AN: Hey guys, we're back once again with the next chapter of my Avengers Academy story, and this time, you're getting a look at the layout I have determined the campus would have along with a few more members of the staff and student body. Before we go any further, I'd like to address a few reviews that I had gotten from the first chapter.
First off, in response to "kival737101", I fully intend to pair Spidey with one of those girls that you suggested, but you'll have to wait and see which one wins the honor of being ensnared in Spider-Man's web. Yeah, I know, that joke's a bit old and tired, but hey, ya gotta love the classics, am I right? Still, I think you should get something of an idea as to which of the two Spidey ends up with by the end of this chapter.
Next, in response to the guest review that was named "Guest", and who asked if this would be better than the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, yes, that is the plan my friend.
Third review I'd like to answer is from "dragonrider66". I did not really leave out the part about the web fluid, I merely removed it for a scene that would be taking place later on in this chapter. Thanks for the props you gave me on my use of that scene too. As for other Marvel heroes who would end up joining the academy, at least in terms of the heroes we saw in Ultimate Spider-Man, I actually haven't really decided on whether or not all of those guys would be joining yet, but I do have a very impressive line-up of Marvel heroes in mind for the students we will be seeing join later on. As for your question about adding heroes that aren't from Marvel, I'm afraid that won't be happening. I'm just going to be keeping it at heroes that are from Marvel for now.
In response to the review from guest reviewer "Atom king", I don't know about Ghost Rider or the new Ms. Marvel, but if the Nova you're referring to is Sam Alexander, then I'll have to direct your attention to the previous answer I had given.
Finally, to everyone else who reviewed, and this actually applies to all of you, thanks for enjoying the first chapter of this story, and I hope you continue to enjoy this tale as it continues to unfold. Now, let's have a look at what our favorite web-head can expect from life on campus and from his new classmates.
I do not own anything from the Marvel franchise or any other franchise mentioned in this story.
Chapter 2: Campus and Classmates
If you were to ask one of the three current students of Avengers Academy what one of the best things to do on campus was you would receive a few different answers, not just because of personal preferences, but also because of what they were feeling like at a given time. At the current moment, two students would have to say that their favorite thing to do right now would be running a special simulation program for high-speed flyers in one of the main building's training rooms. The first of these two was an African American boy who was decked out in a red coat over a black muscle shirt, black and red pants, black boots with red laces, and a pair of black goggles with red lenses, while a jetpack with large, grey wings adorned his back, allowing him to fly at the height and speed he was currently managing while also evading the various drones and obstacles that were shooting at him in an attempt to slow him down in any way possible. This was not anything new for the winged boy, as one could clearly tell by how he effortlessly evaded each blast or obstacle with quick and easy turns and aerial acrobatics, sometimes even retracting his wings and cutting his thrusters to spin out of the way before reactivating both once again, but the one thing he was not really expecting was to be struck from behind by an energy blast that definitely did not come from any of the drones.
Looking to the blast's source allowed the boy to see his training partner zoom past him at what could almost be supersonic speeds, and unlike him, the stunning blonde woman did not need a jetpack to fly. The woman in question wore a red and dark blue shirt with a yellow star in the center of her chest, along with dark blue-near black pants, red boots and fingerless gloves, a black domino mask, and a crimson scarf around her neck that seemed to wave in the wind behind her like her long, flowing blonde hair did as she expertly dodged the obstacles in her way while striking back with energy blasts she fired from her hands. She did not make as much of an effort to dodge the energy blasts that were fired at her though, since they seemed to either bounce off of her or end up being absorbed into her, and in the end, she was able to cross the finish line of the current obstacle course ahead of her winged companion with a dazzling smile on her face, which was only enhanced by the fact that she had seemed to have the body of a supermodel even though she was still a teenager. Her smile quickly dropped though when her training partner finally caught up and flashed a scowl at her.
"You cheated. Again," the winged man snapped as he landed and retracted his wings.
"I did not," the blonde retorted. "You were just too slow, like always Sam."
"Oh really? So it's just coincidence that your energy blast hit me right when I was close to winning, just like the last five times we ran this course," Sam questioned.
"Hey, it was an accident," the blonde shrugged.
"Uh-huh, I'd believe that if it didn't happen five times in a row, Carol," Sam argued as he crossed his arms, challenging her to dispute that.
"Oh please," Carol scoffed. "Why don't you just admit that you're jealous of the fact that despite all your big talk about your fancy jetpack, you can't keep up with someone who actually has the power to fly on her own, or are you just too much of a macho man to admit that you lost to a girl?"
"Hey, the fact I don't have powers has nothing to do with this! I was winning fair and square until you decided to blast me in the back. If I did lose to you in a fair race, then I'd be man enough to live with it, but that's not what happened here. You cheated and you know it," Sam snapped in reply.
"Right, right. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Bird-Boy," Carol remarked with a roll of her eyes.
"I don't need help to sleep at night because I know for a fact that you cheated, and if Janet were here, she'd back me up on this," Sam stated with confidence.
"Really? You sure you want to try and play that card again," Carol asked in smiling disbelief. "You really want to try and suggest that if Jan, my best friend had seen this, she would take your side over mine? You do remember how that went for you last time, right?"
Sam could only groan in response this time before lifting his goggles up onto his forehead and muttering, "This is why we need to get more guys here. I can't stand being outnumbered like this, and don't get me started on the abuse."
