Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin

Chapter 19: Family Reunion Part 1

It was almost time… Tomorrow was the meeting with Remy. There I was sitting in the lab at the worktable… my arm extended as H2H held it in place with one arm… the other holding a familiar syringe.

I had ultimately decided to go and inject the nanites I had made into myself… Ever since I had woken up in this world, I had been working on making them over literal months with most of the money I could scrap together going to them. I had poured hours into reading everything on nanotechnology, watching video lectures going to whatever seminars I could in my spare time. Then I had spent almost every waking second not devoted to the batteries, H2H, working and exercising to making the nanomachines that I was about to inject into myself.

…this was desperation; no two ways about it. I didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow at that diner. When I had started working on those nanomachines, I had hoped to make something similar to the defenses of Armstrong from Metal Gear at the least. But that had been a goal for some time in the future, after I had established a lab worthy of a brilliant mind.

Not to say that Otto's lab was subpar or anything like that; it had definitely helped me with improving my inventions over the past few days. Hell, the improved batch of nanites that I was about to inject myself with was only possible for me to make because I had access to Otto's lab. Hopefully, these nanites would actually be able to provide an actual defense and some kind of recovery in case a fight broke out and I could not get out of the way fast enough.

"…I'm rambling," I realized. "Of course, I'm rambling; I'm scared… I have no idea if these nanites will actually be of use or if I'm deluding myself as a coping mechanism." I took several breaths to in an attempt to calm my nerves. It was only then that I noticed that I was shaking. It took several minutes of deep breathing before I finally stopped shaking. Closing my eyes, I took the plunge.

"H2H… administer the nanite shot."

"CONFIRMED." With that, two of the Octo-arms extended from H2H. One wrapped around my mid-section to hold me still and the other replaced the hand that the android had used to hold down my arm at the wrist. With both hands free, H2H carefully aimed at a vein in my arm and then slowly pushed the needle in. I tried not to flinch as the android administered the shot and began counting in my head until the sensations centered around my arm stopped. Carefully, H2H sealed up the entry point and then stepped back.

"ADMINISTRATION COMPLETE." At that I opened my eyes and stared at the gauze pad which was held to my arm via the medical tape. Waving my arm a bit I stared at it for a bit before turning to the computer set up next to me. On it a flow of information began to fly by as the nanites sent information to the computer. "…I honestly can't believe I went through with it… heh… hehehehehe… hahahaha… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" I couldn't help it. Something about this whole thing seemed to kinda… flip a switch in me (for lack of better phrase).

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA-!"

bzzzzzt* *bzzzzzt* *bzzzzzt*

My laughing stopped as I looked over to the clock. "…hah… hah… hah… 11:00 P.M.," I breathed. "Well… time to go to sleep…" Turning to H2H I gave the order to shut down. "H2H, we're shutting down for the night, do a self-diagnostic check, then power down."

"CONFIRMED."

After changing into some sleepwear, I got into the sleeping bag a little over the way. "Let's just hope… everything will… will go alright." Eventually, I felt myself drift off.

"Are you sure you're ready for this," Azelea asked for the fifth time. I would have been annoyed by the constant questions if it wasn't for the fact that I wasn't quite sure even now.

We were outside a place called Smokie's (not exactly an inspired name) in Chelsea. It didn't look like much. For the most part it seemed rather quaint from the outside, and if it wasn't for the meeting about to take place, I probably would have been fine eating here. As it was, I was pretty sure that this would be both the first and last time I ever went to this place. Taking a deep breath, I glanced over at Azelea and shrugged. "Honestly, probably not, but we might as well get this over with and listen to what the man has to say."

"Right, fair enough," Azelea agreed. He took a moment to look around, nodding slightly to the mages stationed around the area. They had been kind enough to keep watch of the place from the moment Remy had asked to meet with me. So far as they could all tell nothing was off about the place. All the employees had been vetted and there was no record of wrongdoing, both mundane and mystical.

"Let's get going then." Azelea began to walk over to the diner and after a moment of hesitation I was quick to follow.

Somewhere within Niger, in a cave normally hidden from the human eye, the Ancient One and several other mages found themselves in the middle of combat.

