Chapter Text
The following day, Miguel visits Xina at her apartment.
"This is GREAT!!!" She cheers. "A genuine gumball machine, filled with genuine teeth-rotting gumballs! Where'd you find it?!?"
"Around. Just saying thanks for what you did with Lyla. I figured I should give it to you now, just in case we... don't see each other again."
"Boy, you sound very Kevorkian today."
"Just overwork," Miguel tells her, slumped in his seat.
"Look... were you planning to hang around the city this week?"
"I'd... planned to hang, yes."
"Aw, come with me instead," she pleads. "I'm going out of town on vacation. It's a long drive and I could use someone intelligent to talk to. Or even you."
"Where are you going?"
"Remember Angela, from school? Well, she's with an Indy now. Nice change of pace, relaxed atmosphere. The ideal rest cure, guaranteed. Heck, when have I ever steered you wrong?"
In the passenger seat of Xina's car, Miguel is screaming for help, scared by her erratic driving as she laughs it off.
"I'm sorry, okay?!? I'm sorry I said it felt like the trip was taking forever! Now slow us down!!!"
"Aw, c'mon Miggy... you're not afraid I'll have an accident, are you?"
"No! I'm afraid I'll have an accident! Now slow us down, Xina, I mean it!!!"
"Well, I would if the brakes worked."
"HUH?!?"
"Don't worry, I got it covered." Stepping on the brakes, her car deploys parachutes to slow it down and the sudden change causes Miguel to bash his head on the dashboard. "Hey, you're the one who said the shoulder strap was too restrictive, sweetheart," she points out.
"Y'know, when you told me you had an antique car, this isn't exactly what I had in mind."
"Grump grump grump. Here, I brought you someone to keep you company."
On the dash, Xina activates a patch-link between her car and Miguel's apartment, where a small Lyla is projected.
"Hello, Miguel. You're looking windburned today. You have one message waiting, from Gabriel."
"Erase it."
"Don't you wanna know what it says?" Xina asks.
"Oh, I can guess. It's probably related to our previous call - the one I made from your place, before we hit the road. When he said I should get over to his place."
"...to my place, right now! Kasey's back! They just let her go! And she's being nice to me! I'm not sure why, but she is! And ma—"
"Gabri," Miguel pleads, "I can't see anyone right now. Please understand, okay?"
"Understand what? Is this about... you know?"
"No. Nothing to do with that. It's just... things change, y'know?"
"Miggy, some things don't change. We're still brothers. Same parents, same gene pool. Whatever's wrong, I can still—"
"Later, Gabri, okay?"
Lyla informs Miguel and Xina that they're within one mile of Nightshade, their destination, and she's already signaled ahead with their entry codes.
At Alchemax's talent search division, a meeting is being held in regards to Nightshade and the rumor of a breakthrough in research of gene manipulation, rivaling Alchemax's own. Stone had called in the big guns to take care of the situation as Nightshade is prepared to fight back.
"I am the corporate headhunter... and you are my corporate raiders. We should suffice. Gentlemen... let's have a good shift."
Embracing the two, Angela tells them how good it is to see her students again and how old she feels.
"You sure don't look it, stretch!"
"The stuff we're doing here keeps me young. I can't wait to show you the— hold it. Miguel, you're still with Alchemax, aren't you?"
"Well, technically..."
"Oy," Xina rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Angela. I wasn't thinking."
"Status-wise, Miguel, you're our rival. You can visit most other parts of town, but R&D is off limits." Even though Miguel emphasizes he's not an Alchemax fan, rules are rules and he leaves Xina to her private tour. Kicking around the town, Miguel is momentarily amused by an energetic robotic dog for sale when sirens go off, everyone immediately seeking shelter as the city begins to engage its defense mechanisms: laser-sighted plasma cannons that start to fire at the approaching Alchemax vehicles.
I'm not 100% sure what's going on here... but if this boils down to Alchemax vs. the little guy, I don't have to think too hard to know whose side I'm on! Not long after he changes into his costume and starts to fight the raiders does a voice boom out, calling his name.
"I've been looking forward to killing you for months! Why, I can't decide who to kill first. Eenie... meenie... miney..." a giant green creature with hulking limbs, hair in braids and one too many arms hollers at Spider-Man, "you ruined my life! Now I'll take yours!"
Trying to talk his way into buying some time, Spider-Man notes that this creature has the same rotting smell that Vulture did, though he's unable to register who this monster is or what he would've done to cause this rage towards him. Such rage that turned him into this Travesty, but he chalks it up to karmic backlash.
Safely in a control room, Angela speaks to former Sargent Estevez through a communication piece. While she knows he harbors resentment towards Spider-Man, he's an ally with them in fighting against Alchemax and they could use him for the time being.
