chiv-id: Oh my goodness, how long has it been? Halloween to now...grah, not gonna count it! Not even gonna THINK about it. Too freaking depressing! Anyway, at least instead of giving you some bullshit little apology chapter, I'M GIVING YOU AN ACTUAL CHAPTER TO FREAKING READ. YEAH. BETTER THAN JUST WRITING I'M SORRY AND USING UP ONE WHOLE CHAPTER SPACE, RIGHT? OK, now that my caps lock-rape is over, let me just apologize one more time about how long since my last post was! Jeez...anyway, a few things before you get to delving into this packed chapter right here:

1) This chapter is literally ONE whole chapter in the game. So if you think this chapter is way too long, it's because I squished all of the gameplay of "The Metal Tower" in here.

2) Pay attention to the silver whip slaver, he will become an INTEGRAL part of the story about...two game chapters later when they finally reach the slave ship.

3) I know there's a lot of worrying about whether this will have any romantic pay-off at the end, but just to ease everyone's concerns, yes. As much as I hate Trip, yes, they will be romantic at the end of it...or at least somewhere near the end. I dunno if I'm gonna having them shacking up, since there IS going to be a sequel to this and *spoilers* THERE WON'T BE ANY TRIP/MONKEY CRAP IN IT. Well, a bit of IMPLIED Trip/Monkey, but that's about it!

All right, without further ado, here's the fifth chapter in Enslaved: Dragon Tears!

Chapter 5: The Metal Tower

-Location: East 34th Street-

"Hey, wake up," Monkey's voice came to her and Trip's eyes opened slightly before rolling up and closing again, "Trip, c'mon, we gotta get moving." Monkey was serious and he shook her shoulder, Trip groaning and squinting before sitting up from the bed. She rubbed her eyes with her forefinger before looking around in a sort of daze.

"Glad you got your beauty sleep, princess," Monkey sarcastically muttered at her, causing Trip to look at him, "You're gonna need it. That guy's been tracking us, so we gotta go, now." As soon as Trip sat up, he had walked over to the closed balcony door, peering down and observing the same slaver with silver whips from the day before. Trip immediately awakened and got off the bed, adjusting her clothes to fit more properly before joining.

"What does he want?" she asked in a whisper, afraid the man would hear her from behind the glass door, "Why is he following us?" Now that they were at a close enough distance to observe safely, she saw that he was wearing a rich dark brown vest with metal symbols pressed into it that matched the ones that covered his body. The man also wore dark brown pants that had a gradient, going from dark brown to a silver that matched his whips. The most interesting feature of his clothing was the heavy-duty belt that held his whips and the iron-clad boots he was wearing, the belt holding all sorts of strange items while the boots came up knee-high and almost puzzle-like in its appearance. The man himself was impressive, tall, and his arms and legs certainly more muscular than an average man, similar to Monkey. However, his arms were noticeably larger than his legs, probably due to using his whips so often. His hair was black and shaggy, obviously uncut, and a small beard and mustache combination decorating his face. Trip couldn't see his eyes, so she couldn't quite make a decision on whether he was truly malicious or this was all due to being enslaved.

"Orders," he told her, eyes narrowing, "Pyramid's got him now, no use trying to talk sense into him." Monkey looked to Trip who looked back at him with big green eyes.

"And don't think that if you hack that headband of his, he'll be anymore happy with us," he turned away, his gaze still on the man then on her, "He's an A-rank prisoner for a reason." With that, he went into what was once the bathroom of the room and closed the door, most likely to wash his face and relieve himself again. Trip crossed her arms and stared down at him, now confident that the man couldn't see them. She observed him again and found nothing new, except that he slowly reached down and undid some of the puzzle-like clasps on his boots, revealing somewhat large feet as he rested them on the grassy floor. Surprised, she continued to watch him and lost her breath at the lashes on the man's feet and the sores that were most likely caused by the boots, most of them bleeding and terrible.

"He shouldn't be moving around at all with those kinds of wounds…" Trip breathed, a hand coming up to cover her mouth at the sight. She saw him approach a small area that had filled with water from a rainy day. He submerged himself as far as to his calves in it, the deepest it would go for a man like him, and he seemed to sigh as he tilted his head back. Water appeared to calm him and she watched the water turn red as it washed the blood from his legs.

