The grounds were silent as Norman Osborne spoke into the microphone he held in his hand. He tried to move around the staging area so that his words would seem to have more energy in them.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, at OsCorp we strive for excellence. In everything that we do, we give a hundred and ten percent…and sometimes more. Why? Because we believe in what we do. We believe that what we do is the key to creating a better world and a brighter future for everyone."
Norman Osborne's speech seemed to get the crowd fired up because everyone began to clap when he reached his first pause. Norman smiled, and nodded graciously to his audience. No one in the audience could see just how much effort it took for him to muster up the level of energy he displayed, or how such energy pained him so. He would never willingly allow his illness to show.
"Now, I have invited all of you here tonight—Board Members, honored guests, and friends—to give you a glimpse of what OsCorp is currently working on. Afterwards, it is my hope that you will continue to show your support for our work." Norman finished with a slight nod towards Mr. Starr, who stood just off to one side of the stage. "I hope you all enjoy tonight's presentation."
Mr. Starr turned, and disappeared behind the stage curtains. Norman started to follow his assistant, but was halted after a couple of steps by the sound of a throat clearing from off stage.
"I'm Impressed." A raspy voice spoke out from the back of the crowd. Everyone in the audience looked around for the source of the voice, and all the while they uttered I hushed whispers to each other. "Impressed at how hell you maintain yourself…given your condition."
"If its not too much trouble," the voice spoke again. "I'd like to make my a presentation of my own."
Norman Osborne searched the crowd before him for the person who seemed to be speaking to him. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." Norman replied with a nervous chuckle.
Then the crowd parted, from the back, as the stranger stepped forward. His walk held a slight limp on his left side, and he kept his head down as he spoke. No one knew what to make of the mysterious stranger.
The stranger chuckled. "Of course you do, Norman." the man replied.
"Do I…know you?" Norman asked, with the same nervous chuckle from before.
"You used to." The man replied, as he continued forward. "Before you…destroyed me." He added. "Ladies and Gentlemen-"
"This is absurd." Norman said, as he turned towards the curtains. "Mr. Starr, please call security out here at once." He said in a low voice.
The man stopped about midway up the aisle, and removed his fedora from the top of his head. His hair was frizzled and messy, and his eyes were bloodshot. His whole appearance was more than haggard looking to say the least.
"Octavius." Norman muttered under his breath as a look recognition settled over his face.
Off to the side Peter and Gwen stood silently side-by-side. Suddenly Peter's head began to buzz like crazy, and he held one hand against his temple, grimacing at the pain.
"Pete, are you alright?" Gwen whispered worriedly, as she looked her boyfriend over.
"Yeah." Peter finally managed, as he looked up at Gwen. "But something tells me were in trouble."
"What do you mean?" Gwen asked, as she leaned closer to Peter.
"-I submit to you," the man continued. "Norman Osborne's greatest failure!" his voice rose several decibels, and then suddenly two long, metallic tentacle shot out from under his trench coat and slammed hard into the near his feet. His fedora fell to the ground, and then two more tentacles punched through the sides of his coat, and seemed to linger in the air on either side.
Everyone in attendance gasped in horror at the sight before them. Several people tried to move aside, and several made beelines for the entrance gate.
Shit! "I think we should-" Peter started to say, as he reached for Gwen's hand.
"Oh, and I brought some friends too." Octavius added, with a sinister chuckle. Suddenly a high-pitched whirring sound filled the air.
"What's that sound!" Gwen asked. She covered her ears to try and drown out the intense buzzing sound.
"That." Peter said, as he suddenly pointed towards the sky. Several small, metallic disc-shaped objects zipped overhead. "Duck." Peter grabbed Gwen, and pulled her aside just as one of the objects passed just inches over their heads.
The objects slammed into the ground, and onto the tops of tables, and then began to open up into what appeared to be small, multi-armed robots. The robots began to skitter about the grounds, and caused utter chaos.
"That's the guy who attacked you at the warehouse, isn't it?" Gwen asked Peter, as the couple climbed back to their feet.
"Yep." Peter replied, as he looked around for a quick way off of the grounds. "And I'm thinking its time to go." I need a place to change. He thought to himself.
"I call them my…Octobots." Octavius said above the noise of the hysterical crowd.
Peter and Gwen rushed through packs of panicked people, who rushed about madly, trying to escape the grounds. "Peter, where are we going!" Gwen asked, as Peter pulled her along. "You shouldn't be here." Peter said over his shoulder. "Its too dangerous."
"Well, I'm not just going to leave you here." She said, as she tried to pull out of his grip.
"I'm not giving you a choice." Peter replied.
All around them, People were running and falling before the deadly, metallic Octobots that scurried about the grounds wreaking havoc.
Then suddenly one of the Octobots landed just in front of Peter and Gwen, and the couple screeched to halt before it. The Octobot craned its sharp, metallic head around to stare up at Peter and Gwen. Then the single, red eye lens in the center of its head began to glow bright red.
"Okay, not this way." Peter remarked. He spun on his heel, and pulled Gwen out of the way just as the Octobot fired a bright laser beam out of its eye lens. The beam just narrowly missed the scrambling coupled.
"Peter, look!" Gwen shouted suddenly. She pointed off to the right of where they were. A tall, slender woman was cornered against a wall by one of the Octobots, and it was aiming its laser beam at her from a nearby tabletop.
"Please, go away!" the woman shouted at the tiny robot.
…TBC…
