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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
xx. AS ASHES SETTLE

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   WITHIN MERE MINUTES, RILEY'S confrontation with Eden Belmont went viral. Videos of the bank explosion and Valor's speech circulated social media like wildfire. Articles were popping up left and right, and even late-night news channels were reporting on the case before Riley could even go home for the evening. Everyone seemed to agree upon the same thing: Even bad guys love Riley Stark!

   The world was more empathetic toward the Avengers than ever, but Riley could not understand why. Despite Eden's mental state, she made several points that Riley thought shouldn't be swept under the rug so casually. She was right, the Avengers were held to a higher standard than others, yet were rarely called out for their mistakes. Sure, Eden got several things wrong, too, but the things that actually made sense encouraged Riley to work even harder than before to keep the world glued together.

   There was no guidebook to saving the world without destroying it in the process, but that didn't scare Riley. She liked to think that one day, all of this pain would pay off. She hoped one day, she would be the one to teach future heroes-in-training everything she learned in her years of avenging.

   It was strange to think that Eden could've easily convinced the world to turn on the Avengers, too, had it not been for Riley's speech and her choice not to kick Eden's ass. To Riley (and perhaps this was an effect of her unconventional childhood), it mattered more to teach than to punish.

   Riley sat in the back of an ambulance with a bag of semi-frozen peas (gifted to her by one of the many observing civilians) pressed to her temple. A paramedic was checking her vitals when at long last, Spider-Man and Roman appeared on the scene. She sharply inhaled and hurriedly excused herself.

   "What, did you stop at a drive-thru? I've been waiting for both of you for, like, 10 minutes! Where have you been!?" Riley yelled, but before either boy could reply, she pulled them into a tight group hug. "I was so worried! My stupid earpiece stopped working, and I thought the Flag Smashers overpowered you or something! I kept trying to leave, but I had to—"

   "Relax, Mom, we're alright. The Flag Smashers did get away though. That was the longest fight I've been in in a while," Roman revealed. He and Peter were mostly unscathed, which somehow made Riley look worse than she did.

   "Quick question, what the hell happened here? Did the Flag Smashers try to set you on fire or something?" Peter asked, glancing back at the crisp remains of the bank. "Where's Carson?"

   Riley shook her head. "It wasn't Carson, it was Eden! She set him up!"

   She quickly explained to them what unraveled inside the bank, watching as their jaws dropped.

   "What? But she was so nice!" Peter exclaimed. Worry glossed over him. "Are you okay, Ri?"

   "I'll be fine, but I feel like this keeps happening to me! I'm seriously off my game. I'm gonna have trust issues for the rest of my life!" Riley whined. "So, what happened with you guys? Flag Smashers give you any trouble?"

   "Something like that. They had these masks that changed their voices to throw us off, just like Eden. And that clicking noise? It was coming from this." Roman pulled out a Deluminator from his pocket. Peter did the same. "I'm guessing Eden made multiple copies of her little invention."

   "Those Flag Smasher guys are tough. Their strength made up for their split numbers. That's why we took so long," Peter said. "After I webbed them up, I swung over to Newark since it was closer to me than Brooklyn. I got there at the perfect time, Roman was kind of getting his ass—"

   "Don't finish that sentence," Roman interrupted. "I wasn't losing, per se. I couldn't figure out how to incapacitate them without killing them. I guess I'm still working on that. Sticky-Boy kindly helped me out, but they ended up getting away."

   "When we lost 'em, we went back to the Upper East Side to check on the dudes I webbed up. I thought I knocked them out, but they managed to escape, too," Peter added. "Sorry for the wait. We thought you'd just trap the bad guys in forcefields or something."

   "Yeah, we didn't realize the situation would be like... this," Roman said, motioning to the bank.

   Rather than feeling disappointed over losing the Flag Smashers again, Riley's eyes darted between them knowingly. "Wait... You guys worked together willingly?" she interrogated.

   "Yeah, you could say that," Peter proudly said.

   "No, you absolutely could not say that. In fact, you shouldn't," Roman grumbled.

   "Hold on... Can you feel that?" Peter wondered, nudging the alien. "I think I'm growing on ya, Romie."

   Riley laughed. "I'm just glad you guys are okay. We can deal with the Flag Smashers another day. At least we stopped Eden."

   The trio glanced over at the pair of police cars. Eden Belmont sat inside one, handcuffed and muttering manically under her breath. Outside the car, her family chatted with a few officers, each member looking frantic and appalled to hear what Eden did. It was unsettling to all, whether you knew her personally or not.

