Chapter 3: Menace of Doctor Octopus Part 1

Chapter Three: The Menace of Doctor Octopus Part One.

“Man, we scored big time!” cheered a thug, as he ran with his partner in crime from a store, having pillaged a store of all the cash from the register.

“Yeah but let’s get back to the hideout, so we can split the take,” said the second thug, but a figure dropped down from right in front of them.

“Or you can just split to jail,” said Spider-Man as he dropped down, causing the thugs to look scared.

“Spider-Man?” gasped one of the thugs.

“I thought he was a myth,” responded the second thug.

“Oh, I’m real, very real,” said Spider-Man. “And you, my thieving friends, are in real trouble.”

“And you, Spider-Man are real dead,” said one of the thugs, as he moved forward, pulling out a switch blade but Spider-Man dodged the attack.

“Really now, didn’t your mother tell you not to play with knives?” asked Spider-Man as ripped the knife from the thief’s hand with a strand of webbing from his web shooters. The thief went for Spider-Man with his bare hands but he slid underneath the attack, before a kick to the back, knocked him off guard. The thief was spun around and wrapped against a light post with webbing.

“Man, I’m out of here!” shouted the second thief running, dropping his money in the panic. He turned around, scrambling to pick up his money but Spider-Man was on the job. The thief found his hands stuck to the ground with the webbing. He tried to move but his hands were completely stuck to the ground.

“The police can take it from here,” thought Spider-Man as he heard the sirens. The two thieves were webbed up, not able to move from their positions.

Swinging away to an alley way to change, Peter thought about the last couple of weeks, his life had been like a roller coaster. On the bright side, he really enjoyed being Spider-Man right now. Sure it was nothing but a bunch of petty thieves and thugs looking to make a quick buck, but at least he was taking them off the street one at a time. His newly created mechanical web shooters had made the process either, shooting webbing stored in cartridge that could easily immobilize criminals, holding them for up to an hour before the webbing dissolved. Also, his relationship with Gwen was great, she was a comfort to him in this dark time, having lost her mother a few years ago, she understood what he was going through.

On the other end, Peter felt guilt over what happened to his uncle and every day, he wondered if he would wake up, for this being one horrific nightmare but it was all too real. Then there were the financial problems that the Parker family was going through. Aunt May let it slip to him that they were going through some tough times, but she also told Peter that he should not really worry himself. The thing is Peter did worry and wondered what he could do for money. The problem was jobs were not too forthcoming for fifteen year old high school students with no previous work experience these days.

He made his way to school at a sprint, not wanting to be late again. His Spider-Man related activities had made him cut it way too close too many times and had made him late a couple of times.

-

“Wow, Peter you actually made it today on time,” said Gwen with a smile, as she watched her boyfriend rush down the hallway, barely avoiding knocking some unsuspecting students into the locker room. “Sure with ninety seconds to spare, but on time’s on time.”

“Sorry, Gwen, I’m running late,” said Peter in an apologetic voice. “Everything’s thrown off balance, after what happened.”

“Peter, it’s okay, you lost your uncle, that type of thing’s not easy to get over, it’s a void in your life,” said Gwen, as she grabbed Peter’s hand in an comforting manner, before she steered him into the classroom and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. “I’m here for you if you need me, just like you were for me. Besides I’m your girlfriend now, your problems are my problems, now more than ever. We can get through this together.”

“Thanks Gwen, I appreciate that,” said Peter as the two teenagers walked into the classroom, with a bit of time to spare before they were counted tardy.

-

“Hello Miles,” said Norman lightly which caused Miles Warren to look up from his calculations at his desk, quickly shoving them out of sight, before he turned to face Norman.

“Mr. Osborn, this is a surprise, I didn’t expect you to stop by,” said Warren in a false cheerful tone.

“That much is obvious,” replied Norman. “I can assure you I didn’t pay you a visit to offer your old job back but there was an accident that came to my attention a couple weeks ago that requires me to make this little visit.”

“Accident, what do you mean?” asked Warren, the people at ESU had pulled a lot of strings to keep news of the accident out of the press and he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was going to be no charges pressed against him.

