As Peter's alarm went off the next morning, he felt his heart fill with dread. Today was the day he would be embarrassed, ashamed, and probably exposed to his teammates by the people at Avenger's Tower. He hated that he couldn't have stopped this trip from coming, but it's hard to argue with Tony Stark.
He reached over, ready to snooze his daily 7:00 A.M. alarm, stuttering for a moment when he felt paper instead of the plastic button. Groggily, he lifted his head off the pillow, picking up the sticky note that he discovered.
Hey Pete, I went down to help Dr. Banner with the Vision problem. I'll see you later. - Shuri.
Right, the "Vision problem." Peter recalled the previous week when Dr. Banner had brought it up to him. Having an Avenger wear one of the most powerful stones in the galaxy was a really risky move. If they could somehow remove it, the stone could be moved to a much safer location.
Shuri had brought up the idea to connect Vision's nerves on a molecular level, letting him keep the powers the stone gave him. It was a brilliant plan, but one Dr. Banner couldn't do without her help. She would have to visit his trip later, he was afraid.
Swinging his legs over the bed, Peter reluctantly got out up. It was stupid really, that he would have to go all the way to school just to drive all the way back home. But it was the only way to insure no one questioned his living situation or association beyond being "Tony Stark's Intern."
When he got to Midtown High, he waited outside the building with the rest of the Acadeca team. Since the field trip would take up a majority of the day, it was silly for them to attend their morning classes. He rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake after staying up watching movies with Shuri again when an annoying voice called out to him.
"Yo Penis Parker!"
Peter groaned, turning around. "What Flash?"
"Can you introduce me to Black Widow? Since you're an intern you should be able to contact her right?" asked Flash sarcastically.
"And why would I do that?"
He turned away from him, not wanting to deal with Flash's questioning so early in the morning. Luckily, Ned had spotted him and was making his way over.
"Don't listen to him. Mr. Stark will prove that you have an internship by the end of the day."
"Tony isn't going to come down from the upper levels I doubt we'll see him."
"Oh come on, just give him a call! Prove Flash wrong!"
"I don't know if I want him to. Let Flash have his fun, I don't want him to go from hating us to trying to befriend us to get to Mr. Stark."
Ned shrugged. "It would be cool though."
"It would..." Peter agreed. "Oh, I totally forgot. Shuri's in town, she said she'll come down and say hi."
"Awesome! She was so nice when I met her. Do you think she'll remember me?"
"Will who remember you?" said a voice from behind the two boys. It was MJ.
Ned began to fidget with his hands, something he always did when he got nervous. "J-Just Peter's friend from Wakanda. Why?"
"No reason... Wait, how do you know people from Wakanda?"
"Through the internship," Peter clarified, afraid to let Ned talk much longer.
"You deal with international people? You're an intern, not even a PA deals with that kind of stuff."
"Let's just say I'm different from the rest of Mr. Starks interns..."
MJ gave him a puzzled look, "Okay... Next time, I want some real answers." She turned away from Ned and Peter to go find a seat on the bus.
"This is so stupid," Peter said as he and Ned took a seat. "I literally just came from the tower and now we are going back."
"Everyone would know you lived there. It's more believable if you take the bus ride with us," Ned responded.
"I know you're right, I wouldn't have minded the extra hour of sleep thought."
"Yeah... So who else is in the tower today?" Ned asked.
"Well, my friend Camilla is the intern that works at the front desk, she's leading our tour day. Thor is still off with the Guardians, Shuri is helping Bruce with Vision's head thing I told you about, and I don't really know about the rest of them. They're probably on the upper floors so let's hope they don't come down to embarrass me."
"Don't come down? I hope they do! This way Flash will have to believe you!"
"Have to believe what?" said Flash from the back of the bus.
Before Peter could stop him, Ned continued, "Believe he works at Avengers Towers and actually knows the Avengers."
"Hahaha, now that's funny. Penis Parker couldn't make up a better lie if he tried!" Flash continued to laugh, earning a couple of chuckles from the teammates around him.
Peter slumped back into his chair, crossing his arms. The last thing he needed today was more attention drawn to him. He needed to go on the tour, not get noticed, and leave before anything else could go wrong.
