Part 8 - Gods and Wolves

Chapter 137 - Morlun

Miles looked around at the pile of bodies at his feet. He couldn't believe the Inheritors were back, so he'd come to the place where they were supposed to be kept to see for himself. He bowed his head and closed his eyes to respect the dead, but the moment was interrupted by a quiet chuckling.

"Miles Morales: vanquisher of Solus. Once you were so powerful, but look at you now."

Miles knew who it was without looking. His blood ran cold as he realised he was alone with Morlun, the leader of the Inheritors.

"Can't you go pick on someone your own size? Maybe get a haircut while you're at it."

"Your quips have no effect on me. Let us settle this once and for all."

Miles knew if he got into a fight with Morlun, he wouldn't come out the other side of it. He typed 01 into his dimensional watch and jumped in the hope he could escape.

Dimension 01 was a desert world in the vicinity of a red dwarf star. Everything was boiling hot, and likely radioactive which was perfect for fighting Morlun if needed. Sure enough, the Inheritor turned up. However, Morlun didn't seem to care about the radiation. Miles spotted a skyscraper a short distance away and started to run for it. Morlun sprinted after him, knowing that if he could catch the spider it would be an easy meal. Miles knew he wasn't going to make it so started typing as he ran. He tripped over a rock and accidentally hit jump.

The world on the other side seemed very dark when Miles first warped in, but as his eyes adjusted he realised he was underground. He looked at the number but didn't recognise it. Morlun sped out of another a few metres behind, spinning a couple of daggers. Miles knew his watch would run out of power, so he had to fight.

"You dishonour yourself, Morales." Said his enemy.

"I'd say eating people is kinda dishonourable."

He charged a venom strike and lunged, aiming for the eyes but missing and hitting the chest. Morlun barely flinched, instead punching Miles across the face sending him crashing onto the rocky floor. The Inheritor advanced on his prey, forcing Miles further and further back. Suddenly, the spider's hand didn't make contact with anything as he put it down and he found himself falling before he knew what was happening. He fired webs from both his wrists, hoping he'd catch something. He did, but found his life force being drained by Morlun a few seconds later. Miles kicked as hard as he could, just breaking free. He folded his arms back and let himself fall faster. As he did so, he started typing into his watch again and jumped.

The fourth world this fight took place in seemed like a normal city. Miles fired his webs at buildings, swinging away as Morlun arrived down on the street below. Suddenly, a blue jet of flames slashed through the skyscraper in his path and his web was cut. He leapt between falling debris and clear of the other side, only to narrowly avoid being crushed by an enormous monkey hurtling past. Miles clung onto another skyscraper and spotted an oversized lizard. He flipped off the building to avoid being incinerated by more flames, checking the charge in his watch: enough for two more jumps. No, he wouldn't run anymore. He had to fight now or never, and the monsters might give him an advantage. He doubted that blue fire was just for show; maybe he could trick Morlun into getting caught in it? Miles fired a web and flipped to land on the street below. Chunks of concrete, shattered glass and twisted metal made for all sorts of possible projectiles. Morlun climbed over a pile of rubble and grinned, pushing his long hair back behind his shoulders.

"It's time to die, Morales."

"I'll pass."

As the Inheritor charged with his arms back like he was in an anime of some sort, Miles leapt up and hurled a chunk of concrete; Morlun dropped to the ground and slid under it, leaping back to his feet in time to punch the spider in the chest. Miles grunted as he crashed into the rubble, narrowly avoiding being skewered on a sharp metal rod. He wrenched it free and swung it at Morlun's head. The bit of concrete stuck on the other end was smashed into pieces. Morlun stumbled backwards. Miles took another swing but his enemy was ready this time and caught the rod, using it to hurl Miles back across the make-shift arena. It jarred itself into the concrete mere inches from his head.

"Why won't you just…stay still!?" Morlun screamed.

"My mum used to tell me I needed more exercise, but that was a few years ago."

Miles ducked a knife as Morlun charged again. The spider fired a web up.

"Adios!" He yelled as he was pulled clear.

However, it seemed the giant lizard had other plans. A blue jet of flames ripped apart the building Miles was swinging on. He began to tumble, but suddenly took a fist across the face. Morlun stabbed his knife at Miles, managing to make a nasty cut in his shoulder. The spider kicked off and leapt between the falling bits of debris, trying to ignore the searing pain; Morlun wasn't far behind. They reached the top of the debris and Miles leapt off, only realising he had nothing to swing from a little too late. Morlun followed, clearly not bothered by the fall.

"You cannot escape, Morales!"

