╔══════════════════╗

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
v. FIELD TRIP

╚══════════════════╝

  RILEY STARK HAD NEVER been so convinced in her life of something; that today was going to be a good day. She was absolutely, 100% positive that nothing could ruin her day and nothing was going to go wrong. Not only was today Friday, but today was also the day of her English class field trip to MoMA. Riley had been through hell just two days before, but this? This was something she had been looking forward to for an entire week and nothing was going to ruin her day.

   She was thankful that she didn't have to show up to school until around 8:00 AM to get on the bus. She stood in her kitchen at around 7:30, chugging down a glass of orange juice, when JOCASTA suddenly wondered aloud, "Miss Valor, would you like to hear a joke?"

   Placing the glass down, Riley shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

  "Why did the girl stare at the carton of orange juice? It said concentrate!"

   Making a quiet scoffing sound of amusement, Riley shook her head and admitted, "That's awful, but I'm definitely going to steal it." She pulled out her phone from her back pocket and opened up her messages.

o o o o'riley auto parts
why did the girl stare at the
carton of orange juice?

o o o o'riley auto parts
it said concentrate

pita bread parker
LOL is that joke about u

o o o o'riley auto parts
bitch

pita bread parker
i kid i kid!

pita bread parker
see u at school!

   She was seconds away from texting back a reply saying something along the lines of how she was going to kick his ass for his comment, but to her dismay, she was interrupted.

  "Incoming call from Tony Stank," announced JOCASTA. "Would you like to answer?"

   Riley snickered at how JOCASTA just called him "Tony Stank."

   She simply replied, "I've got it, thanks JO!" Then, she pressed the green answer button on the screen while grabbing her backpack (which was full of snacks, of course). She exited the condo, having JOCASTA lock the door behind her in the process. "What's up, Tony?"

  "Morning, Tink. You sound well-rested," greeted Tony. "Could it be because you ditched your mother and I's family morning run to go on a field trip? You know, you missed out on the story about this dream I had last night. It felt so real. It was about—Actually, you know what? You don't deserve to know."

   Riley was unable to refrain from rolling her eyes. "If it makes you feel better, I'll run to MoMA instead of taking the bus like a normal, sane person," she satirically responded, making her way toward the elevators. She waved at her neighbor as he walked past her in the opposite direction. "Morning, Mr. Lee!" Mr. Lee smiled and returned the greeting in his own words. "So what can I do for you, Tony?"

  "You're not in public, right? Like, you're alone?" Tony ominously asked.

   Riley felt her suspicions grow from within her. "Yeah... Why do you ask—AHH!" Without warning, a portal opened up beneath Riley's feet. With a shout, Riley went flying through it and disappeared entirely.

   Mr. Lee spun around at the sound, startled and muddled. He shook his head upon Riley's absence. "Teenagers..." he muttered to himself before going back to what he was doing before. Truth be told, Mr. Lee's existence truly held no true importance toward Riley's life or her story. If anything, there was something about him that was so otherworldly to Riley. It was like he was a cameo in a popular movie franchise that fans never failed to point out.

  Meanwhile, Riley's scream carried as she flew through a gold-rimmed portal. She hardly stuck the landing, too busy to process what the fuck just happened. Eyes wide, all she wanted to do was punch the shit out of Tony for springing that — whatever that was — on her without a proper warning. 

   The first individual her eyes landed on was a man with gelled hair and empty blue eyes. "Hi, sorry about that," the man casually greeted, almost not even realizing that what he had just done was horrifying and wasn't something the ordinary person experienced. "I'm Doctor Stephen Strange. This is Wong." He nodded to the equally as serious, shorter Asian man beside him. "Your father had us bring you here because we need your help."

   Riley stared at him and Wong for a moment, taking this in. Weirder things had happened to her, so really, all Riley could do was offer them a kind smile. Riley wasn't one to show instant rudeness to others. "It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm Riley Stark," she greeted. Then, her gaze trailed over to Tony. She narrowed her eyes at him. "You're a dick."

   "Well, I needed you here not because you're an Avenger, but because you pay attention to things when I don't," bantered Tony, causing Riley to snort.

