Chapter 7: Ghost of Homecoming Past
Peter first sees the glowing green eyes through the thick smoke. Or is it more like mist? It's thicker near the floor, almost like a fog, and gets thinner as it reaches the ceiling. Still, it's enough to slightly obscure the rest of the figure until they fly forward and lands Toomes. Here. Peter's heart pounds so rapidly against his chest that he can hear it in his ears. No. Don't panic. I need to focus. My web-shooters are in Mr. Stark's guestroom with the rest of my suit. I'll have to make do with my mask and Karen until I can get to them. But how am I going to get them when they're on the floor above us?
"Can't say I expected you to be here. I didn't think you and your buddy Stark would be so close after what happened. Certainly not living under the same roof." Hearing Toomes' voice again makes Peter sick to his stomach. His eyes dart between the unsettling eyes of Vulture's mask and the metal wings. This can't be happening. I saw his wings explode. How does he already have another set of them when we haven't even gotten word of him escaping jail?
"What are you doing here? After everything that's happened, why come back?" Peter demands with as much confidence as he can muster.
"Pete, are you alright?" Tony cuts in before Toomes can answer.
"How can I be alright when the guy I thought was locked up is attacking the Tower?!" Peter doesn't understand why Tony isn't as on edge as he is.
"I don't want to kill you, but I have nothing against roughin' you up if it means getting to Stark," Toomes says smugly. As he speaks, Peter's senses feel dulled. The smoke must be getting to me a bit, he reasons. Focus, Spider-Man, focus. His eyes lock onto the Chitauri gun Toomes is holding at his side.
"Hate to break it to you, but it never ends well for the bad guys hellbent on revenge." Peter tries to get back into a rhythm. "It's a boring motive too. Come back when you have some originality."
"People like him are what's wrong with the world. Taking jobs from the people who actually work hard and need them. He doesn't care about the working people. He only cares about his money and his suits," Toomes' anger flares as he spits the insults at Tony.
"You're wrong!" Peter fires back at him. Usually he's not quick to anger, but he can't just stand there while Toomes talks bad about Tony. It isn't right! Toomes shrugs.
"I guess we agree to disagree, but I warned you. No one will get in my way. Not even you." Toomes raises the Chitauri gun and fires a beam of bright violet energy. For once, Peter is taken completely off guard. My Spidey Sense should have warned me before he tried anything! Why didn't it?! As quickly as he can, Peter kicks Tony with both of his feet out of the path of the beam. Peter allows himself fall to the floor and watches as the purple beam passes over him to crash into the wall. The dust clears to reveal another gaping hole next to the other one. Mr. Stark really needs to work on his reflexes. It didn't look like he even tried to dodge.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Tony demands, staring at Peter from the ground in shock.
"I'm helping! Just like I said I could! I'll take a 'thank you' in writing too." When the violet energy disappears, Peter effortlessly does a kip-up.
"Peter, listen to me-" Bruce, who is oddly farther away, tries to interject before Toomes speeds towards Peter. Peter flips over him before quickly picking up a chunk of concrete and hurling it at him. C'mon use your brain, Peter. If his wings are built the same way as the last pair he destroyed, it gives me an advantage of already knowing some of its weak spots.
"Karen, scan his wings and tell me if they're the same model, please! Then-" Peter's voice cracks as he barely manages to dodge a piece of concrete that Toomes deflects with his wings. Okay, my reflexes are the ones that are off. He tells himself to relax and focuses on trying to get to the guest room where his web-shooters are.
"I'm not sure I understand, Peter," Karen's confused voice replies.
