Post by Admin on Aug 10, 2009 20:52:15 GMT -5
Zane:
Zane landed in the steeple of the church, the spotted eagle's claws clicking on the stone as they groped for something to hold onto. The task was being made harder by the fact that he was gripping a bag in one claw. It was probably not low profile to fly with a little baggy. Normal eagles did not carry luggage. But Zane had felt that the contents of this bag were absolutely vital.
He finally felt stable enough to begin his demorph and soon found himself looking out at Dallas with weak human eyes, his little plastic grocery bag in one hand. He turned around and trotted down the stairs. He had never been to this faction before, it was a new one, but he liked the description of it. They had maybe, he counted in his head, five female members and one of them was the delicious looking Aida who he really felt he hadn't gotten to know well enough in New York. Not to mention Suji...hmmm. He had never gotten close with Suji but he had never stopped trying and never would.
He trotted down the stairs whistling and finally came out into a hallway. "Honey! I'm home," he called to what sounded like an empty church. On second thought how had he even gotten this far without being hailed by a guard of some sort?
Zane's eyes swept the church hallways and he began to back up into the church steeple as he brought the wolf to mind, just in case.
Andre (Drake):
Andre walked out of the kitchen holding a peanut butter sandwich. He just got done taking a bathroom break while watching Jack and decided some lunch sounded like a good idea. Now he was headed back to guard their prisoner some more. That is what he thought the sound was. Their prisoner. So it would be easy to imagine his surprise when he saw someone else standing in the hallway, backing up towards the steeple stairs.
Andre was stunned for a moment, wondering if he should yell for Sophie. Then he remembered that Ray said they may have a visitor any day now. "Are you... Dane?" Andre asked, pointing a finger at him questioningly. Then he noticed that the guy was holding something. "And what do you got there?" Andre was still trying to decide if he should yell for Sophie...
Zane:
Zane stopped morphing when he saw what he assumed was a faction member come around the corner. "No my man. Name is Zane. Zane, with a Z and I have brought you vital supplies as is my job and pleasure," Zane said, bouncing back to play mode now that he felt everything was in order.
Zane snatched up the bag he'd dropped on the floor and carried it over to Andre. He walked past him into the kitchen and dumped the contents of the bag onto a table. Sitting there was a mini pile of condoms. All types of condoms. Big ones, medium ones, small *cough* snug ones, black tie ones, pink ones, green, blue, red, flavored ones including mint, banana strawberry, orange and cherry. They came lubricated, non lubricated, ribbed. There were all different brands with all different color packaging and wrapper art. It looked like candy.
Zane turned to Andre. "You can have first pick but condoms have now become mandatory equipment in all animorphs factions, kinda like on college campuses. We've determined, and by we I mean Cassie and I, that you are," he paused as if he was thinking how best to explain a very complicated conclusion, "a bunch of horny young men and women. Soldiers? Yes. But still young and I know," he said looking at Andre as if daring him to disagree with him, "what it is like to live around so many eligible young people."
He ran his hands through the condoms and let a few drop from his fingers, smiling at Andre. "So, in order to prevent any accidents, did you know the Chicago faction leader is pregnant and can't morph because of it, I bring you these. Have fun, just do so safely. No glove no love and all that. Now," he said moving on to the important part, "where are the rest of your faction mates," especially the girls he mentally added.
Andre:
Of all the things that could have been in the bag, this was the least expected. Andre was so surprised that once again he stood stunned for a moment. When he finally collected his thoughts he was a bit surprised at what he decided to say. "Dude, wouldn't those have expired like, a year ago or something?" Andre could hardly force himself to pull his eyes away from the pile. It was so unexpected. "And I'm not so sure we need those here. How about we go talk about the main reason why you are here, huh?" Andre guided him towards the door so they could go find a place to sit down and talk. And pocketed a couple items from the pile when he thought no one was looking.
Drake:
Several hours later...
"Andre! Sophie!" Drake yelled as he practically stumbled down the bell tower steps, assuming Aida was following somewhere behind him. His eyes were red and filled with tears even though he had only just demorphed. The mission had been a disaster. A complete disaster. It did not just go badly. It was an utter failure! He did not even know if anyone besides Aida was alive anymore! Ray and Lizzie... Drake did not even want to think about what he had seen.
"Andre! Sophie!" Drake had been on missions that went badly before. Heck, he had been the reason many missions had gone badly. But still, he never experienced such... failure. Drake rubbed the tears out of his eyes as he found Andre with someone else in the fellowship hall, but they refilled almost immediately. Drake wanted to ask who it was, but all he could bring himself to do was sit down and try not to drown in his tears.
Sophie:
Sophie was taking a nap in Fin's room. She had been asleep for a few hours by the time Zane had arrived, and was woken up by Drake's shout. Lifting her head, Sophie looked around the empty room. Was something going on? The floor vibrated with the shout again, and Sophie looked towards the door. Sounded like Drake, and he didn't sound happy. Were the rest of them back from the mission? Uncoiling slowly, Sophie slithered through the small crack between the door and its frame.
Her belly scraped against the floor as she made her way towards the Fellowship Hall, feeling the vibrations of talking going on. Once she was finally there, she noticed some guy standing next to Andre. Caution rose to her mind at first, but she remembered Ray mentioning something about some guy coming to their faction. Privately to Andre, she said; <<Is this the guy we were waiting for?>> Lifting her head, she then noticed that Drake was crying. Drake, crying? When did Drake ever cry? <<Drake, what's wrong?>> A bad feeling began to grip her. Where was everybody else?
Zane:
"Well you see, she was-" Zane was cut off in the middle of his story about Serena, Bellatrix and Layla when he heard someone shouting. "Ah, problems. At last. I was beginning to think you guys were like the nuclear family." Zane turned when Drake came running into the room, tears in his eyes, and calmly pulled out a cell phone and put it down on the table in front of him. One look at Drake told him that this may not just be the normal, everyday Animorph emergency and if Cassie needed to be told about it he wanted the cell phone ready. That said, no reason to panic yet. For all he knew this guy was just overly emotional.
Zane looked from Andre to Drake, trying to figure out who he should talk to first. Andre had obviously not been on whatever little outing this new one had come from but he was also the not the one engaging in hysterics and so would be easier to talk to. But Zane had to know what was wrong first. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Drake. "Hey kid. I'm Zane, Cassie's scout extraordinaire. What happened?
Aida:
Aida stumbled in, her normal grace nonexistent, her hair was disheveled, eyes wide and hollow, like she'd seen a ghost. She came in a few minutes after Drake, probably because while he'd been panicked she had been...almost a zombie, hell she was a zombie. Tears were filling her eyes, but she barely even noticed this, all she could focus on was Lizzie and Ray. Lizzie and Ray. Oh...god... she choked back a sob, nearly collapsing against he door frame.
Another mission involving her, another failure. Aida barely raised her gaze, there were voices. Who's voices? Her gaze was so unfocused, she couldn't seem to focus it, every figure was such a blur. Soon she stopped trying, pushing herself weakly up from the doorframe and stumbling the rest of the way in before collapsing against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest instantly as a new wave of tears built up and toppled over and down her cheeks. She was silent though, saying absolutely nothing.
They're.....gone.... she paused, stiffening a bit, looking around bewildered. After almost nothing from her she nearly screamed, "Fin...wheres Fin...?" attempting to stand up before collapsing back into the wall again, suddenly going quiet again, her eyes still wide and fearful like a deer stuck in headlights. Was that Zane? What was he doing here...she dropped her head into her lap, no longer caring if her tears soaked her own clothing through. "He's not back...where's Fin..." a whisper now as she sobbed quietly to herself. Aida's armed wrapped the rest of the way around her legs, her body curling up into a little ball as if she was trying to literally hold herself together. It wasn't working.
Zane:
Zane's eyebrows raised when he saw Aida come in, also in tears. His thoughts didn't reach his face except for that but he was really starting to believe that this was going to be worse than normal. Granted, Aida was not all there emotionally speaking. She seemed to be depressed half the time, which Zane just did not understand. The girl had apparently survived cancer and she happened to be very attractive. Healthy with the added bonus of Pretty should really equal Happy in Zane's mind. But that had never seemed to be Aida's deal.
But this was even worse than her usual gloom. And who was Fin? For a second he had to think about it but then he remembered who the kid was. He was actually one of the people Zane had been sent to check up on along with Aida and Suji, all quietly of course. It was not clear if Fin had abandoned Vancouver before coming here or if he'd just left with all the others. If it was the first...well deserters were not welcome within their ranks. Then again, at least he hadn't gone rogue like Matthias. Zane was just supposed to figure out if he was trustworthy or not, and if not, well they had people to help with that sort of thing. He for one, Helena for another.
Zane patted Drake's shoulder awkwardly before getting up and and crouching down in front of Aida. "Come on," he said taking hold of her elbow. At least come sit by the table? And, Drake, I'm still listening. I can hear you perfectly fine from over here," he called as he tried to deal with two distraught animorphs.
Drake:
After a few moments Drake managed to collect himself enough to look up at the people in the room again. He looked from one face to the next through watery eyes after he was patted on the shoulder. There was Andre, who had been sitting next to the Zane guy, who went and comforted Aida, who was asking about Fin, and Sophie was where she always was. The floor. I was still another few moments before Drake could bring himself to speak. "They..." Drake almost lost control again, but choked down his emotions just long enough. "...are gone. All... gone."
Drake knew, even in his broken state, that they needed to know more than that. He was hoping Aida could tell them, but knew that he would have to. He was the leading second now, after all. Oh no. He was in charge! That sudden realization nearly broke him into sobs again. It was just one more emotion piled on top of so many others. He rubbed his palms on the sides of his head in frustration. "Ahh! Why did this have to happen!?"
Drake rested his face in his hands, leaning on his knees in his seat. Then, through small fits of emotion, Drake began to explain. "Everything was going fine until..."
Flashback
"THEY SHOULD BE OPEN," Ray's voice said over the sound system in the holding cell block. Ray and Lizzie were in a group by themselves since they had the job of disabling/bypassing the security measures of the hive. So far they had proved to be quite capable, one way or another. Either by figuring out how to trick the system, or finding a way to force a way through.
Now Drake's group (Drake and Aida) and Suji's group (Suji, Fin, and Aubrey) were deep within the hive, about to open the doors where the Yeerk Peace Movement controllers were being held. Suji's group was in charge of making sure their escape rout was clear, and Drake's group was in charge of leading the YPM controllers themselves, so that nobody got left behind or caused problems.
Drake pulled on one of the solid metal doors and it gave way. He half expected a rush of controllers to spill out, but as more of the chamber appeared, it became apparent that that would not be the case. The controllers were all squishing themselves into the back of their oversized cell, obviously afraid. Drake should have known, they did not know they were being rescued, so they probably thought he was coming to take them away for some cruel experiments, or torture, or whatever it was the yeerks were doing to them. "We are here to help."
"The ones over here are dead," he heard Suji say flatly. Drake glanced over to where she was closing a different cell door. There were only two cells here so half of the people they were rescuing were already dead? Drake decided not to focus on that and instead redirected his attention to the controllers who were still alive. "We need to go," he said to the weary-looking group. "So unless you want to stay here, I suggest you come along. Do not worry. We are the good guys. Hear of the animorphs?"
"What are you trying to pull!?" was all he got in response.
Just then an alarm went off. Drake whirled around, trying to figure out if it was for them or not. "GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE! YOU GOT COMPANY COMING!" Ray's voice boomed.
"Everyone, battle morphs. Hurry," Suji said. Drake did not have to be told twice. He concentrated on his newest morph, the American bison. Brown fur covered his body, horns sprouted from his head, and his hands and feet became hooves. Just as the last of his changes occurred, the door to the prison quarters opened and taxxons streamed in and chaos erupted.
All Drake remembered from the next few moments were bits and pieces. the slash of a lynx's paw, the strike of a cobra bite, the snapping jaws of a crocodile, and the goring horns of two different types of buffalo. The taxxons never stood a chance. However, apparently their display had encouraged the prisoners to exit their cell.
<<Figures. They don't trust us until we face death for them,>> Fin said.
