First Night Out

"I did a report on you, you know..." Abbie says weakly.

She sits on the floor, three blankets wrapped around her, her hair still wet, the night still young, and she looks over at Otto, who now is standing above his desk. He looks over at her, and smiles.

"Well that makes a couple people now..." He smiles.

"You seemed really nice..." Abbie bobs her head, tired.

Otto stutters for a moment.

"How did you do?" Otto asks.

"I got an A, that's what I do...I get As..."

Maybe she was exhausted, or maybe delusional from lack of food, or it could have been the cold. But Abbie just started talking to her kidnapper. She couldn't run from him, she couldn't hide, and she couldn't stand anymore silence.

She looks over at Otto, and his arms that surround him so protectively. He hasn't done anything, he hasn't hurt her. He gave her more blankets. He didn't seem like he was going to do anything to her. Might as well ask a question. She remembered researching Otto Octavius, out of curiosity of the new found Doctor Octopus. She remembered him being so...happy.

From what she has seen, he didn't seem much like a villain anymore.

Maybe that's why she started talking, or maybe she was just really tired. She was never one to talk a lot. Whenever she talked she either got hit in the face, or pointed at. So she was quiet, and shy. Her words are written and typed on a computer while talking to someone in California, they are not spoken.

"You're tired." Otto states.

"I've stayed up later than this..."

Abbie looks away. And for a moment Otto stares at her, but then returns to his desk, placing papers and blue prints in orders, and his arms looking at her.

"Dr. Octavius?" Abbie said quietly.

Octavius. That name seemed familiar. Did he read that name recently...or hear it? Octavius was not a name that was spoken around him anymore. That name is the name of someone that had died a long time ago. That name is soiled by death, and madness. No one ever called him that anymore, not even himself.

And it took him a moment to realize his name was Octavius.

"Yes?" He finally said, merely turning his head towards her.

Abbie realized his pause.

"Do you prefer Doctor Octopus...?" She asked quietly.

Why not? That's what people yell at him, whenever they realize it's him. Of course right after they say that, they run away screaming. That's the only name he's come to hear towards himself for months now. No longer is he in the paper where it reads, "Otto Octavius Makes Breakthrough." No, those days are dead. Now it's "Doctor Octopus Strikes Again." Not that he really struck anything. Maybe a troubled trip to McDonald's or the store. He had no intentions of killing anymore. But the paper hasn't come to realize that yet.

"Either way..." Otto says rather sadly.

Abbie stared at him, as he turned away from her, maybe not wanting to give her a straight yes or no.

"I always thought it was rude to call you Doctor Octopus...I mean...It's so horrible. Making a mockery of what you once did..." She said referring to his past studies. If anyone knew about mocking it was her. "What a horrible way to be remembered..."

Otto froze, and his arms silently hissed at him, they were comforting him from the comment. He stood there for a moment, and thought about it, as he had not for the months pasted. He didn't want to think about it.

"Yes...I know." He turned to Abbie.

And she lay asleep, sitting up, with her head down. It was such an awkward position, the arms asked what was wrong with her. And Otto just slightly smiled.

She wasn't annoying, she wasn't a burden. She was a just a child named Abbie, that was very quiet. Of course she ran, he expected that. Anyone would run. That's the natural reaction to such a hostile condition. Run away, and don't look back. Like he did. Run away from the deaths that followed him, run away from the doctors dead bodies, run away from his screaming Rosie. That's what people do in hostile conditions.

As for being so quiet, that is one of the many reactions he had anticipated. Just be quiet and sit there, watch him, and grow use to him. Go to the point where one is not terrified of him. That is what he wanted. He wanted whoever he chose not to fear him.

Other than that, stay out of his way, allow him to do his work, do not touch his arms, if she does that she'll be fine.

However, this girl, she was younger than he had thought to have. He looked over at her, still asleep and it was almost two pm. She couldn't have been older than thirteen. So young, such an impressionable age. Would she become a murderer after staying with him? Or would she simple go mad because of the traumatizing experience. All possibilities because of her young unstable age, although she seemed to be handling it well.

Of course it may be different once she is outside and connecting him. He will be watching her, and she will have to lie and act well, as if nothing is wrong. She may run, yell at people. Even whisper to someone something is wrong. To anyone, a complete stranger will do to save her.

But the arms will take care of that.

Hopefully there will be a method she will adapt to while going out into the world to do his bidding.

Or maybe he was just analyzing things too severely again. Or perhaps his arms were taking affect on him. This girl, Abbie has handled herself quite well.

Although, Otto was never one for children. Of course he didn't hate them, it's just he wasn't one that would be able to take care of one. He could baby-sit like he did for Rosie's sister's son. But...he didn't know if he could handle it. His own child, it scared him a little.

Then the arms hiss.

Of course, now he has four children, as they have come to call him father at times. It makes sense after all, he created them.

