Post by Admin on Aug 9, 2009 18:02:28 GMT -5
Ray:
There was so much going on around the temple that it was hard to tell who was doing what most of the time. Ray's initial reaction was that it was out of control, but upon further inspection, he realized that everyone was just very capable and things were merely getting done without micromanagement which he was pleased. This however, didn't mean he could slack off.
Ray was currently hanging out in the kitchen even though there still was little to eat. The group had been able to provide enough nurishment, but there wasn't much excess. Instead he was just hanging out in the kitchen trying to think about anything but group activity at the moment.
He sat exhausted on a barstool and rested his head down on his arms. While trying to take his mind off of the action for once, there was this little nagging, ever persistant voice that just kept repeating the question "Now what?"
Not having to wait much longer for the answer to that question, the phone rang suddenly. Wait, we have a phone? Confused and suprised at the same time, Ray glanced over to the wall and cocked an eyebrow at the new annoyance.
All of his life, Ray had hated phones. The people on the other end either wanted his money or his time. Never did anyone ever call him to just say hi or ask how he was doing.
Sighing inwardly, he stood and walked over to pick up the phone if nothing more than to silence the ringing. "Hello?"
"Raaaaay." A rather cheery voice rang out with a very distinct accent.
"Who the f-"
"ooohohohoho I scared you I tink. It's Teddy! Listen, don't vorry 'bout how I got diss information. I jus vanted you to know I'm in town now and haff a welcoming gift for you."
After a few more minutes on the phone with Teddy, Ray hung up and prepared himself to go meet Teddy in the park where he had first arrived. It was Ray's idea to meet there as it was nearly the most abandoned piece of ground in the whole city.
Ray walked from the kitchen into the fellowship hall to see how he could find that would want to tag along...
Lizzie:
Moving her head back and forth to a song in her head, Lizzie walked down the hall on her way to the kitchen. She was peckish and needed something to satisfy that need. Or maybe she was just bored-- she couldn't decide which. They had been doing a lot to prepare the Temple to make it able to live in, and it looked better. She had seen to a fair amount of the cleaning-- there was dust everywhere! Couldn't have that now could they?
She wandered into Fellowship Hall on her quest to the kitchen, still singing that same song in her head. It was a good thing she bumped into the table on accident, for she would have bumped into Ray as he came in the room from the kitchen-- she needed to watch where she was going sometimes. Looking at him with a smile, she stood in front of him.
"How's it going Ray?" she asked casually.
Aida:
Aida sat in the fellowship hall, she was in a corner playing with a stack of cards she'd brought along from New York. A girl of little, it was the one thing she actually had and treasured now. Things were slow, and it wasn't her turn to patrol so she sat playing solitaire alone. The hall was fairly large though, and she had quickly learned to tune the coming and goings of people out.
She placed the last two of hearts down, completing her 26th game of the day. Slowly she re-collected the cards, and began shuffling again, her eyes moving up absently to glance around the room. When Ray entered she couldn't help but smile slightly and pause to give him a small wave. He was looking around like he needed something so she added, "Looking for someone?"
Suji:
Suji rushed out of the shower in one of the bathrooms--she'd at least pulled her gray morphing suit on, but her hair was still dripping--looking around wide-eyed. A thin, ratty-looking (but at least clean, she'd made sure of that) towel was around her shoulders, and she was using it to mop up most of the dampness of her hair. She thought she saw someone pass into the Fellowship Hall, and there were a couple of voices in there.
Practically sprinting down to the doorway, Suji peered in. She could see Aida and Ray, and she thought Lizzie in the distance. No one looked alarmed. Maybe Suji'd been hearing things--but now she was standing here, head still only half-shampooed, blinking. "Did our phone just ring? Do we have a working phone?" God, if she was wrong, at least let this be some kind of bizarre nightmare about peer pressure or speaking anxiety or something.
Ray:
Ray was quite suprised at just how many people were lingering around the Temple at the moment as usually it was pretty empty during these hours of the day. He greeted Lizzie heartily and then Aida too as he picked out her figure which was sitting in the corner playing with some cards.
Ray motioned for Aida to join the group consisting of him and Lizzie as he needed people to accompany him to the meeting. He'd be a fool to arrive alone whether this was a trap or not.
"Did our phone just ring? Do we have a working phone?"
Suji had appeared from a side bathroom and from the looks of it she'd been enjoying a shower. Ray grinned at her in return because her thoughts had been exactly the same as his. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"Apparently an old friend of mine has arrived in town and he's come bearing a 'welcoming present'. He's trustworthy so long as the yeerk in his head hasn't changed since we last met, which is why I need a few people to go with me to meet 'em."
Lizzie:
So that was what she heard earlier-- the Temple actually had a working phone. Who knew? She watched Suji come in from her shower, smiling back at her as she listened to what Ray had to say. A friend, who was a Controller, with a welcoming present-- it didn't sound bad at all.
"All right," she said, "I'll be glad to join you. Is there anything else we need to know before we leave? Like about this friend of yours anyway."
Suji:
Suji arched an eyebrow, as if trying to figure out if Ray was pulling her leg or not. Surmising that he was serious (because no one else in the room was giving those tell-tale 'we're all in on the joke' cues), she nodded slowly. Suji did not trust Controllers. She did not trust Yeerks. But her time in Vegas had showed her, that if nothing else, there were Animorphs who did.
There were even Animorphs whose feelings for Controllers (and Yeerks) went beyond trust. Suji pushed that thought away. "Right. I'll be back in a few." She went and hung up the towel in the bathroom, and came back to the big room.
"Gonna dry off," she said, and then morphed her capuchin. That at least dried her, though it didn't have the same satisfaction as finished a shower and toweling off properly. Her long tail curled to her small body, and she listened. She agreed with the sentiment of wanting to know more about this, though she'd go if Ray was going regardless. This sounded like a mission where back-up would be highly preferable.
Aida:
Aida grabbed the cards, quickly pushing them back into their beaten paper box and then slipped them into the waistband of her skin-tight morphing pants. It felt a little odd but she had few choices, and then moved over towards Ray and Lizzie. Then Suji too joined, and she listened--slightly surprised--at his words. Aida was none-too-fond of yeerks, especially after they used her as a test experiment.
