Chapter 6—Explanations

Author's Note: I have been doing my research (which mostly entails reading old Spider-Man comic books with Doc Ock in them :P) and hopefully you'll be able to see that in this story. I have found that there are many different variations of Doc Ock throughout the many comics I have read. I have tried to create my own version of Doc Ock. Allow me to note that this is NOT movie-verse; although you may see some characteristics from the movies (and Ultimate Spider-Man, if you read that). Anyway, I just thought I would note that. If you would like to read a comic that has parallels to this story, read Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus—Out of Reach. Also note that there have been some minor edits made to the Prologue and Chapter One on the advisement of user SciFiGeekET. So if you want to go back and see what changes I've made, knock yourself out. :) Enjoy this chapter!

The two supervillains—Doctor Octopus and the Rhino—continued fighting in the parking lot. Unbeknownst to the Rhino, Doc Ock's niece, Evelyn, was crouched behind a car, watching the whole thing.

Evelyn Octavius felt so many things at once. She was almost awed, watching the unique way they were fighting. She felt betrayed by the fact that Otto had kept her in the dark about this whole ordeal. But mostly, she felt terrified. She was afraid now. Afraid of what would happen. Afraid of the future. Afraid of her uncle; and afraid of what he would and could do to her.

Evelyn tried to steady her shaking hands by setting them on the yellow car she was crouching behind. She attempted to calm herself, averting her attention to the fight only a few feet away from her…

Since the two men were far from what could be defined as "normal", they fought…differently. Using his metal tentacles, Doctor Octopus pushed Rhino away from him, gasping for air as the grip on his neck was released. However, Ock only had a few seconds to ready himself before Rhino came at him again. This time, Rhino threw an armor-plated fist at Ock's face. Luckily, he managed to dodge it; ducking out of the way of the other villain's huge armor-plated hand. Otto lunged forward, using his tentacles to attempt to rip off Rhino's armor.

Rhino saw what he was attempting to do and chuckled while dodging Ock's sharp and deadly pincers. "Go ahead and try, Ock," he roared, "but there's no way you can pierce MY armor!"

"We'll see about that," he replied quietly, brow furrowed in concentration. If he was going to defeat Rhino, he was going to have to put all of his concentration into this. Although Otto had his tentacles, Rhino was much bigger and stronger than he was. If Otto allowed the Rhino to get too close… One punch and he would be out cold. And more than likely on his way to Riker's Penitentiary. Again.

Well, Otto just wasn't going to allow that to happen. Putting all his thought and concentration into it, he lunged again, this time successful as he ripped off a long strip of Rhino's 'indestructible' armor.

"What the—? Impossible!" the other super-villain yelled as he looked down and back up at a grinning Doctor Octopus.

"Obviously not," Ock replied smugly.

It was obvious after that how the battle was going to turn out. It was only a few minutes later when Doc Ock was standing over the Rhino, dangling the defeated villain by the scruff of his thick neck with a tentacle. "You should have known better than to pick a fight with me, fool," he said, spitting in his face.

Rhino said nothing but swung a fist at Ock's face. Since the physicist wasn't expecting it, he took the blow head-on, his sunglasses flying to the ground, causing him to let go of the Rhino. "Agghhhh! My eyes!" he yelled, clutching his face in agony.

However, although his actual eyes were temporarily blinded, he could still see with the cameras he had outfitted his tentacles with. With one of them, he knocked Rhino out cold before the blundering fool could get away.

That done, Ock crouched on his knees, blindly looking for his glasses. The cameras on his tentacles weren't the most reliable source, as they gave a distorted image (though they were quite useful in fighting Spider-Man and other so-called "superheroes"). He wondered where his niece was. Surely she must have seen the whole thing... Not the way he had really wanted to tell her, but what had happened had happened, and there was nothing he could do to change that.

Otto told himself not to worry. He would look for Evelyn and confront her about all of this. But he had to find his glasses first…

Evelyn peeked out from behind the yellow car. The battle appeared to be over—her uncle was dangling Rhino in the air with one of those creepy tentacles and was cruelly berating the other villain. Then Rhino punched her uncle, sending him reeling back. He dropped the Rhino, but knocked him out with a stray tentacle. The other villain on the ground and out of the running, her uncle fell to his knees and looked (it was hard to tell from Evelyn's distance) as though he was looking for something.

