Call Me… Doc Ock – Arc One: Origin

Chapter 34: Contact List

Opening my eyes, it took a few moments for my mind to remember everything that happened over the last few days. "…huh, so… that happened…" Sitting up in my cot, I winced as I noticed a few sore spots all of my body from the fighting that happened. "Right… let's do some stretches…"

Over the next few minutes, I went through the stretching routines that my mother taught me and, in the process, discovered that my spine was very flexible. "Huh… was it always like that?" I had not really had time to figure out my new biology what with the crazy cults and evil personified hounding me. I guess this was the result of my awakened biology.

"Speaking of which…" I pulled off my shirt and with a thought, my tentacles. Now that I got a good look at them, I could see that they definitely had a more mechanical look to them, compared to the liquid gel aesthetic. But beyond that…

As I looked at my reflection in a nearby mirror, I tapped on my chest. There was a layer of chitinous layer over my torso, with that gem in the center. Rolling up the leggings of my pants showed that the chitin covered my legs as well. The only parts that were uncovered were my arms and head. "Okay, so I from what I've seen so far, it seems that most of my body has some form of protection and is likely able to exert a greater level of power. The arms are not enhanced, or if they are enhanced in some way, then not to the extent of my legs at the very least. Of course, my head is unprotected as well. I… I am seriously lucky that nothing hit me across in the head."

I paused as that thought lead to another one. "Holy shit… I am lucky to be alive… No, seriously… How the fuck did I make it through all of that?!"

By all rights, I should have been dead several times over! Within the last few hours alone, I probably skirted death at least a couple of dozen times! I have no business being alive right now! "How the Hell am I still alive?!" This was crazy! Even with all the wizards, super-powered apes, and the one local god, I should not be here right now! I'm-

*BOP*

"OW!" I clutch my head at the sudden sharp pain. Looking around for the source a tap on my shoulder brings my attention to my bottom left tentacle… which I think is now looking at me through the gem at center of its mandibles.

"…huh…" 'Is… is it… aware?' My brow furrows as I finish that thought. Bringing it closer to my face I focus on the gem at the center of the mandibles. With most incarnations of Doc Ock, his mechanical arms were advanced enough that they showed some signs of… if not independent thought, then at least some level of sentience. Hell in some cases, they actually take some level of control of Otto's mental process… more often than not for ill.

A frown came across my face as I thought about it. Was that gonna happen to me? Would I end up being subjected my own tentacles? Then again, maybe not. Otto overcame their influence with time and effort and in some universes ended up being a force for good.

I also had to consider the fact that my tentacles were purely biological… and were recently flushed with the empowering version of Cosmic Radiation, the light of the One-Above-All, who is supposedly all about being the best version of yourself.

"So, there's that I suppose." Scratching my head a bit, I go back to my brief encounter with said cosmic force. Somehow, that had been even more intense than dealing with the rage monster and all he did was just sit there and be kind and encouraging.

"…which was nice after everything that happened." I nodded to myself. "And hey; I got a little bit of closure with mom and dad. Hell, I can actually call them that in my own head now!" Now feeling a little better about myself, I went over to my bag and started to go through the things in my bag.

Sadly, the Masters of the Mystic Arts took most of the enchanted weapons. It was understandable that they would, considering how dangerous they were. But still, I would have loved to look some of them over and see if I could use any of the enchantments on them for my own purposes. I was able to keep a hold of the arm cannon, so I could definitely examine it and see if I could recreate it in some way.

Next to that was the suit that mom and dad made for me. There were a few tears in it here and there. It had kept me safe, but I feel like there was definitely room for improvement in its durability. Maybe mom and dad had some instructions lying around for how to repair it. I should probably see if I could add a few enchantments to it. I could already tell that I was going to need it in the future. My… natural armor was a boon, but I was definitely going to want to upgrade at some point. There was also the issue of my arms and head being left uncovered.

Which brought me to the shield gloves. Slipping one on, I activated the barrier and frowned when it flickered for a bit before it finally came to life. "…great, there's a limited charge on these things." Which made sense, I guess. These things were definitely old, from what I could read about them in dad's notes. So, I was going to need to figure out how to recharge them so that they didn't run out of power at the worst possible time. That or make a new set of gloves. And a helmet, while I'm at it.

