Spider-Man: 202X

Chapter 1

It had been a quiet Tuesday all things concerned. New York was bustling, busy and irritating as it usually was, and the sun shone brightly in the winter snow.

Despite the snow itself melting, Miles remembered his mom insisting on him wearing a full blown winter jacket to school, in spite of his protests. Despite the slight giggles from his classmates, it was probably the better choice overall, he reckoned.

And then, as the day turned to evening and it was time for his mom to pick him up… Alarms rang throughout the city. People were supposed to rush to their homes and keep safe, as the Sinister Six had taken to the skylines of New York to declare that they had plans to control the city.

Coincidentally, the building they chose to make that declaration… Was Oscorp. Funny that, huh.

Instead of going home, he remembered his father calling his mom and urging her to stay at the school with the other kids - being on the roads wasn't safe. He knew that they hadn't meant for him to overhear, but he'd always been good at listening.

And so, they returned with the other kids. His mom took control of the situation almost immediately, and they all huddled in the gym with a single TV to give them updates, along with whatever phones they had to hand.

He remembered clutching his mom's hand, and Gwen's hand at the same time as they watched the television. Hope soared in his heart as he saw Spider-Man, his famous red and blue costume and his webs, swing into action - aided by the police… Aided by his father, famously.

For what felt like hours… There was nothing but hectic action. Spider-Man was doing incredibly well - he'd taken down everyone short of the Green Goblin, and was apparently poised to take him down.

Yet… Something had…

He struggled to remember it. He had tried so hard to forget about it, forget about that day.

The day that his entire world collapsed in front of his very eyes. The day that everyone saw their greatest hero… fail.

Green Goblin had stabbed Spider-Man in the heart, brandishing his bloodied, swinging corpse atop his glider. Miles remembered desperately hoping for Spider-Man to have one last surge of strength - as he always had before. Spider-Man never failed, he always got back up…

But… He didn't. Green Goblin tossed the corpse overboard, and began laughing maniacally. In front of the cameras… In front of the whole world, as they watched their hero die.

The police were decimated within an instant after that. The rest of the Sinister Six escaped their bounds, and simply created havoc. The newscast had stopped long ago after that… But the sounds of explosions and quakes could be heard from across town.

He remembered whimpering to his mom. Wondering what happened next…?

Apparently that day could get worse. And it did, he thought, remembering his father's blackened with soot body, bloody, torn-

Miles Morales gasped, sitting up in his bed, covered in sweat. Wiping his forehead with his forearm, he blearily reached for a small glass of water, sipping it quietly. It was tepid but to him, it was a reminder that he wasn't… Remembering anymore.

Pushing the thought to the side, the teenager looked at the clock on his bedside table, grimacing when it read '5:01'. It was an antique one, made with gears and bolts, unlike the holographic displays that were standard today, but… It was familiar to him.

He stretched his arms, wincing at the burn in his shoulders. He'd been training hard of late, pushing far more than was probably wise, just… Trying to empty his head.

Miles grimaced as he stood up, and as quietly as possible, walked to his window, opening it a crack. New York was still nighttime at the moment, but at the same time, filled with light. Billboards filled with neon adverts, too far for him to see what they meant, stood on skyscrapers visible even far in the distance. The average apartment block was now a uniform flat concrete, with all of the brick being gone.

It was… shiny… But grim. The city had never been pretty even at the best of times, but now…? It was like everything was a little worse. Everything was uniform besides whatever color people chose to paint the walls with, and now, the only way that people could really express themselves was in how they dressed and wore their hair.

And he knew who to blame. They weren't visible here, or active at the moment, but it was all because of the Sinister Six, who'd handed the keys over to Oscorp. The thought made him shudder, not in fear, but… The complete opposite.

"...I wish they'd all die." Miles muttered to himself, clenching his fist hard. He genuinely wanted to hit something, to just break something, but…

Pulling away from the window, and walking across the carpeted floor, the teenager eventually arrived outside the kitchen door. It was a small one, but… He could tell when someone was using it even now.