"Get out of my head, lady! Getting back at that wall-crawling freak was the main reason I let you muck with me! I'm paying him back and you can't stop me!"
In Gabriel's apartment, Kasey comes to. When he tells her that now she's safe with him, she replies that his secret is safe with her. At his confusion, she whispers that she knows he's Spider-Man and pulls him in for a kiss, telling him no talk, just action when he tries to interject. Gabriel's eyes open comically wide as he tries to process her words.
Later in the evening, they're sitting on a bench in a park when he feels he should address the thing she knows.
"O'Hara, it's okay. I figured it out. The mask disguised your voice a little, but not enough. I admit, it was sneaky how you slipped away from me those times when I thought you were with me, but I've seen how quick you move. What, you're not gonna deny you're... you-know-who. I'd hate to think you don't trust me."
Putting his head in his hands, Gabriel groans. "I'm sorry, Kasey, it's just that I'm..."
"Under pressure," she finishes. "Right, babe? Look, how about we get out of town for a while? Just us two. You don't even have to bring the costume. I want to prove that I'm not attracted to you just because you're... you know, okay?"
"Sure. Whatever you say."
Raiders blow away Nightshade's defenses, Spider-Man trying to balance fighting the creature and the raiders, who have begun to target him specifically. Catching wind that they're losing, Angela has her assistant take Xina to safety, promising she'll catch up shortly. The raiders split between Travesty and breaking into Nightshade's R&D, blowing their way in and injuring Angela in the process.
"I can see why Alchemax wanted this facility," one notes, going through the data. "The level of sophistication is rather—"
"Hold it! Is that what I think it..." two screens show that the assets are frozen and a self-destruct sequence has begun to count down. "Suicidal nutcase!"
Momentarily freed from the monster's terror, Spider-Man returns to the raiders, who have all started to flee.
"Get off me, you idiot!" One of them shouts. "Their R&D center is going to blow and likely take most of the town with it. Typical Indy mentality. Strip mine the assets so no one can use it. What a waste."
And before I can cave in his smug face... I hear the scream. Who's trapped in there? Xina? Angela? Who? His laughter follows me. Devil take him. When Spider-Man leaves the raider to focus on rescuing whoever screamed, the man points a gun to his retreating back when Travesty breaks his hand, demanding he be the one to kill Spider-Man.
"Here! O... over here!" Angela calls out, weakly. "I... I think something inside me is... bro-broken... if it's all the same... I'd like to die in my bed..."
"Me too," Spider-Man says, moving debris. "That didn't come out right. Forget I s—" the looming shadow of an unnatural creature stops him short. "Aw, no, not again."
"Again and again and again... until it's over! One way or another!" Ripping Angela from Spider-Man's hold, Travesty sets her aside for safety and pounces on Spider-Man when the sequence finishes counting.
Following the raider's attack and Angela's destruction, Nightshade has become bare bones, foragers immediately flock to the scene to pick through what was left.
"All the Indys think they're so special," one mocks, "till the corps come in and stripmines 'em... and leaves the rest for the likes of us! Okay, kiddies! Let's shop till we drop!"
Hidden safely away from the first explosion and now the foragers, Xina is concerned for Angela and Miggy; Angela's assistant, Ms. Pivot, assures Xina that they're probably hiding in another bunker. A forager calls out to their leader, Packrat, to show off his findings: Spider-Man with a woman in his arms, a hastily constructed cocoon of webbing to try and survive the blast.
"Think this is one of those Spiderites... or is it the gen-u-ine ar-teecle?" Checking him over, Packrat notes, "whoa, hold it. Check these talons on his fingers. Look sharp as— YOWTCH! It's him awright. Box 'im up, we'll bring 'im back."
"What about the girl?"
"She's dead, man. What good's a woman if she's dead?"
"Don't knock it til ya tried it," and Packrat promptly punches the smirk off the forager's face, calling him sick.
"It's attitudes like that that are gonna lead to the downfall of civilization as we know it."
Sitting in her dark apartment, Dana looks at a photo of herself and Miguel on vacation before pitching it. At the announcement of Tyler Stone at her door, Dana lets him in.
"Hello, Dana. I hope I'm not disturbing you. Mike hasn't been to work in several days and neither of you are answering your phones. I thought perhaps you'd gone off for a romantic getaway... but I see not." Holding her chin, he points out that she's been crying and asks if there have been problems with her and Mike.
"There is no Mike and me. Not anymore. He... he broke it off. And now he's probably gallivanting around with that... Xina."
"You know, I always knew Mike was eccentric... but up until this moment, I never thought he was crazy. Cutting loose such a special young woman..."
