Post by Admin on Aug 8, 2009 8:44:21 GMT -5
Shattered and Broken: Humanity's Children
Ember:
Ember's head lolled, blood dribbling from her busted lip. Her head felt thick with whatever they'd drugged her with, but she could still hear Sedra's voice through the fog of florescent light. Her body was strapped to a large metallic table, the bonds pressing into her skin so tightly she could feel it through the numbing narcotic.
What had gone wrong? She was loosing her memories even as she fought to put the pieces together. Like grains of sand they slipped through her mind and faded to black. She... remembered the mission... the children, and Rian was there? Rian! Ember pulled against her restraints, but fell back at the sharp pangs of pain that brought. Her thoughts drifted and her breathing grew shallow again, her stomach roiling in nausea at the knowledge that something was horribly wrong. She was trapped... captured... by whom? Yeerks. Yes, of course... she'd failed. Been taken off guard and they had- Ember's vision dimmed. Something, it seemed so long ago now, but a memory was coming back to her... Something good. Her mouth opened, smiling weakly as Rian's image surfaced...
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Flash Back:
Her elbow hit his skull sharply on an accidental back swing, narrowly missing his eye as it glanced off his eyebrow and knocked him off balance.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Ember turned, dropping her stance and reaching out to touch his face. Rian grabbed her wrist and immediately twisted her arm around to her back, leaving her helpless as he encircled her neck with his other arm. Ember gasped and narrowed her eyes, struggling a bit before finally admitting defeat and fell slack against him. He held her there for two or three seconds before dropping his grip and stepping away.
"That's so not fair." Ember grinned tightly, circling him with her hands up in defensive position.
He followed her with his eyes, his body seemingly relaxed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Ember lunged, feinting an open handed strike, but ducking and swinging out with her foot toward his knee at the last second. Rian almost lazily stepped out of her reach, leaving her off balance. Then he moved back toward her as she threw a hand out to steady herself and drove his shin into her shoulder, pinning her to the ground. She could tell he was being careful since he kept most of his weight off her clavicle. If he'd wanted to, if he was her enemy, he could've broken her right then and there. If her collar bone was wrecked then she'd lose function of her left arm, and she was losing badly enough as it was. Although, with Luce's training she should have been able to keep on better footing with him... but she was, ah, fairly distracted.
Rian stepped back again, this time holding out his hand to help her up. And even though she should have been getting angry at this point since he kept beating her at even the most basic training practices, she just felt the warm calm she always felt by being around him. He pulled her to her feet, drawing her in close enough to where she could catch his scent and couldn't help but to smile. They were both sweating, dying under the intense sun out on the practice grounds Rian had set up after they'd moved to the new base. Rian had his shirt off, preferring just a pair of loose black pants, and Ember was wearing a sports top and some baseball shorts. Both of them had started off with more clothing, but over the course of their fight, as the sun rose higher and higher above them, they'd stripped down to only what they needed.
Unfortunately that left Ember's concentration greatly lacking, and she liked to think Rian wasn't at a hundred percent either, even if he was more adamant about this session actually being useful as training. He backed up a few feet and crouched back into a martial stance, but this time Ember didn't return the gesture. "Oh c'mon. You're just going to add more bruises to my collection. Can't I cry uncle already? We've been at this for hours." She sighed, wiping a bead of sweat as it threatened to trickle uncomfortably down her back. "I promise, I'll make it up next time." Ember wheedled, batting her eyes at his stoic expression. "Please? It's my 19th birthday, I'm almost an old woman!Can't I get a bit of slack?" She pouted at the thought, but quickly regained a coy grin, "Or... if you really want some exercise I know of another way to make us sweat..."
Rian sighed and let a flicker of a smile show. He'd been trying to keep focus, to make sure that they both were ready in case something like what happened on the Dam should happen again. So he'd been pushing for more intensive training, especially without using morphing. The thought had crossed his mind more than once that the animorphs abused their human bodies because it was so easy to morph away injury. But after Ember had been caught off guard like that, it was clear they needed more than the abilities of their animals. They had to be ready for anything, in any form. He couldn't risk losing anyone on his team because he hadn't pushed them hard enough... and he couldn't risk Ember's life again without being sure she would be alright.
It was clear, though, that she wasn't taking this seriously. "It's not your birthday until tomorrow, so that excuse isn't going to work." He looked her over, pausing at the rough scrapes she'd gotten from their sparring. He didn't want to have to hurt her but they had to keep practicing and a few bumps and knocks came with the territory. "Ok," Rian relented, her enthusiasm catching on, "If you can beat me in this next match then we'll take a break." A corner of his mouth quirked upward in a sly smile, "If you can beat me."
Ember smiled widely, her eyes flashing at the dare. "Deal." She mirrored his stance, squaring off and refocusing her intention on her breathing, feeling the earth solidly under her feet as gravity fell lightly on her shoulders. Briefly, she closed her eyes and stretched out with her senses, touching upon what she had in her control and ignoring what she didn't. She had her muscles, her strength, her speed, her intuition, and she could use them all with the positions she'd been taught to fight back against her opponent and gain the upper hand. That was all she needed. It didn't matter who her opponent was, or what they had that she didn't, the only thing that mattered was her breath and focusing her energies toward winning.
She opened her eyes, and Rian moved. He was fast. He got in close and took an easy swing with his fist. Ember knew he was playing with her, trying to bait her with an easy block upwards so he could use his off hand to knock the wind from her. She took it, raising her forearm so his swing was pushed aside, but as he made his secondary attack she turned sideways, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling it over her shoulder. Rian figured out her plan a moment too late, only barely able to keep from being completely toppled as she ducked under his weight and dragged him over top of her back. He fell off balance, but recovered enough to dive over her of his own volition and tuck into a roll, getting back on his feet before she could drive forward to pin him. Ember switched gears and aimed a few blows at his chest and shoulders. Rian blocked, catching her fists in his palms or turning them away from his body. Then she reared up, tucking her arms back in and used the full length of her leg to catch him in the gut with a round-house kick. Rian grunted, but used his speed to catch her foot and dragged her off balance. But Ember had already been taught how to counter that in several different ways. For Rian, she used her favorite, instead of trying to pull away which would have made her situation worse, she pushed toward him, jumping off her one leg and leaping on top of him, knocking them both over. She captured his torso with her thighs and trapped his upper chest with her forearm, one hand in the air over his head ready to land a final blow.
Ember paused, muscles tense. Their breathing matching in ragged pace, eyes locked onto one another. Then she suddenly giggled as she realized his hands were on her waist, hitting ticklish nerves around her midriff. "Hey! Stop that! That's completely unfair!" She burst out laughing as Rian lightly ran his fingers over her stomach. Ember wriggled, trying to get off him, but he caught her there and she had to place her hands on either side of his head to keep from falling, her face inches from his...
<<Hey guys!>> Stevert's voice rang out in both their heads, coming from the Blue jay soaring overhead. <<Hope I'm not interrupting anything!>>
Ember rolled her eyes. It's always something.. she sighed and got herself back to her feet, letting Rian up from the ground so they could get back to work. "What's up?" She called out as Stevert landed, demorphing before them with a goofy grin on his face, waggling his eyebrows at the two of them like a cartoon character. Obviously Robert wasn't at the helm, but it was good to see Steve in better spirits. After the Dam everyone had been affected pretty deeply, but Steve had taken it harder than most since he hadn't even wanted to go through with it. So if he could relax and have a bit of fun at their expense, Ember didn't begrudge him. Besides, it was no secret about her and Rian anymore. Rumors caught on so fast around the faction it was a wonder that everyone hadn't known before they did.
"I found a note on the dance studio." Stevert pulled a slip of paper from his waistband and held it out. Ember took it and glanced over the writing before passing it on to Rian.
It was Sedra. Ember had almost forgotten the deal they'd arranged before the attack on the Dam. And she hadn't honestly expected her to continue on with the plan... but, it looked like from the note that the controller fully intended to continue on. Guess the whole threatening to kill me thing wasn't personal. Ember thought wryly, "She posted the meeting time." She frowned, "Looks like we'll be able to help those kids after all... although I don't know what she's playing at. Last time we met she nearly dropped the whole thing because of a problem with my attitude... I can't imagine the attack on the Dam did anything to improve her mood. We almost killed her, I just- why?" Ember shook her head, already speeding through the thoughts of everything that was wrong about this. "I don't know. Something feels... off. But we've got to go, right?" She looked to Rian, hoping he would know something about this that she didn't.
Sedra:
Silently, Sedra watched Ember rouse slowly. There was a cocky smile inching along the edges of her lips, her eyes focused on the girl's face. Only the slightest twitching of her muscles gave away the fact that there was an inward struggle going on between Sedra and her host. Otherwise, the Sub-Visser had all the appearances of confidence and the arrogance of victory. She had always suspected the Animorphs would try to pull something on her, and knew she had been right to bring along the other controller. Maybe the pieces hadn't quite fallen where they were supposed to, but she had what she wanted now.
The sound of Ember struggling against her restraints brought a smaller smile to Sedra's lips, her eyes growing icy. The smile was far from friendly. "Awake yet, Animorph?" Sedra drew near, noticing Ember looked like she was still half-dozing. There was a strange smile on the girl's face. Still, the girl could probably hear her. Sedra grabbed a handful of Ember's hair, pulling her head sideways. "Perhaps your friends should be a little more wary where they step, little Animorph, and who they cross. Know that this is what happens. A little present from me." Somewhere in the room, there was the gentle sound of splashing. This was going to be a good day.
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Flash Back:
"Indonesia. We'll need a bug fighter."
Sedra cocked an eyebrow up, staring at the Animorph in front of her. They had met back where the deal had first been talked about, in a small suburban park. The place was usually deserted and thankfully there were no jogging controllers today. Sedra was leaning against her car, arms folded, a frown on her lips. "I see." She had expected the farm to be far away, of course. Out of the way of normal controllers, who didn't care for their host's offspring. But Indonesia? It had taken a few seconds of searching her host's memory to even know where that was. All that did was complicate this entire thing more, it would make things more unpredictable.
Sighing, Sedra shifted against the hot metal car door and leveled her gaze on the Animorphs' leader standing in front of her--Rian. They didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve her help, even if it was false. Not after what they had done at the dam. The image of all those Yeerks floating dead, boiled alive, still haunted her. Some Yeerks were terrified of going to the pool now, lest they be killed there as well. It was unfortunate. Sedra smiled thinly.
"Fine. I will arrange the bug-fighter." Her eyes narrowed a little bit, the smile tightening and her expression growing harder. "However, only three Animorphs will come. No more than that." There was warning in her tone, but she didn't suspect they'd listen. Why would they? She wasn't exactly going to follow the deal either. If there had been any doubt before, there wasn't now. The dam had cemented Sedra's decision. "As for our terms. You get the child, Eva, and I will let you wander around there undisturbed. Understood?" It was practically the same terms as before, when Ember had been speaking for the group of them.
There was a pause, and the Animorph smirked a bit. "Understood." He turned to the Animorph who had accompanied him, motioning to leave. Sedra watched as they disappeared somewhere near the bathrooms, and a few minutes later a couple birds launched into the sky. After they had disappeared, she pulled open the door to her car and slid inside, slamming it close. The seat was warm, and the desert heat rose from the plastic.
