Chapter 2
Ten minutes have passed, and Gorilla warriors are all returning to the shuttle carrier landing pads. Some carry females on their shoulders, one arm wrapped around the underside of their legs and their upper bodies hanging from behind the gorilla shoulders. Most of the women were unconscious or were too afraid to make any attacks. Others tried to fight back by landing punches and kicking at their captors, yet these weak attacks did not impact the muscular gorillas.
Far in the distance from the others was Yorrick, strictly holding Wonder Woman and eyeing the other gorilla warriors. He kept one hand on the underside of Wonder Woman's thigh as he walked with his eyes moving around to see the other gorillas. He looks to the side to see Wonder Woman's backside, only to dart his eyes back, facing where he walked with a slight blush on his cheeks. Yorrick cleared his throat and asked, "How're you holding up back there?" Wonder Woman's upper half is suspended behind Yorrick, with her hair and arms dangling. Wonder Woman spoke for Yorrick to hear, "I'll be alright. If this is the only way for them not to suspect you, then just worry about getting inside." Yorrick nodded, "Alright," he muttered quietly with a sigh and began his walk.
Yorrick approaches one of the nearby shuttle carriers along with other gorilla warriors. One gorilla warrior approaches next to Yorrick, holding up a woman dressed in tight yoga pants with a sports bra on his shoulder, looking to Wonder Woman and muttering, "Wait, that human looks like Wonder Woman…you took down Wonder Woman?" The other gorilla grunts and turn their heads to Yorrick in confusion and suspicion of his captive. Yorrick feels the stress and pressure of these unwanted eyes before he scowls with a beast-like snarl, "And what if it is? Do you plan to take my offering to King Grodd?" Yorrick asked with a deep, menacing tone in his voice. The other grunts felt this newfound intimidating aura coming from Yorrick and turned their heads back to face the shuttle.
Yorrick sighed, relaxing as the pressure was off, but he still needed to maintain his aggressive facade, or they would suspect him. Wonder Woman opens her eyes for a moment to see the other captives; her eyes turn to the lady held by the grunt that questioned Yorrick. She was suspended yet unconscious, with long red hair hanging down.
The grunt that questioned Yorrick grinned, "Impressive display, brother, but save that enthusiasm for the gladiator ring back at King Grodd's island," Yorrick nodded, trying to maintain a scowl, and spoke in a severe tone, "What if King Grodd rejects the bride we give him?" The grunt looks to Yorrick in confusion, "You don't remember? The Amazon must have fought hard to make you lose a few memories…" he said with a smirk. "King Grodd is picky when it comes to brides, but he isn't wasteful… if he rejects a bride, she will be passed on to the grunt that found and captured her."
Wonder Woman's eyes lit up in fear, with her eyes turning to the gorilla grunt next to Yorrick. The grunt gives a wide lustful grin, "That's why I picked out this human. If King Grodd rejects her, then she will make a wonderful bride for myself," he says, eyeing his quarry. Wonder Woman glares down at the ground with her long black hair covering her face from the other gorillas. Her hands squeeze into fists while she whispers, "Athena, bless me with your temperance…" with a twinge of anger in her mind.
Yorrick looks stoic, yet deep down, he knows Grodd would be pleased with having Wonder Woman brought to him. The thought crossed his mind if Grodd does reject Wonder Woman? Does Yorrick keep Wonder Woman? The thought left a seed of doubt until he shook his head to get such thoughts off his mind. "As pleasing as it sounds, I hope King Grodd takes my offering without hesitation. I fought too hard to claim this tribute; I do not need such a burden," said Yorrick. The grunt's lustful glance breaks when he looks at Yorrick with confusion but hesitant due to Yorrick's aggressive facade. "I see, you want a bride that doesn't fight back as fiercely. I can respect that, but that is such a shame to waste the opportunity," said the grunt.
The grunt extends his hand out to slowly reach for Wonder Woman, "Here. Let me look at her," said the grunt with a hungry gleam in his eyes. Yorrick turns and raises his hand to grab the gorilla grunt's wrist. "Hands off! I can't have you sully Grodd's new bride!" The grunt's eyes flashed with shock, followed by a sneer at Yorrick, "Oh? And how are you so sure King Grodd will take her? After all, how can I know that what you possess is the real Wonder Woman and not a fake?" Yorrick growls, "Shall we settle this in the gladiator ring?!" The grunt snarls back, barring his fangs with a snort.
"Enough!" Shouted a high-ranked Gorilla soldier. Dressed in only a metal-studded harness with leathery spaulders along his shoulders and a loincloth with cloth tassets showing a tiny sliver of his thighs. "Bring forth your trophies to be examined before they are presented to King Grodd!"
