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Of the many experiments that Argost had run in his efforts to bridge the gap between humans and cryptids, Munya was not the only success.
He found that the DNA of almost every cryptid was not compatible with human DNA. The Papuan Giant Spider was the only exception he had come across, so he played with it as much as he could. Most couldn’t bear the strain of the transformation. Munya and one other were the only exceptions.
The other subject, a boy acquired at six and currently nine, defied every expectation Argost had. He had mutated beautifully, the DNA of the spider taking to him just as easy as it had Munya. His mutations themselves were minutely different from his assistant’s, coating him in soft brown fur, giving him four solid black eyes, bisecting his mouth down the bottom lip and chin, which split apart to reveal chelicerae and sharp, venomous fangs. Like Munya, four spider-like limbs grew from his back and curved towards his front. Unlike Munya, he could not seem transform back into a more humanoid form.
Munya’s spinnerets lied within his neck and had taken the place of the majority of his vocal cords, limiting the amount of sounds he could produce. The boy, called Peter, had small slits on his wrists that hid his spinnerets. This difference lent itself to the younger subject’s ability to speak.
“Where’s Munya? I like him more than you.”
“Unfortunately for you, my dear boy, I also find him more tolerable than I do you. And after a certain someone,” Argost shot the boy a look, “ate my current horde of Jinshin-Mushi, I sent Munya to China to gather more. After that he will retrieve something quite precious that was stolen from me.”
Argost’s look did little to quell Peter. If anything, it made him more disgruntled, his chest puffing up and a glare on his face. A pout started forming on his lips. Before he could say anything back, an accented voice called out.
“Argost! The stone wasn’t there. We tore the house apart looking for it, and all we found was Mommy and Daddy coming back to defend themselves.”
Two men walked into the room, one of the many sitting rooms in Weird World. Both of their faces were covered with skull-like masks. The one who had yelled was followed by a shorter man, whose bright red hair could be seen escaping the bottom of the mask.
“Ah, Van Rook and his apprentice! What splendid timing. Here, look after this. I’ll compensate you later. Au revoir, dear spiderling,” Argost said, leaving before either mercenary could say anything. No, he wasn’t running away. He was just… taking advantage of an opportunity that presented itself to him. Yes, that was it. No running involved, just fast steps and dramatic cloak swishing.
Any longer in the little cretin’s presence would have ended badly, after all. And Argost didn’t want to upset Munya. It was so hard to find such loyal help nowadays.
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“I charge extra for babysitting!” Van Rook yelled after him, though Argost was already out of sight. He huffed underneath his mask before turning to the smallest occupant in the room. “And what the hell are you? Did that spider freak have a child? Who would procreate with that?”
“I do not want to know that. Please, don’t tell us,” the man with the red hair shuttered.
The boy – cryptid? – didn’t say anything. He was tense, his four eyes wide and his fur standing on end. His lips pursed and he wrapped his limbs (all six) around himself, shrinking away from the mercenaries.
Though his clothes were baggy, it was obvious that they were good quality. His top was black, long sleeves falling down his arms and blue shorts over his legs. He wasn’t wearing any shoes, exposing his surprisingly normal, if furry, feet.
The kid shifted awkwardly.
Van Rook grunted, walking to one of plush couches and grumpily throwing himself onto it. His arms and legs were spread wide, taking up the entire space.
The other man shook his head, a sigh escaping his mouth. “Sorry for that sourpuss,” he said, ignoring the “Shut up!” directing his way. “He doesn’t really like having to stay here longer than necessary.”
He reached up, unclasping his helmet. His red hair was sweaty and stuck up in random places. “Anyway, my name’s Doyle Blackwell, and he’s Leonidas Van Rook. You can call him stingy bastard.”
“…Peter.” Peter had a small smile on his face, glancing at the increasingly annoyed Van Rook.
“Nice to meet you,” Doyle grinned. “Come on, let’s sit down. I’m too tired to keep standing.”
The more Doyle spoke, the less tense Peter got. His spider legs were relaxing, and his arms retreated back to rest along his sides.
Doyle wondered how Peter’s extra limbs extended from his clothes. Were there extra holes, like for arms? Did he have to have them specially tailored then? Did Argost have a tailor? … did they go to the same place as Baron Finster?
His questions were quickly answered when the boy briefly turned away, grabbing a blanket that had previously gone unnoticed. It turns out that his shirt didn’t have a back, opening up under the collar to expose the spider-legs and cinching back in at the waist.
