Fanfiction Archive

When the darkness clears from Otto’s vision, he’s no longer standing at the statue of liberty with the others. He’s somewhere with the crackle of electricity snapping in the air, and a radiant heat glowing on his back in the gloom.

The warehouse. It’s the warehouse where he started, and he is staring down Spider-Man as the fusion reaction begins in the machine.

It’s like he never left. It’s like the whole thing was a dream that happened in the space between heartbeats.

“Shut it down, Ock. You’re going to hurt a lot more people this time.”

It’s like it was a dream; but like the dream of Ebeneezer Scrooge, he is a changed man.

Now there’s only one voice in his head.

“Peter…. Peter of course, I’m sorry.”

With a quick– but not too quick– motion, one of his tentacles reaches back, and throws the levers on the machine. The fusion reaction hasn’t reached critical mass yet. It’s a simple matter to disperse the energy and shut it down.

Parker looks at him as he does so, and Otto can see his confusion, visible even beneath the impassive and inexpressive mask.

“Doc?”

Otto’s arms lower him down to the ground, gentle, but he feels heavy as he stands on his own two feet again. He takes a breath, as the enormity of everything crashes over him like a wave.

“Please trust me,” he gasps out, holding up his hands. “I wasn’t in my right mind. It’s– it’s done now.”

How could Otto tell him everything that happened? Had it even been real? Was it a hallucination brought on by the actuators themselves as the inhibitor actually began functioning again?

He’d be able to tell, of course, once he could examine it himself. But for now… For now there was no need to burden Peter with what he had seen. He had laid too many burdens on the boy already.  He’d tell him in time, if it had been real.

“You’re serious,” Peter says softly. “It’s not a trick?”

The boy’s been hurt before, and it’s like a knife in Otto’s heart to hear it.

“It’s not a trick,” Otto promises. “Web me up if you need to. The girl– Mary Jane… can you get her down or… shall I?”

Peter’s silent for a moment, like he can’t find the words. His breath hitches as Otto can hear him daring to believe, but still–

“I-I’ll get her,” Peter says. “But you. Just. Stay right there, okay, doc? Don’t move?”

“I won’t move,” Otto reassures him gently.

Peter nods slowly, hesitantly, and then quickly makes the leap up to the girl that Otto so coldly and callously left hanging around. He grimaces to think about it. He looks away.

He doesn’t move.

Instead he thinks about it all. About all the grief, and the pain, the anger, and confusion and the noise.

The grief is still there.

Black grief in the pit of his heart.

He may have been gifted a second chance at life, but those who have died haven’t been given the same chance. Those who have died remain out of reach.

What will Otto do with his second chance, undeserved as it is?

Fusion. The power of the sun.

It seems like such a petty goal now.

Now he has a new one.

There has to be some way that he can share his second chance.

If what he went through is real then the multiverse exists. Then magic exists. Then science and artistry greater than he ever dreamed, exists.

Knowing all that, how can he fail to believe that he could bring them back?

Peter lands on the floor. He has his mask off now, and MJ in his arms. He nods at Otto.

“Doc…. thank you. You did the right thing.”

“It was because of you, Peter,” Otto says softly. “You gave me a second chance to make things right. So, I want to make things right.”

“I don’t know what happened, but–”

Otto cuts him off with a shake of his head. “I’ll tell you all about it. I promise. But first…. First I need to gather my thoughts. I have no right to ask favors from you, but…. Peter. Can I ask you not to get the police involved with this? I’ve done wrong, terrible, terrible wrong. I’ve been a monster. But I don’t know what amends I can make from inside of a jail cell.”

Peter looks down at MJ, covered in dust and sweat and oil. He frowns, but he looks up at Otto.

“Consider me your…. Parole officer, alright?” Peter says. “I want regular check-ins. Understand?”

Otto can’t help but smile a little. He thinks of the man he knows, or imagined, Peter to grow up to be.

“You have my word, Peter.”

“I’m trusting you, Doctor Octavius.”

“And I’m determined to live up to that trust,” he promises. He means it. “Shall we get out of this damned warehouse?”

They leave together.

They exchange information. Soon, Otto departs.

He has work to do. Peter has given him a second chance.

The people who are gone. The people who he lost. They deserve a second chance too. And Otto is determined to give them that.

He has so much work to do.