Chapter Text
“The power of the sun in the palm of my hand…” Doctor Octavius utters with flair.
But moments after, things begin to spiral out of his control. First, the smaller metal objects in the room are drawn into the fusion reaction; then larger items quickly follow. Otto assures the crowd that he has everything under control, but as the miniature sun grows, it is obvious that it is beginning to compromise the structural integrity of the room.
So, Rosalie Octavius makes the safe choice and instructs the visitors to evacuate the room, to her husband’s disappointment. She, however, refuses to leave Otto alone as the scientist obsessively attempts to contain the growing sun. As a solar flare causes the roof above him to collapse, Rosie shrieks, “Otto, please get down!”
At the sound of Rosie’s warning, Doctor Octavius moves, his arms instinctively reaching up to protect his head and the four actuators do the same, as if they too are a part of him.
With no time to waste, the doctor immediately returns to the task at hand, still telling himself that he can fix this, that he will not fail, and must finish what he started. However, handling the situation by himself is overwhelming; his mind is overloaded as there is too much to do, too many solar flares to compress. The actuators move about the sun frantically, working so hastily that they are hardly getting the job done. Otto flinches as large machinery flies past his head into the sun. He is sweating now, but refuses to step away from the task at hand.
Spider-Man lands on the wall to his right, above the numerous power cords plugged into the wall.
“What are you doing?” Doctor Octavius asks apprehensively.
“Pulling the plug,” Spider-Man says, reaching down.
Surely, Spider-Man could not solve the situation any better than the man behind this demonstration, right? “No!” Octavius hollars, using one of his robotic arms to knock the wall-crawler down.
Refocusing, the doctor looks up, seeing the sun only grow larger.
Still watching from nearby, Rosie hears the groan of the massive windows behind her. Turing to see the glass begin to crack, she screams.
Otto tears off his goggles and looks back at his wife as the windows begin to shatter. Rapidly, he outstretches one of the actuators to grab her and pulls her close to him, then uses his body and metal arms to protect Rosie from the sharp shards. As a result, they graze Otto’s back but hardly scratch Rosalie. He loosens his grip on Rosie, who faints in his arms. The actuators hover around her as the doctor inspects her injuries. Otto is horrified to see that her skin is red where his actuators grabbed her, realizing that the strength of his invention harmed the person he loved the most. It looks like Rosalie will end up with some bruises.
“Rosie… I’m sorry,” Doctor Octavius mutters tearfully. Forgetting about his demonstration, his priority shifts to making sure Rosie is okay. He turns his back to the fusion reaction, looking around the room for somewhere safe to place her. With his guard down and the actuators’ cameras focused on Rosie, Otto does not notice the large solar flare bursting forth behind him. It strikes him in the back of the neck. The heat is so intense that it melts the metal a bit and the power of that sun sends electricity throughout Otto’s body. Instinctively, he drops Rosie and reaches to the back of his neck where the source of the pain is. He screams in pain as the actuators malfunction from the blow of the solar flare; the inhibitor chip explodes and the doctor’s body writhes as the fusion energy courses through him, scorching his flesh and tearing his clothes. Then, he passes out from the trauma and falls limp to the ground beside Rosie.
During Otto’s moment of weakness, Spider-Man manages to unplug Doctor Octavius’ machine, causing the sun to explode before quickly imploding in on itself.
The actuators twitch a bit before Otto fully loses consciousness.
Now that the fusion reaction has been dealt with, Spider-Man carries Rosalie Octavius outside as he hears ambulances approaching. By the time he returns for Otto, a team of paramedics is already attempting to carry him and the actuators out of the building.
***
Rosalie wakes that night up in Midtown Hospital, feeling relatively fine aside from the soreness from where Otto’s strong actuators clutched her.
A nurse enters the room to check on her.
“Excuse me? Where is my husband, Doctor Otto Octavius?” Rosie asks, “He was in the same accident as me… Is he okay?”
Looking up from a clipboard, the nurse responds, “You should worry about yourself first, ma’am.”
Noticing the dissatisfaction on Rosie’s face, the nurse sighs and thinks before responding. “You said Doctor Octavius? I heard about him. He’s the one with the… you know… Anyway, I believe he is in surgery right now. I’m sorry, but you won’t be able to see him for at least another two hours.”
With a nod, Rosie settles down in her bed. “Thank you for telling me.” She wishes she could see Otto, but there is nothing she can do now besides wait and let the doctors help him.
On the other side of the hospital, some of the city’s most gifted surgeons prepare for an extremely unusual operation. A man with four massive, metal arms wired into his spinal column; it is unlike anything anyone has ever seen.
Doctor Isaacs, the head surgeon, briefs the room on the situation, “As you can see, molten metal penetrated the spinal cavity and fused the vertebrae at multiple points, including the lamina and the roof of the spinal column. We won’t know the extent of the damage until we get in there, so we need to start by slicing up the harness and possibly consider a laminectomy and a spinal fusion from C7 T1 to T12.” It is going to be a difficult procedure. Once a nurse gives him the okay, Doctor Isaacs attempts to saw off one of the actuators, which shudders in protest. Thinking it preposterous for the machines to move on their own, Isaacs brushes it off and proceeds, bringing the oscillating saw close to the upper right actuator.
