MU|| Miles Morales:Fragmented|| Personal Showdown

This Story contains violence, mention of blood, and swearing. If these are triggers for you I encourage you to find a different post. You’ve been warned!

It’s been a couple days since we’ve heard from Miles. We checked his parents place and it was destroyed, like a tornado had blown through. The street below was messed up pretty bad and no one would answer our questions. Only more questions were asked the ing days. Why did Miles vanish? Was Ultimatum involved? Why take his parents? How will we find him? I couldn’t answer these questions anymore than I could ask them myself. To think this kid was out there, probably scared or stubborn out of his mind to give up. Think I taught him that… or maybe he just took after Peter. I was in my apartment, searching for any clues to the incident at Miles's place. Watching the footage from it but just as Ultimatum picks him up it just cuts off and the timestamp skips to the next day. Nothing made any sense. What’s worse was that Peter was suddenly gone too. He still wasn’t answering my calls or texts. I was tired of getting nothing so I went to the Baxter building to see if the Richard’s could help me.

“I must say, William, this is really troubling. If the city finds out that there is no Spider-Man, it will surely have severe consequences,” Reed said, pulling up the same footage feed I’ve been combing over. “Spider-Man is the least of our worries. We have other heroes to watch over the city. I just need to find the kid.” he retorted.

“Spider-Man is no mere hero, William. You should when we lost Peter and how that affected the entire city.” I ed it all too well. After Peter… well ‘died’, I went back to my old ways. I got violent and brutal until the poison finally left his system. Turns out I had to be patient. But a bit of impatience is always welcome; “is there any chance you can recover the footage so I can see where they went?”

“Whoever did this covered their tracks well. There’s no evidence of tampering, no digital footprint. I believe there is nothing I can do… though I will reach out to a few friends and see where this can lead,” Reed explained, swiping the footage away as the windows allowed the sun to shine in the room again. “Thank you, Reed. Feels like some weight is gone.”

“You could always ask Captain Stacy to help you? I heard you two have some history.“ He didn’t know half of it, it wasn't a good history. Captain Stacy believes that I am a criminal that killed innocent cops… but he doesn’t know the truth. “Yeah? You hear that from the Bugle? He hates my guts… though you may be onto something.”

I thanked him for the idea and left the Baxter building. Reed was right but so was I. I couldn’t go to Captain Stacy but maybe I just need the help of another member of the family. I landed on the brick wall and looked through the window to see Gwen at her desk, her mask on the edge of the desk while she scrolled through her text messages. I gently knocked on the glass with my hand which quickly got her attention. She looked at her closed door first before rushing to open the window to peak her head out.

“What are you doing here? You realize my dad will kill you if he sees you?” she stated before I readjusted my grip and dug my metal hand in the brick wall to keep me attached. ”Yeah well… I’ve had enough of waiting around.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, William quickly allowed himself into her room as she scoffed, lifting her arm and almost bowing in a sarcastic way. “Please, come in!” she exclaimed, her tone more sarcastic than she let on.

“Gwen, how serious are you about doing this?” I asked as she crossed her arms, her head slightly tilted. I could easily tell she had no idea what I meant and sometimes I wish people knew exactly what I was talking about. “What exactly are you talking about?” she asked.

“Being this… Spider-Woman? How serious are you about doing this?” My tone shifted slightly so she could tell I was being serious. Her arms shifted into her pockets as she thought to herself. “I… I haven’t thought about it much. I knew Miles needed help but he’s got you guys! I made a mistake making the suit and the gadgets.”

“Heroes never start off great. You think that’s how Spider-Man started off? Iron Man? The Fantastic Four? They’ve failed before just like you.” She sighed as if she was being lectured by her father and sat on the edge of her bed. “Yeah I know they’ve failed but they aren’t me. I failed Miles while being a friend and an ally… I’m no hero.”

Gwen let a soft sigh escape her lips, leaning backwards to stare at the ceiling. “You can’t expect everything to be the way you want.” she started, leaving a small pause before continuing: “Hero or not. There will be times where you might fail. Maybe it could have a bigger impact on yourself than you realize.” Her eyes then laid upon William, who seemingly sunk into deep thought. “Being Spider-Woman is… a big responsibility. There are so many of you out there.” Gwen pauses, fully laying her back against the bed, heavily sighing. “What difference would I even make?”

“Everyone can make a difference. It doesn’t matter how small or how big the difference is but just knowing you’re out there can give people hope.” I reached over to grab her mask and gently tossed it into her lap so she could look at it. “Someone once told me that anyone can wear a mask. It’s how you choose to use that is what makes you a hero.”