"Guys, guys, you'll never guess what I just saw! Its big news; big, BIG news! You're never gonna believe it," a new, excited voice suddenly shouted, drawing the two's attention away from their argument and to the door that had just opened up to allow a fast moving ball of yellow light to enter and then change into a full-sized woman with shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, and fair skin dressed in a yellow shirt, white pants, black boots that came up to her mid-thighs, a black, leather jacket with yellow highlights on the sleeves and front, and black fingerless gloves, and it was clear both from her excited, fast-paced tone of voice and how she was practically bouncing off the walls she could barely contain herself from the big news she had to share.
"Jan, calm down and take a breath for a minute," Carol soothed her best friend, prompting Janet to take a deep breath which ended up being released as a high-pitched squeal of excitement that caused Sam to clamp his hands onto his ears in response. "Just tell us what's got you so excited already."
"Okay, so I was flying around, getting some air and practice with my flying when I saw Director Fury and Cap talking to Stark and this other guy, and when I flew a little closer to listen in, I heard them say that this guy was going to be a new student here! How cool is this," Janet exclaimed.
"Wait, you were eavesdropping on Fury and Cap again," Sam asked in disbelief. "Jan, you know you're gonna get caught if you keep doing that, right?"
"I was not eavesdropping! I just happened upon the area while I was passing by and got curious," Janet instantly disputed in a defensive tone, though the way she glanced away when she had said that quickly told Carol and Sam that it was probably not that coincidental that she had been in the area. "And you're missing the point; we're getting a new classmate!"
"And it is a guy, right," Carol asked, just to make sure she heard right. When Janet nodded in enthusiastic reply, the blonde had to smirk and say, "Well that's good news for Sam. Now he can't complain about being outnumbered by us girls anymore."
"Normally, I'd have something to say to that, but right now, I actually do have to agree with you. It's gonna be so good to not be the only guy around here anymore," Sam admitted with an easy-going smile.
"But that's not even the best part! You'll never guess what it is though," Janet suddenly said.
"Let me guess; you think the guy's cute, right," Carol teased.
"No," Janet immediately protested, but the faint blush she gained did not help her in convincing the two. "Okay, yes, but it's not that."
"Then what is it," Sam asked, silently telling Janet to just tell them already.
Janet opened her mouth to reveal the big surprise, but then gained a mischievous smile and said, "Actually, you know what; I'm not gonna tell you guys. I think I'll just leave it as a surprise for now."
Carol and Sam immediately exchanged a knowing glance at this. If this bit of news was as big as Janet was implying it was, then there was no way that she would be able to keep herself from telling them. They knew this from having been friends with the size-changing teen for as long as they had, which was actually for as long as the Academy had been up and running, since they had joined almost the minute after all the main buildings were completed. Knowing this, they eventually found they could not stop themselves from simultaneously counting down until Janet finally could not contain herself. "Three…two…one…"
"Okay, I'll tell you anyway," Janet exclaimed with a grin. "The new student is actually Spider-Man! Can you believe it?! The Spider-Man is a going to be our classmate!"
"You're kidding, right," Carol asked in disbelief. "Jan, Spider-Man's just some myth that the Bugle started up to raise their ratings."
"I don't know, Carol. Last I checked, myths don't leave a large mass of criminals and street crooks tied up in webs, and besides, there are a lot of eye-witness accounts for it to be just some media rumor," Sam argued before he turned back to Janet. "But what makes you think he's going to be a classmate? I mean, wouldn't he be an instructor or something?"
"Just because he calls himself Spider-Man doesn't mean he isn't the same age as us, or at least close to it," Janet pointed out. "Besides, I heard Fury say that he was going to be a student just before he gave him the whole 'hope you survive the experience' line he gave us."
Sam and Carol were both still a bit skeptical about their friend's claim that the infamous Spider-Man was actually going to become their newest classmate, but before they could try to argue any further on the matter, a female voice suddenly announced over the campus intercoms, "All students please report to the Main Assembly Hall to welcome your newest classmate. All students please report to the Main Assembly Hall."
Janet seemed to think that announcement proved her point, because her grin of excitement immediately brightened up even more than it already had been at that point, assuming that it was possible for it to do so, and she immediately grabbed both of her friends' arms and started pulling them out of the training room to the destination that they had been requested to go to, leaving a rather exasperated Sam and Carol to follow in her wake as she dragged them along. Just not before Sam threw in one last glare to Carol and said, "We are going to settle it later."
Carol just smirked in reply, knowing that he was referring to their previous argument, and nodded in acceptance of this, confident that she would still win regardless of whatever Sam tried to say or do to prove he was right.
Spider-Man's little moment of freaking out from Fury's last statement had eventually passed after a few minutes, and once it had, he was able to really pay better attention to the tour of the Avengers Academy campus, provided to him by both Tony Stark and Captain America, who revealed that they were both instructors at the Academy while Fury held the role of headmaster. Peter took that latter information and made a note to make sure he never did anything that would require getting sent to the headmaster's office, because he did not want to know what Nick Fury's idea of detention was, and then put all of his focus back on the tour of the campus so that he could at least know about all the major locations and buildings. Naturally, the first that was mentioned after he found out about Fury's identity as the headmaster was that the walls around the campus was for the safety of both the school and the people outside the campus, even though the place was a reasonably safe distance away from the city of New York. It made sense that they would have a security system in place around the campus, given the fact that some of the Avengers would either spend a great deal of time on campus or just use it as a second home alone, and when one added in the fact that there was a chance that some things that happened here could prove to be dangerous to others, it all made Peter wonder why the Avengers did not just make the place their main headquarters. Tony's only response to this was that it was because some of the Avengers did not want to have to deal with a bunch of superpowered teenagers every minute of every day.
