The walk by that point had been quiet and short. As well off as the zoo was, it's not like it would provide a lush jungle miles long for the animals that reside there, giving them the space needed to hide away from the prying eyes of the audience who paid their fee to gawk and stare at the Exotic subjects. For Spike though the only subject worth gawking at was the smug Gremlin walking a few steps ahead of his own. He carried himself with the confidence of the kings of the Apes that he was, just like he owned the place; the only sign of being on alert was the occasional pulse of his headset flashing once or twice at the sound of the human behind him, occasionally causing what seemed to be a noise worth worrying about.
There wasn't much better to do, so the human found himself purposely kicking small stones, snapping Twigs under his feet, observing the red flash as he did. For the most part Specter just ignored him. Spike had been doing this for the majority of their short walk as a form of rebellion, and got no rise out of the ape. At least not until his foot caught on a large Branch sending him noisily to the ground.
It was at this the Specter turned to stare the redhead down.
"Are you finished!?" He crossed his arms over his chest and sneered as if he comically had won some karmic game. Spike just picked himself up without answering the ape, going back to his previous plan of giving him the silent treatment with the occasional annoyancing. It had been a long night already and it wasn't over yet and the Blue-eyed boy's only real bit of mental stimulation was trying to annoy his captor.
The Ape King's eyes wandered low, picking up and appraising the thick wooden length that had knocked Spike down. If you were into sticks, or if you were maybe a dog who liked to play fetch, one would say that was a good stick. Almost like a baseball bat.
"Hold on to this" The ape passed it along to Spike who took it from him with a raised eyebrow. "It's about the same size as your stun Club so you shouldn't have any issues swinging that around. You might need it on the way back."
For the hundredth time that night Spike's curiosity peaked, enough to abandon his silent treatment of the ape. "On the way back" He inquired. "We've been in here for like 5 minutes and you want to turn around?"
Specters would-be eyebrow raised to meet Spikes, reaching out to touch the darkness before them and knocking on it. The human knit his eyebrows together, extending his new beat stick to copy the motion. Sure enough where it looked like they could continue further was a wall blocking their path. Switching hands, Spike ran his fingers along the surface, calloused pads feeling the light raising and falling of the surface.
"A mural.. wow, in the dark it looks so real.. I would have just walked into it without noticing."
A shot of air audibly escaped Specter's lips alongside a chuckle at the thought of the human walking smack dab into the wall and the look of confusion that would no doubt Grace his dumb human face when it happened, before returning to his serious demeanor.
"Yes yes, wonderful craftsmanship. Missing the point. We walked from one end to the other and aside from your clumsy feet haven't seen or heard the sign of anything." Specter said as he leaned against the painted wall.
"Well, it's late and this is a zoo. The Gibbons are probably all sleeping and just used to their zookeepers coming in at night to clean up for the day." Spike pointed out.
"The zookeepers are all humans." Specter started. "At least I should have attracted some Curious attention waltzing into their home."
Spike gave Specter a quizzical look before remembering, 'Oh right. He's an ape.' the monkey residents probably would find him to be an intruder of interest in their territory.
"And yet we didn't see a single Gibbon on the way through.. something's not right." The albino's posture was laid back and relaxed, but in the limited light available Spike could see his Crimson eye darting around, left, right, up and down, as if looking for any sign of movement or another living creature in the vicinity.
Spike was used to Specter's haughty smug attitude, it was often easy to forget how easily the little ape fell into bouts of paranoia, and he didn't hide it very well. But despite Specters irrationally rising anxiety levels, the redhead didn't find their current situation particularly worrisome. After the bout with Monkey Yellow in his one-on-one Arena followed by having his personal bubble sufficiently ignored by the huge monkey, Spike figured no ape was good ape, and the search for Blue was rather relaxed.
The gentle red pulse of Specters alert light gave away the ape King felt otherwise.
"We have to go back to the door," Specter blurted out. "Fuck the consequences, I'm blasting it off its hinges like I should have!" He pushed off the wall getting ready to track back the way they came when Spike interrupted him.
"What's got your undies in a bunch?" He dead panned.
"What!?" Specter stopped in his tracks to scowl at the boy.
"We haven't run into anything, the security guard is busy with the other two apes, and we're not being maimed by an angry Blue for walking into his stomping grounds. What's got you so scared that you think I need a club for protection?"
Specter didn't respond for a moment, just scowled and stepped back over to the human he called a pet, getting as close to his face the height difference would allow him. "I don't get scared human. You just don't have enough wrinkles in your brain to think for a moment of how suspicious this is!" His red eyes narrowed into slits. "We're trapped in here, there's no animals in here, least of all Blue! Something's wrong here!"
All things considered Spike was tired of this night, this mission, and now this ape and if not for the bomb he would just camp by the door and wait for a guard to let him out and hop on the next bus or train back home however far away that is. The albino's paranoia was easy enough to read and Spike was just done ignoring it, kneeling down to be closer to eye to eye with the ape.
