Miguel didn't like to lose.
This attitude was the source of his greatest successes… and his greatest failures.
It had been that drive that had seen him graduate early, get into the best graduate program, and get his doctrine in record time.
It had resulted in him betraying friends, ignoring loved ones, and ending up leaving college with more degrees than he had friends.
It had allowed him to move up the ranks within Alchemax, becoming the youngest researcher they had.
It had gotten him so many enemies that there had been no one to turn to when his stupid fucking drive had resulted in him experimenting… and killing… the innocent and realizing how horrible he was.
It had let him be a hero, saving countless lives.
It had caused him to end up to push away those that mattered the most and ensure the lives that he should have been a part of… that he should have created… would never be.
It had seen him do what should have been impossible and pierce the fabric of the multiverse.
It had killed his daughter because he dared to take what was never his.
It had driven him to make a Society that would ensure that none were ever harmed again.
It had seen him beat a teenager nearly to death.
And now that drive was seeing him fight against the Spot, the great threat to not just Miles' world but the entire multiverse. To take him down and show why he was the one and only protector of the multiverse. Not some random Spiders that went off without a plan. Not some time traveling freaks that broke things on their world and instead of trying to actually fix them had decided to shrug their shoulders and decide that was good enough for them and it was better just to live with the failure. Not some council of Love Interests led by a blind woman who was far too focused on her nebulous visions to see what was really going on in the world. Not the rebels and revolutionaries who brought more anarchy to the world in their attempts to take down 'the man'.
Him. Miguel O'Hara.
He grunted as he was slammed into the roof yet again, the Spot holding him down with his foot even though the villain was 10 feet away from him. Jessica tried to move to help him but she got sucker punched for her problems right through another portal and Miguel was all alone.
"Well… just you and me," the Spot said as he created a portal in front of Miguel's face and suck his head through.
It was that drive… that was probably going to see him die.
"Now, I know what you're thinking! 'Oh Spot, you devilish rogue who is so utterly handsome and charming and smart! Why are you still attacking me if Spider-Man is alive and well? I thought you hated me because I killed him!' And yes, that was originally my issue with you, I admit. But you see…" Another hand rocketed out of a portal and grabbed Miguel by the chin, forcing him to look right at the Spot. "You tried to kill what is MINE to kill. That… is rude. Oh so rude."
Miguel snarled and tried to buck free but found himself still unable to move. The Spot was hitting pressure points that were causing his body to lock up, unable to move. It was like when something swelled near a joint, making it that even attempting to twitch it caused agonizing pain.
"I mean… you come into my dimension, don't bother to wipe your feet on the mat, didn't bring a bottle of wine which is just common courtesy, clog up the toilet, and then have the nerve to try and kill my archnemesis? Were you raised in a barn?"
Miguel just barely managed to shake his head a touch, the Spot though still holding on tight to his chin. "And… what do you call your plans to destroy the multiverse?"
"Oh, that's entirely different," The Spot said with a wave of his other hand. "See… they deserve it."
"Deserve it?"
"Of course! Every single one of them. They don't believe in me… in what I can do. They don't respect me… they don't listen to me. Especially the ones that don't know I even exist. They are the most annoying." He created another portal and his other free hand darted out to rub his chin in thought. "I think I should be the most destructive against them. They deserve it for not knowing me."
"You're insane," Miguel snapped.
"That's also rude. I was only taking a stab in the dark about you being raised in a barn but now I'm thinking it might be true!"
"You want to kill people purely because they don't know you?"
The Spot considered him for a moment. "You know… I traveled the Multiverse a lot before coming back here. Mostly it was just to see if I could do it, you know? A challenge to myself. How many different words can I appear in before I need to use the bathroom, and whichever one I end up in, I have to figure out their toilet. Something to think about as I searched for the right world with the right power I needed.
"And during that time I heard a lot of whispers about a certain Spider… big, dark, brooding. But most interesting was the fact that he liked to kill people just because they refused to die the way he wanted them too." The Spot leaned in. "Sound familiar?"
"I never killed anyone," Miguel snapped.
