By the time the sun rises, I've walked what feels like the entire city. ARTI still refuses to give me the location of EDITH—much less where to find Beck. All he's told me is that I need to sleep and there's been a software hack uploaded into EDITH's network.
A part of me hates that his base coding is to keep me from danger, and it really doesn't help that I can hear everything being said around EDITH. The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better is the anger and fear in Beck's voice when he realizes that there's a projector missing. Of course, it's a double edged sword. Because it means it's only a matter of time before he puts the pieces together and goes after Peter.
"You know, William. One day after I've had to kill Peter Parker because of this, I hope you remember that this blood is on your hands!" Beck shouts at the man in charge of his precious drones. How all these people are stupid enough to not have seen until now that they're following a complete psychopath is beyond me.
"Don't be so sure about that, Beck," I whisper as I pull up the tracker imbedded in Karen's code. I've got to find him—and fast. Even if he can't know I'm here, it doesn't mean I can't protect him. "Because I might just kill you first, and that blood will be on you."
I decide to take the risk and meld into shadow to make it to the train station just as he does. It takes everything in me to remain out of sight. This is the closest we've been since Venice, but this time the danger makes it so much more tempting to go to him.
It's too much to fight anymore—even if he is on his way to meet Fury. I find myself pushing against the wind, fighting for every inch it takes to get closer to him. Screw the danger. He's already in too much because I played it careful—because I though it best to keep my distance.
I can't help but hesitate as I'm mere inches away. There's so many question I have, and I'm sure he has twice as many. So much time apart has only strengthened the immense worry and self doubt. As ridiculous as it sounds, I can't help but wonder how he'll react, if he'll resent me for everything that's happened, or if it will be like nothing changed at all.
My fingers brush against his shoulder, which makes me slip from the force of the wind. Peter's head snaps right toward me, but of course, he can't see me just yet. I slowly lessen my cover enough to where he'd faintly be able to see and recognize me. His eyes widen, but he quickly shakes his head, "No, focus, Peter."
I open my mouth to say something—anything to tell him I'm not a figment of his imagination—that I'm really here, but the train breaks through the tunnel and out into the wide expanse of Berlin. Peter pushes himself to his feet and runs farther down the length of the train until he finds a pole to swing from. All the while, I watch him go.
It takes me a moment to snap back to my senses. I let myself fade into shadow and search for Peter. ARTI displays the tracker location, and my body begs for a moment's rest as I push harder and harder to catch up to him. I can see him a few meters ahead of me when a black car pulls up, surrounded by drones that project the image of—of Nick Fury in the front seat.
"No, no, no." I whisper and try to make it to them, but they're gone before I can so much as blink. The ground starts to rock under my feet. Memories of the last time in Germany meld with the panic of the situation until I forget where I actually am. "Focus, Lia. He—Peter—Peter needs you right now." I try to remind myself, but it only takes more air from my lungs that I can't quite get back.
I screw my eyes shut and bury my hands in my hair. The logical part of me can't understand what's going on, but the emotional part drowns it out as it screams at me. "Last time you were here was when your life started to fall apart. Now, it's Peter's turn. Dad would be so disappointed if he saw you now. Nat probably wouldn't even look at you out of shame for how poorly you've handled all this. Maybe it's time you gave up, resign yourself to the fact that this will never end, that you'll never win this fight."
My body aches as I clench teeth and ball my trembling hands into fists. "Maybe I won't, but I wasn't raised to quit. It's not over until you stop breathing." I repeat it to myself as I push on despite the panic tightening around my heart. Nat always used to say that to me when I wanted to give up, and it's exactly what I have to tell myself now that she's gone.
I try not to think about all the time I lost because of my panic attack. Right now, I need to find a way to make it to Peter without using up all my energy and use any real form of transport. "ARTI? I know you're mad at me right now, but I need a car—fast." It's quiet for a second, and I feel my heart drop. My voice cracks as it drops to a pleading whisper, "Please."
It's quiet, and I start running towards the tracking beacon in a desperate attempt to get to him. The chances of me making it before he gets too hurt are slim if absolutely nothing, but it's Peter. There's no way I can stand back as it happens and know I didn't try everything.
