Chapter 9—Training
Author's Note: Thank you for the continuous support of DryBonesReborn, who has liked this story from practically the beginning. Thanks, Bones! And now to the story… In which Evelyn is trained in the fine art of fighting, and Spider-Man shows up to join in on the fun.
"Where are we going?" Evelyn asked as they walked out the door of their apartment building.
Otto, who was walking a little too quickly for Evelyn's liking, replied, "Oh, to an old, abandoned place. I actually used to live there at one point. As far as I know, it is still neglected as ever... Which is good for us. Less chance of being spotted."
"Oh…"
"You know, we could actually take the rooftops, Evelyn. It would be much faster."
"No; no thanks." She really wasn't in the mood to throw up again.
He shrugged. "Alright. Next time, though, I won't go as fast."
"Incidentally," she asked, "How fast CAN you go doing that?"
He scratched his head, thinking. "…Oh, when I'm using all four of them…? Around… fifty miles an hour."
"No way! You're lying."
"I am not lying, and I would appreciate it if you didn't assume I was a habitual liar, Evelyn."
She shrugged. "What do you expect me to think?"
They walked in silence for a moment. Then Evelyn looked at Otto and did a double take. "Uncle Otto… why the hell are you wearing a backpack?"
He glared at her. "Backpacks aren't just for schoolchildren, you know."
"Yeah, but… what's in there?"
"Lunch," he replied. "We are going to be there practicing most of the day."
"Practicing what?"
"I do believe I already told you. We are going to be practicing fighting techniques. Basically, you'll be fighting me."
Evelyn frowned. "But that's like cheating! Fighting you wouldn't be any fair at all."
He chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll take it easy on you. Very easy. After all, you're just a beginner, and I don't want to hurt you."
Evelyn didn't say anything to that. They just walked in silence for a couple minutes. The sounds of the city were in the background, but they barely heard them. One got used to the noise of New York and quickly learned to tune it out; as Evelyn and Otto did.
Finally, she decided to be bold and ask him another question. "Uncle Otto?"
He raised his eyebrows, knowing that this would be another question from her, no doubt. "Yes, Evelyn?"
"How long has it been?"
"How long has it been since what?"
"You know… since your accident or whatever happened."
He was at a loss for what to say for a moment. "How long…? Oh, I have to think about that one, Evelyn…" Otto stopped walking and stood there for a minute, thinking about it.
It had indeed been a long time. He could barely remember what it was like before the accident; what it was like to be without them. What it was like to be regarded as "normal" by society. But even before that, he wasn't regarded very highly. Such is the story of my life, he thought bitterly.
Otto counted up the years and finally found an answer. "…Around eight years."
"Oh… really?" his niece replied, surprised by his answer.
"Well, I say eight, but five of those years were spent in prison, so they don't count."
Evelyn gave him an almost smug look. "Well, yeah…"
"Don't you dare imply that I deserved spending five years of my life in prison!"
She shrugged. "I'm not implying. I'm just saying…"
"Perhaps it would be wise if you didn't say anything at all," he snarled, insulted and quickly getting on the defensive.
"Maybe you're right," she agreed softly.
They continued walking, blatantly unaware of the fact that Spider-Man himself was on the rooftops, observing them.
What the hell is going on here? he thought. That's Doc Ock, of course. I would recognize him anywhere. But who is with him? That… wait, she's just a girl! She's gotta be only sixteen tops. What the hell is—
Then it dawned on Spidey like a sledgehammer hitting him over the head. Holy shit… Ock… Ock must have a daughter! That's the only explanation. Unless he kidnapped someone, but I think I would have known about it. After all, when he does something like this, it's usually a headliner.
This explained just about everything. It explained the three-week disappearance, his comeback, and the fact that he had been hiding from Spider-Man for several weeks now. It also explained why the good ol' Doc had been not inclined to hurt him the other day on the rooftop.
Octavius had been worried and possibly depressed about his daughter.
This was really crummy news. No doubt he already had manipulated the girl to the point where she would defend him to the hilt and possibly even attack Peter. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.
As he watched them disappear inside an old condemned warehouse, he wondered what he should do. He needed to tellthe Avengers about this; possibly even Nick Fury himself.
But wouldn't it be a good thing if he managed to get the girl out of Ock's grasp before Ock did too much damage?
Peter nodded to himself, deciding right then and there what to do. I will tell the Avengers and Nick Fury, but I'm going to try to handle this by myself first. What I'll do is just wait for them to come out and confront both of them. Maybe I'll catch Ock off guard…
Peter sat on the rooftop overlooking the rooftop and waited, wondering how long he would have to wait and mentally readying himself to battle Doc Ock once more.
He had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an average battle with Ock. Ock had a lot more at stake here than just himself. Now the criminal had his daughter to think about too…
Which Spidey was going to use as an advantage. If he was lucky, he would be able to incapacitate Ock and rescue the girl from a criminal lifestyle all in one day.
In the meantime, though, he continued to wait…
…..
Otto opened the door to the warehouse. The hinges made a loud creaking sound, like that heard in horror movies. He went in first, while a tentacle held open the door for Evelyn.
After she had passed through the door, the said metallic arm closed it rapidly with a slam, placing the deadbolt that Evelyn hadn't noticed before firmly in place.
Evelyn's first impression of the warehouse was that it smelled extremely musty. Dust covered up the large, probably empty boxes that were strewn around the empty building. Most of the windows had been shattered long ago, creating a breeze of cold air in the warehouse.
However, there was one spot that looked almost clean; there was only a small layer of dust on the floor, and there were spaces on the wall where pictures or papers had been placed.
