Chapter 6
Toni Stark-Rogers had known something was wrong the minute she got an alert that the EDITH glasses had transferred ownership to an unknown contact. She'd attempted to contact Peter right away, but his phone had been disconnected and Karen had been inaccessible as well.
Then, she'd gotten a frantic call from Peter's best friend, Ned Leeds who filled her in on the situation. Mysterio had been using illusion tech and none of the Elementals' had been real. He'd been faking the entire thing. And worse, he was the one in possession of her technology now.
She and Steve had a quick discussion about the matter, and before long, she and Harley had set out on quinjet towards Berlin, where Peter was head.
Only to find out that 'Spider Monkey' had turned up a hit while FRIDAY was searching for him in a small town in the Netherlands.
One way or another, Peter certainly was making his way around Europe.
She was never letting Peter leave her sight ever again.
It had been hard for her and Steve, after they'd gone back in time and defeated Thanos before he could ever snap his fingers the first time. Hard for them because despite the fact that her children had never died this time around, she still remembered a life where they had. The pain from losing them. She had nightmares about it still, waking her up as she'd be drenched with sweat and tears.
And after it all, it was hard to let her children out of her sight, because when she could see them, she could confirm that they were still here. She could confirm that they were alive. That Thanos hadn't taken them.
"Miss, I have a call from a cellphone in a small farm in the Netherlands," FRIDAY told her.
"Patch it through," she said, as she steered the plane.
"Mom?" Peter's voice came through. "I think I need you to pick me up. I made a mess of things, and I really need your help."
Her son's voice sounded broken, and her heart ached at that.
"FRIDAY get me the coordinates of the call. How far away are we?" she asked.
"We are ten minutes from arrival," FRIDAY told her.
"Hang in there, Kiddo," she told her oldest, "We'll be there soon, okay?"
"Okay," Peter said, in a small voice.
"Is he going to be okay?" Harley asked her, "What happened to him?"
"I have no idea," she said grimly, "But I intend to find out."
As they hovered over the field where Peter was, she carefully landed the plane. The door opened, and she all but ran outside to see him.
Her son was wearing borrowed clothes and was limping towards her. How badly had he been injured that he wasn't fully healed yet? Even with his super healing, he should have been okay by now.
"Mom!" Peter said, relief evident on his face, before pausing, looking a bit unsure, "Is that you?"
"Of course it's me," she said, a bit confused at how guarded he was being.
"Tell me something only you would know," Peter said, without coming any closer.
She recognized the look on his face. One of not being able to distinguish between dreams and reality. It was what she felt when the nightmares woke her up. When she was unsure which was the truth.
"The first time I saw you, you told me that Iron Woman wasn't your hero," she told him, "It broke my heart a little, but I kept a steady expression. You were just a kid after all. And kids were brutally honest. Not because they wanted to hurt people, but because they speak from the heart. But that wasn't what you'd wanted to do. You said that it was because I was your hero. Not Iron Woman, but me, Toni Stark."
She paused, as she saw him begin to let his guard down.
"I named my Tower 'Stark Tower'," she told him, "You were there with me, alongside Ava and Pepper, when I turned it on for the first time. I promised you the next building would have your name on it. Remember?"
"Then there was that time you, me, and my sister made potato guns and attacked all the Avengers," Harley said, giving him a grin, "Remember how pissed Bruce got? I thought he was gonna Hulk out at us at one point."
"I remember that," Peter said slowly. "All of that. Okay. Okay, it's you."
She moved quickly then, scooping her son into a hug, as he held her tightly, "I missed you so much, Peter."
"I missed you too," her son told her.
"So I guess this trip didn't exactly go the way you planned, huh?" she asked, and he shook his head.
"I really messed up, Mom," he said, as she helped him back onto the plane. She wanted to give him a look over before they did anything else. If this Mysterio really was behind all the attacks, then she wanted to bring him down. No one messed with her family.
"What happened?" she asked, gently.
