Chapter five - The Visit
The doorbell chimed throughout the house. Lying on a couch by a wall in the living room was Otto. His head was hung over the armrest with Peter sitting over him and carefully working with a small screwdriver-like tool to attach the different parts. They had decided to build what they could on the inhibitor chip and insert the CEC (cyber-electronic circuit) when possible. In other words, when they could locate one on the internet, purchase it, and wait for the time it would take to arrive. Otto hadn't nearly enough money to buy it in the first place, nor Peter. The tentacles had a good grasp on how to get the cash needed but it included a bank, some stealing, and some killing. For that reason, Otto had declined it and now the tentacles were sulking, draped over the couch every which way staring at Peter through the small cone of their pincers, which didn't make working any easier for the college student. The inhibitor chip would have no value without the CEC, sadly. And Peter had debated whether to start without all the pieces, but Otto was determined.
"Now carefully screw in the TED adapter. Carefully!" Otto commanded Peter.
Heeding the doctor's words, Peter began turning the screw more gently. The doorbell continued to ring, which pushed the two further on edge. The couch they were at sat directly beside the door, but both of them had their hands full. Rather, Peter had his hands full, Otto had his mind full trying to walk Peter through the steps verbally. The doorbell rang again.
Having someone practically screwing parts into his neck had Dr. Octavious anxious and nervous. And the tentacles constantly trying to talk him out of what he was doing only made things worse. Slap on a topping of never-ceasing "ding-dongs," and you've got a terribly difficult atmosphere for concentrating.
Though Peter didn't have voices in his head constantly talking or anyone messing with the back of his neck, he was equally uptight knowing that he had full control over whether the inhibitor chip was successfully placed. He wiped a few drops of sweat from his forehead. Performing a mechanical surgery was hard work!
"Yes, no—no! Not that!" Otto nearly yelled as Peter carefully placed a blue wire back onto the table. "You connect that there, and it will cause an electric shock that would wipe out this micro chip and I don't have the supplies to rebuild it," he growled. The fact that some things some places would cause a disaster bugged Peter as well.
The doorbell rang once again. Otto had been careful to control the tentacles and at this moment, he decided the best way would be to keep them from doing even the smallest of tasks. Obviously, this bored them and they were anxious to do anything that their host wanted.
Someone is at the door.
May we open it for them?
There are two of them there.
Please may we open the door?
"No. I can't let you," Otto replied. The bottom left slowly edged towards the doorknob. "I said 'no'." It pulled back.
One of the persons at the door was wearing his doorbell thin…and his nerves. It's hardest to say 'no' to something when you and it want the same thing. Otto wasn't going to be able to endure this much longer. The tentacles knew this and eagerly waited on the verge of striking for him to give in.
"Stop ringing the doorbell!" Otto called through the door. The doorbell stopped for a moment and the doctor rested his eyes.
Ron was about to push the doorbell again when Kim stopped him. "Didn't you hear what he said? He said stop."
Ron looked at her coolly. "Kim, he was the one who called us. Maybe he's being forced to say that." The blonde boy reasoned raising one golden eyebrow.
Kim processed his words before speaking again. "Yes, but then what are we waiting for? Obviously, his kidnappers aren't going to answer the door for us."
"Right."
"So you know what we need to do?"
"Yes," Ron said confidently. He began knocking in an annoying rhythm that seemed to have no end. Kim rolled her eyes. When they said that being blonde didn't affect the capacity of one's brain, they hadn't met Ron.
Otto couldn't stand this anymore. "Get them to stop knocking on the door and ringing the doorbell!" he commanded.
As soon as he had given the tentacles that command, they squealed and the top right thrust through the door catching Ron up by the throat. Otto wasn't sure exactly what he had hit yet and looked up ever so slightly careful not to disturb the unfinished microchip. The two bottom tentacles tore the door into two equal pieces and slammed them to the ground. Then they cracked the door, the wood splintering and creaking with every fold, until it was merely a pile of rubble on the floor. The top left tentacle took the liberty of reaching around the wall to the doorbell and tearing it from the siding. It saw the red haired girl staring at it and threw it at her. As the scrap of metal fell to the ground, the tentacle hissed and went back in to join the rest.
There. Now it is impossible to ring the doorbell or knock on the door in the future. The tentacles declared in unison simply leaving Otto to think about the act of kindness and reconsider getting rid of their advice, help, and comfort.
