First of all, I was questioned by a guest about confusion regarding Hana's father, and I thought I made it clear at the end of the previous chapter: it was MONKEY FIST who fathered her, after Exchange but before Gorilla Fist.
This chapter is gonna be Hana, Monkey Fist and Yono oriented, mostly, in case anyone sees fit about a petty complaint of any kind - but we hardly saw much of them interacting thus far, so it's time they did. And remember, neither of them know they are father and daughter...and don't forget Monty boy has these "feelings" he doesn't know how to act upon.
Chapter Nine
Oh, hell...
She was doomed for sure. Stoned Kong himself and the monkey beast who reached her shoulder took her deep into India, rather than Japan or even Africa. He thought to just allure her, or something? Yeah, that had to be it. Well, it wasn't working. If he was thinking of getting her guard lowered, he was dreaming.
That is, IF a stoned monkey man could sleep and dream.
"How do you even survive, huh?" she taunted, deciding to have some fun with him, and she succeeded in making him growl, but he didn't look at her again.
"I'm immortal now, Han - I do not need such trivial things like food, water, sleep and such anymore. I live for nothing but one thing."
Hana spat at him, but it made him and the monkey demon laugh at her fire. Frustrated, she leaned back against the copter chair in the back as he brought it to land. If he wasn't going to untie her, as well, he was planning to carry her. How the hell would she try and flee him anyway? He was made of stone; he could overpower her physically. What else could he do?
Wait...did he say he didn't need food, water and the likes? He really cared for nothing but his idiotic, fantastical schemes of taking over the world - but look at him now. He was dead serious this time...
...and that also meant he would forget about her well-being. He would see that she was just like him and did not need the littlest things in life that made a huge difference to happiness. Happiness was a word that meant nothing to anyone but himself, for his own benefits. She never knew men like him, but she wasn't going to play idiot. She could find secret ways to entertain herself, maybe, until her plans were in motion. There was ALWAYS a way out.
Her hair had come undone during the crash, so the locks were frizzy and tangle about her face. Suddenly, panic flared within her. Was Crispin all right? "Guess you don't know what it's like to experience happiness," she said to Monkey Fist, just to give him a hint to her worries about her husband. If this son of a bitch killed him...
That did get a slight turn of the head. "That word means nothing to me but usefulness and unbridled pleasure in power over the weak. Which is what you will learn when you help me accomplish my plans for this wretched, pathetic world. Here in these parts is an ancient relic which has long since been a hidden weapon shared between the Yono and the Han in the olden times before man and simian alike came to existence..."
"AND I TOLD YOU NO!" Hana thrashed against her bonds again before a hand grasped her hair and yanked her backwards. The force would have snapped her neck in half, but instead, she gagged and gasped for breath. The monkey's breath was hot on her skin.
"Behave, or you will end up frozen at will until we reach our rendezvous," the former Yono purred against her ear. Instinct overtook rationale as Hana decided she could risk biting back against a monkey who was sure to do the same to her like an average ape.
Her teeth never reached their target which happened to be none other than the hairy wrist. Yono growled at her, baring his canines. "Vixen!" He released her then and threw her forward. She fell off the seat, hitting the back of the pilot's chair. Monkey Fist didn't feel the impact, but he heard the sounds.
"Get back in your seat, Han, or you will regret it."
"Stick a banana up your rocky ass, and don't tell me what to do! I'm not an object! And stop calling me 'Han' - I am HANA! I'm not the weapon you can use for your idiotic plans that you never got to accomplish; I am a human being with a life to live and a family who loves me! What did you ever have, huh, Lord Monty Fiske?" Hana raved, enjoying the power it gave her in captivity. "A lonely old man who wasn't happy with what his family fortune and career gave him and wanted more. Shut off the world because he saw people as distractions, unless they give him what he wants." She cracked a nasty grin as she found herself back up on her own will without either's help, thrashing her head back and slapping away Yono's hand when he dared to try and touch her again.
"Touch me again, ape trash, and I'll bite you for sure."
~o~
"Barely a week, and I never thought I'd leave that place!" Crispin said, throwing his hands in the air as he and Ron departed from the hospital through the automatic glass doors. Finally, they were on their way to find Hana and Stoned Kong! "Where do we begin, brother-in-law?"
Ron exhaled sharply. "Well, I left Jimmy and Leslie with my parents since they hadn't seen them in a while," he said lightly. Both grandkids had both sets of grandparents - the Stoppables and the Possibles together since they ALL knew each other like pure-blooded family, clean and happy without any threats of impurity - but the decision had been difficult in deciding which pair to leave the rebellious Jimmy and sweet-mannered Leslie with. It was decided Ron's parents since Kim's were often busy, and uncles Jim and Tim were away with their father on a big project, both twin sons sharing the passions of their father.
