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Macaque had, for reasons that escaped him right now, thrown his lot in with the "good guys". And had that been limited to MK and the gang, he thinks he could have lived with the minor frustrations that came with being in close proximity to the nauseating "power of friendship".
But no, because Azure had to go and get the celestial realm involved, Macaque was the latest celestial primate at their beck and call.
He understood that the threat to the very fabric of the universe meant that all the realms had to pull their resources together but excuse him for feeling bitter that he was doing heaven's dirty work at great personal risk to himself.
It had started innocently enough - check out some potential leads for the mastermind behind Azure's attack - stalk some suspects, search for physical evidence of guilt, then write up a report of his findings.
Straight forward, clean, easy.
And then of course the situation developed.
All sorts of damage caused by the tears in reality came to light - including damage to powerful and ancient ley lines that were wreaking havoc on their surroundings. These leaks had attracted two sorts of attention - those wishing to harness the energy from them and those wishing to hurry along the damage caused by them.
MK and the gang had the morally unambiguous job of securing and stabilising leaks. If there were people there trying to steal energy or increase the damage they stopped them and handed them over to the celestial realm. All in a day's work for a hero, right?
Macaque was fairly confident that these groups were acting independently from whoever orchestrated the Azure attack but either heaven was simply not willing to take the chance or they were seen as a sizable threat themselves.
So now as well as his primary mission of tracking down the actual culprit he was having to deal with these groups too. Which involved a lot more interrogation and murder than he'd signed up for but what was he going to do? Say no?
Nezha, who had been providing these mission details, had alluded that there may be a certain someone in the celestial realm who had prompted the change in his job requirements and had not so subtly advised him not to draw undue attention to himself lest he wanted said someone paying him a visit.
The third lotus prince had looked exceptionally unhappy to deliver him this warning but that brought him little peace, at the end of the day he didn't doubt where Nezha's loyalties lay.
He did his best not to think of the threat from heaven and consoled himself somewhat with the knowledge that it would at least make MK and the gang's lives a lot easier if he could nip these problems in the bud before they materialized for them.
It was funny however how little difference he felt working for the "good guys" as opposed to the "bad guys".
He supposed he should be grateful that these missions only happened relatively sparingly although he didn't doubt heaven would prefer him do nothing else but meekly cater to whatever whims they had.
His mission details from Nezha were often frustratingly lacking in helpful information - he was lucky if he got more than just a name, a brief description and their last known location.
The latest mission brief had a number of ley line related targets to nullify but only one suspected instigator. The dread that rose at the sight of the instigator's details almost made him sick with its intensity.
He knew it was only a matter of time before he was asked to investigate suspects in the mortal realm with strong ties to high ranking members of the Diyu. He theorised that the celestial realm had very much hoped that the Diyu would have found the traitor amongst their ranks by now and they wouldn't be forced to take action but clearly they had reached their limit.
Macaque, reasonably enough he thought, would like to be as far away from anything remotely related to the Diyu as possible but of course that just wasn't his lot in life.
In theory, this changed nothing about how to approach this mission. In practice however, the pressure was on. He could not afford a slip up - he couldn't allow the Diyu to get even an inkling of his presence. Mistakes were not allowed.
This meant that this Diyu official contact had to be tackled first. If he lost the more time sensitive, less static targets as a result then so be it. The risk of engagement was much higher with the other targets and he couldn't afford to be tired, injured or low on magic when dealing with the Diyu.
Nor could he allow himself time to become more terrified of the prospect of being close to anything Diyu related.
"You feel afraid? Good. Hold on to it, never let that feeling go. Fear keeps you alive."
Macaque was an old hand at being afraid however - it drove him to be better, it drove him to be smarter, it drove him to survive.
No matter the cost.
----
His target's name was Fàn Xīwén. A human born during the Song dynasty that had apparently gained so much favour within the Diyu's court he had been awarded an extended life and his own slice of paradise where he could spend it.
From what Macaque understood, he was occasionally sought out by various Diyu officials for his advice. Macaque had not been graced with any information indicating who he frequently made contact with but he could only assume that he had been a consultant of at least one official currently under investigation.
Making sure to keep considerable distance from it, he surveyed the small palace that his target occupied. If he didn't know better he'd have thought he'd somehow been transported back a thousand years. A little piece of the world frozen in time.
Fàn Xīwén really must have hell's favour to have had his family and staff all be included in this extended life deal. A busy little place by the looks and sounds of it. No way he was getting in pretending to be a new member of staff and taking someone's place was out of the question - time constraints wouldn't allow him to put together an accurate profile fast enough.
In theory, a lot of these recon jobs would benefit from long term spies but given their limited resources he would just have to gleam what he could within a few days. Today he would listen in from here and make a start at investigating the seals that protected the building, once he had the lay of the land he would infiltrate.
His shadows could slip past a lot of magic and seals but they weren't absolutely undetectable and when he was actively moving through them someone sensitive to magic could in theory spot him. He was optimistic that the latter wouldn't be an issue but he had to be sure on what defensive measures the Diyu had granted the area.
He started at midday and by dawn he felt satisfied that there was nothing of serious concern within the defensive measures that protected the building. A couple interesting little protections around the room his target met with Diyu representatives but nothing he couldn't slip past. He hadn't heard anything that caused him much concern either but he would still proceed with caution, lest someone was more impressive than he'd been led to believe so far.
There was a delicate balance to be struck between taking in as much information as possible and making sure he was rested enough not to make foolish mistakes. He would sleep in short bursts, with his target just on the edge of his hearing. His shadows allowed him to find hollows no other would be able to access easily and he slept lightly for a couple of hours before infiltrating the palace properly.
----
His ears were always trained on Fàn Xīwén but he tried to keep tabs on every member of his family and staff as he searched every nook and cranny of the buildings and grounds - there was nowhere his shadows could not reach, nowhere that any evidence could be hidden that he would not find it.
His senses were stretched to their limits but it was this ability to receive and process so much information at once that made these short recon missions feasible - if his target so much as breathed a word of his involvement in this plot he would know even if he was several miles away reading through pilfered documents.
Not that he was, every bit of information read was done as close to its source as possible and then returned precisely where it had been found. In different circumstances he perhaps would have found the excessive amounts of poetry and prose interesting but all he could afford was to scan them for any hidden messages before dismissing them.
A strange mentality had taken over, he didn't truly exist as a person currently, just a creature whose sole purpose was gathering and processing information. No idle gossip entertained him, no thoughts of life outside this place ever came to mind, no emotion ever arose - there was almost a peacefulness to it.
He watched Fàn Xīwén closely but by the fourth day, there was little evidence that he was to be suspected of foul play. He wrote and received letters from Diyu officials daily and nothing was suspicious or out of the ordinary. The few guests he had entertained from the Diyu, like wise had only briefly discussed the strain all these additional measures in the wake of the Jade Emperor's death were putting on their work but that was it.
Despite this, he kept detailed notes of every interaction his target had with anyone so that he could pass them on to Nezha as evidence of his efforts. He had yet to be accused of underperforming but he wasn't willing to take the risk.
By the end of the fifth day he felt satisfied that he could leave. There were small notes of discontent from Diyu officials that could perhaps be investigated but he was confident, that short of catching Fàn Xīwén in the act, there was nothing more to be gained from him being here.
He would write up his findings, find somewhere far from here to sleep and then look through the list of his other targets the next day. Assuming he dedicated one day per target, he would hopefully be back in Megapolis within four days.
----
His first three targets had each proven somewhat annoying to find but they had been laughably easy to stalk and kill. Two of them had been granted a swift death - documents containing what he needed easily located. One of them had been unlucky enough to need some one-on-one time with him but they had broken disappointingly quickly.
Despite, his success thus far, it was undeniable that this mission had taken its toll on him - his mind, body and magic exhausted. But one more target and then he was done. It was hard to say whether it was better or worse that he'd unknowingly saved the worst for last.
