Hello, my Loyal Minions. Just because I am now starting Quirk of Fate Part 2: Night of the Goblin (the sequel to the newly renamed Quirk of Fate Part 1: The Octopus Strikes), this does not mean I don't expect you to hang around for the conclusion to the Nature Versus Nurture series--and the one final big twist at the end! Whether old or new, read and review!
Chapter 16: Ex Nihilo
"So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." –Genesis 1:27
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." —Genesis 2:7
The building was empty. After Octavia had wired the bomb to the foundations shortly after she came in, she had spent her time angrily searching for her creators.
"Melitta!" Octavia called. "Stop being a coward! Come out here and face your handiwork! The Dr. Frankenstein shall face her monster today!"
And then, in the laboratory, she heard the dreaded voice behind her.
"I'm a genius, but no coward, Octavia Jones. And you don't have to shout."
Octavia shivered. She, programmed to be fearless, even in the face of such people as her father's archenemy, or the nut in the green suit, had been afraid when she confronted her creator for the first time. She was afraid now, the second.
More than fear, anger swelled up in her, anger that could easily feed upon itself like a nuclear fusion reaction, swallowing memories and nightmares into itself until it reached critical mass and began a chain reaction of violence—the kind of violence that led her to, say, throw a cab into a window or break a superhero's limbs.
Her fury, combined with those arms, had made her a danger to the innocent until she had learned to control her temper and tentacles, something which her progenitor evidently never bothered to learn. Now, in an empty laboratory in the presence of her maker, only she herself would be endangered by her unbridled fury—the fury she never dared to show Jordan and Daisy until the Queen Bee pushed her over the edge, and which she had only spent a fraction on Spider-Man those months ago.
Nancy glanced at the front door. "How did you get past the security system?"
Octavia smirked, twirling the nullifier. "I'm my father's daughter."
It irked Nancy to hear the clone refer to her progenitor as father. "You admittedly inherited his genetic potential for intelligence, but not his Ph.D. from MIT. What a sight you are, with that stupid heavy trench coat, an odd look for a New York early fall. Do you really think it makes you less of an abomination when we both know what's under it?"
Nancy took another step into the laboratory.
To her immense chagrin, Octavia found herself retreating a step back.
"And dressed all in black, too. Are you in mourning for someone? Is it Anthony Nicholas, who never learned not to stick his nose in government intrigue he doesn't understand?"
Octavia's hands had hardened into fists. She longed to strike out, could not. This was Melitta's turf.
Nancy observed with mild interest that Octavia's ring finger was slightly shorter than her index, characteristic of a man's hands. On a woman's hands, the index and ring were roughly the same length.
"What a brute you are," said Nancy. "I'm almost ashamed to admit I made you. Well, like you just said, you're your father's daughter, right? Except you're not, of course. They say he killed his wife."
"You're insane and always were."
"The octopus talks!" Nancy exclaimed in sarcastic delight.
"The monster-maker has become the monster."
"Ah, and it believes itself witty as well, a trick it might have learned from Parker. You'd think a relatively smart superhero would know better than to work with his archenemy's clone. Especially if said clone attempted to kill him barely five months ago."
"You paid him to kill my father. He didn't want to. Your agents threatened to give away his identity." Octavia's vision was darkening steadily; she could feel the blood rushing to her ears and she was breathing like she'd just run a marathon.
Nancy was much amused. "The ends justify the means. Your hands are so tightly fisted that you're bleeding from the palms from your own fingernails. Relax, Octavia. That kind of hatred is unhealthy."
Octavia spread her fists out into fans of fingers, holding the palms out to Melitta so she could see the self-inflicted wounds heal within seconds.
"Ah, I see. The Oz formula. I never thought of improving you that way. I have to give Carlyle and Osborn some credit."
"You seem to have no problem working with supervillains if it serves your interests."
"Like I said, the ends justify the means. I must break a few eggs to make a great omelet. I am only a humble servant of Humanity, a scientist charged with bringing Humanity into the next stage of evolution. A mind as great as mine must be freed of common morals as it must be denied common pleasures. Mine is a great and lonely destiny, as mine is a great and lonely work."