   Strange's eyes widened at the interaction. Clearly, he wasn't used to any kind of relationship that was like Tony and Riley's.

   "Oh my God," a very familiar voice mumbled just loud enough for Riley to hear. She turned around at the sound, her jaw dropping upon observing Bruce Banner in the flesh for the first time in years. He had been missing ever since the great battle against Ultron. Riley hurriedly moved toward the man and embraced him in a big hug. "You've grown so much."

   "I thought you were dead," Riley admitted, pulling away from the hug. She looked into his eyes, hoping to see the same Bruce she'd known and loved; however, all she could see was fear... fear that hadn't quite subsided since he arrived back to Earth.

   Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder in a caring manner. He glanced at Tony with a faint smile. "You adopted her? It's about time."

   "You're telling me," admitted Riley. She folded her arms over her chest where her heart was still racing to an extent. "So does anyone wanna tell me what's going on? Because I'm missing a field trip for this."

   Doctor Strange, Bruce, and Wong seemed to exchange knowing glances at the sound of this. All of them knew that what they were about to explain to Tony and Riley wasn't anything they would be ready to hear.

   In a very destroyed (no thanks to Bruce's Hulkish entrance) Sanctum Sanctorum, as Riley had learned was the name of the building they were in, Wong used ancient magic to show the universe and five vibrantly colored stones. She watched with awe twinkling in her eyes, for she had never seen anything like this before.

  Well, maybe she had seen them once before. Almost like a dream, a vision of some sort. She couldn't put her finger on it. Something about Thor and Vision... The memory was escaping her. 

   "From the dawn of the universe, there was nothing. Then, boom! The Big Bang sent elemental crystals hurtling across the virgin universe," Wong explained. The magic moved about the atmosphere accordingly as he continued, "These Infinity Stones each control an essential aspect of existence."

   "Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind," Doctor Strange listed out. Then, the necklace, otherwise known as the Eye of Agamotto, around his neck opened up to reveal another stone, "and Time."

   Tony and Riley had been paying attention very carefully, the two of them equally alert. "Tell me his name again," insisted Tony. He stood up from where he had been sitting, joining the others.

   "Thanos," reminded Bruce. Fright was engraved into his aging face. He walked toward Tony. "He's a plague, Tony. He invades planets. He takes what he wants. He wipes out half the population. He sent Loki. The attack on New York, that's him!"

   Goosebumps raced down her spine. Riley's eyes widened once her mind made the connection. Her throat closed up at the memory of the attack on New York. Even Bruce's fear was beginning to instill worry into the teenager and Tony. The look of anxiousness in Tony's eyes was enough to tell anyone that this was not going to be like anything they'd ever faced before. This was the endgame, wasn't it?

   When Tony asked about their timeline, Bruce admitted, "No telling. He has the Power and Space stones. That already makes him the strongest creature in the whole universe. If he gets his hands on all six stones..."

   "He can destroy life on a scale hitherto undreamt of," Doctor Strange finished for the man.

   Riley jumped upon feeling her phone vibrating endlessly in her pocket. She pulled it out, seeing as all the texts were from Peter Parker.

pita bread parker
where are u??? the bus is
about to leave!!

pita bread parker
rileyyyyy what do i tell mrs. s??

pita bread parker
helloooo???

o o o o'riley auto parts
THE UNIVERSE IS IN DANGER I
CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW SORRY

pita bread parker
haha hilarious. now what's the
actual reason ur running late?

   "Did you seriously just say "hitherto undreamt of"?"

   "Are you seriously leaning on the Cauldron of Cosmos?"

   "Is that what this is...?"

   Riley glanced up at Tony and Doctor Strange's bickering, sliding her phone back into her pocket. Tony was been leaning on some sort of cauldron, receiving disapproval from Doctor Strange. Her eyebrows shot upward curiously as the red cloak Stephen wore smacked Tony's arm off of the cauldron, surprising the father-daughter duo greatly.

   Staring at the cloak, Tony straightened himself out and simply stated, "I'm going to allow that."

   Clearing her throat, Riley wondered, "I don't get it. Why is the fate of our universe based upon who has these magical Pop Rocks?"

