Chapter 21
-To Be a Hero
Chiro sat within the shadows of his cell, loneliness being his only source of company other than the small hungry rodents that scurried around him. Blue eyes peaked through heavy eyelids, zooming around in search for a clock, but only the bulky build of his jail warden dominated his line of sight. Sighing, the former boy wonder turned his head and shifted uncomfortably amongst his chains.
What of the emotions that ran through his heart, could he tell someone about? Hours ago, he had been arrested and sent to jail under attempted murder—despite not carrying out the crime, it still didn't change the fact he almost did the unthinkable. The original Mandarin came to him, faking a kind offer to make his send away easier by just handing him the watch of Morrow, but atlas he refused and turned away the rogue monkey.
Chiro hugged himself tighter, he promised himself that he wouldn't fail, but look what desperation brought him. Eyes slammed shut tightly, true the anxiety of his fate was grim… but it couldn't top the heart ripping grief at knowing what's instore for his family was. He had failed them, now what could be done?
His guard coughed loudly, running a fat finger over the keys he used to unlock the cage and reach in. The big hairy hand snatched Chiro by his chains and roughly drug his small body and push him along the hallway—the heavy metal shackles' rattling sent out a ghostly vibe to other prisoners sleeping within their respected containment grids.
The blue eyed monkey dared to peek back at his guard, the man's weapon trained on him in case he had any plans to fight.
"Where are we going?"
"It's an hour till sunrise, and the Hyperforce leader made it abundantly clear this was the time he wanted you gone."
Chiro froze, heart starting to pound as his efforts to stop walking were interrupted with the guard's powerful shoves.
"B-but I thought the rest of the team was coming?"
"I don't know, I am not your lawyer, but Mandarin is the leader… so therefor, the city responds to his voice before the others. Is that not the law you monkeys live by anyway?"
Chiro dropped his gaze, heart growing more panicked as the guard's words slowly sunk into his blank mind. Did the team even know what was going on?
"Doesn't matter, besides this…" the man dropped his head, hat's visor casting a shadow over remorseful green eyes. "I want to apologize in advance for this, I don't think you deserve this… as we don't fully know or understand… but orders are orders, we must obey. Just know, I am deeply sorry for this kid."
Before Chiro could question, the man had towed him out into the jail's backyard. It was a long concrete lot with a few minor cracks from old age, no paintings or markings lined the perimeter, and with only tall light poles jetted out the ground. The fence circling the area was extremely tall and wide, possibly tipping the scale at fifteen feet if Chiro had to guess, along with a powerful electric barb wire armed at the very top.
Looking up to the guard in confusion, the man made no effort to make eye contact as he roughly shoved the small simian to the very center of the massive court yard. He turned his bulk and stepped back a few feet, his eyes trained intently on the sky as if an airstrike were to happen at any minute. His fingers ran over a small device he removed from his pocket, thumb pounding a few keys into the orange dial pad while his right hand kept the handgun trained on Chiro to ensure he stayed in place.
After watching the weird behavior for a few minutes, a massive circular light beamed down and encased Chiro in its blinding wake. He shielded his sky blue eyes, gritting his teeth painfully as something massive slowly descended from the dark sky.
Lights still too bright, Chiro couldn't make out the huge craft's identity, was it the super robot? He shook his head, no, the super robot was much louder and didn't project such lights unless manually done to blind their enemies—this circumstance didn't meet the criteria.
Once the orange light died down, the ship came to a slamming halt, its metal legs crunching the concrete beneath as a large metal plank shot from its mouth. Rubbing his eyes, Chiro suddenly realized—with great horror—that this was not any normal ship.
But the H.O.O.P prison to which Mandarin had been sentenced to.
Before the boy hero could make any effort to escape, eight robotic guards outfitted with heavy red crimson armor marched out, their laser pointers trained on him.
"Is this the prisoner we were summoned to obtain?" One guard asked in a computerized voice.