<<They aren't stupid, Sedra. They will know something's amiss. Can't you just make this simple. Get Eva, and get out.>> The words from her host came as a surprise--lately she'd been more withdrawn, more silent.
It changed nothing. Ignoring her host's thoughts, Sedra flipped open her phone. As she dialed with one hand, she stuck her keys in the ignition with her other. The car hummed to life, and the phone rang on the other side. Warm air conditioning blasted from the vents, whirring softly as the phone picked up on the other line. A familiar voice answered. They knew who was calling. With one last look towards the sky, vast and empty outside her car window, Sedra spoke. "I have a job for you."
Rian:
Rian finished the jaguar morph. Up until then he'd looked pretty disturbing since the morph, for whatever reason, had decided to morph everything but fur first. But as the tawny gold fur with it's pattern of black rosettes spread across the stocky, well muscled form of the cat Rian felt the jaguar's mind rise up under his own.
He had tested this morph out before coming on this mission so he was prepared for the jaguar's instincts. But the last time he had morphed this animal he had not been surrounded by helpless children. The urge to hunt was disgustingly strong and tempting but he shut it down.
He left Drake and Suji to finish what they'd been doing and ran towards Alora and Steve. His cat moved with a satisfying sense of weight and power and for the first time Rian was able to roar. He didn't, it would have warned Alora that he was coming.
This mission was quickly getting out of hand. They needed to get the kids on the damn transport and out of here. He had tried to plan for this mission and realized quickly that there were too many unknown factors to account for. So instead he'd tried to make the team as flexible as possible and hope that they would be able to respond to whatever Sedra threw at them. But it hadn't even crossed his mind that she might bring back up too and in the form of Alora no less. And now Steve was in danger because of the situation Rian had put him in. How had Alora snuck up on Steve anyway? Where was Ember?
These questions all flashed across his mind as he ran towards the controller that had Steve pinned and as he did he felt something akin to annoyance from the jaguar's mind. It wanted to hunt. There wasn't room for other thoughts, other considerations and Rian's chattering, human mind was distracting. But Rian couldn't do what the jaguar wanted, the questions and the worries kept coming.
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Flash Back:
His office would have been a little small to fit all of them comfortably so Rian was meeting with the faction in the mess hall. The large room held only three, very long tables with about 15 chairs on each side pulled up to them. Rian sat on the middle table, his feet on a chair and his hands clasped loosely in front of him with his weight resting on his knees.
The days regiment of training and patrolling was over, at least for him since he didn't have night patrol tonight, but he was still in his morphing suit. He had something he wanted to do later if he was going to go on a mission, a new morph he wanted to acquire, so he hadn't bothered changing.
That wasn't true of many of the others who were wearing real clothes when off duty. It was a little odd to see them in street clothes all gathered here. Dressed like this they looked like a bunch of teenagers just hanging out in the school cafeteria.
Drake and Diana were sitting side by side at one of the tables across from him, Stevert leaned against a table but seemed to have too much energy to sit down as evidenced by his slightly excited expression. Luce was sitting a little farther down from Drake, Diana and Stevert. She had pulled one of the chairs out from the table and was sitting on it backwards, her arms crossed on the back of it and her head resting on them. Suji was on the other side of the Drake/Diana/Stevert group, sitting on a table like he was, her feet on the chair in front of her. Chloe and Ember stood surprisingly close to each other in the near aisle. They were also leaning against the tables.
Just a bunch of kids hanging out. Except the mood was all wrong. No one was speaking, not even Stevert. They were all quiet and focused on him, waiting for what he had to say. They weren't here for fun, not right now, they were here for a mission briefing and they all knew how serious it was. Maybe there would be time for joking later.
"So we met with Sedra 149 this afternoon," he began. His eyes flickered over to Luce almost hoping to see some type of reaction. He wanted to see her wince or blink or something, something to show that she felt guilty for the day under the dam. But he saw nothing, her face remained closed, even at the mention of the name, at least to him. Maybe someone who knew her better would have been able to see something.
"She still wants to work with us to rescue the children at the kid farm, or at a kid farm. According to Luce there is more than one and they are all over the world." He didn't mention how Luce knew about this. Most knew that she had once been a controller and those who didn't would surely be told the minute the meeting ended by those who did. "We are going to be going after one in Indonesia. We have the exact location but Sedra doesn't, not yet and she won't get it until we are close to the correct island."
He paused to collect his thoughts, his eyes again running over his audience trying to read their reactions. He wanted to know what they thought about this, about working with a controller. It was dangerous and all of them had history with this particular Sub-Visser. She had almost killed Drake at one point, and she'd been assigned to security at the tower Diana and Chloe had been sent to take down. Of all of them only Stevert hadn't had a personal run in with her and that partially motivated his choice of who to take with him.
"We are only allowed to take three with us. I'm going to go. So is Ember since she's been the main contact on this. The last person on our team is going to be Stevert," he said nodding at his youngest faction member. "That way we get a two for one deal. But I'd like to have even more back up than that. So, those of you that have insect morphs, well I'm hoping to take you along for the ride. Suji, Drake, I want you guys to go on one of us. Who it is doesn't matter. Diana," he looked at her. She was the other person in the faction who had an insect morph but he hadn't called her out. "You're going to be in charge of the base while we are gone."
Ray had recently gone off saying there was something he needed to do. Rian wasn't sure, but he was starting to feel like Ray needed to move on, like Vegas had grown too small for him. He might need a faction of his own soon and if he did Rian would have to replace him as Second. He wanted to start testing out a few of his candidates and Diana was high on his list.
"About the mission itself. The deal we have with Sedra 149 is that we help her rescue one particular child, a girl named Eva age 3, and in turn she lets us attempt to rescue the other kids. We need her to get in. She needs us to find the base. It should be known that this girl, Eva, she is the daughter of Sedra's host body...born after she was taken over."
For a moment he stopped. He had gotten these details from Ember who had gotten them from Luce. The more information they had about this situation going in the better he could predict what his enemy was going to do. He hadn't tried to debrief Luce himself, she wasn't likely to talk to him. But he had asked Ember to start to pry about it. She hadn't liked the idea of getting Luce to talk just to betray her confidence. And she had liked the fact that he was using their friendship and his relationship with Ember, to get what he needed even less. The look she'd given him when he'd asked had made him feel immoral. It wasn't mad, so much as disappointed. But he needed the information and she could get it for him so he'd pushed the feeling away.
"Sedra 149...she feels, it feels like the child is its daughter." Even saying that was difficult. He didn't want to think of a slug having maternal feelings toward a human child. He cleared his throat and went on. "That tells us that Sedra's going to be focused on that one girl. We can use that hopefully. Keep her concentrated on one child so that she doesn't have time to betray us or notice our own betrayals. We are going to be taking all the kids, yes, but we are taking Eva too. I'm not handing a three year old girl over to a Sub-Visser to be infested when she gets old enough to be useful."
It was a stupid situation. The yeerk would betray them. And she would expect them to betray her. It was an unspoken acknowledgement. So it would really come down to who could work faster and who had more control of the situation when their real motives were revealed. He hoped that the extra two animorphs would give them an advantage, that and the fact that they would both be on unfamiliar territory, but he still felt like he was going into this with a bad hand.
He sat up straighter, almost done. "We meet her at 6 tomorrow so those of you going get some sleep. Diana, I know you took a patrol earlier today but can you take over Drake's graveyard shift? Stevert, I didn't switch you out since you have first patrol of the night but as soon as its over please get some sleep. We have to get there before she does so we'll be there at 5:30, leave here at 5. We'll leave someone in the air, Stevert most likely, so that we know when she's coming. She'll be coming in a bug fighter so hopefully she'll be easy to see. We'll need as much morph time as possible, I don't want anyone stuck as a cockroach or a moth, so you guys will morph right before she gets there. Ember, Stevert and I all have the belts," he said mentioning the design feature of the LA animorph morphing suits, "so you'll have a place to hide where you hopefully won't be in too much danger. That's it."
The mood in the cafeteria lightened slightly now that the actual business of the meeting was over. Everyone except for Luce relaxed. Luce got up and left the mess hall without looking at anyone. Rian wasn't clear how Luce felt about this whole situation but he couldn't imagine she was happy. But she would be helping rescue kids so it couldn't bother her that much.
Drake and Diana didn't move immediately and Drake began joking with her, congratulating her on her momentary promotion. Chloe walked over to join them and Rian was glad to see that she was starting to fit in. Suji sat at the table for a moment, almost like she wasn't exactly sure what to do, before getting up and walking over to the small group forming. Drake looked up when she came over and pulled out a chair for her. With the small gesture Suji was welcomed into the group and Rian's mind was put to rest about the two of them being able to work together. He had been a bit worried since the last time he'd seen them interact Drake had been very drunk and very sick.
Ember caught his eye and motioned towards the door to see if he wanted to leave. <<Go ahead, I'll catch up,>> he sent her, using the thought speak easily. She smiled a bit and walked out of the mess hall, Stevert close behind her. Rian hopped off the table and caught up with Stevert.
"Steve, Rob, hold on," he said catching their arm. "I have something I want to talk to you about."
Suji:
“Stay down,” Suji ordered the kid beneath her. She had one knee pressed between his shoulder blades, and he was face down in the dirt. It wet too—not enough to really be mud but enough to be damp and even more unpleasant. “Stay down. We’re going to get you all out of here.”
God, Suji didn’t like this. She knew it was necessary, but she didn’t like it. Sophia had been about the same age as this kid, and the last time she had to try to pin someone this young, it had been so that she could kill a girl. A free human, too.
You’re here to save them, Suji reminded herself forcefully.
Sure didn’t feel like it at the moment.
She was holding him down until Drake could bring Robert over. She was holding down a free human child so that she could allow a Yeerk to infest him. Maybe he wasn’t really a Yeerk, but would that make much of a difference? It was still the body of the enemy invading your head. Suji still didn’t know how Steve handled it, and Steve was his brother.
He was struggling less now, so she shifted her weight, putting less pressure on him. “I know it sucks, but we’re the rescue team. Do you know who the Animorphs are?” The kid glanced back at her, eyes wide, and she took that as a yes. Their reputation preceded them. “You saw how our friend there just turned into a jaguar?” The kid glanced over to where Rian had ran, and then nodded, ever so slightly.
“Well, we have someone who turned into a Yeerk. We have to do this to get past the filter, but it’s one of us, not one of them, okay?”
But she’d lost him somewhere around Yeerk. His body tensed and he moved to thrash again, shouting NO as loud as he could, though it was muffled by the ground. Suji quickly restrained him again, placing her full weight on his back.
“Have you got Robert?” She asked Drake, tone snapping. She couldn’t help it.
Whether or not it was an Animorph, they were still going to be forcing this kid to relive the nightmare that had haunted him for what probably felt like as long as he could remember. They were still allowing someone else to crawl around his brain without even his temporary permission.
She felt like the enemy.
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FLASHBACK:
Suji’s door was open. She was reading a flight manual. It didn’t really do any good, but it felt at least somewhat productive. And hopefully it would put her to sleep. There was a big mission tomorrow as far away as Indonesia, and she needed to rest. Still, she was anxious, a particular mix of excitement and tension.
