A/N: Heh. I got no excuse. This has been done forever. Here ya go.
Chapter 5
"Ultimately the bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation..." - Oscar Wilde
The yellow monkey had holed herself up in the training room once it had been discovered and frankly the others were getting a little angsty about it. It was a little obsessive.
The black monkey watched her from the entryway as she jumped and dodged and punched at the simulations and various weapons threatening to tear her apart. She gracefully destroyed them all.
When she was done she acknowledged him with a small nod-and an annoyed frown.
"Would you care for a partner?" Antauri asked.
"Sure," Nova said curtly. She deactivated all the mechanized opponents before turning to face him.
They began in the middle of the room, hand to hand, weaponless.
"Why're you here?" she asked. He took a swipe at her face causing her to duck to the left where he attempted to knee her.
"I believe there are some things that need to be cleared up," he told her. She dodged his attack by punching him in the stomach and knocking the wind from him.
"Oh yeah? Like what?" She continued her attack by trying to pull his feet from under him.
"First," he said once he had his breath back. He managed to jump away from her attack and charged at her. They both collided into a rolling tangle of close range hits and kicks. "I want to be clear that you are invaluable to this Team. We need someone with your fighting expertise."
They dislodged. They stared at each other panting for a moment before resuming their push and pull battle.
"Second, I want to be clear that Helen is not my 'slave' as you called her and I would never force another being to do anything they did not wish to. You are right: she is a perfectly competent and sentient being and therefore has every right to decide her own lifepath. She chose to come with me on mine."
They were both covered in assorted bruises and scratches now. Transformers were activated and they resumed once again.
No other words were spoken until they realized their even match up.
"So what? That doesn't excuse the fact that that's what she's supposed to be." Nova told him. She helped him off the floor regardless.
"But it's not what she is. We are all supposed to be many things, and yet we defy those constraints everyday. For example: many would say that as a female you are supposed to be calm and demure; however, you are not. You are a skilled fighter and an extroverted individual."
"Fine. I see your point. Just answer me this: why did you take her if you knew that's what her purpose was?"
"I... was not aware of her purpose until she actually arrived and explained it to me. Once I found out, we agreed that a mutual companionship would be beneficial and we have allowed our relationship to grow as such."
Nova gave him a hard stare. She was scrutinizing his posture for any hint of dishonesty-she doubted she'd ever find any such thing in his body or soul; he was too good.
She finally nodded and stretched out her hand toward him.
He smiled at her before accepting her proffered hand and shaking it.
She smiled for the first time since she'd joined these new wackos of a team.
Helen had discovered the kitchen. She had taken to it with as much enthusiasm as Nova to the training room.
"Wow, they really trained you to be the perfect little wife at that monastery," the red monkey commented from the doorway.
She glanced up at him before turning back to intently focus on her cooking.
"Surprising, really," he went on. He had come in and slouched against the table. "You'd think that a place like that would be completely against 'pleasures of the flesh' and all that stuff."
"Can I help you with something?" she finally asked.
"I'm just trying to understand what all this is about."
"You'd have to ask Antauri or Mandarin about that. I'm merely here as Antauri's companion."
"But you gotta know. Weren't you brought up by the same people?"
"... Technically, you could perceive it that way."
"What, did they forget to mention the mission to you?"
"No... No I know why we're doing this. I simply... do not know why here, or why now."
"Fine: new subject. You said you were a shape shifter? What kind?"
"... I do not think it really matters."
"It doesn't have to matter-we're just talking."
She stopped her culinary activities to fully turn around and look at him. She admitted to herself that she was... distraught about so many males around had had very limited interaction with the male species since she'd chosen a feminine lifestyle and joined the Verans. In fact, Antauri and Mandarin were pretty much her range of expertise. And neither one of them were quite normal she was deducing from the way the others were acting around her. Yes, Sprx had made it known that he traveled around a lot and liked to have good time within the few days that they had all known each other, but was it really normal to be so interested in one as insignificant as herself? The fate of the universe was always pressing on them...
