|| Still Me ||

Chapter 7: Underneath

You laboriously open your eyelids and the darkness that initially surrounded you begins to fade away. You see blurry for a moment, strange shadows and silhouettes surrounding you as you try to focus on one in particular that was moving. Metallic noises and screeches echoed in the area and a cold breeze makes you suddenly shiver, letting you recover your senses a little.

'Where... Am I?'

Confused, you try to straighten up but you suddently feel a pain in your waist that stops you. After a deep sigh you touch yourself in the painful area, knowing that surely there were some bruises. Turning back to look up at the shadow, you now see clearly that it is Doctor Octavius ​​who, busy with his actuators, was building something. Now you remember what happened... The Doctor had come to pay you a "visit" to get the blueprint of the project but things went wrong... The police intervened, the tentacles attacked you and he... He is the villain called Doctor Octopus and he had taken you hostage. You slam this crushing reality in your head: what you had in front of you was no longer the kind and compassionate Doctor but a criminal who simply wanted to recreate out of pride a project that could probably destroy half New York.
Looking around you realize that you are in an abandoned structure near a pier as you could see the river and hear some chirping of seagulls. You try to stand up but notice that your right leg is chained to a pole. The noise of the chain causes an actuator to turn in your direction and then it starts approaching you. Frightened you try to back away but the pain in your waist and the chain block you.

"You're awake"

The Doctor says turning to you too after a moment, raising his goggles and diverting his attention, leaving whatever he was working on to head in your direction, lifted by his tentacles. When you see that the man is getting closer, you try to struggle to free yourself from the chain with panic that was starting to overwhelm you. The arm that had approached, suddenly grabs the chain to which you are tied and drags you towards the Doctor, a small squeak escapes you at the pull. He looks at you for a moment in silence

"How do you feel?"

He asks you reclutantly after placing his feet on the ground. He kind of looks worried but right now you didn't really care how he felt. He had kidnapped you and probably also used you as an hostage against the police to avoid getting caught, there was no excuse for his actions, no justification. You look at him with anger in your eyes for the betrayal and after staring at him for a few seconds you quickly turn your gaze, not wanting to look him in the face or answer his useless question. He sighs in stress

"Where are the blueprints?"

Irritation building up in his tone as he sees that you don't want to cooperate. You just ignore him again, still looking at your left while watching the waves splash on the building

"I asked you a question"

He says in an annoyed tone, raising his voice as the left tentacle takes your face abruptly, causing you to close your eyes and flinch from the sudden action, turning you to the doctor who now was a few inches away from you. The grip hurt. You cling to the mechanical arm to support yourself and slowly open your eyes to be greeted by the angry look of Octavius ​​who stared straight into your eyes. You look at him with frightened eyes, breathing heavily with your heart pounding, a light tear falls from your face while your body trembles. You had never seen him like this, you didn't even think he was capable of making such an angry face. It wasn't like him, and the fact that you were practically in front of a stranger, a dangerous stranger... that scared you. After a few seconds Octavius ​​returns as if in himself, relaxing his face that switches from a threatening expression to a confused and almost guilty one, opening his eyes slightly. The actuator leaves your face and the Doctor reluctantly backs away, looking at the ground as if afraid of what he just did.