Trouble in Old Town

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Rian:
Rian was pacing. It was a new habit of his.

Leading a faction in the middle of a city was a lot different than leading one based in the woods and he had been forced to come up with some new tactics. He couldn't have patrols since they did not have land to patrol. Furthermore, they didn't have a beach or woods to train in. But the real problem was how to get information on what was going on in the city and how to stop it.

Rian had decided that spying was the easiest way to go about it and so had had his faction mates pretend to live normal lives as citizens of this city which meant, at least for most of them, getting low paying sometimes semi legal, sometimes illegal jobs.

Every couple of days or so they would get together and talk about what they had learned. Today was one of those days and Rian was waiting for the others to arrive in the ballroom, or what passed for the ballroom here, because he had some disturbing news.

Rian had taken a job as a bartender in a dirty, underground bar. The area he worked in was pretty dark and dingy but at least it was legal. That was not so true of what went on in the back room.

Ironically Nevada, though not Las Vegas, had been one of the few states where prostitution was legal before the yeerk take over. But the yeerk empire did not want their subjects engaging in any sort of activity that might distract them from their glorious mission of taking over the galaxy and so the punishment for prostitution had actually gotten pretty harsh, especially in Vegas.

But when has that ever stopped anyone in all of human history.

There was an entire district in Vegas where it was well known, though not officially acknowledged, that prostitutes could be found. It was jokingly called Old Town, after its Sin City counterpart.

Rian worked in Old Town and there was trouble.


Ember:
It hadn't taken Ember long to find a job. Controllers in Vegas didn't seem to be so focused as the ones in LA, at least not after the initial take over. They'd fallen into the same traps as their hosts and still desired all the same sins. A low cut shirt and a few lazy stares was all it took for her to get a job as a server at the MGM Grand. They told her she could train to become a higher level employee, like a dealer or manager, but she didn't intend to strive for that oh so promising career path. However the hotel was on the strip, which meant that it was constantly busy with drunken controllers to flirt with. In LA it was the same, if you get a man or woman tipsy enough and convinced them you were off your head as well, the secrets would start pouring out. This way if anything big was going to happen, she could be sure it would get around to the faction.

The first few days were going well, but nothing had landed in her lap. Except for a few drinks. The pigs.

Her weary feet tread up the endless flights of stairs that plagued the Den, leading her inevitably to where Rian was waiting for them all to report. At least she got to keep all the money she made in their secret missions, yet somehow being a server was not her most glamorous vision of Vegas life.


Drake:
Drake trudged down the hall of the Den towards the ballroom. It had been a long, hot day at work and he wanted to just sit back and relax. Drake had found work as a pool boy and spent most of his day outside in the sun, scooping lawn clippings out of hot tubs and pouring chlorine into swimming pools. It was not too exciting, but it gave him the chance to snoop around rich peoples’ houses. It was not extremely labor intensive either, which Drake liked, seeing how it was his first job. Ever.

As he walked through the doors of the ballroom, Drake saw that Rian and Ember were already there. He gave them a little wave then slumped into one of the chairs at the edge of the dance floor. Drake decided to try and take a little catnap before everyone else got back.


Cecily:

Cecily hadn't managed to find a job, which she suspected made Rian sort of mad. Well, he would just have to deal. She was working on it. And, since she didn't have a job, she was also dealing with all the other little tasks that kept the faction running smoothly. But she wasn't going to complain. She was still the new kid in town, so she had to keep paying her dues, and if that meant washing the dishes all the time, fine.

She wandered into the ballroom at around the standard meeting time, and quickly glanced around, taking stock of who was already there: Drake, Rian, and Ember, as it turned out. Drake looked like he was about to fall asleep and Rian looked like his usual leader of the pack self, so Cecily went to sit near Ember. "Hey," she said. She was still stepping a little lightly around everyone but she was also trying to forge friendships, or something like friendships.


Rian:
Rian looked around when the others started entering. He wondered if he should wait for Ray and Diana but then remembered that they might not get off work any time soon. If they did show he could just fill them in later but he wanted to get someone on this right away, mostly because he had just enough information to worry him.

"Hey guys. You all look tired. I don't know about you but I thought being a superhero would mean that we could avoid the job market." He ran his hands through his short hair. "So I wish I could say that I had nothing to report and that we could all just go swimming tonight and relax but unfortunately I do think something bad is going on. Well," he said, correcting himself, "something bad is always going on but maybe we can do something about this bad." Realizing that the last sentence had been awkwardly phrased he shook his head and concentrated back on the people in front of him.

"As you guys know, I work in a bar in the district that has come to be known as Old Town. Most of the girls in Old Town are pretty scared right now and if you knew these women you would know how disturbing that was. Nothing scares them, they pretty much own that part of the city, but someone or something has been preying on them lately. Girls have been disappearing off of the street and even out of the brothels sometimes and once they are taken they don't come back. I'm not sure where they are going, I've been trying to figure it out, but I do know that this is yeerk related and when I say yeerk related I mean the yeerk higher ups which is unusual. The yeerk powers in this city should be cracking down and killing prostitues. They wouldn't need to hide their activities so what's up."

He realized that somewhere during his report he had begun pacing again. He didn't particularly like his new habit, he should really try to quit.

"Anyway, as much as I hate to ask if of either of you," he said looking at Ember and Cecily, "I was thinking maybe someone could go undercover with Drake on them in moth morph so that we could figure out where the women are being taken. Don't suppose anyone wants to volunteer?" I wouldn't.


Ember:
Ember"s mouth fell open, "what?" Cecily's greeting went completely ignored as all of her attention was startlingly diverted to what Rian was asking of them. Again, she repeated, "What?! You want us to do what exactly?" Sure, she'd used her looks and charms to make numerous situations easier for herself, but the girls who had.. jobs... in Old Town went far beyond anything that would seem like an option for her. These girls they... And Rian wanted to put one of the animorphs out there with them? "Rian, how insane are you? i know you're concerned about people but- it's not like we could just walk in there with a slutty outfit and pretend for an hour or two. This could, no, it WILL be dangerous. And not in the usual danger-among-yeerks sense."

She glanced at Cecily and thought of Diana and Luce as well. The two newer members of the faction weren't prepared if something went wrong, especially Cecily, and to be bluntly honest, Ember didn't know if Luce was even capable of acting feminine. But if there was one thing Ember never, ever wanted to put herself through... it was this. "I'm sorry, but, I need to know that there's no other way. Have you thought this through? Completely? Because I don't think you know what you're asking."


Rian:
"No, no, no!" He verbally backtracked quickly. "I don't mean for you to actually do anything. I mean, like some of the women being taken are being taken right off the street. And not willingly, like not going with guys and just not coming back, but actually just being manhandled into vans. You wouldn't have to pretend to, well, uh, just yeah, you wouldn't have to pretend to proposition...um, you would just have to wear clothing that's uh, you'll just have to stand around. And if you are alone, or at least seemingly alone, you will probably get picked up-I mean, not picked up but like kidnapped and we'll all be there to follow you and make sure that nothing happens and Drake will be with you on the inside if the van goes somewhere we can't immediately follow."


Drake:
Drake sat in his chair for a moment, trying to think of what this entire mission would entail. First of all, one of the females of their group, probably Ember, would have to play the role of a ‘lady of the night’, which is a bit dangerous all by itself. Not to mention degrading. But both of those risks could be outweighed by the good that would come of it, especially if they succeeded.

Secondly, Drake would have to travel with her in his moth morph. He would serve the same purpose of someone wearing a wire. This could also be a danger, at least to him. The person he was supposed to protect could crush him with one wrong hand placement. Also, being a moth was not Drakes favorite form to be in. I suppose it is necessary, Drake thought to himself.

Lastly, the others would need to keep watch over them from a distance and save them if something went wrong. This was probably the safest role, because they could plan out what to do in a safer environment if something went wrong. However, they would still have to do the rescuing, which would be dangerous.

“I say we do it,” Drake said after much contemplation. “If it will hurt the yeerks and save some innocent people, I think the reward outweighs the risks and embarrassment. And who knows, maybe nothing will happen to us when we try our plan.” If only he could believe his own words.


Diana:
The room that Diana entered was one that the air seemed to have been sucked out. Practice at the theater that she preformed for, which was both a new and old job for her, had run long. Diana kicked herself for being late. She was still dressed her practice wear consisting of a long, tight-fitting tank and black tights that were cut off below the knee. Smiling sheepishly, she slid into crowd.The expressions on the faces of her fellow Animorphs unnerved her a bit, especially the look that Ember was giving Rian.

"Bonsoir." Diana spoke quietly and quickly, nodding her head at their leader. "What is this about embarrassment?" She asked, hearing the end of Drake's response to a proposal that was clearly not settling well with some of the members, mainly the females.


Ember:
Ember's nerves remained on edge, but the damn logic of it all was starting to nag at her. When Diana came in and asked what was going on... it was suddenly plainly obvious.

She shot up from her chair and walked briskly over to where Rian stood, leaning close and speaking in a hissed tone so the others couldn't hear. "This is... really stupid! And I want you to know that if ANYTHING happens to me I'm going to blame you forever!" Her eyes shut. She had no choice. There was no hell on earth that could convince her to put any of the faction girls in trouble just because she was horrified at the idea of this mission. All she had to do was stand there, right? It should have been simple. Drake even knew. They had taken on a mantel of heroism that required them to make sacrifices. If these women were in trouble then... then she had no choice.

Her nails bit into her palms as she took several long breaths. Then she turned and went back to her seat. "I'll go." Her voice was low, but terribly audible in the open ballroom. She crossed her legs and folded her arms, settling back in and ignoring the stares she was getting. "What's the rest of the plan? What happens when they take me wherever the girls are?"


Rian:
<<I wouldn't let anything happen to you,>> he sent her privately, using the thoughtspeak that came along with the body he was in since it was, technically, a morph. Of course, Ember didn't really need to be protected but it was always nice to know someone had your back anyway. Unfortunately that wouldn't be him.

"You're not going alone. I was asking one of you to be the second volunteer. We already have a first. Luce is in Old Town right now, talking to people. I'm sure she'll be back soon and she's going undercover too. I want as much back up with the people going in as possible because the truth is there is no bigger plan. I'm not sure where this place is so this is our recon mission. We have to find the location and maybe do some sneaking around. Then, once we have the layout, we can come up with a plan. Our only job will be to follow and then to get you three out."


Cecily:
Cecily had to agree with Ember. The whole thing was sort of ridiculous. True, some sort of investigation needed to be one, but this... And Cecily wasn't sure about her "undercover" skills, either. She could look after herself, but actually walking in to a bad situation was something else. The first rule of survival was to avoid bad situations whenever possible. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't about survival anymore, it was also about saving the human race. Right.

She glanced at Ember, not bothered that the girl hadn't returned her greeting. They had bigger things to worry about. "I...could do it," she said. "If you don't want to. Well, not that I want to, either, but..." She trailed off a little uncomfortably and glanced at Rian. "I'm going to need pretty good information, though. And if you think someone else would be better..." She wanted to leave Rian an easy out if he acutally thought Ember was better for the job and was just being too polite to say so.


Rian:
"No, Ember should go. I hope you aren't offended by that choice, she's just been doing this a little longer and has some more morphs in her arsenal to get out of bad situations." Even as he said it he regretted the facts. He didn't really want to send anyone on this sort of mission but he couldn't figure out any other way to find out where the women were being taken. He had been looking into it for the past week on his own but he just couldn't catch them at it.

"I'm going to give everyone as much information as I know though. Just waiting for Luce to come back with the last bit." He looked towards the door hoping to see the intimidating woman striding through it just because he had said her name.


Luce:
Luce didn't actually hear her name but she was do to report anyway so she did arrive shortly after that.

Luce walked into the ballroom and saw that almost everyone was present for the faction meeting. Good, that would save time. Her hand was firmly gripping the upper arm of a young woman who needed a little persuassion to come talk to them.

The woman was a junky. A controller that was addicted to, of all things, oatmeal. Eating instant ginger and maple oatmeal was addictive to yeerks. It made it so that they didn't need Kadrona rays but it did so by actually replacing a bit of the yeerk's brainstem with oatmeal. Having oatmeal for a brain did not go well for yeerks and they began to go insane, leaving their hosts in charge of their bodies again for sporadic lengths of time.

This host wanted to talk to them, wanted to help, but the yeerk was insane and whenever it was in control the girl tried to run. At the moment the yeerk was in control and the girl looked like she was having a fit, screaming and raging about things that none of them would understand.

Luce looked at Rian. "I found her."


Cecily:
Cecily nodded slightly, acknowledging Rian's decision. It was the one she would have made, too, because it made sense. She hated the fact that she was relieved about it, though. She knew Ember wasn't happy about it, and she didn't blame her at all. But if things made sense... She suppressed a sigh. Everyone was tired, not just her.

And then Luce came in. Luce didn't scare Cecily, or even particularly intimidate her, but she did have a healthy amount of respect for the other girl. Luce was a lot better at the whole fighting thing than her. But at this point, Cecily was more interested in the young woman Luce had with her. The very angry looking young woman who also looked more than a little bit crazy. "We're all mad here," Cecily muttered quietly. She couldn't help the reference to Alice in Wonderland; it fit too well.


Ember:
Ember glanced at Cecily. She wasn't sure if she should take the girl's offer as a nicety or if she was insane enough to actually want to accept the mission as her own. Rian's decision was one Ember knew he would make, and that's why she'd relieved him of having to single her out. But it was clear by Cecily's reaction that she hand't done a good job of disguising how she'd felt about it. Then again, she was never a good actor. LA did that to people.

She watched as Cecily's shoulders softened and a breath of relief escaped her when Rian made his choice clear. Good, than she wasn't nuts. For now, until the other members got more experience, Ember was going to have to take a lot of responsibility. so long as the others knew what they had to face wasn't easy and didn't just jump after it to prove themselves, it would make that job a lot easier for her.

Luce suddenly came in, towing what looked like a hooker on drugs through the door. Ember was not going to be PC about this. Trying to force these women into some saint-like category wouldn't do them any favors.


Ray:
Ray flew in behind Luce. He had spotted her and the struggling lady about a block away and was interested in seeing what the hell was up. He didn't try contacting Luce because he knew it would be insane for her to try and tell what was up to a bird in the sky. Aside from dragging in a nutty looking street-walker, it seemed that the rest of the group was already on edge anyway. Ray flew over and landed on a table, not wanting to be on the ground. His bird mind, and even his mind partly, didn't like the idea of having everyone towering over him.

He kicked himself noticing that they were probably having a meeting. He was out doing his "alone" thing, which was really doing nothing other than enjoying being alone and brooding over things he couldn't change. Still, missions and group activity always, always, always came before personal things. Ray was glad he wasn't in human form because he'd probably look a nice mix of confused and embarassed, with just a hint of being down.

Ray didn't say anything for the time being. He figured he'd learn soon enough...


Drake:
Drake sat up straight and examined the woman Luce had brought. This ought to be interesting, Drake thought to himself. Then he noticed that Ray was here as well. At least he assumed the crow in the ballroom was Ray.

