Chapter Nine
The week stretched onto Friday night. Hillary was busy getting the pizza ready, getting the movies out, making sure they had popcorn, and the like. She was anxious to give Anna the grand tour of her home.
The doorbell chimed and Hillary slid across the floor in her socks and opened the door. There stood Anna-her arms holding her sleepingbag, toothbrush, and a bag filled with various sleepover accessories-and Otto.
Hillary smiled and waved. Anna smiled and waved back with one of her tentacles. Peter got up from where he was sitting and walked up behind his daughter.
Peter's smile faded as he caught sight of Doc Ock. But this was his daughter's sleepover, so he pasted on a smile. "Hey Anna. Hillary's told me so much about you."
"Hello Mr. Parker." Anna greeted. "Hillary's told me a lot about you also."
Peter blushed. He looked up at Doc Ock, who had been standing there silently, and straightened his face. "Hey Dr. Octavious. Long time no see." He greeted.
"Hello Peter." Otto said almost with a scowl. Hillary invited Anna inside and they ran off to her room.
"You aren't still holding a grudge against me, are you?" Peter asked.
"No. I do not hold grudges. Fifteen years ago I wanted, and tried, to spear you... mercilessly... and painfully." He said. Peter cringed at the mental picture of him stuck on a blade from Doc Ock's tentacles like a marshmellow on a stick. "Now, I merely desire to strangle you." Otto finished casually yet not taking his eyes off of Peter.
"That's an improvement." Peter teased. With a threat like that, anyone else would be terribly afraid of Otto and try not to say anything that might affent him. Peter, on the other hand, talked to him like he would to anyone else; and although it was dangerous and usually annoyed him, Otto found it soothing that someone still took him as a person and not a monster.
"Don't joke." Doc Ock said solemnly. "You may be able to laugh about it now, but I suffered."
"I've suffered too. I know how it feels." Peter said compassionately. "I'm not trying to hurt you." Doc Ock nodded although Peter could tell that he didn't truly forgive him. "I'm sorry about that hard time, but I had to do my job." He explained.
Otto noticed Mary-Jane watching from the hallway – this he got a kick out of. "Ah hah! So you married her after all!" he laughed.
Peter smiled. "I haven't seen you happy since that meeting at your house." He was relieved to be on a different subject; their earlier discussion was almost as nerve wracking as it was explaining why he hadn't caught Spiderman to Harry before he knew his secret.
"I'm capable of good humor." Otto said. "But I'm all serious right now." He said drawing back into his regular tone. "Rosi insisted—"
"Rosie?" Peter raised an eyebrow interestedly.
Doc Ock realized that, as always, Peter had gotten the information out of him one way or another. That was a woman's job – they were supposed to be the ones who got men to tell them anything. When Rosie did it to him, it was releaving to know that the worst was over. But when Peter did it, it just annoyed him.
"So that's why you were in the waiting room at the hospital and why your daughter looks like her." Peter filled in the missing spots of the puzzle in his mind. It was that very quality that made him the perfect material for the Daily Bugle. One word, just one word, and that boy could figure out what you had been doing the last fourteen years.
"Man, that cat's fat!" Anna exclaimed from Hillary's bedroom.
The scream reminded Otto of what he origionally wanted to say. He scowled at Peter, "Listen Parker, if you do anything to my daughter, you'll be sure to hear from me." Otto snapped a pincher in Peter's face.
"Is that a threat?" He asked unrattled but interested.
"Yes. And you'd better take it seriously." He growled as he waked down the metal stairs leading to the Parker's appartment.
"Oh come on Doc. What do you think I'm gonna do?" Peter called after him.
"I don't know. I don't even want to think about it. I didn't even want to let her come over, but Rosie insisted that I let her." Doc Ock replied. "I'll be here at eleven sharp tomorrow morning. Nothing had better be abnormal." He warned. Otto walked on his bottom tentacles to the bottom of the stairs and onto the sidewalk. He stepped on a pumpkin, set to be festive, by the railing and glanced down at his tentacle stuck in the gooey mess. "You might consider buying a new pumpkin." He offered picking the large chunks of pumpkin from the tentacle's segments.