With the matter of campus security dealt with, the two Avengers quickly gave Spider-Man the rundown of the campus and what areas he should be most aware of, starting with the large building in the center of campus, which had indeed turned out to be the main building, just as Peter had guessed earlier. While the building did not have an official name, Steve revealed that just about everyone had taken to calling it Avengers Mansion, though mostly because of how it seemed to house a vast majority of the academy's classrooms and training centers. In addition to this, the Mansion was also where the Main Assembly Hall was, which was basically both an auditorium and where Peter figured pep rallies would be if Avengers Academy had any, the main cafeteria, stockpiled with food that was provided by four-star chefs, and some of the main offices of the staff, most notable of which being Fury's.
Moving on from the Mansion saw Peter being introduced to the campus' very own Stark Tower, which was basically a scaled down version of the Avengers' main headquarters, Avengers Tower. Tony explained that the tower was where the students would be able to gain access to various different computer resources and hold a few parties for special occasions, but at the same time, the students were not allowed access to the top ten floors without permission from one of the Avengers. The reason for this was because those floors were the ones that were restricted specifically to the Avengers team, and where Earth's mightiest heroes' personal dorm rooms and meeting rooms were located in the tower. Steve explained that the reason for this was because the Avengers wanted to be ready to have some form of a backup headquarters in case Avengers Tower was ever compromised somehow, but he then went on to add that access to the computers and resources in the Stark Tower were to be considered a privilege to the students which could be revoked at any time should the staff feel it was necessary. Peter just nodded in response to that while silently promising that he would do his utmost to not get that privilege taken away if it meant he could have a chance to work with some actual Stark tech.
The next most notable place that Steve and Tony pointed out to Peter was the dorm building. From the outside, it seemed to Peter that the building was a simple, three to four story building with a rooftop lounge area, until Tony explained that there was far more to the dorms than what it seemed. Since there were not that many students at the moment, everyone had their own room, but that was susceptible to change should they start getting enough students for it to do so. Once a student was assigned their room, not only were they given a key to said room, their biometrics would be registered to the security system of said room so that no one but that student could enter without the permission of that student, or if they had the exclusive access that was held among the staff. It was at this point that Steve made it clear to Peter that boys and girls were on separate floors at all times after curfew, with the boys rooms being on the first and third floors while the girls were on the second and fourth floors, to the point where it seemed that the super soldier was subtly threatening Peter to not try and break said rule. While Peter just gulped and gave a small nod in reply to show he understood, Tony could not help but chuckle a little at how nervous the kid had gotten because of Steve's cautioning.
Moving on from Peter's moment of fright in relation to Captain America and the dorms allowed the two Avengers to show the academy's newest student where the campus' library was located, better known to everyone on campus as the Timeless Archives. Tony took a bit of time to allow Peter to gawk a little at the vast amount of books and other resources that this particular library had before explaining that a great deal of the information in there was donated by SHIELD, his own personal collection of information, and even their Asgardian neighbors, though he made sure to explain that the last of those three had not provided all that much. When Peter asked why that was, Tony just gave him the same explanation that Thor had given him after he had delivered the information: "There are some things that the mortals of Midgard are not yet ready to know."
Peter was a bit wary of looking at any information that Thor had given to the academy after hearing that, but he quickly put it aside when he was told of their next destination on the tour: the science labs. "Hey, can I ask why the science labs and all the science classes are in a different building than the Mansion," Peter asked as the three walked in.
"You just did, and in answer to your question, it's because neither Fury nor I want to have to pay to have everything in the main building rebuilt in case something blows up from someone's experiment, be it a student's or your primary science instructor" Tony replied with a smirk, immensely enjoying how uneasy the web-swinger seemed to get after hearing how something of his new science teacher's could blow up the building. Once they had ventured well into the building, the three were eventually greeted with the sight of a blonde haired man in a lab coat, grey pants, and red, turtleneck shirt, who did not seem to notice them until Tony called out, "Yo Doc! Meet the new kid."
When the lab coat wearing man turned to face them, his face seemed to light up a little when he laid eyes on Peter, but Tony and Steve either did not notice or just ignored it as the latter deemed it more important to handle introductions over quelling any scientific excitement his colleague might have. "Spider-Man, this is Doctor Hank Pym. You may know him better as Giant-Man and the original Ant-Man," the super soldier introduced.
"Always good to meet a fellow animal-themed hero, even if it is a former one," Peter remarked as he held his hand out to Hank, only to be taken aback when the size-changing scientist lunged forward and shook it with far more enthusiasm than he was expecting.
"Oh believe me, the pleasure is all mine, Spider-Man. I've been following your efforts since you first appeared in New York, not only because I've been curious as to how you do what you do, but also because you've shown to have quite the mind behind that mask," Hank excitedly stated.
'I like this guy,' Peter thought to himself with a smile before he vocalized his own excitement of having a chance to study under the scientist before him. "I actually read some of your research on the application of Pym Particle technology to everyday matters such as medical treatments and construction a few months back."
"And you understood it," Hank asked in shock.
"I wrote a paper on it, actually," Peter replied.
