Chapter Text
“One more time. Where are they?” The scientist, whose name Miguel hadn’t bothered to remember, stood in front of where Miguel had been chained to the wall. His entire body was running on fumes at this point, and his instincts were driving him mad.
With each passing hour he found himself losing more and more of a coherent thought and becoming more primitive.
Miguel merely curled his lips back revealed his fangs, dripping with blood. The doctor tsked at the electric muzzle that had been placed over his mouth.
Kids. Safe.
Friends. Safe.
Man. Danger.
No escape.
The doctor frowned; this time angrier than before when Miguel refused to speak. He shouted and slammed the knife down on Miguel’s thigh, where dozens of other wounds, cuts and marks covered him. And hundreds more covered the rest of his body.
Miguel bit back a scream and growled darkly.
Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.
Will heal.
Not bad.
No noise.
Kids safe.
“You can’t do this forever O’Hara.” The doctor snarled, leaning in close to Miguel, ignoring the talons he had tried to rip out yesterday, only to fail. They were cuffed up with high security and high voltage cuffs to the wall, bloody from all their attempts to remove them.
“Soon enough your healing isn’t going to work anymore. And your body will break down, and for what? A bunch of kids?”
My kids.
Mine.
Kids safe.
Kids gone.
Far.
Miguel’s heart hammered in his chest and he narrowed his eyes as the doctor practically spat in his face from frustration. He yanked on the chains again, feeling the dried blood twisting under his chains.
“And if you’re dead, who will protect them?” The doctor leered. Miguel’s throat made a threatening noise once more, fingers curling.
Peter.
Jess.
Peter.
Jess.
Protect kids.
Family protect.
Peter.
Jess.
Miles.
Gwen.
Hobie.
Pav.
The doctor’s eyes narrowed when Miguel didn’t speak. Miguel could smell the frustration on the man, and if he opened his mouth, even just slightly, he would probably be able to smell other emotions. “We will find them. One way or another, you can’t hide them forever.”
Safe. Safe.
Kids safe.
Protected kids.
Home.
Safe.
The doctor yanked the knife out of Miguel’s thigh, ignoring the blood dripping down, and Miguel didn’t make a sound. He grabbed the back of Miguel’s hair, causing Miguel to barely wince before pulling his face closer.
“You know I was gonna keep those kids alive, run experiments on them. Figure out the differences in you and them.” The doctor said heatedly and quickly, licking his lips. Miguel snarled, mind becoming foggier and foggier. “But now I think, when I find them. I’m gonna kill them. And you’re gonna watch.”
NO.
Safe.
Protect.
Keep safe. Must protect.
Kids safe.
Miles.
Gwen.
Hobie.
Pav.
Family keep safe.
Jess.
Peter.
At Miguel’s loud growl, and slight yank at his chains, the doctor leaned back with a grin.
“Better yet, I’m going to let you do the honors.” He dropped Miguel’s hair, ignoring the man’s growing animalistic growl. The man then walked over to the door where a scientist handing him a small puncture gun with a vial of red liquid.
Miguel’s heart thumped.
Safe.
Kids safe.
Family protect.
Protect family.
Peter.
Jess.
Miles.
Gwen.
Pav.
The scientist left Miguel and the doctor alone, as the man emptied the vial into the puncture gun. It looked eerily similar, and a part of Miguel’s brain had a recollection of something green in his shoulder.
Safe?
Keep safe?
Me.
Kids safe.
“See, I know your DNA is at odds with one another, thanks to your accident with Dr. Aaron. That you have to keep this animalistic spider instinct at bay.” The doctor said causally as he made his way towards Miguel. Miguel’s brain was going haywire.
Danger.
Danger.
DANGER.
Bad.
Bad.
Bad. Badbadbadbadbadbadbadbadbad.
Bad.
“Turns out you’ve been taking antibodies to contain the DNA inside you.” The doctor smirked. Miguel opened his mouth, fangs dripping in his muzzle. “Something that keeps it at bay.”
Not it.
Bad.
Bad.
Family protect.
Safe.
Gone. Safe. Gone.
Miles.
Hobie.
Pav.
Gwen.
Peter.
Jess.
“Keeps the monster at bay.” The man was so close to Miguel by now that if it wasn’t for the muzzle, he would have bitten this man’s jugular out.
No monster.
Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.
Safe.
Kids safe.
Far.
Protect.
Mi –
Ho –
Pav –
Gw –
Je –
Pe –
“But it’s been at least 4 days since your last dose? Isn’t that right?” The doctor had a leering smirk on his face and Miguel’s throat was tightening. He couldn’t understand where this fear was coming form when he should be angry.
Too long.
Long.
Hurts. Hurts. Hurts.
Bad.
Badbadbadbadbadbadbad.
Family.
Where family?
Gone.
Safe?
“By my calculations you’ll be reverting back to your instincts soon.” The doctor moved the puncture gun up closer to Miguel’s neck. His mind was screaming at him to protect his neck.
Vulnerable.
Not safe.
Bad.
Bad.
Kids safe?
Far?
Where?
Kids?
M –
P –
G –
H –
P –
J –
“Too bad I’m in a bit of a rush.” The being before Miguel spoke. Miguel blinked and snarl when a sharp pain bit into his neck, and cold shocking pain filled his body. “Lucky for us, we have a way of speeding up the process.”
Safe?
Help.
Not safe.
Please.
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“Open the door, please.”
“No.”
“Open the door or I swear to god –”
“You’ll what? Punch me? Zap me with your fancy-pancy electric powers?” Peter stared down at Miles, smirking that he was still a little bit taller than the kid. For now. He absolutely hated the furious look on Miles’s face, that clashed with the red rimmed eyes. But Peter could only deal with his own inner turmoil at the moment, let alone the kids’.
His heart broke, but he couldn’t bring himself to do more.
He wanted nothing more than to smash down the doors at Alchemax and go in for the kill, to bring back Miguel.
No longer did he care to be the peacemaker.
To be Spiderman and what he represented.
He wanted revenge.
But he couldn’t show the kids’ that. They had no idea what Peter, Jess and Miguel had once been capable of. Neither should they.
They still had that ounce of innocence left.
“Get me out of this net.” Hobie snarled from where Jess had launched him into a tangle of webs when he attempted to override Lyla’s coding. He nearly succeeded and what was worse was that Lyla had let him, but Jess has wrapped him tight into her webbing and stuck him to a wall.
“If you’re gonna deactivate Lyla, then no.” Jess said in a monotonous tone.
“What do you expect us to do?” Miles snarled at Peter. “Just sit here?! It’s been four days.” Peter’s heart panged.
“We cannot go rushing in.” Peter began quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose in a very familiar manner. “We need a plan.”
“And yours involves leaving Miguel behind.” Gwen shouted from where she was dangling by her back, feet off the ground, in a trap of Peter’s. “Your plan is to just sit here and let him die! How is that a plan?!”
“We are not leaving him!” Peter shouted, turning from Miles to Gwen. Hearing movement behind him, Peter didn’t even turn around to shoot a string of web at Miles’s feet, tripping the kid on the ground. He turned around furious, watching Miles struggled to get up.
“Sure, looks like it.” Pavitr whispered bitterly. He was the only one who wasn’t tied up at the moment, but Miguel could see the holes in the wall from where he had broken down and punched repeatedly.
“We are not just going to rush into Alchemax, because look where that led us last time.” Jess said with some heat behind her voice. Peter winced at the low blow, feeling the exact moment the kids felt it too.
“This was not our fault.” Hobie shouted furiously.
“No one was implying that –” Peter began tiredly.
