Disclaimer: This is purely a fanwork and I own nothing

Zero Two and I stood at the front of our home building, and I clasped my hands over my mouth. The princess hadn't lied; the place had been ransacked.

"They were waiting for us to leave," Zero Two muttered, forlorn realization hitting her.

I examined the broken windows, running my hands through my hair. Everything, everyone was gone. "This is..."

I stopped. There wasn't a good word to finish that sentence with, nothing that described the hollowness in my heart.

Sadly, Zero Two and I grabbed each other's hands and walked back to the Klaxosaur Princess, who was standing by an odd ship of sorts.

In addition to evolving, they had apparently begun building, "flying machines," as she referred to them, in case the soul harvester returned...however, they were not prepared for the evolution of the human species to get manipulated and drill for magma energy themselves.

"Such petty carnage," the Klaxosaur Princess tutted in our heads. "All because eight children didn't want to play nice. Tyranny. Now do you understand, human and copy?"

She opened the door to her ship. "This will take you to him. Bring him back to me, alive, and you will be left to live in peace."

Zero Two and I nodded, wordlessly. For once in my life, I was at a loss for words.

"Good," the princess nodded, "I have no doubts they will be expecting you. So you may want to be prepared for a fight...more than the one you gave me, preferably."

"We'll be ready," I replied, a little bit more bite on my words than I intended. The hole in my chest was beginning to fill with anger, with hatred towards our upbringings.

She smirked. "Good. I look forward to your success. Or failure. I suppose it matters not to me."

On her tentacles, she began clawing back to the Grand Crevasse, leaving us to our fate.

"I'm not sure how I feel about her, darling," Zero Two folded her arms, disdain dripping from her tongue.

"Same here," I admitted, "but I know how I feel about the bastards who did this."

She flashed a sadistic grin at me. "Let's make them pay, darling."

I pulled something from my back pocket; a Spider-Man mask of my own creation, though I added to holes for my horns. "Yeah. Let's get our friends back."

She looked at the mask, quizzically. "You know everyone knows you're the Spider-Man, darling."

I pulled the fabric over my head. "I know, it just...it makes me feel stronger than I normally am."

She leaned over to me, and pulled the bottom of the mask up to kiss me. As she pulled away, she smiled. "I love you with or without it, darling."

"Thanks," I turned my expression more serious. "Now come on. We've got a job to do."

As we stepped into the Klaxosaur ship, it sprang to life on it's own; apparently it had been made to seek out Papa or Virm or whatever she called him, and bring the fight to him.

"You really think we can do this?" I asked my partner.

She grabbed my hand and grinned. "Remember what I said last time we flew? We can do anything if we're together."

I laughed. "Yeah. You're right. We'll get our friends back and bring that asshole down."

As we approached the tower in the distance, I told my partner something that had been on my mind since we got in the ship. "Growing up, they always told us about the Sky Sanctuary that Papa and the Sages lived in, watching over us to protect the Adults from the Klaxosaur menace. We were told all sorts of wonderful things about their tower in the sky - like it was this place of joy and serenity, that nothing bad could get you there, that there was no strife there. But obviously, none of us were ever allowed as imperfect, dirty Children."

Zero Two gave a small snort of amusement. "Like everything else you were taught, the tower is nothing like that, darling. Though, I only ever went a few times. Most of the time they called Alpha there as our leader." She leaned back in her chair. "I was too much of a troublemaker."

"You? A troublemaker?" I teased. "I don't see it."

She stuck her tongue out at me in response.

The banter was interrupted as my Inner Alarm rang, and I looked out the front window. The Tower had its own defense systems, just like the Plantation. Turrets began pointing at our ship and opened fire, rocking the vessel and throwing us to the ground. I sprang up to the control panel, using my powers to grip to the floor and console, and looked for some sort of defense mechanism.

Unfortunately, the Klaxosaurs had some weird language I didn't know how to read. What is fortunate, is that the defenses for the ship were automated, just like everything else. Lasers began firing from our ship, hitting the turrets with miraculous accuracy.

"Why did they even need Klaxosaur creatures if they had lasers?!" I griped as the ship rocked further.

We were outgunned, and I ducked behind the control panel as the glass begin to crack and splinter under gunfire. I dove backwards, scuttling across the ground towards Zero Two as the control panel itself began to spark and crack.

I slipped an arm around her midsection. "I don't think the ride is going to make it, sweetheart."

"Do you have a plan, darling?" She asked. How she stayed so cool under pressure, I'd never know.

