Peter quickly pulled off the last of his clothes, stripped down to his compression shorts. On the bed in front of him Cindy was laid out on her back, having stripped down to her underwear as well. She was wearing a cyan sports bra and matching boyshorts, smiling proudly at Peter from the bed. Peter found himself overwhelmingly aroused by the sight. He blushed when he saw Cindy suppress a giggle when she saw the tent formed in Peter's shorts by his erection.
"I… Uh…" he muttered uncomfortably.
"No," assured Cindy with a smile, "It's cute."
"Cute?"
"And flattering," added Cindy, "and sexy. Now get over here!"
Peter didn't need to be told twice. He crawled onto the bed on top of Cindy as he felt himself swell with adrenaline. Once he was over her he lowered his face to hers for a kiss. The kiss became a long and passionate one as Peter slowly lowered his hips toward Cindy's, lightly running his cock between her legs as he sighed with pleasure. Cindy moaned as well. Even through both layers of underwear, they both were overwhelmed by the sensation. Peter thrust again and again, causing them both to moan louder and louder while tensing more and more. Peter pulled away just to stop himself from cumming too quickly.
"Whoo," sighed Cindy in pleasure as Peter rolled over next to her, "Wow."
"Sorry," said Peter, "I just didn't want to-"
"No, you're fine," said Cindy, "That was nice."
"I know! I-"
"GAH!" they both cried out, clutching their heads in pain.
The two looked at each other. They instinctively knew that they had felt the same thing. Their spider senses had both surged powerfully through them. The sensation quieted down after that, but persisted in the form of a tingling down their spines.
"...what was that?" asked Cindy.
"Spider sense?" guessed Peter, standing up grabbing his spider suit out of his backpack, "Something must be up."
Cindy frowned in disappointment. She knew that this development had to be handled, but it still meant missing out on an intimate night with Peter. She slowly got up, got her costume from her closet, and began getting dressed too. Though the sensation had died down, her head still slightly throbbed.
"Geez," said Cindy, "I haven't felt like this since I got bitten."
"That's funny," said Peter, "I was going to say something similar."
"You had this happen the moment you got bitten too?"
"No," considered Peter, "but I did get it a minute or so afterward."
"...that would have been when I was bitten," said Cindy, recalling about how much time passed between their spider bites.
"You think they're related?"
"Maybe," said Cindy, finishing putting on her costume, "One way to find out!"
Peter pulled on his mask and nodded. He knew what she meant. The residual tingling of his spider sense was… almost directional. It seemed to be telling him to move in a particular direction. He figured that by following that sensation they'd get to the bottom of this.
So the two set out, sneaking out of Cindy's apartment and swinging off together as Spider-Man and Silk. They followed their spider senses as it urged them across the city and into Hell's Kitchen. As they swung through the neighborhood, the sensation spiked before disappearing completely.
"Here!" concluded Silk, "Whatever this is, must be here!"
Spider-Man agreed. They swung up onto a nearby building and began to look around. Then Spider-Man's sense went off as he heard the splash of someone running through a puddle in the alleyway below. That must have been it.
"There!" called Spider-Man, leaping down into the alley.
Cindy followed. The two both landed in front of a man who was running through the alley. He froze when he saw them. He was a young man wearing a black and red hoodie and matching basketball shorts. His face seemed to be one more of awe than of fear.
"Spider-Man?" he asked, "Holy- Are you Peter Parker?"
Spider-Man, panicking, fired a web directly at the man, pinning him to the wall behind him. Silk tensed as well, equally concerned with this man knowing Peter's identity. Who was he? Why had he activated their spider sense from such a great distance?
"Who are you!?" demanded Spider-Man.
The man grabbed the webbing on his body and slowly pulled it away, freeing himself. Spider-Man let him, not getting any sense of threat from him. He stayed at the ready however, since no one should have known how to remove his webbing that easily. It was a secret only he and few others knew. How did this man know it?
"My name is Miles Morales," said the man, "and I'm the next Spider-Man."
"Wait, wait, wait," said Jessica, shaking her head, "Where did you find this guy again?"
