Chapter Four: Blitzkrieg

By this time, Octavius, Rosie, and Curt were in the dining room, talking over dinner. They were discussing the possibility of the mutant population going up to epidemic proportions, perhaps taking over the city. Rosie was trying her best to follow the conversation, and Octavius and Curt were trying to keep it simple for her. They knew she didn't quite understand it like they did.

Suddenly, a gunshot split the silence of the night, and the window shattered inwards shortly after. The bullet lodged itself in the table, splintering the wood.

"We need to get out of here!" Octavius shouted before the gunman took another shot at him. Rosie and Curt ran for the stairs leading outside, while Octavius ran downstairs to find his actuators. If the gunman was out to end his life, he'd give him a fight, first!

He found them in short order, put them on, and ran out the front door, noticing a man with a ski mask on his face, and an automatic rifle in his hands, atop the roof across the street.

Just like in my dream he thought, his heart rate speeding up as the images in his dream flashed through his consciousness. This can't be happeningnot for real

"Aw, did I miss?" the rifleman shouted, a mocking tone to his voice. "I'll have to fix that." He took aim with his rifle again, but before he could pull the trigger, Octavius had started to climb the building face, to attack the gunman himself.

"Why do you people keep interfering in my life?" Octavius shouted as he snatched the rifle from his hands and threw it from the rooftop, before attacking the gunman, who managed to leap out of the way before the enraged scientist could grab him.

"I'm simply following orders." the gunman said, in a voice that sounded vaguely familiar, before somersaulting over Octavius' head, landing behind him, reaching for a pistol in his jacket.

Before he could pull the gun out, Octavius had a hold of him and had thrown him across the rooftop, watching as he hit the side of a nearby building and fell to the rooftop.

"Whose orders are you following?" Octavius shouted, walking over to him and picking him up by the collar of his jacket with an actuator, rearing his fist back to strike the gunman if he gave an unsatisfactory answer.

"You think I'm going to tell you?" the gunman said, prompting Octavius to snarl and strike him in the head.

"TELL ME! NOW!"

"Why would I do that?" the gunman said, right before Octavius struck him again.

"Because if you don't, I'll keep hitting you until I get the answer I want!" Octavius shouted in his face. "I am tired of getting caught up in all of these situations! What do you people want from me!"

The gunman merely laughed and said, "You want an honest answer? For you to be six feet under."

At that, Octavius threw him back against the wall as hard as he could, watching as the gunman hit the wall, cracking the bricks. Strangely enough, he didn't appear to be injured at all by any of this. Could it be that he was one of these 'mutants' that Carolyn had mentioned just yesterday? Was that why he was wearing the ski mask?

He reached down to the top of the gunman's head, putting his hand atop the ski mask he was wearing. Without so much as a warning he ripped it off of his assailant's head.

"Dmitri Smerdyakov?" he shouted, surprised. "How can this be?"

Smerdyakov laughed and said, "Surprised to find that I am still alive? Did you think I was dead?"

"You're not supposed to be here!" Octavius replied, picking him up and throwing him across the rooftop again.

Smerdyakov merely twisted himself in midair and landed on his feet, then said, "You can see for yourself that I am alive. Unfortunately, the only reason for this is because I had to ensure my cooperation in one of the SVR's superhuman transformation experiments… as the subject!"

"You mean to tell me you were used as a human lab rat?" Octavius asked. Despite the fact that Smerdyakov had just tried to kill him, he couldn't help but ask.

"Yes! I was subjected to the most painful of experiments, as they transformed me into one of their superhuman assassins! And all because you and that Lizard-man came over there and wrecked my boss' plan! Either I agreed to their experiment, or I would have been executed!" Smerdyakov shouted, fists clenched, the anger showing on his face, or what passed for his face.

"It's not my fault this happened to you!" Octavius replied, on the defensive, in case Smerdyakov decided to attack again.

The Chameleon did not reply as he charged towards Octavius, catching him in a flying tackle, but not being able to do much more than that as he was flung away. Smerdyakov got to his feet and, strangely enough, ran towards the edge of the rooftop, actually leaping off into the empty space, seemingly towards certain death.

Octavius could only watch as the Chameleon hit the ground, rolled to his feet, apparently unhurt by the five-story fall, and ran for his rifle, screaming, "Come and get me!"

At this challenge, Octavius flung himself from the rooftop, landing on all four actuators at ground level, also unhurt by the fall, and snatched up the Chameleon with an actuator, smacking him in the chest with another.