Setting the gloves aside I went back to checking everything that I had managed to keep. When I pulled out my phone, I noticed that the light near the power button was blinking. Curious, I flipped it open and blinked at the numerous missed calls.

"Oh… ohhhhhhh…. Shit…" Right, with everything that was happening over the past few hours, I probably should have expected a few calls from Rudolph and Janice at the very least. Besides them, there were calls from several other people as well.

*BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNGGGG*

"HUH?! WHUH?!" Rudolph jerked awake from a restless sleep on his couch as the house phone went off.

"Rudolph?!" Janice came in from the kitchen, a cup of coffee in her hand. Seeing him shaking himself awake she sighed before setting the cup on a table by the couch. Going over to the phone, she picked up the phone and answered. "Hello, this is Janice speaking. May I know who is calling?"

"…um, hi, it's me, Isaac."

Eyes snapping open, Janice turns to Rudolph. "It's Isaac!"

"What?!" Rudolph springs up from the couch and rushes over before switching the phone to speaker. "Isaac?! Is that you?!"

"Yeah, it's me."
"What the hell happened to you," Rudolph snapped. "Why didn't you answer our calls?! Do you have any idea how-?!"

"Rudy." Janice laid a hand on Rudolph's shoulder stopping his tirade in its tracks.

"Huh? Jan?" Rudolph looked to his wife and confusion. Once she had his attention, Janice placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Rudy, I need you to breathe."

"What?! I-"

Janice squeezed his shoulders a bit tighter. "Rudy! Breathe." As her husband did as she instructed, Janice directed her attention to Isaac. "Isaac, what happened? We tried to call you when everything went the emergency curfew went into effect, but you didn't respond."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Dad set it up so that if there were any signs of nuclear fallout within the area, the house would go into lockdown and that tends to mess with signals a bit."

This was actually true. Dad did work with nuclear power and was well aware of the dangers that came with it. Naturally, he would take precautions.

"So, between that, the interference from whatever was going on and my focus being on my own work and studies I missed your calls. Sorry, for not calling back sooner," Isaac apologized.

Rudolph slapped a hand to his forehead. "Of course, Otto would have something like that set up." Looking at the phone, his lips went into a thin line. "Just… for fuck's sake let us know about these kinds of things, will you?"

"Right, I will, sorry."

"Okay," Janice said, "that's settled then. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Right now, I'm just waiting things out up here."

"Okay, it's good to hear that you're okay." Turning to Rudolph, she gave him a smile. "See, he's fine, nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, yeah," Rudolph grumbled. "I guess that's clear. Hey," turning back to the phone, Rudolph frowned. "I was wondering, how did that thing with your uncle go? You know… Remy, was it?"

There was a long pause on the phone. Janice and Rudolph looked to each other, before the former spoke up. "Isaac… is something wrong? D-did something happen?"

"…let's just say, that I will not be talking to the man or the rest of my mother's family at all at this point."

Janice and Rudolph winced at the boy's tone. "That bad, huh," Rudolph guessed.

"Yes. That. Bad."

"Ooookay. Hey, are any of those cops with you," Rudolph asked, I was wondering if I could talk with them really quick."

"Not exactly," Isaac responded. "Right now, there kind of on patrol. Apparently around the time of the incident out west, there was like a sudden spate of shootouts all over the state or something. Right now, the cops are mostly busy, trying to sort that out."

"Oh right!" Janice crossed her arms over her chest. "There was a report about that just a few hours ago."

Rudolph's eyebrows shot up. "Shooting?! What the fuck is going on over there?!"

Janice shrugged. "There was apparently a lot of violent shootings between gangs last night, but that came to a quick end when that crazy light show happened."

Rudolph pinched the bridge of his nose. "Good lord, what is going on…" Turning back to the phone, Rudolph addressed Isaac once again. "Alright… I really like all of this but right now it sounds like you fine… do us a favor and stay inside for now. Next time you see either of those two cops, let them know that I want to talk to them A.S.A.P. Got it?"

"Got it!"