"What do you mean you don't understand? You've scanned an entire ferry before! Why should his wings be any different?!" Peter is getting frustrated by the lack of help from literally everyone and on top of that, his senses feel fuzzy. It's then that he notices he is starting to feel lightheaded. He's confused, but doesn't have much time to ponder the thought when Toomes charges him again. Toomes' razor sharp wings are extended to reach Peter's chest, but a head on attack is much easier for him to dodge. Peter arches backwards so that his hands touch the ground and Toomes flies over him. Once Toomes has passed over him, Peter continues his momentum into a back handspring and lands on his feet. "Y'know, I thought we were cool! I tried to stop you, you tried to kill me, I put you behind bars. I'd call that pretty even!" He leaps onto the ceiling and quickly crawls to where the flight of stairs lead up to his floor.
"Peter! Get your ass back down here!" Tony yells and Peter can hear his boosters fire up. When Peter reaches the gap, he pushes himself up to the next floor and runs towards his temporary room. As he almost rips the door off its hinges trying to open it fast enough, Toomes bursts through the floor, creating a cloud of dust and a rain of splintered wood. Peter shuts the door behind him and is finally able to grab his suit. He has never put the suit on faster in his entire career as Spider-Man and instinctively hits the center of his chest to make it fit. One of Toomes' wings punches through the door, sending splinters flying through the air.
"Sorry! Ocupado!" Peter scrambles to slip on his web-shooters and feels more comfortable now that he's fully suited up. As soon as his suit is operational, Toomes rips through the remainder of the door. Well, that's not getting fixed anytime soon. So much for privacy. Peter immediately whips around and shoots a Taser Web aimed for the wings' turbines, but Toomes easily moves out of its path. Peter's web connects to the far wall and lights up with an impressive electrical current that…doesn't do anything…because he missed. Man, this is not my day!
"I thought I remembered you being better than that. I have to say, Pete, I'm a little disappointed," Toomes mocks, undoubtedly smirking under the high-altitude mask. Toomes propels himself towards Peter with his talons extended. On instinct, Peter shoots his webs to yank the mattress off his bed and uses it as counter momentum to pull himself onto the wall as well as take the damage of Toomes' attack. Toomes' talons tear the mattress to shreds. Evisceration isn't exactly on Peter's to-do list today. Or ever.
"That's funny coming from the guy I beat. If I'm 'disappointing,' then what does that make you?" Peter shoots a Splitter Web aimed for Toomes' wings, but the only thing he webs up is the closet door. "Pretty pathetic, if you ask me," he answers his own question. He does his best to feign confidence through his humor, but his hands are shaky and he's sweating under his suit. You beat him once, you can beat him again. Don't let him get to you. Don't panic. Don't panic. As Toomes turns around, the turbines on his wings shift their breeze at Peter.
"Pathetic is hanging around a guy like Tony Stark." Peter's fists clench. Tony is difficult at times, but Peter knows he's a great person. It's not like I'm any easier to deal with, especially recently. No, don't think like that right now. Peter webs the bare bed frame and pulls on it with such force that it flips into the air towards Toomes. The Chitauri gun easily cuts through it and the two halves of the metal frame land on either side of Toomes. Peter leaps above Toomes' head onto the ceiling and uses his Splitter Webs from both web-shooters to jerk the halves of metal towards Toomes' feet. If he can't land a hit, he can at least try to get Toomes off balance. Unfortunately, Toomes reacts too quickly and is back up in the air in a heartbeat.
"What would Liz think if she knew what you were doing?" Peter has reasoned with Toomes before, sort of, so he can do it again. "You know she wouldn't want you to do this!"
"Do I?" Toomes' question catches Peter off guard. "My wife got full custody. Court won't let me anywhere near my daughter, and my wife wouldn't even look at me. I've got nothin' left to lose, Pete." Toomes speeds to the already open window and crashes through it, leaving behind Peter and a massive hole.
"Peter!" Bruce's voice reaches Peter's ears, but it sounds like he's still downstairs. Peter rushes over to the now mutilated window to see Toomes flying towards the ground. Peter can still catch up to him.
"Just stop and listen to me!" Tony yells. Peter swivels his head to see Tony standing in the splintered doorway.
"He's heading down there, Mr. Stark! People could get hurt!"
