CHAPTER TEN
YOU'RE LIKE A FIREBENDER

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     Clint had spent two months during Riley's training simply teaching him how to shoot an arrow correctly.

He had taught Riley how to reload as quickly as possible, had taught him the best arrows to use and which bows did what. He'd taught Riley which ones was best for long range, which ones were best to use in a fight if a target got too close and there was no room to shoot anymore. The most important thing he had taught Riley, however, was how to predict where the target would be before they actually got there. He couldn't shoot a moving target as soon as he saw them. He would have to follow their movements and then shoot slightly ahead of them, just to make sure the arrow would actually hit. He also had to take into account the weather around him.

Thankfully, the weather in New York was tame. Hot, but not windy, which meant he didn't have to worry about his arrows going off course. It was easy for him to pick off the stray Chitauri flying through the air around him. He was far enough away from the main conflict that he was mainly just picking off the few who tried to circle around and attack Tony or the Hulk from behind. Clint was getting most of them a few blocks away, firing off arrows faster than Riley could, faster than Riley even needed to. After taking out only ten Chitauri in half an hour, Riley chose to focus most of his energy on keeping an eye out for civilians. Most of them had cleared out by that point, either escaping into buildings or going toward open water. For the few who didn't, Riley covered them until an Avenger on the ground—Steve or Nat—could get there and lead them to safety.

But none of it was doing any good, because more Chitauri just kept coming. The second any of them thought they were making even the smallest dent in the army, the black hole in the sky would open again, and another whale Chitauri would fly through, bringing even more humanoid Chitauri with it. By the third time it happened, Riley was nearing his last arrow, and his arms were growing tired from holding up the crossbow for so long.

"This isn't working," he pointed out, frustration clear in his voice. It was the first time he'd spoken in the past forty-five minutes, aside from the stray comment about a civilian being on this street or that street. For a few moments, nothing but silence and static welcomed his words, and he thought briefly that he had lost contact with the rest of his team. Then he heard a grunt that sounded mysteriously like Nat, and then her voice was breaking up the static.

"He's right," Nat said, breathing heavily on her end. Riley stepped closer to the edge of the building and looked over the street. He wasn't surprised to see that Nat and Steve were still fighting on foot. If he squinted, he could just make out Nat's form leaning against a crushed car. "None of this is gonna mean a damn thing unless we close that portal."

"Our biggest guns couldn't touch it," Steve pointed out. Nat thought for a moment, and that was when Riley noticed two other chariots flying their way. He raised his crossbow, debating over which one he should shoot with his last arrow. He'd have to climb down from the building soon, or maybe convince Hulk or Tony to bring him more arrows. Sighing, he raised his crossbow and took aim. He only stopped when Nat spoke.

"Maybe it's not about guns," she muttered. "Riley, don't shoot yet. I might need your last arrow." Riley paused, peering over the edge again. Nat was craning her head back, staring up at something. Riley followed her gaze and saw she was looking at the blue beam coming from the Stark Tower, the thing that was opening the portal in the first place. If they needed to close the portal, then they needed to shut down whatever machine was causing that beam.

"If you wanna get up there, you're going to need a ride," Steve said, coming to the same conclusion Riley did.

"I got a ride," Nat declared, dropping the Chitauri weapon she was holding and taking a few steps away. "I could use a boost, though. And some backup in the air. Get your arrow ready, Riles." Obediently, Riley did, though the unease he felt at Nat's plan couldn't be helped. If this succeeded, and Nat did land safely on one of the chariots, it would fly right past Riley only a few seconds later. He would have to be quick.

"You sure about this?" Steve double-checked, even as he stepped back himself and prepared to propel her up into the air with his shield.

"Yeah," Nat said, her voice cracking. "It'll be fun." She ran forward then, and Riley had to watch as she stepped onto Steve's shield and Steve shot her up into the air. She caught onto a passing chariot fairly quickly. Riley aimed his crossbow, ready to shoot the Chitauri right on Nat's heels. Before he could, though, something flew right by him, knocking the crossbow out of his hands and sending it spiraling off the edge of the building. Riley very nearly fell himself. He managed to jerk his weight backwards at the last second, and then he was stumbling back on the rooftop, letting out a loud swear word. He was caught on the roof with no weapon, aside from the various knives he had on his person, and Nat was now left with Chitauri chasing her tail.