The impact flung the Chameleon through the window of a building across the street from the lab. He came back out with an infuriated snarl fixed on his face as he screamed, an incoherent howl of fury, once again catching Octavius in a tackle, knocking him to the ground, landing a few blows that must have hurt.

Octavius flung Smerdyakov away from him and stood up, holding his left side with a human hand, a similar look of fury on his face as he reached for his enemy with all four actuators.

The Chameleon leaped out of the way and said, mockingly, "Did that hurt? I hope it did!"

Octavius grabbed Smerdyakov by the neck with an actuator, pinning him to the ground, screaming, "It didn't hurt nearly as bad as what I'm going to do to you!"

xxx

Meanwhile, the mastermind was watching the entire situation over a crude video feed, watching how the fight was progressing. He saw everything, as the Chameleon broke free of the grip Octavius had on him, got to his feet, and tried once again to attack, only to be struck back down.

"What are you doing, you fool!" the mastermind shouted at the Chameleon, knowing that, while his subordinate could not hear him, that maybe he would get his act together and finish Octavius off before the police showed.

xxx

By now, the fight with the Chameleon had been going on at ground level for close to ten minutes. The storm that had been menacing the city had finally broken, and the snow was falling heavily now. While Rosie and Curt stood in the entrance to the back alley behind the lab, Octavius and the Chameleon were now pounding on each other relentlessly in the street, endlessly exchanging blows, both of them fighting exhaustion by this point; neither of them willing to give in until the other was down.

"Why did you come back?" Octavius shouted as he struck the Chameleon in the head with an actuator, before throwing him into the air. "You know I wasn't the one who did this to you! I didn't make you become a monster!"

The Chameleon merely twisted in midair, landing on his feet, running towards Octavius again, only to be struck back down. "Because you were responsible for that entire fiasco! You came over there, looking for her! You were the reason she escaped us in the first place! If I hadn't been sent out to look for her, I'd never have run into you! Your lizard friend wouldn't have shot me!"

"You're not talking sense, Smerdyakov!" Octavius shouted, picking him up with a tentacle and throwing him into a wall. "I didn't make you pull a gun on me! That was your choice! He shot you because you were going to do the same to me!"

The Chameleon hit the wall with a resounding THUD, before falling to the ground, momentarily stunned.

"No, but if you hadn't threatened me, I wouldn't have pulled it out!" he said as he got to his feet. "Your lizard friend did have a choice, and he chose to try and kill me!"

At that, Curt took a step back before the Chameleon spotted him, but he stepped on a piece of broken glass, which shattered with a loud CRACK!

Unfortunately, this served to get the Chameleon's attention turned toward him, and he froze in mid-step.

The Chameleon looked over at Curt, and a moment later, a look of enraged recognition crossed his face.

"YOU! You were the one that shot me!" he shouted as he dove for his rifle before Curt could make a run for it. Picking it up, the Chameleon shouted, "You cost me a lot in that incident! You nearly cost me my life!" He cocked the rifle and shouted, "NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!"

All at once, Curt turned to run away, Octavius reached towards the Chameleon with an actuator, hoping to wrestle the gun from his hands…

…and the Chameleon pulled the trigger.

The gunshot split the night like a small explosion, making both Octavius and Rosie drop to the ground out of instinct. When they finally looked up, they looked over at Curt.

He was standing on the sidewalk, a large red spot forming on his shirt, clutching his chest, the color drained from his face. He fell to the ground without as much as a word.

"NO! CURTIS!" Octavius screamed, horrified, looking over at his friend, who was now lying on the ground, a pool of red forming underneath him.

He turned on the Chameleon, screaming, "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU! WHY?" He grabbed hold of the Chameleon, driving him face first into the nearby wall as hard as he could, hitting him with fists, actuators, beating him mercilessly. He could not even hear Rosie, screaming for him to stop, screaming that this wasn't the answer. He did not stop until the Chameleon was lying on the ground, his lifeless body battered nearly unrecognizable.

Octavius ran over to his fallen friend, where Rosie was already knelt beside him, trying to stop the bleeding. Curt was still alive, but barely.

"Curt, hold on!" Octavius said, as he started to pick his friend up. "We're going to get you to a hospital. Just hold on!"

Curt opened his eyes and looked up at him, struggling to breathe, but he spoke anyways.

"N-No… it's… too late…" he managed to say. "I… I'm not… going to make it…" he gasped for breath as he closed his eyes.

