FATR: Wow, is it wrong that this was so damn fun to write? Because it was a bloody blast/evil laugh/ Oh, Otto. You know I only do this because I care… and because both of my muses have their own individual motives for wanting you to suffer… It took me forever to dredge up the inspiration to work on this. We're feeling pretty good about this, but if we don't see any positive feedback… Well, my muses will have to spend the night chained up in the leaky shed without any food and only the water that comes through the ceiling. (One muse whimpers and the other muse cheers.) Uh… /blinks at the cheering muse/ Well, okay, then! Let's get this chip chip on!

X)O(X

Ana smirked at the octopus' show of resistance, not the least bit intimidated by the angry red eyes that were trained upon her. "How cute, my little octopus has finally grown a backbone," she sneered. "I was beginning to think you as spineless as your namesake." Otto only snarled back, actuators snapping and hissing. Ana's amused smirk faded into a dark scowl. "Bad octopus. Sit." With those words she levitated the chairs Stephanie and Otto had occupied not long before and hurled them at the scientist. The actuators made quick work of them, but she had really just been distracting him from the table that came hurtling at him from behind.

One of his pets shrieked urgently and he whipped around just in time to catch a table in the gut. The harness acted as armor, protecting what his ribs could not, but he still went down. Air was jarred silently from his lungs when the spinal brace and the machinery on his back were abruptly press into him. He rolled onto his side, coughing and gasping. The actuators recovered quickly, each of them dipping to push their creator to his knees.

Ana wouldn't give him a chance to get up and regain his composure. "Stay," she snarled and hurled some heavy lab equipment at him. His top right tentacle shielded him from the worst of the impact but he still sat down sideways. Sparks flew as she ripped one of the larger computers from the wall and brought it to hover over him.

Otto saw the shadow blanketing him and the area immediately around him. He looked over his shoulder via actuator vision just in time to see the unwieldy object plummeting toward him. He caught it with all four actuators, letting them sink a little under its force, and launched it back at her. He heard a startled squawk and a soft thud as it connected with its target. There was a loud, bone crushing crash as it landed with her under it. Otto pushed himself up with one of his lower tentacles, the other three poised to attack. Two hands grabbed him from behind and he struck with his actuators as he turned to face her.

Stephanie let out a startled squeak as the pincers clamped around her throat and grabbed the mechanical arm with both hands. When his gaze fell on her, his expression softened and the actuator released her.

"Sorry," Otto responded distractedly.

Stephanie sucked in air, her hand gingerly rubbing her bruising throat. "You almost killed me!"

"I thought you were…" Otto glanced back to the pile of rubble instead of finishing his sentence. Blood was pooling out from under it, but that didn't mean anything. He took two shaky steps toward it then stopped.

"What the hell just happened here?" Stephanie demanded, still indignant.

"It's a long story…" Otto knew Ana couldn't be dead. There was no way it could've been that easy. He had to lift the shattered and smoking computer to be certain, but he would be vulnerable at such close range and with all of his actuators occupied. His eyes darted to Stephanie but he doubted she possessed the necessary power. Then again, he didn't need to lift it, just flip it off. The scientist took two more steps and reluctantly took hold of the debris with his top two actuators, wanting his two strongest ones free if he had to fight. He'd been afraid she'd try to zap him as soon as he touched anything near her, but she didn't. Nothing stirred. Otto took a breath and flipped the computer aside. A startled gasp escaped his throat. There was nothing there. He whipped around, using his actuators to try and watch everything at once.

Stephanie was staring at the puddle of blood blankly. "Where'd she-" Her question was interrupted by a sound like a demonic hyena laughing.

"Otto, Otto, Otto…" Ana's voice cackled from everywhere at once. "You should know by now that I'm not quite that easy to get rid of."

Otto's heart thundered in his chest as he desperately tried to seek out the source of her voice. That laugh felt like frosty daggers puncturing his very being. "Where are you?"

"Over here."

Otto's actuators snapped around but the lab was empty aside from him and Stephanie. "Enough games! Come out and fight me!"

"But this is so much more fun."

That time Otto felt ghostly breath on the back of his neck. He roared and spun around, swinging with his fist. Again, he encountered nothing but empty air. He caught sight of Stephanie hugging herself and shrinking back against a table. Her wide, terror stricken eyes met his own as the sinister sound echoed around them again. Stephanie didn't really know anything about Ana, but anyone could feel the evil in that sadistic laugh. "What's wrong, Ana? Are you afraid to face us in a fair fight?" Otto's pets snapped and hissed to back him up.

"You're the one who's afraid, octopus," Ana hissed as the light began to leave the room. "I can see them inside of you, inside your soul. You're the one who's lost…"

Otto's eyes darted around the swiftly gathering darkness. He could hear things in it, things he couldn't and didn't want to name.

