Title: In Thade We Trust 12/?

Author: veiledndarkness

Warning: The usual disclaimer, not my property, just playing with the characters. Takes place shortly after the end of Planet of the Apes (2001).

Summary: In the darkest parts of the human mind lies the ability to be needlessly cruel and inhuman, a baser nature that separates us from the animals.

XX

Leo paced for the better part of an hour, his anxiety growing with each passing minute. His discarded book sat on his bed, the spine cracked from the force of being flung to the floor. He glared at the book. "Bullshit," he muttered, pacing another length of his room.

"What's he gonna prove anyhow?" Leo folded his hands behind his head, fidgeting. "Nothing I don't already know. Shoulda listened to me an' saved himself the trip."

He sighed and leaned against the wall. The air ducts feeding into the room hummed in response to Leo's ramblings. He fisted one hand, slamming it against the wall. "Thade…"

The door swooshed open. Leo frowned. He hesitated near the doorway, the small hairs on the back of his neck prickling. There was a muted sound, almost like footsteps for a moment. "Paw steps," Leo snarked under his breath, his ears straining to hear anything else.

After a long moment, Leo edged out of the bedroom. Cautiously, he made his way along the corridor, eyes wide and wary. He peered around the corner at the end of the hall, into the living room. Naira's books sat on his desk, the papers scattered every which way.

He glanced at the filing cabinets. Each one had been yanked out, more files and papers spilling down to the carpet. Leo sucked in a startled breath, one of the chimps that stood nearby…the tall, thin one. Calder. He took a step back. Not Calder…The one who oversaw many of Leo's tests, the one who smiled so coldly when he screamed in pain.

Calder looked up abruptly from the file he was reading. "Ah, there you are," he closed the file and set it on top of the cabinet. "I was wondering when you'd come out for a look see."

Leo bit down on the inside of his cheek. Naira's warning to keep his speech to a minimum around the other scientists flashed in his head. He took another step back.

"That's not terribly polite, ignoring someone such as myself when they address you," Calder clucked his tongue and shook his head. "You, my dear boy, need some lessons in manners. I am your superior, and you…are the test subject. Isn't that right?"

Leo narrowed his eyes. He despised being spoken to like a disobedient child. Calder walked over to him, his long fingers playing the hems of his pockets. The right pocket bulged out from the movement.

"Now, come here. It's time for a new test."

"No," Leo hissed at him, furious.

Calder stared at him and then smiled. "I'm afraid, Leo…your time as Naira's little pet has come to an end," he drawled. "I have ever so many curiosities about you and your apparent ability to speak, now that's something I want to…explore."

Leo slipped back more, his heart beginning to slam against his rib cage. He stared at him, daring him to try. "Naira won't…"

"Naira is a fool," Calder sniffed. "His brilliance is hampered by his empathy. Scientists have no use for empathy."

"Don't you fuckin' touch me," Leo looked around, assessing the two large apes that stood guard by the front door. "He said no more tests; I ain't doing more tests for you."

"Leo," Calder chuckled, genuinely amused. "Why in the name of Thade, do you think that you have an option?"

With a speed that stunned him, Calder withdrew a hypodermic needle from his pocket. He flicked the cap off and slammed it down into Leo's upper arm. "Don't fight it, let the drugs do the trick," he crooned, triggering the plunger.

Leo dropped to his knees, gasping. The drugs swam through his veins, rushing deeper. His hand grabbed at the walls, struggling for something to hold onto. "No…No!"

Calder capped the needle and stood back, a calculating smirk firmly in place. "I'm afraid so, Leo. Naira will never do the right thing, so this is how it must be. You've been terribly interesting to work with, and I look forward to having you thoroughly dissected after the trial."

"Trial…" Leo dropped down to all fours, shuddering. He arched his back, gasping. Pain, unending pain singed each nerve.

"The trial that the high courts will send you to for what you're about to do," Calder stepped off to the side, nodding to the guards. "Step aside."

Leo growled, a rage flooding him. He lifted his head, growling louder. "When Naira comes back…he's gonna know," he pushed upwards, his nerves screaming in agony as he stood. "You…you were the lab animal once."

"Humans were never meant to rule, Leo," Calder smiled, and oh, how pleased he looked.

Leo staggered closer, lunging for him blindly. "You…Thade, you're like…like him."

