Part 1 - Fires of Revolution

Chapter 23 - No Place Like Home

Miles woke up before Gwen. At first he wondered why he was in Gwen's bed, but it came back to him quickly. She lay peacefully, her head resting on his chest. He turned a little to look at the time: two minutes to nine in the morning. He gently played with Gwen's hair, recalling the moment when his hand had become stuck in it. Now, his hand didn't get stuck which was a relief. He noticed the tips of most of the strands were grey, most likely killed by the Borg nanoprobes. It didn't matter to him, and even if it did, it would be gone the next time she had a haircut. She stirred. Her eyes opened slowly. She put her hand to the implant above her eyebrow and sighed.

"Were you dreaming about the Borg again?" Miles asked her.

She slid out of the bed and looked in the mirror.

"A little. I'm not sure how long I can keep fighting this war, Miles. There's so much resting on my shoulders."

Miles came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her neck.

"At least we get some time away. Just the two of us."

She turned around and kissed him.

"Is today Christmas day at home? Or is it just coming up?" She asked.

Miles looked at his watch and typed in her dimension.

"In 7065, it's New Year's Eve. Which means it's Christmas Eve in mine. Come on, let's make the most of this."

They picked up their bags which they had packed their suits into the night before. Even at Christmas, people still committed crimes. It would be good to be back to something they were used to. The war had made them both appreciate just how much even the smallest things mattered, even if it was people doing bad.

A few minutes later, they typed in Miles' dimension to their watches and warped there, setting off an alarm in headquarters. For once it was none of their concern. They landed in Central Park. The ground was covered with snow. They shivered and decided to go and buy jackets. Miles realised he didn't have any money, so they made a detour to his house. They stopped just outside. Plastered on a lamp post was a picture of Miles and his parents; the word 'missing' was printed beneath it. He stopped and lowered his head, his thoughts shifting from the joy of being away from the war at last to the memory of his parents. Gwen put a hand on his shoulder. He held it, still looking at the ground. Suddenly, a door opened across the road.

"Miles? Is that you?" Asked a woman who emerged from the door.

"Yeah...it's me." He said, looking up at his neighbour.

They rushed over.

"Where have you and your family been? Nobody has seen or heard from you all for almost two weeks. And from you for months! And then there's all the people saying you are Spiderman after that thing that went down in Manhattan. Quite frankly, I don't believe a word of it."

"It's...complicated."

"Where are your parents?"

Miles turned to the poster again. He used his finger nail to rip his parents' faces out of the picture.

"They're dead, along with too many others."

His neighbour took a sharp intake of breath.

"They were such lovely people...this breaks my heart. Would you and your friend like to come over for a warm drink? You look frozen."

Miles shook his head.

"We're fine, but thank you for the offer. We're just here to get a couple of things."

"Of course. Let me know if there is anything I can do."

The neighbour turned and disappeared back inside their house, pausing for a second when they noticed Gwen's implant. Miles took his key from his bag and opened the door to his own. A thin layer of dust coated every surface. His heart ached at the sight. Gwen closed the door behind them and watched Miles pick his way through the empty rooms. He picked up a picture of him and his parents when he was only ten. A tear landed on the dust covered floor. He gently placed the picture in his bag and entered his room, grabbed his wallet with all his money in it and looked around. He picked up his notepad with all his sketches in it and put that in his bag as well. Satisfied he had found everything he wanted he returned to the front door. Gwen hadn't moved out of fear of disturbing the peace of the house. She gave him a sad smile.

"There's nothing either of us could have done to save them. The hardest part about our job is that we can't save everyone." Said Miles quietly.

"Didn't Spiderham say that after your uncle died?"

"He did. But it's true."

"You don't even need to have known who lived here to know that something isn't right. A family shattered by hatred."

Miles took her hand.

"Conall will never shatter us."

They left and Miles locked the door behind them. He took a deep breath and slipped the key through the letter box before turning away and giving Gwen a smile. She smiled back. Just as they reached the corner of the road, a police car turned in. Clearly Miles' neighbour had done what any sane person would do when they found a missing person and called the police. He lowered his head so they wouldn't recognise him. The pair continued to walk, leaving the scene behind.

After buying some cheap, but warm jackets, the pair found themselves back in Central Park. They sat down on a bench as the light began to fade, holding hands. People still went about their business, completely unaware of the interdimensional war being fought for all their sakes. A small group began to have a snowball fight nearby. Snowflakes began to drift downwards. Miles stood up and crossed the path. He knelt down in the snow and began to build a pair of small snowmen. Gwen knelt down next to him as he added the finishing touches. She drew a heart around them. They returned to their bench and cuddled up together.

"You know...we're almost adults and we're still building snowmen." Said Gwen.

"Even adults need to have some fun. Anyway, we're only seventeen and eighteen."

