In Loving Memory [A Marvel Cinematic Universe Fanfiction] *Discontinued*

Elementals

"This is Quentin Beck," Maria Hill says as Beck walks toward me, his hand extened.
"I already know who you are," he says as he holds out his hand for me to shake. I do so, and as i do, he says "Frankie Grant. Man, it's an honor."
"How do you know who i am?" I ask, my voice shaking. I notice i've stopped breathing and do so, a deep breath in, and a deep breath out.
"They told me you were coming and filled me in," he has the kind of voice that you would expect to be cheerful, but he looks solemn and serious.
"And you didn't know about me before?" I say, realizing how cocky and narcissistic that sounds. I put my bag under the table.
"Uh, no, i'm from another dimension," he says in a mildly bored voice. "This is Earth 616. I'm from Earth 833."
"Wow, that's...cool," i say, and it honestly is, but it doesn't distract me from who he is. My hands are shaking so much, i have to put them on the table to hide it.
I have to find out more about him. Why is he here? How did he know how to defeat the water monster? Why is he going to kill me? What does he have to do with the drone? What is with the fishbowl on his head?
"Ok, cool, sure," he leans over the table, and brings a hand up to his face, rubbing his eyes. "Is it still cool if i told you my world was destroyed, taking my family with it?"
"No," i say, still gaping at him. "No, it's not."
"Are you okay?" Beck asks. "You seem a little--"
"I'm fine," i say, a little too fast and a little too loudly.
Hill leaves the table, moving to a computer, and i take a glimpse into Beck's mind.
She can read minds. She probably already knows. She's got to go.
Oh my god.
It'll have to look like an accident.
"You can lose the mask, everyone here has already seen you without it," a deep voice i regognize says. "You'd only be feigning anonymity and breathing through spandex for no good reason."
Nick Fury and Peter enter the dark room with multiple archways supporting the roof above.
Peter pulls his mask off and immedeatly sees me. He starts to smile at me, but i can tell he quickly remembers what i told him at Prom. I have to somehow tell him about Beck.
"Over there we have Maria Hill," Nick points her out as she types something on the computer. "That is Dimitri."
Dimitri looks at Peter and cocks a gun without taking his eyes off of him.
"You already know Frankie," Nick moves past me. "And this is Mr. Beck."
Peter stops walking a few feet away from me and Beck turns to face him.
"Mysterio?" Peter mutters.
"What?" Beck says.
"It doesn't matter. It's just what my friends have been calling you," Peter looks almost starstruck. I have got to tell him about Beck.
"Well, you can call me Quentin," Beck and Peter walk towards each other and shake hands like i did with Beck when i got here. "You handled yourself well out there, today. I saw what you did with the tower."
"What tower?" I ask, my attention on Peter instead of Beck.
"I kind of, uh, tried to keep a tower from falling and got smacked in the head a couple times by a giant bell." Peter rubbs the back of his neck, as if embarassed by it.
"Are you okay?" I ask, taking my hands off the table and walking a few steps closer to him.
"The boy's fine," Nick Fury says, as if i'd just annoyed him to his limit.
"We could use some people like you on my world," Beck says, gesturing to Peter and I.
"Thanks," Peter says, but i just glare at Beck. "I'm sorry, your world?"
Peter is about to have a feild day with the multiple dimensions thing.
"Mr. Beck is from Earth, just not yours," Fury says, passing by Peter and I. That was a really weird way to phrase that. "Yours"?
"There are multiple realities, Peter," Beck explains. "This is Earth dimension 616. I'm from Earth 833.
Peter's face lights up as he walks towards the table. I follow.
"I'm sorry, you're saying there's a multiverse?" He looks like a kid on christmas morning, and i can't help but smile at him. "I thought that was just theoretical. That completely changes how we understand the initial singulary. We're talking about an eternal inflation system, and how does that even work with all the quantum? It's insane--!"
