Portal
Your heart jolted as you heard the tell tale sound of your alarm waking you up from your sleep, quickly sitting up so you could turn the blaring sound off. You pressed the button on your phone to shut it up and thankfully, it shushed. You sighed and blinked wearily at the time on your phone. 7:30 am. You groaned and sat up, looking out of the window- it was early February, meaning the air was still chilly and it often didn't get fully light until at least 9- so as you opened the blinds of your window, you could still see the orange and pink streaks in the sky that indicated sunrise. You sighed and went to get dressed.
You walked downstairs and saw your daughter, Gabriela, sitting at the table and eating her breakfast, watching something on her phone as she did. She looked up at you as you walked in, looking tired as you went to make yourself a coffee. "Morning, Dad." "Mornin', Gabi." Gabriela had grown out of calling you 'daddy' as she'd grown older- she was now 12, in her first year of 'secondary school.' You now lived in London- the British school system was different to that of the American one. "¿Dormiste bien? (Did you sleep well?)" You said, looking up at Gabriela from your coffee, as you leaned onto the kitchen island. "Yes," she said, not looking up. You sighed. You had picked up some Spanish, being able to speak it decently well due to being married to Miguel for as long as you were- but Gabriela had been raised with it as a second language, and was much better at speaking it then you. After Miguel's death, however, her flare for speaking the language quickly faded and she hadn't spoken it properly in years. Understandable, however, with Miguel being no-contact with his family and him now being dead, there wasn't really anyone to speak to in Spanish, and it hurt for hrto speak it.
Gabriela put her breakfast stuff away as she started packing her bag, checking she had everything in it for school. "I gotta go catch the bus, Dad," she said, picking up her backpack and putting it on as she ran to hug you, before running out of the door. "Bye, love you!" "Love you too, sweetie!" You called after her, as you heard the front door close. You sighed and got your own shit together before leaving for work yourself.
Being a single parent that had moved to another country wasn't exactly easy. In Nueva York, being spider-man paid decently well as the public was happy to pay for your services. It still paid in England, honestly, but you wanted to be able to focus on other things then being a superhero sometimes. You had picked up a job at a local university, as an unqualified robotics engineer- but they said you could do an intern job for a month and they were so impressed at your understanding and knowledge that you were hired. It really was a fun job, and you only had to be there from 9-2, as you didn't have a doctorate- but you still got payed well, mind.
You usually started your spider-rounds of the city at about 3; keeping people out of trouble and saving people as much as you could, as always. Honestly, when you'd announced five years ago to the Neuva York public that you wanted to explore and help people all over the world, that's why you moved to England, you were surprised at how supportive everyone was, suddenly becoming MORE of an icon in a way. You liked it here- same amount of problems, but less of a daunting worry of the shit that happened back in the city you were from. The university you worked at came into view, and you pulled out your key card, walking inside and taking the elevator up to the seventh floor. You walked down the hall to a lab, with a plaque outside it. It read-
'Dr. Otto Octavius
assist. Y/N O'hara
Robotics'
Dr Octavio was a nice man, who was incredibly smart. One of the reasons you had taken up robotics as a career path is because you wanted ways to improve your spider-suit, but you'd realised somewhere along the way that you probably couldn't do that by yourself, so you'd told Dr. Octavius about your double-life as spider-man. And he'd managed to keep the secret for four years, being happy to help whenever you needed a small improvement to your suit. You walked inside the lab, to see Octavius working on his newest invention. Well, the newest work in progress, as it had been six months of failure at the moment. He was trying to find a way to attach four extra robotic arms to himself via his spine, and so far all the prototypes would've killed him. He looked up when he heard the door opened, and smiled as you walked in. "O'hara! Good to see you," He said, taking off his goggles and standing up properly. You only called each other by your last names as a formality, really. "Good morning, Doctor," You said, Taking off your jacket and going to get a lab coat. "A good morning it is indeed. I think I've finally cracked this, but I want you to have a small look at it first. My old eyes can't see everything," He chuckled, and you walked over to his prototype.