Maybe that was all it took. The mask was the kind of badge Gwen wore, a token, and a symbol. Something that meant the same thing as her father, who took on the role as captain. To protect the city. She gently lifted the mask into her hands, and sat there for a few seconds in silence. Staring at it only pushed her deeper into her thoughts. After everything that she’s been through, with Miles, William, maybe it was the right path after all. A relieving sigh left her mouth, and Gwen pushed herself off the bed, her gaze on William. “How can I help?”

“Miles went missing outside his parents place and any cam footage is wiped within a two mile radius.” I tossed her a phone with footage of Miles being taken away by Ultimatum before the footage gets erased once again. “The cops won’t spare anyone because they won’t listen to me but if they listened to someone they knew… like your dad then maybe we can get a search going.”

Suddenly I received a notification from Pete. A text that asked him to meet alone which was odd. Peter had been ghosting me since Miles was gone and now suddenly he’s back? Either way it was a relief to see he’s still around. I looked up at Gwen before responding to his text, saying I’d be there shortly.

“Do what you can. If Gwen Stacy doesn’t work out, there’s always Spider-Woman,” I said before leaping out her open window to swing to the location Pete had sent me.

I arrived on a rooftop in Midtown that had a pretty good view of the rest of the city but it was odd. It didn’t feel right… this was quite the distance I had to go from where the current situation was but I trust Peter. Suddenly the skies above started to rip apart as red and white energy flooded the city. My eyes widened as I watched parts of the city slowly crumble to the ground, the sky revealing red space closing in on the city as I watched Peter land on the building.

“Holy shit, Kid, what the hell is happening?!” I asked as he sounded afraid, almost petrified. “Ultimatum… I think he’s ripping our universe apart. He won.” There was no way in hell that fucker was going to win, not on my watch.

“Hey, he hasn't won yet! I got Gwen talking to her dad about a search party for Miles and then all of us together will find this guy and stop him! Never lose hope, Pete.” His lenses zoomed in as I felt a sharp cold feeling in my side. I looked down to see the blade that he thrusted into my side and I fell to my knees. “Jesus… you are just so sad, Shade.”

I grunted in pain, yanking the blade out of my body and tossing it away to see Peter slowly morph his body, watching in horror as his bones break and become disfigured. I then watched two other bodies split from Peter and even then they all transformed into abominations that mimicked Spider-Man. I slowly stood up as they surrounded me.

“Our master wants us to retrieve your body for intensive study. And then we will remake the multiverse in our image!” The bulkier abomination stated, cracking his knuckles as he chuckled but they didn’t expect my laughter to suddenly burst out of nowhere.

“So… you three are clones and Smythe decided that now was the the time to fuck with me?” I took a deep breath after laughing, the wound on my side completely healed and my suit sealing back up. “That’s just priceless… you realize I trained Spider-Man and the kid right? What makes you stand a chance against me?”

You’re Gonna Go Far Kid By The Offspring

00:00 ──────────────── 2:47

The three laughed before they got into their stance. The Bulk grew in size as his muscles enlarged, veins almost popping out of his arms. The white one suddenly grew spikes out of his body, and his claws grew sharper as he hissed at me. The blue and yellow clone had electricity surrounding his body, creating blades of lightning and aimed them at me. I chuckled before cracking my head, stretching before thrusting my hands toward the ground and ejecting my hidden blade’s.

“Alright… let’s tango, fuckers!” I screamed out as they lunged towards me, quickly dodging as they collided into each other so I could clash my blades against the blades of lighting.

The clone struggled to keep his strength up against me, his grunts becoming more frequent as I overpowered him and slammed him to the floor. I felt pressure against my back before I flew off the clone but I used my blades to catch myself and land safely on the ground below. I looked across to see the behemoth charging at me with his large arm up. I growled as I charged back and slid underneath the giant, forcing my blade to slash through his skin and bone like butter and watched as his arm fell to the ground. I quickly flipped onto my feet and watched as his hand slowly grew back, his claws sharp and his eyes squinted at me.

“Oh shit,” I said quietly to myself. The fact that they can just grow limbs back made this tougher than I thought. “We're tougher than you think, Shade!” Spike exclaimed, pouncing onto my back and slamming his large spikes in, piercing through my armor and causing me agonizing pain.

“Unfortunately we thought you’d put up more of a fight. Either way, our master will be pleased!” Spike said, teasing his sharp claws in the air as a shadow of a figure blew by them. “What was that?!” Spark exclaimed, all of them pressing their backs together as I laid on the ground below them.

“Do you see it?!” Bulk whispered as the shadow blew by again, only this time it delivered a blow to Spike’s face. “Ack!! Someone grab it!” he demanded, ri while rubbing his face.

“Hey idiots, grab this!” Gwen screamed as she lunged from the sky where she delivered a devastating kick to Spike and threw Spark into Bulk with her webs. “Spikes, Lightning, and Size. Smythe really wants to create the ultimate Spider-Man, huh?” I chuckled as she helped me to my feet, blood dripping stained my armor as the wounds on my back slowly healed.

