"How did you feel when you realized Caesar and some of his apes were in the other building next to you? watching everything...including the way the lieutenant treated you."
She remained quite for a bit while avoiding eye contact with him.
"He didn't like that I stood up to him...that I challenged his authority...so he thought he would teach a me lesson by degrading me infront of everyine there...inculding infornt of my brother even though he didn't know he was there..." She said while playing with her bracelet.
She then brought her eyes back to him.
"I wouldn't have cared if he had beated or insulted me but for him to do that...stripping me half naked and showing everyone my scars...I never wanted anyone espeacily Caesar to ever see them" she said while trying not to choke up.
The Abandoned City 3 years, Caesar's POV
Caesar was in the old office building next to the one the humans where using to examine the bodies, he had brought the apes he trusted the most Rocket, Luca and Maurice though the orangutan met up with them later on due to the ape king asking him to make his sister got home alright but found out to his frustration that Iris was involed with the meeting of the humans. Malcolm told them it was best for them to stay out of sight until the soldier was gone then they could tell their findings to him and his apes, Caesar agreed with him knowing the soldier would never cooperate with them. They had been watching intensely for a while but then the sound of Malcolm's yelling had given them quite a shock along with them seeing him chasing after Iris
"Iris there's something I need to tell you before you go in there!" he hollered while trying to catch up to her.
They saw her expression turned to confusion then to anger at the two men it was obvious to them she had no idea they would be here.
Malcolm what's this soldier doing here?...Or better yet what's this asshole doing here?!" she yelled while glaring.
Caesar was curious how she knew the young man and why she seemed to hate him.
Your not happy to see me Iris, I'm hurt"he said sarcastically while gesturing a hand over his heart.
"Why would I be fucking happy to see a lazy, sexist, obnoxious, son of a bitch like you Zack..." she practically growled at him.
"Not afaird to speak her mind is she?" Luca signed.
" Iris...has always been...a bold...and honest female...though those things...usually get...her into...trouble" Caesar said quietly.
Maurice could agree with him after seeing her actions from the last 2 days and spending a little bit of time with her, he could also tell his friend was worried about her for this same reason.
"If he's smart he should shut his mouth and not upset her more" Rocket signed remebering her viciousness from the woods.
Hahaha!...Wow I've missed your nick names for me" he said chuckling.
She just continued to glare at him and he continued to smile smugly at her.
"Well you would know who is a son of a bitch since your the queen bitch yourself"he said matter afactly.
Caesar watched the humans arguing closely, he noticed that while Iris was antagonistic to him, Zack seemed to feel something else for Iris.
"Those two sort of remind me of how you and Cornelia first acted towards each other when you were young" Maurice signed to his friend smiling a little.
Caesar looked at his friend a little then turning back to the scene, it was true him and Cornelia didn't really get along when they first met mostly because he was a young, arrogant, stubborn, controling ape back then but they eventually became closer, he smiled a little at the memory.
"The male is right about her having a temper" Luca signed.
Ok knock it off you two your not childern anymore" Malcolm said to the two of them as grabbed Iris's shoulder and pushed her back lightly, he then bent his head down to to talk in her ear.
Caesar was glad Malcom broke it up before it got any worse, him and Iris began talking closely with each other but he couldn't hear what they were saying due them being quiet. Just then he noticed Iris staring right at them, he was surprised she was able to spot them just like she was surprised they were there. She then just gestured to Malcolm to their direction as well making him look then quickly turning away.
"She's very perceptive isn't she" Maurice signed.
I must say Malcolm when you said you knew some one with military training I didn't suspect someone who was so outspoken..." The soldier said finally cutting in his opinion after being silent the whole time.
Caesar was a little surprised by what the solidier said, what did he mean Iris has military training , Maurice looked at Caeser wondering the same thing.
"Rodman? As in William Rodman? Your related to him?" he asked seriously.
Caesar knew by learning her name this wasn't going to turn out well, It made Maurice worry too.
"I'm his daughter..." she said plainly.
The soldier was clearly not happy by this news.
"Your letting the daughter of the genocider help us with this" he said dangerously low to Malcolm.
Caesar was both angry and sad at what soldier called his adoptive father because he knew he was a loving and kind man that never wanted to hurt anyone, though he also knew what he created caused a lot of death and suffering even though he was doing it for a good cause.
