Part 2 - 'Til Death do us Part

Chapter 42 - The Collider

Gwen's recovery, from their time in Auschwitz, was much harder than Miles'. However, that was only logical as she had been shot and developed an infection which would have killed her within the next few days if she hadn't been rescued. She woke to find Teresa sitting next to her. The spider groaned. Teresa looked up but didn't say anything. Gwen's shoulder felt like it was burning. She looked to see her arm and side punctured with numerous tubes and needles.

"What's all this stuff?" She asked.

"No idea. Could be antibiotics, food, water, could be poison for all I know, but then you wouldn't have woken up so I'm guessing it isn't."

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?"

"I remember being captured, I remember the first couple of days but after that it's fuzzy. I have no idea how I got here."

"Well...I staged a coup in Sol to get troops on my side because Edward was almost certain you were both dead. Then we came and destroyed Auschwitz, saved as many people as we could, put as many Nazis down as we could, and gave the dead the respect they deserve in life and beyond."

The commander sat back in her chair.

"Is Miles OK?" Asked Gwen.

"He says some of his muscles still hurt, he won't admit it but he's pretty shaken. But most of the time he's been asleep. I made sure he was eating and drinking, and got a medic to check him over."

"Thank you. We owe you our lives."

"Twice. But I don't keep tallies. You and me have even more in common after what you went through."

Gwen shifted her body a little so she was slightly more comfortable. Her muscles ached, her body felt heavy, and her shoulder exploded in pain, but she turned her head to look at Teresa.

"What do you mean? Being in a concentration camp or something that happened in the camp?"

Teresa realised she had told Gwen too much. She shook her head and stayed silent, closing her eyes and mentally slapping herself. But then again...Gwen had been through so much. She had done the 'no friends' thing, she had been in situations similar to herself.

"Teresa? Miles told me about the woman you rescued from Helltreader's citadel. Through trying to process it all, he said he thought you took it really personally. What happened to you?"

Teresa opened her eyes. For once she didn't feel anger at someone for trying to pry too deep into her childhood. But every time she trusted someone, they ended up dying. Could she do that to Miles? What if she told them both? And then what if they told someone? She clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm, and stood up.

"I'll tell Miles you're awake."

She left the spider alone. As the commander left the room, she looked at her hand before wiping the small drops of blood from the cuts.

Gwen had to agree with Teresa's view of Miles. He claimed to be OK over and over but it was obvious he wasn't the same person. It didn't matter. A few days after waking, Gwen's fast healing had repaired her physical injuries, although she doubted the mental ones would ever heal. Edward had called a meeting between the spiders, Conall and Teresa. The other three were waiting as the spiders entered the briefing room. Edward slid off the desk and turned on the screen at the front as they sat down.

"I'm sorry we have to throw you two back into action so quickly. I can't imagine what a week in Auschwitz is like."

"Part of the job is picking yourself up and getting on with it." Replied Miles with a half smile.

Edward rocked his head from side to side, trying to weigh up either side of the argument, then decided not to dwell on it.

"Now that the tracking device is planted, we can spring a trap on Helltreader and end this. The collider was completed a while ago, but has kind of been forgotten about until now."

He tapped the screen, switching it to an image of a collider almost exactly like Kingpin's, although the spiders noted a few small differences.

"It's been constructed in the old resistance headquarters to save some time and resources. Now we just have to use it. Anyone who touches the beam will be sent into a state of temporal flux, so I'd reccomend you all keep well clear of it. If you hadn't guessed, the plan is to get Helltreader to hit it. That should knock him to a place he can never get himself free from, although he'll make appearances. We can deal with that later. The first problem is getting him there. We have to draw him into a trap. The chamber has a temporal seal on it, one of the last things given to us by the Quintari. So, once he's in there he can't escape. I say that someone goes and get's his attention, warps into this dimension then all four of you gang up on him and push him into the beam. Any other ideas?"

Teresa raised a hand.

"We could knock the guy out in another dimension and throw him inside the beam. It would give him less chance to trash the collider."

"No, we need to keep him where he is or he'll run with his tail between his legs again." Replied Conall.

"True."

"We also need to remember that Helltreader has fought all four of us now. He knows what we can do." Said Gwen.

"That's one advantage gone, for sure. We just have to hit him as hard as we can." Said Teresa.

"Are we all in agreement about the plan?" Asked Edward.

The four agreed.

"Good. Any volunteers to lead Helltreader to the collider?"

Teresa, Gwen and Miles raised their hands. Conall rolled his eyes.

"I hate to throw you under the bus, but I think Miles should do it. Teresa is weird, Gwen has a Plate, Miles is just Miles. He's technically the weakest." He said.

