Chapter 15: Spiderman to rescue!
"ADA!"
She could hear Otto crying out for her, but she could also hear his struggle. Hear that sickening laughter from the Mantis.
It was no good. Her fingers were slipping and despite her attempts to hold on, her grip was going.
Just as she saw the glimmer of metal from his claw coming to rescue her, she lost her grip. She fell.
Everything seemed to move a lot slower than she thought it would. The claw came closer and closer to her, reaching out. It grabbed at her, nabbing her sleeve with its best efforts. She tried to grab it with her other hand, but she slipped again and there was a quick tear as the fabric gave.
And when she had nothing left to hold on to, time seemed to finally catch up and as she fell, she let out a scream.
She knew she was falling to her death.
And she shut her eyes tightly and willed herself not to think of anything but the people she loved. Her mother. Her father. Her friends. Otto.
"GOTCHA'!"
She fell against something softer than the ground and an arm wrapped around her waist.
"Hold on to me!"
She opened her eyes and came face to face with a very familiar red face.
She wrapped her arms around Spiderman and tried not to hold on too tightly, but the adrenaline was currently speeding through her. She was no longer falling but swinging high above New York and whilst she'd done this before with Otto, she still didn't like the 'woosh' feeling in her stomach.
In a beautiful display of grace, he swung them back up and into the room again, Otto and Mantis still fighting.
"Stay down, Miss!" Spidey let her go and she hurriedly ran to the desks and tables she hadn't checked yet, "Can anyone join this fight or is it invite-only?!"
Mantis snarled and quickly had to dodge a new set of attacks. The momentary reprieve gave Otto a chance to seek Ada out from across the room and he looked utterly relieved.
"I need a little more time!" She shouted across at him, back to desperately searching for the box. Otto wasn't sure what she was doing, but he did as she asked and distracted Mantis with his claws.
It took another few minutes, but at last, she found it! She grabbed the hefty thing with both hands and just moved out of the way when the desk she'd found them in suddenly spring away from her and flew across the room, nearly smashing Spiderman to bits.
"Watch where you're throwing stuff, Doc!"
Ada scurried as fast as she could towards Harry's prone body and despite the struggle, hoisted both him and the box towards the doors.
"Come on," she urged him, trying to shake him out of his obviously shocked state, "let them do the hard work, we have to get you out!"
Harry mumbled something, but it wasn't very intelligible or clear above the noise. Somehow, through sheer determination, she managed to drag him through the doors and towards the elevator.
She quickly settled him down and pressed the button to bring the elevator back up.
"When it opens, get in and go straight down! I'm going to see if I can find Peter!"
She left Harry, hoping that Peter wasn't already dead. Quickly ducking behind the last bits of the door, she dug through the box, throwing less dangerous items aside and pulling out one old ball.
"One thing down," she held it close to herself as she hurriedly frog marched across the office again, checking overturned tables and spaces where Peter might have hidden, "one more to go."
The only blip in her search was when Otto was suddenly tossed straight down in front of her and he barely had time to brace himself with his claws.
"Are you-"
"I'm fine!" He held out his hand and shook his head, "Stay back!"
With great swiftness and strength, she saw him and his claws in action as they worked together, practically flying across the room and joining in on the fight again. She had never been so impressed.
"Be careful!"
She scurried along again, finding fragments of their work along the floor. But she would mourn that later, especially since she was more concerned about her safety and Peter's wellbeing.
Another crash sounded and she braced herself as mortar flew over her.
'Fuck it!'
She knew she should have left the fight to Otto and Spiderman, but since she couldn't find Peter and had her own weapon, her own brain was telling her it was time to act.
She remembered the instructions that came with the Green Goblin's weapons (after extensive tests) and quickly pressed down the buttons and twisted it clockwise until it started beeping with a warning.
'Quick!'
She stood up and amongst the chaos, raised her voice.
"MANTIS!"
All three looked at her, but it was the Mantis' attention she wanted the most.
"CATCH!"
Now Ada had never been good at sport, nor was she ever keen to go back to the throwing field. But she threw the ball with as great strength and passion as she could muster and when the Mantis stupidly caught the thing, she immediately ducked back down behind a table and covered her eyes.
