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

Welcome To The Avengers

I don't notice Beck and Peter staring at me until i down the last sip of pure gin in my glass. There are at least a dozen other people in here, glasses clinking and talking about anything under the sun.
"I didn't take you for a gin type of girl," Beck says as i put the glass back on the bar.
"Appearences can be deceiving," i say, turning to stare him dead in the eyes, which he narrows at me ever so slightly.
Why haven't you told anyone about me? Beck thinks in his mind. If you do, all of this would be over.
Peter doesn't need that kind of betrayal right now. I put into his mind. He obviously wasn't expecting me to be listening in on his thoughts just then. If he finds out i knew about it the whole time, he would hate me.
But why not tell him if it could put his very life in danger if he doesn't know? He looks away from me and takes a swig of beer.
It won't, i say, too darkly and urgently in his mind. I will make sure of that.
You're not as powerful as you think.
What makes you say that?
You have weaknesses. Weaknesses that are too easy to use against you. He glance at Peter, who is drinking lemonade with a straw beside me. Peter sits inbetween us with no idea we're having this conversation.
If you dare to touch him, i swear on my life i will kill you. I say, stiffening.
He smirks. "Hey," he says, putting a hand on Peter's shoulder. I glare at him with pure fury. "You did something good tonight, you should celebrate."
"Yeah," Peter says. He doesn't look up from the glass in front of him. "Fury was right, Tony did a lot for me so i owe it to him, to everybody.
"Do you?" Beck asks.
"Yeah, i mean..." Peter sits up a little bit, but keeps his arms on the bar. "Mr. Stark gave me the chance to be more. He wanted me to be better than him. And Fury just wants me to live up to that."
"What do you want, Peter?" Beck asks, leaning on an arm that is resting on the bar. I lean over to see past him. So much that if i lean any farther, i might fall onto the other side. It dies absolutely nothing to help my aching arm, but i don't care about that right now. Peter tried to get me to go to the hospital or soemthing, but it's really not that bad.
"What do you mean?" Peter asks, turning his head to Beck.
"What do you want?" He repeats.
"I...I don't know," He glances at me, my arm, and back to Beck.
"What do you you want? Peter Parker, now. I know you're thinking about it."
"I want to go on my trip!" Peter exclaims, standing from the stool but sitting right back down, facing Beck and I. "I wanna go back on my trip with my friends. And go to the top of the Eiffel Tower with the girl that i really like and tell her how i feel...and...give her a kiss!"
"Oh?" Beck laughs.
"You didn't tell me that part," i chime in.
"Shut up, man," Peter says, smiling, finally.
"You're not gonna do that, are you?" Beck says.
"No, i can't," Peter looks down again.
"Why not?"
"Because i have too much of a responsibility!"
A Czech girl with weird ass hair comes up to usb picks something up off the floor, and hands it to Peter. She says something in Czech that i can't understand, but i do see that it's the EDITH glasses.
"Oh my god, thank you so much!" Peter saysb taking them from her.
"What are those?" Beck asks, as if he doesn't already know. I don't know his full plan, but i know it involves that, EDITH, and the drones. "Are those...?"
"The EDITH glasses. Yeah," Peter replies.
"They were just on the floor?" Beck says. "Try them on, let's see how they look on you."
"Yeah?" Peter asks.
"Yeah."
Peter takes the glasses and puts them on, turning to Beck to let him see. Beck looks for a few second before Peter says "I actually really like them."
"Can i be completely honest with you?" Beck asks.
"Please."
"They look really stupid."
"No they don't! They look great," i assure Peter.
"He looks like a dork," Beck argues.
"Have you met him? He is a dork."
"You try them on," Peter tells Beck.
"No, Peter, come on," Beck says, waving it off.
"Try them on," Peter insists.
"I don't want to try them on."
"Just try them on!"
"Peter..." I say. This is what he wantsb this is what Beck wants, to get the EDITH glasses, and Peter is litterally giving it to him.
Beck sighs and takes the glasses. He puts them on and i don't see them on him, but Peter's face changes completely. His smile vanishes.
"What do you think?" Beck asks, turning to me, and i immedeatly see why Peter changed. For a split second, i think i see Tony.
Peter mumbles something i can't hear, but i guess he says it againb but louder.