“No, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Jess interrupted angrily. “If you kids hadn’t just rushed into Alchemax with no plan, then we wouldn’t have had to come rescue you.”
“And you would have done any better?” Gwen spat. “You adults are all the same. Always keeping secrets. Never keeping us in the loop. Maybe if you had talked to us about Alchemax, we could have all come up with a plan. But no, you had to go play heroes. Miguel got himself into this mess, and now we’re debating even rescuing him.”
“That wasn’t ours to say anything.” Peter snapped hotly. “You don’t always get to know everything. Look, everyone, let’s just calm down for a few seconds.”
“We’re wasting time.” Hobie hissed. “Just like always. Even now you can’t even trust us to save him!”
“We would trust you if you would think for 5 minutes.” Jess hissed right back; eyes narrowed on Hobie. Who was not backing down at all, despite his predicament of being tied up. Peter was almost impressed by his ability to glare down a grown woman twice his age.
“You treat us like kids! As if we can’t do anything right!” Miles furiously shouted.
“Because you are! And you continue to act like kids!” Peter snarled, turning to face Miles, who froze at the sight. “That was Miguel’s who fucking point! You are kids! It’s why he didn’t want you anywhere near the lab! And you went against that.”
Miles and Hobie were silent while Gwen angrily started up behind him.
“We can’t be kids!” She snarled loudly. “Not when we have to be Spiderwoman or Spiderman. There’s no time, when our cities need a hero. When we have to be strong.”
“Miguel wouldn’t want that.” Peter said suddenly, feeling a stinging burn behind his eyes. He couldn’t cry now, not in front of the kids, not when Miguel was still captured. “He wanted you to be kids – even just for a moment. Not heroes. Not Spiders. Just – just kids. His kids.”
“And he’s ours!” Pavitr practically wailed, taking a piece of machinery that was twice his size and slamming it into the wall beside him. “He is ours, and we’re just sitting around like a bunch of assholes not giving a single shit about what could be happening to him!”
Peter couldn’t speak when Pavitr finally crumpled to the ground on his knees, head in his hands and shoulders shaking with sobs. He was frozen, unable to move even to comfort the kid and looking over, he noticed Jess in the same boat.
A quiet thump came from beside them and Hobie was storming over to Pavitr, after escaping his confines. Turning Gwen was dangerously close to a similar state as Pavitr. Quietly, Hobie knelt beside Pavitr and allowed the younger teen to grab onto his vest tightly and burry his face in Hobie’s chest. Peter could see Hobie’s hands trembling slightly as he comforted Pavitr.
“Pav...” Peter said gently, feeling all of the fight leave him with a cold emptiness. What had they done? He looked at Jess’s tear-stained face and nodded to Gwen. Jess silently nodded with guilt before moving to cut down the girl. Peter turned to Miles who was silent and facing the floor away from Peter.
Oh Miles. I’m so sorry.
“Kids...” Peter knelt beside Miles, seeing the silent tears running down Miles’s face and he began to cut the webs around his feet. “I’m sorry. I – I know you’re all worried about Migs. We all are. He was our friend. I know he was – he was special to you kids, after the past year. But Migs meant a lot to Jess and I too. He was our best friend.” Peter finished, when he saw the guilt stricken look on Miles’s face.
“We hate leaving him there.” Jess said softly, Gwen shoved into her side. She quietly walked towards Pavitr and Hobie, while Peter picked Miles up and did the same. “I want nothing more than to go back into Alchemax and rip the heads off those scientists until we get Miguel back. But we can’t be careless. He wouldn’t want that.”
“As much of a self-sacrificing idiot, he is, Miguel did what he did to keep us safe. You kids especially.” Peter said gently, throat burning from tears. “He did what he did to get us all out of the fight and protect us. That is his way of saying how much he loves you.”
“But we can’t just ignore his sacrifice, go in guns blazing, and get captured.” Jess said bitterly, the words tasting like ash on his tongue. “What we are gonna do is come up with a plan. Find Miguel. Kick the shit out of his low self-esteem and give him a hundred hugs and bring him home.”
“I trust you kids, and I’m sorry we made you feel otherwise.” Peter whispered. “You’re right. Even though you are kids you’re Spiderpeople. Protectors and heroes first. So, yes no more lies and secrets. You’re involved in this rescue plan, as much as Jess and I. But we must be smart. We can’t risk them hurting Migs any more than they may already have, and we must guarantee a rescue for this plan to work.”
Peter looked up, meeting the teary but determined gaze of four teenagers and he was reminded of how much these kids continued to inspire him. How much Miles had become the reason for Peter wanting to improve his relationship with MJ, be a better Spiderman and husband.
They weren’t just kids.
Miguel had even understood that.
“We’re sorry for accusing you of not caring.” Gwen said quietly against Jess’s side. “He was like a da – he was – he meant a lot to us. But I forget he was your friend first. And this can’t be easy for you either.”
“Yeah.” Miles agreed. Peter hugged the kid tighter when he buried his face in Peter’s shoulder. “That was selfish of us.”
“Not selfish.” Peter said with a gentle smile. “Sometimes we act like assholes when we’re worried about the people we care about.”
Miguel.
The group was interrupted when Lyla suddenly glitched beside Peter. She was buzzing with chaotic electric energy and Peter swore she looked furious.
“Lyla?”
She ignored him and pulled a large screen in front of the group, which was displaying a silent video. Except the closer Peter look, the more he realized that the person on screen was the evil lead doctor from Alchemax.
The same one who had tried to hurt the kids.
Who had taken Miguel.
Peter’s eyes flashed and Lyla turned on the volume.
“– it has come to our attention that Spiderman has posed a threat to our society.” The doctor said smugly into the camera, causing everyone to tense up. Lyla glitched in and out of existence several times and the kids squared int together, closer to the screen. The group watched in anticipation as footage from the fight against Miles and Miguel showed up from a year ago. Mainly of Miguel clawing his way through the city of Nueva York’s roadways. Jumping from cars, smashing into windshields, scaling the train to the moon and finally slamming Miles into the train.
“He has caused nothing but destruction to our beautiful city and we even have confirmation he is attempting time and dimensional travel, causing great threats to the security of our universe and time.” The doctor lied with a sharp smile, reminding Peter of a monster. “Luckily Alchemax has contained this beast and intends to keep him off the streets of our city as it continues to innovate. Alchemax will keep Nueva Yok safe from the threats of Spiderman now and any Spidermen planning to follow in his footsteps.” The way he stared at the camera sent shivers down Peter’s spine and he narrowed his eyes.
This was a message for us. Meant for us to see.
Come and get him, or we will take care of him.
We will kill him.
The screen went blank when the interview ended, and a reporter took over. Lyla fizzled out in fury and glitched out of sight.
“That – that – that cabrón!” Miles snarled swiping the screen away. Beside him, Hobie’s grip on Pavitr tightened and Gwen clenched her jaw. “That was meant for us. It was a threat!”
“It was.” Peter nodded.
“I’m going to kill him.” Hobie snarled and for once neither Peter nor Jess corrected the teen. Reluctantly, both of them were having similar thoughts, hoping to beat Hobie.
“I have a plan.” Miles said suddenly, turning to look at Peter was the most serious look he had seen on the kid’s face so far. He couldn’t find an ounce of fear or childish mentality on the kid and slowly he nodded. “We’re getting Tío back and taking down Alchemax.”
“Okay. Let’s hear it.”
“Status.”
“In position and planting Hobie’s distractions throughout the last of the trees.” Jess said, voice filling the ears of the other 5 occupants all waiting in their own positions. Pavitr swung opposite of her silently, placing his own devices on the remaining trees.
