Spike stood there looking into the reflective surface of the window before him in his new cell. It wasn't far from his first cell, and looked identical, the major difference being that the large window looking out into the hall was a type of two-way mirror on this room, removing Spike's ability to see into the hall and no visibility on if or how many guards are positioned beyond, making any new escape attempt far too risky. 'Not that any of that would matter right now…' as learning that he is on one of Specters' SARU space stations and all of the mechanical devices and machinery were biometrically locked to require clearance that he himself did not have were the least of his problems at the moment.

He should have been quietly ecstatic that Specter so soon after his capture was almost foolishly handing Spike the keys back to Earth for what he called some "a little out-time for the pet human." That could have been a grand chance to escape his current situation! No, what ripped away any potential excitement was the slowly pulsing device placed around his neck. The inconclusive warning of what it could possibly be capable of echoing in his head.

'It could be a bomb. Or it could administer a painful shock. Want to find out?'

It's been two or three days and he could still hear Specter's words as if he was still in the observation deck staring out into the blackness of space, more closer to the Moon than Earth. He only knew it was almost time for his out time when an ape came by with his dinner and an attached note saying that he had an hour to be ready. Honestly, other than eating what more could he possibly be able to do to prepare?! Up here he owns no creature comforts aside from what Specter allowed him to have, and with the Ape King's sense of irony that meant a beach ball and a tire swing and his meals were a pile of bananas. It's amazing how quickly he was getting sick of bananas. No, there was really nothing left to do but stare at himself in the two-way mirror, dread the collar around his neck, and wait for an armed guard to escort him on what this chore Specter had planned for him was.

Almost on cue the latching mechanism on the door made a noise before a droopy-eyed ape entered the room. He turned to face it, but the smaller creature pointed a pistol in his general direction, non-verbally warning the redhead 'do not try anything.' Considering the circumstances, what would he try? Regardless, the timid Ape before him is clearly not used to holding someone at gunpoint based on his shaking... everything… so Spike placed his hands up in a mock surrender. It didn't seem to calm it much, but it did cock its head in a gesture as if to say 'let's go' stepping aside to let the boy exit the room.

Spike did as he presumed the blue pantsed ape wanted and exited his cell, letting his arms drop casually to the side. The ape escorted him nervously down the familiar path he had run 48 Hours prior, leading to the elevator that he had given Specter the slip. Rather than the branching path Specter had chased the red head down the ape led him into the elevator that Spike had to thank for his evasion of his capture.

The elevator shared the station's technological look, Spike noticed as the droopy eyed pipo ape pulled the face from the button panel and crossed two wires, causing the lift to rise. But continued raking his gaze around the lift. The walls were dented like they had been punched and kicked, not enough to leave it non-functional but it was quite a sight. The button panel was also smashed, thus the ape having to mess with the wiring. Needless to say Specter had Gone Ape on the interior. The redhead moved his hand up making a fist and placing it against one of the fists made dents. It was both a reminder of the damage Specter can do physically, but also psychologically, the healed scrape on his knuckles Cold against the wall reminding him of his last walk with Jake and the knee-jerk indentation his friend had made in the dumpster when startled.

His hand is jostled slightly as the elevator comes to a halt and the doors open behind him, the monkey continuing his escort at gunpoint. These Halls are more decorated to Specter's personal tastes; the floor lined with detailed carpets and walls embellished with art and drapery. The ape with the droopy eyes stopped in front of an ornate door, once again cocking its head to signal to enter in favor of the unintelligible Ukki's that made up their language.

Spike placed his hands on the door, slowly pushing it open and taking a tentative step inside.

"Ah! There you are! It's about time!" the voice of the albino rang. "Thank you Alfonse! You may go!" With that the sad looking ape left the room, shutting the door behind him. Or her. Spike really couldn't tell honestly. The redhead stood in silence in his place by the door glancing around the room before his sight landed on Specter, sitting at a somewhat long table, arms folded in front of him. The room seemed to be designed to replicate a dining room of sorts, a welcoming layout with a fake fireplace casting an orange glow on the room. It would almost be nice if not for the current company in the room with him.

