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Qué Maravilla - CH.10

Previous Chapter Next Chapter Miguel O'hara x SpiderReader rating: E for Everyone bby warnings: none? lots of angst tbh and bad words + shit proof reading summary: purely exposition, no miguel x reader juice unfortunately art is from the movie !!

-------------- Ch.10 - Send in the Clowns ----------------

The makeshift group of spider men and women rush through the dark maintenance corridors of the subway system on Earth-42. The gang silently swing in the shadows along the tracks, climbing on walls and even hitching rides on the side of the subway carts. It isn’t long before they reach a large, sparsely lit, graffiti-littered room. Surrounding them are several large archways, their tunnels each housing a dark pit leading who-knows-where. Then, suddenly, everyone simultaneously perks up, like a dog hearing high frequency. Even May Parker’s eyes widen with recognition. They each exchange glances with one another.

“Did we all feel that?” Spider-Noir is the first to break the silence. He is met with a wave of agreement.

“Then he’s gotta be around here somewhere,” Peter Parker mumbles, mostly to himself and the baby straddled to the front of his chest. Parker closes his eyes and begins to walk all around the room, concentrating on using his senses like a magnet to determine where the pull feels the strongest. The rest of the spiders wordlessly follow suit. Not long after, they all pause in front of the same archway, each staring wordlessly into its abyss.

“He’s here. Definitely.” Gwen Stacy announced. For a second, nobody moves. A common feeling of apprehension holds the group hostage. All of them shared looks that confirmed their communal hesitation. What worrisome scene could lay on the other side? Could them barging in make matters worse?

“Well? What are we waiting for?” Pavitr Prabhakar shouts oblivious to the atmosphere. He marches towards the entrance, “चल दर!”(let’s go) he belts in a sing-songy voice. “Let’s go save my new frieeend-”

“-Not so fast Pavitr.” Spyder-Byte (aka Margo Kess) blips in front of the restless boy in her cyber blue-pixel avatar.

“What? Why are we stalling?”

“We can’t just walk in there without a plan,” she cautions. “It'll scare him off. I highly doubt he’ll be happy to see… some of us.” Byte takes a moment to pause and look amongst the guilty culprits in her mind. From Gwen to Noir to Porker to Penni and then finally Peter.

Stacy looks away shamefully under Margo’s judgemental gaze before recollecting her composure. “Okay… So how about we send one person? Like a representative or something like that.”

“Okay, but who?” Penni Parker pipes up, reclined comfortably inside the cockpit of the giant humanoid robot she pilots.

“Well, we know who it won’t be. Aye?” Pavitr says in jest motion to Gwen and Peter.

Peter stuffs his hands in his robe pockets and shifts his weight back and forth from the heels to the balls of his feet, the motion earning an amused gurgle from the infant strapped to his chest. “Yeah. We know. Thanks Pavitr.”

“Now’s not the time Pav.” Gwen crosses her arms defensively, “We need to figure this out fast. Who knows how much time we have.”

“The answer is obvious isn’t it?” Penni remarks. “Who here does Miles trust the most?”

“Well, that’s me of course,” Peter Porker makes a jaunty strut to the front of the group with an air of certainty, his anthropomorphic hand placed sincerely over his heart. Which crumbles immediately as soon as he sees everyone baffled expressions.

“Kidding!” the pig let out an embarrassed laugh, wringing his small hands self-consciously. “I totally said that as a joke you guys. Not as a serious suggestion or anything…because that would be totally stupid…” The silence that ensues after is deafening.

Spider-Noir clears his throat loudly. “Anyways, we need to send someone who he knows for sure isn’t on Miguel’s side. Someone he knows who never acts as a double agent.” The black and white clad hero raises his fist dramatically, shaking it with emphasis. “Look alive eggheads! Who among us is known to put their money where their mouth is? Who has the gall to laugh in the face of authority? Who here best represents the rebel cause?”

