stark, peter parker

ix. the third time i've been kidnapped this week

dakota woke up to find herself in restraints. her hands and ankles were tied down to the chair she sat in, and a constrictive piece of metal was wrapped around her torso. she struggled against the binds on her hands, looking around at her surroundings. there was a bright light above her, and it prevented her from seeing anything else. 

"good to see you again, miss. stark." a voice said from behind dakota, and she turned her head to see  beck standing to the side of her chair, moving the light out of her eyes.

the girl smiled a little. "good to see you again, too, asshole." she mumbled, her eyes adjusting to the light.

"looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the electric chair."

"ooh, this one's electric?" dakota asked in mock enthusiasm, watching as beck circled around her. "so, what, you plan to kill me yourself instead of letting your little drones have all the fun?"

beck looked over at her with confusion etched on his face, not understanding why she was still so sarcastic when she was about to be tortured. "i would kill you," he stopped to stand in front of her, "but, sadly, i need you to do something for me, first."

"you literally just had drones shoot me in my organs. why would i help you?"

the man just held out the edith glasses in reply. "your little boy toy tried to transfer the power of these over to me. smart kid. but, as it turns out, your father didn't trust him. half of the glasses' knowledge still belongs to you. which means, sweetheart," dakota clenched her jaw at the nickname, her hands immediately becoming fists, "that you're going to have to transfer all of the information to me."

"and if i don't?" she asked with a raised brow, wanting so badly to punch him.

"if you don't," beck moved so that his face was mere inches away from hers, "then i'll destroy everything and everyone you love."

dakota scoffed as he backs away from her. "that's going to be fun to watch, considering there isn't much left on this earth that i do love. good luck finding someone." she said, keeping her voice level. she hoped he wouldn't dare think about hurting morgan.

"tony?" beck asked, turning to look her. "i forgot to give you my condolences."

"don't mention it." she replied sassily, laying her head down on the chair.

"it's a shame." beck told her as he stepped further into the room. "if you were better, if you had done more," he turned to look her in the eyes, "he'd still be alive."

dakota clenches her jaw once more, breaking eye contact with him. she had been beating herself up for tony's death for a whole year, telling herself that it was her fault he was gone. and all of the work in therapy still hadn't gotten her to admit that, so how did he know that that was the sweet spot?

"so that's how you're interrogating me, now?" she asked, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. "you trying to make me feel bad? why are you even doing any of this? you wanna be the new iron man?"

"pfft." beck chuckled, his back still facing her. "iron man? no. i used to work for the son of a bitch." dakota's ears perked up at this. she knew she had recognized beck from somewhere, but she just hadn't been able to put a finger on it.

then she remembered the senile and unstable man that her father had fired some years before... the creator of the illusion tech. "you're the one that made b.a.r.f., aren't you?" she asked, laughing under her breath. "all of this is because you're still petty over something that happened over five years ago? you decided to steal the technology you helped design, then came up with some make-believe little fanfiction of yourself as an avenger? and all of this, what, to prove a point?" when he didn't reply, kodie continued. "get over yourself! you'll never be tony."

"and neither will you." beck replied coldly, immediately making her stop speaking. a tear began to gather under one of her eyes, and it took everything in her to keep it from rolling down her cheeks. "now that we've discussed our feelings, transfer all of edith's information to me."

"how about," kodie spoke, looking up at him, "i give you the finger..." she said, flipping him off despite her restraints, "and you let me go on my happy way."

beck didn't appear amused, rolling his eyes. he placed the glasses on her face, watching her to make sure she said the right thing. "scanning." edith spoke, recognizing dakota's face. "welcome back, miss. stark."

"hey, edith.," dakota said, looking up at beck, who was still staring at her. "i would like you to transfer all of your information."

"are you sure about that, miss. stark?" 

"yeah."

"who do you want me to transfer all information to, miss. stark?" the glasses asked her.

dakota took a deep breath, still looking at beck as she spoke. "my ass."

⎊‎⎊‎⎊

it had been a fun past few minutes, what with beck trying to convince her to do what he said, and her dying of laughter. "you won't be laughing when i kill you!" he threatened, but it only made kodie laugh harder. "do you want to change your mind, and put all of the control to me, or do you want to do this the hard way?"

"hm." dakota pondered aloud. "they say all things are better hard." she joked, only angering beck more.

"you really are your father's daughter, aren't you?" beck asked, turning to look at dakota who simply shrugged. "man, i hate teenagers."

she laughed. "you really should've thought this through more. the whole 'tied to a chair thing'?" she trailed off, shaking her head. "it really isn't creative. like, i don't know who writes your script for your whole mysterio stuff, but like, this... this is even worse than all that." he didn't respond, so she kept talking. "no, i mean seriously, like all of this. this is like, what, the third time i've been kidnapped this week? where's the creativity? the spice?"

as she was talking, she was touching her watch from behind the chair, where her hands were tied. after more tries than she cared to admit, she finally pressed the right buttons. her iron suit formed around her, and she smiled as it broke her out of her restraints.

"hey, asshole." she called, getting his attention. "next time, might wanna child-proof your chair." she said, holding an arm out and blasting him with it. he fell to the ground, and she took to the sky immediately, knowing he'd be knocked out long enough for her to get to peter before he did.