Polypus Aranea

Olivia Octavius would be the first to admit she wasn’t the most mentally stable. But even with her insanity and arrogance she wasn’t one to lie to herself. Lying to oneself could cause unnecessary gaps in one’s judgement and an inflated confidence in one’s abilities. Which in turn caused one to take on more than they could handle.

This is why. When she told herself she did not care for the superhuman infant she had recently kidnapped. She immediately believed herself. Admittedly it probably wasn’t a good idea to listen to a crazy person, but that was what she had been doing for years now. Each time she looked at the small figure as she was feeding him or changed his diaper she reminded herself she did not care.

As the days went by and more and more people started asking questions about her absence. Liv decided it would be wise to go to alchemax as to not cause suspicion. She had set up some of her finest octopus-bots (she refused to call them ock-bots as her wall-crawling nemesis had named them) to watch over her most priced experiment and made to leave.

Then the strangest thing happened. It started with this insistent tugging in her gut as if someone had tied her to her house. Then when she finally left the house her heart started clenching. When she reached the parking lot in front of the lab it had become so bad that it was hard for her to breath. She checked her mirror and what she saw shocked her. Her normally carefully controlled and calm face (if you looked close enough you could see a slightly manic glint in her eyes) was riddled with panic.

That was when she realized she was having a panic attack. She hadn’t had one since the accident 2 years ago. To say that she was surprised with this development was an understatement of massif proportions. Insanity when handled right could be used to suppress one’s emotions to a certain extend. With this in mind she started searching for the source of all this unnecessary and slightly annoying panic. The realization hit her like one of those trucks the web slinging simpleton sometimes threw at her.

She missed the child. How this hadn’t occurred to her sooner was a mystery. It was quite logical really. To miss the most impressive thing she had ever created. When those juvenile prisons stripped her of her 4 robotic limbs she missed them quite a lot. There couldn’t possible another explanation. The only other reason she could think of was that she actually cared about the child and that would be just ridiculous.

With the fact that her most prized possession was well protected in mind. She calmed down and walked into her lab. The rest of the day was spend being less productive then she wanted to be. For some unknown reason her mind kept wandering to the small child and hopefully future ally in her house. The time she didn’t spend thinking about the part spider infant was spend convincing herself that she didn’t care for him.

Having eventually given up on doing anything useful that day. Liv decided she might as well go home. It took her exactly 18 minutes to drive there and she spent all that time convincing herself that nothing could have gotten past her security. Strangely enough this did not calm her down. When she finally arrived at her house it was all she could do not to launch herself into the improvised nursery and check every inch of her masterpiece for any signs of injury.

Instead she slowly opened the door and peaked inside. Everything was as it should be. Her robots where flying around the crib and scanning for any signs of danger. And the tiny proof of her success was laying in his crib. When she stepped inside she felt a wave of relief wash over her. The child. No. her child was okay. Softly approaching she saw her child open his wide beautiful eyes open and stare at her full of trust. She picked him up carefully

“Hello Miles” she said. This caused him to giggle. “You had your mother quite worried, you know. I trust you had a good day” Miles cooed at her. “That’s what I thought.” She continued to talk to him for a while. Talking to a baby was one of the least crazy things she’d done.

Yes she does care for Miles. And with that thought she started to forge the documents of Miles Octavius.

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Within a month everyone in Achemax knew about Miles. This was probably because Liv refused to leave the house without him. As she was the Head-scientist and she couldn’t just not show up for work she was forced to take Miles with her. This caused the gossip about her to increase tenfold.

She had always been a popular subject to talk about. This was in part due to her intelligence and in part her rumored insanity. But when she walked in on Monday with a baby in her arms those hushed conversations changed. Instead of wondering what her newest experiment would be they started to wonder if Miles was really hers. Instead of questioning her sanity they started to question whether Miles would inherit her intelligence.

It was a nice change of pace, but as people got more and more used to having Miles around. People started to get more and more bold about their theories about him. The first and most amusing theory was that Liv had been so lonely that she build herself a son. The second one was that she had cloned a man she was armored with but didn’t love her back. The third was that he was simply her and nobody had noticed her pregnancy.

The theories didn’t really bother her. People had certainly speculated worse things about her. No what really got under her skin was when people started sharing their opinions on her son. Most employees were smart enough not to say anything bad about Miles in her presence. What those bright minds didn’t know was that she had bugged every office. She had programmed those bugs to alert her whenever someone talked about something she had deemed important. It was how she kept people from betraying her, you couldn’t betray people if you were dead.

She had now set the bugs so that it would notify her as soon as someone started talking about Miles. This is what had led her to the situation now. Because while people watched their words around her. They had no such preservations around their colleagues. She had spent the entire day listening to her employees talk about Miles. it was mostly about how she had acquired the child. Some others talked about how cute her son was and how he would certainly inherit his mother’s brain. These latter made her chest fill with a warm feeling.