He shook himself before he got caught staring. Despite working with less conventional looking people like Munya and Finster, sometimes he still got surprised.
There were four different chairs strewn throughout the room, so Doyle sat in the one closest to the coffee table. He emptied his pockets on it, silently pleased when some of the items scratched the ornate wood. Peter quietly walked over and sat in the chair next to him. He pulled his feet up into the chair and draped the blanket over himself, leaving only his head free.
Suddenly, he focused on Doyle. His arm, specifically. He shifted his eyes from his arm, to Doyle, back to his arm, and back to Doyle. Finally, he gathered the courage to speak.
“What’s that?” Peter pointed at Doyle’s wrist.
“Oh, this?” Doyle raised his arm. “It’s a wrist gauntlet. It’s like a gun and a laser had a baby and then that baby had a baby with a watch.”
Peter stared at it. “How does it work? It’s too small to have bullets, but if it’s a laser, the energy to fire it has to come from somewhere.” His eyes were wide, adorably earnest and curious in the face of unfamiliar technology.
The sight brought a small smile to Doyle’s face.
“I’ll show you, little man. See, it runs off of solar energy…”
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Hours flew by while Doyle showed Peter various pieces of equipment. He methodically took them all apart, explaining each component and its use before letting Peter put it back together under his critical gaze. He stopped watching Peter so closely after a few times, realizing that the boy was putting everything back together perfectly.
Doyle was just about to start taking apart his jetpack when the door opened. On the other side was a transformed Munya, his red and pink frame taking up the entire doorway. His single eye roamed, glaring at Doyle and Van Rook before resting on Peter. He visibly softened once the younger spider came into his view.
“Munya!” Peter yelled, running toward the man. Munya didn’t say anything, unfazed as the boy jumped onto him and stuck to his chest. “Munya, I missed you! Argost was being mean, and then he left me with Doyle and the other guy! Doyle’s really nice. He was showing me how all his stuff works!”
“Wha- the other guy?!” Van Rook spluttered. “I’ll show you ‘the other guy’, pipsqueak.” He raised his arm to show off his wrist gauntlet and took a step towards them.
At the sight of the weapon, Munya growled. He wrapped his arms protectively around Peter and sneered, baring his fangs.
Doyle jumped in between them, holding his hands up placatingly. “Hold on, boys, there’s no need to start a fight. Fuzzy Wuzzy was just talking about how much more he likes me than you. I can’t blame him, you’re very unlikeable.” His smile was easily heard in his voice. “Besides, fighting Charlotte’s Web here would just lead to broken equipment and hospital bills.”
Van Rook scoffed, “Hospital bills?! You think I would lose to this brute?” He glared at Munya, who glared back. The half-cryptid narrowed his eyes and curled his lips further. A low growl was still emanating from his chest.
It was quiet for a few moments.
Van Rook looked away. “Feh! We’re losing money being here. Apprentice, we’re leaving.” He turned and stalked away without another word. Doyle saluted the two spider-humans, saying a quick “See ya” before following behind.
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Following the non-disastrous first experience, Munya seemed to deem Doyle worthy of babysitting Peter. He watched after him at least once a month. Most times, he only had him for a few hours, but once or twice he was left overnight. Argost’s search for Kur was quickly gaining momentum, however, and soon enough there was scarcely a week that went by without Peter being left with Doyle.
He wasn’t babysitting when he stole a piece of the stone.
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Doyle could admit that working with his sister’s family was surprisingly fun. Doc was a huge stick in the mud, but Drew, Zak, and their gaggle of cryptids/kids more than made up for it. He had to watch himself a lot more than he was used to, stopping curses and innuendoes from escaping his mouth and pulling his punches when roughhousing. Munya had never cared about how Doyle acted around Peter, and the kid was stronger than the average adult, let alone a child (He will never forget the look on Van Rook’s face when he got Peter so riled up the kid picked him up and threw him down a cliff).
But, as it turns out, hanging out with Zak was not that different from baby-sitting Peter (just with decidedly less bug-eating) (from Zak, at least).
Both boys were more mature than others their age, and smarter than people gave them credit for. Zak, however, was much more open with his emotions, allowing himself to act like the kid he was when he wanted. Argost always had a lot to say about Peter’s behavior, despite the freedom he had seemingly given Munya in raising him. Doyle had easily been able to see the sneer on Argost’s face whenever Peter was loud or bratty,. He only ever seemed to mildly tolerate the spiderling and gave him minimal attention, sometimes even complaining about him to Munya like the kid wasn’t there. (That… was probably for the best.)