"Th...thank you, Tyler. You've been more than kind to me."
"My pleasure," Stone tells her, kissing her forehead. They look at each other before embracing in an actual kiss, though Dana is quick to separate in surprise and Stone begins apologizing. "I'm sorry. I overstepped myself. I should be going."
"No, wait! It's... it's okay. Look, uhm... you had dinner?"
"As a matter of fact, no. And I know a great seafood place near here."
"I love seafood. Let me just wash my face." When she steps away to get ready, Tyler calls Winston.
"As I suspected, Mike has rabbited. Have him brought back. But first, bring the car around. I have a dinner engagement as part of some carefully laid plans." The smirk on his face is nothing short of maniacal.
Attention, passengers... we have preliminary liftoff. All passengers prepare for wing realignment. Thank you for flying Ballistic Airlines. Remember, when other airlines gave you canceled flights and late arrivals... don't go crazy. Go Ballistic.
"This is so exciting, O'Hara," Kasey gushes to Gabriel. "Going to Mexico and everything. You make this Day of the Dead festival sound amazing."
"Well, it is."
"Well, shock it, O'Hara... as long as I'm with you, any place is amazing!"
Right, Kase... Gabriel thinks, bitterly. Sure it is. Because your love addled brain has decided I'm Spider-Man and I'm not man enough to tell you you've picked the wrong brother.
Once the foragers have left Nightshade, an all-clear alarm sounds and what remains of the city emerge to take in the damage. Xina finds Angela's body, saddened by the state of her; always so organized, her hair is a mess and she's missing her glasses.
"Why... why couldn't they just leave us alone?" Ms. Pivot laments. "Let us be?"
"When people finally leave each other be... it'll either be because we've reached a golden age or we'll all be cinders," Xina tells her. "What happened to that... that four-armed creature? And Spider-Man... he should have saved her. Where'd Spider-Man run off to?"
Strung up on the front of a forager's vehicle, Spider-Man is presented like a trophy of their findings, taken to their hideout.
In a call and response, a screen says "hello, I'm Mister Ed" and the entire hideout hollers back, "helloooo Ed!"
Packrat wakes Spider-Man, whose first thought is to ask what is on the TV.
"Our morning program, from our treasure trove. The adventures of a horse that talks."
Pointing an accusatory finger from where he's hanging off the ceiling, Spider-Man says that no one can talk to a horse.
"Ah, that is, unless the horse is the famous Mister Ed1." Being offered a Pop-Tart, Spider-Man then inquires about his surroundings. "We're humble foragers. I am Packrat. This is our place. We think it used to be someone else's. A research facility, or shelter... in case there was a major war."
"Well, that's... really nice, but I gotta go."
"Spider-Man says he's gotta go!" Packrat announces, the crowd answering awww gee, Wilbur!
"This is insane! I haven't seen anything this nutso since the Vulture!"
"The Vulture?! We come from the same... school, as it were! Are you friends?"
"We had a... falling out."
"Tell you what. We'll give you a choice. Either you can fight your way out..." guns are drawn on him, "...orrrr you can try to get Junior to work."
"Uhh... who's Junior?"
In the backrooms, Packrat leads him to an android on a table, stating that he was there when they moved in months ago and would like to get him working. "You got any brains under that mask?"
Approaching the dormant body, it scans Miguel's mask, processing the design and colors as a combination of Spider-Man and Venom of the Heroic Age. Merging and adapting, the plain white body begins changing into a red and black costume, sort of a mock of the Spider-Man design, waking up.
"Well, it took you long enough!!!" It shouts. "I thought you'd never get here!!"
Lunging, Spider-Man steps back. "Hold it! Keep away from me—!"
"Keep away?! Buddy... I'm your Flipside." Jumping into Spider-Man's arms, Flipside cups his face. "I'm gonna be your bestest friend for the rest of your whole entire life... if that's okay with you. And if it's not, well, fine! Then I'll kill ya! Okay? Okay!" Pulling him for a hug, Flipside starts to choke Spider-Man while the foragers cheer about them bonding.
"Get off me, you cybernetic psycho!" Shoving him away, Flipside seems genuinely surprised.
"Huh? You... you don't like me? I, Flipside, came into this world, activated after all this time... looking for companionship, understanding... and you shove me away..." a forager helpfully steps forward, consoling the now crying Flipside, who screeches at him, "WHO ASKED YOU?!?" and slices the man's throat. "We were having a genuine moment! I didn't need you butting in! Any of you got a problem with that?!"
When the room answers no sir, nope, uh uh, Spider-Man doesn't answer; Flipside points at him, a long, forked tongue rolling out from behind a sharp set of teeth. "How about you?"