"Well, they need to think we're dead," I rationalized, watching the control panel heat up with sparks. "So I have an idea, but it's really stupid. You trust me, right?"

"Of course!"

"Okay, hold on to my back and don't. Let. Go."

She did so, and I began webbing up the control panel, sealing up all the heat. Alarms began to blare, including the one in my head.

I had to time this just right to make it so Papa would believe we'd die, so I crouched against the back wall as the engine began to fail.

My Inner Alarm spiked, and I used my slingshot web move, where I used to web lines on the sides of the windshield, and kicked through the window, to break out of the ship. Once we cleared it, the ship exploded behind us, propelling us towards the tower.

I held my breath as the turrets stopped firing, and I shot another web line, swinging down and sticking to the building.

"Are you okay?!" I asked Zero Two as soon as I found my grip, , panting and shaking with nerves.

She just squeezed my chest as she held onto me. "I have the coolest darling."

"Well I'm glad YOU enjoyed that, that was terrifying," I replied with a snicker as I began scaling the building. "We need to find a way in, they'll find us if we stay out here...Ah yes!"

I beamed as I found an access vent in the building. "My greatest allies, air vents!"

Zero Two cleared her throat from my back. "S-second greatest allies," I corrected myself.

"That's better," she teased, climbing from my back into the vent, and I followed.

We traversed the vent until we found a deserted hallway, and descended, their vents much more narrow than what I was used to. "Any chance we can find a map?"

Zero Two smiled at me. "Well, you said it was a Sky Sanctuary, right? We should find a way to the top."

I nodded. "Makes sense. Let's see if we can find an elevator."

As we stalked along the hallway, we stopped as we heard voices coming from around the corner.

"Papa thinks they may have left. Make a sweep of the whole building if you have to!"

It was Nine Alpha, and he was approaching fast. Quickly, I grabbed Zero Two and jumped to ceiling. He walked under us, speaking into some sort of walkie talkie. Without warning, Zero Two squirmed free from me and pounced, landing right on top of Alpha and slamming his head into the floor, knocking him out. She grabbed his walkie talkie and crushed it in her hands.

"That was maybe the hottest thing I've ever seen," I said, landing next to her. "We should be careful though."

Hand in hand, we took to halls, finding the elevator shaft. As I mashed the button, my Alarm went off again as the light above the door lit up.

"Someone's coming," I whispered.

"Well then, I'll distract them," Zero Two grinned, "and you take them out. It's no fun if I'm the only one who gets any action, darling."

Nodding, I clung myself to the ceiling once more. Zero Two backed up, placed her hands behind her back, and gave a coy smile as the elevator slid open. Nine Delta and Epsilon charged forward the second they saw her.

"Long time no see, guys," Zero Two said.

"Where's-" Nine Delta began, but that was as far as I got as I sprung down on her, slamming her face into the floor like Zero Two had done moments before. Epsilon swung for me, but I shot a glob of webbing in his face, booted him against the wall, and stuck him there, unable to move or speak.

"Three down," I grinned, as my partner and I stepped onto the elevator, hitting the button for the top floor. "Easy enough."

Our hands snaked together once more as the elevator began its steady rise, tension rising in my chest as we climbed floor by floor. Looking over, even Zero Two's usually confident face seemed anxious.

As the lift grinded to a halt, we were met to a plain, white hallway. At the end of the sterile corridor, a door slid open as we approached. Neither of us could have anticipated what we would see inside.

The room itself was a circular, glass room that looked down on the world, held in place by the hallway we had come from. Seated in a semi-circular conference table, facing the door, were the Sages. Papa, in the middle, sat in an elevated seat, slouching in a bored fashion as the two of us charged forward. But we halted in our tracks as we saw our teammates there.

Physically, Squad 13 was no worse for wear. But each of them wore a vacant, glassy expression across their faces. "Guys...?" I gasped out, confused and terrified.

Momentarily forgetting the creepy old corrupt rulers we were there to fight, we ran over to our teammates. I grabbed Goro's shoulders and shook him lightly, with no response.

"What did you do to them?!" Zero Two cried out, waving her hand frantically in Ichigo's face.

The Sages all chuckled as they looked down on us from their perched seats.

"Don't worry." Papa replied, calmly. "They're happy now...with me."

"Nothing about that sentence makes me worry less!" I shouted, clenching my fists. "What's going on?!"

One of the Sages began to speak, but barely said the word, "Papa," before the man himself boomed, "SILENCE!"

"You're aware of my nature, by now," Papa drawled, sounding bored already.

My eyes widened under my mask. "It's true then? About...being a soul harvester?"

