IYGAOAC Chapter 11

A/N: In which Mouse gets kidnapped, Robin has some fun of the bloody variety, and Robin and Otto does the nasty.

Disclaimer: We still own very little of these guys.  Mostly they just humor us.

Warnings: There is some bloody violence in this chapter. And then there's some hanky panky. Older teens and up, only.

Chapter 10: Why Kidnapping a Small Octavius is a Bad Idea

Mouse carefully put her library books in her bag, doubled checked to make sure she had her library card, and slid on her shoes. Tightening the Velco straps, she put the bag over her shoulder, and headed out of her room. It was Wednesday, and that meant Library Day.

She had been thrilled when Otto had taken her to the library for the first time. There was one only a few blocks from their new apartment--not the biggest one, which Otto said was further into the city, but a smaller one. Mouse thought it was huge all on its own, having never seen so many books at once. The children's room was an absolute dream. Mouse loved books, even though she couldn't read them. She loved the feel of them, and just to look at the pictures and make up the stories as she went.

Not long after they had moved, Otto had taken her to the library, and got Mouse her very own library card. She had even gotten to sign it herself, in shaky childish letters. Maggie Ercher. Not her real name, but a pretend one. Otto had explained it all to her, and she knew that he used a pretend name out in public, for the same reasons that he had to hide the actuators when they went out. Mouse didn't know all of it, but she knew that people would be afraid of him, and that he would get taken away if anyone knew who he was. So they played pretend when they went out. He still called her Mouse, so it was really only on paper.

Besides, her name had been Maggie, once upon a time. No one had called her that for long, but that was what it had been. So she had signed her name proudly to the card, and it was hers. After that, Wednesday had been Library Day. She often went by herself, to return books and go to Story Time. The children's librarian sometimes told her that she was the perfect library visitor, because she never made any noise at all.

Sometimes Otto would give her a list of things he needed, and she would give it to the librarians, and they would find it for her. Most of the time she just sat in one of the big chairs in the children's room, looking at picture books, until it was time to go. Wednesdays were her favorite mornings--she could go for Story Time, stay and look, then come home for lunch.

She poked her head into the lab, where it looked like Otto was getting started on his projects for the day. Larry came over to her, and she petted him, letting him nuzzle her face.

The happy chirp of the actuator was the loudest herald of Mouse's arrival. Otto had been keeping a running tally of which of the two females in his life moved more quietly, and so far, Mouse was winning. Robin could be devastatingly silent when she wanted, but anytime she was around she was usually chatting, or making some other kind of noise. Mouse still moved like her namesake.

"Hey," Otto said, smiling as he looked up from his workbench. "That's right, it's Wednesday, isn't it? Going to the library?"

Mouse nodded, and tapped a finger on the journals Otto had gotten a couple of weeks ago. "Ready to go?" she asked.

She looked over at Robin, who was reclined on the couch like a lazy cat. The faerie gave her a half wave and a smile.
"Some of them," he replied. He sorted out the ones he was finished with and handed them to her. "And if you could see if they have these, please?" Mo offered the child a piece of paper with a list of titles scribbled on it--mostly the latest editions of various scientific journals. The librarians would be able to find what he needed. It was a decent system, all things told.

He gave Mouse a hug. "Have fun," he said. "Back home in time for lunch, you know the drill."

Mouse nodded, hugging him back, and waved to Robin. She smiled to herself as she left the apartment. Otto was happy with Robin there. She just hoped that the faerie woman didn't have to go away again soon.

It was a chilly morning, but not too cold. Mouse moved along happily, taking her shortcuts and getting to the library quickly. The librarian read Otto Goes to the Beach, which made Mouse grin. The image of Otto in swim trunks at the beach, with the actuators making sand castles made her giggle softly.

After Story Time, she went to the big front desk, and handed her list to the librarian there. The older woman was growing familiar with the little girl and her father's tastes, and found the journals, checking them out and handing them over to the quiet girl. All of the normal Wednesday staff knew the child by sight, noticeable only by the fact that she never spoke. Chalking her up as being abnormally shy, they wished all of the children could be more like her.

