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“I’m not coming” Gwen said defiantly. So many spider people were in the room, but it was dead silent.
“You’re right.” Miguel said coolly. Margo watched as the ‘Go Home Machine’ activated without her permission.
“Go home, Gwen”
The giant mechanical spider grabbed the struggling girl and built a force around her.
“We’re supposed to be the good guys” and with that, GhostSpider was transported to Earth-65, leaving a cold atmosphere of n her wake. Margo immediately dissociated, unable process everything that just went down. Gwen’s words were on a loop in her mind. For the first time, since she’s joined the Spider Society- hell since she’s been Spiderwoman- Margo never questioned her affiliation to what was good and just. However, in this moment she wasn’t sure she was on the good side anymore. Miguel was usually moody and irritable, but today his whole vibe was off. He was angry, aggressive, and the way he dismissed Gwen was downright cold.
“Margo,” LYLA said, breaking the avatar from her thoughts “Are you coming?”
Margo stared blankly at the AI. They still wanted her? They weren’t kicking her off? After what she just did- she was sure she was next to be exiled. Spiderbyte realized that her betrayal went unnoticed to everyone else. They thought it was an accident . The opportunity to stay a part of the elite society was available, but her conscious wouldn’t allow her to. After siding with the “enemy”, she couldn’t continue this alliance without feeling like a hypocrite. Margo never played two sides so she looked to LYLA and whispered ruefully..
“I can’t , but feel free to keep the machine.”
Without awaiting LYLA’s response, Margo snatched off her headset, leaving Nueva York and Spider HQ behind for good. Her eyes adjusted to the projection of calming purple water ripples that blanketed her bedroom. The teen stood from her gaming chair and made her way over to the window. Night had fallen in her Brooklyn and the city lights twinkled off the empty streets. She was positive her parents had turned in by now. It’s crazy how content she felt given her current circumstances. She never felt so happy to be offline, but compared to the shit show that she just witnessed- her quiet New York City neighborhood was like a safe haven where no one was coming to get her or her family. She wished the same could be said for Miles Morales. A sudden wave of sad sympathy and anxiety fell over Margo. She didn’t regret her decision to let Miles escape in the slightest. It took her all of ten seconds to choose a boy she’d spoken to briefly over her entire team and it genuinely felt like the right thing to do. Margo internally shivered as she recalled of the unhinged way Miguel ripped through the force field- the pleading and desperation in Miles’ deer-like eyes. The memory of the boy’s grateful expression provided a moment of solace- almost as if his slight smile was confirmation that he’d be ok. However, the girl couldn’t shake this dense feeling in the pit of her stomach. She sent him home so he could save his father’s life and he still had two days to prepare, but why did she feel like Spiderman of Earth-1610 wasn’t out of the woods? The wheels in her head began to turn as she went to the kitchen to grab her bag of shareable (not really) Fritos.
“If I transport my avatar to earth-1610, I could track down Spiderman…how would I do that, though? Wouldn’t I need somewhat of a plan to help him take down Spot? What if he doesn’t even want my help? “
Growing frustrated with her intrusive thoughts, Margo aggressively rolled up the bag of chips and headed to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
_____________________________________
Of course she couldn’t will herself to fall asleep. No matter how cozy she was in her full sized bed with nothing but silence and darkness surrounding her, Margo is experiencing a decrease in melatonin along with a spike of cortisol- hence her sleeplessness. The commotion from today continuously replayed in her mind. The only time she felt herself beginning to dose off was when she thought of the boy with a fluffy, tapered fro and charming grin gazing at her with warm earthy eyes. Still, even those beautiful dreams would shift to nightmares of him getting re captured by Miguel or worse. Margo sighed and looked over at her projecting alarm clock which read 11:47 PM
Giving up on sleep entirely, she hopped out of bed and beelined her way to the kitchen for the second time that night.
After chugging half a bottle of blue Powerade- the the teenage insomniac went back to her room only to find her window (that was definitely closed before) open. Despite her shock and anxiety, her spider-senses did not kick in. It was then she peeped the slender, hooded figure in a white suit attached to the wall adjacent to her gaming system.
“Gwen?” She questioned before signaling her lights on. SpiderGwen murmured a ‘hey’ before detaching herself from the wall and taking off her hood just as the game chair swiveled towards her to reveal Pav.
“Ay Margo! This chair is tight! How did you get one with massage settings and a butt warmer!?”
“I actually expected something more technologically advanced for Earth-22191”
Margo looked back to her (once empty, once closed)window to see SpiderPunk lounging on the sill with his arms crossed- half of his body inside her bedroom and the other half exposed outside.
“Evening, Byte.” He greeted with his signature friendly smirk.
Despite her initial shock, Margo found herself happy to see the trio she thought she’d probably never see agin. She had so many questions that she attempted to ask all at once.
“What are you..? How are you..? Did Miguel…?”
“Hobie stole a bunch of tech from Headquarters before things got messy and made his own watch. Look!” Pav extended his arm to display a makeshift multiverse watch. Margo looked over to the dread-head in her window in awe.
“Couldn’t have done it without your pointers, pigtails” he said
“Nuh uh, I’m not claiming this” Margo said inspecting Pav’s watch.
