Part 2 - 'Til Death do us Part
Chapter 33 - Deja Vu
"These are the two?" Kingpin asked Edward.
"Yes."
"I have no fight with them."
"Perhaps when they put on the masks..."
Miles took the hint. He reached into the bag Gwen had packed and pulled out the small balls which were their suits. Both pressed them to their chests and they morphed into their suits. Kingpin's expression darkened.
"Spiderman. And Spiderwoman." He sneered.
"You three need to sort things out peacefully. We aren't going to win this war if we're going to fight each other."
Miles stood up and offered Kingpin his hand. Kingpin shook his head.
"You took my family. I will never help you or any of your associates."
He clenched his fist. Edward stepped between him and Miles.
"If you won't work with them I'll take you straight back to prison."
"I would rather spend a lifetime in prison than help these webbed freaks."
The ex-billionaire stormed out. Edward sighed as Miles sat down again, turning his suit back into a ball of programmable matter.
"Will you actually take him back to prison?" Asked Gwen, scared her last chance for redemption was slipping away.
"If he stays true to his word and refuses to help then yes, in which case we're stuck."
The Doctor returned.
"That guy was in a bad mood."
"He still doesn't want to make friends with the spiders." Replied Edward, sitting on a desk.
"That will be why I just heard him smash the computer he was working with."
"That was quick."
"It is just a couple of doors down."
The admiral and Time Lord looked at each other with concern on their faces. After a few minutes of silence, Edward tapped his com badge.
"Admiral Melbourne to security."
"Go ahead, Admiral."
"Apprehend Kingpin and get one of the transports to take him back to prison."
"Aye."
The silence returned. A few seconds later they heard something going on down the corridor but the sound soon died away.
"Well, we're screwed." Muttered Edward, sliding off the desk and double tapping the screen, switching it off.
"Maybe we aren't." Said Gwen, running her hand along the scar above her left eyebrow.
She had earned the scar after the Quintari had removed the last Borg implants in her body, following her assimilation and exodus from the Collective. All eyes in the room turned to her. Miles was surprised by her change in mood. She didn't seem that enthusiastic, but she gave off much more positive vibes than she had the last three years.
"We have the TARDIS, right? A time machine. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. We just go and get the schematics from the past."
"From when? And where?" Asked the Doctor.
"A little trip down memory lane: Alchemax headquarters. Miles and Peter B did all the hard work of getting the computer with the schematics out the building. I just saved you from Doc Ock. It should just be a simple dive in, grab the thing and go."
Edward frowned.
"Why has nobody thought of this before now?"
The Doctor shrugged.
"I have no idea, but it's all we have."
"Then I want you to take our spider friends there. Grab the computer and go; don't mess up time too much."
"We'll try, but no promises."
A forest in Hudson Valley, five years ago...
Gwen landed on a tree branch in front of Miles and Peter B Parker whom she had webbed up just a few moments before. She pulled her mask off and shook her hood off her hair.
"Hey guys!" She said cheerily.
"Gwanda?" Exclaimed Miles, shocked that the girl he had tried to get with just the day before was another spider person.
"It's Gwen actual..."
Her spider sense screamed. She stepped to the side, but a person dressed in black and white, with hints of teal and magenta, slammed into her. Gwen and the person tumbled towards the ground, the newcomer trying to snatch the computer from under her arm. She kicked at them, but the device flew out of her hands and embedded itself in the snow between the pair as they hit the ground. Gwen looked at her aggressor who stood up and double tapped the side of their head, their mask morphing away. She recognised her older self despite some aging and an ugly scar over her eyebrow.
"You look like crap." Said young Gwen.
"Look who's talking." Replied older Gwen.
Young Miles stared in shock.
"Two Gwandas?"
His older self landed on the tree branch and cut him and Peter free. The trio dropped down, standing by the Gwen from their own time. Older Miles morphed his mask away.
"Gwen, I thought you were going for the computer?"
Both Gwens looked at him. Old Gwen spoke:
"I was, but little me used her spider sense and walked in the way."
Peter coughed to get attention.
"What's going on?"
The older Miles sighed.
"Long story short, we need that."
He nodded at the computer.
"We need that to get home. Plus we stole it from the bad guys so...finders keepers."
Suddenly, two things happened simultaneously. The first was the familiar grating sound of the TARDIS which descended behind older Miles and Gwen. The Doctor appeared in the doorway. At the same time, a golden ring of flames erupted to one side of the stand-off. Older Miles, Gwen and the Doctor's blood ran cold. From the dimensional gateway emerged Conall, a golden cape flowing out behind him.
"I forgot he's alive right now." Older Miles whispered.
"Maybe we can get an ally." Older Gwen whispered back.
"I doubt it. It's Conall."
She ignored him.
"You know, Conall, I never thought I'd say this but I kind of miss you."
Conall frowned.
"I don't even know who you are...yet. But I assume I will soon. I just came here because there's so much going on. A TARDIS, four people out of their home dimensions, three people out of their own time. Was this your doing, Doctor?"
The Doctor shrugged.
"Well then, what's all the kerfuffle?"
Younger Gwen took a step towards the computer.
"We need this to get me and Peter home to our own dimensions. And to stop Kingpin who has a collider which might open a black hole under Brooklyn." She said, glaring at her elder.