Two hours passed quickly, and Mouse checked out the books that she had decided on for this week. She waved a goodbye to the children's librarian, and headed out on her way.

It had gotten a little cooler while she'd been inside, gray clouds hanging heavy in the sky. Mouse looked up and wondered if they would get any snow soon. The young girl was normally quite observant about her surroundings, but today she was happy and content, and wondering if Otto would make her a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. She didn't notice that she was being followed, not in the throngs of New Yorkers--not even when she ducked into her shortcut, taking the alleys that ran behind a few store fronts and crossed back near their building.

The past several weeks of observation had given them a good idea of the child's routine, and that of her 'father'. They had determined that the best way to get to Doctor Otto Octavius was by going through the little girl known as Mouse. She was the vulnerable one in the group, and they knew Ock would do anything to get her back.

That was what their employer was counting on.

Montana, leader of the Enforcers, slipped after the little girl as she headed into the back road of alleys. Normally, he would have taken her on her way to the library rather than from it, to allow himself the maximum amount of time to get away before her disappearance would have been noted, but the aim this time was to have Ock follow after her. Being just a teeny bit sloppy would ensure he'd pick up her trail.

Sorry 'bout this, kid, he thought as he uncoiled his lasso and started whirling it, a syringe of a fast-acting sedative tucked into his other hand. </I>Just business</I>. He let the loop of rope fly. As if he'd been guiding it telekinetically, the lasso dropped over the child's shoulders and pulled tight, yanking her off her feet.

Most children would have shrieked, or at the very least cried out. But every instinct of Mouse's paralyzed her vocal cords, locking her into silence. Her bag slipped out of her grasp, the strap hanging to her only by the lasso. After a few feet of dragging, the bag pulled free.

Mouse scrambled for a hand or foot hold, twisting her head back to see the strange man reeling her in. Her hand closed over a bottle, and she threw it in the man's direction. The other hand tugged at the rope, trying to slip it up and over her head before the man had her.

But then she felt a hand at the knot in her back. She strained against the rope, rolling to get her feet under her and pulling as hard as she could. But there was a sharp sting in her neck, and her limbs sudden felt heavy.

Mouse collapsed, looking up at the rooftops in a vain hope of seeing Robin popping out of nowhere. Or Otto, if he'd decided he needed something from the store. Maybe he would be out. Or even that pesky Spiderman. He was supposed to be a hero, wasn't he?

As the strange man hoisted her up and over his shoulder, Mouse caught sight of her bag, lying in the alleyway. Darkness crept into her vision, and her last thought was that some of the books had fallen out, and that the librarians would be mad if they got dirty.

Tiny as the girl was, it didn't take long for the sedative to knock her out. Montana waited for her struggles to cease entirely before untangling her from the lasso, stowing it and the syringe. Then he picked her up, letting her lay against his shoulder as if she were his own daughter. Who noticed a dad carrying his kid?

He headed back down the alley, leaving her bookbag where it lay. If that didn't get Ock's attention, nothing would. A half-block from the abduction site was a parking lot. Heading for one particular small sedan, Montana buckled the girl into the backseat and drove off.

Easy as pie.

Robin was quite enjoying herself, watching Otto work in a proper lab space. She had always found the actuators fascinating, but watching them move around the scientist was incredible. Still, a faerie in a lab was bound to cause a few problems. After very nearly causing something that certainly looked scientific to blow up, Robin retreated from the lab space, to see what she could rustle together for lunch.

"When does Mouse usually get back?" She asked, coming around the doorway of the kitchen to look in the lab.

"About noon," Otto replied, not looking up from splicing two bits of wire together. Flo hovered right at his shoulder, letting him look through her camera. It was easy enough to do once he got used to having his viewpoint be slightly to the right of his hands. Beside him, the other three worked at cleaning some tiny circuit boards recovered from the junkyard Mouse had found for them. "Why?"