"What're you staring at?" Monkey came up behind her and startled Trip, the red-head's eyes popping open and her hand that was just hovering over her mouth slapped on it.

"Monkey, you scared me!" she sighed, turning to look at the man, "Look, what do you think?" Monkey watched the man and saw him bend down, taking what looked like sand from the bottom of the pool and rubbing it between his hands.

"I think he likes playing with sand…and he's nuts," he turned his head to her, "Now go do whatever you have to do, we're leaving." Monkey abruptly cut the conversation short and Trip huffed a little before going to the bathroom. It was a wonder that the plumbing was still working, but Trip wasn't one to question it. Somehow, the toilet flushed as it would have in her village, and the water worked just fine. Perhaps Monkey had a gift to sniff out the still functioning areas of this forgotten city. In fact, when Trip thought about it, she could do just a little tweaking to the place and it'd be fit for people to live in once more, as long as the water and power still worked, which it did. Despite these thoughts, she walked back to the glass door after she finished, a towel in her hands as she stared down at the man who was painfully re-clipping the boots to his feet.

"We can't just come here…not when they're still around…" she whispered, referring to both the slavers and the mechs. Monkey was scoping out the hallway, to make sure there weren't any random lurking people around before ducking back into the room.

"C'mon Trip, time to go," he told her, waiting until she came to him to start walking, fast, "Is he still there?"

"Yeah," she replied, following him with downcast eyes. A little confused at the lack of enthusiasm and upbeat tone, Monkey glanced back at her and slowed down to a trot, walking side-by-side with her.

"Hey, what is it?" he asked in his normal gruff manner, but with a hint of caring.

"Monkey, why do you think people haven't come back yet?" Trip asked, giving him a question which annoyed him a little, "There are places like these where there's water, food, even power. Just a little work and they could be homes, real homes. Why is that?"

"Slavers," he answered immediately, a simple question, "Places like these call too much attention. This is where people were first taken."

"And with slavers still around, none of us can go back to the way things were in the old days," Trip put a hand to her father's precious EMP emitter, "My father once told me stories that he had heard from an old friend of his. It sounded…amazing back then."

"It always does," Monkey scoffed nonchalantly as they rounded a corner, "That was before mechs and power cells." Trip frowned at his downer attitude and saw a hole in the wall in front of them. They walked over to it and went through, Monkey's HUD showing that they were closer to their target now.

"Where's the crash site now?" she asked, the sun greeting them once more with no mercy.

"Over there," Monkey also felt the sun on his shoulders, "We're getting closer." Unfortunately for them, their target seemed just that much farther when they walked up to an immensely large trench that looked like a wound created by some large creature, tearing a gaping wound in the earth and revealing old pipes and dirt.

"We're gonna have to cross this ravine?" she asked, shocked by the size of it. Monkey walked to the edge of it, Trip looking anywhere but down as she continued to be amazed by her surroundings.

"Damn…" he tilted his head back, letting the warmth of the sun touch his face and calm him for a moment, and noticed a gigantic metal structure in the distance, "You see that metal tower? Maybe we can use it to get across." Monkey started towards it without checking to see if Trip was tagging along and she was almost left behind had she not caught the flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. She quickly fell into pace and grabbed her Dragonfly, which seemed oddly wet despite it not having rained.

"Okay, I'll use the Dragonfly to find us a route," she told him, throwing it up into the air to gain altitude and letting it soar above the surrounding area, "I'll put a marker up on your headband display." A small blue diamond with numbers came up when he looked at the tower and he nodded before he heard her make a sound of disappointment and worry.

"We can get through here, but…there are mechs up ahead," she reported, biting her lip.

"Looks like we don't have any choice," Monkey observed the position of the sun in the sky and knew that time was fleeting. Monkey easily progressed forward without much difficulty when Trip grabbed his hand.

"Slow down! Mechs dead ahead!" she told him in a loud whisper, and Monkey saw the sensor ripples from the headband, "Maybe we should find a way around them?" He looked around and saw some crates stacked on each other that he could use and began climbing once more, getting around the mechs by going over them. At one point, Trip couldn't possibly make the jump and Monkey threw her again, but she didn't quite catch hold of the ledge and began slipping towards the mech below her. It start ratcheting and whirring, hearing her panicked noises.