Opening it gently, he saw his mom, Rio Morales, languidly making herself a coffee. He stood there silently for a moment, giving her a once over, making sure she was okay… Her short brown hair seemed slightly disheveled from sleep, and she seemed to slump slightly. He frowned deeply. "...You alright, mami?"

Rio yelped in surprise, putting her hand to her heart. "Miles! You… Took me by surprise. Of course I am, why do you ask?"

"You seem tired." Miles said concernedly, moving closer and taking her hand. "They're really making you work at the hospital."

She smiled at him, grabbing both of his hands in hers. "As long as you're safe, Miles, no amount of work is unnecessary, okay? Now tell me, why are you up so early? I don't want you to mess up school because you're lacking sleep, okay?"

He chuckled slightly, managing to give her a half smile. "I'm fine… Just remembered that day."

Rio's smile cracked a little. "Ah…"

For a moment, he thought their mutual façade of trying to move past, to forget what happened, would crack, when his mom removed her hand from his and opened the cookie jar that stood on the counter, handing him a chocolate digestive.

It was in an old packet - from before the Oscorp takeover when stuff like this became a luxury. If anybody knew they had these, he was fairly sure that he'd be fighting off an entire criminal empire.

He cracked it in half, offering her one, to which she quietly shook her head, choosing to look at him intently - struggling with what to say.

"Miles… If it helps with your nightmares, I don't mind if you stay at Aaron's place." Rio said quietly.

Miles couldn't help but look at her in surprise before shaking his head, swallowing the digestive in a single gulp. "No. I love Uncle Aaron, but… I need to be here."

His mom laughed slightly. "I don't need protecting, Miles."

"...I know. I just want to be sure of it, you know?" The teen said simply, making her smile widely, a few tears welling up in her eyes. Before he knew it, he was wrapped up in her arms, squeezing him tightly. Without hesitation, Miles squeezed back appreciatively.

They must have stayed there for a few minutes, almost making sure that the other was still there and that this wasn't a dream, but after a while, they had to detach. Faint glimpses of daylight glinted through the window and he realized that he needed to get ready.

Grabbing his red-lined black blazer and scarlet dress shirt along with his black pants from a drawer in his room, he threw them onto his bed, before stepping into the bathroom. He had about twenty minutes before it was his mom's turn, so he had to hurry.

Brush his teeth, shower, go to the toilet, all of that jazz… All with the help of new Oscorp technology that he still couldn't shake the feeling of suspicion whenever he used them.

The toothbrush might be electric where he didn't even need to do anything, because it apparently knew what to do, his shower was calibrated to give him an exact body temperature (which often meant freezing considering his training), and the toilet was… Supposedly inspired by Japanese toilets, whatever that meant.

But it all felt weird… It was too perfect. Maybe it was because he still remembered everything that happened, ingrained in his brain as it was, that he couldn't help but find how prevalent Oscorp was to be weird.

…He was literally going to the Oscorp Laboratory today, whilst being in an academy that was meant to guide them into working for Oscorp. Those were the only jobs that were available now - even the hospital that his mom worked at, was a subsidiary.

Miles shook his head as he donned the uniform, frowning ever so slightly. He remembered liking these colors, he thought, as he kicked on his trainers. He was meant to wear dress shoes, but… Until they forced him to change it, he wasn't going to.

"Are you ready for school, Miles?" Rio shouted, pulling him entirely from his reverie. "You need to get there early, remember?"

"I can only go as fast as the public transport, alright?" Miles replied back, wandering into the kitchen to grab an energy bar and throwing it down his neck.

"And that is why you have to be early." She retorted, smiling ever so lightly as she kissed him on the cheek, as he noticed she was dressed to go to work too.

Miles grinned in reply, narrowly avoiding another kiss as he ducked into the hallway. "Yeah - I'll see you later, mom."

"Try not to be too long, hijo!" Rio yelled as he opened the door to their apartment building. Shutting it behind him and hearing the locks shut automatically behind him, Miles allowed himself a small sigh of relief.

