In our lives, we encounter various events and experiences that can greatly impact us. These events, which can be either positive or negative, can change the way we think, feel, and behave. They shape us into the people we are today. These events, which form a fundamental part of our history, are what we call canon events.
If a canon event is interrupted, the consequences could be profound, and far-reaching. Even the tiniest of interruptions could cause greatest calamities throughout the universe, causing billions of lives to be at stake.
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There was an important reason as to why Marina didn't want Hobie to come to her rescue. A reason why she didn't want him to suddenly come along, and interrupt what was meant to happen. Whatever it might be.
They were both part of the Spider Society, weren't they? They had shared their battles, and knew the possible outcomes if ever a canon event is interrupted. How Miguel chased Miles around like a wild animal, trying to stop him from interrupting a canon event. It was a mess, and for that exact reason – Marina didn't want Hobie come.
But, oh wow! Here he was.
Light beamed from Tony's palm, and just as he was about to shoot at her chest, he was thrown to the other side of the wall. Marina gasped, quickly sitting up as she watched Hobie's figure run towards Tony. He shot a web at his face, then at his torso before pulling him close and then kicking his body out the window.
And then something changes. A glitch that nobody would be able to notice unless they really tried to.
"Shit – Hobie, no!" She yelled, reaching her hand out as she watches Hobie swing out to finish Tony. Struggling to get up on her feet, Marina hears coughing from outside. She glances back out the window, wincing before she rushes to check up on her teammates.
Marina sees Scout, laying down on the floor. His mask was now gone, and he coughed out blood. Quickly kneeling down beside him, she helps him sit up on the floor. "Drift." He breathes out, a small smile appearing on his lips as relief washes over him. He was afraid that they lost all hope, and Earth-5050 was doomed.
"Are you okay?" She asks worriedly, hand on his back. Scout nods, "Is it over?" He asks. Marina glances out, not knowing how to answer. "I... Um –"
Scout cuts her off by his coughs, and places a hand on her shoulder. "You have to finish it, Drift. I trust in you." He says weakly, staring into her eyes. Marina chews on her bottom lip, and nods. "We'll be alright." She reassures him, before quickly standing up and following after Hobie and Tony.
Aside from having to finish whatever apocalypse Tony tried to start, she also had to stop Hobie from doing anymore damage before her universe experiences the same thing Miguel's did. She was not going to let that happen. Absolutely not.
"Still got something in you, Ven?" Marina asks Venom. "Can I eat Stark afterwards?"
Swinging out, she sees Hobie and Tony fighting each other. It's obvious Tony's been weakened by Hobie's attacks, and as for her anarchist boyfriend... he seems furious.
"Bee!" Marina yells out, catching Hobie's attention. He stops for a moment, his eyes widening as he sees her. "M – Drift!" He stumbles back as Marina immediately wraps her arms around him, "I told you not to come." She says, and Hobie chuckles. "You should know by now tha' I never listen."
Tony, watching them from a distance, scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Not to ruin the moment, but you've both gotta die." He shoots lasers at them, the two Spiderpeople immediately separating to avoid his attacks. "What's the plan, boss?!" Hobie asks, and Marina smiles at the nickname. It's definitely been a while since she's last heard that.
Marina attempts to wrap Tony's torso with her web, Hobie doing the same with his legs. "The plan's real simple. We beat the hell out of the bad guy." She grins, and Hobie laughs. "Sounds like a great plan to me."
Tony tries to fly away from them, the two almost getting dragged up with him. Marina grunts as she tries to hold Tony down, Hobie gritting his teeth. He uses his other hand, and shoots a web towards a car. He pulls the car, and throws it towards Tony, sending him back to the ground, making a great impact.
Marina quickly rushes towards Tony, seeing him unconscious on the ground. She takes his suit's core, throwing it to the ground and stepping on it. Tony's suit shuts down, and he groans awake. "You fucking –"
His words are cut off by Hobie's feet kicking his face. Tony immediately passes out, and Marina stares at him, shocked. She looks at Hobie, lips slightly parted and he innocently shrugs. "Didn't seem like he had tha' much important shit to say." He says, and Marina smiles.
"Thank you." Marina wraps her arms around him once again. "If it wasn't for you, I'd probably be dead by now." She feels Hobie hug her back tightly, a kiss being placed on top of her. "You think I'll let my girl die on me like that? Nah. Not a chance." He smiles, and Marina feels this tingly warmth on her chest.
