Off to the reviewers! Someday I'll get so many reviews for each chapter that regrettably, it will be intrusive and illegal to respond to every one of them. But for now...
To moonjava: Thank you.
To Agent Silver: Yes, Venom finally has an heir. I had to do some research on the web but I managed to put something together. On a second note, Misery aka Kelly Brock realizes her work for the Goblin is wrong...she just isn't exactly in a position to say that to Noreen's face yet. Hey we're talking about a woman who locked a guy in a glass cage (MOLMOH), robbed a bank, dropped two girls off a bridge (CO6), and robbed a fertility clinic (AITF ch 1). But she attempts to make up for it by doing her vigilante job.
To PsychoSpiff: Of course.
Read and review...and watch for all the cameos at the science fair. How many can you loyal readers spot?
Chapter 9: When Sorrows Come
"When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions."
--Hamlet
"Come on, Ottoline! You don't want to miss your science fair, do you?"
The twins' Aunt Rachelle, who they called their aunt even though in fact she was their father's cousin, was taking the twins shopping at the local Wal-mart. They needed a small table to display the arms and the poster board summary, and unrelated things such as dog food, bread, eggs, frozen pizzas, TV dinners, and sundry.
Aunt Rachelle paused before a display of fifty pound bags of dog food. Arachne the golden retriever and Calamari the border collie (their ownership was obvious by their names) would go through one of these in a week.
"Parker! You know we're supposed to stay together! I need you to lift this!" Rachelle ground her teeth. The only one of the small group with her father's spidey-strength, and she's taken off!
Right then, a tall young man, with wavy auburn hair and dark sunglasses, stepped up. "Hello, do you need some help?"
Ottoline looked at him with measured dislike. "Hello, Harry Octavian."
"Perhaps I can help you out," Harry offered. He bent down and picked up four humongous bags of dog food at a time, and stacked them in the shopping cart.
Rachelle gaped at the boy. "Gee…aren't those things heavy?"
"Nah, it's nothing."
Ottoline looked at Harry for a few minutes. He had his mother's wavy auburn hair, high, fine cheekbones, and super-strength, and his father's large brown eyes, long, straight nose, and intelligence. If he wasn't the son of her father and an evil goblin, she would have considered him dating material.
"The New York State Science Fair, Ottoline! What an honor!" Aunt Magni said as she and Parker helped set the table up. Afterward, Rachelle and Harry set up the poster board and displayed the arms prominently in the center of the table.
"Where's Mom and Dad?"
"Mom's at work, and Dad's running errands," said Rachelle. "They'll be here soon. Grandpa Peter and Grandma Mary Jane also said they'd come too."
"Is Grandpa Otto coming?" Ottoline asked.
"Who knows where he is," muttered Rachelle.
"I doubt he'll be coming, Ottoline," replied Magni morosely. "Your father and Grandpa Peter don't seem to like him very much."
"Gee, wonder why?" muttered Parker.
"Want me to tell you?" asked Rachelle.
"No, I was being facetious."
Currently having nothing else to do while her family set up the displays, Ottoline decided to people-watch, taking note of the other entrants and her families. Among them was a tall blonde boy holding his poster board, being gently admonished by a blonde woman and a brown-haired man, graying at the hair but hale and hearty.
"Now, Franklin," the woman said, "we have to go now, but we want you to know that we are very proud of you." Her nametag read Susan Storm-Richards, Manhattan, NY. She addressed her husband. "Reed…are you sure Doom won't find us here, because all these students could be at risk if he does."
Reed Richards brushed his wife's concerns off. "I called the president and told him Saddam Hussein hid all his weapons of mass destruction and a million barrels of oil out in Latveria. Doom will be far too busy with the Marines to worry about us."
Another father, labeled Dr. Bruce Banner, Sr. was also talking to his son. "Don't get too angry if you don't win, Junior, you know you inherited the same thing I have and that could turn into a real mess…"
Ottoline briefly wondered what that conversation was about, but decided to focus her attention on the small, blond-haired boy, no more than ten, who was looking at her display. The blond boy's name, according to the tag, was Dashiel "Dash" Parr.
