Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin
Chapter 14: Meeting with the Apes Part 1
"GET BACK HERE YOU SUNNAVA BITCH," I roared after the thief. They were ahead of me by a several yards. Despite the relatively thick crowd on the streets, the thieving asshole seemed to slip on by easily. Me, on the other hand…
"HEY, watch where you're going!"
"Ooof! Excuse you!"
"Woah! Watch where you're going!"
With all these people in the way, it was hard for me to keep up with the guy without knocking over anyone in the way.
"Sorry! Coming through! Watch out! Sorry! Sorry! Outta the way," I shouted/apologized. I didn't really pay much attention to the people around me. I was so focused on the asshole that took my m- Pascale's last gift to Isaac. I had to get it back! I had to! I had to!
I don't know how long I chased after him. By the time the crowd had cleared, we reached an area with a couple of trees. With people out of the way, I began to pump my legs. Slowly, I was gaining on him. I was just about to reach him when he did something completely out of left field.
He jumped, straight up to a tree and somehow, kept running.
"What the f- oh god dammit!" I pushed on. With the thief jumping this way and that through the trees, it was getting harder to track him. I considered trying to get into the trees myself, but the way the thief was moving told me that I would only be giving him an even bigger advantage. I briefly considered my 'extra appendages,' but dismissed that because a) we were in a relatively public place and b) I didn't have much in the way of practice with using them for movement or fighting.
'I'm going to have to rectify that at some point. With everything else going on, I need to learn to work with them.'
Putting that thought aside, I kept up the pace as best as I could as I chased after the thief. Soon enough, the trees came to a stop and the guy jumped down and kept going before pulling himself over a wall on which I could see a sign: Central Park Zoo.
Stopping for a second, I looked around. 'Central Park… how long have we been going.' I looked up at the sky, right now it looked like sunset was coming soon and if I recalled correctly this place was going to close at around 5. 'Shit! I need to find that asshole and soon.'
Looking around myself, I checked to see that no one was watching and that there were no cameras around. Once I was sure that no one was looking, I lifted my shirt and focused on my back. I shuddered as that strange sensation that came with moving my tentacles went up my back. Looking around again to make sure that I didn't have eyes on me, I focused on the upper two tentacles. The two appendages grabbed onto the top of the wall and slowly they began to lift me up. At the top I peeked over and looked around. Once I was sure the coast was clear I went over, lowered myself down and drew my tentacles back in, with no small amount of shuddering.
'Gonna need to get used to that sooner or later.' Putting that thought aside, I began to walk around. Fortunately, there were not many people around and no one seemed to be looking my way. Moving along, I kept an eye out for the thief while keeping an eye out for any security. It would have been really awkward if someone asked me to show them tickets, but right now I feel like I had to risk it. I needed to get that necklace back. I needed to… I needed… I froze as I caught something in the distance just off to my left.
'There you are!' I could see the guy heading to the tropical zone. Going at a brisk pace, I went after him. As I got closer, I spotted him going around the structure towards the back. When he disappeared around the corner, I began to slow down. It was only then that I noticed that there wasn't anyone around.
With that observation, it dawned on me just how… precarious this situation was for me. Here I was, on my own in the middle of the zoo (without a ticket), chasing after some strange weirdo, who stole my stuff out of nowhere.
"Oh god dammit, here I am as a relatively easy target, without any sort of backup in case anything goes wrong. Great going, Octavius, great fucking going!" I held my head in my hands as all of this hit me. Considering that I have two (or three depending on if this was my family) organizations out for my blood, running off like that without Azelea was really stupid. And speaking of said mage/cop, I winced as I realized that he was going to be very sore at me leaving him behind.
I thought of what to do for a moment. I should probably call him, if only to have him for back up for whatever was going on here. Yeah, he was probably going to chew me out, but honestly it was better than going on alone, as it were. Slowly taking out my phone, it was only then that I realized that I had missed several calls. I winced as I realized that they were from Azelea. Taking a deep breath, I bit the bullet and dialed his number.
After a few rings I got through. "Hello," came Azelea's voice, "is this Isaac I'm speaking to?"
Even over the phone, I could tell that he was trying very hard not to explode. Biting the bullet I responded. "Uh, yeah… it's me Isaac."