Robin glanced over her shoulder to the kitchen clock, though she didn't really need to in order to know the time. Frowning, she pushed off the doorway. "It's nearly 12:30," she said.

A bad feeling began stirring in the faerie's gut. Mouse was a responsible child, as far as she could tell. If Otto had told her to be home by noon, then she would be. Which led to the conclusion that something was probably wrong.

"It is?"

That made Otto look up, a frown furrowing his brown behind the heavy goggles. Mouse was never late. She didn't quite know how all the numbers on the clock worked, but if Otto pointed out where the hands would be when he wanted her home, she always got back on time.

mouse late never late something wrong

Perhaps that would be a bit of a stretch for most people, but Otto had developed a healthy streak of mild paranoia over the past year and a half. If Mouse wasn't here, than something was wrong.

"Come on," he told Robin, going to grab his coat and hat. "We need to go look for her."

Robin couldn't agree more. She followed Otto up the balcony and to the roof, as they retraced Mouse's route. Robin had Mouse's scent, and moved over the air, sharp eyes searching for any clue of the child.

Otto made a noise, and she turned to see him move down into the alley that Mouse apparently took as a shortcut. Robin saw what he had seen--a scattered messenger bag, a few picture books and a scientific journal trailing out of it. Something in Robin's gut went hard and cold, and she followed the man down, sniffing the air to try and catch a hint of what had happened.

Mouse's bag. No Mouse.

His hands shook as he came up to the spot where the bag, with its load of books spilling out of it like eviscerated organs, lay on the concrete. There were some scuffs in the dust as well- it almost looked like Mouse had tripped and dropped the bag. And then-

A few faint impressions from larger feet, mostly destroyed by the scuff marks. It was easy to tell what had happened.

"Someone took her," he whispered.

Robin's hands clenched into fists. Green eyes turned hobgoblin red, and claws began to emerge at the end of delicate hands. It was all she could do not to lose her outer Glamour completely.

An animalistic growl rose from her throat. Someone had taken the child--a child she'd promised to protect. That person was going to die.

She watched Otto scoop up the books and the bag carefully, almost reverently. But she had the man's scent, the one who had taken their Mouse, and she wasn't waiting any longer. "Got him," she growled. "Come on." The faerie moved up the side of the building, and over the top, not even looking back to see if the mortal was following.

claws eyes woah Mo's tone sounded impressed. Otto ignored the actuator and followed his faerie companion up and over the building. He silently cursed the fact that it was broad daylight. If anyone spotted them...

That wasn't important. Being seen didn't matter. They had to find Mouse, and if Robin could track the scent, so much the better.

Robin moved, ears back against her head, her teeth sharpening and growing longer. They paused on a roof top overlooking a parking lot. Leaving Otto on the roof, Robin descended. She stalked around the lot, sniffing hard, snarling at the few pedestrians who got in her way. After pacing around the same spot for several seconds, she returned to the rooftop.

"Car," she snarled. squatting on the roof's edge, hands over feet. "I can't track them through a car. Not by scent." She cocked her head sharply to the side, eyes flickering between green and red. "Have you got a picture? I can ask the attendant if he saw her."

He shook his head, curiously eying the changes in her teeth and ears. "No photographs," he replied. "But the actuators have her image. We can upload it to the computer and bring it back." His mind seemed to have switched over from brooding fury to an icy numbness. At the moment, Otto heartily preferred the latter. It kept his mind functioning, and it might help him keep Robin from shredding someone.

He gestured to his own ear and arched his eyebrows at her. "You're slipping," he pointed out. "Fix it before we talk to anyone."

Robin half growled at him, but realized that he was right. She couldn't afford to give over to her hobgoblin side now. Better to wait until after they'd caught the bastard.

She stood, and closed her eyes. Shaking out her hair, the subtle changes dissipated. Claws turned back to fingers, and when she opened her eyes, they were green again.

"Then let's go," she said. "Human memories are fallible at best. She wasn't taken long ago--if we hurry they may remember seeing her."

She hopped off the ledge, and turned to start back towards the apartment. Again, she kept her speed slow enough to keep pace with Otto. She half toyed with the idea of simply grabbing him and running, but that could get messy with the actuators.

