[FATR: School starts Tuesday so I won't be updating nearly as much as I have been. I don't own hot pockets or gator aid. Stephanie is an OC too. I had no intention of adding her, but she kind of wrote herself in. Erg, and after I went to such great lengths to cut down the number of characters before I started writing. All well, stories tend to have a life of their own. Ah, yes, Phoenix: Thank you for taking the time to review my story. I had an inkling that you had read it when I read the last chapter of your story but I wasn't quite sure. Everybody else: If you haven't read "My Immortal" by Phoenix Sheridan, you really should. It's so touching. At any rate, enough babble, on with the fic!]

Mac slapped the ball back and it made a little plock sound against the wooden paddle. Max was ready for it and sent it back with a gentle tap. About ten feet away, Quinton was swimming laps in the smaller pool on the property. It was for just that purpose, swimming laps. There was a larger one farther from the house and more to the side, with a fake tropical island in the middle and a water fountain. However, it was primarily where the female employees sunbathed on their breaks. Max and Quinton liked to go flirt with them on occasion, though they were more feared than liked. Neither of them had ever scored, and Mac had been so rejected and ignored he had just given up. Otto would just roll his eyes and deride them all for being immature children ruled by their hormones. Otto was the oldest of the four and Quinton often took these remarks, and others like them, very personally. Max, on the other hand, had learned to joke them off. As for Mac, half of it seemed to go over his head.

"Where's Ock?" Mac asked as he once again returned the white plastic ball. His arm was getting tired.

"He's in his laboratory," Max answered, sarcastically emphasizing the word 'laboratory' with a haughty accent.

"Yah could get 'im tah play."

"He's far too focused. He kicks my ass every time." Max slapped back the ball and Mac missed it. "Besides, you know he doesn't do the whole bright sun thing."

"He could wear his glasses," Quinton pointed out. He had caught wind of their conversation as he made his way across the lawn. He was toweling his hair dry. "He thinks he's too good for us."

Max smirked at his team member. "Now, now, jealousy can only lead to malice."

"Who says I'm jealous of that arrogant nerd? He's the kind of guy people like me used to beat up in highschool."

"Ooo," Mac grinned. "I dare yah tah say tha' tah 'is face."

"So, what time is it, anyway?" Quinton asked.

"Changing the subject, are we?" Max smiled as he looked as his watch. He tapped it and frowned. "Two o'clock already?" He held it to his ear to see if it was ticking. "Can you verify that, Mac?"

Mac held up his bare wrists and shrugged.

"I'm bored. Maybe we should go inside, anyway, see what Otto's up to, or something." Max turned towards the house.

"You hiding something?" Quinton teased.

Max turned to eye him. "You implying something?"

"I don't know. You've only been hovering over him obsessively for the last week," Quinton smirked. "Not to mention the night you both got shit faced in the TV room."

"Neither one of us was 'shit faced.' Besides, you know I like girls."

"I don't know that Otto does, and as far as you're concerned there is something called 'bisexual.'"

Max was beginning to lose his patience. He could usually put up with any shit these people tried to throw at him, but Quinton had been nothing but a vicious little dickweed for the last four days or so. "We are just friends. If you've got some fucking problem with Otto, go work it out with him, but stop attacking him behind his back."

"Fuckin problem," Mac snickered.

Now it was Quinton's turn to whirl around in puzzlement. "What was that?"

"Yah were the one sneakin tah 'is room las' night. Yah admitted it yahself. I heard yah go in, yah know. 'M practically right 'cross the hall."

"Oh, interesting," Max grinned. "And what else did you hear?"

"I told you, I heard an intruder. Someone came in my window, and I followed the trail to Otto's door. I never went in anywhere."

It was Max's turn to snicker. "I see."

Quinton punched Max in the shoulder but it was more playful than aggressive. "Shut up, pervert. I meant I never went in his room."

"Then you should have said that first. Come on, I'm hungry." They both followed Max into the house.

Otto leaned back in the chair, scrutinizing the computer screen. The screen was filled with an enlarged image of the nucleotide bases in the blood sample. There was a strange substance, something like a little white pearl, nestled between an adenine and a cytosine. A genetic anomaly. "What do you make of it, my pets?"

The tentacles swirled around him, flower like heads blossoming, crimson eyes staring. They agreed with their master, it was a strange thing indeed. They wanted a better look, an isolated look, an inside look, even. They did, after all, share Otto's mind, and as such his compelling curiosity and desire to learn.