Then he noticed that chariots were still flying by. He glanced down at them over the edge, double-checked that he had safety gear that would catch him if he were to free-fall off a building, and then sucked in a deep breath.

"Riley, are you about to do something stupid?" Clint cut in through the comms. From his spot a few blocks away, he could see Riley taking multiple steps backward, away from the ledge. Like he was about to jump.

"I'm useless up here," Riley said shortly, taking another deep breath. "I might as well jump onto one of those chariots and help Nat a little bit. Tell me when to jump. You're better at this kind of thing than I am." Clint let out a frustrated sigh, but didn't try to convince him not to do it. Riley was right, after all. Without any arrows, he was useless up on that rooftop. He was also an open target, and that was worse than being useless.

"When I say go, you don't hesitate," Clint ordered, and while that was fairly obvious, Riley murmured his okay just to offer Clint what little comfort he could. He dug out two of his knives as he waited, two kunai with rings on the pommels. He slipped his fingers through the rings as he waited, wanting to keep tight grips on them. He'd seen how Nat had controlled the Chitauri on her chariot to steer. She'd shoved her knives into its back. He would have to do that, too. "Now," Clint said sharply, and Riley shot forward. It was only a few strides before he was jumping into open air. He was free-falling only briefly, and then he was crashing into the Chitauri standing on the back of one of the chariots, shooting at random.

Riley gasped in pain when its armor crashed into his stomach, and then he was twisting to kick the Chitauri off the chariot itself, not bothering with killing it. It'd probably die on impact. It flew off the chariot easily, and Riley only had to cut the chain keeping it connected to the chariot. He didn't have time to catch his breath. Being on the chariot felt similar to being on a rough roller-coaster. He had to cling to the side of it and slowly pull himself upwards, the wind so strong that it would've blown him away had he not been strong enough. Once he got to the head of the chariot, however, he found it was a little easier to move, probably because the Chitauri steering the thing was keeping most of the wind from hitting Riley. Taking his chance, he jumped forward and locked his legs around the alien, bringing his hands back and sinking his kunai into the muscles just above the thing's shoulder blades. The entire chariot jerked, and he had to cling on even tighter to gain control over it.

"Shit, shit, shit," he spit out once he realized the thing was harder to steer than he had originally thought. The Chitauri was fighting him every step of the way. He glanced up, saw a building was right in front of him, and quickly twisted his kunai to turn left. Thankfully, it did, thought the side of the chariot scraped painfully against the brick briefly before he was in open air again. "Nat," he called out desperately, hoping and praying their comms were still working, even if they were this close to alien technology. "Please tell me how to steer this thing."

"I'm just winging it!" Nat answered back. "Turn, turn, turn, turn—" Nat's voice steadily got higher in pitch as she repeated the word, until eventually she broke off in a frightened shriek. Riley let out a laugh, more hysterical than anything else. This was what he got, for impulsively following Nat's lead. He could've easily just climbed down from the building and helped Steve with the fight on the ground, but no, he just had to jump onto a chariot. He was so busy trying not to crash into a building that he didn't notice the sound of Iron Man's suit nearing him, not until Tony was flying ahead of him and shooting down a chariot heading his way.

"And this is exactly why we don't bring children onto missions!" Tony announced, even as he circled back to cover Riley's rear as he struggled with the steering. Riley scowled in annoyance, opening his mouth to snap back at him. He stopped when the chariot veered sharply to the left. "Push the knives in deeper, Spy Kid." Part of Riley wanted to ignore the order, simply out of spite. The larger part of him wanted to live, so he pushed the knives in deeper and almost immediately noticed a difference. He must have been just shy of the Chitauri's nervous system. Now he found it was much easier to control the Chitauri's arm movements. He let out a sigh of relief. The next time he had to avoid a building, it went much smoother.