She saw Luce come to the doorway out of the corner of her eye. At first she pretended not to see her. Suji didn’t want to deal with Luce right now. Not when she had this mission to worry about. If Luce came to explain herself for the events at the dam, well, she was going to have to wait till they got back. She didn’t want it on her mind any more than it already was.
But Luce knocked, and cleared her throat. Begrudgingly, Suji set her book down.
“Yes?” It wasn’t an icy hiss, but it wasn’t friendly either. She didn’t invite Luce in.
“I… I need to ask you to do something for me, even though I don’t have the right to ask.” Suji arched an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. After a moment Luce went on. “I can’t be on the mission tomorrow, so I can’t do it myself. Sedra… Sedra 149 is not trustworthy.”
Did Luce really need to come here and tell her that? That they couldn’t trust a Controller, and Suji had to be on her toes because Luce wouldn’t be there to watch out for them? Hell, Luce hadn’t been able to do that when she was on a mission. It was probably safer to have Luce’s fine sense of judgment back here in Vegas than anywhere near them and that Controller.
“All she cares about is Eva and she hates the Animorphs. Just, watch her, okay? Don’t turn your back on her.” Luce stopped there, and looked like she might want to continue. It seemed like she was feeling vulnerable, and she might even have gone on, if Suji had let her. Suji, however, didn’t have the patience or the inclination to hear warnings about who not to trust from Luce, let alone any sob stories that might come attached.
“You don’t have to worry. I know exactly who and what my enemies are. Now, I have a mission tomorrow.” Suji got up, and without another word, closed the door. It took willpower not to slam it in Luce’s face. How dare she?
Suji had made the mistake of not eradicating Sedra once. If it came to it, she wouldn’t make it again.
Stevert:
The pain! Steve's arm was on fire! It was sprained at least, something Alora had been quick to do before the fight had begun. Then she barreled into him with the grace of a cat. She struck him in the side of the head and then his legs were swiped out from under him. Steve yelled as he fell towards the ground. He rolled over and Alora brought her foot down on his chest. He grabbed at her leg to try to throw her off, but she knelt on his chest, pinning his arms to the side. She grabbed his right hand in his and with a loud audible snap SNAP, broke a finger. Then another.
"Die human," She hissed through her teeth. Steve tried to get up, tried to throw Alora off, tried to fight back, but he couldn't. She had incapacitated him and the pain was very great. His few basic fighting practices with the other animorphs had not prepared him for Alora, an experience assassin. He could not even morph. She would kill him instantly instead of slowly doing so. Alora wasted no more words and began pushing her knee into his throat, simutaneously squeezing his hand. Steve yelled out as the pain racked his arm. Tears welled up as she spat on Alora, saying, "You won't win, Alora, you'll never leave these islands alive," His bait worked. She stopped squeezing his hand, but then hit him in the face so hard that his nose must have been broken. What else could account for the blood and pain Steve felt there? Then the squeezing resumed and her knee drove even further into his stomach.
And Robert was gone. For the first time since being infested, Steve was alone without his brother's presence in his mind. Robert was with Drake and Suji, to infest a kid. And Steve was about to die. Alone. Through all of the pain, Steve's ninety-mile-per-hour mouth managed one last cry, "ROBERT!!!"
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FLASHBACK
"Da plane! Da plane! Da plane!" Steve cried and jumped up and down in his spot. Not that it was necessary since he was standing right beside Rian and Ember, both of whom had seen it as well. But it made Steve feel good to do something. Besides, the sand WAS pretty hot on his bare feet. All the better to morph with, Rian had said earlier. Steve wished that it was possible to morph sneakers, or anything to protect their feet.
The Bug Fighter slowly descended on to the sand and dirt of the desert. The coordinates that Rian had given Sedra had been exactly in the middle of Nowhere, Las Vegas Desert. There was no way and surprises could happen, for either side. According to Rian, only three Animorphs were going on the mission, Rian, Ember, and Steve. At least, that is what Sedra thought. Little did she know that a cockroach named Suji was somewhere under Ember's hair, directly above her left ear, and a moth named Drake was hiding in the belt made from Speedos that Rian was wearing. If only Drake knew, Steve thought and smirked. He had no intentions of telling him that. Nor did Sedra know that Robert was a yeerk inside of Steve. So they were planning on smuggling six Animorphs all of the way to Indonesia. Steve smiled at the thought.
Then the entrance to the craft opened and Sedra stepped out, looking around everywhere, in case there were any traps or reinforcements. Which there was, just none that anyone could see. Then, as lovely as ever, Alora appeared in the entrance. As soon as he saw her and the evil glint in her eyes, Steve's own eyes opened wide and he ducked behind Ember. "Ember, Ember, Ember!" He said hurridly. "Protect me! Or kill her! Something! Pleeeeeeaase?" All the while, he kept tugging on her sleeve. He glanced around and looked at the expressions on everyone's faces. Rian's face was like a statue's, blank. Ember's face had an annoyed expression on her face and then she jerked her sleeve and arm away from Steve. Sedra looked content, possibly because she believed that Steve would be no help to the Animorphs, and Alora just looked smug. She was actually enjoying it!
Steve backed away from everyone, although he still stayed behind his teammates. He began to think about morphing to escape when Robert spoke.
<<Easy there. Down boy. She's not going to hurt you.>> Robert said in a voice with obvious mirth.
<<I know, I'm not really scared, I'm just sick of her trying to kill me. She's done so twice already. What if she tries now?>> Steve complained.
<<Rian will handle it. I promise.>>Robert said.
Steve dropped out of the conversation and glared at Alora. This was going to be a looooong trip.
Drake:
"I got him," Drake said to Suji with a hint of revulsion in his voice. He lowered Robert down to the ear of the pinned child. He watched as his ally squirmed his way into the head of a person they were trying to rescue and felt a little sick, and not just because it was gross to watch something crawl into someone else's ear.
No, this sickness was far deeper. something that went down to his very core. The only thing that kept Drake from reaching out and trying to stop Robert was the fact that this was necessary. Sure, maybe if they had enough time Drake could have come up with a different plan, but time was something that always worked against the animorphs.
The kid suddenly stopped struggling and Suji let him go. He sat up, half covered in damp dirt from the ground. "You in?" Drake asked even though he already knew the answer.
The kid's eyes looked from him to Suji and back. "Yeah..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash Back
<<Are we there yet?>> Drake asked in complete seriousness. He was afraid that him and Suji would be trapped as bugs if they were not allowed to demorph soon. That was not something that Drake was about to allow. Life as a moth did not sound the least bit appealing to him.
<<Almost. We just have to->> The sudden pause in Rian's speech made Drake nervous. <<Drake, Suji, bail out, now!>> Drake was not about to sit around and ask what was going on. He was too busy trying to escape from his teammate's belt.
<<Why? What is it?>> he heard Suji ask. She must have been less panicked, or at least was better at not letting it show in her voice.
<<A biofilter,>> Rian responded. <<It looks like you two will have to find a different way in.>>
Drake's stomach sunk. They did not even do anything yet, and already they were separated from the group. Drake fluttered away from the group as soon as he got free, trying to figure out what him and Suji should do next.
<<Lets find a place to demorph, meet up, then figure out a plan from there,>> he heard Suji suggest. Drake thought it was as good a plan as any, so he agreed. He flew along what seemed to be a wall around the facility's perimeter for a while, then veered of into the surrounding vegetation. There he demorphed and then remorphed into his lizard form. He needed to stay out of sight, as well as be able to see and communicate with Suji. Apparently Suji had a similar idea, because before too long he met up with a monkey near a muddy stream.
<<So how do we get in? It is not like we can just go flying over that wall without risking getting shot down. Can cockroaches fly?>> Drake asked.
<<What wall? I don't see a wall anywhere.>>
<<Huh? I was flying right next to it when I was a moth.>> Drake scuttled out from the edge of the vegetation so that he could see what Suji could see from her higher vantage point. She was right. There was no wall. <<But I could have sworn...>>
<<Look. It must be invisible. There are birds on the ground that must have run into it.>> Drake could not see very well through the grass, so he would have to take Suji's word for it. An invisible wall seemed pretty far fetched to Drake. But then again, he was currently in the body of a lizard.
<<So how to we get in?>> Drake asked as he headed back towards the stream. The stream looked all disgusting. He wondered if it was naturally like that, or if the yeerks were using it to get rid of garbage and stuff in their compound. Then a though occurred to him. <<Hey Suji. Does the stream come out from inside of the compound? I can not see from down here.>>
<<Yes,>> Suji replied plainly.
<<Is the water moving?>>
<<Yes,>> she sounded a tad bit more excited tis time. Drake sensed that Suji could see the idea he was getting at. If water could go under the wall, then they should be able to too, right? Drake began to demorph. <<We will need a fish for this job. Luckily I have just the thing.>> Drake was a bit excited that his koi morph would actually come in useful. What had he been thinking when he acquired that while living in the desert? Although, he had to admit, he did not loose anything by acquiring it. It was a live fish, so he did not even use up any of their limited supply of blood.
Apparently Suji decided it was a good idea to demorph as well, because now the two of them stood at the water's edge in their morphing suits. All this repeated morphing was exhausting, but he would manage. He had to.
"How should I get in?" Suji asked. "I don't have a water morph." She merely stated it as a fact, not as an actual concern.
"Hmm, good question," Drake said as his arms began melting into fins. "I will scout out the opening and see if it is big enough to swim through. Although I might have to drag you through in your bug morph." <<We will have to wait and see, I guess.>>
Now that he was mostly fish, Drake scooted away from shore and into the slightly deeper water. He did not make it more than a couple feet before an impossibly large reptile rose from the muck and swallowed him whole.
Stevert:
Tobin screamed yet no sound escaped his lips. He tried looking for an exit away from his "saviors" but his eyes didn't move. He tried to thrash around and run away, but his body didn't obey him. He was a prisoner to a yerrk. He was a prisoner to Robert Kinley, of the Las Vegas Animorphs and current nothlit. Yeerk nothlit. Tobin's screams of anguish and betrayel swamped their minds.
There was nothing Robert could do. He had been forced to control every aspect of the child's freedom. All because Tobin didn't want infested. The kid had been told that they were the good guys and that infestation was vital to their success, but the kid hadn't wanted it. So Robert had been forced to infest. Infest him like the cruel invaders that Robert now resembled in so many ways. Weren't they supposed to be the "good" guys? Right now, they were no better than the yeerks. Especially Robert. Maybe he was letting the kid get to him, but he didn't care. He wanted out as soon as possible.
Then he heard Drake's voice ask if he was okay. Robert moved Tobin's eyes, back and forth from Suji and Drake before using the boy's lips to say, "Yeah..." The boy's voice, as a result of both Robert and Tobin, was dripping in regret. Tobin's mental voice quieted down as he realized that he had no choice now. Even though he knew infestation was going to be inevitable (from either side), he had never dreamed it would be from his rescuers.
