Part 8 - Gods and Wolves

Chapter 132 - Rescue Mission

One temporal vortex later, the Spider Gang found themselves in a forest with orange leaves falling from the trees. Through them, they could see an enormous mountain rising high into the sky.

"Anyone else getting deja vu here?" Peter asked.

"Just you." Said Peni from inside her robot.

Miles looked around for any signs of their target, but there was nothing. He growled angrily, but suddenly his spidey sense lit up. He jumped up, dodging a blue ball of something that hit Spiderham. There was a hissing sound and Spiderham yelped, falling flat on his face and becoming paralysed. From the woods emerged a swarm of enormous spiders. Noir picked up Spiderham and the Gang leapt into the trees before fighting back. Miles found himself fighting the biggest one. It spat at him, hitting his arm; he gasped, feeling his muscles go tight. His movements became sluggish, but clearly the venom only worked properly on smaller organisms. He charged a venom strike and sent the creature hurtling away before stumbling to find his next target. Suddenly, there was a roar from the sky. He looked up in time to see an enormous winged creature land heavily on the ground. It opened its mouth and fired a stream of flames at the now fleeing spiders. When they were gone, the Spider Gang prepared to fight this new behemoth that would likely eat them all before they could even scratch its scales. Instead, the bronze dragon began to speak, looking at Miles who rubbed his joints to try and get the blood flowing properly again.

"Drem yol lok, bormah se Dei Volente."

"Err…"

"Unslaad krosis. Innumerable pardons; I forget you do not speak our tongue as your son does. I am Odahviing."

"I'm Miles."

The rest of the Spider Gang introduced themselves.

"Drem, spiders. You require my assistance, do you not?"

Miles nodded, getting his head back in the zone.

"We need to find Gwen and her kidnapper. Max thinks they're here."

"What do they look like?"

"She has blonde hair, blue eyes. I don't know what clothes she'll be wearing, but probably something casual."

"Blonde hair describes many of this world. Ah, your son has given me a clearer image. Zu'u fen siiv rek; I will find her."

Odahviing spread his wings and took to the skies, wheeling overhead with a great roar leaving the Spider Gang alone. Miles set off towards a cobbled path a little distance away. The others followed his lead, not sure what else to do.

The Spider Gang walked for miles, occasionally swinging when the trees became tall enough to do so. They reached a village and were now sitting on a small bridge over a river. There was a roar overhead, then someone screamed and yelled:

"Dragon!"

The spiders looked up to see Odahviing gliding down, landing with the same heavy thump as before that made Miles stumble as he ran over. A few of the village guards drew bows and arrows.

"No! He's with us!" Miles yelled, waving his arms.

The guards looked at him as if he was crazy, then decided it wasn't worth getting themselves killed so just walked away as if nothing was happening. Miles turned back to Odahviing.

"Did you find her?"

"Zu'u dreh ni mindok; I do not know. But I feel a great power coming from the far north near the city of Winterhold."

"How do you know it's them?"

"Zu'u haalvut nii; I feel it."

"How far away is Winterhold?"

"It is a day's walk from here, but on the wings of a dovah it is mere hours."

"You'll fly us?"

"Indeed. Dei Volente is our leader; his wish is my command. Climb on and hold tight. I must warn you: when you have seen the world through the eyes of a dovah, you will not wish to set foot on the ground again."

It took only two hours for Odahviing to fly the entirety of the way from the village of Ivarstead to Winterhold. Eventually, the bronze dragon landed on an island.

"This is as close as I can take you, spiders. The ice is too thin for me."

"Thanks, Odahviing." Said Peni as they climbed down.

Peter led the way across the ice towards another island that was too small for Odahviing. Miles kept trying to push in front, but Peter wouldn't let him. Miles may not be as experienced as the others, but his venom strike and invisibility made him the strongest and that was going to be important when they came face-to-face with Gwen's kidnapper. If he fell in the water, he'd likely go into shock with how cold it was and then he'd be about as useful as a rock. It might also be the depth of the water: Peter couldn't see the bottom and the stories of Miles' fear of deep water were well known among the ranks of spider people. The Gang reached the island and Peter barred the entrance so Miles couldn't just rush in head-first and get taken out.

