Chapter 25

-Trials out of Darkness

"Cassia!" Gibson yelled as the bone monkey held the capuchin by her neck. He struggled against Jinmay, but for some reason, the robotic girl was frozen and kept the scientist firmly rooted to the ground, like she was lost in a trance.

"Choose," Cassia whispered, gritting her teeth with hands pressed over her eyes.

Surprise came when, instead of feeling the agony of death, she was gently placed on the ground. Toxic green eyes stared into her brown orbs, an unreadable emotion radiated off the violent monkey in waves as she inched away. Jinmay released Gibson at last as they rushed to her aid, grabbing her arms to help the organic monkey sit up. Cassia rubbed her sore throat, looking up just in time to see the silent monkey begin to stalk away.

"W-wait!" Cassia shouted, pushing her way past the two, freezing up when the formless slowly gazed back at her.

Gibson pressed himself between Cassia and Vex, hands transforming into drills as he gritted his teeth in warning for the predator to stay back. The action noted as the tuxedo pelted monkey inched back to calm the flaring rage thrown her direction.

"Gibson, don't," Cassia snapped while grabbing his shoulders to get a word in edge wise.

"No Cassia, we are not trusting her, not again!" He raised his drills, charging up for a shot strong enough to reduce the rabid primate to ashes—or at least he hopped would. "I've seen the true face beneath that mask, there's no truth to it!"

Slapping a hand over his mouth, Cassia pulled Gibson to the side and returned him to Jinmay's restraint. "Don't trust her, but trust me, please."

When the male made no sign of rebuttal, Cassia turned to look back at the lifeless eyes waiting for her to speak.

"Vex please, we got out, but we have no knowledge of this place… we need your help."

Vex didn't respond, just stared at the organic.

Cassia boldly stepped forward, "Please, muster whatever courage you have left in your heart!"

The bone monkey's gaze darkened as she turned to look down the dark hallway.

Xxx

Everyone ran in swiftness as Vex led the trio down the hallway.

"Quickly!" She warned while taking a sharp left down another dark corridor. "Skeleton King's spies cover the place, if they see us, we'll be swarmed in seconds." A gap cut them off, Vex glanced around till she spotted a broken metal plate suspended from the downgraded wall. Rushing over, she bashed her shoulder into it and slammed the plank across the small chasm, allowing the trio safe passage.

As they went further, Vex stopped them at a four way tunnel crossing—eyes studying them before heading to the third one. "I will take you to leader, but after that, you must go alone."

"Wait!" Gibson shouted, halting the females. "We need to save the rest of the team!" He glared at Vex, "Or are you just trying to lure us into a trap by taking us directly to Chiro?"

Vex paused, looking back down the other tunnels as she ran a stressful hand down her pelt, fear evident.

"You understand the risk of your request… possible to free them? Da, but if we are caught, we are done."

Silence followed after, leaving the four to drift through ideas till nearby screams shattered their train of thought. Putting an ear to the air, Jinmay recognized the blood curdling howls of Sprx, she gasped and took a step in the opposite direction.

"Guys, I heard Sprx!" She pointed down the first hallway. "I-I don't know what to do, we need to save Chiro to!" The pink haired girl panicked with two hands cupping her cheeks in worry.

Cassia looked to Vex while supporting Gibson by his arm. "Is there any way we can free them quickly?"

"Da, there is…" gritting her teeth, Vex eyed Gibson and Jinmay's wounds. "If you truly wish this, we'll have to split. The red and gold ones are held up in the same pin, you three can go together to rescue them. Leave the green and orange one to me."

"What about Antauri?" Jinmay asked.

"The silver one is further ahead, move quick, and we can gather the ones you need and get to him."

Gibson strained at this plan, anger blistering at the formless monkey, but seeing as he did not have a choice, he relented.

"Fine! But I swear to you, if you trick us again, I will terminate you!"

Nodding, Vex pointed down to one hallway. "Take the middle path, patrol rarely goes down there. If you see any, do NOT engage—the clone of Mandarin has recruited guardian formless, much more aggressive than regular." With that said, she turned and sprinted down the other path.