“Please, Miles, don’t play dumb with me, I know you’re brilliant, even with your unique quirks,” said Norman coolly. “The young man who involved in the accident was a friend of my son’s and has quite the gifted mind. I don’t know all the particulars of this accident and quite frankly, there not my concern, but thanks to your negligence the world nearly lost a bright young mind, one that I have plans for. And I could bring you down, Warren, making sure you never touch so much as another beaker again.”

“What do you want, Osborn?” asked Warren sitting rigid.

“I may call upon you for a favor at any time, in exchange for my silence and you will comply at that time,” said Norman. “Any favor I see fit, no matter how much it conflicts with your other work.”

“If you wish, Mr. Osborn,” said Warren slowly as he reached inside his desk drawer, before he slowly began to pull out a gun but Norman caught onto to this immediately.

“I wouldn’t. If I’m found dead, I’ve made arrangements where news of your misgivings gets plastered in every major paper in New York,” said Norman and Warren quickly shoved the gun back into his desk drawer, before he shut it. “Good man.”

Without another word, Norman excused himself, just as quickly as he invited himself in.

-

Gwen waited, biting her lip in frustration, as she sat on a bench at the ice cream shop across from the school. Peter said he would meet her in an hour after school. She knew he would never intentionally be late, as she watched with two little kids play in a sand box, a boy and a girl, without a care in the world.

An alarm next door jerked Gwen out of her thoughts and suddenly, she looked around, from side to side, as she watched a trio of masked thugs rush out the door, two of them carrying a rather heavy looking piece of equipment, as the third lead the way, holding what appeared to be an explosive device of some sort in his hand. Out of morbid curiosity, Gwen got to her feet, to take a closer look, as a pair of security guards chased after them, yelling frantically.

“Move it you mooks, the big boss wants this component back right now,” ordered the thug who was carrying the explosive device.

“Easy for you to say, this thing ways a ton,” grunted one of the thugs. “And those guards are gong to catch up with us before they reach us.”

“Luckily, I came prepared,” responded the leader of the group, as he set the explosive device, before he recklessly threw it over his shoulder, right on top of a ledge above where the two children were playing. Gwen watched in horror, as the explosive detonated. The little girl managed to get out of the way but the boy stood, paralyzed, as the ledge threatened to crumble out from underneath him, promptly Gwen to do something that in hindsight seemed to be incredibly reckless. She rushed forward and pulled the boy just out of the way but she had her own problem, as the debris prepared to crush her.

Suddenly, she felt someone scoop her up just at the very last second and her savior swung through the air, with her underneath his arm. She looked at her savior, her eyes widening when she saw who it was.

“Spider-Man,” managed Gwen in half awe, half surprised.

“That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” said Spider-Man as he swung upwards, before he placed Gwen safely on a building. “Stay right there, I’ll be back in a couple minutes, you’ll be safe up here, trust me.”

“I do,” responded Gwen softly as she watched, something quickly clicking her head. When she heard rumors of the mysterious spider themed hero, she had her suspicions, but seeing him in action had her convinced.

“Man, Gwen, you do have guts, girl,” thought Spider-Man to himself. “Still, glad I got there on time, I don’t know if I could have taken it if I lost you so close after losing Uncle Ben but no time to worry about what might have been now, got to get these thugs before they make a clean getaway.”

With that Spider-Man leapt on top of the component that the thugs had stolen. The weight of a hundred and thirty pound super hero proved to be too much for them and they collapsed underneath the weight.

“Willie, help us,” grumbled one of the criminals.

“Forget it, you two are on your own now,” said the thug, Willie, as he panicked, as the two thugs were quickly webbed up and the component retrieved, as the two security guards.

“I believe this is yours,” said Spider-Man to the guards, who nodded but he looked down the street, the third thug had made a clean get away. “Right, no need to thank me, all in a days work.”

Spider-Man swung up to where Gwen as she sat waiting for him a bit shaken up from her ordeal but otherwise calm.

“Are you okay?” asked Spider-Man.

“Fine,” replied Gwen. “How about you?”

“Can’t complain, although I wish that other thief wouldn’t have gotten away,” said Spider-Man.

