Orphic | Spider-Man

TWO

IT WAS LATER in the evening when the black car came into the back alley of the very fancy hotel where for hours, Octavia had been huddled in between people. There was crying, screaming babies, and a tight sense of tension, but she was relieved in that vast ocean of tight bodies when a security guard in a suit came in from the back asking the front desk for her.
She felt guilty that she was able to leave, but she knew how the security guard had told the officers inside that it was vital that she be out of any more harm's way while everyone else had to still be tense and fearful. In the back of the hotel, where there was a direct route that wouldn't lead anywhere towards the bank were a couple of more security guards on motorcycles in front and back of the car. There were men surrounding her, and even more so did this make her feel too privileged.
Once in, it was a straight bee-line for home in Manhattan.

Peter where are you??? Call me when you get this.
Sent 6:26 pm

Peter!!! Answer!!!
Sent 6:35 pm

Peter B. Parker if you don't answer me I'll ducking kill you
*Ducking
**Ducking
You know what I'm trying to say! CALL MEEEE
Sent 6:40 pm

Octavia had never been so worried. She calmed herself down in the elevator ride up to her penthouse that perhaps Aunt May had been so frightened about hearing Peter escaped a possible mass shooting that she got upset.
You're not the only one who cares about him, Octavia thought. Leave it be. He has to be with May.
But she just wished he'd answer her. A thumbs-up emoji. An I'm okay text. Anything.
Speaking of being okay. . .Octavia thought once she stepped out onto the floor with the security guards. 'Are you okay?' 'What happened?' 'Are you hurt?' She pondered just what her father would say once she opened the door, but she never touched the knob--she was hardly approaching the door in the hallway when it opened all on its own. Octavia nearly earned whiplash being pulled through the door and into her apartment building.
A strong but gentle grip was on her arm, then it went to her cheek, paired with another hand so she could look right into her father's dark brown eyes.
"What happened?" he asked. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"
"Huh," Octavia chimed, raising her brows. "All three."
"What?" her father asked.
"Never mind," she said, her hands coming up to touch his and gently bring them down from her face. "There was a shooting at the bank, I'm perfectly fine, an officer helped me. I was packed with a whole lot of people in the lobby of a fancy hotel." She smiled, nodded once, and turned away from her father to head towards the couch.
Watch her back, her father sighed and turned around to the security guards. "Thank you," he told them. "Please, go home, I'm sorry I had to keep you for another hour."
After the security guards told him it was no problem at all, they all left, leaving Doctor Otto Octavius alone in his kitchen. He was turned towards the couch where Octavia now sat, watching the news on their big flat screen TV. He sighed once more and walked over to the couch, sitting down on the other end. He hardly watched the TV as intently as Octavia was. Her eyes scanned the title, the switching scenes from outside the bank to cameras showing what had happened inside. People were on the ground with her hands on the floor, their faces tear-stricken and pale. There were a group of men in black clothing with masks on tossing big white bags to one another. Octavia could see a couple dollars falling from the bags.
"I was so scared thinking you were there," Otto said softly, looking over at his daughter.
He waited for her to pester him like she usually did when he worried, telling him that she could handle herself and that she had Peter, but Octavia heaved a heavy sigh and fell back into the couch cushions.
"Peter left me."
It took Otto a second to realize that she wasn't going to pester him.
"I--he--what?"
Octavia blew a raspberry and placed her feet upon the glass coffee table after kicking her boots off. "He left me." she said, shrugging. "We heard gunshots, stood up, and the next thing I know, he disappears."
She looked over at her father, who began nervously pulling at his black turtleneck.
"He left you?" Otto asked, surprise ringing in his voice. "P-Peter left you? There?" He pointed at the TV where it flashed images of the bank and replayed a scene from the robbers inside.
"We were at the fountain a couple yards away, but yeah," Octavia looked at her phone again.
There was a notification from Instagram, one from Twitter about the shooting, and then a couple of texts from her groupchat with her Manhattan friends from her Manhattan school asking if she was okay since they know she hung out with Peter. But none from Peter himself.
"I called him in the lobby of the hotel. I texted him on my way here. Nothing. I have no idea if he's okay." Octavia sat back up again just as the news anchor lady's voice on the TV rang out.
"Breaking news: Queens National Bank has just informed us that the Spider-Man was the one to detain two of the terrorists from the robbery earlier this afternoon. Here is a clip the bank has released to the press."
Octavia watched intently at the swinging red and blue suited man swinging around the ceiling with webs--and God only knows how his body makes that stuff--sticking to walls, and making the two detained terrorists stick to the walls while the others got away.
"Two?" Octavia scoffed in disbelief. "Spider-Man has been off his game for a while. He used to be able to shut down all the robbers and bad guy groups. Wonder what's going on with the Web Slinger."
"Peter left you?" Otto asked once more, his eyes searching the floor for an answer.
Octavia groaned, "Yes, dad! And I'm mad and scared because he left me stranded there and still hasn't made any move to call me or text me!" She had a hand at her forehead while she slumped back into the couch cushions, groaning as she stared at her phone screen.
"I can't imagine Peter ever doing that," Otto mumbled, looking at the wall in thought. He bit his bottom lip and thought some more. A mind like his worked so many thoughts and theories a day, it's no wonder that he was Oscorp's most brilliant scientist. But with all this intelligence, he nearly forgot that not everyone was comforted by thoughts and theories, like Octavia.
He looked over at his daughter, whose hand dropped from her head, but her eyes were set on her screen, turning her phone on and off every second, waiting for anything from Peter.