"Well, if I needed further proof that there was a scientist behind that mask of yours, I'd say that I definitely have it now," Hank noted with barely suppressed eagerness, but he quickly recomposed himself before he could start jumping with joy like an excited ten-year-old. "On a more important matter though, I think it would be best if we deal with some of the more exciting aspects of your physical now."
"My what now," Peter asked, suddenly a bit more concerned about what was going on.
"Doctor Pym is one of the leading medical specialists here at the academy," Steve explained. "It's his job to help make sure that any injuries that the students incur be it from training accidents or because of their own abilities is swiftly dealt with in any way possible."
"Don't worry about it too much, kid. He's just gonna get all the information you can give us about your powers and how they work for now; nothing too major," Tony reassured Peter.
"Exactly," Hank nodded. "I'm actually very excited to hear about how your wall-crawling and web-shooting abilities work, at least from what you've come to understand."
"Wait, what? My web-shooting isn't one of my powers," Peter revealed, gaining everyone's attention when he said that.
"Excuse me," Hank asked in surprise.
"Yeah when I got my powers I didn't gain the ability to shoot webs, I did that myself," Peter explained as he pulled off one of his gloves to reveal the web shooter on that arm in its entirety. "You see, I developed these wrist devices with a trigger that rests in my palm to shoot webs. The trigger is actually pressure sensitive so that they don't accidentally go off when I make a fist or grab something."
"And you made those yourself," Tony asked.
"Yeah," Peter nodded with pride.
"And the webbing itself? How does that work," Tony inquired.
"Well, it's basically a shear-thinning compound that's similar to nylon, and when it hits the air, the long-chain polymer knits, dries, and then forms into an extremely tough, yet flexible fiber with adhesive properties. Also, it's biodegradable like actual spider webbing, so it dissolves after a few hours or so," Peter explained, drawing a confused look from Steve and looks of intrigue from both Stark and Hank.
"And I'm guessing it remains in a liquid state while it's inside the capsule or your web shooter," Hank asked.
"Yeah, pretty much," Peter confirmed. "While it's in the capsules, it remains in a liquid form, but it still maintains adhesive properties. It just doesn't solidify into a web-like compound until it's exposed to the air."
"Finally! A student that speaks English," Tony praised.
"Is that what just happened," Rogers questioned, clearly still feeling lost as to what was just said.
Steve's question went unanswered as Tony felt there was a more important question to ask. "Who developed that stuff anyway?"
"I did. Well, I mean, I finished it. My dad was the one who actually developed the initial formula for a molecular adhesive. I just figured out how to finish it and then tweak it a little so that it would be more suited for my needs as Spider-Man," Peter admitted.
"Wait, wait…your father," Hank gasped in surprise. When Peter nodded in response, Hank quietly said, "I thought your name sounded familiar. Your father wouldn't happen to be Richard Parker, would he?"
"Yeah, that's right," Peter confirmed. "You're not saying that you actually knew him, are you?"
"Only through his work," Hank admitted. "I studied a lot of your father's research, including the work he did with Curt Conners on cross-species genetics. It was all very impressive, and even before the accident that took his life, I had wished for a chance to work with him on at least one project." Sensing that his words had probably dredged up some rather painful memories for Peter, Hank quickly added, "I am truly sorry for what happened to both him and your mother. Such good people shouldn't have died the way they did."
"Don't worry about it," Peter waved off. "It happened a long time ago, and I was still just a little kid when it happened. I'm well over it by now."
Hank nodded and then cleared his throat so that they could get back to the main business at hand. "Now, how about you tell us about your actual powers, along with how you even got them in the first place."
"I'd…rather not say how I got my powers," Peter mumbled.
"Come on, kid. It can't be that bad," Tony reasoned.
"It's not exactly bad, it's just…well, it's not really much of a story compared to how you guys got your abilities," Peter clarified.
"Well whatever the case, we'd still like to hear about it," Steve reassured Peter.
At that point, Peter sighed and finally revealed the secret to how he got his powers. "I got bit by a spider."
"…No seriously, how'd you get your powers," Tony asked.
"That is how I got my powers," Peter insisted. "I was at a science exhibition with my class, a spider got into the radiation beam, it bit me, and I woke up the next day not needing glasses, seeing that I had gotten seriously buffed up, and I later found out that I had a bunch of spider powers."
After hearing Peter elaborate a bit more about his origin story like that, the other three were not entirely sure what to say, but eventually, Steve found his voice again. "That's not something to be embarrassed about, son," Cap reassured Peter. "If anything, an origin like that just serves as a good example of how even a great hero can come from the most simple and humble of beginnings."
Peter smiled in thanks to Cap for that, and then turned his attention back to Hank as he went into an explanation of his powers and how they worked. It ended up taking quite a bit of time to get through the explanation of everything about his amazing spider powers, along with what he had already discovered about their limits on his own, but when they finally left Hank's lab, Peter felt like a weight had been lifted off of him now that he had finally told someone about his abilities and what he could do. That did not stop him from feeling a bit nervous when Hank promised him that they would do everything to discover what his exact limits were and how they could push past them though, mostly due to the fact that Hank seemed to have a weird look in his eyes when he said it.
"Well, that's the tour of campus, the pointing out of the most important locations, and all the other boring stuff out of the way. Now we just have the fun part," Tony declared with a smile. "Introducing you to your new classmates."
