To Make a Concubine

She stood in a corner, eating the apple down to the core. She was hungry now, the fruit had triggered her appetite. She was about to swallow her objections and get something else out of the bag when a knock came on the door.

Otto sat up. "Yes?" He called.

Norman pushed the door open. He didn't look pleased. "How has your work come today?" He asked Otto with a glance at Ginny, leaning against the door frame.

"I spent at least five hours today working on the problem with our powers, Norman. I should be ready to start constructing the chips tomorrow, that is if I have the proper materials at my disposal." Otto watched Norman, a little irritated at being rushed and babied.

"Any reason you can't start tonight?" He asked coolly. "You do understand the importance of this, right?"

Otto rolled his eyes behind his glasses. "I'm still working out details, though I suppose you could show me what it is you expect me to work with, if it would give you some peace of mind." It came out sounding more faithless than he intended--he was sure the Kingpin had just about everything here--but he did get a bit touchy when people started breathing down the back of his neck.

"I'd rather have expected you to have found the labs by now," he said, sounding somewhat surprised. "But I understand you've been distracted."

Otto wasn't sure how to react to that, so his face remained stony as he stood up, reaching a hand out in Ginny's general direction, indicating that she was to come to him. His eyes never left Norman's. "Indeed," was his only response.

Ginny came to him, swallowing her last bite of apple. Norman scowled at her and addressed her directly. "You are getting on my nerves." She cowered against Octavius.

"Did you come up here to discuss business or harass me about her some more?" Otto's voice was neutral, but there was an undertone of barely concealed annoyance.

"Seeing as she is interfering with our business, I'd say they're related."

"Are you referring to her always being present? Because I recall you telling me to keep her with me to avoid any future misunderstandings. If you think she's being a distraction, I assure you she's not."

"Then why are you in here with her and not working on our problem?" He demanded.

"I am working on the problem. I went through all of the related SHIELD files, during which time I ignored her, and I've been sitting here working out possible solutions, during which time I ignored her." Otto had an almost photographic memory, and he preferred to work things out in his head first. Perhaps his ex-wife had been right. Perhaps he was too much like a machine. "Tomorrow morning I should be able to start working."

"The Otto Octavius I hired worked the night through."

Otto stood and stared at Norman for a minute, but a million things passed through his head in that minute. He was wondering why he sprang the man free as well. He could have taken his arms and gone. Then he wouldn't have found Ginny, though, and that meant something. Then he thought about how he didn't really have to be here. He could use his powers, for whatever reason, and he could just leave Norman and the others here to figure it out themselves. Otto could just take Ginny and leave. Then again, if he resisted, Norman might do something to her. Finally, with an apparent mental shrug, he said, "Where, then?"

"The labs are in the basement. There's even a cell if you want somewhere to keep her.”

Ginny stared at him, her mouth opening slightly. "I'm supposed to stay with him..."

Otto put a finger over her lips. "Sh... You don't need to worry." He put an arm around her shoulders and picked up a granola bar on the way out, handing it to her. He stepped around Norman, his eyes flicking sideways to look at the man as he passed. Norman merely smiled, falling into step behind them, following them down to the basement.

Otto walked a few feet into the room and looked around. His face remained neutral but his heart started to thud harder. Without a word, he moved away from Ginny about five feet and stopped to look around again. Inside he was grinning, but his expression remained flat. The lab was incredible, anything he could want. Tools and materials, computers and absolutely everything, all laid out ready for use. Otto moved farther away from Ginny and Osborn, ignoring the other two for the time being. The picture was coming together in his head. He could build the chips down here and use the medical facility upstairs to implant them. "Not bad," Otto finally said, not quite sure why he was masking his emotions so. "Five days, maybe six."

Norman leaned against the frame again. "Is that the best you can offer me?"

Otto turned around. "What do you want from me? If you want speed, you have to sacrifice quality."

Norman gave him a long, evaluating look. "Fine. Get to work. I have to keep the boys from powering up for a week. Lovely."

Otto snorted as he moved to one of the computer banks. "Perhaps we should have kept a couple of those collars after all. How's Parker acclimating?"

