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There is a firm knock on the front door of his apartment. The sound echoes of authority like a police officer and when Roier looks out the peephole and is surprised to see a woman that looks almost like Cellbit standing outside the door, instead of someone in a police uniform. Roier hesitantly opens the door.
“Hello?” He asks.
“Hi. Sorry to bother you but does this man live here?” The woman asks, holding up an obviously old picture of Cellbit.
“What?” Roier asks, pretending not to know that the photo was of someone he knew.
“Does he live here? His name is Cellbit?” The woman pauses as if in thought. “He might have actually changed his name- I don’t know for sure.”
“Who are you?” Roier asks.
“Oh. Sorry.” The woman holds out her free hand for a handshake. “I’m Bagi.”
“Roier. Why are you asking about him?” Roier asked.
Bagi looked to either side of the hall, causing Roier to do the same out of habit from his nightly patrols as Spiderman.
“Could I maybe come in to talk?”
Roier bit his lip as he thought it over. Richas was with Pac and Mike and Cellbit wasn’t going to be home for a little while yet, there wasn’t a reason why he couldn’t invite her in to let her explain why she was looking for Cellbit. Roier was just going to need to move her quickly out of the living room and into the dining room before she could look at the photos that were hung on the walls.
“Sure.” Roier said as he opened the door enough to let her in.
“Thank you.”
“Let’s head to the kitchen.” Roier said, trying to lead Bagi quickly to the kitchen.
“So, why are you looking for this guy?” Roier asks, as they sit down at the table.
“It's not important. I just need to find him.” Bagi replied, as she settles into her seat.
“How long have you been looking for him?” Roier asks instead of pushing the first question.
“Why?”
“How long have you been looking for him?” Roier repeats.
“Years.”
“Years?” Roier asks.
“He’s been missing for years and I’ve been trying to find him for about half the time he has been missing.” Bagi elaborated, obviously not wanting to but feeling forced to answer.
Alarms sound in Roier’s head as dozens of questions pop into his head. Why was she looking for him? What caused her to search for him? Was it because of Cellbit’s prison escape? How did she find him here? Was she working alone? How much did she know? Did she know about their double lives? Instead of the questions bouncing around in his head Roier decides to ask a different question.
“Why?”
“I don’t think the reason I have been looking is as important as finding him.”
“How much do you know about him?” Roier asks.
“I think I should be the one asking you that question.” Bagi retorts, looking accusingly at Roier.
“If you have been looking into him for that long I think you can gather why I would be asking that question.” Roier replies, no longer hiding the fact that he knows Cellbit.
He gives Bagi a moment to think. If she had been searching about him for years, she would know about the blood that stained Cellbit’s hands before he came to live in Quesadilla City. She would know about how long Cellbit had been in prison and the nature of how he left the prison. She might not know the full stories from Cellbit’s perspective like Roier did but she would know enough to understand why Roier would be cagey about whether he knew where Cellbit was.
“I’m not after him for that stuff.” Bagi replies, gesturing aimlessly with her hand.
“You can understand why I find that hard to believe, no?” Roier responded.
“I don’t care about what he did to land in that prison or the fact that he escaped.” Bagi replied with a slight edge to her words.
“Then why are you looking for him?” Roier asked.
Bagi sighed and slid her hand into her bag and Roier tensed ready to react in case she pulled out a weapon but instead she pulled out a smaller photograph than the previous one of Cellbit.
“If I show you this you need to agree to answer some of my questions.” Bagi replies.
“Only if you answer some more of mine first.” Roier bargained.
Bagi sighed and slid the photo across the table. “Fine.”
Roier grabbed the photo and lifted it up to examine it. The edges were worn with age but the photo was still otherwise in good condition. Roier glanced at the two kids hanging off of each other on the beach in the photo, smiling at the camera with their backs to the waves behind them. It wasn’t too hard to see that the two kids in the photo were obviously Cellbit and Bagi.
“He’s my brother.” Bagi whispered.
