revivalproject | Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room

WHO: Mysterio, OTA
WHERE: Billy's City
WHAT: Time to prove Beck's tech can change the world
WHEN: Mid/Late Event
WARNINGS: MUCH PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA, UPSETING IMAGERY, ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK

Stark Industries

Super villains attacking the building was almost just another Tuesday at this. Not that Mysterio necessarily considered himself to be a villain. A strange green mist spilled through the halls, Beck couldn't help but play up the theatrics a little.

His ultimate goal was Stark, but that didn't mean he couldn't have a little fun with his coworkers as he made his way to his dear boss. Or any other unfortunate visitors to the building.

Before you had time to be surprised by whatever it was he was wearing, you were plunged into a world of illusion, your deepest fears and greatest traumas uprooted and unearthed into an unsettling hellscape.

The Masses

Why not spread the fun around? Mysterio ventured out into the streets, confident no one could stand in his way. After all, what kind of threat could you really be to him when he could twist the very world around you into a personalized hell?

That green mist ventured out, flooding the city block, chaos erupting as people went running and cars veered off course.

Just the Two of Us

It was just the two of you now, and Mysterio chuckled inside his helmet, palms raised in mock surrender.

"You really think you can stop me?" he asked. Sure- they'd put up a good fight, but Beck was barely getting stated.

That mist became almost suffocating, and the world seemed to shift, rewriting itself to plunge you directly into your very own personal hellscape. Even knowing none of it was real did nothing to stop your mind from reacting as though it were. You're just a puppet on a string, and Mysterio's going to enjoy playing with his toy before he breaks it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There would never, Tommy once thought, be a reason for Crimson Speed to be active in Stark Industries. Between the tech, the security, and of course Iron Man himself, there was never a reason for the speedster. That said, he was definitely surprised by hearing there was something going on in the building.

He'd bolted off to the bathroom to change, and then had put himself in the path of the intruder, tapping a crimson boot against the floor as he waited, and hoping his mask covered enough of his face and his hair to keep anyone from guessing who he was.

He opens his mouth to say something witty over the idiotic costume the new villain is wearing. But then something else was happening and the fog rolled back, showing Billy's body on the floor. Tommy cried out, a wordless sound of distress, and Crimson Speed moved at impossible speed to his brother's side. Not actually his brother of course. He doesn't know how could he?

"Idiot, you're supposed to stay home and safe."

His brother groaned, seeming barely conscious, bruised and bloody, an almost betrayed look on his face as Tommy appeared.

"Where were you?" he croaked, wincing and holding a hand to his ribs with a pained breath. "It hurts- why didn't you stop them?"

"No," Tommy groaned, pulling Billy up into his arms. He rocked, holding his twin, trying not to cry. The twin that Beck had no doubt met visiting the office, or out at lunch with Tommy, or somewhere. Even if there wasn't that, the family resemblance was impossible to miss.

So guess that gave away an identity, didn't it? His own intern, turning heads in the building, whispered about and said to no doubt be getting a job very young, a super hero. One standing in his way.

"I'm sorry. Work. I was at work. I'm always working."

Interesting. So that's who Crimson Speed was? His own intern...

"Tsk, if only you'd made time for him, Kiddo," Mysterio taunted, and Billy seemed to abruptly fall away, calling out for his brother as a great hole seemed to open up in the floor.

And world around him seemed to slow, rendering Tommy's movements on par with an average human, no matter how he tried.

Tommy screamed at the pit opening, reaching out. He tried to throw himself forward, to grab, to grab and try and catch is brother back to him.

"No!" he screamed, trying to race, but it wasn't going. He could catch anything, why couldn't he catch his brother? He SWORE to keep Billy safe.

"Tommy!?" Billy's voice seemed to call, frightened and pained, echoing from multiple directions as the world shifted.

Walls seemed to spring up around him, white and sterile, and his costume faded to a pair of white scrubs. The imagery seemed random, but was drawing on some deep, suppressed fear.

There's terror. Tommy can't explain it. It's not just the screaming loss of his sibling. It's the place, the clothes. Tommy immediately starts to tear at them.

"No," he shouted, pulling. "No, I won't be HERE!"

"Where is here?" Mysterio pushed.

Straps seemed to issue from nowhere, binding and pulling him back onto a cot.

"Do you want to be sedated again?" A voice threatened.

No. NO! Tommy screams in rage at the binding. No, this isn't right, he can't let this happen. There aren't suppressors yet. So he can just, well, vibrate free. Yeah! He starts to try, desperate to earn his way.

"I am no one's experiment!" he screamed in rage and defiance.

Scientists seemed to swarm in from no where, injecting him and attempting to hold him down, Mysterio having to gamble on the illusion holding him and keeping those vibrations at bay. If he believed he couldn't, hopefully that would be enough.

"You aren't going to escape this time."

There was more screaming, distant and abruptly cut off, unmistakably his brother's. "There's no one left to come for you. Just give in."

Billy. Billy won't, can't come save him. Because he's already failed Billy.

This time.

Wait. Wait.

Tommy closes his eyes, trying to shut the images out. He gathers his senses inward, reaches for his awareness. Can't make things explode without reaching for their molecules. And...

And there are none he can touch. Which means it's in his head. Or fake.

Tommy snarls and, keeping his eyes closed, turns toward the voice that told him to surrender.

"You. Aren't. Real."

Oh...shit. Mysterio frowned warily. This wasn't supposed to happen. He edged back cautiously.

"Boy-! The hell do you think you're doing?!" a new voice snapped from the opposite direction, a man this Tommy shouldn't know.

A new voice. Tommy tilts his head toward it, but doesn't open his eyes. Instead his fists tighten at his side, his whole body starting to shake.

He wants to cower away from it.

"Frank," he says, his voice a whisper. Frank Shepherd. Dammit. All of him wants to cover away, wants to curl up, wants to run. Which isn't what Tommy Maximoff does.

It's what Tommy Shepherd does. Tommy Shepherd exists. Tommy Shepherd from New Jersey who had never failed his brother and didn't really even get to call the guy his brother.

Oh.

"None of this is real," he said in shocked realization, his voice full of fear. Not one bit. Which only went to say that it hadn't been Billy. Which meant he had to FIND Billy.

"Fuck this," he cursed, opening his eyes. Only to SEE Frank, and yeah, there he was, cowering aside.

It was certainly not the realization Mysterio had meant to help Tommy to come to, at least not consciously.

But that fear was still there, and so the illusion held, Frank raising a hand to strike him as the real villain tried to make his escape.

Hey, there was CLEARLY no helping going on here, don't claim it.

The raised hand did have Tommy flinching back and away, and he was shaking to see it.

"Don't hit me, please."

Like he won't try to claim it the second he can.

The illusion didn't seem moved, but his strike was stayed mid sweep as Frank frowned, his fingers shifting and misting away as the green gas filtered out without its source. The rest of him misted away, Stark Industries fading back into view.

The mist failing had Tommy blinking, his eyes clearing. Wait, it's all free. Wow, he's here, in the building that isn't real. Huh.

"Mysterio," he snarls. "BECK!"

Don't ever apologize for being the smartest one in the room

Worst Boss Ever - SI

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