Doctor Octopus I Presume
Part One
"So the wife's talking to me the other day and she asks if I've seen that new Jennifer Lopez movie." A janitor said as they walked through the halls of the government owned hospital.
"Which one is that?" His friend asked wiping the mop gently across the ground. The halls had windows that peered into the patient's rooms.
The janitor shrugged, "I don't know, I don't follow her movies so anyway she starts her crap when she realizes I'm not listening to her and well you know how it is, right?"
"Hey, what's in there?" His companion asked staring at one of the rooms with its window sealed up. The front door was locked and a keypad had been installed to ensure only authorized personal entered.
"Don't ask."
His friend frowned, "Come on, seriously, what's in there?"
The janitor sighed, "Okay, you remember that explosion Downtown two weeks ago, the one at the lab that had only one survivor?" His companion nodded quickly, "Well, that's the guy in there."
"Really, why do they keep him locked up here then?" The friend inquired. "I mean shouldn't he be in a real hospital?"
"Listen, there are only two reasons the Government brings you here." The janitor stated knowingly, "Either you did something wrong and you got your ass kicked by the Government before getting checked in here or they want something from you."
His friend grimaced, "Jeez; that sounds tough."
The janitor shrugged, "Hell, I don't complain. They pay me to clean the rooms and I clean the rooms."
"These pictures are good, real good." Jameson said staring at the images taken by Peter Parker. "How'd you get these?"
"Well, I like to keep my ear open." Peter replied on the other side of the table, "So how much are these worth?"
Jameson grimaced, "What do you mean how much they're worth? Everything you bring in here is worth the same amount, standard fee." He laughed, "These will boost sales for sure, it can't be any worse than the Hugh Hefner's gay story we've been covering for days."
"Don't you think they're worth a little more?" Peter asked gently, "I mean they are exclusive pictures of Spider-Man battling the Scorpion."
The owner frowned gravely, "Hey, don't ever talk price with me, kiddo. When you've been in charge of one of New York's best selling newspapers then you can talk to me about price, until then you take your fee. Is there any chance of you getting a scoop on those Black Cat sightings at all?"
"I doubt it." Peter replied.
Jameson shrugged, "Oh well, pick up your check from Ms. Brant, as usual. Take care of yourself, Parker."
Peter nodded, "Yeah sure."
He left Jameson's office, annoyed at how tight the old man's purse strings were. It was the nature of what he worked with, he was a young guy, barely beginning to establish himself as a real photographer. Besides, all the other papers didn't share Jameson's enthusiasm for covering Spider-Man.
Peter approached Betty Brant, she was only a year older than he, behind a work station secluded in a cubicle, "Hey, Betty."
She smiled brightly at him whole brushing her brown hair away from her face, "Pete, he didn't go for the raise, did he?"
"No." Peter replied.
Betty shrugged and began to fill out the paper work, "Hey, Peter?" She asked amidst performing her required task."
"Yes?"
"What are you doing this Friday night?" She inquired.
Peter shrugged, "Nothing in particular." He had planned on actually going on patrol that night.
Betty raised her eyes slightly, "I have to go to a party with some friends, its a couple thing; I have nobody in particular I can go with."
"You want me to go?" Peter laughed, "Sorry, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree."
"It's nothing serious." She assured him, "I just need company, don't worry I know you're involved and everything. Please, Peter I could really use your help."
Peter frowned, "I don't know." He said reluctantly.
Betty clasped her hands together, "Please?"
"Why did you do that?" MJ asked alarmed, "I mean Pete we were supposed to go to the movies on Friday, why you would do that is beyond me!"
Peter lowered his head slowly, "I know, I froze up, I couldn't say no."
"I'm sure and does this Betty look pretty?" He rubbed his sore shoulder gently, it had healed well but he hesitated against putting too much strain on it just yet.
"No, you've got the wrong idea, trust me; it's not what you think." Peter said strongly in an effort to calm her fears down.
MJ looked at him skeptically, "Listen, Peter you do whatever it is you want to, okay, leave me out of it." She said ready to storm off.
"Hey, come down here you two." Ben called from the living room downstairs, "See what's on television."
The two teenagers ran down the stairwell towards the television and immediately Peter was gripped by fear. On the screen was Norman Osborn. He had never told them anything, refused to answer Mary Jane's inquiries and kept his dislocated shoulder a secret. Now the dreadful truth was before him.