When he heard that, Peter was both excited and nervous at the same time. He was finally going to meet some other people with powers like him that were closer to his age, but somehow, the way Tony was grinning made him wonder why the Iron Man had said this was going to be the fun part of the tour.
"What's taking so long," Janet asked for what seemed like the hundredth time since she and her friends had entered the Assembly Hall as she fidgeted in her seat. "Seriously, it shouldn't be taking this long just to bring a new student in to meet us, should it?"
"Calm down Jan. You know they're not going to just bring him here without showing him around campus first," Carol tried to tell her friend.
"But we've been here for hours! The only things that they're going to show him are probably going to be all the boring stuff and Hank's lab while leaving out the cool stuff like the campus' club. It's not like they're going to show him every last thing on campus, right," Janet argued.
"Janet, you've barely been here for more than forty five minutes, and as for showing your newest classmate the 'more fun places,' that's supposed to be your job as the new student's classmates," a red haired woman in a smart business suit and skirt who was standing at the front of the hall before the three students remarked with a light, unnoticeable roll of her eyes at Janet's behavior.
"Just to be clear, this new student is a guy, right, because if it's a girl, I'm gonna start to think you all just want me to suffer or that Stark is screening a lot more students than you've let on. Seriously Miss Potts, please tell me I'm not going to be the only guy among the student body anymore," Sam pleaded.
Pepper Potts, personal friend of Tony Stark and the chief administrator of the academy after Nick Fury just smiled at Sam and replied, "Yes, Sam, the new student is a guy. You don't have to worry about that."
Sam gave a silent cheer in response to this, drawing faint chuckles from the three women in the room around him, which he ignored simply because he did not care what they thought. All that mattered to him at the moment was that he would not be the only boy in Avengers Academy's student body anymore. A few minutes later, and after enduring a little more whining from Janet, Captain America and Tony Stark finally walked into the room leading a boy in a red jacket with a black spider symbol on the front, blue pants, red gloves, boots, and mask, and black goggles with white, tinted lenses right behind them, leading Janet to smirk with pride while Carol and Sam's jaws just dropped open in shock at the sight the possible new student.
"Everyone," Steve announced, drawing all attention on to him and the red and blue clad boy next to him. "I'd like you to meet Avengers Academy's newest student: Spider-Man."
If Sam and Carol needed anymore indication that Janet had been telling them the truth when she said that Spider-Man was going to be their new classmate, they certainly got it now, but that did not mean that they were still wondering if it really was true. "Are you serious, Cap? Spider-Man's real, and he's going to be a student here," Carol inquired.
"Yep; this is him, right here," Tony nodded in confirmation, immensely enjoying how stunned two of the three students were. He had a few suspicions as to why Janet seemed more excited than surprised, but he was not going to voice any of them, mostly because he liked the energetic young woman. Then again, a lot of people at the academy liked her; she just had this air about her that usually made it hard for you to have any negative feelings about her.
Silence quickly fell over the room, and it quickly made Spider-Man feel a bit awkward, so, in an attempt to break said silence, he hesitantly raised a hand to wave and said, "Um…Hey everyone. I'm Spider-Man."
While Tony had to face palm at hearing Peter's introduction, it did not seem like the other students really cared that much, as it ultimately served as the trigger for everyone to start coming forward to welcome the web-swinger to the academy a little more properly. "Hello Spider-Man. My name's Pepper Potts and I'm the chief administrator for Avengers Academy," the red head informed Peter. "Basically, it means you should think of me as the vice principal of the school."
"I'll keep that in mind," Peter nodded in response before jumping back a little when Janet suddenly appeared right in front of him in an instant, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Hi, I'm Janet Van Dyne, but you can call me Wasp, or you know, Jan; all my friends do," Janet excitedly said. "So, did you make that suit yourself? How'd you get your powers? Are you going to tell us your real name?"
"Okay, wait, wait, stop a minute," Spider-Man interrupted, hoping to cut Janet's fast barrage of questions off before he completely lost track. "Sorry, but could you just slow down a little so I can actually answer?"
"Oh, sure no problem," Janet nodded. "But seriously, are you going to tell us your real name, or do we really have to just call you 'Spider-Man' the whole time you're here?"
"Uh…no offense, but I'd rather not reveal my secret identity just yet," Peter replied.
Janet looked like she was about to protest when Steve interrupted, "Jan, everyone here is entitled to a secret identity if they want to keep one, so it would probably better if you let Spider-Man get a little more comfortable around everyone before asking him what his real name is, okay?"
"Okay, sure," Janet pouted with a shrug, but her two friends knew that was not likely to be the end of it any time soon.
Sam was the next one to introduce himself, and he did so by extending a fist towards Peter while saying, "Name's Sam Wilson, aka Falcon. Welcome to the academy, Spider-Man, and thanks for finally making it so that I'm not the only guy on campus anymore. Seriously you have no idea the abuse I've had to deal with from that."
"I'll take your word for it on that," Peter nodded as he met Sam's fist bump with his own fist, leaving only one student left to introduce themselves.
"So…I'm Carol, Carol Danvers, codename Ms. Marvel," the blonde stated as she held out a hand to Peter.
"Uh…hi, nice to meet you," Spider-Man replied as he hesitantly accepted the handshake from the very beautiful young woman in front of him. Of course, Carol took his hesitancy a different way.
"What? I'm not that scary am I," Carol inquired.
"Uh, no, no, it's not that," Peter insisted. "I'm just…not all that used to a really pretty girl talking to me that much, let alone two or three."
