This is the way the world ends...

[smarterthandad]

WHO: Valeria Richards, Peter Parker, Tony Stark
WHERE: Avengers Mansion
WHEN: Backdated to 01/05, sometime in the afternoon moving into evening.
WARNINGS: Probably pretty emotionally heavy but nothing worse than that unless idk Spidey tries to throttle Tony (you know you've considered it, Peter.)
SUMMARY: Science says we're fucked and science doesn't lie; maybe Peter and Tony will finally deal with their issues.
FORMAT: Prose

This was not the kind of news one delivered over the phone. Valeria took her tablet and slid off the grownup-sized chair where she'd been kneeling to work, padding down the quiet hallway in search of one of the Mansion's handful of residents...preferably Peter, if she were to be honest with herself. Tony was a friend of the family, but Peter was on the Fantastic Four, which made him actual family, whether or not he quite realized it.

She had tried at least a dozen theoretical formulations to get out of the conclusion her intuition had reached days ago. Reed wouldn't have been happy with that, but Reed Richards didn't have much moral high ground on avoidant behavior. Besides, he wasn't here, and she was exploring this problem alone, more or less. Peter was just an ordinary genius, while Tony was on her level but not a theoretician. And she was working almost blind. So really, it wasn't surprising she wasn't at her most efficient.

Even a supremely gifted three year old was not going to handle the impending end of reality with flawless grace.

Comments

[incywincyhero]

Peter was in the kitchen, having excused himself from the lab a few minutes previously to put together a tray of ham sandwiches, coffee (for himself and Tony), and milk (for Val). Every minute counted, but supergenius brains and superhuman metabolisms needed refueling. As Peter fell under the latter category more than the former, at least in this crowd, it was up to him to play Aunt May and make sure everybody stayed more or less functional.

None of this was running through his conscious mind as he spread mayo and peeled meat slices out of the packaging. Instead he was outlining the next set of simulations to run, calculating whether he could use the processing time to cook up more webbing, considering whether the value of more webbing wasn't its physical utility but the psychological boon of having busywork to stave off the panic beginning to gnaw around his gut.

Peter almost slammed the door as he shut the fridge, but slumped forward instead of turning away, leaning forehead against cool metal.

He had to keep it together. The team was down to two Avengers and a toddler, and though he was probably the Least Valuable Player -- he didn't even have the mental energy to brood over ranking after the toddler -- that membership card still counted for something. He might not have the fate of the universe in his hands but he would damn well look after those who did.

Pulling away from the fridge, he turned away to retrieve the tray, then stopped as he saw Valeria in the doorway. "Hey, kiddo. I've got dinner ready if you want to sit down and eat. How's it been going on your end?"