Everyone rose slowly to their feet, expressions universally dark, except for one.

Yang Luoluo stood there with her jaw clamped shut, eyes blown wide, a suspicious glimmer at the corner of each eye.

OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW IT HURTS SO MUCH,

If it wouldn't completely obliterate her current image of cool, aloof badassery, Yang Luoluo would absolutely be rolling on the ground clutching her leg and screaming. But she couldn't. So she didn't.

She had just wanted to copy everyone else's superhero landing. How could it possibly hurt this much?

Watching the whole team touch down in that signature single-knee kneel, one fist braced against the ground, momentum perfect, coolness off the charts, Yang Luoluo had made a snap decision. First, she wanted to match the group. Second, she wanted to project a cool image on the livestream. So without a second thought, she went for the exact same stance.

Every last shred of that plan disintegrated the instant her knee hit the ground.

How! Could! It! Hurt! This! Much!

Her kneecap felt like it had crumbled to powder. But she was a newly minted official Avenger now, and that image had to be protected. So Yang Luoluo gritted her teeth, straightened up slowly, and kept every trace of pain locked off her face.

If I ever copy them again, I'm a dog.

"Pfft—"

A voice cracked in her mind, laughter barely held back. Yang Luoluo whipped a ferocious glare at Loki standing beside her.

"I told you long ago their moves are all flash and no substance," Loki's voice came through in a private send, thoroughly smug. "Next time, you'd be better off copying mine."

He wasn't wrong that his own landing looked good, descending upright with the kind of slow, unhurried grace that suggested the entire world existed beneath his notice. Showing off, yes, but carrying it with effortless style. Objectively cooler than all that single-knee kneeling.

She was his girlfriend, sure. That did not stop him from wearing a look of absolute, unrepentant gloating.

The next second, tens of millions of viewers in Tony Stark's livestream watched with open eyes as the girl in the white mask gritted her teeth and ground her heel down onto the God of Mischief's foot.

The God of Mischief's face went green.

[...A warrior. All I can say is, warrior.]

[Someone save me, seeing the God of Mischief show up alongside the Avengers is still so surreal. The shock hit me harder than watching Captain America murder someone in broad daylight.]

[The person above really knows how to draw a comparison...]

[The God of Mischief actually didn't stab back. Guess the rumors are true, his temper really has improved.]

[I don't know, I always felt his good temper was selective. If his brother stepped on his foot... it probably wouldn't end at just one stab.]

[Hiss, poor Thor.]

[...]

One vicious stomp later, Yang Luoluo felt considerably better. She pulled her glare off Loki, exhaled slowly, then clenched her fist and turned her eyes to Mysterio.

His turn now.

Mysterio flinched on instinct. The shock of several Avengers materializing out of nowhere in the blink of an eye still hadn't worn off, you could practically see question marks crystallizing into solid form above that round fishbowl head.

"You've been having quite a lot of fun spreading rumors and dragging our names through the mud, haven't you." Tony Stark stayed suspended in the air on the thrusters, arms crossed, looking down at Mysterio from above. The words came out cold. Something underneath them wanted blood. "Quentin Beck."

"I didn't, how do you know who I am?!"

Mysterio had been about to argue the point, but the second half of that sentence stopped everything. Tony Stark's question swallowed all of Mysterio's attention whole.

How did they know? How did they know Mysterio was Quentin Beck?

Did they know everything? Everything done these past weeks?

That shocked voice carried even through the fishbowl helmet. Tony Stark caught it, curled the corner of one mouth, and didn't answer. Instead, Tony called out past Mysterio's shoulder.

"Still not planning to come over, Underoos?"

Mysterio spun around, and went cold.

At some point Peter Parker had stopped attacking. Instant Kill Mode was off. The spider-legs had fully retracted. The crimson had bled out of the lenses, replaced by white.

Peter Parker stood there quietly, looking at Mysterio. The friendly, kind neighborhood hero was back, like none of it had ever happened.

After a long pause, Peter Parker walked back to the others without a word.

"You, how is this possible?!"

Mysterio's gaze kept jumping between the Avengers and Peter Parker. The inside of that head had gone completely blank, a steady buzzing filling the silence.

