Spider-Man joins the avengers

Part 10

SHURI

America, I am coming to find, is a place I like. It has its flaws, of course, but it's so different to Wakanda. Of course Wakanda is my home but it feels good to travel more. Wakanda stayed secluded for so long I didn't think I'd ever leave.
And my being in America was good for today, being able to come to the avengers block in only a days drive.
I pull over in my little yellow car next to two motorcycles and shut down the engine. I had been planning to pull some strings and come down here sometime anyway, partly to talk things over with the integration of Wakanda into the avengers-my brother and Okoye fighting and offering my own technical skills, but mostly to try to talk with Dr.Banner and Mr.Stark about their inventions.
I walk up to the building and find an intercom button to press.
'Hello, state your name and business please.' An automated voice comes down the line.
'Shuri. Um, I...Tony Stark asked for me?' I say hesitantly.
'Tony Stark is not currently reachable, please hold while I contact someone else.' The voice comes back. I step back, feeling awkward. Now I don't know who I'm going to meet, I had prepared myself for Tony.
'Hello?' A man's voice comes back.
'I'm, hi. Shuri, princess of Wakanda. Here to see Tony?' I say, using my title in case he doesn't know me.
'Shuri. Yes. Sorry, I'll be right down.' He says and shuts off the intercom again.
The doors open half a minute later and Clint Barton steps out, holding out his hand for me to shake.
'Hey nice to meet you.' He says, taking my hand, 'I'm Clint.'
'Shuri.' I say in response, feeling odd as I realise he could quite easily kill me, and that the world would not be ours right now if not for him.
'Come in,' He says, holding the door open for me to step through, 'Tony says he'll be back soon and he's sorry for not being here.'
'It's no problem.' I say, wondering where he is. I try to think of a subtle way of finding out whether Dr.Banner is here, 'so who is staying here at the moment?' I ask, innocently.
'Strictly, it's confidential, but Tony said to give you full access to anything. Steve and Tony are out right now but they're staying here for the time being. Natasha stays here most of the time and I'm here for a couple more weeks, handling a briefing for a mission I just got off. And Peter, Spiderman, he's in his room but didn't come out, didn't eat, had to be moved to the infirmary.' He says, leading us to the lift and stopping.
'Sorry,' I say, my cheeks going red, 'do you mind if I take the stairs? I don't like small spaces.'
'Yeah, sure.' He says, quick to go past the lift and walk with me up the stairs, 'Bruce has the same thing. I don't think he's gone in a lift for the last ten years.'
'Well that's understandable.' I say, 'Is he...will he be coming here at all?'
'Bruce? Maybe. He spends the least time here out of everyone. Spends most of his time in Africa. Only Natasha knows exactly where he is right now, we only call him in if it's necessary.' Clint says as we reach the top floor.
'Right.' I say. We step into the kitchen and Natasha sits on the sofa, legs up and watching some reality TV.
'Oh hey.' She says, muting the TV and walking round to come and greet me. 'Shuri right?' She says, taking my hand and shaking. Without thinking I follow the handshake with crossing my hands and bowing my head slightly and quickly.
'Oh. Sorry.' I say, embarrassed, 'It's a Wakandan thing. Bucky's spoken about you, he says you helped him out a lot.'
'You speak to Bucky?' She asks, smiling and sitting on one of the kitchen stools.
'I'm in charge of his well-being. I saw him twice a day, every day for two years before I came to America.' I say.
'How's he doing?' Clint asks.
'Fantastic. He's really good.' I say, nodding, 'he fits well in Wakanda.' Just as I'm about to continue, a consistent beeping starts coming from a room down the far end of the corridor.
Clint starts walking fast and turns into a jog towards it. Natasha follows and I find myself doing the same.
'Where's the kid?' Natasha asks as she throws open the doors and sees Clint standing in the middle of the infirmary.
'Okay, Nat, you check the perimeter, I'll start checking all the rooms, Shuri-' he's cut off by the sound of the door shutting the other side of the room.
Peter walks out and stops as he sees us all.
'Where'd you go?' Natasha asks, concerned and confused.
'I had...I had to pee.' He says, his eyes flicking briefly over to me.
'Okay. Well, you're not meant to be walking.' Clint says, 'and Nat and Me don't have any medical knowledge past sewing a wound so...'
'I know quite a bit.' I say, 'I can take a look, make sure he's good to go.'
'I don't...Is that...' Clint starts.
'Clint leave her to it. Come make me lunch.' She says, leading Clint away and giving me a small smile.
Peter walks up to the bed and sits on the edge, watching me walk around and stand next to him.
'Most the stuffs in that cupboard.' Peter says, pointing to a large cupboard in the corner.
'I've got my own stuff.' I say and double tap my watch to scan Peter. He jumps onto the bed, unprepared for the cold that my scans cause.
'What was that?' He asks, settling down.
'A scan. It takes in all information I need.' I say, sitting beside him and showing him the list of information it comes up with.
'What's that?' He asks, pointing to the glowing red button in the corner.
'Abnormalities.' I say, clicking on it, 'it says here you have subhuman strength, stamina, the ability to carry your weight against gravity, heightened underwater endurance, resistance to certain-' he cuts me off.
'Wait, what was the...the heightened...underwater...?'
'Heightened underwater endurance?' I clarify for him.
'Yeah, what's that?' He asks.
'It means you have the ability to do things underwater that isn't normal, maybe ability to breathe underwater, or have quicker mobility.' I say, unsure of specifics.
'But...what? That's not a spider thing?' He asks, confused.
'Maybe you were bitten by a water spider. Do you have the spider that bit you?' I ask.
'No, it's gone. Didn't get a good look at it.' He says, subconsciously rubbing his neck.
'It also says you have heightened eyesight.' I say, continuing the conversation.
'Oh yeah,' he says, laughing a little, 'I used to wear glasses.'
'Huh. That's interesting.' I say, continuing to scroll through Peter's medical records. 'Well, here it's saying you're more or less physically okay. As long as you keep up eating, drinking, exercise, you should be fine.'
'Thanks.' He says, shortly.
'Of course. I'm Shuri by the way.' I say, standing up.
'Peter.' He says.
'It is nice to meet you.' I say, smiling.
'You too.' He says, waiting a moment before standing up and following me out into the kitchen where Clint sits, more invested in the TV than Nat.