Chapter 5
Peter took them down to the first floor and showed them how to quickly slip through the turnstiles in the employee section, then brought all three of them through the back entrance, considering they had gold badges.
"Next, the 4th floor is basically the recreation floor. Tony opened up a few levels to anyone who needed it last Snowmageddon and it sort of ended up staying that way. The 4th is where most of the city kids that don't have anywhere else to go come and hang out and do homework and play video games. There's even a jungle gym area for the younger kids," he said as they exited the elevator.
The receptionist there eyed the four of them oddly until she saw their gold badges and then waved them in. "Most of the kids only have white badges," Peter said.
"Because public access floors are coded white," Shuri surmised.
They walked through the doors and saw mostly a few young mothers with toddlers, but further spread out across the room were teenagers that had already gotten out of school the jungle gym was sectioned off in a glass room, so the sound didn't escape, but the mothers could sit and watch their children without having to hear the joyous screams. There were two rooms next to the jungle gym, one labeled video games and the other labeled music. The rest of the room was mostly tables and comfortable couches and chairs. There were several bookshelves in the left-back corner and a row of laptops and StarkPads on a shelf against the back wall.
"How does Stark keep them from stealing?" Riri asked, eyes wide.
"Everything completely deactivates if it leaves the room," Peter said.
"Do you come down here a lot?" Shuri asked.
"I used to before I became a MINION," Peter told her. "My apartment was old, and in the winter it was cold, it's the safest place to be if your parents or guardians have to work long hours like my Aunt May does."
Harley and Riri nodded, but Shuri frowned. "What else did you want to show us?" she asked.
"The next two levels are pretty similar, but more couches and chairs. Tony didn't want to outright install cots unless it's an emergency. The couches are good for small naps though."
Peter ushered the three of them back through the elevator. "As MINIONS we don't really need to go to any of the other levels very often, but 11-20 are for Law and Accounting, and their badges are Red or Yellow. 21-30 are reserved for Electronics, while 31-40 are for the Engineers, which are the group I've worked with the most. 41-50 is Medical Innovations, as well as level 50 being the level we would go to if we got a small workplace injury or if we get sick." he told them as they rocketed back up to level 54.
"MINIONS get levels 51-53 for lab space and any living space that is needed when projects run through the night. They also have a cafeteria on level 53 as well. But we're gold badges, so we get to stop at level 54 now, which is where the Avenger Labs are kept."
The doors opened, and Riri and Harley let out huge gasps. Every Avenger that Tony gave any equipment to had their own dedicated space in the vast lab. Upfront and center were the Iron Man and War Machine armors, followed quickly by other Avengers. Widow Bites were strewn across a table, as well as what looked like an electric baton. The next table had a few harmless-looking arrows, but Peter knew better than to touch them. Next, a mold of Steve's head had a helmet on it, with three different helmets next to it, each of them containing writing on them. There were other tables, each of them tagged with whichever Avenger's equipment they held.
Harley and Riri both went to the Iron Man armor and started talking rapidly about it, while Shuri went to go inspect the Widow's bites. Peter kept catching glimpses of Harley and Riri's conversation and walked back over to them.
"Here," he said, and opened a window out of the air for them to look at. The blue holographic window hovered in front of them, completely silencing both of them.
Harley hesitantly touched it and dragged it over the Iron Man armor, where it let him see the innards of the circuitry.
"Holy shit," Riri muttered and copied what Peter had done earlier to open her own window.
"This is so badass, this is the best day of my friggen life," Harley told Peter.
"Don't forget about your chemistry project," Peter told him in a sing-song voice.
Harley barked out a laugh. "I'll do chemistry projects for the rest of my life if it means I get to do stuff like this all day."
Peter laughed back at him and grabbed his hand. "C' mon," he said, and then grabbed Riri's hands. "You can look at the armor later, you've got some scientists to meet."
Peter took them to the next floor up to meet Bruce and Jane, and then to level 56 to meet Helen. He skipped Avengers Medical Space, and their own lab space to show them Tony's and the Guest Lab, where they ran into Scott.
"Cassie is upstairs," he told Peter, "she wanted to see the Bartons' for dinner."
"Cool! That's next on our tour," Peter told him with a grin.
Riri waved goodbye to him as they made their way back to the elevator. "Who was that?" she asked.
"Oh, that's Ant-man!" Peter told her. "Hank and Tony get into lots of arguments about the Ant-man suit being allowed on Stark Property, but Cassie likes it here, so everyone is over Hank yelling about it."
They exited the elevator. "Floor 88 is where everyone gathers the most, we've got a huge kitchen and dining area for when we have Avengers Dinners, and the next floor up is the Rec Room for the Avenger Kids, and then the Avenger's Training room, and then the conference room!" Peter says, listing everything off on his fingers.
"Who are you showing around Peter?" Wanda asks, coming out of the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn.
"Princess Shuri, I think you've met Wanda before, but this is Riri Williams," Peter said, holding out his hand towards Riri who gave an excited wave and held out her hand for a handshake.
"And I'm Harley," Harley said, still looking around the room.
"New uh, Minions? Yes?" Wanda asked.
"Not quite," Peter told her. "We haven't decided on a new name for us."
"Mm," Wanda said. "Well, I am going to watch Steve introduce Star Wars to Bucky if you would like to be entertained by this as well."
"Oh this I gotta see, " Riri said and started to follow Wanda into the TV area. Shuri and Harley quickly followed.
"FRIDAY can you upload the rest of the tour onto everyone's StarkPads as well as a cheatsheet to who lives on which floor."
"Of course, Peter."
"You're such a good tour guide," Pepper said, coming out of the kitchen as well.
Peter flushed. "Just part of the job," he mumbled, ducking his head.
She smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Let's go see Bucky get his mind blown by speeders."
"Wait, don't tell me we're starting with the prequels?"
"Of course not," Pepper said. "I would never let Steve do that to Bucky."