Chapter Text
Okay, let’s do this one last time…
My name is Miles Morales. I was bitten by a radioactive spider. And for the last few months, I’ve been Brooklyn’s one and only Spider-Man! And things couldn’t be… better.
I caught all sorts of bad guys, helped Aunt May move to Florida. I designed my new suit, guest hosted Jeopardy, endorsed baby powder, apologized for endorsing baby powder.
“I made a mistake…”
My mustache came in… and out…
“I made another mistake…”
I wondered how long I could keep lying about who I am. I mean… would my parents get it if I told them? Turns out I didn’t have to wonder long, and I could thank Scorpion for that one…
---
“Spider-Man, watch out!” Lt. Jeff Morales fired his gun at the cybernetic criminal as Spider-Man flipped and swung around the rapidly striking tail.
The speed of the villain’s attack was almost as quick as Spider-Man’s spider-senses.
Almost.
It never struck skin, but it did managed to graze the mask, taking an eye cover and part of the cloth it was attached to along with it.
“Do you know how tough it is to fix that, man?!” Spider-Man shot as he fired a webline that trapped the tail to the wall of the bank he was trying to rob. The villain launched a tirade of Spanish curses. “Dude, kids are in the crowd!” Spider-Man stated before double kicking his face, stunning him enough to cocoon him.
“Either I’m getting better or he’s getting sloppier. That was a lot easier than it used to be,” Spider-Man said, dusting his hands together. “Eh, all in a day’s work for Spider-“
“Miles!?” Miles turned quickly to see Jeff gawking at his half uncovered face.
“Officer Mor…” Miles tried his fake voice.
“You’re … You’re…” Jeff gawked.
Police sirens echoed, “Let’s talk about this at home, Dad…” He fired a webline and Jeff stared wide eyes as his son swung off into the air.
Less than an hour later, Miles stepped out of his room in a jersey and jeans and saw his father siting stiffly with his confused mother.
“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Miles said as he awkwardly lifted his hand.
Mijo, what did you do that got your father upset?” Rio Morales asked in concern as his father’s trembling hand brought his coffee to his lips.
“Tell her, son,” Jeff said in a cool tone.
“Dad…” Miles winced, but at least he still called him son. Good sign right? “Mom… I’m… I… I’m Spider-Man.”
Rio stared for a long awkward moment, before she started to giggle. “Oh, you guys, is this a joke? Where’s the camera?” She asked glancing around the room, but upon seeing the stone faced look on her husband she grew somber. “It’s a joke, right? Dios Mio…”
Miles stiffened as Jeff placed his coffee on the coffee table and stood up. Miles watched but stayed perfectly still as his father approached him. The breath he didn’t know he was holding released as his father embraced him. “I can’t believe you kept this from us but… I am so proud of you.”
“You are?” Miles squeaked.
“How did this happen?” Jeff all but made Miles sit beside his mother on the couch before sitting opposite of him. And Miles began his story of the spider bite, meeting the previous Spider-Man, the collider disaster. Jeff and Rio shared a look at all the times Gwen popped up in his story.
By the time he had finished, it felt like a massive weight was off his shoulders. His parents were quiet for several moments. “I don’t like you going out there without any formal training.” Jeff said crossing his arms.
“You’ve seen I’ve been able to handle it, dad,” Miles stated. “And Gwen, Peter B and the others did give me plenty of pointers and lessons before they had to go home.”
“And besides that,” Miles said as he stood up. “There’s not exactly a super hero academy I can enroll in…”
He noticed his father’s eyes light up at that. “There isn’t, is there?”
Jeff pulled out his phone. “Who could you possibly be calling at a time like this?” Rio asked in awe.
“Old buddy of mine from school. He might be able to help us out… here he is, Hey Slim… I could use some help, just found out my son is Spider-Man…”
“Dad!” Miles gawked, “You can’t keep a secret for five minutes?!”
Jeff held up his hand and hushed him, “… What do you mean he finally told me… oh right, your wife could… Man, that’s gotta make things tough… that soon? Ok see you then.”
“Be here in an hour to talk,” Jeff said as he hung up the phone.
“Who?” Miles and Rio asked at the same time.
An hour later, a knock echoed from the front door. Jeff moved quickly, and Miles and Rio watched as he entered with a tall, brown-haired man with red sunglasses, followed by a slender redhead with piercing green eyes that looked like they could see right into Miles’ soul, and just behind them was a distinguished-looking, older bald man in a suit and was seated in a large yellow hoverchair.
“Good evening, Mrs. Morales. Jefferson, so nice to see you again,” the bald man said in a crisp British accent before turning toward Miles, “And young Miles, I have been quite excited to meet you. And disappointed your predecessor didn’t tell you about us much earlier.”
“Miles, this is my old friend, Scott Summers, and his wife Jean,” Jeff introduced. The two shook Miles’ hand. “And this is their mentor…”
“Professor Charles Xavier,” Xavier spoke up. “We were acquaintances, no, I’d say friends of your predecessor, Mr. Parker. And I believe I can say for certain he would be very proud of your accomplishments. You’ve carried his legacy well and forged it into your own.”
“Thank you, sir,” Miles blinked in surprise.
“That said, I believe you could better master your mixed abilities at my school for gifted children,” Xavier explained.
“Mixed abilities? What are you talking about?” Miles asked in confusion.
“Oh dear, I thought you were aware. Miles, son, you are a mutant.” Xavier said bluntly.
“What? No, no I’m not. My powers came from being bitten from a radioactive spider…” Miles explained.
