Looking at his reflection in the shattered remains of a makeshift mirror, Chiro's face screwed up into a scowl of disgust. "Well this is humiliating. The uniform is horrible."

"That uniform is actually a huge improvement Chiro. Black is far more effective for stealth work. I fear white makes you stand out in a crowd. Maezono stated, casting an eye over his new unenthusiastic mercenary.

The day before the big event was proving to be tedious. The first mission. Chiro was making sure he not only pressed on every cybernetic nerve Maezono had; he was stomping on them.

Tugging at the uncomfortable collar that seemed to be strangling his neck, Chiro growled under his breath. "I would not get used to this look if I were you, I look awful."

"Oh and why is that? The face goggles are a huge improvement." Maezono mocked. "It is unfortunate that you have grown some sort of attachment to your old team Chiro, but they did rather make you an obvious target. Perhaps they utilised the white colour scheme as a form of self protection. For their benefit of course."

"My hyper mode is just how it is. It is not done to be a walking target." Chiro argued back. "None of us are sporting camo incase you failed to notice."

"If that helps you sleep at night then so be it. But I believe the main part of your mercenary contract is one hundred percent effort and loyalty. So forget the Hyper Force Chiro, those days are over." Maezono pointed out, a chilling smirk crossing his artificial face.

Holding back the red mist that descended in front of him Chiro retreated to the back room. Fist clenching as he leaned on the the wall, 'how did I get to this level of low?'


"Todays the day Chiro!" Maezono announced from the main lab room. A smirk plastered on his cyber face as he waited for the teen to appear.

"Chiro? Chiro!" Maezono shouted through, patience waining thin, as he targeted the boys sleeping area.

"Listen up boy, what I am about to say is going to be of extreme interest to you."

Slowly opening one eye Chiro sighed as he could not ignore the other for much longer. He had taken to napping out the way to try and avoid any confrontation, but this seemed unavoidable. "I doubt that." Chiro said quietly to himself.

"Chiro? Are you even awake." Maezono shouted as he reached the back room.

"Yes, what do you want."

"Now we're talking."

"What is it?" Chiro asked as he moved to the main lab room. Playing with the uncomfortable fingerless gloves that felt alien to him.

"I need an artefact recovered. The Shugazoomian museum is currently holding it for me."

"Holding it for you I doubt that highly." Chiro scoffed.

"I need you to collect it with force." Maezono ordered.

"Here we go," Chiro rolled his eyes with a laugh. "Or in other words, go and steal this item that is definitely not mine in the first place." Chiro stated with a grin. "I didn't realise part of the contract included being your petty thief. Scared your robotic steps will sound off their alarms." Chiro teased.

"Watch your tongue young man, or it will be an early start for the Super Robot's firework display."


"This is insufferable."

"Not very good when your little hairless monkey disappears."

"But if we find him first, oh what fun we will have!"

Turning to the group gathered in the command centre, Sprx sighed in frustration as the video paused from their latest attack on Skeleton King. "We've had six weeks of Skeleton King testing us. Six weeks! No sign of Chiro. Just Bone Bag toying with us."

"Indeed." Antauri agreed. "The constant interruptions are not helping us to locate Chiro."

"It could easily be set up as a distraction. To keep us preoccupied?" Gibson thought aloud.

Shaking his head swiftly the team's hot headed pilot dismissed the idea. "We've stormed Skeleton Kings fortress countless times, Chiro is not there and they are clueless!" Sprx argued.

"I agree, Chiro's disappearance has not been down to the Skeleton King. They know as much as we do." Antauri pondered. "But that then leaves the question or who or what has tempted Chiro away from us?"

Looking up from his holo-pad scanner Gibson frowned. "Chiro left the robot in the middle of the night of his own accord. CCTV footage loses sight of him heading north west towards the outskirts of the city. There has been no threats from enemies, and no ransoms. It could very well be a self made plan to leave."

Leaning back on her chair as her brothers argued around her, Nova sighed as she looked to the pink haired girl and green monkey sat beside her. "Here we go again."

"Can you make them stop? they sound like broken records." Otto whined as both girls shared sympathetic glances.

"Enough already." Nova warned the other three. "Your speculating is just as bad as Chiro missing."

"It's a factual conclusion of the evidence in front of us Nova." Gibson argued back. "Chiro wasn't stolen from us and kidnapped; he got up and walked out of here."

"He would not just walk out. There is something we have missed!" Jinmay countered.

"Enough." The silver primate intervened as the room fell silent around him. "We will find Chiro…" Antauri began, just as the Super Robot's alarm sounded through the robot.


An almighty thud indicated the arrival of the Hyper Force.