"OH BOY!" A cry she recognised as Spiderman's sounded out before another explosion rocked through the lab and for about ten seconds, that was pure chaos as things flew about the room, and despite trying to stay calm, Ada shut her eyes tight and screamed, thinking she'd killed everyone. At the very least, she thought she'd made the situation much, much worse.
But the debris settled and when she stopped screaming, she found there was no more noise, other than the distant wailing of police sirens far below.
She gingerly peeked over the desk to see both Mantis and Spiderman gone and among the mess on the floor, otto lay still, even his claws seemingly lifeless.
"Otto!"
Seeing that the danger was not currently in the room with them, she darted out from her safe spot and ran straight to him. She dropped to her knees, her hands coming over him to check his pulse, his head, and finally, resting to cup his face tenderly.
"Otto! Otto, please answer me!" She gently shook him, seeing only small cuts and bruises and nothing that would seem life-threatening, "Come on, don't do this to me!"
Ada almost felt ready to give up and was planning to start CPR, but something must have been stuck in Otto's chest because he took one small breath and then proceeded to cough up A LOT of dust.
She helped him turn and gently patted his back, trying to get rid of as much gunk inside of him as possible.
Once he managed to get his breathing back and seemed to have coughed everything up, he looked back at her and winced.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Honestly?" She shrugged and smiled with relief, "One of the Goblin's weapons, but not entirely sure which one. I just had hope it would work."
"Hope?!" He sat up, holding onto her and dusting her off.
"It was a theory. One that worked in our favor."
Otto, apparently placated by this answer, switched his attentions, and gently held her neck, looking her over.
"You're alright?"
"Minor injuries. You?"
He nodded and there was a small spark between them and without hesitating, both moved and kissed one another with great relief. But before it could deepen, Otto groaned and pulled back, one hand going to his back.
"I think we may have to wait for that."
She held onto him, letting him lean on her as he stood up and they both looked around at the chaos.
"Do you think Norman will make us clean this up?" She tried to lighten the mood with a joke, but felt a little sore still, not just with her injuries, but at the idea that any work they had just completed was lost, quite possibly forever.
"I think he may be sympathetic to the fact you saved his son."
"Oh yeah. Where'd Spiderman go?"
"He dove after Mantis."
He gestured towards the now very large opening in the side of the building and they both carefully walked over and looked out and down.
"JESUS!" Ada cried out as something suddenly appeared in front of them but steadied herself when she saw the blue and red of the suit, "Hi Spidey."
"Hi!" He hung from a web attached somewhere above the building and looked around, "I haven't seen one of those things for a couple of years now! You've got a great arm, Ms. You two ok?"
She nodded but then remembered that it hadn't just been her and Otto in the lab.
"Harry-and Peter! I couldn't find him!"
"Oh, Parker?" Spiderman waved his free hand around calmly, "I saw him running out the stairwell calling for help."
"Stairwell? We're on like the twentieth floor-"
"Well, I better get down there and leave this to you guys," Spiderman saluted them both, "thanks for the help, Doc. It was fun."
"Anytime. And thank you," Otto tightened his grip around Ada's shoulders, "for saving Ada."
"Anytime. Well, try not to make it a habit."
He laughed and swung away from the window and the two of them watched him for a moment, listening to the sound of cheers below.
"I don't think the Mantis is getting back up after that," whilst Otto couldn't see that far, he had a feeling that was the last time either would see that nasty individual.
"I'll have to agree with you there," she shut her eyes and took a step away from the opening, "I don't know why I'm looking down; I get terrible with heights."
He moved back with her and when they were at a safe distance, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
"I thought I'd lost you for a moment back there."
"Me too. Let's try to do what Spiderboy says and stay out of trouble."
He sighed heavily and felt pangs of guilt as he pulled back far enough to look into her eyes.
"I'm sorry I couldn't get to you in time."
"Actually, you did get me," she signaled to one of the claws that came around and showed off a small chunk of fabric in its grasp, "my hand slipped."
She then held her hand out so he could see that the fabric came from her sleeve.
"So, you actually did get to me in time."
He still felt a little guilty, but those feelings began to melt away when she pressed forward and caught his lips again, this time, tenderly and careful of his injuries. After that, until help came to get them, they stayed holding one another, glad the other was safe.
