Qué Maravilla

Ch.3 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

You step through the portal and before you know it you're freefalling through kaleidoscope colors before landing feet first on an unfamiliar rooftop. You stared out into Brooklyn, New York of Earth-1610. It was the dead of night and this place was crawling with spiders, more than you've ever seen in one place.

You use your web to swing from building to building doing your best to avoid being seen. Easier said than done. Almost every corner you turn or building you scale you find yourself having to backtrack and hide for cover. You needed a plan and fast. Who were you even looking for? Miguel? Miles? Peter? Jess? What would you even do if you found them?

You stop to hide behind a rooftop ac unit, once safe you remove your mask to catch your breath. Your chest heaving, your throat burning, and your body sore to the touch. Even just sitting down causes you to wince in pain. You'd be searching for what, an hour and a half? Two hours maybe? And you still hadn't the slightest clue what exactly was going on. Exhausted, you close your eyes and slump against the ac letting the air soothe your aching muscles. This is going to be harder than you thought.

"Oi." A deep cockney voice spoke from above. You looked up in disbelief to see a fellow spiderman sitting on the AC unit just above your head. He sported a metal mohawk and wore a denim jacket over his uniform with guitar strapped to his back. "Hiding from the big man, are ya?" He pulled off his mask to reveal a head full of stylish wicks and a smug, lip-pierced smile.

"Hobie?"

In one fell swoop he jumped from the unit and landed by your side, "Hardly believed it when you went against him. By the looks of it you really vexed him mate." He fiddled with a guitar pick in his hands, "Seems to me you're in loads trouble if you show face now." He did an impressive show of weaving the pick between each of his fingers and tossing it in the air before catching it in his hands "So, what do you make of this whole... canon, multiverse nonsense."

"Actually, I'm not entirely sure," you speak reluctantly as your mind bounces back and forth between Miguel and that 44.3%. "But we can't keep letting people get hurt just because that's the way it's always been. The system or the society or whatever, it all needs an overhaul for sure."

Hobie takes a moment to ponder your reply before letting out an amused chuckle, "Alright then, good enough" He stood up, pulling on his mask "You pass. Follow me." Before you can say a word Hobie breaks into a sprint before free falling from the rooftop. Only firing his web at the last possible second and landing on the neighboring building "Well? Do you wanna do somethin' or not?"

You chuckle to yourself, "Kids these days," and you sprint off after him.

- - -

"Oi, look who I found!"

You followed Hobie across the city until you had made your way to an abandoned warehouse. After landing on the roof, Hobie takes quick surveillance of his surroundings before opening the skylight window and motioning for you to jump inside. You ceremoniously drop to the center of a large room where a makeshift headquarters has been set in place. The second your feet hit the floor with a loud thud, all eyes in the room turned towards you.

"YO! That's what I'm talking about, " Pavitr runs towards you enthusiastically and daps you up with an extremely intricate handshake. You were glad to see him here. You had worried the incursion in his home dimension would put him off the idea of usurping the canon. "How's Mumbattan?" you ask.

"Better!" he exclaimed while still holding your hand. "We got that scary gorging hole under control now," He spoke beaming with pride and you smiled in return, his smile was just that infectious. "It was just too easy." You chuckled at his pride.