[center][img]https://comicvine.gamespot.com/a/uploads/original/1/15776/6219635-superior%20octopus%203.png[/img][/center][right]The Therapeutix Gala
[@Cyrania][@King Kindred][@ThatDeercat][/right][hr]
Otto had been waiting in the queue for what felt centuries - as it often does in lines like these. People just waiting for their chance to be rejected at the door. The invitation had listed all active heroes, but it seemed that some people were trying to stretch the definition of this pretty loosely. The bouncers definitely had their work cut out for them, not that it seemed to bother them very much. They looked to be taking as much joy out of rejecting people as they did from letting the bigger profile heroes cut their way past the queue - much to the chagrin of the onlookers too nervous to speak up for fear of being sent away.

Some had shown up in suits - banking on [i]'don't you know who my father is?'[/i], others had makeshift costumes and crude magic tricks to try and trick the doormen into thinking they had powers, one person even tried to flash an organ donor card and argue that this made them a bigger hero than any of the costumed freaks in there.

Otto paid little attention to it all, he adjusted his rental tux as best he could. It fit, albeit being very slightly too large to accomodate for the Octosuit underneath. Showing up out of costume would just be a danger to him at this point, and its not like anyone knew him without the tentacles anyway. He dropped the wireless headphones, currently bluetooth connected to his phone currently playing the greatest hits of [i]Steely Dan[/i], down to his shoulders as he got closer to the front of the line. He'd experimented with using earbuds, and even an inbuilt sound system for his mask, but dropped both for fear of the first being a trouble to remove without taking off his mask, and the second for fear of these being hacked and used against him.

He stood up straight and began to speak as he faced the doorman, who silenced him with a palm turned to face him as he turned and pressed a finger into the earpiece. Otto patiently waited while the bouncers ignored him and talked casually to each other. This was his first mistake. Otto had never been to a place as upmarket as this, and the pubs and clubs he and his friends frequented were best described as 'cheap and cheerful'. What mattered here was confidence. Giving off the aura that you belong. Otto had just demonstrated that he didn't at all.

[color=#00FF00]"Uh, guys, I think I'd like to enter the gala now."[/color] He finally spoke.

"Oh would ya? Hey, Frank this guy [i]would like to enter the gala[/i]" One of the bouncers said in a mocking tone, elbowing his pal gently in the ribs.

"And just who are you supposed to be? [i]The bombastic bag man[/i]?"

[color=#00FF00]"I'm the Octopus! You don't watch the news? I took down that giant crab monster in the bay?"[/color]

"Pfft, I ain't heard of ya."

"Oh, no I have heard of this guy!"

Otto's eyes sparked with joy. A surge of hope paced through his heart at the thought of being recognised, and of getting into the gala. 

"Yeah! This guys that sign spinner on 47th street!" The second bouncer snapped his fingers. "That's it! Octopus Auto Sales!"

[color=#00FF00]"What?"[/color]

"Octopus Auto Sales. Route 9. Big inflatable octopus out front. Wavin' all them arms around."

[color=#00FF00]"That's not me."[/color]

"Coulda sworn it was."

[color=#00FF00]"It's not."[/color]

The first bouncer squinted at him. "Listen buddy, this ain't the event for sign spinners. You either take a hike or we throw you on one."

[hr]

Otto sat on the roof opposite the gala scratching his chin and wondering if he should just bin it all and go for a sandwich. [i]No.[/i] He said internally. [i]You are a superhero. You belong here.[/i]

That was it, who was he to let those two meatheads tell him who he was? All his life people like that pushed him around and told him what to do. Not tonight. He thought about swinging his way in, finding an open skylight or making one. But if he used his tentacles he'd either need to take off his suit jacket and shirt completely - and god knows he had no clue how to re-tie his bowtie without a youtube video and 30 minutes, or let them tear through the back of the suit entirely. That might have looked cool, but this suit was a rental and he did not have the money to spend if he broke it.

He'd need to do this the old fashioned way.

Sneaking around the perimeter of the gala building, and keeping clear out of view of any staff, he found his way to what he was looking for. An open window, just big enough for him to slide through. The most coveted of all secret entrance routes - the bathroom window.

Stacking various refuse and boxes from the alley around him, he balanced on his makeshift jenga pile before launching himself through the window. He landed with a mighty thud, in a crumple against the bathroom floor.