I look inside myself
And see my heart is black
I see my red door
I must have it painted black
Maybe then, I'll fade away
And not have to face the facts
It's not easy facing up
When your whole world is black
No more will my green sea
Go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing
Happening to you
If I look hard enough
Into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me
Before the morning comes
I see a red door
And I want it painted black
No colors anymore
I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by
Dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head
Until my darkness goes
I wanna see it painted
Painted black
Black as night
Black as coal
I wanna see the sun
Blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted
Painted black, yeah
Chapter 3: The Dark Side
"MILES!" Gwen screamed as she and the others rushed to him.
Once they arrived Miles was on his knees holding himself as his body began to slowly flash yellow and electrical currents moved up and down his body.
"Stay… stay back!" Miles held up his hand and glanced back toward Gwen through his broken eye cover.
Gwen saw the burnt skin through the torn and ripped costume. "Miles, you're hurt!"
"I… I gotta release this… get out of here…" Miles wheezed as the flashing and electricity became more intense.
"What? Miles you're hurt, I'm not leaving you!" She cried, shaking her head.
"Guys, get… her out of here… now…" he said, struggling to stay up right.
"We have to move," Miguel said, opening a portal and ordering the others to follow suit, taking the unconscious Electro with them. He reached down and grabbed her and lifted her off the ground under her shoulders.
"LET ME GO! I'M NOT LEAVING HIM!" she struggled against him, not taking her eyes off her injured boyfriend.
"Gwen, trust me…" He said looking back at her.
"Miles!" She fought as Miguel pulled her through the portal. They arrived back at the headquarters, and a wave of energy erupted through the portal before it finally closed. "MILES!" she screamed, dropping to her knees.
"Hang tight, Gwen, I'll try to get a hold of him. Morales, you there?" Margo spoke from her communication console. "Miles, come in. Are you there?"
"I'm…" Margo glanced back at the team, fear on her digital face. "I'm not even reading his goober…"
"Gwen? Gwen, breathe," Jessica said as Gwen began to hyperventilate. "We need you to breath…"
"I don't need to breath; I need Miles," she forced out as Miguel and Jessica were the only things holding her up.
"I'm going back after him," 2002 stated, but before he could open a portal, a signal began to come through.
"Ok… I'm ok…" came Miles' voice through static, "-ober got -ged, thi- ixed it,"
"Gracias a Dios!" Miguel breathed, as Gwen instantly relaxed.
"Miles, we'll come get you," Margo called through the com, "We do not advise you to use the portal function if the band's damaged. Repeat, do not use the portal function."
"Do-t -py, han- on, be -here in a -ond," Miles replied through the com.
"Damn it…" Margo cursed.
"I'll get him…" Gwen stepped forward as a very unstable portal opened before them. "Dang it, Miles…"
On the other side, Miles struggled to hear what the Margo was saying. "I'm a quantum physics major. I can figure this out…" He said, looking at his damaged wrist band. "Ok, I think if I can just make these adjustments to the source connection, it should be able to… ha, who's a bad-ass genius? I am!" He said as a flickering portal opened before him. "Not gonna give this time to die on me…" he said as he jumped through and began the usual 'water slide' through the multiverse. Only this time it was a lot bumpier, choppy and glitchy.
"Come on, you can make it…" He whispered to the portal as if it could understand him. His eyes widened as some kind of liquid debris from the multiverse slid into the portal through a choppy hole in the side, "Oh, crap…"
He slammed through the debris, and it was like going through warm oil. "Nasty!" He groaned as it seemed to attach itself to his burns in his torn costume. Finally, he made it through the other side and tumbled to the ground at Gwen's feet.
"Miles! Are you ok?" Gwen reached down for him.
Miles looked up and saw her reaching for him, and for some reason, the idea of anyone helping him sent a surge of anger through him. Gwen stepped back as if she had been slapped as he shoved her hands away and scrambled to his feet himself. "Don't need anyone's help, I'm good." He snapped, and she took another involuntary step back.
