Part 9 - All Things Must Die

Chapter 143 - Sweet Revenge

Miles and Gwen's penthouse became a sort of middle ground for the alliance. It wasn't a headquarters, but if people needed to pass information along it was the place to go. Miles had gone out to do some good old Spiderman stuff leaving Max and his mum alone. Gwen didn't feel sick anymore, but she looked tired. She had a feeling her son knew exactly what was happening, but she didn't want to say anything just in case. She was sitting watching the news on the TV when Max plonked himself down on one of the other couches that surrounded a coffee table forming the living room of the penthouse.

"Yo." He said.

"Hi."

There was a slightly awkward silence, then Max took a deep breath and said:

"You're pregnant."

Gwen looked at him and raised her eyebrows.

"What? I'm right, aren't I?" He asked.

"Yeah, but that was a bit blunt."

"Sorry."

"It's OK. Just caught me off guard."

"Does Dad know?"

"No."

"When will you tell him?"

"Once all this is done. If I tell him now he'll just get really protective."

Max's expression saddened a little.

"I…hate to be a pessimist but…it might be best to just tell him. I don't know how long this will go on. If it's as long as the last time, he'll notice the bump and figure it out. That and him being protective might not be the worst thing. Carrying a kid's gonna get in the way of fighting a bit."

Gwen nodded slowly and closed her eyes.

"Suddenly I think I know how it feels to be as scared as you were when you arrived a week ago."

Max shifted over to her couch and hugged her.

"You'll be fine, Mum. You've done it before."

She didn't respond, just pushed him off and looked round as a light cackling filled the room. A little girl stood on the balcony overlooking the bottom floor of the apartment. She wore a witch's hat and looked about eight. Max leapt over the couch in an instant, morphing up his mask and hood.

"Max! My favourite toy!" She giggled.

The God couldn't help having flashbacks to the time he had fought SCP-239 before. Gwen had come in and saved him at the last second, but now it seemed the roles were reversed.

"I will break every bone in your body." He snarled, drawing Furore Mortale.

"Yay! I love it when my toys fight back!"

"Err…Max?" Gwen said, getting to her feet.

Max risked a glance back and saw the walls were melting away like a thick gloop.

"It's just an illusion, but don't touch it."

She nodded, getting ready to defend herself but scared to do so in case it hurt the child. It wasn't even a week old, but she wasn't a biologist and wasn't sure if getting hit would cause significant damage. Max sprinted forward, leaping up onto the balcony as the Witch Child tried to summon a sword to counter the blow. She gave up and just ducked, punching Max hard enough to knock him back over the railing.

"Little bitch." He snarled, taking another leap at her.

She made to punch, but this time he didn't swipe with Furore Mortale. Instead, he planted both feet on her head sending her flying straight through the window and tumbling down the side of the skyscraper. He took a leap after her, hoping he'd be able to see her land in a satisfying splat on the concrete one-hundred and sixty-eight storeys below. It wasn't to be; she caught herself with telekinesis as an explosion, on the ground floor of the skyscraper they'd just jumped from, seemingly blew out its foundations and the entire structure collapsed. Max knew it was just an illusion; once she was dead it would fix itself. He tore towards her in mid-air, summoning a lightning bolt that struck her a second before his fist did. She hurtled down once more, but this time he caught her by the throat and drove her down into the concrete. A cloud of dust rose up from the crater. Civilians ran, screaming, from the scene. As the dust cleared, the Witch Child picked herself up and started to cry.

"Why won't you just die?"

"I don't go down as easy as I used to."

An enormous spike shot out the ground, skewering her. For a second he thought that would be it, but she rose up from it and started screaming. Max casually picked up a car and hurled it with his bare hands. She crushed it into a ball and scrap metal and fuel before hurling it back spattering the God with the flammable liquid. Thinking this gave her an advantage, the girl created a spark that ignited the trail and Max with it. He didn't care; just took one step towards her at a time. She started crying again as she realised it was useless.

"Didn't daddy teach you not to play with fire?" Max taunted as he let the flame consume Furore Mortale.

The burning blade slashed at her head, but she managed to avoid it again and threw another screwed up car. The fuel only fed the flames, and Max's craving for her blood. He would make her pay for the pain she had inflicted, and for the murder of Jacob. He and Jacob may not be as close anymore, but anything that gave him an excuse for sweet revenge was good. Vehicle after vehicle flew at the High Elder God, but a flick of his wrist redirected each or a slash from Furore Mortale split it down the middle. He advanced and she retreated, but was suddenly stopped as a ball of webs pinned her feet down. She screamed even louder as Miles leapt down from the sky and mega venom struck her. The force was enough to break her free, but she flew straight towards Max. The God sliced her head clean off with one slash and cut her body down the middle with a second. Miles ran over to him.

"Please tell me Gwen wasn't in the apartment."

"She is. It's an illusion. Look."

The skyscraper rebuilt itself steadily as the magic wore off. Miles looked around at the carnage on the street.

"Somebody's gonna have a lot of insurance claims to file." He joked.

"Unless natural disasters aren't covered."

"There was nothing natural about this."

"Revenge was natural."

Miles crossed his arms.

"I sound like my dad when I say this, but I don't approve of this at all."

"It's called doing what has to be done. The Scarlet King and his offspring have to be killed. There is no debate like there was with the Inheritors. Seeing that was the only thing your Legion counterpart had over you."

"You scare me sometimes."

"Yeah. Well maybe your new kid won't be such a screw up if you're lucky."

"Wait, what?"

Max bit his lip as the last of the fuel stopped burning.

"Let's…go talk to Mum."

Gwen looked worried when Miles and Max climbed through the broken window. She breathed a sigh of relief seeing they were OK.

"FYI, I just blurted out something I didn't mean to." Max warned.

Miles waved his hand to tell him to be quiet. Gwen sighed and sat down on the couch again.

"Max just said our 'new kid'. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"I was going to but I was scared how you'd react when you found out."

Miles sat down next to her and took her hands.

"So…you're pregnant?"

"Yeah."

He looked a little worried.

"Please tell me you're scared too? I don't wanna be the wimp."

She chuckled.

"You're not the one who has to grow the thing inside you."

"Yeah but like…there's no way I'm gonna be a good dad."

"Turned out OK before." Said Max.

"Yeah. So OK the kid turned into a God and started murdering children."

"Everyone's a child. That girl's the exception that proves the rule. Anyway, you're not exactly clean yourself."

Miles opened his mouth to make a comeback, but couldn't think of one. Gwen squeezed his hands.

"You'll be a great dad. The Miles that raised Max and you are completely different people."

"You really think so?"

"Absolutely."

He smiled and kissed her. When he pulled away, he was going to say sorry to Max but the God was gone. On the plus side, the window appeared to have repaired itself.

"How'd he take the news he's gonna be a big brother?" He asked Gwen instead.

"I didn't tell him. He just sat down and blurted it out."

"Poor kid. He's got enough on his plate."

"I'll agree the Scarlet King is real, now."

"Me too."

"Try and work with Max, Miles. If he kills someone, he has more authority to judge that than we do. That's why he has a sword and we have web shooters."

"I just hate seeing it."

"Me too, but don't have a go at him for it. From what I remember, you held him back when he was growing up."

"From what I remember, Charlotte hated you."

"She had her reasons, like everyone. But that's in the past and there's nothing we can do to change it."

"The Morales family: the most dysfunctional group of spider people you'll ever meet."

"Put it on a t-shirt."

"Sounds like a good business venture."

They kissed again.

Crossovers in this Chapter

- SCP Foundation