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Suddenly, the screaming mess of battle stopped. Someone managed to hit the thing where it hurt- Cecil wasn't sure who- and it was choking on its own blood on the floor. He swung down and finished it off with a superpowered punch, spending a few seconds standing on its corpse afterwards in order to catch his breath.
Mysterio had placed the manifestation- a 100-foot-tall shadow of a slim figure wearing a Greek chorus mask- a few days ago, and the bloody corpses underneath its dead body spoke its age better than any tests on its blood could've. Cecil sighed, muttered something akin to a prayer, and went to look for his fellow spider.
He climbed up onto the balcony of the old theater-turned-battlefield, bouncing a bit on his heels. He yanked himself over the railing and- wait.
Mr. Parker's suit was on the ground, and the spandex base was ripped up. The boots and vest were seemingly tossed to the side in a hurry, and something was hiding underneath the pile of red fabric. Cecil steeled himself and yanked the suit off the ground.
There was a striped brown cat lying underneath.
Cecil almost kept looking, but the cat tried to stand up and failed miserably, almost like it.. wasn't used to being a cat?
Wait a minute.
... he quickly jumped into the animal's mind, preparing for the worst.
"Jesus fuck Mysterio, what was the reason for this?" A voice Cecil knew very well thought, and he had to stifle a laugh.
"Parker?" he said incredulously, trying his best not to cackle as he stared at the small creature in front of him. Mr. Parker glared at him, pawing away the remaining shreds of spandex. He attempted to get up again, managing to shakily stand on his four legs.
"Yes, it's me. Wish it wasn't," The professor thought, "I think this was Mysterio's doing, but it could be Jonah punishing me for.. something. I don't know, he's petty. Felt like Mysterio, though."
"Jonah's always warned us before he did any dire transformations," Cecil said, still staring at the cat with disbelief. The transformation must've hurt like hell, and Cecil could almost feel the remnant pain in his own limbs- mental links were weird like that.
"Call MJ," Mr. Parker sighed, still trying to figure out how to walk on four legs, "We'll figure how to reverse it once we're not surrounded by corpses."
Cecil picked Mr.Parker's vest up and waded through the pockets, and after finding a worrying amount of knives he grabbed Parker's phone. He dialed MJs number, and waited for her to answer- which didn't take long.
"Hel-" MJ started.
"Your boyfriend turned into a cat," Cecil interrupted, drumming two of his fingers on his thigh.
"Wait, what?" MJ seemed surprised, sure, but not as much as any normal person would be in this situation. "Do you need me to pick you two up or...?"
"Uh.." Cecil looked at Mr. Parker, and he responded with something vaugely mimicking a shrug, (tripping over one of his back legs and falling on the floor for the 5th time this evening around two seconds later.) "Meet us at Parker's house?"
"D-" MJ sighed, wishing she wasn't so used to this insanity, "Do I need to get cat food?"
Mr. Parker looked up, glaring at the phone.
"No."
"Uh, he says no. A very, very angry no," Cecil said, laughing shakily, "and, I have some at my place. Gonna bring some for Maisey anyway, so he- stop glaring at me."
"Assuming that's to-"
"Yeah, that's to him. See you once we get there?"
"Sure," MJ said, and hung up the phone. Cecil shoved it back into the vest and pulled it over his suit. He looked back to Mr. Parker, who managed to figure out how to walk, and was currently trying to find a way to get onto the ground. Cecil pointed at the door covering the stairs, and Mr. Parker walked towards it.. then realized he needed opposable thumbs to turn doorknobs.
"This is possibly the worst day of my life," Mr. Parker thought, staring at the door with a mixture of exaustion and anger, "Cecil, uh, can you open the door?"
"If it's not locked," Cecil said, and opened the door (it was not locked), turning to swing down a more direct way once Mr. Parker started sprinting down the steps. He climbed over the railing, jumped off the side, and landed at the entrance with the help of a web.
Mr. Parker soon followed, (a bit of his fur was tousled, and Cecil swore he heard a loud thud, but he decided not to mention it), and the two spiders went out into the city. The way back to Cecil's apartment wasn't particularly notable, and once Cecil changed out of his costume, grabbed Maisey and her food, and ate dinner (well.. a pop tart and two slices of salami) he started on his way to Parker's house.
The walk was mostly uneventful, and Cecil dug under the doormat for a key as he attempted to explain (through telepathy) why Parker was a cat now to Maisey. She.. didn't really get it, but at least she agreed to not try to groom him. Small victories.