“Look Margo,” Gwen said, shifting the playful energy in the room “The reason we’re here is because-
“You’re banding together to help Miles and want me to join “ Margo finished . She gave all three of them a gapped tooth grin “I’m in. Of course i’d have to-“
“No!” Gwen corrected, earning odd glances from Hobie and Pav
“I mean- yes, I rallied these guys to save Miles, but..”
“Wait, save Miles?” Spiderbyte questioned “You mean assist Miles in saving Officer Morales.”
The spider trio was silent as they all stared at each other. Hobie spoke up first.
“Told you she didn’t know.” he said to Gwen.
“We don’t know that for sure.”
Pav jumped in and said “Gwen, she literally just said-
“Excuse me for not believing everything anyone says.” the blonde interrupted
“What the hell is going on!?” Margo harshly whispered
Gwen’s icy blue stare landed on her “The ‘Go Home Machine’ sent Miles to the wrong dimension.”
A quiet gasp escaped Margo and she felt her heart rate pick up. The denseness in her stomach came back. A prickly heat ran up her torso to her head and intensified under her plethora of hair.
“That’s… impossible..” she murmured to herself. Along with the unbearable discomfort she was feeling, she also became aware of her parents’ presence a few doors down.
“My folks are in the other room, we gotta bounce if we wanna continue this conversation “
_____________________________________
Margo stood a top the old apartment building across from her brownstone home. The crisp spring air blew through her scalp and eased her arrayed nerves. The other three spider people looked around as this was their first time in NYC -22191. The real life streets of her Brooklyn were deserted however, every window was alit from gaming systems and laptops.
“Is this how my earth will look in 40 years?” Hobie asked. His question went unanswered and Margo began to explain
“The machine is designed to analyze the anomalies DNA and identify their home reality.”
“I know,” Gwen said
“And it’s never sent anyone to the wrong dimension before, it sent you back home didn’t it?” Margo said gesturing to Gwen, whose frown deepened at her comment Spiderbyte internally cringed.
“The spider that bit Miles is from Earth -42 so his DNA is altered- hence why he was automatically sent to the wrong dimension.”
“Oh.” Margo said smartly, just now connecting the dots.
“But.. you knew that already,” Gwen pushed “You knew that he was the original anomaly so why didn’t you change the destination?”
The accusatory tone in the blonde’s voice was evident and Margo jumped into defense mode.
“Everything was happening so quickly. Miguel was on a rampage and…” the distressed teen trailed off , ‘How could I have been so dumb?’ she thought to herself. She supposed she was too focused on the anomaly in the machine. Their eyes were locked on only each other when she chose not to reboot the system and it was as if they’d shared a brief conversation without words.
“I just find it hard to believe you didn’t notice.” Gwen’s words, although mumbled, pulled Spiderbyte from her intrusive thoughts.
“So why did you do it instead of simply rebooting the machine?”
“Are you serious, Gwen?” Spiderbyte asked in disbelief “You really think I’m so calculating don’t you?”
The blonde rolled her eyes at Margo’s sarcasm “Look, just answer the question ok.”
“ I do not answer to you,” Margo’s tone wasn’t as biting as it was more strained. Previously having obligations towards a psycho with a flawed theory and questionable morals made Margo far less inclined to take orders from anyone moving forward. The girl cleared her throat and began to speak again- her voice coming out clearer and more poised. “You come all the way to my dimension to interrogate me over an accident ?“
Hobie finally inserted himself in the conversation
“This is not how the discussion was supposed to go, Gwendy” he eyed his friend with perplexity- even he was shocked that Gwen was grilling Margo like this, given everything that happened at HQ. He turned towards the girl whom he’d only seen in avatar form
“We came to you because we need your help saving Miles”
“..but I can’t work with someone who’s intentions I don’t trust” Gwen added- silently begging the boys to back her up. Hobie side-eyed in return. There was no malice in her expression or tone, but Margo felt disrespected by the words she uttered. Not to mention, neither Pav nor Hobie appeared to share the same doubts. The interrogation felt a bit personal . Just eighteen hours ago, they were all apart of the same team, working towards the same goal, and they all took orders from Miguel O’Hara. What reason did Gwen have to put her in a corner? Was it so hard to believe that one would want to help Miles Morales : who was benevolent and charismatic? Margo had spoken to him for all of two minutes and-
Everything suddenly clicked and Spiderbyte knew why Gwen’s attitude towards her changed so suddenly. Still though, Margo would never feel bad for beguiling the the cute new guy in all of two minutes - even if it was totally unintentional. She would also never feel bad for finding him just as enthralling.
The brown skinned girl’s face softened, but she made sure to keep her slightly tender feelings for the boy guarded. Not a trace of longing was in her expression- or so she’d hoped.
“I’m sorry your boyfriend got sent to Earth-42, but I didn’t send him there- at least not on purpose”
Gwen instantly opened her mouth to rebuke the ‘boyfriend’ comment, but shut it again , choosing to stare Margo down instead. When she held her stare in turn, Gwen looked at Hobie and Pav once more. They both nodded in encouragement.
“Then in that case, we can really use your help getting our friend from the wrong dimension.”