"I think he'd be coming around faster if a few things were different, but he's quiet." Norman got a fond, faraway look. "He'll learn to understand us."

Otto shot a subtle, unreadable look at Ginny as he sat down. "Different?" He asked, rather distracted as his mind settled into the task at hand.

She pulled a high stool into a corner and perched on it, half-obscured by equipment. Osborn examined his hands. "Waving a rape victim under his nose is not helping." It came back to her again.

Otto had figured as much. Perhaps I should punish her for telling. "The boy's too soft," Otto muttered as he went to work. He didn't want to deal with her in front of Osborn.

"Be that as it may, we have to cater to him a little. At least for the moment. Do not abuse her in front of him."

"Very well."

Ginny liked that idea. She considered asking then and there if she could see Parker again. Perhaps she could maneuver her way to being around him more.

Norman nodded with a small smile. "Good enough. I'll leave you to it." Otto nodded and waved vaguely with an actuator. Norman left, shutting the door behind him. They could hear him whistling as he walked back down the hall.

"Don't get any ideas," Otto snapped suddenly when Norman's whistling faded away. "If I ever catch you talking to that boy again, you'll wish you were dead."

She shrank back against the wall, startled by his sudden hostility. "I'm sorry...."

"Not as sorry as I'd make you," Otto muttered. Then he fell into stony silence as the project began flowing out of his mind into real life.

She stayed frozen on her stool, shifting it slightly more behind the equipment. Osborn had put him in an ill temper, and she wanted very much to avoid him now.

Otto worked nonstop until the design was perfect. His eyes were starting to hurt again and his neck was stiff. He laced his fingers behind his neck and cracked it. "Ginny," he called without looking in her direction. The clock said it was one in the morning. She didn't answer. She was asleep again, leaning against the corner between the wall and the machine there. Otto's eyes moved to her and he smiled. He'd been worrying he'd have to sedate her to get her to sleep. Deciding to let her sleep, and really, he had never needed anybody while pulling all-nighters in the past, he went back to work without trying to wake her.

She dreamed again, twitching and whimpering. And this time, she woke up with a sharp scream.

Otto's head twitched over to her for a brief moment before seemingly dismissing it all together. "We need to do something about those nightmares, dear."

"It was you 'gain," she muttered, making herself more comfortable on her stool again. "Sorry."

Otto quirked an eyebrow, but continued to focus on his project. "Do tell. Or do I have to squeeze this one out of you as well?"

She sighed. "Just you.... " The next word was a mumble. "-ing me, like in the kitchen...."

"Come on, dear, I've been working on this for seven hours straight. Be more specific." It was a game, probing into her mind to see how much she would give him. The more she gave him, the more it meant she was being crushed under him.

She looked aside, pink. "Nightmares... you, in me. All through me..."

Otto looked up at her, amusement on his face. "And that is vaguer still."

"It's a dream," she said, slightly annoyed. "They're vague."

The amusement hardened into a scowl. "In your feeble little mind, perhaps. And don't speak to me like that. A simple 'I don't remember it all' would have sufficed, if you indeed couldn't remember it all."

"I just woke up," she said, blinking owlishly at him.

"How lovely for you," was Otto's sarcastic remark as he went back to work.

She glared at him for a few minutes, and then slipped off her stool to stretch, rolling her cramped neck, her back to him. Otto's eyes flicked up and ran over her body as she stretched. She ignored him, apparently, but she could feel his eyes on her, and she withdrew back into her corner immediately.

"Ginny." Otto's voice was rough but it still had an almost sing-song quality to it. He could see her shoulders fall, and she looked over her shoulder at him. "Turn toward me." She slipped back off her stool and turned around. "Unbutton your blouse."

The look she gave him was one of broken resistance, and she began to obey, her hair swinging forward to hide her face while she fumbled for each button.

Otto grinned to himself. "Take it off slowly."

Ginny took it off very slowly indeed, hoping he'd just go back to work.

Otto's hawk-like watchfulness never wavered. "Now your pants."

She hated having him watch her, and it showed as she stepped out of the pants. At least if he didn't tear them off of her, she'd be able to put them back on later... She straightened, standing rigidly in her borrowed panties and bra and socks, staring fixedly past him.

