Ah...have we reached the end of "Nature Versus Nurture" already? (sniff) For some reason, the regular readers of this story include a Teen Titans and Lilo and Stitch fan, a wrestling fanwriter, and an anime reader as well as the usual Spider-fans and Ottophiles. Well, after this, there will only be the epilougue left...so read it while you can, folks! Then, check out "The Children of the Six"!
Chapter 12: Makes the Final Confrontation
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost, "Fire and Ice"
Octavia woke up. She was leaning against the wall of a stark white room, her tentacles bound to the walls like a snow angel's outstretched wings. She wore a short white hospital gown. She struggled fruitlessly for a few minutes, and then sank down on the floor.
Jordan woke up. She was strapped to a table, arms outstretched and strapped to the two extensions. Electrodes were affixed to her head. Carlyle held a remote control.
Jordan was frightened to death. When she was two years old, she was struck by lightning and nearly died. Her great fear was being electrocuted to death. The government knew this about her. She was strongly reminded of Winston Smith's torture by rats in George Orwell's 1984.
"Are you going to talk? If you give us the information we need, you can see her friend. And if you refuse again, there will be more—unpleasantness."
"This is cruel and unusual punishment," Jordan said. "You people are sick. I'm sure the Constitution doesn't allow this."
"You'll be surprised what's allowed, Jordan Nicholas." Carlyle pressed the button on the control.
Shock waves of pain rippled through Jordan's body. Jordan's breathing was fast and heavy. She was on the verge of screaming.
"Need I remind you that the dials are only on twenty—and I can turn it much higher?"
"What do you want?" asked Jordan. "You already have Octavia, you told me that."
"We just want to know her personality, her history. What and how she does at school. Is it really that hard? I say two words and you tell me every single thing you know about those two words. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"The two words are: Octavia Jones. Go."
And Jordan told him.
"Daisy has given up her information. Jordan, however, was much harder to crack. But we got to her."
"Good. Let them see her. Let them see what a little freak their friend really is."
"As soon as we run some tests on the clone."
Carlyle walked in the stark white room. He began unlocking the tentacles.
"You promised me I'd be able to see my friends." Octavia hissed.
"That's right, you will. We'd just like to run some tests."
Finally, two hours later, Jordan, Daisy, and Octavia were thrust into a room together.
"Hi," Octavia said.
"Hi," Jordan said.
And gradually, weakly, ramblingly, both the girls' stories came out. And Octavia showed Jordan the actuators.
"Oh my god!" Jordan said. "That's so cool!"
Octavia blinked. "You don't…think of me as a freak?"
"Of course not, you're my best friend!" reassured Jordan. "In fact, I'm jealous of you!"
"As you can see, she's still the same Octopus fan-girl as ever," Daisy groaned.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jordan grinned. "Let's ditch this joint."
"How?" asked Daisy. "There must be 'men in black' all over the place."
"My brother gave me some of this practical joke powder when I visited my mother last," Jordan laughed. "I planned on slipping it to Brittany Gibson, but then we got kidnapped."
"No," said Octavia. "You two escape. You don't have a part in this."
"You're staying behind?" Jordan gasped.
"I can't run anymore," said Octavia. "I have to make sure no one goes through what we have. They have to pay. Goodbye, friends."
"Don't say goodbye," said Jordan. "Good luck."
"The two witnesses are severely ill with cramps and vomiting, Director."
"Well, send a doctor in, you idiot."
"We can't find one."
"So get them to the hospital. We can't lose the information they still have."
"They've given up all their information. We should just dispose of them."
"We suspect the girls, especially Jordan, are holding back. Let's not kill the goose that lays golden eggs."
Carlyle held the remote control device. "Now, Octavia, let's go back to your room like a good girl, okay?"
But before he could push the button, a tentacle grabbed it out of his hand—and crushed it. Carlyle's eyes widened. That blocking device, of course, was his only defense against her.
"Now, Mr. Carlyle—or whatever you call yourself now—" Octavia hissed, "take me to your leader."
As soon as the doors to the girls' rooms were opened, Jordan and Daisy ran out through the hall.
"I thought we were going to wait until we got in the ambulance to run off," said Daisy.
"I just realized what Octavia meant when she said that," Jordan said. "She's about to make a terrible mistake."
Octavia simultaneously grabbed Carlyle and the Director, tentacles wrapping about each of them like steel and magenta boa constrictors. A third popped open to reveal an eighteen-inch blade.
Octavia squeezed them tighter and tighter, viciously smirking as the two agents gasped for breath. She wanted to hurt them, cause them all the pain she had to bear—and more for the pain of her friends.
Jordan burst through the door. "Octavia, stop!"
Octavia turned to her friend. "Why can't I, Jordan? Why can't I? These are the two people who kidnapped us, turned me into a freak, tortured us, and tried to bribe you to shut up about it!"
"Octavia…if you do this…" Jordan finally said, "you're really no better than they are."
"You said you wanted an identity separate from the one you were cloned from," pleaded Daisy. "He did things like that, not you."
"You know the answer to the famous nature versus nurture question, Octavia?" asked Jordan. "There's really none. It's both. Sure your genetics are a part of you, but so is your upbringing. But most of all it's about free will and your choices. Do you understand that?"
"Yes…"
"Choose to do the right thing."
Octavia knew. She was not a criminal. She was not a supervillian. She was not Doctor Octopus.
So she let them go.
Carlyle turned and drew his gun. "You really should have killed me when you got the chance, you little monster," he said. But it was then that Jordan's cell phone rang.
"Really? It was?" Jordan said. "That's the best news I've ever got in a long while." She hung up the phone and smiled.
"See? Even if you decide to kill us now, you lose."
