Traveler - Avengers Soulmate

New Interns and Old Secrets

Official first chapter for Part 4!

March 13, 2015

It was every college student's favorite day of the year: the time they would officially become interns at Stark Labs. After a three month application process including a very long written part with at least three letters of recommendation, an interview and a technical ability test- five new interns had been chosen. I was lucky enough to be trusted by Pepper in helping out in the interviews and welcoming the interns.

Since the Avengers were busy recently, I didn't have much to do and gladly accepted Pepper's offer to give a tour to the interns and oversee them. It wasn't hard work and I was way more familiar with Stark Industries than I had any right to be. That's what happens when you follow Tony Stark around for months on end as you try to get him to submit SHIELD related paperwork.

I had sat in with him in meetings more than once and might or might not have used my mind reading abilities. For good, of course.

As I stood in the lobby waiting for 8:30am to roll around, I thought about the new interns. Three of them were grad students, geniuses in their fields with experience doing research and speaking in conferences. One was a senior in college, glowing recommendations and had already done research overseas.

The last one was a college freshman, a young 19 year old student who impressed the overseeing committee (AKA me) so much they had agreed to let him intern even with zero official research experience. I might or might not have fought for him and slipped his application in Pepper's desk after another member denied him.

His name was Peter Parker and I was convinced he was the future of Stark Industries.

* * *

At exactly 8:30am a young man walked through the doors of Stark Industries. His hair was a brown mess on top of his head and his eyes were blown wide as he looked around. He was wearing a sweater with the collar of his shirt visible and khakis, with sneakers that were probably the cleanest shows he had in his closet.

As he looked around he seemed to notice the four other interns standing with me, the three men dressed in suits with the one woman wearing a pencil skirt and jacket.

"I'm so sorry, there was an accident in the train and-" Peter stopped talking when he noticed everyone staring at him and he shrunk into himself as he cleared his throat, "My name's Peter Parker, I'm an intern starting today."

I smiled at him, he was adorable. "That's quite alright Peter, you're right on time. It's only your first day after all, but let me take this time to remind everyone that punctuality is an expected part of your internship. As part of our program we aim to not only give you hands-on training in your chosen field of study, but also to develop your professionalism skills."

Peter seemed embarrassed, which I didn't want to do but I couldn't give him preferential treatment, it would just lead to his teammates treating him badly. Now, he still had a chance at getting along with them as an equal.

"Now if you would all follow me I will give you a tour of Stark tower. Afterwards, your supervisor will come pick you up and take you to where you will be working for the rest of the year." I said, before I turned around and walked away I remember that I had yet to introduce myself, "Ah, since I forgot my name is Aliana Gomez. I am the personal secretary to the Avengers, though if you ever have any questions feel free to ask me."

I could see the shock in their faces, but they didn't say anything. After that the time passed by very calmly as I took the small group around the tower. They only had access to a couple floors so it was a fairly quick trip. Then, I took them all to a meeting room in the Research and Development department and waited for their supervisors.