Chapter Text
‘Hey! You got a mission!’
You glanced up from your desk and peeped around your holographic screen, curiously perusing for whoever had called. A mission? Who was it this time?
You spotted Jess making her way down the opposite hall to you, her eyes scanning the other desks. Ah, of course, you knew her voice anywhere. So this was an elite mission. With your curiosity now fully peeked you slyly leaned your chair even further out into the corridor, eyes peeled to try and see who she went towards.
One of the new Peters, perhaps? They were always clambering for a mission. Or perhaps the new Gwen? She certainly thought she deserved a solo mission, and she wasn’t even wrong.
You became so enraptured with your own office snooping that you entirely missed Jess as she walked up behind you.
‘You okay there?’
You jumped in your chair and nearly fell to the floor, only barely catching yourself on the rim of your desk. ‘AH- Oh, hi! Yes! Yes, all good. All- fine. What is up, boss?’
Jess flatly squared her hands on her hips. ‘I was literally calling you with exactly what is up’ she noted drolly. ‘You got a mission.’
You felt your shoulders tense as your stomach dropped. Your fear must have been clear because Jess immediately raised a brow.
You were getting sent out? Finally? You?
You swallowed down the growing lump in your throat. It was a justified fear, at least in your mind, as if this was true this would be your first big mission for the Spider Society. No more fighting minor crime in your own home city, now you were patrolling the multiverse.
‘Well?’
You jumped a second time as Jess interrupted your thoughts. It was very clear that you were wasting her time.
‘Oh! Ah, shit- yes, sorry.’ In a hurry you pushed your chair back and hopped to your feet, struggling to look as professional as you could. Jess’s face hardly moved. She seemed to be eyeing you up, making tiny little conclusions in her mind that you couldn’t see.
Luckily that didn’t last. Her face quickly changed back to that casual smile, and with a wave of her hand she beckoned you to follow. ‘My god you’re tightly wound. They were right. Come on!’
You quickly powered down the PC you’d been doing busywork on and rushed to follow her.
‘I thought Miguel was the only Spider who didn’t have senses. I've never seen another spider surprised like that’ Jess noted over her shoulder as you followed. You opened your mouth to reply but were cut off as you both exited the research block, with the sliding doors revealing a bright and blinding midday sun beaming down through the glass walls above. You shielded your eyes and hurried to catch up.
‘I do have senses, sorry, just- I’m still getting used to being here. I thought I lost it, actually, funny story, but uh- no, see I don’t know if you ever got told this, but apparently, I heard from one of the older Peter’s there’s this unofficial but pretty established thing called sense fatigue.’
‘Ahuh.’ Jess was obviously just trying to get to Miguel’s office as quickly as possible at this point, but you didn’t notice. You continued rambling.
‘It’s like whisker fatigue on cats, did you know cats got that? So spiders, we’re so used to being the only ones with senses, that when you first join the society it kinda exhausts your senses being around SO many other people that it stops working as well. I think that’s what’s happening to me. Did that ever happen to you?’
‘Nope.’
Jess’s curt response didn’t dampen your spirits. You eagerly jogged along the final main beam towards the go-home machine, jumping and dodging the other spiders as they went by.
‘Huh! Well that’s why you’re an elite, probably, right? Along with other reasons, I’m sure.’
‘Many other reasons’ Jess said.
‘But uh- I’m sure it’s fine. It’s better at home so, won’t affect me on the mission.’
‘Let’s hope not.’
With that being the final word Jess led you down the corridor towards Miguel’s office. It was darker there than the rest of the HQ, down in these tight-knit spaces covered in half-made junk and unfinished tech. You had to jump over multiple loose wires and metal plates to get to the door.
‘Miguel! I got who you asked for!’
You scurried up to Jess’s back as you both entered into Miguel’s domain. It was enormous in scope, dark and shadowed with jagged metal spires reaching so far up that you couldn’t see where they ended. In the centre of the room was that signature floating desk, and on that signature floating desk was the man himself.
Miguel O’Hara, slouched over his desk with his hackles raised and his neck bent.