"Kid!" Before Tony is able to continue, Peter is swinging through the demolished window. Peter knows Tony will probably be mad, but he needs to confront Toomes. If he doesn't, he knows he'll never get better. He has to do this. He has to.
When his lungs are met with the crisp Autumn air, he instantly starts to feel more alert. Being cramped up in the small space with all that mist must have affected him more than he thought.
As he swings from the Tower to an adjacent building, he notices a cloud of smoke just resting on the roof of one of the lower buildings. It obviously isn't smoke from a fire because of the color; it's a light gray, not black. Last time he checked, Toomes didn't have smokescreens. Then again, he has no way of knowing what Toomes equipped himself with after getting out of prison. Peter swings to the building and gracefully lands on the roof. Well, as gracefully as he usually does. He hears Tony's repulsors behind him before Iron Man lands beside him.
"Karen, turn on Spider-Man's air filtration. Filter out as much of the gas as possible." Gas? But it looks like something made by a fog machine.
"Yes, Boss. Although, you do realize that this suit is not specialized for that purpose." Karen responds as a setting on Peter's interface changes.
"I need to stop letting my AI's have an attitude," Tony grumbles.
"Gas? What do you mean gas? That's what all this is? It's not like any gas I've ever seen," Peter comments in confusion.
"I'll catch you up later, kid. We need to work on your listening skills," Tony's mechanized voice scolds. Peter doesn't understand…how could he need to listen better when he has enhanced hearing? The gas begins to clear enough to show the top of a glass dome. It must be some sort of one way glass because Peter can't see through it. Tony raises his hands and his repulsors charge with a mechanical whine. The Dome Head is wearing dark green body armor and a purple cape to top it off. Various rubber tubes connect from their arms to their back, most likely for them to control the release of the gas.
"Toomes is working with you ?" Peter looks Dome Head up and down again in disbelief. "What are you two doing? Starting a villain boy band?" The gas freely flows around the strange man, keeping his lower legs hidden and passing in front of him every few seconds. The man only chuckles deeply. Peter decides to take that as a compliment?
"See, Mr. Stark? My jokes are funny." Peter crosses his arms with satisfaction.
"I've always liked your jokes, Peter," Karen cuts in.
"Hey, thanks!" Peter can't help but smile and decides to ignore Tony disapprovingly shaking his head.
"Incredibly…disappointing." The deep voice reverberates underneath the glass dome. "The great Iron Man, Tony Stark, being so quickly tossed aside and his spider sidekick so easily fooled." Fooled? Wait a second, did he just call me Mr. Stark's…
"I'm not his sidekick! I'm Spider-Man!" Peter holds his arms out as if it'll help Dome Head recognize him.
"Your name is as underwhelming as your fighting," the man says, unfazed. Peter looks from him to Tony in disbelief. Is this guy serious?
"Oh yeah? And what kind of name does a Dome Head like you have?" Peter puts his hands on his hips and waits expectantly. He can't help but glance up to keep an eye out for the possibility of Toomes swooping back in. Toomes has to be watching from somewhere.
"I prefer to go by Mysterio," the man declares. He steps forward slightly, revealing the more intricate parts of his suit including the discrete tanks on his back. The sound of Tony's repulsors increase at Mysterio's movement.
"What, so you just take off two letters from 'Mysterious' and that makes your alias cooler?" Peter argues as he pops out his empty web canisters and replaces them with new ones from his waist. There's a beat of silence when he looks back up at Mysterio. "Okay, yeah, that's pretty cool."
"Let's not insult the villain, capisce?" Tony mutters to Peter. He needs to work on the fight banter with this kid. "What exactly possesses someone to smash into the building of a well-known-alien-ass-kicker?" he asks Mysterio without lowering his hands or taking his eyes off him.
"You can't tell me to not insult him and when you antagonized him. That's hypocritical," Peter points out.
"Your arrogance will be your downfall, Stark," Mysterio ignores their arguing. He has still yet to move, showing how overly confident he is. Peter just hopes that Mysterio' is either underestimating them or overestimating himself.