"How about a game?" His question snapped her out of her musings. She refocused her attention outwards.
"What?"
"A game. They have games on the crystal-hugging planet of yours, right?"
"... Not really."
"Well, this one is easy. I'll ask you a yes or no question and try to guess where your from. 'Kay?"
"Very well," she was really beginning to wonder what the point of all this was.
"All right. So, is it in the Ethivion region?"
"No."
"You're very quiet, you know that? You're not going to get in trouble for talking are you?"
"I apologize. I shall endeavour to articulate better."
"Only yes or no answers remember?" The pilot smirked at her.
She was becoming a bit flustered. What would knowing more about her do? She was not a true member of this team and she could hardly give him any more information that what Master Zan had told them back on Paralladol. And yet his aura was very relaxed and non-confrontational. It was almost as soothing as Antarui's-but it was different; very very different.
"Okay, next question: how about the Pelesius region? Is it there?"
"Yes," her voice was becoming more confident.
"'The world of a thousand faces. Where you'll never see the same one twice,'" Sprx quoted the mantra of her home world. She was truly surprised he had guessed it so quickly. "Also known as Corarnona."
"Yes. Have you neen there before?"
"You betcha. You guys have some weird hunting parties. At least I know not to get on your bad side now; in case you ever decide to come at me and simultaneously suffocate and slurp out my insides."
"I'm afraid I have given up such... barbaric practices."
"Why?"
"On Paralladol we are taught to appreciate all life; to respect everything's right to live just as much as ourselves. So much so, that we give up meat in our diet."
"Of course you cosmic-hippies would be veg-heads. I shoulda known."
"I do not mind preparing meals with meat in them, if that is your concern."
"Uh... you know you don't have to cook for all of us. I'm a pretty decent chef if I do say so myself."
"And do you?"
"I do."
She was getting the hang of this conversation thing. She had to admit that Sprx was a much better conversationalist that Antauri-not that there was anything wrong with that. He had lived his whole life in almost complete solitude; some skills are bound to be ignored.
"Sorry for the interruption," Gibson told the couple. He was standing just outside the entryway. "But I was wondering if... That is to say whether or not I might-um. Well, you know back on Paralladol when I mentioned-Oh dear."
"Spit it out, Gibson," Sprx told him.
"Well you know back when I... made the mention of-um... examining Helen? I was wondering if she wouldn't mind-for scientific purposes only. I would simply need to take a small sample of your genetic code in several different forms-to compare the molecular structure and chromosomal alignment, you see?"
"I suppose I can assist you in your research, Mr. Gibson," the white monkey told him with a small smile.
"Now don't let him take advantage of you, sweetheart," Sprx called after the two. He walked over to Helen's cooking and picked up where she left off. He really was a good cook.
Gibson had Helen sit down on one of the many examination beds throughout the Med Bay. He had claimed this room as perfect for all his "scientific" needs and thrown all his miscellaneous paperwork and science apparatus in here. Helen wasn't even sure if he'd claimed an actual bedroom yet. The place looked completely lived in.
"Now I hope you don't mind but I'll need you to transform into your true form for my control sample," he turned toward her with a large needle. That serious and manic gleam was back in his eyes.
"Of course..." she looked at him cautiously before slowly morphing herself back to her true shape. Had it always been so cold in here? She felt a little naked without the fur now. At least in the Temple she had had the traditional robes, but she'd had to give those back before they left.
The procedure didn't really hurt-her nervous system was overly desensitized in this form. And he took several x-ray shots and various other samples of her tissue before he had her change again and repeat the process over again... and again... and again...
She had studied medicine herself, but even this level of testing seemed over the top.
"Can we stop?" she requested after the fifth procedure.
"Oh! Well, I suppose I have enough..." the blue monkey looked mournfully at the samples he had taken as if they were very few in comparison to what he needed.
"Could you answer some more questions for me though?"
"Yes," her shape returned back to the white robot monkey as she answered; strangely her voice did not change.
"How aware are you of the transformation?"
"... I control it. I think of the form I wish to be in and I may body complies."
