To Make a Concubine

Otto woke up behind her, groaning in the dark. He could still see better than most, and Ginny was motionless. The doctor walked around to where he could see her face. "Did you sleep at all?" His voice slithered through the semi-darkness.

"A little," she lied, her eyes flicking to meet his. "I don't like it here."

Otto crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. "You need to stop lying. You're bad at it. And you'll get used to it." She shut up, retreating sullenly into her blanket. Otto's eyes flicked over her, his face and voice cold. "Are you still in pain?"

"No," came her muffled answer. "Just a little sore."

Satisfied that she was awake, Otto slipped on his glasses, called his arms to him, and flicked on the light. He gently and wordlessly pulled off her blanket so he could inspect her injuries. "You should be able to walk now, but take it slowly."

"Leave me alone," she said tiredly, pulling the sweatshirt down to cover herself.

"You had your chance to sleep. You chose not to. Now get up."

"Why?"

"You want to get dressed again, do you not?"

"... Yes." Slowly, she uncurled and slid off the bed, hissing as sore parts shifted.

Otto wrapped the robe around her shoulders, put the three arms on his left side around her, and guided her slowly through the halls. He did want her to heal again, not only so she wouldn't die but so he could play with her some more. He led her into a bedroom he hadn't searched before, one more feminine in appearance, and closed the door behind them. There were woman's clothes in the closet, but whether or not they'd fit Ginny remained to be seen.

She looked around the room with dull curiosity, and pulled away from him to check the closet. Again, too big for her, but she found something that would work and shut the door most of the way to change. There was even clean underwear.

"Are you finished?" Otto called after a period of time.

The door opened and she came out, neatly dressed in a pair of grey slacks and a pressed blouse. Only her wild hair and the bruises on her face and neck kept her from looking as untouched as she had the night he met her.

Otto smiled appreciatively as his eyes flicked over her. "Turn around. Let me get a look at you." She did so, looking at herself in the mirror on the door. She grimaced at her hair. Otto walked up behind her and put his hands on her waist. "We'll brush your hair, my dear. There might even be make-up in the bathroom." There was an implication in his voice that said he wanted her to go look and put some on if she found any that would suit her. He wanted to see her looking like the woman he'd picked up all the time ago.

She moved away from his hands and into the bathroom without looking back. In the bathroom, she found a brush in the second drawer, and began to straighten the mess of her hair, trying not to think about him.

Otto leaned in the door frame watching her. He moved in, carefully but forcefully removed the brush from her hands, and started brushing it himself. He loved the raven's feather waves. "You're a beautiful girl, Ginny. Were you always as such? Did you have men chasing after you in school? Or were you the type to stick to your studies?" Just because she was a virgin, didn't mean she couldn't go out with her friends.

She stood still, resenting the contact but tolerating it. "I had voice practice. It didn't leave a lot of time for boys..."

"You sing?" He looked at her, very interested in that information.

She brushed her hair back from her face. "I told you I was in the Conservatory."

"Indeed you did, indeed you did..." Otto continued brushing her hair. "Sing me a little something."

"No," she said flatly.

"Why not, my dear?"

She didn't explain. Singing was the one thing she did for herself and only herself.

Otto smiled. "Well, you will sing for me, if not now, later." His voice was full of absolute confidence. Finally, her hair was just the way he wanted it, and he backed up to look her over again. She ran her fingers through it, ordering it the way she liked, and turned to look through the drawers again. She didn't see Otto scowling at her, but he was going to bide his time this time. He'd spring the punishment on her all at once, or force her to trade it for something else. Today, he'd let her heal, but tonight...

She gave the makeup a perfunctory glance-through, but there was nothing she'd wear. She rarely wore cosmetics anyway. She shut the drawer and glanced back at him. "Nothing."

"Very well." Deciding he was being too lenient with her, he used his fingers to fix her hair back before putting the sweatshirt she'd been borrowing back on. He put an arm around her waist and led her into the hall, thinking of the non-perishables in the room. "When was the last time you ate?"

She shrugged. "Not sure. Back at SHIELD."

"Would you eat of your own accord?"

"I'm not hungry," she said. "I'm fine."