They all simultaneously to Hobie Brown who’s in his own world, mask half lifted so he could mindlessly pick at his teeth. When he comes to, he’s shocked to see all of the spiders mutely staring at him.

“Eeh?” the man pulls his finger from his teeth, his mouth slack in confusion “What are you lot looking at me for?”

- - -

A muffled THUD echoes through the air of the lab. Miles Morales of Earth-42 and Jonathon Ohhnn are both startled.

“The cultists.” Jonathoon says in a hushed alarmed whisper. “They’re here.”

“Stand back.” Miles quickly positions himself in front of the timid scientist, with his metal talons bared. His Prowler helmet moves automatically to cover his face.

“You’re not slick, pendejo!” Miles shouts into the void, his head gear obscuring his voice to its titular mechanical drawl. “We know you’re there!”

“Woah, Woah, Woah settle down mate.” The man who reveals himself, striding nonchalantly towards the pair gives a truly confounding sight. He wears a mask similar to Miles (the other Miles) except this one sports a metal mohawk and a red and blue color scheme. He wears a spiked denim jacket, black distressed jeans and an electric guitar which was strapped to his back. As for spikes, he's covered in them. “I come in peace.”

Miles finds his deep accented voice mesmerizing. It possesses an almost sardonic quality to it. As he walks closer to him he notices the UK flag enamel pin on his vest. ‘British, obviously’ Miles deduces. That and the fact that this was probably the coolest person he has ever seen in his life.

“Who are you!?” Jonathan pipes up from behind the shelter of a teenager.

The unknown man removes off his mask, revealing a tall, dark man with a full head of thick, voluminous hair styled in wicks. The first thing Miles eyes gravitated to is his smug smile. His bottom lip holds a piercing, but that’s not the only one. He scans his face and finds a matching nose ring, hoop earrings, and two steel studs artfully placed above each of his eyebrows. One look at him and he knew he wasn’t from his world. Every moment or so he looked as if he walked straight out of an array of punk rock magazines (literally). He never met a man who’s aura was constantly changing. He seemed too hypnotizing to be real but there he was, standing in front of Miles looking down at the duo with a sophisticated yet headstrong poise.

‘How is he even cooler under his mask?’ Miles mumbled loud enough for only him and Jonathon to hear.

“I’m spiderman. Well one of ‘em variations. Name’s Hobie. Hobie Brown,” he stuffs his hands in his vest pockets, looking around impatiently. “I'm looking for Miles.”

“Uhhhh.” ‘Quick! Play dumb!’ Prowler thinks to himself.

“Who’s Miles?”

‘NOT THAT DUMB!’

“I mean- uh…,” After a thoughtless delay, he straightens his posture in an attempt to emulate confidence and clear his throat. “Yep, that’s me. You’re looking at him.”

Hobie scoffed. “Wow, funny bloke you are, yeah? You know who I mean, man. I’m looking for spider-man Miles, of Earth-1610. I know you’ve met already.” Hobie walks around intensely scanning his surroundings. “I know he’s ‘round here somewhere. I felt it. ”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Jonathan blurts out clumsily “I don’t even know what a spider man is.” He tugs on his shirt collar that suddenly feels too tight on his skin, sweating under Hobie’s unconvinced gaze.

“A Spider man? Ha! I don’t even know what that would look like! Would they have six legs or six arms? Would he spit venom and have webs come out of their but? That would be ridiculous. Not that I would know, because I’ve never seen one before! Ha ha-”

Miles pats him aggressively on the back to shut him up, biting his lip in frustration. Why was he such a shit liar? And why did he feel so embarrassed by it?

“You said you can feel it?” Miles asks skeptically

“It’s the spider sense.”

“Huh?”

“The…what?” Jonathan added, completely puzzled.

“Spider sense. It’s like a sixth sense. When we’re around other spider people it kinda… I don’t know tingles-”

“-Ewww.” Jonathan interrupts. Miles bites on both his lips to keep from laughing.

“Come out of it mate, you know what I mean.”

Jonathan and Miles share a confused look with one another.