Otto sat up and turned towards her. "Peter has to be fine. Maybe he thought you were behind him? Whatever happened, I know he's safe. Peter's a smart boy. I mean, he's like me, you know, we really smart and good-looking guys just assume girls are always chasing us," he shrugged and then froze, watching Octavia's reaction.
Slowly, she smiled and rubbed her eyes, letting out a small giggle.
She scoffed, "Good-looking."
"Not sure why that's funny to you." Otto mumbled, playfully narrowing his eyes at her. Octavia laughed as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Peter is okay. And so are you. And now you're home, safe and sound."
Nodding, but having her smile fall back into a frown, Octavia scooted over onto the couch to have her father wrap an arm around her.
"Thanks Dad."
"For what?" Otto chuckled. "I'm your father, I'm always going to care about you and make sure you come home safe."
"I know," Octavia smiled. "But you cared about the fact that I was alone."
"Peter had to believe you were behind him. Only explanation. He'd never leave you. He cares too. He's smart, but stupid like that." Otto smiled at the end, pulling another bright smile and a cheerful giggle from Octavia.
"You're right." she said. "And I figured if anything he's probably calming down May."
Otto nodded, "Oh yes, yes, May was very terrified to know that you and Peter weren't together."
"Did you tell her you'd get both me and Peter?" Octavia asked.
"I did, and when I heard only you were in the car, I panicked." Otto said. He swiveled his head towards the home phone on the table stand. "In fact, I'll call her again right now." He grabbed the phone as Octavia sighed.
She stood up from the couch. "I'm going to make tea, would you like some?"
"Oh, yes, of course darling, thank you."
Just as she put the tea kettle on the burner after filling it up with water, Octavia saw her lock screen turn from a picture of her on Peter's back to a very bad close-up picture of Peter wearing a beanie hat. He told her not to post that picture for his birthday or anything, so she made it that anyone could see it by purpose and ask about the picture themselves. All that Peter hated about it was that the picture was taken in December when the wind was harsh, so it made his eyes red and watery, and his hair was longer back then when the picture was taken, so he said it made him look like a stoner.
Octavia nearly dropped her phone after picking it up. "I got him!" she shouted at her father on the couch. "He's FaceTiming me!"
"Oh, great," Otto said, turning on the couch to face her in the kitchen. "I'm still waiting for May to--oh, hello May. . ."
Octavia slid her thumb across her phone screen, and when she saw Peter's face a second later, every bad thought and tightness left in her chest eased and vanished.
She happily sighed, "Peter, oh my God, you scared the shit out of me."
"I-I know, Vee, and I'm so sorry--"
"Did you think I was behind you?" she asked. "I mean, you took off. You were there one second and gone the next. Dad was shocked to hear that you up and left."
"Vee, I'm so sorry," Peter said. He was speaking low, and Octavia noticed how dark his room was. "I didn't mean to abandon you--wait, oh crap, is your dad mad at me?"
"No, not at all. Don't worry, internship is still yours."
"Vee, that's not what I meant."
"I'm sorry, Peter. I'm just mad that you did that. We're supposed to be a team, you and me." Octavia kept her eyes on the tea kettle as Peter sighed.
"Vee, listen. I'm going to make it up to you. Whatever you want to do or wherever you want to go, I'll follow. I'm so sorry."
"Peter you don't have to follow me or be dragged around by me, I don't want anything, just you to be there when danger hits. Like I said, we're a team, and a team sticks toget--" Octavia stared at Peter's face through her phone. His room was still dark, but the light illuminating his face was bright enough to show something that looked like a black eye.
Peter stared back with furrowed brows through the screen. "What?" he asked. "Vee?"
"Is that a black eye? Do you have a black eye?"
She watched as Peter went to touch his face, but then abruptly pulled his hand away.
"No, no, it's just the lighting--"
"So turn on a light or something, Peter,"
"May says he's not home," Otto called form the couch.
"Not home?" Octavia asked. "Peter, where are you?"
"I'm at home--"
"Dad just said you weren't."
"How does he know?" Peter asked. "Is-is he talking to May?"
"Yes, he is--"
"Look, Vee, I gotta go--see ya, okay? Bye."
"Peter--"
Octavia was stuck looking at the CALL ENDED screen of her FaceTime with Peter.
"Octavia, darling, the kettle," Otto said from the couch. He was still on the phone with a frantic May.
Octavia hadn't heard the screech of the tea pot and instantly took it off the burner and used a pot holder to move it. She was slow to getting mugs from the cabinet as she thought about Peter and his urgency and what he wasn't telling her.
"Oh!" Otto sighed in relief. "Great. That's great. No worries May, I'm so sorry to upset you. Have a goodnight and keep an eye on that boy." Otto chuckled one last time, "Okay, bye-bye May." He then sighed and placed the home phone back on its stand. "That boy has terribly upset his aunt." He turned on the couch to look at Octavia from the kitchen and furrowed his brows. "Did I hear you say 'black eye?'"
Octavia, who dropped tea bags into the mugs scoffed, "I thought I saw something around his eye, but maybe it was the lighting. I don't know. . ." she began pouring water into the mugs, watching the tea bags float to the top and turning into a golden color.
"Well, she hadn't seen him for hours after the shooting, but then again, she didn't even know it had happened until some short time ago, but that's very unlike Peter." Otto looked off into the distance in thought as Octavia stuffed her phone into her pocket, picked up the two mugs and walked back over to the couch.
Spider-Man clips were playing once more on the screen as the news anchor lady was explaining the pasts of the two robbers who were caught and identified.
". . .Police released a statement thirty minutes ago stating that none of these men were close to Castiel Baker, leader of the Manhattan Mambas, the terrorist group who caused the mass shooting tonight at the bank, who have also committed many crimes within the five boroughs. Tonight Spider-Man--"
"Yeah, yeah, Kasey, good work--" came a new, rougher voice overlapping with hers.
"Oh God," Octavia muttered.

