Part 5 - Blood of the King

Chapter 82 - Scarlet Storm

The directors were waiting for Gwen, Max and Jacob in a hangar beside a man that Max didn't recognise. Robert narrowed his eyes at Max.

"We trusted you not to discuss things with level zeros."

Teresa sighed.

"Cut the kid some slack. His sister is dead and his father is the most powerful person in the multiverse. He needs someone to talk to."

"And when the 'someone to talk to' goes and tells the world, what happens?"

"He won't, because he can hear me say he'll be shot if he does."

"He told his godfather some things as well. I meant to mention that." Said Edward.

Miles looked at Max sternly.

"What did you tell Ganke?"

"Nothing important. And he hardly talks to anyone, so oh well."

Miles went to respond, but Teresa shook her head.

"Forget it. The worlds are about to know about Tufto, and then they'll figure it out."

The man grinned and replied with:

"Don't go to France unless you want decapitated."

"Believe me, the prospect of that over a war with Tufto seems like the better option." Said Robert.

"Back to business, people. The clock is ticking." Gwen interrupted.

"Right. Max, meet Conall. Conall, my son Max." Miles introduced the man.

Conall offered Max his hand which the teenager shook warily.

"You all want to know about the Scarlet King, or Tufto as you call him?" The immortal started.

"We do."

"I can start by telling you he get's more powerful every time you kill him. Something has to exist to die, and the King draws power from that."

"So we kill him by not killing him?" Asked Lisa, taking notes.

"You start by taking away his sword. Killing him once should help with that, but he'll grow stronger."

"We take the Crucible without killing him, then." Concluded Teresa.

"Good luck with that. What's..."

The watches on all the directors' wrists began to beep loudly.

"Looks like we've got our chance to take it. 7611, people. Let's roll." Said Teresa.

Jacob opted to stay in the Legion headquarters instead of go to the warzone. Max put on his new suit to which Miles responded with:

"You aren't going. This is too dangerous."

"You think I can't fight? Just cos I don't have a spider sense doesn't mean I can't go."

"This isn't about spider senses. You aren't getting killed."

Conall rolled his eyes.

"Stop being an overprotective asshole, Miles. He's less likely than you to hurt his back because he doesn't have his walking stick."

"I don't..."

"He's going."

"He's my son."

"He's a fighter."

"He's not strong enough."

"Shut up!" Max yelled, sick of them talking about him like he wasn't there.

"You are..."

Max warped to 7610 before Miles could finish. Conall gave the director a cheeky grin.

Spider-Boy stared up in horror. The Scarlet King was enormous, towering over them all. His eyes glowed yellow and five black spikes protruded from the side of his head, each bent upwards about half-way along their length. Other than that, his body was completely red which explained the 'scarlet' part of his name. Max glanced at his mother who stood beside him. She gave him a pat on the shoulder as Conall emerged from a golden wreath of flames.

"You'll be fine."

She fired a web, pulling herself up onto the side of a building. The Scarlet King ignored her, believing she was hardly a threat. Gwen hauled a car up and whirled it around straight into the his chest. He stumbled a little, reaching for his back from which he pulled the Scarlet Crucible. Max decided it was his turn, but as he went to give his suit its trial by fire, webs cuffed his hands together. Miles shook his head.

"You aren't ready. I'm not losing another member of our family."

Max wanted to scream, but decided to better use his time to get free. Miles went to do exactly what Gwen had done, but the King grabbed the car and smashed it into the building just metres behind him. Conall raced past, coming to a stop in front of his old enemy.

"Hello, Khahrahk! Long time, no see!"

The Scarlet King sneered.

"My reign is eternal."

"For now."

The immortal dodged the Crucible swipe with ease, crashing into the King's head before tearing down to Max and cutting him free.

"Thanks."

"You're physically stronger than both your parents. We need to knock this guy down before he turns this dimension into a primordial omelette."

"I'll need a boost."

"I've got you covered."

