Chapter three - A Shocking Surprise

Peter strained his eyes to see through the mucky water; something was definitely there. He swam for it and as the figure became clearer, the more puzzled Peter became. He had only seen one thing like it; the object looked almost like a giant metal pretzel. Its dark coat produced a strange air and Peter knew he had seen it before.

He swam closer to get a better look and he gasped in his mind. It was Dr. Octavious! Peter swam the rest of the distance between him and the man. He surveyed Ock while pondering about what was going on. The heads of the tentacles seemed to form a waterproof cone around their host's head. What had happened? Had they suffocated him? Had they gotten angry at Otto for aborting the project and killed him off as he was slowly drowning himself? All these thoughts ran through Peter's mind, as he looked the doctor over.

Peter swam to the surface for a breath and back down. He now knew who it was. All of those memories came flooding back. "If only I could have done something to stop it". He thought. Peter reached out and grabbed Otto's hand, which had been dangling lifelessly. He let go all of a sudden; the hand was still warm. Peter grabbed his hand again to make sure of his discovery. Again, Otto's hand was found to be warm, warmer than any dead person's would be.

Peter got his head past the tentacles and rested his ear on the man's chest. A faint thumping was heard; it was very weak, and sounded as if it might quit at any time, but his heart was pumping blood nonetheless.

Peter became excited. Why hadn't he climbed to shore? He asked himself. His eyes drifted down towards a thick iron chain tangled badly with Otto's legs. I've got to get him out! Peter grabbed hold of the chain and pulled. The tentacles hissed and chirped threateningly as he went. In fact, Peter was sure that if they hadn't been struggling to keep their host alive, they would have attacked and he'd be dead already.

The chain gave way and Peter draped the motionless man over his shoulder. He swam to the surface to get a breath of air and then looked for a more secluded site to bring him out of the water. Peter spotted another old pier off a hundred feet or so. Several of the buildings around the dock had been damaged by the fusion reaction, and this was one of the ones that took more of a beating.

He swam for it just barely above the surface. Even with his super strength produced by the spider bite, Doc Ock proved to be a load to carry with – what? 70 extra pounds of metal? 100? Peter didn't dwell on it; but the point still stood that Ock was pretty heavy. Peter reached the pier and swam under what was left of the wall. Fortunately, the floor had broken in such a way that the boards created a slight slant that made climbing out of the water a whole lot easier.

He climbed out of the water and gently laid Otto on the floor. Peter crouched over him and stared nervously. The tentacles released Otto's head and lay on the floor weakly. Peter was relieved that he was still alive and that his chest still moved with frail breath. The smile was soon stolen from his face when Peter noticed one crucial thing; he was no longer breathing.

He embraced Otto's heart and began manually pumping it. Then he gave him mouth-to-mouth. Peter pressed aggressively against his chest and breathed air into his lungs. He did this several times and finally, Otto coughed.

Peter stepped back a little as Otto spurted water from his mouth and took a few aggressive wheezing breaths. He then calmed down enough to breathe slowly. Otto weakly rested his head on the tattered floor. "Why did you rescue me?" he asked without moving. Otto then looked up at Peter with hurt in his eyes. "They killed her – we killed her…we – we killed my Rosie! My Rosie's dead because of me!" tears came to his eyes as he struggled to speak. Peter said nothing; the man was obviously suffering from emotional trauma, from losing everything so quickly.

"I was going to stop it, send them and myself to the bottom of the river. I almost succeeded on drowning! But they kept me alive by keeping the water out and filtering oxygen in, and then here you came to pull me back out…don't you seem I'm dangerous?" Otto yelled struggling to sit up.

He looked out over the water. "It would be best if you tossed me back in," he said in a gloomy, but firm voice. "There's no telling what I may do with the inhibitor chip burn out."

Peter thought to himself. Inhibitor chip! That was it! The very opportunity he was searching for. And Otto wasn't a murdering psychopath anymore; perhaps the water had helped him – since he had been suspended in it for just less than two months.

Peter talked as softly and caringly as he could. "Is that the only thing wrong with your tentacles? The inhibitor chip is missing?"

"No, it's not what's wrong with them. They weren't any good to begin with. The inhibitor chip was merely a leash in controlling them," Otto explained as he lowered his eyes. "A leash I should've made sturdier," he muttered.

Peter pretended he didn't hear his comment although he had heard it clearly. Otto was really beating himself up. Hopefully, this phase would pass soon. "But was that burning out the cause of everything?"

"Yes, if you'd like to look at it that way."

"Because I could rebuild it for you or something. You could walk me through, I could slap it back on, and walla! You'd be free!" Peter tried to make it sound appealing.

Otto furrowed his brow in thought. That idea just might work. Peter was surely smart enough and diligent enough to go through with it. He had been relieved to learn that Peter was always late and tired because he was Spiderman and not just because he had stayed out all night with some girl.

His tentacles curled around him as he thought. They clicked and hissed and were repeatedly telling him it was a bad idea in his head.

"Yes Peter, I know you can," the tentacles moved restlessly, "And I'd be glad to allow you to."

The tentacles were outraged at this. They shrieked many unkind words that seemed to strike his head like a metal stake.

How could you do this? You're making a big mistake!

Don't do this to us!

Don't do this to yourself!

"Listen! I don't care what you think is right! And, no, leaving well enough alone isn't best for us! I've listened too long and I will no longer heed your voices. So keep talking! You'll just be wasting your virtual electronic breaths," he exploded angrily. His tentacles went quiet.

"Feel better?" Peter finally spoke up.

"Yes…yes I do," Otto replied taking a deep breath. Silence instilled.

