Day 5.
The days were moving slow, it felt like only yesterday since Quentin was taken from his household. Nobody slept the full night, but some lucky folks did manage to bag at least a good hour or two. Tony was obviously not one of them. He was once again up all night trying to figure something out. Everybody had stayed in their original spots except for Harry, who had left to go hang out with Peter.
Keeping the kiddos calm was a lot easier than Stark had thought. He had all of Quentin's high school theater performances. Pop a tape in and their attention was instantly drawn to the kid dancing and singing rather than their crippling depression. The downside however was it was distracting for him also. It made him guilty, seeing how happy Quentin used to be... if he could take anything back, he'd choose how he treated him as he got older.
"I didn't know he could move like that!" Cricket exclaimed.
"Go figure that he did theater. Gay as hell." Jesse commented.
A little bit of Chris had always wanted to try theater, but with all the weird stares he'd get from his family, he knew he was doomed with the disease. What good would be getting good at a career if you're just going to end up in the ground? For fun? Sure, but you'd be letting everyone down if you were to not show. Quentin had practically stopped him from dying with his special technology... maybe when he sees him again, he can ask the man to teach him a thing or two.
"Do you think he can still dance and move his body like that?" Andrew asked while pointing his camera to the screen.
"Yes." Tony chimed in instantly, "I know he can."
"You guys seemed to have been really close for like... ever." Jason said, "How long have you two been friends or what not?"
Tony paused, the horrors that were in 2016 reminded him of a darker path in the two men's relationship. Those days were long gone. Though, talking about them was healthy, "We met in the 70s. He was twelve while I was eleven." He took a break to spin his chair towards the curious boy before continuing, "Had a bit of a rough patch in 2016, which was my fault, we were apart for a decade before reuniting in 2024. Which was really awkward, might I add. So, to answer your question... a little over thirty years."
"Wow," Jason whispered, "I got into a fight with someone, but with a story like that, I guess there's hope for anyone."
"I guess." Tony mumbled.
The room was quiet, apart from the crunchy volume of the cam recorded memories from the 80s. The Danes had never got to see Quentin's childhood, or Tony's for that matter, but they were shocked that the quiet, innocent boy was the same as the current. The other noises were Tony's keyboard and the AIs answering questions or requests. Nobody would have expected what was to come next. Out of the blue, the Peter given the nickname of three, ran into the lab screaming.
"WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!"
"What now?" Tony groaned.
"IT'S HARRY!! OR NOT HARRY, BUT HARRY'S BODY!!"
"What?"
"CARL GOT OUT!!"
Oh shit. Carl was Harry's final alter, otherwise known as Goblin, and it was bad news if he got control. Quentin could easily fix it with his magic, but since he wasn't here... well, it was up to Harry and Threat now. The Goblin must have overheard about the absence of his guard and struck when the mind was tired. Let's just hope they can keep him away from Peter, cause if there was anything Goblin hated... it was him.
As expected, Carl came running in with a knife he had stolen from the kitchen drawers. The other Goblin on the property had given him some pointers when they last spoke. Threat couldn't do much from his room, he had tried breaking open the door, but it was locked up tight. Harry on the other hand was in a much bigger pickle. Shoved into the Goblin's straitjacket with a peach keeping him silent. His teeth deep into the juicy fruit, preventing him from being able to spit out such a treat, wouldn't be so bad if he weren't allergic.
Peter had enough time to hide himself. Even with the context of self-defense, he wasn't able to beat the body up, he didn't want to hurt Harry. Goblin was stronger than him, so his webs were practically useless, as the figure could just snap them like twigs. Thankfully, Gwen was safe. All three of them had been chilling in the bedroom until Osborn had warned them that he was loose.
The remaining people have also worked out a plan to deal with this thorn. Next to Harry, Andrew was another supernatural being. It would take a decent amount of strength and energy, but he could sacrifice that to make sure nobody would be getting murdered today. When Carl crept closer, Detmer struck. Placing him in air prison with his mind and holding him still until they could find a way to contain him.
"PUT ME DOWN." Carl hissed. It was hard to keep the creature floating, when victims spazz out it draws energy, and unfortunately it's easy to tell as Andrew's nose began to bleed.
The good news was there was hope for containment. The bad news was that it was something Quentin had gifted Tony for his birthday, and he hasn't used it or even tested it yet. Better late than never. Tony slid across the lab before punching in the code that he had set, and almost instantly everyone who wasn't him found themselves in grid cages. Trapped by blue electricity, damn, Beck was onto something.
Andrew let the Goblin and wiped his nose as the prisoner growled and roared, trying to bite his way out of his shocking cell. Everyone else was also trying to escape theirs, but they were going nowhere. One by one Tony released every victim except for Carl of course. The kids thanked him as Peter three gave him a simple nod. Now just to ignore the Goblin's screams of profanity.
Meanwhile, with Harry, things weren't going well. He struggled and squirmed, but the one time they use chains to make sure Carl stays locked up has backfired. What's worse is he can't communicate with Threat. Every once in a while he'd hear him slam himself into his bedroom door, so at least both of them weren't giving up. That is, of course, until Carl opened the door, which meant the control room was available. He just had to figure out how to get out of here first.
"What was that?" Peter one asked his mentor.
"A non AI operated security system that Quentin coded for me. That was my first time using it" Tony responded.
"Well, I'd say it worked quite well."
A couple of minutes passed before Peter three signaled to the rich man to release Osborn's body. He caught him quite simply before holding him up and trying to see if anyone were operating it. "Hey, Harry, are you there?" He called out. Soon after, he felt as the figure became lighter and watched as it came to life.
"Hey yeah, sorry, I had to free Threat." Harry responded.
"It's okay, I'm just glad you're safe."
The third Peter purred as he pulled his boyfriend in for a hug. That could have gone terribly without powers and technology. But Harry knew this was only a short victory. Without Quentin's magic to shrink him or everything else, Carl was practically a free man. He'd just avoid this place and Tony next time he escapes.
We miss you, Beck.