AN: Just got a few things to point out. First of all, I'm giving credit where credit's due. The research David claims to have done was actually done and suggested by Mr Good Guy and it allowed this chapter to happen much sooner than intended.

The other thing was that a few people have asked or commented Warren and Ben's relationship. While I have no problem with slash, I honestly think people should be exposed to it more to help get rid of the negative crap, this particular story was never intended to have slash pairings. The boys' relationship is brotherly, platonic. The occasional, possibly suggestive comments or actions are always either because Warren likes messing with Ben a little or because it's the only way they know how to comfort each other. We are talking about two shy people with little social skills and experience after all.

The Spies Part 7

Warren

"You know, when you said I needed to learn to fly, I thought you were being metaphorical." I said as I followed David through the forest, scowling as yet another tree branch hit me in the head. "Why are you dragging me out here? You know I can't morph that small."

"Hey, don't be so pessimistic. That's one of Marco's many annoying traits. Right after his ego." David chastised me jokingly as he turned to look back with a wink. "Besides, it's not entirely true."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused and skeptical. I wasn't about to get my hopes up on growing wings. I'd already had to face that disappointment before and the last thing I needed was another negative experience right now. Shaking his head, David grabbed my arm and dragged me onward, deeper into the trees.

"Birds come in a large variety of shapes and sizes." He said casually, his grip on my arm and his pace unyielding and forcing me along. "There are many different birds out there, but you're right when you say you can't morph much around their size. Hawks and falcons and anything smaller has no chance of being useful to you, but there are a few exceptions. In fact, I found a total of four birds that should do fine."

"What?" I gasped staring with astoundment at the back of his head. My whole body went limp as that registered, to the point that I almost fell face first into the ground from David's tug. As it was, I was only spared that painful meeting by crashing into his back first.

I could still fly? Grow wings and take off the ground on my own power? No, that couldn't be right. Bird bodies don't have much room for foreign objects and had hollow bones. The defibrillator would snap them long before the morph was finished.

"There's no way that you can be right." I shook my head, hoping to dispel any hope or dread that was likely to come with the fact. "The basic physiology of any bird-"

"What, you're becoming a vet too now?" David interrupted with a smirk, provoking a glare before his face turned reassuring. "Trust me. I've done a lot of research on this. From the size and biological structure of the birds, to the size, shape and weight of an implanted defibrillator. I know what I'm talking about."

He put in that much effort into this? That was crazy! I had no idea about the weight of this stupid metal box and it was inside me. I wouldn't know where to find any of that info either. And to get enough information on four birds, ignoring the high possibility of checking others, to confirm the birds' compatibility with the annoy device would take a heap of research, hours of frustration. Most sources would be too vague for that kind of information. He went through all of that work and irritation just so I could grow a few feathers?

"What birds are we talking about?" I asked tentatively, no longer able to hold back my hope and expecting a crash landing into disappointment.

"The condor was the first to come to mind and it proved to be more than successful." David answered, once again guiding me until we reached a small clearing. "But they don't live anywhere near here and if you see them in the sky there is no way you'll mistake it for another bird, so I had to scrap that idea if we want to go without suspicion. The next was the harpy eagle. It's almost perfect, but the closest wild ones to here are in Mexico. So I kept looking and I found two in the area. Ones you're familiar with too." He added with a smirk. Stepping in front of me, he raised both arms out wide on either side of him, his right arm pointing to a rocky area and his left towards where I knew we'd eventually find the river running at full speed.

"I scouted the area last night after my dad showed up to watch our prisoners. A golden eagle enjoys hunting in the rocky maze and a bald eagle likes snatching fish from the river. It's a tighter fit than the condor, but they both could handle the defibrillator's size and its weight. So the only question is which one do you want to morph?"

"A bald and a golden eagle?" I muttered with sheer disbelief. Rachel and David's bird of prey morphs. I'd seen them both in use a few times now, but I'd never once thought about the possibility of morphing them. But now that I thought about it, both of them were around the size of my torso and were built to hold a lot of weight and power. Something that big and bulky very well could hold this stupid metal box. I couldn't help the soft laugh that burst from my lips as my mind accepted it. The answer to every problem concerning my lack of flight was used right in front of me and I never even considered it.