"For the next Tony Stark, i trust you," he says, looking up at Beck. "Mr. Stark left me a message with those glasses: For the next Tony Stark, i trust you."
"I'm not following, how many lemonades have you had?" Beck jokes.
"He knew every mistake i ever made, so he must have known i was not ready for something like this."
"Then why give it to you?"
"Because maybe he didn't trust me to have EDITH, he just trusted me to pick who should. It makes so much more sense, he always knew i'd do what's right, and he's not going to give them to Fury because Fury would just give himself EDITH."
"You're probably right about that," Beck adds.
"The world needs the next Iron Man, and it's not gonna be me, i'm a 16 year old kid from Queens. It needs to be an adult with some experience and that's good, like Tony Stark, like you."
"No, Peter, no," Beck refuses, taking off the glasses. What the hell is he doing? If he wants EDITHB why not just take it now, while it's being offered to him?
I try to think of what to do without letting Peter know about Beck. How can i convince him not to give up he glasses to him without telling him that Beck is a fraud?
Beck places the glasses on the bar, and Peter picks them back up.
"EDITH?" He asks when he puts them on. "Hi. Um, i'd like to transfer your control over to Quentin Beck."
"Peter, what the hell are you doing?" I say. "Think about this."
"I'm doing the right thing," he answers.
"Stark gave you the glasses!" Beck urges.
"Stark gave me a choice! It's my choice to make and i'm gonna make it. You are a soldier, a leader. You stopped the Elementals, you saved my life, you saved the world! He'd want you to have them."
"Peter," i say. "Stop, you don't know what your doing--"
"Confirm."
And that's it.
All of a sudden, it connects in my mind. EDITH controls the drones. Peter controlled EDITH, now Beck does. Beck kills me with a drone.
Peter just sealed my fate.
Peter Parker just killed me.
He takes off the glasses and holds rhem out for Beck. "Welcome to the Avengers."
Beck hesitates, but takes them, and puts them on.
"They look good on you," Peter says.
Beck nodds, and they shake hands. "Thank you. It's an honor."
"Mr. Stark would have really liked you," Peter says, grabbing his backpack and swinging it over his shoulder.
"Where are you headed?"
"I'm gonna go find MJ."
"Good luck, kid. I'll give you about a 50/50 chance, you're pretty awkward."
"Yeah," Peter laughs. "See you later, man. Frabkie, are you coming?"
"Yeah, i say quietly, standing up from the stool. My feet hit the ground and pain jars through my arm. I wince.
"Are you okay?" Beck asks.
Fuck off i think.
"I'm fine," i say, grabbing my jacket off the bar with my good arm and turning to head out of the door that Peter holds open for me. "Thanks," i say as i walk out. He follows, shutting the door behind him.
We walk down the street to our right, back towards the hotel.
"Are you sure you don't need to get that checked out?" Peter asks, gesturing towards my arm.
"I'm fine," i say. "Look, i'll grab bandages or something on the way back if it'll make you happy."
"What is your problem?" He asks. "Why are you being so...bitchy?"
"I'm not being bitchy!"
"Then why are you questioning everything i do, and why do you seem to hate Beck so much?"
"I...i don't know," i lie. "Maybe it's my arm." I suggest.
"Maybe," he says, "but i don't think so. I think there's something else going on that you're not telling me."
"Like what?"
"Or maybe you have told me and it's just finally getting to you."
"So we're talking about this again? Great. Let's talk about that."
"You can't just let it happen!"
"And i'm not! You are!"
"Why the hell do you think i'm just letting you die?"
"You gave the glasses--" i stop myself.
"What about the glasses?"
"It's not EDITH i'm worried about," i say. I think i have a way to maybe not make him trust Beck so much. "It's Beck."
"What about him?"
"You are too trusting sometimes. Did nothing seem off about him to you? He's from another dimension and speaks English? There is no way language evolved in the exact same way there as it did here."
"Frankie--"
"And if his world was destroyed, how the hell is he here? Why isn't he dead along with the rest of them, that is, if they ever existed."
"I don't know," he says. "Please stop yelling, people are staring."
"You were yelling, too. So?"
"So what?"
"So, do you agree that something is off about him?"
"Maybe, but that doesn't mean he's evil or whatever."
