Mission Accomplished: Ch5

CHAPTER FIVE - ICE AGAINST FIRE

Antauri's blue eyes were closed, his metal hands folded together as he floated in a ponderous meditation.  He was alone in his room, turning away Chiro (much to the boy's surprise) so he could think about the strange occurances of the day without distraction.

It seemed very strange that the Cannarian Lava had remained in Otto's system for so long without anything happening.  It was as though the ice was waiting for something to happen to Otto before acting...  But what caused it?

Antauri agreed with Gibson that it had to do with Otto's mind.  Maybe it was a thought...or the dream, which was Gibson's theory.

The silver monkey suddenly froze as Nova's and Otto's distress signals reached his subconscious at the exact same time...

***

Otto was struggling to realize what had been a dream and what was reality, dizzy with confusion as Mandarin approached him with threatening eyes.

"I was...sleepwalking...?"

Mandarin did not reply, swinging his only clawed hand at Otto with vicious force.  Otto reacted instinctively, rolling out of the way as Mandarin bared down on him.

As Otto struggled to his feet, Mandarin hissed in a low voice, "My master is gone...your hairless monkey destroyed him!  Mark my words, I will exact my revenge on all of you!!"  So saying, he screeched vehemently and aimed another attack at Otto.  Metal claws met energy saws with a loud clank.

Snarling, Mandarin swung his stub of an arm up under the shield Otto had created with his saws, knocking the green monkey onto his back.  Before Otto could get up, Mandarin was on him again, clawing and kicking with a force powered by rage and insanity.

"Get off!" Otto yelled.  He suddenly released one of his saws onto the chain in his arm, thrusting it in the air so it wrapped around Mandarin, constricting his arms and his movement.  With a yell, Otto swung Mandarin around and slammed him face-first into the ground.  Otto heard Mandarin screech in anger, but could not pull away in time as Mandarin grabbed Otto's chain and pulled him closer.  Curling onto his back, with a firm grip on the chain that kept Otto attached to his saw, Mandarin proceeded to kick Otto senseless.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!!!"  Before either monkey could react, a fairly hefty stone came flying out of nowhere and smacked into Mandarin's head, knocking him unconscious.  With Mandarin partially paralyzed, Otto hurried unwrapped his saw and chain from around Mandarin and pulled his saw back into place, activating his hand.  His torso hurt badly from where Mandarin had kicked him, and he put a hand to it as he looked around for his rescuer.

There stood Simia a few feet away, a rock ready in her other hand, her camera hanging from her neck.  Her eyes were a little wide from what she had just witnessed...she had seen Mandarin before and knew he was a bad monkey, but it still had taken a moment for her to get the courage to hurt him.  She didn't like hurting animals, even bad ones.

Hesitantly, she approached Otto.  "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

Before Otto could respond, he saw Mandarin was getting up...and he looked pissed.  "C'mon!" he commanded to Simia, grabbing her by the arms, activating his rocket pack, and shooting off deeper into the Savage Lands.

Otto had to fly low because of Simia's weight (though she wasn't very heavy), but he was high enough to avoid Mandarin as the insane clone chased them on the ground.

"Wow," commented Simia, looking down at Mandarin with a thoughtful air.  "He's fast."

Otto didn't answer, too intent on not flying into a tree.  He weaved clumsily through the dangerous undergrowth, trying earnestly to lose Mandarin...but he couldn't, Mandarin somehow managed to continue chasing them.

After a while, Otto became exhausted from flying and holding Simia.  They had to land.

"Hang on!" he said (though Simia couldn't understand him), and flew for a thick branch in a tall tree.  He was able to drop Simia safely onto the limb, but he wasn't so lucky...for Mandarin had predicted where they would land and had climbed up the tree next to them.  Running on all-fours out onto a limb, he lunged himself at Otto, knocking into him and toppling them both out of the tall canopy.

Horrified, Simia followed their descent through the vegetation with her eyes...down, down, down, right into a murky black river.  The loud splash resounded through the trees.  "Oh no," she murmured, terrified for Otto, "oh no, oh no...!"


Beneath the surface of the river, Otto was struggling to get free of Mandarin's vicious claws.  The lack of breath didn't seem to bother Mandarin even though he didn't have a breather mask like Otto, which Otto activated now along with his saws.  Swatting at Mandarin, Otto made a break for the surface, only for Mandarin to grab hold of his tail.

An angry snarl escaped Otto as a cold rage spread through him.  The warmth of his dream disappeared, along with his body heat...

Otto lashed out at Mandarin, breaking the surface of the water as his assaulter finally relinquished his tail.  He dragged himself to shore, panting heavily...then heard the splash of Mandarin running out of the water behind him.  He turned to face him.

His body temperature was dangerously low now as he felt his nerves and blood freeze in his body.  He had a hand in the water...

Before Mandarin could reach the shore, a shot of ice suddenly blasted from Otto's hand, freezing the water in ripples flowing from his body.  The ice went all out across the surface of the river and down to its very depths, freezing Mandarin in its merciless icy clutches.

Simia gawked...  Otto had just frozen the river solid, halting Mandarin in the ice.

Shock contorted Mandarin's already mutated face, looking down at the ice that he was stuck knee-deep in.  He could feel his body going numb from the cold; he raised his eyes to look at Otto.

"How...did you do that...?" he whispered.

If Otto heard him, it was hard to tell...he was on his hands and knees, his breath heavy and his head light.  Dizzy and weak, Otto just managed to pull his hand free of the ice before falling over, his ocular orbs going blank as he lost consciousness.

Simia saw him fall, terrified that he would not wake again.  She quickly managed to climb out of the tree and run across the frozen river to him.  Throwing a scared glance at Mandarin, Simia knew that the river wouldn't stay frozen for long...  Carefully, she scooped Otto up in her arms and ran off with him into the darkness of the Savage Lands, leaving Mandarin behind to claw his way out of the ice.