"So who exactly is she, and what is she here for?" Drake asked whoever knew the answer. This crazy lady kept trying to get away from Luce one moment, then stood politely the next. It was very perplexing to watch. Drake decided to stand up and walk closer in case someone needed to help restrain her.


Rian:
Rian looked at the girl Luce had brought in. "Thank you Luce." He had sent her out to find this particular controller who he had come to know since she was a regular in his bar. Rian considered the young woman a friend and had often spent mornings after the bar had closed staying out and talking to her. The human girl, Chloe, was actually quite articulate and Rian enjoyed talking to her in her more lucid moments. "You don't have to hold her quite so tightly Luce. She's not a flight risk."

"She's here to tell us where the next attack is going to be. Apparently the yeerks just pick a place and snatch all the women in the area so she is going to tell us where the next area is so that we can get there before them." He told everyone else who wouldn't know what was going on.

Rian walked over to Chloe. He smiled, happy to see her though he was always a little upset when he thought about her condition. "Hey. Sorry about the kidnapping."

Chloe's eyes looked wild and she looked around trying to figure out how to escape, but then the real Chloe reasserted herself and she gave Rian a small sad smile. "Hey Rian. You want to tell me what's going on. Who are all these people. I'd said I'd help you find your sister but you didn't tell me you were the leader of a gang."

Rian looked around. He wondered if he should tell her the truth. But even though she was a friend and could even have been an animorph if they had found her before her yeerk had gone crazy, she was still a controller and the yeerk inside her still took control occasionally. He couldn't risk their secret getting out. "I guess you could call us a gang. We room here illegally and it is more of an alliance of convenience than an actually gang thing. These kids have agreed to help me get my sister back. Two of them is going to pretend to be, a, well you know and then we are going to follow them back to wherever."

She frowned at Rian. "Rian," she put a hand on his arm, trying to comfort a boy she thought had lost his only family, "I know you want your sister back but you don't want to mess with these guys. They don't play around. You could end up dead or a controller."

Rian covered her hand with his own, thankful for what she was trying to do. "I know. But I've got to try and everyone here knows the risks. So where is it Chloe?"

She gave him one last look, making sure to catch his eye, trying to find something that would listen to her warning but finally she sighed and let her hand drop away. "The corner outside of Jim's place. That's where they are going to hit next."

He nodded. He knew the place. "Thank you."


Drake:
Later that evening, everyone was at his or her assigned posts near the corner outside of Jim’s. It was a chilly night in Las Vegas. Drake was in his moth morph, hiding under the feathery boa of their decoy disguised as a ‘lady of the night’. Every hour or so he would demorph and remorph in a dumpster in the nearby alley. It was not a very pleasant experience, but this way he would have more time left in morph whenever the yeerks came for them.

The others were watching them closely from nearby locations, yet Drake could not help but feel like they were all alone. If the yeerks did show up this night, it would be the most dangerous situation he had ever been in. He would be lying to himself if he said he was not scared beyond belief.

Drake new he was supposed to act like a microphone or tracking device of sorts in order to relay information to the rest of the team, but that did not mean he was out of danger. One wrong move and he could be crushed like raccoon on the highway. Or worse, he could be stuck forever as a moth if they were taken to a place too far away. <<Everyone still ready?>> Drake asked everyone for about the tenth time that night. If a moth could shiver from fright, he would be doing that right now.


Ray:
Ray was ready. Too ready in fact. Ray had taken up preening himself on a billboard atop a rooftop and was acting as a lookout for anything further away. Every now and then he'd demorph and remorph. The silence and deadness of the night was making him too ancy. He'd rather just be in the middle of the mission right now rather than waiting on it. His crow was the morph of choice tonight, its eyes were slightly better even though it was more conspicuous than the pigeon.

<<Ready.>> Ray replied. He would have rather been the one to risk so much, however Drake had the perfect morph for it tactically speaking, and Ray never spoke against tactics. Ember and Drake's lives depended on how Ray and the others executed this plan. This would be yet another experience where lives were in his hands. Chess pieces to be moved and be sacrificed as needed. He hated that thought, but there was no getting away from it. Especially when "it" was an armored truck heading their way a few blocks down. <<I see it. Four blocks away. Good luck.>>


Ember:
Ember couldn't stop pacing. The look on that girl's face. Her nails bit into her arms and she had to consciously relax to keep from tearing the stupid boa apart. That little article had been Drake's insistence. Not that she wanted to hide him in her cleavage anyway, but the idea of a real prostitute wearing something so gaudy was absurd. She was never going to fool anyone this way.

Although the rest of her outfit was... ah... desirable, to be certain. Ember had modeled it after what Chloe had been wearing. Erg... that girl! She set her teeth on edge whenever she thought of her. Being so damned helpful and considerate, rubbing herself all over Rian and flaunting her- well, whatever she had that could possibly be thought of as attractive. Ember tossed her hair with a rough shrug, probably sending Drake flying although she couldn't care less.

She'd been hoofing it up and down Jim's block for the better part of the night. And huffing it in black stiletto heels and a tight red corset number was not the easiest of tasks. Not to mention all this make up was caking up her face and playing havoc with her pores. With a twist of her head she looked back at Luce who was trailing along behind her, trying to see how the woman was handling her part. Ember had flaunted for men before, more times than she could count even, though never for this particularly demeaning purpose naturally. But Luce...


Luce:
Grabbed Ember's shoulder as she made her tenth pass. "Quit it will you," she hissed. "I don't care what is going on in your head, stop pacing." Then Luce went back to standing on the corner with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

She tapped one toe of her black, knee high leather/pleather boots on the ground. The heels were not her preferred choice of apparel but she had worn such before, at least when under Jals' control. The rest of her outfit did not cover as much as her boots did. The skirt only came down to upper mid thigh. When she had put it on she had looked at it angrily. Who would design something this length. It was as if they had looked at a woman's thigh, decided where the half point was and then decided what was half of that. Added to it's length the skirt clung to her. If she had to run anywhere she would give everyone a view of her underwear, which she had insisted on wearing even though the lines could be seen through the skirt.

Then she was wearing a piece of cloth up top. She wouldn't call it a shirt. Shirts have arm holes and cover your torso. This wasn't a shirt.

She lifted her hair, which she normally kept up and out of the way but was wearing down tonight because apparently all the young men in the faction had informed her it looked better that way, up away from her neck since the heat was starting to get to her. But she dropped it when Ray reported the van was on its way.

Good. She walked to the corner and gave a surprisingly good impression that she was up for hire. It wasn't that hard really. She just had to use her body to attract scum, but her body was as much a weapon as the knife she was carrying at the base of her neck (the holster strap doubling as a choker).

She hoped this was the right van. She wanted to get off this detail. It was boring.


Ember:
Great, Ember thought sullenly, even Luce is doing a better job at this. She been worried that something about this assignment would trigger a (possibly volatile) emotion that would render Ember virtually alone on a kidnap for fun mission. But she was... working it, and looked calmer in her body than she'd ever seemed before. Then again, Luce had weapons. Ember didn't. Mostly because she had no idea where she would hide them, but also because she didn't want to accidentally maim herself. If a fight came, she would keep her human form in so long as it didn't hinder her. Then she would turn over control to her more powerful morphs, like her horse or red dog.

Ember's attention was abruptly caught at the word of an oncoming vehicle matching Chole's description. This was it. Time to get serious. Her shoulders loosened, her hips swaying as she immediately walked calmly back to Luce's side. As the van approached she was careful to keep her hair back and her chin tilted up confidently, even pouting her lips a little as her hands rested languidly on her waist to give the best impression of a nightly street walker looking for her next client. She fell into the role, at least for now willing to place her anxieties and embarrassments aside in sacrifice for the lives they were about to save.

That line sounded nice to her and she repeated it over and over as the van... no, armored truck sped closer. Her heart pounded, but she kept her posture. Everything was getting fairly intense pretty quickly... but there was no way out now, so she just had to play the part and kick some ass.


Drake:
Drake was far from an expert on acting, but he could not help himself in a situation like this. <<Ok girls,>> he said to Luce and Ember in private thought speak, <<Remember to make this believable. Look confident in your ability, but remember that you would have probably heard of other disappearances. Walk the walk and talk the talk, and for heavens sake, don't squash me!>>

He probably would have kept rambling except his insect body picked up the rumblings of an approaching vehicle. <<I think our carriage just arrived.>> Now came the hard part of his first mission. It was time for Drake to see what he could handle.


Ray:
Ray stayed put as the van pulled up. There were obviously some words exchanged by the driver and Luce before armed men broke out of the back door and approached the women. What in the hell have we gotten ourselves into? Ray thought to himself as he watched. He obviously didn't expect them to just ask the girls to get in nicely, but from the way they pointed their guns, he could tell they ment business.

<<Action is on you Drake.>> Ray said not knowing how much Drake's morphing was allowing him to see. <<Just follow the lights that are coming from the inside of the van.>> Ray figured it would be pretty easy once Drake saw the light. He instructed him on where the light was just incase. He was their main point of contact and was a crucial part of the mission. Ray silently said some prayer words before taking flight into the night.


Drake:
"Get in the back! Hurry up!"

"Move over! Make some room!"

"One wrong move and I'll burn your face off!"

These were just some of the words exchanged as Ember and Luce got corralled into the vehicle. Drake was still under Ember's boa, so he did not have to worry about finding his way into the vehicle like Ray suspected. But how was he supposed to know where a little moth was hiding?

Drake could not see anything except for the vaguest of shapes, but his sense of hearing was decent enough. And in some bizarre way, his sense of smell was working great as well. <<Ok, they are being taken into the vehicle... but I suppose you already know that. They are telling the girls to get in the back. I think there might be other women in here too, but I do not know if they are controllers or not. Now someone is telling the driver to get going. Ember, Luce, if there are any other details that I should relay, try to make some sort of comment so that I will know what to tell the others.>> It had only been a few seconds, but it already felt like this mission was taking an eternity.


Luce:
Luce allowed herself to be shoved into the van. She resisted the strong urge to rip her arm out of her captor's grasp when he placed his grimy paw on her upper arm. Not because she was particularly offended but because it would have been so easy, he was so weak, and doing so was almost second nature.

Her arm tightened in preperation for it and the guy gave her an odd look as the stringy muscels stood out against her skin and pressed against his grip. But she reminded herself that this was her job and relaxed the arm and got shoved into the van.

Once there she waited until the van began moving again before walking over to Ember. A lurch in the van sent her tumbling towards her faction mate and she ended up throwing out her hand and catching herself, one had on the wall of the armoured truck, the other on Ember's shoulder. "Apologies," she said curtly and then pulled the boa off her neck, searching through it methodically, until she found the moth that was Drake.

She gripped him by one wing and pulled him off the boa until the small insect was right in front of her face. She wasn't hurting him but it would be very easy to crush him at this point. "Listen boy, I don't know what life you lived before this but obviously it was pretty sheltered and you are a child. We, however, are not." She was giving Ember the benefit of the doubt on the 'we.' "So from now on no girls, no ladies, no other inane nicknames you had in mind. Our given names will do just fine. Also, don't tell us how to do our jobs. Just do yours. You are a glorified walky talky, all you need to do is communicate. Now tell Rian that we aren't the only ones in here. There are six other women and they don't all look like they are in our pretended proffession."

She looked over to Ember to see if she had anything to add to the report. Since Luce knew that Ember was Rian's second, if only in name since she didn't seem to feel like she deserved the title or some other such thing, Luce normally would never have jumped in and given the report, leaving it to her. But Drake's comment had irked her.


Drake:
Drake fluttered frantically, yet helplessly, as something grabbed him, then stopped once he realized it was Luce. She sounded pretty upset with him. He had been trying his best to help out, but apparently Luce was not happy with the way he was operating. And he was not about to mention how she might be blowing their cover by having a conversation with a moth.

Drake relayed Luce's message, all the energy now out of his voice. As soon as he was released from her iron grip, he made his way back to Ember. Hopefully. Drake now waited silently for any new information to pass on.


Ray:
It was go time. The plan was in full force and Ray's crow morph was doing the best it could to keep up with the van, which would have been hard if it had wanted to get away, but it didn't so they were going to be fine with following it. The van almost seemed cocky as it tried to blend in by going the speed limit. Ironic, because the only thing it was doing to blend in, was aiding the animorphs in following it to it's hideout.

Ray received Drake's message along with Rian and flew hard to keep up. It had started to sprinkle slightly and was getting annoying to fly through. He debated on trying to grab onto the top of the vehicle and ride it there, but such a move would be a major waste if it wasn't executed properly and with lives on the line, he couldn't afford to take that risk. <<Anything in mind for when we get there?>> Ray asked Rian. His intention wasn't to bother his concentration on the task at hand, but to try and form a little bit of a plan before they got there.


Rian:
<<I wish I had a plan. Damn, I wish we could even follow that thing. This was stupid.>> No bird could fly 20mph in a straight line. So far the van had been making a lot of turns, but even going the speed limit, once it got to a straight road they would lose it and it looked like it was headed out into the desert.

He should have had someone stay up high, height was distance. How many times had he been told that, had he told others that. But in his worry for his faction mates he had forgotton and had the faction clustered near the pick up point. Now he might lose Luce, Drake and Ember because of it and he was the one who had sent them in the first place. Damn.

<<Drake, good job reporting. Tell Luce and Ember that we might lose contact. We have to get higher if we are going to have a chance to keep up with you in the desert which is where you seem to be heading. Everyone, go for altitude. Get high and try to do it quickly. Use the thermals that come off the side of the office buildings.>>

Rian turned his own kestrel morph to try to take advantage of the pillars of hot air coming off the building. <<And we still don't know what we are going to do when we get there,>> he sent to Ray and Ember privately.


Nadia:
Nadia opened her eyes slightly and then a sharp pain overcame the side of her head and face. She lifted her hand and placed it softly on the side of her head and pulled away fast from it stinging. Nadia looked down at her hand and saw it covered in blood. She wondered how this happened and thought back on what she remembered last. It started coming back to her, vaguely at first, but then she remembered the van and the woman.Then Nadia remembered standing up to that woman and the woman slamming the side of her head against the back bumper of the van. Nadia knew she deserved it though, for being so stupid,but even so, she was still alive.

As she starting sitting up and opening her eyes more she realized she was in a holding cell. Nadia looked around and saw other people in the cell with her. She saw the little old woman in the corner yet again, and stood up slowly grasping the wall for support. Nadia started to walk slowly toward the old woman to see if she knew what happened more than she could. Standing over her, Nadia tapped on her shoulder.

"Excuse me again, Miss" Nadia said more confidently now.

"You don't have to keep calling me miss. My name is Agatha. Are you alright? That slam to the head must of knocked you out for hours." Said the old woman.

"Ya, I'm fine. I just...." Nadia said before being interrupted by the sound of screams.

