Chapter 3

Places He's Never Been

Everyone watched as Antauri and Chiro collided, the training room's timer beeping as it closed in on the end its time limit. Smaller hands did series of gravity defying flips, dodging each punch made by larger fist. Teeth gnashed together in a tired smile as Chiro whipped the sweat from long black hair, blue eyes darting to keep up with the swift simian.

Antauri, face calm and controlled, side stepped another set of kicks with grace and proficiency. His royal blue eyes quickly darted to his team watching, their faces studying his every movement. Vex hid furthest in the corner, back to the training display with her helmet pressed to the wall—as if she were sleeping. Frowning, Antauri gritted his teeth and applied a swift chop to Chiro's side, sending his adopted son back a few feet.

This drew the scarred female's attention up as she finally looked his way. With her attention locked on him, the second in command felt a spark of competition rise within him to ensure that illuminated amethyst eye stayed on his body.

With the increased desire to show off, Antauri smirked and darted right behind Chiro, surprising the boy with his increased speed. Grabbing both his arms he flipped the young adult right over his helmet and firmly planted his backside into the ground. Antauri rose before Chiro's sprawled out form, hands pressed firmly together as he shifted into his signature saintly stance. Giving off all the wisdom and grace his builder could bless him with.

"A good training session Chiro," he congratulated, but then ran a hand over his chin. "Perhaps we need to focus a little more on speed then brawn next time."

"Speed? You became a blur out of nowhere." Chiro rolled his eyes at his father figure for playing off the sudden fancy foot work.

As everyone snickered Vex turned her attention away and stepped further into the shadows, completely disappearing from sight. Antauri felt his power core drop into his torso upon seeing the icy eyed female vanish without a word. Pushing his sadness aside, the wise monkey bowed to his combat partner and headed towards his personal shoot.

"I'll be in my room if anyone needs me, please continue with your training sessions."

Once his silver body was carried up into the ashy colored tube, Sprx crossed his arms, staring at the spot where Antauri once stood. Calm or not, the red primate could read their mentor's body language like a stop sign. The day Vex started participating in their daily training sessions was when Antauri pulled out his fancier foot work, just to show off for the battle-worn survivor. Then when she left without a word, the silver monkey had a habit of excusing himself sooner then usual.

Dang, the red monkey smacked his arms to his hips, this had to be solved. Without informing his oblivious teammates, Sprx dashed to the black tube and shot up to his second in command's room. The door slightly cracked, the pilot hunkered by the slim opening and peered in, spying the fully mechanical primate in his meditative state. Odd, he was not hovering, this was going to be good.

"Yo, Antauri," Sprx chimed out, starling Antauri as he whirled around to face the crimson pilot. Sprx tilted his head, surprised at the unusual response.

"Okay,you're usually hard to figure out, but this behavior I can read like a stop sign. You're trying to go all alpha male on us just to get Vex's attention!"

"That is not it Sprx," the deep voiced primate calmly corrected while resuming his meditative stance. "Plus, you know I do not resort to asserting any authority unless it is called for. Impressing women is not an eligible reason."

"Blah blah blah, stop denying it, you do what guys always do when their girls are ignoring them!" Sprx slapped his knee and laughed.

Antauri grunted and closed his eyes, "What is it you came for, Sprx?"

"Just to offer you a tip or to that should get you some action so you can end this moping around." The pilot shoved his hands into his helmet and pulled out some flash cards. He grabbed a pen from Antauri's desk and began to speedily write down a bunch of sentences before jumping to the next card.

The wise monk watched, eyebrow raised in total confusion till Sprx whirled around and threw all the cards at him.

"These are called cue cards, and they're the solution to your problems." Grabbing Antauri's chin, he forcefully guided his face to look at the first card he shoved into his line of vision. "Each of these cards contain some rich wisdom on wooing the female of your preference. Guarantee full proof, made by yours truly. Just follow the instructions, read the lines, and you'll be walking away from your bachelor season with a sense of joyful pride!"

Annoyed, Antauri took the first card and read the sentence. Blue eyes pinging open in alarm as he darted a nervous look to the self-proclaimed ladies man.