<<Ok, new plan. Drake and Aubrey have the fastest morphs that can do some real damage in small hallways. You two should take the lead, clear a path, and we'll follow right behind you. Aida, Fin, you two watch the back. I'll stay directly in front of the group.>>
<<Alright,>> Aubrey said as she took off down the hall. Drake thought it seemed like a solid enough plan, so he was right behind her. He just hoped the YPM controllers didn't give the others any trouble. The rest of the group disappeared as him and Aubrey went around a curve in the hall.
The hall was just big enough for the two of them to run side by side. As they did, the bowled over anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way. Taxxons, hork-bajir, scientists, all succumbed to the crashing weight of the two buffalo charging.
As they passed rooms with glass walls, Drake caught glimpses of medical rooms housing sickly looking patients. He was pretty sure he saw someone bleeding from the eyes, and another person with patches of hair falling out. It was awful.
<<Ray, Lizzie, where are you guys?>> Drake was starting to get worried. They should have caught up by now.
<<We're trapped in the surveillance room.>> It was Lizzie. She sounded panicky. <<I'm trying to find a vent or something we can escape into. Ray is doing something with the computers. Trying to slow them down, I think. I don't know if the door will keep them out much longer...>>
Reluctantly, Drake slowed. <<Hold on Lizzie.>> He stopped and turned around. Aubrey started to stop too, but Drake said, <<No, keep going. You need to keep the path clear for the controllers. I will be right back.>> She seemed hesitant, but finally agreed.
Drake started running back the way he came, towards the surveillance room where they had split up with Ray earlier. It was only a couple seconds before he came upon the other group again, still following. <<I can not stop. I have to help Ray and Lizzie.>> He was just past the group when Suji said, almost hesitantly, <<Take Aida with as backup.>>
<<Me?>> Aida asked, but quickly fell into step behind Drake. It did not take them long to reach the room. There were about five hork-bajir shooting dracon beams at a metal door. Drake did not know what the door was made out of, but it must not have been ordinary metal because it was not instantly vaporizing like you would expect. However, there was significant melting occurring. Or at least something similar.
They were almost there. Just a few more steps. They got the door open. Drake saw Ray, half way into his caracal morph, eyeing up the hork-bajir. One of them fired. The left half of Ray's head was gone. Drake collided with the group of hork-bajir, knocking a couple into the room.
<<Ray!>>
<<Ray!>>
<<Ray!>>
He, Aida, and Lizzie all cried out at the same time. A little meerkat ran out from under the desks, towards Ray. <<Lizzie, no!>> But it was too late. She ran right into the midsts of the hork-bajir Drake had launched into the room. Almost effortlessly, one of them crunched her body under its foot as it stood up. <<No!>>
Drake could hardly bear to stay and defend himself from the hork-bajir. He could not even imagine what was going through Aida's head. <<Let's go,>> Drake said when the aliens were finally dispatched. There was absolutely no emotion in his voice.
The two of them managed to make it nearly to where their exit was before he saw that the hall was scorched with dracon fire. There were also human body parts strewn about and even... a crocodile tail? That was not a good sign. Drake knew what it probably meant, but could not bring himself to admit it.
<<No,>> he heard Aida say in almost a whisper.
"And then we made it out and flew here." Drake could barely finish the last of his story. It just brought up too many bad images. "I think I need to lie down." Drake stayed seated where he was since he was not sure he would be able to make it to his room.
Zane:
Before Aida had time to comply or brush him off, the Drake kid started. Zane immediately looked over at him. Once he really got going, stopping him and starting him again was going to be even uglier than the situation was now. Zane needed him to talk in private, somewhere he could question him, somewhere without other distractions. 'All gone' was the only thing he'd needed to hear from the kid to recognize just how bad this was going to get or at least how bad the kid thought it was, which amounted to the same thing when dealing with a distraught teenager.
Zane let go of Aida, quickly patting her arm, and then turned as he stood. "Woah woah woah, hold it. Not here, not here. Come on." He shot glances at the nothlit on the floor and the guy he'd first met. "Take care of this other one big guy...and uh...snake girl," he said to be polite motioning towards Aida, and went to help Drake to a different room, grabbing the cell from the table as he did so. Too bad he didn't know his way around the damn Temple, or whatever they were calling it, but Drake seemed to be unconsciously heading towards a particular room anyway and Zane just let him. He ended up in a nice little room with wheely chairs. Drake plopped down into one and Zane pulled up another as the kid started talking.
- - -
Zane looked at Drake. It'd taken quiet some time to get what Zane now thought was the 'full' story--at least as far as the kid in front of him knew. He'd had to stop and wait for the guy to collect himself several times, and Zane didn't think there was ever a moment where Drake's eyes were dry. He couldn't really blame him. The longer the story went, the more and more his gut sank down to his shoes. This was bad. Two Animorphs confirmed dead, one of which was the faction leader. Possibly three others as well.. And the worst part was the 'possibly'--because death wasn't the most dangerous thing that could happen to an Animorph in this war.
Zane sighed and sat back. His chair spun a bit as he put his hands on his head. Seemed he had a bit of a problem. From what he knew about this faction Ray had opted for the two Second system like that other guy had. One of those Seconds was Suji, an interesting choice in Zane's mind considering what he knew about the girl and what he'd been told about he after she left. But the other... the other seemed to be sitting in a puddle of his own tears in front of him.
From where he was sitting across from Drake Zane leaned forward and grabbed the kid's shoulder. If he was a Second before, it looked like he was in charge now... but he was going to need some help. Zane would have to do the best he could to keep the kid from completely losing it. Drake mentioned going to lie down, and Zane shook his head. "Nope, sorry, we have a security breach on our hands and if you lay down you won't get back up. We should stay here long enough to give a chance for any other survivors to get back, but you need to start thinking about moving your faction to a secondary hideout."
Aida:
Aida scarcely heard Zane's words, she simply nodded numbly, her mind floating away again, unable to handle the entirety of what was going on. This couldn't be real, it couldn't...Ray and Lizzie couldn't be gone....Fin had to be okay...everything would be okay. Things always worked themselves out...somehow, right? Ray had saved her life way back when...he couldn't be...gone. Soon she found herself seated at the table, and her hand was absently rubbing the spot Zane had touched, not because it hurt...just because it was one more connection to the present, and that was a place she didn't want to be, not right now.
It made her head spin all over again just to think, and so she didn't, allowing herself to float away, ride this nightmare roller coaster away. Soon even her tears stopped, her eyes growing blank again, like she'd checked out. And she had. Aida's body still moved, her hand rubbing that spot on her arm, her chest still rising and falling, but that was the extent of it. If they needed an explanation their hopes should not be resting on her shoulders, at least not for the time being. Zane seemed to realize this as Drake began talking, and Aida only retreated farther from herself, not wanting to hear the awful thing, not after she'd just lived it. Their voices trailed off, the room got quiet, and she made not a sound.
Sophie:
Sophie tried to find a place that wasn't underfoot, ending up near a corner. Drake freaking out was making Sophie freak out too. The only possible thing she could think of was the mission going badly. When Aida came stumbling in after him, it seemed to confirm Sophie's fears. Shit. I should have come with. Helped out somehow. Done something. Even if it was irrational--she was a snake, what could she really do?--it was her first thought.
Then she realized Aubrey wasn't back. Drake was back, Aida was back. Where was everybody else? Sophie's tongue flicked out, unblinking eyes watching the others. She's probably fine. She's got to be.
"They...are gone. All... gone."
<<What...?>> The hushed word wasn't said to anyone in particular. For the first time, Sophie was grateful for the snake's calm, cold mind beneath her own. If not, she wasn't sure how she could deal with hearing that. Questions immediately began popping up in her head, but she didn't seem able to speak them outloud. They were all gone? What had happened? Were they... dead? Sophie watched as Zane took Drake into a private room, dark eyes empty. How had something like this gone wrong? Was Aubrey okay?
Aubrey:
Aubrey pushed through the front door of the Temple almost violently, tears streaming down her reddened cheeks. One hand was cupped against her mouth, muffling the hiccupy-sobs that were rising in her throat. As she stumbled inside, her shoulder collided with one of the walls. Her breaths were coming in ragged, sharp gasps. Everything was wrong. Everything had gone wrong.
With her shoulder pressed into the wall, Aubrey closed her eyes. Every bone, sinew, and muscle in her body felt worn. She felt ground down, empty. For a moment, the only thing keeping her up was the wall she was leaning against. How could.. how could I... She needed to find others. Pushing herself away, she stumbled towards the sound of voices down in the Fellowship Hall. The Temple floor was dusty and cold against the bare soles of her feet.
The door to the Fellowship Hall was open when she made it there. Andre was there, along with Aida. At the sight of Aida, Aubrey's eyes widened a little and she pressed the palm of her hand harder against her mouth. Oh god, Fin. I can't believe it. I can't believe...
<<Aubrey! You're okay!>>
The relieved thought-speak filled her head and made her jump at the same time. Her hand dropped from her face. "Sophie! Sophie, oh god. Andre! You guys..." Suddenly, all she wanted was a hug from Sophie. A hug from her best friend. A hug from the person she had always trusted--the person that always knew the answer to everything for Aubrey. But she couldn't. All she could do was stare down, eyes red and full of blurry tears, and look into the emotionless eyes of a snake.
At some point, Aubrey's back hit against a wall. She slid down slowly, the wall scraping roughly against her back. Curling her hands in her thick hair, she knocked her forehead against her knees. "Oh my god. I don't know what happened. I don't know. I don't know." Her speaking came out as mumbling. Aida was okay. But Drake? Ray and Lizzie? Fin...?
Suji:
Suji followed after Aubrey. Calmly, she shut the door behind her. While the blonde girl in front of her stumbled, sobbing, Suji merely walked down the hallway. She was all but floating. That's what it felt like: as if she wasn't attached to her body. She saw the hallway through tunnel vision, her face showing absolutely zero emotion. The usual glint of quick, clever intelligence behind her eyes was gone. They weren't distraught or distressed either: just no one was home behind them.
She followed into the Fellowship Hall. Aubrey was saying something, but it felt like somehow Suji couldn't hear her. Like the sound was coming from very, very far away. Maybe through a tinny, old-school phone-line. Her gaze was unfocused, and she had to make herself look around. Sophie on the ground. Andre standing. Aida sitting. Aubrey sitting.
Inhale.
Exhale.
"Is this everyone?" Her voice was flat. She didn't clarify.
Aida:
Aida had nearly disconnected from herself completely, the silence after Zane and Drake's exit was deafening, it was...worse than the noise. It felt like she was on a ship, floating around, just bobbing at sea....useless, helpless, and hopeless.Almost nothing could tear her from it, because she'd seen her own team mates slain right before her very eyes, witnessed Ray, the one that had saved her life, just have half his head blown away. She'd seen his brains...seen them just fly around like confetti....how easily he was killed. Aida had done nothing, she'd stood there in shock...had it not been for Drakes voice and her lynx's instinct she would be dead too.
As much as she tried to escape it she couldn't, and it just kept replaying, even as she floated away from herself, and then it always ended up in the same place. Fin. It went from Ray to Lizzie...and then always back to Fin. Was he alive? Was he dead? The cycle was about to repeat itself when she heard Aubrey's voice, and realized the girl was back, had been for a few minutes now. Aida slowly came to, her eyes blinking slowly, and then her head turning to look at her with a zombie-like gaze.
She tried to talk, her lips moving but nothing came out, and it didn't matter because Suji walked in moments later. Aida was so out of it herself she barely noticed the way Suji seemed checked out, the unfocused look of her eyes, all she could think of was to ask one thing. "Where's....Fin...?" she asked, her voice raspy, though she hadn't screamed at all. Aida stood up shakily, her chair tumbling over loudly, her hand grasping the edge of table for support so hard that her knuckles were going white.
Again. "Where is FIN?" her eyes looked around frantically, trying to see beyond Suji, but there was no one. "Fin...." she felt a sob building up in her throat, but she fought it back, tears filling her eyes again. Aida pushed past her briefly, and paused a few steps behind Suji, no one was there, he wasn't hiding this time, it wasn't a trick. This was real. Too real. She felt her breathing quicken, it was getting harder with each intake, why couldn't she breath? Aida dropped against the wall again, her hand clutching her chest, eyes wide with panic, but it was not because of her lack of oxygen.