Rudolph sagged a bit. He checked his watch. "Well, it's almost time that I checked with the guys at the office. Isaac… stay safe."
"Right, I will."

"Bye, Isaac," Janice said.

"Bye." The phone hung up.

"Oh fuuuuuuuuck." Rudolph plopped onto his couch and held his hand in his head. Janice joined him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

"See, Rudy; he's safe and sound."

Despite himself, Rudolph smiled. "Yeah, I guess he is."

I gotta admit, I felt a bit bad about leaving out the bits about magic, gods and the fighting, but I really didn't want to saddle those two with all that. Rudolph and Janice were… nice enough, but there was nothing that they could have really done for me when everything went down. Hopefully, Azelea will be able to put any of their concerns to rest.

Setting that matter aside I looked at the next caller down the list and felt my eyebrows rise.

William "Billy" Oakley III was… not exactly having a good time. The anxiety within the bunker that he and his family were staying in was palpable. The bunker itself was an old thing; his grandfather had gotten it built sometime during the Cold War, when people had been worried sick about a nuclear exchange between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. At the time it had seen sensible. Afterwards, as time went on and the Soviet Union had fallen apart, most everyone in the family (himself included) had seen it as a waste, especially for the amount of money that William Sr. had put into building and maintaining it.

The sudden well of Gamma Radiation, followed by the burst of Cosmic Radiation in New York and West Africa, Billy surmised, had forever silenced any arguments for keeping the bunker. When the initial report had hit, he and his family had had guests over for the pre-St. Patrick's Day planning for the float that his uncle was working on. When that news report hit, there was disbelief at first.

Then the sky turned red, and a massive blast of green light had surged up from out west.

Billy still remembered the sounds of screams and he suspected that he would remember that sound for a long time. The prayers for safety, quiet sobbing and general despairing had been awful… but that hadn't even been the worst part… no…

The worst… was the sudden wave of sheer malice that had washed over them all. He could remember it distinctly. Everyone had been huddled together crying and praying and whatnot, and then… sheer raw hate. Everyone, even the babies had gone deathly quiet, as if by some primal instinct, they all knew that they did not want to draw the attention of… whatever that was.

Not wanting to leave anything unsaid at that point, Billy had gone to a relatively quiet spot and called his friends from the science club. After that, he called his sorta girlfriend Lori and had finally worked up the nerve to tell her how he felt. She had reciprocated and the two swore that if they made it out of this mess then they would take their relationship more seriously.

Feeling a bit better about the possibility of the apocalypse being on their doorstep, Billy frowned a bit as he considered one last person to call. Pulling out a card, he had called the number several times, but to no avail.

'I just hope that wherever he is, he's safe-"

*BRRRRRRNT*

Billy jumped a bit as he was brought out of his thoughts by his phone going off.

"HEY! What's with the buzzing?!"

"Sorry pops," Billy apologized. "I'm just getting a call all of a sudden!"

"Well take it to calling area, some of us are trying to get some sleep!"

"We'd get more sleep if you didn't shout!"

Billy ignored the growing shouting match as he went to the designated calling area and finally answered the phone.

"Hello, this is William Oakley III, may I ask who's calling?"

"Um… hello, it's me Isaac."

Billy perked up at that.

"Oh! Hey! Isaac, I was wondering if you would get my call!"

"Well… I did. Sorry for not picking up before. My place had gone into lockdown, and I was busy with other things at the time."

"Oh, no, that's fine. I was just calling everyone on my contact list to make sure you were okay."

"Well, I'm fine. My dad built this place to be able to handle any disaster, so I'm well protected."

Hearing that, Billy felt some relief. "Yeah, Dr. Octavius would plan for nuclear fallout. So… it's really crazy out there, huh?"

"You could say that."

"I'm holed with my family right now." Billy scratched his arm as he thought about his situation again. "We're… we're doing fine, but…" Billy shuddered. "But we're scared… no one's come out and said it, but I… I think this might be it. Someone finally went off the deep end and apparently let off nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Africa. There's no way this doesn't lead to total anarchy." Billy had never really thought about what to do in such a situation. He had had plans, get into a good college, find a decent job, get married, and maybe have kids.

