Otto had been working for the past hour or two in silence, the tentacles working with the sensitive chemicals inside a makeshift fire shield. Andy cleared her throat and spoke up from behind him.
"I've got this burning question to ask you, Otto, and now is as good a time as any to finally say it," she said, her voice suddenly upbeat. He didn't turn around but continued to work, holding a vial in front of him with the tentacles and writing something down on the clipboard beside him.
"Why are you making a serum that could put more Spiderman clones out there? I thought you hated him." There was a soft clinking of glass as he mixed another vial into a beaker set on a burner.
"Hate is a rather strong word. I reserve that for those that truly deserve it," he said quietly. Andy shifted in her bonds.
"Well, I hate him. I hate him. Do you hear me? You're making this serum and it's going to put more of him out there." Otto glanced back over his shoulder, stopping his work for a moment.
"You hate him, but not because he is Spiderman."
"It's the same difference! If he hadn't been there that night, nothing would have happened. He wouldn't have fought with you and Julie would be alive," she growled.
Otto looked at her a moment longer and then shifted his gaze to Mary Jane, who was beginning to stir. He had only told Andy what she needed to know that night. He didn't mention what he had said to Julia. Shaking his head clear of the painful memory, he continued to work.
"Trust me," he said after a moment. Andy shifted again, trying to work her hands out from under the wires silently.
"Trust you? You just tied me up and you're going to do God knows what to that girl, and you want me to trust you?" she asked, but Otto had turned back around, continuing to mix vials and record the results. Mary Jane groaned from the couch and tried to roll over. Otto cleared his throat, addressing his subject.
"No doubt you are suffering from a splitting headache, Ms. Watson. Lie still and relax," he said, lifting a beaker inside the firebox and examining it. The tentacles gently picked up two more eyedroppers and sampled the mixture. MJ's eyes fluttered open as she tried in vain to wrench her hands free. She looked down and saw her ankles had been bound as well.
"What are you doing? What are you going to do to me?" she croaked, twisting her head around to look up at him. Her head was thumping painfully and she closed her eyes again. Oh God…where am I? What's this sicko going to do? Desperately she tried to wrench her hands apart. Otto gave her a sidelong glance.
"I'd advise you to remain still," he said, his words sharp. Mary Jane slowly relaxed her arms and buried her face into the tattered couch cushion, fighting back tears. I have no idea where I am…oh God…he's going to hurt me…She turned her head back around, strands of long red hair lying across her face.
"Please, let me go! S-Spiderman's going to find you anyway, so please, just let me go now," she began pleading, twisting her wrists around again angrily, her words intermittent with small gasps as she fought back her fear. Annoyed, Otto reached for the duct tape again with two tentacles and ripped a short strip from the roll, pressing it against her mouth roughly. She glared up at him, silent now.
"Enough, Ms. Watson. I said relax."
Otto retracted the arms from the fire shield and watched as a chemical reaction took place inside the shield. Everything was going along smoothly. He had been close the night the experiment had taken place. So very close. And now he was right there. This was the right combination. He was positive. Behind him Andy spoke up again.
"What will you do with the serum if it works?" she asked. Otto lifted his hands.
"I'm sure Osbourne Industries would be more than happy to make a deal with me." She lifted both eyebrows incredulously.
"You'd just sell it back to them? But they'll just turn around and sell it to the highest bidder or something! And God knows they're not going to credit YOU for any of the work!"
"I'm counting on it, my dear." She stared at him, still confused. He laid the clipboard back on the table and reached a tentacle inside the firebox where he gently picked up a small glass vial, removing it from the shield and holding it in the air before him.
"This serum should, more or less, invoke the same genetic changes that occurred in Spiderman. Every subject will react in slightly different ways, of course, but that is one uncontrollable factor can't be helped." The claw twisted and dropped the vial into his gloved hand where he clenched his fist around it, smiling.
"What Osbourne won't know is that I've adapted this genetic strand to decompose after about seventy two hours after the changes have begun to manifest."
Andy recoiled in surprise. "You mean…it'll do what? Kill them!?"
"Essentially." His smile had turned wicked.
