A/N: This is Sniggy's favorite chapter so far. ;]
Chapter 4
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature." - Helen Keller
Sunlight shimmered in the glass surfaces of the many tall buildings and pointy metal-plated spires. Speedy hover cars whizzed in and out between the higher level traffic lines in the air and slow high-tech airships bobbed gently on the warm currents between the many skyscrapers of Shuggazoom City.
In the midst of the technological-heavy metropolis, an idyllic oasis of green lawns and neatly planted flowerbeds gave room for obnoxiously blissful couples to sit around on chess-chequered picnic blankets and stare longingly into each other's eyes or for young children to carelessly throw Frisbees at each other's faces and their dog. Slacker teens and fat pigeons alike would slump around the large steel monument that dominated the view of the park, but which went otherwise unnoticed because of the already impressive height of the city skyline.
A sleek, crimson spacecraft of alien design broke through the orange cloud layer and merged dexterously with the afternoon traffic, zigzagging its way deeper into the City.
The ship - which had initially behaved itself very well - suddenly careened off course in a whiplash move that sent it all alarms blaring into the lush greenery of the central recreational area, digging up several cubic metres of fertile park soil and sloshing the previously so offensively harmonious Shuggazoomian Citizens with the muddy remains of the fuchsia and rhododendron arrangements.
The spacecraft laid dormant for a few moments before a hatch whipped open and the rainbow-coloured passengers piled out, all moaning in discomfort at the less-than-elegant landing.
"When I say: 'Otto, stay away from the landing thruster engines, I will need them to land with' it's because I will need them. To land with!" Sprx growled at the guilty-looking Otto who was still walking funny from the impact.
"I'm sorry! But there were some really awesome-looking parts in there! I thought I coulda built some modifications to your ship – like, like—"
"If you suggest 'cup-holders' I'm going to hurl you right off the planet and let the cold, unforgiving vacuum of space finish what the bounty hunters couldn't," the wound up pilot exclaimed while inspecting the sad state of the paint job of his vessel. Long scratches revealed the dull metal underneath leaving the spaceship looking rather dishevelled. Sprx groaned and pinched the rim of his helmet. "Monkey-doodle..."
A green figure suddenly hunched beside him and peeked at the belly of the ship. "Oh, this doesn't look too bad."
"Yes it does," Sprx snarled.
Otto caressed the side of the ship, admiring the metallurgy the recent battle scars had uncovered. "This alloy is amazing – looks like mostly only paint came off. It just needs a few splotches of red and some other touch-ups and it'll be all dandy again!"
Sprx visibly mellowed at the praise given to his prized vessel. He bent over the enthralled mechanic to point out special places of interest. "It's a 57%-oronium and 43%-rhenion mix, which is mostly used on the larger Far-Range Offensive Annihilator crafts, but it does quite a wonder for aerodynamics since it's pretty light-weight compared to usual blends."
"So you can afford the weight to put more gadgets in there? Ohh, that's why you had those Frosted Dynamelter Drives in there – they're usually seen as dead-weight, but with this alloy..." Otto looked at the ship in awe as if he was in the company of some glorified pop-idol.
"Uh-huh, they really add extra thrust to the hyperdrive in a pinch," Sprx said proudly and petted the exterior like he would the head of his first-born son.
The green and red monkey continued to gibber technobabble while the others had huddled around Gibson and his handheld scanner.
"This supposed to be the place?" Nova asked sceptically. "It's a... park. There's nothing for us to do here besides picnic or feed birds." Her tone of voice indicated that she certainly hadn't come to do either option.
"According to the coordinates given to us by Master Zan, this is undeniably the correct location for whatever reason we were sent here," Gibson said and looked around, frowning.
Mandarin glared at a nearby girlfriend/boyfriend duo who sat watching the monkeys uneasily, guarding their picnic basket from the potentially snack-depleted cyborgs. "Where exactly do the coordinates direct to?"