"You're welcome," Tony said, flying ahead, now content that Riley could keep himself alive just fine. Riley scowled after him, then focused on the things on the chariot itself. He saw a blew button on one of the handles the Chitauri was holding. He experimented with the kunai a little bit, then managed to press down on the button itself. Immediately, a blast escaped from the chariot, crashing into another chariot nearby. Riley let out a startled, excited laugh.

"Easy with that, Riles," Clint said, his voice mostly static through the comms. "Head back my way. I'm getting a little overwhelmed down here."

"Roger that," Riley said, immediately turning the chariot so that he could circle back around. He'd been following all the other chariots until that point, so now he was facing them head on. He shot down as many as he could as he raced back to where Clint was left stranded on top of a building. He saw Clint in the distance, firing off arrow after arrow. Riley sped up his own chariot, wanting to help out as much as he could.

He stopped focusing on his surroundings for one second. One second, and that was all it took. A blast hit his chariot on the side, and the next thing Riley knew, he was spinning in the air, clinging to the kunai dug into the Chitauri for dear life. Distantly, he heard multiple people shouting his name through the comms, but they all sounded very far away. He grunted, held on as hard as he could, and waited for the chariot to center itself. When it did, though, he immediately noticed that black smoke was coming out of it, and the Chitauri previously steering the thing was deadweight. He was going to crash. With that thought in mind, he reached for his safety gear and pointed it at the closest building to him. He was jumping off the chariot itself before the hook had even latched itself into the brick, but once it did, he found himself swinging through the air, the chariot left to crash into another building by itself.

He braced himself for impact, braced himself to land against nothing but hard brick. Instead, he realized he was going to crash through a window. It was only mildly better, but at least with this, he could receive less damage. He only had a few seconds to angle himself so that his booted feet would crash through the glass first, and then shards were showering down around him, and he was crashing painfully against a hardwood floor. He folded himself into a ball as he rolled across the floor, trying to protect his limbs as well as his head. The only thing that stopped his momentum was a counter. His back crashed against it hard enough to make him gag, and he had to take a moment to get his breath back, choking on air until his chest stopped feeling like it was caving in. Once he was breathing normally again—if a bit heavily—he looked up from where he was curled up and took in his surroundings.

He was in a small apartment, obviously lived in, if the spilled milk and cereal on the kitchen floor was anything to go by. He climbed to his feet, using the counter—which turned out to be a small island—as support. There was a comic book illustrating Captain America in cartoon form on the floor, and it looked like a school backpack had been resting by the window, though there was too much glass now to really be sure. Riley didn't feel like digging around just to see. One thing was for sure, though—a child had most likely been in the apartment when the attack on New York started. He winced to himself, hoping that the kid had escaped to a neighbor's apartment. Maybe one of the parents had dragged them away to someplace safer.

Or, maybe, the kid was still somewhere in the apartment itself, hiding in a closet and hoping for the noise to stop. Riley looked at the broken window, chewing on his bottom lip. He needed to go back out there, needed to help with the Chitauri, but—but he couldn't just leave an innocent child alone in an apartment building. Especially not an apartment building that was steadily being destroyed by chariot blasts and nearby explosions. Sighing, he abandoned the fight outside for now and looked around the apartment. There was a small hallway beside the kitchen. Riley followed it slowly, digging another kunai out of his pocket just in case there was an alien hiding out in one of the rooms. When he got to the room at the end of the hall, there was thankfully no Chitauri in sight. Unfortunately, the majority of the wall had been blown to bits, destroying the bunk-bed there and leaving the entire room unstable. The closet was nowhere in sight; it must have been one of the things to fall when the explosion hit.

"Hello?" he called out, stepping carefully into the room, mindful of the metal beams sticking out a few feet away. He could see the apartment below, a room similar to this one. That one was quickly catching on fire, the flames spreading on the curtains. This explosion must have happened very recently. Otherwise, this entire room would've been burnt to a crisp by that point. Feeling a little less confident about there being any survivors in the room, he tried one last time. "Is anyone in here? I'm a friend. I'm here to help, I promise."

He didn't get a response, not vocally at least, but he did hear a small gasp, like someone was in pain. He tilted his head and looked over at the bunk bed. It was starting to slide off the floor, about to fall into the apartment below, but there was just enough room below it for someone to hide. Of course a child would've hidden underneath their bed. That should've been a safe place. Riley quickly made his way over and kneeled by the bed, peering underneath. Sure enough, a little boy no more than six or seven was curled up, his back pressed against the wall, his brown skin covered in dust and soot. Riley let out a small sigh.