Chiro's jail warden sighed grimly and nodded.
"Yes, this is the monkey committed of attempted murder that the Hyperforce leader himself ordered to be sent as far away from Shuggazoom as possible." The hulking man paused, looking to Chiro once more. "He also wants him gone before sunrise."
Exchanging glances, the soldiers nodded in affirmative to the orders and grabbed Chiro by his chains, dragging the monkey over the ramp and onto his impending doom.
"We will ensure the prisoner is placed into permanent stasis soon."
Those were the last words Chiro could catch before he was thrown onto the star craft, the door slammed shut and cut off the last rays of any outside moonlight. He shifted in his heavy chains, fear growing heavier in his gut as a tsunami of red lights bounced off his body. The captors, with large weapons pressed to his back, forced Chiro forward.
"Keep moving," they robotically ordered, voices without any trace of emotion. Making it also clear to Chiro these guards could not be reasoned with, and they were programmed to follow their directives only.
Looking down to the watch, he gritted his teeth in dire pain, was this really how it was all going to end? The moment they forced him into slumber, that's when the original Mandarin was going to make his move and remove the ancient relic with ease—only then, causing Chiro himself to disappear from life as if he never existed.
Looking around, he watched in utter helplessness as the guards continued to lead him down the eerily quiet corridor alit with blood red lights.
~Super Robot
The young Mandarin had stumbled his way back to the robot, mind still mugged with the lingering effects of his massive alcoholic intake. Deciding to go out on the town, engorging in a pleasurable treat, and gaining the guts to send that little blue eyed rat-monkey away to the H.O.O.P prison without the others knowing had sent his head inflating into a big pulsing ego.
Man, to exercise this power without the others' stupid opinions… It was nearly intoxicating. It made him feel more like a leader, more in control, more… powerful.
Stepping into the robot, he turned to the clock and read 6:15am, still a good two hours from their planet's sunrise. He shrugged, that was fine, and he needed to sleep off this hangover before he snuck out to make sure that young monkey was shipped off anyways.
As Mandarin sloppily glided to his orange colored wind-duct, a pair of lime yellow eyes had stopped him. Antauri, with a big bandage on his right cheek from his leader's earlier assault, sternly met those onyx eyes before their owner could get to the privacy of his quarters.
"And where were you all night?" The monk asked, his tone a lot more straightforward then it usually was.
This threw the leader a little off guard in his already unbalanced state, but he quickly caught himself and delivered the stern black monkey a nonchalant shrug.
"Does it matter?"
"Why does your breath smell so… rank?"
Mandarin snapped his blood red eyes to the quiet monkey, orange fur starting to rise like an angry puma.
"I was treating myself, shouldn't you be asleep?"
Antauri inched his way back, watching Mandarin's hands carefully incase the leader made another move to put a second matching print on his non-wounded left cheek.
"I was up majority of the night," crossing his arms, the dark pacifist got brave and rose his baritone voice to sound more serious. "We agreed to discuss Chiro's actions before tomorrow, it is currently almost sun rise… so again, where were you?"
Mandarin snorted a sarcastic laugh, throwing in a mock head shake, as if tickled by the second in command's effort to appear more intimidating.
"We don't need to discuss his fate, just let him rot in prison."
Antauri's eyes now sharpened.
"There is still a bit of information we do not know, and we agreed as a team that we would decide his punishment together."
When Mandarin gave no sign of answering back, something washed over the black monkey as his face switched from angry to completely baffled.
"What… did you do?"
Mandarin, without warning, lashed out and grabbed the monk by his throat and hauled him way off his feet. Angry fangs flexing several inches from his mouth as he blew a cloud of angry steam into Antauri's face, fogging up his green optics in the process.
"Now, you listen to me you milk drinker," he hissed dangerously, tightening his grip on Antauri's windpipe. "I am your leader, I alone am the one who decides things around here."
