Thunder Wolf [B.Barnes]

Chapter 29

"Oh, stop it, Ryker, I know you don't want to, but it's for Peter, and it will only be for an hour at the most," Fern rolled her eyes at the wolf as he scratched at the collar and lead that was around his neck. Elder was biting at the leather strap placed on his leg; the pair wasn't happy. "Elder, I swear," Fern warned the bird.

"Thank you again; I'll find a way to thank all of you," Peter said as they waited in an empty classroom for Peter's teacher to come and get them.

"I'm excited; I didn't go to school. So this is my first experience in one since I was little," Fern chuckled as the door opened and a woman waved for them to follow her. Peter and Fern shared a smile before walking into the classroom next door. Gasps sounded as they walked into the room before it was oddly quiet.

"As I was saying before class, Peter, thanks to his Stark internship, has brought us a special guest for today's lesson. Peter, please introduce our guest." The teacher said, sitting at her desk.

"Okay, everyone, this is Fern. She works on a Nature Preserve that Mr. Stark owns. They help rehabilitate animals and care for ones that can't survive in the wild anymore. Fern, who are your friends?" Peter beamed. Fern smiled at Peter's cover-up for where she came from; it was clever.

"Well, this is Elder," Fern threw her arm out, letting Elder glide around the room before coming back to rest on Peter's shoulder, "And this is Ryker." Ryker let out a howl.

"They seem pretty tame for wild animals," A boy in the back laughed.

"Well, Flash, they're not completely wild anymore." Peter sighed, looking down at his feet.

So this is Flash. Peter's right. He is a dick. Let's fix that, Fern thought to herself. "Ryker, search," Fern ordered, letting go of his leash. Ryker knew what Fern wanted him to do; he also didn't like the kid who spoke to Peter that way. "Ryker was a lab experiment back in the '50s. He was cryogenically frozen for years until he was discovered last year. He's plenty wild when he wants to be," Fern explained as Ryker made his way past students and made his way to Flash; he stopped and snarled at Flash before laying down next to him, continuing to growl.

Flash yelped, falling out of his chair, "It looks like he found something. Do you mind if we look in your bag, Flash? Elder, can you grab that for me?" Elder flew off Peter's shoulder, swooped down to Flash's seat, and picked his backpack up from the ground, passing it over to the teacher's desk.

"Elder was abandoned as a chick, and then he was trained. Most of the animals in the Preserve have been rescued from organizations that wanted to do bad things. Just because they seem tame doesn't mean they are." Fern warned the students. She whistled, Ryker came to stalk around her and Peter, and Elder landed back on her arm. "Does anyone have questions?" She gave a devilish grin.

"Flash, go to the principal's office," The teacher said, searching Flash's bag. "Please, if anyone has questions for Peter and Fern, ask them now as class will end soon." The teacher escorted Flash out of the room, and their hands flew into the air.

Fern nudged Peter and smiled at him. "Okay, um, Ned, what do you want to know?"

"Is she the girl you were telling me about?" Ned blurted out.

"Ned!" Peter glared at his best friend. "Yes." Fern laughed. She pointed at a girl who seemed scared but still wanted to ask a question.

"So, are they friendly or not? If so, can we pet them?" Fern and Peter both laughed, nodding their heads.

"Oh, Ryker's a puppy at heart, and Elder just acts like he doesn't like attention. But, please, they would love it if you came and said hi to them," Fern smiled. The class stood, and Fern placed Elder on Peter's shoulder again. The class laughed as Ryker laid on his back and accepted the tummy rubs they were giving him. Elder was now sitting on Ned's arm, and everyone was in awe as he stretched out his wings.

"You did good, kid," Fern whispered to Peter.

"Thank you, seriously. I don't even want to know what you did to Flash." Peter whispered back, his smile stretched from ear to ear.

"Oh, I did nothing to him. But I'll tell you later what Ryker found," Fern smirked, giving Peter a fist bump.

Soon the bell rang, and everyone was off to their following classes. "So, you'll be at the party tonight, right?" Fern asked as Peter walked her out of the school.

"Yeah, Aunt May said that I could go to this one as long as I was back before midnight," Peter grinned as they watched Natasha pull into the parking lot. "Brainstorm a couple of ideas for me to thank Ryker and Elder. I want to do something for them." Peter waved at Fern as he ran back into the school.

"So, how did it go?" Natasha asked as Fern got into the car.

"Amazing," Fern laughed. She began to fill Natasha in on what happened as they drove back to the compound.