Chapter Three
"This world is heavy as rain, My heart is barely a spark, I'm crying out your name, Come and drown out the dark, Just like the stars..."
It was one of those moments where I wish there was a reset button. Just about anything would be better than what had happened hours ago. I'm not even sure how it happened. Turning my back on the Grid was the last thing I wanted. But it happened. And I couldn't take back what I'd said.
So now I was listening to my music while waiting for the right moment to walk into the building looming in front of me. Oscorp wasn't a company I was too familiar with. But the building was huge. Glass windows covered the front of it, and in front of me were revolving doors that people kept coming in and out of. All in all it looked like an over glorified company.
"Burning brighter like a fire in the sky, Just for your glory oh how I want my life to shine, I want to lift you high..."
Looking back at my iPhone, I realized that it was time to make an entrance. Well, not much of an entrance anyways. Fury had given me the wonderful assignment of joining the students going on a tour of Oscorp's labs. Just to keep an eye on Peter and see if anything 'interesting' happens.
The lobby inside was just as massive as it looked from the outside. Escalators going up and down were placed on either side of the lobby. Near the center of the space was a large costumer service desk with a few employees keeping an eye on things.
It didn't take me long to spot Peter. He was approaching the receptionist desk; a woman with brown hair tied up to a bun looked like she was studying the computer in front of her intently. She seemed more than happy dealing with people lost or trying to figure out where their groups went.
"Right, you'll find yourself taking a right," the woman said in a voice of disbelief. There was a short pause before she noticed that Peter was standing in front of the desk. "Are you here for the internship?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Peter replied with a sheepish grin.
"Okay, you'll find your badge here, and it's to the left," she told him. She glanced at me in confusion, furrowing her eyebrows when she realized I'd been standing there the whole time. "Can I help you?" She spoke in a formal tone, but I didn't miss the confusion.
"Yeah, I'm... here for the internship." I handed her the signed papers Director Fury had given me. The woman raised an eyebrow before she nodded towards Peter.
"You know what to do," she explained before typing away once more.
Peter smiled when he we fell in beside each other. "Hey, I didn't know you'd be here," he said in a casual tone. "You okay? You look pretty beat," he added after noticing how uneasy I looked.
Actually, I felt pretty awful. After pretty much leaving Beck and Tron in stunned silence, I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. I'm sure appearance wise I didn't look too wonderful. At this point I could really care less how I looked.
"I'll be fine," I replied as calmly as I could.
"Are you having trouble finding yourself?" The woman was getting annoyed, not knowing what to do as we refused to budge.
"Nope, not at all." Peter flashed her a grin before grabbing a random badge.
"Okay, Mr. Guevara." She looked at him skeptically. Judging from the tone in her voice, she didn't believe him one bit.
"Gracias." Peter waved a thank you before we both made our way to the second floor. "So, you interested in science too huh?"
"Uh... yeah," I murmured.
"So what school do you go to?" I mentally slapped myself at that question. Why hadn't I thought of that before now?
"I'm home schooled," I quickly replied. Thankfully there was always options. And Peter seemed okay with that as we headed for the second floor.
"Welcome to Oscorp," said a computerized female voice. I always did wonder where that voice came from on the Grid. Whenever Tron was running a simulation, a female voice would tell whether or not it was loading. "Born from the mind of our founder, Norman Oscorp, the Oscorp Tower houses one hundred and eight floors of innovation. Our scientific minds are pushing the boundaries of defense, biomedical and chemical technologies. The future lies within."
I love how they tried making it sound like the most wonderful thing in the world. Truthfully I wasn't all that interested in science. But I was amazed by the technology that Users came up with here. Some of the tech that was available now could really be useful on the Grid.
A large group was already gathered outside. I noticed many of them were carrying notebooks or looking down at their phones every now and than. And leading the group was none other than Gwen Stacey.
"Welcome to Oscorp. My name is Gwen Stacey, I'm a senior at Midtown Science and I'm also head intern to Dr. Connors, so I'll be with you for your duration of your visit. Where I go, you go. That's the basic rule. If you remember that, everything will be fine. If you forget that than..."
It didn't take long for the shouting to follow. "I'm Rodrigo Guevara!" I had to hide back a laugh as he was dragged away by the guards. Peter suddenly looked nervous when he realized what would happen if he was caught.
"Well, I guess I don't need to tell you what happens if you forget that. Shall we?"
