Eight-Armed and Ready
It's been a few days since the incident with Mr. Freeze, and that night was still embedded in Nick's mind. Whenever things like this happen, he would take the time he had to occupy himself with whatever he could think of, which is what he was doing right now.
Nick sat along a work bench in the Bat-cave looking through a microscope, sparks flying as poked a tiny device with some tools. After wiping a few beads of sweat off his forehead, he took a tweezer and used it to pick up the device he was working on, which looked like one of his spider-tracers, only this one was blue instead of the usual red.
"A little late for a school project?" Bruce said as he walked up behind him.
"Just a little idea I had in mind." Nick said as he held out the tiny device to Bruce, which he took to inspect. "This is the same model as my spider tracers, but instead I reformatted it to generate a small EMP to whatever it attaches itself to."
"Impressive. Probably could incorporate this into a baterang." Bruce said as he handed the device back to Nick. "Is it tested yet?"
"Not yet, but, knowing my luck, I'm sure that a field test will just present itself to me." Nick said as he placed the device back on the table.
Bruce stared at Nick for a moment, before finally speaking. "You still think about that night with Freeze."
Nick paused at that, but knew there was no point in hiding something like that from the world's greatest detective. "Every time I think about that night, I think about that day my parents died. Thinking about if there was something more I could have done. Maybe things would have turned out differently if I just tried hard enough. If I had just taken the initiative."
Bruce looked at him with his usual stoic face, but if one looked close they could see that his eyes had a look of understanding. Nick's mind was going through what he has went through countless times during his long career as Batman, the feeling of wanting to do more. Sometimes that desire for a different outcome can be suffocating, and it may consume you. He may not be that good at expressing himself, but he doesn't want Nick to go through what he went through, it's not healthy.
"When we dive into the dark waters, sometimes it's difficult to swim back up, and we then eventually drown." Bruce enigmatically said.
Nick stared at the old hero for a moment before speaking up. "You know, you saying spooky stuff like that, can be scarier than any horror movie."
"The point I'm trying to make, is that when we do this job you can't always focus on what might have been, or else you'll never be able to handle what happens next." Bruce advised. "You're here now, and the threats you face next will be coming, so you've got to pay attention to that, rather on the threats from the past."
Nick thought about those words, and Bruce was right. He's got to stop letting what happened to Victor plague his mind. He can't change what happened to him, so he's got to get ready for whatever happens next.
"Yeah...I think I get what you're saying." Nick said as he got up and gathered his things to leave, but not before giving Bruce a thankful look. "Thanks, Bruce. You know, you're pretty good at that."
"Yeah...right." Bruce said with a smirk as he walked up and sat down at the Bat computer and Nick walked out.
Bruce typed away at the Bat computer and displayed an image Electro, then Vulture, and then Inque. A third image of Powers popped up and a bracket appeared connecting the villains picture to the corrupt CEO. Bruce typed again, and this time an image of Rhino pops up, but this one didn't have a line connected to Powers, but another image of the Dogs of War logo appeared right by the large villain. Bruce's eyes narrowed as his mind thought long and hard about what all this means.
He may be old, but he was still the 'World's Greatest Detective.'
/
Nick and Terry walked out of the classroom to make their way to the next class, which was Doctor Connor's class, meeting Dana halfway.
"Hey, you." Dana said as she hugged Terry, which he returned.
"Hey, yourself." Terry said.
"Come on, get a room you two." Nick said with a groan.
"Sorry." Dana said sheepishly as she and Terry separated, before smirking. "Bet you wish you could do this with Melanie here at this school."
Nick blushed at that as he tried to avoid eye contact. "That's...besides the point."
"You ever think you should ask her to transfer here?" Dana asked curiously. "I'm sure it'd be great to have you both here so you two could spend more time together."
"I tried asking her that once, but she said that her parents wouldn't allow it and that it would be better for her to be homeschooled." Nick said with a shrug.
"Hey, some people are just not cut out for school." Terry said before he gave it a thought. "Maybe I could convince Mom to that for me. School at home sounds like a dream, though."
"Nice try, Terry, but you can't escape exams that easy." Nick said with a smirk.
"Hey, I'll take exams at home if I have to, it's the fact that I wouldn't have to see Nelson's face that brings a smile to mine." Terry said with a smirk of his own, causing the three of them to laugh.
"Well, you're staying here with me, Terry. We hardly see each other as it is." Dana said as she leaned in close to her boyfriend. "Speaking of, we still on for that movie later on tonight?"
Terry flinched as he realized that that date was tonight. "Yeah, well..." Terry said nervously.
Dana instantly separated from him as she knew what that look meant. "Oh, Terry, not again. That's the second time in the last few days."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry, I just have something important to do for..." Terry tried to explain, but Dana interrupted.
"For you job with Mr. Wayne, I know." Dana said with a sigh before walking into class. "Looks like it's going to be another rain-check."
Terry sighed as he palmed his face. "This job is seriously killing my love life."
"Sorry, bro." Nick said as he patted his friend on the shoulder.
"I suppose you've Ben having issues with your own girlfriend, huh?" Terry asked with a sigh, but then paused when he noticed Nick not really looking at him and trying to whistle innocently. "Nick?"
"Well, the thing is...Melanie is actually...pretty okay with me missing a couple of our dates." Nick said sheepishly.
"Wait, seriously?" Terry asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, I've asked how she's been so shway about the dates I've missed, and she's always said that she understood and she knows what it's like because she had to do the same thing to her friends she made in the places she used to live." Nick explained with a shrug.
"Great, so it looks like my social life is the only one that's cursed." Terry said with a sigh, before they both made their way to their seats. "Let's just get today's class over with."
As soon as everyone was in their seats, class soon began with Doctor Connors coming in to teach everyone, but something felt a little bit off. Connors appeared to be a little fatigued and tired, and everyone could see he had some serious bags under his eyes. He still taught the class like he usually did, but he would occasionally pause to give a big yawn.
Nick looked worried at his teacher, as this wasn't the first time he saw him in such a state. Lately Connors has been coming into class extremely tired and sometimes having difficulty staying awake during his lectures. He's even found him sleeping in the school's lab on one of the work tables, with a whole bunch of notes surrounding him, though luckily the janitor was able to wake him up.
'I should probably talk to him, just in case something's wrong.' Nick thought as he went back paying attention to the lecture.
/
Meanwhile...
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The heart monitor continued to beep in what appeared to be an advanced hospital room. Laying down unconscious in the only bed of the room was one Doctor Otto Octavius, still out cold from the accident with Mr. Freeze and Blight. Surrounding him were a few doctors and nurses that worked for WaynePowers and were assigned to monitor Otto's condition, not because Powers cared, but because Otto was too reliable an asset to cut loose too soon.
The doctor's were monitoring Otto's condition, while also monitoring the metal tentacles attached to his harness, which were strung up along the ceiling with a few wires for each one.
A doctor walked up and wrote something down on the clipboard. "Okay, it's been three days and no sign of any progress with Octavius."
"We may have to consider that the issue is with the harness." Another doctor came by with a monitor and noticed it spiking every time he moved it closer to the harness. "Whatever the issue is, it seems to stem from the harness itself."
"That would be a viable solution, but the problem with that is that the harness seems to have fused with his torso." The first doctor retorted. He then looked up at the hanging tentacles with an inquisitive gaze. "What about the tentacles? Do you believe removing them might improve his condition?"
The second doctor held the scanner close to the tentacles before answering. "Theoretically, I believe so." The doctor answered. "The energy that seems to be binding the harness to Octavius' sternum seems to be flowing through these machines. Removing them may disrupt the flow and release the harness from his body."
