Chapter 22

So far, the play went off without a hitch. Despite nearly getting blown up tonight, Michael Tomaz was the epitome of professional tonight and despite the plot-hole ridden script he was given, he did the best to bring the character alive.

"It's you again. It's always been you."

"Yes, Timothy, it's been me. It's always been me. The man who will destroy everything you hold dear!"

The big scene with Mysterio comes up. The moment Mysterio appeared on stage, Michael knew something was wrong. Mysterio was not Carla Bowen, but rather, a stockier individual, a man. She did not her spidey sense to see something was up.

"Uh, oh," Gwen breathed. "It's time."

Harry and Gwen slipped off as the people in the theater started to move down.

"Nothing will keep me down," Mysterio said. "For see, there's no me without you. You're the one who created me, and now I'm going to be the one who is going to end you. For you are the one who took my life, and now I'm going to ruin yours, before all you hold dear."

As if on cue, several robotic bat-like creatures appeared and surrounded the stage and pretty much boxed in the audience. And KJ in particular, had been snagged out of her seat. The seats around them created some kind of magnetic field which held them into place.

Suddenly, one of the bats fired a beam and dropped Michael to his knees in front of them. The bats surrounded them and Mysterio just laughed.

"What are you doing?" Michael asked.

"Justice," Mysterio said. "This is the end of Timothy Hunter. You cannot appreciate a true hero. Therefore, you will appreciate me as a villain. You will appreciate me when I bring forth to the world, the majestic might of Mysterio!"

"Oh, I think you're just another nutjob in a mask!" Lois yelled. "And a stupid one. People like you are….HEY!"

Two of the bats ripped Lois out of her seat and deposited her on the stage near the cast. Mysterio's hand began to glow and he glared down onto him.

"Ms. Lois Lane. Congratulations. You will be allowed to chronicle my descent and the fall of this charlatan. Did you really think he was a hero? Did you really think he deserves your accolades?"

Michael stood up and tried to appease the situation.

"Listen, man, this is...this is just all about entertaining people, having fun, it's not supposed to be serious, it's not supposed to be…."

"SILENCE!"

Mysterio once again blasted the man to his knees. The shock was not deadly, but painful.

"Ten years of my life, I was Timothy Hunter," Mysterio said.

"Berkhart?" KJ asked. You are…."

"I gave ten years of my life, being Timothy Hunter!" Berkhart cried as he gained more steam. "I got thrown away like a piece of garbage like you. Because, you wanted to do something different, despite the fact that something different contradicted your written word."

"You're insane, Daniel," KJ said. "And you should know that I never once said that Timothy Hunter was a white man."

"Save your lies for your sycophants on social media!" Mysterio bellowed. "The only color you care about is green. The green I can make. And the green that Tomaz could make you as well. She will turn on you too, once she decides that a Muslim man is not woke enough for the frothing masses. It's the same story, day after day. You want to pander to the diversity crowd, but you just slap a fresh coat of paint on an established character and call it a day. All while not putting in any work to make true change."

Mysterio's hands glowed even more. This was not part of the original costume.

"The people are magnetized to their seats," Mysterio said. "And I will blow up this theater. Guess, you should have let Watanabe clear this place out, Mr. Director. It would have saved you the grief."

Panic hit the theater, Mysterio turned his eyes, with contempt, to the young man who played Timothy Hunter.

"And now, you are going to be what happens, when someone plays hero, they fall," Mysterio said. "Do yield to me?"

Michael stood up proudly and looked Mysterio in the eye. The ever present bats were locked and ready to fire on them.

"You just don't get it. No matter how many times you knock me down, no matter how many hardships you throw my way, no matter how much you torment me, I will never stop fighting. I will fight you not for glory, not out of vengeance, but because it's the right thing to do. And if you don't understand that, you will never beat me."

Michael took a deep breath.

"That's what being Timothy Hunter is all about," he said. "That's…."

"Cute, but this time, it ends with Timothy Hunter fried, and there will be no cheap deus ex machina to save the day," Mysterio said. "You're a pretender to me and it's your fault I did this."

"She told me you didn't want the role."

KJ just squirmed anxiously as both the old Timothy Hunter and the current Timothy Hunter were not too pleased with her. Thankfully, for her, Mysterio turned his attention to Michael and lifted his finger in.

"You're not a hero. Not to anyone."

"DADDY!"

The loud scream in the crowd came from Michael's daughter, but Mysterio did not appear too moved by it. He paused to soak in the horror for the crowd.

"And now, the final cu…."

"And that's my cue."

Spider-Girl appeared and yanked Mysterio off by the arm. She slammed down onto the ground and forced his attention on her.

"Spider-Girl!" Mysterio yelled. "This isn't about you. This is about me taking a stand about this false purity and diversity culture!"

While he did have some points, the way he went about them rubbed Gwen the wrong way.

"Oh, please, this is about you, and only you!" Spider-Girl yelled. "You're no better than her!"

And with that, Spider-Girl launched onto the attack. She bounced across the bats, deactivating them with several swings and several attacks. An angry Mysterio prepared to blow up the building only for Spider-Girl to snatch the remote detonator from his hand and slam him down onto the stage.

A white haired man watched in glee at the spectacular. His hand was on the trigger just in case. Phineas Mason, the special effects director.

Suddenly, Phineas came face to face with Superman himself. Phineas dropped his coffee to the ground and bolted out of the nearest exit. Only for Superman to snatch him.

