As the morning waned into afternoon, the "failed" chemical that Rick had sprayed over the viper was slowly taking effect. Little by little, the predator was beggining to gain sentience.
No longer curled in the corner, the cold blooded serpent had set about trying to find a way out of its cage. This proved childishly easy... all she had to do was snap the wire ties holding the mesh against her cage.
As the snake began to work out a plan, she noticed the space around her was getting more confining. She was growing in size. This would certainly make her escape easier, and it did. All it took was one good push on the side of the wire mesh and the plastic tie snapped. She repeated this procedure with the other side and felt a deep satisfaction when the mesh top of her cage fell from the shelf she was on and clattered to the floor below.
By this time, the viper had grown considerably. Coiled, observing her surroundings, the snake now filled the plastic bucket that had been her prison for so long. She estimated her length to be at nearly two and a half feet.
She looked around and remembered her captor entering from the other side. Her mind was becoming very sharp, and with a serpent's natural cunning, this made for a deadly combination for a killer like herself.
The snake shuddered as she felt her growth wear off, and flexed with a yawn. She was easily three feet long. Much more than she used to be. Her greater size and intelligence was almost intoxicating.
She slithered from the container beneath her and crawled along the wooden shelf around it. She saw the other animals, scented them with her tongue, and grinned. "I ssshall come back to help you, my friendsss." She hissed in perfect english.
Coiling herself around a support beam, the viper lowered herself to the cool basement floor and slithered towards the door blocking her access to the rest of the laboratory. It was clear the door had to be opened from the outside, but was there another way out?
To her delight, the snake found it. A hole pierced in the wooden wall of the holding room, just large enough for her to press through. Slithering, the snake winced against the light outside as she crawled through the hole, emerged fully, and found herself in the lab.
Again, she smiled. Perhaps, she mused, her captor might be of some use. After all, somebody who could devise a potion to make a simple snake bigger and smarter could have other potentials.
Exhausted from her change, and the escape, the vipress slid under a nearby desk and coiled, closing her eyes and waiting.