The lead doctor nodded before turning to one of the nurses. "Alright, bring in some cutting equipment. We're going to remove these machines as soon as possible."
"Yes, doctor." The nurse then said as she was about to head out to retrieve everything they needed for this operation."
However...
"GASP!" Otto took a sharp breath as he instantly leaned up from the bed. Everyone was shocked this as they all jumped back.
"Otto!" The lead doctor exclaimed, before he went to the scientist's side and patted him on the shoulder. "Just breath, Otto, breath."
"What...happened?" Otto asked slowly.
"I'm sorry, Otto. You were in a terrible accident and have been unconscious for three days now." The doctor answered.
"I see." Otto said simply.
Pathetic.
"What was that?" Otto asked with a glare.
"Nothing, Otto." The doctor said in slight confusion.
"Sir, do you still want to proceed?" The nurse asked.
"Proceed with what?" Otto demanded.
"Whatever caused your accident may have left some residual effects, and it's all connected to your harness and metal arms." The doctor cautioned.
Weak. Spineless. No true desire. A frail little worm. Never amount to anything.
Otto silently grunted in discomfort as those words rang through his head. For some reason, his mind became flooded with painful memories throughout his life.
That's when the last words in his head made him snap.
Octavius claims to be a brilliant scientist, but the one thing he's truly lacking is a spine.
"Now, we're going to gather the necessary equipment we need to properly remove those things from you." The doctor said as he patted Otto on the shoulder.
Just then, one of the tentacles lashed out, snapping out of it's restraint, and grabbed the doctor on the chest, before pinning him to the wall.
Everyone in the room gasped in horror as the rest of the tentacles snapped out of their restraints and started to lash out at the rest of the staff. One tentacle grabbed onto a doctor and slammed him right into the ceiling before dropping him, while another tentacle grabbed another doctor by the leg and slamming him to the wall, before throwing him to the side. The third tentacle lashed out to the side and slammed the rest of the staff into the wall.
Otto didn't even bat an eyelash at all of this chaos, as he simply got up from his bed and walked close to the doctor he still had pinned to the wall. "No, that will not be necessary, doctor. I believe they are perfect remaining on my person." Otto said with a sinister smile.
The doctor tried prying the clamp of the tentacle off him, but it was fruitless. "Otto, please...we are only thinking in your best interest." The doctor pleaded, but that seemed to anger Otto even more.
"My best interest?!" Otto exclaimed angrily as he pulled the doctor in close and glared at him in the eyes. "For too long, I've been under those who've said it was in my 'best interest' to do everything they said. Well...NO LONGER!" With those last words, Otto threw doctor right through the glass window, causing him to plummet to the streets below.
Otto lashed out all four tentacles of his tentacles and destroyed the adjacent wall, before leaping out of the hole he created. He launched one of his tentacles to nearby building and pulled himself up, landing on the roof, and continuously doing that until he was far away from his now former plane of employment.
"From now on, I will work in my own best interest." Otto swore with angered eyes.
/
After school was let out, Nick decided to speak with Doctor Connors in his personal office to see how he was doing. The more he taught the class, the more Nick was able to see just how fatigued and tired he was. Better to check him out now, and hopefully find out if he was doing alright.
After walking up to his office door, Nick knocked a few times. "Doctor Connors, are you there?"
Nick heard a few shuffles going on, before the door opened and the disheveled form of Connors. "Nick, what are *yawn*, you doing here?" Connors asked tiredly. "I've assigned a report due next week; shouldn't you be doing your research?"
"I know, and I'll get started as soon as I can, but I stopped by because, well, I wondering if you're alright." Nick said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Whatever do you mean?" Connors asked curiously.
"Doctor, I know the signs. The droopy eyes, the yawning, the fatigue; these are the same things I go through due to my...after-school activities." Nick said sheepishly, before he grew concerned again. "You always asked me if I was okay, so now I want to return the favor and ask if you're okay."
Connors stared at Nick for a moment, before he sighed and gave defeated smile. "I guess I can't get anything past my best student." Connors said as he opened the door for him to enter, which Nick did.
Connor's office definitely has seen better days, with so much folds of paper littered the floor that you could hardly see it anymore. Each paper had calculations, equations, and graphs, with some having pictures of various species of lizards on them.
"Wow, this place is...um..." Nick stuttered as he was trying to find a nice way to put it.
"You don't have to sugarcoat it, Nick. It's an absolute dump." Connors said with a joking smile as he picked up a few papers and tossed them away in the trash. "I guess I should count myself lucky that the principal hasn't seen this yet."
"If you don't mind me asking, sir, but what is all of this?" Nick asked as he examined what was written on one of the papers. 'These look like detailed equations on the cellular regeneration of the lizard genome, but with-"
"Human DNA as the base component?" Connors finished as he fed a pet lizard in a tank some crickets. He looked towards his stump of a right arm, before looking back at Nick. "Nick, very few people know the tale of how I lost my arm, and I would like you to be another among them."
Nick was surprised at that, as no one at school ever heard how Doctor Connors lost his arms. Some students had their theories, some more plausible than others, but no one knew the actual story. "Are you sure about that, sir? I don't want to impose if it's too personal." Nick said, not wanting to pry in his personal life.
"It's okay, son. I feel like I can trust you." Connors said as he sat down at his desk. "You see, before I became a teacher, I was a physicist under the employ of Gothcorp."
"Wow, that's an old name you don't hear that much anymore." Nick said in surprise. "I read an article on how they used to be one of the first and most prolific science companies in Gotham, before Wayne Enterprises rose up in the ranks. Nowadays you only hear their name once in a blue moon, despite making some impressive breakthroughs over the years."
"That's correct, and I was hired by them to work on a project that was said to put Gothcorp back on the map." Connors continued the story. "You see, myself and another brilliant partner of mine were working on a way to blend plasma energy with nuclear fusion, to create a powerful energy that would power Gotham for decades to come."
"That sounds incredible." Nick said in amazement.
"It was, and it would have revolutionized clean energy sources." Connors said with a smile, before it changed into a frown. "Unfortunately, despite all the necessary precautions, an accident occurred when we turned the machine on. A malfunction occurred, and it sent out wave after wave of plasma energy that came close to tearing the lab up. I rushed in to try and turn the machine off, and while I did succeed in that, a final wave of energy tore my arm up, molecule by molecule, until there was nothing left of it."
"Oh, man." Nick whispered in shock and horror at what he just heard. That kind of accident...Nick couldn't begin to imagine the amount of pain Connors must have went through. "I'm so sorry, Doctor Connors."
"It's okay, Nick. It was a long time ago." Connors said with a wave of his hand. "Anyway, after the accident, my colleague went on to change his employment to a different company, and I decided to leave and become a teacher, bringing the gift of learning science to young minds, such as yours."
Nick smiled at that, but his look soon became one of confusion. "But, sir, what does all that have to do with all of this?" Nick asked as he held up one of the papers littered on the floor.
"What I'm getting at, Nick, is that one accident l destroyed a piece of my life, but maybe there's a way to get that piece back." Connors said with an excited smile, before reaching into his desk and pulled out a corked vial with a yellowish-green liquid in it. "I've been thinking, what if I can replicate the lizard's natural ability to regrow limbs, and incorporate it into human DNA? We can solve all the worlds problems with victims of amputation and soldiers who have lost limbs when they head of to battle and who don't have to use prosthetics."
"Doctor Connors...this could...this could revolutionize modern science as we know it!" Nick said in excitement, but it slowly started to die down as he thought about it more. "But the ramifications...introducing animal DNA into humans...that didn't go so well years ago."
