37) Mirage (2)

"Try and find me Spider-Man" mocked Mirage from the crowd. 

Peter started to walk towards the group when Mirage popped out from behind a table "Boo!" he yelled. Peter jumped and punched the man causing him to disappear in blue sparks. 

"Tricked you!" added Mirage on the table next to Peter his head on his hands, making a pouting face. 

Peter shot a web towards the Mirage phasing right through and landing on the pillar behind it amongst blue sparks.

"Dam, Really hoped that was you. You don't shut up do you?" replied Peter.

"I'm afraid not" replied a Mirage leaning against a Pillar. 

"You're not real are you?" responded Peter getting annoyed. 

"Who knows," the Mirage said in a ghoulish voice moonwalking backward wiggling his fingers towards Peter and phasing through the guests behind him. 

Peter's senses tingled and he ducked as a bullet flew over his head, colliding with the wall. On the opposite side of the room stood Mirage before he ran back into the crowd as they tried to get away from him and screamed in panic.

Peter started to chase him sliding over a table when a lady in a sparkly red dress latched onto his leg. 

"Please stop him!" she pleaded. 

"It's ok mam, did you see where he went?" asked Peter quickly. 

"Over there" she pointed towards the stairs causing Peter to look at the area. Just when Peter was going to follow his senses tingled as he looked back at the red-dressed girl holding a knife, lunging towards Peter's leg.

Peter tried to move away but her other arm latched him into place and Peter could just watch as the knife dug deep into his leg. Peter punched the girl in response causing her face to change into a nerdy-looking man from the swarm of blue sparks. 

His face was bleeding and bruised but it all quickly vanished as he donned his fake face. While the man held his face and ran away, Peter slowly pulled out the knife. 

"You're stronger than you look" groaned Peter slowly taking out the knife from his leg as people looked and gasped.

"You think I didn't give my suit enhancements? I knew I'd fight a superhero eventually" replied a voice from the crowd.

Peter rose and started to chase Mirage in the direction he was running away. He walked past two Mirage's playing patty-cake and decided to ignore them.

Then the song Smooth Criminal boomed throughout the lobby and Peter started to head towards the source. When he made it there all he could see was a group of clones dancing to the song. 

Peter stopped and looked at the group trying to tell if one of them was real, when his senses went off. Peter quickly turned around and grabbed Mirage's hand which held a broken bottle of wine. He through a hook causing Mirage to fall to the ground and yell in pain. The false face disappeared revealing the real Albert with a stream of blood running from his nose and tears forming. 

Albert pulled out his gun but Peter quickly disarmed him and threw the weapon behind him with his web.

Albert reached inside his suit pulling out a small grey cylinder and threw it towards Peter. Peter caught it and as Albert looked away holding his ears tight and before Peter could react, a loud screeching noise with a bright light overwhelmed Peter. 

Albert put up his Mirage yet again and while Peter fell to the ground disorientated, Mirage kicked Peter before running into the crowd again while holding his nose. 

Peter felt his ears ringing and hurting while his vision was slowly coming back from the white light he was seeing. His hand was incredibly burned and his suit suffered damage as well. Peter could smell the burning of his flesh and hold his wrist in agony. 

His senses had somewhat returned and he started to search the tables for something. He walked across picking up a water jug from a table and began to pour it over his wound. Peter groaned trying to hold in the pain while hyperventilating. 

Peter walked over to a staff cupboard and pulled out a white cleaning cloth before webbing it in place on his burnt hand, pouring more water onto it. 

Peter calmed himself down and began his search for Mirage again. On the other side of the room, Mirage called out to Peter, "OVER HERE SPIDER-MAN!" he yelled. 

Peter was suspicious of this but decided to take the bait, walking towards the voice. Mirage was pointing a gun at a woman who was currently crying, pleading for her life.

"What now Spider-Man? Is it worth risking her life to stop me?" Mirage spoke.

"You don't have to do this, It's not..." started Peter.

"Ohh, SHUT UUUUP! GOD! You're not talking me out of this. Either I do my best to escape or I go to jail, and I don't feel like dropping the soap anytime soon. So you're going to leave through that door and let me go or I'll start killing some people." interrupted Mirage. 

"Alright, I'll listen" replied Peter trying to get closer so he could take the weapon.

"Woah, woah, woah buddy. Back the fuck up Spider asshole, I'm not stupid I know what you're doing. But do you really think you're weird web thingy will reach me before I can pull the trigger? You know what let's find out" continued Mirage. 

"I'll back away, just let her go once I leave. Promise me Albert" asked Peter.

"Ah, yes. The epitome of truth, a criminal holding a hostage. You are a fucking moron." replied Mirage.

Peter looked at everything in front of him to try and find something to tell whether it was a hologram or not. Peter started to analyze everything about him and think about the past altercations for any clues.

Peter shot his web towards Mirage, who pulled the trigger leading to a loud bang. The web phased through the hologram as the crying women vanished along with the Mirage amongst blue sparks and lights.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW!?" asked Albert from behind him by quite a distance. There stood five Mirages all holding guns and pointing them at different people, executioner style. 

"I disarmed you before you threw the flashbang, and If you had picked up your gun first you would have shot me instead while I was disorientated. So there's no way you would have a gun to point at someone," replied Peter.

"Not bad, full marks. But due to you falling for that little trap, I had all the time to go back and receive my gun. So Spider-Man..." responded the middle Mirage.

"Which one of us is real?" all the Mirage's said in unison.