Maybe to better express the shock, or maybe because the real identity was already blown and there was nothing left to hide, Mysterio reached up and retracted the fishbowl helmet, revealing a pale, stunned face beneath,

What Mysterio didn't know was that while the surface headcount was barely a dozen, tens of millions of viewers were watching from the dark.

The memory of Tony Stark's entrance line surfaced belatedly: You know nothing of magic. Mysterio's gaze swung toward Wanda Maximoff and Loki, thick with resentment.

The two reacted in completely opposite ways. Loki had been sitting on a stomp's worth of irritation and now transferred every bit of it directly onto Mysterio. When that resentful look landed, Loki returned it doubled. If there weren't a livestream running in the background, Mysterio would probably already have a dozen curses on the way.

Wanda Maximoff simply smiled, the picture of innocence, every line of that expression saying this has absolutely nothing to do with me.

Mysterio had it wrong, anyway. The magic Tony Stark mentioned had nothing to do with either of them.

After Loki had quietly slipped the Veritaserum into Mysterio's mouth, Yang Luoluo had gone digging through her bag, and fished out a bottle of antidote, which surprised even her.

Peter Parker had been hit with a neurotoxin. An antidote should work, right?

On that theory, Loki drew out a few drops and got them into Peter Parker's mouth without anyone noticing. Under the eyes of every Avenger present, Peter Parker's attacks visibly slowed.

Tony Stark moved fast. The moment Karen confirmed that Peter Parker had recovered, Tony spoke, decisive, immediate, telling Peter Parker to keep up the act.

Peter Parker hadn't figured out what was happening, not even close. But the instructions were clear, so Peter Parker followed them, continuing to attack in every direction with a head full of questions.

Mentally back in control, Peter Parker felt pretty stupid about the whole thing.

None of that reached Mysterio, of course. As far as Mysterio was concerned, either Wanda Maximoff or Loki had broken the neurotoxin's hold.

The Avengers had no intention of clearing that up. There were more pressing matters, like tearing this hypocrite's real face open for the world to see.

"Quentin Beck. Let me think." Tony Stark's smile didn't reach the eyes. "R&D at Stark Industries. Fired by me, two years ago. That's right, isn't it?"

First sentence out, straight into the nerve. Mysterio's face twisted.

"Ha!" Biting sarcasm, every syllable. "So someone like you actually remembers a thing like that!"

"What a magnificent invention my technology is. A few video clips, and I become a superhero who bravely fought the Elementals. A few video clips, and Spider-Man becomes a murderer everyone wants dead."

"And you — Iron Man, savior of the world, head of Stark Industries — fired me with nothing more than 'too ambitious.' Don't you find that laughable? Don't you?"

Rage carried Mysterio one step forward. One second later, Natasha Romanoff's gun barrel, pitch black, unwavering, stopped that advance cold. The expression above it hovered somewhere between a smile and not a smile.

Mysterio swallowed. Forced composure back into place.

"You can't kill me. Everyone knows Spider-Man and I arranged to meet here. Unless you want to hand them another piece of evidence that Spider-Man is a murderer."

Peter Parker, who had stood with head bowed in silence since returning, finally looked up.

"...Why?"

The voice modulator couldn't hide the crack in it. The grief sitting underneath those words. After everything that had just been laid out, if Peter Parker still couldn't piece it together, Tony Stark would have to take the kid in for a brain scan.

In a place Peter Parker couldn't see, the comment stream flooded with a single word: heartbroken.

In fairness, Mysterio had spent enough time with Spider-Man to read that personality pretty clearly, enthusiastic, warm, relentlessly kind. Before releasing the video of Spider-Man killing someone, Mysterio had hesitated. A few seconds. Just a few seconds.

Mysterio turned away, not quite able to meet those eyes. The answer came slowly.

"What 'why.' I want revenge on Iron Man and those self-righteous heroes, and you..." The rest stalled in the throat.

But Peter Parker understood.

A young hero with a big reputation and not nearly enough guard up against strangers, the perfect entry point.

Peter Parker lowered their head, and went quiet.

➤ Next: Apology Gift — Words Unspoken

Chapter 144 - Apology Gift — Words Unspoken

Peter didn't know how to describe what was churning inside right now, grief, sorrow, regret, anger... and maybe a thin thread of of course relief woven through all of it.

