Chapter 8: The Waking World
They say, when you're in a coma, you don't dream. But you do. Ada dreamt a lot of things.
At first, most of them were typical dreams. Going to school in your underwear. Flying above the buildings. Surrounded by people but she was invisible.
But the longer, continuous dreams stayed with her.
She would be sitting in her local library, all by herself, reading all her favourite books. But some of them were blank and it was as if the words were just popping into her head.
Other times, the more frightening ones would occur. She would be back in the hospital bed after the shark attack. Nurses and doctors buzzing all around her. Her parents crying and begging someone to help. But when Ada spoke, no one heard her.
'Please, talk to me. What's happened? Where am I? Somebody, please listen!'
All her cries for help went unheard. She was so scared during those times.
But then she dreamed of Doctor Octavius. He would read books aloud to her and smile and not boss her around. And they weren't always in the lab. Sometimes, they'd be out on a boat in the middle of the calm sea. She'd never felt safer.
Unsure of how long she had been dreaming, Ada found herself at the top of a long winding staircase. She carefully made her way down, descending step after step but never tiring. It felt like days since she'd started to walk, but finally, at the bottom, she found a door with a neon 'EXIT' sign written over it.
She pushed the metal bar and let the door swing open. But where she expected light or even the outside world, she instead saw nothing but darkness. Thick, vibrating darkness.
And yet she knew she had to continue.
She shut her eyes and walked forward into the darkness. She could still feel it when she walked through. Like falling into choppy water that thickened around her. She continued to move forward, despite the treacle like substance holding her.
And finally, it moved and allowed her through.
But she could no longer move.
But her eyes slowly opened, and a blurry new world met her. The waking world. She felt groggy and her throat was a little dry, and that's how she knew she was awake.
Slowly, she looked around the room and realised she was not at home. It was a hospital room. Wasn't it? It looked a little odd on the outside beyond the glass.
Why was she here?
She shut her eyes for a bit and tried to remember what had happened. Her dreams had not been real, she'd had that feeling for a while, so what had been the last thing she remembered?
She had been talking with the Doctor inside the lab.
She was making headway in an experiment.
Her eyes opened again when she saw the face of an unfamiliar man flash across her mind.
"Oh."
She'd been attacked. She remembered Otto telling her briefly but not much more else came to her immediately. Maybe that was for the best.
So, they must have left her to sleep.
She lay there in the bed for a bit, feeling stiff and weak, but she was still able to move.
There wasn't a button in sight to call someone for help but when she turned her head, she could see a large jug of water and an empty glass on the stand by her bed and that spurred her on.
With a lot of groaning and repetitive pushes and pulls, she managed to sit herself up. She could see there was a needle in her arm, attached to an IV but wisely kept it in.
She carefully swiveled so she sat with her legs over the edge of the bed.
'First order of business.'
With shaking hands, she cautiously reached over and poured herself a cup of water. She made sure to keep both her hands on the jug and glass because she was spilling even when going slowly.
She took a hearty drink and finished it in one go. And then she had another and another until her throat was no longer dry or sore. When she put her glass down, she noticed her ID badge and immediately picked it up, tucking it into her shirt pocket.
Satisfied, she moved on to the next task.
"Ok," she took steady breaths and looked down at her feet, "I'll make you a deal. Don't give out on me and I'll buy those really comfy looking slippers we saw in the shop window. The ones that look like puffy clouds."
She stretched and pointed her toes, wiggling out the stiffness.
She placed both feet on the floor and bracing herself on the bed, pushed herself up.
"Woah," she shook and sat back down, "vertigo. Not good."
Another few tries and she almost fell, but she wasn't about to give up. She took one deep breath and pushed herself up, before quickly grabbing onto her nightstand and steadying herself.
"How long have I been lying down for?!"
She grabbed her IV carefully and began to wheel it with her, pushing down against it as she walked and hoping it would hold her weight.
She could do this. It felt like she was beginning to sweat from the exertion of standing, but she knew the more she moved, the more her body would loosen up and get used to it.
She hoped.
She made her way out of the room and looked around her.
"Hello?" She called out but no one answered.
At least she recognised where she was. Oscorp Industries medical bay. She'd only been there a few times for some allergy medication, but she remembered it fondly. But shouldn't there have been someone here? It took up the entire floor after all. Norman had always prepared for a worst-case scenario in the building and ensured the best possible medical care for all his staff.
"Anybody here?"
She was beginning to feel like a character in a horror movie and decided since no one was there to help her, she would just go find help herself.
She headed for the elevator and pressed the button, looking at the top over the numbers that showed the floors, and saw the clock.
"Eight AM? It must have been a long night."
She got in and hesitated before she pressed the floor she wanted. She wondered if the Doc would be in early. She pressed the floor for the lab and waited.
Just as the doors began to shut, she saw the nurse heading towards her desk, wiping her hands on a paper towel and apparently, jamming along to a song on her headphones.