The screams grew louder and louder from the room next to the cell. Nadia walked toward the bars of the cell and tried looking to see if she could see anything that was going on but saw nothing. Suddenly, the screaming stopped and Nadia grew scared and went back to Agatha and sat down next to her. Scared,Bleeding, and cold Nadia huddled close to Agatha for a sense of comfort and warmth. She knew now that these people holding her here were definitely yeerks.


"We will die here." Said Agatha.

Nadia looked over at Agatha and sat there speechless and scared. She was never a person to give up so easily, but she believed Agatha's words and held on to them. Thoughts of her past began racing through her head as tears ran down her cheeks.


Drake:
<<OK. Can do,>> Drake replied to Rian. Then to the two in the van he said, <<Hey gir… I mean Ember and Luce. Rian say we may lose contact with them, but it is because they are going to get some height so they can keep up with the van. He says we are probably headed to the desert.>>

Drake was nervous that they would not be able to communicate, but would be more nervous if the others could not keep up with the van. It was a necessary hindrance. Then another thought occurred to Drake. Why was he relaying messages from the others to Luce and Ember? He just shrugged it off and decided it was probably so they would not be bombarded with everyone’s messages at once. That way they could better focus on the job at hand. Speaking of which, Drake mentally slapped himself for not keeping better focus on his job.


Ember:
Ember took the boa back, struggling to put drake safely back in it as the van kept lurching around corners. "Ok, that's expected. We'll be fine for now, its when we get to our destination that we might run into trouble." She looked over at Luce, barely able to make her out in the gloom of the van's innards, "For now we'll sit tight and take deep breaths. No need to get agitated yet." It was clear she was talking to Luce more than Drake, but the woman needed to take her own advice from earlier and chill out. She was going to blow their cover if she kept this up.

Luckily the part of the van they'd been shoved into was clear of the kidnappers. Those men were probably up front, leaving the dozens of girls together in the rear. Ember couldn't make out how many of them were still conscious or if any of them were suspicious of Luce's insect conversation... but it looked as though none of them were in the frame of mind to care.

Strangely enough an odd calm had come over her. She assessed the situation and although it was completely out of her control, now that something was at least happening it gave her a sense of purpose. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Ember was starting to feel more like her old self again.


Luce:
Luce seemingly ignored Ember's comment on her actions towards Drake but she did go and sit in a corner. She hadn't really been worried about blowing their cover with the other women in the van. Obviously none of these women were controllers or they wouldn't be here. Furthermore, they were the very people the animorphs were trying to rescue. It would be no bad thing if they knew that there was somone out there trying to help them.

In New York they had hidden when they had to but they had not really tried to hide their existence from free people. The yeerks knew there was a restistence out there, as long as they didn't know where they were they were safe.


Drake:
Flying higher and higher, Ray hoped to hell that he wouldn't lose that van. It nearly made him sick how much further away it was getting. He pushed the crow morph harder and harder until it was at its flight speed limit. The strain on his crow body was telling himself that even it thought this was ridiculous.

The van had pulled off road and Ray was able to catch back up due to it needing to slow down for the different terrain it now had to go through. Why the hell is it going off road? he thought. He zipped up to it coming right up behind it. He was so close. He'd be over the top of it in a could of seconds. Just a little more...Then it was gone. NO!

Nothing computed. Ray flew around in circles looking for the vanished van. <<What the hell?! It's gone!>> he shouted to Rian in frusterated thoughtspeak. He had no idea of what to do now. <<Drake!>> he called in private thought speak hoping to get any sort of response at all.


Drake:
The ride had been much less eventful for the last few minutes. At least compared to when they first entered the vehicle. Sure, a few minor details were observed and would be relayed to the others once contact was reestablished, but other than that they pretty much just waited.

Then his moth eyes observed a slight wave of light and a split second later he heard Ray say <<Drake!>> There was a distinct air of concern in his thought speech voice.

<<What? What happened? Did one of you get hurt or something?>> he asked. The last thing they needed was for one of their rescuers to get into some sort of trouble. <<Ember, Luce, I think something has happened.>>


Rian:
Rian was higher in the sky than Ray's crow, floating on thermals and hoping that his falcon's vision would not let him down and be able to keep the van in site.

As it pulled farther and farther away Rian had to remind himself that as long as it was in sight then everything was ok. As long as he could see the van then he would know where it had gone and if he had to he would tear through any yeerk base in order to get his faction mates back. As long as it was in sight.

Then it wasn't. It seemingly disappeared. Rian heard Ray's thoughtspeak in his mind and had to work not to immediately start shouting as well because panic might show in his voice. He tried to think. First, did the van still exist? Stupid question, but in a world gone sci-fi...his question was soon answered as he heard Drake's thoughtspeak voice in his head.

Ok, so everyone in the van was ok for now but now the animorphs on the outside had no idea where it was. <<Drake, tell Ember and Luce to report anything that might give us a clue as to where they are but in the meantime can you see if you can see outside the van? Bug eyes are different than human eyes. I think we are dealing with a hologram but I want to see if you can see it. If we are dealing with a hologram I think the only way to penetrate it would be to go in on the ground but the whole reason we are sending Em and Luce in as they are is because they probably have protection around this place.>>

He thought quickly then he said, <<Em, if things get bad you are going to have to find a way to signal us that we can see outside the hologram. Some type of flare or something. But don't blow your cover till you have to.>>


Drake:
Drake was still not quite sure what was going on, but he could fill in most of the major details from what he had been told. <<It seems the others can not see us. Rian said we probably went under a hologram or something. Tell me any clues that might help them to know where we are.>>

Drake felt a little goofy talking about something as science-fictiony as holograms. Then he remembered he was living in a world filled with mind-controlling slugs.

The second set of Drake's instructions would not be quite as simple to complete. He looked around with his terrible eyesight to try and find the brightest source of light. He figured that would be the front of the vehicle. He stayed by the top and side of the ceiling as he made his way towards what he hoped was the front. He was almost glad that everyone in the back of the armored van was too preoccupied to be swatting insects. He eventually reached his destination, but could not see anything out of the ordinary.

<<Sorry guys,>> he called out to the others outside of the vehicle, <<I do not think my eyes can see far enough away. I only saw a slight murmur of light right when we disappeared.>> Drake was a bit discouraged that he could not be any more help. He quickly returned to the back so he could more easily hear anything Luce or Ember had to say.


Ember:
A flare or something? Too bad Ember didn't have another gas station handy. Before she could respond to Rian's worrisome message, Drake telegraphed back his less than helpful information. "Don't worry about it." She muttered back, assuming he was within voice range. "We'll think of something."

"Luce, any ideas?" Ember turned to her other partner, trying to make it seem as though she were merely opening the floor for suggestions and not pleading for hail mary. "There's nothing we can do while we're stuck back here. But the guys can't help if something happens and they can't find us. And, I don't know about you, but I didn't really plan for a hologram... well actually I didn't know they really existed but, er, that's beside the point..." Her sentence trailed away. Her calm was starting to crack. she'd had a plan up to this point, but the curve ball was something she didn't know how to handle. What would they do if they got out and there was no way to send a message? They wouldn't know where they were or the layout of the holding area, and that would make escape nearly impossible. Not to mention they weren't just dealing with self interest, but with the lives of all the women here with them and potentially outside.

Her nerves crackled and the van ground to a stop. She could hear the faint sounds of boots landing on stone and the two front van doors slamming shut. They must be inside somewhere from the echoes. Maybe a parking garage? Or a large warehouse under cover? Her heart flooded in and out, rushing into her ears and eyes until all her senses dimmed and sharpened again. She concentrated solely on the back doors. They were coming to get them. Now was the final test... they had to play along, not get killed, gather information, and pray that there was some way out all at once.


Luce:
"Yeah. Get out. We aren't here to save anybody, at least not today. We are scouts remember. We scope the layout, we get small and we get out."

That was all Luce had time to say before the doors of the van were yanked open and men jumped in and started grabbing women out of the back of the truck. As a man grabbed Luce, she shot out her hand and snatched a small fluttering moth out of the air. Not as hard as catching a fly certainly, so she wasn't proud of the grab, but it kept Drake close. She held the moth to her stomach, hand cupped protectively over the fragile insect as she was shoved into a medical looking hallway and then into a room where human controllers were standing with notepads.

None of this looked very pleasant and Luce's skin was starting to itch with the need to do something. But there was nothing to be done right now.


Drake:
Drake heard the doors open. It must be happening, he thought to himself. Then a hand grabbed him right out of the air. He was about to let out a yell of terror, but then realized he was not being crushed. It must be Luce or Ember. I hope.

Drake could tell they were moving by the bumpy ride he was experiencing, and by the sounds he was hearing. <I think we are being led somewhere,>> he told the others, <<but Ember and Luce have not had the chance to say anything, so I can not be sure.>> If Drake had fingers, they would be crossed.


Sedra:
"Five minutes." The assistant's voice carried across the large office room. Framed against a wide window was Sub-Visser 48, the bright sunlight silhouetting her slender figure. The Sub-Visser turned, a cup of coffee nestled in her hands, and gave a short nod to the girl. Then she shifted back to the window, dark curls brushing her back.

<<How could you do this?>> Sedra could almost taste her host's disgust. She took a sip of the bitter coffee in her hands. <<What about her? Have you thought about her?>>

<<Irrelevant.>> Sedra snapped, trying to force Catherine to shut up. She couldn't let her host distract her, not now that they had finally been involved in something of importance. She could feel the excitement rushing through her veins.

She leaned forward, her eyes catching sight of a van waiting at the gates. After a moment, the gates swung open and the van rolled slowly forward into the courtyard. A man ran up to the van's window, then tapped its side and pointed towards the medical wing of Area 51. Stirring up a cloud of dust, the van veered out of Sedra's sight. They had arrived.

Sedra pushed in her chair at her desk, and grabbed a clipboard with papers attached. She ran her eyes over the paper quickly, then tucked it under her arm. Her assistant rushed up to her as she emerged from her office, holding out a bleached white lab coat. As Sedra walked down the halls, the girl struggled to get Sedra's arms in the sleeves.

"Sub-Visser," Said a gentle, smooth voice. It was Kiejen435, one of the top scientists involved in this project. He was a tall, thin man with high, defined cheeks and short brown hair. Resting on his nose were glasses, and he tilted his head to look at her. "Sub-Visser 39 has arrived." He joined her side, glancing briefly at the ruffled assistant struggling with the lab coat. Sedra was still scanning the paper on the clipboard, but looked up briefly to acknowledge him.

"Didn't realize she was joining us," Sedra muttered dryly. Her first real project, and a Sub-Visser of a higher rank was already checking up on it. The hands behind this whole operation. Hopefully the woman would be ushered in soon.

Sedra's assistant finally managed to trap Sedra in the lab coat, and disappeared back down the hallway. Sedra was hurrying towards the medical wing of her facility, advancing through a white hallway lined with tall windows. It was bright and hot outside today, and each sunlit window passed a warm hand over her. The medical wing always had the distinct smell of cleaner and rubbing alcohol, a smell Sedra always liked.

Kiejen435 stopped at a door, turning the knob and opening it for Sedra. She stepped through, shifting the clipboard up against her stomach. The room was filled with women--despicable looking women--standing in a mess with controllers around.

"These are the women, Sub-Visser," Kiejen leaned sideways to whisper. Sedra raised an eyebrow.


Luce:
Luce's eyes began to burn when she saw the female controller seemingly in charge of this operation. She quickly dropped her eyes, hoping she hadn't been seen. Get control of yourself she warned her emotions venhemently. This was a mission, she had a job to do and she would be damned if she let old ties get in the way.

But it was hard to see Catherine again. Luce thought she would never have to see any of the people who had populated her old life once she had been freed. And she figured if she had seen them she would be in a position to kill them. But not today. Not now.

She kept her head down and hoped that Sedra would not recognize her.


Adele:
The eerie, lone tapping of Adele Nash's high-heeled shoes made the hallway of whitewash and disinfectant all the more unnerving. Once or twice she heard muffled screams, but they were all cut short or dissented into quiet wails and weeping. Adele Nash was about as nervous as Sazoirl about seeing their little project. Which was not at all. Whatever horrors the Yeerks might have conjured up for these women, Adele would be unmoved. Just as she was by many other things.

When she approached the metal desk that sat a few feet from double doors that read "Authorized Personnel Only", Sazoirl saw that there was indeed a clerk there. The mousy looking man dressed in a dingy lab coat did not notice her presence. He stared intently at an open file. Sazoirl shifted her weight to one hip and cleared her throat.

The clerk jumped, eyes wide.

"Sub-Visser 39! We weren't expecting you so soon and so....alone." His eyes scanned her, drawn to the Dracon beam strapped to her thigh, just slightly concealed by her grey skirt.

"Inform Sub-Visser 48 that I'm here. And get me a coffee."


Ray:
Things were looking grim and Ray had no idea what the heck could be behind the hologram other than his teammates. There wasn't anyway to strategize for something like this and he knew that there weren't many options or much time left. Currently, he wasn't sure if Rian was relaying messages to the others or not because it'd be private if he did, but they all needed to think up something because the others could be close to getting a yeerk by now.

<<Should I go ahead and start to go into my battle morph Rian?>> Ray asked, now flying around in circles. He wasn't sure of anything other than the need to get the teammates free. His moose morph would defininetly hold it's own against a lot of things that the controllers could throw at it. The only problem was, he couldn't assess how much they had since the truck had just disappeared in what now seemed to be a hologram. Either way, they were now forced into entering whether they liked it or not.


Drake:
Drake sat snugly in the hand of one of the girls. The calmness of his current location and the lack of information he had were starting to drive him insane. Drake was a patient person, but he did not like the feeling of not knowing what the situation was.

More than once Drake considered asking Ember and Luce for some information, but he resisted the temptation. He knew that if it were safe to tell him anything, they would have. It was probably best not to distract them. Still...

Drake wiggled through a space between a couple fingers and stuck his tiny head through the crack. Wherever they were, it looked very bright, and his bizarre sense of smell picked up the sent of sterileness. <<I think we may be somewhere medical, but Ember and Luce have not told me anything yet, so I can not be positive.>> Drake was not sure how much this information could help, but he relayed it anyway. Hopefully the others were still within thought speech range.


Rian:
Rian stretched his wings out to catch the thermals that were rising off the desert. His kestrel form soared serenely in the sky over the vast expanse of empty desert below him. Or that peaceful scene is what it would appear like to an outside watcher.

In actuality, Rian was tense and the desert below them was anything but empty. <<We have to wait,>> he told Ray. Even as he said the words he hated them. He hated waiting. Only now was he really starting to understand all those times he had read about battles and how the waiting was the worst part. All he could do was fly here, waiting for a signal from Ember that they needed help.

Then, if they were lucky, they would be able to fly to the rescue. But until then they just had to fly here...waiting...not knowing what was happening...not knowing if their teammates were ok. The frustration of it made Rian want to scream but he didn't. It wouldn't help and if he was feeling this then Ray, Diana and Cecily must be feeling it worse.

