Chapter Text
Jessica wandered outside the control room, as many times the past few days, to try and check on Miguel, but the man is adamant about meeting anyone, not even Peter B. managed to reach him this time. She knows he's mourning, but this is no healthy behavior at all.
“Lyla…” -Jess called for her, even the hologram girl didn’t seem the same after losing you-
“What do you need?”
“How long has he been locked inside the control room today?” -a time record appeared next to her, Lyla checking the info with a finger-
“A few hours”
“Has he eaten something?” -the girl shook her head, it’s been rough the last couple of weeks, not just for Miguel, but for the entire team, but the leader seemed more self-destructive than usual-
“Can you check on him? Tell him I’ll be back with food” -she nodded and disappeared into thin air, Jessica sighed, rubbing her arm a bit in an absent mood before moving to the cafeteria-
“Whatever Jessica wants, she can tell me herself” -Miguel barked at Lyla as soon as she appeared, he looked consumed, cheeks hollow and bags under his eyes, working nonstop to find anomalies across the multiverse. He had taken a personal mission to hunt every single Doctor Octopus, Rhino, Electro, Vulture, and even Venom out there; the one you managed to catch was not even being sent back to his universe, but rather disintegrated to molecules by testing the new model for the DNA relocator-
“She’s just worried about you. She’ll bring some food and…”
“I’m fine” -he growled at her, but she knows it was not personal, the man had been through a lot and now he has to mourn someone he cared for, again. It’s too much for any person to handle at once-
She remained silent for a moment, maybe this is the proper time for her to handle what you gave her, files already checked and prepared. She knows they’ll hurt…but maybe, it’s what he needs right now.
“Miguel…”
“What?”
“I…I have something for you.” -he rolled his eyes, not caring about other things that are not hunting down anomalies-
“I’m busy here and I cannot get distracted by anything that it’s not…”
“It’s from Y/N’s…” -he stopped at that, giving her a look that felt like a mix between pain and shock. He sat up, back tense like a wire-
“How can she possibly give something to…”
“It was that day, right before the platform would…just, check it, please? There is something in there that I think you should see…” -she pleaded, watching his angry façade fade away just for a moment. He groaned and slumped on his chair, a hand brushing his tired eyes-
“Show me…” -she disappeared, a large holo screen replacing the spot where she was. A video started playing, rumbles and sounds of stuff moving around, covering the camera at first-
He thought this would be a ridiculous idea, showing him some random video that maybe you recorded by accident won’t change anything. Miguel was about to lash out, when you finally came into view, smiling as big as possible, waving your hand at the camera.
The video showed your room, bright with sunlight, making you shine like a hallucination, with a blue color dress on you, and hair flooding down your shoulders. He remembers that day, you took him and the others to your secret spot at the beach, but he still couldn’t understand why the urgency of him watching this now.
He looked away, too tired to remember and too angry to allow himself to watch your smiling face, but the movement caught his attention, eyes fixing on your hands, a word forming with them.
“Miguel” -he fixed his eyes on the screen, you had taught him how to spell his name with sign language, but as soon as your hands kept moving, he couldn’t keep track. He stopped the video, rewind it, and put subtitles on the screen, the words loading the entire 3 minutes the video lasted. He sighed and tapped play, moving back on the chair again to read your message-
“Hi Miguel, I hope you never have to see this video…but in the case you are, well…probably something really bad happened. I’ll give this to Lyla if necessary, she’ll help me. I’m sure…” -words stung like a knife, talons gripping his leg a bit too tight-
“I just want to say thank you for letting me be part of this family. I was so scared when you found me, I had no voice and no idea about my powers, my World crashed around me and I was so young, but you were strong, and you guided me through the darkness. You gave me a home, food, and whatever I could need. I try to help you as much as I could, be a good company, a good friend, even if I could never voice it out…” -he groaned, of course, your words would cut deep, you had…in fact…given him more than he expected, you were a loyal friend, an excellent listener and confronted him whenever it was necessary-
In his eyes, you were his equal, all the others were below your potential. You were also his closest friend, one he never requested …but life gave him either way.
“I know you are probably hating yourself, for whatever reason you’re watching this video, but just know that I’ll always be around, looking out for you. This file contains everything, memories, videos, photos, and memos. I’m still here…and I want you to live on. The World needs you, your family needs you. Whatever happened, it’s not your fault, I know you would never let something hurt me, but sometimes…life it’s not fair, you and I know that well…”
He leaned on his knees, praying to all the Gods he could think of for no one to come in right now because he’ll either kill them or ask whoever it is to kill him.
“…but life will find meaning again. Even without me, your life has a meaning and a purpose. I record this because I don’t want to lose the chance of saying goodbye…just in case. This job is already too dangerous…” -he felt a lump forming in his throat, ready to snap at any moment-
“Please stop…please don’t say it…” -his eyes were fixed on the screen, not losing a single movement of your hands; your smile now a teary one, which makes him realize why your eyes were puffy when you met them to go to the stupid beach-
“I can’t say how much I appreciate every moment with you, with the others, but especially with you. You hold a special place in my heart, always had and always will. Thank you for being with me, thank you for everything, Miguel O’Hara…”
He’s sure now that he’s crying, eyes stinging with wetness, he let the tears fall free, not daring to move as you kept smiling through the screen, he didn’t need a translation for the last signs you made, closing your eyes a bit, a couple of tears also falling.
