The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Chapter 25

After I arrived back home, I received a text from Gwen. It explained that she was doing well, although her family was still a little shaken. Her youngest brother, not fully understanding the situation, was excited about it, begging to be bitten by a spider.

I couldn't help but laugh at the text. I replied, asking if she wanted to go to the Stark Tower sometime. I told her I had a college field trip there the next day, but maybe she could go with me another time.

She accepted.

---

"Good morning, Mr. Stark," Mr. Allen said, leading us into one of the workrooms. "This is my college graphic design class I was telling you about."

Tony Stark, who was fiddling with some gadgets in the corner of the room, turned around to face us. He had a pair of glasses on, projecting some kind of hologram in front of his face. He saw us, smiled, then removed the glasses. He set them on a table, then spoke, but not to any of us.

"Put those away for a minute, Jarvis," he said, but he wasn't facing anyone. He was acting as if there was someone else in the room.

"Yes sir," a computerized voice said, and then a mechanical arm took the glasses away. I was a little surprised, then turned to my classmates, who were wearing faces of awe.

Then Tony turned to us, finally speaking to us. "Welcome to the Stark Tower. I'm Tony Stark, obviously."

He had brown hair and eyes. He also had a mustache and beard, only covering his chin. His face was beginning to show age, with a wrinkle every now and then.

"Who's Jarvis?" Someone asked.

"He's my Artificial Intelligence system. His name stands for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System," Tony explained. "He's much like a real person, although he isn't. Just don't tell him that." Our small crowd produced a few oohs and ahhs.

"I heard that, Mr. Stark," Jarvis's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Oh well, he had to figure it out sometime or another," Tony waved his hand in dismissal.

"So you're Iron Man?" Another student asked.

"Umm...yeah," Mr. Stark seemed surprised that that was a question, since there was plenty of evidence to prove that, with all of his Iron Man suits set up all across the room.

"Woah...so cool!" A third student exclaimed.

"That's gotta be so fun!"

"Is it hard to drive that thing?"

"Can I wear it?"

"Can you show us how it works?"

"I want to see it!"

Tony Stark became annoyed at all of the questions. I glanced at Mr. Allen, and I could tell that he knew that. I just stood at the end of the group quietly.

"Well, Mr. Stark appears very busy right now, so perhaps we could ask him more questions at another time," he said. There were several moans and comments of disapproval, but then everyone quieted down.

Tony Stark's assistant, a red-haired lady named Pepper Potts, then guided us to another room for the rest of our tour. I looked back over my shoulder before we turned the corner, and I watched a blue-tinted hologram encircle him.

---

"And this concludes your tour of the Stark Tower," Pepper Potts said. We were back in the atrium where we had first arrived.

I saw something move in the corner of my eye. One of the students was fumbling on the front desk. I saw him lift up some sort of technical device, spherical with a small red light on it. He touched the light with his finger, and then the device flew out of his hands. The boy gasped, and Pepper Potts noticed.

"What are you doing? Don't mess with that!" She said, reaching in the air as it flew over her head. Her hand missed it, and it circled her.

"What is it?" The boy asked.

"I don't know. One of Tony's gadgets, I guess," she said through clenched teeth, swatting at it with her hands. Suddenly, it changed direction, speeding straight toward Mr. Allen, who was standing right beside me.

I caught it right before it hit him in the nose. Mr. Allen stared at my fist in shock, which was only a couple of inches away from his face. I looked at Ms. Potts and the students around me. They were looking at me with the exact same expression.

I lowered my hand, then placed the device in Ms. Potts's hand. I felt everyone's eyes boring into me.

"Nice catch," she said quietly. "You have very nice reflexes. Thank you."

"You're welcome," I said. I looked back at Mr. Allen, who was still stunned, his eyes unfocused. He finally shook himself back into reality and thanked me.

"Well, I guess we should head back to the campus, now," he said. "Thank you, Ms. Potts, for the tour."

"My pleasure."

"And Matt..." Mr. Allen turned to the boy who had released the odd device. "Keep your hands off of things." Matt nodded, his face red.