"Yes, I am well aware of the Man-Bat incident years ago with Doctor Langstrom." Connors said as an uneasy look in his eyes flashed briefly, but Nick never saw it as it appeared to quick for him to notice. "I can assure you, Nick, that I am not him. I am running all the necessary tests and I can assure you that I would never go to human trials on a whim."
Nick looked at the vial with concern, but he knew his teacher is a very cautious and calculating, and he would never do anything to risk his work or his life. "Okay, Doc, if you say so."
Connors nodded at this before getting up and opening the door of his office, allowing Nick to walk out. "I really do appreciate you coming in to check up on me, Nick. Know that even though I may be hard on you, it's only because I see that you have a brilliant mind, and I don't want you to squander it and disrupt your future."
Nick smiled at that as he looked up at his favorite teacher. "I know, Doctor Connors. I really appreciate you looking out for me."
Connors smiled back and patted his prized student on the shoulder. "Now, go on home, son. That report isn't going to work itself."
"Yes, sir." Nick said as he walked off.
Connors closed the door and sat back down at his desk, continuing to stare at the vile of his regeneration serum. He gave a sad sigh as he then glanced over at a picture on his desk, one of him graduation college, along with the man he considered a good friend, who would go on to work with him at Gothcorp, before he left for new employment elsewhere.
"I hope you're achieving everything you've ever wanted, Otto." Connors said as he looked at the picture of him and Otto Octavius together. His eyes soon widened as an idea started to form in his head. "I wonder if my old lab at Gothcorp might have exactly what I need to complete the serum. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I popped in to pick up a few stuff." With that said, Connors got up from his desk and head on out to his destination, not before grabbing his phone and making a call. "Hello honey, just though I'd let you know I might be a bit late tonight."
Meanwhile...
Nick exited the school building after his talk with Doctor Connors and needless to say, he hoped that his experiment pulls through. A brilliant breakthrough in science like that would open new doors for medicine as they know it. Still though, combining animal DNA to human is a tricky process with unforeseen side effects if not properly calculated.
Like him, for example, though he honestly wasn't complaining.
Nick stopped walking when he noticed Terry waiting outside looking right at him with a serious expression. "What's going on?" Nick asked curiously.
"Just got a call from the old man." Terry answered. "He wants us to suit up tonight. Says it's important."
"Isn't every time we suit up important?" Nick asked.
"Yeah, but he says that he might have made a connection with all these wackjobs we've been taking down lately." Terry responded.
That surprised Nick for a moment, before he gained a serious look as well and they both walked off to find a spot to suit up into their outfits.
/
Octavius looked around in what was his old apartment complex, seeing at how dirty it has gotten since he's been unconscious and indisposed for awhile. He held an annoyed gaze, looking around at the remnants of his former life. The life of a coward, a weakling, and a loser.
"I can't believe I wasted my time living in this decrepit waste dump of an apartment." Otto said spitefully. "My genius and talent should have brought me more glory in life, and yet look where it's got me."
Otto glanced at a desk and used one his tentacles to pick up a picture frame on it, and bring it in close. It was the same picture of him and Connors graduating college together. It was supposed to be the first step in their dreams of bringing about great change in the science community, but those dreams quickly turned to ash from one accident.
"It was supposed to be us against the world, Connors." Otto said as he looked at the picture with an angry glare. "Funny how one tragic accident can bring about the worst of our lives. You losing an arm, and then me, forced to work for that self-righteous, pompous, charlatan of an entrepreneur, Powers. Well, to that I say..." The tentacle holding the picture squeezed and crushed it. "...no more!"
Otto opened the window and scaled up the building using the tentacles to climb up, before using them to jump great distances, hopping across one roof to the next. His eyes narrowed as he had one goal, with a clear destination in mind."
"Time I finally take the initiative, and accomplish my goals my way!" Otto declared with a sinister smile.
/
That following night, Batman and Spider-Man sat together in the Batmobile as it flew straight towards the WaynePowers tower. The two heroes were also currently speaking with Wayne as he relayed what he's found out.
"Wait, so you saying Powers may have something to do with the Dogs of War?" Spider-Man asked.
"I composed a dossier of all enhanced individuals we have faced and the majority have one thing that connected them all." Bruce said over the comms.
"Powers." Batman said with his eyes narrowed in anger.
"It kind of makes sense when you think about. That Vulture guy had a grudge against him for getting fired, and I heard that Electro used to be employed by him as well, but there was an accident to give him his electric powers." Spider-Man noted.
"And let's not forget Powers hired Inque to sabotage rival companies to get ahead in the moon base project, and he was the one to give Freeze that new body." Batman added, but something didn't add up. "Though, wait, Rhino was a member of the Dogs of War, and I don't think he had any connection to Powers."
"Not directly, but I did a little research." Bruce said. "Apparently O'Hirn was supposed to be transferred to another prison facility, before he became what he is now, but he never arrived."
"Yeah, he was too busy trying to turn us into roadkill." Spider-Man said with a cringe.
"I managed to do some digging on the transfer process, and apparently the prison guards in charge of the transfer were once parent of Powers' security force, before switching employment." Bruce informed, causing the two heroes eyes to widen slightly.
"So you're saying Powers might have had a hand in breaking O'Hirn out and giving him his little animal kingdom upgrade." Batman said.
"What does Powers have to gain from helping a Dog of War thug get powers?" Nick asked curiously. "Besides the fact that he kind of hates us."
"Have any of you noticed that you haven't faced off against the Dogs of War in awhile?" Bruce asked, which caused the two heroes looked at each other inquisitively.
"Now that you mention, I can't remember the last time I spotted those thugs." Batman said after a moment of thinking about it.
"Yeah, I can't remember the last time I saw those guys either." Spider-Man said as he gave a longing sigh. "Such a shame, really. I've been feeling a little empty without my daily dose of punching those guys in the face."
"They are out there, but police reports have said that they are still active, just only appearing sporadically." Bruce informed.
"You hacked into police records?" Batman asked in surprise, but when he received no response he doubled back on his surprise. "Right, forgot who I was talking to for a moment."
"At first glance, they're hidden appearances seen random, but I then noticed that every time they pull a job, it was always during a time where you two were preoccupied with enhanced criminals like Inque and Rhino." Bruce said.
"That's...too much of a coincidence." Spider-Man said with his eyes widening in surprise.
"I don't believe in coincidence." Bruce said and they could tell he was giving his signature glare.
"So you think Powers has a partnership with the Dogs of War and creates these supervillains in order for them to distract us while those street thugs go off and rob a bunch of places." Batman theorized.
"If that's the case, then we've got a lot of stuff to ask the esteemed Mr. Powers." Spider-Man said as he looked out the window.
However, the moment he looked out the viewing window, his eyes widened when he saw something very strange, and that's saying something compared to some of the stuff he's seen throughout his and Terry's time as crime fighters.
"Uh, Terry..." Spider-Man said as he tapped Batman's shoulder.
"What?" Batman asked as he looked back, but Spider-Man just grabbed his head and moved it in the direction he was looking. Batman's eyes widened as well as he was trying to comprehend what he was just seeing.
A man scaling the side of the WaynePowers building, using what looked like metal tentacles.
"Huh, there's something you don't see everyday." Batman said in slight surprise.
"Honestly, this is just another Tuesday in Gotham." Spider-Man said with a shrug, before they flew the Batmobile in close.
/
Powers sat along his desk, watching a small video monitor that displayed footage of Otto's breakout from the medical wing. This new development was certainly not what he was expecting, especially from someone he considered to be one of the biggest coward he has ever seen in his life. A speaker popped out of his desk, allowing him to speak to his secret partner.