It didn't take them long to return. Otto went straight to the computer. Robin paced, then looked up sharply. There was an unfamiliar scent in the apartment. Faint, but there. She followed it to the front door. A plain white envelope had been slid under the door. Picking it up, Robin sniffed it as she took it to Otto. Not the same man who'd taken Mouse, but not one she recognized as belonging to another occupant of the building.

"This was in the hall," she said, handing it to Otto.

He took the envelope from her, leaving the actuators to sort through the images on the screen. They knew the sort of picture he was looking for, one that could be tweaked slightly to look like a digital photo.

"What is this..." Larry helpfully slit the envelope open so he could tug out the contents. A piece of ordinary printer paper, with an address typed on it. "West Thirty-Second and Falkner?"

The kidnappers, he realized. There had to be more than one- one to capture Mouse, another to leave the note. They'd left a goddamn address. "It's a trap."

A cold, eerie smile crept over Robin's face. It stretched a little wider than a human smile should, and her teeth again gleamed bright and sharp. It was a predator's smile, the smile of a creature secure in the knowledge that they were at the top of the food chain, and nothing natural could tear them down.

"Good," she said. Holding up a hand, she examined her claws, again stretching from the ends of her fingers. "We'll make it a trap for them." And rip every one of the bastards to shreds.

Otto smiled as well, in a way that would have been familiar to anyone who'd had a run-in with Doctor Octopus. It was an expression that had triggered many a set of suddenly-wet pairs of underwear. The actuators curled around him, hissing and snapping their jaws. They were looking forward to snapping some spines. And rending some limbs. And eviscerating a few torsos.

"My dear Robin, I do like the way you think."

Someone had Mouse. Someone was going to pay.

And he had to admit to himself, Robin was quite sexy when she was pissed off.

Some women were romanticized by flowers and poetry. Robin was quite fond of the willingness to shed a little blood.

"What are we waiting for?" she asked. The duo headed out the balcony again. This time Otto took the lead, having a greater familiarity with the names of streets and which were which. When they descended on an old warehouse, not unlike the one that Otto and Mouse had lived in, Robin was only just barely hanging on to her human façade. Her ears were longer and more pointed, and her eyes were more red than green.

Otto would have put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention, but the way her eyes flickered between their usual green and a bloody scarlet like the actuators' heartlights made him think better of that idea. Just because you weren't afraid of a shark didn't mean you stuck your hand in its mouth.

"We count four people in there," he said in a low voice. "Mouse is on a platform in the center. Now, I'd rather not have her see us make more of a mess than necessary. I'll get her out, and then we'll take care of things."

With only three enemies inside, Otto was certain he could do this himself. Indeed, some part of him sneered at the very thought of needing anyone's help in a fight- since when did Doctor Octopus play the team-up game? Team-ups were for heroes, like Spiderman and Daredevil, not for him.

Alright, so he'd teamed up once or twice in the months before he'd met Mouse, back when he'd hired on with certain crime lords. But that didn't mean he liked working with others.

The look in Robin's flashing eyes, however, made it clear that cutting her out of the fun was not an option. Besides, she'd gotten herself all dressed up for the occasion. It wouldn't be fair to deny her the treat of ripping open the men who'd kidnapped Mouse.

Robin nearly rolled her eyes at him. As if she needed him to tell her what was happening inside. The scents were enough, as were the sounds of three adults moving around. Still, she smiled a feral smile.

"Perfect," she said. "I'll be sure to leave you something to play with."

She crouched at the edge of the skylight, claws clicking against the glass in anticipation. Then Otto had jumped, and she went after him, landing in a crouch.

Mouse lay on her side, curled up what had probably been a loading dock at some point. She was only barely awake, blinking against the light filtering through the windows. Her body felt heavy, and all of the sounds were stretched and out of sync. She was distantly aware of rope rubbing on her wrists, as she tried to coax her limbs into moving.