A car practically hits me as I run across a street, and I almost keep going before I notice there's no one in the driver seat. "Get in. I'll drive." ARTI says as the door swings open. I hop in, hands balled into fists as the car goes from zero to sixty under his control. "I know how much he means to you. I promise I'll get you there in time."
"Thank you." I reply softly as I look around for any sign of Peter and Beck. The car comes to a screeching halt in what looks like an office building that's being renovated, and my feet hit the pavement the second we do. "I need an exact location, ARTI."
"It looks like he's down the alleyway around the—" His voice goes quiet as I push my body into a full sprint around the corner, where Peter looks around frantically, completely unaware that he's surrounded by drones.
I have to force myself to stay back for a moment until I can alter the light around me until I have no reflection, no visibility to cameras or people, with the only exception being Peter. In the split second it takes for me to do that, the drones circle him, projecting an illusion that keeps him in place.
My hands shake and heart drops to subterranean levels as I weave through the drones to get to him. All the while Beck's voice rings from each of them. "I mean, look at yourself." Peter moves to touch what looks like a mirror when the drones close in on him. It looks like he's being attacked by a hundred Spidermen, dressed in Peter's normal suit, and I push to reach him without alerting any of the drones and killing both of us.
"You are just a scared little kid." Beck calls, "in a sweat suit." The illusion shifts so it looks like Peter's back in the suit that he wore before Dad and I designed him a new one, the one he was wearing when our alter egos first met.
"Don't listen to him, Pete." I call just loud enough for him to hear since I can't reach him just yet.
"I created Mysterio to give the world someone to believe in." Beck continues, sounding more delusion than ever. "I control the truth. Mysterio is the truth."
Okay, yeah, he's definitely lost the few marbles he had left.
The illusion shifts again, and the drones swarm until I'm pushed farther and farther away from Peter until I can only watch in horror. He doesn't know what he's doing. Everything Beck's created too strong for Peter to see what's around him.
He shoots a web at Beck, and unknowingly pulls a crane down towards him. My reflex takes over and uses my shadows to push him out of the way in time to avoid being crushed. After that, he seems to find a bit of momentum as he skillfully dodges the Mysterio illusion.
There's a break in the drones as the giant illusion fist comes tumbling down on Peter and turning into the same ugly green fog projected all around. When it dissipates, Peter is back in his real suit with a stone projected in front of him. "If you were good enough, maybe Tony would still be alive."
I freeze.
Beck didn't just go there.
But, oh, he did.
If I wasn't already gonna kill him, he would have just sealed his fate with the his own hands. Especially as the drones project a dirt covered, broken version of my Dad in his Iron suit crawling from the grave. Tears pool under my eyes. Rage overtaking every corner of my brain.
"You son of a bitch." I grit my teeth.
"Deep down, you know know I'm right." Beck continues, and I look around for wherever he is. Knowing him, he'd want to watch like the sick, twisted, freak he is. If he is, it's not where I can see him. But I'll find him. I have to save Peter, to save whoever else might die in this crusade of his, and to save my father's legacy from being any further tainted by him.
"ARTI, find Beck and get me a clear line of sight."
"What do you plan to do?"
"That's none of your concern right now." I tell him as I return my focus back to Peter, who is being approached by another illusion of Fury.
"Beck's people are trying to find everyone who could expose them." 'Fury' calls as he limps toward Peter.
"No, no, no, no." I chant as I work to close the distance between us.
'Fury' quickly starts to lose his patience, and I can see the terror starting to crush Peter. "Who else did you tell?"
"Peter, no!" I shout, and his head swivels around but never connects with me. He can hear me, but he can't see me. Beck's illusion must be all his eyes can process, which means, my best chance for him to see me is to get in front of the drones.
"Parker!" 'Fury' shouts at Peter. "I'm not gonna ask again—who did you tell?"
"Just Ned and MJ from my class." He says; tears evident in his voice. "Maybe Ned told his girlfriend, Betty, but that's it."
My hopes of getting Peter out of this and not dragging our friends into this shatter as Beck emerges from the shadows, smiling like he just won. His eyes trail around, likely in search of me after I blew my cover, but he never finds me. Of course, he's too caught up in his victory to really mind as he steps into the illusions place, arms crossed and a smug grin under his fish bowl helmet.
