Owner	Pose
Peter Parker	The Garment District has its uses. It is filled with various companies with warehouses, production facilities, storage areas, and the like. But that also means you can move nearly anything in or out of the area. Which was how Dr. Otto Octavius, AKA Dr. Octopus, was able to set up his latest lab here, in a heavy-duty warehouse that still had the signage of the last fashion company to go bust here, a company that tried to make designer sportwear for the elite. The sign at the top near the roof said with faded letters: SPORTS-MANIA. He was in a foul mood, too. The creature was being very uncooperative. He had analyzed its protean nature, but was unable to generate a positive response, any sign of intelligence. He had tried many of the usual methods - acid, fire, electroshock, sudden freezing - but was no closer to understanding. He would have its secrets. He would have them if he had to extract it from every CELL...
Andi Benton	Make no mistake. Andi isn't in the area with any plans of getting the latest Klein, Karan, or Van Dyne fashions. All of that stuff was for the rich losers who cared more about image than anything else. But, there /was/ a sort of off-the-beaten-path place a friend of a friend told her about, where a little alternative shopping could be done to fit more of that punk/goth aesthetic. She nears the 'Sports-Mania' building, then pauses to scoff at it. "Lame," she declares. There's nobody more annoying than a jock, infatuated with wearing various sports logos and player jerseys and all that, acting like they're hot shit.
Peter Parker	It does not have intelligence as Otto understands it. It is a symbiote, and it draws from its host. But it has reached out to brush against Otto's mind, and what it finds there repulses it. It is a User, and it finds his mind distateful. So it retreats. It feels pain, but not on a level that would induce it to react. Giving anything to him would be betrayal of self, as much as it HAS a self. So it waits. When one travels light-years inside a rock made of anthracite, patience is not only a virtue, it is a survival skill. So it waits, patiently enduring the punishment. sending its feelers out for a suitable other than the man-machine... ...and it stops. It conceals its activity as part of a reaction to the latest jolt of energy...but there is Another out there. ZGently, almost carefully, it sends a small pulse of thought. It is more of a feeling than a thought...
Andi Benton	Andi Benton's thoughts are..conflicted. Whatever outward image she presents of some disinterested young woman who can't be bothered with whatever is going on around her, the truth is she's a troubled youth with a past she doesn't like to think about. Single-parent family, loner, few friends, even fewer close friends. Smart girl, one with a lot of potential, but nowhere to really direct it in a positive way. She liked her solitude in the sense it let her read, listen to music, draw, and write uninterrupted, but it left her shut away in her own little world. She is unaware of the scientist inside the abandoned warehouse. She /had/ been unaware of the focus of his attention. However, something strange happens, just for a moment. Andi pauses, rubbing the side of her head. "What the hell was that?" she wonders, looking all around her. She can't even be sure anything real just happened, but her eyes take on a suspicious look.
Peter Parker	A pulse. CONTACT. It cannot suppress a burst of theta-wave activity, unaware that one of the machines suddenly blinks. Otto is unaware of it as is happens; he is busy increasing the amperage of the next jolt. The next pulse is a wordless query, seeking out Andi, the need for information felt rather than vocalized. Someone wants to know about Andi Benton, of New York...
Andi Benton	Confusion registers. Andi has no experience with anything of this nature, so she doesn't even know what's going on, why she feels something as if it's trying to touch her mind. It results in her rubbing an ear as she squints, but now there's a direction she's more aware of: that warehouse. It's a questioning feeling, like a general wonder about her. But how? From what? Her eyes narrow as she frowns at the building. "What the hell..?"
Peter Parker	Responses. Feedback. Interaction. The more it touches her mind, the more it develops. Unfocused id, wants, needs. There is another burst, one sent out JUST as Otto sends five amps and 150,000 volts into it. It manifests as an imperative, sent out in pain. Something is hurting. Something is in need. Someone need help. *HELP*
Andi Benton	Andi Benton grimaces, not out of anything happening to her, but..a strange sense she's still picking up on, as if feeling a tiny effect of whatever Doctor Octopus is doing to the creature inside the makeshift lab. The burst still comes with an impact, as whatever the symbiote feels from the heavy jolt of electricity comes through on a more minor level. If that had happened to /her/ it'd be quite bad. "What the hell is going on in there?" she wonders, a hesitant step taken toward the warehouse. She should call the cops. That would be the smart thing. Someone is being tortured in there. "Help..?" She picked up on that feeling well enough.
