Permission Slips
It’s a 3 weeks later Peter comes home from school with a red face and yellow permission slip.
‘What the hell you guys’ he practically yells as he dumps his bag in the living room and plops down on the couch. I open one eye lazily; I finish school 30 mins earlier than Peter, so I was dozing on Val’s lap while she was thrashing Nat at Mario cart when the Spiderling came in
‘oops, it appears Spidey has discovered our master plan’ laughs, pausing the game
‘a field trip, here and an overnight one? Guys really I get yours sucked but you don’t need to embarrass me too and overnight, overnight?’ he groans as Nat signs his slip with a flourish (it was a few months ago Nat, Steve, Tony, Pepper and Banner became our legal guardian, after the battle of London when it was clear it was necessary as an Avenger to be signed off for hospital treatments and stuff)
‘noooooo’ he huffs to his room and we can vaguely hear him lecturing FRIDAY on how to kill us if we embarrass him
Which is how, later that week Val and I stand in the hall waiting for our tour group to arrive.
***
A harried looking teacher rushes into reception as we walk down the stairs into reception, suits on and matching swords strapped to our backs
‘Excuse me’ I hear him bark at the bored receptionist ‘I’m here with Midtown tech school, we have a tour booked for today’ I run over and get the attention of the man
‘Hey, Mr…’ I question and Val grabs the box of badges off the desk
‘Harrington’ he finishes eyeing me warily
‘Well Mr Harrington, We are Red and Val, your tour guides for today so would you like to bring the group in so we can get the badges set up and explain the rules and stuff’ I inform him, striding over to the group of assembled kids. A domineering boy at the front calls out to me as I begin to address the class
‘Why are you here, you’re too young to work here everyone knows they don’t employ high schoolers like penis over here’ he guffaws and points to a small boy at the back and Val rolls her eyes but is cut off my one of the girls next to Peter
‘dude do you read the news at all? This is Red Dawn and Valkyrie, two of the strongest female avengers and the first gay couple on the team’ she shoots an uninterested glare at the person who’s now shoved to the front. I ignore him
‘What did you just call Peter?’ Val threatens, but I put my hand on her arm
‘ଠିକ ଅଛି ମୋର ପ୍ରେମ, ଆମେ ପରେ ଏହାକୁ ସଜାଡ଼ିବା, ଚାଲନ୍ତୁ କେବଳ ଆମର କାମ କରିବା ଏବଂ ପିଟରଙ୍କୁ ଲଜ୍ଜିତ କରିବା’ I say calmly (It's okay my love, we'll sort that out later, let's just do our job and embarrass Peter)
‘what did you just say’ another boy calls out; peter looks like he could vanish
‘Well, Val has taught me Norse so we can talk without the others to knowing what we are saying, and we also know Russian to talk rubbish about the others with Nat and we’re trying to teach Spidey but he’s useless’ I explain exasperated but Val ushers them over to the scanners
I fall into the speech Stark made me memorise last night
‘Hello, Midtown. My name is Red, and I will be your tour guide for today. First some rules; Always stay close to me and don't wander off on your own. Please be respectful to all the workers here and don't touch anything, especially in the labs, without asking permission at first. Stark Industries has a strict anti - bullying policy.
We at Stark Industries are very proud to say that we are very open and accepting, nobody gets judged based on their appearance, race, gender, sexuality, or religion. So, we expect the same from all our guests. Also don't lose your badge. You will each get a badge for the tour, that will be deactivated as soon as you leave the tower. So, you can keep it as a souvenir, but it won't work anymore.
Here at Stark Industries we have 10 levels of badges. Level one tours and guest, you’ve access to floors 1-50. Level 2 is for paparazzi, who are the same as tours but can take pictures. Level 3 are janitors and other staff like that. Level 4 are Interns and temporary scientists, like me. We have access to levels 1-60 which is the same as you but includes the labs. 5, 6 and 7 are just normal staff, higher level interns and scientists. but at level 8 are the SHEILD agents and temporary guest living quarters access floors 1-80.