Otto experimentally began targeting and destroying pieces of the surround DNA in an effort to isolate the biological oddity. The thing began to pulse, like a heartbeat, imperceptibly at first. Otto didn't even notice it for a good minute or two. When he did, he stopped, and watched it reconstruct everything he had just destroyed. Curious. He'd witnessed this agent's actions externally, but the fact that it worked on such a microscopic level as this was...dazzling. Yes, a beautiful, biological miracle. In mere milliseconds it was as if nothing had been destroyed at all. He began the process again, ignoring the pulsing thing, even as it became more and more insistent. It began to glow, and grow, as though to explode. He again ceased his work to observe. The tentacles seemed to pull back a little, even as he leaned closer. Then it did explode, but only to release more tiny pearls. They all began growing their own DNA, not simply replacing the old. Perhaps it had feared for the organism to which the blood belonged, and it had gone into overdrive, trying to resist whatever threatened it. The computer suddenly started flashing a virus warning. Before Otto could do anything it clicked off and left him in darkness.

The tentacles moved forward again to study the man in the chair. He looked tired, pallid, a little disheveled. Entirely understandable. His organic hands remained on his knees but the top right tentacle delicately removed his glasses. The room was just about pitch black now, but for the red and blue lights undulating around him. The bottom left one came up to his face level and he looked right at it. His face was tinted red by its light, unreadable, calm, but the mechanical creature knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

"That was interesting." He stood up and stretched his human arms, simultaneously taking the glasses from the tentacle that had removed them. He folded them and tucked them into the upper pocket on the inside of his trench coat. "Apparently I should never try that approach again." He put his hand to his chin and lowered his head in thought. "Such aggression, so dominating. If we had a suitable test subject, I could try an experimental transfusion." Short pause. "Quinton?" Otto chuckled. "An intriguing suggestion, but what if the outcome is positive?" The tentacles shook a little, opening and closing their triangular heads, as if they, too, were laughing. In the darkness, he heard rather than felt his stomach rumble at him. He frowned. When he got this excited about something, he usually forgot about daily body maintenance rituals, like eating. He may not have even showered this morning or slept last night if it hadn't been for-Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Otto, obeying his stomach for the first time in nearly thirty-six hours, made his way to the door, put on the glasses, and ascended into the light.

The other three were on the screen porch directly outside the kitchen. They were each eating different things. Mac was eating nachos, though not very neatly, Otto observed, a little disgusted. Quinton was eating pizza, not one of those frozen creations, but real pizza. People could do that when they had their own chefs. Despite all of Fisk's resources, however, Max was consuming, of all things, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He had potato chips on the side, but they all knew well he liked putting them on the sandwich itself. Another habit that made Otto cringe. He just kept picturing potatoes smothered in grape jelly. It wasn't too appealing.

As he contemplated the men clustered around the table, the tentacles snaked to the freezer, hunted down the Chicken Parmesan Hot Pockets, his favorite, and removed both from their box.

It seemed uneconomical, to him, the way they were packed only two to a box. He went to get a glass of water.

While the two had been hunting down and unwrapping, another got down a plate. The one that wasn't currently employed in any task opened the trash can so the one clutching the trash could dispose of it. It was team work at its finest.

Otto stood over the sink, staring a nothing in particular, drinking the water, pretty much letting the arms think for themselves. They rested for a while behind him while they waited for the microwave to do its business.

The microwave beeped and the mechanical limbs sprang into action once more. One pulled out the plate, two dumped the Hot Pockets out of their 'crisping sleeves' and onto the plate. The trash can was opened, the remaining trash was deposited, and the lid was closed with a clang.

With a newly filled glass of water, Otto hesitantly made his way out to the patio. He wasn't generally very social, and the sun made him flinch a little at first. He knew that Quinton was beginning to misinterpret his antisocial behavior, however, and felt it was in the best interest of the group dynamic to make an appearance. Not everyone could be as patient or understanding as Max, and he had no idea how Mac felt about it. He didn't speak, didn't know what to say. He finally muttered something that could have been, "hi."

"Hey. Maybe yah should switch tah Lean Pockets, huh?" Mac grinned. "Or per'aps follow the servin size on the box."

