Police Headquarters
About an hour after the hostage crisis at One Bryant Park, Otto Octavius stands in the center of the police precinct in Manhattan, looking around and watching all the officers get to work. He paces around the room, studying the others, before he quickly takes out his phone and opens an app he developed. He installs a virus into the mainframe and allows himself to insert a fake profile into the database.
Now, the police had a name and police ID to match the so-called undercover cop Spidey killed just an hour or two ago. Now, the police will be even more determined to bring down Spider-Man. Finally, the moment has come and now, he can finally get to use the genius invention he had those good-for-nothing nerds at Empire Statue University cook up for him. Unfortunately, he had to use it on Spider-Man but it will only cement his legacy.
In a way, this was better because had he gone with his first instinct to use this device, he would've been looked at weirdly so Spider-Man gives him an excuse. He should thank the wall-crawler the next time he sees him.
Walter walks into the common area. "Otto, we're ready for you."
Octavius follows Walter into the conference room where several police officers and FBI agents fill the room, each one looking determined.
Walter decides to speak up first once they're in front of the evidence board, which is adorned with images of Spider-Man. He stands with Octavius by his side. "Ladies and gentlemen, glad you all could make it. As you can see, we have some very special guests joining us today. Meet the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
"Fibees," an officer yelps. "A pleasure to meet you."
The FBI agents look at the officers with disdain.
"I have a feeling in a while, it won't be a pleasure," one of the agents warns.
"He's right," Octavius nods. "It won't be a pleasure."
"Can it," Walter orders. "Now then, let's begin, shall we?" He looks around the room, making sure he has each one's attention. "Now then, here's the deal, after our boys working with our undercover cops discovered that one of the hostage takers at One Bryant Park was an undercover cop, the mayor looked over the evidence and he decided that Spider-Man should not be given leniency. He should be brought to justice, to show everyone that no matter what his intentions are or how he carries out his actions, vigilantism is still a crime. Look at what his vigilantism cost us. One of our own that went undercover."
Octavius nods.
"We're going to take the war to Spider-Man now. That means he is now our top priority, the most high-profile case the NYPD has had in a long time."
"Hell yeah," a cop smirks, "once we capture Spider-Man, I can retire early."
"You're not going to be catching him," Walter shoots him down, "the capture efforts are going to be at the hands of the FBI. And the agent leading the FBI will be this man right here, Special Agent Otto Octavius."
Octavius smiles. "Thank you for that fine introduction." He steps forward, making sure all eyes are on him. "Thank you all for having me. I believe no introductions are needed."
"What makes you so special, Octavius?" a young officer asks while raising his hand.
Octavius freezes as if he had been stabbed in the gut. "Is that supposed to be a joke? You don't know who I am?"
"Uh, no, sorry sir."
"Intolerable. Absolutely intolerable." He takes a deep breath. "For those who don't know me, I'm an esteemed FBI agent who has solved several ground-breaking cases. I caught the culprit of every case that came to light and I don't regret it. I've been at this job for a long time and I have no intention of resting. Spider-Man... he's the ace of all cases. The ultimate challenge and I like myself a challenge."
"We're working with this guy?" a mustached officer snaps.
"The FBI is tasked with dealing with domestic terrorism. Spider-Man may be a vigilante but his actions will surely inspire others, creating more people just like him and we cannot have that. If we want to avoid an all-out domestic terrorist attack, then we must apprehend him immediately and luckily for everyone, I have a few ideas on who this person may be."
He smiles.
"Wait, we're handing over all our hard work to the FBI?" the young officer asks again. "Spider-Man is our jurisdiction, not the FBI's."
"It doesn't matter anymore," Walter shuts the young man down, "the mayor ordered us to cooperate with the FBI. The mayor gave the FBI a blank check and they're making their first purchase in the form of us being desk clerks and information gatherers for the FBI."
"My idea, of course. Trust me, I have a psychological profile of Spider-Man all printed out and a plan."
"What difference does it make?" an older officer asks. "We've all done psychological profiles on the webhead and we still turn up squat. Also, he has fucking superpowers."
Octavius sighs sarcastically. "Ahh, if only one of us had superpowers as well."
Okay, now, I can enact the plan I devised last night. Now that I got the groceries and saw Mom get in her car and drive home, I can now enact the plan.
David is in Manhattan and he walks over to a payphone. He plugs two quarters into the slot and dials a familiar house phone number.
He impatiently listens to the ringtone's sound before tapping his index finger against the bar.
"Hello?"
David put on a smile even as he spoke through the phone.
"Eddie," he said, "How's my good friend doing?"