There was a loud crash, and Mouse managed to turn her head enough to see a blurry shape that looked like Otto landing on the ground. She tried to smile, but was too tired. She really just wanted to go back to sleep. But she wanted Otto to know she was okay.

Montana hadn't expected the girl to come with Ock too. But there she was, jumping in right after him. If that even was the girl- she looked awfully weird right about now, with her eyes glowing red like a coyote's. Damned unnatural, that was.

Before the two had time to react, Fancy Dan had shot across the warehouse so fast that Montana could barely see him. The suited little man slammed into Ock and ricocheted away. Ock went sprawling, his metal tentacles flailing helplessly. The goggles he'd been wearing were knocked off his face as the man swore.

"Get 'im!" Montana yelled. He raised his gloved hands and pointed at Ock and his freaky little girlfriend. Two bursts of concussive force blasted into them as they struggled to get reoriented, followed by the charging Ox.

Robin had to jump and dodge the actuators once Otto was hit by a surprisingly fast human. Then the air itself pushed them back as she prepared to jump the man. Otto yelled as his goggles were thrown from his face. But Robin waved a hand, and they were returned to their proper place. Shaking her head to clear it from the blast, Robin rolled to her feet, and upped her speed.

The human in the fancy suit might have been too fast for human eyes, but not for her. To her, he was still crawling. She moved with a grin. Landing on the human's back, she grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked. "Naughty boys shouldn't cheat at their own games," she whispered in his ear.

She wrapped her feet--now furry clawed hobgoblin feet--around his waist, and twisted. With a violent jerk, the man's upper body twisted with her, and there was a satisfying crunch of metal and the subtler snap of his spine. Jumping off him for now--she could come back for more fun later--she let him collapse in a cry of agony.

Another of the hard blasts hit her in the back, and she flipped forward, trying to roll in the air with the force. Robin landed hard, snarling. She eyed the man who was firing the pulses, and threw a Glamour blast to knock him off his feet. See how he liked it...

Otto's back was complaining as he scrambled to his feet, but he ignored the twinges. No time to focus on that, not when there was a behemoth charging at him, clearly intent on squashing him.

not today no octopus roadkill for you buddy

Otto braced himself with the lower actuators and directed the upper two to deal with the oncoming attacker. With a mental sniff of derision, Flo and Mo yanked the man off-course, slinging him into the wall. Now that they had a breather, they could fetch what they came for.

He rushed to the platform where Mouse lay. Quickly scanning the girl, Flo assured him that she was alright, just drugged. This was no place for her to wait for it to wear off. Otto scooped her up and was on the move again, dodging a third blast as he rushed for the skylight.

Mouse's brain registered that she was moving, and a glimpse of actuator told her that Otto had her. Weak fingers managed to gain a little bit of a hold on his coat, and she closed her eyes as she fell back asleep.

Robin moved so fast that human eyes could barely track her blur. She threw more Glamour blasts at the man firing at Otto, giving him cover as he moved to get Mouse out of the way.

As Otto cleared the roof, Robin let her human façade fall away. Time to show these stupid little boys who they were messing with.

Cradling Mouse against his shoulder, Otto quickly went to the rooftop of the next warehouse over, where he hoped she'd be well clear of anything that happened on the battlefield. He kissed the sleeping girl's forehead and set her down in the middle of a broad flat expanse where she wouldn't inadvertently roll off. She'd be safe enough here until he and Robin finished.

The actuators snapped, hissing and screeching. Mouse was safe. Time to go have some fun at the expense of others. They were ready to tear and wrench and crush.

Otto, for his part, was ready to let them.

He didn't bother to cross the roof to the skylight this time. He simply had Mo and Harry rip up a section of roofing to create a hole, which they then dropped through.

One moment, Montana was watching Ox 'dance' with the Ock's freaky girlfriend, who definitely wasn't a pretty little thing anymore. The next, a two-by-four swung by a giant had hit him in the back.

That wasn't a two-by-four, he realized as he tumbled. It was one of Ock's damn tentacles.

