CEO??

Chapter 12

Bishop sighed and nodded. "We can go."

I grinned and ushered them to the elevator, directing us down to the garage. "Mr. Romanov, I'm afraid your company does not have the clearance to enter the garage."

I rolled my eyes. "Once again, Fri, my name is either Peter or Pyotr. Peter Parker for guests. And, also once again, everyone with me is allowed to go where I do, so long as they do not leave my presence. Now, release the elevator and give us access to the garage."

Friday released the elevator and we were soon riding in one of Tony's limos, which was stocked with candy and other snacks. I had my chauffeur drive so I could explain everything to the group.

"Alright, since you six have never met Shuri before, I'm going to give you the inside scoop," I said. "First thing you should know is that there is no bowing. She also doesn't like to be called by titles. Shuri will be fine. She loves anything to do with science or other technology, so that'll be a talking point you have in common. She will undoubtedly be calling me Pyotr, which is my given name, but don't feel like you have to. Umm... what else? Harls?"

He grinned and continued, "If she offers to build you some kind of gadget, it means she likes you. Also, you should accept that gadget. They're awesome. You can basically just ignore that she's royalty, as she doesn't play it up or act like it. She's really just a teenager, like us. She's probably going to be working with Peter in the labs for the next week while she's here, so you'll get to know her pretty well. Oh! And her favorite flavor of ice cream is rocky road."

They stared at us in shock and I grinned. "Any questions?"

"Why did Friday call you 'Mr. Romanov' and who is Darren? I haven't seen him around before." Sarah (Lane) asked.

"Oh, non Shuri related questions. Alright. My birth mother's last name is Romanov and Darren is my shadow, acting as my assistant for the next week or so," I answered easily.

"Okay, that makes sense."

"Any other questions related to any topic before we get there? I doubt you'll have time while Shuri is here."

"Yeah, do you know Loki? I've heard that he changed since New York, but no one says why." Timothy asked.

"I do. I am very close with them. They were actually controlled during the attack and is now released from that control and staying with me at my apartment since Tony refuses to be in the same building as them," I said with a frown. Tony doing that really made Loki, who was a sibling to me, feel even worse about the situation. They already beat themselves up over it. They used to cut before I found out and stopped them. "They actually attends school with me when he gets bored or I'm having a rough day." I smiled at the memory of Loki curled around my shoulders as a snake while I informed my teachers that they were an emotional support animal.

They didn't have any more questions for me, so we chatted until we arrived at the runway, just as the plane was touching down. I rushed to the exit of the plane where Shuri was deplaning, and hugged her.

"Whoa, Pete! What's up?" she asked, startled by my sudden need for physical contact.

"I'm glad you're alive," I whispered. Ever since I discovered how my adoptive parents died, I've hated planes. I didn't ever trust them with my loved ones' safety.

She put the pieces together and hugged me back. "I am too," she said. "Now, is that some new people I see by the car?" she asked. "I must meet them. Introduce me, peasant!"

I laughed as she joked around. "Yeah. They're all geniuses. They're stoked to meet you. Apparently, they've heard about your genius."

She grinned and walked with me back towards them. "Tell me more."

"Well, Darren is a classmate of mine. He's great at everything but excels in Creative Writing the most. The rest are the interns from Lab Seven, Sarah Lane, Connor Blake, Eleanor Bishop, Timothy McGee, and Samuel Jackson."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "There are five of them. Are you telling me that your company has five workers in a lab?"

I huffed angrily. "Yes! I only just found out that I am CEO and at the next meeting I went to, I discovered that most of the departments are understaffed or underfunded! You want to join me in scolding Pepper and Tony?"

She nodded furiously before shoving down her anger to greet the group with a smile. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Shuri. Pyotr told me about you guys. I am officially stealing you to work with me and Pyotr in the labs."

"Shuri, you can help us with their projects!" I said with an excited gasp. "I've only seen Connor's but if their statistics were anything to go by, the rest are probably brilliant as well!"

Shuri nodded happily. "Good idea! You know I love lab time! Hey, Harls."

We all climbed into the limo and Happy drive us back to the tower. Everyone asked Shuri a few questions, which she happily answered. Happy ended up rolling up his window halfway through the drive because we were chatting so much.

The interns grew comfortable with Shuri and bonded quickly. They were talking about tech at first but then it started to random topics like favorite movies. I could tell that we had five new additions to our friend group.

----------------------------------------

Thoughts?