maskormenacelogs | Being Spider-Man's legal guardian is tough work...

That does make his pause for a moment. All his plans... His special contingencies if things went wrong. His team must have done well with his manipulated footage. A pity he never got to see it all play out himself.

And just like that, the simmering rage returned. He thought of how Peter had interfered. How he wouldn't quit and wouldn't leave it be when told to. Even getting hit by a train wouldn't stop his sense of heroics and he just kept coming back and messing with all of the years of planning that Beck had set up.

He clenches a fist by his side, a clear sign of his building anger.

"Peter," he says the name coldly and in measured words the next part. "I'll tell you this once and once only. You go to your room and you don't come out until I tell you to. Understood?"

This isn't working. Peter had come here in the hopes of keeping - whatever this relationship is stable. And while he's not sure what David said, it's clear that whatever it was had gotten to Beck. Probably for damn good reason.

But - really? Being told to go to his room at the end of all this? Are you kidding him? Ironically, it drains some of the anger out of him in turn. Just too ridiculous for him to see it as a threat.

"You're way too into this," he says. "I'm going back to Nonah, okay? If anyone gives you trouble, I'll tell them I was here."

Meaning the paperwork police, or CPS, or whatever.

"You're not listening. We've had this conversation before. I tell you to do something, you do it. I shouldn't have to tell you twice. You're a smart kid, so act like one and do what you're told. For once in your life, Peter...," he sounds as if he really expects Peter to obey him like a parent with strict rules. It started off angry and gradually turned into disappointment.

Yeah. He’s done here. Peter probably should argue or something, but he doesn’t feel like it and he’s just mad enough not to want to.

“See you later, Beck,” he says, turning back towards the door. “Don’t blow up any more of De China.”

"Peter, stop."

As if to punctuate his words, the ground in front of Peter has abruptly turned into an abyss. One step forward and it looks like a long, long fall...

Beck had been quick to deploy his tech once Peter had turned away. This would all probably feel very familiar and maybe Peter's senses could counteract it - if Beck gives him any time to sort through the abundance of data that he's now going to throw Peter's way.

The nightmares will be turned up to maximum, as Beck hopes to disorient Peter enough to prevent him from leaving.

The sudden abyss brings him up short immediately. He helps in surprise, teetering on the “edge” in front of him. Even knowing what Beck can do, being surprised like this is always effective. And he’s abruptly without a whole bunch of his usual tools. No EDITH, no suit, and he hasn’t tuned his senses in advance. That makes seeing through Beck’s illusions tricky at best, especially when he’s already kind of stressed out.

He whirls back towards Beck at that. Trying to swallow back the panic rising up to meet him. How long has the illusion been in place? Had Beck set it up from the beginning? Where even is he right now? Stay calm, dammit, just get out of here.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Last chance for any benefit of the doubt, Beck. From here the bridge is on fire.

"I asked you nicely and now you're making me do this to you... again," Beck says pointedly, his fingers tapping at an electronic band around his wrist but shortly after he's vanished and only his words filter through. Surrounding Peter, the spare room forms around him. If he won't go to his room; the room will be brought to him.

Since Marco's break in, Beck has been working on having this place fitted out with all that he needs for these illusions - intended as traps for other would-be intruders. Nearly always wearing the access to his tech system, it's easy enough to trigger it.

"Now, stay in your room, Peter, and we'll have no more trouble tonight."

He sends signals to attempt to convince Peter's brain that the door is locked, if he tries it.

Edited 2019-09-07 15:53 (UTC)

Goddammit. Peter belated wishes he'd gotten a better look around Beck's place while he was here last time. He doesn't remember the layout, and he can't tell if it's even possible that he ended up in the spare room for real or not. He whirls again as Beck disappears, just. Okay, okay. Calm down. Beck's illusions aren't real, right? The lasers and flying are real, but Beck can't actually summon monsters or teleport Peter or something like that. So that means he has to be in Beck's apartment.

He rushes forward to the door, pulling on it. The illusion does a great of convincing his senses that it's locked, yes. He fumbles with it for a moment, struggling to open it. Then he tears the entire goddamn door off its hinges. Sort of shoving it aside for a moment, towards the "bed" in his illusioned room. And with the door gone he's going to just leave. Screw all of this. He shouldn't have tried in the first place.