Before they realized it, they arrived at Avengers Tower. All the kids filed off the bus and into the main lobby, staring in amazement at how grand it truly was. The walls were all covered in glass, and white chairs that looked as pristine as the day they were bought sat in the waiting area.
Peter watched as everyone kept turning around, taking everything in before landing his sight on Ned. He stood there, unamused having been to the tower almost daily. Peter rolled his eyes as a voice approached the group.
"Hello, you must be the Midtown High Academic Decathlon Team."
He turned around afraid to see who he knew would be standing there. Camilla stood in front of their group, holding a bag of badges with a big smile. She spotted Peter almost immediately, raising her eyebrows as a silent 'hello.'
She lifted the bag and said. "Here I have your visitor passes for the day, level one. After lunch, you will get the opportunity to explore on your own, these will let you roam the first few floors."
Walking forward, the class made their way over to her, excitedly taking their passes. Peter waited for the group to be done, not needing a pass himself. Ned walked back over to him, excited he was getting a badge of his own now.
"Hey, why didn't Penis Parker get a pass? Is he not allowed to come on the tour?" Flash mocked with a fake sad expression.
"Peter," Camilla corrected him. "Has its own badge."
He furrowed his brows, turning back to see Peter sheepishly pulling his own badge from his back pocket. Peter wished that he would just keep to himself for once. It would make trying to hide his identity so much easier.
As he held the badge in his hand, Flash became agitated, turning back to swipe his badge through the machine to be let through. Over the loud comms, FRIDAY, the AI system for Avengers Tower, announced his presence.
"Level One," FRIDAY spoke.
Shit. How could he forget about FRIDAY? He only went through these sensors every day. Quickly, Peter moved to the back of the group, hoping that by being the last one through, everyone would be more distracted.
He watched as Ned went through the sensors, FRIDAY announcing his badge level. Then MJ went through, then Flash, along with the rest of the team. He was right, watching as they all stared around in amazement after going through security.
As quietly as he could, Peter swiped his own badge, FRIDAY announcing, "Level Ten."
He almost went unnoticed, almost in the clear. But of course, MJ had to notice him.
"What does level ten mean?" she asked Camilla.
Everyone turned to face her, now aware of Peter standing with his level ten badge at the back of the group. Camilla looked toward Peter, hesitating on answering MJ's question. Sure she had teased him relentlessly in the days leading up to the tour but both she and Peter knew she wouldn't do anything that actually embarrassed him.
"Level ten," Camilla began, hating she had to answer the question. "Is the highest level in the building, reserved for Mr. Stark's close family and the Avengers along with anyone else Mr. Stark deems important."
MJ looked at Peter very skeptically. Some process was going through her head and Peter couldn't understand what it was.
"Level Ten? Parker has to have the wrong badge," Flash insisted.
"No, his badge is right..." The team continued down the hallway, trailing after Camilla as she started to explain the first stop on their tour. "The first place you will get to visit is the Intern Labs."
They turned down the hallway, being met with a busy set of students working, moving in and out of the labs, and collaborating with each other. People passed by in groups, their clipboards filled with information on all the experiences they were running. No one batted an eye at the acadeca team staring at them with excitement; most of them wanted to end up like them in a lab one day.
Camilla continued to explain as they walked. "These labs are usually used by local college students that need credit for their courses."
Peter had never actually been down here before. His lab wasn't on this floor considering he wasn't an actual intern, but part of him wished it was. The students all moved together, talking with the same thoughts in mind, he wished he had more scientists friends to communicate with other than Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark.
He was so enthralled with everything going on, that even his spider-sense missed Flash pushing him forward. He tripped slightly before quickly catching his balance.
"So Parker, which one is yours?" Flash asked him.
"I-I don't have one down here..." Peter said truthfully.
Flash scoffed as they all entered one of the empty labs being shown to the group. "Giving up that quickly huh? I thought you'd last a little longer than that."