Otto set his backpack and the suitcase (which held the weapons) down on the ground in that corner. He whipped off his coat and set it down on top of the other items. He glanced at Evelyn, who was scanning the room impassively, her eyes flicking around the room. Finally, her eyes rested on him, and she gave him an inquisitive look, staring up at the nearly caved in ceiling. The damage was to the point where one could see the bits of blue sky through it. "So, you actually lived here?"
"Yes," he grumbled. "Didn't I already tell you this before?" He knew she was thinking, what a hell-hole! Well, it was a hell-hole. But he had gotten out of here, hadn't he? That was at least saying something.
"Uh, I forgot."
Otto reached into the backpack and took out a duffel bag. He tossed it to his niece, and she deftly caught it. "What's in here?" she asked.
"Clothes. You can't practice fighting in that ridiculous get-up."
"Yeah, but, where would you want me to, uh, change?"
"Behind those boxes," Otto replied, pointing. He raised an eyebrow. "I won't look. I'm not a pervert."
She gave her uncle a skeptical glance, but said nothing, retreating behind the boxes and coming out a few minutes later wearing the shorts, tennis shoes, and plain white t-shirt that had been in the bag. "I'm ready now," she said to Otto, who had his back turned.
He whipped around with surprising speed. "I take it you are ready to begin?"
"As ready as I'm going to ever be…"
Otto stood a few feet away from her. "Let's start with what you know." He assumed a fighting stance, as though he was going to attack Evelyn. "Let's say, for the record, that we are in a dark alleyway and I wanted to rape and kill you. What would you do?"
Evelyn shrugged. "Well, first I would probably—"
The criminal cut her off. "Don't tell me what you're going to do," he snarled. "Do it."
Evelyn didn't give a reply verbally. Instead, she answered his demand by rapidly lifting up her foot and kicking Otto as hard as she could between his legs.
Caught off-guard, he yelped in surprise and then groaned, sinking to his knees and self-consciously putting his hands on his groin. "Ugggggnnnnn….." he moaned, his facial features twisted in pain.
Evelyn stared at her uncle in horror, her mouth dropping open. "Maybe I kicked too hard…?" she mumbled sheepishly.
"Yeah, maybe," Otto grunted. He slowly lifted himself to his feet, his legs still wobbly and unsteady. He bit his lip, trying not to yell out in pain as he carefully lowered himself onto a crate, hands still on his groin.
"Uh, I'm sorry…" Evelyn said guiltily, looking at the scene and feeling bad. Maybe she shouldn't have hit him that hard; but he had asked for it…
And besides, it felt really good to do that. He kind of deserved it, after all.
Otto had obviously noticed her slightly smug look, because he glowered at her, his face still contorted in pain. "I'll admit that… that that was… a good one," he breathed. "But don't gloat over the fact that you managed to do that. I'm taking it easy on you, remember."
Evelyn sat on a crate next to him. "How bad is it?" she asked, a little concerned.
"Bad," he replied through gritted teeth. "Training session's over."
"Oh…" Evelyn trailed off, not sure of what to say. "I'm really sorry."
He grimaced. "Don't be. I asked for it, after all. Although you do hit… really hard." Otto stood up slowly, teeth clenched. "We'll resume this tomorrow, after you get out of school." He limped over to the corner, picking up his coat and carefully putting it on; buttoning up the trench coat cautiously. "What are you staring at? Get your street clothes on and let's go."
A few minutes later, they both stood outside the warehouse door, the sunlight shining weakly through the city. Otto looked at Evelyn and smiled. "Want to take the rooftops?"
Evelyn shook her head vehemently. "No. I thought we already went over that, Uncle Otto. Once is enough for me."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure!"
He turned away from her. "Fine then. If you want to walk home, suit yourself. I'm taking the easier route." Otto began to scale the wall beside him.
"No, wait! Otto!" she called.
He turned around, a malicious grin on his face. "I knew you would change your mind." The villain climbed back down. "Come on, then. I'll take it easy on you."
Soon they were vaulting across the buildings; Otto going a lot slower than he had did the last time.
While they were moving, Otto said something, but Evelyn couldn't hear him. "What? I can't hear you!" Evelyn said loudly. The wind was stinging both of their faces, and the sun had disappeared, being replaced by threatening clouds.
"I said," Otto whispered, turning his head to face her, "that I'm proud of you."
"I… what? Why?"
"Because you managed to single-handedly kick my ass. That's something to be proud of."
She said nothing, just readjusted her grip on his shoulder, as her hands were starting to slip.
Meanwhile, Spider-Man had been staking out his rooftop for much too long in his opinion. The superhero pulled out his cellphone. "Hey, MJ! What's up? Oh, that's cool! Yeah, yeah. What am I doing? Oh, just chillin'." Out of the corner of his eye he saw a moving shadow in the distance that could only be—
"Oh, hell! I just realized something! I gotta go!" He quickly ended the call with his girlfriend, knowing he would have to think of a good excuse later. Spider-Man hopped off the building and onto the next one. Good ol' Doc Ock seemed to be unaware of the fact that he was coming straight for Spidey, and he wanted to keep it that way. Peter clung to the side of the building he was on, waiting to surprise the villain. As he came closer, the superhero realized that the girl that he had seen from earlier was actually riding Ock's shoulders. Oh, hell, he thought. This isn't going to be easy…
Ock and Evelyn continued through the rooftops and she actually found herself… Holy crap, was she actually enjoying this? She grudgingly admitted that she was. It wasn't every day you got to travel like this…
Suddenly, without warning, Otto screeched to a stop, nearly throwing Evelyn off. What the…?
"Stop right there, Ock! Hand over the girl!"
Her uncle cursed softly. "We've got company."
Author's Note: More to come, don't worry! Please review if you could. Feedback is always appreciated!