Glancing around the empty hallway, he quickly went down the stone stairs, trying his utmost to not make much noise. Miles really, really, didn't want to give his neighbors any excuse to try and rat him and his mom out to the landlord - all it took was a noise complaint, fake or not.

Because Oscorp apparently had 'limited apartment spots'... So anyone who could successfully rat someone out could probably get their families in the apartment in their stead.

Miles couldn't find it in him to hate them. If his mom, Uncle Aaron or Gwen were in some camp and he had to rat someone out to save them from that… He wasn't sure that he'd be strong enough to not do so.

Pushing open the door to the streets, he immediately found himself stepping around a discarded alcohol bottle, frowning to himself.

Looking around the side of the building, Miles sighed deeply. Grabbing the empty bottle, he quietly put it next to the sleeping homeless man, before he came back onto the sidewalk.

New York was bustling around now. He was already having to avoid people, keep his hands in his pockets whilst keeping an eye out for any pickpockets. They were unlikely - they thought that since he was a member of an academy he was some rich guy who'd rip their teeth out if he got robbed, but… It helped.

The city itself glowed in the morning light. The adverts faded in the sheer brightness, and all that was left was the droplets of rain from the night's showers, glinting. The people around him were all dressed to go to work - whatever that would be. Some were corpos, others were gangbangers, and others were normal people… subcontracted to a corpo.

It was just like that, now, Miles thought as he reached for his pocket and scanned his keycard on the gate, being the first in the queue. It opened with a quiet click, and he took a deep breath as he walked through.

Bus stops for people that were a part of Oscorp in some way got their own protective cage. It was apparently designed to withstand the might of the Rhino, but… Miles wasn't eager to test that.

He stiffened as he realized why there was a queue. A tall man wearing dark red and black armor, with a sword and an assault rifle on his back stood at the ticket office - NYPD stamped on his chest.

The helmeted, faceless man waved him over tersely. "Who are you and what are you here for?"

"Miles Morales. Visions Academy. School trip to Oscorp Central." Miles said, trying to keep calm.

He could feel the man's gaze wash over him through the helmet. "...Surprised they let your type into those Academies."

Miles clenched his fist into the palm of his hand, his nails digging into his skin. It took all he had to not reply, to not give him an excuse, waiting as the man typed.

"...Valid. Go wait in Aisle 1, your transport will be here soon." The policeman said stoically. "Next!"

The teenager moved to his spot at the front, unclenching his fist as he attempted to calm down. He tried to take into account that it could have been worse - a single comment versus being searched, but-

He fidgeted for a moment, before reaching for his mobile phone. He briefly saw that he'd been bombarded with messages since he'd gone to sleep, from the class group chat as well as his various friends, but he ignored them for a brief minute to open his music app. Grabbing two earbuds from his pocket, he simply… listened.

It was a song about daffodils, and was apparently a metaphor about how the artist liked this girl so much… It was just enough to soothe his mind, just a little.

Miles couldn't help the slight noise of irritation as he was pulled from his relaxation by the distinctive vibration of a message being sent to him.

'You at your bus stop, Miles?' He read, almost shaking his head when he saw it was from Gwen

'Ye. What bout u?' He tapped back quickly, shifting slightly towards the edge of his seat as a particularly big man sat next to him.

There was nothing for a brief moment, and Miles had a feeling that he could guess what she was doing. 'I was a bit… late last night. Only just got out of my place.'

'Rlly?' Miles shot back, feeling like he was about to have a headache. He almost texted something very snarky about promises, but he managed to hold himself back. 'U better not be late.'

'Ye' 'Gotchu' 'Brb' Were tapped back at him in quick succession, making him scratch his nose.

Gwen Stacy… His best friend and the rock he depended on… Could really be incredibly irritating at times, he thought with a shake of his head, as he began to casually text back to the rest of his friends.

He was mostly reacting to what they sent him last night, but that was usually enough to spark a conversation… That kept him busy for a little bit, at least until he heard the distinct 'whir' of a fission core coming to a stop.

