Peter was pretty sure he'd never been less excited to visit Stark Tower. Usually, he'd be singing happily as he swung through New York on his way to the Tower. Right now, he was slumped in a school bus, listening to Flash make up stupid songs about him and how he was a liar. Even with his ear buds in and the music turned up, he could hear Flash and his friends taunting him from the back. Ms. Warren either didn't hear (how could she not?) or didn't care.

"We're here!" Ms. Warren suddenly announced.

Peter sank lower into his seat while the other kids jumped to the windows, hoping to see the Tower. It was hard to miss as they were stopping right in front of it.

"Come on, man," Ned exclaimed, tugging on Peter's arm.

Peter stood up and begrudgingly followed Ned off the bus and away from the group of students. After MJ joined them with a book, the three followed the larger group inside.

Stopping them in the reception area, Mr. Warren said, "Wait right here while I line up our tour."

Everyone found a couch, a chair, or the floor to sit on and talked to their friends excitedly. Even Ned was not an exception but unfortunately for him, Peter was not listening.

"...and you're not even listening," Ned finished.

Peter snapped his head up to look at Ned who gave him a look and he sighed.

"Sorry, man," he said, "It's just—I'm here all the time and Flash is going to make this miserable."

"Oh yeah," Ned said with a nod. "I keep forgetting that."

Before Peter could reassure him, Ms. Warren returned with a tour guide who introduced herself as Larissa and handed out badges.

As their names were called out, each student walked forward to receive their white badge. Of course, thanks to the Stark Industries 'No Waste' policy, Peter didn't have a guest badge printed out. No one seemed to notice except Ned and MJ, but when he pulled his own badge from his backpack, they weren't surprised.

"Hey, yours is blue," Ned said, pointing at the dark navy colour of Peter's badge.

Unlike Ned's white badge that simply read 'Guest' in black lettering, Peter's badge had his name was on the back along with a barely visible, black spider in the bottom right corner.

"Yeah, 'cause it's not a guest badge," Peter explained quietly, letting Ned admire the badge.

After everyone had a badge, Larissa returned the remaining badges to the reception desk then beckoned them all to the security gate.

"Welcome to Stark Industries, everyone," she said, clasping her hands together. "Perhaps you've noticed your badges are a slightly different colour than mine." She held up her green badge for display and explained, "This helps distinguish the differences in clearance level. Each colour has are five levels, the fifth of each colour being the highest clearance on that colour."

A hand shot up and she called on it.

"What's the highest level badge?"

"The highest level is actually Mr. Stark himself who does not require a badge to enter any place," Larissa answered, "However, the highest badge would be Navy Five which is only given to Pepper Stark and James Rhodes. The Avengers have Navy Three."

Another hand went up, but Abraham spoke before Larissa called on him. "Who has Navy Four?"

"No one," she answered.

Peter kept quiet. He was the only one who had Navy Four, but clearly Mr. Stark hadn't put that in the system. Later, when he wasn't on a field trip, he'd have to ask Mr. Stark why he wasn't in the system.

"Alright, please follow me and scan your badges!" Larissa said excitedly. Moving slowly so everyone could see, she scanned her badge and walked through the gate.

"Larissa James. Level Green Four," FRIDAY announced.

A couple of kids looked at the security gate in awe at the sound of her voice and Larissa smiled.

"Come on through," she called.

The class did and FRIDAY called out every single name followed by "White One". When Peter followed Ned through, however, FRIDAY's announcement changed.

"Peter Parker. Level Navy Four," FRIDAY declared and even Larissa looked at him in surprise. "Welcome back, Peter."

He hurried to the back of the group while his classmates whispered to themselves and Larissa checked something on her Stark tablet. After not finding anything that would tell her he did, in fact, have a high clearance badge, she narrowed her eyes at him. Nonetheless, she cleared her throat, still eyeing Peter suspiciously, and called for the group's attention.

"Our first stop will be the lower offices, so follow me and I'll take you up," she said, guiding them over to the lifts.

They all filed in and crammed together for the short ride up, but Peter could feel everyone's eyes on him. Apparently, his classmates didn't forget things easily.