Spider-Web: Stuck In The Spider-Verse

CHAPTER 6.

Destination Locked

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"So the horde of spiders led by Daddy Long-Legs and Huge-Shoulders couldn't beat a little Black House who didn't even know where to go?" Hobie summed up, looking incredulous to Meg.

They were sitting in his cold apartment in Wandsworth, on a wooden table with just two chairs, drinking tea because it was five p.m. and with a lit cigarette each, the pack was near a dripping bottle of milk.

She simply nodded, a Cheshire smile on her lips covered by a mug.

"Did you go too?"

"No, I found that piece that was missing while everyone was away, and then I watched a bit."  the smoke was making a cloud between them, before going up to the ceiling.

"How did he get away?" he asked, genuinely interested.

"The Go-Home Machine." she informed him, the smile still on her lips, but that fell in an instant when she realized, but Hobie didn't.

"What?" he asked with furrowed eyebrows.

"Gotta go." she proclaimed. "You finish the watch and go to Gwen's. Text me for anything." she said pointing her index finger at him, to then open a portal and walking rather worried in it.

"O-ok, but I still don't un-" and she was gone. He sighed, shaking his head. And then he got it: "Holy shit."

For what he knew, Earth-42 looked normal when you entered it, matter of fact, if you're in a rush, you can even travel it unknowingly. But, for a focused eye, it was like one of those pictures that the more you stare at them, the more you notice things about it that shouldn't quite be where they are, do what they're doing, or look like they look.

That he knew, and since he knew that, so since Meg told him about it, he had wanted to go there. That until a year prior. One day, Miguel called Meg, Jessica, Peter and Ben in his office, and two hours later the whole HQ saw them walking to the hallway and leaving, every little space they had was filled with weapons to the brim.

It was rather rare to see Miguel leave: most of the time he was closed shut in his workroom. Some spider-people in the building yapped about those rare occasions when they passed by his office while someone was walking out of it, and they saw him, or his head, or hand, or leg... He was like a celebrity, a rude one.

And that day, he exited his office with his trusted ones, the best of the best, and, 20 hours later, the HQ saw them again, limping, even Miguel. The man was the first to enter the room. Hobie was sitting on the floor, his back to the wall, when all the people started gasping and a hum spread around the building.

He sensed something was wrong, so he got up. "He is holding someone. Who is he holding?" he heard someone say.

And two seconds later Miguel was walking past them, holding Ben, who looked unconscious. Hobie's eyes widened, and his gaze moved to Meg, who looked totally fine, and was holding Jessica, who was squinting on every step, with Peter, whose suit fabric had holes all over it. Meg too was injured: her face was covered in blood and dirt, as well as her body, she just wasn't showing any sign of pain. Her arms where bear until her elbow, meaning that the nanotechnology of the suit had to do some adjustments.

The day after none of them came to work, and that day Hobie realized that wanting to go there wasn't that genius.

Meanwhile, Meg had arrived to the HQ, and she was so focused on something else that she had forgotten an important detail.

Miguel.

She was walking in an empty hallway, when she heard some coughing coming from a dark corner.

"Do you know that the Common Hentz Jumping Spider - the one who bit you, if I'm not wrong - is particular for two characteristics, which you have, or at least claim to." Miguel explained, coming out of the corner. "They have claws at the tip of each frontal legs and - listen to this, it's very interesting - they usually don't behave like other spiders when it comes to capture their prey, meaning they don't build a net and wait, no." he cleared his voice and continued: "They're hunters, that's why they have a perfect vision, they need it to hunt. Did you use any of your abilities to catch the prey?" he asked her, his chin pointed up.

"Maybe Miles is not my prey." she looked at him dead in the eyes saying so.

"I ordered you to catch him, it should've been."

"I don't follow orders, I do what I think is right." she debated "And if so many weren't capable of catching one, maybe they weren't really with you either."
she added before walking away.

Miguel became a statue. Meg continued ti turn around, in fear that he would've snapped at any moment and she would've had to run away. But none of that happened. She still walked faster every time she turned around to look at him, just in case.

"Lyla." Meg called. She was in her office, gathering anything she thought she needed.

"Hey Meg, what's up?" she asked appearing out of the blue.

"I need you to show me what happened the last time the Go-Home Machine was operated." Meg urged.

An hologram of Spider-byte appeared and all she could see through it was the nice girl and how she panicked.

"Stop it, please." she demanded, and then she zoomed in, hoping that she got it wrong, that Miles was safe at home, and not in that dimension forgotten by God.

But there it was, DESTINATION LOCKED: EARTH-42.

Just take a deep breath in... She reminded herself.

"Ok, ok. I can do it. I'll just look for him and then we'll be back here..." she thought about it. "Maybe not here."

"Lyla..."

"Yep."

"Delete the information I just asked you about."

"I have to inform you that it could compromise the-"

"Do it, that's your priority. And can you still confirm that there are no cameras here, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Delete those informations from the archive. No one can access to them, not even you. And do the same thing with the whole conversation we just had."

"Yes, Meg."