Chapter 17: A Warning From Stark Industries
(Pat Doyle)
I paced around the room, my feet hitting the floor as if they were as light as a feather. It was like I wasn't really on the floor but instead was hovering over by mere centimeters.
Which I was, but that was both beside the point and because Mrs. O'Reilly didn't like to hear people bounce against the floor above her head.
"You know," Louise drawled, lazed out on her bed, I wasn't looking at her but I could imagine that she was rolling her eyes at my rather stressed-out state. "Most guys would be ecstatic about a mature lady coming onto them like that."
"Well… most mature women don't try and roofie you," I mumbled, trying to get it out there but not wanting the attention that such a statement would get.
It didn't help that I wasn't really sure that was what the Doc had been trying to do, it might have just been a really strong drink that she'd given me.
I'd never been drugged before, so it was possible that what I felt wasn't the date rape drug.
But sadly for my attempt at getting that statement out unnoticed, Louise's ears peeked and she jumped, grabbing me by the shoulder and bringing me down to the bed. Her eyes staring right into mine, searching for something that I couldn't be sure of.
"Lay that on me again," Louise, the low growl in her voice reminding me of a dog that had just been kicked. "This time louder."
There was a tension in the air, something that in the few months I'd spent around the girl wasn't normal. Usually, Louise went around with the same sort of attitude that I've only seen in surfer dudes in old 90's shows.
"I think she tried to drug me?" I eventually folded, though this time I made sure to phrase my statement as a question. Since it was more indicative of what I knew than what I had actually said.
"No... you said that the Doc had tried to roofie you," She corrected me, swinging around and away from me so she could take out her laptop. "That's different, that's a crime, we need to call the pigs on her ass and put her away."
You know it was odd how someone that grew up with a mafia-esque father would have such a hard moral line. It was like finding out that Santa ran a gambling den... just in inverse here.
"And say what?" I shrugged, watching as she started to type away at her laptop with a decent level of proficiency. "The drugs didn't work on me because of a fluke?"
Louise sighed while blowing her long red hair from her face. She'd not been for me keeping my abilities under wraps, saying that it's pointless since it wasn't like I was going out there and being an active vigilante.
I didn't correct her since I hadn't done any repeats of the docks incident, instead focusing on learning under Ben or hanging out with Louise, much to Jimbo's annoyance.
"No... but you could... " She trailed off, her hands coming back down to slam on her laptop's keys. "... fuck you and your secret superpowers."
This was one of the continuous topics between the two of us, that I was hiding my powers at all.
"I'm not sure that it matters," I told her, getting off her bed and sitting instead on a computer chair that Jimbo, as I've come to call Mr. O'Reilly, had gotten with her desktop.
Because she really needed both a laptop and a desktop. "She's probably the reason for the blackouts that have been plaguing Lower Manhattan recently."
"Probably?"
"Yup," I nodded at her, bending down to turn the desktop on with a single press of a button. "In fact, I need to do some research on her, mind if I use your computer?"
"I'm pretty sure possible rapist is a bigger crime than being reckless with experiments."
Even though Louise said this, the redhead still nodded consent to my use of her computer.
In most other cases I'd agree with my younger friend, rapists are a kind of monster that needs to burn in a special kind of hell, they're kind are ones even Satan himself would find too evil to be let around the normal denizens of Hell.
Even just discussing it made me sick to my guts.
"Sure, in most cases," I said, continuing the line of conversation. "But here we got multiple cases of endangerment, illegal experiments, and even then it's likely that if the Doc would roofie someone she just meets, then it's likely that she's-"
"-actually managed the deed with other people." Louise finished for me, her chin coming to rest on my shoulder as I brought up a list of Doctors with the name of Olivia Octavius from the American Association of Degrees.
Not sure if that's an organization that existed on my Earth. "That's smart, a list of crimes that will put her away for the rest of our lives, never mind hers."
"Exactly," The names appeared on the screen as I said these words, a total number of thirteen people were registered by that name. Further limiting the scope of the search, I added the modifier of two or more degrees. "Found her, seems that she used to work for Stark Industries till recently."
Something that I found somewhat surprising, to be honest. It wasn't till six months ago that the company pulled away from weaponry to focus more in areas that Apple and Tesla had been the leaders in.
It looks like Dr. Octavius had been an early hire to help with the new direction the company had taken... only to be let go in a month and a half working there.
"Doesn't appear to be a reason listed for it." I mused something that brought Louise out of whatever thought she'd been having since I started to take in the information. "I wonder how hard that will be to get from Stark Industries?"
"Depends on whatever agreements she had prior," My friend said, her hand going for her Blackberry phone before glancing at me with a sly smile.
"If she was let go because the experiments weren't going the way she wanted or if it was something she did on the job... it could be covered under an NDA. Might make getting the info hard."
Slightly impressed, I leaned back into the computer chair, my eyes closing for a moment and let meself think on the approach that I'd need to use to get the information if that was so. There was very little chance that I could sneak in, my skills in that arena were comparable to a bull in a china shop of nothing but red plates.
"Well, only one way to find out," Louise winked at me, handing me her phone, the device making that wonderful dialing tone that was made whenever calling someone. "Go get them."
"Wait, wha-" My exclamation of surprise was interrupted by the call being picked up, something only annoyed me because I knew that if I had called them myself I would've been forced to hold.
"Stark Industries, public relations desk, how may I help you?" The phrase was said with a mix of a dull dry tone that lacked any enthusiasm for life and the accent of a Southern Belle. The fusion of what I considered to be an upbeat accent with a depressing tone just went on to highlight how my day had been going. Mixed.
"Yes, m-my name is Patrick Doyle," I replied, in that sort of anxiety filled manner that only someone that's been overworked by an office staff would notice. Something that I hoped the woman on the other end would pick up on. "I work for the New York Bulletin and was looking into a certain former employee of Stark Industries."
"I see," She murmured on the other side of the line, her lip audibly being chewed. "This for some sort of story?" It was oddly asked like the woman was fishing for something, maybe wanted to see if there was anything in this for her.
"Not directly, I was investigating a series of odd going ons and meet with a Doctor that was fired in the last few months," I explained, hoping that being honest but loose with details would get better results than being coy. "Just checking in to see if this woman is likely to be the cause of this."
"Well... I'm going to need a name before I tell you what I can, even former employees are under NDAs."
It was like we had thought, but hopefully, this help desk lady will be able to... help me with some details at least. So I took a breath, for some reason looking both ways, much to Louise's amusement, and spoke;
"Doctor Olivia Octavius."
There was what I could only describe as a beat of silence on the other end of the line, stretching out the tension that I could feel gather in my arms and pushing it through my chest.
I wasn't sure what it meant, but it was another thing to add to my list of things that caused me anxiety in life.
Awkward silences over the phone.
"From what I can see," The woman eventually said, the silence finally breaking as her voice was accompanied with the sounds of harsh keyboard strokes. "The Doctor was let go because she got into an argument with Mr. Stark... where she said... and I'm quoting here... It would only kill like three people... Mr. Stark didn't like that."
I could certainly see why you wouldn't want her to have access to the resources that Stark Industries could grant her if that was her idea of safe.
"What about... allegations of a more... intimate nature?" I asked, my heart racing and my palms started to itch.
Another beat of silence from the other end of the phone, this time it was broken by a gasp of shock.
------
📚 Want to jump 30+ chapters ahead right now?
👉 You can read the advanced chapters and support me directly on p atreon.
📎 Link in the synopsis & profile: p 4treon.com/ForgottenDaoist