That bizarre figure slowly flew down before the four of them and landed firmly on the ground, letting them finally get a clear look at the getup,

A round fishbowl sat atop the figure's head, its interior swirling with white mist. The suit was high-tech gold and green, and behind it billowed a purplish-red cape covered in strange patterns.

Almost the instant she laid eyes on this person, Yang Luoluo's expression went odd.

If she remembered right, wasn't this guy supposed to be a villain?

Thank goodness for the mask Tony Stark had made to help conceal her identity. It only covered the upper half of her face, but for hiding expressions, it worked beautifully.

Still, this early? Really?

Before any of the four could get a word out, the strangely dressed figure beat them to it. The white mist churning inside the fishbowl made it impossible to see the face within.

"Wonderful! You must be the Avengers of this universe. Could I ask you all to help me take down Magnum — that monster shedding dirt everywhere?"

Judging by the voice, the urgency was real.

That string of words left Clint with a belly full of questions burning to get out, like, what did "this universe" even mean? Was this person from another universe, the same as Loki and the others?

And how did this person already know the sand monster's name?

Just as Clint was about to open his mouth, Yang Luoluo quietly tugged at the sleeve and got there first.

"Sure. How do you need us to help?"

"Simple. You only need to help evacuate the crowd. As for the rest — leave it to me."

From inside the fishbowl came a voice, sorrowful, but absolutely resolute. Like someone who had just made a decision there was no coming back from.

Peter blinked, still not quite caught up with what was happening.

"Wow, so what do we call you?"

The fishbowl had already risen off the ground and was drifting toward the monster. The figure paused at the question, hovering in midair, and turned to leave behind a single line.

"Mysterio. Just call me Mysterio."

Then the figure continued on. The retreating silhouette carried a tragic, solemn weight, the kind that belongs to someone walking toward a death they've already accepted, and it set both Peter and Kate on edge without either of them quite knowing why.

Peter slowly turned the name "Mysterio" over in his mind, and the moment Peter glanced sideways, the view was Yang Luoluo's face doing something very strange. Her lips were pressed tight together, like she was one second away from losing it completely.

The look she gave Peter was complicated in every direction: sympathy, pity, irritation, and a thread of helpless resignation all tangled up together.

"What is... that look about?"

Clint glanced over too. The sleeve tug from earlier was still fresh, the clear signal to stay quiet. So did Yang Luoluo actually know this so-called Mysterio?

Pushing down the overwhelming urge to roast Mysterio out loud, Yang Luoluo shook her head. "It's nothing. Let's just go help."

The other three had no choice but to shelve their questions and split up to clear the crowd, though none of them could quite stop stealing glances at the battle between Mysterio and Magnum unfolding overhead.

Once the area was clear and the crowd had been moved well out of range, Clint and Yang Luoluo finally had room to watch the fight properly. Peter and Kate, being who they were, had already thrown themselves in to help.

"Why did you stop me from asking questions earlier?"

Clint asked. As far as Clint was concerned, this person who had appeared out of nowhere calling themselves Mysterio was suspicious in every possible way. Give a seasoned agent like Hawkeye a few minutes of conversation, and it was a guarantee, the full childhood bedwetting history would be on the table.

Yang Luoluo looked up at Peter swinging between buildings on webbing and Kate on the ground firing arrows with sharp, clean shots. She exhaled. A wave of helplessness settled over her.

She leaned close and murmured a few words into Clint's ear. Clint's eyes went wide on the spot, gaze swinging back and forth between the massive, ferocious sand creature and the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Clint didn't question whether Yang Luoluo was telling the truth. There was just a long beat of silent shock, and then a calm response.

"Don't tell Peter and Kate yet."

"Huh?" Yang Luoluo hadn't seen that coming. "Why?"

"Those two need to sharpen up. They look at everyone like they're the good guy. The day someone actually sells them out, they'll probably end up counting the money for them."

Clint let out a long, helpless sigh.