She felt an urge to be a part of this, well mostly in the sense that it was her job as an Animorph, she owed it to the team. At the moment however, after hearing the mission she realized she'd rather stay behind, but how to say so? "I..think it might be better for me to sit this one out if you don't mind..." she replied quietly.
Fin was not far off in the distance, and seeing that brown furry otter morph reminded her that she wanted to talk to him, in private. What better a time than when the others were leaving?
Fin:
Fin ran haphazardly down the hallway chasing the yellow bouncy ball with red stripes and a blue star. His small otter paws couldn't grip the thing and every time he tried it only sent the toy flying further away and he had to go chase it again. So fun!
The otter ran in a smooth though odd loping gate, its elongated, streamline body covering the distance quicker than he thought it could. Yay! the river otter's mind seemed to yell as he chased the ball bigger than his head down the hallway. Fin loved the morph that he had seldom gotten to use in Vancouver, its playful mind meshing well with his own.
He had finally caught up to the ball and he jumped on it sending it rolling past the door of Fellowship hall, Fin a brown blur right behind it.
Drake:
Drake had been trying to take a nap on the hard table that he called a bed. It was not easy, and not just because it was relatively uncomfortable. Some sort of ringing on the other side of the wall had roused him, and then someone running out of the bathroom had made sure he was all the way awake. Finally, he saw an otter chasing a ball go past his doorway (which he should have closed).
"Alright, I give up. What is going on out there?" he said to himself. As he gazed down the hall, he saw the otter still playing with a ball, but he also noticed some people in the fellowship hall. "What is going on?" he asked casually as he entered the room.
Ray:
The fellowship hall seemed to be quite the gathering spot Ray noted. Aida seemed all to eager to join in, but quite suddenly didn't. He wondered if it was the whole trusting the yeerk issue. He pushed the thought aside for the time being as he didn't necessarily need a bunch of people per se, but the more the merrier.
"That's fine Aida." Ray replied. He did need some sort of force still present in the Temple. Too many eggs in one basket would only leave weak points. "Fin, you're in charge until I return..."
Grinning, he added "...and let's keep saving damsel's in distress to a minimum."
"Alright." Ray said talking to all of them, motioning for Drake to join in, knowing that a friendly yeerk would be a hard sell to some of them. "I got this yeerk that has a vendetta against the yeerk empire for his own reasons and he's able to supply us with materials due to him being a lead yeerk. He runs a pretty good sized group of yeerk peace movement yeerks and is able to get us the inside scoop on quite a few things."
"However," he added "My loyalty with him is not without question which is why I need you to go. That and if we're all in one spot at the same time it makes sense that it'd be one hell of a protected meeting."
Fin:
At the sound of Ray's voice Fin stuck his head around the doorway with a comically perplexed expression on his otter face. He was in charge? Why? Why was he put in charge of stuff? Matthias needed to go to New York, well Fin was in charge. Matthias needed to go to New York again, put Fin in charge even though Fin had just tried to kill him. Made perfect sense (Fin had foisted off that duty on Lukas and Meredith when he'd left. They made better leaders anyway).
Now the Dallas faction was going off to meet with a high ranking controller and guess who got to be in charge of things while they were gone. Fin again. Granted they shouldn't face much action here at HQ. In fact it should be pretty boring but still, it was a responsibility. Why did people keep giving him responsibilities he didn't want. And what if he failed? Well then he'd feel bad.
He had to admit though, everyone who was leadership material and might take his place was going on the mission. Suji, Drake, maybe even Lizzie, they were going off to do something important. But what about Aida? Couldn't she be in charge?
He stopped himself from whining though as Ray moved on to talk to the team about what they would be doing. He just muttered an, <<ok Ray,>> and began to demorph. He wouldn't have any more time to play today. He would have to spend his time patrolling and waiting to be called in as back up in case he was needed. Which brought up a good point in his mind.
"Ray," he said as he walked into Fellowship hall, "shouldn't we try to come up with some type of morphable communicator? I mean we won't always be able to go places together and we won't always be able to stay in thoughtspeak range. If you needed back up you have no way of calling. I'm not saying we'll need it today but we should think about putting something together for the future. Between the two of us I'm sure we could figure something out."
Aubrey:
Aubrey paused outside of the Temple in her dog morph, sniffing the cool air. For the last few hours she had been out patrolling (and maybe playing around a little as well, but who would know) as her Alaskan Malamute. Aubrey liked being around people, but she also enjoyed the silence that going on patrol provided sometimes; It was a good cure for a cluttered mind. Sitting in front of the Temple door, Aubrey began demorphing.
A couple minutes later she was fully human. She wiped the dirt from her hands off on her wetsuit, then pulled the door open with a soft swish. Immediately she could hear the low murmur of voices coming from the Fellowship Hall. Brushing fingers through her thick hair, she padded over to where the talking came from. It seemed like all of the faction was gathered up in the room discussing. Curious, she leaned against the doorway, listening to Ray's explanation. It sounded like some sort of mission or something. "Hey guys. What's up."
Drake:
Drake saw Aubrey arrive just as Fin finished explaining his genius idea for communicators. The fellowship hall was starting to feel a bit crowded, despite the fact that it was designed to hold way more than seven people. The only person not present was Bree, and Drake had no idea where she was at the moment.
"We are going to go meet up with some yeerk peace movement controller who has something for us," Drake said quickly to Aubrey. He had not been very detailed, but then again, he did not have many details. He was not even sure if they were being given supplies or information. Or both. Or neither. Drake assumed Ray was talking about Teddy, but he was still in Las Vegas last he knew. "So how do we do this? Do we just watch you while you go in for negotiations or something?"
Ray:
"Yeah, that probably would be good thing to look into." Ray said to Fin's mentioning of a line of communication. It'd definetely be nice to call for back up. On the note of technology...he pushed the thought aside, he'd have to tell them all about what he'd made later.
Aubrey made an appearance at the door and Drake filled her in on the essentials. Ray would have been clearer only he didn't know that much himself and he was busy trying to ponder what the heck Teddy could have brought them. The only way to find out is to get there.
"One or two of you could join me in meeting Teddy if you wanted to, but you don't have to." Ray said answering Drake's inquiry. "I need at least one or two people in the sky though."
Feathers began to spout and before he lost normal speech communication he managed to get out "Could someone get thedorrrplllcrrraaa" Hopefully someone got the message that the group of attendees would need let out.
