I don't own anything except any original character and/or any original plot.
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Chapter Fifteen: All an Illusion
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A/n: I really want to move to the next storyline, so that means uploading every Sunday until we get there! Enjoy!
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Quentin Beck
Beck watched the young pair walk away from the bar, the illusion of a bar full of people fading around him until all that was left was his co-workers and the drones they'd used to achieve their goal.
"See, that wasn't so hard." He shrugged with a giggle. The group cheered in response, "Somebody get this stupid costume off me!" Victoria rushed to pull the fake armor off and set it aside. He handed the glasses off, "Get that into our system."
"Toast, toast, toast, toast!" The group cheered.
"This is a big win but we've still got a lot of work to do," Beck dismissed, but the group insisted. Grinning, he stepped onto the counter, "Okay, toast! Give me that, Doug." He took a bottle of champagne, "To our former employer, Tony Stark!"
The crowd booed and sneered at the name, "The Jester King, literally wrapped in wealth and technology that he was unfit to wield. Like the holographic system I designed, with limitless uses that Tony saw fit to use as a therapy machine that he renamed Barf. He renamed my life's work Barf, then he fired me and said I was unstable. To Tony."
"To Tony!"
"Next, to William. The integration of my illusion tech with your weaponized drones was brilliant. Powerful illusions, real damage, worked like a charm, and it's just the beginning... To Guderman. The story you created about a man named Quentin fighting space monsters is totally ridiculous, and just the kind of thing people will believe right now. I mean, everybody bought it!"
"Woo!"
"To Victoria, staging electromagnetic pulses at each attack site so Fury's own satellites would confirm it. Genius. To Janice. After Tony died, she was the one who found out that EDITH was being handed over not to us, not to the defense department, but to a child."
"Thank you!"
"And finally, a thanks to the man who contacted us and brought us all together. The mastermind behind this, and our benefactor. Harry Osborn. He couldn't be here tonight, but he's with us in devious spirit. Now, he gave us strict instructions not to harm Riptide, but if worse comes to worst, accidents happen."
"To Harry!"
"Nowadays, you can be the smartest person in the room, but no one will listen unless you have a cape or are shooting lasers our of your hands. Well, I've got a cape, and I shoot lasers. With our technology, with you, Mysterio will be the greatest hero on Earth. And everyone will listen! Not to a boozy man-child. Not to two teenagers. But to me, and to our lovely team. To us. To Mysterio!"
"Mysterio!"
"To Peter Parker!"
"Peter Parker!"
"And to (Y/n) (L/n)!"
"(Y/n) (L/n)!"
Beck smirked, "Poor kids. Let's get to work."
(Y/n) (L/n)
Peter and I picked up our backpacks and changed back into our normal clothes. Despite the persistent ache in my gut, the warning that something however small was off, we were in bright spirits. A weight was off of Peter's shoulders, and I was happy because he was happy.
"Do you want to stop at the hotel and drop our backpacks off then go on a walk?" Peter questioned, "This vacation has kind of sucked and I want to spend some time with you."
"You didn't even have to ask, Bug-Boy. We deserve some date time."
Both of us hurried to the hotel and took the stairs two at a time to our rooms. I grabbed a jacket to wear over my dress, and when I stepped out, MJ was waiting for me with a metal object in her hands.
"What's that?" I pointed to the strange device with Peter's webs on it.
"I followed you guys to the battle sight and when you guys were fighting, this flew by me. I don't know what it is, but I figured you would know and would want to figure it out since it's related to those monsters."
"Wow, that's weird," I took the object and gingerly put it in my purse, "Thanks. I'll uh, I'll show it to Peter and we'll figure it out."
MJ nodded and retreated back to her room. Walking out, Peter approached me with a smile and we left the hotel to walk around the city. The Carnival had long since ended because of the attack, so the streets were quiet. Peter seemed to have a destination in mind as he was leading the way.
"Peter I need to be honest, something has been bugging me about this," the bad feeling in my stomach reached a fever point as I thought about the thing MJ gave me, "Sometimes I was attacking those things and it did nothing. Not like it was powerful and could resist them, but my water just went straight through them. And then Beck yelled at me like he didn't want me to keep going, and when he called me back it worked. Like... like the monster had to prepare to react to my attacks."
