Chapter Text
Note: Quotes from this chapter are taken directly from The Amazing Spider-man.
In truth, Piper hadn't wanted to accept the internship.
She was well aware that it was the dream of many students, and that not just anyone would be accepted when they only turned 15 two months ago. The email said she was the youngest person offered the position and really, she was flattered.
But Oscorp…well, that tall, imposing metal hunk in the sky was about the last place she wanted to be stuck in everyday for the next three months.
The place was riddled with bad memories. Piper didn't know why she had applied - at the time it had seemed like a good idea, if only to prove to Netty that no, she was fine and Oscorp most definitely did not give her anxiety every time she looked at it.
Which was about as far from the truth as she could get.
Life had a funny way of working sometimes and so here she was, standing in front of the entrance, hands gripping the straps of her backpack tightly and silently debating whether it was too late to leave.
But the pay was good. That was the main reason why Piper had accepted. The pay was better than any part-time job she could get and God knew they needed the money. Aunt May had been pulling extra shifts and Piper hated the sight of the bags that had been forming under her eyes. Her aunt and uncle would turn away any money that she would give to them, but at least this way, she wouldn't have to ask for money for textbooks that she needed, or new clothes, or parts for the beat-up computer that she had been trying to fix.
"The money. Think about the money," she muttered to herself.
"Hey, you're blocking the entrance!" someone snapped behind her and Piper jumped, scurrying to the side.
"Sorry, sorry," she apologized profusely just as the woman swept pass her, all clad in dark blazer and high heels, and Piper felt it was prudent to add, "ma'am."
"Don't call me ma'am!" the woman groused, but she was already gone before Piper could say anything else.
She swallowed, eyes trailing after the imposing woman. Piper hoped that that wasn't someone important that she had just offended, but knowing her luck, she might very well be.
"You're already making a great impression, Pipes," she said to herself. Shaking her head ruefully, she went through the door.
The inside of Oscorp was nothing like Piper remembered. The last time she was here, she was a mere 7 years old, all scraped knees and snot-nosed. In the eight years since, Oscorp had obviously updated the design of the building to an ultra-modern, highly advanced glass house filled with the latest technology. There was the giant holographic image of Norman Osborn, spreading his arms wide as he talked about the vision of Oscorp. Scanners were placed at every entrance to automatically identify visitors and issue temporary access badge.
"Er, thanks," she said, accepting the badge from the robot. On it read: "Piper Parker, intern" and there was a picture of her, taken a few months ago when she still had her braces. Piper mentally cringed at the image.
"New interns, please gather at the point next to the escalator and await further instructions," the robot informed.
She spotted the small group easily, milling on the left side of the escalator, though the sight of them made her stop in her track. They were all dressed in some form of business wear - there were the khaki pants and the pencil skirts, the white button-ups and the blouses. Piper felt horribly underdressed in her tank top, checkered button down and ratty sneakers. The email had said that this was a casual meet-up before they officially started working and had not mentioned any dress code, so she had gone straight here after school without changing.
Piper wished she had. Why hadn't she thought to bring along a nicer shirt?
Sighing, she approached the group. A few people were making light conversations, while the rest stood silently, staring at the escalator in an expectant manner. Piper spotted the girl that had snapped at her earlier and felt incredibly stupid for calling her "ma'am".
"Hi, I'm Piper Parker," she said to the girl. "Sorry about…uhm, earlier."
The girl raised an eyebrow at her and there was a note of scepticism in her voice when she spoke: "You're also an intern?"
"Yep."
"You look rather…" the girl debated for a moment, before settling for, "young."
Piper felt her face grew hot. The condescending look on the girl's face was one that she had seen far too many times and she didn't like it. But before Piper could give a reply, someone cleared their throat and all attention was directed towards the young man standing in front of the group.
"Hi, everyone. Welcome to Oscorp. My name is Gale Stacy and I'm a student researcher here. For today, I'll be your guide so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me," he said, a wide smile on his face. Piper couldn't help but think that he was the most well-dressed and attractive guy she had ever met and it seemed that several others in the group also shared the same thought, as one other guy promptly asked if Gale was single.
The group erupted into laughter.
"Any except personal queries," Gale added, a note of amusement in his voice. "Now, if you all will follow me."
One by one, they made their way up the escalator. As Piper looked around at the sprawling reception area, she thought that things had gone somewhat smoothly so far. Certainly, she could make it through the next three months without any trouble. Then she would leave with a sizable chunk of money for her necessities and, hopefully, a glowing recommendation that she definitely needed for college scholarship.
Gale led them on a tour to see the common areas of the tower, where they will be working and the labs and facilities that they had access to. Everything was vastly different from the work space of her father that now only existed in her memories. Oscorp had spared no expense in equipping their laboratories and for the first time since walking through the door, Piper felt a wave of excitement at the prospect of getting to work in such an environment.
They also had time to get to know one another and Piper was relieved to find that none of the encounters she had was as disastrous as the first one with the girl, whom she had learned to be Madeline Kingsley. She particularly liked Max Benson, the one who had asked Gale if he was single, and had learned that aside from his wicked sense of humour, he also built robots that can process household trash in his spare time.
"I got my inspirations from Wall-E," Max explained, proudly showing off the pictures of the robot that he had at home. "Of course, he's nowhere near as awesome as the actual Wall-E."
"Dude, what are you talking about? This is amazing!" Piper exclaimed and after that, they had exchanged numbers, with Max promising to invite her over one day to take a look at his robot. Piper made a mental note to tell Netty about this.
After a quick break at the cafeteria, Gale led them back to the bio-medical lab where many of them would be working at. Piper was more into chemistry than bio-medical technology, but even she was impressed by the work they were doing there. Some of the projects sounded down right radical, if not impossible at the moment.