While Pepper had to smile at Peter's honesty to show she was flattered by his thoughts, Janet and Carol both ended up with slight blushes on their faces. Most of the other occupants in the room had to give a smirk in response to this and how Peter had so easily gotten both of the confident, eager girls to turn into blushing school children, including Fury to some people's surprise, but only one person ended up outright laughing at the sight. "Oh man! I don't believe it! I wish I had a camera right now because then I'd have photographic evidence of the moment when Carol Danvers was actually flustered by something a guy said to her," Sam chuckled as he attempted and failed to get control of his laughter.
"I…I'm not flustered! I was just surprised that he would come right out and say that," Carol immediately retorted.
"Oh really? So you're saying that you were surprised when earlier today you claimed that nothing a guy said or did could surprise you," Sam questioned in smugness.
"I…that's not…you…" Carol stuttered, until she ultimately settled on just growling in anger at the first male student of the academy while actively suppressing any urges she started to gain about throwing Sam into space.
Carol's stuttering only served to increase the humor that Sam found in the situation, and he soon made his way over to wrap an arm around Spider-Man's shoulder and said, "Dude, you have not only just made my day, but you have made me even more glad that you're a student here now beyond the fact that I'm not the only guy among the student body anymore."
"Glad to help…I think," Spider-Man replied in a slow, uncertain tone.
"Alright, if we've gotten all of that out of our systems, I think we'll cancel today's training session so that we can allow Spider-Man a chance to settle in, but don't go thinking that such things will happen every time we get a new student everyone," Steve announced, having to increase his voice a little at the end when the other three gave small cheers in response to the first half of what he was saying. The patriotic hero then turned to Falcon and asked, "Sam, would you mind showing your new friend to his room? It should be on his schedule, and while we did show him where the dorms are, I'd feel a lot better if he had someone a little closer to his age to show him there and answer any questions he might have for another student."
"Sure thing, Cap," Sam nodded before waving for Spider-Man to follow him, which the web-head immediately did after pulling his schedule out of his pocket so that he could have it ready to help him and Sam with finding said room.
Once the two boys had left, the rest of the group began to disperse as well, with everyone going off in various different directions for one purpose or another, the most notable being Fury going back to his private office in the Mansion, Tony and Pepper heading over to the campus' Stark Tower, and Cap going to the gym. This left Carol and Janet to just head off to do whatever they felt like doing, seeing as they had the rest of the day off to do so, and once they were far enough away from the academy staff members, Janet threw Carol a sly look that the blonde instantly recognized as the one her friend had when she knew she had been proven right. "Sooooo…admit it. You were wrong about Spider-Man being a myth," Janet prompted. "Come on, let me hear you say it. 'You were right Jan, my totally awesome, fashionable, and cool best friend, and I'm going to treat you to a meal at your favorite restaurant to make up for doubting you.'"
"Okay, I'm definitely not going to do that last thing, since I know you'll make me use up every last cent I currently have to my name if I treat you at that place, but I will admit that I was wrong about Spider-Man being a myth," Carol conceded with her hands raised in surrender. When Janet smirked in response to hearing this, Carol knew that she would have to do something to keep the brunette from holding this over her for a while, and the blonde knew the perfect thing to say. "Plus, I think you might've underplayed him when you said he was just cute. Even in that outfit he was wearing, he seemed pretty built. Maybe I should consider asking him out to dinner, assuming you'll be too busy fawning over him at a distance."
Janet's smirk instantly morphed into a shocked expression that was accompanied by a bright red blush as she replied, "I…I am not going to be fawning over anyone, and you can't ask him out! Not to dinner or anything!"
"Why not," Carol asked in an innocent tone.
"Because I saw him first," Janet replied with a hint of smugness.
"Uh-huh, and you've also had a crush on Spider-Man since before you even knew he was the same age as you or that he would be attending the academy with us," Carol slyly added on.
While it was true that Janet had a bit of a crush on Spider-Man, when it had first formed, it was really more akin to one that a girl would have on a favorite actor or singer, but after seeing him in person today, and finding out that he was going to be a student, that all quickly changed for Janet. Not that she was ever going to admit that out loud to anyone, so instead of giving a proper retort, she simply blushed and started sputtering feeble excuses, much to Carol's enjoyment. Eventually, Janet managed to regain herself after taking a calming breath and asked, "But you do think he is cute, right?"
"Jan, he seems nice enough, but how do you really know if he's cute or not if you don't even know what his face looks like," Carol inquired.
"You don't need to see someone's face to judge how cute they are, Carol. Especially when you're a rising fashion designer like I am," Janet smirked with pride.
The blonde rolled her eyes at hearing the most recent reminder of Janet's big dream of becoming a famous fashion designer someday, and while she will not deny that Janet did indeed have some skills in that department, as evidenced by the fact that hers and Sam's current superhero suits were in fact made by Janet, the constant reminders that Janet would throw out at them would get a little tiring to hear sometimes. "Don't you at least want to wait for him to tell you his name before you start chasing after him like a lovesick puppy," Carol inquired in an attempt to drive the conversation away from that particular topic.
"I am not chasing after him like a lovesick puppy," Janet insisted. "That's what a lot of boys did to me before I came to the academy. Besides, I really don't think you're in a position to criticize seeing as you still act like you hate guys sometimes, especially in Sam's case."