Now the only question was which one would I take? Neither would be original to the team. Rachel often talked about how the bald eagle's eyes could see better than most of the others' when it came to water or glass, having evolved to find fish in deep water like the osprey, but the golden eagle was a bit faster, more capable of keeping up with Jake's falcon. Probably a little stronger too, considering how much Tobias complains about them going after prey as big as young deer.

"I'll take the golden eagle." I decided after about a minute. The extra strength and speed would probably be better to combat the extra weight of the defibrillator.

The look on David's face turned ecstatic as I spoke, surprising me a little. It wasn't until he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and practically dragged me off towards the rocky area that I realised that he'd just performed a mental test of his own. In a way, I'd just picked between him and Rachel. I'd chosen him, at least in his mind.

And to be fair, the fact that I'd chosen a morph David had and was fond of did feel good to me.

...

The trip to our target's territory didn't take all that long to reach. The problem was inside it.

The terrain was full of slopes and large boulders, making it impossible to walk in straight lines or move too quickly without knowing the area and that was without the obstacles of the plant life. I could understand why the golden eagle had picked this area to live in, it was comparable to the foot of a mountain. Though it made maneuverability difficult to those of us ground bound, flyers could still look over it and move through it relatively easily, the perfect hunting ground for an aerial predator.

"So how do you intend to catch a healthy, aggressive master of the sky?" I asked, frowning curiously up at the tree branches. It turned a little disappointed when I couldn't even find the bird. David on the other hand looked perfectly confident.

"By becoming one and drawing it to the ground. You'll have to pin it down until I can demorph after that."

"How am I supposed to do that?" I cried, throwing my arms into the air. I mean seriously, we were talking about a bird that flies over a hundred miles an hour and has talons long and strong enough to pierce my skull. If anything, it was going to pin down me!

"Grow fur?" David suggested as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. My face heated up pretty quickly at that. It was a pretty obvious approach. Not even looking at his smug face, I shed my outer clothes started to concentrate in the wolf.

However, just as the first changes began, my ears and canines, the dream I had two nights ago flashed through my head again, specifically the ending when the wolf form killed Ben and I froze dead in my tracks. Taking a few deep breaths, I focused on me again, refusing to relax until every trace of the wolf was gone. fortunately, that only took about five seconds, but my reaction had still been enough to catch David's concern.

"What's wrong?"

"I just...I want to use a different morph." I didn't really feel like explaining myself and David apparently didn't want to push me as he just took it and nodded. Good thing too, otherwise he'd probably call my reason for switching stupid. If it was me in his position, I'd probably be encouraging the wolf morph just to prove that the irrational fear I'd just felt was pointless. But I'm not very good at taking my own advice, so German Shepherd it is.

Which is again pretty stupid considering how close it is to the wolf. I berated myself as the brown and black fur shot through the skin of my entire body. It more or less thought, acted and felt the same way, they were basically an altered form of wolves after all, thanks to the Chee, but I still felt far more comfortable in this form than its big brother. Still, it was one of the few morphs I had and could use that didn't run wild in that dream, so it still felt acceptable to me.

/Go hide in those bushes./ David said, jerking to a clump of sticks and leave behind me with his half avian head as I finished my morph. /I'll be in the sky in a minute and flush our birdie out this way. Just remember to stay concealed in there until it's time to pounce. If it sees you, you'll never catch it./

/I know, I know, eyes of an eagle and all that./ I would have rolled my eyes if I were human, but since I was a dog, I irritated his nose with my furry tail as I turned around and dug my way into the bush, growling in annoyance as a twig poked its way up my nostril. I hate karma.

Turning around, I shifted just enough to watch David finish his morph before taking off into the sky. I had to put a great deal of effort into keeping my tail still as I watched him fly off into the grey sky of my black and white world. the eagle was fast, graceful and soared majestically as the wind lifted his wings. Pretty soon, that would be me.

Though he quickly flew away from my currently very limited sight, the occasional sound of his flapping and his scent hit my senses. Judging from the frequency, loudness and the strength of his scent, he was doing loops, always ending them low to ground where he started, but always growing slightly bigger in search of our prey.

