EIGHT: AX
5:46 P.M.
Our grasp of information was limited.
A cockroach's eyes were useless at any kind of distance. You can only make out shapes unless they were very close to your peripheral vision. But this morph was ideal for recon. It was a simple creep in and out without detection, so long as a human did not see us in the open.
I had suggested to Rachel that we would slip in as cockroaches. She was uncertain at first to use this morph in the restaurant. The argument was that humans despise this particular type of insect. Even my human friends loathed their first time morphing into this animal.
However, she didn't have any other proposals so we went with the original plan.
From where we hid, I could only make out a small reception area for the restaurant - where Prince Jake, Cassie and the tall female human stood. There were foggy forms far in the back, making me unsure of the number of humans inside the restaurant.
Tobias and Marco could only rely on what they could see outside the restaurant. Prince Jake and Cassie were in their human forms, therefore, they couldn't thought-speak to us. So we were in the dark.
"Is something wrong?" Elle asked, noticing the stiff silence.
"No. No," Prince Jake said. "Everything's fine. Right, Cassie?"
"Y-Yeah. Yeah. Why would anything not be fine? "
(Cassie…) Rachel softly spoke. (Hold it together.)
We could imagine how difficult Cassie was handling the news about this one human. One doesn't shun off the idea of an organism unscathed from a horrendous incident like so.
"Ok…" Elle sounded a little concerned. "So what are you here for?"
"Actually, Elle. I have to ask," Cassie continued as steadily as she could. "What happened to your forehead?"
"Oh, uh. This? Just a bump. Nothing to worry about," her friend chided briskly.
"A 'bump'?" the Hanan human interrupted. "Elle, you scared your uncle out of his wits when you came in. You even had blood."
"Blood?" Prince Jake exclaimed. The circumstances of this injury and the car accident were overlapping together too conveniently.
"Hanan's blowing it out of proportion. It was noth-"
"She got mugged this morning," the other human went straight to the point.
(Mugged?) Rachel uttered with surprise.
I understood that word, from a book called the dictionary. A very specific form of robbery by petty humans by assaulting another and stealing the things they were carrying. So my friends were shocked at this news.
"Wait. Someone mugged you?" Prince Jake asked.
"...Yes," the Elle human confessed unhappily.
"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" Cassie pressed.
"I'm...more or less all right." She nervously laughed.
"You're lucky they just took your jacket and shoes," the older human pointed. "I told you before. That part of the city is shady."
(Jacket and shoes?) Rachel said.
(Were those not the artificial skins this human wore earlier?) I asked.
(What's going on here…)
I could not answer that. I was just as perplexed as she was.
"Huh..." Prince Jake thought deeply. "But...she's right. At least it's only those things they took."
"It's not just that… They took my tips and an old watch," Elle explained disappointedly. "They were in the jacket they stole."
"I'm so sorry," Cassie said.
"It's ok. I've gone through worse while delivering."
"That's not a comforting thought," Prince Jake exclaimed.
"The life of a delivery person. It's never an easy job…" Hanan sighed. "I've already called the police about the theft. I'm not gonna get my hopes up but stealing from a kid? That's unforgivable."
(I couldn't agree more,) Rachel offered privately. (I vouch we look for this thief and give them what for.)
(Thief? What thief?) Marco uttered.
"All we can do is leave it to them and catch the culprit," the tall human continued.
"Sure," Elle muttered under her breath. "Like anyone can go after those freaks of nature."
"Come again?" Prince Jake asked for better clarity.
"I mean, I didn't get a good look at them. They surprised me," she explained. "So I dunno if anything can be done about it."
"And you came back here after that?" Cassie pried. "You didn't go...somewhere else?"
"I didn't think about going to the police. All I wanted was to go back home. So I came back to the restaurant."
"I can imagine."
"Hey," Elle spoke out. "Can you two do me a favor? Can you forget you heard everything and don't tell everyone at school?"
"Why?" Prince Jake asked.
"I don't want anyone to know. I already have Kong Kong and Hanan here worried about me after I came back."
"Who wouldn't be worried?" Hanan intervened.
"Elle, what happened to you, that's pretty serious," Cassie expressed her sincerity.
"I know. I know," Elle started. "I'm already going home tonight to get an earache from my mom. I don't need any more people knowing about it."
(Unfortunately...we all know,) Rachel exclaimed.
(Know what? What's happening?) Marco asked from somewhere. So Rachel relayed what we've learned to the others outside.