His arms were coming very curious of Abbie. They strayed off their work to look and examine her. He allowed them, they have never seen a child so closely before anyway. They asked him questions as they worked with him. Although they snuck in their own thoughts on how to treat the girl, as they referred to her, he was trying to get them to call her by her name, but to no avail.

He was trying to teach them humanity, the preciousness of a human life, but to no avail.

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"You slept late, it's almost five." Otto said, one of his arms laying a plate of eggs next to Abbie.

She looked at it, and thought eggs again, but didn't know why she expected anything more. Then she looked up at Otto, who sat at his desk again.

"I was tired, I guess..." Abbie said.

Otto says nothing, as she gets up, dropping the blankets, and leaving only damp black clothing. She is hesitant to start walking closer to Otto, as she watches the arms start to take notice of her. She stopped pretty far away from him, but closer nonetheless.

"What are you doing?" Abbie asked.

The arms twitched as she addressed Otto, and looked back at Otto, to see his reaction.

"I am...working." Otto said simply.

"On what?" Abbie raised her head, to try and see.

"It's a computer chip."

"Oh." She said as if she had failed.

She remembered reading an article about the killing of the doctors that were operating on him once. She remembered the description of their deaths, and their injuries...And she begins to wonder, how the man that seemed to be ignoring her could have done such a thing.

"People thought you were dead for a long time..." Abbie started...

"As I have read." Otto interrupted.

"No one really knows how you survived..."

Otto turned to her for this answer.

"They saved me." Otto said.

He raised his hands, and the mechanical arms rose with them, and stood as if proud. Yes, they saved Otto, their father. They swam him to the shore, and shocked him until they made his long dead heart start beating again. And they were the first things he saw as they gave him life again, as he had given them life.

Abbie stared up at the arms, as Otto smiled at her reaction. And in his head, the arms smiled too. And Abbie's jaw dropped, staring up at these monsterous things, in all their scientific glory. She was in awe, and the arms recognized this. It had been a long time since anyone had stared at them, in amazement. They remember the expression from when they were first tested, and first shown to the public. Maybe they miss it.

Otto misses it.

Abbie stops her stare, and looks at Otto again. And he smiles, as the arms return to the ground, and stare at her.

Then they return to their work, the moment passes without a second though. She stares at Otto, expecting him to speak to her some more. But only does the top left arm look back at her in all it's curiosity.

"You might want to eat those eggs. That's the last food I have. You'll need to go out tonight..." Otto said, breaking the silence.

"Excuse me?" Abbie stutters.

"That is what I need you for, Abbie. You must go out there, where I cannot. And connect me to the world that never wants to see me again. It is getting more and more difficult for myself to go out there, without someone recognizing me, and then I have a run in with the police and possibly Spider-man. I rather not go through such incidents every time I need food or something."

"So...I just get the food and come back to you?" Abbie asked, fearful.

"Yes."

She was doing chores for a mass villain, and no longer her father. She didn't know if that was a step up or step down.

Trying to be helpful, and more likely to not be killed, Abbie had an idea.

"Then I know a little grocery store in China Town." She said.

"Perfect then!"

"It's by the theater, and stuff..."

The arms hiss, in what Abbie assumes is happiness.

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"Don't try and run. I will be watching you, we will be watching you." His arms seemed to surround her as he said that. "It is really quite simple. You go in, get enough food to last us for a couple weeks. Come back, and we return here. I'll be waiting for you."

She nodded, trying to listen as closely as she could.

"This will be enough." Otto reached in his pocket and gave her what looked to be at least five hundred dollars.

Abbie knew it was stolen.

They stood outside the broken pier, the rest of the city bright with lights. New York, the city that never sleeps. The cars and screaming seemed to be far away, but the sounds of the waves not. She looked over at the lights briefly, at the city she could easily escape Otto. Couldn't she? So many alleys and twists. She could run, she really could. Run away before she's killed, this man that smiles, he still a murderer. There's still blood on his hands.

No matter what she thinks, he is still Doctor Octopus. He is still the man in the papers, the madman, the menace.

No matter what, she should be afraid.

"Don't try and run." Otto says again.

And she is afraid, and that is why she won't run. He'll catch her, she knows it.

"All right." She nods.

"Good." Otto nods.

And without warning, a mechanical arm grabbed her by the waist, and they were suddenly six feet off the ground, and what seemed to be running towards the city.

It was obvious Otto had done this before, as he seemed to know exactly where he was going. He went into an alley way as far down as he could, before he had to start scaling up the side of the building.

It was then Abbie started biting her tounge, and grabbing onto the tentacle that held her, like she had done before. She was forced to watch as the ground became farther and farther away. She looked up at Otto, who was occupied with watching his arms grab onto the building correctly. He had definitely done this before.

They reached the roof of the building, and before she knew it, they lay close to the ground, and she looks at Otto. He nods to an arm, and she realizes, he's looking for Spider-man.

Then they jump to the next roof of the building, and repeat the process. Abbie realized he could drop her whenever he wanted, and ended up holding on tighter to the mechanical arm.