Crispin could not help but laugh, leaning back in the seat, relieved that he could move his neck at last. "I never thought you'd be free of the burden." He didn't mean that as outright hostile towards Jimmy Stoppable, but when was the kid going to grow up? He hoped Leslie wouldn't be like that one day. He remembered one time Jimmy was a happy little kid during his and Hana's high school years...
Don't you just hate the passing boundaries of time?
The Stoppable family van had a communications system installed to spare the trouble of hand-held devices that were illegal on the road. "KP, you found anything yet?" Ron asked, being the one behind the wheel and keeping his attention on the road.
Her face was grim. "We're still trying, Ron, but now that Crispin is out -" Her attention shifted to the other member of the family. She was somber, which meant she had something, but he wouldn't like this. His blood turned to ice, his heart becoming a frozen piece of meat in his chest. "- I think he needs to hear about what we talked about."
"WHAT?!" What the hell had she told her husband that they could NOT tell him while he was in the hospital?! "What happened to Han? Is this what this is about?"
There was a vein in her forehead which told him he'd pissed her off by mistake. This had been hard enough for her as it had been for him and Ron, who swallowed and kept his eyes glued to the road. "Calm down, Crispin," the woman snapped before reverting to stoic again and clearing her throat. "We haven't had luck finding her, but to be safe, we DID comb out every past known hiding place of Monkey Fist in the past - even his ancestral castle in rural England. We found the noble family who moved in after him, after his announcement of 'death', were all turned to stone, and by the looks of it, every uncovered archaeological relics that we never found before were taken. He was definitely there, but it's unclear if he will ever come back after getting what he wanted." She scoffed in disgust, Ron joining in.
"Yeah, that was all he ever did - get what he comes for and leaves the other with nothing," he spat, doing so out the window just out of habit and rolling it down halfway to let the nice breeze into the car.
"I also spoke to my contact in Yamanouchi." Ron's eyes lit up then.
"Yori - how is she doing now, KP?" he asked with a little smile that she met only halfway.
"Fine, Ron, now pay attention for Crispin's sake!" she chided. "Anyway, Crispin, she provided me with some...disturbing information that she and the late Master Sensei before her had kept sealed away for the sake of integrity as well as Hana's protection."
"Which is?"
A dramatic pause before he was rewarded - no, mortified - with the answer.
And Ron couldn't help but moan and jerk the car to a stop at the same time the light turned red. Crispin hoped they wouldn't get into a car crash at this time of day, and if he did ask to be put out of his misery, what would it do for his wife who was somewhere across the globe hostage by -
"Han is the illegitimate daughter of Yori's older sister...and none other than Lord Monkey Fist."
OH, SOMEONE LET HIM THROW HIS STOMACH CONTENTS OUT THE WINDOW! His stomach rolled out of control in spite of himself. Crispin Cromwell had never felt so out of control with learning the truth about his wife's birth. His brain possessed enough sanity to assume Han knew nothing about this - yet - just before he choked.
"R-Ron, pull over at the closest street you can find!" He really needed to throw up. "And Kim - I assume you can tell me more!" he said sarcastically when the light turned green for Ron to screech them forward and then round a corner - he didn't pay attention to which side - and then stopped for Crispin to fling the door open and vomit all over the pavement. Relieved after four throws, he wiped his mouth after grabbing a couple tissues from the compartment and closing the door. Ron turned the engine back on and guided them forward now. Crispin wanted to pass out, but Kim had more to say, and he had to listen to everything this Yori woman told her...
Someone...put him out of his misery. To think that this bastard fathered the woman he loved, abandoned the mother for his insane mystical quest and paid the price in the end - and came forth a child that the young aunt and the old master of the ninja school had to protect but saw her as a weapon against him and the malevolent Mystic Monkey - and now Hana was ensnared, not knowing Monkey Fist was her father.
And come to think of it, did Monkey Freak know she was his daughter?
~o~
Rather than touching down directly into India, he took them high to the Himalayas which bordered the country as well as Tibet. What more could you ask for when what he came here for awaited here in these sacred mountains? This was where the link to the Yono and the Han's balance rested after centuries of never being found.
This had been where Hitomi must have hidden it. In that time, Lord Monty Fiske had discovered the prophecy and demanded she tell him about it, but she said she'd rather die than betray her honor than she already had by being involved with him. She was dying anyway, but how? He didn't care then as long as he would get the information out of her. Besides, what use was she if she was already on the verge of leaving the world? He'd be gone by the time she snitched on him to her fellow warriors.
Perhaps he underestimated Han when she caught on, having recognized it from research memories in life, and she'd been here on a grant at one point in her career as a geologist. Monkey Fist sniffed; perhaps she could be of use after all. She was a rock and earth expert, was she not?
