|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 121• The Vulture Strikes

Walking into that lab of hers was heaven. She has everything. Little brat that she is. Toomes felt like a little kid walking into a toy store. They could never afford screens or technology like that, let alone make it themselves; that's what she and her father did all these years. Behind Toomes were his partners, Jeffery and Theo. Their eyes were also blown at all that was around them when they stepped in. Her laboratory was as big as their whole workshop all together. "That girl has way too much money." Toomes scoffed loudly. "Yeah. Too much ego, too." He said. Toomes despised every part about the Starks – aside from this. This room was a dream, it had to be. And right there, a few steps away from the huge windows, stood the machine that they were looking for. "Holy sh-" Toomes shoved Theo before he could finish. "What?" They continued, "We can't carry that thing out of here. It's massive." He had expected it to be big, but not this big. Cutting off a piece and taking it with them wouldn't even work. Whatever they managed to take wouldn't be enough. Far from it. "Computers." Toomes turned to Jeffery, "See if you can get in from here." These were her own devices. It shouldn't be impossible to log in from here. Jeffery immediately walked over to one of the desks and sat down. But when he tried to turn on the monitor, the screen remained black. "Broken piece of crap." Jeffery cursed. His boss turned to him with a slightly angry glare. He stood up again and moved to the other desk. At the bottom of the screen, Y/n had taped a picture of her and Peter. Jeffery smiled unintentionally at the couple but quickly got rid of his grin before Toomes saw him.

"I can try to dismantle one of those parts up there." Theo pointed at one of the power sources sitting above the rest of the machine. Most parts of it still looked broken. "Was she in a hurry to repair it or something? This looks rough." Wires were sticking out, some of the metal was still dirty from the explosion that had happened, and little pieces of glass were on the floor. She recycled everything from her previous machine and tried to rebuild it. This one hasn't been activated yet, though. This was the machine she used on the camera footage Toomes saw earlier, just rebuilt for another purpose. Or perhaps, the same one. What was that girl planning? "Boss, I can't get in," Jeffery called out from behind the monitor. The screens refused to turn on, as if the power had been drained from it entirely. Toomes let out a long, deep, disappointed sigh. "Little brat probably programmed everything, every little device, to cut off power in case she's not here." Y/n Stark really is the only one that can get into her systems. Shit. Toomes cursed loudly and kicked against one of the chairs standing closest to him. That meant only one thing: demolition and dismantling. But where to start? "Go to that side." He turned around to Jeffery. "You go find the others. Imagine what else she programmed in case someone broke in. Go!" As Jeffery sped off to find the others, Toomes followed Theo. He frowned when he found his partner already with a screwdriver in his mouth and holding wires in his hands. That was quick. "What are you doing?" Theo let go of the wires to take the screwdriver from between his teeth and pointed. "The machine sends the data to her digital storage. She probably keeps everything in a vault in case... well, in case someone like us comes along and starts snooping around." Hence, the power is cut off, too. Perhaps that's why it was so easy to get into the building. What if they couldn't get out? Toomes may not have thought this through very well.

There was also a vault they had to get into? Fantastic. Toomes's face turned a little red from anger. "Great. Really fantastic. Digital, too, I suppose? And how are we going to get into that vault if the screens don't even turn on?" A huge setback like this was the last thing they needed. He wanted her systems. That little brat, even this close to death, might still be a few steps ahead of him. Whilst Toomes was calculating what would happen next, Theo just looked at his boss and waited for his thoughts to stop spiraling. He placed his hands on his hips and locked their gazes. "We don't have to go into her safe. Do you see this?" Theo started calmly. He pointed to a small screen, really small. "This is installed to show the data. That it works and all." Not that unusual. Toomes used them too, especially when testing. "Yeah, and?" "Well, if I can disconnect this properly, we don't have to go into the safe at all. I can use this to go back to the last time it was activated and used." Theo explained. Toomes starts grinning. "If we have that, I can copy it," Theo added. It's as easy as that. Maybe all this hadn't been for nothing after all. "Good old-fashioned theft. Make it quick." Toomes hoped that they could still flee if they had to. He hadn't heard any doors locking or windows getting sealed off. "Sir! The gates!" Jeffery came running back inside the laboratory. Toomes rolled his eyes, thinking he was just being dramatic. They shouldn't be shouting. "What? Will you keep your voice down?" He spat at him. "Sir, they're opening. The gates. Lights are turning on. Someone's coming."