"Gather round, please. I'd like to introduce you all to Dr. Curtis Connors, one of the foremost minds here at Oscorp and also…my boss," Gale smiled, waving towards an one-armed man whom was vaguely familiar to Piper. She was sure she had seen him somewhere - maybe on the news, perhaps, if he was as brilliant as Galen said.
"Thank you for that very…ah, comprehensive introduction, Mr. Stacy. Welcome, everyone, to Oscorp. As you already know, I'm Dr. Curtis Connors and yes, in case you're wondering, I'm a southpaw."
Everyone laughed at that.
"I'm not a cripple, I'm a former scientist and I'm the world's foremost authority on herpetology," he continued smoothly. "That's reptiles, for those of you who don't know.
But like the Parkinson's patient who watches on in horror as her body slowly betrays her, or the man with macular degeneration who's eyes grow dimer each day, I long to fix myself. I want to create a world without weakness. Anyone care to venture a guess just how?"
Someone at the front put up their hand. Having stood at the back of the group, Piper could only see the tip of their fingers, given that everyone here dwarfed over her.
"Yes?"
"Stem cells?" the person asked.
Dr. Connors shook his head ruefully. "Promising, but the solution I'm thinking of is more radical."
The interns around her looked at each other in confusion, murmuring among themselves. Right now, stem cells technology was probably the most advanced when it came to regrow organs, so Piper could understand their confusion when Dr. Connors turned down the idea. Dr. Connors had made clear he specialized in studying reptiles and wasn't it a few weeks ago that Piper had stumbled upon this incredibly interesting paper when she was looking for extra reading materials?
Written by Dr. Connors himself, coincidentally.
"No one?"
"Cross-species genetics," Piper spoke up, just loud enough to be heard. Everyone fell quiet and one by one, the people in front of her parted ways. Her neck felt uncomfortably hot, but she ploughed on, "A person gets Parkinson's when the brain cells that produce dopamine start to disappear. But the zebrafish 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."
"Yeah, you just have to look past the gills on her neck," Max wise-cracked and the others laughed, but the smile on Dr. Connors' face wasn't one of mirth.
"And you are?" he questioned.
"Uhm…Piper Parker, sir," she said.
"She's one of Midtown Science's best and brightest," Gale supplied. Face red, Piper threw him a surprised look. How did he know that?
"Really?" Dr. Connors eyed her and there was something like recognition there. "Yes, of course, I'd expect no less…well, very good answer, Ms. Parker."
"Thank you, sir," she mumbled. The other interns were staring at her with a new found respect and Piper wished that they would turn away already.
Later on, at the end of the tour, Piper approached Gale.
"How did you…back there…do you know me?"
"Oh hey, Piper…wait, I can call you Piper right?" he questioned hesitantly.
"Yes, yes, of course!"
"Right. So I take it that you don't remember me then," he said, but there was nothing accusatory in his voice.
"I'm sorry---"
"No, it's okay. I remember you, though. I didn't know your name, but your face…this is not a very good explanation," he gave her an embarrassed smile.
"I've had worse, don't worry," Piper said jokingly.
"Okay well, last year Academic Decathlon. It was the final round and it was your school against mine, Trinity. We were so close to victory, you know, three years back to back," Gale let out a rueful laugh.
"I remember now! That was at the start of my freshman year," Piper exclaimed, recalling the first Decathlon that she had joined. The team leader had some reservation about letting a freshman with no prior training joining the team and originally, she was only supposed to be a reserve. But then Liz Allan had a stomachache on the day of the competition so it was Piper who filled in for her.
"Yeah, you completely destroyed us that last round. Midtown Science is no joke, but we thought we had it."
"Oh…sorry…"
"Oh no, don't say sorry! I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty you know," Gale smiled. "I'm just saying…I've remembered you since. You were amazing, honestly. I never thought that I'd see you again here though."
"Guess that means we're destined together," she teased without thinking, then immediately cringed. Where had that come from?
Gale raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh, really?"
Piper thought that if she blushed anymore, her face would remain a permanent red. Galen probably thought she was a huge dork.
"Uhm…I mean…that was just…"
"Hey, it's okay! I know you were just joking, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
"Oh, that's…that's good," Piper breathed out in relief. For some reason, the last thing she wanted to do was to make Gale see her as some sort of creep.
"Listen, I need to wrap things up and go see Dr. Connors. It's great talking to you and…uhm," he hesitated a bit, hand fiddling with something in his pocket. "I'd totally understand if you don't want to…well, but if you don't mind, can I have your number?"
Piper blinked. That was completely unexpected.
"I mean, it's just good to have the numbers of all the new intern, just in case," he pressed on hurriedly. "I thought I could create a Whatsapp group for you guys, but if you don't---"
"No, that's fine!" Piper reassured him, pulling out her battered phone. "Here, you can put your number in and I'll give you a call. The screen's a bit…cracked."
Gale chuckled, taking her phone in his hand. "You should see my last phone. Now that's what I'd call cracked. Well, here you go," he handed her phone back to her, his number punched in along with a clear "Gale Stacy" at the top. She pressed call and moments later came a faint buzzing sound. Gale immediately fished out his phone.
"Ah, fantastic! I probably should head over there. Listen," a sort of shy, hopeful look crossed his face then and Piper couldn't help but wonder what it meant, " let's keep in touch, okay? If you have any questions, or anything, text me. I won't mind."
"Not even when you're in the toilet?"
Piper resisted the urge to smack herself. God, she needed a filter.
Gale laughed. "Not even then."
Tbc.