"Specter, there is literally nothing suspicious about all of this. We're trapped in here because I dragged you in here and the door locked. You're used to a huge monkey themed Amusement park, the Monkey Park is kind of unique. This is a zoo. A lot of zoos provide both indoor and outdoor habitats for their animals to get out of the weather or molt or otherwise when they would be too stressed to be viewed by the guests." The human spoke like he was talking down an angry child. "The rational explanation is that Blue and whatever else lives here is in an indoor enclosure for the night. If we follow this wall we should find a door used to move between the two." He smacked the wall a few times to emphasize his point. "You're panicking over nothing, at least not anything worth arming me with a club to beat these imaginary demons you have with, not that I'm complaining."
Specter's scowl grew, lifting the corner of one of his lips to bare one of his sharp upper teeth, but regardless of the scathing expression the light atop his helmet dimmed betraying the human's words had calmed and brought him down from his high. What seemed to be just as common a pattern was when the albino's bared tooth scowl shifted back into a toothy but familiarly cocky grin.
"Oh, the club is just to make you look more intimidating." He deflected, trying to regain dominance over the conversation. "I don't expect you to use it to any effect!" The ape turned, taking the humans advice and slinking towards the wall to begin following it. "Not that I wouldn't find it entertaining to watch you beat the stuffing out of something like a pinata with that thing like a caveman would–"
Before Specter could finish his insult he was silenced with a 'HNG!' as he found his back impacting the ground for a split second before realizing his world had been flipped upside down! One leg supporting all of his body weight while the other leg hung limp, and his panic quickly set back in.
"What!? What is this!?" He twisted and spun, dangling in a sling trap that had caught his foot. "You- " He directed at Spike. "Get me down!"
Spike took a second to shake off his surprise before getting into a mock batting position, earning the return of the skathing scowl from the primate.
"Don't." Was all Specter could get out before Spike gently tapped him with the end of his stick, not hard, just enough to keep the albino rocking back and forth for a bit.
"And the Cavemen take home the championship!" Spike whisper-yelled like an announcer at a baseball game.
There was a pregnant pause, the only sound being the stretching rope as the ape swayed back and forth... broken only for a minute when a short staccato chuckle escaped the Ape's lips. "That timing–" Was almost inaudibly mumbled before the anger and panic set in again. "Get me down before I make you ten pounds lighter and one foot shorter!"
Spike had his fun and began attempting to undo the knot around the hanging Ape's ankle, having very little luck with his eyes unable to adjust to the dark alongside the flashing red of the alert light.
"Could you calm down or cover your light? I can't see!"
"I will not calm down" The albino spat. "I am vindicated! This was a trap!"
"I'll give you that," Spike admitted. "Way to make a liar out of me immediately, but this is definitely a sling trap." He continued to Fumble with the knot unsuccessfully, "Just stop freaking out and I'll get you down!" As the redhead continued to attempt to free the ape he quickly became Fed Up with the Rope itself, taking Specter by the shoulders and pulling him into his chest, sliding the smaller's back against him so the Apes head and upper torso were upright so the blood wasn't rushing to his head.
"God! Forget it! Just pull your food out of your boot" Spike instructed. Specter on the other hand hesitated. His frantic breaths slowing against the force pushing behind him, before making his free leg move to assist in kicking his foot free from his shoe. His feet padded comes away to the ground, the humans arms the only thing keeping him from ungracefully hitting the dirt. "There, you're loose." The redhead stated as his arms released the ape, Specter couldn't help but find the loss of pressure to be… disappointing? No, that would be stupid. The ape though found the silence as the human tried to pry his boot from the sling to be suffocating.
"You're trapped in here with your enemy, how are you so calm about all of this?" He asked.
Spike didn't even spare him a glance. "Well, you can only have your head threatened to be blown off so many times before it loses its bite." Was the human's almost half-hearted response. He managed to get the boot free, handing it over to its owner. "At this point I've been trapped by you for 2 days, how is this any worse than being in a cell on your space station?"
Specter scoffed at that. "When I said enemy I meant whoever set this trap!" He tugged the rope twice to make his point. "I'm your master, we're on the same side."
The redhead squatted down on his haunches to be closer to eye level with the ape again. "I'm on the side of just doing what I'm told until you mess up or my friends find me."
'For now.' He told himself.
"Besides, as alarming as that rope trap is, I doubt it was meant for you. Nobody knew you would be here. I'm actually convinced that if Blue isn't a gibbon The Zookeeper set that to catch him to move him to another display exhibit?"
Specter scoffed for what felt like the hundredth time that night. "Tch. I give you humans too much credit if this is your idea of how to handle containment and movement of your animals! Neanderthal is really sounding like an appropriate nickname for your kind!"
Spike opened his mouth, readying a comeback when something shot between his and the albino's face, something large and fast!
Two sets of eyes darted to the side in synchronicity following the object, the shorter of the duo's headset, and the taller's collar flashing rapidly as the unknown thing began careening back towards them again. On a knee-jerk reaction Spike put up his stick defensively as if to swing like a bat. He never got a chance as the object stopped mid air on a dime meer inches from the boy's face. With it stopped from its warpath it was easy to identify it now. Like the sling trap it was a primitive build; a log tied in the middle by a rope, easily thrown from a high place and allowing the gain speed from momentum to bash its target.
"What is with people and my head today?" The redhead mumbled under his breath. He expected some smug smart ass response but when nothing came he turned his attention to the short white ape next to him.
