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Description
Chapter 2

Trembling a little at the loud thunder, Mouse crawled into the warehouse and shook rain water from her hair. Like most days, she'd brought a little something extra for Otto. Today, she moved silently to the desk that he had set up, and placed an orange near his elbow. It had been a good day. Any day she could sneak a piece of fruit past Mr. Marsalla was a good day.

So despite the fact that last night had been bad, and there were fresh bruises on her arms and she was tired and sore...she tried to look at the good. The rain was relieving some of the day's heat, and she had an apple. It was a good day.

Otto had spent the days after Mouse's first few visits in a state of constant tension, expecting any moment to hear sirens diverging on this spot in an announcement that he'd been duped by a little girl. But Mouse came and went, and the police never did. He slowly began to relax and set about rigging up a makeshift lab and living space.

He and the actuators were busy piling old crates to make a more secure sleeping place when Mouse came in from the rain outside and placed an orange next to him. Picking it up, he turned to smile at her, then frowned as Flo swiveled around first and got a good look at her. There were an awful lot of new bruises on the child's arms today, and he did not like that.

"Thank you," he said, sniffing the orange and setting it aside for later. "Are you alright, Mouse?"

Mouse settled on the floor, in what had become her regular spot. After the sketchbooks, she'd stopped using the crate. It seemed silly to hide from Otto now that they were on better terms. She looked up at his question. There was tiredness in her eyes, as well as a bit of surprise at the question. She shrugged, and ducked her head, looking somewhat ashamed.

No matter how hard she tried, she was never quiet enough, or invisible enough to keep from attracting attention from time to time—either from Devon or one of the other junkies in the house. Her mother offered no protection--when she even remembered that she had a child.

Mouse knew this, and accepted it. Still, she carried some shame of her situation. She did not want Otto to think that she was trouble.

Flo snaked forward to get a better look at the girl. There were bruises marching up and down her arms, matching the parameters of being held in a strong grip. Someone had been handling her very roughly.

Otto nodded to the marks as Flo gently nosed her arm. "Did that happen at home, Mouse?" he asked quietly.

She drew her knees up, tucking her head behind them. Wet strands of hair fell in her face, helping to hide it. She instinctively made herself as small as possible, not wanting to be seen, not even by Otto or his machines.

A quiet whimper escaped her as she tried not to cry. It had been a good day. She had gotten an apple. She didn't want to think about last night.

Otto felt sick at the sight of the child trying not to cry. Did she have no one to turn to? No one to defend her against whoever had hurt her? At least he had had his mother, suffocating and disgustingly doting as she was, to attempt to protect him from his father's rages. Mouse didn't even seem to have that.

Flo gave a chirp that sounded almost sad, and curled around the child's shoulders.

Mouse flinched at the feel of cool metal, but then she realized that the machine was not angry with her. She lifted her head a little and looked in the direction of its "face", giving a soft chirp in respond. It sounded nearly as sad as the actuators had.

Still, even mechanical comfort helped. Mouse took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes of any lingering tears. Giving Flo a light pat of thanks, she pulled her bag around to take stock of her inventory. She carefully pulled out the glass bottles and cans from her satchel. When she was done, she pulled out a battered notebook and pencil, and stuck her tongue between her teeth in concentration. Doing sums was hard work, but practice helped.

She was resilient, he'd give her that much, but Otto couldn't shake his unease about her home life. But even if he knew, what could he do about it? It wasn't as if he could take her away from that place. Really, he couldn't even go there and terrify the residents with the sight of one pissed-off Doctor Octopus. The public thought he was dead, and he wanted to keep it that way. But it did not make him easy with the situation.

"What are you doing?" he asked, more to draw away from that line of thought than out of any real curiosity. Old memories of his father kept imposing themselves on his thoughts, and Torbert Octavius wasn't a man he wanted to remember at the best of times.

Mouse held up her notebook, showing Otto her work. Crooked childish numbers lined the page. She had tried a poor attempt at multiplication, before scribbling it out and sticking to rows of addition. A line of fives ran across one side in a slightly uneven row. Mouse picked up a bottle, and pointed to the 'redeemable 5 cents' spot. Picking up her notebook, a few sums could be seen.

could have told you what she was writing Mo muttered. Otto ignored the actuator and nodded his understanding to Mouse. A clever idea, particularly for a child so young. She couldn't be much more than seven or so.