"All right, here we are, this is the place, right?" Otto looked at Abbie.

She was staring at the ground as she nodded.

Otto started climbing down into an alley, where he set her down.

"Try and be quick." Was all he said, as he started climbing back up, and leaving her.

She stared up at him, as if asking him not to leave. Don't leave her alone, where she could fail, and be punished for it. Don't leave her, just waiting to mess up.

But she looked back down, and took a deep breath.

"Spider-man, Spider-man, does whatever a Spider can!"

She was passing Lin and her violin. Bless that woman, she thought, she tried so hard to sing. Lin, the Chinese lady that always sung outside her store, about Spider-man. Shame she couldn't sing at all.

She gave Lin a smile, like she always does on her walk home from school.

Passing by the theater, and the posters with the red haired girl that was kidnapped. The posters being replaced by different ones. A new show. And she watches as she sees new posters put up, with the same red haired girl.

Abbie went into Lin's store, getting as much food as she can. Sadly, Otto didn't give any requests, so she was left with many options. Though he seemed to be fond with eggs. She got what she assumed was normal, and grabbed some Oreos for herself.

She did it as quickly as she could, and the clerk noticed. It was almost midnight and some kid, was rushing to get food.

"Do you see her yet?" Otto asked his arms, back on the roof. "Well do you Spider-man then? Good. Let's keep it that way."

The arms hissed as two of them peered off the side of the building searching for the girl. And the other two with their red eyes up into the sky for Spider-man. And Otto...Otto just sat there.

She held about eight plastic bags of groceries, it was all she could carry. She thought to herself, hurry. All she had to do was go back to that ally, that's all. Quick and easy, no punishment for her, she would not die that day.

"Abbie! Abbie!"

Oh shit, was all Abbie could think.

"Peter!" She turned and smiled.

"Hey, kid where've you been, I haven't seen you in a couple days." Peter said.

"Oh, you know, I've had some...stuff I had to do..." Abbie swallowed.

"Late night shopping for you dad?" Peter looked at the groceries.

"Uh...yeah! He forgot to, to shop this week, and we ran out of...food."

"Look I wanted to talk to you about your dad, I want you to tell me if..."

"Peter I really have to go right now." Abbie begged.

"You sure?" Peter asked. "Well, I'm just waiting here for my girlfriend, we could talk if you want."

"Pete, I'm really sorry I have to go."

"Yeah, but..."

"I'll make it up to you, but I have to go!"

Abbie started running, and left Peter to watch her run down the alley.

And back on the roof, the arms began to scream in fury.

"What!? No! It couldn't be!" Otto started yelling at them.

But they looked at him, and hissed.

"Oh no." He whispered.

Abbie began to wonder where Otto was as she felt a mechanical arm push her into the wall.

"Why didn't you tell me you knew Peter Parker!?" Otto yelled, holding her to the wall, off her feet.

"I...I didn't think it mattered!"

An arm hissed, as it looked up. Otto shot his head up.

"We have to go, right now." Was all he said.

Then he grabbed her, with the right top arm, and held only four bags of groceries in his hands.

It didn't matter anymore, there was no hiding anymore, no stealth or anything. Abbie could see. They were running now. Jumping and running as fast as four mechanical arms could. Abbie knew why. And she knew she had messed up. She really messed up.

"Let her go, Ock!" Spider-man jumped in front of them.

"Spider-man!" Abbie yelled.

"I don' t think that's possible, boy." Otto said as coldly as he could.

"Come on, Otto, she's just a kid!" Spider-man yelled.

"She's mine, insect, I need her." The arms hissed at the spider.

And then they jumped across the road to another building, climbing it as fast as they could. And Abbie stared at the ground, at the far, far away ground. The cars stopping at the sight of Otto. People in their apartments below looking through their windows and pointing. So far away from the ground.

Abbie lost it, she screamed.

Spider-man leaped next to them, as he kicked Otto. The kick was returned with grabbing his foot, and slamming him into the concrete building with one of Otto's arms. Otto then let go of the spider, and began running up the building again.

And Abbie just screamed. Otto didn't ask her to stop, he couldn't, he couldn't ask her of such a thing.

"I'll get you!" Spider-man yelled at Abbie.

The spider shot a web from where he was up towards Otto, pasting his lower left arm to the building. It screamed and hissed in fear and pain, as it tried to get off. The other arms came to it's aid, but Spider-man came and punched Otto in the face.

Otto then dropped Abbie, and she began to fall to the far away ground.

As she fell, she looked for Spider-man, for some web, anything to catch her, to save her life. But she watched as Otto's now free arms grabbed Spider-man by the face and slammed him into the building repeatedly. Spider-man went limp.

No one was going to catch Abbie now.

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Next Chapter: I Didn't Know

Longer I know, I'm hoping all chapters will be this long. Anyway, a cliff hanger, well it had to be a cliff hanger, comic books are full of them!