“If you have been looking for him for as long as you say, why haven’t you found him already?” Roier asks, carefully handing the photo back to Bagi despite the fact he badly wanted to take a photo of it for himself; maybe after he was sure she wasn’t looking to lock Cellbit up again he could ask for a copy.
“Well, I did.” Bagi replied, with a frown. “But then I lost him.”
“You lost him?”
“You for some reason know a lot about Cellbit so you must know about his prison escape.”
Roier nods.
“I was about to be transferred to his prison as a guard when he escaped.”
“A guard?” Roier asked.
“It was a cover to attempt to break him out.”
Roier raised his eyebrow at her.
“I promise that I am not looking to send him back to jail.”
“You understand why I find that hard to believe, no?”
“Roier. I met you not even 10 minutes ago and I am trusting you with this. I am desperate to find my brother and this address was my last hope to find him before having no other option than to give up till his name pops up somewhere else and hoping that I’ll spot him when that happens. I don’t have a reason to lie to you, especially when you claim to know at least some of what I know about my brother.”
“Because I do know that stuff about Cellbit.”
“How?”
“I mean it would be bad for me to not know that stuff about my husband, no?” Roier replied with a smirk.
“Your husband?” Bagi asks, as the front door opens.
“Guapito? Tá em casa?” Cellbit’s voice calls from the front door.
“En la cocina.” Roier replies.
“What are you doing?” Bagi whispers, obviously panicked.
“Cálmate.” Roier whispers back, before Cellbit can enter the room.
“Ol-” Cellbit spots Bagi before he finishes greeting Roier. “Who are you?”
Bagi examines Cellbit's face for a moment before she responds. “I'm your sister.”
“Com certeza.” Cellbit replies sarcastically as he crosses his arms. “I'm just supposed to believe that?”
“Não, espera.” Bagi replies, as she digs through her bag.
Roier can see Cellbit's hand side into his jacket and the glint of metal as he moves his knife from his jacket to the inside of his sleeve. Roier glances over at Bagi and sees that she is still searching in her bag for something, oblivious to Cellbit's movements.
“Aqui.” Bagi says, pulling out what looks to be the same photo that she had shown Roier earlier.
Cellbit reaches out with his arm that isn't hiding a knife up its sleeve and takes the photo. Roier watches as Cellbit examines the photo, tilting it in the light before handing it back to Bagi.
“That isn't enough proof.” Cellbit replies.
“I can bring more if you could just let me run out to my car for a few minutes.” Bagi quickly replies, almost as if she was expecting the response from Cellbit.
“If you think it will convince me, go right ahead, I am not keeping you here.” Cellbit replies.
“Okay, I’ll be back.” Bagi hesitates for a moment before she turns around and walks out of the room.
After a moment Roier hears the sound of the front door to the apartment open and shut. Roier lets Cellbit stand in silence for a bit, he knows the other needs time to process all that was said and come to a conclusion. After a few minutes Roier opens his mouth.
“Do you think she is actually your sister?”
Cellbit sighs as he sits down at the table and slides his knife out of his sleeve and sets it off to the side before, he reaches up and rubs his face.
“I haven't seen that photo in years. I don't know how she still has it.”
“So, you believe her?”
Cellbit sighs again. “I used to keep track of her before I was in prison.”
“You did?”
“I looked for her after I escaped too.”
“Did you not find her?”
Cellbit sighs. “I found her after I had escaped prison.”
Roier furrows his eyebrows. “That was years ago?”
“I know.”
“Why is she only appearing on our doorstep now?”
“When I found her, she was working as a guard in the prison.”
“Oh.” Roier whispers.
“Probably wasn't for the best for her escaped convict brother to show up on her doorstep.”
Roier lets the silence hang in the air again but after a moment. As they sit there in silence there is a knock at the door.
“We could pretend we aren't home.” Roier jokes.
Cellbit lets out a small laugh and a bit of the tension drops from his shoulders. “Might as well let her in, if you don't, she will just keep coming back.”