Gibson pointed. The Team obediently ogled the direction of his finger.
A tall, clumsy-looking statue of extremely tetragonal design stood over-looking the park.
"What are we supposed to do with that?" Nova questioned.
"Perhaps there is more to that monument than meets the eye," Antauri said wisely and made to move closer to the would-be statue. Helen followed in close pursuit and Mandarin barked orders at Otto and Sprx who had been busy male-bonding over the pros and cons of internal combustion engines versus bacon rolls.
The Team paced to the feet of the gargantuan figure and then came to a hesitating halt, unsure of what to do next.
"...um. Is it supposed to do something? Anything?"
"I do believe it is up to us to initiate any action here, Otto - nevertheless, I fail to comprehend what."
"Why don't we ask our glorious leader?" Sprx mumbled and squinted at Mandarin. "Or didn't your superior training prepare you for Close Encounters of the Ornamental Kind?"
Mandarin didn't even whip around to hiss at Sprx, but instead stayed stoically calm and said with a voice laden with icicles: "Perhaps your vast knowledge from being a professional waste of space shall prove the solution to this riddle. However, I myself remain highly dubious of that."
"You two knock it off!" Nova exclaimed from behind. "This alpha-male garbage isn't getting us anywhere."
"True. Either you do something besides getting us into fights with mercenary scum or you stay put," Mandarin growled harshly at Sprx, whose fur bristled in response.
"What? Do you expect me to just up and kick it like this," he gave the side of the sculpture a solid wallop with his left foot, "and have a secret door suddenly ope- oh... would you look at that?"
A not-so-secret-anymore door flew open, the darkness inside containing the next step on their road to embracing their Fates as universal protectors.
~8~
The interior was dark and stale. They all cautiously crept inside though, huddling into an unconscious group. At the end of the hallway there were six coloured tubes-red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and black-which appeared to lead upwards.
The monkeys looked at each other expectantly, waiting for someone to dare to brave this unknown place.
Mandarin straightened his shoulders and held his head high as he finally marched toward the orange tube and stepped inside. He turned to look at the others with a "That wasn't so hard" stare but was shot up the tube in a cloud of dust.
The rest of the team looked on in horror for a moment.
"Mandarin!" Antauri called out; he raced over to the orange tube and peered up into it. He couldn't see the top.
"I'm fine!" the orange simian's voice called down. "It's some sort of elevator. I'm in the Command Center."
The rest of the group reluctantly began stepping into their own coloured tubes-except Helen; she stuck herself to Antauri's side and gave a little squeak of surprise when a blast of air shot up and a moment later they were all staring at a completely different room. This room was brightly lit with plain white walls and a large consul directly across from the tubes. Between the tubes and the consul were a rather large couch and six pod things that upon closer inspection turned out to be chairs.
"Wow," Sprx said.
"Yes, this is somewhat of a surprise. It's odd how this is all the exact size for us-and colour coordinated as well. Someone has obviously gone to great lengths to acquire such customized and advanced technology for us," Gibson said. He was looking over the control panel and trying to figure out what world this technology came from.
"Not all of us," Nova pointed out. She looked over at Helen who was still stuck very much to Antauri's side. "Why isn't there any white chair or tube?"
Helen looked surprised at being pointed out so, but cast Nova an embarrassed look as she answered: "I was not planned for, I suppose."
"Why not?"
"As I explained to the others when you and Mandarin were called back by Master Zan, I am not... one of you. I was not born or built this way-I am not in fact a Robot Monkey in anything other than outside appearance. My kind are shape shifters: we can rearrange our outer shells to whatever form we desire. I took on this particular form when I was... bonded with Antauri."
"Oh," Nova said; she couldn't really place the feeling of loss at that confession. "Why'd you come with us then?"
"It is my... duty to belong to Antauri."
"'Belong to' him? What are you talking about?"
"I am here to do as he wishes. I am to be anything he needs or desires."