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO PAPA THAT WAY!" One of the Sages shouted from behind some weird primate mask.

In a flash, this masked Sage lunged for me, blades emerging from their sleeves. I prepared a fighting stance, as did Zero Two, but Papa barked, "STOP!"

The Sage froze, and Papa rose from his seat slowly. "I grow weary of this game. Quite frankly, I have obtained enough magma energy from this dying rock, and you two are far too troublesome." He chuckled. "The souls of your friends were just a perfect dessert to remind you who is in control. My Sages...I think it's time you join me in Eternal Eden."

It was the Sages' turn to act shocked, all of them raising their voices in protest, but before any of us could move a blinding white light filled the room. Zero Two and I both covered our eyes reflexively.

When we looked back, the Sages dropped to the ground as orbs of light flew from their bodies into Papa. His robe discarded, he stood, eight feet tall, a glowing, purple body that was both made of light and solid. Just looking at him hurt, as if my brain couldn't comprehend this level of being. On his chest stood what looked a diamond-shaped mask, the same pattern of the mask he had worn as Papa. The orbs of light, the souls of the sages, flew into that mask as he stood.

"Behold my true form, humans," he spoke, in a thousand voices that shook the entire room.

"P-Papa?"

I whirled around to see the Nines, even the ones we had trapped earlier, had emerged into the room. For once, Nine Alpha did not sound cocky. There was nothing but confusion in his voice.

"Did you know about this?!" Zero Two screamed to him.

The Nines all stood, frozen in terror, and the being that we had called Papa.

But no. This was Virm, wasn't it? This was the being Klaxosaur Princess told us about, his true form.

"Good luck on this dying rock," Virm sneered.

He raised his arm, and in a rush of what I could only assume was psychic energy, myself, Zero Two, the Nines, and the bodies of my Squad mates were blown back into the hallway as the circular room began to shake.

From the hallway, I saw the room we had just left began to move as Papa accessed a control panel.

My Inner Alarm screamed in my ears, and I realized why that room was disjointed: It was an escape pod.

I sprang towards the door as it began closing so the pod could lift off, but I was stopped as Zero Two grabbed my hand. "Darling wait!"

I turned to meet her eyes, and she ripped the mask off my face head, so her gaze could meet mine.

Ugh. She was really good at knowing how to hit me deep.

"Let me come with you."

I only had a split second to make this decision, and it was possibly the most selfish one I ever made.

"No," I broke my hand free, "I can't let you get hurt it this doesn't work. Please protect the others!"

I turned before she could stop me, and shot a web line onto the control panel in the escape pod room. I pulled myself forward, just barely getting through the heavy steel door as it slammed shut.

"I'm sorry, Zero Two," I mumbled as I heard her shout for me beyond the sealed door.

Virm looked up, shocked, and I punched him across his glowing, purple, featureless face. I didn't relent, landing on the control panel. I jumped off and hit a spinning back kick on his face, but it didn't seem to phase him at all, shock of me hitching a ride wearing off.

He swatted at me, backhanded as if I was an insect. Even with my Inner Alarm warning me, he moved too fast for me to dodge, and the impact sent me flying into a glass window. I could feel it crack under my weight as the ship began to dart across the sky.

"Code 016," Virm sneered, "Doctor Franxx's favorite pet project." He turned away from me, clearly not threatened in the least by my presence. "A disgusting creature. I look forward to watching you suffocate in the vacuum of space."

As he began typing on the control panel, I shot a web line to his shoulder and pulled, desperately, but the alien didn't budge. With an annoyed grunt, he grabbed my web line and pulled me towards him instead. I was pulled through the air, and was met with a giant fist to my cheek, throwing me into another window, which cracked as well.

Through my blurred vision, I could see the Grand Crevasse approaching below us.

I could never take him in a fight. I only had one shot at this, and I realized it as I slowly pulled myself off the floor.

The ship tilted to gain speed, and I knew it was now or never.I jumped, and shot a web at Virm's back, and as he turned, I swung myself around the entire room, latching onto the ceiling, and shot another web to the back of the control panel. I pulled, pulling off the entire protective casing.

"What are you doing?!" Virm shouted, a bit of panic in his voice. He lunged for me, but even with his speed, I was ready as I dove over him, landing on the floor, and covering all the electrical wire in the control panel with webbing.

It was over in a few seconds; the webbing covered the wires and began to heat the console. It sparked and cracked, and I jumped over to one of the cracked windows, bracing myself for the -

BOOM!

