[Closed] 'What's up, Doc?'

[sciencesquid]

[Avengers Campus, the New York location. At this marvelous facility, Tony Stark has retrofitted one of his father's Stark Industries sites into a new hub for training and innovation. Through partnerships with S.H.I.E.L.D., Pym Technologies, Masters of the Mystic Arts and the new Worldwide Engineering Brigade, the Avengers and their allies will champion the next generation of heroes.

Or so goes the official mission statement, anyway. It's a lot of fancy words, designed to oversimplify a very complicated project. Stark's always been good at that; oversimplification.

Regardless, Otto Octavius does genuinely believe in the Campus's objectives. Superheroes can leave a mess on occasion, but it's all for the good of mankind. Anyone who has a gift, be it magic or simply great intelligence, has a responsibility to use it. In the end, it's all about minimizing those messes, which is where the Campus's technology department comes into play. The better the gadgets these heroes use, the more efficient their missions. Otto's been assigned several little projects, along with a lab to work on them. He gets to design not only new weapons for heroes, but also the more functional items. Like, say, scanning equipment or web shooters.

He may not be the next Tony Stark, but he still takes pride in his work. He comes up with interesting new innovations from time to time.

Living on Campus isn't all it's cracked up to be, though. Every so often, a self-proclaimed supervillain will show up to start trouble, or a newfound power will go out of control. The ground may shake and windows may shatter, and an ominous laser may be seen shooting up into the sky only a few blocks away... Some of the new recruits throw some pretty loud parties in the middle of the night, too. Otto doesn't have much of a social life here himself, apart from getting drinks with some of the other scientists every so often. Hank Pym is a pretty interesting guy.

All in all, it's a balanced AU life.]

Comments

[sciencesquid]

Ah... Yes. [He's a bit less enthusiastic about that as he is about the W.E.B. kids. He can't deny that the 'mystic arts' are real, but that doesn't mean he has to like them.] ... Perhaps they'll be the next group to blow up a potato, then.

[It's a bit unclear to him just how much more those with magic can do, and if indeed it is more, why that doesn't just magically solve all the world's problems. So long as he doesn't look into the Mystic Arts department, he supposes he'll never know.]

[heyunderoos]

Some of the kids in W.E.B are betting they'll bring a potato to life, but you didn't hear that from me.

[Peter offers easily back, taking another sip of the coffee. He finds easy enough humor in the thought. Doreen had been insistent it would be a man eating potato, but Peter didn't want to somehow jinx it into reality.]

I'm just an innocent bystander of a spider variety, no involvement in anything at all. I just say hi to everybody and keep the Spider-Bots Parker made corralled.

[sciencesquid]

[Good grief. Living potatoes don't warm Otto up to the concept of magic any more. It sounds like something out of a horror movie from the 40s and, odd it is, it would not be out of place on the campus. Compared to that, the Spider-Bots aren't so bad.]

Mmh... Are they still replicating themselves?

[heyunderoos]

Thankfully no. I think they're under control about that. [Peter is still trying to live down the campus nearly being taken over by the Spider-Bots. Thankfully that happened before everyone else moved onto the campus beyond the Pyms.] Still a good idea to keep an eye on them juuust in case. There is also the fact they're giving pretty good material for experiments to use, so I can drop those off when I'm not patrolling normally.

[sciencesquid]

[Spider-Man thinks they've got that under control? Oooh boy. That settles it, Otto is never letting any of those things into his own lab. He can manage without them. Still, there's something about those last few words, coupled with the notion that Spider-Man 'made his own web formula while working on something else'.]

If you don't mind my asking, do you have your own lab here on campus as well?

[If Spider-Man is good with new technology and chemistry, which is what it sounds like, why wouldn't Stark give him his own place to work? Otto's never heard of him working in any of the labs, though.]

[heyunderoos]

[Welp, he kind of walked into that one. Peter takes another sip of coffee to give himself a second to think.

He should have just kept attributing things to Peter Parker when he was Spider-Man, but he likes talking about his web formula with people. Pretending he's some jock also feels too wrong even use as a cover.]

Oh, uh- no I don't. I'm not science-y enough for a lab of my own. I kinda just work in the W.E.B one when they have open space. [He shrugs, trying to keep it casual.]

[sciencesquid]

['Not science-y enough'? He doesn't buy that for even a second. Still, he won't actively pursue it. Spider-Man is one of the few superheroes to actively have a secret identity, and Otto's sure there's a reason for that.]

Oh, really? The kids must be honored to work with you, then. [And... forbidden from gushing about it, apparently.]

[heyunderoos]

I usually work when they head out.

Last time I really tried to work there with the W.E.B kids there, Doreen's squirrel kept trying to eat the canisters of web formula I had out. [He cringes a little at the memory. He didn't have time to switch between Spider-Man to Peter, but needed the lab for something. It had been a... weird time.] I do not want to make her angry, making her squirrel kind of explode from the formula would lead to that pretty fast.

[sciencesquid]

[Give him a second, he... does not know how to respond to that. How did this conversation escalate to exploding squirrels? Good grief. Never a dull day on this campus.]

Ah. Yes. I suppose it would. [...] Well, if you ever need a squirrel-free environment to work during the day, I'm sure I can reserve a corner for you in here.