Calder reached one hairy hand out, touching Leo's short hair. He tugged on Leo's ear, yanking him up higher. Leo cried out, blood trickling down his neck, the skin around his ear tearing.

Calder tugged him up higher. "You are not worthy to even speak his name," he hissed. "You're disgusting, an abomination, like the rest of your kind. You belong in captivity, bred for our amusement! Go on, human, do what your nature tells you."

Leo reared back and spat full in his face. Calder stumbled back, wiping at the spittle that ran down his cheek. Leo leaned against the wall, panting. He looked to the guards, to Calder and then back to the open doorway. He ran for the door, half expecting a horribly strong arm to yank him back in.

As he ran past the door, eyes wild and pupils blown out, Calder chuckled.

"Sir? Should we go after him?" the guard to the left shifted uncomfortably.

"No," Calder took a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped at his face with one hand. "Let the fool see how far he can get."

XX

Naira was mumbling under his breath again, his glasses slipping down as he read over his notes. "Patterns, a set pattern, used to identify co-ordinates. Identification for a certain few to know of..."

"You don't suppose this is accidental or coincidence?" Ari traced one finger down the swirls in the marble, her nose nearly pressed to the statue. "Surely, it's...well, I suppose anything is possible, but Thade...this is beyond anything I expected. Naira, do you think Leo would be able to read this?"

"Unlikely, unless he's fluent in ancient style etchings," Naira glanced back at the statue. "Check the other side. Look for similar marks."

"Ancient?" Ari marveled. She slipped around the corner of the statue. "How could they be ancient? How long have they been here?"

Naira pushed at his glasses with one finger distractedly. "I'd imagine around the same time they put his memorial here. I mean, ancient as in similar to the etchings and monolith creations all around the other continents. Really, Ari, I expect more from one as educated as you."

She leveled a mild glare at him. "Stuff yourself and your pretentious brain." Ari eyed the marble. "Oh…oh, Naira, look!" she whispered. "There's more. How fascinating…"

"Are they the same as the first set?" he crossed over to where she stood.

"Very much so," Ari nodded. "When you say co-ordinates, what do you mean?"

"Do you remember your studies?" Naira asked with a hint of a smile. "This would have been a series of information, left behind for a reason. And that reason more than likely has to do with Leo and Thade. Come, we have much research to do. And I want to show these to Leo. Perhaps he does know something about these."

Ari smiled. "He's rubbed off on you, I do believe."

Naira closed his notebook and tucked it back into his pocket. "Sometimes I think that's not a bad thing at all."

XX

He ran. Through different corridors, down long hallways, past rooms that he vaguely remembered being in and it didn't seem far enough. Leo stumbled and pushed at the door that he slammed into, his fingers scrabbling frantically for the release.

"Out…out," he rasped. The door remained shut, a solid white obstacle.

"God…please, I don't wanna go like this…" Leo jammed his shoulder against the door, his heart pounding harder. He shuddered. The walls were running, bleeding, he was running and falling, falling past the door, stairs in front of him, pain, god he hurt all over.

Leo landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. He clenched his teeth, panting. He hurt but he was moving, he couldn't stop, not with the rush of pure adrenaline coursing through his veins. "Naira," he whispered, limping past another door.

He stopped short, the last of the day's sunshine illuminating the skyline before him. The fences ran along the perimeter of the building, tall leafy trees here and there. Leo glanced about, his teeth gritted. "Out…"

No guards…Leo hugged the brick wall, panting. A tall tree stood off to the side, the branches reaching high up, one closer to the fence. He ran, the grass reaching up to touch his hands, the sky above a brilliant spray of orange and red and yellow. Leo stumbled and tripped, sprawled at the base of the tree.

He gripped the bark, pulling himself up. And as he climbed, his muscles screamed, his body racked with shudders, his fingernails digging into the bark and splitting under the strain. Leo climbed, the wind on his face for the first time in so long, his eyes stinging with tears.

He didn't feel the hands grabbing at him, didn't feel the sharp press of guns in his back or the prick of a needle in his arm. Leo laughed and fell into the waiting arms below, the brush of soft fur on his sweat soaked skin more frightening than any test he'd faced.

Leo looked up at the sky and a tear slipped down his cheek.