"Hi," he said gently, softening his voice. Everything in him was screaming at him to grab the boy and pull him out from under the bed as quickly as possible, before the bed fell down into the flames below and took the child with it. But he'd been trained for things like this, and he knew gentleness was the best way to get a child to not panic. He was sure the boy was frightened as it was, Riley didn't want to make it worse. "Hi, sweetheart. I know you're very scared right now, but I need you to crawl out from under the bed. It's not safe in here. Can you do that?" The boy stared at him for a moment, then mumbled something unintelligible. To Riley's dismay, he was clutching onto a plush toy of Captain America for dear life. Riley frowned. "Can you say that again? I can't hear you." The boy sucked in a deep breath and pulled his face away from the plush toy.

"S-Stuck," he managed to get out, though he was so scared and distraught that more sobs came out than anything else. Riley took in a deep breath. His eyes raked over the boy's body until he saw his right ankle, lodged between the metal beam of his bunk bed and the crumbling floor.

"Your ankle is stuck?" he asked, double-checking. The boy nodded. Riley secured a hand around the bunk bed and stared at it for a moment. A child's bed was, thankfully, not that heavy, but there was no telling how long he'd be able to hold it up while the boy got himself free and crawled out from under it, especially with the floor crumbling beneath them. Even now, he could feel the spot he was kneeling on getting hotter from the fire, less stable. He drummed his fingers against the metal for a moment, then sighed. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. I'm going to lift the bed, and when I do that, I need you to crawl out from under it as fast as you can. Your ankle might be hurt, but I need you to be as fast as you can be. Can you do that?"

"Y-Yeah," the boy stuttered. He hesitated, then pushed the plush toy toward Riley. "C-Can you keep him for me?" Riley actually managed to smile. He assured the child that he would, clipped the toy to his belt hastily, then got to his feet and grabbed the railing of the bunk bed with both hands.

"On three, ready?" Riley asked. He waited for the boy to say he was ready, then counted loud and clear. "One...two...three." He lifted the bunk bed up, grunting at the weight from the two mattresses on top. The floor beneath his feet slipped sideways at the extra weight. Riley cursed and regained his footing, glancing down desperately. The boy's torso was halfway out from under the bed. He didn't release the bunk bed until he could see both his feet, and then he was dropping it carelessly and reaching down to jerk the boy into his arms. He leaped for the bedroom doorway, making it just in time before the entire floor of the boy's bedroom completely caved in. He didn't stop running until he was back in the kitchen, and then he was setting the boy down on the counter and offering him his Captain America toy back.

But when he turned away, planning to search for a pitcher of water or something, he was startled when the little boy burst into hysterical tears and clutched at his jacket. He turned in alarm, thinking that an alien had fallen through the open window, or that the boy was hurt in a new way, only to see that that wasn't the case at all. The little boy was just scared, and he thought Riley was leaving him there to fend for himself.

"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, I'm not leaving," Riley said in a rush, growing restless himself. He hadn't dealt a lot with crying children. He knew how to deal with them through training, but usually, by this point, he would hand them off to another agent more suited to the situation and be on his way. He didn't have that option now. "You're safe now, okay? You're safe."

"M-My—ankle—hurts—" the boy said between his crying, still clutching at his jacket. Riley blinked and glanced down. He grimaced when he saw blood smearing the boy's sock and shoe, when he saw a bit of bone breaking through skin.

"Shit," Riley muttered, which seemed to shock the boy enough to make him stop crying. Riley glanced around the destroyed apartment. There was wood from the broken windowpane and tassels from the now-loose curtains. Those would have to do, for not. "Okay. Okay, what's your name?" The boy sniffed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. He was covered in dirty and soot. Riley doubted he looked much better.

"Miles," the boy mumbled, choking on a hiccup.

