NOVEL FROG Arc Sixteen. Chapter Four Hundred Fifty-Four. Unwelcome Guests
With his birthday out of the way, Peter was starting to get down to work once more. Not scrolls but actual work. AEGIS required a lot more work than he first anticipated.
The site was sound, but the buildings had been damaged during the Hydra attack. It was the opinion of the architect that they be torn down and replaced, right down to the foundation.
With bare foundations, the school could be tailor-built with powered children in mind. New fibre optic cables gave the school one of the fastest internets in the country. Tony had taken one look at the plans and laughed. He called in his own staff, and soon a more technologically advanced layout was being drafted. Tony would pick up the paycheck and everything would have Stark in big silver letters. As the students would have the best equipment, in not just the US but the world, Peter didn't care.
Charles wanted to add training rooms. Something Peter had no problem with. He had been in the old Danger Room and it was amazing. It had shocked Pewter to learn that its creator, Quentin Beck, was blacklisted by Tony. He had called it B.A.R.F. Binary Augmented Retro Framing, an acronym made purely to spite its creator. Charles had picked up the patents cheaply and used them for what they should have been used for. A safe and fully immersive virtual environment. Tony had just sneered and walked away from that discussion. He hadn't come up with it, so he didn't want anything to do with it.
Unfortunately, all the upgrades meant a new security system as well. To create a Danger Room capable of withstanding the Hulk meant a lot of Adamantium and Vibranuim. The campus alone was worth several billion dollars in materials, let alone equipment. Thankfully, He had Wrath and Natasha to help. Fury was bad enough on his own, but Maria and Natasha just made things worse. Several times Peter had to remind them that no, the security had to be non-lethal. It was a school, not a prison. There were several irate phone calls from the contractors when Fury became involved. Peter began to wish he'd smiled, handed everything to Charles or Tony and went back to his lab. But, it was his idea, and so it was his responsibility to ensure that the entire thing ran smoothly.
Tony was happy to pay for everything, as long as it had a shiny red and gold Stark logo on it afterwards.
As he had already run a successful school, Peter delegated that role to Charles. Staffing and Teachers would be his responsibility. He reached out to not just normal teachers but the Enhanced and Augment community as well.
Yelena, bored of sitting in the warehouse, was offered a training position when she was not on a mission. Liv and Ivan, could take time from Ocktech and provide technical support for the new faculty. Tony, in his usual bluster, even offered but Charles politely declined. While Tony was brilliant, and there was no doubt about it, he tended to go off on tangents. He was given a test class and failed miserably. He just didn't have the patience to teach.
What surprised Peter though was Susan Storm was offered and accepted a position as well. Reed and the Fantastic Four often patrolled New York, and he assumed that a 'hero' would be too busy. But she felt that Reed’s attempts to fix the reality damage were bordering on an obsession. One that left time for anything else, including Sue.
The media had been praising them as the perfect American couple, something to aspire to. It was a blatant jab at Peter, but he just ignored it. It was fine to hoard money, but live in a small group, yeah, he was going to hell. The religious and the conservative banged their little fists as Peter ignored them. He might be in the news for it, but people took notice, and it was becoming more and more popular. In a time of rising prices and falling wages, small communal groups made life easier. Even his idea of buying a warehouse and converting old offices into Homes was proving viable.
But, as usual, it wasn't the government's fault. Nope, it was the guy who made replacement limbs for kids and had ten girlfriends. He was just in the spotlight because of Wakanda and Shuri.
The truth was though, as Sue had begun to speak to Gwen, that Reed was obsessed with the Reality Stone. Once he knew of its existence, he began to work on not just fixing the damage but replicating its power. Peter wondered if he and Stark might have to go have a small word with him. Messing with reality wasn't something you did, or at least not with Reed's track record.
She wanted to do something more than watch Ben and Reed fight. Reed would swear he was close to fixing Ben, and then it would fail once more. He reached out to everyone he knew, even Stephen again, and was told the same thing. There is nothing to fix. They had all been altered by Reality itself, this was what they were now. So, after finishing her thesis, she moved to teach. Gwen was singing her praises and the newly appointed school board agreed. Susan was teaching chemistry, and extra classes in control. Her powers were fueled by her emotions and she needed to get a handle on them fast. She spent hours on what worked, and what was nonsense.
Over the year the school was coming together nicely. It would take several years before the school functioned properly, but it would be worth it. News of the school was already hitting the headlines and there was now a waiting list. With Malik in prison, and JJ muted, the threats were of a normal level, and it was just loudmouths and assholes.
Even with the school taking up most of his time, life in the warehouse moved on as well. Cindy still lived in the warehouse, but Eddie had moved out. He had finally moved in with Betty, under the insistence from Peter that she remain out of the loop.
Ivan and Melina had taken to living together. Alexei was taken to a minimum-security facility. He had the Red Room Formula removed at Matt's insistence. While weakened, they had used his frailty to get a reduction on his sentence. He would be in prison for a year, and then under house arrest for another five, with a tracker fitted. It was fine that he would be housebound in the guest warehouse.