Peter's brows furrowed in confusion, "What are you trying to say?"
"Something is off Peter. I know you look up to Beck, and he reminds you so much of Tony, but you have to feel it too. God, I should have told you this before you gave him EDITH. Also, MJ gave me this," I pulled out the metal piece, "She said that she got it during the battle. You pulled it off the monster."
When I was passing it to Peter both of our hands slipped and it fell to the ground. We jumped back when a loud roar rang out, and a monster similar to the others appeared. A hologram, illusion.
"Holy shit," I whispered. I was right, something was off, and I'd allowed Peter to pass EDITH off to the man who'd coordinated it all.
"Oh my god," Peter marvelled, face paling under the light of the monster as it faded away, "You were right- and I gave him EDITH. I trusted him!"
"He's going to Germany to meet Fury. We have to tell him what's going on. I'll text him and tell him to meet us at the train station. Then we can figure all this out and get EDITH back."
Taking off in a sprint, we soon arrived at the hotel. I sent a quick and panicked text to Fury explaining that he had to meet us at the train station or a lot of people would be in trouble.
"Woah, who's hair is on fire?" MJ followed after us as we ran to our rooms, waiting in mine while I frantically changed into my Water Girl uniform.
"It's that thing you gave us. It was hologram tech. Mysterio has been faking everything the whole time so he can come in and look like a hero, and now we need to go to Germany to meet Nick Fury and hopefully take Mysterio down," I explained in one big breath.
As I pulled the mask on, Peter ran in with Ned hot on his heels. Ned probably wandered into Peter's room like MJ had mine, and Peter had explained everything to him as well. I had never been more thankful that we trusted them enough to know our secrets. It would be hell trying to lie all the time without them to back us up.
"MJ, call my parents and have them tell Mr. Harrington that my old private school was doing a trip here, and I was invited to stay as an honorary guide. Do something with my luggage, I don't care what as long as it's safe."
"Got it."
"All of you are really good at lying," Harry leaned against the doorframe, "You left the door open. You two suck at being sneaky. What's going on?"
"Mysterio has been faking everything, and we need to stop him," I explained shortly, pushing Peter towards the window. The last thing we needed was Peter and Harry butting heads while we were on such an intense time crunch.
Harry shot forward like a bullet and grabbed my hand, "You know he's faking it?"
"You act like you've known all along," I frowned.
"No, that's not what I meant. But if all he's doing is trying to make a name for himself, maybe you should just leave it alone."
"Harry, you know I can't do tha-"
"Please, just leave it." Harry's grip tightened to the point of pain. Wincing, I pulled my hand away.
"I can't, Harry. I'll see you once the trip is over. Wish us luck."
Meeting Peter at the window, he wrapped an arm around my waist and swung out, leaving our three friends behind to take care of our excuses.
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It took an exhausting amount of time to get to the main train station in Berlin. When we got there, civilians darted out of the way to avoid us as we ran to the main entrance. Fury obviously had eyes on us because as soon as we were out of the sliding doors, a black car pulled up.
Peter in the passenger seat and me in the back, we fought to be heard over the other as we tried to explain what had been going on. Fury held up a hand as he pulled out of the station and got on the road.
"Wait until we're in a secure location," he prompted.
So, we waited in anxious silence until Fury finally stopped in front of a white, official seeming building. We jumped out of the car and hurried up several flights of steps into an office. There, Hill was waiting for us.
"Beck has been faking everything," Peter started.
"He's been using illusion tech," I slid the metal piece across the table, "And made up the story about being from a different Earth."
"All so he could make a name for himself as a hero. And we gave him EDITH before we knew all this, so he has access to everything that she does."
Thinking things over, Fury and Hill shared concerned looks. After a few seconds of silence, Fury said "This is... concerning. All of us are in danger if this gets out, because whatever equipment he's using has been causing real damage. Have you told anyone else?"
I opened my mouth to answer but Peter put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me. Giving him a quizzical look, he said "It's Beck, he's here."