A cold, predatory sneer spread across the scientist's face. Thought they could kidnap Doctor Octopus's daughter, did they? He'd show them. He'd teach them that no one touched his Mouse.

An actuator shot forward and snatched up the man in the red-and-yellow suit, tossing him into the air like a rag doll. Like a striking snake, it then darted up to catch him and slam him into the floor. Boards crunched under the impact.

"Hah!" The laugh was harsh, devoid of any human warmth, like a triumphant crow.

Think you can toy with me, do you? Nobody messes with me and lives to tell the tale. Never again.

A cold, ancient hobgoblin laugh filled the air. The Puck was most pleased by this side of her lover. She leaped up, causing the Ox-man to run under her and into a post. Extending her claws, Robin crouched, her needle-sharp teeth glimmering in the dim light of the warehouse.

"'I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier,'" she quoted softly. An ominous whispering wind swirled through the warehouse. She grabbed Ox's shoulder, claws biting through the metal of his suit.

"'Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound/a hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire...'" Robin pushed him to the ground, and jumped into a squat on his chest. Her red eyes glowed, her smile stretching beyond human standards.

"'And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn...'" With every sound, she slashed into his suit. Thin rivets of blood began to run free. Ox whimpered, starring up at this monstrous creature. The idea that she had once been a pretty young woman was now laughable.

Robin ripped a hole free in the suit. There were sparks, but she ignored them. With savage force, she plunged her claws into Ox's body, through his diaphragm, in the space just below his heart, and in between his lungs. He screamed once.

"'Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn,'" Robin finished. She calmly licked the blood from her claws, as the man struggled to breathe. But with his diaphragm muscle gone, there wasn't much hope for that.

He watched, sneering, as the actuators flung their hapless victim first one way, than another, sheer centrifugal force popping joints and snapping tendons even inside the protection of the padded suit. No amount of padding would save you when you were being manhandled by the actuators. He was quite pleased to be able to teach this insolent bastard just that.

The cries eventually stopped, and Flo hurled the man across the warehouse one last time. Otto turned to track the man's flight. Then he froze as he saw- it. The biggest monster of his memories, a shadowed figure with hair standing on end, for a moment looking much, much bigger than it had any right to, eyes blazing.

The monster looms large over him, belt in one hand, the stink of alcohol emanating from the beer can it had crushed in its other meaty fist.

He cringes back, broken glasses in hand, hoping that he can avoid the monster's wrath but knowing he can't. This is one monster he can't hide from.

"You think I can afford a new pair of glasses every month?" the monster roars. It raises its hand. He sees the light glinting off the metal belt buckle, and knows how much it will hurt when it strikes him.

"You're raising a coward, Mary!" the monster continues. "Look at him! Too scared to even look at his old man!"

It was true- he can't look at the monster as it looms over him and grabs him by the scruff of the neck. But he can't hold back a terrified whimper. He knows what's coming.

"YOU LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, BOY!"

Robin stood, and gracefully hopped off the body. She licked her hand, cleaning her fur of blood and muscle. Then she caught sight of Otto looking at her. The expression on his face was full of terror and haunting. Robin's ears flattened, and she slipped back into her human form.

For a moment her control wavered, and she stepped behind a column to gather herself. Taking a deep breath, she approached Otto carefully, making sure her human face was firmly in place.

He was whispering to himself, wide eyes still staring at something that was no longer there. Robin almost fled--there had been a reason she hadn't wanted him to see her true shape. Not quite looking at him directly, she stayed a few feet away from him, hands in her pockets.

"Sorry," she said softly.

He was whimpering in spite of himself as he struggled to throw off the memory of Torbert Octavius. "I'll be good," he whispered to thin air. "Please, I won't break them again, I promise-"

Pain flared above his elbow, and something metallic screeched in his ear. Otto jumped- and the vision was gone. No Torbert, no belt, no ineffectual mother pleading in the background. No broken glasses. Just the warehouse, the stink of blood and other, less pleasant things. Just the actuators, curled around him and chattering both aloud and in his mind with concern. Just Robin. No monster.