Andy fell silent, staring at the purple liquid inside the vial. She looked over at Mary Jane who had finally managed to sit up in the crook of the couch, also staring in horror at the vial. Otto knew Osbourne would buy the formula under the table without any hesitation. And everything would appear to be fine until their test subjects dropped dead. By the time that had happened, though, they would have already manufactured and sold the formula to the highest bidders on the market. When the other shoe finally fell, Oscorp, who would have taken all the credit, would be blamed for the faulty serum. Osbourne's credibility would all but be destroyed. He smiled in spite of himself.
How ironic; that which you've wanted most since the creation of Spiderman will be your undoing…
"Please, Otto, don't give that to her. I didn't mind you beating up on Spiderman – he was able to defend himself, at least. But look at her. Its not fair!" Otto dropped his hand to his side, looking at her in disgust, gesturing at MJ with a tentacle. The clawed end clacked shut menacingly in her direction, and she let out a muffled cry, trying to shove herself further back into the couch.
"Do you really want to have a discussion on the morals of the situation? Need I remind you who was responsible for Julia's death? Was that fair?" he exclaimed resentfully.
"The way I see it, the world owes me, and frankly, I'm quite disappointed in your lack of enthusiasm in the matter." He turned again and rummaged through a plastic container, plucking a hypodermic needle from the pile. Mary Jane saw the needle and began to fight against the tape again as he examined the barrel of the syringe. She was whimpering pitifully now, but he ignored her for the moment, pulling the cap from the needle with his teeth and spitting it to the floor.
"I suppose once again I have proven that the only one I can depend on is myself. Nothing has really changed, has it?" he said as he plunged the needle into the vial's rubber stopper, drawing the contents into the syringe. "I shouldn't be surprised, really. At least now it is in my power to achieve what I've always wanted." Andy cleared her throat.
"And what is that?" He flicked the end of the syringe, pressing the plunger to remove the air bubble as he turned to look at her. She flinched when she saw the dark circles under his eyes and the frown lines that seemed permanently etched onto his face. She hadn't been aware of how tired and drained he appeared until now.
"Respect," he said flatly, his expression dark. Outside it was beginning to rain again. Otto laid the syringe carefully atop the firebox and reached with the tentacles into the shield to fill the second vial with the remaining mixture. Mary Jane had fallen silent; her head rocked back onto the couch. He pocketed the last vial and then picked up the syringe, reaching down and grabbing her by the forearm roughly. She had fainted.
He sighed wearily and stuck the barrel of the syringe between his teeth, propping her back up against the side of the couch. In order to give her the shot he had to unbind her wrists, and he began tearing the tape off. When he had thrown the last of the tape to the floor Mary Jane suddenly wrenched herself from his grip and swung up, smacking him across the face as she simultaneously tore the tape from her lips. The needle flew from his clenched teeth and skittered across the floor, finally coming to rest in against a column. Otto hissed under his breath and backhanded her – a reaction that startled even him. She had cried out in pain and covered her head with her arms as she tried to shove herself over the top of the couch against the wall.
"Ms. Watson, I believe I've run out of patience for this sort of behavior," he said, annoyed. One tentacle reached out and grabbed her around the waist roughly, dragging her back and holding her beside him as he glared at her.
"Go to hell!" she snapped, her trapped hands clenching onto the tentacle wrapped tightly around her torso.
"Would you believe I've been there already?" he snapped savagely, gesturing with his hands as the other three tentacles flexed around behind him. One of the claws rotated and focused on MJ, watching her keenly as she struggled in his grasp. He reached across the room with another tentacle and picked up the syringe, holding it over his hand. The claw opened and dropped it into his open palm, and he inspected the needle closely. Andy spoke up from across the warehouse.
"Otto, don't do it! Leave her alone, for Christ's sake! You're going to KILL her!" He ignored her as Mary Jane began pleading with him.
"Please! Don't stick me with that thing! Please, let me go! Let me GO!" she cried. Otto sighed at her hysterics.
"Calm down, both of you. I'm a doctor. I think I can handle administering a shot," he said sarcastically as Mary Jane twisted in his grasp and whimpered again. "You really shouldn't have done that," he said to her, holding the syringe between two fingers, "the needle isn't sterile anymore. I suppose that really doesn't matter, though, does it?" He smiled at her sadistically and grabbed her arm, wrenching her forward. She began screaming as he brought the needle to the inside of her elbow.
