The Many Sides of a Spider

"Dang it!" Pavitr exclaimed as Miguel succeeded in activating all of the sensors to eliminate the cheerful teen from this week's training exercise.

"You’re a bit heavy on your footwork," Miguel commented, taking the quick intermission as a moment to plot out his next move. "You did good, though; go join Peni and Noir on the sidelines until the course is over."

The eyes of Pavitr's mask narrowed, and the kids shoulders slumped with defeat. With a wave goodbye to Miguel, the cheerful teen swung away, leaving Miguel standing on a horizontal pillar.

The terrain for this training course was mostly made up of a cacophony of pillars and platforms that crossed each other and even split into different sections at some points. Miguel had decided on this for today's exercise because it gave the teens a lot of room to work with as they traversed.

Almost as soon as he had finished explaining the training course, Gwen had tied it to another childish game called ‘Flag Football’, which then sent Hobie into a rant about the real football sport, but the Brit was cut short by Miguel starting the exercise. Each of the Spider-teens had four sensors that were attached to their suits; the sensors had a green light on the front that turned red once it sensed Miguel's suit touching it. He allowed the teens to pick where on their suits to put it, as long as it was clearly visible. The goal was for all the teens to survive the entire training with at least one of their sensors still active. However, there was another way they could win the course, and that was by activating a single sensor on the emblem of his suit that required a twenty-second contact to activate.

At the start of the training, he let them have a one-minute head start before he began looking for them. Peni Parker was the first he ran into and was the first eliminated after a bit of chasing. Noir was caught in a similar way shortly afterwards, but tried and failed to blame it on not knowing the color of the sensors.

Now he just had three more of the Spider-teens to find, and he would win this training course. He hadn’t seen Hobie or Miles since the beginning, though he did have a short wrestle with Gwen while he was fighting Sp//dr, but the blonde teen retreated after he eliminated one of her sensors.

With a quick check of the time, Miguel began his search for any sign of a spider-themed suit amongst the white and red of the pillars. He traveled with a mix of swinging on webs and using his talons to climb around the pillars, opting to use webs when it came to going downward.

A few minutes of quiet drifted by, and it gave his thoughts the opportunity to fill in the silence. After spending more time with the teen heroes, he found that his thoughts about the multiverse and all the responsibilities that came with his self-made job were quieted. However, once he was alone again, it came rushing back, whether it was a powerful anomaly that threatened the multiverse or a problem with the canon. Miguel was always quickly reminded of how much pressure was resting on his shoulders.

The billions of happy families that lived in peace every day were completely ignorant about how much was going on beyond their universe.

Shock, he shouldn’t be drifting off into his thoughts like this; after all, there were still three little spiders trying to win this training course and, in turn, get Miguel to pay for everyone's snacks and drinks after training.

He was currently traversing the jungle of pillars by swinging on his bright red webs, his red eyes darting around while he strained his advanced hearing to pick up on any changes in the cloak of silence.

Right in the middle of swinging on a web, at the exact moment when the tension was at its highest, Miguel felt the web snap. He was sent into a brief freefall before he latched onto a pillar as his sharp talons came out.

Light, quick footsteps rushed closer to him from above, and the owner was the most graceful of the group, Gwen Stacy.

The girl's white suit blended in slightly with the white of the pillars as the dancer jumped towards Miguel's crouched form with a kick aimed for his side.

Releasing his hold on the pillar, Miguel dodged the strike and advanced towards Gwen, making quick mental notes about the locations of the sensors dotting her suit. One was located on her stomach, two on her shoulders, and one that Miguel had already gotten, so it was no use to him.

The skirmish between the two began. Gwen started off in the offensive position, leaving Miguel to dodge and block incoming blows. The first time he fought against the graceful teen, Miguel had to change up his approach due to the size differences. Gwen was small compared to his largely built frame, which gave the girl a slight advantage in weaving out of tight spaces.

"I’m thinking about getting a few desserts after we win." Gwen smirked. Miguel wasn’t able to actually see her face, but the squinting of the mask's eyes indicated the expression. Gwen dodged his attempt to disable one of her sensors on her shoulders, following the motion of the duck into an elbow to Miguel's side.

"Don’t get too confident," Miguel grunted, taking the blow in order to get a hold on the teenager's arm, his claws retracting as he did so. He twisted the teen's arm, getting it to straighten out and offering a perfect opportunity for him to swiftly activate a second sensor on her shoulder.

