You Only Live Twice

[gabriel]

"Right, survival," Fin said after nodding to Stevert. He wasn't really worrying about making a good impression. Coming back from the dead tended to impress people anyway. He just wanted to tell his story and find a bed to crawl into for a week, maybe a week and a half. If he was lucky they might even have teddy bears. Maybe he could convince Drake to get him one.

Fin thought back over the last few days and realized he'd have to employ some creative editing. There was a lot of the story that should probably never leave Fin's head.

"So I was captured," he started there. "And they were going to turn me into a controller. In fact, they did turn me into a controller. But they didn't get what they bargained for. Here I am thinking, 'Oh shit, I'm done for,' and then there I am saying, 'Fin, let's get the hell out of Dodge.' That's an exact quote by the way. Crazy thing was I hadn't said it. Now, at this point I'm freaking out and the yeerk just calmly rips through my memories, finds my flying morph and flies the hell out of there and immediately starts heading for the Temple. Not really a surprise right, but why were they going alone? Next thing I hear Suji's voice in my head. Thoughtspeak. Turns out she's the yeerk who had invested me. How did she get there you may ask? Well she's Suji, she does shit like that. You'll have to ask her about that one because I don't know."

That was lie number one and at least the third half truth and he had hardly begun but he didn't feel right about telling the others what Suji had done. If she wanted to tell them herself then that was up to her.

"So we head back to the Temple because Suji wanted to make sure you guys had gotten out ok. There were people running every where and they were shooting planes out of the sky. Things had gotten pretty bad by that point and I wasn't even sure what exactly had gone wrong. I was pretty cut off while I was in captivity so maybe you guys can fill me in on what happened after I finish. Anyway, as you already know, you weren't there. So we left. Flew over the force field they'd put up and landed in a near by gas station. That's about when they blew up Dallas."

Fin tried to say it lightly but his voice shook a little when he said the name of the city that was now no more. He'd never really forget what it had been like to see that sort of destruction.

"Well we stole a car and drove towards Vegas. Figured we'd make better time that way and Suji thought you guys might come here. We got most of the way here but then we got into a car accident. We had to walk from there and Suji didn't eat or drink anything the whole time. Most of our supplies were smashed in the crash you see. But...I think it was more than that. She didn't want to eat." He stopped. He wasn't sure how much he should tell the others about Suji's mental condition. If it was just Drake he'd probably tell him everything but was it his place to discuss what had been going on in Suji's head?

Troubled that he couldn't figure out the answer and even more troubled that he cared he continued the story, "She got really sick a couple of hours outside of here and there was also a storm coming. We had to take shelter for a day or so. During that time I went down to the nearby town and stole some Tylenol to break her fever but she wouldn't take it at first. She was so out of it, she kept thinking I was a hallucination. I figured she needed help so I left to go steal a car. By the time I'd gotten back she'd some how taken the Tylenol and the fever had broken but she was still pretty out of it. I put her in the car and drove here. We ran out of gas about ten minutes down the rode so I carried her and here we are," Fin finished, easily skipping over the part of the story that would get him in the most trouble.

[Suji]

Heat. Voices. Black. More black. More voices. Suji's body might have been part of the moving, waking world, but her mind wasn't. It wasn't death. Suji had felt death. This was something only slightly warmer, only a bit less dim. And, though she would never admit it in her conscious moments, she felt different.

Loved. Welcomed. She both hated it and wanted it, wanted so badly to make sense of things, to wake. But it was weak. She didn't know if she'd make it out of this tunnel. She wanted to, though. Her body was ready to give up, and in a way so was her mind -- or at least it would be once she had to come to terms with everything up to this point -- but in her heart, she didn't want to let anyone down.

Make it all the way here just to what, slowly fade away under the gaze of people who care for you? Give them hope, just to take it away?

But she was tired. So tired of fighting, pushing, losing, making it out by the skin of your teeth, winning but not really winning anything, killing, killing...