For a moment Spike stood there in silence staring down the ape before him.

"Well?" the latter says. "What are you waiting for?" he gestured to an empty seat. Spike tracked it with his eyes only to return to the albinos eyes.

"I was explicitly told not to go anywhere or do anything without your explicit command." he replied. The Monkey King cracked an almost grin, though still forced.

"Take a seat in that chair smartass!" the ape commanded, and the boy obeyed, taking a little joy in his malicious compliance. A pregnant silence filled the room Specter simply stared at the boy with more focus than was comfortably necessary. The moments ticked away. Spike sat there returning the stare, occasionally looking around the room at anything that wasn't his warden. What he didn't know was that Specter was focused on an accessory he had 'gifted' Spike; the little choker he liked to call the 'tattle-light collar.' It had a few functions, and the humor that he let the boy believe it was potentially a bomb was a source of passive entertainment to him, but the function relevant to the moment was the soft yellow blinking dot near the front. Testing to see how his gift functioned, while the human was avoiding eye contact Specter raised his fist sending it heavily down on the table causing it to shake accompanied by the loud noise.

"HUNGRY!? " the albino yelled unnecessarily loud and sudden, causing Spike to jump with a start.

"What the– I - no?!" the boy stammered out angry and confused by the delivery of the question. But it did what it was intended to, Specter watch the glowing yellow flash to red, for a moment flashing quick and repeatedly before settling back to a slow strobe.

"Nonsense!" he said more calmly, though still held his natural smarm. "It's rude for a guest to refuse hospitality of the host!"

'I'm pretty sure it's rude for the host to be inhospitable to the guest…' Spike thought in response but bit his tongue. Regardless, his host clapped his hands twice signaling another Pipo ape to enter through a side door, a single tray in hand.

The Pipo Ape entered through a side entrance with a tray in hand, walking around to Spike side of the table, setting the contents in front of the redhead. The plate was rather large for the contents; in the center of the plate was a small pile of yogurt varnished with a few orange slices. Spike looked from the plate to the albino across the table, the chimp raising a brow as if to say 'eat.'

"Go on," he urged, "I'm sure you're tired of eating nothing but bananas!" he was right about that. It didn't make the ape's urging any less suspicious, but the boy thought that poison has never been Specter's style.

"Whose fault is that?" the human accused before picking up the spoon and scooping up the orange'd yogurt. The ape gave a half-hearted smirk in response.

"We're a little short on staff here on the SARU space station. I used to have a guy for meal planning." Specter was mainly focused on Spike's collar. "I'm pretty sure you caught him in a net."

"Short on staff huh? I guess that explains why you gave a blue pants Monkey a submachine gun?" as the boy ate his food and the conversation seemed non-threatening, almost normal the red light returned to Yellow with a gentle pulse.

"We have to shift help around where they're needed. Unfortunately the monkeys trained for frontline combat and armed guarding tend to be captured by you humans a lot!" Specter responded.

The collar had been a genius little idea he had been working on, and the Prototype included a little alert light, no different than the ones that adorned his Apes own Pipo helmets. Recreating his relationship with Jake to find the mental anchor to drown the boy wouldn't happen naturally, not with the redhead on guard around him where Jake didn't even know he could understand him, but the light giving away Spike's anxiety levels could act as a helpful tell at times.

While Specter patted himself on the back for his invention Spike finished off his dollop of fruit, deciding to poke the albino a little.

"I get that you like to pretend you're some kind of Rich King ruling over a kingdom, but you could afford to not copy what you see rich people do on tv and put more than a spoonful on a plate!" he used his index finger to wipe the remnants and finish it off to make his point. The Ape scrunched up his nose at this for a moment before just settling on a scowl.

His face relaxed as he gestured to his own neck to remind the boy of his collar and the boy's belief in it being some sort of explosive. The boy backed down, setting his Cutlery on the table to be taken by the same ape that had delivered it. Specter reveled in the element of control that he would have liked to flex upon the boy further, but there was business to attend to.