The move was quick, but Gwen twisted her body and kneed Miguel in the gut, getting him to release his grip. She webbed his mask, obstructing his vision. The teen was trying to get him vulnerable so he could make an attempt to activate the sensor resting on his chest.

Miguel anticipated the attack and dropped to the ground, ripping the webs off his mask and aiming an attack with his elbow to buckle Gwen's legs beneath her. Successful in the attack, the teen fell backwards, and Miguel webbed her feet together as well as sticking them to the ground.

"Webs to the face is a dirty move," He grunted, activating the sensor on Gwen's stomach as she fell. The teen grunted in surprise as she hit the ground but was quick to start a recovery that was interrupted by Miguel pinning her arm and activating the final sensor to take her out of the competition.

"It also does next to nothing," He continued. Gwen was still struggling for a bit before she realized that he was successful. Gwen tilted her head, her body going limp with a sigh before she spoke.

"In my defense, I wasn’t planning on going in alone."

The thwip of a web shot sounded behind him.

"Who do you think cut your web?"

Miguel's eyes widened as he tried turning around, but a brutal force slammed into him, sending both his attacker and him into a tumbling freefall. The training room spun in his vision, the force from his attacker disorienting him for a second before his advanced eyesight locked onto the person.

The black and red suit of Mile Morales was falling next to him, and the teen appearing to not expect the attack to turn into a free fall. With quick thinking, Miguel slung a web to swing himself over to a tilted large pillar that still allowed him to stand on it with relative ease.

Miles followed suit, with the teen taking zero time to recover from the fall and going straight to immobilize Miguel.

"For the record," Miles quipped, the teen taking the defensive and dodging Miguel's attacks by swinging around or using the undersides of the pillars to his advantage. "My entrance was supposed to be before Gwen got out, but you've gotta admit that it looked pretty cool."

Miguel clawed his way up a pillar, using his webs to propel himself and close the distance Miles had created while the teen rambled. He was beginning to regret giving the teens so many places to stick to which made it difficult for him to get a good attack.

During the training drills he had done with the group of teens, he was able to understand the way they fought and adjust his fighting style accordingly. However, it became clear to him that the group of teenagers were able to understand his fighting style and where he usually attacked. As a teacher, he really should be proud, which of course he was, but as an opponent, the game of cat and mouse was getting irritating.

"You spend too much time thinking about your entrances," Miguel commented. Miles was playing the long game and not attacking him unless he got close. He needed to get closer to the kid to get this fight over with.

"If you have a good entrance, your enemy is instantly intimidated." Miles stated that he switched from running on pillars to swinging through the air, glancing back at Miguel just in time to make a sharp turn to avoid the activation of one of the sensors.

"Did Peter B. tell you that?"

Miguel grunted, landing on the side of a pillar after the swift dodge and quickly pursuing by web swinging. A plan was putting itself together in his head: if he could get Miles distracted for just a second, he could throw the teen off balance so he could swoop in and activate some of the sensors.

"You wouldn’t get it, "Miles continued the banter, swinging backwards so the teen was facing Miguel. "Do you even talk when you fight bad guys? Or do you just stand there intimidating them?"

"I don’t just stand there," Miguel seethed, the eyes of his mask dropping to show his displeasure while Miles' mask displayed a taunting wink before the teen picked up the pace of his swing.

"So what’s your plan here?" He switches the topic, matching Miles’ increase in speed while slowly putting more of his effort into catching up to the kid.

"Why would I tell you that? Do you really think I’m that gullible?" Miles hollered, and Miguel could imagine the dramatic expression of hurt on the teenager's face under the mask. Dang, Miguel, maybe you should think a bit higher of me."

With the comment, Miguel watched as the teen shot out two webs extending from both wrists and launched himself upwards like a human slingshot.

Miguel mimicked the action, with the force sending him up way faster than it did with Miles due to his greater strength. He was able to see the exact moment as he approached the teen when Miles’ spider sense went off, but Miguel was already performing the motion of activating the sensor located on the teenager's upper calf.

He heard Miles yelp right before the teenager's skinny body disappeared right before his eyes. With the help of a web swing, he perched on the side of a pillar, the talons on his feet and one of his hands digging into the material while he kept one arm free to protect the sensor on his chest.

His ears listened for any hint of noise that indicated where Miles was while he looked around for any visual giveaways. The web remnants of both his and Miles’ web swinging swayed like thin strands of hair.

