If you have read NVN2, then you know all about the source of Octavia's new powers; I've given you over a week to figure it out...

Chapter 5: Octavia's New Powers

Octavia first looked at her hands, then looked at the vending machine. What she saw was such a shock it took her a moment to realize what had happened, and another moment to make sure it was her fist, and not her tentacle. The noise when she had shattered the vending machine was sickening!

She shuddered.

A bunch of kids were gathering around, but none of them were coming too close. Nobody—not even Heather Cannes, the Queen Bee, and her cronies—dared mock her now.

"Did you see that?" Octavia heard someone murmur in a strangled voice.

"Oh my freaking Lord, what is happening to you, girl?" This voice was Daisy's.

"Lady Octopus is in big trouble now!" laughed a cheerleader's voice.

A substitute teacher who had been in the cafeteria, Mr. Brabantio, was not laughing. He marched over to Octavia and grabbed her by the arm. He gasped as he realized his fingers were curled around a bicep as hard as steel. "Come with me, young lady," he ordered. He escorted Octavia, very gently and carefully—if she could do that to an aluminum vending machine, she could probably break him in two with her bare hands if he pissed her off—to Dr. Jaclyn Hyde's office.

"Mr. Brabantio—Octavia—what are you here for?"

"She—s-s-she—"

"Robert!" Dr. Hyde called the teacher by his first name. "You are as white as a sheet, in a cold sweat, and your knees are knocking! Have you seen a ghost?"

"W-w-worse! S-s-she—I can't put it in words! Just look at what she did to the vending machine in the cafeteria!"

Jaclyn Hyde sighed. The worst thing she could think of to get such a reaction from Robert Brabantio was that Octavia had dropped a stink bomb in the machine and the whole cafeteria smelled like rotten eggs. She pulled her turtleneck collar up to cover her nose and followed the two others back to the cafeteria. The kids were still crowded there, well past the fifth period bell.

"You don't have to bother with your collar, it's not a stink bomb," Jordan said. Jaclyn cautiously peered at the wreck of what was once a vending machine. The principal then shouted, "Everyone, quit rubbernecking and get back to your classes now! The only ones who need to stay are Jordan Nicholas, Daisy Gatsby, and Octavia Jones!" Her voice became quiet and still. "Octavia—did you do that with those tentacles of yours?"

Jordan answered the question for her. "No! She hit it with her bare hands! She didn't mean to, though! The machine probably got stuck like it always does and Octavia hit it like everyone else does and broke it without even realizing it!"

"Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn't do that to this machine! It's vandalism-proof! I can't believe that someone could have that kind of inhuman strength and not realize it!"

"I didn't realize it either!" Octavia protested.

"I can understand that you have some superhuman power and I can't hold that against you. But I still have to punish you. You destroyed school property. Octavia, I need you to tell me your home phone number."

"I can't—"

"Jordan, what's your dad's phone number?"

Jordan mumbled the number. Jaclyn dialed the cell phone. "Is this Anthony Nicholas? I need you to come to Shylock High School right away. It's urgent," she added in a grave voice. "I think you can go now, Daisy."

Jordan and Octavia waited outside Dr. Hyde's office for their father to arrive. Half an hour later, he strode through the door, looking very worried. He saw his daughters (he considered Octavia as his own since her adopted parents died) sitting in the chairs. Before he could ask what they were doing there, Dr. Hyde invited him in the office. "You come in too, girls."

Dr. Hyde explained what had happened to the vending machine.

"I know Octavia has extraordinary physical and mental powers, Jaclyn. I also know that she would never use them maliciously. I believe that when Octavia went to get a coke, the coke machine got stuck. Now when I'm in that situation, I whack the machine a couple times and the coke pops right out. I think Octavia did that exact same thing and didn't realize just how hard she was whacking it. I don't think she really meant to break the machine, she just got a little carried away. She just doesn't know how to control her strength."

"I believe that. That's exactly what Jordan said. But steps have to be taken. Octavia has to learn how to control herself."

Jaclyn began to outline what she thought should be done about Octavia.

"First, she may not return to class today. You must take her home. We cannot have her disrupting the other students. Second, starting tomorrow, Octavia will have to serve two-hour detentions every day after school for one school week. Third, you will have to pay to repair the machine that Octavia broke. You might want to consider taking that out of her allowance. Finally, if I hear of any more of these problems, Octavia is at risk for suspension."

Anthony stood up to leave. "I'm afraid Jordan is going to have to come with me as well. I'm a single father, and I had to get out of work to meet with you. Jordan will keep an eye on her, though."

Jaclyn groaned. "Fine."

Octavia's eyes were downcast. "I'm in trouble now. I'm sorry."

"Shh. It's okay. What happened wasn't your fault. You just haven't learned how to control your powers yet. And besides," Anthony added with a twinkle in his eye, "it's an excuse to get more alimony from that bitch Melissa."

When they got in the car, Anthony scratched his ass some more. He was really getting into it, sticking his hand and half his forearm in his pants; the computer chip mast have been really bothering him. He cleared his throat and turned to Jordan. "I know about Octavia's robotic arms, but you said that's not what she hit the machine with. You said she punched the machine with her bare hands." He suddenly turned pensive. "Doc Ock doesn't have super-strength."

Octavia shuddered. "The Green Goblin does, though."

"Who?" Anthony said.

"Remember when you drove up to save me that time a few months ago? Octavius was fighting with Spider-Man, an SDSI-CIA agent and—"

Anthony remembered. "That dude on the glider, the one with the green suit—"

"I was dying back there because I had flaws in my genetic pattern. The Goblin injected me with a lot of green stuff. It saved my life, but—"

"But it gave you additional superpowers," Jordan finished. "You cut your hand on the steel plate when you punched through the machine, remember?"

"What? Her hand looks perfectly fine. I would have noticed."

"Exactly, Dad."