Chapter Two: Something Unavoidable

Octavius could not believe what was happening to him. He had just been dropped one-hundred and fifty feet over Central Park by his winged assailant, and was even now hurtling towards the pond in the middle of the park.

At least he didn't drop me over land. he thought the moment before impact.

The impact as Octavius hit the surface of the half-frozen pond sent shock waves through his body, even more so then the ice-cold water that he was now submerged in. He fought his way to the top of the pond, trying frantically to grab hold of one of the pieces of ice floating in the pond. At that point, he desperately wished he had learned how to swim...

He tried screaming for help, but the ice cold water had driven the air from him, and he started to go under, still clawing for a nearby piece of ice with which to pull himself up. As he went under, his vision started to go black, and he barely felt the two hands that were even now pulling him out of the water, onto land. He laid there on his side for a minute, his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath and occasionally coughing on the water he had apparently inhaled.

Finally, he opened his eyes and caught a glimpse of the person who had pulled him out; it was a woman of about twenty to twenty-five years of age, with black hair and blue eyes. She looked rather concerned as she asked, "Are you alright?"

It took him a minute to respond, but finally he said, in a hoarse voice, "I-I'm fine... just c-cold..."

The woman was silent for a minute before a look of shocked recognition crossed her face.

"Doctor Otto Octavius?"

Octavius looked up at her, stunned himself. He would still never get used to the idea of random people recognizing him.

"That would be me..." he said, breaking off in a cough.

At that, the woman took a step back, amazed at who she just pulled from the frozen pond.

"My God... this is unreal..."

"H-Have we met?" Octavius asked, trying to sit up. Lying in the snow only made him colder.

"No, but I know of you. I'm... kind of a big fan of your work." she admitted, a half-cocked smile on her face, offering her hand to help him stand. "I'm Dr. Carolyn Trainer."

Octavius took the proffered hand, brushing the snow off of him as he got to his feet.

"I'd introduce myself, but obviously that's not needed." he said as he started to shiver. He was soaked to the bone, and the cold weather didn't help, either.

"We need to get you out of the cold." Carolyn said as she took her coat off and handed it to him.

He looked at it for a minute before taking it, muttering his thanks before putting it on.

"T-Thanks for pulling me out of there." he said, pulling the coat tighter around him. "I c-can't swim, so I wouldn't have made it out of there by myself."

"It's no problem." she replied, shrugging one shoulder as she stood there. "I'd like to think someone would do the same for me."

A moment of silence passed before Octavius asked, "How'd you like to come by the lab for a bit? It's nearing lunchtime, anyways. I think my wife will probably have it waiting when we get there."

"That sounds nice." Carolyn said, a smile on her face. Obviously the idea of spending a bit of time with the man she admired appealed to her.

The two of them started walking towards the street to hail a taxi; Octavius' lab was about twenty blocks from there; too far to walk, considering how wet he was after his impromptu landing in the pond.

"So, what is it that you do for a living?" Octavius asked when they found a ride back.

"I'm a geneticist. I worked at a lab not too far from here, actually. Well, before it was blown up a few years ago." Carolyn replied, a dark glimmer in her eyes. "I lost all my research that day."

"You worked at Quest Research?" Octavius asked, interested. He had seen that explosion for himself; his former employer had been the catalyst behind it.

"Yes. Now I do my work independently." She said in reply. "But I also did some work in atomic science, a few years ago."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was actually over in Rome when they discovered how to induce radioactivity in certain elements. I studied over there for a year."

"Really!" Octavius said, rather impressed at what he was hearing.

"Yes." she said, a grin on her face. "It was rather exciting."

"Well, I have a proposition for you, then." Octavius said, looking over at her. "I've been in need of a lab assistant, and considering what you told me about you not currently working for anyone in particular, maybe you'd like to come and help me in the lab? I mean, when you're not immersed in your own research, of course."

"Oh, definitely!" she said. "That would be great!"

Then, the cab stopped in front of his lab. He paid the driver, and they stepped out, walking through the front door. They did not speak as they headed upstairs, but Octavius noticed Carolyn looking around the lab.

"Rosie, I'm home!" he called out as they entered the apartment half of the building. They walked into the living room to find Rosie reading a book; probably a book of poetry.

She looked up from the book, noticed how soaking wet he was, and jumped out of her chair, running up to him. She hadn't yet noticed Carolyn standing in the doorway.

"My God, why are you soaked?" she said, totally confused.

"It's a long story..." Octavius said as he walked towards his bedroom to change into something dry. "I'll explain it in a minute."

When he came out a few minutes later, he had a blanket pulled tightly around him to warm up, and he walked into the living room. Rosie walked up to him, holding a cup of tea; she knew he must have been freezing; it was the middle of winter.

"Now what happened?" she asked as he took the cup from her hands.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you..." he started. "I was attacked by, of all things, a man wearing a flying suit. He called himself the Vulture. He dropped me in the pond in Central Park."

"What!" she yelped, shocked at what she was hearing. "But you can't swim! How'd you make it out?"

"Well, actually, that's the next thing I was going to mention." He gestured towards the doorway, where Carolyn was still standing, leaning against the doorframe. "This is Dr. Carolyn Trainer. She's the new lab assistant. She's... also the person who pulled me out of the pond."

Rosie looked over at her and smiled.

"Well, I guess I have you to thank for saving my husband." she said as she walked over to shake her hand.

"Think nothing of it." Carolyn replied as she shook Rosie's hand.

"So, would you two like some lunch? I just finished making it a few minutes ago."

