To Make a Concubine

A/N: Anon, superbang, and hibimo rock, and I recognize Anon from a review on my other fic. This begins section two of Concubine. It starts as an alternate version of Ultimate Spider-Man Volume 9, and then goes off on its own tangent. It is a dark fic. I do not own Spider-Man or any related characters.

Book II: The Next Circle of Hell

Otto lay on the bench in his cell, staring at the ceiling. Max was jabbering on about something, but no one was listening to him. They rarely ever listened to Max. The guy tended to talk too much and too loud.

Otto's mind was far away from the cells with the humming green bars. It was on a face; a pale face framed and set off by dark black hair. He'd never forget the sound of her voice, either. When he slept, lately, he dreamed of her tight cavity convulsing around his too large tentacle. He could hear her pleading, and it gave him mixed feelings. In some of the dreams he wanted to hold her and make her better. In some of them he just wanted to split her open with the tentacles over and over again. It had been months since he'd taken his last look at Ginny in the hospital room. He wondered how she was living now, wondering if he should try to up root her world once more and see her again. Normally he wouldn't have let his thoughts get that far--it was depressing--but tonight was different. He had a plan for escape this time, and it would be put into motion soon.

"You know," Max was saying, tapping a hand against the brilliantly glowing bars of their cages. He liked the zzzt sound it made. "Pym burns my ass. He never shuts up. And did you see what he did to Osborn? I mean, I don't like the freak, but no one deserves to be smashed like that." He was referring to their last 'group therapy' session, and Osborn's attempted rampage, brought to an abrupt halt by a giant, naked Pym.

"Do you ever shut up?" Flint snapped from his own cage, where he was lounging in a corner. The repetitive zzzt was starting to grind on his nerves more than the obnoxious voice.

Otto ignored the juvenile argument. He thought he could hear footsteps in the hall.

"I'll shut up when you get the sand out of your-" Max shut up as the footsteps came through the door into their block. Speak of the devil. It was Osborn and two of the SHIELD agents. "Well kids," said the woman, "Guess who's back and better than ever. And by better than ever... I mean sedated like all get out."

"Hey!" shouted Max. "I'm not comfortable being in the same room with Osborn anymore!!"

"Tsk," she sneered. "Really, that's a shame, because I think it's so obvious how important your comfort is to us, electric boy."

"You should keep him separate, man!" he protested.

"Pipe down or you'll share a cell with him."

Max rolled his eyes. "Well, at least take your top off for us!" And then he gaped when she actually undid a single button, smirking at him.

"Psyche."

He glared furiously. "You'll be the first, skank," he hissed. But she ignored him as she left, laughing mockingly with her partner. The guards joined in, guffawing at the fuming Max.

Otto stood up and brushed some non-existent wrinkles out of his orange jumper before casting a look across the isle at the drugged up man. It was such a sick parody of the larger than life creature he'd seen beginning to form. Show time. He'd been setting up for this for the last several therapy sessions. "Guards, hey--uh--hey, guards! Tell Pym, or whoever, I'm ready to talk!"

They stared at him for a moment, and then one spoke into a walky talky. Less than fifteen minutes later, he was in the therapy room, alone with Pym and his team.
"What do you want, Octavius?"

Otto tried to sound and look as pathetic as possible, without looking too over the top. It wasn't that hard to pretend, though. He really did feel rather defenseless cuffed up, collared, and without his tentacles. "Please, I want to help. I'll do anything you want me to. Just, please..." Something in the back of his mind brought up the image of Ginny, but he shoved it back.

The committee stared at him, a bug under the microscope. "Why the sudden change of heart, Octavius?" asked Pym with apathetic skepticism.

"Seeing that..." Otto paused as though he could hardly bare to think about it, much less speak about. "Seeing what Norman Osborn has done to himself..." He looked at the ground and his voice dropped to just above a whisper. "I had no idea. No idea..." He looked back up at them imploringly. "I can't let that accident obliterate my life as well! I have to turn this around, do something of value with my life, before it's too late. Let me contribute. I'm a man of science, not some... not some..." Otto trailed off again and took a deep breath before continuing. "I know I can't take back the lives I took. I know I can't get back the time I've wasted, but... I know things, things I was working on... Please, I just want to help you. You took my metal arms. I'm powerless without them. I'm just a man, and I just... that's what you want, isn't it? Help? I want to help. Please..." There was silence, and for a moment he was afraid he'd overdone it, but he was a master at masking his emotions.