Fin...Fin....FIN! she started sobbing, only making her gasping breaths worse.
Sophie:
Sophie wanted to say more to Aubrey, but the girl was bunched up against the wall. The relief that flooded Sophie at their arrival was short-lived. Suji and Aubrey were alive, but it still left three other Animorphs unaccounted for. <<Where's... Where's the others? Ray?>> Sophie's thought-speak was stiff and anxious. This was looking really bad.
Suji's question brought Sophie's gaze over to her. The Animorph looked detached, gone. <<No. Drake is back. There's some other guy here as well. I think it is the person Ray said was coming to visit.>> She paused, absorbing the heavy presence in the room. Finally, she asked. <<What happened?>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey heard Suji's voice, but didn't move from her position against the wall. She didn't want to see anyone's face. Was this everyone? Had the others made it out or not? Her stomach was turning, wet tears still finding their way down her face and onto her wetsuit. At Aida's voice, however, her head jerked up.
Fin. Aubrey's face slackened, eyes focused on Aida. She was asking where Fin was, and Aubrey couldn't manage to produce a response. An explanation just got caught up in her throat and ended up as a slow exhalation of breath. Aubrey buried her face back against her knees, trying to will everything away. She wanted to be somewhere else.
Suji:
Suji seemed indifferent to Aida's reaction. Aida was in hysterics. That was to be expected. Fin...
...not the issue at hand. Suji had asked a question. Sophie provided an answer. 'No. Drake is back.' There was the faintest flutter of her eyelids, a tweak across her expression. It was gone so fast that it might not have been more than a passing shadow. But that meant neither Ray or Lizzie was back. And given Aida's state, Suji could deduce-
Aida's state. That's how it registered. Like coming into a film and seeing a character on screen sobbing. Just an image. No emotional investment. Not in any of this.
'Drake is back.'
Maybe in some of it.
Suji slowly pulled her eyes around, scanning them again. Sophie. Sophie had asked. She looked at the snake. "The Hive went into quarantine and began to lock down. Fin got caught behind a steel door. We had to leave him behind." Her eyes momentarily shifted to Aubrey's form, her gaze still clouded over and sluggish. Then, as if to correct herself: "I left him behind. I made the call."
Aida:
Aida was gasping, she couldn't seem to reign it all in, like she had in the past, no ability to pull herself together. She could be emotional when it came to Fin, but she'd never felt like this...so uncontrolled. Cancer had been the worst experience of her life, but this topped it, somehow...this hurt so much more, the emotional pain was more than she could handle. She felt something inside her rip, like she'd slowly been unraveling , but suddenly Suji came by and ripped the last threads with her words. There was nothing left. Nothing.
An agonized cry of denial slipped past the gasping, and she looked up at Suji through tear filled eyes, barely able to see straight. Part of her wanted to hate Suji, she wanted to blame it all on her, take out all this hurting and push it on the girl, but she couldn't. Aida didn't even have enough room in her left to hate, it was all just excruciating pain. It was like she had been living in solitary confinement and suddenly got pushed out into the real world, all her senses burned, she was overloaded with stimuli.
Too much. Too much. It was all just too much. Too much too much too much. Something snapped.
"Where's...." she swallowed, "..Fin..?" she asked again, her voice barely a whisper. Aida turned, and looked at Suji, as if she hadn't heard her minutes ago, eyes completely hollow now, somehow it seemed they were nearly all black, her pupils small pools of nothing. "Bring him back...?" she began to rock a bit back and forth, clutching her knees to her chest, now growing incredibly quiet, eerily so. Soon even her movements stopped however, her arms going lax around her legs. Aida stared out at the door, like she was waiting for someone. Waiting for Fin.
Suji:
'If... if something does happen though. We'll stick together, right? As co-Seconds or whatever? Promise to keep as many people safe as possible, whatever the costs?'
Suji watched Aida. Watched her suffer. Couldn't feel it. If she felt any of it, it would be too much. There could be no grief that Ray and Lizzie were gone. There could be no guilt for leaving Fin. There could be no relief to know that Drake was alive, just not here right now. 'Always.' That had been his answer. And he'd winked when he said it. Maybe even spun in his chair. Then they'd gone flying.
Stick together. Co-Seconds. Ray gone. Suji had leadership within her grasp. Of course she couldn't want it. Not like this. But it was there.
'Bring him back...?'
And now.
And now she had to become the person she'd hate. Let it slip away. Let it be someone else's burden.
She looked into Aida's eyes. Vacant.
Suji was falling. It was so clear now. Maybe it'd started in Chicago. Maybe in Las Vegas. But she was falling, and she'd been picking up speed for some time now. Maybe it wasn't all her fault. Maybe she was tripped. Pushed. Apparently there were forces in this world that could arrange such things. No time to think about that.
She was falling. The question was, how much time did she have? How long before the sky ran out and she was just another smear across the pavement? And when all you had was momentum, velocity feeding velocity, maybe the only thing you could hope to do was turn the free fall into a dive.
'Bring him back...?'
Maybe all you could do was meet the ground smile-first.
Suji's gaze changed. Slightly, if only: she still moved as if by remote control, a woman possessed, but her eyes held purpose again. "I'm going to go on patrol," she felt herself say, barely even hearing the words. "We need someone watching." The truth was, if Fin was a Controller, it didn't matter. If they were already sending troops to the Temple, it didn't matter. There wasn't enough spirit left in the Dallas faction even to escape, let alone fight.
"Follow Drake." With that, Suji left the Fellowship Hall.
Zane:
Zane got up and headed back towards Fellowship hall. He saw a girl walking away and recognized Suji. "Suji!" he called out to her but she was already around the corner and seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. It made him hurry because she must have a reason, maybe she knew something he didn't and, if so, the others would know what it was.
He entered and saw that Aida was still on the floor crying but somehow she had....moved...a bit...whatever. He couldn't deal with her right now. He still had to figure out what had happened. Suji was back and so was...god he should know all their names, Aubrey, yes that was it. Aida had been with Drake so she would have close to the same story. But Aubrey might know more about what happened and where the hell Suji had gone.
"Aubrey right?" he said looking down at her. What was with these people and the floor. There were plenty of chairs around. "Hate to do this to you now but I need to know what happened. Think you can tell me?"
Drake:
It took Drake a while to bring himself together again, but he eventually stood up to follow Zane. He had just reached the doorway when he heard Zane say, "Suji!" Drake's head perked up almost instantly and he rushed out into the hall. He did not see anyone there except Zane going into the fellowship hall. Drake rushed over to see if she had gone in there.
He did not se Suji, but Aubrey was there. That was definitely a good sign. "Where is Suji? And Fin?" he asked everyone in the room. Drake's spirits were slightly raised just at the sight of Aubrey, but he definitely would not consider himself to be happy. For one thing, he had yet to see Suji and Fin, but it seemed like they were probably around somewhere. And secondly, he knew Ray and Lizzie were not coming back. Ever. So that pretty much killed any happiness he was feeling at the moment.
Aubrey:
Aubrey's head was bent forward, fingers tangled in her hair and palms pressing against her temples. Left him behind. Fin got left behind. We left him behind. He had to be dead by now. Or a controller, some Yeerk slug shoved into his ear, wrapped around his brain. Either option was terrible. Aubrey kept seeing it happen, kept seeing the demorphing snake, half torn apart, kept hearing Suji's voice in her head. <<Leave him.>> Turning away from the door as it closed, as one of their own got trapped behind with the enemy.
<<Aubrey. Tell Drake that I expect him to keep his side of our promise. Get as many people safe as he can. No matter what.>> Aubrey's shoulders tensed for a moment, surprised. The thought-speech had come from Suji. There was a pause, then in a more personal tone Suji said, <<I'm sorry.>>
"Aubrey right?"
Zane's voice reached Aubrey. Lifting her head, Aubrey rubbed her eyes free of tears. The look in them was raw and pained. Aubrey had no clue who this guy was or why he was here--except that he may be the guy Ray had been talking about earlier. Nobody seemed too freaked out by his presence, and Sophie's thought-speak confirmed that he wasn't some stranger that had wandered in here. Aubrey's breath became more even, and she stared at Zane for a long moment.
All sorts of things were running through her mind. Anger, at first. Thick, constricting anger, rising in her chest and choking her. Then questions. Why did he even need to know? Did she want to tell anybody what happened? Where was Suji? Did she have the energy to remember what had happened? All she wanted to do was stuff it down, package the memory into a little box and throw it somewhere where she wouldn't have to remember it. Shove it down so far that maybe she could convince herself it had never happened. That it didn't exist. But then, that didn't mean it hadn't. That didn't mean that Fin would be here. Dead. Controller.
"Right." She grimaced a little, pressing her hands to her face. She took a few moments to gather her wits. Then she looked back up to him, a more glazed look on her face. There were tears in her eyes, but they weren't streaming down her face anymore. Zane led her into the same room he had taken Drake, sitting her down in a chair. Aubrey didn't say anything at first, fingers entwined. Then, finally, she took a breath and started.
"...Everything was fine at first..."
---
"Everyone, battle morphs. Hurry,"
Wiry black fur sprouted across Aubrey's body, rushing across her flesh. Her heart was beating fast, but she was doing her best to morph into the Cape Buffalo as swiftly as she could. It was times like these that practicing morphing came to good use. Muscle began to fill in beneath her skin as her bones began to grind and shift into their rightful places. She watched as her fingers melted together, forming hooves. Then, at last, thick gray horns sprouted to each side of her head. She felt powerful. She felt wary.
The taxxons attacking were gored through like butter with her horns, spilling alien guts all across the floors. Aubrey tried not to slip on them as Suji gave them orders to go down the hall. <<Alright.>> Filled with excitement and adrenaline, Aubrey charged down the hallway. Behind her, she could hear the clatter of Drake's hooves following. They made it around a curve, shoulders bumping against each other. The Cape Buffalo's instincts were begging Aubrey to turn and challenge the large Bison next to her. Aubrey ignored the thought, working along with Drake to charge through the Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and controllers that filled their pathway. The floors became slick with blood, and all Aubrey could hear was the shrill sound of the alarm buzzing in her ears.
<<Ray, Lizzie, where are you guys?>> Drake's thought-speech broke through all the chaos. Aubrey turned her head slightly, catching sight of some glass walls to their side. There were humans inside, faces covered with blood that was seeping out their eyes and noses. They looked terrible. There was something really, really wrong with them. What the hell? The scene was brief, as the room passed by out of sight quickly. She wanted to turn back, but she knew that they needed to keep going. The alarm over all their heads made certain of that.
<<We're trapped in the surveillance room. I'm trying to find a vent or something we can escape into. Ray is doing something with the computers. Trying to slow them down, I think. I don't know if the door will keep them out much longer...>>
Strewth. They need to get out, now. Drake slowed, and Aubrey turned her head. Were they going to help Lizzie and Ray? Once Drake stopped fully, Aubrey began to slow down. <<No, keep going. You need to keep the path clear for the controllers. I will be right back.>> With her gait slowed, she looked at Drake. Could he handle it by himself? Should she go with him? He was one of Ray's captains, wasn't he? He should know what he's doing.
<<Alright, Drake. Be careful.>> Speeding up her pace again, she headed forward. The hallway curved again, its white walls flashing with the alarms. Aubrey suddenly realized that she had no clue if the others were still behind her. What if someone had come up behind them and shot them? Aubrey wouldn't know. <<Guys? Should I keep going forward?>> Her pace slowed just as she rounded the curve and skidded to a stop in front of a couple Hork-Bajir guarding a couple doors. There was a smaller, important-looking door labeled Authorized Personnel Only, and then a larger double-door to her left. One of the Hork-Bajir was standing in front of it, staring at her. They both seemed shocked at the presence of the large Cape Buffalo.