"You missed at least two meals yesterday, and you've lost significant amounts of blood. You should eat."

"I'll throw up."

Otto stopped and turned her to face him, gazing steadfastly into her eyes from behind the glasses. "I'm trying to look out for your best interests right now, my dear. Quit being difficult. Or have I been too lenient with you?"

She blinked at him. "How are my best interests served by being here in the first place?"

"I've told you, I can't leave right now, and in light of the current situation, I'm doing the best I can. Now, answer the question. Am I being too lenient?"

"No," she said quietly, looking down. "But I don't feel good. I don't want to eat..."

Otto lifted her chin, his voice soft again. "Do you think you could drink something?"

She nodded, her lips thin. Otto nodded too and led her downstairs into the kitchen. She followed him, and moved closer when she saw that Norman and Peter were already there. The boy looked as though he hadn't slept through the night either, picking listlessly at a bowl of cereal under Osborn's watchful eye.

Peter's eyes moved sideways to look at Virginia as the other two entered, not daring to move too much with Osborn watching. She appeared a little better than she had last night, but he couldn't help thinking of what she had confided in him as she shrunk closer to Doc Ock. He didn't say anything, though. The boy had slept fitfully at best that night and was hardly in his usually bright, jovial mood.

Otto felt Ginny pull closer and smiled, wondering if he should use the opportunity to get her to sing for him. The other two weren't there, but they didn't deserve to listen to his pretty pet. Holding her close with one arm, he sorted through the cabinets and refrigerator with his tentacles. He pulled out a glass of orange juice for Ginny and made peanut butter toast for himself.

She drank the juice obediently, watching the other three men over the rim. She felt a little stronger today, no longer bleeding and dressed in clothes that almost fit. She looked resentful and tired.

Peter shifted uncomfortably in the silence. It was surreal to see Dr. Octopus doing something as mundane as fixing breakfast. He felt his nervousness giving rise to a sarcastic comment. It was what he did when he was scared, joke. "You should have your own show. Cooking with Octopus. You could be bigger than Martha Stewart."

Otto leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow at the youth. Always making jokes...

Ginny snorted orange juice up her nose. The joke wasn't that funny, it was just unexpected.

The octopus shot her an amused look. "You think that's funny?" She shook her head, covering her nose and mouth with a hand and pulling away from him to find a cloth.

Peter cleared his throat and refocused on his cereal. "Right..."

She drifted farther away from Ock, scrubbing her face clean. Otto shot her a look and pulled her back with one of his tentacles. He thought for a moment, deciding not to mention the bit about Mr. Big to Norman. Not yet. He wondered, however, just how willing to obey she was in front of Norman. "Ginny." There was a distinct verbal nudge in his voice.

Watching them interact, seeing Octavius' possessive and controlling tendencies used in such a manner, made Peter shiver. Of course he said nothing, though. He doubted there was much he could say to change anything right now anyway.

Norman, eating a plate of eggs with bacon, was watching them all with an amused expression. Ginny shot Octavius a glance, and set down her glass.

"Didn't you say you were going to sing for me, Ginny?" Otto gave her a pointed look, his face angled away so only she could see it.

She stared at him. "No, I don't think so..." she said very quietly.

"Yes, you did. Upstairs, remember? I want you to do it now."

Peter could sense tension vibrating in the air. If Octopus tried to hurt her, could he go against Osborn and try to stop him? The choice, the options, made him sick.

She stared at him, and looked at Osborn. Pressing close to Octavius, she whispered to him. "Please... please don't make me do this...."

"I gave you a direct order, in front of Norman," Otto whispered back. "You had a chance to sing only for me. You didn't take it. This is a valuable lesson for next time, but now I want you to sing."

She pulled away again, with a dejected slump. She didn't want to sing for him. For any of them. For a long moment, no song came, and she just stood there, staring at the floor.

"Now, now, don't be shy my dear. I'm sure you have a beautiful voice," Otto pressed.