"Not far from here," said Peter, "our spider sense led us to him."
"So you're sure he's not just some random homeless guy?" clarified Jessica, "Or delusional?"
Miles didn't give Peter a chance to answer the question. He immediately leapt up and flipped, landing upside down on the ceiling on all fours. He slowly removed his hands and waved them at Jessica.
"If so, this is one impressive delusion," he said.
"Okay, okay," conceded Jessica, "So he has spider powers. That doesn't mean he's from the future."
That was what Miles had claimed. Shortly after introducing himself he explained that he wasn't from this time period. He claimed to be from the year 2038 and that he had traveled back in time. Peter and Cindy had decided it would be best to find a private space to discuss the issue, plus Peter wanted Jessica's input.
"Exactly how is being from the future any less believable than having superpowers?" asked Miles.
"Alright John Connor," scoffed Jessica irritably, "You here to change the past or something?"
"No," said Miles, shaking his head, "You can't change your past. Otherwise I'd have-"
Miles quickly glanced at Peter and then stopped talking. He cleared his throat.
"So why are you here?" asked Cindy.
"No," said Jessica sternly, " Back up. Otherwise you would have what?"
"...otherwise I would have saved Peter," said Miles.
Peter, Cindy, and Jessica all exchanged concerned looks.
"Saved?" asked Jessica quietly, "Does that mean… that Peter is going to-?"
"Not necessarily," said Miles.
"But you just said you can't change the past!" exclaimed Cindy in concern.
"I can't change my own past," clarified Miles, "but my past isn't necessarily your future."
"Split timeline," realized Peter quietly.
"What?" asked Jessica.
"Like in Dragon Ball Z?" clarified Peter to Miles.
"Exactly like in Dragon Ball Z," nodded Miles, "or the J.J. Abrams Stark Trek movies."
"I see!" realized Cindy.
"Someone translate this from nerd before I wedgie each and every one of you?" grunted Jessica.
"Basically, when I went back in time I entered a reality completely separate from my own," explained Miles, "My presence here means your future will be at least somewhat different than mine, but my timeline can't actually be affected. When I return to my timeline, nothing will have changed. So even if I did go back and save Peter, he'd still be dead in my reality. He would just be alive in another."
"...how did I die?" asked Peter after a moment.
Miles sighed and looked sadly at the ground.
"For me it was about 12 years ago," he explained, "I was 19 at the time. I had only just gotten my powers, but I had decided not to use them. I didn't want to be a hero. I didn't want that kind of weight on my shoulders. I just wanted to be a normal guy."
Miles took a deep breath. This seemed hard for him to talk about.
"It was Osborn," he explained, "After years of fighting, he finally beat you. He captured him and prepared him for a public execution. The Avengers, the Heroes for Hire, and just about everyone you could imagine teamed up to save you. They almost succeeded too. But…"
Miles looked away from them.
"What?" asked Jessica.
"I wasn't there," admitted Miles quietly, "I had my powers. I could have joined the fight. I could have already been training to help Peter. But I didn't. I watched the whole thing on the news, convinced that it wasn't my responsibility to do anything about it. I was convinced the others could handle it. But if I had been there… I might have been able to save him."
"...that's why you became Spider-Man," realized Peter quietly.
Miles nodded. Peter frowned in sympathy. He understood exactly how Miles felt. Jessica looked away uncomfortably. Cindy was nervously looking at her feet the whole time. The subject was uncomfortable for all of them.
"...remember that this isn't your future," clarified Miles, "Now that you know about what happened in my timeline, your own timeline is going to look a lot different."
"So Peter might not die?" asked Cindy hopefully.
"Everyone dies," whispered Jessica spitefully.
"...but he won't die like that," said Miles.
"So why are you here?" asked Cindy once more.
"I'm chasing down someone from my own timeline," explained Miles, "They represent a very real threat to this reality."
"Who is it?" asked Cindy.
"Mysterio," said Miles.
"I can't believe we're doing this," whispered Cindy to herself.
"I can't believe Beck eventually invents a time machine," scoffed Jessica.