With an effort, Ron Stoppable craned his neck towards Kim Possible. "I feel sorry for his kidnappers," he wheezed. Ron tried to pry the claws from his throat as he gasped. The tentacle held firm and Ron struggled even more.
"Oh please," Otto thought. "I'm not crushing you." "What do you want?" Otto demanded with a scowl. "I'm very busy."
Kim met his attitude with a dish of her own. She crossed her arms and stuck her hip out to one side. "First of all, I want you to let go of my friend," she said, the hero inside of her taking charge. The man was being unbelievably rude. They had come to help him with his urgent problem he called about, and he greets them by choking Ron.
Without an expression on his face, Otto gave commands for the tentacle to let go of Ron. It did and the boy dropped to the ground. Ron then struggled up and immediately hid behind his friend. Kim was conscious of this, but ignored it and stared down at the man on the couch who had rested his head again.
"And you're the one who called us, right? Or do you have a tentacled cousin somewhere else in the city?" She asked.
Otto furrowed his brow. "Snappy, isn't she?"
Peter, noticing the confusion, set the tool in his hand down on the coffee table and stood up. He raised his hands and stood between them yet tried not to block the man's vision. " I'm Peter Parker. I called you," he stated. Kim's eyebrows rose. "On behalf of Dr. Octavious," he said stepping over to let the hero get a good look at the man.
Dr. Octavious now wasn't so angry any more but bewildered. What did Peter think he would accomplish by calling this midriff-showing teenager? Why, she didn't look past sixteen! How on earth was she going to be of any help? Peter sensed that he had some explaining to do to both sides of the argument.
Otto curled his finger towards himself motioning Peter. Peter got the message and stooped down closer to him. Otto grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him closer roughly. "Why the heck did you call these two?" he exclaimed in an angry whisper.
Peter took hold of Otto's hand and pulled his collar free. "Because, Dr. Octavious, I've heard about them, and thought—no—knew they could help us," he said firmly at the man's unnecessary aggressiveness. Otto said nothing but stiffened his mouth into a single line and he let him stand back up.
Kim walked ahead inside leaving Ron a direct target for the tentacles. The boy's eyes enlarged and he swallowed hard. There was nothing to hide him. When he finally gathered the sense to follow Kim into the house however, he looked down at Otto's annoyed face, and remembered. Ron wriggled his hand around his pocket. The boy found the scrap of paper and pen he had stuffed in there earlier.
"Hey Doc Ock," he began as he plopped on the back of the couch causing Otto to jerk and the many loose pieces on his back flew through the air. The top left tentacle instinctively grabbed the metal tray and tried to catch them. Though it did manage to catch most, a few had fallen and the top right now worked on picking them up as Otto arose. He could only pray that the parts hadn't broken and that he wouldn't do something to that boy that he'd regret.
The man stood fully up, which made him look rather large and mean with the frustrated facial expression as Ron stuck the paper and pen in his face. "Would you please sign this?" he asked eagerly.
Kim had gotten tired of this. "Ron, focus!" she reminded him. Ron nodded and sat down on the couch in an upright fashion.
It was obvious that neither of the high schoolers was going to leave any time soon, and since the boy had taken his seat, Otto walked over to the wooden chair that his coat was draped over. They didn't need to see what his back looked like after the accident; although, they already had gotten a good look at the scarred, painstaking flesh above the harness. He slipped his ratty trench coat on and lectured himself for being so rash.
"I'm sorry," Otto apologized. "It was—" he didn't know how to explain it. Rather than going into the details, he took the safe route. "—My actuators." Neither Kim nor Ron seemed to get what he was talking about. This would make explaining harder. "When Peter informed you," he glanced over at the college student standing near a wall, "Did he tell you my condition and accident?" he asked in a truly apologetic tone.
"No, but the guy manning my website told me about what happened with the fusion reactor. As far as your condition, he just said that an important microchip had been stolen from your lab, that it was urgent, and that—that you—"
"To be careful around me? That I'm dangerous?" he cut her off.
"Yes," Kim finished.
"He has quite the right to," Otto assured her. "You've heard about my mechanical arms, right?"
"Wade, my website watcher I was telling you about, told me that you had them out your back and how they got there, but not much else."
Otto nodded logging the information away. "OK. Now, I'm sure you don't want me to ramble on in scientific formulas and all that." Kim smiled a silent 'thank you.' "So I'll just give you the basics.