"You're hurt…" She said, getting a good look of his burns. "And what's that stuff all over you?"
"I'm fine, and I dunno, wasn't on me when I jumped in," Miles shrugged.
"You don't look fine…" Gwen noted with concern.
"Not the first time I've had to overcharge my batteries," he shrugged. "I just need to wash this crap off and get some sleep. I'm fine," he said as Peni walked up, plucked a chunk of the ooze off his shoulder and placed it in a container.
"Fascinating…" she said as she and Margo looked at the goop.
"Are you sure? I'm just…" Gwen tried to touch him, and he jerked away from her.
"I SAID I WAS FINE, GWEN! YOU DEAF OR SOMETHIN?!" He snapped, "I don't need YOU or ANYONE anymore! I grew up, Gwen, I'm not the idiot kid who needed protection anymore!"
He saw the hurt in her eyes and the stares around him. A moment later, he realized what he said, and he took a step back himself. "Gwen, I'm … I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just… the overcharge thing always just takes a lot out of me. I just need some rest. Ok? I promise. I promise I'm ok…"
Still too stunned to speak, Gwen let him walk past. "Look… let me just try to sleep this off, and I'll call you tomorrow, ok?" he said as he took a replacement goober from Margo and placed it on his wrist. He plugged in E1610 and opened a portal home. "I'm… I'm sorry," he said as he stepped through.
"What was up with that?" Lyla asked curiously, and Gwen simply stared where the portal was moments ago wondering the same thing.
Miles made it home, and stripped out of his ruined costume and dropped it in his trash bin. He really did want to take a shower, but he was so exhausted from the fight. All he could do was throw himself on the covers and embrace sleep. He swore his pillow never felt so good to his face as he finally relaxed and let his enhanced healing do their thing.
He was so exhausted even that he didn't even register his spider sense as the black slime-like substance removed itself from his costume and slowly made its way across his bedroom floor toward his bed.
Miles made it home and stripped out of his ruined costume and dropped it in his trash bin. He really did want to take a shower, but he was so exhausted from the fight. All he could do was throw himself on the covers and embrace sleep. He swore his pillow never felt so good to his face as he finally relaxed and let his enhanced healing do its thing.
He was so exhausted that he didn't even register his spider sense as the black slime-like substance removed itself from his costume and slowly made its way across his bedroom floor toward his bed.
A few hours later, Rio Morales was up watching TV as she waited for Jeff to get off his shift. She didn't even glance up as she heard Miles' bedroom door open. "Anything the matter, Mijo?" Rio asked, taking some popcorn from the bowl in her lap and placing it in her mouth.
"No, mom," Miles said softly, "We're going swinging a while. Be back soon."
"Ok, Mijo, be careful; give Gwen my love," Rio smiled glancing back to her son.
"Of course, mom, good night," he said as he turned to go back to his room and his mask grew over his face.
He swung almost aimlessly for some time before settling on a reflective mirror of a skyscraper and hung by a webline upside down, simply examining himself. He glanced to the side when he heard police sirens, then launched himself in their direction, following them to a Oscorp tech lab.
He stuck to the shadows and entered the building through an air vent, then slowly made his way to the source of the alarm.
His large, jagged white eyes narrowed as he looked through the cracks of the vent cover. In the center of the room was Olivia Octavius, former chief scientist of Alchemax. She was currently working on a project for her new employer, the one that saved her from the multiverse after she was hit by the truck.
Her mechanical arms worked on a strange purple metallic substance as she chuckled to herself. "So close… so very close," Olivia said, "He's going to be so happy…" She didn't notice a mass of tentacles drop behind her in the shadows before it retracted into the form of a man.
"Haven't seen you in a while, Liv…" Spider-Man said from the shadows.
