Peter POV
Following Emma to the elevator, the class marvelled at the intricate designs on the walls of the room while also staring wistfully at all the amazing technology the lobby had to offer. Emma was reciting some history of Stark Industries.
"Stark Industries was founded in 1940 by Howard Stark, father of Tony Stark. At that time, Stark Industries was partnered with the United States Armed Forces and supplies weapons for the war. Howard Stark also assisted in the development of the super-soldier serum and created the famed shield used by Captain America." Emma explained.
"Following his death in 1991, Obadiah Stane took over as interim CEO, until Tony relieved his father's position when he turned 21. After Stark returned from his kidnapping in Afghanistan, he shut down the weapons division of the company, choosing instead to focus on helpful technology of the future and clean energy." It was all the stuff I already knew. When I first moved in, I memorised the entire history and floor plan of the company. Yes, maybe it was not necessary, but I wanted to impress Dad so he didn't see me as that random kid who was living with them.
As we reached the elevator doors, Emma stopped us and counted how many students there were. The capacity for the lift was twenty people, and there were twenty-seven students and Mr Crooks to fit in the elevator. Grimacing, Emma split the class in half, the first half to go up to the intern labs with her, and the second half to go with Mr Crooks. Of course, it was just my luck that I was stuck with Flash and Mr Crooks.
"Ok, so we are going to the second level intern laboratories, so you guys can follow us up when the lift returns," Emma said as the first group stepped into the elevator.
When the empty elevator returned and we filed inside, Mr Crooks discovered there were no buttons.
"Umm. How do you do this?" he questioned quietly once the doors were shut. Ned nudged me with his elbow and gestured for me to say something. I knew I should, otherwise, we would be stuck here until another employee arrived. Groaning, I addressed FRIDAY to get the lift moving.
"Uhh, FRIDAY? Can you please take us to the Level 2 intern labs?"
"Of course, MiniBoss."
Everyone jumped as the speakers relayed FRIDAY's message and stared at me, despite my attempts to hide behind Ned, away from the confused glances of my classmates and the menacing glare of Flash and Mr Crooks.
…
No one's POV
The elevator doors slid open to reveal the bustling intern labs and a frantic Emma, who, for the last five minutes while the second group was in the lift, had been freaking out that she'd lost half a tour group.
"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you how the elevator worked. How did you figure it out?" Emma rambled.
"Uh, um… Mr Parker here helped us out," Mr Crooks explained hesitantly, for some reason still not understanding how a shy student like Peter Parker had known how to work the buttonless lift. Obviously, he still didn't believe that the kid had an internship.
The class slowly made their way down the endless corridor, marvelling through the soundproof at the inner workings of the intern labs. They watched as experiments exploded and the tech was tested before reaching the door one of the Level 2 labs near the end of the spotless passageway. Emma halted the class outside the door and waited for any stragglers to catch up, needing everyone to hear the next instructions.
"Ok, everyone. Now I know this must be very exciting for all of you, seeing professional lab like the one through these doors, but you must understand that everything here is expensive and most likely very, very important," Emma accented the significance of her following instructions.
"You must all listen very carefully to my next instructions as the equipment inside can be dangerous if not handled by a professional or someone trained in that area, ok?" Everyone nodded enthusiastically.
"Good, alright. So the rules are as follows; No touching anything unless given specific permission, no bothering anyone working, and no under any circumstances should you stray from the group, we don't want you getting hurt, even with the waivers signed. Ok? Also please wait patiently after you get inside, I have to scan my badge before each person as you enter since your passes don't have the right clearance." The class made a single file line to get through the door, each student eager to see the inside of the lab. They were a STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) based high school after all. Peter, however, hung back. He was voluntarily the last person in the line. And for good reason too.
Emma looked bored as the necessary but tedious process was nothing but a nuisance, hindering the efficiency of the already late tour group. But as Peter scanned his badge, the door opened without the override.
"Welcome MiniBoss," FRIDAY stated through the complex speaker system.
Emma was dumbfounded. FRIDAY never addressed anyone, even the high-level officials and division heads.
"How did you do that? FRIDAY doesn't speak to anyone…" Emma questioned as Peter just shrugged it off. He was used to FRIDAY announcing him whenever he arrived anywhere.
"I don't know…" Peter replied submissively as he entered the laboratory. He did know. Tony had personally programmed FRIDAY to announce the arrival of any of the Avengers so that they could control the room they walked into and command respect. It worked pretty well.
Peter POV
As I stepped through the door, I saw the rest of my class staring, glaze-eyed at the scene before them, a sight I view almost every day. Multitudes of fancy technological equipment and dangerous-looking experiments littered the room. The interns, who were used to tour groups visiting the lab, went about their business, as usual, not paying much attention to the starry-eyed teenagers in the centre of the room.
After letting our class marvel at the sight of the lab for a few minutes, Emma stepped through the group ready to explain the inner workings of the intern labs at Stark Industries.
"So, here we are at the Level 2 intern lab at SI. This particular space is for the level 2 interns, the Gamma-2 pass holders. These are the people who have interned at Stark Industries for three years and have chosen a specific field of interest. To support and benefit the learning of the young people with interests in science, for the first two years of interning with us you get allocated time and lessons in many areas of scientific development before choosing a specific area of study in your third year."
I watched as the class intently listened to Emma explain the benefits of interning at SI. They were captivated by the intricacies and amazing opportunities it would bring.