Norman was speaking behind a grief stricken façade, "My son was…kidnapped yesterday. I believe the culprits to be economic terrorist; I haven't received any demands yet and am in close contact with the police."
"That's a damned shame." Ben said, "That kid was a pretty decent person, I hope everything turns out."
Peter was silent, he had seen Harry die; he had seen the flames consume his best friend.
"Maybe we should drop by, Harry's house later?" MJ suggested turning towards Peter only to find him long gone.
"What was that about?" Ben asked puzzled.
Peter closed the door to his room anxiously and exhaled deeply. Tears began to stream down his face. He'd seen death before, lots of it, but never before had it been so personal.
"Good morning, doctor Octavius." A young woman dressed in a suit and tie proclaimed to him upon waking up for the first time in what felt like eons.
Something was wrong; Otto could feel it, "Where am I?" He looked around to find he was in a hospital room flanked by guards, "What is this?"
"Welcome back. You gave us quite a scare."
Otto grimaced, "What happened at the lab? The last thing I remember is an overload, what happened?"
The woman smiled warmly, it was the smile of a serpent, "The lab exploded and your entire staff died, only you survived and without physical injury I might add."
"They're dead?" He leaned up in his bed only to feel something on his chest, "What?" He pulled the blanket back only to see the four tentacles protruding from his body, "My God, what is this?"
"Please clam down, doctor." She urged him.
Otto frowned, "Calm down! I was in an explosion and I find these things hooked into me?" He screamed desperately for help, "What happened to me?"
"The explosion melded the tentacles into your torso." She explained, "Just take a moment to calm down, take deep breaths and relax…Do you see that coke over there?" She asked pointing to a can resting on a table across the room, "Take it."
"What?" Otto asked still in shock, "Are you insane, I feel as if I can barely move, I've just awoken from an accident with this disfigurement and you want a drink? How am I supposed to get it when I can barely even muster the strength to stand?" Then before his eyes, one of the tentacles reached out and with amazing dexterity grabbed the coke and brought it to his lips, "My God."
She smiled, "Amazing, no?"
"What have you done to me, damn it!" Otto extended his arms menacingly, "Take these off!" He wrapped a tentacle around the woman's neck, "Now, remove them!"
"We can't, they're welded onto you!" She screamed with the security force hesitant to act with Otto in such a position to kill her, "Removing them would send you into paralysis."
Otto didn't say a word he stared at her trying to absorb what had happened and eventually let her go much to everyone's relief, "Explain to me how I-I can control them."
She took a moment while she rubbed her neck, "The explosion caused several key components to melt into your very nervous system; totally through a freakish amount of random events you can now control them as easily as we control a limb. Unfortunately, as they are melded directly to you there is nothing we can do."
"These things on me, I can't get rid of them, is that what you're saying?" Otto asked, "Is that what you're telling me!"
"Y-yes, that's what I'm saying."
Otto stared at the guards, "Where am I?"
"You're in a government facility. Officially were only a hospital but in reality we're a very sophisticated lab designed to house and contain super-powered beings. We even have Bruce Banner locked up in a cell if you're curious."
"Am I a prisoner?"
She nodded, "Yes, for the time being."
"What does that mean?" Otto inquired.
"You've come across some very big discoveries." She remarked.
Otto slowly widened his eye-lids, "What does that mean?"
She looked at him now with a cold stare that terrified him, "We had hoped to be able to recreate your work on the new limitless energy source through notes you'd left behind but it's proving more difficult than anticipated, then there is the matter of your tentacles. There are figures in our government that would kill to have exclusive rights to these ventures when they come to fruition."
They had already killed. Otto knew it, the overload at the lab was no accident, and stripping away his very humanity with this unnatural melding of man and machine had been no random string of events. They had turned him into a freak ruthlessly. He had to get out of here, they'd come for him when it was over, after what they needed from him had been taken, they'd never leave him behind as a loose end, he had no choice. He had no choice, damn it!
Otto's tentacles suddenly began to trash about. He disabled the guards in a matter of seconds. He felt like vomiting, he had trouble in the past even killing mice, now his new metallic arms were covered in blood their crimson stains staring back at him emotionlessly. One tentacle reached out and grabbed the woman's neck again; she begged for mercy, more mercy than they had ever shown him, "How do I get out of here?"