"Spider-Man! Yeah, I know, been out of town, out of universe actually. Got a great new job, new boss, benefits to DIE for! But it is so good to see you…" Octavius said. "Sadly I don't have time to play with you right now. Why don't you run along and play with your little multiverse-hopping friends."
"I don't need friends," Spider-Man replied before firing a volley of black webbing that knocked out the lights around the lab. "Don't need light either…"
"You don't sound right…" Olivia retracted her arms and turned to where Spider-Man was moments ago. "What are you doing?"
"Me?" Spider-Man asked from the darkness, "I'm going to take your arms, then your legs. And then, I'll decide if I'll kill you or not."
"Oh, that's a good one!" Olivia laughed, "Spider-Man killing, you had me going there for a second…"
She screamed as Spider-Man pounced from behind, sending her tumbling to the ground face first. Her eyes bulged as she felt the heel of his foot press hard into her spine, and he grabbed two of her mechanical arms and pulled. "STOP!" She cried as the remaining two arms flailed about before he caught them both in his grasp.
"Stop MOVING!" He grunted, stomping her hard in the back again.
"No… no…" She whimpered as he snapped the last two arms and dropped them to the side.
"Ok… ok…" She tried to catch her breath, "I know how this always works… you got me… I'm defenceless… web me up so I can go to jail."
"Who said anything about jail, Olivia?" Spider-Man asked, standing over her.
"But… you beat me, you took my limbs…" She whimpered, trying to get away from him.
"Oh, I did? But it seems I've missed some…" Spider-Man replied with almost a hiss to his voice.
Outside the lab, Capt. Jeff Davis arrived outside. "Ok, what's going on in there?"
"Security cameras have shown Olivia Octavia enter the lab through some kind of portal thing. She started talking to someone then the lights went out a few minutes ago. We were waiting on back up before we proceed inside." The beat cop replied, glancing to the door.
Jeff's eyes widened when the sound of a woman's scream echoed from inside the building, "Let's move people," He said, forcing open the door and rushing toward the sound of the continued screaming.
Jeff and the Officers rushed inside and found Olivia laying on the ground with not only her mechanical arms but also her lower legs ripped from her body and thrown across the room. Her blood was everywhere. "What the …" He caught motion in the corner, and turned his light toward it, only to see a dark figure leap through the window into the night. While they were distracted a portal opened under the injured Doctor Octopus, and she tumbled through. He knew she was out of reach now, so his concern moved to what he saw in the shadows.
"Miles?"
Back in Nueva York, Peter B. Parker stretched as he walked through the portal after returning Electro back to his universe and making sure he was given to the proper authorities.
He slid his mask off and started making his way toward the command center to check in before going home to Mayday and MJ and a good warm…" He passed the tech lab and took a few steps back to take another look.
Inside were Peni and Margo, who were examining a very familiar substance in a containment tube. "It's so interesting; it operates like a single cell organism, but made up of multiple cells," Peni stated, looking at the moving goop, "They're independent cells, but they all seem to operate in unison. Like one big…"
Both gasped when Peter rushed in and grabbed the tube. He quickly moved to the incinerator at the end of the lab, threw the tube and goo in and activated the incinerator on maximum heat.
"Nani? Peter why did you do that?" Peni asked in shock.
"Yeah, Pete, that was the first substance from outside any universe we've ever discovered." Margo glared.
"Tell me that was all of it," Peter asked desperately.
"Wha?" both girls looked at each other.
"Well, there was a good bit on Miles' suit," Margo replied, "He brought it here after his goober malfunctioned after the mission."
"Oh, oh no, no no nono…" Peter shook his head rapidly, "Is he still here? Where'd he go? Is he with Gwen? Is she ok?"
"They both went home to their own earths," Peni replied. "Peter, what is wrong?"
"No time, I have to find Miles." Peter quickly plugged in 1610 and opened a portal, "I have to find him before it's too late… if it isn't already…"
To Be Continued…