"I cannot utter such nonsense."

"N-nonsense?" Sprx huffed, angrily jabbing a finger onto the card. "This is the nature of love language, based on years of experience, you won't go wrong!"

Growling, Antauri pinched the ridge of his nose.

"Very well, say they work, how can I possibly get Vexahila into a secluded area to perform such... tactics?"

"Easy, with this." Reaching into his helmet, Sprx whooped out a small white business card between his fingers. "One of my buddies manages some nice down town studio condos and offers cheap one night rentals to first time customers. I was going to take Nova, but she wanted to do something else, so use this, drag one eye down there, and have yourself a great night!"

Antauri took the card, reading it close, hesitance crisscrossing all over his face.

"An... admirable idea, but I'm not sure."

"Hey, you want her? Gotta try."

Nodding, Antauri and Sprx huddled together to discuss some possible plans.

~Later That Evening~

Vex limped through the cement forest of Shuggazoom, its tall sky scrapers casting their five o'clock shadows over the inhabitants. A small slip of paper was crinkled in Vex's aged war-claws with poorly written instructions scribbled all over it. A shopping list of some kind, at least she thought so.

Earlier that day the red pilot had hunted her down and threw a list at her with a half-assed explanation of why he was sending her and why she had to leave right then and there. When it came to the magnetic monkey, the former assassin never bothered wasting to much brain power on figuring out his motives. She knew he was up to something the second he breathed in her direction—that's how predictable he was. But regardless, she's not one to argue, so just got his list and went on her way.

The sight changed to Shuggazoom's more prestigious neighborhoods, why would that dimwit send someone like her to a place like this? Psh, she cracked her neck, not in the mood to care and just found the nearest entrance and walked right in.

The paper instructed her to go up to the top level as she climbed up the apartment's pipelines. She found the window belonging to the room number she had been looking for, noticing the dim light projecting from the window, a detail the note also instructed her to look for.

Pushing the window up and jumping in, the hunter veered a weary eye to her surroundings. The place was well-kept with freshly polished tan wood floors and spotless white walls with dull lights casting a golden hue over their surface. There were mats sat by low sitting glass tables with various plants decorating the place—sliding wood doors and other furniture gave off a prestigious dojo theme.

Before she could deepen her study, lyricless flute music danced to her ears, drawing her attention to the one of the closed off rooms. Sitting on the neatly folded bed was a surprise she was not expecting to see.

"Vexahila, glad you could make it." Antauri spoke in his velvety baritone voice, a small glass filled with wine grasped firmly in his silver hand. A soothing yet sly smile etched across his face.

Vex's face remained blank, the only hint of her surprise being the light ping to her single working eye. The paper ruffled in her grip as she glanced down to re-read it, thinking this was a joke of some kind. Why the heck was sterling here?

Sensing the major confusion, Antauri approached the larger primate and ran his freshly polished pristine fingers through her dense white mane. The touch tracked by her weary scarred face, as if giving it every bit of her brain power to figure out what was going on. He got her wrist and placed the drink in her claws, freeing both his hands to clasp her shoulders.

"Sterling...?"

"Shh," he whispered while gently leading her into the living room and seating them both upon the floor-mats. Using his mind over matter powers, he dimmed the lights to where the azure crystals were the only source of light.

"You've been tired as of late, I wish to..." he quickly glanced to one of the cards he hid behind his back. "Romance you with a carefully thought out evening dipped in candle lights."

"Dipped… in… candle shimmer?" She paused, unsure of how to respond to this unexpected turn of events. "Why this sudden choice of action?"

"I've already answered the question, I wish to relax you." Glancing down at his next card, Antauri breathed in and took his mate by the hand and guided her to sit on one of the fluffy mats. He walked off to the cabinet and grabbed one of the bottles labeled 'Polish-made Spirytus vodka,'one cup of this should completely disarm the heavily guarded female and make her more inclined to be open up.

The newly made drink glimmered in the dim light as the robot brought his date the drink. Re-reading the card, step one was complete, now step two was to get her to finish the entire drink. Normally Antauri was against drinking, but for certain situations such as this, the exception was permissible.

