Chapter 20
-The Eye's Smolder
The monkey team gathered within the confines of the command center, faces drooped with the signs of heavy laden. Antauri was the most silent, sitting just outside the group in a solo chair he slid out to be away from the group, face filled with raw mixed emotions blocking any outside spectators from properly diagnosing his thoughts. Everyone had looked upon him in concern, Mandarin clearing his throat to redirect their attention back to him.
"We cannot keep moping around, what happened yesterday must be discussed." He spoke with much authority, anger still plastered all over his onyx eyes.
Nova and Otto refused to answer, leaving Sprx to be the first brave soul to speak out.
"Mandarin, we're all shocked… but we have to think rationally here." He crossed his arms, speaking rational thoughts his embracive young mind rarely touched. "I mean, we don't even know what brought this on, or who even sent that tape—what if it's fake?"
"Not likely, I analyzed it myself," Gibson spoke out with a hesitant, yet heavy, heart. "It was taken right from the grocery store security camera, it's not coded or anything…"
"Okay, so evidence is real, but what about Chiro?" Otto quickly threw out, desperate to dig up something that could defend their newly made friend. "He wouldn't do anything like this!"
Mandarin crooked his lips to reveal a dangerous scowl, warning his youngest brother to cease defending the accused. The warning quickly noted as the teal green mechanic slouched down in submission and returned to his seat.
"I don't give a rat's hindquarters on why or how, all I care about… is that little traitor aimed a freaking assassination weapon at me!" He slapped his hand to his knee, allusion based flames spurting from his ears in eminence of his raw burning rage.
"And don't try to defend him, Otto, the police confiscated the weapon, they found the metallic outline of his fingers all over the handle. Also given the fact there's five finger prints on the barrel, and none of us possess human numbered digits!" Mandarin shouted back to Otto.
"So… we can't argue he didn't attempt the act, but stopped. My question is, what brought on such a heinous act?" Gibson shook his head, extreme confusion running a race against his logical state of mind. "I have undergone several psychoanalytic tests to accurately measure his mind's stability."
"And?" Mandarin growled, drumming an impatient finger on his armor.
"There was no sign that would suggest this level of aggression. Little lone why he would aim it at you."
Mandarin ripped his gaze away from his teammates, fur bristling under a smolder.
"Okay, I am threw with this speculation, everyone return to your dorms, I will decide what will be done by morning."
Everyone nodded and left without a rebuttal, Antauri paused in the doorway, watching Mandarin with a long blank stare. The leader catching the stare down, entertaining the game before blowing a fuse on the black monkey.
"What the hell are you staring it?"
"Why did Chiro attempt to shoot only you…?"
"I don't know, after all I've done for that little rat, you think he'd have some damn respect and gratitude!"
Antauri paused, eyes widening by a mere centimeter, surprised at that answer.
"Have you… done anything that might've sparked something?"
Mandarin froze, expression becoming deathly blank as he slowly turned to lock eyes with his own second in command. Silence daring the wise black simian to finish this peculiar situation. Antauri caught this implicating glare and raised his hand to ease his leader's odd response.
"I simply mean, did you accidentally do something that might've triggered a personal grudge?"
"You dare defend him?"
Antauri closed his mouth, eyes growing to dinner plate size to the sight of his own leader stalk right up to him, movement stiff and rigid like a predator on the hunt.
"Mandarin, he tried to shoot you, I simply desire to know if something might've happened that triggered—"
A powerful slap to the face silenced Antauri, leaving him stunned when Mandarin dropped his paw from his face, a big burning palm print inking the monk's cheek. Pain pulsed up Antauri's face as he pressed his cold robotic hand against the wound in an attempt to numb the pain. The orange leader said nothing, eyes weighing him down in a stare that spoke of so much wickedness, it frightened the pacifist.
"Next time your mind lingers on passing the blame, hold your tongue…"
Turning around, Mandarin walked past Antauri, leaving him to linger in the door, still numb from shock as the orange simian shot up his tube and to the exit to head down town.
-With Chiro-
Chiro laid on the freezing concrete floor of his cell, heavy metallic chains weighing his thin limbs down. But his hindered ability to move about was the last thing on his mind, for a heart heavier than his binds drug his soul down to a bitter ocean of despair.