/Looks like we were followed./ He called down, his voice promising that he'd be scowling if he was human. /A bald eagle and an osprey are nearby. I should have known that the others wouldn't leave us alone. We're on parole./

/As long as they don't try to stop us, who cares?/ I asked, neither surprised or irritated. After everything I've done in the last twenty four hours, I'd have someone there keeping me out of trouble too. /Ignore them. They're not going to have any issues with grabbing a bird semi harmlessly for me to morph./

/Guess you're right./ He grumbled as he swooped past again. This time I saw him and it resulted in a very annoying realisation. I always knew birds of prey were extremely fast, I'd even watched the others flying around with there's, but every time I saw it myself they were kind of high up. I'd read about a few of their speed levels, but numbers only tell you so much. seeing David swoop by at top speed and close range made me realise just how fast this bird was and well...unless I sudden turn into a cheetah without ever even seeing one in real life before, I had no idea how the hell I was supposed to catch something that fast! There was no way my dog body was pulling this one off on its own even if the intense K9 training had come along with the instincts.

This was getting ridiculous. David and I did need to be watched, our plans forever had gaping holes right in the middle of them. How have I ever made my plans work?

/WHOA! Found it!/ David called, a furious screech hurting my head and tensing the Sheppard's previously bored mind emphasising the statement. Moving a leaf out of the way with my nose, I watched as David dipped and loop de looped around the wild eagle, flared his wings and lashed out with his foot at the bird's wing joint, taking care not to pierce it flesh. We didn't want to kill it or leave it defenseless after all. The eagle however, was far more ready for the fight and flung its wing up as hard as it could, startling David as it knocked him off balance before pulling a tight spin and lashing out for David's gut with its talons. His instincts must have kicked in, for David used the disturbance to his balance to pull off a very human looking barrel roll, dodging the talons and striking the confused bird in the head as he threw out his wings and stabilised himself. Stunned, the eagle dropped a few feet closer to the ground, but quickly regained its wits and flew back into the fight with a vengeance, the two of them looping, twirling and weaving around the branches as they lashed out with talons, beaks and heavy wings. But no matter what they did, their speed remained greater than I could handle.

/You need to slow it down./ I called as softly as I could, not wanting to risk distracting him. /At this rate, I'll miss my chance./

/I'm trying!/ He snapped, his voice practically dripping with aggravation as he banked right and flared his wings, avoiding the swooping eagle's attempt at the middle of his wing, but still flinching as a talon clipped the end. /I'm kind of new to aerial combat and this guy is a pro! Give me a break./

A low growl had my muzzle vibrating at that. I was only informing him, he didn't need to bite off my head. You know what, fine! If he wanted to be a jerk, then I'd declare him incapable of succeeding right now and give him something worth being irritated about.

/We know you two are there./ I called moodily, projecting my thoughts publically throughout the area. The sudden voice seemed to have aided David a bit as the eagle's sudden confusion left it jerking and opening itself to an attack, but I ignored it in favour of my original intention. /Would you please give David a hand. Apparently air battles are outside his list of talents./

/Hey!/ David cried indignantly, though with the eagle quickly making up for its previous lapse and leaving him precariously close to losing his head, he didn't have much room to argue.

/Aww, but was enjoying the show./ Rachel replied. /Can't we wait until David hits the dirt, just once?/

/As much as I would like to agree with you Rachel, our little loner just asked for help. I'm sure Big Jake would want us to encourage that behaviour./ Marco would clearly have been grinning if he was human as two more feathered rockets shot into my vision. Noticing their arrival, the two golden eagles quickly separated themselves by a good couple of feet before both Marco and Rachel pulled sharp turns and aimed their talons at the one further from me. Good thing their eyes are so good and their vision wasn't as obstructed as mine because I'd lost track of which eagle was which about ten seconds after I'd called out for help.

The eagle's furious screeching hurt my ears so much that I almost started howling as the others each latched their talons carefully onto each of its wings and, carefully altering their own so as not to hit each other, brought it close to the ground. They wouldn't be able to hold it for long without leaving it flightless and on its way to Cassie's barn with all its thrashing, but they still were able to get it low to the ground and that was all I needed.