"This is the first time I've heard you call in a while man," he said, "And why are you calling from an unlisted number."
"I'm using a payphone," he said, "My phone is dead."
And I just got back from smacking dead a few criminals. And stopping a hostage crisis.
"How have you been?" Eddie asked.
"Pretty good," David answered, "I was just calling to say that I know how much of a big fan you are of Spider-Man."
"I'm not a fan," Eddie rebutted, "I'm a supporter; There's a big difference. The police say that he is a murderer but that's not true. He's actually bringing justice to this city, the kind of justice that the law system couldn't enforce on its own."
"Yeah," David replied, "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." He tapped his index finger against the phone. "I was just calling to let you know that I discovered something interesting about Spider-Man."
"What?"
I've got his interest.
"I hooked up with Felicia a few weeks back," he said, "I got to meet her parents, wonderful people."
"Okay," Eddie said, indicating that he was still listening but the tone he used was long and drawn out.
"Guess what, her father, Walter Hardy, is the captain of the police force chasing down Spider-Man. Not only that but there's an FBI agent called Otto Octavius that is helping him out."
"Wait a second," Eddie suddenly said, "Otto Octavius, as in the Otto Octavius? Esteemed FBI agent who not only solved but captured some of the worst criminals in the Northeastern United States?"
If Eddie has heard of him then he must be more of a big shot than I thought.
"He's going to try and arrest Spider-Man," Eddie pieces the rest together.
"Yeah," David nodded, "I met him, seems like a nice guy."
"He's trying to get in Spider-Man's way. If Spider-Man is caught then they'll sentence him to death for sure. He's made New York a safer place. Sure, he kills criminals but only violent criminals during active crimes. He also saves people's lives in a time of crisis, regardless of whether they're a civilian or cop."
Eddie Brock really is my biggest supporter.
"You called me just to tell me that FBI agent Otto Octavius is chasing Spider-Man?"
"Not only that but he has a plan to capture and arrest Spider-Man. He described this case as the golden achievement, saying that Spider-Man is the ultimate criminal for him to defeat."
Eddie groaned over the phone. "I just wish that the police force would look at it from the other side. New York is in a statewide debate on whether Spider-Man should be caught or pardoned."
"What do you want to do?"
Eddie already had an answer. "I have to warn Spidey."
David smirked. "But shouldn't you know what the plan is before you jump head in on telling Spidey a plan you have no idea of?"
Eddie sighed. "Good point. I'll do a little investigation. Thanks for letting me know."
No, thank you.
"Anything for you, Eddie."
He hangs up on the payphone.
Eddie Brock will pretty much do anything for Spider-Man. He's my biggest supporter, 'fanatical' one could say but he does have skills. He wants to be a reporter when he grows up and reporters break the law for a story. This can be viewed as practice for him becoming an investigative reporter.
Not only that but he has helped give me alibis in the past when I first became Spider-Man. Now then, let's see if he's useful in more ways than one.
It has been about a week since he trailed him. Eddie was watching Special Agent Otto Octavius like crazy, stalking him to get to know his schedule. Eddie was sixteen so he had a driver's license and he was using a car that his family dragged along with them to his new place. It was old, and rusting, but better than nothing. He takes a bite out of a bag of chips that he brought with him as he opens his notepad and starts jotting down notes.
It was seven-forty-five in the morning on Sunday and Day 6 since Eddie started tailing Octavius. He watched Octavius exit his driveway wearing a heavy trench coat before getting into his car and driving off. Eddie put his head down and waited for the car to off. When he looked up, he saw the empty driveway and knew that it was his cue to go.
He steps out of his car, puts on a pair of latex gloves, and casually walks over to the front door of Octavius's small house. He takes out a bobby pin from his sweater pocket and sticks it in the door.
The door opened seconds later and he cringed with every crack the door made when he slowly pushed it open.
"No one's home," he muttered to himself, "Octavius lives in Brooklyn, this is his temporary residence."
He enters his home, stepping onto a welcome mat before he shuts the door behind him carefully. As a precaution, he locks it before turning around.
Octavius's lifestyle could be described as simple. The wall wasn't painted, the table was spotless, and the kitchen counter had only a single coffee mug and there wasn't even a drop of water in the coffee mug.
He carefully scopes out the place, making sure not to step on anything or that there are no security cameras before he walks into the lounge.
There was a white desk sitting in the corner by a window with a single computer that was turned off. There were also drawers underneath the desk that had a key in the lock. He moves over to the drawers and uses the key to open them up.
There were about a dozen manilla folders sorted alphabetically in each desk so he picked out a file labeled 'S' for 'Spider-Man'.