That's the guy who doesn't like being made fun of. Can dish it out but can't take it back, huh? He's just trying to be friendly, take it easy. "Haha, maybe." Otto forced a smile. He was glad, however, that his glasses masked his true emotions as he suppressed all the memorable fat jokes his father had made about him. Some things just stay with you your entire life.

"Make any brilliant breakthroughs, lately?" Max asked to change the subject.

"I managed to crash the computer."

"What were you doing? Downloading porn?" Max grinned.

Otto cocked his head cryptically and smiled for real this time. "Perhaps something like that."

"The great Otto Octavius? Having erotic thoughts?" Max clasped his hand to his chest in over exaggerated, sarcastic shock. "Never."

"Actually, computer nerds and religious zealots are often the craziest in the bedroom." The speaker was Stephanie, the only maid who ever had the guts to flirt back. "No offense, Otto."

"None taken," Otto assured, though he didn't look at her. He didn't look at anybody, for that matter, until he was sure he had control over the blush he thought was rising in his cheeks. "I was, however, under the impression you were a devout virgin." He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

Stephanie looked genuinely puzzled. "Where did you get that idea?"

"That's what'cha told me." Mac looked at her, puzzled, and she looked back guiltily.

"Oh, right. I suppose I did."

Quinton burst out laughing. Unfortunately he had been trying to swallow gator aid at the same time and started choking.

Max smacked him on the back a couple of times. "Breath, man, breath!"

Quinton flipped Max the bird. When he finally got his breath back, "Damn, Mac. That has got to be one of the roughest shutdowns I have ever seen."

Otto had finished eating. It was another thing his father had teased him about endlessly, how quickly he could clean his plate. He picked up the plate and the glass and started to stand.

"Let me get those. I am paid to do it." Stephanie reached out a hand and Otto seemed to stare up at her. She wasn't sure exactly because the glasses never allowed anyone to see anymore than his or her own reflection.

Otto eyed Stephanie. Even though he'd been here for just about a month, he couldn't get used to the idea of being waited on.

He handed them over emotionlessly. Try as she might, she couldn't read his face. Though their real use was to protect his eyes, he seemed to use the glasses as a barrier between him and the world. She took Quinton's dishes as well and disappeared inside.

"She was totally flirting with you." Max teased as soon as the door clicked shut.

Otto sighed. "Even if she was, I'm not interested." The tentacles clicked and swayed in agreement.

"Why not?" Quinton asked.

Otto forced himself not to laugh at the almost baffled expression on the blond man's face. "I don't-" He stopped and looked at the upper right tentacle. "Yes?"

The others watched Otto tilt his head slightly as the tentacle moved closer to his ear. It wasn't as odd watching them converse as it had been at first, but it still made them glance at each other nervously. It was something about knowing each tentacle had a mind, a dark calculating mind, of its own, and only Otto could understand them.

"Okay." Otto turned to make eye contact with the bottom right one as it snaked up from under the table, opening and closing ever so slightly. He smiled at it. "I realize this." Stephanie came back for the rest of the dishes and he returned his attention to those around him. "I require blood samples from each one of you."

There was silence while this was processed. Mac spoke first. "Why?"

"I'm doing an experiment."

"Might I ask what?" Stephanie inquired.

"You might ask, but I won't tell."

Max grinned. "Hell, I'll play lab rat. Can't be much worse than being struck by lightening."

The other two super villains shrugged and agreed. Only Stephanie remained dubious. "I don't know..."

"Come on, my dear. Your blood is the most important of all. It is still entirely human, untainted." Otto smiled what he hoped was warmly. "It will be a tiny prick, nothing more."

"I know. I hate needles."

"Perhaps I will take you by force, then, eh?" He grabbed her with his human arms and swung her over his shoulder.

She squealed in a combination of surprise and laughter. "I could have smacked my face on that spine thing, you know."

"You didn't," Otto answered simply as he carried her inside. The others followed.

Ten minutes later, Stephanie was standing off to the side, watching as Otto slid a long, glistening needle into Quinton's arm. She hugged herself and shuddered. When he finished, he carefully squirted the blood into a test tube, labeled it, and set it in a test tube rack. He unbound Quinton's upper arm and put a band aid on the wound. Quinton stood up walked away to stand behind her.

"Next," Otto commanded without looking at anybody.