Robert moved the kid's body into a standing up position and began to jog, slightly unsteadily, away from most of the buildings on the compound towards the small shipyard. After a brief glance at each other, Drake and Suji both followed, easily catching up with Robbin's (Robert/Tobin) young body. Robert picked up Tobin's speed until they weren't slowing Suji and Drake down by much.
Within a few moments, they were in the midst of the ships. A trio of bug fighters, a modified bug fighter, a couple of helicopters, and what Robbin was looking for. The cargo ship. Although the place was pretty self-sufficient, the complex did occasionally need additional supplies. So they used a new design of cargo ship to transport things back and forth. In fact, it was how most of the children had arrived. Robert knew it from Tobin's memories.
Robert thought-spoke to Drake and Suji. <<That's it.>> He refrained from saying anything else and walked right up to the hatch on the side closest to the group and then quickly typed an access code in the panel on the side. Rob was amazed at the memory of Tobin. Tobin had only caught a quick glimpse at the panel, but had been able to memorize the access codes as he had been put in there while still in the US. Then Robert headed to the cockpit, going through Tobin's memories on what to do and how to do it.
Robbin sat on the pilot's seat and waited for a moment as the seat's scanner read the yeerk in Tobin's brain. Then Robert began pressing buttons and pulling switches, getting the ship ready to go without attracting to much attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK
The guard waved them through. And why not? Sedra had plenty of rank and they all passed the biofilter. So they were pretty much free. Except for the controller assigned to escort them around the base to show them around. It was definitely going to make things trickier. The guide took the front with Sedra right behind him. Then came Ember and Rian, walking side by side. Alora followed them and Steve could see her hand constantly resting on her small and specialized dracon beam. Steve trailed behind Alora, not going to give her the opportunity to stab him in the back, literally.
The paved path they were on took them by a long building. Through the quick glimspes that he could get, Steve watched dozens of children standing up and repeating whatever the instructor in front of them said. He also saw multiple guards, some of them Hork-Bajir, stationed in various places around the room. The next several classrooms looked the same. Steve was willing to bet his left arm (not his right, even if he could morph it back) that they were listening to some brainwashing spiel the yeerks were giving. It wasn't until he noticed Alora glaring at him that he realized that he had stopped to watch. He increased his pace a bit to stay just behind his twice-almost murderer.
Then group passed by a large, classy building with at least half a dozen guards in front of it. According to what the guide and his common sense said, Steve assumed it was the main headquarters of the place was. That was surely where all important stuff happened.
But they didn't even slow down. Steve had no idea what kind of story that Sedra had given to the guide, but he obviously felt no need to bring them to the visser/sub-visser in charge of the project. Soon, the guide stopped them at some kind of obstacle course. Then Steve saw a couple dozen of children crawling around it, all dressed, it drab greys and browns. They ranged from at least five to maybe even Steve's own age. Good. Now they had found the children. Remarkabley, Steve had managed to stay silent this far. Now they needed to enact their next plan. They needed to acquire children to morph to sneak around to find Eva. Hopefully Rian had come up with something as a distraction as they morphed the kids.
Then, the tour guide walked away and left them alone. Steve had heard a snippit of the conversation and it had something to do with "bringing her a cup of an energizing refreshment liquid as her host body's energy was depleting in the sun". Something like that. Then Sedra leaned in towards Rian. "Do it now, Animorph." She almost hissed. Rian stayed silent, and he just barely nodded his head. There was one guard watching the kids. Obviously the yeerks didn't think that they needed more since there was a force field around the place and nowhere else to go. And the guard wasn't really watching the kids anyway. He was leaning against a building (possibly the children's bedroom) and his eyes were closed, probably daydreaming about what he would do if he was Visser 1. After all, that is what most low-ranked yeerks did.
Therefore it was easy to walk right into the crowd of kids who immediately parted and quieted down. Well, everyone went into the crowd except for ALora, who just stayed just beyond the obstacle course with her hand on her weapon. She just probably wasn't a kid person. Steve could testify to that. Children of all ages instantly stopped whatever they were doing and froze on the spot, terrified of what could happen. Woah! The yeerks have seriously messed these kids up! look at them! They flinch when we blink! Have the yeerks been torturing them or something?
<<I dunno,>>thought Robert.
It wasn't right for kids to be so afraid of them so Steve took the first step. Literally. He walked right up to a kid, about twelve or thirteen and held out his hand. "Hello," he said, "What's your name?"
The boy didn't back down as much as the others around him did. Instead, he seemed a bit more rebellious and just stood there, glaring at Steve. Then, Steve's ear-to-ear smile gradually rubbed off on the boy. The child stuck out his hand and shook Steve's and said in a low voice, "Michael". Still smiling, Steve focused on the child. The boy's eyes almost glazed over and he stopped moving momentarily. Then Steve let go and walked away to Rian and Ember, with the child's DNA swiftly running through his bloodstream.
"Tactful," Rian said. Then he tried to think of what to do. He needed to demorph and then acquire a kid. Without scaring them. He began demorphing. Very soon, much faster than any of his other demorphs, Rian was in his birth body, looking around at a ring of children, whose expressions were of curiosity, awe, and horror. Mimicking Steve's example, Rian kneeled a bit in front of another child and asked for their name. The kid told Rian their name and placed their hand in Rian's extended hand. The thought of what he was about to do made Rian pull back a bit. He was about to steal someone's DNA! But it was necessary for the mission. In fact, it might be vital. So he bit his lip and put the child in a trance, simultaneously stealing their DNA.
When he was done, he stood up and looked around to see that Ember had likewise finished acquiring a child. Then the guide came back and the group set off to finish their tour.
Suji:
Robert—Robert in the kid’s body—was booting up the transport vehicle. Drake was further inside, and Suji was in the hatch opening, scanning the surroundings frantically. Steve and Rian were running towards them now. There was a sinking feeling in her gut. Six. They’d started this with six Animorphs. There were five here. Where was Ember?
Steve reached the transport first, and as he jumped in (they hadn’t lowered the ramp, and the hatch was a good two or three feet off the ground) Suji grabbed the back of his morphing suit to help him. Rian was next, but he was slowing rather than speeding up for the leap. Suji held out her hand to him, holding on to safety handle inside the vehicle with the other. She leaned out of the doorway, stretching to help, though she knew, she already knew that Rian wasn’t setting foot on this ship right now.
“Ember’s missing!” He shouted. I can see that, now take my fucking hand, Suji wanted to reply. She had to get him on this transport. They had to leave.
“We have the kids! We have to go!”
“She needs me!”
“You’ve got four Animorphs and dozens of kids on this ship who need you!”
She hoped against hope that he would take her hand. The longer she held it out, the more certain she was that he wouldn’t.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK:
Drake’s arms turned into white-and-orange fins, which wasn’t very pleasant to see. He walked deeper into the water as his body shrunk. Suji was worried that some leeches might find him before he fully morphed. Leeches were pretty gross. She crossed her arms to wait, and she could still make his bright form out from under the water. She wouldn’t be able to see him for long though—the water was murky.
It happened so fast that Suji wasn’t sure it was real. It was like a nightmare—that’s the only thing Suji could relate the utter powerlessness to. Some creature, scaly, reptilian, rose up and swallowed him. “Drake? DRAKE!” She shrieked, and splashed into the water. The thing (was it a crocodile?) was some four feet long, and she rushed staggeringly into the river, praying that it wouldn’t disappear beneath the surface, praying that she could catch it.
“DRAKE! DEMORPH! DEMORPH!” Suji had never been so close to hysterics in her life, and all she could do was hope that it somehow hadn’t bit into him. She could take a four to five foot alligator, right? She could try-
Her knees locked at a point when the water was waist level. She stumbled forward, feet sliding in the slick mud of the river bottom.
The reptile wasn’t four feet long.
That was just its head.
“…no…” Suji whispered, as the rest of its body came to the surface of the water. It was… it wasn’t possible. It was like a monster. Like a fucking dinosaur. It had to be at least twenty feet long, if not more. She was frozen in terror. If that thing ate Drake…
Fuck! Fuck! What morphs did she have? Certainly nothing that could handle that thing. A fucking rabbit, a monkey, two goddamn birds, a COCKROACH? “No… no-no-no-” Suji backed out of the water, falling back against the bank. She tried to will herself to think, to plan, but it was as if the primate part of her brain had taken over. It locked down in fear of that huge predator, let alone what it meant that her companion had just been eaten by it.
So she sat in the mud, dumbstruck. Terrified. They fought aliens with laser-guns and spaceships, had ended up here because of some biofilter that would have killed them instantly, for what? To be killed by some ancient Earth-monster? Suji couldn’t think, could only dig her fingers into the muddy bank and watch that terrible creature float by.
But then it started thrashing. The water around it became tumultuous, waves splashing up to her ankles. Suji stood quickly, hands clenched into fists. Her breath was caught in her throat. The creature tried to submerge itself, but there, in the center of the river, something was happening.
There was an enormous tearing sound that sounded like nothing Suji could expect—her mind searched over and over and the only thing it could relate it to was someone ripping wet canvas—and something was growing out of the water. Yellow and brown flesh seemed to rise up endlessly, and Suji let out a small cry of delight, one hand covering her mouth. She couldn’t even look down at what had happened to the crocodile; she stared up and up until her neck craned.
The giraffe stalked towards her on stilted legs, and Suji fiercely rubbed at her eyes, which ended up smearing a bit of mud at her temples. The giraffe was already shrinking by the time it reached the bank, turning back into a human teenager. He was talking almost even before he had a human mouth, but Suji had blocked that out. It was like seeing someone come back from the dead.
“That thing ATE me! What WAS that? It ate me!” He was saying the same words over and over, and Suji could see his hands trembling. Suji flung herself forward before she realized what she was doing, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It ate me. It ate me. It ate mffh-” Her lips pressed over his even as he kept talking. Her eyes were closed and she had a brief moment of pure relief. She hadn’t felt such a moment of utter reprieve since the war began.
It was like for one moment the world had decided that it had been a little too cruel, and decided to relent. She pulled herself close to him, and it was hard to make herself let go. She wanted the moment to last, the feeling that something so horrific could be undone. It must not have been that long though, because when Suji pulled back, self-consciousness slipping in, he was still talking about getting eaten.
Suji stepped backwards, looking away. “-ate me.” Drake stopped. There was mud in his hair where her hands had brushed him. She fidgeted. “Did you just kiss me?”
“…I owed you one.” Suji didn’t look up at him: her chest felt tight, her head was uncharacteristically airy. The relief was like a drug, and she didn’t particularly like the uncontrolled feeling of it.
“…well at least I am not throwing up.”
There was a moment of awkward silence. He was looking down at her, probably trying to figure out what just happened, and she was busy looking anywhere but up at him. There’s still work to do, Suji reminded herself, and turned to look back at the river, their way in.
Floating disjointed in the center was the split-open carcass of the crocodile.
“I think I found my water morph.”
Drake tensed next to her. “You are going to morph that thing?”
“There isn’t anything in this river that’s going to mess with that lizard. Or any fish swimming with it.” Drake shifted his weight, and she could tell that he wasn’t so comfortable with the decision. But she would be, and right now she wanted some serious firepower in case anything else went wrong.
Suji was damned if she was going to let something like that happen again.