Miles grins amusedly, “Nah man. I don't think we do.”

“So like you see someone spider kind and you get like what? Excited? It stimulates you?” Jonathan asks with sincerity. Miles lets a laugh escape his lips.

“Are you havin’ a laugh? Why are you making it weird?’ Hobie scrubs his hands down his face and starts gesticulating wildly with his arms. “It’s like…like a pull… in the back of your mind. Sorta like a magnet or something. Get your mind out of the gutter.” Hobie sighs, picking up some fallen tech sprawled out in the ruins of the explosion, examines it carefully before pocketing it.

“I swear, youngers like you are such bloody menaces.” he mumbles, leaning against the one of many now dilapidated work desks.

Miles scrunches his face “Younger? How old are you?” Prowler asks defensively.

“How old do I look?” Hobie asks with a cheeky smile. “I’ll tell you this, I’m definitely old enough to be your older brother. Probably could’ve changed your nappy, who knows?” Miles can’t help but feel slightly disappointed. Older brother? Now that he’s getting a better look at him, he reasons that he'd probably be old enough to vote. So their age gap was significant enough for this man to see him as a kid. He was too old for him. He knew he would want nothing to do with him, at least not in the way Miles would’ve liked. And for some reason it made him feel drawn to him even more.

“Oh I get it!” Jonathan exclaimed, cutting through Miles’s conflicted thoughts “It’s like a multiversal connection. A bond that stems from your shared powers?”

“Exactly. That is what I was trying to say. Also a really good guess by the way.” Hobie pats Ohnn on the back. The scientist winces. “You’re obviously the smart one, eh?”

Miles’s is visibly irked but there's also another feeling in his stomach he can’t quite place. Though he still didn’t trust him, he couldn't bring himself to hate him. ‘I’ll provoke him a bit…’ the boy tells himself “to get him to talk…’. He decides he needs to learn more about Hobie because he is a potential threat. Yes…Of course. This is all just a classic case of one keeping his friends close and his enemies closer. Or at least that’s what he tells himself.

“Okay so you share some tingles. Now what?” Miles brings his metal claws inches away from Brown’s neck. Hobie raises his hands in submission, though his face gives away that he’s not at all threatened by the young man.

“Why should we trust you? Miles told us some cultists were him and then a few minutes later, like magic, you show up with your funky Irish jig-”

“-I’m gonna pretend like I didn’t hear you say that-”

“- and expect us to believe you’re not in a cult.”

“Do I look like I'm in a cult?”

“Yes.” Morales counter immediately

“100%,” added Ohnn.

Hobie breath hitches in an attempt to keep from cursing. “Well, I’m not in a cult. I don’t believe in 'em’-”

“-Yeah, of course you would think that,” the boy retorted. “People in cults usually don’t know they’re in cults. That’s how they work.”

Hobie rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Mate, I’m not here to sell you a religion. We’re here to get Miles back home. Your uncle Aaron Davis, he was the one who told us you both would be here.”

“Us?” both men questioned in unison.

“Who’s us?” Morales pushed his claws further, just millimeters away from scraping his adam's apple.

Hobie smirks then he throws his head toward the sky, stumbling backwards he shouts. “Oi! You can come out now.”

Suddenly, a loud BANG shakes the entire lab. A massive silhouette, almost like an enlarged action figure, slams on the ground seemingly out of nowhere, beginning its slow and menacing crawl towards the trio. The only thing visible being its two glowing diamond shaped eyes and its glowing spider crests similar to Miles’s and Hobie’s. Each subsequent step reverberated the air around them as it got closer and closer and closer. Jonathan and Miles, stifled with fear, had to crane their neck upwards just to even attempt to absorb the full design of the creature. Then its head opens up, a billow of smoke looms outside of the cockpit. A small figure emerges.

“Hey ya!” A teen girl in an oversized jacket and pink hair clips throws a peace sign. “My name is Penni Parker, and this is my robot. ” The girl then launches herself into the air, springing into a backflip and landing effortlessly on the ground. Both her and her robot break out into sensational battle poses.

