A bit Stark History
Peter woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. It was Friday, the day of the field trip.
Instead of standing up he just turned over. Just when he was falling asleep May called: “Peter? Are you up?”
“Yes, of course Aunt May”, he lied.
Slowly and grumpy he got up and walked into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and getting dressed he went into the kitchen.
“Hurry up or you’ll be late”, May said when he entered.
“Could be worse”, he mumbled.
“Come on, I’m sure your new friend Harley won’t embarrass you.”
“I’m not so sure about that”, Peter disagreed.
“Ok, I have to go now. And don’t be late.”
Peter took a seat at the kitchen table and started to eat his breakfast.
When he was finished he was already late. If May would find out about that she’d kill him.
Against his fear he managed it in time and arrived only slightly out of breath.
“Hey, I was worried you wouldn’t come!” Ned whispered not as quietly as he thought.
“May won't let me”, Peter told him.
“Hey loser”, MJ greeted him. “This will probably be the first at least slightly interesting field trip.”
“Ok, I need everyone's attention. Come on guys, just two minutes!”
It took a minute to get the class to listen and Peter could see how Mr. Harrington got already annoyed.
“Just some rules for the trip. When we arrive there you will all leave the bus immediately and go into the lobby. There I will announce ourselves and get our visitor passes and tour guide. He will tell you all the rules there. So I want everyone to listen and be respectful. Understood?”
He received a chorus of yes’s as an answer from the class. He then told them to get into the bus.
While everyone raced into the bus to get a good position Peter and his friends stayed in the back.
They got the seats right behind Mr. Harrington and had to listen to his fangirling the whole ride.
After an hour they finally arrived at Stark Tower! The students and Mr. Harrington pressed their faces against the glass.
Peter had to admit that the tower really looked huge from up close. And if he was totally honest he still very much enjoyed the view.
After another 5 minutes they finally parked and everyone stormed out.
"Everyone please follow me to the lobby. And stay together!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hi, everyone and welcome to the Stark Tower! I'll be your tour guide today", Harley announced loudly.
They all greeted him back while a woman whispered something into Harley's ear.
"Oh right. This right here are your visitor passes. I'll call your name and you just come to the front and collect it ok?"
Everyone nodded and Harley started to call the students to the front.
At the end Harley called his name. And he went to the front.
"Here, you're super boring visitor pass", Harley whispered.
"Thanks", Peter whispered back and went to Ned and MJ.
"Ah one question Mr…?", Abe asked.
"Uh, you can call me Harley. Please ask", he answered.
"Ok, why are our passes yellow and your's is green?"
"Ah right. Good question. We have a special security system here. There are different passes and security levels for different jobs and people.
And your color depends on that. Different colors mean different security levels and different accesses.
And please don't ask me how exactly they work. No one understands them except Tony. And sometimes I'm not even sure if he understands his crazy system."
"Wait, you know Tony Stark?!", One of the students asked.
"Will we meet him?", Another one.
"First, yes I know him. Second, I don't think you will. He really isn't into tours."
After everyone got their pass Harley ordered them to go through the security check.
That would activate their passes for the day and check for any unwelcome things.
They all went through without a problem. Even Peter got through without an incident.
He had feared that he didn't get a pass and everyone would find out about his palladium security level.
"This is so cool", Ned said suddenly right next to him.
"Yeah, pretty cool."
"You really freak out about everything", MJ told Ned.
"So you think it is boring?"Ned contered.
"I didn't say that."
"Do you two always have to argue?", Peter asked them.
"Is everyone through?" Harley interrupted them.
"Yes", Mr. Harrington answered.
"Ok everyone. First stop is the Stark Industries museum", Harley announced.
"Uh and you won't be allowed to take pictures on the whole tour, but you can take some at the SI museum", Harley informed them.
"Wow, that sounds so cool. Were you ever there?", Ned asked him.
"Not really. I was only in the labs and the penthouse. Mr. Stark never really showed me around", Peter whispered.
"Everyone please go into one of the two elevators. Friday will bring you into the right floor", Harley told the class.
Peter waited to see in which elevator Flash went. To then go into the other.
The last two people to enter the elevators were Mr. Harrington and Harley.
Harley went into Peter's while Mr. Harrington went into the one with Flash.
"Hey, best tour ever?" Harley whispered into his ear.
"Worst tour guide ever!", Peter smiled.
After a short ride the elevator stopped. They all stepped out of it and looked around in awe.
"Ok this is the SI museum. Feel welcome to go around and look at everything. There are some holograms here, make sure to check them out", Harley explained.
Ned nodded excited and took Peter's arm. He went straight to a hologram of Tony.
It was from the Stark Expo in 2010.
"Please, it's not about me. It's not about you. It's not even about us. It's about legacy. It's about what we choose to leave behind for future generations.
And that's why for the next year and for the first time since 1974, the best and brightest men and women of nations and corporations the world over will pool their resources, share their collective vision, to leave behind a brighter future.
It's not about us. Therefore, what I'm saying, if I'm saying anything, is welcome back... to the Stark Expo!"
"This is so cool. It's like he's standing right there. Oh I hope he'll do another Expo. I want to go to one too!", Ned rambled.
Peter had to admit he was impressed by the hologram as well.
He really had to ask Tony to tell him more about it. But now he should enjoy the museum.
"Hey, let's go to the war time exhibition. That's way more interesting and I bet it has some Captain America stuff too", Peter suggested.
"You had me at Captain America", Ned said while already walking towards this part of the museum.
There hung a rather big painting of Howard Stark.
Beneath it stood: 'Howard Stark, founder and first CEO of Stark Industries. Howard was part of the Rebirth project that created Captain America and one of the founders of SHIELD.'
Peter wasn't a big fan of Howard. Not after some of the stories he had heard about him.
But he was a fan of his achievements and interested in the time he lived in.
"Imagine there would be an exhibition about me. With one of those super expensive paintings and information and all that stuff."
"Well I wouldn't go into an exhibition about you. Or some old white dude from the 40s. I'll go and look at the part about Pepper Potts. See you later losers!"
"Guess we're on our own. And for the record I'd go into a whole museum about you."
"Thanks bro."
They went into the exhibition and looked around a bit. There was an old picture of the Starks fruit shop and some of Howard's first mansions.
At another part were pictures of Howard, the Howling Commandos and Steve and Bucky.
But Ned's and Peter's favourite part by far were the inventions.
There was a flying car or at least the attempt of a flying car, some guns and other weapons and a few notes about toasters and more weapons.
After that they went back to the exhibition about the Stark Expo in 2010. There was also a big part about the Expo Howard did.
At the end they rushed through the Pepper Potts exhibition and looked at a picture wall.
There were pictures of a young Howard Stark, an older one with his wife Maria and many pictures from Tony.
Tony as a baby, Tony at the first Stark Expo, Tony at boarding schools, Tony at MIT, Tony as CEO, Tony with Pepper, Tony as Iron Man, Tony doing pretty much everything.
MJ took out her phone and made pictures from Pepper's pictures.
Peter understands why she admired Mrs. Potts so much. He did so as well.
And he knew that all the Avengers did so. He was pretty sure that they sometimes even feared her.
"Hey guys! Time's up! Please come together. Uh as a tour guide I have to say:
I hope you enjoyed your tour and learned a few things. I know the time was short, but I believe you saw some good stuff anyway", Harley announced.
"Is everyone here?"
A couple of students looked around and then started to nod their heads.
"Yes? Great! Then let's head back to the elevator. Be thrilled to see our next stop!"