Except - when he moves to step out, the scenery outside appears to change too. The quiet De Chima night dissolves into nothing, replaced by the orange tones of an alien world. Wreckage strewn everywhere, the remains of a moon in the sky. And the instant Peter crosses the threshold even a little, a thin cloud of dust rises from his wrists. He flinches instinctively, stumbling back into his room and tripping over the door he just pulled off its hinges. All right, now he's about two seconds away from a panic attack. Even the knowledge that he can't possibly be on another planet isn't enough to keep his sympathetic nervous system from screaming at him as soon as he sees the tips of his fingers crumbling into dust. For a moment, it's all he can do to hold his hand to his chest, as if that will slow down how fast it dissolves.

Watching Peter's struggles with detachment, Beck's making mental notes as his systems collect all the data. There's a nightmare he hasn't seen before but it's easy enough for him to guess where it stems from. He saw enough people turn to dust like that.

He's wary of Peter's senses and how he could combat the illusions in the past so he ratchets this up even further, pushing the brain to dredge up more bad memories. He feels that, while cruel, it has to be done to ultimately keep Peter safely where he is...

Fortunately (for Beck), Peter has nightmares to spare. The spare room jolts as Beck dials up the effect, replacing the claustrophobic walls of a small bedroom with a wide empty warehouse instead. Peter's clothing has changed too: from the casual jeans and hoodie combo into a cobbled together Spider-Man costume made from sweatpants and an old hoodie. The dissolving has stopped, but now he's here and -

Something metallic screams through the air. It misses Peter by inches, but then again that's not what it was going for, was it? Instead it hits the four pillars holding up the warehouse ceiling. Peter gets only a split second to cry out before the concrete above him comes crashing down, pinning him to the floor with unspeakable weight. (It's not real, he tries to tell himself, but Beck's tech calls up the memory of pain, horrific pressure, being unable to breathe through the concrete dust choking him--)

It's all he can do to lie there for a moment, every one of his senses (except one) telling him that he's definitely buried under literal tons of metal and concrete. Beck has him stopped for a moment; he can't seem to move. Instead he gasps for breath, his incipient panic attack happy to provide paralysis and an inability to breathe that perfectly matches the "weight" of the concrete.

Beck might not have intentions of killing Peter at this moment but it seemed the kid was doing a good job of that on his own. He dials back the settings again and continues to watch. The weight on Peter may suddenly feel lighter but the scene will likely shift again very soon. Keep him confused and disoriented...

There's very little compassion from Beck, even if he doesn't want Peter to die. He feels he's brought this upon himself by disobeying Beck's orders and so punishments must be dealt out.

David was right that none of this was for Peter's benefit. Nothing in this really helps Peter. It only serves Beck's own satisfaction that he has this control over the environment and Peter's thoughts. There was only the barest twinge of feeling sorry for the boy, that he had to make him go through this. But any sympathy was overridden with the thought that this was a very successful test of the updated equipment.

Peter feels the weight lift a little, just enough for him to push the illusion of fake concrete away from him. Or - rather go to do so and realize that there's nothing actually there. None of this is real. None of this is real, Parker, you have to focus.

How had he done it before? He'd focused on his spider senses to exclusion of everything else. Tellingly, his senses aren't actually broadcasting any danger, despite the improved quality of the illusions. He can't see through them either, but his spider senses aren't quite fooled. That's the key, right? There's only one thing in here that's actually dangerous, and that's Beck himself.

As if responding to his thoughts, Beck materializes out of the rubble above where Peter is crouched. Not the real Beck - an illusioned one, in full regalia and fishbowl helmet. Alternate Beck scoffs down at him, trailing green fire from his fingertips. "You," Peter gasps out. "Why the hell do you even want this? Why do you care?"

They could have gone their separate ways at the very beginning. At any point since then. Or even struck up something like a friendship with the appropriate distance. But no, Beck had gone for the controlling angle. Peter doesn't get it.

Hmm. Peter has conjured up Mysterio himself without prompting. He's uncertain whether to be disturbed or flattered that he'd made it into Spider-Man's nightmare visions.

But he'd also asked questions. Why did he want this...?

He speaks aloud then, the voice projecting across to the false Mysterio as if it's really coming from him.

"You still don't get it, Peter. You have power; admiration; friends. Everyone loves you. Everyone protects you. What do I have? I have this."

The illusion of Mysterio transforms into a grand Mysterio statue that Peter has seen before.

"I can make people see what I want them to see but it isn't enough here. There's too much doubt and you compounded this by telling everyone what I did to you before. You never really gave me a chance. You stacked the odds against me from the start." The blaming of others returns and with it, images of piles of random things piling high and stacking on each other surround Peter until they all fall in Peter's general direction.

"Maybe I wanted to bring you down to my level. Maybe I wanted you to see what it was like to have nobody but yourself to rely on, because that's what you have right now, Peter. You only have yourself."