/Ready...set...let it go./ I called as the eagle's talon touched down on the dirt. Both its captors released it and took off instantly and the eagle was clearly planning to follow them. Not giving it the chance, I pounce right out of the bush and right over it, carefully, but forcefully pushing my padded paws into its back and shoving it to the ground before altering my hold so that I was painless holding down its wings. Panicked as anyone would be, it thrashed wildly under me and never stopped screeching. It actually surprised me how much it was able to rock me. German Shepherds are strong and heavy creatures. Even if I was holding back my claws and pressure, I didn't think that the eagle would be nearly this hard to pin down.

/Can someone give me a hand already?/ I asked as particularly forceful jerk of the avian's actually dislodged one of my paws and had me scampering to reposition it as the eagle tried to pull itself back onto its feet.

"Relax Fido, we're almost done." David grumbled, his voice coming out gutturally as his beak reshaped into lips. I hadn't even noticed one of them had started demorphing, yet they were all close to human. Painlessly pinning down a big bird with canine paws tends to take up a lot of focus.

Seeming to be done, outside the occasional patch of feathers, David walked over placed his open palms firmly on the eagle's wing joints in its back, halting their movement almost completely. Rachel and Marco joined him a few seconds later, placing their hands on its back and legs respectively and relieving me to demorph.

"You know, Tobias once said that he'd seen one of these bad boys actually succeed in taking out a tired wolf." Marco commented casually as I felt my fur recede. "Just dived down and punctured the back of the skull. How well do you think Bow Wow Warren would have fared?"

/Well, I have human intelligence and I w.../ "Wasn't tired." I responded, switching to a very deep vocal speech as my thought speak gave out. "As long as David was there, I wouldn't have had any problem doing my part."

"Too bad you guys didn't take into account that goldy here has a hell of a lot more experience in aerial assaults than David." Rachel stated, smirking at David. "Especially since all David's experience involves fighting enemies weaker than him. He never dared to take me on as a bald eagle or a fully morphed grizzly."

"Who asked for your-"

"GUYS!" I shouted, startling them so much that they almost let go of the eagle. "I think we've had enough Animorph on Animorph/Andalite action for one day. And I realised that it's rich that I'm the one telling you off for this, but come on, one inner team crisis a day is enough."

"...Fine." David grumbled moodily, rolling his eyes. Rachel looked like she was about to retort, but as soon as she whipped her fiery eyes to mine she immediately sighed in defeat, though it looked very painful for her to do it. I guess my face was reflecting how much regret I felt at the mention of the Ax fiasco. It did feel like hell for me to think about it again and that's about the only thing I could think of that might stop Rachel's response.

"Now that the tension's all nice and thick, why don't you get your butt over here. I'm assuming that you intend to acquire this bad boy." Marco stated, jerking his head to the still struggling eagle. Nodding, I crouched down beside him, placed my hand gently on the center of its back and concentrated on the texture of his feathers. The eagle never stopped thrashing and screeching, but the warm tingling sensation fluttered all over my palm all the same. Smiling, I removed my hand and stood back as the others let the eagle go, the majestic beast wasting no time in taking flight away from the crazy people around it.

"I think that we should go somewhere else before you try that morph out." David suggested between scowling at Rachel. "We don't need another aerial assault."

"Why are you going through all this trouble anyway?" Marco asked, raising an eyebrow at me as we headed back the way David and I came. "You can't morph too small, I thought birds were outside your range."

"So did I. David did the research and found this possibility." I muttered, nodding appreciatively at the still seething male blond. "Being able to fly would be helpful right?" I added nervously. I wasn't sure how these two felt about me right now and I really didn't want to risk another argument. If I lost it again, well...I don't think any of them would forgive a repeat performance.

"It would get you on more missions, yes. It might loosen you up a bit too." Rachel said with forced calmness. Normally I could interpret it, but right now, I was lost as to what that meant. "Go for it. If it causes a problem...we can deal with it later." She looked like she wanted to say something else, but a look from Marco had put a quick halt to that. Not that I was clueless to what she was going to say, she'd blatantly stared at David.

