Chapter 1
She had arrived at the school six weeks ago. Her fake identity, enrollment and living situation were already handled before she even left Wakanda. Since she was only 19, with the right outfit, she could easily pass as a 17 year old. Which is why she was currently sitting in an AP math class in an American school. Midtown, to be exact. She had made friends with Peter Parker the day she came (it was easy considering that Shuri made sure their schedules and classes were almost exactly the same), and the two had already become friends. The kid was kind of dorky, but sweet. She almost doubted that he was Spiderman, but when she watched him accidentally crush a railing when he thought no one was looking, she got her confirmation.
The public Wakandan education system was much more advanced than the rest of the worlds, with most kids having a college level education by the time they leave high school. Her own education was much more advanced than even that, and though she wasn’t as smart as Shuri, the current class material was something she learned when she was 11.
“Avery? Are you paying attention?” The teacher scolded. Amaka had taken on a much more American sounding name and accent, and she hated it. Still, she had to play along.
“Yes, I am”
“Hm. Solve number three, then”
Amaka took one look at the problem, and it was easy.
“32”
The teacher sighed, knowing it was the right answer.
Peter leaned over to her, “How come you never pay attention in these classes, and yet you always get the right answer?”
“I’m magical,” she joked.
‘Magical? No. Enhanced with the heart shaped herb that belongs to my secret people? Yes’, Amaka thought.
The days at the high school went by in a blur, most of the day she was daydreaming. The only thing she was truly focused on was getting close with Peter, and showing him time and time again that she was extremely intelligent, (intelligent enough to meet and impress Tony Stark).
Peter was a dorky boy, he liked Star Wars and Legos and hated his P.E class. He lived with his aunt, after the tragic loss of his parents and his uncle. His other friends, Ned and Mj, were nice too, and she managed to assimilate herself within Peter’s friends group very easily.
She absolutely hated her time in the school, it was boring and tedious and monotonous, but she found herself liking the Decathlon team. She wouldn’t choose to be there on her own terms, but it was certainly better than whatever the hell happened in her classes.
The main reason she liked it however, was her newfound ‘friends’. Her real friends, C’Chakee and Bazeva, were back home, in Wakanda. ‘C’Chakee won’t be there much longer’, she thought fondly. C’Chakee had always had a passion for helping others, which is why she joined the Wakandan outreach program. Amaka knew that it was only a matter of months before C’Chakee was finally approved to leave the country. However, as her thoughts of her friends ceased, she realized that she didn’t really mind these American ‘friends’ either.
Currently, the group was laughing about something or another. Amaka gladly joined in, and by the time the laughter had ceased, the meeting had ended.
As Amaka picked up her bag, Peter grabbed her arm.
“Avery, can I talk to you for a sec?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“Well, remember how I told you that I intern for Tony Stark?”
“Yeah, last Thursday at lunch”, she responded.
“Well, I kind of mentioned you to him a couple times, and he’s kind of impressed by you. Wants to meet you”
“Wait, really!”, some of the excitement Amaka was showing was fake, but some of it was from her happiness at pulling this off so soon.
“Yeah! I- uh, I kind of mention how you took the same classes as me, AP and Honors, but don’t pay attention and still get amazing grades. I mean you’re basically smarter than me, and not to brag but i’m pretty smart”
Amaka chuckled, “We’re equally smart. And I guess that means I get to meet Tony Stark! But, uh, when?”
“Oh- uh, about that”, Peter laughed nervously, “I go to the tower on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so, I was kind of hoping you’d come with me today? If your foster parents say no then that’s totally fine but-”
“Yes Peter, i’ll ask”, Amaka whipped out her phone and pretended to type. In reality, Amaka was living in a small apartment by herself, but all of her documents stated that she lived in foster care. It made sure that they wouldn’t have to send in an operative just to pretend to be Amaka’s guardian.
“Aaand…it’s a yes! I can go today!”
“Nice! There’s a car outside that’ll drive us to the tower, and then we’ll go up to Mr. Stark’s private lab”
Amaka and Peter then exited the school, the early October air biting at her skin. Peter walked up to a sleek black car and opened the door for Amaka, which she gladly teased him about.
“This is Happy, he’s the Head of Security at Stark tower,” Peter said.
“Hi”, Amaka waved.
In response, Happy just put up the divider.
“Contrary to his name, he is not very Happy”
The ride to the tower was nice, her and Peter chatted about their favorite shows– Peter vowed to get her on Star Wars, and they also spoke about their least favorite teachers. Before Amaka knew it, the car had pulled up to the big, shiny tower.
A knot of nervousness made its way into her stomach, and she had to remind herself that she was the Black Cat. Warrior of Wakanda. She was perfectly capable of impressing Tony Stark enough to invite her back a second time.
Peter and Amaka stepped into the building, and Amaka looked around, feigning amazement. In all honesty, this was the average Wakandan work building. Nothing special.
Peter scanned a card on a scanner next to the elevator and as soon as the two stepped in, the doors closed and the elevators started moving.
Amaka started, “We didn’t–”
“Click a button? The buttons in this elevator only go up to the 75th floor. The 76th floor is the Avengers meeting rooms and offices, it’s the furthest any sort of government officials are allowed. Then after that is the Med bay, and after that is the Avengers training area.” Amaka made a point to memorize this information, “The 79th is Tony’s lab, it’s where we’re going now. Apparently it's split into to two? For Tony and Bruce, yet somehow both sections are still massive. The 80th is the common area. You know, the one with the giant sky deck? The next seven levels up are the Avengers floors. Basically their glamorous apartments. The 88th is the floor for guests, mainly for Thor, Rhodey and Spider-Man when they need a place last minute, and then finally, the 89th and 90th floors, which are Tony’s.”
“He needs two floors?”, Amaka joked.
“Technically three, if you count his lab”
Just then, the elevator doors opened, and at one of the desks stood Tony Stark.
Her mission.