   "You know, this happened in a movie once," Peter said. Riley and Roman shoot him a puzzled glance, causing him to wave his hands in the air. "What, neither of you have seen The Incredibles?"

   "Excuse me, Miss Stark?" A police officer approached them, a plastic baggie in hand. Inside was the Deluminator they confiscated from Eden. "Sorry to interrupt, I was just wondering what your call is for these Deluminator things?"

   Riley held a hand out to the boys, allowing them to pass theirs over. "Take these and lock them up somewhere safe. We'll need them as evidence for her trial in the future. Hopefully, we can get the go-ahead to have these destroyed afterward," she instructed.

   Peter nodded approvingly. "Nice. But how do we know those are the only ones?"

   "Excellent question, Bug-Boy. Luckily for us, we have a living lie detector in our ranks," Riley said before pulling the officer aside.

   Roman's eyebrows furrowed as he turned to Peter. "Is she... talking about me?"

   "Yes, dear," Peter taunted.

   Riley explained to the officer how crucial it will be to keep Roman in their contacts for Eden's future trial. His Soul Searching ability would come to be extremely useful and valuable. She emphasized that anyone who had a problem with Roman taking Riley's place during the trial would have to deal with her personally, which seemed to intimidate the officer because his face fell and he nodded fervently.

   When she turned back to Peter and Roman, their backs faced her. They stood shoulder-to-shoulder, suddenly tense again. It looked like they were talking to someone, but they refused to let the person pass.

   "No offense, dude, but I don't think she wants to talk to you," Peter said, purposely deepening his voice, which he only ever did to disguise his identity to people who knew him.

   "Come on, just—"

   "Dude, your sister tried to kill her 10 minutes ago. Give her a break," Roman sharply interrupted.

   Riley forced herself between Roman and Peter, parting them. "Guys, what are you—?" she began to ask, only to falter at the sight of Carson Belmont. "Oh. Hi."

   Carson looked like a wreck. He was dressed in sweatpants and a Midtown High hoodie, suggesting that he was pulled from his bed to see his sister get arrested. Yet his eyes drooped, not with fatigue, but from despair. Once again, a loved one was being torn from him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

   "Can we talk?" Carson requested, his attention fixated on the girl in the middle. "Please? It's important."

   "Anything you can say to her, you can say to us," Peter declared.

   Carson's jaw clenched. "Is this necessary, man? This doesn't have anything to do with you—"

   "It does, actually, considering your sister's terrorist buddies came after all three of us tonight," Peter interrupted.

   Riley placed a hand on his arm, feeling as he relaxed almost instantly. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sure he'll make it quick. Right, Belmont?" Her gaze fell upon Carson again, watching as he nodded. "Alright. Come on. While I'm gone, you guys should give you-know-who a call and update them on what happened."

   Roman sighed. "On it, boss."

   Riley guided Carson to a quiet corner. All of the bystanders could agree that seeing her in photos and videos didn't do her justice. Despite the overwhelming masses of people, facing near-death again, and the grimy soot lining her white suit, Valor stood with her chin held high. Her stance was relaxed, but her presence was powerfully magnetic. In the heart of a tsunami, she was the lighthouse that centered the storm.

   "So... Crazy night, huh?" Carson said. He looked different compared to the previous times they interacted. His hands were stuffed into his pockets, he avoided Riley's eyes. It was quickly occurring to Riley that underneath his hard exterior, unlike his sister, he was timid.

   Riley wasn't in the mood for small talk. There was so much that needed to be taken care of, between press conferences with the Governor and Eden's future trial. But she decided to suck it up and said, "Yeah. Definitely not how I was expecting to spend my Friday night."

   "Yeah, uh. I'm sorry," Carson apologized. "I'm sure you figured out why Eden and I had a grudge against you now... But I swear, I didn't know she was capable of all of this. I thought she loved you, but I guess that's my fault for not paying more attention."

   "It happens," Riley said. "You'd be surprised by how often the bad guys trick us. I thought they'd do it less over time because of how overdone that tactic is, but I guess I'm not as intimidating as I thought."

   Carson shook his head. "Oh, you are. You definitely are."

   Riley cocked an eyebrow. "I don't think I'd expect that from you, of all people. What was it you called me again? Let me think: a kid, a fake Avenger, a coward..."

   "Well, er. Maybe I was being... unfair." Carson nervously chuckled. "I said a lot of things out of anger."