A little more than a minute later he was fully crow. The journey to Dallas had been a long one and he'd had to rely so much on his morphs they were much more than just morphs. They were extensions of himself. Part of himself. In a way that he couldn't explain it was as though he could now communicate with his morphs, especially his caracal.
<<All right, everyone that's going go ahead>>
Drake:
As soon as Ray gave the word, he started morphing. He was going into his newest form, the turkey vulture. It was not until he was half way morphed that he realized what Ray had been trying to ask. Oh well. He figured one of the people who was staying could open it.
After a few minutes, Drake was a large, winged scavenger. Every time he became this bird, he remembered what they had gone through to acquire it. But he was glad that they had done so, because now he had a much better understanding of just how neat flying could be. Flying had always been fun, but the effortless soaring that the turkey vulture was capable of just did not compare to the flapping of his secretary bird form. Not to mention that he could actually blend in with their surroundings now.
<<I am ready. Lead the way.>>
Suji:
Suji loped in her monkey form over to the door, and opened it while she still had fingers and thumbs to do so. It required a little jumping, and after she twisted she had to push off the side of the wall next to it (she couldn't quite reach very well from the ground, she was too small), but it happened gracefully enough. The monkey was definitely dexterous, if nothing else.
But now she began to demorph, and remorphing into a morph that was much less capable of the nimble work. Her egyptian vulture. It was similar to Drake's turkey vulture, though its feathers were more off-white and dusky, and she had more of a frill around her neck and head.
<<I can be in the air or on the ground,>> Suji broadcasted, waiting for Ray to lead the way. More privately, however, she noted to him: <<If I'm human, that's faster to get to firepower. But I'd really rather Controllers not see my face and associate it with Animorphs... trusted or not.>>
Aubrey:
"Oh, alright." It sounded like something interesting to do, and Aubrey was curious. She gave a nod to Ray. "Right-o, leader. I'm good with land or air." Suji took care of the door, so Aubrey began concentrating on her only winged morph. A white and gray feather pattern rose along her wetsuit, and she began shrinking.
After a few minutes she was fully seagull. She tilted her head, brown eyes looking to Ray in his crow morph. <<Ready ready.>> Her bird morph had fit perfectly over when she had been in Los Angeles, but now she was beginning to feel out of place in Dallas with it.
Lizzie:
"Okay-- I'll go wherever I'm needed, land or air," Lizzie said before she concentrated on her magpie morph. After having to rely on it so much to fly from Los Angeles to Dallas, she had grown more connected with her magpie. It was her only bird morph after all, so she figured she needed to rely on it a lot.
After she shrank and her skin turned into black and white feathers, her mouth a beak and her arms wings, she was in her morph entirely. Before the magpie's mind could fixate itself on one of the shiny objects in the room, she looked to Ray in his crow form.
<<Ready to go>> she said enthusiastically, waiting for him to lead the way.
Ray:
Standing there as a crow, Ray couldn't help but be amused by the lineup of birds. Two breeds of vulture, two birds that belonged to the crow family, and a seagull. Keeping his amusement to himself, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep from laughing out loud if he were human.
Once everyone had given the word, Ray flapped his wings and took off into the Dallas sky. It was only midday so the sun was still high in the sky and everything below him was completely and easily visible. There was even a slight breeze to be enjoyed and it was just enough, not enough to throw anyone off course.
It didn't take long to get to the park where he'd initially met a majority of his faction. There were a couple of black Honda Civics parked on the side of the road by the park with Teddy visibly smoking a cigar, leaned up against one.
Wasting no time, Ray made his descent down toward a group of bushes. <<Suji, follow up behind me, but stay in the bushes.>> Ray directed toward his group. <<Be ready to goto battle morph. Lizzie, Aubrey, Drake, keep eyes in the sky and if anything starts to look bad, tell Suji.>>
Once demorphed, Ray stepped out of the bushes and toward Teddy's entourage.
Drake:
Drake was ready to comply with Ray's orders the moment they were spoken. <<Right-o,>> was all Drake said to let him know he understood. Then he veered to the side and started working himself even higher into the sky.
From up here he could see a satellite-like view of the surroundings. There was not much going on in the actual playground that he could see, but he spotted a few people in the surrounding area. He was not surprised since there were multiple vehicles parked nearby. A single person could not have driven more than one of them. <<I think he has a few people watching his back as well.>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey floated along in the breeze, white wings stretched out. It was a nice day today and the mission should be easy, hopefully. Aubrey was feeling relaxed, and she was enjoying drifting along the thermals far above the city. Up ahead, she spotted the park and the cars sitting to the side.
Aubrey did a small, tight circle as Ray landed, her eyes fixed on the cars. This YPM friend had his own back-up waiting, and Aubrey could tell that this controller seemed to trust Ray about as much as Ray trusted him. The three of them being up in the air meant that if anything went wrong, it would be five or more minutes before any of them could go to the rescue. <<Aye, aye Captain. We'll keep a look-out up here.>>
Suji:
Hiding in the bushes? Ah, well, they never said anything about glamour in the Animorph brochure. Suji narrowed her thoughtspeak to Aubrey--her 'teammate' within the faction, and said, <<Hey, keep me updated if it's not too much trouble. I don't think I'm gonna be able to see much from where I'll be.>> With that she landed where Ray had (which less finesse than Ray's smaller bird), and waited for him to demorph. She always found that two or more people trying to demorph in a tight spot made for too many elbows and knees.
<<Ray will scratch his right ear if he needs me out there,>> Suji broadcasted to them (including Ray) while she still had her thoughtspeech. <<That way even if something doesn't look wrong, he'll be able to call me out.>> That said, she began to demorph.
Teddy:
Teddy took another drag off of what would've been an expensive cigar if the world had cared about expensive cigars anymore. <<This could seriously get traced back to us you know.>> Vorri 1226 chimed in his ear again like he'd been repeating all day long. <<You're just as dead as I am if they find out...>>
<<Dooon't vooorrry.>> Teddy responded. <<They've 'andled themselves in tougher situations. I don't tink dat driving a van around vould be dat much more difficult.>>
In the distance Ray appeared out of a rather thick group of bushes. Upon seeing him, Teddy's demeanor changed to a much more upbeat one. He glanced up and around to see if Ray had brought his backup and although he didn't see anything, was sure he had.