His bus… Couldn't really be called a bus, Miles thought as he stood in front of it, waiting for it to finally open its door. It was a hovercraft with a nuclear fission engine that was about the size of a double decker bus in London - except there wasn't a second floor, there was merely a ton of electronics and luggage space.

Because apparently some kid had complained to his dad that the Academy Bus didn't have the ability to fast charge his laptop and his dad said he'd pull out his funding. He wished that he could remember that kid's name, because whoever he was, he was a massive idiot that Miles wished to avoid.

The door opened with nary a noise, and Miles stepped inside with a slight smile. "Giuseppe. How's it going?"

"Not too badly." The older man said, grabbing his bus card and scanning it before passing it back to him. "But I probably shouldn't delay you, huh?"

"Oi, Morales! We got places to be, why are you wasting our time?" A familiar voice rose over the din of the bus interrupting the conversation.

Miles glanced to his right, unable to keep the dismissive expression from his face. It seemed like he'd found the kid in question. "You were saying something?"

Simon Krieger stood up from his seat at the back, visibly huffing with his nose. "Yeah, I was. You're making me late."

Miles took a quick glance at his phone, ignoring the looks and whispers from the rest of the bus. "How about you let me finish my conversation, Roxxon Boy, and then we'll get moving?"

"What did you just-" The blond-haired boy snarled, almost moving towards him when the bus suddenly snapped back and he fell on his rear.

He shot Giuseppe a quiet, thankful look. "Thanks."

"Just stay outta trouble." The bus driver muttered warningly, as he finally pushed properly on the accelerator.

Meanwhile, it seemed like Simon was trying to glare at everyone who dared giggle or smile at his misfortune, settling on Miles himself. "This ain't over, Morales."

Miles raised a single eyebrow, unable to stop himself from making a small comment. "You do know how cliché that sounds, right?"

Krieger opened his mouth for a retort, before biting his lip as the bus moved again and he narrowly avoided falling again. Eventually, he sat back down on his backseat, immediately whispering furiously to his buddies.

…It really was always the rich kids, he couldn't help but think sardonically, as he sat down at the front of the bus, watching as New York sped up and slowed down with the traffic.

His phone had buzzed several times by then, mainly from the group chat sharing what had just happened, as if Krieger and Miles himself weren't actually in the chat.

The teen couldn't help but rub his forehead in mild frustration. He really didn't want to rekindle whatever rivalry he had with Simon Krieger… It had just cooled down into test results and insults in the hallway, and it seemed to be heating back up.

He really didn't want to have to deal with that. It was partly his fault, kinda, but what could he do? Just ignore how much of a douche Krieger was?

Miles shook his head, peering out of the window to the bus stop, trying to catch a glimpse of blonde hair - only to see her waiting in the queue, bobbing up and down nervously on her feet.

"Hey," he said to Giuseppe, feeling the engine start back up. "Gwen is right there in the queue."

The bus driver frowned slightly, before sighing. "Fine… But just this once."

"Thanks, man." He said, as the bus stopped once again.

Miles watched as his friend put her hands on her hips as it was finally her turn, pointing at the bus with distinct force. The police officer seemed to merely grunt, gesturing her to go.

Gwen Stacy then stepped into the bus with a vaguely annoyed expression, passing her card wordlessly to Giuseppe… As her gaze came to him and she smiled. "Yo, Miles."

"Yo back to you." Miles replied with a slight snort, as they did their typical greeting - fist bump into clapping the two sides of their hands together. He shuffled slightly to let her sit next to him.

As she swung on the bar to plop next to him, she smoothed out the black skirt that was apparently mandatory for girls. "Sorry for being late."

"Hey, it's cool - I'm just wondering what you were doing." Miles replied with a slight grin. "Usually you're the one harassing me about being late, so-"

"I don't harass you…" Gwen defended weakly, cringing slightly at his deadpan expression.

"I wouldn't say it without receipts." He retorted, pulling out his phone mildly threateningly. "Or do you want me to bring up… Like, the past week?"