Miles was in too much pain to come up with a response. He did, however, launch a web up and swing off Morlun onto the remnants of a building. The Inheritor hit the ground a few hundred feet below while Miles looked at his shoulder to inspect the damage. The tightness of his suit seemed to be keeping the blood loss to a minimum, but it stung like hell. He took a deep breath, knowing defeating Morlun came first. A lot of spider people would die otherwise. He looked around, trying to get a bearing on the giant monkey and its lizard counterpart. The monkey was on the ground, clutching a serious burn likely caused by the blue fire. The lizard was making its way over, letting out a sound not too dissimilar to laughter and bearing its teeth. Miles fired a web down into the rubble, pulling Morlun up.

"Eat this guy! The monkey can wait!" Miles yelled at the lizard.

It likely couldn't care less, and didn't seem to notice when an Inheritor was thrown in its direction falling well short. Miles sighed; this was never going to work. He needed something bigger to get the lizard's attention. By now the monster was standing on top of the monkey, letting out a roar. The monkey roared back, but the lizard was winning. When both titans stopped, everything seemed deafeningly silent. Miles scrambled around, trying to find something to get the lizard's attention with. He noticed something glowing blue a short distance away. On further inspection, it looked like some sort of massive axe. It was way too big for the spider to do anything with, but maybe he could use it somehow? He dropped down to the ground and sprinted over to it to get a closer look. However, as he reached it his spidey sense went off and he ducked just in time to avoid a knife. Morlun screamed as he charged, one hand reaching forward to grab the spider and another pulled back to throw one hell of a punch. Miles threw himself out of the way, hurling himself on his enemy a moment later. Big mistake: Morlun rolled over, pinning Miles to the blade of the axe.

"At last I will feast on you, then I will kill all of the Totems!"

"You couldn't just tell me if you're working with Wolf Spider, could you?" Miles asked, thinking he might as well get some answers before being brutally murdered.

"Without him we would be pathetic children. He promised us the crystal. His demands were only for the annihilation of the other Totems."

"Good to know. Did you get that, Max?"

He knew Max wouldn't respond, but at least it irritated Morlun a little more. On the subject of Morlun, the Inheritor seemed to be loosening his grip. Miles headbutted his enemy and managed to escape, firing webs to pin Morlun to the axe blade before leaping clear to watch the monsters fight and to catch his breath. There was an immense explosion, and he spotted a new creature had joined the fight. This one was made from metal and matched the enormous lizard in size and strength. A few moments after the explosion, Miles looked down to see the monkey picking up the axe with Morlun still attached. The spider groaned; he hadn't wanted to brutally murder Morlun, but it seemed this was how the Inheritor would meet his end. The monkey slashed the axe through one of the arms of the metal monster just as it was about to finish off the lizard. Miles sighed, deciding he'd seen enough fighting for one day.

Miguel's penthouse was a mess. Miles looked around in horror at the scene before him: dead spider people littered the floor. Miguel, the Spider Gang and a few other stragglers were resting against the walls.

"What happened?" He asked them.

"The Inheritors. They got the drop on us." Replied Noir.

"Morlun wasn't with them." Said Peter.

"Neither were Bora and Brix." Added Miguel.

"I was fighting Morlun, but Bora and Brix…Gwen."

Miles used up his last dimensional jump without thinking twice.

Max left his mother's head again as Miles burst through the ward doors. He looked panicked, and blood was seeping from his shoulder. He looked around, spotting Brix's corpse against the wall with three knives embedded in its chest. He kicked it angrily.

"Woah. Chill out. Both of them are dead." Max replied, getting to his feet.

"Where's Bora?"

"You're standing in her."

Miles looked down at his feet and did a sort of skip out of the pile of ash.

"You killed them?"

"'Big monke' killed Morlun, so I get to have my fun too."

"That was an accident. I wanted to roast him with the blue fire."

"That would have killed him too. The fire is radioactive, and the blue glowing from that axe is the same energy. That's why Morlun went weak and you escaped. Good idea about questioning him, by the way."

"Yeah."

There was a moment of silence as Miles made his way to Gwen's side, looking at her injury.

"Is she OK?"

"The doctors say she'll recover. They've still got work to do, I'm guessing reconstructing a few more of her organs, then she'll just need rest. You can talk to her, if you want."

"How?"

Max sat down, flicking his hand and pulling another chair over for Miles. The God put his hand on Miles' forehead then his other on Gwen's and closed his eyes.

Gwen hadn't expected Max back so soon, but this time someone was with him. She tried to get up as she saw it was Miles, but couldn't. He ran over and lay down next to her, hugging her tightly. Neither said anything, mainly because they didn't know what to. Max sat down a little distance away wishing he still had Grace. He'd searched high and low for her, but she was nowhere. It seemed the Sword Perilous' power went further than killing High Elder Gods. It made him worry about the Siege Perilous, the Sword's counterpart, and where it could be.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- Godzilla (specifically King of the Monsters, if you wanted to know)