Specter's hand was raised towards the log, it and the object surrounded by the aura of his psychic powers having been used to stop it in its tracks, that much was clear. Following down the long limb to the shoulder, neck, landing on the albino's face had the human's eyebrows knitted with worry. Ruby eyes stared unfocused, set in place, the only movement being the occasional twitch of his lower eyelid on his visible eye illuminated by the sparks emanating from the peak point helmet. The red light on his helmet dimmed to a low pulse in sync with the rise and fall of his chest.
"Specter?" He said out loud cautiously, leaning forward slightly. Specter though did not respond, the only movement the albino's eyes slowly rolled upwards, barely visible below his eyelids. Both figuratively and literally the lights were on but no one was home and this struck a nerve of anxiety in the human. Specter was a chronic pain in the ass but, unfortunately, it wasn't in Spike's nature to not give a shit. About anyone. That included him.
Spike waved his hand in front of the Ape's face and when that yielded no reaction touched his thumb and fingers together to produce a snapping sound. Immediately red eyes rolled back into place, at the same time the psychic hold on a log strap slipped causing the log to finish its movement, barely nicking the side of Spike's head as it shot by. Specter's previously calm breathing quickened back into panic mode as he stepped back from the human staring at his hands.
"Specter, what was that?" The redhead hissed, holding the lump forming on his head.
Specter though didn't answer, staring at his shaky hands, brows knit together and a look in his eyes that mirrored Spike's own question.
"Wh- what the hell was–" The shorter could be heard under his breath.
A rustling of the leaves above caught their attention. Red and Blue eyes shot over to see something watching them from the trees. Something small, though Spike couldn't tell how small. Maybe knee height give or take if you winches. The redhead gaped.
"Hey monkey king? What are those?" Spike took a step closer to Specter, who still seemed off balance from whatever that episode was, giving the ape the chance to maintain balance without offering it.
The albino squinted his eyes upwards towards the creatures in question.
"Well, " he said unamused. "There's one of the Lost Gibbons…"
"There's another one..." Spike pointed elsewhere. As he turned where the human was pointing he heard a rustle to his left. "And another one…" a sweep of his limited low light vision yielded that they had been completely circled by the group of lesser apes up in the trees. Spike seemed hopeful for a second. "Hey look at that! We found them! We're on the right track, see?"
Specter was not reassured, listening to the sounds of the tree dwellers. "Shut up!" He hissed out at his human so he could listen. He eyed Spike for a moment before casting his gaze onto one of the gibbons.
"Ukki. Ukki ukki ukki–"
Spike watched him attempt to converse with the lesser ape, it was an odd bit of dissonance, as he had gotten so used to Specter talking it almost seemed wrong that he was making monkey sounds. Even stranger to remember that his vocal cords could even produce a sound like that anymore!
Regardless it was far more enjoyable to watch Specter try to be political to locate Blue than to wander about blindly searching for him. Whatever the primates were saying to each other it seemed like it was getting heated, Specter's screeching ukki's sounding more and more… aggressive? Spike couldn't understand well enough to be sure, deciding to let his eyes wander to the multitude of other small Apes resting in the trees. Though for resting Apes they seemed quite busy with something.
"You want the– ugh! Ukki Ukki UKKI," Specter broke the language for a bit in his agitation. Meanwhile the Gibbon squad had all hefted something up.. something that looked like-
"Shit!" Spike and Specter both exclaimed as the lesser apes began flinging log traps from the trees!
Just as before one swung right for Spike's head, readying for it this time the redhead bent back like a limbo master to dodge it, somehow twisting into a roll to avoid it on its return trip. He picked up his stick holding it up defensively to deflect any oncoming logs. Specter wasn't fairing quite as well. The white ape barely dodged the few that swung low enough to reach him, clearly still off from before. This didn't stop Spike from interrogating the chimp.
"What did you do!?"
Specter scowled. "I told them that I was their clandestine ruler here to liberate my Fallen General from the clutches of their human oppressors!"
"And?!"
"They aren't entirely smart and didn't understand the meaning of 'clandestine,' 'liberate,' 'general,' or 'oppressor.'"
"Why are they trying to hit us, Specter?" Spike used to stick to trip up Specter, sending the ape to the ground but well below the log's swing range and giving Spike less to worry about. "Stay down dammit!"
"Oh, they're under the impression that all humans can open the enclosure doors. They think you have a key card and they want it!"
"You have the keycard!" Spike growled.
"Yes, but they don't know that." Specter heeded Spikes demand and crouched lower. "They're not getting it regardless! We needed to get out of here! I will not be stuck in here until a human finds us!"
Spike scoffed "Finds you maybe. I would just call the professor and get a ticket home!" Specter's eyes widened in anger, but his voice was stern and serious in a way that took Spike off guard.
"You don't know who the guards will call first! And I for one do not intend to be here if it's not Ozel!"
Spike pursed his lips. 'Who would it be aside from the professor?' There was no time to worry or ask as the Gibbons seemed smart enough to start adjusting for their target squatting lower to the ground. Blue eyes met red. "Specter, we either need to go on the offensive or we need to move." Spike hated having to ask anything of his captor. "Can you do anything with your psychic powers to stop them?"