"Can I eat the president now?" Venom asks, before the ground starts shaking. Marina and Hobie quickly pulls away from each other, looking around as they see people running around in panic. "What the hell's happening?" Marina asks, holding Hobie's hand tightly with a worried expression.
"Oh shit."
Suddenly, the buildings start glitching and Marina's eyes widen in realization. "No." She looks around, seeing the other things on the street glitching. Fuck. "Marina, run NOW!" Venom yells in her head.
"We gotta get outta here." Hobie says, immediately running towards the other direction. Marina pulls Hobie back, "No! There's people left back in the building, Bee. We've gotta help them out." She says, Hobie glancing up at the building before nodding. "Oh for Christ's sake." Venom mutters.
They both rush inside, looking for Marina's teammates around the building. She sees Scout and She-Hulk, and gives Hobie a look that was asking him to help them. "I still have to look for Nat." Marina says, quickly checking every corner of each floor for her friend. "Natalie!" She yells out.
Marina hears coughing, and rubble being moved around. Immediately going towards the source, she sees Natalie trying to take the heavy bricks off of her body. Quickly rushing to help, Marina pushes the bricks away and Natalie smiles at her thankfully. "Hey." She weakly says, eyes barely keeping open.
Marina sighs in relief, and wraps an arm around Natalie's torso. "Come on, we gotta get out of here." She tries to pull Natalie up, but she holds her hand and shakes her head. "Wait, hold on. I'm just... trying to catch my breath for a second." She sighs, and Marina furrows her eyebrows. That phrase sounded too familiar to her.
"Look, there's something happening out there, and we've gotta get you and the others out of here as quickly as possible. Think you can still stand for me?" Marina says, and Natalie nods. "I can do that, yeah –" She answers, and Marina smiles. "Okay, let's do this carefully, okay?" She says softly, pulling Natalie up with her.
Natalie groans in pain, clutching the side of her stomach. "I'm sorry." She winces, seeing her friend in so much pain. Natalie manages to let out a laugh, before she suddenly starts glitching. Her body falls to the ground, Natalie yelping at the sudden feeling that washed over her. "What – What the fuck is happening?" Her chest heaves up and down.
"Nat! We gotta get out of here now. Please, I'll explain after." Marina begs, and Natalie nods before being pulled up by Marina again. They both try to make it out of the building, Natalie glitching every few seconds. Marina tries to reassure her friend with a few comforting words, but she knows it's not helping at all.
Just as they reached the lowest floor, Natalie falls down to her knees as she glitches once again. "I can't fucking... do this anymore." She breathes out, and Marina kneels down beside her. "No, you got this. We're real close." She places a hand on Natalie's shoulder, "Come on."
Natalie looks at her, "I –" She glitches and suddenly her body disappears into thin air.
Marina stares at the now empty spot in front of her, and the hand that was previously placed on Natalie's shoulder falls to her side. The smile on her face disappears, and all the life that was displayed on her was now gone. "Nat?" She whispers, but her friend is now gone. "Natalie?" She repeats, her eyes slowly flooding with tears.
"Mari!" Hobie yells as he runs towards her, holding an unconscious Scout on his back. Marina slowly turns to Hobie, tears streaming down her face. "Hobie, help me. It's... She disappeared." She whimpers, and Hobie's eyebrows furrow with worry and confusion. "What do you mean, luv?" He asks.
Marina looks down on Natalie's previous spot, "Nat. She's gone." She quietly says. Hobie falls silent, the situation quickly clicking in his mind. Was this all his fault?
"There's nothing we can do now, Hobie." Marina looks up at him, sniffling. "We can't outrun it. Miguel's universe couldn't, so how could mine?" She laughs dryly.
Hobie shakes his head, "No. Luv, come on. We can still run." He says, feeling Scout's body glitching on his back. He turns his head, seeing Scout groan in pain. Marina turns away, not wanting to see another friend disappear in front of her eyes. She gives up. This thing, she couldn't possibly avoid. Nobody could. She knew that no matter how much she ran, it would still get to her.
Hobie hears another sound from Scout, and the moment he turns to look, he's gone. The man that he was carrying on his back disappeared. Gone like the wind.