"It's terrifying how close we've come to losing each other so much recently."

Miles held her a little tighter.

"But the combined forces of Conall and the Borg couldn't break us apart."

"In all honesty, I'm still a bit surprised you still love me after being assimilated."

"I would still love you, even if you remained Borg. I mean...I wouldn't go near you in case you tried to assimilate me, but I would still love the you I knew."

"Doesn't the implant bother you?"

"Why should it? Worlds apart, and somehow what ends it all is a bit of metal."

"I see your point. I guess that fear was just me being stupid."

"Hey, some people would have moved on the minute those tubes hit the person they 'loved'. It isn't a baseless fear."

"And you tried to throw yourself out an airlock because you couldn't bear to be away from me."

"I did manage it. The world between worlds smells weird, and it's really warm."

Gwen laughed.

"Should I be concerned that you're more worried about how a world smells rather than the fact you tried to take your own life?"

"It's just a thought."

There were a few seconds of silence, then Gwen turned to look at him.

"Promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll never try and take your life again. If you had managed...where would I be now?"

"I didn't think there was any coming back from the Borg. I promise I'll never do it again, no matter how hopeless it seems."

Gwen pressed her lips to Miles'. He pressed back, wrapping his arms around her.

The two spiders woke suddenly, shivering in the cold. A thin layer of snow lay on top of them. They shook it off and looked around, wondering if it had just been the cold which had woken them or something else. A small group of people came sprinting past, some in tears, one of them screaming.

"That doesn't sound good." Muttered Miles.

"No. Let's suit up."

They threw their spider suits on over their clothes, although not over their jackets since that would be a bit bulky.

"Does your suit have heating in it?" Asked Miles.

"Yes. I'm guessing yours doesn't."

"Nope...I really need an upgrade."

They hid their bags behind a tree, leaving a bit of web on it to remind them which one it was. They swung out of Central Park towards where the people had been running from.

A few minutes later, the spiders found themselves staring down at a crime scene. A metal mech suit was stomping down a street away from a bank. It vaguely resembled a rhino, except the last time Miles had checked, rhinos didn't carry high calibre machine guns. The person inside the suit was yelling something at a line of police cars and spectators.

"Where is your Spiderman now? He is weak! He ran away from people like me!"

Gwen turned to Miles.

"Looks like people are taking advantage of your absence."

"I think I'm going to handle this one on my own. If it looks like it's going badly you can swing in."

"Good luck."

Miles leapt off the side of the building. With a few shots from his web shooters, he landed between the police cars and the Rhino.

"I hardly call this running away." He taunted.

The Rhino laughed.

"What will the little boy do?"

Miles narrowed his eyes and looked around; that suit of armour wasn't going down with kicks and punches. He spotted a weapon and swung upwards, webbing a car and hurling it at the mech. The Rhino turned and began to pelt the projectile with bullets, but they did nothing to stop it from slamming into it. The crowd and police officers began cheering as Miles dodged the bullets which headed his way with ease, twisting and turning like a serpent. He fired webs at the machine and pulled himself towards it at high speed. His foot came into contact with it and he clung on. He pulled at the cracks between the metal plates, tearing them off. The Rhino shook from side to side frantically. After one enormous jolt, Miles was thrown off. He recovered just as the ground around him erupted with bullet holes. He sprinted forwards, dodging and weaving, occasionally jumping to avoid the deadly shots. Seconds later he was on top of his opponent again, tearing apart the armour. He came to a circuit board and punched it.

"I really hope that wasn't important." He said with a grin.

A moment later, one of the legs on the machine became paralysed. He continued to destroy circuits and snap wires. The mech began to slowly fall apart. Realising this was taking too long, Miles charged up a venom strike and punched the next circuit board he found. It exploded in a shower of sparks, and blue electricity crackled from the mech as it crumpled to the floor. Miles leapt clear. The person opened the canopy and crawled out, groaning. Police officers rushed forwards and had a pair of handcuffs on the occupant before they knew what was happening. A fresh chorus of cheers and whoops erupted from the onlookers. He raised his hand to give a peace sign, then swung back up to Gwen.

"Nice job, Spiderman." She commented.

"It's so good to be back doing something where I'm not just the guy getting beaten all the time."

"I'm sure that will change with the war some day soon."

Somewhere in the distance, they heard a clock tower strike midnight. Miles pulled his mask off.

"Merry Christmas." He said to her.

"Merry Christmas."

They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds before Gwen giggled and turned away.

"It's kind of cold up here. We should probably find somewhere to stay." She said.

"Yeah...I hope nobody heard that out of context..."

She giggled again.

"Come on. There must a hotel around here somewhere with an empty room."

Crossovers in this Chapter

There weren't really any; just some mentions of the Borg.