Gibson cut Cassia an uneasy look before Jinmay took up the front and led them down the tunnel. Ice cold winds nearly freezing them down to their servos as they kept as close to the wall as possible—minding the bone monkey's warning of the guardian formless.

Xxx

Formless had Nova's hands chained to the floor as they cracked her back with a whip. She steeled her face, hiding the pain as the soldiers hissed in anger at her refusal to satisfy them with an anguished scream.

Sprx was chained to the wall, being forced to watch his mate get tortured by the abominations. Tears trickled down his cheek as he tugged against the restraints, only to have himself get pitifully yanked back. "Stop!" he demanded, but the soldiers ignored his calls and continued to crack Nova across her back. Bruises and cuts painting his own body in a variety of shapes from the monsters' artistically violent talent.

After the tenth strike, Nova started to shake as she slumped lower to the ground. She spit some fluids from her mouth before stubbornly growling at their assaulters, left optic bearing a small crack in its pink frame.

"Is that the best you waxy goons can do? Cause I've seen butterflies do worse."

"Nova, stop!" Sprx begged in a desperate attempt to discourage his mate's prideful attempt to piss the monsters off.

But that did nothing but worsen the problem as the monsters grabbed an even bigger whip. This time, they moved over to the pilot and snapped him across the legs. Sprx yelled in sheer agony as they took their punishments out on both him and Nova.

Before more weapons could be brought, a rock bounced off one of the formless' helmets. A loud slap echoing off the walls as the mineral landed in the ice and rolled away. They stared at each other, slowly turning their heads to observe a small organic monkey looming in the door way.

"Hey, leave them alone!" She shouted, but froze when the minions abounded their victims and advanced on her. "Uh oh," black claws reached for her as she leaped away and ungracefully climbed up the weapon's wrack.

As the formless grabbed her tail, two red laser beams cut through the air and sliced one guard in half. They hissed in surprise as Jinmay bounded from above, delivering a tornado of swift kicks and reducing two more into a pile of ooze. She held her sparking side as she bent down, Gibson slinking by her and grabbing the keys sunken in the black puddle.

"Well done girls!" Gibson congratulated as he rushed over to their downed allies. "Nova," he whispered in worry at the sight of the grizzly marks cutting across her back, leaving the gold monkey's jetpack in ruins. Sprx in a similar condition as the blue scientist worked on freeing Nova's hands before going to work on the pilot.

"Big brain, glad you could make it…" Sprx whispered as his brother displaced the heavy shackles to the floor and helped him stand.

"Well, someone had to come to the rescue," Gibson halfheartedly teased as Cassia helped Nova stand. "But we can joke about this later, right now we need to leave this room."

"Cassia?" Nova asked in sheer surprise, "How on Shuggazoom did you get here?"

"Long story, tell ya later," she sheepishly grinned while assisting the warrior from the room.

"Mind sharing what's going on?" Sprx sniped as Gibson kept a firm hold on his arm to avoid falling over.

"We're getting you all out of here, then going to save Chiro." Jinmay stated valiantly while leading the way.

"Okay, and how are we going to do that in this condition?" The pilot noted while gesturing to their battered bodies. "We're running on fumes here, and to top it off, we don't even know where to go."

Cassia froze at the last statement, Nova felt her tense up and cut the earthling a confused state.

"Uh, okay guys, about that… we got additional help, so please… let's try to remain calm when said-help shows its face, okay?"

The tone she spoke in already casted an uneasy feel to Nova as she glanced at Sprx, not sure on what to make of the answer.

"If someone is helping us, why would we not be calm?"

On cue, Vex came around the corner, Mandarin on her back with Otto limping after her. The green monkey holding a look of serious confusion as he threw a typhoon of questions to the dark monkey. She answered none of them as she nudged the orange monkey with her tail to keep him awake, spotting Cassia and them nearby.

"I managed to cut the power and got both of them out—" Gold fist bashed into Vex's cheek, causing her to drop Mandarin and stumble back.