"Oh, well, this is embarrassing," Phineas said. "But, still, you can't save them all and stop me."

Phineas pressed a button on his watch and activated a miniature explosion. In a blink of an eye, Superman hit one finger flick and knocked Phineas down onto the ground.

The Man of Steel raced down to the people and several of them finally broke free their seats. Several explosions registered up to them and Harry grabbed some of them and pulled them out of harm's way.

A screaming child echoed through the room which caught everyone's attention.

"ZARI!" Michael shouted.

Harry scooped the eight-year-old girl out of the way and plucked her completely out of the stage. And allowed her to run into the arms of her waiting and grateful mother.

More in the line of fire. Before Harry could react, there's a blur of light which snagged them all out of harm's way and even the hostages off of the stage.

"NO!" Mysterio yelled. "NO, NO, NO! YOU WILL GET OUT OF MY SPOTLIGHT!"

Mysterio found himself knocked off the stage by Spider-Girl and he landed with a thud. The fishbowl cracked and Harry ripped his suit apart to destroy some of the devices he had on it.

Phineas Mason tried to crawl away. Spider-Girl webbed his foot up and pulled him into place.

"Good one," Gwen said. "So, let's leave them gift wrapped for the police."

Harry nodded. Superman and Spider-Girl slipped out of the theater. They left a webbed up Daniel Berkhart and Phineas Mason, struggling and cursing as Yuri led a group of uniformed officers into the theater to nab the two men who caused all of this.

"Show's over."

"But I…."

"SHOW'S OVER!" Yuri yelled.

The director walked over, deflated and defeated. The other two nights of the play was canceled and his career was ruined. Yuri caught a glimpse of someone in an alleyway and she walked forward. She came face to face with the Superman himself.

"Superman," Yuri said.

"Captain Watanabe," Harry said.

"Opinions of you are mixed after the events in Gotham City," Yuri said. "But, you saved those people today, and I appreciate the need for people like you who can't do it."

"And everything you do should be appreciated, Captain," Harry said. "The work you've done cleaning up the drug and weapons trade in New York."

"I just do my part," Yuri said.

"Well, not all heroes wear capes."

Yuri smiled and moved over to deal with the dastardly duo. Harry caught a glimpse of Zari, safe with her mother. Her father was getting injuries tended to and given how shaken up he was by tonight's events, it was best to see it.

"Mommy, it's Superman!"

"Yes, Zari, honey, I can see that….Zari no!"

Zari rushed over and tugged on Superman's cape.

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"Can, I have your autograph?" she asked.

"Sure thing, kid," Harry said.

He scrawled a "Zari, Stay Super" with the signature of Superman. He handed to to Zari who looked quite exciteable.

"Hey, Whitney," Harry said. "Thanks for...the help tonight."

"What help?" Whitney asked.

"You raced all of those people out of the theater, didn't you?"

"No,' Whitney said. "Iris, Jesse, and I…..we've been in Central City all night."

'Mmm, very interesting."

Harry pondered that over and he walked over where Lois had been waiting. Lois flashed Harry a smile.

"So, how are you doing?" Harry asked her.

"Oh you know me, just another day at the office."

Harry chuckled, fair enough.

Berkhart had been oddly sedated as he was being fingerprinted. Yuri still watched him like a hawk.

"You know, something, Danny Berkhart isn't even this guy's real name," one of the cops with a very distinct Brooklyn accent said. "His name is Quentin Beck…."

"Yes, it's true. I was born Quentin Beck, but it was changed to something more markable to appease the masses. My domineering mother, my greedy agent, and that shrew of a fraud KJ, they wasted ten years of life, with nonsense that got pulled away from them."

"Knock it off, Beck," Yuri said.

"But, I would like to thank them, and Tomaz, for opening my eyes by stealing the role of Timothy Hunter away from me and trying to gaslight me, saying that I was his hero," Beck said. "The rush of power of being the bad guy, it was extremely exciting. More so than being a cheesy little boy sorcerer. And soon the day will be mine. Soon Mysterio will reign supreme and Spider-Girl will pay for stealing my spotlight and foiling my plans. All will fold beneath the majestic might of Mysterio!"

"Take him away," Yuri said.

Oh, if Yuri had to endear another moment of delusional ranting, she might go insane.

In the future, an older Zari Tomaz walked through the wasteland and kicked over a shattered fishbowl helmet. She reached into her pocket and read a faded piece of paper with the words "Zari, Stay Super" on them. This statement gave her the courage she needed over the next few months. Because weeks after the disaster of a play, her father succumbed to a crippling illness which killed him in days. And he kept doing bravely what he loved to the end.

A true hero, although one whose stubbornness to seek aid did him in the end, Zari bitterly recalled.

"There you are?"

Mia, Esme, and Aresia stepped into the picture.

"I thought it would start changing the moment Nora went back, "Zari said. "Nothing's changed."

"Well, maybe it….we don't quite know how time travel works, we're just guessing," Esme said.

"Look, I saw a blur on that day. But we're still in this craphole, so…"

The lights flickered and right past them, a demonic entity appeared. Mia armed herself to a bow, but they only saw a flicker of a mysterious shadow. Energy crackled in the air before the shadow disappeared into the light.

"What the hell was that?" Mia asked.

The other women shrugged. They had no answers, only just questions.

"We have got to leave," Aresia said. "Now. The Kree would have seen that."

"Right, let's move," Zari said.