"I should have guessed there was something weird happening," Peter said, "Fury kept saying they couldn't contact Strange, but you said he was free. But I couldn't reach him either. And Harry and Nat weren't coming to join us, even though if the world was actually ending, they probably would be here. I think Mysterio must have been doing something to keep them away or block communications. Because he wanted to be the only one on the scene, so he got all the credit. He kept trying to convince me to quit too, and he was angling to try on the glasses. But Beck must have done something to me to get them away from me-"
"Did you say Beck?" she asked sharply, as she propped him up on a lab bench. "Quentin Beck?"
"How did you know?" he asked, a bit surprised, and she let out an annoyed sound.
"He worked for me. Until about 2016. After Bruce, Ava, and I developed the BARF technology for Bucky, we had a team of scientists try and expand the technology to apply to those facing PTSD. There's not a lot of treatments for them, and I figured it would be a good starting point for the technology. But Beck was furious because he saw more commercial uses. Uses that wouldn't benefit survivors of trauma. We let him go because of it. But he was a core part of the team and had a great memory. It would have taken him time, but he could have recreated it himself. Despite all the NDAs we made him sign, apparently they weren't enough to deter him," she said furiously.
"So he really wasn't from an alternate universe," Peter said, almost disappointed.
"No, he wasn't. He's just an asshole from this one," she said, frustratedly. "I'm so sorry, Peter. I had no idea that he would use the tech like this. What did he do to you?"
"It doesn't matter," Peter said quickly.
"Dude, you are barely able to keep it together," Harley commented, "And look at how injured you are. How badly did he have to have hurt you?"
"What did he do?" Toni asked him again.
"He used the tech against me," Peter admitted, "Tried to scare me into telling him who else I told about him. He showed me my worst fears, like MJ dying because of me and-"
"And?" she asked him gently, when his voice cut off.
"You and Dad saying you didn't want me," Peter whispered, and she inhaled sharply.
"Peter, you know that's not true right?" she asked him firmly, "I wish more than anything that you didn't have to suffer all the losses you did. Your parents and your aunt and uncle. Because you deserved to not have to have gone through that. But Steve and I have never once regretted adopting you. You're my son. You are just as much my child as Morgan and the twins. As Harley and Abby are, even though they have their mom. You are mine. You understand me?"
"I know," Peter swallowed, "I just. It was so real, you know? And he kept throwing me out of buildings, and making me think I was safe, but I was trapped in the illusion the entire time. And then I got hit by a train and-"
"He hit you with a train?" she asked, horrified.
"He technically backed me up until I was in the tracks and got hit by one?" Peter said, as she examined his leg.
"FRIDAY check for any broken bones. How long until he makes a full recovery?" Toni asked.
"He should be fully healed in an hour," FRIDAY told her, "No bones are currently broken, however he has sustained heavy bruising. He also requires stiches on his right shoulder."
"Currently broken," she muttered, furiously, "Turn around Peter."
Her son obliged and she began to sew him up. She saw him wince, and she was overcome with emotion.
"Relax, Pete," she told him gently.
"How can I relax, Mom?" Peter cried out, "I told him my friends knew the truth. He tricked me and I fell right for his trap. He's going to kill them all because I told them the truth! I never should have let MJ and Ned find out the truth. I just put them all in danger. All because I wasn't strong enough. I wasn't enough."
"Hey," she said, knowing he was hurting, "This was not on you, you hear me? I know what that tech is capable of. There's a reason I wanted to limit the roll out of it. The human mind has a hard time distinguishing the illusions from reality, especially when they're not in control of it. This. Was. Not. Your. Fault. Do you understand me? You are more than enough, Peter Parker Stark-Rogers. You are a hero, and heroes make mistakes. Heroes get defeated. But they get back down when they fall. We're gonna get this guy, okay?"
"I'm sorry I yelled," Peter said, looking down, and Harley snorted.
"Dude, after the trip you've had, you're allowed to be upset," Harley told him. "So you messed up and told the bad guy what he wanted to know. What are you going to do about it?"
"We need to find out where my friends are," Peter said, determinedly, "We need to get EDITH back from him and stop him from hurting any of them. I will not sit back and let them all die because of that man!"