"You… you!" Nova yelled, anger seeping through her eyes as the bone monkey stood back up. "We trusted you, and you do this!" She raised her up fist and took another swing at the formless monkey.

Vex did not dodge as the warrior's fist painfully connected to her jaw, jarring her into another hazy spell. She kept still as the gold female vented her anger out on her. When she refused to respond, Nova eventually ran out of steam and dropped her fists after bloodying the dark face.

Whipping the fluids from her snout, Vex glued her eyes to the untrusting faces.

"I…" she struggled, looking back to Otto's big black innocent eyes, but found no words to appease the looks of pure anger.

"I? That's all you can say? You have any idea what you done?" Sprx yelled, pushing Gibson off him and summoning his magnets. "Now, you have the audacity to show up? I'm gonna—"

"Guys!" Cassia yelled, holding her hands up to calm the enraged couple. "Please, I know how this looks, but she's helping us!"

"That's what she wants us to think, Cassia!" Sprx corrected, "She says she's going to help, but the second you turn your back, she'll stab you." He glared a fire so strong, it made Nova's flames look gentle. "I remember what you said back on the robot…"

Before Cassia could argue, claws gently took her wrist and guided her to stay quiet. With a low voice, Vex spoke to the pair.

"Before I accompanied you into space—I made no promises."

When the looks darkened, she raised her hand to still their anger for a moment.

"I know what I've done, and still can't, I make no promise when there's no intention to keep them. But I swear… I will help you this time."

Nova and Sprx exchanged looks before slowly dropping their weapons, Vex sighed in relief, but the anger still do not leave their faces.

"Fine, but don't even THINK we'll drop our guard. One move, one hint, and this time—"

"I'd question your gullibility if you did otherwise." Vex cut them off, leaning over to help Mandarin stand back on his feet.

Mandarin snarled at the female holding his arms, wanting to strike out at her, but not having the strength to do so. Otto kept back, watching the display with mixed feelings as he rushed away to hug the rest in relief to see them alive, shortly followed by Mandarin, who did not join the hug fest.

"What's your angle then?" Mandarin spit at Vex, "We are alike, don't do nothing unless it somehow benefits ourselves. So what is it? Afraid Skeleton King is going to throw you away when you've used up all your self-worth, so by helping us, in a sense, you're just saving yourself?"

Coldness darkened over her eyes, silencing the orange male's accusations.

"There's nothing left of myself to save." Coldly, she marched passed the group as they huddled together to keep warm, ignoring their confused stares as she motioned for them to follow.

"Where are we heading now?" Sprx asked while gripping his wounded leg, struggling to keep up.

"To help the silver one," Vex answered without looking back.

Their eyes lit up with hope as the demon monkey took them around another corner. She jetted her arm out, stopping them as search lights ghosted around the cliff's edge, close to their feet. Motioning for everyone to stay quiet, she stepped out into the light, the spider bots dropped from their perched positions and scanned her. Upon recognizing the formless, they turned their gaze and marched on, Vex waved at the rest to follow her.

"But what about Chiro?" Jinmay asked, looking to the others in stress. "Is there any way we can just split up again?"

"No," Vex snapped before the others could agree with the bad idea. "The young one has until nightfall, he can't be harmed—least the ritual would fail. With time, act smart, and gather your entire team so odds will be for you, not against."

"Make sense, but how far are you going to help us?" Gibson noted with the way Vex phrased her answer.

"I'll take you to your leader, but that is all. If I am caught, I will have to obey the tyrant." She led them to a flight of stairs leading up to the next floor. "You'll be on your own when you find the child."

The group hid their surprise as they tiredly climbed the massive flight of stairs. Otto huffed as he helped Gibson support Mandarin with the long climb.

Mandarin said nothing as he watched his brothers feverishly hold onto him when he was unable to walk. Looking around, he saw the raw power of confidence ink their banged up faces. His snout twisted in hurt at how weak he must come off, unable to carry himself.

Noticing this look, Otto nudged the elder monkey with his head innocently. "Mandarin, are you okay?"

