"So," Peter asks as we finish the details of our upgrades suits. His eyes keep trailing down to the guns and the compacted batons on the belt of my current suit, "you carry guns now?"

I don't meet his eyes as I make sure my wristband interfaces are properly secured. "They're just for emergencies."

"They're Nat's aren't they?" He asks, but it sounds more like a statement than a question. I nod and offer him a sad smile. "I didn't know you had them, but I'm glad. You two always seemed close."

"She was like an older sister or another mum where mine failed—besides Pepper, obviously." I tell him and brush my fingers against the guns for reassurance. "Clint—um—he gave them to me after the memorial we had for her. He said Nat—" I have to bite back the tears as I remember when he gave them to me the same day of Dad's funeral, "he said she wanted me to have them and that she loved me." Tears stream down my cheeks, and I hastily brush them off. "Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. You never have to with me." Peter's hand finds mine. "I'm always here for you, and I know how much you lost during the Blip."

I sniffle and look at Peter, "You know, she taught me how to shoot, fight without powers, hide in plain sight, and everything I've had to use these past few months. Sometimes I hear her voice telling me exactly what I need to do. Plus, I found it's easier to stay undetected when you're using guns rather than trademarked powers."

"You shouldn't have had to do any of that stuff." A sigh escapes him as his thumb brushes over my knuckles. "At least not alone."

"I wouldn't have let you come with me if you tried." I suddenly remember MJ and the way he looked at her. Shame rises up in my throat as I pull my hand from his and continue speaking. "There's too much that you would have missed. You needed to be with our friends and May, and they needed you with them more than I did."

"You can't know that."

"I can, because I do." I avoid looking at him, "I gave up a lot when I left. You were better off staying—having a senior year, hanging out with our friends. It's better than running from someone when you don't even know their names or faces. Better than constantly looking over your shoulder and rarely sleeping because you don't know if or when they'll find you. So yeah, I'm pretty sure I know that you were better off back home where I knew you'd be safer."

"That didn't mean it was much better." The ways he says it makes my heart ache. I wish he could understand why I did what I did. I doubt he can unless he went through it too, but it's something I'd never want another person to feel.

"I hate to interrupt, but the order has been made for the drones to launch." ARTI says loud enough for us to hear it. "Beck also seems to be targeting Fury and Hill."

"Figures. Happy, call Fury and give him a warning. They're the only people who could prove he's a fraud, which makes them loose ends to be trimmed." I sigh and tap my foot.

"How am I supposed to do that? Beck's listening, right?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out." I reply and try to ignore the anxiety rolling through my stomach. "ARTI, have the override program ready to go. If it comes down to it, you need to be ready at a moment's notice."

"Override program?" Peter asks, clearly trying to figure it out. "You have access to EDITH too?"

"Yeah, I do, but since you transferred control, I can't access her or counter another primary user's commands without causing a shift in the system. Which also means, if Beck's teams are paying attention, they're bound to notice and backtrace it."

"Which means they could potentially figure out your location and identity." Peter nods and sighs, "That makes sense then."

"I regret to inform you that a kill order has been issued for three of your friends." ARTI informs us, and I clench my fists.

I look at Peter, hating what I'm about to do, but he grabs my hand before I can input the override code. "Don't, not yet."

"Are you crazy? They could get killed, Pete!"

"Not if we split up. You can go protect them while I take care of Beck."

"No. No! I'm not letting you go in there alone." I level a glare at him and cross my arms. "Or are you forgetting that I'm the only one who can see through his illusion? Plus, I wanna get some of my own swings in. He used my family's history for his own gain; the story of my grandparent's lives is being twisted to suit a psychopath, who is hellbent on destroying my Dad's legacy and killing you. I need to take him down as much as you. So let me put in the override commands, stop this insanity, and make sure Beck never even thinks about doing this again."

"Lia," Peter sighs and wraps me tightly against his chest. It's only now that I realize I'm trembling in anger, "I need to keep you and our friends safe. Please."

"Not if it means having to risk you getting hurt." I reply, and Peter shakes his head. "You really want me to let you face the guy who manipulated and got you hit by a train alone?"

"Yes, I am." He pauses for a moment and looks me dead in the eye as he says, "It's what they would have done."

"That was low, Parker." My jaw tightens as I look away from him. I'm worried that if I look at him after what he just said, I'd be tempted to hit him. "Fine, but the second their safe, I'm coming to personally hand Beck his own ass."

"I won't stop you."

Happy comes rushing back to us, "Okay. Fury's got the coded message. Your friends are at the Tower Bridge. You're boy called it London Bridge, but I figured it out."