"Okay," she said with a nod, "FRIDAY scan for his classmates, please? Looks like we're gonna have to go after a man for breaking some NDA's. Man, Pepper's gonna be all over his ass by time we're done with him."
"Found them," Peter said, as he scrolled through his phone, "Flash is live streaming. They're in London."
"Well looks like we're headed there then. FRIDAY set the coordinates please," she said, looking down at him. "I think you're going to need a new suit."
She pressed a button in the quinjet, as a compartment opened up, bringing up a makeshift lab. As a superhero, she knew she was very much dependant on her suit. She could fight without it, and hold her own without it, but if she needed a new one on the go it wouldn't do to wait for a new one to arrive from New York. So she'd built the lab in the jet so she could create a new one on the fly.
"I can't believe you had all this in here," Peter said, looking around, amazed.
"Of course I do," she smirked, "I'm Toni Stark-Rogers. Now, this is your suit. What are you going to do with it?"
"I can do whatever I want?" his eyes widened.
"Within reason," she nodded, "No heavy weaponry. And nothing that you're putting in there solely for reference sake. If you're putting something in this suit, it better be because it can help you practically, not just so you can meme about it or quote Star Wars."
"Fine," Peter conceded, as he pulled up the semantics. He and Harley began sifting through it together as Peter designed his suit, and she couldn't help but smile at them both. Her oldest boys.
They would make a fine team one day.
"What?" Harley asked, and she laughed.
"Nothing," she shook her head, "You guys get to work, while I get us to London. And pick some badass music for us."
She began to play Back In Black as the quinjet lifted through the air.
"I love Led Zeppelin," Peter piqued up, and she turned to glower at him.
"You are my son, and I love you so much," she told him, "But you have been misguided."
Harley just laughed.
"Where did I go wrong," she bemoaned.
"Mom, do you really think I could live with you for all these years and not know this is AC/DC?" Peter grinned. "I was just messing with you. Way to quote Aquaman at me, though. Solid reference. A real 5/7."
She let out a sigh, "Ungrateful children. The lot of you."
"So what's the plan?" Harley asked as they approached the Tower Bridge and Toni looked over at Peter.
"Me?" Peter said, a bit uncertain, as his mother gave him a soft smile.
"Pete, this is your mission. I'm just your back up," she told him.
"But you're Iron Woman," he said, confused.
"I've backed up your father before," she said with a shrug, "Peter, you're the one who knows Beck. This is your mission. I'm just here to provide you assistance so you don't fight him alone. So what do you think the right call is?"
He felt unsure at that, as he took a deep breath, "We need to get EDITH away from him. As long as he has possession of them, he can do any number of horrible things. So that has to be the highest priority. That, and saving my friends."
"Okay," Toni nodded, "If I get the glasses in my hands I can force a manual override. I can't do it remotely since Beck removed all my remote access codes, but as long as I can get to the glasses I should be able to undo anything he's done. So you and I will go to Beck. Keep him away from harming your friends and try to get the glasses from him."
"And me?" Harley asked.
"You go protect the group," Toni told him.
"I get babysitting duty?" Harley frowned, "I don't even get to fight the cool tech villain with drones and augmented reality?"
"They're your friends too," Peter pointed out, knowing that MJ and Ned got along well with the boy.
"Besides, what if Beck sends a drone or a missile after them?" Toni reasoned, "You can blast it down with the suit."
"Fine," Harley sighed. "I take it I have to land this thing too?"
"That's the plan," Toni grinned at him, "Don't crash the plane though cause Steve won't be happy if I have to send for another bird. He'll call it wasteful."
"Yes, Mom," Harley rolled his eyes.
"You ready for this, Kid?" she asked, as they approached the city.
"Maybe," he hesitated, "Mom. Can I ask you to do me a favour without you making it a big deal?"
"What kind of favour?" she asked him, raising a brow, and he pulled the Black Dahlia out of his pocket.
"If something happens to me, can you give this to MJ, please?" he asked her quickly, and his mother froze.
"Peter," she started, and he shook his head.
"Please, Mom," he said, "You know how uncertain this line of work is. I just want to make sure it gets to her. One way or another."