Specter held his gaze for a moment secretly enjoying being the one in control of their escape, before turning to the gibbons. "I am staunchly against using my Powers against a fellow ape, but it does seem that these little friends need to be taught a lesson in why they are considered lesser apes!" He cocked a grin and clenched a fist, the beginnings of his psychic Aura enveloping his closed fist.
Spike carefully rose from his squatting spot, readying himself and his makeshift weapon for if he had to make a move, though he was positive that the Ape King could handle a little disciplinary actions towards some Pipo helmet-less primates. He sidestepped and pivoted to dodge the rope swing traps that the impish Apes were flinging on him. With the lowered ropes it wasn't so easy to dodge with ducking anymore, one barely hit the human in the abdomen and he lurched, tasting the return of the orange yogurt that he had eaten before heading out and distracting from another darting his way and slamming his arm.
It didn't break bone… but it felt like it did!
"Specter anytime now!" He yelled to the powerhouse of the two. As he turned to put eyes on the smaller he found the ape sprawled out on the ground flat, alert light dimmed to the point that it seemed to have gone out. The human paled at the sight. While he was distracted did Specter get hit upside the head!?
Spike used his stick to defend against another swinging timber, taking the chance when he could to throw himself back to the ground partially over the ape while favoring his injured arm. Propping himself up on his good elbow he turned Specter over to face him. Just as before the Ape's blank stare gazed off into nothing, rolled upwards and pupils dilated, the only sign of life being the occasional breath and as he rolled the ape over the alert light flickered to life before fading again like sparks from a fire. Last time was something... but this time Spike was sure.
Specter was having a seizure.
The boy wasn't fully sure what to do. The Gibbons were continuing their onslaught from the trees while the ape below him laid lifeless on the ground, the only movement being the occasional muscle twitch. Even ignoring said tree apes, Spike had no idea what to do about Specter! He remembered the whole 'Will bite your own tongue off' when seizing was an urban legend but what else do you do when witnessing a person like that? The human squeezed his hand under the albino's head, just to make sure there was nothing hard like a rock he could hit his head on should he start convulsing, but it wasn't the stereotypical kind of seizure where one would shake and convulse violently, as Specter just laid there.
He did know he wasn't supposed to move someone having a seizure, but the gust from another lowered trap testing its height, causing the boy to duck his head protectively over the smaller of them, someone who didn't deserve that protection. They had to move, damn him and his morals!
Spike used his bad arm to the best of his ability to pull the unconscious ape close to his chest. Specter was small, so he might be able to carry the albino in one arm and defend with the other? He took a practice lift as a jolt of pain ran up his arm.
'Great!' he thought. 'I'll have to use my good arm to carry him and the bad one to use the stick!'
His thought was interrupted by the corner of a white object poking out of the Apes pocket. The key card!
Specter was probably going to kill him for what he was about to do.
His injured arm stung as he lifted it above his head, waving the small rectangle of plastic like a flag of surrender.
"Hey! Little apes! Key card!" He yelled trying to get any of the Gibbons to notice. "I have the key card! You want this!? You told Specter you wanted this!" He tried. "Ooh ooh ah ah! Key card!" It took a minute but eventually one of the smaller Gibbons noticed the humans offering and made his way over to the large Gibbon Spike figured was the ringleader, the one Specter spoke to before, who let out a screeching command. At the sound the other lesser apes paused in their actions, ending the ongoing attack. Spike dared to lift his head as the big Gibbon grunted to the smallest, who rode down one of the ropes and landed atop the log right near the human. They locked eyes for a moment, the human froze in place with his arm still extended upwards, there was a pause, before the little Ape snatched the key card from his hand and in the blink of an eye scurried back up the rope and to the side of the boss, who looked over the key card approvingly before turning back to the human.
He didn't do anything, just watched, and after a few moments Spike decided that meant they were free to go. He snapped his fingers a few times trying to awaken the albino below him, as he had done before, but the smaller did not react. No longer twitching and eyelids resting closed. With no response Spike shifted the ape into his good arm, slowly getting to his feet, stepping backwards as he was not going to turn his back on the little devil Apes as he left. He wasn't sure just where he was going to go, their one key to the door being taken... but he figured that if he could just find Blue, Specter may revisit the destruction of private property and blast the door off and leave the Gibbons to be the night guards' problems as they escape.
He dropped his gaze to the mound of silver hair in his arms, making the distance between them and the ankle biters greater. "I really, really should just leave you here to get caught" He said more to himself than the ape in his arms. It was true. His brain screamed about how true it was! But something was wrong with the little ape and Spike couldn't bear to leave him there. If he did the night guard would find him in the morning, either conscious and wreaking havoc and wrecking everything in the zoo, or still passed out and unable to receive the medical attention he clearly needed as the zoo wouldn't know what was even wrong with him.
While Spike was lost in thought debating on what to do about his longtime nemesis, he hadn't noticed something quietly stalking him. It moved swiftly; but silently along the trees that decorated the Gibbons home, deftly keeping pace with the redhead. Closer, closer, the human was almost there…
Spike stayed close to the enclosures' muraled wall hoping to follow it back to the entrance safely, in a flash his stalker leapt from the hiding place, a shadowy mass, much taller than a gibbon. It's sudden appearance causing Spike to jump back in surprise, just as the lurching beast had wanted him to do.
