Chapter 2

Words Unsaid

The mid-afternoon sun sank into the deep abyss of night, many citizens heading home when getting off work. The super robot also stood silently beneath the rising moon; Otto was the first seen as he sauntered into the control room. Onyx eyes jumping back and forth between the two who waited for his arrival.

"Well?" Antauri asked, hands folded in his lap as he levitated in midair.

"Sorry chief, I tried everything." Otto mumbled sadly with head held low.

"It's not your fault Otto, this was expected." Gibson pointed out while scratching his chin with a pen. "Someone like Vexahila would have a very difficult time opening up, especially since it has only been a few years since we last partook in any battles."

"Yea, I can tell she does not know what to do with herself." The mechanic turned away from his elder brothers, meekly drawing a circle with his toe, unsure of what to further say about this delicate situation.

Antauri sighed, no longer wearing his typical stoic face that hid all his feelings.

"Even when I try to peer into her mind, it's as if I see nothing but static."

"Indeed, discovering the immunity to your powers has raised a very serious red flag." Gibson noted while crossing his arms over his chest. "We know she takes serious care of her self-composure, but it's nearly impossible to tell what is hurting her."

"Yea, the only time I can see is when she gets all weird when we talk about Chiro," Otto noted while doing a good impersonation of Vex's near panic attack earlier.

Both the elder brothers look in sheer concern to each other. Antauri's face carrying most of the sullen weight.

"I... will see what I can do." Antauri noted as he nodded to his brothers, "Just keep an eye on her while Gibson strategies some form of a medical exam for her."

Gibson and Otto saluted their second in command and walked out, but Otto held back, looking to his worried second in command. Antauri's whole body, despite being in midair, was slumped and looked dangerously tired. Like someone who had been battling anxiety for a long time. A understanding smile wiggled onto his snout as the green monkey reached out to the mechanical primate.

"Antauri... it'll be okay, I know it will."

The wise monkey briefly smiled at his companion.

"Your words ring true Otto, but it does not still my worry. Even though she has allowed me in as a romantic partner, there is still a boundary." He floated to his feet, placing a silver hand to the wall as if it there was the reason behind his and Vex's division. "I long to truly claim her as my beloved, but when such time presents itself, she gets spooked and runs away from me."

"But she loves you."

"I know she does, but it's like she... is still scared of me. I need to find out what. If our relationship is truly going to become more."

Otto scratched his chin, "Well... why not try flirting with her?"

"Otto..." Antauri sighed while rubbing his chromed helmet. "You know I lack the knowledge of flirtatious actions."

"And you think she is?" The mechanic laughed and waved his hands. "Maybe take advice from Sprx? I mean, Nova is kinda tough, and he always manages to leave her blushing mad."

"I... do not think Sprx's ways would be of any help in this situation."

"You have any better ideas?"

The wise monk paused, rubbing his chin, unable to argue with that solid argument. Sighing, he gave a sluggish nod to Otto's plan.

"Very well, I will seek assistance from Sprx."

"Good! And don't worry Antauri, tomorrow we'll try something."

As the brothers nodded in agreement and parted, Nova had overheard the whole conversation. Being apart of the plan, she knew every detail, except the idea of Sprx now getting involved with the preparations. The gold warrior massaged her forehead, feeling like this might not be the best of ideas, but like Otto said, they didn't have much of a choice at this moment.

The door squeaking alerted the monkey as she whirled around and spotted Vex. The once greatly feared murderer hobbled her way into the hall, limping to keep the weight off her scarred right foot. Nova looked down in slight sadness, wondering how much pain she had to be in with the injuries that crippled her.

"Hey girl!" Nova called out while emerging from the shadows. Arms crossed, she leaned against the wall and posed in her typical 'bad girl' stance, something that always made the old monkey chuckle.

"Tidings, gold one."

Nova winced at the response, though polite, she could sense the freezing loneliness behind it. But her face remained so blank, gosh! It was just to difficult to try and understand this quiet monkey.

"Sooo, you and Otto have a good day out?"

Vex nodded, not making any effort to make eye contact. A sign that she was tired, so best make the conversation fast Nova noted.

"Brrr, cold. You don't seem like you had a good day," She jumped in front of Vex, halting her walk and forcing the scarred simian to make direct eye contact. "Which is odd, you always love to chill with Otto, so what's wrong?"