"You look very lovely tonight," he whispered into her ear while pressing the new drink in her claws, coaxing her to drink as he ran his lips over her mechanical ear. Then he ran his tongue along the end of the hearing-cog, twirling one spot before pressing a tough kiss to her cheek.

Vex jolted and stumbled off the mat, eye wide at the sudden tongue-kiss on the ear she got. Antauri jumped in surprise and pulled back, hands cautiously out.

"W-what's wrong?"

"I um… was not expecting it."

Nervous, Antauri raced to his cards, did he do it wrong? Crap! He was supposed to get her to finish the drink before applying such a move. Skipping over a few cards, he found a different method and applied. With his posture straightened and anxiety repressed, he leaned forward and caught her hand, causing her to pause as he applied several small kisses to her knuckles.

"I am floored by your beauty."

She tilted her head, staring at his hand grasping her's, pondering why he would do such a thing.

"You… find my hand beautiful?"

Antauri paused, looking Vex right in the eye, even though he lacked knowledge of any of this, he baffled on how such an incredibly smart monkey could be this clueless. Flipping to the next set of instructions in his head, he released her hand and rushed over to one of the bed size mats. The rose he plucked from a flower pot was firmly grasped in his mouth as he laid on his side with limbs partially spread, gestures Sprx said should entice any interested females.

Weary claws pressed to her head, now the former assassin was trying to figure out what on earth Sterling was doing now.

"You wish to behave as… water in a vase for the plant?" Man, what was going on with the male Vex had no clue. She'd chalk it up to male hormones, but with Antauri being a robot, maybe he was just being driven by the curiosity of unexplored impulses he no longer possesses.

Realizing how ridiculous he looked, Antauri sighed and tossed the flower aside. He crossed his legs and wound himself around till his back was facing the scarred female.

"I—I apologize… I just—" He pressed a distressed to his forehead.

Vex blankly watched his sudden sullen state, she so badly wanted to touch him, but the fear was controlling her every movement. The urge to sooth him nearly became unbearable that it felt like her fears and yearning for him started playing tug-o-war with her fragile heart. A single claw taped on her knee, she kept staring at him, trying with all her might to think of something—but none of this made any sense.

First, he ambushes her in a stranger's facility, then proceeds to confuse her with strange love language he intends to sound… poetic, then when she responds to his comments, he gets all pouty?

"I just… desired to reveal to you my feelings." He whispered downheartedly, "But with how tense we have been, I just was never sure when to… or what to… say."

The dark simian reached out, but her pounding heart nearly leaped out of her throat when the distance between them became centimeters. Only feeling calm enough to sit by him, her eye pinged with an idea. Turning her blank face in a small understanding smile, she knelt by the sullen monk monkey.

"When one working eye met two functional ones, a… slow warmth bubbled up beneath the cork."

Antauri turned to her, now his turn to show how confused he was. Vex smiled a little bigger, gifting him the softest look her one eye could muster.

"A calming baritone voice that drew one in… accompanied by a forgiving nature that created desire in the distant one."

The silver monkey looked up in alarm, starting to figure out Vex was describing herself as 'the distant one'. He leaned forward, also realizing that she was talking about him.

"A mechanical core or an organic heart… it mattered not, when the distant one saw how loving his soul really was."

Letting her words sink in for a moment, silver hands began to tremble. All his original motives to seduce her flew completely out the window as he caught the female in a tight embrace. Something clicked within his brain, a type of organic hunger perhaps, but mechanical or not, it was a tug that pulled his snout right into her's.

Vex felt the fear return full force as the silver male hungrily pressed his snout into her's, feeling her massive fangs against his metallic gums. Prodding her teeth, it almost seemed like he wanted her to bite him, but such an action she refused to do—not willing to hurt him. Her hesitance seemed to fuel his desire as he pushed Vex onto her back, tightly wrapping his tail around her's own, his royal blue eyes almost begging for her honest reaction.