In the back of his head, Otto hears four voices speaking to him in unison, begging, Help us, Father. He thinks he is dreaming. Doctor Octavius wishes for these four creatures talking to him to be safe.
So, the arms attack. The upper right actuator flings Doctor Isaacs over the operating table into a glass door.
A resident screams in terror. Soon, the room is filled with the sounds of screams.
Knowing just how much damage they can do, the actuators proceed to lay waste to the room. They reach up, pulling free from the chains that suspend them, which rips holes in the ceiling, breaking some of the lights. Shadows of the frantic victims dance throughout the dimmed room as the arms grab and throw doctors and nurses around the room. Not a single person is safe. Soon, the arms become more vicious and peculiar with their killings. One arm grabs a nurse by the face, another drags a surgeon up to the lamp above, electrocuting him and sending sparks flying. A nurse is dragged along the floor, screaming desperately and trying feebly to anchor herself to the ground, but the actuator that has her in its grip is too strong. Blood splatters all over the floor as the arms bash people onto the tiles as if they weigh nothing.
A doctor still struggling in the actuator’s grip manages to reach a chainsaw as the machine throws him onto a table.
Sensing that one of the arms is in danger, the other three actuators turn their attention to the doctor attempting to saw off one of the arms. They attack and soon enough, the doctor falls limp to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.
Now satisfied after destroying every liable human in the room, the AIs awaken their creator.
Otto, who was unconscious throughout the entirety of the incident, feels himself being lifted upright. As he awakes, he suddenly feels the pain his body is in. The bandage over his eyes is removed and the dim light floods into his damaged eyes. Groggily, Otto looks around the room. Though everything is a bit hazy, he can see dead bodies of medical staff strewn around the room… and blood… everything is covered in blood. He looks at the four actuators and they too are stained with red. Realizing what must have happened, Doctor Octavius raises his arms and lets out a cry, the actuators following appropriately.
He cannot believe that his invention could lead to such harm, such suffering. Feeling overwhelmed by his surroundings, nothing but corpses and entrails everywhere, the sights and smells making him nauseous, Otto feels the need to get out of there. The arms aid him in exiting the hospital without being seen. Stumbling through the bright halls, Otto can barely see. He feels hot and hastily pulls down the top of his hospital gown so he can breathe, though the thin fabric did not truly constrict his chest. It is the panic that is making him so tense, causing him to sweat and shake. Looking down at the scalded flesh around his stomach and scratches on his arms certainly does not bring him any comfort. He feels as if he could collapse at any second, and his head is pounding, though that could just be due to the four voices echoing in his mind.
Finally, Doctor Octavius staggers out to the New York City streets through the service entrance after the actuators quite unnecessarily throw the metal doors off their hinges. Even though it is nighttime, the city lights hurt Otto’s eyes. He squints as a taxi cab drives towards him and he turns away in fear, covering his head with his arms. The four actuators move in the same protective fashion as Otto’s own arms, effectively shielding the doctor from the impact of the car. Doctor Octavius’ terrified trembling becomes a powerful propelling force through the metal arms, which fling the taxi into the air until it lands upside down several feet away.
Otto looks at the damage, impressed and shocked by the power of the actuators. As he had built them with the sole purpose of withstanding and controlling fusion reactions, he had never considered or planned on using the arms for anything else. It horrifies him. Hearing sirens, Doctor Octavius’ fight-or-flight instinct is triggered and he runs, though he is in no condition to do so, as he can barely stand. So, the arms practically carry him along the way to Pier 56, a deserted warehouse on the waterfront. The place is so old and dangerous, no one is likely to visit the sinking building anytime soon. Which makes it a perfect place for someone like Otto to hide.
Inspecting the place with a sigh, Doctor Octavius looks for a structurally safe place to rest amongst the sinking floorboards and tilting pillars. Covering himself with a large, tattered blanket, Otto curls up on the floor, trying to comfort himself and trying to ignore the chattering of the AIs. He is in a lot of pain, especially on his back, so lying on the hard floor is rather agonizing, but due to his complete exhaustion, Doctor Octavius manages to fall asleep eventually.
Rosie is awakened by the sound of people running through the halls. She sits up in her hospital bed, seeing doctors and nurses sprinting to the elevators. Soon, she hears sirens outside. Wondering what is happening, Rosie gets out of bed and walks to the door. When she reaches the hall, she is stopped by a nurse.
“Sorry, all patients must remain in their rooms. There’s been… an accident,” they say.
Rosie can tell that the nurse looks very disturbed. Not wanting to add to anyone’s stress, she returns to her room, but cannot get back to sleep like this.
Looking out the window, Rosie sees police cars surround the building. Something bad must have happened. Little does she know, her own husband was involved.