“Spider-Man!”
Doctor Octopus looked up and saw the Spider-Man who had knocked him unconscious.
“Don’t forget about me, Dr.
Otto.”
Tobey Spider-Man’s voice came from behind him as he stepped into view.
Faced with two Spider-Men closing in from both directions, several beads of cold sweat slid down Doctor Octopus’s forehead.
He realized there was nowhere left to run.
“Damn it!
How did these two spiders find me?”
It was only when he saw the radar display projected from Peter’s Web-Shooter that he suddenly realized he had been tracked.
But it was already too late.
Doctor Octopus’s eyes reddened as he spun around and lunged at Tobey Spider-Man.
Compared to the newly arrived Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus hated his old enemy, Tobey Spider-Man, far more.
“Spider-Man!
Why do you always have to ruin my plans?”
One of the mechanical Octopus Tentacles seized an alloy plate the size of a door and hurled it at Tobey Spider-Man.
“Because catching bad guys is what I do.”
Tobey Spider-Man’s voice turned cold.
He punched the alloy plate, folding it in half with a deafening boom and sending it flying back toward Doctor Octopus.
Doctor Octopus hurriedly dodged aside.
When he tried to launch another attack with his mechanical Octopus Tentacles, he was stunned to discover that all four of them had been completely immobilized.
He turned around and saw that the newly arrived Spider-Man had already bound every mechanical Octopus Tentacle with webbing.
Held fast by Peter’s webs, Doctor Octopus could not use his most powerful weapons at all.
Before Doctor Octopus could think of a way to escape, Tobey Spider-Man was already standing in front of him.
“Dr.
Otto, do you understand what could have happened?
There were hundreds of innocent civilians on that train!”
Tobey Spider-Man remembered the terrified faces of the hundreds of innocent passengers aboard the runaway train, and his anger surged higher than ever.
Fueled by that rage, Tobey Spider-Man struck Doctor Octopus with several powerful punches.
The blows looked simple and brutal, with no apparent technique behind them, yet they left Doctor Octopus reeling.
The steel armor he had just put on was badly warped and twisted.
One more hit would make it fall apart completely.
Tobey Spider-Man delivered one final punch, sending Doctor Octopus flying backward.
The force of the impact left a deep crater in the concrete wall of the abandoned pump station.
All four of Doctor Octopus’s mechanical Octopus Tentacles lost power and drooped limply beside him.
A left punch dealt massive damage.
A right punch dealt massive damage.
That was the simple, straightforward fighting style of someone with absurdly overpowered stats.
Looking at the unconscious Doctor Octopus, Tobey Spider-Man removed his mask and turned to Peter.
“Will the method you mentioned really restore Dr.
Otto’s normal personality?”
Peter nodded and glanced at the back of Doctor Octopus’s neck.
“All I can say is that there’s a very good chance it’ll work.”
…
At eleven that night, Dr.
Curt Connors finished his research for the day.
He dragged his exhausted body back to his rather empty home.
As a scientist who had devoted himself entirely to research, he had never married and did not even have a girlfriend.
He was accustomed to living alone.
But this night would be very different.
When Dr.
Curt Connors opened his front door, he found his living room livelier than it had ever been.
A man, a Spider-Man, and Doctor Octopus, who had been wrapped into a ball with webbing, were all waiting inside.
Of the three people in the room, the only one he recognized was the man dressed in ordinary clothes.
It was his student, Peter Parker.
“Parker!
What…
what are you doing here?”
Dr.
Curt Connors tried to remain calm, but the slight tremor in his voice betrayed his fear and unease.
Tobey Spider-Man had come without his suit because he needed to ask his mentor for help.
According to Peter, restoring Doctor Octopus’s normal personality required reinstalling the Inhibitor Chip that blocked the influence of the mechanical Octopus Tentacles.
Very few people in the world were capable of doing that, and Dr.
Curt Connors was one of them.
Tobey Spider-Man had therefore decided to take the risk.
“Dr.
Connors, Dr.
Otto needs your help…”
Tobey Spider-Man told him exactly what had happened.
When Dr.
Connors learned that an accident had transformed his old friend into such a terrifying figure, he shook his head sorrowfully.
He and Dr.
Otto had known each other for more than twenty years and were as close as lifelong friends.
Now that his old friend was in trouble, there was no way he could stand aside and do nothing.
“All right…
I’ll do everything I can.”
“Great.
I brought Dr.
Otto’s laboratory computer with me.
The relevant blueprints should be stored on it.”
Tobey Spider-Man produced Doctor Octopus’s computer tower.
“That was a smart decision.
If we have the blueprints, we’re already halfway to success.”
Dr.
Connors put on his glasses and immediately got to work.
Time passed slowly.
During that period, Doctor Octopus regained consciousness, but his mouth had been sealed with webbing, leaving him able to do nothing but glare furiously at everyone in the room.
Dr.
Connors ultimately lived up to their expectations.
After an entire night of research, he managed to use the blueprints stored on Doctor Octopus’s computer to create a new Inhibitor Chip.
Once the final laser welding step was complete, Dr.
Connors handed Tobey Spider-Man a hexagonal silicon chip about the size of a fingernail.
“Go ahead and try it.
There shouldn’t be any problems.”
Tobey Spider-Man accepted the silicon chip and exchanged a glance with Peter before moving behind Doctor Octopus.
He carefully inserted the silicon chip into the slot at the top of Doctor Octopus’s artificial metal spine.
Doctor Octopus’s eyes snapped open.
Within his unnaturally clouded pupils, countless phantom tentacles seemed to writhe and thrash.
The tentacles desperately fought to maintain their grip on Doctor Octopus’s mind, but they could not overcome the physical isolation created by the suppression chip.
One by one, the phantom tentacles faded away.
At last, Doctor Octopus’s clouded eyes became clear again.
The frenzy, violence, greed, and every other negative emotion within them vanished completely.
“Doctor!
Dr.
Otto!
How do you feel?”
Tobey Spider-Man watched him nervously, afraid that Doctor Octopus might lose control again and harm Dr.
Connors nearby.
Doctor Octopus’s newly cleared eyes reflected Tobey Spider-Man’s face.
His voice was low and slow, filled with a peaceful calm that made him seem like a completely different man.
“It’s so quiet.”
“The voices in my head…
they’re all gone.”