Part 2 - 'Til Death do us Part

Chapter 39 - The Truth of 9578

The dinner was relatively simple but extremely delicious in Miles' opinion. The waiters cleared the dishes then left the four alone. A moment later, the door opened again and a man entered carrying a briefcase.

"Good evening, Madam President." They said to Helen, giving a nod of acknowledgment to the spiders and Edward.

He pulled a chair up between Edward and Helen.

"Hello Harold. Edward, Miles, Gwen, this is my military advisor Harold Archer."

Edward shook Harold's hand, introducing himself. Miles and Gwen did the same.

"So, if the memo was right today, I believe we're discussing 7065?" Said Harold, opening his briefcase and pulled out two rectangular objects which he placed at opposite ends of the table.

"It was right, for once." Replied Helen.

"Good."

Harold tapped one of the rectangles. A three dimensional map appeared.

"OK, I'll give you all the run down then we discuss the plan. This is a map of New York, 7065, created with a squad of Phantoms this morning. We're led to believe that Helltreader's soldiers are camped in this building, here."

Harold pointed to something sticking up.

"We have to wipe them out before they try something. So, what's the plan?"

"I'd say it's simple. We use Phantoms to hit these supports and the thing should come crashing down on top of them. Problem solved with no blood shed on our side." Replied Helen.

Gwen shook her head and sat forward.

"No. It won't work. Two things: first, that's not a building. It's a Reaper carcass. Secondly, we aren't talking about soldiers. These people are mostly civilians. Some of them might have military experience, so they are soldiers. But most are just survivors who Helltreader promised something he'll most likely never deliver on."

"If they shoot, they're enemies and we take them out the same way. If they don't, we'll give them a chance to surrender peacefully.

"Not everything is so absolute as that. Anyway, as I said, it's a Reaper. Edward can back me up with this. You won't get through them with all the firepower in the world."

Edward nodded, backing her up as she had asked him to.

"She's right. The only thing to take them out without hitting their weak spot was an antimatter weapon."

"We can use gas, then. Drop a couple of pods upwind and take them out that way."

"That's inhumane, Harold." Said Helen, shaking her head.

"Then the only way to do it is with a strike force. Send in some troops of our own and hold them at gun point."

"They're pretty angry at Gwen. I don't think an assault rifle is going to make much of a difference." Replied Miles.

"Hold on, you did this to them?" Asked Harold, pointing at Gwen.

"It's...not something I like to talk about." She replied, not sure what to say that wouldn't make her sound completely evil.

"She was possessed by an Ethereal plate. It wasn't her fault." Said Miles in her defence.

"Never mind then. We can discuss that later. Right now we need a strategy. Since they're so mad at Gwen, we need to shake them up a bit before asking for their surrender. A small airstrike on the outskirts of their hideout should do it." Said Helen.

"A good plan. Then the strike force. Who shall we send?" Asked Harold, typing something on a holographic keyboard which had appeared on his arm.

"I'll go." Gwen volunteered immediately.

"If she's going, I'll go as well." Said Miles.

"Send Teresa. She'll freak them out even more." Added Helen.

"We'll take her squad then." Replied Harold, noting it down wherever it was the keyboard sent text.

"If that's sorted, I think our spider friends will need some rest. We'll launch the strike at 0800, 7065 time." Helen concluded.

Edward had given Gwen and Miles their orders when passing back through the rift a short while after they did. They were to report to the military base at 0900. Their plan was to get up at half-past eight, but they were woken up at eight by a roaring sound, followed shortly after by a number of booms a few moments later. They put their suits on and went outside to watch as a squadron of four Serenity aircraft flew in circuits.

"They use those things for everything." Muttered Gwen.

"I guess it means you can't tell if you're gonna shoot down a civilian and cause an international crisis, or a military jet that way. Makes you less likely to hit it."

"Or more likely. Reverse psychology."

"It's probably even. Either way, they do look cool."

The squadron tore over the camp again. A few seconds later, they released a deluge of small, black cylinders which exploded near the Reaper where the survivors were holed up. The Phantoms then did a sharp turn to perform yet another round. Gwen narrowed her eyes a little, noticing some small details about the Reaper.

"Miles, I think that's the Reaper we jumped off into your old school when we were fighting."

"Yeah. I broke a rib and punctured a lung, somehow not noticing until I woke up in a hospital bed."

"Let's not talk about it before I get depressed. Being here again is bad enough. I need some breakfast."