"Did he seriously learn nothing from me?" I shake my head and share a worried look with Peter.

"I'm gonna go scoop them up. Okay? We're close."

"We're close." Peter repeats, and I can tell he's trying to reassure himself.

"How are the suits coming?" He asks as he looks between the two chambers.

"They're almost done." I reply and work on the last few details to my suit that will help with stay undetected by cameras—drone and otherwise. It takes me a second to realize Happy and Peter are in the pilot's cabin talking quietly. I push it aside and focus on the suits finishing construction.

Well, until Happy speaks loud enough for me to hear, "Oh! You mean the Peter-tingle. That's what you meant, right?"

"The Peter-tingle?" I ask through the laughter involuntarily bubbling out of me. "Wait, wait. Let me guess, it's how May refers to your Spidey-sense?"

"It's not working though. I heard it wasn't working now. Isn't it?"

I look at Peter, knowing with an almost certainty why it stopped. His grief made him question everything and doubt himself and his abilities. Of course, Peter won't say that. "It is working. I don't know if it's working."

"Well, you have it, and you need to use it." I remind him, "And once our friends are safe, I'll have your back."

"That's the plan." Happy agrees. "We're gonna go get your friends. You get the Peter-tingle back online."

"I got this. I got this." Peter repeats to himself before he looks at me. "Scratch that. We've got this."

"We better. Otherwise, this is really gonna suck."

The second the suits finish, Peter and I slip them on. I slide my holsters on, check my ammo and baton charge, which sadly is only good against a person, and retract the lower half of my mask. "Alright, I'm gonna open up the door for you, Pete." Happy calls from the pilot's seat.

I grab Peter's hand before he can make a step. "Be careful and make it back. Okay?"

"I promise." He smiles and pulls me in a tight hug. "I'll always come back."

"I'm holding you to that." I whisper as he leaves to attach himself to the side of the plane, and I take the co-pilot seat. "All right. Comms check, can you hear us?"

"Yeah, I can." Peter's voice calls over the roar of the wind. "It's a little loud out here."

"I like the new suit."

"Agreed. It makes your butt look cute." I call, which makes Happy give me a disapproving look for 'ruining' his compliment. "What? It does."

"Thanks."

Happy looks back out the window, and I follow his gaze to see the 'storm' in the distance. "Whoa, you sure that's not real?" he says as he looks from me to Peter outside his window.

"Yeah, it's just a hundred times bigger than I expected."

"He's got EDITH's drones now too. So he's working with a whole lot more." I bite my lip to keep from saying something stupid or giving away how nervous I am, glad that they can't see it. "We sticking to the plan?"

"Yeah. We just need to get high enough so Beck doesn't see me coming."

Happy start to raise the plane, "Stay sticky, kid."

"Hey, Happy." Peter calls, "We need to have a serious conversation about you and my aun—"

He doesn't get a chance to finish his sentence as he comes loose from the plane. I look over at Happy and raise a brow. "You and May, huh?"

"Can we not talk about this now?"

"We can, but we won't. It helps distract me." I reply and try to look for Peter in the chaos of drones below. "Don't tell Pete, but I think you'd be cute together."

"Shouldn't you be focused on finding your friends instead of my relationship?"

"At least you admit it's a relationship." I tease as I look to the livestream Flash still has going. You've gotta at least give him props for his dedication. He screams about how there were drones in the monster, which makes me smile knowing Peter got the first part of his plan done. "I got him. Dead ahead."

The moment we land, I rush out of the plan. "Ned!" I shout over the screams of terrified tourists and locals as they run away.

"L—Phantom?!" He shouts, almost giving away my real name.

"We gotta get you out of here." Happy shouts as he corrals our friends. "Get on the jet."

"Who are you?" MJ asks as she stares at Happy. "Hey, Phantom."

"Don't worry, you can trust him. He works with Spiderman and I."

"You work for Spiderman and Phantom?" Flash shouts in awe as he looks between us.

"With them! Not for them." Happy retorts, and I nudge him to remind him now is not the time.

Of course, the missiles that blow up the jet pretty much do it for me. "New plan! Everyone, head into the tower." I shout and push them inside. After all, it's the most secure place in London.

"Lia? Happy? Are you okay?"

"We'll be fine. Just focus on stopping Beck; I'm pretty sure he's unraveling." An alert pops up across my lenses. "Fair warning, he's targeting you."

"Thanks for the heads up!"

"Okay, get into the vault!" Happy shouts as we run past Queen's guards shooting down drones. "The walls are eight feet thick. Go into the vault!"