"Good," he said vaguely. His gaze intensified. "Mouse, you know you're safe here, right? I'd never hurt you."

Mouse paused for a moment, and lowered her notebook into her lap. She stared at Otto for several moments. But finally, she nodded, a small smile on her face. Yes, she knew that Otto wouldn't hurt her. He was perhaps the first grown-up since her gran had died and her mother had changed that she had felt truly comfortable with.

Father Everett was nice, and helped her find clothes when she needed them, but there was always a chance that he might report her to social services. But she felt nice here with Otto. She felt safe.

He smiled back and rose, the smile turning to a grimace as pain shot up his right leg. Just another part of the price he paid for having the actuators. Larry swiftly planted itself to support him, and he leaned heavily on the metal appendage until the twinge faded. Flo, meanwhile, chattered at him, telling him off for getting himself into such a position in the first place.

don't swear in front of the child

"Goddamnit, Flo," he muttered, "That hurts and you know it." He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stand straight. Otto hated these moments of weakness, but he couldn't avoid them. The same accident that had left the actuators fused to him had done some nasty damage to his spine and the nerves radiating out from it.

Mouse frowned, standing and coming over to him. She was still holding her notebook. Biting her lip in concern, she paused, and went and dug in her bag. Finding a half-eaten bag of cookies, she brought them over and offered them to him. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing she could think of that might help him feel better.

Mo relayed an image of the cookies to him, and after a time Otto opened his eyes to look at them directly. "Thank you, Mouse," he said.

She gave him a small smile, and then patted his chair. He ought to sit, if he was in pain. She had noticed him limping before, and knew enough that if his leg was bad, he should be resting it.

Mouse awkwardly pushed his chair over to him. It was bigger than she was, but she managed to move it a few inches anyway. Hopefully it would help encourage Otto to sit down. Patting it again, she tugged his sleeve this time, a stern look on her face. He needed to sit.

The sight of little Mouse sternly trying to get him to sit startled a dry laugh from him. He knew better than to argue with a woman wearing that look on her face, even if she was only seven.

"Thank you," he said, taking the seat. The actuators arranged themselves around him, Larry leaning over to nuzzle the child.

Mouse nuzzled the actuator back. She had always liked animals, and usually got along well with them. The metal machines reminded her of the alley cats. But they were smart too, and seemed to like her back. And they made her smile.

She gave Larry a chirp, and pulled a ball out of her pocket. She hopped on a crate, sat her notebook aside, and started tossing the ball back and forth between her hands.

All four actuators swiveled to watch the ball flying back and forth between the girl's hand, like a group of cats that had suddenly spotted a mouse. Enchanted, they followed it as went from hand to hand.

Otto chuckled a little, feeling the intensity of their focus on that little ball. They'd never seen such a game before. Their interest provided a nice distraction from the ache in his leg.

Mouse smiled a little when she saw that she had the actuators' attention. Holding the ball up, she tossed it to Mo, and chirped at him. The actuators all seemed to squeal like children, and starting tossing the ball back and forth between them. Mouse giggled, drawing up her legs. They were fun giant slinkys, that was for sure.

Out of all the behaviors Otto had come to expect from his companions, a mad passion for playing catch was not one of them. He watched them toss the ball between themselves, one occasionally snapping at another that had gotten in its way.

"How long are you planning on staying tonight?" he asked Mouse, finally looking away from the metal tentacles.

Mouse shrugged. After the previous night, she didn't want to go back at all. But someone had said that Marcus was coming by tonight. Which meant she needed to get home early, to get into the basement. Normally she got locked in the closet when Marcus came--the drug supplier was above Devon, and the lower level dealer knew that it was bad for his reputation for a child to be seen in his house. But if Mouse got home early, she could hole up in the basement. Which wasn't nearly so bad.

With a sigh, she got off the crate and got her bag. It would be better to leave now, then to risk being too late.

The actuators stopped their game of catch when they saw Mouse getting up to leave. With a chirp, Larry dropped the ball into her hand, then nuzzled her.

"Stay safe, Mouse," Otto said quietly.