“Sorry,” replied Gwen.

“No, not your fault, making sure the civilians are safe is priority number one,” answered Spider-Man and there was a second’s pause.

“So Spider-Man,” remarked Gwen in a calm voice, a small smile appearing before she stepped over, so only the two of them could only hear the conversation. “Nice costume by the way. I guess that sewing elective I talked you into taking last year did pay off after all, right Peter?”

“Yeah, I guess so even if Flash and his friends gave me…ah hell Gwen,” responded Spider-Man as Gwen started to laugh when she saw that Peter realized that she knew. “How did you…I mean…I was careful…”

“Peter, really now, I was with you when you got bitten by the spider and when you started exhibiting those death defying acrobatics,” responded Gwen with a smile. “Besides, don’t you think I wouldn’t know my own boyfriend? You’re not mad are you?”

“No, actually I’m relieved,” said Peter with a sigh. “At least now I won’t have to make lame excuses whenever I have to leave to be Spider-Man.”

“Yes, thankfully for you, because you’re a bad liar,” responded Gwen as both laughed at this.

“So you’re okay with this, right?” asked Peter.

“I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t have my concerns,” said Gwen delicately. “But I trust your judgment Peter, you have your reasons.”

“Yes, I do,” responded Peter darkly but Gwen just stopped, as if sensing what he was going to make.

“And please, for God’s sake, don’t pull that, because I’m a super hero, it’s too dangerous to be together, crap,” said Gwen with narrowed eyes. “Just because I know you’re Spider-Man, doesn’t change anything.”

“I could put you in danger,” said Peter slowly.

“My father’s job could put me in danger as well,” countered Gwen. “Every day, there could be some lunatic out there who could use me to get to him.”

“Well, I find it hard to argue with that,” said Peter with a shrug but he looked downtrodden. “The problem is there’s the money situation…”

“I know, Peter, you’ll figure out something,” whispered Gwen before she thought of something and Peter looked over, with a copy of the Daily Bugle that had blown on the roof. On the front it had a brief article, detailing Spider-Man. He did not really read it but he noticed the lack of pictures and a thought popped into his head.

“I might have already had,” said Peter before he went right into Spider-Man mode. “I better swing you back down.”

Gwen nodded, before she wrapped her arms around, Peter. She smiled, as the two swung down.

“I’m kind of jealous,” muttered Gwen as Spider-Man gave her a skeptical look as they swung around. “I mean you do this all of the time and it’s kind of fun.”

“Yeah it can be,” agreed Spider-Man as they dropped down to the ground, Gwen landing on her feet firmly. “I’ll take one more swing around the city to see if I can catch up with that escaped thug.”

“Right, stay safe,” muttered Gwen as she watched Spider-Man swing off.

“Always do, Gwen,” thought Spider-Man mentally. “Besides, nothing too dangerous has ever happened to me as Spider-Man. Just a bunch of thugs and punks, I’ve never really had to deal with a really big time criminal yet.”

-

“So let me understand this, you lost the final and most vital component for my plan because Spider-Man interfered,” said a cold, unforgiving voice.

“It wasn’t my fault, boss,” responded Willie the thug in an apologetic voice. “We would have gotten away with it had it not been for that interfering insect.”

“First of all, spiders are not insects, they are classified as arachnids, you Kindergarten drop out,” said the figure in a disparaging tone. “Second of all, I don’t tolerate excuses, no matter what. I expect my employees to not be defeated by some miscreant playing dress up.”

“But, boss what’s so special about this machine you’re creating?” asked one of the other henchmen.

“It is a seismic wave disrupter,” responded the figure but he paused. “In your common, uneducated vernacular, it’s a machine that can create earthquakes but now, the most vital component has gone missing. I require ample capital if I should attempt to dethrone the Kingpin of Crime and take my rightful place as ruler of the New York criminal underworld. Without the Seismic Wave Disrupter, my plans cannot move into this next phase. Now, security will be tight and I shall have to personally secure the component.”

“What about Spider-Man, boss?” asked one of the henchmen.

“Much like any other pest, should he get in my way, he will be squashed under my foot,” responded the figure, before a spiked tentacle rose up. “And an example as to what happens to those who fail me.”