"All clear captains!" Pavitr smiled, looking sharper than Jess typically saw in their fights together. She smiled at the cheerful attitude still in Pavitr’s voice. Stay positive.
“Gwen, Miles and I are ready for infiltration by door Y2.” Hobie said, eyeing the guarded door several feet away from them. Miles has the three of them invisible with simply the connection of a single strand of web touching himself and the other two. Mile’s eyes narrowed darkly when a scientist passed by the window.
“Clear when you are Peter.” He nodded to Gwen and Hobie, who both sensed this and nodded back.
“I’m ready for an invasive attack.” Peter said taking a deep breath, from his hiding spot at the recently fixed skylight. “Pavitr, light ‘em up.”
“With absolute pleasure!” He said cheerfully. Together he and Jess synced up their watches via Hobie’s instructions and watched as several explosions occurred outside the forest (thankfully non-destructive to the environment thanks to some future technology Hobie borrowed from Miguel).
“3...2...1. Showtime Miles.” Jess said as she and Pavitr slunk back when a bunch of guards in flying vehicles raced towards the explosions in the forest. Pavitr watched as the doors by Y2 were relieved when the guards ran off to help.
At the door, Miles took a deep breath, feeling Hobie and Gwen booth grab his shoulder, before making their way to the doors.
“Remember, just focus. Use the whole palms.” Hobie said softly when Miles stopped in front of the locked door. He nodded to himself and placed both palms on the door. Then after a second, he felt a small spark run through his body and traveled down his fingers straight into the door. There was a tiny spark along the door and then suddenly it was opening. Less explosive and less noise.
“Good job Miles!” Gwen said proudly causing Miles to blush.
“Yeah, good work mate.” Hobie said with a grin. Miles grinned at the two before slinking into the building.
“Hobie’s been teaching you how to use your powers better?” Miguel asked as he and Miles sat across from each other in their usual training room. The other were all busy in their universes and Miles was avoiding another family function, so here he was training with Miguel. Miles nodded. “And Peter, right?”
Again, Miles nodded.
“So, why again do you need me to help?” Miguel asked in confusion and Miles froze. He hadn’t thought this far ahead. How was he supposed to tell Miguel that he just enjoyed spending time with him, without making it sound weird or creepy. Honestly, if you had told Miles from nearly a year ago that he would want to willingly spend time with Miguel O’Hara, he would have laughed in your face.
“Seriously, it sounds like you’re making progress with those two. I doubt you need my help.” Miguel said with a causal shrug and Miles frowned.
“Um, but as leader, shouldn’t you be overseeing all of our training?” Miles asked quickly.
“I know when you have training, but I trust Peter and the others to actually be handling your training without me.” Miguel said, leaning back in his seated position.
“But um, you have experience! More so than them!” Miles said, mentally cheering at his reply.
“Maybe Hobie, but that’s cause he’s a decade younger.” Miguel said instead. “Peter has way more experience than me.”
“But not with my powers.” Miles pointed out.
“Well no. But no one has experience with mine either.” Miguel replied, causing Miles to pause. He hadn’t thought about that. Miguel’s powers did seem to differ from theirs, from the venom, to not sticking to walls, to apparently night vision.
“Kid, you’re doing fine.” Miguel said suddenly and put a hand on Miles’s shoulder. Miles blinked looking up at the other Spiderman who was now leaning over Miles. A position Miguel rarely tried to do to Miles or any of the kids anymore. One that used to make Miles terrified.
“What?”
“You’re doing good kid.” Miguel said softly, expression gentle. “Stop putting so much pressure on yourself and let yourself relax a little. You’re growing up to be one of our best, but you’re still just a kid. Don’t spend all your time training. Trust me, it gets pretty lonely.”
Miles blinked in genuine shock.
“Oh.” He hadn’t even realized the weight he had been carrying all this time until he listened to Miguel’s words. He felt as if he could actually breathe easier. “Okay.”
“Okay.” Miguel smiled a small smile and leaned back.
“Wanna go torment the kitchen staff about their shitty empanadas?” Miles asked suddenly causing Miguel to snicker.
“They’re not that bad.”
“Miguel. Tío, they are awful. A disgrace to your culture. I’m going to have mí abuela make you some real empanadas and you’ll see.” Miles said with a sigh. Miguel looked conflicted but nodded.
“My mama didn’t typically make any traditional Mexican food. I guess these were the closest I got.” Miguel said with a shrug, not catching Miles’s horrified face.
“That’s it! You’re coming back with me to the family function. I cannot sit here knowing you never had good food! It isn’t Mexican but it’s Puerto Rican and I think you’ll still like it.” Miles ranted, standing up to grab Miguel and pull him off the floor.
Miles took another breath, blinking back from the memory and moving towards where the security room was. He could hear more explosions going off, this time inside the building from what he knew to be Peter and Jess, who were both in charge of destroying as much of Alchemax as they could.
Which they gladly would.
They stopped outside the security, Miles making them visible just as Pavitr joined them. He grinned, fist bumping all three and they opened the door. Before the two guards could yell or reach for their weapons, Gwen and Pavitr had them tied up and silenced in their webs, before tossing them in the storage closet.
“Hobie, do your thing.” Miles said with a nod. “Pav, following Hobie’s instructions to Miguel’s location and Gwen and I will contain the doctor.”
“Remember to contain him.” Hobie said, not looking up from the screen he was inserting a device into. “As much as I would like to see the bastard rot, like the downfall of a fascist regime, our priority is Miguel. We find him, we get him out.” He finally looked up before the other three left the room, mask removed and meeting each of their eyes. Despite their own emotions and thoughts about the plan, the three nodded.
Finding Miguel was priority number 1.
Getting everyone home was priority number 2.
No matter how much they wanted the doctor to pay.
“Got it.”
“Roger!”
“Aye, aye!”
The three were gone before Hobie could even roll his eyes at them. Taking a breath, he shut the door and forced it to keep anyone out but him, before turning back to the array of floating screens in front of him.
“Okay, let’s dismantle this establishment.” He grinned crookedly before getting to work with fiddling in the system’s mainframe and security footage. His first step was to locate Miguel, and then the doctor.
Hobie immediately went to the labs and anywhere that looked like experiments were conducted. He scanned multiple levels at once, inputting any data about Miguel he could. Scowling, when he couldn’t find Miguel, he paused when a file suddenly came up.
Chemical – X. Last usage one hour ago. Level 9.
Chemical – X? What was that and how did it relate to Miguel?
Digging deeper, Hobie scanned the document, only to feel a growing pang of horror fill his stomach.
Chemical – Z seems to be Spiderman’s personal injection to keeping his Spider DNA instincts from overriding his human instincts. After observation, it is noted that Chemical – Z is used to help stabilize the DNA at its molecular structure and allow for more control. This is hypothesized to be a semi-daily injection for Spiderman.
Chemical – X is the reverse with opposite effects.
Chemical – X will speed up the deterioration process and allow Spiderman’s spider instincts to fully take control. It is estimated that it would take a week for Spiderman to lose control without Chemical – Z injections, but only 4 days with Chemical – X injections.
Spiderman shows volatile, animalistic behavior with each injection and it is theorized he will lose total human control by day 5.
“These motherfuckers!” Hobie snarled. It was already day four. Scanning the document, Hobie found the lab that Chemical – X had been used and he saw with a terrified gaze, Miguel lying on the ground, slumped over.
