Chapter Text
People, who chose to live in the Baxter Building, are usually considered pretty crazy. No matter how incredible it might be to live in the same building as famous superheroes, it has a few very obvious downsides. Constant attacks and routine trips to the shelters in the basement would scare most people off.
Visiting the open space on the bottom floors though, is mostly seen as an innocent activity - the chances of something happening during a few hours stay are very slim - almost as slim as another alien invasion in NYC. And no attack has ever reached the bottom floors. With all the safety measures, it is considered a very normal school field trip - where kids can see rare space artefacts, futuristic technology and discover some fun Fantastic Four facts.
But no field trip is normal for the Midtown High Decathlon team.
Peter’s POV
Currently Peter was hiding behind one of the displays - trying to find a way to run deeper into the hallway unnoticed and put his Spider-man suit on. The octopus-shaped bots were distracted by scanning the other side of the room, so he had some time. The smoke, that still hasn’t fully settled after the explosion, should be enough to cover him from the sight of his classmates - then he can hide in the utility room around the corner and change into his suit. He cursed himself for not accepting Tony’s offer to build him a nano-tech suit - no matter how much more flexible his current one was, nano-tech would be so much more convenient in a situation like this.
He was running towards the hallway, already thinking of how to tell Tony he changed his mind about the suit, when an abnormally large arm pushed him back to the display he was previously hiding behind.
“We will handle this, don’t risk it” - it was Reed, and with the way he was pushing Peter back, it felt like an order. Peter was about to protest when he saw Sue and Ben smashing the last bot.
‘Well, that was quick’ he thought. He glanced around the room, looking for Johnny - but his boyfriend wasn’t there. Sad.
“Thank you for saving us, Mr. Fantastic” he said, looking at Reed again. Well, it was humiliating to act so helpless, but now, as he notices his decathlon team staring at them, he had to act like a scared civilian. Reed looked at him knowingly - “You are welcome” - he was smiling, enjoying Peter’s fake helplessness a little too much.
Mr. Harrington’s POV
Peter Parker will be the death of him.
Don’t get it wrong, the kid is incredibly talented and smart. Harrington has been teaching him for many years and cares deeply about him, just like about the rest of his students. But also there is something very wrong with this child. At first glance Parker’s actions might look like typical teenage rebellion acts - but even the most rebellious kids have basic self preservation skills and at least some sense of danger. Peter Parker has neither of those. Harrington can swear he just saw Parker walking straight TO the direction of the explosion. He absolutely did not want to follow Parker, but he also was the adult here and he would never leave his student in danger. Still, it’s hard to express how relieved he felt when he saw Mr. Fantastic sending Parker back to the group, before he had to go and get him himself.
“Are you hurt?” - Harrington wrapped his arm around Parker’s shoulders. He felt like he needed to protect his student from both a potential new attack and from Parker himself.
“I am okay Mr. Harrington, sorry if I scared you” his student said quietly.
‘He doesn’t even look scared’ thought Harrington, leading Parker back to the rest of his students. Yes, something is very wrong with this child.
His racing thoughts were interrupted by the Invisible Woman herself. Focused on Parker, he didn’t’t even notice her approaching. In his defence, he would never expect her to - the fight was over and no one was hurt - so why a famous superhero would come and talk to a random school group?
“Hello, you are the teacher, aren’t you?” she asked him. His brain stopped working for a second - he was already overwhelmed with the attack and with Parker’s behaviour, and now one of the biggest celebrities directly addressed him.
“Yes, I am” - he finally found the strength to answer. “Thank you for saving the kids.” The kids in question were already slowly shifting closer to them, obviously noticing the superhero from afar. Parker though, being so close to the Invisible Woman, looked completely unbothered by her presence.
“Sure” the Invisible woman simply said, like saving their lives was the simplest task ever. For her it probably was. “There is a little issue though” she added and it got Harrington’s full attention. “There is nothing of much value on these floors so we thought it was very odd that these bots attacked it, instead of the upper floors. So we checked some security footage, as well as some older files - it looks like a similar drone was following your group to the Baxter Building.”
At that, Parker mumbled something to himself.
“Excuse me?” - no matter what exactly the Invisible Woman meant, Harrington was sure it was not good.
“We assume they planned to attack your class, not the building” the superhero explained. “You are a science school, right? We have checked some of your group’s projects - very impressive. They definitely could have caught some unwanted attention.” Harrington didn’t know what to think. Have they been in danger the whole day? What would happen if the drone attacked earlier? If the bots joined while no superheroes were around?
“Why would they attack here? I mean… it is widely known you live in this building… if they wanted us…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, too worried to speak.
“These bots are not very intelligent. Something here triggered their program.” - Suddenly it was Parker talking. “I can’t believe I didn’t sense the drone!” Sense? Why the kid though he could somehow sense a highly technological spy drone? Harrington was about to tell Parker to not interrupt, when the Invisible Woman turned to the kid. When she looked at Parker, her eyes changed to something caring and almost parental. Harrington never thought about this side of superheroes, but of course they all have to know how to deal with scared children. Not that Parker looked even slightly scared.
“It was following you from afar and, as far as we know, it was not equipped with any weapons.” she turned back to Harrington. “We advise you to stay here on the guests’ floor while we investigate” And now Parker did look scared. “Please call the parents to get their permission. I am sorry it got so complicated but it is the safest option we have.”
How was Harrington expected to explain THIS to the parents?
Class’ POV
“That’s the Fantastic Four!”
“Oh my God!”
“They are even cooler in real life!”
“Did you see how the Invisible Woman just blew up that bot? Badass.”
“The Thing smashed that one with one punch!”
“Where are the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic? Would be so cool to see them all together!”
“Mr. Fantastic is there! Looks like Parker ’s in trouble!”
“Wait Parker got to talk to him?”
“The Thing just looked at us!”
“The Invisible Woman is talking to Mr. Harrington! Maybe she will check on us too?”
“Damn.”
Harry was the first one to take the initiative and start slowly moving towards the superhero - if she is talking to their teacher, maybe she won’t mind talking to them too. He was an Osborne after all, how far is it from being a Storm-Richards? Pretty far, he admitted to himself. But she still probably knows his father. Harry doubted she likes him though. Flash and Jason started following him right away, with the rest of their small group behind. Miles and Gwen looked at each other, being fully aware how stupid they all looked - slowly shifting their position closer to the famous woman, their teacher and… Parker… Lucky guy.
“Is Parker talking to the Invisible Woman?” Flash sounded angry, but his true emotion was obvious to everyone. “He can’t even put two words together when presenting basic shit in front of the class - no way he can handle taking to a superstar!”
“Then let’s go and join?” Abe suggested, not sounding confident at all. Cindy sent him an unimpressed look.
The moment Mary Jane grabbed Gwen’s hand to drag her to the front and finally approach the superhero, Mr. Harrington turned to face them. He looked mortified. And so did Parker. And so did they all, probably - they had no idea why they were scared, but the look on their teacher’s face was enough to know that something was not right.
Mr. Harrington took his phone out and stared at it for a moment - then came closer to the group. The Invisible Woman has gone to the lift on the other side of the huge room, but didn’t go inside, probably waiting for someone. Did Parker just run after her? Are they having a very animated conversation?
“We will have to go to the upper floors and stay there for a little” - when Mr. Harrington finally spoke, it didn’t really make any sense. “The Fantastic Four will explain everything to you when we are there” - at that, their fear was pushed aside by excitement - so they WILL have a chance to chat with the Fantastic Four! Maybe it was their way to apologise for the interrupted tour? Or simply a way to calm down traumatised civilians?