Chapter 8: Tentacles
3:15 pm, the Saturday after Thanksgiving
Felicity Hardy sat in her dormitory room, alone, checking her e-mail. Austin Smith had checked on her on Thanksgiving Day, even leaving her something to eat, since the cafeteria was closed, as were most of the stores and restaurants. That was also when she found out Austin had a dark secret.
5:30 pm, Thanksgiving Day
Felicity Hardy turned toward her dormitory door. She lived in the Felicia Hardy Dormitory, named because her mother had donated substantially to the university. Austin lived in the Curt Connors Dormitory, the dorm for the science majors.
"Austin Smith, is that you?" she said.
"Shit, how did you know?"
"You breathe too loud. And I can hear those cheap sneakers from a mile off. Brought some food?"
Austin let himself in, frowning. She must have super-sensitive hearing and smell. He had practically held his breath trying to surprise her. He was wearing his backpack, and he carried a package of buns, a pack of deli turkey, a can of cranberry sauce, and a box of mashed potatoes.
"I heard you couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving," he said.
"Actually, my mother was hosting a big Hardy Foundation Thanksgiving catered dinner. I ran away."
"Why? Wasn't there caviar?"
"I get sick of caviar. And I hate hanging around a bunch of stiff suits that are richer than God. Mom made me say hello to this Trump guy with a god-awful comb over. Not only was he was reeking of hairspray, he grabbed my ass and then he told me he'd marry me if I was just a few years older!"
Austin laughed. "And what did you tell The Donald?"
"I said, "Mr. Trump—you're fired!' and walked off. Mom chewed me out, saying that I had just made fun of one of the Hardy Foundation's biggest investors, blah, blah. With Mom, it's Hardy Foundation this and Hardy Foundation that. So I just ran off. So why aren't you home?"
Austin smiled. "All my family's in California. Can't afford to fly, so I decided to stay here. But I've got Thanksgiving dinner, but I'll need to cook it."
"Where? The cafeteria's empty."
Austin jangled a set of keys. "I've snagged the keys to the science lab. We'll improvise."
Felicity smiled. It was so sweet of him to bring Thanksgiving dinner for a girl who couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving, and wasn't even his girlfriend. Austin was awfully nice. And to think the Daily Bugle claimed he was Doctor Octopus' son. J. Jonah Jameson would sell his soul to the devil to sell more papers.
They had arrived in the lab, and Austin plugged in and lit the Bunsen burner, using it, a wire frame, and a ceramic container to cook the mashed potatoes.
"Ew, Austin, you never know what radioactive stuff might have been in there last."
Austin just laughed. "I've read the comic books. The only thing that happens when you are exposed to radioactivity—" He turned the burner off and removed the dish of mashed potatoes. "—is you get superpowers." Austin began slicing the buns, and began piling them with deli turkey. He sliced up the cranberry sauce, and layered that on the turkey.
Austin's backpack lay on the counter. "I had to miss biology last Thursday," Felicity said. "Can I borrow your notes?"
"Sure. Have you seen Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian Man?"
"The naked guy spread in a circle?"
"Yup. That's on the cover of the science notebook."
Felicity took the notebook out of the backpack by grabbing the metal spiral. Thus, a thinner, smaller green notebook slipped out from inside. Felicity's attention was diverted from the biology class notes, and chose a page at random in the small notebook to flip to. Felicity noticed that Austin's notes were often in two entirely different sets of handwriting: one a flowing cursive, and one a far more casual print. The green notebook, however, was all in the cursive.
The page she chose was dated November 6th, four years ago.
(didn't curiosity kill the cat?)