"It seems you have trouble keeping your employees on a tight leash." The voice said over the speaker.
"Well, Toomes and Dillon worked out in the end. They're little excursions allowed your men to continue their operations without the little bug noticing." Powers said as he turned the footage off. "And Rhino managed to keep both of our little pest problems occupied."
True, however, I am still disappointed about the end results. So long as Spider-Man and Batman remain as our obstacles, then both of our operations are in constant risk." The voice said in a cautious tone. "This new development with Octavius; how do you expect this to work in our favor?"
Honestly, it'll hardly be noteworthy in my eyes." Powers said with a dismissive wave, never noticing two lingering metal tentacles looming behind him outside the glass window. "While this little tantrum Octavius had seems surprising, he's not someone I would consider a threat to anyone. He's nothing."
CRASH!
Just then, the two tentacles lashed out and destroyed the glass window, sending Powers over his desk and to the ground. The CEO groaned as he got up, but looked in shock as coming through the hole in his office was Octavius, wearing a long brown trench coat, a dark green outfit beneath it, and wearing goggles over his eyes with lenses.
"What was that you were saying, about me being 'nothing,' Powers?" Otto sneered at his now former employer.
"Otto?" Powers said in surprise, before he glared angrily at the scientist. "What is the meaning of this, Octavius?!"
"Finally growing a spine, Powers. I figured you would be proud?" Otto said sarcastically, before glaring at him. "I came to you, thinking that working for you could open new opportunities as a scientist. I creating things morally degrading, life-threatening, and unethical for you, and what did I receive for my many years of service? Ridicule, constant insults, throwing away all my ideas to pursue your own selfish ambitions!"
Powers still didn't look intimidated as he got up and straightened his suit out. "Now, now, Otto, I don't know what has come over you recently, but there's obvious room for us to have a civil discussion." Powers said as he kept a straight face. "Perhaps we can strike up a bargain? One where we can all benefit off of."
These words seemed to have the opposite effect Powers wanted, as Otto just seemed to become even more enraged. "You don't get it, Powers! I am not some enhanced thug, or some corporate stooge, who you can just manipulate into your services to do your dirty work!" Otto bellowed, before he used one of his tentacles to lash out and sent Powers flying right into the wall, knocking him down.
"If there was one thing you right about, Powers, it's that Otto Octavius was a pathetic, spineless, whimpering coward who could never amount to anything on his own." Otto said as an crazed smile graced his face. "But I am no longer that man. Oh no, I realized that I am so much more than that. I am now someone who is not afraid to take the initiative. Someone who is to demand respect! Call me...Doctor Octopus!"
"Wow...seriously." Otto was surprised, before he looked behind him and saw Spider-Man hanging upside down from out the hole that he made to get in here. "Out of all the names you could have chosen, you chose a name like 'Doctor Octopus?' I mean, I get that the villain trend is old and all the good names have been taken, but come on, you could have chosen something better than that. Then again...I guess if you tone it down to 'Doc Ock' I guess that makes it a little better."
Otto growled in annoyance as he lashed out one of his tentacles at the spider-hero, but the web he was hanging on pulled away, due to it being attached to the Batmobile, which flew just overhead. After moving it out of the way, Batman kept it hovering as he opened the hatch and glide down straight towards Octavius, but the multi-armed scientist used his tentacles to grab the bat-themed hero by the chest and slammed him into the side wall.
Spider-Man leapt in and shot a web line at one of his tentacles, but the scientist just pulled the tentacle back, bringing Spider-Man with it, before using another tentacle to slam him in the midsection, sending him to the ground. Otto then used two tentacles to grab both heroes by their backs to bring them in close.
"I should have expected interference from you two, but trust me when I say, you'd be better off to stay out of this." Otto said as he glared at the two heroes.
"Trust us, we're no fans of Powers, either." Batman said as he struggled to get out of the tentacles grasp. "But we've got a problem with crazy guys busting in places and threatening others."
"Especially crazies who have a look that just screams bad guy." Spider-Man quipped. "I mean, a long brown trench coat and goggles over the eyes? Did you leave the wig of crazy white hair like Doctor Frankenstein back home, or did you want to go for 'subtle' approach."
Otto growled in annoyance at the two heroes constant talking, but this served as a distraction for Batman as he deployed an explosive baterang and tossed it to the floor, creating an explosive shockwave that sent the mad scientist flying back, and releasing the heroes. Spider-Man rushed in and tried to deliver a punch, but he then had to duck out of the way when Ock sent his tentacles for an overhead strike, before jumping back as two more of them strike to strike at him and impacted the floor.
Batman tossed another baterang at Doc Ock, but he just used on of his tentacles to catch in in midair and tossed it aside. Before Batman could toss another one, both his wrists were caught by Doc Ock's tentacles, and he was then slammed into the floor a couple of times, before he was tossed out the window. The bat-themed hero groaned in pain, but he worked through it as he unfurled his wings and glided up in the air, back through the hole, and landed back on the office floor.
Both heroes then lunged at the mad scientist, but he just grabbed both of them by the chest with his tentacles, before he slammed both together, followed by slamming them on the floor ceiling, causing it to crack, before slamming them hard into the ground. This gave Octavius an idea as he sent all four of his tentacles to the floor ceiling, grasped onto it with their claws, before ripping it apart causing large amounts of rubble to collapse. The heroes didn't have time to get out of the way as the rubble soon collapsed around them.
Otto smiled in satisfaction as turned around towards the awakening Powers from his unconsciousness. "Now that the nuisances have been dealt with..." Otto then grabbed Powers by the back and tightened his tentacle around him, causing him to grunt in pain. "...We have some unfinished business, Powers."
Otto then lifted himself up by his two lower tentacles and jumped out the hole in the wall. Using all of his available tentacles, he latched onto to an adjacent building and started moving forward, scaling and hopping from one building to the other.
Powers, all the while, glared hatefully at his for employee, as he was restrained carried to who knows where. "I swear, Octavius, when this is all said and done, I'll do more than just fire you, I'll burn you." To emphasize his point, Powers' eyes began to glow green as he was about to burn away his artificial skin and go full Blight on him.
Otto, however, wasn't even deterred as he smiled at Powers. "Go ahead then, Powers. Unleash the green underneath skin of yours, but I would think carefully before you do anything rash." Otto said as he pointed to his goggles he was wearing. "These are for more than just for show. These goggles do more than enhance my vision, but they also contain a hidden camera that records everything within my sight, and store the footage in a backup file. The moment you shed your skin and try to flare up your radiation, the footage will be uploaded all across the internet for everyone to see. Your stockholders, your competitors, then police, every enemy you have ever made will know your dirty little secret."
Powers glared hatefully at Octavius, as he wanted nothing more right now than to burn Octavius to crisp until there was nothing left of him, but for now he couldn't do anything. "Well played, Octavius." Powers said with reluctance as the green glow in his eyes died down.
Otto smiled in satisfaction as he continued to make his way towards his destination. After so long of being pushed around and feeling like a failure, things were finally going his way.
Meanwhile, back at the destroyed office floor, Spider-Man and Batman finally managed to push the rubble off of them and get back on their feet. Spider-Man looked around and noticed their esteemed multi-armed adversary was gone, as well as Powers. "Looks like Doctor Octostein made off with Powers." Spider-Man said to his partner.
"Not the worse news I've heard all day." Batman said as he rubbed his head in discomfort.
"Either way, we've got to save him, unfortunately." Spider-Man said with a groan.