"Raaaaay!" Teddy exclaimed, removing the cigar from his mouth. "Long time no seee!"
Ray:
"Hey Teddy." Ray said as coolly as possible as he walked up to greet the controller.
"Velcome to Dallas my friend." Teddy said. "She (v)reeks of yeerk occupation and I tink you're in ova you're 'eads, but dat's you're dilemma eh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Ray said trying to hurry up and get to the point as everyone was being left waiting like a family member in the car at the supermarket. "What have you got?"
"Nothin' but good feelings an old stories to ve'ash on!" Teddy exclaimed in his usual cheery mood.
"What...you drug me out here for storytelling?" Ray said giving a rather shot down impression.
"Ohhohohoho!" Teddy laughed, apparently at the look Ray had given him. "I'm jus kiddiiing, ve wouldn't waste our time like dat now vould ve?"
Ray was just about to mutter something about how he might actually do it when Teddy stepped aside and nodded toward the van parked ahead of the civic he was leaning against. "Dat is your gift."
A freaking van? Ray thought. Good, but we'd probably get ourselves killed in it or the yeerks would find out we're the owner or whatever. Ray was still somewhat shot down due to the fact that a van, while it would indeed prove useful, couldn't be very useful in such a yeerk infested city.
"And don't you vorry!" Teddy continued. "She's got a yeerk license plate to boot! Dey von't know you're you and von't bother you unless you give dem a reason to!
Awesome.
"So my friend, you still got motion sickness from that last ride ve took?" Teddy asked laughing merrily.
Ray thought about that. The last time he did ride in a car it had been a Camero going about seventy miles an hour down the road doing a shootout with yeerks. Not fun at all. Then again, this was a far cry from a suicide mission and, a far cry from a Camero.
"Alright Teddy, let me go talk this over, I'll be back." Ray said as he walked back toward the bushes.
"Do you haff to go? Do you need me to hold it for you? ohhohoho!"
God that guy's crazy...
As he stepped back into the bushes he informed Suji about the van they'd just been given.
Drake:
Drake watched Ray and Suji demorph in the bushes. He hoped that they had better coverage at ground level than they did from the air. It was not long before Ray was walking towards Teddy for their meeting.
They must not have had much to talk about, because before long Ray was headed back towards the spot he had come from. <<What do you think the meeting was about?>> he asked Aubrey and Lizzie. <<I would ask Ray, but he can not really talk to us until he morphs.>>
Suji:
"A van?" Suji asked, blinking. And then, before she could stop herself: "How many of these kids even know how to drive?" Realizing that she'd just referred to faction as 'these kids', Suji immediately felt guilty, and began to morph. They all seemed to be roughly around the same age, so really, it was just as likely that they knew how to drive as well as she did. But she knew that there were plenty of 15-year-old Animorphs, and the idea of any of them driving made her a little uneasy. Just the idea of watching an inexperienced driver trying to parallel park a van made her wince.
Sooner rather than later she was back in her vulture morph. While she was glad that 'firepower' hadn't been necessary, there was a dull sense of missed opportunity, which she did not allow herself to linger on. Rising into the air, she directed her thoughtspeech at Ray. <<This guy just gave you a car, though? What's up with that?>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey flapped, adjusting so that her wings tipped slightly down. She was making another circle around the park, eyes fixed on the events happening below. <<No problem-o, Suji.>> She spotted her landing in the same bushes where Ray had demorphed. After a few moments, Ray started heading towards the controller and the two started conversing. <<So far Ray's just talking to the guy with the cigar.>> She glided along the thermals, wings spread.
There wasn't much happening, and not soon after Ray was heading back towards the bushes where Suji was. <<That was short.>> Then, to Drake's question. <<No clue. I'm wondering too.>> Once she saw Suji's vulture morph emerge, she called out. <<What happened?>>
Suji:
Suji rose into the air easily enough, rejoining the other birds there, though as distantly as possible to still remain in thoughtspeech range. Aubrey asked what happened, and Suji wasn't sure how to answer at first. The Controller had given them a present indeed, and didn't seem to want anything out of it? What was that about?
<<I'll let Ray tell you guys,>> Suji responded in broadcast. <<I think it's his new toy,>> she added with a slight amount of humor. However she did narrow her thoughtspeech to Aubrey; she'd been asking Aubrey for personal updates on the situation, and felt that it was reasonable to return the favor. <<Apparently that Controller down there is giving us a van, complete with Controller license plates. Might make getting around easier, but I'm not really enthusiastic about it. I mean, can we say Trojan horse?>>
Ray:
Walking back out of the bushes, Ray nodded to Teddy letting him know he had returned. Hopefully the crazy old geezer had everything thought out and didn't forget anything. Something about him told Ray he did have everything thought out, but maybe that's just because he always seemed so cocky.
Teddy held the keys up on one finger to which Ray took them.
"Be very careful my frien'." Teddy said taking the last few drags off of his cigar. "Oh, an' make sure you check 'er out...top to bottom." The last was said with a wink as he dropped the cigar on the pavement and smashed it out with his shoe.
"I tink she'll be a real asset for you. Just don't go getting yourself killed eh? You're too entertaining."
"Alright Teddy." Ray replied nodding. "Thanks..."
Ray opened the van up and got in the driver's side as he watched Teddy pull away in the middle Civic which was escorted by one in front and one in back. As he began to morph Duke, he wondered about the validity of Teddy's alliance with him and what he'd ment by checking the car out. What could he have equipped it with? Certainly not a bomb or he wouldn't have bothered telling Ray that.
Once morphed he fired up the engine.
<<Alright everyone, back to base.>> he said to his partners in the sky. <<We've got wheels now, but we'll discuss driving rules when we get back home.>>
Drake:
Drake was as puzzled as ever as he soared over the old park. What did Suji mean by his new toy? It was not long before he found out.
He watched Ray grab some keys from teddy then hop into a van. Wait, that is not for us is it? Drake wondered. But Ray's words confirmed his suspicions. <<We have wheels?>> For some reason Drake's mind was having trouble comprehending. Not because it was hard to understand, but because it was so mundane yet unexpected. He was so used to using morphs for everything that such an asset seemed almost unnatural.