"Yes, yes, but how aware of the actual transformation are you? Do you feel it?"
"... To a certain degree. My true form is very... desensitized and so I do not feel as much physically in it. As I change so does my nervous system to the type of species I become."
"Fascinating," the scientist had gotten out a clipboard from somewhere and was jotting things down at a frightening speed. "What about molecularly? Do you feel your cells change as well?"
"... No. Do you feel it when your cells multiply and die?"
"I suppose not. So you acquire the exact nervous and organic systems as the species you turn into. How do you know what kind of systems they have?"
"I don't. Not really. It just... happens."
"So you don't have to think about all the little details and changes? They just occur naturally?"
"... Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"All right," he didn't sound completely convinced on this subject and made several more notes while glancing up at her speculatively. "What about reproduction? If you acquire all the systems of the chosen species does that mean that you can create a pure lifeform of that species?"
"... No. That is one thing that we are not capable of. We can have the system for it, but we cannot procreate another being of that species. In fact, we don't really 'procreate' at all."
"What do you mean?"
"We are... asexual. We can chose either a more male or more female lifestyle and body structure, but when we are in our true forms we can basically break off a small part of ourselves and create another being biologically identical to us who can then choose what sexuality and personality they desire."
Gibson was simply staring at her now, his eyes wide with awe.
"If there's anything else...?" she inquired after a moment. His stare was becoming disconcerting.
He remained frozen in wonder, not saying anything.
She slowly got off the table, staring at him in cautious fear, and began backing out of the lab.
She ran (quite literally) into Antauri when she left. (That had more to do with the fact that she was walking backwards and he was staring at her in confusion and not moving than anything else.)
"Are you all right?" he asked her. she had an almost haunted look on her face.
"Yes... I was just getting to know the team more." He nodded in understanding and let her go back to the kitchen-where Sprx had pretty much finished making the meal.
Mandarin called a 'Team Meeting.' There was certain 'business' they all had to go over and it had to be discussed now.
Everyone had congregated to the Control Center (which was quickly becoming the Common Center) and was awaiting further theatrics from the 'Leader' to get this meeting started.
They were not disappointed.
"Silence!" his voice rang out. "Now, I've called all of you here so that we may begin to organize and develop tactics for our job."
"What kind of tactics?" Otto called out. He was still happy as a cl-as a kitten with it's own ball of yarn. He was covered in grease and his fur was singed and he looked a little rabid (he hadn't eaten in a few days).
"We need to develop stratagems based off all our particular skills and abilities. Attack formations must be created and learned and we also need more practice at the controls of this vessel."
"The Super Robot."
"What?" Everyone looked at Otto in confusion.
"Its name. It's called the Super Robot."
"... Okay. And how do you know that?" Sprx asked. He wasn't really surprised that the ship had a name (all ships did) but he didn't really see how the mechanic could have figured it out since he had basically been crawling through the walls for the last few days.
"It said so on the mainframe."
"All right..." Mandarin let it go for now. There were a lot worse names the mechanic could have come up with for the thing and it really didn't matter in the long run anyway. "Anyway, as I said, we need to begin planning and training in attack formations. We are going to come up with a schedule for training."
Most of the assembled crowd groaned at those words. They didn't really do well with schedules.
They really didn't do well with schedules.
While three out of seven people is not the majority by any numeric system, this was a team, not a democracy. That means there must be leaders that the rest follow. So the schedule remained despite everyone's protest and obvious resentment. They seemed too thrown off by actually having a schedule to do anything but blindly follow it anyway.
The training was harder than they had expected, obviously, but they needed it badly. Not only as a team either-most of them had never had any formal training in anything that would be useful to their superheroics.
This was going to be a lot harder than expected.
It was a wonder they had all lasted this long. Fate must really be on their side for them to have only gotten off with a few minor injuries during their battles against the onslaught of monsters they faced regularly.
How in the stars had this planet lasted this long without some kind of defender? With that question came many more, such as: was all this even worth it? and for that matter, what is 'it'?
Trick questions with no answers. How appropriate.
