Disclaimer: Ock still ain't mine. Ariane still is.

Hope you enjoy this (crappi) chapter!

I wasn't quite sure why exactly I invited her along, if the truth had to be told. It was a spur-of-the-moment type of thing. In one hand, it would be an excellent way to test her abilities, for me to see if she was what she claimed to be. On the other, she was a risk, a liability, and one that I wasn't quite sure I could chance. I only had one opportunity to retrieve the latest component of my project, after all, and if this mission was fouled up, so was my entire plan.

However, I could not change my mine now, and I refused to go back on my word. I may have been a criminal genius, but when I promise another something, I do fulfill it.

I had allowed her to return home to change and grab her weapons. After all, one could not do what I asked of her with a pair of blue jeans at that standout tee shirt. I spent the hour and a half she was gone refining plans, consulting with my actuators about the best possible course of action, and ingesting nearly two cups of hard black coffee. So by the time she returned, I was ready with the blueprints and my absolutely necessary speech.

What I was going to say left when I saw her.

No longer did she resemble a child, in face or in the air she emitted. Her hair no longer looked messy or rushed; instead, it appeared as if she had spent some time pulling it into a tight French braid. Her blue jeans and tee shirt were gone, replaced by a pair of dark cargo-pants and a nearly skin-tight black shirt. Her flip-flops had also been tossed away, replaced by back boots that went up to her hidden knees. In each of her belt loops was tucked a single paper fan – the "weapon" she had spoken of, I assumed.

Her eyes were still the same bright blue, though, and were the only part of her that still resembled a child. They twinkled at me, amused, as she pulled one of the fans out of her belt, expanded it. The fan was made of a thin paper material, as all battle fans were, and was a purple color with a simple Ying-Yang symbol in the center. I couldn't help but wonder if she believed in the Japanese concept of balance and spirituality, but then remembered that now was not the time to ask that.

"Nice costume." I commented simply, mentally wincing only when I realized how condensing that sounded. Ariane didn't seem to miss a beat, though, and simply pulled the black scarf down from around her lower face and responded to me with,

"Nice actuators."

I couldn't help myself. I let a small smirk cross my face. Truthfully, I admired her courage and her words despite how sarcastic they were. I couldn't handle, and really didn't want, an assistant who would merely whimper at an insult and lie on his or her belly in submission when I snapped. I wanted someone who could stand up for his- or herself, question things, and yet still be able to learn from me. So far, everything I asked for I had received.

Let's just hope it would be enough.

"So, Doctor Octavius, what's the plan?" Ariane asked as she walked over. She sat on the corner of my desk, crossing her legs, and looked up at me. She seemed to be all ears. I placed my hand on a stack of photos and slid them over towards her; she accepted them. "A vault? Ooh. A really, really big vault… Crikey! A really, really, really big vault! What're we doin', robbin' Fort Knox?"

Chuckling, I responded with, "Not exactly, but close." At her confused look, I elaborated, "We're going to Empire State University. They have been working with a device I am in such desperate need of acquiring." I moved to my desk, unrolled a copy of the original blueprints. Her eyes went wide. "What's wrong, Ariane? Must I remind you that you cannot turn back now?"

Ariane's gaze shifted from the sketch to me, only to pause when an actuator gave her shoulder a slight push. I had to admit, the action was very much like those who once bullied me, and so I quickly gave my arms a mental scolding. The young woman before me, however, did not seem deterred. She shook her head. "I have no intentions of turning back, Doctor Octavius. I just…" Her pause caught my attention; I made a noise for her to continue, "…I was a student there, once upon a time."

Once upon a time? As I recalled from our very first meeting, what I could decipher from the memories of surprise and, yes, something that resembled fear, Ariane was but twenty-five. A child, in my eyes. If she entered that school at eighteen, and let's say she flunked that very year, it would only be seven years prior that she was there. Then again, young people today seem to take time for granted. Perhaps, sadly, she was one of those who did not realize how precious of a gift time was.

"A student?" I mused, my mind suddenly picking up on how useful that could be. "Well, you should have said that before. If I had known you knew the campus, I could have very well saved myself the trouble of getting my hands on those pictures." The blueprints I needed, but not the pictures. I had been at ESU before, and now, I would be returning.

Despite wearing boots, Ariane made no sound as she lowered her feet to the ground. She walked over to where I was, and glanced at the blueprints. "I know this lab. I nearly blew it up. Would have, too, if my lab partner hadn't been Parker the Genius." She rolled her eyes. "What do we need from there, Doctor Octavius?"