"The police have just returned me to California, after my father kidnapped me…"
"Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! I wonder if I've changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, 'Who am I?" Ah, that's the puzzle!" –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland…
"I'm beginning to hear their voices more often. Four voices that almost seem hypnotically musical, in a way. And the oddest thing, they insist on calling me their brother…"
"I'm beginning to wonder why I didn't do anything that night, why I just stood there and let him get arrested. In all practicality, even though he's a criminal, he's also the only man who could have helped me deal with them…"
November 7th
"Rachelle told me that I pinned Brandon McCloud up to the lockers and slugged him in the face. The only thing is, I can't remember doing it, I think they're making me act irrationally and blocking it from my memory…"
"I honestly don't want to end up like him, I want to be a good guy, but if I don't learn to control them, I fear it will be inevitable…"
November 8th
"Are they controlling me, or am I still piloting the boat? I'm beginning to feel like a marionette attached to four metal strings…"
"I hate looking in the mirror. When I look in the mirror, I don't see me, I see my father. And when I see him, I don't see Dr. Octavius, I see Dr. Octopus. And when I see him, I see the person I could become…"
"They are telling me that I must go after Brandon; punish him for what he did to me since I was three years old. And when I tell them no, they scream at me and give me raging headaches that last for days. They tell me not to question them, that they know what's best for me. And then they hug me, and tell me that they love me, and always will. They ask me, "Would we lead you wrongly, Brother?" My rational mind says yes, but it seems to fall for their brainwashing every time…"
"My mother and aunt want to drag me to a psychologist, and I've even contemplated suicide, for God's sakes. But will they let me? My father drowned himself one time, but they swam him up to shore, they wouldn't even let him die…"
Felicity closed the book, horrified and sympathetic at the same time. So the rumors were true. And Jameson was right—they did have more in common than their looks.
Austin held the two sandwiches. "Ready to eat?" He removed his sunglasses, which had become foggy. This removal revealed huge brown eyes, red-rimmed with pain, fatigue, and grief. Felicity realized for the first time that he'd been struggling against himself for years. Austin had kept the upper hand—so far.
(but for how much more?)
And Felicity knew that whatever this poor boy must have gone through, his father must have suffered a thousand times worse.
Felicity decided to study, sipping some warm milk. She always liked warm milk, and she didn't know why. If she ever talked to her mother, she would have found out this liking for milk was linked to her extraordinary talent in her gymnastics classes as a little girl, her sensitive night vision, hearing, and smell, and the fact that she was stronger and a better athlete than all the girls she knew, with the exception of her best friend May Parker.
Felicity's surfing was interrupted by the shriek of a door being torn off its hinges.
"What the f--!" she screamed. A shorter, stockier, older version of her friend was now leaning in the doorway. There was no mistake who he was.
"Doctor Octopus!" she shrieked. "I'll call the police, I swear I will!"
"But why?" Otto asked. "I am simply seeking information. I do not intend to do anything criminal—at this moment. Don't force me to. Then again, I'll commit some petty theft while I'm here." Otto swiped a package of Oreos off the shelf with a tentacle, then unwrapped and ate them with his real hands. There was a reason he wasn't the slimmest supervillian in the city.
"You—are breaking and entering!"
"I suppose you are technically right," the doctor said, looking at the wreck of a dorm room around him. "The door is broken, and I have entered your residence. Where is my son?"
"You're nuts," she lied. "I didn't know you had one."
"You're lying," he snapped. "Does the name Austin Smith ring a bell?"
"Yes, I know about him—he's the son you kidnapped and welded a set of tentacles to! You made that poor boy a monster—like you!"
She saw she was hurting his feelings. She didn't care.
Felicity wanted to hate him. She really did. But as she looked at him some more, and thought, she only saw a pathetic man. A deadbeat who abandoned his son for fourteen years, and a man who couldn't even stand up to the machines he created. A coward who was weaker than his own son.
"I'm not telling you anything!" Felicity shouted. "He's my friend!" Unexpectedly, a tentacle grabbed her by the throat and lifted her up in the air.
"Stop it!" Otto shouted, pulling the tentacle off with his real hands. "Any friend of my son is a friend of mine."
"He made me a turkey sandwich on Thanksgiving, but I haven't seen him for over a day. He may be with his girlfriend."
"What girlfriend? Who is she?"
"None of your business—Doctor!"
"Who is she? Austin's life may depend on it!"
"May Parker," she said heavily.
"Parker?" the villain repeated. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
"Who cares? And don't even ask me where she is."
Otto turned to leave. "By the way—what is Austin majoring in?"
"Biology," she said.
"Well, you can't win them all," he said. And then he was gone.
Very strange, Felicity thought.
May walked to Austin's dorm room. There was no Austin, but there were three huge holes in the wall, and the fragments of what must have been little orange balls. And smoke—a lot of it. And a piece of paper lay shivering on the debris.
May picked it up.
"May Parker:
I have information about the whereabouts of your friend Austin Smith. Kindly meet me at the clock tower, at sunset tonight, to discuss this information. You must not discuss this with anyone—not even your father."
There was no signature.
May stuffed the note in her pocket. She knew what she must do. She pulled her civilian clothes off, leaving them on Austin's bed. She put on her mask—and jumped out of the window, preparing to trust her friend's life in the hands of a stranger.