"A lot of evil has been done by 'humble servants of Humanity' like you, Nancy."
"Do you, Octavia, really presume to lecture me on evil? You, the multiple murderess, the thief of scientific equipment, the supervillainess who once maimed a cheerleader over a few careless insults?"
"Well, Dr. Melitta, ever since I was told of my origins, I've always wondered what would make someone want to play God, create life from dust as only He can and should. And now I have finally learned what I always wanted to know. You're not as selfish as I first thought. You were never in it for the glory. Unlike the Raelians of a decade ago, you weren't interested in newspaper headlines or money or even Nobel Prizes. Like you said, you're a servant of Humanity, using your knowledge of genetics to make them stronger, healthier, and happier. You wanted to make a Brave New World where no one gets cancer or AIDS or broken bones, where everyone is genetically suited to, therefore happy with, their destiny, which is chosen for them before birth. In your new society, no one is ugly, stupid, crazy, or criminal, because such types would be eliminated before they're born. The military was just the beginning. You wanted to work toward a worldwide Utopia of shiny, happy, perfect people. I finally understand. Your Prophet is named Charles Darwin, your Holy Writ the Origin of Species, and Macendale Jackson and I were your new Adam and Eve."
Melitta smiled. "You're very intelligent, Octavia. Even with your rigid notions of Christian morality, even you could see the benefits of such a—well, a New Jerusalem, a Heaven on Earth."
Octavia shook her head. "You can't make humanity perfect, since it has never been. Don't you know that the word Utopia comes from the Greek for 'no place'?"
"Humanity can't be made perfect now. But someday, it will be, without superstition and religion in all its forms. I'll die, but my successors will live on. New Humanity will be."
"Well, I have another secret to tell you, Dr. Melitta. Within approximately one and a half minutes, the bomb I've wired into the foundations is going to blow the misnamed, so-called 'Freedom Tower' sky-high. Neither you nor I will leave alive." With surprisingly nimble fingers, Octavia slipped out a remote control, and pressed a button.
"What are you doing?" Nancy exclaimed when the information finally registered. "You'll kill all of us—including yourself!"
Octavia only smiled. Her voice held a strange calm. "I don't fear death anymore. Death might be just the beginning of the next life. Perhaps there is a Creator God."
Nancy smirked. "You're crazy, Octavia. You're a monster. There is no God, and even if there was, I can assure you that He would have no place in His heaven for the likes of you."
"I don't need Heaven, Nancy. Eternal darkness and silence will be quite enough for me."
Melissa Breedlove, Payton and Daisy Gatsby, Maryann and Mack Jackson, and Jordan and Morgan Nicholas, by now crammed into Payton's minivan and having left Melissa's Beetle for Spider-Man to watch as he picked his way out of his web, raced towards the Blue Tower. They were bound by one common destiny and one common person, and they were going to meet both, together.
Melissa, at the wheel, swerved up to the corner, the nearest place she could park to the Tower.
Melissa stopped the car, applied the brake, and shut off the ignition—
When September 11th happened all over again.
The bomb had gone off, and the Blue Tower had become a waterfall of crystal shards.
The force of impact hurled the Gatsby minivan a fair thirty feet into the air. All passengers covered their heads preparing for the inevitable fall, except for Maryann, who had pulled out a rosary. Just when all seemed lost, a miracle happened.
The van suddenly stopped in midair. Jordan, a very brave young woman, peered out of the window. They were floating on air, floating on nothing until the van gently rested on an obliging patch of empty street eight blocks away, far from any possibility of danger.
From then on, when relating this strange event, Jordan would say that when she first looked out the window, she saw below her a dark-haired, stocky man in a long green trench coat, his hand raised, a look of intense concentration on a face half-covered by dark sunglasses.
But if it was Dr. Otto Octavius, known as Doctor Octopus, who had saved the lives of her and her family and friends, he certainly didn't stick around to receive her thanks.
Later that afternoon, two bodies were pulled out of the rubble of the Blue Tower. Both were female, one around her early thirties, one barely a teenager. One was identified as Octavia Mary Jones. The other, found partially slimed with a mysterious black goo, was identified as SDSI agent Cindy Jane Cypher.