Ok, so maybe that wasn't the best plan.
"You go back to the hotel, i'll go get something for this." I glance at my arm, which i notice is a lot worse than i thought it was. The burn is deeper than i thought, and there's a lot of gravel and dirt stuck in it.
"Fine," he says, and starts walking again. I follow.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you," i apolojize.
"No, you were right. Maybe i am too trusting. With Liz, Tony, Beck, you."
"What about me?"
"Well, just think about how we met. You were killing hundreds of peoole and i thought 'wow, she looks super dangerous, let's walk right up to her and see how this goes.'"
"That is not what happened."
"Yes it is."
"Well, have i killed hurt anyone else since then that didn't deserve it?"
"Well...no, but you're missing the point."
"No, you're missing the point," i see a drugstore up ahead. "I'm gonna stop there. See you later."
"See you," he grumbles, and keeps walking.
...
I walk out of the store, bag with bandages and hydrogen peroxide in hand. It was a struggle, but thank Sergey Brin for google translate.
Which way was it? Right or left? Nevermind. I pull out my phone and type in the name of the hotel and use that to get there. It says the walking time would be about 20 minutes, but why walk when you can fly? I shave 18 minutes off of the approximate time to get there by doing that, and catch Peter in the lobby.
"Hey," i say, jogging uo to him
He turns. "Hi."
"Are we good? I'm really sorry about yelling at you, you know how i get sometimes."
"It's fine."
"You know, sometimes i just snap, and i only do that because i care--
"I said it's fine."
We walk upstairs and there are a few people in the hallway up there. The staircase leads to 2 hallways that have rooms running down each one. Everyone from our trip is on the 2nd floor. When we get to the top step and around the corner, Ned is walking towards us in a white bathrobe.
"Peter, oh my god!" He exclaims when he see us. They hug. "We almost died!"
"It's fine," Peter says, and they let go. "Hey, i'm done with the mission."
"Dude, the trip's over," Ned says.
"What?"
"There's monsters coming out of the ground everywhere we go, of course our parents would want us home!"
"Please don't put me on hold. Peter! Frankie! You're not dead!" Roger comes out of a room in the hallway and hugs Peter's hesd to his chest for a second, then let's go. "Frankie! What happened?!" He stares at my arm.
"It's nothing," i say.
"It doesn't look like nothing. Take care of that, Nedn put some clothes on, we're booking flights!" He rushes off down the hallway, and Julian shows up.
"We came for science, we're leaving because of witches," he says. "Welcome ti the new Dark Ages."
He walks off too.
"What is going on, dude?" Peter asks Ned.
"We're going home in the morning," he answers.
"No, all the Elementals are gone!" Peter tells him.
"Ned!" Betty calls from the other hallway.
"Coming sweetie," he says, and rushes over there.
"Can you guys keep it down? I'm live-streaming," Flash says, popping out and back into his room.
"Hey," i hear from behind me. Both Peter and i turn around to see who it is, and it's MJ.
"I'm gonna go," i say, leaving them alone. I walk down the hallway to find my room, and when i do, i open the door and shut it behind me with a sigh.
I know i'm going to feel really guilty for this, but i look inti Peter's mind to see what he and MJ are talking about.
"So much for Paris," MJ says, shrugging.
"It would have been fun," Peter replies. It's painful to watch this much awkwardness happen.
"Yeah. 'Night," MJ says, backing into her room.
"'Night," Peter replies. MJ starts to close the door, and he says "You look ni--" before she shuts it.
Damn it, he thinks. I'll just knock on her door. No, that's weird. But this may be your only chance, dude, just do it. Do it, do it, don't do it. Fuck it, i'm doing it.
He walks up to MJ's door and extends his hand to knock, but the door opens and MJ stands in the frame.
"Oh!" She exclaims when he almost runs into her.
"Hey!" He says, a little too loudly.
"Hey," MJ echos.
"Look, um..." peter bounces of the balls of his feet. He's so nervous, it's adorable. "I'm not ready for this trip to be over, yet, and i kind of want to do something fun thatcs not on the itinerary or planned or with Mr. Harrington--"
"Yes," MJ says, cutting him off.
"'Yes', like you wanna go?" He was not expecting that answer.
"Yes."