A poignant silence enveloped the room at that as Nova seemed to begin shaking at that explanation. "What? So you're saying you're his-his servant?"
"If he wishes. However, he has freed me from such obligation and chooses to accept me as an equal."
"What if he changes his mind? What then? Are you just going to roll over and let him control you?"
"... yes. It is my duty."
"To who?"
"The Order. The Universe. The Power Primate. It is Fate's decision."
"What is wrong with you? You are a fully competent sentient being! How can you just give up every right to some guy simply because you're told to? You deserve to do whatever you want to, whenever you want to-you are not some object he can use for his own sick pleasures. Why would you submit to this?"
"I have told you-it is my duty. And Antauri has made it clear that he does perceive me as an equal and will not force me to do anything that I am uncomfortable with. I am closer to a wife than a servant. I am sorry that I cannot give you a satisfactory answer to your questions but this is my life and my duty and I shall see it through."
Nova stared at both Antauri and Helen in outraged disgust.
The rest of the guys had all busied themselves with scanning over the various controls, coincidentally drowning out the ensuing argument between the girls (which they knew would earn them no brownie points by participating in from the last time the subject of feminism had been brought into conversation around Nova). They had managed to get the view screen up and running (amazingly all the controls were almost tailored to their natural inclination of what they might do) and the scanners were all activated. The scanners seemed to be planet wide (and a fair distance into space) and picked up a lot of weird signals that none of the boys knew what meant.
A deafening alarm began to blare throughout the large (and now apparent actual) robot and the view screen flipped to show a large number of what appeared to be space crafts headed toward the little planet.
"What are those?" Otto asked.
"I think they're ships," Sprx answered; his radar system was more advanced and had clearer labels than this one but the shapes were almost identical to what he'd see when small crafts were approaching.
"A large armada of small crafts," Gibson elaborated. He was fascinated with this technology-it was almost archaic in style and yet it was surely highly developed to be able to detect such a threat from so far a range.
"What do we do?" Otto questioned looking over toward Mandarin.
"We fight them off, of course."
They all stared at the screen in silence for a moment; a heavy, solemn tension filled the room as they all contemplated what exactly this entailed.
"Uh, how?" Sprx broke the silence. "We don't have any idea how to work this thing and my ship is on the other side of the park. I doubt they'd all want to fight us hand-to-hand when they're at an obvious advantage in their ships."
"This vessel was tailored to us specifically-it will not be that hard," Mandarin replied confidently.
"Okay, look, I know you've been living on a hippy-trippy crystal planet all your life but you gotta know how difficult it is to adjust to something like this."
"Fate is on our side. We will not lose."
"I hate to break in, but I'm afraid Sprx is right. We cannot just jump into battle pressing random buttons-it's illogical, not to mention extremely dangerous," Gibson said. "We don't even know if this thing has any weapons, let alone where they are or what they do. Plus, we have to look out for all the innocent people who are down there-they don't know what's going on"
"I'm afraid that there is no more time for debate," Antauri spoke up. "The ships are breaching the stratosphere."
"Right then, everyone: to your stations," Mandarin commanded and ran over to the orange tube once again.
The remaining members watched him shoot up again before turning back to the screen.
"There really isn't much of a choice, is there?" Gibson asked.
"Nope. Come on, lets go see if this hunk of metal is worth all the trouble we've had," Nova took off toward her own tube.
"Uh, where's Hel here gonna go?" Sprx asked, indicating the white female.
"I suppose I can remain here," she said and sat down in the black colored pod-seat.
"Are you certain?" Antauri asked her.
"Yes," she said; her tone conveyed the exact opposite of her answer.
"Be sure and buckle up. Pro'ly gonna be a bumpy ride," Otto chimed in.
She nodded in understanding. Antauri gave her one final look before following his leader's example and shooting up his own tube.
The rest followed suite.
They were each dropped off in a small drivers compartment filled with many buttons and levers. The controls immediately started up and their view screens showed exactly where they had ended up in the Robot.
