Part 9 - All Things Must Die

Chapter 159 - Nullified

Max had brought the trio to a place on the very edge of a city. A thin layer of ash covered every surface.

"Where are we?" Miles asked.

"The edge of London." Max replied. He turned to his father. "I need to know something. If Null is still alive, are you willing to finish him?"

"I don't want to, but he slaughtered thousands. He's too dangerous."

"Good."

The God started walking and the other two followed. Charlotte lagged behind a little, taking in the sights she hadn't been able to see from the back of the truck. Miles glanced at Max who's face was hard and emotionless.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about…"

"Actions speak louder than words. If you're sorry, quit bringing it up."

"Right."

The trio passed an airport and soon came to a group of skyscrapers. In their midst were camps of refugees, as well as supply areas that were giving out food to the people in the camps. They approached one of them.

"Hi, we're looking for someone who goes by the name Null." Max said to a worker.

"What do you want with him?"

"Do you know where he is?"

"Depends what you want with him. Wait, you in the purple suit." The worker pointed at Charlotte. "You were in the back of his truck when he came by for supplies. You did it, didn't you?"

"I'll answer that if you tell us where he is."

"In hospital. Null protected us and gave us food and water, and you nearly killed him!"

"We don't have time for this." Max snapped.

He raised a fist to deliver a knockout blow. Miles caught it.

"He's a civilian."

"And he's on Null's side. How well do you think you could hold up against an angry mob of British people? Trust me, they'll tear your guts out."

"You'll stir up a mob if you punch him. Keep it between us and Null; you've messed their lives up enough."

"He's right. We'll have your guts for what you did." Said the worker.

Charlotte coughed to get Miles and Max's attention. They looked round to see they were surrounded.

"We're running, not fighting." Said Miles.

"Agreed." Said Charlotte.

"Fine."

Miles fired a web and swung up onto the side of a skyscraper. The other two followed and surveyed the scene below as the mob started screaming and shouting angrily.

"You sure we have to kill Null?" Miles asked.

"Yes. If he survives, he'll wipe our reality out completely." Max answered.

"But these people rely on him."

"They rely on his technology, all of which he stole from Liam who stole it from us."

"But…"

"Max is right. Null has to die." Said Charlotte.

"Can't we just destroy the fan-fiction?"

"If we do that, we destroy countless narratives, including our own." Max replied.

"Countless? We've only met two."

"You really don't understand narratives, do you?"

"Not really."

"A narrative is created by any work of fiction. Every book you read, every movie you watch, those events happened or are happening in a narrative below ours."

"So…when Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse was made in this narrative, it created ours?"

"In so many words, yes. Our narrative is built from a fan-fiction, and things like that create sub-narratives which are a group of narratives identical to a point where they split. Now can we find Null?"

"Yeah. Any ideas?"

"I think I can feel a Plate not far from here."

Max leapt off the building and swung between the skyscrapers. Miles gave Charlotte a confused and slightly worried look then followed him. Charlotte returned the look. Deep down, she didn't want to kill Null for these people's sakes, but his power over their reality was too dangerous. She wondered what was going through her brother's head at the moment, although she imagined Miles' question about drug jokes likely wasn't helping him.

The spiders landed in a street that seemed to have been separated into sections. In each section were hospital beds where people were being treated for all manner of ailments. Max drew his sword and stormed towards one. Charlotte had to jog to keep up with him.

"Max, slow down. We need to think this through or he's gonna hit us with another rocket."

"He won't hit us with a rocket in the middle of a hospital."

"It's Null! You don't know that."

Max stopped and turned on her.

"Are you gonna be a pain in my ass too? Dad's being bad enough."

"I don't want to be, but if you're gonna make dumb decisions then I have to be. My little brother's already blown himself up, almost been blown up twice in one day, and now he wants to get blown up again."

"I'm not your little brother anymore, Charlotte."

"That's what scares me, especially when you run into situations like this without a second thought."

"The longer we wait, the more time Null has to screw up our reality."

"He can do it with a sentence, Max. If he's waiting for us, having a plan isn't a bad idea."

"I have one: relieve him of his head."

He turned and started storming ahead again.

"Max! Wait!"

He ignored her and threw the curtain to Null's section open.

"Hello, God Spider."

He was hit by a magenta blast of energy and sent hurtling straight across the street. Null came into view of Charlotte and Miles, sitting in a wheelchair. On his hands were the two metal gauntlets from his God Buster suit, one of which held the magenta Ethereal Plate.