Now was a better time than any to confront her uncle, though a part of Evelyn was terrified. She tried to convince herself that he wouldn't hurt her. He had no reason to.

Didn't he?

Evelyn carefully walked over to where her uncle was kneeling. As she approached him, a metal tentacle whipped out in front of her face, effectively startling her. Evelyn could have sworn that the strange apparatus was…was staring at her. This was unnerving, and she took a few steps back.

"Evelyn?" her uncle asked. "Is that you?" Upon closer inspection, Evelyn noticed that Otto was clutching his face, more notably his eyes. Something must have happened to his eyes…

"Evelyn…" he said again weakly. "Could you…help me with something?"

"Help you with what?" she asked warily. Right now, she really didn't want to help her caretaker with anything.

"My sunglasses…" he mumbled. "They…they should be around here somewhere…"

Evelyn didn't say anything but glanced around. Seeing a glinting object sitting next to a trash can, she picked it up. It was her uncle's sunglasses, their unique lenses lacking any earpieces glinting in the bright sunlight shining through the parking lot. She looked at them, marveling at their design. She Then she walked over to her uncle and put them in his hand. "Here. I found them." she said.

Otto fumbled with them in his hands, almost dropping them before putting them back on his face. He noticed that one of the lenses had been shattered. Not again…

He feebly stood up, using a couple of his tentacles to help him to stand. He realized that he had been beaten quite badly, and blackness clouded the corners of his vision. No, no… he would be fine. He couldn't pass out now, in front of his niece. That just wouldn't do… He forced himself to stay awake, keeping his eyes wide open.

Evelyn looked at him, a little concerned despite herself. He didn't look that good at all. To tell the truth, he looked as though he was about to pass out.

But should she really care? After her uncle had deceived her in such a way? She…she supposed she did. At least a little bit.

"Are you alright?" she found herself asking him, still quite wary. Those tentacles… they seemed to move of their own accord, swaying about their master uneasily as he stood up. "I'll… I'll be fine," he rasped. He coughed, spitting blood onto the pavement. "So… so now you know," he said, looking at her. He noticed the fear in her eyes, but there was a greater emotion hidden there.

Anger. Pure rage. Otto could see why she would be angry, but he had thought she would have been more afraid of him than infuriated. After all, he was a feared man. Why would his niece be any different? Truly, he had expected her to scream and run away by now.

But Evelyn, despite his first impression of her, was a defiant girl.

He was soon to discover how defiant she truly was.

She stepped back a little, still afraid of him. "You… you don't have to be afraid," he consoled. "I won't hurt you."

Evelyn didn't know whether he would hurt her or not, but she really didn't care. She thought… she thought her uncle had cared about her. Now, she didn't even know what to think… What was his plan for her? And was she even related to him?Before she even knew what she was doing, Evelyn stepped forward and slapped Doc Ock as hard as she could. "YOU!" she yelled. "How dare you."

Otto reeled back, surprised at the girl's action. He touched his stinging cheek. How… how dare she do such a thing to him! He commanded one of his tentacles to thrash her, but just before the tentacle reached her…

He stopped.

Evelyn stared at the metal pincer, only inches away from her face. She took a step back, looking at her uncle quizzically. What was going on here? What was on his mind?

Otto commanded the tentacle to stop just before it reached her. What was he doing? If he hurt her, he was showing her how cruel he truly was. Perhaps… Perhaps the right way to go about this was not violence. Maybe… maybe… he should show the girl mercy.

He pulled the tentacle back, where it hovered behind its master. "Why did you do that?" he whispered slowly. It still hurt him to talk, as Rhino had nearly crushed his windpipe no more than ten minutes earlier.

Evelyn stood there in shock, her hands shaking. He wasn't going to hurt her? As the tentacle pulled back, she realized that he wasn't, and that she was in no immediate danger. But she was still scared to death. And still angry. She said nothing in response to his question, afraid of what she would say; and how he would react to it.