Perhaps he could at least see her safely there. He'd have to be careful, though, so she wouldn't see him following.

Mouse answered Larry's chirp, and nuzzled him back. She gave Otto a small smile--she would try. With a little wave, she slid a board out, and slipped out.

The crack house wasn't all that far from the warehouse. A few streets away and a halfway point between the warehouse and the parish. Still, in Hell's Kitchen, even a few streets could be dangerous. Fortunately Mouse was well practiced at avoiding the gangs, dealers, and the homeless that she knew were dangerous.

It didn't take long for her to get home. As usual, several of the junkies were out front, laughing and smoking pot. A few were shooting up drugs as well. Mouse saw her mother flirting with Devon. Again. She tried to get by them unnoticed, and mostly succeeded. Her mother absently patted her head as she passed, and Mouse ducked her head so that she wouldn't see the leer cast her way by Stevie.

Hurrying inside, she grabbed her tattered teddy bear and blanket from her dirty mattress upstairs, and got down into the basement. It wouldn't be too bad tonight.

Otto followed her from the rooftops, trying to be as quiet as possible. The actuators had worked out a trick where they would reach over to the next building to cross the gaps between them, rather than jumping. This only worked, of course, if there was less than forty-five feet between the buildings, but most alleys and streets here in Hell's Kitchen were narrower than that. One actuator kept an eye on the girl, a second watched for anyone watching. It would be just their luck to run into that blind superhero Daredevil... Otto didn't think the man would be particularly happy to find Doctor Octopus in his 'territory'.

Mouse took a roundabout route home, which didn't surprise him. She was street-smart enough to know to avoid the dangerous places, but he was surprised when she suddenly made a beeline for one of those locations. This was home, he suddenly realized, watching her duck past a group of junkies. A woman he strongly suspected to be a whore patted her head as she went inside.

Otto shuddered, the entire scene sickening him. Even worse- he could do nothing about it. What could he do? Kill these people and take her away? Not possible. All he could do for now was keep an eye on her, and offer something of a haven in the afternoons. With a sigh, he turned to go back to the warehouse.

Description
Chapter 2

Trembling a little at the loud thunder, Mouse crawled into the warehouse and shook rain water from her hair. Like most days, she'd brought a little something extra for Otto. Today, she moved silently to the desk that he had set up, and placed an orange near his elbow. It had been a good day. Any day she could sneak a piece of fruit past Mr. Marsalla was a good day.

So despite the fact that last night had been bad, and there were fresh bruises on her arms and she was tired and sore...she tried to look at the good. The rain was relieving some of the day's heat, and she had an apple. It was a good day.

Otto had spent the days after Mouse's first few visits in a state of constant tension, expecting any moment to hear sirens diverging on this spot in an announcement that he'd been duped by a little girl. But Mouse came and went, and the police never did. He slowly began to relax and set about rigging up a makeshift lab and living space.

He and the actuators were busy piling old crates to make a more secure sleeping place when Mouse came in from the rain outside and placed an orange next to him. Picking it up, he turned to smile at her, then frowned as Flo swiveled around first and got a good look at her. There were an awful lot of new bruises on the child's arms today, and he did not like that.

"Thank you," he said, sniffing the orange and setting it aside for later. "Are you alright, Mouse?"

Mouse settled on the floor, in what had become her regular spot. After the sketchbooks, she'd stopped using the crate. It seemed silly to hide from Otto now that they were on better terms. She looked up at his question. There was tiredness in her eyes, as well as a bit of surprise at the question. She shrugged, and ducked her head, looking somewhat ashamed.

No matter how hard she tried, she was never quiet enough, or invisible enough to keep from attracting attention from time to time—either from Devon or one of the other junkies in the house. Her mother offered no protection--when she even remembered that she had a child.

Mouse knew this, and accepted it. Still, she carried some shame of her situation. She did not want Otto to think that she was trouble.

Flo snaked forward to get a better look at the girl. There were bruises marching up and down her arms, matching the parameters of being held in a strong grip. Someone had been handling her very roughly.

Otto nodded to the marks as Flo gently nosed her arm. "Did that happen at home, Mouse?" he asked quietly.