At that, the entire official room disappeared. Everything was another illusion, and we played right into it.
Peter got blown one way, and I got blown the other. One of our illusions was planned to the T, because Beck couldn't physically be with both of us at the same time.
"So smart, (Y/n), figuring things out. I got to say, you're one stubborn girl. Look at you... how does it feel? Living while he's dead?"
Both Tony and Thanos appeared before me, voices void of expression. I could feel the cold coming off of their bodies. Dead. I backed away until hitting something- a scarecrow made of armor that I only saw in my nightmares.
"Except, you don't know which one I'm talking about, do you?"
The floor collapsed beneath me, and I yelped in pain when I landed on my back. Around me was water, and I was lying on top of it.
"Doesn't the guilt eat you alive? Do you feel like you're drowning in it?"
Waves splashed around me as the water rose rapidly. Logically, I knew there was no water, so I gathered water from the air and threw my arms out in a widespread ice attack. A metallic clank rang out, and for a moment, I was in a bare building. Reality was short lived as another drone swooped in and replaced the one that was lost.
"Can't you swim, (Y/n)?" Beck's voice continued on, and the water became rough, "Or is someone weighing you down?"
A hand on each foot; Tony and Thanos. Crying out, I dropped to the ground. A small castle rose up behind me, and I screamed when a giant goldfish passed in front of me. Running forward, I was met with glass. Mysterio's helmet.
"What are you gonna do? Bloodbend?" The water turned to blood, "Use my body against my will? Embrace the monster you try so hard to repress?"
Slamming against the glass, I gasped when he lifted the helmet off his head and dropped it on the ground. When the helmet shattered, I was in the sky. Panting heavily, I looked around for some form of escape.
Bzzzzzz.
Screaming in shock, I stared at the giant mosquito in front of me. They sucked blood; I controlled it. I understood what he was going for, and I hated it.
"So much blood, just for you, (Y/n)."
Shaking my head desperately, the giant bug stiffened, jerking around in the air as if it was a puppet on strings. Swallowing down bile, I screamed again when the bug exploded and soaked my clothes with blood. Not real, not real, not real.
A cemetery. Rows and rows of graves surrounded me. The blood was gone.
"You killed him. And he's not the only one. How many graves do you see?" The rows never ended, going as far as the eye could see. They moved past me, speed rising until it reached a crescendo and they were nothing but blurs around me. Finally, when I felt ready to throw up, the graves disappeared. All but two.
Tony Stark.
Peter Parker.
"What-"
"Don't you see? You killed him (Y/n). Because you were weak."
A hand burst out of the ground and I screeched. Out of it came Tony. Broken, bloody and burned. Exactly what he looked like when he died.
"Does Morgan know what you did?" He asked, raspy, "What would she say if she found out you killed me?"
"No!" I insisted.
"(Y/n)?" Morgan was there. Sweet little Morgan who was as smart as her father and as understanding as her mother, "Is it true?"
"Morgan I-"
"You killed my daddy?"
"Morgan listen!"
"You killed him," she sobbed, falling to her knees. I ran over to comfort her, but she was gone in a poof of smoke.
Tony's grave was gone, but Peter's remained. It grew taller, and taller, until it loomed over me.
"Tony died because you were weak." There was a source to his voice now. Beck chose to follow me, and I could pinpoint where he was because of it.
It was ahead of me, and there was light and I could see him all smug. But there was something else next to him-
"And Peter will die because you were too slow."
Beck grabbed Peter by the neck. Yelling out, I sprinted towards them. Closer and closer until-
"You lose."
Nothing was beneath my feet. I'd been so distracted that I missed sensing my surroundings. In the air I flipped over and for a moment, I could see Beck above me and the world as it was. Cruel, unfair, and Peter wasn't there to hold my hand. I was alone.
I landed. So soon I couldn't react. The cement was unforgiving, and the speed and height from which I fell didn't help either. Luckily, it felt like my spine was only fractured, which meant I wouldn't be paralyzed. However, because of that, all feeling left my body.
"Beck," a voice from above- and it was then that I realized my eyes were closed, "I'm below for cleanup, throwing her in the river."
How poetic that my element would be my death.