"Well, doesn't," corrected Miles, "his artificial intelligence does."
"Whatever!" exclaimed Jessica impatiently, "I can't believe Beck invents something that invents a time machine."
Miles had explained to them that his timeline's Mysterio was not actually Quentin Beck, but a collective artificial intelligence. Beck had apparently inadvertently invented a simple form of AI that he duplicated over and over again. Eventually the AI connected with each other, became sentient, and decided to take over the mantle of Mysterio. They stole Beck's equipment and designed numerous android bodies for themselves before dealing Beck a humiliating and public defeat. Then those androids had multiplied further and built a machine that could send them back in time. Their motivations were as of yet unclear.
Miles, Cindy, Peter, and Jessica had traveled to the prison currently holding Quentin Beck. He was their only lead on how to find this new Mysterio, so they planned to interrogate him to find out everything they could.
"You don't think they'll let us speak with him?" asked Cindy.
"No," said Jessica plainly.
"This can't wait for us to wade through bureaucratic red tape," said Miles, "We have no idea what Mysterio's planning, so we can't afford to waste any time."
"So we're just going to break into a federal prison?" clarified Cindy.
"Eh," shrugged Jessica, "I've done worse."
"I'll go in first," said Miles, "and do some scouting."
Miles stripped off his hoodie and sweatpants, revealing his spider suit underneath. It didn't look quite like Peter's. The suit was black with red trim and a stylistically painted spider symbol instead of the traditional one. He pulled the mask over his face and seemed to disappear.
"Whoa!" cried out Jessica, "What the-!?"
After a moment of observation, they could see the outline of Miles's body standing in the exact same spot. When it began to move they saw that Miles had changed into the color of what was around him.
"Camouflage!?" reacted Cindy excitedly, "Cool!"
"Can you do that?" Jessica asked Peter.
Peter shook his head.
"Alright," said Miles, "Be right back."
They heard the thwip of Miles shooting a web out just before he swung down towards the prison. The others waited patiently. After a few minutes of waiting, Jessica broke the silence.
"So we've got to kill Osborn, right?" she said.
"Jessica!" chastised Peter.
"What?" she demanded incredulously, "He's going to kill you, Peter!"
Cindy awkwardly walked away to put some distance between herself and them.
"Not necessarily," said Peter, "You heard what Miles said. Our future will be different than his."
"Yeah, but if Osborn could kill you then, he could kill you now," argued Jessica.
"Anyone could kill me now, Jessica," said Peter solemnly, "That's part of being Spider-Man."
There was a few seconds of uncomfortable silence until they noticed something that seemed to be moving in the air. Then they saw the outline of Miles.
"Alright," he said, reappearing before them as he deactivated his camouflage, "I'm back."
"What'd you find?" asked Jessica, happy to have changed topics.
"It's a pretty standard prison," he explained, "They have slightly more guards than usual, but other than that security is pretty light. Especially since I managed to grab these!"
Miles brandished a set of key cards.
"These should get us wherever we need to go," he said.
"And Beck?" asked Peter.
"He's in cellblock 1B," said Miles, "It's on the east side of the building. We should be able to get in and out pretty quickly."
"Wow," whispered Peter.
"What?" asked Miles.
"Nothing," said Peter, "You're just... really good at this."
"Uh… thanks," said Miles, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.
"We good to go?" asked Cindy.
"I sure am," said Jessica, standing up impatiently.
"Yeah," nodded Peter.
"Alright," said Miles, "Let's do this."
"Clear," whispered Miles.
Jessica rounded the corner, followed closely by Peter and Cindy. The two other spider folk had also changed into their costumes now and even Jessica had wrapped a bandana around her face to conceal her identity. None of them wanted to be fingered as the ones who freed a supervillain.
They all hurried silently down the hallway, stopping at the next corner to wait for Miles's okay. It didn't come. Instead, they heard a quiet knock on the ceiling. They all knew what that meant. Peter and Cindy leapt up onto the ceiling themselves, silently pressing their bodies against the ceiling as much as they could. Jessica bolted in the opposite direction, hurrying into a utility closet. Moments later two guards walked by, completely oblivious to the 4 superhumans they were walking past. Once they were gone, they heard Miles say "clear" once more and continued their infiltration.