"Tell me, Nova," the orange leader called out from the control booth of the Training Room. "Why do you persist in staying with us?"
Another trick question. "The same reason as you: I made a commitment to my Master and I will not go back on it."
Why would that be important anyway? There wasn't much else that could keep her anywhere...
Train, argue, fight giant rat monster, argue, train, fight enormous mutated locust, argue, argue, train, fight swarm of flying flesh-eating primroses, train, argue.
The days seemed to blur and were only separated into blocks of being awake and being unconscious, and Otto could only tell those two apart by the little time he spent in the sleeping chamber. The green cyborg hung upside down, awake in his tube, staring into his own reflection of the glass and pretending he was only insomniac because he couldn't decide on a colour for the seats on the snow buggy he wanted to build.
Red, blue, green, don't argue, blue, lavender, don't argue, red, red, blue, orange, why couldn't they just be friends and pound monsters and have adventures? Why was it so hard to just get along? Red, blue, green, blue. Maybe orange and yellow.
Maybe tomorrow it would be better. Maybe after the next monster battle they'd all see that they could be one big mutant-killing, monster-bashing, mecha-operating, crime-fighting family. All you needed was the right mindset. And lotsa missiles.
It was almost midnight before he finally dozed off.
It was Meditation Hour, or at least it would have been if they were still on Paralladol. As it was, it was simply an hour every morning they both set aside to quietly center themselves in preparation for the day.
It was honestly Helen's favourite time of the day: a solid hour of nothing but silence and the serene aura of her mate.
Antauri enjoyed it for similar reasons. They may have gotten off to a rocky start but now they were each other's haven in this time of chaotic change. Having a stable presence in these times was crucial to his sanity. Although if he could be truly honest he wished she wouldn't cling so much-it distracted him.
And there were plenty of other things he needed to focus on. Keeping the peace, for instance.
It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep everyone on good terms with each other; the animosity was staggering. If he didn't have such strong faith in the Power Primate he didn't think he'd be able to handle it.
He did though, and rightfully so. The Power Primate was amazing. He could never get enough. Many he had met had commented on his calm and impassive personality, but that wasn't quite true. He was utterly crazed over the Power Primate; he could never get enough. He pursued its depths with a passion so overwhelming that he simply had very little left for anything else (and really in comparison what else was there to be so enthusiastic about?).
It was his life.
That it called for him to risk losing his life for it was no trouble. He was truly happy to comply.
He cherished it so much that he wanted to share it with the whole Universe-
"Helen?" the black cyborg opened his eyes and turned to face the white monkey on his right.
"Yes?" She had a pleasant smile on her muzzle-one he very rarely ever saw-and was looking nothing short of joyful.
"What do you think about me teaching the others about the Power Primate?"
She opened her eyes and stared back at him; happiness was just behind her ocular lenses. "I think it's a wonderful idea."
He really did thank the Order for her.
Gibson stalked the halls of the Super Robot for the origin of a distant scuffle.
He still hadn't quite remembered the layout of their new home (it might have to do with the fact he kept walking around with his muzzle in his notes) and finding the training area on time was still a struggle. Fortunately, the two most aggressive members were currently scheduled to bonk their fists together and the thuds the encounters created made for a sufficient guide to his goal.
At least all this training was good for that, if nothing else.
He quite understood the reasoning behind the want to have all members of the Team become capable combatants – but really, hadn't he made it wholly clear that he was a scientist, a researcher? That his role on the team mainly should be as such? All of this running wildly around and whacking and bobbing stuff about brought him no little amount of frustration – it distracted from his studies and findings.
As the bangs and bumps grew progressively in strength and clarity, the simian cyborg found himself outside his desired location and thusly entered.
Mechanical arms and appendages alike flailed around the room in order to strike the orange and yellow warriors who were battling each other as well as the hostile surroundings. Gibson disinterestedly watched them jump and struggle and hurl each other through the room around for a good long while before he walked to the control console and made an end to all the violent merrymaking.