She drew her knees up, tucking her head behind them. Wet strands of hair fell in her face, helping to hide it. She instinctively made herself as small as possible, not wanting to be seen, not even by Otto or his machines.

A quiet whimper escaped her as she tried not to cry. It had been a good day. She had gotten an apple. She didn't want to think about last night.

Otto felt sick at the sight of the child trying not to cry. Did she have no one to turn to? No one to defend her against whoever had hurt her? At least he had had his mother, suffocating and disgustingly doting as she was, to attempt to protect him from his father's rages. Mouse didn't even seem to have that.

Flo gave a chirp that sounded almost sad, and curled around the child's shoulders.

Mouse flinched at the feel of cool metal, but then she realized that the machine was not angry with her. She lifted her head a little and looked in the direction of its "face", giving a soft chirp in respond. It sounded nearly as sad as the actuators had.

Still, even mechanical comfort helped. Mouse took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes of any lingering tears. Giving Flo a light pat of thanks, she pulled her bag around to take stock of her inventory. She carefully pulled out the glass bottles and cans from her satchel. When she was done, she pulled out a battered notebook and pencil, and stuck her tongue between her teeth in concentration. Doing sums was hard work, but practice helped.

She was resilient, he'd give her that much, but Otto couldn't shake his unease about her home life. But even if he knew, what could he do about it? It wasn't as if he could take her away from that place. Really, he couldn't even go there and terrify the residents with the sight of one pissed-off Doctor Octopus. The public thought he was dead, and he wanted to keep it that way. But it did not make him easy with the situation.

"What are you doing?" he asked, more to draw away from that line of thought than out of any real curiosity. Old memories of his father kept imposing themselves on his thoughts, and Torbert Octavius wasn't a man he wanted to remember at the best of times.

Mouse held up her notebook, showing Otto her work. Crooked childish numbers lined the page. She had tried a poor attempt at multiplication, before scribbling it out and sticking to rows of addition. A line of fives ran across one side in a slightly uneven row. Mouse picked up a bottle, and pointed to the 'redeemable 5 cents' spot. Picking up her notebook, a few sums could be seen.

could have told you what she was writing Mo muttered. Otto ignored the actuator and nodded his understanding to Mouse. A clever idea, particularly for a child so young. She couldn't be much more than seven or so.

"Good," he said vaguely. His gaze intensified. "Mouse, you know you're safe here, right? I'd never hurt you."

Mouse paused for a moment, and lowered her notebook into her lap. She stared at Otto for several moments. But finally, she nodded, a small smile on her face. Yes, she knew that Otto wouldn't hurt her. He was perhaps the first grown-up since her gran had died and her mother had changed that she had felt truly comfortable with.

Father Everett was nice, and helped her find clothes when she needed them, but there was always a chance that he might report her to social services. But she felt nice here with Otto. She felt safe.

He smiled back and rose, the smile turning to a grimace as pain shot up his right leg. Just another part of the price he paid for having the actuators. Larry swiftly planted itself to support him, and he leaned heavily on the metal appendage until the twinge faded. Flo, meanwhile, chattered at him, telling him off for getting himself into such a position in the first place.

don't swear in front of the child

"Goddamnit, Flo," he muttered, "That hurts and you know it." He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stand straight. Otto hated these moments of weakness, but he couldn't avoid them. The same accident that had left the actuators fused to him had done some nasty damage to his spine and the nerves radiating out from it.

Mouse frowned, standing and coming over to him. She was still holding her notebook. Biting her lip in concern, she paused, and went and dug in her bag. Finding a half-eaten bag of cookies, she brought them over and offered them to him. It wasn't much, but it was the only thing she could think of that might help him feel better.

Mo relayed an image of the cookies to him, and after a time Otto opened his eyes to look at them directly. "Thank you, Mouse," he said.

She gave him a small smile, and then patted his chair. He ought to sit, if he was in pain. She had noticed him limping before, and knew enough that if his leg was bad, he should be resting it.

Mouse awkwardly pushed his chair over to him. It was bigger than she was, but she managed to move it a few inches anyway. Hopefully it would help encourage Otto to sit down. Patting it again, she tugged his sleeve this time, a stern look on her face. He needed to sit.

