Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

24 | The Light is Coming

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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xxiv. THE LIGHT IS COMING

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  TO POSSESS A FEAR of the dark is much more complex than it reads the first time. Maintaining trepidation in regards to the dark is not the case in which one is fearful of night or mere pitch blackness. Those who are afraid of the dark do not fear it due to the fact that they despise the concept of there being no light or color. Those who are afraid of the dark fear it because of their fear of the unknown. They are afraid of something lurking in the shadows, not the shadows themselves. They fear who or what may hide beneath their bed, not the empty space between the bed and the floor.

   In other words, Riley was certainly not afraid of the dark; she was afraid of what lied beneath a plain blanket of darkness.

   Sneaking in and out of places was not something that was unfamiliar to her. She was and always will be an agent. She knew how to be a hero before she knew how to tie her own shoes properly. She knew how to hack into a system's mainframe and how to properly wield a gun before she could count to 100. When she was given a jump rope for the first time, she discovered at least 10 different ways she could use it against an enemy. Point being, Riley was and always will be an agent, an Avenger, and most importantly, a hero before anything else. This was why it was so easy to slip past the guards hanging around Rob's private jet.

   Then again, that probably had something to do with the fact that Riley could turn invisible and simply walk past them.

   She slipped past the small group of men as they boarded the private jet. Her eyes darted around the general area, searching for Rob. The entire area was emptied before Rob entered it from inside a nearby building.

   Noticing that he was alone, Riley said, "You lied."

   Rob tensed. He recognized the girl's voice after a few moments of considering if he had imagined it or not, given the fact that no one else was outside but him. "What did I lie about? I told you I needed your help for a project my colleague and I were working on," he simply replied.

   Riley clenched her jaw. "You said you cared about me. You only said that because you wanted me to help you do your dirty work."

   Rob paused. He was formulating a plan of some sort in his head. This much, Riley could tell. The problem was figuring out what was going on in his deviant mind. "You know, I'm impressed, mija," admitted Rob. "How did you figure out where I was hiding out?"

   "I'm not an idiot," Riley instantly spat. "I've been doing this for 13 years. You're not stupid enough to travel with your partner."

   "Hm... I suppose S.H.I.E.L.D did teach you something useful," Rob commented mostly to himself.