He turns to see Nick Fury and Maria hill look at him like a mental patient, but i just keep smiling at him. I'm happy that he's happy.
"S-sorry," he stutters. "It's really cool."
"Don't ever apolojize for being the smartest one in the room," Beck tells him. Peter smiles. Maybe i shouldn't tell Peter about him. He doesn't need to worry about that on top of all the other stress i know he's going through.
"Anyway," Hill says, trying to get things moving again. After she says that, a holographic projection of what looks like a black hole surrounded by orange, red, and blue swirling clouds appears above the table. It looks like a hurricane, but colorful.
"They were born in stable orbits within black holes," Beck explains. "Creatures formed from the primary elements: air, water, fire, earth." Projections of trh mosyers vircle around rhe black hole. There's a brown, crumbling one, anorher that looks like a tornado, the water monster that was here, and one that looks like it's made of lava. "The science division had a technicle name. We just called them Elementals."
"Versions of them exist across our mythologies," Hill says, and the monsters change from their true firms to tribal paintings and the things we have that represent them. The water monster is in front of me, and it appears to be Poseidon.
"Turns out the myths are real," Beck glances at me. No, more like glares.
"Like Thor," Peter chimes in. "Thor was a myth and now i study him in my physics class."
"What does Thor have to do with physics?" I ask, but not in a way that warrents an actual answer.
"These myths are threats," Fury says firmly, staring me in the eye as if letting me know i got off topic.
The hologram on the table changes to a projection of a globe, but it looks different. Latin america and South America are conpletly seperated, and Africa looks like it's been severely flooded, like there's and ocean in the middle of it.
Beck continues. "They first materialized on my Earth many years ago."
Circles in difderent colors start popping up all over the globe. Orange, blue, brown, and grey; one for each of the Elementals.
"We mobilized and fought them, but with each battle they grew, got stronger." Mysterio glances around the room as if to make sure everyone is paying attention. His eyes meet mine for a split second, sending a chill down my spine. "I was part of the last battalion left trying to stop them." Fire starts spreading around the globe, reaching out like branches of a tree, slowly covering the whole globe. "All we did was delay the inevitable."
"The Elementals are here now, attacking the same coordinates. Our sattalites confirm it."
"How would they know to attack the same coordinates?" I ask, genuinly curious.
"Well--" Beck starts, but i interupt him.
"And if you're from a different dimension, then how come you speak English? There is no way that language developed in the exact same way in your world as it has in ours," i don't give him a chance to answer. "And how exactly did you escape? If you were one of the last people fighting this fire monster, then how are you not dead? How did you not die with the rest of your world?"
"Umm..." Beck looks to Hill and Fury.
"As if they'd have those answers," I say it with the perfect amount of sass.
"It's complicated," Beck says.
"Ha, complicated," i say loud enough for him to hear, but as if i was saying it to myself.
Complicated my ass. I say directly into his mind, not looking at him. Yeah, you were right, i know you know i can read minds, and i know about your plan to kill me "accidentilly."
Do you, now? He says. I can feel his eyes on me, but i refuse to look in his direction.
"You should thank Mr. Beck for destroying the other 3 instead of, what? Accusing him of making up what happened on his planet?" Nick walks directly around the table to me. "What makes you think you know everything?"
"I don't," i say in the most smart-ass voice i can conjur. "I'm simply trying to get information."
"Maybe there were some things that were too complicated to explain in a short period of time."
"Well, how would i know that if i didn't ask?" I smirk, and change the subject. "I know a lot of people are scared of you, so they respect you. But i'm not scared of you, and so far you have given me no reason to respect you."
"Frankie, i wouldn't--"
"Peter, don't," i turn back to Fury. "You force my best friend to do something he doesn't want to do while he is on vacation, on the break he needs, you talk to us like we're children, and shoot down everything i say."
"Young lady, you listen here--"
Talos, i say into his mind. And Hill? A skrull, too. So, where's Fury?
