╔══════════════════╗

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
ix. TEMPORARY RELIEF

╚══════════════════╝

   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. 

  Shuri slowly nodded. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She glanced toward T'Challa. "It will take time, brother." 

  "How long?" queried Steve.

   "As long as you can give me."

  But would that be enough? Would they have enough time? Riley couldn't decide. She tried to suppress her worried thoughts. She knew Wanda might be listening. But it was near impossible. After all, what would happen if Thanos came to Earth looking for Vision? Would he know where to find him? Then what? Would Thanos kill Vision? Just like that? 

  Wanda's hand squeezed Riley's again. The latter sighed, apologizing in her head.

  A BOOM! to the left caught their attention.  Natasha, Steve, T'Challa, and his guards observed out the window, where they could see the others.

   Okoye's kimoyo beads began to chim an alarm of some sort. She flicked one of the beads into her palm, a projection with a pulsing location marker appearing. "Something's entered the atmosphere," she announced. 

  This time, Riley was the one squeezing Wanda's hand. She needed to remain calm, just as she always did, just as she was trained to. For all they knew, it was just Tony, Peter, and Strange returning to Earth the same way she had.

   Her suspicions were shut down once Sam Wilson said into their comms, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."

  She rose from her seat and approached the tall glass window, almost reluctantly leaving Wanda's side. Outside, some sort of alien vessel collided with Wakanda's defense shield. It crumbled, slamming into the field at full attack acceleration.

  Three more ships burned through the heavens, darting toward them. The shock ways and debris from the ship landings destroyed acres of forest and boiled up against the protective dome right before their eyes. How much longer would the defense shield last?

  It was clear. No one needed to ask to know. Thanos was on his way.  

  Vision, struggling to sit up and slide off of the examination table, spat out, "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now." 

   Natasha and Riley seemed to snap their heads towards Vision. "Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha demanded.

   At the same time, Riley seemed to bark, "Vision, I swear to God, I'll plug your Microwave ass into the wall if you don't sit down!"

  Maybe Riley was afraid of properly facing Thanos again, but she was more afraid of losing than anything else. Even if one of them died, she would consider that a loss. They had to fight back, they had to stall for as long as possible. It was the only way. 

   "We have to go out there," Riley insisted. "If they're coming here, then there's no telling what Thanos has done to my dad and everyone else up there." She nodded toward the direction of space. "We have to fight back. It's the only way to save everyone. It'll buy us enough time to save Vision."

   Steve and Natasha faltered. Dad? 

   With a nod, T'Challa seemed to agree. "We will hold them off," he declared before he, Okoye, and the guards headed for the door.

   Steve glanced back at Wanda. "Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... blow it to hell."

  It was times like these where Wanda still felt like that scared little girl in Sokovia. But she tried to be strong. For herself. For Vision. "I will," she promised. 

   T'Challa proceeded to order everyone in the room around in preparation for what was about to come. "Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures," T'Challa shouted. He stopped, turned, and pointed at Steve. "And get this man a shield!"

  Just before Riley could suit up, Steve ordered, "Riley, you're on defense. Do not leave Vision's side unless you have to."

   Almost instantly, Riley looked back at him and deadpanned, "Sorry, Steve, but there's no way in hell I'm playing the guard dog this time." Then, she pushed the buttons and allowed her suit to materialize across her body.

   "Welcome back, Miss Valor," greeted JOCASTA into Riley's ear.

  She marched after T'Challa, leaving Steve to follow after her. "You know this is more serious than that. It's too dangerous—" 

   Riley glanced back at him, shaking her head. "You are seriously not about to give me the "It's dangerous" talk!" she interjected in disbelief. "I know you still look at me like I'm a kid, but I almost died last year fighting off my own father—my actual father, who almost successfully killed me with powers of his own. I almost died killing one of Thanos's followers. I almost died going into space. And that was all in the past year! I've fought these guys, Steve, and I can't just let you fight my battles for me! I was with you in the beginning, I'm with you until the end!"

   "Riley—" he started again. She whipped around to face Steve, looking up at him with a different emotion in her eyes.

   "Do you have any idea how it felt knowing that Thanos could have easily killed me not even 24 hours ago?" Riley interrupted. "He threatened me, everyone I care about, and the entirety of the universe. He sent me away because he thought I could have been a distraction... because if my powers were to reach their full potential, then I could have actually distracted him. The most powerful being in the universe! And if Thanos hadn't sent me away, and if he had actually confronted us on whatever goddamn planet we were on and I had to fight him... he could have killed me just like that." She snapped her fingers.

   She continued, "And yet, he still nearly killed me sending me back to Earth. He told me I had to prove myself to him, and then he sent me away. He sent me away like... like I was nothing... nothing more than an annoyance in the back of his mind. So, Steve, I'm not going to let him get away. He has to be brought down and I have to help, or... I don't know how I'll live with myself."

  Steve faltered, realizing what she was saying. This wasn't about her, and it never was. It was for everyone, for the universe. She was born to fight. She had to fight.

   So, Steve just slowly nodded. "Okay," he finally said. "Just... Just don't stray too far, okay?"

  "Got it," she promised. The two started to head onto the battlefield before speaking up again, this time with a gentler voice. "Hey, Steve?" 

   "Yeah?"

   "Tony wanted to call you," Riley revealed. "He almost did it so many times, but... I dunno... I thought you should know before we go out there. He misses you. I just know it."

   Steve faintly smiled at the thought. "Then let's go out there and finish this for him."

   Riley nodded in agreement and took her first steps onto the battlefield. She couldn't believe that this was actually happening. This was the endgame. This was the battle that would count the most, right?

   For a minute there, before everything ended up the way it would in just a couple of hours, Riley was actually relieved.

   She wished she could have been relieved when the battle was over.