Time, she pleaded. I need more time to decide.

Something, someone, silently, assented.

[Aubrey]

Realizing Fin wasn't part of a dream only raised more questions than it answered. The yeerks had captured him, hadn't they? He should be infested, right? The first thing the yeerks would do is track down the rest of the Animorphs, and him showing up at their doorstep seemed awfully convenient. Yet, it wasn't something Aubrey wanted to accept. She wanted to welcome the reality that this really was Fin, and he was alive and well.

Diving off the roof, Aubrey landed in the shadow of the building to demorph. The owl's feathers sucked back into her body, and she began growing steadily. Golden hair sprouted at the back of her head, falling down to mid-shoulder. Her limbs twisted, talons turning into feet and wings turning into arms. A couple minutes later she was human, shivering in the cold. Even though the desert was scorching hot during the day, the dry air held little heat at night and cooled considerably.

Aubrey edged into view, hanging an obvious distance away from Fin, as if he'd disappear if she got too close. "I think Sophie's still sleeping. I'll get her." Aubrey turned back towards the barracks, moving passed a morphed Stevert as he approached the group. Her steps were hurried as she opened the door, flipping on the lights to search for the black cobra. She found Sophie near her cot, coiled up. There was no way to tell whether or not Sophie was actually sleeping or not--snakes slept with their lidless eyes open. Aubrey cautiously knelt down, not sure if she should touch her to see if she was awake. Instead she opted to lean forward, squinting. "Sophie?"

The answer came with a slight delay. <<Aubrey. What?>> The snake's tongue flicked out, but Sophie continued to sit motionless.

"I... There's--" It wasn't until then that Aubrey realized that she was really excited. Fin is alive. Fin is alive! "Fin's here! He showed up, and now he's talking with Drake and Stevert and he's okay. I wanted to see if you wanted to come and hear what happened. I didn't know if you were sleeping or not." Aubrey spoke quickly, a big smile finding its way onto her lips.

<<I'm not sleeping. And. What?>>

"Come on, I'll show you. They're outside near the infirmary." Without waiting for an OK from Sophie, Aubrey scooped the cobra off the ground. Holding the nothlit with both hands, Aubrey walked back outside, heading towards the group at the infirmary. Calling over she said, "I have Sophie!"

<<Aubrey, could you not-->>

"It turns out him and Suji survived!" The last of Drake's words stopped Sophie mid-sentence. Aubrey herself stopped walking, and blinked. Suji... was alive? How...? What...? Slowly closing the rest of the distance to the group, Aubrey bent slightly, allowing Sophie to slide to the ground. "How could..." The words trailed off on her lips. She'd seen the video. Everybody had seen the video. Suji's throat had been slit, she'd obviously been dead. Dead beyond any hope. Aubrey glanced towards the infirmary door where Drake had indicated, wanting to burst in and see if he was really telling the truth.

Instead, her gaze settled back on Fin as he began explaining what had happened. She listened intently, eyes widening, amazed at what she was hearing. This couldn't be some made-up story by a yeerk, could it? It was too insane. Too crazy. Maybe just as crazy as hearing Suji was alive, nearby, behind the door and just within reach. Fin finished, and Aubrey took in a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. In the next second she bounded forward, giving Fin a giant hug. He felt real, not a dream. Pulling away, warm tears were threatening to fall down her cheeks.

"I'm so glad you guys are okay, you can't believe it. Oh my god, I can't believe this. I..." Aubrey wiped a hand across her cheek, her eyes filling with some pain. It'd be hard to see in the dim light coming from the infirmary, but it was there. "I'm so sorry." He might not want her apology, but guilt had been plaguing her for days. The last images of seeing him left behind, the door closing in his face, had been haunting Aubrey since leaving Dallas.

