Chapter 2
“So, I assume that you’re Avery?”, said Tony
“Uh- yeah, that’s me,” Amaka attempted a starstruck face, before raking her eyes across the lab. “this place is–”, ‘average’, she thought, “really something!”
“Don’t get too excited, kid”, Tony chuckled.
Peter then proceeded to drag her by the hand and give her a tour around the lab, showing off every single thing.
“So, Avery. What do you want to do for college?”, Tony asked as they finally ended the tour.
“Oh, well i’m really interested in biology and bioengineering, but i’m also super interested in aerospace engineering and aerodynamics, so I figure I should go and pursue that in the future”, she responded.
“Good choice, kid. Bioengineering is more Bruce’s thing, but I think that Aerospace engineering is a lot better. I assume you’d want to go to MIT for college, right?”
“Yup”
“Good”, Tony nodded, “so, do you want to help out on some projects?”
And that’s how Amaka ended up working on a robotics project with Tony Stark and Peter Parker.
To be honest, she quite liked Tony. When he wasn’t being a total douchebag, he was actually a nice person to work with. For a second, she understood how Peter could stand being around him three times a week. She truly did like working in his lab, even though the tech was older and less efficient.
Tony, Amaka and Peter fell into a rhythm, working together like a well oiled machine. It was almost as if they had been working together for months now, even though she had only come to the tower a few hours ago. Amaka, along with Tony and Peter, had lost herself in the work. It was only the ding of the elevator doors that drew them all out of their work.
“Hey, Tony, Peter, its- wait, who is this?”
“Oh– uh, I'm– I'm Avery,” Amaka gave an awkward wave, and Black Widow only raised her eyebrow towards Tony.
“She’s one of Peter’s friends, seems to be just as smart as him, so I wanted to see if she was legit. She is, by the way”
“Her name's Avery”, said Peter.
“Uh, hi?”, she responded.
“Hi, Avery. I was just about to tell these two that dinner’s ready, if you would like to join us?”
“Let me ask,” she said, pulling out her phone. As she pretended to type, she noticed Peter, Tony and Natasha shuffle to the corner and out of her sight. They were speaking in extremely hushed voices, and if not for Amaka’s enhanced hearing, she wouldn’t have realized they were talking.
“Tony, are you sure about this?”, Natasha asked.
“Sure about what?”
“The girl seems nice and all, but what if she doesn’t have good intentions? I mean Peter, you met her how many weeks ago?”
“Six…but my Spidey sense hasn’t gone off at all when I’m around her, and it didn’t go off when she arrived at the tower, so she’s not planning to hurt us”
“See? She’s fine”, started Tony, “It’s not like we’ll be telling her any Avenger’s secrets, plus, the kid’ssmart. I want a chance to give her a chance. She clearly needs it”
“Yes, Tony, but–“
“Natasha, the kid’s just as smart as Peter, if not smarter– no offense kid”
“None taken”
“–And she really needs an opportunity. Her mother is a druggie and father’s in the wind, and she has no next of kin so she’s living in a group home. She has no financial support, so going to college would be really hard for her, and she has too much talent to waste.”
“And where did she get those ‘talents’? Tony, like you said, her mom’s a druggie and her dad’s god knows where. She’s living in a group home right now. If that story’s true, then how’d she become this smart? I mean, is it really a coincidence that she has the exact same schedule as Peter? And before you ask, Peter, you mentioned it a couple weeks ago. Group home kids don’t go to prestigious public schools and have genius level smarts”
Amaka held her breath. She was screwed.
“So what about me?”, Peter asked.
“I’m sorry?”
“What about me? I mean, both my parents were gone when I was young. Before I got placed with my aunt and uncle, I was in a group home. And I was pretty smart there too. I mean May and I aren’t in the best financial situation right now, but I still tested into the school, even when me and May’s living situation was on thin ice. Avery probably tested into the school, and got placed in a group home specifically in the district. She also probably has all the same classes as me because we like the same things. It’s not impossible, and I’m proof of that”
Natasha let out a breath, “I guess…I mean…okay. I’ll take a chance on her”
“Thanks, Nat”
Amaka let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, warmth wriggled its way into her chest at Tony and Peter defending her. At Tony wanting to give her a chance.
Not that you need it.
Amaka let out another breath at the guilt, before pushing it aside.
“Um…my foster parent says I can stay for dinner,” she called out.
“Yes!” Peter exclaimed, “Steve’s cooking tonight, and every time he does it’s like heaven”
Amaka, Tony, Peter, and Natasha all climbed into the elevator. The ride was short, considering that it was only one floor, but staying in a small, confined space the Black Widow was still nerve-racking. Still, she pushed it aside and chose to focus her attention on the massive common room that was now infront of her.
There was a very short corridor, maybe one or two steps long, that lead into the the section of the common room. The sections weren’t exactly clear sections, but there was a clear kitchen area (straight to the left) with some long counters and a spacious design. Then just beyond that there was what seemed to be the dining area, with big table that could fit the avengers plus some others. It was also fairly spacious, and the window that replaced the wall behind the table had a beautiful view of the sky deck and city. One way mirror, probably. And then to their right was the living area. It would have been less visible from the dining area, especially since couches faced the TV, which was mounted on the wall beyond said couches. The living area was also spacious, and the sky deck doors were right side of the couches.
Amaka let herself shamelessly marvel at the room. It wasn’t the room itself that caught her attention, but rather the fact that it was the Avengers.
Amaka had never idolized the Avengers, but she had to admit that standing in a room full of them was kind of cool.