<<Whatever they have down there we probably can't take it on no matter how powerful our morphs are. They have a whole base down there, a base that we don't know the layout of. We would be on their turf, where they have the advantage and half of us don't have battle morphs yet. Added to that, our three other team members are unaccounted for and could be killed by anything we do. We have to wait until we have more details. That is what this mission is about, getting the layout of that base so that we can plan an attack on it later. We just have to trust that Ember, Luce and Drake are good at their jobs.>>

[Admin]

Sedra:
<<Filthy.>> Sedra couldn't help the expression that crossed her face as she scanned the women. For one brief moment her eyes rested on Luce, then trailed across the others gathered around. The realization didn't hit her until she did a double-take. A flash of surprise and confusion crossed her face, and she frowned. Jals? The brief moment of recognition was gone almost immediately, and Sedra glanced back to the others gathered.

"Welcome, my dear humans, to the end of your freedom. We are here to make sure you are nice and comfortable as you work for us," Sedra twisted Catherine's lips into a smirk. "Atleast, those of you who are useful to us." She looked to Kiejen, who immediately began telling the controllers with clip-boards to round up the women. Sedra glanced one last time at Luce, as if to confirm something, then disappeared out the door.

She hurried along the hallways of the facility, pushing past human controllers dressed in doctor's clothing. Screams and moans echoed down corridors, and Sedra felt a twinge of discomfort from Catherine. Her host had kept quiet after her earlier quip, but Sedra could still feel the rage boiling underneath her silence. Good, let her be angry.

Sedra emerged from the double-doors with one of her assistants buzzing behind her. The girl was holding a hot coffee between her hands, and slid between both the Sub-Vissers to offer Sazoirl her coffee. "Here, Sub-Visser..."

Sedra glanced at the girl holding the coffee before shifting her gaze to Sazoirl. "Sub-Visser." The mild tone of Catherine's greeting was shaded with Sedra's displeasure of the higher-ranking Sub-Visser's appearance. However, she intended to hide it, as her face was etched in a warm, welcoming expression. "We did not expect you today. I hope you have been comfortably accomodated...?" She lifted her eyebrows, wanting to know exactly why the Sub-Visser was here. Had they done something wrong at this point? The operation had been running smooth so far, or so Sedra thought.

Meanwhile, Kiejen took a quick head count of the women that were being round up in the room. "Eight..." He mumbled, glancing down at his clipboard and scribbling on it. Men were grabbing the women roughly, leading them out of the room and through a door that opened into the holding cells. A man rushed ahead with an ID card, holding it forward to unlock one of the cells. The door swung open, and the eight women were crowded into the cell together.


Ember:
Ember hit the door as soon as it was locked behind them, confirming that they were indeed screwed. "Dammit." She swore a few more times under her breath, then turned to Luce. "You got Drake? Good. I'm not sure if we're still in range but if we stay locked up like this for very long and the guys don't know whats happened they might get reckless and go ahead without a signal that its safe." She calmed herself by counting out her breaths as she took stock of the room and the women there. The controllers hadn't stuck them anywhere permanent, and they were still only the original street girls, so she could safely assume they would be moved eventually.

"We need to try and get out before they take us someplace with higher security. Get a good look around, and try to send up the sign as soon as possible. We also need to know where we are, and how to get in and out. If they don't know one of us is missing while they're holding us in this temporary room, then maybe we can get a safe look around. Otherwise... if we wait too long..."

She was repeating herself. Luce knew this already.

Ember searched the blank white walls, the florescent lit ceiling, the steel door. Nothing. Of course not, even if these women looked broken the yeerks wouldn't take the chance of their new experiments running away. These women, Ember took a good look now that they were visible. It was what she'd assumed in the van. They were free, whatever good that did them. Even if she could somehow punch a hole superman-style through the wall to freedom... would they even recognize the opportunity? She shook her head. No time to think like that. Luce may think they were just going to stick to reconnaissance, but Ember had already made up her mind to save these women.

The yeerks could not win.


Adele:
"Everything has been perfect, Sub-Visser 48." The tone Sazoirl used was one that Adele used when she was flattering her way out of something; or into something. With her slender, manicured fingers she traced the lining of the Styrofoam cup that held her coffee, the large diamond on her wedding band sparkling in the fluorescent light.

She looked at Sedra's host for a moment. She was not unlike Adele. Small, delicate. Dark chestnut colored hair took the place of platinum blonde locks. Her eyes were intense. Calculating. Sazoirl felt that if Catherine Michel and Adele Nash were to ever meet as themselves, they would not get along. Perhaps Sazoirl's mild hostility was spawned from such an inclination.

"I take it that the same is true on your end?" It was a rhetorical question. Of course things were going well. Adele stepped closer to the door, a small frown forming on her pink lips.

"May I? I'd like to see what all of my money is going towards."


Luce:
Luce was too busy freaking out to really worry about what Ember was saying. Of course when Luce freaked out it meant that she was staring intently into space. In fact the only difference between now and how she normally acted was that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. If someone had snuck up behind her Luce wouldn't have noticed. And that was telling enough.

Catherine. Of all the people she had never thought she would see again. Had she been spotted? She wasn't sure. A part of her hoped she had, maybe, she ended the train of thought. Being seen would be bad, no part of her should be hoping for it.

She started to clench her fist but even her internal turmoil, something she wasn't used to feeling, wouldn't allow her to unthinkingly crush a team mate. She let the moth flutter away.

"We should report in. See if Drake can hear the others. If not he's going to have to demorph soon and there are probably cameras in this room." He voice was monotone, and luckily for her that wasn't unusual so Ember wouldn't take note of it.


Drake:
For a moment, Drake thought he would be crushed, but then he was released into the wide-open skies of their cell. He fluttered up to the light by the ceiling. <<I will try to contact the others,>> Drake informed Ember and Luce.

<<HEY RIAN! CAN YOU HEAR ME?... CAN ANY OF YOU HEAR ME?...>> Drake waited for a response, but never heard one. <<I think they are out of range. At least I hope that is why they are not responding.>> Drake was starting to get more worried by the minute.


Sedra:
"Excellent," Sedra said warmly, her face held in a stiff smile. It was obvious that there was no love between the two Sub-Vissers, even if they kept their interactions professional. The assistant that had brought the coffee vanished back through the double doors, leaving them to swish back and forth in the sudden silence between the two Yeerks. Sedra's lips were pressed together and she watched the Sub-Visser with a masked expression. She was judging the Sub-Visser; Sazoirl was the hands behind this operation, and Sedra had yet to meet her until now.

Despite all her attempts to concentrate, Sedra couldn't help being distracted. Jals' appearance had thrown her off considerably. What in the world was the fool doing here? Was he insane, dressing up like a human prostitute? And yet, there was a small twist of hope in Sedra. Maybe he had known she was here, and had sought her out. It seemed foolish to entertain the thought, but she couldn't help it.

Unexpectedly, there was no mocking remarks from Catherine, just silence. A silence that filled Sedra's head when she wished her host would say something. Something snide and sarcastic so that Sedra could release her aggression on her host.

Idly, her eyes briefly took in the ring perched on Sazoirl's finger, then shifted back to the woman's face. Hot steam curled from the Styrofoam cup, filling the air with the distinct smell of coffee. Sedra let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, and blinked.

"Mmm. Yes." Her voice was short and clipped now. She moved to the double doors, pressing them open and pointing to the long, open hallway. "I can give you a tour of the facilities, if you are so inclined. So far the experiments have been a resounding success. We already have had a batch of human children born and sent to the farms." Sedra's cold expression melted into one of pride, and she puffed her chest out. She was always, at heart, a Yeerk scientist, and truly felt that her work furthered the Empire's best interest.

At long last Sedra could feel her host's disgust surfacing at the thought. <<They will discover your hypocrisy, Sedra. I'm going to enjoy that day and savor every moment they starve and torture your pathetic little body out my head.>>

Involuntarily Sedra visibly clenched her jaw and tightened her fingers into a fist. She already knew what territory she had stepped over so many years ago, and there was no way to take it back. Focusing her attention solely on the Sub-Visser, Sedra motioned for her to follow her through the doors. She was not sure if Sazoirl wanted to wander by herself or have a guide.


Adele:
Sazoirl took a sip of the black, very black, coffee that jolted her awareness and strangely, at the same time, relaxed her. She nodded often and made little noises of acknowledgment while Sedra talked about the operation.

<<Are we almost done here?>> Adele asked, surprisingly idly. Sazoirl had gotten used to the unorthodox thinking. Any other host would have been berating her with objections and discontent. <<You know there's a pile of papers to sign back in Vegas and I don't want to be kept up late because you saw fit to dawdle in this dump.>>

Sazoirl had stopped listening to Adele's impatience and turned her attention back to Sedra.

"Very droll, sub-visser, but I don't think that a comprehensive tour is necessary at this stage of the operation. Stay in touch, will you?" She presented a business card from her attache case and handed it to Sedra.


Drake:
Drake fluttered around the call for a while, but nothing seemed to be happening at the moment and he needed to demorph soon. He was not exactly sure how long he had been in morph, but knew he was getting close to the two hour limit. Drake definitely did not want to get trapped forever as a moth.

<<I got to find a place to demorph and remorph,>> He told Ember and Luce. <<I will be back as soon as possible.>> With that he fluttered off into the hallway, making sure to stay close to the ceiling.

As he moved around the facility, Drake could hear random screams and cries of desperation. It was extremely disturbing, but only heightened his desire to do something about it. He flew through an open doorway into an empty room. It was dark and quiet, so he went to a far corner under what he assumed was a desk, and began to demorph.

He started to demorph gradually at first, but once his eyes formed and he could see that the room was in fact empty he sped up the process. Once fully human, Drake stood up in the empty room to take a look around. There was a bunch of scientific equipment, piles of papers, and other stuff like that. Then Drake turned around and looked at what was on the wall. His jaw dropped as he comprehended what he saw...


Ray:
Ray flew down onto the ground and landed in the desert sand. It was an odd thing for a crow to do at night and the bird knew it. Ray didn't like waiting and was nearly beside himself ready to jump in and do what he could to save his comrades, but knew better. Rian was right in that he had to wait for them to do their thing and hopefully come back.

Preening nervously he ran through the possible scenarios they could be experiencing and what he was thinking about wasn't pretty. The night was as silent as it was dark with no noise being made although there was a slight wind. He tried calling again and got no response which ment that they were truly on their own.

It was going to be a very long night it seemed.


Ember:
Ember nodded to Luce's statement, unaware of her shift in demeanor, "Drake?" But he was already gone. "He's already out. Hopefully he'll find someplace safe to demorph."

Her brain felt scattered, like there was a constant buzzing in her ear that wouldn't let her break down the situation and think through it logically, as a real leader would have been able to do. Ember bit her lip bitterly. If Ray had been in here instead of her, she was sure he would have thought of something more than 'wait it for the guys to rescue us and hopefully don't get killed.' which is what her plan was shaping up to be... She sighed, and placed her forehead on the wall in a effort to block out distractions.

They had no backup. They were in a locked room, with no way out, and somehow needed to get a message to the faction members outside so they could rescue the women from the yeerks. Right, easy enough. Ember shook her head, sarcasm wasn't going to help and she knew it. Her hands felt their way along the white washed concrete of their cell. Solid. But maybe... they wouldn't actually have to break out, but let their captors open the door for them! If some of the previously-assumed brain dead prostitutes started trying something unexpected, the yeerks would immediately send someone to investigate. They just had to somehow take advantage of that opening and get either Luce or herself out in the chaos.

"Luce! Help me try to break the door down!" Ember called, backing up a few paces and facing opposite the overwhelming steel.


Luce:
Ember backed up and got ready to run at the three foot thick steel door. Luce had a flash of inspiration and as Ember came in arm's length Luce sucker punched her. Ember stumbled backward and fell on the floor of the cell and her nose started to bleed. Luce jumped on top of her and put her elbow under Ember's chin.

"So, I figure they have camera's in here." Luce said calmly. "And when we start fighting each other they will send someone in to break it up, though they might not stop us from beating senselessly at the door." She punched Ember again, not very hard though but it would look harsh to anyone he didn't know any martial art. "So Em, let's give them a show, yes. I've trained you, use it."


Ember:
Ember never saw the hit coming, it knocked her so hard on her backside she thought the room had been turned upside down. Then Luce was on top of her, inches away from her face with her fist raised back in the air. She got a glimpse of what the woman was saying in her expression though she couldn't quite comprehend it in time to block the second blow. And whatever Luce was saying so calmly didn't even reach Ember's brain until after the waves of pain racked her brain.

Oh, the thought drifted in by the third blow, I should probably start fighting back now huh?

Her forearm sprang into position, the katas having been drilled into her from their practice finally taking effect. Luce's fourth swing was swiped away and Ember managed to roll onto her knees and land a hastily thrown punch at her ribcage in return. In practice Ember was never able to land more than a few lucky hits on Luce, but since this was for show, it connected. Luce was pushed back and now they were both on even footing. They countered each other, strike for strike, well rehearsed from grueling hours of intensive training in the mornings. But to the outsider it would have looked like a brawl where either one of them could hurt the other beyond repair.

Ember ducked in, but was evaded. She took the time to glance up at the round glass in the corner of the ceiling. Any minute now... She rubbed the stream of blood from her nose onto the back of her hand and turned for the next spar. Unfortunately, if they didn't come soon, she might have to bleed a lot more to catch their attention.


Sedra:
The curve of Sedra's lip twitched, and she lifted an eyebrow. Well at least now she wouldn't have to babysit the Sub-Visser around her facility. "Very well. We'll keep in touch." She plucked the card from the Sub-Visser's fingers and tucked it in one of her pockets. "Pleasant meeting you, Sub-Visser. However, I have some business. Excuse me." She flashed a strained smile and turned to leave. She was glad to be rid of the Sub-Visser, she wouldn't have to be on guard around her own base.

The doors swished behind her as she pushed through them, the folds of her white lab coat stirring with her movements. The hallways were almost silent except for the occasional bustle of a controller hurrying down the carpet and past her. Often they would throw quiet looks at her, and give her empty smiles.

Her mind wandered back to the newest batch of women that had come through. If it truly was Jals, she needed to extract him from the group before they were moved from the temporary cells for testing. She needed to speak with him.

<<I doubt he came here for you.>> Came Catherine's voice in her head.

"Sub-Visser!" A voice shouted. Sedra blinked, looking to a man that was walking up to her. "Sub-Visser, some of the new women are fighting in the cell." His face was plain with agitation. "What do we do?"

"Pardon?" She said. Fighting? "What are you doing telling me? Have somebody separate them."

"We already sent some people, Sub-Visser."

She hesitated. "I'll go with." They hurried towards the cells. Once they arrived, Sedra pushed through the door to the rooms, where a group of armed controllers had formed. They hadn't opened the door yet, unsure of what to do. Instead, they were peering in at the small glass window built into the thick steel door.

