Otto awoke the next morning with his body aching considerably, a side effect of having the crap kicked out of him by an abomination of nature the day before. With every limb in his form aching he pushed himself out of bed and headed into where the kitchen was. As he didn't smell smoke upon waking up he assumed that Coco had learned her lesson from yesterday about cooking. Yet when he reached the top of the stairs that lead into the kitchen, he found that even the greatest of minds could be wrong.
"Coco, what in the name of all that is holy are you doing?" Otto asked the mare as he found her pouring flour into a large bowl, as well as everywhere else in her general vicinity.
"Celebration cake!" she exclaimed with a happiness that made Otto raise an eyebrow in confusion. "See, yesterday, while the Spider battled it out with that strange whatever it was, Stonewall managed to snag everything on my list and then some!"
"Amazing."
"I know! Who would have thought that I would have been able to get everything I needed to make these next sets of dresses amazing?!" Coco asked with an excitement that Otto feared would cause her to pop like a balloon.
"I was referring to the fact that a fool like Stonewall was able to think during such a situation. I would have expected him to stand there gawking like every other fool in that marketplace," Otto clarified for Coco, who lost her smile as Otto began to insult the stallion.
"You shouldn't be so hard on Stonewall. He's a good pony," Coco said.
"I will think of him however I wish to. Do I tell you how to think?"
"Yes. Regularly in fact."
"Details. Why not bore-fascinate me more about the information about what items you obtained," Otto said in an attempt to change the topic, but instead of falling for the bait like Otto thought she would she chose to walk over to Otto and stare at him.
"Otto...I know that something bad happened in your past, something that you feel you can't make up for, but you can't dwell on it. I used to beat up on myself because of it and in your case you like to make others feel miserable. But you have to move on."
"It fascinates me how all of you ponies within this city think you know more than you actually do," Otto replied in a scathing tone as he walked by Coco, who turned to face him with a stern expression on her face. As Otto sat down at the table she chose to sit in the chair opposite from him and the look on her face told Otto that he wasn't escaping until they had talked. "What do you want from me, woman?"
"Otto...I want to help you. But I can't help you if you don't let me," Coco said with a look of kindness so genuine that even Doctor Octavius found himself unable to stay completely angry with her. "Let's start with something small. You don't seem to like the Spider despite everypony thinking of him as a hero. Was there something that happened in your life that caused you to hate heroes?"
Otto thought back to all the times that Peter had broken his limbs. Or the time that Hulk had used him like a jump rope. Or whenever he had to flee in fear of his life from the Punisher, who constantly tried to end the scientists life. But then he thought back to his childhood and how none of those heroes had ever been there when he needed them...and then he thought of the failure of a hero he had become.
"Heroes are the reason for so many of my aches and pains in the morning," Otto replied with blunt honesty. When he saw Coco's eyes raise slightly, he knew that she had made the connection. "I was not a good person before I came here, Coco. I have done many terrible things. This is why I told you to leave me to my own devices. So you would not have to be associated with a monster like me."
Coco thought over his words for a moment before she let a large, but also slightly concerned smile, cross her face. "Well you can't be that bad. And besides, Equestria is the land of second chances. So what kind of pony would I be if I didn't give you a second chance after what you did? You haven't done anything evil since I've met you and you've protected me once or twice. I don't think you're bad...just that the world tried to make you into a criminal...or villain. What did you do exactly?"
"Discussion for another time," Otto replied, deciding to end the conversation then and there, though he still couldn't believe that Coco was willing to be so forgiving of him despite practically admitting to her that he had been a criminal. 'She is indeed far too nice for her own good. But it is a genuine niceness, one that I have rarely seen in those associated with me. Perhaps I am being too cruel to her...'
"Well, even if you do try anything funny, like taking over the world or anything like that, we've got the Spider here to stop you," Coco joked with a laugh as she stood up and walked back to the counter, but if she could see Otto's face she would have found very little amusement in his features. But then her face fell and concern became her dominate expression. "But I'm actually glad that we've got a hero protecting this city. That was the second attack by one of those...monsters. They never attack the same city twice."
"Perhaps it is because this Spider dared to defeat the monster that was sent here," Otto suggested, but it was more fact than question. "Perhaps the one that created these creatures was offended that the Spider dared to defy him. If the Spider had simply decided to mind his own business then there would have only been one attack and the creatures would have moved on."
"No, the attacks started long before the Spider showed up. I think that whoever it is beneath the mask, they had enough of watching the ponies suffer and decided to use their powers to help," Coco figured as her beaming smile returned to her face, while Otto shook his head at her behind her back. "But you might be right when you say that the creator of these creatures might want to kill the Spider. In fact, the Spider said so himself, that the monster was sent to kill him."
"There is no changing your mind once you lock onto something, is there?" Otto asked the mare, who winked back at him in response. "But that will not stop me. Why are you so insistent that this Spider is some kind of hero that will show up in the nick of time to save you fools? Perhaps he is simply passing through."
"Because if he's truly the hero that I know he is, he'll know that we need his help," Coco replied in such a sad tone that Otto lost all of his snark at the sudden change in her demeanor. "It the other cities that have been attacked the casualties were high. In one of the cities a kindergarten had been destroyed by one of the monsters. There were no survivors."
Otto had sworn that he would not wear the suit, that he would stop trying to be the hero that he wasn't, but the words that left Coco's mouth caused his blood to boil furiously. He knew that he was an evil man, he knew that he had done things that he would burn for, but even he had his standards. And he despised those that would dare to harm children...even though he himself had tried to end all life on Earth.
"That's why I hope the Spider is here to help," Coco continued, snapping Otto free of his own self loathing and rage. "Because I don't want to see anymore ponies die. And until the princesses and the Ambassadors can catch this monster, we'll need all of the heroes that we can get."