When Antauri coughed violently, his face paling over from lack of oxygen, Mandarin snorted and dropped him roughly on the ground. Not caring in the least bit at the loud painful thud of his brother's body hitting the metal floor like a sack of potatoes.
The monk grabbed his throat, wheezing in a desperate attempt to take in more air. Mandarin stared down to him like he was the most pathetic waste of flesh he had ever seen. Antauri kept his gaze down and mouth shut as not to provoke the orange monkey any further.
"For now on, there's going to be repercussions to anyone who tries to question my orders." Jabbing a finger beneath Antauri's chin, he roughly hauled him up to his eye level.
"I alone am your leader, not that pathetic blue eyed whelp." He shoved Antauri back onto the floor before ascending back to his tube.
"You and everyone else better hammer that fact into your skulls, before I have to do it manually." Mandarin threatened before his wind shoot carried him to the floor containing his room.
Antauri was frozen in his spot, mind unable to fathom what had just happened. Looking out the nearest window, his computerized brain ran back over a few of the words his leader uttered, something about 'letting him rot in prison.' His gut dropped even further as he rushed to HQ in search of a computer he could use to contact the police station holding Chiro. Unable to speak the human's tongue, he planned on just using the immediate mail system, at least they could understand his writing.
~The H.O.O.P
Chiro was forced into a strange looking medical room, different robots surrounded the area as they kept a heavy gaze on their newest prisoner.
He felt a sharp pain shoot up his spine as a tight collar was snapped around his neck, shocking him into submission while his chains were roughly removed and tossed aside somewhere in the corner. But his hands' freedom was short lived before newer futuristic cuffs were strapped tightly on him.
"Make sure the prisoner is secured," one terminator voiced robot commanded, probably the leader given how tall and muscular he appeared. "The process of stasis will begin shortly."
The guards snapped a lifeless salute and ushering Chiro to stand in a narrow corner, guns still trained on him. His collar sent painfully uncomfortable vibrations up and down his neck, like having your hand glued to a joy buzzer that kept getting more painful by the second.
"Before you put me away, can I please make one last request …?" He asked, voice heavy with grief.
"State your need."
"If you see the Hyperforce, can you please tell them… I'm sorry I couldn't save them."
The robots stared at the young monkey questionably, but nodded without rebuttal and went back to their mindful duties, not giving another thought to his odd request. He glanced down to the watch one more, guessing this was it.
A loud bell chimed within his mind, alerting Chiro as he shot his head up to locate the source of the sound. None of his captors responded to it—leading the boy wonder to guess maybe his robotic ears were just glitching, until the sound banged against his ears even louder.
With hands still tied, he tried to use his tail to drown out the deafening sound, but it did no good as the ringing came closer till it seemed to be hovering right above him. Still, his guards stood oblivious to the pain that enveloped the former human.
'Chosen one…' Came a voice that telepathically found a shortcut into his mind.
Recognizing the Alchemist's voice, the boy dipped his head lower, not finding any ounce of strength to bother reporting the obvious failure to his guardian angel.
'Remember what it means… to be a REAL hero.'
Just like that, the sound vanished, leaving the boy stumped as his watch rolled out from beneath his scarf. Its loud chimes wavering for his full attention as he glanced down to face the watch's time pad. What the heck just happened?
A cool metallic hand grabbed him by the collar, dragging his small body over to a table. The doctor stood beside the platform, a strange Taser like object in hand. The closer he got, the quicker Chiro realized that was not an ordinary object.
"This should shut down your systems," the doctor explained as Chiro was slapped onto the table. "Once applied, the sedations will also numb your organic side—to ensure it does not reboot your electronic half."
Fear pounding within his heart, Chiro looked down to the watch of Morrow, body rattling as he tried to inch away from the needle that started stalking towards him. The guards grabbed his shoulders, keeping him in place as the doctor drew closer and closer every passing second.
