Archive of Our Own

Peter Parker had had a long Monday. Between doing miserably on his Spanish quiz at first period, to putting up with Flash’s stupid comments all through lunch and fifth period, all Peter wanted to do was go home and curl up on the couch with Tony to watch Star Wars, preferably Empire Strikes Back. But the universe, in all its cruel fashion, wouldn’t let him off that easily.

After the final bell rang, he trailed slowly behind Ned and MJ into the main hall for their Academic Decathlon practice session. The majority of the group was already there (including Flash unfortunately) and were staring intently towards Mr Harrington, who looked beside himself with excitement.

‘Ah, there you guys are!’ He beckoned the trio to quickly sit down, ‘I wanted to wait until everyone was here to give you this huge announcement!’

Peter lowered himself into a chair beside Ned and rested his head in his hands. Whatever this announcement was, it probably would wind up causing some kind of issue for him.

‘We have been given the very special opportunity to go on the field trip of a lifetime next Monday.’ Mr Harrington said, grinning.

‘Please don’t be Oscorp again’ Peter muttered to himself, but he heard MJ chuckle slightly. ‘Oscorp was the best!’ She whispered back mockingly.

‘Let me hear you drum-roll…’ Mr Harrington said, drumming his fingers in the desk in front of him. The rest of the AcaDec swiftly joined in, mostly to get Mr Harrington to hurry up and reveal where it was they’re going.

‘Just say it, sir!’ Betty called out, after a solid thirty seconds of drumming.

‘Okay, okay, sorry guys. We’re going to… STARK INDUSTRIES!’

The room erupted in cheers that echoed off the walls. Even Ned bounced out of his seat, pumping his fist in the air. Peter slid lower into his seat, a nervous feeling settling in his stomach. He never had any good luck with field trips, and one to his own home? Definitely won’t end well.

Mr Harrington called the group to line up where he was standing to grab a permission slip (‘Get it signed by Friday, please!’) at which point Ned practically pulled Peter to his feet and shoved him forwards. Unluckily for him, again, he stumbled over his feet, and tumbled straight into the person in front of him. Flash.

’Hey Penis, watch where you’re going’ he snarled, before quickly grinning down at Peter, who was still sitting stupidly on the floor. ‘I can’t believe we’re going to the Stark Industries, can you? I guess we all finally get to see just how real your internship actually is.’ Flash turned and walked away, laughing with his friends.

Peter slowly picked himself off the floor, and turned to grab a permission slip from Mr Harrington, who was looking at him with an odd expression.

‘Peter.’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘You’re not in trouble or anything but I need you to understand. You know this is a really good opportunity for our school, I don’t want to hear anything about your little internship while we’re there. It’ll just embarrass not only you, but the rest of the team if anyone overhears.’

‘But sir, it is real. The school has been sent over all the proper paperwork-’

‘I don’t want to hear it Peter, go and sit back down please.’

He sighed, spun round on his heel, and walked back over to where Ned and MJ were sitting. Dropping into his chair, he grabbed his bag and stuffed the slip into the bottom, where he hopefully would forget about it.

‘What was Harrington talking to you about?’ Ned whispered, as Mr Harrington began their AcaDec practise session.

‘Just the usual I guess. He, like everyone, doesn’t think my internship is real’

‘Not real? Peter you literally live at the tower.’

‘Apparently that’s not the truth to good old Roger over there’ Peter glanced at Mr Harrington, who was (for some odd reason) running back and forth, waving the stack of question cards in the air.

The next forty-five minutes seemed to crawl by but, as everything does, it finally came to an end. Peter wasted no time in grabbing his backpack and shooting out the hall, practically breaking into a run to get out of school. Happy was already waiting in Tony’s sleek, black Audi at the front gates, and gave no reaction to Peter tumbling into the backseat.

‘How was school, kid?’ He asked, glancing at Peter in the rear-view mirror, who was laid at an angle only Peter would be able to find comfy, eyes closed.

‘Fine’ Peter answered shortly. Truthfully, he had a terrible headache, and couldn’t stop thinking about the upcoming field trip.

Happy seemed to sense this, and didn’t push further, letting Peter enjoy some quiet as they cruised through the streets.

—————————————

Before he knew it, they were pulling up to the tower. On any other day, Peter would gaze upwards at its massive stature and huge windows, but today he wished for nothing more but to go and lay down, sparing little thought to his impressive home. Peter still sometimes couldn’t believe he actually lived with Tony and Pepper, but after losing track of time in the lab one too many times and getting home past midnight, Pepper, Tony and May decided it was for the best if Peter lived at the tower through the week, and stayed with May every weekend.

Peter waved goodbye to Happy in the lobby, and stepped into an elevator. ‘Hey Fri? Take me upstairs to home, please.’

‘Of course Peter, would you like me to alert Boss you’re back?’ The AI replied.

‘No thanks, Fri. I’ll be able to find him’

The elevator flew up eighty levels, and in a matter of seconds, the doors slid open, revealing the giant living room. Tony and Pepper were sitting together on one of the couches, deep in conversation before Peter threw his bag onto a chair and slid in between them.

‘Hey guys, what are you talking about?’

‘Well you’re nosy, aren’t you? I was telling Pep about the intern projects I started reviewing last week.’ Tony replied with a smile.

‘Oh cool! I love looking at their projects. Anything good yet?’ Peter asked, laying his head on Tony’s chest.

‘Actually, yeah. I inspected this guys work last Friday-’

‘Don’t be rude, Tony.’ Pepper added, ‘“That guy” has a name.’

‘Right, sorry. I think his name was Ryan or something, his project was pretty crazy. It's the first-year interns I’m reviewing, so their projects are more focused on how they can help society, not what high tech stuff they can actually build. Anyway, this Ryan guy comes in and his project is about controlling dangerous-sized crowds, like protests.’

‘That doesn’t sound that interesting’ Peter adds in, raising his eyebrows at Tony.