"You give it to yourself, Sweetheart," she told him with a shake of her head, "Nothing is going to happen to you while I'm here. You hear me?"
"Loud and clear," he nodded.
"Good," she said, "Reaching jump point. Ready to see what that new suit of yours can do?"
"As I'll ever be," he said, as the door to the jet opened up.
"Uh, is there a storm on the forecast for today?" Harley asked, as the skies began to change. She saw dark clouds quickly fill the air as the water below them began to shift. She looked down to see some sort of tornado fire monster with lighting infused into it.
Beck certainly had gone all out with his illusion.
"He's here," Peter's eyes narrowed, "He's going to attack."
"Harley go a bit higher," Toni told him, "He can't see us coming."
"Copy," Harley said, as the plane began to ascend.
"Let's go," Peter said, as the plane flew above the illusion. He jumped out of the plane, as his mother followed him, a spider parachute emerging from his suit. "It's not real, it's not real, it's not real."
They flew straight into the centre of the illusion, and Peter's eyes widened as he landed on a drone. He wanted to seriously geek out on the tech to make the thing cause damn if that was not impressive.
But now was not the time.
Still, it was pretty awesome.
"We'll get you something like this set up for home one of these days," Toni said, a bit amused. "But focus on the task at hand."
"Got it," Peter nodded.
"FRIDAY get me a secure line to Fury, now. One that Beck cannot trace. I don't want him to know we're here."
"On it," FRIDAY said, "Connected."
"Fury," Toni said, as Peter listened via his comms, "I see you got yourself into something of a situation."
"That's what happens when you retire, Stark," Fury snarked back, "I need someone to pick up the pieces when everything goes to shit."
"So you recruited my kid without even bothering asking me?" his mother sounded unimpressed.
"Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't aware Parker needed a permission form from his Mommy to be able to fight bad guys," Fury retorted.
"He's still a minor, Fury," Toni told him lightly, "I trust his judgement, however I would have liked to have been kept in the loop."
"Fine, next time I'll make sure he's tall enough to ride the adult rides," Fury responded, "But we have bigger concerns, Stark. Nice that you finally decided to help us out."
"I'm just the side kick here," his mom said, "This is all Peter's fight."
"Right," Peter said, less certain than his mother was.
"Right," Fury responded. "So what are you gonna do about it?"
"Web 'em up," Peter grinned, as he began to string together the drones. If they could break the illusion, Beck would lose control of the situation.
"I like the way you think, Kid," Toni grinned, as she shot at the drones to take them out.
"I really hope this works," Peter muttered under his breath, forgetting that Fury and his mother could hear him.
"You better pray it does, Parker," Fury said seriously.
"Parker Stark-Rogers," Toni corrected him.
"I ain't saying all those names," Fury said, "He can pick one and stick to it."
"Then I pick Peter," Peter piqued up, and he grinned as he heard the man sigh on the other end of the call.
"Are you sure he's adopted?" Hill joined in, and Toni grinned.
"He's mine in every way that counts," his mother said, as she shot down two drones at the same time.
"I've connected all the drones," Peter told them, as he shot at the drone's he'd webbed together. One by one, electricity flowed through the webs, causing the illusion to begin to shatter.
"That's my boy!" Toni beamed at him.
"Hill, you got me?" Fury said, and Peter heard a blast fired.
"I gotcha," Hill responded.
"I see him," Peter said, as he began leaping on the drones towards where Beck was on the Tower Bridge walkway.
Only for a drone to knock him out when he'd nearly made it.
"Peter!" his mother yelled as she dove down to grab him, moments before he hit the sidewalk.
"Thanks, Mom," Peter let out a groan, not wanting to imagine the pain he'd have been in if he'd hit the pavement.
Where the illusion once remained, only drones existed now.
"Picking up our passengers now," Harley said over the comms. "I have eyes on MJ, Ned, and the girlfriend."
"Betty," Peter supplied helpfully.
"Right. Her," Harley responded. "Shit, Mom, they just blew up your jet."