Pym's voice hadn't changed. "We'll get back to you." And the guards took him back to his cell. But two days later, half of the committee showed up in the cellblock with a dozen guards, and they took him up from the depths of the complex into a sleek, gleaming lab. Gone was the emotionless scrutiny, replaced by an odd hopeful camaraderie. Something had obviously been decided in the interim. "And we're very, very, very glad you have decided to help our humble studies here," said one as the guards un-cufffed him at the door.

Otto didn't have to dress up his joy at being up here. However, now that he was in their good graces, he had to gather as much information as he could. "Overall, what's the focus of your research at this facility, doctor?"

"They say the next war will be fought genetically," said the other man, surveying the lab as if it were his own property.

"So I've heard, but believe it or not, my work wasn't intended to go down that..." Otto actually looked around the lab for the first time and his breath caught in his throat. "...road..." Even the resources he'd been allotted at Oscorp couldn't compare to this. "Well, this is just lovely..." Otto didn’t really have to pretend to be amazed, though.

Two guards stationed themselves while he was shown around the laboratory. "As- as- as you know," said the woman, "we're mostly working on genetic equations to stabilize all of your mutations. You, of course, being the most--"

"What's your annual budget on this facility?" Otto interrupted.

"That's confidential information, Otto," replied the other. "You understand."

Otto tried to shake off how impressed he was with the room and get back to business. "It just feels so good to be working in a lab again. It really does."

"Well, first things first," said the woman. "We have a surprise for you.... And-- and if it's too soon, or if it's too uncomfortable for you to deal with right now, we understand." She probably wasn't aware of how condescending she sounded. "But what we really wanted you to have... was... this." While she spoke, they went through another door and there they were. His tentacles, gleaming and inert and intact on a steel table.

Otto forced himself not to respond to her tone, keeping up the facade flawlessly. Though he was a little surprised that they were giving him his tentacles back so soon. He'd expected them to wait at least a week. No matter, he'd get out of here that much quicker. "Oh..." Was all he said, trying to sound neutral about it, even though he could almost feel them now. Hell, he could almost hear them. A soft buzzing, like television static, in part of his brain that had felt so empty for so long.

She was oblivious to his distraction, wrapped up in her plans. "Yes. We're all just so impressed with the design and maturity of the apparatus," she said eagerly. "We had read about it-- but to see it-- to actually see it in person is just so-- it's going to revolutionize high risk lab work. Not to mention the possibilities it will open up for the handicapped." She just kept going. "But, as you well can imagine, we have so many questions about how the arms adhered to your nervous system so completely. The doctors who removed it said--"

"Yes, yes, I had those very same questions," Otto interrupted, tired of her condescending prattle. "At first I thought-- I thought the recognition cyon chips I installed in the framework had somehow been damaged in the accident, and that was there the connection was coming from..." He babbled on, mostly to cover up what was going on inside his head, but also to put the idiots around him in their places. In his head he was really plugging into his connection with the arms a little at a time. "... but I wonder if my connection to the arms was maybe more of a mental one than a physical one..." Thanks to his long speech on the matter, and their apparent deep interest in it, no one noticed when the metal thing twitched a bit on the table. "I wonder if the Oz formula some how kicked open some latent mental abilities in me. Maybe I always had some sort of psychic abilities. Maybe I'm a low-grade mutant of some sort and the explosion just shook me up enough to set them free..." He was so close. He could feel the cold metal table they rested on... "... I can hear them. Not calling to me or anything crazy like that. Not calling to me... I know it sounds silly, it's just so hard to explain..." Then the arms sprang to life, each one shooting out to spear the insignificant ants that he hated so much. "You'll just have to take my word for it," he smirked darkly.

They died without even having a chance to scream, the two doctors and the two guards, leaving him alone in the lab with his arms.

….

Ginny jumped when the power went out. Her cell went silent, lacking the sounds of circulated air for the first time since Pym had brought her here, the day she was released from the hospital. There had always been light, always been sound, and suddenly it was dark and silent. The change set her nerves on edge. She slipped off her bed and into the corner behind it, her slippered feet silent on the padded floor. Something was coming, her mind murmured. Time to hide.

The double doors swished open and Otto flowed in, hanging from his precious metal arms once more. All of the others were out of their cells, and for the first time he saw the hulking green monster Norman had become, live and in person. It was impressive. "I'd say there are at least fifty more agents and staff working in the facility. We also have to assume I set off any number of alarms or fail-safes at SHIELD bases around the world. So what's it going to be, Norman?"