"I asked you a question," he said in a deadly whisper, his tone of voice scaring her. "Why did you do that?"

"B-because," she stammered. "Because you deserved it."

Brave words, he thought. Had anyone else said that to him, they would be dead right about now. But it wasn't the girl's fault. She didn't know any better.

Otto sighed, but didn't reply. For once, he had no cruel words to say.

Evelyn opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the sound of a police siren.

Otto whipped his head towards the sound. That siren was close. Too close.

He stood up straight and looked at Evelyn in the eye. "I know you must have a lot of questions, girl, but right now I give you two choices."

"Wh-what?"

The police siren whined again, even closer this time. "Hear that?" She nodded. "They're coming for me. Either you can come with me, or you can wait for the police and give them a story about how Doctor Octopus captured you and held you against your will for two months."

"But…you didn't do that…"

"Trust me. They'll believe you. Now, are you coming with me or not?" he asked, growing quickly impatient. The police were going to be here any second now…

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess." She began to walk towards the van, but Otto held her back with a human hand.

"No. We don't have enough time for that."

"Then how are we getting back home?"

He didn't answer. There was really no other option left to him. Otto looked at her, and then turned his back to his niece.

"What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.

"Just do as I say. Approach me, and hold onto my shoulders," he instructed.

Evelyn nervously did so, trying to avoid the metallic arms that hovered around him. "Watch the tentacles," he snapped, as she brushed one of them with her sleeve.

"Sorry," she said. She awkwardly gripped her uncle's shoulders. "Do you have a good hold on me?" he asked.

Evelyn nodded. "Good. Now please don't scream, and whatever you do, don't let go of me." With that, Doctor Octopus immediately began to scale the brick building next to him, just as a police car sped around the corner and pulled into the parking lot.

Otto, who was already nearly on the top of the building, looked back at the police car. "That was a close one," he noted.

His niece, who had been utterly surprised by this turn of events, was clinging onto Otto's coat for dear life. She opened her mouth to scream, but remembered what her uncle said and kept her mouth shut. If she wasn't careful, he just might drop her.

They continued across the rooftops, Doctor Octopus vaulting over the spaces between the buildings with precision and ease. He noticed that Evelyn was clinging so tightly she was almost hurting him. "Relax," he told her. "Try to enjoy it." She still clung to him for dear life, not releasing her grip even a little.

The criminal held out a human hand, and she gratefully took it. "There," he grumbled. "Feel a little safer now?"

"Yeah, a little," she mumbled. "You do this all of the time?" she asked.

"Yes, but I don't usually have passengers," he replied.

After several minutes of going across numerous rooftops, they arrived on the roof of their apartment building. Evelyn stepped off of her uncle's shoulders, where she promptly ran to the edge of the building and threw up.

When she was finished, her uncle said, "I apologize. That usually happens with everyone the first time."

Evelyn gave him an incredulous look. "You mean you've let people ride you before?"

Doc Ock raised an eyebrow. "'Ride me'? Girl, do I look like a children's carnival ride to you?"

"No, but…"

He waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. But as an answer to your question, yes, I have."

"Who?"

"Hostages, mostly." He went over to the elevator on the roof. "Ladies first," he said almost politely. He had hidden his tentacles underneath his coat now, and he looked almost normal except for the fact that he looked as though he had recently had a rather nasty beating.

They rode the elevator down to the third floor, and Otto jimmied the lock to their apartment with a driver's license because he had left his keys in the van. In one fluid motion, he took his overcoat off, revealing the tentacles underneath. He sat at the table, and motioned for Evelyn to do the same.

Evelyn slowly, numbly, sank in one of the kitchen chairs. The criminal got up and pulled down the shades, giving the room a darkened, cave-like look. He sat back down, facing his niece. Otto took his sunglasses off and crossed his hands.

"Evelyn. I don't really need to tell you who I really am. The truth is now out, though this wasn't the way I intended for you to find out." He pause a moment. "First, I'll answer any questions you might have. Then," he said, giving her an ambitious look, "we shall discuss your future."

Author's Note: So I conclude another chapter… Please review; I greatly appreciate feedback. Keep your eyes out for Chapter Seven, which I'll type and upload as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!