"Oh… we both know THAT'S a lie." The Spot suddenly lurched forward, pressing his nose to Migeul's. "If you see a man slowly sinking into quicksand and don't bother to throw him a rope… you killed him. There are laws and everything that talk about that. The Good Samaritan Laws. You saw those poor innocent people about to die and you decided to just watch." He suddenly jerked away. "I'm not sure why but you did. And then… well… you decided you'd gotten a taste for killing and wanted to get your own hands dirty. So you went after my archnemesis…"
The Spot's foot began to grind on the back of his neck.
"That… was… a… very…"
"Oh just get on with it!" Miguel snarled.
The Spot blinked at that.
"Well, okay then!" he said cheerfully before reach over and grabbing Miguel's head, the hero realizing rather quickly that perhaps that hadn't been the best comeback to make. "And a one, and a two, and a snapped neck for you-"
And then Miguel was free.
He didn't relish the feeling. Didn't delight in it. Instead he was on his feet and in a battle stance…
…only to blink as he saw the Spot thrashing about, waving his arms and screeching as he tried to knock away-
"Good job, Tippy Toes!" a young woman dressed in a bomber jacket, tights, and with a long furry tail coming off her back. "Mr. Fluffernutter, be careful how close you get to his ankles!"
-squirrels.
The Spot was being attacked by squirrels.
"Hey, I'm Doreen. Also known as Squirrel Girl!" the… heroine… stated with a chipper smile. "Just so you know, I'm not doing this for you. I know you tried to kill Miles which is just horrible. I've heard of some heroes who kill but I refuse to… mostly because it would be too easy."
"Too… easy?" Miguel found himself saying.
Squirrel Girl bobbed her head. He wondered if this was her being mad at him what was she like when she was happy? "Yeah. I mean, how much can you lift?"
"What?"
That made Doreen giggle. "It's like those memes. 'You even lift, bro?'"
Miguel was suddenly thankful Gabrielle never made it to her teenage years.
And then he felt disgusted with himself for thinking that.
"You came from some super secret society place, right? You must have tested yourself?" She paused as the Spot created a portal to try and get rid of the squirrels. Doreen whistled and MORE squirrels burst out of the portal, causing the Spot to scream even louder. "Come on, how much can you lift?"
"…10 tons," he said. "All Spiders can lift 10 Tons." It wasn't technically true… there were some Super Soldier Spiders and Spider-Hulks out there that could do more but the average Spider could do 10 tons.
Squirrel Girl nodded. "25 was the highest I measured."
Miguel blinked at that.
"And I do mean measured. I wasn't even breaking a sweat when I did that, but there were no other machines around that could do more. So I could be even stronger." And suddenly she was right in his face. "You tried to murder my friend. That means I don't like you." She smiled the entire time she said that and Miguel found that even more disturbing. "Amadeus wants to see how far he can punt you. Franklin and Valeria are interested in seeing if they can dissect you to learn some new secrets. Lunella wants to do both. The only two reasons we aren't coming after you right now is because that would be a distraction and we can't decide who should get dibs.
"We love Miles. And we are going to fight to protect him from you. This isn't over once the Spot is taken care of. Its just beginning." She reached out and pinched his cheek and the sensors in his suit screamed warnings of how she was SO CLOSE to breaking through. "So don't think I'm doing any of this for you."
Miguel didn't know what to say to that. He had gotten used to people snapping at him that he would pay. That he was wrong. That he should be punished. Villains and the misunderstanding public at the beginning of his career, the Society he had created and that now hated him at this point. But Squirrel Girl making clear she could back up her threats? Maybe it was because she was so young. Or maybe it was because she was so chipper about it. Or maybe-
The Spot let out a scream and created a small spot he felt through, knocking the squirrels off of him before he appeared in the sky above them. Miguel looked around and spotted Cassie Strange and Nathaniel Asgard moving to attack him… along with several villains, much to his surprise. What was-
"You think you can make this into a joke?" he screeched. "You think you can treat ME as a joke!"
The alternate of his daughter landed beside him. "He's not looking stable, papi."
"No… no he isn't," Miguel agreed. And he didn't mean that the Spot was ranting and raving. His body was trembling and twitching, the circles on his body distorting more and more with every second.