"You did this?" said Norman, turning to face him. He was the Goblin, inhuman, enormous, and green, with vapor-trails rising from his skin. "I was wondering what you were up to with all this New Age crap that was coming out of your face."

Otto smirked. Though he had developed some small respect for Osborn, sometimes the man just couldn't help letting his anger get the better of him. "It's called telling them what they want to hear. What you've become... This is truly magnificent, so much more than ever hoped for with all of our work."

"We're even now for all past sins," he growled. You doing this-- we're even."

"Let's get out of here!" whined Max. "I have a life!"

"What are we going to do?" asked Flint stonily.

"You gentlemen can do whatever you want," said Osborn with a deep chuckle. "I'm going to get my boy and then I am going to destroy Nick Fury for what he has done to us. And I mean destroy him, on every level. You're more than welcome to help, and I guarantee you compensation for your efforts, along with the satisfaction of revenge upon our jailer." He stalked out of the cellblock.

"Sounds like a sweet deal to me." Max cackled, electricity sparkling around his naked body, and zipped down the hall. What he really wanted to do was find that red-headed skank and make her pay. He'd make her pay on so many levels. Max effortlessly zapped down a few fleeing employees, relishing the perfume of roasted flesh and the chorus of screams.

Ginny could hear the screaming, and it was coming closer. Screaming and explosions and still the dark. She huddled in the corner of her cell, her arms wrapped over her head until a crackle of flame burst out of the vent above her head. A blast shook her door loose and she scrambled out it, straight into the path of the lightning-skinned demon.

Max stopped short, surprised, and then grinned, eyes flicking over the thin hospital garment she wore. "Hey there, sugar tits." He moved closer to her, sneering. "What're you in for?"

She wore the blue of non-violent prisoners. It clung to her as she backed against the wall, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes. "Oh no," she breathed, and she ducked sideways, trying to run.

Quick as a bolt of lightening, Max darted into her path and advanced on her again. "Where you going, huh? I know I'm a bit shocking at first, but once you warm up to me I'm actually a pretty fun guy."

She stopped so quickly that she fell over, skittering backwards on her hands. "No, please, don't touch me," she pleaded. This was all too hellishly familiar.

"Don't be like that," Max leered, grabbing her and dragging back. "You haven't had anything until you plug in with Electro."

Electricity crackled from his skin over hers, and she screamed shrilly, twisting to get away. "No, god, not again!"

Somehow Otto heard the scream over all of the others. Time seemed to stop right then. He knew that voice, and he knew the crackle of electricity. Whatever happened, no one was going to have Ginny but him, especially not a low-life like Max. His tentacles carried him in the direction of the scream faster than he knew was possible. He found Max dragging her to her feet and pinning her against the wall. "Stop!"

Her eyes darted toward Otto, and she kept trying to escape Max, her panicked struggles redoubling. "Let me go! No!" She wanted to run, to escape.

Max looked sideways at Otto. "What's your problem?" He scowled indignantly.

"She's mine, Max. Let her go."

She tried frantically to pry Max's fingers off her arm, straining away from both of them.

Max grinned. "So the doctor's human after all, huh?"

"Give her to me or I'll tear you apart," Otto snarled.

Max looked from one to the other, decided this particular girl wasn't worth it, and shoved her at Otto. "Fine. Keep her. She's not that great, anyway."

Otto landed and caught Ginny in his human arms. His tentacles were still bloody.

She went rigid, staring up at him. "Doctor Octopus..." she whispered, terrified. She tried to push herself out of his arms.

Otto tightened his grip on her as Max zipped away to find more trouble. "To think, for weeks I've been dreaming about you, imagining the life you must be leading, and I never once imagined you were only a few feet away..."

"I.... I...." She was all but speechless, still squirming to escape. She'd never known he was so close either. It was a good thing. If she had known he was in the same building, she wouldn't have slept once in her stay here.

"Sh..." Otto placed a finger on her lips. "No words. You know how this works."

She did. Her stomach sank and she stopped fighting, letting her gaze drop. "Why are you here?" she asked quietly.

"Why am I here in this building or why am I here with you now?"

"With me...." She'd hoped, desperately hoped never to see him again. She'd prayed for him to die in prison.

