Miles Morales hurried through the abandoned subway station, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs. Everything that had happened today was just so… weird.
First, my clothes suddenly don't fit, he thought, running a hand over his now-too-tight hoodie. Then my hands get all sticky, and now I can jump like… like him.
And then there was the spider. The weird, colorful spider that had bitten him last night. It all felt like something straight out of the Spider-Man comics he had hidden under his bed.
Is this for real? Am I going to be Spider-Man, too? The thought was a dizzying mix of terror and wide-eyed anticipation. To prove it, he needed to find the spider that had bitten him.
"I remember I slapped it dead," he muttered to himself. "The body should still be right over… ah!"
Lost in thought, Miles didn't notice the massive, crumbling pothole that had appeared in the middle of the track bed. He fell straight through, landing with a hard thump in a dark, claustrophobic maintenance tunnel below. He rubbed his head, blinking as his eyes adjusted.
Suddenly, a deafening crash echoed through the space. A massive, green-skinned monster smashed through a concrete wall like a cannonball, sending debris flying like shrapnel.
"That's… the Green Goblin!" Miles's eyes went wide with fear. He scrambled behind a chunk of broken wall, his body trembling. He knew the Green Goblin was a classic villain, but he was supposed to be locked up. What was he doing here? And he was so much bigger, so much more demonic than he looked in the comics. How could Spider-Man possibly defeat something like that?
As if in answer, another thunderous bang reverberated through the tunnel. Miles watched in shock as another green-skinned villain—the Scorpion—was sent flying, smashing into the Green Goblin with comical force. Immediately after, a black-and-white figure blurred out of the darkness, a ghost of motion. A single, powerful kick, like the crack of a gunshot, connected with the Scorpion's armored tail, shattering the stinger mechanism in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.
The Scorpion's shrill, metallic scream echoed in the enclosed space. Miles slapped his hands over his mouth, his own cry of fear caught in his throat. Is that Spider-Man? But… how could he be so brutal?
His panicked thoughts were interrupted by the Green Goblin, who voiced the very same question. The mountain-sized creature mercilessly shoved the whimpering Scorpion aside and glared at the shadowy figure.
"You're not Spider-Man," the Goblin snarled. "Who the hell are you?!"
Not Spider-Man? Hiding in the darkness, Miles cautiously peeked over the rubble. It was only then that he truly saw the figure. The suit was different, a stark and elegant design of black, green, white, and pink. But it was the silhouette that made his mind short-circuit. His enhanced vision could now pierce the gloom, and what he saw made no sense.
This Spider-Man… was a woman.
A female Spider-Man? Looking at her powerful, athletic build, Miles was stunned. What is even happening anymore? Is this still New York? He had seen this city's Spider-Man from a distance a hundred times. He was sure he was a guy. Miles glanced down at his own hands, which now felt like they were buzzing with a strange new energy. Unless… unless she was bitten by another spider, just like me.
The thought that he might not be alone, that there were others like him, was a small comfort in the terrifying chaos. He looked back to the center of the battlefield just as more enemies emerged from the shadows. The entire Sinister Six, led by the colossal Kingpin, had surrounded the lone Spider-Woman.
Seeing her outnumbered, Miles felt a surge of desperate urgency. He wanted to help, to rush in, to do something. But his feet felt like they were bolted to the floor. The raw, primal fear was a chain around his limbs. He wasn't a hero. Not yet. He had the potential, but he wasn't ready to answer the call. After a moment of agonizing internal struggle, Miles pulled his head back down, shrinking into the darkness.
Ben and Gwen had sensed Miles's presence the moment he fell into the tunnel. As a symbiote, Overkill had enhanced every single one of Gwen's abilities the moment they had merged—her strength, her endurance, and most critically, her spider-sense. She was now a whirlwind of power, operating on a level she had never dreamed possible.
But neither of them paid Miles any mind. An inexperienced, terrified boy would only be a liability in this fight. He was better off hiding. Once this was all over, the blond Peter could take him under his wing and teach him the ropes.
Gwen scanned her opponents, the symbiotic link with Ben filling her with a supreme, almost giddy confidence. The so-called supervillains in front of her seemed… small. The symbiote was also influencing her personality, its code intertwined with Ben's own pragmatic, ruthless nature. Her attacks were becoming sharper, more efficient, more brutal. Shattering the Scorpion's primary weapon had been the first proof of that.