His heart raced and his throat burned as he zoomed in on the room, noticing the blood caking the floors and walls. There were long claw marks and scratches on every wall of the room, along with severe damages to anything not attached to a wall. Miguel didn’t look any better, covered in what appeared to be blood (whose?) and unmoving. His Spidersuit looked weird, completely black instead of the red and blue, and just off.
“Pav, I’ve got him!” Hobie said into their coms suddenly. “Level 9, fourth hallway on the left, room 9203. Hurry, he looks bad!” Hobie didn’t bother to mention what he had learned about Chemical – X to not worry the others, but he could feel the dread pooling up at what Pavitr might find.
“Head down to Level 9 now!” Pavitr said, swinging down in that direction.
Hobie breathed a sigh of relief before glancing back at the screens. Now to find the sick bastard who did this.
“Have you ever killed someone before?” Hobie asked one day as he was bothering Miguel in his lab. For once Miguel wasn’t watching all of the multiverses on his screens, but instead he was fiddling with some device at a worktable.
“That’s not your typical Tuesday question.” Miguel said without stopping his work. He ignored Hobie stealing parts along the worktable, before fiddling with something of his own. “That better be the system infiltration bug I asked you to build two weeks ago.”
“Nah, I finished that. Just forgot to give it to you Papí.” Hobie said with a leering grin. Miguel sighed heavily but continued with his work. “This is just something to break help elevate your day pass for Miss Mayday.”
Miguel nodded in approval.
“So...have you?” Hobie asked again when the two worked in a few minutes of comfortable silence. Miguel paused, finally looking up at Hobie with a look that Hobie could only describe as concern.
“What brought this on?” Miguel asked instead. Hobie shrugged, trying to play nonchalant with his fiddling.
“Just curious.” Hobie said quietly. “Wondering if Spider people ever do that?”
“Kill?”
“Yeah.”
Miguel was silent for a long time, so long that Hobie had thought he was just ignoring Hobie. However, he was surprised when Miguel spoke.
“Yeah. I have.” He finally said. Hobie blinked, staring at the man. “I’m not tell you who kid, don’t even ask.”
“Wasn’t gonna.” Hobie mumbled, surprised he meant the truth. “You know, there’s some people in my universe I wish were dead, and that they would deserve it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Hobie said. Miguel didn’t say anything, he didn’t argue or try to convince Hobie that being Spiderman was only about saving people. Not having thoughts like this.
“I do too.” Miguel finally said. Hobie frowned. “I know that’s probably wrong of me to say, but there’s people in our worlds that truly just – deserve to die. That we’d be better off without them in our world, hurting people.”
“Yeah. Sometimes I think about some of these bad guys, that we fight and don’t, and I can’t help but wish that maybe my guitar would hit them a little too hard.” Hobie admitted softly. “After all the pain they’ve caused and all the people they hurt, and they get to keep living?”
“It’s not fair.” Miguel agreed.
“Yeah.” Hobie said.
“Alright, I’m going to need you to give me that system infiltration device then.” Miguel switched topics and Hobie felt like he could breathe again. They never spoke about this conversation again, but after this Miguel had taken Hobie with him on days where he trained at boxing rings, spending all day taking their frustrations out on a poor dummy.
“Miles, Gwen. He’s in level 8, walking towards what looks like a vault on the left side. You’re ten seconds out.” Hobie said firmly, gaining reaffirming nods from the two from the screen he was watching them on. He looked back towards the screen with Miguel still on the ground, watching as Pavitr closed in on Miguel’s location.
Hold on Miguel. Just a few more minutes.
Pavitr felt like he couldn’t move fast enough, even though he was already down 8 levels. Every time he had to stop and tie up a guard or scientist, he felt like he was wasting time. Precious time that Miguel might not have. He looks bad. Hobie’s words wouldn’t stop ringing in his ears.
Finally, Pavitr stopped outside door 9203.
He’s in here!
As Pavitr waited for Hobie to open the door, he took a steadying breath,
“Pav.” Peter’s voice suddenly filled his ears. “Be careful. Before you go in. They might have done something to Migs.”
Pavitr frowned. What did that mean?
“He might be confused or not understand what’s going on. Just – just be careful. It’s been four days since...” Peter paused, and the sounds of explosions filled the silence.
“Since what?” Pavitr asked hesitantly.
“Since his injections that keep his instincts stabilized?” Hobie finally asked. Pavitr gasped.
“...How do you know that?” Peter asked finally. Pavitr swallowed thickly, fingers itching for the door, but it was still not open.
“Alchemax countered that since it’s been four days. With a new drug.” Hobie eventually said. Pavitr was still confused by that, but he heard Peter and Jess curse and then there was suddenly movement over the comms.
“Pav, hold off going in there! Wait for Jess or I!” Peter said. Pavitr bit his lip, willing to wait if only for the desperation in Peter’s voice but then suddenly the door opened to Pavitr and Hobie’s surprise.
Pavitr took one look inside and took off running towards the figure of Miguel, on the ground, without a second thought. Peter and Jess’s yells along with Hobie’s shouts were ignored by the ice-cold fear racing through Pavitr’s heart.
All sound became muffled as he raced to Miguel’s side, taking in the blood, the marks and all the destruction around Miguel. Who was unmoving.
Get up.
Get up.
Please get up.
“Papí, you need to hide me and ask no questions!” Pavitr shouted loudly, hair wild and eyes wide. Miguel simply turned to the teen, body tense and ready for a fight that he had no idea about. Pavitr simply shoved himself behind Miguel’s frame and began to bury himself in between Miguel’s desk and trash can.
“What on Earth-51010 are you doing?” Miguel asked, starring at the kid who was trying to hide in the worst hiding spot ever.
“I may or may not have put hair dye in Gwen’s shampoo and now she may or may not be sporting orange hair.” Pavitr explained miserably, causing both of Miguel’s eyebrows to raise high.
“Do you have a death wish?” Miguel asked.
“No.” Pavitr whispered.
“Are you that bored?”
“No.”
“Is this what kids call thrill-seeking?”
“I don’t think so?”
Miguel pinched the bridge of his nose. “Then why would you think it would be nice to not only dye your friend’s hair? But then to also run and hide.”
“It was an accident!” Pavitr argued loudly, pushing himself out of his sad hiding spot. “It was supposed to be Hobie’s shampoo, but I had no idea they share sometimes. Hobie told me he never dyed his hair before, and I thought he’d look really cool with even more color. It was also supposed to be red, not orange but I think I mixed the color wrong.”
“Did Hobie say he wants his hair dyed?” Miguel asked, arms over his chest in the classic dad-pose that made Pavitr shrink down.
“Yeah, but he um, he said he could never afford to go to a salon – especially one that knew how to take care of his hair properly.” Pavitr said. “I just used some powder dye in shampoo. It’ll wash out in a couple washes; in case he didn’t like it. I was just trying to help.
“Ay niño. ¿Qué voy a hacer contigo?” Miguel sighed gently before shaking his head. He gestured the boy to get out of his hiding spot, and Pavitr perked up understanding Miguel’s Spanish. Thanks to Miles’s lesson.
“Love me unconditionally and forgive me?” Pavitr batted his eyelashes, purposely widening his eyes. Miguel snorted patting him on the head, messing up his already messy hair.
“Knock it off brat, don’t try acting cute to get out of this.” He replied and Pavitr beamed.
“I’m cute? Am I your favorite?” Pavitr teased.
“Do you want a hiding spot or not?” Miguel asked. Pavitr immediately scrambled after Miguel and followed to where he had a bed set up in the corner of his office. It was sad and pitiful, looking hardly used.
“Get under the covers.”
“What?”
“Get under the covers and trust me.”
That’s all it took and Pavitr was under the bed covers. For a few seconds, he felt Miguel shift the sheets and covers around, much to Pavitr’s confusion. After a minute, the shifting stopped, and Miguel walked away from the bed. Just as Pavitr heard footsteps storming into the room.
“Not. A. Word.” Gwen snarled and Pavitr’s head dropped.
“I’m not even going to ask.” Miguel said.
“Have you seen Pav? I’m going to kill him.”
“Murder is bad.” Miguel said causing Gwen to scream in frustration. “But no, I haven’t seen the kid. Have you checked the nest?”
“That little shit!” Pavitr held his breath tightly before hearing Gwen storm off. He waited another few minutes, until Miguel gently pulled the covers off Pavitr.
“All clear kid, but maybe stay out of her way for the rest of the day?” Miguel said softly and Pavitr nodded. He would do whatever Miguel said.
“Miguel?” Pavitr said shakily, hovering over Miguel’s side. He couldn’t tell exactly where the blood was coming from. But it was clearly Miguel’s and all over him. His hands were shaking as he tried to determine how to roll Miguel over and check him. “Miguel? ¿Papí?”
As gently as he could, Pavitr rolled Miguel onto his back, nearly bursting into tears at the wounds littering Miguel’s body. Stab wounds. Burn marks. Cuts. Slashes.
“¿Papí? ¿Papí?” Pavitr said, feeling his panic growing with each gentle shake. He could hear multiple voices in his ear but ignored them all when Miguel’s eyes fluttered. “Papí! Can you hear me? It’s Pav, I’m right here!”
Miguel’s eyes fluttered open and then close for a few more seconds, before opening slightly. Pavitr’s swallowed at the deep red color of Miguel’s eyes. Miguel’s eyes always had a red tint to his eyes, but over the past few months, the kids had learned that Miguel actually had brown eyes.
But these were almost blood red.
“¿Papí?” Pavitr said quietly. Miguel snapped his eyes to Pavitr and immediately narrowed. Pavitr had a split second where his Spider-senses went off, literally screaming in his head, before he was jumping away. He could see the tips of talons just inches away from his face, causing Pavitr to jump onto the furthest wall away from Miguel.
By now Miguel was up and crouched low, looking at Pavitr with absolutely no recognition. And as if Pavitr was the enemy.
“¿Papí?” Pavitr whispered. Miguel responded with a deep throated growl, that sent shivers down his spine. “Miguel? It’s – It’s Pav. We’re here to rescue you.”
Instead of a hug or relief, or even the tears Pavitr had imagined, Miguel’s lips curled back, and he suddenly launched himself at Pavitr with incredible speed. Pavitr almost couldn’t escape Miguel’s speed, and simply avoided by squeezing past Miguel. He shuddered when he watched Miguel’s claws sink deep into the wall where Pavitr had been.
“Pavitr! What’s happening?!” Peter shouted in Pavitr’s ears.
“I – I don’t know. It’s Miguel! It’s like that time with Miles, but worse!” Pavitr cried, dodging yet another attack from Miguel, while Miguel snarled loudly. “Miguel, stop!”
“SHIT! We’re coming Pav, hold on!” Peter said urgently and Pavitr swallowed thickly. Miguel turned to face him with another growl. His hands, with sharpened talons, were curled at his sides, ready to attack. His fangs were visible, practically dripping with what Pavitr assumed to be venom now instead of saliva.
“Papí, please. I know this isn’t you. I know something’s wrong, let me help.” Pavitr said shakily. “I want to help.” Pavitr felt the wind knock out of him when one of Miguel’s red web slammed into Pavitr’s chest and then dragged him over to Miguel. “Stop! Stop! It’s okay, we’re here to help!”
Pavitr scrambled to try and break Miguel’s web when saw Miguel leaping towards him on all four.
Yet, before he could feel Miguel land on him, Pavitr heard the sound of a portal opening and the familiar pull of being sucked into the portal. He felt the weight of Miguel’s web gone and when Pavitr opened his eyes, he landed on the ground of the training room in HQ. To his side, a portal was still open, slowly closing where Pavitr could see Miguel growling and turning around in confusion.
Pavitr’s eyes widened.
“What is happening?”
“H.O.M.E.” Lyla suddenly appeared in front of Pavitr. She was staring through the portal at where Miguel was turning in confusion and anger. “Miguel made sure I activated it if you were in danger. Even from himself.”
Pavitr’s eyes widened. “He’s not going to hurt me!”
“He made me promise.” Lyla said quietly. “I can’t break it.”
“Then I’m going back!” Pavitr shouted, making his way to the portal. Lyla didn’t move.
“I’ll just send you right back through.” Lyla said, causing Pavitr to freeze. The portal was growing smaller and smaller, Miguel seeming further and further away.
“Lyla, you can’t do this. We’re trying to help Miguel.” Pavitr said quickly. Lyla glitched several times, still watching Miguel through the portal.
“Disable me.” She finally said. Pavitr’s heart dropped.
“L – Lyla I can’t do that. I don’t know how, and I can’t! That’s bad for you!” Pavitr said nervously. Lyla glitched more times.
“If you don’t disable me, I will keep sending you back here. All of you. Miguel asked me.” Lyla said and Pavitr would have said she was crying if she was capable of it. “I won’t go against his wishes...even to help him. So, disable me.”
“Lyla I can’t do that to you.”
“Pav, there is no time!” Lyla finally glitched in front of Pavitr’s face. Behind them the portal grew smaller and smaller. “If you truly want to save Miguel – to help him and not have me interfere, you need to disable me. If you can save Miguel – he will know how to enable me back. I swear. Miguel will know what to do, but he can’t do that if you don’t save him!”
Silence followed.
“What do I need to do?” Pavitr ignored the pit in his stomach, when Lyla finally grinned sharply at him.
Pavitr did feel a sense of grief when he followed Lyla’s instructions to a ‘T’ and Lyla disappeared with a soft smile. He made a promise to save Miguel and turned back to the portal that was growing smaller by the second. Launching through by shooting his web past Miguel and soaring back into the room with Miguel.
He cried out when Miguel’s hand shot out and wrapped around his neck, as he was soaring past. Miguel snarled darkly, gripping tighter before slamming Pavitr into the ground until he felt the breath knock out of him.
He blinked past the stars in his vision when a figure leaned threateningly over Pavitr. Pavitr grabbed at the hand around his neck, desperately trying to keep Miguel’s talons from sinking in his neck.
“¿Papí? Please.” Pavitr whispered as Miguel leaned down, curling his lips back to reveal all of his fangs, and he lowered to the ground without an ounce of recognition. Pavitr’s heart broke at the sight of Miguel in so much pain. “Please. I know you don’t want to do this. I know you’re in there.”
Miguel growled.
“Papí.” Pavitr reached up shakily, breath stuttering when he gasped. Miguel froze on top of Pavitr, face still etched in an animalistic snarl, but Pavitr continued to reach. Unafraid and sad.
They hurt you so much.
When Pavitr’s hand touched Miguel’s face, the man’s lips pressed forward in confusion, hiding his fangs. His grip on Pavitr’s neck loosened slightly. Pavitr squirmed glancing up into Miguel’s red eyes and saw the confusion in them.
Then he saw it.
Recognition.
“¿Papí?”
Miguel breathed once, eyes widening, grip loosening before a blinding light forced Pavitr to let go and Miguel howled in pain. Suddenly, his presence was off Pavitr, and Pavitr could breathe again. Then he was swept away into someone’s arms and thrown onto someone else’s back.
He blinked, taking in deep gulps of air, when he realized that he was on Jess’s back. Peter was standing between them, Miles, Gwen and Miguel. Who was crouched low again, with no recognition and looking more like a frightening animal than an attack dog.
“You alright sweetie?” Jess asked, eyes never leaving Miguel’s. Pete lowered himself when Miguel raised his hands, pushing Miles back. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“W – What’s happening?”
“Miguel – he’s reverted back to animalistic instincts.” Jess said painfully. “He won’t recognize any of us.”
“Migs, calm down. You don’t want to hurt these kids.” Peter said, hand up when Miguel launched at him and Miles. The two ducked and Peter pulled Miles out of the way when Miguel went to grab him. “Come on Migs! You have to stop! You’ll never forgive yourself if you hurt your kids.”
“He recognized me.” Pavitr croaked. “He wasn’t going to hurt me.”
“Pav, your neck.” Gwen tried softly, but Pavitr could see the tears in her eyes from seeing Miguel like this.
“I swear on the ground. He saw something. Maybe not me exactly, but he wasn’t going to hurt me.” Pav whispered painfully. Gwen bit her lips watching Peter dance around an attacking Miguel while keeping Miles away.
“Gwen, please.”
Gwen turned to Jess. “We should try.”
“Kids, I know you’re upset. But there’s no way to get through to him when this happens. Believe me, Peter and I have tried.” Jess said tightly. Gwen and Pavitr looked at one another and saw the pain etched in Jess’s face. “He’s never been this bad before but even then, we could never get through to him. Not without the antibody to help contain his molecules.”
“Tío, I know you’re in there! I know you don’t want to hurt us!” Miles shouted, avoiding Peter’s protective arm when Miguel slashed at them again. Peter hissed, pulling Miles aside as Miguel soared past them. “Please Tío Miguel, fight it!”
Miguel swiped past the two and in the direction of Gwen.
Before Jess and Pavitr could scream, Miguel was practically on top of Gwen, but the girl was faster. She jumped gracefully backwards, over Miguel’s form. Before landing on his back and using her webbing to grab Miguel’s hands.
“Migs, pops, stop!”
“I don’t see how this is useful.” Gwen grumbled bitterly as she and Miguel made their way into her school. It was after hours with hardly any people around, which was beneficial to Miguel. It was hard enough walking around with her hulk of a father but trying to explain a 6’9” Mexican American to her classmates, seemed like a lot of work to Gwen.
“You need friends niña.” Miguel simply said. Gwen glared at the man; hands deep in her pocket.
“I have friends! I have Pav and Miles and Hobie.” She argued tightly.
“Friends that aren’t just superheroes.” Miguel sighed. Gwen snorted and shook her head.
“I don’t need anymore. They’re enough.” Gwen said bitterly. “Besides it’s not like anyone here gets me. And not just because I’m Spiderwoman and no one else knows.”
“How do you mean?”
“Because of who I am? Because I was born with the wrong body and even after all the support from my dad, starting to transition, growing out my hair and starting hormone therapy, I still feel like I don’t belong? That even after everything that’s happened, there are still days I look in the mirror and hate what I see. That’s I’m some weird freak that no one else gets.” Gwen ranted, not noticing that Miguel had stopped walking. When she finally noticed, she turned around to see the most heart-broken look on Miguel’s face.
“Oh great, and now I’ve upset you.”
“Oh querida, I had no idea you felt that way.” Miguel said softly, coming up beside her and leaning against the lockers when Gwen sat down.
“I don’t always.” Gwen whispered. “I never regretted transitioning. It’s the happiest I’ve ever felt, but I can’t help it. Some days I just wish I had been a girl from the start. That this wasn’t so hard.”
“I wish it was easier for you.” Miguel replied gently.
The two sat in silence.
“You know, this is why you need more friends.” Miguel said, much to Gwen’s frustration. “You can’t always be at the Spider Society or traveling through dimensions to get some Tandoori from Pav or your jacket from Hobie. You need friends here. When you’re staying at home. Friends that may or may understand what you’re going through or can just be there for you.”
“I don’t know how to make friends. I’m no good at it.” Gwen admitted, curling up when Miguel wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
“It’s hard to make friends when you continue to try and push people away.” Miguel pointed out with a soft smile. “Trust me. It’ll get you nowhere if you keep doing that.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Gwen asked.
“Let people in.” Miguel whispered. “A couple brats taught me that.” Gwen couldn’t help but snort and giggle at the statement. “Miles told me you had joined a band?”
Gwen scowled. “I kinda made that implode.”
Miguel’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. “Er, maybe you can try again? It sounds like they still need a drummer?”
Gwen looked up and suddenly they heard live music coming from the auditorium with a terrible, terrible drum solo. Gwen and Miguel both shared a wince and look of distaste.
“I guess.” She mumbled.
“C’mon niña, let’s go stop this god-awful music so you can show them your kickass god-awful music.” Miguel said with a soft smile, pulling Gwen to her feet. She took a deep breath and nodded. She could do this.
“Taking a deep breath, Gwen pulled hard on Miguel’s hands and sent the two of them tumbling to the ground. Miguel growled, almost spitting in her face but before he could grab her with a clawed hand, Peter had shot his web at Miguel’s hand and latched it to the floor. Gwen grabbed Miguel’s other hand while Peter stuck both of Miguel’s feet to the ground. Miguel thrashed under Gwen, making similar noises to a frightened wounded animal.
“Miguel, pops, it’s okay.” Gwen said gently pulling Miguel’s hand into both of hers. She avoided his sharp talons and kept holding tightly with both hands. Miguel whined and hissed under her. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You’re not going to hurt us. You’re just scared. I’m sorry.”
Miguel whined again, eyes darting around the room.
“It’s okay. You’re okay.” Gwen said, voice trembling when Miguel pathetically tried to thrash again. Another heart wrenching whine escaped him. “You’re okay. We’re all here, we’re all safe thanks to you.”
Miguel whined but turned his face towards Gwen. Gwen’s heart stopped when he looked directly at her, and instead of hunger or anger or like a predator, she saw confusion. Her breath quickened when he looked at her in confusion, then tried to face Pavitr on Jess’s back.
“Hey, it’s Gwen. You know me.” Gwen squeezed Miguel’s hand. Miguel didn’t flinch or squeeze back, but he wasn’t fighting her anymore.
“¿Tío?” Gwen felt Miles kneel next to her. Miguel’s eyes snapped over to him, snarling lowly. His hand shifted in Gwen’s and she tried to keep a firm grip on it. Miguel’s fangs clashed against each other when he opened and closed his mouth but he didn’t try to lunge at Miles. “Tío, lo siento. Gwen’s right, you’re okay. We’re here. All of us. We’re gonna get you home, okay?” Miles lifted his mask over his face and Gwen could see the tears pooling in his pained-filled eyes.
“You’re gonna be okay, Tío, I promise.” Miles whispered. Miguel cocked his head, eyes still looking around the room and landing back on Miles. Gwen gently squeezed Miguel’s hand again, causing the man to look back at her with genuine confusion and fear.
He was scared.
Beside Gwen, Miles began to pull Peter’s webs off Miguel’s other hand. Peter bit his lip torn from protecting the kid who had gone from just being his protegee to someone that was family to Peter and wanting to help his best friend. Eventually he nodded to Jess and walked up beside Miles.
Everyone knew the second Miguel saw Peter, because he had immediately used his free hand to try and sink his talons into Peter. Gwen and Miles both tried to hold down Miguel’s other hand while he growled at Peter and hissed. Peter didn’t even flinch and instead moved beside Miguel’s head, easily avoiding his snapping teeth. Carefully kneeling, Peter placed both hands on the sides of Miguel’s face, causing the larger man to freeze.
Eyes wide and tracking Peter.
As if Peter were the predator.
“Hey Migs, sorry we’re a little late.” Peter said softly, voice thick with tears he refused to shed. Gently he ran a thumb down the side of Miguel’s cheek, electing a strange noise from the back of Miguel’s throat. “We had to stop for gas on the way here. My fault. But we’re here to go home. Would you like that?”
Peter didn’t expect an answer from Miguel as he looked down into his friend’s red, weary eyes. Oh Miguel, I’m so sorry. But to everyone’s surprise, Miguel made a tiny noise. Almost like a chirp.
“Migs?” Peter asked quietly. Miguel grumbled in confusion under him. Gwen and Miles quickly worked to untie his legs as Jess and Pavitr came over. “Can you hear me? Do you want to go home?”
There it was again. Another chirp.
“Yeah bud, home.” Peter was losing the battle against crying as tears dripped down his cheek and onto the ground.
Another chirp.
This time louder.
“Home. We’re going to go home.” Peter whispered. Miguel chirped again, eyes widening, and Peter held back a sob. He reminded himself to be strong, not just for the kids but also Miguel, who no doubt could smell how they were all feeling right now. It must be overwhelming and no wonder he was so scared.
“There’s no one left in there.” Everyone snapped up at the sound of the voice they had all been dreading to hear. Peter looked up saw the kids spun around to see the original doctor sprawled on the floor in the doorway. His face looked bashed in, and blood was coated over his head and body. Next to him, stood Hobie, guitar slung on his back, but Jess could see blood dripping from the base the guitar. She swallowed, making eye contact with a silent Hobie for a second.
“What do you mean?” Miles hissed. He and Gwen were practically vibrating, itching to get their hands on the bastard who had caused them all so much pain. Who had hurt Miguel.
The doctor laughed before coughing wetly and spitting out a glob of blood.
“I mean, we made sure to erase any trace of Chemical – Z in him. His molecules are falling apart. There’s nothing left but that animal.” He spat in the direction of Miguel, causing Miguel to snarl low. “Good luck trying to reign back in the beast.”
“That’s still Miguel.” Gwen whispered harshly. “He’s still in there.”
“He’ll kill you.” The doctor cackled with a wheeze, ignoring Hobie’s boot pressing on his back.
“He won’t.” Hobie said sharply.
However, in the next instance Miguel had jumped from his position on the floor, ripping off Peter’s lap and racing past everyone. Hobie stepped back, not out of fear but out of concern when Miguel clawed his way towards him and the doctor. Miguel snatched the doctor off the ground and slammed the man into the wall outside the room, with enough force to cause several bones to crack. Miguel wasted no time jumping on the man and clawing desperately at every inch he could.
The others watched in horror.
The doctor screamed for an agonizing minute, before gurling horribly. Eventually he stopped making any noise, but Miguel was still tearing into him, growling, and hissing.
Being the closest to him, Hobie gently walked around Miguel as to not spook him and tried not to look at the bloody mess of the corpse Miguel had in his hands. Miguel turned immediately, hearing Hobie’s boot and stared. Blood was dripping from his face and covering both hands and arms. Hobie immediately raised his hands.
“It’s alright mate. It’s just me.” Hobie said. He could hear the others trying to follow him, but he held his hand up when Miguel’s red eyes snapped to him. “Oi, eyes on me now, yeah?” Miguel looked back at Hobie, faced twisted in a furious snarl.
“That’s it. You did it. He’s gone now, you kept us safe.” Hobie said, nodding towards the corpse still in Miguel’s hand. “There’s no need for that anymore. You’re safe now. How about you let that go, okay?” Hobie took a few more steps forward, watching every twitch Miguel gave. When he didn’t move, Hobie continued.
After a few minutes, the body in Miguel’s hand dropped to the floor with a wet thud. Hobie nodded, swallowing past the lump in his throat.
“There we go mate. Just let it go. We’re going to go home now. You and us.” Hobie said, now less than a feet away from Miguel. Miguel’s lips curled for a second before frowning. “There it is: the classic O’Hara frown. You’re going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that.” By now Hobie could touch Miguel, and he took a steadying breath when Miguel flinched at the touch.
Then ever so gently, Hobie pulled Miguel’s head down to rest his forehead against Hobie’s. Looking right into frightened red eyes.
“There we go big man. You’ve done well as an anarchist. The establishment is dismantled.” He whispered. Miguel made a noise – almost sounding distressed and Hobie swallowed. “You’re alright. It’s time to rest and go home.” Miguel whined again but Hobie could feel him leaning into Hobie.
An alarm blared, which made Miguel jump and pull Hobie back behind him. The others ran up to him and Pavitr was immediately the first one to throw his arms around Miguel, ignoring the others’ warnings.
“We missed you so much.” He said. Miguel made a similar chirp from when he was with Peter and cocked his head.
“Alright, let’s get the hell out of here and bring our Migs back.” Jess said warmly when Miles and Gwen clung to the confused Miguel. Even if he didn’t understand and his instincts were all over the place, Jess knew deep down Miguel knew them. She could tell in the way he dropped his hands away from the kids and made no move to harm them.
And by the tiny gentle chirps he kept emitting at them.
Almost like he was trying to communicate.
“First things, first. We need to get that tracker out of his neck.” Peter said hesitantly, eyeing the small bulge on the side of Miguel’s neck. “Then we get out of here.”
“And what about this?” Miles pointed to Miguel who was chirping in confusion at Pavitr and Gwen, both trying to wipe down the blood from Miguel’s face.
“We’re gonna have to get his injections started back up at HQ.” Jess sighed. “His body can only handle two injections a day, so we’re going to have to go slow and hopefully after a week or so, he’ll be back to normal. Maybe longer since Alchemax used an enhancing drug to speed up the process. Once he’s coherent we’ll have Lyla run a scan and see if...any damage occurred.”
The kids were quiet, and Miguel made a noise of distressed confusion.
“Is he gonna let us take that thing out?” Miles asked, eyeing the tracker. He gently reached up and touched that part of Miguel’s neck, earning a quiet growl from the man. Miles’s heart ached but he rubbed the spot and Miguel turned to give Miles more access.
“He’s gonna have to.” Peter said reluctantly with a grimace. “We don’t have time here. Miles could you – could you make shock it, so it doesn’t work anymore? That way we can portal to HQ without worrying about Alchemax following.” The alarms continued to blare.
Miles’s heart shuddered to a stop.
“Shock him?” He whispered. “I’ll hurt him!”
“Miles you won’t. Okay, maybe just a little but it’s better than trying to cut it out when we’re trying to escape.” Peter replied.
“I can’t hurt him! No, no, no.” Miles pulled his hand back, earning a confused noise from Miguel.
“Hey, hey, breathe. Miles, just breathe.” Hobie grabbed Miles by the shoulders and focused his attention on Hobie. Miles took a few shaky breaths. “I know you’re scared mate. I wish we could do anything else right now, but we need to go. And we need to get our Miguel home safe. We can’t do that if we lead Alchemax right to everything that Miguel worked for. He wouldn’t want that.”
Miles nodded shakily.
“I know this sucks bruv, and it’s not fair. But this is a matter of gently hurting Miguel or leaving him at this place.” Hobie said softly. “I can’t leave him here again Miles.”
Miles’s lower lip trembled before looking at Miguel who was watching Miles in confusion and worry.
He was still worrying about us.
“Okay, okay. Let me try.” Miles eventually said. “Jess and Gwen, maybe get a portal ready. We gotta go fast.” Miles stepped back up to Miguel, causing the man to chirp again. Hobie, Pav and Peter all surrounded Miguel with reassuring looks.