Max, standing on Stephanie's right, raised his hand like a kid in school. "I'll go!" He jumped into the chair, a little over exuberantly. Otto bound his upper arm tightly and dabbed alcohol on the underside of his elbow. Max clenched his fist, the way Quinton had been instructed to do. The needle hardly felt like anything and he stared, fascinated, as it slid under his skin. Watching it fill with blood then slide out was equally if not more fascinating. "Don't I get a lollipop or something, doc?" He asked as Otto repeated same process as before. Otto chuckled and shook his head. Max shrugged and hopped up. "Worth a shot, I suppose."

"Who shall my next victim be?" This time Otto looked right at Stephanie.

"Er...I'll go last, thanks," she grinned nervously.

Otto smiled back and began preparing for Mac.

Mac was a tiny bit nervous but he wasn't about to let any of the other super villains see that. Especially not Quinton. Quinton would have a field day if he knew Mac was uneasy. Last time Mac had been the subject of an experiment he had...well, it had driven him insane. He wasn't as crazy as he had been, but the idea of returning to the roll of lab rat made him edgy. The fact that he was here of his own will at all made him wonder just how sane he was at this point. "Tha' needle's sterilized, right Ock?"

The others had seemed to take longer than this one, Stephanie noticed. Maybe it's because I'm next. Quinton and Max had done it, no problem. In fact, Max had seemed disturbingly thrilled by the entire procedure. He hadn't taken his eyes off the needle the whole time. Mac was currently staring determinedly out into space. There was a troubled look in his eyes and she found herself wondering why. It occurred to her that she had known them all for almost a month but she really didn't know anything about them at all. She'd gotten her ass totally kicked by Max playing Soul Caliber II (she was half convinced he'd been using his powers to mess with her controller even though he swore up and down he hadn't); she'd come so close to beating Quinton in a swim race across the big pool; and she had helped drag a totally tanked Mac upstairs the night they had played drinking games in the game room. Now, here she was, playing guinea pig for Otto. It seemed she should- she was jarred out of her thoughts.

Bored of watching the repetitive procedures, the bottom left had snaked over to see what Stephanie was doing. It had stared at her but she had been too deep in thought to notice it. The tentacle had closed and nudged her hard in the chest, unbalancing her.

"Hey, watch it!"

The tentacle pulled back a little, opening again to eye her. It rotated to the side slightly, the equivalent of cocking its head, emitting a series of clicks. Then it closed and started rubbing its 'head' against her chest like some kind of alien pet.

Stephanie pushed the snakelike thing down to a less intimate level. "Watch the hands."

Otto looked up from untying the band around Mac's upper arm. "They have wills of their own. I apologize, I'm sure it didn't mean to do anything...unscrupulous."

Stephanie raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Wills of their own, huh?"

Otto smiled. "Indeed. Now, if you would roll up your sleeve and sit down, we can begin."

The others had all been wearing t-shirts. Stephanie discovered, to her relief, that she couldn't get her sleeve past her elbow. "Too bad, guess well just have to do this some other time." When she started to leave a tentacle came up to block her path.

"You can't get out of this that easily. If the shirt is a problem, simply remove it."

Stephanie whirled around to stare at Otto. "I'm sorry?"

"Just take the shirt off," he repeated, perfectly calm.

Stephanie heard some snickering and turned to glare at the group of super villains. "Shut up!" Something inside of her felt satisfied when they all stopped. They didn't flinch back or anything, but they stopped, which was empowering in its self.

"Certain people's presences are no longer necessitated here." Otto stared pointedly at his three team members.

"Nece-wha...?" Mac stared blankly.

"We won't look, cross our hearts." Max made an X on his chest.

"Maybe yah won' look," Mac grinned.

"I'll do it, but I have conditions." She gestured towards Mac, Quinton, and Max. "I want those three to either leave or look the other way." Stephanie pointed at the bottom left tentacle. "And I want that tentacle to either stay closed or look the other way."

Otto decided not to tell her that his tentacles could see what he saw and vice versa. "Those are fair requests."

"Alright, then." Now that the whole shirt business was over, Stephanie felt a little queasy. When her shirt came off, she felt goose flesh tiptoe over her bare skin. "Is it always this cold in here?" She gulped when Otto picked up the needle. The florescent light shone along it and came to a sparkle at the tip as he approached.

"Generally."

She winced when he jerked the tourniquet tight around her upper arm. "I'm a little more delicate than those blokes over there, you know."

"I don't believe that. Clench your fist."

"Err...this might be uncomfortable for you," Stephanie whispered. you..."

Otto looked up from sanitizing the place he intended to stick the needle. you...hold my hand?"