Peter Parker	The response is encouraging. The Other is receptive. Questioning. Curious... "Well, well, WELL..." Octavius suddenly said. "Increased theta-wave activity across the board. But you have endured this kind of treatment before. Is it the electricity? Is that it? Is..." Then he frowns at the blob in the shatterproof glass sphere, then moves to the machines. First to track the bursts, then to the computer. "What CHANGED...?" he muttered to himself. If the Man-Machine discovered the Other, then...too much for the limited mind to handle, merely a sense that the Man-MAchine finding the Other would end any chance of freedom. *RUN FLEE ESCAPE DANGER*
Andi Benton	Just as Andi's hand closes around the nearest door handle, she hesitates. There is a suddenly stronger sense of 'get the hell out of here now' that makes her pause. And yet, she tries the door. She has to at least see what's inside. If she can sneak a photo or two, maybe she can take that to the police, because if someone or something is seeking help then urging her to run, it can't be good in there. If the creature within the sphere has any awareness of Andi's proximity, it will realize she's not putting space between it and herself, but rather drawing closer.
Peter Parker	Octavius looks through the cameras. South hall clear. East entrance clear. Inner power generator door clear. North Door. Otto Octavius SMILES as he sees the girl testing the door. "Well...HELLO, DEAR. So YOU must be the one the creature is so active about." The next is not a pulse. It is a SCREAM. *RUN RUN RUN RUN THE MAN-MACHINE WILL GET YOU RUN RUN NOW NOW NOW!*
Andi Benton	Whatever Andi was thinking she'd do or see, as soon as the door handle begins to turn, the force from the symbiote in captivity is the closest thing to a mental blast as can be, something she's never dealt with before. "Shit.." she says, and for a moment she can feel the fear, the urgency, the concern, the need to just plain /not be there/ any more. The hand slips away from the door and Andi begins to retrace her steps. "I gotta call the cops," she tells herself. But will she?
Peter Parker	Dr. Octopus gets up and smiles to the symbiote. "Let's see who is knocking, shall we?" A few moments later, Andi can hear it from deep inside the warehouse. Hard impacts, like sledgehammers busting into concrete. It is deep inside the building, so the hard impacts are hollow and faraway. Except they are NOT far away. They are coming closer. FAST. Something is coming for her. And it will be here in moments, like some giant ogre. But what is coming ain't Shrek.
Andi Benton	The noise is what seals the deal. Everything in her head could be passed off as Andi's imagination running wild, playing off of the unknown and leading to a need to find out more. The booming sounds from within brings her back to the moment, undoubtedly fed into by the continued urging of that /other/ presence to get to a safe place. Finally, common sense gets the better of the little gothy girl and she begins to run away.
Peter Parker	The loud crunches get even louder as Andi retreats. She is rounding a corner when the door opens. Well, it does not so much open as it nearly comes off the hinges. There is no mistaking the voice of the man who comes out. He has been on TV a few times. One of the "Crazy, Not Stupid" bad guys. A window reflection tells Andi plenty about who was inside. Dr. Otto Octavius, AKA Dr. Octopus. "Come on out, girl...there's nowhere to run..."
Andi Benton	Getting a good look at the guy in the warehouse first comes from that reflection, then more normally as Andi glances over a shoulder. "Oh shit.." she blurts under her breath, a hand against the side of the building as she takes another corner in her effort to retreat. It doesn't seem as though he's spotted her yet, which is beneficial. Very beneficial. Hokey as that Spider-Man guy is, him being around right about now sure would be a help, but he can't be everywhere at once.
Peter Parker	Doc Ock only goes so far before he draws back, avoiding being spotted by a delivery truck further down the street. There is only a faint sense of relief before the connection is cut. Ock burst into the control room, scowling. He pulled up the camera, watching the woman for a long moment. "...I'll find you, you interfering little breakthrough. And if I have to I will flay you alive to find out why it reacted to you..." Yeah, Doc Ock is DEFINITELY needing to be medicated...
Andi Benton	Andi Benton scampers back to safety, but doesn't feel truly secure again until she's completely out of the area. Only then does she realize she's started to breathe more normally again. Her fingers shake and shiver over the numbers on the phone's screen, fumbling over dialing 911 a couple times before she changes her mind. What would they be able to do against that guy? There's only one other person she can think of to mention this to, and it's not her father. She's going to have to reach out to the Wall-Crawler.