Insert typical disclaimer here, because I REALLY don't feel like writing it
Our Future.
By KoD. That's me. I'm a kod.
Oc jumped up and held himself on the ceiling to watch them. This was Kat, he recognized her. She was cold sober, that much was clear, but the boy next to her was dead drunk.
Kat didn't apparently notice the doctor on her ceiling as she walked in.
"Blasted asshole, didn't even clean up after himself," She groused to herself as she picked up wads of clothing and just them into her closet. She carried several handfuls of these until the floor was, amazingly, visible. Next, she grabbed the dustpan and brush and scooped up the remainder of her monitor, tower, speakers, printer, and modem and dumped them into the trashcan. Her next move was to clean the jelly from floor and dust-bustered all of the glass shards, hoping she hadn't missed any. The bread and peanut butter were still fine, so she shoved them both in the refrigerator. Placing her hands on her hips, Kat nodded to no one in particular and then walked over to the man who was on the couch, slurring.
"You need to get some sleep, Jay."
"Imzzaa funee....Realuh.."
She chuckled and wrapped one of the man's arms over her shoulders. Lifting him up, the woman dragged her boyfriend into the next room (Oc didn't dare to move for fear of behind heard), but there was a heavy thumping noise and Kat returned without the body. She sat down on the couch and closed her eyes, "You can come down now, Tentacle-boy."
The said tentacle boy dropped down from the ceiling and landed with a THUDDD, "How did you know I was here? You didn't look up."
"The window was open. There was a crash. Plaster fell on my head. You twitched." She grinned in his direction, "Had fun all night, didn't you?"
"Fun would hardly be the word used to describe it," He replied darkly, pulling over a chair and setting himself down in it.
"You sound like a such a happy person, tentacle-boy. Want a drink? I have Budweiser, Heineken, and some crap wine." She walked into the fridge and opened it.
"That's not allowed. You're not old enough to drink yet."
"Yeah, I know that. The landlord checks my kitchen every other month. At that point in time, I hide it under the sink. Then it goes back to the fridge."
Otto rolled his eyes, "That's horrible of you."
"And let's not talk about all the horrible things you've done, tentacle-boy. I daresay they're much worse then underage drinking." She gave him a little half-glare and grabbed a chocolate bar.
The comment hadn't been meant to hurt, but it did, "Whatever you want is fine." He said, his voice turning hollow again. The man hadn't drunk in a long, long time. Since before he got married. Now he saw why people turned to this stuff – at this point in time, he was about ready to drown his troubles as well.
"Oh...sorry about that. I didn't mean to be mean or anything....here.. have a Bud, I think they taste better..." She tossed him one of the glass bottles.
One of tentacles shot out and grabbed it, another popping the top and holding it in front of Oc so he could take a long drink.
"That's weird."
"What?"
"Watching your tentacle hold it while you drink it like that is kind of creepy."
"Oh, I see," replied the doctor as he took another drink. Wanting to change the subject (the arms asked why, but he didn't respond) he glanced towards the bedroom, "Was that Jay?"
Kat chuckled, "Yes, unfortunately, that was Jay. Jay with a BAC of a bazillion. Jay after he took more then six shots of tequila. And various other liquors."
"He's...pretty drunk."
"That's what I was implying, Tentacle-boy," She opened her mouth to reply , but the ringing doorbell interrupted her. Oc jumped up onto the ceiling as Kat opened the door.
"Mail this early?" She cocked an eyebrow.
"No, miss, in fact, it will be coming late," replied the postman, handing her several sheets of paper, then tuning and walking.
Kat closed the door and looked at them, but one of the mechanical arms grabbed the top one off the list and handed it to Octavius.
"That was mean." He half-frowned up at him, "I was reading that."
"I know," he replied with a smirk as his eyes scanned the page, "I suspected so."
"all the newspapers and everything coming late....I wonder why..." .She looked up at him again.
"No...idea..." he dropped back down to the floor, handing the paper back. She gave him a good smack to the side of the head when they were at about the same height, and he grumbled, "What was that for?"
"You were being a dork."
Oc shrugged, "Don't hit me. I don't care. They do."
Kat stuck her tongue out in response.
Before Otto could react, one of the arms shot out and grabbed Kat's tongue in its metal grip. Kat squealed and tried to pull her tongue back into her mouth, but one did not win a fight against a metal arm. After a few seconds of panic, the arms let go and Kat swiftly put her tongue into her mouth, "Ow."