The sympathy Peter had felt when learning Mysterio had come to this Earth alone. The trust when listening to Mysterio comfort and guide Peter. The worry and admiration when watching Mysterio fight the Elementals. All of it had curdled into a joke in the space of a single moment.

Still, maybe because the Avengers had spent so much time lately warning Peter to be wary of strangers, Mysterio chief among them, now that the full truth was out, what rose up in Peter's chest wasn't rage so much as a quiet, reluctant they were right all along.

"I don't want to hear him talk anymore."

Peter's voice came out flat and muffled, landing in everyone's ears like a sulk, rare enough that it made Peter sound exactly like what Peter was: a young boy in the middle of a very justified fit. The toes of the shoes shifted quietly outward, angled toward the nearest exit.

Honestly, Peter had no idea what to do with this situation.

Don't kill Mysterio? But Mysterio hadn't just wanted to ruin Peter, Mysterio had wanted to tear down every superhero in existence. Letting Mysterio walk would only leave a bigger problem waiting to blow up later.

Kill Mysterio? Peter couldn't bring himself to do it. And the last thing Peter wanted was to watch someone take a life on Peter's behalf.

Seeing Peter like this, nobody felt good about it. Tony Stark, Yang Luoluo, Steve Rogers, and Clint Barton least of all.

The four of them had known everything from the start. They had been fully capable of stopping this before it began. Instead they had made a deliberate choice to stand back and let it play out, all in the name of teaching Peter a lesson.

They traded a quiet look, and in each other's eyes found the same regret and guilt staring back at them.

They had used it's for Peter's own good as their excuse while they stood there and watched Mysterio lie to Peter, manipulate Peter, hurt Peter. What they had done wasn't so different from what Mysterio had done.

Tony's gaze slid sideways. One arm hooked around Peter before Peter could bolt, and Tony brought a fist up to cover a mouth, coughing twice to bury the awkwardness.

"Ahem. Pete, Spider-Man. Don't you want to watch this guy go down in person?"

Before Peter could answer, Wanda spotted Mysterio skulking toward the edge of the bridge and wrapped Mysterio in a coil of red magic without breaking a sweat, flinging Mysterio back like discarded laundry. As an afterthought, Wanda bound Mysterio's wrists to the bridge railing with a neat little knot of magic. No more escape attempts.

Mysterio hit the ground hard. "Ptui — ptui —" came the sound of dirt being spit out. Mysterio scrambled upright on all fours, but the cape snagged around the legs mid-rise and nearly sent Mysterio faceplanting a second time. The whole scene was awkward enough to be funny.

Yang Luoluo didn't even try to hold back the laugh.

Tony strolled closer to Mysterio with obvious bad intentions, making a point of snapping the faceplate back into place.

"Fair warning, don't even think about using whatever neurotoxin you just hit Spider-Man with on me."

With that, Tony helpfully tipped off the livestream audience about why Spider-Man had attacked, then called the little drone back with a grin, held it flat in one palm, and aimed the lens directly at Mysterio's face.

"Come on. Say hi to everyone watching."

"Oh, somebody actually sent a gift? Beck, don't just pocket that. Keep going, tell everyone exactly how you fabricated all those stories about us."

"Wait, this person in the chat wants to see Mysterio use the illusions to make another Elemental. Which one do you want? The water one, Hydron? Go ahead, Mysterio, give the people what they want."

"And someone else is asking how you came up with all this in the first place. Beck, care to address that?"

"'Where did you buy that cape? It's actually kind of nice.' My god, if you think this curtain looks good, you must be absolutely starving, "

Tony read from the comment feed with the easy rhythm of someone completely at home, one bizarre question after another. Mysterio's expression made the full journey, from wide-eyed disbelief all the way to a kind of serene, empty resignation, like someone who had accepted death and was simply waiting for it to arrive.

Mysterio truly hadn't seen this coming. These insufferable Avengers had been livestreaming from the very beginning. Not a single opening to spin the story. Not one.

"Tony really doesn't hold back." Natasha shook her head. "Livestreaming is one thing, but shoving the camera in the guy's face like that."

The words said one thing, but the expression said something else entirely, openly delighted. Beside Natasha, Steve managed a strained smile, guilt doing most of the work.

"So what do we do with this one? Kill him?"

Pietro had grown up inside Hydra. The brutal answer came out reflex-fast. Clint's mouth twitched.

"No. We're calling the police."