Munya, on the other hand, was much more open with his affection for Peter. He made sure to ruffle his hair whenever Argost wasn’t looking, and acted as a personal jungle gym for the kid most of the time. The kid always leaned into his touch and was practically purring by the time they had to separate. These small gestures always made Peter glow with happiness.
Munya’s kid was actually pretty cool. He was smart, definitely smarter than Doyle. He picked things up fast, and never had to be told something more than twice. He had a fairly short temper, but usually he was pretty quiet, which could be attributed to Argost. When he started talking, however, it was hard to get him to stop. Questions fell from his mouth as easy as breathing, and the boy was endlessly curious about everything. It turns out that, despite the kid’s apparent ability to understand Munya, the older hybrid was still unable to communicate more complex ideas.
(He was also the first one to ever laugh at Doyle’s puns. If that made him like the kid just a little bit more, he never said anything.)
Following their acquisition of the Kur stone, Argost and Munya were gone a lot more than before. Since Argost didn’t like the spiderling that much, Munya ended up needing to find a babysitter that was both willing to watch the kid and was trustworthy enough to not kill him. He was pawned off on Doyle a lot after the first time, sometimes with Van Rook as a reluctant addition (Munya glared at him for a full ten minutes every time he decided to join).
However, Doyle knew that turning traitor left Munya with very limited options on who could watch his kid. He worried about him more than he thought he would.
Thoughts of Peter were especially common late at night, when Doyle lay awake questioning his life choices and agonizing over his many, many mistakes.
Who was watching him? As far as Doyle knew, he was the only baby-sitter for Peter. Everyone else was too volatile or greedy or Munya just didn’t like them. Did he have a new babysitter? Did Munya hire Van Rook to look after him? Baron Finster? Was the kid just left in Weird World alone? Did he go with Munya and Argost on their travels? Was Argost treating him okay? Would Munya be able to stand up against Argost if he did anything to the kid? Should – should Doyle try to get him out?
Doyle cut that train of thought off. There was no way he could bring another kid into the Saturday’s lives, especially when he would be Doyle’s responsibility. He could handle watching the kid for a few hours, even a few days when needed, but full-time? Raising him? Being completely responsible for his life? That was too much.
He would leave that sort of domesticity for Munya. The spider-man was a surprisingly good dad, after all. Doyle would have to just believe that Munya loved Peter more than he did Argost.
That didn’t stop the sick feeling in his stomach.
-------------
Munya was having a fantastic time. He had been put in charge of taking care of the intruders, and he had been manipulating Weird World for the last few hours to do just that.
The Saturday family was scrambling around, trying to stay together. Various cryptids worked together in order to give them all a hard time, all at the discretion of Munya.
He had just managed to separate the family when Peter came into the room. The boy crawled across the ceiling, his hands and feet silent on the cold stone. Munya snapped his fingers in greeting, the vibration easily carrying through the air. Peter churred in response before dropping down into his caretaker’s lap.
Curiosity-earnestness-fondness traveled from Peter to Munya, who rubbed his face into the elders’ chest.
Munya rumbled intruder-anger-protectiveness-satisfaction in response. He reached for the containers holding various cryptids. Putting each one in its’ respective pneumatic tube, he held two back. Munya kept the Dundas Island Blackflies for himself and gave the container of Jinshin-Mushi to Peter. They both hummed in satisfaction at the taste.
They sat there for a while, enjoying their snacks and watching the various screens. The Saturdays – barring the patriarch – were all relatively close to defeat. Watching his plans come to fruition, Munya exhaled smug-satisfaction-happiness.
Peter wiggled proud-love-hungry through his arms. He turned his gaze to the man, eyes wide and pleading for more of his favorite snack. Munya huffed gentleness-patience before ruffling the spiderling’s hair.
A rumbling filled the room before Munya could get more food for Peter. He tensed caution-wariness, throwing Peter towards the ceiling just in time for the wall to implode. All the screens fell to the floor, revealing the father of the Saturday family.
“Where are they!” The man was furious, his mouth set in a fierce line and his battle glove raised in a threat. The screens cut out, preventing anyone from seeing the rest of the family. Munya quickly transformed while the man was distracted by the sight.
The two exchanged blows, Munya being knocked back first. He hit the wall, sticking to it. He risked a glance at Peter, confirming the boy’s position in the darkest corner of the ceiling. The younger was almost completely hidden by the shadows, his eyes carefully following the fight. Pulling his gaze away before the man could see what he was looking at, Munya sprung towards him.
