing you've punched?" Asked Stark.

"No idea, but it's about to be you and your ego. I'm surprised the station hasn't split in half with the weight yet." Gwen replied.

Miles gave a whistle in response to the insult.

"I'm just thinking you could do a magic trick and knock the shield out."

"Then keep thinking. The Plate is powerful but not that powerful. That or I'll disintegrate from the amount of energy."

"Don't do that." Whispered Miles.

"We might be able to inject a computer virus into the Collective, ordering them to drop their shields." Suggested Natasha.

"We would have to expand the team. And the person would have to be quite familiar with technology like this." Replied Cap.

Miles and Gwen came to the exact same conclusion at the same time.

"I think I..." They both started saying, then stopped.

Gwen nodded at Miles to say it.

"I think we know someone. She just isn't part of the resistance as far as we know."

"If you're about to say another eight legged friend I'm going to break your ribs again."

Gwen fired a web over Stark's mouth. Everyone in the room looked at her.

"He needs to learn to shut up." She replied to their surprised looks.

Miles grinned at her.

"The person is called Peni Parker. She's another spider person. Me and Gwen have worked with her a couple of times. She's really good with electronics."

"She would need an accomplice, maybe multiple. We're talking about the Borg here." Replied the Doctor.

Miles and Gwen looked at each other for a couple of seconds, trying to gauge each other's thoughts. Miles turned back to them.

"We can think of another three spider people off the tops of our heads, as well as her." He said.

"I can think of more than three, but I trust those three the most." Added Gwen.

"Right. We'll need to get that sorted. Unless there are any other suggestions?"

"Most of our suggestions are gone. I assume you know the location of the unimatrix?" Replied Cap.

"Dimension 2095. It's been assimilating the population of Earth one person at a time. Which means that these two are the only two with any contacts with the skill set needed. Those four spider people are our only bet."

"Only if they agree." Said Natasha.

"They will. Spider people don't hesitate to jump in when lives are at stake." Replied Miles.

"Good."

Half-an-hour later, Miles, Gwen and the Doctor were standing in the TARDIS again. The two spiders were suited up.

"First stop: Peni Parker." Muttered the Doctor as he slammed the levers on the grating sound started and stopped soon after.

Miles pit his mask on and opened the door. He took a step back.

"Woah, a bit high up."

"Scared of heights all of a sudden?" Teased Gwen, but realised his fear as she looked over his shoulder.

Clouds hid the ground from view. The Doctor shrugged.

"Skyscrapers of the future are a bit bigger than they are now. Go!"

Miles and Gwen took a glance at each other, then leapt out the door, Gwen making her hood and mask morph into position as they did so.

"This put's a new meaning to leap of faith!" Yelled Miles as they fell.

"Before you ask, my suit does not come with a parachute!" Gwen shouted back.

They were suddenly aware that they had cleared the clouds. Skyscrapers rose up all around them. Miles spotted a bright ball of flames from the street below. He and Gwen fired webs at the towers and began to swing downwards at a more comfortable speed. As they got lower and lower, they could make out a fight going on. A red and blue robot was fighting some sort of mutant green creature.

"Wow, Peni's dimension has a Goblin too!" Shouted Miles.

"Clearly! Time to end him!"

Gwen double tapped the hourglass. The magenta plate burst into being, lighting up her suit. Energy crackled from her hand. With a last swing, her fist struck Goblin in the head, flattening him to the ground. Miles hurled a burning car at him for good measure. The pair landed between the robot and its opponent.

"That was painfully easy. There won't be any fun to being Spiderwoman now." Gwen commented.

"I'm sure you can ditch the plate every now and then." Miles replied.

The robot scurried up the side of a relatively low building and climbed onto its roof. Miles and Gwen swung up after it.

"Miles! Gwen!" Exclaimed Peni excitedly.

"Hey Peni. How are things going?" Asked Miles.

"Even better now you're both here. New suit, Gwen?"

Gwen nodded.