Suddenly there was the sound of bursting glass from above. Otto jerked his head around to look. Andy cursed vehemently behind him as Spiderman appeared in the window, framed by another bolt of lightning as the rain continued to pour outside.
"Ock! You're having a party and you didn't invite me? I'm hurt!" he cried, leaping from the window into the warehouse, swinging down to land atop a tall cabinet.
"Spiderman!" MJ called out, a smile breaking across her face. The tentacle tightened around her and she gasped.
"Just take her and get OUT!" Andy yelled. "TAKE HER AND GET OUT!" she screamed again, hoarsely. Peter crouched on the cabinet, looking back and forth between Andy and Ock, who was clenching Mary Jane in his tentacle and holding a hypodermic needle in one gloved hand.
Oh God…what's going on? Am I too late? MJ, please say you're okay… He wobbled back and forth on his ankles uncertainly. The girl with the orange hair was screaming at him again and Ock had raised Mary Jane up in the air.
"PAR – " Otto began to holler, cut off abruptly as Spiderman flicked his wrist and shot a splattering of webbing across his mouth. Furious, Otto tore at the webs as two tentacles snapped at the web slinger as he swung by overhead.
"Ock, what did I tell you about name calling?" Peter yelled down from atop his perch, watching MJ, his heart pounding inside his chest. Otto ripped the last of the webs from his mouth, the scratches along his cheek bleeding again. He sneered and pointed up at Peter, lifting Mary Jane up in his tentacle, holding the needle dangerously close to her neck. He'd jab it into her throat now, for all he cared – he'd put up with enough of her crap today.
"I've got no time for you, boy, I'm busy!" he hollered up at him. Mary Jane craned her neck away from the needle, her screams sending chills through Peter's body.
Oh God, MJ, don't move, don't move…I'll get you…
"Come on, Doc, lets leave the ladies out of this, okay?" he called down, spotting the elaborate sound system set up directly behind Otto. A sudden idea struck. Those bass speakers were some six feet tall; just a few seconds of that and he might have the advantage. He squatted on the rafter and extended his hand. Otto raised a tentacle up to deflect any more web attacks.
"It's far too late for compromise – this is the final stage of my experiment. And no one, not even you, is going to stand in my way!" he yelled, dragging Mary Jane closer, raising the needle again.
"Hey, Ock, wait! Wait a second!" he cried, waving frantically. Otto looked up at him, scowling, pausing for a split second. Peter had learned to put those split second pauses to good use.
"You like bass?" he asked, and shot a large glob of webbing at the switch on the unit, yanking his wrist up. "NO! They're – "Andy immediately yelled just as the stereo system roared to life, thundering bass emitting from both speakers. Peter tottered backwards on the beam, grabbing hold just in time before he fell off. Jesus! It was even louder than he had expected. Otto had dropped MJ and the syringe in complete surprise, his hands flying to clamp over his ears as both he and Mary Jane yelled out in pain. Peter winced – he had forgotten about MJ's ears. Shoot. He leaped down from the rafters and flung a web out to snatch the syringe, feeling the deep vibrations thudding in his chest as he tossed it behind him somewhere in the warehouse, turning his attention to MJ who was lying curled with her knees to her chest, her hands covering her ears.
The thundering bass had all but ruptured Otto's eardrums standing as close as he was – he twisted violently and smashed all four tentacles into the units behind him to stop the noise.
"DAMN IT! Otto! Those were EXPENSIVE!" Andy yelled in protest as the now silenced speakers toppled over onto the cluttered warehouse floor, tendrils of white smoke curling up from the exposed speaker cones. He turned back around, still holding his hands to the sides of his head, looking bewildered as the tentacles wavered erratically around him, the claws snapping opened and closed furiously.
"WHAT??!" he yelled at her, unable to hear anything but a deafening ringing sound. Growling furiously to himself, he looked down and saw Mary Jane had disappeared. Above him he saw Spiderman had snatched her up in his arms and was hurling himself for a window far above them.
Otto let his hands fall from his ears, which were still ringing painfully, and began to climb up the support pillar nearest to him. It creaked and slanted a bit under his weight, but he ignored it and kept going, finally reaching the intersecting girders near the roof. One tentacle whipped around and caught Spiderman's left leg just as the two had reached the last column before the window. Peter tried desperately to throw another web line, but only managed to web MJ to the support column in front of him. She reached out to him with her one free arm as he tried to hang on.