Now that he found himself looking at her as he carried her bound form in his arms, the former Yono beside him and scowling ever so like he - she was still wearing her wedding dress - and the girl unconscious because he had to slap her himself, knocking her out in an instant. He felt nothing, not even the texture of her skin against his fingers, or her long hair. Nor could he smell her. He cared very little for these things. But the sight of her vulnerable and unconscious in his arms like she had been when he pulled her from the wreckage beside her fool of a husband...
The only thing that sparked him was this fact. Her vulnerability, the image of her beauty from the cherubic, wide-eyed infant she once was.
"She's quite the sight, is she not?" Yono asked him slyly, making him glared down at the smaller monkey.
"Only in this current state, nothing more. What are you implying, hmm?"
The simian chortled and crossed his arms as they trekked through the wilderness. Ahead was a vast landscape of snow. Here would be the old home of Hitomi he had not been to in years, but he remembered it well. The ninja way was modest and harsh, humble if you ask. This girl would learn to live like this whether she wanted to or not. It was time she learned about her true place, her heritage. And in addition to her clothing, he would make sure that she had something accommodating to this country. Even though she was Japanese by birth, he wondered how she would fare with Hindu clothing...
Yono was enjoying rattling what he had as substitutes for his nerves. "I can sense it from where I am standing, Monty," he said matter-of-factly. "You haven't forgotten, 'loving the weapon makes it unstoppable'. You know it, deep down, but you haven't fully brought it to the life despite the training." His yellow-green eyes hardened. "You DO know what I mean, do you not?"
Monkey Fist growled in his throat. Yes, he did...
"My love for power will make me invincible...for LOVING the weapon makes it unstoppable."
He lived for power and power only; the Han was the completion in his journey. He would not rule the world alone without the Han, and even though he had no real concept of love for so many years, not even now, it meant that he loved this woman in his arms. The one who defeated him years ago proved a worthy opponent, and now she would be a worthy partner. Although he would have to do everything in his power to keep her from leaving him.
In a matter of time, the old cottage came within range. And beyond it, according to the old map records, the location of the link of the two mighty deities would be for him and Han to grasp.
~o~
Her face throbbed; was she bruised?
Her eyes snapped open immediately, unfazed but aching immensely. She'd pushed him too far, and as a consequence, he slapped her so hard she passed out. Snarling, Hana sat up and surmised her situation now. She found herself on an intricately patterned fabric of wool. She recognized it as Hindu, liking it, but had a difficult time enjoying it since she knew what her problems were. He had to be using luxury to try and sway her.
She was going to let him guess again.
The bed itself wasn't all that got her attention. She looked around and saw that she was in a cottage of some kind, made of stone, wood and the likes. It was very cozy, but it didn't have much. She would die of boredom here, but that was his intention, right? He took relish in seeing those he considered insubordinate suffering.
"OH, YOU BASTARD!"
He'd gone too far now! Looking down at herself, she saw she was half-naked! She wore only her Japanese silk undergarments, but while they were soft, they provided little warmth for her body when the cold temperature seeped in. Was this what he was doing now, stripping her down so she couldn't run? Oh, he was so going to pay!
And if he touched her...!
She stopped her mental ranting then and there when her attention fell on the chair beside the bed. There lay a Hindu sari, the top part being beige as well as trimming the exotic floral cape in splashes of earthy, jewel tones to compliment, and the skirt was lush gold. Laying in its "lap" was a carved wooden box carrying what she assumed was jewelry. Opening it, she did see that it was. The necklace had at least a few layers of mother-of-pearl, along with a bangle bracelet with a smooth surface and a pattern matching the cape. The earrings had emeralds and seed pearls forming blossoms. Finally, the golden ring was designed into a jaguar, set all over with diamonds and black ones for the eyes.
Just like she thought: the bastard thought he could bribe her with jewelry and a nice exotic dress! She refused to wear this, even if he would force her.
"Not yet dressed, are we?"
Hana spun around and stood in all her glory at the "man" who ruined her life. Despite her half-dressed state, she would show him that despite the fact he was ten times or more stronger than she was, she still wasn't afraid of him. "No way in hell I am wearing this!" she snapped, putting the box down and folding her arms across her chest. "I don't care if we are somewhere cold, or where the hell we are, but screw you and whatever extravagance you think you can use on me!"
Monkey Fist snorted and broke the side of the door in a dent so powerful it wouldn't be repaired. "Suit yourself, Han, but you have only one option and not two. Either you wear that or you are forced to contract hypothermia as I force you through the snowstorm outside within days - or even confined in here while I do the work myself."
"Not much of a choice, like I thought."
"But either way -" he replied snidely. "- you will do as I say or I will snap your neck like I should have done the first time. Your time here will be as unpleasant as I make it...unless you are a good girl if you know what's good for you."
