Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2009 18:19:19 GMT -5
Fin:
"Vacation," Fin said to himself as he reclined in his kiddie chair that was much too small for him. "Vacation. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it," he asked Blue Bear. The bluish, bear, cat-like looking thing stared back at him with corn blue plastic eyes, a smile on its innocent face. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
He began humming a vacation song and then skipped into humming the song that six flags had used for its promotions a couple of years ago.
Then he decided to get up and start jumping around dancing to the music in his head forgetting he'd left his door open.
Aubrey:
The door to Aubrey's room creaked on its hinges, slowly swinging open. Standing in the empty door frame was a red beanie with four feet sticking out and a furry, black-tipped tail trailing behind. Aubrey pulled the beanie up slightly, ducking her face down so that her brown eyes could see from underneath the knitted fabric.
Aubrey was taking a break. She had been working on her wall-drawing for some of the afternoon, while everybody was out busy doing stuff like chores or patrolling. She had decided that the Temple needed some exploring, the type of exploring where she could fit into small spaces--but not as small as the moth. That whole fiasco in the vents had Aubrey completely avoiding her moth morph for now.
Once Aubrey had morphed her squirrel monkey, she had realized how cold everything on floor-level was, and decided to wrap herself up in her old red beanie. However, her plans were halted shortly as she stared across her doorway and into Fin's open door--his room was across from hers--where he was dancing to some inaudible music. She tried not to giggle; He looked like he was having fun.
Instead, she pulled the beanie up over her back and stood up straight, then began shuffling over towards Fin's room. She looked like one of those koopa troopas with the red shells on its back. <<Where's the party?>>
Fin:
Fin turned towards the door and saw the small Aubrey monkey. She seemed to fit right in with all the other stuffed animals in the room and Fin picked her up off the ground. "Where ever I am of course," he said as if the answer should have been obvious. He began singing/talking the party song.
"We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. Da da da da dada! Da da da da dada! Duh duh duh duh dada! Duh duh duh duh dada! The Venga bus is coming and everybody's jumping! New York to San Francisco, an inter-city disco! The wheels of steal are turning, the traffic lights are burning! So if you like to party, get on and move your body!"
Suji:
Had been doing the Animorph equivalent of push-ups: morphing and demorphing, cycling through each of her morphs. She had 'rounds' worked out in her head, and had resolved to practice every day. It'd been a while since she'd been in one location long enough to get into the habit, but it would be a good idea to start again.
She'd been transitioning into her jackrabbit when she heard singing from down the hall. Her long, slender ears turned towards the noise, which she thought might have been Fin's voice. It would make sense directionally, and more importantly, would make sense to explain why someone was singing. If anyone, it would be him. Hopping along, she came to the doorway, and poked her head in. Her small tender nose sniffed along the floor, and sure enough, Fin was singing. Apparently to a tiny monkey.
<<What are you two doing?>> The question was genuinely curious, as if there was nothing else one could ask upon seeing such a sight.
Fin:
"We, liege lady," he said hunkering down in front of the jackrabbit with the monkey still in his arms, "are dancing and singing and in all other ways enjoying the fact that we have this week off while everyone else gets to do chores and patrols and other such important jobs."
He put Aubrey down next to Suji. He was starting to feel left out of the morphing but he really had no reason to morph at the moment so he let the two small animals stay on the floor while he stood up and walked over to the record player he had spirited into his room (along with the sole record). "You know, we still only have one record and as soulful as it is its not exactly party music. Think we should run that recon Ray suggested, or just go shopping? I mean we can do that as humans."
Aubrey:
<<Oh, yes.>> Aubrey's beanie/blanket almost fell off as Fin scooped her up off the ground. With one furry paw she grabbed her beanie, pulling it back to its original position. It was falling over her face again. Then she leaned back against Fin, reclining.
After a few seconds, she realized what song he was singing, and immediately began joining in with her thought-speak. Aubrey wasn't the world's most beautiful singer, but she didn't mind sharing her non-talent with others. <<We like to party, we like, we like to party, we like to party we like, we like to party!>>
They were mid-song when a rabbit hopped into the doorway. She wasn't sure who it was until Suji's thought-speak filled her head. She pulled her beanie up out of her eyes with one small hand. Luckily her morph could smile, and Aubrey's face was twisted into the monkey's version of a grin. Which included flashing her tiny little canines at Suji.
<<What he said.>> Fin placed her down on the ground, and she did a small circle in place, curling her tail around her feet. The Temple's floor was cold under her paws, and it sent a shiver up her spine. As she moved, her beanie sagged down against her back, and she pulled it up again. She was about eye-level with the jackrabbit now. The squirrel monkey didn't feel threatened by the animal, in fact, it felt curious. Like it wanted to move over towards the rabbit and start touching its fur and ears. Especially the ears. However Aubrey wasn't giving in to the curiosity.
She turned her face up towards Fin as he spoke, brown eyes stark against the white skull-pattern of her fur. <<I'm up for shopping for some records.>> A trip outside the Temple sounded fun, she needed to stretch her legs.
Suji:
Suji laughed through thoughtspeak. It was good that they were having a good time. It could be argued that she didn't know how to have fun if her life depended on it (the moments of celebration she engaged in where few and far between--probably too much so) but she still appreciated seeing other people enjoy themselves. And as much as a worming, self-loathing part of her hated herself for recognizing it this way: it was good for morale. And better morale meant more durable soldiers.
She hadn't been sure that it was Aubrey he was holding (had she mentioned a monkey morph way back?) but when Fin mentioned that they had off, Suji quickly put the pieces together. Aubrey's monkey settled down beside her, and the rabbit was a skittish animal, but it wasn't sensing any truly strong predatory vibes from it. <<I've got a capuchin morph,>> Suji said, looking over the squirrel monkey. <<Was one of my firsts.>> Her hears flicked causally back and forth--so many things to listen to, but she didn't want to dwell on them. She wasn't sure if that constituted a type of spying.
They mentioned shopping for records and Suji felt a small inner deflation. <<Unfortunately, I'm not sure we should just walk in. Ray talked about doing some recon first. If you guys want to spend some of our break time for some more spying, I think that'd be a good thing to do first. Then we can go in after a couple of days. Does that sound fair?>> She didn't want to shoot the idea down, because she did plan on interacting with Sootman at some point (or at least, planned on the faction as a whole doing it). They would have to eventually to get a fuller scoop on the antidote. But it wouldn't do to go in blind. <<For example, we'll probably only want to head in in whatever his slow hours seem to be--if he has them. I'd really rather not run into that guy with the gun.>> They'd both seen what had happened to the antidote bearer.
Fin:
"Well then I'm afraid you can only blame yourself," he said as he put the gospel record on and began playing it. After a moment he stopped though. It really wasn't the best music for dancing. He didn't really feel comfortable singing in front of strangers, not really singing that is instead of what he had been doing before but their lack of music was down right depressing.
He looked around quickly and then made up his mind. "Well I can provide some music if you'd like." He ran through the many songs and bits of songs he had stored in his head but he didn't really want to do anything too personally so he picked something he thought was ridiculous and yet fun.
"S club, there ain't no party like an s-club party!, want to show you how, everybody get down tonight. S club, there ain't no party like an s-club party!, want to take you out, shake your body from side to side!" He knew the whole song and he was actually putting effort into it this time so it came out sounding pretty good.
By the time he got to the second verse he had shed enough of his reticence to dance...he knew the whole dance too.
Aubrey:
<<Really, a capuchin? That's like a monkey, right? Awesome.>> Both of her furry arms were raised, lifting the beanie up from her face as she spoke. <<This was one of my morphs too. It came in handy a lot until I got my Alaskan Malamute.>> Nowadays, she found herself defaulting more to her dog morph than this one. Since leaving L.A., she had been avoiding using the morph as much. She had almost been trapped as the monkey. It had taken her awhile to get over what happened and morph it again.
<<Up to you guys if you want to do recon during our break.>> Her tiny furry fingers started picking through the golden fur of her tail. It looked like they might not be going out and getting records right away. Aubrey was fine with that. Even though some more music would be refreshing, she still felt leery about going back to that pawn shop. Watching somebody get his brains blown out right in front of her--controller or not--had been very unsettling for her. <<Yeah, would not want to run into that guy again either.>>
Fin began playing the gospel record, then stopped. Aubrey hadn't even realized where the record player had been taken since the night they had gone out to get records for it. <<That record again? Haha.>> It's not that she didn't like the music, it just wasn't her preference. Then Fin began singing another song she didn't recognize. It was still pretty catchy, and she realized Fin had a pretty good singing voice. He began dancing, and she laughed lightly and started bobbing her head with the beat.
Suji:
Suji chuckled at the scene. Fin's voice wasn't terrible, but his choice of music definitely was. The dancing added to the humor value at least. He wasn't being particularly loud, but the hare's ears were sensitive, and she turned them so that the aural cavity faced away from him.
<<Yes, we certainly need to pick up some more... variety,>> Suji interjected when it seemed like Fin was ready to loop the song again. Meaningfully, the jackrabbit lifted its head and looked at Fin, then turned slightly to regard the monkey in the hat at her side. It was a very human gesture. <<So, do we want to do some recon? I figure for actual retrieval it wouldn't hurt to bring Drake, though, in the future. I mean, he put his neck on the line maybe even more than the rest of us. Think he deserves a say in what we pick up.>>
Fin:
Fin smiled down at Suji. This is what life was supposed to be like. Just hanging out with people he considered friends, making them laugh if he could. Life wasn't supposed to be about killing people, or sneaking around trying not to get caught by people who would kill you...or worse.
"I guess we can go do some recon though I'm not sure if Drake is around here. I can go bang on his door if you want but are we even picking up records today or just scoping the place out? He can always come with us next time."
Suji:
<<Just scoping,>> Suji responded. <<They're doing chores, we can do the hard-part of this.>> Though it was likely that retrieving might be an event in itself... maybe even the 'hard' part. But this would feel more like standard work. Or at least it wouldn't have any promise of reward greater than some more information. <<Besides, 3 is probably a better number for staking out one place.>>
Suji began to demorph, pushing herself up from the floor as she regained human arms and legs. The ears sucked back into her skull with a mild popping noise, and when she was human again she looked between them. "So, we'll probably want a divide between air and ground support. I've got a roach morph if we think hanging around inside will get us anywhere." She looked over at Aubrey... the vent issue meant that Aubrey had had a bug morph too. "Think a leopard moth might be a bit too flashy, unless you're really eager to look around inside the shop."
Aubrey:
<<Works for me. Recon it is.>> Suji started demorphing, and Aubrey quickly followed suit. The golden fur began shrinking back into her body, replaced by her black wetsuit. On her back, spread along her shoulders, was the Los Angeles' logo--angel wings with the 'A' logo set in the middle. After a few more minutes she was fully human, her hands brushing off her wetsuit.
"Oops." Aubrey bent down quickly, swiping her beanie off the ground. After dusting it off she pulled it over her head, adjusting it. Then she shook her head at Suji. "I, uh, I don't think I really want to go bug for awhile." The chances of her being trapped in a spider web again were probably slim, but she needed a break from what had happened. "So who's ground and who's air?"
Fin:
Fin threw his arms over both girls shoulders companionably. "This should be fun. I haven't been out of the church in like days," he said as they directed them out of his room and started walking down the hall that would take them to the tower and the air beyond. After a moment he let go and just walked with them side by side.
"So I'm good for ground or air. Got the falcon morph and have a cat that can hang out in the alley without looking suspicious. No bugs though," he said as they reached the stairs. He made a small bow and waved after you.
Suji:
Suji noticed the decal with a smirk. "You know, I spent an evening a while back wondering if uniforms would be a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, no better way to announce that you're an Animorph. On the other, skin-tight clothing doesn't exactly make for blending in. Besides, maybe it's, um, unifying?" She realized how maybe unnaturally plotting that might make her sound (couldn't something just be done for fun?) and quickly left the topic.
