Opening detected, came the voice from the computer. Aperture at zero point forty-two micrometers and counting.
The room quaked, and Miles could only imagine the damage that was bleeding out across the city.
Miles watched as a portal began to grow, larger and larger, pulsing with energy. Then came the computer voice once more: Quantum entanglement is engaged.
What are they entangling? Miles thought. Or… whom?
Miles watched as Peter reached the control panel and produced the override key he had taken from Miles. He was just about to insert it, when four metallic tentacles pried open a gaping hole in the ceiling.
Doc Ock.
“Nice to see you again, Peter,” Doc Ock said sarcastically. Her tentacles whipped out, slamming into Peter. The other Spiders jumped to his aid, but by now, Fisk’s goons had assembled and were firing their weapons at the Spiders. They should have been able to fight them off with ease, but all the glitching—which had only grown worse—was making it next to impossible.
“It’s an ambush!” Gwen shouted, swinging in to fight Doc Ock. Swatting her away with a tentacle, Doc Ock pressed her attack on Peter.
Miles knew that he had to keep his presence hidden until the last possible second. If he was going to have any hope of surviving this, of sending the Spiders home, and saving the world, Miles—all of them—had to play it right.
He spun a web and caught Gwen on her way down. She didn’t see Miles, he was sure of it.
Then Miles looked up to see Peter struggling against Doc Ock.
“I told you I wanted to watch,” Doc Ock said, gloating. “Good-bye, Peter Parker!” Then she picked up Peter with her tentacles and threw him into the beam that was projecting the portal.
Then Miles sprang into action. He jumped up from the ground, spun a web, and swung in, catching Peter and pulling him away.
“Did I teach you that?” Peter said.
Miles stuck the landing and set Peter down, just as Doc Ock began her attack anew. The two Spiders stood side by side, using their powers to evade their enemy. A tentacle whooshed right above Miles’s head, but he ducked it with ease.
I might just be getting the hang of this Spider-Man thing.…
Warning: maximum tolerance exceeded, came the voice from the computer. Warning: maximum tolerance exceeded.
That can’t be good.…
CHAPTER 23
“Whoa boy!” said the pig.
“This is bad!” Miles agreed. The whole collider room had been thrown into chaos. The portal was steadily growing now, the quakes getting worse and worse. Inside the portal, Miles could now see objects appearing. Buildings?
“But weirdly, kind of cool,” Peter said, studying the phenomenon before them.
Before anyone could say another word, a car flew out of the portal, nearly taking off the black-and-white Spider’s head. Next was a streetlight. Then a hot-dog cart.
In between dodging the various objects that had now begun to stream in through the portal, the Spiders continued their battle against Fisk’s guards. SP//dr and the pig were keeping the Scorpion occupied, while Gwen set down in front of Doc Ock.
“Let’s dance,” Miles heard Gwen say as the two began to tangle. Gwen took a swing at Doc Ock, but she was batted away by one of her tentacles. Gwen was caught a second later by both Miles and Peter, who had spun a web basket to catch her and fling her right back at Doc Ock.
Gwen kicked Doc Ock square in the chest, knocking her backward toward the portal.
That’s when the doctor was smashed by an eighteen-wheeler that was careening through the portal.
“Time to shut this baby down!” Peter said.
Surprised he didn’t say It’s go time.
“I got it, guys,” Miles said. Then he showed Peter the override key in his hand.
“Oh, you gotta be kidding!” Peter said. “When did you get that?”
“Don’t watch the mouth,” Miles said, throwing Peter’s words back at him. “Watch the hands!”
Then Miles went into action. He leaped into the air, spinning a web and swinging, then hit the wall and began to crawl. Then he flipped and, in a flash, was at the control panel. He ripped it off as if it were paper.
“I love this kid,” Peter said.
Inside, Miles saw a slot. He slid in the override key, and turned; it was a perfect fit.
Alert, said the computer voice. Quantum polarity has been reversed.
“He did it!” Peni shouted. “We’re going home!”
The portal was still active, even though Miles had reversed the polarity. He still needed to shut the thing down, or the quakes would continue, and destruction would reign.
“You guys have to go now,” Miles said. “I gotta destroy this thing.”
Before it destroys everything else.
“Miles, are you sure?” Gwen said, uncertain.
“What about Fisk?” Peter asked.
“There’s still plenty of bad guys,” the pig added.
“Guys! I’m Spider-Man!” Miles said, sounding confident for the first time.
“Okay, peace out!” the pig said, and he jumped into the portal.
He agreed to that a little fast, Miles thought, chuckling to himself.
One by one, Miles looked at the remaining Spiders, and they at him.
“Arigato, Miles!” Peni said as SP//dr jumped into the portal.
She was followed by the black-and-white Spider. “I love you all,” he said, choked up, and Miles was amazed. Then the black-and-white Spider jumped through the portal, too.
Miles turned to face Gwen. He didn’t know what to say.
“Do I get to like your hairdo now?” Miles said.
Gwen laughed. “I like your suit. It fits you.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic.…”
“I’m not making fun of you,” Gwen said. “You’re my friend. See you around.”
They smiled at each other as Gwen jumped into the portal.
That left only Peter.
“Your turn.”
“I don’t know what to say. But… thanks,” Peter said, fumbling for words.
Miles heard a crash, and looked over to see Fisk climbing out of the smashed window of the collider control room.
“I’ll hold him off,” Peter said. “You go destroy this thing. It’s okay, kid.” He sounded resigned to his fate, as if he were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save everyone.