This time, it was Carol whose face gained a stunned expression, but it quickly changed to one of irritation. Janet had a tendency to tease her about the relationship between her and Sam ever since one of the more ridiculous arguments the blonde had with the winged hero made Janet comment that the two were arguing like an old married couple. When the two ended up silencing the argument and looking away from each other as if embarrassed, Janet took that to mean that they each secretly held feelings for one another and made it a point to tease the two about it whenever she got the chance, or if she wanted to get away from a particular topic she did not like discussing. It tended to be more effective with Sam, as he would often just leave the conversation at that and walk away, but with Carol, it would often lead the blonde to start chasing after Janet with a promise of inflicting harm to the size-changer as she fled giggling like mad. This time was no different. "JAN, you get back here so I can beat you to a pulp," Carol screamed as she took after Wasp, who had already taken off laughing the minute the word left her mouth.
"And here we are, your new home away from home," Sam announced as he and Spider-Man reached the web-head's new room in the dorms. "And knowing Stark, your biometrics are already programmed into the system so go ahead and give it a shot."
Peter did not dwell on the question of how Stark had gotten his biometrics programmed into the system so quickly, mostly because he was not sure he wanted to know, and simply pulled the room key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock while placing his hand on the door handle. After turning the key, he could have sworn he heard the sound of a scanner running before a single beep sounded to let them know that entry had been granted. Upon opening the door to the room, Peter had to stop and stare in awe for a minute at the sight before him. The room itself was actually very impressive and seemed a bit bigger than a typical dorm room for either a college or a boarding school. There was a small bed for one on the side that looked like something you would find in the nicest hotel you could think of, with a desk at the window, which looked out at an impressive view of the campus, since they were on the third floor, and a closet opposite the bed. To put it simply, the dorm room made Peter's bedroom at home seem very meager in comparison.
Peter could not help but look about the room in awe for another minute or so, and he knew that doing so was probably not warranted since it was not one of the like his friend Harry Osborn's room at home, but it was still very close in comparison. Seeing his new classmate was just staring around in silence, Sam could only assume that the web-head was really liking what he saw, and chuckled, "Yeah, we all had a similar reaction when we first saw our own rooms. Except for Jan, I think. I can't really say for certain since she was here before me."
"She did seem like the type to come from a family that was pretty well-off," Peter remarked, still in his dazed state. "I'm just not sure if I should be more amazed that I'm actually going to be having this room to myself for the moment or if I should be surprised that all my stuff that I brought with me is already here."
"Yeah, that's pretty normal, too. They always have someone on the staff bring your stuff to your room while they're giving you the tour. Certainly saves everyone some time lugging all that luggage in yourself, right," Sam shrugged.
Spider-Man nodded in reply and then noticed that there was one object in the room that was not among the items he had brought with him to the academy. The object in question was a small, silver briefcase with the academy's logo on the front, and it was just sitting there on the bed almost like it had been there forever, at least from what Peter was guessing. "Hey Falcon, do you know what this is, because I didn't have it with me when I got here," Spider-Man asked, indicating the briefcase.
Sam could not help but smile a little at Spider-Man once again referring to him by his codename, as he had done so ever since they left the Assembly Hall, and when he saw the briefcase that smile changed to one of fond remembrance. "Yeah, think of that as a kind of welcome package," Sam explained. "You see, every student gets that on their first day, and it basically contains all the essentials you'll need while you're here, or at least the ones that only the academy can give you. Go ahead and open it up. Everything in there's yours now anyway."
Spider-Man instantly did as instructed, and upon opening the briefcase he found a small, silver card with the school's emblem and his picture on it, what appeared to be a tablet, and a book that was titled "Avengers Academy Rules and Regulations." There were a few other objects in there that were typical of the things you would get on your first day at a new school, but Peter really only made a major note of those three items, as indicated when he picked up the first two items. He looked over his picture on the card and had to smile a little at seeing that the image depicted him with his mask on, along with the fact that it was not on in a weird way or anything like that, and after analyzing the card for another minute, he looked over to Sam to see if the other boy could tell him about the items in question.
"That card there is your Student ID Card, in case that wasn't already obvious, but it also acts as an unofficial Avengers ID Card. It has all the same functions as a normal Student ID mixed in with some of the ones that the Avengers ID Cards have like the communicator and being able to give you special access to things like the Stark Tower or the various other places and locations on campus. It also gives you access to the money you can use on campus for things like your meals or trips to the campus' club," Sam started explained as he went over the various items.
"This school has its own club," Spider-Man asked in surprise.
"Yeah, that's one of the places they don't show you on the official tour, but I guarantee that you'll be well acquainted with the place by tomorrow at the latest. Trust me, Jan seems to make it a point to make sure that we all know about it," Sam shrugged in response before he indicated the tablet. "Now that little beauty is a modified Stark Tablet, specially designed for all of us Avengers Academy students. You can't download any games onto it, mostly because they don't want us to waste data space like that, but you can access the internet along with the school's personal database, while also storing PDF files of your textbooks on there. They really insist on doing that last one, and so do the rest of us, because who wants to carry around a bunch of heavy textbooks when you have something like that at your disposal?"
"Yeah, I can understand that," Spider-Man nodded in agreement, having dealt with the pains of carrying around heavy textbooks plenty of times in the past. Such was one of the downsides to being a weak nerd after all.
"And I doubt I really need to tell you what that last item is, but in case I do, that's basically the book that provides all the guidelines and rules of the school," Sam finished as he indicated the book that was still in the briefcase.