"This is it," whispered Miles as they approached the security checkpoint for cell block 1B.
There was a quiet beep as Miles used one of his key cards to let them through. Once they were all in, they all followed Miles as he rushed straight to Beck's cell. As they ran, the convicts took notice and began to heckle and call out to them. Jessica cursed under her breath. They'd be found in no time now.
"Well, well, well," mused Beck as they approached his cell, "Look who it is! To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Beck had been sitting in the corner of his cell, some obscure book in his hand as he looked smugly up at them.
"You're coming with us," said Jessica plainly, breaking open his cell door.
"Oh, goodie!" sneered Beck, "I can't wait to find out- What are you doing?"
Miles placed his hand on Beck's chest. A moment later Beck seized up and collapsed, fully paralyzed. Miles grabbed him and threw his body over his shoulder.
"What was THAT?" asked Jessica.
"Bio-electric sting," he said.
"Wow," sighed Cindy with a wide smile under her scarf, "So cool…"
"Seems like he can do a lot of things you can't do," Jessica whispered to Peter.
"I know."
"Not just his powers," continued Jessica quietly, "his skill as a tactician and infiltrator too."
"I know!" whispered Peter, "Come on, let's go."
Peter and Jessica hurried after Miles and Cindy, who were already on their way out. They managed to escape the facility before the guards learned of their presence from the convicts.
"You sure there's no one else here?" confirmed Miles.
"Sure am," said Spider-Man, "This place was being used as a chop shop until we cleared them out a while back. It's still off the books, so we should be good."
"Mmph!" cried Beck out angrily.
"No one asked you."
The group had brought Beck along with them from the prison. He was currently sitting against the wall, wrists bound and mouth sealed shut with webbing.
"You sure you don't want to put your mask on?" Silk asked Miles quietly.
"Yes," he said back, "That would make this next part harder."
"What's the next-?" began Silk, but Miles was already approaching Beck.
Miles grabbed Beck by the collar, pulled him to his feet, and slammed him into the wall. Spider-Man and Silk both made a motion of concern, but paused when they realized their spider sense hadn't gone off. Miles didn't actually pose a threat to anyone.
"Listen, you hack," hissed Miles, bringing Beck right up to his face, "I'm running low on time and I need you to be real clear and concise with what you say to me, understand? Otherwise I might get mad."
"What do you want from me?" asked Beck.
"Whatever computer most recently used," continued Miles, "You built it, right?"
"Yes."
"If someone wanted to hack into it," continued Miles, "What would they have to do?"
"Ha!" scoffed Beck, "and give you the secret to my-"
"SHUT UP!" grabbing onto Beck's face with his entire palm.
"I…. What…?" muttered Beck nervously.
"Feel that?" asked Miles, "My hand is stuck to your face. When I pull it away, your skin will peel from your bones before my hand comes off. Do you understand?"
Even Jessica looked concerned now.
"You wouldn't!" cried out Beck.
"Look me in the eye," whispered Miles, slowly pulling on Beck's skin, "Tell me I won't."
"Nnnngh…." muttered Beck nervously, "OKAY! OKAY! The computer has multiple drives, but they all function through a central one. Any virus that infects the central one will immediately infect the entire system."
"Interesting," said Miles quietly, releasing Beck's face.
Beck let out a sigh of relief, but Miles grabbed and shoved him to the ground right afterwards.
"That all you needed?" whispered Jessica.
"Yup," nodded Miles, "but there's one more way he can be useful."
"...that was so cool," Silk whispered to Spider-Man.
"Yup," acknowledged Spider-Man.
"He's REALLY good at this," she added
"I know."
"He's even better than you are."
"I know!"
"Cute too."
"Alright!"
Miles and Jessica walked over to them, forming a small circle to plan their next move.
"What did you learn from that?" asked Spider-Man.
"Beck designs my timeline's Mysterio at some point," explained Miles, "I figure it'd be good to know about any weak points his tech has, given we're basically going up against one of his computers."