"THEY HAVE BROKEN PAST OUR BARRIERS! WE MUST RETREAT TO-GUKKK!" The Sorcerer Supreme quickly silenced the man with a quick jab just beneath his sternum. Immediately after she darted to her left dodging a swing from a machete before swinging around to deliver a palm strike to the attacker's chin. While the man was stunned, she grabbed his right wrist and twisted hard, popping bones out of place and forcing the man to drop the blade while he screamed in agony. Sensing danger, she erected a barrier with her left hand just in time to stop a ball of flame. With her right hand she conjured a whip and lashed out at the one who had attacked her. The mage was quickly ensnared, preventing a second attempt to conjure fire. The Ancient One tugged hard on the whip pulling the mage to her and then flipped them over her shoulder into the ground before stomping on their head.

"WE'VE GOT YOU NOW!"

"DIE, YOU PALE BITCH!"

On either side of her, two men held up rifles, preparing to shoot. A quick wave of her hand and portals to her left and right appeared just as the men opened fire. The hail of bullets passed through and struck the shooters on both ends dead.

With a sigh, the Ancient One rolled her neck a bit and observed the situation. All around her, the mages of the Kamar-Taj were making short work of the men that had been guarding the different pathways throughout the cave. In the distance she could spot Kaecilius currently engaged with two other guards, one wielding a sword made out of crystal and the other wielding a plain knife. All round him, several other cultists were dispatched.

The current Sorcerer Supreme turned her gaze downward towards the mage under her foot. Her nose wrinkled somewhat at the sight of an empty gaze. "To think, you could have done so much more with the right guidance."

Behind her another cultist crept up to her, a knife in hand. Before the Ancient One could respond to her would-be attacker, another intervened.

"RAAAAWWWWRRRRR!"

"WHAT THE FU-GACCKKK!" The cultist was slammed into the ground into the ground by Yaroslav. The chimp quickly followed up the maneuver by slamming a ball of energy into the cultist's face, putting them down for good.

"Thank you for the assist," the Ancient One nodded.

Yaroslav returned the gesture. "You are quite welcome." The chimp looked around. "Well, it would seem that your mages have things well in hand. Shall we proceed?"

"Of course." With that, the mage and chimp moved forward deeper into the cavern. All around them the noise began to die down as the cultists were overwhelmed by the other mages. Upon coming up to a fork in the road, the Ancient One turned to Yaroslav. "Which way do we go now?" The Sorcerer Supreme was rather grateful for the chimp's presence. Even this close, her senses were having some difficulty in pinpointing the location of the ritual site. Fortunately, Yaroslav's unique ability to harness and convert energy also came with the ability to see past any veil and locate the source.

The empowered chimp pointed to the right. "That way. I can feel the flow coming from that way." The chimp leaned forward a bit. "In fact, I think we are close to the source of this awful energy."

The Ancient One stepped forward. "Very well. Let's put an end to this." With that she went forward, Yaroslav and several mages were quick to follow.

Eventually the group came to a door at the end of the path. The Ancient One frowned at the foul miasma enshrouding it. "This power… it's definitely from that dark entity."

Next to her, Kaecilius shifts in discomfort from the malevolent power. "Ancient One…" When she turned to him, he went on. "This power… this is the same force that has attacked you, yes?"

She nodded. "Indeed Kaecilius, it's the very same."

Looking a bit nervous, the mage went on. "If it is behind this door, then… then how do you intend to face it?"

Allowing herself a small smile, she took a moment to address his and her other students' concerns. "Before this week, I had no idea, to be quite frank." She lifted her hand to stall the panicked responses. "Fortunately, thanks to Mrs. Octavius and Yaroslav here, we may have what we need to put an end to the threat before it can get loose." The Sorcerer Supreme then pulled out Isaac's necklace. "Yaroslav, if you would."

The chimp nodded. "Of course." He then clasped his hand around the necklace in her hand and began to glow. As the strange but pleasant energy began to flow through her, the Ancient One channeled it into her spell. The circle of magic which had originally had a golden glow to them suddenly turned into a brilliant kaleidoscope of colors. Power began to flow out of the circle to the door. Immediately, the dark miasma dissipated in the presence of the radiant light. Eventually, the door began to rumble before slowly sliding into the wall.

Once the entrance was open, the group quickly made way into the chamber.