----
He shouldn't be surprised that humans had somehow found a way to store energy from the ley-line leaks - with their technology it sometimes seemed there was nothing they couldn't accomplish. He also shouldn't be surprised at their total disregard for life but their dedication to finding new ways to cause suffering was as sickening as it was impressive.
He'd tracked his target down to a well hidden little laboratory far from society, where they were using vials of ley-line energy to experiment with various minerals, elements and creatures. The results ranged from odd to gruesome and he didn't spend much time looking at them.
His current predicament however was the mutated human that seemed to be guarding the premise. Macaque couldn't imagine what he must have looked like before - he doubted his own mother would have been able to recognise him.
One hand had been fused and swollen and resembled what he could generously describe as a fleshy bear paw, albeit with seemingly random spikes protruding from it rather than claws. The other hand while still vaguely human seemed to have fused to the side of his body with the rest of his arm.
His body was swollen in various areas, massive lumps of purple protruding from him, including his face and head. One eye and his nose seemed to have fused with skin to make them nearly impossible to distinguish.
Despite this, he didn't look to be in pain, and he moved steadily as he patrolled back and forth. He assumed he too was the result of experimentation and if that were the case there was no guessing what the magic had done to his mind, or if it had granted any sort of power.
With so many unknown variables, it would be best to avoid him all together, if he could find the information he needed, he could eliminate the target and let heaven deal with him and the rest of it.
All he needed to find was information regarding who was running this operation and how to find them. Which was easier said that done, given this seemed to be a paper free environment.
All the information would be on the computers, and he didn't have the skills needed to hack into them so his only other option would be to observe the passwords or forcibly procure them from his target.
The latter would be faster, and if he could get a portal under her he could whisk her away from her security guard. Although, that could be an idea too - what if he just transported the unknown threat out of here? There was probably a nearby volcano that would suffice, right?
He mulled it over - the ley-line magic was unpredictable, no telling how it might interact with his shadows. No, plan A was better - he could find out more about the mutant that way as well if need be.
His target was an ordinary human woman from what he could tell and opening up a portal beneath the chair she sat on as she typed away on a laptop would be exceedingly easy. Best not to waste too much magic with a long distance portal though, he was sure there was somewhere close by that would make for a suitable interrogation space.
He tiredly considered these options from the safety of the shadows, not fully aware that the mutant has started stalking towards him. When he did acknowledge the mutant, he was startled to find him standing only a few feet away and that his one visible eye seemed to be staring straight at him.
An eye that grew brighter and brighter both with magic and light, quickly becoming blinding in it's intensity. Dazzling him, while it burned away the shadows and forcing him out of the wall and into the world and onto his knees, unable to move as he felt his magic recoil from the unrelenting light.
He thinks the only thing that saved him in that moment was the pained shrieks from his target, screaming at the mutant to stop. Which it did immediately, before dashing forward towards him with its terrifying mockery of hand raised high to strike at him.
It was only a lifetime of fighting and hard earned survival instincts that allowed him to roll out of the way, coming quickly to a crouch, pushing to his feet while putting as much distance between him and the mutant as possible.
Not easy given it was on the offensive, swinging it's arm around with accuracy as it kept on him - it was faster than it had any right to be and there was massive strength behind its movements, everything in the room seemed to be acceptable collateral.
He summoned his staff to block another downward swing towards his head and grit his teeth as he shook under the strain of holding him back. Assuming, that eye stayed out of use he could handle this, he just needed to get off the defensive.
A gunshot rang out and he felt the corresponding pain blossom where it cut across the front of his left thigh. It was enough of a shock that he could do nothing but stumble when the mutant pulled back and took swipe at his chest, sharp spikes cutting through his left pectoral, before it followed up with a back swing that threw him into the closest wall.
He missed the next bullet by a fraction of a second as he merged into the shadows on the wall, quickly moving up to put as much distance between him and the mutant as possible. His target continued to try and shoot at him but an ordinary gun was nothing to a shadow, and it was apparently nothing to the mutant either as it got in the line of fire chasing him. The bullets simply bounced off his skin.