   "Yeah, and if Thanos needs all six, why don't we just stick this one down the garbage disposal?" Tony agreed, nodding toward the Time Stone.

   "No can do," Strange declared as Wong added, "We swore an oath to protect the Time Stone. With our lives."

   "And I swore off dairy," counteracted Tony, "but then Ben & Jerry's named a flavor after me, so..."

  "Stark Raving Hazelnuts," recalled Doctor Strange.

   "It's not bad."

   "A bit chalky."

   "A Hunka-Hulka Burning Fudge is our favorite," Wong explained.

   Bruce made a confused face. "That's a thing?"

   "Vanilla Fudge Valor is pretty good, too," pointed out Wong, causing Riley to grin victoriously.

   "Agreed," Doctor Strange said.

   "Alright, look, the point is: things change," said Tony.

   Doctor Strange narrowed his eyes at Tony. It was clear that the two hardheaded men were going to disagree and argue over everything. "Our oath to protect the Time Stone cannot change. This stone may be the best chance we have against Thanos," stated Doctor Strange.

   "And still, conversely, it may also be his best chance against us," Tony fired back.

   "Well, if we don't do our jobs," Strange argued.

   "What is your job, exactly, besides making balloon animals?"

   "Protecting your reality," Doctor Strange snapped. "Douchebag."

   Taking a step forward, Bruce took it upon himself to cut in, "Okay, guys, could we table this discussion right now? The fact is that we have this stone. We know where it is." He gestured to the Time Stone. "Vision is out there somewhere with the Mind stone and we have to find him now."

   Tony and Riley immediately froze up. They exchanged knowing glances. "Yeah, that's... that's the thing," awkwardly trailed off Tony.

   "What do you mean?" Bruce demanded.

   Tony glanced back down at Riley, who shot him a look. "Are you gonna tell him?" she queried.

   "Well, I'm not gonna tell him."

   "Seriously?"

   "It's awkward!"

   "Okay, yeah, and it's just as awkward for me knowing that we lost track of—You know what? Fine," Riley grumbled. She turned toward Bruce. "Two weeks ago, Vision turned off his transponder. He's completely MIA."

   "What?" Bruce gasped. "Tony, you lost another super bot?"

   "Eh, I'd say he's more of an Easy Bake Oven," joked Riley in attempt to make light of the situation.

   "I didn't lose him! He's more than that," Tony defended. "He's... He's evolving."

   Doctor Strange took it upon himself to, then, ask, "Who could find Vision then?"

   Riley and Tony, once again, exchanged knowing glances as the latter mumbled, "Shit... Probably Steve Rogers."

   "Probably Steve Rogers? No, definitely Steve Rogers," corrected Riley.

   With a loud sigh of exasperation, Doctor Strange sarcastically said, "Great."

   "Maybe, but..." Tony sighed.

   Bruce, not knowing anything about their little Civil War, insisted, "Call him."

   Riley rubbed the back of her head awkwardly as Tony replied, "It's not that easy. God, we haven't caught up in a spell, have we? Uh, the Avengers broke up. We're toast."

   "Broke up? Like—Like a band?" Bruce asked, startled. "Like the Beatles?"

   "Eh, more like One Direction," Riley chimed in.

   Bruce snapped his head toward Riley. "Wait, One Direction broke up?"

   "Oh, wow, you really have been gone for awhile, huh," Riley realized.

   "Cap and I fell out hard," Tony revealed. "We're not on speaking terms."

   Bruce moved toward Tony, hoping to smack some sense into the man. "Tony, listen to me," Bruce pleaded desperately. "Thor's gone." Riley's heart dropped in her chest upon hearing this. "Thanos is coming. It doesn't matter who you're talking to or not."

   Tony paused to consider what he was saying. Bruce was right. This was far more serious than some fight. Hesitantly, Tony pulled out an old flip phone from his pocket, almost as if he had been waiting to use it for a long time. He scrolled to the only contact, which had been Steve Rogers. He was about to press "call" when he noticed something.