The Ancient One suddenly finds herself at a loss at the sight. "…I was unsure what to expect when going through the caves, but this…" Where before the cavern had seemed like it had been carved out of rock centuries ago, the room beyond the door more resembled a large operating theatre better fit for a sci-fi setting. All across the floors and walls and ceiling, lines wove in and out into the architecture, with streams of glowing green script moving around.

"What in the world…," one of the mages uttered, and the Ancient One found herself agreeing with the sentiment. If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn she had walked onto a set from Tron.

"Look! There!" Yaroslav, having kept his wits about him, pointed. "In the center!" As one, the mages turned to where the chimp pointed, and several of them hissed or gasped. The Ancient One, for her part, felt her lips press into a thin line. At the very bottom of the room was an ornate table made of some silver material that she could not identify. On that slab, surrounded by a very thick cloud of that same foul miasma, was a dried-up corpse in frayed rags, nailed to the table by both feet and hands.

She turned to Kaecilius. "Kaecilius, take several mages here and scour the rest of these caverns, check for any traps or hidden cultists."

"Yes, Ancient One!" Kaecilius quickly moved to follow his master's orders.

"Those remaining, keep watch, there may be unexpected surprises within this room."

"Yes, Ancient One!" The remaining mages quickly went about investigating the room.

"Yaroslav," the Ancient addressed the chimp, "if you would, I may need your assistance once again."

"Very, I will help however I can." Both the Sorcerer Supreme and chimp quickly moved to the corpse.

"It's so good to see you nephew! Look how much bigger you got!" …barely a few seconds in, and I was already regretting every choice that has led to this moment. My… uncle, Remy Laveau, was a somewhat reedy man, currently dressed in black jean jacket and pants, with a plain white shirt underneath and flat cap. He had a dark complexion marked by a few light patches of skin on his hand and neck. Brown eyes under scraggly black hair looked me over in what I figured was an attempt at being warm but seemed a bit off. For all that he was likely part of a cult, he seemed like a normal enough guy. Were it not for current circumstances, I might have been able to get along with the man. However, considering everything that was going on, I was on edge.

"…hello," was about all I could get out. I looked around a bit at the restaurant. We were the only ones in the diner at the moment, so there wouldn't be anyone getting in harm's way if things went south. That was good. Right now, I feel like something was about to go down.

"Hey, what's wrong," he asked, "no need to be so shy; I'm your uncle." The man made to reach out, but a sharp cough and glare from Azelea put a stop to that. Leaning back into his seat, Remy tried idle talk again. "So, how have you been? What have you been up to?"

"…I'm alright. Right now, I'm… studying." I… really did not want to be here.

"Studying," Remy nodded, "that's good. You do good in school?"

"I'm… getting ready for college," I managed to get out.

Remy's eyebrows shot up. "College? Already, how old are you?"

"…13…"

Remy leaned forward in his seat, his eyes wide. "13?! And you already going to college?! Bondye! What you going to college for?"

"…robotics, engineering and possible biochemistry."

"Oh my! Look at you!" Remy leaned back again, looking rather impressed. "You gonna be super smart scientist?! You gonna make flying cars and robots, or somethin' like that?"

"…already made a robot."

Remy leaned forward again, his eyes wide again. "Really?! When?!"

"A few months ago."

"Hey! Look at you, already made yourself a robot!" The man looked around. "You got it here?"

"No, it's not here." H2H was currently outside with Wolfe observing from a distance. I had debated having him come inside along with me, but ultimately decided to have him stick to Wolfe for now. If anything happened… well, I had several safety measures ready.

Remy shrugged. "Oh, okay, it would have been nice to see it, but I guess-"

"Okay!" Azelea suddenly interrupted. "Enough with the small talk!" Pressing hands onto the table, Azelea gave Remy a cold hard stare. "What do you want?"

Remy blinked. "I just wanted to talk with my nephew and-"

"Oh, cut the crap," Azelea snapped in a low voice. "You and I know that you aren't here for small talk. Just tell us what you're really after so we can put an end to this farce!"

Remy, now looking agitated, snapped back. "What is wrong with you?! Why do you treat me like I'm some kind of criminal?!"

"Probably because you are," Azelea snarked. "I just don't have the evidence for it yet."

"Excuse me?! Me?! A criminal?!" Remy looked more and more angry. "I just wanted to check on my nephew and see how he's doing and that makes me a criminal?!"