“It’s going to be okay Tío, please trust me.” Miles reached up to press his fingertips against the tracker inside Miguel’s neck. Miguel cocked his head. Then lightning lit up tiny sparks on Miles’s fingers and he concentrated to the small device under his fingers. Miles could feel the electricity leave his fingers and surrounding the device, causing Miguel’s skin to glow faintly.
Miguel made louder, more distressing noises and tried to pull from Hobie, Peter and Pav’s grips. The three rushed to say gentle words to the frightened man and Miles’s throat felt tight. He held on for a few more seconds until a larger spark grew under Miguel’s skin (and more distressing noises), and then Miles quickly pulled back.
“Done! It’s done. Lo siento Tío, all done! I promise we’re done.” Miles said hoarsely, gripping Miguel’s face. Miguel whined but didn’t flinch away from Miles. Instead, he leaned into the hand on his cheek. “Lo siento Tío, thank you. Let’s go home.”
Miguel weakly chirped.
“Yeah, let’s go home.” Hobie whispered. As much as he wanted to stay and burn Alchemax to the ground himself, he knew his bombs and the destruction Peter and Jess caused would be enough. Hopefully for good, and Miguel would never have to worry about his hellhole again.
Jess and Gwen stepped aside, allowing the guys to gently pull Miguel towards the portal. Miguel eyed the portal mistrustingly but turned to look at each of the kids and Peter and Jess. After a few seconds, he allowed himself to be pulled through the portal.
Back home.
Miguel blinked tiredly. It took a few tries before he could fully open his eyes. Even then, his vision swam, and he had to close them again. Wherever he was, he heard the sound of shuffling happening around him, and what sounded like voices.
He blinked a few more times and shaped filled his sight.
“He’s waking up!”
“Tío, can you hear us?”
“¿Papí?”
“Can he see us?”
“Is he gonna take us into his next again? We just got out.”
“Migs?”
Miguel’s vision finally cleared up enough to see 6 figures leaning over his bed. Well five and one of them was at a more respectable distance from his face.
“What?” Miguel said hoarsely, throat dry. He realized then he was lying in a bed, in what looked like the Spider Society med bay. He didn’t understand how he got here, since the last thing he could remember was being held captive at Alchemax.
Alchemax.
“Hey, hey, calm down. Stay down.” Peter firmly pushed down on Miguel’s chest when the man tried to sit up. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Alchemax, the kids!”
“Are fine, pops.” Gwen said, causing Miguel to look over at her and the other three. He looked each of them over, not seeing any wounds, bruises or anything out of place. In fact, all three were beaming brightly. “We’re all okay. It was you we were worried about.”
“Me?” Miguel asked in confusion, causing Gwen to roll her eyes and Pavitr to sigh dramatically. Immediately, he threw himself across Miguel’s lap on the bed. Miguel’s fingers itched to catch him, but he was so tired.
“Yeah papí. You’ve been in and out of consciousness this whole week. And you’re finally back to yourself.” Pavitr explained with a kick of his legs. Miguel’s eyebrows furrowed. Back to myself? What?
His heart sunk.
Oh no.
No.
No.
No.
“I – I was? I lost control?” Miguel asked horrified, feeling tears burn behind his eyes.
“You did nothing. It was those bastards at Alchemax.” Hobie said sharply. Miguel blinked, noticing Hobie was leaning against his headboard.
“I never wanted you to see that.” Miguel whispered, still horrified.
“You weren’t so bad.” Miles piped up. “You just kinda made a lot of different noises which I think we all figured out after the first day. Then you tried to keep us in the nest you made in our training room and feed us. You played some version of tag with Peter, but I think you were more hunting him for fun.”
“You also tried to eat Spider-Ham when he showed up unannounced. Luckily Pav has the best aim and got him out.” Gwen added with a chuckle. Miguel could feel his face beginning to heat up.
“You also tried to climb to the top of HQ. I think that was because Noir kept encouraging you.” Peter said and Miguel groaned into his hands.
“But seriously, everyone’s okay.” Jess said gently, hand on Miguel’s folder. “We’re all here. You’re did nothing while we reverted back your instincts. Alchemax is dismantling as we speak after the catastrophic accident in their main lab.”
Miguel’s heart hammered. Could Alchemax be gone for good? He wouldn’t have to run anymore. The thought almost made him want to cry.
Miguel huffed in confusion when four teens finally pressed themselves up against him into a tight hug. Smiling, he wrapped his arms around as much of the four as he could and burying his face into Miles’s hair.
“We missed you so much.” Pavitr croaked. “We thought we wouldn’t see you again.” Miguel swallowed thickly.
“Lo siento mijos y mija. I’m sorry I worried you.” He whispered. Gwen sniffled against his shoulder.
“You better be. Fucking asshole making us worry like that.”
“Lo siento mija. You’re right.”
“Yeah, and now, you have to be nice to us, especially after what we did for your injections!” Miles said, wiping his eyes. Miguel frowned and pulled back to look at the kids.
“My injections?” He asked. The kids all jumped onto the bed and eagerly nodded. Pavitr pulled up the sleeve of Miguel’s t-shirt to reveal a black and green patch on Miguel’s shoulder blade, where he normally put his injections. He stared at the spider symbol on it, frozen.
“Yeah, we made improvements to your medicine! Hobie came up with the idea, so you don’t have to worry about forgetting your injections!” Pavitr bounced eagerly. Beside him, Hobie ducked his head in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck.
“We all worked on it. Not just me. Everyone was helpful, ‘specially Miles and his genetic knowledge.” Hobie said quietly. “But it’s a patch with the same compound you were using. This one disperses your medicine over a period of 10 months. So, you won’t have to change it again for 10 months. It can’t be taking off without your coding and consent.”
Miguel’s eyes watered. They had done this for me?
“Of course, we did it for you Migs.” Peter said softly and Miguel shrunk in on himself. He hadn’t realized he said that last part out. “You should have to ever worry about that again. And no one should hold that over you. Even if you were pretty cute with your spider instincts protecting your little spiderlings.”
“I...don’t know what to say.” Miguel whispered,
“’Thank you’ works.” Miles said cheekily. “’You kids are amazing!’ ‘Wow, you’re so cool and I owe you as many lunches as I can get.’”
“Careful Miguel, these kids are getting big egos now.” Lyla suddenly appeared on Miguel’s shoulder with a snarky grin. Miguel did almost cry at seeing the AI and he blinked back tears. “They’ve been a pain in my ass for the past week. I thought you were annoying, but these guys – don’t ever leave me alone with them again.”
“Lo siento Lyla. no lo haré, lo prometon.” Miguel said with a warm smile. Lyla stared at him for a few minutes and nodded.
“You better. Also, if you ever pull that self-sacrificing shit again, I will give myself a physical body and personally drag you back and shove you on the front of the train to the moon.” Lyla threatened darkly. Miguel blinked, suddenly scared.
“Yeah, where do you get off sacrificing yourself thinking it was the only way to save us?!” Pavitr shouted.
“Oi, yeah! You trying to give us even more trauma?”
“How dare you think it’s okay to leave yourself behind.”
“You absolute bastard. If you ever try that again, you’re going to get your ass handed to you.”
“Kids.” Peter said with a shake of his head, not doing anything to help Miguel from the berating of teenagers on his lap. Jess laughed brightly besides the two.
Miguel simply chuckled and allowed the kids to yell at him, before pulling them all down into another hug, this time initiated by Miguel.
“Yeah. But they’re my kids."