"Monkey, help!" she yelped, Monkey immediately coming over and hauling her up before they alerted the mechs. Trip breathed a bit heavily, thanking him quietly as they managed to traverse the rest of the way, landing a safe distance from the mechs before she began to talk again.

"Wow…my heart was beating so hard, I thought they were gonna hear it," she spoke in a hushed tone as she explored the new area, but she gave a frustrated and annoyed huff when she saw that there was only cliff and brick, "It's a dead end." Her arms raised for a moment, then dropped against her thighs with a slap, her eyes darting between the cliff and the brick wall with the derelict car. Monkey, however, had things under control as he knelt by the front of the car, looking at the space between it and the brick building. He turned back to look at the inactive mechs before giving a heaving push, his muscles bulging as he grunted and made the car slide up away from the now noticeable hole in the wall. Trip got the idea as he motioned to her hurriedly, darting through it before he rolled out of the way of the car as he let it slam back into its former position against the pole. Glad to not be stuck, Trip began again observing the area that was available to them and looked up at the plant-filled floors and collapsed concrete.

"Looks like we have to head upwards," Trip voiced her thoughts out loud, then looked at a particular shelf of concrete that wasn't too high up, "You could throw me up there." Monkey glanced between her and the shelf before consenting and tossing her up. He was pretty adaptable and this had already become somewhat of a routine for him, considering she still didn't have the right athleticism required for most of their tasks. As he clambered up the pipe to her location, Monkey saw several dragonflies pass overhead and buzz around him, making him wave his hand around to clear them away.

"You okay, Monkey?" she asked, calling out to him.

"Yeah, yeah," he swung his fist one more time and they scattered, flying away to some unknown destination, "Just some bugs bothering me is all…" The scene reminded him of an old projector-type film he once saw as a child with his master. It consisted of a large ape climbing up a building of immense proportions while holding some pretty damsel-in-distress and swatting what they used to call 'planes' out of the sky. They were shooting at the creature because they thought the ape was going to hurt the woman, when all it wanted to do was protect her.

"Monkey?"

…Speaking of damsels that were always in distress…Trip was now almost yelling at him. And when her voice finally got to him, he groaned loudly and held his head, the ringing in his mind and ears almost deafening.

"You were sort of spacing out there…everything all right?"

"Yeah, keep your panties on, Trip," he muttered, the red-head giving a small sound of indignation before he leapt from his perch on the pipe, "Come on, let's keep moving." Without a word of protest being taken into consideration, Monkey swung her on his back and moved up the floors with ease. There was a small pause of silence before Trip decided to not ask about what he was spacing out for, figuring there'd be a time when he would tell her. Then, she began to speak again.

"Why do the mechs try to kill us? I mean, you said that they had an old code once, but…"

"It's all they know…" he grunted as he pushed himself up a floor, "It's been a hundred and fifty years since things were all black and white, right and wrong. Now, we're all just shades of grey, but the mechs don't know it. And ta them, grey's just as wrong as black." He stopped to take a breath and rest against a wall, the sun beating down on them quite persistently.

"…Yeah…" she whispered, and when she went quiet, Monkey began to regret his words. Annoying obvious-question-filled Trip was better than a moping depressed one.

"…We should keep moving. It's not safe," he reminded her, hoping to at least re-direct her focus on surviving for the most part. When they found a large flat plateau, Monkey let her off and they both explored the new area carefully, although Monkey still had an eye on her. Then, he saw something glinting at the corner of his eye and jogged over to it, kneeling and picking it up.

"Hey! Hey, I just found something…" he squinted at the syringe-like device and Trip came over, bending a bit and putting her hands on her knees.

"Wow…that's an energy serum!" she breathed in awe at his find, shocked that he could find something so precious just lying around like that, "It should help your wounds." His eyebrows raised for a moment and nodded, then gave it to Trip.

"Hey, wait, why're you giving this to me?" she asked, holding the serum delicately in her hands.

