[✔] ▼ 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝙱𝚒𝚝𝚎 ▲ Miguel O'Hara ▼ 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝟷/ 𝟸

▸ TWENTY EIGHT ◂

Miles jaw practically drops at the variety of spiders all doing their own thing; swinging around, walking upside down, talking amongst each other. He stumbles to follow you with Gwen and Hobie.

Hobie looked around in distaste, "Bit much, innit?"

Miles turns to Gwen with a teasing tone, "What happened to that small elite strike team?"

"A lot of these are part-time." Gwen hurriedly explains, accidentally bumping into a few people in the path.

"Gwendy, how much have you told him?" Hobie asks quietly, as Miles falls a bit behind. "Hm? About his place in all this."

You notice he's talking about Miles being the original anomaly. You already knew her response; how could she tell him all that without hurting him? As much as you wanted to sympathize with them, it was important that he knew.

"A little-" She was cut off by Miles groaning in pain, covered in glitches.

You internally scolded yourself, taking out a temporary wristband to give to him. You wanted to apologize to Miles for forgetting about the glitching part, but you honestly didn't feel like it.

"Maybe not enough," Hobie utters next to you.

You toss Miles the bracelet, "Here."

Miles catches it in excitement, "Oh! My own watch!"

"It's a day pass." You turn away nonchalantly, trying to hide the smile on your face.

It was cute how he'd get excited at every little thing. But he was a clueless and naive amateur. You had to keep telling yourself that.

"This just keeps you from-" Miles broke out into glitches again. "-glitching like that."

A troop of spiders holding weapons all trot past you, saying their greetings.

"Hey, Gwen!" A spider lights up at her.

"Hey, Peter." She waves back.

A smile returned to your face, remembering how popular Gwen is. Hobie nudges you with a smirk as he noticed your improved mood, so you quickly hide your amusement and continue walking. Many spiders continued to call out to Gwen, and some proceeded to ask about Miles.

"Peter," You call out to a spider as an automobile appears in front of you, "take a team to the transport to help with the Spot mess. Jess should be there waiting."

He obeys and the car fills with a few others. As they drive off, Miles walks next to you, "I wouldn't call it a mess. More like a . . . success in progress."

You ignore Miles, not bothering to explain to him anything. You were going to leave that all to Miguel. "Ben, can you-"

"-Sorry. I can't talk right now, babe," He bends dramatically against one of the pillars, "Thinking about my past . . ."

You roll your eyes at his exaggeration, "Take your time. I don't think we need you after all."

"That was a particularly . . . harrowing memory." He groans to himself.

"Is . . . Is he okay?" Miles asks but yelps after a spider-horse neighs in front of him.

"Hey. The name's Web Slinger." A cowboy spider introduces himself.

"Why does the horse need a mask?" Miles was getting distracted, but you thought it would be nice for him to adjust and meet new people before he meets his doom: Miguel.

The four of you make it into the sending area, where the anomalies are sent back home using a machine. One of them cries out and tries to attack Miles through the barrier.