Marvel : the Author

Hi, everyone ! Short chapter this one. Like I said last week, the passion has burnt out for this fic. There's still hope it'll reignite but… I don't think it'll happen soon.

Let's talk about Korean drama. Specifically, one adapted from WEBTOON and that you can watch on Netflix : Sweet Home. If you like horror, thriller and psychological drama, it's the show for you. Even I love it and I'm not particularly a fan of horror ! For an abdridged synopsis : people contract a disease that turn them into monsters. We don't know how or why. But the monsters are pretty much immortal so… yeah, World's end ! Watch it !

And as always, you can visit my Patréon for advanced chapters and other stories. Also, I'll take all your stones, reviews and comments, thank you !

Enjoy the chapter and until next week ! See ya !

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Okay, now that it's decided, how am I to go about accomplishing this ? Although I'm motivated, I'm also injured. I'm not even at half power without my magic. All I have is my body and my opponents are… Sandman who's an army of one, given that he's basically distracting all my friends while the others are working together. Rhino who I can't hope to match strength-wise. All that's left is Doctor Octopus.

The mechanical octopus versus the mutant one. Feels like the set of a hero movie… Is he supposed to become my nemesis or what ? I can't do that to Peter ! Octavius is known for being part of his rogue gallery. I can't NTR my friend !

I shake my head at the absurd thought. Octavius isn't his lover and I ain't trying to steal him. At the moment, all I want is for our fight not to have been for nothing. Besides, he's the egghead of the group. The one most likely to think up contingencies against us for a potential re-match. I can't let him just get away.

Using my tentacles, their elasticity and my enhanced strength, I fling myself toward him by leveraging a lamp post. I fall short by about a hundred feet, but I still manage to reach the building he's perched on. I climb the rest of the way. Thankfully, he hasn't reacted to my actions so perhaps he hasn't seen me, yet…

With this thought in mind, I reach the rooftop and slither one of my appendage toward his ankle… And pull ! He's briefly unbalanced, before he anchors himself with his own mechanical arms. As he turns his head towards me, he simultaneously throws a tentacles in my direction. By that point, I'm on the rooftop and manage to dodge by rolling in the gravel, feeling the painful and sharp small stones cut into my skin, even through the robes. Still, I manage to divert his attention from… Spilling whatever it is that he's spilling on Rhino. Hopefully, it's enough that he won't be able to break out of his restraint like Doc Ock did. If not, well… I'm not sure I'll be able to continue the fight much longer.

As things are I'm finding it difficult to evade most of my current opponent's attacks, especially given the fact that they're apparently multiplying somehow… Is he like a manga character moving so fast as to leave remanent images or… Yeah, no. That's probably just the concussion. Trouble is, I don't know which is which. And my reaction is abysmal too ! Forget fighting against two, fighting one seems impossible !

Panicking a little and without any better idea, I instinctively reach for my opponents limbs as they brush or hit me and lock them. Half a minute later, all of our limbs are basically unusable and we're looking at each other in the eyes. At least, I assume that what Octavius' doing. Everything still blurry for me and my pupils might be dilated or something…

As he rears his head back, I use my superior strength to throw him into the ground while still keeping a hold of him. And then, after perhaps ten seconds of him struggling to get out and myself thinking how I am supposed to restrain him again, I decide on a… somewhat unorthodox and barbarous method : I slam the back of his head into the ground repeatedly ! I try and keep it moderate though, since I don't actually want to kill the guy… Which is probably why it takes so long.

Finally perhaps, half a dozen times, I suddenly decide to change tactics. While He's dazed, I wrap one of my tentacle around his neck and squeeze… Seeing how he suddenly opens his eyes in realization and doubles his effort to get out from under me, I assume it's working. Now, my dad said that you don't need to keep that up for too long before knocking him unconscious. 20 seconds tops ! That said, 20 seconds, when the guy's fighting like his life's on the line is pretty long.

Finally, Doctor Octopus stops moving. This fight, as short as it was, has still left me dazed. Or rather, even more dazed than I already was. Slowly and with difficulty, I get up to my feet. Stumbling back toward the heavy tank, the smell emanating from it soon clues me in on its content. It prickles my nose, almost makes me tear up : vinegar. No idea if it diluted, but… Why ? How can it dissolve my ink ?

Then, it hits me. Ink ! No matter how powerful and game changing my power is, at the end of the day, it still leaves a very real impact on the world in the form of writings and drawings. Like the humidity of the sewers when I first discovered them, and possibly other common substances like in this case vinegar, can affect it. Even dissolve it ! While I've taken steps against the effects of water such that now it only weakens my magic without erasing it completely, vinegar is a natural solvent.

Whipping my head down the building toward Rhino, I see him struggling against the concrete… He's getting free ! And I can't hope to win against him…

« Shit ! »