I only catch the tail end of his little speech as the drones drop the illusion entirely. "Just a—sucker. And now all your friends have to die."
"Oh my god." Peter cries and scrambles back as the drones start up a fresh illusion that forces him back farther. I decide to just end this right now and pull Nat's old gun from the holster on my thigh. She taught me a lot about being a hero. How to fight without powers, how to lie, how to hide, how to shoot to incapacitate, and for the extreme situations—how to kill.
I'm pretty sure she'd agree this is an extreme situation.
Solid stance, take aim, deep breath, and finger on the trigger when you're sure you wanna take the shot. I level the sight right on Beck's stupid, fish bowl covered head.
He continues his speech as he steps closer to Peter. "It's easy to fool people when people are already fooling themselves."
"Lia," ARTI calls, but I ignore him as I follow Beck with my sights, waiting for a drone to move for a clear shot. "Lia! Peter's in trouble."
I lower the gun and look around Peter in horror as I realize where he's standing. Right in the middle of a train track. "For what it's worth, Peter, I really am sorry."
A split second after he finishes his 'apology' a train comes speeding out and hits Peter, dragging him away with it. The scream and energy burst that erupts feels beyond me, and the drones drop like weights.
Beck's head immediately swivels, trying to pinpoint the source, and in that split second, I regain my aim. His eyes widen in horror, and he immediately makes a run for it. My hand moves to follow him, but my suit is stuck—frozen in place. "ARTI, let me go."
"No, I can't let you kill him."
"He just—" the words catch in my throat, choking me until I'm screaming for air, "—you saw what he did to—what he did to Peter. Oh god." ARTI releases the restrictions on the suit, and I collapse to my knees, the lower half of my mask retracting as I struggle to take in a breath and end up vomiting in the dirt. "He can't be—he can't be gone. I can't lose him too."
"I'm calling Happy on the secure line." ARTI tells me and talks to the grumpy, panicked man, as I struggle process everything that just happened. "He'd like to speak to you."
There's a pause before Happy's voice fills my ears. "Lia? ARTI told me everything that's happened. I'm coming to get you, okay?" I can't bring myself to say anything, not with how bright everything is. It's like I'm out on a sunny day without glasses. "Lia, please, you gotta say something kid."
"Where do you want me to meet you?"
"ARTI's already got a safe location. You just need to be there."
"Then I'll see you soon." I reply and hang up. ARTI kept talking in my ear, but I can't bring myself to listen. Everything is muddled and painfully sharp at the same time. The world feels to bright, and the darkness I normally crave is completely absent.
I just head back to the car that ARTI still has control over and collapse inside. The black whole in my chest that I thought I had almost entirely closed is wide open again. It pulls everything in until there's nothing left but the pain, anger, and destruction it—and I by extension—leave in my wake.
It feels like my worst nightmare has reawaken and clawed its way into reality. Everyone I love get hurt. Everything I touch is left with a brush of darkness, which seems to only end in death. I always thought people like Dad, Nat, and Peter would be exempt. They were heroes—Avengers—and had seen far more dangerous things than whatever seems to follow me around.
The car comes to a stop outside of the city limits, where the unmarked Stark jet sits in an empty development lot. I move on autopilot as I leave the car and walk right past Happy into the jet. All I can focus on is the alert on my lenses that Beck used EDITH to re-route the class trip through London.
It's going to be the sight of his final 'battle' against the fake elementals, and he's going to kill my friends to cover his tracks. Sadly for him, he's not gonna get anything but a headstone with his name on it. Because I'm going to do more than just ruin him and his plans.
I want Quentin Beck to pay for everything he's done—even if it kills me. But right now, it feels as if the latter has already happened. Peter was one of the few items on a very short list of things to keep fighting for.
With him—with him gone, I don't know if I can so much as stand—much less keep swinging. It's like losing Dad all over again, except now, I have the pain that was already there dragging me farther and farther down into my own suffering and grief.
The only glimmer of light is the mental image of Morgan and Mum. How heartbroken they looked the night I left, and how much worse it would be if I didn't keep my promise and make it back to them. We've all lost so much. I can't let myself be added to that list.
I have to keep going—keep my promises—keep fighting even though the odds feel a billion to one. I have to do it for Mum, for Morgan, and most importantly—for Peter.