‘Relax Underoos, I’m getting there. He shows me this speaker-thing and earbuds he made and is all like “The remote emits a certain frequency to cause discomfort in large crowds, yet the user can put these earbuds in to block it out. This means police and first responders can take control of dangerous situations” So I ask him “Can’t it be painful if used incorrectly or in the hands of someone with bad intentions?” And he got all red and awkward, kinda like you do, and said “It still does the job” which I hope was meant to be a joke so I did kinda laugh at him, but before I could check he was joking he just grabbed his project and basically ran out of the door.’

‘What Tony is trying to say is that he laughed at the poor kid’s idea and scared him off’ Pepper said, flashing a grin at Peter before standing up and heading into the kitchen.

‘Rude.’ Tony replied, twisting to face Peter properly. ‘How was school then, kid?’

‘Terrible! I totally failed my Spanish quiz, and I have to go on this stupid field trip with my AcaDec team.’

‘Well it can’t be that bad. Where is it to?’

‘Here.’ Peter replied bluntly, burying his face into Tony’s chest.

‘Okay, you have to admit that’s a little funny, Underoos. But before you go blaming me, I had no idea that was happening.’

‘Not helping’ Came Peter’s muffled reply.

‘Let me guess what would help then. A nice rewatch of your fave, Empire Strikes Back?’

That got Peter’s attention. He practically jumped off the sofa to grab his and Tony’s favourite snacks, calling out to Friday to get the movie in place. Maybe, Peter thought as the opening credits rolled and Tony wrapped Peter in a hug, the universe was feeling a little nicer to him.

—————————————

Nope, the universe was back to hating him. Or it was just classic Parker luck. Either way, Peter found himself sat on the school bus, waiting to set off to the tower. The nervous feeling in his stomach was back, but he tried to ignore it by focusing his attention towards Mr Harrington, who was standing at the front of the bus. He was giving some kind of speech about “good behaviour” and the “reputation of the school”, but Peter just couldn’t seem to listen. His mind kept wandering to every bad situation this field trip was going to cause, which only made his nerves worsen.

His worry must’ve shown on his face, because Mr Harrington kept his eye on him the whole time he spoke. This was picked up by Flash, who spun round, whispering, “‘Looking nervous there, Penis. Realising you’re about to get caught soon?’

Peter, feeling too terrible to answer, was just going to ignore him, before MJ leaned over, glaring at Flash.

‘Do you have a crush on Peter or something? You seem to be pretty obsessed with him.’

‘What?! No way, shut up Michelle.’ Flash spluttered, before quickly turning back around.

‘Thanks.’ Peter managed to say, but MJ just shrugged and went back to her sketchbook.

Twenty minutes later, the bus pulled into the Stark Industries car park. A ripple of excitement washed over the AcaDec team, Mr Harrington too. Peter’s nerves began to worsen. Whatever was in store for him today wasn’t looking like it was going to be anything good.

The AcaDec team filed off the bus, huddling together in a group a few feet from the entrance. No one could hide the awe they felt from the presence of the tower, even Ned, who poked Peter in the arm, saying, ‘I can’t believe we’re actually here!’

‘Dude, you've been here loads before. Why are you so excited?’

‘It doesn’t feel real every time, man. And I guess I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s faces when they see your internship is real.’ Ned replied quickly. ‘Do you think Mr Stark is going to come see us? He could tell everyone it’s real.’

Peter let his mind wander as Ned kept talking. However, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by Mr Harrington who was waving his hand in the air.

‘Everyone look at me please! Now, I know we’re all very excited to be here, but there are some rules I have to go over before we get inside. No running off, touching anything or disrupting the workers please, only ask questions to people who are involved in our tour. Please listen carefully to our tour guide, and do everything they say. Right, let’s get inside!’

The team headed through the giant glass doors into the lobby of the tower, where they were met by a burly guy carrying an iPad.

‘Hello everyone! You’re the tour from Midtown, right? My name’s Ryan and I’m going to be your tour guide today.’

Peter, who was standing at the back of the group, stared over at the guide. Since living at the tower, he got to know quite a few of the workers of Stark Industries, but he didn’t seem to recognise this one. Probably for the better, he thought, less chance of embarrassment. The name was ringing a bell in the back of his mind, but Peter was feeling too awkward to care.

‘I’ve been an intern here for about a year now, and it’s been great. You should all definitely put applications in, because who knows? Maybe you could get a spot! Anyway, I’m getting side tracked.’ Ryan said with a laugh. ‘ I need to give you all a visitor pass each, the head of security is pretty obsessed with everyone wearing one. I’ll come round with them now, they’ve all got your names on.’

He made his way round the group, handing everyone their passes. Thankfully, the AcaDec team were too busy marvelling round at their surroundings and badges to notice Peter didn’t actually get one, but the tour guide gave him an odd look as he handed Ned and MJ theirs.

‘I’m an intern here, so I’ve already got one.’ Peter said, as Ryan looked at him.

‘Yeah, I thought I recognised you. You work with Mr Stark a lot right? Pretty cool.’ Ryan walked off, leaving Peter more confused. Usually the interns, especially newer ones like this guy, didn’t know him much since he worked in the labs on the higher floors. Peter shrugged it off though, turning his attention to his friends, who were clipping their badges to their shirts.

‘Okay then guys’ Ryan called out, ‘I’m going to take you through security, then we’ll get started with our tour.’

He led the class towards the back of the lobby, where a metal detector and body scanner stood.

‘Just put your bags in the trays and walk through the scanners, please.’

Flash pushed his way to the front of the group, clearly wanting to look important. He threw his bag onto the conveyor and waltzed through the scanner.

‘Eugene Thompson - level one clearance.’ FRIDAY announced.

‘Woah, what was that?’ Flash asked, staring wildly up into the ceiling.

‘Oh, that’s Mr Stark’s AI he created. For safety reasons it calls out the status of anyone going through the scanners.’

The class murmured in surprise, impressed at the high tech of the tower. Peter shuffled awkwardly. He usually entered the tower and could head straight to the elevators since all the security knew him, meaning he had absolutely no idea what FRIDAY was going to call out for him.

The rest of the class made it through the scanner with no issue, until it was just Peter left on the other side. He could see Flash watching him, waiting to see what was going to happen. Mr Harrington looked at him with annoyance, telling Peter with his eyes to hurry up.

His insides were twisting in knots, but all he could do was walk through the scanner, head hung down.

‘Peter Parker - level ten clearance. Hello Peter, would you like me to tell Boss you’ve arrived?’

Peter felt the blood rush to his face, ears burning. ‘No thanks, Fri. I’m on a field trip.’ He replied in a low voice. He quickly grabbed his bag and walked over to Ned and MJ, trying to avoid the piercing stares of his teammates. Thankfully, Ryan took the silence as an opportunity to get them into the elevator to start the tour.

As they headed upwards, Flash pushed his way over to Peter.

‘How’d you do that then, did you hack the tower’s system, or something?’ He huffed.

‘Or maybe I just work here, like I’ve been telling you.’ Peter replied bluntly. He just wasn’t in the mood today to put up with whatever rubbish Flash had to say.

Before Flash could reply, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. They were met with a short corridor with a set of double doors at the end. The group huddled into the corridor, looking expectantly at their tour guide.

‘This is the twenty-fifth floor, where some of the intern labs are. It’s the best place to start a tour. Before we go look around, has anyone got any questions?’

A couple people threw their hands into the air. ‘Yes?’ Ryan asked, pointing at Abe.

‘What are all the clearance levels?’

‘Well, it’s a system used for access to areas throughout the tower. Levels one to three are for different kinds of visitors, so they get access to anywhere their guide goes. Levels four to seven are for interns and workers, who need access to labs and such. Level eight is for heads of department, level nine is the avengers, and level ten is for certain people of Mr Stark’s choosing, who get access everywhere.’

‘So why is Peter level ten?’ Cindy asked, unhelpfully throwing attention back onto him.

‘I’m Mr Stark’s personal intern.’ Peter muttered. It was the best cover story he and Tony could think of, when Peter started spending more and more time up in the personal labs.

Mr Harrington shot him an unimpressed look, but didn’t say anything. Ryan quickly moved the focus on, answering a question about his internship.

‘So for the first few months you shadow workers in different areas, then you start working in groups in the lower labs. When it comes to the end of the year, you have to do a display of company knowledge, usually through giving a tour like this one, and doing a personal project.’ At the mention of this final part, a flash of annoyance only Peter seemed to notice shot over his face. ‘But if that’s all for questions, I’d like to get us inside the labs!’

They spent about an hour walking around the labs, asking different interns about the courses they study, and what they were working on. Even Peter decided to join in a little, asking some of the interns about their personal projects and presentations to Tony. It was nice to hear about the projects from the interns themselves, and not Tony’s watered down versions for once.

Ryan took a step back as they quizzed the interns, again seeming a little annoyed. He was messing with some small device in his hands, but Peter couldn’t get a proper look on what it was. Looking at him gave Peter an unsettled feeling, but he put it down to nerves from the field trip. One of the interns approached Ryan and gave him a nudge as the class moved onto the next section, offering an encouraging smile which Ryan completely ignored, that same look of annoyance flickering on his face.

They finished up the hour by having a look at some of the bigger machines in the labs, and how they were used, before Ryan led them into a smaller room. It was decorated similarly to the rest of the lab, but with no machinery.

‘So guys, we’ve got about an hour before lunch, so I’d like you to get into groups of three or four and grab one of these boxes from the front here. There’s some parts inside so we can do this as a little competition. The team to build the most useful robot or item can win something from the gift shop! Have fun!’

Naturally, Peter joined up with Ned and MJ. They huddled round the box and pulled out different pieces of metal and wiring. After a few minutes of discussion, the trio decided on building a miniature robot which could organise different objects based on a criteria it’s told. They chose different roles for the hour - MJ on design, Peter on building and Ned on the coding.

Before they knew it, the hour they had was over, and Ryan was calling out for everyone to put their tools down. Everyone took turns in their groups, showing off their projects and sharing their ideas. Luckily for Peter’s amusement, Flash and his friends had attempted to build a mini Iron Man, which fell apart after being turned on. He probably laughed a little too loud though, as Flash shot him a dirty look as he scooped up the remaining parts of his robot from the front of the room.

His, Ned and MJ’s quick presentation went as well as it could have. Their robot did its job (without falling apart) and was easily crowned the winner of the competition.

‘I wonder what stuff we can get from the gift shop!’ Ned said, as they sat back down.

‘Ned, Mr Stark will give you anything you want from the gift shop - for free.’

‘Yeah, but it’s nice knowing we beat everyone else for it.’ MJ added with a pointed look over in Flash's direction. He was whispering angrily at his friends and gesturing at the broken robot on their desk. That gave Peter something to smile at. Maybe this field trip wasn’t going to be as bad as he thought.

‘Okay guys, now that we’re done here, I’ll take you all down to the cafeteria.’ Ryan declared over the chatter of the AcaDec team. He stood up and led them out towards the elevator, where everyone piled in. The elevator flew down ten or so flights of stairs, before the doors opened to reveal a giant room, lined with windows to the ceiling.

The class rushed out into the cafeteria, taking in the different restaurants and food stalls that lined the walls. Each spot sold different types of food from all over the world, helping the room smell amazing.

Peter told MJ and Ned to follow him, leading them towards his favourite Thai stall. Every time he came down to the tower’s cafeteria, he would always make sure to stock up on pad thai, green curry, and any specials that were being made that day.

‘Hi Mrs Malai! How are you?’ Peter addressed the stall’s owner.

‘Peter, good to see you. Would you like the usual?’ She replied, winking at him.

‘Yes please, that would be amazing. Could you throw in some extra for my friends too?’

‘Anything for you, Peter. You’re my favourite customer, after all.’

A few minutes later, they left the stall, arms full of different snacks and meals. They began to make their way to one of the empty tables tucked in the corner of the food hall, but were stopped by Flash and his friends.

‘I heard you speaking to that lady. Have you really paid the workers so they pretend to know you? It’s pathetic really, Parker.’ Flash spat, red flushing his cheeks. He hadn’t taken well to his robot falling apart in the competition, and seemed to have decided to take it out on Peter.

‘Flash, will you leave us alone? I’m really not in the mood for whatever you’ve got to say.’ Peter replied with a sigh, before pushing round him and walking away.

As they sat down at the table, Peter spotted Mr Harrington staring at him a couple tables over. When he’d caught Peter’s eye, he waved his hand, beckoning him over.

With a sigh, Peter stood up. ‘One sec guys, I’ll be back.’

‘Peter’ Mr Harrington said, as Peter reached him.

‘Yes, sir?’

‘I just want to remind you of our conversation from school, before you make a little scene with Eugene. I will speak to him about this too, but I want you to be a bit more mindful. Remember, we are guests here.’

Well that’s ironic, Peter thought to himself. But he didn’t voice this. He only nodded and walked back over to Ned and MJ, dropping himself unceremoniously into the chair.

‘I don’t think he’ll ever drop the “fake internship” thing. What can I do for him to believe me?’ Peter sighed, covering his face with his hands.

Ned clapped a hand to his shoulder. ‘What does it matter if no one believes you? You’re the one who lives with Tony Stark. That’s cooler than anyone here will ever be, man.’

‘Thanks, Ned.’

—————————————

Thankfully, the rest of lunch passed without incident. The AcaDec team regrouped by the elevators, and stepped inside with Ryan. A faint flash of warning blared from Peter’s spider-sense, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. They were on the final part of the trip now, what could be so bad?

The elevator shot upwards around thirty flights before coming to rest at the forty-second floor. This made Peter freeze. Floors forty to forty-five weren’t in use due to redecorating to make them into new labs. This didn’t seem to concern their tour guide, as the doors opened into a darkened room. Ryan stepped out of the elevator, beckoning the class to follow him.

As the team stood in the room, apprehension grew. Mr Harrington was the first to speak up, timidly asking, ‘So, uh, where are we now?’

Ryan ignored him, seemingly more interested in something on his iPad. That “something” became pretty clear when, after a few taps, large, metal shutters slammed down over the windows and elevator door, plunging the room into momentary pitch black.

Silence fell over the class. Shortly after, bright white lights flickered overhead, bringing sight back to the group. A quick look around the room told them that this probably wasn’t a genuine part of the tour.

The room was deserted except for a few broken versions of the machines they saw in the labs downstairs, and some large cardboard boxes. The ceiling was a lot higher than any of the other floors they’d been on. Ryan didn’t seem concerned by this turn of events, however, as he crossed the room and opened one of these boxes, pulling out a camera and tripod.

The AcaDec team watched curiously as he set up the camera, pointing it towards where they stood in the centre of the room and turned it on. Again, Mr Harrington was the first to find his voice, asking (with a bit more confidence this time), ‘Sorry, what’s going on here?’

Ryan straightened up, turning to face the group, a wide smile cracking across his face.

‘Apologies, guys, I should have mentioned. Your tour is getting cut short for a bit of a… personal thing I’ve got going on.’ He turned to address the camera.

‘Ryan Bennett intern project - test one.’

Something clicked in Peter’s mind. This is why he recognised their tour guide’s name. Ryan was the intern Tony told him about. The one whose project was bad news. And by the looks of it, they were about to get a first hand experience of how it worked.

He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it earlier. The annoyance Ryan showed at the mention of the projects and how fast he moved conversation on from it. Even his spider-sense had noticed something was wrong with this guy. But there was no time to overthink now, as Ryan pulled out the little device Peter had seen him holding earlier.

Peter could feel his heart rate picking up speed, and his spider-sense tingling at the base of his neck. He glanced around nervously. The AcaDec team were staring fearfully at Ryan, not daring to move. Peter looked round at the elevator, and the shutter it was covered with. There was no way he could get that open without physically pulling it open, which would expose him as Spider-man immediately.

He turned back to Ryan, who had stuffed a pair of black earphones into his ears. He was speaking to the camera again.

‘This video is a lesson for Tony Stark, who didn’t believe my project was anything more than a joke. You know what I think is a joke Tony? The fact that your personal intern is a boring, little highschooler. I chose him and his class to make my test more interesting, but the kid hasn’t done anything out of the ordinary. I don’t know what you see in him.’

‘Ouch,’ Peter muttered under his breath.

‘But I’m getting sidetracked. Here’s my demonstration for my project, as you didn’t let me finish the first time round.’

He flipped a few switches on his remote and it began to light up, flashing red. Ryan smiled to himself, before pointing the end of the remote with the speaker on it towards the AcaDec team, who eyed him warily.

Peter’s heart jumped into his throat in anticipation. He had an idea of what was coming and it wasn’t looking good.

Ryan pushed his thumb onto the largest button on the remote.

Pain. Pain. Pain.

It felt like his eardrums were bursting. Peter pressed his palms over his ears and hunched over, but it made no difference. It felt like the piercing noise of the remote was splitting his skull into two. His eyes swam with agony and his stomach felt sick.

As quickly as it started, it was over. He collapsed to the floor, gasping. He could vaguely make out the rest of the team around him, some were crying while others sat blankly on the floor, hands still around their heads.

Peter pushed past the pounding headache that had started to look up at Ryan, who seemed unfazed. He’d turned back round and was again speaking to the camera.

‘So Tony, I think that worked pretty well, wouldn’t you? Think how easy it’d be for police to arrest whoever they need, when suspects are in this state. Well, if you still can’t see this is a good idea, I think I’ll give you another example.’

Ryan spun back round to address the class. ‘How was that then guys? I’d love to hear your feedback,’ He mocked.

Peter was trying to focus, and pull himself together, when MJ grabbed him by the arm and twisted him to face her. ‘Peter. You have to do something,’ she whispered, her eyes staring deep into him.

‘But what? He’s not just going to give up that remote if I ask nicely, is he?’

Still hunched over, Peter pulled out his phone, intending to message Tony and get his help. However it was useless, as the shutters or that horrible sound (Peter didn’t care for which it was at the moment) was blocking him from having any signal. Great. He’d have to solve this by himself.

Peter weighed up his options. He could pull out his web shooters, and try to fight this guy hand to hand, but that’d mean revealing his identity to his whole class. Or, he could wait it out for someone else to come save them, but that meant leaving his class subject to Ryan’s torture device for god knows how long.

Before he could come to a decision, Ryan had pointed the speaker at the class again, jamming his finger into the button.

A couple people screamed, hands quickly covering their ears again. It was no use though, as the sound drowned out any thoughts in their heads. Peter grinded his teeth together and leant forward, hiding his face in the ground. He couldn’t think straight while the ringing sound bounced between his ears and around his brain.

As quickly as it started, the noise again came to a stop. Peter glanced up and let his eyes sweep across his classmates. Fear was etched into every one of their faces, and a sense of hopelessness hung in the air.

His eyes fell back onto MJ, and Ned beside her. The worry and pain he could see them suffering stuck deep within him, and Peter knew what he had to do.

He swung his backpack off his back, and pulled out his web shooters which were flashing red. Odd. But Peter didn’t let himself worry about that as he clipped them onto his wrists and stood up.

‘Peter, what are you doing?’ Mr Harrington hissed through his teeth.

Peter ignored him, instead putting his focus on Ryan, who was looking at him strangely.

‘Oh Peter, I know your Stark’s little intern. But even he can’t save you now.’ he said with a chuckle. ‘I’ve got this whole room blocked and on lockdown, I doubt he even knows that something's happening down here.’

Not saying anything, Peter outstretched his arm, ready to fire a web and snatch the device from him. However, when he pressed the web shooters, they fired completely off course, hitting the wall about a foot away from Ryan.

Peter’s heart dropped out of his chest, and he quickly glanced at the shooters, which were still flashing red. The frequency must be messing with my tech, he thought. His web shooters being rendered useless, he stared back at Ryan, sizing him up. He noticed it earlier slightly, but man this guy was massive.

Before Peter had the chance to do anything, however, a collection of gasps snapped him out of his thoughts.

‘Peter… is Spider-Man?’ Flash whispered, not quietly at all. ‘No, no, no way..’ he continued to mutter, hands still cupped around his head.

If it wasn’t for the pressing sense of danger in front of Peter, he would have taken the chance to enjoy Flash’s slight mental breakdown at his hero and nemesis being the same person. But his spider sense tingled around the base of his neck, and he snapped his attention back to Ryan.

He sprinted towards Ryan, ducking out of the way of a punch that swung across where his head just was, and spun so he was standing behind him. He aimed a punch towards Ryan’s right arm to get him to drop the device, but Ryan pressed the button again, disorienting Peter who’s fist made contact only with air.

Ryan turned to face Peter, who was blinking harshly, trying to focus over the agony in his head, and sent a punch straight into his jaw. Peter stumbled away, falling to his knees. The combined force of the hit and the sound seemed to have emptied his brain of any cognitive thought, and all he could do was stare blankly at Ryan, who laughed.

‘Well, Spider-Man, that was pathetic, wasn’t it? Why don’t you sit back down with the rest of your class, and be a good little intern, like Tony thinks you are.’

He turned the speaker off again, and strolled over to where Peter knelt.

Still dazed, Peter didn’t really notice his body moving, but his spider sense was kicking in and forcing him to do something.

When he snapped out of the brain-fog, Peter realised he’d climbed up the wall and was crouched in one of the corners of the ceiling, out of reach of Ryan. In a futile attempt, he shot another web to where Ryan was standing, but hit one of the old metal arms of an old robot which lay a few feet away.

Better than nothing, he thought, as he swung the machine arm towards Ryan, hitting him square in the side. Ryan doubled over, coughing, before hitting the button on the remote once again.

Peter’s eyes shut tight in agony, and he felt himself slip slightly down the wall. The noise was messing with his powers, leaving him pretty defenceless when it was blaring out of the remote. He jumped down from the wall, stumbling slightly as he landed.

Ryan seemed to have realised the effect of his device on Peter, as he left it playing as he taunted. ‘This is just getting embarrassing for you, Peter. You can’t even get a little remote from me!’

‘Don’t you think you’re a little too angry about all this? You know, if you’d ask him, I’m sure Mr Stark would be happy to help you out with your project! Well, maybe not after you tried to kill us with it…’

‘Shut your mouth Parker!’ Ryan snarled.

‘…but the whole point of the internship is to learn from mistakes. I’m gonna guess your learning curve will be pretty flat-line though.’

The stabbing feeling in his head seemed to build, so much so that he didn’t even see Ryan move before he was right in front of him, slamming a fist into the side of his head and putting his hands around Peter’s neck, abandoning the remote on the floor.

‘You and Stark are gonna pay for being annoying little bitches. You first.’ His hands squeezed tighter. Peter gasped for air, feeling useless against Ryan without his full super-strength. Black spots began to cloud his vision, as he clawed desperately at Ryan’s hands.

Just when he thought he was going to black out, the screeching noise came to an end. Peter’s strength came rushing back to him and he twisted Ryan’s hands away from his neck. They stood for a split moment, with Ryan desperately trying to escape Peter’s grip, before Peter kicked out, his foot connecting with Ryan’s chest, who was sent sprawling across the room.

Breathing heavily, he glanced around the room, before his eyes fell on Ned, who was holding the remote in his hands.

‘Thought turning this off might help.’ Ned said, a grin widening across his face.

‘Oh Ned, you’re the best!’ Peter wheezed. His happiness didn’t last for long however, as Ryan stood up and stared Peter down. A line of blood was trickling down his face, and he looked angrier than ever.

He charged towards Peter, who swiftly dropped to the floor, sweeping Ryan’s legs out from beneath him. Ryan tumbled to the floor heavily, as Peter shuffled away and bounced back up.

Ryan stood slowly, picking up the discarded robot arm Peter had hit him with before. He swung it like a baseball bat towards Peter, who jumped backwards. Ryan kept pushing forwards, swinging again with every step. Peter kept moving backwards until he stumbled awkwardly over Flash’s foot and fell with a crash to the floor. God, he’d forgotten his class was still here.

Ryan took the opportunity to bring the metal down onto Peter, hitting him solidly in the ribs. He felt a slight crack where it made contact, sending another wave of agony across his body.

Ryan raised the machine arm above his head, intending to stoke again. Before he could bring it down, Peter kicked himself up from the floor, sending a headbutt into Ryan’s nose. He stumbled backwards, dropping the metal arm.

Peter leapt forwards, hitting a few solid punches across Ryan’s body, before jumping up and sticking onto the ceiling. Ryan blindly threw his head up to look for Peter, which threw him off balance slightly. Using this, Peter soared down from the ceiling, tackling Ryan to the floor.

After a few seconds of wrestling around on the floor, Peter managed to pin Ryan face down, hands behind his back. He quickly webbed his hands and feet together, silently thankful he didn’t need to aim his webs when shooting from a couple of inches away.

Peter gingerly stood up and brushed himself off, wincing as his hand grazed over his side. Definitely a fracture, he thought bitterly, before looking round and taking in the scene around him.

The silence was deafening. Every single member of the AcaDec team was staring at him in shock, jaws hanging open.

‘Uh…’ Peter started, before shutting his mouth. He didn’t really know what to say. Instead, he turned towards Ryan, and pulled the iPad out from the pocket of his lab coat. Peter slowly made his way over to where Ned was sitting and holding the remote, giving him the iPad and telling him to try and hack open the shutters that surrounded them.

At this point, the tension in the room exploded with Flash jumping to his feet, pointing at Peter.

‘How- What- Peter can’t be Spider-Man! There’s just no way!’ He stuttered out.

Peter laughed awkwardly, becoming more aware of the dozens of eyes of him. He opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut off. MJ had stood up in front of him, her face inches away from his.

‘You’re hurt. Sit down while Ned gets us out of here.’

She slowly guided Peter onto the floor, where he hugged his knees to his chest, breathing shallowly. The pain in his head and side was setting in now, making him feel slightly sick.

All he wanted to do was curl up and shut his eyes, but realistically, he knew he couldn’t just ignore his classmates after what happened. He raised his head, looking around expectantly at everyone.

‘So… yeah, I’m Spider-Man. I’m gonna guess you all have questions?’

‘Yes, we have questions!’ Betty burst out, ‘Firstly, what the fuck?’

Peter shot a glance at Mr Harrington, who was on the verge of calling Betty out for her language but managed to keep his mouth shut. Biting back a laugh, Peter gestured vaguely behind him to Ryan.

‘Uh, he was a bad guy so I took him down.’ He said lamely, internally kicking himself for the pathetic reply.

‘How did you get your powers?’ Charles cut in.

‘Funny story actually, it was on our field trip to Oscorp. They were doing testing on a radioactive spider and it bit me. It was pretty rough though, I thought I was gonna die.’

Mr Harrington paled at this. Peter’s field trip record was clearly stressing him out.

‘Can you spit venom? Do you lay eggs? Why don’t you have eight legs-’ Abe started, before being cut off by a loud banging. All the shutters opened simultaneously, slamming back into above the windows and doors.

‘Got it!’ Ned cheered, grinning wildly at Peter.

Peter let out a sigh of relief, before turning away from his class and pulling out his phone. HIs phone was back to full signal, so Peter wasted no time in dialling Tony’s phone number, which he picked up almost instantly.

Peter put the call on speaker, letting his class listen in to try to avoid answering what would be another round of questions about his internship.

‘Hey Underoos, thought you were on your field trip?’ Tony’s voice came through the phone. That got another few gasps out of the AcaDec team, and Flash squeaked ‘That’s Iron Man!’

‘Hi Tony… that’s actually what I’m calling about. Our field trip kinda got hijacked, and our tour guide held us hostage.’

There was a few seconds of silence from Tony, before-

‘WHAT?’

‘Yeah. I webbed him up though, so we’re good.’

‘Pete, where are you?’

‘Uh… the forty-second floor.’

‘DON’T MOVE. I’m coming now.’ And he promptly hung up.

Once again, silence had fallen over the AcaDec team. The constant surprises of the day had rendered them all completely wordless, and finding out Peter knew Tony Stark personally was just the thing to top it all off.

‘How do you have Tony Stark’s personal number?’ Flash spoke incredulously, but with the lack of usual resentment he would aim at Peter.

‘Well, I’m his personal inte-‘

‘Peter lives with Mr Stark!’ Ned blurted out.

Peter groaned. ‘Ned! That’s meant to be a secret!’

‘Well, so was you being Spider-Man, and here we are.’ MJ added, nudging him playfully in the shoulder.

However, before the AcaDec team could harass him with more questions, the elevator doors slid open to reveal Tony, Happy and Rhodey, who rushed into the room, followed by a couple of nurses Peter recognised from the tower’s medbay. Tony headed straight to Peter’s side, eyes flicking across the cuts on his face.

‘Where are you hurt, Pete?’ He asked softly, ignoring the whispers that had started again around them.

‘Just my face, and I think he broke one of my ribs.’ Peter winced, pressing a hand to his side. The pain had really set in now, and he could feel a migraine building at the back of his head.

As they spoke, Happy made his way over to Ryan, while Rhodey addressed the room.

‘I know this will have been a very stressful situation, so we’ve got a couple medical professionals to check you all over before we figure out what to do next.’ At his words, the nurses approached the class, asking basic questions and checking for any injuries.

Peter was vaguely aware of Happy hauling Ryan to his feet, and pulling him inside the elevator. The doors slid shut and the pair disappeared away, presumably to the ground floor where other security officers would be waiting.

‘Come on kid, we’re off to medbay.’ His attention snapped back to Tony, who started to help him to his feet. Once stood, Peter’s legs shook dangerously with exhaustion, and he threw his arms around Tony’s neck to help him stay upright. Tony wrapped his arm under Peter and guided him towards the elevator.