“Yeah,” Miles agreed. “It is okay.”
And Miles drop-kicked Peter, catching him completely off guard, and dangled him over the portal.
“This will all make you a better Peter Parker,” Miles said, and dropped him into the portal.
As Peter disappeared through the portal, Miles could hear him say, “Go get ’em, kid.”
CHAPTER 24
The enormous portal was growing out of control, and assorted objects were now appearing at random inside the chamber, objects from different universes. Pieces of concrete, street signs, a taxi filled with frightened people, chunks of a bridge—it was all swirling around inside the chamber.
Fisk was down there, waiting, waiting.
Miles got caught up in all the confusion, knocked about as the dimensions crossed over. The next thing he knew, Miles was picking himself up off the floor of a subway car. Fisk was there, and he started throwing punches at Miles.
Fisk hit him again. And again. Miles tried to stop him, but it was no use—Fisk was fighting like a man possessed.
And then Fisk stopped fighting altogether.
Miles, dazed, looked up and saw a young man and an older woman walking through the train car.
“Vanessa!” Fisk shouted. “Richard!”
“Dad?” the man called.
“Wilson?” the woman asked.
“Vanessa, it’s me!” Fisk said, overcome with emotion.
The woman looked bewildered. “What’s happening?”
“It’s all right, you’re home!” Fisk yelled.
But something wasn’t right. The woman held on to the young man. “Stay back!” she said, anger in her voice. “Stay away from us!”
“Don’t go!” Fisk pleaded. “Stay with me!”
Fury filling his eyes, Fisk lashed out at Miles again, pummeling him with crushing blows.
“You can’t bring them back!” Miles roared, realizing now exactly what Fisk had been trying to do all along. Bring back his lost family—plucking them from another dimension to live with him here in this one.
“Watch me!” Fisk thundered, striking Miles again and again.
Miles was delirious. At the last second, he turned his head, only to see Fisk coming right at him with a steel beam. It slammed into his head, rattling his brain, knocking him to the ground.
Then the whole train car started to spin, and Miles glanced outside through the window. Inexplicably, they were hurtling toward the Brooklyn Bridge. The car smashed into the concrete, rolling, sending Miles and Fisk tumbling about.
A moment later, Miles, shaken, found himself back in the collider chamber, thrown from the train car. He ripped off his mask as he got to his feet. Then the train doors burst open as Fisk appeared, charging right for Miles.
Fisk threw punch after punch after punch, each one finding its mark.
But still Miles stood his ground.
“What else you got?” Miles said, gazing directly into Fisk’s eyes. He waited, waited for Fisk to recognize him.
And he did.
“I see the family resemblance,” Fisk sneered. “But your uncle can’t save you now, can he?”
“He doesn’t have to,” Miles said defiantly. “I learned a lot from my uncle. You ever hear of the shoulder touch?”
“What?” Fisk said.
Before Fisk could do anything, Miles dropped a hand on his shoulder, said, “Hey,” and unleashed a full-force venom strike.
In the distance, he could see Doc Ock, scrambling, looking around wildly. Miles thought about going after her, but before he could do anything, she jumped through the portal.
It’s go time.
Miles slammed the button on the control panel, the one that would shut down everything.
And almost instantaneously, it did exactly that.
The collider switched off, and the shaking in the chamber stopped.
The computer voice said, Unit functions are terminal. Unit functions are terminal.
Miles slumped down, exhausted.
EPILOGUE
Miles picked up the phone. He just wanted to go back to his bed and sleep, but there was something he had to do. He was crouched atop a building, looking down below as he saw a police cruiser outside the subway stop. It was his dad’s car. Jefferson was inside the car, probably doing paperwork. Cops had to do a lot of paperwork.
He hit the DIAL button on his phone and put it to his ear.
It rang once.
“Miles! Are you okay?” Jefferson said into the receiver.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” Miles said, exhausted but trying to sound casual. “You’re probably busy, so—”
“No, no, no, no, I can talk!” Jefferson said. He sounded glad to know his son was all right. “I can talk. So I came by earlier because your uncle…”
“I know, Dad. I’m so sorry,” Miles said softly.
“Yeah, me too. What I said at the door, it wasn’t just talk.”
“Sure, Dad. I’m glad you’re okay. I need to go,” Miles said.
“Look, you know, I was thinking maybe we could find a nice wall, privately owned, like at the police station—” Jefferson began.
“Dad, I—”
“—and you could… throw up some of your art?”
“I really need to go, so… talk later, bye!” Miles said, hanging up the phone.
His dad was still talking when Miles pulled down his Spider-Man mask and leaped down to the street below, landing next to the police cruiser.
“Officer?” he said.
“Spider-Man?” Jefferson said, startled. “Hey, listen. I owe you an a—”
Then Spider-Man hugged Jefferson.
“I look forward to working with you,” he said to his father.
“Me too, I guess,” Jefferson said, clearly bewildered.
“Thank you for your bravery tonight. I love you,” Spider-Man said.
Jefferson looked at the web-slinger and said, “Wait, what?”
Then Spider-Man spun a web and swung off into the night as he shouted, “And look behind you!”
Just like that, Spider-Man was gone. Jefferson turned around and saw Fisk webbed to a lamppost. Jefferson walked, then ran, over to the unconscious criminal. When he got there, he saw a small piece of paper stuck to Fisk’s chest that simply read,
FROM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD SPIDER-MAN.
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse--The Junior Novel Page 8