"That is...an interesting way of looking this," Otto managed to say before his spider sense tingled in the back of his skull. He snarled as he prepared himself for an attack, but after a moment he recognized the sense that was bothering him. It was not one signaling attack or that his life was in danger. It was warning him of a being whose power far exceeded his.
"Excuse me for a moment, Coco. There is something that I must go deal with."
Before she could say anything to stop him Otto rose up from his chair and exited the room, finding the stairs that lead to the roof and flew up them. He kicked open the door and leapt out onto the roof, racing over to the edge and looking around to see if he could spy whatever had caused him to be alarmed.
'Hmm, I thought that I had given you a bowl cut similar to what you had when you were a villain, but it seems you retained most of Parker's features. No wonder that mare likes you.'
Otto spun around to see a man in a silver coat resting on top of an antenna, but when Otto looked close he was floating right above it. The coat was of a pure silver that seemed to be magical in nature, as the images and patterns on the coat changed every few moments. Each of his limbs seemed to be made of solid silver energy, which Otto assumed was magic given that everything in this land seemed to be. A hood of silver covered the beings face, but from the voice alone Otto could tell he was male and that he was powerful.
"So it's you," Otto spat as he put two and two together, causing the silver being to glance in his direction. "You are the one that brought me to this land. You are the one that gave me this body and that infernal suit!"
'Oooh, you are smart. How'd ya figure it out?' the silver being asked in a tone that was as mocking as it was powerful, but Otto did not fear the god in front of him. He had bested gods before.
"Why did you drag me to this infernal land?! Why did you trap my mind within this body and dump me off with out so much as a reason for doing so?!" Otto bellowed at the silver being, who seemed to become fascinated with his nails that he did not have. "Answer me! Or so help me I will end you!"
'Please, I've had beings stronger than you try to kill me. I was actually killed, to be honest,' the silver being replied before he kicked itself up and landed in front of Otto, yet Otto felt no breeze created by his landing and he found that he was almost able to see clean through the man. Otto glared up at him to see that his face was obstructed my silver energy, but even though he could not see his face Otto knew he was smirking. Otto snarled at him and prepared to attack, but the being just sighed.
'Alright, fine, don't throw a fit. I'll tell you. Let's start with the easy one then. Why? Well, the reason I brought you here is because this world needed a hero. And as you recently became...deceased, using you would not take you away from your world,' the silver being explained. 'How? I hold within me the power of creation. There is very little, aside from destruction, that I can't do. Why this body? Because I f***ed up my design somehow and you ended up looking like Parker. Probably because you were in his body when you died. Got to remember that.'
"You truly believe me to be the hero that will save this world?" Otto asked the silver being before he let out a snicker. "Then you are as foolish as you are annoying. I am no hero. I am a monster, the very same kind of being that heroes stop."
'Maybe you used to be. Or maybe being stuck in a heroes body with his conscious screaming at you has changed you,' the silver being replied in a tone that sounded far more wise and powerful that it had a moment ago. 'Perhaps you have truly learned the value of life, of protecting those that were once beneath you. There is only one way to find out.'
"So is this all a big experiment to you?" Otto seethed at the silver being. "You brought me here to see whether or not I would take up the suit once more and battle crime. Is that it?!"
The silver being went silent for a full minute before he lifted his hooded head once more and Otto could tell that all of the joviality and mirth that the being had was gone. 'I brought you back because as Coco said, all people deserve a second chance. And you died just after figuring out what it meant to truly live.'
"My death was my own fault. Had I not been so selfish and closed minded there would not have been all the death and destruction that there had been. Because of me, so many are dead," Otto said in a cold tone to the being. "Had I been a better person, had I not sought what Peter had, then none of those terrible events would have occurred. I am no hero."
'But now you do know better. You can take what you learned and apply it here,' the silver being suggested. 'Not that you have to. I'm not telling you to help save this world. I'm asking you to. If you don't believe yourself to be a hero, if you truly learned nothing from Parker, then do nothing. Enjoy your new life. But if you still hold within you the values of the heroes that you hate so much, then you'll need to repair that suit. Because yesterday was only the beginning.'
The silver being vanished without another word and Otto had to blink a few times before he fully registered that the being was comply gone. He then glanced over the side of the rooftops and looked down upon all of the ponies that were walking around down there, thinking about how all of them could have died during the monster attacks.
'But I am not a hero. That much should be clear,' Otto thought to himself as he tore himself away from the side and stared at the roof beneath him. Then he remembered the two monsters that he had fought, all the lives that he had saved...and the scornful face of Parker. 'But until that silver being changes his mind, I may be all they have...for the time being. Until a more suited hero, a superior hero arrives, I will have to do.'
Otto then walked back into the building, back down the stairs and into his own room. He pulled open the door to his room and quickly retrieved his bag, pulling out the web shooters with narrowed eyes. 'I need more web fluid. I may not be able to create the perfect version without my usual resources, but I should be able to make the basic webbing. The real problem will be repairing the suit. Because I cannot sew and...dammit all.'
With no other options, Otto headed back into the kitchen where he found Stonewall sitting across the table from Coco. Both of them were eating the strangest breakfast of pancakes and cake, with frosting on top of the pancakes and syrup on the cake.
"What's up, Otto? You take care of what you needed to?" Coco asked, while Stonewall raised an eyebrow.
'Of course Stonewall would be here, why make it easy on me?' Otto thought with a bitter smirk before he opened his mouth. "I need to ask a favor of you, Coco. A favor that is not easy for me to admit."
"Okay...what is it?"
"I need to learn how to sew."