Was he trying to teach another lesson here? Encouraging independence, even as he terrorised the poor boy.

"They weren't," Peter says through clenched teeth. Putting his arms up to protect himself from the falling debris, wincing when they hit whether he can feel them or not. His spider senses are still telling him next to nothing, other than the fact that there's nothing dangerous there. Something, yes, but not enough. "They weren't stacked against you at all. You've got superpowers. And you could've been a hero. Still can."

That chance is much slimmer with the bridge between them actively on fire, but. That's all Peter really wanted out of all of this. For Beck to figure himself out and not be a threat to the rest of the imPort population. For that he's had a whole hell of a lot of people call him stupid, or ask why he keeps doing this, and ... and apparently he was just wrong, flat out. God. That almost hurts more than the nightmare surrounding him.

As more of those piles start crashing down, Peter flicks out his wrist, aiming a web out at the statue in front of him. His instinct is to swing, move, get out of the way - but the web stops somewhere short of actually hitting the statue. His eyes tell him it keeps traveling, but his wrist - his wrist feels the way the web gets taut long before it ever gets close. What has he hit? A wall? That ... gives him an idea, actually. He slings out a web behind him in the opposite direction, this time paying attention to how long it takes to go taut. Less time, so that wall is closer. It's the world's crudest form of echolocation, but it works, doesn't it? If he can orient himself in the room then he can get the hell out.

The kid is learning. Beck feels a trace of pride watching Peter using the webs to locate actual physical objects.

But Peter's words resonate in his head. ... you could've been a hero. Still can...

"You and your new friends. You ruined my second chance at being a real hero. Don't you think it's already too late for me? Everybody else tells me I'm the villain and maybe I should just embrace that destiny."

He doesn't have enough webfluid to feel out the entire room at once. But - he can stick the ones he's got already to his wrist, then thwip out another pair of webs. Repeat again until he's got a web in each of eight directions attached to him. Slow, not great, but something He walks forward a few paces, feeling the webs stretch or contract, using them to walk towards one of the walls. One step at a time ...

"You could've been," Peter says firmly. "Right up until the part where you decided controlling me was more important." He can't (and doesn't) blame anyone for getting involved at that point.

"So it is too late."

Beck steps forward, but is it the real one? He's dressed casually, as he was when Peter arrived.

"Sorry won't be enough this time, will it?"

This isn't the real Beck. He's up against the wall, cloaked by his tech, and slightly concerned now for his own safety. It's why he's letting his illusion speak for him.

Peter jolts his head up at Beck's (illusory) approach. Facing the man for a moment, trying to corral his own feelings for a moment. He's angry and frightened both, terrified by how well Beck's tech seems to be working - and furious about pretty much everything else. Beck tricking him, Beck lying to him. Beck trying to get his hooks into Peter and keep control over him. And the scariest part? He might have managed it. If David hadn't spooked him and prompted this reaction, Peter might very well have sunk deeper and deeper into this quagmire.

On some level, he ought to be grateful, he supposes. He's definitely going to find David and Marco later ... assuming he gets out of this alive, anyway. If he can't find the real Beck soon, he might really get hurt here, and not just traumatized.

"You're pretty far past sorry," he says, his breath still coming out in gasps. "Everyone thinks I'm stupid for even letting you get this far."

"You weren't stupid and you aren't stupid, Peter. I meant what I said. I wanted this to work out. I was being honest with you. Well, as much as I thought you could handle," it's doubtful he can ever be completely honest with anybody. "If it had been just us then we could have done great things together. Your tech... My tech...," he sighs, shaking his head.

"But I guess it's not to be."

The Beck before Peter shimmers in blue streams of code and vanishes. The room is empty again and silent for a moment. Then Beck's voice echoes around the room.

"Never forget what we could have had."

And the scene changes into a tech lab with fancy equipment and everything they could want to research and test things. On a bench is a stack of pizzas and images of Peter and Beck seated before it, casually laughing together as they work on something.

Peter can’t help but watch for a moment, having gone silent. There’s some appeal to the image - he wouldn’t be in this situation if he weren’t, on some level, vulnerable to seeing Beck as a fatherly figure - but now it’s not quite the same temptation. Not when Beck’s thrown nightmares at him, and generally tried to control every aspect of Peter’s life.

He straightens a bit. Still feeling the webs around him, trying to relax into his sense. How had Kylo put it? Impose control on his senses. Push his focus out beyond himself. Breathe.

“I’d rather have Stark.”

