Spidergirl, New Beginnings

Chapter 5 ~ Presentation

At 6:00 I ate a quick snack and left my apartment and headed to the Stark Tech center. I had grabbed my bag with my watch in it and was currently running down the sidewalk, since I didn't have enough money to catch a bus. I finally made it to the main entrance of the tech center at around 6:45.

I opened the doors and walked inside. There were a handful of people in the main lobby, chatting, lounging, showing off their inventions, and other geeky stuff.

I headed to one of the side hallways and to my school's lab. Upon entering, I was met with many people yelling and scrambling to add the finishing touches on their projects. One of these people was, of course, Luke.

As soon as I walked in the door, his head shot up and he yelled to me. "ARTEMIS!! I NEED HELP!!!"

When he yelled, many people momentarily stopped and looked over at him. I sped walked over to him. "What?" my two friends, Gerrit and Haliey were leaning over his project, trying to help him.

I looked at the nest, well, it wasn't really a nest, it was a little bit neater, of wires. Luke wasn't a hardware-kinda guy, he was an amazing coder, but wasn't very good with the hands-on tech.

I leaned over to his computer while Haliey and Gerrit tried to help him with his wires.

I scanned his lines of code, "Looks like you're trying to make some sort of vibration motion sensor thing, right." He looked up from his project and nodded.

"Well, it is. If you place it on the ground you can sense vibrations from up to a mile away. Then, it gives you a detailed 3D image of what the vibrations are from."

Knowing what he was trying to build, I walked over to his motion sensor. My friends backed away from it, so I could have a better view. Looking at it closer up, I was a little more organized than I last remembered.

"The coding is good... This, not so much." I said to him, not looking away from the sensor.

"Well, thanks," He said sarcastically, probably rolling his eyes.

"You two can add the finishing touches on your projects," I said to Hailey and Gerrit. "I can help Luke from here, mine's already done." moved wires as they walked away, detaching them and reattaching them to different places. I lifted it up and looked under it at the sensor.

"This is the sensor you're using?"

"Yah, it was the best one I could find."

I set it back down and dug around my backpack. I produced a small sensor, almost identical to Luke's, but in better condition. I had found it in the 'spare parts tub' in one of the back rooms. The 'Spare parts tub' was a small milk crate where people put all of the extra pieces they don't need. I dug through it every so often, and every once and a while something useful, like the sensor. I didn't know what I needed it for, but it was a good find, at least now I had a good purpose for it.

"This might be better, but you might have to rewrite some of the code so the computer can adapt this sensor."

He grabbed his computer and started typing while I unhooked his old sensor and replaced it. We worked furiously, only having a bit more time to complete it before it was time to present. After ten minutes of working nonstop, we finally placed the lid on the sensor and screwed it shut.

I sighed and looked at Luke. "Done."

He ran over and hugged me so tightly, I couldn't breath "Thank you so much, you're a lifesaver! thankyouthankyou thankyouthankyouthankyou!" He released me and went back to his computer to finish up the coding.

I flopped on one of the couches where my two friends were sitting. "Sheesh, seemed like an easier fix than what Luke was stressing about." Gerrit chuckled.

"Well, all he did was have a few wires in the wrong spot, and a crappy sensor. I helped him with those two things, and voilà, a working sensor." I relaxed a little bit more into the chair and shut my eyes.

My two friends talked to each other for a bit, me listening in to their conversation. They weren't talking about much, just reciting their speeches about their projects, how they were going to answer questions, and what they would do to impress Mr. Stark.

I zoned out, but I was soon jolted back to reality. My eyes flew open when my regular watch I wore on my wrist all the time buzzed. I sat up and made sure I had my bag. I was sitting right next to me, so I relaxed back into the couch.

They had been calling names for a while, the names they called being the people that would present to Mr. Stark. My presentation was set to be at 7:00pm, so I had an alarm set.

Haliet noticed my sudden shock, and asked if I was ready. "Ready to present? You have all your notes?"

"I memorized all of them, but thanks, good luck to you two also."

Just then my name was called over the intercom.

"Artemis Vanderink." The lady said in a flat tone, like she was tired of calling the names. That job probably sucked, I personally would have hated being the one to say a couple hundred names in the span of five hours.

I picked up my backpack, and heard Gerrit say "Good luck."

I looked at him from over my shoulder. "Thanks."

I walked to the main entrance lobby, and turned down the main hall. There was a door labled '203' that had a guard on either side of it. I walked in front of it, and faced it.

"ID." the guard on the left asked. I produced my ID from my pocket and held it out to him. "Thank you." he pushed a button and the door slid open. I walked in and put my I'D back in my poket.

Tony Stark was the only one in the room, and sitting at a small table, on his phone. He looked up and saw me. "Welcome Artemis, have a seat."

I sat in the small armed chair opposite him. "So, what do you have today?" I could tell he was faking his enthusiasm, he probably wanted to go home and see his wife and daughter.

"I have a watch." All of a sudden, he seemed intrested in my watch. I pulled it from my backpack and set it on the table.

"This is a wireless hacking watch. If your trying to sneak into somewhere, no need for a bulky laptop and messy wires. It looks just like an apple watch series 5, so no people will suspect. It works like this."

I grabbed my watch and turned it on. I showed him every step on how it works, but without the actual hacking.

"If something your trying to hack is being difficult, I made an app on my phone that I
helps out my watch."

I finished my presentation.

"Friday, cameras off." I heard a ping as Tony leaned back in his seat. "Did you hack into the database yesterday?"

I looked at him and nodded. There was no use lying. I could tell he already knew it was me.

"Well Spidergirl, you could have just asked me for the web formula."

I smirked, "Well, where's the fun in that?"

"I think I can have you make your suit tomorrow after school. How's that sound?"

"I think I can make it." he tapped on his phone, probably setting a reminder.

"Friday, cameras on." I heard another ping as the cameras started recording. "Well, you did a good job presenting, please exit the building without talking to anybody. Your results will be in shortly, thank you."

I nodded and exited the room. "Hailey Dalton." My best friend was called over the intercom.

I walked out of the tech center and into the crisp Autumn air.

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