“Let’s go,” she said, voice steely again, and waded out towards the mutilated body.
Ember:
Ember's head lolled, blood dribbling from her busted lip. Her head felt thick with whatever they'd drugged her with, but she could still hear Sedra's voice through the fog of florescent light. Her body was strapped to a large metallic table, the bonds pressing into her skin so tightly she could feel it through the numbing narcotic.
What had gone wrong? She was loosing her memories even as she fought to put the pieces together. Like grains of sand they slipped through her mind and faded to black. She... remembered the mission... the children, and Rian was there? Rian! Ember pulled against her restraints, but fell back at the sharp pangs of pain that brought. Her thoughts drifted and her breathing grew shallow again, her stomach roiling in nausea at the knowledge that something was horribly wrong. She was trapped... captured... by whom? Yeerks. Yes, of course... she'd failed. Been taken off guard and they had- Ember's vision dimmed. Something, it seemed so long ago now, but a memory was coming back to her... Something good. Her mouth opened, smiling weakly as Rian's image surfaced...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash Back:
Her elbow hit his skull sharply on an accidental back swing, narrowly missing his eye as it glanced off his eyebrow and knocked him off balance.
"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Ember turned, dropping her stance and reaching out to touch his face. Rian grabbed her wrist and immediately twisted her arm around to her back, leaving her helpless as he encircled her neck with his other arm. Ember gasped and narrowed her eyes, struggling a bit before finally admitting defeat and fell slack against him. He held her there for two or three seconds before dropping his grip and stepping away.
"That's so not fair." Ember grinned tightly, circling him with her hands up in defensive position.
He followed her with his eyes, his body seemingly relaxed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Ember lunged, feinting an open handed strike, but ducking and swinging out with her foot toward his knee at the last second. Rian almost lazily stepped out of her reach, leaving her off balance. Then he moved back toward her as she threw a hand out to steady herself and drove his shin into her shoulder, pinning her to the ground. She could tell he was being careful since he kept most of his weight off her clavicle. If he'd wanted to, if he was her enemy, he could've broken her right then and there. If her collar bone was wrecked then she'd lose function of her left arm, and she was losing badly enough as it was. Although, with Luce's training she should have been able to keep on better footing with him... but she was, ah, fairly distracted.
Rian stepped back again, this time holding out his hand to help her up. And even though she should have been getting angry at this point since he kept beating her at even the most basic training practices, she just felt the warm calm she always felt by being around him. He pulled her to her feet, drawing her in close enough to where she could catch his scent and couldn't help but to smile. They were both sweating, dying under the intense sun out on the practice grounds Rian had set up after they'd moved to the new base. Rian had his shirt off, preferring just a pair of loose black pants, and Ember was wearing a sports top and some baseball shorts. Both of them had started off with more clothing, but over the course of their fight, as the sun rose higher and higher above them, they'd stripped down to only what they needed.
Unfortunately that left Ember's concentration greatly lacking, and she liked to think Rian wasn't at a hundred percent either, even if he was more adamant about this session actually being useful as training. He backed up a few feet and crouched back into a martial stance, but this time Ember didn't return the gesture. "Oh c'mon. You're just going to add more bruises to my collection. Can't I cry uncle already? We've been at this for hours." She sighed, wiping a bead of sweat as it threatened to trickle uncomfortably down her back. "I promise, I'll make it up next time." Ember wheedled, batting her eyes at his stoic expression. "Please? It's my 19th birthday, I'm almost an old woman!Can't I get a bit of slack?" She pouted at the thought, but quickly regained a coy grin, "Or... if you really want some exercise I know of another way to make us sweat..."
Rian sighed and let a flicker of a smile show. He'd been trying to keep focus, to make sure that they both were ready in case something like what happened on the Dam should happen again. So he'd been pushing for more intensive training, especially without using morphing. The thought had crossed his mind more than once that the animorphs abused their human bodies because it was so easy to morph away injury. But after Ember had been caught off guard like that, it was clear they needed more than the abilities of their animals. They had to be ready for anything, in any form. He couldn't risk losing anyone on his team because he hadn't pushed them hard enough... and he couldn't risk Ember's life again without being sure she would be alright.
It was clear, though, that she wasn't taking this seriously. "It's not your birthday until tomorrow, so that excuse isn't going to work." He looked her over, pausing at the rough scrapes she'd gotten from their sparring. He didn't want to have to hurt her but they had to keep practicing and a few bumps and knocks came with the territory. "Ok," Rian relented, her enthusiasm catching on, "If you can beat me in this next match then we'll take a break." A corner of his mouth quirked upward in a sly smile, "If you can beat me."
Ember smiled widely, her eyes flashing at the dare. "Deal." She mirrored his stance, squaring off and refocusing her intention on her breathing, feeling the earth solidly under her feet as gravity fell lightly on her shoulders. Briefly, she closed her eyes and stretched out with her senses, touching upon what she had in her control and ignoring what she didn't. She had her muscles, her strength, her speed, her intuition, and she could use them all with the positions she'd been taught to fight back against her opponent and gain the upper hand. That was all she needed. It didn't matter who her opponent was, or what they had that she didn't, the only thing that mattered was her breath and focusing her energies toward winning.
She opened her eyes, and Rian moved. He was fast. He got in close and took an easy swing with his fist. Ember knew he was playing with her, trying to bait her with an easy block upwards so he could use his off hand to knock the wind from her. She took it, raising her forearm so his swing was pushed aside, but as he made his secondary attack she turned sideways, grabbing hold of his arm and pulling it over her shoulder. Rian figured out her plan a moment too late, only barely able to keep from being completely toppled as she ducked under his weight and dragged him over top of her back. He fell off balance, but recovered enough to dive over her of his own volition and tuck into a roll, getting back on his feet before she could drive forward to pin him. Ember switched gears and aimed a few blows at his chest and shoulders. Rian blocked, catching her fists in his palms or turning them away from his body. Then she reared up, tucking her arms back in and used the full length of her leg to catch him in the gut with a round-house kick. Rian grunted, but used his speed to catch her foot and dragged her off balance. But Ember had already been taught how to counter that in several different ways. For Rian, she used her favorite, instead of trying to pull away which would have made her situation worse, she pushed toward him, jumping off her one leg and leaping on top of him, knocking them both over. She captured his torso with her thighs and trapped his upper chest with her forearm, one hand in the air over his head ready to land a final blow.
Ember paused, muscles tense. Their breathing matching in ragged pace, eyes locked onto one another. Then she suddenly giggled as she realized his hands were on her waist, hitting ticklish nerves around her midriff. "Hey! Stop that! That's completely unfair!" She burst out laughing as Rian lightly ran his fingers over her stomach. Ember wriggled, trying to get off him, but he caught her there and she had to place her hands on either side of his head to keep from falling, her face inches from his...
<<Hey guys!>> Stevert's voice rang out in both their heads, coming from the Blue jay soaring overhead. <<Hope I'm not interrupting anything!>>
Ember rolled her eyes. It's always something.. she sighed and got herself back to her feet, letting Rian up from the ground so they could get back to work. "What's up?" She called out as Stevert landed, demorphing before them with a goofy grin on his face, waggling his eyebrows at the two of them like a cartoon character. Obviously Robert wasn't at the helm, but it was good to see Steve in better spirits. After the Dam everyone had been affected pretty deeply, but Steve had taken it harder than most since he hadn't even wanted to go through with it. So if he could relax and have a bit of fun at their expense, Ember didn't begrudge him. Besides, it was no secret about her and Rian anymore. Rumors caught on so fast around the faction it was a wonder that everyone hadn't known before they did.
"I found a note on the dance studio." Stevert pulled a slip of paper from his waistband and held it out. Ember took it and glanced over the writing before passing it on to Rian.
It was Sedra. Ember had almost forgotten the deal they'd arranged before the attack on the Dam. And she hadn't honestly expected her to continue on with the plan... but, it looked like from the note that the controller fully intended to continue on. Guess the whole threatening to kill me thing wasn't personal. Ember thought wryly, "She posted the meeting time." She frowned, "Looks like we'll be able to help those kids after all... although I don't know what she's playing at. Last time we met she nearly dropped the whole thing because of a problem with my attitude... I can't imagine the attack on the Dam did anything to improve her mood. We almost killed her, I just- why?" Ember shook her head, already speeding through the thoughts of everything that was wrong about this. "I don't know. Something feels... off. But we've got to go, right?" She looked to Rian, hoping he would know something about this that she didn't.
Sedra:
Silently, Sedra watched Ember rouse slowly. There was a cocky smile inching along the edges of her lips, her eyes focused on the girl's face. Only the slightest twitching of her muscles gave away the fact that there was an inward struggle going on between Sedra and her host. Otherwise, the Sub-Visser had all the appearances of confidence and the arrogance of victory. She had always suspected the Animorphs would try to pull something on her, and knew she had been right to bring along the other controller. Maybe the pieces hadn't quite fallen where they were supposed to, but she had what she wanted now.
The sound of Ember struggling against her restraints brought a smaller smile to Sedra's lips, her eyes growing icy. The smile was far from friendly. "Awake yet, Animorph?" Sedra drew near, noticing Ember looked like she was still half-dozing. There was a strange smile on the girl's face. Still, the girl could probably hear her. Sedra grabbed a handful of Ember's hair, pulling her head sideways. "Perhaps your friends should be a little more wary where they step, little Animorph, and who they cross. Know that this is what happens. A little present from me." Somewhere in the room, there was the gentle sound of splashing. This was going to be a good day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash Back:
"Indonesia. We'll need a bug fighter."
Sedra cocked an eyebrow up, staring at the Animorph in front of her. They had met back where the deal had first been talked about, in a small suburban park. The place was usually deserted and thankfully there were no jogging controllers today. Sedra was leaning against her car, arms folded, a frown on her lips. "I see." She had expected the farm to be far away, of course. Out of the way of normal controllers, who didn't care for their host's offspring. But Indonesia? It had taken a few seconds of searching her host's memory to even know where that was. All that did was complicate this entire thing more, it would make things more unpredictable.
Sighing, Sedra shifted against the hot metal car door and leveled her gaze on the Animorphs' leader standing in front of her--Rian. They didn't deserve this. They didn't deserve her help, even if it was false. Not after what they had done at the dam. The image of all those Yeerks floating dead, boiled alive, still haunted her. Some Yeerks were terrified of going to the pool now, lest they be killed there as well. It was unfortunate. Sedra smiled thinly.
"Fine. I will arrange the bug-fighter." Her eyes narrowed a little bit, the smile tightening and her expression growing harder. "However, only three Animorphs will come. No more than that." There was warning in her tone, but she didn't suspect they'd listen. Why would they? She wasn't exactly going to follow the deal either. If there had been any doubt before, there wasn't now. The dam had cemented Sedra's decision. "As for our terms. You get the child, Eva, and I will let you wander around there undisturbed. Understood?" It was practically the same terms as before, when Ember had been speaking for the group of them.
There was a pause, and the Animorph smirked a bit. "Understood." He turned to the Animorph who had accompanied him, motioning to leave. Sedra watched as they disappeared somewhere near the bathrooms, and a few minutes later a couple birds launched into the sky. After they had disappeared, she pulled open the door to her car and slid inside, slamming it close. The seat was warm, and the desert heat rose from the plastic.