All eyes turned to Miles.

"Yeah. I think you're right. I just warp in, hit him with some punches, then warp out and show him to the collider."

"When you say it like that it sounds easy." Said Gwen.

"Unless there's any other problems, we're done. We'll warp the Valour and its escort fleet to the world between worlds tonight. Miles will go in at 0900. With any luck it will all be done in time for lunch." Concluded Edward.

The next morning arrived too early. It was just before nine o'clock. The four were looking out a window at the collider. Gwen turned to Miles and pressed her lips to his. The kiss lasted for almost a minute before Teresa interrupted.

"Get a room." She snapped.

They broke apart. Gwen held his hands.

"Whatever you do, don't die. We've survived too much for that."

"I won't. I promise."

There was a beep like a watch from one of the computers. Edward stood up.

"It's time."

Miles kissed Gwen quickly one last time and kept eye contact with her until she was out of sight. Edward led him to the transfer room. Miles stepped onto the pad and raised his wrist. Edward held out his hand. Miles shook it.

"Good luck. Just get his attention and run."

"I know. I'll be fine."

A second later, he disappeared in a flash of colour.

Miles raised his fists, ready to fight. Helltreader was exactly where he was supposed to be. The immortal stood up, his skin cracked and flaking from the heat he had created in all the previous fights.

"Come to get revenge? How do you know this isn't another gas chamber?"

"Because I'm still alive."

Helltreader shrugged.

"True. Did your dear wife die of her bullet wound?"

"No."

"Shame."

The immortal raised his hand. Miles was hurled against a wall and pinned there. He reached for his wrist and managed to hit the warp button. Helltreader snarled as his prey escaped. He opened a gateway and followed, finding himself inside a corridor. Miles looked terrified as he ran. Helltreader followed, drawing a sword that reminded the spider of the surface of the sun that he had seen in pictures. The spider didn't look back, far too aware of his impending doom. The corridor wasn't long. Suddenly, Miles reached the end and stopped, staring at the enormous drop on the other side. Helltreader slowed down, raising his sword, sensing victory. Miles looked between the sword and the drop. As the immortal pulled his arm back to swing at him, he leapt backwards, firing a venom web at his enemy. Energy surged along the webbing as Helltreader was pulled into the chamber. The door slammed shut behind him as the collider burst into action. Helltreader sliced through the web and was engulfed in multicoloured flames. He rocketed towards Miles who launched a normal web to get out of the way. But the immortal slashed it. Suddenly, a golden ball of fire slammed into his opponent, driving them to the side. A black, white, magenta and teal blur swung in and grabbed Miles, pulling him up to the wall of the collider chamber. She gave him a quick hug and looked down at the fight. Conall was being beaten badly. They were duelling furiously with swords at the moment.

"Time to take a dive."

Gwen leapt off the side, extending her glide suit. After a few seconds, she folded it and webbed onto Helltreader, drawing a black sword. She planted her foot on the top of his head as she came down from being pulled up again by her web. Helltreader blasted Conall with Ethereal energy then reached up and grabbed Gwen's foot, hurling her at the collider beam. Miles swung down as Conall recovered and fired an intense beam of golden energy. The spider charged a venom strike and punched Helltreader in the side of the head. The immortal was thrown towards the collider beam but recovered and shot away again. That was the key, he just needed to hit harder. Suddenly, a blue and white blur dropped past him and wrapped itself around Helltreader. The projection bit into its enemy's neck. Helltreader began to heat up ferociously, the projection ignored it. Helltreader ignored the projection and pummelled Conall before hurling a beam of energy at a small window in the side of the chamber. There was an explosion and the projection disappeared. Miles and Gwen began to swing in, taking it in turns to hit Helltreader as hard as they could towards the beam. However, the immortal grabbed them by the throats and held them, enjoying their feeble struggle and the smell of burning flesh. An angry ball of golden flames crashed into him, freeing the spiders. Helltreader hit back, swiping a sword which struck Conall across the face. Conall parried the next blow before driving a circular shield up into his chin. Helltreader recoiled, but quickly returned the damage until he was smashing Conall against the wall again and again. Conall covered his face, but it was a mistake. His enemy drew a short sword which he drove into his heart. Conall went limp immediately. Miles and Gwen had just about recovered at this point. They clung to the roof of the chamber, watching as Helltreader looked around from them.

"Gwen, give me the Plate."

"What?"

"Give me the Plate."

Gwen frowned.

"Why?"

"My venom strike knocks him back, so does your Ethereal punch. I think I can get him in there from this angle."

She hesitated then pulled the Plate from her chest. A diamond shaped gap opened up in Miles' suit as he took the object, which he placed it in.

"I love you."

