I am always in control
I am always in control
I am always in control
The phrase kept repeating over and over in his mind, haunting every cell in Miles's body. The voice alone in his head that said those chilling words felt like ice daggers cutting deep into his soul. His breath quickened and he started shaking uncontrollably. Chills ran down his spine and wind began beating down on his back.
The room faded away and turned into an endless pit of black. Everyone who was just hugging him were gone, removing any bit of warmth he just felt and there was now only coldness. Coldness and darkness.
"W-where am I?" He almost whimpered. He felt terrified. Nothing felt right and nothing could be seen.
"This," A raspy voice spoke from behind him. Miles turned to see a barely visible outline of a floating figure that was wispy all around it. Red eyes glared from the head and stared deep into his soul. "is my world. My home."
"What are you?"
"I am everything and nothing. I am everywhere and nowhere. Visible and invisible. I am Shadow."
"W-what do you want from me?" Miles stammered. His fear was still rising. He couldn't summon up any sense of bravery as the whole place seemed to be made for fear and dread.
"Judgment. For your sins." It slithered. Its head lunged forward at the last word and bared its teeth at him. Miles leapt back from it and fell. He crawled away from it as its hands slowly pushed it towards him. It outstretched its hand and a lone finger slowly moved to touch his face. Miles's face burned from the touch as if it were touching acid. He winced from the pain but made no noise. "Precious." It whispered
"What... what do you mean?"
"Body." It said. "Precious."
"No." Miles scrambled away from Shadow and got up. "Get away from me!"
Shadow laughed and it transformed back into the tall figure he saw back in the void. He could see it clearly now. Wisps of darkness came up and blew away all over his body. Shadowy muscles rippled all over. But what scared Miles the most was all the spikes. Each so sharp and deadly and located at places where they could easily be used as a lethal weapon.
"There is no running." Its voice back to the terrifying booming noise that would haunt Miles for the rest of his life. "I will be everywhere, and I will be everything. I am always in control." Another head suddenly appeared next to Shadow's. It was the head of a much more human head but still had the hauntingly red eyes.
"We are always in control." The two heads said together.
The whole world began to start spinning around Miles. Air whistled in his ears and the ground spun beneath him as he tumbled on it, trying to regain his balance. And in the middle of all the chaos were those eyes. Those blood red eyes that ravaged his soul and made everything ice cold.
The black slowly faded away and was replaced by white. Not white that was warm and brought warmth, just sterile, blinding white. He was back in the hospital and was enveloped in a tight hug by a few people.
No, not people, images. This is all Mysterio's doing isn't it?
But as he looked at the people hugging him he didn't feel any danger, he just felt a lounging to hug them back and be with them. His parents looked so happy to see him. His mom had tears of joy slowly coming down and his dad had a wide grin of happiness plastered on him.
And her.
Gwen.
His beautiful angel. How he missed her so much and how he just wanted to touch her hand even the slightest just to feel some light return.
"I'll give you some privacy and I'll be back with some equipment for tests." A voice came from the back of the room. It was the doctor, or rather Mysterio, minion to Shadow, Miles supposed. "Miles, I'll be back for you very soon." He said. It was supposed to sound reassuring but to Miles it sounded like a threat. As he left, a streak of shadow trailed behind him as he walked and lingered long enough for Miles to notice it before quickly disappearing. "Be careful not to do anything that you may regret later." He quickly said before leaving.
Gwen and Miles's parents were still hugging him but they no longer felt warm anymore. They felt cold, strange, and dangerous. He felt his spidey-sense give a small tingle and he immediately lurched away from them. The fear returned to him and his eyes widened as he tried to scotch back as far as possible from them.
"Get away from me!"
"Miles what's wrong?" Jeff asked him.
"It's just us. You don't have to be afraid." Gwen said to try to comfort him.
"No! I know what you all are!"
"Mi hijo, are you ok?" Rio asked and tried to reach for his hand but he quickly pulled away.
"Don't touch me!"
He started breathing quickly and tried to look for a way to escape. The door was blocked by his dad. Finally he saw the window and got an idea.
"Miles you're breathing too fast! You're gonna have a panic attack!" Gwen said
He took out the IV in his arm and got up. Gwen tried grab him and put him back on the bed but he easily avoided her arms and got to the window.
"Miles, what are you doing?" His dad demanded. He raised the window and stepped over the ledge. "Somebody grab him!"
Gwen ran over to try and grab him but Miles jumped out before she could reach him. He still had his web shooters with him luckily and he shot a web to swing over to a building nearby. The hospitable garments fluttered as he swung, reminding him of his rather embarrassing clothing.