"I told you they did." He said with a straight face, then took another sip of the beer.
"Well, grrr on you." She wrinkled her nose this time, so she didn't have to worry about anything nabbing her tongue. She stretched all over the couch and leaned her head on the headrest, "So, what's all this about the arms, not you," She shook her head, clearly not believing in the difference, "blowing the shiz out of Fallen? You killed a perfectly good club. You, tentacle-boy, have a serious need of anger management classes. You're damn lucky I decided to go to Cat's Eye instead of Fallen, otherwise you would have nailed me."
"Shiz? Fallen? Cat's Eye?" Oc cocked an eyebrow and the arms glanced at each other out of uncertainty, then turned back to look at Kat. One of them put down the old Gameboy that it was mauling.
"Shiz...also known as shit, crap, stuff, etcetera and so forth. Fallen is the club you blew up. Cat's Eye is the one I went too instead." The woman rolled her eyes and felt the top of the couch with a hand, "Now where is... it......blasted remote......." After minute of feeling, she looked over at Octavius, "Can get it for me with one of your arms?"
One of the tentacles promptly dropped it on her head.
"Ow..."Reaching up, Kat grabbed the remote from her head and clicked the TV on, "Let's see here...soap, soap, soap, Barney, Kim Possible, Sex in the City, news, news, news...hey look Octi, it's you!" She pointed to the screen and smirked at him.
Turning, Otto glanced at the TV. Yes, that was him, striding through the crowd, arms flailing out and breaking cameras and destroying notebooks. He turned his attention fully towards the box and listened to the announcer. The arms smirked in his mind and moved closer to TV like kids crowding around for cartoons.
"This was the scene only a few hours ago as the infamous Doctor Octopus was called to visit the fallen Spiderman a general hospital. Although he was thought dead, he has apparently come back to continue terrorize and horrify the populace with his appearance and terrible penchant for destruction. Even earlier, the fusion scientist turned criminal decided that it would be a good welcome back to completely destroy the completely filled-to-capacity night club known as Fallen, causing thousands of dollars in damage, killing one and sending three to the emergency ward in critical condition. The other two hundred or so occupants were sent home with only minor injuries and abrasions. The doctor is currently on the run from the police as he as taken in, then escaped later that day. He also rumored to have saved his arch enemy, Spiderman. Michael Jones will have the full story on the man later tonight."
"Damn, tentacle-boy, ya killed someone! That AIN'T cool!" Kat gave him a very disapproving look and switched off the TV, turning back to Oc.
"It was a mistake. They were the ones who did it."
"That's bullshit, Doctor Octavius. You control those blasted arms and all of this bullshit you're giving me about them doing it and you doing it is out of control. You're going to get arrested for it anyway. Who gives a flying hell about which part of you did it? Besides, you're one and the fuckin' same."
Otto gave her a highly irritated look, "You wouldn't understand. We're different. And even though you can't tell it and they don't care, I'd rather not be called them. And they don't want to be called me."
Kat shook her head, "They won't believe that."
"Doesn't change the fact that it's the truth."
"What's your point? Think they're going to take you to a court of law? Octi, you've already done enough shit to be fucked for life. Now, we're just tacking things on. You—my apologies, they- tried to kill him. Twice. That's enough for ANYONE to come and annihilate you. Court or no court."
"But I saved him once."
"So WHAT? You've got four giant mechanical tentacles stuck you to, Oc! There's not much you can do to keep them hidden People know your face. People know who you are and what THEY'VE done. And they think you did it. Because you did, whether you like it or not. Two minds, one body? They won't know that. If they're so smart, your arms'll know people won't know that either. You wanna get out of it? Start crime fighting or something. Go catch crooks. I don't know what to tell you. And besides I know you've always taken my sagely advice to heart."
Otto glared at her, "Do you take anything seriously?"
"Yes, I just was, you dork."
He rolled his eyes. One of the arms snapped at her. She flinched, but narrowed her eyes at the mechanical claw, "I'm not gonna take this crap from you anymore."
"That's probably not a good idea. They might just decide to stab you and I may not be able to stop them." "Octavius warned, his arm setting the empty bottle down, "They do that sometimes."
Kat grumbled at the arm and turned away, moving some crap aside to get her backpack, "Well, now that that's settled and I got that off my chest, I'm going to fail my classes."