"Just be careful." Marco added. "If it feels like something's wrong, stop the morph."

"It's morphing. Something always feels wrong while you're doing it." David rolled his eyes, earning glares from the other two. I just sighed exasperatedly and rubbed my temples at their display, finding the whole situation ridiculous. I mean, come on, I was the unstable member of this quadruped and I was the one playing the mature mediator. Something was wrong with this picture.

"I think we're far enough." I exclaimed, not really wanting to deal with their resentment of each other on top of everything else. Dropping the clothes that I couldn't be bothered putting back on, I separated myself from the others and concentrated on the eagle. On the sharp talons that were almost as long as my fingers, the feathers on the back of its neck that shine as the sunlight hits them, on every detail I'd ever noticed about the mighty predator.

An itchy sensation coursing over all of my skin marked the first change. Looking at my arms, all my irritation and grief disappeared and was replaced with fascination as lines started spreading all the way from my shoulders to my fingers, depicting a complex pattern of feathers that continued to grow more and more detailed before real feathers spouted from my skin. My fingers melded together just a few moments later and my lips hardened before stretching out in front of me, creating a wickedly strong beak.

"Wow, he looks like one of those harpies. You know, from Greek mythology." Rachel commented as my vision intensified so much that the pimple growing under Marco's chin looked about as big as his whole head had moments ago. And it was only getting bigger and more grossly defined. Wow, no wonder Tobias complained about 'crappy human eyes' whenever he was in human form.

"Strange, usually we-"

"RAAHH!" I interrupted with a distorted scream.

"Oh, there we go." Marco said with a grin.

It had occurred suddenly. One second I was fine, the next I was falling fast. Except my feet hadn't left the ground at all. It was so weird and confusing that it took me a moment of watching the others growing bigger and bigger to realise that I was shrinking. It was weird to me. The only times I'd ever shrunk was when I was morphing ferret and I hadn't done that in far too long. My dog morph was the smallest creature I'd morphed since coming back and even it made me bulk up a bit, not become tiny. It was silly that it had such a disconcerting effect on me considering returning from giraffe morph had been similar, but I don't know, maybe I was just too used to growing first. I knew I'd never noticed the shrinking this much before though.

By the time I was reaching the eagle's size, my organs had already begun their squelching orchestra, making me glad that I didn't have a solid stomach to puke with. I still wasn't used to that and the crunching sounds of my bones shrinking and hollowing wasn't helping. My feet had chosen to start altering themselves around that time too, my toes melding together and forming deadly talons while another talon grew from what used to be my heels.

"So far so good." David commented smugly as watched me. However, he never let his eyes wander from the slight bulge in my chest and my significantly sharper eyes were picking up subtle signs of worry in his better than I my human ones ever could. And of course, I didn't need eagle eyes to see the nervousness the other two held.

By the time my organs and torso muscles started reasserting themselves, the rest of the process was almost done. Gulping as best as a bird can, I forced myself to pay attention to every little detail of how my organs shaped and pushed around my chest. My lungs were the first thing to complete, making breathing a lot easier. My other organs quickly followed, ending he squelching noises without issue. Finally, the muscles melded into place.

That was when I started to worry. Unlike my other morphs, I could feel the muscles fighting with the defibrillator, pushing against it. It reminded me of when the stupid box was first installed, before the muscles adapted and capsulated around it. It was a painful experience moving my arm or even laying down in most positions, something that I was happy that the morphing power was still shielding me from.

However, after a few nerve wracking moments, the muscles gave way and indented themselves until it fit almost as well as when I was human.

/I'm good./ I informed them, watching as the tension keeping then stiff disappeared in one fluid motion, leaving all three letting out a breath I didn't notice they'd been holding. /We've found my limit in small sizes for sure, but I think I'm still f.../

I'd forgotten completely about the instincts. David hadn't told me about what he felt either, so when they woke up, they hit hard. I was used to aggression, seeing as most of my morphs were carnivorous, but wow. This was no Pretty Polly, this raptor meant business. Combined with the unusually sharp and focused mind and my lack of preparation, it overwhelmed me instantly.

Fly. Find prey. Kill. Eat. Nothing was too big, few things were too small. If I found it, it was mine.

Three large creatures were around me, unleashing a need to fly through me. In the air or in a tree, they were nothing to me, but here, surrounded and on the ground, they were a big threat.

"Warren? Are you alright?" One of them asked, biting its lip. I ignored it, turned and ran as far from them as I could, raising my wings to fly.

However, something wasn't right. Just as I was about to go skyward, the three potential threats shouting behind me, the left side of my chest resisted a little. Unprepared for it, my wing jerked and ruined my takeoff, leaving me crashing into the dirt.

"Warren!" One of the creatures called again, causing me to whip my head back to see the one with the longest feathers hurrying my way. "Are you ok? Are you hurt? Come on, get control and tell me what's going on."

What was going on? She was approaching me quickly only to stop without so much as touching me. was she that much of pathetic preda...no! She wasn't, if she'd wanted to kill me, I'd be dead by now. It's Rachel, a human. Like me. I'm not an eagle. Well, technically I am, but not really. But...

/Oh for crying out loud, stop confusing yourself War./ I grunted, shaking my head as I finally forced the raptor mind at bay. Pulling myself to my feet, I stared up at Rachel before turning to the others as they approached. /Wow, what a dominating creature. Basically fearless too once it's airborne. That took a bit to snap out of./

"Is that why you flopped?" David asked nervously, though he tried to hide it. "Because you snapped out of it?"

/No, that was because the eagle wasn't expecting the muscles to be rubbing up against anything solid./ I responded lightly, testing my left wing. Just as I thought, I'd reached the limit. Any smaller morph would have very negative effects. As I moved the wing, the defibrillator wasn't prohibiting movement, but it was still noticeable. I could feel the shift where it was pressed against the muscles in my chest and my wing's motion was less fluid than it should have been. It wasn't too rough to prohibit flight as far as I could tell, but it was probably going to make it more difficult, at least where flapping was involved. /I'm going to give this a shot./

"Just wait until we've all remorphed." Marco cried, already growing feathers. "Just in case something goes wrong."

Nodding my head, I just played with my wings as they grew their own. Testing the difference in moving them, paying attention to weight distribution. My left side was heavier than my right after all and now that I was so small, light and in a bipedal form, it was going to need consideration, especially while I was up in the air.

Impatient myself and still harbouring the eagle's urge to fly, I only waited until the others were about finished morphing before spreading my wings and flapping. However, I barely got my feet off the ground for five seconds before they were scrambling in the dirt again.

/Huh? What happened?/ I asked, confused. According to the eagle, that should have worked, but my body couldn't fight the pressure to land again. What was going on?

/You might need a running start./ Marco suggested. /You're heavier than you should be and when Tobias has a full belly and is heavier than normal, he needs a running start to get off the ground. Build up momentum./

The eagle mind seemed to agree, so it was worth a shot. Running as fast as I could, I flapped my wings, gaining speed as I went. A few feet later, my feet were leaving the ground again and much to my delight, I only continued to rise higher.

/WHOA! OH, MY GOD!/ I screamed, laughing hysterically not a second later as a gust propelled me faster. Just the feeling of rising, flapping my way above the trees, was more amazing, more thrilling, than anything I'd ever done in my life and let's face, that's a lot of adrenaline pumping madness to compare it too. It was a hundred times better than the sickest air I'd ever gotten on my bike. No river ride or chase by a pack of super predators was nearly as thrilling. No carnival ride I'd ever been on could possibly compare to absolutely awesome sensation of flying.

/See, I told you it was perfect for you./ David called up with a snicker. /Though you might need a little practice leveling./ He added as rose beside me, tilting his head.

/Yeah, that probably won't happen. One side's heavier./ I laughed merrily, banking left and gliding right onto a particularly strong thermal. The defibrillator was making flying a little difficult and equally balancing my body near impossible, but I couldn't care less. Every worry and concern, every single scrap of negative emotion had been left on the ground. Now, as I tested my strong wings, pulled myself into and out of dives and basked in the warmth the sun provided up so high, all I could feel was a chipper bliss. Worries were for the ground, up here, none of them mattered.