“You have a pet robot?”

“I wouldn’t call her a pet.” Peni motions the robot, the machine then bends down to meet her. Penni scratches the display that operates as its head. A cartoonish happy face on its monitor. “It’s a long story. But we are best friends.”

Jonathan timidly walks toward the robot and reaches his hand out ‘Can I?’ he seems to ask wordlessy. Penni nods. ‘Yes, you may.’ Jonathan pets the robot and its screen interface emotes with heart eyes.

Another muffled thump is heard from a distance. Everyone’s head turns.

The culprit of the sound walks apprehensively from the cover of the shadows.

“Hey, I’m Gwen.” She’s wearing the green and red jacket she borrowed from Miles' room back on 1610. “I’m, uh…” Gwen Stacy fiddles with the zipper as she thinks of the right words to say, “I’m...a friend…of Miles.”

“I’m Peter! With little Mayday.” Peter grabs May’s hand and gives it a wave. He looks around, taken aback.

“Yikes. What happened here?” he nudges a glitching, fractured statue with his foot, “Looks like some inter-dimensional barf in here.”

“Names Peter as well. Peter Parker but they call me Noir.” The man in all black tips his hat respectfully, hanging from the wall and the wind blows his trenchcoat. Both Miles and Jonathon shared brief bewildered looks.

“Where is that wind coming from? We’re in a subway.” Jonathan whispered to Miles, his hand obscuring his mouth. The boy just shrugs.

“I’m here riding with the flow of justice.” (Unbeknownst to Noir, Peter is rolling his eyes. Mouthing his exact words as he’s speaking them while mocking his theatrical mannerisms). “Because in this world, justice is as fickle as the rain. And like rain, she’s taken for granted until times of drought and corruption-”

“-I’m Pavitr Prabhakar!” A teen boy rushes in with an infectious eagerness, excitedly shakes the two men's hands. “हे भगवान!” (Oh my god) “You’re exactly like Miles!”

“I am Miles.”

“Yeah but you are like a much more serious, jaded version of him. You seem more like a lone-wolf, brooding type of guy.”

“That’s a lot of assumptions for someone you just met.”

“I’m really good at reading people,” the teen proclaims proudly. His eyes dart subtly from Hobie to Miles with a smirk on his face. His masked face somehow managing to convey that they knew his innermost emotions. Miles scowls and looks away.

“Anybody else I should know about?” he asks, desperate to avoid the subject.

A blue toned blue hologram materializes instantly in front of the two. Jonathan lets out an embarrassing high pitched yelp.

“Kess comma Margo,'' she says casually. “But where I’m from, they call me Spyder-Byte.”

“Woah.” Jonathan whispered under his breath, captivated by the sight of a moving human hologram. He moves his hand out to touch it.

“Nuhuh!” Margo smacks it away. “Just because I’m cyber doesn’t mean I'm not solid.”

“Solidified light?” Jonathan awes, cradling his smacked hand. Another thing to add to the list of technological marvels he would never dream he’d live to see. Yet now he was seeing all of it in one day.

Prowler takes a step toward, also taken with the avatar. “How-” Suddenly, he trips on his shoelace and falls flat on his face with a loud SMACK.

“Whoops! Careful There!” Miles groggily lifts his head and finds a carton pig cheerfully strutting towards him on its hind legs.

“Oh I see the problem here. It’s your shoe! It’s very untied.” The hog spits in his…hand? Hoof? And hold it out for him to shake. “The name’s Peter Porker, put ‘em here!”

“No thanks, I…just ate.” Miles said, waving the creature away with his hand.The pig, undeterred, then turns to Jonathon.

“Um nice to… meet you.” Ohnn reluctantly licks his thumb and pointer finger. Leaning down to lightly pinch the very tip of one of the hog’s fingers, reluctantly gave a very light shake of his hand.

“Wow.” He chuckles, whipping his hand on his lab coat. “A lot of P names in this group huh?”