He landed on the rooftop and scanned the city. Meanwhile, he tried to sort out the events that had just happened. First he was in some world with Mysterio and got played like a puppet, then he somehow traveled back in time to when he got hurt by the Rhino, then he saw Shadow in whatever that place was, and now he was lost in the city with next to no idea what was happening.
I need to get some answers. Maybe I can find a clue to what's happening right now.
He got up from the crouched position he was in and was about to start swinging when he felt air breeze easily at his waist. He looked down and remembered the hospitable garments he was wearing.
Right, probably should get some clothes first.
It was dark. Too dark. Nothing could be seen. The only thing that could be heard was her breathing. But what really concerned Cindy was the smell. It reeked of decay and dead bodies. She gagged as soon as the smell registered in her brain and she would've heaved an entire days worth of food if there was actually something in her stomach but there was nothing. Her growling stomach was the next thing that took her attention. It hurt like hell from the lack of food that was in it.
However, it did give her some clues. At least now she had an idea of how long she was here.
Now I gotta try to see what "here" looks like. Is there a light or something?
She reached out her hand to feel her surroundings. Her hand came across what felt like a light bulb and she moved her hand sideways and felt a pole next to it. She ran down the pole and soon felt a switch and flipped it on. She immediately squinted as the blinding light shined directly on her eyes. They eventually adjusted to the brightness and she was able to look at her surroundings now.
There were massive rows of beds all around her, and every single one of them had a body on them. She held her breath in fear as she realized that must have been where the smell of decay was coming from.
She resisted the ache her tired legs gave her and got off the bed to run over to the nearest one. On it was a person. Though, person might not be the correct term. Their whole figure was completely different. Their skin was completely black with hard plating all over it. The skin at the arms was practically sliding off at an alarmingly fast pace. The hands both fell off a while ago and something sharp was beginning to replace them.
"What happened to you?" She quietly asked. She didn't know whether to gag or sob at the gruesome sight. Whatever was happening to that person, they didn't deserve it. And she knew that it was probably the same thing happening to the others that were on the hundreds of beds with her.
A large clang interrupted the silence and bright light filled the entire room. Cindy was finally able to see the entire room. She knew there were a lot of beds but there were far more than she thought. There were probably thousands of beds and each had a body on them, rotting themselves to death and replacing itself with whatever monster was being made.
"Cindy." A familiar voice said. She turned around to see Miguel standing there with his suit on.
"Miguel!" She ran over to him. "How did you get here?"
"What do you mean?"
"How did you... find me?" She started to get confused.
"I was here all the time." He shrugged. "It is my house you know."
"Wait... then you know about all of this?" She waved her hand at all the beds. Miguel nodded. "What are you doing to these people!?"
"Simply perfecting them."
"Perfecting them? You're killing them! You're making them rot to death unnaturally and they're just replacing themselves with monsters!" A tear began to fall as she took in the fact that someone she loved so much could do something so horrific. "Miguel, what happened to you?"
He started to laugh. "God, you spiders are such idiots."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't tell?" He laughed even harder. A drone appeared next to him and the hologram was lifted to reveal Mysterio. "I don't know how Miguel could fall for such a clueless person."
"Mysterio? But I was in the explosion. How are you still alive?"
He laughed again. "How do you think you're here? It was all fake. I have bigger plans than to kill myself."
"What about Miguel?"
"Ah, about time you asked. Well as you can see," a platform lowered from the ceiling. On it layed the still unconscious Miguel who was still in his suit. "he's gotten quite a lot of sleep lately."
"Miguel!" She kneeled next to him and checked for a pulse. It was there, but faint. She shook him to try to get him to wake up. His eyes slowly opened.
"C-cindy?" He could barely even groan.
She gently placed her hands on his face and chest to comfort him. "Miguel it's me. Are you all right?"
His eyes quickly widened in terror. "Cindy, get out of here. Now!"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, if there's one thing I hate more than you spiders," Mysterio walked up next to Miguel's body, "it's being rudely woken up when I'm sleeping. I don't think your boyfriend likes it either." He revealed a large dagger in his hand. "Let's let him rest." He raised the dagger.
"No!" Cindy tried to use her webs to stop him but her shooters weren't there. She quickly grabbed his hand to stop it. He put his other hand over it and pushed down on but she was just barely able to stop the arm from moving.
The two struggled and Cindy was actually able to slowly push Mysterio's arm away but suddenly she was swept off of her feet and landed on her back. She tried to get back up but was pushed down by Miguel.
"Miguel what are you doing? I'm trying to save you!" She tried to get back up again but was pushed down again by him.
"Don't. I'm not supposed to live." Miguel said.
She stood back up and Miguel let her this time. "What do you mean?"
"Your boyfriend is a smart one I see." Mysterio chuckled. "Shame that such clear thinking has to go to waste."
Cindy looked at Mysterio. "What are you talking about?"