"…I see… so can I assume that you are not currently being held prisoner in some dark remote place at the moment," he asked, sounding alarmingly calm.
"Um… yeah, I'm… I'm good."
"Oh… okay… that's good." He took a deep breath, and I immediately extended the phone away from my ear.
"YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK WHERE YOU THINKING, JUST RUNNING OFF LIKE THAT?! YOU DO REMEMBER YOU'RE SITAUTION, RIGHT?! WHY, OH WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT RUNNING OFF ON YOUR OWN LIKE THAT WAS A PERFECTLY GOOD IDEA?! FOR FUCK'S SAKE, EXERCISE SOME GODDAMN CAUTION! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH OF A HEART ATTACK YOU GAVE ME JUST NOW?!"
I slowly put the phone back towards my ear. "Sorry… it's just… it's the necklace… my- my mom gave it to me…"
"…oh, for fuck's sake… where are you?"
"I'm at the central park zoo, by the tropical area."
"…right hold on, I'll be over there soon. Don't go anywhere, please." He hung up. After a few seconds, I heard the sound of a sling ring portal opening up. A small hole opened up and I could see Azelea's head poke through it. After making sure the coast was clear, the man opened the portal wider and stepped through it.
"Over here," I shouted towards him. When he spotted me, his face went flat, and I barely fought off wince as he marched over.
When he stood before me, he gave me a very displeased stare. After a few seconds of this, his shoulders slumped as he sighed, hanging his head. When he looked back up at me, he seemed more annoyed at the moment. "…okay, given that we are taking about a keepsake from one of you parents, I'm going to give you a pass for this act of recklessness." He stood up straighter as his face set into a frown. "That being said, for the love of GOD, please try to show some caution."
I nodded. "Yessir, I… will try not to run off like that again."
After staring me down for a few seconds, Azelea nodded. "Okay, that'll have to do for now." He looked around. "So, I take it the thief is around here somewhere."
I pointed to around the corner. "Yeah, he went around the back."
Looking towards the direction I was pointing at; Azelea began to move cautiously. "This way huh?"
"Yeah, that's where he went." I followed after him.
He turned towards me. "Okay, so listen to me carefully. I can already guess that telling you to wait here is probably going to be pointless. So, I need you to stick close to me alright?" When I nodded, he went on. "Right let's go and find this guy."
As we rounded the corner, we both stopped in surprise as we say the guy in rags, standing in front of what looked like a hidden manhole. I felt my breath hitch as he looked at us over his shoulder and held out my necklace. Then, he beckoned us over with shake of his head before jumping into the manhole.
"…was he waiting this entire time," Azelea asked, sounding as incredulous as I felt.
"…I think so," was all I could think to say.
Azelea slowly approached the manhole, looking around the area. With no one looking, he created a small ball of light and dropped it down into the manhole. After taking a second look around for anyone else, he then created a portal to the area being lit up below. "Stay close," he said as he stepped through. Glancing around for a bit I followed him. When we were both through, he closed the portal, and above us the manhole automatically shut itself closed.
We looked up, then at each other. "Be careful and watch your back," he instructed. I nodded, then lifted up the back of my shirt. Concentrating for a bit, I felt the tentacles in my back slither out then curl around me in a loose defensive position.
Azelea stood there for a moment, then shrugged before moving forward, the ball of light floating in front of him.
"So… someone has been doing some off the books renovating here," I observed. This place had all the makings of some sort of secret bunker. The area we were in was a rather spacious tunnel dug up and lined with concrete and metal supports along the floor, walls and ceiling. Wires lined the area connecting to fluorescent lights that lit up as we went further and further into the tunnel. We could also see cameras tracking our movements. So, it was likely that whoever that guy was, he knew we were coming.
Next to me, Azelea nodded, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "Yeah, this was definitely not part of the Zoo's official design plan. Someone has been very busy for a while given some of the dusting I can spot. Be ready for anything." He picked up the pace and I followed behind.
The path went on in a slant for some time. I didn't know how long exactly, but I got the feeling that it was well past 5. Eventually we came to a pair of big electric doors and stopped.
"…what the hell is this?" I felt my face twist in confusion. "How the hell did anyone build this kind of place, without anyone noticing."