“So… you decided to put the suit back on? Thought you’d just talk to your dad?” Her lenses zoomed in like she was squinting but then she looked back at the city. ”Well… someone once told me that anyone can wear a mask, it’s how you choose to represent it that makes the difference.”

I laughed at the call back as we gave each other a fist bump. We rushed towards the clones and began to overwhelm them with constant attacks, constantly switching targets and trading them with each other so their focus would be shattered. I managed to slip on small attachments onto the clones and before they could attack us, I pressed a button on my gauntlet and watched as they were all electrocuted and fell to the floor incapacitated.

“Well that was easy!” Gwen exclaimed as I looked over, my mask hiding my blank expression. “Right and I’m Tony Stark. That fight was a lot harder a few seconds ago before you showed up.”

“Shall we make it interesting then?” a voice echoed as Ultimatum formed from the red energy pouring from the red space above. “You son of a bitch!” I didn’t even think as I aimed my gauntlet and fired the blade in my gauntlet toward the doppelgänger.

I watched as he caught the blade by the sharp tip and made the hard steel slowly disintegrate into dust that fell down towards the city. Gwen and I got into fighting stances as suddenly it felt like we couldn’t move, but Ultimatum slowly floated down and stood in front of us.

“I’m not here to fight, but to merely offer a deal… a truce!” He walked around the both of us, as I’m barely able to see him through the corner of my eye. “What if… we didn’t have to fight anymore?” Gwen and I could barely turn our heads but we could definitely see the confusion through our masks.

“In forty-eight hours this entire universe, our multiverse will be reset! A blank canvas! I will restore it back to what it was and improve it from there! No more fighting, no more war, no more death!” I scoffed at the nonsense that Ultimatum spat at us. “You're a deluded kid, thinking that you can just rewrite reality? You don’t have that kind of power.”

“I don’t? Well how about a demonstration? Something to convince you that what I say is the truth?” He proposes, turning around as he lifted his hand to summon energy in the palm of his hand to form an image of Earth. “This is Earth-98091! A universe filled with… well nothing exciting really but it had its moments. Now watch.”

Within a second I watched him squeeze his hand and the planet suddenly exploded, which I wouldn’t have thought was real until I looked up to see one of the stars above us explode, dust flying throughout the red space and into the city. I just watched the sick fuck kill billions of people… all to prove he can just do it!

“I’m gonna kill you!” I screamed out loud, struggling to move as I tried to break free from this unknown frozen bond. “Oh you wish you could but we both know that you are a mistake, William.” My heart sank when he said my name but it didn’t surprise me.

“I’m no mistake, kid. This is our universe, our home! You’re taking that away from us!” Ultimatum punched me in the face, breaking my mask off of my face to reveal my angry expression and bleeding forehead. “Everything was taken away from me first! I’m taking it all back, everything that Peter destroyed I will restore!”

“You’re not Miles Morales anymore. You think your parents would be proud of this?” I could see his anger boiling over, feeling his fists cross against my face and chest repeatedly. “Seeing their son destroy life after life… they wouldn’t be proud… no they would be ashamed!”

He kicked me down, finally free from the frozen bond and I felt his foot against my chest, aiming his palm towards my face as the red energy from the skies started to form a ball below his hand. I noticed a flicker of light in the distance, slowly growing closer as the charge in Ultimatum’s hand and I chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as I watched the light blast a fireball towards Ultimatum. “Karma is just a funny thing,” I said, kicking him off and watching as the fireball launched him off the rooftop and into a freefall toward the city.

I quickly looked over the ledge and didn’t see Ultimatum but merely a cloud of dust falling towards the city. I sighed with frustration and turned around to see Johnny helping Gwen up to her feet and that was a sight to behold. Johnny Storm alive and well, and still making his dramatic entrances.

“Remind me to thank your sister, Johnny. You’re still the hot-head.” He snickered before we shook each other’s hand. “Reed and the others are coming, maybe a few friends as well!” Gwen looked over at me with a surprised look on her mask as I picked up the broken pieces of mine.

“Well then it’s time to regroup. Plan our attack and kick this guy's ass. Unfortunately we don’t have time to find Miles and stop Ultimatum.” Johnny and Gwen looked among each other before Gwen stepped up to cross her arms. “We finish the fight, it’s what Miles would do.”

“Alright! What’s the play, Coach?” Johnny asked me as I looked at the broken pieces in my hands, letting them fall to the ground. I stood in between them as we all looked at the skies ripping apart up above, more universes coming into with ours.

“We Assemble.”

To Be Continued…

Tate: Gwen Stacy

#MarvelUltimatum

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#MUMilesMorales