The Super Robot landed upon the grass by the Shugazoomian museum. Its roaring engines quietened, until they fell completely silent. The the team inside left their designated cockpits quickly to disembark.

With a click, the door of the foot cruiser opened. Cheers filling the air as the Shugazoomian civilians got a glimpse of their city's protectors striding out to meet with gathering police officials.

As Antauri took the lead, he telekinetically held up the 'Do Not Cross' tape that lined and surrounded the city's museum; protecting the scene of crime from the congregating public.

After everyone had ducked under the tape, Antauri released his grip, laying the tape back perfectly before walking towards the approaching chief.

"The crime has unfortunately, already been committed Hyper Force. The culprit has got cleanly away." A police chief reported to the superheroes, as he straightened his navy blue tie. "But you are more than welcome to survey the scene yourself, I believe this type of criminal is more in line with your department anyway." The chief concluded, as he led them to the main entrance and too a second officer.

"The fire department has given the west wing the all clear sir, and the museum's curator is available for questioning." The second officer reported.

"Excellent. As you may have already noted Hyper Force, the museum now has a huge hole in its west wing's roof, made upon the criminal's exit. This area is off limits to members of the general public and is home to the chief historians and the museum's curator. I will leave the rest to you." The chief stated as he led the team into the museum's main hall. "We will be outside if you require anything."

With a thankful nod, Antauri started to lead the team towards the West Wing.

"Well look on the bright side, at least the museum won't need to buy a fancy sunroof now." Sprx chirped, breaking the team's silence, just before he hit the deck with the help of a giant yellow fist impacting his left cheek.

"This is no time for joking around Sprx. We have work to do, and you're creating a scene." Nova reprimanded as she brushed off her hands, unimpressed.

"And you're not?" Sprx questioned weakly from the floor.

Exchanging grins with Jinmay at the amusing scene, "Good one Spr…"

Otto's chime was cut short as the yellow warrior's attention landed on him. The mechanic holding his hands up apologetically as a drip of sweat formed at the top of his helmet. "I said nothing." Otto stated, backing down with a meek smile.

Turning away from Otto, Nova strutted up the corridor a small smile crossing her muzzle, as she caught up to Gibson and Antauri.

"Team we need to check these rooms systematically. Something drove the culprit and we need to figure out what." Antauri stated to the team.

Peeling himself up off the floor, Sprx re-joined the team as they exited the last of the rooms. "So what is the verdict then?" Sprx asked impatiently.

"None of them are going to win the tidiest room award." Nova commented absentmindedly. "Papers are all over each desk but it looks normal, not like they were rifled through."

Clearing his throat to gauge the group's attention, Gibson spoke. "How strange, the only damage the museum sustained…" The baffled scientist stopped mid-sentence to look at his hand held scanner, confirming his thoughts, "appears to be the roof." Gibson stated, as he drew the team's attention to the damage above.

"Indeed." Antauri agreed.

"I'm guessing it was an escape route, rushed maybe?" Jinmay thought aloud. "It's the only thing that would explain the selective damage."

"I'm inclined to agree Jinmay." Gibson replied. "If they entered with a bang they would have caused a scene. I wonder how many there were too?"

"Not many I'd say, it wasn't as if we saw a troop leaving here… But what did they come after? Surely this is the wrong area if they planned to steal something from the museum. There is only offices here it seems." Nova said rather thoughtfully, the back of her hand brushing against her chin. It was then that she noticed Antauri's odd behaviour. He appeared in a deep trance, sat in the lotus position as he hovered silently. "Antauri?"

The silver primate looked up when his name was mentioned. "I can sense the remains of a small, singular power level here. I believe this attack was conducted by an individual."

"A power level… what type of power level?" Nova wondered.

Otto pondered this thought for a second too. "Um… If it's only a small level, we shouldn't have too much of a problem; right Antauri?"

"I mean who in the population has a power level high enough to be recognisable in Shugazoom City anyway?" Sprx asked the gathered team, as his question was met with silence.

"Whatever or whoever has been present here, had the ability to suppress their true power. However their execution of this technique is strange. In places I sense nothing, but yet in some areas a tiny part of their power has leaked. They have to be, at the very least, learning to control a power." Antauri concluded as the team took in his findings.

Nova sighed as she moved further down the corridor, the team beginning to follow. "So potentially we could be dealing with an alliance of the skeleton king… great we really needed this." She muttered under her breath.

"We should check the rest of the rooms, I sense someone close by." Antauri gestured down the hall, as the team began to move more at a pace.

Reaching the last room, Antauri's theory was found to be correct. This room seemed different; it was larger than the others by a considerable margin and seemed to be in more of a mess. Its occupant was also still present.

