A person can only have two hands, but when a project team reaches the point where even washing test tubes requires personal attention from the project leader, those two hands can never be enough.
This is how market demands urge technological upgrades. Otto realized that he needed to upgrade his own technology first, so he could do the work of eight people singlehandedly and thus survive in this project group and complete the research.
Indeed, Otto was a genius. This didn't refer only to his IQ, but also his way of thinking. He believed that even though an individual only has two hands, he could artificially add a few more. An artificial exoskeleton was a good choice for this. If even tentacles on his back could help him wash test tubes, that would be great.
Guided by this way of thinking, Otto started to develop chanical tentacles. Initially, he wanted to fix the tentacles on his back using Iron Man-like cha. The first phase of the experint went smoothly, and the tentacles were developed successfully. However, their flexibility was very poor.
The exoskeleton could not be as accurate as a real arm, no matter what. Real arms can be controlled remotely or directly by brain waves, but there was always a delay, and the movents would not be precise. Such exoskeleton tentacles could never et Otto's requirents.
However, as the pressure from senior officials grew larger and larger and the demands for the progress of the experint grew higher and higher, Otto, in desperation, ca up with an idea. Since human limbs were controlled by nerves, then, if the exoskeleton tentacles were controlled by nerves directly like limbs, flexibility issues might get resolved.
With this thought in mind, Otto started his exoskeleton tentacles upgrade. However, he did not have a background in neurology, and he had no idea how to connect the tentacles to his body. This caused the project to stall until he saw the na of Stephen Strange who was among the researchers in the other project groups.
As the world's most famous neurosurgeon, Strange had the skills to fit tentacles onto Otto's body. So Otto, through the laboratory leader, contacted Stephen Strange. Strange was amazed when he heard Otto's idea.
One sunny afternoon, Otto, Connors, Pym, and Strange all gathered for an experint. They planned to test whether the chanical tentacles could really be controlled by human nerves. If they could, wouldn't they resolve the current manpower shortage?
Unsurprisingly, the operation was very successful. Because of Pym's presence, they were able to use Pym Particles to magnify or shrink Otto's chanical tentacles whenever needed. When they were not needed, they could be reduced to the size of a tattoo on his back, but once needed, they could be magnified into chanical tentacles.
The flexibility issue was resolved completely. The chanical tentacles controlled directly by nerves were just as flexible as human hands. Their ability to stretch and bend made them very convenient. They could pick up anything in the laboratory anyti, making them a very useful tool. They are now considering mass production.
However, even with four more hands, the workload in the project group that Otto was managing was still overwhelming. Also, once people discovered his extra hands, the demands for the progress of experints beca even more ridiculous.
"This is inhumane! They even expect to manually unload the vehicle carrying experintal materials! Today, just this morning, the materials warehouse called because their vehicle was out of operation. They wanted to go and fetch the materials myself. God, I have two pieces of equipnt running, I can't step away..."
"This guy!" Otto pointed to Spider-Man who was supporting him and said," This damn kid! He said he was going to Stark Building to help! Can you believe that! He thinks Tony Stark needs help?!!"
With a stunned expression on his face, Otto said, "He doesn't think I need help. He thinks that Tony Stark, with hundreds of thousands of cha and robots, needs help!!"
"After he left, the warehouse kept urging to rush to collect the materials. Otherwise, other project groups would get them. I drove in the streets of New York, only to realize that the traffic congestion was longer than the opening monologue of that damn midnight radio host!!!"
"Am I not supposed to run around New York with four tentacles waving??? Then you tell , how am I supposed to get from Richfield to East New York, huh???!"
Apparently, Otto was having a breakdown. He walked over, poked Iron Man's shoulder and said, "And you! You, just like these little bastards, would rather spend three hours flying in the New York sky every day instead of spending ti worrying about the future of humankind!!"
"Damn the future of mankind! Am I the only one responsible for it? What are you doing? Going to college? Dating? Or hiding under your quilt at ho reading those damn pink comics?!"
"Dr. Otto, calm down... I ca to see Mr. Stark with sothing today, I swear, I'll never leave early again. You need to pick up experintal materials from East New York, right? I'll go right away! Right away!" Spider-Man said as he backed away. The other two Spider-n looked at each other in confusion, not understanding why things had turned into this kind of situation.
At this point, Otto's gaze fell on the two of them. He asked, "Are you two spider n too?"
"Uh... we are, but not really, it's... maybe..." stamred Peter.
He had figured it out, the Spider man defending Dr. Otto was actually the Spider-Man of this ti point, that is, the future Peter. He and his companion were past versions of Peter from different universes.
"I don't care who you are. Listen up, if you can participate in research, get your asses to the lab right now. If you can't, get out of my sight. I don't want to see you guys slack off and swing around in the sky of New York instead of doing actual work!" Otto was about to blow up and mock the Spider-n, but the two of them just looked at each other with no rebuttal.
"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Stark looked at the three Spider-n and then said, "You guys aren't imitators, you are all Spider-n?"
At that mont, Otto answered a phone call. Peter was busy explaining to Stark what the multiverse and parallel universe were all about, so he didn't hear what Otto was talking about. Soon enough, Otto ca back over and said:
"Since you are all Spider-n, you should all have research abilities. The experint has reached a crucial stage, follow right now, imdiately, this instant! I need assistants!"
"No...wait a mont, we can go with you, but not in this way! No! Stop!!!!!!"
Iron Man stood on the rooftop, watching Otto waving his four tentacles. One tentacle wrapped around a Spider-Man, and the remaining tentacle hung on the glass curtain wall like a spider silk. Then, all four of them swung away.
"Oh!!!!!!!!"
Three almost identical screams ca from afar, waking up Dr. Octavius Parker in his patient room.
He turned to look at the window and then saw Spider-n wrapped in tentacles, swaying between the skyscrapers of New York.
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