Chapter 5: Bullies and Brothers

6:30 am. Time to get up and dressed for school. Austin rolled out of bed, hoping that "Please excuse Austin Smith for November 1-5, he was kidnapped by his maniacal supervillian father" would work. His tentacles opened their blue eyes. Austin slipped on some jeans, then put on a t-shirt. Not liking this, the tentacles tore a hole through the back to get out. Austin sighed. He needed to get used to this. He slipped on his sunglasses and black trench coat, mentally warning his "brothers" to stay inside. They were the last thing Anna needed to know about after her only son was kidnapped by his biological father and returned no worse for wear (as far as she knew). He went down to breakfast.

Anna and Laufey were arguing about a case.

"The evidence is purely circumstantial. You'll never convict, the defense has basis for reasonable doubt."

"I have very good evidence. I'll convict. If I can't, the press will be screaming for blood."

"You're in denial about this!"

"Laufey, I have never been in denial about anything!"

Just then, Laufey let out a loud fake cough, which sounded very oddly like "Doc Ock!"

Austin reached for some waffles.

Laufey abandoned her legal discussion to look at him. "Okay, is this the part where you tell me that this isn't reality, it's all a computer simulation, and you're going to save us all?"

Austin could tell that Laufey had completely forgotten about the argument she had with him. Austin could tell she was happy to have him home, even with the sarcasm. Okay, he looked like a Matrix reject. But how could he ruin her joy by telling her what he was hiding under that coat?

"Okay Neo, get your backpack. I'm driving you to school," said Anna.

Lunch period. The next edition of the tabloid had come out, and since most teens had attention spans about as short as Paris Hilton's skirt, the whole Doc Ock's Love Child thing had blown over by now. It always did.

But with Austin, it would never blow over.

It wouldn't blow over for Brandon McCloud, who had enjoyed taunting Austin from when they were three, when Brandon shoved Austin's face in his ice cream cake.

"Hey! Octopus Junior! O.J.! Wanna finish what we were doing before the whole Twinkie thing?"

You look angry. Do you dislike this boy?

That's an understatement. He's been beating me up since I was three.

We will make sure you are not beat up anymore.

No. I won't let you. I won't repeat the same mistakes my father made.

Please? Just one stab?

No! Don't even try it!

Brandon brought Austin out of his mental conversation. "Hey butt-brain, are you gonna give me that money or am I gonna have to squeeze it out your ears?" He raised his fists and took a swing, two cronies standing by, just in case.

The tentacles burst from his coat, ready to protect their "brother." With superhuman speed, they seized Brandon by his arms and legs and pinned him up against the wall.

The cronies just stared. Taking on a skinny geek was one thing. Taking on a skinny geek with four huge metal tentacles was quite another. Brandon tried to wrestle free, but it was no use.

"You know, you shouldn't hit geeks, Brandon," Austin said coldly. "They might start hitting back." Austin contemptuously bitch-slapped Brandon across the face. "Who's the butt-brain now?" Austin flung Brandon away. "And not a word to anyone…or I won't let you off so easy!"

Brandon didn't hesitate. He ran off as fast as he could, taking his cronies with him. Austin looked at the hole in his coat. Oh well, if he put the tentacles back in, he could at least cover the hole with his backpack.

Why did you disobey me? Why did you hurt Brandon?

Why not?

Because, even though Brandon is a card-carrying jerk, there are some things people can't do to other people.

He hates you. He thinks you are a freak. He would have hit you if we hadn't done anything.

Well…I am a freak.

How could you say that?

You are brilliant!

We don't think you are a freak.

You are our brother.

We love you.

We could have permanently disposed of Brandon…

He never would have laid a hand on you again…

Don't even think that! I'm not going to be like my father, okay?

What's wrong with that?

Not much, except for the murdering, stealing, crazy supervillian part!

5th period. US History.

Mandy Wilson pretended to listen to her teacher. What she was really doing was looking at the boy in front of her. I wonder what my cheerleader friends would think if they saw me here checking out Austin Smith. Sure, he's a geek, and sure people think a supervillian nut job is his father, but he's cute, okay?