"You know more about it than I do," he replied matter-of-factly, "'Sides, if you need it, and I have it, then we're both in trouble." Trip couldn't argue with that logic and tucked it into her belt, deciding that if Monkey did actually need it, she could figure out a way to transmit the healing energy from her wrist-display to Monkey's headband. Or maybe make something that had about the same stamina and durability of that staff of his to contain the energy serum in. This made her more and more curious about the Ruyi Jingu Bang. Despite its traditional and rather archaic appearance, it was more technologically advanced than anything she had ever seen before. True, the use of the staff was crude and seemingly straightforward, but the fact that it can be used by just about anyone, provided they were strong enough, was the amazing part about it.

"Hey, we can cross over here," Monkey called to her, Trip following him and climbing on his back as customary. She held on tight as he jumped the space between the two metal grids sticking out from the buildings, but there was a small amount of blushing as she felt the man's body underneath her gliding so easily through the air. Immediately, she let go and started towards the stairs to go down, but Monkey's staring caught her eye. There wasn't anything of interest where he was staring, as far as she could tell, but he was completely immersed in the invisible object.

To Monkey, however…there was a mask-like visage that had appeared before him, surrounded by a vortex of white static light. He squinted at first, then blinked a few times, wondering if his vision was going bad. Somewhat pissed at the annoying unworldly distraction yet also in awe of it, he continued to watch it, expecting something to happen.

"…What the hell?" he whispered and he finally began moving towards the wall, which caused her to wonder if he was going to walk into it when he suddenly became aggressive and slammed his fist through whatever he was seeing. A small burst of red light flared from his headband and she squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before opening them, Monkey's face also scrunched into a pained expression. Another flash occurred, but it was blue and much softer in brightness, Trip staring at it then Monkey again.

"Are you okay?" she asked, approaching him slowly and warily, unsure of what had just happened and what it had done to him. Had someone or Pyramid finally removed the hacking procedures she did on the headband and now made Monkey into their slave? Monkey, on the other hand, experienced a series of painful flashes, interpreted by his mind as images of someone, a man in particular, working in a some sort of white space with a black rectangular object and what looked to be an old-type of display that was housed in a white box. Was…that a computer, as in the old days? How was he able to see all this? And the second set of pictures…there was a young woman, coming into the office, greeting the man he saw before, hugging him excitedly, but her face was obscured just like the man's was.

"You didn't see them?" he asked Trip, looking around for the icon that had first triggered the…flashbacks? Were they images of the past?

"Monkey, there's nothing there," she told him under her breath, staring at him worriedly with wide eyes, analyzing him.

"I must be going crazy," he muttered, bringing a hand to touch the headband lightly while he paced about as Trip slowly walked towards him, her eyes now on the ground, still thinking.

"…It could be because of your headband," she spoke softly, but his ears had picked up on what she said. Monkey stopped suddenly, causing her to stiffen and lean back slightly, looking like a kid who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, waiting to be scolded.

"…It is effectively wired into your brain. Maybe it…" she paused slightly, afraid of what he might say or do, but he only turned his head slightly and expectantly, "…Causes hallucinations." She gave a small tilt of her head to make it seem less than it was, but he fully turned around and she became scared stiff, watching him carefully as he began to pace again, more vehemently this time. He had come all this way with her, planned on dumping her back in her little shit-bubble of a settlement once he got his bike back, and now had some sort of mental deformity. Just really fucking super. Never trust the ginger tech babes with long legs. They'll make your day worse than three demolition mechs punching you in the balls.

"Great," he muttered in a gravely voice, his expression disbelieving and utterly upset, "Great, this just gets better and better." The sarcasm was more or less a slap in the face to Trip, who had hoped he'd take it a little finesse as opposed to losing his cool and then throwing the blame to her. And while it was her fault, she hadn't known it would have done…that to him. She would take responsibility, but even Monkey had admitted it himself: the world was full of shades of grey. She needed to get home and Monkey was the only person who could help her. Willingly? No. But he was the only person who could do it.

"I'm sorry!" she tried to catch up to him, sounding remorseful, but he continued to walk on, not even checking to see how hard she was trying to keep up with him now that he wasn't carrying her. Once he saw another metal grate on the other side of the rooms, he stopped and looked at her, Trip skidding to a halt. His eyes were just so…sad. Monkey had lived a hard life, from what she could tell. An outsider. A loner. A strong warrior who depended on no one and survived by his own devices. And now he got landed with her. Her who had put him in a slaver headband and now was pulling him along like a pet. That was what his eyes were saying to her. And God did it make her feel more awful than she had ever felt in a long time.