The gorilla grunt that confronted Yorrick scoffs, turning to face the shuttle carriers as, one by one, each gorilla brought their trophy and was brought onboard one of the shuttles. Some carried unconscious human females on their shoulders, while others placed them into a single pile and returned to the city to hunt for more. The grunt ahead of Yorrick presents the female he carried with one high-ranked gorilla inspecting it. "Next!" Calling forth the next gorilla to come forward. The grunt ahead of Yorrick removes the female from his shoulder, tossing her to the pile with the rest looking over to Yorrick.
Yorrick felt uneasy, it was simple to fool a grunt with his prize, yet now he had to fool a higher-ranked gorilla soldier. He takes a few steps forward, yet he keeps Wonder Woman on his shoulder and his arm around the underside of her knees. The gorilla soldier looks at Wonder Woman and then at Yorrick, "Is this some joke? Is this female the real Wonder Woman?" Yorrick stares menacingly at the soldier and says, "It is." The soldier's eyes dart to Yorrick with confusion yet intrigued, "Is that so?" Said the gorilla soldier, "I'll have to inspect her myself, do not interfere with the inspection grunt," said the soldier regarding Yorrick's earlier reaction. Yorrick sighed from his nostrils and stood unmoving with his eyes following the soldier.
The soldier moves around from behind Yorrick to see the 'unconscious' Wonder Woman from behind, the grunt from earlier, and a few others follow behind to watch. The soldier digs his hand into Wonder Woman's hair and pulls her hair to lift her head up to show her eyes closed and her lips parted. The grunts were astonished, with a few speaking out, "It is Wonder Woman!" "The real deal!" "He wasn't lying!" The soldier glares back at the grunts shouting, "Silence!" The gorilla soldier turns his attention to Yorrick while holding Wonder Woman by her hair. "You. Explain how you captured Wonder Woman." The soldier demanded an answer from Yorrick.
Yorrick pauses, but as he recalls, Wonder Woman gave him instructions in case they questioned how they captured her. Yorrick narrows his eyes, putting on his aggressive facade, "She found me dragging a woman away; she tried to lasso me, so I pulled her and tied her lasso around her. A little suffocation is enough to make an Amazon crumble, especially from her lasso." Yorrick spoke all this as if sounding like a war veteran. The other grunts look at each other with intimidation cloaked over them, yet the soldier gorilla only stares, baffled and slowly nodding. "I-I see… Very good then. King Grodd will be pleased to hear about your rapport. We'll take her off your hands if necessary."
Yorrick scoffs, "Don't be a fool; only I know how to handle this Amazon wench. I'll bring her to King Grodd myself," One of the soldiers scoffs, "A cocky warrior this one is…" muttering about Yorrick. The soldier raises an eyebrow, releasing Wonder Woman's hair, "Very well, the shuttle carriers will move along a cable on their own to Gorilla Island," he says, pointing to one empty cable carrier nearby. Yorrick looks at the carrier with a smirk, "It's serviceable," he says, reaching the carrier and stepping inside before setting the limp Wonder Woman on the floor.
A gorilla soldier tries to follow when Yorrick stands out in front of the doorway and glares at the warrior. "Sorry, I can't trust you to come with us. I'm strong enough to restrain her. Send only her and me to the island," The soldier gorilla blinks in confusion before narrowing his eyes and stepping back. He didn't want to risk his status against another gorilla who took down Wonder Woman.
The shuttle door closes before being pulled along the cable; the other grunts watch in awe of the leaving carrier. All except for one grunt, the grunt from earlier sneered and muttered to himself, "There's something off about that gorilla. He and Wonder Woman didn't have that many injuries on each other," he turned, leaving off to one of the other shuttle carriers.
As the shuttle was pulled along the cable towards Gorilla Island, Yorrick looked out the window to see how far the two were from the first drop point. "I think it's safe to get up now," said Yorrick. Wonder Woman's eyes open as she slowly lifts herself from the metal floor and brushes her arms off. "Nice acting," Wonder Woman said with a courteous smile. Yorrick looks at Wonder Woman with a returning smile before it fades as he holds his head. Wonder Woman looks back at Yorrick with concern before going to him; she lays a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?" Yorrick sits on one of the nearby chairs of the empty carrier, clutching his head. "I…" he strained in his voice.
Wonder Woman cups Yorrick's gorilla cheeks in her palms and looks down at him to bring his focus to her face. "Stay with me. We've made it this far, so we can't turn back," she says worriedly. Yorrick closes his eyes before opening to see Wonder Woman's face; his attention is drawn to her. "Sorry," said Yorrick in a polite manner. "I still remember the plan, but that performance back there makes the gorilla in me act up."
Wonder Woman sighed in relief, "Then we need act fast and stop Grodd before the damage becomes irreversible." Yorrick nods his head when Wonder Woman releases his cheeks and turns to look out at Gorilla Island. Yorrick follows behind to look at the island and turns his head to Wonder Woman, "That island is where Grodd is huh?"