"Sorry to interrupt your session, but I believe you wanted me to seek you out at this hour," Gibson said to Mandarin who meticulously adjusted his misaligned armour and walked towards the door with the blue scientist in tow.
"Correct. You said you had produced some interesting results."
"From investigating the leftovers of the recent battles, yes. I must say, it's quite extraordinary how often such a diminutive planet is under siege."
"Perhaps your findings will provide further insight..."
As the two disappeared into the confines of the Robot, Nova was left to her own devices.
For forty minutes straight she had clashed relentlessly with the orange cyborg. Her fur was sweaty, her metal parts radiated heat from being overworked so, her stressed muscles screamed bloody murder and her back ached something fierce and yet she yearned to leap up and engage in more straining physical activity. Because there was restlessness inside her; an internal heap of sizzling coals that threatened to light ablaze and eat her up if she wasn't quick to move about and put it out.
She needed to think. And while she usually felt it easier to let her mind wander while her fists were occupied and her body in motion, this time she felt she needed to go about this in a more cautious, calm fashion for once.
Master Offay had let her know that this was what she had trained for all her life.
Master Zan had let her know that this was her Fate to share with the others.
Protecting the Universe was indeed a glorious task – the most worthy case of all. But so far they hadn't even gotten off this one planet – Shuggazoom.
It was like pushing the boulder up the mountain, only to have it fall to the bottom before they could get out into the big world and right injustices. Instead of on a mountain, it was a city full of people too busy frolicking and eating ice-cream instead of whipping up some sort of anti-aircraft weaponry or at the very least a dozen tanks to defend themselves with; and instead of a boulder, it was a giant robot full of control-freaks and lazy crazies and medieval ideas about marriage.
So not really so much like pushing a boulder up a mountain.
Master Offay had always told her that she had a strong will. Actually, he'd said that it wasn't so much her will that was strong, but that everything else wrinkled up in fear when confronted with it. Her will was strong. She would make sure to become this Universal protector in any way possible.
The white monkey sighed.
In her hands rested a teacup full of cold tea. It should have been emptied by now and should have been emptied by Antauri. Who wasn't there, but was attempting to instruct Gibson in the Power Primate; a venture that proved not so much difficult as it was 'slam-your-own-head-against-the-wall-until- it-leaves-dents'-frustrating since the blue scientist kept measuring for hidden magnetic fields and searching the air for strings every time Antauri showed him the meditative floating technique.
And meanwhile, the tea got cold.
It wasn't that he had forgotten or broken a promise, because he hadn't and there was no promise to be broken. He had just prioritised and decided afternoon tea had to wait. She picked up her own, empty teacup and nudged the porcelain ear restlessly.
She sighed again - just to hear a noise. No matter how much racket Otto made scrambling about in the inner workings of the Super Robot, no matter how many times Mandarin and Sprx argued over piloting techniques, no matter how ferociously Nova punched the walls while training, no matter how many glass beakers shattered in Gibson's laboratory the quietude in her and Antauri's room would always be present.
She could always hide in here, under a soft security blanket of silence and pretend.
She could pretend that she didn't see the dirty looks Nova still sent her when Helen retreated to the kitchen. She could pretend that the reason Sprx hadn't visited her in the kitchen for so long wasn't because Mandarin consciously kept scheduling the pilot for extra training in an effort to isolate her. She could pretend that Otto hadn't assimilated his morning meal into a prototype bio-battery for his night lamp. And most of all she could pretend Gibson had not complimented her 'marvellously curvaceous genomes.'
Helen let loose a third, exasperated sigh.
"You sound troubled."
Helen looked over her shoulder into two olive ocular orbs. They trailed down to the empty and full teacups in her paws and immediately shaded over with guilt.
"I apologize, Helen, I –"
Helen patted his hand and stood up. "I was just lost in my thoughts - you have nothing to apologize for. I take it Gibson is having trouble accepting the idea of the Power Primate?"
"You could say that..." Antauri's eyes again fell on the teacups.
Helen smiled warmly at him and caught his stare. "You are doing your duty, and that makes you happy. I as well am joyful doing mine. The two may not always overlap, but we will both go on as always."