"Yeah, that seems to be a pretty popular opinion. Good thing I don't care about your opinion. Chat time's over." A high pitched whine sounds before Tony fires his repulsors.
"Oh! We're fighting now!" Peter exclaims as he runs forward and shoots his webs at the ground to propel himself forward. The mist thickens but his suit allows him to see through it relatively unhindered. He shoots a Taser Web aimed for what looks to be important equipment on Mysterio. If it looks like it's important, it probably is, right? Yeah, that's how that works. As soon as he's about to celebrate a direct hit, his webbing goes straight through Mysterio and attaches to the roof. "What the heck?" Was that some kind of hologram or something? Once again, they send waves of electricity to absolutely nothing. "Awe come on! That's the second time today!" Tony's energy beams blow apart chunks of concrete and tar to leave behind impressive indentations. When Peter lands, the Mysterio in front of him phases out of existence.
"Maybe you should focus all that brainpower I've heard so much about on your aim, Stark." Peter snaps his attention towards the sound of Mysterio's voice to see he has somehow gotten onto of the roof's stairwell bulkhead. Mysterio is a good ten feet higher than them.
"Words can hurt too," Tony feigns being offended as his nanotechnology armor reforms his hand into an energy cannon. He fires off a bright blue beam of energy, but Mysterio once again vanishes seemingly into thin air. The beam explodes the stairwell bulkhead, that Mysterio had been standing on a mere second before, into smithereens. He flashes back into existence, this time only a few feet in front of Tony. When Peter sees that Mysterio's facing away from him, he takes the opportunity to shoot a Web Grenade without hesitation. The webbing expands when it makes contact with Mysterio's back and wraps around him, pinning his arms to his sides. Tony aims both his repulsors at the restrained Mysterio, ready to fire at a moment's notice. "Nice work, Underoos. Now," Tony turns his full attention to Mysterio "who decides to screw a fishbowl on their head and attack the tower of the most armed and powerful Avenger?" Peter tilts his head and hears his mask's mechanical eyes narrow with his own.
"Are you sure? I mean, Mr. Thor's pretty indestructible. Y'know, being a literal god and all." He flicks his wrist so that the empty web cartridge he used for the Web Grenade pops out and he replaces it with a fresh one. Tony lifts his head slightly so that his glowing eyes almost seem to glare at Peter. "Not that you aren't cool and powerful and stuff! I mean you're, you're Mr. Stark!" Peter frantically stumbles over his words to try to explain himself. Mysterio's deep chuckle distracts him from his momentary panic and Tony's repulsors glow brighter.
"Aren't you superheroes supposed to be all about teamwork?" Mysterio says "superheroes" with such distaste that Peter can't help but flinch. "What I do respect, though, is how you all make a big production out of everything. Instead of worrying about how you rank, you might want to worry about me." Gas starts to flow from nozzles in Mysterio's boots and Peter instinctively stands on his tiptoes to see Tony better.
"Uh, Mr. Stark?" Peter calls anxiously.
"Hate to burst your literal and figurative bubble, but none of your gas will get through this suit. Speaking of which, I wouldn't try anything again unless you want the bubble on your head popped," Tony threatens. Since Mysterio doesn't seem to be extraterrestrial, like most of the bad guys the Avengers have fought, Tony can't exactly start with blowing heads off.
"Who said the gas was for you?" Mysterio challenges. Peter can slightly see some sort of liquid flowing from Mysterio's shoulders and onto the webbing. The liquid actually starts eating through the webbing like some kind of abrasive.
"Mr. Stark! He's using it as a smokescreen! He's gonna-" Mysterio breaks free from the webbing before Peter can finish. How did he do that?! Tony fires his repulsors, but Mysterio disappears into the smoke along with the beams of energy. "Oh, that definitely changes things…" Peter mumbles, slowly backing up and scanning the open area. Tony flies into the air to try to get a better viewpoint from the air.
"Keep those spider senses dialed up!" he orders through the comms.
