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“I’m sorry Mr. Stark, but I’m going to have to politely decline your offer for an Avengers membership. I am starting to see my real impact out there on those little guys and now that I have some experience I think I understand what I need to do before I become an Avenger.” Peter says proudly. He may have been seriously injured in the recent battle with Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, but he learned what he needed to learn from that fight. Maybe Avenger level problems are not right for him right now and he is doing incredibly well helping out all the people in his home burrow of Queens, New York. He absolutely loves the people he gets to help and he just can’t see himself doing that as an Avenger.
“Kid,” Stark said “Although that was definitely not the response I thought I’d get, I am very glad you made it. Soon you’ll be up here on the big leagues but for now stay on the ground and help those little guys. You’re doing a lot of great stuff out there, I am proud of you. Keep up the good work Spider-Man.” and with that Tony went into the room to figure out some other news to keep the reporters at bay. “On second thought, come with me anyways, we may not be able to introduce the world to a new Avenger today, but we sure can introduce them to Peter Parker, my intern and the best intern I’ve had in a long time.” With that Peter caught up to Tony and entered the room filled with news outlets.
“Today, more and more teenagers are turning out to be prodigies waiting to have their full potential realized. Waiting for the opportunities and recognition they will never receive. I, fortunately, had the resources and the backing of my father’s company in order to show my brilliance but there are kids out there that are much smarter than even I. Take Princess Shuri, for example, she is leading the Wakandan outreach in scientific advancements in the most advanced country in the world. She has the resources to back her up, thanks to her royal blood, however there are kids out there just like her, across every country in the globe. I would like to announce Stark Industry’s Outreach Program. This is much like Wakanda’s outreach program but it has a much different goal: to give the next generation of geniuses a shot at making an impact on the world. This program will be all over the world managed by all the Stark Industry centers on the globe. This program will not be biased on race, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, wealth, or any other ‘determinations’ now seen in modern society. Luckily for me, I found my own high school genius, who I dare say is much smarter than me, to lead this new program. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to introduce to you my former personal assistant, teenage prodigy, and new head of this program, Peter Parker!” with that Tony gestured towards Peter whose face just relayed total shock and astonishment to this praise and new position at SI. He walked up to the stand shaking Tony’s hand, probably a lot longer than normal. Trying to get all his nerves down and the sudden realization of this news processed, Peter tapped his feet nervously behind the podium.
“Hey guys and gals, as you heard my name is Peter Parker and I am actually a Sophomore at Midtown Science and Technology High School in Queens. I am just as shocked as all of you actually at this news because, like to his personality, Tony was very spontaneous with this news and I had no idea until today that I was getting this position.” This got a laugh from the audience who knew of Tony’s reputation and putting people in awkward positions just to see how they react. However Peter held strong, “Although I did not know I would be getting this position, I am very dedicated to this idea and I know about the premise of it. I grew up in a poor family, my aunt and uncle barely able to send me to middle school until I got a scholarship, at the end of my eighth grade year, to Midtown. It was here where I am really shining taking all AP classes both my freshmen and sophomore years and I am on course to even graduate early if I want to. This program will bring light to all the amazing teens we have in the world and will progress our technology faster than ever before. Parents do not worry, this will have no effect on school, clubs, or sports. We will be working with each individual who is accepted to find time in their, already busy schedules. Unfortunately the process will not be ready for a couple years but I am extremely excited to get the opportunity to lead SI’s new outreach program. At this point I will be answering questions pertaining to this program only. Yes, you, front row in the black suit.”
“Eddie Brock, Daily Bugle. I think we all see the similarities between this organization and the one of Wakanda so how are you going to compete with a program such as Princess Shuri’s?”
“Well, I don’t be expecting to compete with Princess Shuri, per se, I actually have ideas about open cooperation between both programs to get the best people in each program and interchange between the two. I am extremely excited to work with her on that, if she wants to. Um, you, over there with the blue hat.”