His hand slipped into his lap and found the button on his own pants. "Next the socks, then the bra, and last the underwear." He unhooked the button on his fly with one hand.

She didn't look at him once as she toed her socks off, one by one, and then twisted to unfasten her bra, covering her chest with one arm as she let it fall to the floor. She flinched when she heard his zipper.

"Your panties, my dear." His expression gave no token to his exact intentions. She turned her side to him as she pulled them down too, and kicked them into the pile of her pants. "Now let me look at you," the octopus commanded, rising to his feet and leaning on the bottom two tentacles.

She just stood there, head down, hands in front of her, slouching slightly.

"Let me look at all of you."

Her blush deepened as she forced her hands to her sides, her fingers twitching.

Otto reached into his underwear and freed his growing erection. "That's my girl. Now, earlier I promised not to touch you, and I won't. I want you to touch yourself."

Ginny made a small sound of protest. "Doctor..."

"'Doctor' what? Don't tell me you don't know how to pleasure yourself."

"I don't... I don't do that." It wasn't entirely a lie, but it wasn't the truth, either. She had a few times, experimentally and when she couldn't resist, but it left her feeling guilty. It was against her principles.

"You'll do what I tell you to do," Otto growled. "Besides, I'm sure that's not entirely true. Everyone gets curious at least once."

She wrung her hands, covering herself again. "I never could... make it work."

Otto raised an eyebrow. "Whether or not you get yourself to an orgasm is inconsequential. I just want to see you touch yourself, unless you'd rather I touch you."

She tipped her head back and looked at him, her face anguished. But she obeyed, her hand slipping between her legs. She'd do almost anything to keep him from touching her.

Otto started stroking himself, watching her with almost inhuman concentration. "Touch your breasts too, my good girl," he breathed.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her other hand ghosting across her skin to cup one firm breast. She hated him. She hated him so much.

He wanted to plunge into her. He wanted to pin her wrists and ankles with his tentacles and pound her into the floor over and over again. Otto cursed his promise as these fantasies made the fire in him grow hotter. Next time he would though. Next time he would make her scream or gasp or moan, either in pain or in pleasure. He'd won something that morning he'd been the first man to make her orgasm, and he'd do it again. Sometime. "I want to hear you moaning and gasping, Ginny. Even if you don't really feel it, I want to hear it."

She backed against the wall, getting farther away from him. Leaning against it, she rubbed herself slowly. She was still dry, and it felt irritated and raw down there, but she could do this. Just... just a performance. She moaned, breathing harder.

Otto's breathing increased with hers and his hand moved faster. "That's my girl..." he panted. "That's my little concubine..." He remembered the feeling of her slick, tight walls around him almost as if it had only happened a few minutes ago. He felt her hips grinding against him, and heard her panting his name and crying out as... Otto ejaculated on the floor, but still stood watching her as he put himself away, not telling her he'd finished. Her eyes were still closed. Zipping his pants, he sat back in the chair. "Ginny."

She heard the zipper, and opened her eyes, stopping. "What?" She asked, anxious of what he might do now.

Otto remained motionless with his eyes on her and gestured with a tentacle. "Clean that up." He spoke as though it were obvious. Then he paused and regarded her for a bit before saying, "With your tongue."

She flinched as if struck, her stomach turning. "I..." But she abandoned what she was going to say and sank to the floor, crawling forward on her hands and knees and crouched, lowering her face to the floor and using her tongue to clean up his cum. The taste made her cringe, and she had to fight not to gag. It was salt and bitter and him.

Otto grinned psychotically down at his little pet. He'd won. She was doing everything he told her. "That's my sweet little harlot," he purred. "My good little pet."

Her own tears decorated the floor, too, and she stayed where she was when it was clean, crouched at his feet. "Please... please don't call me that...."

"Which is it you're asking me not to call you?"

"H- harlot. I'm not... I'm not a harlot."

"Does that mean you're admitting to being my pet?"

She shook her head, sitting up. The only difference was which word hurt more.

He looked down on her, a cold, neutral expression on his face. "No. You're not a harlot..."

She kept her face turned down, waiting for the other shoe to drop. She knew it would.