Mysterio gestured towards Miguel. "Go ahead, tell her."
Miguel sighed. "I can't tell you everything right or else everything will be much worse. I can only tell you that if you save me, many more innocent people are going to die."
"What do you mean? I'm not leaving you here to die like this." Tears slowly started to fill her eyes.
"I'm sorry but you have to. Leave me here and get out of here. Find Miles, he needs help right now. Give him that help. Everything will become clear after that."
"I'm not letting you die." Her tears were falling quickly now.
"I'm sorry that it had to end this way Cindy." He gently touched her face. "Remember, always look at the stars." He leaned in to kiss her forehead. "I love you."
She shook her head. "Please don't do this." She said quietly. Tears were free flowing now but she didn't care anymore. The one person who she actually loved would be killed. Not like a hero, but like a prisoner on death row. He didn't deserve this.
"This is so heart warming you two. But time to go now before more blood is on your hands." Mysterio saw the hesitation in Cindy's eyes and laughed. "You're considering saving him aren't you?" He laughed again. "Oh what will it be, leave him and hope to stop me? Or save him and have more blood on your hands."
Miguel quickly shot a web at the wall next to the door way.
"I'm sorry." He simply said.
He shot another web and connected it to the previous web. He let go of Cindy and the webs pulled her away from him. She quickly removed the web to avoid crashing into the wall and turned to see the heartbreaking sight.
Mysterio raised the dagger but waited for a second.
Miguel turned and looked at her one more time. The knife remained there for another second that lasted for an eternity. Then, it fell, and pierced right through Miguel's suit and skin, right where his heart was.
"No!" She screamed.
The few moments when his body fell seemed to freeze.
It can't be real. He must be alive. He's survived the same wound from Morlun before, he can survive this as well.
But this time, Mysterio gave no chance of survival and plunged the dagger in him again once he fell, eliminating the possibility of not striking the heart.
Cindy didn't know what to do. She wanted to cry, scream, yell, and kill Mysterio all at the same time.
"Get her." Mysterio said.
A group of 10 men dressed in black came in the room and surrounded Cindy. She quickly cleared her mind of any anguish so she wouldn't get easily beaten
3 of the black men jumped towards her. She easily kicked one away but one of them was able to tackle her. She used her feet to push him to the other, knocking the one underneath out of the fight. She punched the last of the three in the jaw, knocking him out.
5 more stepped forward but these were much more cautious. They all took their time before attacking her, making sure to get an opening. Cindy saw that and left an opening at her right side towards her back. One of the men took the bait and ran towards her to land a punch. She quickly sidestepped and punched him in the kidney hard as he passed her, making him groan in shock. The other four as well as one other charged at her. It was an all out flurry of blocks, punches, and kicks in the whole scramble, but one by one, all 5 of the men fell.
Only one remained. He was shorter then the rest by a few inches and was wearing a trench coat and a mask. He looked a lot like Spider Noir but Cindy somehow had a feeling it wasn't him and someone else.
"All right buddy, let's dance." She muttered. She decided to get aggressive with him and took the first attack. She went with a punch to the face but he quickly and easily blocked it. He had much better reflexes than the rest but Cindy didn't care, she could take him.
Somehow though, he was able to shoot a web and tried to get away for some reason that didn't matter to Cindy. If she couldn't kill Mysterio at the moment, his henchmen will do. He got to a window and crashed though it and swung off into the futuristic city, trying to get away.
Oh don't tell me he has my web shooters.
She jumped over the window and took off running as fast as she could. A hoverbike caught her eye next to a building. She hopped on it and sighed in relief that many of the controls were basically the same as those in the past. She turned it on and raced down the streets to catch the man.
Cindy didn't know where he learned how to swing, but he was pretty good at it for sure, but he liked speed much more than safety and swung too low sometimes. She took advantage of this and waited for him to make that mistake again. Soon, he dipped low enough for her to reach him. She jumped off of the bike and tackled him down.
They rolled on the streets before the man knocked off Cindy and tried to keep running. However, he didn't realize one of his web shooters was taken by her during the tackle. She shot a web at his feet to trip him.
"Damn it!" He yelled. He tried to get back up but Cindy shot webs all around his feet to completely immobilize him. He tried shooting a web back but she shot one first to stick his hand to his back. "Get me out of this!"
Cindy calmly walked over and kneeled down next to him. "Tell me what your boss is planning." She took his one free hand and twisted it hard. He screamed in pain from the broken hand. "Now."
"I don't have a boss and I don't know anything! Let me go already!"
Cindy was getting more frustrated by the second and ripped off his mask to get a better idea of the twerp. She didn't expect to see the actual person behind the mask however.
"What the..."
"Can't I find a single mask that doesn't make me look like a psycho?" Miles muttered.