Finally interested, Oc looked over, "Which classes?"
"All of them. Except my Psychology classes. That's Chemistry, European History, Logic, Latin, Italian, Trig, and Creative Thinking."
Pulling out a book from her backpack, Kat slunk back onto the couch and opened it, peering at the words. Her expression showed quite a bit of disgust, "I hate Science."
Oc's eyebrow rose, and one of the tentacles peered over, looking as insulted as a tentacle could look. Kat turned back and rolled her eyes, "No insult intended. I just can't stand it. I have no idea how you manage to even make those tentacles. I'd get so frustrated with myself making them that I just never would. And history? Ech! I wish someone else could just do it for me."
An idea began to form in Octavius' mind. He confirmed with the arms, who agreed. Tapping his chin, he spoke, "I'll make you a deal."
Kat closed the book and flipped over on her stomach so she could see Oc, "Yeah?"
"I'll do your work for you. I'll ace all your classes, write all your essays, the whole thing. You'll have to take your own tests, obviously, but all work done out of class, I can do."
"What's in it for you?"
"You'll provide food, a place to stay, things for my arms to destroy, and not let anyone over your house, and not tell anyone about me." He glanced at one of the arms, which chittered.
What happens if she speaks? Breaks her promise? Brings a friend over? That liquor they consume can do such.
I don't know.
Amazingly, the arms quieted after this. Kat appeared deep in thought, looking over at Oc, "So....if you do all my work....I give you food, a roof, your tentacles toys, don't let anyone over, and then don't tell anyone about you?"
"Something to that effect, yes."
"Sounds like a deal to me." She held out a hand, and he shook it.
And they shook it once, too.
A little creeped out by the mechanical arm's handshake, Kat quickly slid her hand back into her pocket and tossed the chem book to Octavius, "You have an eight page paper on the lack of plasma on Earth due noon tomorrow. Go. I am going to get some more yogurt." She stepped out the door and closed it, leaving Otto alone with his tentacles.
The man turned to his symbiote, "Do you promise to keep yourself in check? All I can offer you is her toys. Aren't you tired of running and hiding, tired of fighting and crawling and hoping and waiting?"
We do not grow tired of fighting.
"I have nothing left."
Be calm, Otto. We like this human. She has an interesting self-confidence about her. She walks and talks in a way we admire and even tried to threaten one of us. She drags the other man to bed and has not screamed once about us since we have arrived.
"It could be fear."
It's not.
Oc smirked and rolled his eyes, "And how do you know that?"
We never ask how you know things. And yet, you do.
"Fine." He stood up and set the textbook down onto the now empty desk, "And...she will need another computer."
The arms chittered innocently.
"Yes, it is your fault," He rolled his eyes and grinned, opening it, "Now..plasma..."
Octavius was deeply involved in the textbook as one of the tentacles wrote his notes furiously as he thought them. His arms flipped pages and scanned through the book while the other three extra appendages glanced around, one of them watching the door and the other two just looking.
This...extra thing disturbed them. They did not like it. It did not please them in the slightest. It was foreign, and it would give him an advantage over them. All in all, this....thing, this gene thing now running through their host's bloodstream was something they wanted to get rid of, as soon as possible.
They were not, however, capable of this, and they weren't happy.
That arachnid had bitten Otto, their Otto, and had spread some sort of mutagen into his bloodstream. It was transforming him, giving him the same sort of abilities Spiderman possessed.
They did not want this. They were not pleased about. Not one bit.
They watched him do Miss Morrigan's work. They weren't impressed, either. They crawled atop his brain functions, making sure he couldn't feel them doing it. Like hair tickling the back of one's neck, it was ignorable while preoccupied. They thanked the woman for busying him now, and they looked into his mind, into his sentience.
They saw a new awareness forming. They saw his brain beginning to understand how to 'shoot webs' and 'climb buildings'. They sent their own sentience over there, and watched the feeling form.
It would not be allowed to form.
And the artificial intelligence surrounded this new awareness with itself, cutting it off from the rest of Otto Octavius's mind, making it impossible for the human to access these new abilities.
Otto, however, was paying no attention to this. He was focused on this research, this text with a single minded determination.
It was in this state that Kat returned. The arms heard her footsteps and alerted Oc, who gave them only a nod back as he read. The arms dragged Oc closer to the door, who groaned in protest and then stood up, waiting.