There were unfortunately those stupid enough to think her son was anything but perfect. Logically she knew that no human was perfect. However this did not stop her emotional side from becoming absolutely furious at the thought of someone insulting her son. She was about to go on a murderous rampage when she heard a small cry. Oh right. It was time for Miles’s bottle. She picket Miles up and started walking to the cafeteria. On the way there she heard a couple of scientist whispering about how they hoped that now that Liv had a child she’d mellow out.

Once she had fed Miles and he had finally gone to sleep she realized she wasn’t angry anymore. She chuckled softly and looked at her precious son. “Guess you do take after that insolent arachnid. You’re only a few months old and you already saved some rude scientists from a painful death by my hand. And with that she started working on her newest project.

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Liv never expected having a super powered baby would be easy. She knew that raising even a normal baby was a monumental task. However knowing and doing were two entirely different things. The parenting books told her that you should always watch your child as they could get into quite some trouble on their own. This is where the first problem came in. Miles turned invisible every time he was upset. Every. Single. Time. And babies get upset very easily. For example: when she refused to pay attention to him while she was working on her theory. Invisible. When he was tired. Invisible. When she took something dangerous from him. Invisible. Sometimes he just turned invisible for seemingly no reason.

The super strength was also a problem. While Miles wasn’t nearly as strong as that spandex clad menace. He was still much stronger than the average adult. This had so far led to the destruction of two chairs, one laptop, a table, 6 doors and dozens of toys among other things. The destruction of toys was the most problematic because whenever a toy broke Miles got upset and whenever Miles was upset. He. Turned. Invisible. Seemingly the only thing he hadn’t broken yet was a person. At this rate she almost hoped he would, because at least that would bring her some entertainment.

This all led to her glaring at her seventh laptop while trying to design a door so strong that not even the red and blue nightmare could break. Miles was sleeping peacefully in the crib she had had the interns set up in the lab. Oblivious to all the damage he caused he had eventually grown bored of destroying everything in his sight. Normally Liv was all for destroying property, but not when it was her property.

She was halfway done when a small yawn alerted her that her son was awake. She quickly went to pick him up lest she wanted him to get upset and turn invisible yet again. It was endearing to see his small eyes crinkle with happiness as soon as he saw her. Anyone else would be frightened at her appearance or at least intimidated, so it was a nice change of pace. When she picked him up he started to full on giggle. The sound of her son’s laughter got rid of any annoyance like a small sun lightning up the sky. She picked him up with a smile only two people had ever seen on her face. Suddenly the smile got replaced by a puzzled frown

Miles wouldn’t unstick from the blanket. At first Liv thought he was just holding on to it really tightly. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time, but upon closer inspection she could clearly see his hands were open. This could mean only one thing. Miles had developed another power.

The press had once asked the super powered annoyance how he had gotten his powers. The walking failure of evolution had replied that a spider had bit him and he had fainted. Once he woke up he had the ability to do “everything a spider can” whatever that meant.

With Miles it worked differently. Liv figured this was because Miles powers were part of him. And thus developed with his body like any other skill. The invisibility had probably come first because it was a reflex. The super strength had develop around the same time as when normal babies started to lift their body on their own.

Liv had known this would eventually happen but she had just hoped it would take a little longer. Every new power meant a new thing to watch out for. She didn’t really know how sticking to things could be dangerous but she was sure Miles would manage it. At this point she had just accepted that her son and her stuff would always be in jeopardy especially when paired together.

Now she only had to get Miles to stop sticking.

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Miles had learned how to crawl.

Of course this wasn’t exactly a surprise. As it was normal for a child his age to start to move around. Liv had been researching about the care and development of children ever since she first brought Miles home. The books on child care had told her that when babies started crawling your live would become ten times harder. You were supposed to constantly supervise them and make sure they wouldn’t crawl to their untimely deaths. What those books didn’t have advice for was what to do when your baby started crawling on the walls and ceilings.

Ever since Miles discovered had discover that he could move himself by putting one limb in front of the other and then repeating that process he had been unstoppable. When he inevitably reached a wall he had tried to crawl up there to. Now when a normal baby tried this they would be shortly disappointed and then they would continue to explore the floor. But when Miles tried this he discovered that he could just as easily move up there, if not more so. At first this had simply meant she now had to watch the walls and ceilings. That is, until she noticed one big flaw in this plan. Sometimes Miles stopped sticking.