The Hork-Bajir standing next to the smaller door suddenly brought up his hand, dracon beam in hand. He pulled the trigger. <<Ahh!!>> The beam sliced through the air, shearing off one of her horns at the root. It fell heavily to the ground with a resounding thud. Snapping out of her shock, Aubrey charged forward, goring the Hork-Bajir that had shot with her other horn. The one near the larger door shot his dracon beam, landing a shot on her back. Ignoring the pain that flared up, Aubrey pushed forward harder, slamming the Hork-Bajir through the door and away from the other one. The both of them stumbled backwards into the room, Aubrey's horn still lodged in his stomach.
She heard shouts all around her suddenly, and realized that they had stumbled into a room full of controllers in lab coats. There was a little tink, tink as glass beakers and tubes were shattered and broken under the weight of the flailing Hork-Bajir and Aubrey's hooves. Aubrey swung her head around, dislodging him from her remaining horn. His body flung sideways, crashing against a group of controllers who were trying to scramble out of the way. She didn't see, but she was sure that his sharp blades had sliced off a few limbs. His fall caused a couple tables to flip over, shattering more glasses across the floor. The scientists were screaming, struggling to get away from the glass like it was diseased.
<<Aubrey! Get out of there, it's this way,>> Suji called. Then, in a milder tone, <<Fin's been hurt.>> Aubrey turned, catching sight of a large crocodile. She pushed her way past a couple scientists and stumbled out of the room, scraps of Hork-Bajir guts and flesh still clinging to her horn. Out in the hallway, the remaining Hork-Bajir that had been guarding the double-doors was down. His body looked like it had been torn apart by large sharp teeth--crocodile teeth. Guts and organs were seeping out of the cavity that had been his stomach. He was dead.
<<Shit. What-->>
Suji cut through her quickly. <<We need to go.>>
Aubrey looked down at the crocodile, noticing something she hadn't noticed before. Gripped gently between her teeth was a black cobra, part of its body completely missing. At first Aubrey thought it was Sophie, since Sophie looked exactly the same as the snake. Then she realized it was Fin, dangling from Suji's jaws.
There was no time to ask why or how, and so Aubrey pushed forward through the door. Suji was running swiftly behind her, Fin in her jaws. They could see the end of this hallway further off, a thick metal door. Once they were half-way there, Suji slowed down and released Fin. Aubrey glanced down through the open doorway. It was empty, another hallway. Did it end?
<<Fin, start demorphing.>> Suji said.
Aubrey skidded to a stop, snorting with pain. As she did, she realized that the shot to her flank had bit deeper than she realized. There was blood seeping from the wound. <<Agh...>> Aubrey paced back and forth, watching Fin on the floor. It looked like the lower half of his body had been shot off by a dracon beam. Slowly, achingly slow, Aubrey watched as bone and flesh began to extend into the empty space where it should be.
Suddenly, the alarms changed--they became high-pitched and screeching. The whole place filled with a strange grinding noise, the sound of metal against metal. Then, a group of Hork-Bajir pushed through the double-doors, dracon beams drawn. They immediately began shooting, and a couple shoots whizzed by Aubrey's head. Fin was still demorphing slowly, scales softening into flesh and limbs beginning to form. It would be another couple minutes before he was completely human.
<<Aubrey, start running towards the door. Fin, you need to start running as well once you can. Keep demorphing.>> The heat from the dracon beam was filling the air and scorching the walls and floor. Aubrey's hooves clattered against the floor as she ran, with Suji not far behind her. Fin was having more trouble, his hands and legs getting tangled up as he demorphed and ran at the same time. Part of his body was still missing, and the morph seemed to be more concerned with filling in its missing pieces than giving him proper limbs to run with.
The dracon beam shots flew through the air, sizzling past Aubrey. Some shots hit the floor and scattered concrete into the air. A few shots managed to hit home, slicing deep holes through Aubrey's flank. Another managed to vaporize her left ear and part of her cheek. As she ran, Aubrey felt the cold air on her exposed gum. <<Ahh!!>> Stumbling, yelling in pain, Aubrey made it through the doorway. Her breaths came out in ragged, labored gasps. There was blood oozing down her coat, and pain burning like a fire through her whole body. Aubrey looked back.
Suji was still in the hallway, her scaled belly scraping against the floor. Since her body was lower to the ground, the dracon beams missed her more often. However, a couple shots managed to level the ridges along Suji's back and singe the tough crocodile hide. Further back, Fin was still half-human, half-snake. <<Suji! Fin's still back there! I don't think he's going to make it!>>
<<Aubrey, keep running! You can't stop.>>
<<Suji-->> The metal door let out an airy hiss. It took Aubrey a few seconds to realize the door was closing. Why would they need to seal this area off with a door like this? <<Strewth! The door's closing! What do we do? Fin's not going to make it!>>
<<...Um, guys?>> Fin's thought-speech filled both their heads.
<<Leave him.>> The words were said as an order--said with such cold surety that Aubrey thought she had heard wrong at first. Suji's next words were said in a level, even tone. <<Listen Aubrey, we need to get out. The door is-->> Suji's thought-speech was cut short as one of the dracon beams lanced through her tail. The crocodile impulsively thrashed sideways, jaws gaping open as a threat. Then another shot flew by, striking the wall.
<<--GO AUBREY! NOW!>>
Thoughts were spinning through Aubrey's mind. They were leaving Fin behind. They were leaving one of their own behind. The Yeerks would kill, or worse, infest him. <<We can't.. he'll...>> Aubrey's thought-speech dropped off, feeling helpless. She didn't know what to do. What else could she do? Die from the dracon beam fire? Or listen to Suji and leave her faction mate behind?
Suji made it through the doorway, barreling past Aubrey. <<Suji.>> Aubrey said quietly, as if she was going to say more. Another shot made it through the doorway, singing the hair across her muscled shoulder. Aubrey glanced through the closing doorway, at the Hork-Bajir who were already slowing down near the demorphing human-snake. The aliens wouldn't make it to the door. Nor would Fin. Aubrey turned, running after the tail-less crocodile. It took a few more seconds, but behind she heard the click and swish of air as the door closed completely. Sealed tight.
---
Aubrey stared into space for awhile. Then, her blue eyes lifted up to Zane's face. "We left. The whole place was being shut down, everybody was running. We demorphed and headed back." Without Fin. What could Aubrey feel? Angry at Suji for ordering it? Angry at herself for listening? Angry at the stupid YPM, for getting caught in the first place? "I..." She trailed off, looking absently to the door. "...I don't know what happened to him. I don't know."
Zane:
Zane's eyes widened as he began to realize the that this may be so much worse than even he was used to dealing with and he'd seen some fucked up situations in his time as Cassie's messenger boy. He stood up quickly. "Good, come with me," he said absently to Aubrey not even hearing his own words. Good? It was good you left your faction mate behind? You did the right thing? Zane wasn't even thinking about that. His mind was focused on the one part of the story that might kill them all. blood that was seeping out their eyes and noses.
He walked back into the common room where the others were still collected. He had to be sure. He had to make sure everyone had seen the same thing. How could he not have caught it in Drake's story. He had mentioned something about it...right? "Aida," his voice had lost its cocky impudence, "can I speak with you?"
Aida:
Aida still sat clutching her knees to her chest, eyes set on the door frame, like she was waiting for someone. It was eerily reminiscent of a lost puppy, waiting for it's owner to return home, only a puppy showed some type of emotion, whereas Aida looked blank. She'd never looked this....almost inhuman, pathetically inhuman. What happened to 'cool in a tough situation Aida' ? It must have gotten left behind along with Fin, because if this was cool, then she was boiling lava.
Zane re-entered the room, but her gaze did not falter until he spoke her name. Aida. That's me? she slowly turned her head away, almost reluctantly from the door. "What if he comes back?" she obviously didn't want to leave her spot, but it was also obvious she wasn't in any condition to object if he pulled her into the other room to talk. Unfortunately his question spurred a few memories, as if some part of her mind was still there, she wasn't completely gone. Somewhere inside her the Animorph still lived, still fought to remain alive.
"Ray's dead. Lizzie too..." she mumbled, slowly turning to look back at the door again, but Zane was moving towards her, two arms taking hold of her and and hoisting her up. Her brown eyes remained glued to the door as she was half-carried half-dragged into the next room, and it was only when she couldn't see it anymore than she turned to look at Zane. Suddenly her eyes grew somber again, part of her obviously coming to, at least enough to talk.
Aida teared up a little, and took a deep breath.
--------------
Flash back
"GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE! YOU GOT COMPANY COMING!" Ray's voice echoed, rather loudly. Aida flinched, they had come this entire way just to find out that most the people they were suppose to 'save' were actually dead. What else could possibly go wrong? Well apparently they had to get out of there.
There was the order to morph, battle morphs, and for a moment her mind froze, but soon she felt the muscle of the lynx, the fur sprouting all over. Aida was beside Drake's Bison when the taxxon entered, and chaos erupted. The cats mind took over, and when it was all said and done she had a few scraps and bruises, and a lot of blood on her. Success.
<<...Aida, Fin, you two watch the back. I'll stay directly in front of the group.>> Catching her name she quickly took up guard with Fin, watching as the rest of her team moved down the hallway.
<<Got your back...>> she added to Fin, launching herself at a stray Hork Bajir. There wasn't much action to be dealt with in the back...yet. A stray Controller, a Hork Bajir or two, and then she found herself padding down the hall, at a soft jog.
<<Just don't step on me,>> Fin replied, and she laughed weakly, still moving down the hall. Soon there were glass containers....rooms....people that looked close to death. Looked like she had when she had cancer...only they were bleeding from their eyes....Aida was haunted by the patients, were they being tested on just like she had? In that moment she froze up, nearly running over Fin's slithering form. <<Sorry!>> she mumbled , keeping the emotion from her voice, it was no time to break down.
Drake was back, though she remembered hearing an order that he was suppose to go the other way. His rushed thought-speak entered her mind briefly, <<I can not stop. I have to help Ray and Lizzie.>> Aida was going to add in something about one of them going with when Suji almost hesitantly ordered her to go.
<<Me?>> but she found herself in line with Drake anyway. Part of her didn't feel good about this, mostly just leaving Fin, but she never really liked doing that, especially not when on a Mission like this...which was turning out very wrong thus far. <<See you soon. Be safe Fin.>> She added this final sentiment privately before taking off, and before long she and Drake stood before five Hork Bajir that were intently shooting away at the door that housed Lizzie and Ray.
<<Oh god...>> she barely breathed, and then the door finally opened, she caught sight of Ray, he was in the middle of a morph. Where was Lizzie? Aida lept, claws out, Drake was right beside her but she saw the red dracon beam go off, saw it hit Ray. The half of his brains that remained.... <<RAY!>> three voices screamed out simultaneously. LIZZIE! Aida's cat eyes narrowed in on the meerkat, and she heard Drake scream out, Aida simply froze in shock. One swift movement and she was crushed, gone. Just as dead as Ray.
<<No....no....>> she would have been shaking her head too if she hadn't been in morph. A sharp jab into her side jarred her back, and Aida swiped back at some of the Hork Bajir, barely able to focus on her attacks. Instincts took over. The rest happened so slowly, so surreal, and eventually it was just her and Drake again...and the two slain bodies of their comrades...their friends.
<<Let's go>> Drake ordered, his voice sounded so...empty. Aida barely managed to get her legs to follow after him, she said nothing. The exit was near, bodies parts everywhere....she couldn't bring herself to look at them, anytime she did she simply saw Ray's corpse....the little meerkat....
<<No....>> she whispered again. This couldn't be happening....but it had.
----------------------
Aida glanced up at him, as if coming out of a trance, she barely remembered even relaying the story. "We couldn't...help....too late..." she had started crying again, though she hardly noticed now. For the moment she was able to forget Fin, but only for the moment. "Fin...he's coming back." Her tear filled eyes flickered to the door way, and she shakily tried to get to her feet, but collapsed back into the seat. Aida buried her face in her hands again, sobbing. He's coming back.... wait. Where did Suji go...she left him...
Suddenly she was looking up again, "Where's Suji? Where did Suji go?" a slightly hysterical edge to her voice as she pushed herself to her feet again, both palms pressing into the table. Aida turned and moved--albeit unsteadily--out of the room. She needed to talk to Suji...she needed to find out more about Fin...he was coming back. Her eyes scanned the room, was she still not back?