"No!" There's an immediate yell of protest at that and the carefully constructed friendly scene abruptly turns coldly dark and ominous, the figures melting away to blackness like ink smearing and running down a page. It's a reflection of Beck's feelings on Stark, tainting the happier images that he wants to portray.

"You still want Tony Stark? After all I've done for you?" Gone is the soothing or even demanding tones, to be replaced with pure, genuine rage. "You're so ungrateful, Peter. Stark did nothing but hurt you and you can't see that."

Images of Tony appear now, corrupted and damaged, like some bad computer code that can't quite form into a whole picture. Tony's face glitches in and out and the scene seems to have gotten out of control. Beck's emotional outburst feeding into the tech and snippets of Tony's MIT talk filter through, then a younger Beck looking very insulted and angrily muttering: 'BARF...' It's followed by Tony's voice, faintly, ordering him out: 'You're unstable, Beck. You need to go... I want you out of here today...'

But this is not what Beck wants Peter to see. He'd totally lost control over himself for a moment, allowing the tech to pull from his own memories. That won't do. he'd have to fix that... In a panic briefly, he fiddles with his wrist device and just for a moment, he can be physically seen as the room shifts in and out of focus, attempting to find more bad memories from Peter.

Peter was hoping to distract Beck a little, but he wasn’t quite expecting that reaction. Despite everything, he can’t help but feel a small spike of sympathy for Beck. Unstable or not, he’s not sure that Beck deserves that kind of outright dismissal from Stark. And having his tech stripped away and called something embarrassing too. In better circumstances, he would have felt bad.

But this has already collapsed. And - that’s an opening he’s going to take. He’s startled by the gap in the illusion, but super reflexes save him from delaying too long. One of those webs he’d slung out earlier has attached itself to the actual door to that room that Beck had wanted him to stay in. So - he pulls on it, hard, tearing it off its hinges and pulling it towards Beck’s back none too gently.

Distracted by the glitching tech, Beck doesn't see that coming and the door slams into his back. He goes down at once, groaning in pain. If he'd been wearing his hero costume it would have afforded him more resilience to take such a blow but as it is, he's just a regular human and he's injured quickly. It's enough that he stays down, shaken up and wincing and trying to get his bearings again.

Peter could easily use the opportunity to get out while he can or he could check on Beck to see how badly he may be hurt.

Shit. He really, really should leave now. If he stays, he risks not being able to leave when the illusion kicks back up. But if he leaves now ... He’s abruptly reminded of Beck’s still form in London, dying on the ground while Peter had been too terrified and desperate to help him. He has to do something different this time.

He takes a moment to detach the rest of the of the webs currently attached to him. Then he slings one web out through the open door, towards the railing on the outside of Beck’s apartment. That way if the illusions start back up, he still has something physical to follow out. And then ... he stoops next to Beck, moving the door off him and checking him to see how badly he got hit. Hardly daring to breathe, terrified that he’s managed to kill the man. And terrified that he hasn’t.

He's not dead and thankfully nothing is broken but he is injured enough to no longer be a threat - at least for the time being.

Beck grimaces, in pain and likely needing some medical attention but he'll live. The door had hit him flat on the back so he'll have bruising for sure and it has jarred his entire body.

His eyes flick toward Peter. There's a small shake of his head.

"Peter...," his breathing sounds a little hoarse; a little strained.

Nothing broken that he can see. Not dying. That’s - that’s enough. He stands again, pulling out his comm.

“I’m gonna call 911,” he says. And that will probably backfire spectacularly if Beck takes the opportunity to report this imPort teenager for attacking him in his home, but. It’s more important to him that Beck lives; it’s what he should have done for Beck in London. “And then I’m leaving.”

And - hell, he’s not sure what happens next. He can’t go back to Thor’s place; Beck knows about that address. Maybe there’s somewhere else in De Chima he can hide out. Somewhere off the grid, where he’d have someone who’d be very willing to fuck up anyone who comes along to hurt Peter...

Now there's a small nod and Beck closes his eyes tightly, resting his head back down on the ground. Everything hurts. He can't think. He can't focus.

He just knows he's failed. Failed to win Peter over and failed to make him stay, by force or coercion.

He makes a soft, choking sound then coughs, wincing again.

"You win, Peter," the words are barely a whisper.

Peter just looks crushed for a moment. He wanted this to work out, he really did.

“This isn’t a win, Beck,” he says. Backing towards the door, following his web out. Even now he doesn’t quite trust his senses. “Just - just leave me alone.”

He’s going to get the hell out of here. Call 911 and figure out what the hell he’s going to do next.

Being Spider-Man's legal guardian is tough work...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: body-horror

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject