Chapter Text
Peter groaned when his alarm went of. He had struggled going to sleep last night, and for once it had nothing to do with Spider Man. He kept replaying the interaction he overheard between MJ and the strange man over and over again. He just couldn't quite figure out exactly what was going on, but whatever ideas he came up with all concerned him. And he desperately wanted to check on her, but he didn't know her room number. (Plus she seemed like she didn't really want to talk about it, and Peter would respect her privacy and boundaries.)
He somehow managed to get downstairs with enough time to eat a hotel breakfast before they were supposed to be leaving. As the students started to crowd in the lobby Peter kept his eyes peeled for MJ. It was nearing 8:15, but he still had yet to see MJ. Just another out of character thing for her… He walked over to Ned.
"Hey man, see MJ?" Peter asked.
Ned glanced around, "Uh, no. Why?"
"It's almost time to leave… She's usually not so late."
Then Mr. Harrington spoke up.
"Alright, are we all here?" He did a quick head count, then confusion was clearly written on his face. "Who's missing?"
MJ walked her way up to the group. "Sorry, got a late start this morning." She mumbled.
"Oh, right well. Let's get going!" Mr. Harrington called.
"Hey, MJ-" Peter tried to get the girl's attention, but she just went towards the front of the group, helping lead the way.
"Somethings wrong…" Peter muttered.
"Dude, your feelings are showing," Ned joked.
"Ned, I'm serious!" Peter exclaimed.
"Just because she hasn't really been hanging with us these past few days doesn't mean somethings wrong. That's just MJ being MJ." Ned said.
"You didn't see what I saw…" Peter muttered under his breath, Ned not having caught it.
When they finally reached the tower they were greeted by Gwen, Mrs. Manson, and Mr. Smith. "Good morning, Midtown? You all sleep well last night?" Gwen asked.
There was a murmur of everyone answering.
"Well I'm glad to hear it! First thing on our agenda is the intern biomedical labs. We figured you all would appreciate biomedical and R&D more than Legal, so we sandwiched it in the middle. And R&D had to be last since that's where we will introduce your robotics project we'll be having you work on!" Gwen said. "Follow me please!"
Gwen lead the group to the scanners and metal detectors where they once again went through the process of everyone scanning their badge and stepping through. She then led them to the elevator.
"Alright, so our Biology based floors are floors 40-59 with the lower ten floors being intern labs, offices, and other work areas while the upper ten floors belong to our full time employees. Sometimes our employees will send easier projects, or ones they just don't want to spend time on or can't spend time on, down to our interns. While other times our interns will complete a personal project and send it up to our employee floors for analysis to see if they'd like to pick up the project. It is a constant back and forth between our interns and full time employees on both ends. Nine times out of ten, if an intern project gets rejected, they are still allowed to continue their research and experiments on their own, or are often guided how to better their work so they can reapply it for a new analysis. However, most of our interns' work hardly ever gets rejected in the first place. Our interns are highly valued, and about 25% are offered a position as a personal intern, otherwise known as a PI, to our top tier scientists. This position comes with pros and cons however. You get more free roam with your personal projects, access to better equipment and labs, and clearance to higher floors. However, you also lose valuable personal time. Most of our interns are able to balance working between company projects and personal projects, but the PIs have to add in whoever they work under into that equation. And usually our scientists that have personal interns are not the best at their own time management which is why they apply for PIs in the first place."
The elevator rolled to a slow stop.
"Ah, here we are! Floor 47, the Biomedical Intern floor. There are technically two Biomedical Intern floors, but this is the one we'll be seeing. Really quickly some rules! I am going to leave you to free roam around the floor. Your badge is not able to open any doors, but the interns are aware that you were coming. Some have left their doors opened. Please do not bother the interns who are hard at work, especially those who are working behind a closed door. But if they wave you over you are more then allowed to interact. Bathrooms are right here by the elevators if you need them. It is now 9:00. You have until 10:15, which is when we will head to Legal. Have fun!" Gwen said, releasing them to their own devices.
Most of the students went around to observe the interns who were working on the open part of the lab floor, while a couple looked around for open private labs to see what the others were working on. All of the interns were really nice and talked to the students, answering their question. Bio wasn't really Ned or Peter's forte, especially medical, so they walked around trying to find an intern who was working on a project that they may actually have an interest in. It wasn't long though before Ned found an intern who was working on some coding thing and Peter found himself cornered by Flash.
"So, how'd you do it huh?" Flash asked.
"What are you talking about?" Peter replied.
"What, did you pay off our tour guide to pretend to know you or something? There's no way your actually smart enough to work here!"
"Seriously? And what about FRIDAY?"
"Well clearly you hacked her!" Flash said.
"Well which is it Flash? Not smart enough to work for the most prestigious company in the world? Or smart enough to hack Tony Stark's personal AI?"
"Oh, I see… You must have payed off Gwen enough to not only pretend to know you, but to also put you into the system!"
"Do you have any idea how absurd that sounds? You literally make fun of me all the time because I'm a 'poor scholarship student'!"
"Oh, but there's forms of payment other than money, aren't there?" Flash asked, a sly grin making it's way across his face.
"Are you seriously insinuating that I preformed certain services to help sell what you are so insistent is a lie?!" Peter asked.
"Well it wouldn't be the first time in Stark Industries history." Flash replied, with a wicked grin.
"What exactly does that mean?! And besides, how would that explain the security guards?"
Flash just shrugged. "I mean, if you'd do it for one, whose not to say more…"
"Nope, I'm done with this conversation." Peter said, turning to leave.
"Oh yeah, cause you defiantly actually work here! None of these interns have even acted like they recognized you, let alone know you!"
Peter turned back to Flash. "Yeah, because I don't work in Biology! So obviously the biology interns don't know me!"
"I find that hard to believe." Flash jeered, getting into Peter's face.
"Ugh" peter exclaimed, then walked away to find Ned again. He'd rather hear about someone rambling about programming (which was at least somewhat interesting, even if it was biology based) than stay and argue with Flash.
POV Switch: MJ
MJ wasn't entirely to interested in much the trip had to offer. In fact she was actually quite interested in the legal department and the q&a they'd be having at the end of their trip. But she was worried about her dad… If he came to the hotel once, whose to say he wouldn't show again? And now Peter was going to get involved. She really didn't want that. She's been trying to avoid him… But whose to say how much he actually overheard? For all she knows he heard none of it, just at the right place at the wrong time. She really didn't want to get into it, but knowing Peter he wouldn't just let it go. She spent their time here just walking around trying to familiarize herself with the layout of the floor, figuring most of the floors resembled this one.
A huge open floor lab with multiple work stations. Halls branching off in different directions leading to private labs and offices. A couple of broom closets, and more bathrooms than the ones they were told about. She recognized the pattern fairly quickly: four blocks of rooms in the middle of the floor with two doors on each side of the squares. Leaving to the floor having 32 separate private work areas. None of the rooms had labels, so she had no idea about the office to lab ratio, but that was fine by her. Hallways surrounded the blocks, all eventually leading back to the open floor lab and elevators. She noted there were two stairwells: one by the elevators, and an emergency second one near the back of the floor at the very end of a hallway. She got pretty bored pretty quick and decided to sit in a hidden away corner and just pulled out her book. As long as she kept track of the time, she should be fine… right?
POV Switch: Peter
When Peter found his way back to Ned, he was actually helping the intern with the code they were working on.
"Hey guys! Whats up?" Peter asked.
"Oh, Peter! This is so cool dude, come look at it!" Ned responded.
The intern stepped aside to allow room for Peter. He looked over the code.
"What is this for?" He asked the intern.
"Were wanting to try a new formula for naturally enhanced people. Not exactly super level, but there are plenty of regular humans that for whatever reason just have higher pain tolerances, higher tolerances to drugs, and things like that. So I'm working on a kind of simulation so we can try certain numbers without actually harming real people until were ready for that stage of testing." The intern replied.
"Oh, that's actually really neat! I'm Peter, by the way." Peter said, holding out his hand for a shake.
The intern took it, "Michael. Your buddy there is pretty smart! I'd say he's got a good shot at an internship when he hits college. Ned, right? Is that something you'd be interested in?"
"Uh, yes! That would be awesome!" Ned replied.
