10/22/2006 Stark Tower - 93rd Floor The cell and its occupant are much as they were the other evening -- the minimal furnishing, the white-on-white starkness, the double-layer of 'glass', the three silent Iron Robots standing sentinel... and the paunchy middle-aged scientist with the unfashionable haircut who's far more dangerous than appearances suggest. Dr. Octavius lies stretched out on the bunk, hands behind his head, eyes closed behind the thick glasses. He's not given up trying to get past the psionic barriers which make his absent arms little more than numbed limbs, oh no. He /has/ given up brute force however, and is instead probing the barrier carefully and methodically, testing it, feeling around its edges the way a certain eight-limbed mollusk will feel its way out of its aquarium. If asked, he'd declare with complete confidence and absolute arrogance that he could of /course/ escape incarceration without the use of his amazing arms... but they do make things easier. Besides that, he wants them. Badly. In the hallway outside of Doctor Octopus's holding cell, a grim-faced Captain America regards two trusted collegues. In preparation for his second "visit" with Octavius, the Cap's again attired in full costume, his slung shield reflecting the overhead lights in a bright gleam. Much like his signature weapon, Steve Rogers also seems to be in excellent condition; he's almost unrecognizable from only a week ago. His posture is ramrod straight and as he tells Emma and Black Cat: "Before we head in, I'd like to go over what's going to happen," his recently scratchy voice has once again resumed its full commanding presence. The Avenger holds up a single piece of folded paper, and continues. "I'm going to read this. And then I'm going to offer Octavius something for the pain." His eyes turn to the lady in white. "Emma, I asked you to be here in case he refuses. It's his right to do so..." he hesitates, leaving unspoken the idea that many heroes would /love/ for him to refuse, but then finishes, "...and I just want you there in case the feedback tries to flip his brain like a pancake." The Cap turns to the Black Cat -- always seeming vaguely out of place in bright lights -- and smiles. "I was intrigued you wanted to be here for this, Black Cat," he tells her easily, "but whatever your reasons, it's the least we could do for all the help you've given us." With that, he turns and approaches the door. It hisses open and the Cap walks into the cell, the echoes of his boots growing louder in the enclosed, hollow space. Black_Cat is quiet while the Captain explains matters. She seems to be nicely healed after about a week of rest as well, though she's still not feeling too kindly about getting tossed around by those tentacles.. She manages a smile as she's regarded, waiting till he finishes. "I'm glad to be able to help out... The doctor and I had some old history together. I just want to make sure everything goes well. Not sure how happy he'll be to see me, though." Still finding it odd to be one of those 'trusted' colleagues, Emma listens, without interrupting even, to the Cap's briefing. A slightly amused smile appearing on her face when her part in this is explained. "Oh, a nice flipping might do that mind some good, but I see your point, Captain." She tilts her head at Black Cat's explanation, "Make sure it goes /right/, I believe might be the more appropriate way to word it, hmmm, Kitten? And don't worry, dear, he'll not be too happy to see me, either." As focussed as he is, Octavius doesn't allow himself the luxury of remaining wholly unaware of his surroundings, and at the sound of approaching footsteps he ceases his attempts to make the arms respond without losing touch with them, the other half of his self. He takes a moment to count footsteps, then opens his eyes to gaze at the ceiling, the arrogant little smile already forming on his lips. Captain_America enters, all business. He faces the cell in a rigid pose, like a soldier at a formal ceremony... or a court martial. The Avenger waits in silence until his companions have joined him, and then brings up the piece of paper and crisply unfolds it. He begins to read with the gravity of a judge pronouncing sentence: "Otto Gunther Octavius, this is an officially delivered legal notice. Due to recent actions committed directly by yourself, as well as a leadership role in directing other super-powered crimes -- most notably the forceful seizure of Rykers Prison -- you are henceforth declared to be an enemy combatant of the United States." He takes a breath, and prepares to continue. Black_Cat slips in, though stays just across and behind the Captain.. She keeps a semi-formal posture, arms folded, looking to where the man himself is placed. He looks a bit different without his 'toys'.. She's still silent, and formal, but there really doesn't seem to be much pleasantry in her expression... Something about what was said that night's still on her mind.. it makes her wonder... Emma simply steps up to flank the Captain on his left as he reads off the judgment. Much like the Cat, she simply stands silent, looking over the prisoner. Indeed, very different. Of course, The White Queen figures that the distance will not have an effect on the link between him and the arms, not a link that strong. Otto's lip curls into a sneer as the star-spangled Avenger reads. He does not deign to cast a single glance their way, and in fact -- in a gesture of pure insolence -- closes his eyes again and mentally probes at the barrier that keeps his arms unresponsive. He's listening, to be sure, but has nothing but scorn for the three of them and their officious pronouncements. Captain_America keeps right on talking, determined to follow the correct procedure whether or not the prisoner is interested in hearing it. "Similarly, the multi-limbed apparatus you have repeatedly used in committing these hostile acts -- full listing of same can be found in attached appendix 'A' -- has been declared via Executive Order 15347 to be a 'clear and present danger' to the security of the United States, prompting the following immeadiate and definitive response:" There's another pause while the Cap shifts the paper down. Black_Cat of course has quite the idea where this is about to be going... She shifts her gaze from the Captain towards the Octopus, her eyes staring in a more tense matter as she waits for it to be said, all the while thinking. 