An hour and fifteen minutes later, two more Phantoms briefly touched down and offloaded a squad of troops as well as the spiders. The commander of the squad, a woman around Miles and Gwen's age, shouted some orders. She didn't carry a rifle like the rest. Instead, she wore some sort of metal armour that was clearly designed to take damage instead of deal it. In their discussion with her before the quick briefing, they found out she was the person called Teresa who had been mentioned at the 'doomsday dinner' as Miles had decided to call it. It also turned out that she was Helen's adopted daughter. They didn't know much else except she was one of the best military commanders in Serenity. Miles and Gwen stuck with her as they hurried after the squad. The troops stopped and took cover either side of a small doorway into an area which had been barred off with debris. A metal helmet appeared around Teresa's head. She pulled out her only obvious weapon, a pistol, and kicked the door in, raising it in case she needed to fire. No resistance came so she led the squad and spiders down the passageway.

After a few minutes, they came to the end of the corridor. It opened up into a large chamber directly beneath the Reaper. Miles turned invisible and climbed onto the roof. He switched his suit to thermal vision so that he could see in the darkness, pierced by a fire in the middle of the room. He whispered to the squad what he saw through an ear piece. Most people were huddled in a corner, clutching weapons. Some were in another, clearly preparing an ambush. Gwen climbed up the roof to join him. Teresa made a hand gesture and the squad began to move towards the larger group in the corner, their weapons raised. They stopped about fifteen metres short and flicked the flashlights on their rifles on.

"Freeze! Put your hands up!" Yelled Teresa at a volume which surprised the spiders.

Miles saw the ambush creeping up on the soldiers, slowly circling to block the escape, before switching on their own flashlights.

"You're trapped! Put the guns down and raise your hands!"

Miles and Gwen leapt down. The former landed on top of someone, knocking them to the floor. Gwen did the same before leaping onto another and wrapping her legs around their neck. Enemy guns turned towards her and Miles, letting loose streams of bullets. Miles began to knock them out one by one, still invisible. The Serenity soldiers tensed up as the last of the ambush fell. Those huddled in the corner began to get up, picking up weapons. Teresa rolled her eyes.

"Fine then. We'll play it dirty."

Miles and Gwen frowned as she knelt down on one knee. She punched the ground. Three things flickered, then two of them disappeared. A blue, white, and slightly transparent version of Teresa appeared just in front of her. The Serenity soldiers moved forward with it as it bared its teeth. One of the older survivors fired a few shots from a high calibre pistol. Teresa's clone leapt at them, tearing away at their flesh until they were a bleeding wreck. Seeing this, some of the survivors dropped their weapons and out their hands up. The few who remained stubborn opened fire on the Serenity troops, who shot back with energy pulses. Miles and Gwen out of the way, knowing there was too much crossfire. Besides, it was already over. The surviving survivors didn't move. Teresa's clone sneered.

"Anyone else?"

Nobody moved.

"Good."

It disappeared and original Teresa stood up.

"Get these people rounded up. Commander Chelsea to evac. Mission complete. We have prisoners."

As the survivors were escorted out, one turned their head and met Gwen's gaze. The bitter hatred was obvious, especially when they started screaming at her.

"You backstabbing bitch! Stupid whore! Never cared for anyone but yourself!"

One of the soldiers grabbed their head and shoved it forward roughly. The survivor went silent, but the atmosphere was much more tense. Teresa glanced at Gwen as she walked past. Gwen could tell the commander was curious about her and Miles, her more-so after the outburst.

A few hours later, Gwen and Miles were once more at their small post by the rift. Miles had just taken a swig of water when Teresa approached from the direction of the stairs. Her face still wore the same curiosity.

"Hello, soldiers." She said.

"We aren't soldiers. Soldiers kill. We try not to, although it has happened." Gwen corrected.

"Yes. I know it has."

Teresa pulled over a spare seat and sat down.

"I did some research after our mission. You both worked well. The invisibility thing is really quite incredible. If you were interested, I bet someone would pay good money to run some tests on you." The commander continued.

"I'm alright. Anyway, it probably isn't legal currency back home." Miles replied.

"No. You're still on old dollars."

"That thing you can do is pretty cool. Someone would probably give you a lot of money for that as well."

Teresa's gaze turned ice cold. She looked as if she was going to snap Miles' neck. He shivered.

"Things aren't the scientific paradise they look like in 9578. Science is knowledge, knowledge is power. With great power comes great responsibility. There are those who don't understand that."

Her voice was just as cold as her stare. It sounded almost like a growl. Gwen could easily tell that something was up.

"Do you...want to talk about it?"

"I don't share my past." The commander snapped.

Gwen recoiled a little. Teresa closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry. I know you mean well. I don't do this whole socialising thing very often. And I have some bad trust issues."

"It's OK. I've been hit with worse than words." Gwen replied with a small smile, trying to make her feel a little more comfortable.

"Yeah. And with worse words going off what that person said earlier. You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

"It isn't my proudest moment, but yeah. This mess was my fault."

"I guess I've found someone who's done things worse than me, then."

"That's not very comforting."

"It is for me."

Miles smiled and the two girls laughed a little.

"So, tell us a bit about your dimension." He said.

