Lunch break
The room they entered was a huge cafeteria filled with different food stalls. In between those stood various tables and chairs.
The room was only about halfly filled with SI employees. Most of them sat together in little groups.
"Ok guys", Harley started, "feel free to choose food from wherever you want. Remember, one meal and one drink are included in this tour for free. If you want anything else, you need to pay for it yourselves. We'll meet in front of the elevators in 45 minutes."
Most of Peter's classmates as well as Mr Harrington immediately went off to choose something to eat.
"Can you recommend anything?" Harley asked.
"Naw, not really. Most of the time I eat upstairs in the Penthouse" Peter answered.
"Then let's search for something together" Harley said grinning and started to walk towards the first food stall.
Peter followed him and looked at the menu, but couldn't really find something he liked there, so he went to the next.
At the end, he just got himself a slice of pizza as well as a cola. The boy looked around until he found Ned and MJ sitting at a table in the far left corner.
After he got there, he took the chair next to MJ and began to eat his pizza.
A few moments after he sat down, Harley walked straight up to their table and asked whether he could join them or not.
"Yeah sure" Ned immediately answered. This led to Harley taking the chair between the two boys already sitting at the table.
Peter looked up from his table and caught eyes with Flash. The boy was looking straight at Harley and then at him.
He was clearly jealous and angry that the older boy wasn't sitting with him and his so-called friends.
"So, what are your thoughts on the tour so far?" Harley asked curiously.
"It's amazing! Best tour I had in forever!" Ned answered, overly excited.
"Could be worse, but I was kinda hoping to meet some inspiring women as well and not just you know…men" MJ admitted.
"Well, the tour isn't over yet. I'm sure we will meet some inspiring women as well. Would be astounding if not, considering how many work here" Harley answered with a slight smile.
"Better hope so. Would be a real shame if not" MJ answered him.
They continued to talk about the tour and what they were planning to do once they all finished school.
Peter finished his slice and got up to get himself another one.
Once he got back, Harley told him to hurry up because there wasn't much time left.
The blonde boy got up and started to walk around a bit.
Peter saw him talk with some employees. It seemed like he also tried to flirt with some of them, which didn't seem to work out so well.
After that, the older boy went to some of Peter's classmates to talk with them. They seemed to enjoy the boy's company and talked enthusiastically with him.
Peter finished his second piece of pizza right on time. He quickly put his stuff away and hurried to the elevators, where the rest of his classmates were waiting.
"Ok now that everyone is here" Harley said while looking at Peter with a smile, "we can continue the tour. Everyone, please get into the elevators, and they will get you to our next stop."
The teenagers eagerly went into the elevators and waited for the doors to close. Mr Harrington went into the right one, while Peter followed Harley into the left one.
"So, what's our next stop?" Peter asked the blonde.
"You'll see." "Yeah, but maybe I want to prepare myself for what ever is coming next." "You will see."
Peter sighed in defeat and waited for the elevator to stop and reveal his destination.
The students around him were whispering excited, speculating where they might be going next and if maybe they would be able to meet another of the Avengers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tony stepped out of the elevator and into Bruce Banner's lab.
"How ya doing Bruce?" He asked while entering the lab.
Bruce looked up from his work to smile at the billionaire who had just entered his work space.
"Good to see you, Tony. Just saw Peter and his classmates. Some smart kids there" the scientist answered.
"But I have to ask, did they only get this tour because of Peter?"
"I'm really not into this whole tour thing. That's Pepper's area, and I can promise you she doesn't do any favors when it comes to work."
"So no extra surprises because of the kid?" Bruce continued to ask.
"Well, I may have handpicked Harley to be tour guide, but the rest was organized before we knew which group would come here. Pepper thought it was important to show young people around and get them to work here. Not that we need any advertising, I mean common, I'm Iron Man. Every kid wants to work with me. They don't need to see some labs and do some Q&As first."
"Sounds reasonable" Bruce answered, not really in the mood for an argument. "So what brought you down here?"
"Well first, the new transmission electron microscope I didn't get to see yet. And obviously I wanted to ask you how the whole encounter with Peter and his class went" Tony admitted.