He dived towards Helltreader as fast as he could, charging a mega venom strike and an Ethereal punch at the same time. The energy burned him, although it was nothing compared to how hot Helltreader's touch was. The immortal whirled round and raised his hand to grab Miles and break his neck, but Miles planted his feet first, catching him off guard, before swinging his uncharged, then charged fist into Helltreader's chest. The immortal hurtled backwards, straight into the beam of the collider. He roared in agony as it began to tear his atoms apart. His shape flickered as Miles began to swing upwards. Suddenly, something sharp struck the spider in his back. As he lost consciousness, his web snapped and he plummeted to the floor like a rag doll. Gwen kept her distance for a few more seconds until Helltreader had disappeared. She swung down to her husband, as the beam turned off, and pulled the knife out his back. It turned to dust. She also pulled the Ethereal Plate out its slot and hurled it away. She cradled him in her arms.

"Please don't be dead. I can't lose you."

She reached for his wrist. No pulse.

"Oh no. Please no."

She shook him, feeling the ever present claws of depression snagging at her mind. Suddenly, there was a sliding sound behind her. She didn't look. However, a second later, a pair of hands dragged her away from Miles' body. She tried to fight, but stopped as she was dropped and Teresa began to perform CPR on him. Her metal suit was trashed, but she didn't seem to care.

An hour passed, then a few more. Medics had taken Miles to the nearest medical room. They had taken Conall as well, but he was a write off. You couldn't restart a person's heart when they no longer had an intact one. Miles, however, was different. His heart had restarted. Gwen waited in her quarters for news, aboard the Arachnid. The door beeped twice.

"Come in!" She said hopefully, standing up to greet the medic.

It hissed open. It wasn't a medic: it was Teresa. The commander's left hand and forearm were wrapped in bandages, held by a sling.

"Are you bringing news?" Gwen asked.

"No. I just came to talk."

Gwen sank back down onto her bed. Teresa sat on one of the chairs.

"You've been to hell and back, then back to hell again all your life. It's sad for everyone to see someone like you reduced to a wreck like this." She said, watching the spider sadly. Gwen didn't respond, so she kept talking.

"You keep trying to piece my past together. The least I can do is spare you wasting the brain power."

Gwen sat up slowly. A small voice in Teresa's head told her not to tell Gwen, but she ignored it.

"When I was ten, me and three of my friends were kidnapped while out playing. We were put aboard a ship. While aboard, the kidnappers checked us all out. They threw the weak ones overboard into the Atlantic where they drowned. All three of my friends died. The ship docked in Africa. Me and the other survivors were sold to people running a mine. We worked for fourteen hours a day. Every day for three years they forced us to mine whatever it was we were mining...I think it was cobalt."

"I'm so sorry." Said Gwen quietly.

"It isn't over yet. After those three years, they sold me off to some scientist in New York. I thought I would be safe, but I was wrong. I had my memory wiped. I only know everything before that from investigating. For six months, the man experimented on me and a boy called Frank. He injected us with chemicals, implanted us with technology; that's where I gained my power. Then, one night, we woke up to see something orange and glowing. By the time I realised it was fire, Frank was engulfed in flames. I ran and ran until, by chance, Helen saw me and took me in."

Gwen was horrified that anyone could have such a terrible past.

"I...don't know what to say."

"Then say nothing. It still affects me. I don't trust anyone. When I turned nineteen, I signed up for the marines in the hope I would escape it all, maybe find the bullet with my name on it. But I ended up in special forces where I am now because of my power. So, there you have it. Me and my past."

Gwen took the seat opposite Teresa.

"I'm probably going to get slapped for this, but have you tried a therapist?"

"Yes. It did nothing, just made me reflect and hate myself more."

Teresa sighed and buried her face in her hands.

"I haven't told that story in seven years. It feels better than anything to get it out."

"I can see we have quite a bit in common: friends dying, being enslaved although your experience sounds a lot worse. We both have powers, whether we wanted them or not."

"Yeah. I want to quit all of this. I want to live a normal life with a normal family, do normal twenty-one year old things. But I guess I've got this."

"Maybe what you need is a permanent deployment in the military. Edward told me and Miles we could choose who to work with us on Flux Force to keep Helltreader's brief temporal glitches at bay. We'll be using this ship as a base."

"If you're offering, I'll accept. Thank you. I guess I owe you now."

"I thought you didn't keep tallies?"

"I do of what I owe other people, not what they owe me. Anyway, something like that is worth about five tallies, so you've repaid your debts."

Gwen smiled at her, but as silence descended, her thoughts returned to Miles. The last she had heard, the medics had done everything they could. It was in the hands of fate.

Crossovers in this Chapter

Nope...nothing...