With a swift motion, the tentacle shot out, the spiked end catching Willie the thug right in the chest. He screamed in pain before blood began to spurt everywhere as he began to fade, dying a moment later.

“Ms. Trainer?” asked the figure.

“Yes, Dr. Octavius?” asked Carolyn Trainer, his assistant and most prized pupil.

“Please get a mop and clean up this awful mess,” said the figure, before he stepped out of the shadows, so all could see him, revealing a stocky brown haired man dressed in a yellow track suit, a grey trench coat, and wearing glasses. The most peculiar thing was he had a harness, with four tentacles, two on either side, that were razor sharp and also served the duel purpose of being able to manipulate objects from a distance. “My colleagues may have laughed at and spurned Otto Octavius, calling his experiments lunacy but now all will learn to tremble before the might of Dr. Octopus!”

-

“Okay Pete, here comes nothing,” thought Peter to himself. “I’m sure if you can explain that you can get photos of Spider-Man, this J. Jonah Jameson will hear you out. I mean, he’s the publisher of the biggest newspaper in the city, he’s got to be a reasonable man.”

With a deep breath, he walked towards the front entrance of the Daily Bugle building and he pushed the door open, before he walked inside, into the lobby. It was a chaotic scene, loud and boisterous, with people running around in a hurried, absent minded manner. It was exactly how Peter imagined the headquarters for a newspaper would look like.

“Excuse me, may I help you?” asked a young girl behind a desk, she looked a few years older than Peter, maybe twenty at the very most. The name plate on her desk indicated that her name was Betty Brant.

“Yeah, I was wondering if I could have a few minutes to speak with your boss, Mr. Jameson,” said Peter as Betty looked at him with a skeptical expression. “I think I might be able to get him pictures of Spider-Man in action.”

Betty’s eyes widened in surprise, her boss would definitely be interested in this, if it was a legitimate offer.

“Just one moment,” said Betty as she reached over, pressing a button to activate an intercom. “Mr. Jameson, there’s someone here who has an offer you might find interesting.”

“This better be good, Miss Brant,” said a gruff voice from the other end of the intercom and Peter looked towards an office door, where a middle aged man dressed in a suit, with a mustache that would make Hitler envious walked out to face him. “Well?”

“Hello, Mr. Jameson, I’m Peter Parker, I’m a photographer,” said Peter which was only a slight extortion of the truth. He did dabble in photography as part of the journalism club during his freshman year. “I think, I can get you photos of Spider-Man.”

Jameson just looked at him, before he burst out into a round of laughter, which left Peter confused.

“Get me photos of Spider-Man, as if, some of the best photographers in the city haven’t gotten one picture of that wall crawling nuisance, so why am I supposed to think that some no nothing kid can catch that vigilante in action?” bellowed Jameson. “Some punk kid isn’t going to get photos of Spider-Man, the only person who’s going to do that is going to be a professional. In fact…BROCK!”

“Yes, JJ,” said a young blonde haired man in his mid twenties named Eddie Brock. He was one of the top photographers in the Bugle.

“You’re main assignment is Spider-Man,” responded Jameson. “You’re to get photos of him, I don’t care how long it takes. You’re going to eat, drink, and breathe Spider-Man until you get me results. Scour the deepest, darkest, most filthy parts of this city, there’s where that menace will be.”

“Wait a minute, menace, I thought Spider-Man was a hero,” said Peter, trying not to let his response seem too angry or personal towards Jameson’s response.

“Shows how much you know, a hero is someone like my son, the astronaut, Colonel John Jameson!” bellowed Jameson, his boisterous response taking Peter aback. “Spider-Man is worse than a vigilante. He’s a vigilante who wears a mask. If he was a hero, he’d take off that mask and put on a police uniform. Until then, he’s as bad as those criminals he allegedly brings to justice.”

Jameson looked red in the face, before he turned to Brock.

“Brock, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation!” boomed Jameson. “Spider-Man’s out there right now and you’re standing here like a slack jawed yokel. Get going, now and bring me photos.”