"Well, since you're so keen to critique how I run my station I'm sure you're feeling ready to take on a little responsibility in the improving of our working conditions!"

This earned a raised eyebrow from Spike. Specter turned to a monitor on the wall as some information popped onto the screen. The info kept scrolling and cutting to more info faster than Spike could read it, leaving the boy no choice but to focus on Specter for an explanation further.

"Here on the screen you see a map of Ashland Heights Zoo, located in the city of Faribault. That's where I'm sending you for your little chore."

"I don't suppose it's to check out the gift shop?" Spike quipped.

"No, I was thinking of putting you on display!" Specter responded dripping with sarcasm. Two images appeared on the screen. "No doubt you've noticed how lonely it's been around here without my old friends the Freaky Monkey Five around?" the images were the familiar faces of Monkeys Yellow and Blue. "It just so happens I found where your kind decided to hide two of them! Apparently Yellow sure brings in a crowd! It wasn't too hard to track them down! "

It was pretty obvious to Spike where this whole conversation was going. "So you want to send me to the zoo in order to set free Blue and Yellow." It was more of a statement than it was a question.

"That's right! " Specter replies. Spike takes a moment to think it over. He's in no position to refuse but something bothers him all the same.

"How long have you known they were there?"

"Months."

"Okay… so why only now? Why wait if you're so short on hands?"

The Ape King took a second. He didn't want to announce the concern that the other missing members would be moved out of reach in fear of giving the human any ideas about sabotaging this mission. And he had something extra special planned for this job. The boy wasn't owed any answer, but the ape loved the sound of his own voice.

"Because you're expendable, and I don't have enough free hands to risk losing anymore of my Pipo apes." he settled on that.

The boy accepted that answer. It seemed about right given the circumstances. It was probably what Specter had planned to have him do even had his brainwashing powers worked on him.

"And… you trust me to just… go out there and jailbreak them?"

At this the albino laughed. "Oh no no no- - of course not! You'll be given a set of escorts of course!" as he says this the door Spike entered through opens and a duo of Apes enter the room both armed with tactical gear, the one was dressed in camo with sunglasses, while the other looked like a standard green pants monkey dressed in winter wear.

"Let me introduce you all!" Specter started, "Meet Arnie and ThreeDee. On this job you will answer to them! Arnie, ThreeDee, this is Spike, our human pet for the time being." he turned to address Spike again. "If they say 'jump' you say 'how high?' If they say 'run' you run. The only time in which you are to disregard their orders is if it contradicts an order coming from either myself or any member of the Freaky Monkey Five. Capiche?"

Spike nodded slowly, knowing he didn't get to say really, looking back to the two Apes he would be answering to and then back Specter.

"How am I supposed to understand what they're telling me to do? I don't speak ape?"

Specter just scoffed. "You'll figure it out." and with that the albino stood up, letting one of his Apes push in his chair behind him. "Suit up! You'll be heading out immediately." one of the Apes screeched at Spike to get him to move. The camo ape, (Arnie was it?) Took up the rear while ThreeDee took the front. As he walked being led back through the hall he came from, Spike found himself surprised to see Spector keeping pace with their caravan, practically walking side by side with the red head. Spike tried to ignore his itching curiosity but after a few moments it got the best of him.

"What? You're seeing us off? "

Specter gave a short laugh at that. "Haha! You think I'm going to trust you down there off base with only two guards? After your little escape attempt the other day, that's rich!"

"You're coming with us?!" the red-eyed Ape the leader wasn't usually one to get his hands dirty so this was surprising to the Human.

"I have some business down at the zoo." he passes a bag to Spike as they enter the station's teleport room. "Don't lose this, you'll need it." and with that the band of apes, plus one human stepped onto the platform and with the command to a technician ape the familiar floaty feeling washed over the group and with a flash of light the teleporter activated sending the group to the selected coordinates to Ashland Heights.