‘Miguel! I brought ‘em over.’
Jess’s call caused him to pause. He was midway through typing something.
‘The new one?’
His voice was smooth, gruff and cold. It sent a shiver down your spine.
‘Yep. The new one.’
With a grunt Miguel finished typing and turned to face you. You jumped as he dropped down from his desk to the floor.
God he was pretty. You felt your heart thud a little harder as he stared down at you, hands carefully placed on his hips to highlight his shoulders.
No, not pretty. He was beautiful. You struggled to stand up a little taller.
‘Hi! Hello, ah- sir, you wanted me for a mission?’
Miguel looked you up and down like he could see through to your very soul. It was very strangely violating to be stared at by those cold red eyes. After giving you the up and down he turned and manifested a new screen at his back.
‘You’re going to E-298. There’s a vulture anomaly.’
‘Ah! Alright. Sounds, do-able. Who am I with?’
‘No one.’
You blanked. Your mouth moved but no words came out. ‘No- no one? Sir?’
Miguel grunted. ‘Somethings up. Almost everyone right now is busy, there’s anomalies everywhere, which is why I’m sending you to clear this up.’
‘Uh- I mean, Jess, is—’
‘Jess is coming with me to deal with an anomaly hole in E-345’ Miguel barked, quickly cutting you off. You pursed your lips on any further complaints.
‘Just subdue and cage the bad guy, then send him back here. Lyla will deal with any larger anomalies. Can you handle that?’
You shuffled your feet to hide how hot you felt. You shouldn’t be indulging this, but your body was reacting quite strangely to being ordered around by the larger man.
‘Ah- yes, sir’ you replied. Miguel nodded his approval, and you ate it up.
‘Good. I’ll need you to head out immediately.’
When Miguel failed to say anything else you assumed that it was time to go, and quickly turned to leave. Short and brief, you thought, what more could you expect though? He was a busy man after all.
But then Miguel spoke again.
‘Wait!’
You paused and turned to see Miguel holding up a single claw. His eyes were narrowed, his brows knotted in a way that was unusually intense even for him. You hated the way you cowered under his shadow.
‘I- I don’t usually bring this up, but, you’re… new, so I want to warn you’ he said, his voice going low. You noticed his nose flaring as he came closer, almost like he was breathing something in. You stood rigid beneath his enormous body. ‘This universe you’re going to, is- home to one of my variants.’
Your eyes widened a little, your mouth forming a soft ‘oh’. ‘Ah! Okay! Is, will you- or, he, I guess- will he be helping—’
‘Stay away from him’ Miguel barked. ‘My variations are not to be trusted. Understood?’
You slowly closed your mouth, giving a short nod.
‘Yes, sir. Of course.’ You pursed your lips as Miguel returned the nod. He slunk back to his office without a second word, and you followed Jess out of the office.
….
Later that day
...
‘God- damn it!’
You stumbled across the street floor, hand clutched to your side. You were hiding in a back alley of a smoking building, your body covered in dust and debris. The muted, muffled screams of a frustrated vulture filled the otherwise empty street.
With a grunt you pressed your back to the wall of the opposing building. It was dark here and the bricks were wet against your suit. You forcefully and awkwardly pulled your mask aside to breath.
Your fight with the vulture hadn’t gone as planned. You’d started out well enough, but that’d just made you cocky. In an attempt to do your best you’d overstretched your web mechanism to the point of jamming it, and you’d soon been overpowered by your feathery opponent.
A few tosses into the wall had bruised at least one rib, and your muscles were straining to even stand.
‘I need… back up…’
It hurt to admit, but you had no other choice. You raised your portal watch and began scanning for anyone you could call for help.
You scrolled, and scanned, and scrolled and scanned until your finger hurt from scrolling. Your movements grew more frantic as your gut began to sink. No, no, no. You could feel your panic rising. Every spider you brought up had an X beside them, meaning they were out of reach for contact.
‘Shit- Shit! Everyone?! It’s really everyone?!’
X after X after X. there was no one who could help you now.