It didn’t take long for Munya to figure out that the human was wiping the floor with him.
For what was probably the tenth time, Munya was thrown, landing in the remains of his desk. The frayed wires shocked him, stunning him. He caught sight of his charm board. Chuckling, he swiped all the charms off the board and threw them into the incinerator.
This seemed to signal to the Saturday something grim. Munya passed out before anything more than a gasp escaped the man.
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It took a while for the one-eyed man to leave the room. Peter was good and stayed hidden the whole time, even after he got scared when the man and Munya started to fight, and later, when Munya stopped moving.
The man saw something on the screens he didn’t like and screamed at them for a while. Soon, however, a dark look crossed his face and he stormed out of the room. He looked like he was going to cry.
Peter stayed still for almost ten more minutes, afraid that the angry human would come back. When it became clear that he wouldn’t, he cautiously crawled down the wall. Each step was carefully measured to make no noise.
Finally reaching the floor, he quickly ran to Munya’s side. The older spider was motionless, face down on the ground. Glass was scattered around him, the broken screens buzzing quietly in the background. Peter gulped, slowly putting his hand on the hybrid’s back. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding when he felt the large back thump-thump with a heartbeat. Tears gathered in his eyes.
Peter gingerly curled into a ball on Munya’s back, trembling out a small sad-scared-worried, dark splotches falling onto the hybrid’s red fur.
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a scene where its peters 10th bday and Munya decides to invite doyle (who brings zak, fisk, and komodo) because peter has no friends (11/25)
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Doyle was surprised to see Van Rook, to say the least. The Russian had gone to ground after Argost’s death, no one hearing from him for months. Now, here he was. Business stolen, broke, using a bus as an ‘office’.
And he wasn’t alone.
After Doyle reluctantly agreed to hear the man out, he walked them over to a nearby café. Inside was a small figure nursing an almost full cup of hot chocolate and an empty plate. They were slouched in their chair, playing with a bright pink DS.
A bell jingled when Van Rook opened the door, and the figure looked up. Upon seeing the man, they visibly brightened. They scrambled up once they saw Doyle, haphazardly stuffing the DS in their pocket and throwing themselves at the redhead with a cry of “Doyle!”
Peter had grown a little since Doyle had last seen him, though it was hard to see it past his head-to-toe clothing. His dark jeans and red boots were topped with two coats, one blue and one red. The collar of the blue one covered the bottom of his furry face while a red hood hung low over the rest. His eyes obscured by large wraparound sunglasses and his hands were hidden by red gloves.
Now, he was carefully petting Zon. The cryptid had closed her eyes, leaning into his hands and cooing softly. The other bus riders were very carefully not looking.
“Did I not tell you that I’m your man?” Van Rook crowed, gesturing at Peter. “That glorified butler left his kid with me. If anyone knows anything, it would be that creep.”
Peter threw a random piece of trash at the man. “Don’t call Munya a creep! You’re creepier than he is!”
“Don’t throw stuff at me, brat!”
“Make me!”
“Don’t test me!”
“You won’t do it! You’re too old and fat to run after me!”
“Shut up, mudak! I’m just out of practice!”
“Zatknis’, ublyudok!”
“Who taught you that?!”
Doyle stared as the two bickered back and forth. Him and Zon looked at each other, equally confused and amused. Unable to hold back anymore, Doyle laughed and Zon shrieked in delight at the still fighting duo.
“Shut up!” They shouted in unison, turning away from each other.
“Damn,” Doyle wiped a tear from his eye. “You two have finally started to get along, huh? Only took me turning traitor.”
The boy scoffed. “Leo was the only other person Munya trusted me with,” he ignored the sputtered “Leo?!” from the redhead, “and that was only because he trusted him to trust in money.”
“That makes sense,” Doyle shrugged. “It’s worth more to not lose the trust of your biggest investor. Actually, that reminds me. Why is he with you now? Munya was still alive, last I saw.”
Van Rook shrugged. “I was watching the brat when the stuff in Antarctica happened, and no one contacted us afterward. I kept the kid with me, bought him some inconspicuous clothes and brought him along on mercenary jobs for a bit. Until Abbey,” he spat, “stole my business. Anyway, I doubt that Argost is dead.”
Doyle’s gaze sharpened. “Oh? Why’s that?”
“We don’t exactly have the resources to hide. If Argost had died, Munya would have come to get the kid.”
Peter was quiet. He had gone back to petting Zon, though movements were stilted. Zon cooed sadly and butted her head against his.