Azelea leaned back in his seat, raising one of his eyebrows. "No… I'd say that consorting with a dark god, and the twisted rituals would make you a criminal."

Remy recoiled, as if struck. "Da- dark god? You think I'm-," Remy tried to go on, but Azelea once again interrupted.

"On no." Azelea held up a finger. "We don't think, we know you and your family is consorting with a dark god. Pascale was kind enough to inform us. We also know that you want to use Isaac for a vessel."

Remy, looking alarmed, shook his head. "No, nonononono! I just want to make sure that my nephew is fine!"

"Really," I spoke up, "last time, we met face to face, you didn't really seem to care so much about me. Instead, you were more focused on these." I pointed to my eyes. "In fact, you went on about how these eyes of mine changed everything for you." I bored into the man sitting across the table. "Now, I won't pretend to be an expert in psychology or anything like that, but that indicates to me that you were more interested in what I could do for you rather than me being your nephew." I took a moment to bite into my pancakes. Next to me Azelea's face became more and more grim.

"That- that, I was just visiting Pascale because- because…" Remy stammered for a bit. "I just wanted to see her. It's been so long we talked… and I wanted to make sure she was okay. I've always looked out for her since we were children, and I wanted to make sure that she was fine with that man she was with."

Suddenly, feeling heated, I put my fork and knife down. "Really, always looked out for her… like you did with Antione," I asked, my face going flat.

Remy blinked. "What? Antione?"

I nodded stiffly. "Yeah, Antione, the piece of shit, that you guys tried to set her up with?"

"Woah," Azelea held up a hand, confusion on his face. "Who's Antione?"

Without looking at him I answered. "Antione was apparently some guy that my mom's parents tried to set her up with. The thing is, Antione apparently didn't understand the concept of boundaries and tried to force himself on my mother!"

Both of the men looked shocked for a moment before Azelea turned a frosty glare to Remy. "Really now? Well, that's certainly not good, is it?"

Remy waved his hands in a panic. "Wai-waitwaitwaitwaitwait! I- I had nothing to do with any of that! Fuck, I didn't know any of that! I can't be blamed for that! I mean- I mean- I mean if Pascale had not been so rebellious, then maybe she wouldn't have brought that on herself!"

Eyes widening, jaw going slack, it took me several seconds to process what this piece of shit just said. Distantly, I could hear Azelea say something caustic about "victim-blaming." Closing my eyes, I counted to 10, taking deep breaths.

...

'You know what? Fuck this guy.' I opened my eyes and lifted a hand. "Check please!"

Remy, who had been going back and forth with Azelea, snapped to me. "Wait, what?!"

Glowering at the man, I repeated myself. "Check please!"

The bastard raised his hands. "Wait! Hold on! You can't go!"

"Actually, yes he can, and he will," Azelea snapped at him, getting up.

"Bu- but, what about Clan Akkaba and the witch-hunters," Remy tried.

"What about them," Azelea responded.

"They- they're hunting us! He can't go! We need him," Remy pleaded, his eye shifting around.

"The Baker Street Bulldogs," Azelea muttered lowly, "will take care of that. Isaac, on the other hand, does not need you. So, we'll be taking our leave now."

"Wai-waitwaitwaitwaitwait! But you can't just leave us like this," Remy begged.

"We can and we will," Azelea repeated, irritated.

"E-excuse me," a new voice interrupted us. We all turned to person, to find a waitress with a bob-cut. Staring at us with wide green eyes she pulled out a slip of paper. "You-your check."

I took it from her. Looking Remy dead in the eye, I finally found the words to express myself. "Fuck you. Fuck you, your family and everyone involved in whatever it is your doing. This is the last time we speak to each other. I gave you a chance to make your case and you blew it."

Remy hung his head. "…no… no… dear nephew… I… did not come all this way just to lose this one chance." Then suddenly, with far faster reflexes than I expected, the man latched onto the slip of paper and spoke harshly: "𓂋𓅂𓏏𓅲𓂋𓈖!" Suddenly the paper began to glow!

"What the Fu-," was all I managed to get out before I found myself in a void of nothing and then a clearing. Feeling disoriented, I shook my head to try and get my bearings.

"Hurry! Do it," someone shouted. There was a sharp pain in my neck and then I knew nothingness…