Shattered Lives

Live to Fight Another Day

When Jefferson first took the call, he thought it was a prank. After the insistence that it was real call, he even considered that maybe it was a kidnapping. And then the man on the other end of the line said something that made Jefferson's blood ran cold.

"Miles... He's hurt bad, Mister. We're doing the best we can, but we can't promise anything."

And here he was, sitting in some older woman's shed while his son slept soundly just 5 feet away. Rio was at his side, leaning her hip against his bed.

And then there was the team of, frankly, bizarre superheroes to the other side - the rugged Peter, the genius Penni, the 1920's gangster Noir, the dancer Gwen, and the cartoon character, Porky. Jeff was still trying to figure out what his son had been doing with this crazy crew when he got there, but Miles... Miles had been in that stupid suit. The stupid black and red suit that everyone recognized now.

"So," Jeff finally said, breaking the silence. "Miles is the new Spiderman?"

Peter glanced at the others, but it was no secret Miles was more of Peter's mentee than anyone else. "Yeah, he is. Has been for a while, too."

Jefferson pursed his lips and watched as another piece of Miles' shoulder stitched itself back to the main part of Miles' chest. It was almost enough to make him sick. "And you've been... teaching him. Like his teammates?"

"Yeah, basically. He's a good kid. Does good work. The shocker webs he's got going is kind of insane, and the invisibility is a huge boost for stealth."

Jeff nodded hard. "Then stop. I don't want him mixed up in this."

Peter and Gwen were both about to argue with the man when May poked her head around the corner of the medical room. "We've got hits on the computer. You guys are going to have to get back out there if you don't want him taking down the city's trauma center."

The others ran into the main room, but Peter paused. "I promise, Miles is safe. And he's careful. We can talk about this when he gets up, please, don't- don't take this away from him. He needs this."

And then Peter was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jefferson and Rio stayed put. Miles kept twitching in his sleep, almost as if the teen was concentrating on healing his body. It was almost fascinating, actually, with how fast the shredded skin and muscle was melting together.

Jeff couldn't quite look at his son. Not until the shoulder was done fixing itself.

An alarm rang out in the shed, and May hastily turned it off. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I'll put it on mute. It's just the metrics on the Spidergang."

Miles stirred a little, flexing his hands as he did so.

"Miles?"

"Mijo! Let's get you up, mijo, oh-" Rio was already mothering him bad, but as Miles became more and more aware of what was going on, he pushed her worried hands away.

"Nnn, ma, sthap..." he slurred. After a second of two, he was a little more awake, and he sat up hastily. "What- what- whaaatttt are you two doing here?"

Miles was trying, and failing, to sound nonchalant. Jeff and Rio knew it was an act.

"We got a call from a good friend of yours," Jeff said, his voice tight. "He seemed to think you were in trouble."

"And when we saw the state of your arm and leg, we agreed." Rio was quick to add.

Miles started, as if just remembering his body had been mangled. He quickly rolled his shoulder and ran his fingers along the edge of the suit. "Well, May's going to kill me. I'll have to take another suit. Or have her fix this one."