"...Calling the what?" Pietro blinked. A finger actually went to an ear to dig it out, for emphasis.

"Malicious defamation and slander. Intentional assault. Willful destruction of public and private property. Inciting mass panic. Severe disruption of public order, "

Natasha went through it patiently, item by item, and landed on a conclusion.

"Stack all of that together and it's enough to keep Mysterio locked up for quite a while."

Clint jumped in before Natasha even finished, clapping a hand on Pietro's shoulder with the gravity of someone imparting hard-won wisdom.

"Kid. We live in a society governed by rule of law. If the law can handle it, you don't dirty your own hands."

Pietro had completely lost the thread.

Mysterio was a villain who had gotten this far purely through technology. No powers. Strictly speaking, this had never required Avengers-level involvement.

But whose idea was it to make Peter the target?

Tony suited up fully, tossed the livestream drone to Steve, and launched into the sky with Mysterio in tow without another word.

Yang Luoluo's best guess: delivering the criminal to the police department.

Steve caught the drone, straightened up, and turned to address the livestream audience with complete sincerity.

"Sometimes what your eyes tell you isn't the truth. I hope everyone will take the time to learn the full facts before forming an opinion in the future, "

Whether anyone in the chat absorbed a word of it was hard to say. Natasha glanced over. The comments were streaming past in a solid wall of Cap is so handsome! and sksksks.

Natasha walked away.

Yang Luoluo caught two sentences and ducked out instantly, dragged straight back to high school history class in her memory. She would fall asleep on the spot if she heard one more.

Then, rapid footsteps, scattered and urgent. Yang Luoluo turned around.

Harry, a handful of wizards, Ned Leeds, and MJ were sprinting toward them, completely out of breath.

Afraid they might say something that would blow Peter's cover, Steve cut the livestream with Natasha's help.

"Peter! Peter! Peter, are you — huff — are you okay?"

Peter pulled off the mask at the sight of their faces, the worry written all over them, not even trying to hide it, and smiled.

"Relax, I'm fine. And honestly, thanks to you all warning me about Mysterio. Turns out you were right about him."

Peter kept insisting there was nothing wrong. But everyone could see the eyes.

Red as a rabbit's.

While Peter's friends clustered around talking over each other, all comfort, all noise, the guilt-ridden four quietly peeled away and put their heads together on the other side, working out how to apologize.

Loki had drifted over to listen in, making absolutely no attempt to pretend otherwise. Clint shot Loki a sideways look, then lowered a voice.

"You think, if Peter finds out we've been keeping things from him the whole time, would a Lego set buy me forgiveness?" A pause. "I heard Peter likes them."

"No idea," Yang Luoluo said honestly. Then she smiled, something a little mysterious in it. "But I already know exactly what I'm getting him."

Watching the two of them sort it out that quickly, Steve felt the urge to freeze on the spot just to clear a head.

Lego? Steve didn't even know what that was. And it would look like copying Clint.

Spider-Man merchandise? Spider-Man presumably already had plenty of that.

Steve's own merchandise? That would come across as unbearably self-congratulatory.

Yang Luoluo had just finished filling Loki in on everything they had hidden from Peter. When she turned back around, Steve's brow was knotted so tight it could have been braided, the look of someone seconds away from concluding out loud that Steve was completely useless. Yang Luoluo stepped in fast.

"Cap, you're Peter's childhood hero. Whatever you give him, he's going to love it."

Steve's expression didn't budge. Yang Luoluo thought for a moment, then tried a different angle.

"...I heard you can draw. What if you painted a portrait of Spider-Man and gave that to Peter? What do you think, Cap?"

Clint lit up immediately, nodding along with full enthusiasm.

"That's perfect. Sign it too, then it's literally priceless."

Steve's hands came together in a single clap. The worry cleared off Steve's face all at once, and Steve looked between the two of them with warm satisfaction.

Steve had held out long enough. Someone had finally come through. All that extra time browsing the internet on Tony's advice had been worth it, sure enough, playing helpless had its uses.

Steve headed off toward the nearest art supply store, steps light.

Clint and Yang Luoluo stood there and stared at each other.

...Who exactly had gotten their honest, straightforward Captain into habits like that?

At the entrance of the police department, Tony sneezed.

➤ Next: Peter Receives Gifts