His friends looked at him in concern, because they knew how much he loved his adoptive father and they knew it hurt him to hear someone talk bad about him. Caesar looked at Iris, while she didn't show it he could tell that what the soldier said about their father hurt her too.
Malcolm tried to defend Iris but was quickly cut off.
"I've heard all about how she used that training in the colony, she's kinda popular over there, I also heard she bashed a kid's skull so bad that he got a concussion" he said basically grilling Malcolm.
The apes looked at Caesar at this revelation a little surprised a woman could do that much damage, the orangutan and the ape king already knew this so it didn't come as a shock to them.
"If you knew the whole story then you would know she did that to defend herself against the boy along with his two friends if my might add who were assaulting her" they turned there heads to the one who spoke this to see it was Ellie who was obviously getting upset by the Lieutenant's comments.
This is why Caesar and the apes that knew her well liked Ellie, because of her kindness and for sticking up for others.
What Caesar saw next shocked and his council, Iris aiming a gun at the soldier, it was clear the apes weren't the only ones surprised by her action.
"IRIS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Malcolm yelled, suprised my the action she just pulled.
"Iris give the gun back to Malcolm please!" Ellie pleading to her, the other doctor beside her who was a guy obviously looked freaked out.
Zack just watched Iris attentively, waiting to see what her reason was.
"I'M NOT GETTING RID OF THE GUN UNTIL I SEE THE BACK OF THIS BASTARD'S NECK" she screamed while staring at Sykes inraged.
Caesar never seen Iris so angry, he and the others thought she might actually shoot him.
"Alpha-Omega have brands in the back of their necks as proof they are one of the group!" she yelled.
Malcolm looked at Sykes then back to her unsure.
"Are you saying he's-
"I won't know for sure unless I check his neck, did you forget what those guys tried to do to Alex..." said she lowly this time but was still obviously inraged.
The ape king and his companions remembered Alpha-Omega very well, they tried to hunt them down and also caused the fire in Muir Park 9 years ago. Caesar was curious how Iris knew them and how Malcolm's son was involved, he could tell the others wanted to know as well espeacily Luca and Maurice.
They then watched as she went over to the man to inspect him, still aiming the gun though. When she found no mark on his neck she lowered the gun, backed away, and gave the gun back to Malcolm but even though she didn't find the mark it clearly didn't make her less suspicious of him and frankly Caesar was suspicious of him too, Ellie then called them over to talk about the bodies.
They noticed the dog tried to bite the soldier as he walked by.
"Don't take it personally...he doesn't like assholes" she said lowly as she walked past him along with Malcom up the table that had one of the bodies, he glared at her in response.
The apes hooted a little in laughter at her comment, even Caesar cracked a small smile, he didn't like dogs but he was beginning to like this dog a little.
The Soldier accused the apes of killing the four people and Iris basically insulted him for thinking that, it humored the apes just how much she was insulting the soldier.
"They could have been in the city for we know and dumped into the woods to make seem like it was like the apes...we don't know yet."
"And the way they were killed?"
"You should know there's sick people out there Lieutenant...I've met a couple myself both ape and human...there's good apes and there's bad apes just like there's good humans and bads humans...we are not really that much different from each other...even our DNA 94% compatiable " she said softly.
Caesar remembered when he said that to Blues Eyes a month ago, when he eventually realized the truth out the hard way, but what caught his attention the most is when she said she's met bad apes.
"What does she mean she's met bad apes?"Maurice he signed to Caesar concerned, he didn't know ethier though he was afaird to think what kind of encounter she might of had.
"I wonder why you sympathize with these animals so much Ms. Rodman since there's proof of how much they brutalized on your body" He said as he roughly grabbed her arm pulling her towards him, his action catching her off guard , He then grabbed by her neck with his other hand to hold her in place.
Everyone was shocked inculding the apes Caesar was angry, he gripped the edge of the window tightly and growled underneath his breath, he became furious when the soldier's other hand that wasn't holding her neck was now ripping off her jacket and her shirt showing her half naked body to everyone, Caesar wanted to yell out but a hand on his shoulder held him back, he turned his head to see it was Maurice.
"If you make yourself known the situation could become worse and he might hurt her" he signed grimly to his friend, Caesar clearly could see his campanions were just as disgusted and angry by the by the soldier's action.
"Caesar..."Rocket signed while pointing back to the direction of the window, his eyes filled with shock.