“Maybe things could still be fixed between you two.” Roier says with a shrug as he pushes himself up.
Cellbit bites on his lip. Roier knows that the response isn't a no but it also isn't a yes. Despite that, Roier goes to open the door for Bagi.
When Roier opens the door, he is surprised to see Bagi holding a pet carrier and a larger bag. Roier glances down at the bag and raises his eyebrow.
“It's Zeno.” Bagi says as she walks past Roier as if it answers everything.
Bagi makes her way to the kitchen again and Roier shuts the front door before following her.
“You brought an animal?” Cellbit replied, raising his eyebrow.
Bagi doesn’t say anything as she opens up the carrier. As soon as the door is opened an orange cat makes its way out and immediately stretches. Roier looks to Cellbit trying to silently ask what was up with the cat but when he looks at him the other’s eyes are fixed on the cat with almost the same fondness that Cellbit looks at Richarlyson with. As soon as the cat is done stretching it walks over to Cellbit and starts to rub its head against his face. Roier watches as Cellbit hesitantly reaches up to pet the cat.
“Olá, Zeno.” Cellbit whispers, to the cat.
Roier sneaks his phone out of his pocket and takes a photo of the moment before sliding his phone back into his pocket.
“Do you believe me now?” Bagi asks, “Or do you still need the photos?”
“I never said I didn’t believe you.” Celbit replied, looking up from Zeno to look at Bagi.
“But you said-”
“I never said I didn’t believe you. I asked if I'm just supposed to believe that you are without any proof other than a photo.”
“That is not believing me.” Bagi replied, raising her voice despite it wavering a bit.
“I believe you are who you say you are but maybe it’s hard to believe a cop would be hunting down a former escaped criminal and the reason not being to arrest him.” Cellbit accused, letting go of Zeno.
Bagi frowns for a moment, and almost looks like she is blinking away tears. “You are my brother first. I have spent the time since we were separated looking for you.”
“I’m not the same as you remember. I’ve spent most of that time trying to survive and that changes a person.” Cellbit replies, with a frown.
“You are still my brother.”
“Being siblings doesn’t mean I want anything to do with you.” Cellbit replies and Roier’s eyes widen at the response.
Before Bagi can respond Cellbit is already getting up and leaving the room.
“So, you’re just going to leave.” Bagi yells after him, and Roier can hear her voice crack as if she is about to cry.
Roier holds in a sigh as he hears the door to Cellbit’s office click shut. He knows he can still potentially save this so that if Cellbit decides to get his head out of his ass that he can still have some sort of relationship with Bagi.
“I would still like to see those photos sometime, especially the embarrassing ones.” Roier says, forcing a smirk.
“But-” Bagi glances at the direction Cellbit had gone.
Roier shrugs. “Sometimes he is un pendejo.”
Bagi stifles a laugh and rubs her eyes, before she puts Zeno back in his carrier. “He’s your husband.”
“So, he can still be an asshole.”
Bagi doesn’t hold back her laugh this time and smiles a bit.
“He will get over it but until then we can hang out and you can tell me stories of Cellbit as a kid.”
Bagi grins in a mischievous way that lets Roier know that Bagi has plenty of embarrassing stories from Cellbit’s childhood. Roier can’t wait to find out what those stories are.
━━━━━━🕷━━━━━━
Roier heard the sound of someone dropping down onto the roof behind him. When he turned around, he was surprised to see one of his fellow vigilantes, Aranha Branca, standing behind him.
“Spiderman, do you have a moment to talk?”
“Yes?” Roier replied, curious about what she wanted.
Roier knows Aranha Branca has not been a vigilante for that long. She, despite that, was good at hunting down criminals and keeping herself safe. She didn't ask for much help at the start and was also a great help in gathering information on the city. She was just as good as Cellbit at figuring out what the heroes and villains were doing even if the two bickered when they had to work together. So, if she wants to talk, Roier has a feeling that it isn’t going to be something easy.