And a song came to her. Standing there surrounded by those men, she sang a piece from her last performance. A haunting, liquid melody, made poignant by her rich, sweet voice, it was the theme of the captive mockingbird from an opera about an emperor. She sang it through, not looking at any of them, but she changed the ending. It was supposed to be tragic, the mockingbird wasting away when it was replaced by an ingenious musical box, but her voice strengthened and rose, and the same lyrics became an anticipation of freedom.

Otto didn't pay any small mind to the lyrics, but he did let the sound of her voice wash over him. Yes, she was wonderful to him, but he would never replace her with an electronic toy. He'd never let her go, either. He clapped softly when she finished, moving closer to caress her cheek. "Bravo, my dear. Absolutely beautiful," he murmured to her.

Peter felt a sigh of relief that she'd finally given in before there was trouble, but he did feel bad watching Octavius push her into something she clearly didn't want to do. It was like watching some form of mental rape.

She didn't respond to his touch when she was finished, just stood there, staring at nothing. Tears ran down both cheeks. She knew the song was nothing but a song. He'd never let her leave and live.

Otto brushed her tears away with the back of his hand. "You're a good girl, Ginny. Do you still feel too sick to eat?" His voice was low so the other two couldn't hear.

Norman, for his part, had joined in the soft applause, his face set in sardonic lines. "At least you chose your toy tastefully," he said to Octavius.

Ginny nodded. Now she really did. Her stomach turned, making a noise.

Peter mentally flinched hearing them call another human being a toy. There was no way he could really go along with these nutcases, was there?

"Of course," Otto smiled at Norman's comment but his eyes never left Ginny. "Very well, my dear," he whispered in the low voice. "You've done enough for now."

He finished his toast, took her arm, and led her back out of the kitchen. Peter watched them go, scowling a bit.

Norman looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "Any thoughts, my boy?"

Peter debated not responding. There was no telling what Osborn might do if Peter questioned what was going on between Octopus and Virginia. He didn't know how much Osborn knew or cared about the situation. "She's... she's a human being," he finally said without looking up.

"Yes, she is," said Norman with a superior little smile. "Be glad you've left weakness like that behind you, Peter."

The show of superiority hit a bad nerve. "But... but she's not a toy. She's a human being..." He looked up only with his eyes, ready to react to anything Osborn did next.

He was watching the door they had left through. "I'm sure Octavius knows what he's doing," he said neutrally.

The coolness in Osborn's voice made Peter's soul shiver. That's what he was afraid of; that Octavius knew exactly what he was doing. "Yeah, well, Octavius is a complete loon..." Peter mumbled under his breath and glared back into the mostly eaten bowl of cereal.

"All geniuses are a little bit mad," Osborn said with a disturbing sort of smile. "It does me no harm and a great deal of good to indulge him."

Upstairs, Ginny went where she was led, crying silently. It did feel like another rape, and her soul felt raw.

Otto guided her into the study and turned to her. "Why the tears, my dear? You've pleased me, and you may have even won over a little more of Norman."

"I didn't want to sing for you," she whispered. "I sing for me."

"Aw, you're an intelligent girl. I think you know that it's rarely about what you want. You belong to me, now."

She felt like her chest was seizing up. "How.... how can you think it's right to own another person?"

He twined one actuator around her and ran its claws through her hair. "We're different, Ginny. You are a human, with all the corresponding limitations. I am more than that, and everybody else here for that matter. Just because I hold you higher than I do the rest of them, it doesn't mean that I am not superior to you. As a human might own a pet, I own you." He tilted his head at her. "I'll still take good care of you, my dear, as one cares for a favored cat, but I am still your master."

She just stared, having trouble believing that anyone could actually believe something like that. "But- But... I'm not an animal. Just because you're.... something else, doesn't give you the right to make me into a pet...." She was working up the courage for something. "I had a life, before you came and destroyed it," she said with a strangled mix of fear and anger. "I want it back."

Otto tapped his finger on his chin. "I assume you've been to a zoo before, right dear?"

"I'm not an animal in a zoo," she said, pushing the tentacle away from her hair.

He tightened the tentacle around her, not painfully. Not yet, at least. "They all had lives, however insignificant, before they were taken in there, to be fed, cared for, and looked at by humans. After a while, it's not possible for them to go back to their natural lives. They become used to the carefully controlled environment, and cannot survive outside of it. If any of them had the mental capacity to want to return, it simply wouldn't be possible."

