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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
x. EVERYBODY LOVES A DRAMATIC ENTRANCE

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   ROMAN WAS STILL GRIPPING Riley's arm when they teleported into a Stark Industries jet. Back In Black by AC/DC blasted through the speakers — a classic on the Stark Family Playlist.

   "Most convenient superpower ever— Oh!" She froze as Roman tightly hugged her. It took her a second before she pulled her arms around him. "This is so weird."

   "I don't give a shit," he muttered. "This is my first Valor death experience, alright? I didn't like that."

   "Me neither. I'd give you a refund, but I'm still waiting on mine," she said. "Where are we, by the way? What are we doing? Did you actually manage to make a plan without me?"

   "Don't act so surprised," Happy Hogan greeted as he emerged from the cockpit and drew her into a warm hug.

   "When did everyone in this family turn into huggers?" Not that she was complaining.

   "You're the one who died this morning. I just wanted to be one of the first to welcome you back from hell," Happy said.

   "It's so weird," Riley remarked. "They just keep kicking me out!"

   Happy chuckled as he returned to the cockpit. "Officially exiting the Netherlands! We should be landing in London in about 35. How's Peter doing back there?"

   Every question Riley had about the plan and why Happy and Roman were casually gallivanting the Netherlands — never mind, together — suddenly dissipated. Reading her mind, Happy pushed the button that opened the shutter doors containing Tony's travel lab in the back, revealing a hunched-over Peter Parker as he busily worked on what they could only assume was his suit. He peered up at the door's movement, completely freezing once he saw her.

   Riley rushed ahead without realizing it and threw herself at him. It seemed instinctive, how Peter's arms secured around her waist. She cupped his battered face in her hands, noting the dark circles, messy hair, and blood drying over his skin.

   "Riley," was all he said at first. He smiled despite the pain she could tell he was in. He took in every inch of her, noting the new scars. Though the sun healed her wounds, it never erased them entirely. She was radiant, yet permanently marked, like a tormented bear. To those who didn't know her well, it was intimidating, a reminder to thank whatever God they believed in that she wasn't their enemy. Peter never saw her that way though. To him, she was just Riley, the sunny girl who loved movies, chess, and stargazing.

   "You look nice," Peter added. And while she did look nice, what he wanted to say was that she looked alive. He fought the urge to kiss her right then and there, nearly forgetting about that situation.

   "You look like shit," Riley softly said. Her jaw clenched, and for a second, Peter sensed her barely contained rage. "Who did this to you? Beck?"

   "You know about Beck?"

   "Yeah, figured that out a while ago. It's a long story. I've been kind of losing my mind."

   "Me too." Peter nodded to his unfinished suit. "I'd tell you everything, but we're kind of on a time crunch. Unless you wanna speed-run it?"

   Riley agreed. "After Fury and I got in that fight yesterday, I ran into Beck right before we were supposed to fight the Fire Elemental. He attacked me with this crazy illusion tech and these drones, which I have no idea how he has access to those, but — not the point. Turns out, he's full of shit, and he hates me and Tony, and he wants to be the new Iron Man and the new Avengers leader, which is insane for several reasons, but I just wanna know what he planned on doing if a real threat came around, you know?"

   "Exactly. He's an idiot."

   "And I'd been suspicious of Beck this whole time, but I've been so distracted because he's been using his tech to manipulate me into believing Rob had broken out of the RAFT and was stalking me again. I've been going crazy all week because I was seeing him everywhere." Riley cringed. "Anyway, he tried to kill me because, you know, leader of the Avengers, which is how I got hit by a plane."

   Peter choked, "You got hit by a plane!? How are you even alive right now!?"

   "A lot of spite," Riley said. "I ended up in Portugal, where I met Natasha's adoptive sister, Yelena, who took care of me. She called Nat and Steve, who later told me Tony knew something was up with you, me, and EDITH, but he couldn't say much because Beck tapped his shit — and I'm guessing all of our phones, too. Then, Roman showed up, and now I'm here."

   "O...kay, wow. Uh, my turn." Peter continued to tap buttons and adjust his suit. "So you, me, and Beck fought the Fire Elemental last night. Or, I thought it was you, but in hindsight, you were acting super weird. I would've said something, but I was kinda busy trying to save the world and the fact that you'd gotten seriously hurt in the fight. Like, badly hurt. It was all I could focus on."

   "Beck did promise he'd give me a flashy death," she joked. Peter didn't laugh.