"Now what?" Nova asked over the open channel.
"These controls are weird," Sprx commented.
"Indeed, they are of a peculiar make," Gibson said.
"Be quiet all of you," Mandarin called out. He was focusing on the view screen which was showing the small legion of heavily armed ships descending further toward their location. A stream of missiles was suddenly unleashed toward the sky.
"Oops..." Otto's voice rang out over the intercom.
"What did you do?" Mandarin demanded.
"I just...pushed a button," Otto admitted.
"Which button?"
"The one that looks like a clown's nose."
"You mean the one next to the blinking switches?" Nova asked.
"Yeah..."
"I see no such buttons or switches," Mandarin informed them irritably.
"I believe we all have different controls," Gibson stated. "Sprx, do you have a large view screen with something like an Aldebaran style switchboard?"
"Um, yeah.""I have a similar style of controls," Antauri said.
"Yes, I see. It appears that our controls all coordinate with our placement and I assume function aboard this vessel. Fascinating. This mechanism might suggest that we have the ability to bisect or possibly even retain a certain level of autonomy among us-"
"I hate to interrupt your lecture, professor, but we need to figure out how this thing works. Now," Sprx said just as the first of the ships broke through the clouds and began filling the skyline.
"That's weird," Otto said.
"What is?" Mandarin asked.
"The clouds. They just darkened-it's like they know something bad's going to happen."
"I'm sure it's from the number of ships behind them restricting the amount of light waves from reaching the surfa-"Gibson was interrupted once again as Sprx let out a shocked cry filled with pain.
"They just bombed my ship!"
Indeed - the tattered, but otherwise once functioning spacecraft was now reduced to teeny tiny burning bits and pieces of debris scattered all over the scenery. A small group of bounty hunter ships were hovering proudly around the wreckage, scanning the foliage for any moving targets such as survivors and/or squirrels.
The easily recognizable ship belonging to Lenny the slug mercenary loomed in the horizon and had an air of self-satisfied smugness about it (if such could be attributed to an inanimate object).
Otto somehow managed to flick on the outer cameras and processed the damage. "Uh... Sorry Sprx. It'll need a li'l more fine-tuning than a paintjob can fix, I think."
"My ship!" Sprx wailed.
"Really, Sprx, we have far more pressing concerns," Gibson's level voice sounded over the intercom. "Until we can figure out the exact workings of this automaton, I suggest we keep a low profile."
Sprx ripped the first thing he saw resembling a microphone off the cockpit interior and roared into the open line: "LENNY YOU SLITHERING SLICE OF SNOT I'M GOING TO TOSS YOU INTO THE ENDLESS SALT MINES FOR THIS!"
"... or we can go with boisterous verbal abuse." Gibson facepalmed in his partition of the Robot, dearly hoping this wouldn't be a demonstration of their future modus operandi as a Team.
"I told you to stay put!" Mandarin hissed and tightened his grasp on the joysticks.
"SOD THAT." The incensed pilot violently seized his controls and shoved the control sticks forward, resulting in the right hand of the Robot shooting into the ground and pounding several acres of shrubbery and bounty hunter ships into a bizarre, disfigured paste of whimpers and fertilizer.
The impact had all of the occupants of the Robots shaking. A faint groan was heard over the intercom. "... shoulda thought that through... owwww..."
The open line buzzed as somebody frantically tuned into the frequency: "Sprx? You're still alive - oh wait of course you are – cosmic zits like you always make things more complicated than they have to be," Lenny's voice grumbled in all of the cockpits. "I guess me and my little improvised army of criminally insane playmates will just have to obliterate everything that moves and several other things that don't. Y'know – for good measure. Start wrecking, boys!"
The hunter ships split off into groups to form several attack formations and opened fire, shooting indiscriminatly at everything and everybody in near range of the Robot. The panicked outcries of the Citizens reached the ears of the Monkey Team through the outer auditory receptors of the Robot.