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It was almost time for the school's trial run. Invites for the first test batch of students were going to be sent out but first Peter had one more stop to make.
With Xandar finally here, it was an invitation for any children their guards might have to attend. So far they had only seen soldiers, but they had no idea if there were families aboard the ships in orbit. But, it was an olive branch, the first of many.
As Peter stood at the gates to the Xandarian embassy, a stern golden armoured warrior looked at his pass. “The embassy is closed. Asgard and its surrounding territories are preparing for a celebration. Earth and its people will be welcomed into the Asgardian Empire.” The guard took the pass, "Your access is revoked."
“Asgardian Empire?” Peter asked confused.
“Commander Thor will be arriving shortly, Please wait.” The guard said monotonally and stood back at attention.
Peter waited and eventually Thor walked down to the guard post. He had changed over the years. His long unruly hair was now short, and the beard was trimmed almost like Starks, but still a dirty blonde colour.
What Peter noticed the most was, “No hammer?” He asked.
Thor laughed, “My father says that I am Thor God of lightning, not Thor God of hammers, and made me leave it on Asgard. But that's not important. Peter, The fleet from Asgard will be escorting the Xandarian ambassador. If all goes well, then Earth and that silly moon base shall be part of something glorious.” Thor said, his voice booming in his usual enthusiasm.
“Yeah, and if Earth says no?” Peter already knew that Wakanda wouldn't agree to outside interference. It was one of the issues he and Shuri had been working on, and he hardly expected Doom to roll over.
“It has already been agreed with your Earth’s government, but be warned, Peter. Asgard shall hold no tolerance for petty squabbles or arguments. We both know that Earth's mightiest heroes are no match for the will or power of Asgard.”
“But-” Peter began but Thor interrupted him.
“You have been warned, Peter. Make no mistake, this is happening. Now, I have preparations to make, and duties to attend to.” Thor turned and left, and one of the guards stood in front of Peter scowling until he got the message. He wasn't welcome.
Confused, Peter left and wanted to wait until he could speak to Carol. They knew the Xandarians were here, but talk of an Asgardian Empire seemed a little off-key. Carol had briefed them that both were separate. That was the three main Empires in the galaxy, along with the Kree. The Xandarians and the Nova Corp were not ruled by Asgard.
As he headed back into the warehouse, he already had his phone out. He tapped a group message that everyone needed to be back at the warehouse over lunch. Looking up he saw MJ and Felicia sitting at the breakfast table and he headed over. “Right, we need a plan,” he started as the pair looked at him confused. “I was at the Xandarian embassy, and it felt wrong.”
“So, plan for what? Cracking skulls?” Felicia asked with a small grin.
“No, not yet, but, food, water, emergency stuff. It's not Xandarian any more, it's Asgardian.”
“But that's a good thing, right?” MJ asked. She had been keeping up with the latest news, and while she had not kept in touch with Thor, was on good terms with him.
Peter poured himself a coffee and added three sugars to it, “I dont know, it just feels off.” He sat and huffed. He really wished he had the Mind Stone right about now. He stirred his mug, Nope, that's why we gave it up, he thought to himself. With Arcee needing it to reformat Cybertron properly, it was in much better hands. Plus he figured using it to snoop into an embassy was rude or an even act of war.
“Fine, so what, shopping?” Felicia asked.
Peter took a deep breath, “Yup, maybe hit a few different places, make it look like it's not too obvious.”
“Wanda. Why hit different places, when we can hit different cities or countries? I think Gwen finally got her sling thing as well.” Felicia said, pouring herself more coffee as well. “She really didn't like the hat though Pete.”
Peter laughed. He had found a witch’s costume online and surprised the pair during one of their nights together. Gwen had fake pouted but that was it. They had a threesome right after she had changed.
“Says the one who bought her a broom,” he replied.
Felicia shrugged, “It was one of those toy ones that vibrated. They pulled them from the market so quickly that they are a collector’s item now. Gwen didn't mind.”
A toy company had created a child's toy, a broom that had ‘real flying action’ mimicking the film series it was based on. It was quickly discovered that the motor was too powerful and that it was not something for a child. It was withdrawn almost immediately, but Felicia had managed to get one. What they used it for was definitely not child-friendly.
MJ rolled her eyes, “Anyway, sexcapades aside. What about next door?”
“Yeah, everyone on deck for this one. See what Fury and Charles have to say as well.”
Ororo had been busy finalising the new ARCA laws and had been back on Earth several times now. Avalon was complete, and the ADAAMs were installed in key locations. If they needed to escape from an invasion, there were a few locations they would be able to retreat to.
“Think it's that bad?” Felicia asked, worried.
“It's just, like the feeling right before a storm. Something bad is going to happen.”
“Great” Felicia complained, “We got what? Eight months this time. Same old shit." She shrugged, "Going for a swim. Join me?” Both Peter and MJ nodded. “Might as well relax before everything goes to hell.”
