11495/Trapping an Octopus

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Trapping an Octopus
Date of Scene: 17 May 2020
Location: Central Manhatten
Synopsis: Otto gets caught up in an explosion at one of his apartment hideouts, and just barely manages to survive with the help of the Phantasm. Meanwhile, Grifter watches, debating the cause of the explosion... and what Phantasm is.
Cast of Characters: Doctor Octopus, Grifter, Phantasm (Drago)




Doctor Octopus has posed:
The Foot/Octoboy war has been going on for a while now. Otto has proven to be surprisingly resilient and amazingly good at it; his prowess with his tentacles at this point giving him a reputation as a master of combat with them.

He has to be, to survive as one of the leaders of the coastal resistance against the Foot regime.

The war has dragged, to be sure. Otto has been hiding more often than not as he considers his next move. The Foot clan... hunt and consolidate their positions in city legal systems. It's a vicious cycle that has had intense hotspots all across the city, given Otto can't take on the whole clan at once.

A dozen or so at a time? Otto can handle that without much issue... and so the war has continued in guerrilla raids.

Today though... the Foot has managed to track him down.

*BOOM*

An apartment in an apartment complex near the center of New York suddenly explodes at one of the higher floors.

Out of it comes a knocked out Otto Octavius, falling freely to the street.

Grifter has posed:
Wait. What? An apartment blew up?

Grifter is heading there already, just...faster now, slicing through traffic as he jams the bike's brakes on and leaps off. Okay. What the....

Somebody tried to blow up the building and failed? Or maybe they just wanted one apartment? In which case they did a decent job. Hmm.

Grifter shakes his head and stays by his bullet bike. If he needs to get outta here, well....he can run, or ride. If not, well, he can help get folks out of the area? Something like that. He's in communication with his team advising them of the situation and purses his lips.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With it being Sunday, Nick's attire is much more cleaned up from his normal knitcapped Goodwill attire. He had church in the early morning but there was a long list of errands to run afterwards. As such, the musician is dressed in a slighly more humble version of the attire he wore to his gig the previous night. A light blue dress shirt and black dress pants are the attire of choice. His hair is still pulled back into a nub of a ponytail and he still has the backpack from earlier. The fullness of it indicative of the errands already run so far as the escrima sticks are not the only contents now.

And so with a full bag, errands mostly done, and feeling a bit hungry, Nick is heading back to the condo in midtown. And then, the sound of the explosion causes for him to turn quickly, eyes widening. "The fu-?!"

Seeing some of the damage and a figure falling, he turns, running towards the scene as he slides the second strap on to secure the backpack. "Shit shit shit shi-"

Doctor Octopus has posed:
Debris falls, but not nearly enough to do any serious damage; whoever set that explosion knew what they were doing... and it was enough for Otto to just barely make it out in time.

Doctor Octopus himself is knocked out, so he has no control over those tentacles... and the flail in the air as he continues to drop to the ground.

If he isn't caught, it doesn't take a genius to realize he's gonna turn into red paste on the ground.

Grifter has posed:
Grifter's already got a line to 9-1-1. Explosion in....

Now the dilemma. Does he help out or, hmm...no. No. He's been ordered to secure the scene and help out with rescue efforts when the NYFD and EMS get there. So for now? He's waiting, directing people to safety and to get away from the building. Looking over and, more to the point, up....eff it.

Cole's breaking his own personal mandate...or...no, no. He 'borrows' a box truck and parks it hopefully under where Ock is plummetting. Who cares if some U-Haul truck gets wrecked, if the guy doesn't get turned into street pizza. Sprinting back to his bike, Cole rifles through his saddlebags for anything to help. Meantime he's still got his eyes fixed on the falling figure, too.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Running, running, running, taking advantage that everyone's attention is on the explosion, Nick feels safe enough to shift as his attention is on the plummeting figure. Features fading becoming more of a shadowy mist of shroud with the glow of eyes and jagged teeth peeking out of the abyss under the hood, he does not LOOK like a hero. Nor do the claws or the growl as the figure laps contribute to the effect. But for the person falling, maybe it's good enough

The shadowman plays grasshopper and in this case the grasshopper jumps JOLLY HIGH as the figure seemingly defies physics in its jump to intercept the falling Ock. Claws dig in, latching him to the unconcious form before he starts to work his power in to Ock as well.

It is a good thing Ock is unconcious. It'll make working with him so much easier.

Doctor Octopus has posed:
Slowing down Otto? That's easy enough to do. He's about halfway to the ground when Phantasm gets to him, and slowly those tentacles fall victim to gravity, going past Otto as they hand in the air like dead weight.

Everyone on the ground is out of the area and gawking by now, with plenty of phones aimed for the slowed down Otto.

Grifter will have no problems with catching Otto now.

