TWENTY: TOBIAS

8:49 P.M.

I didn't like any of this. The Yeerk, the Andalites wearing my friends' faces or the T'usli 9 research facility.

And there was Rachel. It wasn't the first time she's acted strange. She's never acted strange. But ever since we met fake Elle at the construction site, she hasn't been her usual self. So I was a little worried.

I didn't get a chance, though. Right after Elle left, Jake ordered me and Ax to follow her while the rest would talk over everything we've learned.

Did we really learn much? Felt like we got more than we bargained for. Because everything about Elle was completely the opposite of what a Yeerk should have done.

Ax and I tailed after her as birds. First she went back to her bike, then rode all the way to the Quarter. By the time she reached there, it was dark and mostly empty.

She stopped. Almost in a skid. Up ahead was the junction before her restaurant. And parked at one side, just before the traffic lights, was a police car.

(The Controllers from earlier,) I said.

(I see them.)

Boy, after one problem, we got another piling on top. A Yeerk telling another Yeerk she's met us.

There was something odd about Elle though. She was visibly afraid. Her right hand was shaking on the handle while the left was tightening on the other.

"V'trix."

She then gave a dark glare. It was clear she wanted nothing to do with them like earlier. But she had no choice but to ride on.

(Should we stop her? She's gonna tell them about us.)

(She can't,) Ax explained. That was surprising from him, over an enemy.

(Because she's a Werch, right? But we can't let her talk either!)

The red lights stopped Elle, right next to the police car. If this was going to be like before, those Controller cops wouldn't let her go even if the lights turned green.

The window rolled down and from the passenger seat was the gruff, tough-looking officer. The polite-speaking officer was at the wheel.

"Hello, Werch."

Elle kept her eyes on the traffic lights.

Eventually, she asked, "What do you want?"

"Just checking in. Making sure you're on your best behavior." The smirk on his face was disturbing. Vile. A true reflection of a Yeerk.

"But you assumed I haven't."

"You were seen again at Fifth Avenue," the big cop probed menacingly. "Care to explain?"

"And where did you get that idea?" she dodged the question.

"Oh. It's easier to get testimonies once an eyewitness becomes a Controller," his partner hummed. "Helps when they can't remember the finer details with such a frail mind."

(The driver from before,) I said, piecing the details together.

(Most likely. With how hysterical that human was after seeing her.)

"Should have done that from the start." The big, tough cop glanced at the restaurant down the road. Mr Liang had stepped outside to move a display stand with a menu book inside. "That human has also been a problem. Would be ideal to make him a close-eye watcher-"

"He doesn't understand English," Elle quickly replied. Almost threateningly.

At first, the mean cop looked as if he had caught on to something. He glanced back and forth between Elle and the restaurant.

"Wait. Is the Werch feeling pity for the humans?"

Elle said nothing, her head still facing front.

"Ha! Of course. Should have known that. Coming from a hollow-brained grub!"

They weren't giving this Yeerk a break with the insults. It's ironic but I did feel a little sorry for her when I've been in that sort of situation before.

(So she's a Vesur,) Ax suddenly said that out of nowhere.

(A what?)

(The mentally-ill. Hollow-brained is similar to that definition by the Yeerks.)

(Well, she is a bit wacky but mentally-disabled?) It was kinda unbelievable for an alien race that takes over the brain to have a mental sickness.

"So. What were you doing there?" the calm officer asked.

Elle leaned forward on the handles with a tired sigh. "...I was passing by. Had to do a school assignment before I was stopped by a frantic human."

"What kind of assignment?"

She pulled out the camera from her bag and uncaringly held it up for them to see. "Photography club. You can see the photos yourself."

(Wait! Did she take any photos of us?) That thought just crossed my mind.

(I do not think so,) Ax answered but even he was unsure.

"...Ties with the statement." The second cop dismissed the camera with a wave of his hand.

I couldn't have been more relieved. Seriously, to suddenly have our secret out in the open like that? It would have been too much for my small bird heart!

"...It's still peculiar. The same eyewitness shouting he killed you and later, you turned up fine," his partner pointed. "You've been all over the place, Werch. Almost like being in two places at once."

"What of it?" Elle asked.

"One plausible thought is that the Andalite Bandits could have acquired your host's DNA. And that's outrageous. There's no point for a Werch."

Then he grinned.

"But I wouldn't pass the idea you're not working with the Andalites again."

Elle remained unfazed on her bike. The lights turned green, then red.

"It's no use hiding it. They forced you in a corner. Or you went to them willingly. How else would they know about the cell."

It was honestly unnerving to see this one-sided confrontation going too far. Even if this was between Yeerks, it felt...wrong. Like we should do something.

"You may be a Werch. But you still serve the Empire. We can clear this little mistake up and no one would be the wiser. You just have to come to the station tonight. I'll even give the good word for you-"

"Are you done rambling?" Elle broke her silence.

She lifted her camera up and pointed it at the car.

Snap!

"Hey!"

"This conversation has been you wasting time on making assumptions. You're pulling at the reeds because you got nothing," she pointed. "I wonder...does Visser Three have anything to do with this cell?"

The two cops immediately went quiet.

"That's why it's gotten you tense?"

"Be mindful of your ds'sassi, Werch," the big officer warned.