"Before the accident happened, an inhibitor chip was created to protect my mind and keep it in control of my actuators. But it was destroyed," "Along with everything else." He wanted to say. "Along with that, the actuators were, for lack of better word, 'welded' to my spinal cord. Therefore removing them would be impossible. Now, I don't want to get into details, but they can interfere with my better judgment as was apparent when I attacked—" The top right tentacle stuck its nose in Ron's pants pocket and opened his wallet. "Ron Stoppable."
Ron was terrified. He didn't dare move until the actuator was back by Dr. Octavious. "Kim, that thing just picked my pocket," Ron whispered still afraid to move lest those metal arms wreak havoc against him.
"How did you do that?" Kim asked curiously.
"The actuator scanned over Mr. Stoppable's ID card and uploaded the information into my mind," he said. Otto always enjoyed teaching others—who were willing to learn—about his projects. But even so, he knew that he was wasting their time. Dr. Octavious fished around in his pockets for his wallet. "How much for your services? Are you paid by the hour?"
Kim stopped him, "No, no, no. We do this on our free time. No charge," She said with a kind smile.
Otto grinned back with relief. "You truly are amazing." "And it's good you don't charge because otherwise I'd be in debt." He thought.
"Oh no big," Kim blushed. She glanced down at her watch. It had gotten later than she thought. "Dr. Octavious," she began, "Do you have any evidence towards who it may have been?"
Otto shrugged. "Not yet at least. I hadn't been looking for evidence. I was only concerned with the CEC. I thought I had misplaced it, and that thought still tugs at my mind. But I did scan for it already and it's nowhere to be found." He gave a warning glance towards the tentacles that all faced him. "Or at least I'm told," he mumbled to them. The tentacles pretended they hadn't heard that statement and turned back to the other three people.
Kim nodded. "Where did it happen?" she asked.
"In my laboratory," Otto answered leading the group down towards his lab.
The tentacles wanted badly to tear the intruders apart, but under their host's strict commands, they barely were restrained and remained on edge. Like children teasing a rattlesnake, Kim and Ron were on the verge of being struck. The tentacles, in some sense, actually looked like rattlesnakes—the piercing red sensors in the place of eyes, their metal jaws open and ready, the long slenderness of the jointed necks, and of course those hisses which seemed enough alone to send the hairs on one's neck on end.
A large metal door at the end of the hallway came into view and the doctor flicked on the light. Peter walked directly behind Otto and in front of team Impossible as a human barrier in case things became rough. Otto approached the letter pad imbedded in the wall to the side of the doorway.
As he typed in the code, he stopped and let out a sigh. R—O—S—that was all it took to get him emotional again. "Come on Otto, this is pathetic. Right now, there is no room for your emotions. It's only a name…only a name…" Otto swallowed his fear away and stood taller to type in the 'I—E' that made the code complete.
After hitting 'Enter,' the red light near the handle of the large door turned green. Otto turned the knob, opened the door, and standing inside, let everyone pass before closing it again.
The laboratory was magnificent, but lonely—like so many other parts of the house. Otto sighed again and closed his eyes afraid to see any more.
"Please dull the pain, if you can." He pleaded the tentacles.
Pain? You are not in pain.
"Oh, but I am. I can't seem to let go the loss of my Rosie." He explained. "It has been burning my soul for months."
We are equipped for the physical and mental realms.
Not the spiritual. The bottom left stated flatly. Otto knew that, of course, but if there was any possible way that they could, he was going to take it.
After looking around the spacious room and at all the equipment scattered along the floor amongst random papers, Kim turned to Otto. "What happened here?" she asked picking around in the rubble. "Did they trash the place?"
"No, I had been searching before," Otto replied watching the teenager carefully as she poked around in his personal papers. He didn't wish her to be looking in all his files; she was only here to find the microchip. Although Peter had so much faith in her, he knew that her snooping had a purpose. Peter would stop her if it didn't. Wouldn't he? Or was it just a way to send Otto to jail? No, it had to do with his situation. Peter would never do that, especially since he had assured Otto that he'd help him. The one thing Peter didn't do was betrayed, and Otto would have to trust him on that.
Kim Possible stopped walking and strained her eyes down upon a turned file cabinet. A small black shimmer was visible on the corner of one of the warped drawers. She picked it up and toyed with it between two fingers. Kim pulled out her Kimmunicator and pushed a button at the top, which opened a small scanner compartment. She carefully placed the hair on the sensor pad and pushed the tray in.