They smiled contentedly at each other before Helen left to do her washing-up and Antauri to discuss tactics with Mandarin. The following day, the tea got cold, as it did the next and the day after. Antauri would keep on apologizing, but Helen would carry on making sure the tea was always there.
Mandarin stood up to stretch his cramped back and surveyed the mechanical parts scattered across the room. Small and large contraptions of elaborate design with endless floods of electrical cords spewing forth from their interiors dominated the room – and in the midst of it all sat Otto and the Hyperforce leader.
It had been another battle, another clear-cut victory for the Monkey Team – anything else would have been less than acceptable – but some of the collateral damage had struck the Super Robot and somehow damaged the engines that powered the Lazatron Fury. The citizens of Shuggazoom had been very understanding about the whole ordeal, incessantly assuring the Monkey Team that no, they didn't really need that four-story mall and deluxe health resort.
Of course the tolerant attitude might have had something to do with Mandarin standing by, glaring and suggestively brandishing his energy blade… He probably ought to work on his PR skills (as Sprx had so crudely put it) someday - when the most powerful attack technique of the Super Robot wasn't in disrepair, that is.
The green monkey happily dismembered yet another device whilst humming a cheerful tune and accompanying it with clicks of his tail against the floor. "That spa place sure did a job on the Super Robot, huh?" Otto conversed. "And vice versa. I feel kinda bad about that. It would've been nice to go there. They did these scrubby massages y'know?"
"… Really." The orange cyborg wisely opted to not imagine Otto getting an herbal full-body scrub.
"I'd like to try a facial someday," Otto blathered on. "Something with slices of oranges and cucumbers. I'd feel just dainty."
Mandarin rightly felt that there was no proper response to this.
"We should've gotten us some of that lilac and lavender shampoo stuff, while we could, though. Don't tell Nova, but after a day of training she doesn't smell too flowery."
"Otto, for the sake of my sanity - focus on the task at hand."
Otto dangled a fried circuit board from its cable. "It's not that bad."
"It is bad enough," Mandarin barked.
"But we get to have time to sit and mess around with stuff," Otto pointed out, absentmindedly assembling a particle reactor part with his left hand and making a gesture towards the disarray of the room with the other.
"Time that could have been spent perfecting our skills - not rectifying the failures," Mandarin said hotly, walking towards a spare parts compartment and opening it.
Otto worked on dutifully while Mandarin fell oddly silent.
"Otto." The voice was dead-pan.
"Yea-uh?" Otto said, only half listening.
"Otto. There is raspberry ice-cream in the tool box. Why is there raspberry ice-cream in the tool box?"
"Um. I put it in there."
Mandarin's left eye twitched uncontrollably. "Why?" he asked; dangerously calm.
"As a snack for later, y'see, the insulation—"
"There is to be no ice-cream or any other snack-foods in the tool box under any circumstances. Ever."
"But—"
"No."
"B—"
"I am putting this in the cup-board in the next room. When the reactor is finished and working properly, you may gorge yourself at your desire. Consider it motivation." The Hyperforce leader angrily waved the ice-cream container around before leaving to put the offending snack away.
Otto pouted momentarily, but was quickly absorbed in work by his adoration for tech and doodads.
The Power Primate. How do you explain that?
It is faith. And how do you explain faith? It is like climbing the tallest mountain, walking to the edge, looking into the depths – seeing that the ground is so far away it disappears into grey nothingness and you feel gravity pull at you, tug at your body for it to fall the two thousand feet and smash against the rocky bottom. Faith is closing your eyes and stepping over the edge of the cliff and into the void.
The Power Primate is when you do not fall.
"You'll excuse me if I'd rather wanna fly over that mountain in my ship, right?"
And - as some would put it - when you didn't want to willingly jump off a cliff it was known as 'common sense'.
"I could hardly force you to do otherwise. However, since the Power Primate is inherently with you as well as it is with our other siblings, I heartily recommend you become adept in its use."