"Move it," She said to them, her voice full of irritation. They parted, and Sedra walked up to the door and swiped her ID card at the scanner. The doors opened, revealing the inside of the cell. The other six women had formed a circle around the two fighting and were making loud noises. As armed controllers squeezed into the small cell, the women cried out and scattered around the room.

"Grab the girls who are fighting!" Sedra shouted. The situation was becoming a small mess, and a couple of controllers made a grab for both Luce and Ember.


Drake:
... on the wall Drake found what appeared to be a large diagram and a shelf with many jars. The diagram looked as if it was highlighting the steps of a procedure that was 'farming' babies. It was covered in all sorts of symbols and equations that Drake did not understand, but the basic meaning, with the help of a few pictures, made it clear.

Worse yet were the jars. They contained babies preserved at different stages of development. Drakes gut wrenched as he looked at them. The labels had all sorts of detailed medical jargon that you would need a Masters Degree in Medicine to understand.

He had to go tell the others. He immediately started to morph back into his moth form, barely taking the time to hide under the desk again. Two minutes later he was in the air and trying to retrace his flight path back to Luce and Ember.


Luce:
Luce heard Catherine's voice behind her and had to fight to control her desire to look around. She lost, but only a bit. Her eyes swept the room and landed briefly on Catherine's face, making sure it was actually her, before she focused her attention on the oncoming guards.

She had to remind herself not to do her worst. She landed a few hits, keeping Ember at her back and trusting her to cover it, but finally she let herself be taken down. One of them had to be taken down or the guards would just beat up all the women. But maybe, if they just took one down, they would lower their guard and Ember would have a chance to fight through. And Luce had the best chance of getting up.


Ember:
Ember gaped as Luce went down so easily. Then she remembered the plan and the somewhat dim lightbulb went off over her head. Right, of course, one of us has to get out now and Luce makes the best distraction since she can survive anything they hit her with. I think. That's the plan, right Luce? Agh, why didn't we talk this over first?!

Well whatever the plan was, Ember was only briefly grabbed by one of the controllers. She went limp and stumbled backward, crying for effect. The guard quickly came to the conclusion she was the victim in this stunt and let her go, turning to help three or four others try and restrain Luce. Then all that was between Ember and the open door was one woman controller. The other women in the room were still running around, fighting each other for the farthest corner to coward in. Ember just joined that chaos and barreled into Sedra while the guards were still distracted. Whipping around the surprised woman, she shoved her farther inside and slammed the door behind her.

One guard remained outside the room, having not made inside during the fight. Ember shoved her palm into his nose, breaking it. He fell and, just as Luce taught her, Ember hit him in the ribs with the tip of her foot so he couldn't get up, then kicked his jaw so his head snapped back against the wall. It didn't kill him, she hoped, just knocked him out. And looky there, he had his badge out for her and everything. She smiled a bit, allowing her some satisfaction over the victory. But she couldn't wait long, more would be on the way soon. She snatched the pass and ran, letting the red feather boa flutter to the ground behind her.


Sedra:
Sedra moved closer to the door to get a better view of the chaos inside the cell, and caught sight of Luce. She didn't seem surprised to see Jals' host as one of the ones fighting, but she was still unnerved by his appearance. Now he had gotten into this whole mess, and annoyance crept up in her expression.

The guards took Luce down, and the other girl seemed to disappear for a second. "Grab the other one, you fool!" Sedra shouted over the noise from the other woman. Where was---? Suddenly one of the women charged out of the crowd and ran straight into Sedra. Before she could react, she was shoved into the cell and the door slammed behind the girl. Sedra fell hard to the ground, and one of the wandering women stepped on her.

"Get off!" Sedra pulled herself up quickly and drove the woman to the ground with a strong push. "Filthy human!" She snarled, fuming, and grabbed one of the nearby guards. "What in the hell has happened? You cowards are useless! Get all the women to the walls, now! Idiots!"

"Yes Sub-Visser!" He said shakily.

She pushed him back roughly and her icy gaze fell on Luce being held by a couple guards. "Are you insane?" The remaining guards began to round all the women up against the walls, and Sedra stalked up to Luce. Her face was inches from Luce's, an angry heat in her gaze. "What were you thinking? Look what's happened." The guards holding Luce glanced at each other in confusion, unsure why their Sub-Visser was speaking to a human. She looked to them both, then turned when the door behind her clicked.

Kiejen appeared in the doorway, his face soaked with sweat. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Sub-Visser, a girl--"

"Yes, I know. Go after her!" Sedra barked. Kiejen turned right away and disappeared out the door with a couple guards. She nodded to the two controllers holding Luce, and they released her. "Come with me. Now." All of the other women were crowded in a group against the wall, wailing and weeping.

She stood in the doorway impatiently, taking a deep breath. She was truly angry, but there was also a flutter of excitement in her. He was here, now, and she hadn't seen him for what seemed like ages. He had what she wanted, and that was all she could think of.


Luce:
As the guards hauled Luce to her feet she saw Ember escape into the hallways. Good, one of them was loose and would be able to scout the facility. Hopefully Drake would be able to find Ember. Unfortunately that left her on her own with no way of contacting any of her team, but Luce didn't mind that much. She would escape or she wouldn't. In the meantime she would concentrate on completing her mission. If all else failed suicide was always an option.

Americans avoided the thought of suicide. The Puritan roots of the culture still had plenty to say on that subject and still held very strongly. But Luce had grown up all over the world and, furthermore, had been trained in kendo. Her teachers didn't have much more of a connection to the ancient samurai that created their art than the average person, but what they knew of the tradition they had tried to pass on to their students. And one of the rules was death was better than surrender. It was much better to have the courage to take your own life than be a coward and let your enemies use you against your own side.

In the battlefields of old such a standard might be too harsh. But on this battlefield it was unfortunately apt.

"Are you insane."

Luce turned to see Catherine standing in front of her. Luce's eyes flashed with emotions even Luce wouldn't have been able to put a name to. Maybe anger. Maybe hate. Maybe something else. But whatever fire had been there was quickly extinguished by Luce's self control, her eyes taking on their usual steely tone that gave little away.

The guards wondered why their sub-visser would be talking with such familiarity to a captive and Catherine leaned in, her face inches from Luce's own, her voice dropped so that only Luce's ears would catch it. "What were you thinking? Look what's happened."

They might not be able to hear what Catherine was saying but the guards still thought it was odd that she was talking at all and Catherine knew it. She stepped back. Luce wondered why Catherine was wasting her breath as well and that is when it occurred to her that Catherine might not know that Luce was free. Well, that could be useful.

A controller came in and reported that Ember had gotten away. Catherine ordered her found but Luce didn't think the unknown and unfortunate controller would be able to deliver on that order.

Then they were on the move, Luce being hauled along by the overly muscled guards at her side. Their grip was heavy and weak on her arms. She could have broken it but the guards didn't need to be skilled to beat her. They had enough weight behind them to pummel her, especially in this narrow hallway where Luce wouldn't be able to move to avoid them. She could maybe, maybe, take on one, not two. Besides, going along with them might lead her to the information she needed if she was right about her guess and Catherine.

They finally stopped outside of an office of some sort.


Ember:
Ember panted, breaking her stride and dodging into a corner to regain her breath since it seemed that, for the meantime, she had escaped the chase.

There was a hallway behind her, whitewashed and vacant, with glaring florescent lights that even alien technology couldn't beat. If there had been a speck of dust Ember would have seen it. So she took the thankful moment to gather her strength and strip her feet of the obnoxiously tall heels. Maybe they made her legs look more slender but escaping in them the first time must have been a miracle, and she doubted it could be repeated due to the ache in her ankles and calves. Meanwhile her red corset top squeezed against her ribcage, summing up how her whole body felt; Tired and sore.

Vaguely she wondered how action movie actresses could manage it. And she was still in that thought when a heavy hand fell upon her neck, dragging her backward.

"Don't move human!"

Ember swore under her breath. A controller, she'd let a controller sneak up behind her just because she felt a little tired. What was she thinking? This was a mission. She could die, right here and now.

"Ugh, that would suck." She mumbled to herself, relaxing into the guards grip so she could turn to see him over her shoulder. The good thing was, he was alone. The bad thing... it looked like he could crush a car. His caveman brow hung over his dark inset eyes, a weighted frown on his face although it was clear he couldn't actually think. Probably being piloted by a low level yeerk used to do manual things for the higher ups. Also, probably why he hadn't called for backup and didn't have a partner with him. But if he dragged her back to the main area she wouldn't have that advantage for long.

Ha, yeah right. Like she had an advantage over this mountain.

Before he could get a firmer grip, she yanked her neck free and pulled her elbow up sharply, connecting with his nose. He barely blinked as it cracked, smashing into his bored expression. Ember took several steps back, weaving lightly although he made no attempt to catch her. Instead he reached up with the back of his massive hand and wiped the stream of blood from his upper lip. Then in one step he overtook her and grabbed her throat again, hoisting her up into the air. She panicked, flailing at his arm and kicking at his chest with no effect. Alone in a glaringly bright hall about to be crushed by a controller whose host must've been a pro wrestler, Ember couldn't think of a single thing to do to save her life.


Sedra:
It felt like the Sub-Visser had been running back and forth all day, and she was beginning to feel it. Her movements down the hallways were stiff, and there was a distant look on her face. Behind her, the guards shuffled Luce along carelessly. Catherine was mostly quiet, but Sedra knew there was a part of her host that was relieved to know Luce was still alive, even if Jals was most likely still controlling her.

Sedra's heels clattered against the slick floor, and she pushed her way through a couple tall double doors. They swished behind the group, and a wide-eyed controller watched them pass through. They were still in the medical wing of the Area 51 facility, but in the section away from the testing and cells. Sedra stopped at a frosted glass door, passing her card over a scanner. The door buzzed, clicked, then swished open.

She moved in, and the guards followed close behind with Luce in tow. The room was not as roomy as her other office, but it was nice. There were bookcases lining one wall, containing all sorts of scientific literature, human and alien. There were a couple desks, both of which were coated with stacks of papers and clipboards, and another smaller desk neatly arranged with a couple fish tanks, sans the fish. There was one large window in the furthest wall from the door, and the warm desert sun heated the soft office carpet.

Sedra turned around as she arrived at one of her desks, waving her hand at the guards. "Go, go. It's fine." Without a word, the two controllers let go of Luce's arms and exited the room. Once the door was closed behind them, Sedra shrugged off her lab coat and threw it over the chair. Underneath, she was dressed a blue fitted blouse and jeans.

Unsure of what to do, she placed her hands on top of the chair in front of her and let her dark blue eyes rest on Luce and her attire. What in the world was had Jals dressed up like this for? She let out a tight breath of air, and squeezed her fingertips on the chair.

"Where have you been, Jals? And why are you running around with free humans and getting caught?" She asked shortly. Her voice had the usual odd calmness to it when she was attempting to hide any difference of emotion; One didn't get further up in the ranks by being reckless and emotional. But there was an obvious tone of affection and worry in it, needled somewhere within her voice and expression. She paused, then began again. "I thought you might have been killed. You were just...gone." The question was burning in her, but she was trying to be patient and not blurt it out.


Drake:
Drake was fluttering down the hallway, near the ceiling. He had made a wrong turn somewhere and now he was lost. <<Not the best place to get lost in Drake,>>he said to himself. There was not much more he could do than check all the halls.

Suddenly, Drake's bizarre sense of smell kicked in. It was the smell of Ember! Or more specifically, her perfume. She must be close. Drake fluttered around the general area until he found her, and when he did, he did not like what he found.

He could not see very well with his moth eyes, but judging by the vague figures in his field of vision, Ember was fighting a big goon. And losing. As the attacker grabbed Ember by the neck and started strangling her, Drake could not do anything but watch her lose. After all, what could a moth do to someone like that? Unless...

Drake dive-bombed the controller. A pretty pathetic gesture coming from a moth, but he had to try. He was aiming for the head, but not for the face. He was aiming for the ear. He landed right in the earlobe and tried to force his way towards the eardrum as best he could, flapping his wings and wiggling his legs the whole way. Hopefully his relentless tickling would be a big enough distraction for Ember to find a way to escape.


Ember:
The monstrous man almost didn't seem to notice the feathery moth crawling into his ear canal. Ember watched, small gurgling noises escaping from her as his hand squeezed shut over her wind pipe. She'd seen what Drake had tried but as her vision blurred she just knew it was too little too late. Her nails scratched at the controller's arms, giving her last bit of strength to-

Falling, Ember landed roughly on her tail bone, smarting her entire backside so much she would have gasped even if she hadn't been suffocated. Air flowed freshly through her lungs to the point of hyperventilation. Over her pounding heart and heavy breaths she heard a strange, grumbling noise coming from the muscle bound giant. She looked up, seeing his hand still outstretched but the fingers open and twitching slightly. On his lips there was, what one might call if you were to use the loosest terms, a... smile? His heavy lidded eyes stared blankly out into space as the grumbling muttering rolled up through his gut to come out as a strange chuckle.

Ember could see the late physical reaction taking place, even while the yeerk inside tried to regain control. Poor mountain guy looked kind of pathetic, fraught between laughter and killing instinct like that. Then his hand started to move and Ember jolted, springing to her feet as a wicked head rush caught up to her. But if she didn't move, Drake was going to get squashed! How would she explain that one? She jumped, wrapping her upper body around his thick forearm and using her whole weight to pull it away from his ear. Then, before he could manage the coordination to use his off hand, she used her momentum to deliver and rough kick to his groin. The physical reaction to that took far less time.

She toppled over him as he fell, regaining her footing as he clutched at his lower extremities and plucked Drake from his ear, scooping him into her hands. Without turning back she set off at the fastest run of her life.

"Drake!" She gasped, turning a corner, ducking behind a door, slamming it, then running down another length of hall. "We have to get out of here!"


Adele:
Sazoirl was faintly aware that there was some shouting and ruckus going on in some far reaches of the facility. She ignored it, focusing on the likely possibility that she was not one hundred percent sure of where she had parked in relation to the many, many exits. She'd even stumbled across some that were probably not even supposed to be used.

<<Good job. You got us lost.>>

<<Don't you mean good job, we can't remember where we came from between the two of us?>>

The slapping of footsteps---obviously someone sprinting--was increasing in volume. Adele fiddled with her ring, unconcerned with an interloper of any sort. There was a Dracon beam in close proximity on her person---all the more reason for her indifference. Adele took some more steps, heels clacking delicately on the linoleum, almost waiting for someone to catch up to her.


Drake:
<<Ember! You escaped! Did my plan work?>> Drake exclaimed as he was pulled from the man's ear and carried in Ember's palm. Her answer didn't really matter, since she was free from the man's grip.

"We have to get out of here!"

Drake could not tell where he was being carried and he was still lost, so he could not offer up suggestions. He just hoped they did not run into anyone else who was dangerous. <<We are in a different part of the building now, so maybe the others are within thought speech range now. I'll try to contact them.>> It was a long-shot, but still worth a try.