"Smart," nodded Jessica.
"Well what else do we want with him?" asked Silk.
"I suspect that my Mysterio wants to replace yours," explained Miles, "My understanding is that they think they can succeed where he failed."
"So we use him as bait?" concluded Jessica.
"So we use him as bait," smiled Miles.
"Let me down this instant!" cried out Beck, "This is humiliating!"
"People keep saying that word," sighed Spider-Man, "but I get the impression they don't have the same experience with it that I do."
Beck was suspended from the ceiling of the warehouse by a web wrapped around his body, kicking as he dangled there.
"Organic webbing, huh?" Miles asked Silk, "That's pretty cool."
"Thanks," said Silk, blushing under her scarf.
"How will they know how to find him?" asked Jessica.
"Attention warehouse occupants"
"I have a feeling they already have that figured out," said Miles.
"We know Quentin Beck is inside. We are offering you a chance to hand him over peacefully. Stand down or we will use force."
The electronic voice was coming from multiple directions, echoing around the warehouse. Everyone looked around as they noticed dozens of figures walking into the room. Their bodies were visible mechanical, green androids with luminescent faces. Some appeared masculine, others feminine, and others neither. When they spoke, the voice came from all of them simultaneously.
"This is your final warning."
The glowing faces all flashed in time with their speech, creating an eerie effect when combined with the omnidirectional voice. They began to close in on the group, who gathered back to back in the center of the room.
"What is the meaning of this!?" demanded Beck, "Who are you!?"
"We are Mysterio."
Miles made the first move. He leapt away from the group and into the crowd of androids. He smashed two of their heads together, smashing the mechanics within and shutting them down. Several other androids rushed at Miles, but Silk fired a web at each of them and threw them into another group of androids.
Spider-Man leapt into a crowd of the androids himself, performing the same head smashing techniques as Miles. He quickly found himself surrounded though, and began to frantically punch away androids as they closed in on him. Spider-Man ended up in the clutches of several of them as they attempted to strangle and smother him. His vision started to go dark until he saw Miles leap down from above.
Miles administered bio-electric stings to several of the androids while kicking away others. Finally retching an arm free, Spider-Man went to fire a web at an android approaching Miles. He missed. Miles spun around and decapitated the same android with a kick. Spider-Man finally pulled himself free as Miles took out the other androids surrounding him.
"Thanks," nodded Spider-Man, slightly embarrassed.
"Leave me alone!" screamed Beck.
Miles and Spider-Man looked up, seeing several of the androids in the rafters of the warehouse. They were approaching Beck from multiple directions. Miles gave Spider-Man a look. Spider-Man nodded and webbed his way up into the rafters with them.
"I've got Beck!" he assured Miles as he shot upward.
Spider-Man landed on a crossbeam next to Beck, where he immediately fired webs and two of the androids and swung them off the ceiling so they fell to the floor. He did the same with another pair, but realized that there were too many for him to web them all down before they got to Beck. Spider-Man jumped at Beck and grabbed onto the web holding him to the ceiling.
"Spider-Man!" cried out Beck, "You're going to get me killed! I'll sue!"
"Do your worst," quipped Spider-Man, "I know a green lawyer who'd love to countersue a supervillain."
Beck didn't respond, as he was too busy yelping in fear as the androids leapt at them. Spider-Man kicked one away and webbed another into a third. Several more came within striking distance of Beck, but Spider-Man knocked away each of them. Finally there was only one left. It made a leap for the web connecting Beck to the ceiling.
"Hey!" cried out Spider-Man, leaping up and punching the android away.
Spider-Man went to fire another web to swing away, but heard his web shooters make a concerning shuck sound instead of firing a web.
Oh no, he realized, I haven't changed the web cartridges yet!
Spider-Man screamed as he fell to the ground a story below, though he found his fall surprisingly cushioned. Spider-Man couldn't be grateful for that though, since the soft break of his fall came from landing directly on top of Silk, leaving them both lying over each other on the floor. They were both groaning in pain.