"You should be used to it, since you've saved him once already." Batman said with a smirk as the Batmobile flew in close to the hole in the wall and they both sat inside.
"That was before I knew that he was a corporate sociopath." Spider-Man said as the Batmobile took off away from the scene.
"Wayne, you got anything from mister Octo-man?" Batman asked over the car's comms.
"I ran a facial scan and came up with a name on file." Bruce answered. "His name is Doctor Otto Octavius."
Hearing that name, Batman and Spider-Man paused and silently looked at each other, before both of them started to chuckle and tried to hold it in from belting out in laughter.
"No, for real, what's his actual name?" Spider-Man asked from between laughs.
"That is his name." Bruce said sternly, as this moment was no joking matter.
"Okay, so you found his file already. What was it, a criminal file?" Batman asked curiously.
"No, an employment file, and even then I already knew who he was, as I've seen reports on some of his work. He was a gifted physicist that took up employment in the tech company known as Gothcorp, but he left to work with Powers in disgrace due to an accident that occurred with him and his partner." Bruce explained.
'Wait...' Spider-Man thought as those words Bruce said rang over his head. 'Gothcorp...partner...an accident...could he have worked with Docotr Connors?' Spider-Man regained his focus with a determined expression. "We need to get to Gothcorp. That's the best place to start looking for him."
"Then hang on." Batman said as he put the Batmobile into high gear and sped off into the air, heading straight to where Doc Ock was heading.
/
Gothcorp
"I've got to say, it is nice to have you back walking down these halls again, Connors." A scientist wearing a lab coat and had a Gothcorp badge said as he walked alongside former Gothcorp employee, Curt Connors, who was carrying a box full of some old tech and lab equipment.
"Well, I'd never thought I'd actually come back here again, to be honest." Connors said bashfully, before gesturing to the box he was carrying. "It was nice of you guys to store some of my old lab equipment, though."
"Ah, we never had the heart to get rid of your old stuff, Curt." The scientist said as he patted Connors on the shoulder. "You know, if you ever want to come back here, the door's always open."
Connors chuckled at that. "I appreciate that, but I feel more comfortable working as a teacher, inspiring young minds to pursue their dreams." Connors said, before gaining an uneasy look as he glanced at his arm-stump. "Besides, this place brings back some...complicated memories."
The scientist gave a look of understanding before speaking. "I understand, Connors. Still, at least you're happy where you are, I just hope Octavius is happy as well."
"You and me both." Connors replied as they just continued walking, but then paused when they felt the ground beginning to shake for some reason. "What is that?"
Just then, the roof began to crumble as cracks began to form, before it completely collapsed, causing Connors and the other scientist to jump out of the way to avoid getting crushed by rubble. When the dust settled, the two of them looked up and gasped when they saw Octavius come down from the hole, with Powers still restrained from one his tentacles.
"Knock, Knock." Octavius said as he made his way through the hall.
Connor's was the most shocked, as he hasn't seen his old colleague in so many years, and yet here he was and he hardly recognized him. "Octavius?" Connors said in disbelief.
Otto paused in his stride as he looked to see Connors standing by. "Connors?" Otto said in slight surprise, before it changed to a smirk. "I honestly didn't expect to see you wandering these halls again."
"What happened to you?" Connors asked cautiously.
"Enlightenment, Connors, as well as finally growing a back bone." Otto said simply as he turned to continue off, but then paused and turned back to Connors with a devious little smirk. "Actually...it's most fortuitous that your here now. Your assistance may be most beneficial."
Otto lashed out once of his tentacles and grabbed onto Connors by his chest using the claws of that tentacle. "Otto, what are you doing?!" Connors said as he tried to pry the claw off him, but to no avail.
"Restarting what we should have finished all those years ago, old friend." Octavius said as he lowered Powers so he can glare at him right in the eye. "And our esteemed Derek Powers, is going to play a vital part in it."
"Do your worst, Octavius." Powers said with a defiant glare. "You don't scare me."
"You may regret saying that, Powers." Octavius said with his smile becoming even more malicious. "After all, after this little experiment is finished, what use will you be to me, then?" Powers glared harder and growled at his former employee, understanding what he meant by that.
/
The Batmobile flew overhead as it approached the Gothcorp research building, with its two hero occupants just going over a dossier that Bruce sent them about their latest foe.
"Your hunch was right, Styles. Octavius did work with Doctor Curt Connors on a fusion reactor, but then an accident occurred that damaged Connors arm." Bruce said over the comms.
"I can't believe one of our teachers has a connection to a supervillain." Batman in slight surprise. "So how are we going to do this? Last time we tried to dance with this guy, his freaky multiple arms caught us by surprise."
"Then we just need to make sure that they won't be a problem anymore." Spider-Man said in focus. "I just need to get a clear shot at him."
"You got a little trick up your sleeve?" Batman asked curiously.
"Emphasis on the little." Spider-Man said with a smirk under his mask.
Back inside the building, Connors was at the controls and typing a few keys, before walking over to the wall and flipping a few more switches. This caused a machine at the center of the large room to hum to life. This machine was large with four large curved pillars surrounding a hovering set of rings at the center.
Connors sweated as he walked back to the console, before Octavius approached and used his tentacles to place a few more panels and parts on one of the pillars. "Octavius, please, don't do this." Connors pleaded.
"Why so nervous, Connors?" Octavius asked as he continued to patch up the old reactor without even turning around. "We're about to correct the because failure in our lives. Doesn't that mean something to you?"
"Otto, this machine is too dangerous. If we turn it on again, we may cause an even bigger accident than before." Connor's said with fear clearly written all over his face. "Forget about losing an arm, we could very well lose half the city!"
Otto paused at that, before turning back to Connors and approached him, lifting himself up with his lower tentacles in the process. "We did everything right, and one fatal mistake changed our lives for the worst. Don't we have the right, to correct the mistakes of our past, so that way we know longer have to be plagued by the nightmares of 'what if's,' or 'I wish things could have been different?'" Otto asked fervently.
"Otto, what happened was a tragedy, but we can't be upset with things that happened in the past." Curt continued to plead.
"Not to worry, Connors." Octavius said as he smirked, and made his way out the door. "By the end of tonight, no one will ever remember the past. Instead, they'll only look to the future, as such the purpose of science."
When Octavius left the lab, he made his way into another room close by, and saw Powers strapped inside some type of glass containment cell, where both his arms and legs were restrained by some chains. Normally, this wouldn't be an issue for him to escape from, but once again Otto thought of everything, as he had all of the rooms security cameras on and pointing directly at him.
The containment cell he was trapped in had large cords and cables on the bottom that traveled through the walls and ceiling of this room, and little did he know, connected to the fusion reactor in the other room.
Octavius made his way inside and checked a few things, before looking at the trapped Powers with a superior smirk. "You should smile, Powers. You're about to bear witness to the greatest scientific achievement in all of history." Octavius said smugly.
"Don't I feel special." Powers said sarcastically, never ceasing his glare at Octavius. "You've got your machine fixed up, so why is it that I'm still here?!"
"Why, I can't do this without you, Powers." Octavius said as he turned on a monitor on the wall that displayed footage from his lab with the fusion reactor. "Ever since my machine failed the first time, I've wracked my brain around what could i have done different, what I could have changed, until it finally hit me. I just needed a power source to match the energy output my fusion reactor gives off to create a stable fusion equilibrium."
"Power source?" Powers questioned, before his eyes slowly began to widen in alarm.
"That's right, Powers." Octavius said as his smirk grew. "Your new unique physiology is just the thing I need to complete my life's great work. So be proud, for I could not have done this without you." Octavius leaned in close to the glass and sneered at his former employer. "Now, Powers, you are the tool for my success." Octavius then pressed a button on the monitor and spoke up. "Connors, activate the fusion reactor."