"Those creeps are begging for a throughout butt-kicking!" Nova raged and started hammering on the knobs and buttons of her console.
"Yeah! Let's show them what's what!" Otto chimed in and flailed his arms around, flicking as many lights on as he could in the four seconds that passed before gears started whirring and the Robot set in motion.
The Robot made to move forward - and unfortunately also backwards – at the same time, resulting in the large machine spinning around in a weird ballerina move and smashing back-first into the shopping district of Shuggazoom City.
"... at this rate we're going to be the biggest threat to the City, aren't we?" Otto moaned and tried to dislocate his leg from his armpit.
"Everybody SHUT UP!" Mandarin bellowed over the intercom, not at all caring about dignity or grace or any such lark that really wasn't important when you had a fleet of hostile aircrafts zooming in to joyfully leave a smoking crater of you and your Team. "And for the love of life - stop mashing buttons randomly!" he yelled and slammed down on one very particular switch.
A low hummmm of the insanely ominous sort reverberated through the Robot; the kind of sound that forewarns the build-up of an event of potentially spectacular deadliness and destruction. Small glows shimmered on the belly of the Robot and suddenly the whole facade was brightly illuminated in a brilliantly lethal display of compressed light and energy, firing off into the sky, toasting one fourth of the bounty hunter armada and hundreds of flocking geese to a tasty crisp.
There was the tensest of silences as spacecrafts and dead birds alike fell to the ground, the only sound heard from the smoke-billowing victims resembling that of the muffled hiss of a fizzy soda drink.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Everybody start mashing buttons randomly!"
Clicking and clacking was heard as all six drivers started thrashing around, anxious to get the Robot up in position, or at least make the spaceships that were buzzing around like angry laser-equipped bees go away.
"Can we do that again? Can we can we can we can we—" Otto went on in a mix of sheer retarded glee and anxiety as he tried but failed to locate buttons that would unleash more shiny beamy doom.
"I wager that an attack of such magnitude would need time to reload," Gibson called out over the intercom.
"There's still like two hundred of them out there!" Nova gasped in frustration as the Foot Crusher Cruiser 6 took a hit. She flicked a series of switches; hoping one of them would activate some sort of automatic defence system. It instead initiated a sprinkler system which showered the cowering Citizens and flowerbeds in gallons of water. The golden warrior knocked her head against the console which in turn triggered the blinker lights.
A group of smaller ships sped towards the Brain Scrambler Pilot 2, assuming it a weak point. Antauri dutifully followed the button-mashing technique that seemed to have become be par for the course at this point. He stretched out his arms and simultaneously brought down his hands on two separate buttons.
First, the eyes of the Robot started shimmering. Then the windscreen wipers started to frantically whip over the surface of the Robot's eyes. Then the lasers emitting from the eyes ripped off the wipers, which shot off at high velocity, impaling the front of one unfortunate bounty hunter ship. The ship spiralled to the ground, destroyed by the projectile cleansing device and the pilot gargling death threats to Fate who today was feeling particularly fond of sadistic humour not in his favour.
The Robot slowly brought itself to its knees, shaking from the ongoing assault of the mercenary army. Sprx gripped his joysticks again and whacked off three ships with the back of the Robot's hand.
Suddenly, the Robot decided to up and fall apart. The Torso Tank 1 slammed to the ground, the Fist Rockets dislodged and the Brain Scrambler sped off into the air.
"Halp!" Otto squeaked. "I'm all alone!"
"What the doodle?" Nova shouted. "Who touched something stupid now?"
"Nevermind that," Antauri said sternly; eyes on the hostile prize that was closing in fast. "Disperse and attack!"
On the ground, the feet and torso of the Robot scrambled about, busy avoiding the lasers and spewing forth rows upon rows of missiles into the air. A cluster bomb hit the ground near Nova's Foot Crusher Cruiser and sent her swerving around a fountain with a statue of a dolphin. "Use the targeting system Otto!" she yelled.