Teresa bit her lip, trying to work out what to say.

"My world is split in half. There's Serenity in the Americas and Europe, then Imperator in Asia, Africa and Oceania. They're at constant war, except that's a whole story I can tell later. The world runs on scientific innovation. Everything revolves around it."

"That sounds kinda crazy."

"It is. Compared to the average IQ back in the early part of the 21st century, where I think you two come from, in my world it's up at about a hundred and forty. Anything below that and you're an idiot who's shunned by society, condemned to a desk job."

"Here's a question. How did Serenity and Imperator come to power?" Asked Gwen.

"In short, civil and world wars. The long story: it started with the USA. Following the 2048 election there were riots and the country fell into anarchy. A civil war was declared following the destruction of Air Force One, the White House and the Capitol. A number of countries like Russia and China jumped on the opportunity and began supplying certain sides with weapons. There were three sides, you see. The Democrats, Communists and Fascists. After that the communists began to win. At the same time, civil war erupted in the United Kingdom when the IRA began supplying Scottish and Welsh extremists with weapons. That war ended quickly from lack of support, and through it, Russia and China's involvement was discovered in both the US and UK. NATO reformed and hostilities opened. It started with naval skirmishes before going to all out war. That started with conventional weapons before it went to chemical and inevitably atomic. It all came to a grinding halt in 2053 when idealists created the Oppenheimer, a weapon still in existence today."

"What sort of name is that?"

"Oh yeah, you guys don't have nukes. J Robert Oppenheimer was the man who invented the nuclear bomb. He was a pacifist, just like the people who created the Oppenheimer."

"What was the Oppenheimer? Was it an antimatter bomb? We've seen a couple of them."

"No. A step up."

"A step up?"

Gwen wondered what could possibly be more powerful than an antimatter weapon. As far as she could tell, antimatter was the end of it all.

"A neutronium bomb. It would take a warhead the size of a teaspoon to wipe out the face of the Earth. The idealists waved it around and said 'stop'. Some didn't believe, but most decided not to risk it and finally there was peace. In the turmoil after, no governments remained. Nobody owned anything. My mother and someone else formed two companies."

"Serenity and Imperator?"

"Yes. Their goal was to claim all the land in the world and rebuild. They succeeded. There's not a rock in the sea they don't own. But my mother and the other are smart. They knew about the human thirst for blood. The Ural mountains, and a few cities either side, are a dedicated war zone which the two sides squabble over like children over a toy. That's what they treat that place as: a toy. People are led to believe the war is to bring peace, which it does. People who want to fight go and fight there. A lot die, but maybe it's better that way? There's a lot of philosophical crap that can go into it. Then there was the scandal of 2093, only three years ago. I still remember it like the palm of my hand. Both sides secretly agreed to lob some long range projectiles at each other. Two cities were nuked. After that, people began to demand peace out of fear. The other sent their son as an ambassador who worked on trying to make peace. But all along it was doomed to fail. Nobody knew it, nobody saw it. Not even me. I wish I did. I did something I thought would help. It made it all worse. The war continues, it will never end. People work constantly to find new ways to defend themselves and their families. Because in war time, technology can advance at paces it never does in peace time. The jet engine was created in World War Two to try and beat the other side. Look at all of us now. So the wheels keep on turning to keep the world moving forward."

"The war between Imperator and Serenity is all staged?" Asked Miles, his voice filled with horror.

"In so many words. The thing is, nobody really realises it. People actually blame me for it all. They think that if I hadn't tried to help then there would be peace. It's all a lie, and I found that out the hard way."

"If you don't mind my asking, what did you do?" Asked Gwen, concerned for Teresa.

Teresa shook her head slowly.

"I told you I don't talk about my past."

"Sorry."

"Never mind. Forget it all. Tell me about your dimension."

Gwen tilted her head back a little and Teresa gave half a smile.

"So yours is a wreck. What about you, Miles?"

"Mine is intact...mostly. There are still wars, but that's just normal stuff. Nothing staged. Me and Gwen protect New York from crime."

"I wish everything was so simple everywhere. But I guess they aren't really. Helltreader...is that his real name?"

"I think so." Replied Gwen.

"Who has a child and says: 'oh! I'll just name them after the thing everyone's scared of. That'll keep the bullies away.'"

"He consumes stars for breakfast. There's a lot more to it than his name."

"Most likely. There's never straight up war. Always hundreds of different forces, some working together, to get their own way before tearing their allies down."

Suddenly, Teresa's wrist beeped. She looked up at the sky for a second then back at the spiders.

"I'm sorry. I have to go. I hope I haven't spooked you too much. I enjoyed that, a little."

"It's nice to get to know someone new. See you around, I guess." Replied Miles with a friendly grin.

"Yeah. See you."

Crossovers in this Chapter

None, just Spiderverse and my own ideas.