Anyone paying attention could see that Tony Stark was grooming Peter to be the next leader of the Avengers, and Kate was Clint's own successor. But right now, both kids were still painfully green.

Mysterio was a chance. A chance to learn something.

Yang Luoluo listened, nodded slowly, and thought it through, but a thread of worry stayed.

"What if, and I mean what if, things go the way they originally did?"

Because in the original story, Mysterio would expose Peter's identity. And in the end, to protect the people Peter cared about, Peter would choose to let the whole world forget, and end up truly, completely alone.

"Relax." Clint gave a quiet laugh, tone easy and certain. "With us old folks up front running interference, you really think we can't keep those two in one piece?"

"If it actually came to that, we might as well hand in our badges and retire."

Letting the kids learn a lesson was one thing. Letting them get hurt in the process was something else entirely.

They were still mid-conversation when a startled shout from Peter cut across everything.

Both of them looked.

Mysterio was hovering in the air, palms leveled at Magnum. Two beams of green light shot out and drove straight into the monster's chest.

Like something being eaten from the inside, a green hole opened up and spread across Magnum's torso at a speed the eye could track. The monster let out a shriek, raw and awful, and its massive form began to shrink, pulled inward, until under the watch of all four of them it was simply gone. Not even dust left behind.

Mysterio dropped back down to the ground, and the instant both feet touched earth, there was a stumble, the unmistakable wobble of someone running on empty. Peter and Kate were already there, moving in from either side to catch the figure before anything worse happened.

Clint and Yang Luoluo exchanged a look and immediately shifted gears, faces snapping into expressions of deep concern as they jogged over. The praise came out smooth and effortless.

"Mysterio? Mysterio, are you all right?"

"My God, you actually took down a monster that difficult!"

"That was incredible!"

"..."

The flood of compliments nearly made the dazed Mysterio break character entirely. Two quick coughs, and the stream was finally stanched.

"I'm fine... As long as no one was hurt — that's all that matters."

The weak voice landed, and the moral weight of those words hit the four of them square. Mysterio found every pair of eyes in the vicinity fixed with genuine reverence.

"You're a real hero!" Peter said, and meant every word.

Yang Luoluo rolled her eyes on the inside, then chimed in without missing a beat.

"Spider-Man's right!"

Mysterio waved the praise away, traded a few modest, weary-sounding deflections with Peter, and then steered back to the point.

"Everyone, I'll be honest. I come from a parallel universe. I came here specifically to hunt down the Elementals."

"The Elementals? That sand monster just now? I remember you called it Magnum." Clint played the part perfectly.

Mysterio couldn't quite work out why none of them had blinked at the words "parallel universe," but that was no obstacle to a solemn nod, not that anyone could read the expression through the fishbowl.

"The Elementals are four elite combatants, each one controlling a different element. The one just defeated was Magnum, earth. Beyond Magnum, there's Hydron, who controls water; Hellfire, who controls fire; and Zephyr, the master of wind."

Maybe the four looked too grim. Mysterio added a word of reassurance.

"Don't worry, Zephyr was already defeated by me earlier. Only Hydron and Hellfire are left."

Then something seemed to surface. Mysterio's fists clenched tight, and a voice came through the fishbowl, grief and fury braided together.

"They... destroyed my Earth. I have no home left. If I can't defeat them, I don't think I have any reason left to be alive..."

In that brief account, Peter had already built the whole picture: a superhero who had lost everything, home and world alike, who had come this far willing to spend the last of what was left, just to see it finished.

Hearing those words, something rose in both Peter and Kate, clean and immediate. They looked at Mysterio and said it straight.

"Don't worry. We will definitely help you!"

"..." Yang Luoluo and Clint traded a glance, complicated, layered, then spoke together without a beat of hesitation.

"That's right. We will definitely help you!"

Help you hang yourself with your own rope.