When Mandarin didn't answer, the mechanic sighed and looked away.

"Thank you," he whispered, alerting the green cyborg who whipped back to look at him in surprise. "For helping me."

"Of course, that's what brothers are for." Otto smiled.

Gibson kept his hand clasped over Cassia's as they climbed closer to the top. "Why is it so far?"

"Sterling had to be moved to a higher guarded facility," Vex answered as they finally approached a big opening cracked through high iron pillars. Her gaze danced about the room, spying empty cells with skeletons hanging from rusted chains. "He is nearby."

With overwhelming excitement, Nova and Sprx ran forward, only to have Vex leap in front of them, cold eyes stopping them dead in their tracks. A claw pressed to her snout, wordlessly telling them to stay quiet as she motioned them forward.

Up ahead, Antauri howled from his torture cell, his entire body placed in a containment grin with only his head free, similar to how the Probe confined and defiled him. Helmet off, wires were stabbed into his mechanical brain, electricity pulsed from the forced connection as he yelled in more pain.

Formless hovered over him, a smaller individual wearing a lab coat paced around him. This ooze servant was much slimmer when compared to its hulking guards, googles covered its face with only white fangs protruding from the inky skull. Fingers poked at Antauri's slotted brain, examining one exposed port before moving to plug in another wire.

Antauri's soul was so overwhelmed with agony, all he could think about was his teammates. Fear of what has become of them left him paralyzed and spiritually helpless, hope slipping through his fingers little by little the longer he pondered reality.

"What did you… do to my family?" He demanded, but to no avail as another wave of agony crashed over him when the formless doctor stabbed another cable into his brain.

From above, Gibson and everyone watched in horror at the sight of their second in command.

"They're trying to reprogram him," Gibson sweat dropped before darting his gaze over to the group. "What shall we do? There's way more formless here than before."

Silently, Vex stood up and moved to the entrance, signaling for them to wait as she stepped into sight. The formless spotted her, but paid no heed and went back to watching the enraged silver monkey.

The doctor eyed the bone monkey and hissed, a hand cocked to the side with ooze dripping from its mouth. Vex shrugged to the creature as it shook its head and returned to work. Antauri panted when some of the pressure was released, his body trembling.

Vex stalked to the other side of the table, looming over the trapped monkey as his eyes found her. Shock ran through his systems as his teeth tightened, eyes forming to angry slits when recognizing the familiar face. The only response he got was the same cold eyes looming down at him as he if were nothing but a hallucination.

Just as Antauri ripped his gaze away, some of the pressure suddenly vanished from his head. Vex pulled the wires out one by one, quietly as not to alert the guards dumbly watching the formless doctor as it kept its back to them, claws fumbling over an object on the table.

"Here to finish the work?" Antauri snarled out through gritted teeth.

Vex didn't respond as she quickened the pace, but stopped at the silver monkey's next set of words.

"Silence, how fitting… as no ounce of truth could ever be spoken through your forked tongue."

Green eyes darkening, she removed her claws from his frame and repositioned them to rest on his cheek. Lowering her head to his snout, the male steeled himself in shock, to which she paused, snout centimeters from his till removing herself and settling for his ear instead.

"Want truth? Very well." Her arms nervously trembled. "My… evasion of you was not of spite, but out of affection."

Falling quiet at the confession, she ripped the last cable from his head and moved to unlock his collar, till a laser struck her side and knocked her down. Antauri gasped as the formless doctor stood off to the side, smoke rising from a small laser gun.

"Magna-Ball Blazer!" Sprx yelled, slamming his magnets together to summon an orb before tossing it to his enemies.

The attack pulled the weapons from the soldiers' claws as Nova leaped over Sprx and rammed her fist into two guards, reducing them down to useless piles of ooze. Joy exploded within Antauri's core as Otto rushed in, saws ablaze as he cut the formless doctor down in seconds. Jinmay and Gibson rushed in to finish off the rest of the guards as Cassia darted over and pulled the bolts from his neck—freeing the silver monkey in a burst of light.

