The routine sound of my alarm clock blared uncomfortably in my ears, warning me about the upcoming school day.
Thinking it was my first alarm I ignored it for a little believing I had ample time to get ready. After a few moments I willed my right arm out slapping my hand against the nightstand in search of my glasses.
Unable to feel for them I roll over closer to the nightstand and in my sleepy dreary state I fall off the bed, feeling a moment of weightlessness before my face makes contact with the old carpeted floor eliciting a grunt from my mouth.
After a few more moments I sigh and push myself to my feet, finding my glasses on the nightstand and I slide them on my face.
As the optical clarity comes in I see the time on the blaring alarm clock 7:34
"... I'm late…" I mutter under my breath as I realize it wasn't the first alarm blaring but the second, before I turn around rushing into my wardrobe and hurriedly assembling my Gotham prep academy uniform.
I managed to put it all on in record time before rushing out of my bedroom door down the apartment stairs grabbing the paper plate holding a toasted bacon and egg sandwich before moving to the door.
Shouting warmly "thank you Aunt May, Uncle Ben!" As I rushed myself out the door while they returned warm words and well wishes for the day.
The Gotham smog and cold air of the winter season felt bitter against my nose and face.
Taking a bite of my breakfast sandwich trying to finish it quickly as I semi-sprinted down the sidewalk in a rush to the bus stop at the intersection of 17th Street and Jazz lane two blocks away.
Though much to my repeated showings, lady luck was against the parkers as I saw the bus pull away from the stop as I managed to approach.
A long drawn out groan of weary exasperation escaped me, the air leaving my mouth visible as it contradicted the cold brisk Gotham Air.
I leaned against the traffic light pole on the corner of the intersection catching my breath as I heard the sound of a familiar car rolling closer and the distinct sound of a window opening.
"Parker luck again?" The soft voice I knew to be one of my closest friends, Barbara Gordon, teased.
The only response I was willing to give was a sigh and a nod of my head as Dick snickered at my misfortune and opened the door from the inside as the Wayne did so many times before, a wordless invitation I've also accepted so many times before.
"Stop teasing me about misfortune- please?" I ask almost helplessly.
It earned me a small smirk from both Barbara and Dick as Barbara raised her hands in mock surrender. Dick looked like he was about to say something in turn, probably to mortify me further and plunge me into the pits of embarrassment over my routine misfortune, but Alfred, their butler, bless that elderly man's heart and what a godsend he is; spoke first "Mistress Gordon and Master Grayson, please show young Peter some leniency with these teasing games, would you?"
Seemingly unable to protest, Dick just let out a sigh as if unable to deny the request of that golden hearted old man. "Alright alright, I'll back off the teasing… for this morning." Dick responds with a grin.
A genuine sigh of relief escapes me as Alfred pulls the car up to the sidewalk in front of the Gotham academy, the car rolls into a stop.
"Thanks Mister Alfred!" I thank the old man with a smile, I wish I knew his last name though, saying mister with his first name feels weird but he's always so formal so I want to try and be respectful of that with him.
He looked back at us three with a warm smile before waving us off and driving away.
"So- are you guys at lunch?" I turn asking them as I start walking up the stairs.
"Yeah!" Dick responds with an enthusiastic grin.
"If you didn't meet us at lunch we'd just find you and drag you to our table." Barbara of course, threatens and jokes at the same time.
Following that we split up for our courses.
Heading to the AP chem lab first I sit down in class and pull a notebook from my bag, on top of the projects the teacher has been throwing our way I've been researching an assortment of chemicals to try and develop a substance that can be used for capturing criminals with ease, something biodegradable for the environment, sticky, hard to remove, destroy, and potential short term structural applications.
The amount of criminals in the crime city of America has been wanting me to do more, I want this city and it's people to prosper, I grew up here and I want to help.
As I mulled through my own thoughts class passed without me paying much attention, it was mostly review because the teacher felt like having an easy Monday. Following chem I had a small roboticist and tech class. Moving to my work table I found my familiar small drone, I was already in conversations with Wayne Enterprise regarding the drone, though that was mostly thanks to the combined efforts of Dick and my teacher, I was already getting offered internships…
Though I wouldn't let myself take them because it felt like being Dick's friend was the reason for me getting those offers.
So I made a deal with him if the drone worked how I expected it too and if his dad still wanted to purchase the patent, then I'd accept the internship, but not before.
I booted up the one of the laptops donated to the school by Wayne enterprises, logged in and connected the laptop by wire to the drone so I could reassess the coding I've managed so far.
Considering I'm not really allowed access to the criminal records held by the Gotham police department, I managed to simulate something I hoped would suffice for explaining that I made this drone to identify, civilians or criminals.
"Mr. Callighan, I'm going to test the drone's maneuverability and identification today." I managed to keep my voice level despite my excitement, working on stuff like this always got me excited.
My notice was responded to with a quiet nod of my instructor's head as I used the laptop to boot up and start the drone.
Unplugging the drone so it could ascend, the 4 rotors began buzzing softly as the little drone that could start moving up off the work table.
