Author's Note: Having some computer issues. Hoping nothing gets lost but I've lost progress on this one twice. It's very frustrating. I own nothing.
31. Scales
Piper woke up early the next morning and dragged herself downstairs to grab some coffee before Clint could take it all. She took her motorcycle to Glen's apartment building and took the elevator up to the apartment. She knocked on the door and was only slightly shocked when Captain George Stacy opened the door. He smiled at her.
"Hello Miss Stark." Piper grinned at him slightly.
"Please call me Piper, Captain Stacy. It's lovely to meet you." She held out her hand and he took it and shook it.
"Lovely to meet you too. Please come in." Piper stepped into the house with her helmet under her arm. A woman who could only be Glen's mother smiled at her from the kitchen, two younger boys were sitting at the table, one blonde like Glen and his mother, the other with dark hair like Captain Stacy. Both boys smiled at her. The older of the two stood up and shouted down the hall.
"Glen! Your girlfriend is here!" Piper went bright red and Glen's mother scolded the boy as a door down the hall banged open and Glen appeared in a pair of slightly worn jeans and a t-shirt a hoddie pulled over it. He grinned at Piper slightly as she blushed down at her feet. Captain Stacy chuckled.
"So where are you two headed?" Piper toed at the carpet.
"Breakfast, then the observatory, maybe the museum of natural history later." Captain Stacy nodded.
"Sounds like fun. Be safe. Home by ten Glen." He nodded and the two teens exited the apartment both blushing bright red. Piper breathed a sigh of relief as she handed Glen her spare helmet.
"So where are we really headed?" Glen asked as he hopped onto the bike after Piper who smiled slightly.
"Well we are headed out to get coffee first, but after that we're going to Doc Connors place. My dad thinks he's trying to continue Doc Oc's work. If he is we need to talk him out of it, if he's not no problem." Glen nodded.
"Great, one question. Who's Doc Oc?"
Dr. Connors woke with a start, the sun shining in his face from the window of his apartment. He scrubbed at his face for a moment then a squeaking caught his attention. He glanced over at the cage and froze his eyes going wide. Freddie was scratching at the plastic wall of the cage with both front paws. Dr. Connors leapt to his feet racing over to the cage. He let out a short laugh. It had worked. That meant it could work on him, in theory. But Stark would never let him try it. He'd have to go around him then. He grabbed his bag that held his laptop and rushed out of his apartment hoping there wouldn't be too many people from Damage Control left at Otto's lab. He was in such a rush he didn't notice the small green scales begin to sprout on Freddie's newly grown arm.
"Ok, so Oc may have had a hand in your parents deaths but has definitely had a hand in very unethical human experimentation, all of which Oscorp is behind." Piper nodded into her coffee. Glen shook his head.
"Damn. Aren't you and Harry Osborn close though?" Piper nodded again. Glen let out a low whistle. "Ouch. That can't be fun." Piper nodded again her eyes dipping down to her shoes. "How do you keep all of this to yourself?" She sighed.
"I don't. I have a network, a few heroes my age, my best friend since we were kids Eddie, my dad. But it's hard, I mean what am I supposed to do with this information right? Because Harry's not to blame he was a kid when all this started. But at the moment he's in charge of Oscorp so…" Glen nodded.
"That's horrible. I never realized that being a hero meant that much heartache." Piper nodded letting him take her hand. She smiled at him slightly as she finished her coffee.
"It's not all bad." He smiled at her as he finished his coffee. She checked her watch. It was nearly nine.
"He should be up by now, shall we?" Glen grinned and held the door open for her, both of them unaware of the camera clicking behind them in the coffee shop. It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach Dr. Connors' apartment. Piper knocked on the door and waited. She frowned and knocked again. Glen raised an eyebrow.
"Maybe he's not home?" Piper held up a hand. She could hear something through the door, a growl hissing noise. She rattled the doorknob, it was unlocked. She stepped in front of Glen and opened the door.
"Stay behind me." Glen nodded as Piper stepped into the room. She was tense as she looked around. The room was trashed. Bits of plastic were strewn across the floor and around a small table. The couch was torn to shreds, fluff strewn across the floor towards the small kitchen. The hissing growl grew louder as Piper headed towards the kitchen. Her spidey sense went off a second before a two foot tall something leapt at her. She raised an arm, sharp teeth sinking into the leather of her jacket. It took her a second to realize what she was looking at as she rolled on top of the creature pinning it to the ground as it shredded the sleeve of her jacket. It looked like a mouse but it was covered in green scales, white fur sprouting between them. The things teeth were huge as it tried to dig them into her arm. She whipped a web at it and leapt back as the thing shredded the webbing. It leapt at her again but before it could reach her a large metal pan came down on the back of its head and it screeched in pain before turning on Glen. Piper leapt forwards and caught the thing by its neck. She twisted hard and a snap sounded through the room as the mouse lizard thing slumped to the floor. Glen stared at the thing.
"What the fuck was that?" Piper shook her head.
"Nothing good." Piper's watch beeped and she tapped it a three dimensional map of New York popped up before zooming in on a warehouse near the Hudson.
"Someone's going into Oc's warehouse." Piper stripped off her top revealing her costume. Glen stared as she pulled on her mask. Spidergirl held out a hand to him.
"You coming?" Glen nodded and took her hand. They swung off towards the warehouse.