"Nice one," grunted Silk in irritation, pushing Spider-Man off of her and rubbing her sore shoulder.
"Sorry," offered Spider-Man meekly as several more androids surrounded them.
The duo proceeded to fight them off, punching and kicking them away until they were in the clear. That's when they saw Jessica on the other side of the room, tearing the head off of one android as another snuck up behind her.
"Jessica!" called out Spider-Man in concern.
Spider-Man grabbed a discarded piece of an android and chucked it at the android sneaking up on Jessica. Spider-Man's aim was off however, and the piece of machinery instead collided directly with Jessica's head.
"OW!" she screamed, glaring at Spider-Man, "WHAT THE HELL!?"
The android behind her wrapped their hands around Jessica's throat, causing her to gasp and began clutching at the android's hands to pull them away. Spider-Man began a sprint over to her to help, but Miles appeared out of nowhere and punched a hole in the android's chest. He had snuck up on it while camouflaged.
"Thanks," she sighed.
Jessica, Miles, Spider-Man, and Silk looked around. Pieces of broken androids lay scattered around the room. None were left. If there were any still standing, they had retreated. All of them let out a sigh of relief.
"Um..." wondered Silk aloud, looking at the ceiling with concern, "Where's Beck?"
They all looked up in horror to see that their unwilling acquaintance was nowhere to be found. The others looked to Spider-Man, who had taken responsibility for him during the fight. Spider-Man took a step back in shame.
"...sorry," he managed.
"No worries," said Miles, "I had a feeling this might happen. I put a tracker on him when we first caught him."
"A tracker?" asked Spider-Man.
"Yeah," nodded Miles, "It gives off a radio signal that I can hear with my spider-sense. We can follow it right to their base of operations."
"Glad at least ONE Spider-Man knows what he's doing," grumbled Jessica, rubbing her throat.
"Let's not get accusatory," cautioned Miles, "The situation is still tense. We need to stay focused."
"Wow, Miles," sighed Silk, "Way to stay cool under pressure!"
"Thanks," smiled Miles.
Silk turned away bashfully.
"Let's go," he continued, "They went this way."
Miles ran off as Silk followed. Spider-Man hung back in embarrassment, only to have Jessica strike him hard in the back of the head.
"Ow!" he cried out.
"Shut up," dismissed Jessica as she walked after the others, "You're lucky you're not getting a swirly for that stunt of yours."
Spider-Man twirled his thumbs uncomfortably as he watched the others walk away. He was already feeling insecure around Miles being so much better at this. Now he had to cope with a fistful of embarrassing failures on top of that. He hoped he would get himself back in shape in time for this upcoming fight. Steeling himself, Spider-Man ran after the others.
"Who makes a base in the sewers?" asked Silk in disgust.
"Supervillains," answered Jessica wryly.
"Yeah, I guess…" sighed Silk.
The group was now in a large tunnel that was part of the New York sewer system. They were wading through knee-deep water. While the water didn't seem to be filled with waste, it certainly didn't seem clean. Jessica in particular was wincing with every step as it soaked through her jeans and socks.
"There!" said Miles, pointing at a large open pipe, "He's in there!"
Miles climbed into the pipe first, followed by Silk, Spider-Man, and finally Jessica. Jessica pulled out a small flashlight and used it to illuminate the pipe. Silk smiled to herself under her mask as the light also provided her with a clear view of Miles's butt for the duration of their crawl.
They jumped out into an open room, where crudely built machines lined all of the walls. Their entrance was immediately noticed by the countless androids in the room. Jessica cursed. It was more than twice the amount they had fought in the warehouse.
"You've found us. Impressive."
"Where's Beck, Mysterio?" demanded Miles.
"Preparing for his operation.
"Operation?" said Spider-Man.
"Yes. When it is complete, he will be another member of the Mysterio collective. Having a human body among us will make operating in this time much easier. Once we do that, we'll have countless opportunities for world domination, starting with the Hell Invasion..."
"So you're using your knowledge of our timeline's history to take over the world in this timeline," concluded Miles, "You'll never get away with it."
"I guess we should be glad that they share their creator's penchant for unnecessarily informative monologues," said Spider-Man.