“There's plenty more where we come from,” Peter Parker jokes. Only the other spiders laugh.

“And that's all of ‘em.” Hobie sneaks up behind Jonathon and Miles, wrapping his arms over their shoulders. Miles feels his face burn with embarrassment. “I wouldn’t sweat memorizing ‘em all,” he murmurs. “I reckon I forget most of these blokes as well.”

“You said my uncle sent you guys? ” Miles directs his question to no one in particular “Why?”

Everyone immediately breaks out into their own explanation of events. All wildly talking over one another in a long, complicated mess of unintelligible words. Hobie abstains from the futile madness.

“Did that help?” Hobie asks amusedly

“Not at all, thank you” Miles speaks with fake sincerity.

Hobie snorts. “Well to be fair, it is quite the story.”

“We can talk about it over snacks!” Jonathan enthusiastically walks over to his snack stash, listing his commodities as he sees them. “I have green tea, oolong, lavender, chai tea...”

Silently, the other spiders shoot a nervous glance at Pavitir. Miles swears he can see a vein popping underneath his mask. The boy slowly turns, “Chai?…Tea?...”

“Yuh huh. I also picked up some bagels, biscuits, oh and picked up some naan bread from this spot on 7th street this morning -”

“NAAN? BREAD?”

“Uh huh. I also made this Tikka Masala to go with it! I followed this recipe online-”

Pavitir breaths heavily with his fists balled at his side. He is surrounded by the spiders desperately trying to calm down.

“Take deep breaths Pav.” Margo Kess instructs him.

“Look at him! He doesn’t know any better.” Penni attempts to reason

“Oh, here we go. ” Hobie crosses his arms, leaning against the wall with the biggest smile on his face.

“-Did you just say NAAN BREAD? Do you realize what you just said? NAAN means bread. Chai is tea. Did you really offer me some tea-tea with some bread-bread? How can you call yourself a scientist if you don't even-”

“-PAV!” Gwen places herself between Jonathon and the disgruntled boy, “I think he gets it.” Pavitir turns away with a huff, arms crossed and cheeks puffed like a scolded child.

Jonathan looks at the thermos in his hand shamefully. “If you don’t want it I can-”

“-I’ll take the food.” Pavitir quickly grabs the container and plastic utensils from him. Just as he’s about to leave he abruptly stops to face the scientist once again.

“...Thank you.” The boy says in a low voice. After retreating to a more secluded corner of the lab he opens the container. His shoulders visibly relax when he sees the steam pop out. Hobie digs in from over his shoulder.

“That doesn’t have pork in it does it?” Porker asks the scientist

“I believe it’s chicken.”

The pig shrugs. “Welp, better them than me!” making his way towards the impromptu picnic.

“Can we stop dallying and get down to business?” Noir rubs his temples in annoyance “Where’s our boy Miles?”

Jonathan and Miles look at eachother, tight lipped. Both telepathically communicating their unswayed distrust in the eclectic group of characters. Though it’s Miles who has the gall to voice his skepticism.

“Give us a reason to trust you guys.”

“Hold on.” Gwen types a few buttons on her web watch, from which it emits a hologram rife with all the relevant pictures and text files.

“You see this guy here?” Gwen points to the lanky spotted silhouette depicted on the orange hued screen. “This is theSpot. He’s a sorta trans-dimensional super being. You see the spots on his body?” She fiddles with the settings on her watch, zooming in on his likeness. “Those are portals he uses to travel to alternate dimensions. He’s already opened up several worm holes in other universes.”

“Mine included.” Pavitr speaks up, pointing to the wreckage surrounding them. “This is all from my home.” Gwen swipes the hologram, which shows the devastating aftermath of the Spot’s carnage. The boy exudes an uncharacteristic somber tone, his voice racked with hurt.

“A lot of people got hurt and many more could be dead. We got a handle on it now…though barely. And now… he’s after Miles.”

“Why?” both men inquired at once.

“He thinks it’s his fault.” Pavitir says, “The way he looks now, he blames Miles for it.”