Fin put his arm over her shoulder and Aubrey's, and Suji stiffened a little. Though she didn't dislike Fin, and thought he was a decent enough companion, she'd never been experienced a whole lot of teammate physical interaction. Maybe it was a hold over from her first months running with Luce, which extended into Chicago. In any case, it made her a little uncomfortable. After a moment, though, Suji found herself relaxing, her mind (almost involuntarily, it seemed) relinquishing the thought. By the time Fin lifted his arms, she thought nothing of it.
Nodding to Aubrey (who understandably didn't want to morph her bug again) Suji thought over who to assign where. "Aubrey, I know you went over your morphs before, but refresh my memory--you had an air morph, something non-predatory, right? If that's the case, we can go with Fin as a cat; not sure I want someone to notice your dog morph hanging around there again, just in case. At least not so soon."
They went up the stairs until they were all huddled into the bell tower. A least all their morphs would be getting smaller. "I'll go roach and hitch a ride on one of you, I guess."
Aubrey:
Aubrey glanced over at Suji, realizing that she was looking at the thing on the back of Aubrey's suit. She had totally spaced that there was even something there, and as Suji spoke she twisted her head and tried to pull it over to look at. She ended up doing a small circle trying to see it. "Hah, yeah. Not many controllers running around in skin-tight outfits. At least none that I've seen so far. But it's either that, or we all go naked." People seemed awkward enough with just wearing the morphing suits.
She smiled lightly at Fin. "Yeah. I'm looking forward to getting some exercise today." Aubrey hadn't been out of the Temple much either, and she was getting antsy to stretch her legs and do something. Drawing on her wall was fun, but it wasn't very active work--and Aubrey wasn't too fond of just sitting around and being lazy. Back in her old faction it was pretty easy to just go out surfing, but she didn't really have that luxury anymore. It was one of the things she missed about the Haunt, among other things.
Aubrey didn't seem to mind or notice Fin's arm around her shoulder. As they passed near her room, she pulled up the red beanie from her head and tossed it inside. No use losing it when they went up to morph. As they trekked up the stairs, Aubrey nodded. "Okay. Yep, I've got a seagull." Inside the bell tower it was a little cramped, and Aubrey began concentrating on her seagull morph.
Fin:
Fin began shrinking into his falcon morph, his bones grinding as they rearranged themselves and hallowed out. The familiar feather pattern spread over his pale skin and then popped out, graying as it did so to take on the bird's sooty coloring. His feet became scaly before they had taken on the shape of talons and that looked pretty gross. What made it worse was that he was looking at his feet change when his raptor vision kicked in so he got to watch his skin hard and pop up in yellowy scales that looked a lot like old nails to him.
<<I love morphing? Don't you?>> He said as his wings became wings and he hopped up onto the bell tower ledge. He looked out for a moment and then dropped off the window ledge and let the air catch him on his way down. As he soared up into the afternoon sky he said again, <<I love morphing,>> this time with no sarcasm.
Suji:
"Don't rub it in," Suji said to Fin, though with more of a groan than real hostility. While they were morphing their birds for the trip over, Suji would be going into a much less favorable body. After they were mostly morphed, she started going roach. She wasn't sure if it was her least favorite morph (she wasn't so sure she had a 'favorite' at the moment at all--she only saw them for their advantages and disadvantages), but it certainly wasn't the most pleasant.
After she was fully and bug and had herself situated, she ambled over to the gray bird, since Fin would be the one that had to land to demorph and go cat anyway. <<This might tickle,>> she warned, and then climbed aboard the falcon's back. The fibers of the feathers provided excellent handholds. <<Make sure you land and remorph far enough away from the building itself, Fin. Not saying you wouldn't on your own, but a gentle reminder. You two are my eyes for this so I can't call the shots as far as seeing if the situation is too hot to go in.>>
Fin:
<<You know I'm going to start charging for these little rides I'm giving,>> he said to the itchy bug on his back. <<I wonder if we can make any money off it after the war. Like free ride on animorph if you morph a bug. Well I guess that wouldn't work so well since they'd just morph their own birds.>> Fin had about ten different ways already lined up for how to make money off all this after the war ended even though he freely acknowledged that there was little chance of surviving this war let alone the world being in a good enough state for a bright, young capitalist such as himself to make a profit.
Fin began singing We like to Party as he circled up on a thermal getting ready to head out towards Sootman's shop. As he did so he had a moment again to marvel at how big this place was.
Aubrey:
After a few minutes Aubrey was full seagull, shuffling the gray and white feathers against her back. While the other two finished their morphing, Aubrey leapt onto the ledge and looked down. Then she turned her head to make sure the two of them were ready, and took off into the air. The warm thermals filled under her wings, lifting her high into the sky.
Most of the trip over there consisted of listening to Fin's singing the same song again, and this time Aubrey didn't join in. Up ahead, she could see the familiar streets and buildings around the pawn shop. At the time she had been in her dog morph, and she hadn't seen how run down the area was. Well it was perfect enough place for this Sootman guy and his freaky customers.
She sent her thought-speak to the falcon and his bug passenger. <<Oop. I think I see it up ahead.>> With one wing tilted slightly downward, she circled closer, seagull head bobbing. She couldn't see anyone sticking around outside yet, but that didn't mean there weren't people inside.
Suji:
<<Right. Fly past it, scoop a little deeper. If it looks safe, find a place a good ways away to demorph, Fin. You'll have to drop me off by Sootman's building on credit, though. Didn't bring my wallet with me.>> Suji had mostly tuned out the signing. It wasn't as jolly as before, and she was going into mission mode.
All the same, this was supposed to be their relaxation and break time. Or at least, it was a break from the work that was more like chores. She didn't want to crack down on Fin just for singing, though if he kept it up when they started to really get into this, she was going to have to say something. Bridge to cross when they came to it.
FIn:
Fin flew to Sootman's. It didn't look much better in the day than it had at night. Normally places did but nope, not Sooty's. Maybe it was the name.
He flew around the place for a full fifteen minutes watching the comings and goings which were decidely few. Whatever buisness Sootman did it seemed to happen mostly at night. That made their job both harder and easier. Easier 'cause there was no one around to squish the Suji roach, harder 'cause no one was around so if they got caught they'd be out of place.
He landed on a fire escape above the alley where Aubrey had hid as a dog and, oh yeah, that guy had gotten killed. The guy was gone now though he could still see a red stain on the wall where his brains had landed courtesy of raptor vision.
<<Well we are all clear for right now I think. Hold on, I'm gonna head down and demorph behind that dumpster but you should drop off before that because cockroaches are creepy,>> he said matter-of-factly though he was just really trying to get a rise out of her. Reserved people tended to bring that out in him.
He got to the ground and demorphed and remorphed into his cat. The smell was terrible.
Aubrey:
The pawn shop came into view, and Aubrey began feeling uneasy. Ever since seeing what happened in the back alley, the place kind of gave her the creeps. The building itself even looked awful and run-down, now that she could clearly see the building in the daylight. It didn't surprise her.
Aubrey dipped down near the building, scanning for any sort of threat as they waited to see if it was clear. The area was quiet, and it looked like Sootman didn't have many customers during the day. <<Be careful guys.>> She wheeled up higher, watching as Fin dropped down to the back alley to drop Suji off.
Suji:
With a few directions from the other two, Suji scrambled towards Shaun's Pawns, and then under the door. Her antennae were constantly scanning; there were no booming sounds that she could recognize as voices, but after a while (she guessed she might be halfway into the room) there was the sound of footsteps coming upwards--maybe from a basement? Suji quickly crawled under a structure that she figured was the counter at the back of the store.
The footsteps hit this landing, and then there was the sound of a door closing. Suji couldn't tell much more from the sound: if she was in her jackrabbit morph, she'd have been able to tell how heavy the person was, what their breathing was like, a whole assortment of information. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Coming closer to where she was hiding, whoever was approaching scooted back the chair to the desk and sat down. The waves of noise and vibrations were enough that for a moment she had to consciously commit all her energy to staying put. After a moment of reconsolidating control, she heard what might have been the beeping of a phone being dialed--it clicked audibly along with the electronic tones. <<Okay, I'm under the desk. I think he's nearby, making some sort of call. Fin, you might have to get closer. Not sure I'll be able to make out the words.>>
Fin:
Fin sniffed at an interesting spot on the side of the building, at least interesting to his cat. He sang but only to himself. One minute I'm in Central Park, Then I'm down on Delancey Street, From the Bow'ry to St Marks ,There's a syncopated beat. The song was from Oliver and Company and imagining that cool street dog riding the trucks in the middle of Manhattan gave Fin confidence as he lounged around trying to act normal. I'm streetwise, I can improvise, I'm streetsmart, I've got New York City heart.
<<Hey Aubrey, you ever been to New York city?>> he asked just as Suji's thoughtspeak came through. He sauntered towards Sootman's window and jumped up on a ledge. <<Alright Suj. I'm in the window.>> He didn't look inside the store since cat generally did not understand the concept of seeing through glass. Instead he just made himself comfortable and like any good cat, took a nap in the sun. Or at least seemed too.
Andre (Drake):
Andre marched through the dusty streets of Dallas. He was being led by no less than three guards. All three of the... were they controllers? All three of the goons had a weapon pointed at his back. One had an alien disintegrator ray, another had a pistol, and the last one had a huge knife.
The reason he had three guards instead of one was because he had managed to rough them up a little bit before he had been overwhelmed. Although now Andre looked just as bad, or worse than all of them put together. Where they were leading him, he did not know.
But he did know why. He had been caught trying to steal a car from somewhere that was 'off limits.' But the keys were not in the vehicle and his poor attempts at hot-wiring it failed, and so he got caught. Now his former group would have to haul their supplies by hand, and without his help. He was sure of this because wherever he was being led, he knew he would most likely leave as a dead man or a controller.
Aubrey:
Aubrey flapped closer and landed on the roof of the building opposite of Sootman's shop. She had a good view of Fin's cat form and the door. While Suji made her way underneath the door, Aubrey's head tilted back and forth as she checked out the garbage thrown around the area. The seagull mind was aching to fly down and scavenge, but Aubrey knew she needed to keep an eye out. It didn't stop the old box of french fries next to the dumpster from looking tasty.
Aubrey listened to Suji's update, then heard Fin's question. <<Only when I was a young kid,>> She answered, waddling across the ledge to get a better view. Nothing much had changed. <<I've been to the east coast before since then, but only to Florida.>>
Scouting across the street, she spotted some movement further off. <<Oh. Guys, I see something heading this way. Hold on.>> She couldn't see exactly what it was, so she hopped off the building, spreading her wings wide and catching some wind beneath her feathers. As she circled closer she counted four people, one being dragged. <<There are a few guys dragging some guy this way. He looks like he's been roughed up.>>
Sootman (Suji):
Before he could finish dialing the number he was calling, the phone rang in his hands. After a short-lived expression of surprise, Sootman answered. "Hello?"
"We've got the guy that tried stealing one of your cars."
"Oh?" Sootman smirked, but it was joyless. He did enjoy quite a bit of retribution--it was one of the perks of the job--but he was a busy man, and it was likely that an 'old friend' would be stopping by for the payment she was due for offing Ramirez. And he had to make a couple calls to make sure that her goods were here in full--if it was cash she was interested in, that would have made it easy. But of course everyone that seemed to be in the high-profile business was never interested in just money. That would just have made Sootman's life easy wouldn't it.
"Well bring him in I guess. He'll have to wait a while though. I have someone coming in that I need to see to--then I'll try to figure out how much this guy is worth."
Sootman hung up, and quickly began redialing.
"Hello?" A pause. "Don't be stupid, of course this is Sootman. I want my shipment here within the next hour." Another pause, and this time his voice raised. "YES I do mean that, and no it is NOT a joke! I hired you for a reason! Either you get my diamonds in here promptly or I'll take you apart and sell you piece-meal to the organ harvesters!"
Fin:
Fin opened one eye. Just one. And he even resented that. He was sleeping after all. A small part of his mind laughed at the cat's attitude. He loved it and loved reveling it. <<Suji, Aubrey's right. There are four guys headed our way and one of them doesn't look happy. He's big but he looks like he's had a bad time of it. Any orders on this one?>>
This was starting to get complicated and for a moment he was about to suggest they pull out. But then he figured that if this Sootman guy was really as connected as he seemed to think he was then he would probably be getting visitors at all times of day and night and there would be no optimal time to return. Might as well see it through now.