"Yeah, it is rather alarming that a place like this could be built under Central Park without anyone taking notice." Azelea stepped forward, glowing runes circling around one of his hands. "How did this escape our notice? From what I can tell, the materials needed to build such a place are definitely not cheap. Not to mention the fact that it's getting power from somewhere. The people in charge of keeping the power going should have flagged this a lot sooner." He turned to me a hand on his hip, his face screwed up in consternation.
"Do you think, maybe those weirdos in armor might have something to do with this," I asked.
Azelea, thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. "No… I don't think so. When we raided their base that they were stationed at, we made sure to thoroughly look through any files that were stashed there. Nothing in those records lead us to believe that they might have been constructing a new base within the area."
"What about Clan Akkaba?"
He shood his head. "No… something like this doesn't really fit their M.O. From our own records, it's been noted that members of Clan Akkaba have always gravitated towards more… luxurious lodgings. An underground base like this doesn't fit their overall sense of aesthetic."
"Do you think we should be ready for violence," I asked.
Before Azelea could respond a new voice popped up. "There is no need to worry about a physical altercation."
We whipped around looking for the source. Eventually, our eyes landed on a camera with a speaker underneath it. We glanced at each other.
"Who are you," Azelea inquired.
"…we are a… concerned party… who seek to ensure Isaac's well-being," came the voice's reply.
Azelea's eyes narrowed. "Really now? You'll have to excuse me if I'm a little bit skeptical considering that we're currently somewhere underground in a hidden bunker that no one seems to know about. Also, with everything going on, that you know Isaac's name is a bit of a red flag. I'm thinking that I should bring the rest of the force to deal with this."
"Wait!" There was definitely some alarm from the voice now… along with several other noises going in the back. "Let me assure you that we mean you no harm. We have taken to living here as a matter of safety."
"Safety," Azelea asked. "And what exactly do you need safety for?"
"…we… have experienced great hardship at the hands of truly vile people. It was only due to the kindness of Ms. Pascale Laveau and her partner Octavius that we were able to escape."
At the mention of Otto and Pascale, we both perked up. "Alright, who the hell are you guys," I snapped at the voice. "And what the hell does any of this have to do with stealing my necklace?!"
"…perhaps… it would be best if we explain ourselves directly to you face to face…" Suddenly, there was a hiss as the doors in front of us slid open and I had to cover my eyes at the sudden brightness of the light coming from within. Next to me I heard Azelea bit out a curse, as he was hit with the sudden increase in brightness as well.
As my eyes cleared, I took notice of… screeching and… roars? When my eyes finally cleared, my brain actually froze at the sight before me. The area beyond the cavern was a large finely carved cavern; from here I could see a series of dwellings made of metal and brick that resembled apartment complexes like the ones in the streets above, roads that stretched back as far as my eye could see and several electric billboards spread out through the area. All of this would have been impressive and commanded our attention given our current location underground.
What had our attention, however, was the hoard of fucking apes running about the place! There were baboons, chimps, gorillas, orangutans of different breeds here and there rushing around all over the place!
"What. The. Fuck?" Distantly, I registered Azelea's voice; it sounded like he was just as stupefied as I was by this sudden curve ball.
We could only stand there as the apes continued scurrying about until one of them, a chimp, noticed up and began to really start screeching.
"AH! AH! AH!" It pointed at us jumping up and down.
"Oooh… ooh! Oooh! Ooooh!"
"Roaaaaaaaaaaargh!"
"Agh! Agh! Agh! Aaaaaaagh!"
Suddenly feeling outnumbered, Azelea and I began to take several steps back in preparation to hightail it, before the voice from before spoke up again.
"EVERYONE, PEACE, PLEASE!" At the sudden shout, the gathering of apes began to calm down. Slowly they began to back away leaving a half circle of space where Azelea and I stood at the entrance to this cavern. From the back of the crowd four individual apes stepped forward and approached us. One was an orangutan, wearing a metallic color around its neck. To its left was a very big gorilla ambling somewhat behind. To the right of the orangutan, was a chimp with glowing blue eyes. Finally, behind those three was a baboon, dressed in rags… wait…
"Hold on… those rags," I started, but the orangutan in front of me held up a hand.