Tail curled around his legs, he shivered, cuts and bruises from being roughly man-handled still lining his small body. Hours he laid here, still no sign of the monkey team or his awaiting fate. The watch of morrow still ticked beneath his scarf, the sounds no longer bringing him comfort as they once did, but now were nothing but a simple count down to a grim fate.
His mind lingered to his team, the looks of betrayal on their faces forever burned in his mind, stretching this bleeding heart wound even wider. What… has he done?
A loud bang nearly made the monkey leap out of his fur, scrambling to sit up, he eyed the guard with a frightened posture.
"What?"
The big husky man held a club to the steeled bars, cold eyes locked intently on the former human.
"You've been lying there for hours, here…" He kicked a tray of food that was conveniently lying by his foot into the cell, the dry biscuits and mucky glass of water flopping right next to the boy wonder.
Hesitantly, Chiro raised his hands—chains rattling from the movement, catching a biscuit from the plastic dish tray and bit into it. Bitterly bland flavors exploded in his mouth as he spit it out, gagging as the crumbs mushed to dusty particles he desperately tried to wipe off his tongue. It was like he took a bite out of a dried mud cake!
The guard snorted and turned away, chuckling at the reaction.
"That's all you get, so best eat all of it."
Pushing the tray away, Chiro made no effort to respond and just slid back into his previous fetal position, desperate to recover some form of self-comfort.
Then the silence returned, dragging on for another few hours, nearly driving the boy mad with anticipation before the sound of a loud steel door clanging shut alerted him. Chiro sat up, peering through the bars at a sight he was not expecting to see.
Mandarin came in, body swaying slightly about with an unfocused scorn to his red irises. Chiro tilted his head, not sure what to feel at this sudden arrival when not seeing any signs of the other monkeys. But the orange leader's anger radiated off him in waves, frightening the prisoner.
"Mandarin?" The guard greeted with a spec of confusion while snapping the Hyperforce leader a lifeless a salute. "Was not… expecting you here, you know what time it is?"
"Don't care," He snarled, blowing off the big man as he marched right up to Chiro's cell door, his aggressive posture making the blue eyed monkey shift back in nervousement.
"I came with a decision…" His words were slurred and ran together, giving away the large amount of liquor he had undertaken before arrival.
"Okay, and what's that?" The guard asked, tempted to question the monkey on his drunken state, but bit his tongue.
Mandarin slid a paw against the cell bars, a wicked look emerging from his face, locking this flame onto the victim that stared helpless from inside.
"You insolate maggot, I took you in… and you try to kill me. I don't care what the team says, you're finished."
Chiro dropped his head, gripping the chains that bound him like a wild animal.
"Mandarin, you don't understand—"
"Shut it!" He smacked the weak monkey across his bad knee, making Chiro gag in agony as he rushed to get further away to prevent the orange monkey from lashing out.
"Officer," Mandarin growled, not taking his eyes off the former human. "The charges that I desire to press have been reached."
"But, um—not to split hairs, but wouldn't you rather the rest of the Hyperforce be present for this?"
"No."
The guard shifted his bulky shoulders, a brown bushy brow raised, contemplating on the direction this was going.
"Okay, I'm listening."
"Exile."
Chiro froze when the last word fluttered into his ear and slipped right through his brain. The implication was, at first, not registered, as the orange monkey continued to stare at him with scornful hate fanned by the liquor intake.
The guardsmen shared Chiro's surprise.
"Exile, like Moon Base Prison?"
"No…" Mandarin gestured the guard to his eye level, whispering something in the big man's ear before cutting Chiro a savage grin.
The husky guard kept up his poker face, brain going over several different calculations at different times, mustache shifting over his lip before he sighed and nodded.
"Are you… absolutely sure? I mean, attempted homicide is not the same as man slaughter."
"Get it done, or I'll see to it you get sent there with this maggot!" Mandarin snapped his blood thirsty threat to the officer.
The middle aged human narrowed his eyes, not budged by this aggressive outburst, but made no means to egg it on.
"Alright, the youngster will be shipped off with the others by morning." He looked back to a scared and confused Chiro, "Still think this punishment is a bit excessive…"
"If I want your opinion, I'll ask for it. When I return in the morning, I best not see this one anywhere in sight, got it?" Mandarin growled before walking to the door, stopping and glanced back once more the blue eyed monkey. A mockingly sharp smirk whipping across his features till his hand took the door and slammed it shut.