'Oh well, I'll catch her on the way down.'
She waited patiently and hoped Otto wouldn't mind her attire. It seemed her mother had dressed her in a pair of her favourite blue pajamas. She knew it was her mother because she'd bought them for her and even buttoned them all the way up to her neck.
The elevator arrived with the little 'ping' and as the doors opened, she heard raised voices.
'What a greeting.'
A short while earlier…
Otto, as usual, had been unable to sleep for long and had come to the one place to find solace from his night terrors. It actually calmed him to be in the lab, though it was back to disorganised chaos with papers and books strewn about.
He rubbed at his tired face when the elevator pinged behind him but hadn't the heart to turn around and let his visitors in. Maybe if he looked really busy they'd go away?
The door opened anyway and he withheld a sigh.
"Good morning, Otto," Norman greeted him with a dour expression, hands in his pockets and tailed by two unlikely people.
Harry must have been there to support his father and Peter, to support Harry.
Otto had a bad feeling they were about to tell him to go back home.
"Morning, Norman," he nodded and put on his glasses, looking down at the book open in front of him, "to what do I owe the pleasure?"
The words in front of him were blurring, but he had to look deeply invested.
"Otto, I think you know why we're here."
He glanced up at the three and shrugged.
"Well, I can gather a few reasons why you are here, but I'm unsure about those two," he pointed to Peter, "and definitely not sure about Parker's motives."
"Otto, we need to talk about Miss Daly's treatment."
'Ah. Damn.'
Otto sighed and knew he couldn't get rid of him that easily. Or this topic.
He removed his glasses and looked at his boss, trying to gauge what he was going to say by his face.
"What about it? As far as I was aware, the nurse said-"
"The nurse isn't who matters," Norman's hands came up in a passive 'wait a moment' gesture, "it's the doctors. Otto, I know we said we'd wait, however-"
"Norman," Otto began to feel himself get irate just listening to Norman talk, "we DID agree we'd wait. Two weeks. It's been one-"
"And she still hasn't shown signs of waking up."
"Because we need to give it a chance to work!" Otto stood up now, slamming his hands down on his desk, "You can't expect her to suddenly wake up singing and dancing! Look!"
He grabbed one of the papers and came around to stand in front of Norman.
"I've read this a dozen times and it hasn't changed! Two weeks and-"
"Otto, I'm well aware of what it says-"
"Then WHY are we having this conversation?!"
"Because he's worried about you," Harry stepped forward, his face unusually stoic, "we all are. You're working twice as hard but on half the sleep and-"
"I HAVE been getting what sleep I can!"
Otto could no longer control himself now. In one swift flick, the papers flew off the desks and onto the floor, the claws waving almost erratically but in rhythm with his rage.
All three men moved around the wide space, trying to keep out of reach of his claws.
"How many times must I repeat myself?! I sleep, I eat, and I work and when I have MY time available, I use it to go see her! Someone must or she'll be alone!"
Despite his initial fear, Norman quickly sorted out his composure, adjusting his tie and stepping back toward his friend.
"Otto…I know how much she means to you. She's become part of this company and-"
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER LIKE SHE'S ONE OF YOUR DAMN DRONES!"
All were so focused on Otto's rage and claws, none of them heard the elevator ping, nor did they notice a figure walking by the glass.
"Otto, she's been on the serum for a week," Harry called out, trying to be reasonable, "the doctors said it would be wiser if they moved her and-"
"HANG WHAT THEY SAID!" One of the claws grabbed a chair and was just about to throw it towards the lab window, "SHE'S IN A COMA, SHE'S NOT DEAD AND SHE-"
"HEY!"
Everyone turned sharply at the loud cry from the doorway. And no one could say anything.
Otto wasn't sure if it was sleep deprivation, but his rational mind was whirring and trying to say that 'YES, IT IS'.
Because there she was.
Ada.
Just standing there, in her pajamas. Her hair was disheveled, and she was pale and clinging to her IV. But she had that frustrated expression on her face like Otto had asked her to go over a paper for the third time.
"Is this how you greet someone who just woke up from a coma?" She seemed a little shaky and her voice was croaky, "I don't know how long I've been asleep for, but I'm sure there are more appropriate ways...to say….hi….I feel a bit funny. My legs are tired."
Dropping the chair unceremoniously on the opposite side of the room, Otto ran straight to her. Without asking or even waiting to see if she was about to collapse, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
She leaned her full weight on him, one hand still shakily clinging to her IV, whilst the other came around his back.
She shuddered and made a noise that might have been a cry or a giggle, he wasn't sure.
"Wow, my legs feel like jelly. Otto."
She'd never called him that before. And regardless of the company (which he didn't care about anyway), he actually felt like crying.
"Oh, Ada," he shut his eyes and held onto her.
"I hope you're not expecting me to clean up the lab. It's so messy."
The other three looked on in surprise and bemusement as Otto laughed loudly. A sound, that in all their time working with him, they'd never heard him make before.