"Okay, thanks again Falcon, and thanks for helping me find my room," Spider-Man nodded.
"No problem, Bro, but seriously, you can just call me 'Sam.' We don't really refer to each other by our codenames unless it's for introductions or while we're in a training session," Sam revealed.
"Guess I'm the exception to that since I'm so determined to keep my secret identity…well, a secret, huh," Spider-Man asked in a downtrodden voice.
"Well hey, no one's gonna hold that over ya, but it would be cool if you did tell us your real name. You can trust us," Sam reassured his new friend.
"I get that. I'm just…I'm not really used to the idea that I can actually tell other people about who I am behind this mask yet, so mind just giving me some time to adjust to that," Spider-Man stated.
"Not a problem, Spider-Man," Sam nodded, and he then turned to leave, but he soon paused in the doorway before looking back. "Hey, do you have like a nickname or something?"
"A nickname," Spider-Man asked.
"Yeah, nothing personal, but calling you 'Spider-Man' all the time kinda makes me feel like I'm constantly addressing you by your full name. Like, how would you feel if you were always calling me Samuel Wilson," Sam explained.
Spider-Man nodded in understanding of that and then tilted his head in thought for a moment before saying, "Aside from Web-Head and Wall-Crawler, I've never really thought about that kind of thing that much."
"Well, don't worry. We'll think of something that the Bugle hasn't come up with that's meant to be some kind of insult sooner or later," Sam reassured, getting a nod of thanks from Spider-Man in response. "So listen, once you're done settling in, if you want to hang out and study up, I'll be over at the Timeless Archives doing a bit of catching up on my own studies."
"Thanks, I think I might take you up on that," Spider-Man nodded in reply.
"Cool. Oh, and one last thing: breakfast is usually served at 7:00 am while classes start at 8:00 am, but if you want a decent amount of hot water for when you shower, you might want to get up an hour before breakfast, cause the girls tend to use it up pretty quickly," Sam advised.
"Okay, thanks for the tip," Spider-Man nodded once again, and with that, his new friend departed to allow Peter a moment to get everything together before meeting Sam at the campus' library. When he opened one of his boxes and found a recent family picture inside, Peter could not help but smile a little at the sight of him standing next to his aunt while his late uncle was seated in the chair between them, each of them wearing smiles on their faces. "I don't know what you would think of me doing this, but I still intend to keep making sure I won't let you down again Uncle Ben," Peter whispered before placing the picture in a place that would be well-hidden from prying eyes for the moment. When he finally finished settling in, he left his room with his new Student ID and room key pocketed, and his Stark Tablet under one arm so that he could meet up with Sam at the Timeless Archives, thinking that things were off to a pretty good start for the moment.
AN: So there you have it. With the addition of Spider-Man, Avengers Academy's student body is composed of four students. The other three being Sam Wilson aka Falcon, Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel, and Janet Van Dyne aka The Wasp. I certainly hope you all got a reasonable idea for the dynamic that is held between the characters with this chapter, but if not, well we can always hope it becomes a bit more clear in the next one. If you're having trouble picturing each hero's attire, then let me lay it out for you. Carol's hero look is actually, for the most part, the same as her Captain Marvel suit, except with her Ms. Marvel mask and a scarf instead of a sash. I'm really just having her go by Ms. Marvel because, for one thing, she's a little young to be a captain in that sense just yet. The other reason will be explained later on. Sam's Falcon suit is actually his level 3 appearance from the Avengers Academy game with the goggles he wears in the MCU. Wasp's suit is the same as Sam's, but it also normally serves as her normal attire.
On that note, yes the characters will alternate between those suits, which we all saw in this chapter and a more casual attire, kinda like how there's your regular school clothes and your gym clothes. Also, since I forgot to mention this last chapter, Spidey's outfit can actually be seen in the cover art for this story.
Speaking of the web-head, no he hasn't been called "Spidey" by anyone yet, but that will change by next chapter. I'm not really sure whether he started calling himself Spidey or someone else did it at one point and it just stuck, so I'm taking my own approach to how that would happen.
Now I hope you all have a good idea of what the academy campus looks like, but I would like to clarify on a few things about it. First off, I tried my best to kind of mix the look of the Avengers headquarters that was set up at the end of Age of Ultron with some locations and buildings that can be found in the Avengers Academy app, since this story does draw some its basis and inspiration from that game, hence part of the reason why it has a Stark Tower and the Timeless Archives. There are one or two other locations on the campus we haven't seen yet, but we'll get to those later on when they become relevant.
Finally, we've seen a bit more of Peter's past via that explanation about his web shooters and how he developed his webbing. The latter was partly inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. Not the TV series, but the comic series that was around long before the cartoon, back when the Spider-Man of that universe was still Peter Parker and not Miles Morales.
Well, I believe that covers everything. Anything I missed or forgot to mention this time I will be sure to explain next chapter at the earliest, and if there are any questions, please send them via your reviews or in a PM. For now, let's get you all moving Onto the Preview!...
It's the first day of classes for Spider-Man, and that means everyone's back to the regular routine at the Academy. Discover what happens on a normal day at Avengers Academy, while also discovering just what certain outside forces are planning in response to the Avengers' new learning establishment. Will everything turn out okay for our favorite web-head's first day at this new school, and will he eventually find enough reason to trust his classmates with his secret? Find out next time.
Please read and review, and I'll see ya next time, fellow true believers!