As the escape pod exploded in the air, no amount of bracing could prepare me for the deafening sound as I was pushed out of already weakened window. I could feel a few cuts along my chest and arms, but thankfully the enhanced durability of a spider kept me in one piece. Better than being completely defenestrated.

As my vision returned and my ears stopped ringing, I of course had the new problem to worry about of free falling towards the Grand Crevasse. More importantly, where was Papa?!

"YOU!"

I was grabbed by the collar by Virm, who was falling through the air behind me. "YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING! CODE 016!" He punched me towards the Grand Crevasse, and I tumbled through the air. But as I did, I got a good look at the scene above me.

As Virm fell through the air, the ruins of his escape pod scattered in the air above me.

Including a large, steel, radio communication needle.

You know, I used to compare myself to a flightless bird sometimes. Right now, I could use my partner and some flight.

But right now, I was a spider, and this was the web I wove with my choices.

"YOU WILL FAIL, CODE 016!" Virm screamed. "I WILL RISE AGAIN, AND YOU WILL DIE A SMEAR AGAINST THE DIRT, ALONE!"

"Probably not," I coughed. "I'm annoyingly persistent."

I shot a webline upwards, gravity assisting me as it splattered against his face. I pulled him downwards and launched myself up past him. I disconnected that line and shot two more on the communication needle.

It took all of my strength to twist in the air and fling the needle, striking it into the mask on Virm's chest, piercing him. He left out a scream of pain in his many voices, and I could see multiple orbs of light begin to fly out of him.

The souls! That's where he kept them!

I narrowed my body to fall faster and pounded against the base of the needle, driving it deeper as the Grand Crevasse rocketed closer to us as well.

"ALL YOU SOULS...I GAVE YOU PERFECTION! PEACE! ETERNAL EDEN!" Virm screamed in pain as we entered the cavern, the walls of the Grand Crevasse swallowing us in darkness.

My eyes began to dart around. If I didn't figure something out, I was going to be a stain on the pavement after all.

Ahead of us, a pipe stabilizing the elevator platform reached across the entire Crevasse.

Still attached to the communication needle. I placed my hand on Virm's foot and attached the strongest web I could muster, and jumped off.

The middle of the web line caught the support beam, leaving Virm hanging upside down. I used the moment as I kept falling to swing up and around the pipe a few times, until finally I stopped, hanging upside down a few feet above Virm.

I panted, and the alien began to laugh. "You foolish boy...you should have let us both fall! How do you plan to finish me now?!"

My Inner Alarm began to buzz, but this time, it was different. A slow grin crept across my face. "I'm not."

A black tentacle shot from the darkness, impaling Virm's throat as he screamed in pain. Another followed, ripping into his torso as the communication exploded from him.

The Klaxosaur Princess climbed up the side of the Crevasse with her other tentacles. She ripped Virm from my webbing, and I quickly web-lined myself to the opposing wall of the cave.

A sadistic smirk etched across her face as she held the struggling body of Papa close to her. "Oh, my old friend...we're going to have fun."

She glanced behind him, over to me. "Good work, human. Perhaps you're not all so bad. Good luck on the surface..." A giggle escaped her lips as she began descending into the Crevasse, Papa shouting and screaming, fear in his thousand voices, and the Princess' laugh turned into a full blown cackle.

After a moment, both voices turned silence.

And it was followed by a bloodcurdling scream in one thousand voices.

I leaned against the wall to catch my breath, and looked up at the Crevasse.

"She could have at least given me a lift out of here," I groaned, and I began to climb up once my heart stopped pounding in my ears.

It took the entire day to climb out of the pit of the Grand Crevasse, and as I finally hit the surface, a wave of relief washed over me to see Zero Two and my entire squad there, waiting for me.

"DARLING!"

Zero Two tackled me into a hug, almost knocking us back down into the pit, and before I could say anything, she pressed her lips against mine, tears streaming down her face.

"I'm - o - kay." I assured her between kisses.

She rested her horns against mine, smiling from ear to ear. "Darling...I'm going to make you pay for ditching me later," despite the words, the happiness in her voice was palpable.

"It will be worth it, I'm sure." I replied as I put my arms around her waist.

As she pulled away, the rest of my squad squashed me in to what I could only describe as the biggest group hug I could have imagined.

"Hiro, you fucking idiot!" Goro cheered through tears of joy amongst the other cries of my teammates.

I gave an exhausted laugh. "Yeah. That was pretty dumb."

From there, it wasn't easy, but we began to rebuild, starting at the abandoned town by the beach we had vacationed to all those weeks ago. We figured it would be easier to fix up old buildings as opposed to making new ones from scratch.