"But I can go back to my life!" She insisted. "I just want to go back to my school and my concerts and my life...."

"I beg to differ. I seem to remember a certain little girl who lacked the capacity to reason a way to the hospital without my help. A little girl who stood out in the rain waiting until I showed up again, when she could have easily run to anyone else to ask for help."

"I was sick that night," she retorted. "Blood loss and infection will impair reason!"

Otto only smirked. "I don't expect you to move out of the denial stage just yet, but don't expect me to let you go." He ran a finger across her lips. "I have some work to do. I expect you to behave like the good little girl you've been so far today." Here he gave her a pointed look. She nodded sulkily, looking away from him. His scowl turned into a smile and he released her, resettling in the computer chair. He still needed to go over the information he'd stolen from SHIELD, perhaps figure out how their tracking system worked and construct a device to disrupt the signal.

She took a chair in the opposite corner of the room, still not willing to leave his presence again. She may have hated him, but he at least would protect her from Max and Flint. She rubbed the bruises on her neck, watching him work.

Otto spent a good three hours or more enthralled with the computer display before his eyes started to hurt despite the dark glasses. He turned away from it and flicked off the light with an actuator, taking off the glasses and massaging his temples.

She had fallen asleep. Despite her anxiety about the whole situation, exhaustion had claimed her and she was curled up tightly in her chair, her head under her arm.

Otto looked up and saw her in the dark, bathed in the light of the computer screen behind him. He smiled at how peaceful she looked. If she was finally sleeping, it meant she was starting to adjust at last. He didn't have the heart to wake her, so he put the glasses back on, turned on a low desk lamp, and started poking through the shelves of books.

She continued to sleep, but as the afternoon wore on, it grew less and less peaceful. She twitched and whimpered in the grip of one strange, unsettling dream after another.

The stage was a common thread. It was the stage in the recital hall at the Conservatory. Ginny was standing in the very center, dressed in the long black dress that she loved so much.... the one with the single line of rhinestones down her back from neck to the floor and the lone stone in the hollow of her throat. The hall was dark and silent, the stage lights warm on her face. She waited for the orchestra to start. But when it did, the conductor was Octavius. She tried not to sing, but the long, pure, first note was torn from her throat. Her throat burned, her jaw ached right from the start. The entire aria was pulled from her, note by note.

Otto looked up when he saw her shift and moan in her sleep. He watched her, curious, wishing he could see into her mind. He'd ask her about it when she woke up, if she remembered. He had to know everything about her, inside and out. She was his. He had to know.

The audience resolved itself as she sang, and she could feel her chest tighten in fear as Osborn and Max and Flint resolved themselves in the first box, Spider-Man on the other side. Her dress began to dissolve, and she clutched at it, but there was suddenly nothing left of it.

Otto put down the book and walked over to her. His shadow fell across her sleeping form as he reached out with a hand has though to pet her cheek. He stopped just short of touching her and ran his hand through the air over her sleeping body.

She curled tighter in on herself, one thumb near her mouth as her dream-self continued to sing, naked and bleeding in front of everyone. Octavius continued to conduct, and her body was the orchestra now. Her every motion was at his behest, each heartbeat, each breath and more.

"Ginny," Otto whispered. She jerked awake, spasming and almost falling out of her chair. "Sh, relax," he murmured. "You were just having a bad dream."

She scooted back, as far away from him as she could get in her chair, still blinking the dream away.

"What was it about?" She shook her head. This time he did pet the side of her face, feeling her porcelain skin with the backs of his fingers. "No, you don't remember or no, you don't want to tell me?"

"I don't remember." She didn't want to tell him.

"Are you afraid I'll be displeased with you?"

"No, I just don't remember." She didn't want to share this with him. He'd know how deeply he'd gotten into her head.

Otto frowned and ran his fingers into her hair. "You're a bad liar. I've told you this. You could fool the two children, you might even be able to fool Norman, but I know, Ginny." His fingers tangled in her dark tresses and closed into a fist.