"Confused…"

Everything familiar was swallowed up by the impenetrable black fog. Even his actuator's voices were growing faint in his head. "Stephanie?" He called out weakly. The circle of dim light around him continued to shrink as his voice fell flat at his feet.

"Alone…"

Howling and gurgling drifted out of the fog from all sides. Otto's knees trembled, the already hefty actuators seeming to double and triple in weight. He heard scuffling claws and slurping tongues. When he backed away from something that sounded particularly large stomping towards him, his foot temporarily left the relative safety of what little light there was and kicked something wet.

"Vulnerable…"

Otto stumbled back, tripping on the still, lifeless form of an actuator and losing his glasses. He didn't notice this, however, because all of his attention was focused on the infernal, yellow eyes floating in the black wall. He scuttled backward, covering his eyes with one hand so he wouldn't have to see whatever terror was pealing away from the shadows. Claws dug into his shoulders from behind, tearing his coat and flesh as he jerked away with a loud cry. He landed on his back and caught a brief glimpse of the hellish deformities closing in on him. Their eyes glowed and their vile drool splattered around him. A few hissing drops landed on him, eating through his clothing and burning his arms, chest, and face. Their teeth were crooked, some rotting and jagged, some razor sharp and gleaming like daggers. He felt something heavy and slick gliding up body and screamed, trying to command the actuators to do something, anything, before he was devoured by the rotting, wreaking things. His actuators lay dead around him as the claws seized upon him, ripping easily into his limbs.

Stephanie stared in horror as Otto writhed on the floor, screaming and foaming at the mouth. His actuators twitched wildly, wracked by whatever spasms shook their master. The scientists eyes were rolled back to show only the whites and blood was beginning to trickle out of his nose. Stephanie broke her trance and dove to his side, dodging the flailing tentacles. "Otto! Otto, please! Wake up!" His screams were beginning to gurgle away into wet, labored breaths. Was he having a seizure? "Come on, Otto, I don't know what to do!"

"Help!" Otto yelled, rolling his side to fend off a reptilian beast that had been about to take a chunk out of his throat. The teeth buried in his forearm instead and he cried out still again. "Help me, please, someone!" Otto's desperate shriek fell flat in the fog and was swallowed up by the baying of the slavering creatures that clambered over each other in an attempt to reach him.

"Why should I help you?" Ana's voice still came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. "You've been little more than a waste of my precious time, you feeble shell of a man."

"I can do better, I can!"

Stephanie felt tears pricking her eyes. "Help!" She hollered, tearing herself away from Otto to run to and pound on the lab door. It wouldn't open. She slammed on the pad that was supposed to open it but nothing happened. "Oh, god, someone, please! He's dying!"

The hell beasts had ceased their bloodthirsty rending of his flesh, but they were still ogling him with starving eyes. Otto took this chance to push himself up on one tattered human arm and fought down a wave of nausea. He heard footsteps clicking through the pitch, approaching him from behind. Otto swallowed hard, wondering what would come next.

"Better than my new little protégé? She's so much more receptive of the ideals I tried to instill in you. You, my little octopus, are far too smart for your own good, and I'll not have you poisoning her." She kicked him in the back, right between the ridges on the spinal brace. He roared in pain and sprawled on the ground, shoulders heaving with sobs.

"I can't fail her again... I can't fail Rosie again…"

Ana kicked him in the side to roll him on his back and pinned him with a high-heeled boot in the middle of his chest. "Your pathetic love for that stupid wench makes you weak and useless," she sneered as she spat in his face. When he only whimpered for Rosie again, she kicked him in the side of his head and turned her back. "Finish him," she instructed the fiends.

"No!" Otto screamed as they surged toward him again. "I don't want to die! Please!"

Ana turned back to him and knelt, straddling his torso. "What do you want, Otto?"

Otto trembled. "I want… I want Rosie…"

"And?" Ana pressed harshly, bracing herself with one hand by his head as she leaned closer.

And what? What else did she want him to say? He caught sight of his useless actuators throwing back the little bit of light that remained. His eyes locked with Ana's as he whispered, "And I want them gone. I just want my life back the way it was, before…"

Ana snorted dismissively and rose to her feet. "You don't have the stomach for this sort of thing."

Otto threw himself at her retreating form and grabbed for the hem of her sheer black robes. "I do! What must I do to prove that?"

Ana turned and favored the pathetic man on his hands and knees in front of her with a disdainful look. "There's nothing," she finally said.

"Please," Otto begged, sensing the monsters closing in behind him. Something started crawling up his back. "Please, I beg of you! I'll be good, I promise!"