'Maybe -this'll- get your attention, asshole...' Emma watches the doctor carefully as his arms are brought up, an eyebrow raising slightly and a slight smirk tugging at her lips, apparently thinking along the same lines as the Cat. Oh, the anticipation to see the man's reaction. It's the phrase 'executive order' that makes Octavius's eyes snap back open, that drops the sneer off his broad, cruel face. With a quickness that belies both his bulk and his previous demeanor of uncaring indolence, he sits up, throws his legs over the side of the bunk, and pushes to his feet. Yes, that got his attention, in spades, and his hands close into fists as he stares at Captain America. The two women are wholly ignored. Captain_America slows down to read the final paragraph, carefully enunciating every word so that Otto can fully understand its implication. "That described apparatus is to be /destroyed./ Destruction to be carried out through internal detonation and subsequent disassembly." The Cap slowly lowers the paper, and his eyes fix Otto with a cold finality as he steps forward until the two men are only a handful of feet apart. "Said procedure to be carried out following delivery of this message." Without moving his gaze off of Octavius, the Avenger carefully refolds the paper and slips it into the delivery drawer. KA-CHUNK. The drawer cycles and the copy of the letter is dumped onto the floor at Otto's feet. "Your lawyer, Michael Gerdes, has likewise been informed," the Cap concludes. Oooh, how the 'Kitten' wants to smirk, how she'd love to grin and rub it in. He must be sweating now, realizing just what the trouble he's caused is costing him.. It's about time if you ask her... Still, she stays silent, being on her best behavior, if you will... And watches the Octopus sweat. Emma, too, fights the urge to rub it in. Her version, no doubt, more vocal than a mere smirk. But, for the sake of keeping up formalities, she also is on her best behavior. Very difficult. She should really be getting a medal for this. There is a rather pitying expression on her face, though, as she can't help but wonder what sort of affect the destruction of the arms will have on him. It will be interesting to see. Otto's fists tighten, knuckles turning white. He's not sweating -- not literally anyway -- though his heart rate's taken a quick spike upwards, and his face twitches at the sound of the paper hitting the floor. His eyes, magnified behind the thick lenses, fixate on the Captain with a stare that hunts savagely, frantically, for the slightest minute sign of trickery. Finding none, he looks first toward Emma Frost and then to the Black Cat. No luck there, either. As Octavius turns his attention back to Captain America, his upper lip peels back from his teeth in the defiant snarl of a rabid dog. "No." As if he had any say on the matter. Captain_America remains silent at first. He pulls a slim pill bottle out of a belt pouch and puts it in the drawer. "We expect the pain will be... extensive," he says in way of reply. The subtext is equally clear: this /is/ going to happen. Right. Now. "Previous efforts to control neural feedback in relation to the harness relied on simple painkillers. They were ineffective." The Cap almost has to supress a shudder as he thinks back to the Vault's surveillance tapes of Ock with injured "limbs." He had screamed until they gassed him unconcious. Bringing himself back to the present, the Avenger's voice lowers and fills with urgency. "Those pills should inhibit the neural response. /Take them./" KA-CHUNK. Black_Cat doubts it'll be that easy.. She knows enough about the Doc that he won't go quietly about this matter. Part of why she's here, perhaps... It doesn't really hit her till now, how much she's despised this man up to this point, for the fact that he nearly brought an end to her life... There simply aren't that many people she's felt that strongly towards in that way. Does she feel -any- pity at all for him? Any sympathy?... Perhaps, somewhere deeper down than the surface. Whether he takes them or not matters only marginally to Emma, since either way she'll be trying to watch over the event, mentally. For...posterity. She can't help but wonder if, like other amputees, he'll still feel them, like ghosts of themselves sent to haunt him. "No," says Otto Octavius again, still glaring up at the Cap with the kind of hateful recalcitrance that's kept him on the path of villainy year after destructive year. Captain_America's mouth hardens. His chest rises in a silent sigh. "Dr. Octavius," he finally begins in carefully measured words, "right now there are literally /hundreds/ of my fellow heroes who want you to say 'no.' Hundreds of people who want you to feel one small fraction of the pain you've inflicted on humanity." He