Zane landed in the steeple of the church, the spotted eagle's claws clicking on the stone as they groped for something to hold onto. The task was being made harder by the fact that he was gripping a bag in one claw. It was probably not low profile to fly with a little baggy. Normal eagles did not carry luggage. But Zane had felt that the contents of this bag were absolutely vital.
He finally felt stable enough to begin his demorph and soon found himself looking out at Dallas with weak human eyes, his little plastic grocery bag in one hand. He turned around and trotted down the stairs. He had never been to this faction before, it was a new one, but he liked the description of it. They had maybe, he counted in his head, five female members and one of them was the delicious looking Aida who he really felt he hadn't gotten to know well enough in New York. Not to mention Suji...hmmm. He had never gotten close with Suji but he had never stopped trying and never would.
He trotted down the stairs whistling and finally came out into a hallway. "Honey! I'm home," he called to what sounded like an empty church. On second thought how had he even gotten this far without being hailed by a guard of some sort?
Zane's eyes swept the church hallways and he began to back up into the church steeple as he brought the wolf to mind, just in case.
Andre (Drake):
Andre walked out of the kitchen holding a peanut butter sandwich. He just got done taking a bathroom break while watching Jack and decided some lunch sounded like a good idea. Now he was headed back to guard their prisoner some more. That is what he thought the sound was. Their prisoner. So it would be easy to imagine his surprise when he saw someone else standing in the hallway, backing up towards the steeple stairs.
Andre was stunned for a moment, wondering if he should yell for Sophie. Then he remembered that Ray said they may have a visitor any day now. "Are you... Dane?" Andre asked, pointing a finger at him questioningly. Then he noticed that the guy was holding something. "And what do you got there?" Andre was still trying to decide if he should yell for Sophie...
Zane:
Zane stopped morphing when he saw what he assumed was a faction member come around the corner. "No my man. Name is Zane. Zane, with a Z and I have brought you vital supplies as is my job and pleasure," Zane said, bouncing back to play mode now that he felt everything was in order.
Zane snatched up the bag he'd dropped on the floor and carried it over to Andre. He walked past him into the kitchen and dumped the contents of the bag onto a table. Sitting there was a mini pile of condoms. All types of condoms. Big ones, medium ones, small *cough* snug ones, black tie ones, pink ones, green, blue, red, flavored ones including mint, banana strawberry, orange and cherry. They came lubricated, non lubricated, ribbed. There were all different brands with all different color packaging and wrapper art. It looked like candy.
Zane turned to Andre. "You can have first pick but condoms have now become mandatory equipment in all animorphs factions, kinda like on college campuses. We've determined, and by we I mean Cassie and I, that you are," he paused as if he was thinking how best to explain a very complicated conclusion, "a bunch of horny young men and women. Soldiers? Yes. But still young and I know," he said looking at Andre as if daring him to disagree with him, "what it is like to live around so many eligible young people."
He ran his hands through the condoms and let a few drop from his fingers, smiling at Andre. "So, in order to prevent any accidents, did you know the Chicago faction leader is pregnant and can't morph because of it, I bring you these. Have fun, just do so safely. No glove no love and all that. Now," he said moving on to the important part, "where are the rest of your faction mates," especially the girls he mentally added.
Andre:
Of all the things that could have been in the bag, this was the least expected. Andre was so surprised that once again he stood stunned for a moment. When he finally collected his thoughts he was a bit surprised at what he decided to say. "Dude, wouldn't those have expired like, a year ago or something?" Andre could hardly force himself to pull his eyes away from the pile. It was so unexpected. "And I'm not so sure we need those here. How about we go talk about the main reason why you are here, huh?" Andre guided him towards the door so they could go find a place to sit down and talk. And pocketed a couple items from the pile when he thought no one was looking.
Drake:
Several hours later...
"Andre! Sophie!" Drake yelled as he practically stumbled down the bell tower steps, assuming Aida was following somewhere behind him. His eyes were red and filled with tears even though he had only just demorphed. The mission had been a disaster. A complete disaster. It did not just go badly. It was an utter failure! He did not even know if anyone besides Aida was alive anymore! Ray and Lizzie... Drake did not even want to think about what he had seen.
"Andre! Sophie!" Drake had been on missions that went badly before. Heck, he had been the reason many missions had gone badly. But still, he never experienced such... failure. Drake rubbed the tears out of his eyes as he found Andre with someone else in the fellowship hall, but they refilled almost immediately. Drake wanted to ask who it was, but all he could bring himself to do was sit down and try not to drown in his tears.
Sophie:
Sophie was taking a nap in Fin's room. She had been asleep for a few hours by the time Zane had arrived, and was woken up by Drake's shout. Lifting her head, Sophie looked around the empty room. Was something going on? The floor vibrated with the shout again, and Sophie looked towards the door. Sounded like Drake, and he didn't sound happy. Were the rest of them back from the mission? Uncoiling slowly, Sophie slithered through the small crack between the door and its frame.
Her belly scraped against the floor as she made her way towards the Fellowship Hall, feeling the vibrations of talking going on. Once she was finally there, she noticed some guy standing next to Andre. Caution rose to her mind at first, but she remembered Ray mentioning something about some guy coming to their faction. Privately to Andre, she said; <<Is this the guy we were waiting for?>> Lifting her head, she then noticed that Drake was crying. Drake, crying? When did Drake ever cry? <<Drake, what's wrong?>> A bad feeling began to grip her. Where was everybody else?
Zane:
"Well you see, she was-" Zane was cut off in the middle of his story about Serena, Bellatrix and Layla when he heard someone shouting. "Ah, problems. At last. I was beginning to think you guys were like the nuclear family." Zane turned when Drake came running into the room, tears in his eyes, and calmly pulled out a cell phone and put it down on the table in front of him. One look at Drake told him that this may not just be the normal, everyday Animorph emergency and if Cassie needed to be told about it he wanted the cell phone ready. That said, no reason to panic yet. For all he knew this guy was just overly emotional.
Zane looked from Andre to Drake, trying to figure out who he should talk to first. Andre had obviously not been on whatever little outing this new one had come from but he was also the not the one engaging in hysterics and so would be easier to talk to. But Zane had to know what was wrong first. He pulled up a chair and sat next to Drake. "Hey kid. I'm Zane, Cassie's scout extraordinaire. What happened?
Aida:
Aida stumbled in, her normal grace nonexistent, her hair was disheveled, eyes wide and hollow, like she'd seen a ghost. She came in a few minutes after Drake, probably because while he'd been panicked she had been...almost a zombie, hell she was a zombie. Tears were filling her eyes, but she barely even noticed this, all she could focus on was Lizzie and Ray. Lizzie and Ray. Oh...god... she choked back a sob, nearly collapsing against he door frame.
Another mission involving her, another failure. Aida barely raised her gaze, there were voices. Who's voices? Her gaze was so unfocused, she couldn't seem to focus it, every figure was such a blur. Soon she stopped trying, pushing herself weakly up from the doorframe and stumbling the rest of the way in before collapsing against the wall, hugging her knees to her chest instantly as a new wave of tears built up and toppled over and down her cheeks. She was silent though, saying absolutely nothing.
They're.....gone.... she paused, stiffening a bit, looking around bewildered. After almost nothing from her she nearly screamed, "Fin...wheres Fin...?" attempting to stand up before collapsing back into the wall again, suddenly going quiet again, her eyes still wide and fearful like a deer stuck in headlights. Was that Zane? What was he doing here...she dropped her head into her lap, no longer caring if her tears soaked her own clothing through. "He's not back...where's Fin..." a whisper now as she sobbed quietly to herself. Aida's armed wrapped the rest of the way around her legs, her body curling up into a little ball as if she was trying to literally hold herself together. It wasn't working.
Zane:
Zane's eyebrows raised when he saw Aida come in, also in tears. His thoughts didn't reach his face except for that but he was really starting to believe that this was going to be worse than normal. Granted, Aida was not all there emotionally speaking. She seemed to be depressed half the time, which Zane just did not understand. The girl had apparently survived cancer and she happened to be very attractive. Healthy with the added bonus of Pretty should really equal Happy in Zane's mind. But that had never seemed to be Aida's deal.
But this was even worse than her usual gloom. And who was Fin? For a second he had to think about it but then he remembered who the kid was. He was actually one of the people Zane had been sent to check up on along with Aida and Suji, all quietly of course. It was not clear if Fin had abandoned Vancouver before coming here or if he'd just left with all the others. If it was the first...well deserters were not welcome within their ranks. Then again, at least he hadn't gone rogue like Matthias. Zane was just supposed to figure out if he was trustworthy or not, and if not, well they had people to help with that sort of thing. He for one, Helena for another.
Zane patted Drake's shoulder awkwardly before getting up and and crouching down in front of Aida. "Come on," he said taking hold of her elbow. At least come sit by the table? And, Drake, I'm still listening. I can hear you perfectly fine from over here," he called as he tried to deal with two distraught animorphs.
Drake:
After a few moments Drake managed to collect himself enough to look up at the people in the room again. He looked from one face to the next through watery eyes after he was patted on the shoulder. There was Andre, who had been sitting next to the Zane guy, who went and comforted Aida, who was asking about Fin, and Sophie was where she always was. The floor. I was still another few moments before Drake could bring himself to speak. "They..." Drake almost lost control again, but choked down his emotions just long enough. "...are gone. All... gone."
Drake knew, even in his broken state, that they needed to know more than that. He was hoping Aida could tell them, but knew that he would have to. He was the leading second now, after all. Oh no. He was in charge! That sudden realization nearly broke him into sobs again. It was just one more emotion piled on top of so many others. He rubbed his palms on the sides of his head in frustration. "Ahh! Why did this have to happen!?"
Drake rested his face in his hands, leaning on his knees in his seat. Then, through small fits of emotion, Drake began to explain. "Everything was going fine until..."
Flashback
"THEY SHOULD BE OPEN," Ray's voice said over the sound system in the holding cell block. Ray and Lizzie were in a group by themselves since they had the job of disabling/bypassing the security measures of the hive. So far they had proved to be quite capable, one way or another. Either by figuring out how to trick the system, or finding a way to force a way through.
Now Drake's group (Drake and Aida) and Suji's group (Suji, Fin, and Aubrey) were deep within the hive, about to open the doors where the Yeerk Peace Movement controllers were being held. Suji's group was in charge of making sure their escape rout was clear, and Drake's group was in charge of leading the YPM controllers themselves, so that nobody got left behind or caused problems.
Drake pulled on one of the solid metal doors and it gave way. He half expected a rush of controllers to spill out, but as more of the chamber appeared, it became apparent that that would not be the case. The controllers were all squishing themselves into the back of their oversized cell, obviously afraid. Drake should have known, they did not know they were being rescued, so they probably thought he was coming to take them away for some cruel experiments, or torture, or whatever it was the yeerks were doing to them. "We are here to help."
"The ones over here are dead," he heard Suji say flatly. Drake glanced over to where she was closing a different cell door. There were only two cells here so half of the people they were rescuing were already dead? Drake decided not to focus on that and instead redirected his attention to the controllers who were still alive. "We need to go," he said to the weary-looking group. "So unless you want to stay here, I suggest you come along. Do not worry. We are the good guys. Hear of the animorphs?"
"What are you trying to pull!?" was all he got in response.
Just then an alarm went off. Drake whirled around, trying to figure out if it was for them or not. "GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE! YOU GOT COMPANY COMING!" Ray's voice boomed.
"Everyone, battle morphs. Hurry," Suji said. Drake did not have to be told twice. He concentrated on his newest morph, the American bison. Brown fur covered his body, horns sprouted from his head, and his hands and feet became hooves. Just as the last of his changes occurred, the door to the prison quarters opened and taxxons streamed in and chaos erupted.
All Drake remembered from the next few moments were bits and pieces. the slash of a lynx's paw, the strike of a cobra bite, the snapping jaws of a crocodile, and the goring horns of two different types of buffalo. The taxxons never stood a chance. However, apparently their display had encouraged the prisoners to exit their cell.
<<Figures. They don't trust us until we face death for them,>> Fin said.