Rachelle, a seat to Austin's left, began to poke her cousin. "Hey Austin…I think Mandy Wilson likes you."

"How do you know?" he responded.

Rachelle snickered. "She has the same look on her face as Magni does when she talks about Tobey Maguire."

Austin turned around to look. Mandy was now blushing furiously. He knew he must decline if she ever asked him out on a date. And he couldn't tell her why. If she knew, well…she would run screaming from the sight of him. For who could love a tentacled freak?

We love you, the tentacles reminded him.

Shut up. You're machines; you can't love.

"Look, can't we call the police, or…"

"You look, Duke. Are you chickening out on me or what?" snapped Brandon.

"I don't think this is a very good idea. He let you off that last time and he might not a second…" Duke Kelly gulped.

"Shut up, you big baby," Brandon McCloud ordered. "No way am I gonna let skinny ole Austin Smith beat me."

"But we're not dealing with just the skinny geeky Austin Smith, we're dealing with the new and improved version." Duke shivered, and it wasn't from the November cold. "Hey, I always thought he was a crazy weirdo. Now I know who he gets it from."

"Whatever," Brandon grunted. "I'm going to get him, metal arms or no metal arms. He owes me money, remember?"

"We can get the money somewhere else." Duke's voice sunk into a frightened whisper. "What if…you know, his father finds out, and…?"

"Well, what can he do?" came the sharp reply. "Knowing him, he's probably locked up in jail, or webbed up to a lamppost somewhere in New York. Quit your whining, and let's go after the creep, or you're gonna be the one washing your hair in the toilet, get my drift?"

"Look, are we going to be able to beat him or not?" Duke asked. "I don't want to end up with a car thrown on top of me or something…"

Brandon counted on his fingers. "Look, he's got eight limbs, we've got eight limbs. How hard can this get?"

3:30 pm. After school.

Magni and Rachelle were waiting in front of the school, waiting for Laufey to pick them up. Laufey was late. She always was.

"Hey, where's Austin?" Rachelle asked this offhandedly, as if she wasn't really worried.

"Probably brooding or something teenage guys do," Magni replied, as if she wasn't really worried either.

"You know, he really doesn't hang out with us anymore."

"Yeah, well, maybe he's actually found some friends. Ha ha."

"I'm worried about him. He's acting so different."

"Yeah, join the club. You think he's on drugs or something?"

"Not Austin. Maybe it was the kidnapping."

"So he is his father?"

"I can't believe that. They're nothing like each other. They look alike. That's it." In Rachelle's mind, Austin was a caring, kind, intelligent, sweet guy. His biological father was Doc Ock, a cold, calculating, heartless monster who had respect neither for the law nor other peoples' lives.

"He'll show up. That is if he doesn't want Mom to chew him out."

"He always does."

Austin, meanwhile, had walked home another way. He had climbed into his room through the window, and locked the door.

"How could I tell them?" he said aloud. "I barely even knew who my father was—and ended up just like him."

How can you say it like it's a bad thing?

Do you know how much he's stolen? Do you know how many people he's killed? Or do you even care?

What's wrong with that?

You can't steal and kill. It's wrong, and besides, it's against the law.

Is it another one of your petty human customs?

Laws that people made to keep brilliant people…

Powerful people…

People like you…

From taking away their power.

To keep you downtrodden.

"Regular little conspiracy theorists, are you?" Austin asked out loud.

What's that?

"You have artificial intelligence, don't you? You can learn things?"

This is true…

"Then learn to shut up!"

Laufey came to the door, and poked her head in. Austin quickly hid the tentacles, and Laufey, uninvited, sat down on his bed.

"You know, somehow I am reminded of something someone told me."

"What?" Austin said, with a little impatience. He had no time right now for his aunt's quotes.

"A very good friend—the one who helped me with your paternity test—once told me: "With great power comes great responsibility." Now he was told this by his Uncle Ben, who…oh never mind. I'll just leave you to you teenage male brooding." With that, Laufey was gone.

Austin shut the door again, lay on his bed, stretched out the arms, and thought about what Laufey had said.