It happened on a sunny Saturday. Liv had spent the entire week working on her multiverse theory and was looking forward to a relaxing weekend with her son. Miles had been with her all week but having him with her in the lab just wasn’t the same as holding him in her arms all day with no distractions. This plan was unfortunately canceled when Miles started to fuzz. Once he had experienced the miracle of movement he had become almost addicted to crawling around the room. Where just a few weeks ago she could hold him for hours without a complaint. She now had to put him down once every hour to let him roam around a little.

With a sigh she carefully set him down on the floor and watched him climb up the wall. Suddenly the phone started ringing. She had been expecting a call from a possible investor for her multiverse experiment. A rather large man named Wilson Fisk or as people in the more shady parts of the community knew him by: The Kingpin. It was highly unlikely for him to invest in something this non lucrative and seemingly pointless, but Liv hoped she could appeal to his more irrational side as a fellow villain.

She could probably leave Miles alone for a few minutes. At least for the few seconds it took to grab the phone and walk back. With one last at Miles she walked to the room where she had left her phone. It turned out that the she had left the device at the other side of the house meaning that it would take at least 5 minutes to get it and then another 5 to walk back to Miles. it was times like these that made her regret buying such a large house.
When she had finally reached the wretched thing it had almost stopped ringing. This wasn’t a really good impression to make on a possible investor but it couldn’t be helped now.

“This is Doctor Olivia Octavius of Alchemax Labs. How may I help you.” She could hear faint grumbling on the other line

“Octavius, late as ever I see.” The unmistakable voice of Kingpin answered. Liv had half a mind to tell him that it was Doctor Octavius, but decided against it.

Instead she snippily replied “My apologies mister Kingpin. Is there a reason you called other than to insult my punctuality.”

“There is. I was going to tell you I would consider investing in your useless little project, but I’m starting to think that won’t be necessary”.

Liv cursed softly under her breath. This was exactly why she didn’t negotiate over phone. Not only were all the unspoken little rules way too much to keep track of. She also lost about sixty percent of intimidation factor when you couldn’t see her long metallic extra limbs

“I apologies mister Kingpin. I di sincerely hope you will see how useful my machine could be. Imaging if you will. Thousands of New Yorks all waiting for you to rule them. You could be the most powerful crime lord in the world. No. the universe. If you ju-“

Suddenly an overwhelming sense of foreboding washed over her. The only other times this had happened were when Miles had tried to touch a bottle with highly dangerous acid in the labs and when he had almost put an active grenade in his mouth (those had been the most terrifying moments in her life. She had never thought anything would beat her accident, but somehow Miles had managed it).

She started sprinting with a speed she had never before managed. When this wasn’t fast enough she let her tentacle arms unfold and started running with those. She arrived just in time to see Miles fall from the ceiling. With a speed she wished she could manage when she was fighting that annoying arachnid she shot out a tentacle. She almost collapsed from relieve when she felt a small weight land in her grasp.

She tried to calm her breathing as she slowly pulled Miles towards her. Her mind kept reminding her of what would happen if she had been just a little slower. With Miles finally safely in her arms she could calm down. She refused to let Miles go for the next two days and vowed to never let him walk around alone again until he was at least 16.

It wasn’t until she returned to work on Monday that she realized she had hung up on the Kingpin

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They were going to catch him. He was running as fast as he could but his tiny legs were just no match for them. He risked a quick look behind him. They were right behind him, their lab coats made them look like spirits hunting for souls to join them. He just had to reach the door and he was safe. He could see the light through the class. He reached out his hand and-

“Gotha” a breathless voice said. Two firm arms wrapped around him and lifted him up. Miles immediately started giggling.

“Jeez kid, you really gotta go easy on an old man like me. One more minute and I woulda died of exhaustion” Miles heard another voice complain.

He tried to wriggle out of the iron grip but the arms only tightened around him.

“Oh no you don’t. it already took us twenty minutes to find you. No way are we gonna let you go now. Man, you take playing hide and seek to a new extreme.” His capturer said

The other man hummed in agreement. “It’s too bad ya can’t join our sports league kiddo. With someone as fast as you we would defeat those ba-. Ow!.” Suddenly he got kicked in the shins by his companion. “I mean those jerks at Stark Industry with our eyes closed.”

Miles pouted. “Yeah, but you and Pete could still beat me”

Pete chuckled and carefully twisted Miles so he could see them. “That’s only because we’re twice your size squirt. If you ever get taller than a leprechaun I’m sure you’d beat us easily.”

This got its intended reaction. Miles resumed his escape attempt with a newfound determination. Accidently (or maybe not so accidently) kicking Pete in the face twice. Pete tried to stop him but the two tiny sneakers coming at his face threw him of his rhythm. He shot a pleading look at his friend. Silently begging him for help. When his companion just grinned smugly he started to dramatically plead.

