Bruised But Not Broken - Irondad/spiderson

Just a Small Misunderstanding

A familiar face grimaced at my words. Buzzed hair, Hanson. Jacob Hanson was the guy from the labs when I met Dr. Banner for the first time. "Who are you? You need clearance to be here. Where is your badge?" he grunted out.

Hanson stepped forward, his heavy boots echoing against the cold tile, his presence looming over me. Another flash situation, another opportunity for them to exploit my perceived weakness. I tried to steady my nerves, my voice trembling as I spoke, "I'm sorry, I left my badge upstairs. I'm Peter, Mr. Stark's personal intern... He asked me to come and get some tools for our work."

Jacob's laughter reverberated through the room, a chilling sound mocking my existence. It was laughter that stripped away my dignity, leaving me feeling small and utterly defenceless. This was the laughter of a bully, a sound that I had unfortunately become all too familiar with, a sound that filled me with dread and fear.

"Mr. Stark doesn't even have an intern, let alone a high school student like you. Roger, call security, will you?" He scoffed, turning to the lab assistant beside him, who eagerly reached for the phone on the wall. A wave of dread washed over me, a sinking feeling that this was about to take a turn for the worse. How could they be so quick to judge, to dismiss me without even hearing my side of the story?

Jacob closed the distance between us, his hand pushing me forcefully against the unforgiving glass wall. He held me there, my shirt bunched in his fist, a physical manifestation of his power and my vulnerability.

"You think you can just waltz in here and talk to everyone like you're special? Like you're entitled to anything you want? Wake up, kid, you're not worth anyone's time." He spat at me as security burst through the doors and seized my arms, dragging me out of the room. 

Panic surged through me, my mind racing to comprehend the situation. How did Mr. Stark's simple request escalate to this? Not wanting to cause a scene, I allowed the security guard to lead me to the front desk where Emma was working.

As I was shoved out the door, I made eye contact with Emma and opened my mouth for help. After a second of processing, her eyes widened in shock, and I watched as she reached under her desk, looking for something, and then rushed over to us. The security guard was already pushing me out the door by the time Emma reached us.

"Stop, wait! What do you think you are doing!" Emma harshly spoke.

"Step aside, lady. A Level eight employee requested this child be escorted off the premises; he has no badge or clearance." The gruff-looking guard pushes past Emma, shoving me to the curb outside, grazing my palms and shins as I hit the floor.

Before getting up, I could hear Emma yelling, barrading the guard for what he'd done.

"Are you stupid? He has level-ten clearance!? He practically lives here!"

"And who are you to say so? He has no badge, and you're just a desk lady", He grumbled back.

Before any more words could be muttered, the sound of skin hotting skin rang across the bottom floor of the building. An ear-piercing slap. Emma grabbed the guard's badge off his shirt without hesitation to read his name. Still in shock, the guard wobbled backwards at the force of the badge being pulled from his chest. Seconds go by before he starts to argue, reaching for his badge again. His hand tries to pull the badge out of Emmas, but a new voice joins the ordeal. Another familiar voice.

"Pass me the badge, Emma." The voice requested nonchalantly.

"Hey, stay out of this. This is between me and her." The guard spoke without looking up.

"Considering I pay both of your wages, it does concern me. What do you think you are doing, dragging my personal intern out of my building and talking back to your boss?" Mr Stark spoke with a slightly raised voice.

The guard's expression changed as he recognized Mr. Stark's voice. He quickly stood up straight and handed the badge to Emma. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know he was your intern," he said nervously.

"Pack your stuff. I've seen enough of your behaviour toward children and women to know you are not the kind of guy I want hired to protect my workers. Which geek sent you to take Peter out."

With sweat on his brow, the guard gulped at the sheer power illuminating down on him. "Uh, some guy, Hanson, Level Eight." The security rushed out before cowering away to get his belongings from the locker room.

Mr Stark raised his eyebrow at the fast reaction. First, he turned to Emma and made sure she was okay. " Thank you again for helping Emma," he said softer before running to be still pushed to the curb outside the door, bleeding from the grazes.

Tony reaches his hand out to help me up. "You okay, kid? Where is your badge?"

"Uh yeah, I'm fine, sir. I just left it in your workshop. I didn't think I would need it." I mutter, looking down at my shoes. This is so stupid. It shouldn't have happened; it's all my fault. My mind starts to wander back to Jacob and the way he treated me. Why do people always find a way to put me down? Am I really that pathetic?

"Okay, good. I'll have a word with the geeks on eight. In the meantime, why don't you go get cleaned up, and I'll meet you in the kitchen for lunch?" Mr Stark suggested, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, sure, okay," I said softly, with my head down, and trailed off to the elevator.

Once in the elevator, I asked Friday to take me to my room; I needed some time alone. I walked down the corridor; a few friendly faces like Nat and Clint tried to talk to me, I felt terrible, but I brushed them off. I need to get to my room. I even barged past Mr America. It hurts watching their smile fade as I ignore them, But I can't focus on anything else. I need to get to my room. I slide through my door and lock it behind me. This time, I am making sure Friday doesn't have the controls to unlock the door.