A quiet pad of a foot landing had Miguel's attention drawn to a horizontal pillar to his right. He landed on the solid ground, taking a defensive position as he walked in a tight circle with his arms held in front of his chest, ready to take any blows.

There was no telling if he had stood there for three seconds or three minutes; Miles was taking a long time to attack. They couldn’t win the exercise by avoiding him the entire time, so they had to activate the sensor he had on his suit in order to be victorious.

Then again, he wouldn’t blame Miles’ for not wanting to engage in combat with him; after all, their first interaction resulted in a full-out brawl in less than thirty minutes. But they had been training for a few weeks at this point, and he sparred with each of the teens at least once, including Miles’.

Miguel may not have known the kid for long, but from what he had seen, Miles’ didn’t run from a fight unless it was part of a greater plan that the genius teenager had pieced together.

So what could his plan be now?

Before another thought could form, he saw webs stick to both his forearms, followed by the webs pulling his arms behind his back. He grunted, his talons coming out on instinct and attempting to pull back on the restraining webs.

Jerking his arms back in front of him, he realized how little resistance there was, but a powerful blow hit Miguel in the back, sending him tumbling towards the edge of the pillar. Spinning around to face his attacker, he was met with Miles Morales uncloaking himself while springing up from where the teen was crouched on the ground.

There was no pause; Miguel sprung forward, webbing Miles’ wrist as the teen attempted to shoot a web at him. With the teen's arm still extended, Miguel used it to pull Miles towards him. The closer they were, the faster he could activate all the sensors. He needed to not let Miles have an opening to put distance between them.

Aiming his palm at a sensor located on Miles shoulder, he was barely an inch away until the teen dropped down, dodging the blow. The momentum Miguel had gained caused him to lose valuable recovery time, allowing the teenage opponent to sweep his leg out from under him.

Off balance, Miguel dropped to all fours and spun around, facing Miles once again. The teen didn’t let up on the blows, primarily using webs to attempt to restrain Miguel; the tactic was countered by closing up the distance and switching to close combat.

Every time he was able to get closer to Miles, the teen would disappear and reappear with a blow to Miguel's back. Around the third time this move was used, a low growl emitted from his throat, slipping out because of his frustration.

The noise seemed to surprise Miles or scare him because the teen froze in the middle of a punch and the eyes of his mask were wide. Still caught up in the mindset of the fight, Miguel took the opening to activate the sensor on the teen's shoulder, which broke the daze that the teen was trapped in for a couple seconds.

Miles shot a web at his shoulder, pulling on it and jumping for a punch. He quickly put his arm up to tank the blow. Some of the hits from the teen caused a decent amount of pain—not enough to leave a bruise for more than a day—but he was always pleasantly surprised with how quickly the teens advanced in their training.

Their fighting drew closer to the edge of the pillar, and an attack from Miguel sent Miles stumbling off the edge of the pillar. A spark of fear shot through him as he saw the teen fall, but quickly he saw a string of webbing arc over the pillar and attach to the bicep of his suit.

His entire body was yanked over the edge of the pillar, and he was greeted by Miles kicking him in the torso.

He grunted in surprise, the spider-like instincts in the back of his mind flaring up at the vulnerable position of being in mid-air. Blocking another kick from the teen's adrenaline clouded his better judgment.

Miles threw another punch aimed at his lower jaw.

Miguel doesn’t remember exactly what happened. He never wants to fully remember why he did what he did next.

Because he honestly couldn’t explain to anyone that he felt threatened in the moment. That was no excuse. Maybe he should have taken a double dose of his drug that morning.

Or maybe he should have chosen a different training course.

Talons out, Miguel grabbed Miles’ arm. The black fabric of the teenager's suit was getting cut through like tissue paper. His talons cut through skin; it was a terrifyingly familiar sensation.

Twisting his body and placing his free hand on Miles’ chest, the two met hard ground, Miles’ back slamming against another pillar with the taloned hand of Miguel holding the teen down.

The realization of what had just occurred had barely hit him before his whole body was thrown upward and his veins were filled with electricity. Miguel's vision was blurred after colliding with the walls of the training room.

The form of Miles Morales was just a dark blob now over fifty yards from him. His ears were ringing, his suit was glitched, and the mask of the suit was now unable to form. He was blinking rapidly to regain his vision, but the first thing he could see was the blood staining the talons on his hand.