"Miles," Riley repeated, offering him a soft, comforting smile. "My name is Riley. I'm going to have to fix up your ankle as best as I can, and I need you to do something very important for me." Miles sniffed and stared at him, calming down a little bit more. "I need you to stay calm while I do it, okay? It's going to hurt, but I need you to stay as still as you can. Can you do that?" Slowly, Miles nodded. Riley beamed at him encouragingly. "Good. Now, can you bring your leg up on the island? I'll be right back." He didn't leave the room, just took a few steps away and found pieces of wood small enough that he could make a splint out of, and then he cut tassels from the curtains, and then snagged a small dish towel from the dining table on his way back. When he came back, Miles had straightened his leg out across the counter. Riley set his materials to the side and started peeling his shoe and sock off.

His ankle was swelled up to twice it's normal size, and he was bleeding a little too much for comfort, so Riley checked for any numbness or tingling first. Miles seemed to be able to feel his foot and toes just fine; it was just his ankle that was broken. Riley took a deep breath, not fully prepared to do what he had to do next. There was no telling when the kid could see a real doctor, and he couldn't just put a splint on him and leave it at that, because he was still bleeding too much. He was going to have to stop the bleeding. A grimace pulled at his mouth.

"Okay, Miles, the next part is going to hurt a lot," Riley said honestly, tugging off one of his fingerless leather gloves as he did. There wasn't much he had on him that Miles could bite on, so he offered him the dishtowel he had grabbed other, tossing his glove aside. "I need to stop the bleeding, and to do that, I'm going to have to cauterize the wound. Do you know what that is?"

"I-It's when someone is burned, right?" Miles asked, his voice trembling. Riley swallowed.

"Right," he said gently. He didn't really know what to say to make this better, so he spoke on instinct, his smile widening. "Hey, you like superpowers, right? Well, look on the bright side. You'll get to see mine!" Miles blinked slowly, then he physically seemed to brighten, his eyes widening in excitement.

"You have powers?" he asked. "That's so cool! What kind?"

"It's officially called solar manipulation," Riley told him, even as he started building heat up in his right hand, centering it to his palm and fingers. He wasn't going to make it last any longer than he needed it to. A brief touch was all he would need. The wound was small, despite all the blood. "I get my powers from the sun. I usually use it to control light, but I can heat things up, too. I mainly use it to heat up food, though."

"So you're like a firebender," Miles said, sounding awed at just the thought. Riley let out a small laugh.

"Something like that," he agreed, though it wasn't like that at all. "Okay, Miles, bite down hard, okay?" Miles did as he was told, clenching his teeth down the dishtowel and clenching his eyes shut. Riley took his hand, letting him know that he could squeeze as long and hard as he could, and then he took a deep breath and pressed his hand down on the wound. He blocked out the following sounds as best he could, but Miles drawing blood on his other hand was hard to miss. Thankfully, it didn't last long, and Riley made quick work of splinting his ankle and tying it all together as gently as possible. Once he was done, he turned to Miles and made a mental note to pay for all his medical bills—as well as compensating his family for a new home—later.

"You're very brave," Riley said gently, squeezing Miles's hand. "I don't think even Iron Man himself could've done that. And you can take my word for it. I know him personally."

"R-Really?" Miles asked, sniffling again. Riley nodded.

"Yep. I know Captain America, too," he added, poking at the plush toy Miles had clutched to his chest. "I'll make them visit you in the hospital later."

"Promise?" Miles asked. Riley offered him his pinky very seriously, and grinned when Miles linked his own pinky with Riley's.

"Promise." He dropped the pinky promise and reached to pull Miles off the counter. He certainly couldn't walk on his own, so he settled with setting Miles on his hip and securing a single arm around him. "Now, let's get you somewhere a bit safer, yeah?"

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Unedited. I would say sorry for the long wait, but I'm trying this new thing where I stop apologizing for anything regarding my writing. Writing is hard, why am I apologizing, like at least I got it up, y'know? Anyway, Riley is a hero. After this battle, he's going to be a fan-favorite with the media and kids. Let it be known! And yes, the kid is Miles Morales. The multiverse canonically exists in the MCU now, so I figured Miles has to be there, somewhere. I would've had him a fan of Spiderman, but since Spiderman doesn't exist yet, I chose my favorite.

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