"I'm sorry," said Jessica, shaking her head in disbelief, "Did they just say 'Hell Invasion?'"
"This is the end. You will be given no opportunity for surrender. Prepare to die."
"Wow, this Mysterio is WAY more intense than ours," said Spider-Man.
The army of androids charged them. Silk leapt into the air and swung over the crowd on a web, firing webs into androids and swinging them into each other. Jessica, Spider-Man, and Miles stood their ground and fought off the androids as they rushed them. It soon became apparent that this approach was futile. They could never take this many of them. That's when Miles noticed a large machine at the back of the room.
"Guys!" whispered Miles, "I'm going after that machine. Cover me!"
Miles activated his camouflage and slipped into the crowd of androids unnoticed. Spider-Man and Jessica looked at each other for a moment before charging into the crowd, distracting them as best as they could. They figured Miles had a plan.
He did. Miles theorized that that machine was akin to the central drive Beck had said he used for his computer. Mysterio was self-repairing, always building new bodies for their collective intelligence. It made sense that large drives would be used to facilitate this exchange of software from machine to machine. Beck had said that if the central drive was infected, the rest would follow. Miles hoped the same applied to smashing it to pieces. He wasn't much of a hacker.
"Where is he?" called out Jessica, punching away an android.
"No idea," said Spider-Man, kicking two away himself, "I lost track of him as soon as he went chameleon."
"How the hell are we supposed to cover him if he's invisible!?" demanded Jessica.
She had a point. Spider-Man looked around the room. He saw no sign of Miles, but he could tell Jessica and Silk were running out of steam. So was he. They couldn't keep this up much longer. They couldn't afford to wait for Miles. Someone else would have to execute his plan.
"Cover me!" cried out Spider-Man, charging into the crowd.
"Hey!" protested Jessica, trying in vain to force her way through the crowd herself, "Wait!"
Spider-Man couldn't risk waiting for her. He knew that covering him wouldn't necessarily be possible, but he didn't know what else to say. He was on a beeline for the machine now, pushing aside android after android as he approached it. When he was finally within a few feet of the machine, he felt himself collide into someone hard.
"Oof!" cried out Miles.
The two fell on top of each other on the ground. Spider-Man groaned. He hadn't seen Miles at all and ran straight into him, knocking them both down. They were immediately surrounded by androids as they got to their feet.
"That's not what I meant by 'cover me!'" grumbled Miles, using a bio-electric shock to deactivate a pair of androids before punching another away.
"I'm sorry!" offered Spider-Man, getting to his feet and kicking another away, "I just wanted to help more!"
"Why?" asked Miles, going into a handstand and kicking an android into the crowd, causing them all to stumble and fall over.
"I don't know," muttered Spider-Man, finally having a second of breathing room, "I guess I might have been a tad jealous of you."
"Jealous of me?" said Miles in disbelief, "You're Spider-Man! The original Spider-Man."
Both turned away from each other to punch away several more androids.
"Yeah," said Spider-Man, "but you're way better at this than me."
Miles let out a grunt as he grabbed an android by the arm and swung it into several others, breaking them all. Then he turned back to Spider-Man.
"Peter," he said quietly, "I've been doing this for 12 years. You've been doing it for what, four?"
"Give or take," admitted Spider-Man quietly.
"Exactly," said Miles, "Now stop being petty and help me get to that machine!"
Spider-Man nodded. Miles was right. Spider-Man cupped his hands in front of him. Miles stepped into them and Spider-Man flung him back over his head, toward the machine.
Spider-Man soon found himself entangled in the arms of half a dozen androids. He tried to fight his way free, but as soon as he pushed one off of him two would take their place. Looking around, Spider-Man saw that both Jessica and Silk were in similar situations. This was it. Only Miles could help them now.
The sound of a huge power surge rang throughout the room. One by one the androids collapsed lifelessly to the ground. Spider-Man yelped as he found himself buried under the bodies that had just been restraining him. He dug his way out and looked around. Miles stood proudly next to the sparking machine. There was one android left standing in the corner of the room.