"Sorreeee!"
In the air, Sprx was having issues with his back-up as well.
"Hal - Start being useful and cover my back!" Sprx hollered and manoeuvred out of the vice-grip technique the bounty hunters had tried to lock him into. They were especially aggressive towards the vehicle inhabited by the red pilot.
"Having trouble, are we?" Lenny sneered over the open line.
"Hardly," Sprx retorted angrily. "These guys can't pilot for nothing. Where did you pick up these duds?"
A maniacal voice screeched through the open line: "Crispyyyyy! I'll avenge you my brother, or my name isn't Soggy the Wetter of Undergarments. I'll avenge youuuuuuuu!" The voice trailed off into hysterical cackles and promises of squelchy calamity.
"... he's on for a trial period," Lenny mumbled and fired more laser-y doom to mask his embarrassment.
Sprx zigzagged out of the way before crashing into the pillars of the bridge. The ships that had foolishly followed him too closely smashed against the structure into itty-bitty pieces of stupid. "Riiiight. And where did you get those idiots?"
"There was a discount okay? I pretty much had to scrape the bottom, thanks to our earlier rendezvous."
"Oh please, scraping the bottom is Zaaba's standard method of hiring."
"You would know," Lenny grinned and sent messages for back-up. A formation of ships stopped harassing the Torso Tank 1 and instead targeted Sprx, who was suddenly grossly overwhelmed.
"Hal! Back-up! Whenever you're ready!" Sprx yelled.
"But I—I— am not trained for this!" a very shrill, very female voice replied.
"... errr, Hal? Did you neglect to mention something?" Sprx asked warily. "'Cause I coulda sworn you were a guy."
"What are you babbling about?" Gibson asked irritably.
"Oh—I—I was sure this form was female." Helen idly wondered if this explained Antauri's initial apprehension.
"Get off the line Helen!" Mandarin snapped.
"But Sprx said—"
"I did what now?"
"What are you all talking about?" Gibson yelled.
The red monkey grabbed his helmet and shook his head in frustration. "You! Gibson! Mister Compensates With Big Words! Get yer tail over here!" Sprx screamed; now in desperate need for support as the enemy started to swamp him.
"Oh!" Gibson swooped in and popped off another group of ships, thus giving Sprx the opportunity he needed to fly off and deploy his own wave of missiles.
Unfortunately for the bounty hunter armada, the cyborg monkeys quickly got into the swing of things, and such the park slowly filled with burning enemy debris and escape pods. Lenny saw his once bloodthirsty army quickly dissipate into a few measly ships – and decided to do a runner. But first...: "You think this is over Sparky? Just because you got a new toy doesn't mean I'm gonna forget this! It's not over!" Lenny's ship sped off into the atmosphere while the slug mercenary laughed evilly.
Nova rolled her eyes at the self-righteous speech and fired a few well-aimed laser blasts. The ship burst in a pretty explosion and that was the end of Lenny.
"Hopefully that's over and done with! Good riddance!" Gibson exclaimed and let his Fist Rocket hover to the ground.
~8~
Getting the Robot back into Machinder Mode didn't prove too much of a problem – mostly careful maneuvering and a few tries. Otto looked over the damages to the Robot, drooling over the build and technology and basically making a big sappy fuss over his new best friend in the whole world. While the mechanic did so the rest decided to regroup in the Command Center.
Antauri entered first with Mandarin and immediately ran to Helen, who was curled up and scared stiff in a ball chair while gripping the edges of her seat with such strength that subtle dents had been left. The disposition of her fur gave the impression that she'd been through a tumble dryer going a few thousand rounds per hour.
Antauri knelt down in front of the white monkey and lightly dislodged her death-grip on the chair. "... Helen?"
Her eyes, which had previously been a sick, yellow colour, blinked a few times and returned to their normal blackness. She drowsily fixated a blank stare on her mate. "... I... would like to remind you of my Vow of Pacifism and... kindly request to never ever participate in battles again... ever."