"Monkey team…" he breathed in relief, uncaring if his brain was exposed.

As Gibson drilled the last formless to submission, loud clanking drew everyone's gaze forward. Vex, with Antauri's helmet in hand, offered the reflective piece to the second in command, ooze swirling around her bullet wound to seal it shut.

Seeing the physical sign of the ooze, Antauri took his helmet, shocked at the sight. He slapped his helmet back on as Vex stalked past him without a second glance.

"To much noise was made, hurry." She rushed the team out the nearest exit.

As they ran, Antauri looked to someone to give him an explanation, to which Jinmay was quick to explain.

"It's a long story, believe me… everyone is thinking the same thing. But, we need to trust her this time." When the silver monkey gave her a doubtful look, the girl quickly spoke. "She's taking us to Chiro."

Head perking up, Antauri's gaze danced around from face to face, hope and doubt fighting a battle from within his mind.

"He's alive then?"

"Da, for now," Vex called from the front. "If you wish to keep it that way, I advise quickening the pace."

Antauri breathed a deep sigh of relief as he rushed forward with everyone, sticking close to the monkey's tail. As they ran, the silver monkey couldn't help but glance to the female's scarred pelt.

"You're a formless?"

Vex paused, glancing back to him and nodding before picking up the pace again. At the end of the hallway, they were greeted by a lovely dead end. Sprx studied their new dilemma as he threw his hands up sarcastically.

"Great, a dead end, weren't you supposed to know this place, Vex?"

Raising her hand, she motioned for them to be still as she leaped to the ceiling and into a big wall gap.

"I'll be only a second," she reassured before rushing into the darkness.

As they waited, Sprx huffed and spoke the words that had been nagging the back of his mind. "Okay, I know we're all thinking it, so just gonna say it—I still can't even wrap my head around this. First she lies about helping us, hands us over to Mandarin's clone, and now helping us again…?" He rubbed his helmet, a headache drumming his brain.

"I to question our judgement if we're going to truly give her the benefit of an earned doubt... Her sudden change of behavior is disconcerning at how unpredictable she's proven to be." The blue scientist theroized as everyone muttered their mixed feelings of the situation.

"Yea, I'm not sure either..." Otto unwillingly agreed, despite his hesitance to do so.

Cassia listened to the team's uneasiness before clearing her throat to steal the spotlight. "Guys, I'm not going to defend her actions, but you need to hear this. Back on earth, when I first met her, she was not, and from what i gathered- still not, like this."

"Oh really?" Sprx chuckled with fake enthusiasm. "Mind explaining that one? Cause the only quality I gathered is she's a seriously good liar."

"Actually, Vex is not the best liar. It all went wrong when she dreamt of molding herself into one of the strongest fighters. Innocent enough at first, till it accidentally became an obsession and it led her down some dark paths she came to painfully regret later."

Cassia smiled sadly.

"After Chiro was born into their lives, she finally started to come out of withdrawlment. I discovered everything: her obsession with keeping up good hygiene, fascination for romance novels, strange phobia of zombies or gory stuff, her allergies to dairy products—like me with bananas—, and how her adoration for gentlemen can leave her a blushing wreck. Heck, even more, she's so frugal, I call her a borderline tightwad!"

Antauri looked contemplatively to the side while Cassia rubbed her arm, sad smile broadening.

"Please believe me, she's no different from anyone else. So, what you saw back on your journey was not a complete lie, she's still ashamed of all she's done... She just gave up on herself."

The wall burst steam as it moved to reveal an opening as Vex leaped from the rafters and glanced to the team. "This path will take you to your boy, but be warned, avoid the—" she paused when everyone gifted her with peculiar looks.

"Did I interrupt a private conversation?"

Cassia sweated and whistled nervously, tying her hands to the back of her head to appear innocent under the bone monkey's curious gaze. "Nooope, just saying h-how excited we are to see Chiro soon!"

Staring between the capuchin and the team, Vex grunted bluntly and stood aside, motioning for everyone to go in. "Be weary," she warned.