"Hurghk…stay here!" he exclaimed as he was yanked backwards. She had a split second to look directly into his eyes through the mask before he was torn away from her again and thrown against the opposite column. It groaned and bent slightly to the side as he hit. This time, Otto didn't let go. He released his grip on the column he had been clinging to and pulled Peter down with him, smashing him against a tall wooden cabinet as they hit the ground. Wood splinters jammed into his back as Ock dragged him through the mess and threw him against the brick wall. Peter let out a sharp hiss of breath – he was sure he'd cracked some ribs that time.
"I'm experiencing a strong sense of deja-vu, Spiderman. I sincerely hope you're not trying for a repeat performance of your last little attempt to thwart me," Otto spat vehemently into Peter's face as he picked him up and held him against the brick wall, shoving the boy's head back as he clenched his neck just beneath the jaw, "because this time I intend to finish the job, you repulsive little pest!" Peter let out a cry of pain as Otto backhanded him with one of the tentacles, coiling another around him tightly.
"Jeez, Ock, you…you always talk this much?" he said, blood soaking through the mask in droplets as he coughed. Otto narrowed his eyes and dropped his hand from around Peter's neck, clenching his fists at his sides.
"You've disrupted me for the last time! FOR, THE, LAST, TIME!" he snarled, cracking Peter back and forth across the face again and again with the clenched tentacle to emphasize every word. Finally he dropped Peter to the concrete floor, a look of pure disgust plastered on his face. Andy stared at Peter as he lay still on the ground near her feet. She twisted in her loosening bonds and stared at Otto, truly scared now.
"Leave him alone, alright? Look at him! You've beaten him to an inch of his life! That's enough!" she exclaimed. Otto touched his hand to his face to see if he was still bleeding and then scanned the floor.
"He's not dead yet. Where did he throw the syringe?" he snapped irritably, continuing as if nothing had happened. Andy scoffed and shook her head.
"I don't know, with all the shit that's been going on in here I haven't noticed where it went," she snapped as he walked past her. "This place is totally trashed, and you're looking for a goddamn needle!" He continued to look around the floor, finally snatching it up from the ground with a triumphant cry.
"Now! Where was I?" he said, flicking the needle again as he looked up at Mary Jane, who was still webbed to the column far above. He began climbing up the column and Mary Jane started to scream again, pleading for Spiderman to wake up.
Moaning to himself, Peter lifted himself up on his elbows. His head was swimming and his entire face felt as if it were on fire. He lifted his mask to his nose and spit on the ground before slowly getting to his feet, leaning against the column Andy was tied to. He glanced up at her and shook his head.
"You…you all right?" he uttered, pressing a hand to the side of his face. Andy stared at him, her expression unreadable.
"Don't kill him…please…he's…he's all I have," she whispered. "Take the girl and leave. Just get out of here." Peter stumbled back, giving her one final, curious look before jumping onto the bent column beside him.
What was wrong with these crazy chicks these days? What the HELL was so appealing about a crazy scientist guy with metal arms coming out of his back? He ground his teeth and climbed up the column, ignoring the pain as he reached out and shot a web onto Ock's back.
One tentacle snapped around and tried to spear him through the chest, but he dodged it just in time, using it to jump off like a springboard to land on Ock's back. Ock had just about reached Mary Jane when Peter jumped, scrambling to lock his legs around his waist and force his arms around his neck. Otto twisted around, yelling venomously as Peter clamped his arms around his neck and yanked back fiercely. They both fell, again, but this time he was lucky enough not to get crushed as Ock reached out and blindly grabbed for another column with two tentacles. They swung across the warehouse and smashed into the brick wall, their combined weight proving to be too much stress on the metal support column. The entire rusted column bent in the clutches of the two tentacles and gave way, shearing the bolts holding the beam to the rafters of the warehouse and sliding further down the main support beam.
Peter didn't let go; he kept his arms locked around Ock's neck as the doctor thrashed to get him off, the needle falling from his grasp in the process. Otto finally let go of the girder as it began to pull them down and instead clamped onto the wall behind them, digging the claws into the crumbling brick. The girder fell with a terrible screeching sound as it scraped alongside another column, crashing with a deafening thud onto the concrete floor below. The roof had been torn apart where the column had once stood and rain began to pour in, brilliant flashes of lightning apparent outside the windows. Andy screamed, still tied to her column, just a few feet from where the rusted column lay now.
