Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

21 | We Are The Endgame

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xxi. WE ARE THE ENDGAME

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   SHE WAS HOPELESSLY SUFFOCATING. Soot saturated the blackened skies and caked itself onto her suit in grimy layers. Her ears rang at a frequency so high that they might as well have started bleeding. Riley coughed so vehemently that her eyes brimmed with heated tears. Her mask went sliding off her face to allow her to breathe somewhat more fluidly. The action was useless. A large remnant of the demolished Avengers HQ rested on top of her, almost completely cutting off her airway.

   Short, pathetic breaths nimbly went in and out of her mouth. She couldn't move until she removed the broken wall off of her abdomen. Riley licked her chapped lips, the taste of smoke on her tongue. Then, she began to push from beneath the drywall, grunting audibly before yielding it off of herself and rolling to the side where the land was cleared.

   Riley laid on her stomach, propped up by her forearms. She swallowed mouthfuls of air now that she wasn't encased beneath the facility's remains. Her hair draped over her face as she whipped her head to the side, taking in the horrific sights around her.

   What the hell just happened? Riley couldn't tell. All she knew was that there was an explosion. Scratch that—several explosions. The headquarters were completely demolished, fire and smoke swallowing them. Was it terrorists? That was the only thing that made sense. Terrorists had to be attacking, the Avengers being their targets. But who was leading the attack? And why now?

   She stumbled onto her feet, her mask securing itself over her head. Adrenaline pumped throughout her veins so vigorously that she hadn't even noticed how her body ached. Robotic sounds filled her ears, causing her to freeze. Energy shrouded her fists in an instant. She wasn't going to try and hide. She was going to fight.

   She gasped in relief when Tony walked around the corner of a rubbish pile. "Riley," worriedly called Tony. Riley approached him hurriedly, Tony meeting her halfway. He had been carrying Steve's shield with one hand, pressing the other on the side of her face. "Are you alright? You hurt?"

   "Ask me that when this is all over," Riley dismissed. Her eyes frantically darted around for potential danger. She momentarily gazed over her father. He seemed as okay as one could be in their situation. "What... What's going on? Where's Steve?"

   "Your guess is as good as mine. Come on. Cap must be around here somewhere."

   Riley nodded slowly, taking a step back to start looking for him. "You don't suppose he'll reply "Polo" if I call out "Marco", do you?" she queried.