Adventures in Babysitting ↠ Peter Parker [1] ✓

19 | How The Cookie Crumbles

╔══════════════════╗

ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
xix. HOW THE COOKIE CRUMBLES

╚══════════════════╝

   STEVE ROGERS FELT DISCOURAGED. He loitered outside the Avengers Compound with a hard look in his eye. After Riley's attempts at convincing Tony to help them failed, Steve gathered Bruce Banner, Natasha, and Scott to make the dream of time travel a reality. Just as Tony predicted, their efforts were... futile. To an extent. The furthest they got involved Scott turning into an old man, then a teenager, then a baby. You had to be there. Whatever they managed to discover, it wasn't enough to turn back time. Maybe there was no hope after all...

   The deafening noise of music broke the silence outside. Steve looked over into the distance, his royal blue eyes landing on an Audi speeding towards the building. It swerved back and forth in the road dangerously. Luckily, no one else was around to get injured by the reckless driver. Steve observed as the car drove right past him, braked for a moment, then reversed speedily until the driver's side was directly in front of him.

   Steve stuffed his hands into his pockets as the window rolled down, revealing a widely smiling Riley Stark. Beside her was her father, who looked like he was about to pass out. A rock song had been playing, which seemed to be standard with all of Tony's grand entrances.

   A moment of silence passed before Tony slipped on a pair of expensive sunglasses and announced, "You are never getting your license."

   Riley rolled her eyes. Her sunny exterior remained. "I'm not that bad," she disputed, twisting off the radio that had been blasting The Smiths. The beaming teenager glimpsed back at Steve. "What's up, old man?"

   Steve offered a tiny smile and nodded wordlessly in return. Tony leaned forward. His seatbelt stretched across his torso as he wondered, "Why the long face?" Steve could detect the slight judgemental edge to his voice. "Let me guess: He turned into a baby."

   "Among other things, yeah," hesitantly admitted Steve as the Stark pair exited the vehicle. Riley tossed the keys over to Tony, who caught them smoothly. "Not that I'm not delighted to see you, but what are you doing here?"

   "That's the EPR paradox," Tony continued. "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky. Dangerous. Somebody should've cautioned you against it."

   Steve sighed. "You did."

   "Oh, did I? Thank God I'm here," Tony haughtily declared. Riley rolled her eyes thinking about how much of an effort it had taken to even get him in the car. "Regardless, I fixed it." He held up his right hand, a strange device attached to it. "A fully functioning Time-Space GPS."