Peter caught a glimpse of the conversations around him as they walked. Rhodey and Mr Harrington stood a step away from everyone, discussing everyone heading back to school soon, and the extensive NDAs they were all needing to sign. Ned and MJ were laughing about something together, and waved as Peter made his way past them. The ripples of whispers hadn’t stopped from the AcaDec team, but were paired now with the occasional point, and ‘I can’t believe Peter is Spider-Man’ chatter.

They made it to the elevator and stepped inside. The doors calmly slid shut, leaving Peter and Tony in silence. Peter breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to not be under the careful watch of his classmates anymore.

‘Fri, take us up to the medbay, please.’ Tony spoke.

‘Right away, Boss.’

Peter’s spider sense finally died down, leaving him feeling calm and safe. Tony’s presence would always do that for him. He shuffled closer to Tony, resting his head on his shoulder as the elevator glided upwards. He could hear the soft thump of Tony’s heart, making him smile. With his free hand, Tony ruffled Peter’s curls and muttered ‘Almost there now, kid.’

The elevator slowed to a stop, dinged, and the doors slid open to reveal the white hallway of the medbay. It was as silent as it usually was, interrupted by the occasional soft beep.

Tony led Peter down the hall and into one of the rooms on the left. Dr Cho was already waiting for them, sat expectantly on the armchair in the corner.

‘Hi Peter, lay down on the bed for me please.’ She spoke, snapping her blue gloves over her fingers as she approached them.

Tony helped Peter lay down, plumping the cushions behind him so Peter was sat upright comfortably. ‘We think he’s got a broken rib, but there could be other things.’ Tony told her, stepping back to let her examine Peter.

She nodded, before taking a few scans of his body in silence. The soft clicks and hums of buttons broke up any trains of thought he had, so he laid his head back on the pillow and shut his eyes. Not only the fight he just had, but the field trip in general had worn him out completely and all Peter wanted was to sleep. He felt the bed shift beneath him, and cracked his eyes open to see Tony sitting at the end of it, watching Dr Cho work.

After a few minutes or so, Dr Cho’s voice broke the silence. ‘So Peter, you’ve fractured one of your ribs and bruised a few knuckles but other than that everything seems okay.’ She put the machines away and looked down at him. ‘I’d like for you to stay over tonight here, just for precaution. But I imagine by tomorrow morning you’ll be almost completely healed, thanks to your enhanced healing.’

She unlocked one of the cabinets on the wall and pulled out a couple of red pills, which she handed to Peter with a glass of water. ‘These are just for the pain, so take them and try to keep your movement limited until tomorrow morning.’

‘Thanks for checking on him, Cho.’ Tony smiled. She nodded to them both, and headed out of the room.

Tony turned to Peter, staring into his eyes. ‘I’m proud of you, Pete. I know it’s a pretty big thing for you to tell people your Spider-Man, so good job kid. Oh, and don't worry about it getting spread round,’ he laughed. ‘I’ve got Rhodey giving your class the tightest NDAs they’ll ever see in their lives.’

Peter only hummed in response, but Tony knew that his words had soothed Peter’s worries. He stood up sharply, then climbed onto the bed and laid comfortably next to Peter, wrapping an arm around him. The medbay beds were big enough for the two of them, with plenty of room for comfort.

They sat like that in silence for a few moments, until-

‘I’m sorry, kid. This shouldn’t have even happened on your field trip. I guess it’s my fault for not doing anything serious about his project, and I mean, I didn’t even know you were in that situation until you called me! I can’t believe I-‘

‘Tony.’ Peter cut him off.

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s okay. It’s not your fault Ryan went total evil-maniac on my class. There’s better ways to deal with criticism than that, I’d say.’ He said with a smile.

‘I mean, if you say so.’ Tony’s hand made its way to Peter’s hair, running his hand through the curls. They sat like that for a while, just enjoying each other's presence.

They’d been in the medbay for half an hour or so, until Pepper made her way into the room. ‘Oh Pete, I was in a meeting and I’ve only just heard what happened! How are you feeling?’

‘Fine now, Dr Cho gave me some medicine and stuff.’

She pulled up a chair beside the bed, placing her hand on top of his and running her thumb across his knuckles. ‘I spoke to Happy, he said your classmates are all unharmed and they’ve gone back to school. He’s dealt with Ryan as well, the police picked him up maybe ten minutes ago.’

‘Oh good, I’m glad no one was hurt.’ Peter replied.

‘All thanks to you kid.’ Tony added in, a proud smile on his face. ‘Now, what do we say to a little treat after a long day like this? I’m thinking… order pizza and watch a movie?’

Peter grinned, welcoming the opportunity to force them both to watch another Star Wars movie. FRIDAY put their order in at their favourite delivery place, and dimmed the lights in the room, before pressing play on Revenge of the Sith.

The opening credits began to play, and Peter felt his eyes grow heavier. He let his head relax back on Tony, as Pepper stroked his arm softly. Feeling content, he let himself drift off to sleep.

—————————————

Following Dr Cho’s orders, Peter didn’t go to school the next day, rather spending the whole day at home with Tony and Pepper. On Wednesday morning however, Peter’s alarm blared at a bright 6am to get him up. Still tired, he slowly opened his eyes and swung himself out of bed.

Peter got changed into some old jeans and a shirt, before making his way to the kitchen. Tony was already there, drinking what was most likely his third cup of coffee that day.

‘Morning kiddo. Get some breakfast quickly, Happy will be here soon.’

Peter grabbed a couple slices of toast and a glass of apple juice and sat down with Tony to eat.

Twenty minutes later, Peter had eaten and finished getting ready, and was making his way downstairs to Happy, who stood outside the car. Happy looked as unbothered as usual, but gave Peter a small smile he knew was reserved only for him.

‘Hi, Happy.’

‘Come on Peter, let’s get you to school.’