"Yeah, yeah, Mister 'I train so much that I'm home at 1AM'." The blonde girl shot back, her lips twitching upwards.

Miles glared at her mockingly, before letting out a small laugh, which she reciprocated, tapping his shoulder lightly with her fist.

"Alright, alright… You got me." He said, raising his hands in surrender as he lowered his voice so as to not be overheard. "So what were you really doing?"

"What makes you think I was doing something?" Gwen replied slyly, grinning at him. "I can be late once in a while."

"And you were doing something each time." Miles pointed out, making her pout rather cutely. "Like don't think I don't know about my birthday-"

"You're not supposed to know about what I got you just yet!" She cried out, blushing profusely.

"I didn't, but-" Miles grinned widely, managing to block her jab to his ribs with his arm. "Now I do!"

"You're so, so, annoying, Morales." Gwen spat, her cheeks flushed deeply pink, as she suddenly brought out a pen, pointing it at him. "You're lucky I get you anything at all at this rate!"

"Yeah, I know, I know." He chuckled, visibly flinching at one of her jabs hitting his ribs. "Ow."

"That'll teach you to snoop." The blonde harrumphed, crossing her arms.

"Duly noted." Miles said, unable to stop the slight laugh at her expression. "But… Seriously now."

She hung her head slightly, looking at him beneath her bangs. He couldn't help but frown deeply, instinctively knowing something was up, and gently grabbed her hand, before looking at her reassuringly.

For a moment, they didn't say anything - the noise of the bus and their classmates drowning them, before she squeezed back with a smile. "Alright, big man. I'll tell you, since you're feeling so insistent."

"My middle name too, I'm fairly sure." He joked making her roll her eyes, her smile widening ever so slightly.

"I was busy last night because…" Gwen said, glancing around slightly nervously, before leaning to his ear. "I was talking to the Underground."

Miles widened his eyes. "That Underground? The rebel group that disappeared after the assault of '18?"

"Yep. That Underground." Gwen replied, a small proud smile rising to her lips. "I didn't really believe it, honestly, but like… They eventually gave me this."

Pulling out her phone, she took off her white and pink case to press her thumb firmly on the bottom half - that's when he saw a distinctive white skull with the eyes and upper half spelling 'UG' on a dark purple background flash up, and Gwen's phone briefly turn on with a few prompts - distract, security and incapacitate.

"That last one… Non lethal, right?" Miles had to ask, somewhat unnerved by how… varied that word could be.

"Well, they're the ones actually doing this stuff. I just tell them when I want it, since apparently timing is essential." Gwen replied, biting her lip slightly.

He nodded hesitantly, absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head. He guessed he just had to hope that the Underground hadn't lost their morals since '18… "I believe you. So why'd they give you this stuff?"

She stopped leaning to his ear and looked at him deep in the eyes, taking a deep breath. "Well you know how Roxxon Boy convinced his dad to get us a school trip to the Oscorp lab, because he… I don't know, wants to learn how to control the world or something, right?"

"Yep." Miles said, briefly remembering his surprise at the entire class being invited - including him and Gwen, notorious outcasts of Simon Krieger's 'regime'. "It's probably more to learn how to keep his hair perfectly styled even after sim sports though."

Gwen giggled, lightly knocking him on the shoulder. "Take this seriously."

"I am." He said with a slight grin, making her shake her head.

She looked at him, snorting at his expression, before blowing a strand of hair away from her now serious gaze. "They want me to give them an 'in' into the Oscorp servers. They're really worried about something they're making there, and considering we'll be the first people who aren't working for Oscorp to visit in, well, forever, this is their one shot."

Miles quietly hummed to himself. "It adds up… So you just have to hook up your phone and job's done?"

"Basically… Even if getting there is the hard part." Gwen whispered conspiratorially, leaning towards him once again.

The Oscorp Labratory was a massive building, he knew. An entire plaza was dedicated to Oscorp and its functions, and the laboratory stood in the back, looming over it all. The tallest building in the entire city, like the rest of Oscorp, it was coloured in black and red, with the red in particular lit up around the building like an oppressive outline.