Caesar didn't want to look at his sister's body like this but the look on Rocket's face said he needed to, he slowly turned around and what he saw have him gave
sorrow.
The top of her body was covered in bites marks done by a ape.
"You thought by covering yourself with your jacket that no one would notice, if you hadn't pulled that gun and got closer to me I probably wouldn't have..." He told her queitly.
She grunted in frustration while still glaring at him.
"While at first glance these marks look like they were done by a some kind of animal but when you look at them closer you can tell they are also similiar to a human so I'll ask you again Ms. Rodman...how can you still defend these beasts after one of them used you as a chew toy..." He said while staring into her eyes.
Caesar's heart filled with anguish at this comment,to know one his own kind tried to hurt his family again, Maurice was feeling the same he was but held it back so he could try to put his friend at ease.
"I would recommend that you let go of Iris and slowly back away from her..."Zack warned The Lieutenant dangerously low while pointing a gun at his head, while Iris was surprised he was trying to defend her it didn't surprise Caesar and Maurice.
"Son...what your doing right now isn't wise..." he warned Zack while never turning his head.
"Neither is what I'm about to do..." Iris said softy, now having her knife positioned at his groin ready to plunge it in.
Everybody wondered where and when she pulled the knife out.
"Like he said...get your fucking hands off me...or your going to bleed out from your balls..." she threatened as she lightly pressed the tip to touch his pants.
The apes winced at the possible out come, though they were all silent encouraging her to go through with it espeacily Caesar.
The soldier let go and backed away from her and Zack backed away from him, Ellie ran over to check on her.
"She's strong..." Luca signed.
" She may be strong...but doesn't mean she can't get hurt..." Maurice signed back to him.
Malcolm told her it was ok for her to go but before she did he went over and punched the soldier right in the face.
"If you ever touch her like that again...I swear I won't hesitate to shoot you next time or let Bruce tare out your throat" he threatened him, he then turned around to go outside with Iris following behind him. Caesar and the others watched them leave satisfied with what their good human friend did.
Once they got outside the building they walked aways until Iris stopped and turned around to look at him.
"You wanted to talk right?...let's talk" she said straight to the point.
"I do Iris but I can understand if you not feeling up to it right now..." he said sympathetically, knowing she had been through enough today.
"Let's just get over with it I don't want to bugged about this later..." she said as she brought a hand up to her head to rub her temple.
He sighed.
"Why did you run off like that yesterday?...I know you have anxiety when your around to many people but there was only those two plus Alex and I..."
"That wasn't it..."
"Then what was it the apes?...was it Caesar?..."
This caught the ape kings attention.
"How do you know him Iris? What did he-
"He's my brother Malcolm..." she cut him off.
Malcolm was shocked at this.
"You mean the one who you hadn't seen since you where a kid?..." he asked.
"Yea that one..." she said queitly.
"Iris why didn't you ever tell me?..."
Caesar was a little surprised she never told anyone about him but she also knew where the village was for the last 5 years and never said anything, she could have but she didn't.
There was never much to tell...we haven't seen each other 10 years and we both lived different lives in all those years...we both changed..." she depressingly.
Caesar gaze became a little sad at her comment, Iris then turned around to leave before pointing out they should hide better next time.
Malcolm watched her leave then looked on top of a building, locking eyes with Caesar and the apes who were trying to be unnoticed, Caesar's gaze then switched to Iris, watching as she left. They waited until Zack, the other doctor, and the soldier to leave before they went to talk Malcolm inside, Ellie greeted them as they came in they then began to talk about the bodies and the findings.
"The Soldier...believes it was ape...who did this...he will bring others" he said.
"It be hard for them do that due to the colony being against the idea of just a couple of them being here right now...trust me a lot of them have bad memories from Alpha-Omega."
"Inculding you?..."he asked.
Ellie gave Malcolm a concerned look.
"You heard what Iris said..." Malcolm said softly.
"You don't...have to-
"It's alright...you should know"he cut him off gently.
He took a deep sigh and took a seat in a chair.
"Your kind probably has a past with Alpha-Omega due to the fire they set 9 years ago but humans also don't have fond memories ethier...Alpha-Omega was known to shoot infected on site...it didn't even matter if it was a woman or child they would still shoot them, not only that sometimes they would kidnap people to do experiments on them...they tried to do that to Alex 5 years ago but Iris helped me save him...Alex was just a kid so was Iris yet she helped him...Alex's mother..my first wife Rita died shortly after we got him back" he depressingly.