"Otto! Otto, help me!" she cried, terrified of how close the column had come to her. She twisted her wrists in the wiring holding her to the column. Otto dropped to the floor behind her, just barely catching himself on the tentacles as he struggled to breathe. Angry and beginning to feel faint from lack of air, Ock slammed Peter up against the brick over and over again, using the tentacles to throw both of them against the wall. Dust and chunks of the wall fell on both of them as bricks crumbled under the force. Peter ground his teeth together and shut his eyes; his body screamed in pain with each crushing blow.
"Get … OFF!" Otto managed to yell, blindly swinging tentacles around as he tried to rip Peter off of his back. His lungs burned as he tried to stay standing and black spots were beginning to appear in front of his eyes.
"Well will you look at this? Doctor Octopus is human after all," Peter quipped, clamping his jaw shut as another claw raked across his back painfully. Otto stumbled forward, his hands clamped around Peter's interlocked forearms.
Above them the groaning sound of twisting metal was becoming more noticeable as the roof began to sag without the support of the collapsed column. Otto tore at him again and again with the tentacles, but Peter hung on despite being bloody and bruised. He finally tipped forward, falling to his knees, still trying desperately to throw Peter from his back. The tentacles flailed indecisively for a moment as his vision went entirely black.
"Parker…ge…get…" he croaked, finally falling forward onto the floor, clawing weakly in Andy's direction. Peter looked up at Mary Jane and then to Andy, who was twisted over her shoulder, her eyes wide, staring at the two wrestling on the floor.
Ock choked on his words as Peter dug his knee into his back, tightening his grip further, and yanked back on his head. Otto groaned in agony and his eyes rolled up inside his head.
"I'll get them both, Ock. Don't worry about that. You're going to sleep now," he said, watching as Otto slumped forward onto the concrete floor, the tentacles falling limp against the table and overturned bench lying around them. Giving him one last shake, Peter released his grip and slowly stood up, keeping one hand firmly pressed to his bleeding side, looking up at Mary Jane desperately. The column beside her where Ock had thrown him was grinding now, shearing away from its rusted bolts and slanting dangerously close to where she hung in his webbing.
"Damn it," he muttered aloud as he kicked one of the slack tentacles out of his way, running to untie Andy from her bonds. She glared up at him angrily and he sighed heavily, unwinding the wires quickly.
"Look, I did the best I could with him, okay? He's not dead or anything. It was the only thing I could do! Do you see what he did to me?! Look at this, will ya?!" he exclaimed, wincing under her furious gaze. He pulled the last of the wires off of her and threw them to the ground, pointing at the door across the warehouse.
"Now get out of here – this place is caving in and I still have to get her," he ordered, turning to tend to Mary Jane, who was still bound to the column far above the floor.
"Spiderman! I can't believe it! You really did it!" she called down to him. Peter smiled inside his mask as he began to carefully climb the slanting column. It was over, finally. Time to get the hell out of here.
Darkness.
It was that feeling you have just before you wake up. It was comforting, to be floating in the dark like that. Nothing to worry about. Nothing to do. Just …nothing.
Get up, Otto.
Otto heard something through the haziness of his blurred consciousness. He wanted to ignore it.
Get up, now. Get UP.
Someone was talking to him. Something shook his arm roughly. He tried to listen but couldn't understand what was being said. His head pounded dully. Words. Can't understand…
I SAID GET UP!
His eyes shot open suddenly, and he took a ragged breath, his vision blurry. He clapped a hand over his unprotected eyes, groaning. Something rustled to his left and he turned his head to look, but the hazy shape was gone now. He blindly tapped his left hand out in front of him, feeling for his sunglasses. His fingertips brushed against something and he snatched them up, shoving them back onto his face roughly. The tentacles pulled him from the floor to a standing position, two watching him expectantly while the others rotated and focused on Spiderman, who was tearing Mary Jane from the webbing. The claws snapped shut furiously.
"Parker…"he uttered, coughing, one hand pressed against his forehead. He brought his hands down and looked at them both, his confusion giving way to the familiar feeling of anger. The needle was gone. The serum…goddammit, Parker…he turned sharply on his heel and jumped for the column Peter was climbing, trying to ignore the sharp pounding in his head.