We only make it to the room right before the vault before the bullets start. I grab MJ's arm and pull her towards cover an instant before she gets hit. She looks at me, eyes wide and chest heaving. All I can do is place a finger to the lower half of my mask.

I can hear the drone whirring and searching for us. My assumption is that Beck took manual control. The psycho probably wants to kill us himself. Not that I'll give him a chance, but he's still gonna try.

MJ taps my arm to get my attention and motions toward an old mace. A smile grows on my lips as I nod and take it. After all, these drones were designed to hold up to more than bullets, and I can't use the baton for risk of it causing an explosion bigger than I can contain or wasting a charge trying to take it down. Not to mention, if I don't use my powers, whoever is watching is likely to assume I'm one of the decoys or copycats that's been popping up around the globe.

Yeah, I think the mace will do perfectly.

Happy catches my eye as I slowly reach for it, and I catch him mouthing, "No. No!"

Sorry, Happy, but this is our best shot. The armor creaks a little as I pull the mace free. I can see Happy and MJ both tense in panic when my hand nearly slips from the weight. For once, I'm actually thankful for all the weight training I've done and the extra bit of strength my powers give me.

The drones guns whir in preparation, and I position myself in front of MJ, mace in hand. It doesn't immediately target us though. Ned and Betty seemed to catch on and push over a suit of armor, which the drone promptly releases a hail of bullets at.

I take a breath, heave up the mace and bring it down on the drone with every ounce of strength in me. "Go!" I shout to everyone and walk backwards to protect them as they run into the vault. Happy tugs on my arm as he passes and pushes me into the vault.

Despite the danger of the situation, I almost find myself letting out a chuckle as Happy tosses a heavy metal shield that lands short of the drone while he closes the vault's door. "How does Cap do that?" He asks me.

"I'd imagine the vibranium shield and being a super soldier help him out." I reply and do a head count. "Anyone hurt?"

A chorus of 'no's come in reply, and it's easy to feel the panic still radiating off of everyone. There's a faint buzzing sound from the other side of the door, and I use my shadows to see the drone using a laser to start cutting through the metal. "What's going on?" MJ asks.

"He's using the lasers." I reply and glance at Happy. "We've got some time, but not much."

All of the sudden, Peter's voice crackles through the comms. "Happy, Lia? Please, say something. Let me know you're alive."

"We're here." I whisper back, not even realizing until just now how much I needed to hear his voice to help me focus.

"Everyone's fine. I bought us some time, but it's not gonna last." Happy adds.

"I'm trying to get to Beck, but I can't shake these drones!"

"Don't worry about us. I'll keep everyone over here safe; just focus on doing the same for yourself. You've got to keep your promise." I stop as the light of the laser starts to peek through. The sounds of explosions and the fight on Peter's end.

"Are we gonna die?" Ned questions, and I can see the terror of the situation bringing tears to his eyes as looks between Happy and I.

"Nobodies dies on my watch." Happy replies.

A energy pulse pounds against the door, and I can feel the worry of what might happen rise up in my throat. It sends an ache through my chest. These are my friends; people who got caught up in a psychopath's twisted narrative.

"I've wasted my life playing video games, and we're gonna die."

Another pulse. Betty takes her turn to make a confession. "I have a fake ID, and I've never even used it."

"I post stupid videos daily for people to like me." Flash cries as the pulses come faster.

"Hey, if it wasn't for those stupid videos, they would have never found you."

"Spiderman—Spiderman and Phantom follow me? I saved us, guys."

"If you saved us, then why are we about to die?" MJ snaps.

"You're not gonna die! Just stay behind me." I shout and adjust my grip on the mace. There's a twisting in my gut. It's obvious to me what I have to do, which is protect them. I'll do everything to make it through this, but I would never forgive myself if they got hurt.

Of course, everyone bursts into an argument. "Stop it!" Happy shouts until they're quiet.

"I'm sorry, okay?" MJ shouts with the panic clearly ringing in her voice. "I'm obsessed with telling the truth even if it hurts other people's feelings."

"I'm in love with Spiderman's aunt." Happy blurts out, eyes immediately widening in realization of what he said and face flushing with embarrassment.

"It's okay, Hap. If it's any consolation, I'm in love with Spiderman." I whisper too caught up in the moment to realize I just admitted that out loud for the first time since I said it on Titan. Even after the Blip, I couldn't bring myself to say it; instead, I tried and probably failed to show him. It's only now that I realize how much I wanted to admit it all over again. "I love him."