Andre:
Soon after one of his escorts got back from talking on their cell phone, their little group finally came to a stop in front of an old pawn shop. Or at least that is what he thought it was. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut, making it difficult to see properly. Are they going to sell me? he thought honestly. He wouldn't doubt it.
One of his guards went up to the door, almost nervously it seemed. He knocked and waited, but he kept looking back as if to make sure the other two were still there. "Where are we?" Andre asked meekly.
"Shuddup," was all he got in response.
Suji:
<<Sit tight. Anyone starts looking at you funny, find an opportune moment to slip away, but make it look natural.>> She'd been able to make out most of Sootman's conversation: it took a lot of concentration, but it was possible. It also meant her attention would be diverted a bit from Aubrey and Fin, but there wasn't much she could do for them as a roach anyway.
<<Sootman just made a call and though I can't judge tone all that much, the words weren't very pretty. He's got more people coming in later, on top of that guy now. We might want to see this transaction, see who Sootman's big players are. As far as the bound guy... keep a close watch. Sootman might not be our enemy yet, but the enemy of my enemy, and all of that.>>
Aubrey:
Flapping, Aubrey circled on a couple thermals and watched the four men below her walking down the street. They were definitely heading to Sootman's, and the big burly guy with them didn't look too willing to be there. One of the guys knocked, and Aubrey landed on a building ledge again. She shuffled her feathers on her back. What was the deal?
<<One of them just finished talking on a cell phone, I think. They're up to the door now, knocking.>> Aubrey said, then listened quietly to Suji. <<More people, huh? Seems like a popular guy.>> The seagull tilted its head sideways, watching the small group near the door. The Animorphs had come at a good time to watch Sootman, it seemed.
Sootman (Fin):
Sootman opened the door, My shipment!, only to find the three men standing on it with their captive. The small greedy smile on his face faded into a look of annoyance as he waved them in and looked past them to see if his shipment had arrived. Seeing no one else for the moment he closed the door. If his shipment didn't get here on time there would be hell to pay.
He turned and looked at the three men and then at the captive they had brought. He wanted them out of here as soon as possible, they were cluttering up his shop and he had more important business to attend to.
"So this is the car thief uh, well you're in luck. I have about five minutes to talk to you since you arrived so quickly. If this is going to take longer than that I'm going to have to ask you to wait but it really shouldn't. I'm guessing you want the standard fee for bringing him in? Is he free or controlled?"
Sootman had a couple of policies in place for dealing with thieves. If they were free humans then their captors got first shot at making hosts out of them and in exchange Sootman got to keep their old host bodies for whatever reason.
Sometimes he kept bodies around for a couple of days to see if anyone was interested but mostly hosts weren't the best product to try to move. He had to feed them and keep them locked up while they were here which normally meant hiring some type of guards. All of that was extra time and money Sootman didn't feel like spending so unless he had a buyer lined up who was definitely interested in the body he normally sold it for parts. It was more valuable that way.
If the guy was controlled then he had to be a little more careful. Even the lowliest controller had connections that would start asking questions if he disappeared. His boss if no one else. And the captains and sub-vissers didn't like when they got behind in their projects because he had taken out one of their assets.
So in the case of controllers Sootman had to be a bit more creative. Cut off body parts in a way they couldn't easily be regenerated or replaced with prosthetics perhaps. Hold them a long enough they began to starve (most yeerks dreaded even the slightest touch of the fugue) was a classic and always effective.
Sootman looked at his watch impatiently and once again checked the window to see if his shipment had arrived.
Andre:
"He's a freebie," one of his captors explained. Andre wondered what would happen if they said he was a controller. Would they let him go? He doubted it.
"Listen, I just wanted to- Ugh..." The guy with the pistol elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to double over.
"Shuddup. Nobody asked you," the man said. "Now, we jus wanna get this guy offa our hand and get outa here. He's more trouble than he's worth if ya ask me." Andre got a cold sense of satisfaction from hearing them say that. Not that it helped his situation any, but at least they saw him as a threat. Which he was, and always would be as long as he had something to say about it.
Sootman (Suji):
"Fine. Here." Sootman wrote down an address on an index card, and handed it to one of the captors. "This address isn't far, a few blocks. Take him here, and ask for Odt. He'll pay you and take him off your hands."
When they didn't immediately start to clear out, Sootman let out an exasperated sigh, and shooed them away. "Out! I have a business to run! Go!"
- - -
<<They're taking this guy to some location. He's a free human that's apparently given them hell, and it'd probably be nice to have someone like that on our side. Aubrey go ahead and keep an eye on them, though we'll likely need you in husky for the rescue. Fin, I'm coming towards the door now. See if you can come around once they leave and I'll climb on you. We'll go somewhere safe and remorph.>>
Fin:
Fin stood up and stretched languidely. <<If you insist liege lady, but I was enjoying a nice nap out here in the sun.>> Fin jumped down to the ground, enjoying the glorious feeling of power and poise that this morph possessed, landed on dainty paws, and began trotting back the way he'd come.
He walked around the corner of the shop and into the alley just as the thugs began dragging their bounty out of the shop. <<I've relocated to the alley, I can pick you up there but I'm probably going to go falcon on this one if we are going to attempt a rescue. Why are we rescuing him again?>>
Suji:
<<Falcon is fine, we'll need someone in the air.>> Suji had moved to the door, and waited until her sensory organs told her that the door was shut and everyone had moved outside. She picked her way across the floor and passed until the door without a hitch. Once outside it took her a moment to orient herself, and then she crawled into the alley.
Almost immediately the cockroach's brain told her there was a predator there, and she had to hope that it was Fin. Aubrey would have undoubtedly let her know if she was about to walk up to some feral cat and get eaten, but there was still some nervousness in the back of her mind, not the least of which coming from the cockroach itself. <<We're rescuing him because it's a pretty clear opportunity, and if he's already fighting Yeerks as a normal human, he'll probably make a good asset to our team. Or we can at least help him on his way to a refugee camp.>>
Fin:
Fin sat in the alley, his tail twitching as he waited on a certain cockroach. When the bug finally poked its antennae out from under the door he walked over to it. His cat brain wanted to play with the small moving creature and Fin didn't rein it in very much. He sniffed the bug with his cat eyes wide and interested and then one lighting swift paw batted at it, claws in.
The antennae on the cockroach started waving wildly and the movement only made his cat brain more interested in playing with it. <<Ah, I see,>> Fin said a little distracted by the weaving dance of antennae. He batted the bug again and then jumped back and crouched waiting to see if it would run. <<I guess that's ok then,>> he said getting control of the cat mind.
Aubrey:
Aubrey made sure Suji had gotten to Fin safely, then eyed the door. <<Alright Suji.>> Aubrey dove down from the building, spreading her bone-white wings to the wind. The air filled under her, lifting her into the sky.
Aubrey felt a small moment of elation, enjoying the fact that she was flying. There was no place to surf here, no place to feel the crash of waves around her and the exhilaration of being so close to the sea. No place to exhaust Aubrey's high energy or help her keep all the worries in her mind straight. Flying had filled that gap, now. Doing a small circle, Aubrey kept an eye on the group of men walking through the streets, waiting for Fin and Suji to catch up. She'd go dog once Fin was in the air.
Suji:
<<Stop.>> It was hard to keep the roach mind under control, and Suji held back from scolding him, though her tone was final. She didn't need to deal with the scattered roach brain right now. They were about to try to rescue someone, and that was not a welcome distraction. <<Let me know when I should climb on.>>
Suji waited as he demorphed. <<Let us know if they do anything strange Aubrey. The guy they're carting around--you said he was big right? Does he look like he'll be able to help if we keep out one or two of the captors busy? Or do you think we'll be doing all the work?>> She hated not being able to collect all this information for herself.
Fin:
Fin walked over to the cockroach and resisted batting it this time. He crouched down next to it, pretending to be a sphinx of legend even though the prideful air of the pose was ruined by the fact that he was surrounded by a trash ridden alley. That and there was no one to see him.
<<Climb on. I'm the big, soft, warm, fuzzy, cute thing. I realize that your bug senses are far too limited to truly take in my glory but you should be able to find me at the very least,>> especially since he was crouched right next to her. <<Do we know where we are going to demorph or am I supposed to just run around until I find something?>> Suji probably didn't know this area any better than he did but he figured he'd ask just to be polite, she was the leader.
Suji:
Suji didn't waste time in climbing up onto what she had to assume was his back. The roach clung easily to his fur, though it didn't like being there. At least he had stopped batting at her.
<<Any place that's suitable will work. If you can't find anything, Aubrey might be able to point a place out. I can't see so I won't have any idea where to go; just try for somewhere a bit isolated I guess. I'll trust you judgment.>> It almost hurt to say that last sentence: since when did Suji trust anyone's judgment but her own?
Aubrey:
<<Cool, so we're rescuing him.>> Aubrey said, drifting above. <<Will do, Suji. They're still walking down the street--and just rounded a corner up ahead.>> The men were still dragging the other guy through the street, if not a little slowly. Aubrey passed over them, then did another small circle back, a little lower. Her shadow slid across the asphalt.
<<And yep. The guy's pretty big and muscly and all that jazz. I think he'd definitely be able to take at least a couple of them. Easily.>> Flapping above the warm buildings, Aubrey was feeling a bit excited now.
Andre:
Andre trudged wearily through the streets, knowing that his life as a free man was nearing an end. Soon he would either be made into one of his enemies, or more likely he would be used for some other purpose. But either way, he only had a few blocks left. It seemed they were both longest and shortest blocks he had ever walked.
Then he noticed a bird's shadow cross over the asphalt out of the corner of his eye. Birds were kind of rare these days, so the thought of a bird being here only increased his desire to be free. What was more free than a bird in the sky? He would have to try to make an escape.
However, if he so much as twitched at the wrong moment, he would be dead. No, he would have to wait for just the right moment. He knew that he would probably die the moment he tried something, but the alternative would be just as bad. Andre prepared himself for his last stand.
Fin:
Fin trotted down the alley and around the dumpster, running right over the spot that was still stained red from the other night. His dainty cat paws hit the ground with no sound as he turned his head from side to side looking for a nice hidden place to remorph.
He stuck close to the place where the buildings and sidewalk met hoping to go unnoticed and tried to keep the group of free humans in sight. Once they were birds it should be easy to catch up to them but no need to take the chance of losing them.
<<I would just like to go on record,>> he began to Suji and Aubrey, <<that we are on vacation. This is our rest week. No hard work, no daring rescues. We are taking a break from being heroes for a while so we aren't really obligated to save this guy. And if we are going to do this while the other teams get to stay home and play house cleaning and doing grocery runs then we should get paid extra.>>
He spotted what he hoped was an abadoned apartement complex and split off into it. He entered the dark doorway with caution. Light motes were illuminated by the beam of light coming in through the broken doorway. It was the only source of light in the whole place as far as he could tell. Not that it bothered him much being a cat.
As he walked farther in he found that it wasn't apartments in here, it was a very large parking garage. Very large. I guess everyone has to have a place to park their jeeps and hummers, he thought with the usual Northern arrogance and disdain for the south.
He sniffed around but the only thing he was smelling in here was leaked gas. <<If this was a zombie movie we would be ambushed in here,>> he said conversationally to the cockroach on his back who couldn't see that they were in a parking garage so probably had no idea what he was talking about. <<Anyway, ride's over, everyone off.>>
Fin waited until the cockroach had gotten off on its own and resisted the twin urges to shake it off and then to start playing with it again. He started his own demorph and after much bone crunching, fur sucking and organ shifting he found himself standing in almost pitch blackness. He could still see the rectangle of light that was the doorway and he headed in that direction since his falcon wouldn't like the indoors much.
He shrank into the familiar form and more bone hollowing, feather growing and organ shifting later he was a bird. <<You ready?>> he asked Suji.