[stevert]

By then, Stevert had figured out that they had missed something. Okay, these were animorphs. Definitely, since one of them was Suji. But...Drake was right. Suji should've been dead! He had watched her body, slit throat and all on the projector. But for once, he didn't say anything. He sat down on his haunches and listened to the guy, Fin, right?, tell a story.

When it was over, Steve still didn't say anything. He was confused over all that had happened. Mainly, how was Suji alive? <<Unless the holo was faked. Who knows what yeerks can do? Humans manipulate movies all the time. Why couldn't yeerks do so as well? That explains why we haven't heard of an Animorph-controller.>> Robert said.

Robert waited several moments as Aubrey hugged Fin. Then he spoke, <<You must be tired and hungry after your trip. Follow us and we'll get you a bed and a meal.>> On cue, Steve got up and walked across the sand towards the officers' quarters. There was a room in it not being used now and Stevert was going to let Fin have it. <<Aubrey? Drake? Could one of you find something for him to eat?>> he said privately.

As they walked, Steve began demorphing. He stayed silent the entire time, because he knew Fin was tired and because Robert was making him. His questions and Rob's would have to wait until later.

[gabriel]

Fin hugged Aubrey back awkwardly, surprising himself at how much he wanted to hug her. He stepped back, confused as he tried to figure out his feelings. First Suji, then Drake, now Aubrey? He had never been against caring for the people he worked with but he had never wanted to love them, he wasn't even sure if you could love someone other than yourself. He didn't want to seem stereotypical, it wasn't like he didn't believe in love, didn't believe in the idea that some people felt things so deeply it moved them to do things that would normally be considered insane or even just ill-advised. He'd seen it happen often enough that he wasn't going to deny its existence. But he had never found himself feeling that strongly about anything or anyone. Until now really. Would he sacrifice himself for these people? Probably not. Would he go out of his way to protect them? He already had, at least in one case.

And he found that he would probably do it again, do it for any of them. Maybe because he'd know they'd do it for him. That had been the real turning point. Suji had come back for him. She had actually come back when she didn't have to. And now Aubrey was apologizing for not coming back or not staying even though either action would have been insane and probably suicidal. They would risk their lives to protect his own and all they asked for in return was that he do the same. It was a pretty straight trade. No small print, no hidden catches. But could Fin make that deal?

It would probably improve his chances of survival if he thought about it that way. What were the chances that he would be here now, free, if not for Suji? Pretty much zero. But that didn't seem very selfless and wasn't that what caring for other people was supposed to be like? Whatever, maybe this was as close as he'd get. It would have to be enough.

"It's ok Aubrey," Fin said quietly. He smiled at her, trying to lighten the mood, "It all turned out ok right? Well, sort of...not really," he trailed off, thinking about the last time he'd seen Dallas. "Sophie," he said, kneeling down, "I'm so sorry about everything. Like the shop and all." He coughed, uncomfortable and not used to apologizing for anything. When the faction leader began talking to him he took the offered out and stood up.

Stevert started walking towards the barracks and mentioned the magic words, sleep and food. Fin got up, dusted himself off and began to follow him. "That sounds ideal. I guess I'll wait until morning to find out what happened to you guys," he said, looking over his shoulder at his faction mates, "unless you want to fill me in while we eat. I really am starving. Not sure if I'm more tired than I am hungry but I figure I better eat first either way."

[Drake]

Drake was reluctant to go get the food that Robert asked him to get for Fin. Not because he didn't want to help out Fin, but because he was worried about Suji's condition. He wanted to make sure she would be alright. But Luce was with her. And as long as she was, nothing bad would happen to Suji. With one last glance back at Suji's room, Drake took off at a slow jog toward where they kept the food.

As he sifted through their food stores, Drake had a moment to let his thoughts catch up. Even so, he had a hard time getting past the basics. Fin and Suji are alive and free! He had half a mind to hope that Ray, and Lizzie, and Andre were also still alive out there somewhere, but quickly let that thought evaporate. Sadly, he knew that would never happen.