"…This way," he muttered, turning back to trudge to the fire escape that was right above the metal grate. She slowly began to follow him, and for a long time, there was only silence. Monkey didn't say a word to her, and she didn't feel brave enough or lucky enough to survive trying to talk to the poor bastard she screwed. Of course, she wouldn't ever phrase it like that, but considering Monkey's attitude, she was sure that was how he saw it. Finally, there was a break in the monotony when Monkey ducked behind a crate, motioning Trip to do the same. She peered over the crate to see what he was looking at.

"We might have a problem. One of those mechs has a shield," he told her quietly, watching the complex for any sign of movement. This was the one and only time where she thanked God there were mechs. It distracted Monkey effectively from having hallucinations via headwear. Although, there wouldn't have been any need for putting Monkey in said headwear if there were no mechs in the first place. At that point, Trip would've slapped her head had it not been for the seriousness of the situation.

"Wait here. I'll do a scan," she quickly rattled off, trying to cover up the guilt and focus on the mission, sending her precious dragonfly to go survey the area, "That's our way out! I'll mark it…" Just above the shielded mech was a flight of stairs that could take them closer to the tower, but then her dragonfly zeroed in on the mech below.

"There's something different about that mech on the left…" she squinted at the data she was receiving, "I think its gun arm is detachable."

"Okay. I'll see if I can rip it off," he muttered darkly, obviously directing his anger at something productive now. As he moved closer and closer to the mechs in the complex, they activated and Monkey had to rely on Trip's decoy tech to allow him to pass without getting shot at every 3 seconds. By sneaking below their defenses, he was able to surprise the shielded mech from behind with a swift stun charge from his staff, making it turn around so that he could lift it up by its legs and make it topple. With that done, he grabbed the flailing gun arm and pointed it the mech's head as it struggled under him, grabbing a few wires to make it fire at it.

"Now! Rip it off!" she yelled to him, using her decoy tech to keep her safe. He didn't have to be told twice as he detached the gun arm from the dead mech and taking out its unsuspecting comrades, which was easy considering the power it produced. Too bad the arm was way too inconvenient and heavy in an up-close fight.

"You did it!" she exclaimed breathlessly, running over to a ladder that she wasn't able to reach at the moment, "Okay, now get to the ladder and knock it down!" Would her commands ever include a thank-you or please? You know, the way girls are supposed to ask? However, she did do a lot by pointing out the gun arm and distracting the mechs from shooting at him. He jumped and leaped his way across a few bare beams to reach the ladder, squatting near the top of it after he kicked it down for her.

"You know what? You did good," he told her, deciding that the hallucinations weren't exactly as big a problem as he was making it out to be, letting her off the hook for the moment before they killed each other with silence, "Spotting that gun arm..." Well, being grateful was something that did not come easily to Monkey, considering how little he had to be grateful for, but he was trying at least.

"Thanks," she offered back, smiling up at him as she climbed up. He nodded to her and began to ascend the stairs when he noticed that the only way across to the next building was scaling the bare beams of the foundation, which he could not do with Trip on his back, making him unbalanced.

"I don't think I can get you across this," he skeptically told her, looking from the beam-perch to her as she finished going up the stairs. Trip sighed and looked around, then spotted a small hole in the wall besides her, big enough for her, but not Monkey.

"Oh wait. I can get through here," she got on all fours to crawl through the wall, giving him a fine view of her ass as it wiggled and bounced to get through it. What? Just because they were on a life or death mission didn't mean he could stare at her ass?

"Okay, I'll find another way around," he muttered after his thoughts finished, bounding from beam to beam to meet up with her. As soon as he finished with the beams, her voice echoed in his head yet again, albeit without the God-overtone.