[heyunderoos]

[Avengers Campus keeps proving that placing a bunch of brilliant but eccentric people together in one space is probably a mixed bag of an idea.

Peter perks up considerably, his smile brightening back up. The offer clearly makes his day if anything.

Yeah, he works in the W.E.B labs as Peter, but Doctor Octavius' lab is a whole different ballpark. He wouldn't be bickering with other teenagers for tools or worrying about a stray squirrel getting in his projects.

That and the whole secret identity thing is kind up making things complicated per usual.]

Really-? I'd really appreciate that- I don't want to intrude or anything though. I know you like keeping the scope of your lab a lot more... controlled than the other labs. W.E.B kinda does a bit of everything since there are a lot of specalities. The Pym's are working with the particles and food tech now, and SHIELD-

[Peter scrunches his nose a little at thought of SHIELD. He doesn't dislike them, but its always a hassle with them.]

"Of utmost importance, everything stays secret." [He recites in a monotone flat voice and one sided air quotes given one hand is holding a mug.] Kinda makes it hard to work with them like ever.

[sciencesquid]

[It's true, Otto's lab is a lot more specialized and a lot smaller, as a result. But really, he likes this better than the hectics of a bloated, multifunctional lab. Something like W.E.B. or Pym technologies has too much chaos and not enough focus, he feels.]

Indeed, but that's not the sort of red tape I get involved with. There's nothing particularly classified happening in here that isn't already covered by the default campus NDA. [Which is basically 'what happens on campus stays on campus', regardless of whether information spreads from one facility to another.] My lab is more controlled because I'd rather give one project my full attention and complete it to perfection, as opposed to dozens of projects distracting me from one another. Nothing ever gets done like that. But if it's just one Spider-Man doing his own work from time to time, I can turn a blind eye.

[heyunderoos]

[The thought of working somewhere actually quiet is genuinely enticing to Peter. He enjoys working with the other teens in W.E.B, but he doesn't want them to realize he's spider-man. Nor does he want them to try to 'help' improve his formula.] Again, I really appreciate it.

It'd be nice to have somewhere quiet I could work on my web fluid. I like keeping my formula to myself, so- this works better than bouncing around labs or trying to make it at home.

I've been tweaking the formula a bit anyway, trying to make it last a little longer, it's been kind of a struggle in places to get the right balance.

[sciencesquid]

[If it were certain other superheroes, Otto wouldn't have offered. But then, the heroes Otto doesn't want mucking about in his lab aren't the science type to begin with. People like Thor, for example. Spider-Man has enough respect and humility to him that Otto's sure he won't be a nuisance.]

It disintegrates after a while now, doesn't it?

[heyunderoos]

Right now it lasts two to three hours, depending on how strained the webbing gets. [Peter starts easily enough, clearly having been turning the problem over in his mind a fair bit. He taps his fingers against the mug in his grasp, his expression settling on something thoughtful.]

I was thinking about extending the web's 'life' for if I really need to hold something in place during an emergency or if I need to patch up a serious enough wound on the field.

I was kind of debating changing some of the core chemicals so I could make a variation of the webbing as wound dressing, but thats- a whole different project. [He shakes his head a little bit, trying to not stray too far off topic.]

[sciencesquid]

[Too late, they're already off topic and now Otto is wondering what kind of chemical composition you'd need to dress a wound without agitating it or causing further damage. Even more tricky is how that fits into the grander picture. He clicks his tongue, gaze drifting up towards the ceiling as he mulls it over. Unfortunately, he's not much of a chemist, so he can't help with those sort of details. Only the more practical views.]

Indeed, that is a different project. The sort of composition you'd need for wound dressing wouldn't be suitable for more generic purposes, I'd think. As for the webbing which lasts longer, perhaps even that might need to be kept aside for special occasions. Most New Yorkers would hate to look out their windows and see strands of web that have been dangling from their building for weeks on end already.

[heyunderoos]

The longer lasting thing was my first project, which kinda spawned the second idea. They ended up tied together kinda sorta. [Peter says with a shrug. His mind is already running, so he can't stop himself from rambling.] I've been hurt badly enough I needed to apply the web fluid to a wound until I could get home to take care of it properly. It isn't a great solution, but works if you're bleeding out pretty quickly or need to cover something to keep air exposure to a minimum.

[He gestures a bit with the mug, happy to talk to someone about his thought process.] So, I was trying to lengthen the time between reapplying and not aggravating a wound. I also realized if the webbing lasted longer, I could use it for emergencies where I needed to hold something together. A bridge, a building- a patch job kinda thing.

I also figured if I could change the formula just enough it would be something I could actually give to other super heroes to patch wounds.

[sciencesquid]

[Gee, you know who else has a tendency to ramble? Peter Parker. Just sayin'.

Otto listens patiently. It all makes sense in theory, there's just very little he can offer in terms of input. This is more the sort of field his old pal, Curt Connors, would know about. Unfortunately, Connors is not part of the campus and thus, they can't ask him for feedback.]

Hmmm, yes, I'm sure they'd appreciate that. Well, if you need a space to experiment with that sort of thing, my door is open. [...] Just try not to shoot webs all over the place, please.