Suji:
<<We aren't on break from playing heroes,>> Suji responded light-heartedly. <<We're on break from house-cleaning. At least this is fun.>> The last word almost caught in her mind; fun? Was this fun? Was Suji actually really enjoying this?
Yes, she was surprised to find out, she was. They were going to do something they were made to do. Save someone. And it should be fairly easy: the opposition didn't have any idea they were coming, and there weren't that many Controllers in their way. She knew better than to assume it'd be easy or smooth, but it was the right thing to do, and for Suji...
...well it just seemed like there weren't many times where doing the right thing was so uncomplicated, and so blatantly "right."
When Suji climbed off she began demorphing as well. Once human she went into her vulture morph. With Aubrey as a dog and Fin's more agile bird harrying the Controllers, it still wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone in the air watching their backs the whole time. <<Ready,>> she responded, and then with a few powerful wing beats, flew out of the garage and into the sky.
<<Aubrey, you can go husky now, if you'd like.>> Suji, not really a dog person, didn't much know the difference between a husky and a malamute.
Jack:
<This sucks,> Jack thought dismally, trudging along as one of the bodymen. A trickle of sweat ran down between his shoulder-blades, itching. But he couldn't even scratch at the spot.
<What, you're not used to it?> Liam099 sneered. <Thought it'd remind you of the good old days.>
<Piss off,> he snarled, to the amusement of his Yeerk.
Aubrey:
Once Fin and Suji disappeared into the building, Aubrey soared over the group of men. While the two Animorphs were demorphing and remorphing, Aubrey wanted to keep an eye on what was happening. <<I think I agree with Suji. And this guy looks like he deserves a break. It could be fun.>> Aubrey still liked having the chance to help somebody. This seemed like a good opportunity--and it was better than scrubbing bathroom floors.
Flying near the building, she noticed the birds exiting. <<Alright.>> Dipping her wing down, Aubrey zoomed down to the ground. Flaring her wings, her orange webbed feet struck the warm floor as she landed. Shuffling her wings against her back, her head swiveled sideways, taking in the dark, empty doorway. Then she waddled in and began demorphing.
White feathers melted back into her skin, replaced by smooth tanned flesh. Thick, sandy hair sprouted from her head, lengthening as her body began to grow. Bones and organs twisted back into their normal positions, and after a few minutes Aubrey was fully human. Sitting on the floor, she stretched her arms and took a small huff of air. Then she concentrated on her Alaskan Malamute morph. Immediately her face began stretching into a muzzle, and thick fur spread along her body. A tail shot out of her spine, curling over until it barely touched her back.
After a few more minutes of concentration, she was done morphing. With her pink tongue hanging out of her mouth, she trotted outside into the sun. There were all sorts of interesting scents filling the dog's nose, but Aubrey was doing her best to not run off and sniff them all. <<I'm ready.>> Lifting her head, her nose twitched a little. <<Have they gone far?>>
Suji:
<<Not far, when you head out they'll be about three blocks along the street to your right.>> Suji had climbed high in the air, and felt the warm Dallas updrafts effortlessly keeping her aloft. <<I'm going to keep watch up here: you're more agile than I am in that morph Fin, so you'll be with Aubrey on the harassment crew. We're not going for anything that will get us too wrapped up here. We want to strike, free this guy, and get out. On that note, I'm going to give out rescuee a heads up.>>
Suji opened up her thoughtspeech, including them and Andre now. She tried to pick her words carefully, but really, there wasn't much to prepare a guy for a sudden voice in his head. <<Hello there. Please, stay calm. This is an Animorph speaking to you. Do not look around! We are surveying your situation and would like to help rescue you. However, we need a little prep-time. Look down at your feet if you understand what I'm saying.>>
Andre:
Andre heard a voice in his head and he began to look around for the source. No sooner had he started his search than he was told not to. Andre's neck stiffened and he ignored the strange glances and questioning sentences from his captors. Could it be true? Were the animorphs here to help him out? He half thought that they were just an urban legend.
Andre looked down to signal that he understood. He was afraid that he was just going crazy, but then realized that even if he were, it didn't matter. Soon he would either be assisted by some animorphs, dead, or worse. Andre's muscles were becoming tense in anticipation.
Jack:
<Look at that sap. Looking around for an escape.>
<I'm not interested, so shut up already!> Jack responded. But he couldn't not look, because 099 was looking. So he had to see the man they were carting off like a horse to a glue factory.
<Oh don't feel so bad, Jackie-boy! You're only in indentured servitude. We're not locking your cage and throwing away the keys yet. Well, at least if we don't change our minds.>
Jack did his best to ignore the goading. God, he wanted to be free. He sympathized with this big fellow. It would serve them right if he tried something. Of course, Jack knew they were all equipped with dracon guns. At the moment his wasn't on full blast, but he wouldn't have been able to say the same for the other Controllers.
<We're getting paid for escorting, not for disintegrating. I'm sure they're all set to stun too. It's endearing how you're so concerned, though!> Liam quipped.
Fin:
Fin flapped into the hot Dallas sunshine and let the heat waves coming up off the pavement lift in into the sky. He was glad they had let the captors get ahead of them a little. They might not have noticed the medium sized falcon but they would certainly have noticed the large white vulture.
<<Boss lady, we have to get you a nondescript flying morph. That one is just too majestic.>>
He circled over the group in slow, tightening gyres. Looking down at them he once again felt the need to voice his opinion. <<You know we can just go home. I mean if we allow ourselves to try to rescue each and every guy out there we would never get anything done. We are probably going to get shot at doing this. That's not fun.>>
Suji:
<<There are other vultures out here, I probably just look like an albino from that far down. Which is why I'm not flying in any closer.>> She listened to Fin and felt a twinge of annoyance. Go home? She couldn't tell if he was serious or not; if she called him out on it too roughly, he'd probably say he was joking. And she was fairly convinced that that was the point. Which only made her more annoyed. <<Well it's good that we haven't gone out of our way to find someone to rescue, and this guy just fell into our laps, isn't it? Let's do our jobs.>>
Suji kept watch: she didn't see any cars moving anywhere close to their location, or anyone else out on the streets. <<Aubrey, you should be in range now.>> She widened her thoughtspeak to include Andre. <<A dog is going to charge you all. She is one of us. We also have a falcon diving in. What we need you to do, more than anything, is try to disarm these guys. When you have a chance to break from the group, hotwiring a car wouldn't be a bad idea. You were caught as a car thief, right? Look down again I guess, if confirm yes. Look right if you don't think you can hotwire something.>>
After seeing his response (and it didn't really matter too much at the moment: they were doing this either way), Suji tucked the info away. <<Showtime. Whenever you're ready, Aubrey. Fin, once she goes for them, go ahead and follow her lead.>>
Andre:
Andre heard the voice in his head again, but luckily this time he managed to avoid giving in to the urge to look around. How long have they been keeping an eye on me? he wondered when the voice seemed to know that he had attempted to steal a car. It didn't matter. All that mattered was doing his part.
That brought up another point. Could he hotwire a car for them? Sure, he knew how to hotwire a car, but last time he tried he ended up in his current situation. But this time he would have to do it right. He had to. Andre looked down at the ground, then waited for a dog to appear.
Aubrey:
Aubrey loved her dog morph sometimes. Any sort of nervousness or anxiety about doing this was buried beneath the waves of dog-happiness. Her plume-tail was bouncing with each step she took, brushing her furry back. After a few blocks of padding along, her sensitive nose caught the scent of the nearby group of men.
<<Okay, I think I see them. Getting ready to attack.>> They were walking along the street, the big guy still in tow. The dog's mind immediately wanted to run up to them and start investigating. Aubrey knew better, of course, and her body tensed as she started getting nearer. Even knowing that there was help above--and the guy they were rescuing would probably help--it was intimidating to be the one to start attacking.
The dog's lip curled up slightly, revealing an ivory fang. Alaskan Malamutes were bred to be big and strong--they were built to pull heavy loads across distances. However, up against humans, the case could be different. Aubrey had never attacked someone as her dog morph. In fact, she'd never really attacked anyone before, if you didn't count the Hork-Bajir she had shot in the stomach with a dracon beam.
With as much speed and strength as she could muster, Aubrey burst into a run. After a few running leaps, Aubrey smashed into the back of the nearest controller's legs.
Fin:
At the same time Fin folded his wings and dropped into a neat dive. Normally he wouldn't have made a sound on his way down though the falcon wanted to give a hunting cry, but this time he wanted as much attention on the morpher who was going almost 100 mph instead of the dog. Let them try to shoot at him while Aubrey freed the stranger they didn't even know.
He let out the falcon's high pitched hunting cry and pulled out of the dive into time to rake the face of the controller Aubrey hadn't attacked before zooming away. He pulled up and used the thermals to get back altitude to dive again. Suji floated serenely above. <<Having fun?>> he shot at her before turning around, not high enough for his liking, and diving again.
Andre:
The shrieking of a bird just about distracted Andre as much as his guards. At least now he knew he wasn't crazy. Just as a dog attacked one controller, and the bird attacked the other, Andre plowed his weight into the third. They both went down.
Andre got back to his feet as quickly as possible. It looked like he managed to knock the wind out of his target when he landed on top of him. Unfortunately that was not enough to keep him from leveling his weapon at Andre's head. Andre lunged to the side just as the air sizzled where his head was moments before.
Suji:
Was Fin complaining? Again? Suji was beginning to wonder if it was more than his talkative personality. Was he really that against trying to save people? He was an Animorph. That morphing power wasn't a free gift: it came with a price. And he wasn't just an Animorph either; he was an Animorph currently under her command. So he'd just have to get over it. But she'd keep this in mind for later.
<<Yes,>> she replied instead. <<The view is great.>> She couldn't swoop in there without getting in their way, and they needed someone to watch if any cavalry decided to show up. <<Aubrey, over head! To your right! Dodge!>>
The final guy turned his dracon gun on the dog--he apparently found that figure the most threatening. Suji watched as he fumbled for a moment, reminding himself to push the intensity meter from a stunning shot to a killing one. Another dracon beam lanced through the air, but Andre was out of the way in time.
This was not fun. Suji didn't want to be stuck up here. She couldn't be of much help up here.
Jack:
Liam 099 squeezed the trigger, but his reactions were slow; he'd just been knocked to the ground by the man they were escorting, and he wasn't exactly a small guy. A second after the shot (which missed), Liam's body fully collided with the asphalt (his elbows had hit first, and they smarted painfully at that). His head followed the downward motion, knocking back against the ground.
<Fuck!> Liam 099 said internally, and even Jack was afraid about what might happen to him, as the lights went out.
Aubrey:
The dog's ears immediately picked up Fin's screech, and it almost made Aubrey flinch involuntarily. The controller she had tackled had fallen down immediately, and her jaws had instinctively clamped around the man's leg and started tearing at the jeans. His other foot was thrashing wildly, landing hard blows across her muzzle and sending black dots flying through her vision.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the big man take down one of the other controller. It looked like they'd been right, and Aubrey would have smiled if she could. Aweso--the thought was interrupted suddenly when a dracon beam screamed through the warm air, nearly missing Andre.
<<Aubrey, over head! To your right! Dodge!>>
Even though the thought-speak had been in her head, Aubrey's ears perked upwards. Releasing her grip on the downed controller--who was fumbling to draw his own dracon beam while kicking at Aubrey's face--Aubrey turned her head to catch sight of the other controller aiming at her. With her heart thrumming in her chest she threw herself sideways, the dracon beam shot coming close enough to singe the black and white off her flank. Her nose filled with the unpleasant scent of burning flesh and fur.
Growling, her head turned towards Liam. But it looked like he had been knocked out. At the same time, the controller that Aubrey had been biting was stumbling to his shaky feet now, the dracon beam in his hand. The shot at Aubrey had given the guy enough time to get his bearings. The other controller was still clutching his face where Fin had raked him, blood dribbling between his fingers.
Taking in a short breath, Aubrey ran and slammed into the standing controller's torso, throwing him back to the ground. His finger had been on the trigger, and a shot tore into her shoulder. She let out a high-pitched yelp, flinching back. When he hit the ground, another shot went wild above her head and into the sky.