Chiro was stumped, shooting a nervous glance to the guard, eyes begging for some kind of explanation to what was said. The towering human just gifted the former human with a look of pity, chilling Chiro to the bone as he slowly sat down, realizing little by little exactly what was in store for him.
-Back at the Robot-
Antauri hovered within the silent confines of his room, a moist cloth taped to his wounded cheek from being socked by his own leader. Anxious thoughts ran rampant through his mind, barely able to decipher all this information that was hitting him and his family far too quickly.
Chiro had shown no signs of aggression, something about this act left him very uneasy, like some details were missing and the present ones were not making any sense. But the reaction his leader had to his speculations left an even deeper gash of concern in Antauri's heart.
Never had the self-controlled eldest physically struck out at him.
"Antauri?" A meek voice shattered his concentration.
Turning his body sideways, Nova and Otto lingered in his door, surprising the wise monkey as he quietly gestured for the duo to come in and have a seat in his Zen garden. Their slopped and defeated postures rang red alert to his fatherly instincts.
"Nova, Otto… is something wrong?" A dumb question, he knows, given after everything that has happened.
Nova and Otto exchanged looks, the green monkey looking shyer, giving his older sister the signal he didn't have the heart to speak. Nova nodded and took up the slack, clearing her throat and spoke as clearly as she could, albeit still hesitant.
"We… need to tell you something."
Antauri inclined his head, gesturing for her to speak. With mouth twitching, Nova swallowed and spoke.
"We think Chiro is innocent."
Stunned at the blunt comment, he tilted his head, asking for them to explain their reasoning.
The next ten minutes were filled with the stories of how Chiro had secretly assisted them over the last several weeks. From Otto's boosted self-confidence to Nova reobtaining her patience, Antauri listened with extreme alertness, going from surprised to outright shock.
"Chiro has… done nothing but help us, that's why we believe something is not right."
"Yea," Otto finally picked up the nerve to throw in his two cents. "We hung out with him day and night, we know something is off about this. For starters, he didn't even carry out the crime, he left!"
"As… true as that may be," Antauri softly spoke. "That does not excuse the fact he actually plotted to corner Mandarin out in the rain with a weapon in hand. The action… spoke for itself."
The pair fell quiet and exchanged looks, the expression change alarming the fatherly monkey as the air grew heavy with a cryptically sound cloud.
"There is something more you two are not telling me."
"Antauri," Nova took the reins of the conversation. "After the police confiscated the weapon Chiro attempted to use, Otto and I tapped into the robot's security footage from last night. We saw what Chiro was doing before he got the weapon."
Antauri froze, heart starting to dance a stressful jig within his ribcage.
"A-and?"
"He was… crying," Otto softly answered, eyes staring at the floor instead of maintaining contact with his friends. "So long, he stood at the weapon's closet for so long…"
"Almost an hour, he almost walked away until he saw Mandarin leave, it was about 2 A.M…"
The second in command was now completely stumped, mind unable to make sense of any of this. His look signaling his desperate need for more details.
"He got the gun and followed Mandarin out, that's when the tape ended."
"He was… sobbing?" Antauri finally willed the question from his mouth.
"Yea, I have never seen someone look so defeated…" Otto whispered, "He looked so… so… desperate."
"Tears and desperation are not exactly the most common thing killers experience when planning a murder." Nova pointed out with a stern voice.
Antauri fell silent, a faraway look returning to his eyes as he casted his gaze elsewhere. Nova and Otto noticed his facial wound almost immediately.
"Antauri, what happened to your face?" Otto asked in alarm, pointing to the cloth covered wound.
"Did someone hit you?" Nova asked, showing her teeth in an aggressive display, threatening to pumble the one who dare inflict an injury upon their cherished father figure.
"It…" he hesitated, maybe now was not the best time to bring Mandarin's previous actions to light. "It's nothing you two need to be concerned about." He took Nova's hand, gesturing with his helmet for the two to look at him. "Perhaps you two should go to bed, we will discuss matters in the morning, before we go to see Chiro."
"Okay, but please think about what we said, there's more to this we need to figure out!" Otto begged with moistening eyes.
"We will Otto, for I to sense something amiss…" He promised while escorting his friends to their rooms before returning to his own quarters.