Marina looks up, and sobs when she sees Scout gone. "Hobie, I don't... I don't know what to do anymore." She cries, and Hobie immediately crouches down. He wraps his arms around her, chin resting on top of her head. "Luv, you'll survive this, alright?" He says, fighting the tears that threatened to leave his eyes.
"I'm not." Marina shakes her head, leaning on Hobie's chest as she cries. "Yes, you will." He says determinedly, helping Marina up. "We'll run alright, luv?" He grips her hand tightly, and Marina looks up at him with glossy eyes. "What?"
Hobie doesn't say anything further, only dragging Marina with him as they both run away from the disappearing buildings and roads behind them. It hurts so much to know the truth, but for some reason, running with Hobie's warm hand wrapped around her, she felt happy. How come? She was probably going to die in a few minutes.
Marina stops when her body suddenly glitches. Hobie turns to look at her, face scrunching up into a worried expression. "Mari." He says, catching her body before she falls onto the ground. "I don't think I can run anymore, Bee." She says, and Hobie shakes his head. "You can."
Marina lets out a breath, and tries to stand up before she starts glitching once again. Wincing in pain, she clutches Hobie's vest tightly, holding him close. "Hobie." She whispers his name, and Hobie watches her with wide eyes. He holds her close to his chest, "It'll be alright, luv."
"I don't wanna go, Hobie." Marina says weakly, looking up at Hobie. "You're not goin' anywhere, luv. You're stayin' here, with me." He says with a shaky voice, and Marina tears up once again.
"I don't think I've told you yet, but... I really really like you, Hobie Brown." Marina manages to smile despite her current situation, and that brings a smile up to Hobie's face. "Well, who woulda thought? Cuz I really really like you too, Marina Parker." He says, and Marina chuckles breathlessly. "Good –" She glitches once again.
"Will you finally clean your apartment for me?" Marina asks, and Hobie rolls his eyes playfully. "We can do that together instead, luv. We'll do that after all this, cuz you know I'm real helpless without you." He chuckles, and Marina nods. "That's right. You'll probably –" Another glitch. "You'll probably make an even bigger mess." She giggles.
Hobie laughs, and if it weren't for the shit that was currently happening, he'd probably say something sarcastic back. He feels Marina hold onto his vest tighter, pulling him closer. His eye softens at the sight of her, and Marina smiles up at him. "Can you kiss me?" She asks.
"Didn't need to ask anymore." Hobie replies, leaning in to place a kiss on Marina's lips. She closes her eyes, enjoying the feeling of Hobie's lips against her. The cold metal of his lip piercing hits her bottom lip, her nails digging in his vest as she tries to keep the distance between them closed.
Just as she feels warmth and home in Hobie's lips, a sudden wave of an unfamiliar feeling rushes over. It's almost as if she's... fading.
The moment Hobie opens his eyes, the woman he treasured with his entire being was gone. The one who was tightly holding onto his vest, the one who he was kissing ever so tenderly a few seconds ago. She was gone. Just like the rest of his surroundings, the rest of Marina's universe, slowly fading into nothingness.
Was this how that bastard Miguel felt?
The woman he really really liked. Maybe even loved. Now gone from his arms, never to come back ever again.
The puzzle that was once completed, back to being incomplete. Forever unfinished. The last missing piece that was needed to complete it was now gone, never to be found again. Never to be put on its rightful place in the puzzle, never to be back to complete it. It's gone.
She's gone.
BONUS
It's been 2 months since Marina and her universe disappeared, and Hobie did a great job of hiding his sorrow. He still showed up in his band of course, doing what needed to be done as Spiderpunk. But after everything that happened, it all felt pointless to him. How was he supposed to get over her death? How was he supposed to continue with his life, knowing the woman he loved was now gone forever?
He couldn't stop thinking about her. He felt miserable, and his friends from the other dimensions knew it. They all mourned over her death in different ways, but they knew Hobie had it the worst.
Hobie swung from building to building, trying to get back to his home after catching a couple of robbers before he spots her.
She wasn't the same person he once knew, but she definitely looked like her. The same sweet and shy smile, the eyes that were too afraid to meet anyone's, the same ring with a moon symbol on it.
It was like she was alive, walking around Hobie's universe as if nothing happened.
-
The End?