"Mom! Mom! Look at these!" He was pointing. "I want some robotic arms! I want some robotic arms! Aren't those just neat?"
His mother, Helen Parr, scooped her son up. "Now, let's try to find Dad and Violet's project, okay?"
The big day! Nothing would go wrong at all! This would be perfect.
Or so she thought!
It was two minutes to her presentation time. And her grandparents and parents still hadn't shown up.
However, Ottoline had a very large, appreciative audience. Dash Parr was near the front; Bruce Junior and Franklin Richards, as well a black-haired, glass-eyed boy called Dilton Doiley, were only slightly behind Dash. There was a reporter, Clark Kent from the Daily Planet, eager for some scoop on the demonstration. Clark shifted his eyeglasses and fiddled with his tape recorder.
"The wearer of the arms can do just about anything by telepathically giving commands to the actuators," Ottoline began after a few inconsequential introductory remarks. "They can each lift about five tons each and can walk me about 50 mph as if on stilts, I've found. They are water, heat, and magnetism-proof, and extremely durable. The 'pincers', which act as the hands of the arms, have full audio and video capabilities, with cameras and auditory receptors going directly into the wearer's brain. The actuators also have artificial intelligence which can alert the wearer to changes in her surroundings. Additionally, they have a miniature external computer drive which can download information into the wearer's mind directly from the internet or computer hard drives." Ottoline paused. "I'd use that feature for studying only, of course. I wouldn't go hacking into any banking or government websites."
Reed Richards was taking notes. He asked Ottoline a question. "Ottoline, I realize that these actuators could be a godsend for people in high-risk lab work or the handicapped…but do you not realize that in the wrong hands, they can be infinitely dangerous?"
Ottoline realized that Reed was telling her in a roundabout way that he knew about her namesake grandfather. "Any technology can be dangerous if in the wrong hands, Dr. Richards," she snapped, resentful at the implication. "An ordinary pencil, if sharpened enough, can cause a lethal wound if stuck through the eye or ear. Does this mean we make pencils illegal, Dr. Richards?"
Mr. Kent, the reporter, asked another question. "Perhaps we might be interested in a practical demonstration, Miss Smith. Could we see the arms on?"
Ottoline grinned. To hell with the promise she made her father not to put them on. "Of course." She removed her red trench coat, revealing a backless halter top. "The harness is made out of the same material as most sports harnesses. They're essentially one size fits all. The artificial spine, which contains the artificial intelligence program, positions itself directly on top of your real one. It has teeth that sink down into my back, which gives all the support I need."
Ottoline strapped the harness on, turned her back to her audience, and pressed a button on the bottom of the spine. The four tentacles were positioned almost directly on top of the spine. The spine extended up to the nape of her neck. Everyone gasped as they saw the needles sink into the girl's back.
The gasps turned into oohs and ahhs as Ottoline's actuators moved in perfect, fluid motion, crushing a brick, picking up cups, notebooks, and marbles, even an egg, and even juggled beanbags.
Meanwhile, Harry Octavian was trying to work the bugs out of his electric-lightning-discharging machine. "Come on, you stupid thing, work!" Harry gave the machine a hard slap.
Ottoline, her moment gone, turned to her half-brother. "Harry, what the hell—"
Ottoline never finished the sentence, for a giant arc of lightning burst out of Harry's machine, hitting his half-sister straight in the back with full electrocuting force.
In full view of all the entrants, Ottoline fell face forward on the stage, and heard no more, except for one word.
Mother?
Next: Chapter 10: Silence in the Tortured Soul
Coming soon:
Nature Versus Nurture 2 Chapter 2: Out of the Closet
Just a Second Chance Chapter 7: Goodbye Doctor Octopus, Hello Dr. Octavius