Chapter Text
You knew before you even got to your office that it was going to be a busy day at work, several customers were already lined up to see a teller and another couple were filling out slips on the side counter. You sighed as you headed over to your office, smiling at your coworker behind the counter as you passed. At least the day would go by fast, you thought as you typed your password into your computer and began checking through your emails, hoping to respond to a couple before your first appointment of the day. You were interrupted by a quiet ‘excuse me’ and you looked up to see an elderly woman smiling down at you, it seemed your first client was there and early.
“Hi Peggy!” You greeted her with a cheery smile, motioning for her to sit. Well then, down to business.
“All set.” You smiled at Peggy a short while later, handing her a small book of starter checks to go with her new account. “You should receive your full booklet in the mail within five to seven business days…” You began your closing spiel but before you could get further a loud crash sounded from the front entrance followed closely by screams of fright.
“What’s happening?” Peggy asked, clutching her purse in her lap.
“I’m not sure.” While your office had glass doors, the way it sat meant you could only see directly out of it, not what was going on at the front of the bank. You rounded your desk but before you made it to your door a large mechanical arm smashed into the tiles in front of your office, the force of it shaking your glass doors enough to shatter. With a cry you instinctively covered your head and turned your back as the glass broke, your heart beginning to pound in your chest. You didn’t need to turn around to know what, or rather, who that was but you did anyway. Standing with his back to you was none other than Doctor Octavius, or Doc Ock as the news had been calling him. You watched as one of his metal arms shot out, reaching over the counter to none too gently rip the register draw out and dump its contents into a bag another one of the arms was holding. He continued down the line and you could hear an occasional yelp from behind the counter each time an arm grabbed another drawer, your coworkers were probably trapped back there but he didn’t seem to be paying them any mind. Or you for that matter but how long would that last? You glanced back at the woman you were helping earlier who was still cowering in the chair. Dammit.
“Quick, behind the desk!” You hissed at Peggy who stared at you wide eyed. “Come on, now!” Taking her by the arm you pulled her up and around it, ducking behind its bulk to shield you. Every crash had you both flinching, just how long did it take to empty out a bank?
“Hey Doc! Catch!”
That voice! You and Peggy made hopeful eye contact. Stealing a glance over the top of your desk you watched as none other than Spiderman webbed a loose cash drawer and flung it at Doc Ock who easily batted it away with a metal arm. Whatever happened next was blocked from view as they moved away from your office.
“Too slow Doc!” If Spiderman was here that had to mean the cops weren’t far behind, right? Maybe this would be over soon.
Your thought was cut short as a chunk of floor smashed into your office, causing Peggy to shriek, and to your horror a metal claw sank itself into your desk and pulled it away, presumably to throw at the webbed hero but you were otherwise occupied by the second metal claw that was swaying in front of you both. If you didn’t know any better you could have sworn it was looking at you with curiosity.
“I tire of your games, boy.” You knew who was speaking and he sounded close but you kept your eyes glued to the claw. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Peggy scramble up and your heart leapt to your throat as the claw in front of you turned towards her.
“No!” You cried and shot up, adrenaline pumping through your veins as you moved between the claw and Peggy. Just beyond what had been your office door Doc Ock turned to you, eying you curiously for a long moment. A moment that seemed to drag on forever and you found your face flushing under his scrutiny.
“Hey, over here!” Spiderman called out and you saw something flying in your direction and flinched backwards but without even turning a metal claw caught it and threw it back. Instead you saw the corner of Doc Ock’s lips turn up and the metal arm shot out and circled around your waist, pulling you off your feet and to him, in a much gentler motion than you would have expected, that left you tucked into the side of his chest facing him.
“Well, Spiderman. What are you going to do now?” His voice oozed with mockery.
“Let her go.”
“Hmm, don’t think I will.” The metal arm tightened around your waist making you gasp, fighting the urge to try and yank the metal around you as you knew there was no point. This was not how you expected your day to go, essentially being a human shield for New York City’s biggest criminal. You looked up at him, even with your feet several inches off the ground you still had to look up, and he tilted his head to the side but with the dark sunglasses obscuring his eyes you couldn’t tell if he was looking at you or his foe.
“Come on, Doc, she’s innocent.”
“Then I guess you better not follow me.” With that you felt him begin moving, quickly making his way, or was it your way?, out of the smashed bank entrance and onto the street.
In seconds you were rounding the corner onto a sidestreet and you wondered how far exactly he was going to take you with him but your thought was immediately cut short as one of the metal claws crashed into the stone building next to you, followed by a second, and the two of you begin ascending it. All thoughts about being kidnapped flew from your mind as the ground beneath you got smaller. Your breath caught in your throat as panic set in and your hands came up to grab onto the front of his leather trench coat.
“You know, this is a hostage situation…” Doc Ock smirked. “You’re not supposed to be enjoying…” His sentence trailed off as he looked down at you, spotting the look of what was surely terror on your face. The climbing stopped and you managed to tear your eyes away from the ground and back up to him.
“Heights?” He questioned, brows furrowing behind his glasses. You manage a small nod, swallowing hard against the fear, before inhaling sharply as the metal arm around you moved. Your grip tightened on his coat and you’re half expecting to go falling but to your surprise his human arm slides between them and wraps firmly around your waist, pulling you even closer against him. He started climbing again but this time much quicker. Instead of looking down you buried your face into his chest, inhaling the scent of leather as you tried to concentrate on anything but the feeling of free air whipping around you.
After what was probably not even a minute, but to you had felt like eternity, he was hoisting the two of you onto the roof of the building, gently setting you onto your feet. The metal arm retracted but his arm stayed around your waist until your shaky legs found balance.
“Apologies my dear, it was not my intention to scare you.”
You nod again, realizing you were still clinging to his coat. Letting go you took a step back, smoothing out your shirt that now had dark marks where the metal arms had been, and doing anything to avoid looking back at him. “I’m sorry.” You found yourself muttering as you finally glanced up at him, but as soon as the words left your mouth you questioned yourself. He had kidnapped you, why in the world did you just say you were sorry? He must have had a similar thought as he let out a short laugh. You felt your face flush and you looked down in embarrassment.
“No need to apologize, I'm the one who should be for the heights… as well as your shirt it would seem.”
You saw the tops of his shoes come into view but you stubbornly refused to look back up. What were you even supposed to do now? You supposed if he were going to kill you he could have done it already so what was he doing with you?
“You seemed unafraid in the bank while everyone else ran or hid.”
Clearly he hadn’t seen you hiding behind your desk but you weren’t about to correct him. “I…” You found yourself unsure of what to say as you looked back up at him, his expression unreadable behind his glasses. For the first time since this had started you found yourself really looking over the man in front of you and you had to admit he cut an attractive, if somewhat intimidating, figure. “Well...um…I…” You began again but the wail of sirens below made you both turn.
“Ah. Well it would seem that is my cue to leave.” A metal arm nudged your hand upwards and he took it in one of his own, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it much to your surprise. If you weren’t already blushing you certainly were now, catching your first look at his warm brown eyes as he watched your reaction from overtop the rims of his glasses. He smirked and pulled back with a wink before taking off towards the other side of the building. Pausing briefly in front of the roof access door he yanked it off its hinges, sending it clattering to the ground, before disappearing over the edge of the roof leaving you there alone wondering what just happened and how you were going to explain it when you got back to the ground.