"Greetings, good sirs," its voice came from the collar, which I could now see was equipped with a speaker. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Peotor." It gestured to the Gorilla. "This is Miklho." It then pointed to the chimp. "This is Yaroslav." It then indicated the baboon. "And finally, this is Igor."
"Huh…" That was all I could really get out, my mind trying but failing spectacularly to process what was going on right now. I was only partially aware that Azelea's mouth was flapping open and close, so it seemed like he would be no good for now either.
"I am sorry for the earlier inconvenience with Igor, but this was possibly the only time we would be able to approach you without drawing unwanted attention to us." The orangutan took a bow. "As an apology, allow us to provide you with both refreshments and an explanation for who we are and what we are doing here."
Author's Note:
Okay so I recently got a review a couple of days ago from TrumpasaurusRex complaining about Isaac and the 'power sources' in the MCU.
Let's talk about each one and the issues that come with them.
Erskine's formula:
-As noted by Erskine himself, 'good becomes great, bad becomes worse.'" In other words, a person's personality traits good and bad are heightened significantly. As we have seen throughout the MCU, most people who survive the process, tend to take a turn for the worse:
- The Flag Smashers: Resort to Terrorism and Murder - That's not good
- John Walker: Minutes after taking it, he straight up murders a surrendering combatant in front of a crowd who livestream it; a war crime if I recall correctly - Definitely not good.
- Those Hydra agents given the formula developed by Howard Stark: They all immediately go on a murderous rampage and have to be frozen indefinitely - Not Good.
- Emil Blonsky: Even before having Bruce Banner's blood added to him, he was showing signs of increased aggression and forced Dr. Samual Sterns into giving him that injection, which led to him becoming the Abomination... DEFINITELY not good.
Oh, speaking of Howard: Let's talk about some of the guys who developed a version of the Formula
-Dr. Erskine: Shoot dead within seconds of Steve's successful enhancement, despite being surrounded by Military Personnel
-Howard Stark: This is a man who was one of the richest men in the world at the time of his death; he likely could have afforded the best security in the world and arm them with the best weapons money could buy... Still ends up dead at the hands of the Winter Soldier.
-Dr. Wilfred Nagel: Literally killed within minutes of his appearance by Helmut Zemo in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
There is also the matter of whether or not the person could survive the process.
-As explained by Isaiah Bradley from The Falcon and Winter Soldier, most of the guys who were part of the same experiment that enhanced him immediately died. Of those who survived the process, he was the only one who didn't die sometime later. Even then, Isiah ended being held prisoner and tortured and experimented on for decades before escaping.
Moving on from that, there's the issues with the Extremis Virus:
-There is a non-zero chance that it could cause you to blow up spontaneously - I don't know about you, but I'd be wary of the kind of superpower granting virus that comes with the downside of potentially blowing up at any given moment.
-Is currently being hoarded by Aldrich Killian. That would mean that Isaac would have to contend with a man who has no problem turning people into living bombs and having them blow up in a crowd of innocent people. He also shot Maya Hansen; the woman that had originally designed the virus in the first place.
-So yeah, that's out.
Heart-Shaped Herb: he would have to somehow sneak his way into Wakanda, grab one the herbs, find a way to preserve it, get out of Wakanda, and hopefully not leave a trail for a pissed-off Black Panther to follow - yeah, not happening.
The less said about the dangers of trying to mix these things the better (See Emil Blonsky).
So, the these 'Tried and Trusted' sources of powers are not as 'Tried and Trusted' as you think.
As for Otto's death, you clearly didn't read through the chapter because it has been plainly stated that his experimental design was not the cause of death. Also, unlike with the Ten Rings, HYDRA would have people who would be much more competent when it comes to technology, like Armin Zola, who would thus be able to figure if Otto tried to pull a fast one on them.
I swear, in almost every single MCU related fic it's always the same, grab all the super-powers, all the gadgets, grab the stones, etc., etc. I would love to see a fic where trying this ends up with the would-be superhuman being mutated into some horrid abomination due to all this stuff mixing together badly.
Seems to me that the one lacking in imagination is you, Mr. TrumpasaurusRex.
Sorry readers, but I had to get that off my chest.