   "No, that's the thing. You and your sister were right about a lot of things," she said. "Sometimes, the public praises us for all the wrong reasons. There are so many things we get wrong, yet the people act like all of the good we do makes up for it. But it's not true, and I think we can do more. I guess I try to ignore it sometimes because the guilt... really sucks."

   Carson was quiet for a moment. "You know, all this time, I thought you guys were unaware of all the bad shit you do. You guys always act like you're so invincible and carefree..."

   "I don't know a single Avenger that doesn't beat themselves up over the bad shit that happens. And we're definitely not invincible. Believe me. But we have to pretend we are because no one's going to trust us to save the day if we don't think so ourselves," Riley insisted.

   "...Really?"

   "Mhm. If we can't protect the world, then who will?" Riley folded her arms over her chest. "Do you really believe what Thanos did was right?"

   Carson sighed. "No. I can't say the same for Eden, but I only said all of that because the Blip brought me closer to my dad than ever. I called you all those names because it made me mad that you survived everything, but my dad couldn't." Before she could reply, he quickly added, "But... I don't know, I think what you said tonight made a lot of sense. It's not fair to blame you because you're the easiest person to point fingers at. You're not a bad guy, Stark. I shouldn't have taken out my anger on you."

   Riley paused thoughtfully, turning away from him. "I've always thought that people had negative opinions of me because they've only ever known me as a Stark. But before I was a Stark, I was an O'Dair, and the world never got to know me then."

   "Is there a difference?"

   "Kind of. Before I was a Stark, I was an arrogant, sheltered kid who blamed herself for everything that went wrong and was so sure I could save everyone. Everyone. I hated people who didn't like me, and I couldn't understand the world because I rarely got to see it myself," she elucidated. "Yeah, maybe the world likes me now, and even bad guys seem to like me, usually for all the wrong reasons. But none of them will understand who I was before I became a Stark, and it gets frustrating at times because they don't know what I've had to go through to get to this point."

   Carson stared at her, jaw falling open. But she continued, "I guess that part doesn't matter though. The point is, we're all learning, and it'll never make up for everything we've done wrong, but hopefully, it won't remain a pattern forever."

   "Huh... Maybe it was a good idea that Steve Rogers made you the new leader. You might be a kid, but... maybe that's exactly what you guys need," Carson meekly said. "I'm sorry about everything. And I'm sorry my sister tried to, um, blow you up."

   To Riley's surprise, she chuckled. "Yeah, it sucked, but... no hard feelings. It wouldn't be right if I held a grudge against you. Just because you said some harsh things doesn't make you the bad guy," she admitted. "And I'm sorry about your dad. And your sister. I really tried not to hurt her. I guess I saw part of myself in her — mad at the world for all the wrong reasons."

   "Eh, I wouldn't have been mad if you did. She's lost her damn mind," Carson said. "Uh, I'm glad we could clear things up between us, but there's something else I wanted to talk to you about. It's about Eden. I was talking to her before the cops left, and she said something really... weird."

   "Oh, great. What now?"

   "She said... the Flag Smashers aren't finished yet," Carson slowly revealed. "I'm not sure what that means, but I have a feeling all of this was a distraction for something else. It sounds like something Eden would do. She's always made herself the center of attention to hide from whatever's really going on. I don't know why she'd say that to me, of all people, but... I figured letting you know is the right thing to do."

   Riley stared at him for a long moment, wrapping her head around his warning. Even as they soon parted ways, her mind hung onto his words more than anything else. How could she think to be relieved? How could she think any of this was over? The Flag Smashers were still out there, and they were planning on acting again, presumably soon. Riley made a mental note to call Sam and Bucky as soon as she could.

   When she reunited with Peter, he was quick to ask her, "So, what was the oh-so-important thing Belmont wanted to say to you?"

   Riley shrugged. "He wanted to apologize. Believe me, I was surprised, too."

   "Huh. That family is weird," Roman commented. It was a marvel that he could act so casual when Riley knew he was reading her soul.

   "That's all he said?" Peter pressed.

   Of course not. But what good would it do to worry Peter more than necessary? The Flag Smashers were something Riley could handle alongside Sam and Bucky. Peter deserved a break.

   "Mhm," Riley promised. "Let's get out of here. I'm exhausted."

   There was something else that evening, as the ashes settled and the full moon gleamed, that Riley did not notice. In a more literal sense, most do not realize the length of time required for ashes to cool before they may be disposed of. Even after several days, a pile of ashes can hold enough heat to reignite and start a fire all over again.

   And as they left, Riley did not notice the way Peter lingered before following after her and Roman.