Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

09 | Temporary Relief

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
ix. TEMPORARY RELIEF

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   FOR A MINUTE THERE, Riley was actually relieved.

   Standing around (almost) all of the people she truly cared about—the same ones who would guide her into war for the umpteenth time—brought her relief. It wasn't much, but at least she wasn't alone anymore. She was with her team, her family. Maybe she couldn't shake off that little bit of anxiety gnawing at her stomach, but at least she felt a bit more confident about what was to come.

  It was strange being so... emotional. She felt different, but she couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing. This was a mission, a war, yet she allowed herself to cry, to show her fear and worry. It was a foreign thing for the agent, but... maybe that was okay. 

  "You guys went to Europe and didn't even bring back presents?" Riley tried to joke. The tension in the room was so heavy, even laughter couldn't split it.

   She sat beside Wanda, who had been silently staring down at her hands. Riley extended a hand, placing it over Wanda's. I'm here for you, you know. The elder took it and squeezed it gently. Thank you.

   "We'll think about it next time we're fleeing the country," Steve lightly said, a small smile on his face.

  Now that Steve had seen Riley following her confrontation with Thanos and his minions, he was concerned. His mind raced with the possibilities of what they might see, what they might fight. If this alien could cause this cutthroat agent to shed tears, then maybe the universe was in more danger than he realized. 

  Vision laid across the examination table, watching as Shuri focused on figuring out how to extract the Mind Stone from his head without killing him. It was the only other Infinity Stone they had, so protecting it was all they could do.

   Her kimoyo beads scanned the stone, a hologram appearing over her palm. "Woah," whispered Shuri, "the structure is polymorphic."

  "Right," said Bruce, sitting opposite of her. "We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."

   "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri inquired.

   Vision peered at Bruce, almost as if to ask the same thing. Bruce looked to Riley, who had been assisting when Vision was created. She just shrugged. This caused Bruce to hesitantly reply, "Because... We didn't think of it...?"

   With a reassuring smile, Shuri sassily insisted, "I'm sure you did your best."

  "Can you do it?" Wanda timidly asked. Her voice was low, barely above a whisper. It was normal for her to be quiet. She always had been, from what the others could remember. But things were different. Vision was her partner, and here they were, trying to figure out how to save him and the universe at the same time. Her universe versus the entire universe.