leans close, lowering his voice and pouring on the sincerity. "I can think of no one -- including the two people behind me -- who want you to take those pills, /no one/ who wouldn't be gratified by your obstinate refusal..." Whether this is in fact true or not, Cap makes it /sound/ true. The Avenger takes a breath and tries the greatest psychological attack at his disposal: "If you don't take the painkillers, you make Spider-man the happiest guy on earth." Black_Cat nearly breaks out a sigh, but catches herself, and it just gets relaxed into a drawn breath. Still, she keeps that same expression, holding it strongly, though her focus hones in moreso upon the defiant doctor, staring hard at those glasses, past them, and into the eyes of the mad genius.. There might be just a spark of doubt in there, now that she's here, now that she's actually here, seeing this... Is this really what she wants? Is she -really- looking forward to seeing Otto suffer? Emma wears an expression of complete apathy, as if to drive home the fact that she isn't at all bothered by him not taking the pills. Her gaze, however, slides over the the Cat, those doubtful thoughts catching the telepath's 'eye'. Weakness. She looks back over to Otto and the Captain after a moment. Slowly, Octavius walks forward until he's within a hands-width of the transparent barrier separating him from the Captain and the two women (one all in black, one all in white). The fact that he has to look up to meet the Super-Soldier's eyes makes not one whit of difference in Octavius's unflinching, unceasing arrogance. He speaks slowly and deliberately, his voice a grating growl. "Otto Octavius does not /care/ what other people want, /or/ what makes them /happy/." He spits out the emphasized words, saliva hitting the glass. "/Especially/ that insolent arachnid. /Let/ him be happy. Let him /take/ what /feeble enjoyment/ he can out of my pain. I will feed it back to him /a dozen times over/. He will feel /every spasm/, every /wracking agony/, as I destroy his life." He pauses a beat, teeth showing in a vile, sadistic, and humorless grin. "...And yours, Captain Rogers." The grin vanishes into a snarl. "And yours." Captain_America's expression doesn't alter in the slightest; Otto's angry ranting is good, but it's nothing he hasn't heard from the Red Skull. "You just /try/ it, mister," he replies gruffly. The star-spangled Avenger then turns to the White Queen. "Emma, do what you can. If he suffers an aneurysm he'll be unable to fulfill his sentence." A pause, and then the distinct thought: The Cap then regards Felicia. "Brace yourself," he tells her quietly -- perhaps intending it also as a final warning to Ock. Regardless, the Avenger turns to face Octavius, his face completely without expression. Captain America brings up a small communicator and speaks softly: "Bravo Two, this is Old Glory. Proceed." * One hundred miles away, at a secured facility, a single small light among a panel of hundreds changes from a soft amber to a bright green. It is noted on a clipboard, and a SHIELD agent speaks into a microphone. Deep underground, the agent's voice reflects off of several men in bomb-suits surrounding the immobilized harness and bundles of wiring. The wires each go to forty-two miniature charges of C-4 -- carefully placed to demolish both the internal electronics of the harness and the control apparatus within each individual limb. In response to the echoed words, the leader of this demolition squad -- a man who will take soon take home a blackened circuit board as a souvenir for his little girl -- gives a thumbs up and a nod to the watching camera. The crew quickly clears out, leaving the room empty. There's just enough time for one indrawn breath... KRUMP! BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. And so it goes. Forty-two explosions, one right after the other. The whole procedure takes only six seconds. In the aftermath, all that remains of Doctor Octopus's beloved harness is a burned out shell. And that too will be gone in twenty-four hours, its precious Adamantium too valuable to be left sitting around. Just three blackened coils will be saved and mounted: one going to the President, one to Nick Fury, and the final link reserved for Otto's greatest nemesis: Spider-man. * Quite an interesting take on events.. to think that they are going to all of this.. Just for a metal harness... How much is this little job going to cost? How much money is being soaked up for this little display of fireworks? The Cat really can't imagine it, and part of her doesn't want to.. Like a good soldier, she braces herself, and any sympathy she might've started to feel begins to melt away at Otto's cold and vicious responce.. It never ends.. There's no hope of redemption for such a man, not in her eyes.. She's got to keep tough.. She's probably not gonna like it as much as she might've thought in her head, but she won't walk out, not now.. Emma gives the Cap a slight nod, both at the verbal and mental words. And she reaches out to Otto's brain, to dull the pain, should it get as intense as they all fear. Dulling it to bearable, as the man /did/ wish to forgo the pills, but she will be keeping an aneurysm or other such effects from effecting the man. "AAAAGGGGH!" At the very instant that the first charge goes off, Octavius screams in agony, and for those short seconds -- a hellish eternity -- the tortured shrieking doesn't stop. Two seconds in, and the sheer intensity of the pain drives him to his knees like nothing else can, everything else blotted out, every other thought seared away -- though, thanks