Conall grabbed Max's wrist and pressed the web shooter trigger before spreading his wings and dragging Spider-Boy behind him. For all the danger involved, this was far too much fun. When they were close enough, Conall pulled the web off his back and spun Max round. The latter crashed straight into Tufto's face, kicking with both feet and firing a web to swing between his legs, up and lay a punch into the back of the King's head. The King stumbled forwards, then was knocked back towards Max again as Conall struck from the front. Max swung round a skyscraper and punched with both fists, pushing off with his legs. Miles and Gwen watched Max and Conall knock the King backwards and forwards, making him stumble a little more with each hit.

"And you said Max isn't ready?" Gwen asked.

"I'm scared to lose him, especially where the Crucible is involved."

"I get it, but you hated me and the rest of the spider gang thinking you weren't ready, right? So why put Max through the same?"

"Because..."

The Scarlet King had raised his fist and slammed it into Conall before spinning to strike Max with the Crucible. Spider-Boy saw the danger in time and leapt over the top in a move he thought would look pretty epic in slow motion. What he didn't expect, however, was to suddenly feel himself be grabbed in mid-air by an invisible hand. The King hurled him towards the ground. Dazed, Max wasn't going to catch himself and none of the other three were in a position to help. Suddenly, a blue, white and slightly transparent person caught him by the collar and landed on the King's leg, ripping the back of his shin with its sharpened claws. The projection landed in front of Teresa who stood up as it disappeared.

"You're doing great for a first time." She said with smile.

Max nodded his thanks at the vote of confidence as she returned to her kneeling position. Conall, Miles and Gwen were attacking again with cars and Ethereal punches. Suddenly, there was a roaring sound overhead. Max looked up, as he swung back into the fight, to see an Ares letting loose a stream of anti-tank gunfire. The signature 'brrrt', that had once been a feature on A-10 Warthogs, echoed through the street. The barrage had seemingly no effect other than to agitate the King. The behemoth swung his fist up; the Ares pulled up sharply but lost so much speed in doing so that the King sliced it clean in half with the Crucible. Max swung up to his parents and Conall who were trying to work out a plan as Teresa's projection kept jumping around making their adversary ever madder.

"Are you alright?" Asked Miles.

"I'm fine." Max answered.

"Good. We have to knock him over."

"Star Wars, episode five." Was all Max replied with before swinging back into the battle.

Miles frowned.

"What?"

"Webs around the legs then we make him go for a tumble." Explained Conall.

"Oh."

Max was already doing it, swinging round and round the King's legs at knee height. Gwen and Miles joined in as Conall helped the projection distract the Scarlet King. Miles' suit's heads-up display showed he had next to no webs left, so he stopped. Max and Gwen had stopped shortly before him. Conall flew over.

"If we all go for the back of the head at the same time, he'll stumble and fall."

"We realised that."

Conall dragged the spiders up into the air then spun them around, throwing them at an insane speed towards the King. He joined in, folding his golden wings back into a delta shape and screaming forwards. The Scarlet King didn't even glance around as he raised his hand. Max thought he was going to punch them, but instead an enormous red crack appeared in reality itself. The four struck, and the King was pushed into it. Suddenly, they too found themselves being pulled in by an incredible wind. Conall tried to fly back, catching webs the other three fired at him, but wasn't strong enough. All four of them were sucked through the enormous split. Teresa watched, shocked, as the fissure completely sealed itself leaving no trace of the Scarlet King, the spiders or Conall.

"Well...shit." Was all she muttered.

Somewhere in the omniverse...

"Gwen!"

Miles' heart skipped a beat as she began to fall, completely limp, towards the beam of the collider. He leapt from the front of the misplaced New York subway train, diving after her. He reached out his hand, and she seemed to snap back to reality. He had caught her.

"I like your suit." She said, probably with a grin beneath her mask.

"Thanks, I made it myself."

Miles twisted round, firing a web which Peter swung in and caught.

"That was adorable kids, now hold on tight!"

He propelled them up towards Doc Ock on top of the collider. Miles gave Gwen a final boost and she drove her fist into Ock's face. Miles threw his own punch and Peter finished the surprise attack with a kick. Miles and Gwen punched Ock one last time, their combined strength sending her flying. They exchanged a fist bump, getting ready to finish the job as Ock seemed to recover.

