A Peek into Peter Parker's Profession

Trip

This is set in the same universe as my other fic. It's set a few months before other fic and is Peter-centric. Enjoy!

Peter was not happy; not happy at all. His decathlon team was going on a surprise-location field trip and he couldn't even go. Too many absences? really? Since when was attendance a prerequisite? Ok, it probably was always a prerequisite, but it's not his fault! Really! He had been on several missions with the Avengers and, yeah, he had missed many school days, but not like twenty days. Just, more like fifteen. In the past two months. Yeah, that's still a lot. Sigh.

Ned had promised to take plenty of pictures of the trip if he could but he wouldn't send them to Peter until tomorrow because he wanted to enjoy the trip as much as possible. So, Peter slept in; had breakfast late in the morning; and then went down to the R&D labs in his pajamas. They were Spider-Man pajamas because he absolutely refused to wear the Iron Man pajamas Tony had gotten him. He visited the lower labs yesterday, so he'll probably start off in the medium-level labs today. Sighing happily, Peter put the thought of the mystery location field trip out of his mind.

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"Welcome to SI, students of Midtown High! My name is Doris and I will be your tour guide today! If you could come up when I call your name and grab a visitor's pass, we can get this show on the road!"

"So, Ned, where's Parker? If he's not on the trip, wouldn't he be spending as much time as possible at his internship? Unless it isn't real?"

Ned rolled his eyes and grabbed a visitor pass, "You really think he would be hanging out in the lobby for his internship?"

Flash shoved Ned roughly, "Don't get smart with me, Fatso."

The tour guide spoke up at that moment, "Now, we have to go over the rules: keep your passes visible at all times, do not stray from the group, and no bullying. We do not tolerate unpleasant behavior in the Tower and if you break any of these rules, you will be escorted from the building. If you would follow me to the elevator, please." That calmed Flash down a bit; he wasn't going to risk getting kicked out of Stark Tower.

The group filtered into the elevator and it rose without any prompting. "We are heading to the Lower Labs. These labs are mainly occupied by the newer interns, who do simple coding on robotics and work on their own projects. Progression up the internship ladder is achieved by demonstrating personal initiative and ingenuity, so most of the lower level interns spend nearly all of their time on their own projects." Doris paused as the elevator opened. "Now, the interns here have been told you will be coming through so feel free to ask questions and look around. You may end up working here at some point in the future."

Flash raised his hand, "Does SI hire high-school interns?"

Doris thought for a moment then answered, "As far as I know, there is only one, Junior."

Flash was miffed; it couldn't be Parker . . . right?

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Peter greeted the other interns in the Middle Labs as he passed them and joined the group working on a fairly simple (for SI) problem about the arc reactor. They seemed to be trying to decrease the decay rate of the reactor while keeping the energy output the same. Interesting.

"Junior! I am so glad you came. This was on the back burner for about a week now but we really need it done soon. We're trying to decrease the decay rate—"

"—of the reactor while keeping the energy output the same. Right, let's see." Peter examined the board closely, trying to find a point for improvement. He climbed onto a desk and flopped onto his back, tilting his head to look at the board.