"Ohhhh shock!"
"It has been an entire hour and we haven't mentioned Miguel at all," Dana exclaims. "Sometimes it seemed as if he was all we ever talked about."
"You're right, in a way. He's told you a lot of things about me, Dana. Some have roots in truth... most don't."
"He said... you addicted him to Rapture."
From across the table, Tyler takes her hand in his. "Nonsense. He was getting interested in designer drugs... not illegal, of course, but not the best thing for you. But you know Mike... always curious, always experimenting. I gave him a sample of watered down, non-addictive stuff... carefully contrived, I admit, to give him a bad trip. It worked. He hasn't touched the stuff since. End of story."2
"Once... I might not have believed you, but the way Miguel's changed the past few months... it's like anything's possible."
"Sometimes events drive people apart, Dana, and sometimes... they drive them together. My wife, bless her, passed away unexpectedly some years back. And then my son, gunned down by some rogue madman. Here I'm head of Alchemax and the Public Eye, but my son's murderer remains at large."
"I... I had no idea," she says softly.
"The point is that, with the crush of business, and no family, I've been... lonely. Put aside the things Mike has said... and the sad fact that I am somewhat your senior... and consider what you've seen with your own eyes. Am I so bad?"
"No... not at all. You've been attentive and... and brave, and... it's all very confusing."
"I'll be happy to help you try and sort it out," he assures her.
Outside the restaurant, Conchata watches with a scowl. "So that's his game."
Going through the files at the hideout, Spider-Man tells Flipside he's trying to figure out what it is... and how to shut you down. It's some sort of artificial construct... a prototype weapon, leftover from the Heroic Age. But it's so erratic; either the logic circuitry deteriorated over the years or else it never worked properly in the first place. I think there's a way to shut it down, a failsafe override to—
Smashing the monitor with its fist, Flipside confronts Spider-Man. "I'm starting to think I don't like you. That you're always looking for ways to hurt me."
"That's not true."
"You're LYING! And I'm going to kill you... and keep killing you... until you beg me to stop!"
Ensuing a chase, Flipside meets the foragers, crowded together like a firing squad, unleashing their weapons upon him. Unaffected by the bullets, he begins lashing out on them, to which Packrat demands Spider-Man helps them out. He points out that they wanted him to revive it, so it's their problem. Spider-Man does, however, step in before Packrat himself is killed.
"You're helping them?! Why do you care about them?!"
"I don't. I just don't care about myself much."
"I get it!" Flipside declares. "You're suicidal! Don't worry! I can help!" After a gunshot blast left a large hole in its chest, Flipside shoves Spider-Man's head into the cavity. "All we gotta do is take your head, like so... shove your head into this gaping wound... seal up the wound... and presto! Suffocation or decapitation - which will it be first?!" Noticing the man starting to struggle, Flipside asks what the deal is. "You're not only suicidal... you're insincere? What a crying shame it turned out this way. You were the only one who understood me."
Ripping his way through Flipside's innards, Spider-Man frees himself and wraps a cable around its neck, throwing it around until it eventually decapitates Flipside.
"You did it!!!" Packrat cheers. "You DID it!!! Too bad I'm gonna have to kill you anyway."
Spider-Man looks at him. "Move."
With an easy smile, he bows and lets Spider-Man walk. "Après vous." After a moment, Packrat goes to watch the retreating hero, telling his men it'll be more fun to hunt him for sport. When no one agrees, he turns around to find Flipside, head reattached, claws dripping with blood, sitting atop a pile of bodies.
"Absolutely," it agrees. "Nothing beats a chase. Start running."
In his civvies, Miguel is inspecting the damage done to Nightshade when Xina calls out to him, embracing him in a hug.
"MIGGY!!! Where've you been?! I was worried sick!"
"Hiding out. But when I saw people leaving, I figured it was safe to come out. But... you're all right, Xina. That's the important thing. Where's Angela?" Then, quietly, "no, nevermind. I can see it in your face."
"Spider-Man was right there." Angry that he didn't save Angela, Xina calls calls Mr. Big-Shot-Hero and wishes she could tell him to his mask how overrated she thinks he is. Xina then shows Miguel the makeshift grave made for Angela. "She worked her whole life for this, and what was the point? It's all a waste."
"Don't say that."
"I'm going home, Miggy. You coming?"
"I... can't. Not now. I said I had to get away from there... from my mother, my... brother. I can't go back."
"You want to do some more hiding," she accuses. "That it?"
"Sometimes I think hiding is what I do best."
"So... what do I say here? 'See ya later?'" With a tear in her eye, Miguel tells her he guesses so. "O... okay then... see ya later," and she walks away.