Doyle, fingers laced in front of his mouth, was looking at them grimly. He turned his eyes to Van Rook.
“What else do you know?”
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They had gone to at least five different cryptid hotspots when they finally made their way to Loch Ness.
There was nothing to indicate that it would bear anything new, aside from the fact that they had been attacked via exploding bugs in Switzerland. Hopefully, nothing so drastic would happen this time.
Yeah, right.
“Seriously,” Doyle grumbled, “the actual Loch Ness?” He had been snapping at Van Rook for hours, his toes going numb from the frigid waters. Peter had long since hitched a ride on Zon, and the both of them circled overhead.
Van Rook shrugged. “At least you can’t say this one isn’t famous. They don’t get any more-”
He was cut off as Doyle covered his mouth. The younger mercenary shushed him, pointing toward a distant cabin on the edge of the lake. Munya could be seen making his way inside with an armful of firewood.
After seeing the hybrid enter, Peter and Zon slowly glided to the ground.
They ran to the door as a group, gathering on either side. Doyle pressed his ear to the door and ignored Van Rook’s “We never negotiated for actual fighting-” and Peter’s “Shut up, Leo!”
“Don’t interrupt me, I’m negotiating money!”
“Yeah, well, I don’t ca-”
Their argument was cut off as Argost’s voice burst from inside. Their mouths clicked shut as they looked at the door. Both men exchanged grim looks and continued to listen, while Peter grabbed onto Leo’s shirt.
Doyle eventually grew impatient and started counting down on his fingers. On his signal, both mercenaries broke through the flimsy wooden door. Peter stayed behind the men and Zon swooped in above them.
Peter gasped (fear-surprise-hope) as a hand grasped his shoulder and a large shadow fell over the group. The hand (regret-conviction) stuck fast to his clothed shoulder. Before any of them could do anything further than turn around, Peter was flung straight out the door, past the stone fence, and into the lake.
Munya quickly jumped onto the wall. His transformed body stuck to the stone surface easily, and he shot a few globs of webbing at his opponents. They all deftly jumped back, but Munya just as swiftly followed.
He struck at Doyle first, and threw himself at Van Rook when the redhead dodged.
The younger pressed a button on his gloves while the hybrid was distracted by the other man. His hands and feet started the glow, small green dots decorating them. He ran toward Munya, sticking his gloves to his back and pulling him forward.
“Micro-adhesives on the hands and feet. Want to know how I spent my summer vacation with Peter?” Doyle smirked. “Figuring out his stickiness, and begging I’d get another crack at you.”
Munya roared, pulling himself off of the other’s hand. He tried to grab Doyle, but the man clung to the wall and scuttled behind him.
After turning the spider-man around for a while, Doyle tackled him into Van Rook and Zon. The three of them held the hybrid down, shouting questions at him in a vain attempt for answers.
None of them noticed the small figure standing in the doorway. Peter’s fur was dripping wet, his heavy outer coats and glasses abandoned, and he was shivering. His limbs were curled around him in an attempt to preserve some warmth. He watched the scene in front of him with wide eyes.
After a few seconds of each side ignoring the other, he walked forward. It wasn’t until he pinched Munya’s neck and the other instantly grew limp that they noticed him.
The men were stunned, pinned under the heavy limbs of the older hybrid. Peter shrugged under their combined gazes.
“Munya’s neck is really sensitive,” he muttered, rubbing his arms.
Van Rook threw his head back and laughed. He laughed so hard he clutched his sides, rolling around on the ground as tears gathered in his eyes.
Doyle pursed his lips. “You’re getting a pay cut, and it’s going to Peter.” The other instantly stopped laughing.
“What? I was helping you the whole time!”
“Who knocked out the bad guy?”
“One bad guy, and I’m the reason we found him in the first place!”
“Speaking of one bad guy, where’s Argost?”
He looked around in search of any information. Absently, Doyle noticed Van Rook take off his coat and hand it to Peter, who gratefully wrapped it around himself. He noticed there was a trap door on the floor.
Opening it, they all trudged down the rickety wooden steps.
The trap door revealed a large room filled wall to ceiling with boxes of films. What looked like a cross between a computer and a typewriter sat in the middle of the room, various dials and speakers surrounding it.
“Whoa,” Doyle said before he typed on it. After he finished the line and returned the carriage to the beginning, a loud “Hi” sounded from the speakers. They all jumped as Argost’s voice greeted them. He smirked. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What is this machine?” Van Rook pushed at Doyle, who pushed him back out of the way.