I felt a smile slowly cross my face. "Don't you worry about that, my dear. I know what we're supposed to retrieve, and that's all that matters. At least for the moment, anyways." Rolling the blueprints back up, I handed them to actuator, who shoved them in a drawer. "Though, if you were a student there, perhaps you know what project I desire."

"If it's in the engineering lab, I have not a clue. I was in the genetic physics department. I worked with Doctor Connors."

Connors? My, my, this just got more and more interesting, didn't it? I knew Connors, held him in high regard back when I was merely Octavius. Of course, he had not been near as intellectual as I, still wasn't, but he was a genius in his field. To be in his class required some decent level of intelligence.

This changed things. This changed things dramatically.

"Then you're in luck."

She glanced over at me, curiosity reigning in her eyes. Her head tilted slightly to the side. "We're going to rob Doc Connors? Ooo, well I'm certainly glad I don't take his class anymore. Talk about cheating on my term paper…"

I had to chuckle. She had a sense of humor, if nothing else.

"Don't think of it as stealing, Ariane. Although I will admit that is what we are about to do. Instead, think of it as collecting a piece of a puzzle from someone who holds it just out of your reach." I glanced over at her, wondering if she would catch my metaphor.

Ariane made a face. "So it's like finally getting tall enough to snatch your toy back from the taller student on the playground. I can roll with that." She nodded a few times, glanced back over at me. "What do I need to do?"

Too eager.

She spouts nothing but lies.

Doesn't she sound like the Spider?

A shudder wracked through me at the venom my arms spat. It was true, in a way, but also a lie. She cracked jokes, but none at my expense. She had yet to try to take any of my secrets. And time would tell if she was truly lying about all she had told me. My arms demanded blood now, but that was blood I refused to spill. Good help was hard to come by, after all.

"Doctor Octavius? Is everything okay?"

I glanced up, saw the concern in her eyes. "It's nothing, Ariane. Now, where was I…? Ah, yes. Empire State University. You see, Ariane, Doctor Connors has invented a serum, which I would love to get my hands upon. It is something he has been working on outside of school time, with his own funding…" I moved to the other side of my desk, searching through the rough scraps of paper, "It is not perfect, of course. But I can improve upon it. I will improve upon it. I must acquire it first."

She nodded, following along easily. "So first we've got to get it. But I don't remember him speaking of a new experiment – at least not when I was there." Placing her hands on the desk's surface, she leaned over to glance at the papers I was filtering through. "But that was a few years ago. Grad school kicked my blonde butt."

I had a feeling that wasn't the entire truth, but decided not to pry. "Yes, well, luckily there will be no exams taken tonight." I finally found what I was looking for, and smoothed out the ball of paper. Her eyes went wide. "Yes, Ariane, I do not require his research for the growth of his arm, or anything he would put on the books."

Her jaw dropped, and she snatched the paper from under my hand. My actuators hissed warningly, but I waved them off, and she paid them no heed. I could hear the cogs in her brain turning as her eyes moved, taking in everything on that sheet of paper. After a moment, she dropped her hands and looked right at me. I saw her entire opinion of the man she once called teacher had changed in that split instant.

"And you want this…?" Ariane waved her hand; the paper flapped in protest.

"Of course. It is essential to my project. If you want out, Ariane…" My oldest actuator snapped. She looked back down at the paper, and I was actually wondering if she would pull out. Then I truly would have to kill her.

To my surprise, she shook her head. "No. No, I can't back out. Not now." So, she did have some degree of intelligence between her ears. "Besides, I have no idea what Doc Connors wants with this… With you…"

"At least you know." I nodded. My hand enclosed around the paper, and she released it instantly. "An interesting and admirable thought process you have, Ariane. Better to know where lay the beast that can kill, then to go stumbling blind and hope you have what is needed to placate it."

"I really don't want to be on the receiving end of whatever you're planning, Doctor Octavius."

I stared at her for a long moment. The "beast that can kill" I had spoken of was an allusion to myself. How odd that she would overlook that and think I spoke of my latest machine. However, I decided not to question, when I knew she probably had a reason to think that way. Better not to change it.

Instead, I responded with, "I'm sure you don't…"

HFG: I'm sorry for the quality of this chapter. I was working through writer's block. Also, see these pretty green letters? Do kindly press the button. I give ye Ock for a day.