It's About Time

Ch. 17

The next morning, Pepper took Peter to school.  Tony had flown to the Compound in his Iron Man suit when they left for school so he could tell the team what was happening.  They would have an hour or so before the school group would arrive, but Tony wanted to make sure all of them knew what was going on.  If even one person screwed up, it was game over.  Pepper made sure Peter left his tablet at home, but he hadn't been thinking about bringing it anyway.  He did take his phone, though.  He didn't like going anywhere without Karen or knowing he could easily contact his dad if something bad happened.

"You'll be okay, Peter,"  Pepper promised.  Peter nodded and hugged his mom.  She kissed his head then sent him into school.  She watched him run inside then got back in the suburban and returned to the Tower.

Peter sat with Ned on the bus, Michelle right behind them reading a book.  Peter had teased her about not being interested in the Avengers and she had just rolled her eyes.  When he asked if she was excited about meeting Iron Man, she almost flicked his forehead.  Peter just laughed and turned back to Ned.  They talked about Google the entire way there, but as soon as they pulled up to the Compound, Ned went wide eyed and his jaw dropped.  Peter had to remind himself Ned had never been to the Compound before.  Despite having Iron Man as his uncle, Ned had never actually been to the newest Avengers Facility.  He did know Bruce and Steve fairly well.  Ned was also familiar with Natasha and Clint, but he wasn't that close to them.

"Okay, follow me inside where we'll get our badges,"  Miss Kramer said.  Everyone unloaded the bus and Peter followed Ned and Michelle in the middle of the group.  They were all handed badges at the front desk then taken back to the offices by Sharon Carter.  Peter had heard about her, but never actually met her.  Apparently she was their tour guide and worked for SHIELD.  If Peter was being honest, though, the tour around the offices and meeting with the different intelligence agents was interesting, but not nearly as amazing as Google. 

Lunch came slowly and Peter happily grabbed his sack lunch from the bus.  He sat on the grass towards the edge of the yard and Ned and Michelle joined him.  Michelle ate her food while she read and Ned chattered about the tour.  Peter just nodded along, not really listening to Ned as he recalled the tour.  He then started talking about how the afternoon was going to be fun, hanging out with the Avengers.

"I mean, maybe it won't be that fun for you,"  Ned said, shrugging then biting into his sandwich.  "How are you going to stay a secret if everyone knows you?  Cause as soon as one of them talks to you, Flash is gonna be irritating about it."

"My dad has it handled,"  Peter assured him.

"Your dad's here too?  Man, all the Avengers,"  Ned said, wide eyed.  Peter nodded.  All the Avengers and Bucky, but he figured Bucky would remain hidden as most parents probably didn't want him around their kids and Bucky was painfully aware of this fact.

Miss Kramer called them all back to the bus after an hour long lunch break and they all threw their trash away and returned their things to the bus.  Sharon met them outside then took them to the part of the building the Avengers actually lived in.  They scanned their cards, FRIDAY reading out what type of card it was and the level of clearance they had.  Peter held his breath as she scanned his card and only relaxed when she called out the same thing as everyone else.  Apparently it was obvious, because Flash scoffed.

"Worried Stark wouldn't let you in so you could steal another tablet?"  Flash asked.  Peter rolled his eyes and tried to ignore Flash.  "Don't roll your eyes at me,"  Flash snapped.  He lowered his voice.  "Did you forget what happened last time?"  Before Peter could reply, Sharon led them all further into the building and Flash went back to his group of friends.

"Just ignore him,"  Michelle told Peter.  He nodded and followed Michelle along with the group.  They walked into the living room and Peter heard a collective gasp from the group.  He stood on his tip toes to see who was in front of them and saw Steve and Sam talking in the living room.  They stopped when they saw the group of high school students and Steve smiled.  Sam did the opposite.  Peter wasn't surprised.

"Hey, you must be Midtown High,"  Steve said.  A few kids nodded while the others just stared in shock.  "Well, I heard we're hanging out for the afternoon.  Is there anything in particular you want to do?"  No one answered.  Peter watched awkwardly from the back, avoiding eye contact with Sam and Steve by staring at his feet.

"Do y'all just want to stand there or do you want to ask us questions or something?"  Sam asked.  Clearly Steve had not told Sam how to act around high schoolers.

"U-Um, what is t-there to do?"  a kid asked shyly. 

"Good question,"  Steve said, smiling at the kid.  "You can ask us questions, we can give you a tour of the place, we could show you how we train, there's a lot of things.  What would you like to do first?"  The kid seemed to shy to answer.  "How about we start with a tour?"  The kid nodded so Steve stood up.  Sam stayed seated until Steve told him to come.  Sam took up the back of the line and Peter tried to hide.  Sam noticed and smirked, but didn't say anything.

After a tour of the Compound, Steve took everyone down to the training rooms.  Natasha and Clint were already down there, beating each other up.  The group of students watched as Natasha beat Clint then stood up.  She didn't seem fazed to see a bunch of teenagers watching her.  She did however, make eye contact with Peter.  She didn't do anything like smile or wave, but Peter knew she had seen him.  That was fine as long as she didn't call him out.