A/N Scrapperton seems to have a biological brain, considering what he looks like and the fact that he couldn't transfer his soul into a 100% mechanical body since he cannot control the Power Primate.
I couldn't decide on the rating. Let me know if I should change it to M!
Drip… Drip…
The clear plunk of water resonated throughout the empty room. The hollowness of the drip's echo allowed the room's single occupant to realize the room was monumental, vacant, and paneled with smooth metal. Originally, Chiro thought the drip comforting; The never-ending chime, being the only sound in the room, let him know he had not gone deaf- He had already gone blind.
The boy had realized such when he had first woken up and scrunched up his face, assuming his eyes had been blindfolded. But there was no tell-tale rustle of cloth. No rough fabric or black ooze siding across his nose. Just unrelenting darkness.
Drip… Drip…
Heart-wrenching fear squeezed his ribs and shoved his mind further into peril. The hours of endless waiting and listening for something, anything, to happen allowed his thoughts to drift to cruel places, the repulsive nature of them swelling with every extra moment spent chewing over maybes. It might not be water, he thought, it might be blood-
No! He must not let his mind go there. But the jarring thought kept crawling back, like a blood-soaked baby crawls to its mother's shredded body.
Drip… Drip…
Chiro could not prevent himself from thinking it, for thinking was the only thing he could do. Blood…it might be the blood of a teammate, one of his monkeys, hanging limply from the ceiling, cold and dead, blood oozing out of their glassy eyes and running down their face like tears.
And just like that, Chiro was relieved for the lack of sight. He would not be able to bear it if he not only heard the sound of death dripping but had to look it in the face as well, the face of a dead, decaying monkey.
Drip… Drip…
Chiro wanted to cry out in guilt and shame. Twice he had comforted himself during his imprisonment. Twice he had thought, At least it's not Antauri. The silver monkey had no fluids running throughout his robot body and therefore could not be dead and dripping blood into an ever-expanding red puddle on the floor.
Chiro almost smiled. At least he had not failed everyone in his family. There would be someone left once he got out of his prison. Someone to hold. Someone who was truly there and not just in his own mind.
Drip… Drip…
Thoughts of love turned into thoughts of panic. How would he apologize for the death of his teammate, surely it was one of them, hanging from the ceiling, dripping blood into a swelling pool of blood? What could he possibly say to make things alright? Chiro cursed himself. How dare he think about saving his relationship with the monkeys rather than the monkeys' broken hearts?
His head throbbed in pain, the stress of the situation harshly spinning his mind into a frenzy. He vaguely noticed that his heart didn't feel as frantic as his brain. Then the chaos crunched to a halt as a new thought seeped between the cracks in his mind, What if I was drugged? This is what it's like, right? Does it go on for this long?
Drip… Drip…
Was this why he couldn't see? Was this why he couldn't feel anything beside the dulling pain in his head?
Drip… Drip… Drip… -ep… Beep… Beep… Beep…
Time faded back into existence as the methodical drip of blood became an clear, echoing beep. This time, Chiro did smile. Well, he believed he was. The lack of feeling made him unsure. Could one ever be sure of anything with their senses dull as pencils and time a thing of the past? Was one of his friends not dead after all? He hoped that was the case.
The beep slowed. It was interesting to hear a different sound after all that time. Or maybe after no time at all. He was not sure.
Beep… Beep…
Perhaps it was not even a beep. For all Chiro knew it could have been a horde of irate Shuggazoomians chanting, "Death! Death! Death! Death!"
Death!… Death!…
It was. It was the blood of a teammate spilling onto the metal floor and it was a call for vengeance he heard spewing from the mouths of livid civilians. He was the leader and yet he was the reason for a hero's downfall. Memories pounded his brain; A flash of lighting; The buzz of saws; The smack of metal against flesh; A cry of anguish; A streak of mauve; Darkness.
Death! Death! Death!…
They'd been captured and it was his fault. He was sure of it. He deserved whatever punishment his capturer had in store for him as he did not deserve to simply die. There are worse things than death.
The warrior, now turned forlorn child, wept. Well, he might have been, but he could not feel the tears running down his face. He supposed the dead monkey could not feel the blood seeping from their eyes, either. Time became a crushing weight on his mind. How long would it be until his true punishment would be carried out?