"Buckle up, guys. This is gonna take a while." Said Gwen.

Suddenly, a red blaze appeared somewhere in the primordial soup of the collider chamber. From it, a golden streak crashed straight into Ock sending her rocketing away into the distance never to be seen again. A truck rumbled past, but a black, red and blue streak smashed into the collider just next to the trio. On closer inspection, it was another spider person, seemingly unconscious, sporting a spider suit loosely similar to Miles'. From the red blaze, from which the golden streak and other spider person had appeared, came a horrible raspy voice:

"I am the King of the Darkness Below. My reign is eterenal."

The blaze disappeared.

Somewhere in the primordial soup, the Gwen and Miles in their forties had just managed to save themselves a rather nasty thump. Gwen looked around.

"Why does this seem so familiar?"

Miles wasn't interested. They had to get back to 7610 to make sure everything was dealt with properly and to check if the Crucible had somehow fallen from the Scarlet King's hand in the fight. His heads-up display was glitching; a box in the corner read 'ELIS: no signal'. He looked down at his wrist to check the status of his temporal watch. It read: 'No T-Nav'. Gwen checked her's and sighed.

"Have we been transported back in time? This is Kingpin's collider." She said.

Miles agreed.

"Can you see Max anywhere? This is why I told him to stay out of the fight!"

"No, I can't see him through this fog. Look, Miles, you need to give Max a chance to prove himself. He might not have a spider sense, but he's stronger than both of us."

"He isn't ready."

"Really? Because he kicked the King's ass more than us."

"He! Isn't! Ready! He's irrational, doesn't think of the bigger picture and probably just uses his powers to flex on people and get with girls."

"Right, because you didn't try and get with girls as well; the word 'hey' comes to mind. He's a teenager, Miles. Besides, he doesn't care about love at the moment, at least not when I was talking to him. And thinking of the bigger picture: look at you who led Kingpin and his thugs straight to May's house all those years ago."

"My uncle was the Prowler!"

"His father is the senior director of the Ethereal Legion!"

"I'm not a bad guy."

"Everyone's a bad guy to someone, Miles. I thought you knew that. This whole Legion thing has really gotten to your head. You don't care about individual people, just protecting your own sorry ass from what's right around the corner."

Miles double tapped the side of his head.

"You really think that? I formed the Legion as your dying wish!"

"I didn't tell you to give trillions of people amnestics!"

"Will you two shut up!" Max yelled.

Conall was floating upside down next to him, although that was a matter of perspective since the spiders were on the roof. Miles glared at his son.

"Don't speak..."

"No, just shut the hell up! You're making your teenage selves look sensible."

Gwen looked to the side, and saw her younger self, younger Miles and Peter all watching, clearly amused. Spiderham, Noir and Peni joined them.

"We've really been sent back in time, haven't we?" Miles groaned.

Conall shook his head.

"Nope. Khahrahk doesn't have time travel abilities, surprisingly. So, by ruling that out the only other explanation is we're in another multiverse."

Suddenly, old Miles, Gwen and Max began to glitch. Conall sighed.

"That confirms that."

Max stopped first.

"How do we get home?"

"I'd say our best bet would be to find a genius. How about Tony Stark, Earth-616?"

"Where are we now?" Asked old Gwen.

"I'd guess Earth-1610."

Miles sighed.

"That's assuming we can travel to other dimensions."

"There's literally an enormous collider right here." Max pointed out.

Conall turned to the spider gang from this dimension.

"Hello youngsters. You wouldn't happen to have a way to take control of this thing, would you?"

"Yeah we do." Said Peter, reaching for his wrist.

Young Miles pulled the goober from his pocket.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me..." Groaned the former.

"Don't watch the mouth, watch the hands."

He made to do an epic stunt, but Conall rolled his eyes.

"We don't have time for circus stunts."

He grabbed him telekinetically and hurled him at the panel. Everyone else made their way over as he plugged the goober in.

"Alright, I've got control of the beam. You first, Peni."