The entrance hall was unsurprisingly rather sparse and barren, not much more than a desk and a few couches, with a tall man in a lab coat there to take them on the actual tour - a teacher of theirs had been waiting for them. Miss Wrexham, their science teacher, he recognized.

As the man talked their ear off as they traveled through the labs, with suit-wearing, red sunglasses-bearing guards with no obvious weaponry posted at each door. The labs themselves were absolutely brilliant, with what seemed like dozens of people operating per row.

It was a brilliant sales pitch, Miles recognized, as he caught sight of Barbara Rodriguez talking the ear off their guide, who to his credit, seemed to participate with equal amounts of fervor.

As they walked along a hallway, nearing a distinct sign that said 'Biology', he saw Gwen bring out her phone quietly. She'd somehow managed to hide it from the guard who took their mobile phones away from them, a fact that Miles unfortunately wasn't able to replicate with much ease.

She pressed a button on the screen, and suddenly, their guide pressed his finger to his temple, a small blue light emanating from it. A cerebral implant to communicate wirelessly, he imagined… Which was perhaps more faulty than Oscorp intended.

Their guide started nodding seriously, talking back and forth with whoever was on the other end, where he felt a tug on his hand. Gwen pointed to a set of nearby stairs that they were right next to, and he quickly tugged on the door to climb up them, raising his eyebrows at how easy it was.

To which, he remembered…

"Okay, so we go up the stairs… What then? And how do we not get caught by security cameras?" He asked again, curiously, leaning against the window of the bus.

"The Underground told me they're going to take control of the cameras of where we are in particular, in order to avoid suspicion and delete us in real time." Gwen explained, sounding distinctly excited. "And all we have to do is reach the fourth floor."

Miles resisted the urge to whistle. "They can do that?"

"Well… Um, they told me they could." Gwen said, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly…

Shaking his head to ignore the stray memory, he spied the camera on the stairwell, and felt horror pierce his heart… Only to see the Underground logo flash before his very eyes, winking at him. Gwen seemed to share his emotions at what just happened, the two of them letting out a genuine sigh of relief as the camera panned around uselessly.

The stairs were long and hard - made up of a stone concrete that felt almost at odds with the rest of the clean, black white and red aesthetics of the rest of the building thus far. Perhaps a remnant of whatever building this used to be, he thought.

As the two of them clambered the stairs, eventually he saw a sign for the fourth floor… And half a dozen scientists past the door, as he ducked to the nearby wall with wide eyes.

He whirled around on Gwen with silent panic, gesturing wildly at the amount of people inside the building.

Glaring back at him, albeit with a genuinely embarrassed look, she raised her phone to the door and pressed another button.

Within a second, he heard a distinct, synchronous thud ring out even past the thick walls. He cautiously raised his head to peek, and saw that they had all fallen on the ground, clutching their heads. They weren't even screaming, they were just clutching their heads, until… they fell limp.

Without even thinking about it, Miles pushed open the door, and immediately crouched on the ground to put his head to one of their chests. "Come on, come on…"

Gwen, meanwhile, had put her finger to the neck of another scientist, looking paler then he'd ever seen her.

He let out a small sigh of relief as he heard the distinctive thud of a heart, allowing himself to sag quietly, seeing his blonde partner in crime do the same as she felt a pulse as well. It seemed that the Underground weren't completely without scruples, despite everything that had happened to them.

"So, which computer do we gotta use now?" Miles asked, standing upright and looking around the room. It was filled with desks, chairs and sleek laptops, all connecting to some local database inside the floor.

"Uh, Miles…" Gwen called, his gaze turning towards the center back of the room - where a massive laboratory section stood in a slope, where the scientists could watch it from above. A glass container filled with nothing but… a strange black goo.

"What the…?" Miles wondered aloud, his eyes wide. "Is that meant to be here?"

"I dunno. This is so… hecking weird." Gwen replied confusedly. "They just told me there'd be computers here - not any of this."