Peter let out a light chuckle. "I always said he'd fit right in here."
"How about you? You ever think about an internship?" Michael asked.
"Oh, I already have one. I just don't work in Bio."
"But… SI doesn't take high school interns." Michael said, skeptically.
"Special case. I was sought out by Tony Stark himself. I work as his personal intern, and help out in R&D a lot. I mostly work on Avengers gear though."
"Wait wait wait- your that Peter?!" Michael asked. "As in the intern legend Peter Parker?!"
"Um… yeah? I didn't realize people outside of R&D knew me."
"Uh, like every intern knows who you are! I thought you were just a myth! What did you do to catch Mr. Stark's attention?!" Michael asked.
"Um… I- well-" Peter started.
"He works with Spider Man!" Ned added, unhelpfully in Peter's opinion.
"No way! That's so cool!" Michael said.
"Um, yeah. I made most of his gear before he started using SI equipment. Even now though, most of his stuff is made by either Mr. Stark or I."
"Wow… say, how old are you?"
"Oh, I'm-"
"Hey boys, time to start headed to the elevator!" Gwen said, sticking her head into the room.
"Oh, right! Uh, talk to you late Michael!" Peter said, grabbing Ned and dragging him out of the room.
"Later!" Micheal called, going back to work on his code.
Peter, Ned, and Gwen made their way back towards the elevator, where they found everybody else waiting patiently.
"Alright everyone, back into the levator we go!" Gwen called, corralling all of them into the small space.
"I hope your not causing any problems, Mr. Parker. Flash has brought to my attention that maybe I should be keeping a closer eye on you." Mr. Harrington said to Peter.
"Wha- me?! But-" Peter started, but he was interrupted by Gwen.
"Now we will be heading down to see some of our Legal interns. And maybe some PR as well! Now the way that out Legal department works is different than most, so the interns and employees work closer together than they do in Bio or R&D. Most of our Legal department is actually run by our interns. They schedule the meetings, draft the contracts, etc. Now, they are not privy to all, or even most, information, but they can still outline and draft documents, leaving the necessary blanks when needed, and our lawyers and other Legal employees can edit and revise. The NDAs you all signed was actually probably drafted by an intern! Our Legal floors are floors 30-39, and we often come across people of all kinds on these floors. Ranging from our interns all the way up to Ms. Pepper Potts herself, however the probability of us actually coming across her is very slim! But keep your eye out, because nothing is impossible! Especially here…"
The elevator dinged, noting their arrival. "Floor 32. Same rules apply! Please meet back here at 11:30 so we can all head to lunch!"
The students, this time less energetic (with a few exceptions) filtered out of the elevator. Even though "legal" wasn't really any of their fortes, most of them were determined to find something to interest them here.
Peter noticed that MJ immediately made her way down a hallway, while most of the others just looked around for now. She seemed determined, and almost as if he knew exactly where she was going.
"Hey, you have anything in mind for this floor?" Peter asked Ned, itching to follow MJ.
"No, not really… Know anyone here?" Ned asked.
"No, not really. I know a couple of PR interns who may be around, but not Legal. I guess we could see if Maria is in?"
"Whose that?"
"She's one of the PR interns that runs the social accounts for the R&D interns. I've interacted with her a few times."
"Why would she be here then if she's PR?" Ned asked.
"Well since she runs a social media page, she has to work very closely with Legal."
"Yeah, we can try that!"
"Great!" Peter said, dragging Ned in the direction he saw MJ go off to.
The pair walked around for a bit, passing many closed doors. It seemed like none of the interns wanted to deal with them today. But they eventually came across an open door and walked in.
"Hey! Are you part of the tour that's here today?" The girl behind the desk asked.
"My name's Quinn!"
"Hey, I'm Peter and this is Ned. I was wondering… is Maria in today?"
"Oh, you just missed her! There was another girl from your group in here, quite inquisitive and very interested might I add. Maria said she could offer her a little favor. I don't know exactly what she wanted to show her, but probably some media that's not out yet, or had to be cut for Legal purposes. Say… how do you know Maria?"
"Oh! I'm Peter Parker, and I've helped her come up with content ideas before." Peter said.
