Secrets And A Spider

-29-

"We've gotta turn this ship around." The Wizard said, looking directly at my dad, who scoffed. "Yeah. Now he wants to run. Great plan."
"No, I want to protect the stone." My dad walked past him, looking at the window, irritated. "And I want you to thank me now. Go ahead, I'm listening."
"For what? Nearly blasting me into space?" The Wizard argued.
"Who just saved your magical ass? Me." My dad ignored him.
"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet."
"Admit it. You should have ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused." I rolled my eyes as they went on, Peter and I watching in silence.

"Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."
"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles away from Earth with no backup." At his words, Peter raised his hand, tugging me forward with him, "we're backup."
"No. You're stowaways." He gestured between himself and The Wizard, "The adults are talking."
"Heard that before." I sassed.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused as to the relationship here. Wh-- what are they, your wards?" The Wizard cut in.
"No. I'm Peter, by the way," Peter replied.
"Dr. Strange."
"Oh, we're using our made-up names. Um... I'm Spider-Man, then." Strange looked at me.
"His daughter, Riley." I said, pointing at my dad.
"Please tell me you have more sense than him,"
"Probably not, your cape is awesome by the way." Strange rolled his eyes, walking back over to my dad.

"This ship is self-correcting its course. Thing's on autopilot." He informed.
"Can we control it? Fly us home?" As Strange asked this, I saw a familair look on my dad's face, and rushed over. "Dad?" I shook his arm lightly, and he snapped out of the memory he was sucked into. "Yeah?"
"Can you get us home?" Strange repeated his question, and I gripped his hand.
"Yeah I heard you. I'm thinking... I'm not so sure we should."
"Under no circumstance can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos. I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here." Strange snapped, and he released his hand from mine, walking up to him. "No. It's you who doesn't understand, that Thanos has been inside my head for six years since he sent an army to New York and now he's back!" I stepped forward, placing my hand on his shoulder, knowing where this could lead. He tapped my hand, signalling that I could let go as he resumed talking to Strange. "And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf, he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him. Doctor. Do you concur?" he finished. Strange thought for a moment, before giving in. "Alright, Stark. We go to him. But you have to understand... if it comes to saving you or the kids or the Time Stone... I will not hesitate to let any of you die. I can't, because the fate of the universe depends on it." I met my dad's eyes, and nodded, moving close to Peter.

"Nice. Good. Moral compass. We're straight." After saying this to Strange, my dad walked up to us, tapping Peter's shoulders one at a time. "Alright, kid. You're an Avenger now." I froze and he refused to meet our eyes.
"Mr. Stark, no disrespect, Riley deserves this more than me," Peter spoke up, and he let out a sigh, clearly fighting himself in his mind, something I'd seen multiple times. "Dad, it's alrig..."
"No, Riley, it's not alright. You know why? Because the kid's right, you deserve to be on the team. And I know what I'm signing you up for by doing this, but you deserve it more than any of us, you kept Loki distracted for nearly a whole hour and you were only 10 years old. You beat me at my own tech whilst you were flying at high speed into space, Riley, you make me proud every single day, and when the time comes, you're going to make a great leader to the avengers." With that, he tapped my shoulders too, and I hugged him tight, tears in my eyes. "I love you, dad."
"Love you too, Rie."

"Hey, what's going on?" We pulled away upon hearing Peter's voice.
"I think we're here." Strange spoke up, and we ran forward.
"I don't think this rig has a self-park function. Riley?" I activated my suit, flying up and scanning the front half of the ship. "On it!"
"The controls are right there, it will take two of you to control it," TUESDAY informed, sending the memo to my dad.
"Alright, Kid? Get your hand into this steering gimbal. Close those around it. You understand?" Peter ran over, doing as he said.
"Yep, got it."
"This was meant for one big guy, so we got to move at the same time." He added.
"Okay. Okay. Ready." Peter nodded, as we headed directly towards the planet. "We might wanna turn. Turn! Turn! Turn!!" Peter began to panic, and my dad activated his suit, Peter's helmet going up. Strange stopped between them, beginning to create a shield around us as we hit the ground, ploughing through the dirt. "Activating kinetic absorption." My eyes went wide at the sound of TUESDAY's voice. I knew Shuri had installed some upgrades on my visit a couple of months ago, but not what. My suit began to glow blue, and I didn't feel the landing as much as I should have.