"There's a security door here. Give me a minute…" she told him through the headband, and he took his time walking to her location, dropping down beside her and squatting. Monkey glanced up at her again and took in her slim, yet buxom form. To reiterate, yes. She had a good body. And it had been some time since he had shacked up with a woman, although it was more due to the fact that he had been captured and being lugged around New York City by a crazy girl than not being able to wrestle one into bed. Whenever he happened to drift into settlements, there was always at least one girl who had taken interest in him. And for whatever reasons, sometimes due to infertility caused by polluted waterholes or girlish hopes of a white knight coming to take her away or just looking for a good time, he would land her and have himself a nice lay. He wasn't a gentle man by any means, so they often had to find a secluded location away from any passerbys or a sound-proof area where they could do it. He grinned at the last encounter, a wavy-haired brunette who was very impressed with his muscles, including his-

"Okay, let's go," she turned to look down at him and he stood up, the grin slipping from his face to deny anything he could have possibly been thinking at this point. The door swung wide open and a flock of pigeons flew in a startled frenzy, flying between the decimated buildings and their walls.

"We're nearly at the metal tower!" she ecstatically uttered, walking through to stare at their destination. However, Monkey was more focused on the set of buildings between them and the tower. It seemed to stretch on forever, and there were mechs more importantly. Scattered here and there, it wouldn't be too much of a problem. The only worry he had was Trip making a wrong move. The girl was bossy and commanding, but she didn't know jack-shit about combat situations. He had to talk her through each and every battle, or at least do it on his own. There was not one time he didn't have to tell her to do something. Only in the most recent attack was there a mutual exchange of information, something that he hadn't known.

"Okay, you just wait here," he told her, setting her behind some barricaded crates and sliding down the walls and beam to first attack the shield mech. With that gun arm, at least he would be cutting down the time he had to fight them, and he was able to slaughter most of them as he walked through the area, clearing any hostile forces that would shoot at Trip when he would tell her to meet him on the other side of the buildings. The only other thing that he couldn't take out was that damn turret, which was nearly indestructible despite using the mech's arm, and continued to give a rain of fire wherever he went. He hit an impasse when he finally found a way around the turret and looked up at the ladder that was too high to jump. She offered to take it down for him and he nodded when he saw that the coast was clear, throwing her up to the ledge to do a bit of teamwork. Despite that, they were stuck again when Trip couldn't find a way across without Monkey pulling down that metal grate section, so he tried to find a way to get to the other side. Yet, once again, he was plagued by another one of those white masks, flashing in and out, just above the metal grate bridge he was supposed to kick down.

"…What are these things?" he spoke softly to himself, still shielded from the turret due to the barrier of the building. He swiped at it and closed his eyes as he was taken back to another time, where the man he saw before was now staring at him from an apartment window, presumably the one he was at now, then he saw that the man wasn't staring at him, but the woman from before as she waved at him. Shaking his head, he decided to continue, jumping back to his previous position. However, as soon as he jumped for the last metal shelf that would get him there, it rusted away in his grip and dropped him to another rusty metal shelf. It almost gave way and he had to climb furiously to save himself, breathing hard afterwards as the iron dropped and clanged on its way down.

"Monkey, are you okay?" she called out, although he winced at this. Who knows how many more mechs there were in the area, and what if they had heard her? Moreover, the voice was ringing inside his head again and the bleeding rakes across his stomach from grasping the broken grate landing was more than enough answer for that question.

"I'm fine," he replied gruffly, "Just wait there! I'm comin'…" Monkey put a hand over the wounds and limped somewhat in a hunched-over manner, but straightened shortly after and walked across the beams and climbed another ladder to kick down the bridge for her. When they got to the covered area that flanked the turret, Trip knelt and peered over the edge at it.

"Okay, now we just need to secure the turret," she seemed to repeat the exact same idea he had, and used her decoys to his advantage as he advanced towards the bullet-slinging foe. After distracting it one last time, he jumped it and performed the take down necessary, jerking the turret head as if he were breaking the neck of another person, twisting the wires until they snapped, and positioning himself ready should any more mechs come.

"We're good," he told her via headband, swiveling on the turret.

"Okay, I'm coming!" she replied, making her way towards him. He continued to monitor the wide open area before him, keeping one eye on Trip as she started hacking a security door. For a small while, there was peace and serenity, and the dragonflies were yet again flying around him, albeit distantly. His thoughts went back to his master, whom he hadn't thought about for a few years now. Why was he drawn to think about the only person that had ever brought him up to feel special, only to drop him and leave him alone once again, just like his parents?