"No answer to speak of."

Nova would've facepalmed if no one was looking, here they go again, another round of getting the recluse of a monkey to talk.

"Okay, at least tell me what you guys did!"

"We... ventured to the gaming domicile. Destroyed a hit-a-rodent game. Then hunted down the quick eatery—"

"Wait, 'quick eatery,' you mean 'fast food'?"

"Da."

"O—kay, hah. Continue."

"Refilled on levitating flesh of the dead cow. End."

"Geez, you should volunteer for story time at the orphanage. You'd bore those kids right to sleep."

"Your inquiry was answered. What more is needed?"

Nova chuckled and threw her hands up in defeat, "You're right, nothing more to say!

Without another word, Vex gave a polite nod as she turned and stalked away. Nova, with arms still crossed, raised a brow as she noticed the old monkey was going in a different direction.

"Hey, one more question. If you are committed to Antauri, why don't you sleep in his room?"

Vex paused, not turning around to face Nova as her mind wandered into a deep dark void covered with allusive mist. In this state, memories would cascade her, making her usual self-control methods seem futile as they crushed her already weighted spirit down—or what was left of her soul.

It was something she couldn't tell the others; you think opening up would be easy once they found out she was a formless and made... bad choices. They knew she was a former assassin, but they didn't know just how dangerous she once was. Vex often lets them think they have her past figured out, which in a sense they do, but it's the finer details that still harp her regret and shame. Like a slow constriction getting tighter every day, she just does not know how to handle it.

"I..." She didn't know how to answer that. "Just feel... cautious."

"Oh, the jitters huh? Well I don't blame you… things take time." She slapped Vex on the back, "Tell ya what, Gibson is dragging Sprx to a museum for academic learning! It's super boring but it should help you sleep, so why don't you accompany them?"

"Very... well." Vex frowned at the unexpected invite, last minute plan changes not being her forte. But learning to be flexible has had it's benefits.

"Great! Go get some sleep so you'll be up bright and early!" Nova instructed while walking to her room, leaving Vex alone in the dark.

The former assassin glanced to Antauri's room; a familiar emotion of yearning elevated itself up into her rib cage. Like an invisible hand made of isolation was pushing her to the nearest cure. Claws grinding together, she fought the seductive thought of lacing her claws into Sterling's form. He always meditated in silence, never approaching her first, it was clear that perhaps he was not yearning for her as she was of him.

She never showed it, but once he recuperated her feelings, she thought the managing of a relationship was supposed to be easier. Was she doing it all wrong? Did he expect something different of her? Is her appearance secretly appalling to him? What... if he was turned away by her unintentional blankness?

The last question made her stomach drop like she was about to lose all she had ate that afternoon. Glancing down at her claws, the reflection of her jacked up mug bounced back to her. In normal circumstances she could dismiss people who formed poor opinions of her—but sterling... the thought of eventual rejection made her want to vomit.

Fear of the unknown was so utterly crippling. Words of a heartfelt memory came galloping into her mind, the remembrance of those attractive spring green eyes married to snow white fur with French accented words dipped in honey whispering things that always made her weak. But as quick as she came accustomed to the addicting male before her—something of a door slammed in her face. The day their struggles overtook the honeymoon stage they were stuck in and he gifted her with a dreadful goodbye.

Vex dug her nails into the wall, mind trying to remember how to get angry, or show any negative emotions to relieve the sparks that tried to flare up in her stomach that mixed with shame and fear. But just like before, her numbed state refused to let her express these feelings, like she desired and would try, but the icy cloud would just freeze every part of her internally before reaching her external self. Preventing her from truly expressing what she once could.

This relationship with sterling, it seemed to be growing familiar, as her first marriage went. First started with her becoming captivated by a feature or two of his, then it'd lead to awkwardness that opened a door to a relationship, then they'd become more entranced by each other, then a big obstacle would come... and he'd walk away—even if she didn't want him to.

Just like Wisp did, though she didn't blame him for it. She became forever changed by the assassin training, becoming an entirely different person who never spoke even when spoken to. Icy looks replaced the sweet smiles he expected from her. She had always been a major recluse and preferred to hide, but it was something he loved. They always dodged tough situations. It was when things got real, events that wounded one half, her 'better half' didn't know what to do, except say goodbye.

She didn't stop him nor object to the decision, but deep down, it was a goodbye that utterly destroyed her.