Toni groaned over the comms, "Your father is going to murder me."
"Occupational hazard?" Peter tried, and she laughed.
"We'll see if that flies with him," Toni said simply.
"I'm going to get them into the Tower," Harley said, as he started talking to the group. "You guys get Beck."
"Peter, not to alarm you, but it appears as if Beck has programmed the drones to come for us directly," Toni said, and Peter looked up to see the drones begin to move towards them. The firing was instantaneous, and he quickly swung around the bridge to get away from the shots being fired.
"Guys, Beck is on his way here," Harley whispered, "No, MJ, don't touch that!"
All Peter heard was a clanging noise afterwards.
"You guys there?" Peter questioned.
"Yeah, we're all fine," Harley responded after a moment, "I bought you some time. Use it wisely, Dude."
"I'm trying to get to Beck," Peter screamed out, as he took cover behind a truck, "But I can't shake these drones."
"FRIDAY, how is the hacking going?" Toni asked, "Can we get into their systems?"
"I need a bit more time," FRIDAY told them.
Peter rode up with one of his webs, before dropping the trunk on a series of drones, causing them to explode.
He looked over as he saw Toni fly near him, shooting down the drones where they flew, before they had a chance to fire back.
"This is giving me some serious Ultron vibes," Toni sighed. "I'm sick of my tech being used against me. FRIDAY, JARVIS, do promise you'll never go Skynet on me, will you?"
"Oh, but world domination is so appealing," JARVIS said drily.
His mother just laughed.
"Oh shit!" Peter swore, as he saw the drones fire missiles, and the rooftop he was on caught on fire. He hastily jumped off of it, trying to avoid the shots coming his way.
"Peter, you're on fire," his mother informed him, and Peter looked down as he swung away from the drones.
"Right," he muttered, as he dipped into the water to put out the flames, before attaching a web to one of the drones, "Going up!"
Unfortunately for him, he was shot down just as quickly, and he began shooting a series of webs, to make a giant one, catching all the drones in it like flies in his spider trap. He pulled the web down, bringing them crashing to the ground as he landed gracefully.
"Nice one, Darling," his mother told him, just as he was shot backwards into a car, while another was pushing into him, sending him flying off the bridge and straight into the water. "Peter? You okay?"
"I'm fine," he groaned, "Mom? I think Beck's bringing the illusion back up. I'm also out of webs."
"I'd ask FRIDAY to send you more fluids but the jet blew up," Toni said, frustratedly. "You have other weapons in the suit right?"
He hesitated. He had access to some of the blasters and such, but he didn't like using the tech. not when webs were non-lethal.
He picked up a doll on the ground, as he threw it into the air. And as the drones circled around to shoot at it, a few shot at each other in the cross fire and fell to the ground.
He was Spider-Man. With or without the suit. He was not nothing without the suit. The suit was nothing without him. And he'd get through this fight.
He ripped into one of the fallen drones, and pulled out the power source, making a makeshift weapon out of it, and grabbed the Tower bridge sign as a shield. Who said only his dad could use them?
He began running forward, blocking the shots with the shield, and as he approached the drones, he flung the power source into the centre of the drones, and watched as they lit up, explosion taking out dozens of drones.
"I got eyes on Beck," Peter said, as he landed in on the ceiling of the bridge, punching the man out.
"Right behind you," Toni said, as she landed, raising a blaster at the man.
"Whatever you did just took out the drones that were about to kill us," Harley said, and Peter nearly yelped.
"Your lies are over, Beck," Peter told the man who'd taken so much from him and had tried to take even more.
"This certainly isn't ideal. I see your mom is here now. I'm sure she's filled you in on what she's done," Beck said.
"What I did was try and help millions suffering from PTSD," his mother seethed, "What you did was use my technology to try and take over the world. Don't think you're going to get away from this unscathed. You will be sued by Stark Industries, and thrown into prison for a very, very, long time. I'll personally see to that. Especially after what you did to my son."
"Protective," Beck mocked, "Being a mother has made you soft, Stark. You had so much power in your hands, and you threw it away. But I won't make that same mistake. You will not be leaving here alive. Either of you. EDITH?"