➤ Next: A Clown on the Stage

Chapter 134 - A Clown on the Stage

"So let me get this straight," Tony said. "While out on a mission, you ran into a dirt-caked monster and a fishbowl-head from a parallel universe?"

Yang Luoluo and Clint nodded in unison.

It was nearly evening by the time they got back to the base. With a debrief ahead of them, Clint had spun a quick excuse and sent Peter and Kate out on night patrol.

The last thing they needed was those two overhearing what the group was plotting.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. cast a projection into the air right on cue. Today's battle had been good for the news cycle, headlines were everywhere, each one trying to outdo the last.

Sand Monster Emerges in Manhattan!

Mysterio? Avenger or Lone Hero!

Are the Avengers About to Welcome a New Member?

What Are the Elementals? Hear Mysterio's Personal Explanation!

...

"Mysterio? Elementals?"

Tony curled a lip. "What kind of garbage aesthetic produced both of those names? I'm guessing the same naming site Stephen Strange used."

Yang Luoluo had long since learned to filter out Tony's commentary on Stephen Strange. She pressed on. "That's not the point, Mr. Stark. The point is he's approaching Peter with an ulterior motive."

"In the movie, he got close to Peter, conned E.D.I.T.H. away from him — the one you left him — then spent his time smearing Spider-Man's name all over the place. And at the end, he straight-up exposed Peter's identity."

E.D.I.T.H.?

Tony's hand moved automatically to the glasses on the bridge of his nose. The thought of leaving them to Peter had crossed his mind before, just not now. Peter was still too green.

If the version of him in the movie hadn't left in such a rush, he probably would've put Peter through a lot more training before handing E.D.I.T.H. over.

"That is a problem," Tony said, brow creasing.

Steve had been listening for a while without catching much, only that Mysterio meant trouble for Peter. Steve raised a hand.

"So are the four monsters Mysterio talked about real? If they are, sounds like we've got our work cut out for us."

"No. They're fake." Yang Luoluo cut that off without hesitation. "Every single one of those monsters was done with special effects."

Mysterio had developed a projection device capable of rendering virtual imagery as photorealistic visuals. The devices were built into the suit and distributed across the surrounding area, all to stage one seamless performance: Mysterio, heroically battling the sand monster.

Steve stared.

A look of genuine bewilderment spread across that face, the kind that said Steve was quietly questioning this world.

"Why? What does any of this get him?"

Clint spread both hands, tone flat. "Who knows. Fame. Money. It's always one or the other."

Didn't really matter which. Anyone who dared to set sights on the Avengers, on the youngest one in the group, no less, had better be ready for what was coming.

Natasha had caught a comment beneath one of the news posts. A frown crossed Natasha's face.

[I can't believe that when facing that terrifying monster today, our Avengers didn't lift a finger, while Mysterio fought with everything he had to take it down!]

The replies were mostly hostile. A cosmic-scale war had barely ended; in the public eye, the Avengers were universe-saving heroes, and their standing was untouchable.

But Natasha had already picked out a thread or two that ran the other way.

[Am I allowed to say this? Don't come at me, I know the Avengers saved the universe, but today was genuinely disappointing. They just stood there and watched a newcomer like Mysterio face that thing alone.]

[Honestly? Mysterio's the real hero here. Those Avengers are nothing but cowards.]

If Clint and the others had seen those comments, they'd have been screaming their innocence, Mysterio was the one who told them to stay out of it.

The corner of Natasha's mouth twitched. A fairly clear picture of what Mysterio was building toward had already taken shape.

Across the room, the conversation kept moving.

"Wait —" Tony straightened. "That equipment you described. Why does it sound familiar?"

The gears were already turning.

Turning virtual imagery into photorealistic visuals... that sounded a lot like...

"You demonstrated that technology yourself," Yang Luoluo said. "Years ago."

F.R.I.D.A.Y. had already pulled the results. "Boss, based on the information retrieved, you're most likely thinking of Binary Augmented Retro-Framing, previously referred to by you as 'B.A.R.F.'"

Smack.