"Look," Elle continued. "I'm not dead. I didn't get shanked. I wasn't held for ransom or anything. I'm fine. So can you please not tell anyone at school?"
"I get it," Prince Jake explained. "You don't have to worry. We're not the type to gossip."
"Hm." Elle wasn't convinced.
"We won't. You have our word." Cassie heaved a sigh of relief. "Still, it's good that you're ok…"
"...Cassie, are you alright? You've been acting weird since you walked in."
She slightly skipped when Elle asked that. "W-What do you mean?"
"You look like you've attended a funeral today. Did something happen?"
"You...could say that," Prince Jake pointed. What was the word again? Irony?
"I-It's nothing, really. I've just had a lot on my mind. That's all," Cassie said.
Again, the human wasn't convinced. Cassie's reaction was too quick. Perhaps Elle picked up on something strange in her voice a Controller would notice.
(Should we intervene?) I proposed. The longer they stalled, the more dangerous their situation would become.
"How about this. You can have anything you want at 15% off. On the house."
I have heard about this kind of custom.
The word, discount, was a powerful word to humans. Many useful things on this planet have a label attached to them, which you simply cannot take without a sort of abstract human concept for equivalent exchange: money. That label varies in numbers but occasionally, I'd see it be reduced with a symbol of two dots between a line.
The 'discounted' useful item suddenly captures the humans in an extraordinary feat, to the point that item is sold out in one day.
"15? That's a bit too generous," Prince Jake stated.
"Elle, you don't have to-" Cassie started.
"I don't like customers being sad." Elle first declared, "'Yan Fú Wok. Bringing fortune and joy right to your table'. That's our motto." She then continued sincerely, "I won't pry, Cassie. The only way to lift your spirits up with a good meal. Things get better on a full stomach."
I will admit, it was an inspiring speech. Enough to sway both Prince Jake and Cassie's worries away. Even Rachel herself that she uttered a small (huh).
Humans are bizarre creatures. My friends have often shown their ways in our conversations. Some humans deduct with logic, just like we Andalites do in matters. Some express their emotions out loud or softly. Others use a more direct way. As Rachel once said, actions speak louder than words.
This human, however, used humble words to lower my friends' defenses. I did not see anything wrong with them. She was, after all, promoting her business - a practice I've seen with human clerks at the mall, quite similar to hers but without the bright smile.
However, that charisma can also be a dangerous tool to a Yeerk.
"Besides, nobody from our school comes here to eat. It's always takeout with you." The Elle human then looked at Prince Jake. "And you. So why not for today. And if not today, then it can be for another day."
Cassie smiled. "That's really nice of you-"
"Also, it's to bribe you to not tell anyone what happened to me."
The remark took the two by surprise. Even to me and Rachel. As sharp as Marco's sense of dryness but as kind as Cassie's words.
"Ok. That's honestly...upfront about you," Prince Jake admitted.
"Heh!" Elle grinned coyly.
(And clever,) Rachel said.
(Again, what's happening? We can't hear through windows, you know,) Marco complained.
"You're full of surprises, Elle."
"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Cassie. Now." She slapped her hands together. "About that discount. I suggest you take the mango pudding for dessert. Impress Cassie with that!"
Cassie laughed at the modesty. "Elle, the food here is already impressive enough. Though, I've never really tried mango pudding."
"I'm glad to hear that. But I meant you." She pointed at Prince Jake, surprising him yet again. "You should be the one buying that for her."
"...What do you mean by that?" he cautiously asked.
"Isn't that why you two came here? For a date?"
Elle's question was indeed innocent-sounding and straightforward. However, it made the two flustered. As though the question was somehow provocative.
"I...uh, what…" Prince Jake was lost with words. Cassie was the same too.
"Oh, oh!" Hanan droned. "Sly dog…"
"This isn't what you think it is," he stated clumsily.
"It isn't?" Elle asked, realizing as if she may have unintentionally made a mistake.
"Don't be so bashful," Hanan said to Prince Jake. "Elle makes a good point. You should take up that offer while you have the chance."
"But we...are just here to…do takeout..." That was the excuse they had planned to say. However, they came out so soft that Hanan didn't hear Prince Jake.
It also didn't help with how confined the building was that small talk could reach the ears of other humans.
"Oh, oh. Am I hearing that right?" One of the older humans at their tables, a female, overheard the conversation with a kind chuckle.
