|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 144• Be Our Own Backup

Beck strutted around the room in small circles and deep in his own thoughts. Toomes had sent everyone away again so they could plot. The future of a free world, a better world for them, was right on that table, but they had no clue what to do with it. Jeffery and Theo had worked day and night. They got in, yes, but it seemed impossible to get it to work. It couldn't be done without Y/n, and she would not side with them. Beck had spoken to her, revealed himself to her, and Toomes had his opinions on that. It was too soon for his liking. He would have rather played with them a little more and then revealed the truth. A little torturing and taunting.
He saw an opportunity and took it. Beck hated the Stark name, but Y/n was the key to the lock he wanted to open oh so desperately. And Peter... he was with her. Beck never truly hated Peter; he was only in the way. It was Y/n he focused on mostly. Perhaps that is why he and Toomes are able to fit together so cleanly, in a way. Toomes wants revenge on Peter for locking him away in prison and destroying everything he had, that what he had built up from the ground up. Beck wants revenge on the Starks for casting him aside and treating him like garbage, like he wasn't good enough. The two young adults were entangled in all of this. So much had been caused by Tony Stark, the man himself. Tony's alive. Killing him is too easy, and Beck hadn't thought about that when he saw that smug old face. He did think about how badly he could crush Tony's soul if he took his daughter away from him. Not just his daughter, but his found son. If he hadn't cared for the boy at all, he wouldn't have left him those Edith glasses. If only they still had those.

So close to achieving their goals, and now the last but thickest wall has risen up from the ground. She won't help him. Not unless she didn't have another choice. If only they had those multiversal villains to help them out. The big lizard could grab her and set her down in this very room; they would keep her here until she gave in. It's right there! Why can't they figure this out!?
"They've already tried everything – inside the book and out of it," Toomes muttered. As if Beck didn't know that. He has done everything he could think of. He tried to think like a Stark, but the truth is, he is not a Stark, so he can't. He doesn't have Y/n's mind. "We need her." Toomes wanted her to crack. It would have been easier that way to get her on their side. Make her feel like she has nothing left to lose and let her press the right buttons. "She'll crack eventually. Just give me some time." Beck said to him calmly. But his head was running overtime. How would he even manage that? "She'll be prepared now for games." Those holograms and drones might set her off for a little while, but she will be suspicious of everything now. Sure, that could drive her insane, but she will most likely have cracked the case by then. Just like they did a few years ago. He really thought he'd become creative enough with Black Cat. Apparently not. "You shouldn't have been out there," Toomes said. "If I hadn't, she would have found out anyway. Stark saw us." Right before they blasted the former superheroes. "Stark is an old man. Maybe she would've believed he'd gone insane." Toomes shrugged. That's the difficult thing about two villains working together; both have their own ideas on how to do the worst things in the best ways.

A common interest in revenge clearly isn't enough. Toomes wanted to wait and taunt Peter. Beck improvised a little, but it wasn't all over, though his partner might think it is. "She knows more than she's supposed to. We can use that." Beck said. "She's not gonna betray Parker." Toomes knows that. Liz wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks. Truthfully, as much as he loves his daughter, he understands why Peter didn't pick her. They were two very different people. "No, she won't. But she might see the light." Toomes gave him a look that screamed 'really?'. "Or she becomes desperate. Whichever you like the most." That sounded more like it.
Beck wants Y/n to be on their side because of her brain and her money; the money she inherited from her father and the man both he and Toomes hate. It would be an extra crack in his ego. And it's even better now that he is alive. He gets to watch how this all unfolds. Then there is Peter. He who will always bring Y/n back to her senses – or not. But he's the reason she hasn't switched sides yet and the reason why she will now. "Just gotta convince her." It was that simple. Or rather, it could be that simple... If they worked together and played their cards right.