Sprx smirked at the spiritual guru. He was wondering if the reason the black, orange and blue monkeys got along so well was that they all spoke in the same convoluted fashion. Really, how hard was it to say "I can't make you but I think you should anyway" without using four-syllable words?
"I can honestly tell you that this mystic force belief stuff goes right over my head, Antauri."
The black monkey closed his eyes and floated off the floor. Sprx had to give it to him– it was a really neat trick.
"The Power Primate is a force of endless possibilities. It can give you the ability to see without looking, to lift without touching—"
"To talk without making sense…"
Antauri just smiled lightly in reply.
At least the black cyborg was easier to talk to, Sprx found. Not because he was especially responsive – but he didn't explode into diatribes about discipline or how the futility of his efforts to rub together two neurons in order to create coherence could prove be a force so strong it potentially threatened the theories of four-dimensional real vector space or... something.
He had only picked up the one fact that it was an overly elaborate, geeky insult - which was really all he needed to know.
"Perhaps you just need to contemplate the philosophy further…"
"Uh-huh. Can I do that now? In the lounge? While resting my eyes?" Sprx got up and stretched his arms.
"You will be sleeping on it I take it?"
"Can't all be super magical monks, can we now?"
"That remains to be seen."
"Heh, sure. Later 'Tauri."
Nobody could be forced over the edge against their will. When the pilot had left, Antauri continued to float, eyes closed and his tail almost touching the floor. He couldn't expect them to want to eagerly take that fateful step, but getting them to reflect over the Power Primate was more than he could hope for.
He would never withdraw that offer to join him above the vast deeps of the void. Whether they chose to take it or not was up to them. But he could hope. He had faith.
It was done and Mandarin was, if not pleased, then at least less unsatisfied than he had been two and a half hours earlier.
Otto was less than pleased in any way.
The genius mechanic sat hunched in front of the cupboard, sheer heartbreak on his face. In his hands was the container full of ice-cream delight. Melted to a slush.
Mandarin regarded him coolly. "Well, that was to be expected."
Otto's lip quivered ever so slightly.
"Work and duty always takes precedence before pleasure."
The black eyes shimmered; a warning of on-coming tears.
"..."
The ice-cream box trembled in Otto's hands.
"Oh for pity's sake! Get up! Get up and follow me!"
"Where are we going?" Otto asked curiously, his tears forgotten in a bout of bipolarity.
"I am taking you to the City and shoving your throat full of ice-cream!"
Otto practically bounced off the floor. "Thank you Mandy!" he beamed and gleefully avoided the hand that lashed out at the back of his head.
On the other side of the Robot, things were not going so sweetly.
"For the last time: there is absolutely no empirical evidence that slacking off is good for anyone."
"Whatever, Hal. You know, just because Mandarin wants us to work all the time doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. That guy wouldn't know what to do with a free moment to breathe if it came up painted itself purple and danced naked on top of the table singing 'Freebird'."
"Really, Spar-x, he's jus-"
"It's Sprx. Not 'Spuh-arcks.' Get it right."
"You don't have to be rude about it. It's just the way I talk. Now as I was saying: he is just a concerned leader. It's his job to make sure that we are all in perfect form whenever the need may arise and-"
"Yeah, well, learn to talk better. So you're saying that working all the time will make us better? Aren't you a doctor? Don't you know, like all this stuff about how the body needs to rest and that our circuits can overheat if we go too long and hard without a break? "
"Well, yes, that's true. Bu-"
"It's settled then. I'm right, you're wrong. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go be unproductive and take a nap."
"That is not what I said! I do concede the point that working all the time is dangerous and unhealthy, but not doing any work isn't much better. Laziness leads to obesity and obesity leads to numerous medical conditions such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, high cholesterol, and-"
"Woah woah woah woah. I didn't ask for a full health article Dr. Gibson. Sheesh, you make my brain hurt."
"Well maybe if you used it a little more and paid attention to what's important it wouldn't have to strain so much."
"Whatever-Brainstrain."
"What did you just call me?"
"You heard me. I now dub you forever to be Brainstrain. Kinda catchy innit?"