“Hold on, let me try something.” He quickly typed something again.
“Argost is a shiny purple donut monkey.”
Peter giggled as Argost’s voice insulted himself. He patted Doyle’s arm, silently asking permission for the other to move. He did, and the boy wasted no time in going to town on the device.
“I’m a worthless hack who makes a living off of lying.”
“My butt is jealous of all the crap that comes out of my mouth.”
“I’m a big fat jerk who makes babies cry.”
The men smiled at his antics before starting to quietly talk.
“Munya’s the one that’s been recording Weird World promos this whole time, which means that Argost really must be…” Doyle trailed off warily, “… gone.”
Van Rook bit his lip. “So Munya just… abandoned him with me? I find that hard to believe.”
“Yeah, well, the proof is right in front of you.”
He sighed and turned tired eyes toward Peter, who had stopped typing and tensed up. They could see his fingers tremble over the keys before he balled them into fists and pulled them to his sides.
He turned to them, eyes hard and fur standing on end. His mouth screwed up as he asked, “What about Munya?”
The men exchanged another look before Doyle said, “Why don’t we go check on him? If nothing else, we need to restrain him before he wakes up.”
Peter started towards the stairs without saying anything. Doyle looked to Van Rook, who shook his head and silently followed the spiderling.
The boy froze at the top of the stairs.
“He’s not here,” he whispered.
“What?” Doyle asked.
“He’s not here,” Peter said, his voice wobbling. “He left.”
“Peter…” Van Rook started, reaching a hand towards him. The boy ignored him and bolted out the door.
Doyle bit his lip, watching the other mercenary chase after Peter. Through the window, he was able to see the boy sitting on the stone wall outside the door. Van Rook approached him slowly, looking unsure. He seemed to pull himself together after a moment and sat next to the other. Van Rook towered over his hunched and trembling form.
He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Doyle was watching when Peter burst into tears and threw himself at Van Rook.
The man’s face, normally pulled into a scowl, now radiated equal amounts of worry and anger. He picked Peter up and pulled him into his lap, shifting the boy’s head into the crook of his neck. One of his arms held the boy to his chest while he used the other to gently cradle Peter’s neck. He buried his face in the boy’s hair and slowly swayed back and forth.
Peter’s arms were wrapped just as tightly around the other. Sobs were now audible through the open door, shaky breathes and whimpers escaping him.
Doyle turned away from the intimate scene. He knew that he had already seen too much of something so private, and he still had to tell the family the good news.
Argost was dead.
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peter gets invited to zachs bday party since hes with van rook (he ends up developing a small crush on wadi AND ulraj). Peter has been sad and withdrawn since finding out that Munya abandoned him, and wadi tries to get him to cheer up (zaks parents ask him to, but doesn’t really try. Ulraj DOES because he sees it as a challenge lol)
hes also highkey scared of doc…..
doc doesn’t understand why until Doyle explains that Munya and peter are almost inseparable when in the same building, so he 100% saw doc beat the shit out of munya
Argost was alive.
The revelation shook their group to its core. Peter had been distraught at the realization that his father figure had abandoned him for no reason, only to find out that wasn’t true. Instead, he had simply been overlooked in favor of a violent, unpleasant mass-murderer.
Even better.
He had grown withdrawn in the weeks following the reveal. It was rare to find him with his face uncovered (not that there were many opportunities to) and even rarer for him to respond to Doyle or Van Rook with more than one syllable. The only one he spoke to was Zon, and she often cooed over him worriedly, bringing him dead animals and cuddling whenever possible.
“Doc, you realize that Peter was definitely in Weird World when we broke in?”
“What?” he sputtered. “There’s no way! The only person I saw was...” He trailed off.
Doyle snorted, waving a hand in front of his face. “Listen, if you saw Munya, chances are Peter was in the same room and he was hiding from you. He’s scared of you because he saw you beat the shit out of his dad.”
Doc’s face grew tight, his eyebrows furrowing and his lips drawing down.
“Oh.”
They were quiet as they watched the kids.
Zak was ignoring the others, while Wadi and Ulraj were trying to engage an overwhelmed looking Peter. Wadi showed him different yoyo tricks, the toy flying around her hands in complicated maneuvers. Ulraj, on the other hand, was busy trying to show off. He did handstands, broke rocks with his bare hands, demonstrated how well he could sense the environment with his electromagnetic sense – anything to show his awesomeness.