Drake went over to a table and set down his arm full of food. "Here. I found some peanut butter, raisin bagels, and a jar of olives, and a few containers of ramen. That's four of the five food groups, right? We don't have much in the dairy category." Drake took a step back and surveyed his findings. It looked rather pathetic now that he looked at the items he brought. "I'll get you a glass of water too."

[Aubrey]

"Yeah." Aubrey returned his smile, drying her cheeks with the soft palm of her hand. Her tone sobered as she said, "As right as it could be, I s'pose." Dallas had been a loss for everyone, but regaining Fin and Suji felt like a small victory. The days it took getting to Las Vegas had been nothing but silence, nothing but long stretches of hot sand and emptiness. It was easy to be lost in troubled thoughts, easy to think over every bad thing that had happened in Dallas.

Fin knelt down near Sophie, and the black cobra tilted her heads upwards at him. <<Don't worry about it, Fin. I'm sorry too. I probably shouldn't have been pushing you so hard to do it. But I'm just glad to see you back.>> Fin stood, and Sophie uncoiled from her position in the sand.

Aubrey followed the group to the barracks, mindful of the snake underfoot. She wasn't particularly hungry, but there wasn't really any chance of her sleeping tonight. If anything, she felt like celebrating.

Inside, Drake had spread a load of food across the table, nothing of which looked very appetizing. Aubrey slid into a seat, both hands perched against the edge. Since hearing that Suji was okay, Aubrey had wanted to ask, and now seemed a good enough time. "Can we see Suji? Is she okay?"

[gabriel]

"After oreos and yoohoo for the past week this stuff looks amazing. Not to diss on oreos and yoohoo by the way, I'm just saying, too much of a good thing is as bad as a little bit of a bad thing." Fin was making his usual inane conversation in his endless crusade to cheer up the people around him but his voice lacked any energy. He was tired and he couldn't hide it behind jokes and stupid stories.

When Aubrey asked about Suji that brought the silly banter to a halt altogether. Fin pulled over the jar of peanut butter and the bagels and began making a pb&pb sandwich. He was glad when Drake came back with the water though, because the thick peanut butter would have been hard to get down without it. "I don't know," he said trying to answer Aubrey's question. "She wasn't ok when we got here though she was better than a couple of hours ago. That woman took her. I thought she was a doctor or something," Fin said, before biting into his sandwich and chewing through the tough bagel. Even his jaws were tired and he hardly felt like he had enough energy to eat. He chewed very slowly and swallowed so that he wouldn't be talking with his mouth full. "Anyway, what happened to you guys? How did you get here?"

[Drake]

When Drake brought back the water, Fin was talking about someone that he could only assume was Suji. He listened quietly as Fin spoke. Drake tried to glean any bit of information about her from what little Fin said. It seemed she was in as bad of shape as she looked like she was in. At least Luce would be sure to take good care of her.

"The woman was Luce," Drake said, trying to add to the conversation. "But she isn't a doctor. At least not as far as I'm aware." Drake suddenly realized that he still did not know her very well at all. "Still, when Suji was here last time, her and Luce seemed to have some history together, so I'm sure we can count on her to keep Suji safe if nothing else."

"As for how we got here, well, after Andre... passed, we flew over the forcefield same as you. Then after the city blew up, me, Aubrey, and Sophie went and picked up Martha and made the long journey here. Zane and Aida took off and headed east. But I guess we had better luck than you two since we got here sooner."

Drake wasn't sure what all Fin wanted to know, but he guessed he would want to know about what happened before the forcefield too. But Drake wasn't comfortable reliving that experience yet, so he wasn't going to say anything unless Fin asked specifically. Besides, maybe Aubrey or Sophie would fill Fin in on that part before he had too.