"Oh yeah, I've heard of you! The famous high school intern everyone debates is real! Maria has told me about you before though! Well, hope you find her!"
"Thanks!" Peter said, leading Ned out the room.
"Dude, why not just stay and talk with her? She seemed nice enough!" Ned asked.
"Well, I, uh…" Peter faded off as he was talking because he heard voices down the hall. He pulled Ned around the corner, and sure enough, there was Maria and MJ. They were standing outside of what Peter recognized as a closed meeting room.
"Hey guys!" Peter called.
Maria smiled at Peter, but MJ stiffened when she noticed him. That worried Peter.
"Hey Peter! What brings you round to these back halls?" Maria jokes.
"Looking for you actually. You're the only one around here I know." Peter replies.
"Well I was just talking with MJ here! She-"
"Is actually interested in this floor and would love to see the inner workings of it. Yeah, we're aware." Peter said, smiling at MJ. She just glanced away.
"Oh, you two friends?" Maria asked.
"One of my best! And this is my friend Ned. Ned, this is Maria!" Peter introduced.
"Nice to meet you!" Ned said.
"Likewise." Maria responded warmly.
"So, what are you doing way back here?" Peter asked.
"Well, Ms. Potts personal assistant is in a meeting in here. They're just about finished, and I figured I could introduce MJ!"
"Oh sweet! Callum is awesome!" Peter replied.
"Um… it's fine. If you'd rather talk with Peter for a minute I can go back to talk with Quinn." MJ said.
"Nonsense! Why can't we all talk here while we wait?" Maria asked.
"We can! It- it's fine." MJ said. She seemed defensive and uncomfortable. And Peter hated that he may be the cause of that. He wanted to talk with her, but knew any conversation he tried to make would probably be shut done.
"Hey MJ-" he started, anyway.
"Nope! I'm going back to Quinn." She started to leave. When she walked past Peter he grabbed her arm, trying to stop her.
"Wait-"
She immediately froze in her steps, but jerked her hand away and looked at him startled, and almost frighted. He instinctively raised his hands up.
"Sorry! I didn't mean-"
"Just save it." She snapped, her calm demeanor slipping. She tried walking away again.
"Look, I won't bring it up! I can tell you don't want to talk about whatever happened, and I'll respect that!" Peter called. She stopped.
There was a tense silence for a moment.
"Wait- what happened?" Ned asked.
MJ looks back at Peter.
"You didn't tell him?"
"It seemed like you didn't really want me in your business… so why would I go spreading it?" Peter said, trying for a light tone.
MJ sighed. "Fine. But the minute you bring it up…" she warned, stepping closer to him.
"As I said, I'll respect that you don't want to talk about it… But please," his voice dropped, so only she could hear it, "at least tell me that your safe."
MJ bit her bottom lip, furrowed her brow, and looked back and forth between Peter's eyes. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine" she eventually said.
Peter let out a heavy exhale. "Thank you… and you tell me if that ever changes. Alright?"
"Yeah… alright."
There was another off silence, then the meeting room door opened. Out walked a few different executives, lawyers, and what not who were unfortunate enough to be called into work on a Saturday. Then eventually Callum.
"Hey, Callum!" Maria called. "Got a moment?"
"Oh, hey Maria. Yeah, I believe I have some time. What's up?" Callum said.
"I wanted to introduce you to MJ here!" Maria said. MJ walked forward and offered her hand for Callum to shake. Callum took it.
"And then that's Ned," Maria said, pointing at Ned. "And of course you know Peter."
"Oh, hey Peter! How have you been?"
"I've been pretty alright. You?" Peter said.
"Same. But Pepper is always keeping me on my toes around here!"
Peter let out a laugh. "Yeah, I can understand that!"
"So, MJ was it?" Callum asked.
"Yeah. I was just interested in what it's like working under one of the most powerful and influential women directly." MJ questioned.
"Well, as much as I love her, Pepper has her moments. But as long as Tony is acting right, there's usually no issues! But of course, Tony is never acting right." Callum joked.
"Wait- your on a first name basis with Ms. Potts and Mr. Stark?!" Ned asked.
"Well, when you work with them as closely as I do… It started with Pepper, but Tony hates it when someone feels familiar with her and not him, so he insisted I call him Tony." Callum explained.