The human found his ankle caught by a loop of crude rope, the braided fiber pulling tight and ripping his foot out from underneath him, the other end held by the creature who, upon snagging his prey, began running at breakneck speed, dragging Spike behind him.
"What the hell?!" He screamed at his unknown assailant, "GRAH!" His thought being interrupted by the ground debris smacking into his bad arm, causing him to almost drop Specter in the process. Despite repeating to the albino for the hundredth time that hour alone that he should have just abandoned him, Spike shifted his body enough to rebalance the ape, just in time for the beast steering this ride to turn a tight corner, through a doorway blending into the wall, the same Spike at theorized would be there, and flooding the humans vision with a deeper darkness than even the night emanated.
—
Spike squinted as the darkness hid itself away as the low light lighting fixtures buzzed to life, brightening the room in a dim red glow. The human sucked in a quick breath as the weight of Specter was suddenly ripped off of him, causing Spike to quickly jolt upright into a sitting position. He quickly took in his surroundings in the low light of the interior ape enclosure; toys and climbing fixtures to enrich the inhabitants scattered around the large room.
Movement caught the human's attention and his eyes fell on the rope-pulling stalker hurriedly padding his way to a further off spot, gingerly setting the albino down on what seemed to be a baby blanket with a banana print on it. 'Blue…'
Lanky brown haired limbs led to rough looking hands, using its knuckles to tap at the smaller Apes face as if to wake him up, and when no response came those same hands cupped Specter's face, gently moving it left and right as if examining for injury or anything else visibly wrong, a short staccato sound repeatedly escaping Blues throat in a way that made Spikes heart clench at the visible concern he had for his leader.
It was visibly obvious, even without the intelligence the professor's invention offered him, Blue still recognized Specter and still had the mental faculties to know something was wrong with him, the same way Spike had noticed.
The redhead slowly lifted himself to his feet, quietly removing the sack from his back and examining that the contents were not damaged when Blue had dragged them around. Deciding that everything looked fine, he took a few tentative steps forward, making just enough sound as to not startle Blue by sneaking up behind him unheard.
The noise made by the worrying ape continued. It was laced with emotion the transcended language, and Spike couldn't help but feel the need to comfort the lanky creature.
"I don't think he's injured Blue," The simian tensed at the sound of his name being spoken as Spike slowly, cautiously approached. "I think he's sick." Spike was barely five feet behind Blue, when the latter whipped around with a carnal screech, swinging his arm in what would have landed as a punch had the swift motion not startled the human into stepping back. Instead the curled up fist barely grazed his chest, enough force in it to give Spike a good idea of what the hit would have felt like. He was so taken aback by the sudden switch and attitude he almost didn't see the next swing coming as he ducked at the last second to dodge it. He was almost proud of himself if not for the immediate concern for the situation he was in… that and the knee that had collided with his jaw.
The irony taste of blood filled Spike's mouth as his head was jutted up by the impact, his teeth forced together so roughly he was surprised they didn't crack! He stumbled backwards, regaining his footing with barely enough time to step back again as Blue's onslaught continued. The disproportionately (by human standards) long arms made it difficult to gauge where the hits would land and how far to dodge. A silver lining shown to the redhead when his foot bumped into his makeshift weapon, dropping down to grab it while dodging another hit from the ape.
Spike stood back up, taking a confident swing at the overgrown chimp, thanking whatever god he had to for the extra range, forcing Blue backwards on avoiding it. He had been using the Stun Club since he was a kid, it was probably his favorite of the gadgets that was bestowed upon him and if he wanted to brag, he had always felt he was quite proficient in it. The occasional sparring match between Jake or Jimmy validated that in his mind. It lacked the paralyzing effect, but the stick was about the right size and shape to feel natural in his hands.
As he went on the offensive it forced Blue on the run, the ape moving back further and further as Spike tried to lead the dance back to where he had dropped his pack with the pipo helmet in it; not far from where Specter lay. If he could get a hold of the helmet and get it on Blue then hopefully the ape would stop attacking like Yellow had.
Unfortunately for Spike, Blue's foot bumped the sack, the tall chimps eyes trailing down to see it and returning to the human with a look he hadn't expected to see on his face: calculating.
Before Spike could even react Blue had used his hand like feet to move the backpack by its strap and swung it onto Spike's arm, hard. The extra reach allowed the impact to make contact and the pain shooting up Spike's already injured arm causing him to drop his stance on sword play. That was all Blue needed to grab the length of wood by the base and twist it swiftly out of the human's hand before turning the weapon on its owner, going for another swing at the injured limb before plunging the end of it into his soft gut, knocking the wind clean out of him. Spike barely had time to process what happened, Blue moved too fast, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground with about 150lbs of raging muscle holding him down.
Beyond the feeling of raw pain his thoughts were flooded by a distinct and specific breed of Terror; Blue had planned that move and disarmed the human in a way the human hadn't been prepared for... in a way he hadn't thought the ape capable of! An almost human way behind those crazed eyes brimming with furious rage. By this point Blue had managed to straddle Spike, knees being used to pin down his arms, the pack clenched in both hands coming down at once as if enacting the story of Cain and Abel, but without the rock. Though the pack itself would add some cushioning to the blow the helmet inside would still be solid enough to cause some damage and unable to do much but twist his head and to and fro, the redhead slammed his eyes shut bracing for the inevitable impact…
That never came.