Wonder Woman nods with the same determined look, "Yes, an artificial island constructed by Grodd and his gorillas. As I recall, he built the island with help from his gorillas and another gorilla named Solovar," Yorrick raises an eyebrow looking to Wonder Woman, "Okay, but why is the island near Metropolis?" Yorrick asked, with Wonder Woman turning her head to him. "From my understanding, Solovar helped create the island to bring peace between Men and Gorilla, but Grodd had other plans in mind. He's using it as a facility to capture and devolve humans into gorillas," said Wonder Woman with disgust in her tone.
Yorrick leans his shoulder against the shuttle window looking over to Wonder Woman instead as he takes in her features. He turns his gaze to Metropolis and then towards Wonder Woman, "Hey Wonder Woman…." Wonder Woman listens to Yorrick's voice and looks at him from the side. She responds, "Call me 'Diana'; it'll be easier for you to address me," Yorrick clears his throat, "Right, Diana… Do you think we can get a meal together when all this is over?" Yorrick asks, looking to Wonder Woman, hoping for a response. Wonder Woman stares down at him before turning her head to Metropolis, "I cannot say for certain; I'm a big target for other villains… Cheetah, Giganta, Silver Swan, and Circe…" Yorrick looks over at her, feeling his energy drain while he slowly slides and sits on the metal floor, "I had a feeling you'd say that," he said, knowing that she would inevitably turn down his offer.
Wonder Woman watches him, then looks at her reflection from the window. She ponders to herself the idea, then sighs out her nostrils and says, "I apologize; I do feel selfish for dragging you with me on this dangerous mission. Perhaps…" She pauses, then looks at Yorrick with a grin, "We could go for a meal together if we are successful." Wonder Woman extends her hand out to Yorrick. Yorrick looks at her dainty hand and places his muscular dark grey gorilla hand on her palm. Wonder Woman uses a minimal amount of her super-strength to easily pull Yorrick back on his prehensile feet. "Well… hopefully, when I return to a human by then. Who knows how long it'll be until I return to normal," said Yorrick.
Yorrick looks out the window to see they are halfway across the cable line to Grodd's Island. "It'll be weird to perform my duties as a bi-pedal gorilla. I bet that might be the case for the others," said Yorrick as he watched. Wonder Woman turns her gaze to see the island with her usual stoic look as if she is lost in thought. She spoke out, "No one is ever sure how things may play out, even with the wisdom of Athena. Her plans and tactics can be memorized, and every outcome can have a contingency, except for the execution."
Yorrick blinks, listening to Wonder Woman's words as she continues. "You can see where an enemy will swing their sword or where they'll fire the next bullet. You can prepare yourself for when it comes, but you can't predict what comes next," said Wonder Woman calmly. "What would be the point then? Why run the risk if you don't know how it ends?" Yorrick asks in concern. Wonder Woman folded her arms over her chest and spoke, "There are many reasons to run the risk. For some, it could be their sworn-bound duty; for others, they don't have a choice; but most of all, because they can."
Yorrick blinks and then ponders on it, remembering his duty as a police officer. Even if he is a gorilla, if he fails or gives up now, there would be no point, and everything Wonder Woman puts on the line will be for naught. "You're right, even if I am still a gorilla. I still have a city to protect and aid in this crisis," Yorrick says with confidence returning and surging across his body.
Wonder Woman's grin returns, and she feels his reassurance. "If the effects don't wear off immediately, I wouldn't mind sharing a meal in your current form until then," said Wonder Woman, turning to face him. Yorrick smiles, bringing his gorilla hands to clasp them around Wonder Woman's hands, "Diana… I won't disappoint you, and I'll see we get through this," Wonder Woman looks to Yorrick and says, "Don't do it for just my sake, do it for your city and everyone you care about."
Yorrick pauses and quickly pulls his hands away from her hands. "S-Sorry… I got a bit emotional there," said Yorrick. Wonder Woman's grin slowly forms into a smirk with a raised eyebrow, "You're alright to feel that way; I prefer someone to be honest with how they feel," she says composedly. The two calm themselves until they turn their heads to see how close they are. They were drawing closer to Gorilla Island as the air grew tense. Despite her calm demeanor, Wonder Woman gave her signature determined scowl with one hand on her hip. "Be ready; we don't know what lies ahead through here. Stick with the plan, and we'll get through this," she says, moving back to the center of the shuttle and laying her body flat on the metal surface.
Yorrick's eyes follow Wonder Woman to where she lays; he goes over and squats down next to her body. With his confidence soaring, he gives a determined look and says, "I'll keep you safe from the other gorillas until we reach Grodd's inner sanctum." Wonder Woman looks up at him with a grin before brushing her hand to the furry gorilla's cheek. "You don't have to worry too much about me. I can handle a few lecherous glares from the other gorilla soldiers. If the worst is to come, I know I can rely on you," Yorrick nods his head until he scoops Wonder Woman in his arms. Pulling her body with ease onto his gorilla shoulder, he walks out of the carrier and takes his first step to Gorilla Island.
To be continued