to the White Queen, there's no actual synaptic damage. Not that he'll thank her for it, of course. In six seconds, Otto Octavius screams his throat raw, and when it finally ends -- leaving behind a horrible gaping hole in his mind where his other self is supposed to be -- he finds himself on his knees against the cell barrier, clutching his head, his screams subsiding into low moans. Captain_America twitches at the scream, an involuntary reflex. As the cries go on, his face slowly shifts into a kind of distant sympathy, and when Octavius finally falls silent, the Avenger slowly untenses. "I feel sorry for you..." the Cap admits after several seconds of conspicous silence, "...and I thank God for it -- because I know that sets me apart from people like yourself." He briefly watches Felicia to make sure she's fine, and then turns around to Emma. "Any problems?" As the captain turns to look upon Felicia, he'll probably notice it himself.. The way her fists are tight and clenched, the gloves doing their job in hiding the effects of it... That was a -long- 6 seconds for the Black Cat.. She almost seems to've stopped breathing a moment, given the harder breath she takes when she meets Steve's stare. As if understanding his intention, she lowers her gaze and just nods slowly.. There is no twitching, no tense muscles from the telepath at the screams, just simple observation as she focuses on keeping the pain at /just/ that right level. When the screaming dies down, a hand reaches up to Emma's forehead, catching all those, mostly incoherent, ramblings on about his loss from his mind. Plus the hate. It is, in fact, the hate that brings a reaction from the White Queen. A simple glare. And a simple message for the villain. /Then/ she turns to look at Steve, "Oh, no, Captain, no problems what so ever." "...kill you... slowly," says Otto Octavius in a ragged, hoarse voice. He unfolds himself slowly, dragging himself back to his feet, hands pressed against the barrier for support. He lifts his head last to stare, panting, at the three of them, his eyes wide. "This isn't over," he gasps. "You haven't stopped me." Captain_America ignores him, instead nodding at Emma's reply. "As always, Emma, you've been a great help." The Cap then turns to Felicia. "Cat, it was his choice to do it the hard way. So don't lose /too/ much sleep..." He hesitates, "...but it's always good to be reminded that you're not a monster. Thank you both for coming." Simple words to Emma and the Black Cat, but heartfelt. With that, Captain America turns back to the debilitated prisoner. "I'll make sure you get an excellent dinner tonight, Otto." Without another word he heads for the exit. The doors open and close with a hiss, and Captain America's gone. Black_Cat allows the Captain to go, saying nothing, but nodding to him.... For a moment she stands facing the doorway from where Steve exits, as if taking a moment to think about things.. To her, this should signal the end of things. Otto no longer has his instruments of destruction, and he's well-secured here. Highly unlikely that he'll get away, at least on his own.. But there's that odd feeling in her gut.. It just feels too easy... "Anytime, Captain." Emma says as the man moves to walk out. Interestingly enough, /their/ reminder that they are not monsters had an entirely different effect on Emma. Entirely. Once the Captain is gone, Emma steps closer to the prisoner, "Oh no, Octavius, it is very much over. While the Captain and Black Cat here seem to still feel your humanity tugging at their heartstrings, I remind you that I am not as easily moved to compassion. As you have given us warning of your intentions, I shall give you one of my own. I will always be watching over your shoulder. One false move, Octavius, just one." One final glare and the woman steps back from the glass and starts for the door. "Well, Kitten, I don't know about you, but I could use a drink." "I will see you dead!" Otto Octavius screams as first Cap and then Frost head for the exit, savaging his already badly-abused larynx. His fist pounds against the glass, punctuating his maddened rant; spittle flies from his lips and again spatters the barrier. "Every one of you! I will reduce this city to rubble and scatter you to your component atoms!!" His eyes are bugged out with fury as he ends with a final shriek: "DOCTOR OCTOPUS WILL NOT BE STOPPED!" She waits until the Captain and the Queen are out of there.. She stands in silence, perhaps acknowledging the Queen's suggestion with a nod, but she lingers.. And as Otto's face comes so close to that barrier, around comes Felicia, like lightning, and with the same quickness, and with a quelling fury of her own, her fist SLAMS against the barrier, right where Otto's nose would be. Of course, the barrier keeps her from doing anything more than possibly giving Otto quite the flinch, but she keeps her fist there, the leather around her fingers making quite a sound as her fingers tighten, and as it lowers, her face is there, staring hard at Otto... "I didn't enjoy this, Otto, not at all.. Even after what you did to me.. I don't envy what you're going through, but I promise you this... If you /do/ get out of here.. If you /do/ try to make yourself a threat again? You better pray that I don't cross your path again... Just let it be.. For my sake, and for yours..." Finally, her hand comes down, maintaining her stare with the madman for a time longer before she finally just turns about and steps away. She's tired of the threats, the anger, all of it.. She lets out a sigh as she steps outside completely. "Just let it be...."