“I have been looking into the murders of Cucurucho's sidekicks.” Roier nods remembering how the sidekicks had been showing up dead. “I think I might have figured out who did it.”
“Who?”
“Gato Verde.” Aranha Branca stated firmly.
It almost seemed like she wanted him to be surprised, but Roier wasn't. Cellbit had killed in the past and almost killed someone when they first met. He knew the other man could do it. The only thing that surprised him was that Cellbit had not come to him and talked to him about it.
“Oh?” Roier replied.
“Cucurucho and his sidekicks don't help the people.” Roier states, thinking back to what Cucurucho had done to Cellbit and how the sidekicks only seem to target vigilantes and not real villains.
“Yes-” Aranha Branca starts before Roier raises an eyebrow, the movement being shown through his mask. “Maybe they help people, maybe they don’t. I don't know.”
“Maybe some of them are actually good but with my experiences with them I am not so sure.”
“I am just worried about Gato Verde.” Aranha Branca whispered.
“I don't think there is anything to worry about.”
“You aren’t concerned about your partner? I was sure you two were together.”
“We are and because of that if he thinks that the one way of dealing with the federation is killing the sidekicks then I trust him.”
“I think there are other ways to deal with Cucurucho and his sidekicks without getting blood on my hands.”
“Aranha Branca, you have people you care for, no?”
Aranha Branca pauses for a moment before nodding.
“You would do anything to keep them from harm?”
“Of course.”
“Letting Gato Verde go after Cucurucho’s sidekicks like this is me keeping those I love from harm.”
“It is going to put a target on Gato Verde’s back.” Aranha Branca argued.
Roier let out a small chuckle and sighed. “The target was already there and his actions right now have done nothing to change how Cucurucho and his sidekicks view him or any of us that are out on the streets of Quesadilla City protecting the citizens every night.”
Aranha Branca examined him before responding. “You are sure of this?”
Roier nodded.
Aranha Branca sighed as she crossed and uncrossed her arms. “What am I supposed to do then with everything I find?”
“If anything else pops up. Another body, whispers of Cucurucho planning something, another vigilante seeing something, you let me know.”
“You really love him don’t you.” Aranha Branca asks tilting her head.
“Of course, goodnight, Aranha Branca.” Roier replies before he shoots a web out and starts to make his way home.
━━━━━━🕷━━━━━━
Roier wasn’t planning to sit in their living room waiting up for Cellbit. It was their week to have Richas and Roier had put the boy to bed a few hours before and had curled up on the couch with a book to read. He wasn’t even actually planning on reading as much of it as he did. He was planning to doze off on the couch in hopes of waking up when Cellbit finally got home from his patrol. He missed going out with Cellbit on patrols during the weeks they had Richas, but someone needed to stay home with the kid so they took turns. Roier wasn’t even sure how much of the book he actually paid attention to as his mind kept drifting off onto what Aranha Branca had said a few weeks before.
The door to the house opened and Roier’s head snapped in the direction of it. Roier took a breath to calm himself as he looked at how much blood was darkening the black of Cellbit’s turtleneck and pants. The other man’s clothes were lacking his normal green vigilante over shirt and his mask was lacking the bright cat whiskers that Richarlyson had demanded he draw on them.
“Gatinho, tell me that is someone else's blood.”
Cellbit jumped and put his hand over his heart. “Caralho, Guapito. You scared me.”
“The blood is someone else's correct?” Roier asked again, standing up from where he was sitting as Cellbit slid his googles up so they were acting like a headband.
Cellbit glanced at Roier as he approached before he unclipped his mask from his face. “No, the blood isn’t mine.”
Cellbit was obviously waiting for Roier to ask another question but instead Roier gave him a peck on the lips.
“Good. Wouldn’t want to have to patch you up again, Gatinho.” Roier replied as he pulled away, resting his hand on one of the clean patches of Cellbit’s shoulder.
Cellbit rolled his eyes as he leaned in to kiss Roier. “You know I don’t plan to get injured again.”
