The bus pulled up at Stark Tower 15 minutes later, and most of the students scramble to get off. Penny and her friends got off in a far more sedate state. All but the three girls were gawking at the tower, though the teachers were far more subtle about it. Ned, despite having been there the most of the non-residents, was still looking up with stars in his eyes.
The class stood there for a minute, just staring and catching flies in their mouths. Fortunately, MJ quickly grew bored and gave the nearest teacher, Mr. Harrington, a nudge. This shocked him out of his stupor and he turned to his students.
"Alright, Midtown, let's get inside and meet with our tour guides. Now, remember, you will be with your homeroom for the entirety of this trip, so don't get separated."
The group shuffled their way into the immaculate lobby, soaking in the simple but luxurious design. Ms. Warren broke off from the group and made her way over to the front desk, where she met two young women in nice looking but casual clothes, vests, and havings green lanyards. The three talked for a few minutes before returning to the large gaggle of students.
"Welcome to Stark Industries, Midtown High. It's so nice to see you," one of the young women greeted them. She was shorter than her companion, with a darker complexion and thick dark orange hair.
"My name is Zoe, and this is Tamora. We both are interns here at Stark Industries and we'll be your guides today," her companion, a taller blonde, added on. "Now, we've been informed you already know what groups you'll be with, so we're just going to have you come up and get your guest passes. Make sure that your passes are visible at all times, or else our head of security gets rather… unhappy and may have you removed." At Zoe's joke, Penny chuckled.
A hand shot up from the group of students. Tamora pointed to them. "Why do we need passes? Are there different kinds?"
"Good question," Tamora answered. "Everyone here at Stark Industries has a pass, which denotes their role in the tower and their security clearance. There are 10 different groups. Guests, such as tour groups or members of the press are white, low-level workers like maintenance are blue, interns of all departments are green. Full employees are split into three groups, with the legal department as purple, while lab technicians are brown. Lab directors, who are a step above lab technicians, are orange. Company executives and the board of directors are gold. When a member of the government or SHIELD comes, they are black, while non-resident Avengers like Ant-Man and the Wasp, or friends and family of residents are red. The only people who don't have to wear their passes are people who already have their biometrics in the tower security's database, which is mostly the residents of the Tower, like Captain America, Bruce Banner, Black Widow, and the Stark Family."
"Alright, now that you know about the passes, let's get you yours," Zoe said, smiling as she handed a box to Tamora, who then walked over to Mr. Harrington. "Please come up to your homeroom teacher and check in with them. Once everyone has their passes, we will set out on our tours. My group will be starting with Stark Industries while Tamora's will be doing the Avengers in the morning, and then after lunch, we'll be switching, with my group doing the Avengers and Tamora's doing SI."
The students split into their respective classes, one half walking up to Mr. Willson and Ms. Warren. Penny, Cindy, MJ and Ned were all in the back of Mr. Harrington and Ms. Sanchez's line, the latter three pulling out their own passes, the red color going unnoticed by those in front of them. As Ned reached the front, Tamora was shocked at the three red lanyards around the teen's necks, as well as her now empty box. She then turned to the one member who didn't have a pass, only for her eyes to widen.
"Penny? What are you-"
"Penny!" Came a young voice, before a small blur torpedoed itself into the young heroine's legs.
"Morgan!" Penny called, picking up her young sister and swinging her around, eliciting a giggle from the child and Penny's friends.
"What are you doing? Mom said you had school!"
"I have a field trip today," Penny explained, placing her sister on her hip in a practiced motion. Morgan's eyebrows pinched together as her bottom lip stuck out.
"To the tower?" At Penny's nod, Morgan added "Your school is weird," which got a laugh out of the surrounding teens, and her mother who just walked up.
"Hey, Mom," Penny said, turning to Pepper. Around her, her classmates' mouths dropped lower, a few mouthing Mom?! to each other.
"Hi, Sweetie," Pepper greeted her eldest with a kiss on the forehead, much to the teen's chagrin. Pepper then turned to Morgan. "Now, Morgan, Mommy has to go save Legal from melting down, so you're going to be joining Penny with her class until Daddy comes to get you. Is that alright?"
"So I stay with Penny?" At her mother's nod, the young three-year old let out a cheer. Pepper stood a little taller before turning to Penny's teachers.
"Thank you again, Mr. Harrington." The man himself waved off the mother's concern. Satisfied, Pepper once more turned to her eldest daughter. "Give her an hour, and she'll be out like a light. And your father should be back in time for lunch. Take care, sweeties."
"Bye, Mom," the girls chorused, with Ned, MJ, and Cindy also wishing the older woman a good day as she left. With the CEO gone and a new addition to the group, Penny turned back to her classmates, who were watching her like she grew an extra head, or just picked up a bus, the latter now seemingly far more likely than previously thought.
"What?"
Finally got this part done! Don't worry, I'm not going to go too into depth about what's actually going to happen on the field trip.
Also, again, thank Blaze_Beraht for giving me a plot bunny that won't leave me alone. It actually grew into a conceivable story. Debating if I should trade out my plans for NaNoWriMo for this one. Though I don't think it'd work as a novel, especially since it's more like two stories that'd lead into two separate projects... I swear, I wouldn't mind doing it if I had more people to help and the Determination to do it (plus the talent...)
Oh well, this might be the last writing for a little while, I gotta work on my brother's birthday gift. I have a month to crochet an entire blanket, on top of school. So much fun...