“If we don't get Miles home the same will happen again in his dimension and he won’t stop after that.” Noir falls gracefully from his vantage point, light as a feather, and onto his feet. “Every second he’s free, the entire multiverse is at risk.”

“I do remember Miles bringing up the name Spot.” The scientist steps closer to get a better look. “Wait..That’s the guy I saw in my vision!” He peers over the accompanying slides with written information. He doesn’t get very far before he sees the thing that makes his blood run cold.

‘Subject: Jonathan Ohn A.K.A The Spot’

“Hey… that’s my name.” Jonathan gives a feeble laugh which falters as soon as he sees the sympathetic gazes from around him. None of them bother to look him in the eyes. With a trembling finger, he points to the stranger on the screen.

“That’s not actually me… is it?”

“I’m sorry Jonathan.” Gwen’s voice is a but a low whisper

“I -” Jonathan opens his mouth to speak but no words come out. He stumbles backwards and falls into the uneven office chair.

“How?”

Nobody speaks up.

Jonathon throws his arms up in frustration. “How? How did this happen to me? Tell me. I deserve to know the truth.”

“We destroyed the collider on Earth-1610.” Peter speaks hesitantly, “We thought we were helping but…He absorbed the dark matter as a result of the explosion and…” he trails off sympathetically. “...I’m sure you know the rest.”

Jonathon takes a second to absorb the words but shakes his head in disbelief. “That- That makes no sense,” he stutters. “Why would I be mad at that boy? He saved my life. When I was trapped inside the collider and then he was the one who-”

Jonathan’s face becomes crestfallen. “Oh,” is all he can manage to muster .

Just then. his heart threatens to burst out of his chest the more the reality dawns on him. Had he been trapped near that machine for just a few more seconds his future would’ve looked very different. The thought makes him physically ill. See, Jonathan Ohnn had grown accustomed to the idea of a strenuous future when he crossed the higher ups at Alchemex. He was by no means a fearless man, but he learned to stomach the notion of violence being used against him. But this? This thought that this depravity that could’ve consumed his entire waking being was too much to handle. He hated to admit it, but he could better brave the concept of a vicious death than the idea of him being a grotesque, wicked monstrosity.

Then scientist feels his knees give out from under him as his head aches from the overwhelming realization.

“Jonathon? Jonathan!” Many people speak his name in concern but he can’t hear them.

Jonathan clutches his skull as he writhes in pain. Bombarded with flashes of memories that are not his own. Yet somehow feel as real to him as the pain currently working to overwhelm him. He sees it all. For a moment, he can feel the shame of being fired from his dream job. The way armed men escorted him out the building through the back door so as to not disturb anyone with his ghastly appearance. For a moment, he can see the horror on his family's faces. How the people who promised to love him unconditionally removed all the hanged photos of his former glory from their walls and refused to return his calls. For a moment, he can feel himself being shunned by his fellow scientists and turned away by doctors. All to disturbed with him to even pretend to care for him and his condition. He can feel the disgusted glances on the street. The way mothers fearfully pull their children closer to them when they see him walk past. For a moment, he can feel the realization that as he is now, there is not a single living creature that could endure him in any capacity. How In just one night, love and normalcy had become something entirely unattainable for him. In the span of seconds it was like he felt his entire life go in a downward spiral. And all the while in the background a voice bellowed with malice. A voice that sounded a lot like his own.

‘Maybe then I won’t be such a joke to you!’

It was enough to make any man go mad.

When he comes to, Jonathan finds himself on his hands and knees surrounded by worried folks. An onslaught of concern from the group hits him in one giant wave. A multitude of hands grab him to support him back to his feet. A flurry of voices drown his thoughts.

‘Are you alright? Do you need water? Here, sit down. Take deep breaths now, in and out. How many fingers am I holding up? Be careful with him. Careful! Stop crowding him, give him some air. You’re freaking him out! Can somebody please get him some water?’

