Spider verse: The Twist

Chapter 15: Lights Out

Peter B's POV

Ham, Noir Peni, May, and I sat in the darkness of May's house. May was in the basement checking the circuit breaker to see if she could get the power back on. Ham and I sat on the couch eating out of a large bag of Doritos. Noir leaned up against the wall as he stared in bewilderment at an unsolved runic cube. Peni stood by her robot, Sp\\dr, as it cleaned up the broken glass on the floor from the shattered lightbulbs. Sp\\dr's right mechanical arm had been converted into a broom and the left arm became a dustpan, which it used to sweep up the broken fragments of glass.

I heard the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up just as the back door opened. Miles and Gwen walked into the house. Bright smiles were plastered on both of their faces.

"You two seem happy," Peni commented as she looked up from her robot with a smile. She was obviously glad to see that Miles was feeling better about what had happened earlier.

"Yeah, you two got a date or somethin'?" I said smugly. I watched the two teens and even in the darkness I could see Miles's face immediately turn a dark shade of red. Gwen's features simultaneously turned into an icy glare.

"No, we don't," Gwen retaliated firmly as she stared me down.

"You sure?" I egged her on drawing out the last word, "'Cuz it kinda looked like you were-"

"Drop it Peter," Gwen growled, her voice cold and harsh. I would never admit it, but the face she gave me was pretty intimidating.

"Aww!" Ham cooed, "So cute."

"Peter and Peter, if you're both done terrorizing these two, we should focus on getting you all back home," May said as she walked into the room. She cast a quick glance in Miles's direction.

"Right, let's get to busting these crooks," Noir said as he cracked his knuckles. He tossed the rubix cube up in the air. It spun a few times before landing back in his palm.

There was silence for a moment and I watched as Miles and Gwen looked around the dark room. They both seemed to have just then noticed that the lights were out. Miles's eyes stopped when he noticed the shards of broken glass scattered across the floor. "So, uhh... what happened to the lights," Miles asked.

"You're little electric outburst blew the fuse and shattered all of my lightbulbs." May grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest and fixed Miles with a scowl.

"Oh, s-sorry about that May," Miles stuttered. He turned his gaze down to the floor so he wouldn't have to meet May's eyes. I would not want to be him right now. I know from experience that being on May's bad side is not fun.

"It's fine, Miles, but don't think you're getting out of this. You're helping me clean up and put in new lightbulbs as soon as you send everyone home," May said, shaking her head slightly.

"About that... are you sure Miles is ready? His powers seem a bit... unstable," Peni asked as leaned up against her robot.

"What's wrong with unstable?" Ham questioned as he crossed his arms and let out a huff.

Miles's POV

I looked down at my feet, but I could see Gwen looking at me through the corner of my eye. She had a concerned look on her face. When I looked up to her she immediately turned away and refocused on the others in front of us.

"The boy's only been at this for a week. He's not ready. It's took me years of fightin' to do what I do," Noir argued.

"The kid is special. I don't know how, but I can just feel it," Peter argued back.

"You can't make decisions based on feelings Peter. That's not logical at all," Peni countered as she waved her arms around for emphasis.

I felt a vibration in my back pocket. I reached into it and extracted my phone. I look down and read the text displayed on the screen.

Uncle Aaron:
Hey Miles, I saw I missed a couple calls from you. I've been pretty caught up with work recently. I don't have long before I gotta go back, but you could come drop by my place if you wanna tell me what's been on your mind.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket and faced the others. I forced a smile as I spoke, "Hey guys, my uncle just texted me and I gotta go see him."

Peter gave me an exasperated look, "You mean, you're just gonna leave- like right now?"

"Umm, yeah... I was just gonna quickly swing over to his place then come right back," I replied, rubbing the back of my neck, nervously.

He stood from the couch as he ordered, "Oh no, you can't go out there. You're staying here."

"Why not? Obviously you guys still have some things to figure out and we also still need to make a new override key," Gwen reasoned.

Peter paused before he responded with, "Fine... just be careful." He gave in, but still didn't seem very keen on letting me leave.

"Is he actually... worried about me?"

"Now get out of here so I can focus on helping broody Peter, here," he finished as he walked over Noir and began to study the rubix cube in his hands.

"Guess not."