𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕟 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕤 𝔽𝕒𝕝𝕝 (Book 3)

Chapter Three

MAYA

Maya Morales-Stacy was doodling random cute little scribbles on sketch paper in her room. Her legs dangled from the air, swinging in a pendulum pattern as she hums along to the music that was playing in her ears from her headphones. Her tongue stuck out the corner of her mouth as she draws, the pencil lightly tracing the paper. Her chin was propped on her palm, elbow resting on the sheets as she hums along to the music.

She was currently sketching out the finishing touches she put to a drawing of Maria and Mason, her older twin siblings for their birthday, as she wanted to give them a present that they would treasure. She knew her artistically inclined siblings would love it.

As she hums, she smiles as she finishes, putting her pencil down as she swung her legs down, sitting up as she holds up the sketch, holding it sideways and smiling at it as she gets a clear view of her sketch from a distance.

It was a drawing of the twins, Maria in her natural grumpy glory and Mason in his golden-retriever like energy, and she felt like it captivated both their personalities in one picture, and she knew that they'd love it. Perhaps even frame it, if they loved it so. A girl could dream.

"Maya! Come downstairs baby, we're about to surprise them!" Her mother's voice calls from downstairs, and Maya grins as she puts down her sketchbook. The present would have to wait until later, after everyone's settled down and they were opening presents. 

"Coming, mama!" she exclaims, stretching over her bed to tap the pause button on her phone, pausing her music as she put her headphones on her sheets, slipping on a pair of white socks and walking out her door, flipping the light switch, leaving a crack of light peering into her room.

The room then lit up with a flash of vibrant colours of different shapes and sizes, changing the molecular and physical appearance of the room before everything went still again. Maya's headphones on her bed fell from the shift onto the floor.

...

Outside in the neighbourhood of the Morales-Stacy family, where both them and the Stones were gathered in order to surprise the twins, Gerald Drew sat on his mother's old bike, parked near the curb of the sidewalk, his goggles over his face as he used the advanced technology the goggles had to be able to peer into the house through glimpses, seeing the heat traces of the family, seeing how many members were in the house, and being able to pick up on snippets of conversation. 

He sighs and lifts his goggles off his face, biting his bottom lip. He knew his mother wouldn't approve of this, having to do this in order to protect the fragility of the multiverse. He could hear her stubbornly now, in her 'no nonsense voice', 

"Gerald, if you need to listen to anyone, it's me. Miguel is not the man you think he is, and he can make mistakes just as well as we can. He couldn't stop Miles and Gwen from falling in love and creating their own family, and that's okay. They love each other, and that's something humans do. But tearing their family apart isn't right, and you know this."

Gerry sighs as he looks around the silent neighbourhood, the night sky of New York looming over the neighbourhood, cars honking, blasting music and whizzing by the neighbourhood, as it  was normally very loud, no matter what universe you were in.

He looks back at the Morales-Stacy house, and he really didn't want to ruin these families' lives by having to bring them back to the Society's HQ. He knew Gwen quit it for a reason and kept the secret from Miles that he deserved to know, but she did it to protect him, and Gerry understood that. 

His mother would have done the exact same.

He didn't know what happened exactly to his mother, but he knew it had to do with the fragility of the multiverse dwindling based on Gwen and Miles's choices. The existence of the children was making the multiverse branch, causing anomalies that gained the ability to be able to cross into multiverses at random given times, as for example, the Rhino from Earth-616 ended up in Nueva York, and it was very confusing. They had been able to send the Rhino home, but the society had its hands full with the growing number of anomalies as the teenagers grew older.

Miguel knew it would only be a limit of time before other authorities might get involved with the Spider-Verse collapsing in on itself, hence why he sent Gerry to get the families and brief them as they get to Nueva York.

Gerry watches as two teens, a curly haired female teenager and a taller, more lanky boy rush to the house, and they open up the door, the hallway dark as they look around narrowly before the lights flick on and he can hear "SURPRISE!" and both of the figures jump, one groaning and one laughing as he shakes the girl's shoulders, closing the door with his other hand as the commotion drifted into the streets, music being played from inside.

Gerry frowns. This is someone's birthday party, did he really have to do this?

His gizmo then trills and beeps, and Gerry sighs as he looks around, making sure nobody saw him before he lifted his left wrist near his face as he traces a finger over the top of the smooth screen, and the hologram of an impatient Miguel O'Hara is tapping his foot, his arms crossed as he had his mask on, most likely being in the middle of another anomaly capture.

"I'm assuming by the absence of voices that you haven't done it yet?" Miguel's voice is dry and annoyed, and Gerry has to refrain from rolling his eyes as he sighs.

"It's their birthday today, I really don't want to have to-" Gerry begins, but he's interrupted by Miguel's Spanish curse, mask dissolving thanks to the advanced technology of his suit from Nueva York, as the dark circles under his eyes highlight his annoyance and exhaustion with the situation and with the teenager.

"Get it done. I'll check back in soon." Miguel says, and the hologram shuts down, leaving the neighbourhood dark again, and Gerry sighs as he looks at the house, and it's clear everyone's having a good time and dancing around inside of the house.

This was going to be a long night.