Author's Note: Moving right along. I own nothing.
16. Another Manor
Dr. Connors smiled to himself as he snagged a travel mug of coffee from the counter. He would be stopping off in his lab to check on the models they'd left running overnight then He and Piper would be heading off for a manor in Westchester County. He took the elevator and smiled as he reached the lab level. He was a bit surprised that Glen hopped into the room pulling on his lab coat. He smiled at Dr. Connors who raised an eyebrow.
"Mr. Stacy I wasn't expecting to see you here so early." Dr. Connors checked his watch and frowned.
"You're not supposed to be here for another hour and a half, is everything quite alright?" Glen nodded.
"Everything's fine, I wanted to see how the models worked out." Dr. Connors nodded. They pulled up the simulations and frowned. None of them had gone well. Each and every one ended in the subject rejecting the new genes and mutating. Each trial ended with a deceased subject. Dr. Connors took a deep breath and shook his head.
"No luck." Glen patted him on his hand.
"Abe and I will start running a few other variations while you're out today." A voice from the elevator made them both jump.
"What animals are you using?" Glen turned and spotted Piper in the doorway. Her hair was a mess, she was holding a bright purple travel mug and had a pair of deep purple shades on that matched her Hawkeye t shirt. She tipped her glasses down her nose and snagged a lab coat from the closet before stepping into the lab.
"We've been trying a few variations. A zebra fish, a few other animals who can regenerate cells, some that we know to have worked in certain individuals, like spiders." Piper raised an eyebrow at Dr. Connors and he glanced down at his shoes. She sighed.
"A spider isn't gonna work. But I think you're on the right track with the zebra fish, but that looks to be the only non spider cold blooded animal you're trying. Have you thought about Lizards?" Dr. Connors frowned.
"No." Piper nodded and tapped a few keys, pulling up the biological profile of a simple Gecko.
"See a zebra fish can regenerate cells, that's all well and good but a lizard, like a Gecko can regenerate whole limbs, which is more what we're shooting for yes?" Dr. Connors nodded looking over her shoulder as she tapped away on the keys.
"It'll take a lot of fiddling with the genes for it to work but it's a possibility." Piper's watch beeped and she swore glancing down at her phone.
"We're gonna be late Doc." Dr. Connors nodded and began to head for the exit. Glen cleared his throat, stepping in front of Piper's forgotten coffee mug.
"Um, I had a question about the sample you had me test yesterday Dr. Connors." The two scientists paused at the elevator door.
"Yes Mr. Stacy." He took a deep breath.
"I was just wondering if the venom might appear in smaller ways, like mixing with the subjects saliva?" Dr. Connors thought for a minute.
"It's possible, I don't know for sure. See if you can run those variations for me today and start running the numbers on the lizard idea." Piper cleared her throat.
"Doctor, we're gonna be late." Dr. Connors nodded and they stepped into the elevator. Glen glanced behind him and thought for a moment. He should leave it alone. He shouldn't mess with her stuff, she was his bosses friend and the daughter of the owner of the company, he could be jeopardizing his entire future for the sake of curiosity. Then he remembered something Dr. Connors had told him during his first tour of the lab.
'Science means taking risks. Sometimes the risk can outweigh the rewards but you'll never know if you don't take risks. Knowledge is our trade gentlemen, always remember science means taking risks.' Glen swore to himself as he grabbed a sample swab off one of the desks and swiped it along the opening of the mug. He had to know.
The first few miles out of New York proper were quiet, just the radio playing as Piper drove them down the road in her deep blue Huracan Spyder. Dr. Connors had laughed that that was the car Tony had decided to buy his daughter for her sixteenth birthday. Piper nodded, the irony was not lost on her. Nor had it been lost on Tony who'd laughed his ass off when he'd presented it to her on her birthday. They were about halfway to their destination when Piper finally spoke up.
"So… Glen Stacy. What do you think of him Doc?" Dr. Connors frowned slightly.
"He's a bright young man. Brilliant with chemistry and biology. I think he'll take on the world someday. I think you two would get along very well, assuming you don't already." Piper frowned as she turned onto a more residential road. "What's this about? You seem concerned." Piper chewed on her lip for a moment before responding.
"I think he might know my… little secret." Dr. Connors frowned, sitting up straighter in the bright red custom seats.
"How?" Piper sighed and explained the incident with the blacklight. The doctor himself had been too interested in the lesson he'd been giving to pay much attention to the two teens. He promised himself that he would pay more attention next time. Then she told him about her slip up the night before.
"But I don't know if he even heard me or was just smart enough to run from an obviously bad situation. So…" Dr. Connors shook his head.
"What should we do? Do we tell your father?" Piper shook her head.
"No. Dad would over react. We have to figure out how much he knows. Besides I wont ruin someone's career just because they might know something I'd rather they didn't." Dr. Connors nodded and glanced around. They were on what looked like a country road and he frowned.
"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Piper grinned.
"That's right you've never actually been out here have you?" Dr. Connors shook his head.
"No. I've been in contact with Dr. McCoy a few times over email and over the phone but I've never actually met the man." Piper smiled then she thought about it for a minute.
"You know he's a mutant right? As is everybody out here right?" Dr. Connors nodded.
"Is that not why we're here?" Piper nodded.
"I mean yes, but to some people it can be a bit of a shock." Dr. Connors nodded as they pulled up to a set of wrought iron gates. Old brick pillars stood on either side of the gates and a pristine plaque on the left one proclaimed it Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters. Piper stopped the car at the gates and in a moment they slid open and Piper pulled the car up to a large roundabout that sat in front of an expansive old English style mansion. A few kids paused on the steps and stared at the expensive car that had rolled up to the school. Piper spotted a few familiar faces in the crowd as she turned off the car and pocketed the keys. She stepped out of the car and immediately heard an excited squeal from the crowd. In a moment her arms were full of a very light body, dressed in a pink cardigan and grey capris. Piper wrapped her arms around the other brunette.
"Hi Kitty!" The other brunette bounced backwards her long hair up in her signature ponytail.
"You haven't been by in forever! We've been following you and your team on the news. God we were so worried when SHEILD fell and nobody saw or heard from you for like two weeks!" Piper flinched.
"I know, that wasn't so good." A puff of smoke distracted her as Kurt appeared, fully blue, his tail swinging on top of her car.
"Let her breathe Kitty." Piper smiled.
"Hey don't scratch the paint Kurt!" He stuck out his forked tongue at her. She grinned at him and webbed his mouth shut. He squeaked and the few remaining confused students seemed to understand that there was no threat and went back to ogling the car. Piper smiled as she spotted Scott Summers shoo the crowd along.
"Come on kids! You have classes to get to, go on." Piper shook her head.
"I keep forgetting you guys are a year round school. It's horrible." Scott laughed.
"To be fair most of the summer classes are voluntary. And the others are about controlling your powers." Piper nodded and glanced around. She didn't seem to see what she was looking for and Scott raised an eyebrow as he escorted Piper and Dr. Connors inside.
"Everything ok?" Piper frowned.
"Logan isn't here is he?" Scott nodded.
"He is actually." Piper swore under her breath.
"Damn it. He hates me. I don't even know why." Scott shrugged.
"Logan likes very few people in this world." Piper nodded.