A tall, older man with dark hair that was naturally greying from age, sat hunched over his desk. Holding his head in his hands he only looked up when he was alerted to their presence. His eyes softened with recognition of the city's heroes.

"The Hyper Force… welcome! Come in." The room's occupant welcomed. "Are you here to investigate? Thank goodness!"

Taking a few steps closer to the man, Jinmay rested her hand on the man's shoulder. "Are you okay? What happened here?"

"I'll be okay. I have to be for I am the museum's new curator, and I don't want to deprive the public of its museum over an incident like this. However the most valuable treasure in this museum has been pinched from right under my nose." The man stuttered as he suddenly slammed his fist on the table. "He was mocking me, how could I have been so blind?"

"Woah easy there buddy! So he got away with something then?" Sprx asked as he looked to the man with a small feeling of pity.

"Why don't you start at the beginning?" Gibson suggested as the man let out a long drawn out sigh in response.

"I was just sat here in my office for the duration. I was sorting through some important documents, when I glanced up. I don't know why but I felt like I was being watched. That eerie feeling you get, but when I looked up… I was being watched! He was just standing just about where you are now stood Sprx."

"That's ballsy." Sprx commented as he side stepped from his spot.

"Leaning on my doorway without a care in the world, he looked so young, I just thought he had wandered off and got lost from his family in the main museum. But the longer I stared at him and the longer the silence drew on, the more I realised something wasn't right…"

"Wait a second. The thief stood here in front of you and you did nothing?" Sprx asked with a sceptical look.

"But he looked like he was only a youngster, he was kitted out with some head gear. I thought it was a toy! I did not even begin to think he was here to cause trouble!" The curator pleaded.

"Please continue sir, what did he look like?" Antauri questioned.

The curator nodded in response. "Nothing that stood out particularly, he was dressed completely in black. Boots and gloves included. But there was some small red detailing."

"Hair, eyes, face?" Jinmay prompted.

"Uh, his hair was hidden underneath a black bandanna scarf and what I mistook as something innocent was the high tech looking googles he was wearing, they completely obscured his face. His eyes looked red, but that could have been the lenses. I honestly couldn't say."

"So what happened after the staring contest?" Otto inquired eager to hear the rest of the story.

"Well I uh… I asked him was he alright? And that's when it all started to go downhill." The curator sighed.

"In what respect did it go downhill?" Gibson encouraged the curator.

"Like his museums most valuable thing walked out of here right in front of his nose?" Sprx jabbed with a smirk.

"Sparky go and talk to a wall or something." Gibson stated, side eyeing the red monkey. "Make yourself useful."

"Shut it Brain Strain." Sprx retorted as he glared back.

Clearing his throat Antauri silenced the squabbling pair. "Enough please continue sir."

"He was smirking at me! He had the cheek to give me attitude back. It was along the lines of nah I'm half left or words to that effect. At this point I was starting to get unnerved by his composure, it was obvious now he was toying with me and it just got worse and worse. I asked if he needed any help and he just laughed to himself."

"So what did he take?" Otto asked curiously.

"He looked up after that and said he had helped himself to a souvenir to remember his day visit. When I inquired to his meaning, he just opened his hand. In his palm he held the most priceless artefact in this museum. The Savage Lands Crystal."

"Oh this doesn't sound good." Sprx mumbled, as Nova caught his eye at the mention of a crystal.

"The Savage Lands Crystal huh… what does it look like? Does it have a purpose?" Nova inquired curiously.

"It is a large ornamental crystal that has been deemed to be pure black. It's naturally carved to perfection. It is the finest specimen we have here. It was not even on display to the public, it was kept in the vault underneath for further research studies. That vault has its own infrared alarm system and only four of us know how to access this area. Me, and three of my chief historians. How he even got down there, knew his way inside and got to the piece is beyond me!"

"So it's a professional job." Sprx concluded.

"But he had the cheek to show me what he stole! As soon as I reacted, he smirked and said I thought this was it. As I hurriedly activated the alarm on my desk to alert the police, he fled into the corridor. He got half way down the corridor, by the time I got to my door. He had seen the safety doors drop so he just raised his hand and blasted the roof. He was straight out and gone with my museum's precious crystal."

"Wow he sounds a right cocky little…"

"Sprx!" Nova interrupted.

"Well it sounds like he has got skill or done his homework at least!" Sprx defended.

Jinmay blinked in amazement "What in Shugazoom are we dealing with here? Can we at least see where the crystal was stored? See the defences he got through?"

The curator nodded as he slowly stood, before heading out the room; the team following closely behind.