Miles rushes over with a water bottle in hand. “Thank you” he says weakly. He downs most of it in one gulp.

“I saw it.” he says crushing the plastic in his hands. He leans back in the chair recalling the vision, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “I saw everything. He’s so… miserable. I -” His voice catches in his throat.

“No one should ever have to go through that!” He cries hysterically, barely able to get the words out through choked sobs. “No one should ever be made to feel so… alone.” He finishes weeping dejectedly into his hands. Miles sympathetically places his hand on his back, shooting irritated glare at the newcomers.

Gwen can feel her heart break in two. As she closes her eyes with a sigh, she begins playing the first rhythm that comes to mind, lightly drumming her hands on the table. Not that she intends to, but high stress environments or bad rhythm situations prompt her to emulate a good rhythm to counteract it. Is it a trauma response? A defense mechanism? Probably. This isn’t one she uses often though. She played it only one other time for her dad after losing her mom. As they cried holding each other on the living room floor, the tapping of her fingers managed to empty the well of her father's eyes until he had no tears left to cry. It wouldn’t make him happy. No rhythm could do that for a loss like this, but it would be enough to ease his pain just for a moment. Like a little morphine for the soul.

She opens her eyes to see Jonathon's head leaning on the headrest of the chair, holding the plastic bottle over his heart. His breaths are deep and steady. His face was still wet with freshly shed tears. She listens to the rhythm of his breathing. It stills houses a great dejection, but now she can sense a hint of acceptance . ‘Good’ she thinks to herself. ‘It’s good enough for now.’

She bends down to a squat in front of the man, looking into his eyes. “I know this is a lot.” she began, “But you would be helping us save a lot of people if you helped us out. Please Jonathon…Can you tell us where we can find him?”

Jonathan takes a moment before responding, the hand holding the water bottle falls limply into his lap.

“You’re right about him being here,” he began softly, his head thrown back and eyes open ajar. “He went to the lab just before you arrived. He was going to steal the prototype for the new strain of Rapture.” Jonathan points out to the broken machine through the window of the observation deck. “We stayed here to attempt to fix the collider and hopefully circumvent its shortcomings so we could send him home before we destroyed this thing for good.”

“Rapture?” Gwen asks.

“It’s a highly addictive, insanely deadly drug Alchemex and Scorpion Pharmaceuticals have been shilling. It’s supposed to be illegal but…” MIles sighs, “That word doesn’t mean much here.”

“It’s the stuff Miguel is mulled up on.” Hobie speaks quietly, “The stuff that makes him… you know.” Hobie glanced at Peter, Noir, and proker. Among the more established, long standing members of spider society it was an open secret. One no would ever talk about, not even behind closed doors.

“Without it he’s even worse” Peter adds. “If you could imagine,” he laughs bleakly

“Well they wanna distribute it through every universe.” Miles spoke with his arms crossed. “They’ll not only make a monopoly out of it but the cure as well. Who knows what other stuff they’ll do with that kind of power...”

“So what are we going to do?” Jonathan spoke weakly, his head rolled to the side. “If they fire this machine again anytime soon, which to be honest they absolutely will, we’re talking about a rupture in the space time continuum! It’ll totally destroy-”

Jonathan head perks up worriedly taking deep sniffs in the air. “I’m sorry, What’s that smell?”

All eyes turn to Peter Parker, who lifts up Mayday from her carrier. He takes a whiff of her backside then immediately recoils from the stench.

“Sorry everyone, my daughter just-” he looks at the baby before lowering his voice to a whisper “-she just shit herself.” He looks around wildly, clicking his tongue. “You don’t happen to have a baby changing station here, do you?”

“Uh-”

“You know what, nevermind. That’s a stupid question I’ll just change here…uhhh…over Here!” Peter walks over to desk. In swift motion he wipes all the documents and equipment off a table before taking off his baby carrier and getting right to work.

“Don’t mind me, as you were saying?