MJ knocked at the door a few minutes later. Cecil rushed to the door, fumbling with the handle for a second before opening it up.
"Uh, hi! Parker's on the couch brooding. Do you just want me to form a link-?" Cecil said, preventing an escape from Maisey with his foot as he talked.
MJ thought for a moment, "..Sure," she said with a shaky laugh. She.. honestly wished she wasn't so okay with this- this entire world now, but she couldn't really change it even if she tried. The two of them walked into the house and Cecil promptly left again to chase after an escaped Maisey, establishing the link as he sped out the door.
"Oh- shit- hi," Mr. Parker said with a slight smile in his... voice? MJ didn't know how to classify it, really. Telepathy was confusing.
"Hey Peter," she greeted, "You okay?"
"I'm debilitatingly dysphoric and exhausted, but that's my everyday so.. I guess so."
"I don't think debilitatingly is a word," MJ said out loud, but her thoughts were.. various forms of concerned.
"I'm fine, MJ," Mr. Parker said with a half-sigh, "I've dealt with worse, trust me."
MJ was about to yell that that doesn't matter, Peter! But Cecil came back, holding Maisey in his arms. He placed her on the ground and went to go feed her.
"You sure-"
"I'm very fucking sure, Cecil," Mr. Parker groaned, "I ate before patrol."
“I can write it, just gimme a second,” Cecil said- oh, shit right, telepathy.
“Thanks,” Mr. Parker said with a sigh, quietly trying to figure out what that was actually supposed to mean. Dealing with instincts felt like something he should have to do.. the fact that Mysterio left it out was.. kind of weird.
“You can deal with it in the morning, Peter," MJ said, “For now, you need to go the fuck to bed.”
“You do too,” Mr. Parker retorted.
“That was, in fact, the plan,” MJ said, and attempted to scoop up Mr. Parker, but he pawed away her hand and leapt off the couch himself. He was still getting used to walking like this, but he was certainly getting better. MJ yelled a goodnight to Cecil (and a demand for him to go to bed too), and the two of them walked to the bedroom (..well, admittedly Mr. Parker gave up and let her carry him. Cecil decided not to mention it, even if he was laughing a little bit.)
MJ dropped him on the bed, and she lied down on the other side. After a moment he curled up into the crook of her neck, and she quietly started stroking her hand through his fur. He decided not to protest it, and the both of them drifted off into sleep.
———
“So. All we need to do is figure out where a Mysterio manifestation is,” Mr. Parker said.
“And then I can web it to the the wall, grab one of your knifes, and stick it where it hurts,” Cecil confirmed, maybe a little too smiley for the prospect of torture, “Might not work, but I have no other ideas other than risking you getting turned into a spider monster, so.”
Mr. Parker wished he could just ask Jonah to change him back, but the risk wasn’t one he was willing to take. Not when there were other options, at least. MJ was being healthy and taking a walk.. possibly just to avoid this conversation. Neither of them blamed her.
“Can’t ask Jonah to find one- he’ll just wonder why we haven’t asked him-” Cecil mused to himself, tapping on the counter that Mr. Parker happened to be sitting on.
“What about Spot?” the older one interrupted, “Its helped before, and its dating Mysterio. There’s a pretty good chance it’ll know.”
“How do we find it?”
“It usually responds to its true name,” Mr. Parker said, “Its worth trying, at least.”
“But it likes Mysterio,” Cecil said, “Why would it want to sabotage its plans?”
“What the fuck was it even planning, anyway? Turn me into a housecat.. and then what?”
“We’ll see,” Cecil sighed, “I’ll get Spot. Its the best chance we got, and the worst it can do is throw us into a volcano or something.”
“Text MJ about it,” Mr. Parker said, “We don’t want her walking into the guest room and promptly going insane.”
“Will do.” Cecil wrote out a text and sped to the guest room. Mr. Parker sighed, curled up on the counter, and wished his brain would let him take a dammed nap. He certainly fucking needed one.
———
“So. You want Mysterio’s location,” Spot smiled, cross-legged on the bed. Its lab coat was bundled around it, and its outfit was exactly as much of an eyesore as usual.
“The location of any one of its manifestations,” Cecil corrected, trying to grit his teeth and sound polite, “..For our own purposes.”