"You're my harlot. Remember that." He returned to his work. "You may get dressed," he ordered dismissively.

She scrambled back to her pile of clothing with all the haste she could manage and pulled it on, turning her back on him.

When she was buttoning her blouse, a face appeared in the door's small window. A moment later, the door opened and Parker slipped in, looking nervous. He had changed at some point, out of the skintight costume into someone else's jeans and a t-shirt, just as ill-fitting as her clothing.

Otto heard the door open and, absorbed in his work, thought it was Norman coming back to lean over his shoulder. "I told you, Norman, I'm working as fast as..." He started to snap but trailed off when he saw the boy. "Something wrong, Parker?"
"No..." he said, sounding all of his fifteen years. "Just exploring."

"And you feel compelled to explore here, because..." Otto was still irritated with Peter and what Ginny had told him. The glance he shot at Ginny was all the answer necessary. "This is none of your business. You and Norman both need to stay out of this."

"I can't let you just get away with this," he said firmly.

Ginny stayed where she was, frozen. He was going to provoke Octopus, and she knew who he'd take it out on, Norman's order or not.

Otto contemplated the youth coolly for a moment. "It might be amusing to see you try to stop me," Otto finally commented, neutrally. "It might also be amusing to see what Norman will do if you pick a fight with me. Hm?"

Parker looked torn. His own family was obviously on his mind. If he rebelled, Osborn would kill them, but this girl was being... He didn't want to think about this. "Dammit, I had a test today and I'd still rather be at school...." he muttered, scrubbing his hand through his hair. "Look, I can't just stand back...."

Otto steepled is hands under his chin. "Hn... You know," Otto pointed at Peter, "technically you could stand back, you'd just prefer not to, and that's exactly the kind of thinking that will do you no good here." His tone remained purely conversational. He didn't feel threatened by this mere boy.

Ginny tried to make herself invisible.

"I can't," Peter stressed. "If I do, I'm just as guilty as you."

"As I've already explained to my dear little Ginny, I've never felt guilty for a single thing in my entire life. The concepts of good and evil are only what you make of them, a social fabrication to keep people in control. I am at peace with myself. I have no reason to feel guilty."

"That's because you're a monster," Peter said before he could stop himself.

Otto rose up on his tentacles and stalked toward Peter, the claws clicking on the floor. "Tsk, tsk, Parker. With that kind of thinking, you'll never fit in here." He bent at the waist, still suspended from the metal snakes, until he was right in the boy's face. "And you never told me what you think you can do about this."

He skittered sideways until he was between Octavius and Ginny. "I've taken you apart before, I can do it again."

Otto straightened. "So... you'd risk your precious aunt and your little girlfriend for a complete stranger. Two lives for the price of one. Either way you look at it, it just doesn't add up." His contemplative expression darkened into a scowl. "I reiterate: this is none of your business. You are not a hero anymore. Now get out. I'm busy."

The difference was that Ginny was here and MJ and May weren't. Peter stood rigidly straight, trying to conceal the fact that he wanted to break down right now. He was too young to be faced with choices like that. Ginny watched him, wide-eyed. "I don't..." he began to say, his voice cracking. She interrupted him.

"Mr. Parker.... There's nothing you can do."

He cocked an ear toward her, his face confused. "But..."

"There's really not." Her voice was soft, still breathy from crying.

Otto’s irritation suddenly switched focus. "What did I tell you about talking to him?"

She remembered abruptly and her mouth snapped shut. She shrank back against the wall. Peter stared at her, his mouth hanging open. He spun to look back at Octavius. "What have you done to her?"

Otto glared at Peter again. "Get out. Now." His voice was calm, but it was a dangerous calm.

The hero's shoulders slumped. There was nothing he could do for her. Not yet, at any rate. And that hurt. He slunk out of the room like a dog with his tail between his legs.

Otto barely waited for the door to close before he was on her like a hawk on a mouse. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them behind her back. "You'd better get on your knees and beg for mercy. Unless you want a few more surgeries on that wrist."

She went down immediately, choking back tears. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I just wanted him to leave!"

His grip on her wrists tightened, but didn't break anything yet. "I said beg!"