<<Ok, new plan. Drake and Aubrey have the fastest morphs that can do some real damage in small hallways. You two should take the lead, clear a path, and we'll follow right behind you. Aida, Fin, you two watch the back. I'll stay directly in front of the group.>>
<<Alright,>> Aubrey said as she took off down the hall. Drake thought it seemed like a solid enough plan, so he was right behind her. He just hoped the YPM controllers didn't give the others any trouble. The rest of the group disappeared as him and Aubrey went around a curve in the hall.
The hall was just big enough for the two of them to run side by side. As they did, the bowled over anyone unfortunate enough to get in their way. Taxxons, hork-bajir, scientists, all succumbed to the crashing weight of the two buffalo charging.
As they passed rooms with glass walls, Drake caught glimpses of medical rooms housing sickly looking patients. He was pretty sure he saw someone bleeding from the eyes, and another person with patches of hair falling out. It was awful.
<<Ray, Lizzie, where are you guys?>> Drake was starting to get worried. They should have caught up by now.
<<We're trapped in the surveillance room.>> It was Lizzie. She sounded panicky. <<I'm trying to find a vent or something we can escape into. Ray is doing something with the computers. Trying to slow them down, I think. I don't know if the door will keep them out much longer...>>
Reluctantly, Drake slowed. <<Hold on Lizzie.>> He stopped and turned around. Aubrey started to stop too, but Drake said, <<No, keep going. You need to keep the path clear for the controllers. I will be right back.>> She seemed hesitant, but finally agreed.
Drake started running back the way he came, towards the surveillance room where they had split up with Ray earlier. It was only a couple seconds before he came upon the other group again, still following. <<I can not stop. I have to help Ray and Lizzie.>> He was just past the group when Suji said, almost hesitantly, <<Take Aida with as backup.>>
<<Me?>> Aida asked, but quickly fell into step behind Drake. It did not take them long to reach the room. There were about five hork-bajir shooting dracon beams at a metal door. Drake did not know what the door was made out of, but it must not have been ordinary metal because it was not instantly vaporizing like you would expect. However, there was significant melting occurring. Or at least something similar.
They were almost there. Just a few more steps. They got the door open. Drake saw Ray, half way into his caracal morph, eyeing up the hork-bajir. One of them fired. The left half of Ray's head was gone. Drake collided with the group of hork-bajir, knocking a couple into the room.
<<Ray!>>
<<Ray!>>
<<Ray!>>
He, Aida, and Lizzie all cried out at the same time. A little meerkat ran out from under the desks, towards Ray. <<Lizzie, no!>> But it was too late. She ran right into the midsts of the hork-bajir Drake had launched into the room. Almost effortlessly, one of them crunched her body under its foot as it stood up. <<No!>>
Drake could hardly bear to stay and defend himself from the hork-bajir. He could not even imagine what was going through Aida's head. <<Let's go,>> Drake said when the aliens were finally dispatched. There was absolutely no emotion in his voice.
The two of them managed to make it nearly to where their exit was before he saw that the hall was scorched with dracon fire. There were also human body parts strewn about and even... a crocodile tail? That was not a good sign. Drake knew what it probably meant, but could not bring himself to admit it.
<<No,>> he heard Aida say in almost a whisper.
"And then we made it out and flew here." Drake could barely finish the last of his story. It just brought up too many bad images. "I think I need to lie down." Drake stayed seated where he was since he was not sure he would be able to make it to his room.
Zane:
Before Aida had time to comply or brush him off, the Drake kid started. Zane immediately looked over at him. Once he really got going, stopping him and starting him again was going to be even uglier than the situation was now. Zane needed him to talk in private, somewhere he could question him, somewhere without other distractions. 'All gone' was the only thing he'd needed to hear from the kid to recognize just how bad this was going to get or at least how bad the kid thought it was, which amounted to the same thing when dealing with a distraught teenager.
Zane let go of Aida, quickly patting her arm, and then turned as he stood. "Woah woah woah, hold it. Not here, not here. Come on." He shot glances at the nothlit on the floor and the guy he'd first met. "Take care of this other one big guy...and uh...snake girl," he said to be polite motioning towards Aida, and went to help Drake to a different room, grabbing the cell from the table as he did so. Too bad he didn't know his way around the damn Temple, or whatever they were calling it, but Drake seemed to be unconsciously heading towards a particular room anyway and Zane just let him. He ended up in a nice little room with wheely chairs. Drake plopped down into one and Zane pulled up another as the kid started talking.
- - -
Zane looked at Drake. It'd taken quiet some time to get what Zane now thought was the 'full' story--at least as far as the kid in front of him knew. He'd had to stop and wait for the guy to collect himself several times, and Zane didn't think there was ever a moment where Drake's eyes were dry. He couldn't really blame him. The longer the story went, the more and more his gut sank down to his shoes. This was bad. Two Animorphs confirmed dead, one of which was the faction leader. Possibly three others as well.. And the worst part was the 'possibly'--because death wasn't the most dangerous thing that could happen to an Animorph in this war.
Zane sighed and sat back. His chair spun a bit as he put his hands on his head. Seemed he had a bit of a problem. From what he knew about this faction Ray had opted for the two Second system like that other guy had. One of those Seconds was Suji, an interesting choice in Zane's mind considering what he knew about the girl and what he'd been told about he after she left. But the other... the other seemed to be sitting in a puddle of his own tears in front of him.
From where he was sitting across from Drake Zane leaned forward and grabbed the kid's shoulder. If he was a Second before, it looked like he was in charge now... but he was going to need some help. Zane would have to do the best he could to keep the kid from completely losing it. Drake mentioned going to lie down, and Zane shook his head. "Nope, sorry, we have a security breach on our hands and if you lay down you won't get back up. We should stay here long enough to give a chance for any other survivors to get back, but you need to start thinking about moving your faction to a secondary hideout."
Aida:
Aida scarcely heard Zane's words, she simply nodded numbly, her mind floating away again, unable to handle the entirety of what was going on. This couldn't be real, it couldn't...Ray and Lizzie couldn't be gone....Fin had to be okay...everything would be okay. Things always worked themselves out...somehow, right? Ray had saved her life way back when...he couldn't be...gone. Soon she found herself seated at the table, and her hand was absently rubbing the spot Zane had touched, not because it hurt...just because it was one more connection to the present, and that was a place she didn't want to be, not right now.
It made her head spin all over again just to think, and so she didn't, allowing herself to float away, ride this nightmare roller coaster away. Soon even her tears stopped, her eyes growing blank again, like she'd checked out. And she had. Aida's body still moved, her hand rubbing that spot on her arm, her chest still rising and falling, but that was the extent of it. If they needed an explanation their hopes should not be resting on her shoulders, at least not for the time being. Zane seemed to realize this as Drake began talking, and Aida only retreated farther from herself, not wanting to hear the awful thing, not after she'd just lived it. Their voices trailed off, the room got quiet, and she made not a sound.
Sophie:
Sophie tried to find a place that wasn't underfoot, ending up near a corner. Drake freaking out was making Sophie freak out too. The only possible thing she could think of was the mission going badly. When Aida came stumbling in after him, it seemed to confirm Sophie's fears. Shit. I should have come with. Helped out somehow. Done something. Even if it was irrational--she was a snake, what could she really do?--it was her first thought.
Then she realized Aubrey wasn't back. Drake was back, Aida was back. Where was everybody else? Sophie's tongue flicked out, unblinking eyes watching the others. She's probably fine. She's got to be.
"They...are gone. All... gone."
<<What...?>> The hushed word wasn't said to anyone in particular. For the first time, Sophie was grateful for the snake's calm, cold mind beneath her own. If not, she wasn't sure how she could deal with hearing that. Questions immediately began popping up in her head, but she didn't seem able to speak them outloud. They were all gone? What had happened? Were they... dead? Sophie watched as Zane took Drake into a private room, dark eyes empty. How had something like this gone wrong? Was Aubrey okay?
Aubrey:
Aubrey pushed through the front door of the Temple almost violently, tears streaming down her reddened cheeks. One hand was cupped against her mouth, muffling the hiccupy-sobs that were rising in her throat. As she stumbled inside, her shoulder collided with one of the walls. Her breaths were coming in ragged, sharp gasps. Everything was wrong. Everything had gone wrong.
With her shoulder pressed into the wall, Aubrey closed her eyes. Every bone, sinew, and muscle in her body felt worn. She felt ground down, empty. For a moment, the only thing keeping her up was the wall she was leaning against. How could.. how could I... She needed to find others. Pushing herself away, she stumbled towards the sound of voices down in the Fellowship Hall. The Temple floor was dusty and cold against the bare soles of her feet.
The door to the Fellowship Hall was open when she made it there. Andre was there, along with Aida. At the sight of Aida, Aubrey's eyes widened a little and she pressed the palm of her hand harder against her mouth. Oh god, Fin. I can't believe it. I can't believe...
<<Aubrey! You're okay!>>
The relieved thought-speak filled her head and made her jump at the same time. Her hand dropped from her face. "Sophie! Sophie, oh god. Andre! You guys..." Suddenly, all she wanted was a hug from Sophie. A hug from her best friend. A hug from the person she had always trusted--the person that always knew the answer to everything for Aubrey. But she couldn't. All she could do was stare down, eyes red and full of blurry tears, and look into the emotionless eyes of a snake.
At some point, Aubrey's back hit against a wall. She slid down slowly, the wall scraping roughly against her back. Curling her hands in her thick hair, she knocked her forehead against her knees. "Oh my god. I don't know what happened. I don't know. I don't know." Her speaking came out as mumbling. Aida was okay. But Drake? Ray and Lizzie? Fin...?
Suji:
Suji followed after Aubrey. Calmly, she shut the door behind her. While the blonde girl in front of her stumbled, sobbing, Suji merely walked down the hallway. She was all but floating. That's what it felt like: as if she wasn't attached to her body. She saw the hallway through tunnel vision, her face showing absolutely zero emotion. The usual glint of quick, clever intelligence behind her eyes was gone. They weren't distraught or distressed either: just no one was home behind them.
She followed into the Fellowship Hall. Aubrey was saying something, but it felt like somehow Suji couldn't hear her. Like the sound was coming from very, very far away. Maybe through a tinny, old-school phone-line. Her gaze was unfocused, and she had to make herself look around. Sophie on the ground. Andre standing. Aida sitting. Aubrey sitting.
Inhale.
Exhale.
"Is this everyone?" Her voice was flat. She didn't clarify.
Aida:
Aida had nearly disconnected from herself completely, the silence after Zane and Drake's exit was deafening, it was...worse than the noise. It felt like she was on a ship, floating around, just bobbing at sea....useless, helpless, and hopeless.Almost nothing could tear her from it, because she'd seen her own team mates slain right before her very eyes, witnessed Ray, the one that had saved her life, just have half his head blown away. She'd seen his brains...seen them just fly around like confetti....how easily he was killed. Aida had done nothing, she'd stood there in shock...had it not been for Drakes voice and her lynx's instinct she would be dead too.
As much as she tried to escape it she couldn't, and it just kept replaying, even as she floated away from herself, and then it always ended up in the same place. Fin. It went from Ray to Lizzie...and then always back to Fin. Was he alive? Was he dead? The cycle was about to repeat itself when she heard Aubrey's voice, and realized the girl was back, had been for a few minutes now. Aida slowly came to, her eyes blinking slowly, and then her head turning to look at her with a zombie-like gaze.
She tried to talk, her lips moving but nothing came out, and it didn't matter because Suji walked in moments later. Aida was so out of it herself she barely noticed the way Suji seemed checked out, the unfocused look of her eyes, all she could think of was to ask one thing. "Where's....Fin...?" she asked, her voice raspy, though she hadn't screamed at all. Aida stood up shakily, her chair tumbling over loudly, her hand grasping the edge of table for support so hard that her knuckles were going white.
Again. "Where is FIN?" her eyes looked around frantically, trying to see beyond Suji, but there was no one. "Fin...." she felt a sob building up in her throat, but she fought it back, tears filling her eyes again. Aida pushed past her briefly, and paused a few steps behind Suji, no one was there, he wasn't hiding this time, it wasn't a trick. This was real. Too real. She felt her breathing quicken, it was getting harder with each intake, why couldn't she breath? Aida dropped against the wall again, her hand clutching her chest, eyes wide with panic, but it was not because of her lack of oxygen.