"That's so cool!" Ned exclaimed.
"So, either of you thinking of joining the company?" Callum asked.
"Yes!" Ned immediately answered.
"Maybe…" MJ responded.
"Well, I'll be keeping my eyes out! MJ and Ned right? Hope to see your names come up soon!" Callum said, winking at them. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some more work to get done!"
"Of course!" Maria said. "It's about time for these guys to leave as well anyways. Thank you Callum!"
"Of course Maria, anytime! Later Peter!" Callum called, walking away. Maria escorted them back to the elevators to meet up with the others.
"Wow Parker, get in trouble or something?" Flash jeered, loud enough for everyone to look over at him.
Peter sighed, "no Flash-"
"Then what, get lost or something?" Flash said.
"Um, do I need to get-" Maria started.
"No Maria, it's fine." Peter said.
"Alright then, you all have fun on the rest of your trip!" Maria called, heading to do some work elsewhere.
"Has everyone made their way back?" Gwen asked, calling the attention away from the trio.
Mr. Harrington did a quick scan. "Yes, I believe so!"
"Great! Then onto lunch we go!" Gwen said, leading the way back into the elevator.
The AcaDec team made their way down to the cafeteria floor.
"Alright everyone, please be done and back here at 1:00! And remember, you've only got $20 on your badges!" Gwen called.
Peter dragged Ned and MJ over to one of his favorite spots. "Come on, we have to hit up DelMar's!"
The students had a pretty uneventful lunch, plenty of interns coming and going.
While MJ still seemed pretty on edge, the trio did fall back into old habits (which just consisted of Ned and Peter blabbering on about whatever it was they were talking about, and MJ silently listening, sometimes chiming in with her snarky commentary). Pretty soon they found it was time to leave to tour what most of them were most excited about: R&D.
"Now," Gwen started, "our R&D floors are what people associate with Stark Industries. They range from floor 60-79, and follows the same pattern as our Bio floors. The lower 10 being for interns, and upper 10 being for our full time employees. This is where you will meet what are probably our most stressed interns that are running purely off of sleep deprivation and caffeine. While most will be more than happy to interact with you all, if you notice that any of them seem to be curt or uninviting, please just leave them to their work! Are we all clear?"
There was a murmur of understanding.
"Great! Well, here we are, floor 68! This is also where we will introduce your small robotics project! We have one of the larger private labs reserved and everything is set up for us. Since this is where most of you are the most interested, I will give you a bit more time here! So at 3 o'clock please meet me back here so I can take us to our reserved lab!"
There was practically a stampede of excited students ready to learn from and interact with the interns here. Betty and Cindy immediately found an intern that was working on a new prototype for the StarkPhones, while Abe found a person that was staring at some strings of code on a computer. Flash just lurked near the edges keeping an uncomfortably close eye on Peter. The trio made their way to see if there were any interns in a private lab or office that had the door open. They came across one that had a couple of people arguing inside. The curious trio entered the open lab.
"I'm telling you, it is completely impossible!" The first one said.
"It can't be! Tony Stark was extremely close, so obviously it can be done!" said the second.
"Please, if Mr. Stark couldn't do it, then what make you think you could! There is only one person here who is even nearon par with Mr. Stark, and I hate to break it to you Harley, but that is not you!"
"Harry, please. I know if we work together, we can do it!" the second boy, Harley, said.
"Ugh! You are impossible!"
Peter cleared his throat, startling the two boys.
"Peter!" both of them called.
"Come on man, you gotta help me out here!" Harley begged.
Harry rolled his eyes. "Look, if you want to do this, he's your best bet anyways!"
"What are you two bickering about now? Harley, I swear, you've only been back a month and your already causing trouble!" Peter said.
"He's wanting to rework the arc reactor to be even smaller but yet produce more power." Harry explains.
"Um… last time we tried that we exploded the whole floor and both lost lab privileges…" Peter said.
"But we were so close! Not to mention we got Tony's eye and he attempted it himself!" Harley reasoned.
"Yeah… and it wound up blowing up in his face…" Peter said, crossing his arms.
"BUT- It was a much smaller reaction! We can get it!" Harley exclaimed.