<<They aren't stupid, Sedra. They will know something's amiss. Can't you just make this simple. Get Eva, and get out.>> The words from her host came as a surprise--lately she'd been more withdrawn, more silent.
It changed nothing. Ignoring her host's thoughts, Sedra flipped open her phone. As she dialed with one hand, she stuck her keys in the ignition with her other. The car hummed to life, and the phone rang on the other side. Warm air conditioning blasted from the vents, whirring softly as the phone picked up on the other line. A familiar voice answered. They knew who was calling. With one last look towards the sky, vast and empty outside her car window, Sedra spoke. "I have a job for you."
Rian:
Rian finished the jaguar morph. Up until then he'd looked pretty disturbing since the morph, for whatever reason, had decided to morph everything but fur first. But as the tawny gold fur with it's pattern of black rosettes spread across the stocky, well muscled form of the cat Rian felt the jaguar's mind rise up under his own.
He had tested this morph out before coming on this mission so he was prepared for the jaguar's instincts. But the last time he had morphed this animal he had not been surrounded by helpless children. The urge to hunt was disgustingly strong and tempting but he shut it down.
He left Drake and Suji to finish what they'd been doing and ran towards Alora and Steve. His cat moved with a satisfying sense of weight and power and for the first time Rian was able to roar. He didn't, it would have warned Alora that he was coming.
This mission was quickly getting out of hand. They needed to get the kids on the damn transport and out of here. He had tried to plan for this mission and realized quickly that there were too many unknown factors to account for. So instead he'd tried to make the team as flexible as possible and hope that they would be able to respond to whatever Sedra threw at them. But it hadn't even crossed his mind that she might bring back up too and in the form of Alora no less. And now Steve was in danger because of the situation Rian had put him in. How had Alora snuck up on Steve anyway? Where was Ember?
These questions all flashed across his mind as he ran towards the controller that had Steve pinned and as he did he felt something akin to annoyance from the jaguar's mind. It wanted to hunt. There wasn't room for other thoughts, other considerations and Rian's chattering, human mind was distracting. But Rian couldn't do what the jaguar wanted, the questions and the worries kept coming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash Back:
His office would have been a little small to fit all of them comfortably so Rian was meeting with the faction in the mess hall. The large room held only three, very long tables with about 15 chairs on each side pulled up to them. Rian sat on the middle table, his feet on a chair and his hands clasped loosely in front of him with his weight resting on his knees.
The days regiment of training and patrolling was over, at least for him since he didn't have night patrol tonight, but he was still in his morphing suit. He had something he wanted to do later if he was going to go on a mission, a new morph he wanted to acquire, so he hadn't bothered changing.
That wasn't true of many of the others who were wearing real clothes when off duty. It was a little odd to see them in street clothes all gathered here. Dressed like this they looked like a bunch of teenagers just hanging out in the school cafeteria.
Drake and Diana were sitting side by side at one of the tables across from him, Stevert leaned against a table but seemed to have too much energy to sit down as evidenced by his slightly excited expression. Luce was sitting a little farther down from Drake, Diana and Stevert. She had pulled one of the chairs out from the table and was sitting on it backwards, her arms crossed on the back of it and her head resting on them. Suji was on the other side of the Drake/Diana/Stevert group, sitting on a table like he was, her feet on the chair in front of her. Chloe and Ember stood surprisingly close to each other in the near aisle. They were also leaning against the tables.
Just a bunch of kids hanging out. Except the mood was all wrong. No one was speaking, not even Stevert. They were all quiet and focused on him, waiting for what he had to say. They weren't here for fun, not right now, they were here for a mission briefing and they all knew how serious it was. Maybe there would be time for joking later.
"So we met with Sedra 149 this afternoon," he began. His eyes flickered over to Luce almost hoping to see some type of reaction. He wanted to see her wince or blink or something, something to show that she felt guilty for the day under the dam. But he saw nothing, her face remained closed, even at the mention of the name, at least to him. Maybe someone who knew her better would have been able to see something.
"She still wants to work with us to rescue the children at the kid farm, or at a kid farm. According to Luce there is more than one and they are all over the world." He didn't mention how Luce knew about this. Most knew that she had once been a controller and those who didn't would surely be told the minute the meeting ended by those who did. "We are going to be going after one in Indonesia. We have the exact location but Sedra doesn't, not yet and she won't get it until we are close to the correct island."
He paused to collect his thoughts, his eyes again running over his audience trying to read their reactions. He wanted to know what they thought about this, about working with a controller. It was dangerous and all of them had history with this particular Sub-Visser. She had almost killed Drake at one point, and she'd been assigned to security at the tower Diana and Chloe had been sent to take down. Of all of them only Stevert hadn't had a personal run in with her and that partially motivated his choice of who to take with him.
"We are only allowed to take three with us. I'm going to go. So is Ember since she's been the main contact on this. The last person on our team is going to be Stevert," he said nodding at his youngest faction member. "That way we get a two for one deal. But I'd like to have even more back up than that. So, those of you that have insect morphs, well I'm hoping to take you along for the ride. Suji, Drake, I want you guys to go on one of us. Who it is doesn't matter. Diana," he looked at her. She was the other person in the faction who had an insect morph but he hadn't called her out. "You're going to be in charge of the base while we are gone."
Ray had recently gone off saying there was something he needed to do. Rian wasn't sure, but he was starting to feel like Ray needed to move on, like Vegas had grown too small for him. He might need a faction of his own soon and if he did Rian would have to replace him as Second. He wanted to start testing out a few of his candidates and Diana was high on his list.
"About the mission itself. The deal we have with Sedra 149 is that we help her rescue one particular child, a girl named Eva age 3, and in turn she lets us attempt to rescue the other kids. We need her to get in. She needs us to find the base. It should be known that this girl, Eva, she is the daughter of Sedra's host body...born after she was taken over."
For a moment he stopped. He had gotten these details from Ember who had gotten them from Luce. The more information they had about this situation going in the better he could predict what his enemy was going to do. He hadn't tried to debrief Luce himself, she wasn't likely to talk to him. But he had asked Ember to start to pry about it. She hadn't liked the idea of getting Luce to talk just to betray her confidence. And she had liked the fact that he was using their friendship and his relationship with Ember, to get what he needed even less. The look she'd given him when he'd asked had made him feel immoral. It wasn't mad, so much as disappointed. But he needed the information and she could get it for him so he'd pushed the feeling away.
"Sedra 149...she feels, it feels like the child is its daughter." Even saying that was difficult. He didn't want to think of a slug having maternal feelings toward a human child. He cleared his throat and went on. "That tells us that Sedra's going to be focused on that one girl. We can use that hopefully. Keep her concentrated on one child so that she doesn't have time to betray us or notice our own betrayals. We are going to be taking all the kids, yes, but we are taking Eva too. I'm not handing a three year old girl over to a Sub-Visser to be infested when she gets old enough to be useful."
It was a stupid situation. The yeerk would betray them. And she would expect them to betray her. It was an unspoken acknowledgement. So it would really come down to who could work faster and who had more control of the situation when their real motives were revealed. He hoped that the extra two animorphs would give them an advantage, that and the fact that they would both be on unfamiliar territory, but he still felt like he was going into this with a bad hand.
He sat up straighter, almost done. "We meet her at 6 tomorrow so those of you going get some sleep. Diana, I know you took a patrol earlier today but can you take over Drake's graveyard shift? Stevert, I didn't switch you out since you have first patrol of the night but as soon as its over please get some sleep. We have to get there before she does so we'll be there at 5:30, leave here at 5. We'll leave someone in the air, Stevert most likely, so that we know when she's coming. She'll be coming in a bug fighter so hopefully she'll be easy to see. We'll need as much morph time as possible, I don't want anyone stuck as a cockroach or a moth, so you guys will morph right before she gets there. Ember, Stevert and I all have the belts," he said mentioning the design feature of the LA animorph morphing suits, "so you'll have a place to hide where you hopefully won't be in too much danger. That's it."
The mood in the cafeteria lightened slightly now that the actual business of the meeting was over. Everyone except for Luce relaxed. Luce got up and left the mess hall without looking at anyone. Rian wasn't clear how Luce felt about this whole situation but he couldn't imagine she was happy. But she would be helping rescue kids so it couldn't bother her that much.
Drake and Diana didn't move immediately and Drake began joking with her, congratulating her on her momentary promotion. Chloe walked over to join them and Rian was glad to see that she was starting to fit in. Suji sat at the table for a moment, almost like she wasn't exactly sure what to do, before getting up and walking over to the small group forming. Drake looked up when she came over and pulled out a chair for her. With the small gesture Suji was welcomed into the group and Rian's mind was put to rest about the two of them being able to work together. He had been a bit worried since the last time he'd seen them interact Drake had been very drunk and very sick.
Ember caught his eye and motioned towards the door to see if he wanted to leave. <<Go ahead, I'll catch up,>> he sent her, using the thought speak easily. She smiled a bit and walked out of the mess hall, Stevert close behind her. Rian hopped off the table and caught up with Stevert.
"Steve, Rob, hold on," he said catching their arm. "I have something I want to talk to you about."
Suji:
“Stay down,” Suji ordered the kid beneath her. She had one knee pressed between his shoulder blades, and he was face down in the dirt. It wet too—not enough to really be mud but enough to be damp and even more unpleasant. “Stay down. We’re going to get you all out of here.”
God, Suji didn’t like this. She knew it was necessary, but she didn’t like it. Sophia had been about the same age as this kid, and the last time she had to try to pin someone this young, it had been so that she could kill a girl. A free human, too.
You’re here to save them, Suji reminded herself forcefully.
Sure didn’t feel like it at the moment.
She was holding him down until Drake could bring Robert over. She was holding down a free human child so that she could allow a Yeerk to infest him. Maybe he wasn’t really a Yeerk, but would that make much of a difference? It was still the body of the enemy invading your head. Suji still didn’t know how Steve handled it, and Steve was his brother.
He was struggling less now, so she shifted her weight, putting less pressure on him. “I know it sucks, but we’re the rescue team. Do you know who the Animorphs are?” The kid glanced back at her, eyes wide, and she took that as a yes. Their reputation preceded them. “You saw how our friend there just turned into a jaguar?” The kid glanced over to where Rian had ran, and then nodded, ever so slightly.
“Well, we have someone who turned into a Yeerk. We have to do this to get past the filter, but it’s one of us, not one of them, okay?”
But she’d lost him somewhere around Yeerk. His body tensed and he moved to thrash again, shouting NO as loud as he could, though it was muffled by the ground. Suji quickly restrained him again, placing her full weight on his back.
“Have you got Robert?” She asked Drake, tone snapping. She couldn’t help it.
Whether or not it was an Animorph, they were still going to be forcing this kid to relive the nightmare that had haunted him for what probably felt like as long as he could remember. They were still allowing someone else to crawl around his brain without even his temporary permission.
She felt like the enemy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK:
Suji’s door was open. She was reading a flight manual. It didn’t really do any good, but it felt at least somewhat productive. And hopefully it would put her to sleep. There was a big mission tomorrow as far away as Indonesia, and she needed to rest. Still, she was anxious, a particular mix of excitement and tension.