"Thank you, Miles." A spider crawled down her sleeve. "From both of us."

She leapt into the beam. Spiderham came next, holding out his hammer.

"I want you to have this. It will fit in your pocket. That's all folks."

"Is he allowed to say that, legally?" Asked Peter.

Noir climbed down next.

"I'm taking this cube thing with me. I don't understand it, but I will."

He disappeared into the beam too. Old Gwen and Miles watched, wondering if seeing their possible future selves arguing would change their younger versions' decision. Young Miles grinned at young Gwen.

"Do I get to like the hair-do now?"

She laughed quietly.

"You know I'm older than you, right? Fifteen months but...it's pretty significant if you ask me."

Old Miles turned to old Gwen and whispered:

"Not for too much longer."

"Twenty five years."

They turned their attention back to the younger spiders.

"...said time was relative, right?"

Young Gwen smiled. There was a few seconds pause, the pair staring into each other's eyes. Young Miles made to offer his hand, but Conall sighed.

"This isn't a bloody movie. Let's move it along! Go home, cosy up to your parent or parents and enjoy the last few months of your life before Khahrahk inevitably comes for your dimension."

All the spiders, except Max, turned to him, annoyed that he had destroyed the moment.

"Dude! What is your problem?" Said Peter.

"My problem is the big red guy watching us."

The others seemed to think it was a metaphor for the Scarlet King's inevitable return for them, but Max looked just to make sure.

"Oh...sugar honey ice tea."

The Scarlet King's face spread into a grin as he jammed the Scarlet Crucible into the collider. The effect was instant: the beam stopped and every loose object was suddenly sucked towards it. The spiders clung on, Conall didn't seem to have much of a problem. The machine exploded sending debris hurtling in every direction. There was a rumbling as the building above the chamber collapsed. The roof caved in and the King chuckled as the spiders and Conall were buried beneath it. He levitated out of the pit, hovering above the gaping hole and staring down at the police officers who watched in a mixture of awe and terror.

"Throughout all of time, I have felt the pain of existence. I vowed to destroy the Tree, the Creator, his creation. The Scarlet King's reign is eternal."

Jeff Davis, along with the rest of the police force on hand, opened fire with their pistols. Jeff was terrified of what would happen to his son, Miles, if this thing was allowed to run rampant. Now he wished Spiderman was still alive; it took superpowers to fight things like this, not pocket revolvers. As the clip ran empty, a golden streak of flames and wings burst out from the cavern, dropping six people on the ground. The great red monster began to swing an arm down to crush the officers. Suddenly, there was a golden explosion of light. Jeff opened his eyes to see a shield holding back the enormous fist. As the hand was withdrawn, the shield disappeared and the golden wings rose into the air. Conall rocketed towards the King's head, stabbing his wings straight into his oldest enemy's left eye. A second later, he used his swords to clamber across Khahrahk's face and take out his right eye. The giant roared in pain, blindly clawing to get the immortal off his face. But Conall wasn't on his face anymore. He had descended a little to neck height and began to slash at the monster's jugular, piercing a layer of skin with each swipe. Down below, old Gwen turned to her younger counterpart.

"My web shooters are out, can I borrow one of yours?"

Young Gwen undid her sleeve and handed it over.

"Thanks, I'll try and bring it back in once piece."

Old Miles tried to protest, but old Gwen ignored him as she swung further and further up to help Conall.

It took nearly a full minute to cut through to Khahrahk's jugular. Conall didn't hesitate, slicing straight through it. He and Gwen were sprayed with blood as they leapt clear. The Scarlet King stumbled forwards. Max swung up, getting drenched into the hot, sticky liquid as well but not caring. He built up momentum before landing one final punch on the King's forehead. He toppled backwards, crashing to the floor lifeless. Max plummeted, out of webs, but Peter caught him. The six spiders, Conall and the army of police officers stared at the corpse.

"Is it over?" Asked young Miles.

"For now. He'll return in a couple of weeks." Replied his older version.

Max looked down at his suit.

"Bleugh. I really need a shower."

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation
And of course another version of Into the Spiderverse now exists. I love messing up established storylines!