Chimply Awful (IC)

[Cubist]

Having made his pitch, Jubatus could only ponder his next moves while waiting for the response—which wasn't long in coming:

"I'm going with you. I can't leave my Sara... not like this," she sobbed, staring at her perpetually tormented daughter.

"Alright," the ex-cheetah said, projecting a good deal more confidence than he actually felt. "We're going to move your daughter, and we're going to do it in a way that minimizes any risk of further damage. Just a second 'til I—"

Upshift. The Fastest Capuchin Alive blurred through all the stores in the neighborhood, seeking the various component parts of the contraption he intended to create, grabbing the items that he judged would do the job, leaving itemized lists of the commandeered materiel plus checks to pay for them, and ferrying it all back to where the suffering girl waited. Downshift.

"—get the parts. And now—"

Upshift. And in less time than it takes to tell, it was complete: A hollow rectangular frame, rigid thanks to its corner braces, large enough to completely encompass the girl, with mildly elastic cargo net loosely hung across it, and a large number of helium balloons securely fastened to the frame. The child was lying on the cargo net; the balloons had been filled with precision, so that their collective lift was just enough to counter the weight of the whole affair, passenger included. Downshift.

"—it's time to go. She'll be okay," Jube said with more confidence than he actually felt, "so just follow me and push her along." The child's mother was absolutely willing to coöperate, so the three transformed apes soon arrived at the site of the foiled robbery, where Comrade Frost had the primate perps on ice.

Jubatus was the first to speak: "Like I said before, you sure did zap me—and a bunch of others, some of whom are hurting bad. Here's one of them," and he gestured at the partially-transformed girl. "You should be proud—you zapped her fair and square. And hey, what do you care if she dies?"

[SpicyWaffle]

Binti, having already espoused his sentiments on this little pet project turned upside down, was on the verge of tears when he laid eyes on the little transmogrified girl and her mother. The mammoth of a gorilla might have been a crook, but it was hard to say if he was really so bad - though while he showed great empathy for the suffering of the child, the rest of the Monkey Bunch seemed unfazed.

"Like I said, I... didn't want none a'this! I don't know nothin' 'bout turnin' em' back to normal," Binti said, his body slowly returning itself to its temperate norm. No doubt the pale imitation of a true gorilla gangster was wearing thin on the foreign muscle. "I ain't no egghead! Only Chimpsky and the lady know how to fix it!"

At that, Doctor Chimpsky and Sammy began to stir, rising groggily from cold-induced comas. It's quite the startling realization as they soon saw things had unraveled rather quickly, Chimpsky rising and re-affixing his glasses with a palpable groan whilst Sammy, much more cool and collected, simply smiled and raised his hands in defeat.

"Circumstances... unforeseeable. Why we needed tests," Chimpsky groaned again as if out of rationalization, looking down at his PDA even as he held his sand-paper mitts up in surrender. "Could be corrected. Even if wanted to help, could be very tricky... would need time," the scientist babbled on, his words quick and precise, seemingly intentional in his means of cutting free any unneeded vernacular.

"Ain't nothin' doin'," Sammy interjected, his gaze hostile but reserved as he surveyed Frost and the transformed monkeys in front of him, his voice strangely silky for a chimpanzee. "We help them, and we get carted off to the Big House. You want us to turn these hairless apes back to normal? Cool, sure Doc C'll be more'n happy to oblige... but we need somethin' in return. You scratch our backs, and we... well, we'll fix this whole shindig."

[Cubist]

Interesting, Jubatus thought as the extradimensional apes talked. Two of them seem to be okay with the notion of undoing the injuries they've inflicted, but the chimp thinks he's in a position to bargain. If he's the leader, there's already dissent in the ranks; let's see how much more strain I can put on his 'authority'.

"You want us to turn these hairless apes back to normal? Cool, sure Doc C'll be more'n happy to oblige... but we need somethin' in return. You scratch our backs, and we... well, we'll fix this whole shindig."

Jubatus glared at Sammy. "Plea bargaining? That's between you and your lawyer—all I can do is testify in court. I can tell the jury that you guys used an experimental weapon you knew wasn't properly tested, that you didn't give a damn how lethal it might be, and that when I asked, you deliberately, knowingly refused to help your victims… or I can tell the jury that you made a good-faith effort to cure the injuries your weapon inflicted, that you were cooperative, and that your actions suggest you weren't fully aware of what kind of dangerous toy you were playing with."

The Quickest Capuchin Monkey Alive shrugged, paused a moment. "Odds are, you're going to be tried for assault and attempted burglary, end of discussion. It's up to you whether you want to add however-many counts of attempted murder, and/or premeditated homicide, to the charges against you."

Now Jubatus looked at Doctor Chimpsky, and the rest of Sammy's fellow criminals. Gesturing at Sammy, the ex-cheetah said, "The chimp here seems to think he's in charge. You want to keep following the bozo who led you into this mess, that's your business—but if I was in your position, I'd sure be considering mutiny right now."

Then, turning his attention to the simian scientist, Jube said: "How much time would you need? And how many test subjects?"