"Don't say that!" Octavius said, trying to figure out what could be done. He couldn't just let his friend die like this! "We're only a few blocks from a hospital. We can-"

"I'll… never make it… that far." Curt said as he opened his eyes once more. Beside him, Rosie was already crying, her head dropped down, looking at the ground.

"Oh, God…" Octavius whispered, accepting that it was no use trying. He knew as well as his friend did that there was no hope for him now. "I'm going to find out who did this. I'm going to find the mastermind, and I'm going to kill him."

Curt shook his head as he raised his hand weakly, placing it on Octavius' shoulder.

"T-There's… no reason… for you to put…. yourself in danger…" he said quietly. "Otto… don't do anything… stupid… there's… no reason… for two of us… to die…"

"I can't let them get away with this!" Octavius said, a strong note of anguish in his voice. "They've gone too far this time!"

"No… don't… endanger yourself…" Curt said, barely able to speak now. "Revenge… is like a poison… don't… succumb to it…"

Those were the last words he ever spoke as he fell silent, his head slipped to the side and his hand fell from his friend's shoulder. He was gone.

"No…" Octavius said, barely audible, as the tears fell from his eyes. "…why? Why did this have to happen?" He cradled his friend's broken body in his arms as he sat in the alley, unable to control his emotions any longer. "Why did it have to be you?" He looked up at the raging storm overhead and screamed, "WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE TAKEN ME INSTEAD?"

Beside him, Rosie was weeping, her head in her hands, not wanting to look at the man who had so much to live for, and who had lost it at the hands of a cold-hearted killer. And after she had promised Otto just last night that nothing would happen…

Octavius looked back down at his friend and said, his voice shaking with rage and grief, "I swear to you, if it takes me until the day that I die, I will find the man responsible for this. I won't let him do this to anyone else."

He sat there for an indeterminate amount of time, holding his friend in his arms, the storm raging around them as if to accentuate the emotions of the grief-stricken man, the broken scientist… who now had full intention of destroying the man behind this plan… no matter the consequences.

"Rosie, I need you to go call Martha Connors." he said, gently laying his friend's body back on the ground. "She needs to know about this as soon as possible."

Rosie merely nodded and got to her feet, walking back into the lab, still sobbing. Octavius did not yet make a move to get up, even as he heard police sirens screaming towards the lab.

When the sirens wound down and the police cars stopped, Octavius was still sitting beside his friend, looking down at the ground, unable to bring himself to look at the officers who had began to seal off the area.

Among the officers was Detective John Briscoe of the Ninety-second Precinct. He appeared to be leading this particular soon-to-be investigation.

He walked up to Octavius and asked, "Can you tell us what happened, here?"

No response.

"Look, I need you to tell us exactly what happened." Briscoe said.

Octavius glared up at him, got to his feet, and snapped, "What does it look like? There's a man here with a gunshot wound in him and another dead man over there! Isn't it obvious! You're the cop, here!"

"Easy, Doctor!" Briscoe said, taking a step back. "There's no need to get angry!"

"I have every damn right to get angry!" Octavius shouted as he took a step forward, actuators writhing behind him. "My best friend is lying there dead because of that man-" here, he pointed towards the body of the Chameleon, "-right there! We were easily fighting for over fifteen minutes! You mean to tell me you couldn't get here any sooner? We could have saved him, but you took your time getting here!"

"Calm down!" Briscoe shouted in reply. "This isn't helping the situation any!"

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" Octavius screamed, giving Briscoe a good shove with an actuator. "I am far beyond that point, now! Because of your ineptitude, my only friend in this entire world is dead!"

Briscoe stumbled to keep his footing and said, to two nearby officers, "Alright, cuff him and put him in the back of the car until the captain gets here. Maybe he can figure out what to do with the Doctor."

"You will do nothing of the sort!" Octavius said as the two cops walked towards him. He took a step back, but the two officers grabbed hold of him anyways. He tried to thrash his way free of their grip, but they managed to force him to the ground and get his hands behind his back.

"GET OFF OF ME!" He shouted, as he continued to try and fight his way free of their grip. "I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!"

Just then, Rosie walked out of the lab. Catching sight of what was happening, she ran over to him and said, "Otto, what are you doing? This isn't helping the situation!"

"I'm assuming this is your husband?" Briscoe asked her, looking down at the still-enraged Octavius with a cocked eyebrow.

