Chapter 2: No Need for Invitations!

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Specter invites Spike over for a little chat about a cool thing he found!

Spike couldn't ignore the buzzing in his skull as he was herded to god knows where by an indeterminate number of Pipo Apes. The foot falls were hard to identify but they all seemed small and light, giving Spike the peace of mind of knowing that monkey Red, Blue or Yellow were not among the escorts. That makes his life much easier not having to deal with the more hulking of Specter's minions. Come to think of it, the last he heard of the Freaky Monkey Five they had been relocated out of the monkey park and moved somewhere else... hadn't they?

Regardless, among the soft patter of the feet of Pipo Apes, the distinct sound of expensive boots barely ahead of him mingled. This is almost unheard of but it seems the Top Banana himself is escorting him somewhere. He couldn't really see where he was being led, as a bag had been placed over his head, effectively blinding him. This is still rather ballsy for Specter, and Spike isn't going to take this line down!

He begins shoving his bound arms left or right in an attempt to throw off the Pipo Apes that were guiding him. The ape screeched with an "Ukki" as they tried to regain control of their prisoner.

Spike heard a chuckle come from ahead of him. "Would you look at that! He's got the fight back in him just in time!" Specter said. Just then Spike felt one of the Apes jab something at the back of his knees, causing him to fall forward into a kneel. "That's more like it!" The ape spoke again. "You were never big on respect were you?" he reaches up and snatches the sack off of Spike's head.

Spike took a quick moment to glance at his surroundings before turning his glare back to Specter. He found himself in one of the usual throne rooms Specter likes to plant himself in, an aesthetic combination of royalty, technology, an elephant slide for some reason, and numerous artwork depicting Specter much like a medieval king would.

His eyes then tracked back to the ape in front of him before opening his mouth to speak.

"Spwectah! Wha doh yoh hab plawnd dis teim?!" fell out of the redhead's mouth. Everyone took a moment to chuckle.

"Yeah, don't worry! That will wear off!" Specter said between chortles. Spike stretched his jaw out a little bit, running his tongue over his teeth some. His jaw bones almost felt like they were vibrating from whatever that shock Specter had administered to knock him out back at his house.

"What do you have planned this time, Specter?!" he tries again, working carefully to enunciate each word. Specter parades over to his throne, signaling the other Apes to pull Spike forward up after him.

"Since when do I need some ulterior motive to invite you to visit me?" the ape responded "I just thought I'd let you in so you don't break my door down this time." Spike did technically do that on his first go-around with the escaped Apes a few years prior. After Jake was freed from Specter's mind control, the albino invited him to his castle to employ him.

"Since when do you do anything that could leave you vulnerable to being caught and sent back to the monkey Park?!" the monkey Park always seemed to be a sore spot as his cocky facade almost cracked with the way Specter's eye twitched at the mention of it.

"How's Jake doing?" the ape asked. This time it was Spike's turn to lose his cool and Specter relished in regaining control of the conversation. Spike found his hand instinctively reaching for his wrist, only to find it naked.

Specter presents his hand forward, the watch dangling from an extended finger and an expression as if to say "looking for this? "

"I wouldn't say that I'm the one who's vulnerable here, Spike." His tone was more serious now. Specter got up from his throne and began pacing back and forth. "You should really be grateful, this is the second time I've invited you to my radiant presence. Do you remember the first time? I was even kind enough to offer you a job as my right hand man in my new world order!"

"Yeah, and I turned that offer down and you threw a fit like a child who was told 'no' in a toy store!"

Specter didn't seem to like the choice of words, as he passed Spike in his pacing he sent a psychic shock towards Spike. It wasn't powerful but definitely reminded the redhead that the albino chimp had more versatile powers than just building mechs.

"Yes and then you thwarted my plans." he continues to pace. "And then your cousin. And then those meddling twins. Honestly it struck me that really, you were the primary cause of my failure to execute my plans to deliver control of this world from human hands."

"You mean your many hostile takeovers?"

"I wouldn't call them hostile. I would say they only became more unpleasant the more I was pushed back against. Had you simply stayed out of it my first plan would have peacefully reset the timeline so that we Apes were the dominant species."

"I'm pretty sure we both know you were destined to fail considering that nothing you did changed the future enough to keep the Professor and Natalie from sending me help!" the redhead felt satisfied at getting the last word. "What do you want, Specter?" this banter had gone on long enough.

Specter seemed unamused, stopping in front of Spike, tapping his nose with a low voltage and causing a shock.

"Maybe if you'd shut up I could get to that part!" he shocked the tip of Spike's nose again with another warning shock. "Now, call me hyper fixated but, I realized you are probably my biggest threat. Sure there've been others to thwart me while you were away, but they were also fighting me at a handicap." he walked back up to his chair to gesture to a side table draped in a cloth covering something up. "You, on the other hand, have fought me at my best, and won!."

Specter quickly pulled back the cloth revealing what looked to be... an average, if not severely damaged Pipo helmet. He looked back to Spike with a face that screamed victory but Spike was more confused.