She saw Luce come to the doorway out of the corner of her eye. At first she pretended not to see her. Suji didn’t want to deal with Luce right now. Not when she had this mission to worry about. If Luce came to explain herself for the events at the dam, well, she was going to have to wait till they got back. She didn’t want it on her mind any more than it already was.
But Luce knocked, and cleared her throat. Begrudgingly, Suji set her book down.
“Yes?” It wasn’t an icy hiss, but it wasn’t friendly either. She didn’t invite Luce in.
“I… I need to ask you to do something for me, even though I don’t have the right to ask.” Suji arched an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything. After a moment Luce went on. “I can’t be on the mission tomorrow, so I can’t do it myself. Sedra… Sedra 149 is not trustworthy.”
Did Luce really need to come here and tell her that? That they couldn’t trust a Controller, and Suji had to be on her toes because Luce wouldn’t be there to watch out for them? Hell, Luce hadn’t been able to do that when she was on a mission. It was probably safer to have Luce’s fine sense of judgment back here in Vegas than anywhere near them and that Controller.
“All she cares about is Eva and she hates the Animorphs. Just, watch her, okay? Don’t turn your back on her.” Luce stopped there, and looked like she might want to continue. It seemed like she was feeling vulnerable, and she might even have gone on, if Suji had let her. Suji, however, didn’t have the patience or the inclination to hear warnings about who not to trust from Luce, let alone any sob stories that might come attached.
“You don’t have to worry. I know exactly who and what my enemies are. Now, I have a mission tomorrow.” Suji got up, and without another word, closed the door. It took willpower not to slam it in Luce’s face. How dare she?
Suji had made the mistake of not eradicating Sedra once. If it came to it, she wouldn’t make it again.
Stevert:
The pain! Steve's arm was on fire! It was sprained at least, something Alora had been quick to do before the fight had begun. Then she barreled into him with the grace of a cat. She struck him in the side of the head and then his legs were swiped out from under him. Steve yelled as he fell towards the ground. He rolled over and Alora brought her foot down on his chest. He grabbed at her leg to try to throw her off, but she knelt on his chest, pinning his arms to the side. She grabbed his right hand in his and with a loud audible snap SNAP, broke a finger. Then another.
"Die human," She hissed through her teeth. Steve tried to get up, tried to throw Alora off, tried to fight back, but he couldn't. She had incapacitated him and the pain was very great. His few basic fighting practices with the other animorphs had not prepared him for Alora, an experience assassin. He could not even morph. She would kill him instantly instead of slowly doing so. Alora wasted no more words and began pushing her knee into his throat, simutaneously squeezing his hand. Steve yelled out as the pain racked his arm. Tears welled up as she spat on Alora, saying, "You won't win, Alora, you'll never leave these islands alive," His bait worked. She stopped squeezing his hand, but then hit him in the face so hard that his nose must have been broken. What else could account for the blood and pain Steve felt there? Then the squeezing resumed and her knee drove even further into his stomach.
And Robert was gone. For the first time since being infested, Steve was alone without his brother's presence in his mind. Robert was with Drake and Suji, to infest a kid. And Steve was about to die. Alone. Through all of the pain, Steve's ninety-mile-per-hour mouth managed one last cry, "ROBERT!!!"
~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK
"Da plane! Da plane! Da plane!" Steve cried and jumped up and down in his spot. Not that it was necessary since he was standing right beside Rian and Ember, both of whom had seen it as well. But it made Steve feel good to do something. Besides, the sand WAS pretty hot on his bare feet. All the better to morph with, Rian had said earlier. Steve wished that it was possible to morph sneakers, or anything to protect their feet.
The Bug Fighter slowly descended on to the sand and dirt of the desert. The coordinates that Rian had given Sedra had been exactly in the middle of Nowhere, Las Vegas Desert. There was no way and surprises could happen, for either side. According to Rian, only three Animorphs were going on the mission, Rian, Ember, and Steve. At least, that is what Sedra thought. Little did she know that a cockroach named Suji was somewhere under Ember's hair, directly above her left ear, and a moth named Drake was hiding in the belt made from Speedos that Rian was wearing. If only Drake knew, Steve thought and smirked. He had no intentions of telling him that. Nor did Sedra know that Robert was a yeerk inside of Steve. So they were planning on smuggling six Animorphs all of the way to Indonesia. Steve smiled at the thought.
Then the entrance to the craft opened and Sedra stepped out, looking around everywhere, in case there were any traps or reinforcements. Which there was, just none that anyone could see. Then, as lovely as ever, Alora appeared in the entrance. As soon as he saw her and the evil glint in her eyes, Steve's own eyes opened wide and he ducked behind Ember. "Ember, Ember, Ember!" He said hurridly. "Protect me! Or kill her! Something! Pleeeeeeaase?" All the while, he kept tugging on her sleeve. He glanced around and looked at the expressions on everyone's faces. Rian's face was like a statue's, blank. Ember's face had an annoyed expression on her face and then she jerked her sleeve and arm away from Steve. Sedra looked content, possibly because she believed that Steve would be no help to the Animorphs, and Alora just looked smug. She was actually enjoying it!
Steve backed away from everyone, although he still stayed behind his teammates. He began to think about morphing to escape when Robert spoke.
<<Easy there. Down boy. She's not going to hurt you.>> Robert said in a voice with obvious mirth.
<<I know, I'm not really scared, I'm just sick of her trying to kill me. She's done so twice already. What if she tries now?>> Steve complained.
<<Rian will handle it. I promise.>>Robert said.
Steve dropped out of the conversation and glared at Alora. This was going to be a looooong trip.
Drake:
"I got him," Drake said to Suji with a hint of revulsion in his voice. He lowered Robert down to the ear of the pinned child. He watched as his ally squirmed his way into the head of a person they were trying to rescue and felt a little sick, and not just because it was gross to watch something crawl into someone else's ear.
No, this sickness was far deeper. something that went down to his very core. The only thing that kept Drake from reaching out and trying to stop Robert was the fact that this was necessary. Sure, maybe if they had enough time Drake could have come up with a different plan, but time was something that always worked against the animorphs.
The kid suddenly stopped struggling and Suji let him go. He sat up, half covered in damp dirt from the ground. "You in?" Drake asked even though he already knew the answer.
The kid's eyes looked from him to Suji and back. "Yeah..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Flash Back
<<Are we there yet?>> Drake asked in complete seriousness. He was afraid that him and Suji would be trapped as bugs if they were not allowed to demorph soon. That was not something that Drake was about to allow. Life as a moth did not sound the least bit appealing to him.
<<Almost. We just have to->> The sudden pause in Rian's speech made Drake nervous. <<Drake, Suji, bail out, now!>> Drake was not about to sit around and ask what was going on. He was too busy trying to escape from his teammate's belt.
<<Why? What is it?>> he heard Suji ask. She must have been less panicked, or at least was better at not letting it show in her voice.
<<A biofilter,>> Rian responded. <<It looks like you two will have to find a different way in.>>
Drake's stomach sunk. They did not even do anything yet, and already they were separated from the group. Drake fluttered away from the group as soon as he got free, trying to figure out what him and Suji should do next.
<<Lets find a place to demorph, meet up, then figure out a plan from there,>> he heard Suji suggest. Drake thought it was as good a plan as any, so he agreed. He flew along what seemed to be a wall around the facility's perimeter for a while, then veered of into the surrounding vegetation. There he demorphed and then remorphed into his lizard form. He needed to stay out of sight, as well as be able to see and communicate with Suji. Apparently Suji had a similar idea, because before too long he met up with a monkey near a muddy stream.
<<So how do we get in? It is not like we can just go flying over that wall without risking getting shot down. Can cockroaches fly?>> Drake asked.
<<What wall? I don't see a wall anywhere.>>
<<Huh? I was flying right next to it when I was a moth.>> Drake scuttled out from the edge of the vegetation so that he could see what Suji could see from her higher vantage point. She was right. There was no wall. <<But I could have sworn...>>
<<Look. It must be invisible. There are birds on the ground that must have run into it.>> Drake could not see very well through the grass, so he would have to take Suji's word for it. An invisible wall seemed pretty far fetched to Drake. But then again, he was currently in the body of a lizard.
<<So how to we get in?>> Drake asked as he headed back towards the stream. The stream looked all disgusting. He wondered if it was naturally like that, or if the yeerks were using it to get rid of garbage and stuff in their compound. Then a though occurred to him. <<Hey Suji. Does the stream come out from inside of the compound? I can not see from down here.>>
<<Yes,>> Suji replied plainly.
<<Is the water moving?>>
<<Yes,>> she sounded a tad bit more excited tis time. Drake sensed that Suji could see the idea he was getting at. If water could go under the wall, then they should be able to too, right? Drake began to demorph. <<We will need a fish for this job. Luckily I have just the thing.>> Drake was a bit excited that his koi morph would actually come in useful. What had he been thinking when he acquired that while living in the desert? Although, he had to admit, he did not loose anything by acquiring it. It was a live fish, so he did not even use up any of their limited supply of blood.
Apparently Suji decided it was a good idea to demorph as well, because now the two of them stood at the water's edge in their morphing suits. All this repeated morphing was exhausting, but he would manage. He had to.
"How should I get in?" Suji asked. "I don't have a water morph." She merely stated it as a fact, not as an actual concern.
"Hmm, good question," Drake said as his arms began melting into fins. "I will scout out the opening and see if it is big enough to swim through. Although I might have to drag you through in your bug morph." <<We will have to wait and see, I guess.>>
Now that he was mostly fish, Drake scooted away from shore and into the slightly deeper water. He did not make it more than a couple feet before an impossibly large reptile rose from the muck and swallowed him whole.
Stevert:
Tobin screamed yet no sound escaped his lips. He tried looking for an exit away from his "saviors" but his eyes didn't move. He tried to thrash around and run away, but his body didn't obey him. He was a prisoner to a yerrk. He was a prisoner to Robert Kinley, of the Las Vegas Animorphs and current nothlit. Yeerk nothlit. Tobin's screams of anguish and betrayel swamped their minds.
There was nothing Robert could do. He had been forced to control every aspect of the child's freedom. All because Tobin didn't want infested. The kid had been told that they were the good guys and that infestation was vital to their success, but the kid hadn't wanted it. So Robert had been forced to infest. Infest him like the cruel invaders that Robert now resembled in so many ways. Weren't they supposed to be the "good" guys? Right now, they were no better than the yeerks. Especially Robert. Maybe he was letting the kid get to him, but he didn't care. He wanted out as soon as possible.
Then he heard Drake's voice ask if he was okay. Robert moved Tobin's eyes, back and forth from Suji and Drake before using the boy's lips to say, "Yeah..." The boy's voice, as a result of both Robert and Tobin, was dripping in regret. Tobin's mental voice quieted down as he realized that he had no choice now. Even though he knew infestation was going to be inevitable (from either side), he had never dreamed it would be from his rescuers.
Robert moved the kid's body into a standing up position and began to jog, slightly unsteadily, away from most of the buildings on the compound towards the small shipyard. After a brief glance at each other, Drake and Suji both followed, easily catching up with Robbin's (Robert/Tobin) young body. Robert picked up Tobin's speed until they weren't slowing Suji and Drake down by much.
