Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure #4

Aug 3

Aug 3 Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Negative Exposure #4

Negative Exposure Part Four

Jealous of how Peter Parker always scoops him, rival photographer Jeffrey Haight has been convinced by Doctor Octopus that Parker has a special arrangement with Spider-Man. Seeking to level the playing field, he has come to Otto Octavius who is locked away at Ryker’s Island to set up a similar arrangement. As it turns out, the mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus are being held in the evidence locker at One Police Plaza, where Jeff’s girlfriend, Officer Anna Kefkin, works.

Plotting to release his mechanical arms, Otto Octavius tells Jeff about how when he first invented them he felt an instant connection with the metal appendages. He explains that over the years he has developed the ability to mentally command the mechanical arms from a distance. However, the thick concrete walls of the evidence locker are too thick for his thoughts to penetrate. That’s when Jeff informs Otto that he and Anna have had a falling out, much to Otto’s frustration. When Jeff starts asking how Otto could know so much about his relationship with Anna, Otto changes the subject suggesting that perhaps the best thing to do is wait out the rest of his sentence. Since Otto is serving an eight-year sentence, Jeff drops his questioning since he needs things to start happening now and asks how he can help Octavius get his mechanical arms free. Otto suggests that he can build a signal booster using spare camera parts. Jeff tells Otto to draw him a schematic and begins suggesting that they set up a battle with Spider-Man at the Unisphere in Queens. However, Otto says he is getting ahead of himself and asks how he’s going to get access to the evidence locker at One Police Plaza. Jeff then assures Otto that he can patch things up with Anna.

Two hours later, Jeff is knocking at the apartment door of Anna Kefkin. When she answers she’s not happy to see him since he ran out on her to take photos of Mysterio the last time they were out together and she is tired after working at double shift at work. He tries to patch things up with her by asking if he can get access to the evidence locker again and she slaps him in the face. She can’t believe that he has the nerve to ask her for a favor after their last fight. However, he warms her over to the idea by telling her that he is giving up on his ambition to land the front page of the Daily Bugle so he can work on another collection of photos. Hearing this makes her happy and she hugs Jeff, who has a brief pang of guilt over manipulating her, but it only lasts a second. He manages to convince her to give him access right away and forty minutes later they are inside the evidence locker in the basement of One Police Plaza. There she tells him to be careful, pointing out that they are currently holding the mechanical arms used by Doctor Octopus and stresses how dangerous they are. Jeff gets up close, telling Anna that he’s getting a reading from his light meter to get a good shot to cover for himself planting the signal booster on the mechanical arms.

At that moment, Doctor Octopus can suddenly mentally feel his mechanical arms and can’t believe he’s managed to fool Haight into doing his bidding. Seeing that Vernon, the prison librarian, is coming by Otto suggests that he take cover as he is about to escape. Back at the evidence locker, the mechanical arms spring to life and knock Anna down. Getting between the arms and his girlfriend, Jeff tells them to leave her alone and go already. Anna, unaware that Jeff is working with Doctor Octopus, calls him a hero for saving her life. She then tells Jeff to go before they catch him in evidence with her as they’ll think he had something to do with this. Once more feeling a pang of guilt, Jeff is relieved that she would say this.

At that moment, in downtown Manhattan, Peter Parker is out with his Aunt May. He is troubled by something that the photographer he works with said to him recently. This leads to May admitting her regrets of being unable to help Peter pay his way through college. Peter tells her that it’s not a problem when he suddenly sees an explosion not far away. He makes an excuse that he forgot to register for classes and after making sure his Aunt will be okay, Peter rushes off to change into Spider-Man. Watching her nephew go, and unaware of what he is really doing, May remarks how the boy has the memory of a goldfish.

Spider-Man arrives on the scene where the mechanical arms of Doctor Octopus is clashing with police on its way to Ryker’s Island. Spider-Man swings in to stop the mechanical arms but finds that they aren’t as fun to fight since they don’t respond to his witty banner. Deciding to end things as quickly as possible, Spider-Man rips up some underground power lines and prepares to short out the mechanical arm’s electrical systems. Anticipating this, the mechanical arms smash open a fire hydrant and the torrent of water causes Spider-Man to electrocute himself instead. After making sure that Spider-Man isn’t getting back up, the mechanical arms continue on their journey. By this point, the warden has learned that Otto’s mechanical arms are on the loose and comes down to his cell to shoot him before they can arrive at the prison. Unfortunately, the warden is too late and as the arms start breaking their way into the prison, he loses his nerve. Before the warden can act, the mechanical arms kill him. At that moment, Jeffrey Haight is at Flushing Meadows Park at the Unisphere thinking about how great his set up is. He wonders where his subjects are, unaware that while Doctor Octopus is clashing with prison guides while Spider-Man is still lying motionless on the ground where he last fell.