[gabriel]

"Yeah, I guess you made better time. I don't know if I mentioned it, but Suji wouldn't morph...like, at all. I mean, look at her. She's laid up in the," Fin motioned in the direction they'd come from with his sandwhich hand while he tried to find the right word. The fact that he couldn't was a good indication of how tired he was. "Doctor place with the flu or something. Well not the flu, dehydration, but she had a pretty bad fever a couple of hours ago. If she had just morphed she would have been fine," Fin said, getting a little angry as he did, though it was the anger of someone who was concerned as opposed to actual anger.

Fin shook his head, trying to understand why she wouldn't morph. Even after spending time in Suji's head he wasn't sure he understood that part. Hell, he certainly hadn't understood Suji enough to help her when she'd been sick. That was why he'd brought her here. To Drake actually, and thinking that made him realize he was keeping Drake here. "Anyway, if the other woman wasn't a doctor or anything, maybe one of you should check up on her. I would but I think I need to sleep sometime fairly soon. Besides, she might think I'm not real or something. Don't be surprised if she doesn't think you're real either," Fin said, remembering what Suji had been like at the worst times. "But at least one of you would be a hallucination she'd be glad to have," Fin said taking a large bite of his sandwich and hoping Drake would volunteer. He hadn't wanted to say that of course because people had the annoying tendency not to do what you told them once you told it to them in plain words but maybe he'd take the chance if Fin offered it.

"In the mean time," Fin said after taking a large gulp of water to help get the peanut butter off the top of his mouth and down his throat, "the other one can tell me what exactly happened after I got caught. Why exactly did they blow up a city for instance. Or why the forcefield? Or all the general death and destruction. I mean, I know the yeerks are the evil dooer type but it seemed excessive even for them. I was honestly trying to count up Plagues. I thought the world had ended...again."

[Aubrey]

Aubrey grabbed one of the raisin bagels from its package with the intention of eating it. However, she ended up picking at it idly as Fin and Drake spoke, listening to them. She wanted to ask why Suji hadn't just morphed whatever it was away, but didn't want to interrupt. It was hard enough to wrap her mind around the fact that Suji was still alive. After seeing that video, that image of her, the gaping wound across her neck, it was hard to believe. Even the thought of it sent uneasy prickles racing across her skin.

With the bagel almost completely torn up in front of her, Aubrey glanced upwards Drake then Fin. "I suppose it's my turn, then." Aubrey wanted to see Suji, but Drake had already sat here and explained about what had happened. Sitting back on the table's bench, Aubrey started, "We pretty much all ran back to the Temple, where we found Zane waiting. He had us all explain what happened, one at a time, until we were all done. Took a couple hours. The Hive had been on lock down by this time." Aubrey paused a moment, locking her fingers together and avoiding Fin's gaze.

"We found out that it went on lock down because some prototype of a virus had gotten out somehow. We didn't realize it until we'd gotten all the way back to the Temple. By that time Andre was coughing like crazy, so we drove off to Sootman to find some sort of--some... sort of antidote or something..." At the mention of Andre, Aubrey choked up, feeling the burning of tears in her eyes. "...Sootman didn't have anything for Andre. But he had some T.V. thing going, and they were reporting on what happened. The virus had spread really far real fast, everyone was being infected." Aubrey closed her eyes, the holo-projector's images floating back from her memories. All the blood, all the destruction.

"They decided it would be less of a loss if the city was... destroyed. At least, that's what I think. The forcefield was pretty much keeping everyone inside, so the bomb would be most effective. All I know is that we barely made it out." She opened her eyes, fixated on the table in front of her. "And then got here somehow, out of some luck."

[Drake]

As soon as Aubrey started telling her story, Drake got up to go check on Suji. He was glad that he didn't have to be the one to tell their story yet again. Also, he was getting anxious to go see Suji. She didn't look too good when he left her, and he wasn't sure of how good a job Luce could do playing nurse. He would find out soon.

