APE-X
It’s the same nightmare as before. ‘The gun shots and flames, my mother screaming, tell me to run. She’s fallen down, she’s not getting up. I cry out, “Mommy!” I have to help her! They are all around us. Who has me? Some one has grabbed me up! Oh no! It’s one of them!’
I wake in a sweat. I’m safe in my bed. That terrible night my mother was murdered was over 20 years ago. But why have the nightmares begun again?
I don’t remember a lot after my mother’s death. I remember a ride in a truck and then a long boat voyage. Everything was a blur of grief and depression.
Just outside of the small Texas town of Port Lavaca was corporate laboratory for Boris & Ursa Aviation Technologies that was supposedly doing aviation research for NASA. However, the truth had more to do with genetic engineering, cloning, and several other illegal science explorations. Nearly 87% of the building’s structure was under ground giving it the illusion of medium size three story office building to any passersby.
Inside in this building was a division titled MAA (Metazoan Adaptation Assessment). This was the wing were I was kept with several other species of primates. Our cages were alphabetized and then numbered with roman numerals. I was one of the first inmates in this torture chamber. I was called Apex or Specimen 10 depending on which lab-coat was handling me at the time.
They were altering our DNA structure trying to create a human-ape hybrid. To this day, I don’t know what they were altering us for but I’m sure it had something to do with military or dangerous space exploration from all the flight simulators they put us in. The torture went on for years and though many of my inmate companions died, the scientist had incredible success with their Molecular Biology research.
The only other gorilla was GeeVee, which is what they called him because he was in cage G 5. They called him my brother, I do not know if we are truly related or just both orphans of Rwanda’s poaching industry. He was always the most violent and angry of all of us, every night he would shake the door to his cage. It became so bad they had to place multiple locks on his door. I think the anger was because he was older then me when he was captured. He was the first of us to start vocalizing words. After he began to speak they put him through horribly painful tests. After this he, with his now human like intelligence, was bent towards revenge. His thoughts frightened me and I tried to block them out.
As the handful of survivors, including me, began to graduate to the next level they made their fatal mistake, they brought in Doctor Kadambini Ganguli. She was a petite woman from Chennai, India. She commanded the attention of a room with her silent penetrating gaze through her modest eye glasses. She was a leader in animal behavior specializing in apes. They thought she would help us transition better as communication was now being introduced. Instead she brought questions about our treatment, the purpose of the research, legal matters, and most importantly humane treatment of the animals in their care. They thought they could control her and they were wrong.
We immediately connected. Doctor Ganguli was the first person that cared about me since my mother died. We began with sign language. I played along. I felt I could trust her but wasn’t completely sure. Months past and the health of all of us improved. However, the geneticists’ researched slowed as they were no longer able to treat us like lab rats.
Threats of funding cuts started coming from higher up. A couple of the lab techs took it upon themselves to put things back to the way it was before Doctor Ganguli came. That night the lab techs left a few of GeeVee’s cage locks open and didn’t give him his evening sedative. It may take an hour but eventually GeeVee would open his door while Doctor Ganguli was alone in the lab. They hoped it would scare her off or worse, either way they would have job security.
I remember that night very clearly. We had just finished our sign language sessions. I wanted to tell her. Tell her I was telepathic. Tell her I was a prisoner. Tell her I had developed feelings for her. Feelings I needed her to help me understand. I never got the chance. She gave me my nightly sedative and as I began to loose consciousness GeeVee leaped from the second level of cages and began beating on her. I heard her screams and the echo of my mother’s screams mingled with hers. I fought through the sedative. I tried to stop him. I rendered him unconscious but it was too late. The exertion of my powers made me unable to fight the drugs and I feel asleep.
When I awoke I was in my cage with Doctor Ganguli’s broken body in my arms. GeeVee sat grinning securely in his cage starring in anticipation from across the lab. Still recovering from the shot and trying to clear my mind, the lab techs enter. There is shouting as they grab the cattle prod like high-powered tazers. I realize GeeVee has set me up and he laughs and beats his chest as the realization sweeps across my face. I know this is my only chance and I mentally blast the two lab techs and flee the lab. GeeVee bursts into a rage when he remembers he reset his cage locks to ensure he was not suspected of the murder. He never imagined I would escape his trap.
That was all ten years ago. I still visit her grave when I can.
In those seven years I used my powers to manipulate 2 mega-ball lotteries and collecting the winnings under aliases. I used this money to create a life for myself. I purchased everything from my estate to my custom hummer online. I managed my stocks online. In two years, I obtained a doctorate in psychology online from an Ivy League school. I hired the best tutors to help me master my mental powers, again online, with one way webcam-ing. I played with the idea of becoming an online professor when I heard the news, “PETA Activist free lab animals in Port Lavaca, Texas”. GeeVee was at large and with his mad murderous mind who knew what kind of chaos he would unleash. My comfortable life style would have to wait until I put that animal back in a zoo where he belonged.
That was three years ago. After defeating GeeVee, other villains crossed my path and soon being a professor was a distant memory as I found myself as a full time crime fighter. Now, I have this invitation from the Justice League and an appointment in Los Angeles at 3 am tomorrow. I’ve never been part of a team before, but I’m doing it for you, Kadambini.
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