“Yes, JJ, of course,” responded Eddie as he moved out, with a gleeful smile, realizing that he could make a fortune if he snapped the first photos of Spider-Man, providing he could get Jameson to unclench his fist.

“And you, stop cluttering up my office, Parker, unless you actually have photos of Spider-Man,” said Jameson.

“No sir,” said Peter in a forced calm voice.

“Then scat kid, why are you still here?” demanded Jameson as Peter turned and walked off.

“What a charming individual with a wonderful personality,” thought Peter sarcastically. “Maybe I should have actually gotten a photo but given that guy, I doubt he’d be satisfied with Spidey taking down thieves and hoodlums. What I need is a real battle and pictures of it.”

Peter prepared to walk home but a loud alarm had put a stop to his plans. He looked, walking down the street, walking around the corner, before he spotted the source of the alarm.

“That’s the company those hoods tried to steal that scientific component from earlier,” thought Peter. “And it looks like I have to stop them.”

Peter Parker ducked into an alley and a moment later, Spider-Man swung out, leaping from building to building, before he cautiously entered the building.

“Hello, anyone home?” asked Spider-Man tentatively but suddenly, his spider sense, as he had come to call it, went crazy. He instinctively dodged, as a large tentacle like robotic arm just barely missed taking his head completely off. Instead, it smashed right across a wooden box, shattering it into toothpicks. Another attack was narrowly dodged, as Spider-Man climbed up the wall, to face his attacker, before he leapt as quickly as he could at his opponent, but he was knocked right out the air by the tentacle smashing into him. He dropped with a thud.

“So you’re the infamous Spider-Man,” said Doctor Octopus with disdain as he moved forward, before he raised one of his robotic arms. The spiked part of the tentacle rammed down but Spider-Man dodged the attack, barely avoiding getting impaled. Another attack was narrowly avoided as Octopus looked at his wall crawling opponent with a bored expression. “I find myself quite underwhelmed.”

Dr. Octopus swung forward, but his opponent dodged the attack, before Spider-Man jumped at his opponent again but a swipe of the good doctor’s tentacle knocked Spider-Man right on his face.

“Alright, let’s try that again, shall me,” muttered Spider-Man, as he felt his face. It was quite lucky he was not even cut. “Just who are you anyway?”

“You may call me Doctor Octopus!” cried the criminal in as Spider-Man somersaulted and spun out of the way, avoiding nearly impalement on the metal tentacles of the doctor. “Know the name well arachnid, for it will be the name of executor!”

“Really now, Dr. Octopus, you have four extra arms and you still can’t get one shot in on me,” said Spider-Man, before he blasted webbing, tying two of the tentacles together. Before he could wrap up the other two, one rose, its end spinning into a buzzsaw like motion, cutting through Spider-Man’s webbing like a hot knife through butter. Dr. Octopus blasted all four robotic arms forward, latching onto Spider-Man’s arms and legs.

“Now to rip you to shreds,” said Dr. Octopus but Spider-Man managed to web the good doctor’s glasses, causing him be caught off guard. With a swift motion, Spider-Man ripped himself free, before he landed on the ground.

“Got something on your glasses, Doctor Octopus!” taunted Spider-Man as he dodged the attacks, the arms destroying the ground beneath him but Dr. Octopus took a moment to pull the webbing off his glasses. “Come on, Doc, step on a Spidey, win a prize!”

“You will regret your flippant attitude towards me, arachnid!” cried Octopus as more attacks were narrowly dodged.

“I’m thinking you’re regretting that ugly tracksuit or at least you should be,” retorted Spider-Man as he continued to move around, but Doctor. Octopus raised one of his robotic arms, before he smashed a support beam, causing the ceiling right above Spider-Man to collapse and he struggled to hold it on, as he saw several downed scientists who were unable to move. Spider-Man moved to hold up the building.

“As much as I would like nothing better to reduce you to a smear of blood, I do have a time table to keep, another time perhaps hero,” taunted Doctor Octopus as he walked off on his tentacles, his needed component in hand, as Spider-Man struggled to hold up the building, watching in desperation as his enemy had gotten away but he had more pressing problems on his hand. 


Next Chapter