"How did you--?" Talos in the form of Fury glares at me, and starts talking to me mentally. If you tell anyone, i will kill you.
No you won't. I say, my smirk fading. I already know who's going to do that. So, let's look around in there and see where Fury is.
"No!" He shouts, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Uh, what's going on?" Peter asks, looking at me with a confused look on his face.
"Nothing," i say.
"There's only one Elemental left," Fury (Talos) says, averting his eyes from me.
By now, the whole globe is covered in the branching flame.
"The strongest of them all." Beck announces. "The one that destroyed my Earth." The globs starts crumbling and falling apart. "It's the one that took my family." He twists the golden wedding band on his finger.
"I'm sorry," Peter says so quietly that if i were standing at the entrance of the room, i wouldn't be able to hear him.
"And it will be in Prague in approximately 48 hours," Hill announces.
"I'm sorry, did you say 'Prague'?" Peter asks, suprised. "Mr. Fury, this all seems like big time, you know, huge superhero kind of stuff," he gestures to me, "and i'm just a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, sir."
"Bitch, please, you've been to space!" Talos/Fury exclaims.
"I know, but that was an accident, sir," Peter moves around the table to where Talos/Fury is sitting in a chair in front of a computer, now. He moves around a lot. "Sir, come on, there's got to be someome else you can use." He glances at me. "I'm sure Frankie and Mr. Beck could handle it on their own!"
"He's right," i pipe in, but Talos/Fury ignores me.
"They might need backup," he argues.
"Sir, look, i realky want to help. I do." The smile Peter hand when he was talking about the multiverse is gone, now. "But if my Aunt finds out i left my class trip, she's going to kill me. And if i'm seen like this," he gestrues to his suit," after the Washington monument, my whole class will figure out who i am, and then the whole world will figure out who i am, and then i'm done."
After a few seconds of silence, Talos/Fury says "Okay. I understand."
Peter looks around in confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Why don't you get back before your teachers miss you and become suspicious?" Talos/Fury says slowly and quietly, enunciating each individual word. "Dimitri, take him back to the hotel, please."
Dimitri stands and walks to the entrance.
No, he can't possibly be letting him off the hook that easily. There's no way. There has to be somethibg going on.
"Thank you, Mr. Fury," Peter says, turning like he's about to walk away, but turns back. "And uh, good luck." He glances at all of us, his eyes lingering on me, sadness filling them at the sight of me.
"See you, kid," Beck says with a little wave.
"Yeah, see you," Peter looks at me, again. With Beck here now, it may just be the last time we see each other.
I can't help myself. I walk the few steps between us and pull him into a hug. It shocks him at first, but soon he puts his arms around me, as well.
"Bye," i say, trying despratly to keep my voice from breaking.
"Bye, Frankie," Peter says as we part. He turns and walks towards the entrance, and i let a single tear slip where no one can see it before wiping it away quickly.
I don't want to die. I am not going to die. Not if i have any say in it.
Almost as soon as Peter leaves, Talos/Fury stand up from his chair and steps towards me.
"You," he says. I can feel a lecture coming on, bur it doesn't. "Will be acting as a chaperone on Peter's school trip."
"What?" I exclaim.
"I'll call Peter's teachers. I'm sure with the events of today, they wouldn't mind having you there to make sure nothing happens to those kids. But you are mainly going to be there to keep an eye on your little friend. Make sure he doesn't tell anyone about this and does what he's told. Although, i doubt you'll be much help with the latter."
"As long as what you want him to do doesn't involve him doing something he doesn't want to do."
He just scoffs at me. "Follow Dimitri. He's been told not to leave until you're there."
I grab my bag from under the table and slide a strap on one arm, and walk fast out of there.
"Bye, Frankie," Beck calls out. I debate whetehr to flip him off as i walk away like Max Mayfield on Stranger Things. It might be best not to.