"Okay, awesome, i'll see you outside in 10 minutes." He is trying so hard to keep it together.
"Meet me outside in 5 minutes," she saysb and he smiles.
"Five is good."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye." As soon as she closes the door, he starts to walk towards his room, which is 3 down from mine, with a bounce in his step.
I leave his mind and decide that i have to follow him.
No, i don't. Yes, i do. No, yes, no, yes.
I'll follow him. Just in case somethung happens. But he can handle himself. But what if he can't? But he can. No...
Shit. I'm following him.
Arm first, then follow them.
I look down, and my Billie Eilish shirt blood all over it and is filthy, so i peel it off and sift through my bag to get another one.
When i look through it, a chill runs through me. There's only one shirt left in there, and it's white.
Usually, that wouldn't upset me so much, but right now, all i can think about is that part in my dream where i was underwater and shot. I was wearing this exact white Nine Inch Nails t-shirt that Carol gave me last Christmas.
Is this really happening? Am i really going to die? I still don't understand how a person can just be there one minute and gone the next. I still haven't accepted Nat's death, or even my parents death's.
And now i'm supposed to fight for my life when i know how it'll probably end?
I take out the stuff i got from the drug store and quickly clean out the wound (trying not to scream) and bandage it. Then i slip on the shirt, shaking, change pants, and pack up all of my stuff to leave tommorow.
I go to the door and listen for Peter, who comes about 30 seconds later. I creep inti their mind just to make sure it's him, and it is. I wait until he's down the staircase to follow, but MJ comes out of her room when i open my door. I close it almost completely so she won't see me, and wait until she leaves to follow. She takes the elevator that's directly across from the stairs. She had a backpack on, and i wonder why she's taking it. What are they going to do that she needs a backpack or the stuff in it for?
I make my way across the hallway and down the stairs and catch them walking out of the doors, then follow about 30 seconds later.
It's about 3:00 AM by now. I was in the square for about half an hour, then we were in the bar for about an hour, plus all of the time it took to get from place to place. Since it's so late, the streets are almost empty and it'll be hard to follow them without being heard or seen, but i can do it. Flying obviously isn't an option, because they'd see a bright blue glow and would know i was there, so i just have to wal very quietly.
"They used to execute people on this bridge," MJ says. I'd only been listening to their conversation for less than a minute because i was only able to get this close without being heard just now. "They would put them in a basket and they would drown in the water."
That's pleasant, i think.
"Sorry," she says for bringing that up.
"It's okay," Peter says. That's one of the reasons he likes her, "because she's really funny in a dark kind of way."
"Uh, there's this thing that i've been wanting to talk to you about...for awhile."
"Yeah?" MJ stops walking and turns to face him. They had been walking side by side and just a second ago almost touched hands, so they pulled their hands away from each other. I can't tell if it's cute or cringey.
I hide behind one of the brick pillars at rhe bridge entrance.
"It's our last night in Europe and i had this plan that i wanted to tell you...i'm just, i'm just gonna tell you." Peter reaches into his back pocket and pulls out something circular. I assume it's the Black Dahlia necklace he had told me he was going to get in Venice for her.
This i have absolutely no explanation for, but sudden white hot anger pulses through me. Suddenly, the sight of MJ makes me want to punch or kick something. I had never really met MJ before this trip, but Peter had talked about her just a little too much for my liking. Over the past few months, i feel like Peter and I have been growing apart since i'm usually with Harley abd he has school and the whole 5 year age difference, but we had agreed that we wouldn't let any of that get in the way of our friendship. But now she is.
"MJ, I--"
"'Am Spider-Man.'"
Woah.
What. The. Fuck?
Did i just hear that correctly? If i did, why the hell does she know that? Did he tell her?
"...what?" Peter asks quietly. Based on his reaction, i'm going to say he didn't tell her. So who did?
Or maybe she just saw him in Venice doing Spider-Man things, and thinks he is because of that one thing.
But it's not just that one thing. On this trip, there have been a few instances where certain things Peter did were kind of shady and suspicious.
"That's what you were gonna say, that you're Spider-Man." MJ says calmly.
"No...i'm not Spider-Man," Peter responds with absolutely no idea what to do. Should i intervene? No, that wouldn't help at all.
"I mean, i've been watching you for a while now. It's kind of obvious."