"Please, please don't hurt me," she pleaded. "Nothing happened, please!"

"Now promise me you won't do it again."

"I promise, I promise...." She touched her forehead to the floor. "I promise, I'll never even look at him again."

Otto released her wrists. "Now get up." She got to her feet, turning around so she could see him. She looked terrified, rubbing her wrists. Still glaring, Otto swatted her back down with a tentacle, though not hard enough to break anything. "I didn't punish you the first time you did it. Since you've kept your promises in the past, I'm letting you off with a warning, but I expect you to hold to that down to not even looking at him."

She stayed on the floor, covering her head. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry...."

He smiled, calm once more. "I know you are, dear. I have some things to wrap up. Perhaps on break we'll go topside again." The doctor left her shaking on the floor.

She curled up, her legs under her, breathless with relief. "Thank you..."

Otto worked for a few more hours, impervious to exhaustion. Finally, when he couldn't ignore the pain in his eyes any longer, and when he'd hit a point he couldn't get past without talking to the others, he stood up. "We're going up to our room, Ginny."

She had retreated back into her corner, sitting on the floor with her arms wrapped around her knees. When he spoke, she got to her feet quickly, ready to follow him.

Otto took her wrist with an actuator and pulled her to catch up with him as he left the room. He went straight upstairs from the living room, ignoring Max on the couch, and didn't let go of Ginny until they were in their room with the door closed. "I'm going to shower and change. You may do what you will, but I think it's a given that you are not to leave this room."

She wouldn't have left the room anyway. He didn't need to remind her of that. She nodded, sitting down on a corner of the bed and pulling the blankets around her shoulders.

He picked out fresh clothes, among which were black jeans and a black t-shirt. He'd rarely ever dressed like this before, but the t-shirts were easier to deal with when it came to the tentacles. Otto left the bathroom door open a bit for light but left the bathroom lights off. It felt good to strip off everything, glasses and tentacles especially, and climb into a warm shower. His back was soar from sitting in the chair all night, and the needle spray massaged and relaxed his muscles.

She listened to the water run, faced with too much time to think. Sliding off the bed, she cocooned herself in the quilt and sat in the narrow bit between the bed and the wall, where she couldn't see either of the doors.

About an hour later, the doctor emerged from the bathroom, hair neatly dried and combed, looking like some manner of demon dressed all in black. The gleam of the actuators contrasted sharply with the light absorbing color he wore. He paused when he found her huddled in the small space and tilted his head. "What are you thinking about?" He loved to poke around inside her head, anyone's head, really, but mostly hers.

She was just a mass of blanket, having pulled the quilt over her head. "You," came her muffled voice after a few moments. He made her feel like a child in an earthquake; screaming for help while the walls around her fell and burned and no one would come. No one would ever come. The only person who even wanted to rescue her would have to sacrifice his own loved ones. She knew she wasn't worth that.

Otto lay across the bed on his stomach and looked down at the lump of blankets. "There's my ego boost for the day," he smirked. "What, specifically, were you thinking about?"

"Are you ever going to let me go?"

"Am I ever going to let you go..." Otto stared off to one side, tapping his chin as he thought. "Well, I'd imagine you'd cease to amuse me eventually, but I don't have a short attention span by any means." He looked back down at her. "It is interesting, though, that after about three years, a missing person can legally be declared dead. Did you know that, Ginny?"

Dead silence. She'd rather be dead than be his pet for that long.

He felt a sudden urge for a bit of cruelty and went with it. "I am curious to know what makes you so sure I'll let you go when I'm done with you."

More silence, and then she spoke nearly inaudibly. "I'm not. I'm not sure of anything."

The dark grin made another appearance. "So perhaps you should be glad that I may want to keep you as my pet for three years or more. It may be how much longer you have to live, though nothing is set in stone at the moment." There was a strangled little moan, and she shook inside her quilts. Feeling very pleased with himself, Otto sat up. "We're going downstairs, my dear. Come along."

"Back to the lab?" She asked, getting to her feet. She kept the blanket wrapped around herself.

"No, I need to speak with the others first. Then we'll go back to the lab."

Reluctantly, she nodded and followed him out.

****

A/N: Thank you! *beam*