Now here she stood, right back in the same situation as before, but with a new male. Antauri was more then she could ask for, but trickier to handle. He was like her, very stoic and hard to read—the exact opposite of her first mate Wisp. Rarely did he attempt any advances, but she was to scared to ask why, afraid of the truth behind his choice of action.

True they had agreed to become an unofficial couple, but the cat and mouse game still felt like it was all they could do. She shut her eye in utter fear, knowing the most possible answer for his hesitance would be the one she feared the most.

She slowly drifted to curl up on the ground. On the outside, they might've seen her mundane face always carrying that look of sheer boredom, but inside it felt like a suffocating feel of pure raw fear. Vex cursed her weakness and closed her eye, waiting for face another sleepless night of fighting the dreadful what-ifs.

~Next Morning~

"I told you, I don't wanna go to this stupid bore-fest you call a museum!" Sprx complained while failing to get away from the snippy scientist's hold.

"Quit behaving like such a child S.P.R.X-77, this is something that could help your low key focus problems."

Sprx murmured in anger, eventually giving up as Gibson further led him to the museum around the block. Rounding the corner, both bumped into someone and fell flat on their backs. Looking up in alarm, both saw Vex's single good eye gleaming down at them. Sprx gawked at her sudden appearance.

"Hey, where'd you come from?"

"And why?" Gibson added.

"I desire to be educated."

Sprx gawked in utter disbelief, about to voice these thoughts before a joyful Gibson cut him off. With eyes sparkling, the blue monkey leaped to the scarred simian and caught her wrist.

"Any mind thirsty for the drink of knowledge can only be satisfied by the fountain that is Science. Please please, join us, it'd be nice to have a willing participant for once!"

Vex and Sprx were instantly drug into the building where they were met by mostly empty room. The low number of visitors eased Vex's nervous state as Sprx just huffed at the lack of opportunity for any distractions. This indeed was going to be a freakishly long day.

"Unlike the Shuggazoomian Natural History Museum, this is one of Space, Time, and everything we know about life and how it formed. A fascinating process that begun is—"

Sprx tuned out as Gibson started up his never ending lecture of confusing words the normal person would never hope to grasp. Vex, on the other hand, watched attentively, still confused by his word selection but getting the grasping the basic point of his typhoon of words.

After a certain amount of time passed, Gibson took a pause while pointing to one ancient map of a schematic timeline based on the direction given by the stars.

"Thus, that is how such a mass of life was generated!"

"Blah blah blah, since when do I need to seriously know this?"

"Oh, come now Sprx, how can you be so ungrateful to the amazing amount of time and energy it took for these questions to be answered?"

"Exactly, maybe because these loons didn't have anything better to do."

Gibson grabbed Sprx, preparing for a verbal smack down till Vex's voice alerted both.

"I believe the creation was based off a singularity, rather than a multitude of events..."

Gibson paused, not used to having a question that dedicated a challenge to his thought process.

"A good statement, one noted by many philosophers but not entirely proven because—"

"Ah come on, you two are not going to start this competition of who knows the biggest useless words!" Sprx huffed, clearly having enough of this field trip. "I just want to go grab a bite, fill up on some good drinks, and head home to sleep. It's not like we get two days off in a row often, so come on, let's take advantage of this!"

As Sprx and Gibson were about to get into it again, Vex smelt a strange scent, something of sulfur and smoke. Alarm struck her, knowing a scent like that didn't belong in a well-kept area visited by many people. A combo of the two often met... oh no.

Vex silently walked away from Gibson and Sprx, not bothering to notify them. With a huge population of people nearby, one panicked individual could easily start up a flare. She knew this smell, the low toxins mixed with the sulfur meant it was from a small source, but the scent of smoke notified her that the small source was extremely close to growing in size.

Easily sneaking past the few beefy guards distracted by their large meal consisting of coffee and donuts, Vex climbed along the wall and slipped into the open room that led into a dark cellar. Keeping her claws dug into the wall, she spider crawled along the sides till reaching a large metal door. Long hefty chains wrapped around the knobs, making it look near impossible to intrude.

Shaking her head at the easy challenge, the scarred monkey tapped on the door by different angles, listening to the sounds that echoed out. Once locating the hollowest point, she slammed her claws through the metal, felt for the knob, and cracked the door open just enough to wear she could slide in without breaking the chains.