"Working on it! Droney, I want you to scope out the smoke and report any visuals." Droney detaches from Peter's chest and looks at him before flying off into the smoke. Peter stands with his feet apart and his hands out, ready for any oncoming attack. "Karen, can you allow me to, like, see heat signatures?"
"Sure thing, Peter. Activating infrared vision." Peter's sight is overtaken by mostly blues and green aside from Tony's bright red repulsors. Besides that, he doesn't see any other heat signatures front of him. Chills prickle his neck and he quickly whips around, only to be bombarded with a full screen of overwhelming oranges and reds.
"Off! Off! Off!" he frantically tells Karen as he dodges a speeding punch aimed for his face. Karen turns off the infrared vision and Peter can see normally again. "Over here!" he yells to Tony through the comms before having to block Mysterio's forearm. Gripping the arm, Peter twists it behind Mysterio's back and tries to force him to the ground. However, Mysterio is able to expertly twist out of the hold and swipes Peter's feet out from under him. Peter's back hits the cement with a thud.
"Kid, all I can see is Spider-Man after Spider-Man and countless Mysterios. I can't tell which is you," Tony's voice fills his ears.
"What?!" He rolls out of the way before Mysterio can punch him through the roof. The concrete cracks around Mysterio's metal coated fist.
"I can't just play elimination and risk hitting you Pete or opening fire on a public building. Infrared isn't working long range either," Tony informs Peter before the teen can suggest it. "It's some kind of infrared smokescreen. I need you to get out of it."
"Easier said than done!" Mysterio blocks all of Peter's incoming attacks, but Peter does the same to Mysterio's. How is this guy keeping up with me? Neither of them manage to land a single hit and Mysterio doesn't allow Peter so much as a spare moment to press his web-shooters. Finally, Peter is able to spot an opening and jabs Mysterio in the stomach, then uses his Rapid Fire webs to coat the front of his glass dome in webbing. Without missing a beat, he jumps up and forcefully brings his heel down on Mysterio's glass helmet. Peter doesn't so much as crack it. His heel instantly throbs and he sucks in a breath before using Mysterio's chest as a platform to jump back. "Okay that one hurt, that one hurt." Peter shakes out his foot, which becomes the least of his worries when his Spidey Sense screams at him. He only manages to look up in time to see Mysterio's fist fly into his face. Mysterio's blow sends Peter flying into a more dense area of the smoke.
"Spider-Man!" Tony's slightly panicked tone reverberates over the comms. Peter stretches out his jaw and blinks a few times, but he has definitely had worse head trauma than this.
"I'm-" Peter's words are cut off by a pressure on his throat. Mysterio looms over Peter and the webbing that once obscured his vision has been chemically removed. Peter grips Mysterio's wrist where a nozzle is and desperately tries to pry his hand off. But he's panicking. He can't breathe and it feels like he's being crushed all over again. He's pinned. Mysterio raises a single finger and quietly shushes Peter, then points to his left. Peter can't help his eyes from traveling to where Mysterio's pointing and sees Tony land on the roof. Tony is outside the cloud of smoke and kneels beside…Peter? Oh god, it's an illusion of me lying on the ground, Peter realizes with a sense of dread. The illusion of Peter is laying on the roof, unmoving. Tony holds out his hands, hovering them over the illusion of Peter as if he doesn't know what to do. His faceplate lifts.
"It's gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay. You're okay, I promise," Tony whispers. God, how could he have let this happen to Peter? He's supposed to protect him, look after him. He's only sixteen. Sixteen. How is he supposed to fix this? He wants to pull off the kid's mask to see if he's okay, but he can't move. His muscles are tense as he tries to force himself to do something.
Peter can barely hear Tony's hushed, but shaking voice. Mysterio should've just ripped Peter's heart out. Peter's grip tightens around Mysterio's wrist, which dents the metal. Mysterio turns back towards him and Peter immediately kicks him off.