A scraping noise was heard as the key turned in the lock. The doorknob opened slowly, All eyes were focused on the steadily widening crack between the doorframe and the door itself.
All of the energy that had built itself up in that hour of so released like a spring loaded trap finally being set off. Three of the four arms shot out at the person entering, one of them by the neck, the other two grabbing the person's arms. The last one was used to held Oc up as he held up a hand.
"Mmmhmmphh! MPMPHHPP!" came the shouted complaints from behind the mechanical arm.
"It's Kat....let her go." Otto finally said after a moment, his voice filled with relief.
The tentacles released their various holds and stayed behind or next to Otto.
"Jesus! A grip of steel damnit!" She rubbed her throat, "I'm gonna be all bruised, people'll think you're an abusive husband or something." Bending down, she began to pick up the items she had dropped when she had been grabbed, "Those things HURT!"
"Yes, I know," Oc watched her, "They apologize."
She stopped at this, "Really?"
One of the arms nodded. He yawned, then covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Kat grinned, "The great and mighty Doctor Octopus still gained nailed with the pressures of humanity – food and sleep."
Octavius gave her a half-grin back, "Exactly."
"I'm going to put this shit away," She glanced down at the bag she was carrying, "And you can do...whatever you want. Just don't blow anything up that looks important." She exited into the tiny kitchen and the noises of her putting stuff away were heard.
Your body requires rest.
Yes.
Where will you retire?
Otto paused at this, then walked into the kitchen, "Where can I sleep? Jay is in your bed."
"Jay! I completely forgot..I'm such an idiot..here...put this back..." She thrust the bag into Oc's hands, who would have dropped it, had it nto been for the fact he had more then the normal amount of arms.
"That was strange," He muttered, opening the fridge as the arms put the remaining things away. They consented to the strangeness facture. The symbiotic doctor walked into the living and watched Kat in her doorway.
"Jay..Jay wake up. You need to go home," She rocked on him lightly, "Up..up, boy."
"Nruuh...." He shifted.
"You are a lazy bum!" She snatched his pillow from under him, giving several good hard whacks, "Get up!"
"I'm uhpp! Realleh!" He slowly sat up in the bed and looked tiredly at Kat, "Whatzz wrong......"
"You have to go, Jay, I have things I need to do privately," Helping him up, Jay slowly slid off the bed and kissed Kat on the cheek, "really..."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, positive." They held hands as they walked through the cluttered apartment. Kat glanced up once, to see Octavius looking down at her, "I love you, Jay."
"Me too, Katey." They kissed again before Jay turned and walked out, Oc dropping to the floor with a THUD.
"You can sleep in the bedroom, Tentacle-boy." With a lazy wave of her hand, she motioned to the bed and Oc walked in.
With care to avoid getting tangled in the rest of the arms, Otto slid off his coat and dropped it to the side. The glasses and gloves came next, slid into one of the pockets in his trusty coat. He was about to undo the zipper of his undershirt when Kat interrupted.
"Please. Be decent. Wear some clothes. I'll even wash them for you." Closing the door to the bedroom behind her, the sounds of the TV were heard outside and Oc sat on the bed, thinking.
He fell facefirst onto the bed, the arms settling down as well.
"Goodnight." He murmurd.
Good night. Otto.
Good night, Father.
Otto slept, somewhat peacefully. He had discovered that he needed less sleep less often, but right now, he just felt exhausted. The night had been hell – the club, the press, the hospital, the spider, Spiderman....he didn't know how much of his fragile psyche could take. The arms were quiet as he slept, something that he was ultimately grateful for.
It was about noon when Kat entered the bedroom. Oc was still asleep, and she leaned in the doorway, "Otto Octavius...what am I going to do with you..."
At the voice, the arms turned. One of them made a beckoning sort of motion. Kat blinked, "You want me to come closer?"
The arm nodded, and Kat stepped into the bedroom. She stepped father in when the arms didn't stop beckoning, until she was sitting on the bed next to the sleeping Octavius, "So.....what do you want?"
One of the arms slid around her neck. Her throat tightened and she froze as she heard the mechanical noise of metal against metal, and then a sharp pain in her neck as she heard metal against flesh. Her hand flew to her neck; the claw was on it, a metal needle in her.
Why are you so kind to us?
"Holy shit." She whispered loudly, glancing at the arms, "That's you in my head, isn't it?"
It is. Now, answer the question.
Kat's hitched breath began to revert back to normal as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "Well, too be honest, I find you sort of interesting. Him, too. You're a psychologist's dream come true."
Assuming said psychologist didn't try to arrest us.
"Fully sentient...intelligent...even with a sense of wit. You're smarter then I thought you would be.....and he created you?"
Yes. He is a genius, far beyond the average intelligence of homo sapiens.
"Damn, you're most certainly right. Anyone who can program the kind of intelligence you're displaying IS a genius....so then, why are you always trying to creep me out?"
We're not. Your psyche sees it this way. Just as you study us, we study you.
An uncomfortable look flashed across Kat's face, but she smoothed it over and glanced back at the other three arms, "You study me?"
Just as you study us, we study you, Katarina Morrigan.
"what...." Her voice contained hints of fear, "Do you study about me?"
Everything. The way you speak, and your dialect, the way you move, the way you react to certain stimuli, your habits. Everything.
"That's a little on the creepy side..." She said quietly.
Being studied by a machine?
"Yeah."
Humans do it all the time. What do you call a sonogram? Or a magnetic resonance image?
"But that's.....different. On MRIs and X-rays, we control the machines.....we see the results, they are not alive, like you are..."
But you are still being studied by a machine, and that was our point. The fact that we are sentient and they are not is another concept in it's entirety.
"Does he know you can do this? Talk with other people?" Kat glanced at the sleeping form of Otto. He looked innocent in his sleep, and the hurt and torn expression on her face made her pity him, "Can you.... Can you see what he's dreaming about? Could you tell me?"
He is dreaming of what would have been. Had his experiment been successful, he would have won the Nobel Prize. Then, his dream shifts to reality, and those giving him the prize are suddenly tearing at him. Spiderman appears from behind them all and says, "Sometimes you have to give up your dream," and takes the prize away. He is forced to create the experiment again, except this time we are fused to him and those who loved him now do nothing but scorn.
"That must be....a terrible thing to do. To live knowing that you're a wanted man for a mistake, and it's really the thing living on your back that is the true cause of all the chaos. I see now why he doesn't like do to be mistaken for you...and what you did. How could you do that?" She looked at the arms now, her smooth expression turning angry.
We cannot fathom why you do not appreciate destruction. It is beautiful. Chaos is a masterpiece, and yet you scorn it so greatly when we cause it....and then when others do, they cheer.
"Our appreciation for destruction is specific...we only cheer for those things we want down. Fallen, we did not want down." She sat down in a chair near the bed and watched the sleeping doctor. A moment of silence passed before Kat glanced up at the wall again and mumbled, "id."
Id? What is an id?
"I'm majoring in psychology...I suppose as a creation designed for science, you'd have no idea what an id is..." She leaned back in the chair, "Well...someone said that the human mind is composed of three parts...the id, the ego, and the superego. Id is the part that just wants things, that controls various desires without a care in the world about who you might be negatively effecting, and only getting what you want."
A negative connotation. And yet, we cannot deny such.
"Like....Otto is the superego...the morally justified one....The two of you combined is the ego...which is the balance...and you're the id."
One of the tentacles glanced at another and they seemed to exchange a conversation. A frown marred her face; were they one being, or four who worked as one? She opened her mouth to ask, but one of them nodded as they apparently finished their conversation.
We see.
"Can you...um...release me? I can't get to the refrigerator with you plugged into me and I'm hungry...."
The strange feeling of the needle sliding against her flesh sent shivers up her spine, and she moved her hand back to feel where it was. She didn't feel any blood, or even a mark. She glanced at one of the arms, which matched her gaze.
"It's funny looking at you, knowing you're thinking about me, saying things about me, and I can't even read your face to tell me what it is." She spoke quietly, then stood up. She walked to the door and exited amidst the uncomfortable silence. The sounds of the refrigerator creaking open and the shuffling of food items did not break the heavy mist of quiet that fell.
And it stayed, too, for longer then Kat could figure. She moped. She cooked her ramen and ate her noodles in silence, staring into space. Her motions were strangely jerky and dare she say mechanical as she avoided looking at the sleeping man and his "companions" in her bed when she went to retrieve some new clothes. Slipping out and into her bathroom, she changed. Her thoughts revolved around the arms; just what were they? They were highly intelligent...even an idiot could see that. But as far as a personality stretched – what did they hide? What were they made of? What made them "tick"?