No. He didn’t. 

His hearing recovered, now just having a quiet ringing noise in the background, and the worried screams of Gwen and the others filled his ears. Something yelled at him to protect his kids from whatever threat had hurt them or whatever was causing them discomfort.

For once, Miguel listened to that voice, part of him already knowing who hurt them, whispering at him the truth. His feet carried him in large strides towards the group; everyone else had apparently seen the venom blast and came to investigate.

Miguel’s thoughts were chaotic and disorganized, a mix of aggression and guilt with a cacophony of emotions swirling in his stomach.

The closer he got to the group, the more he could hear it.

The rapid breaths

Frantic words begging for forgiveness

Begging for something to stop

Gwen was crouched in front of him, where he could hear the panicked voice of Miles, and he wanted nothing more than to see the kid and keep him safe from everything in that moment. But before he could even see the kids faces, Miguel was stopped by Hobie Brown.

"You’ve done enough, mate." The cold, icy words dug straight into his heart. He had to fix this. He needed to do something; he hadn’t meant for anything to happen; it was an accident.

Right? It was an accident; he didn’t want to hurt him, did he?

His lungs felt too small, and breathing didn’t seem okay. His chest shook with a shallow breath as blood-red eyes met the color-shifting ones belonging to the punk teen. Hobie shook his head at Miguel before turning his back to the man and going to help his friend.

He messed up, he messed up badly.

Shock, he knew this was a bad idea. He should have never even started these stupid training sessions. This was bound to happen. Someone always got hurt.

Without looking back, he ran. He ran out of the training room and through the hallways. People were looking at him, muttering whispers, and pointing.

"What's he doing?"

"Is that blood?"

"Why is he running?"

His head was pounding, breathing was too hard, and everything was too bright. His talons wouldn’t retract, and all he could see was the terrified face of Miles whenever he closed his eyes.

He had dropped to a frantic walk when he got to the bridges; he didn’t want anyone to assume somethign was wrong.

Black dots obstructed his vision and he could feel himself starting to shake. Just a bit further. Then he would be alone, where no one could get hurt.

His shoulders bumped into multiple people passing by, he just muttered apologies not stopping his fast pace. A hand grabbed his shoulder and Miguel whipped around a growl crawling out of his throat. Don’t touch me. His lip curled up on instinct to bare the venomous fangs.

Kind brown eyes looked back at him, worry creasing his friend's face. Peter was saying something, but Miguel couldn’t understand it. It was like his head was underwater and everything was warped, he could see Peter's lips moving and forming words, but he couldn’t understand any of it.

"Migu—eyes—alright?" It was weird, part of him felt like he should know what he was saying but his head was so clouded and everything was cranked up to eleven, making it hard to focus on his friend. Was Peter his friend?

Peter must have given up because he stopped talking and held out something, pushing it against Miguel's chest.

He made a confused noise, what was he doing? He needed to get away from him, everything still felt like too much, but when he was able to understand what was being held out to him his eyes widened.

The curious blue eyes of Mayday Parker looked up at him, the small child was making grabby hands towards him eventually sticking to Miguel's chest and crawling up to meet him. The babbles of the bundle of joy never met his ears, the underwater feeling growing louder.

Talons slicing through flesh

No, no, no this wasn’t right. This wasn’t safe, he was going to hurt her. She shouldn’t be so close. Miguel felt his breathing grow faster and more shallow, a hand found its way to his shoulder—

Miguel snarled at the contact, and the hand was retracted along with Mayday being taken from where the curious child sat on his chest. 

Something pulled at his heart when the kid was taken away, it felt like he was being strangled by his heart.

Red eyes looked back to brown ones, Peter was speaking again his facial expression had changed and was now lacking the familiar humor and smirk. Something bumped into his shoulder again, he had been here too long.

Once again Miguel left without saying a word, he wasn’t even sure he could speak right now, The rest of the way to his office was a blur, the sliding doors shut behind him, and the silence washed over him.

Why didn’t he feel better? Darkness was supposed to help, right? Why did it still feel so hard to breathe? Why was he still shaking?

He tried looking down at his hands, but the sight of Miles’ blood only made his breath hitch. Shock, he knew this was bad. He had gotten attached, and now they were all going to leave because he had messed up.

They were right, of course, he deserved to be left alone. After all, who would want to be around a monster like him?