Chapter six- The Children

The first thing they did was alert Aku. The old mask was absolutely bewildered by the great number of children he had no idea existed. Crash felt sorry for the old timer. He always looked so exhausted every time Crash saw him, his golden eyes had grown a little duller, and he didn't have as much zip to his float. Not that he had much to begin with. It was difficult to tell really, unless one knew him well. It was hard to predict the emotions of a drifting plank of wood with feathers, even if he did have a face. Aku seemed terribly ashamed that he had not noticed the children before, and he was resolved to find them a place to live.

"For now, we will set up a shelter outside Crash and Coco's home." Aku decided.

Crash felt a little miffed at this arrangement.

"Wait a second, when you say we, do you really mean we, or do you mean leave it up to Crash to raise this thing cus the rest of us are busy?"

"Don't be an idiot, Crash." Coco said sternly. "Of course Kieran and I will help you."

"Until then, the children should remain here where they are most comfortable. It will probably be a strange transition."

"Got it Gramps, whatever you say."

The dialogue ended with Aku flying away into the wilderness, leaving Crash and Coco alone. Crash scratched his ear with a little smile.

"Well, I suppose this is all due to your tenaciousness."

Coco wrinkled her nose at him. "What?"

"You figured there were children out here, and I thought you were nuts."

Coco grinned. "Maybe you should pay more attention to my advice, bozo. Things might proceed a little easier for you."

"Maybe," Crash returned the smile. "But if they get any easier, I might never get up again."

"Don't worry about that. You'll get up as soon as your stomach starts grumbling."

Crash patted Coco on the back with a smile.

"You know me well, dear sister."

"Okay Crash, I'm going to go back and help Kieran with the children. Can you go home and start setting up the shelter?"

Crash frowned.

"Ah, and it starts. I knew I was going to have to build this thing up myself."

"Kieran and I will come as soon as we can. Stop being a baby."

Coco turned her back and started marching through the jungle. Crash was about to shout something witty back to her, but lost the energy at once. The thought of starting to build another house drained him quite completely. He wondered what he would have to do to bribe Crunch to do it for him.

Cortex leaned back in his plush chair, his spindly arms propped behind his head as he rejuvenated in the wonder of his brilliance. Already, Tina had been dispatched with a troop of his best minions to retrieve the serum from EBG Labs in Australia. The lab was primarily an avenue for biogenetic study, and the effect of certain matter on different living organisms. However, this branch of the laboratory did not interest Cortex in the slightest. What really captured his attention was a special bio weapon created within a secret sector of the lab, developed for military use. The weapon had the power to wipe out creatures of a specific genetic type. Of course, although the weapon was targeted to humans the scientists were at a loss as how to make it particularly effective. However, the weapon was prepared enough for Cortex to tweak a little and alter the target to a general genetic sequence.

Cortex heard the hissing clunk of a door sliding open, but he didn't look up. He was far too busy enjoying his own ponderings. When the intruder stood patiently before him for a few moments, Cortex heaved a sigh.

"What is it now, N. Gin?"

N. Gin took a moment to calculate his thoughts, and then spoke.

"The tigress is preparing to take off, doctor. When should we commence with the second phase of the plan?"

Cortex scratched his knee absently.

"Organize a force of lab assistants to fly down to N. Sanity Island once Tina has departed. Hopefully they can complete their mission without gaining attention from those wretched bandicoots, but we cannot count upon that. Make sure the assistants are armed with stun rods."

N. Gin nodded vigorously.

"Yes, doctor, right away."

As N. Gin departed, Cortex leaned back in his chair again, enjoying the easy quietness that settled over his lab. After N. Gin's unfortunate decent into space courtesy of Crash Bandicoot, it had been quite a hassle to put the cyborg back together again. Fortunately for N. Gin, his mechanical life support system was able to keep him in a comatose state until Cortex could pick him up. However, it had been years of tinkering to return Gin to an optimal functioning level. After N. Gin returned to duty as Cortex's assistant, he was full of gratitude toward the doctor. Cortex always chuckled at this thought, considering he'd been the sole reason for N. Gin's necessary transformation into a cyber-organic human being.