He already suspected something was off, but Mandarin's violent outburst to his questionings had now just made it official—he was not breaking up with his doubt now. Something happened between Chiro and Mandarin, and whatever it was… Antauri was hell bent on finding out what it was before charges were pressed.
-With Chiro-
Upon learning where he was being shipped off to, Chiro sat on the cell floor, back to the door and curled up in the corner. He stared at the wall, look void of all life, his watch's ticks falling deaf to his own ears, all outside details no longer having any importance to any of his five senses. It was as if his world had stopped turning.
Memory of when he had Mandarin in his line of sight still burned fresh from within his mind, a part of him had wished with all his heart he had not wimped out and aborted the mission. If only he had pulled the trigger, all of this would've been over—Mandarin would've been nothing but a memory—and maybe, just maybe, Antauri might've got to retain his old cybernetic self, and none of the monkeys would have had to go through the emotional punishment of Mandarin's betrayal.
It would have worked out so perfectly.
But deep down, his soul knew that he wouldn't have gone through with it. No matter how logical or how tactical or positive the results might've been, it didn't change the one fact that refused to leave the boy wonder alone.
He was not a murderer.
Gripping his face, the boy slumped lower, feeling his tears threatening to spill, anger and confusion hitting him at full force.
"I almost underestimated you, my no longer hairless monkey…"
Eyes shooting open, Chiro whipped his head to the barred window of his cell, seeing the future Mandarin's ugly battered face glaring at him from between the bars. Red eyes being the only source of light that combed through the nighttime that hid the villain in its shadowy veil.
"The hell?" Chiro gasped, forcing himself to his feet and resuming a guarded stance.
Mandarin, however, raised his hand, gesturing for the boy to cease his pointless efforts.
"You're wasting your time, you'll have no chance of winning now… especially not with those chains."
"What do you want?" Chiro questioned with venomous anger.
"The obvious? The Watch of Morrow. The less obvious? That's not why I've come."
The boy almost dropped his arms at how calm the deranged monkey was talking to him. Mandarin noticed the pause and shook his head, mixed emotions placating his face.
"When we were first thrown into this situation, I truly believed you were just going to hide until the last moment we would have to battle. So… imagine my surprise when I see you stalking after my younger self… with an assassin's rifle in hand."
Chiro tilted his head, annoyance spiking.
"Yea, what's your point?"
Mandarin clicked his tongue, crossing his arms while levitating closer to the bars to get a better look at the boy.
"You just blew it, I outwitted you, I can easily take the watch… and yet, something about this does not set right with me."
Chiro paused, extremely confused on where the master mind was going with this.
"Don't get me wrong, child, I still have every intention of taking the watch away from you. But, before we began, I always saw you and humans as inferior… after tonight, however, safe to say that you have earned a tad bit of my respect. You could have defeated me right then and there, but you chose not to. I'm torn between labeling you an idiot, or truly honorable for not taking my life."
"You sound grateful almost."
"No, not grateful, just surprised." Looking up to the full moon that moved across the sky, the old monkey closed his eyes and sighed.
"Count your blessings boy, that you're being shipped off to the H.O.O.P prison."
"How is that counting my blessings?"
"Because the second you go into stasis, I will remove the watch from your body. There, it will all be over. Quite frankly, I find vanishing to be more of a preferred fate then suffering for decades in that torturous hell hole you call a maximum security prison. Be happy I'm not going to make you suffer there before obtaining what is rightfully mine."
Chiro ripped his eyes angrily away from Mandarin's warped sense of kindness.
"You think you're doing me a favor…?"
"If you want a favor, why not simply give me the watch now, and call it quits. Cause it is obvious from where I stand, that you are not going to win."
Looking to his watch, Chiro snarled to Mandarin's outstretched hand, refusing to cough up the relic in that hated paw waiting for his surrender.
Smirking, Mandarin withdrew his hand and turned away.
"Very well, stew in these emotions for a few more hours, enjoy the remaining time of your existence. By sunrise, I will have restored my future."
With that as his last words, the exiled leader had disappeared, leaving an angry Chiro behind with tears threatening to fall. Glaring at his watch, he slammed his fist into the wall.
"There has to be a way…"
A/N: Well, coming in with my head held low and sincere apologies for how long this took me to update. It's nearly finished, so prepare for the ending results, it's not going to go how you expected!
Stay tuned for chapter 21, peace out!