"We need a plan."

"Knock this guy out so badly he get's a concussion and doesn't recover."

"You need to calm down, bud."

"I agree with Peter, Miles. You can't live happily with Gwen if you're dead." Said Peni.

"I can if this person's killed her."

"OK, the four of us go in first and Miles can come in a few seconds later. Sound good?" Peter suggested for the plan.

"It's good with me." Agreed Noir."

"And me." Agreed Spiderham.

"And me!" Agreed Peni.

Miles took a deep breath and nodded.

"Fine."

The Gang moved in with Peter taking point. They spotted someone down below in a dark cloak with a grey mask on. The person looked up and chuckled, throwing off their cloak to reveal four spider legs.

"I've been expecting you."

The Gang jumped in, but the legs grabbed each of them. Miles leapt down from the roof, charging a mega venom strike and slamming it hard into the top of the mystery spider's head freeing the other four. Mystery Spider clambered up the wall with his legs, snarling.

"Another Miles Morales. I should have expected you would turn up in place of your hotheadded son. No matter: I will kill you just as I killed the Miles Morales of my world. In time."

The mystery spider disappeared through a dimensional warp and the Gang got a chance to properly look around the ice cave. There was a cupboard against one wall, and an enormous brass cube embedded in the opposite. The cube was hollow inside and Miles spotted a figure huddled in one of the corners.

"Gwen!"

He sprinted inside and knelt down in front of her, taking her hands; they were freezing cold. She lifted her head slowly, shivering intensely. Her face was covered in bruises and dried blood from cuts that had already healed themselves. She started to fall sideways, but Miles caught her and rested her head on his arm.

"Gwen. Stay with me. You'll be OK."

She tried to say something, but only managed a croak and a coughing fit.

"We have to get her somewhere warm, Miles." Said Peter behind him.

He could tell she was suffering from hypothermia. Miles nodded and started setting his watch for Earth-65. At least if she was home her dad could see her. He pressed jump.

A day later, Miles was sitting at Gwen's side holding her hand. She was asleep in a hospital bed, a machine beeping with each beat of her heart. The curtain was pulled back, then closed again as her dad came in and pulled up another chair. He smiled at Miles.

"Hello, Miles."

"Hi."

"I assume you were told she's expected to fully recover."

"Yeah. I just don't want to leave her. What if that person comes back?"

"Then you have my confidence that you'll be able to save her."

"I don't have my own. There were five of us, and that guy would have killed four if one of us didn't hang back. I don't know who he is, what he wants or anything."

"I can't offer any advice, I'm afraid. What I can say, however, is you've made me even happier that it will be you Gwen spends the rest of her life with."

"Thanks. I'm glad you approve; it was one of the things that worried me. You hear loads of stories of people wanting to get married then their parents say no."

Gwen sighed.

"You know I'm not actually asleep, right? I can hear you talking."

She opened her eyes and smiled at them both, then turned to her dad.

"Dad, can I get five minutes alone with Miles?"

"Of course."

George left them and Gwen squeezed Miles' hand, then became serious.

"He calls himself Wolf Spider. From what he rambled on about while kicking the crap out of me, I know he killed the you from his dimension."

"What does he want?"

"To be a god. He wants people everywhere to fear him. He's already got that in his world."

"Did he kill Max's girlfriend?"

"He did mention he killed someone called Grace. I just figured it was the last person he killed, but I guess she was also Max's girlfriend."

"Any idea what his big plan is?"

"He wanted to lure Max in, kill him then take his power. He has a sword he called 'Perilous' which he claimed can kill Gods."

"So, he killed Grace to get Max's attention then kidnapped you to give him motive to find him."

"Then you showed up and it didn't go to plan."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence, then Miles said:

"I'm glad you're OK. I couldn't face this without you."

"You were just in time. A couple more hours and my body would have been too cold to function. I'd have frozen to death; probably be preserved in an iceberg like those mammoths that keep getting found in glaciers. Thank you, Miles. I love you."

He kissed her hand, but she pulled him in and kissed his lips.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Skyrim