Author's Note: So this is what I was talking about earlier with the whole things that happened off screen thing, that'll get explained in this chapter. I own nothing.
17. Dark Within
Logan's nose wrinkled as he caught a whiff of someone new entering the mansion. He frowned and the Professor raised an eyebrow at him. He cut straight to the point.
"What's the Spider Squirt doing here?" The Professor got a look of concentration on his face then smiled.
"Ah she has arrived. Well she's had some further developments to her mutation and Hank has offered to help her and her associate Dr. Connors understand what's happening and find out if the mutation is likely to continue." Logan shook his head.
"I don't trust her." Professor Xavier frowned.
"I still don't understand that, you seem to be the only hero she knows who doesn't trust her. Why Logan?" He frowned.
Nearly five months ago he'd been tracking Mastermind through New York when the telepath decided to take on a bank heist. Spidergirl had gotten there first and wrapped him up for SHEILD. But before the telepath could be dragged off he'd tried to swap their minds. Logan had gotten a glimpse into Spidergirl's head right before Mastermind went reeling and fell comatose. He hadn't seen what he'd expected someone as bright and cheerful as her to have in her mind. Instead a black mass of negativity had lashed out at both him and the telepath. It had felt like acid against his mind, breaking down the connection the telepath had tried to create. Mastermind had been comatose for nearly three months before he woke up babbling about black monsters in the darkness. He'd escaped SHEILD before it fell but no one had heard from him sense. Logan sighed.
"No one with something that dark in their head can be all good." He said after describing the experience to the Professor. He nodded.
"I don't believe you're giving her the chance she deserves, we all have darkness in us Logan, you of all people know that." Logan nodded and sighed.
"I know that Professor, I just… Darkness like that affects who you are, I know that, better than most. If that kid ever loses it…" He left the sentence hanging, the Professor could tell what he meant well enough without his having to elaborate. He nodded.
"I understand your concern Logan but again I don't think you're giving her enough credit." Logan rolled his eyes and followed the Professor out of his office and down to the lab levels where Hank was already deep in conversation with a man who was missing his right arm from just below the shoulder. Piper Parker was leaning against the wall listening to them and occasionally adding tidbits of information. Hank smiled at the Professor and gestured him into the lab.
"Professor, please come in. We were just discussing some tests we were planning to run if Piper here is comfortable with it." Piper grinned at Hank and Logan pulled a face at the set of what looked like pincers in front of her teeth. Those hadn't been there before, or at least he'd never seen them before.
"Of course Dr. McCoy, I trust you. Besides it's kind of important to know if the mutation is going to spread further. Wouldn't want to wake up one day with eight eyes." Hank nodded and they began to run a few tests.
Piper sipped a glass of grape juice as Dr. Connors looked over her latest blood sample. She'd had more blood samples taken today than she could ever remember. But at least this was voluntary and she could trust Dr. Connors and Dr, McCoy not to create living slime or green insane people. Professor Xavier rolled up to where she was sitting and held out a plate full of cookies.
"Ororo has been experimenting in the kitchen again." Piper grinned and snagged one of the cookies off the plate. It was still warm. She sighed as she bit into it, there was caramel inside.
"These are fantastic, please pass along my compliments to the chef." The Professor smiled.
"I'll be sure to do that. I am curious though. The pincers aren't the only new power you've developed are they?" Piper frowned.
"What do you mean?" The Professor set the plate of cookies down on a table nearby.
"Logan told me about what happened with Mastermind a few months ago. You didn't used to be able to do that. You didn't used to be able to tell when a telepath read your thoughts, much less defend against them." Piper shrugged.
"That's not because of my mutation though." The Professor raised an eyebrow. Piper sighed and told him all about Venom. It was nice to have someone to talk to about this who wouldn't judge her for it or worry themselves sick over her. He might worry but not the same way her father did. She sighed as she finished telling him about what Venom was.
"I didn't figure out that there was a side effect until about four and a half months ago when that sleeping sickness hit." She explained how she'd accidently lashed out at a psychic during that crisis.
"After that I figured I could channel that piece of myself at people who tried to get in my head. I hadn't tried it knowingly until Mastermind. I didn't know it would do that to him." Piper went silent. The Professor nodded, he could tell she wasn't lying.
"It's a useful skill to have. I am curious. Would you be willing to test it on me? I would very much like to see how strong this ability to block and even throw telepaths out of your mind is." Logan, who had been lurking in the corner of the room for the past few hours was about to step forwards to protest when Piper shook her head violently.
"No. I'm sorry but I'm not willing to risk it. It's not safe for you. Even I don't know how strong it is and the last person who tried to get into my head may have gone crazy. Besides I'm not proud of that part of myself, the fewer people who know about it the better." The Professor nodded and grabbed a cookie off the plate.
"That's quite alright. I appreciate your concern for my health Miss. Parker." Piper smiled at him and grabbed another cookie for herself.