"So you're probably hungry from being under there so long, right?" All Otto could do was nod. "There's a quaint little restaurant over there if you wanted something to eat. I could get you something."

"No, I have the money." He began digging in his pockets. "You don't have to go and be buying me food…" he mumbled.

Peter smiled to himself. He was still the same old Dr. Octavious. Otto finally found his wallet and took it out, or what was left of it. Water isn't usually good for leather; especially being soaked in it for so long. The bottom half fell to the ground with a soggy plop.

Otto stared at it before speaking. "On second thought, thank you for your generous offer."

OOOOO

Inside the restaurant, Otto's arms were hidden and Peter had ordered something for him to eat. Otto munched on the soda crackers set by the napkins on the table as they talked. He was obviously famished. Being underwater, just barely alive, and having a sip of water now and then had almost killed him.

"So the cyber electronic circuit, it's the only thing needed?" Peter asked.

"No, no. There's much more to it than that! It's just one of the more important pieces – like the head of the body – right alongside the FJ unit. They're the ones that will be troublesome to find."

"Oh I see. So let me get this straight," Peter grabbed the napkin he had been taking notes on. "We need to get: an FJ unit, a CEC, an ERT adaptiod, a robotic titaniumA47 nis…a…forty th…bolt…with…and…"

Otto heard less and less of what Peter was telling him as he stared over his shoulder at the elderly couple sharing a milkshake together. They laughed and talked about inaudible things. The wrinkles around their eyes –laughter wrinkles – were something Otto knew he would never have. Then the couple kissed. That few seconds burnt deep into Otto's soul.

"That could have been me… he thought. That could have been…us…"

"But most of these you probably still have in your laboratory, right? Dr. Octavious? Dr. Octavious?"

Otto ignored him. Peter glanced back at what Otto was staring at and then looked back at him.

"Stalking are we?" Peter teased quietly.

A few moments passed before Otto processed Peter's words.

"Oh! Yes, I have most of those pieces on the list back at my laboratory. That is, if they haven't boxed it up yet." He looked down at the table as he twiddled his thumbs. "And—and I wasn't stalking."

Peter glanced over at the couple as they got up from their seats and walked out the door happily holding hands. "They look cute together, don't they?"

"Yes, we would have," Otto answered as his eyes followed the elderly man down the street. "You don't know how lucky you are," he whispered to him although never really meaning form the man to hear.

Peter heard Otto talking to himself and knew that it was something more than just the tentacles again. Peter lowered his eyes to let Otto's moment pass as their table fell silent. A minute or two passed as Peter continued staring at the table and Otto's eyes fell on the street outside the giant window.

"So," Peter finally said, "if we're gonna build this thing, we'll have to head over to your place." He searched Otto's eyes for any sign of communication.

The mail arrived at the post office and Otto glanced over at him without moving any other part of him.

"Yes," Otto replied without emotion. It almost seemed as if he could care less about the tentacles, the city, or himself. Yet, he finished his sentence, which saved Peter from breaking the awkward silence again.

"We should head over there as soon as possible." He said monotonous.

"But you haven't gotten your food yet," Peter reasoned.

"So?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"That doesn't matter any more. We have bigger and more important things to concentrate on!" he exploded unnecessarily. Peter knew that, even though he said he wasn't, Otto was indeed very hungry. Yet he let it go. Never mess with a man who's almost lost his life, and hasn't had food for over a month. Not to mention one who has access to four mechanical tentacles that, if and when desired, could twist you into a basketball and shoot some hoops. Something like that just might hurt.

Peter said nothing, left the money on the table, and the two walked out of the restaurant. Walking side-by-side, silent as blades of grass, almost opposite moods, might make a person from the street think that Otto was kidnapping Peter.

OOOOO

Peter and Ock arrived at the house, his house, their house, the one he shared with his beloved wife so many years. The place still reeked of happiness with a gloomy tint to it. For a while before speaking, Otto looked around at the rooms. They all seemed to taunt him of a life he had lost, a life he had given up to chase a silly dream. He felt like the prodigal son – the one who took all his money and ran away from home. Who then spent it on things he thought would help his life along. Yet it crashed and he came crawling back to his father who welcomed him with open arms.

Otto could fully relate to that, yet there was no one to help him, no one to crawl back to.

"You wait in here," Otto told peter as he let his eyes roam the house. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll get the parts." With that, he left and walked into his laboratory.

What is wrong?

You are acting in a manner that we do not fully understand.

"You wouldn't be able to understand. You've never lost someone as dear as Rosie." He commented staring at a steel table in the center of the room.

The tentacles all seemed to groan. That 'Rosie' woman again? When are you going to let that go?

"I had thought I did."

Just a while ago, you were happy. Why don't you bring that back?

We do not like it when you are sad.

Sadness applies more pressure on the ventral nerve than happiness and you are giving us a headache.

Although he felt his tentacles never had anything good to say, they were right. He needed to cheer up. He was going to get rid of them! Shouldn't that brighten his day just a little bit? That actually did make him less gloomy just thinking of that possibility.

He picked up a metal tray from the table and began dropping pieces into it. He had had to dismember and rebuild the inhibitor chip so many times that he could now recite the parts by heart.

Eventually, Otto was humming a joyful tune of which he didn't know the words to. He came to the last piece. "And a cyber-electronic circuit." His small, boyish smile faded and he looked around the room and on the shelves. Still nothing.

Panic began taking him as he viciously rummaged through the parts on the table. Otto sent his tentacles out in all directions, which mercilessly tore drawers from their tracks and searched them speedily.

Suddenly Otto stopped, as nervous as could be. The most important piece…was gone.

to be continued...