Chapter 4: You're going soft…

Authors Note: If anyone has seen the film or read the book Chocolat, then you may realise that all of the French surnames I used in the previous flashback were of characters in that film. Purely for the reason that I know very little French, and apart from those in the film, no French names. Oh yeah, and I adore the film…lol

I chose the name Anouk because not only is it a beautiful name, but I loved the character of Anouk in the film. Not that there is much of a resemblance… (And another connection, Alfred Molina plays a main character in Chocolat, as he does in Spiderman 2, coincidence eh?)

"What do you mean, 'good luck'?" Otto asked the sniggering tentacles angrily.

You're the scientist, you figure it out, was all they replied as they hovered above his shoulders.

Otto wasn't impressed by this answer, and raising an eyebrow glared furiously at the tentacles. Hissing, they lowered themselves and one moved around Otto's neck to face him.

It is obvious that she has not been brought here of her own accord, it explained. When she wakes up and sees a man with actuators emerging from his back, don't you think she'll be just a little startled? Personally we couldn't care less; she is just a weak human.

Otto's lip curled as he gave the tentacles a look of loathing. Their superior air really cut through him, and he wanted nothing more than for them to be at the bottom of the river. "Well I guess that makes me a weak human too. But unfortunately you're stuck with me." He replied flatly.

However, one thing the tentacle had said was true, if the girl woke up and saw Otto standing over her, she was going to be frightened. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What you said about the girl waking up and being frightened was right though," he told the tentacles slowly. "But she doesn't need to see you when I talk to her. You can be hidden." He added pointedly, putting his other coat on from behind his chair. The tentacles uttered a muffled hiss in anger as the coat covered them over again.

All of a sudden, out of the blue, a small sad noise emerged from the corner of the lab. "What the…?" Otto quickly turned his head to where the noise had come from, and his dark eyes fell on the sleeping girl. Except now she wasn't sleeping. She was sitting up, wide awake and wearing his coat. Not only that, but she had curled up into a ball and was sobbing into her knees. Otto's momentary surprise subsided, and his eyes gazed sympathetically at the young girl. "Poor thing…" He murmured quietly to himself. "She must be terrified…"

Who cares! The tentacles exclaimed suddenly, catching Otto by surprise again. Either dump her outside or drop her in the river, she's just a weak little girl, and of no use to us! That note was obviously a joke; we can't believe you're even taking it seriously.

The tentacles' words sliced through Otto, and he found himself clenching his fists in anger. "Keep quiet…" he growled dangerously. "You may not care what happens to the girl, but I do. Now stay under the coat when I go over to her. So help me if you even show a claw…" he warned them angrily.

Whatever… The tentacles hissed irritably. You're going soft Otto…

Rolling his eyes, Otto ignored the remark, and slowly rose from his chair. Making sure that he didn't move too fast, the scientist padded cautiously over to where the girl was still crying. As his shadow fell over her quivering body, Otto slowly knelt down and waited in silence as the girl continued to weep. The icy wind blew through his dark hair and bit at his bare face, but still he waited, not sure whether to speak or touch her shoulder. After several moments, he decided to speak rather than startle her with physical contact. Taking a deep breath, Otto bit his lip and looked gently at the young girl.

"Hey, you ok?" he murmured softly. It was a stupid thing to say, but Otto wasn't one for emotional talking, and it was all he could think of.

As soon as he had spoken, the girl's crying ceased immediately. Gradually her head rose from her knees and she looked at Otto in terror. Her red-gold hair fell gracefully down her neck and over her shoulders, fluttering gently in the wind. Her eyes, deep sea green in colour, were wide and stricken with fear. Her delicate lips trembled as the last remaining tears from her eyes dropped to the floor. Her body seemed frozen as she stared at the strange man in front of her.

Otto smiled softly, and looked gently at the girl. "It's ok…" He said kindly, and went to stand and give the girl some breathing space. However his sudden movement seemed to bring her out of her frozen trance, as the panicked teenager suddenly gasped. Her eyes never left Otto as she tried to crawl backwards away from him, however the long coat she wore caused her to squeak and fall onto her back.

Her sudden movement had startled Otto considerably, but he overcame it quickly. Moving his hand forward towards the girl, he offered her help in getting back up. The girl took this gesture as a dangerous signal however, and shook her head manically, speaking so fast that Otto couldn't understand what she was saying. It was several moments before Otto realised that she wasn't actually speaking English, but French…

Uh oh… The scientist quickly realised a sudden problem as the girl continued to mutter frantically in the foreign language. I don't speak French…