“Suspicious,” Spot laughed, “Its on Broadway. You can find it easily." A portal opened underneath it and it fell in, leaving Cecil alone. It was worryingly simple.. Cecil didn't trust it one bit, but it was all they had, so he left the room to announce the news.
MJ had come back- Cecil quickly formed another link between the two as he talked.
"Mysterio's on Broadway. Spot says we'll find it easily, whatever that fucking means," he said.
"That means its caused a whole shit-ton of destruction," Mr. Parker said, and he looked at MJ- she'd be the one most likely to keep up with news about Broadway.
"Heard it got evacuated last night," she said, "but it didn't mention anything about giant monsters or anything. I think it was some sort of fire threat?"
"Mysterio not wanting to make a scene.. strange. Considering the evacuation, I think its trying to avoid us," Mr. Parker calmly noted.
"Why's it destroying theaters anyway?" MJ asked.
"Got pissy about lack of quality," Cecil answered simply, "Thinks they're not being daring enough. You know, by not actually killing people."
"That tracks," MJ laughed, "As far as I know the theaters are still empty."
Mr. Parker got up to get his suit.. and then realized. He slumped back down onto the counter, sulking a little bit. "Get your suit, Cecil."
Cecil gave a quick thumbs up and ran back to the guest room to change. As he pulled his suit on he heard MJ leave, and he snapped the connection as soon as she yelled a goodbye and a text-me-afterwards. He was changed in 3 minutes flat- super speed was a blessing- and after yelling "Done!" he kicked the door open, pulled the window up, and swung into the quickly arriving night. He grabbed Mr. Parker with a web as soon as he climbed out of the window, chuckling at the mind-yell of "I can walk, Cecil!"
He swung his way to a rooftop once Mr. Parker was safely webbed to his back (once again, sulking), and he leapt from skyscraper to skyscraper, enjoying the rush of wind on his face. He knew where Broadway was- any self-respecting New Yorker would- so he ran mostly on autopilot. 15 minutes later- once again, don't underestimate super speed- he landed on the rooftop of one of the theaters to catch his breath. He let Mr. Parker go- complaining about the webbing in his fur- and he looked around the street. Half of the buildings were on fire, and he swore under his breath. Suddenly, he heard something crash in the next building over, and a hiss of gas being released. He hissed another swear and pointed at it. Mr. Parker mind-sighed, jumped back on his back, and Cecil leapt to the other building, crashing through a skylight.
It was, in fact, incredibly easy to find where Mysterio was. There were crashes coming from the utility room, and Cecil grabbed two knives and threw off the rest of his bag- holding some clothes for when Mr. Parker changed back- and sped towards the door, squinting into the tiny window. Mysterio was messing with the machinery inside- it was a pure black, thin, humanoid, shade with a gleaming white ceramic mask. It stood up to its full height- 8 feet, at least- and turned towards the door.
"Hello, three-eyed-one," it smiled, "Do you want to be turned too?"
Cecil kicked down the door- Mr. Parker cringing at the dramatics- and sprayed a web. It tied Mysterio's arms to its torso, and Cecil jumped forward and pasted its body to the wall in its moment of shock.
"I will ask you one fucking time. Turn him back."
"I'm not scared of you, little on-"
Cecil slashed a line across his arm and Mysterio groaned in pain. It always overdid it on the nervous system- and that was very, very fucking easy to exploit.
"What, do you think I care about one measly manif-"
Cecil flipped over the blade and bashed the hilt into his mask. Mysterio coughed, and yellow blood sprayed out of its wounds.
"I'm a god-!"
Another slice, another groan of pain. Cecil understood why Mr. Parker was so brutal- this was cathartic.
"Turn him back, or I'll go for the eyes next," Cecil said, deadpan, as Mysterio coughed up more blood.
Mysterio looked fucking terrified. He heard Mr. Parker mutter, "I didn't think that would work," and all Cecil's limbs started aching- he broke the connection as soon as he heard his mentor's bones start to crack. Cecil sighed and slit the entities throat, and quietly waited for the transformation to end.
He heard the quiet steps of combat boots behind him, and he turned around.
"You forgot my glasses," the now.. mostly human.. Mr. Parker said to Cecil, and Cecil laughed out of shock, exhaustion, and joy.
"Text MJ," Cecil said with a half chuckle, and Mr. Parker sighed in affectionate annoyance. They could figure out what the fuck Mysterio was planning later- for now they could rest without the beating pulse of tension just behind their back.