He already found a shirt, a sweater, and a pair of pants to get rid of his hospital garments but if he wanted to find answers as Spiderman, he would need a mask to hide his face. Unfortunately, when the only place that had masks that could stay on and wasn't outrageously expensive is Party City, the choices were either a demon possessed clown or a unicorn that should reconsider its life choices. And it really didn't help that his pants, sweater, and shirt were all black. He thought they would help him not be noticed but it only made all the parents steer their children away from him since he looked like he would start a shooting and would probably get kicked out soon.
Gotta make a choice soon. Rehab-needing unicorn it is
Miles took the unicorn mask and made his way to the cashier, but on his way, a different mask caught his eye. It was the iconic red with black webs Spiderman mask. It would even cover his whole head to make sure it wouldn't fall off as easily. He didn't know how such a good mask ended up here but Miles didn't ask questions and immediately dropped the unicorn and chose that one.
He avoided the questionable stare from the employee and immediately dashed into an alley to put it on. It smelled horribly inside and the eye holes weren't the biggest but it would have to do.
He began swinging around the city to begin his search for answers. He decided to go to Liz's apartment since that was the last place he was in this world. Well, years later but same world pretty much. Right now all Miles knew was that he was in the past somehow. Whether he actually did time travel or this was Mysterio's illusions he had no idea. Either way, he needed answers before Mysterio used this opportunity to do something without him to stop it.
The screaming of sirens knocked him out of his thinking and attracted his attention. He looked over and saw a cloud of smoke following around a bank.
Even if Miles was trapped in an illusion he couldn't risk other people getting hurt if they were real.
His hero thinking took over and he swung over to look over the scene. There was a pile of rubble over where the bank once stood and right in the middle of it was a was a woman dressed entirely in black complemented with a mask and only her hair flowing out and a group of cops surrounding them and trying to arrest her.
He joined the scene but made sure to be invisible and stayed back. He's seen enough movies and shows to know that interfering with the past could mess everything up and make everything worse. It may not be true but he should avoid the risk if he could.
However, she easily beat up all the cops in just a few minutes. Miles became visible again to deal with her. She muttered something he couldn't hear and took a jab at him. He easily blocked but he suddenly got a weird sensation of nausea.
Time slowed to a crawl. But that wasn't what terrified Miles. It was the red eyes and shadowy aura surrounding the woman right next to him.
Shadow
Sweat started to pour as fear and anxiety poured into Miles.
No no no it can't be him. I can't face him right now. I gotta get out of here
Time suddenly returned to normal speed. Miles quickly shot a web and swung to the still standing back wall of the bank where nobody would see him. He crashed through the window and tried to swing away from the woman. However, a motorcycle revved behind him and he turned to see the woman chasing him on the bike. She was quickly gaining on him and he tried swinging faster.
The chase lasted for a few minutes but eventually he made the dumb mistake of swinging way too low and she was able to tackle him down.
He kicked her off and he tried to make a run for it but he didn't realize one of his web shooters was gone and got tripped up at his feet by a web.
"Damn it!" Miles shouted. He tried getting back up again but she reacted too fast and webbed up his feet, not allowing him to get back up. He tried shooting a web back but once again she was too quick and shot a web to stick his arm to his back.
She calmly walked up to him and took his hand. "Tell me what your boss is planning." She twisted his hand hard, breaking it. He screamed in pain but she didn't seem to want to let up yet. "Now."
"I don't have a boss and I don't know anything! Let me go already!" Miles didn't know why Shadow wanted to interrogate him since he could've done that a while ago but he didn't care. He just wanted to run away and try to get some answers.
She let out a sigh of frustration and ripped off his mask.
"What the..." She quietly said. She sounded confused, as if they didn't even know who Miles was.
I thought Shadow did know?
"Miles?"
"Who else did you think you were chasing Shadow?" Miles groaned. "Just end it already." She didn't respond and simply took off her mask. Miles was astonished to see the real person under the mask"Cindy?"
"What do you mean end it?"
Everything suddenly became blue pixels and soon was replaced by a present time New York City. They both had on their normal spider suits now and were in the middle of chaotic traffic. Sirens were pouring out from everywhere. They looked up and flames burned the entire skyline of the city. It was pure chaos as people were screaming everywhere.
"What the heck is happening?" Cindy said to herself.
Their dimension hoppers alerted them to a text and the two looked at them to see it. Somehow, Mysterio was able to hack into them and send them a message.
Thanks to some amazing future technology and some amazing psychic science from my good friend, both of you were just living in illusions. And unfortunately, you were just too caught up in it to stop the real chaos happening in the real Earth 1610. I'm always in control. You are not.
Once Cindy finished reading, she sighed in frustration and looked at Miles. "You've got a lot of explaining to do kid."