<<Sweet!>>
There was so much going on around the temple that it was hard to tell who was doing what most of the time. Ray's initial reaction was that it was out of control, but upon further inspection, he realized that everyone was just very capable and things were merely getting done without micromanagement which he was pleased. This however, didn't mean he could slack off.
Ray was currently hanging out in the kitchen even though there still was little to eat. The group had been able to provide enough nurishment, but there wasn't much excess. Instead he was just hanging out in the kitchen trying to think about anything but group activity at the moment.
He sat exhausted on a barstool and rested his head down on his arms. While trying to take his mind off of the action for once, there was this little nagging, ever persistant voice that just kept repeating the question "Now what?"
Not having to wait much longer for the answer to that question, the phone rang suddenly. Wait, we have a phone? Confused and suprised at the same time, Ray glanced over to the wall and cocked an eyebrow at the new annoyance.
All of his life, Ray had hated phones. The people on the other end either wanted his money or his time. Never did anyone ever call him to just say hi or ask how he was doing.
Sighing inwardly, he stood and walked over to pick up the phone if nothing more than to silence the ringing. "Hello?"
"Raaaaay." A rather cheery voice rang out with a very distinct accent.
"Who the f-"
"ooohohohoho I scared you I tink. It's Teddy! Listen, don't vorry 'bout how I got diss information. I jus vanted you to know I'm in town now and haff a welcoming gift for you."
After a few more minutes on the phone with Teddy, Ray hung up and prepared himself to go meet Teddy in the park where he had first arrived. It was Ray's idea to meet there as it was nearly the most abandoned piece of ground in the whole city.
Ray walked from the kitchen into the fellowship hall to see how he could find that would want to tag along...
Lizzie:
Moving her head back and forth to a song in her head, Lizzie walked down the hall on her way to the kitchen. She was peckish and needed something to satisfy that need. Or maybe she was just bored-- she couldn't decide which. They had been doing a lot to prepare the Temple to make it able to live in, and it looked better. She had seen to a fair amount of the cleaning-- there was dust everywhere! Couldn't have that now could they?
She wandered into Fellowship Hall on her quest to the kitchen, still singing that same song in her head. It was a good thing she bumped into the table on accident, for she would have bumped into Ray as he came in the room from the kitchen-- she needed to watch where she was going sometimes. Looking at him with a smile, she stood in front of him.
"How's it going Ray?" she asked casually.
Aida:
Aida sat in the fellowship hall, she was in a corner playing with a stack of cards she'd brought along from New York. A girl of little, it was the one thing she actually had and treasured now. Things were slow, and it wasn't her turn to patrol so she sat playing solitaire alone. The hall was fairly large though, and she had quickly learned to tune the coming and goings of people out.
She placed the last two of hearts down, completing her 26th game of the day. Slowly she re-collected the cards, and began shuffling again, her eyes moving up absently to glance around the room. When Ray entered she couldn't help but smile slightly and pause to give him a small wave. He was looking around like he needed something so she added, "Looking for someone?"
Suji:
Suji rushed out of the shower in one of the bathrooms--she'd at least pulled her gray morphing suit on, but her hair was still dripping--looking around wide-eyed. A thin, ratty-looking (but at least clean, she'd made sure of that) towel was around her shoulders, and she was using it to mop up most of the dampness of her hair. She thought she saw someone pass into the Fellowship Hall, and there were a couple of voices in there.
Practically sprinting down to the doorway, Suji peered in. She could see Aida and Ray, and she thought Lizzie in the distance. No one looked alarmed. Maybe Suji'd been hearing things--but now she was standing here, head still only half-shampooed, blinking. "Did our phone just ring? Do we have a working phone?" God, if she was wrong, at least let this be some kind of bizarre nightmare about peer pressure or speaking anxiety or something.
Ray:
Ray was quite suprised at just how many people were lingering around the Temple at the moment as usually it was pretty empty during these hours of the day. He greeted Lizzie heartily and then Aida too as he picked out her figure which was sitting in the corner playing with some cards.
Ray motioned for Aida to join the group consisting of him and Lizzie as he needed people to accompany him to the meeting. He'd be a fool to arrive alone whether this was a trap or not.
"Did our phone just ring? Do we have a working phone?"
Suji had appeared from a side bathroom and from the looks of it she'd been enjoying a shower. Ray grinned at her in return because her thoughts had been exactly the same as his. "Yeah, that's what I thought."
"Apparently an old friend of mine has arrived in town and he's come bearing a 'welcoming present'. He's trustworthy so long as the yeerk in his head hasn't changed since we last met, which is why I need a few people to go with me to meet 'em."
Lizzie:
So that was what she heard earlier-- the Temple actually had a working phone. Who knew? She watched Suji come in from her shower, smiling back at her as she listened to what Ray had to say. A friend, who was a Controller, with a welcoming present-- it didn't sound bad at all.
"All right," she said, "I'll be glad to join you. Is there anything else we need to know before we leave? Like about this friend of yours anyway."
Suji:
Suji arched an eyebrow, as if trying to figure out if Ray was pulling her leg or not. Surmising that he was serious (because no one else in the room was giving those tell-tale 'we're all in on the joke' cues), she nodded slowly. Suji did not trust Controllers. She did not trust Yeerks. But her time in Vegas had showed her, that if nothing else, there were Animorphs who did.
There were even Animorphs whose feelings for Controllers (and Yeerks) went beyond trust. Suji pushed that thought away. "Right. I'll be back in a few." She went and hung up the towel in the bathroom, and came back to the big room.
"Gonna dry off," she said, and then morphed her capuchin. That at least dried her, though it didn't have the same satisfaction as finished a shower and toweling off properly. Her long tail curled to her small body, and she listened. She agreed with the sentiment of wanting to know more about this, though she'd go if Ray was going regardless. This sounded like a mission where back-up would be highly preferable.
Aida:
Aida grabbed the cards, quickly pushing them back into their beaten paper box and then slipped them into the waistband of her skin-tight morphing pants. It felt a little odd but she had few choices, and then moved over towards Ray and Lizzie. Then Suji too joined, and she listened--slightly surprised--at his words. Aida was none-too-fond of yeerks, especially after they used her as a test experiment.