Just as the sharp tip nicked his skin, a loud explosion burst the door down, sending balls of fire scattering in every direction. Half the guards were thrown off their feet and into the wall, the whole ship churned sideways, also sending Chiro flopping on the floor like a fish out of water.
The guards that remained on their feet shot their gaze in the fire's direction, rushing out the door with weapons in hand.
"Error, ship engines have combusted!" A giant voice booming from the radios echoed throughout the shaking ship's hull.
Chiro grasped his aching helmet from bouncing off the metal wall, blue eyes widening in terror at all the ruckus exploding around him. The Watch of Morrow sent out another loud chime, this time jarring the chosen one out of his stricken haze and bounding to his feet. Hands still chained and neck tightly trapped in his collar, he made a beeline for the exit. Dancing around the feet of all the distracted guards.
"What in the name of Shuggazoom is going on?" He sputtered in a panic, barely avoiding the hot debris that nearly flattened him like a lobster on a hot plate.
As he made his way through the halls, a few lone guards had spotted the escapee and took aim, firing a hurricane of bullets at the monkey. Chiro gasped in fright as he danced away, barely dodging the poorly aimed shots with matrix like accuracy. He leaped down one large crack scarring the metal wall and slid down to safety on the bottom floors—or so he hoped was safer.
Crawling out from the nearest vent, Chiro came face to face with many hulking prisoners that lined the walls in huge electrical cages. Gun turrets armed on the walls kept consistent watch over the predators bound in their cells, all in a state of silent as if they were sleeping.
Hiccupping, Chiro winced.
"W-wrong turn," he turned and bailed back into the air vents and decided to go higher instead of lower.
Smoke started to quickly corral his limited air space, causing him to cough up a lung as he sped up his rush. Feet sliding on the metal, Chiro noticed the vents started to rise in temperate, sweating—he kicked it into high gear and sprinted with all the grace his new body would allow. Spotting a beam of light, he turned and rammed his head into the spot, knocking the bolts loose and ungracefully flipped out onto the floor.
Rubbing his tail to dull the ache, Chiro glanced around his surroundings, relief washing through him to see only empty chairs housed in front of giant security monitors. His best guess that this place might've been one of the primary control rooms.
Walking around to inspect the monitors, he was greeted by the sight of hundreds of the H.O.O.P's guards racing around on every screen, trying to distinguish the unknown fire while technicians tried to figure out what was going on. Some prisoners were also seen battling some of the guards as they tried to shove their way to the nearest escape pods.
Just then, in the lowest monitor, Chiro saw a sight that made happiness ooze through him. The super robot approached the intergalactic prison at rapid speed, its arms out stretching to grab ahold of the giant circular frame to stabilize the ship.
Grabbing the compute's mouse, Chiro maximized the screen and zoomed into the robot as close as the camera would allow. A small opening swished open on the robot's neck, seeing all six shadows of his teammates come flying into the ship's hull. Eyes widening, the chosen one quickly pulled up a graphic map showing the inside frame of the ship.
Spotting the entrance where his teammates would be coming in, he flipped the monitor off and bailed out the door.
~With the Monkeys
"Gibson, are you okay?" Otto asked in worry as he rushed to the downed doctor's aid.
The blue monkey coughed up some smoke, having not seen the dislodged pipe shrouded in the black smoke that nearly flattened him.
"I-I am alright, but we need to get as many as we can out of here!" The scientist bravely commended as the green mechanic hoisted him back to his feet.
"But what the heck started this fire?" Sprx shouted as he summoned his magnets to hold off a giant shaft of metal that threatened to crush them.
"I am not sure, we'll have to figure this out later, right now we need to escort as many as we can out!" Antauri threw out as he shot a stern look to Mandarin.
The orange monkey whipped an equally stern look back to his second in command, still burning raw with anger over yesterday's assault.
"Help the guards, but leave the prisoners." He ordered.
The team gawked in shock, sending out signals of strong disagreement as their leader ignored the distress and ran valiantly into the smoke.
