Chapter 28: Stark
Chapter 29
"Critters, I'm gonna call these guys critters." Xavier said from his desk in the Den. He had been thinking about fixes and upgrades for them ever since he got back from Stark Tower.
Peter piped up from the other side of the room. "Why would you call the critters when they form together to make something big and strong?"
"Because the actual name is a Chimera, critters are what I'll call the individual bots."
Shaking his head, Peter turned back to what he was working on. He was currently building Otto's artificial limbs. He had recently come out with the information that his body was degrading.
The nerves in his body were decaying essentially and he was slowly shutting down. Though that was only his body, his mind would be fine, as well as his organs. But eventually he would no longer be able to move his arms and legs.
Peter took it upon himself to build his legs himself. He had seen the designs just like Xavier had and wanted to build them himself with the materials from the shop.
Currently, they were half finished and look nothing like they did before. In the blueprints sitting off to the side, the top two would be able to change their claws into hands so Otto could grab things safely.
Also recently he had gotten the chance to meet Dr Connors while Xavier was at the competition today to speak about the artificial limbs. Peter would be installing these into the body of Octacious so he wanted to make sure he could recover quickly afterwards.
Peter liked Dr Connors, even if he didn't have much to show from his research. He was currently still in animal testing having mild success, so there wasn't much to gleam from him about recovery other than how cells worked on a small scale.
Peter had been keeping himself busy working on this for a few weeks and had only just recently begun to actually build them. Xavier had helped him here and there, but he had been busy as well.
Now that he had some free time, Xavier thought that it was time to work on the base. First of all, he had closed off the basement of the warehouse the Den was in and put a lock on it.
From above it was concealed as just a normal floor and you needed to use an access Token to get inside. The door he built into the floor would sink into the floor and you would be allowed inside. There was much more to do, but building the door and hooking it up to the power was a task of its own.
===
Later that week, Xavier received a phone call from an unknown number.
"Hello?" He answered.
"Hello, is this Mr Parker?" A young woman's professional voice sounded from the other side of the call.
"Yes, who is this?" He wasn't expecting anyone as far as he knew.
"This is Nancy from Stark Industries, Mr Stark has requested a meeting with you at his office today at 5:00. Will you be able to arrive on time?"
'WHAT?!' Glancing at his phone, it was already 4:14.
"Yes! I'll be there as soon as I can!" He said, rushing to leave the Den.
"Allright, come to the main reception and tell them who you are and they'll direct you to where you are needed. Have a great day!" She said with an audibly beaming smile, hanging up before he could say it back.
"Since when did I have a meeting with Stark?! Don't tell me he already found out about us being Spider-Man?" He muttered, running to the shower.
Luckily he had a shower when he built the gym here. In less than ten minutes he had washed off all the dirt and grime he had built up while working with the machinery all day.
Running out with his hair still wet, Peter called out to him. "Where are you going in such a hurry? You got a date?"
"YUP, With Tony Stark, Bye."
"...WHAT?!"
===
When he ran out of the Den after his shower, Xavier had about 35 minutes to make it to Stark Tower. 'I'll never make it on foot, so…'
Flying out of a nearby alley, Xaier made quick time swinging through the city. The trip took less than 15 minutes and while it could have been faster, he had to stop and help a few people on the streets. Actually, he could have made it under two.
He quickly switched his clothes back to the way he had them before, deciding he had just enough time to stop for a cup of coffee. 'I'll never go without old faithful joe.'
Ten minutes later he walked into the reception of Stark Tower. As he walked in, the receptionist looked up from her desk.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
"I'm Xavier Parker and I was called to have a meeting with Mr. Stark?" He said, still unsure about his situation.
"Ah, yes." She recognised his name and looked down at her monitor. "Enter the elevator and I'll shoot you right up to his penthouse." She instructed, pointing to the elevator in the back of the room.
'Penthouse? Why the penthouse?' Xavier was beginning to feel a sense of dread some over his mind.
'Rude.' A voice in his head spoke up.
'Dredd! You're awake again!'
'Awake and fully operational, have been since yesterday, just lazy. Won't be needing another power nap like that for a long while.' The symbiote told him.
'That's good, at least I'm not going into this alone. Just wish you could use my memories to help me with the philanthropist up here.'
===
Entering the penthouse of Tony Stark was something that few could claim to have done, and it was luxurious.
Inside, there were plenty of very expensive couches and lounges sitting everywhere in the entrance. It was like walking into a film set where they couldn't decide what kind of couch to have. Anyway, it had variety and wasn't afraid to be expensive.
Choosing a couch at random, Xavier sat down and waited on his phone. He didn't know whether Stark would arrive on time, but knowing him he was already here and watching him. Xavier wasn't wrong.
In another room of the penthouse, Tony was watching the young man with a camera system. Looking at Xavier sitting patiently on his phone, he looked to the monitor to his left. "Are you sure about that background check Jarvis? He doesn't seem nervous at all."
"Yes sir, I've checked thrice now. Mr. Parker has never met anyone of your caliber, and has only worked in Oscorp Industries." A robotic male voice told him. "Though, at times it would seem that Mr. Parker can disappear from his apartment randomly only to reappear entering it hours later."
"Disappear? And you can't track him? How?" Tony Stark had had Jarvis up and operational for the better part of two years now and he had never failed a task he was given. Whether that be a background check, tracking someone with public cameras or even checking bank statements, never."
"I'm sorry sir, but Mr. Parker seems to have an ability to lose all forms of tracking on his person at times." Jarvis explained.
"..." Tony stayed silent for a moment, thinking. 'That could mean that he either has someone protecting him, or that he was trained on how to lose a tail, digitally and in person.' Tapping his finger repeatedly on the table, he thought over his actions.
"I could leave it be as he doesnt seem a threat, or I could dive into it and see what he's hiding." A manic grin spread across his face. "Ah whatever, I never back down from a challenge."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone