Trial By Fire

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Fin:
Fin found Aida in her room in the lodge. His stomach did that stupid flip thing it had been doing around her lately and he took the time before he noticed her to take in everything about her. Her quiet yet assured demeanor, her beauty, her softness, her strength.

Fin had discovered that he had begun to like his fellow animorph after the day that she had helped rescue him and he found it extremely inconvenient. He didn't really want to like Aida as much as he seemed to. He couldn't imagine it leading anywhere. Especially since she seemed very close to Matthias.

Added to that it would mean he would have to actually care about someone and that was just...that was just ludicrous. I mean, if you cared, that, emotion took effort or something. And it hurt sometimes. Fin didn't want to get hurt in anyway. He had discovered he had an allergy to pain.

All in all he had decided he was being an idiot and hoped that the feelings would go away. Begone butterflies, begone! Of course they weren't exactly listening. Which is one of the reasons he was here. He should have chosen someone else to go with him, Mitch maybe or Lukas. But when trying to decide who should go on a computer parts run he had of course thought of Aida.

And of course he had been able to supply about a million different logical reasons as to why but if he was to be honest with himself, and he tried to be, it was because he wanted her company more than anything else and they couldn't really get into too much trouble on this mission.

"Hey Aida, want to go on a little shopping trip with me?" The complete lack of jokes was a tell. He would have to make more of an effort to be the character that she expected.

Aida:
Aida sat in her room, not really doing much of anything. The days had been passing by faster than before, a lot faster than they had ever done so before. She still wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing, but at the moment that debate seemed insignificant. There were bigger fish to fry, or however that saying went. Aida had been growing increasingly closer to Matthias, and not only him but Fin as well.

She gazed out of her window, legs folded indian-style, her hands gently combing through the ends of her long dark hair. Aida seemed calm, but her mind was racing with thoughts, about Fin, about Matthias, about her life. People hurt you, she had learned that quickly, but Fin had saved her life, and Matthias was almost a mentor in a way, she looked up to him, and respected him. Was there more there though? Aida had never coped with liking someone as more than a friend, she wasn't even sure if that was the problem. Maybe Fin could help her sort through that sometime. The two had become pretty good friends as of late.

Ironically enough, Fin's voice sounded in her ears just as soon as he had entered her thoughts, and her head instinctively jerked up to catch his appearance in the doorway. "Hey Fin," she greeted, flashing him a coy smile. His lack of jokes...was a little odd, but one couldn't joke ALL the time? Actually...scratch that, Fin always joked. "Sure, what are we picking up?" she asked, quickly getting to her feet. Aida wasn't one to agree to things so quickly, but if Fin or Matthias were the ones asking, they'd always get a yes.

Fin:
"Computer parts. Ray and I tried to get some but we got a bit distracted by rescuing this girl." He smiled. She would surely recognize her own story. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I can build us something, anything that will help us. Maybe something to listen into yeerk transmissions or maybe just something to pick up some tv but we need some technology in here. I don't know about you but I'm feeling Colbert withdrawal." Then he remembered that Colbert was probably a controller by now. "Oh no, do you think they got Colbert. He would be so less funny."

He stepped into her room as he talked. He didn't want to admit how much he wanted her to go on this mission.

Aida:
For a moment she took his response seriously, at least until she realized he was referencing the day they had met. It seemed so long ago now, Aida had grown quite a bit since then, though the bad memories would never fully leave her. "I'm sure she was very thankful," she replied, the corners of her lips turning up slightly. "I bet she'd love to help out with the computer parts too." Fin didn't even really have to ask her to go along, Aida would have followed him just about anywhere.

His reference to technology made her smile, Fin was incredibly smart, though she could tell he tried to downplay that a bit. "Technology sounds good right about now," she agreed. "And Colbert...I'm sure he got away....somehow," she replied, though they both knew he was almost undoubtedly a Controller. "Only way to find out is to get some computer parts, right?" she took a few more steps towards the middle of the room.

Now both were in middle of the room, not too far away from each other. "When were you planning on going?" she asked, her fingers nimbly twirling a piece of her dark hair. "Is Matthias going?" she added, almost without thinking. It was instinctual for her now to ask such things, Matthias was a large part of her life, though that being said so was Fin.

Fin:
"Matthias? Not sure it's his thing. He can't order around computer parts or kill them for that matter." He didn't mean for it to sound hostile but it sounded that way just a bit. "But I was hoping to leave now if you're free? I'm not sure where the others are, I assume patrol, but if we stick around someone will probably find something for us to do and then I'll never get this thing built. I've been trying to work on this since Ray left but there never seems to be a spare moment. Quick, we have to seize the spare moment."

Fin ducked back out of the room and away from Aida who had gotten closer than she was before. Close, bad. Far, good. Too close and he found himself doing that staring thing that only got him into to trouble. Aida, his team mate, his friend. Maybe he should think of her as his sister too. Yes, that might work, sister Aida. Blech, that made him think of her as a nun. Wait, no, that was good. Nun.

Don't do this to yourself Fin, his internal dialogue ran as he left the room hoping that Aida would come along.

Aida:
Fin's response to her Matthias comment made her bite her tongue. Aida regretted bringing it up at all. Her two favorite guys, it was too hard to chose between the two, or to know when to stick up for which. Hostility did not suit Fin though, and thankfully soon it was over and done with. Somehow she managed to smile slightly, choosing not respond to his first comment.

"Then let's seize the spare moment," she replied, but he was already moving away. Recently he had been acting a little on the strange side...which wasn't exactly odd for Fin...except this time it was. Fin was acting odder than usually...if that made any sense. Aida didn't question him on it yet, maybe he'd tell her if she was patient. Or maybe not. She was still too timid to ask him herself.

As he disappeared out of the room she quickly trailed behind him, quickly catching up to him. "What morph are you going to be using?" she asked, not sure which of her own limited collection should be used. They were gathering spare parts...so perhaps her cat morph, though to get to the location maybe mockingbird.

Fin:
"I'm going with my bat morph to get there. Then maybe cats will be best. I used a cat last time to sneak around the place we checked out last time which was a hospital. But the parts they were throwing out have long since been thrown out. But I found a hole parking lot full of industrial trash. Bad thing is it's right behind the One Wall Center so we're going to have to be sneaky while we look and there is nothing sneakier than a cat."

Now that they were talking about the mission Fin found himself relaxing. His mind was able to concentrate on the job they had to do ahead of them and it wasn't busy running itself in circles about Aida. "I guess mockingbird is the way to go for now. Odd question, why are mockingbirds called mockingbirds? I mean, it seems like such a jovial all around fun name and yet for some reason my mind is connecting it with something sad. Wasn't there a famous book or movie that involved mockingbirds?"

Even as he made small talk he was morphing and taking on the wings that would get him to the One Wall Center.

Aida:
"Sneaky...alright I think feral cat is good for that," she smiled a little. Funny thing, smiling...most people might not call Aida's smiles real, they were so small and brief you might miss it in a blink. Her laugh was even more rare, a soft bubbly laughter that seemed quite out of place for the girl. The only person that managed to hear it was Fin and Matthias--surprisingly for the latter. The other members seemed to resent him, but he had made her feel right at home.

"Mockingbirds? They mock other birds songs....even sounds from cars....like car alarms," she smiled a little. "But yeah...to book To Kill a Mockingbird," she replied. That was one of the reasons she favored that morph, the book happened to be one of her favorites. When she turned to glance at Fin he was already morphing, so she quickly began, finishing a minute or so after him. The two were in the air in no time, and at the One Wall Center in even less.

When they arrived she demorphed in the nearby forest, and waited for Fin. Her bird was a bit faster than his bat. Whether he wanted them to morph right away or not she wasn't sure so she held off on it. They would have to be very sneaky....and already she felt her heart beat quicken. Hopefully everything went well....

Fin:
<<Alright, so cowboy, Jake Gyllenhaal version in Brokeback mountain ooooooor Swimmer Michael Phleps version.>> They were playing the desert island game. Or they were now anyway because the thought had just run through his mind. Of course maybe he should explain that. <<If you had to chose which one to be stuck on a desert island with I mean, though you can choose which one for whatever reasons you want. Like once I was playing with friends at a drinking party, tequila, don't do it, and I had to choose between all the friends there and I chose my boy Jeff because he would be the most helpful in fighting off the Others and his music choice wouldn't drive me to insanity if we were stuck in a hatch and had to push a button. Stuff like that.>>

He landed in the parking lot behind a dumpster and began to demorph. He decided not to rush into his cat morph. Rush morphing could be tiring and there was no reason to rush right now, they might be out here all day scoping out what parts to take and then they'd have to figure out how to take them. Hence his starting of a game that seemingly had no end.

Aida:
Fin didn't morph right away, and to top that off he started spouting random things that made no sense. It wasn't until he explained them that she caught on. Aida's face quickly changed from an expression of confusion to that of contemplation; her lips pursed slightly, brows knitted together in thought. After a few moments she turned and glanced at him, "I'd have to go with Swimmer Michael Phelps version," she replied, a slight smile tugging at her lips.

As for his story about tequila, she couldn't quite sympathize being that she had never drank alcohol in large amounts. "My turn now?" she asked, but before waiting for a response she added, "Lost or Heroes?" she asked, getting his reference earlier. It was sad that these shows no longer really existed, but it didn't mean they had forgotten them completely. Hey, in a way their lives were almost similar to these shows, they had enough drama to top any reality show.

Fin:
"Lost." I don't know much about Heroes, I only ever watched the first couple of episodes and never got fully into it. Then it was gone. Of course I am tempted to pick Heroes just because we never got to know the ending of Lost but that is J.J. Abrams fault it's the yeerk's. Just another thing to hate them for I guess. Taking away our TV, the fiends.

He started to morph into his bengal cat form but he didn't let it stop him from keeping up the conversation. He hadn't really had anyone to talk to in a long time and Aida was turning out to be a good conversationalist. <<I really admire J.J. Abram's writing and his whole philosophy that what is hidden is always more interesting and dramatic than what is known. Like the monster on the island, it was much more scary when we never saw it. Then we see it and it is a black floating cloud. Mystery gone and with it our fear. So he always tried to keep things hidden as long as possible. In some ways it is nice that we never got to know what the island was. In other ways it is just frustrating.>>

He was quiet for a moment and then added as a random afterthought, <<You know, Matthias kinda reminds me of that guy Peter on heroes. They look alike don't you think?>>

Aida:
Aida placed a subtle expression of mock-horror on her face at his admittance of not watching Heroes. She had never been a huge tv buff, but she had known her way around pop culture references. Lost was preferred over heroes with her as well though. "Oh yes, incredibly cruel of them," she agreed with a soft laugh. "Now we have to actually get off our butts and do something with our lives." Aida scarcely joked around so lightly with anyone, and the fact that she did around Fin was a very very good sign of her comfort level.

As Fin began morphing she too imitated him, turning into her feral cat. This morph was a particular favorite, it's senses unlike any other she had, and its lithe, graceful movements made her feel like she was walking on air. Fin continued their conversation as their mouths became for feline, and their tongues no longer useful for speaking. <<I never thought of it that way....but you're right...hidden is more interesting....curiosity over what we don't know and understand.>> Most humans were naturally curious beings, Aida was no exception.

<<Oh...wow you're right>> she laughed inwardly, <<They are eerily similar>> with that she trotted behind Fin, following his lead....at least she intended on doing that until she heard voices someplace nearby. <<Did you hear that?>> she asked instantly dropping lower to the ground. Even her ears were pressed down closely to either side of her head, a clear indication of feeling threatened.

Bryan:
Bryan watched the two controllers kick cans across the parking lot with disdain. He wasn't sure what he was doing here, or what his purpose was for that matter.

A small part of his mind was scared, worried, that he had been foresaken, that he had done something wrong and had been abandoned. But only a small part. The rest of him was sure. His actions had been right, fair, good.

So why was he picking up trash at the One Wall Center?

He stared into the gray sky, clouds covering the sun from horizon to horizon and prayed for this day to be over, or at least to get more entertaining. Throwing humans who had long since lost sight of any true path into the yeerk's prison was not his calling. This was not his purpose. But what was?

He knew he would know what to do when he saw it and until then he would pick up trash, human trash, alien trash, animal trash.

He watched the two cats cross the parking lot with interest. Full grown cats were never that friendly.

Aida:
Aida was worried, something she often did, but now her alarms were going off. Her entire life she had this knack for staying out of trouble...at least until recently when she was captured, infested and then experimented on. Now was no different, and the surrounding area left her at unease...she did not feel safe in the least. Soon she found that was all for good reason.

As she crouched next to Fin she noted the Controllers in the distance, two were kicking around cans, one was standing there...staring straight at them. She could only guess that they were Controllers....but that tended to be a good assumption considering the times they lived in. <<Fin....he's looking at us awfully strangely....maybe we should...go....>> there was terror laced into even her thought-speak voice.

The two were soon near already partly through the parking lot, it would seem odd to turn back now...but what else could they do? Aida was not one to take charge if she could help it, and only when there was extreme danger was she able to....and right now they weren't exactly in peril yet. Her mind was frozen, but her body continued moving beside Fins.

Fin:
Fin spotted the three controllers, one of which was looking at them, and then dismissed them with the natural cat arrogance. <<Just ignore them, that is what cat's do. We of the royal cat heritage have no time to waste even contemplating the decrepit workings of the human mind. If such a thing exists then surely it must be so far out-shined by our own cat brilliance as the distant stars are out-shown by the sun.>> He continued, really falling into the role that was so fun to play and hoping to cheer Aida up with his antics.

He carefully picked his way through the debris that littered the parking lot and made his way toward the opposite side and the dumpsters that held the parts he was hoping to acquire though he was careful not to take a direct line there. Stupid or not stupid controllers were still controllers.

Aida:
Aida immediately relaxed at his words, unable to help but laugh inwardly. If cats could laugh she'd probably be rolling on the ground. <<Does that make you King of the cats?>> she asked, trying to keep her mind off the Controllers as they got closer to the dumpsters. Images of him with his origami crown, and then the crown of flowers flickered across her thoughts. Fond memories, she realize with a slight surprise. Was it possible she was actually slightly happy?

It might seem odd if she followed him completely, so she released her grip on the cats mind, allowing it's natural instincts to creep up. Almost immediately the feral cat noted a mouse nearby and it went after it, and thankfully that lead her towards teh dumpster near Fin. When the cat realized there was no way she was pawing the mouse out from beneath it she arched her back and then gracefully lept atop the garbage.

Her cat seemed to care not of the Controllers, being feral and predatory it wasn't fearful of much. Arrogance. Deep inside however she was scared beyond all belief, though feeling slightly better since Fin was nearby. <<We're going to stink after this...>> she replied from within one of the dumpsters.

Bryan:
Bryan watched the two cats make their way across the parking lot. He had always loved cats. Definitely his preferred pet. He wasn't a dog person at all. Maybe if they were still here later...

The house that he had taken from Tom was very...dismal. It still smelled and it held a lot of bad memories. A pet would lighten the mood maybe.

Bryan didn't want to admit that he was lonely but he was. He had grown up with a large family always around him, always supporting him. And he was one half of a twin pair so getting time to himself had always been more of a problem for him than being too lonely.

He slumped his shoulders a bit. I miss my family.

But he stood up straighter as the bell rang calling them back into the One Wall Center and breaking him out of his mood. He would see his family again one day, when he had earned the right too. If he served well on earth he would be rewarded. But sometimes it seemed like it would take so long.

He turned and went back inside giving the cats one last glance.

Fin:
<<King? Oh no, we cats don't have kings. That would be admitting that there was someone more important than myself. Every cat is an island, law unto himself...or herself,>> he said with a nod in Aida's direction. A very un-catlike gesture but he felt safe making it since some sort of bell had called the controllers away.

He had heard the laugh in her thought speak voice as she responded to him. He loved when she laughed. Even more he loved being the cause of that laugh. Could Matthias do that.

<<And here we are, the dumpster. You know I don't think even a cat can jump in a dumpster and stay clean.>> But he looked into the large metal can and saw that most of the garbage was technological in nature. The stink must be from past loads. <<Not too bad actually. Ok, so I guess,>> he stopped because he realized that Aida wouldn't know what to look for down there among all that junk. <<Well, maybe you stand guard while I look through it and then when I find something I'll pass it up to you and you can drop it on the ground like this,>> he jumped down into the dumpster because he had seen a part that they might need. It was small enough that he could pick it up in his mouth and he pushed up until he was standing on his hind feet, his forefeet against the dumpster wall, holding the piece up to Aida who was still on the rim. <<See, easy.>>

Aida:
Aida giggled in thought speak at his long speech about Kings. It seemed they were safe now--or as safe as they could get--since he gestured with his head and a set of bells sent the controllers off. This settled her down immensely, and she almost didn't mind how badly the dumpster smelt to her sensitive cat nose. Apparently feral cats didn't like garbage anymore than humans, it seemed more interesting in going after something live, something it could kill. Aida inwardly squirmed at this feeling.

The idea of standing guard pleased her much more and she gracefully hopped up onto the ledge, her tail hanging into the dumpster still, twitching slightly as her yellow eyes scanned the area. <<Aye Aye captain>> she replied, and then began licking at her fur tentatively, no need in staying dirty if she was going to stand guard. Her cat mind was quickly taking over in that respect, though she kept a firm hold on her human side. Then Fin mentioned something so she turned and watched him pass the part up to her, which she quickly grasped between her teeth and dropped down onto the ground. <<Easy as pie>> she replied. Her speech around him was less awkward and reserved, now it was far more comfortable.

They continued on like this for an hour and 30 minutes, the two hour limit was quickly approaching. <<Fin we should probably head off and demorph and then return...the limit is coming up fast....>> she replied, her tail twitching nervously now. Aida hated getting anywhere near their mark, the idea of being an animal forever was scary.

Fin:
<<Yeah yeah, ok,>> he responded preoccupied. He already had most of what he would need back at the Lodge to make a decent computer but some of the smaller components needed to be replaced and they had gotten all but one of them on this trip. Just one more.

He began digging into the garbage looking for that last piece of the puzzle. <<We'll leave in a second ok.>> He pushed a piece of bundled up trash away with his nose and thought he spotted what he was looking for. He pushed aside more trash with his paws, better at it after working for an hour or so, and finally grasped the one he wanted in his teeth. <<Success.>>

He was buried in trash, but success.

Bryan:
Bryan waved his hand over the pad by the door and it logged him out of the system. He walked back out into the parking lot, looking around for the car he had acquired from the Sub-Visser for his sins. He spotted the vehicle, preffering it to the mass transit system the yeerks had even though the tubes were faster, and was about to head straight to it when he spotted the cat he had seen earlier.

He stopped and looked at it oddly. Then he decided he would take it home. The house was still a little...creepy, after the night when he had killed the YPM. He had cleaned but some stains just didn't come out no matter how much you cleaned. A pet would be nice, maybe it would lighten the mood.

And, even though Bryan didn't often like to admit it, he was lonely. He had always been surrounded by his family and now he was more alone than he had ever been in his life. In a moment of self pity he walked over to the cat on the dumpster rim and picked it up. "Poor thing, probably hungry, looking through dumpsters." And not very useful dumpsters either, the cat wouldn't find any food in there. "I have food and a home if you want it."

Now I'm talking to cats as if they are people. I think I'm going a little crazy.

Aida:
Aida's cat let out a soft meow at his news, turning to balance gracefully along the rim of the dumpster. She watched him drop the final piece in his mouth. <<Success indeed>> she agreed, her tail twitching back and for happily. Things hadn't gone wrong, this was good. Matthias wouldn't be unhappy and Fin would be able to make his computer now. <<Now lets see how long it takes to get garbage smell off us>>

Bryan's presence registered in her mind, but she never expected him to come and pick her up. They had less than 30 minutes to demorph, and this was very very bad. Aida squirmed in his arms, obviously not pleased by the contact as stray cats tend to be--or cats that are really Animorphs. <<FIN>> was all she said, panic laden in her voice. Her claws came out and she attempted to scratch him, hissing and all. Aida was a feral cat, not the kindest when upset. Unfortunately the way he was gripping her made it nearly impossibly to turn around and scratch him, so instead she squirmed like crazy in his grasp.

Everything that had happened to her in the past, the torture, feeling a slimy slug climb into her head...it was going to happen. Only this time you have valuable information..... her gut twisted up inside. She HAD to get away, she had to. Or stay a cat forever....don't let them have the chance to invade your head....

Bryan:
Bryan was surprised at the cat's reaction. Most strays were happy to be picked up. He thought about just dropping the animal but he didn't see the other cat and now that the idea of a pet was in his mind it wouldn't go away. So he just gripped the cat firmer, holding it behind its neck and around its body so that he wouldn't get scratched.

He got scratched anyway but he made it to his car with limited damage and threw the fighting animal in the back seat. "Hopefully you'll calm down when we get home. I'm really not that bad of a guy."

Fin:
Fin's head shot up when the shadow of the controller fell over the dumpster and Aida was plucked from its side. Bad, bad, bad. Fin crouched down, pushing himself deeper into the trash so that he wouldn't be seen and watched what happened with wide eyes, the fur on the back of his neck brushing the garbage above his head.

<<FIN,>> Fin heard Aida cry but he couldn't respond. He couldn't even move. Don't move, don't move. He'll see you. He'll take you too. He pushed himself further into hiding and closed his eyes as he heard the controller carry Aida to his car and then drive away.

Only when he was sure that the car was gone did he open his eyes and climb out of the dumpster. He dropped down to the ground and dropped the now useless piece of technology in the pile with the others.

He wanted to cry but his cat couldn't. She wouldn't have even been out here if it wasn't for him. And she had warned him about the controllers and he had ignored her, even told her to stay longer. If they had just left earlier, never came...

He curled up into a ball next to the dumpster and mewed pitifully. How was he supposed to explain this to Matthias. "Sorry Matthias, Aida got captured. What did you say? Did I try to stop them? No, of course not. I might have gotten hurt if I did and everyone knows that my own safety is the most important."

He had never seen the problem with cowardice until today.

Aida:
Aida never relented in her squirming and clawing, there was no way she was being taken without a fight. She couldn't let this happen, there was only 30 minutes left...and now a Controller had her? This had to be part of her bad luck, perhaps the day Fin and Ray had saved her was for naught, only prolonging the inevitable. There was no way she could demorph in front of them, if she did that all the others were doomed, but the prospect of being a cat forever scared her immensely, so much that if she were a human she probably would have emptied the contents of her stomach by now.

Fin never replied, in fact she never even saw him lift his head from the dumpster. Had something happened to him? She would have never thought him too afraid to try and help, it didn't seem...plausible. He had saved her, and then she went and saved him....maybe the third time wasn't the charm. Either way she was only becoming more and more scared, and as that happened the cat instincts began taking control--it did not want to be in the back of the car.

Aida's cat snarled and screeched at the top of its lungs, hissing as she attempted to escape. Soon however the car was in motion and she realized how doomed she really was. I'm going to be a cat forever..... she wanted to cry, too bad cats didn't do such things. Why hadn't Fin helped? Where was he? What would Matthias think?

Bryan:
It took Bryan only ten minutes to make it back to the house by car. When he'd been riding the tubes it only took 3 but this way he wasn't crowded by the other controllers. Besides, he was always worried about them finding out he didn't have a yeerk in his head.

He pulled into the driveway and reached into the back and grabbed the cat after much struggling. "Come on, what's your problem? I'm just trying to be nice. Trust me, better that I pick you up than some controller demon right. Or would you rather be lunch for one of those giant worms?" He would have worried about his sanity but he had given up on not talking to himself a while ago, talking to cats wasn't all that different. And if he couldn't talk to them the only person left to talk to was Tisoc and she was rather boring these days, always screaming and raving, half starved for Kadrona rays.

It was a downright annoyance to have her in his head the times when he felt it prudent that she be there. She always tried to wrest control of his body from him even though, in her weakened state, she had no chance.

He opened the door to the house with difficulty, trying to hold the struggling cat and unlock the door at the same time, and finally got inside. He dropped the cat in the living room as soon as he was done and shut the door firmly behind him. Then he turned back to look at it and the room.

There were still blood stains on the walls and in the carpet. No amount of cleaning had been able to remove them. If he really wanted them gone he would have to paint the walls and rip up the carpet and replace it but he didn't have time for that. Besides, it was good to be reminded of their deaths. Just because their deaths had been just did not mean he should relish them.

Love the warrior hate the war as the saying went. He loved his cause but he should never grow too fond of killing.

He walked to the kitchen, passing the portable kadrona pool on his way. He could see the slimy form of Tisoc swimming aimlessly and listlessly in the sludgy liquid. No matter how much she swam she wouldn't gain anything, the mini kadrona generator in the portable pool was turned off and he only turned it on for an hour every 4 or so days.

He got some cold cuts from his fridge and some water and two bowls and brought them back outside. He put the cold cuts in one dish and the water in the other and set down both in front of the cat. "Come now, can't we be friends?"

Fin:
Fin hovered in the air outside the house that Aida had disappeared into. His bat form was at home in the twilight that was approaching even if it didn't like the cold.

He flapped his wings and flew in circles. What should he do, what, what. His mind was following his body.

He had dragged himself out of his depression long enough to demorph and remorph in the dumpster and fly after the car. He could be upset all he wanted...later. And Aida could hate him forever after this as long as she was alive and free to do so. He had to find her, had to help her and he held onto that thought as he flew into what he knew was danger.

He didn't know why he was so afraid. He had been in yeerk territory before but somehow sneaking around was very different from charging in. When he did his spying he was in control, he chose where he went and what dangers he faced. If it was too dangerous he could just bail. And best of all, he was alone. He wasn't responsible for anyone but himself.

This was so different. He hadn't known that he could be this scared. And he wished he could say that all his fear was for Aida but that would have been a lie. There was a healthy dose of fear in there for himself as well. Damn Matthias for getting him into this. It was all his fault. All he'd wanted to do was go home, trek home and then Matthias had KIDNAPPED him and forced him to join this stupid group. And then Aida, and Matthias, and he'd been trying to show off and now they were here and she was there and he had no idea what to do!

If he had been human he would have been pulling hair out. Instead he was a bat flying in ever decreasing circles. But time was running out. Time, they had no time. <<Aida! Can you hear me? If you can demorph. Just demorph, don't get stuck a cat. He's one controller, we'll find a way to get you out, take him out or something. I'll find a way to, to, to fix it. Just demorph ok. I'm outside, I'm here.>>

Aida:
Aida's human side was slowly breaking down as the reality of the situation completely sunk in. It was then that she felt the familiar feeling of her organs shifting, though outwardly she had not changed from her cat form yet. Aida quickly tried to calm herself, gaining slight control over herself as she realized the car had stopped. Now she was being carried inside--still squirming--and then dropped into a house. Almost immediately she noted the blood, and her stomach twisted up again in an unpleasant way.

Not only was this man a Controller--or at least she thought until she noted the slug squirming in a portable kandrona ray pool. Aida's mind froze again as she grasped at this, completely and utterly confused. What the hell was this guy doing? Who had he killed? What was going on? Then yet another interruption, her cat brain suddenly decided to spark to attention as it registered food before her and immediately began eating. Aida's human mind was in no place to fight back, it was weak, scared, and felt utterly lost.

The cat instincts had completely taken over now, and she felt her human self slip away, at least until Fin's voice rang out in her head. Aida fought to regain herself, <<Fin?>> even her thought speak voice sounded weak and terrified. He wanted her to demorph....and there was 10 minutes left--the clock in her head still ticking down as her fate approached. <<He...he doesn't have the yeerk in his head....and theres blood everywhere.....what if he...>>but her thoughts were cut off, she had subconsciously began demorphing. Fin had done so much for her, there was little she wouldn't do for him, and he had told her to demorph. Soon she was a full blown human sitting next to the bowls of food.

This was bad, very bad, Aida physically stood no chance against the man before her. She glanced up at him and scrambled away, getting to her feet. Her first instinct was to run away and try to get his door open, she had to get out.

Bryan:
Bryan was glad to see the cat finally acting like a cat as it began to eat. He crouched down and started to pet it, a small smile on his face. Suddenly he felt like he wanted to cry and he fell back and sat in the corner, his back against the door to the house.

How had he gotten here? How had he gotten to the point where this stray cat was his only friend?

His breath hitched in his throat as he tried to calm himself down. But why? Who is here to see me cry besides you?

He was about to let himself break down when the cat started changing. It was one of the grossest things he'd ever seen in his life and he jumped up and backed against the door. What was going on?

But as the form of a human emerged he realized who it was. Or at least what it was. He was high enough in the yeerk circles to know about the animorphs. But they were supposed to be all dead.

"You-" he pulled out a dracon beam and held it on her, not sure of what to do. It would be very bad for the Sub-Visser to discover that there were animorphs here. Not that he cared about that demon woman's safety. But she was his protector in yeerk circles and she would be his instrument to taking down the yeerk eventually.

So maybe he should just get rid of this one. But was that right? What had she done that deserved death? And didn't the animorphs fight the yeerks too? But then again, the way they did was abhorrent. Turning into animals. If God had meant for men to be beasts he would not have made them in his image.

He fired the dracon beam. But only on a low setting. The thing, the girl, would be knocked out but not seriously hurt.

He left her on the floor and went looking for something to tie her up with.

Fin:
Fin watched the whole thing through the window. His bat was clinging to the wooden window frame and he had peeked his head over the side in time to see Aida demorphing. There were no words to how glad he was that she was alive and not stuck a cat forever.

<<Not a controller. Maybe he's a friend, maybe we can->> his thought speak cut off abruptly as he saw Aida fall to the floor, hit by a dracon beam in the stranger's hand. <<Aida! Aida! Answer me.>> But she was down. He had no idea if she was dead or not and he just clung to the window frame looking for some sign that she wasn't.

He got it when the controller started duct taping her to a chair. No one would bother duct taping a corpse.

Ok, he'd spent enough time just doing nothing. He had to find a way into the house.

He dropped from his perch on the window sill and began flapping up until he landed on the roof. He crawled around looking for some type of hole that would let him into the building. There had to be something here.

Aida:
Aida's mind hardly registered the dracon beam, but once it did she froze in place, her body going rigid. Memories flashed through her eyes, the long period of her life where she'd been tortured, the various devices used on her. Dracon Beams did not bring back pleasant memories for her, and it was safe to say this was no where near the first time she had been on the wrong end of one. Aida stared at him hopelessly, fighting to stay upright as her knees buckled and threatened to give out beneath her.

He seemed shocked and confused, and for a moment he hesitated...would he not shoot her? Aida normally would have launched herself at this point but her psyche had taken a beating already, and she was in no condition to do so. It was like she was back in her past, being tortured again already...the memories refused to relinquish their hold on her mind. When Bryan knocked her out it was more of a blessing than he could have thought. Her body was completely limp as she was duct taped to the chair, and so Fin's thoughtspeak went unheard.

Fortunately due to her bodies extensive experience with pain, it took more than that to keep her knocked out. Aida began rousing again, moaning softly as she attempted to lift her head--which felt like it weight 200 pounds. For a moment she forgot where she was, what was happening, but the sight of Bryan quickly changed that, and she instantly began squirming in her binds. Then it hit her, she was an animorph, what the hell was she doing staying still? Aida began to attempt a morph, it would take several minutes and he just might hit her or something to stop it, but she had to try, right?

Bryan:
Bryan watched the change begin. It was grotesque to say the least. These, these people did this by choice?

He couldn't make out what the person was becoming in the shifty mass of flesh but he knew whatever it was was going to be smaller than the bonds he'd put on her. He didn't want to knock her out and have her stuck as a half morphed thing but he didn't want her to get away either. At least not until he'd figured out what exactly he was going to do with her.

He grabbed a towel and ran into the bathroom. He quickly wet it and ran back into the living room. He had almost been too late, but no, she was still in mid morph. He wrapped the wet towel around her head or anything that would become the head of the animal she was becoming. The towel would effectively cut off her air supply.

"Stop morphing, reverse it. Whatever you are becoming is probably smaller than this towel. Either you live as a human or you suffocate as a beast. Choose."

Aida:
Aida was attempting her cat morph again, she was almost completed by the time she felt a cold, damp thing cover her face. Suddenly the air was getting harder to attain, and she felt herself writhing beneath it, that was when she heard his voice. Her stomach--if you could call the half-shifted mass that--twisted up with fear. There was no choice, she could not die, she had been so reserved to death for half her life, the knowledge of cancer, and now to do so again? No, Aida could not, and she revered the morph.

Soon she was her human self again, a wet towel still around her face, effectively keeping her from breathing. Even the ductape still fit nicely around her, keeping her bound as well as now basically gagged. Aida once again began squirming from beneath the towel, her lungs now burning for air as she ineffectively began gasping. That was her fault, she had allowed herself to panic, and in essence speed up her heart rate and thus her need for oxygen intake. All she mumbled was something that sounded like a, "Please".

So morphing was out, she couldn't do it fast enough, not like Matthias, and that left her with nothing. As long as Bryan was around she was stuck, but she knew one thing, if he came at her with that slug swimming around she would morph again. Aida was afraid of death, more so now that she'd come so close before, but she couldn't allow herself to know the others were put into jeopardy because of her. That wasn't a comfort though because he could simply knock her out. This was bad, beyond that even.

Bryan:
Bryan took the towel off but held onto it. He looked down at the girl that was now a girl again and tried to think of what he should do. Could he just let her go? Would she hurt him if he tried? Probably not, or at least not too bad. If she could have hurt him she probably would have by now.

"Then again maybe I haven't given you the opportunity. You seem to take time to morph." He wasn't really speaking to Aida, he was more speaking out loud but now he turned to her. "Who are you? What are you?" Those were the questions he really wanted to know.

And, well, maybe, if this was a free human, maybe he wasn't alone anymore. Ok, so they did something despicable but at least they didn't have slugs wrapped around their brains.

Bryan wondered if this was the girl that Sub-Visser 52 was looking for. Or was she someone different? "Please," he said quietly, "Talk to me." I just need someone to talk to me.

Aida:
Aida did not look Bryan in the eyes once the towel was removed, instead she merely gasped for air, quickly replenishing her lungs with rich oxygen. He was quiet, at least for the moment and she could only assume he was trying to figure out what to do with her. Why he held her captive, and why he was walking around with other Controllers while he was obviously not one all evaded her. Better yet, why was there blood stains throughout the house?

Suddenly a voice shook her from her thoughts, and Aida glanced up at him nervously, her face the epitome of fear. His words made little sense to her, at least until he began questioning her. A small lump formed in the base of her throat and she swallowed hard, shaking her head slowly. Could she tell him who she was, he already knew she could morph and thus was an Animorph by default, but should she tell him her name? A conflicted expression flickered across her face for a moment as she sat in silence.

His plea is what got to her, and she worked up the courage to answer, "I'm Aida...an...Animorph," she replied, her voice very quiet. "Please...why won't you let me go?" she asked, dropping her gaze again. She squirmed lightly in her binds, clearly uncomfortable with not being able to move of her own free will. "You're not a Controller..." she added suddenly, her eyes had fallen on a blood stained section of the carpet, and slowly the moved up his body, holding his gaze. "Do you move amongst them for survival?" As long as he didn't physically threaten her she gained more of her courage back, at least partially, enough to get some questions out.

Fin:
Fin landed on the roof and demorphed after looking around to see if there was anyone to see him do it. He didn't see anyone but he demorphed near the chimney all the same. One, the chimney might keep him hidden, and two, he didn't want to roll off the roof mid morph.

Once he was human he crawled carefully to the edge of the roof and leaned his head over to that he was looking at the window he'd spotted as a bat. The window looked big enough to let him in if he could just get it open. "Bug, I really need a bug morph sometime soon. It would make sneaking in so much easier."

The window was the normal double pane design with the higher pane on the outside and the lower on the inside. There were no hand holds on this side but normally, if he had been on the ground, that wouldn't have been a problem. With such windows all you needed was a crack to work with and you could lever the things open. But Fin was in no position to lever it open, hanging upside down from the edge of the roof as he was.

But he needed to find a way in so he'd figure out something.

Bryan:
Bryan hid his smile from the girl. Finally, a real human connection (well almost) the first he'd had in months.

"I'm Bryan." His voice came out a little shaky. He could almost cry he was so happy. "No I don't move among them for survival. I will die when God wills it. Until then my purpose is to send as many of them back to Hell as I can. I think that is what I'm supposed to do anyway."

He looked down at the bloodstains on the floor that Aida had noticed. "These ones, they were the worst kind. Humans that were working with the demons in their heads. Willing slaves to evil. I killed them." He said it like someone might report the weather or last week's news. In fact he spoke like most people spoke about massacres and deaths and other horrible things that happened to other people. He spoke like it hadn't touched him. And it hadn't.

He looked up at Aida. "Animorph? I know what that is. But why do you do it? Why do you..." he looked for the right word, "why do you lower yourself to this bestiality?"

Aida:
Aida wanted Fin, she wanted to be free, she wanted to run like hell, but most of all she just didn't want to be here. Her warm brown eyes were screaming out, but her face was composed and calm. This guy's elevator did not reach the top floor, there was something slightly off kilter about him, Aida didn't like it. Inwardly she was squirming, unable to tear her eyes from the blood stained floor as he spoke. When he mentioned his name however she forced her gaze upwards.

Her jaw tightened at his words and she had to suppress a mangled gasp that got caught in her throat. His words were cold, and emotionless, was he even human? Aida felt her stomach drop as he mentioned Controllers, sure she fought against them...but at one point she had been one too. It was not too long ago that she was caught and forced to endure slavery by Yeerk, and it had been her disease that had gotten her free. Back then freedom wasn't worth much if she was going to die, though they decided to experiment on her till then. If this man knew what she had been...would he kill her too?

At his question her eyes widened slightly, and her lips pressed together until they turned white. Aida could barely bring herself to answer him, but finally she did and her voice was soft and shaky. "They saved me." That was all that really needed to be said, she couldn't give away too much. "What are you going to do to me?" she added, holding his gaze now.

Bryan:
Bryan saw that he had crossed some line. He wasn't sure what it was. He wasn't sure of much these days. He had once been so certain of himself. He had known what his purpose in this world was, what he was meant to do, and that it was good. But slowly that certainty had been stripped from him, bit by bit. He knew that he should have faith in God, trust that he was on the right path.

But it was so hard to believe that when those soft dark eyes looked at him with fear.

"I don't know. Would it be wrong to say that I want to keep you here?" He smiled sadly. She was a God-less wretch, that much was obvious by the acts she chose to participate in. But even the lowliest human was a human. The only human contact he had.

He stood up and walked over to the mini yeerk pool and watched Tisoc swim her slow, agony laden, laps around the yeerk pool. He knew what she was feeling now because he had let her into his head on occasion when she was half starved, had felt her pain.

It was sad, but she was his only friend. Or at least she understood him the most. And she hated him for what she knew.

He turned away from the pool not willing to admit that he might be being made to feel shame by a slug who had no honor. "What do you want?"

Fin:
Fin had decided on the subtle approach. At first he had been going to use his cat morph but he had decided that if he fell he really wanted to have wings so he remorphed the bat instead.

Then he went searching around for a hole to crawl into. There had to be one. Rats and squirrels always found their way into attics like these.

Finally, after a bit of flying around, Fin spotted a whole near the chimney and dove for it...but missed. His wingtip hit the side of the brick chimney, sending him careening down the dark shoot scrabbling at the stone walls with little claws, trying to stop his fall.

Aida:
Aida's mind was falling apart as salvation did not come, was Fin even around? Her hope was fading as realization sunk in....no one was coming to help, no one knew she was here but Fin and he had..well he hadn't helped. Aida fought back hysterics, her body trembling lightly in the bindings. Bryan's words about keeping her there did not help matters, and her lower lip quivered lightly in response. She wanted to scream, wanted to call him a murderer and yell that those people did not choose to be Controllers, it wasn't their fault.

As he moved towards the Yeerk in the pool she visibly recoiled, nearly causing the chair to tip backwards. Aida did not want that thing in her, though he seemed opposed to slugs...would he really do that? The hysterics were building and it was getting harder to keep her composure. His question was simple, but it was the one that made her crack, and Aida realized it as the words were escaping her lips, she was a goner. "I don't want to be anywhere near someone that thinks its okay to kill, someone that kills so easily and acts as cold as you. You're a murderer, and you're hiding behind excuses!"

After her brief breakdown Aida was silent, fear laden in her features now. She quickly averted her gaze and pressed her lips together in fear, unable to keep from sobbing now. Oh god...help me. Fin where are you....

Bryan:
The blood drained from Bryan's face and the breath stopped in his chest.

Words. Nothing but words. But words had the power to hurt more than any weapon in the world. How many wars had been fought because of something someone said, how many people killed because of some imagined slight.

"I don't want to be anywhere near someone that thinks its okay to kill, someone that kills so easily and acts as cold as you. You're a murderer, and you're hiding behind excuses!"

...you're a murder...

Bryan's mind flashed back to the look of horror on Tom's face as Bryan had ended his life. A murderer.

He pushed away the ugly word, anger quickly filling the space guilt had left empty.

"You-you-," Bryan searched for words, almost too angry to speak, "you little bitch! Who are you to speak to me. You consort with swine in the worst possible way. You- you probably have fucked alley cats." The last insult was said without as much certainty behind it as he'd like. "You- you aren't better than me! I'm-I serve God! Who do you serve? What do you serve."

He was surprised how much the words hurt him. He felt like crying. He couldn't take it anymore, he just couldn't. She had been the only one, the only one he'd talked to in months and she hated him too, saw a monster instead of a man.

He turned away from her, tears forcing them way out of his eyes and down his cheeks. But he'd be damned if he let her see him cry. "If you want to degrade yourself so then I'll help you!" He couldn't keep his voice from breaking but in a moment it wouldn't matter.

He scooped the slug out of the pool and turned to Aida. "Her name is Tisoc," he said, almost like he was introducing a pet, "I think you two will get along."

Fin:
Fin dropped straight down. It would have felt scarier if it had been pitch black or, since in reality it was pitch black, if his bat had not been adapted to survive the darkness.

His echolocation were the only eyes he needed but they painted a grim picture. He was boxed in all around with no room to even spread his wings fully.

He spread them as much as was possible to slow his fall down but it was a pretty useless gesture. It maybe saved him from breaking all his bones when he hit the fireplace floor. Instead he only broke a couple.

But he had felt pain in this body before and he knew that he wasn't fatally hurt. He could even fly if he had to.

He opened his eyes and looked around the room to see that he had arrived at a tense time as he saw the man who had kidnapped Aida advance on her. He was disturbed to see that the man wasn't even older than himself.

But none of that mattered because he saw what he really wanted to see. <<Aida!>>

Aida:
Aida missed the effect her words had on him, she was far too focused on how she had just fucked up. It wasn't often her emotions got the best of her, sure she sometimes became reclusive and slightly gloomy but never did she have outbursts. The fact that she had was enough to show her that this situation was not one she was likely to escape with her life. Inwardly part of her thought she was going to die, and if she was going to die then she had at least better get her real thoughts out there. Aida did not want to die, but who would help her now? Fin...

There was a first time for everything, and now was the first time she'd been called a bitch, as well as felt degraded by words. Anger welled up in her at his insinuation, "Fucked alley cats? You're the one that took one home, so desperate for a friend, did you ever think that if you weren't so blindly psychotic and acted like a HUMAN BEING you'd have some?" she shouted back. This was a side of herself that never showed itself, it was the desperate and scared side, the side that expected death and falsified courage. "I don't think I'm better than anyone, but at least I can say I'm not a slave to someone. Yes you're a slave to this faith you supposedly have," she took a shaky breath, "I serve myself, I work to help and free people, not viciously kill them."

What am I doing. Shut UP! that's when the threat came, and suddenly she was thrashing about in her binding. "NO!" she screamed, and then the next thing she knew she was flat on her back, the chair having tipped over. Aida still struggled helplessly, "STOP IT!" The idea to morph and evade this had no place in her thoughts now, she was far too hysterical to think logically at this point. Then she--in her panic--noted Fin, and never in her life had she been more happy to see anyone. Her lips mouthed his name, but only a faint cry escaped her lips as Bryan approached.

Bryan:
"Shut up!" That was all he could think to say, could think to want. He just wanted her to shut up. Her words were hitting too close to home and he had to end them, somehow.

He ran the last few steps to Aida, where she had fallen over in the chair and he grabbed her hair. "Call me pathetic, a slave. You'll feel what it is like to be a slave. He placed the slug down close to Aida's ear and held her head steady while Tisoc, starved beyond rational thought, did was was instinctual to her.

Fin:
Fin didn't hear his name but he swore he did as his eyes caught Aida mouthing it. He threw his injured body into the air as Bryan approached Aida. He was surprised how angry he was at hearing what he called her, at seeing him touch her. If he was human he might have seen red. But he was a bat and his vision was only in black and white. As it was he was angry enough to launch himself at Bryan's face and managed to drive him away from Aida.

<<Get away from her!>> He screamed, pumping wings in Bryan's face. Bryan tried to fend him off and finally caught one wing and used it to fling Fin against a wall. Fin hit it hard and was dazed by the impact, falling to the foot of the wall unable to move for a moment.

So he couldn't move when Bryan picked him up and began to squeeze the life out of his small form. As everything began to go dark all he could think of was Human! Human! He didn't realize he had started the morph until Bryan dropped him in disgust, the look on his face showing that he felt like the temple of his body had just been desecrated by contact with Fin's filthy morphing. And Fin would pay for it.

He picked up a heavy book, heavy enough to crush Fin's skull beneath it, and came after the animorph who had quickly reversed his morph and was a bat once more. The morphing had even healed some of his injuries and as Bryan came for him he was able to fly away.

For that brief moment when Bryan had held him Fin had seen his own death at hand. And that all consuming fear had completely wiped out any thoughts of helping Aida. He was no longer thinking very rationally he just knew he had to get out. Out, out.

He flew out the room without a backward glance at Aida and flew up the stairs until he eventually made it to the attack. Bryan hadn't followed but what Fin found was almost worse.

The smell of the attack assaulted his sensitive nose long before he actually reached it but he ignored the smell in favor of escaping. But when he got to the attack he found bodies. Dead bodies, everywhere, rotting.

Fin started screaming and couldn't stop, both human and bat alike joining in. He sought the hole he'd seen from outside and won his way into open sky and fresh air.

He was far away before he even thought again let along tried to think of what to do. That was when he realized that he'd left Aida behind. No. But he didn't allow himself to feel despair yet. He hadn't run, no, he had just gone for reinforcements. Yes, reinforcements. He would find Matthias. Matthias would know what to do.

[Admin]

Aida:
Aida did shut up, she wasn't physically capable of screaming anymore, she couldn't even call out to Fin. He had shown up, and that meant more to her than anything anyone else could have ever done. He tried to help, and she continued writhing in her binds as Bryan approached, and the bat form--Fin-- launched at his face. Bryan was distracted for a moment, and she froze, mentally freaking out as he went after him. That was when she realized the slug was still near her ear, and half way in before she began convulsing again.

Soon she would lose control again, she remembered the feeling, and she knew how to fight it, but she also knew she would lose. Right now she was hysterical, but she still could control her actions, and so she began morphing. Whatever was happening to Fin would be stopped if she could morph--and hopefully confused the Yeerk with her mind and the animals--and attack Bryan. Soon she was her mockingbird morph, not the best for an attack but one that would help the escape. Aida struggled with control as she felt Tsioc inside her head.

<<Please, just let me help him, work with me and I can get you away from that monster>> Aida realized he had to have been cruel to her, this Yeerk had to hate Bryan and she would try to use that. If the Yeerk was weak from starvation it would make keeping control much easier, and Aida began flapping her wings only to find Fin was gone, and instead she veered around Bryan and straight out the nearest window. It was now that she would find out how long she could keep control--if at all. Inwardly she was squirming, hating knowing that her team was let down, that the Yeerk knew where they lived now, that her mind was not private.

Tisoc:
<<who...>>Tisoc felt like she was speaking from a deep well. Her mind was almost gone, tortured away. Everything was pain, the world she had loved so much was gone, taken away.

But slowly it started to come back. She felt pieces of her connecting to an alien mind. Eyes, she could see again. But she couldn't aim the eyes, couldn't do anything but ride along as a passenger.

But the mind she touched was not Bryan's. It did not burn with fanatic vigor or evil certainty. This mind was calm, kind. She couldn't understand anything of what the person, the girl was talking about. It was all too much. She only knew one thing. She was dying, had been dying for a long time now. <<Please, please help me....die...I need to die. Can you help me?>>

Aida:
Aida felt glad as she realized she still had control, this yeerk had been starved, and she was weak. This control was taken by her, and she didn't want to let it go if she could help it. The mockingbird wings continued to beat rapidly, her body moving towards the Lodge, moving back home. This was what she had to do, Tisoc knew it's location, and if Aida could get back and get knocked out, or something...maybe this could be salvaged, maybe no one would end up dead. Maybe I'll live... the one thing she wanted more than anything, life.

<<Aida>> she replied to the voice, still moving home, and gaining air quickly. What she heard next was entirely unexpected, and for a moment Aida did not know how to respond. <<I...I can help...>> she replied, though her voice was clearly hesitant. Aida would rather find a way around this if she could, maybe...no Matthias would not allow it. Was Tisoc just weak, or was she genuine. YPM? This could be found out later, now she had to get help, and she spotted the small structure, home. Aida landed and immediately began demorphing, shouting in thought speak--while she still could--at Fin and Matthias.

<<HELP, I need....to be bound or I don't know....theres a Yeerk in my head, she's weak....I don't know what to do...but I have control right now.....>> Aida didn't know what to do exactly, her mind was still trying to piece itself back together, still frantic. More than anything she wanted to assure everyone's safety, and then she wanted to go sit in a corner and cry.

Fin:
Fin had winged it full speed back to the Lodge but when he got there no one was home. He had no idea where everyone was but he was about to panic. What should he do? He had to go back. Had to find a way to free Aida somehow, something. He turned and walked back outside and was about to go bat again when when he heard Aida's thought speak.