Dr. Franxx, Nana, and Hachi, were there waiting for us, to our shock. Once I had prevented the Nines from taking Kokoro and Mitsuru, the doctor suspected what would happen, and took our two caretakers to, "get the hell out of dodge," in his own words.

He explained his role in APE's stronghold of the earth, and perhaps in atonement, began to teach us how to live a life without magma energy; primitive electricity, irrigation systems for crops, and other things we would need to build a life for himself.

This by no means was easy; no, it took us about two years to get life up to a place where we could live independently. Perhaps he held out all that time for us, because it seemed like he died shortly after.

The Nines, who had decided to live with us and assist to atone for their treatment of us, left not long after. With no one to maintain them, they decided to wander the earth with what time remained.

That wasn't the only thing to change in the short amount of time; it turns out a big problem with the wedding we held was because Kokoro was pregnant. Months after we began rebuilding, she gave birth, and all of us began scavenging for any knowledge or books on babies we could find. As it turned out, they were a shit ton of work. Still, Kokoro and Mitsuru never looked as happy as when they were with their daughter, Ai.

And when I look at my friends in their new lives: Ikuno as a doctor, Futoshi as a baker, Miku, Zorome, and Ichigo as teachers, Zero Two and myself as hunters, and all the other children the Doctor had stored taking new roles, I knew this was the peace I felt was unobtainable for most of my life.

But it was obtainable, if you had the will for it to be.

"And...there!" I smiled to myself, closing the book. "All finished!"

I stood up and stretched. A year after rebuilding, I decided to chronicle my adventures as the Spider-Man of Plantation 13 in a memoir. It took a month or so to write, but I finally finished it.

I cracked open the windows of the house I shared with Zero Two, and I saw Zero Two outside with Goro and Ichigo.

"Good fishing today, Zero Two," Ichigo beamed. "I'll beat you next time!"

Zero Two laughed. "That will be the day, bossy."

"Say hi to Hiro for us," Goro smiled. "Are you guys joining us for dinner tomorrow?" He quickly added, "we'll have harvested the honey by then."

"Then we'll be there!"

I snickered as I heard my wife enter the house. "Darling! I'm back!" Tucking my book under my arm I went downstairs to greet her.

As she put her fish in the icebox and set her pole down, I asked, "So, did you win?"

"As always," she replied, confidently putting her hands on her hips. "I wish you had joined us though, darling. It's always more fun."

I rolled my eyes. "It's okay, but it gets a little old to keep coming back empty handed."

"That's what makes it fun," she teased, walking over to me, and giving me a kiss on the cheek. She spotted the book under my arm, and tilted her head. "Were you working on your story?"

I beamed. "It's finished."

Her eyes lit up with excitement; when I told her I was writing a book about our adventures together, she had begun drawing pictures of the things we had been through, which I promised I would incorporate into the book. She squeezed my hand and jumped up and down. "It's done?! You have to let me read it and see if there are more picture to add!"

I laughed. "Okay, okay. Want to take it to the park, sweetheart?"

I didn't have to ask twice; Zero Two was already pulling me out the door. "Come, darling!"

"It's amazing, darling!" Zero Two squealed, hugging the book to her chest. "That's what you should call it! The Amazing Spider-Man."

I chuckled. "Yeah? You think people will really want to read about that?"

It was her turn to roll her eyes at me. "They loved the the picture book we recreated."

"Mostly because of your drawings."

"Hush darling, you wrote beautifully," she pinched my cheeks, teasingly.

Sitting under our tree, a mistletoe tree we had found, we looked out to see Kokoro, pregnant again, with Ai. They were cooing over Zorome and Miku's baby. I couldn't help but smile at the sight, but I looked over to see Zero Two was looking at the same thing, looking a bit sad. "You okay, Zero Two?"

She glanced at me and snaked her fingers into mine. "I just...do you...do you regret that we can't have kids?"

I cupped her cheek with my free hand and brought her face to mine, giving her a deep kiss. In the distance, I could hear Zorome yell, "get a room," only to immediately be scolded by Kokoro and Miku.

As I broke away, I smiled to my partner. "Zero Two, where would the fun in raising a kid be if I couldn't do it with you?"

A smile spread across her cheeks as she rested her head on my shoulder. "You're really good at saying embarrassing things, darling."

"Well, not having to be Spider-Man gives me time to practice." I nuzzled my chin to her hair. "I love you."

"I love you too, darling."

THE END

It's been an honor, guys