“You’re better…”
Gwen plopped down on the bed
“Oh, shit, Miguel letting us go wherever we want, or he get you doing shit here?”
“Neither.” Gwen smiled “me and Miguel are done, Hobbie hooked me up” she flashed her… interesting, looking watch.
“Oh, so you’re here to visit? Why me and not that Miles kid?”
“Well… since you asked.. he’s in trouble, real trouble. And I kinda… sorta, need your help..”
Nikki sighed “What kind of trouble?”
“The multiverse ending kind..Miguel’s out to get him, and he.. he could really mess stuff up. If he does what he’s trying to.. everything could collapse.. break apart, everything could be gone.”
Nikki shook her head “Listen, I’m not getting involved, I can’t risk it, I won’t lose Gwen, my Gwen.”
“You might of he wins! We have to stop him, or try to.. peacefully.”
“And how do we know we won’t screw everything up? And somehow make it worse?”
“Nikki!”
“Gwen! Listen, I wanna live my life, save MY neighbourhood, not the multiverse..”
“But that’s what spiderman does! Or SpiderShock! Or just any spider person! You should know that!”
“I do, Gwen, I do! But.. I’ve given everything to save Gwen, Jax is how she is because I saved Gwen over her… I can’t.. I can’t lose her after all of it..”
Gwen solemnly nodded and passed her own bootleg watch “If you change your mind, this’ll take you to where you gotta be, okay?”
“Sure thing.. sorry, Gwen.”
“No… no I get it, I do.” She smiled “talk soon?”
“Sure thing, see ya Gwen.” Nikki nodded as Gwen leaped through a portal, she sighed as she got out of bed, twisting her neck, she walked into the living room “Hey..” she smiled at Gwen “How’re you?”
“Feeling a little better… can I ask you something?”
“Sure what’s up?”
“Is Jax.. my fault? I could’ve saved her but.. I saved you..”
“Nikki, you were in a lose/lose situation, there wasn’t anything you could do, you chose, and Jax can’t put that against you.”
“But she does! She HATES SpiderShock, hates me!”
“Nikki! You’re SpiderShock, you save people, that’s what a spider person does!”
“What a…” she thought “…I need to do something.. I won’t be back for a while..”
“Nikki!” Gwen protested
“No, Gwen you don’t get it!”
“Yes I do! You don’t! It’s that stupid chip in your head! Telling you to do this stuff! Can’t you just turn it off and talk to me for a few minutes? It won’t kill you!”
Nikki looked at her, long and hard, silence filled the room, she sighed and flicked some sort of switch on her neck, she shuddered and sighed “I… I do have to go, Gwen.”
“Nikki, everyday you come home, worse for wear, more battered, bruised, and I’ve ignored it, but not anymore, I’m not letting you go out who knows where for who know how long, because you might not come back at all.”
“Listen-“
“No! You listen, where are you even going?”
“If I told you you wouldn’t believe me.”
“Nikki you dodge bullets and lasers on pure instinct and can stick to walls, I’ll believe you.”
“… a different universe…”
“You’re right actually, I don’t.”
“I know, it’s complicated, Gwen, a different Gwen, calls it the spiderverse, and to explain it briefly, there’s infinite you’s, infinite me’s. And it’s … in danger, make of that what you will, please, just let me.”
“And what about this place? We need a SpiderShock too!”
“I know.. that’s where you come in.”
“What?”
She threw Gwen a costume, Cyan’s whites and purples decorating it
“You got this, there’s an AI in the suit, it’ll just help you explain stuff and what to do, you can turn it off when you want, I believe in you, Gwen.”
“And what about when you come back?”
“We’ll see…”
“I’m not SpiderShock, Gwen.”
“No.. you’re better…”
“I love you, Nikki.”
Nikki grabbed the watch and typed something in “I…I love you too…”
The portal opened, Gwen darted back in shock, Nikki silently walked through, for the battle of her life.