His head spun around and saw a form demorphing on the lawn. He couldn't believe how relieved he was. He ran over to her and was hugging her even before she was done demorphing. "Aida, I'm so sorry, I'm sorry I shouldn't have ran away."

Aida:
Aida was still mentally not completely there, but she had enough sense to know she had to keep herself steady. No one was answering her, and she needed someone, anyone at this point, it was all becoming too much. That was when Fin appeared again, and once again she was more relieved to see him than she ever had before, but she was incapable of smiling right now--mostly because she was still in a half-morph when he was hugging her. Aida's arms instinctively wrapped themselves around him--for support and comfort--as her legs gave out beneath her.

"Not...your fault...don't...tell anyone anything..." she mumbled quickly. "It's in my head..." she faltered for a moment, "Tisoc is in my head...she's not...bad...but she's dying...I don't know what to do." Aida sounded desperate, tired, and still panic stricken. "How can we help her...? She wants to die....but...I can't do that Fin, I can't," her voice faded off again and she fought to keep tears at bay. This was more than any sane human should handle in one day, and Aida felt like she was on an emotional roller coaster.

One idea came to mind, but Matthias...he wouldn't approve of it would he? Probably not...giving the morphing ability to a Yeerk? That would be unheard of. Aida just wanted her mind to herself, she wanted to be free again, she wanted to run away and cry, she wanted this to be done.

Fin:
At the sound of Aida's voice Fin just held her closer. He felt like he never wanted to let her go again. He felt like he had failed her completely. But even that wasn't enough to distract him from giving her whatever comfort he could. He could beat himself up later. She needed him right now.

As she spoke of the yeerk in her head, the dying yeerk in her head Fin's mind raced ahead to the answer that Aida herself had reached. And he knew that Matthias would never approve of it but he didn't care. If it would help this yeerk that Aida seemed to care about then he would do it and take the blame on himself.

"It's ok. We'll help her. We'll help her the same way we helped you. Morphing will save her too."

Aida:
Aida had not been this close to anyone since she had first arrived, and back then it had been because she couldn't walk--though that was the case now too. Her psyche was so incredibly distraught that she physically was not stable, and yet she found enough sense to get out coherent sentences. Physically she responded to Fin's tightened embrace, her own arms locking in place around him as she buried her face in his chest. It would have probably felt odd any other time, but now it wasn't, now it was the last thing on her mind.

She nodded weakly to his response, not bothering to speak again knowing full well that her voice might give out this time. Aida didn't want to think about how she'd been saved because right now she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. The whole team could have been in trouble because she'd been captured--luckily they hadn't--but Aida felt like a failure. In the end she was too weak to become a nothlit, and she risked her fellow team mates because of it.

In her head she began trying to rouse Tisoc, Please...find the strength...I'm going to help you...climb out of my ear. Aida did not know how well this would work, or if the slug was even alive--she hadn't heard much from her since demorphing. Tisoc...you have a chance at life, like I did, her thoughts were so sincere and genuine that even if the slug didn't know her every feeling she would have had to believe it.

Tisoc:
Tisoc had been watching Aida's surface thoughts. After the neat order, the horrible order of Bryan's mind, where everything had been separated into neat little categories, the chaotic nature of Aida's thoughts were refreshing. But they were also turbulent. The human girl was going through something emotional. Feelings of guilt, of fear, of relief and many many other things flew everywhere at once. It was too much for Tisoc to hope to follow in her weakened state so she passed out, or something similar.

She seemed to be floating in a gray haze. Occasionally the red lightning of pain from her starvation would stab through the gray but when it didn't she could just float.

Tisoc...you have a chance at life, like I did

The voice was so far away but one word penetrated. Life. Yes, life would be nice. An image, a simple one, came to Tisoc's mind. It was a memory of this one spring morning when Tisoc had first come to earth as a hork-bajir. She had climbed the tallest tree she could see and watched the sun rise on a new planet for the first time.

Life. Freedom.

<<Freedom.>> She didn't know what she meant by the word. Freedom from what? What did it mean. Death? Maybe.

She began to detatch herself from the girl's mind. She didn't have much strength left but she had enough to know that she would not do this girl the discourtesy of leaving pieces of herself behind when she died. She would get out first.

As dying spasms wracked her small, weak body, Tisoc disengaged and began to crawl out. She let her connection to the eyes go last. She would miss seeing most of all.

She fell into open air and seemed to be falling for a long time before she hit the ground and just lay there. Soon, she would be free soon.

Aida:
Aida was moving slightly, she could feel Tisoc in her mind, could feel the slug move about. Freedom, she replied. Neither seemed to elaborate on what that was, the thing was just getting there. Soon her mind was free though, Aida felt relieved, so relieved that her knee's buckled, and her grip around Fin tightened for a moment before she regained her footing and released him. Unsteadily she knelt down and tenderly picked up Tisoc, cradling her in her hands.

For a moment she felt like her heart was being wrenched from her chest, why did she care so much whether this creature lived of died? Wasn't her kind the very thing she fought against? Yes, but Tisoc wasn't out for herself, she was merely trying to live, she didn't want to control, it wasn't her choice to be born in that body. Aida refused to let her die that way, and she looked up at Fin with new vigor, strength lighting up her eyes--neatly covering up her own pain. "Can you get the cube? She's dying quickly," she whispered.

"Tisoc...hold on..." she added faintly, turning her brown eyes back down at the motionless figure in her hands. Aida doubted her words would be understood, but she had to say them anyway.

Ellimist & Drode:
Unseen but present, two spectators watched the scene unfold. One was merely a puppet, a toy of a greater being than itself. The other was a near-god, but both felt equally helpless to do what they wished to do to intervene, even though both knew where this timeline was headed. This similarity was where their connection ended, however, as one wished to destroy life, and the other to save it.

"Sad, isn't it?" The Ellimist muttered quietly, knowing that the other would not agree, "Such a waste of a valid life."

"They had their chance. My master chooses not to give them another." The Drode replied, regarding Aida with the absolute utmost contempt. "It won't matter soon enough."

"No, I suppose not."

"You're not going to fly to the rescue?" The Drode's tone was exceedingly mocking now, "Mister big, powerful, I-love-all-life. You're going to sit by and watch them die?"

A shrug was the reply, "I cannot do anything else."

"My master let you intervene one time...oh no! You've done something already, haven't you, you old buffoon?! Oh, what did you do? Master will kill me for missing it." With a crackle of energy, the Drode was gone, leaving the Ellimist alone, smiling to himself despite the circumstances. Yes, the Yeerk would die, but Crayak would not keep his perverse pleasure in that for long. The Ellimist had seen to that.

Fin:
Fin watched the slug crawl out of Aida's ear. What she had been saying about the yeerk hadn't been real until that moment, been real until he saw the gray, slimy body pushing its way out of her head. He felt a wave of disgust that he wasn't proud of. Wasn't the yeerk just a victim of all this too? Yes, yes that was how he should think about it.

But still, when the slug hit the ground Fin had a strong desire to crush it and the only thing that stopped him long enough for Aida to pick it up was the fact that he was barefoot and it would have been gross.

"Can you get the cube?"

Aida's voice called him back to the present and he took his eyes off the yeerk and headed into the cabin. He knew where the morphing cube was though he wasn't sure if he was supposed to. In fact, after this, it might be better if it was hidden but today he was glad it wasn't.

He brought the cube back outside and handed it to Aida. "Here. But Aida...what morph should we give her?"

Aida:
Aida in normal circumstances probably would have felt just Fin had, she did not like the Yeerk, in fact she had more than enough reason not to after what they did to her....but Tisoc was different. It hit her how wrong she had been looking at the situation, judging an entire species based off stereotypes when there were peaceful Yeerk out there--the YPM--she just allowed her pain and anger to mask that. Suddenly she felt guiltier as ever as she looked down at the dying form in her hands. This had to be done no matter the circumstances, no matter how much she knew it did not follow protocol.

His question was one that made her lips twitch in the faintest upwards movement--not a smile, but an attempt at one. "She wants to be a Hork-Bajir." The words were short and simple, but she had never sounded more confident about anything in her life. Soon the DNA was in place, the cube was in place and Tisoc was in place. Everything was ready and they were running out of time. Aida pressed the small slug to the cube and then DNA was being poured onto her.....it would all be over soon, or it should be. For some reason she had a sinking feeling that something was going to go wrong...she could feel it with every fiber in her being.

Tisoc:
Tisoc couldn't really comprehend what was going on. She couldn't understand what was being said around her, the voices no more than distant vibrations to her. She was put places and felt some sort of liquid touch her but she didn't know what any of it meant.