   "It was terrifying. Your face was melted off, and your hands... I really thought you..." He grimaced at the memory. Riley gently touched his arm, which seemed to bring him back to Earth. "Uh, when Beck managed to stabilize you, we went out for drinks because he wanted to celebrate saving the world. For the record, I wasn't celebrating because I thought you..."

   "Right."

   "Long story short, I was... feeling, uh... vulnerable, so I gave Beck EDITH because I didn't know he was a bad guy yet, and I thought you wanted him to have them, not me, because I'm an idiot, and I'm not ready to be the next Iron Man."

   "Pete, if Tony and I wanted Beck to have them, we would've made sure he got them, not you," Riley pointed out. Her eyes softened. "Since when do you think you have to be the next Iron Man?"

   He ignored her. "After that, your vitals conveniently started crashing, and I had to go back to my class, which sounds awful because I should've been with you— I wanted to be with you, I swear. But the good thing about me having to leave you is that MJ was the one who realized the Elementals are fake and that I'd fought with a fake Valor."

   "God, I love MJ."

   "So, I went to Berlin to explain everything to Fury, but then I got tricked by Beck's illusion tech, and I got hit by a train. That's how I ended up in the Netherlands—"

   "Wait, wait, wait. A train!?"

   "Yeah, it sucked. Luckily, the people in the Netherlands are super nice. I borrowed this guy's phone and called Happy because I figured Beck was watching our calls. Happy and Rome picked me up in this huge tulip field. I knew they were tulips because you said you liked tulips that one time—"

   Riley thought back to Tony's terrible attempt at a spy message, nodding.

   "—It was actually Tony's idea to send Roman with Happy instead of straight to Beck because he knew Roman could get to you the fastest, wherever you were in the world, I guess Portugal. Happy said we're basically moving all of our chess pieces into place. He thought you'd appreciate that metaphor."

   "I do appreciate it. I guess whatever contact Tony had with Nat and Steve worked out because Beck hasn't caught on, right?"

   "Right," Peter said. "That's not all though. I might've told Beck that MJ, Ned, and Betty all know he's a fraud, and now their lives are also in danger. And Roman's, Fury's, Hill's, and your family's, too. As long as Beck has access to EDITH, it's too risky to try hacking her back. One word and he could kill everyone. The only way we can stop Beck is by taking EDITH back and shutting down the drones ourselves."

   Oh, this was a mess.

   "Is that why we're going to London?"

   "Yup," Peter affirmed. "Flash said on his live-stream that they're all in London right now when they were supposed to be flying home. Beck's still screwing with my class trip. There's no telling how many people he could kill with those drones."

   "Do you have a plan?"

   "Kind of?"

   "That doesn't sound very promising."

   "Hey, have I ever let you down?"

   "Probably."

   "Exactly, never—" Peter's head snapped forward at Riley's innocent giggles. He surprised himself when he laughed, too. "You need to stop doing that!"

   Peter honestly didn't believe he was capable of laughter after enduring the worst 24 hours of his life, but being with Riley was easy. She made everything easier.

   A smile crept forth as Riley watched Peter work on his suit. He must've been so excited, being able to customize his own suit. She could tell Peter was in his element from how his tongue poked out of his mouth, how he moved so fluidly and animatedly despite his exhaustion.

   Was now a weird time to realize how proud she was of him? With everything going on, he was handling it better than she expected. Her own words echoed back at her: The only difference between people like us and people like him is time.

   Time was Riley's oldest enemy. It eroded the world, stole breaths, and wrinkled faces. It took so much and never gave back. It was how she felt as a kid — losing her childhood, trying to forgive herself for her past — and how she felt as a... slightly older kid — losing five years of her life to time travel, fearing what the future held. She seldom lived in the present comfortably, too afraid of one or the other: past or future. Even Beck knew it, and he'd tried to force her to choose. Your past, or your future?

   But time was supposed to heal all, wasn't it? Time was proof of change, and change could be a good thing. She saw it every day: her baby sister growing up, Bucky and Natasha leaving their assassin days behind, Tony parting ways from Iron Man, her friends from Midtown getting ready to graduate high school, soldiers becoming leaders, apprentices surpassing mentors. Natasha said she saw it in Riley, too. She said little Riley O'Dair dreamed of becoming the person Riley was today. Was that time's gift?

   If time healed all, could it mend its relationship with Riley? For once, she was willing to consider it. Maybe.

