How do I do this? I don’t know how to… What is Peter thinking?!
The door opened, and the scientist was clearly stunned to find Spider-Man standing in the middle of the room.
“Spider-Man?”
“Oh, hey!” Peter said to the scientist. “Didn’t see you there.”
“Well, this is kinda trippy,” the scientist said, clearly puzzled. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Surprise!” Spider-Man joked.
He wasn’t ready for what came next. The scientist grabbed the edge of Peter’s mask, and before he could stop her, she ripped it off. “This is fascinating,” she said, looking at Peter. “An entirely different Peter Parker.”
While Peter dealt with the scientist, Miles quietly made his way to the computer. He sat down and typed in the password, hoping he had remembered the combination of letters and numbers correctly.
“Okay, that’s m’face,” Peter said as the scientist started to pull at his cheeks.
Miles sat at the computer, barely paying attention to Peter and the scientist. He was intent on getting the files he needed from the computer. Once he got in, though, he had no idea what to take. So he decided to take all the files. He dumped them into a folder, and then started to copy everything over.
Which is when the computer suddenly froze.
Not knowing what else to do, Miles unplugged the computer, and tucked it in his arms, monitor and all. He looked over at Peter, who stared at him. Rather, Miles assumed he was staring at him, but in reality, Peter was watching the computer “float” through the air, due to Miles’s invisibility.
“And obviously, you’ve been glitching,” the woman said to Peter.
Glitching? Miles thought. Just like he did outside Uncle Aaron’s apartment.
“Glitching?” Peter said, playing it cool. “No. Why would you even say that?”
“If you stay in this dimension too long, your body’s going to disintegrate,” the scientist said. And then the tone of her voice took a creepy turn. “It’s going to be very painful and very interesting. I think I’ll watch.”
Then she moved her wrist toward her mouth and spoke into her watch. “Get Fisk. Tell him I’ve got proof.”
“What did you say your name was?” Peter said, slowly walking toward the door.
The woman smiled at Peter, but it was anything but friendly. “Oh, I didn’t. My name is Dr. Olivia Octavius. I was bummed I didn’t get to see you die the first time.”
“Can I assume your friends call you Doc Ock?” Peter asked.
“My friends call me Liv,” she said. “My enemies call me Doc Ock.”
Moving at blinding speed, Peter spun a web to a panel that controlled the door and opened it.
“I got this!” he shouted to Miles. “Run!”
CHAPTER 17
Miles was running down the hall, fumbling with the computer and monitor. They weren’t heavy, not with his spider-strength. But they were clumsy and awkward, and not exactly ideal things to be trying to run with.
As he ran, he noticed something peculiar. One moment, he was invisible, and the next, completely visible. He was like a human strobe light, flashing on and off.
He was so focused on his predicament that he didn’t even see the lab assistant until after he plowed right into her. They both landed on the floor.
“Dah!” Miles shouted. “Sorry!”
“Dah!” the lab assistant shouted back.
“I’m so sorry. Gotta go!”
With that, Miles got up and started to run, but not before noting that the lab assistant looked oddly familiar.
Kind of like Wanda…
The next thing Miles knew, Peter smashed through the wall in front of him, landing at Miles’s feet amid the rubble. He saw a flash of something metallic through the hole from which Peter had burst.
Miles stood there, invisible yet again and dumbfounded. He held up the computer and monitor and shrugged.
“All right, let me tell you the good news. We don’t need the monitor,” Peter said. He grabbed it from Miles and threw it down. Then he spun a web and was already swinging through the door when Miles saw it.
Well, her.
It was the scientist, the one from before. Except she looked… different. She was sporting a harness of some kind, with four metallic arms that held her aloft. She towered over Miles.
“Peter, you didn’t tell me you had an invisible friend,” Doc Ock said, menace tainting her every word.
“Peter!” Miles screamed.
“Can you give that back, young man? It’s proprietary.”
Doc Ock stepped through the hole in the wall. The tentacles that whipped around her threatened to crush Miles if he so much as moved.
So he didn’t.
But the tentacles did.
One snaked its way toward Miles, moving as if it were alive. Miles gasped when Peter suddenly yanked him through the door.
Miles was panting beneath his mask, holding on to the computer for dear life. It took him a second to realize that he wasn’t in immediate danger. He and Peter were still in the Alchemax facility, but they were now in a large, fairly crowded room. There were people sitting at tables, all staring at the two weirdos wearing Halloween costumes. On one side of the room, there was a long display case filled with food.
The cafeteria.
“This’d be a good time to turn invisible,” Peter said softly, without looking at Miles.
“Yup,” Miles agreed.
“Spider-Man?” asked one of the security guards in the room, walking closer.
“You know, it’s funny—I get that a lot,” Peter said.
“Hey,” Miles added.
Then the security guard pulled a weapon, and suddenly the other people sitting stood up and followed suit.
“Hey!” one of them shouted. “Hands up!”
Peter and Miles sprinted from the cafeteria and ran through the doors. They were now outside, and Miles could see the forest in the distance.
“Time to swing,” Peter said, “just like I taught you!”