"Oh shit, shit! I tripped the alarm!" Trip's panicked yelp and the large blaring siren snapped his attention back to reality, already turning the turret to look at one mech who began storming towards them, "Keep them back while I get this open! I just need a few more seconds!" Great…maybe this girl was called Trip for a different reason…

"Damn, it's harder than I thought!" she cursed in a slightly frustrated voice, furious beeping coming from her wrist display as Monkey continued to lay fire on the mechs that were literally pouring in from all sides around her, "I'm in trouble, Monkey!" He only gave a stressed and angry yell as he started to just rain bullets at the ranged mechs that were starting to appear, the annoying ringing in his head continuing as Trip's heart rate sky-rocketed. All of these loud noises were just driving him absolutely crazy, including Trip's frantic excuses for why the hell her hacking was taking so freaking long!

"Come on, come on, almost there!" she yelled over the gunfire and alarm, ducking every once in a while to avoid the debris from exploding mechs.

"Hurry up!" he growled back, wanting her to talk less and work faster. Who knows how many mechs they were going to have on their hands, but he was certain that there were more mechs than bullets in this turret. And it was going to run out sooner or later.

"Uhh…got it! Got it!" she cried out joyfully, the alarm droning down and slowly becoming quiet, "Let's go!" The security door popped open and he ditched the turret, sliding down her position as he watched for any more mechs. Luckily, it seems that with the alarm gone, so were the mechs, at least for the time being. There were probably some stragglers that would come investigate, but without the alarm to guide them, it would take some time and by then, their trail would have gone cold. And they were so close to the metal tower now, crossing through the security building. By now, he was beginning to see a small pattern as another hallucination appeared before him. Maybe these things were all tied to this building, seeing the same man and woman in each and every single image-filled vision he had whenever he tried to touch the hallucinations. Walking through the hole in the brick building, he saw the man holding twin baby girls in his arms, kissing on one the cheek, then giving it to the woman who was smiling so happily at it. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the room he had entered was a bedroom, probably the apartment of the man he kept seeing. His eyes wandered to the window, the same one where he encountered the second hallucination, then to the bed that had gone yellow and green with age. Trip herself was looking at a nursery crib, just staring down at it and holding her arms against herself tightly.

"...I'm going to die here, aren't I?" she asked, eyes sadly looking at the old peeling wood of the crib, "Just like everyone else did?" Monkey kept his distance, unsure of how to respond. She wouldn't have made it this far without his help. Hell, she wouldn't have made it two minutes without him. However, she was with him, so he just sidled off to the side so that he could look her straight in the eyes.

"I ain't gonna let that happen," he told her, Trip turning around to look at him. Her eyes, though still full of life, were now big and utterly afraid. After that near-death experience with the mechs at the security door, he couldn't blame her for losing faith. Though, as he said before, annoyingly optimistic Trip was better than sad, moping-around Trip, so he tried to clear her worries with a mere wave of his hand. Monkey gave a jerk of his head after she nodded, showing that she believed him, at face-value anyway, and they both progressed through the building. Passing through what seemed like a living room, it wasn't all that hard to imagine that this had once been a normal habitat from before the war. However, the wall beyond the living room had been torn asunder, any normalcy ripped away by the sight of the giant metal tower not too far away from their position.

"The metal tower," she spoke aloud again, "We're nearly there!" While there was a brief spark of hope, she looked down and covered her mouth, seeing a multitude of mechs below. Just when they were so close!

"There's mechs down there," she told him, although Monkey could see it very clearly with his own eyes. He stayed his 'obvious' talk, though, to spare her from any more emotional distraction.

"I'll deal with them. Let's just make our way down," he comforted her slightly, nudging her arm with a fist before he started to jump down the broken floors and walls. Then he noticed blue plasma cells and with a quick look-over, he was able to surmise that it was Stun ammo for his staff. Equipping it, he grinned as he got an idea as he shot at the mechs below, freezing them so that he could give them one solid over-head smack, effectively crushing them under the weight of his Ruyi Jingu Bang.

"Monkey, you missed one, it's calling for reinforcements!" Trip alerted him, drawing his attention to one that head fled to the corner. He ran towards it with abandon, ramming his rod straight through the mech's body to disable it, but not before it gave one last pained robotic cry. Monkey stiffened and his hair stood on end as he listened for anything that might have heard it. For a small while, it seemed like no one was coming, so he withdrew his staff and wiped the oiled end on the grass.