"Look what you've done now. You've put me in a wheelchair. I mean, it's fun not having to leave your chair all day but I did use to like to get up and stretch my legs a bit. I guess having your spine severed by a power-giddy teenager comes with its drawbacks."

Max groaned and picked himself up. Charlotte ran over to help him but he pushed her away.

"If you're trying to guilt trip me, it won't work. I'll kill you just the same."

"I'm counting on it."

Null raised his arm. Up above, one of the windows in one of the skyscrapers was smashed. The rest of the God Buster suit tore down and almost seemed to consume its owner. After a second, Null picked himself up out his wheelchair.

"I guess I can stretch my legs after all."

He put the Plate in its slot on his chest.

"You saw how well that went the last time, and this time I haven't been in a dragon crash." Max snarled.

"Oh don't worry. I've made some improvements."

Max twirled Furore Mortale and began to run at his enemy. Charlotte backed away to where Miles was standing. He looked upset.

"Here we go again. So much blood spilled and nobody wins." He muttered.

"This is war. We win, or he does." She replied.

The slot on Null's right shoulder opened up and fired one of the elastic bands as he and Max leapt at each other. It paralysed Max for a few seconds in which time Null landed some heavy hits that knocked his sword away. Max tore the device from his neck and punched Null back onto the ground. A bolt of lightning crackled in the sky and struck the God's hand as he brought it crashing down on Null's chest. The electricity bounced off and struck Max in the face leaving a scorch mark on his mask. Null fired a repulsor shot mixed with Plate energy which Max raised his arm and seemed to absorb. The left shoulder slot of Null's suit opened and fired three of the tiny bullets, all of which were vaporised by Max's suit. The God held his hand out and Furore Mortale flew into it as he swung his fist round; the blade buried itself in Null's right shoulder, but didn't seem to reach flesh. Having expected the strike to do more, Max was caught off guard as Null twisted his shoulder wrenching the sword's hilt from its wielder's hand. He grabbed the hilt and brought it straight down on Max's own shoulder. The God roared in agony as it tore through the suit then into his flesh before stopping as it hit bone. Null withdrew it again and kicked the spider to the ground.

"Zu'u kron, Dei Volente. [I win, Dei Volente.]"

"You aren't worthy to speak that language."

"And you are? You need some balance in your life: Grace just showers you in praise for everything you do, but remember when Jacob was upset at you for making the call to destroy everything? He didn't say he wanted to stop being your friend, he was coming to terms with the reality you condemned him and everyone else to live in: a fake. If you can't handle some criticism in life, you are not fit to have the power you do. Maybe this will teach you that you aren't perfect."

Null raised Furore Mortale to deal the killing blow.

"No!" Charlotte screamed.

She leapt on top of her brother and the blade went straight through her heart.

"No!" Max yelled, crawling out from under her and removing his sword from her chest.

He cradled his dead sister, crying into her shoulder. Null's helmet opened to reveal his face. He looked unsure of what to say.

"I wasn't aiming for her. Maybe if you weren't so blood thirsty, this wouldn't have happened."

Max looked up slowly. His chest was heaving, and fire quite literally burned in his eyes. His body was surrounded by a power that Miles had a feeling could likely flatten a continent. He didn't quite know what happened next. All he saw was Null's helmet close again, Max charge, the glint of something sharp, a bright flash accompanied by a bang, then both the God and his enemy were on the ground. Null groaned, his suit looking extremely busted up, but he picked himself up again. Max, on the other hand, didn't move. Miles backed away as Null turned to him.

"What about you, Miles? You're the one who's doubted Max's cause from the beginning of this. Do I need to fight you too?"

"Is Max dead?"

"No. I wish, but at the moment he's a bit like a fishing rod that's been cast through a doorway then the door's been closed."

"What?"

"The only way to really kill Max is to kill his astral form. That's some Doctor Strange stuff right there, but Max's is the astral form to end all astral forms. What I meant by the metaphor was that his astral form is still in your narrative and his physical body is kind of like the hook on the other side of the door. Both of them can still yank each other around, but not as much as if the door's open or they're in the same room. So no, Max isn't dead and I could never kill him."

Miles kept a hand out to charge a venom strike if Null attacked.

"I don't want to kill you, Null."

"But you will because like everyone else in your narrative, you're on your knees doing whatever your estranged son decrees because you're scared."

Miles got into a ready position.

"That's what I thought." Null concluded.