XX

"…and the fact that the pattern was left there, Thade must have assumed that Leo might follow him here, that he might land here at some point," Ari whispered, her eyes alight with excitement. "Can you imagine what Thade must have been like? How much thought would have went into this? He must have known that Leo could get back to him."

Naira took his glasses off and folded them. "Possibly," he admitted, tucking the glasses in his coat pocket. "It's also possible that this was a precaution, a warning in case Leo did follow him. I do remember, my mythology classes mentioned something along these lines. Thade was…as Leo would say, a God for us, his idea of worship. He would have definitely put the idea of humans being the ultimate symbol of evil for us."

"But why, that's what has me confused," she entered the code, the door to Naira's room swishing open. "What reason would he have to go to those extremes?"

"What better punishment than to come back to Leo's home planet and change it all to reflect our culture?" Naira stepped inside his rooms, his voice fading away. "My God…"

Ari stared at him for a second. "Naira, have you…"

"Leo!" he shouted, rushing past the mess of his files and down the hallway. "Leo!"

Ari hung back, watching helplessly as Naira reached the empty bedroom, surrounded by the mess of his unit, the destruction of his files. "Naira…He's gone. He must have escaped."

"No, no he wouldn't have done that," Naira murmured. "Leo wouldn't run from me like this."

"On the contrary," Calder stepped into the unit, his arms crossed loosely behind his back. "He's a human. You simply can't trust humans to behave as we do."

Naira curled his lips back, furious. "Calder. I don't believe I requested your presence, though the sight of you makes me question exactly how much you have to do with the state of my rooms and the fact that Leo is missing."

Calder shrugged casually. "Leo is safe for the time being. You really ought to be more careful with your pets. He's quite untamed and therefore extremely dangerous, but I did warn you of that from the very beginning. Your stubborn attitude and levels of empathy are most unbecoming in a scientist of your standing."

"How dare you?" Ari hissed. "If you're responsible for this, so help me, I'll…"

"Run to your father? Yes, I anticipated that. Your father is appropriately horrified by your level of involvement with the human. I'm sorry to say that Leo is no longer under your care, either of you."

"What have you done with Leo? Address him by his name, he's not an object!" Naira strode over to Ari's side. "I warn you, Calder. I will not stand for this; I will have charges brought against you."

Calder smiled. "On what grounds? Your pet project attacked me, Naira. I did not attack him."

Naira gestured to his files. "Disruption of my studies," he said, "And willful destruction of my rooms and the endangerment of my test subject, all of which will be more than sufficient to keep you from these facilities."

"None of which are as damning as your precious Leo being held on charges of attacking a superior," Calder whispered, his voice echoing in the room. "He'll face the courts and receive a punishment befitting his…nature. It will be most enjoyable to watch."

Ari gasped, covering her mouth with both hands. "No!"

Calder smirked and nodded. "Yes. Do make sure you're there for the trial. I'll even ensure front row seats."

"You're a heartless beast," she spat at him. "You disgust me."

"No, you, you of the bleeding heart liberals in this country; it is you who disgusts me! You stand in the way of progress, shrieking and demanding change when nothing will. You, who wastes money and time and disrupts our progress with your protests," Calder raged at her. "You are the reason that there are any humans left alive on the outskirts of our cities, you are the reason for their rampant overpopulation!"

Calder's words were halted by the vicious slap from Ari, his head snapping back at the force.

"Ari, that's enough!" Naira roared, yanking her back. "Stop before you end up on trial yourself."

"Naira…" Ari trembled with outraged fury, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears in the dim light.

Calder held one hand to his cheek. Naira stood before him, choosing each word carefully. "I will not accept this. I will stop you, and Leo will be returned to me. Is that unclear in any way?"

"You can try, Naira. You will fail, but please, do try."

Naira smiled thinly. "I intend to. Now remove yourself from my rooms. The sight of you leaves an awful taste in my mouth."

"As you wish," Calder nodded and left the room, the door swooshing shut.

Ari hitched in an unsteady breath, sniffling quietly. "Oh Naira…Leo, they have him…the trials…he'll be tortured."

Naira closed his eyes. "Don't. I'm aware of what…occurs. We will find a way to bring him back here, I promise you, Ari. I will bring him back here."

"I don't know if a life in capture would be better than death," she wiped at her eyes, letting the tears fall. "We're no better than they are."

Naira said nothing, choking on the silence of the room.

XX