Peter looked like he didn’t know how he was supposed to react.
The only thing he seemed vaguely interested in was Ulraj’s electromagnetic sense. Doyle wondered if it was anything similar to what Peter sensed to be able to communicate with Munya.
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Peter knew that he was supposed to stay in the airship with Zak and Fisk, but he had a bad feeling. He couldn’t explain why, but he knew something bad was going to happen. The back of his neck was tingling, his fur was on end, his skin was crawling. This feeling – new, unknown, guiding him – told him it was a good idea to go in. He would need to be there for what was going to happen.
Whatever was going to happen.
(The tingling got stronger the deeper he ventured into Weird World.)
He crawled along the ceiling, staying out of sight of the various cameras and sensors and going toward the distant sounds of fighting. The hissing of Nagas and the shouts of the Saturdays and Leo caused a pit to form in his stomach.
Eventually, Peter made his way to the door of the room where everyone was fighting. His eyes closed as he listened, spider legs lightly resting on the smooth stone, trying to figure out what was happening inside.
“…found the one true Kur in V.V. Argost, and his Majesty will devour this world!”
“This worlds’ already got a Kur.”
Eyes flying open, Peter held in a gasp at the sound of Zak and Fisk fighting the Nagas. He was frozen, listening to the thuds and hisses from within the room.
He didn’t know what to do. Should he go in and help? Peter knew he was young, and couldn’t fight as well as the other’s yet, but he was stronger and more durable than normal humans! But, then again, he might just get in the way. Most of the Saturdays didn’t exactly trust him, and it sounded like the fight was winding down in the human’s favor. (Peter still had a bad feeling.)
A feral voice interrupted his panicked thoughts.
“Enough!” (The tingles trickled down his spine.) “This is my home. Please mind the décor.” A dark chuckle sounded from inside. “I come to offer a truce. All I want is my young Kurling. If the boy comes with me, everyone else goes free and the War of the Cryptids will be halted. Immediately.”
There were confused sounds from the others. Peter was confused, too. Was Argost telling the truth? Was it really that easy?
(At this point, the tingles were sending pins and needles through his body and behind his eyes.)
He kept listening as Drew screamed at the yeti. It sounded like she tried to attack him, defending her son, before she was knocked down by one of the Nagas.
The sound of her fire sword charging echoed.
It felt like a cold bucket of water was dumped on him, his whole body going numb as the feeling screamed itshappeninggetawaysavehimyouhavetogopleasehurry-
There was a scream. Silence. Peter couldn’t move, so overwhelmed by this feeling, this sense, pulling him in two directions, that all he could do was listen.
He listened as the Saturday’s surrounded Leo, the one who screamed.
He listened as Leo mumbled something to Drew.
He listened as Drew begged him to stay, to live, to think about Peter, are you going to leave him?
He listened as the last breath left Leo’s body.
This time, the numbness wasn’t from a bad feeling.
He was barely aware as the door opened underneath him. The stone scraped loudly, reverberating painfully in his ears. He didn’t move a muscle.
That didn’t stop Argost from noticing him.
“Young Peter!” He exclaimed. “What a surprise! Are you here looking for Munya? He’s not here, but I could use your assistance. Come.” The cryptid abruptly turned back into the room, a narrow-eyed Zak behind him. Peter numbly followed, lowering himself to the ground.
The floor was cold.
Inside, the Saturdays and Doyle had been restrained by the remaining Nagas. They had all been pulled to the side, weapons confiscated and held at spear point. They stared at Peter, looking horrified and betrayed.
Peter very carefully didn’t look at (the body) Leo.
Argost gestured towards the captured family. “As you can see, my victory is self-assured. I believe that I have earned a little time to enjoy myself before the extraction. Though I am impatient to receive my new power, the look on the elder Saturday’s faces as I dangle their son’s life in front of them will be… exquisite,” he smiled. “Keep an eye on them for me.”
He shoved Zak to his knees in front of his family. (he’s going to hurt him)
“Peter!” Doyle shouted. “You don’t have to do this! You don’t have to listen to Argost!”
(if i don’t listen he’ll hurt me, hurt you, hurt e v e r y o n e )
All the humans (the ones still alive) were screaming at them both, threatening and begging and crying in turn. Argost ignored them, facing Zak. The boy met the cryptid’s eyes, not giving him an inch.
Peter distantly realized that his neck was tingling again. All because of the being in front of him.
This man – this beast – was V.V. Argost. Vincent Vladislav Argost. Argost, who tried so hard to become human, but was more monstrous than any cryptid.