Spike dared to peek his eyes open..
—
Darkness filled his vision, his heartbeat drumming behind his ears and a pulsing through his skull in both a way that made him want to fall further into the welcoming sleep the darkness offered, but also was too loud and uncomfortable to sleep through. Specter peeked a single eye open, the humming of the red lights above ringing in his ears.
The ape king flexed his finger slowly and curled his toes inside his boots, finding the appendages to feel stiff and cold like ice. Now that he thought about it his whole body felt cold and his head spun under the room's red lights.
'Where even is this?' He thought to himself, panic would have set in to the albino by now, but the fog that had a hold of his brain didn't allow it. He felt sluggish and hungover and sore and a number of other unpleasant things.
"Hng!" The sound of something having the wind knocked out of them elicited Specter to slowly turn his attention to the other two entities in the room. About ten feet away the tussling of the lanky brown ape and redhead human was ensuing. Spike had just been disarmed and forced to the ground. In his foggy state he almost found it funny watching the human get the stuffing beat out of him by Blue. He even snickered as the chimp straddled the boy and how the redhead struggled under his weight…
That is until Blue lifted the brown sack above his head, the light above catching on the shiny surface of the alert light atop the helmet that was definitely still inside. It was a sobering realization as Specter's eyes widened realizing that once he started, Blue was not going to stop. Once he swung down…
–
When the blow never landed Spike stared up at the ceiling past Blue just over his shoulder, surprised at the immovable force that had saved the human's skull from being cracked like a walnut. Distracted by their fight neither had noticed the ape lying on the blanket get up and close the distance swiftly between them. The smaller pale hand had a tight grip on Blues arm, just above the wrist tight enough that the nails were digging past brown hair and into flesh.
Blue was frozen in place as the ape King let a growl escape his lips.
"Do not break other people's play things." He held Blues arm in place a moment longer, giving an extra squeeze to emphasize his point before letting go. Without turning his head, red eyes shifted focus on the human under the tall ape. "Pet. Come." He commanded curtly.
Spike's heartbeat was pounding in his ears deafening him to almost not hearing the command. When it finally registered to him he turned to Blue carefully trying to climb out from under the still ape with his injured arm. Blue, who was still looking Specter dead in the eye, expression of confusion gracing his brow as he shifted slightly to allow the human to wiggle free.
Spike once freed quickly and obediently Rose to his feet and scurried to Specter's side, making sure the psychic ape was between him and the brown hair tape.
Specter smirk at the quickly obeyed command, and if he wasn't feeling so weirdly sore and fatigued he would have commented on it or rubbed it in that the human gave no resistance or argument at being called 'pet', but Specter was not feeling it right now and instead returned his eye contact to the confused Blue.
"See? The situation is under control."
Blue though finally found his voice and began ukki rapidly at the albino. Specter's eyes furrowed. "Put your helmet on! You sound stupid" At this Blue huffed, shuffling around in the sack still gripped in his fists, finding the pipo helmet and unceremoniously plopping it on his head before wasting no time opening his mouth again.
"I thought he had knocked you out and was trying to capture you or something!?" His voice cracked little as he started speaking human but became more clear with each word.
"Why... Why would he kidnap me and bring me to a random zoo in the middle of nowhere!? To piss you off personally!? Use your damn brain!"
I don't know! I was using half a brain cell and that brain cell panicked!"
"You think I would just let myself get caught by a human!? I've been planning this rescue for months!"
"Well it happens quite a lot so excuse me for finding it reasonable, Flat Face!"
"Half baked!"
Spike took a step further behind Specter, doing nothing but watching the exchange between the two. The way they were speaking to each other one would swear a dog fight was about to break out and the redhead was tired of being in the receiving end of them. The tension between the two was so thick you could almost touch it as the two apes stared at each other down.
Blue was the first to crack. A puff of air escaped his nostrils as a snarl morphed into a toothy grin.
"Ah it's good to be back!" He exclaimed, standing up and stretching his back. Specter almost mimicked the casual shift, standing upright and smoothing out his clothes with a professional posture.
"It's good to have you back." The albino side. Blue ignored the professionalism and gave Specter a pat on the head, ruffling the exposed tufts of hair that peeked out from his helmet.
"Yellow's somewhere around here too…" Blue smoke.
"He's already on the loose."
"And the others? White? Red? Pink?"
Specter sighed, gaze dipping to the floor. "Location unknown." He stared off to the side at nothing. "You two make a fun sideshow attraction, but pink and the others... they could be considered dangerous. They wouldn't be contained in the public eye. I'm hoping this little stunt scares that thing into moving them. Maybe we can find their trail then."
The mood was heavy, Blue seemed to realize this and so he changed the topic to lighten things. "Oh, and I'm not dangerous? The zookeepers haven't been able to keep me in one spot longer than a week! They've had to tranq me like, four times! They only threw me in here because I kept getting the door open and they really didn't want Yellow getting out."
'I can see why…' Spike thought to himself. Then he realized something.
"Wait, are you the reason all of the Gibbons were acting so... smart!? You taught them to set traps to catch the zookeepers for their key cards!"
Blue silently acknowledged Spike before turning back to Specter. "Boss man, why is he talking to me?" The ape dead panned. Specter just nonchalantly shrugged.