In their Mexico City hotel, Gabri apologizes that he couldn't do something better for them when Kasey tells him anyplace with him looks great.
"Look, Kase... this has gone far enough."
"Oh, I don't think so."
"No..." he tries again, distracted while she undresses. "You've gotta understand. I... uh... you've got the wrong impression of..."
Drawing the blinds, Kasey tells him that whatever it is, it can wait.
"The road to Hades is easy to travel." —Bion.
Sitting cross-legged atop a bus, Spider-Man crawls over to the driver's window, where the driver reminds him he's supposed to be keeping a lookout.
"But I don't see anything, Dash!"
"Yeah? Well, look again. Them old boys is coming up fast, and I need you to run interference, kid. Otherwise... heck, we can't afford no 'otherwise.'" Looking in the side mirror, Spider-Man catches something on the road behind them.
Now... now I see them, too. Of all the insane situations I've been in during my life, this tops them. And yet, somehow, it makes sense.
I was... what was I doing? Oh, yeah... I was walking... thinking about Angela... how could I have let you down like that? You're dead because I didn't come through for you. I couldn't save you or your Indy town of Nightshade from corporate raiders... either as Miguel or as Spider-Man!
And Xina... she thinks I'm a coward. That I ran out altogether. Not that it would be much better if she knew the truth. I wonder if I'll see her again. See anyone again.
Walking idly along a stretch of road, a blonde woman in a convertible comes to a stop beside him.
"Hey, handsome. Need a lift? Why are you walking on such a hot day?"
"Beats running." Running away, that is. Tossing his bag in the car, he tells her how nice it is of her and how he owes her big time, but before he can close the passenger door she pepper sprays him in the face.
"You think I don't know what was going through your mind?! That I don't know what men want!? Well I just did it to you before you could do it to me, baby!" As she speeds off with his luggage, Miguel curls into a ball on the side of the road. "Thanks for the bag of stuff. Rot in hell, slimeball."
Hours pass and Miguel comes to by someone calling his name.
"Well well well... got yourself in another fine fix, huh, Miguel?"
"D... Dash? Is that... you?"
"The same." With a blue cap, blonde hair and green overalls, he tells Miguel he's growed since they last chatted and offers him a lift.
"So you're not a cabbie anymore, Dash?"3
"Ohh, I've always got lotsa things. Just trying to get the job done. Going where I'm assigned. Like right now, I'm doing delivery runs. This load is going to Velo City."
"Never heard of it. Where is it?"
"Oh, neither here nor there." Sitting in the cabin, Miguel is startled by noise and turns in his seat.
"Uh, Dash... this'll sound nuts... but I thought I heard voices back there, in your cargo area."
"Yeah? Well, go look and see for yourself." Opening the door to the cargo bay, Miguel's jaw drops. Rows of seats, like a bus, are filled with people having conversations, drinking, smoking, reading newspapers.
"I'm seeing things, right? Your freight is... people."
"Not people, 'zactly."
"Well WHAT, 'zactly?!" He demands. "What's going on h—"
"Oh!" One of the hostesses turns around after handing a man his drink. In a short purple dress, dark glasses and long hair, Angela greets him. "Hi, Miguel! Welcome aboard!"
Placing his hand over his mouth, Miguel gasps. "An...gela...? That's... Angela..."
"Oh, her." Dash says. "Yeah, we saw she had potential... so we put her to work immediately. She's going places, that one."
"This is insane! Lemme out! Right NOW!!"
"Uh oh," the driver says instead.
"Uh oh? What's 'uh oh?'"
"It's a roadblock," he informs. "I was afraid of this. I keep changin' my route, but sooner or later they always catch up. Hold on! This'll be tight!" Driving right through a pileup of cars that were set up as a roadblock, Dash needs to get back on his route, though he knows the bats will try to keep him away. "I need you to change into Spider-Man and keep them off my butt."
Surprised, Miguel asks Dash how he knew but is told not to argue and just do it.
Part of me doesn't want to die until I find out what's going on... and part of me is concerned that I'm already...
Holy shock. No, on second thought, there's nothing 'holy' about them.
Trailing behind the truck are giant anthropomorphic humanoid bats, riding motorcycles adorned with animal skulls on the front. "Get them, my lovelies!" Their leader shouts in a voice Spider-Man describes as 'battery acid on a rusty hinge.'
"No closer, y'understand? Just back off!" Causing their bikes to crash, they use their wings to catch up instead, engaging in a fight.
"So, Spider-Man... more vicious, more free with the claws than in your earlier days, eh? We are what circ*mstances make us, aren't we. I can relate to that. Care to try your talons against me?" Decked out in body armor, one of the bat's hands is a morning star weapon, the other a whip. Other bats begin breaking the windows into the cargo and Angela screams, distracting Spider-Man and getting him knocked off the roof.