"PARKERRRRR!" he screamed, turning and clambering up the column in a rage. He swung out a tentacle and just missed Spiderman as he tore Mary Jane free of the webbing, holding her against him as he tried to shoot a web for the window again.
"OCK! SHUT UP!" he yelled back as MJ buried her head into his chest, whimpering in fear.
Please say you didn't hear that, MJ. You didn't hear that, you didn't hear that, you… Peter cried out in pain as one of the tentacles clamped onto his thigh above the knee and dragged him down. This time he held onto Mary Jane as they fell down the column and landed on Ock, who was still in a daze. All three of them crashed to the floor as the last main support column bent under their weight, groaning ominously as it began to slide from its position against the main rafter beam. Rain was pouring in from several places in the roof now, and Spiderman leaped off of Ock as fast as he could, finding it much more difficult to move quickly now that he had Mary Jane's weight to carry. Otto rolled over on the floor, shakily standing up on two tentacles and clenching his right arm in his hand.
He opened his mouth in a snarl to say something, but he didn't have the chance. The column behind him wrenched free of the rusted beam above and fell, bringing a huge section of the roof down with it. Otto turned sharply and jerked his head up to look. Spiderman crouched down and gave it all he had to launch himself and MJ up and out of the way. He had just landed again when the giant section of metal roofing came crashing down to the floor, directly on top of Ock, the horrible sound amplified to deafening levels.
Mary Jane screamed, wrapping her arms around Peter's neck tightly as he dodged another falling piece of roof, desperately shooting web lines all across the warehouse in an effort to get them out of there alive. The entire structure was trembling and groaning now as more pieces of the sharp metal roof caved in, destroying the desks and benches below.
"It's okay, we're going to make it, we're going to make it," he said, panting through his sweat and blood stained mask as he neared one of the windows higher up on the far wall. Kicking out with the last of his strength, he broke through the already cracked glass and fell to the wooden pier below, taking the full force of the blow as he rolled to keep Mary Jane on top of him. The force knocked the wind from him and he lay there gasping as she kept her arms wrapped around him, panting and trembling in his loose grip.
"See…I…told you," he said in between gasps of air. He lifted his head weakly and watched as the wall closest to them began to fall in on itself, the sickening sound of shearing metal making him cringe. It was only a matter of seconds before the other three walls followed suite, collapsing in on itself like a huge deck of cards. A huge cloud of dust and dirt billowed out from the wreck as the walls fell, and Mary Jane buried her face against Peter's neck as it passed over them.
He closed his eyes tightly.
Please, God, please let it be over. He knew deep down it wasn't. It was never that easy.
He laid his head back on the pier, beginning to breathe normally again. The rain continued to fall; soaking the both of them through as they lay sprawled across the rotten planks of the pier. Mary Jane reached up and laid her trembling hand on his forehead and he opened his eyes, looking at her through the eyepieces of the mask.
"Thank you," she said, rain dripping down her face and off of her chin. Peter chuckled and stopped abruptly, pressing his hand to his side again in pain.
"No…no problem. Just doing my duty as a superhero," he joked. She pulled herself closer and lay across his chest. He wrapped his arm around her instinctively, his hand coming to rest against the back of her neck. She lifted her head again and looked at him, her mouth open slightly, but she said nothing. They lay there like that for a long time before the rain finally began to let up. Peter slowly sat up and held out his hand.
"I can take you home if you like. Just, uh, tell me where," he said as she took his hand and he picked up her into his arms. She smiled at him for a moment before answering.
"You can take me to the Blue Moon café," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off of him. Peter swallowed. "I can walk from there. You know where that is, don't you?"
"Sure I do. I've been all over the place. You get a lot of great views of the city when you're up there, you know," he said jokingly, crouching low before leaping up into the air and shooting a web out to the tall posts leading back to the lots behind the dock. She hung onto his neck and sighed deeply as they swung away from the wrecked warehouse.
"Yeah. I guess so. Great views," she whispered, clutching onto his shoulders tighter as he swung higher and higher into the skyscrapers of the city. A brief glimpse of Doctor Octopus standing over her in the alley way flashed across her mind and she sucked in her breath sharply as she recalled what he had said.
"… I think he's better suited to photography, myself."
Slowly, a faint smile crept across her face and she closed her eyes.