Then we get onto the exciting stuff. Level 9 gives access to the Avengers who have all floors 1-90, 70-90 are training rooms basically and Mr Stark and Dr Banners private labs-so everything except the penthouse, who are Level 10, the penthouse is floors 90-100 and are living quarters to Mr and Mrs Stark and the other Avengers that live here, on sight as well as the 3 heirs, their badges are customised but recognizable by the gold rim.’ I finish in a huff and Val starts handing out the Level 1 cards
‘well well well what have we here’ Val smirks as Peter pins his personalised badge onto his jacket
‘ha’ the annoyance calls out ‘your lies have been exposed Penis, get ready to be kicked out’ Val spins on her heel
‘What did you just say’ she challenges reaching up as if to grab the Dragon Fang from her back. Mr Harrington steps between the two figures
‘please do not threaten the class Miss... Miss Valkyrie, I have told Peter multiple times lying I not okay that that he should own up before someone important finds out his internship is a fake’
This time it’s my turn to turn around ‘excuse me’ the teacher stammers now, noting the red tendrils weaving up my fingers
‘well... he stammers ‘Peter has been spreading rumours about him having an internship and has been overheard saying he lives at this tower’
‘well’ I say quickly ‘he does, that is all im going to say and everyone deserves their secrets. Now please proceed through the scanner where FRIDAY Mr Stark’s AI will greet you and clear you for access’
The group surges forward and Annoyance goes first
‘Eugene’ I scoff ‘Thompson, Access level 1, Welcome’ he spins around as if to look for the source of the voice but Val just smirks ‘AI remember’
The class files through, MJ and Ned get the same clearance at level 7, but Peter looks worried when his term comes up
‘Peter Parker AKA straight boi but still a disaster Access level 10, welcome home, would you like me to inform Tony of your arrival’
The boy turns red ‘no thanks FRI but I’m sure he already knows’
‘Indeed, he does mini-boss however he has left embarrassing you to Red, Val and everyone else, because he is on a board call, have a pleasant trip’ I laugh out loud and step through the scanners
‘Iris AKA Red Dawn AKA gay disaster no. 3 welcome home butthole’ the Irish lilt comes through the speakers; the teacher looks shocked
‘Does the robot usually talk like that?’ he questions as Val walks through getting the exact same response except no.2
‘no’ I say shortly ‘but I do know who does’ Glaring up at on of the AI’s camera I continue ‘Shuri if this is you I will personally hunt you down and kill you-after we have killed Peter of embarrassment of course, but trust me. Nat can hide a body’
The teacher looks terrified but Val switches into helpful tour guide mode
‘right this way please Midtown Prep’
We continue through to the museum, stopping off at the lift to dump bags. The class wonders round the museum and Val and I end up at the Black Widow section
‘Damn only 32 aliases, I though Nat was better than that’ Val jokes reading off the board
‘Excuse me, Miss Valkyrie and Miss Dawn’ a confident voice speaks behind us. We turn and see Peters friend who came back on that rude kid at the start. I smile at her
‘It’s Red and you’re MJ, right?’ Her face remains blank
‘I have a few questions for you and I was wondering if I could ask you them now, or maybe set up a time for an interview’ Val raises a single eyebrow (I TAUGHT HER THAT) and the girl continues, ignoring the gesture
‘I’m doing a segment of powerful women for the Queer Alliance group newsletter I run, and I think you guys would be awesome to write about?’
This time Val cracks a grin ‘sure, maybe not right now cus of everyone else, but I’d love to set up a time via peter someday, we’d to love talk to you’ she nudges me and I nod calculatingly
‘Do you know anything about that arsehole’ I ask, looking in the direction of Eugene. MJ’s eyes darken
‘Peter will kill me for telling you but that kids been bothering him for years. Never admits it, and the teachers ignore it, but I have thought about killing him a few times’ I grin at her
‘Wow, finally someone with the same views as me. Remind me to introduce you to Nat at some point, together with Pepper I bet we could all take over the tower’ I joke, and the girl face changes slightly from faked uninterest to badly faked uninterest
‘I bet we coul- ‘but is cut off by a comment Annoyance is making
‘Ayo look at her dude, I bet she’s got like 7 boyfriends. She’s just too hot’ My eyes flick up and I stride across the room
‘Excuse me’ I say sugar sweet smiling icily at the short boy. He doesn’t step down
‘I said I bet she’s got like 7 boyfriends Cutie’ he says looking me up and down slowly, MJ steps in almost immediately
‘Get your head out your butt Flash you clearly hear everyone say she was gay just leave her alone’ I roll my eyes and look to Val for back up but she is with Peter trying to talk to him about the bullying.
Eugene (ha) looks me up and down again I resist the urge to skin him ‘I bet I could convert you’ he winks at me and flounces off.
MJ gasps ‘what a d’ she states then looks at me ‘you okay’ she says slowly registering my harried look
‘Yeah’ I assure her, and Val and the now okay Peter walk up to join us ‘Yeah I’m fine, I just don’t have enough middle fingers to express myself’