The apes faces fell to shock and disgust at this information, they didn't know how humans could treat there own kind the same way they treated them or how could they do those things to childern. Maurice started to understand why the boy was so shy and quiet, Caesar could feel Malcolm's grief.
"I'm sorry..." he said sympathetically.
There was one question he wanted ask since he saw Iris pull the gun on the soldier.
"Why is...Iris so...fimilar with... Soldiers?"
"A year after her father died Alpha-Omega kidnapped her and trained her to be a child soldier...she was at their camp for a year" he told the ape king grimly.
This shocked him greatly.
"Did you know...about her-
"Her scars? Yes I did...she's been through hell and back Caesar I don't know much about her past but her eyes tell me everything...she's been hurt by both species so much she closed up her heart and shut herself out from the world..."
Caesar did see that she was hollow of her former self and hurt him to see her like that.
"I worry about her Caesar...I worry because she's gone to a dark place more then once and has even tried to hurt herself..."
Caesar became horrified by this information.
"She feels deeply and cares deeply... She may act cold but she's very compassionate.."
Caesar knew this was very ture about her, his son and Maurice also saw this in her.
"I don't want her to live the rest of her life alone..." Malcolm said sadly.
She wouldn't be alone, Caesar left her all those ago he wasn't going leave again, not when she needed him the most.
Muir Park
Iris slowly turned around to see a group of apes coming out the trees and bushes into plain sight, They stared at her with hostility along with holding spears and arrows that were aimed at her causing Bruce to growl at them.
"You guys are doing something really stupid right now..." she signed nonchalantly then crossing her arms.
"It's only natural to want to protect our selves" a gorilla with slightly red fur signed to her.
"From me? Really? You think I'm dangerous?" she said chuckling thinking it was funny.
But their stares only confirmed they where serious which made her act serious as well.
"Are you guys serious?Yes I live out here, Yes I know were you guys live but I've never done anything to any of you" she said clearly annoyed.
"Liar!" a grey chimp signed aggressively, the other began to sign agressively while the other screeched and hooted angrily.
"She killed them!"
"She killed those humans and our apes!"
She was bewildered by the last comment.
"Wait what do mean killed our apes?" she asked clearly confused.
"After you left the village this morning two apes from a hunting party went missing we found them slaughtered two hours ago"the gorilla told her.
Iris was shocked by this news.
"And you think I did that?..." she said queitly.
"You were near the village when it happened and you where found near the dead humans! You killed them just like you killed those humans!" the grey one signed while he screeched.
The others started to screech louder.
Iris realized they wouldn't listen to her and that she needed to get out there quick before one of them took a shot, she grabbed on the scruff of Bruce's neck and slowly led him backwards with her while the apes where arguing with each other but the Gorilla noticed what she was trying to do and tried to grab her, she stopped him by punching him hard below the ribs and in his jaw, it bewildered him she could do such a impact and she used that to make a dash for it with Bruce. She could hear the enraged screeches of apes following behind her.
She her lungs burned with fire as she dodged through the trees, bushes, and rocks, Bruce was closely following her speed next to her. She didn't turn around to see if they where catching up to her, she knew if she did that it would slow her down, she did know that they were in the trees cause she could hear them, She just kept pushing herself to run faster even though her muscles and lungs where in great amount of pain at that moment and didn't help that her hair was flying into face. She could then hear the Gorilla charging and getting closer to her, she knew gorilla charges where dangerous and if she got caught by him she would be seriously hurt.
Her luck finally ran out when She tripped violently over a rock and landed in the dirt causing Bruce to go over to her side, she tried to get back up but as she put pressure on her foot it shot up with pain making her crash right back down to the ground.
" BRUCE!RUN!RUN!" she yelled at him as she heard the apes getting closer.
Bruce whimpered, he didn't want to leave her but he also wanted to listen to her, Iris knew that he would die protecting her and she didn't want that.
"RUNNNNN!" she yelled again and this time he listened taking off into the forest.
The gorilla finally caught up to her and pounded his hands to her chest while growling, she weakly tried to defend herself. He then grabbed a fistful of her hair, lifted her head by it and then slammed her head back down hard against a rock which knocked her out cold.
Wow that chapter was hard to write cause it was like mixing in a old chapter with a new chapter...made my head hurt lol So not only is a human guy has a interest in Iris a certain ape is becoming intersted in her as well :)