Too late, didn't matter.

Tisoc stopped trying to understand her surroundings. She just withdrew into herself and thought of happier times. She thought of Nawin and the first time she had ever entered the Hork-Bajir body. The power, the grace. It was exhilerating. And Nawin, the closest thing that Tisoc had to family. And I let her down. I didn't save you. I'm sorry, I tried. Tisoc wondered if there was some sort of after life. If there was she wanted to meet Nawin there one day, some time.

Her body began to change, began to grow. It was like being born, that was the only way to describe it. Slowly she grew, slowly she came to be in the world in a way she had never been. Sleek muscle and strong bone grew where none had ever been. The nubs of blades began to appear on the suggestions of arms, legs, tail, head.

Tisoc slowly became herself, that's what it felt like. She appeared where almost nothing of her had existed before, growing in a fetal position but unfurling as she got bigger.

Finally she stood up to her full 7ft height and the last thing she did was open fierce golden eyes. She looked at the sky, at Fin, and lastly at Aida, realizing the gift she had just been given, the new lease on life that was her's.

"Thank you."

Drode:
"Is there an afterlife?" The question that Tisoc was internally asking herself was repeated by the Drode mockingly as he stood watching the scene, invisible to all but the Hork-Bajir now. "So ironic that you would wonder that, when you're about to find out." The Drode's gaze turned skyward, and the heavens darkened with a deathly red hue as Crayak himself appeared, seemingly no longer content to let the Drode do his dirty work for him.

At the arrival of Crayak, his puppet's spell was broken and all present were able to sense the presence of the near-all-powerful being among them. His first words were to Aida and Aida alone, "YOU BROKE THE RULES. WATCH THE CONSEQUENCES." Crayak was not going to be sated with the deed he was about to perform, no, he was going to shatter Aida from within if he could. Any blow that could be struck against the Ellimist's hopefuls was a good one.

Slowly, Tisoc began to shrink, forced back into her Yeerk state by Crayak's influence. With the others powerless to move, Crayak drew the process out over several long minutes, with the silence broken only by an occasional insane cackle from the Drode as he watched gleefully, dancing around the others, even pausing to tweak Aida's nose and remark, "Oh it is such a pity that you won't really remember this afterward." The Ellimist had put that stipend on Crayak. He could not actively partake in the war. He could carry out the enforcing of his rules, yes, but what he wished to do to Aida and Fin was unacceptable. This would be a repressed memory, a mere addition to the chaos that was their war.

When Tisoc was a Yeerk once more, helpless and blind, the Drode delivered the final blow, adding a giant metal boot to its foot for comic effect and then simply squishing the slug out of existence. With one final giggle, he was gone, as was his master. There was no trace of Tisoc.

Aida:
Tisoc was free, she was a Hork-Bajir, and Aida's lips twitched in the slightest to form a weak smile. She never got the chance to say you're welcome, and as she would soon realize the thanks was for naught. Suddenly she felt something, something that could only be described as powerful and it sent her heart beat racing. The words that sounded in her ears made her entire body tremble, and she let out a strangled cry of shock. Rules? What rules? Consequences? What the hell was going on.

It was probably better that this became a repressed memory, had Aida been able to recall the horrible events she would have been even more scarred--if that was even possible. As it was she was still getting over being captured and forced to basically relive part of what had happened to her during her years of experimentation. Memories she had repressed on her own were unleashed, but somehow she was entirely focused on Tisoc, and it was this that made the events that much worse on Aida.

Helplessness was a feeling she had grown used to, but not one she enjoyed and watching Tisoc turn back to her old form killed her. Aida's face drained of color and her eyes unfocused for a moment, at least until something was touching her nose, and she instantly attempted to struggle but found herself still unable to move. I won't...? she wondered. Then none of it mattered, because at that moment she realized what was meant by consequence, no Tisoc would not just be stuck as a Yeerk, she was to be killed. Tears welled in her eyes as the last shreds of sanity she had broke.

One moment they could not move and the next she found herself on the ground, her body too emotional to react properly. Tisoc was gone, the memory was gone, but the emotions from moments earlier still remained and Aida felt like crying but for the life of her she knew not why--in fact she was crying, she realized as a shaky hand moved to her face. "Wha...wheres Tisoc...what happened?" Aida still...felt something, felt like something powerful had just been here, and that something horrible had happened. The feeling wouldn't go away.

Fin:
Fin fell to his knees, his eyes screwed shut at the feeling of Crayak descending on them. It was like the worst nightmare he had ever had. And what made it worse was that he would not, could not wake up. He didn't realize how much he relied on that deep certainty that if things went truly wrong he could always wake himself up until it was gone.

He watched Tisoc shrink before his eyes and he felt nothing. The yeerk had never mattered to him, only that Aida had wanted to help it. If it went back to being a yeerk well it was for the best by Fin's reckoning. Watching their enemy turn into a seven foot Edward Scissor hands had not been a comfort for Fin in the least.

But as the Drode crushed the slug beneath a comically exaggerated boot Fin felt a flash of anger. It was as much directed as the boot as it was at the action it had performed. To treat a life, even a yeerk's life, with such irreverence as to make a tacky joke out of it was worse than horrible, it was wrong.

Fin had never really had a concept of right and wrong in his life. As far as he could see the world wasn't about good or bad, it was about power. You took what you could, you held what you could, you tried to be happy and that was it. You weren't owed happiness by anyone, you didn't deserve good things, you earned them by the only trial that mattered, the one of fire. Those that failed had just not been as good at the game of life as you and weren't worth crying over.

But as the yeerk disappeared beneath the boot and disappeared from the world Fin felt that it was wrong. And the feeling did not go away even when the presence did.

When Crayak disappeared Fin felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut. His muscles loosed all at once and he fell forward on his hands and knees gasping for air even though there was plenty to be had.

"Wha...where's Tisoc...what happened?" Fin didn't take in her words right away, he just looked up at her. She, if possible, looked more frightened than he was. Wait, no that wasn't possible. Then she looked just as frightened as he was and just as dismayed, but she looked more confused.

"What do you mean where is Tisoc? She's, she just...died....I think." Even as he said the words his certainty in them were fading as the facts that were behind them slipped away like a dream in the light of the dawn. "I..." he stopped, confused. Tisoc had died. A thing, a horrible thing had come and there had been a voice and rules broken and a boot. He remembered it. He knew he did.

But there was a second set of memories just as strong, just as real as the first and they said nothing had happened. That he had been standing here with Aida and Tisoc and then...and then what? The second set of memories had no answers for him. But yet they insisted on their reality with a force that was likely to rip his mind in half.

"I..." he began again weakly. He sat back on his legs and gripped his head. "I don't know, I don't understand." The admission was a rare one for him and if there was any indication of the deep confusion he was feeling it was that he hadn't filtered the words out before they had reached his mouth.

Tisoc:
Tisoc felt herself shrinking back to slug form but suddenly she wasn't there. She looked down and saw the slug body beneath her and saw it disappear beneath the boot as the Drode laughed manically. But it was far away almost hard to see.

See? Yes see. She looked down at herself and wished she hadn't. She was inside out, or outside in, or all of the above or, or. And she wasn't a yeerk, but she wasn't a hork-bajir either. She was some odd mixing of both that didn't make sense. In fact, if she had tried to make sense of what she was seeing but not seeing, of sensing then she was sure she would be driven mad. But for some reason, the part of her mind that she shared with all sentient beings, the part that jumped on every problem and tried to find out not just what by why and how, was silent, was dormant. She couldn't have made her mind question what was happening if she wanted to. But she didn't want to. Because she had a bad feeling she already knew.

"Am I dead?"

"Yes," a quite voice answered. The one word was not said unkindly but it was said with no hint of compromise.

Tisoc turned but such a movement was unnecessary and a quaint hold over from the dimension she had been born in. Now that the presence was here it was everywhere.

"Is that it, is that all I get?"

"I'm afraid so." Now the voice was definetly compassionate...and young, almost young. It was ageless but somehow it still sounded young.

The world came together in a way that made a bit more sense to someone used to three dimensions plus time. A young human woman, short, dark hair and pale skin stood in front of Tisoc. She had a sad smile on her face and kind eyes. Except she wasn't human, of that Tisoc was %100 sure though she couldn't say how she knew.

"Oh, that's ok I guess." Tisoc looked back down at the two young people that had freed her. She could still see them. She could see Bryan too for it had not been long since their lines had diverged. "Why?"

The young woman who was no woman at all smiled that sad smile at her. "A good question," the Ellmist answered.