   There was an unusual rumbling that was distracting him. Tony looked around, unsure if he had been imagining it or not. His suspicions were confirmed instantly once he looked over at Doctor Strange. "Say, Doc, you wouldn't happen to be moving your hair, would you?" he wondered.

   Glancing up at his unnaturally moving strand of hair, Doctor Strange confessed, "...Not at the moment, no."

   Riley directed her attention to the large opening through the ceiling to see debris flying by outside. "What the hell...?" she trailed off, causing the others to look up, too.

   Hurriedly, the group exited the Sanctum through the front door, only to enter chaos. People were running away from something, alarmed screams filling the skies and parting the clouds. Traffic had become impossibly tangled due to people bolting through the street and owners abandoning their vehicles to escape the madness.

   Instinctually, Riley bursted forward and created a forcefield as a car nearly crashed into a pole behind Tony. With her arms outstretched, she began to move onto another person who was about to get pummeled by a car and barked, "Someone help him!"

   "Wong, Doc!" screamed Tony as he put on his sunglasses. "FRIDAY, what am I looking at?" He looked back at Doctor Strange. "Hey, you might wanna put that Time Stone in your back pocket, Doc!"

   Riley's eyes widened at the absolute madness unfolding all around them. She ran ahead of Tony, creating forcefields around the individuals without an ounce of hesitation. She didn't care one bit that she wasn't in her suit, risking the fact that her identity could become exposed. Hell was breaking loose.

   She sprinted ahead of Tony, discovering an enormous, circular ship floating over Bleecker Street. Her heart began to pound violently against her chest at the sight of it. Was Thanos bringing the fight to them? Already? It felt like Riley was just hearing about it, and now she was about to fight to protect humanity again?

   "FRIDAY, evac anyone south of 43rd street," ordered Tony. "Notify first responders."

   Riley watched in awe as Doctor Strange used his magic and threw the Winds of Watoomb over Bleecker Street. This caused the dust to clear and the wind to settle down. However, just when things were beginning to settle down, two aliens exited the ship. One of them was shorter and looked much like a squid, whereas the other was larger, buffer, and looked like a sentient rock.

   Riley and Tony were the first ones to march forward, the others following closely behind. "Hear me, and rejoice!" the shorter one, Ebony Maw, declared. "You are about to die at the hands of the Children of Thanos. Be thankful that your meaningless lives are now contributing to—"

   "I'm sorry, Earth is closed today!" Tony interjected. "You better pack it up and get outta here!"

   "Yeah, seriously!" agreed Riley. "I mean, what is this "Children of Thanos" bullshit? What, do you guys have alien daddy kinks or something?"

   Ebony glanced over at Doctor Strange. "Stonekeeper," Ebony began, "do these chattering animals speak for you?"

   "Animals!? You're the one that looks like Gary the Snail from Spongebob with an Acid addiction!" Riley yelled defensively.

   "Certainly not. I speak for myself," Doctor Strange declared, ignoring Riley. He moved his hands to do his ancient magic. "But you're trespassing in this city and on this planet."

   "It means get lost, Squidward!" Tony shouted after him.

   The shorter one glanced at its partner, Cull Obsidian. "They exhaust me," Ebony said before looking back at the humans. "Bring me the stone."

   "Say please and we'll consider it!" called out Riley, causing Tony to lightly snicker.

   Tony glanced over at his science buddy. "Banner, you want a piece?"

   "No, not really, but when do I ever get what I want?" grumbled Bruce. He rubbed his hands together and attempted to unleash the Hulk.

   "That's right," Tony said, keeping his gaze on the aliens. "Been a while. It's good to have you back, buddy."

   "I just... I need to concentrate here for a second," Bruce insisted. His neck turned green for a moment, but that was it. The Hulk wasn't coming out. The larger alien started to march toward them, hitting cars with his equally as large weapon. "Come on, come on, man..."

   Tony looked back at him, surprised to still see the human instead of the green rage monster. "Where's your guy?"

   "I-I don't know," admitted Bruce. "We've sorta been having a thing."

   "A thing!?" Riley cried. "What, like a mandatory-couple's-therapy type of thing?!"