/Good to see the wing's working well./ Rachel commented as I started power flapping, David doing the same beside me, testing my limits. I was a little annoyed as David past me, but that faded pretty fast. After all, his morph was a little bigger than mine and both of his wings moved fluidly while my left one twitched slightly on the way down. Besides, like I said before, my worries couldn't find a hold on me.

...

/I can't believe how good this feels./ I exclaimed an hour later for had to be the fifth time. There was nothing like it, nothing to compare it to. I remembered staring longingly at the osprey the day the others acquired their bird morphs, imagining how cool it be to become it, but even my wildest dreams never pulled off anything this amazing. It was pure thrill and freedom. No wonder Tobias never wanted to leave his hawk morph in those first days. This only intensified my belief that trapping himself was, at least unconsciously, deliberate. Not that I could blame him for wanting this day in and day out.

/Doubt even your horse riding can compete with this, eh?/ David asked merrily as the two of us messed about, acting like a pair of coordinated jet planes. It was very unusual behaviour for birds of prey and the others had already voiced their opinions on our current risk factor, but whatever. I did watch them fly as a squad and attack those gun wielding kids when they first morphed wings. We were deep in the forest, no one's going to notice us out here.

/As fun as it is, it doesn't even come close./ I laughed as we simultaneously rose higher. David snickered as I rocked a little, having said plenty of times before that I looked like I was tipsy or borderline drunk riding thermals, but as far as I was concerned, this was perfect, lopsided gliding and all.

/We've been up here for a while and it's getting a little late. I think we better think about demorphing now./ Marco called from about twenty feet below us, already heading back down to the trees. /Don't want to get stuck as a bird and besides, shouldn't you be heading home soon Warren? You know, so you're actually there when Ben shows up?/

/What do you mean? He won't be there for...Oh!/ One look towards the sky and I could see that we had already come into the late afternoon without me noticing. I'd have to walk home unless I wanted to be a very suspicious eagle carrying clothes and in my neighbourhood it would be noticed. If nothing else, Miss Humphries would see me. She was always and eccentric and looked for a reason to complain and with a Yeerk in her head I wasn't morphing anywhere near my home in broad daylight. I really didn't want her screaming about suspicious birds to Visser Three.

/Guess fun time is over./ David sighed as I pulled in my wings and dived, following my lead as Rachel, already by the tree tops, swooped down at a more sedated pace. Enjoying the high speed that for some reason even David couldn't keep up with, I waited until I was just past the highest leaves before spreading my wings and zigzagged my way around the tree trunks and branches until I came to a gentle landing on the dirt and demorphed.

"So, same time tomorrow?" David asked with a bright smile as the last of his feathers receded. He looked as ecstatic as I did.

"You're not supposed to use morphing for amusement." Marco responded, only getting a huff and a pair of rolling eyes in response. David didn't care and admittedly, I used it for amusement or reassurance more than once recently. But I knew Marco was right, we should hold back for security reasons.

Imagine what would happen if the Yeerks caught my hyena morph lurking around my room. Or even my German Shepherd. We have a hamster, not a dog.

"Why don't we check on those cops we snatched last night?" I suggested, more because I wanted to stop a growing argument than anything else. Now that I was back on the ground, my happy bubble was slowly fading away already and I wanted to keep it for as long as possible.

"Yeah, why not?" David sighed, biting back whatever comment he'd been planning to throw at Marco. "It's on the way out of the forest and that's where I'm going anyway."

We fell into the usual uncomfortable silence that always descended when David stopped bickering with the others as David and I put on our outer clothes before heading back to the shack. I was fine with it though. I was still happy enough from flying to slip into my own little world and ignore it. It was amazing really, David had been back for only a couple of days and he'd already managed to deal with a few of my issues. Thanks to him I could operate properly again, most of the time anyway, my guilt had receded dramatically and now I could fly on my own wings. The lack of that ability would have held me back from just about every mission or at the very least slowed them down. This was perfect. And who could forget even a single minute of fun up in the sky?

Strange though. I frowned slightly as one of David's many comments crossed my mind. I hadn't thought anything of it before, but now it was picking at me. David didn't know about Ben or anything to do with him. So how did he know about the horse riding?