"Why?"

Stephanie couldn't read his emotions in his voice either. "My mom used to, when I got my vaccinations." He stared a little longer, shook his head slowly (she could almost imagine him rolling his eyes behind the glasses), then offered her a tentacle. She took it awkwardly, studying its gleaming metal surfaces as closely as possible. "What did you mean by that, anyway?"

"By what?" Otto asked, distractedly.

"That you don't believe I'm delicate."

"You socialize with us, do you not? Besides, Max always cheats at video games."

"I knew it!" Stephanie exclaimed, glaring at Max's back.

"Did I hear my name?" Max called to them without looking.

"No!" Otto called back, grinning.

"There are times..."Stephanie started. Then she changed her mind, deciding it would sound stupid out loud. As she expected, Otto didn't press the issue. She wondered if he had even cared, if he had heard her at all.

"There we go." He removed the tourniquet.

"Huh?" Stephanie's head jerked around to look. He smoothed the band aid with his thumbs. The touch gave her a slight tingling sensation. He turned his back and she put one hand over the band aid. "I didn't even feel it."

"You were too busy talking." Otto labeled her test tube and placed it with the others. He stood for a moment, gazing upon their potential with awe, admiring the way they shone, appreciating the slight variance in shade from sample to sample. The excitement of what he could do with them burbled in his own blood.

Stephanie tugged down on the edge of her shirt and pulled her hair out from under the collar. It was dark brown, and usually tangled, especially in the summer. There had been times, lately, when she wondered what it would be like to have her own...powers. However, she wasn't sure what she would do with them if she got them. Being loyal to master Fisk and strangely drawn to (though most definitely not in a sexual sense) these four men, she wouldn't want to be a hero, lest she have to come up against them someday. On the other hand, Stephanie was an innately kind girl who could barely stand the thought of smashing a spider, much less hurting people.

"We still have about three hours until Fisk wants to see us. By my watch, at least." Max regarded his watch distrustfully.

"Why don't you just get a new watch?" Stephanie asked.

"Because I got this one in a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it has the funny talking cat on it." Max moved towards the exit with the others, pressing buttons on the watch.

Stephanie lingered behind a little and looked at Quinton and Otto, alarmed.

"It's a Shrek 2 watch," Quinton explained. "Don't worry. The guy may seem a little unstable at times, he was struck by lightening, after all, but he means well." Max and Mac were higher up on the stairs than the other three.

Stephanie started up the stairs behind Quinton with Otto close behind her. "I thought Mac was the loopy one."

"My dear, we are all a little 'loopy,' as you so delicately put it." There was a trace of amused sarcasm in Otto's voice. "We merely express it in different ways. Max bounces of the walls like an attention deficit child, and it gets worse when he's fully charged. Mac becomes irate when fun is poked at him, and possesses an abnormal aversion to germs. Quinton picks fights with anything that moves, and some things that do not."

Quinton flashed the finger over his shoulder. "Fuck you, geek boy."

Otto flashed Stephanie a 'see what I mean' smile. She smiled back over her shoulder, then stopped, puzzled. She slowly turned around, arms crossed. "And what do you do?" He looked startled by this question for a moment.

He slowly removed the glasses, as the stairwell was dark, so he could get a better look at her.

The tentacles moved forwards, half surrounding her as they arched over her head. This would have frightened anybody else, but she remained calm and collected. If she was frightened, she was hiding it remarkably.

Otto seemed as though he were about to speak, but to Stephanie's disappointment an interruption came drifting down the stairs.

"Hey! We're goin tah the game room. Yah guys comin, or what?"

"That voice really grates on my nerves sometimes," Stephanie mumbled, referring to Mac. Otto merely half shrugged. Stephanie turned to keep walking but the tentacles still hung in front of her, looking like bionic jungle flowers and vines. She passed beneath their gaping 'faces' and continued up the stairs with Otto a foot or so behind her.

[FATR: Just to make sure it's clear, that little bicker they all had was NOT intended to be gay bashing. I am bisexual myself, so it would be kind of hypocritical to criticize same sex dating, wouldn't it? I messed around with their ages a bit. I'm not entirely sure how old they all are myself, but if any one needs a refference: Otto is in the late thirties, early forties range. The others are more around late twenties to early thirties. I appreciate ALL of my reviews! Which favorite story shall I hype next time? Stay tuned, it could be yours...]