Part 6 - Infected
Chapter 116 - Outlaw
Miles and Michael popped up inside the INTF headquarters. Null rushed up to them. For a second, Miles thought he was going to hug Michael, but he settled with some vigorous shoulder patting.
"Are you good?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm good."
Miles decided now was better than ever to voice his opinion on Liam.
"I know this is emotional and all, but I just wanna say I don't think Liam is as evil as we're painting him."
Null raised his eyebrows, as did Zero.
"No, he's pretty evil. He kills people." Said the latter.
"I don't think he means to. I think he needs help. If we can get rid of SCP-3812, I think he'll be alright."
"That's like saying Hitler would be alright if you got rid of the concentration camps." Said Null.
"It's nothing like that. Hitler did other bad stuff. Liam's just a guy who needs some help. I'm not gonna kill him, or work to help someone else kill him."
Null sighed.
"He got in your head, didn't he?"
"No. He can't affect me. I'm not from his narrative."
"Liam kidnapped my best friend. Michael: what do you think?"
Michael hesitated, glancing between Miles and Null.
"I'm…with Miles on this."
Null turned away, thinking to himself. Suddenly, he whirled round with a pistol in his hand which he aimed at Miles' head. Michael had reacted in an instant, aiming a bulkier looking weapon at Null. Zero pulled her own weapon, the same model as Null's, and aimed it at Michael. Miles raised his hands slowly.
"Woah…"
"If you don't co-operate, I have to clip you to keep the INTF safe."
"Put the gun down, Null. You've got a fifty Cal to the head." Said Michael.
Null turned his head a little towards him.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
"We've been friends for years, and you'd kill me?"
"If that's what it takes to save Miles' and Liam's lives, then yes."
"Zero will kill you if you do that."
Zero tensed up a little more. Miles charged a venom strike, but didn't plan to use it if it could be avoided.
"How about we all calm down?" He suggested.
"Traitor. I made you."
"I thought that Christopher guy who directed Into the Spiderverse made me, and you just stole me."
Null took half a step forward, but Michael tightened his grip on the trigger forcing him to step back again and lower his gun. Michael half lowered his, and Zero did the same.
"I'll give you one chance to get out of here, then you'll have the entire INTF coming for you. Unless, of course, you change your mind about Liam." Said Null.
"That's fine with me."
Miles raised his watch and swapped out the discs. Michael pocketed his gun and did the same.
"I'm sorry it came to this, Null." He said as he hit 'jump'.
Michael and Miles hijacked a random car parked in an alleyway in the narrative below.
"Where we headed?" Miles asked in the passenger seat.
"To find Liam is my idea. If we find him and tell him we're on his side, it'll get some of the heat off our backs."
"Cool."
"How's your eye?"
"Still sore."
"Still thinking about retiring?"
"Hmm?"
"You said you were thinking about retiring a few days ago."
"I forgot I said that. I'm not sure to be honest. What I want more than anything is to be able to go back and do normal Spiderman stuff, not any of this temporal warfare."
"You don't want just a normal life?"
"If I had a normal life I'd never have met Gwen."
"Fair enough. Well, your son's a God so maybe he can fix it up for you?"
"Maybe."
Liam and the other actors were just coming out of the studio when Miles and Michael rolled up. Liam stopped and glared at them.
"I told you to leave me alone."
"We will, but we want to help you out." Miles replied.
"Nobody can help me. I can hear…voices. Millions of them."
"Liam: you can let us help you or you can let the INTF find a way to clip you. Your call. Having known you for a few years I'd say you want to survive." Said Michael.
"I don't want to survive. I want to live."
"What's the difference?" Miles asked.
"Surviving is just being alive. Living is being alive and having something going for you." Michael explained.
"Oh. Well you've got something going; all you need to do now is survive."
Liam shrugged.
"How can you care about me? I hit you with a helicopter. Your eye will never heal."
"It was self defence. You're forgiven."
"How do I know this isn't a trap?"
"Guess you'll just have to trust us. Anyway, you can flip the world upside down if it is."
Liam chuckled.
"Alright. I'll give it a try. But if you backstab me, I'll make sure I kill you properly."
"It's a deal."
Michael drove Liam back to his hotel. However, as they were driving, Miles noticed something in the mirror.
"That black pick-up's been following us since we left Hollywood Boulevard."
Michael glanced in the mirror then pulled out his pistol and handed it to the spider.
