The Avengers Academy (ON HIATUS)

Toughen Up, Buttercup

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Peter's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shuri and I are listening to Mr. Stark talk about the internship as Mr. Bruce passes out papers.

"You will officially begin tomorrow at 8:00. When you arrive in the morning you will come in here and check in, then you will receive your room assignments, and you will be able to get breakfast, which will be in the cafeteria on the second---"

A loud noise causes me to turn my head. I see the bully from earlier in a heated discussion with Mr. Bruce. I shake my head and turn back to Mr. Stark.

"....breakfast, lunch and dinner will be served in the cafeteria, unless otherwise stated. Now, as soon as my colleague Bruce is done passing out papers, we will go on a to--"

I turn and see the bully from earlier shouting at Mr. Bruce. He is so loud, I can hear part of his conversation.

"....poor 'innocent school boy' as your girlfriend said. And my name isn't Felix!"
The kid runs out the room.

I glance at Mr. Bruce. He looks worn out and worried. He continues passing out papers for five more minutes, then puts the stack of papers down on a table and leaves. I make a mental note to check on him later.

I turn back to the front of the room to see Mr. Steve coming to finish passing out the papers and Mr. Stark at the podium again.

"Ahem. As I was saying, we are about to--"

The crowd is still talking and they can't hear Mr. Stark, so I stand up.

"HEY!"

Everyone turns to look at me.

"I believe Mr. Stark was trying to get your attention."

Mr. Stark nods at me, grateful. "Thank you, Mr. Parker. Now, as I was saying, we are about to go on a tour of the tower, and we will pass the sleeping quarters that you will be assigned when you arrive tomorrow morning. Everyone, will you please follow Mr. Steve Rogers, and he will begin the tour. As soon as the tour is over, we will come back here, and your parents will come pick you up. Remember, what time are you to be here tomorrow morning?"

"Way too early in the morning, that's what time." One kid mutters.

"I'm sorry, what was that? You want to be kicked out before we even begin? Well, go ahead, get your extra sleep. But when you see one of the other people in this room become a famous scientist or do something important with their life just remember, that could've been you, but instead you decided to get a few more hours of sleep."

The kid stares in shock, then rolls his eyes.

"Okay, geez. Lighten up, dude. You'd think a superhero has a sense of humor."

"What time do you all have to be here tomorrow morning?" He repeats the question, ignoring the kid.

"8:00," most of the kids mumble.

"Good, now that we have that settled, on to the tour. Please follow Steve and stay with the group."

"O......Kay. So, what do you want to do?" Shuri asks me.

"What do you mean? We're going on a tour, like Mr. Stark said."

She looks at me, a doubtful look on her face.
"How many times have you been here?"

I shrug. "I don't know. A lot, I guess. I know this place like the back of my hand."

"See? So, why are we going on this tour? We can do so many more things. How long will the tour take?"

"Um, probably an hour if he shows them the whole facility."

"Okay, so we have an hour to kill. Hmm, what should we do?"