Antauri sighed and clasped her hand, reassured when she seemed to be recovering from her violence-induced stupor. "Of course, Helen."
Mandarin, who had been hanging over the main computer in the background, snorted at this display. Before he could get to further voice his dismay another object of his dissatisfaction entered the room.
"... yeah I'll miss the old ship, but these new... ones... uh." Sprx trailed off when he caught the downright murderous look on his leader's face.
The orange monkey stalked to the red and stuck his face a bit too far into the other's personal space bubble. "We are supposed to defend this planet! Not be the origin of its plight!" It was quite clear what he blamed who for. It was also quite clear that any 'funny' answer would end with Sprx' pelt in front of somebody's fireplace.
Sprx shot a glance at Antauri who was busy fretting over Helen.
Surprisingly, maybe, Gibson spoke up: "This recent scuffle has been rather unfortunate - I agree - but we can hardly place all the blame on Sprx. Most of it, but not all."
"Gee, I feel so loved."
Mandarin didn't answer at first – varying grades of anger and violent intentions flashed over his face but eventually it settled on a disgruntled frown.
"You will do well to stay in line from now on Sprx. I do not want to ever have to deal with any more surprise visits from your suspicious acquaintances. Is that clear?"
"No more dealing with shady characters of the past. Got it."
"I suppose now is just as good as any to begin a proper expedition of this vehicle?" Gibson inquired. The others all looked at each other before nodding in agreement and began their first real look at the Robot.
They discovered it was basically a house that could walk and shoot lasers and fly. And it was all tailored to their specific construction.
Once they had gotten the general layout of the place Nova pulled Sprx aside while the rest went on exploring of their new "home."
~8~
"Look," she said firmly. "I just wanted to apologize for my actions. I shouldn't have hit you like that back on Paralladol."
He regarded her guardedly for a moment before smirking derogatorily: "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I've taken way harder hits than that."
Nova's eyes widened. "Oh really?" she challenged.
"Yep. So don't you worry your pretty little blonde tail about it. But if you like, I can blow in your ear and make you forget it ever happened."
"You miserable little cretin! What is your problem? I'm trying to be the bigger person here and all you can do is make stupid comments. We'll see if I ever make the mistake of apologizing to you again!"
"Whatever, babe. You can hit me as much as you want but I'll always be the bigger person because I can let things go."
Nova was far too gone to recall that she was supposed to work on not unleashing her anger. She reared back and hit him again clean across the face.
An audible pop was heard as Sprx's jaw was dislocated.
Nova was once again horrified at what her action hath rot but she felt less guilty this time around at actually hitting him. She dutifully took him to the Med Bay and went to get Gibson and let him in on what had occurred.
She was resolved not to apologize to the creep though. He'd definitely deserved that one-especially since it hadn't been as hard as the first hit.
~8~
Outside the once-thought-to-be-a-statue Robot a small chittering creature was overlooking the park that had once been very nice but was now covered in debris, crisped body parts, and upturned earth.
The Robot itself was up right and looking as gracefully statuary as it always had but there was definitely a certain air of activity to it now.
Through the creatures eyes a more menacing being saw the events of the day-including the graceless arrival of seven robotic monkeys.
"So, you've returned..." the gravelly voice spoke. His tone was not displeased, but it had a certain ominous quality to it. "It seems you've not completely failed yet..."
"Don't underestimate them," another voice said-one you could only hear if you were either dead or the dark being he was conversing with.
"I know all your tricks," the dark being said. "I was there, I have your memories. I know what to do with them."
The other voice remained silent at this. He knew these facts were true, and yet he also knew something that the other being could never understand: as long as there are some people who seek out good, evil could never triumph.
"And once your world falls...the universe shall follow at my feet."
A cackling of villainous proportions rang out from the singular skeletal being as he dismissed the image of the Super Robot from the crystal inside his staff.