"That sounds great right about now." Octavius said as the three of them walked into the dining room.

xxx

Meanwhile, in a building many blocks away, a man sat at his desk, his face obscured by shadows. He never let his associates see his face; he prided himself on his ability to remain unconnected to anything going on.

At the moment, he was in the process of reprimanding one of his associates about a failed mission...

"HOW did you let him escape?" he shouted at the man who stood on the other side of the desk. "You had him in the air! All you had to do was go up a few thousand feet and drop him!"

"That's what I was trying to do!" The Vulture said, exasperated. "But he forced me down! He wouldn't stop fighting me!"

"That's to be expected!" the mastermind said, slamming his fist on the desk. "I told you how feisty the Doctor can be! You shouldn't have taken your time doing it!"

"I needed to get up high enough!" The Vulture shouted at him. "Will you give me a fricking break!"

"You'll get a break, all right!" the mastermind shouted, pulling a pistol out of the top drawer of his desk and aiming it at the Vulture. "But it will be six feet under! Now get your ass out of this office and don't come back until I need you!"

The Vulture walked out of the office, a scowl on his face.

The mastermind shook his head, wondering what made him decide to hire such impudent underlings...

xxx

Back at the lab, the three of them were sitting at the table upstairs, deep in discussion about the possibility of making nuclear fusion a reality. Actually, it was more like Octavius and Carolyn going back and forth about it, while Rosie sat there reading her book. She had gotten lost a few minutes into the conversation.

"Just think about it!" Octavius said, half of a sandwich in hand, and a pencil in the other, scribbling in a notebook already crammed with notes. "What if it's possible? Can you imagine how beneficial that could be? Even considering how efficient it is, fission energy would still leave radioactive waste behind! If we were to harness the energy of fusing atoms, there would be nothing left behind!"

"But do you even know of any elements that would fuse together?" Carolyn asked, not convinced.

"That's why nuclear fusion is still theoretical!" Octavius replied, throwing his sandwich back on the plate. "I haven't found any elements yet that I know would fuse. I think that hydrogen, or one of its isotopes, would be ideal, but I'm still a long way from the experimental stage. My priority now is to finish the experiment I'm already working on, and then I can concentrate on-"

A knock at the door got their attention, ending the conversation for the moment. Octavius walked downstairs to answer the door and found his friend Curt standing there.

"Hey, Otto." Curt said, a smile on his face. "What are you up to?"

"Not much." Octavius replied. "Just having lunch and talking to the new lab assistant."

"You've got a new lab assistant?" Curt asked.

"Yes, I met her this morning."

"Oh, it's a she?"

"Yes, and she's apparently a fan of my work." Octavius said, a half-smile on his face. "You want to come up and get something to eat?"

"Yeah, sure!" Curt said as he walked into the lab, and the two of them headed upstairs. "I heard on the radio about someone being dropped into the pond in Central Park by some man in a flying birdsuit. Sounded kind of like something you'd expect to see in the movies. Wonder who that man was?"

"Would you believe that man was me?" Octavius replied, a half-cocked smile on his face.

"Are you serious?" Curt asked, wide-eyed.

"I wish I wasn't."

They walked into the dining room and Curt said, "What happened? I mean, why'd the birdman come after you?"

"Well, actually, that's what I forgot to mention." Octavius said as he took a seat. "I forgot to mention the reason I was called down to the precinct."

"What are you talking about?" Rosie asked, sounding worried. Curt turned to look at him as well.

"I don't know how to say this lightly, but... someone has a hit out for me." Octavius said as he started drumming his fingertips against the table. "Someone is out to end my life, and I don't know who it is. Capt. Stacy told me this when I went down to the precinct, but he wasn't sure whether or not it was true. Now I know that it is a serious threat."

The room went silent at this admission. After a moment, Rosie asked, "Why you? Why would someone be out to get you?"

"I have no idea whatsoever." Octavius replied. "The only people I can think of that would want me dead are all still in prison."

"So once again you're in danger." Rosie said, sadly. "Why does all this seem to happen to you?"

"I don't know." Octavius said, before falling silent. "If you'll excuse me, I need to be alone for a minute." He stood up and walked down the hall, into his study. He shut the door behind him and walked over to the window, yanking the curtains shut. Taking a seat in a chair in the corner, he put his hand to his head, unable to believe everything that had happened, everything that was still happening. First, it had been the incident with Osborn, a year and a half ago. Then it was the incident with the Russian intelligence service, a year ago. And now this. And in each of them, he had nearly lost his life. He couldn't help but wonder about that; nothing like this had ever happened to him when he lived in Germany; why was it all happening now? Rosie had worded the question perfectly; why didall this seem to happen to him?

A knock at the door brought him back to reality.

"Otto, are you in there? Can I come in?"

It was Rosie at the door. And she sounded rather worried.

"Door's open." he replied. "Come in."

She opened the door quietly, walked up to him and said, "Is something wrong? You looked rather tense out there."

"I just... I have the feeling something bad is going to happen." he replied, leaning back in his chair. "Something life-shattering. Something unavoidable."

"Why would you think that?" she asked as she walked behind the chair, putting her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his head.

"I don't know... I just can't shake the feeling that something is going to happen." he said quietly, looking up at her. "Maybe not to me, but to someone I know. Last time I felt like that, you got abducted. It's not a good feeling at all."

She didn't have a reply to that; she knew how he had been affected by that whole fiasco.

He sat there for awhile, lost in thought, trying to figure out why he felt this way. Surely nothing else really bad could happen? Hadn't enough happened to him already?

But he couldn't shake that feeling: the one that told him something was going to happen... something that may very well mean disaster for him...