"I'm not Spider-Man," he repeats, starting to lose control. "What would make you think i'm Spider-Man?"
"Peter, Washington? That fact that you disappear out of nowhere for no reason?"
"No, i was sick, remember? You know, with the--"
"Susan Yang thinks you're a male escort."
"What? No, of course i'm not a male escort!"
"Then you're Spider-Man."
"I'm not Spider-Man, at all."
"What about tonight? You snuck off and fought that thing with Frankie, i saw you. And this whole trip, i thought your connection to her was weird, because you lost the internship months before she came to New York and became and Avenger."
"1: you can't have seen me because i'm not Spider-Man. And 2: Frankie and i met when...uh...i went to Mr. Stark's funeral. I was invited."
"You said you two met before Thanos because of the internship."
"No i didn't, and also on the news, it was the Night Monkey."
"The Night Monkey?"
"Yeah. That's what it said on the news, and the news never lies."
I almost blow my cover laughing at that.
"Night Monkey. Okay." MJ takes off her backpack and unzips it.
"What are you doing?" Peter asks.
"Well, do the Night Monkey and Spider-Man use the same webs?" MJ asksb taking out something that reflects the street lamp light. It has some of Peter's webs still attatched to it.
"I mean, maybe." Peter shrugs. "Maybe he's a Spider Monkey, who knows?" There is silence between the two for a few seconds, and Peter look down at the ground, then back to MJ. "Were you only watching me because you thought i was Spider-Man?" I can hear the disappointment in his voice from here.
"Yeah," MJ says after a few seconds of silence. "Why else would i be watching you?"
"It doesn't matter. I just thought that maybe--"
The object in MJ's hand flashes, and she drops it. By the time it falls to the ground, something huge and grey pops up into the air. It looks lime a giant moving cloud, but i see lightning in it.
"Crap!" I mutter, and leap out of my hiding spot as i try to catch whatever it is, but nothing happens. I try again and again, but nothing will move it. "What the hell?"
Then it disapearsb and i see MJ and Peter facing me, and they immedeatly see me.
"Frankie?!" They both shout.
"What are you doing here?" Peter yells from halfway across the bridge. I start to jog over there, every step sending a surge of pain through my arm.
"Did you follow us?" MJ asks angrily.
"Yes, but i'm glad i did," i say when i get to them.
"What are you doing here?" Peter repeats.
"I..." I don't know what to tell him. He crouches down to pick uo the object, not looking away from me. "I couldn't just let you go off into the city alone in the middle of the night."
"What is that, like some kind of projector or something?" MJ asks as Peter observes rhe metal object.
"Yeah, but it's really advanced." Peter turns it over in his hands. "And Frankie, you need to stop barging in on every aspect of my life, you're not my mom."
"I know that, i just worry about you," i say.
"Well, you can stop worrying, i can handle myself just fine." He turns his attention back to the projector.
"I-It looked so real," MJ looks baffled, and i can't blame her, i'm pretty confused, myself.
"Yeah, really real," Peter says, thinking.
"Wait a minute, does that mean--"
"The Elementals are fake?"
"So that's what he's doing," i say to myself.
"That doesn't make any sense, because we were all there," Peter reasons. "There was fire and destruction...who would do something like that?"
The projector turns on again, and we all look up to what it's projecting.
The same thing shows up again, but this time i see that the grey, foggy figure has a face.
From behind it, i see a familiar fishbowl, magenta cape, and green lasers.
"Mysterio," MJ mutters.
The projection shuts off, and all i see now is the look of terror on Peter's face as he realizes what he's done.
"I am Spider-Man," He says amafter he turns around, looking like he's a little kid that has just seen something he never wanted to see. "And i really messed up."
"No shit!" I exclaim.
"Wait, you're being serious right now?" MJ asks, a serious look on her face.
"Mm hmm," Peter nods stiffly.
"You're not joking with me, you're being 100% serious? Because it's not funny."
"No, i'm not joking."
"Because i was only about 67% sure. Wait, why are you here?"
"MJ--"
"Why are you on this school trip?"
"MJ! I know you have a lot of questions, but we really have to get out of here!"
"Okay," she says, trying to calm back down. "I can't believe i figured it out!"
We all start running back towards the hotel as fast as we can.