There was a long, spine-looking metal rope with several tiny needles sticking through it, and four robotic arms coming off of it. You paid mind to the needles sticking out of the back piece, glancing to Dr. Octavius. As much as the man was smart and friendly, he was equally mad as his good qualities. "Uhm- Doc, those aren't gonna stick into-" "My spinal chord? That's exactly where they're going to go!" Your seemingly worst fears had been unfortunately confirmed. You sighed and started looking over the wire work like Octavius had asked- and to your surprise, everything seemed... perfectly in place. Survivable. Possible. You glanced back at the grinning Doctor, and gave him a smile- albeit a weak one.
"I've booked the viewing room for several of our colleagues to come watch the attachment in an hour. If it doesn't work, then let me say ahead of time- it was a pleasure working with you, O'hara."
--/--/--/--/--
When only a few had been invited, nearly half of the scientists at the university turned up to see the experiment. Someone had rumoured something about spider-man turning up to see if Dr. Octavius could be a new hero-ally, but something told you he wasn't going to turn up. The viewing room was quite simple. All the people that had come to watch were on one side of the bulletproof glass, and you were on the other. with Dr. Octavius, to help set up the machine for the experiment. Once everything had been set up satisfactorily, you went to the control panel at the side of the room, turning on the microphone to grab the attention of the keenly awaiting crowd. Hell, even a news team had turned up.
"Ladies and gentlemen," you said, hearing the crowded side of the viewing room go dead silent. "You are viewing experiment 0927, prototype 6,781. This is the most promising attempt we've seen towards it," you continued, looking to Doctor Octavio. "So enjoy the show." You clicked off the microphone as you flicked on several switches to the machine Octavius was standing on, and it started whirring and lighting up as mechanical parts began to move, closing in on the doctor. Fear clouded your mind as you watched with great intent as a mechanical arm bought the invention towards Octavius, and having to look away as it was attached. You were surprised that he hadn't yelled out in pain. After a few more seconds, the machine having done its job, it powered down. But the familiar mechanical whirring of a machine still sounded. You looked up, to see Doctor Octavius- alive, well, and now with four, brand new shiny limbs. Applause erupted from the crowd watching, the reporter and camera man amongst them going crazy. You smiled and turned the microphone back on.
"Experiment 0927 has been a success!"
--/--/--/--/--
Work had been a hectic and joyful affair after that. People all over the news were going crazy, announcing Dr Octavius (Or Doc Oc/Doctor Octopus as some people were now calling him) something close to a new superhuman- but he insisted he didn't want to override spider-man, and he was sure he didn't need any extra help. His extra arms would be used for scientific purposes only.
You left work at 4 pm, heading home and quickly getting changed into your spider-man suit. You were two hours late on your usual rounds and that wasn't good. You said a quick hi and goodbye to Gabriela, telling her to stay safe and do her homework as per usual. You swung from the top of your apartment building and went to go do your rounds.
After a couple of hours of apprehending more crimes, you were casually walking up one of London's skyscrapers as you were considering going home, tired and slightly super-heroed out. Just as you were about to swing to another building though, a very strange sight caught your attention down on the street. What looked to a portal out of a kind of sci-fi movie had appeared, and a figure had come out of it, causing several cars to crash and a general disturbance on the street below. You groaned and jumped from the height of the skyscraper, falling until you came close to a building and swung onto the roof of it, trying to catch up to whatever this... thing, was. It looked to be some kind of strange dragon-looking thing, a long dragon. Vaguely like the ones seen in Chinese mythology, but made entirely of flames. Strange. That was the least of your worries, though, as it was breathing fire everywhere and creating a giant fucking problem. You swung nearby to it, shooting an extra sticky web to try and block its path- and the dragon partially burned through it, the long dragon itself disappearing, and a person- dressed mostly in red, seeming to be some kind of little girl, remaining there. You edged closer- even the girl's hair was such a shade of orangey-red that you wouldn't be surprised if it was made of fire. You climbed onto the web she was stuck in, attempting to get a closer look- but using her powers, she burnt her hand free and shot an angry flame in your direction, and it burnt your side pretty badly.
