Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 21 - An Impossible Decision

Rio Morales couldn't wait any longer, not even until morning. Hobie had given her a goober before they left the hospital that same evening. The first thing she did with it was contact Peter B. Parker in his dimension of Earth 616B for a favor, which the man accepted to do without hesitation. She gave her husband, Jefferson, the option to either come along or stay behind... because stopping her was out of the question; he, with great reluctance, picked the first option.

Within a few minutes, they were in HQ with the League of Spiders... or whatever they were called... as Peter led them through the complex, staring silently ahead. Their presence caught the attention of many Spiders who passed by and vice versa, each of them nodding, waving, and saluting with showers of praise.

"Your son's a true hero, Mrs. Morales!"

"Your kid's a hell of a fighter!"

"Miles is the GOAT!"

"You raised a true hero!"

"You should be proud!"

"I'm sorry about your son, Mr. and Mrs. Morales!"

"I hope he gets well soon!"

"I hope he gets to kick ass again!"

Despite giving a few murmurs and weak waves in response, she wanted none of it at the moment... they could all save it for later.

Jeff caught up to her ear to attempt another plea. "Hon, please... I know how strongly you feel about this... but maybe if we wait until morning—"

"No, Jeff..." she affirmed without looking at him, "... I'm not going to argue with you again... this is the only chance he has left."

"Y-You don't know that!" The man's voice was becoming high-pitched, more desperate.

"I do."

"How!?" He swerved around to block her path while Pete waited in front of them. "What makes you so sure that this is our only solution!?"

Rio sighed at him; she wasn't angry or frustrated... just resigned. "Can you think of any other option that's left?" she asked him, genuinely pleading but deep down knowing better. "Do you really think we can wait for another donor?"

"I..." Jeff was completely disarmed, bouncing back and forth while clutching his head like it was physically hurting... he was at a genuine loss for words as he was for solutions. "Please, hon..." he begged again through a parched throat, "... don't do this."

"I'm sorry," she breathed sadly, "but we both know I have to do this."

With nothing more to say, she continued off with Peter. Her husband paused before following them again, lagging behind as he hazily watched her shadow animating on the walkway... for whatever reason, his eyes were fixated on every detail of its outline, her hair in particular.

When they arrived in the console room, more Spiders were crowded here in a circle, all spectating some sort of commotion. There were sounds of two grown men wrestling, their fists connecting while rolling on the floor. Motioning the parents to hang back, Peter pushed through to find Jessica Drew in the front row, who was looking less amused than ever.

"The hell's going on here?" he asked the woman before looking.

"Just two children settling a feud." she supposed with a fatigued sigh.

In the middle of the space, there were indeed two guys slugging it out on the floor... the two guys in question were Hobie and Miguel. Neither of them was using their powers for some reason; they were masks-off throwing bare knuckles in each other's faces in what looked like a classic street fight.