"Wade, I've found something and dropped it in the scanner. What do you make of it?"
Wade typed quickly and stared intently at his computer screen. The beeps of results could be heard which assured Kim that she had found something truly valuable to their search. A final beep came and Wade smiled at the success. "It's raven-black, human, and female," he smirked. "Any guesses?" A picture of Shego popped up shrinking the camera on Wade to the corner of the screen.
Ron had been silently peering over his friend's shoulder yet Kim didn't seem to notice until now. "Shego?" Ron exclaimed. Wade nodded. Ron shrugged. "Well, that would explain a lot!"
"Explain what?" Kim asked turning to him.
"Well, this big warped thing over here." Ron replied leading them over to a twisted metal machine that had the appearance of a haunted house.
Otto's eyebrows rose and then fell back down. "It wasn't ruined by this 'Shego.'" He stated. Otto went on. "That—" he cleared his throat. "—That was the fusion reactor." Kim's face went pale. So this was that failed attempt.
She was surprised to hear this. Apparent by the man's face, there were some strong emotions attached to that hunk of metal. She stared back up at it and studied the wide arches warped and molten. She could only imagine how horrible that night must have been. Kim bit her lip and hung her head. If Dr. Octavious didn't want to talk more on it, she was going to let the subject pass.
"I've got the coordinates if you're interested," Wade said to break the silence. Kim was glad he did also.
"OK," she said fighting off the quiver in her voice. A map appeared on the screen and a blue dot began beeping. She glanced back over at Otto who was now touching a cement beam to the side of the fusion reactor. He stared blankly at it as he moved his hand up and down over the surface.
Wade, once again, broke this trance. "Paris, France," he said.
"OK. We'd better get going," Kim said to get Ron away from the scientific equipment and also to assure Peter and Dr. Octavious that they took the matter seriously. She was reluctant to speak to the doctor again, for fear of hurting him further. "Is there a specific deadline that you need to have this thing back?" she asked.
"I'd like to have it back by this Friday." He replied. "Because, as you know, I'm not nearly as strong as I used to be with them, and they might take advantage of it, get me under control, and keep me from climbing back on top. So, in other words, as soon as you can get it back. But I—I can sustain dominance 'til Friday." Otto assured them.
"Hey, that's kind of weird. If Friday were two days later, it would be Friday the Thirteenth." As always, Ron saw the interesting, but still unimportant fact of the situation.
"Yeah, that is weird." Peter agreed and smiled at Otto to hopefully cheer him up. Otto smiled and nodded, but Peter knew that he wasn't truly happy. "At least he made an effort." Peter thought to himself.
"Well, with that said, we're off," with that, Kim walked towards the door. Expecting Ron to follow, she didn't look back. Ron, on the other hand, ran up to Otto and stuck the piece of paper in his face again.
"Hurry and sign this before I have to go!" he whispered.
"Come on Ron! The man's in a hurry!" Kim called from down the hall. Ron glanced at the doorway and then up at the man.
"Where's your pen?" Otto asked.
Ron snapped his fingers. "Rats! It's back in the living room." He sighed and stuffed the paper back into his pocket. "I will get an autograph from you," Ron said determined. With that, he ran off towards the door.
Peter ran after the two and caught up to them half way down the hallway. "Hey! Wait up!" he called after them. Kim and Ron turned and stopped. Peter caught up to them. "I want to come with you."
"Listen Peter," Kim began, "It's nice that you want to help your friend and all, but these people are dangerous. We'd better go alone."
What could Peter do to get them to let him come along? He knew he could help them! But, on the other hand, he couldn't tell them he was Spiderman; that would be foolish.
"I work for the Daily Bugle as a photographer. As you can imagine, there are a lot of people who aren't happy with my work, mostly villains. I know how to deal with them," Peter assured her. Kim looked him in the eye trying to peer into his soul as the old saying goes. Peter caught this glance. He knew he had to throw something else out there for her to grab onto. "I know Spiderman." He stated. "He's out on top of that building." Peter declared pointing over Ron's head towards a mass of buildings.
Ron, being naturally curious, studied the boy's wrist. A white patch—almost like a spider web—was over the vein. "Hey, what's wrong with your arm?" he said out loud.