The drone moves a few feet up off the table, I fortunately had it coded so it would gauge its elevation based on minute differences in air pressure and if incase it were in an enclosed space, the way sound moves from it's rotors and how long it takes for that sound to bounce back to it from nearby objects, people, and or walls.
To see if the coding functioned as designed, a few small objects were tossed to see if the drone would evade them. Which much to my own excitement it worked, though it likely spent a lot of energy with excess or severe reaction to the object like stimuli.
"Success!" I couldn't help but shout in excitement, so many months of hard work. I stepped back to the laptop and sent a signal to the drone for it to descend and turn off, which it oblidged too, with the buzzing coming to a halt.
"Peter, you accomplished something amazing today, over months of work you managed to program a flying drone to balance and fly itself, and you managed to have it properly identify someone despite inconsistencies between it's data and reality. The power source can always be substituted or improved, but i believe you accomplished the hardest parts of your project."
"I- thank you for supporting me so much Mr. Callighan- but i should improve the accuracy of the AI more, i don't want to risk any false notices…" Despite how it ended, I have to say, I'm feeling a lot more confident in myself given what i did manage to accomplish, I didn't think i would be this close until the end of the school year.
My series of rambling thoughts ended as the bell rang as if to signal next period, The rest of my classes, AP calculus, World history, and Art went by as per a usual, day. I already had the calculus material finished, I forgot an old dude's name that i was supposed to remember for my history test because they all look the same, and I fell asleep in art class.
Sitting down at Lunch with the school provided meal, today was a regular cheese burger, broccoli on the side, cup of apple sauce and a milk carton.
Sitting down at my usual table and I began attacking my food, trying to eat fast because I wanted to spend a bit more time focused on the likely conversation with my friends.
Around halfway done with my meal I was greeted to Dick sitting on my left and Barbara on my right, dick punching my shoulder with playful grin and barbara flicking his forehead from my other side.
"Hey!" a usual complaint came from Dick's mouth and couldn't help but choke on my food a little as i laughed despite trying to stifle the sound.
Barbara just smirked and ignored him as she turned her attention to me, "I heard from some other students you finally tested your drone, I needa know how it went!"
"Wouldn't they have told you how it went?" I asked with a look of mock suspicion
While Barbara frowned poked my shoulder as he picked up the question, "We want to hear it from you because you get all geeky and nerdy when talking about your projects, and they wouldn't do explaining justice because they were clearly jealous of your project."
I sighed in contentment as I my meal, only to have a spoonful of soggy beans from the cafeteria launched into my hair from I don't know where, in that moment Dick immediately began getting up with Barbara likely looking for the bean using assassin but i pulled them both back down in their seats and ignored the laughter that was obviously directed at me.
"It's fine-" i urge them quietly only to be cut off by their mutual protest.
"No it's not!" the interruption was angry but they both held their voices to a whisper.
"You wanna hear about the project progress in in my robotics class or no?" i give both of them questioning raised eyebrow.
They gave each other a look then conceded as they sat back down.
"Ok, i want to preference this by saying, i still have to narrow the identify function to ensure there's no false procs, the test ended because the battery fried, and lastly I wasn't able to test it's maneuverability or how well it would move around obstacles and I could stand to make it quieter still. That aside, it managed to maintain it's balance in air for the entire test, I couldn't see any malfunctions there. The identify system also worked, it managed to identify me as a criminal according to the data I fed it being outdated- it's why i shaved my head a few months back i wanted to test the ability to identify with weak or outdated information."
"I thought it was because the amount of gum Flash put in your hair-" Dick started.
I hurriedly cut Dick off from finishing of course "Abababababed, that might've been part of it but 1. We don't talk about that, 2. Opportunities present themselves. That aside, it should be done a few months from now, around then I plan on testing out of school so I won't be here senior year, i hope to be using that year to be picking up a job."
"Great! My dad's been bothering me about you, he really wants you to consider the internship, you willing to delay going home because he scheduled things in hopes you'd visit this week." Dick explained.
"Is this an invitation only for him." Barbara shot with a raised eyebrow.
"You work there already- i guess we can both give him a tour." Dick's tone of course shifting under Barbara's glare, though I don't really understood why she glared.
"So after school today right?" I decided to shift the topic slightly.
"Yeah, Alfred'll pick us up." Dick responded.
I nodded my head as i stood up and put my lunch tray in the pile with the others to be clean before we ended up leaving the campus as the schedule closed.
"Am I not- allowed to skip out of this one-?" My voice tentative and careful, Barbara laughed as if the mere question were foolish while Dick glanced at a clock and swayed his head for a moment in thought before standing up and pulling me up as well "You assumed right this time. Comon, time to go."
A sigh escapes me as we walk out of the front doors of the private campus and I'm dragged into the Wayne family limo.
"Do you two have a silent agreement to swap who drags me place to place every time?"
"Of course, how else would we get you to go places with us?" Barbara shoots back like it's the most common thing in the world.