She sneered seeing J. Jonah Jameson appear on the screen.
The TV screen glitched from Kasey the news anchor lady to Jameson behind a half-circular desk, his half-bald head glinting in the studio lights and frizzy short-cropped mustache hanging over his lip like a fat caterpillar.
"--I want to talk about Spider-Man and how he fumbled the ball on capturing Baker tonight--"
Otto stared at Jameson on the TV screen over his mug as he took a sip. "Is this the man you and Peter are always mocking?"
Octavia brought her mug away from her lips to nod over at her father and roll her eyes. "Yes, and he's very annoying and fixed on Spider-Man. Most days he hates Spider-Man, other he's criticizing his successes and failures, and always asking 'Who is the masked man? I say he's a coward not to show his face!' and other crap like that." She had lowered her voice to mock Jameson, which Otto laughed at looking between Jameson on screen and his daughter mimicking his arm movements like a robot.
"He's definitely a character, which is why I'm sure they moved him to TV." Otto chuckled.
Octavia scoffed, "I wish him and his YouTube videos were never discovered. He got a big head moving from his basement to the big screen."
Otto laughed as Octavia smiled. She felt her phone buzz. Looking at the screen, she pursed her lips.

Peter
I'm really sorry I scared you tonight. Call me when you can.
Sent 7:10
Read 7:10

Octavia placed her phone face down, grabbed the remote from the glass coffee table, propped her feet up onto it and changed the channel.
"Careful," Otto told her, nodding his head towards the table. "If that breaks you could get hurt."
"Why'd you get a glass coffee table then?" Octavia giggled.
Otto shrugged with a small smile. "It was nice--on sale too."
Octavia giggled bringing her mug to her lips, "I won't get hurt."