Rescue Mission
Peter was preparing lunch for himself when he found out. He had chosen to cook up some scrambled eggs and make a breakfast burrito, so what if it was for his lunch it was easy and delicious.
The lingering concern about Miguel still haunted his mind while he cooked. He was alone in his and M.J’s apartment, his amazing wife had messaged him about taking Mayday to a playdate and then going out to lunch with some of her friends so she would be gone for a few hours at least.
He was just about to start the final stage of burrito making when the screen of his goober that currently rested on the countertop lit up and a miniature form of Lyla materialized above the device.
“Lyla?” Peter exclaimed, his voice mumbled as he spoke while having a bit of food in his mouth. “What's wrong? Is everything alright?” He questioned. The AI had told him that if there were any updates on Miguel that she would alert him immediately so her appearance sent a new wave of concern.
“Honestly, I’m not sure” Lyla responded, her form glitching from just hovering to a relaxed sitting pose and back again. “Though I do have an update on Miguel.”
He should be happy that there was new information on how his friend was doing but judging by Lyla's tone and how un-urgent she acted Miguel was still shut away in his office.
“What is it?” Peter said while abandoning his lunch to get some shoes and a jacket on. Since something did happen he was going to the headquarters, it was better to be safe than sorry at this point.
The form of Lyla followed him as he speed walked over to grab this stuff and she filled him in on the newest information.
“Well Hobie Brown said he found a way to get into Miguel's office, without extreme damage to the technology, thankfully.” At the mention of the other Spider-man Lyla pulled up a recording of him that showed the teen to be sitting outside the office door tinkering with a random device in his hands.
“Perfect, tell him I’ll be there soon.” Peter slipped on two mismatched sneakers and grabbed his web shooters as well. Miguel wasn’t going to be pleased that they were basically planning to break into his office but he could complain all he wanted about whatever fate of the multiverse thing as long as Peter knew he was okay.
A quick fumble while trying to find the multiverse watch–goober—gizmo–whatever there were too many names for the device anyway, led Peter to snatch it from its place on the counter top and snap it on his wrist.
The coordinates for headquarters were part of the pre-loaded section on the watch so with the press of a button the hexagonal portal took from in the middle of the living room of the apartment.
Bright colors filled his vision and the whooshing feeling of making a multiversal jump shook his bones. The sensation was short lived though as he exited out in the lobby of spider society.
There was no time wasted on chatting or people watching, not even bothering to take the bridge Peter leap off the floor of the lobby and quite literally swung into action. It was a bit difficult to be swinging with the added drag of his casual clothing and not his normal aerodynamic Spider-man suit but he often wore a trench coat or a fluffy robe over the hero suit.
In the relative minute of fast web-swinging Peters thoughts were bouncing around like a ball in a pinball machine.
His hopeful thoughts were drowned out by worst case scenarios that he unwillingly thought up. What if Miguel wasn’t even there, or if he didn’t even want help? Well Miguel normally didn’t even ask for help and denied it when it was offered, just one of the many annoying habits that Peter had recognized.
Had he been taking the injections? If not, what would it do to Miguel?
The image of the office doors sliding open to reveal a limp body briefly flashed in his head.
No. No No. Nope. That was not going to happen. Peter knew without a doubt that Miguel cared for the kids and though he tried he wasn’t going to exile himself from caring for them that easily.
Once his feet touched the ground Peter broke into a sprint headed straight for Miguel's office, only tripping slightly on a few loose wires.
He had to take a few gulps of air after he stopped in front of the door, he may be Spider-man but running that quickly was still exhausting. Hobie was sitting to the side of the door leaning his back against the wall while still fiddling with the piece of tech that now had wires connected to it and running into the doors control panel.
The teen spared a glance upward when Peter arrived and gave an acknowledging nod before going back to working on the device.
“What ya’ working on?” Peter said after he got his breathing under control and now stood peering at Hobie to watch the teen work.
“A lil’ thing to override the system so the door will unlock.” Hobie responded without stopping the tinkering. “It’ll be a hell of a job to just try an’ find the code to unlock it so best bet is just to wipe it until it resets to default.”
“Do whatever kid, but just how long is this going to take?” Peter was only slightly worried about damaging Miguel's door but it was for his own sake so it probably would cancel out. Right now he was just growing more and more worried about what waiting would do.
“Like one minute, three if you keep rushin’ me with the questions.” Hobie commented looking up for a second to give Peter a look waiting for his response.
“Alright, alright.” He raised his hands up in mock surrender and backed away to lean against the other side of the door. There was a small silence, the only sounds being the twos breathing and the clicking of tools from Hobie until it was broken by Peter.
