Phantom stared at Glitch as she stood over their unconscious body. Their unconscious, *glitching* body. Her eyes widened with horror at what she had done.

“Glitch. . ?”

She sunk down to her knees, her shaky hands hovering over Glitch. She didn’t know what to do. She needed to take them somewhere, but where? And how? She couldn’t touch them, they were glitching out and so would she.

Her breaths quickened slightly, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. She didn’t mean for it to go this far. She hurt her best friend. And the worst part is, that wasn’t even close to all the other awful things she did. And she was just now realizing this?

*Stupid, selfish bitch-*

Phantom sobbed and buried her face in her hands. Her nails dug into her forehead as she struggled to fight back more tears. She didn’t have time to hate herself. She still needed to figure out what to do with Glitch.

She shook her head and brought her hands away from her face. She stared at Glitch for a long moment. Now she had no choice but to go back to the Spider-Society. That was the only place she could think of where she could take them.

She knew no one would take very kindly to her bringing in an unconscious Glitch after disappearing for. . . who knows long. But it was better than leaving them.

She tentatively reached toward Glitch, then braced herself and quickly hauled them over her shoulder. Strangely, she didn’t glitch at all while holding them. She reluctantly opened a portal back to HQ. She desperately hoped she could just drop off Glitch and leave, but she had a feeling that wouldn’t be the case. . .

She took a deep breath, then stepped through the portal.

-

People. So many people. Staring at her. Staring at Glitch. Silence. Then whispering. Phantom looked around slightly. She already felt overwhelmed. She pulled Glitch off of her shoulder, crouched down, and laid them down on the floor, making sure to be as gentle as she could.

She slowly stood up. “I. . . I’ll just see myself out.”

Except she wouldn’t. Because as soon as she turned around, she came face-to-face with Miguel. Again.

She drew in a sharp breath and took a few steps backward, startled and afraid. She stared up at Miguel, adrenaline pumping through her veins. She knew something would go wrong, but she didn’t expect it to go *this* wrong.

*Run. Fight. Try to talk to him? Just do something, idiot-*

But she couldn’t bring herself to do anything. All she could do was stand there, dreading what might happen next.