"Ha! Now that's something you don't see often," her friend chattered.
"Hello!" a male human's voice uttered from nowhere, but not enough to disrupt the atmosphere. "Delivery for Yan Fú Wok."
"The night market. Coming," Elle said in response. "Hanan, can you take over?"
"Sure, sure. I'll show the lovebirds in."
"Wait… Elle…" Cassie pleaded but Elle was already gone. Leaving them alone with the humans' gossiping.
"I remember being thirteen. My parents wouldn't let me date by myself either. Remember the festival, dear?" one woman said.
A second male human laughed. "Of course. My friends begged me to help them when they knew I was with you that day."
"They had to with Lee's broken leg. And you saved the lion dance."
Hanan giggled. "Oh, would you two relax? You're as stiff as trees."
It was a true observation. Prince Jake had also become very red in the face. He and Cassie refused to make eye contact.
"You know what?" Cassie uttered. "It was a bad idea to come."
"Aw, don't go. You gotta treat that special someone once in a while. Life's too short to let it slip past you."
"Here, here, Hanan," one male dark-skinned human cheered with a raise of his drink.
"You're making this harder than it should be," Prince Jake groaned.
(C'mon, Jake,) Rachel droned. (Hanan's right. Grow a spine. This is a chance in a lifetime for you two.)
Prince Jake's face darkened. He most definitely wanted a word with her, after they'd leave the restaurant.
(Hey. It's not everyday you two have a nice dinner together. Get some alone time together. After everything we've gone through, I'd say you two deserve it.)
(Yeah. Yeah. That's sweet but we don't have time for this adorable denial rant,) Marco groaned with a distinctive tone he normally says when he'd roll his eyes. (Jake likes Cassie. Cassie likes Jake. Rachel and Tobias have a thing. We all know and nobody cares. We're here for this Elle girl, people.)
(Ahem,) Tobias coughed awkwardly.
(...Marco. I'm gonna kill you.)
"How about this? I can tell ya what the secret menu is," Hanan whispered, jabbing an elbow at Prince Jake.
(Oh! Did you hear that? The secret menu! Get that from her, would ya, Jake?) Marco droned.
"Not. Helping," he said through his teeth, more directed at Marco than to Hanan. However, Marco wouldn't have heard it.
(Guys,) Tobias called everyone. (Outside. On the roof. Now. Quietly.)
The tone of his thought-speech spoke volume to us - something urgent was outside the restaurant. We couldn't stay any longer.
"Sorry but...we have to take a rain check on that discount," Prince Jake explained to Hanan.
"What? So soon? But didn't you come here for a date?"
"Elle put those words in our mouths," Cassie muttered.
(Tell her you both need to use the bathrooms. Get out from there,) Rachel suggested.
(Rachel and I will leave through the back,) I added.
The conversation wasn't going anywhere productive in Prince Jake's and Cassie's favors, however. Hanan was still convincing them to stay for dinner, which they kindly refused before heading to the bathrooms. I believe they were very eager to get out as quick as possible.
(This way,) Rachel told me.
It was a long and treacherous journey across unknown territory, hiding in anything dark we could slip in and out as we scaled across the wall.
My antennae led the way for me to a white kitchen in the back, or at least for the cockroach's mind. The smells were overwhelmingly powerful but welcoming to the cockroach. Sweet and savoury. I even smelled something familiar.
(Ax! Focus! We're nearly to the backdoor.)
I steered away from the aromas. I knew enough that I couldn't delay too long in this form and I promised Prince Jake I would not be lured by food.
As long as we stayed out of sight, no human would notice us and take action to 'stomp' on us.
"Meow."
It was an unlikely sound that I least expected to hear. It wasn't one I have never heard before but certainly, the insect's mind was beyond terrified. It knew this kind of presence - different from the enormous humans. It was smaller and predatory.
Golden eyes with slit-shaped pupils glanced at us. Something orange, white and hairy moved their claw over our heads.
I hollered out exactly what the cockroach's instincts said.
(Run!)
A/N: Next chapter up and left on an interesting cliffhanger.
Should I upload the next one soon... Naaaah! I still got to do editing anyway. :D
I will say I'm happy for a drastic change from the original draft it had. It originally had Ax raiding the restaurant pantry but I'll save that for another future plot I suppose. And it's adorbs having our fav pairings be teased (even though I'm actually not that great with fluff or romance). Anyhow, enjoy this chapter.
28/10/20 - First upload.