When he looked through the files, it reminded him of the fact that what he wasn't doing, stalking, breaking-and-entering, stealing, were crimes that he would be punished big time.
"It's for Spider-Man," he kept telling himself.
He didn't find any papers on Spider-Man so he put the folder back. When he picked up a random folder that was labeled as 'O', a piece of paper fell out. He retrieved it from the ground before something on the paper caught his eye.
He held up the piece of paper in his gloved hand up to his face so he could see and make sure he was not crazy when he saw drawings of a human with eight limbs.
He turned to the computer after getting an idea and turned it on. There was no password to get into the computer and he sighed in relief. He opened up his desktop and went to recent files that were open in the last week. There was one file that struck him, which was labeled as 'Appendages'.
When he opened the file, he saw several video clips with Octavius in the thumbnail. He quickly presses on a random video.
His reaction was: Wide eyes and wide mouth.
He quickly took out a flash drive and stuck it into the computer. As if he was on a time schedule, he quickly downloaded the file onto his flash drive before snatching it out, putting the files back in the order in which they were found before he got the hell out of dodge. He still had hours to spare but the footage in that video made him cringe.
He locked the door as he left and jogged over to his car. He climbed in the driver's seat and drove off, putting several blocks between himself and Octavius's house before he drove off.
Traffic was his worst enemy in a time like this so he pulled over to the nearest McDonald's he could find and he sat in the back corner and used their free WiFi.
He plugged in the flash drive before plugging in his earbuds.
The files he copied were uploaded to his computer. He opens the files and scans through the seven files carefully, checking the dates that were automatically listed to them. He clicks on the one uploaded the earliest.
He gets comfy in his chair as he watches the video.
"Thank you for joining us," Octavius announced in front of a group of people as a camera was suddenly turned on, "Fellow police officers and FBI agents, thank you all for coming."
"Our pleasure," an officer said.
The camera was aimed at Octavius, who was standing in some kind of classroom since there was a whiteboard beside him. The officers were out of sight and standing behind the camera.
"My name is Otto Octavius," he said into the camera, "I am fifty-one, I've worked with the police force for eight years before I became promoted to the FBI, where I worked for twenty years. I've tackled some of the most difficult cases such as the Triple T Murder Case, the Whitman Kidnapping, and so much more. But today is not about what I've achieved, it's about what I am going to achieve."
Octavius walks offscreen, the camera following him like an unwanted younger brother. The camera now shifts focus to Octavius standing in front of a sheet lying on top of something just at Octavius's waist. Octavius's back was turned towards the camera as he pulled off the sheet. One laid under the sheet was a set of long and stiff mechanical objects resting on a cart with a four-foot-tall pole in the center where the metal objects were resting.
Octavius turns and faces the camera.
"With the help of the mechanical engineering department of ESU, I am now able to even the odds with Spider-Man." He looks to his right to someone offscreen and nods.
The mechanical objects suddenly shift on the cark, slightly shifting like a baby responding to stimuli.
Octavius spreads his arms out as far as he can like he was waiting for a hug. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he prepares for what happens next.
A harness the size of a hula hoop wrapped itself around Octavius's waist like a belt.
What happened next was out of the camera's angle but Octavius was wincing like he was in pain, like someone was stabbing him in the back with needles.
Even the cameraman cringed, evidenced by the camera slightly recoiling.
Octavius opened his eyes and looked into the camera as if staring into the eyes of someone watching. His eyes nod upwards and he cranes. He opens his mouth and lets out a sigh of air.
The four stiff and mechanical objects on the cart began shifting more, becoming more mobile instead of inanimate objects responding to stimuli.
Octavius rose up his already spread arms and the four mechanical objects were mobiles completely. They raised from the cart and stood upwards, giving the camera a good view as to what they were.
Four mechanical appendages with hooks on the end that move with Octavius's human arms.
He looked like a human with eight arms, like a spider, or, as his name rhymes with, octopus.
The cameraman staggered back and backed on the camera pulling back as Octavius walked forward.
"No need to be afraid," he said, "I am in control of these arms."
"How?" someone offscreen asked.
A second person offscreen answered. "Those four mechanical arms were designed for the sole purpose of moving with agility without going out of control. We designed a chip in the back of the arms…"
Octavius turned around to reveal what had become of his spine: The root of the four mechanical arms was welded onto his body via needles and at the back of his neck was a glowing blue light.
"This inhibitor chip," the second man continues, "Reads into the brainwaves that the human sends to the human arms and transfers it into the arms. Meaning that he can control the mechanical arms, no different than us humans controlling our four limbs."
"Is everything alright?"