Fin...Fin....FIN! she started sobbing, only making her gasping breaths worse.
Sophie:
Sophie wanted to say more to Aubrey, but the girl was bunched up against the wall. The relief that flooded Sophie at their arrival was short-lived. Suji and Aubrey were alive, but it still left three other Animorphs unaccounted for. <<Where's... Where's the others? Ray?>> Sophie's thought-speak was stiff and anxious. This was looking really bad.
Suji's question brought Sophie's gaze over to her. The Animorph looked detached, gone. <<No. Drake is back. There's some other guy here as well. I think it is the person Ray said was coming to visit.>> She paused, absorbing the heavy presence in the room. Finally, she asked. <<What happened?>>
Aubrey:
Aubrey heard Suji's voice, but didn't move from her position against the wall. She didn't want to see anyone's face. Was this everyone? Had the others made it out or not? Her stomach was turning, wet tears still finding their way down her face and onto her wetsuit. At Aida's voice, however, her head jerked up.
Fin. Aubrey's face slackened, eyes focused on Aida. She was asking where Fin was, and Aubrey couldn't manage to produce a response. An explanation just got caught up in her throat and ended up as a slow exhalation of breath. Aubrey buried her face back against her knees, trying to will everything away. She wanted to be somewhere else.
Suji:
Suji seemed indifferent to Aida's reaction. Aida was in hysterics. That was to be expected. Fin...
...not the issue at hand. Suji had asked a question. Sophie provided an answer. 'No. Drake is back.' There was the faintest flutter of her eyelids, a tweak across her expression. It was gone so fast that it might not have been more than a passing shadow. But that meant neither Ray or Lizzie was back. And given Aida's state, Suji could deduce-
Aida's state. That's how it registered. Like coming into a film and seeing a character on screen sobbing. Just an image. No emotional investment. Not in any of this.
'Drake is back.'
Maybe in some of it.
Suji slowly pulled her eyes around, scanning them again. Sophie. Sophie had asked. She looked at the snake. "The Hive went into quarantine and began to lock down. Fin got caught behind a steel door. We had to leave him behind." Her eyes momentarily shifted to Aubrey's form, her gaze still clouded over and sluggish. Then, as if to correct herself: "I left him behind. I made the call."
Aida:
Aida was gasping, she couldn't seem to reign it all in, like she had in the past, no ability to pull herself together. She could be emotional when it came to Fin, but she'd never felt like this...so uncontrolled. Cancer had been the worst experience of her life, but this topped it, somehow...this hurt so much more, the emotional pain was more than she could handle. She felt something inside her rip, like she'd slowly been unraveling , but suddenly Suji came by and ripped the last threads with her words. There was nothing left. Nothing.
An agonized cry of denial slipped past the gasping, and she looked up at Suji through tear filled eyes, barely able to see straight. Part of her wanted to hate Suji, she wanted to blame it all on her, take out all this hurting and push it on the girl, but she couldn't. Aida didn't even have enough room in her left to hate, it was all just excruciating pain. It was like she had been living in solitary confinement and suddenly got pushed out into the real world, all her senses burned, she was overloaded with stimuli.
Too much. Too much. It was all just too much. Too much too much too much. Something snapped.
"Where's...." she swallowed, "..Fin..?" she asked again, her voice barely a whisper. Aida turned, and looked at Suji, as if she hadn't heard her minutes ago, eyes completely hollow now, somehow it seemed they were nearly all black, her pupils small pools of nothing. "Bring him back...?" she began to rock a bit back and forth, clutching her knees to her chest, now growing incredibly quiet, eerily so. Soon even her movements stopped however, her arms going lax around her legs. Aida stared out at the door, like she was waiting for someone. Waiting for Fin.
Suji:
'If... if something does happen though. We'll stick together, right? As co-Seconds or whatever? Promise to keep as many people safe as possible, whatever the costs?'
Suji watched Aida. Watched her suffer. Couldn't feel it. If she felt any of it, it would be too much. There could be no grief that Ray and Lizzie were gone. There could be no guilt for leaving Fin. There could be no relief to know that Drake was alive, just not here right now. 'Always.' That had been his answer. And he'd winked when he said it. Maybe even spun in his chair. Then they'd gone flying.
Stick together. Co-Seconds. Ray gone. Suji had leadership within her grasp. Of course she couldn't want it. Not like this. But it was there.
'Bring him back...?'
And now.
And now she had to become the person she'd hate. Let it slip away. Let it be someone else's burden.
She looked into Aida's eyes. Vacant.
Suji was falling. It was so clear now. Maybe it'd started in Chicago. Maybe in Las Vegas. But she was falling, and she'd been picking up speed for some time now. Maybe it wasn't all her fault. Maybe she was tripped. Pushed. Apparently there were forces in this world that could arrange such things. No time to think about that.
She was falling. The question was, how much time did she have? How long before the sky ran out and she was just another smear across the pavement? And when all you had was momentum, velocity feeding velocity, maybe the only thing you could hope to do was turn the free fall into a dive.
'Bring him back...?'
Maybe all you could do was meet the ground smile-first.
Suji's gaze changed. Slightly, if only: she still moved as if by remote control, a woman possessed, but her eyes held purpose again. "I'm going to go on patrol," she felt herself say, barely even hearing the words. "We need someone watching." The truth was, if Fin was a Controller, it didn't matter. If they were already sending troops to the Temple, it didn't matter. There wasn't enough spirit left in the Dallas faction even to escape, let alone fight.
"Follow Drake." With that, Suji left the Fellowship Hall.
Zane:
Zane got up and headed back towards Fellowship hall. He saw a girl walking away and recognized Suji. "Suji!" he called out to her but she was already around the corner and seemed to be in a bit of a hurry. It made him hurry because she must have a reason, maybe she knew something he didn't and, if so, the others would know what it was.
He entered and saw that Aida was still on the floor crying but somehow she had....moved...a bit...whatever. He couldn't deal with her right now. He still had to figure out what had happened. Suji was back and so was...god he should know all their names, Aubrey, yes that was it. Aida had been with Drake so she would have close to the same story. But Aubrey might know more about what happened and where the hell Suji had gone.
"Aubrey right?" he said looking down at her. What was with these people and the floor. There were plenty of chairs around. "Hate to do this to you now but I need to know what happened. Think you can tell me?"
Drake:
It took Drake a while to bring himself together again, but he eventually stood up to follow Zane. He had just reached the doorway when he heard Zane say, "Suji!" Drake's head perked up almost instantly and he rushed out into the hall. He did not see anyone there except Zane going into the fellowship hall. Drake rushed over to see if she had gone in there.
He did not se Suji, but Aubrey was there. That was definitely a good sign. "Where is Suji? And Fin?" he asked everyone in the room. Drake's spirits were slightly raised just at the sight of Aubrey, but he definitely would not consider himself to be happy. For one thing, he had yet to see Suji and Fin, but it seemed like they were probably around somewhere. And secondly, he knew Ray and Lizzie were not coming back. Ever. So that pretty much killed any happiness he was feeling at the moment.
Aubrey:
Aubrey's head was bent forward, fingers tangled in her hair and palms pressing against her temples. Left him behind. Fin got left behind. We left him behind. He had to be dead by now. Or a controller, some Yeerk slug shoved into his ear, wrapped around his brain. Either option was terrible. Aubrey kept seeing it happen, kept seeing the demorphing snake, half torn apart, kept hearing Suji's voice in her head. <<Leave him.>> Turning away from the door as it closed, as one of their own got trapped behind with the enemy.
<<Aubrey. Tell Drake that I expect him to keep his side of our promise. Get as many people safe as he can. No matter what.>> Aubrey's shoulders tensed for a moment, surprised. The thought-speech had come from Suji. There was a pause, then in a more personal tone Suji said, <<I'm sorry.>>
"Aubrey right?"
Zane's voice reached Aubrey. Lifting her head, Aubrey rubbed her eyes free of tears. The look in them was raw and pained. Aubrey had no clue who this guy was or why he was here--except that he may be the guy Ray had been talking about earlier. Nobody seemed too freaked out by his presence, and Sophie's thought-speak confirmed that he wasn't some stranger that had wandered in here. Aubrey's breath became more even, and she stared at Zane for a long moment.
All sorts of things were running through her mind. Anger, at first. Thick, constricting anger, rising in her chest and choking her. Then questions. Why did he even need to know? Did she want to tell anybody what happened? Where was Suji? Did she have the energy to remember what had happened? All she wanted to do was stuff it down, package the memory into a little box and throw it somewhere where she wouldn't have to remember it. Shove it down so far that maybe she could convince herself it had never happened. That it didn't exist. But then, that didn't mean it hadn't. That didn't mean that Fin would be here. Dead. Controller.
"Right." She grimaced a little, pressing her hands to her face. She took a few moments to gather her wits. Then she looked back up to him, a more glazed look on her face. There were tears in her eyes, but they weren't streaming down her face anymore. Zane led her into the same room he had taken Drake, sitting her down in a chair. Aubrey didn't say anything at first, fingers entwined. Then, finally, she took a breath and started.
"...Everything was fine at first..."
---
"Everyone, battle morphs. Hurry,"
Wiry black fur sprouted across Aubrey's body, rushing across her flesh. Her heart was beating fast, but she was doing her best to morph into the Cape Buffalo as swiftly as she could. It was times like these that practicing morphing came to good use. Muscle began to fill in beneath her skin as her bones began to grind and shift into their rightful places. She watched as her fingers melted together, forming hooves. Then, at last, thick gray horns sprouted to each side of her head. She felt powerful. She felt wary.
The taxxons attacking were gored through like butter with her horns, spilling alien guts all across the floors. Aubrey tried not to slip on them as Suji gave them orders to go down the hall. <<Alright.>> Filled with excitement and adrenaline, Aubrey charged down the hallway. Behind her, she could hear the clatter of Drake's hooves following. They made it around a curve, shoulders bumping against each other. The Cape Buffalo's instincts were begging Aubrey to turn and challenge the large Bison next to her. Aubrey ignored the thought, working along with Drake to charge through the Hork-Bajir, Taxxons, and controllers that filled their pathway. The floors became slick with blood, and all Aubrey could hear was the shrill sound of the alarm buzzing in her ears.
<<Ray, Lizzie, where are you guys?>> Drake's thought-speech broke through all the chaos. Aubrey turned her head slightly, catching sight of some glass walls to their side. There were humans inside, faces covered with blood that was seeping out their eyes and noses. They looked terrible. There was something really, really wrong with them. What the hell? The scene was brief, as the room passed by out of sight quickly. She wanted to turn back, but she knew that they needed to keep going. The alarm over all their heads made certain of that.
<<We're trapped in the surveillance room. I'm trying to find a vent or something we can escape into. Ray is doing something with the computers. Trying to slow them down, I think. I don't know if the door will keep them out much longer...>>
Strewth. They need to get out, now. Drake slowed, and Aubrey turned her head. Were they going to help Lizzie and Ray? Once Drake stopped fully, Aubrey began to slow down. <<No, keep going. You need to keep the path clear for the controllers. I will be right back.>> With her gait slowed, she looked at Drake. Could he handle it by himself? Should she go with him? He was one of Ray's captains, wasn't he? He should know what he's doing.
<<Alright, Drake. Be careful.>> Speeding up her pace again, she headed forward. The hallway curved again, its white walls flashing with the alarms. Aubrey suddenly realized that she had no clue if the others were still behind her. What if someone had come up behind them and shot them? Aubrey wouldn't know. <<Guys? Should I keep going forward?>> Her pace slowed just as she rounded the curve and skidded to a stop in front of a couple Hork-Bajir guarding a couple doors. There was a smaller, important-looking door labeled Authorized Personnel Only, and then a larger double-door to her left. One of the Hork-Bajir was standing in front of it, staring at her. They both seemed shocked at the presence of the large Cape Buffalo.