Ana's eyes glowed. "I don't want you to be good, Otto, I want you to be evil. I want you to be pure, unadulterated evil."

"Just tell me what to do," Otto hissed.

Ana gazed at the darkness in Otto's eyes and smirked. "Kill Wilson Fisk."

Otto gaped. She wanted him to kill Fisk? How could… Then his face turned stony. "It will be done," he promised in a voice that was little more than a growl. "And what after that?"

The grin slithered across the demonic Nasarian's face and she caressed his cheek. He winced as she ran her finger along the length of a particularly nasty gash. "All in due time, my little octopus. All in due time." She pressed her clawed finger into the gash, relishing the way he almost collapsed under the agony.

Otto clasped his hand to his cheek with a gasp and watched her saunter into the inky fog. The creatures slunk away after her. He sat down cross-legged and ran his gory hand up his face and through his hair, suddenly overcome with a splitting migraine.

The physicist had stopped moving a while ago, except for a slight jerking of his head and the feeble twitches of his actuators. Stephanie knelt over him. Unable to find a pulse, she'd just plopped down next to him, cradling his hand and crying. His figures moved in her hand and her head snapped up. "Otto?"

He groaned, allowing his eyes to flutter open before promptly shutting them against the harsh laboratory lights. He heard faint scrambling sounds and felt something being slid over his ears. His eyes opened once more and for a moment he was confused by the gray-brown world that met them. Then he remembered what had happened and groaned.

"Can you hear me?" Stephanie was inquiring urgently. "Come on, Otto, say something…"

Otto put a hand on his forehead and said, "Ow…"

Stephanie felt her heart swell with relief as he sat up slowly and she threw her arms enthusiastically around him. "Fuck, I was so worried! I thought you'd died or…"

"Ow… back…"

Stephanie released him, smiling sheepishly. "I'm just so glad you're okay. You had a fit or…"

"I'm as well as can be expected, I suppose…" There was tired sarcasm in his voice. Otto wiped his hand across his mouth and stared at the blood tracing the creases in his skin.

"Here, let's get you cleaned up." She went to help him to his feet but he shook her off.

"I've got it," he growled.

"Well, fuck you too." Stephanie crossed her arms and buzzed away from him to poke through the papers on his desk. She heard the clank of his actuators on the floor followed by the sound of running water.

"We'll begin exercising your powers after lunch. I expect you to locate and tap an energy source by then."

Stephanie turned to gape at him. "What? How? I don't even…"

"What of those two you desire to kill?"

Her brow furrowed. "I told you I was kidding…"

Otto raised an eyebrow at her. "Were you?"

"Yes," Stephanie insisted, though she knew she didn't sound very convincing. She watched Otto smile knowingly and lean back over the sink. Her eyes drifted out of focus as she contemplated this. If she didn't torture Scott and Jason to death, which she really, really longed to do, she was pretty sure Mac would leap at the chance to fuck her. That latter option made her cringe slightly, and Otto had told her death energy was strongest. Stephanie sighed and slouched against the table. Rather than contemplate her options, she decided to ask, "Why wait until after lunch?"

"Well…" Otto dried off his hands and face then threw the paper towels in the trashcan. "It would allow you sufficient time to complete your assignment. First and foremost, however, I must remove a thorn that has been in my side for far too long already."

Stephanie tilted her head as she followed him to the door. "What?"

His back was to her so she didn't notice the sadistic smirk that contorted his face. "You're bound to find out sooner or later. Don't concern yourself with me, though, just focus on your task."

Stephanie shrugged it off and opted to focus on her own problems. The hunger was intensifying with each passing moment and all of her instincts were screaming at her to feed. Very well, then. She would feed…

X)O(X

FATR: For a look at the totally bitchin picture that inspired me, visit my profile. The link will be there. I wish I could post links here, but I also with I could've made the Otto torture scene longer. I guess we can have everything we want in life…

Agent Silver: I'm often too lazy to bother pressing that little button, so don't worry about it. I'm glad you like the story thus far, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chip chip as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Lady Kayoss: True… but having lots of people want to hang around you is overrated. Besides, she still has her supervillain friends! Was the confrontation exciting enough for you? It certainly was long enough coming.

talkstoangels: Well, I think nothing ever goes to plan because a lot of his fangirls like to torture him, but I suppose you do have to pity the guy. Thankies, I love cookies!

Phoenix Sheriden: I know, but I love evil cliffhangers. So, you'd like to negotiate a price on Otto, hm? (Ignores the chained up Otto's protests) Let's see… Well, I'll ship him and the chemical to you for a pair of socks and a block of cheese. I'll even pay shipping and handling. Deal?

Moonjava: Thank you as always.

aleeock: Thankies! Talk to you as soon as my internet stops being wonky.