“When did you teach me that?” Miles said.
“I didn’t. It’s a little joke for team-building!” Peter replied, then he tossed one of his web shooters to Miles. “Let’s go!”
What am I supposed to do with this? he thought. I don’t know what to do with th—
Then Peter pushed him off the roof.
“Hurry up!”
Peter was up ahead, but Miles was just not getting the hang of it. He was trying to shoot the web shooter straight, but he kept getting all twisted. It didn’t help that the security guards on the ground below were shooting at them.
This is nuts, Miles thought. I gotta get out of the trees before they shoot me down.
Miles let go of the web and dropped to the forest floor below. Then he started to run.
“What are you doing down there?” Peter yelled at him.
“I run better than I swing!” Miles said, legs pumping.
“You gotta swing or they’ll catch you!”
Miles reached the end of his rope. “Well, maybe you shoulda taught me, instead of eating that cheeseburger!”
Without warning, Miles felt the buzzing at the base of his skull that he had come to realize meant danger was near. A moment later, he heard a metallic buzzing sound, and then saw Doc Ock cutting down trees with a buzz-saw tentacle, coming closer.
Realizing that Peter was right, Miles aimed his web shooter at a tree branch and pressed the trigger on his palm.
THWIP!
A miss.
“Aim with your hips!” Miles whipped his head around and saw Peter doubling back after him. “Look where you want it to hit. Square your shoulders! Don’t forget to follow through. Don’t shoot off your back foot!”
The sound of the buzz saw grew closer, and in desperation, Miles ran straight up a tree.
“That’s too many things!” Miles shouted.
“Then stop listening to me!”
“What kind
of teacher are you?”
As Doc Ock neared, Miles aimed his web shooter at a distant tree and squared his shoulders. Then, once again, he pressed the palm trigger.
THWIP!
The web snagged the exact branch Miles had been staring at.
“Oh, thank you!” Miles called out. “Woo! I’m doing it!”
“That’s really good, Miles!” Peter said, watching Miles swing to the next tree. “That was really good! You actually listened to everything I said.”
“Okay,” Miles said, somehow feeling that Peter was taking credit for Miles’s success.
“Look at us,” Peter added. “We’re a little team. Me as the teacher who can still do it, you as the student who can do it, just not as good. I’m proud of us! Is there something you want to say to me?”
But before Miles could say anything, Peter flickered, glitching, and fell from the tree onto a branch below.
Instinctively, Miles launched himself toward Peter. He landed right next to him, but the impact caused the branch to break, sending him and Peter to the ground. Along with the computer that Miles had been carrying.
The computer fell right into Doc Ock’s waiting arms.
Doc Ock smiled. She had what she wanted. Between her and the security guards, they would take care of Miles and Peter.
I can’t believe this is how it ends.
And the next thing Miles knew, a blur of black, white, and pink swung by, plowing right into Doc Ock. Miles once again had possession of the computer.
The black, white, and pink blur came to a rest, and Miles saw a mysterious-looking girl in a spider-themed hoodie, wearing a mask. She webbed Miles and Peter together, hoisted the two over her shoulder, and together they swung off.
A little while later, they set down in a clearing. Doc Ock and the security guards were far behind them now. For the first time since the whole Alchemax affair started, Miles took a deep breath. He wanted to pass out and sleep for a week.
The young woman in the spider costume looked at Miles and Peter and removed her mask.
“Hey, guys,” she said, smiling.
“Gwanda?” Miles asked, incredulous. She looked exactly like the new girl at Visions!
“It’s Gwen, actually,” she replied. “I’m from another dimension. I mean, another-another dimension.”
Miles was floored. As usual, he didn’t quite know what to say. So he said, “I like your haircut.”
Gwen gave her hair a little flip. “You don’t get to like my haircut.”
The sound of gunfire echoed through the forest.
“Okay, lovebirds,” Peter said. “Break it up. We’ve got bad guys. Everywhere o’clock.”
Gwen fired her web shooter and snagged a branch. Then Peter followed suit, and they both swung away.
Miles attempted to do the same thing. He fumbled a moment, until he steadied his arm and got off the shot.
“How many more Spider-People are there?” he asked, swinging away, following Gwen and Peter.
CHAPTER 18
The encounter at Alchemax had Miles rattled. It took the length of the bus ride back to Manhattan for him to comprehend Gwen’s story. That she had arrived from her universe thanks to a collider incident similar to the accident that Miles had witnessed the other night. And that she had gone to Visions Academy on some instinct, where she had met Miles.
“I like the suit,” Gwen said.
Miles smiled, glad that she was finally warming up to him after the whole hair incident. “Thanks,” he replied.
“Kinda says, Yeah, I don’t care how I look. You know? I think it’s rad.”
“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic,” Miles said, legitimately puzzled.
“To be honest, I can’t, either,” Gwen said. “I’m still trying to work it out.”
A loud snore interrupted the conversation, and Miles turned around to see Peter snoring in the seat behind them.
“Is this guy doing it for you?” Gwen asked.
Miles thought for a moment. “Yeah,” he said. “I mean, he’s actually kind of good.”