“John please! I’m sorry I kicked you, help me! What do I have to do to make you help me. Do you want me to tell you who stole your leftovers?! Because I will! Just safe me from this small but dangerous beast!”

John seemed to think this over before he started to point accusingly “I know who stole my leftovers Pete. It was you! I promised whoever ate my leftovers would pay! This is what ya get for eating the lasagna my husband made for me! Ya know I was saving that for lunch! I hope Miles kicks ya in your jewels for this!”

While John was loudly complaining about his leftovers Miles had managed to escape Pete’s grip. He was already at the end of the hall when John noticed this.

“Aw hell. Now we gotta catch him again."

Just as Miles turned around the corner. He could hear Pete loudly kick John in the shins for that.

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Jefferson Davis saw himself as a rational man. He believed everything could be explained if you just looked hard enough and that justice always caught up with you eventually. That was what happened to him anyway, he had been a stupid teen and then he got caught by the cops.

There had always been a few exceptions to this rule though. His brother Aaron being one of them, but that was to be expected. He still had a better life then his brother and he believed that that was because he had done what was right.

After he got caught he had tried to better his life. He had started working hard in school and later in the academy. Then he met her. The most amazing woman to ever walk the earth. Rio Morales. Her smile could brighten a room and her sharp tongue could beat even the best detectives. She was absolutely perfect.

To this day Jefferson still doesn’t know how he ended up with a woman like her. Rio says it’s because of his charm but he doesn’t really believe that. They married on a Monday. It had been rainy and not many people had attended but it had been their wedding which meant it was perfect. a few weeks later they had discovered Rio was pregnant. Jefferson is man enough to admit he freaked out a little. Okay he freaked out a lot but he felt like it was justified.

The world was a scary place. Jefferson had been on both sides of the law long enough to know this. How could he ever protect a child from this? Half of the time he felt like he couldn’t even protect Rio and she was an adult fully capable of protecting herself! babies couldn’t protect themselves! They couldn’t even run away or call the cops because they’re babies!

Every time he voiced these concerns to Rio she just smiled softly and tell him. “that’s how I know you’re going to be such a great father mi amor. You’ll do whatever it takes to protect him.”

A few months later and they were driving to the hospital in Jefferson’s cruiser with the sirens on. What happened next were some of the most stressful hours of his life. It was all worth it though when he got to see his sons face. in that moment Jefferson promised himself he would never let anything happen to his son. He would fight god himself to protect this precious boy. They had already decided what to name him. Miles Morales.

Jefferson Davis saw himself as a rational man. He believed everyone got what they deserved. That was different now. Seven years ago his son disappeared from his nursery. Five years ago he broke down in front of his captain knowing they would probably never find his son. Knowing that even if they did they would have missed so many firsts. Missed his first steps and first words. When he was sad enough he thought of the survival rate of kidnapped children and cried knowing that his son was probably dead.

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Miles was going to do it. He had planned for days and he hadn’t told anyone. There was no way his mom knew. She wasn’t big on secrets so she would have scolded him immediately for it. He had thought of everything. Mom was out to visit her friends, John and Pete were busy at the labs and the Octopus bots were guarding the other side of the house. Literally nothing could go wrong.

Oh god everything was going wrong. Mom had called saying she was coming home early and the Octopus robots had finished their patrol twelve minutes before he had planned. He was also pretty sure the lab was going to catch on fire if he didn’t do something soon. It was times like these that made Miles wish spiders were known for their multitasking abilities instead of walking on walls. He started sprinting through the house at a speed that would make Olympic athletes jealous trying to find a way to clean everything up.

Did they even own a broom?! Who knows! Miles sure didn’t! A few seconds later the fire alarm went off and the sprinklers activated. Miles was about to use some of the words John had taught him in secret when he heard sound signaling that someone was at the door. Miles had never before hoped that a stranger managed to get past the security but he was starting to now. The door opened at the same time as the Octopus bots arrived to protect him from the fire he had created.

What happened next would be remembered for ages. It became a story shared between allies so legendary the name itself caused people to gasp. What happened next would be referred to only as. The legend of the tangled tentacles.

Mom had come in in her other work clothes. This was something Miles hadn’t counted on seeing as she had said she was meeting with some old friends. Moving on Mom was in her work cloths which meant she had her extra appendages out. The Octopus bots also had their tentacles out, ready to protect him from any danger he might be in. this wouldn’t have been a problem if they were all watching where they were going.

The thing is they weren’t. Octopus bots had never been all that smart but they had good navigators which usually meant they didn’t hit anything unintended. Octopus bots were also very bad at predicting how other things moved. So when Mom rushed inside after presumably having heard the alarm and worrying her only son was dead the Octopus bots crashed into her. Miles would never forget the sight of his mother being tackled by her own creations.

“CRASH!!”