As everyone took careful steps into the tunnel, Antauri double-taked back to the bone monkey. "If you truly are for us, why not help us face Skeleton King?"

"Even if the dread lord held no sway over my will, the fear he instilled in my heart is to crippling. I'm not strong… nor brave enough… to face him." Reaching out, she took his hands and nudged him towards the tunnel, a broken smile creaking across her face.

"But that does not mean you can't win this…" She sighed as he inched closer to her. "Once you win, you have my word that I will be gone. Now go, your son needs you."

Before Antauri could protest, she forcefully nudged him back as the wall slammed shut, locking the team inside the dark tunnel. Everyone flicked on their helmet lights as they stared back to where the bone monkey once stood.

"Well, only one way now, let us continue." Antauri informed, hiding the hurt behind a stoic face as he took the lead with everyone sticking close to his tail.

Gibson inched closer to his companion's fur, concern hitting when he eyed the gash over her forehead. "Perhaps you should allow me to stitch that wound, Cassia, its open exposure to this dense air could very well infect it and impair the healing process."

"Bacteria is least likely in sanitary cold," she argued while wagging her finger at him. "But thank you for the fussing over a small cut," she giggled when his eyes lit up with protest.

"Cut? That is not a cut, it is a deep gash married to your forehead from a weapon."

Cassia zoned out as Gibson went into another five minute, eventually relenting to the male's efforts and allowed him to wash it and wrap a disposes cloth over it. After her, he moved on the rest of his teammates, cleaning everyone's wounds the best his limited power could manage. Sprx helping Gibson in dealing with Nova's more serious injuries while Otto tended to Jinmay and Antauri's more mechanical based wounds.

Otto welded a big scratch over Antauri's foot, the silent silver simian only nodding his thanks to the complete work before looking off into the distance, face mixed and unreadable. The mechanic dusted hi hands off and noticed the metaphorical dark cloud hovering over his second in command.

"What's wrong Antauri?" He asked worriedly, "Aren't you relived we're on our way to save Chiro?"

"Words cannot express my relief for this turn of events, Otto." Antauri corrected with a shadow drifting over his optics, "There's just a few things I wish could've been a little different."

"A few things?"

Antauri raised his head a little, looking back to the closed entrance from where they were led to. "Perhaps 'one thing' would've been a more proper dialogue."

Still not understanding the gloomy silver monkey, he returned his attention to Jinmay.

As they finished up their repairs, everyone regathered themselves and began their trek, till a shadow stood in their path; blocking the way.

Mandarin.2 glared at them, his confused stare showing flabbergastion.

"I thought I heard noises, how did you all get out?" He placed a contemplating crab claw to his chin, eyes for a moment. "Obviously not by yourselves, given you're still in one piece, and these walls block all outside radio frequencies… hm, oh!" Eyes lit up while he laughed, "I think I know… you guilt tripped a certain someone, eh? Haha, no matter, I'll deal with her later, after you six."

As everyone slid into an attack stance, Mandarin removed himself from Otto's arms and slid in front of the group, blocking his clone's view.

"Go on ahead," he ordered, "Leave this foul copy to me."

"Seriously?" Mandarin.2 busted a gut at this. "What makes you think you can stand against a bettered version of yourself?"

Antauri grasped at Mandarin in an effort to dispel this decision, but the x-leader was rooted to the ground, refusing the act to dismiss this.

"Mandarin," the silver monkey called out in warning. "You're in no condition to face him alone."

"You're right, I'm not." A hurtful smirk crossed his wrinkly face, "But allow me to do something right..."

Freezing up, he nodded and bowed to the elder monkey before waving at his team to follow him. They slunk past the clone as he put all his attention upon the pitiful original.

"Wow, you truly are pathetic," he laughed as the formless clone raised his claw. "But you want to taste a sappy death? I'll be happy to oblige."

"Don't flatter yourself," he sneered, long pony tail brushing untamed in the tunnel's breeze. "Let us end this… once and for all. "

In seconds, they flew towards each other, claws wracking as sparks flared out from their vicious grapple.