"I have a lab!" Peter rushed out. Why was he trying to impress Flash? Maybe part of him still did need the bully's approval. "I-it's not on this floor it's a couple of floors up-"
"It's on the 77th floor!" Ned interrupted him, trying to come to Peter's aid. "Right next to Bruce Banner's it's really cool I've been in it."
"Aw Penis Parker is so bad at being an intern he needs help from the real experts. That's said really, they should just fire you."
Before Ned had time to rebuttal again, and Peter to stop him, the communication system in the lab lit up. Confused, Camilla walked over and answered the call.
"This is Camilla with the high school tour, I think you have the wrong lab," she said.
"Camilla! This is Barnes. Peter's on that high school tour right?" asked Bucky Barnes, his voice echoing throughout the room.
Camilla looked back confused at Peter who shrugged, his cheeks already turning a bright shade of red. Out of anyone to embarrass him on his tour, the last person he expected was Bucky.
"Uh, yes he is Mr. Barnes. May I ask why?"
"Can you send him up to 77? My arm is malfunctioning again."
"Again?" Peter asked, stepping forward slightly to be closer to the comms microphone. "I-I just fixed it last week."
"Well it's not listening to me again, can you meet me on 77?"
"Uh, Mr. Barnes," Camilla interrupted. "Can this wait until after the tour is done-"
"Just send the kid up all right? I think Rocket put a decoy on when they came down to get Thor. I've knocked over my bedside lap three times already today."
The team started snickering from behind Peter and he couldn't tell if it was at what Bucky had said or at him. Hoping it wasn't the latter, he asked Camilla. "Can I just go up and help him? I'll meet you guys after."
Sighing, clearly not wanting to argue with two Avengers, she gave in. "Yeah, sure. You know the way."
The comms system slowly dimmed as the call ended and Peter swiftly moved to the door, slightly happy he could get away from the awful tour. He almost made it out of the room when someone spoke up.
"Was that the Winter Solider?" Flash asked.
Hesitantly, Peter turned around. "Yes..." he murmured.
"How does he know you?"
"Like I said a million times, I intern here."
He turned back around, ready to leave the room, but, Flash wasn't going to let him off easy. "Well, if you're going to do," he put up air quotes, "lab work on the Winter Soldier, who you most likely don't know, I think the team should see you in action."
Before Peter had time to process what was happening, Flash was pushing him through the doorway, followed by the rest of the team who all crammed into the elevator at the end of the hall.
It was silent, everyone awkwardly standing in the still room before MJ ask Camilla. "Aren't you going to press the button?"
"I can't I only have level three access," she informed them.
"Oh, r-right," Peter said, moving to scan his badge and pressing floor 77.
His heart pounded in his chest louder than ever before on the slow ride up. How was he going to just let his teammates into his lab? He had Spider-man stuff everywhere, top secret Avenger projects he couldn't just have lying around. As the door opened, Peter nudged his way in front of the group, yelling for Camilla to have them wait outside as he sped-walked to his lab.
He got inside, shutting the door quickly before turning back to the room. It was messier than Peter remembered, mannequins sprawled out on the floor from when he was testing his new web shooters.
Running to pick up the mess, he shouted out to his AI Karen. "Karen, hide my suits and any other confidential information!"
"Will do," she responded.
He watched as the suits he had hung up turned into his shelves, the whiteboard he had up turning to show the blank side. Peter rushed to his desk, gathering all his paperwork from all his different projects and shoving them in the first drawer he saw.
Taking a deep breath and adjusting his clothes, he took one last look at his lab. That should be everything, he thought, before turning around and opening the door to let his team in.
He was surprised to see that Bucky was outside too, being roped in to answer questions about Peter's supposed internship.
"Yeah, he's my friend and he works here I don't know how many times you want me to repeat it," Bucky told him, a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Bless that kid, he even helped me crawl through the vents to scare Sam. Though Peer's foot got stuck and-"
"Okay!" Peter interrupted, making his presence known. "You guys can come in." He was glad he walked out when he did. The acadeca team didn't need to know about the time his foot got stuck in the broken vent, leaving him dangling upside down for an hour.
Bucky grinned when he turned and saw him. "There you are kid!"