If Ben were in full control, a part of her mind thought, he would have just snapped the man's neck. They're all career criminals. Peter has sent them to prison dozens of times, and they never change.
"No killing," Gwen sent to Ben through their shared consciousness, her own morality a firm, unwavering anchor. It was the choice most Spider-People would make.
"You're the driver," Ben's thoughts replied, calm and accepting. "You have the final say."
"It doesn't matter who you are," Kingpin boomed, his two small eyes glittering with malice. This version of the Kingpin was even more physically imposing than the one from Ben's universe, a solid cube of muscle and rage. "You stand in my way, you die!"
"Do it!" he ordered, and the weighted cane in his hand shot forward like a spear.
Whoosh! Gwen tilted her head, the cane missing her by a millimeter. The other villains surged forward. The Prowler was the fastest, the razor-sharp claws on his gauntlets tearing through the air.
Gwen bent backward, the claws swiping just above her chest. To an observer, it looked like a near-miss. In reality, it was the result of a precise, cold calculation. Then, she kicked upwards. Her seemingly slender leg, now reinforced with bio-mechanical strength, was stronger than a steel girder. It connected with the Prowler's chest, and his advanced armor shattered like porcelain. He was launched backward, smashing into a concrete support pillar.
He's not my uncle, so it's not my problem, Ben's detached thought echoed in the back of her mind.
At the same time, the Rhino charged from her flank. Gwen spun, driving her elbow into his side with a sickening crunch. A kidney shot. The massive man's eyes rolled back in his head, and he collapsed.
Hidden in the shadows, Peter B. Parker watched Gwen tear through his rogues' gallery and couldn't help but let out a low whistle. According to their plan, Ben and Gwen were supposed to handle the villains while he dealt with the collider. But he'd been worried. In his eyes, they were still kids, and he knew from experience that a high school Spider-Man was far from their prime. He himself would have had a hard time facing the entire Sinister Six at once.
So he had stayed behind, just in case. But his worry was clearly misplaced. Gwen's power was beyond anything he had expected. To be precise, the power of Ben, manifested as the symbiote suit, was beyond his imagination. Enemies that had given him years of grief were being dismantled like toys.
She's so strong, he thought, then winced as Gwen brutally stomped on the Green Goblin's foot. A little harsh, though. But that's a common problem with symbiotes. He had only ever encountered Venom and Carnage, and his bad experiences led him to assume the cruelty was inherent to the suit, not the person inside.
Seeing Gwen start to literally bounce Kingpin off the walls, Peter finally felt completely at ease. He turned and sprinted towards the collider's control room.
He tore the metal door off its hinges and rushed inside, startling the two researchers so badly they fainted on the spot. That saved some trouble.
"Okay, let's see what we have here," he muttered, plugging the USB drive into the main console. "A total of six universes connected…" He began typing furiously, his fingers flying across the keyboard. But then he saw it. Red lights were flashing everywhere. "Wait… the system is overloading! The whole thing is going to blow!"
Kingpin, in his madness, had pushed the unstable machine too far. If it exploded, the resulting space-time rift would swallow all of Brooklyn. Getting to the machine itself to crack it was suicide; the raw energy would shred him atom by atom.
"Good thing Ben thinks of everything," he said with a grateful sigh. He double-clicked a program Ben had prepared in advance, a sophisticated interface that would allow him to safely defuse the machine from the control room. "Thanks, kid. You're a genius."
Back in the main chamber, Gwen delivered a final, thunderous punch to the Green Goblin's chest, which caved in like a flattened can. At that exact moment, a shimmering wave of energy, composed of colorful, glitching cubes, erupted from the ground. The tide of distorted space-time washed over the battlefield, accompanied by the deafening screech of static. Miles felt his body twist and pull, as if he were being momentarily erased from existence.
"What happened?!" the beaten, bleeding Kingpin roared, realizing something was wrong with his machine. "What have you done?!"
Gwen had no intention of answering him. The thought of their impending separation had soured her mood completely. She was done playing. She blurred forward and delivered a single, devastating kick that sent the Kingpin flying into a concrete wall with enough force to embed him there.
The other villains were already lying broken and unconscious around her. The Sinister Six? Neutralized in a matter of minutes.
Hiding in the shadows, Miles watched the brutal, efficient display, so terrified he didn't dare even breathe.