Spectacular World

She Didn't Know

Alexander Lauren glared up at the man who stood before him. He knew enough about Red Ape, or maybe it was Green Ape now, to know that while the man might have failed a lot at what he did, he was still a dangerous Super who went out of their way to cause suffering in the world.

The others in the room didn't seem to mind the man being in charge either. Red Monkey leaned against a wall with his arms folded while White Spider stood near the stairs that led up, playing with some of her spiders, which danced across her fingers. Black Shark kept his fingers low, placing them down to Alexander's neck. The villain stood directly behind the tied-up man, ready to strike if the human even thought of doing anything funny.

Finally, that left just Green Ape and White Egg, who both stood before Alexander, looking down at the man. Or at least Green Ape looked. Even if he had the ability to see, White Egg's costume would have completely blocked the man's view. Unlike the others who all wore suits and masks, White Egg's outfit was literally a full-body egg suit that only had a pair of holes for his arms and legs. A smiling face had been drawn onto the front of the egg costume with a marker, and at the very top of it, a top hat rested lopsided as the blind man fumbled around with his walking cane.

"Why are you doing this?" Alexander growled out. His eyes glared into the cartoon mask the new leader of Zoo wore.

Green Ape let out a soft snort at that. "You really are her dad, aren't you?"

"What?"

"She asked me something similar to that the first time I ever talked to her." The villain walked over to the wall that was filled with explosives, slowly checking them over. "To think my rival would actually be the next coming of Full Monarch. Not even someone as smart and brilliant as I could have seen that coming."

"Seriously?" White Egg asked. "I mean, it was pretty obvious-"

"Yes! A twist such as this was one not a soul could see coming." Green Ape dramatically posed, placing his hand to his forehead. "And now she has left this city behind to work for the Hero Branch." The man let out a large comical sigh as he finished checking on his bombs. "That's okay, though. I know that she's calling out to me. Begging for me to swoop in and give her a real challenge!"

"You're an idiot." Alexander said flatly. He looked around wildly at the other members of Zoo who weren't meeting his eyes. "Why are you guys following this guy? He's just so dumb?"

White Spider shook her head and reached up to rub at the center of her forehead. Something flickered and glowed beneath the skin, taking shape around her skull before it faded out. "Trust us. None of us like listening to him. We don't really have a choice, though. Only ones that have free will now are White Lamb and that new Egg guy. If you want to break out and put a bullet in his head, I'll cheer you on."

"That's hurtful." Green Ape frowned and shook his head. "Earlier, you asked what I was planning. Since you're the father of my nemesis, I'll let you in on my secret. I'm here to cause serious chaos!" The man threw his arms out and let out the closest thing he had to an evil laugh. "Imagine the state Oleander will be left in once I'm done with it. It's barely clinging to life after the Beast attack. I'll be the one who wipes this place off the map! Something not even the Beast could do!"

"That's your plan?" Alexander asked in horror and shock. "People are trying to recover and rebuild! You can't do this! What good would it do? You live here, too!"

"Not for much longer." Green Ape let out a snort and began to head for the stairs. "We'll be leaving this dump of a city and making a new home. That said, even if I wasn't leaving, I'd still have to do this. I made a promise to someone very important, and they'd kill me if I broke it. Can't have that. That person is the reason we have so many members of Zoo back, you know!" Green Ape snapped his fingers, and Black Shark grabbed Alexander by the back of the neck and forced the man to stand. "You'll be coming with us."