Eventually she found her way through the pitch-black hallways and discovered a small security monitor room. Four masked men stood by, two were nestled in the room's center, the third watched the security footage, and the last guarded the door.

A small welding torch was held in the second man's hand as he tinkered with a small metal box lying between him and the first man.

Vex titled her head as she hung from the ceiling, shrouded by the darkness. The metallic box was small and had six red sticks poking out the top, the smell of sulfur was now radiating off the device. Looking a little closer, Vex internally cringed.

There morons were working on a massive bomb.

Fangs drawing back, Vex's pupil slanted.

"Hurry up Hoss," The first man urged while looking at the security monitor nervously. "Just saw those weird metal primates come in, if they find us, this whole operation is a bust!"

"Quiet Gidget, I told you this takes time." The masked man named Hoss scolded while welding two more wires together. "I'm the only one here who can actually set up this thing properly, once the time sets, we need to get out fast."

Right as he touched one of the buttons, something grabbed him and yanked him to the ceiling. He yelled in fright, startling his companions as they ran from their previous stations and stood beneath where he had been grabbed.

"What was that?" The man with the gun asked, aiming the barrel to the ceiling, but not seeing a thing.

"Uh... H-Hoss?" Gidget called out till their friend's body was dumped at their feet, his mouth bloodied and groaning from intense pain.

Freezing, the door to the exit was slammed shut. With only the blue monitors dimly lighting up the room, the men scrambled to see who was doing this. Sounds surrounded them, causing them to look from top, side, to bottom. Like large rodents scurried around them, till red and yellow sparks jolted at them as the four working TV monitors were knocked right out of their sockets.

"Whose there!" One yelled.

Vex stood right behind them, all three oblivious to her presence. During this moment in the job, once her prey was blinded and clueless to their surroundings, she'd deliver a quick kill shot, a process that should take no longer then fifteen seconds, given as they have no idea where she was. So quick and easy, these loons obviously had no experience.

Her heart groaned in pain, these worms planned on blowing up a whole building, they were knowingly going to kill many in the process. All of them were grouped together, as if lining up for an easy execution. It would've been so easy.

But she just didn't have the heart to do it.

Instead, she pulled the alarm button—causing all red emergency lights to come on, painting them all in a bright red. The intruders screamed in horror at being caught, running to their only exit, their terror increasing when they saw it was locked.

Grabbing the unfinished bomb, she smashed it to pieces, removing the remainder fuel-line that'd trigger any potential explosion. Once made harmless, Vex quickly climbed up the walls and squeezed into the air vents as several large guards came down and apprehended the hooded terrorist.

~Outside~

Sprx and Gibson ran outside to meet with the police as the four men were hauled into the back of their squad cars.

"What happened?" Sprx asked in total shock.

"These four were attempting to plant a bomb in the basement of this facility, luckily the alarm somehow went off and we managed to catch them."

"Oh... well, geez, good thing! Huh?" Sprx smiled in sheer relief. "That would've been a horrible day."

Gibson nodded, but then noticed something was amiss.

"Where is Vexahila?"

Vex emerged behind him, tapping a claw onto his helmet. Blank face greeting him as if she had been casually standing there the whole time.

"Wha—? Where did you run off to? Were you were there were four terrorist right below us?"

"Da," she confirmed, leaving out her involvement as she presented a small paper plate of nachos. "Hunger was cause for my departure." She bluntly stated while shoving a cheese dipped chip into her maw.

"Well... alright, I guess." Gibson nodded before turning back to finish his report with the police.

Vex held back when Gibson and Sprx helped the police crew dismiss the growing crowd. Casting her one good eye to the assailants being shipped away in the police cruisers, a small emotion arose in her. She knew they deserved more then what they got, but thinking deeper for a moment, she noted that she was no different then them.

If one like her could change...

"Maybe they can to." She whispered while nibbling at her chips, following the red and blue monkeys back to the robot, both ready to share the intense story of what almost turned their fun field trip into a total disaster. Without knowing of their friend's involvement.

A/N: Just a quick fact—Sprx and Gibson were not meant to be portrayed as clueless. Vex is just someone who has dealt with a great variety of people, she knows how to recognize certain signs without others knowing. Given as that was her job.

So anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, so stay tuned for number 3! Have a good day, review if you can!