"Hide me!" Peter suddenly tried blending in with the crowd as we began moving. His attempt at hiding wasn't working very well.
"You're not supposed to be here, are you?" I asked in a whisper.
"Uh, not exactly... please don't tell!" He shot Gwen a wary look as she led us to what looked like the more scientific part of the building.
"I've got your back." I flashed him a reassuring look.
We were soon led to a room with equipment that reminded me of all the machinery and tech on the Hellicarrier. While this stuff was nowhere near as advanced, it was close enough. Most of the men and women inside the room were wearing the typical white lab coats I'd become familiar with. Spending a lot of time on the Hellicarrier has gotten me used to seeing all of the scientists on board.
Meanwhile Gwen was explaining what the company was doing for the modern world. Apparently they worked with cross-species-genetics, something a bit too elaborate for my likings. See, this is why someone like Tony or Bruce was better off on this mission. They would've actually been interested in it. A man with a white lab coat and a missing right arm suddenly approached us once Gwen was finished speaking.
"Welcome, my name is Dr. Curtis Connors. And yes, if you're wondering, I'm a southpaw." A few of the students laughed at the awkwardness. I just tilted my head to one side out of curiosity. Seemed like any other normal person I've met. "I'm not a cripple, I'm a former scientist and I'm the world's most renowned authority on herpetology. That's reptiles for those of you who don't know." I rolled my eyes when he looked at me, as if directing the statement towards me. "But like Parkinson's patient who watched on in horror as her body slowly betrays her, or the man with molecular degeneration who's eyes grow dimmer each day, I long to fix myself. I want to create a world without any weaknesses. Anyone care to venture a guess on how?"
I folded my arms at the 'weaknesses' part. This guy sounded a lot like Clu. Minus the perfection part. All in all, I didn't trust him one bit. I can see why Fury wants me to keep an eye on him.
"Yes?" One of the interns raised their hands, leading Connors to ask the question.
"Stem cells?" the intern guessed.
"Promising, but the solution I'm thinking of is a bit more radical."
All the interns started exchanging looks, trying to guess what the scientists were researching. I'm just hoping no one looks at me that way. 'Cause I really have no clue what this Connors guy is talking about.
"No one?" Connors frowned as no one provided an answer.
"Cross-species genetics." He was just about to leave when Peter whispered that.
Gwen did point out that most of this floor was designed to research cross-species genetics. So I wonder if they meant crossing the blood of a bird with a cat or something like that. I was beginning to wonder why this all sounded so familiar. Gwen looked down at her list, surprised to see Peter standing beside me, looking rather nervous now as everyone stared at him.
"A person gets Parkinson's when the brain cells that produce dopamine start to disappear. But the zebra fish has the ability to regenerate cells on command. If you can somehow give this ability to the woman you're talking about, that's that. She's... she's curing herself."
Now that sounded like Extremis. Way too much like Extremis for my liking. To recap, Extremis was basically what Aldrich Killian had used to heal any wounds, even repair missing body parts. But the only problem was Extremis wasn't stable. People were blowing up in the streets after taking the Extremis. I wonder if this was what Curtis Connors had in mind.
"Yeah, you just have to look past the gills on her neck." I glared at the person who said that. Peter was only trying to offer his help.
Connors looked down at Peter with a look of both surprise and pride. "And you are?" I noticed not for the first time that he kept shooting me glares. Huh. Wonder if anyone else noticed that too.
Peter looked more nervous than ever when he was put on the spotlight, but Gwen beat him to answering, "He's one of Midtown Science's best and brightest students."
I tried not to laugh when he blushed at that. I'm guessing that Gwen was his crush. She was there when those bullies were picking on him. And I couldn't blame him for liking her. She was smart and beautiful. Just than Dr. Connor's phone began to ring. He glanced over at us before stepping away to answer it.
"Hi, how are you doing, Rodrigo?" Gwen smiled as she approached us, not seeming aware that Peter was still trying to hide himself.
"Oh, uh... fine." Peter just grinned back as Gwen finally looked at me.
"You look familiar," she said in an almost accusing tone. "Have we met before?"
Trying to keep a straight face, I simply shrugged in response. "I don't think so."
"So what are you doing here? You don't seem all that interested in this," she tried to keep the conversation casual.
"I was pretty much forced to come," I explained warily, not wanting to say I was basically spying on Peter.