"You might consider getting your tentacles dry cleaned." Peter replied with a smile.
"Ha ha. Very funny."Otto said walking on his bottom tentacles down the sidewalk. Peter closed the door and went back inside. "Hey Anna, are you hungry?" he asked.
Anna and Hillary poked their heads out of the door. "Famished!" Anna answered. Hillary nodded.
"Do you want to eat some pizza?" Peter asked.
"Sure." Anna replied. The two girls walked down the hall and followed Peter to the kitchen. Two pizzas were already set up ready to be eaten on the kitchen table.
"Do you want to eat in here or in the livingroom with a movie?" Peter asked handing each of them a plate.
"In there." Anna concluded after passing a glance at Hillary.
"Ok. Go ahead and pick out what kind you want." Peter said walking out of the room.
Anna took half a piece and Hillary took two. They walked into the living room and sat on the floor for they were going to be doing nails shortly. Anna lowered her tentacles to the floor so that Hillary's parents could see also. The tentacles made the floor apear to be lined with electric wire or something.
The tentacles' pinchers were closed and quietly lying on the floor; but they were upset – Anna could sense it.
Could we watch the movie?
It sounds intriguing.
But you'll be in everyone's way. Anna told them.
So?
So...I'm trying to give them the impression that I can control my tentacles.
What if we stay low to the ground?
Please? We won't get in the way.
We promise!
I guess. Just don't blow it. She gave in. The tentacles opened their heads and looked at the screen awaiting the movie.
Hillary eagerly took a bite of pizza but Anna only watched the screen. Hillary leaned towards her, "Aren't you hungry?" she asked.
"Oh yes. But my body can't take over a certain amount of fat in my bloodstream. It becomes difficult to support my tentacles. I've taken a few bites." She whispered to her.
"Ah...no wonder you're so skinny." Hillary teased. Anna smiled. "Uh, no affense, but does your dad have that kind of limit? Because...I mean—"
"It's fine." Anna cut her off." He does. But his tentacles don't depend so much on his body as mine do. He just can't have really sticky things like peanut parfeits. But, of course, he didn't like them very much anyway." Hillary nodded satisfied with the answer.
The beginning sponsors flashed across the screen in their own unique ways. Mary-Jane noticed that Peter was deep in thought. "Hey. What's up?" she whispered.
"I don't know whether to trust her or not." He answered under his breath. "She seems nice, but I don't know how much she listens to her arms. She may be weaker than Octavious."
"Or she may be stronger." Mary-Jane added.
"True, but still, I'm a little uncertain."
"What do you think she'd do?" Mary-Jane asked trying to get Peter to imagine what could possibly happen over night. "If she came into our bedroom, you could deffend us."
"What about Hillary?" Peter asked.
Mary-Jane was silent for a moment. "You don't thing she'd go after Hillary, do you?" she asked in horror.
"I don't know what to think anymore. The world was so much easier when there weren't so many super-beings around." Peter said.
Anna held her jaw firm as she stared at the screen.
They were talking about you.
I know. I heard every word. She told them. Anna tried her hardest not to cry. They...they don't trust me. They think I'm a monster! Just like everyone else does. She thought to herself as a tear leaked from the corner of her eye. She stood up suddenly. "I—I need to use the restroom." She stated.
"Oh, it's down that hall and to your left." Mary-Jane pointed out. Anna walked briskly down the hall and into the small, tiled room. She locked the door ahd sat on the toilet seat. Anna placed her face in her hands and cried. (although not loudly enough to hear) Tears splashed on the floor. How could they believe such things? They seemed so understanding. It was fortunate that she hadn't been wearing makeup for it would have smeared.
Time had passed and she remained in the bathroom afraid to go back out to the people who she had just realized were expecting her to stab them in the back. Hillary became concerned about her friend; the movie was almost done. She arose and walked to the bathroom door. Hillary knocked on it several times. Anna? Are you ok in there?" she asked. The door slowly unlocked and opened. "Anna! You look like you've been crying! What happened?" she asked softly taking her hands.
"Hillary, could we skip the movie and go straight to your room?" Anna asked.