Eddie quickly exited out of the clip and stared at the man in front of him. The manager of the McDonald's restaurant.
"Everything is fine here," he said nervously, "Could I get a refill of Dr. Pepper?"
The manager took his empty cup. "Of course, sir."
While the manager was distracted, Eddie turned towards the video clip to open it up. However, when he pushed the play button, the screen suddenly froze with the play button in the center, indicating that the video ended.
"Here you go sir," the manager said as he dropped Eddie's cup off.
"Thank you," Eddie nods.
"Have a good stay, sir," the manager said politely.
"I will," Eddie smirks.
The manager leaves and Eddie vents out some hidden feelings by rubbing the back of his head anxiously, his heart beating over the fact that someone could've caught him watching top-secret videos of Otto Octavius.
He took a sip of ice-cold Dr. Pepper before he played the second clip.
The camera was set up so it was in some kind of location with a warehouse-like background. There were large metal pipes that could be seen on the ceiling, tall shelves like the kind you find at Costco, and piles of large boxes stacked upon each other like shipping products.
Octavius walked into view with the four mechanical arms still attached.
"Detective," someone asked offscreen, "Will you be able to take off those arms?"
Octavius paused and looked at this person offscreen. "I'm glad you asked." He pointed to the base of his spine, which was covered by some kind of metallic spine that supported all four of his arms, "The spine of the arms is what binds them all together. As long as I'm wearing this spine, I'm in control of the arms, obviously. If I want to take off the arms…"
A second person spoke, the same one who was explaining the arms from earlier. "When we were doing early tests, we found that these metal arms kept coming off against the user's will so we created the spinal column with needles to be pierced into the user's back. If the arms are ripped from his back against his will, he will be temporarily paralyzed."
"That is correct," Octavius said, "The only way to remove these arms is to slowly but carefully remove each needle, one by one, like a surgeon performing surgery."
Eddie nodded at the video, sighing as he took another sip from his soda. "I got to tell Spidey." The second clip came to an end and he played the third one.
Like before, they were still in the warehouse setting except Octavius was once again in front of the camera, standing in between four crates.
"Let's see these arms in action," Octavius said.
The upper right mechanical arm moved over to one of the crates and wrapped around the crate like a tentacle. Octavius lifts his right arm, which causes the mechanical arm to rise up.
The crate creaked as it was lifted off the ground, held on tightly by the mechanical arm.
Octavius looks to his left and raises his left arm. The upper left arm wraps around a second crate and lifts it off the ground.
All that was left were the two lower mechanical arms and two crates. Octavius's back arches and lower back arms reach out for the last two crates and pick them up off the ground.
With all four crates off the ground, Octavius's human arms rise higher as do his mechanical arms, racing all the way up into the air until they could no longer stretch.
"These four mechanical arms are capable of lifting approximately four times their weight," Octavius said, "And they are heavy." He sets the crates down and retracts his tentacles from the boxes.
"This is all to catch Spider-Man?" a man offscreen asked.
"Yes," the FBI agent answered, "These things may not seem like much but imagine what the human could do with eight limbs instead of four limbs. It's like having two sets of hands and feet, twice the punches and kicks the normal human can give, and more chances to block punches or other kinds of attacks. Not only that but these mechanical arms are heavy and strong, making them nearly impossible to carry unless you're the user and they give you a grain of superhuman strength."
The crowd offscreen clapped for Octavius, cheering for him.
Eddie clicked on the next video.
"With this, we're going to catch Spider-Man and bring him to justice," someone said.
"I hate how he always gets away with his crimes," another said, "We're out there, putting our lives on the line and he swoops in and kills a criminal he has no right to."
"I understand your frustration," Octavius said, "That is why I'm doing this. This is why I'm bringing Spider-Man to justice. Sure he's been saving people and killing violent criminals only during active crimes, but his profile suggests that he is not killing out of justice, only for self-serving reasons. It's only a matter of time before he kills someone innocent."
"We'll catch Spider-Man and bring him to justice. He'll be sentenced to death."
"That would be the most likely outcome," he said, "There's always a chance that he could argue for insanity."
"We'll get the best prosecutor in town to see that he is sentenced to death."
The mechanical arms made a sound that resembled a hiss. The arms retracted until they rested along his back like a backpack.
"We shouldn't be wishing death upon Spider-Man," Octavius said, "No matter how many people he has killed, he is still a human being like us. That is why we'll give him a fair trial. If he escapes justice, we'll keep on catching him until Spider-Man is no more."
Eddie has decided that he has seen enough. He closes up the laptop, finishes his soda, and gets in his car, and drives off.