"This is the chemistry and chemical engineering lab, where the interns solve equations and create prototypes for new tech involving chemistry. Charlie Evans here," Emma pointed to a skinny boy with thin-framed glasses who was pouring over mountains of notes, "is the head intern of this division. Charlie, come over here." Emma called.
While Charlie was talking about some of the work he'd done while an intern, I wandered over to some of the other interns in the room.
"MiniBoss! Petey! Hey, could you help us with this thing? We've been working on this dumb equation for like two months and we can't seem to solve it…" one of the interns called out. Charlie had finished and the class was about to exit but, great, now the whole class was watching me. I looked over to Charlie who was looking at me confusedly.
"MiniBoss? Why the hell are you here?" Charlie questioned.
"I'm on a school trip. This is my science class…"
"Oh my gosh. This is gold. MiniBoss is in high school. Haha! Guys!" Charlie called out to the other interns, "MiniBoss is in high school!" The other interns either burst out laughing or were just plain shocked.
"Gee, thanks, Charlie. Now, can I go have a look at that equation? I don't want to screw you guys up…" I asked.
"Yeah go ahead."
Taking a glance at the numbers and symbols that covered the whiteboard at the back of the room, I noticed a small error in calculations near the start.
"You guys forgot the negative here," I pointed to a number at the top right of the board, "which makes this come out to be a positive seventy-eight, which would make that one…" I trailed off as I completed the equation.
"It's 28kJ/mol at the end." I finished.
"Thanks! Sorry to bother you for something so menial. It was such a stupid error." one of the interns called out.
"Nah, no problem. Sometimes you just need a fresh pair of eyes."
As I walked back over to my class, they all froze before bursting into a string of questions.
"How did you do that?"
"How do they know your name?"
"Do you actually have the internship?"
The barrage of sound reached my ears and I just grimaced.
"Leave Peter alone" Emma cried out over the wall of noise.
"OK class, let's go, shall we? It's time to see the Avengers museum." Emma tried again. That got people's attention, now the chatter was focused more on the Avengers.
No one's POV
As the class slowly exited the lab, Flash grabbed Peter's shirt and slammed into a wall, out of view of the other interns as well as the class and teacher.
"How much did you have to pay them to pretend they knew you? Huh?" Flash was close to his face and the tight grip he had in Peter's shoulder and arm were starting to bruise the skinny boy.
"So how'd you do it, Penis? You're poor, you have no money. What did you do? Beg? You're so dumb and stupid, you probably got that equation wrong and screwed up those interns for the next few months. You should just go and leave already."
Flash, unsatisfied with the non-existent answers and reactions, shoved Peter roughly into the wall before punching him in the stomach. Hard. Peter knew it was going to bruise but with his enhanced healing, he was sure it would be gone in a few hours. Flash stalked off hurriedly to catch up to the rest of the class leaving Peter with an overwhelming sense of self-doubt and hatred. He was Spider-Man, he shouldn't be pushed around by the likes of a bully like Flash. But he knew that if he retaliated or fought back, Flash would find other victims to pursue, others that couldn't handle it as well as he could.
Picking himself off the floor, Peter gathered himself together and set off to find the rest of his class.
…
"Sir, I think there is some footage you should see," FRIDAY stated over the speakers in Tony Stark's private lab.
"Put it on the screen, girl," he said as he went about completing his project, but he stopped in his tracks when he saw what was on the screen.
"So how'd you do it, Penis? You're poor, you have no money. What did you do? Beg? You're so dumb and stupid, you probably got that equation wrong and screwed up those interns for the next few months. You should just go and leave already." He watched as a random kid shoved his poor Peter into a wall before leaving him there, crumpled to the ground and in pain. He gasped as he saw Peter lift his shirt to check the bruising, and noticed dozens on bruises and scars from previous run-ins. Tony decided that this kid was worthy of the wrath of the Avengers. It was time to change the plan.
Embarrass Peter,
and kill the kid.
…
"Avengers Assemble!" screamed from all speakers on the Avengers floors.
…
Natasha was already in the common room when the alert sounded so she silently watched as Stark bolted through the doors of the common room and started frantically pacing around the room. He looked nervous, worried even. She knew whatever was happening was bad, and to do with her ребенок паук (baby spider). Tony Stark never got worried unless it was to do with Peter.
Although the loudspeaker alert was a bit unnecessary, it brought everyone to the same spot in a very short amount of time. Natasha watched in amusement as Steve, Sam, Clint, Wanda, Vision and Bucky all race through the doors in full battle clothing, all assuming there was an important mission to attend. Both Natasha and Tony took one look at the rest of the group and burst out laughing.
"Haha… we're not… haha… it's fine…" Tony tried to say.
"Oh my...haha… we aren't going into battle guys it's fine" Natasha revealed after composing herself.
"Wait, how do you know?"
"You are only that worried when it's about Peter," she stated calmly, a hint of amusement tinting her words.
"So what's up? What's wrong with Peter?"
"FRIDAY, can you please show them that video you showed me in the lab?"
"Security footage from 10:17:39 am, Floor 8, Level 2 interning laboratories, Hallway 3" FRIDAY stated before the clip was projected on a blank wall.
"How much did you have to pay them to pretend they knew you? Huh? So how'd you do it, Penis? You're poor, you have no money. What did you do? Beg? You're so dumb and stupid, you probably got that equation wrong and screwed up those interns for the next few months. You should just go and leave already."
The avengers watched on in horror as their little spider was shoved into a wall where he crumpled before their eyes, gasping as they saw the severe bruises and scars. They all came to a unanimous decision.
The bully had to go.