“Yes, indeed, your ability to cling to surfaces, your enhanced agility and speed, sixth sense, etc. As they say in the jingle, ‘whatever a spider can,’ came from the spider. But, my boy, have you ever heard of a spider that could manipulate electricity?”
“Well… I guess,” Miles spluttered.
“Your ability to manipulate electric currents, absorb and release electricity, and use it to create an electromagnetic field around you to cloak yourself. Those came from your X-Gene.” Xavier explained.
“And you have learned to use them really well on your own. But we can help you take it farther.” Jean glanced to Jeff, “As we did with your father.”
“You’re a Mutant, too?” Miles gawked, “What can you do?”
“Eh, nothing too fancy, just channel electricity. Guess you picked that up from me…” Jeff scratched his head as Rio took his hand.
“Mutants aren’t really well thought of, and we were waiting to tell you when you were older…” Rio finished for him.
“Wow… guess this is a big reveal party,” Miles chuckled awkwardly, “Got anything you want to share, Mom?”
“No, I’m good,” She said, touching her belly while ignoring Jean’s smirk.
“And as well, your knowledge of the Collider incident will come in handy with a project We’re working on with the Future Foundation.” Xavier said.
“What?” Miles eyes widened.
“Long short, something is happening with the multiverse,” Jean said stepping toward Miles, “You have a better understanding of what happened with the incident that ties to what’s going on. That’d be a big help. And…” She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder staring deep in his eyes. “We can help you get to Gwen.”
“How did you…” Miles’ eyes widened as Jean’s voice spoke in his head.
“You’re not the only one with gifts…”
---
In less than a week, I transferred from Vision Academy to Xavier’s School for the Gifted in Westchester, New York. Mom wasn’t thrilled with the distance, but with dad backing up the plan, she gave her approval.
Didn’t take long for the news, particularly Jameson, to catch on that Spider-Man was elbow to elbow with the X-Men before he started slandering me again. It was disappointing how quickly people could turn on you as soon as the ‘M word’ started popping up in conversation, but is what it is.
In between missions and classes, I was working with the genius of the group, Dr. Hank McCoy aka the Beast. I just call him Doc. We hijacked what was left of the computer system from Kingpin’s collider and combined it with tech from a couple of time travelers that apparently pass through every so often. Long story, and I don’t really understand it all myself.
With the collider computer, we were able to determine which universes were opened up when I sent the gang home.
I uh, had to really think about which one I would visit first…
---
Miles stood in the lab below the school as Beast adjusted the watch on his wrist. “You just type in the universe you want to go to, and it’ll warp you there. I isolated the universe you sent Gwen back to from the salvaged collider computer, assuming that’s where you want to go to first. Whatever you do, keep this band on you.”
“Will it keep me from glitching?” Miles asked, remembering what being in his world did to his friends.
“Yes, but if it is removed, you will be forcibly jerked back here. I don’t suspect it’d be a pleasant trip.” Beast stated.
“Not a bad failsafe, then…” Miles said looking at it.
“So, ready to go get her, Romeo?” a young Asian girl around Miles’ age beamed. She was dressed in jean shorts, a pink Xavier’s school tank top, a long, yellow trench coat and a pair of large pink sunglasses.
Being the youngest two members of the group, Miles and Jubilation “Jubilee” Lee became fast best friends.
“We’re just friends, Sparks,” Miles scratched the back of his head.
Beast picked this moment to hand him a second portal band and gave him a wink. “Just in case you want to bring someone home to meet the family.”
“I’ll have the fireworks ready to go when you two come back!” Jubilee grinned.
“Jeeze…” Miles rolled his eyes and grabbed his mask. “Don’t wait up…” He said as he pulled on his mask.
“Oh la-la…” Beast grinned.
“Oh for… bye!” he said, pressing the button on the band and opening what first appeared to be a glowing X in the air that expanded into a hexagon shaped portal to Earth-65.
“Go get her, Tiger,” Jubilee cheered as he disappeared into the portal.
Miles caught himself in a webline as he found himself in Chelsea, NY. It looked so much like his own but a lot more colorful. “Her world is really pretty, kinda fitting.”
He stuck to the side of a building and spotted someone texting on a cellphone. “Hey, man, just need to borrow this a second,” he said as he webbed the phone and jerked it to his hand. He ignored the angry shouts as he tried to find Google. “Giggle? Multiverses are weird.” He searched for the address of George Stacy and smiled under his mask when he found one result. “Thanks, pal!” Miles said as he dropped the phone back down to the man and swung through the air.
He found the apartment complex and started crawling along the floor her and her father’s apartment was on, then found a bedroom with a drum set and knew it had to be hers. Carefully, he opened the window and crawled in. “Gwen?” He asked as he pulled off his mask.
“Gwen! Did you come home?!” the bedroom door open and Miles found himself face to face with Capt. George Stacy. “Oh, it’s you…” he said, looking between Miles and the Polaroid still clenched in his hand. “The boy from the photo…”
“Where’s Gwen?”
---
Beast and Jubilee jumped when the portal opened back up. The two X-Men looked at each other as Miles stepped out, mask still firmly in place, a polaroid gripped in his hand.
“Miles?” Jubilee asked, taking a step toward the hero.
“I…” he said, glancing down to the smiling faces of him and Gwen Stacy. “I don’t know where to find her…” he said softly. “I don’t even know where to start…”
“We start,” Jubilee said, taking his hand and squeezing it.
Spider-Man and the X-Men: War of the Spider-Verse