The blue simian merely spluttered and gasped in outrage at such an undignified nickname while his compatriot watched with an amused smirk.
"Well, not that this hasn't been fun and all-but I gots some winks to catch up on. See ya around, Brainstrain."
"Spar-x-!"
The crystal was once again filled with the image of a large automaton that housed seven cybernetic simians.
They had done well these past few months...Defeating his "challenges" over and over again. Not that it mattered, they would fall to him in the end. He was superior to their meager make, he had vaster resources behind him. He was power incarnate.
It was time for the final clash. Those worthless monkeys would finally see true evil and they will quake before it in fear and agony.
With a wave of his skeletal hand a large army of his Formless minions was unleashed just outside the City. A preview of his might...just for them.
His perpetually smiling face grew more sadistic.
Sprx and Gibson looked up from their respective activities (lounging on the couch and updating the programming on the hand-held scanner) to see an irate Mandarin enter with Otto in tow.
"Humans," Mandarin hissed. "What despicable creatures they are!"
The red and blue Hyperforce members sent Otto a look effectively saying: 'What is it now?'
Otto flashed them a smile and started explaining: "We went downtown and met this chatty ol' mate swingin' a sign around. He just wanted to talk- er, yell at someone, I think. He stopped hollering when I shared my ice-cream with him, though. Then he just started mumbling about 'the rats in the walls'."
"There were things in that abhorrent hobo's beard more alive than Sprx!" Mandarin snarled in disgust and sent Sprx a disapproving glare. It was returned with a stuck-out tongue.
Before Mandarin could jump to throttle the pilot, Otto cut in again: "He gave me this nice home-made knife. Very thoughtful of 'im."
The other three turned to the mechanic and stared at the makeshift stabbing device in his outstretched paw.
"Otto – that's a shank." Sprx said.
"Maybe the hobo is a scout leader?"
"Shanks aren't made by scouts, Otto."
"Is that… blood?" Gibson said weakly.
"Oh, I'm sure it's not the hobo's," Otto replied soothingly. His answer didn't do much to calm the worried exchange of looks between the other three.
"Throw that appalling thing out before I forcefully make you," Mandarin ordered.
"I can't do that – it's a gift!"
"It is a severe health risk!" Gibson exclaimed.
"It is useless," Mandarin said with force. "A laughably crude penknife compared to your existing weapons."
"Really?" Otto said brightly, having only picked out the incorporated compliment. "You mean that?"
"Throw it out now."
"Oh all right Mandy."
Sprx might be rash and rowdy, but he did possess enough of a self-preserve instinct to know that if he valued his ability to convert oxygen into energy he'd keep any 'witty' comments about Mandarin's new nickname to himself.
At least until the orange and green monkeys had left the room – one headed for a light garbage duty and the other to pound him for mentioning the embarrassing pet name in front of the others.
Gibson frowned as Sprx gagged on his own guffaws. Then a tiny smirk entered his face.
"Well, you seem keen on Mandarin's new-fangled alias," Gibson stated neutrally.
"Are you doodlin' kiddin' me? Didn't ya see the way his – Mandy's – face wrinkled up when Otto called him that? I don't care what you think about Otto – that guy is a genius!"
"I would expect nothing but such a well-founded assessment from you – Sparky."
"… Say what?" Sprx cried out – not at all happy with Gibson's sudden fit of creativity.
"You like it? I'm partial to it myself - it corresponds quite nicely with your as-of-yet proven level of maturity."
"Listen here Brainstain—"
The alarms cut off the rest of the argument and sent all the occupants inside racing to the Control Center. They had done this numerous times over the last few months and were finally figuring out a system. The view screen switched to the outside surveillance and showed a large blob of black... stuff heading toward the city.
"Is that... formless?" Otto asked. He was squinting pretty hard in order to make out the shapes that might be in the mass.
"I doesn't matter. We have to go fight it," Mandarin told the assembled team. "Everyone, to your stations!"
"I'm leaving."
The alarms drowned out the pressing silence as everyone stared at the gold monkey.