“Why.. are you doing this?” He asked, tone genuine because he honestly was. It was a well known fact that Hobie didn’t like Miguel that much, often saying that the only reason he stayed with the society was for his friends. So it was odd that the teen was helping with the situation.
Said teen got up from where he was sitting and turned his attention to the control panel of the door while he spoke.
“Only a fool would stand by and watch his friends suffer.” Hobie said his tone was indecipherable to Peter. It was hard to tell if it was guilt or a form of kindness that laced the teens words but there was definitely something there.
“I may not agree with the old blokes actions, pushing rules and stuff onto others ain’t right. But he is a decent guy when he’s not chasing people through dimensions.” Hobie explained and after clapping his hands together before slipping them back into his pockets he spoke again. “All ready, just tell me when”
So maybe it wasn’t just for Miles and the others that Hobie was doing this? From what Peter could gather and read in-between the lines he’d say the Hobie may have enjoyed hanging out with Miguel.
There was no time to waste on getting lost in trying to figure out Hobie though. The teen didn’t believe in consistency after all so for all Peter knew this could be just a one hour thing, though something told him it wasn’t.
“Alrighty then,” Peter stepped in front of the doorway and motioned with his hand for Hobie to override the door.
The control panel sparked for a second before the familiar hiss of the doors sliding open filled the silence.
“I’ma stay out here” Hobie muttered while typing something into his homemade multiverse watch. Peter gave him a small nod and shot a web to swing into the office.
It was eerily silent and combined with the darkness caused shivers to crawl up his spine.
Miguel's platform was raised up high and from the looks of it there wasn’t any extra orange light from projected screens so he wasn’t working on anything at the moment then.
“Hey Migs!” Peter called out with a hand cupped around his mouth. “It’s Peter! Are you up there? You alright?” His voice bounced off the walls of the office and earned no response back. Did Miguel leave somehow or was Peter just being ignored?
Miguel did ignore him sometimes but this time it stirred something uncomfortable in his stomach.
Peter was just about to use his web shooters to get onto the platform when his eye got caught on white-ish object laying on the ground a few feet away from him.
He crouched down to investigate the weird item and the closer he got the more his stomach sank.
The object was off white, looking almost blue in the dark lighting, and it looked sharp and had a curve to it. But what made it fully click in Peter's head was the dried blood that coated the base of it.
It was a claw.
Shit
Shit. He shouldn’t have waited. He should have stopped Miguel when he recognized his off behavior at the bridge.
Please don’t be bad. Please just be one and not all of them. He mentally pleaded in his head as he propelled himself upwards toward the platform.
Peter landed with no regard for how loud the landing was, his mind already clouded over with worry. The first thing he noticed was Miguel was sitting on the floor of the platform, there was a puddle of the neon green drug that looked like it had been dropped and shattered, and Miguel didn’t react to his appearance which was definitely a red flag.
“Miguel!? Miguel, can you hear me?” Peter frantically asked as he dropped down in front of the man.
Up close Peter could see the damage that was done to his friend's hands. There was crusted blood coating Miguel's fingers and palms, unfortunately his mental pleading did nothing and it was worse than he had thought.
Miguel's claws were cut to little nubs, enough to where he had cut through the quick of his claws and Peter could see the insides. He couldn’t look at it for long, not with his stomach already twisted with worry.
Turning his attention to Miguel's face Peter was met with the glowing red eyes that Miguel had when they bumped into each other at the start of this whole mess.
A raspy growl sounded from Miguel as the man's lip curled up to reveal his sharp white fangs that held paralyzing venom inside. Peter's spidey-sense didn’t go off because instead of a feeling of danger he actually felt a bit relieved to see what his friend hadn’t gone to his teeth after his claws.
The growl didn’t last long, quickly dying off with a cough taking over instead. Peter took the opportunity to properly assess what he could do in the situation.
“H-hey Migs, It's just me Peter—Peter B.?” He awkwardly said, raising his hands in a pitiful attempt to be calming. “You don’t look so good buddy.”
That was the understatement of the century. Even in the dark Peter could see the bags that looked like bruises under Miguel's eyes and his normally brushed back hair was messy with strands hanging over Miguel's face. He was still wearing his blue and red spider-man suit, the only difference being that his hands and face weren’t covered.
Hopefully since Miguel still had the suit on, that meant that he wasn’t hurt anywhere else. Peter briefly glanced over his shoulder to look at the shattered glass that was spread across the platform, his gaze noticed the injection gun laid on the table with an empty capsule inside it and a few more right next to it.
Peter wasn’t quite sure on how many injections were healthy for Miguel to have but based on the current circumstances he would guess that there were too many empty capsules for just a few days.
