Young Avengers
One of the reasons Peter had always been considered an outsider at school was because he enjoyed it. For as long as he could remember, he’d loved learning. While he gravitated towards science, he enjoyed reading on other subjects too.
Because of this, the worst thing about this time reset was the fact that he wasn’t learning anything. Sure, when it came to English and History, he didn’t mind the refresher. But science and math were almost insultingly simple.
After all, Peter had been the one to create and develop his own web fluid in a desk drawer. And take calculus as a junior.
To add insult to injury, they were on a plant unit at the moment. It’s not that Peter hated biology, it was just if he had to pick a field of science to study, he’d pick anything else.
In front of the room, his teacher Ms. Knight was talking about photosynthesis. Peter was sitting at his desk doodling equations out trying to figure out a way to use that to improve solar power. It was at least adjacent to what was being taught.
Instead of desks, the room was made up of five tables of four. Tony had talked the parents into enrolling them into Midtown Elementary. It would lead to Midtown when they were older. That made him feel better that someday he’d be back in that familiar place.
Harley, Ned, and Peter sat in the back of the room. Their fourth seat was empty which worked well for them considering all three tended to scribble in notebooks covering things that were far too advanced for their age.
Peter was playing around with the concept of photosynthesis, Ned was scribbling coding notes, and Harley was designing a cleaning bot he wanted to talk Tony into marketing. Roombas but better. Bonus points if he could make it more affordable and with higher quality.
The door opening broke the calm silence of the room. The office secretary walked in and behind her…
Peter felt his jaw drop. It was MJ. Younger for sure, but her eyes hadn’t changed much with age. They still had the kindness, the snark, so much of what made her well… her. On her left arm was a cast. While once upon a time it had been white, it was covered in drawings.
“Class! I have exciting news! We have a new student joining us for the rest of the year. This is Michelle Jones.”
Some of their classmates waved shyly but if Peter was honest, he was in shock. He wasn’t sure how to reach out to her before he would have met her previously.
Did she remember?
Did he want her to remember?
“Michelle, there’s an extra seat in the back with Ned, Harley, and Peter. Go ahead and sit there.”
Peter watched as MJ made her way through the room and took the seat next to Peter. His second best friend. Even if she didn’t remember, they could become friends again.
She pulled out a sketchbook from her bag and after the teacher fished out an extra textbook from her closet and resumed her lecture, Michelle went to sketching.
Some things never changed.
Peter went back to his calculations and the others went back to their projects. The time until morning recess passed in a blur. Finally, they were allowed to go outside and play.
Running to a tree at the edge of the yard, Peter sat down with Harley and Ned. “I can’t believe she’s here!”
“Who is she?”
“The third member of our trio.” Ned looked at Harley. “I guess it might be a quartet now.”
Before they could say anything else, Michelle walked up and held out a piece of paper to Peter. “Ten years doesn’t change your face a whole lot, Loser.”
“You remember?” Ned formed the words that Peter hadn’t been able to. His brain was actually having problems engaging.
“I remembered a month ago. I was in an accident” She held up the arm in the cast. “Had a nasty concussion and I swear I saw some green and suddenly I remembered. When my mom’s job got transferred here, I begged to come here. I was hoping you would be here and I could find you.”
“MJ?” Peter finally got something to come out.
“Hey, Loser.” She bumped into his side. “What mess did you get us into this time?”
“What do you mean? Why do you think I did it?”
“Easy. Spider-Man goes off to help with spaceships in New York. You disappear from our field trip. Then, suddenly it’s five years later and then it’s 2008 again.”
“What does Spider-Man have to do with anything?” This was a time Peter was glad that his voice didn’t do the higher pitch thing as he was lying as noticeably as it did after puberty.
“Relax, Loser. I already knew. Mostly knew. Was fairly certain. I’m amazing half the school hadn’t figured it out.”
Peter stared at her, mouth gaping. MJ grinned and pulled out her sketchbook. Before she settled in to sketch, she turned to Harley. “We haven’t met yet. I’m MJ.”
“Harley Keener.” He held out his hand and she shook it.
“How’d you end up in this… whatever this is.”
“Met Tony during the incident with the Mandarin. We stayed tight, he was basically the father I never had. No one tell him I said that cause I don’t him knowing I said nice things.”
The group laughed.
MJ started to sketch but turned to Peter. “Seriously, how are we here? What is going on?”
“I’m not sure how you got your memories back, but the Stones sent a bunch of us back to fix…”
“Half the universe disappearing for five years?”
Peter nodded. “It was… it was horrible.”
“So what, now you’re back here? What can we do at this size?”
“Moral support?” Ned shrugged. “I’m learning more about coding from Tony. HE might let me help develop things over the next few years.”
“He’s coming up with fun projects to keep us stimulated,” Peter added.
“Apparently school is still a good idea for both socialization and maintaining a cover. If people knew that a group of people was from an alternate future, they’d freak.” Harley shrugged. “We’ve had almost a year to adjust.”
MJ looked at the three. “What are we really doing?”
All three grinned and pulled out their notebooks and showed her their designs. Peter’s heart felt like a load he hadn’t known was there was suddenly gone. It was like sitting at lunch at Midtown High and talking over various projects.
Pepper strolled down the halls of Stark Industries' temporary New York offices. Morgan was strapped to her chest napping soundly. Sometimes, Pepper couldn’t help but brush her hair aside and marvel at their little miracle.
So far, there hadn’t been any new surprises. Morgan acted similar to how she had at this age before. For the most part, she wasn’t a fussy baby and Pepper took her to work with him. Last time, the world had still been in a state of flux when Morgan had been born. Pepper worked remotely more than she was now.
