بازوهای فلزی

Chapter five

The metal arms

About forty visitors waited excitedly in Otto’s big room. Harry and Peter were there.

‘Welcome, everyone,’ said Otto. ‘You are the first people ever to see fusion energy. It’s safe - and we can make it again and again. It’s cheap, too. Cheap electricity for everyone!’ Otto moved across the room towards four big metal arms.

‘Ooooooh,’ everyone said as Otto fitted the arms onto his back. ‘It’s not possible to control the fusion reaction with my hands. So I use these metal ones. I control them with my brain,’ he explained.

‘Dr Octavius’ asked one of the visitors, ‘is there a danger the arms can control you?’

‘Good question,’ said Otto. ‘My brain is safe because of this microchip at the back of my head.’ He turned and showed them, ‘I control the arms,’ he said. ‘They don’t control me.’

Otto walked to the back of the room. Blue lights went on and there was Otto’s fusion reactor. The metal arms moved. They lifted up a very small piece of tritium. ‘There are less than twelve kilos of tritium in the world,’ he explained. ‘I want to thank Harry Osborn and OsCorp for giving me this tritium.’

‘Happy to pay the bills, Otto,’ called Harry.

Otto turned to smile at his wife, Rosie. This was his big moment! He started the reaction. The tritium started to go round very fast. Suddenly it changed into a small ball of fire. It started to grow. The light was very strong. The visitors couldn’t believe it. The energy of the sun was in the room in front of them.

Otto used the metal arms to control the reaction. Lines of fire shot from the fireball. The arms stopped each one and pushed it back to the centre. The arms moved faster and faster, and the light became stronger and stronger.

But then something happened. The reactor started to pull some of the metal things in the room into its centre. Lines of fire shot everywhere. Otto was losing control. People shouted and tried to escape. Harry’s face was white. He turned towards Peter. But Peter wasn’t there.

‘Turn it off, ‘ shouted Harry. ‘Turn it off!’

‘Wait’ shouted Otto. ‘I can control it.’

A big metal cupboard was flying towards Harry. But suddenly Spider-Man appeared. He caught Harry and pulled him away from danger. For a moment, Spider-Man and Harry were face to face. But Harry still hated Spider-Man.

‘This doesn’t change anything,’ Harry said. But Spider-Man didn’t have time to talk. He ran around the walls to the reactor. He tried to pull the cables out of the wall.

‘What are you doing’ shouted Otto.

‘I’m trying to stop the reaction,’ answered Spider-Man.

One of Otto’s metal arms hit Spider-Man. But at that moment the big windows in the room broke into a thousand and pieces. Metal and glass flew fast towards Otto and Rosie. The metal arms moved in front of Otto’s body. He was safe. But Rosie fell to the floor.

‘Rosie’ shouted Otto.

Then a line of fire from the reactor hit Otto in the back. He fell to the floor. Smoke came out of the microchip.

Spider-Man pulled and pulled. Finally the cables came out of the wall. The reactor stopped. The lights went out. Everything went quiet.

Otto’s body showed signs of life. They took him to hospital. But it was too late for Rosie.

Harry stood in the street outside. His car was waiting but he didn’t get in.

‘I’ve lost everything,’ he said. ‘I’ve nothing - except Spider-Man.’

‘But he saved your life,’ said one of the OsCorp men. ‘He made me look stupid today. He’ll pay for this.’ Harry got in his car and left.