Now… now he wasn't sure if he would live to see tomorrow, let alone next week. And there had been so many things he had wanted to do before-

"William."

Billy snapped out of his spiraling thoughts at Isaac's voice. "Uh… y-yeah?"

"Listen to me very carefully," Isaac went on. "Everything is going to be fine."

"W-wait what are you-?"

"Trust me," Isaac interrupted again. "Everything is going to be fine. It's not the end of the world. This will pass. Everyone is gonna come out of this, okay?"

Billy's brow crease. "Isaac… we're talking about gamma and cosmic radiation. That stuff is dangerous, there's no way that-"

"William. Trust me on this… we're going to pull through this. The radiation will not be a problem."

Billy scratched at the back of his head as he absorbed that. "Y-you think so?"

"I know so." Billy blinked at the absolute certainty in Isaac's voice.

"W-well… if you say so. I… I hope you're right."

"On this, I'm sure that everything will be alright."

A smile made its way over Billy's face. "Heh… wish I had your confidence. Well, if nothing else, I'll just have to believe in you. Thanks for the call and talk."

"You're welcome."

"Bye Isaac."

"Bye William."

"Right then, that's two calls down, one more to go." Dialing again I plopped myself into a chair and waited.

This is such a mess!" Jerod Whitehead was not having a good day. He had just finished a call with members of the board and while they didn't express any outright signs of jumping ship, Jerod could tell that things were getting tense. It was all he could do to not to bang his head against the wall at how stubborn some of the board members were being.

What's worse is that he couldn't understand where this spat obstinate behavior was coming from. They all used to work so well with each other. The company had been on its way to making the punch into the big leagues. Honestly, it felt like he would actually be able to make good on his promise to his old man and make Nexus Industries into one of the big players on the map.

But that had been before. When… when Otto had still been working with them.

Jerod sighed as he sat on the hotel bed. Honestly, it seemed like everything that had been going bad recently could be tracked to Otto's passing. He could only wonder how things would be if he were still-

*BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT*

Jerod jumped at the sudden vibrations coming from his cellphone on the table. With a groan, Jerod reached over and grabbed it. Putting it to his ear Jerod answered. "Hello, you've reached the personal number of Jerod Whitehead, CEO of Nexus Industries. I am currently not up to conducting business, so whatever you have to say, please be quick about it."

"…um, I'm sorry?"

Jerod frowned at the voice; something was familiar about it. "Who is this?"

"…it's Isaac Octavius."

Jerod immediately sprang up in his bed. "Isaac?! Oh, excuse me!" Despite not being in the same room, Jerod quickly did his best to clean himself up. "Isaac, my boy, good to hear you! What can I do for you?"

"I was just responding to a call that you sent me."

"Oh! Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes." Straightening himself out a bit, Jerod went on. "Yes, I had just wanted to call in to see how you were doing with this whole mess."

"I'm doing well enough. I'm currently holed up in my dad's lab."

"Oh, of course," Jerod nodded. "I suppose if with a statewide curfew going on, that's where you would be. Well, it's good to hear that you're doing well. I had been a bit concerned when you didn't pick up earlier, when I called the home phone."

"The place was on lockdown due to the detection of radiation from out west. So, any attempts to communicate would not have made it through."

"Okay," Jerod said, "fair enough."

"…how are you?"

"Oh! Me?" Jerod looked around. "…I'm perfectly fine, I'm hanging in there. No need to worry about me!"

"Oh, well that's good to hear… well I just wanted to callback, I've got some things to work on. We'll… talk some other time, I guess."

Jerod nodded rapidly. "Yes! Of course, well, I won't keep you from your work. Bye!"

"Bye."

Jerod put the phone back down and laid back down on his bed. 'Ya know, suddenly things don't seem so bad anymore.'

"Well, that's that taken care of." A smile made its way across my face. "It was nice to hear from others, I guess."

"Indeed, it is good to make contact with family and friends every once in a while."

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Spinning around, I pulled out my tentacles and charged up several bolts ready to fire at-

The Ancient One waved at me. "Hello, again Isaac. I do apologize for dropping in on you like this, however there were several things I wanted to discuss with you, if you wouldn't mind."