close as strangers
Kate wakes up the next morning and quickly realizes that her sister is not home. Assuming she slept at the lab, again, Kate stops to grab coffee and bagels for both of them on her way there.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." Kate says as she walks into the lab.
Rose groggily lifts her head. "No food in the lab, K." She groans.
"Well then I guess both of these are for me." She says, turning to walk back out of the lab.
"No! No, wait." Rose pushes herself up from her hunched position over the metal table. "I'm coming."
Kate smiles and waits for her sister. The two of them walk down to the courtyard of the building to have breakfast as Rose catches her sister up on what she found.
"It sounds like.. a lot." Kate swallows her mouthful of her bacon egg and cheese everything bagel. "I don't understand how all of this is so easy for you, it's like you're speaking a different language."
Rose stifles a laugh. "I've been doing this for years, Katie. You get used to the terminology."
Kate hums. "Mom and Dad always said you were the special one."
"Hey now, you know how harsh they were." Rose places a hand on her older sister's. "They might've had a funny way of showing it, but they loved you too Katie."
Before she can respond, the hairs on the back of her neck stand as her spidey-senses begin to tingle. She puts the remaining quarter of her bagel down and swigs her coffee before pulling her jacket off.
"There she goes, my superhero sister." Rose smiles.
"Finish your breakfast before you start working again." Kate tells her as she grabs her mask.
Rose rolls her eyes lovingly. "You be careful too."
Kate smiles softly at her before running out of the courtyard.
With her suit on, she uses her webs to swing across the city. The tingling isn't like it was last night with Enchantress, it's much more faint this time. She stops at the park that Miguel usually visits and crouches on a low rooftop to look around. Her eyes land on the familiar family of three walking through the park and she gasps. He made it out! The mother takes the daughter over to the ice cream truck as the father finds a bench to sit on. Kate sees this as her opportunity to make sure that the dad is alright and jumps down from the rooftop.
"Hello sir, I don't know if you remember me from last night but-"
The man turns to face her and her eyebrows furrow as her spidey-sense intensifies. She lifts her eyes to meet his and they widen. "Miguel?" She speaks softly, recognizing the red eyes.
"Kate, I can explain." He begins, making sure that the mother and daughter aren't close.
Kate takes a step back as she shakes her head. "What are.. What did you do?" She asks as her mind spirals out of control. "You were there last night. Did.. Did you free Enchantress from my webs?" She continues. "Did you sabotage my rescue? All so that you could play family?"
"What? No, of course not!" He defends. "I didn't lie about why I came here last night, I did need the wristband back." He states. "But after seeing how the death of that man affected you, and his family, I figured I could be a solution."
"No." Kate says coldly. "This changes nothing. He's still dead. You're pretending to be someone you're not with this family, giving them false hope, just like you did to me." She clenches her jaw.
"Hold on now, I-"
"No, Miguel." A silent tear rolls down her cheek. "I can't make you leave but, just... Stay away from me."
As she swings away using her webs, she fights the tears of anger threatening to fall. The mother and daughter come back over to Miguel, who puts on a smile to play his part.
"Daddy look!" The girl shouts as she runs over with her Spider-Woman ice pop. "When I grow up, I wanna be just like her."
Miguel forces a small smile. "That's great, Gaby."
The mother joins the two and smiles as she puts an arm around he believed husband. "You really scared us back there Migo." She looks into his eyes. "How long did the doctors say the fire would affect your eyes like this? I miss your warm brown ones."
"I'm not sure Xina, it could be a while." He sighs.
"Well, I'd rather have you with different colored eyes than not have you at all." She smiles, placing a kiss on his cheek.
Miguel forces another smile, getting up to play soccer with Gabriella when she asks.
»»———- ———-««
It's been a month now since Kate and Miguel have last seen eachother. Miguel has been getting along just fine with his new pretend family while Kate has gone back to living her normal neighborhood Spider-Woman life. Her spider-sense seems to always linger on the back of her neck since Miguel has stayed in her universe, but it hasn't impacted her sensing actual danger.
Rose has finally made a breakthrough with her multiversal research and has started developing her own watch similar to the one that Miguel created.
"Okay, try it now." Rose folds her hands together as Kate taps on her watch.
"You're sure this one won't implode on my wrist like the last one?" Kate raises an eyebrow.
"Innovation is a process of trial and error, Katie." Rose rolls her eyes but Kate holds her gaze. "Yes I'm sure it won't implode."
Kate takes a deep breath. She hasn't even used Miguel's watch before, how is she supposed to figure this one out? She taps one more button, which is supposed to open a portal, and releases the breath she was holding when a portal actually opens.
"Oh my gosh!" Rose exclaims.
"Oh my gosh." Kate's eyes widen as she says simultaneously to her sister. "Rosie, you stay here in case anything happens. I'll... try going to another dimension."
"Katie please, if anyone should be exploring this it's me." Rose laughs, but the serious look on Kate's face causes her to stop. "Alright, okay, fine. Just, don't be long. And be c-"
Before Rose can finish her warning, the tools on the tables begin to clatter against the cold metal. Soon after, the ground begins to rumble. Kate's spider-sense intensifies beyond anything she's ever felt and she quickly closes the portal but the rumbling doesn't stop.
"What's going on?" Rose asks. "Did the watch do this?"
"I don't think so." Kate says, moving toward the window. "Stay here, I'm gonna go see what's causing this."
She jumps out of the open window and swings along the skyscrapers,0 towards the source of the rumbling.
"What the..?"
It looks as if the sky is disappearing above her while she swings. One of her webs misses the building and she begins to free fall toward the ground but shoots another web at a nearby building just in time to catch herself. When she looks up, she finds that the buildings are disintegrating into nothing and her eyes widen. Everything in front of her turns to nothing, consumed by the growing void. She quickly turns on her heels and swings back to the lab with the void on her heels.
"Rose!" She cries, scaling the building as it disintegrates. "Rosie, where are you?" She kicks the window in, shattering the glass all over the floor of the lab.
"Katie.." Rose steps into view, her body slowly evaporating like everything else around them.
"No no no. No! Rosie, stay with me." Kate runs toward her. She slips on the glass, cutting herself in the process, and clutches at dust once she's within reach of her sister. She blinks rapidly as the building begins to disappear around her, trying to process whatever's happening. How can she process whatever's happening?
As the ground crumbles, she starts to lose her footing and decides she has no choice but to leave. She swings through what's left of the city, stumbling once or twice as the buildings supporting her webs disappear. The madness of civilians below, doing their best to run from the void but ultimately being consumed by it, breaks her heart. The last building disappears into the void and tears stream down her face as she runs to the open grass of the familiar park.
"No! Gaby!" A voice cries from across the field.
Kate watches from behind as Miguel O'Hara clings to the small girl in his arms as he ran from the void. As the void inevitably caught up to him, the small girl was claimed by it as well. The man crumbles to the dissipating floor, clenching his fists.
He feels a gentle hand on his shoulder before a glimpse of orange light surrounds him and the ground becomes solid beneath him once again.
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