"He's beginning to break down," the female Doc Ock said as she landed next to him with Peter B. Gwen arrived with Spinneret, not even bothering to look at Miguel. He didn't mind… they all needed to be focused on The Spot. "And when he does…"
"Yeah," Miguel said; there was no need to go into detail of what might happen if the Spot exploded. 'He's barely even human anymore… he's a living rupture in the fabric of space. Of the multiverse. And if he loses control who knows what's going to happen.' His mind raced as he tried to figure out some way to deal with the Spot. To take him down and stop him from destroying not just this world but all worlds. Because he had the sinking feeling that the Spot was becoming the very linchpin to the multiverse and if he were to go all of it would come crashing down.
He spotted from the corner of his eye Spider-Punk preparing to leap at the Spot but before he could move the villain threw out his hands, more portals appearing.
"Don't come any closer!" he warned, even as his form began to twist and shift. His arms and legs looked longer, his head stretching a bit, and the white spots on his black body more like a child's scribbles. Miguel wasn't for sure when the coloring had changed for him but took it as a bad sign. "Don't… come any closer," the Spot repeated and the marks on his body began to turn red.
Yes. A bad sign.
"You have no idea where these might lead… even I don't know. So why don't you all just stand down." He looked at the assembled heroes. Members of the Council of Mary Janes were ready to leap at him. The Chaos Avengers were out for blood after Spider-Chaos and Corrosion had disappeared. The teens of Miles' world were filled with the youthful determination the young always had to stand up for what was right. The non-affiliated like Spider-Ham, Noir, and Gabrielle were barely containing themselves. And Spider Society was as a whole eager to prove to all the others… and themselves… that they could do good. "I mean it. Stand down… or I might just decide to tear this city apart! Unleash a thousand black holes and fill the air with the screams of the innocent YOU weren't able to save because you were too rash!"
Everyone remained still.
"That's right. That's right. Its time you remembered-"
A white rectangle of light appeared… and a tall woman in tight black armor suddenly leapt at the Spot, wrapping her arms around him and sending them crashing to the ground.
"I have him, my love!" she shouted as Spider-Chaos and Corrosion swung out of the portal. "Oh, he is slippery!"
"…what the hell?" Hobie said as Spider-Chaos landed between them and where the woman was trying to pin down the Spot.
"Hey Hobbie! Sorry I was late, had to save a world from Thanos, got some tech upgrades, Corrosion is over her fear of people, and-"
The Spot screamed and created several more portals that blasted the newly arrived woman with arctic blasts.
"HEY!" Spider-Chaos roared. He leapt into the air and Miguel watched as he touched something on his wrist… and his suit twisted and changed, bulking out into a massive mech suit. He slammed his fist into the Spot, sending him flying, only to launch out a cable that grabbed him, reeling him back in so he could deck him a second time. "THAT'S! MY! GIRLFRIEND!"
"Girlfriend?" Nathaniel said, tilting his head as he watched Spider-Chaos and the Spot fight, Miguel dimly realizing that Chris had somehow gotten hold of a Hulkbuster.
"Things were a bit crazy on that world we visited," Corrosion said. "Proxima and Chris are dating apparently."
"I will help him rear strong sons and daughters," Proxima called out, breaking the ice that had coated her arm. "But first, we will defeat our enemy!" She let out a battle cry and leapt to join Spider-Chaos.
"You know," Noir said slowly, "I get it. Tall drink of water like that…"
"Shut up and get him!" Jessica shouted as she raced past them and everyone snapped out of their daze and hurried after her, heroes and villains alike. It was like nothing he had ever been a part of before and Miguel found himself horrified when, at one point, he discovered himself battling with the Chaos Avengers' Sir Nova on one side and the Hulk of Miles' world on the other.
The portals made things very difficult. The Spot was just tossing them out without a thought of where they might lead and it meant that they were dealing with utter pandemonium. It wasn't just Miles' world that the Spot was drawing from… no, that would have been too easy. It was clear that he was yanking things from the multiverse to throw at them, making the rooftops above New York into a stew of madness. As Miguel rushed towards The Spot he caught little snippets of other fights that were breaking out and the odd pairings they were creating.
"It is alright, it is okay," Hunter-Spider said as he stroked the muzzle of a startled direwolf that had ended up on the roof with its pack. The Chaos Avengers' Cloak and Dagger were also soothing the beasts, who still were whining and snapping at people in their confusion.
Headline glowered as he grabbed onto Peni Parker's mech. "We need a way out of these geysers!" he shouted over the roar of the water, which towered around them so there was little hope of being able to simply leap out of the trap.