"Vacation," Fin said to himself as he reclined in his kiddie chair that was much too small for him. "Vacation. Has a nice ring to it doesn't it," he asked Blue Bear. The bluish, bear, cat-like looking thing stared back at him with corn blue plastic eyes, a smile on its innocent face. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
He began humming a vacation song and then skipped into humming the song that six flags had used for its promotions a couple of years ago.
Then he decided to get up and start jumping around dancing to the music in his head forgetting he'd left his door open.
Aubrey:
The door to Aubrey's room creaked on its hinges, slowly swinging open. Standing in the empty door frame was a red beanie with four feet sticking out and a furry, black-tipped tail trailing behind. Aubrey pulled the beanie up slightly, ducking her face down so that her brown eyes could see from underneath the knitted fabric.
Aubrey was taking a break. She had been working on her wall-drawing for some of the afternoon, while everybody was out busy doing stuff like chores or patrolling. She had decided that the Temple needed some exploring, the type of exploring where she could fit into small spaces--but not as small as the moth. That whole fiasco in the vents had Aubrey completely avoiding her moth morph for now.
Once Aubrey had morphed her squirrel monkey, she had realized how cold everything on floor-level was, and decided to wrap herself up in her old red beanie. However, her plans were halted shortly as she stared across her doorway and into Fin's open door--his room was across from hers--where he was dancing to some inaudible music. She tried not to giggle; He looked like he was having fun.
Instead, she pulled the beanie up over her back and stood up straight, then began shuffling over towards Fin's room. She looked like one of those koopa troopas with the red shells on its back. <<Where's the party?>>
Fin:
Fin turned towards the door and saw the small Aubrey monkey. She seemed to fit right in with all the other stuffed animals in the room and Fin picked her up off the ground. "Where ever I am of course," he said as if the answer should have been obvious. He began singing/talking the party song.
"We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. We like, we like to party. We like to party. Da da da da dada! Da da da da dada! Duh duh duh duh dada! Duh duh duh duh dada! The Venga bus is coming and everybody's jumping! New York to San Francisco, an inter-city disco! The wheels of steal are turning, the traffic lights are burning! So if you like to party, get on and move your body!"
Suji:
Had been doing the Animorph equivalent of push-ups: morphing and demorphing, cycling through each of her morphs. She had 'rounds' worked out in her head, and had resolved to practice every day. It'd been a while since she'd been in one location long enough to get into the habit, but it would be a good idea to start again.
She'd been transitioning into her jackrabbit when she heard singing from down the hall. Her long, slender ears turned towards the noise, which she thought might have been Fin's voice. It would make sense directionally, and more importantly, would make sense to explain why someone was singing. If anyone, it would be him. Hopping along, she came to the doorway, and poked her head in. Her small tender nose sniffed along the floor, and sure enough, Fin was singing. Apparently to a tiny monkey.
<<What are you two doing?>> The question was genuinely curious, as if there was nothing else one could ask upon seeing such a sight.
Fin:
"We, liege lady," he said hunkering down in front of the jackrabbit with the monkey still in his arms, "are dancing and singing and in all other ways enjoying the fact that we have this week off while everyone else gets to do chores and patrols and other such important jobs."
He put Aubrey down next to Suji. He was starting to feel left out of the morphing but he really had no reason to morph at the moment so he let the two small animals stay on the floor while he stood up and walked over to the record player he had spirited into his room (along with the sole record). "You know, we still only have one record and as soulful as it is its not exactly party music. Think we should run that recon Ray suggested, or just go shopping? I mean we can do that as humans."
Aubrey:
<<Oh, yes.>> Aubrey's beanie/blanket almost fell off as Fin scooped her up off the ground. With one furry paw she grabbed her beanie, pulling it back to its original position. It was falling over her face again. Then she leaned back against Fin, reclining.
After a few seconds, she realized what song he was singing, and immediately began joining in with her thought-speak. Aubrey wasn't the world's most beautiful singer, but she didn't mind sharing her non-talent with others. <<We like to party, we like, we like to party, we like to party we like, we like to party!>>
They were mid-song when a rabbit hopped into the doorway. She wasn't sure who it was until Suji's thought-speak filled her head. She pulled her beanie up out of her eyes with one small hand. Luckily her morph could smile, and Aubrey's face was twisted into the monkey's version of a grin. Which included flashing her tiny little canines at Suji.
<<What he said.>> Fin placed her down on the ground, and she did a small circle in place, curling her tail around her feet. The Temple's floor was cold under her paws, and it sent a shiver up her spine. As she moved, her beanie sagged down against her back, and she pulled it up again. She was about eye-level with the jackrabbit now. The squirrel monkey didn't feel threatened by the animal, in fact, it felt curious. Like it wanted to move over towards the rabbit and start touching its fur and ears. Especially the ears. However Aubrey wasn't giving in to the curiosity.
She turned her face up towards Fin as he spoke, brown eyes stark against the white skull-pattern of her fur. <<I'm up for shopping for some records.>> A trip outside the Temple sounded fun, she needed to stretch her legs.
Suji:
Suji laughed through thoughtspeak. It was good that they were having a good time. It could be argued that she didn't know how to have fun if her life depended on it (the moments of celebration she engaged in where few and far between--probably too much so) but she still appreciated seeing other people enjoy themselves. And as much as a worming, self-loathing part of her hated herself for recognizing it this way: it was good for morale. And better morale meant more durable soldiers.
She hadn't been sure that it was Aubrey he was holding (had she mentioned a monkey morph way back?) but when Fin mentioned that they had off, Suji quickly put the pieces together. Aubrey's monkey settled down beside her, and the rabbit was a skittish animal, but it wasn't sensing any truly strong predatory vibes from it. <<I've got a capuchin morph,>> Suji said, looking over the squirrel monkey. <<Was one of my firsts.>> Her hears flicked causally back and forth--so many things to listen to, but she didn't want to dwell on them. She wasn't sure if that constituted a type of spying.
They mentioned shopping for records and Suji felt a small inner deflation. <<Unfortunately, I'm not sure we should just walk in. Ray talked about doing some recon first. If you guys want to spend some of our break time for some more spying, I think that'd be a good thing to do first. Then we can go in after a couple of days. Does that sound fair?>> She didn't want to shoot the idea down, because she did plan on interacting with Sootman at some point (or at least, planned on the faction as a whole doing it). They would have to eventually to get a fuller scoop on the antidote. But it wouldn't do to go in blind. <<For example, we'll probably only want to head in in whatever his slow hours seem to be--if he has them. I'd really rather not run into that guy with the gun.>> They'd both seen what had happened to the antidote bearer.
Fin:
"Well then I'm afraid you can only blame yourself," he said as he put the gospel record on and began playing it. After a moment he stopped though. It really wasn't the best music for dancing. He didn't really feel comfortable singing in front of strangers, not really singing that is instead of what he had been doing before but their lack of music was down right depressing.
He looked around quickly and then made up his mind. "Well I can provide some music if you'd like." He ran through the many songs and bits of songs he had stored in his head but he didn't really want to do anything too personally so he picked something he thought was ridiculous and yet fun.
"S club, there ain't no party like an s-club party!, want to show you how, everybody get down tonight. S club, there ain't no party like an s-club party!, want to take you out, shake your body from side to side!" He knew the whole song and he was actually putting effort into it this time so it came out sounding pretty good.
By the time he got to the second verse he had shed enough of his reticence to dance...he knew the whole dance too.
Aubrey:
<<Really, a capuchin? That's like a monkey, right? Awesome.>> Both of her furry arms were raised, lifting the beanie up from her face as she spoke. <<This was one of my morphs too. It came in handy a lot until I got my Alaskan Malamute.>> Nowadays, she found herself defaulting more to her dog morph than this one. Since leaving L.A., she had been avoiding using the morph as much. She had almost been trapped as the monkey. It had taken her awhile to get over what happened and morph it again.
<<Up to you guys if you want to do recon during our break.>> Her tiny furry fingers started picking through the golden fur of her tail. It looked like they might not be going out and getting records right away. Aubrey was fine with that. Even though some more music would be refreshing, she still felt leery about going back to that pawn shop. Watching somebody get his brains blown out right in front of her--controller or not--had been very unsettling for her. <<Yeah, would not want to run into that guy again either.>>
Fin began playing the gospel record, then stopped. Aubrey hadn't even realized where the record player had been taken since the night they had gone out to get records for it. <<That record again? Haha.>> It's not that she didn't like the music, it just wasn't her preference. Then Fin began singing another song she didn't recognize. It was still pretty catchy, and she realized Fin had a pretty good singing voice. He began dancing, and she laughed lightly and started bobbing her head with the beat.
Suji:
Suji chuckled at the scene. Fin's voice wasn't terrible, but his choice of music definitely was. The dancing added to the humor value at least. He wasn't being particularly loud, but the hare's ears were sensitive, and she turned them so that the aural cavity faced away from him.
<<Yes, we certainly need to pick up some more... variety,>> Suji interjected when it seemed like Fin was ready to loop the song again. Meaningfully, the jackrabbit lifted its head and looked at Fin, then turned slightly to regard the monkey in the hat at her side. It was a very human gesture. <<So, do we want to do some recon? I figure for actual retrieval it wouldn't hurt to bring Drake, though, in the future. I mean, he put his neck on the line maybe even more than the rest of us. Think he deserves a say in what we pick up.>>
Fin:
Fin smiled down at Suji. This is what life was supposed to be like. Just hanging out with people he considered friends, making them laugh if he could. Life wasn't supposed to be about killing people, or sneaking around trying not to get caught by people who would kill you...or worse.
"I guess we can go do some recon though I'm not sure if Drake is around here. I can go bang on his door if you want but are we even picking up records today or just scoping the place out? He can always come with us next time."
Suji:
<<Just scoping,>> Suji responded. <<They're doing chores, we can do the hard-part of this.>> Though it was likely that retrieving might be an event in itself... maybe even the 'hard' part. But this would feel more like standard work. Or at least it wouldn't have any promise of reward greater than some more information. <<Besides, 3 is probably a better number for staking out one place.>>
Suji began to demorph, pushing herself up from the floor as she regained human arms and legs. The ears sucked back into her skull with a mild popping noise, and when she was human again she looked between them. "So, we'll probably want a divide between air and ground support. I've got a roach morph if we think hanging around inside will get us anywhere." She looked over at Aubrey... the vent issue meant that Aubrey had had a bug morph too. "Think a leopard moth might be a bit too flashy, unless you're really eager to look around inside the shop."
Aubrey:
<<Works for me. Recon it is.>> Suji started demorphing, and Aubrey quickly followed suit. The golden fur began shrinking back into her body, replaced by her black wetsuit. On her back, spread along her shoulders, was the Los Angeles' logo--angel wings with the 'A' logo set in the middle. After a few more minutes she was fully human, her hands brushing off her wetsuit.
"Oops." Aubrey bent down quickly, swiping her beanie off the ground. After dusting it off she pulled it over her head, adjusting it. Then she shook her head at Suji. "I, uh, I don't think I really want to go bug for awhile." The chances of her being trapped in a spider web again were probably slim, but she needed a break from what had happened. "So who's ground and who's air?"
Fin:
Fin threw his arms over both girls shoulders companionably. "This should be fun. I haven't been out of the church in like days," he said as they directed them out of his room and started walking down the hall that would take them to the tower and the air beyond. After a moment he let go and just walked with them side by side.
"So I'm good for ground or air. Got the falcon morph and have a cat that can hang out in the alley without looking suspicious. No bugs though," he said as they reached the stairs. He made a small bow and waved after you.
Suji:
Suji noticed the decal with a smirk. "You know, I spent an evening a while back wondering if uniforms would be a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, no better way to announce that you're an Animorph. On the other, skin-tight clothing doesn't exactly make for blending in. Besides, maybe it's, um, unifying?" She realized how maybe unnaturally plotting that might make her sound (couldn't something just be done for fun?) and quickly left the topic.