No Torbert.

"Robin," he whispered, closing his eyes as he tried to reassure himself and slow his pounding heart. "Robin. Not him."

Robin wasn't sure what he meant by that. She just awkwardly patted his arm, still not quite looking at him. "Come on," she said. "Best get Mouse home."

Her face was flushed with embarrassment. It didn't help that Oberon was prodding her, trying to find out why exactly she'd gone feral on mortals.

She could see enough of his eyes behind the goggles to see them refocus, and she turned her back on him and headed up to the skylight. Robin didn't have the nerve to face her lover right now, when he'd seen her like...that.

she's right get mouse home make sure she's safe wake up otto nightmare over

Otto shuddered and nodded, the reaction coming automatically despite the fact that the actuators could sense his mental assent. He'd thought he was finished being tormented by his father. It seemed that the opposite was true, not if a sidelong glimpse of Robin in her true form could trigger a flashback that strong. Damnit. He hated getting little flashes like that out of the corner of his eye.

Taking a deep breath to try and steady his nerves, Otto returned to the rooftop where Mouse still lay drowsing. Fortunately, she hadn't been out long enough to get chilled- the entire fight had taken only a few minutes, and he'd taken care to leave her on a patch of metal that had been in the sun for several hours. He gathered his daughter up and hugged her tightly, before removing the ropes from her limbs. This was reality- the cold winter day, the actuators swarming around him, the little girl asleep in his arms. Torbert was a dream, a memory, nothing more substantial.

time to go home

Yes, definitely time to go home. Mouse should at least wake up in her own room.

They returned home over the rooftops at a slower pace than they had taken to the warehouse. Once there, Otto tucked Mouse into her bed and sat by her, head in hands.

Robin lingered at the warehouse as Otto took Mouse home. One of the mortals was still alive, albeit paralyzed. And they needed information before he was put out of his misery.

When the bodies were found the next day, there wasn't much for the police to work with. It was concluded that they had been attacked by wild dogs, and DNA testing confirmed their identities. The police decided not to question what sort of wild dogs could have torn through the metal of the strange suits.

She detoured to a mansion in the upper part of the state, where a collector had a particularly fine Scotch obsession. After lifting a few of the finer bottles from his collection, as well as a box of cigars, Robin headed back to Otto's apartment.

The gifts were left on the lab table. For a moment Robin considered leaving, but instead she drifted over to the doorway of Mouse's bedroom. "She alright?" she asked softly.

He looked up as she arrived, and nodded. "Still sleeping," he said. "I hope not too much longer."

Getting to his feet, he went to her. He'd exchanged the heavy goggles for his sunglasses, which were both more comfortable to wear and allowed Robin to see more of his expression. He'd come to a conclusion while he'd been sitting with his daughter, and he needed to act on it as soon as possible, before he lost the nerve.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked the faerie quietly. His eyes were fixed intently upon her.

A flicker of fear crossed Robin's face, before she shoved it away and nodded. "Of course," she said softly, as they walked into the lab. She spun slowly to face him, and tried to look as non-threatening as possible.

This was it. He was going to tell her that he'd been wrong, that her monstrous being was too much for him. That he didn't want her around him or his daughter anymore. And she would tell him that she understood, and disappear from their lives quietly. And then go find something that she could rip into.

Damn, this wasn't going to be easy for her either. Especially since Otto didn't know if he could tell her about the exact reason he needed her to do this. How would she react if she knew that a badly-timed glimpse of her hobgoblin self had triggered such memories of his father?

He rested his hands on her shoulders and lightly kissed her forehead, hoping to reassure her a little bit. He was not about to tell her to get the hell out of his life. If he'd had to guess, that was what she was afraid of right now.

"I need to see you," he said quietly. "Please, Robin. I need to see what you look like."

Robin frowned, and blinked at him. Not what she had been expecting, exactly. Maybe he was on the fence about the decision to have her leave, and needed to assure himself that he was doing the right thing. Very well, she could give him that.

"Alright," she said softly. Stepping back from him, she lowered her Glamour, and stood still for him to examine.