With a soft whine you sank back against the wall, gripping its sides for stability. This was bad, this was REALLY bad. Really, REALLY bad.
You gently cracked your knuckle against the damp bricks at your back. Idiot, you thought. Why had Miguel thought you were worthy to be in this society? Why had you taken the position at all?
In that moment, you felt very much alone.
But, wait. You weren’t the only spider in this universe, right?
Your eyes trailed down to your watch where it’d fallen on Miguel. His symbol for availability was red like the others, but it reminded you of what he’d said. He had a variant here.
Miguel said his variants weren’t to be trusted, but, why? It was strange for him to be so cagey with information like that. Miguel was famously too honest, too blunt, often to his detriment. He only left stuff out if it was inconvenient.
So, what was the issue? Your mind had, at first, gone to the worst possibilities. That he was a mad scientist, or a venom variation, or was so messed up by the DNA splicing that he was incapable of reason.
That didn’t have to be the case though, did it? Perhaps it was something else.
You unceremoniously scrambled to check your things. You had your weapons. You had your watch. Surely if he was dangerous you could just escape, and you could apologize to Miguel later for not listening to him.
Besides, what choice did you have? Either you failed to get the vulture and went back in disgrace, or it turned out Miguel’s variant is a bad guy and you go home in disgrace again. The only good option was the reveal that Miguel’s variant was just, weird, or made him feel inadequate, or wanted $10 for helping out. Thing’s that Miguel could conceivably view as making him unworthy to be a spider society member.
With that desperate cope you made up your mind. You drew your watch to your lips and whispered.
‘Lyla? Hey, Lyla?’
‘What’s up, newbie.’
The snazzy little AI appeared on your wrist, eagerly pacing back and forth as she waited for orders. You swallowed hard; it was now or never.
‘Ah- you, can trace people in this universe, right?’
‘Yep.’
‘You could, theoretically, trace any spiders here?’
‘Yeeeppp.’
‘Could… could you uh, please, trace the Miguel O’Hara in this universe, for me?’
At that Lyla paused. She spun on her heel with dramatic flair, her glasses falling down her nose without her even touching them. She looked surprised.
‘Wow! Didn’t take you for a risky little sneak.’
‘I’m not! I’m just- I need some help and everyone else is busy.’
‘Ahuh. Whatever you say, I don’t care. Honestly I’m just excited someone asked me. I’ve wanted to see his freaky variants for years, but he won’t ever let me look it up. Since you asked though, I got immunity.’
You tried not to think too much about the implications of what she’d said. You lay back and waited for Lyla to complete her scan, all while very aware of the vulture’s continued destruction going on in the building beside you. For now he was contained in there, as you’d put up a light shield, but that wouldn’t last forever.
Please let this work, you pleaded internally. Please.
‘Aha! Got ‘im.’
You let out a sigh of relief as Lyla re-appeared. ‘Great! Where is he?’
‘He’s close’ Lyla cooed, waving a fake document in front of you that was too small to read. You gestured with your hand for her to hurry up.
‘Yes! Okay! Where?’
‘The pine forest park just beyond the city line, to the north. Looks like he’s pretty deep in there.’
You felt your enthusiasm die just a little. He was in a forest? Why? You felt a little pang of anxiety in your gut about this whole thing, but you quickly shut it down as the vulture’s rampage grew louder. No, it was probably fine. Maybe he just had a hidden base in the woods, that was normal, right?
Besides, you didn’t have time to spare. Either he helped or didn’t, and if he didn’t want to help you needed to know that sooner than later.
‘Okay. Thanks Lyla, I owe you.’
‘Everyone does.’
Lyla zipped out of existence as you swung yourself back into the open air, flinging your body way above the city skyline. Up here, with the clear sky and wide-open city scape, you immediately spotted what Lyla had been talking about: an enormous pine forest way off in the distance, hugging the cities edge like a sleeping bear. It looked thick, untamed, and its edges were dark beneath the clouds of an oncoming storm.
You swung your way through the streets and watched the trees grow closer.
‘Alright’ you whispered, your body soaring through the sky. ‘Let’s meet the new Mr O’Hara.’