A groan from Miguel brought Peters attention back to his friend. Miguel shifted looking like he was trying to sit up but gave up halfway and his bright red eyes were scanning over Peter. Almost like the man didn’t think he was real.
“You with me?” Peter tried, it was probably best to get an understanding on what Miguel's mental state was at the moment. “You’ve been here for a few days Miguel. Me and the kids have been worried.”
Red eyes widened as Peter mentioned the kids, Miguel's facial expression morphing between multiple emotions that all looked like grief while his eyes darted from Peter's face to behind Peter like Miguel was trying to see if anyone was there.
“Is—” Miguel opened his mouth to speak but all that came out was a raspy noise that Peter cringed at. Right, he hadn’t drank any water let alone talked to anyone in days.
Miguel's eyebrows furrowed like he was thinking about something before Peter waved his hand to regain his attention.
“Don’t strain yourself” He quipped with a smile before moving to Miguel's side and tossing the man's arm around his shoulders. “First step is getting you off the floor and somewhere more comfortable then you’re getting a lecture.”
Peter watched as Miguel once again searched his face with a guilty look in his eyes before dropping his head and giving Peter a small nod.
He helped his friend get up off the cold floor, being patient as Miguel leaned against him before finding his balance.
“You may want to close your eyes” Peter advised before opening the multiversal portal right in front of the two. He heard Miguel growl at the bright light emitted from the portal as Peter led him into it.
He made sure to keep a hold on Miguel as they were pulled through the portal, not really trusting that the man had the energy to keep himself upright when they exited.
Exiting out of the hexagonal portal was a bit of a struggle. Peter felt his spidey-sense alert him right before Miguel's legs gave out from beneath him, sending the both of them to their knees.
“Shit, uuh—here come on,” Peter grunted as he helped Miguel onto the couch of the apartment, moving a couple throw pillows to the side so there was enough room. The couch wasn’t extremely big; it could probably only fit three adults if they sat shoulder to shoulder but it was more than enough space for one person.
There was a medical bay in the headquarters but he rightfully guessed that Miguel wasn’t going to be able to make it that far so the next best place was his and M.J’s apartment.
Miguel didn’t say anything while Peter hurried into the bathroom to grab the first aid kit that they kept under the sink. It was missing some of its contents but it should do the job for right now.
It wasn’t unnatural for Miguel to be quiet, but he didn’t even respond to the rambles that spilled past Peter's lips while he filled a glass of water from the kitchen sink. Normally he would at least get a ‘mhm’ or some other form of a grunt when he ranted to Miguel but right now there was no audible response.
His head had thoughts bouncing around varying from kicking himself for not checking on Miguel sooner to what the hell Miguel was thinking. He briefly considered messaging the kids about the update to the situation but ultimately decided against it.
Right now he needed to help Miguel.
After that he could try and get his side of the story.
Miguel wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or guilty at Peter's arrival.
His head felt like it was partially filled with thick cotton and his arms and legs felt… weird?
Thinking was difficult but not having a swirling storm of thoughts crashing in his head was a nice change at least.
He kept his eyes shut to block out the light. Going from extreme darkness to a well lit living room was a painful experience for Miguel's eyes.
He could only assume that he was in Peter's apartment at the moment. Judging by the cushiony surface he was sitting on Miguel had concluded that he was in the lounging area.
This was terrible. He had worried Peter and the kids. A betraying voice in the back of his clouded mind scolded him for this.
Peter had to find you and now he was just taking up space in Peter's apartment when he probably had more important things to do.
Miguel didn’t bandage his hands and now Peter had seen what he had done. It was hard to see Peter's reaction just by facial expressions, he had expected Peter to have some reaction at least.
He didn’t care if it was joy or sorrow; he just wanted to end the suspense that was clawing at his thoughts.
However, opening his eyes to see what Peter was doing sounded even worse at the moment. The only thing Miguel could do to guess what Peter was doing was to listen and that didn’t help much. He could only hear the sounds of a cabinet closing and some running water before footsteps came closer and closer to the couch.
“Alright, got you some water, it's from the tap so don’t expect it to be that good.” Peter’s voice had his usual light tone to it which was only slightly comforting in the moment. A cold glass was pressed into his hands, Miguel held back a slight flinch and held it the best he could with his injury.
Opening his eyes just barely just to try and drink the water was a mistake. Light flooded his eyes and an animalistic growl crawled out of his throat before Miguel could hold it back.
“Wha— Oh I forgot–” He heard Peter mutter to himself and it was followed by footsteps then the flick of a lightswitch.