Within a few moments, they were in the midst of the ships. A trio of bug fighters, a modified bug fighter, a couple of helicopters, and what Robbin was looking for. The cargo ship. Although the place was pretty self-sufficient, the complex did occasionally need additional supplies. So they used a new design of cargo ship to transport things back and forth. In fact, it was how most of the children had arrived. Robert knew it from Tobin's memories.
Robert thought-spoke to Drake and Suji. <<That's it.>> He refrained from saying anything else and walked right up to the hatch on the side closest to the group and then quickly typed an access code in the panel on the side. Rob was amazed at the memory of Tobin. Tobin had only caught a quick glimpse at the panel, but had been able to memorize the access codes as he had been put in there while still in the US. Then Robert headed to the cockpit, going through Tobin's memories on what to do and how to do it.
Robbin sat on the pilot's seat and waited for a moment as the seat's scanner read the yeerk in Tobin's brain. Then Robert began pressing buttons and pulling switches, getting the ship ready to go without attracting to much attention.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK
The guard waved them through. And why not? Sedra had plenty of rank and they all passed the biofilter. So they were pretty much free. Except for the controller assigned to escort them around the base to show them around. It was definitely going to make things trickier. The guide took the front with Sedra right behind him. Then came Ember and Rian, walking side by side. Alora followed them and Steve could see her hand constantly resting on her small and specialized dracon beam. Steve trailed behind Alora, not going to give her the opportunity to stab him in the back, literally.
The paved path they were on took them by a long building. Through the quick glimspes that he could get, Steve watched dozens of children standing up and repeating whatever the instructor in front of them said. He also saw multiple guards, some of them Hork-Bajir, stationed in various places around the room. The next several classrooms looked the same. Steve was willing to bet his left arm (not his right, even if he could morph it back) that they were listening to some brainwashing spiel the yeerks were giving. It wasn't until he noticed Alora glaring at him that he realized that he had stopped to watch. He increased his pace a bit to stay just behind his twice-almost murderer.
Then group passed by a large, classy building with at least half a dozen guards in front of it. According to what the guide and his common sense said, Steve assumed it was the main headquarters of the place was. That was surely where all important stuff happened.
But they didn't even slow down. Steve had no idea what kind of story that Sedra had given to the guide, but he obviously felt no need to bring them to the visser/sub-visser in charge of the project. Soon, the guide stopped them at some kind of obstacle course. Then Steve saw a couple dozen of children crawling around it, all dressed, it drab greys and browns. They ranged from at least five to maybe even Steve's own age. Good. Now they had found the children. Remarkabley, Steve had managed to stay silent this far. Now they needed to enact their next plan. They needed to acquire children to morph to sneak around to find Eva. Hopefully Rian had come up with something as a distraction as they morphed the kids.
Then, the tour guide walked away and left them alone. Steve had heard a snippit of the conversation and it had something to do with "bringing her a cup of an energizing refreshment liquid as her host body's energy was depleting in the sun". Something like that. Then Sedra leaned in towards Rian. "Do it now, Animorph." She almost hissed. Rian stayed silent, and he just barely nodded his head. There was one guard watching the kids. Obviously the yeerks didn't think that they needed more since there was a force field around the place and nowhere else to go. And the guard wasn't really watching the kids anyway. He was leaning against a building (possibly the children's bedroom) and his eyes were closed, probably daydreaming about what he would do if he was Visser 1. After all, that is what most low-ranked yeerks did.
Therefore it was easy to walk right into the crowd of kids who immediately parted and quieted down. Well, everyone went into the crowd except for ALora, who just stayed just beyond the obstacle course with her hand on her weapon. She just probably wasn't a kid person. Steve could testify to that. Children of all ages instantly stopped whatever they were doing and froze on the spot, terrified of what could happen. Woah! The yeerks have seriously messed these kids up! look at them! They flinch when we blink! Have the yeerks been torturing them or something?
<<I dunno,>>thought Robert.
It wasn't right for kids to be so afraid of them so Steve took the first step. Literally. He walked right up to a kid, about twelve or thirteen and held out his hand. "Hello," he said, "What's your name?"
The boy didn't back down as much as the others around him did. Instead, he seemed a bit more rebellious and just stood there, glaring at Steve. Then, Steve's ear-to-ear smile gradually rubbed off on the boy. The child stuck out his hand and shook Steve's and said in a low voice, "Michael". Still smiling, Steve focused on the child. The boy's eyes almost glazed over and he stopped moving momentarily. Then Steve let go and walked away to Rian and Ember, with the child's DNA swiftly running through his bloodstream.
"Tactful," Rian said. Then he tried to think of what to do. He needed to demorph and then acquire a kid. Without scaring them. He began demorphing. Very soon, much faster than any of his other demorphs, Rian was in his birth body, looking around at a ring of children, whose expressions were of curiosity, awe, and horror. Mimicking Steve's example, Rian kneeled a bit in front of another child and asked for their name. The kid told Rian their name and placed their hand in Rian's extended hand. The thought of what he was about to do made Rian pull back a bit. He was about to steal someone's DNA! But it was necessary for the mission. In fact, it might be vital. So he bit his lip and put the child in a trance, simultaneously stealing their DNA.
When he was done, he stood up and looked around to see that Ember had likewise finished acquiring a child. Then the guide came back and the group set off to finish their tour.
Suji:
Robert—Robert in the kid’s body—was booting up the transport vehicle. Drake was further inside, and Suji was in the hatch opening, scanning the surroundings frantically. Steve and Rian were running towards them now. There was a sinking feeling in her gut. Six. They’d started this with six Animorphs. There were five here. Where was Ember?
Steve reached the transport first, and as he jumped in (they hadn’t lowered the ramp, and the hatch was a good two or three feet off the ground) Suji grabbed the back of his morphing suit to help him. Rian was next, but he was slowing rather than speeding up for the leap. Suji held out her hand to him, holding on to safety handle inside the vehicle with the other. She leaned out of the doorway, stretching to help, though she knew, she already knew that Rian wasn’t setting foot on this ship right now.
“Ember’s missing!” He shouted. I can see that, now take my fucking hand, Suji wanted to reply. She had to get him on this transport. They had to leave.
“We have the kids! We have to go!”
“She needs me!”
“You’ve got four Animorphs and dozens of kids on this ship who need you!”
She hoped against hope that he would take her hand. The longer she held it out, the more certain she was that he wouldn’t.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLASHBACK:
Drake’s arms turned into white-and-orange fins, which wasn’t very pleasant to see. He walked deeper into the water as his body shrunk. Suji was worried that some leeches might find him before he fully morphed. Leeches were pretty gross. She crossed her arms to wait, and she could still make his bright form out from under the water. She wouldn’t be able to see him for long though—the water was murky.
It happened so fast that Suji wasn’t sure it was real. It was like a nightmare—that’s the only thing Suji could relate the utter powerlessness to. Some creature, scaly, reptilian, rose up and swallowed him. “Drake? DRAKE!” She shrieked, and splashed into the water. The thing (was it a crocodile?) was some four feet long, and she rushed staggeringly into the river, praying that it wouldn’t disappear beneath the surface, praying that she could catch it.
“DRAKE! DEMORPH! DEMORPH!” Suji had never been so close to hysterics in her life, and all she could do was hope that it somehow hadn’t bit into him. She could take a four to five foot alligator, right? She could try-
Her knees locked at a point when the water was waist level. She stumbled forward, feet sliding in the slick mud of the river bottom.
The reptile wasn’t four feet long.
That was just its head.
“…no…” Suji whispered, as the rest of its body came to the surface of the water. It was… it wasn’t possible. It was like a monster. Like a fucking dinosaur. It had to be at least twenty feet long, if not more. She was frozen in terror. If that thing ate Drake…
Fuck! Fuck! What morphs did she have? Certainly nothing that could handle that thing. A fucking rabbit, a monkey, two goddamn birds, a COCKROACH? “No… no-no-no-” Suji backed out of the water, falling back against the bank. She tried to will herself to think, to plan, but it was as if the primate part of her brain had taken over. It locked down in fear of that huge predator, let alone what it meant that her companion had just been eaten by it.
So she sat in the mud, dumbstruck. Terrified. They fought aliens with laser-guns and spaceships, had ended up here because of some biofilter that would have killed them instantly, for what? To be killed by some ancient Earth-monster? Suji couldn’t think, could only dig her fingers into the muddy bank and watch that terrible creature float by.
But then it started thrashing. The water around it became tumultuous, waves splashing up to her ankles. Suji stood quickly, hands clenched into fists. Her breath was caught in her throat. The creature tried to submerge itself, but there, in the center of the river, something was happening.
There was an enormous tearing sound that sounded like nothing Suji could expect—her mind searched over and over and the only thing it could relate it to was someone ripping wet canvas—and something was growing out of the water. Yellow and brown flesh seemed to rise up endlessly, and Suji let out a small cry of delight, one hand covering her mouth. She couldn’t even look down at what had happened to the crocodile; she stared up and up until her neck craned.
The giraffe stalked towards her on stilted legs, and Suji fiercely rubbed at her eyes, which ended up smearing a bit of mud at her temples. The giraffe was already shrinking by the time it reached the bank, turning back into a human teenager. He was talking almost even before he had a human mouth, but Suji had blocked that out. It was like seeing someone come back from the dead.
“That thing ATE me! What WAS that? It ate me!” He was saying the same words over and over, and Suji could see his hands trembling. Suji flung herself forward before she realized what she was doing, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “It ate me. It ate me. It ate mffh-” Her lips pressed over his even as he kept talking. Her eyes were closed and she had a brief moment of pure relief. She hadn’t felt such a moment of utter reprieve since the war began.
It was like for one moment the world had decided that it had been a little too cruel, and decided to relent. She pulled herself close to him, and it was hard to make herself let go. She wanted the moment to last, the feeling that something so horrific could be undone. It must not have been that long though, because when Suji pulled back, self-consciousness slipping in, he was still talking about getting eaten.
Suji stepped backwards, looking away. “-ate me.” Drake stopped. There was mud in his hair where her hands had brushed him. She fidgeted. “Did you just kiss me?”
“…I owed you one.” Suji didn’t look up at him: her chest felt tight, her head was uncharacteristically airy. The relief was like a drug, and she didn’t particularly like the uncontrolled feeling of it.
“…well at least I am not throwing up.”
There was a moment of awkward silence. He was looking down at her, probably trying to figure out what just happened, and she was busy looking anywhere but up at him. There’s still work to do, Suji reminded herself, and turned to look back at the river, their way in.
Floating disjointed in the center was the split-open carcass of the crocodile.
“I think I found my water morph.”
Drake tensed next to her. “You are going to morph that thing?”
“There isn’t anything in this river that’s going to mess with that lizard. Or any fish swimming with it.” Drake shifted his weight, and she could tell that he wasn’t so comfortable with the decision. But she would be, and right now she wanted some serious firepower in case anything else went wrong.
Suji was damned if she was going to let something like that happen again.
“Let’s go,” she said, voice steely again, and waded out towards the mutilated body.