Chapter 3

by Lucky Lady Bug
Rated PG

"Alright," Davy directed. "Places, everyone!" Quickly he and the other two Monkees adopted casual and bored positions in the cell. Baby Face stayed at the front of his cell and glared through the bars as Tony wandered into the room, followed by Groot. The gangster noticed that his associate seemed to be limping, and he frowned, wondering how that had come about.

"Hey," he snapped at Tony, "you idiot. What are you doing working for that nutcase?" He half-hung his arm between the bars, motioning for Tony to come over to him.

Groot glared at Baby Face. "My master is not a nutcase!" he said hotly. "He is a great scientific mind."

"Oh yeah?" Davy spoke up. "Why hasn't he made you into a wolfman yet?" He came over to the front of the Monkees' cell, trying to see if Groot had the keys and hoping that Baby Face would cooperate and help them escape by creating a diversion.

"Yeah!" Micky chimed in. "Or a vampyre?"

Groot blinked, looking confused, and then went over to their cell. "He promised that when this is over..."

"Oh, he promised. That's real good," Mike said. "I thought he promised you that before he ended up in jail." He crossed his arms. "If you want my opinion, I don't think he's ever gonna do it. He probably wants you to stay like you are now so that you'll keep serving him." Then he felt triumphant, seeing that Groot was becoming flustered.

"That's not true!" the small man exclaimed hotly, raising himself up to his full height--which was not much more.

While this was going on, Baby Face slapped Tony harshly when he came over to the cell. "What's the matter with you?" Micky's double snarled.

Tony glared back at him darkly, then moved closer and gripped the bars on his side. "Look, Baby Face, cut it out," he hissed. "I'm in my right mind." He stumbled for a moment and then caught himself, looking frustrated. Baby Face took notice of several welts on Tony's wrist.

"Yeah, you sure act like it," the hazel-eyed gangster retorted, than grabbed at Tony's wrist for a better look. "What have you been doing now, trying to kill yourself?"

Tony jerked away. "No," he snapped. He glanced over at Groot, who was still engaged in a heated argument with the three Monkees, and then back at Baby Face. "They've been torturing us. This Doctor Mendoza can control what we do, but it's only a temporary thing. We've been fighting it, and when we do, we get hurt. There's others here who are a lot worse off than us." He continued to speak in a low tone, not wanting to be overheard by anyone other than Baby Face. "Some of them look like they're half-dead."

Baby Face was not impressed. "What do you mean, 'you get hurt'?" the crime lord growled.

Tony leaned forward. "That's what's confusing," he replied. "Sometimes we start hallucinating, and imagining things, but when we come back down, we've actually been hurt. Usually it's just like what we thought was happening, too. I don't know whether we've been hurting ourselves and not knowing it, or if we're hurting each other, or if it's something else." He did not say what the "something else" might be, but Baby Face could see from Tony's eyes that he was disturbed. "Mendoza's been messing with our minds."

"It sounds like you're crazy," Baby Face snorted. "He's screwing with your minds, alright, and you're probably cutting yourself and attacking the others, and they're attacking you---all because of Mendoza hypnotizing you, or whatever he's done." He also glanced over at Groot and the Monkees, hearing their confrontation escalate, and then looked back to his associate. "I'm gonna take a chance and say that you really are in control of yourself right now." He grabbed Tony's shirt, pulling the shorter man towards him. "Get us out of here, now!"

Tony held up the keyring. "I was supposed to open the doors for you and the others so that Groot could give you the food," he said, and Baby Face slowly released him. "When we're not being controlled, we're supposed to act subdued or . . ."

"Yeah, yeah, you'll get hurt." Baby Face watched as Tony quietly opened the cell door. "You look okay to me." He was sneaking out of the cell when Groot happened to turn around.

"Hey!" the creature exclaimed, setting the trays down and running over to him. "Get back in there or Master will be very angry." He glared at Baby Face suspiciously. "How did you get out?!"

"I picked the lock. What do you think?" Baby Face retorted. "You made a mistake, trying to keep me locked up." With that he grabbed Groot and shoved him into the cell instead, slamming the door shut. Groot was stunned for a moment and then ran to the bars, yelling indignantly. Baby Face merely smirked. "See how you like it."

Tony, meanwhile, was opening the door for the three Monkees. He watched them coldly, not speaking. The boys looked to him, surprised and bewildered by his help. They had not heard his conversation with Baby Face, so the last they had known about him was that he had been abducting them. From his eyes, he now looked like his normal self, but that only added to their confusion.

"Hey, uh, thanks for the help," Micky said slowly, blinking at the former police officer.

"What's with you, anyway?" Davy demanded. "First you lock us up, and now you're setting us free!" The thought went through his mind that this was all part of some new scheme, and that maybe Tony was taking them to Doctor Mendoza where they would be tortured and brainwashed.

Tony grunted. "This whole thing was a waste of time," he said flatly. "I never wanted to be mixed up in this mess, and I didn't want to kidnap all of you." He shut the door behind them. "Right now, we all want the same thing---to get out of here." He did not feel that there was a pressing need to explain to them about the temporary mind control and its effects, at least not where he himself was concerned. Once they collected Peter, his friends would need to know what they might be in for with him. But Tony did not think that it was any of their business, what he had been going through.

"Uh huh." Mike studied him carefully, still not trusting him. "Do you know where Peter is?"

"Yeah, I saw him," Tony confirmed, then looked back to Baby Face.

"Let's get out of here!" the crime lord yelled, ignoring Groot's screams that they would regret this.

The five of them ran out of the laboratory and down the hall, looking for the room where Peter was. Above them, the lights flickered and then dimmed, and Baby Face cursed. Mike looked things over grimly, wondering if Doctor Mendoza already knew that they had broken free. If so, then he knew that there would likely be Hades to pay---perhaps quite literally.

He did not have to wonder for very long. As they turned another corner, Tony hissed and doubled over, clutching at his chest. Baby Face looked back at him impatiently, while the three Monkees were terribly confused. "What's going on?" Mike ventured to ask at last, and he wondered if he really wanted to know.

"Are you okay?" Micky chimed in, hesitantly.

"I'm fine," Tony grumbled, forcing himself to straighten up again. He was not certain what had happened, but it had felt like a harsh electrical jolt coursing through his body. Now he was extremely dizzy, and for a moment he could barely see anything clearly. He grabbed the wall, steadying himself, and waited for things to come into focus. That was not the first time that he had almost gone blind for several minutes. It disturbed him, and he wondered how Doctor Mendoza was able to do such things, but he knew that there was not any time to stand around and try to figure out the answer.

"You idiot, you're not fine, and you're holding us up," Baby Face snapped, grabbing him by the arm. "Come on!"

"Now, wait a minute," Davy spoke up. "He really doesn't look too well. Maybe we ought to stay here for a few minutes." Somehow he had the eerie feeling that even though they were out of the jail cell, their problems were only just beginning. They were not free. They were still in Doctor Mendoza's territory, and he was still pulling all the strings.

"Don't bother," Tony growled as Baby Face dragged him along. He stumbled, nearly fell, and grabbed Baby Face to catch his balance. He looked around, breathing heavily, and then found that his vision was finally clearing again. "I'm alright now. Let's go."

Micky observed him silently as they went on their way. He wondered if what was happening to Tony was what would also happen to Peter---and perhaps all the rest of them, as well. He also wondered if any of them were going to make it out alive. Then he cringed and decided not to think any more about it.