   "There's no time for a thing," Tony reminded him. He pointed at the approaching Obsidian. "That's the thing right there. Let's go."

   Bruce released a loud grunt, but overall was only able to turn his own neck green. He breathed heavily as Doctor Strange shot the three a judgmental glance.

   Tony looked back at Bruce. "Dude, you're embarrassing us in front of the wizards," Tony mumbled.

   "Tony, I'm sorry," Bruce stammered. "Either I can't or he won't—"

   "It's okay," interrupted Riley. "Seriously. Stand down." She raised her hands, creating a forcefield around him to protect him. Bruce nodded thankfully toward the girl.

   She turned back to face the aliens with determination rising inside of her. She pushed the buttons on her cuffs, causing her suit to materialize across her skin. Tony appeared to do the same thing. He walked forward and grew a shield on one arm to protect himself from Cull Obsidian's first blow. He quickly spawned a set of blasters that easily threw Cull back to Ebony, who merely gestured and deflected his partner into some cars.

   "Wh-Where'd that come from!?" Bruce asked in shock at their suits and the weapons.

   "It's nanotech," Tony explained casually, turning back to his friend. "You like it? I used Tink, here, to test it and I think it's pretty—" A spike of earth being shot up from beneath Tony caused him to go flying into the air. Then, the still-standing alien attacked the rest of the team with uprooted trees and other debris.

   As Doctor Strange teleported Bruce out of the war, the fight continued to unravel. Tony returned rapidly, pushing a car thrown by the alien back at it. Ebony chopped it in half and allowed the pieces to fly past him, untouched, unbothered.

   Tony flew through what appeared to be some sort of makeshift obstacle course created by Ebony and his destruction. Riley turned herself invisible and went running through after him. She was about to run around Tony to attack Ebony, but was stopped by Cull throwing his weapon at Tony. This resulted in Tony flying backward, taking Riley down with him in the process.

   Valor just barely managed to create a forcefield around herself as she collided with a tree and Tony nearly crushed her in his Iron Man suit. "Ow..." she grumbled, visible again.

   Bruce went running up to them out of what seemed like nowhere. "Are you guys okay!? How we doing? Good? Bad?"

   "Really, really good," Tony sarcastically responded as Riley pushed her father off of her. "Do you plan on helping out?"

   "I'm trying!" Bruce cried out. "He won't come out."

   Tony looked up, noticing Cull's hammer going flying toward Bruce. "Hammer," was all Tony said before he pushed Bruce out of the way by throwing himself over him. Somersaulting forward, Tony shot a laser at Cull; however, it seemed to just deflect off of his shield. A tree was sliced in half due to this, nearly taking Bruce out.

   As Tony flew around Cull and shot lasers at him, Valor went sprinting forward. She created a forcefield around herself as Cull swung his hammer at her. Riley gasped at the blunt force, nearly breaking her concentration. She rolled over to the side and kicked her leg out at Cull. This caused him to temporarily lose his balance, which allowed Riley to channel the UV rays inside of her and punch him as hard as she could. This knocked Cull off of his feet, but not without whacking Riley back in the process.

   Quickly, Cull rose back to his feet and went to hit Tony with his hammer. "Dad!" Riley worriedly yelled. She was milliseconds away from creating a forcefield to protect him when a red-suited figure leaped into action.

   "Hey, man," Spider-Man nonchalantly greeted, holding the hammer back with his raw strength. "What's up, Mr. Stark? Ghostie, good to see you, finally!"

   Breathlessly, Tony asked in surprise, "Kid, where'd you come from?"

   "Field trip to MoMA!" Peter yelled whilst Cull grabbed him and threw him off to the side. Peter was quick to jump back into action. "What's this guy's problem?"

   "He's from space," Tony explained, shooting more lasers. "He came here to steal a necklace from a wizard."

   Almost on cue, Doctor Strange's unconscious body went flying through the park thanks to his animated cloak. "Doctor Strange!" called Riley. She jumped upward, creating a flattened forcefield beneath her feet. Riley rode it like a surfboard as the sun's rays carried her. She had been getting a lot better with controlling UV rays as time went on.