“Because we can totally leave him,” she said. Again, Miles wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not.
“I can hear you,” Peter said.
“I know,” Gwen replied.
Miles looked up at the modest house. It was night, and they were in Queens. There were flower bouquets covering the porch.
Suddenly, all the house lights came on at once. The front door opened just a bit, and Miles could see an old woman looking out. He recognized her—he had just seen her the day before, at the chapel.
“You guys are all very sweet, but no more fans today, please,” the woman said wearily.
Then the woman peered closer at Peter, Miles, and Gwen, and she looked as if a bolt of lightning had just struck her skull. Her eyes widened, and she stepped through the door and onto the porch.
“Aunt May…” Peter said.
“Peter…” Aunt May said, stunned.
“So this is going to sound crazy… but I’m pretty sure I’m from—”
“An alternate dimension,” Aunt May finished.
“Yeah,” Peter said. Miles looked at his mentor. With his mask off, Miles swore that Peter was about to cry.
“You look tired, Peter.”
“I was there when it all happened,” Miles said. “I am so sorry.”
“And what’s your name?” Aunt May asked.
“I’m Miles.”
“Gwen.”
“So, did Peter have a place where we could make another goober?” Miles pulled the broken override key out and showed it to Aunt May.
“Follow me,” she said.
Aunt May led the three Spiders through the backyard to a garden shed.
Suddenly, Peter grew excited. “I have one of these!” he said, voice rising. “A little shed where I keep my spider-gear!”
A spider-symbol on the door began to glow, and the door opened, revealing a small space.
An elevator.
The four went inside and activated the elevator. Miles watched as the door closed, and felt the whole thing going down.
When the doors opened, Miles was in spider-heaven. It was a giant underground laboratory filled with all kinds of amazing science gear. There were places to hang out, and all kinds of photos of Spider-Man in action.
“Whoa! Dude, was yours anything like this?” Miles said.
“Mine was like his,” Peter mused, “but take away the Jeep, the plane… Imagine it was smaller. Imagine a futon. I feel sad for this guy.”
Miles laughed, and then looked around some more. There were various spider-costumes, different iterations of the classic red-and-blue outfit. May noticed Miles gawking and walked over to him.
“He always knew it wasn’t an easy job,” she said. “He was trying to figure out that collider thing for a long time. Black holes, dimensions—it all sounded like a lot of hooey to me, but look… here you all are. You and the others.”
“Others?” Gwen chimed in.
That’s when Miles saw them.
A man, dressed in black and white, stepping out of the shadows. Definitely a Spider.
A girl with black hair, maybe Miles’s age? Jumping, hitting the ground. A strange spidery robot landing on the ground right behind her.
A… pig?
“My name is Peter Parker,” said the Spider in black and white.
“My name is Peni Parker,” said the girl. She jerked her thumb toward the robot that followed closely behind her. “This is SP//dr.”
“My name is Peter Porker,” snorted the pig. “Also known as Spider-Ham.”
“In my universe, it’s 1938,” said the black-and-white Peter.
“In my universe, it’s the year 3145,” said the girl.
“Okay. Let me guess,” Gwen said, trying to bring some organization to all the chaos. “Out of nowhere, you all got sucked out of your own dimension.”
Everyone nodded. Then Miles gasped as both Peter Porker and the black-and-
white Spider glitched.
“Well, this just got way more—” Peter began, before glitching again. “Complicated.”
“If you’re all here and you’re all like that… my job just got a whole lot harder,” Miles said. “All your universes, they’re in danger, too. If I can’t finish what Peter started, your home, my home, they’ll all be gone.”
The Spider-Man in black turned to Miles. “Who are you again?” he asked.
Peter stepped up. “This is Miles. He’s going to save the multiverse.”
The pig looked Miles up and down, then stared at Peter. “How is he going to do that?”
“We worked it out,” Peter replied.
We did? Miles thought.
CHAPTER 19
Miles lost track of time. They had been in Peter’s—the other Peter’s—secret hideout/lab for who knows, an hour? Two hours? More?
The whole time, the Spiders were offering Miles advice on how to use his powers. Do this, do that, try this, try that. It was too much all at once, coming at him from all sides. He’d had his spider-powers only a few short days, and now so much was resting on his thirteen-year-old shoulders.
Nothing big, Miles thought. Just the fate of the world.
Merely watching these individuals from different dimensions coming together for a common purpose—to stop Fisk and save their universes—made Miles feel like… like…
… maybe he wasn’t worthy. Maybe he couldn’t hack it.
So when he thought no one was watching, he walked over to the elevator and got in.
Maybe I just need some fresh air.
Or maybe… maybe I just need to walk away from all this.
The elevator door opened, and Miles walked out into the cold night air. He took a deep breath and looked around May’s tiny backyard.
What am I doing? I can’t do this. There’s no way. I can’t do this.
“What’s with your, you know… feelings?” asked a voice from behind.
Peter.
“I’m not like you guys. I can’t do this,” Miles said. It all seemed so hopeless. He sounded and felt defeated.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: The Junior Novel Page 6