But, she was up for the challenge of balancing things.
At least she thought she was.
Now she thought she was losing her mind. Her wedding was in three weeks, the Stark Expo opened in three months, Earth would make its first contact with Asgardians in thousands of years, and she wasn’t sure if the Black Widow’s unexpected appearance meant she wouldn’t have a spy or she should be ready for that.
Luckily the wedding was mostly taken care of. They had a date, and venue, she had a dress, the caterer and cake were settled, Tony had taken Harley and Peter to get fitted for Tuxes and Pepper had cooed at the pictures.
The pair would be carrying their sister down the aisle in a little wagon. Pepper had found the cutest frilliest little dress she could for the occasion. Hopefully, Morgan would tolerate it when the day came.
What made her nervous was the fact that this time around, they were going to have a society wedding. Last time, they’d married quietly at a courthouse once one reopened. This time, they were going the whole nine yards.
It wasn’t like she was unused to dealing with people like that. For her, she’d been in that circle for over a decade. But it was different for people who didn’t see her as one of the most powerful women in the world but as Tony Stark’s fiance.
The opinion was already shifting after Tony had appointed her as CEO. Unlike last time, he’d carefully framed her qualifications and why she was the best person for the job. He also said it allowed him to fully embrace the role of CTO and Head of R&D.
Thankfully there’d been fewer gold-digging articles.
But it now left her in charge of the Stark Expo. Tony was handling the roster of who was presenting. But she had to work the logistics out.
Regardless of the extra work, she was excited about this. Tony seemed to be stacking the deck with allies and potential allies that he wanted to chat with.
Dr. Bruce Banner was going to present on gamma radiation. Unfortunately, they couldn’t stop the Hulk from happening, but Tony was hoping to set up a solid relationship with the man to help him from Ross.
Which reminded her…
“Jarvis?”
“Yes, My Lady?”
Pepper held back the snort at the British formality that Jarvis had adopted since Tony and her had married. “How’s Tony’s case against Ross coming?”
“As we learned from the Time Stone that we must let the events that created the Hulk happen as they did, he is preparing something to help manage the fallout.”
“Will it be ready?”
“It will in fact.”
“Thank you.” Pepper kept walking towards her office. It was on the top floor, and had plenty of natural light. A crib was set up in one corner and she laid Morgan down and sat down at her desk.
On top of Bruce there was Dr. Stephen Strange and Christine Palmer coming to present some procedures. Tony had been over the moon to secure Helen Cho’s acceptance as well. With Peter already enhanced, Tony wanted someone he trusted and knew was capable of handling the difficulties that came with it.
He’d wanted to invite Dr. Jane Foster but instead planned to be nearby for a few days around when Thor first appeared. It cut close to when Vanko had struck originally but Tony thought it was vital to run into Thor sooner rather than later.
Perhaps if things went well, she’d be added as a last-minute guest.
Dr. Xavier was both presenting on mutants and had a booth promoting the school planned. Tony was very dedicated to promoting the rights of Mutants. He’d made sure to invite senators and congressmen to attend and was lining up Charles to meet with them.
Instead of planning for a whole year, this time around they were planning it to last the entire summer. Pepper had a larger say earlier than last time and was modeling the event after World’s Fairs. They were expecting millions of people to visit and companies from around the world were going to have demos of their products and more.
Sony, Microsoft, X-Box, Apple, Tesla, Ford, and more. While last time, this had been a half-baked idea about Tony’s legacy, this time around he made sure it would help boost a technological revolution.
It was their first big step toward preparing the world for what was to come.
Sitting down at her desk, Pepper checked her emails, responding to various inquiries about the Expo or contracts within Stark Industries.
Compared to how Stark Industries developed, it felt tame. They were infants compared to where they’d been before. But, she already had contracts in place to take them from Stark Industries to Stark Industries International. Pepper had built this empire once before and she was quite confident she could do it again.
Better this time.
She had a board meeting to end her day and she hoped it would be painless. Mainly it was updates on the Expo, the anticipated completion of the Stark Tech lines in just a few months, and their green energy initiatives.
Cakewalk really.
Compared to an Avengers Civil War, New York, or literally half the world disappearing, this felt tame. And Pepper had to say she enjoyed it.
Tony rode the elevator up to the top floors where he’d created a living space for his extended family. He was running a hair behind, talks with Charles and Logan had gone long. But hopefully, he hadn’t missed dinner.
The doors opened and he saw people sitting at the table. At first, it looked normal until he realized there was an extra person. If Tony wasn’t mistaken, that was Peter’s other friend.
“Who’s our guest?” He shrugged his jacket off and walked over to plant a kiss on the top of Pepper’s head.
“MJ. And she remembers, Dad” Peter’s grin could have lit up a good chunk of Manhattan.
“Does she now?” Tony raised an eyebrow at the girl.
“It was nice to see that you elevated Pepper to her position in a much tamer manner this time. She can make the waves of being one of the world’s greatest feminine icons that much earlier.”
Tony nodded, stunned. “Have you remembered the whole time?”
“Just a couple of months. Got in an accident, got knocked on the head, saw green as I blacked out, and then when I woke, I remembered.”
Maybe he should go talk to the Time Stone and see if he should be worried about others remembering.
“The Junior Avengers Squad is up to four now,” Pepper said, her smile full of mirth.
Honestly, Tony wasn’t sure what he should be more worried about. Thanos? Or the possibility that his ragtag group of kids might take over the world before they finish puberty.