"A... Pipo helmet?" the redhead stuttered out.

"Oh no, not just a Pipo helmet! Take a closer look!" in spite of doing so it just looked like any other helmet worn by any other of the Apes in Specters regime. His eyes turned back to the ape, blue meeting red but refusing to ask the question. The ape caught on to the confusion. "I know it's a little scrapped but surely you know what this is?"

"It just looks like a regular helmet to me?" Spike confessed. Causing the ape to sigh and roll his eyes before turning the pile of scrap around to show a label on the back and a serial number that in all fairness still meant nothing to the boy.

"This– –" Specter started. "This is the shell of the original Pipo helmet prototype! The Peak Point Helmet!"

Spiked sharply inhaled at the realization, causing the ape to smirk in Triumph. Originally the professor had created a single prototype helmet, intended to give a cognitive intelligence boost to primeapes. Somehow Specter, a juggling circus show monkey from the local monkey park, had gotten a hold of it and replicated it for his monkey uprising. Specter's replicas weren't as powerful as the original though, it's what sets Specter apart from all of the other apes in his command aside from the Freaky Monkey Five. But Specter had just said that it was just the shell...

"Where's... Where's the insides? The rest of the hardware?" he asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer. Specter simply grinned and moved his hand to tap his own head piece with his finger. The redhead's eyes widened.

"You're the only human to have faced me down with this." he began circling Spike like a predator on the prowl. "The helmet sent to the park by your cousin years ago was a simple helmet, but it restored me to what I would consider an adequate level of my brilliance. By the time I was working with that fool, Dr. Tomoki, I had a factory prepared to mass-produce standard grade Pipo helmets, after all I couldn't rely on you and your friends to return any helmets you were ripping off my Apes? But none has ever been quite as potent as the Peak Point. And no ape touched by it quite like I."

The ape skulked behind him. "It's stronger, and as an already exemplary host you can only imagine how much more powerful it makes me." he leans forward against Spikes' back, head over his shoulder close enough to whisper in his ear." then again, you don't really have to imagine.. you faced this before."

As Specter's words fell from his mouth a wave of energy came over Spike, making the hair on his arm stand on end. It was an almost suffocating feeling, as if he was being dragged underwater, a deep dark water that dulled his senses and left him feeling nauseous.

"What are you doing?!" the redhead managed to slur out.

"Enacting my 'plan.' Using the Peak Point helmet I've been modifying beyond what the Professor was able to, I'll simply invite all of my adversaries to join me... Starting with you! Consider this a callback Spike! I'm certain right now you're feeling like passing the interview more than last time?"

The suffocating, drowning sensation continued, pulsing through Spike's head – – no, his entire body. It's the kind of weaseling pain that makes you just want to close your eyes and let sleep take you. It was the same, awful familiar feeling as that time in the Monkey Park, like spinning a teacup ride too fast. Spike was beginning to find it hard to keep his head up, lolling it to the side to gain any comfort, which he unfortunately found as his temple came to rest upon the albino's head.

"Well?" Specter begins. "Doesn't that sound appealing? To join my ape Army, stand by my side and Liberate the Earth from the hands of the humans who would spoil it?" his voice was like Sweet Honey in an ocean of skull splitting pain. He turned his head further as if trying to face the ape. With how close their faces were, how tightly their cheeks were touching, you would almost think it was an nuzzling motion

Spike's mouth began to move as his voice slurred and mumbled something incoherent, but regardless had Specter cracking a smile of victory.

"Hmm? What is it? You'll have to speak up? What did you say?"

With that Spike's eyes shot open, blue meeting red once again, a look of clarity and determination. "I. Said. No!" the human boy responded. Almost as if a door was just slammed in his face, the ape lost connection to the boy's mind. For Spike it was like lucidity was returned to him, for the ape it was an impenetrable wall. Just as he had several years ago, the human boy had resisted the pull of the Peak Point Helmet and its power and broke the bridge the ape had tried to form between their two minds to conquer both.

The boy scowled at the ape and the ape returned the disgusted scowl before shoving him forward to the ground and walking back to his chair.

"Put the human in holding." He orders one of his many apes.

"Ukki ukki?" the Pipo ape inquires.

"No, don't bother inviting any more meddlesome guests. Even if I can indoctrinate them into my army, as long as this one" Specter gestures to Spike, "remains uncontrolled, he is a threat to us and all future plans! We don't need him to have any friends up here while I modify the Peak Point Helmet further." he goes to lounge on his throne.

"You can't keep me locked up for long, Specter!" Spike exclaims as the Pipo Apes force him to his feet and begin leaving him out of the room.

"I know!" the Albino responds. "Just long enough to make you mine!" he laughs as he peels an orange as the human is escorted out of sight.

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A/N:

I know you're all excited to be here! That's a joke. Who the hickety heck are you people and why are you reading Ape Escape kidnapping yaoi?