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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
x. HANNAH MONTANA

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  RILEY O'DAIR DIDN'T WANT to admit it, but she was a bit of a modern-day Hannah Montana. She wasn't too sure as to how her brain had reached that conclusion, but now it was all she could be bothered to think about one Tuesday morning.

   As per usual, Riley had been patrolling throughout New York, doing her rounds near Midtown High before school commenced for the day. It was early in the morning, but she didn't mind. Riley had always been a morning person ever since S.H.I.E.L.D. took her in. From a young age, Riley would wake up at the ass-crack of dawn to deal with whatever the government had in store for her, usually something traumatic, that day.

   Besides, Riley didn't sleep much anyway. Her nightmares often kept her up at night.

   Incidents of criminal activity had significantly decreased ever since Valor started popping up again. After the incident with the Sokovia Accords, she had taken a little break from her Avengers life to relax. There was no need for the Avengers unless the government called for it, so she used that to her advantage. However, now that Valor was back, it seemed that crime had noticeably halted.

   Oddly enough, that was the downfall of being a hero, in Riley's opinion. You know, amongst the trauma, deaths, and ugly injuries. At some point, crimes stop, wars end, and the world is at peace with itself. Riley wondered if there would come a day where the world was so balanced with itself that there wouldn't be a need for the Avengers anymore.

   If that day ever came, that meant she would have to retire and live a normal life... whatever that was supposed to mean. After all, her definition of "normal" wasn't exactly normal to other people. Maybe that was why deep down, she always wished for some chaos to ensue.

   Nothing bad, of course! Just something to give her something to do, to remind herself that she could save the day and that everything would be okay. She didn't want people to die or something—just a little something-something!

   ...Was that morbid of her?

   Riley would think this every once in a while, but whenever something bad happened, she always found herself reminiscing on the moments of calm before the storm. As the saying goes: Be careful what you wish for.

   When things weren't busy, Valor found herself switching gears and becoming simple Riley O'Dair again. See, Riley and Valor were technically the same people; however, now that Riley had gotten a taste of being a normal girl, she felt different. She was a little more relaxed, less alert in contrast to her famous counterpart. And so, that was how she came to the conclusion that she was a modern-day Hannah Montana.

   Of course, that plus the whole "secret identity" thing made her one.

   Clouds parted to reveal the morning sunshine. Between the rats and the stench of sewer water, there was something so beautiful about New York, to Riley. Maybe it was the bright lights and fast pace of the city. Culture reeked at every block, followed by the kind eyes of the people singing and performing on the streets in hopes of making it big. Riley wished she could truly call New York home. Maybe she would have if she grew up here, but she never did. Instead, Riley's home was the Avengers.

   Riley had been undercover on her mission for nearly two months now. It hadn't felt very long though, in her opinion. She wondered what it was that made the time go by so fast. Whatever it was, Riley wasn't mad about it. If anything, that just meant that maybe her mission would be over soon.

   Between the honking cars and loudly chatting students as they approached Midtown School of Science and Technology, there was a faint buzzing in Riley's ear. It wasn't a buzzing sound, so to speak, but rather, the unsettling sound of villainous laughter and quiet grunts. In other words, it was that little thing Valor had been wishing for to spice up her morning, but... this wasn't what she had been manifesting.

   She stood tall on a random rooftop, squinting as she tried to see what all the commotion was at nearly seven in the morning. "Would you like me to zoom you in, Miss Valor?" a tiny voice in her suit suggested.

   Riley jumped at the sound of the voice, not having expected it. She nodded. "Uh, yeah, thanks, JO." Riley stopped straining her eyes as the UI adjusted her mask so that she could clearly see the blurs that were people on the street.

   JOCASTA, or JO for short, was a back-up natural-language user interface created by Tony Stark. Much like how JARVIS/Vision and FRIDAY were the little voices in the back of Tony's suit, JOCASTA was designed specifically for Riley. After JARVIS became Vision, Tony took it upon himself to install JOCASTA in Riley's suit. Sometimes, Riley forgot JO was there, but she really did appreciate her presence.

   A little known fact that most didn't know about Valor was that after the explosion she caused 13 years ago, Riley's eyes were harmed to an extent. The explosion adjusted her DNA to the point where ultraviolet radiation ran through her entire genetic makeup. You know those rays the sun omits that we can't see with the naked eye? Well, even though she's still human, a large percentage of Riley's entire being is made up of that substance.

   While this meant that she could manipulate UV rays at will, there were other effects that she never talked about, one of them being her horrible eyesight. Riley can see UV rays with the naked eye, which was cool at first; however, it grew to become a bit of an annoyance after it started to impact her vision. In simpler terms, you know how you're not supposed to look directly into the sun? That was essentially what was wrong with Riley, which was why she had to wear glasses and contacts.

   Once Riley was able to identify what was happening on the road below her, anger flooded her senses. Standing a few feet below her was one of their classmates, Warren, beating up someone she had warmed up to in the past month-and-a-half: Peter Parker.

   She frowned, his words playing in her head. "I've gotten beaten up from time to time." Riley could picture his bittersweet smile. "It's nothing new."

   Riley was the Earth's hero. She fought the battles that the ordinary person couldn't fight. However, she couldn't protect everyone. Now that she'd gotten to know Spider-Man, seeing how he was an everyman hero, she loathed seeing how Peter Parker was treated. He devoted hours and hours of his life helping people, and in response, the universe decided to bully him and make his life hell. Where was Peter's own Spider-Man?

   Peter Parker deserved better.

   It made her think of the other people roaming this world—the ones who were kind and helped others, the ones without powers. Riley wished there was a way to help all of them the way she was about to help Peter Parker.