"What?" Peter looked at his wrist forgetting about the mark he had gotten.
"It looks bad. I'll scan it to make sure it's OK," Kim said concerned. Peter's heart leapt into his throat as he attempted to stop the scan.
"No, wait!" he exclaimed. It was too late. Kim Possible was already looking over the report.
It stated what the mark was, thus giving away his abilities. No sooner had it hit the screen that Ron looked in. There was no telling whether that boy would be able to keep a secret or not. Kim looked back up at him in disbelief.
"You're Spiderman?" she asked scarcely being able to speak. Peter put a finger to her mouth.
"Please don't tell," he pleaded. "If my enemies found out about my secret identity, I know they'd try to hurt my friends and family. I don't think I could forgive myself if they did." Peter, although not intending, had the biggest, glassiest puppy-dog eyes Kim had ever seen.
Kim smiled and held out her had. "Deal." Peter shook it and held out his hand for Ron to shake. Ron did nothing of the sort but once again took out a piece of paper. "Ron," she chided, "Leave the poor guy alone." Ron lowered the paper and stuck it in his pocket once again.
"So that's how you know Spiderman," Kim teased with a smirk. Peter had to smile at this too. "Now that I know you can take it, would you like to come with us?" she asked mockingly. Peter nodded. There went one burden off his back.
Just as they were about to depart from the building completely, Peter's sharp hearing picked up a slight bang and he remembered Dr. Octavious. "You two go ahead. I'll catch up." He urged them. Kim and Ron nodded and Peter walked back down the hallway towards the source of the noise.
Inside of the laboratory, Otto was still at the fusion reactor staring at a cement block set to support the roof. He struck it with the side of his hand full of rage and then rested his forehead weakly on it. "Dr. Octavious?" Peter called softly.
"Get away from me!" he exclaimed in anger. The tentacles hissed and shrieked as they moved in front of him protecting their host. Peter didn't move any further, but he didn't back down. Through all the arms, he could vaguely see the man draw shaky breaths as tears threatened to come and more assertive ones ran down his cheek. Otto aggressively brushed the tears away with the palm of his hand and looked back at the wall.
"I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be going with them and that you can call me if you need to." Peter held out a scrap of paper with a phone number scribbled onto it. Otto looked up skeptically but in the end the top left tentacle took it from Peter's hand and stuffed it in his coat pocket. The tentacles lessened and Otto breathed deeply.
"There are still stains here," he mumbled to his friend slowly switching his gaze. "The blood of my Rosie is still on the surface." Otto ran his finger along the trail of blood that curved and snaked this way and that all the way down the beam. Peter watched his finger intently. No wonder the man was hurting so much over seeing this room again.
"I just want you to know that I'm here for you." Peter told him. "And I won't let you down."
"But there's no telling if the same is true of me," he muttered into the cement. He finally reverted his gaze back up to Peter. "Peter, promise me that—if by chance we don't make it in time, the tentacles take over again, and I don't recover from it for over two days—promise that you'll destroy me." Peter didn't like what he was hearing. His head began to turn away from him.
What was he supposed to say? 'Sure, I'll kill you?' No way. There was absolutely no way he was going to kill Dr. Octavious. It was hard enough to do it the first time, and he didn't even get that far—not that he was intending to—but it was hard even at the level of beating him up!
Otto grabbed his shoulder and turned him back around to face him. "Promise me, Parker. I don't want to live as a monster." Peter's shoulders dropped. Otto's eyes remained stern and pleading and didn't seem to blink once.
"I promise," he agreed. As soon as Peter had said that, he regretted it. Whatever psychic force had caused him to say those two words was gone now and, more than anything, Peter wanted to take back what he said. Otto, though, seemed relieved to hear his death sentence when he rubbed the boy's shoulder thoughtfully.
"OK," he said with a warm smile. Otto withdrew his hand to let Peter be on his way. Not sure exactly what to do, Peter returned a respectful smile and walked calmly out the steel door.
Three days, that was all. Three days to travel to France, find the thief, defeat him, bring the CEC back, and insert it into the inhibitor chip before Dr. Octavious could be overtaken completely. And even so, there was no telling that the tentacles would wait 'til Friday; they might strike at any time. This didn't bring much hope to Peter, but he hung onto the small bit that it left. If he went through with this, if he won, he could save the doctor and accomplish exactly what he had wanted to do in the beginning.
to be continued...