Is it over yet? Can I wake up now? In dreams you're not supposed to feel anything. So why do I feel the exhaust burning my face? Why do I feel the road battering my body? Why do I feel... so shockin' fed up? Using the talons on his toes, he blows the tire of a bike and begins to pull himself back to the truck with a web line. Give up? In your dreams.
"You have no idea what you've involved yourself in, do you, Spider-Man?" The leader asks. "You're already mine, and you don't even know it. You think you've fought wars, don't you? Idiot! Everything until now has been basic training! Minor skirmishes! And you won't understand any of it until doom has you by the throat!"
During their fight, another bat throws Angela off and Spider-Man catches her, pulling her up when the leader bat wraps his whip around her ankle, trying to keep her off.
"You're even more ignorant than I first suspected. And on Route 666, ignorance is not bliss. No, my friend... ignorance is fatal."
While trying to keep Angela from falling, another bat comes up on Spider-Man's blind spot but he manages to take that one out, cut the whip on her leg and puts distance between the leader.
"Go, then!" The bat goads. "Cling to your petty 'victory' as if you've won something. When the game finally begins and my poison is coursing through your veins... your dying breath will be my name... and I'll spit venom into your open heart."
Wow. I'll say this for him: he sure knows how to turn a phrase. "Hey, cupcake! Got the webbing off your face yet? Then look behind you!"
"You expect me to take your advice?" He growls.
"Actually, no. That's the joy of it." Dropping himself and Angela to be flat against the roof, the bat is struck as they go under a tunnel and everything goes black.
Angela? I'm... I'm sorry I let you down... you're dead because of...
"Don't be silly, Miguel," an apparition of Angela tells him. "You did the best you could. You're superhuman, not suprahuman. Although it's very easy to confuse the two."
You... you don't blame me?
"Oh, you have enough problems, honey. Don't add unresolved guilt about me to the list, okay? Promise?"
"Angela?" Miguel asks aloud, the image of Angela fading into Xina.
"Miggy? Miggy, it's me... it's Xina. Can you hear me?" Still on the side of the road, she helps him sit up. "What the shock happened to you?"
"I'm not sure. What're you doing here? I thought you were heading home."
"I hit a roadblock."
"That being...?"
"My picturing you, out here alone, trying to make it without me to hold your hand. After all, Miguel, you're so frail. You know how I worry about you."
"Try saying that without snicker...ing." Beside him is a piece of the bat's whip that he cut off when saving Angela. Picking it up, he tells Xina it's nothing - he hopes it's nothing.
"You're lucky I changed my mind. Seems to me you've got a guardian angel."
Getting in her car, Xina drives them away. "Maybe. Then again, I got a feeling it's not just angels watching over me these days."
Mexico City.
"Hey! You!" In a cemetery, a man shines his flashlight onto the scene of a shirtless man bearing his teeth, an open grave behind him, shovel in hand. "Madre de Dios! What do you think you're doing?! 'Day of the Dead' celebration or not... this is obscene! Put down that shovel! Right n—"
Inside a glowing orb, an image of Spider-Man appears. Someone off screen says that he will be an ally on this mission.
"Him? The S-Man? I get to meet him? Kewl!" A young woman exclaims, the light only illuminating some of her features.
The Day of the Dead festival. In a way, it all started here. A couple years back, when my brother Gabri and I joined in the festivities... I had a special costume made.4 A costume in keeping with the skeletal, ghoulish theme of the festival, but of sturdy enough fabric to withstand the occasionally wild celebrations. I had no idea I'd wind up living in it.
Looking out the window of their hotel room, Miguel watches the parade below. Xina, laying in the bed, speaks to him.
"Miguel O'Hara, the perfect gentleman. You really spent the whole night on the couch."
"We agreed to being just friends right now, Xina. I'm not looking for romance."
"Me neither. But since when was romance a prerequisite for lust?" She retorts.
"Don't flatter yourself. It's not like you're Miss Super-Irrestistable."
"You're absolutely right," getting up from under the covers, she reveals to be completely nude.
"Aw, for cryin' out loud! Do you mind?"
"No, I don't mind. Go ahead and look. After all, it's not like I'm Miss Super-Irresistable."
Returning to the window, Miguel continues to brood.
She's something else. No matter, though. If I had been of a mind to be... less than gentlemanly... the people next door sure killed the mood. Made noises like wounded rhinos half the night.
Leaning out the window for fresh air, Gabriel appears in the neighboring window.
"Oh. Hi, Miggy."
"Hey, Gabri."
The two brothers look at each other in surprise, yelling in unison, "HUH?!?!"