“I love you, Spiderman” -the ‘I love you’ sign being turned into the Spiderman web shooting sign, it was a joke you always told around, making you smile and giggle around. It felt silly at the moment, he couldn’t understand the joke in making those two gestures together, but he saw it now, and it tore a bitter laugh from him-
The video ended with you pressing the recording button. Miguel stood in silence for the longest moment, leaning into his knees. He let the pain and the sorrow swim freely in his veins until he could breathe again, head hanging low with exhaustion as he cleaned the spare tears off.
“Miguel?” -Lyla called him, scared of interrupting this moment for him-
“What is it, Lyla?” -he sounded tired, not even in the mood to argue anymore-
“I…I can recreate her…” -he frowned, looking up at her small form fidgeting in the air-
“What do you mean?” -she sighed, showing him a glimpse of all the files you left behind, tons of pictures, videos, and memories, some of them happy, some of them not so happy, many of them just being silly selfies you took around with everyone, most of them with him grabbing the bridge of his nose in the back. He really needs to stop doing that, but still…he couldn’t grasp Lyla’s intention-
“She left enough material for me to scan everything and…well…she would be like me, but it would be her…do I explain myself?” -he pounded the thought, it feels wrong, the idea of having a holographic copy of you…knowing it would never replace you-
You wouldn’t grow, nor change, it would be like living with a ghost and he’s not sure he’s ready…but on the other hand, having you through the memories you left behind…would it hurt less than not having you at all?
“Show me…” -he watched her disappear as she processed the information. Miguel did grab his nose bridge once more, emotions fighting inside of him. He’s torn between his sorrow and the small encouragement message you left behind for him-
If this doesn’t work…or ends up being a stupid idea, you won’t know either way and he’ll just freeze that last frame showing you making the “I love you” sign and print it to put it somewhere in his place-
“Ok…take a look” -he hesitantly opened his eyes, the faint glow of the hologram in front of him making his sensitive eyes blink a couple of times to adjust to the image-
Miguel felt his throat constricting at the sight, the whole image of you, standing in front of him, eyes curious and head tilting to a side…as usual, trying to understand his behavior-
“Are you ok?” -you made the signs with your hands, as many times before and he choked on his own spit, groaning again-
“Lyla…how did you…you know?” -the little hologram blinked on his shoulder, showing him the whole network-
“I just copied a model of my AI processor but used all the information in the storage to create her…conscience. She’s like me, but it’s not me, but she can understand emotions, have her own thoughts, and recreate everything just like…she did.”
“I see…” -he stood up and walked toward you, still giving him a puzzled look as he towered above your form, even the height is correct, but technology has its own limits…and as soon as he passed his hand by, your image flickered, making you jump out of reach as if the ghost of you could not believe he just did that-
“What the hell, Miguel?!”- he pondered the situation a moment longer. He knows perfectly well that he can’t touch you…and still, he wished, but maybe…and just maybe, this will be enough…for a while. He shook his head and chuckled, now sure that he was losing his mind-
“Sorry, I was just trying something…” -you frowned at him, huffing with your arms crossed, the interaction felt distant and yet, familiar-
“Miguel, I brought you some damn food. You cannot go around and fight with an empty stomach and AH!” -the sound of plates and a tray crashing on the ground broke the moment, everyone inside the room turning around to see Jessica’s shocked face, a hand on her chest-
“What the…Y…Y/N…but how…” -you looked down at your hands, moving them in front of you, walking and even clumsily jumping off the tall platform, testing the surroundings. Once the hologram you sensed what was happening, she gave Jessica a conflicted face, showing your hands-
“Surprise” -you did jazz hands with an awkward smile, tearing a bark of a laugh from the man behind-
“This is not funny, Miguel! How did you…but how did you think about…no, no! Forget it, this is wrong, soooo wrong! Let the girl rest in peace, you cannot go around playing with her image like this…”
“I know, Jessica. It wasn’t my idea, but Lyla’s, and now she’s…almost the same.”
“Almost” -you quoted in the air. Jessica grimaced, the idea of this…hologram replacing you gave her a headache. She shook her head in disagreement-
“Miguel…why do you do this to yourself? Haven’t we all suffered enough?” -her voice pleaded, but he remained unmoving, fists tight at his sides-
“Jessica…don’t…” -he warned her, it took the woman a couple of minutes, but she understood the message-
Don’t take this away from me too…
She sighed deeply, looking at the mess underneath her with a groan…
“I’ll go…and bring you more food. Welcome, I guess…make yourself at home” -you blinked and looked around, hands trembling a bit-
“Home…” -you signaled as she walked away, your eyes strained in the figure walking away. His presence next to you made you look up at him, an inquiring look on your face-
“Home?” -you repeated as a question, he merely nodded, waving his hand for you to follow him-
“Yes, this is your home…and will always be. Come, we need to talk…and I’m going to need your help, as always” -at least the roll of your eyes is still there, mocking him for dear life-
“Of course, as always” -but you jumped on the platform and sat next to his keyboard, attentively listening to him, and for one moment, time went back on its tracks and Miguel had his best friend next to him, listening to his rants and making faces at his request-
For one frozen moment in time, everything was just the same…