<<Rian, Ray, anybody, can you hear me!?>>


Rian:
"On three. One, two, three, g-No! You were supposed to wait for go. One two three go," Rian whispered vehemently as he ran after Ray towards the next door. They ducked inside and stopped. "Ok, next time it's one two three go ok? We go on go."

Rian and Ray had finally decided to join the party. Rian had left Cecily and Diana outside as backup but after a half hour of no communication from his three members on the inside Rian had determined that they were in trouble and that it was time to scrap this mission. He didn't know if they were going to be able to stop what was going on here but he wanted his team, and especially Ember, out of this place. When he looked at it he felt the same fear that a child feels when he looks into the chasm of darkness that exists under his bed. Rian didn't need his team to tell him that this place was bad news.

Now they were sneaking through the hallways of the facility after getting themselves captured and slipping their bonds with morphing. The yeerks would know that animorphs had been here but it was the lesser of two evils when the alternative was leaving Ember, Luce and Drake to die.

"That door, then we should head-"Rian stopped as two things happened at once. One was that Drake's voice finally made itself known in his mind once again and the second was a female controller walked past their hiding spot. <<Drake, jesus man it is good to hear your voice. Report. What's going on in here?>> Sometimes having a morph for a body wasn't the worst thing in the world.

But his second problem had yet to be solved. The woman was heading right for the door they needed to go through and that meant they would have to deal with her on the other side. Best to ambush her now, knock her out and keep going. <<Ray, let's take her out.>>

Rian started jogging down the hallway towards the unsuspecting controller.


Luce:
Luce didn't show many emotions of her own. In fact she didn't have many to begin with so there weren't many to show. Because of that people often assumed she couldn't read emotions either. They couldn't be farther from the truth. Luce's mother had been very much like Luce herself, emotionless most of the time. Luce had been forced to learn to read the smallest nuance of expression in order to read her mother's moods and avoid them when she didn't feel like dealing with a mother.

The talent had never been lost and that, combined with the amount of time she had spent with Catherine and the memories that Jals had of her accounting for more time, made Catherine easy to read. Maybe she wouldn't have been to anyone else, but Luce wasn't anyone else.

She sensed the concern, the weary amusement at what Catherine-no, Sedra, saw as another one of Jals' experiments. Show time. Luce would have to pretend to be Jals, pretend to care what had happened to Sedra these past few months, pretend that she was glad to see Catherine well.

Luce wondered how to pretend emotions she didn't feel but surprised herself when she discovered she did feel them. She did want to know how Catherine had faired, if she was ok. "I...I've been undercover." Luce decided that it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible. "I was sent to infiltrate the animorphs. No communication was possible." Luce tried to think of what Jals would have done at this moment and she knew it would have used her face to give its winning smile, a smile that said forgive me in spite of all my faults. It was a smile that charmed everyone and had gotten Jals out of more trouble than should have been possible. But Luce couldn't make that expression.

Instead her face showed the concern she was actually feeling, or at least her eyes did which was all the emotional expression she could allow herself. "How are you?"


Drake:
Drake was a bit shocked when Rian's thought speech voice replied to him in his head. <<Ember, I got contact with Rian.>> He wanted a report? So much had happened since they were last in contact, that Drake almost did not know where to begin.

<<After we last talked, Luce and Ember were put into a holding room. I left for a while because I had to demorph. On my way back I ran into Ember in the hall. Apparently she escaped, but she was being attacked by a controller, so I saved her. Now we are going down a hall or something. I can not really tell. I am still a moth, and I have not had a chance to ask Ember what happened while I was away..>> In his rush to report what had happened, he had almost forgotten to say what was going on here.

<<Oh yeah. When I demorphed, I was in this science lab-type room. Judging by what they had in there, they are using women as baby incubators.>> Drake stopped talking to let the thought sink in.


Ray:
Ray heard Rian's thought speak, but couldn't reply as he was not in morph like Rian was. Human was the best choice as it had the best mobility for these hallways and still having the hands to open doors and such. Hopefully he'd be able to nab a weapon or something as he raced through the hallway. Speaking of weapons, I sure hope she doesn't have one.

Ray didn't like how he was supposed to do this. First off it was a woman and he'd have trouble with that fact seeing as how he'd probably have to knock her out. Secondly it was an ambush which wasn't so hard as an animal, but as a human, he'd just prefer a head on fight. He knew this sounded strategically dumb, but it preference was preference.

Sneaking up through the hallway, up behind the woman, he grabbed her throwing an arm around her neck and a hand over her mouth. He then looked at Rian with an unsure look as to what he should do with her.


Adele:
The hands that grabbed Adele belonged to a male. A young man whose anxiety over the assault of her person, a woman, rolled off of him. It was that extra sense that Sazoirl had gotten from her host---to sense fear in co-workers.

<<Don't yell, slug. Be tactful and practice what you've learned from me.>> There was an edge in Adele's thought speak. If Sazoirl went on the offensive, they could both die. Sazoirl didn't respond, but she lifted her hand slowly to touch the hand of the attacker. Her slender, delicate hand gently pried his fingers off of her mouth. Adele, very cautiously, very softly, spoke.

"I am not going to yell. But don't do anything stupid---I am not unarmed."


Ember:
Ember frowned, half listening to Drake's report as she continued to run. "You did not save me. I would have been fine! And... ew, baby incubators?" Her whole body shuddered. So that's what they'd been doing with those women, and why they only took the ones who were younger. "I know these slugs are evil, but ugh! That's just- gross!"

She skidded around a corner, bursting into a room that looked like a hangar. A few alien ships were tethered at even paces and the ceiling was rigged to open up to the bare sky. Her foot steps echoed, growing slower as she was overwhelmed by sheer jaw dropping awe . It looked like a movie set, only better. Maybe the yeerks had converted some army base? "Hey Drake... I think I just found our way out of here." Ember grinned nervously.

"We have to find Luce first, she was back there in the room with the other captured women. She distracted them so I could get out, we have to go back and rescue her! Oh god, that was such a stupid plan! They're probably doing something horrible to her! Where are Rian and the others?" Bolting to the nearest door, she found a office filled with electronic equipment and a back way out. Mentally, she prepared to remember how to get back to the room once she left. Then she was out in the hall again, another white washed florescent lit passage that made her eyes adjust for a few seconds. That's when she realized what she was seeing.

"Oh, well I guess I don't have to worry about where Ray is." Ember released Drake from her hands. Ray was standing before her holding onto a woman, presumably a controller. Which was all great for Ray who was standing behind her with the advantage , but not so fun for Ember who was now in the direct path of the woman's Dracon Beam. "Ah, hey Ray." She gave him a half hearted smile, "Whose your friend there?"


Sedra:
There was a slow silence between them, her cold blue eyes fixed on Luce for what seemed like forever. It looked like she was trying to figure something out. Would Luce's ruse work?

After awhile, Sedra finally moved from the chair to the front of the desk and leaned against it. "I see. Have you been successful?" She asked, curiosity creeping into her voice. So far in Vegas there hadn't been too much Animorph activity to deal with. Even then, Sedra's working place was out in the desert and not the city, so she didn't suppose much action would take place here if there were Animorphs. "I apologize for you being picked up, I've been sent some brainless brutes to work with." A small, warm smile curled on her soft lips; It was the kind of expression Sedra only made when Jals was around. She brushed dark, curly strands of hair from her face and shook her lightly head in amusement.

Catherine sighed inwardly, retreating back to a corner of their shared mind. It was hard seeing Luce again. When Jals had gone missing, Catherine had hoped that Luce would have escaped and been free. Seeing her now, standing in front of them, felt terrible and disappointing. Sedra, however, couldn't be further from how Catherine felt. She was coyly keeping her distance from Luce, not sure whether she should be upset with Jals for disappearing, or thankful that he was around again. Even as excited as she was to see him, there was something in Sedra that was preventing her from approaching him. Besides that, he had information that she wanted.

The question Luce asked sounded odd to Sedra, and she blinked. How am I? "I'm doing... fine. I assume you are well?" She said, distracted. Her eyes flickered to the door behind Luce, where dark blobs moved back and forth. Her hand clenched the edges of the desk behind her until her knuckles began turning white, and she tensed.

"Where is my daughter?" There, it was out. And noticeably, she hadn't said our daughter. There was a twinge of bitterness, hidden under the smooth polish of her voice.


Drake:
Arrah! These eyes! Drake knew something was going on, but he could not tell what. He was half tempted to find a place to demorph, but knew it would take him too long. Besides, they still might need the skills that his bug body possessed.

Instead of demorphing, Drake flew up by the ceiling again. Near the lights was the most natural place for a moth to be indoors. Not to mention safer from swatting hands. He could see the grey shapes of people from this vantage point, but still could not make out details. Drake remained silent since he did not want to distract them unnecessarily if they were in a sticky situation.


Luce:
"It didn't work very well at first," she said, continuing to stick to the truth. "That is why I had to run for a while, ended up here in Vegas because the New York animorphs knew who I was. I think it might be going better though." She waved her hand at the outfit. "Do you think I would be wearing this if I wasn't on some type of official business?" Wrong move. Jals was just the type to do something stupid just for the experience of doing it and Catherine would know that.

Luce pushed on, hoping to distract her from the small slip by getting to what she actually wanted to talk about. "Our daughter is safe enough. She was at Langley last I knew but I think there were plans to move that whole base somewhere. Is that why you are here? Is she here?"

The mention of the daughter had shaken Luce at first. She had forgotten that Jals had a daughter from another host but she adapted well enough. Luce herself wasn't completely sure where the girl was. She knew that Jals had known, and she knew that the information was stored somewhere in her head but all of the memories that she had gotten from him had been jumbled and unclear, transferred in the time of death. She would have to work to go through them and get the information she needed. But until she could do that she would have to cover.


Sedra:
"Good, good," She said, smirking. The Animorphs were a petty annoyance in some places, but Vegas had yet to really feel any of it. Some Yeerks made a living by chasing the vermin out of the darkest niches of the planet. To Sedra, Earth was already won. Why waste time dwelling on them?

"Do you think I would be wearing this if I wasn't on some type of official business?" Sedra's eyebrow twitched up. What kind of nonsense was this? Even Catherine, deep inside the both of them, felt a small bit of confusion at the remark. A big part of their relationship had been based on Jals' obsession with experimentation, whether Sedra wanted to admit it or not. But it was an acknowledged part, and the comment seemed strange coming from his mouth. Maybe it had been a sad attempt at humor, but her expression was devoid of any amusement. "Ahh. Surely not."

<<Maybe he's changed since he disappeared. I know how the higher-ups can be. Maybe they changed him around.>> She was more thinking out loud than talking to Catherine directly. However, her host didn't seem in a great mood to say anything.

After Sedra had blurted out her question, her eyes quickly shifted from the door to Luce's face, searching for an expression. Luce's earlier comment was almost forgotten as she gave an answer. "Langley? Yes, yes, okay. But she was moved? Where was she moved, exactly?" The anxiety in Sedra's voice was hard to hide, and her tone had grown sharper and unsteady. Her last memory of the child was when Mark had taken it away, leaving her standing, alone, at the door to their old house. The sudden separation had seemed almost...violent. Savage. At the thought, Sedra felt something twist inside of her.

<<Mark...>> Catherine murmured, disheartened. The love of her life had turned out to be a Yeerk, deceiving her until he had her infested.

Sedra straightened up, pushing the thoughts from her head. She didn't need distraction, especially in the form of Catherine's troublesome brooding. "I'm here because it's my job to be here." It was obvious from the tone of her voice that she loved her work as a scientist here. She continued, her intense gaze on Luce. "No. She's not here. But the humans here--the women you were pulled in with--they are giving birth to children. And those children are being sent off to some of the farms, one of which has her. I need to know the exact name of the farm."


Luce:
"Giving birth?" Even Luce was momentarily silenced by this. Her eyes burned in anger that even her emotional control couldn't completely hide. All thoughts of the girl were wiped from her mind as her own past crowded into her mind, breaking past the barriers she had put up separating herself from the experience.

Luce more than many others understood what it meant to have your body violated, invaded, used. All emotion dropped from her voice, the only indication of how much anger she was feeling. "These women, are they...aware of what is happening...are they consenting?"

She knew the answer before she asked the question but if she was going to kill someone, and she strongly desired to do so at this moment, then she had to make sure that the situation was really as bad as it seemed.


Nadia:
Nadia stood in front of the cell bars, head and arms placed up grasping them as she thought of a way to get out. A guard passed the cell every few minutes and Nadia gave him an evil glare each time he passed. She turned around after the guard passed for the fifth time and stared at the other girls in the cell with her. Each looked scared, except the old woman she looked calm. "Why are we here?" Nadia kept repeating softly under her breath as she thought. Then from the end of the hall two guards started talking just loud enough for Nadia to hear.

"Take one to the medical wing." A mans voice gave orders to the other guard. Nadia turned around and stood in front of the others and waited. Each footstep the guard took seemed like an eternity. Finally the guard took out his ring of keys, took the square headed one and unlocked the cell door. We all stood there in silence as he looked around to pick the one he wanted.The girls huddled behind Nadia for protection. Finally Nadia built up some courage and begun to speak up.

"What do you want with us?" She said with one eyebrow cocked upward.

"I need only one of you for now." He said in a calm tone.

I looked back at the others, their faces looked scared as they shook their heads for me to not leave them behind. Nadia looked down at her feet and decided to be the one to go. She looked up at the guard and moved forward. Nadia stopped for a second and looked back at the others and whispered softly so the guard wouldn't hear her, 'Dont worry, I'll find us a way out." Then out loud Nadia said "You can take me, if you dont hurt the other woman in this cell." He stood there not saying a word, and grabbed her wrist and pulled her in front of him. He shoved her out of the cell door and she felt his breath on the back of her neck that gave her chills down her spin. Then she heard him whisper something in her ear quietly.

"They will be gone before tommrow night." He said softly.

Nadia heard the door slam behind her and the guard pushed her forward again. They traveled down the hallway, Nadia felt a gun like shape digging into her back as she walked on. They came to a door and opened it, other guards nodded to the one holding Nadia and left them pass through. Nadia came to another hallway, again the guard shoved her along as she looked around to see where she was, but this time she almost fell forward on her face but still kept her balance. As they came around a corner of the hallway, they stopped at two double doors on the left hand side. Two windows were on the top of the door and Nadia got on her toes to look through them. She saw a man on a table laying there, seeming asleep not dead which gave her relief. The guard shoved Nadia down into a chair outside the doors and stood in front of her still pointing the gun.

Then yelling began from around the corner of the hallway. The guards looked at each other with concern and one ran over to check it out. Nadia kept her eye on the corner, and so did the guard. Then a guard slammed down from the corner and blood gushed onto the floor. A Animorph appeared next around the corner fighting off two more guards. Nadia sat up more in her chair wanting to run and help. She looked at the guard and noticed he was still paying attention to the fight. Nadia sat up and kneed the guard in the testicles and grabbed the gun from his hand as she shoved him down to the floor. Aiming the gun at the guard on the floor, Nadia looked at the animorph to see if they were still winning the fight. She looked down at the guard as he rolled around holding himself groaning in agony. Nadia giggled inside from the look of the picture. She then decided if she should shoot the guard or not. Nadia sighed, aimed her gun, and closed her eyes tight.