The mental ice cloud that froze her internally, the cause of her mind's numbed condition, was working overtime. It tried to freeze every left-over nerve her formless body would allow her to, the emotions fought a fierce battle within her. Unbeating heart painfully clenched, the formless' nature causing such a scene in her brain to the point it seemed to be frying her. She wanted to be intimate, she wanted him and nothing else. But the fear of allowing him to take up her pain still kept a big road block within her mind, she just couldn't allow him to feel such horrible things she rightfully deserved.

Antauri seemed to sense this as he paused, allowing her a breath of air as he reached around and got her discarded drink. Pouring a big gulp in his mouth, he locked snouts with her again and let the drink pour into her gum pallet. The flavors, at first burning to the touch, caused a quick warm haze to cloud her mind.

His face started to blur as the skilled hunter lulled her head to the side, the numb within her taking on a different feel. It felt more like a numb caused by a sedation shot rather than a frostbite feel. Her personal restraints started to stumble the more her body tumbled. Long purple claws traced down his silver monkey, noticing how smooth and clean it felt, before resting her grip on his tail. Antauri jumped at the sudden grab, face burning a bright blue, a robot's version of a shy blush. Happiness began to protrude in him as Antauri repeated the action of 'feeding' her the alcoholic beverage till she was as drunk as a skunk.

She leaned her head, now utterly vulnerable without a sense of which way was up. Seeing now the time for his plan to be started, Antauri applied a deeper kiss to her snout, massaging her scars as he removed his helmet to expose his mechanical brain.

"I love you," he whispered.

Vex hiccupped, lacking a full comprehension of what was about to happen. She pressed her snout into his, allowing him to have complete control of their stance.

"Feeling is… m—mut—tal…" She gurgled out.

Taking that as a green light, Antauri wasted no time in going from the floor and into the bedroom. He tugged her to a lying position as he crawled up and snuggled into her thick fluffy white mane. Once comfortable, he tried to press his fingers into her helmet while distracting the drunken female with a seductive kiss.

Vex squirmed a lot when he prodded her helmet, trying to get the piece off. She grunted in pain as Antauri eased his tugging and managed to wiggle the black headgear off with gentler pushes. What he saw shocked him…

A small purple orb floated in the center of the opening to which revealed where her skull was opened for the brain operation. The bone bore the heavy trauma in cracks and burns that somehow stayed beneath the poorly healed skin. Strange symbols floated within the orb, Antauri having no idea what the language meant, but concluded it was something of dark magic.

So, this was the only item keeping her soul tethered to this formless body. A small tear built up at the rim of his eye the longer he stared into this shocking sight. Having no idea what was truly within her, Antauri swallowed a metaphorical gulp and hugged her tightly.

"I care not what was taken, please, let me love what is left of you…"

Green tendrils slithered out from the slots of his computerized brain, putting himself in a meditative stage, concentrating as he inched his soul from his body and into the orb of the individual before him. Vex tensed when the green arms of his soul clasped onto her own, entering the orb that served as her command central/brain.

Instantly both their eyes glowed a matching green. Antauri gasped at the rising intensity, like a sizzling heat that'd burn any curious hand, but calm enough to not be uncontrollable. His body sparked, a small percentage of himself entered Vex, as if he was downloading all he was into her mind.

But for some reason, as he successfully mixed his being with her's, Vex's information remained missing. He lunged his soul forward, desperate to seal the connection, to close off the bridge that'd forever bind them to each other.

The hunter gaze to the monk pressed up to her larger body, seeing some moisture dripping from his beautiful form. His soul stumbled through her mind like a drunk trying to find his keys in the dark. The deeper his mind went into her's, the greater the physical and mental tension became.

She received image after image of his memories, different events of his past, moments that he was both proud and ashamed of. Then she saw his real face, a black monkey with lime gold eyes with armor that matched the rest of the Hyperforce monkeys. A small sense of sadness hit her heart when he completely emptied and shared his file cabinet.

He was swept clean, now it was her turn to be downloaded into him.

The fear returned as Antauri was not backing off, crazily knocking on the door, wanting to be let in, to see his love for real.

Gagging, her heart sank further, knowing what'd happen if she surrendered and allowed his wishes.


A/N: Sorry for the grammar mistakes on this chapter, i will go back and re-read everything when i have time. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed this chapter, stay tuned for 4!