Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

18 | Physics Isn't Real

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xviii. PHYSICS ISN'T REAL

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   DINNER WAS UNBEARABLY AWKWARD.

   The table was set for four, each seat filled, silverware shined to perfection. Every plate was stacked with delicious food for each member of the Stark family to consume. What was usually a table filled with all sorts of lively conversations had been replaced with the repetitive scraping of cutlery on ceramics and the buzz of silence.

   Breathing was arduous. Tension replaced their oxygen as no one dared to utter a word. Pepper Potts glanced between her fiancé and her oldest daughter. Pepper hadn't heard every detail regarding the reunion among Tony and his longtime colleagues, but she had assumed everyone had reached the same general consensus she'd await learning about when evening struck. However, what she hadn't been anticipated was a full-blown argument between Tony and Riley outside on the porch once their surprise guests had left.

   "A time heist," Tony had mumbled with a judgemental scoff. He observed as Steve drove off with Natasha and Scott in his black Audi. "It's ridiculous..." He shook his head, peering back at Riley with his arms folded over his chest. "Well, it was nice of you to try and give them some unrealistic optimism. God knows they need it every now and then. Good thinking to even bring them back here, but a warning would've been nice."

   Riley had faltered. "A...Actually... I was kinda hoping you'd be willing to help us out..." Tony glanced back at her in surprise. This caused her to continue as she nervously fidgeted with her hands, "Well, it's just... you know, I told everyone... and I mean everyone I'd do whatever it takes to make things right—"

   "Who gives a damn about what they all think?"

   "I do," she had confessed. "I'm not like you. Being Valor isn't a side hobby. I've lived my entire life trying to surpass expectations for myself. If there's a chance that I can do what I was trained to do my entire life, I'm going to do it because it's my job! It's all I've ever known!"

   "Oh, so you want to go back in time and stop all this from happening?" challenged Tony, waving his hands around in reference to their surroundings. "Even if it means, oh I don't know, erasing your sister from existence?"

   Riley remembered how she fell silent. "I... I didn't even think about it like that..."

   "Exactly," Tony spat. "You don't think about anything anymore. Not like you used to. That's reckless. You can't be reckless and have a family, Riley. It's dangerous."