“Everyone,” Natasha announced, catching the attention of those at the table, “meet Avery, Stark’s second kid prodigy”
“Oh, well I wouldn’t call myself a prodigy…but I am smart!”
“Jesus, Tony,” Steve commented, “keep doing this and soon you’ll have a collection of genius children”
Amaka gave an awkward laugh, as the other Avengers continued to tease Stark.
Peter gestured for Amaka to sit, and she did. Looking around the table, she noticed the arrangement. Peter was on her left, while the Captain was on her right. Beside Peter sat Stark, and across from him was Banner. Next to Falcon was Romanoff, and Clint Barton sat next to her and across from Amaka. Meanwhile Wanda sat with Barton on her right (Amaka’s left) and The Vision (who sat across from Falcon) to the left.
Peter and Amaka engaged in conversation for a solid three minutes, before Captain Rogers spoke to her.
“So, Avery right?”
“Mhm!” she said, mashed potatoes stuffed in her mouth. Peter was right, these are good.
“So, how’d you end up in Stark’s clutches?” He joked.
“Oh, well a couple hours ago Peter was like, ‘you wanna come to Tony Stark’s super cool lab?’ and I can’t really say no to that,” she laughed.
“Wait,” Stark cut in, “Did you only tell her about my invitation today?”
“Uhm…”, Peter’s face flushed red.
“You only told her day of? Peter,” Wanda giggled.
“I know, I know, but we were in decathlon…”
“Yes, I forgot to tell you about Tony Stark’s personal invitation to visit his lab because of decathlon flashcards!'' Amaka joked.
The night ended up blurring together, and she was pretty sure the Avengers liked her. She was pretty sure she liked the Avengers, too.
Still, as she took the train back to her dingy apartment, she kept her mind focused on her mission. Right now, all she needed to do was convince the Avengers to keep her around, and it seems like she did a good job. But if she did manage to stick around, then she had to start phase 2. In her apartment, she had specialized Wakandan bugs. They could pick up audio within a 500 feet radius, which meant that two bugs on each floor would cover the entire floor. They were also untrackable and cloaking, so once they were activated, the only way to know they were there was to touch them. In theory, it would be impractical to record the conversations of every floor every day, but Shuri had already thought of that. The audio from the bugs would be plugged into a program that scanned for keywords, like vibranium, Wakanda, and the names of Wakandan officials. Amaka got to choose the keywords so she knew what to go with. Within seconds she drafted up a list, which consisted of:
Vibranium
Wakanda
Wakandan
T’chaka
Ramonda
T’challa
Shuri
Udaku
Amaka
Avery
Spy
Mole
Operative
And a couple others. She also knew which floors she would want them on. Specifically, the common room, the meeting rooms, the medbay, Tony’s lab, and the Avengers training area.
It would be pretty easy to get the bugs in Tony’s lab and the training area, but she didn’t know about the other two. She knew she would have to be around much longer to accomplish something like that, but ideas were already going through her head. She had no doubt that the vents of Avengers tower were fortified and secured, so even trying something like that would be hard. She wouldn’t just be able to waltz into those floors, though. And even with that, there was still the problem of JARVIS.
But maybe…the problem was the solution. Maybe, if she could download JARVIS’s code, she could get Shuri to hack into the AI. It would absolutely be something Shuri could do. Amaka was certain that JARVIS controlled everything in the tower. If Shuri could control JARVIS, then Amaka could get into the vents, place her bugs, and get out. Shuri would wipe the footage, disable security protocols, and alls well that ends well.
Now, the problem was getting that code in the first place. There was no doubt that Stark protected that code well, and Amaka had no idea how to get to it in the first place. She had to ask Shuri about that when she got home. Just then she got a text.
Peter:
Hey
So the avengers rlly liked you
So did Mr. Stark
You left a good impression
He asked if you wanna come for lab day on wednesday?
If youre allowed ofc
Avery:
Omg rlly???
Ofc id want to come
Im pretty sure my foster mom would let me
She doesnt rlly give af abt what I do so yk
But obvi id love to come
Same black car on wednesday right?
Peter:
Yesss
Mr stark like loves you though
Avery:
Deadass?
Peter:
Yeah
All of the avengers do
Like i wasnt just saying that
They rlly do like you
Nat was kind hesitant at first but she actually likes you
Wanda steve mr stark and sam are like
In love w you
Avery:
Stop this is literally so cool
Yk peter
Do you think mr stark would let me look at that jarvis code?
Its just rlly interesting
Ive never seen anything like it
Peter:
No omg i think its so cool
I mean hes let me see it a couple times
But idk if hed show it to you
No offense but the avengers are suspicious of everything
Like obvi nothing against you they like you yk
But its like jarvis’s code is like
The control center of the tower
Avery:
No no i totally get it
I just really hope id be able to see it yk
Peter:
Yeah ofc ofc
Give it maybe a month or two
Hed show it to you
Avery:
Shit rlly
Thatd be like
The best day of my life
Shit sorry
I gtg
Talk to you tmr
Byyyyyeeeeeee
Peter:
Byeeeee
Amaka sighed as she entered her apartment.
It was a studio apartment, but that was basically godsend in NYC so she wasn’t complaining. Amaka then took off her shoes and jumped on her bed, letting the sheets swallow her. Maybe if she could pump out a few more sob stories…Stark would be more open to showing her. He wanted to give her a chance, right? All she had to do was talk about going to a community college because of finances, or and then follow it up about how easy her Honors classes are.
As Amaka formulated a plan in her head, she couldn’t help but feel a little knot of guilt worm its way into her stomach.
This was her mission, it was what she was sent here to do. She’s done it to so many others in the past. So why was she feeling like this now?