She felt an urge to be a part of this, well mostly in the sense that it was her job as an Animorph, she owed it to the team. At the moment however, after hearing the mission she realized she'd rather stay behind, but how to say so? "I..think it might be better for me to sit this one out if you don't mind..." she replied quietly.
Fin was not far off in the distance, and seeing that brown furry otter morph reminded her that she wanted to talk to him, in private. What better a time than when the others were leaving?
Fin:
Fin ran haphazardly down the hallway chasing the yellow bouncy ball with red stripes and a blue star. His small otter paws couldn't grip the thing and every time he tried it only sent the toy flying further away and he had to go chase it again. So fun!
The otter ran in a smooth though odd loping gate, its elongated, streamline body covering the distance quicker than he thought it could. Yay! the river otter's mind seemed to yell as he chased the ball bigger than his head down the hallway. Fin loved the morph that he had seldom gotten to use in Vancouver, its playful mind meshing well with his own.
He had finally caught up to the ball and he jumped on it sending it rolling past the door of Fellowship hall, Fin a brown blur right behind it.
Drake:
Drake had been trying to take a nap on the hard table that he called a bed. It was not easy, and not just because it was relatively uncomfortable. Some sort of ringing on the other side of the wall had roused him, and then someone running out of the bathroom had made sure he was all the way awake. Finally, he saw an otter chasing a ball go past his doorway (which he should have closed).
"Alright, I give up. What is going on out there?" he said to himself. As he gazed down the hall, he saw the otter still playing with a ball, but he also noticed some people in the fellowship hall. "What is going on?" he asked casually as he entered the room.
Ray:
The fellowship hall seemed to be quite the gathering spot Ray noted. Aida seemed all to eager to join in, but quite suddenly didn't. He wondered if it was the whole trusting the yeerk issue. He pushed the thought aside for the time being as he didn't necessarily need a bunch of people per se, but the more the merrier.
"That's fine Aida." Ray replied. He did need some sort of force still present in the Temple. Too many eggs in one basket would only leave weak points. "Fin, you're in charge until I return..."
Grinning, he added "...and let's keep saving damsel's in distress to a minimum."
"Alright." Ray said talking to all of them, motioning for Drake to join in, knowing that a friendly yeerk would be a hard sell to some of them. "I got this yeerk that has a vendetta against the yeerk empire for his own reasons and he's able to supply us with materials due to him being a lead yeerk. He runs a pretty good sized group of yeerk peace movement yeerks and is able to get us the inside scoop on quite a few things."
"However," he added "My loyalty with him is not without question which is why I need you to go. That and if we're all in one spot at the same time it makes sense that it'd be one hell of a protected meeting."
Fin:
At the sound of Ray's voice Fin stuck his head around the doorway with a comically perplexed expression on his otter face. He was in charge? Why? Why was he put in charge of stuff? Matthias needed to go to New York, well Fin was in charge. Matthias needed to go to New York again, put Fin in charge even though Fin had just tried to kill him. Made perfect sense (Fin had foisted off that duty on Lukas and Meredith when he'd left. They made better leaders anyway).
Now the Dallas faction was going off to meet with a high ranking controller and guess who got to be in charge of things while they were gone. Fin again. Granted they shouldn't face much action here at HQ. In fact it should be pretty boring but still, it was a responsibility. Why did people keep giving him responsibilities he didn't want. And what if he failed? Well then he'd feel bad.
He had to admit though, everyone who was leadership material and might take his place was going on the mission. Suji, Drake, maybe even Lizzie, they were going off to do something important. But what about Aida? Couldn't she be in charge?
He stopped himself from whining though as Ray moved on to talk to the team about what they would be doing. He just muttered an, <<ok Ray,>> and began to demorph. He wouldn't have any more time to play today. He would have to spend his time patrolling and waiting to be called in as back up in case he was needed. Which brought up a good point in his mind.
"Ray," he said as he walked into Fellowship hall, "shouldn't we try to come up with some type of morphable communicator? I mean we won't always be able to go places together and we won't always be able to stay in thoughtspeak range. If you needed back up you have no way of calling. I'm not saying we'll need it today but we should think about putting something together for the future. Between the two of us I'm sure we could figure something out."
Aubrey:
Aubrey paused outside of the Temple in her dog morph, sniffing the cool air. For the last few hours she had been out patrolling (and maybe playing around a little as well, but who would know) as her Alaskan Malamute. Aubrey liked being around people, but she also enjoyed the silence that going on patrol provided sometimes; It was a good cure for a cluttered mind. Sitting in front of the Temple door, Aubrey began demorphing.
A couple minutes later she was fully human. She wiped the dirt from her hands off on her wetsuit, then pulled the door open with a soft swish. Immediately she could hear the low murmur of voices coming from the Fellowship Hall. Brushing fingers through her thick hair, she padded over to where the talking came from. It seemed like all of the faction was gathered up in the room discussing. Curious, she leaned against the doorway, listening to Ray's explanation. It sounded like some sort of mission or something. "Hey guys. What's up."
Drake:
Drake saw Aubrey arrive just as Fin finished explaining his genius idea for communicators. The fellowship hall was starting to feel a bit crowded, despite the fact that it was designed to hold way more than seven people. The only person not present was Bree, and Drake had no idea where she was at the moment.
"We are going to go meet up with some yeerk peace movement controller who has something for us," Drake said quickly to Aubrey. He had not been very detailed, but then again, he did not have many details. He was not even sure if they were being given supplies or information. Or both. Or neither. Drake assumed Ray was talking about Teddy, but he was still in Las Vegas last he knew. "So how do we do this? Do we just watch you while you go in for negotiations or something?"
Ray:
"Yeah, that probably would be good thing to look into." Ray said to Fin's mentioning of a line of communication. It'd definetely be nice to call for back up. On the note of technology...he pushed the thought aside, he'd have to tell them all about what he'd made later.
Aubrey made an appearance at the door and Drake filled her in on the essentials. Ray would have been clearer only he didn't know that much himself and he was busy trying to ponder what the heck Teddy could have brought them. The only way to find out is to get there.
"One or two of you could join me in meeting Teddy if you wanted to, but you don't have to." Ray said answering Drake's inquiry. "I need at least one or two people in the sky though."
Feathers began to spout and before he lost normal speech communication he managed to get out "Could someone get thedorrrplllcrrraaa" Hopefully someone got the message that the group of attendees would need let out.