The sight of little Mouse sternly trying to get him to sit startled a dry laugh from him. He knew better than to argue with a woman wearing that look on her face, even if she was only seven.

"Thank you," he said, taking the seat. The actuators arranged themselves around him, Larry leaning over to nuzzle the child.

Mouse nuzzled the actuator back. She had always liked animals, and usually got along well with them. The metal machines reminded her of the alley cats. But they were smart too, and seemed to like her back. And they made her smile.

She gave Larry a chirp, and pulled a ball out of her pocket. She hopped on a crate, sat her notebook aside, and started tossing the ball back and forth between her hands.

All four actuators swiveled to watch the ball flying back and forth between the girl's hand, like a group of cats that had suddenly spotted a mouse. Enchanted, they followed it as went from hand to hand.

Otto chuckled a little, feeling the intensity of their focus on that little ball. They'd never seen such a game before. Their interest provided a nice distraction from the ache in his leg.

Mouse smiled a little when she saw that she had the actuators' attention. Holding the ball up, she tossed it to Mo, and chirped at him. The actuators all seemed to squeal like children, and starting tossing the ball back and forth between them. Mouse giggled, drawing up her legs. They were fun giant slinkys, that was for sure.

Out of all the behaviors Otto had come to expect from his companions, a mad passion for playing catch was not one of them. He watched them toss the ball between themselves, one occasionally snapping at another that had gotten in its way.

"How long are you planning on staying tonight?" he asked Mouse, finally looking away from the metal tentacles.

Mouse shrugged. After the previous night, she didn't want to go back at all. But someone had said that Marcus was coming by tonight. Which meant she needed to get home early, to get into the basement. Normally she got locked in the closet when Marcus came--the drug supplier was above Devon, and the lower level dealer knew that it was bad for his reputation for a child to be seen in his house. But if Mouse got home early, she could hole up in the basement. Which wasn't nearly so bad.

With a sigh, she got off the crate and got her bag. It would be better to leave now, then to risk being too late.

The actuators stopped their game of catch when they saw Mouse getting up to leave. With a chirp, Larry dropped the ball into her hand, then nuzzled her.

"Stay safe, Mouse," Otto said quietly.

Perhaps he could at least see her safely there. He'd have to be careful, though, so she wouldn't see him following.

Mouse answered Larry's chirp, and nuzzled him back. She gave Otto a small smile--she would try. With a little wave, she slid a board out, and slipped out.

The crack house wasn't all that far from the warehouse. A few streets away and a halfway point between the warehouse and the parish. Still, in Hell's Kitchen, even a few streets could be dangerous. Fortunately Mouse was well practiced at avoiding the gangs, dealers, and the homeless that she knew were dangerous.

It didn't take long for her to get home. As usual, several of the junkies were out front, laughing and smoking pot. A few were shooting up drugs as well. Mouse saw her mother flirting with Devon. Again. She tried to get by them unnoticed, and mostly succeeded. Her mother absently patted her head as she passed, and Mouse ducked her head so that she wouldn't see the leer cast her way by Stevie.

Hurrying inside, she grabbed her tattered teddy bear and blanket from her dirty mattress upstairs, and got down into the basement. It wouldn't be too bad tonight.

Otto followed her from the rooftops, trying to be as quiet as possible. The actuators had worked out a trick where they would reach over to the next building to cross the gaps between them, rather than jumping. This only worked, of course, if there was less than forty-five feet between the buildings, but most alleys and streets here in Hell's Kitchen were narrower than that. One actuator kept an eye on the girl, a second watched for anyone watching. It would be just their luck to run into that blind superhero Daredevil... Otto didn't think the man would be particularly happy to find Doctor Octopus in his 'territory'.

Mouse took a roundabout route home, which didn't surprise him. She was street-smart enough to know to avoid the dangerous places, but he was surprised when she suddenly made a beeline for one of those locations. This was home, he suddenly realized, watching her duck past a group of junkies. A woman he strongly suspected to be a whore patted her head as she went inside.

Otto shuddered, the entire scene sickening him. Even worse- he could do nothing about it. What could he do? Kill these people and take her away? Not possible. All he could do for now was keep an eye on her, and offer something of a haven in the afternoons. With a sigh, he turned to go back to the warehouse.