Otto smiled, a twisted parody of affection. "Aw, you don't really think I'd let the likes of Max have my sweet little concubine, do you? You're much too good for him. And what about you? Why are you here?"

She couldn't look at him. "Pym brought me. Because I wouldn't tell him you were the one. I never told." He could tell from her voice that she didn't like Dr. Pym.

Otto's smile widened into a grin. "Of course not. You're a good girl, Ginny." He lifted her into his human arms, bridal style, and rose up on the tentacles. "Hang on to me."

She put her arms around his neck, clinging. "Where are you taking me?" She was careful not to let her voice rise. "Please, please just leave me here...."

"You know how this works," Otto repeated stonily. "As for where we're going, I'm not quite sure of that myself, yet. We need to meet up with the others." And with that he was off down the hall again, slaughtering anyone who got in his way. There weren't many left now, though.

She flinched at each spray of blood, hiding her face against his chest. And she felt a tiny, selfish moment of gladness that she was his. If she weren't, she'd be either dead, like the people they stepped over, or in the hands of the so-called Electro.

The feeling of her complete and utter helplessness in his arms was blessedly familiar to Otto. He held her to his chest, wanting to protect her from everyone and everything. She was confused, scared of him, but she didn't understand. He was the only one who could protect her, and she belonged to him. She would understand, though, someday. He'd see to that. Otto stepped through the remains of a door and into a larger room. There were fires glowing here and there, fueled by debris and bodies. The others were all there, fighting off the last stand of armed agents.

Osborn shot him a look over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow at his passenger, but all he growled was "Coming?" Ginny shrank away from them all, huddling against Otto. The agents saw her, and didn't fire at the doctor, afraid of hitting his hostage.

Otto rather thought that was a stupid question. No, he wasn't going to go through all the trouble he had just gone through to spring them and stay behind himself. However, he controlled his expression, instead nodding and joining the rest of the group. "Don't worry, Ginny," he whispered in her ear. "The good doctor won't let them touch you." Max glared at him as she nodded woodenly.

"Prisoners, stand down!" shouted out of the agents from behind his riot shield. Osborn replied with a fireball, and the man fell, burning and screaming as they pushed forward.

Otto heard a gun cock behind him. The gunman probably thought that, with Ginny shielded by Otto's body, he could get a shot off. The gunman was brave, and Otto admired that. The gunman was also stupid, and Otto loathed that. Before his finger could even tighten on the trigger, an actuator lashed out, crumpling the gun and shoving it literally into the man's chest. "You'd better have a place we can go, Norman," Otto muttered.

"I do," he grunted. "Not far." He broke a man in half, ignoring the rounds he was firing at him. A few more shots, a few more screams, and they were out. It was too fast for a full response to have been called up, and they had no pursuit that they couldn't easily escape. They disappeared into the wilderness around the isolated SHIELD prison.

"I'd recommend powering down," Otto said once they entered the woods, shooting a look at Max, who was glowing like a ghost in the dark woods. "They have satellites to track us when we use our powers. I may be able to find a way around it, but for now it's better safe than sorry." He knew he could put Ginny down to walk on her own now, if he wanted, but he didn't want to.

Max glowered, but he did as he was told. So did Marko, firming his form again. "So," said Osborn through gritted teeth as he forced his own genetics back into a form more human. "About the passenger."

Otto looked down at Ginny, reluctant to share certain details about his acquaintance with her. "What about her?"

She still had her face pressed against the orange cloth of his prison suit, unwilling to face this new horror.

"What's she here for?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "We don't need hostages."

Otto's grip on her tightened but his face retained the same neutral expression. "I fail to see the importance of this subject," was his avoidant response.

Osborn regarded him silently for a moment. "Who is she?" he asked coldly.

Max, annoying as always, piped up. "Yeah, Ock, why don't you tell us all?"

Otto shot Max a glare out of the corner of his eye. "Her name's Virginia," Otto finally decided to say. At the sound of her name, Ginny looked up at him, naked fear still plain in her face.

"What is she to you, Otto?" asked Osborn impatiently.

That was a question Otto didn't think he could answer, even if he wanted to. "An acquaintance. Why does it matter?"

"Is she going to slow us down?"

Otto looked back down at her. "Now you wouldn't do that, would you, Ginny?"

She shook her head frantically. "No...."

Otto looked back up at Norman. "Satisfied?"

His lips thinned as he stared at her, but he nodded, and they moved on.