12 | KILLER

Valdís managed to get into contact with Happy, who flew in as fast as he could on a jet to where Val was. He picked her up and they took off to the air for security. "Where's Peter?" Happy asked, fretfully.

Val took a deep breath and shook her head, telling him that she didn't know. "Just.. keep checking your phone." Val told him.

* * *

Val managed to get a few hours of sleep as Happy continued to circle the air until he got word of Peter from anyone. Suddenly, Happy's phone began to ring. "Peter?! Thank goodness." Happy spoke into the phone and Val shot up from laying on the couch.

"Okay, we're on our way." Happy stated. Val sighed out in relief, realizing that Peter was okay. He was alive. Happy hung up the phone and began to press some buttons at the front of the jet. "He's in the Netherlands. He's fine, just shaken up a little bit." Happy informed a very curious Val.

Val grabbed her chest and sunk into the chair. She waited anxiously as the jet took a couple of hours to reach the Netherlands. Once Happy landed, she was the first one out. She spotted Peter and sprinted over to him, attacking him with a hug. She squeezed him tightly and he let out a grunt of pain, but that didn't stop her. "Oh my god. I thought you were dead." Val grabbed his face to make sure he was truly okay. He seemed weak and exhausted, but he was alive.

* * *

Happy used his first aid kit to suture up all the cuts and gashes Peter had littered across his body. Happy was on the last one and Peter was using Val's hand as a stress ball. Every time something would hurt, he'd squeeze her hand tightly. It was the only way Val knew to comfort him. What else was she supposed to do? "Relax, relax. Just a few more." Happy stuck the needle in again, then Peter jumped up and yelped.

"How can you tell me to relax when I messed up so bad?!" Peter shouted at him, his fist hitting the table next to him and his eyes red from the tears welling up in his eyes. "I trusted Beck! Right? I thought he was my friend. So I gave him the only thing that Mr. Stark left behind for me and now he's gonna kill all my friends and half of Europe, so please do not tell me to relax." Peter ranted to Happy.

Peter took a seat again, and buried his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't shout..." Peter apologized.

Val felt for him. She knew he was frustrated and felt so guilty he had given up the one thing Tony Stark left for him. Tony only sacrificed himself to reverse the snap for Peter. And it was a huge burden to bear. Val stood up and placed her hand on Peter's shoulder. Peter looked up at her. "We're gonna kick Mysterio's ass. The rest of our class is in London, Flash is streaming it all, we've got to get to them before Beck does." Val felt like a heroic leader by proposing a plan to Peter.

Happy and Peter slowly nodded at her, staring wide eyed and unmoving. She clapped her hands to make them snap out of their trance. "Now! You need a suit." Val told Peter. The two men jumped to their feet and rushed to the back of the jet to sort the whole suit thing out.

* * *

It felt like an eternity to finally arrive in London, but it was a sufficient amount of time for Peter to create a new suit in the suit making machine at the back of the jet. Happy sent Fury an encoded message that Mysterio was not to be trusted while they nearly arrived in London. "Okay, Fury's got the message. Your friends are at the tower bridge. I'm gonna go scoop them up. We're close. Okay, walk me through the plan." Happy instructed Peter and Val.

"We know it's illusion tech. We've just got to get inside of the illusion, take it down, find him and he's just a guy so I can take EDITH right back." Peter recited to Happy.

"Right... but last time you decided to get hit by a train." Happy reminded him.

"True, but, this time... how do I explain this? Uh... I have like a sixth sense—" Peter began to explain.

"His Peter tingle." Val interjected. Peter placed his hand over her mouth. "Ignore her. It's not called my Peter tingle." Peter groaned.

"No, yeah, the Peter tingle! Your Aunt May told me about it. I heard it wasn't working though?" Happy questioned.

"It is working!" Peter retorted.

"Great! I'm gonna go get your friends..." Happy returned to his seat at the front of the jet.