The others all turn to me, most with slack jaws or excited smiles. Except, only three of them know who I am. Flash and Betty still don't know it's Peter beneath the mask. But now they know my biggest secret. "What?" Happy asks, unsure of why they're all looking so happy and confused. "We're sharing, right?"

With one last pulse, a large chunk of the door's fall in. "Everyone down!" I shout and lift my free hand, ready to release the building energy at a moment's notice.

Except, Peter does it. Or at least, I assume he does because the drones stop where they are, and a moment later, an alert comes across my lenses that Peter is back in the system and sending the drones back. They spin around and fly out—likely heading to their little homes in the Stark satellite.

"Give me the spear." Happy says to Betty as he takes the ancient weapon from him.

"Actually, it's a halberd." Ned and I correct Happy at the same time.

We cautiously exit the vault, and I can't shake the worry that maybe they'll come back. Once it's clear they aren't, I turn to Happy. "Can you take care of them? I have to go help him."

"Yeah, I can handle this." He nods, and I turn around before I hear him shout. "Wait, I—um—I was asked to give you this."

I watch Happy in confusion as he digs into his lapel pocket. It all fades as he pulls out a broken, glass necklace. My hands shake as I take it and realize where it came from—the little glass shop in Venice.

Tears brim in my eyes as all the realization comes crashing in on me. Peter—Peter wasn't buying a gift for MJ. He got it for me. Even more important, it's a star, which was always important for us—we would always stargaze after patrols or when one of us was sad. He would drag me out every night after Dad died just to cheer me up a little.

It means that he didn't give up—didn't move on.

I look up at Happy, as I stow the necklace away in one of my pouches to keep it from breaking further. "I thought he had—oh god. I've been so stupid."

"He didn't, kid. Never even considered it." Happy grins at me and nods towards the doors. "Now go."

As I pull open the door, I hear Flash practically squealing, "Oh my gosh. My ship is sailing. Phidey is actually real!"

I can't fight the smile that pushes through the worry. All I can think about is getting to Peter—making sure he's okay, and for a second, I almost entirely forget about Beck.

ARTI pulls up Peter's location, and I push myself to a full sprint to get to him. The moment I catch sight of him limping through the destroyed cars, I feel a swell of happiness and renewed energy to run even faster towards him. "Lia." He calls, and I run right into his arms, the mace slipping from my hands to the concrete.

"Are you okay? Please, tell me you're okay." I cry as I grip onto his shoulders like a life raft.

"I'm okay. Are you?"

"I definitely am now." I sigh into his neck. "Everyone else is okay."

He lets out a heavy sigh of relief. "What happened?"

"We locked ourselves in the crown jewel vault. The drones had just cut through when you sent them back." I nestle into Peter's neck for a moment longer before pulling away. "Did you get him?"

"Yeah." He nods somberly.

"Well, I still owe him his own ass. Even brought a mace to help."

"Nice." Peter laughs as we look over each other.

"Also—um—before I left, Happy stopped me." I say as I pull the necklace from my belt. "He gave me this."

"No, no." Peter cries as his hands cup mine to see the broken necklace. "Oh, Lia, I'm—I'm so sorry. I had this stupid plan."

"Pete," I try to interrupt, but he keeps talking.

"I wrote it all down. I was gonna buy you this necklace, look for you in all your favorite place, and convince you to—" I cut him off my pulling him close and pressing my lips to his for a split second. "—and you kissed me. What?"

"Thing is, when I was gone, I kind of gave up hope on a lot of things." Tears brim in my eyes and the emotion takes over my voice. "Honestly, I wouldn't have blamed you if you had given up, hated me, or moved on. I half expected you had, and when Happy gave me the necklace. I just—I just felt so stupid for ever doubting you and for leaving and for how I acted before I left. Truth is, I love you, Peter, and I never stopped."

Peter smiles and lets out a small laugh. "God, I can't tell you how it feels to hear you say that."

"A star." I change the subject back to the necklace, still unsure how to face all this at once. "For how we always—"

'How we always would stargaze. Yeah." He offers me a sad smile. "I'm sorry it's broken."

"I'm not. I kind of like it better this way."

"Good, 'cause in case it wasn't obvious, I really love you."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." I tease and wrap my arms around his neck. "I love you too, hot stuff. In case you didn't know."

His hands find my waste as he pulls me closer. It makes my head spin as he kisses me longer and sweetly. Our foreheads rest together as both of us smile tenderly. It makes me think that maybe things don't always end terribly. Maybe I will be able to have a bit of happiness and normalcy.

Either way, I commit myself to not wasting this moment.