A little more than a minute later he was fully crow. The journey to Dallas had been a long one and he'd had to rely so much on his morphs they were much more than just morphs. They were extensions of himself. Part of himself. In a way that he couldn't explain it was as though he could now communicate with his morphs, especially his caracal.
<<All right, everyone that's going go ahead>>
Drake:
As soon as Ray gave the word, he started morphing. He was going into his newest form, the turkey vulture. It was not until he was half way morphed that he realized what Ray had been trying to ask. Oh well. He figured one of the people who was staying could open it.
After a few minutes, Drake was a large, winged scavenger. Every time he became this bird, he remembered what they had gone through to acquire it. But he was glad that they had done so, because now he had a much better understanding of just how neat flying could be. Flying had always been fun, but the effortless soaring that the turkey vulture was capable of just did not compare to the flapping of his secretary bird form. Not to mention that he could actually blend in with their surroundings now.
<<I am ready. Lead the way.>>
Suji:
Suji loped in her monkey form over to the door, and opened it while she still had fingers and thumbs to do so. It required a little jumping, and after she twisted she had to push off the side of the wall next to it (she couldn't quite reach very well from the ground, she was too small), but it happened gracefully enough. The monkey was definitely dexterous, if nothing else.
But now she began to demorph, and remorphing into a morph that was much less capable of the nimble work. Her egyptian vulture. It was similar to Drake's turkey vulture, though its feathers were more off-white and dusky, and she had more of a frill around her neck and head.
<<I can be in the air or on the ground,>> Suji broadcasted, waiting for Ray to lead the way. More privately, however, she noted to him: <<If I'm human, that's faster to get to firepower. But I'd really rather Controllers not see my face and associate it with Animorphs... trusted or not.>>
Aubrey:
"Oh, alright." It sounded like something interesting to do, and Aubrey was curious. She gave a nod to Ray. "Right-o, leader. I'm good with land or air." Suji took care of the door, so Aubrey began concentrating on her only winged morph. A white and gray feather pattern rose along her wetsuit, and she began shrinking.
After a few minutes she was fully seagull. She tilted her head, brown eyes looking to Ray in his crow morph. <<Ready ready.>> Her bird morph had fit perfectly over when she had been in Los Angeles, but now she was beginning to feel out of place in Dallas with it.
Lizzie:
"Okay-- I'll go wherever I'm needed, land or air," Lizzie said before she concentrated on her magpie morph. After having to rely on it so much to fly from Los Angeles to Dallas, she had grown more connected with her magpie. It was her only bird morph after all, so she figured she needed to rely on it a lot.
After she shrank and her skin turned into black and white feathers, her mouth a beak and her arms wings, she was in her morph entirely. Before the magpie's mind could fixate itself on one of the shiny objects in the room, she looked to Ray in his crow form.
<<Ready to go>> she said enthusiastically, waiting for him to lead the way.
Ray:
Standing there as a crow, Ray couldn't help but be amused by the lineup of birds. Two breeds of vulture, two birds that belonged to the crow family, and a seagull. Keeping his amusement to himself, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep from laughing out loud if he were human.
Once everyone had given the word, Ray flapped his wings and took off into the Dallas sky. It was only midday so the sun was still high in the sky and everything below him was completely and easily visible. There was even a slight breeze to be enjoyed and it was just enough, not enough to throw anyone off course.
It didn't take long to get to the park where he'd initially met a majority of his faction. There were a couple of black Honda Civics parked on the side of the road by the park with Teddy visibly smoking a cigar, leaned up against one.
Wasting no time, Ray made his descent down toward a group of bushes. <<Suji, follow up behind me, but stay in the bushes.>> Ray directed toward his group. <<Be ready to goto battle morph. Lizzie, Aubrey, Drake, keep eyes in the sky and if anything starts to look bad, tell Suji.>>
Once demorphed, Ray stepped out of the bushes and toward Teddy's entourage.
Drake:
Drake was ready to comply with Ray's orders the moment they were spoken. <<Right-o,>> was all Drake said to let him know he understood. Then he veered to the side and started working himself even higher into the sky.
From up here he could see a satellite-like view of the surroundings. There was not much going on in the actual playground that he could see, but he spotted a few people in the surrounding area. He was not surprised since there were multiple vehicles parked nearby. A single person could not have driven more than one of them. <<I think he has a few people watching his back as well.>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey floated along in the breeze, white wings stretched out. It was a nice day today and the mission should be easy, hopefully. Aubrey was feeling relaxed, and she was enjoying drifting along the thermals far above the city. Up ahead, she spotted the park and the cars sitting to the side.
Aubrey did a small, tight circle as Ray landed, her eyes fixed on the cars. This YPM friend had his own back-up waiting, and Aubrey could tell that this controller seemed to trust Ray about as much as Ray trusted him. The three of them being up in the air meant that if anything went wrong, it would be five or more minutes before any of them could go to the rescue. <<Aye, aye Captain. We'll keep a look-out up here.>>
Suji:
Hiding in the bushes? Ah, well, they never said anything about glamour in the Animorph brochure. Suji narrowed her thoughtspeak to Aubrey--her 'teammate' within the faction, and said, <<Hey, keep me updated if it's not too much trouble. I don't think I'm gonna be able to see much from where I'll be.>> With that she landed where Ray had (which less finesse than Ray's smaller bird), and waited for him to demorph. She always found that two or more people trying to demorph in a tight spot made for too many elbows and knees.
<<Ray will scratch his right ear if he needs me out there,>> Suji broadcasted to them (including Ray) while she still had her thoughtspeech. <<That way even if something doesn't look wrong, he'll be able to call me out.>> That said, she began to demorph.
Teddy:
Teddy took another drag off of what would've been an expensive cigar if the world had cared about expensive cigars anymore. <<This could seriously get traced back to us you know.>> Vorri 1226 chimed in his ear again like he'd been repeating all day long. <<You're just as dead as I am if they find out...>>
<<Dooon't vooorrry.>> Teddy responded. <<They've 'andled themselves in tougher situations. I don't tink dat driving a van around vould be dat much more difficult.>>
In the distance Ray appeared out of a rather thick group of bushes. Upon seeing him, Teddy's demeanor changed to a much more upbeat one. He glanced up and around to see if Ray had brought his backup and although he didn't see anything, was sure he had.