Roier smirks and raises his eyebrow and takes his hand off Cellbit’s shoulder. “And killing Cucurucho’s sidekicks is the way to do that?”
Cellbit’s face falls for a moment at the realization that Roier knows what he has been doing for the past few weeks.
“How long have you known?”
“A few weeks.”
“Aranha Branca realized it was you and seems to think you are doing it the wrong way but I think we need to kill them all.”
“We need to make them fear us and what we can do if they want us against them and not working with them against the true evils that are in the city.”
“I don’t have your past but I’ve been through a lot because of how the heroes view not only vigilantes but also normal people. I’m tired of fighting on their terms. I think we finally need to show them what we can do.”
“In the past I killed for the thrill of it. The fun that came with the game of cat and mouse but now I am doing it to send a message to Cucurucho.”
“I want to help you.” Roier replied as he grabbed Cellbit’s hand.
“Guapito, the first time killing-” Cellbit pauses and exhales loudly, “it changes you. Once you take someone’s life there is no going back.”
“I understand.” Roier replied, squeezing Cellbit’s hand.
“Are you sure you want to do this with me?”
“I want to help you.”
“Then it is us against Cucurucho and his sidekicks.”
“Now do I get a new sexy outfit, Gatinho.” Roier asks as he runs his hand down the front of Cellbit’s black shirt avoiding as much of the darker bloodstained areas as he can.
“We can see what we can do, Guapito.” Cellbit replies, before he kisses Roier again.
━━━━━━🕷━━━━━━
Cellbit grips onto his knife as he enters the warehouse. He silently curses the fact that people leaving him ominous letters can't meet somewhere nicer. It didn't help that Cellbit was still on edge since being kidnapped by Cucurucho. Cellbit looks around the room, his vision reaching farther than if he wouldn't be using his powers and that's when a man steps out of the shadows.
Cellbit doesn't need to look closely to see if this is one of The Watcher's puppets. The spot where the man's eyes should be was just two slight indents covered by a layer of skin. Engraved onto his forehead was an eye.
“What does your boss want?” Cellbit asked.
“He has seen the work you are doing and is impressed.” The man replies in a monotone voice.
“Thank you, but I am assuming that is not why he set up this meeting.” Cellbit replied, moving his hand to rest on his hip by his knife.
“He would like you to work with us.”
“No.”
The puppet tilted his head. “No?”
“No.” Cellbit repeats.
“It wasn’t a question.”
“I have free will.” Cellbit replies, sliding his knife into his hand.
“I don’t think you do.”
Cellbit moves to attack the puppet but before he can move, he feels a prick at the back of his neck and the world quickly fades to black.
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Roier paces the apartment again. It had been 24 hours since he had last heard from Cellbit and his brain keeps drifting back to the last time Cellbit was missing for so long. Roier was unsure what to do this time. There was no note left and no sign of Cellbit. He was just gone. Roier paces the length of the apartment again. Roier sighed and pulled out his suit and decided to go look for the only person he thought could help.
Aranha Branca turns around as Roier drops to the roof.
“Hello Spiderman.”
“I need your help.” Roier says.
“My help?” Aranha Branca asks. “With what?”
“Yes. Gato Verde is missing.”
“I don’t know what help I could be to find him. Especially if Cucurucho was the one that took him.”
“Please, Aranha Branca, my husband is missing and I need to find him.”
Aranha Branca sighs. “Well, he has been killing sidekicks, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Cucurucho decided to get rid of him; that is where I would start.”
Roier bites his lip debating if the last time Cellbit was kidnapped was something Aranha Branca needed to know. Roier held back a sigh as he realized it wouldn’t do much to help his case. It would just make Aranha Branca double down on her thoughts that Cucurucho kidnapped Cellbit.
“Cucurucho would have said something but I understand you not wanting to get mixed up in this if it is Cucurucho. Adiós, Aranha Branca.” Roier held out his hand and flung a web out to the other building, he had to move onto plan B.