"Maybe their info is out of date…" Miles asked, stepping forward towards the glass box. "Hey, I think I see some writing on it."

"Check that out. I'll go…" Gwen ordered, only to hesitate as she glanced helplessly around at the computers that looked the same. "Figure out which computer is A26."

"Kinda weird that they want a specific one… Like they all link to one database, right?" Miles couldn't help but question, wondering what the hell was up with that, as he approached the glass box.

"I dunno. They were insistent it had to be that one." She replied, as he heard the distinctive sound of someone sweeping keyboards and mouses to one side. "These are all random! They aren't ordered in any way, whatsoever, how am I meant to find it?! There's a hundred computers here."

"You could try…" Miles was about to propose, only to catch out of the corner of his eye- The goo. Moving. It was for a split second, but it seemed to tremble.

"Yeah?" Gwen asked impatiently, pulling him from his observation. "What were you gonna say?"

"They might be mapped out in some scientific way? Like the periodic table or something?" Miles said, turning towards her for a brief moment - which was when he noticed that there was a divider in the glass box.

Turning away from the now motionless black goo, he turned to the other glass box and saw that it was a small-scale jungle right at the bottom, and filled with… spiderwebs.

"Huh. You're onto something with that periodic table. Just need to remember what 26 is on the periodic table." Gwen said, letting out a distinct noise as she seemed to recite to herself the elements.

"Iridium, I think." Miles said distractedly, as he finally caught sight of a computer on the lab table. It was surrounded by microscopes and specimens, all labeled rather non obvious things such as 'Alpha 306'. Tentatively, he tapped a few buttons on the keyboard and saw that it was surprisingly enough, not password protected.

"I was gonna get there, you know…" Gwen grumbled, as he heard her step towards him. He looked up to see that she was actually using a computer overhead of the experiment. "Hey. Anything interesting besides… That thing?"

"Only that there are two things. But this gizmo isn't password protected." Miles answered, jerking his thumb towards the computer.

"That seems… really kinda bizarre for a place like this." Gwen frowned deeply, as she watched him browse around the computer. "Do you even know what you're looking for?"

Miles grimaced slightly, as he found a file named 'Observations' that had… a thousand entries in it. All filed by a single person called 8o, who seemed, from the single file he'd opened, rather eccentric.

"I mean… Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can make any sense of it." He replied with a slight grunt of dismay, as he browsed around a bit more before giving up.

Standing back from the computer, he tapped his finger against the desk nervously, looking around. He then finally saw something strange.

"We're only just getting into this stuff, Miles, don't worry about it." Gwen reassured him, looking up from the computer to smile prettily at him.

He chuckled, smiling back, as he walked around the glassbox to see a small crack on the jungle side. It looked distinctly like something had made a small hole, but whether or not it was from the outside or within, he didn't know.

He tentatively ran a finger around the hole, only to flinch as he cut himself. It didn't seem like the glass was shattered enough to cut, but…

"...Miles." Gwen said suddenly, her voice sounding downright terrified.

"What?" Miles asked, turning around to look at her, his own calm expression falling at her downright pale one.

"The cameras, they're…" Gwen whispered as she visibly shook like a leaf in the wind. Miles turned his gaze upwards to the cameras, only to see that there was no logo of the Underground.

The red light of the camera stopped suddenly… He saw it stare at him, boring into his features, and he felt his heart drop.

"We need to get out of here!" Miles yelled out, immediately running past the glass box and up the slope to grab Gwen's hand. Her panic expression faded for a determined one, and they immediately ran to open the door… Only to see the doorknob refuse to budge.

The ceiling opened up and Miles saw a thick green gas descend on them, and felt his mind go into overdrive.

He started smashing his fist against the glass. What would break his entire hand started to break the glass, splintering it, and just as he curled his fist up to smash it for good - he felt something hard smash into the back of his head.

Gwen screamed, only to be muffled by a black-covered hand, and as he rolled over onto his back, he saw naught but a military boot smash down-

And he saw no more.