Older Gwen took a step towards the computer as well.
"We need this to defeat someone called Helltreader who's going to kill a lot of people."
Conall scoffed.
"Helltreader? That guy absorbed the Sun in his home dimension and thought it made him invincible. Just made him cocky, I think. This collider sounds like it's gonna cause a lot of temporal problems. I think I'll destroy this before destroying the one this Kingpin guy has."
He took a step forwards, golden flames erupting from his eyes and golden energy crackling from his hand.
"No!" The two Gwens yelled, firing webs at him.
He was knocked backwards by the combined force and pinned to a tree. Suddenly, a claw snatched the computer.
"Ooh! Five spiders! This is quite the party."
Older Gwen sighed.
"Learn to kick harder, mini me."
She leapt at Ock as Alchemax scientists appeared over the ridge and opened fire. Conall had managed to tear himself free. His body lit up gold and everyone was knocked to the floor as he threw his arms out. The computer hurtled towards him, but Peter leapt in front of him and snatched it. Older Miles morphed his mask back into place and charged a venom strike.
"I'm sorry, Peter."
Peter was hurled backwards. Older and young Miles ran to catch the machine but Ock's claw grabbed it in mid-air. The Doctor aimed his sonic screwdriver. It glowed blue and buzzed causing Ock's pack to begin to spark. The claws slowly became limp as they deflated. The two Gwens punched her and swung upwards. Young Gwen pushed off a tree at herself, but older Gwen brought her fist round into her face. Young Gwen stuck to another tree.
"I almost felt that." She taunted her older self.
Blue lasers shot past them as the Alchemax scientists fired again. The two Gwens leapt down to deal with them. Meanwhile, older Miles was facing down Conall. They circled each other.
"You realise I can kill you easily, right?" Asked Conall.
"Yeah. You tried a few times. Not even a space ship managed."
Conall drew a golden longsword and leapt at Miles. Miles rolled out the way and Conall skidded past, embedding the blade in the ground to stop himself. He charged at the spider again, but a well aimed web ensnared him. Miles looked and saw his young Miles looking quite pleased with himself. Older him fired a web at his younger counterpart.
"Stay down. And don't give up going after Gwen. I'll make sure she's still alive after this."
Peter swung past, the computer in his clutches. Conall hurled himself at him. Older Miles did the same. The three collided, Miles having charged a mega venom strike which struck Conall's charged golden fist. There was an explosion which flattened a number of trees and blasted everyone into the ground. Young Gwen managed to catch the computer before crashing into the ground next to young Miles.
"Hold this." She instructed, webbing the machine to her future lover and swinging away again.
Older Gwen swooped in and cut it free.
"Really? Me? There has to be some other girl out there that's better than the miserable wreck I'll turn into." She joked.
There was a grating sound behind her. The Doctor skidded the TARDIS to a halt. She was about jump inside but something happened she really wasn't expecting: a golden jet of energy struck the blue police box. It began to shake, exploding in a blast which hurled her and every other object hundreds of metres away from the epicentre. Just before older Gwen hit the ground, she pulled young Miles close to her and grabbed the computer with a web, sticking it to a tree trunk which embedded itself in the mud and snow. She opened her glide suit, levelling the fall a little so that she hit the ground at an angle which meant she didn't break her back. After a bounce, she skidded to a halt and pushed Miles off her. He was alive and so was she. What about her younger self and older Miles? Gwen noted a tear in her glide suit. Not to worry; it repaired itself whenever she folded it which she did now, getting to her feet. She looked around: it was a scene of utter devastation. Even over a kilometre from the epicentre, trees were flattened. The Alchemax headquarters could be seen, its front caved in by the force. She saw the computer stuck to the tree trunk and retrieved it. One of the side panels had broken off, but it looked like the hard drive was intact. She ripped it out.
"Good news: we don't need all that." She told Miles.
Miles pulled the Halloween costume's mask off, gasping for breath.
"What the heck just happened?"
Gwen offered him her hand.
"I believe my old buddy Conall just blew up my ride home. He might have also killed my husband, but you turned out to be a pretty smart spider person so he might be OK."
Miles pulled himself to his feet.
"We're married in your time?"
"I'm married to my Miles, not you. But yeah...kind of. Time is weird."
"What about this Conall guy? He just...what is he?"
"In my time, he was a psycho who I thought was a good guy, then realised he wasn't so fought a war against him and ended up doing some stuff I'd rather not talk about."
"Like what?"
"I just said, I don't want to talk about it."
"Wha..."
"Miles!" Gwen yelled, cupping her hands to her mouth, hoping her husband would hear.
She listened for a response...none. She sighed and looked at her hand where her wedding ring was just visible as a small bump in her suit. He was alive out there, she knew it. As for the Doctor, Conall, Doc Ock, young Gwen, Peter and the Alchemax scientists, she didn't know. It seemed unlikely the Doctor was still alive. She hoped for young Miles' sake that young Gwen was OK, but there was nothing she could do for them. The TARDIS was gone; she was trapped in her own past with a younger version of the man she loved so dearly.
"Why are computers so expensive these days?" Muttered young Miles jokingly, looking at the devastation around him and thinking about how all of this happened over a computer.
Crossovers in this Chapter
- Doctor Who