Rosie did not respond as she said, tears streaming down her face again, "Please, you have to calm down. This really isn't helping the situation." She put one hand to the side of his face gently and said, "We can get through this. Just don't make the situation worse. Please."

At her words, he stopped struggling, all the fight suddenly gone out of him. The two officers helped him to his feet and put him in the back of the car. Briscoe asked him, pointing towards the Chameleon, "How did he get killed?"

Octavius did not respond.

"You're just not going to talk to me, are you?" Briscoe asked, leaning against the car. "Look, if you killed him, you can tell me. It would be better for you to tell me now than to have us try to reconstruct this entire scene only to find out later."

Still, no response.

Briscoe was about to say something else, but then Capt. Stacy arrived on the scene, his own siren splitting the night as he pulled up.

He got out of his own car and walked over to Det. Briscoe.

"I got here as fast as I could. What's the sit-"

His voice trailed off in mid-sentence as he caught sight of Octavius in the back seat of the squad car, his hands cuffed behind him, looking down at the floor, a scowl on his face.

"Excuse us for a minute, Doctor." the Capt. said, pulling Briscoe aside.

"Why is he in the back of the cop car?" Capt. Stacy asked, confused. "Isn't he the one we're trying to keep out of trouble?"

"Well sir, he won't talk to me, and we're trying to get information out of him-"

"Answer my question." Capt. Stacy ordered. "It is a very simple question, detective. Why do you have Octavius in the back of the car? When I got the call to rush over here, it said he was the attempted target of an assassination. You've got him handcuffed and shoved in there like he did something wrong."

Briscoe had to be careful of how to word this next statement. They were still within Octavius' earshot, after all.

"Well, I tried talking to him. He got angry and shoved me. And… I think he may killed someone here, tonight."

"Y-You what?" the Capt. asked, stunned.

"There are two dead people, here, as you undoubtedly saw." Briscoe replied, fumbling in his coat pocket for something. "One of them died by a gunshot wound. The other was beaten to death. And considering who the man who was shot happens to be…"

Capt. Stacy looked over at Curt. At what he saw, he was shocked all the more.

"I understand. I can see why you would think that." the Capt. said. "The two were very close friends. It seems likely that Octavius may have killed the other man in… What? A fit of rage, maybe?"

"That's what I was thinking."

"Let me try talking to him." the Capt. said, walking back over to the car.

"Doctor Octavius, I need to ask you a few questions about what happened. You think you can talk to me?"

"You, I can talk to." Octavius replied, although he did not look up at him.

"Did you… well, the other man dead… was he your doing?"

It was several seconds before Octavius said, in a near whisper, "Yes. I… I killed him. It happened so fast… I didn't have time to stop myself."

The Capt. seemed genuinely stunned by what he had been told. He had never imagined that Octavius was even capable of murder!

"I don't know what came over me…"

"So it was like temporary insanity?" the Capt. asked.

"That's exactly what it was!" Rosie interjected, walking up to Capt. Stacy. "I saw the entire thing! I tried to snap him out of it, but it's like he was a man possessed! It's like he didn't even hear me!"

"I see. There's only one thing for it, then." the Capt. said, motioning for Briscoe to come over to him. "Release him."

"B-But sir! He killed a man tonight!" Briscoe stammered, dumbstruck. Since when would Capt. George Stacy release a man who had killed someone!

"He killed a man in a temporary bout of insanity. He killed a man who was sent to kill him." the Capt. said, a stern look on his face. "Even if we couldn't plead temporary insanity, we could plead self-defense. I said release him."

"But-"

"Am I speaking in a foreign language!" Capt. Stacy shouted, snatching Briscoe up by the lapels of his jacket. "I am ordering you to release him from custody this very moment, or I will have you fired for insubordination! Is this understood!"

"No." Briscoe replied. "But I'll do it anyways."

He opened the door to the squad car and took a step back as Octavius got out of the car. He undid the cuffs from around his wrists and, almost as soon as he did, Octavius grabbed hold of him and shoved him against the car.

"You had better not pull a stunt like that again." he snarled, a wild look in his eyes. "I have been through hell tonight. My entire life has come crashing down around me. I do not need people like you making the situation worse."

He released him and stormed back towards the lab, trying to hide the full fury of his emotions. How could anyone take this much in one night?

There was one thing, though, that he knew as much as he'd ever known anything: that the catalyst behind this great big master plan was going to pay.

And he knew that, as long as his name was Otto Octavius, the man with pay with his life.