Peter removed his hand from Val's mouth. "What did the name ever do to you?" Val frowned, pretending to be sad.

Peter rolled his eyes. "Can you give me a lift, down to the ground?" Val requested from Peter, returning to seriousness as she focused on the upcoming fight.

Peter waved her off. "Yeah, yeah."

She opened the door of the jet while Happy was still flying it at full speed towards the city. Peter stood near the edge and put on his mask, Val hugged him and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the drop. Peter jumped out and the two free fell into the huge projection Mysterio was already producing in the city. It looked like an enormous hurricane from above, but from below it just looked like another elemental. But, think one hundred times larger.

Peter deployed his parachute, still holding Val tight as they descended into the projection. Upon entry, they projection disappeared and they saw the bones of the operation and spotted the hundreds of drones flying about like busy bees, producing the image of the elemental. Peter landed on one of the drones, then left Val to stand on that one while he swung off to stand on another. Val tried to balance herself on the moving drone, praying not to fall off.

Then, the two got to work breaking all of the drones. Val decimated dozens of drones by the touch of her hand and Peter used his gadgets to take out the drones as well. The illusions began to come apart and Mysterio was revealed standing on a bridge. The drones began to move out of formation and Val held on tight as they descended to the ground. Once she reached close enough to the ground, she jumped off, landing on her feet without any harm.

The drones then all began zooming over to Peter, focusing its energy on him first. Val used her powers to try to take down the drones, but they were too fast. She could take out a couple flying past her, but they were trying to keep up with Peter who was swinging from building to building.

Val pulled out a handgun from her belt and began shooting at the drones since it was the only long distance weapon she had on her. She managed to take out a few more drones, but they seemed to be multiplying by the second. "I can't shake these drones!" Peter shouted into the earpiece.

"I'm trying to get them off of you but there are too many!" Val replied to him.

She ran to the bridge, which is where Peter managed to lose the drones. Peter found Mysterio and was kicking his ass. Val hurried there and saw Peter standing over Beck, who was laying on the ground, hurt. A strange feeling overcame Val as she realized it was an illusion. "Stark was right. You do deserve it." The fake Quentin handed over the EDITH glasses.

Val screamed. "Peter, no!" She jumped, reacting out of pure instinct, and tackled down the real Quentin, who had been standing next to Peter with a gun raised to his head, invisible to the eye as he used his drones to disguise him. The bullet Quentin shot nearly missed Peter. But because of Val taking him down, he was saved.

Peter gasped as he saw Val pinning down the enemy. She ripped off the glasses from his face and tossed it to Peter. She grabbed the gun and pointed it to Quentin's face. "Coward." Val growled lowly at him, then pulled the trigger without even thinking. She had just killed the man. Yes he was an evil son of a bitch that played with both her and Peter's mind, and nearly killed Peter, but, she shouldn't have done that. She shouldn't have shot him without even thinking twice. She realized her mistake once she had done it.

She stared into his lifeless eyes and the gushing bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. She felt nothing. It was how she was trained, by HYDRA, to kill without hesitation and guilt. She was designed to be a killer. She dropped the gun and slowly stood up to see the damage she had just caused.

Peter grabbed her arm and pulled her away from Quentin's dead body. She turned around, her eyes wide with regret. "I'm— I'm sorry." She was in shock, her voice was emotionless. "I— I killed him. I killed him..." She covered her mouth with her hand.

"You saved me. You are not the bad guy." Peter pulled her in for a hug. Val began to sob on his shoulder. Although in that very moment of killing Beck, she felt no remorse, she had grown to be a better person than who she was when she was a prisoner of HYDRA. So, she felt all of the guilt, the pain, the sadness that came with taking someone's life after the fact she had done it. She had some work to do, but, it was certainly progress. Nevertheless, it didn't make her feel any less shitty. It still reminded her of her past. As an assassin. And it was something she never wanted to be, ever again.

"Don't cry. Hey," Peter caressed her hair, "shhh. He was going to kill me, and you did what you had to."