"Sure. But are you still hungry? You hardly ate anything. We could take something back." Hillary offered.
"No. One night won't kill me." Anna replied solemnly. "Come on." She and Hillary went into her room and shut the door. Anna spilled evrything that was bothering her to Hillary and Hillary told almost everything she knew to Anna as they did eachother's nails.
XXX
Morning came and Anna felt a lot better. After a late breakfast, they had an hour to spend with eachother. In this time, they decided to make friendship bracelets for eachother. They got them done just as the doorbell rang.
"It must be my dad." Anna said getting up with a smile.
She opened the front door and, sure enough, there was her father standing there (dressed in his usual leather coat) and Rosie by his side – her eyes glimmering in the morning sunlight. "Hi. So you ready to go?" he asked with a smile.
It was obvious that Otto wanted to get away from that house as quickly as possible. Rosie nudged him indicating that he was rushing. "So, did you have fun?" she asked as Hillary walked to stand by Anna's side.
"Yah. It was great." Anna replied.
"Well that's good." Rosie said. As Rosie talked, a strange van slowly drove by the house. No one paid attention to it – besides, cars had to drive slowly in the neighborhood. It stopped. All of a sudden, a shot was heard and Otto cried in pain. He gripped his shoulder and turned around quickly. His tentacles tentased up and their jaws made ready; like Legolas with a bow ready to shoot. Another shot was heard and this time Otto couldn't take it. He suddenly felt weak on his own legs and passed out on the floor.
"Oh my gol!" Rosie yelled as she stooped over her husband. She removed his hand from the defensive position over his shoulder and saw two holes a few inches apart bleeding dangerously. "Oh my gol he's bleeding!" she exclaimed ripping his coat open.
"Dad!" Anna screamed running to him.
Rosie pushed both hands on his shoulder to stop the bleeding. "Hillary, get something to wrap his shoulder with." She directed. Hillary, still in shock, nodded and ran into the kitchen. "He's still breathing. That's good." She said.
This small group of people with guns jumped out of the van and threw her off of her husband. "What are you doing!" Rosie screamed at them.
They ignored her and handcuffed Otto's hands. The group of atthorities also binded his tentacles with a brace locking them into pairs that didn't really look like it would hold. They all picked him up and carried him to the van hurriedly.
Rosie and Anna ran after them and Rosie viciously grabbed one of their shirts. "What is going on!" she demanded.
The man pulled her off and pushed her aside. "Please stay out of the way ma'am." He said. They shut the doors and the last one got in the driver's seat. The car got going; Rosie still clung to the door handle.
"Leave him alone!" She cried. Anna held onto the antenna with her natural hands also.
"Don't take him!" Anna yelled. The van drove faster forcing Rosie and her daughter to let go. Anna got up on her bottom tentacles and ran after them.
The men saw her in their review mirror. "Who is that?" the driver exclaimed.
"I don't know. But we've been trying for years and we've finally got him. Don't let her take him back." The leader ordered from the seat over.
Anna launched her top left tentacle at the van and caught the car door on the driver's side breaking the window glass. She ripped the door from its hinges and the driver shot her in the leg. Anna screamed in pain and the tentacles set her on the ground gently.
The van drove off and Rosie noticed that her daughter was down. "Anna!" she gasped as she ran as hard as she could go to Anna. Anna was lying on the ground gripping her shin. "Anna! We need to get you to the house!" Rosie declared trying to pick her up. "I'm sorry Anna, but I can't hold you. Do you think you could walk on your tentacles?" she asked. Anna nodded with tears of pain in her eyes. She got up on her tentalces and walked slowly to the house.
When they got inside, Peter helped Anna sit down on the couch and Hillary held a moist rag on the wound. "We need to go after him! They can't take Dad!" Anna paniced
Rosie was sitting in the kitchen overwhelmed and trying to calm down. Mary-Jane got her some iced tea and set it in front of her. "I can't belive this has happened. I can't believe that I was convinced he was dead for five years and then found he was alive, and then fourteen years later, he's taken from me again."
"It'll all turn out. Don't worry." Mary-Jane assured Rosie.
"It's just, I don't know what to do. I can't go on like this. I can't loose him again."