Fin put his arm over her shoulder and Aubrey's, and Suji stiffened a little. Though she didn't dislike Fin, and thought he was a decent enough companion, she'd never been experienced a whole lot of teammate physical interaction. Maybe it was a hold over from her first months running with Luce, which extended into Chicago. In any case, it made her a little uncomfortable. After a moment, though, Suji found herself relaxing, her mind (almost involuntarily, it seemed) relinquishing the thought. By the time Fin lifted his arms, she thought nothing of it.
Nodding to Aubrey (who understandably didn't want to morph her bug again) Suji thought over who to assign where. "Aubrey, I know you went over your morphs before, but refresh my memory--you had an air morph, something non-predatory, right? If that's the case, we can go with Fin as a cat; not sure I want someone to notice your dog morph hanging around there again, just in case. At least not so soon."
They went up the stairs until they were all huddled into the bell tower. A least all their morphs would be getting smaller. "I'll go roach and hitch a ride on one of you, I guess."
Aubrey:
Aubrey glanced over at Suji, realizing that she was looking at the thing on the back of Aubrey's suit. She had totally spaced that there was even something there, and as Suji spoke she twisted her head and tried to pull it over to look at. She ended up doing a small circle trying to see it. "Hah, yeah. Not many controllers running around in skin-tight outfits. At least none that I've seen so far. But it's either that, or we all go naked." People seemed awkward enough with just wearing the morphing suits.
She smiled lightly at Fin. "Yeah. I'm looking forward to getting some exercise today." Aubrey hadn't been out of the Temple much either, and she was getting antsy to stretch her legs and do something. Drawing on her wall was fun, but it wasn't very active work--and Aubrey wasn't too fond of just sitting around and being lazy. Back in her old faction it was pretty easy to just go out surfing, but she didn't really have that luxury anymore. It was one of the things she missed about the Haunt, among other things.
Aubrey didn't seem to mind or notice Fin's arm around her shoulder. As they passed near her room, she pulled up the red beanie from her head and tossed it inside. No use losing it when they went up to morph. As they trekked up the stairs, Aubrey nodded. "Okay. Yep, I've got a seagull." Inside the bell tower it was a little cramped, and Aubrey began concentrating on her seagull morph.
Fin:
Fin began shrinking into his falcon morph, his bones grinding as they rearranged themselves and hallowed out. The familiar feather pattern spread over his pale skin and then popped out, graying as it did so to take on the bird's sooty coloring. His feet became scaly before they had taken on the shape of talons and that looked pretty gross. What made it worse was that he was looking at his feet change when his raptor vision kicked in so he got to watch his skin hard and pop up in yellowy scales that looked a lot like old nails to him.
<<I love morphing? Don't you?>> He said as his wings became wings and he hopped up onto the bell tower ledge. He looked out for a moment and then dropped off the window ledge and let the air catch him on his way down. As he soared up into the afternoon sky he said again, <<I love morphing,>> this time with no sarcasm.
Suji:
"Don't rub it in," Suji said to Fin, though with more of a groan than real hostility. While they were morphing their birds for the trip over, Suji would be going into a much less favorable body. After they were mostly morphed, she started going roach. She wasn't sure if it was her least favorite morph (she wasn't so sure she had a 'favorite' at the moment at all--she only saw them for their advantages and disadvantages), but it certainly wasn't the most pleasant.
After she was fully and bug and had herself situated, she ambled over to the gray bird, since Fin would be the one that had to land to demorph and go cat anyway. <<This might tickle,>> she warned, and then climbed aboard the falcon's back. The fibers of the feathers provided excellent handholds. <<Make sure you land and remorph far enough away from the building itself, Fin. Not saying you wouldn't on your own, but a gentle reminder. You two are my eyes for this so I can't call the shots as far as seeing if the situation is too hot to go in.>>
Fin:
<<You know I'm going to start charging for these little rides I'm giving,>> he said to the itchy bug on his back. <<I wonder if we can make any money off it after the war. Like free ride on animorph if you morph a bug. Well I guess that wouldn't work so well since they'd just morph their own birds.>> Fin had about ten different ways already lined up for how to make money off all this after the war ended even though he freely acknowledged that there was little chance of surviving this war let alone the world being in a good enough state for a bright, young capitalist such as himself to make a profit.
Fin began singing We like to Party as he circled up on a thermal getting ready to head out towards Sootman's shop. As he did so he had a moment again to marvel at how big this place was.
Aubrey:
After a few minutes Aubrey was full seagull, shuffling the gray and white feathers against her back. While the other two finished their morphing, Aubrey leapt onto the ledge and looked down. Then she turned her head to make sure the two of them were ready, and took off into the air. The warm thermals filled under her wings, lifting her high into the sky.
Most of the trip over there consisted of listening to Fin's singing the same song again, and this time Aubrey didn't join in. Up ahead, she could see the familiar streets and buildings around the pawn shop. At the time she had been in her dog morph, and she hadn't seen how run down the area was. Well it was perfect enough place for this Sootman guy and his freaky customers.
She sent her thought-speak to the falcon and his bug passenger. <<Oop. I think I see it up ahead.>> With one wing tilted slightly downward, she circled closer, seagull head bobbing. She couldn't see anyone sticking around outside yet, but that didn't mean there weren't people inside.
Suji:
<<Right. Fly past it, scoop a little deeper. If it looks safe, find a place a good ways away to demorph, Fin. You'll have to drop me off by Sootman's building on credit, though. Didn't bring my wallet with me.>> Suji had mostly tuned out the signing. It wasn't as jolly as before, and she was going into mission mode.
All the same, this was supposed to be their relaxation and break time. Or at least, it was a break from the work that was more like chores. She didn't want to crack down on Fin just for singing, though if he kept it up when they started to really get into this, she was going to have to say something. Bridge to cross when they came to it.
FIn:
Fin flew to Sootman's. It didn't look much better in the day than it had at night. Normally places did but nope, not Sooty's. Maybe it was the name.
He flew around the place for a full fifteen minutes watching the comings and goings which were decidely few. Whatever buisness Sootman did it seemed to happen mostly at night. That made their job both harder and easier. Easier 'cause there was no one around to squish the Suji roach, harder 'cause no one was around so if they got caught they'd be out of place.
He landed on a fire escape above the alley where Aubrey had hid as a dog and, oh yeah, that guy had gotten killed. The guy was gone now though he could still see a red stain on the wall where his brains had landed courtesy of raptor vision.
<<Well we are all clear for right now I think. Hold on, I'm gonna head down and demorph behind that dumpster but you should drop off before that because cockroaches are creepy,>> he said matter-of-factly though he was just really trying to get a rise out of her. Reserved people tended to bring that out in him.
He got to the ground and demorphed and remorphed into his cat. The smell was terrible.
Aubrey:
The pawn shop came into view, and Aubrey began feeling uneasy. Ever since seeing what happened in the back alley, the place kind of gave her the creeps. The building itself even looked awful and run-down, now that she could clearly see the building in the daylight. It didn't surprise her.
Aubrey dipped down near the building, scanning for any sort of threat as they waited to see if it was clear. The area was quiet, and it looked like Sootman didn't have many customers during the day. <<Be careful guys.>> She wheeled up higher, watching as Fin dropped down to the back alley to drop Suji off.
Suji:
With a few directions from the other two, Suji scrambled towards Shaun's Pawns, and then under the door. Her antennae were constantly scanning; there were no booming sounds that she could recognize as voices, but after a while (she guessed she might be halfway into the room) there was the sound of footsteps coming upwards--maybe from a basement? Suji quickly crawled under a structure that she figured was the counter at the back of the store.
The footsteps hit this landing, and then there was the sound of a door closing. Suji couldn't tell much more from the sound: if she was in her jackrabbit morph, she'd have been able to tell how heavy the person was, what their breathing was like, a whole assortment of information. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
Coming closer to where she was hiding, whoever was approaching scooted back the chair to the desk and sat down. The waves of noise and vibrations were enough that for a moment she had to consciously commit all her energy to staying put. After a moment of reconsolidating control, she heard what might have been the beeping of a phone being dialed--it clicked audibly along with the electronic tones. <<Okay, I'm under the desk. I think he's nearby, making some sort of call. Fin, you might have to get closer. Not sure I'll be able to make out the words.>>
Fin:
Fin sniffed at an interesting spot on the side of the building, at least interesting to his cat. He sang but only to himself. One minute I'm in Central Park, Then I'm down on Delancey Street, From the Bow'ry to St Marks ,There's a syncopated beat. The song was from Oliver and Company and imagining that cool street dog riding the trucks in the middle of Manhattan gave Fin confidence as he lounged around trying to act normal. I'm streetwise, I can improvise, I'm streetsmart, I've got New York City heart.
<<Hey Aubrey, you ever been to New York city?>> he asked just as Suji's thoughtspeak came through. He sauntered towards Sootman's window and jumped up on a ledge. <<Alright Suj. I'm in the window.>> He didn't look inside the store since cat generally did not understand the concept of seeing through glass. Instead he just made himself comfortable and like any good cat, took a nap in the sun. Or at least seemed too.
Andre (Drake):
Andre marched through the dusty streets of Dallas. He was being led by no less than three guards. All three of the... were they controllers? All three of the goons had a weapon pointed at his back. One had an alien disintegrator ray, another had a pistol, and the last one had a huge knife.
The reason he had three guards instead of one was because he had managed to rough them up a little bit before he had been overwhelmed. Although now Andre looked just as bad, or worse than all of them put together. Where they were leading him, he did not know.
But he did know why. He had been caught trying to steal a car from somewhere that was 'off limits.' But the keys were not in the vehicle and his poor attempts at hot-wiring it failed, and so he got caught. Now his former group would have to haul their supplies by hand, and without his help. He was sure of this because wherever he was being led, he knew he would most likely leave as a dead man or a controller.
Aubrey:
Aubrey flapped closer and landed on the roof of the building opposite of Sootman's shop. She had a good view of Fin's cat form and the door. While Suji made her way underneath the door, Aubrey's head tilted back and forth as she checked out the garbage thrown around the area. The seagull mind was aching to fly down and scavenge, but Aubrey knew she needed to keep an eye out. It didn't stop the old box of french fries next to the dumpster from looking tasty.
Aubrey listened to Suji's update, then heard Fin's question. <<Only when I was a young kid,>> She answered, waddling across the ledge to get a better view. Nothing much had changed. <<I've been to the east coast before since then, but only to Florida.>>
Scouting across the street, she spotted some movement further off. <<Oh. Guys, I see something heading this way. Hold on.>> She couldn't see exactly what it was, so she hopped off the building, spreading her wings wide and catching some wind beneath her feathers. As she circled closer she counted four people, one being dragged. <<There are a few guys dragging some guy this way. He looks like he's been roughed up.>>
Sootman (Suji):
Before he could finish dialing the number he was calling, the phone rang in his hands. After a short-lived expression of surprise, Sootman answered. "Hello?"
"We've got the guy that tried stealing one of your cars."
"Oh?" Sootman smirked, but it was joyless. He did enjoy quite a bit of retribution--it was one of the perks of the job--but he was a busy man, and it was likely that an 'old friend' would be stopping by for the payment she was due for offing Ramirez. And he had to make a couple calls to make sure that her goods were here in full--if it was cash she was interested in, that would have made it easy. But of course everyone that seemed to be in the high-profile business was never interested in just money. That would just have made Sootman's life easy wouldn't it.
"Well bring him in I guess. He'll have to wait a while though. I have someone coming in that I need to see to--then I'll try to figure out how much this guy is worth."
Sootman hung up, and quickly began redialing.
"Hello?" A pause. "Don't be stupid, of course this is Sootman. I want my shipment here within the next hour." Another pause, and this time his voice raised. "YES I do mean that, and no it is NOT a joke! I hired you for a reason! Either you get my diamonds in here promptly or I'll take you apart and sell you piece-meal to the organ harvesters!"
Fin:
Fin opened one eye. Just one. And he even resented that. He was sleeping after all. A small part of his mind laughed at the cat's attitude. He loved it and loved reveling it. <<Suji, Aubrey's right. There are four guys headed our way and one of them doesn't look happy. He's big but he looks like he's had a bad time of it. Any orders on this one?>>
This was starting to get complicated and for a moment he was about to suggest they pull out. But then he figured that if this Sootman guy was really as connected as he seemed to think he was then he would probably be getting visitors at all times of day and night and there would be no optimal time to return. Might as well see it through now.
