Marvel Short Stories

Chapter 1: Unmasked At Last (Dock Ock & Spidey)

Spiderman glared at Doctor Octopus. His enemy.

Otto scowled at Peter Parker. A teenager.

"You're not getting away with this, Ock!" The boy growled from behind the glass of the Lab's holding cell, his voice sounding so much younger without the muffling of his mask. Or maybe that was just Otto's imagination. "Even if you know my identity now, I'll still stop you–"

"No you won't, you insolent child!" Otto yelled, his first words since unmasking his then-unconcious prisoner. Spiderman– Pete– Parker backed up, shocked. He couldn't blame him, he supposed; yelling was hard on his respirators, and he'd rarely indulged in it even before his little accident. But some situations called for it, and this was one of them.

(That had surprised Peter a little, true, but the octopus screamed and screeched far more than he realized. What really took him off guard was a new gleam behind the madman's red goggles, an unfamiliar pitch in his raspy voice, things that seemed suspiciously like worry — but it had to just be Spidey's overactive imagination getting the best of him again, right?)

Otto turned away from the Spider, claws clacking across his keyboard, the name 'Peter Parker' appearing in his search bar.

"What are you doing?" A small, confused voice asked.

"Finding the name of your par– legal guardian." Otto corrected himself as May Parker's information popped up on his screen. His mortal enemy wasn't just a teenager, but a teenaged orphan. Great. Just great.

"Don't you dare go after her!" Parker screamed, so rageful that Otto could hear the Spider more than the boy for the first time that evening. "If you touch one hair on her head, Ock, I swear–"

"I'm not going after her, you stupid boy." Otto hissed, grabbing his modified phone that worked almost-well with his mechanical arms. "I'm calling her."

"What?" Parker blinked. "Why?"

"To tell her that her idiot kid has been sneaking out dressed as a fucking spider–" like yelling, cursing was something he saved for situations like these "–to challenge supervillains!" Parker's face paled, mouth opening, but Otto pushed 'dial' before he could do something nonsensical like protest. The call was on video mode, facing a suddenly sheepish Parker.

"Parker residence, who is– Peter?!" An elderly woman's voice rang out from the phone. "Where are you? Are you okay? What are you wearing–?"

"I can explain." Parker chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. Otto smirked, entirely sure the boy could not.

He might be saving his enemy from his own poor choices, but that didn't mean he couldn't find some pleasure in his suffering. The mighty Spiderman, not even old enough to drive — it was almost funny...

Wait. He'd been humiliated and beaten by a KID for over two years?!

That was it, someone was definitely going to pay for this. He hummed in thought, wondering if there was a way to blame Osborn for this...

The child and his Aunt were yelling now, but Otto ignored them in favor of making overcomplicated revenge plans. It wasn't like he actually needed an excuse to attack Osborn, so...