Spider-Witch: The Owl-Verse

Into The Owl-Verse (Part 2)

Music began to blast through the room as Manuel Noceda sighed and sat on his couch. He looked around his apartment's room before taking out his phone, just mindlessly scrolling through it...until a message quickly appeared. And with a tap, he saw it was a picture of what he was doing right now, with the captions: 'I'm watching you!' alongside a bunch of silly emojis.

Manny couldn't help but laugh, knowing who it was once he heard a voice.

"DAD!!!" Luz laughed, her face against the window. "Were you scared?!" She exclaimed as she began making all kinds of stupid faces.

Manny smiled and stood up, opening the window and quickly being embraced by his young daughter. He hugged back. "Mija! Good to see you're breaking and entering."

"Dad, cut it out!" Luz laughed as she set her bag down.

"Is that my old letterman jacket...?" Manny asked, noticing the dark and light brown jacket with a large N for 'Noceda'.

Luz shrugged. "Mayyybe..." She said before seeing her father's punching bag and beginning to throw punch after punch onto it, as if she was actually in some kind of boxing match or street fight.

"So, what's up with school?" Manny asked.

"Great! Got tons of friends!" Luz replied, almost automatically as if she was prepared to be asked that.

Manny walked over to her. "You can't tell me it's all that bad there. Smart guys and girls is where it's at." He said, well aware that his daughter was bisexual. "And that place must be full of 'em!"

Luz laughed as her father held the punching bag to keep it from swinging with her punches. "N-no! No, there's no-one!"

"Can't have a daughter with no skills in the game." Manny teased.

Luz grinned. "Hey! I got some skills! There's...there is one girl! She's kinda into me."

"Oh, yeah? What's her name?" Manny asked as his daughter sat down on the couch.

Luz blinked and coughed. "Y-y'know, we're laying down a ground work right now..."

"Ever hear of the Shoulder Touch?" Manny asked as he sat down beside her with a bag of chips to share.

Luz took one. "Of course I do...but, uhhh, tell me anyways?"

"Tomorrow? You find that girl, walk up to her and..." Manny then looked at his daughter and set a hand on her shoulder. "Hey."

Luz snorted and brushed her father's hand off. "You serious, Dad?"

"I'm telling you, mija! Worked on your mother!" Manny laughed.

Luz laughed with her father before sitting up straight. "So, walk up to her, and be like: 'Hey'." She said, now setting her hand on her father's shoulder.

"No, no. Like...hey."

Luz rolled her eyes and then almost comically deepened her voice. "Heyyy."

Manny laughed. "You sure you're my daughter, Luz?"

Luz's phone then buzzed and she checked it, only to see it was a text from her mother, asking if she was doing okay with homework. Her smile faded.

"Is that her?" Manny asked.

Luz sighed, taking another chip from the bag. "I should probably go. I still have a paper to finish..."

Manny's eyes softened. "...well...how's some of your art going?"

"Waiting to be peeled off by Mom." Luz said. "Can never find a place where she can't spot it."

Manny smirked. "I think I know a place."

One train ride later, the two were walking down the rails right after the train had just left, with Manny holding a flashlight.

Luz gulped. "We're gonna get in so much trouble..."

"Mija, relax. I've been coming here for years." Manny said as they took a turn, kept walking, and were eventually met up with a gate. "DId an engineering job down here. It's abandoned."

Then, Manny took a step and suddenly climbed up the gate and leapt over it, landing on the other side with ease.

Luz blinked and attempted the same...only for Manny to simply open the door for her. "...I could've gotten it."

Manny just smiled before he and his daughter eventually arrived in an empty spot that was almost filled with wall to wall of painted artwork. Graffiti, actual paintings, and more.

"Whoa..." Luz whispered before hearing her voice had an echo. "SWEET!!! Is this all you?!"

"No. There's a lot of history on these walls." Manny said before seeing a blank spot. "Now, go on! Work your magic!" He said as he set his bag down, which had some spray paint.

Luz hummed to herself before grabbing one, rapidly shaking it and then popping the lid right off. "Okay, brain...let's see what you can make."

Manny even started some music from his phone, sitting down as he watched his daughter begin painting across the walls.

And as Luz began painting layers, with her father continuously trying to guess what it was, a small spider began to slowly creep down on a web. It looked like any other ordinary spider...if it wasn't for the strange symbols practically carved across its body.

The spider landed and crawled around for hours, until finally, Luz was finished. She stood back, admiring her new piece.

Manny whistled and looked at it. It was a person depicted in black paint with the colorful words 'EXPECTATIONS' behind them. "...you've got something you want to say."

Luz giggled. "What? Artists draw what they feel, don't they?"

"Not wrong." Manny said as he sat down. "But still...you actually feeling okay, mija?"

Luz sighed, sitting down beside her father. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...well...Mom and pretty much all of my teachers have expectations, and they...they just feel impossible to live up to. It's like waiting years for a movie, only for the movie to just be okay...and I'm that movie."

Manny's eyes softened. "...you know...your mom and I used to do things like this together."

"No!" Luz laughed. "Stop lying!"

"I'm not!" Manny chuckled. "She and I go way back...then she took on the cop thing and then...things got complicated."

Luz's eyes softened. "...you still never really told me why you guys divorced..."

"It's grown up stuff, Luz."

"I'm 15. I can handle it." Luz said.

Manny sighed. "It's also not a happy story...I'll tell you one day, just not yet. Okay? Or maybe your mom will even tell you." He said before suddenly, his phone buzzed. He checked it before sighing, standing up. "Alright, let's roll. I got a job I can't miss."

Luz nodded and stood up as well, about to grab the bags of paint before suddenly seeing a spider on her hand. Her eyes widened before suddenly, the spider sunk its poisonous fangs into her hand.

The venom began flowing through her body, sinking further and further into her DNA, practically changing its entire-

Luz then simply smacked it off before grabbing the bag and following her father.