Spider-man: Alone in New York

~ Chapter 11 ~

Despite it being my third time entering Stark Tower, I was still left without words. The technology it harbored; it was light years away from the rest of the world.

"Peter!" I looked around and spotted the woman I had checked in with in the beginning. We also had a small chat yesterday before I went up. Once she realized I had seen her, she said, "Hi, Peter. How you doing?"

I approached her with a small smile on my face. "Hi Ms. Wightman. I'm doing well, and you?"

"Good as always. How's school? I heard it gets tougher and tougher."

I shrugged. "That's true, but we manage."

"I'm glad to hear that, Peter. Oh no, am I holding you back? I'm sure you have somewhere to be," She said, worried.

"There's no problem, Ms. Wightman. I enjoy talking to you."

This caused her to smile. "Thank you, Peter. And what did I tell you to call me?" She narrowed one eye at me.

I looked at my shoes. "Emma." She nodded and bid me goodbye.

"See you later, Emma," I forced myself to say and went to the elevator. She told me yesterday to call me Emma too, but I still called her Ms. Wightman, which probably would happen tomorrow as well.

I entered the elevator and glanced at the buttons. Which floor had Mr. Stark said? Thirty, I remembered. Pressing it, I felt the elevator moving up smoothly.

The elevator doors slid open, and I stepped out gingerly. I had come out in a hallway with multiple doors. This couldn't be his lab, could it? But he did say floor thirty, or did he? Did I remember wrong? Maybe I didn't hear him right and he said thirteen. I turned to go back into the elevator, but it was already gone. Great.

I reached out to call the elevator with a button again, but then I heard his voice.

"I told you, it's your company now. You don't always have to check everything with me, Pepper," Tony reasoned.

Pepper said, "But it's a big decision, Tony. I can't just do that without telling you." They must be in a room, I decided. I could hear them only because of my super hearing.

Tony asked, and I heard his voice come closer, probably to a door, "Hey, Pepper. The kid should be here now. Would you like to meet him?"

"Sure, I'd love to meet him, especially after all the things you said." My eyes widened. What did he say? He likely said something bad about me. Oh no, she's going to judge me. A door opened and the two walked out.

As soon as Tony spotted me, his mouth curved into a smile. "Hey, Peter! How are you doing today?"

I shifted on the balls of my feet. I still wasn't used to be in his presence. I mean, he was Tony Stark, and I was, well, me. "Um, good."

"I'm glad. I wanted to introduce you to Pepper, the CEO of this company and the love of my life," He said, his hands motioning to a woman beside him who visibly blushed due to his statement. She seemed to try to cover it up with an annoyed facial expression pointed at Tony, but then her eyes shifted to mine and a smile overcame her features.

"So you're the new intern here!" She came forward and shook my hand. "I heard so much about you. You're pretty smart for a fourteen-year-old."

"Fifteen," I mumbled.

She didn't hear me and went on to ask, "Tony hasn't been bothering you, has he?"

"Uh, no. He's, ah, very understanding."

She snorted, "Understanding is not a word I would use." Then she saw my fallen face and quickly amended her statement with a small laugh. "I'm just kidding. I'm happy that he has been nice to you."