"Okay, you can come-" the wall behind him exploded, raining mortar and brick on him and making Monkey recoil. Another demolition mech had arrived, roaring at Monkey as it stormed towards him.

"Monkey! Look out!" he had to dive to avoid its wrecking ball hands as they crunched through his cover, Monkey scrambling with his staff as he tried to get to a safer position away from its attacks, "Whoa shit!" Trip had to take cover as well as it looked at her, hearing her voice, but at least it gave Monkey a chance to regain his balance and posture, now prepared against the robotic behemoth.

"Is that all ya got?" he screamed at it, making it turn back on him. Once again, he began slamming his staff against it, dodging its blows within inches of his life, having no plan besides smacking it.

"Monkey, shoot its head!" Trip's voice rang in his mind, causing him to flinch and giving the mech a change to deal a glancing blow to the man's ribs, cracking one. He gave a raspy yell at the pain, but instead toughed it out and drew his staff up to fire a plasma shot right at the bastard's head, blinding it and making it go red with rage. There was no gigantic steel ball to smash it, but there was a solid 6-feet-thick wall that would do just as well. So, he taunted it and ran to the side as it charged head-first into the concrete, leaving a sizable dent and the mech dazed and stunned.

"It worked! This won't last, hurry!" she yelled, although he already knew the plan and clambered up on its back, kicking and ripping off the shoulder pads that covered the electrical cables that allowed the mech to throw its wrecking ball fists and reel them back. Grabbing both of the cables, he gave a mighty roar before pulling up with all his power, making the mech's weighted fists retract into the arm sockets to crunch the head, letting it go as he jumped off. The mech fell back, sparking, and its head in pieces. Monkey rolled as he landed, stopping on all fours as he panted, one hand gingerly going to the broken rib as he stood up. Trip ran to him to make sure he was all right before pointing out the various health packs scattered about the place that was just turned into a robot graveyard.

"Thanks," he muttered, wishing she'd just grab it herself and give it to him. They weren't even all that heavy, but she just ignored him as she walked towards a giant red container, looking up at the edge of it.

"I think we can get back out on to the street from here," she told him, Monkey stamping down on a health pack to repair that rib. He nodded and began walking, albeit with a small limp. It might have erased the injury, but there was still a soreness that lingered from where the damn mech grazed him. With a bit of effort, Monkey came over to her position and threw her up onto the container, glad to be back on track. And hopefully, there would be no more mechs trying to mess with them for a small while.

"Come on Monkey! Let's go!" she called out to him, now more excited than ever about being so close to their destination. Monkey, on the other hand, was already tired. And it wasn't even 10:00 in the morning yet.

…Fuck.

-Location: Slaver Ship Crash-Landing Site (The Brooklyn Bridge)-

"...Although the monkey is not the most stealthiest creature in the world, I expected better from you, my student," Priority One sat under the shade of the cell, having heard the loud noises of destruction that could only be from Monkey and his companion, "You make it very easy to track you, Monkey, and it is not just I who is watching you, I'm sure." A few dragonflies drifted towards Priority One and they stroked the bugs on their small robotic heads.

"I see…and that man is still following them, correct?" the dragonflies nodded to Priority's question, "Hmm…and what of these 'hallucinations' you speak of?" They gave small whirring beeps and squeaks, Priority looking from them to where they last heard the explosions of Monkey's journey.

"…He is bleeding through the headband I see," Priority's eyes narrowed, "Attempting to take control of Monkey, yet again. See to it that he hurries, little ones. Time is running out. Each new tempting image will bring him closer and closer to damnation." The little flying robots nodded and flew off, Priority sighing and resting on their laurels.

"Monkey…I pray for you," Priority entered a meditating pose and closed their eyes, "Your body and mind are no longer safe from him anymore…despite all that I've done to protect you from his machinations. And now, I can only hope that you can reach me in time before he claims you…"

chiv-id: Wooooootttt, all right, another chapter DUN. And as you can see, I've added even MORE mystery! Although, to those who have played the game, I'm sure you can take a few guesses at what I've been writing about. LULZ Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this new chapter, and more importantly, I hope you'll stick with me through this literary nightmare (I mean, come on...I've had to watch each scene ten million times so that I could type it out correctly)! See you laterz, peepz! READ AND REVIEW!