As Drake stepped out into the cool night air, he couldn't help but look up at the stars. They were twinkling brightly in the areas of the sky that didn't have too much light pollution. The sight of the stars made Drake realize that somewhere among all that beauty were yeerk ships. The very ships that helped to destroy Dallas. The ships that ruined the lives of so many.

A small flood of anger washed over Drake, but it quickly dissipated. Mostly. "First things first, Drake. Go see Suji." He clenched his fists tight, then headed toward the infirmary.

[gabriel]

Fin slowly sucked at the peanut butter stuck to the inside of his teeth while he thought about what Aubrey had said. He remembered what he'd seen in the streets of Dallas as they'd flown back to the Temple. People had been running through the streets like roaches scattering when the lights were turned on. Except there was no safety to run to and it was something everyone seemed to have known. The frantic running hadn't had a sense of direction or purpose to it. The people of Dallas had been running because nothing else had been left to them. And when they couldn't run anymore they had laid down in the streets and died, blood seeping from the holes in their head like water out of leaky pipes.

A sense of fear and panic had choked the air and the noise of a dying city had seemed to fill your ears and mind, crowding every logical or rational thought out. But the end, when it had come, had been quiet. It had been the silence of the waiting and it had been something that could be felt more than heard. It was akin to the brief silence of your lungs in between the breath they exhale and the one they draw in. The quiet of a room when someone unexpected as entered and, for only a moment, everyone stops talking and turns to see who has come. The feeling of waking up from a nightmare and the silence that is there to greet you in the middle of the night right before the world comes rushing back into your mind like water filling and empty bowl, reminding you where you were and grounding you back in reality.

For Fin the silence had never ended. They had flown out of the city and when the fire had come all the sound and fury of it had been contained behind the forcefield. He had heard the tinkling of the broken glass as the windows of the gas station got blown out, the crunch of a plastic bag as some chips got knocked off of their rack, the protesting grumbles of an old man as his rest was disturbed and he swatted at the offending fire, changing position before going back to sleep. That was what the ground had sounded like to Fin as it tried to absorb the shock of the nuclear bomb, like a very very large and very very very old man.

But despite those sounds Fin realized he still felt like he was holding his breath. He was still waiting for the silence to end and he realized it never would. All of those in Dallas had traded the silence of the waiting for that of the dead, with one brief moment of fire and thunder in between. But he still felt like something terrible was about to happen to. He'd been running for days through the desert, driven by an unconscious desire to escape the impending doom he felt was coming, to get somewhere that felt safe. Except now that he was here the feeling hadn't gone away. There was still something hanging in the air above his head, something right behind his shoulders making the hair on the back of his neck stand up and a nervous chill run up his spine, something just in the corner of his eye that would disappear when he turned to look at it full on.

He had clung to Suji despite the fact that he could have left her behind and the part of him that is in everyone, the part of us that wants to believe we are good people, that we are noble and brave, that part of him had applauded his choices. It had been proud of him for the first time in a long time. But it didn't know the truth. Fin had successfully lied to himself, seemingly not a hard feat since everyone seemed to go around lying to themselves all the time, but to truly hide something from yourself was difficult. But it was coming back to him now. That feeling he'd felt in the hallway as he'd watched Suji turn away, that crushing fear and despair and loss of hope.

He looked up into the dark eyes of Aubrey, dark only because there was little light to see by. He'd knew they'd be a bright, clear blue in the sunlight. Bright, yes, that fit Aubrey very well. She was full of light and joy and happiness and a refreshing disregard of fear or maybe it was an ability to shrug off the troubles of the world around them. But not anymore. Her voice, when she'd apologized and as she'd talked about Dallas had been tight and heavy as if she'd been holding something back. It was the voice of someone who was trying to hide the truth from themselves and not doing as well as Fin. And because Fin had been inside of Suji's head (or maybe the other way around) he recognized where the added weight was coming from. Aubrey's voice was tinged with guilt.