"If things get messy, use that."
"I'm on Liam's side cos I'm sick of killing people." Miles answered, handing it back.
"It's you or them."
"I'll just web them up."
"They'll come back and haunt you."
"I'd rather that than shoot them."
"Whatever you say, spidey. Hey, I'll pull up here. If they stop too, we're being followed."
"Right."
Liam glanced back.
"The car's from this narrative; I could snap it out of here." He suggested.
"First part of getting better is remembering snapping your fingers doesn't fix everything." Miles replied.
"It does if you're Thanos."
Michael stopped the car and got out as if to go into the shop they were in front of. The pick-up truck stopped too, and one of the passengers got out. Miles' spidey sense told him things were about to go crazy, so he got out as well. Just as he did so, a stream of bullets zipped past his head. He ducked down as civilians ran, screaming. Liam wound down his window.
"You sure you don't want my help?"
"It's covered."
Michael had shot the engine of the pick-up and smoke was billowing from under the bonnet. Miles took his chance and fired a web, jumping onto the side of a building then leaping down on top of one of the hitmen. He kicked them across the street and fired a web to pin them there before turning to the next who was shot by Michael before he could react. The third went the same way, but the fourth pulled an RPG from the back of the now burning truck and aimed it at the car which Liam was in. Miles fired a web to grab it just as the hitman fired. Suddenly, the truck exploded in a ball of flames. The shockwave detonated the rocket in mid-air, throwing Miles to the ground and killing the hitman. Liam hauled the spider to his feet.
"Come on. INTF won't give up until you're dead."
The trio jumped back into the car and took-off just as police cars came tearing down the street. Two pursued, but Liam snapped his fingers and they came to a stop.
"What did you do?" Miles asked, worried he had given the drivers heart attacks.
"I made their engines disappear."
"It's better than killing people, or hitting them with helicopters."
"Sure. But we'll have to ditch the car and get a new one. If you want me to stop snapping my fingers, of course."
"We can do it." Replied Michael from the front.
"OK. Anything else?" Asked Miles.
"Keep an ear out for Gwen's screams. I won't put it past INTF to take her prisoner and use her as a bargaining chip." Said Liam.
"She's too strong for that."
"There's plenty of ways to take her down, and they know them."
"I guess we just have to hope she finds Max before they decide to do that."
"Then we have to hope Max chooses our side." Said Michael.
"If he doesn't, that will be one hell of a battle and I doubt much of this world will be around to tell the story."
"You told Gwen you were twice as powerful as him." Said Miles.
"I was bluffing."
"That's not reassuring."
"In the meantime, what else can we do?" Asked Michael.
"We just have to wait."
Gwen found Charlotte hanging out with Rachel. Charlotte looked round when her spider sense told her she was nearby.
"What do you want, Mum?"
"I'm looking for Max, and he's leading me on a wild goose chase. The latest clue is 'Charlotte's favourite place'. So, here I am asking where your favourite place is."
"Yellowstone. Around Old Faithful."
"The national park?"
"No, twenty miles under the ground in the pit of magma." Charlotte replied sarcastically.
"Right; stupid question. OK, see you around."
Now Gwen knew where Max was, or at least another hint. The only problem was the sheer number of duplicate Yellowstone National Parks. She pulled out her phone and did some Googling and discovered there was a copy in Arachnia. It was her best bet, so she hitched a ride on an Ares heading out there to deliver supplies to the research station. The jet touched down, and one of the rangers agreed to take her over to Old Faithful, the infamous geyser. Gwen stared out the window of the ranger's pick-up truck.
"This place is massive."
"Eighty by sixty kilometres. If it went off back in Premis, we'd all be done for. The world would never be the same."
"That would be some story to tell the grandkids."
"You wouldn't be around to tell it."
Gwen and the ranger arrived just as Old Faithful went off, firing a jet of water high into the air. The smell of sulphur reached her nostrils.
"Hold on, what's that?" Said the ranger.
Gwen looked to where they pointed. A slab of rock seemed to have been completely flattened. On it was carved a message.
"The next clue."
She hopped over the barrier.
"Be careful!" Called the ranger.
Gwen knelt down and read the clue: 'the pillar which holds up the skies of the Alps'. She sighed. The meaning was obvious: the tallest mountain in the Alps. She just hoped it wasn't too tall for an aircraft to get up.
Crossovers in this Chapter
- SCP Foundation