"He's still being house trained." This earned a scowl from Spike but the human kept quiet as Specter turned back to Blue smugly. "He does have a point though! Leave it to you to delegate the hard work to a group of helmetless apes and still get results." The albino almost seemed proud of Blue.
"I've trained plenty of Pipo Apes before, this wasn't any different" Blue boasted. "Just swap out guns with Neolithic level tools and you're golden!"
"Ha! Just one more proof that the evolutionary branch that led ape to humans was a downgrade!" The albino grinned at Spike to emphasize his jab at humanity, smile wide enough it forced his eyes to squint making the forming bag just that more prominent. Spike for the most part ignored as was proving to be the key to his sanity.
"I mean yeah, he sucks at fighting," Blue added which hurt Spike's ego at his previously mentioned proficiency with the stun Club. "But that's just time and a few lessons in the training facility and I'll have him fighting like an ape in no time!" Specter continued to enjoy the praise of his people compared to humans. "Besides, it looks like you've had him trained well enough to protect you! That must have taken months to get him this far!"
"Actually I've only had him for about- what!?" Specter registered what Blue had said, side-eyeing Spike for a moment before returning to Blue. "Protect me from what!? I'm the king of the apes! I don't need human protection!"
Blue made a face like a brother ready to tease his younger sibling. "Oh when you were out cold he had you wrapped in his arms like a baby, Boss man! I thought he was up to something because he wouldn't let you go even when I dragged him around by his foot!" Blue lifted an upper lip giving a quick shrill whistle signaling the boss given from before to come out of nowhere, handing Blue the stolen key card who then presented it to Specter. "Handed this over to my fan club and scurried off with you and toe before I grabbed him!"
Specter took the thin white plastic in hand, looking at Spike confused for a moment of silence. Then another. Then-
"You handed over the key card!?" The ape King exclaimed angrily.
"It was the only way to get out of there in one piece" The redhead defended.
"It's also the only way to get out of this enclosure, moron!"
"I needed them to stop with the log throwing!"
"You're fast enough you could have just gotten out of dodge!"
"Not one-handed while carrying you! Look at me!"
"Well if you were smart you would have just–" Specter's fit calmed into confusion as his words trailed off thinking about what he was about to say. Just left me there! Should have just nicked the key card and ran. But he didn't. He traded the key to their freedom to carry the ape's unconscious body. But why was he unconscious in the first place? His head felt slow and foggy, but didn't feel the swelling bump of having been hit by the Primitive traps. He felt exhausted and cold but otherwise no worse for wear. The last thing he had remembered was getting ready to show those Gibbons who the boss was then nothing. What was happening to him?!
The confusion was clear on the apes face and as if reading his mind Spike took a breath to calm down and asked what he felt was a pertinent question.
"Specter, do you have doctors on the Saru space station? Ape doctors?" Specter's eyes made contact with his own; expression not once changing so Spike continued. "Specter I think you had a seizure. I think you had two of them back to back. I didn't leave you behind because I wasn't sure if you would be okay. I don't even know if you're okay right now…" during this Blue knitted his eyebrows as he watched Specter for confirmation. The albino's eyes were wide for a moment at having a name for what had happened to him, but just as quickly returned to their relaxed state as the Ape King went out of his way straighten his posture and hold his head up regal and high, acting as if his movements weren't messy and somewhat wobbly as he grinned at Spike.
"That's cute." He almost snickered. "The captive pet cared so much that he actively chose to be worried for his captor instead of escaping. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the collar but it does look better than 'I was afraid you would wake up and launch my skull into the stratosphere!'" Specter reached up and pinched Spike's cheek. "Adorable really!" His voice then dropped low. "I don't care if you did it out of fear, concern or or whatever your intention was. I said they would not be getting that card. And what did you do?" He gave a little tug to inform Spike to answer.
"I gave them the card." The redhead mumbled indignantly. His eyes squinted at the ape. "I shouldn't have given it to them. I shouldn't have been concerned about you just passing out suddenly. I shouldn't have broken the chain of command and got you off the dirt!" There was an Azure flame burning behind the human's Blue eyes as they bored into Specter's crimson. "I should have left you there. I'll do better next time." Specters face went blank before shifting back to a scowl as he roughly let go of the human's cheek.
"Next time won't be for a while. You're damaged goods." He said, looking Spike up and down. For someone who was oh so concerned for the nearly perfect condition ape king, the boy looked like ten miles of bad road himself. The albino turned away from Spike, moving back towards Blue. "Go back to the entrance. When Blue and I are done briefing we will rendezvous with Yellow and the piposaru and go home. Spike let a single staccato puff of air leave his nostrils before turning and leaving to the outer enclosure. Specter's eyes trailed behind him, appraising how the human walked favoring one leg and holding his arm across his chest. Unlike with Yellow, Blue wrecked the human, the results are not nearly as entertaining as before. Even if he could drag his mind below the waves he would have to take time to recuperate… the human was fragile. He had forgotten that about humans. Even when Jake was in his employ the henchman had his limits and would need to rest. As the human finally left their field of vision Blue finally spoke up.
"All right I'll bite, what the heck is going on!" The tall ape was confused and exasperated. "I'm gleaning that you've got some dirt on that human and that's why he's taking orders from you, but I'm getting some mixed signals from all of this boss man!"
