chapter four
Spider-Man staggered up after and Steve picked him up, placed him gently on the bed. Steve turned so that Spider-Man was blocked form the tour group’s view. The door closed and Clint and Natasha stood stiffly outside the door. “You kids will need to leave now,” Clint said. “Go tour some other part of the building.”
The group hurried away, Ned and MJ cast a look back, meeting the two Avenger’s eyes before following the group. “He’ll be okay, right?” Ned whispered.
Clint gave a curt nod and Ned followed the group.
*
*
*
“They gone?” Peter panted out.
“They’re gone,” Tony said.
Peter pulled his mask off and fell back on the pillow with a groan. “You’ll be alright,” Tony said. “Dr. Cho’s coming.”
“Yeah, okay. What about the tour group?”
“Peter, relax. They won’t be coming back.”
Peter’s eyes slid closed. “Alright.”
“Dr. Cho’s here,” Steve said.
“Peter, right?” He nodded. “I’m going to stitch up the smaller cuts first before moving on to that-” she pointed to the large piece of metal twisting out of his side. “That way you won’t feel any of the pain.”
“There’s drugs that’ll work on me?”
“Yup. Bruce figured it out. You’ll be alright Peter.”
Dr. Cho slid Peter’s sleeve up and inserted the IV. While the drugs took full effect she stitched up the other cuts before moving onto to the larger problem that was his side.
*
*
*
“Do you think he’ll be okay?” Ned asked in a whisper.
“Of course he will be,” MJ said. Despite her words, her forehead was furrowed with worry.
Ned’s phone dinged and Mr. Harrington glared at him. Ned whispered a ‘sorry’ and looked at his phone.
Peter: Get a spot by the doors tonight. Don’t look suspicious while you’re doing it. -T.S.
Ned looked at MJ and showed her the text. “Huh,” she said. She pushed Ned forward. “C’mon. The groups moving.”
They were led into one of the conference halls. Pepper Potts herself was there. “Hello everyone! I’m sure witnessing the Avengers arrival and takeoff was very exciting. Tomorrow you guys will get the chance to do an official Q and A with the avengers. While we wait for the room where you get to spend the night you will all get an extra hour to work on your projects before dinner. Your projects will be judged before the q and a.” Pepper checked her watch. “Since I have a few minutes I can take a few questions.”
One of the students from the other school raised their hand. “What’s it like knowing the Avengers?”
“Really interesting and hectic for sure.”
MJ raised her hand. “What’s it like being a woman CEO of such a well-known company?”
Peppe smiled. “Really impacting. I was given the job on a spur it seemed so I never really expected this. I do enjoy it.”
“I do have to go now. Maybe I might be in the official Q and A tomorrow. If I am you can all ask questions then. You will be eating dinner in our intern's cafeteria. As a special treat, you will be able to sleep in one of the Avengers lounges. None of them will be there and there will be boundaries set up. The only accessible places will be the bathroom, lounge, and hall. Enjoy the rest of your trip.” She waved and left through a back door.
“Well guys, let's get back to the labs. You’re projects will still be there. Once your hour is up we’ll head to the cafeteria.”
Ned and Mj’s group went to their table. Ned and Abe finished coding the robot while MJ and Cindy put the finishing touches on it. “Shall we do a test run?” Cindy said.
They managed to make the robot bring over a pencil, a granola bar Abe had with him, a water bottle, a pencil and paper at the same time, and a text book. It dropped all its items in a neat little pile at the other end of the table.
“We should name it something,” Cindy said.
“Helpie,” Ned. “Apparently Mr. Stark has a robot he named DUM-E so Helpie can match.”
“Why’s the robot called DUM-E?” Abe asked.
Ned shrugged. “It has a thing with fire extinguishers.”
“Umm. Alright,” MJ said. “Helpie it is then.”
They set the finished Helpie back on the table next to their blueprint, the coding. Cindy quickly wrote down their plan, instructions, and their earlier design ideas. She set it down beside the blueprint. “Just in case,” she said.
“Alright everyone, time’s up! We’ll be going down to the cafeteria now.” Max led them downstairs to where they’d be eating dinner. “Your food has already been paid for so you won’t need to worry about that.”
Later, after dinner, they were led to the lounge. The tour group filtered in slowly, and stood there, shocked at what they saw. Wanda was laying on one of the couches, reading. “Oh? Is the tower group sleeping here?” At a nod from Max, she smiled. “Hello everyone. I hope you all enjoy your stay here.” she stood and left through one of the doors they weren’t allowed to go through. Everyone was speechless, a few people waved timidly after her.
“Well everyone this is where you’ll be staying. A few people will be filtering in and out, just making sure everything’s alright. If you need anything just tell FRIDAY, the buildings, and Mr. Stark’s, AI. I’ll be back in the morning to get ya’ll.” Max helped them get the spare blankets and pillows and set up. A few lucky students snagged the couches and chairs. The other clambered for the remaining floor space. Ned and MJ stayed close to the door where they could leave without disturbing the others. Why Tony wanted them there, they didn’t know.
Once they were asleep and Ned and MJ began dropping off the doors slid open. This had already happened a few times, just Happy, Clint, or Natasha making sure everyone was supposed to be. This time Natasha nudged MJ and Ned awake and motioned for them to follow her. She led them to the Med Bay. “Peter’s been awake for a while now. Asking to see you two of course. This way.”
Peter was sitting up in the bed. Bandages covered his torso. His suit and mask were on the chair beside him. “Natasha?” He craned his neck. “Who’s there.”
“I brought your friends.”
“Ooh! Hi NEd, hi MJ!” He grinned waved almost sheepishly.
“Hi, dork.”
“Hey, Peter. Dude, what happened to you?”
“Oh. That. Well, a building fell. While we were in the vents. And I was still inside them. The others were outside.” Peter shrugged. “I was not. That’s how I got all that metal in my side.”
MJ sighed and Ned looked at Peter with wide eyes. “How’d you even get out?”
“He lifted it off himself and managed to get out before it fell on him again,” Natasha said. “Peter?”
“Hmm?” Peter’s eyes were dropping and he had sunken back onto the pillows. “Yeah?”
“We’re leaving now. I need to return your friends.”
“Mmmkay. Bye Ned. Bye MJ.”
Ned waved. “Bye Peter.”
“Bye dork.”