Tightening his fist, Antauri looked back to his teammates.
"I do not care what Mandarin has said, save as many as you can, prisoner OR guard, go monkey team!"
When they all split up into groups of two, Antauri darted to the north side of the ship to accompany his leader. Mandarin, unknowing the black monkey had half-way denied his orders, was busy trying to pull a couple guards up out of the flames.
"A little help would be appreciated!" The orange monkey snapped as he struggled to pull the guards massive bodies up with his telekinesis.
Tag teaming it, Antauri raised his hands and transferred as much of his mind over matter his brain would allow. Spirit clenching under the tangible weight, the black monkey dug his feet into the ground, trying to aid his powers with some physical tugging. Eventually, through their combined efforts, all four soldiers were safely placed on the ground.
"Get to the escape pods, now!" Mandarin ordered as the guards wasted little time in rushing to the nearest, less flame engulfed, exits.
Before he could run off to find more people to aid, a grey metallic hand caught his wrist, reeling the hasty orange simian back.
"Mandarin," Antauri started with sudden boldness, "What has become of this place?"
"Pretty moronic of you to be asking questions at a time like this," Mandarin snarled, ripping his hand free and pushing the black monkey away from him as if he were infected by some virus.
Taken aback by the roughness, he hid his surprise and cleared his throat.
"I ask because something is not right!" He coughed when the smoke started to thicken around them. "How were you able to pick up on the H.O.O.P's SOS sequence when their mainframe is not even recognized by the super robot?"
"I…" Mandarin paused, biting his tongue as he ripped his aggravated gaze away. "I was already speaking to the captain when I heard the blast in the background, okay? We just got lucky!"
Antauri froze.
"Why were you speaking to the captain of this prison base?"
Flames burst around the corner, throwing both males off their feet and into the side walls. Mandarin struck his throat against one of the wall beams, pain sheering his neck injury that left his optics shuttering in monochromatic static—signaling his brain's computer shutting down.
Antauri had landed on his left side, a loud sickening 'crack!' rupturing his ears as pain lightning bolted up his leg. He cried out in agony, grabbing his broken left foot as he curled up like a cocktail shrimp in a desperate attempt to dull the pain.
As the flames surrounded the two monkeys, a small shadow drifted over the fire's wavy yellow claws. Spotting the camouflaged individual, Antauri fought the pain back as he summoned one ghost claw, leaving his non-transformed hand still grasping his foot. Unknowing if this individual was a guard or a prisoner, he needed to be certain wither or not help had come.
"Whoever is there, please, help!"
The shadow maneuvered quickly through the flames with the grace of a well-trained acrobat. Blue eyes glowing through the smog as the blackness faded in revealing a familiar black monkey.
"Antauri!" Chiro yelled, his hands still in restraints as he rushed over to get ahold of the injured monkey.
"C-chiro?" The second in command asked, jaw nearly hitting the ground as the younger mammal checked his broken foot. "What are you doing here?"
Glancing at his mentor's face that was sick with worry, something registered to Chiro. Recalling the moment of Mandarin coming to his prison cell, alone, to send him away to H.O.O.P up until this moment… was it possible, that only the orange monkey had decided this and the others had no part in the say?
"I'll explain later," Chiro brushed the questions aside and hauled the pacifist onto his back. As he started to run, the chosen one turned and spotted an out cold Mandarin lying on the floor.
A feeling similar to numbness washed through him, his eyes darting from the orange monkey back to a pain riddled Antauri housed on his back. The smoke started to flock in, caking the entire area in a matching smog that left the air supply tainted. Antauri was starting to cough, jarring Chiro out of his stunned state.
Looking back to Mandarin, he showed in teeth in disgust—maybe… this was nature's way of correcting itself. He fought the urge to smile to himself as he darted to the nearest door that contained a space pod. Luckily his hands had just enough wiggle room to perform the maneuvers, he just couldn't fight.