She tipped her head back, so he wasn't pulling it. "Can't I have one thing to myself?" She asked, her voice tight.

"Everything about you is mine. The quicker you learn to accept that, the less painful things have to be, emotionally and physically."

She went silent, passively resisting.

Then Otto did pull her hair. "Why do you do this to yourself? Do you like pain?"

"No...." she swallowed. "Please! Just let me keep something for myself!"

Otto grinned slowly. "What would you do to convince me to let you keep it to yourself?" She paled and flinched, trying to pull her hair away from his hand. "I'm waiting for your answer, Ginny."

"Please, just let me have it..."

"Nothing comes for free, Ginny. If you won't answer, perhaps I'll give you the ultimatum. Perhaps you want me to think for you. Is that it?"

"I don't have anything to give you!"

Otto leaned closer, until his breath ghosted across her face. "You have plenty to give me."

She jerked her head back. "You'll take it anyway," she muttered.

"Ah, that's where you're wrong. I'll leave your precious body untouched, if you tell me your dream. Or you can perform fellatio on me, and I'll forget about your dream. Tick tock, Ginny, make your decision."

She grimaced, the memory of a gag and a broken wrist crossing her face. More tears followed the dried tracks of earlier ones as she tipped her face up. "It was a concert...."

Letting go of her hair, Otto smiled and straightened up. "Go on..."

She shook her head and buried her face in her hands. "You made me sing.... I didn't want to and you made me sing."

"That doesn't sound so horrible, or was there something else?"

It was the same sensation from the dream. He was forcing her. She had to tell him or she would be hurt. "Everything... you conducted... me."

Otto straightened her hair with his fingers. "You're a good girl, Ginny. Come on." He walked toward the door of the study.

Dull-eyed and wobbly, she followed him. She also planned never to sleep again.

Otto went around to various rooms on the second floor, tentacles collecting clothing and other items that their current room didn't have. Once in a while, he'd turn to eye her, sizing her up. Pretty soon, he didn't have to look at all as he glanced through closets. He carried the items back to the room he'd claimed, ushered Ginny inside, and closed the door.

She stood where he left her, watching him dully. Now what?

Otto fished in the bag of food with an actuator and came up with a granola bar. He chewed it slowly, his mind drifting miles away from the room and its other occupant. Mental snapshots of SHIELD's satellite schematics slid through his head. He needed something that could disrupt the signal, something powerful but still small and untraceable. Perhaps something rather like the collars that was activated only when their powers were.

Ginny stayed where she was, waiting for him to tell her to do something.

Otto's eyes drifted back to Ginny and focused, looking a little surprised. She needed something to do, apparently. His eyes fell on the glowing green numbers. It was six o'clock already. Where had the day gone? He knew for sure, now, though, that she hadn't eaten in twenty-four hours. That wouldn't do at all. "Do you still feel sick?" His eyes returned to her.

"No," she said softly. "I feel better."

"Good. Then you can eat something." He gave her that same twisted parody of an affectionate smile. "It wouldn't do to have you waste away, would it?"

"Still not hungry," she said, even more softly.

Otto scowled and his voice dropped to a low growl. "Eat something, Ginny. Now." She wrapped her arms around herself, hugging her shoulders. Via his tentacles, Otto was across the room and in her face in less than a second. He grabbed her jaw and glared at her from behind the glasses. "I don't know what you're trying to prove, or what you think you're trying to do, but it's hardly the worst thing I've ever asked you to do."

Ginny looked him in the eyes for only a second before hers cut away. "Fine."

Otto released her and gestured to the bag. "Then do it."

She sighed through her nose and took the bag, pulling out an apple. She just held it up to her lips. The smell made her stomach crawl with yearning, but the thought that she was even eating at his bidding made her queasy.

Otto watched her. "If you don't finish it, I'll use the same tactic I used to get you to sing for me. Besides, you don't want to die here, kill yourself by starving, do you, Ginny?"

She swallowed her response to that and took a bite of the apple. It felt strange to chew and swallow. But she repeated it, turning away from him. Obediently, she ate.

"That's my good girl." Otto stretched out on the bed again and commenced with his own thoughts.

XxX

A/N: Review, please?