"God please forgive me." She whispered as her finger clutched the trigger to shoot. Nadia stood there for a few moments rethinking about what she was doing. She opened her right eye and peaked down at the guard and grew soft inside. She sighed again, and lowered her gun but still kept it aimed at him.

"I can't do it." She said softly feeling beaten by her weakness of a soft heart. She stood by the guard keeping him in his place until she was told what to do by the others.


Ray:
Armed? Damn. Not only was he on enemy territory, he'd also gotten someone that was armed. "Well the best thing you could do for yourself is to not pull anything stupid." Ray said. "You kill me, you die too. Simple as that." He told her the absolute truth. If she'd kill anyone she'd be slain right there on the spot. She had no outs other than having a weapon.

Before he could ask her about the other Animorphs, Ember rounded the corner. "Hey Em!" Ray said with relief in his voice. He was glad she was still in one piece. He figured Drake was still hidden so he wasn't too worried about him, but what about Luce? Hopefully Ember had very little bad news to report.

"Where's Luce?" Ray asked. He looked over at Rian whom looked as weary as he felt. "And how in the hell do you suppose we go about getting out of here?"


Rian:
This was quickly turning into a bad situation. They had a controller who had now seen Ember. And one that would recognize their voices if she heard them. He motioned to Ray and Ember (and supposedly Drake) not to speak anymore. They didn't want to give away any more information to the listening ears of the controller woman.

He looked around and ran back the way they had come hoping to find a closet that they could stuff her in and keep going. Instead a controller ran around the corner and pulled a dracon beam at him. Rian froze for a second and then punched the guy. It wasn't a well thrown punch to say the least but it caught him off guard and knocked him back around the corner.

The door to an office opened up and two scientist came out looking confused. One had glasses on and a clipboard. Rian went after him, hoping to break the glasses.

He despaired at his own lack of fighting skills. As soon as they got home he was going to have the entire faction start training with Luce. If they were going to run around hitting people as humans it would be better if they knew how to do it properly. He should have thought about that, should have made sure that his team was able to handle themselves as humans as well as animals. He hoped the oversight wouldn't hurt them too much.

Rian was winning his fight, but only because the two he was fighting had probably not done much physical activity in the past 10 years. At least he had been running around the woods all his life until moving to Chicago. And then of course he had been running for his life.

He saw a girl knee a guard and take his dracon beam. Ok, this was really getting out of hand. This was suppose to be a recon mission.

One of the scientist punched him in the gut and Rian was driven back around the corner and lost sight of the unknown girl. "A little help?" He called to Ember since Ray was otherwise occupied. She, at least, had more fighting experience than him.

[Admin]

Sedra:
Sedra watched Luce's expression impassively, noting the hint of anger in her expression. What is this? She could feel something was wrong with Jals--the way he was acting--but couldn't quite place her finger on it yet. Maybe all the time he had spent undercover had left him out of touch with of the Empire. Or perhaps something much more unfortunate had happened to him while he had searched for the Animorphs. Sedra felt her pulse quicken at the thought, and her jaw twitched. No, that was impossible. And she knew that.

"Yes. Giving birth." She pushed away the funny feeling she was having about Jals, and let a small smile curl at the corner of her lip. "It's a new project being done that I'm in charge of. The women you were pulled in with were free humans. They are being used to produce more hosts."

Sedra hadn't come up with the idea, but she was obviously pleased to be at the head of it. The whole project was looked upon by others as something very important to the advancement of the Yeerk Empire. There was an increasing shortage of available hosts, and the project was praised as one of the solutions to this problem.

"As you have been busy tracking down the Animorphs, I have been busy doing this. The women are taken from the streets, and once they are proved to be fertile, their bodies are used as incubators to the next generation of Yeerk hosts." She felt a wave of disgust reach her from Catherine, but ignored the feeling.

"These women, are they...aware of what is happening...are they consenting?"

Immediately, Luce's question brought a frown to Sedra's face, and one slender eyebrow lifted. "Are they... consenting? I don't see why that's relevant at all. Is your host consenting? Is mine? What does it matter?" She folded her arms across her chest, her expression growing cold. "You, of all Yeerks, should understand this." She emphasized this with a pause, staring hard at Luce's face for any sign of change. "They don't need to be aware of the operation to have the children. We take measures to ensure they are unable to be aware. Or move, as that is not needed."

<<You Yeerks are despicable monsters,>> Catherine said angrily. <<This whole operation is disgusting and immoral.>>

Sedra laughed inwardly. <<And you humans have such a clean record too, right? Oh you humans, the moral compass of the world. Spreading love and understanding, along with a little dash of human depravity, war, and death.>> Sedra felt a little bit of her own anger growing. Who was she to judge what the Yeerks did? In a universe of survival, what needed to be done was done. End of story.


Luce:
Luce tried to hide her anger. She wasn't sure how well she did since Catherine/Sedra knew her so well, but never let it be said that she didn't try.

She was torn. Normally she would kill a controller in these circumstances and to hell with the consequences. Normally she would kill a controller in any circumstance. But not this time. Why?

Because you have a mission to finish. Right, that was why.

She lowered her head so that the Sub-Visser would not see her eyes or the rest of her face until she got it under control and when she thought she had she looked back up.

She tried to smile, which she could do quite well when she chose, though that was hardly ever, and congratulated Sedra on her position. "Put in charge of the whole operation? Well it seems we are both moving up, or at least I will once I successfully complete this mission. But while I'm here why not have a little fun, hey. Can you give me a tour of the base and then maybe, well maybe I don't have to go back undercover right away."

It was something Jals would have said. Something, anything, that got it out of completing it's duty and allowed it to gratify it's own wants. Maybe it would cover for the past couple of minutes of odd behavior.


Sedra:
Sedra was watching for Luce's expression when she finished talking, but Luce had lowered her head, hiding her expression. Sedra wasn't sure what to think about this, but she would have to trust Jals. He had gone and done some crazy things before, but she knew he was resilient. Whatever he was going through now he'd bounce back from eventually. She was just happy to know he was still around.

Luce lifted her head, and any hint of anger that had been present was gone. That seemed to comfort Sedra, and her cold expression weakened when Luce began to praise her work. That was always something Sedra would fall for. "I thought you had grown soft, asking these strange questions. Yes, indeed we are. Hopefully you are near your goal."

A charming smile spread across her face at Luce's suggestion for a tour. That sounded like Jals. "Ahh. A tour? Yes, of course." Sedra could feel Catherine's resistance to this idea, because the sight of the women made her feel uncomfortable. Well good. Maybe it'll make her shut up today.

"I'm glad you are doing well," She said idly and moved around her desk to shift through papers, grabbing a clipboard. She snatched her ID from her lab coat, stuffing it into her back pocket, then moved towards the glass door.

When she was near Luce she paused, cool blue eyes resting on her face. All the anger she had harbored at Jals' disappearance had evaporated by now, replaced by a softer feeling. She hesitated for a moment, wanting and uncertain, then slipped forward to embrace "Jals". Up close, Sedra's presence was full of her favorite, pleasant perfume.


Luce:
You know how some smells just bring you back? Like smelling freshly cut flowers just like the ones always found on your grandmother's table and suddenly you are in a sun filled kitchen, 11 again and she's there with you even though she died when you were 16. Or smell of salty seawater brings you back to that perfect day at the beach, a little overcast and a little windy but perfect all the same.

That was what it was like to hold Catherine again. All of Luce's anger, her indifference and, buried deeply, her fear slipped away for just a moment. It was like burying yourself in your covers, holding onto the last few moments of sleep before having to get up and face yet another day in an unforgiving world.

But then your alarm rang and you remembered where you were suppose to be and that you were late so you jump up.

Luce jumped back quickly, running into the door. It was unusually ungraceful for someone who measured every step, every move, every exspression. But that is what had shaken her so deeply. For just a moment, the control that was a constant part of her being, had slipped away and she had just let herself go.

She cursed her luck. There could be nothing more inappropriate or impossible than this. But she only wasted that one moment on feeling sorry for herself. Her feelings were a liability to the mission and to her team and if she couldn't shut them down then she would have to get away from the cause.

She cleared her throat. "Ah, a tour?" It was all she could manage in the character of Jals at the moment.


Ember:
Ember's spine straightened, hearing Rian's plea. Ray seemed to be fully in control but that still didn't ease the tension she got from seeing the controller's dracon beam pointed in her direction.

But the woman's eyes shifted as Rian popped his head out to shout, giving Ember the chance to duck away before an unfortunate accident happened and well, she got shot or something. She'd never forgotten how terrified she'd been in LA when Rian had lost half his insides to a misguided girl with a weapon she didn't understand. That moment had etched itself indelibly into her mind and was added to her stream of nightmares, convincing her thoroughly to not let something like that happen to her, or anyone else is possible.

She ducked away, running full out and pulling herself around the corner, seeing Rian and a scared looking girl. Her instincts kicked in as a doctor lunged at her, throwing a punch that she blocked, grabbing his wrist and twisting his arm back until it snapped out of his shoulder. Dropping the pain ridden man to the ground she stepped over his thrashing legs and went to stand by Rian.

"What's going on? Are you ok?" Her eyes went to his abdomen automatically, then glanced over the rest of his body just to be sure. He didn't look hurt, but she wasn't going to relax until she heard it from him.

The doctor with the ruined arm struggled to his feet behind her and tried to attack with his off hand, but she knocked him in the gut with a firm elbow and bowled him to the ground once more.


Sedra:
For a long moment, Sedra just let herself feel his presence. The tension that had been twisting at her melted with the warmth of his arms. It was something Sedra hadn't felt in a long time. And it was an old feeling, one that had dwindled by his absence and the worry that Jals had been killed--or that he had flat out abandoned her. The latter would have been far from surprising; she knew how Jals was, how he didn't always care for things, including her or her daughter. Despite that, she clung to the notion that he had some place for her in him.

And in the back of their shared mind, in a far off corner of her own body, Catherine felt the embrace. And even if it was meant for Jals by Sedra, Catherine felt comfort and strength by it. The two had kept each other sane in the worst of times, and just knowing she was still alive cheered Catherine. Hope was a rare thing for her nowadays; she had been a controller for almost six years now, since before the war had even become open. Sometimes it was hard to feel human anymore.

When Luce jumped away from her, Sedra stepped back, startled. For a moment she didn't understand, but then the confusion disappeared from her face and was replaced with disappointment. Jals was strange in that way, and she wouldn't question it. Instead, she bundled the clipboard closer to her chest and tilted her chin up slightly.

"Yes. Let's go." She had faded back into her usual pleasant, business-like attitude. In the least, she was excited to be able to finally show somebody around her place. All the Yeerks working here already knew what was going on, and she was dying to show others what she was achieving.

She pulled open the frosted glass door, tilting her head sideways to look outside. She wondered briefly if somebody had somehow seen or heard what they had been talking about. But outside, the hallways were empty. It was unusual, but Sedra didn't pay it too much mind. Hopefully they had captured that runaway girl while she was gone. She motioned for Luce to follow, a small smile curled at the edges of her lips. "This way." She knew Jals would find this tour very interesting.


Rian:
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. You're like a white night, or maybe red is a better color," he said smiling as he stood up from where one of the doctors had knocked him down. The guy was out now but Rian had no doubt that more would arrive and he needed to get ahold of this situation right now.

He looked around and tried to figure out what to do. They were deep in enemy territory here and surrounded. They needed to regroup and they really needed to do it now. Rian spotted the moth on Ember's clothes and then looked at the girl that had fought back. Lastly he looked at Ray. Where was Luce.

"Alright guys, we need to regroup and get out of here." <<Drake, demorph,>> he sent to him so that the controller that Ray was holding wouldn't hear him. He picked up the moth and opened the door to a room that the scientist had just exited and let it go. Then he bent down and picked up the dracon beams off of the scientist and tossed one to Ember and kept one for himself. He also picked up the one off the guard he had knocked out due to luck for Ray and then pulled the lab coats off the doctors.

"Come on Ember. Let's deal with our controller friend." He walked over to the controller pointing the dracon beam in front of him but not letting her see his face. "You may be armed but now so are we and we outnumber you quite a bit. Now, you could either fight, in which case we'll stun you and leave you here, or you could go along with us and we'll just lock you in a closest. Your choice."


Luce:
Luce smiled in return. She couldn't really help it. Catherine looked proud, excited and it was easy for Luce to be happy for her. That is until she remembered what Catherine was happy about.

She followed Catherine out into the hallway and looked back the way she had come and the way to the cell where she had last seen Ember but they were heading in the opposite direction. Whatever, she would find Ember later.


Ember:
Ember smiled widely. His red knight, she liked the sound of that. Always at his side to be his warrior, someone selfless and courageous, just as she'd always wanted to be.

She caught the dracon beam and charged it stylishly, twirling it in her hand before pointing it dangerously at the wall in front of her. Then, when she remembered what they were supposed to be doing, she ran after Rian, standing beside him as her offered the ultimatum to the controller woman.

The girl they'd rescued wasn't far behind, catching on that they were the good guys and pitching in on the escape effort. Which meant that the three of them were now facing off against the yeerk scum, with Ray still holding tight to her neck. "I'd take the closet!" Ember called helpfully, "From what I've experienced, even just getting stunned, from three of these weapons you'd get killed where you where you stand."


Drake:
Drake had begun to demorph as soon as Rian had let go of him. He was pretty nervous, demorphing again in an environment that he was not familiar with. As he grew, he saw that he was in another sciencey room, but this one was a bit different from the other one. No time to check it out, he thought to himself as he completed demorphing.

He opened the door just a crack and peeked out. Once he saw that it was relatively safe, he stepped out into the hallway. The rest of the group was holding a prisoner in enemy territory. The butterflies in his stomach started doing acrobatics again as he realized how vulnerable they potentially were. This was not a good situation for their group to be in, but it was something that couldn't be helped.


Sedra:
Sedra glanced behind her to make sure Luce was still following, before turning back and beginning to walk. The place was oddly quiet right now, and there weren't many controllers wandering around the area. She didn't mind, as at least it gave he a quiet moment to gather her thoughts. Jals suddenly appearing was something that could definitely throw Sedra off, even on the best of days.

"This is going to have to be short, as I have a lot to do today," She said, not bothering to turn her head as she spoke. The hallways they were walking through were tall and white, muffling the sounds of Sedra's shoes against the tiled floors. A controller passed them with his head down, his lab coat rustling behind him.

"Come, this way." They turned down another corridor, this time carpeted. One wall was flanked with large windows, shining sunlight onto a wall lined with doors. Sedra walked swiftly past each door, stopping at the only double doors. She reached into her back pocket and took out her ID, blue eyes flicking briefly to Luce. A sly smile crept onto her face, and she swiped her ID across the pad.

"Ready?" Sedra asked, her voice tinted with excitement. Inwardly, Catherine struggled against Sedra. Her host didn't like this room. But she was helpless to stop Sedra from pushing open the doors.