"Raaaaay!" Teddy exclaimed, removing the cigar from his mouth. "Long time no seee!"
Ray:
"Hey Teddy." Ray said as coolly as possible as he walked up to greet the controller.
"Velcome to Dallas my friend." Teddy said. "She (v)reeks of yeerk occupation and I tink you're in ova you're 'eads, but dat's you're dilemma eh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Ray said trying to hurry up and get to the point as everyone was being left waiting like a family member in the car at the supermarket. "What have you got?"
"Nothin' but good feelings an old stories to ve'ash on!" Teddy exclaimed in his usual cheery mood.
"What...you drug me out here for storytelling?" Ray said giving a rather shot down impression.
"Ohhohohoho!" Teddy laughed, apparently at the look Ray had given him. "I'm jus kiddiiing, ve wouldn't waste our time like dat now vould ve?"
Ray was just about to mutter something about how he might actually do it when Teddy stepped aside and nodded toward the van parked ahead of the civic he was leaning against. "Dat is your gift."
A freaking van? Ray thought. Good, but we'd probably get ourselves killed in it or the yeerks would find out we're the owner or whatever. Ray was still somewhat shot down due to the fact that a van, while it would indeed prove useful, couldn't be very useful in such a yeerk infested city.
"And don't you vorry!" Teddy continued. "She's got a yeerk license plate to boot! Dey von't know you're you and von't bother you unless you give dem a reason to!
Awesome.
"So my friend, you still got motion sickness from that last ride ve took?" Teddy asked laughing merrily.
Ray thought about that. The last time he did ride in a car it had been a Camero going about seventy miles an hour down the road doing a shootout with yeerks. Not fun at all. Then again, this was a far cry from a suicide mission and, a far cry from a Camero.
"Alright Teddy, let me go talk this over, I'll be back." Ray said as he walked back toward the bushes.
"Do you haff to go? Do you need me to hold it for you? ohhohoho!"
God that guy's crazy...
As he stepped back into the bushes he informed Suji about the van they'd just been given.
Drake:
Drake watched Ray and Suji demorph in the bushes. He hoped that they had better coverage at ground level than they did from the air. It was not long before Ray was walking towards Teddy for their meeting.
They must not have had much to talk about, because before long Ray was headed back towards the spot he had come from. <<What do you think the meeting was about?>> he asked Aubrey and Lizzie. <<I would ask Ray, but he can not really talk to us until he morphs.>>
Suji:
"A van?" Suji asked, blinking. And then, before she could stop herself: "How many of these kids even know how to drive?" Realizing that she'd just referred to faction as 'these kids', Suji immediately felt guilty, and began to morph. They all seemed to be roughly around the same age, so really, it was just as likely that they knew how to drive as well as she did. But she knew that there were plenty of 15-year-old Animorphs, and the idea of any of them driving made her a little uneasy. Just the idea of watching an inexperienced driver trying to parallel park a van made her wince.
Sooner rather than later she was back in her vulture morph. While she was glad that 'firepower' hadn't been necessary, there was a dull sense of missed opportunity, which she did not allow herself to linger on. Rising into the air, she directed her thoughtspeech at Ray. <<This guy just gave you a car, though? What's up with that?>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey flapped, adjusting so that her wings tipped slightly down. She was making another circle around the park, eyes fixed on the events happening below. <<No problem-o, Suji.>> She spotted her landing in the same bushes where Ray had demorphed. After a few moments, Ray started heading towards the controller and the two started conversing. <<So far Ray's just talking to the guy with the cigar.>> She glided along the thermals, wings spread.
There wasn't much happening, and not soon after Ray was heading back towards the bushes where Suji was. <<That was short.>> Then, to Drake's question. <<No clue. I'm wondering too.>> Once she saw Suji's vulture morph emerge, she called out. <<What happened?>>
Suji:
Suji rose into the air easily enough, rejoining the other birds there, though as distantly as possible to still remain in thoughtspeech range. Aubrey asked what happened, and Suji wasn't sure how to answer at first. The Controller had given them a present indeed, and didn't seem to want anything out of it? What was that about?
<<I'll let Ray tell you guys,>> Suji responded in broadcast. <<I think it's his new toy,>> she added with a slight amount of humor. However she did narrow her thoughtspeech to Aubrey; she'd been asking Aubrey for personal updates on the situation, and felt that it was reasonable to return the favor. <<Apparently that Controller down there is giving us a van, complete with Controller license plates. Might make getting around easier, but I'm not really enthusiastic about it. I mean, can we say Trojan horse?>>
Ray:
Walking back out of the bushes, Ray nodded to Teddy letting him know he had returned. Hopefully the crazy old geezer had everything thought out and didn't forget anything. Something about him told Ray he did have everything thought out, but maybe that's just because he always seemed so cocky.
Teddy held the keys up on one finger to which Ray took them.
"Be very careful my frien'." Teddy said taking the last few drags off of his cigar. "Oh, an' make sure you check 'er out...top to bottom." The last was said with a wink as he dropped the cigar on the pavement and smashed it out with his shoe.
"I tink she'll be a real asset for you. Just don't go getting yourself killed eh? You're too entertaining."
"Alright Teddy." Ray replied nodding. "Thanks..."
Ray opened the van up and got in the driver's side as he watched Teddy pull away in the middle Civic which was escorted by one in front and one in back. As he began to morph Duke, he wondered about the validity of Teddy's alliance with him and what he'd ment by checking the car out. What could he have equipped it with? Certainly not a bomb or he wouldn't have bothered telling Ray that.
Once morphed he fired up the engine.
<<Alright everyone, back to base.>> he said to his partners in the sky. <<We've got wheels now, but we'll discuss driving rules when we get back home.>>
Drake:
Drake was as puzzled as ever as he soared over the old park. What did Suji mean by his new toy? It was not long before he found out.
He watched Ray grab some keys from teddy then hop into a van. Wait, that is not for us is it? Drake wondered. But Ray's words confirmed his suspicions. <<We have wheels?>> For some reason Drake's mind was having trouble comprehending. Not because it was hard to understand, but because it was so mundane yet unexpected. He was so used to using morphs for everything that such an asset seemed almost unnatural.
<<Sweet!>>