“Sally Floyd, The Alternative. Well Mr. Parker, on behalf of all of us it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. How are you hoping to reach all these kids across the globe and select them for this very prestigious honor?”
“Well Ms. Floyd, the perfect scenario would be to give everyone the program but that is just simply not possible for anyone to maintain. I would like to start at distinguished high schools across each country and see who gets the highest scores, and the most recognition among peers about their teamwork. These few will be chosen for our first rounds of our internships at these various locations but I would like to develop a way to reach all the teenagers that might not even be in high school. It will take cooperation from many people in the end and some people will not get the honor when they truly deserve it but this is a start. I have already found some people including five students from New York, three from California, three from Florida, two from Texas, two from Colorado, two from Minnesota, one from Nebraska, one from New Jersey, one from Hawaii and another one from Washington D.C. These will be some of the first interns at our new facilities in the cities of New York, Los Angeles, and Denver. Each of these first centers have been built purely based on location access and will be the best and most advanced in the country. Some of the first students will have to travel out of their respective states to begin with but we plan to have a center in each state in five to ten years. Thank you all for your time but that’s all the questions I can answer today, I may have some homework to do.” With that the crowd laughed again and applauded the new official at SI. ‘Wow,’ Peter thought, ‘So much for staying low and out of the public eye.’
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After his first day handling media Peter needed a break and decided it was best to just have Happy drive him home early and go over logistics with Mr. Stark tomorrow. Once in the car his phone blowed up with notifications from his peers at school, he didn’t think of them as friends because none of them made an effort unlike Ned and Michelle. Every text was a congratulations on the new position or an apology of not believing him but he never got anything from Flash. ‘Great, I can’t wait to get my ass kicked tomorrow by Flash’ he thought to himself but he was soon lost in the euphoria of having an actual position in Stark Industry. He can now see himself impacting the world as Peter Parker, not just Spider-Man. Peter talked for hours over Skype with Ned and Michelle over the details of the new program and let them in the dark on a couple of secrets he has in store for them.
After the call with Ned and Michelle, Peter was about to shut down his computer until he got another Skype message from Princess Shuri. Even though Peter was not on the Avengers he got her contact through Tony so they had been talking for months before the outreach program announcement and he only saw it increasing after the announcement because of the buisness they will do together. Overall Shuri was on board with her “favorite colonizer’s” plans to work together in order to impact kids but she could not share some of the information with Peter because of the classified areas of her work. “Can’t give away classified government information, now can we?” she said, “However, you can have access to the vibranium we are allotted every year for your company. Since SI has so many branches in the world you have a lot more vibranium than companies based solely in the U.S. Peter, I am very excited to start this partnership, we will change the world.” With that Peter hung up because it was starting to get really late, the time difference between Wakanda and New York really strained the possible times for them to talk but they made it work.
Finishing his homework and all the work needed to transition from his small time internship to the head of this new program, Peter turned to his alarm clock to see the time reading 1:43. ‘Well, that rules out my nightly exercise. I’ll have to catch up on it later in the week but I think I am going to have my hands full between SI and preparing for semester one finals.’ he thought to himself as he fell asleep excited but also nervous about tomorrow and what that entails.
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While Peter fell asleep, somewhere in the Atlantic, Attuma the Barbarian was meeting with a figure shrouded in the shadows. “What brings you to my kingdom, surface dweller? Leave this area immediately or face judgement!” He shouted out to the intruder while his guards surrounded them. “Oh Attuma, you have no reason to shout at me, I am here solely for a buisness proposal.” Said the man as four other metal appendages appeared carrying what seemed to be a file labeled classified, “I am sent here on behalf of my boss who wishes for you to join a team created solely to destroy Earth’s, so called, mightiest heroes, the Avengers. Are you in? You will be paid a handsome price for your services.”
Attuma simply responds, “Yes. I’m in, only if we take out a personal problem of mine along with them.” with the mysterious man responding, “Of course, we wouldn’t want any other heroes getting in the way of our goal anyways. Welcome to the Legion, Attuma.”