Connors looked up at the camera and gave a pleading look. "Otto, please, we can't do this. One thing goes wrong and we will all die from this!" Connors begged.
Otto glared at the screen before speaking back up. "Connors, I'm going to let your hesitation slide this one time, on account of our past friendship, but even my patience has limits." Octavius said in a low angry tone. "Now, I suggest you turn on the machine...or I will make sure you never see your wife and son again."
Connors looked shocked that his old friend would make such a statement, but now with his family on the line, he had no choice but to follow his demands. So, with a reluctant look, Connors went up to a control console and typed in a few buttons, before finally flipping a switch. In Octavius' room, the containment cell holding Powers started to hum and glow, and the floor panel started to glow green.
Powers groaned in discomfort, as he could feel his cell beginning to drain his energy and radiation. While this may be a good thing, as he wouldn't have to worry about burning through his artificial skin, the process felt gritty painful as he could feel the radiation leaving his body, as if a part for him was being ripped away. Still though, he would not scream in pain or beg for mercy, not for Octavius of all people.
"It hurts, doesn't it, Powers." Otto said with a sneer at his former employer's state with sadistic glee. "The radiation being ripped from your very being. I'm afraid that if the process were to continue for too long, then I'm afraid your body might just give out and waste away."
"If you're...expecting me to beg...Octavius...then I'm afraid you'll...be disappointed." Powers groaned as he tried to keep his eyes open. "Cause I am...never giving you...the satisfaction."
"Oh, well. I'll survive, which, ironically, you will not." Octavius said nonchalantly.
Back in the main lab with the fusion reactor, the pillars around the machine started to spark with green electricity, before long a bright green ball of energy started to appear and grew at a steady rate, before stopping and was now the size of a basketball. This small energy ball still kicked up some wind and glowed so bright that Connors was forced to cover his eyes.
Back in the other room, Octavius had a look of elevation all over his face. After too long, finally his machine is finished. "It works...IT WORKS!" Octavius cheered with elation. "Finally, after so long, the name Doctor Otto Octavius will go down and be remembered as the greatest scientist of our time!"
"Oh, you'll be remembered for something all right." Octavius gasped in surprise as he turned around to see Spider-Man and Batman walking into the room, with the former being the one who spoke up. "I think you'll go down in the Guinness Book of World Records, as the inmate with the most appendages ever."
Octavius growled in annoyance. "You two?! Why don't you just butt out of my business!" Octavius demanded angrily.
"Sorry, but our business is putting psycho freaks like you behind bars." Batman said with a smirk.
"Now be a good mad scientist and let the evil CEO go. He's a pain, and clearly a sociopath, but we can't have him dying on us." Spider-Man said with a shrug.
"How about this for a counter argument; first I kill you two nuisances, then I accomplish my dreams!" Ock exclaimed as he lashed out one of his tentacles to strike at the heroes, but the two of them dodged out of the way.
"If this is his dreams, I hate to see his nightmares." Spider-Man quipped, before the two heroes engaged in combat with the mad scientist.
Ock lashed out another one of his tentacles, this time aiming at Batman, but the young hero jumped out of the way and used his rocket boots to propel him forward and tackled the villain into the wall. The bat-themed hero was about to deliver a punch, but one of the tentacles grabbed his wrist and flung the hero off him and into the wall.
Spider-Man ran in, but had to jump out of the from two more tentacles slamming into the ground, before he shot some webs that pinned the two tentacles to the ground they impacted. This gave him an opening as he rushed towards Doc Ock and delivered a roundhouse kick to the side of Ock's head, causing him to stumble into the wall. Spider-Man lunged forward to deliver a punch, but Ock grabbed him by the chest with one of his tentacles and shot him up, slamming him into the ceiling several times.
Spider-Man retaliated by shooting a glob of web right in Ock's face, causing him to recoil in disgust and forced him to let Spider-Man go. Batman soon got back up and kicked the scientist in the back, sending him forward and right into Spider-Man's way as he delivered a punch to the mad scientist's face. The two heroes stood next to each other and smirked as they did a small fist bump and were about to press on their attack.
Otto growled as he managed to pry his two webbed up tentacles from their restrains. "Enough!" Otto exclaimed angrily as he lashed out two tentacles and grabbed both heroes by their heads.
He then controlled his tentacles to slam both heroes into the ground several before letting them go. Both heroes groaned in pain from that last attack, but they didn't have time to retaliate as Otto then grabbed both heroes by both their wrists and hoisted them up in the air.
"You two have caused me more than enough problems." Otto snarled as he brought up his other two tentacles and had the claws clamp a few times menacingly as he brought them close to the hero's heads. "I am going to squeeze your skulls so hard; they'll pop like blueberries."
The heroes struggled to get loose, but these things were squeezing down tight and were pretty strong, so much so that not even Spider-Man's enhanced strength couldn't break loose.
'This isn't looking good.' Nick thought in alarm. 'If I could just reach my tech pouch, I can pull out what we need.'
Powers, despite feeling weaker and weaker by the minute, was still conscious enough to witness them fight that was happening before him. Never before did he thought he would feel relief from seeing the two heroes, but desperate times and all that. Still though, he grew slightly anxious when he saw that Otto gained the upper hand and was about to finish the two heroes off. He never thought this would happen in a million years...but he was going to have to save them if he wanted to get out of here alive.
Desperate times, he guesses.
"Otto...I've just got...something I need to say..." Powers groaned out, gaining the mad scientist's attention.
"Begging for your life, Powers? Now of all times?" Ock said in annoyance as he glanced at Powers. "I'm in the middle of something!"
"No, Octavius...not begging...just clarification." Powers said as he narrowed his eyes at Octavius. "The truth is...what you're doing...will forever amount...to nothing."
Otto's eyes narrowed as those words seemed to get right to him. "...Excuse me?" Otto said in a low tone.
"You heard me." Powers said with a smirk, as his bravado started to outweigh his exhaustion. "Look at yourself, Otto. Now that you have power, you think of yourself as this big and strong character who will forever be remembered. The thing is, however, it doesn't matter what you do or how much power you, because at the end of the day, you're still just the same."
Otto growled even more as he stalked up towards the containment cell. "Shut up! I'm the one who's in control, Powers, not you!"
"The truth of the matter is, you could never accomplish anything on your own. You've always needed someone to point you in a direction, tell you your next project was. You've never done anything noteworthy on your own in your pathetic career as a scientist." Powers continued to taunt as he smirked at him. "Even now, you say that I'm a tool, but the fact is that you still needed someone else to help complete your supposed greatest accomplishment. You never could get it done yourself, no matter how hard you tried, because you never had the stomach to even try."
Powers' words were working, as he could see the enraged look growing ever more as he continued to taunt him. Otto may have gained a superiority complex, but it comes with a drawback, as he still can't fathom the concept of someone belittling him.
Powers thought it was time to finally hit the final nail on the coffin. "So how does it feel, Otto, knowing that no matter what you do, what you accomplish, you'll still be nothing more than that weak, pathetic, spineless, little worm, who could never amount to anything, as he rode on the coattails of other's success and never had the stomach to rise up in the ranks?!" Powers exclaimed.
This caused Otto to roar in rage, which distracted him enough to subconsciously let both heroes go from his tentacles. He lashed out one of his tentacles at Powers in a blind rage, but that cost him, as the clawed stamp of the tentacle slammed right into the containment cell holding his prisoner. The damage to the cell was significant, as the light from it began to diminish, and even Powers' restraints broke free, letting the CEO to fall down in a limp due to losing so much energy.
"NO!" Otto exclaimed in horror, as he approached the destroyed piece of machinery, realizing his folly. "Without this, the fusion reactor has lost its stable energy source!"
Back with Connors in the main laboratory, he stood in fear as the small energy ball within the fusion reactor started to grow even larger. Energy shockwave waves started to pulse from the energy ball, causing cracks to appear along the ground, walls, and ceiling within the lab. Even though Connors couldn't see it, he knew that this was spreading throughout the entire building.
"No...this is what I was afraid of. The fusion reactor is going critical!" Connors said with dread as he ran up to a terminal and typed away furiously. No matter what he did, however, the screen just kept on repeating the word 'ERROR' constantly. His eyes widened in fear as he looked at the ever expanding energy ball as the shockwaves grew bigger. "If this keeps up, never mind a city block...all of Gotham may not survive!"
Back in the other room, Otto growled in absolute anger as he set his glare on the unconscious Powers, realizing that he played right into his hands. Even in such a weakened state, he still managed to play him like a fiddle, exploit him for all his worth, and it cost him his life's work!
"You...you ruined everything!" Otto said in anger, before he lashed out one of his tentacles to completely crush Powers, but before it could reach him, a web line was shot out and pulled the tentacle back, much to Otto's shock. "What?!"
"Tentacles to yourself, Doctor Octo-freak!" Spider-Man said as he pulled back, sending Octavius towards him, before following it up with an uppercut that sent him tumbling back. Otto growled in anger, before he lashed out all four of his tentacles to the ceiling, digging through it before climbing up through the hole he created in order to make an escape. Spider-Man then felt the ground beginning to shake, and could surmise that it was due to his machine, before he looked back at Batman as he got back up. "I'll go and stop him, you've got to turn off this machine before it turns all of Gotham into a hot zone."
"On it!" Batman said with a nod as he took off to the lab, while Spider-Man jumped through the hole Ock made. The bat-themed hero ran up to the main lab and saw Connors typing away furiously on the terminal. "Doctor Connors, shut it down now!" Batman tried to keep his balance as the shaking caused by the energy waves intensified.
"I've been trying but the systems are overloading!" Connors exclaimed in desperation, as no matter what he did, the screen kept on reacting the word ERROR, causing Connors to growl in anger. "Nothing I'm doing is working! If we don't find a way to shut it down, the devastation will be monstrous!"
Batman narrowed his eyes as he placed his fingers over his earpiece. "Don't suppose you have any suggestions on how to stop this thing?"
"I've studied the archived blueprints of this machine from Gothcorp's systems, and I may have found a solution." Bruce said over the comms. "The only way to stop the machine is to disengage the energy output from one of the pillars, but you'll have to get in close."
"Close to that?!" Batman exclaimed in shock, as he had to really regain his footing from another energy shockwave from the fusion reactor.
"You're suit should be able to protect you from any effects from the energy waves. It's the only way to save the city." Bruce said in a serious tone.
Batman gained a serious look at that, realizing that this was what he had to do. If he hesitated, or failed, then Dana, his mother and little brother, all his friends, and the entire city will not survive the night.
He had to do this for all of them.
Batman rushed forward and covered his eyes from the bright intensity of the energy core, before he made it to one of the pillars. He pried off a piece of the metal covering and peered inside, seeing all of the wiring and mechanisms, with some parts of them flashing green energy.
"Alright, which plug do I need to pull?" Batman asked.
"You're suit has lenses that should trace where the energy flow is at its most strongest." Bruce informed.
Surprised by that, Batman gave it a try and blue lenses covered his eyes, causing him to see the energy flow in all the wirings. He looked around and noticed one wire had more energy flowing within it than all the rest. Taking a deep breath, Batman grabbed onto the wire, but before he pulled, he looked back towards Doctor Connors. "Doctor, get out of here! I got a feeling there's going to be some feedback!"
"Right." Connors said with a nod, before running out of the lab. Batman soon looked back at the wire and gave a determined look, before he finally yanked it right out of the machine, causing sparks to fly.
The effect was almost instantaneous, as the energy orb at the center of the fusion reactor started to shake violently, with green sparks of electricity running wild, but it did shrink down a bit, when it reached a minimum size, it then imploded into a wave of green energy that washed throughout the whole building. The force of it sent Batman flying and crashing into the wall, but he was otherwise okay.
Meanwhile, Connors continued to run as fast as he could, but a part of him still felt bad leaving the hero behind as he wanted to continue to help Batman. He looked back and gasped in shock as the energy wave from the implosion rushed right towards him, before it completely blew him back, knocking down onto the ground, but he was otherwise okay.
What he didn't notice before he was knocked out, was his lizard DNA vile falling out of his pocket, and started to briefly glow green from the energy flow washing over it.
Back at the lab, Batman groaned in discomfort as he got back up and rubbed the back of his head, before he looked at the machine and saw that it was shut down and completely fried.
"Terry! Terry, are you alright?" Bruce called over the comm.
"I'm okay, just a little winded." Batman said after taking a few deep breaths, before giving a slight smile. "The machine taken out. For good this time"
Then Gotham can sleep peacefully tonight. Good work." Bruce said, and although Terry couldn't see him, he could tell he was smiling on the other end.
Batman regained his serious look as a thought crossed his mind. "It's not over yet. Not until Nick takes down Octavius."
/
'This was a complete disaster!' Otto exclaimed in his head.
Right now the mad scientist burst through the roof of the Gothcorp research lab and trekked his way across the roof, looking for a way to escape. Everything had just gone downhill for him and his plans, so he decided to give a tactical retreat and come up with another plan. A plan that would finally put Powers and those two heroes in their place.
"They will rue the day they interfered in my plans!" Otto said to himself angrily. "But for now, they're day reckoning will have to be put on hold." Otto was about to use his tentacles to launch himself up and scale a building nearby, but the moment he left the air, a pair of web lines attached to his back and slammed him back down onto the ground, much to his dismay. "What?!" Otto looked behind him to see Spider-Man coming out of the hole he just made in the ceiling.
"Now, now, you weren't planning on taking off just yet?" Spider-Man said cheekily. "And just when we eight-appendage themed animal people were just starting to get to know each other."
Otto growled in absolutely fury as he looked at the spider-themed hero. "You...you and your friend ruined everything!" Otto exclaimed angrily.
"Yeah, that's just kind of what we do." Spider-Man said with a shrug.
"This was supposed to be my moment; my opportunity! I've spent years working on that fusion reactor, working hard to make it perfect, and it finally was! Now that I finally took the initiative and fixed it, you ruined my opportunity! My past mistakes will now forever haunt me, and there's nothing I can do!" Otto exclaimed in both turmoil and anger.
Spider-Man's eyes widened slightly from what he just said, because even though the motivation was different, Octavius did all this because he actually wanted to create a past mistake that haunts him. He wanted the chance to do things different.
Just like how he constantly wishes things were different with Victor Fries and his parents.
"Look, I get it, sometimes life throws us a curveball and we constantly think of ways we can change that." Spider-Man said seriously as he tried to reason with Otto. "But someone told me once, that if when we dive into the dark waters, sometimes it's difficult to swim back up, and we eventually drown. You got to let what happened in the past go, because no matter how much we want it to, we can't change that."
Otto looked down in thought, as he genuinely took in the hero's words, before his gaze finally settled on one of his metal tentacles, and his gaze returned back to an angry scowl.
"Don't worry about me drowning, Spider-Man. Octopuses are natural born swimmers." Octavius said with snarl, before he lashed out one of his tentacles at the hero.