The female hobgoblin was not terribly different from her male counterpart. Triangular face, with long pointed ears. Her eyes were red, with fine, needle-sharp teeth and wicked claws. Course brown fur covered her body, thinner in some places than others. The hobgoblin always had a wicked joy in being naked before the world, instead of covered by Glamour. But Robin shoved away its bloody desires--thankfully not so strong, so soon after the massacre.

Otto studied the creature before him, forcing himself to memorize every detail. Now that he got a good look, he wondered how he could have mistaken the hobgoblin for the shadow of his father. This creature was small and slight, with an almost feline cast to her features. The only real similarity that Otto could see was the way the crest of long hair stuck up on her head. Torbert's hair had done much the same thing.

Torbert, though, had never worn such a look of wicked glee.

At last, Otto nodded. He'd seen enough. Now if he caught a glimpse of the hobgoblin, his memory would be able to fill in the blanks with what was actually there rather than with a conjured demon.

"Thank you, Robin," he told her. "I've seen enough."

The hobgoblin shimmered out of view, to be replaced by the woman. Robin stuck her hands in her pockets awkwardly. "Would you like for me to go?" she asked.

Otto frowned for a moment, puzzled by the question. Then he realized that she must think he'd asked her to show herself because he wanted to ask her to leave.

"What do you think?" he asked, stepping forward and kissing her firmly.

Robin stepped back to catch herself, but quickly returned the kiss. She growled softly in the back of her throat, increasing the intensity a little. The hobgoblin had had its kill. Now it wanted sex.

She leaned forward, kissing Otto hungrily. It was almost more a mark of possession than a simple expression of love. "Are you hungry? We missed lunch." She was hungry. The scent of blood had gotten her ravenous. Of course, there was something else she was hungry for too. But now did not seem to be the appropriate time.

He blinked and returned the kiss, a little surprised at her vehemence but not unhappy with it. It was quite a kiss. Combine that with the way she was playing with his hair, and he had a pretty good idea of at least part of what was going through her mind.

He really would have liked to watch her work. Pity.

"I'm not very hungry," he admitted. "And I was thinking," he added softly, "That we could actually use the bedroom this time."

Robin stood, wrapping her arms around his neck, and kissed him again. "Bedrooms are nice," she said with a grin. "Didn't think you even had a bed."

"So I don't always make it from the lab to the bed before falling asleep," he replied, chuckling. "But it's there. I'll show you."

He'd gotten the impression from her that her usual trysts were conducted in a far different manner than what they had. This time, he thought she might like something a bit closer to what she probably was used to. With a twist or two.

He kissed her briefly, then stepped back, directing Mo and Harry to coil around her shoulders and hips and lift her off the floor. Smirking a little, he carried her to the bedroom and deposited her on the bed.

"See? I have a bed."

Robin raised an eyebrow at him, a mischievous smile on her face and a faintly hungry look in her eyes. "Indeed you do. It's very comfortable."

Propped up on her elbows, she wagged her eyebrows, and most of her clothes vanished in green shimmers. She was left in a set of lacy red undergarments, looking at Otto expectantly.

Oh. Now there was a trick. Otto had to grin at the view, which had just come along much earlier than he'd expected.

"Very nice," he told her, reaching over to run a hand across her lower leg before turning his attention to the obnoxiously complicated business of getting his sweater off. It was always more trouble than it was worth threading the actuators through the holes in the back.

Robin decided that his clothes would be too much trouble. At least the sweater. So she snapped her fingers, and it was gone, from his back to hanging in the closet.

She left his pants. Somehow, she never got tired of watching men take their pants off for her.

Well, that certainly made things easier. Flo swiveled around to see where the sweater had gotten to and spotted it in the closet. Good. He was rather fond of that sweater. He didn't want anything to happen to it.

He undid his trousers and stepped out of them, joining Robin on the bed and pulling her into a kiss.

Robin returned the kiss eagerly, something between a purr and a growl rising from her throat. At least now they were getting somewhere.