Valor ↠ Prequel [0] ✓

16 | Valor

   "You're right," admitted Steve. "I might think you're a kid, but you're more than that. You're a fighter. That's why you survived the accident instead of your parents. That's why you have those powers. You were destined for more." He turned toward the door, his back facing her. "You can stay here and be pissed at the world, or you can come with us and avenge your losses. It pains me to send a child to war, but I have a feeling we'll need you."

   Riley scoffed. "Save the motivational speech for someone who needs it. I was gonna come anyway," she insisted, rising to her feet and dusting herself off. She forced a smile. "Loki pissed off the wrong kid."

   Steve eyed her, fully facing her once more. "I thought you weren't a kid?"

   Riley shrugged. "It's okay when I say it," she mentioned. "Hey, when we're down there, can I throw the shield?" Steve looked baffled by the sudden question. "Pleaseee?"

   Steve shook his head. "You know, you sure are polite," he pointed out.

   Riley shrugged again. She was beginning to notice that Roman was rubbing off on her. "I wasn't given much respect, so I figured I'd try to be better than the asshats around here," she explained. "So, is that a yes?"

   Steve paused. "...Suit up, Agent."

   And with that, the Avengers gathered to secure the Tesseract. Although it wasn't blatantly obvious, they knew this wouldn't end without a gruesome fight. Riley just wished she would've been warned about how the result of the fight sooner. This was the fight that changed everything for her, after all.

   After stealing an aircraft from S.H.I.E.L.D., the Avengers were on their way to New York City. However, rather than traveling with the others, Riley was dragged off by Tony to fly in ahead of the others. The entire flight consisted of them arguing over how dangerous it was to make Riley essentially just hold onto him for the whole flight, but Tony just kept arguing with, "YOU MAKE FORCEFIELDS! I DON'T SEE WHAT THE PROBLEM IS!"

   Honestly, Riley was pretty sure Tony just missed hanging out with her.

   They managed to locate Selvig and the Tesseract on the rooftop of Stark Towers, but it was impossible to get through to him when he was still brainwashed. Instead, they shifted their attention to Loki as he waited for Tony on the tower's balcony.

   Invisible, Riley followed behind Tony as his suit was taken off of him. She continued to mumble to herself about how stupid he was for removing his suit, but she figured Tony had some stupid plan in mind.

   Loki strutted through the building with confidence oozing out of him. In his hand was that damn scepter he never parted with. "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," taunted Loki. Seeing him up close again just reminded Riley of how badly she wanted to kick his ass.

   "Uh, actually, I'm planning to threaten you," Tony retorted. He didn't seem worried, but Riley knew him better than that. He could fool most people, she'd give him that; however, Riley liked to think she knew Tony like he was family. Or something like that, at least.

   "You should have left your armor for that," Loki remarked.

   Tony made his way down the stairs to meet Loki, leaving Riley to silently trail after him. She was prepared to protect Tony at any moment. "Yeah, it's got a bit of mileage, and you've got the glowstick of destiny." Tony motioned to the bar. "Would you like a drink?"

   Though Loki faltered for just a moment, his smirk remained. "Stalling me won't change anything."

   "No, no, threatening," Tony corrected. "No drink? You sure? I'm having one." As he began to serve himself, he added, "What about you, Tink?"