   When they neared London, Happy jogged to the back of the jet and announced, "Okay, Fury's got the coded message!"

   Riley had overheard it. He'd told Fury a story about how people didn't believe the Nick Fury knew how to surf, but Happy insisted, "Appearances can be deceiving." Fury had hung up out of pure irritation, which meant the message was received. It was a terrible coded message, and now Riley was contemplating giving her family proper spy lessons.

   "Your friends are at the Tower Bridge. Your boy called it London Bridge, but I figured it out," Happy reported. "Roman and I are gonna scoop them up, okay?"

   Peter nodded, trying to contain his nerves. "Okay."

   "We're close," Happy encouraged, which was unlike him, Riley noted. She always knew the day would come: the day Happy Hogan welcomed a soft spot for Peter Parker. She knew it would come because it happened to her. It happened to everyone who met Peter. "How's the suit coming?"

   "Almost done."

   "Good, okay. You got this."

   "What's the plan, again?" Roman yawned, having just woken up from a nap. Because only Roman could peacefully sleep through a hurricane.

   "I know it's illusion tech, right? All I have to do is get on the inside of the illusion, then I can take it down, find him, and — he's just a guy, so I can take EDITH right back," Peter explained.

   "Right, but last time, you got hit by a train," Happy glanced toward Riley, "and you got hit by a plane."

   "True, but this time... How do I explain this?" Peter muttered. "Uh... I have, like, a sixth sense."

   "The Peter Tingle. That's what you're talking about, right? It's not working though. I heard it wasn't working right now," Happy said, recalling a conversation he'd had with May. They'd been talking a lot lately, hadn't they? "Is it?"

   Cringing, Peter stammered, "It is working— I don't, I don't know if it's working—"

   "I'm sure Peter's Tinkle is fine," Roman snickered.

   "Tingle, not tinkle," Riley corrected.

   "Oh, I'm sure you'd know all about his tinkle—"

   "Time out," Peter groaned, "we're not calling it my Peter Tinkle— Tingle!"

   "Doesn't matter what it's called," Happy interrupted. "That's the plan. Roman and I are on babysitting duty, Peter's getting his tingle back online, and... Riley, what's your play?"

   "I have an idea," she admitted, "but you might not like it."

   "Those are my favorite ideas," Roman said. "What are you thinking?"

   Riley just smiled mischievously.

○ ○ ○

   Looming over London was the Fifth Elemental, a fusion of all that came before it: Earth, Fire, Water, Air. Its body was akin to a tempest storm, furling the air into tornadoes. Lightning whipped through it like pulsating veins. Rocks scabbed its limbs like skin, molten pouring through the cracks and wrinkles. Gaping holes replaced its smoky eyes and mouth. Its roars shook the tectonic plates. The River Thames thrashed uncontrollably. The storm was so severe that Riley felt it thundering in her chest as she flew toward it, invisible.

   When her comm activated, JOCASTA chimed, "Glad to have you back, Valor."

   Riley sighed happily. "Gods, you have no idea how much I missed you."

   "Comms check," Happy greeted. "Can you guys hear me?"

   "No need to yell, big guy," Roman grumbled from beside him.

   "Crystal," Riley said while Peter, who was sticking to the outside of the jet, hollered, "Yeah, I can! It's just a little loud out here!"

   "I like the new suit," Happy complimented. It was similar to Peter's old suit, sleek and stretchy, except the once blue panels were now black.

   "Yeah, it makes me wish I had bug spray on me," Roman said, which was his unnecessary way of agreeing. "Woah, that thing's huge."

   "Right? You should've seen—"

   "But it's super obvious it's not real. Example A, it doesn't have a soul."

   "Roman, that's obvious to no one but you."

   Meanwhile, Happy had to ask if they were sure the Elemental wasn't real. Peter assured, "Yeah, it's just 100 times bigger than I expected! You sure you wanna do this, Ri?"

   "Positive."

   See, Riley had a lot of time to ponder how this would end. The plan was simple, effective, but it wasn't enough. It didn't equate to everything Beck did to her, to Peter. Drawing blood was one thing; screwing with their heads was another. Manipulation like that was a tricky weapon to wield, but when mastered, the damage was irreparable. Beck's illusions would haunt Riley for years to come, and she figured whatever he showed Peter was just as harrowing.

   It infuriated her, more than she let on, even more knowing he'd hurt Peter. As someone who made a career out of vengeance, Riley couldn't resist the temptation — to get inside Beck's head. To hurt him how he'd hurt them. The only way to win was to play Beck's game.