Specter Side-eyed Blue. "What's to be confused about? You seem to have figured out that much already."
"Well we can start with 'how long have I been here?' My ability to read a calendar has been lacking. Then how about 'how long have you been working on this pet project of yours?'" He gestured to the door Spike had left through. "And also 'what is the goal of this project?' Because I'm pretty sure that's one of the professor's little toy wielding soldiers and you seem kind of pissed off that the guy acted preferable to a guard dog so you must have put some work into him at this point?"
Specter just looked back to the door, staring at nothing in particular. "Not really…" Specter said, almost too quietly to hear. "...he's just like that. Always has been."
—-
The feeling of returning to the station made the hair on the back of Spike's neck stand on end with the feeling of electricity in the air. The three had exited the Gibbon enclosure thanks in large part to Blue's disproportionately longer arms being able to reach the key card slider and unlock the door from the inside through the bars. He had been training the lesser apes to net a zookeeper and steal their card to escape and run amuck again, without his helmet Blue seemed to be made of nothing but pure chaos. He even decided to take the Gibbons with him back to the station to inevitably be fitted with pipo helmets and training to be part of Specter's army . While Specter and Spike were off having their crazy adventure to find Blue, Arnie and ThreeDee had given the guard the slip and somehow despite his size Yellow was able to stay undetected and unhook a large popcorn machine from the food court to drag back with them. The Behemoth had tried to convince Spike to carry it for him, saying that he was too delicate to lug around something that heavy and that he needed a big strong man to help him. Spike had managed to silence the ape with a glare that said don't even try and for the most part the boy was almost ready to just crawl back to his cell, lay down on his uncomfortable bed, and try to sleep off this whole nightmare of a night. Almost. He still had one more thing to deal with.
Before Specter could get too far ahead, Spike closed the distance with a few wide steps, stepping around and in front of the ape to stop him from moving forward. The albino did stop, giving the redhead a look somewhere between annoyed and inquisitive, but said nothing; allowing Spike to make the first move.
"My Gadget watch." He held out his hand. Specter just lifted a brow feigning confusion but Spike was in no mood. "You promised, Master." He practically gagged on the word. Specter curled a lip upwards at the willing use of his preferred title from the human, and snapped his fingers, a Pipo Saru running up and handing it to Specter who in turn held it out to Spike on one finger, just as he had when offering Spike this "job."
As soon as it was in reach Spike snatched it away, afraid the ape would pull away at the last second denying the human his prize but the albino made no move to do so, upholding his end of the deal.
The very moment the watch's cool metal chassis met his skin all of Spike's aches and pains and bruises he had acquired that night in the days prior had felt like they all washed away! He couldn't help but grin ear to ear! Specter had proven that on his own home turf the human wouldn't be able to handle him unless he could diminish his army a little, but Spike wasn't looking to fight Specter! Oh no! He did not realize the potential for improvising the professor's gadgets had and Spike had been banking on that! The RC car was great for hitting switches but the fact that it was also a little bomb came in handy, for example. Or more importantly for Spike, the monkey net was excellent for transporting Apes to the professor's lab… but unlike the tech on the space station, the net was not biometrically locked for the use on apes! That was Spike's ticket home; catching himself in his own net! He felt a burst of energy he hadn't had before. He knew he should wait until he was back to the 'privacy' of his cell but after all of the ape had put him through the boy wanted to see his smug face when he realized his pet had just ran away from home!
He pressed the power switch as the watch immediately whirred to life… only to be met with an almost blank screen, wireframe placeholders where his arsenal should be. His jaw dropped, eyes met Specters.
"My gadgets..." Stumbled from his mouth. Specter met him with a grin, one like he had told a joke a week ago and Spike only just got the punchline.
"Uninstalled and safely stored elsewhere." There was a pause before a laugh. An actual laugh! "Did you really think that you would just be handed unrestricted access to your weapons!? After tonight I didn't think your IQ could be any lower but here we are!"
"You- you promised me–!"
"Watch. And there it is!" He gestured to the boy's wrist.
All the fatigue and exhaustion return to the boy. His body felt heavy, the device in his hand even heavier.
"You gave me nothing!" It was almost a whisper, but it was heard.
"No, I gave you a sense of time!" The ape responded in a voice that almost sounded like it was going for 'comforting' if it wasn't coming from Specter himself! "Now every time you look at your wrist you'll know how long you've been my pet." The shorter of the two closed the distance, touching the device to pull up a calendar application, showing a little obnoxious Specter sticker set for a few days prior. "And one day you'll look at this day here and think fondly of the day I chose to keep you. To liberate you from Humanity." He turned on his heels and began leaving the human to be escorted away.
Spike stared down at the awful face of his captor tainting the screen of his watch.
It was 2:47 a.m.
Officially day four.
Spike was exhausted.
A/N:
This took a long time to write! I managed to cut it down to ~9200ish words from like... 11,000 by cutting and majorly editing some scenes!
The next chapter is a little intermission so we can get caught up with Jake and the Professor and Natalie and what they are doing in Spike's absence! I have a lot (A. LOT.) going on in my life right now but I still hope the next chapter doesn't take so long to write and complete!