With the artificial light now gone, Miguel squinted his eyes and was met with a comforting darkness. The apartment wasn’t pitch black or even as dark as his office but it was a nice balance of light from random appliances and the familiar darkness.
He opened his mouth to thank Peter but was instantly reminded of his parched throat and promptly chugged the glass of tap water.
Setting the empty glass down on the small coffee table, briefly checking for a coaster but giving up when there was none in sight, Miguel looked up only to see Peter's face twisted with concern.
Seeing Peter’s face reflect anything but the joking and light-hearted personality that everyone knew and loved was disturbing, sending an all new wave of guilt over Miguel that swirled the water in his stomach.
Miguel followed Peter's gaze to his own hands that were still crusted with his own blood.
“You don’t have to talk right now,” Peter said as he sat down next to Miguel while using his teeth to open a alcohol wipe.
The two Spider-men were quiet as Peter cleaned off the dried blood on Miguel's hands with a mix of alcohol wipes and a washcloth damp with warm water. Miguel didn’t react when Peter went over the open part of his talons, only staring straight ahead.
Eventually, right as Peter finished wrapping up bandages on the last finger, Miguel said something in a quiet voice.
“I hurt the kid”
Miguel didn’t look at Peter, too afraid that there would be anger or betrayal flooding his usually kind brown eyes.
It was hard to tell if it was just a few seconds of silence but it felt way too long to Miguel because instantly his thoughts exploded with worry and plans to just walk out of the apartment and stop bothering Peter but when he responded there was no anger in his tone.
“Yeah, I heard” Peter responded, matching the volume of Miguel's voice while his tone reflected a sadness that hurt Miguel to hear.
Miguel groaned and put his hand into his newly bandaged hands, propping his elbows on his legs. “Peter I messed up,” He admitted and to be honest he wasn’t even sure what exactly he was referring to.
He had screwed up a lot, with Miles on the train, with the alternate universe, during training, heck he wasn’t even completely sold that the Spider society wasn’t just a big mistake that was going to crash down at any time.
“Is Miles okay?” Miguel asked, his hands still cradling his head almost like his thoughts were too heavy for his neck to hold.
“He’s fine, he healed pretty quickly” Peter said, Miguel could feel his weight shift to the side of him as the man leaned back on the couch. “He’s worried, we all were.”
“Sorry” Miguel muttered, once again the guilt made his stomach swirl.
Silence once again fell over the two, lasting what felt like a few minutes before Miguel felt Peter's weight shift and a warm hand found a place on his deflated shoulder.
“Miguel,” Peter said, for once not using one of the many nicknames he had created for his friend. “What happened during the training? Why—What were you thinking in your office?”
He almost stayed quiet but Peter deserved to know, Miguel had already caused enough heartache in just a week.
“I-It's hard to remember,” He began, silently hoping that there would be a random interruption that would cut him off. “During training I wasn’t in the right mind, I don’t know if I should have taken another dose beforehand or if my DNA wasn’t the issue but I reacted out of instinct.”
He took a deep breath and removed his head from his hands but stayed facing forward.
“I was never bitten by a spider, so my abilities have side effects that yours don’t. I thought that if I could remove what hurt some I cared about then that would avoid the same thing happening again.”
Miguel remembered the familiar soreness that plagued the injection site when he took a dose of his drug creation, absentmindedly rubbing his arm where he injected multiple at a time when he was alone.
“Most Spider-people have a spider sense as a part of their powers” He started, looking over to meet Peter's gaze. There was no anger or hurt, just a sad understanding in his expression as Peter listened to Miguel. “What I have is a voice–an instinct–that isn’t human. That if I let it it’ll consume the half of me that is still human”
Peter looked at Miguel, studying his face gaze flickering to the bandages that were wrapped around his hands before returning to meet Miguel's unnatural red eyes.
“Miguel,” Peter exhaled. “I know you would never hurt any of the kids on purpose and no matter what that voice or you say about yourself it won’t change that fact that you have people who care about you, spider DNA and all.”
Peter pushed himself up off the couch and turned to face Miguel who was still processing his words.
“You messed up, we have all done that before.” Peter smiled, patting Miguel on the shoulder. “I don’t care whether you were bitten by a spider or not, you're my friend and I know without a doubt that you mean a lot to those kids whether you like it or not.”
And before Miguel even opened his mouth to respond a bright orange light flooded the room, hexagonal shapes forming right in the middle of the living room.
Familiar voices came from the portal as five figures exited.
“Are you sure this is the right place, Miles?”
“Yeah, yeah I’m sure”
“The lights are off, Hobie, are you sure that your goober is correct?”
“Wait guys!!! They are here!!”