so down

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“Robbie!” Dr. Octavius’s look of surprise quickly morphed into a bright smile with only a hint of nervousness. This latest venture had been a secret, at least to a degree- she was okay with her employees knowing, in fact it was probably better in the long run if they did- but outside of Alchemax it was strictly confidential. For now. It wasn’t illegal to attach cybernetic implants to your spine, but she anticipated some blowback when the news reached the public. Certain people who didn’t share her vision for the future would probably throw around words like ‘crazy’. For that reason, she’d prefer to keep it hush-hush for now, and not let any reporters get their hands on the story. 

“Hey kid.” There was no point pretending he hadn’t seen her about to attach an arm to her spine, but she still turned so that her back wasn’t visible, leaning against a lab table. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” She eyed the bag he was holding. “What is that, lunch? Technically allowed in the building, but not so much in the labs, y’know?” Not that she really cared at the moment. Might as well address the elephant in the room. 

“So… guess why I’ve been out of the lab for a while.” Olivia scratched her neck and gave a little laugh. “It was going to be a surprise.” Robbie’s visit was also surprising, to say the least. She had temporarily suspended internships with her directly, but he’d decided to drop by himself. It was almost sweet, assuming it was because he’d been worried about her, but mostly it was inconvenient. 

“I, uh. I found a way to control the arms more precisely. Or at least I hope I did. I was just about to do a test run.” She smiled widely now, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses as she pressed her hands together. “I’m kinda keeping it on the down-low right now, but if you promise to keep it a secret I guess you can watch.” 

      This is definitely... weird. It’s definitely weird, but Dr. Octavius seems casual, receptive to his being here after the first big moment of surprise. 

      Robbie walks further into the room, setting the bag aside without looking away from her face. It isn’t suspicion-- he trusts her, he considers her a friend --but he can’t help trying to get a feel for the room; she didn’t want him here. If he’s overstepping, he’d like to know. 

      The problem with that is, he’d also really like to know about the ports. He doesn’t want to be shooed away. 

      ‘If you promise to keep it a secret I guess you can watch’ isn’t the dazzling invitation he’s hoping for, but it’s permission regardless. Curiosity has been given the reins against the best wishes of his nerves. He’s about to get annoying. He deserves to, after she took this project on the road without him and made all of these upgrades. 

      Dr. Octavius is hiding her back-- He only got a glimpse of them, which means that Robbie has to ask, “How do the ports attach? Are they under your skin? Is there a plate, or are you only relying on the muscle?” 

      Wait-wait-wait-- There’s a more pressing issue here.

Jessica shook out her hand, realizing that her venom blasts didn’t seem to have an effect on this… thing. And next to her? Speedball. He was, uh, something alright. Good thing he was quick, this thing would have crushed him like an ant if he wasn’t. She did a flip to avoid another fist landing in the ground. When it was lifted, she noted the crater in the ground that she could have been apart of.

   Fun!

“A switch?” Jessica shouted over the noise. Speedball was fast, but he was dodging. Luckily, Spider-woman was fast too. Jumping onto the robot’s arm, she climbed up the things body, jumping onto it’s back.

Well call her Spider-Man, there was a switch. Jessica grabbed onto the robot’s neck for leverage and kicked the switch with her foot, pushing it down.

“Speedball, did that do… anything?”

      It’s unclear for a second, actually, and he chalks that up to the fact that as he slips between the thing’s corded tripod legs he’s almost crushed when aforementioned giant fist collides with one, bending it too far into his personal space. 

      Clarity comes when he re-emerges on the robot’s other side to find it distending, its sides opening, and ten more ginormous fingers sliding through the gap on the ends of two more ginormous arms. 

      “I’d like to apologize for trying to puzzle solve now, before it’s too late.” Speedball watches the robot spin at the waist, shuddering under the displaced weight of its new appendages, and the part of his brain reserved purely for Saturday morning cartoons wonders absently if they can’t just spin it to death.