Peter Stark

Chapter 10 - Stark Tower Pt. 2

James's POV

We sat in the lab, worrying about Kali, when a video came on the television screen. We all looked up. It was a video of Mr. Stark looking extremely frustrated as he tried to hack through a firewall. A firewall that was on Friday. He was trying to hack into his AI. We started laughing, our stress level going down a bit. Friday told us that Mr. Stark was trying to hack Peter's firewall. His own son had blocked him out. When it was over, we all felt a bit better. We started working again. 30 minutes later, the elevator dinged.

"James," I heard a familiar voice call.

I looked up. "Junior?" Everyone else looked up as well.

"Yeah," he said. "Sadie told me about Kali. Dr. Cho is on her way now."

Relief flooded through me. "Oh, thank God." Alex said.

"I told Sadie to go see her, so we need a new tour guide. I would give the tour myself, but I'm not technically qualified to lead a tour. You haven't given a tour for a while, James, so you're up." Peter said, looking really tired and just as worried as we were.

I nodded, knowing I really didn't have much of a choice anyways. Despite being a friend, he was also our boss. "Of course I can lead you guys. What's next?"

"The museum."

"Okay. Let's go. I'm just gonna call Sadie really fast." I walked off and pulled out my phone after I had rounded a corner. I called her cell phone.

"James?" she asked when she picked up.

"Hi Sadie. Is she okay?"

"She'll be okay. Dr. Cho is on her way to remove the bullet."

"Thank goodness."

"Yeah. By the way, you're doing the tour, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Look out for one of the kids, I don't know exactly why, but Friday hates him with a passion."

"What? Who?"

"Eugene Thompson."

"Do we know anything else?"

"I don't know. I was with the group; I couldn't ask Friday. But she knows something. Keep him away from Peter and ask Friday for more information. I've got to go, Dr. Cho just got here."

"Okay, we'll be over right after work."

"See you then."

"Bye." I hung up. "Friday, what do you know?"

"Eugene Thompson has been bullying Peter. Peter didn't tell us anything, and we only found out by checking the security footage for a different reason," she answered.

"Has it gotten physical?"

"Yes."

I had to resist the urge to punch this kid in the face. Instead, I took a few deep breaths, clenching and unclenching my fists. "Friday, text that information to the interns' group chat... the one without Peter."

"Sent."

"Thanks." I walked back to the group. I shot a glare at the kid. "Alright, back to the elevator," I ordered. I picked up my earpiece and put it in, turning it on. We had earpieces so we would know if there was a change of plans, but we usually never wore them in the lab. We went down to the museum, and I listed off facts about each of the Avengers before letting them explore a bit. I saw Peter looking at the Ironman display, reading the fun facts. I walked over to him. "Haven't you seen all of these before?"

"Yeah, but I like them. I'll come down here when they leave on missions. It reminds me that they've survived worse," he said quietly.

I thought about how I would have felt when I was his age, if my family left every few weeks to risk their lives to fight battles that the military can't or won't. "That must be scary."

He nodded. "It was even scarier the first couple years, when I didn't know the rest of the team. My dad was going out to fight with a bunch of people I didn't know, and definitely didn't trust. They didn't know about me either, because Dad didn't trust them completely. Not until after the Ultron incident." His eyes went blank, and I knew he was stuck in the past, which was really bad. The last time that happened, he went from good memories to bad ones. Like, really bad. He was screaming and crying, and it took twenty minutes for him to snap out of it.

I looked at him helplessly. I had no idea what to do.

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Thoughts?

So, it might be a while before I post again. Life is getting surprisingly busy. I'll try to post soon, though.