The Hork-Bajir standing next to the smaller door suddenly brought up his hand, dracon beam in hand. He pulled the trigger. <<Ahh!!>> The beam sliced through the air, shearing off one of her horns at the root. It fell heavily to the ground with a resounding thud. Snapping out of her shock, Aubrey charged forward, goring the Hork-Bajir that had shot with her other horn. The one near the larger door shot his dracon beam, landing a shot on her back. Ignoring the pain that flared up, Aubrey pushed forward harder, slamming the Hork-Bajir through the door and away from the other one. The both of them stumbled backwards into the room, Aubrey's horn still lodged in his stomach.
She heard shouts all around her suddenly, and realized that they had stumbled into a room full of controllers in lab coats. There was a little tink, tink as glass beakers and tubes were shattered and broken under the weight of the flailing Hork-Bajir and Aubrey's hooves. Aubrey swung her head around, dislodging him from her remaining horn. His body flung sideways, crashing against a group of controllers who were trying to scramble out of the way. She didn't see, but she was sure that his sharp blades had sliced off a few limbs. His fall caused a couple tables to flip over, shattering more glasses across the floor. The scientists were screaming, struggling to get away from the glass like it was diseased.
<<Aubrey! Get out of there, it's this way,>> Suji called. Then, in a milder tone, <<Fin's been hurt.>> Aubrey turned, catching sight of a large crocodile. She pushed her way past a couple scientists and stumbled out of the room, scraps of Hork-Bajir guts and flesh still clinging to her horn. Out in the hallway, the remaining Hork-Bajir that had been guarding the double-doors was down. His body looked like it had been torn apart by large sharp teeth--crocodile teeth. Guts and organs were seeping out of the cavity that had been his stomach. He was dead.
<<Shit. What-->>
Suji cut through her quickly. <<We need to go.>>
Aubrey looked down at the crocodile, noticing something she hadn't noticed before. Gripped gently between her teeth was a black cobra, part of its body completely missing. At first Aubrey thought it was Sophie, since Sophie looked exactly the same as the snake. Then she realized it was Fin, dangling from Suji's jaws.
There was no time to ask why or how, and so Aubrey pushed forward through the door. Suji was running swiftly behind her, Fin in her jaws. They could see the end of this hallway further off, a thick metal door. Once they were half-way there, Suji slowed down and released Fin. Aubrey glanced down through the open doorway. It was empty, another hallway. Did it end?
<<Fin, start demorphing.>> Suji said.
Aubrey skidded to a stop, snorting with pain. As she did, she realized that the shot to her flank had bit deeper than she realized. There was blood seeping from the wound. <<Agh...>> Aubrey paced back and forth, watching Fin on the floor. It looked like the lower half of his body had been shot off by a dracon beam. Slowly, achingly slow, Aubrey watched as bone and flesh began to extend into the empty space where it should be.
Suddenly, the alarms changed--they became high-pitched and screeching. The whole place filled with a strange grinding noise, the sound of metal against metal. Then, a group of Hork-Bajir pushed through the double-doors, dracon beams drawn. They immediately began shooting, and a couple shoots whizzed by Aubrey's head. Fin was still demorphing slowly, scales softening into flesh and limbs beginning to form. It would be another couple minutes before he was completely human.
<<Aubrey, start running towards the door. Fin, you need to start running as well once you can. Keep demorphing.>> The heat from the dracon beam was filling the air and scorching the walls and floor. Aubrey's hooves clattered against the floor as she ran, with Suji not far behind her. Fin was having more trouble, his hands and legs getting tangled up as he demorphed and ran at the same time. Part of his body was still missing, and the morph seemed to be more concerned with filling in its missing pieces than giving him proper limbs to run with.
The dracon beam shots flew through the air, sizzling past Aubrey. Some shots hit the floor and scattered concrete into the air. A few shots managed to hit home, slicing deep holes through Aubrey's flank. Another managed to vaporize her left ear and part of her cheek. As she ran, Aubrey felt the cold air on her exposed gum. <<Ahh!!>> Stumbling, yelling in pain, Aubrey made it through the doorway. Her breaths came out in ragged, labored gasps. There was blood oozing down her coat, and pain burning like a fire through her whole body. Aubrey looked back.
Suji was still in the hallway, her scaled belly scraping against the floor. Since her body was lower to the ground, the dracon beams missed her more often. However, a couple shots managed to level the ridges along Suji's back and singe the tough crocodile hide. Further back, Fin was still half-human, half-snake. <<Suji! Fin's still back there! I don't think he's going to make it!>>
<<Aubrey, keep running! You can't stop.>>
<<Suji-->> The metal door let out an airy hiss. It took Aubrey a few seconds to realize the door was closing. Why would they need to seal this area off with a door like this? <<Strewth! The door's closing! What do we do? Fin's not going to make it!>>
<<...Um, guys?>> Fin's thought-speech filled both their heads.
<<Leave him.>> The words were said as an order--said with such cold surety that Aubrey thought she had heard wrong at first. Suji's next words were said in a level, even tone. <<Listen Aubrey, we need to get out. The door is-->> Suji's thought-speech was cut short as one of the dracon beams lanced through her tail. The crocodile impulsively thrashed sideways, jaws gaping open as a threat. Then another shot flew by, striking the wall.
<<--GO AUBREY! NOW!>>
Thoughts were spinning through Aubrey's mind. They were leaving Fin behind. They were leaving one of their own behind. The Yeerks would kill, or worse, infest him. <<We can't.. he'll...>> Aubrey's thought-speech dropped off, feeling helpless. She didn't know what to do. What else could she do? Die from the dracon beam fire? Or listen to Suji and leave her faction mate behind?
Suji made it through the doorway, barreling past Aubrey. <<Suji.>> Aubrey said quietly, as if she was going to say more. Another shot made it through the doorway, singing the hair across her muscled shoulder. Aubrey glanced through the closing doorway, at the Hork-Bajir who were already slowing down near the demorphing human-snake. The aliens wouldn't make it to the door. Nor would Fin. Aubrey turned, running after the tail-less crocodile. It took a few more seconds, but behind she heard the click and swish of air as the door closed completely. Sealed tight.
---
Aubrey stared into space for awhile. Then, her blue eyes lifted up to Zane's face. "We left. The whole place was being shut down, everybody was running. We demorphed and headed back." Without Fin. What could Aubrey feel? Angry at Suji for ordering it? Angry at herself for listening? Angry at the stupid YPM, for getting caught in the first place? "I..." She trailed off, looking absently to the door. "...I don't know what happened to him. I don't know."
Zane:
Zane's eyes widened as he began to realize the that this may be so much worse than even he was used to dealing with and he'd seen some fucked up situations in his time as Cassie's messenger boy. He stood up quickly. "Good, come with me," he said absently to Aubrey not even hearing his own words. Good? It was good you left your faction mate behind? You did the right thing? Zane wasn't even thinking about that. His mind was focused on the one part of the story that might kill them all. blood that was seeping out their eyes and noses.
He walked back into the common room where the others were still collected. He had to be sure. He had to make sure everyone had seen the same thing. How could he not have caught it in Drake's story. He had mentioned something about it...right? "Aida," his voice had lost its cocky impudence, "can I speak with you?"
Aida:
Aida still sat clutching her knees to her chest, eyes set on the door frame, like she was waiting for someone. It was eerily reminiscent of a lost puppy, waiting for it's owner to return home, only a puppy showed some type of emotion, whereas Aida looked blank. She'd never looked this....almost inhuman, pathetically inhuman. What happened to 'cool in a tough situation Aida' ? It must have gotten left behind along with Fin, because if this was cool, then she was boiling lava.
Zane re-entered the room, but her gaze did not falter until he spoke her name. Aida. That's me? she slowly turned her head away, almost reluctantly from the door. "What if he comes back?" she obviously didn't want to leave her spot, but it was also obvious she wasn't in any condition to object if he pulled her into the other room to talk. Unfortunately his question spurred a few memories, as if some part of her mind was still there, she wasn't completely gone. Somewhere inside her the Animorph still lived, still fought to remain alive.
"Ray's dead. Lizzie too..." she mumbled, slowly turning to look back at the door again, but Zane was moving towards her, two arms taking hold of her and and hoisting her up. Her brown eyes remained glued to the door as she was half-carried half-dragged into the next room, and it was only when she couldn't see it anymore than she turned to look at Zane. Suddenly her eyes grew somber again, part of her obviously coming to, at least enough to talk.
Aida teared up a little, and took a deep breath.
--------------
Flash back
"GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE! YOU GOT COMPANY COMING!" Ray's voice echoed, rather loudly. Aida flinched, they had come this entire way just to find out that most the people they were suppose to 'save' were actually dead. What else could possibly go wrong? Well apparently they had to get out of there.
There was the order to morph, battle morphs, and for a moment her mind froze, but soon she felt the muscle of the lynx, the fur sprouting all over. Aida was beside Drake's Bison when the taxxon entered, and chaos erupted. The cats mind took over, and when it was all said and done she had a few scraps and bruises, and a lot of blood on her. Success.
<<...Aida, Fin, you two watch the back. I'll stay directly in front of the group.>> Catching her name she quickly took up guard with Fin, watching as the rest of her team moved down the hallway.
<<Got your back...>> she added to Fin, launching herself at a stray Hork Bajir. There wasn't much action to be dealt with in the back...yet. A stray Controller, a Hork Bajir or two, and then she found herself padding down the hall, at a soft jog.
<<Just don't step on me,>> Fin replied, and she laughed weakly, still moving down the hall. Soon there were glass containers....rooms....people that looked close to death. Looked like she had when she had cancer...only they were bleeding from their eyes....Aida was haunted by the patients, were they being tested on just like she had? In that moment she froze up, nearly running over Fin's slithering form. <<Sorry!>> she mumbled , keeping the emotion from her voice, it was no time to break down.
Drake was back, though she remembered hearing an order that he was suppose to go the other way. His rushed thought-speak entered her mind briefly, <<I can not stop. I have to help Ray and Lizzie.>> Aida was going to add in something about one of them going with when Suji almost hesitantly ordered her to go.
<<Me?>> but she found herself in line with Drake anyway. Part of her didn't feel good about this, mostly just leaving Fin, but she never really liked doing that, especially not when on a Mission like this...which was turning out very wrong thus far. <<See you soon. Be safe Fin.>> She added this final sentiment privately before taking off, and before long she and Drake stood before five Hork Bajir that were intently shooting away at the door that housed Lizzie and Ray.
<<Oh god...>> she barely breathed, and then the door finally opened, she caught sight of Ray, he was in the middle of a morph. Where was Lizzie? Aida lept, claws out, Drake was right beside her but she saw the red dracon beam go off, saw it hit Ray. The half of his brains that remained.... <<RAY!>> three voices screamed out simultaneously. LIZZIE! Aida's cat eyes narrowed in on the meerkat, and she heard Drake scream out, Aida simply froze in shock. One swift movement and she was crushed, gone. Just as dead as Ray.
<<No....no....>> she would have been shaking her head too if she hadn't been in morph. A sharp jab into her side jarred her back, and Aida swiped back at some of the Hork Bajir, barely able to focus on her attacks. Instincts took over. The rest happened so slowly, so surreal, and eventually it was just her and Drake again...and the two slain bodies of their comrades...their friends.
<<Let's go>> Drake ordered, his voice sounded so...empty. Aida barely managed to get her legs to follow after him, she said nothing. The exit was near, bodies parts everywhere....she couldn't bring herself to look at them, anytime she did she simply saw Ray's corpse....the little meerkat....
<<No....>> she whispered again. This couldn't be happening....but it had.
----------------------
Aida glanced up at him, as if coming out of a trance, she barely remembered even relaying the story. "We couldn't...help....too late..." she had started crying again, though she hardly noticed now. For the moment she was able to forget Fin, but only for the moment. "Fin...he's coming back." Her tear filled eyes flickered to the door way, and she shakily tried to get to her feet, but collapsed back into the seat. Aida buried her face in her hands again, sobbing. He's coming back.... wait. Where did Suji go...she left him...
Suddenly she was looking up again, "Where's Suji? Where did Suji go?" a slightly hysterical edge to her voice as she pushed herself to her feet again, both palms pressing into the table. Aida turned and moved--albeit unsteadily--out of the room. She needed to talk to Suji...she needed to find out more about Fin...he was coming back. Her eyes scanned the room, was she still not back?