"I thought you were on a permanent ban from this specific project…" Harry pointed out.
"He is." Peter said simply.
"Y'all are no fun!" Harley complained.
"I'm sorry," Ned started, "did you say that you blew up a whole floor?!"
"Oh hey! Um… who are you?" Harley asked.
Peter sighs. "Harry, Harley, these are my best friends, Ned and MJ. Ned, MJ, these are probably my best friends here at SI, Harry and Harley."
"Aw! I knew you loved us!" Harley crooned.
"Keep it up and I'll get you on tour duty." Peter threatened.
"WHAT?! No, anything but that!" Harley whined.
Harry let out a laugh.
"Is tour duty like a punishment, or something?" MJ asked.
"Sure is!" Gwen said, entering the room. "Hey boys!"
"Hey Gwen." The pair chorused.
"Then what did you do?" Ned asked.
"I was mixing mechanical engineering with bio without a proper supervisor. Two weeks of tour duty for me! But like I said, intern projects hardly get rejected. I've already been assigned an intern who is willing to help me from Bio." Gwen said, sitting down on one of the chairs in front of a lab table.
"Also, that is totally untrue!" Harley said to Harry.
"What are we talking about, exactly?" Harry asked.
"I am definitely on the same level as Peter!" Harley said.
"Um… whose the personal intern?" Gwen asked.
"But I was offered the position too!" Harley said.
"Yeah, and you turned it down! I am eons ahead of you thanks to my one on one work with Mr. Stark." Peter said.
"Forgive me for liking the freedom that's not associated with being a PI!" Harley said.
"Wait- hold on… You turned down being a personal intern… for Tony Stark?!" Ned asked.
"Bold choice." MJ commented.
"You do realize that it also comes with access to Avengers tech, right? And your little reactor project would be more feasible and probably NOT banned?" Peter asked.
"… I hate you." Harley said.
"What else is new?" Harry asked, sarcastically.
"So… is this normal around here?" Ned asked.
"Oh, absolutely." Harry said.
"This is what you have to look forward to, if you choose to intern here in college." Peter said, a slight smile on his face.
"Do you guys even get any work done?" MJ asked.
"That's debatable." Gwen said. "I do, and Peter does. Harley and Harry? Never. I swear, the only time I have ever seen Harry work, is when Harley isn't around. And lord save us all if Harley and Peter start working on something together!"
"That's the truth!" Harry said, holding out his hand to Gwen for a high five. She meets him.
"Hey! I work!" Harley said.
"Yeah, only on stupid and dangerous stuff though!" Gwen bit back.
"Your not my boss, why do you care anyways?" Harley asked.
"Um… I kind of am. Just because I'm on tour duty doesn't change the fact that I am and head intern of R&D." Gwen replied.
"Yeah, but your not my head!" Harley bites back.
"Doesn't really matter, does it? I'm still ranked higher than you!"
"Wait, your a head intern?" Ned asked.
"Yeah, just on a temporary hiatus until my punishment is up." Gwen said calmly.
"Hey, Peter! Think Tony will still take me?" Harley asked.
"Not if your only taking the position purely to outrank Gwen. But as always, the offer is still on the table." Peter said.
Harley just waved his hand.
"So, Ned and MJ was it?" Harry asked.
"Yeah!" Ned responded. MJ just nodded her head.
"So, what are your areas of expertise?" Harry questioned.
"I'm more on the programming and robotics sides of things. I love a good code!" Ned responded.
"Literature, women's studies, humanitarianism, stuff like that." MJ responded.
"Whats your current read?" Gwen asked.
"I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai." MJ responded.
"Oh, I've heard of that one! Is it any good?' Gwen asked.
MJ shrugged. "I like it so far."
"Hey, I think I'm just gonna hang out with these guys. But your free to roam around and maybe actually find someone interesting to talk to." Peter said.
Harley inhaled in mock offense, "How rude!"
"I think I'm good." MJ said, going to sit in one of the chairs.
"I'll stick around too." Ned said.
Peter smiled at his friends, Ned returning it. The odd group of six stayed and talked for the remainder of the two hours they had on the R&D intern floor.
Then Gwen's alarm went off, signaling for her to leave to meet back up with her tour group. Which also meant it was time for Peter, Ned, and MJ to leave.