Ok, plan B - just get this thing out of here! He opened a portal beneath it but for whatever it sank slowly as if it had stepped in a pit of molasses instead of falling through as it should have. Alright, not what he wanted but he would take what he could get - it gave him some time to think.
There must be some sort of fail safe for if one of these experiments went haywire. He looked around desperately for anything that looked like it could do the job. He flinched when a bullet imbedded into the wall his shadow occupied.
She was at least easily dealt with, a shadow tendril pulled the gun from her and a shadow portal dropped her in a large empty cage, another shadow tendril quickly locking the door. She could scream and pound at the glass all she wanted, she wasn't going anywhere.
Now back to the real problem because all that thing had to do was activate is eye and Macaque was confident it would be free of the portal and immediately back after him.
The solution presented itself in what he grasped to be the chamber where subjects were exposed to ley-line magic - if he could trap the mutant in there he'd likely be safe.
He didn't hesitate to dive for it, and not a moment too soon as the mutant briefly used its eye to free itself before turning its gaze on him, he felt it's light start to sear his shadows but this time there was enough distance between them that he wasn't forced out and he slipped in through the open door and came to stand solid on the far side of the room.
He opened a portal behind him, plunging a hand in to drag out his target partly through, shadow tendrils wrapping around her to keep her bound and quiet. He was relying on her to keep the mutant from using his eye when it followed him in and by the sounds of it, it was making its way here quickly.
It charged in and Macaque suddenly was less concerned with the eye and instead with stopping it reaching him with murderous intent. He summoned as many shadow tendrils as he could to slow it down as he pulled him and the target back through the portal, closing it quickly.
He abandoned her to her cage and portaled to the outside of the containment unit where the mutant was tearing through shadow tendrils, he got a glimpse of it activating his eye before he slammed the door shut and spun the locking mechanism.
He backed away as he heard the mutant beat on the door but it held. He didn't allow himself a moment to celebrate however. Determined to take this thing out of commission he started to move, only to hiss as his left leg buckled. He caught himself on the wall before sinking into the shadows to emerge from them at the control panel situated in front of a large window he could see the mutant through.
It continued to throw itself at the door, seemingly unaware Macaque was now at the window. He wasn't going to know peace until this thing was dead and thankfully the emergency procedure for destroying something in the room was clear enough.
A handful of button presses later and he watched with satisfaction as the thing writhed as it seemed to dissolve into thin air. A whirring sound was followed by a voice confirming the subject had been neutralised and the ley-line energy safely contained for further experiments.
He breathed heavily and leaned on the console in front of him for support, taking a moment to calm his thundering heart before he slowly turned his head around to look at his target still trapped in the cage.
He was gratified to see fear in her eyes.
It wasn't impossible that she had managed to send out some sort of distress signal, which meant he had little time to waste. His chest and leg bled freely as he considered his options, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.
He pulled a small lotus petal from the shadows and crushed it in his palm. Nezha should be here within minutes - he could secure the facility. While he waited he would apply some basic first aid to his wounds, and once he'd explained the situation to Nezha...
He would find out how long it would take for his target's screams to satisfy the fury burning in his chest.
----
Several hours later, after what he was sure must have been an excruciating debrief with Nezha, Macaque sat in his bathroom and sloppily stitched himself up. His mind unable to process anything beyond the bare minimum required to allow him to safely pass out.
He could properly treat his injuries after some rest.
As good as it was going to get for now, he sluggishly applied some bandages and stood to wash his hands at the sink, grateful he'd long since removed the mirror - he didn't think he'd be able to handle whoever he saw reflected there.
He limped to his bed and stopped dead at the sight of Hibiscus sitting expectantly in the middle of it. He could feel his mind begin to unravel at the sight of her, suddenly half remembering who he was outside of his mission.
In a daze, he climbed onto his bed and curled up around her. Blissful unconsciousness still far off as he held her tightly, his breath getting erratic and his eyes tearing up.
He buried his face into her fur and tried to remember who he was.