Chapter 2
"So uh..how was that?"
Miguel raised his eyebrows slightly and slightly moved his head from side to side. Terrance waited for his response, letting him think about his previous skill performance.
"Yeah, I'll say I'm somewhat impressed. How about this, and be damn lucky I'm doing this. We'll have a small spar, 'kay? And if you pin me for 30 seconds, I'll let you stay permanently and if I pin you, then you're gone. Deal?"
Miguel held out his hand. Terrance hesitated. He thought for a moment. He was nervous. Anyone would be nervous sparring with the infamous Miguel O'Hara. But this wasn't about Miguel. This option he was left with. It was basically a choice of life or death. He could beat him, and finally be recognized as something other than a villain, a criminal. Or he could fail, and live the rest of his life on the streets, as a runaway. A fugitive. He didn't want that. He never wanted that in the first place. He never wanted to be wanted. By the police especially. Ever since that fateful night, his life had changed. In the span of just one night, he went from being an innocent kid, to a wanted criminal worldwide. He never wanted that. He needed to win this. For his future.Miguel snapped his fingers and waved his hand in Terrance’s face to catch his attention. Which he did successfully after a couple seconds.
"Earth to Terrance? Hello? Come on, you gonna zone out and immediately fail and be a complete waste of my time?"
He looked up and saw Miguel holding out his hand and obviously getting impatient. He took his hand and shook it. Slightly feeling offput about the whole situation.
"Yeah, deal."
They both backed up and took their respective spots. Terrance shook all the nerves off and cracked his joints. He looked at Miguel who pulled on his mask and cracked his neck. He felt beads of cold sweat drip under his mask, his palms became sweaty as Miguel counted down from 3. Each second seemed longer and more tantalizing as the moment grew closer.
"1.."
Miguel charged at him and immediately disappeared. He pushed Terrance to the ground and kept him pinned for a close 10 seconds before freeing one of his arms and webbing his face. He was able to slip away and leaped to another wall. He began to leap around the walls, shooting webs to every corner of the room. Miguel got confused and sharp metal talons extended from the arms of his spider suit and he began to climb the walls of the room, quickly catching up to Terrance. But a soon as he got close enough to him, he swung a talon at him and before he knew it, Terrance was several feet ahead. Miguel didn't notice it, but Terrance was creating a giant web.
Right when he disappeared from Miguel's sight, making him distracted with trying to slice the web strands clean, he stealthily shot a web right onto his back and sped around the room, wrapping Miguel in web. As he struggled, getting tangled in the web, Terrance stopped and pulled the web taught which caused Miguel to lose his balance and fall onto the web, sending ripples back to the edge of the web. Terrance’s vision grew to a warm shade of scarlet red as he sped to the center of the web where Miguel was. All of a sudden he was back at his childhood home, which was now engulfed in flames. The smell of gasoline was embedded into Terrance’s skin. Smoke flew into his face as he watched his house collapse, crumble into a giant bonfire. He was frozen in place, tears streaming down his face, yet making no sound.
A choked back sob tortured his throat as he stood, drenched from the rain. The screams were the worst part. They were so loud..calling his name..no that wasn't his name anymore. That's not who he was anymore. He clenched his fists and his breathing got heavy. The sobs finally made their way out as he started to walk away. A walk that would speed up into a jog, then a run, soon sprinting. Where exactly? He didn't know. He knew he just needed to run. To get away. He then saw a shadowy figure in the midst of a streept light. Someone called out to him. Called out his name. He slowed to a stop. The figure was tall and felt uncertain to him. He slowly made his way to the figure. The sound was muffled by the sound of the rain and fire crackling behind him.
"Te--en—! G-dd-nit Ter-ence, -im-!"
He tried to make out what he was saying.
"Terrence! Time!"
Time?
"Time! Terrence!"
He snapped back to reality, the red fading and saw Miguel basically screaming in his face. He took notice of the situation. Miguel wrapped in Terrence web, struggling and his breathing was erratic. He quickly apologized and pulled at the webbing, cutting it with his teeth. Miguel gasped loudly and peeled the web off of him, and doubled over, coughing. He looked to Terrence who was visibly concerned. He tore off his mask and stormed out of the room, throwing the door open.
"God-fucking-DAMNIT!"
Terrence could hear him scream as well as a woman yell back.
"Language! There's kids present!"
He could see faces pop into the doorway, obviously confused at the situation. Terrence was sat on the giant spider web clearly lost in what just happened. The people in the doorway looked at each other and back to Terrence who was still sitting there. He yelled something as if he would get a response.
"Does this mean I can stay?"
He waited a bit then shrugged, casually walking out. As he walked through the halls, he could hear whispers, obviously about him. This triggered something in him. He pulled on his hood and tried to control his breathing. Before he knew it, he was sat in a bathroom stall. Absolutely quiet. So many thoughts raced through his head as he sat in complete silence. His eyes relaxed and his heart was racing. He put on his headphones and closed his eyes. Pulling his goggles down to his neck and pulling off his mask, he took a long deep breath. His blue eyes were glossy with tears. His cheeks were red and he let out a shaky breath before bringing his knees to his chest and putting his face on his knees. He was so immersed in his mind, he didn't hear the bathroom door open or the sound of footsteps to his stall.
He was brought back to reality by his head being pushed up by a finger on his forehead. He opened his eyes to see Hobie crouching in front of him. Terrence pulled him into a hug, sobbing into his shoulder. Hobie patted his back and hugged back. He obviously knew what happened. He somehow knew everything which in retrospect was weird and kinda creepy but neither one cared.
"I know what happened. I know Miguel can be a total arsehat. And people don't know how to be fucking quiet."
Hobie sighed and sat next to Terrence with an arm around his shoulder. He thought for a moment and ruffled his hair through his hood and stood up. He stretched and shook his arms before looking down to Terrence.
"I'll go talk to Miguel. Come out of the bathroom and use the map on your watch to navigate the place. Have someone get you checked in."
He nodded and Hobie hopped over the stall door. His heavy footsteps receding as the bathroom door slammed shut behind him. After a couple more minutes of music blasted in his ears and quiet sobbing, he composed himself and left the stall. He splashed his face with water and looked at himself in the mirror. He was a mess. He pulled down his hood to reveal his voluminous, jet black hair. He had two longer, disconnected locks in the front that were platinum blonde. His makeup was running down his cheeks which resulted in him wiping his face with a paper towel and redoing his eyeliner and finishing it off with some mascara. He pulled his mask back over his face and pulled his hood up before walking out of the bathroom. He slid out the small side screen of his watch and pulled up a map of the place. It was titled:
Spider-Society Headquarters
Current Location:
Restroom Lobby
He looked at the map and saw Miguel's office and a white dot most likely Hobie at his office. He walked out into the hall and shot a web and swung ahead.