Author's Note: Had a whirlwind vacation and didn't have time for anything so sorry I kept yall waiting but here we go. It's gonna get a bit intense in the coming chapters, I own nothing.
36. Time To Talk
To say that Dr. Conners was surprised would be one of the bigger understatements of the year. He stumbled back and sat hard in one of the chairs that sat around one of the lab tables. She looked just like her mother. But she had her father's eyes. It took him a moment to find his voice.
"Piper… Parker… How?" Piper sighed and sat down on the floor in front of the door. She explained what little she knew about how her parents had left her behind. She left out the strange room, the still missing briefcase, and the usb drive she wasn't quite sure who to trust.
"And then my uncle died. A few years later I got bit by a genetically altered Oscorp spider. Decided I wanted to do some good in the world. But I have some questions." Dr. Conners nodded.
"I'm sure you do. I'll try to answer them as best I can. I worked with your father pretty closely but I didn't know your mother all that well." Piper nodded.
"What was he like? I barely remember him anymore." Dr. Conners stood and began pacing.
"He was kind. He always made sure everyone in the lab took care of themselves. Dedicated to helping people, he and I were working on a gene therapy to help regrow severed limbs. We also worked on the Stark Industries Inteli-crops. He said he wanted to make the world a better place for the generations that came after us. He was so excited when he found out your mother was having you. They both were. Mr. Stark too, they were pretty friendly with him." Piper held her tongue, she'd always known that Tony had to have at least known her parents. She hadn't known how close they'd apparently been.
"He was pretty secretive about his past. He never talked about it at all actually. Your mother either. I guess in hindsight all I really knew about them was what we worked together on." Piper sighed running a hand through her hair.
"Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Apparently no one knew them well." Piper hung her head staring down at the mask in her hands. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
"If you ever get the chance talk to Tony Stark about them. He seemed to know them best, before they left for Oscorp. None of us knew why they did that." Piper smiled at Doctor Conners though it was somewhat strained. She took a deep breath and pulled her mask back on.
"Thank you Doctor Conners. I appreciate you not lying to me, you might honestly be the first who hasn't withheld something from me. And I really appreciate that." Before Doctor Conners could ask what she meant she pulled the table aside and unlocked the door.
"I gotta get home. I have some things to think about." Doctor Conners nodded as she left. He wasn't quite sure what she'd meant by that but he could only hope that she wouldn't decide to do something stupid.
Piper snuck into her room and snagged the box from under her bed. After a moment of thought she pulled her mask back on and slipped the box into her back pack. She swung off towards a friend.
Eddie was working on his calculus homework in his tiny apartment when there was a knock on his window. He jumped. It shouldn't be possible for anyone to be at his window. There was a fire escape but he thought… No he couldn't have heard anything. He touched his pencil back to the paper and there was another knock. No one could really blame him for being paranoid. He lived in a tiny shithole apartment. He'd been saving for years and he'd finally turned eighteen a few months ago, so the orphanage had kicked him out. He'd gotten a job freelancing as a photographer for newspapers around town, mainly the Bugle but that barely paid the bills. He grabbed his baseball bat and made his way over to the window. He pulled back the curtain fully ready to bash whoever it was in the head. He froze when he spotted who was sitting in his window.
"Piper!?" Piper grinned as Eddie set down the bat and opened the window. Piper slipped into the room and smiled. She looked a bit rumpled and for some reason Eddie couldn't even begin to fathom her shirt was on inside out.
"Hi Eddie, you said I could drop by if I ever needed anything." Eddie nodded.
"I did. I kinda thought you'd come in through the door though." Piper shrugged.
"Your doorman is intimidating." Eddie frowned, his doorman did have a big scar on his face but he was actually a very nice man and Piper wasn't one to judge someone on their appearances.
"Ok but it's twenty three stories and the.." Piper cut across him.
"Listen Eddie I need your help." She explained her dream and her visit to her parents old house and her visit to her aunt and uncles. She rummaged around in her bag until she found the box. The only thing she left out was her conversation with Doctor Conners.
"I haven't had the courage to open it by myself. And I didn't know who else to go to. I'm not sure who I can trust right now, but everything else from my dream has been real. So it might have something to do with why your parents were on that plane too. I cant do this on my own Eddie, and if it does have something to do with that you deserve to know too." Eddie stared down at the box in his best friends hands. It took him a minute but he nodded and took it from her.
"How do we get it open?" Piper took a deep breath and reached into the box. She flicked a nearly microscopic switch and turned the box over. The false bottom of the box came out and Piper hesitated. Eddie reached for the box carefully and slowly pulled it off the bottom that still rested in Pipers hand. A slim silver usb lay on top of the false bottom in Pipers hand. She let out a shaky breath and picked up the usb before carefully flipping it over. Her eyes went wide and the false bottom of the box fell from her hand. Eddie stared at the usb just as shocked as Piper.
"Piper, I don't think your parents were scientists." Piper couldn't even nod all she could do was stare at the symbol on the usb. The symbol that had only become widely known since a wormhole had opened above her home and spat out hundreds of invading aliens. The SHIELD logo stared up at her, dusty and old but still plain as day.