The sixth chapter.

Peter starts his internship in Stark Tower ^_^

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Chapter 6

Once again, Peter marvelled at Stark Tower. Sure, he was used to the Oscorp building, but Stark Tower was outstanding in both height and architecture. And on top of that it was the only skyscraper worldwide to run solely on green energy, produced by the Arc Reactor. A scientific masterpiece. Peter smiled, feeling his stomach twist in excitement, and entered the lavish foyer.

He noticed rather quickly that security was a lot more thorough in Stark Tower than in the Oscorp building. He could easily get into the latter by pretending to be one of the interns and choosing a random pass. Here he had to show his passport first to prove his identity before getting the little card.

"If I ever see one of you without his or her pass, he's immediately declared a security threat and will be thrown out of to the Tower!" the head of Stark Industries' security explained to them, trying to look intimidating. It didn't really work.

"They are just interns, Happy!" a voice from behind them scolded the bodyguard. "Have I already mentioned that you take your tasks as head of security a little too serious?"

All the interns turned around and saw a blond woman with a gentle smile on her face standing behind them.

"Hello" Her smile grew even wider. "My name is Lauren Taylor and I am the head researcher of Stark Industries. In the following weeks you will get an insight in the scientific research of our company. Stark Tower has more than ten floors solely dedicated to that purpose, so there will be more than enough to see. Are there any questions?"

"Yes." A tall boy with brown hair and large glasses raised his hand. "Will we get to meet Tony Stark?"

"Unfortunately Mr. Stark does not have a lot of free time", Ms Taylor answered, still smiling if somewhat a little forced. "But maybe I can ask him if he wants to give you a lecture in mechanics."

The teens murmured excitedly to one another – a lecture by Tony Stark himself! Only Peter kept quiet and smiled to himself. Stark had a lot of free time, he had no real job after all, but he probably didn't want to deal with some nerdy interns. So Peter had to find another way of meeting him. He sighed. So he had to leave the group and look around on his own again. Hopefully this time he wouldn't be bitten by a mutant spider. Or get thrown out by an overeager security boss.

"Well then, follow me!" Ms Taylor said brightly.

First they visited a floor which was specialized in researching about reptiles. Oh great. Peter tried not to remember the giant lizard's claws digging into his flesh as he watched an iguana walking around in his terrarium. It didn't really work and he had to look elsewhere in order not to panic.

Turning away he noticed a door in the back of the room. There was nothing written on it, which was why it caught Peter's attention immediately. In laboratories everything was inscribed. He threw a quick glance around, checking for anyone observing him, and then moved towards this door. He tried the handle and was delighted by the fact that it wasn't locked. He waited a few moments, and then he opened the door and slipped through, closing it behind himself.

On the other side of the door there was a small dimly lighted corridor with white walls. Peter followed it curiously only to find an inconspicuous staircase. He chose to go up. After a few stories with nothing interesting he suddenly found himself standing in front of a large glass door. He tried to open it but it was locked. Peter frowned and looked around, hoping to find something wherewith he could unlock the door. He noticed a small monitor screen on one of the walls.

It turned out to be some sort of control panel where you had to enter a code to proceed through the door. Peter smiled. It was almost too easy. Five minutes later the glass door opened with a soft fizzling and Peter continued his little expedition through Stark Tower.

"Give me that!"

Tony stood in his favourite laboratory, surrounded by his robots who were supposed to be helping him. They were not. Not really. Dummy had been especially bad today. He just kept breaking everything. And of course hedidn't hand over the screwdriver. Tony sighed and played with the thought to reboot the clumsy robot. Nah. He shook his head slightly. As stupid as that robot was, he had still saved Tony's life after Obi, no Stane, had stolen his Arc reactor.

Tony was currently working on a new high power laser which he wanted to add to his next suit, but he just couldn't concentrate. He was still thinking about what Loki had told them earlier. Looking back maybe they shouldn't have asked for details of his torture. The trickster god had gone all white and they already thought he was going to have a panic attack, but then he had started to tell them about skin being torn away and seething oil being forced down his throat as if he was talking about someone else. He didn't look at them however and Tony was certain that he didn't tell them anything near to everything, but even with only those details he wondered how Loki had managed not to go insane after three month of such a treatment.

Involuntarily, the billionaire thought of his own torture in Afghanistan, of the water he was plunged in, the cold… He closed his eyes for a few seconds, overwhelmed by memories, but opened them again when he heard a door open. He frowned and turned around. No one was supposed to be able to enter here without his permission. Not even Pepper. His frown deepened when he saw a boy standing in his door, tall and slim and with brown messy hair.

"And who are you?" he asked and tried to sound as abrasive as possible.

The kid looked up, obviously embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Stark," he said awkwardly. "I'm an intern here and – "

"And you have nothing to do in my personal workshop!" Tony interrupted him sharply. "Go and look at some animals or whatever interns do these days. JARVIS, how did this kid even get in?"

"I am afraid he hacked into my system via a control panel without setting of any alarm, Sir."

That baffled the mechanic.

"Is that true kid?"

"I… Yeah, I suppose", the boy answered scratching the back of his head. Tony couldn't help but being impressed. The firewalls of his AI were as good as indestructible.

"How long did it take him, JARVIS?"

"6 minutes and 45 seconds exactly, Sir."

That was definitely impressive. Tony had to admit that he was starting to like the kid.

"What's your name, Kid?"

"Peter. Peter Parker."

The name Parker sounded familiar to Tony.

"You have anything to do with that scientist Richard Parker?"

The boy's facial expression changed from embarrassed to closed in a matter of seconds.

"Actually he was my father."

Tony didn't know what to say. He knew that Richard Parker had died in a plane crash many years ago. How old had that boy been back then?

"Well… Do you want to help me with my stuff here? You don't seem to be too dull and that Dummy over there is really sucking today!"

The kid's face lit up instantly. He approached the working bench and looked at the things lying on it.

"A high powered laser?" he asked excitedly. "Awesome!"

Tony nodded smiling.

"So… can you give me that screwdriver over there?" he asked then.

Peter's smile when he left Stark Tower was even wider than the one he entered with. It was almost evening. He had spent the whole afternoon with Tony Stark, working on a laser. That was so cool.

"Why don't you come around again? I'll tell Happy to send you straight to me next time you're here," the inventor had said when Peter left. The boy was only able to nod, too overwhelmed by that offer.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice the two blond men and the red haired woman who passed him at the Tower's door and headed towards the elevators.