Tony slapped a thigh.

Of course. A few years back, during that MIT lecture, that was exactly the technology used to make the presentation work.

"So Mysterio is B.A.R.F.'s inventor? What's the name again..."

"Quentin Beck," F.R.I.D.A.Y. supplied. "Formerly in the R&D department at Stark Industries. Dismissed two years ago."

"That's why the grudge," Yang Luoluo added.

Every pair of eyes in the room landed on Tony at once. Tony went visibly uncomfortable, the look on that face caught somewhere between embarrassment and the urge to change the subject.

"Considering that quite a few of the villains we've run into lately seem to have ties to your company..." Steve said, with the careful tone of someone trying to be diplomatic about something that wasn't, "Tony, maybe start us off with a list of Stark Industries' terminated employees?"

There was a pattern. Every villain either had designs on Stark Industries, got their technology absorbed by Stark Industries, lost business to Stark Industries, or got fired from Stark Industries and never got over it.

Iron Man. Or, as the role increasingly demanded: Scapegoat Man.

Tony, having just been handed yet another unasked-for burden, elected to skip past all of that entirely. A throat cleared, and the conversation steered back toward something useful.

"I think Clint had the right idea. We let this play out, use it as a real lesson for Peter and Kate."

"With all of us watching, Mysterio isn't going to be able to do anything that actually sticks."

The way Yang Luoluo laid it out, what Mysterio had on Peter in the original timeline came down to three things: stealing E.D.I.T.H., trashing Spider-Man's reputation, and blowing the cover.

Stealing E.D.I.T.H., Tony wasn't planning to give E.D.I.T.H. to Peter anytime soon. If Mysterio wanted it, the only option was somehow conning it out of a former boss who was very much alive and paying attention.

Trashing Spider-Man's reputation, as long as Peter hadn't actually done anything wrong, Tony could pull the name back from whatever hole it ended up in. That was a guarantee.

Blowing the cover, as long as Peter didn't hand the secret over personally, Mysterio could dig as hard as liked and come up empty. If Mysterio ever actually managed to pull that one off, Tony would hand over Stark Industries on the spot.

Bottom line: in the eyes of the Avengers, Mysterio was a clown. A nuisance. Incapable of any real damage, just irritating enough to be worth watching.

"That's all we can do for now. See what move comes next."

Clint nodded, stood up, and rolled out the back.

"One thing," Tony said, just before everyone split. "This stays between us. Nobody else finds out."

The group nodded.

...

Inside Mysterio's base.

"Beck." A man in black-rimmed glasses and a plaid shirt sat at the computer, fingers hovering over the keyboard. "Are you sure about this?"

Mysterio, Quentin Beck, was still in the full costume, fishbowl helmet off, pacing the length of the room with a look of pure fury on that face.

"Of course!" The word came out like a snarl. The fury curdled into something colder, a deep, simmering hatred aimed squarely at the Avengers.

Why did that detestable Stark get to be both the richest man alive and the hero who saved the world? Why did every good thing in existence end up in Stark's hands?

Quentin Beck had invented something genuinely groundbreaking. Something epoch-defining. Given the chance, it could have been used to build a new era entirely from the ground up.

Instead, Stark had rejected it. Dismissed Beck from Stark Industries with the excuse of being too ambitious. That extraordinary invention had been repurposed as a presentation aid for an MIT speech, then casually handed a name like "B.A.R.F."

Detestable Stark. Detestable Iron Man.

Mysterio's fists tightened.

Just wait. It wouldn't be long now. The world's one and only superhero wasn't going to be Tony Stark.

It was going to be Mysterio.

The man at the computer exhaled slowly and turned back to the keyboard. A few keystrokes, and it was done. From this unremarkable base, an astonishing flood of comments and articles began spreading outward, across every platform, every feed, every corner of the internet.

Bury the superheroes under public opinion.

That was Mysterio's plan.

➤ Next: The "Petty and Disgraceful" Avengers