Misadventures in Paradise ↠ Peter Parker [2]

11 | Blast From The Past

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MISADVENTURES IN PARADISE
xi. BLAST FROM THE PAST

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   THE YEAR IS 1943, and Riley should not be here. Alas, she was terribly unlucky, and now, she was currently chasing her boyfriend across the space-time continuum.

   After grabbing a handful of Pym Particle vials, she suited up and jumped through the Quantum Realm to the year 1943. She certainly hadn't missed the feeling of time traveling. The first time it happened, she accidentally traveled five years into the future with the Time Stone. The second time, she was with the Avengers on a mission to kick Thanos's ass. There was also that time Wanda dragged her into Westview, where time moved a bit differently, to say the least. Riley was certain she would never time travel ever again once this was over.

   At least this wasn't her first rodeo. She knew exactly what to expect, including the motion sickness and the discombobulation from the chrono-shift. She had a plan, too. A simple, impossible-to-screw-up plan. She just needed to find Peter and bring him back home. Simple.

   Stumbling out of the Quantum Realm, Riley held her stomach. As her brain rattled in her skull, she grumbled, "I'm sending that stupid machine back to Hank as soon as this is over."

   She steadied herself and gazed up at the world around her. Her grimace fell, her jaw falling with it. New York in the 1940s was exactly how she imagined it would be. If she slapped a sepia filter over the world, it'd look just like the movies. The streets buzzed with life. Women strolled by in their a-line skirts and finest blouses, their hair styled in victory rolls. Men wore either military uniforms or freshly ironed collared shirts, paired with suspenders. Recruiters camped out on every block, and the radios were loud and staticky, most of them playing anti-German sentiment or advertisements for "modern-day" technology between songs.

   A smile crept onto her face. "Cool."

   Standing around aimlessly probably wasn't the best way to start, so she stepped onto the busy streets. She considered turning invisible to avoid all of the stares she was getting, but she was betting on the chance that Peter would see her and her hideous suit before she spotted him.

   If I was Peter right now, where would I go? Riley wondered.

   Peter was resourceful and bright. Knowing him, he was probably on the hunt for someone who could help him. But this was the '40s, the very era where the world's first superhero was created. S.H.I.E.L.D. hadn't been founded yet, and there weren't exactly any superheroes or super-geniuses around that she knew of. Or so she thought.

   "You don't wanna miss it!" chanted an older man. He stood at the end of the street, shoving flyers into the hands of whoever passed him by. "Come see Howard Stark in the flesh tonight at the first-ever Stark Expo! That's right, the first Stark Expo, here in New York City!"