I sigh in mock defeat as I slide into the car after Dick, being allocated to the middle between them and Barbara shuts the door of the car.
"Hey Alfred." I greet him trying to distract myself from dubiously playful kidnapping my friends are performing.
"Greetings, young Peter, I must say I am quite joyful you've accepted requests to visit Wayne Tower after so much refusal. Master Wayne himself was about to fund a school trip as he heard tale of your steadfast refusal despite your interests." His British accent thick as he spoke as formal as my previous protests to him calling me 'young master Parker' would allow.
"Ah... I should've held out longer, I would've been able to skip art class one day..." A groan escaped me at the revelation of a missed opportunity.
"I'm sure a trip could still be arranged, worry not young Peter." Alfred tried of course to console my woes while the two kidnapping gremlins on either side of me just laughed while we approached Wayne Tower.
"Here we are children." Alfred spoke kindly as I turned the car off, stepping out, he opened the door for us on the side facing Wayne Tower, Barbara slid out first followed by me then Dick with Alfred then closing the door and leading us into the imposing sky rise building.
Stepping into the warm comforting air and lighting of Wayne Tower was a drastic change from the rest of Gotham seemingly. The lobby, or first floor appearance distinctly reminded me of what would be- or well what I thought would be a 5 star expressive vacation hotel with a more- official look?
White marble flooring, attendant desk made of wood painted black, 4 total elevators near the center of the first floor, a small lounge area with pieces covered in black fabric.
Art that I couldn't find the appeal too or even imagine the price tags of lined the walls.
Pulling me out of my stupor, Dick poked my forehead while Barbara pulled my arm.
"I told you he spaced out, now we can keep moving." I knew why he was wearing that snarky grin, he grins like that whenever he manages to prove Barbara (or anyone else in a bet) wrong.
"Alright, moving on before the tour ends abruptly because one of you needs to be sent to the hospital?" I try to reason making sure I stay between them.
And much to my relief, Alfred seems to agree "Quite so, it would be a shame not to be considerate enough of our guest, wouldn't it, Master Dick and Mistress Barbara?" His voice steadfast as he chided them .
I of course kept the sigh of relief as Barbara kept it to a glaring match and Dick managed to keep snarky comments from flowing internal while we moved to one of the elevators.
Stepping inside, I remained in-between Dick and Barbara still, rather I take the hit then let either of my friends get hurt as Alfred pressed the button for the 43rd floor.
It seemed he was going to take the lead for the tour rather than Dick or Barbara.
Eventually stepping out of the elevator onto the floor, to the left seemed to be R&D split into two groups so to speak, focused on modern tech and electrical devices, from Wayne phones to security cameras to power tools for the left of the hallway. Engineering and models for heavier machinery or vehicles on the right of the hallway.
In the opposite direction was R&D with a biological focus or humane efforts, cleaner energies, prosthetics, and research to just learn more about the planet.
"Shall we start with the left?" Alfred asked maintaining that ever cordial tone.
I gave a silent nod as I was of course, fixated on the innovations in front of me. I saw the phones that were acclaimed they would take the world by storm and replace essentially all flip phones because it would be akin to having a computer in your pocket, not just a phone. I saw security cameras that watched the hall, and the feed shown on a TV in one of the rooms was so high definition I thought I could count out my eyelashes when it zoomed in on my moving figure.
I saw simulations of plane and jet engines that I knew weren't on the market yet, and more diagrams of adjustments to engines still on the market.
Moving to the other sections, the other three of my group knew I had zoned out seemingly unable to hear them but they let me bask in a sense of wonder as we traveled the research floor. Alfred leading the group with Dick and Barbara close behind him.
Despite my usually better judgement, I wanted to get closer to one of these projects, to see more of what these visionaries thought and attempted to explore.
As if my inhibitions fell off I slipped into a side room while my guides weren't paying attention and found myself in an exhibit with- well a lot of webs.
A light blue illuminated the small room though it was mostly dark. My guess is that this is an exhibit catering towards housing spiders.
Where I am on the research floor? I have no clue.
Feeling something- prickly on my neck instinctively slapped the side of my neck and felt a painful sting.
It lasted for a moment and I waved my hand franticly to get whatever it was off as I rushed out of the exhibit before someone saw me as I came to the very logical conclusion I should absolutely not be in this room.
Walking the hallway it took some time to catch up to the others, they gave me questioning and inquisitive looks seemingly expecting me to explain.
"I got lost kinda looking at the prosthetics exhibit- they moved so fluidly" I reasoned. My throat was getting dry though and my head felt lighter "Is that all for the tour?"
"Yes, young Peter, I fear we may have bored you and kept you too long, I'll drive you to your residence." Alfred's voice rang in my ears, a little louder than what I was used to hearing from the older man- actually everything felt- louder.
The rest of the day seemed to move in a blur of sleepishness, a sudden onset of exhaustion I couldn't explain led to me passing out in the car and forgetting what the others were talking about.
I don't know how I managed to get there but I found myself in my room in front of my bed, and I fell forward onto the comfy mattress as darkness embraced me and I fell asleep.