Many years ago, Nedron Gin was on top of the engineering world. He acquired state funding to open a laboratory of his own where he could test various chemicals for space technology. Cortex hadn't heard from him since their university days, and when he realized what an impact he was making on the space age front he decided to pay his old colleague a visit. After checking his impressive credentials, Cortex decided he would make an adequate assistant. So, he went to the unveiling of N. Gin's new hydrogen rocket he was preparing for NASA. Using his own foul means, Cortex sabotaged the demonstration. When N. Gin prepared to reveal the new technology, he lost control. The rocket went haywire, and buried itself partway into N. Gin's head. This was something Cortex did not expect. However, his old colleague didn't die. He was able to stabilize the rocket so that it would not explode, but that was all he accomplished before losing consciousness.

He was airlifted to a hospital, but the doctors didn't know how to safely remove the rocket from the scientist's head. They were, however, astonished that N. Gin was breathing on his own without need of life support. So they kept him on surveillance, waiting for experts from the academy to examine the strange case. During this time, Cortex made his move. He stole N. Gin from the hospital and took him to his space station. Using his own extraordinary talents, Cortex altered N. Gin so he could operate with the rocket impaled in his skull. Although he had the knowledge of how to safely remove the rocket, Cortex decided not doing so would be more beneficial to him. If, in the future, N. Gin turned on him, it would be simple work to send the delicate piece of machinery into a self-destruct mode. He figured he could keep him in line easier with such a threat at his disposal.

N. Gin woke, astonished by the state of himself. Cortex explained the doctors had lost hope for him and intended to let him die, while Cortex himself knew there was a way to rescue him. He then wove a fantastic tale about stealing him from the hospital and saving his life. N. Gin was appreciative of Cortex's help, and instantly became his devoted servant. Cortex was impressed with the ease of such a deception. It worked perfectly to his advantage.

His robotic mind gave him the ability to make calculations at a rapid rate, making him an ideal second-in-command. He was far more efficient than Cortex's previous assistant. Although N. Gin was not nearly as intelligent as N. Brio, he served Cortex far better than that traitor ever had.

Cortex was in such high spirits, he didn't have the energy to reminisce about his past. It was all about the future now. Once he received the toxin, he would finally have the opportunity to destroy every last mutation he'd unleashed upon the island. At last, he could erase his past failures and move forward. Although he would much rather kill Crash Bandicoot himself, he did not wish to take any more chances. If he somehow apprehended the most troublesome of his creations, he ran the chance that the bandicoot would find a way to interrupt his plans. It was best not to bring attention to his plot, and have Crash die with the rest of his abominable friends in a cloud of toxic smoke. Cortex's lips curled into a dark smile. Nights were growing easier to bear, with images such as these to lull him to sleep.

Isabella followed the familiar Tiger woman to the hanger bay. She concealed herself behind a stack of oil drums, keeping one eye upon the killer and her group of cronies. It had been difficult to remain undetected. The Tigress could hear everything, and Isabella suspected if she made one slip-up, she'd be discovered in an instant. Luckily, Isabella didn't make slip-ups. For a reason she didn't even know, this was something she was good at. She waited, unmoving and watching with an unwavering gaze. The Tigress was standing with her arms crossed, gnashing her teeth and tapping her foot. She was obviously impatient to get under way. After the system checks, she and her group of ruffians boarded a silver cargo plane.

Isabella watched them disappear, and then exhaled heavily. If the plane had been bigger, she wouldn't have hesitated to sneak aboard. As it stood, there was no point in taking such a risk when she wasn't entirely sure of who her true enemies were yet. Although she knew what the Tigress was capable of, she wasn't so sure about the others. She needed time to go over a strategy. So, she tried to come up with another plan. She considered stealing one of the other planes, but she was sure Cortex would have surveillance on them. She couldn't take that chance either. Then, another idea came to her. She felt herself grin as she swiftly snuck away. If she couldn't follow them by plane, she would just have to do the next best thing. She knew Cortex had a few speedboats supplied in his underground passage. She wouldn't mind liberating one of those. She was sure Cortex wouldn't miss it.