"You! You broke the nexus!"
"How is it possible that a robot can be such a dork?" whispered Jessica.
"Give it up, Mysterio," said Miles, "You can only control one body now. You're through."
"This time, perhaps! But this isn't over! You can detain me as many times as you like! I will always return!"
"Yo, what are the ethics of killing a robot?" asked Silk, "Are we looking at a Blade Runner type thing here?"
"I swear," sighed Jessica, looking at Silk, "sometimes you deserve to be shoved into a locker even more than your boy toy."
"Sorry to disappoint," said Miles, "but they ARE fully sentient. We shouldn't kill them."
The others watched as Miles approached the android and forcibly restrained him with some webbing. The group then led their new prisoner into the next room, where Beck lay unconscious but unharmed on an operating table surrounded by lifeless android bodies on the floor. In the back of the room was a heavy and expensive-looking device emitting a strange light and sound.
"Is that what I think it is?" asked Spider-Man.
"That is my greatest invention: the Transtemporal Pathmaker!"
"What, did 'time machine' sound too basic?" scoffed Jessica.
"I should go," said Miles, almost urgent, "Riri said these things are incredibly unstable. It could collapse at any time."
"Wait, you're leaving just like that?" asked Spider-Man in disbelief.
"Yes," nodded Miles, "and unfortunately it's going to probably be a one-way trip. Sorry to make this such a brief good-bye."
"Um," muttered Silk, "Not to be too forward, but before you go…"
"I'm sorry, Cindy," apologized Miles, "I'm in a closed relationship."
"Oh," said Silk in disappointment, "I understand."
"Anyone we know?" teased Jessica.
"I somehow doubt Kamala's an Avenger yet," chuckled Miles.
"Wait," said Spider-Man, "The Avengers are together in your timeline?"
"I don't have time to explain the whole history of it," said Miles, "but yeah, we are."
"YOU'RE an Avenger?!" asked Spider-Man excitedly, "That's awesome! ...is it weird to say I'm proud of you?"
"It's absolutely weird," said Jessica.
"One last thing," said Miles as he approached the device, "Peter, I wanted you to know something. In my timeline, you're a legend. You were the original Spider-Man. You did it for years. You set the bar for what it means to wear that mask. You built the foundation of what it means to be a hero. There's a reason just about everyone in the world came together to try and save you. Well, everyone but me."
"Tell you what," said Spider-Man cheerily, "You stop beating yourself up over that and I'll stop beating myself up over not being as good at this as you."
"Sounds good," smiled Miles, "Good-bye, everybody."
Miles grabbed a handle on the device with one hand and clutched Mysterio with the other. The device emitted a bright bluish white light and whining noise. When it cleared, the device, Miles, and Mysterio were completely gone. A small white cloud hung in the air where they used to be, slowly dissipating.
"Shit," cursed Jessica, "I forgot to ask him what in the world the Hell Invasion will be."
"Eh," shrugged Spider-Man, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
Suddenly there was a loud crackle. The thin white cloud became thicker and began to swirl in the air as it grew. Jessica, Spider-Man, and Silk readied themselves as the cloud burst into a bluish white light and let out another whining sound. Both Silk and Spider-Man clutched their heads in pain.
"Holy shit…" whispered Jessica when the light cleared.
Sitting where Miles had been standing moments before was a tall, chubby man in Spider-Man costume, clutching his head the same way Spider-Man and Silk were. Jessica looked over to Silk and Spider-Man just as the pain eased up.
"You guys okay?" asked Jessica quietly, "Any idea what's going on?"
"That's just like what happened when Miles showed up," said Spider-Man.
"Where the-" began the man in the Spider-Man costume, "Oh no. Why am I seeing myself?"
"Um…" wondered Spider-Man aloud, "What is going on?"
"Oh God," realized the man, "You ARE me. From the past!"
"And who the hell is that, exactly?" demanded Jessica.
"My name is Peter Parker," said the man, removing his mask to reveal a face similar to Peter's but aged, "and I've been Spider-Man for 22 years."
"God fucking damnit," sighed Jessica.