He patted Peter on the back as he walked into the lab, the rest of the team following. They all looked around the room that was much bigger than what any of the college interns were given. Bucky, moved over, planting himself on the nearest table in front of Peter.
"I genuinely think the Rocket stole my arm. I am going to kill him when they get back at lunch!"
Peter moved forward to examine the vibranium arm. "They get back at lunch? I thought they don't get back until Sunday?" he asked.
"They were supposed to but Quill's friend. You know, the one with the weird whistle thing? Well, apparently he stepped in to help so they're coming back early."
"Wow okay. That means I have to finish Mantis' gloves, to help control her powers. She accidentally put Wanda to sleep the other day.
"Uh who's Rocket, Quill, and Mantis?" asked Cindy Moon, a member of the acadeca team. "Isn't that like a bug or something?"
"They're part of the Guardians of the Galaxy," Bucky answered. "Fly around, help people in space; other planets and solar systems, stuff like that."
The team was surprised that Peter knew all these heroic people, sitting here, helping the Winter Soldier like it was any other day.
"Yeah, okay this is definitely a decoy," Peter announced.
"That son of a bi-" Bucky stopped himself, remembering the other children in the room, "Biscuit."
They all laughed before someone else walked through the lab without a knock. Most of them were confused by Peter felt so relieved when he saw her face.
Shuri smirked, crossing her arms as she noticed Bucky with them. "Did I miss all the fun?" she asked.
"Shuri!" Ned exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement in seeing her.
Thankfully, Shuri returned a smile. "Ned! I haven't seen you in forever! How are you?"
He shrugged. "Can't complain. How are you?"
"Amazing." She turned over to Peter, extending her arms outwards and taking a slight bow. "Your savior has arrived."
"Har har," Peter responded sarcastically before turning back to the current problem at hand. "Bucky, just give me a moment I think I have a duplicate arm in one of these cabinets."
As Peter moved to look, MJ spoke up, not knowing Peter had other friends outside of Ned, and her - not that she would call herself his friend. "Who are you?"
"I am Shuri," she responded with a smile. "My brother and I are just in town for the week while he gets upgrades on his suit."
"Who's your brother?" another member of the team asked.
"King T'Challa of Wakanda."
"Now, you're just making shit up," Flash retorted.
"No, I am telling the truth."
"Okay then." He directed his attention back to Peter who was still rummaging for Bucky's extra arm. "Parker, who is this actually?"
Shuri furrowed her brows not having any of Flash's bullshit. "What do you mean?"
"I mean who are you? Penis Parker over here doesn't know the King and the princess. You are obviously an actress so who are you really?"
"Wait," MJ chimed in, "You said your brother is here for suit upgrades? Which superhero is your brother?"
"He is quite new in the public eye, you guys might know him as Black Panther."
"Black Panther is your brother?!" Flash exclaimed.
"Yes," said Shuri. "And if I ever hear you bad-mouthing the throne again I will personally make sure you never step foot in our country or use any resources we distribute."
Flash gulped, his eyes practically bulging out of his face at the princess' threat.
"Found it!" Peter said, walking back over and hoping that he could deflect the situation.
He moved over to Bucky, taking off the decoy and putting on the duplicate. Bucky got off the table, and swirly his arm around to test that he was in control.
"Thanks a bunch, Pete. I'll be in the training room when you're done with all this."
"Training?" Ned asked curiously. "With whom?"
"I think Steve, Nat, and Clint are there but I'm gonna go in one of the private rooms to warm up this new arm."
"Camilla, can we go watch them train?" Flash asked before turning his attention towards Peter. "You may know one Avenger but that doesn't mean you know them all."
"Well, we are already off the tour guidelines so what the hell," Camilla said.
Shuri turned to Peter, "I'm gonna go back to helping Bruce with the Vision situation. We almost finished reconnecting his nerves and I have to work on the stone replica so he will still have his powers, minus the whole infinity stone thing."
"Okay, yeah, I'll see you at dinner. Maybe we can watch another movie afterward?"
She gave her a smile. "That sounds great. See ya, Peter."
"Dinner? Why would you see her at dinner?" Flash asked confused.
"Nothing, Flash, let's just go to the training room.
Edited