   "If Peter's busy trashing the drones, Beck's bound to notice sooner than later," Riley had explained earlier. "But if he's distracted by, I dunno, the ghosts of the kids he tried to murder, I think I can buy Peter some extra time."

   The last thing Riley heard before muting her comm was Peter shouting as he fell off the jet, "Hey, Happy? We need to have a serious conversation about you and my AAAUNT!"

   Green lasers strobed through the vortex as Mysterio fought the Elemental, shouting nonsense like, "THIS IS FOR MY FAMILY! THIS IS FOR KILLING VALOR!"

   JOCASTA led Riley to the real Beck, who was perched in a vacant part of the bridge. Instead of his costume, he wore an unflattering gray bodysuit — the kind used for special effects in movies — and a less cool glass bowl around his head. A pair of drones were on either side of him.

   Riley had never done anything like this before. Invisibility was her thing. Hiding was her superpower. But she'd bent light to her will before, shooting it in beams, solidifying it as forcefields. All she had to do, this time, was manipulate how light reflected against Beck's eyes.

   "William, I've got drones breaking formation," Beck soon said, tapping a screen. Peter must've been busy destroying the drones. This was her cue. "I wanna see what's happening."

   "Can I get a look, too?"

   Beck jumped, whirling to see Valor standing in all her glory. Correction, an illusion of Valor. A simple optical illusion. Not that he could tell the difference. His eyes bulged as he gawked at her.

   "Stark?" He didn't hesitate, reaching for his pistol. BANG!

   The bullet tunneled through her skull, right in the center of her forehead, and she collapsed. Beck blinked wildly as he caught his breath, trying to understand what just happened, how she'd snuck up on him. When he lowered his pistol, 'Riley' stood again, scoffing nonchalantly, dusting off her white suit.

   "Someone doesn't look happy to see me," she mused. Beck raised his weapon as she stalked toward him. BANG, BANG! Each bullet landed, but she didn't fall. Blood gushed down her face, spraying out of her body. "What, you don't like my hair? It's my suit, isn't it—?"

   "How... How are you doing that?" he demanded, his face pale.

   "I just wanted to congratulate you!" 'Riley' extended a hand. "You're officially an Avenger! How do you feel? I know this is bad timing, but we need to talk about your look for a potential rebrand. Is there anything you can do about the green clouds that come out of you when you fly? Not that I hate them, but they do look like massive fart clouds—"

   "You're supposed to be dead."

   "Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. Is this better?"

   Beck glanced down at her hand, gagging as her flesh dissolved, leaving bones in its stead. Her skin bubbled, melting. Her eyes became cloudy as her smile widened. Though Riley could only create visual illusions, Beck's fear encouraged his mind to fill in the gaps.

   "What's wrong?" she wondered. "Pete, be honest, is there something in my teeth?"

   Beck spun as the world dimmed, and the storm quieted. A battered and bruised 'Peter' materialized. His bones stuck out, disfigured as he limped. He tried to speak (not that Riley could've emulated his voice anyway), but all that came out were wheezes and spouts of blood.

   "That is how you left him, isn't it?" 'Riley' demanded, her voice suddenly icy. When Beck turned to her, she was deformed, too, exactly how she should've been after the plane hit her, after her body struck the Earth. "You left him to die. He was a kid. We were just kids."

   Unsurprisingly, Beck howled with laughter. "You think I care? You think I care about this, about killing? I DON'T GIVE A DAMN. YOU WEREN'T CHILDREN, YOU WERE PAWNS! I PLAYED THE GAME. I WIN!"

   "You're right. You're just like me. You're a hero, which makes you a pawn, too." She marched forward, different deceased versions of herself flickering with each step. "This job isn't all glamor. It's not pretty. It's not easy. It's full of choices. Who to kill? Who to sacrifice? Children, the elderly, your friends, your family. You can't save yourself from this curse, Beck. Who will you kill next? Who's worth saving?"

   "Easy. I'll save myself," he growled. "I'M superior. NO ONE is better than me. NO ONE is more deserving than ME. NO ONE! NOT EVEN MY OWN TEAM COULD STOP ME! THEY CAN TRY, BUT I WILL ALWAYS BE THEIR SUPERIOR! MYSTERIO IS THE TRUTH. MYSTERIO IS A HERO!"