Grifter has posed:
It's not Grifter himself. More a handily placed box truck. Cause why not? Grifter's smart and he's also got his phone out and watching it all. Shaking his head Grifter looks over and shakes his head again. Looking worried and uneasy at what's unfolding. And what the hell is that. Demonite? Or....

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The shadowman holding on to Otto clings to the now phantasmed Doctor. With the other mind not fighting with him, he treats the new form as an object, holding on to it as the downward motion of his jump goes into effect, the general ignorance of how gravitational velocity works being a GOOD thing at the moment as the figures move downward. When they get to a reasonably safe distance from the top of the box truck, the phantasm lets go, taking away his power from Ock, and therefore, any risk of accidentally phasing vital organs through the vehicle. But to those watching, it just looks like an unceremonious drop.

The figure lands next to the doctor, crouched down, looking to him curiously for a few moments before looking back up towards the building, looking for the opening Ock came out of.

Doctor Octopus has posed:
*Plop* The body drops. Otto is still out, but he's breathing. Those tentacles are even twitching slightly occasionally along with his real arms; a clear sign of their direct neural link.

The hole above is apartment sized. Clearly, The explosion was meant as a trap... and given the insane scientists making waves lately in the underworld of New York, he probably got caught off guard.

Still, he did manage to escape out the window before the explosion. Perhaps he saw the signs just a bit too late?

Grifter has posed:
Okay as landings go. Dignified. Sorta. Grifter mentally scores it a 5.5 for dignity. No that's nott a judging category, grr. Shushh already! He's looking up to the hole. Okay. Well that changes things. He's...well he's stunned and a little worried and a lot surprised and all that. Mostly since Grifter's definitely not been expecting explosives here in the Big Apple. Nah.

Grifter though shouldn't be shocked. Instead on instinct, he's staring at the...the....thing by the doctor. Is that what put the bomb there? Or is that a demonite? Hmm. Maybe...maybe. Personally, Grifter doubts it but he needs to report this to his bosses. Oh, great. He'll probably get put on paid leave since Halo Corporation may think he was involved or...or...

Maybe tghere's a way to explain this so he's not on the list of 'folks who could blow up an apartment'. Marlowe's gonna get more reports from Grifter when he gets back to the office...

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With Ock out cold but still alive the phantasm stands up, backing up on the roof of the boxtop before running forward, leaving it to rock back and forth as he takes to the air in another leap. The arch seems off for those with an understanding of physics. The upwards trajectory, the arc, or the downwards motion. But as the figure gets closer to the building, he ends up latching on to the ledge of a window a few stories down from the hole.

Doctor Octopus has posed:
It's around this time that Otto's eyes... open. Blink. Then, he looks upwards, towards the destruction.

"So much for that idea. Simpletons couldn't even do that right." Otto grumbles as he slowly stands on top of the truck. Those tentacles move to into arches, providing balance as his own body is unsteady, shaken. His hand goes up to his face as he groans in pain. "Likely concussion, if not a fracture... I'll need to be careful." Otto states to no one in particular.

Going up the building, Phantasm has no problems with getting towards the hole; It's cleanly destroyed, but 'only' that apartment is.

Grifter has posed:
Grifter shakes his head and watches this. Looking ovr the building, he sighs and looks a bit restless. Glancing around, he gets on his bullet bike and shakes his head. Oh he's not leaving...yet. Just prepping for a quick exit if needed.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Climbing up to the opening, the phantasm pulls himself inside and has a look around. Seeing no one inside, he glances around for any sign of fire. Finding nothing of the sort, he turns around, glancing out of the hole to the scene below. Well, THAT side's going to be looked at a lot. But- other options for leaving aren't all that great.

He backs further into the apartment, looking to a building across the street.

Doctor Octopus has posed:
Those around have their phones watching Otto at this point, Grifter being just another face in the crowd. "Cretins had to ruin that option..." Otto grumbles, before all four tentacles come up and stabilize. Within moments, Otto is 'running' on all four tentacles, heading for an alleyway between buildings, before effortlessly climbing at an angle upwards.

Within moments, he's gone, turning a 'corner' as he rounds a wall, out of sight.

Up above, Phantasm has no problems finding his way; most of the tenants have cleared out. He also finds signs of fire further into the building; the outermost area was apparently just caught in the blast.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
With no sense of smell, touch, or taste, any signs of fire that may have entered into the apartment beyond the visible itself are lost on the Phantasm, leaving the creature to assume nothing out of place.

Taking a running start, the phantasm runs towards the opening in the apartment wall, leaping high.

The path like before is a mockery of physics as he arcs across the street for the rooftop across the way.

Grifter has posed:
Grifter is just one of those faces in the crowd, watching. His own phone's out but for different reasons. With a twist of his hand, the bullet bike springs to life and rockets away. Hey, 0-holy hell this is quick is the bike's trade/ And, oh yes, Grifter's used to it. He doesn't give a hoot about the cab driver he cut off, or the middle finger, he just returns the gesture and hunches over the bike. Time to get moving...