   Clenching her jaw, Valor turned herself invisible and leaped onto the ground. She marched up to Warren as he kicked Peter onto the ground. Without hesitation, Riley placed her hand on Warren's shoulder, spun him around, and socked him in the jaw.

   Turning herself visible once more, Valor folded her arms over her chest. "Not to sound like my partner, Captain America, but bullying isn't cool, dude," Valor snapped.

   Warren's hand went to his jaw, a bruise already beginning to form. His gaze snapped toward the shorter girl, scoffing as he turned back to Peter. "What, you hiring cosplayers to save you, Parker?" he taunted.

   Valor scoffed and raised a hand, a forcefield opening up, which caused Warren to go flying backward. "Please get a hobby or something, you lowlife asshole!" Valor snapped. She looked over at the crowd that had formed within the seconds she'd made an appearance. Some students were recording her on their phones while others were just watching in awe. Ignoring them, Valor leaned forward and offered Peter Parker a hand. "Are you alright?"

   His brown eyes widened as he hurriedly nodded. "Y-Yeah!" Peter stammered, shocked that she was even talking to him. Peter took her admittedly small hand, rising to his feet. "Uh, thanks for helping me, Valor. I know you have... better, more important things to do. Like, real Avengers things and stuff. Hey, you're friends with Mr. Stark, right? I'm actually the candidate he picked for the Stark Internship and—"

   Interrupting the rambling boy, Valor nodded. "Oh, yeah, I think I... heard about that," she calmly lied. The Stark Internship wasn't a real thing, after all. "Tony mentioned you a few times. You're Peter Parker, right?"

   "Uh-huh, yep!" he exclaimed, causing Valor to chuckle. "Say, um, do you know Spider-Man? We're friends, he... talks about you."

   Valor raised her eyebrows. What was that supposed to mean? She brushed it off. It was probably nothing. "You mean Bug-Boy? Sure," she promised. Before Peter could say anything else, she said, "Well, Mr. Parker, do me a favor and stay out of trouble, alright?"

   Then, with a small smile, Valor disappeared.

   Once she left the general vicinity and approached an area where she could freely power down, Riley couldn't help but notice something—a change in her emotions. It was a sudden spike that she'd have to be an idiot not to recognize.

   Now, Riley held all the traits a hero should have. She was passionate about helping people, she was courageous, loyal. She didn't mind putting herself in danger if it was for the sake of others, no matter if it's aliens or a dumb bully. Had she spotted anyone else getting harrassed that morning, Riley would've jumped in and interfered immediately.

   However, this time was different. Riley had noticed something off about her reaction: her anger. Her anger was through the roof when she had realized who Warren's latest victim was. Not only was it someone who was innocent, but it was someone whose heart was bigger and broader than Steve Rogers' shoulders. It was someone who, despite this constantly happening, despite being fucking Spider-Man, let himself be the victim so that no one else would have to take his place. Riley's heart broke just thinking about.

   She chewed on the inside of her cheek. She swore to herself that she wouldn't let this happen, but now that it was, there was no stopping it.

   Riley was getting attached.

   No, no, no. Absolutely not. She needed to talk about this, but dammit, the only person who could help her was a colossal idiot. Sighing, she pulled out her phone and selected the first person on her speed-dial list.

  Tony Stark answered in a matter of seconds. "Well, well, well, look who it is. How's my little spy doing this morning? Calling me to tell me some huge secret I'm not supposed to know about Mr. Parker? Or, maybe, you're just calling me because you miss me."

   "Tony, I'm gonna need you to bring your ego down from a ten to a five for a sec," Riley said.

  "Bold of you to assume my ego isn't always at an 11." 

   "Ha-ha, hilarious. Look, I need you to pull me out of the mission." Before Tony could continue, she added, "I know I told you I'd do your snooping for you, but... I..." She paused, unsure of how to explain her predicament without sounding ridiculous.

   "If you don't spit it out, I'm going to be late for jazzercise," warned Tony.

   Riley's face skewered up, baffled. "Since when do you do jazzercise?"

  "Since you decided to ditch our best-friends-yoga-class for my mission."

   She rolled her eyes. "You realize you have Pepper, right? Actually, you know what? Never mind. Look, I have a bit of a problem, and you're not allowed to make fun of me for it," Riley continued. "Do I need to gently remind you that I'm an orphan?"

   "Yeah, so am I, genius. And you're adopted, idiot."

   "You can't insult me and compliment me in the same sentence!" she retorted. "I'm serious, Tony, don't make fun of me for this!"

  "Would I ever make fun of you?" queried Tony. "Actually, don't answer that."

   Scoffing, she sighed. "Look... Okay... Um..." She had to admit she felt a little stupid even saying this out loud; however, she knew that if she didn't do something now, she'd be putting the entire mission at stake. "I've realized that I'm getting... sorta attached to Peter."

   Riley went on to explain what happened earlier that day between him and Warren, only for Tony to ultimately ask, "How is that even remotely a problem?"

   "Because I don't get attached!" insisted Riley. "Do you know who you're talking to? Missions are no place for feelings, you know that!"

   Tony sighed. "Look, Tink, you're a bright agent and a fantastic hero. Own it. Getting attached isn't a bad thing, it just means you're human. Ever heard of it?"

   "No, never."

   Ignoring her, he lightly added, "Seriously, this is what you get after they got Nat to train you, of all people. You realize her past is screwed up, right? Anyways, I'm gonna go now, and you're gonna suck it up because you're making a big deal out of nothing, capisce?"

   "What? That's terrible advice, Tony!" Riley cried out. When she didn't hear a snarky response, she continued, "Tony? ...Tony?" She glanced down at her phone screen, realizing he had hung up on her. She shook her head. "Asshole..."