Spider-Man dodged the attack, before his spider sense tingled and he dodged another tentacle strike that tried coming in from his right. Otto lashed out all of his tentacles, forcing Spider-Man to dodge in every direction he could, his spider sense being his only saving grace for escaping them all. The spider-themed hero leapt back in order to avoid two of the tentacles slamming down onto him.
"It might be just a little sadistic, but I intend to tear each of your limbs one by one." Otto said with a sinister.
'Terrific, we've gone evil mad scientist, to psychotic evil mad scientist.' Spider-Man thought as he slowly reached into his costume pouch. 'Well, I guess now's a good a time as any for a field test.'
Otto unleashed all four of his tentacles again as he tried to hit and claw at the hero, but Spider-Man rushed forward and expertly maneuvered away from each strike, letting his spider sense be his guide in the directions he should go. He flipped over one strike coming at him from a horizontal angle, before swerving out of the way of another strike coming at him from above.
Otto growled in annoyance and anger as he continued to try and strike at the spider hero by shooting all four of his tentacles out, but Spider-Man did an expert knee slide to avoid them all, with one of them just missing a few centimeters from his face.
When the hero finally got in close to the mad scientist, he delivered a right hook, followed by an uppercut that sent Octavius back a few feet. Spider-Man followed up on the attack by delivering a round house kick that not only did some damage, but spun Otto around to wear his back was. Spider-Man then shot a webline at the scientist back on his trench coat, before yanking it off, exposing the metal harness that connected the metal tentacles.
'There!' Spider-Man thought as he threw his tiny EMP spider device right at the harness, before it impacted and attached itself to it.
Sparks of blue electricity Claire's through the harness and onto the metal tentacles, before the artificial appendages went completely limp and collapsed onto the the ground. Otto looked down in shock, before he tried to move them with his thoughts, but no matter what he did, nothing seemed to have worked.
"No..." Otto muttered in dismay, as he could feel the connection to his artificial arms was completely dead. "NOOOO!"
Deciding it was time to end this, Spider-Man shot out a stream of webs that completely wrapped around Otto and caused him to tumble to the ground. "Sorry, Doc Ock, but it looks like even you weren't much of a swimmer." Spider-Man said before he looked back and noticed Batman approaching him. "Since we all didn't blow up, I'm guessing we're all good with the fusion reactor?"
"Won't be turning on ever again any time soon." Batman said with a nod.
"What about Powers? Now that Ock's under control, do we get back to questioning him like we intended?" Spider-Man asked curiously.
"I went back for him, but by the time I got there, he was already gone." Batman said with an angry frown.
"What?" Spider-Man asked in surprise. "He looked like he could barely stand, how could he be gone?"
/
The answer came when Powers' secretary came out of an emergency exit of the Gothcorp building, with her carrying Powers with his arm over her shoulder. She moved at a steady pace, but just fast enough to where she could get away from the heroes while they were distracted. Just outside of the exit was Powers' personal car, which she unlocked the doors and placed him in the back seat before she took the driver's seat.
"I'll take you back to the lab, sir." The secretary said as she cast a worried glance at her boss. "Is there anything you need."
"Just get me...out of here." Powers said weakly, before the car drove off.
/
Next Morning, Hill High
Nick and Terry walked through the hallway as they made their way to Terry's locker to grab some things. Along the way, Terry held a data pad that displayed Nick's latest article that he posted for the Gotham Gazette, showing pictures of Spider-Man and Batman arriving on scene, and another of them fighting Doctor Octopus.
"'Crisis Avoided thanks to Spider-Man and Batman.'" Terry read from the article, before looking at his friend. "Not a bad read, Nick. What was your excuse for why you there this time?"
"Well, I just told my boss that I wanted to do an article on Doctor Octavius' fusion reactor project, and low and behold, all that craziness happened." Nick said with a shrug. "Just played it off at being at the right place at the right time."
"And Octavius?" Terry asked.
"Police took him into custody, so hopefully he can get the help he deserves." Nick informed.
"Nice." Terry said as he opened his locker and pulled out some flowers.
"A gift for Dana?" Nick guessed like it was obvious.
"Yeah, as well as an apology for blowing her off last time." Terry said with a sheepish smile.
"Hey, like I said, you guys are practically made for each other. She can't stay mad at you forever." Nick said with an encouraging smile.
"Says the guy who's girlfriend doesn't get mad at him for being late." Terry said with a chuckle, which Nick couldn't help, but chuckle along.
"Come on, hopefully Doctor Connors isn't too tired again to teach class today." Nick said as both he and Terry walked off to class.
Meanwhile...
Connors was back in his office as he looked through a microscope, which had him looking into a small container that held a little bit of his lizard DNA formula. His eyes widened in shock by what he was seeing.
"No...it can't be..." Connors muttered in surprise, before he looked towards his large vile of the formula on his desk. "I thought it wasn't near ready, but then how..." Connors looked back through the microscope again, but this time he started to form an elated smile on his face. That smile went away as he tried to quell himself from getting too excited. "I still need to run more tests."
With that said, Connors turned off the lights and opened his office door, but he did cast one last look at the vile. After taking a deep breath he left for his class and closed the door...
...never noticing the serum in the vile glowed a faint green in the darkness.
/
Otto looked down dejectedly as police were escorting him to his cell in prison, to what was going to be his home for a long while. His tentacles were wrapped together in a tight metal clamp that had them folded up behind his back and were magnetically sealed, making it impossible for him to mentally move them.
Otto frowned in disappointment at how things went so wrong. Everything went according to plan, his dreams were about to come into fruition, and he was finally going to be able to stick it to Powers for all the abuse and insults he had to take while working under his thrall. Everything was going perfectly until those two heroes got in his way.
"Alright, get in." The guard said as he opened the cell door, allowing Otto to enter it. "You'll be sharing this cell with another prisoner. Rules are simple; don't cause any trouble and this will all go smoothly." With that said, the guard left, leaving Otto and his cellmate to their own devices.
Otto looked to who he would be sharing this cell with, and his eyes widened in slight surprise.
"Well, well, look at this." Said the voice of none other than Adrian Toomes, as he looked towards Otto with an inquisitive look. "Fancy meeting you here of all places, Otto."
"Hello, Adrian." Otto said civilly, before a smirk came on to his face. "I believe we have much to discuss."
When one door closes, another one opens, it seems.
/
Hey everybody, welcome back to my latest chapter!
Sorry that it took so long to get this one out, but I've got other stories too that I've been working on not just on here, but also on my Wattpad account. I have stories on there that are exclusive to there, while some stories are exclusive to here on , and others can be shared amongst both, so sometimes one site gets more attention than the other. Don't worry, I will update all my stories eventually, it just some will be slower than others due to having two story accounts.
Anyway, we finally got to the Doctor Octopus chapter and I am so glad that it is finally completed. I've been teasing him for so long that it almost feels surreal that he is finally on the path to villainy. Let me tell you, it was not easy doing his fight scenes, as he has such a unique style with his multiple arms that it was hard to write it down, but hopefully you guys liked it.
Now, even though Doc Ock's design and mannerisms are closely similar to his Spectacular Spider-Man incarnation, I took a lot of inspiration from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 movie, which is a pretty good movie despite it's cheesiness sometimes.
Now that Ock's out of the way, it's time to look forward to the introduction of another iconic foe, as well as preparing for another sinister plot that Ock is cooking up, and I am super excited for those.
That's all I have to say, everyone. Hope you had a good time reading this. Stay healthy, stay safe! I'll see you all next time!