The girl reformed her dragon and flew away again, just as you were clutching your side in pain. It had singed through your costume and burnt the actual skin there. You tried to shoot a web at a building nearby- by a glance, you realised it was the university you worked at- but you missed. Just a millisecond to late. You were falling rapidly, until- you were caught.
"Looked like you could use an extra couple of hands," Said a familiar voice. The thing that had caught you by the leg was a mechanical hand, and even while hanging upside down, you could tell who it was. "Thanks, Doc Oc!" You said, lowering your voice just a little so he had a lesser chance of recognising you. "It's no problem at all, spider-man. You need any help with this- what the hell is that?" He said, seeing the fire-breathing dragon flying through the sky again. "Couldn't tell you," you said, flipping yourself over so you were perched on top of the hand instead of dangling from it. "But yes. Help would definitely be appreciated."
Doc Oc nodded as you shot a web at a nearby building again, trying to get closer to the fire-girl-dragon, but this was nearing impossible at how fast she was. The dragon shot an angry fireball at you, which you quickly dodged but it hit a nearby building. What the fuck was this girl's problem? Doc Oc joined you on the rooftop as you saw a fire department and a news helicopter circle nearby. Oh no. This was bad. You shot a web right at the fire dragon this time, but it was burnt immediately and you had no choice but to retract it. It started to fly in the direction of the fire department helicopter when someone inside pulled out a hose, shooting water at it and the Dragon hissed unhappily, letting out a shriek and retracting from it. Water, of course!
That, however, had now turned out to be the least of your worries. You suddenly felt a sharp metal hand clamp around your waist, and pick you up from the ground. You saw in your peripherals the dragon was flying away, being chased by the fire department helicopter, just as you were slammed into the concrete on the roof. You groaned in pain as the metal dug into the burn on your side, most definitely drawing blood. You blinked wearily as a second arm picked you up by the throat, limiting your breathing capability, and making you start to choke and feel dizzy. You tried to pull off the metal claw but to no avail. "It seems," Said the unmistakable voice of Doc Oc, "That spider-man is now helpless." What the hell was going on? You felt an uncomfortable thought from earlier return to you. The wiring of the machine was attached to the nerves going right to the brain. The arms were taking over Octavius' mind. And it seemed they did not have good intent. You felt the bottom of your mask being tugged up. No. This was not good. "Sorry, spider-man, but this'll make it hell of a lot easier for your enemies if we just... let everybody know who you are. Let's just call this a favour to the public."
You suddenly felt yourself being dropped, and you let out a yell of pain. You heard Octavius cursing as you looked up, seeing a familiar person. No. No no no no no. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" You yelled. A much-younger spider-person in a clearly homemade costume had webbed Doc Oc to the floor, and ran over to help you up. "Dad!" Gabi said, hugging you. You quickly pulled away. "You need to leave. Now!" It was bad enough that she was now in severe danger, but the fact that the news helicopter was now broadcasting live that spider-man had a daughter was extremely bad. He did not want people finding out and possibly putting her in danger. Before Gabriela could respond, You heard ripping- the webs restricting Octavius broke, and you felt yourself being yanked and forcefully slammed to the ground again. You heard a yelp just beside you, indicating Gabriela had been given the same treatment. You were both picked up by the neck this time- seemed Octavius wanted a round two.
"So! Spider-man has a daughter? Wow! This makes this ten times better!" He said, grinning. You almost saw a flash of something- daunting, in his eye. Something inhumane. "What's it gonna be, spider-man? You or the girl? The hero of this city, or his daughter? One of you must-" At that moment, another portal appeared. You were really getting sick of these things, and it had only been twenty minutes of having to deal with them. However, before you could pay any mind to the figure that came through it and kicked Doc Oc in the face, dropping you- the second you hit the roof, you passed out cold- vaguely aware of your daughter rushing to your side once more.