Andre:
Soon after one of his escorts got back from talking on their cell phone, their little group finally came to a stop in front of an old pawn shop. Or at least that is what he thought it was. One of his eyes was almost swollen shut, making it difficult to see properly. Are they going to sell me? he thought honestly. He wouldn't doubt it.
One of his guards went up to the door, almost nervously it seemed. He knocked and waited, but he kept looking back as if to make sure the other two were still there. "Where are we?" Andre asked meekly.
"Shuddup," was all he got in response.
Suji:
<<Sit tight. Anyone starts looking at you funny, find an opportune moment to slip away, but make it look natural.>> She'd been able to make out most of Sootman's conversation: it took a lot of concentration, but it was possible. It also meant her attention would be diverted a bit from Aubrey and Fin, but there wasn't much she could do for them as a roach anyway.
<<Sootman just made a call and though I can't judge tone all that much, the words weren't very pretty. He's got more people coming in later, on top of that guy now. We might want to see this transaction, see who Sootman's big players are. As far as the bound guy... keep a close watch. Sootman might not be our enemy yet, but the enemy of my enemy, and all of that.>>
Aubrey:
Flapping, Aubrey circled on a couple thermals and watched the four men below her walking down the street. They were definitely heading to Sootman's, and the big burly guy with them didn't look too willing to be there. One of the guys knocked, and Aubrey landed on a building ledge again. She shuffled her feathers on her back. What was the deal?
<<One of them just finished talking on a cell phone, I think. They're up to the door now, knocking.>> Aubrey said, then listened quietly to Suji. <<More people, huh? Seems like a popular guy.>> The seagull tilted its head sideways, watching the small group near the door. The Animorphs had come at a good time to watch Sootman, it seemed.
Sootman (Fin):
Sootman opened the door, My shipment!, only to find the three men standing on it with their captive. The small greedy smile on his face faded into a look of annoyance as he waved them in and looked past them to see if his shipment had arrived. Seeing no one else for the moment he closed the door. If his shipment didn't get here on time there would be hell to pay.
He turned and looked at the three men and then at the captive they had brought. He wanted them out of here as soon as possible, they were cluttering up his shop and he had more important business to attend to.
"So this is the car thief uh, well you're in luck. I have about five minutes to talk to you since you arrived so quickly. If this is going to take longer than that I'm going to have to ask you to wait but it really shouldn't. I'm guessing you want the standard fee for bringing him in? Is he free or controlled?"
Sootman had a couple of policies in place for dealing with thieves. If they were free humans then their captors got first shot at making hosts out of them and in exchange Sootman got to keep their old host bodies for whatever reason.
Sometimes he kept bodies around for a couple of days to see if anyone was interested but mostly hosts weren't the best product to try to move. He had to feed them and keep them locked up while they were here which normally meant hiring some type of guards. All of that was extra time and money Sootman didn't feel like spending so unless he had a buyer lined up who was definitely interested in the body he normally sold it for parts. It was more valuable that way.
If the guy was controlled then he had to be a little more careful. Even the lowliest controller had connections that would start asking questions if he disappeared. His boss if no one else. And the captains and sub-vissers didn't like when they got behind in their projects because he had taken out one of their assets.
So in the case of controllers Sootman had to be a bit more creative. Cut off body parts in a way they couldn't easily be regenerated or replaced with prosthetics perhaps. Hold them a long enough they began to starve (most yeerks dreaded even the slightest touch of the fugue) was a classic and always effective.
Sootman looked at his watch impatiently and once again checked the window to see if his shipment had arrived.
Andre:
"He's a freebie," one of his captors explained. Andre wondered what would happen if they said he was a controller. Would they let him go? He doubted it.
"Listen, I just wanted to- Ugh..." The guy with the pistol elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to double over.
"Shuddup. Nobody asked you," the man said. "Now, we jus wanna get this guy offa our hand and get outa here. He's more trouble than he's worth if ya ask me." Andre got a cold sense of satisfaction from hearing them say that. Not that it helped his situation any, but at least they saw him as a threat. Which he was, and always would be as long as he had something to say about it.
Sootman (Suji):
"Fine. Here." Sootman wrote down an address on an index card, and handed it to one of the captors. "This address isn't far, a few blocks. Take him here, and ask for Odt. He'll pay you and take him off your hands."
When they didn't immediately start to clear out, Sootman let out an exasperated sigh, and shooed them away. "Out! I have a business to run! Go!"
- - -
<<They're taking this guy to some location. He's a free human that's apparently given them hell, and it'd probably be nice to have someone like that on our side. Aubrey go ahead and keep an eye on them, though we'll likely need you in husky for the rescue. Fin, I'm coming towards the door now. See if you can come around once they leave and I'll climb on you. We'll go somewhere safe and remorph.>>
Fin:
Fin stood up and stretched languidely. <<If you insist liege lady, but I was enjoying a nice nap out here in the sun.>> Fin jumped down to the ground, enjoying the glorious feeling of power and poise that this morph possessed, landed on dainty paws, and began trotting back the way he'd come.
He walked around the corner of the shop and into the alley just as the thugs began dragging their bounty out of the shop. <<I've relocated to the alley, I can pick you up there but I'm probably going to go falcon on this one if we are going to attempt a rescue. Why are we rescuing him again?>>
Suji:
<<Falcon is fine, we'll need someone in the air.>> Suji had moved to the door, and waited until her sensory organs told her that the door was shut and everyone had moved outside. She picked her way across the floor and passed until the door without a hitch. Once outside it took her a moment to orient herself, and then she crawled into the alley.
Almost immediately the cockroach's brain told her there was a predator there, and she had to hope that it was Fin. Aubrey would have undoubtedly let her know if she was about to walk up to some feral cat and get eaten, but there was still some nervousness in the back of her mind, not the least of which coming from the cockroach itself. <<We're rescuing him because it's a pretty clear opportunity, and if he's already fighting Yeerks as a normal human, he'll probably make a good asset to our team. Or we can at least help him on his way to a refugee camp.>>
Fin:
Fin sat in the alley, his tail twitching as he waited on a certain cockroach. When the bug finally poked its antennae out from under the door he walked over to it. His cat brain wanted to play with the small moving creature and Fin didn't rein it in very much. He sniffed the bug with his cat eyes wide and interested and then one lighting swift paw batted at it, claws in.
The antennae on the cockroach started waving wildly and the movement only made his cat brain more interested in playing with it. <<Ah, I see,>> Fin said a little distracted by the weaving dance of antennae. He batted the bug again and then jumped back and crouched waiting to see if it would run. <<I guess that's ok then,>> he said getting control of the cat mind.
Aubrey:
Aubrey made sure Suji had gotten to Fin safely, then eyed the door. <<Alright Suji.>> Aubrey dove down from the building, spreading her bone-white wings to the wind. The air filled under her, lifting her into the sky.
Aubrey felt a small moment of elation, enjoying the fact that she was flying. There was no place to surf here, no place to feel the crash of waves around her and the exhilaration of being so close to the sea. No place to exhaust Aubrey's high energy or help her keep all the worries in her mind straight. Flying had filled that gap, now. Doing a small circle, Aubrey kept an eye on the group of men walking through the streets, waiting for Fin and Suji to catch up. She'd go dog once Fin was in the air.
Suji:
<<Stop.>> It was hard to keep the roach mind under control, and Suji held back from scolding him, though her tone was final. She didn't need to deal with the scattered roach brain right now. They were about to try to rescue someone, and that was not a welcome distraction. <<Let me know when I should climb on.>>
Suji waited as he demorphed. <<Let us know if they do anything strange Aubrey. The guy they're carting around--you said he was big right? Does he look like he'll be able to help if we keep out one or two of the captors busy? Or do you think we'll be doing all the work?>> She hated not being able to collect all this information for herself.
Fin:
Fin walked over to the cockroach and resisted batting it this time. He crouched down next to it, pretending to be a sphinx of legend even though the prideful air of the pose was ruined by the fact that he was surrounded by a trash ridden alley. That and there was no one to see him.
<<Climb on. I'm the big, soft, warm, fuzzy, cute thing. I realize that your bug senses are far too limited to truly take in my glory but you should be able to find me at the very least,>> especially since he was crouched right next to her. <<Do we know where we are going to demorph or am I supposed to just run around until I find something?>> Suji probably didn't know this area any better than he did but he figured he'd ask just to be polite, she was the leader.
Suji:
Suji didn't waste time in climbing up onto what she had to assume was his back. The roach clung easily to his fur, though it didn't like being there. At least he had stopped batting at her.
<<Any place that's suitable will work. If you can't find anything, Aubrey might be able to point a place out. I can't see so I won't have any idea where to go; just try for somewhere a bit isolated I guess. I'll trust you judgment.>> It almost hurt to say that last sentence: since when did Suji trust anyone's judgment but her own?
Aubrey:
<<Cool, so we're rescuing him.>> Aubrey said, drifting above. <<Will do, Suji. They're still walking down the street--and just rounded a corner up ahead.>> The men were still dragging the other guy through the street, if not a little slowly. Aubrey passed over them, then did another small circle back, a little lower. Her shadow slid across the asphalt.
<<And yep. The guy's pretty big and muscly and all that jazz. I think he'd definitely be able to take at least a couple of them. Easily.>> Flapping above the warm buildings, Aubrey was feeling a bit excited now.
Andre:
Andre trudged wearily through the streets, knowing that his life as a free man was nearing an end. Soon he would either be made into one of his enemies, or more likely he would be used for some other purpose. But either way, he only had a few blocks left. It seemed they were both longest and shortest blocks he had ever walked.
Then he noticed a bird's shadow cross over the asphalt out of the corner of his eye. Birds were kind of rare these days, so the thought of a bird being here only increased his desire to be free. What was more free than a bird in the sky? He would have to try to make an escape.
However, if he so much as twitched at the wrong moment, he would be dead. No, he would have to wait for just the right moment. He knew that he would probably die the moment he tried something, but the alternative would be just as bad. Andre prepared himself for his last stand.
Fin:
Fin trotted down the alley and around the dumpster, running right over the spot that was still stained red from the other night. His dainty cat paws hit the ground with no sound as he turned his head from side to side looking for a nice hidden place to remorph.
He stuck close to the place where the buildings and sidewalk met hoping to go unnoticed and tried to keep the group of free humans in sight. Once they were birds it should be easy to catch up to them but no need to take the chance of losing them.
<<I would just like to go on record,>> he began to Suji and Aubrey, <<that we are on vacation. This is our rest week. No hard work, no daring rescues. We are taking a break from being heroes for a while so we aren't really obligated to save this guy. And if we are going to do this while the other teams get to stay home and play house cleaning and doing grocery runs then we should get paid extra.>>
He spotted what he hoped was an abadoned apartement complex and split off into it. He entered the dark doorway with caution. Light motes were illuminated by the beam of light coming in through the broken doorway. It was the only source of light in the whole place as far as he could tell. Not that it bothered him much being a cat.
As he walked farther in he found that it wasn't apartments in here, it was a very large parking garage. Very large. I guess everyone has to have a place to park their jeeps and hummers, he thought with the usual Northern arrogance and disdain for the south.
He sniffed around but the only thing he was smelling in here was leaked gas. <<If this was a zombie movie we would be ambushed in here,>> he said conversationally to the cockroach on his back who couldn't see that they were in a parking garage so probably had no idea what he was talking about. <<Anyway, ride's over, everyone off.>>
Fin waited until the cockroach had gotten off on its own and resisted the twin urges to shake it off and then to start playing with it again. He started his own demorph and after much bone crunching, fur sucking and organ shifting he found himself standing in almost pitch blackness. He could still see the rectangle of light that was the doorway and he headed in that direction since his falcon wouldn't like the indoors much.
He shrank into the familiar form and more bone hollowing, feather growing and organ shifting later he was a bird. <<You ready?>> he asked Suji.