Argost, who had stolen and changed and hurt Peter.
Argost, who was going to hurt and kill countless others in the name of power.
Argost, who had killed Leo. (don’t think about it)
(he needs to be s t o p p e d )
Peter watched with dull eyes as his nightmare laughed in the faces of the kindest people he had ever met. The yeti’s hands made grand sweeping gestures while he mocked his captives. He loomed over the Saturdays, the Fang of Tsul ‘Kalu in his claws and his back to Peter. Every movement made the tingling worse, his fingers and toes starting to go numb again.
The decision came slowly to Peter, and it was the easiest thing he had ever done.
(he’ll never hurt a n y o n e a g a i n)
Argost didn’t see the hybrid leaping towards him, his mouth breaking apart to reveal his fangs and chelicerae. He didn’t see Peter’s body and limbs curving in an attack. His only warning was the widening of the Saturdays’ eyes before a sharp pain dug into his shoulder.
(Peter’s vision whited out as the tingling overwhelmed him.) (It wasn’t as bad as when Leo – ) (don’tthinkaboutit)
Argost roared in pain. The boy had bitten him deeply, his teeth drawing blood and his pincers holding his upper jaw in place. Nails raked wherever they could reach, going through clothes and thick fur in order to dig into skin. He quickly grabbed Peter’s jacket and wrenched the boy off of him.
The spiderling slammed into the ground, a small crater forming at the impact. Beyond a small wheezing sound when he hit the ground, Peter was silent. He didn’t get back up.
The Saturday’s watched, horrified, as their greatest enemy clutched his shoulder in agony. He was cursing, practically frothing at the mouth from his rage.
“Damn you, boy! Do you know what you’ve done?” Argost continued like this for several minutes, his words slurring more and more as time passed. The Nagas moved frantically around him, though he pushed away any that came too close. “I’m going to… to rule the… world… you little… wretch…” A pained grunt fell from clenched teeth.
Minutes passed as they watched Argost slowly succumb to whatever Peter had done. He fell to his knees. Eventually, he couldn’t find the strength to push anymore, and Rani Nagi surged to him and tried to staunch the blood flow. He collapsed to the floor. He squirmed for a little longer before stilling, his pained whimpers falling silent.
No one said anything, horrified shock thick in the air.
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(the Saturdays fought off the nagas)
Peter wakes up a few days later in the Saturdays medbay and they tell him that Munya cant be found, and offer him a place to stay (he stays with doyle ultimately)
before leo died he gave his notebook to drew and asked her to give it to peter (it contains the details to all his accounts as well as the “with great power” quote)
“with great power comes the great ability to make a lot of money”
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idk if anyone else was as bothered as me by munyas spinnerets being in his mouth, especially since it seems to affect his ability to speak, and vocal cords directly affect peoples breathing
i did way too much research on spider biology for this… so I looked up if its different for spiders and spiders don’t have vocal cords at all (they communicate in vibrations that’s picked up by their “fur”) and don’t breathe through their mouths, but through various tiny holes in their underbelly… so Munya can theoretically breathe through his stomach (belly button maybe???) and I imagine that words are harder to ‘vibrate’ than feelings
his incognito outfit is 100% inspired by shinos clothes in Shippuden, but blue and red. I would have given him something more similar to his spidersuit but I imagine something that tight isn’t comfortable on fur, plus he needs to hide his spiderlegs
LOL imagine if van rook bought him one of those zip up frog hoodies... he totally would, the stingey bastard
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second story: into the spiderverse
peter is 15 and has been working with doyle as a mercenary for the past 5 years
doyle only takes jobs that don’t involve killing people, but is still a criminal
still kind of bitter/traumatized because of the stuff that happened, but has calmed down a lot with the help of doyle, who has become a big brother figure
pulled through while on a job with doyle, who freaks out and calls the Saturdays
SUPER confused when he first gets there
Only knows aunt may and last name because hes read the files argost had on him
His parents were secret scientists
This is really what he looks like as a normal human?? Gross
Has to doublecheck to make sure that this version of him wasn’t evil (hes heard a lot from the Saturdays)
Theres no cryptids ANYWHERE, the world itself feels weird since kur/cryptid magic isn’t there
the spiderfam helps him become more hero-like, and inspire him to become a vigilante in his world
is the only one to not react weirdly to spiderham
theyre all kind of horrified at his backstory, especially when they find out he killed argost
essentially works as another secret scientist, going around and protecting people from cryptids and vice versa