There were no screams, like one would expect. The air was filled only with the quiet hum of machines and the gentle murmuring of controllers working, as well as the occasional soft moan. The room itself was large, painted the same bright white color that was present throughout the whole medical wing. It had a strange 'clean' scent to it, like a mixture of laundry soap and rubbing alcohol. Lined along both walls were the women, strapped into a sort of chair-bed thing, and hooked up to monitors and IVs. Controllers moved among them, checking charts and marking things down with pens.

The women were in different stages of pregnancy, ranging from a couple months to nearing eight. Sedra stopped at one of the larger women, glancing at Luce. "We've had a successful batch of children come from the women already. We're nearing a second batch soon. The infants will be shipped off to the farms as well."

She moved along down the aisle, looking briefly at her clipboard before resting it against her chest. "This one--" she stopped at the side of a young, red-headed woman. The woman's eyes were half-closed, and her head was rolling from side-to-side as she mumbled nonsense to herself. "They act like this once the medicine starts taking effect." She reached forward to squeeze the IV bag gently, then looked back to the woman. "All of them are given medicine when they first arrive to sedate them. Over time it destroys their mental state, leaving them vegetables. It makes them easier to handle."

Suddenly, she felt a wave of nausea hit her and her stomach turned. If Catherine had been in control, she would have gagged. But the only sign of Catherine's disgust was a small twitch at the corner of Sedra's mouth. She briefly ran fingertips across her lips, glancing at Luce to see Jals' reaction to all of this. 'Jals' had been quiet throughout this whole time, and Sedra felt frustrated. She had thought Jals would be complimenting her, or in the least talking about what he was seeing. But he didn't seem to care. Masking the fact that she was upset, she pressed on.

"And thanks to some research that is being conducted by me and an associate of mine, we are soon going to reduce the gestation period to around 6 months. That way, we'll be able to produce more hosts quicker." Blue eyes rested on Luce again, searching but finding nothing. She moved along the rows again, trying not to think about why he wasn't saying anything. This whole project had been started in the hopes of creating more hosts. There were too many Yeerks compared to the amount of available hosts, and everyone had been railing for a solution.

Sedra continued the tour down the aisle, finally arriving at its end. There was another door, leading into a dark room full of computers and desks. A couple controllers were perched at some of the computers, typing away. Only one looked up, and her eyes shifted to Luce then back to Sedra. "Greetings, Sub-Visser."

Sedra gave the woman a short nod before opening the door. It lead out into another long hallway. She felt her host's relief at leaving the place. "I don't have time to show you around everywhere. But come on, one last thing." She flashed another smile at Luce, hoping for some kind of reaction. Even if he was acting weird, it felt good to be around Jals again, and her mood was still cheerful.

"It's our hangar. We just had it constructed." She flashed her ID again, then leaned forward to type on the pad. The door made a clicking sound, and she pushed it open. They emerged into a large hangar, full of ships fastened to the ground. She turned around, spreading her arms wide. "What do you think so far?"


Adele:
"Your Animorphs, huh?" Sazoirl spoke more to herself than she did to them. She scanned the Dracon beam intently, and frown formed on her otherwise pleasant face. The Dracon beam strapped to her thigh was definitely not an option; there was no way for her to reach for it unnoticed. With a huff, Adele blew a strand of hair from her face in frustration. The last thing that she wanted to do was fight a fight that she already knew the outcome of. Perhaps if she went with them, Sazoirl could learn something to use to her advantage.

With a half smile, she replied to the male she assumed was in charge with a sweet, mischievous tone.

"If I go quietly, at least take me to my car."


Rian:
"What are we, your escort service," he said harshly, still standing behind the controller so that he wouldn't be seen. "We'll make sure you aren't hurt. That is all I'm promising." She had pegged them as animorphs, that wasn't ideal but it wasn't necessarily bad either. He had hidden in the shadows for so long, it was nice to hear the name, to be known for hurting the yeerks back a little for all that they had done to his family, to him.

"You're going to lead us to the quickest way out of here and maybe we'll think about dropping you off at your car." But that wouldn't be good enough and he knew it. They hadn't just come here to take a look around and leave. Well actually they had but now that they're presence was known security would get tighter. They had to take this place down and they had to do it today.

<<Ember,>> he said broadcasting his thoughtspeak to everyone there including the new girl, <<Take the new girl and get everyone free. We're going to blow this place on our way out. Scratch that, not everyone, just the woman that can be saved. Drake, Ray, we're going to follow this controller to...>> he stopped. Where could they get the firepower to blow this place up? What had they seen on their way here. That is when Rian got the image of the bug fighter he and Ray had watched zoom away while they were flying around outside. <<hanger bay. We're taking a ship out of here.>>

Out loud he said, "yeerk, take us to the hanger bay. " <<When you have everyone free bring them there Em. This is badly planned but we're going to have to run with it.>> "Hopefully your subordinates will be helpful. If they aren't I'm afraid I can't guarantee your safety very long.


Adele:
Adele lifted her hands in a gesticulation that resembled a standard "surrender" motion. She sighed a bit and snapped at the teenager that felt the need to speak harshly to her.

"In case you didn't know, which I doubt you do, I am not the one in charge here. In fact, this is my first time to visit this facility." With one hand cautiously raised, Sazoirl reached down to unstrap the Dracon beam holstered to her upper thigh. Clank. She kicked it behind her and out of reach.

<<Great. If they go back on their word, we're screwed.>> Adele.

<<They won't. They're haven't proven themselves to be anything like you.>> Sazoirl dictated her thoughts calmly. One wrong move, one misstep, and the situation would rapidly decline.

"Thus, I cannot promise accurate directions, as I have never been here, but I will certainly try."


Ember:
Ember ignored everything the controller said and turned to Rian, acknowledging his orders. "Right, I'll go see if I can get the keys from those guys back there. If not then I'll just blast the doors, but I don't want to attract too much attention." She winced, "Trust me some of the controllers around here are not the kind of people you want to mess with."

She paused and lowered her voice, "This place must be very important to them to use all this muscle. Which means when they find out what we're doing they're going to fairly pissed." Then she added with a shrug, "So, y'know, just... be careful. K?" Then she turned and darted down the hall, shouting back over her shoulder, "C'mon new girl. Come with me if you want to live!"


Drake:
Drake followed as the controller led them to where the hangar bay probably was. Drake kept having visions of controllers swarming out of the rooms and shooting them with their laser beams. I really hope that does not happen, Drake thought to himself.

It was bad enough that they did not know where they were going while being stuck in enemy territory, but if they actually made it to their destination they were going to steal a ship. An actual spaceship. Drake just hoped that someone would know how to fly it. He figured Rian would, since he was their leader and had suggested the plan. Drake examined his surroundings once again, making sure they were not being snuck up on.


Rian:
The team arrived at the hanger bay door and Rian had them stop for a bit. Up until now he had tried to keep as much of the group hidden from the controller's sight as possible and to this end he had used his morphing belt as a blindfold telling her the number of the junction they were at, since the whole thing was laid out in a grid pattern with numbers for each intersection. They had gotten lost quite a few times doing it that way but hopefully it had gone a little way towards protecting their identities. For good measure Rian had morphed the controller he had acquired in Las Angeles and taken over holding onto Sazoirl so that Ray and Drake could morph something to move around in.

He was hoping that the yeerks had moved beyond the use of security cameras. He certainly hadn't spotted any on their way here but that didn't mean they weren't around.

Rian mentally called to Ember and let her know how to get to their location but knew, that unless she was in some type of morph, she wouldn't be able to call back.

During this mission he had used thoughtspeak, first in his normal body, and then in this controller morphed body, too often for his personal comfort. But since he had gotten his team into this situation he couldn't justify not using it if it would protect them just because he was squeamish about it.

He stuck his head through one of the small doors that led into the hanger bay and was momentarily dismayed at the size and activity of the area. If the yeerks had something like this here, how could they hope to defeat them ever. But then he took some joy from the fact that they were planning on blowing it up.

His joy was replaced by fear though as he spotted two figures standing on a platform overlooking the entire hanger bay. One looked like a scientist of some sort, and probably a high ranking one since she was in this area at all and he couldn't see any other scientist making their way around here, the hanger bay being mostly made up of Taxxon pilots and Hork-Bajir muscle.

But the other figure stood out like a sore thumb, especially in that outfit. It was Luce.

Well at least they had found her. But what we she doing? And why did it look like she had the run of the place?

He decided not to move until Ember reached them. Once she got here it would be a mad dash for one of those ships and they wouldn't be able to make it twice. But he also needed to know what Luce was doing.

He was just about to contact her when a horrible thought crossed his mind. What if she was a controller? That would explain why she was walking around with no guards. And it would also mean that she was an enemy now.

He tried to think and finally came up with something that had the barest similarities to a plan. But he would need his best flyer and that was Ember so he settled down to wait letting the others know what was going on via thoughtspeak.


Ember:
Ember was five minutes away from the hangar, leading a line of about fifteen women behind her as she wound her way through the white washed walls. She too had gotten mixed up based on the directions, but she couldn't verify them so she just kept on walking, preying that she could find her way there. But in her search, she found a group of controllers instead.

There were six of them, standing around what appeared to be a... water cooler? Huh. Some things never change.

She signaled to the women to slow down, and then straightened her glasses. Those were part of the disguise she'd, ah, acquired from a doctor on her way to find the captives. She and Nadia had used them to release the last group of women who still hadn't been sent in, using the lie that they were the doctors who would be taking them there. After that no one questioned them, although a few times they'd gotten confused looks when they were obviously moving away from the testing facilities. Ember just hoped that the ruse would last long enough to get back to Rian... or they wouldn't stand a chance. The women were drugged, exhausted, and even this small group would be too large to "sneak" anywhere.

Ember turned her head to Nadia, but kept her eyes on the oncoming controllers. "Just stay calm, follow my lead. And don't stop walking no matter what. The hangar should be through those double doors up ahead, we'll go in quietly and find my team near the back. They'll get us out from there."

She didn't have time for Nadia to respond. One of the controllers stopped talking and noticed their group. Ember stepped forward to intercept him. "These are the humans for transport. Please step back, they could be dangerous." She held up a commanding hand and waved them to the side. "We don't want anything unorthodox to happen here. Just stay out of our way until we pass."

The controllers blinked at one another, but shuffled back nonetheless. Inwardly, Ember was amazed yet again at how stu-

"Hold it." One of them called.

Dammit. Ember winced, trying to keep going as if she didn't hear.

"You! Wait right there!"

Damn! She didn't have a choice. "Keep going, don't stop." She murmured to Nadia, trusting the new girl would do as she was told. Then she stepped off to the side and turned back to the man who had spoken, "Excuse me? Yes? What is the matter?" Her voice wavered slightly, but she kept her appearance by staring him boldly in the eyes.

"You, well, you don't have the clearance badge for that area." The short, bald man frowned at her. "I assume you haven't worked here long." Ember didn't move. "They have a system, you need the clearance badge they assigned you for this area." The man looked her over when she didn't reply. Then he huffed, "Just take this one. And don't forget it next time, it's a pain to have to run back to the main office." He fumbled with his pocket and pulled out a thin silver card with indentations stamped into it, handing it to her. "Now go on. They don't like it if you're late either."

"Right. Thank you..." Ember stammered, "Sorry, uh, sir. For my tone. I'm just nervous. Don't want to get the big bosses upset you know. Well, ah, thanks again. I need to go, or.. I'll be late. That wouldn't be good." She tried not to run as she turned back and caught up to Nadia and the women, just in time to unlock the Hangar doors with the pass.


Drake:
Drake had morphed into a horned-lizard as they moved down the hall. It was difficult to morph and follow Rian at the same time, but he eventually got through with the change. His lizard mind did not like the artificial light and openness of the hallways, and especially did not like the hanger bay. He managed to keep his instincts in check, however, with the appropriate effort.

Right now he was waiting for Ember to show up. Rian had informed the group of his plan for when she arrived. Drake thought it sounded crazy, but so had everything else they had done so far during this mission. There was not much he could do besides sit and wait.


Rian:
Ember had arrived with the group of girls and now it was time to make their escape. This is how it went...

Rian had Ember morph into a cardinal and fly across the hanger bay where Luce was sure to spot her. If Luce pointed out the bird then she was turned, if she didn't she was safe. It was dangerous to Ember but that is why he needed the best.

No alarm was called and Rian risked contacting Luce. <<Luce, time to go. We are heading for the ship next to that repair truck thingy. We are going to steal it and then we are going to fry this place with the dracon beams on our way out. Can you fly that thing, nod if you can, Ember report if she nods.>>

Luce nodded so it was time to go. Rian and the animorphs broke cover, running all out for the ship Rian had pointed out. Drake was human, carrying one of the dracon beams, Rian was a wolf and Ray was a moose. Ray and Rian were up front, taking out controllers as they went though Rian had specified they didn't have time to make sure of each one. Just get them out of the way and keep going.

Even with those instructions there was still much work for his teeth and Ray's horns.

They reached the open ship and flooded inside. Rian saw a flash of red zip through the door and knew everyone was accounted for except Luce, even that controller they'd kidnapped had been dragged along. He looked around and saw Luce running towards the ship but she was severely hampered by the woman she was carrying with her.

<<Luce! What are you doing!? Drop her and come on. She's a controller.>> Luce didn't bother to respond, just kept running. But it was clear she was going to get caught in a second. <<Damnit. Ray, get them in and keep anyone away from this door.>> Then he streaked off in Luce's direction and launched himself at the Hork-Bajir, Taxxon and Human controllers behind her just as they were about to reach her. It was messy for a while and Rian got hurt but he made it to the ship on three legs and Luce was already there and knew how to close the doors behind him.

Rian saw the controller she had been carrying slumped against one wall, knocked out, and decided she had had a brilliant idea. <<Ray, can you knock the other one out as well?>>

Then Luce got them out of there and fired the ships dracon beams once they were clear.

They didn't exactly burn the place down but it wouldn't be operational for a while. And anyone down there would have had a good chance of being roasted alive since the place seemed to burn quite nicely. It seemed that the animorphs had saved the two controllers they were carrying with them.

He didn't think they'd be grateful.

They dropped the controllers in the middle of the desert, not to far away from area 51, and dumped the Bug fighter in another part of the desert. It would have been nice to hold onto it but they had no place to hide it. Maybe Rian should try to find places from now on. There had to be tons of abandoned shacks and bases out in the desert.

He made a mental note to think about it later. All he wanted to do right now was get home.

The ragtag group made its way home and they sent the women they had rescued to Diana's studio to stay for a while until they could arrange to get them out of town. All except one, who seemed to know Ray and wanted to join the fight. Rian remembered her from the hallway. She would make a good fighter and he was glad to have her with them.

So, with one more than they left with, the animorphs made it back to the Den. All in all, he chalked this one up to a success. They'd shown the yeerks they existed and that they could hurt them. Rian liked the feeling.

The End.