"Mr. Stark! It's an illusion!" Tony's head snaps up in Peter's direction. He instantly rises to his feet and lowers his faceplate. He's able to use his shoulder-mounted missile launchers to target Mysterio, who's just getting to his feet. Missiles are fired from Tony's shoulders, but they never reach their target. Mysterio raises a hand and, without losing their momentum, the missiles somehow bend away from him. Instead, they make their way towards Peter. "Whoa!" Peter quickly drops to the ground and the missiles fly over him. When he looks behind him, he can see the missiles curve midair to race towards him again. Seriously?!
Peter shoots a web at a broken off slab of concrete to his left and flings it in front of the missiles' path. They crash through the slab of concrete, blowing it to pieces, but aren't stopped. But he knows that should've stopped them! He only has enough time to cover his head and squeezes his eyes shut before…nothing. The explosion doesn't come. He peeks through his arms to see no sign of the missiles. The chunk of concrete he had tried to use as a shield is on the ground in one piece. Crap, I should've known it wasn't real. My Spidey Senses didn't go off. He was so caught up in the adrenaline rush that the possibility of it being an illusion didn't even occur to him. He hops to his feet as fast as he can and spots Tony just in time to see him punch Mysterio's glass helmet with such force that he successfully cracks it with his metal fist. It isn't shattered, but it's better than what Peter could do with his unarmored fist.
Tony then fires a single repulsor to send Mysterio flying backwards. Mysterio crashes into the pile of rubble that was once the stairwell bulkhead. There's a dark blast mark across his chest, but he still manages to stand. With the simple rise of his arms, the concrete and wood around him lifts and flies off the side of the building. The rubble could hit bystanders, Peter realizes in horror.
"I got it!" Peter yells before propelling himself with my webs to the edge of the roof. He jumps off and shoots a web at the top corner of the building to swing to the side of the falling concrete. His heart drops when he sees people on the sidewalk looking up at the roof where the fight is and the falling debris. Most of them look terrified and some are even recording with their phones. "Look out!" he shouts, getting their attention. He shoots a Splitter Web with his free web-shooter and pulls two bystanders out of harm's way. When he lets go of the web tethered to the roof, he sends two more Splitter Webs to prevent the remaining four people from being crushed and lands on the pavement.
"What the fuck's wrong with you, dumbass?!" a man yells heatedly at him.
"I'm saving people!" Peter doesn't usually let people get under his skin, but he has had a rough day and the lack of appreciation is really getting on his nerves. Everyone's staring at them with their phones raised.
"From what ?!" the man demands, looking at Peter like he's the biggest idiot on the planet. Peter gestures to the sidewalk right next to them.
"The concrete that almost crushed-" he freezes when he looks over and sees the pavement untouched. No no no, that couldn't have been an illusion! It, it looked so real! He shakes his head in frustration.
"Go the fuck back to Queens. Let Iron Man do his job," the man spits, a few people mumbling in agreement.
"Thanks. Hope you have a good day too, buddy," Peter mumbles, trying to be polite. He shoots a web from both of his web-shooters and makes his way back to the top of the building. When he reaches the roof, the smoke and gas are beginning to dissipate. Tony's mask is raised and Mysterio is nowhere in sight. "You've got to be kidding me…" Peter holds his head in his hands and takes a deep breath.
"I'm going to double check the area. I'll meet you back at the Tower afterwards," Tony informs. Peter doesn't even have the energy to argue, so he just nods.
"Let me know if you find him." Tony nods before his faceplate lowers and he flies off. Peter sighs and rolls his shoulders.
"How was your weekend, Peter?" he talks to himself as he shoots a web to the adjacent Stark Tower. He lazily swings over. "Oh it was great! Hung out with Mr. Stark, got my butt kicked by a dude wearing a fishbowl," he sticks to a pane of glass and starts crawling up to the gaping hole that leads to the penthouse "all in all, a great time." He jumps inside the hole, doing his best to avoid the exposed rebar and shards of glass. "Couldn't have gone any better."