“Well, It’ll open up a black hole big enough to swallow all of Brooklyn. Possibly extending to the Hudson Valley, Long Island, hell maybe he Jersey-”

“Would Long Island really be a loss?” Peter jokes whilst lathering his palms in a heap of baby powder

Everyone looks at him, speechless.

“Peter-” Penni reprimanded.

“-Geez, tough crowd.” The occupied father said, “I guess I’ll just shut up now.”

“Anyways, with the shock wave that happened when Miles disrupted the colliderIt’s only a matter of time before the higher ups show up…'' Jonathan slowly wheels himself to turn towards Miles, “...Then what are you going to do?”

“Me?”

“You didn’t kill me, and you’re not going to hand over the collider are you?”

“No. Of course not! And also I was never going to kill you per say-”

“-But they’ll kill you.” Jonathon slammed his thigh with emphasis, “You know that. They’ll kill both of us.” He puts his head in his hands, mumbling quietly to himself, “What are we gonna do?What are we gonna do?...”

“I’ll figure something out man,” Miles attempts to assure. “I do my best work when the stakes are high” he jokes

Jonathan looks up from his hands, completely disheartened “Maybe... You should’ve just killed me…When you had the chance.”

“Jonathon-”

“-You still can.” Jonathan reasons. “Then afterwards you and Miles can dispose of the strain. Maybe use it as leverage to negotiate-”

“-Don’t be ridiculous Ohnn.”

“I’m fine with dying if it’s for a good reason. I’ve served my purpose-”

“-You’re not dying Ohnn.” Mile begins to pace around, thinking to himself . “Can’t we just, I don’t know, blow it up?”

The boy is met with chorus of no’s

“Again, we tried that on 1610 and we’re still dealing with the aftermath.” Porker reasons, “It’s the reason we have this Spot problem in the first place.”

“To destroy, I would need to corrupt the files.” Jonathon rises to his feet and makes his way over to the monitors. “But most of the computers are busted. It’ll take ages for me to make a kill switch and download the relevant files to save my work.”

“Sorry do you have anywhere I can throw this away?” Peter holds up a stinky diaper, “Whew, this smells BAD.”

Jonathon responds actually perturbed this time, “I’m not sure.. the trash can?”

“You know what, I'll just hold onto it, I guess. Sorry I'm new to this whole parenting thing.”

“Can we worry about this whole money hungry, supervillain side plot later?” Margo practically begs, “When there isn’t a massive threat to time and space on our hands.”

“And this isn’t?” Peter Parker speaks up, wiping his hands and placing his baby back in her carrier. “We can’t leave this alone. It’ll bite us in the ass.”

“So what should we worry about first then?” Hobie asks, “The Spot

Suddenly, All the spiders react.

“Spider sense?” Miles asks

“Spider sense.” Hobie affirms

“At least it’s not the cavalry,” Jonathon sighs in relief. “It's probably Miles.”

“NO! Wait-” The spiders attempt to protest to no avail.

“-Cabron!” Miles shouts, “Hurry up! We have important business to talk about.”

Who emerges is an incredibly tall, hulking figure possessing the build of a linebacker and the disposition of a giant. The spider emblem at the center of his suit possessing a skull head and fangs. As if it was intentionally designed to be threatening. At his sides his fists sit balled in anger.

“Who is that?” Jonathan whispers.

“...The cultist.” Hobie whispers back

For an agonizing moment Miguel O’hara says nothing. Taking all the time in the world to scrutinize each body that occupied that dark, ruined lab. Eventually his mask dissolves. The face underneath held his customary scowl, which not only housed its usual contempt, but also an intense bitterness and perhaps a slight look of betrayal. If looks could kill the daggers he was glaring into the group of traitors would’ve had each of them mangled beyond recognition.

“Business?” Miguel spoke tersely. “Well then, I’m all ears.”

#miguel o'hara #across the spiderverse #astv #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x you #miguel spiderverse #miguel x reader #spiderman 2099 #spiderman 2099 x reader #miles morales #hobie brown #gwen stacy #peter parker #spider noir #the prowler

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