The journey to school was uneventful, leaving Peter to stew in his own thoughts. The nervous feeling he’d felt before the school trip was back, but this time Peter was running through all the possibilities that could happen today. What if Flash told everyone he was Spider-Man? What if the class made a big show of what happened and the whole school found out? He wouldn’t be able to survive the day if hundreds of students were going to surround him, and attack him with questions.

The car rolled to a stop at the base of the stairs outside Midtown High, and Happy spun round to face Peter. ‘Have a good day at school, kid.’

‘Thanks, Happy.’

He pushed the car door open and made his way up the stairs. Ned and MJ stood to the side of the front doors, and waved once they spotted him getting near.

‘Hi Peter! We missed you yesterday dude.’ Ned said, him and Peter doing their handshake.

‘Hey loser.’ MJ spoke with a smile.

‘Did you hear?’ Ned practically bounced as he spoke. ‘That Ryan guy got arrested on Monday! We saw him getting tackled by the police when we were leaving to come back to school, it was crazy!’

‘Yeah, he was screaming like mad when they put him in the car, just stuff about Mr Stark and how he’ll get revenge.’ MJ added, before frowning. ‘You okay? You look weird.’

‘Yeah I-’ Peter sighed. ‘Does anyone else know what happened?’ His voice dropped to a whisper, ‘Has Flash told everyone about the spider situation?’

‘Nope. First period yesterday the AcaDec team got called to see Mr Harrington, and he gave us all a huge lecture about telling no one or the NDAs we signed would ruin our lives.’ Ned clapped him on the back. ‘Nothing to worry about dude.’

‘Come on losers, the first bell is gonna ring soon.’ MJ shoved them inside.

As unsure Peter was about how well his class could keep secrets, the morning went completely smoothly. It really did seem like no one knew what had happened on the trip.

Every so often one of the AcaDec team members would catch his eye in the hall, but Peter would keep his head down, not wanting to start a conversation.

By the time it was lunch, Peter’s nerves from the morning had completely faded away. He had trusted Ned’s words, but seeing it himself that no one had spilled his secret made him feel a lot better.

Ned, MJ and Peter made their way to their usual lunch table, carrying trays of food. As they sat down, Ned launched into a speech about his new Jedi theory but quickly stopped talking as he spotted Flash and a couple of the other AcaDec students making their way over.

Once the group reached their table, they stared down at Peter. Flash spoke first.

‘Uhm… we- we wanted to say… sorry. For not believing you. And uh- thank you, for y’know, what you did on Monday.’ He spluttered out.

‘Yeah,’ Betty added beside him, ‘I know we're not really meant to talk about it but we couldn’t just ignore what you did for us.’

Abe spoke next. ‘We’ll keep your secret, you don’t have to worry.’ The others nodded furiously at this, before falling silent.

Peter felt himself turning red. ‘Uh, you don’t have to thank me, someone had to do something I guess.’ He shifted awkwardly in his seat. ‘Just… no one can know.’

‘Honestly, if we told anyone, I think Mr Stark would sue us for everything we own.’ Flash said.

‘Well, I appreciate you guys saying that, so thanks. But uh…’ Peter trailed off. He really was grateful for their words, but thinking about the events of Monday made him feel slightly nervous again.

‘Ned has something important to tell us so, if you don’t mind, we’ll have lunch with just the three of us please.’ MJ said, with such a confidence that the AcaDec couldn’t argue with. After some awkward ‘byes’, they were left alone again.

‘You think my theory is important?’ Ned looked at MJ, surprised.

‘Actually, no. But I wanted them to leave us alone.’

‘Huh, okay.’ Ned looked dejected, before shrugging it off and telling Peter his Star Wars ideas anyway.

The rest of the day passed without incident, until Peter found himself in his final lesson, counting down the seconds for the final bell to ring. Once it did, he packed up his stuff quickly and made his way to the door. He was almost out, before Mr Harrington called him back for a word.

The rest of the class emptied out, leaving Peter and Mr Harrington alone in the classroom.

‘Peter. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for how I treated you about your internship. It was completely inappropriate of me to not believe you, and I hope you accept my apology.’

‘Sir, I-’

‘No Peter, it wasn’t right for me to treat you badly because of my own ignorance, and after what happened Monday, I only feel guilty.’

‘Well, thank you, sir,’ Peter looked down at his hands. He was happy that people were finally believing what he had said, but was still slightly bothered that it was only after he showed he was Spider-Man.

‘I’ve had serious words with the AcaDec team, so there is zero chance the events of Monday will be spread around.’

‘Thank you.’ He repeated awkwardly. ‘I have to go though sir, so I’ll see you later.’ Before Mr Harrington could reply, Peter shot him a smile and darted out of the classroom.

Happy was waiting outside of school, ready to take him back to the tower. Peter practically threw himself into the backseat, ready to leave and get home. Happy took the hint, and quickly pulled away from the school.

‘How was your day kid?’ He asked.

‘So weird.’ Peter replied shortly.

‘Well, that doesn’t surprise me.’ Happy huffed in answer.

They chatted happily for the remainder of the journey, until they pulled up to the tower.

‘Bye Happy!’ Peter shot out of the car and raced to the elevators, which took him straight up to the penthouse. He dropped his bag off quickly before making his way to the lab.

Tony was already waiting for him there, bent over working on an Iron Man suit. As Peter walked in, Tony turned down the music, and wheeled himself over to Peter’s workstation.

‘So, how was school?’ Tony smirked.

‘I never want to go on a field trip again, they just make my life harder.’ Peter complained. That got a laugh out of Tony, who slid him a screwdriver and his prototype webshooters.

‘Logically, if you keep going on them, at least one will have to go well.’ Tony raised an eye down at him. ‘If you want, I can organise another one for your class here…’

‘No! Don’t do that.’ Peter glared at the man. ‘Or I’ll never come back here.’

‘You like me too much so I don’t believe that.’

‘Watch me.’

As the conversation fell into silence, Peter began thinking to himself, maybe field trips weren’t so bad after all? Just going on one had meant he became Spider-Man and this one had led to his classmates being friendly and respecting him.

But deep down he knew if he went on another, Parker luck would strike again.