   "It's not a matter of trying. It's a matter of when," 'Riley' hissed. "If you can't win, someone else will. If you can't choose, they will. If you can't hold your own, they will choose you. You can kill us all, one by one, but what will you do when it's you? What will you do when they turn on you and hide your murder behind a tragedy? What will you do, Beck, when they kill you next?"

   Finally, Beck's face fell, for she wasn't threatening him. She was warning him.

   "They won't— They wouldn't—"

   "Everyone wants power. Some will do whatever it takes to have it. What do you think your team is doing this for? Because they like you?" she mocked. "The second you get comfortable, they'll take it from you, and you won't even realize it. You'll be so busy gloating, thinking you won. But it's too late, Beck. They're coming for you."

   'Riley' disappeared. An illusion of Beck took her place, one with a bullet lodged between his empty eyes. A message was smeared across his forehead in blood: FRAUD.

   "Don't you see, Beck? You're already dead."

   Beck's screams grated his throat as he stumbled backward, sweating profusely, veins protruding against his temple. When he blinked, the vision vanished. Riley, Peter, the blood, the darkness, his corpse — all gone. Like it never happened. Except it had. He'd seen it right before his eyes... hadn't he?

   "Beck, what's going on?" a member of his team shouted into Beck's comm. "Who are you talking to?"

   "N-Nothing. Forget it."

   It was too late though. His team heard everything he said. Any sense of trust between Beck and the others was long gone now.

   Was that her intention?

   Don't be ridiculous, Beck thought, Riley Stark is dead.

   But it didn't explain what he saw. Was she an illusion? Was someone on the inside working against him?

   He tried to focus again, but he couldn't shake what he saw, whatever that was, wherever it came from. His hands trembled. He couldn't even remember what he was doing minutes ago. It didn't help that music had begun to blare through the storm, louder than the roaring Elemental, louder than the screams of his victims.

   Beck looked up irritably, ears straining. "Do you hear that?"

   Maybe he was losing it, but it sounded like Shoot to Thrill by AC/DC was blasting through every accessible speaker in the area.

   "LOOK, IT'S VALOR!" a civilian cheered below.

   "VALOR'S ALIVE!" another rejoiced. "I KNEW IT!"

   "VALOR'S GOING TO SAVE US!"

   Riley Stark — the real Riley — soared into battle, with AC/DC marking her return from the dead. She still wore Yelena's clothes, which wasn't an effective costume in terms of protection, but it was perfect for her plan. Her lack of armor emphasized the fact that, at the end of the day, she was just a kid. Just a kid that Mysterio tried to brutally murder, a kid whose "fate" he would soon follow.

   Plus, Yelena's jeans somehow fit her perfectly, and to her, that was more impressive than her Valor suit.

   Sunlight penetrated the storm, flashing against the fire and lightning. Valor whizzed through the air as she fought alongside Mysterio. Although he was an illusion, his shock was real.

   "How are you...? How...?" Mysterio stammered.

   "Eh, I'm alright! Can't say I've ever fought the air though!" Riley quipped. She flashed him an innocent smile. "What's wrong, Becky? You look like you've seen a ghost."

   "Privately connecting with Nick Fury," JOCASTA droned.

   Fury's greeting was a combination between exasperated and relieved. "Riley J. Stark, I'll be damned. I'm not even gonna bother asking how you're alive right now. You got a plan?"

   "A plan to save the day? Yeah, I'd say so. A plan to remove the stick from your ass? Still working on that."

   She could picture his eye rolling. "And was a dramatic entrance necessary for this plan?" he asked.

   "I can't believe you would bother asking such a stupid question," Riley said. "Everybody loves a dramatic entrance!"

   "Do you know everybody, Stark?"

   "No, but everybody knows me," Riley shrugged. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm about to give the best performance of my life. I hope I get an Oscar nomination this time."

   Fury just sighed.

○ ○ ○

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I just wanna say that Riley's dramatic entrance was to the same song Tony had his dramatic entrance to in The Avengers (2012) when he fought Loki in Germany, which is so funny and ironic because, in the prequel, Riley said he "picked a terrible song to have a dramatic entrance to."

It's kinda crazy because Riley could easily go full bad guy if she wanted to. She has so much trauma and baggage, but she never lets loose unless someone she loves is targeted/in danger. I just love the idea of ~Dark Riley~ and I'm compensating for the fact that she'll never see the light of day (not in this story, at least, but maybe in a What If one shot!!). Hope you guys enjoyed that glimpse of her in this chapter! <3