Tick… Tock…
How cruel time alone could be when one must brave it alone, in the cage of one's own mind.
Tick…. Tock!…
He wished he could die. He wished that his mind's endless wandering would cease. He wished for his true punishment to arrive.
Tick!… Tock!…
Why did time have to come rushing back into existence? Perhaps it was time for his damnation.
Tick tock!
Without warning a deafening shriek shot against his eardrums like a stereo on the fritz. Chiro tried to cover his ears to stop the sound from crashing through his head, but his hands did not move. Then the shriek stopped as quickly as it had come. A dull thud lobbed its way through Chiro's head. It was the first real feeling he'd felt in hours. Days. Weeks.
Moments ticked by as Chiro calmed down, but his newfound relief dissipated as a muffled voice broke through the haze in his mind.
"Great Scott! Of all things to happen... I am ever so sorry, my dear lad. The internal speakers were on and conflicting with the outside noise. No wonder you wouldn't respond. If you'll hold on for just one more moment I'll have everything fully functioning. Tick tock!"
There was a click and suddenly Chiro's body felt as though it had been struck by lightning. All of his nerves were on fire and absolutely screaming in pain. But, like the shriek, the pain was short-lived.
Feeling had come back to Chiro's limbs. He attempted to lift up an arm, but the simple action was too much for him. He now knew his body was exhausted.
"W-wh… goin' s'on?" He wanted to ask what the magnetic menace had done to him, but his words came out slurred. The movements his jaw made were foreign.
"Now, now, there's no need for that yet," said Scrapperton. "We still need to finish up your eyes. You want to see what a splendid job I did on your upgrade, don't you? Tick, tock!"
"U-up… gr'ade?" Chiro began to panic. His heart started to thump wildly and something next to him started to beep quicker and quicker. Scrapperton couldn't mean what he thought he meant, could he?
"Calm down, Chiro, you'll appreciate my efforts once you get a good look." Chiro felt some wires shift over his stomach and heard some tools clink together. Scrapperton spoke happily, "I had to do it, you know. You are the leader of the Hyper Force, the leader of five mechanical marvels! It is only right that you, too, have such superior engineering at you disposal!" Another click. "And now you truly are the leader of robot monkeys! Tick tock!"
Perhaps it was all a dream. A delusion brought on by the hours of suffocating thoughts flexing and pulling at his brain. He shut his eyes before he could glimpse any part of his body. He hesitantly tapped the metal table. All hope vanished when he heard the din of metal hitting metal.
"No…" His eyes shot open and stared down at his new body. Where there should have been a white uniform and orange gloves were metal plates, hinge joints, and colorful wires yet to be clipped and hidden beneath more metal. Some dry blood specks decorated his silver chest plate.
He wanted to be sick. He wanted to tear off the metal and rip out the wires that must have been covering up his true body. He wanted to feel flesh when he lifted up his hand and pressed it against his cheek. But that would never happen. It would never happen again.
"Change me back," He whispered.
"My dear Chiro, you have been granted a great gift! I have ameliorated your old, human body and provided you something much more fitting of your position. Now you and the monkeys are a true collection! A full set!"
Scrapperton waltzed out of the room, and came back in carrying a large, dirty mirror that he placed in front of Chiro.
Chiro felt ripped in two as he raised his head to look into the mirror. He imagined that the beeping had quickened with his heart. Panic and illness clawed at him and the room seemed to spin. He stared in horror, not at his reflection, but at what lay in the background. Behind him a body hung from a metal rope, blood seeping out of the chest and dripping off a foot onto the floor. The scalp had been severed off and placed on a table beside the body. The eye sockets were bare, the eyelids drooping. Blood bubbled out of the tear ducts and spilled onto the orange scarf hanging loosely around the neck.
Darkness crept up into Chiro's vision once again, but this time he welcomed it. Anything to escape the sight of his dead body hanging lifelessly from the ceiling.
A/N Originally the dripping sound was just going to be water, but then that didn't make much sense to me so then it became a liquid Scrapperton was letting seep into Chiro's head to keep his brain hydrated. In the end I decided it would be more dramatic if it was his own body bleeding.
I was lazy this time and didn't read it all back through. Alert me of any grammar errors.