A drone from behind Beck shot Peter backwards, as Beck landed to his feet.
"You had such powerful technology and you gave her to your son," Beck shook his head as he looked at his mother. He took the glasses out of his suit and put them on, "This is the real definition of nepotism."
"Right, because what you're using it for is much better," Toni said sarcastically.
"You want them?" Beck taunted, "Come and get them."
The drones moved forward, pushing him and his mother into an illusion, and separated them both.
"Mom?" he screamed out.
"I'm here, Peter," he could hear her say, "I'm still right here beside you, even if you can't see me, okay? We just need to break out of the illusion."
He nodded.
He did it once before. Barely.
But he could do it this time.
The fate of the world depended on it. Because if Beck was allowed to use that technology, the things he could do would be catastrophic.
Green mist filled the corridor, and he took a deep breath.
"Come on, Spider sense," he muttered, knowing it would be able to help him sense the danger.
He closed his eyes, knowing that they would only hinder him, and he jumped into the air, using his spider sense to take out drone after drone, as the illusion began to crumble.
He picked up one of the drones and moved forward towards Beck.
"Nice one, Sweetheart," Toni praised him, as she flew in behind him, shooting at the drones, "I knew your Peter tingle would come in handy."
"It's not a tingle," Peter complained.
"FIRE ALL THE DRONES!" Beck screamed furiously, "NOW!"
Toni blocked off most of the shots, as Peter jumped around the shots, moving closer to Beck. He watched in horror, as the man was brought to his knees after getting shot in the chest by a stray shot.
Peter pulled off the mask, as he limped towards the man. He couldn't die now. Not after everything he'd done! He needed to face justice for his actions. He needed to have the world know the truth about what he'd done.
His mother landed, as she took off the helmet, letting the nanobots pull away to reveal her face, as she let Peter take charge of the situation.
"Beck!" Peter screamed out, "You lied to me. You stole from me. You made me doubt myself! After I trusted you!"
"I know," Beck coughed, "That's the most disappointing part. I wanted to hate you Peter, especially after I knew who your mother was. You're such a good person, and that's such a weakness. How your mother could have raised someone like you, given who she is-"
"Don't talk about her like that!" Peter said angrily.
He took the glasses out and handed them back towards Peter.
"You do deserve these glasses. More than me, more than your mother," Beck said.
Peter froze, as he sensed something to his right. Something was wrong.
And when he grabbed upwards, he stopped the man who'd been cloaked beside his mother from shooting her in the head, while the Beck on the ground vanished as part of an illusion.
Peter squeezed the man's hand until the gun fell to the ground.
"You can't trick me anymore," Peter told him, eyes red with anger and tears.
He grabbed the glasses off the man's head and put them on his own, as Beck fell to the ground.
"Enable Protocol: Never Left Behind," Toni told him, as she aimed a repulsor at Beck to keep him from going anywhere.
"EDITH turn off the drones!" Peter screamed, as EDITH lit up. "Enable Protocol: Never Left Behind."
"Biometric scan complete. Welcome back, Peter. Protocol accepted. Shall I execute all cancellation protocols?" EDITH said.
"Yes," Peter told her quickly, "Execute all cancellation protocols. Execute them now."
"Confirmed," EDITH said, as all the drones began to return towards the Stark satellite.
"Thank you," Peter said, as he turned back to Beck, "How could you do all of this? Do you have any idea how many people you hurt? How many could have died because of you? And for what? So you could be a hero? You could have done that for real! You didn't need all the illusions. You could have been one of the good guys!"
"You'll see, Peter," Beck laughed as it turned into a cough, "People need to believe in something. And nowadays, they'll believe anything."
The man's eyes closed as he slumped over, and Toni ran a scan on him.
"Is this real?" Peter whispered, not trusting the situation to not be another illusion.
"All illusions are down," EDITH confirmed, as the Toni's suit retreated into her reactor. She pulled him quickly into her arms, and Peter stood there frozen for a moment, before he hugged his mother back tightly.
It was over.
Beck was gone.
And they had won.