━━━━━━🕷━━━━━━
Roier tapped his foot as he sat on the couch. Bagi had said she would be over as soon as she could but she was taking far longer than Roier would have liked. Cellbit had already been missing for at least 48 hours and Roier had no leads as to where his husband went. There is a knock at the door and Roier doesn’t hesitate to jump up and open it.
“Hola.” Roier greets gesturing for Bagi to enter.
“Olá Roier.” Bagi greets as she enters the house.
Roier gestures for her to sit.
“What’s wrong?” Bagi asks, not bothering to sit down.
“Cellbit is missing.”
Bagi laughs and it sounds a bit hollow. “He can’t be missing.”
“Él no está aquí.” Roier replies flatly as he gestures around the apartment.
“I’ll find him.” Bagi says, with a certainty that would comfort Roier if he hadn’t already tried to look for Cellbit with no results.
“I’ve already tried.”
“I’ve found him before. It shouldn’t be that hard to do it again.”
Bagi is walking and closing the front door before Roier can even come up with some response. Roier stares at her as the door closes. She was right; she had found him once and maybe she could do it again.
━━━━━━🕷━━━━━━
“Spiderman, I need your help.” Aranha Branca states as she lands on the rooftop behind him.
“Oh?” Roier asks as he turns around to face her. “¿Con qué?”
“My brother is missing and I need help to find him.”
Roier opens his mouth to respond but hesitates. She wants his help to find her brother which means she would be revealing who she is to him.
“Are you sure about this?” Roier asks.
“Yes.” Aranha Branca replies with a nod.
“You would be revealing your identity to me, sabes?”
Aranha Branca freezes for a moment and Roier can see the area of her mouth move as if she is biting her lip as she ponders her next move.
“I know.” Aranha Branca finally replies.
“Do you expect the same from me?”
“Não.” Aranha Branca quickly responds. “Não, não espero o mesmo de você.”
“Okay.”
“But I am willing to help you look for Gato Verde with you; if you help me.” Aranha Branca bargained.
“We should probably go somewhere private to talk.”
Aranha Branca nods. “Follow me.”
Roier follows the other vigilante to an unassuming apartment building across the city. He follows her up a fire escape until she stops on a landing and opens a window.
“Welcome to my home.” Aranha Branca states before she enters the apartment.
“What can you tell me about your brother?” Roier asks after he climbs in.
“First, his name is Cellbit-”
“Cellbit.” Roier interrupts, not believing what he was hearing.
Bagi was Aranha Branca this whole time. He thought about how Aranha Branca and Cellbit fought and how it was similar to how Bagi and Cellbit fought. He thought about how Bagi cared for Gato Verde despite what he had done and almost wondered if Bagi knew Cellbit was Geto Verde but he also knew if she did, she would have helped him already.
“Bagi-” Roier starts to say before he sees the eyes on Bagi’s mask widen.
“How do you know my name?” She demands, her stance becoming tense.
Roier sighs and pulls off his mask. “Bagi, soy yo.”
“Roier?” Bagi asks, also tugging off her mask. “Caralho.”
“I guess you realized already that Cellbit is Gato Verde?”
“Porra.” Bagi swears as she grips her mask tighter in her hand.
“At least we only have to find Cellbit and not Cellbit and Gato Verde.” Roier offers, trying to lighten the mood.
“It took me years, the last time, to find him.”
“It only took me a few days the last time.” Roier replies, with a smirk.
Now was as good of a time as any to reveal that Cellbit had been kidnapped before.
“The last time.” Bagi asks, staring at Roier.
“Two years ago, Cucurucho kidnapped him and tried to kill him to warn me off from being a vigilante.”
“But you said it wasn’t Cucurucho this time; how do you know?”
“Cucurucho left me a message on how to find him the last time.”
“And you haven’t gotten a message this time?” Bagi asks.
“Not this time, no.”
Bagi hummed. “I need to do some research and look into some things but we will find him, Roier.”