Something had gone wrong in Dallas. To say something had gone wrong in Dallas was like saying that New Orleans had gotten a little wet when Katrina had struck. But for now, to save himself from thinking too deeply about it, Fin was saying something had gone wrong in Dallas and for some reason Aubrey felt like it was her fault. Suji too. And, if he'd had to guess, Drake was probably carrying around a large dose of guilt as well. Everyone but Fin. Fin wasn't carrying around guilt at all and he couldn't have even if he'd wanted to. Sitting there, listening to Aubrey, he realized that he was terrified. It was a feeling so deep and so all consuming that it had escaped his notice simply because it had taken up all the space there was inside of him until there was nothing else to feel and to see but fear and so nothing to contrast it too.

He could not shake the feeling that something terrible was going to happen and he kept jumping slightly, looking over his shoulder or turning his head suddenly to catch the ghost in the corner of his eye. He was still waiting and he'd be waiting forever. There would be no fire to release him, just this endless waiting and the constant fear. He'd saved Suji because she was the only one who had come back for him, the only person in this world who he could hope to put between himself and the fear. The only person he hoped could protect him, could make it right somehow. Selfish after all. There was nothing bright or brave about that, just enlightened, round about self interest.

His gaze resurfaced in his eyes, swimming out of the depths of his own mind and memory to look at Aubrey again. He made a slow sucking sound as he got the rest of the peanut butter off of his teeth and he turned to pick up his cup of warm, slightly tepid water. He stared into it for a moment before turning to look back at Aubrey, a sickly smile forced onto his face with just enough sadness in it to make it appropriate. "To Andre and to Dallas," he said, rising his glass in toast, the motion slightly shaky and whimsical as if he were mocking the tradition of toasting the dead. A part of him was, they were the lucky ones. How did that song go? Only the Lucky Die Young? No, that wasn't right. The Good. Only the Good Die Young. It seemed very true to him now. You couldn't live too long and hope to make it out good, not even the Aubrey's of the world. Souls were no more immortal or infallible to the world than the flesh they inhabited, they rotted if they were around too long.

He tipped the rest of the water in his glass down his parched throat as if it were a stronger drink than it was. He licked his lips though, in truth, they probably needed the moisture, before putting the cup down on the table with a soft, muffled thump. He pushed himself up, leaving the rest of the food Drake had gotten for him where it was, suddenly too sick with fear to eat anything else. "And now, if you'll pardon my early departure, I think I must sleep. Do you think you can show me to a room or at least a bed or maybe a clean piece of floor? In fact," he said looking between his bare feet at the floor of the mess hall, "this piece looks rather nice if you have nothing else to offer."

[stevert]

As faction leader of Vegas, and because Steve was so curious, Stevert stayed in the mess hall through the guy's whole debriefing. What he heard was terrible. Nobody should've had to done that. But he was glad Suji and this guy were safe. He was still confused about how Suji was still alive, but he decided that he'd ask her when she woke up. In the mean time, he needed to alert Cassie that the two of them were alive.

After Fin toasted Dallas and the man who had been unable to demorph, and then asked for a place to sleep, Robert sent a private message to Drake to get him to a room., Steve slipped away from the group and once began jogging towards Ri--Rob's office. That's where the cell hpone was.

[Drake]

It didn't take Drake too long to reach the infirmary again. In fact, it seemed to take even less time than Drake had anticipated. Before he knew it, he had one hand on the doorknob ready to go inside. But he didn't open the door. Not right away. This seemed like too big of a deal for him to just walk in on casually. Suji was in there, presumably still asleep or unconscious. And that scared him.

Holding his breath, Drake turned the knob and opened the door. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the lighting inside, but was soon on his way over to the room where Suji was staying. He knocked on the door-frame as he caught a glimpse of Luce and Suji inside. "Hey. I came to check up on her," Drake said quietly, gesturing toward where Suji was laying. "Is she going to be alright?"