   "Kid, that's the wizard. Get on it," Tony ordered, not even realizing that Riley had taken off. When working with someone whose abilities included invisibility, you eventually learn to not worry about their constant location.

   "On it!" Peter exclaimed, swinging off after Riley. Yelling into her earpiece, he admitted, "Dude, I thought you were joking about the universe being in danger!"

   "According to the wizard, life could be destroyed on a scale hitherto undreamt of!"

  "Hitherto undreamt of? What is this, Shakespeare in the park?" Peter joked, causing Riley to laugh.

   Focusing on the situation at hand once more, Valor sped up upon noticing Ebony floating toward Doctor Strange. She raised her hands and channeled more of the sun's energy from within her. She shot the UV rays at him. She managed to duck when Ebony tossed a billboard at her, resulting in Peter getting hit instead. At the same time, Ebony was able to rip the cloak's grasp away from Doctor Strange's body.

  "Miss Valor, I see an opening to his right," JOCASTA said into Riley's ear.

   Riley averted her attention toward the blind spot. She turned herself invisible in order to catch up without Ebony Maw realizing, but she was ultimately unable to reach him as an opening in the spaceship expanded.

   A beam shot outward from the vessel, grabbing onto Doctor Strange and his sentient cloak. Peter released a stream of web in an attempt to save Doctor Strange. He held himself and the man to Earth by gripping tightly onto a streetlamp, but Ebony managed to uproot it. This sent the three hurdling toward the spaceship.

   Valor turned herself visible again, but she quickly found herself frozen. It seemed that the ship sensed her the moment she turned visible, meaning that she was captured in its beam. She was stuck.

   "We're being abducted by aliens!" Riley cried out as Peter exclaimed, "Mr. Stark, we're being beamed up!"

  "Hang on!" Tony yelled.

   Riley tried to turn herself invisible once again, but a loud beeping in her suit broke her concentration. "Sensing numerous contusions and depleting oxygen levels," JOCASTA informed. "You need to get out of there now!"

   Her throat closed up as she attempted to breathe. "I-I can't move!" Suddenly, the beam to the ship closed off. Doctor Strange, the cloak, and Ebony weren't anywhere to be seen. Riley had no idea where Peter was, but she assumed he was on the ground again. Riley, on the other hand, was sent soaring toward the Earth after being several thousand feet in the air.

   Gasping heavily, Riley clawed at her throat until she felt something on her body. It was a cool sensation. Inhaling sharply, oxygen quickly entered her lungs again. The scent of car air-freshener seeped into her nose and Riley was stable once more. Riley looked down at her hands, realizing what had happened. Tony had created another suit for her. It was much like his Iron Man one, but tailored for Valor.

   She didn't have time to be impressed by it. Gathering herself, she created a flat forcefield beneath herself once more. She soared toward the spaceship again. She couldn't find anyone: Tony, Peter. No one. Her eyes darted back to the ship. She had to save Doctor Strange.

   She floated up toward the side of the ship. She kept her balance steady as she thought of ways to enter the vessel. Riley pressed her hand against the side of it as it continued to move further and further into the atmosphere. She gasped when she materialized through the wall of it, landing on her ass with a gasp.

   Riley turned around, expecting to see a hole behind her; however, there was nothing there. "JO? What...What just happened?" she stammered.

  "It seems your vitals and energy are improving remarkably. Theoretically, it could be due to the distance between you and the sun shortening drastically," said JOCASTA, despite the fact that it sounded like her voice was breaking and fading. "You materialized through the ship wall. I believe it's because—"

   Silence.

   "JO? Where'd you go? JO?" She sighed. It was no use. They had moved too far away from Earth for comfort. She looked around the spaceship from where she sat on the floor. She had infiltrated it by herself, which would have had her cheering enthusiastically if she wasn't freaking out on the inside.

   She was so convinced that today was going to be perfect, and now she was sitting inside of an alien spaceship. She hugged her knees and looked around, realizing that she was alone.

   Great. She was alone in space with a murderous alien and an unconscious wizard. Just great.

   Taking a deep breath, Riley slowly attempted to calm herself down. "This is the worst field trip ever."