"You want to prove all these bastards wrong?" Skitter said, amping up a group of black Riker escapees. "You wanna show them that you aren't the animals they think you are? You are MEN! Brave men who made mistakes but don't deserve to be caged liked wild animals! Now come on!" And with that he charged, the others following him…
…right before a blast from a hurricane sent them right off their feet.
"I got ya!" a Wong said, growing wings from his back to grab Skitter, other fliers hurrying to help.
Proxima grinned fiercely as she rode of the shoulder of Spider-Chaos' mech. "What do you call this, my love?"
"I'm leaning towards the Spotbuster!" his slightly distorted voice said as they went after a giant tentacles beast that was trying to grab the heroes.
"This means nothing," Gwen said as she and Jessica went back to back against a horde of thin spindly robots with the Alchemax logo on their chests.
"We can talk later-"
"No," Gwen said sternly, "we won't. We're done. You and me? We're done. Now shut up and fight."
And Miguel continued on, surging forward and driving his claws into whatever got in his way, moving closer and closer to the Spot. He just needed to reach him… bring him down… and then he could fix this. Fix all of this. Everything would be better if he just-
Miguel leapt.
He reached out, body twisting amongst the spots and portals.
His fingers…
…grazed the Spot before he fell.
He had suffered worse falls. Far, far worse. From greater heights and at faster speeds and onto worst surfaces.
But that fall was the most painful of all.
The Spot's deranged laughter filled the air and Miguel twisted to see him rising even higher.
"Time to turn out the lights I think!" He said as he threw out his hands and caused more spots to appear in the sky, huge and threatening. Down below he could hear the screams of terror echoing up as those that hadn't already fled from the battle looked up and were faced with what felt like Armageddon. Every system Miguel had in his suit to detect the stability of a world was screaming all at once, the warnings about the failure of canon events ringing in his ears. "Put the chairs away, make sure the ovens turned off, and lock the door! Only I don't think I'll be coming back!"
Nothing was coming from the portals but that didn't matter. The sheer amount of them was enough to be causing all of reality to tremble and quake.
"Show me the way to go home!" the Spot sang. "I'm tired and I wanna go to bed! I had a little drink about an hour ago and it went straight to my head!" He threw his arms out wide. "Oh whereever I may roam, on land or sea or foam-"
And then… a swirling vortex appeared… and Miles Morales stepped out.
"Come on, man," he said with a shake of his head. "I thought you were my nemesis! You plan to end things without me?"
"…you." The Spot snapped his head down to look at Miles.
"Not looking so hot," Miles said and Miguel had to agree; the Spot's body had become more twisted as he had created more portals. He barely looked human anymore, with his arms and legs looking like tree branches, his fingers and toes splitting off from the limbs into wiggling extensions. "Guess sucking up all that Alchemax Juice doesn't do a body good."
"Oh… its doing wonders for me!" The Spot declared. "Just wait til you see what I do to your world! And every other one!"
"Yeah, about that… I don't think that's gonna happen." Despite all that was happening Miles slowly walked towards the Spot without a lick of fear. And the villain… began to sink down to better face him. "See, I've been thinking about things. What makes me different from all the rest of these Spider-People. There are so many of them and with more experience or better powers… what makes me special? Miguel thinks I'm an anomaly but I don't buy that anymore. No… I think I'm special. I'm different. You know why?"
"…why?" the Spot finally said.
"Look around you!" Miles threw out his hands. "Look at all these strangers trying to help save my world! That's what makes me… ME."
And then more spots appeared.
But they were different.
Miguel didn't know how he knew but… they were different.
And from them emerged hundreds of different variants of The Spot.
Some looking almost like the Spot, with only the variations one sees in Spiders in terms of… well, Miguel had never come up for a good word for it but some of the artists in the Society compared it to different art styles. Some more hastily made, others more defined, those kind of things. But others are different in wild ways. Wearing armor. Having extra limbs. Different colors to their costumes and their spots. Some have their masks on but others have them off and they… they look like people. Regular people. Sometimes easy to forget but they were PEOPLE. Well, except for the one that was a literal mole and another that was a robot but still. Hundreds of different versions of the Spot.
A… Spot Society.
All of whom moved to stand beside Miles, tense and ready, their every movement making it clear they are ready to help Miles with whatever he needed.
"I'm real good at making friends."