"Miles is still waiting for an upgrade. Don't ask me to tell you the story. It's a long one."

"You can tell me later. What are you guys doing here?"

"We need your help. I don't know if you're aware but there's an inter-dimensional war going on." Replied Miles.

"That would explain why criminals keep appearing when I've already locked them up. How can I help?"

Miles explained the situation with the plates and the mission, along with her part in it.

"Of course I'll help. Which dimension?"

Peni raised her wrist, flashing her watch. At the same time, the TARDIS descended and landed with a clunk.

"That's the TARDIS. We're currently based in the world between worlds. You'll still need the watch to stop glitching." Explained Gwen.

The robot made a confused face as it seemingly scanned the police box.

"How's it bigger on the inside?" Asked Peni.

"Go ask the Doctor. He's the guy inside."

Peni opened the doors. He robot followed her inside. She looked around in wonder. The Doctor was leaning on the console.

"Wait for it..." He said.

"She already knows." Replied Miles as he and Gwen followed Peni inside.

"These blasted TV shows. They ruin all the fun."

"Actually the robot scanned it."

"Still. No fun. Anyway, next stop is this guy Noir, I believe. I might like this guy. I always wanted to go and kill Hitler."

Miles and Gwen walked into a bar. As Miles thought about it, the more he realised it sounded like the beginning of a bad joke. They saw Noir immediately and sat down next to him. He turned to face them.

"Hello, again." He said in his monotone voice.

"A lot has happened since our last meeting." Replied Gwen.

The pair gave him the rundown.

"Fighting a bunch of wanna-be Nazi cyborgs? Sounds right up my street."

They guided Noir to the TARDIS which was hidden away in an alley.

"It's bigger on the inside." He mumbled, looking around.

"Aww come on. You could be a bit more enthusiastic than that!" Exclaimed the Doctor, pulling the levers once more, taking them to Spiderham.

Things were much simpler with Spiderham. They found him roaming the streets of his New York, snapping pictures of anything which might turn into a newspaper article. After telling him the story and mission, he grabbed his trusty hammer and they returned to the TARDIS once more.

"This might make the front page."

He began snapping photos, but there was a strange noise and sparks flew out of the camera.

"No pictures! They might get back to a future companion then I won't get as much fun out of it."

Miles and Gwen stepped out the TARDIS onto a quiet street.

"This is the place." Said Miles.

"Do you want to do this one on your own? You and Peter were pretty close."

"Nah, he'll be happy to see you as well."

Miles fired a web at the doorbell of the yellow house. The door opened. A woman with red-brown hair appeared. She took one look at them and turned back into the house and shouted something. A moment later, Peter B Parker appeared.

"Miles! How are you doing?" He said excitedly, skipping down the steps.

Miles pulled his mask up.

"Not too bad. You? I see your...'dimensional warping' has worn off."

"Hey!"

Gwen gave a small cough.

"Oh, sorry. Hey Gwen. Rocking the new suit."

"Good to see you too." She replied, double tapping the side of her head.

"Did I just see that? It just..."

"It's weird." Explained Miles.

"Yeah, you got that right. So, you here for a social visit?"

"Not really, but I'm..." Miles started, but Gwen interrupted him.

"No, we aren't. We need your help."

Miles' shoulders sank, but he explained what was happening and the mission.

"Fellow spiders in need? I'll grab my suit."

A few minutes later, the trio entered the TARDIS. Peter stopped in his tracks.

"What the...have you slipped me something?"

"It's called a TARDIS. A time-space machine." Explained the Doctor, a grin clearly visible on his face.

"I'm guessing this day is going to get a lot weirder when we start fighting robot guys."

Despite it taking an hour to get the reinforcements, five minutes after they left, the TARDIS landed back in the hangar. The three members of the Avengers were waiting for them, all suited up. They entered as soon as the last clang sounded. The Doctor looked at them expectantly, but they didn't comment. He sighed and said:

"Time to rob the Borg. What could go wrong? Geronimo!"

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Star Trek
- Doctor Who
- Avengers