"Mira Rose Barton, right?" She looked at the list, and I restrained the urge to flinch. Peter raised an eyebrow at the name, as if he recognized it from somewhere. I really hoped he didn't. I just nodded as she looked back at Peter.
"I work here. I don't work here. I was gonna say..." He began stuttering, and Gwen just stood there patiently as she waited for an answer. "I was gonna say I work here, but it seems like in fact, you work here. So you know that I in fact don't work here."
I had to walk away as a laughing fit took over. While those two were busy chattering, I decided to get a better look at the place. I'm sure that Connors recognized me. That was why he kept glancing at me every now and than. But as I got a good look at the lab, I noticed that the scientists were busy typing away or looking at different files.
Gwen had stopped talking to Peter as he walked off, bumping into an employee in the process. She seemed a bit distracted as he followed the employee into another room. I wonder if I should've followed him, considering this was now my mission.
"Are you... his girlfriend?" I jumped a little when Gwen asked the question. Already I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks.
"Erm, no... where just acquaintances," I replied with a shrug. Yep. We weren't even friends, yet at least. I hoped that whole ordeal wouldn't take too long. Gwen just eyed me curiously, and not for the first time I was all too aware that she was probably looking at the scars etched on my face.
"So where did those come from?" Again I flinched at the question. Not exactly something I enjoyed talking about. I wasn't too fond of reliving memories of being captured by Rinzler, and being tortured in the games. "Sorry, I'm just curious. I've never seen scars like those before. But I have seen you before."
"A lot of people say that," I muttered crossly. She might have seen me at the police station a few times. Or if worse came to worse, she the news broadcast about the Avengers.
"Come on, Mira Rose Barton?" I was about to answer when something held me back. Gwen just grinned slightly, as if she knew all along who I really was. "I've seen you a few times at the police station. Usually after someone gets arrested, right?" I just nodded in response. "So are you training to become a police officer or something? My dad could give you some tips."
Where was a distraction when I needed one? Gwen may seem nice now, but I knew that wouldn't last forever. Once she found out who I really was she'd back away as quickly as possible. Wait, maybe that wasn't such a bad idea.
"I'm sorry, I just get a little curious is all," she said after noticing how uncomfortable I was getting.
"It's fine... I'm not used to being around so many people," I admitted carefully.
"Where did Peter go?" Gwen suddenly realized that Peter was missing. I can't believe it took her this long.
Sure enough he rushed out of an 'employees' only door. Gwen just turned around to see him, face full of disappointment.
"I..." He was gasping for breath, as if he'd been running a marathon.
"Give me the badge. Give it to me." She held out her hand, eyes rolling as Peter finally looked up at her.
"Sorry." He took it off and handed it to her.
She than turned around to leave us.
"Where were you?" I followed him towards the escalators, all too aware that it was getting late out already.
"I'd... really rather not talk about it," he muttered.
So I let it drop. No point in pushing him if it was nothing serious. Besides, sometimes it was better to let nature take it's course. He had to have some good reason for going beyond the access point if it meant getting kicked out.
"Ouch!" Peter flinched as if something had hit him, or bitten him. Wariness washed over me as he touched his neck, finding nothing there.
"You okay?" I'm hoping that he's alright. Last thing I wanted to do was take another trip to the hospital. Believe me when I say I've spent enough time in the hospital.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." He paused as he looked back at me. "Hey, I know that this is kind of sudden, but can I have your number? It would be nice to... hang out or something like that."
I couldn't help but grin as I pulled out my iPhone. "Sure." This was the perfect chance to get to know him better.
In a matter of seconds we exchanged numbers. While doing so I noticed that I had one missed call from Clint. Peter raised an eyebrow when he noticed that. Hiding my phone once more, I decided that I'd rather face the wrath of my overprotective father later.
We weren't sure where to go with this conversation next. It was still a long ways back to my apartment, and we were both headed in the same direction. So I guess the best thing to do was follow him until I reached my stop. Hopefully until than nothing bad would happen.
. . .
"Sir, that girl was a SHIELD agent."
"The last thing we need is the government breathing down our necks."
"I highly doubt she knows what we're up to."
"So what are we gonna do about it?"
"Keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't cause us any trouble."
AN: So there's the next chapter :) Definitely not very exciting, but hey, first couple of chapters never are ;) So thanks to 2theSky, Briannajs-22 and Panda Bear Lover 317 for reviewing! You guys are awesome!
Lyrics come from the song Torch by Everfound.