Accidentally leaning out the window too far, Gabriel falls and Miguel catches his wrist with webbing.
"The wounded rhino, I presume?" Pulling him up, Miguel asks, "would you mind telling me what you're doing here?"
Stepping out of the bathroom, toweling her hair dry, Xina answers, "we checked in together, Miggy, remember? Having a short term memory problem?" Glancing over, she's met with the sight of Gabriel, giving her an awkward little wave, webbing still on his wrist.
"Xina," Miguel grits, "you remember my brother, Gabri."
With a shriek, Xina runs back in the bathroom while Miguel smacks his brother upside the head. "Of course I remember him! Why's he here?!"
"He was in town and decided to, uh... swing by."
"And you yelled at me about in-jokes," Gabriel whispers.
"Shut up and keep your hand down."
In an apartment hallway, a stout man pounds on the door to a tenant named Morgez, demanding him to open up. "I don't know what you're doing in there, but the neighbors are complaining about a smell!"
The door cracks open. "Do you really want to see what's in here, Señor Superintendent?"
"Blasted right I do!"
"Because if you enter... you will not leave..."
Horrified by whatever he catches a glimpse of, the superintendent stutters and flees. Morgez returns to his darkened room, filled with candles. Picking up a rock, he throws it at the skylight, filling the room with the glow of the moon; it lands to reveal a skeleton in a dress, laying on a mattress on the floor, surrounded by decorative skulls.
"I call upon you, dark ones... Samhain, Belthane... I have spoken the ancient words! I, Morgez, summon your power, your glory... I bare my soul that I may be a conduit for your might! None can surpass you! None can supplant you! On this Day of the Dead, make your day mine as well!"
"Should've seen it coming, I guess," Xina tells Kasey. "Both of them wanting to relive the 'good old days.' Brothers thinking alike."
"Oh, they are nothing alike," Kasey argues. "Gabe is forceful, dynamic... nothing like Miguel. No offense, Xina."
"You're saying you don't like Miguel?"
"No reflection on you," she clarifies. "You're not upset, are you?"
"Upset? Kasey, I'm ecstatic."
In the background, the brothers are whispering to each other. "And you're letting her think you're... you know?"
"I'm not letting her!" Gabriel cries, exasperated. "I keep trying to tell her I'm not... you know."
"And...?"
"Well, before I can manage it, we start to... you know."
"What are you two chattering about?" Kasey asks, to which they both look at each other and answer in unison.
"Oh... you know."
Suddenly, Xina gets worked up. "I don't believe it! It's him again! Spider-Man!" Pointing out a man in costume, Miguel explains that it's just a celebrant and there will be ton of skull images around - just a coincidence.
"Yeah, Xin. Why would the S-Man be following you?" Kasey taunts. "That just doesn't fly."
Amidst other chatter and party celebrations, Miguel suddenly cries out, following a flash of light. Gabriel, concerned, catches him before he collapses and asks what's wrong.
"That shockin' 'light show' blinded me!"
In his apartment, Morgez, after summoning the beam of light, falls to his knees.
"'Nita? 'Nita? Say something!" He demands of the skeleton.
In a flashback, it shows two children: a girl wanting 'Nando to promise he'll always be there and he'll never let her down; he promises her, saying he means it, what are brothers for?
"I'm sorry, 'Nita," he tells the corpse. "I tried. I was so sure. It took me years to find the amulet... I found the incantations... it should have worked... it should have brought you back. Bringing back the dead. I must have been insane."
In a graveyard, skeletons begin clawing out of the ground.
A doctor informs the trio - Gabriel, Kasey, Xina - that Miguel has an unusual corneal arrangement. Gabriel quickly makes something up about it being a familial trait due to radioactive carrots.
"Your brother seems to have been flash blinded. It should pass before too long. We're keeping him in a darkened room with his eyes bandaged for a few hours. You could wait, but he vehemently requested you go and enjoy yourselves."
Though they're hesitant to leave, the doctor emphasizes that Miguel won't be going anywhere. In the darkened room, a breeze rolls in from an open window.
My vision's still a little fuzzy but I've got to track down the source of that burst. It was like nothing from this— A floating figure catches his attention, Spider-Man quickly shooting his webs at the return of Risque, the line quickly severed.
"At ease, S-Man. I'm not this 'Risque' person." Wearing a red bandana on her head, the woman has long black hair, a denim jacket with gold details, a black midriff top, black pants and heavy boots. "I'm Strange."
"And I'm whacked out. What's your point?"
"Now I get why the other guy had a medical degree. Makes for better intros. Look, S-Man... there's something going down Ol' Meheeco way. I'm here to check it out. You're here to help me."
"Oh, yeah? And just what's 'going down?'"
"I'm not sure... but whatever it is, it's pretty grave."
Coming in via the broken glass in the ceiling of Morgez' apartment, Spider-Man demands to know what's going on here. Strange quietly comes up behind him, taps him on the shoulder and informs him that Morgez is over there and he's yelling at a piñata.
"So, uh..." he tries again, "I want to know what's going on here!"
"Ack-tually, maybe you don't."
"I want to help my sister," Morgez explains, holding up the amulet he wears around his neck. "This was to have revived her! But it did nothing!"
"Mebbe I'd better hang on to it." As soon as Strange touches it, she screams and falls to her knees, hand smoking from a burn.
"Strange! You okay?! Strange?"
"Give it..." from a set of sharp teeth, Strange drools, her features turning animal, "to me..."
In Mexico City, it is the Day of the Dead. But never has it been more literally so. For this day, Morgez' spell has affected everyone but it's intended subject. This day, the dead walk, and even worse... they mingle.
"I still feel bad about leaving Miggy at the hospital," Xina, now donning a red outfit with devil horns, tells the group.
"Don't worry, Xina. It's obvious Miggy is in good hands," Gabri assures her.
Elsewhere, Spider-Man is getting choked out by Strange as he attempts to remind her they're on the same side.
"I remember only that I share this body with Strange..." the creature inhibiting her body growls, "and that the amulet burned us! I will have its power... and the head of Morgez!"
Running down the hallway, Morgez runs into the superintendent again, who has returned with friends, when the tussle between Strange and Spider-Man now tumbles out of the room and outside the building. From beyond them, a disembodied figure watches the situation through an orb. "Ohhh dear, so the mystic jolt you received from the amulet jostled loose your demonic side... and you've been unable to bottle it up since. Just another example, my disciple, of the help you'll need from me."
"Mortal fool?!" Strange yells as Spider-Man tries to restrain her. "You think your pathetic little threads can hold me?"
"I'm not looking for a long-term commitment. I just need to keep you anchored long enough so I can send your jaw north of the border!" Punching her, a brooch on her jacket glows, bringing her back to herself. When he asks if she wants to explain what happened, Strange answers not really and they move on. Now having mainly gotten his vision back, he tells Strange that the wake-the-dead spell worked, as evident by the undead wandering through the streets.
Gabriel bumps into a man, noting his bad breath when the skeleton throws him down. Kasey gets in on the fight, telling him that he doesn't want to mess with Gabriel when she pulls his arm right off his body, screaming in terror. The parade falls into discord and Kasey cries out for Gabri to do something, only for him to retreat to the side and do nothing, helpless just like always. Still stuck in the crowd, Kasey worries about being trampled to death, noting it's a stupid way to die by a familiar gloved hand reaches out to grab her, getting her to safety before snagging Xina, who had fainted from the sight of a skeleton attacking her.
The corpse of Morgez' sister is reanimated and Spider-Man proposes an idea. By himself, Morgez looks at the amulet in his hands, lamenting. "I'm sorry, 'Nita. I did it for you. You have to understand. Me and Esty... we never... I never..." It's revealed that, when he was a kid, he was showing his friend, Esty, his father's shotgun, messing around with it when 'Nita, his little sister, sneaks up to surprise the boys. Alerted, the gun accidentally goes off and kills her.
"Brother?" Approaching him, her skeleton form floats towards Morgez. "What have you done to me...?"
"Oh, Madre... 'Nita, I... I wanted to bring you back, but I... I thought you'd be fully restored, not this... I wanted to help, to make up for killing you..."
"You... killed me...?"
"It was an accident!"
"I'm so cold... so cold here... let me go back... let all of us go back to the warmth, the light... please..."
"All... all right." Placing the amulet in her hand, he says he'll send her back. "But I won't abandon you again... like I promised, I'll be with you... take care of you... always together—" Embracing his sister, their bodies are engulfed in flames as Strange cries out for him to stop. The skeletons in the parade abruptly lose interest and return to their graves, Spider-Man going to regroup with Strange to let her know it worked.
"He fell for the ventriloquism stunt, like you suggested," she says. "A mild hypnotic push and he was convinced that she was talking to him. But I just wanted him to stop all this... or at least put the amulet down, not... kill himself."
"You did what you had to, kid," Spider-Man tells her. "And I guess he did, too. What about this amulet of his?"
"You mean how do we handle a talisman capable of spitting in the face of providence and generating despair and destruction? Gee, tough call." Smashing it beneath her boot, Spider-Man agrees with her decision. In his attempt to get away from the weirdness in his life, his trip away has been so bizarre that being back home would be a welcome return to normalcy.