He charged and Miles charged his venom strike, leaping for him and swinging a punch. With so much damage to his suit, it knocked Null back a little. However, the spider found a metal hand wrapped around his throat. He kicked and punched, but it didn't work. A magenta glint caught his eye and he spotted the Ethereal Plate lying on the ground nearby. He fired a web and pulled it into his hand before swinging one last time with the increased power. Null's eyes widened in horror and he was blown backward. Miles put the Plate in the slot on his chest. The eyes of his new spider suit turned magenta. Picking himself up, Null snorted.

"That looks disgusting on you. Seriously, the colours alone make me want to puke."

Jets of flame erupted from his hands and feet, propelling him at Miles who leapt over him and fired two taser webs which did nothing but yank Null to a stop.

"Thanks for the extra juice."

A repulsor shot struck Miles square in the stomach sending him tumbling to the ground. However, before he could hit it, a metal hand caught his throat again and suddenly he and Null were spiralling upwards swaying this way and that as their balanced changed with each punch and kick they threw. Miles charged another Ethereal punch sending Null hurtling into the skyscraper from which his suit had come from. The spider fired a web to catch himself, but another hauled him into the building with his enemy. Null cut it and swung his fist, knocking Miles into the ground. Punch after punch came, and the spider battled to get free. Finally, with yet another Ethereal punch, he sent Null barrelling through rows upon rows of desks and out a window. A split second later, Miles' world seemed to erupt in flames and smoke as a rocket detonated nearby. He was thrown clear and the Ethereal Plate was dislodged from its slot, lost in the piles of rubble that tumbled from the sky. After a few seconds of falling, dazed by the blast, Miles fired a web and swung onto a piece of concrete, then leapt between each piece in an attempt to get clear before he was crushed. His spidey sense went off, but Null was moving too fast to react. The pair were driven down faster and faster until they slammed into the ground. The impact was cushioned by Miles for Null, but the shattered remnants of his suit were ripped away.

Miles woke up slowly. The first thing he was aware of was the crackling and roaring in his ears, then of the heat, and finally of the stinging in his eyes from the acrid smoke billowing from the flames around him. Null lay nearby in agony, paralysed without his suit. He was trying to use his teeth to pull himself to safety, but he couldn't move more than a few millimetres at a time. He gave up and cried out, hoping someone might hear his cry. Miles rolled onto his front, knowing that now was the moment he had to make a decision that could change everything. He'd killed before, but that was a past life or some sort of abomination sent by the Scarlet King; if he left Null here, he would most likely die and that would be on the spider's conscience for eternity. However, it would gain Max's trust and that was something he hoped his son would give him. On the other hand, saving Null would break Max's trust completely but it would protect his conscience and uphold the duty of a spider person. Miles made his decision: he picked himself up, then limped his way over the burning debris to Null who stared up at him with terror in his eyes. Would the spider be merciful after everything he had done? What reason did Miles have to save him? To his surprise, and relief, Miles bent down and picked him up. It was obvious the spider was injured badly, but he pushed on even when he slipped and nearly skewered himself on a metal pole. The flames closed in around them and Miles realised they were trapped. The only way out now was through it. Taking a deep breath, choking on the sulphur and smoke, he began to walk forwards. It wasn't until now he realised how trashed his own suit was, but that wasn't important. Tongues of flames wrapped themselves around his legs trying to pull him down, but if he died it would at least save him from Max's wrath. Suddenly, he felt something that gave him hope: a small gust of cooler air. With renewed strength he sped up. Suddenly, he slipped again and hit his head. Shards of glass dug into him, but he grit his teeth and hauled himself up again. Null opened his mouth and whispered weakly:

"I'm sorry."

"There'll be…plenty of time for…sorries…later."

Just as he said it, he collapsed from lack of oxygen. It seemed they were clear of most of the rubble, however, with only the piles of shattered glass left to deal with. The spider used the last of his strength to push Null and himself over it until the clouds above weren't just smoke, but the enormous ash cloud that covered the planet. The heat was behind them. Miles rolled onto his back and lay gasping for air.

"Thank you, Miles. You…why did you…"

"Because it's…what's right. You've suffered enough."

"What I injected Max with will wear off. He'll be mad at you."

"Leave…that…to me."

"I'm sorry for what I've done. There is one last change I need to make. It's too late for most of it, but maybe…"

"Null. Stop making…changes."

"No, you deserve this. You have to forgive me for what I've done already, but I can fix this one thing. Gwen will be OK. She will be because I say it."

There was no response. Null twisted his neck to see Miles was unconscious. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and yelled for help as loud as his lungs would let him.

Crossovers in this Chapter

None.