Suji:
<<We aren't on break from playing heroes,>> Suji responded light-heartedly. <<We're on break from house-cleaning. At least this is fun.>> The last word almost caught in her mind; fun? Was this fun? Was Suji actually really enjoying this?
Yes, she was surprised to find out, she was. They were going to do something they were made to do. Save someone. And it should be fairly easy: the opposition didn't have any idea they were coming, and there weren't that many Controllers in their way. She knew better than to assume it'd be easy or smooth, but it was the right thing to do, and for Suji...
...well it just seemed like there weren't many times where doing the right thing was so uncomplicated, and so blatantly "right."
When Suji climbed off she began demorphing as well. Once human she went into her vulture morph. With Aubrey as a dog and Fin's more agile bird harrying the Controllers, it still wouldn't be a bad idea to have someone in the air watching their backs the whole time. <<Ready,>> she responded, and then with a few powerful wing beats, flew out of the garage and into the sky.
<<Aubrey, you can go husky now, if you'd like.>> Suji, not really a dog person, didn't much know the difference between a husky and a malamute.
Jack:
<This sucks,> Jack thought dismally, trudging along as one of the bodymen. A trickle of sweat ran down between his shoulder-blades, itching. But he couldn't even scratch at the spot.
<What, you're not used to it?> Liam099 sneered. <Thought it'd remind you of the good old days.>
<Piss off,> he snarled, to the amusement of his Yeerk.
Aubrey:
Once Fin and Suji disappeared into the building, Aubrey soared over the group of men. While the two Animorphs were demorphing and remorphing, Aubrey wanted to keep an eye on what was happening. <<I think I agree with Suji. And this guy looks like he deserves a break. It could be fun.>> Aubrey still liked having the chance to help somebody. This seemed like a good opportunity--and it was better than scrubbing bathroom floors.
Flying near the building, she noticed the birds exiting. <<Alright.>> Dipping her wing down, Aubrey zoomed down to the ground. Flaring her wings, her orange webbed feet struck the warm floor as she landed. Shuffling her wings against her back, her head swiveled sideways, taking in the dark, empty doorway. Then she waddled in and began demorphing.
White feathers melted back into her skin, replaced by smooth tanned flesh. Thick, sandy hair sprouted from her head, lengthening as her body began to grow. Bones and organs twisted back into their normal positions, and after a few minutes Aubrey was fully human. Sitting on the floor, she stretched her arms and took a small huff of air. Then she concentrated on her Alaskan Malamute morph. Immediately her face began stretching into a muzzle, and thick fur spread along her body. A tail shot out of her spine, curling over until it barely touched her back.
After a few more minutes of concentration, she was done morphing. With her pink tongue hanging out of her mouth, she trotted outside into the sun. There were all sorts of interesting scents filling the dog's nose, but Aubrey was doing her best to not run off and sniff them all. <<I'm ready.>> Lifting her head, her nose twitched a little. <<Have they gone far?>>
Suji:
<<Not far, when you head out they'll be about three blocks along the street to your right.>> Suji had climbed high in the air, and felt the warm Dallas updrafts effortlessly keeping her aloft. <<I'm going to keep watch up here: you're more agile than I am in that morph Fin, so you'll be with Aubrey on the harassment crew. We're not going for anything that will get us too wrapped up here. We want to strike, free this guy, and get out. On that note, I'm going to give out rescuee a heads up.>>
Suji opened up her thoughtspeech, including them and Andre now. She tried to pick her words carefully, but really, there wasn't much to prepare a guy for a sudden voice in his head. <<Hello there. Please, stay calm. This is an Animorph speaking to you. Do not look around! We are surveying your situation and would like to help rescue you. However, we need a little prep-time. Look down at your feet if you understand what I'm saying.>>
Andre:
Andre heard a voice in his head and he began to look around for the source. No sooner had he started his search than he was told not to. Andre's neck stiffened and he ignored the strange glances and questioning sentences from his captors. Could it be true? Were the animorphs here to help him out? He half thought that they were just an urban legend.
Andre looked down to signal that he understood. He was afraid that he was just going crazy, but then realized that even if he were, it didn't matter. Soon he would either be assisted by some animorphs, dead, or worse. Andre's muscles were becoming tense in anticipation.
Jack:
<Look at that sap. Looking around for an escape.>
<I'm not interested, so shut up already!> Jack responded. But he couldn't not look, because 099 was looking. So he had to see the man they were carting off like a horse to a glue factory.
<Oh don't feel so bad, Jackie-boy! You're only in indentured servitude. We're not locking your cage and throwing away the keys yet. Well, at least if we don't change our minds.>
Jack did his best to ignore the goading. God, he wanted to be free. He sympathized with this big fellow. It would serve them right if he tried something. Of course, Jack knew they were all equipped with dracon guns. At the moment his wasn't on full blast, but he wouldn't have been able to say the same for the other Controllers.
<We're getting paid for escorting, not for disintegrating. I'm sure they're all set to stun too. It's endearing how you're so concerned, though!> Liam quipped.
Fin:
Fin flapped into the hot Dallas sunshine and let the heat waves coming up off the pavement lift in into the sky. He was glad they had let the captors get ahead of them a little. They might not have noticed the medium sized falcon but they would certainly have noticed the large white vulture.
<<Boss lady, we have to get you a nondescript flying morph. That one is just too majestic.>>
He circled over the group in slow, tightening gyres. Looking down at them he once again felt the need to voice his opinion. <<You know we can just go home. I mean if we allow ourselves to try to rescue each and every guy out there we would never get anything done. We are probably going to get shot at doing this. That's not fun.>>
Suji:
<<There are other vultures out here, I probably just look like an albino from that far down. Which is why I'm not flying in any closer.>> She listened to Fin and felt a twinge of annoyance. Go home? She couldn't tell if he was serious or not; if she called him out on it too roughly, he'd probably say he was joking. And she was fairly convinced that that was the point. Which only made her more annoyed. <<Well it's good that we haven't gone out of our way to find someone to rescue, and this guy just fell into our laps, isn't it? Let's do our jobs.>>
Suji kept watch: she didn't see any cars moving anywhere close to their location, or anyone else out on the streets. <<Aubrey, you should be in range now.>> She widened her thoughtspeak to include Andre. <<A dog is going to charge you all. She is one of us. We also have a falcon diving in. What we need you to do, more than anything, is try to disarm these guys. When you have a chance to break from the group, hotwiring a car wouldn't be a bad idea. You were caught as a car thief, right? Look down again I guess, if confirm yes. Look right if you don't think you can hotwire something.>>
After seeing his response (and it didn't really matter too much at the moment: they were doing this either way), Suji tucked the info away. <<Showtime. Whenever you're ready, Aubrey. Fin, once she goes for them, go ahead and follow her lead.>>
Andre:
Andre heard the voice in his head again, but luckily this time he managed to avoid giving in to the urge to look around. How long have they been keeping an eye on me? he wondered when the voice seemed to know that he had attempted to steal a car. It didn't matter. All that mattered was doing his part.
That brought up another point. Could he hotwire a car for them? Sure, he knew how to hotwire a car, but last time he tried he ended up in his current situation. But this time he would have to do it right. He had to. Andre looked down at the ground, then waited for a dog to appear.
Aubrey:
Aubrey loved her dog morph sometimes. Any sort of nervousness or anxiety about doing this was buried beneath the waves of dog-happiness. Her plume-tail was bouncing with each step she took, brushing her furry back. After a few blocks of padding along, her sensitive nose caught the scent of the nearby group of men.
<<Okay, I think I see them. Getting ready to attack.>> They were walking along the street, the big guy still in tow. The dog's mind immediately wanted to run up to them and start investigating. Aubrey knew better, of course, and her body tensed as she started getting nearer. Even knowing that there was help above--and the guy they were rescuing would probably help--it was intimidating to be the one to start attacking.
The dog's lip curled up slightly, revealing an ivory fang. Alaskan Malamutes were bred to be big and strong--they were built to pull heavy loads across distances. However, up against humans, the case could be different. Aubrey had never attacked someone as her dog morph. In fact, she'd never really attacked anyone before, if you didn't count the Hork-Bajir she had shot in the stomach with a dracon beam.
With as much speed and strength as she could muster, Aubrey burst into a run. After a few running leaps, Aubrey smashed into the back of the nearest controller's legs.
Fin:
At the same time Fin folded his wings and dropped into a neat dive. Normally he wouldn't have made a sound on his way down though the falcon wanted to give a hunting cry, but this time he wanted as much attention on the morpher who was going almost 100 mph instead of the dog. Let them try to shoot at him while Aubrey freed the stranger they didn't even know.
He let out the falcon's high pitched hunting cry and pulled out of the dive into time to rake the face of the controller Aubrey hadn't attacked before zooming away. He pulled up and used the thermals to get back altitude to dive again. Suji floated serenely above. <<Having fun?>> he shot at her before turning around, not high enough for his liking, and diving again.
Andre:
The shrieking of a bird just about distracted Andre as much as his guards. At least now he knew he wasn't crazy. Just as a dog attacked one controller, and the bird attacked the other, Andre plowed his weight into the third. They both went down.
Andre got back to his feet as quickly as possible. It looked like he managed to knock the wind out of his target when he landed on top of him. Unfortunately that was not enough to keep him from leveling his weapon at Andre's head. Andre lunged to the side just as the air sizzled where his head was moments before.
Suji:
Was Fin complaining? Again? Suji was beginning to wonder if it was more than his talkative personality. Was he really that against trying to save people? He was an Animorph. That morphing power wasn't a free gift: it came with a price. And he wasn't just an Animorph either; he was an Animorph currently under her command. So he'd just have to get over it. But she'd keep this in mind for later.
<<Yes,>> she replied instead. <<The view is great.>> She couldn't swoop in there without getting in their way, and they needed someone to watch if any cavalry decided to show up. <<Aubrey, over head! To your right! Dodge!>>
The final guy turned his dracon gun on the dog--he apparently found that figure the most threatening. Suji watched as he fumbled for a moment, reminding himself to push the intensity meter from a stunning shot to a killing one. Another dracon beam lanced through the air, but Andre was out of the way in time.
This was not fun. Suji didn't want to be stuck up here. She couldn't be of much help up here.
Jack:
Liam 099 squeezed the trigger, but his reactions were slow; he'd just been knocked to the ground by the man they were escorting, and he wasn't exactly a small guy. A second after the shot (which missed), Liam's body fully collided with the asphalt (his elbows had hit first, and they smarted painfully at that). His head followed the downward motion, knocking back against the ground.
<Fuck!> Liam 099 said internally, and even Jack was afraid about what might happen to him, as the lights went out.
Aubrey:
The dog's ears immediately picked up Fin's screech, and it almost made Aubrey flinch involuntarily. The controller she had tackled had fallen down immediately, and her jaws had instinctively clamped around the man's leg and started tearing at the jeans. His other foot was thrashing wildly, landing hard blows across her muzzle and sending black dots flying through her vision.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the big man take down one of the other controller. It looked like they'd been right, and Aubrey would have smiled if she could. Aweso--the thought was interrupted suddenly when a dracon beam screamed through the warm air, nearly missing Andre.
<<Aubrey, over head! To your right! Dodge!>>
Even though the thought-speak had been in her head, Aubrey's ears perked upwards. Releasing her grip on the downed controller--who was fumbling to draw his own dracon beam while kicking at Aubrey's face--Aubrey turned her head to catch sight of the other controller aiming at her. With her heart thrumming in her chest she threw herself sideways, the dracon beam shot coming close enough to singe the black and white off her flank. Her nose filled with the unpleasant scent of burning flesh and fur.
Growling, her head turned towards Liam. But it looked like he had been knocked out. At the same time, the controller that Aubrey had been biting was stumbling to his shaky feet now, the dracon beam in his hand. The shot at Aubrey had given the guy enough time to get his bearings. The other controller was still clutching his face where Fin had raked him, blood dribbling between his fingers.
Taking in a short breath, Aubrey ran and slammed into the standing controller's torso, throwing him back to the ground. His finger had been on the trigger, and a shot tore into her shoulder. She let out a high-pitched yelp, flinching back. When he hit the ground, another shot went wild above her head and into the sky.