Getting to the pod, Chiro punched in a code that swished the door open and loaded the black monkey inside. Looking out the nearest window, relief struck him when witnessing the rest of his colorful teammates making their way to the robot while escorting a group of people to safety.
"C-chiro, where is Mandarin?" Antauri asked through pained gasps, eyes a bit woozy from inhaling a good amount of that cloud of smoke.
"Don't worry about it, we're going to get out of-" Freezing, Chiro ran his hand beneath his scarf… and felt nothing there. Heart beating out of his chest, the boy wonder whipped his head around and saw the shiny relic lying beneath a pile of burning debris.
"Chiro!" Antauri yelled to snap the boy out of his gaze. "Come on, we need to get out of here, this ship is about to blow!" He opened his ears up in one last ditch effort to try and dial his leader.
Glancing once more to his father figure, an apologetic look swam over his blue orbs as he bowed his head. Raising his hand, he hit the red button, which shut the pod's hatch nice and tight.
Antauri froze, eyes widening in horror as he watched through the glass as the boy bowed to him and hit another button—shooting him off into space in range of the robot's tractor beam.
When Antauri was safely out of the picture, Chiro glanced next to him, there was only one more escape pod. Hitting in another code, he forced the door open, then bailed down the hall as he made a grab for his watch. Right when his fingers came within inches of his life source, Mandarin's groans had ruptured his ears.
The future tyrant held his wounded throat, shaking in indescribable agony. His face paling over, no doubt unable to take in any oxygen for his collapsing lungs.
Chiro could feel the familiar weakness beginning to overlap his strength, without the watch touching his body, he knew he was a goner. But his eyes were unable to part from Mandarin, looking back and forth between his two targets, he anxiously bit his tongue.
The flames continued to rise, shattering more glass windows as the vacuum of space started to suck everything out. The Watch of Morrow started to slide towards the newly made hole, Chiro gasped and made a fast dive for it and grabbed the chain in his grip.
Then his eye caught sight of Mandarin sliding towards his doom, Chiro's breath hitched as he opened both hands and grabbed the orange monkey's shoulders to prevent his fate. The watch had slipped from his grip and bounced towards the massive opening.
Looking back and forth between the watch and Mandarin, Chiro could feel his form starting to flicker, as if his spirit was slowly becoming non-existent. He glanced once more at Mandarin, oh how easy it would be to simply let go of him and let the vacuum of space do the rest. Even more tempting, it wouldn't be directly his fault!
Chiro tightened his grip on Mandarin and, with all his remaining strength, tugged the heavy monkey to the last remaining escape pod. Tossing him into the open door, he stared down at the corrupt monkey… as badly as he wanted to see this monkey lose—he had come to realize that this Mandarin was indeed innocent, a control freak yes—but still innocent.
Hitting the button, the black monkey watched as the pod doors slammed shut, steam hissing in all directions as the ship deployed the last surviving craft.
The chosen one gasped in agony as he felt his heart churn, he turned and rolled into the wind, allowing the air current to rocket him out of the ship and right into the darkness of space. Oxygen was immediately cut off, unable to breathe as he grabbed his throat. Floating right within reach was the ancient time relic.
Shaking, he reached a dying hand out to the watch, feeling Shuggazoom's gravity center begin to pull him towards its atmosphere. Heat formed a ring of fire around his body like a comet as he shot towards his own home planet. The watch of morrow slowly fading from his sight as he forced himself to glance back at the super robot.
Before blacking out, he could've sworn he heard familiar words float through his numb mind.
"You are dying, Chosen one…"
'I know,' Chiro's mind responded.
"All you had to do was grab the watch and leave, why do otherwise?"
'Because, evil or not, you never leave someone behind.'
"Now you know what it means… to be the Chosen One."
Everything went dark, the last thing the chosen one recalled was the rapidly growing sight of his planet as both his body and the ancient time relic shot flew towards it at near intergalactic speed.
~TO BE CONTINUED