"Bye guys!" Peter called.
"Bye Peter! It was really nice to finally meet you Ned and MJ. Peter talks about you all the time." Harry said.
"Especially you MJ. I can see why Peter likes you!" Harley added.
"Harley!" Peter exclaimed, his face turning red.
MJ smirked. "Bye boys, see you later."
"Bye!" Ned called.
The four of them left the room, and as they did so they could still hear Harley and Harry.
"So… Arc Reactor-"
"NO!"
Peter let out a light chuckle.
"Alright everyone," Gwen said, "Are we ready to learn about the project you guys are going to be working on?"
There were a few cheers, and lots of excited murmuring. They would be given an assignment and get to use SI materials to complete it! They were all pretty excited for this.
Gwen led them to the private lab that was already reserved and set up for them. They're were supplies at four of the black lab tables making space for four separate teams. Everything else had been pushed to the side of the room, making space for them, except for the space that was occupied by the obstacle course they would have to try to get their robots to navigate.
"Now, I want you to get into teams of three, and then pick a table! Then I'll go over exactly what your supposed to accomplish."
Peter, Ned, and MJ teamed up, and picked the back left table to work at. Flash and his two friends were at the table beside them… Betty, Cindy, and another one of their friends were in front of them, while Abe and the two other team mates were at the final table.
"Great! So you're task is to build and program a robot that can take the coins out of thees three cups, deposit them into this piggy bank, then take the the three balls from the lofted area over here, and put each ball in it's own cup. Each cup has two coins, and we have everything ranging from Pennies to quarters! You have at your deposal anything in this room, however, if it is at another teams station, then you cannot use it! That belongs to that team already! We're going to treat this as a kind of competition. In order to win your robot must complete the course the fastest. The prize will be announced later. Have fun!" Gwen said, going to sit in a chair by the door beside Mr. Harrington.
"Oh- and also. You may use your phones in this room. All the laptops provided are top of the line Stark technology, but are wiped of any confidential information!"
The trio immediately got to work. Ned was, obviously, already pulling up some coding program on the laptop, while Peter started muttering about logistics and what the robot would require. MJ noted everything down, and helped to decide how exactly they wanted to extract the coins, deposit them, transport the balls, and place them into the cups.
All of the students were lost in their work, making prototypes and testing code. Two teams even managed to run the course almost successfully. Due to everyone working hard (and wanting to win), no one really discussed or brought up anything that didn't have to do with the task at hand. Before they knew it three hours had passed, and it was time to stop for the day. Peter's team was mostly done, but they had yet to test their robot on the course. They agreed that that would be the first thing they did the next time they got to work on this.
"Alright everyone! Hate to stop you while your on a role, but it is time for us to head to dinner. You will have another opportunity to work on this, so don't worry! This lab will remain locked until then, and there should be no disturbances to your work. Go ahead and finish up whatever your building, or typing, or whatever, then please start making your way to the elevators." Gwen said.
Slowly but surely all of teams finished up for the night and they all made their way down to the cafeteria. After dinner Gwen escorted the school group down to the lobby, where she released them back to their teacher. Mr. Harrington led them back to the hotel with the same rules: in their rooms by midnight, and downstairs by 8:15.
Once they were back at the hotel and settled back into their rooms, Peter decided to get back at Harley for that way out of line comment he made to MJ, so he texted Tony.
Spider-Kid:
Do me a favor? Put Harley on tour duty for a week.
Mr. Stark:
…
Why?
Spider-Kid:
Just trust me on this!
Mr. Stark:
Alright.
It's done.
Spider-Kid:
Thanks! :)
Mr. Stark:
;)
It wasn't long before Peter received a notification from Harley.
Hurley:
…
NOT my boss:
?
Hurley:
i hate you so much
NOT my boss:
…Why??
Hurley:
i know you had something to do with this!!!
NOT my boss:
Do with what?
Hurley:
the fact that i've got tour duty!!
NOT my boss:
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Hurley:
…
NOT my boss:
:)
Hurley:
you're so annoying…
NOT my boss:
<3
Peter chuckled to himself, satisfied. He put his phone down and rolled over to go to sleep.