"I am right, am I not? And there's this Dzual Cell." Elle finally glanced at them. "Has to be valuable to fall under Visser Three's radar... You said because of me, that's how the Andalites knew about this device."

"Of course! How else would they know!"

"Why? I have no idea what this Dzual Cell is. But you clearly know there's a connection."

The cops nearly jumped in their seats. They zipped their lips tight before looking at each other.

"This cell. Does it have something to do with my past work-?"

"Quiet! This has nothing to do with you," one of them rebuked.

"And there you have it," Elle remarked coolly. "It has nothing to do with me."

The response shocked the officer, so distraught that he had fallen into a trap.

"There's a phrase humans often say… A picture is a thousand words." Elle examined the photo in the camera viewport. One goofy image of those cops' frozen faces. "And they're right. Anyone can make different interpretations of what the picture is saying. Even Yeerks."

"What are you going on about?" his partner demanded.

"Someone's going to wonder. Why two Yeerks are wasting their evening on one Werch. Instead of looking for a missing cell." Elle purposefully showed the photo to them as a taunt. "You're already making a fool of yourself. So stop wasting all our time."

"Why, you-!" The big, mean cop reached out from his window. Literally attempting to grab Elle.

The police radio crackled. A woman's voice spoke up from it.

"All vehicles in the area, Looking for an assist near the fish market.," the dispatcher exclaimed. "They're saying a pack of wolves was crossing and spooked the drivers."

That stopped the second cop at first. His teeth grounded tightly as he fought every fiber not to attack. Like an opportunity had slipped out of his fingers.

"I repeat. Requesting assist immediately-"

"Copy," the first cop quickly replied over the radio. "We'll check it out."

"Traffic hazard. Looks like it's going to be a long night for you," Elle mocked coldly.

"...We'll be in touch." He pulled the brakes off and drove away.

It was over. And no one learned about us.

The man in the traffic lights turned green. Elle finally pedalled down the road with Mr Liang spotting her in the distance. We kept as close as possible from above.

"Welcome-"

Elle practically ditched her bike aside and wrapped her right arm as much as she could around the big old man. The cold-looking owner gradually gave a tighter one back.

"Ah girl. You ok?" Mr Liang asked.

Elle smiled widely. Back to being the bubbly grandniece he knew. "I'm just happy to see you, Kong Kong."

That was understandable for Mr Liang. To him, it had been a bad day for Elle. But all of it was also sad when you know she has a Yeerk in her head. Mr Liang didn't know that he was talking to a total stranger right. And that's the thing. The Yeerks didn't want anyone to know about the invasion.

"I got back Rebecca's watch."

She lifted up the little watch by the chain for him to see, acting triumphantly.

"I found it. By some trash. I won't lose it again-"

Mr Liang pushed the watch down, at first puzzling Elle. Like he might have figured out the truth. That was too much to ask from me when he put his hands on her shoulders and looked meaningfully at her.

"Watch not important," he explained sternly but with a soft tone. "Rebecca would understand."

It put the Yeerk on the spot. Like her charade was meaningless or something. You could almost take it as some heart-warming scene an actress had to act out from a movie.

"I heat dinner."

"Ok... I go clean up."

They were gone from our sight. So Ax and I moved around the side of the building where there was a fire escape with two bedrooms on the second level.

One was a small girl's bedroom but nothing like Rachel's or Cassie's rooms. Sure, every bedroom was a mess but this one had a sorta whimsical vibe to it: Christmas lights, art pictures, Polaroid photos and paper lanterns stuck on all over the walls. There were comic books in boxes and a game station on the carpeted floor.

Elle walked into that room and shut the door. I expected her to change character. She would scowl and look annoyed at keeping up with the act around Mr Liang.

Her cheery smile did go away. But her face? She was petrified, trembling her lips. She slipped down to the floor and sorta curled up into a ball.

"V'trix," she started warily. Again, that name. She's been saying that name aloud and to herself. I didn't know why.

Her face mellowed, this time mildly concerned. "I know."

It switched again, back to her being afraid. "This won't stop, will it?"

It switched back, this time a little apologetic. "No. It will not."

"They were near Kong Kong's restaurant."

"Yes."

She burrowed her head in her knees.

"I don't want Kong Kong to get hurt."

"...I know."

(How ridiculously strange. This one Yeerk is entertaining herself by exchanging human vocabulary to herself. I find speaking words as a human enjoyable ,) Ax pointed. (But not to such an extent.)

I had to agree it was strange. Well, not exactly the same reason as Ax's. But...something about it seemed like she was talking to 'someone else'. Not herself.

Weird, right?

Elle lifted up her head. "What should we do?"

She was quiet. Then she gazed at the windows with a half-determined, half-apathetic look.

"What we need to do."

She got up, burst the windows open...

And talked to us.

"I know you are out there, Bandits."

There was no way she could have known we were there. And neither could she have seen us at where we were.

She just assumed she was being followed.

"I'm saying this again. I don't care about you Andalites. Or this war… But the current situation has forced my hands," she said sternly. "So I offer my help so you can find your rogue group."

That was a surprise, coming out from her. Even bolder when she continued.

"You won't last three minutes in a T'usli. But I know how to get you in safely," she said. "We will wait at that studio apartment. At Gahilem. We can talk. But if you do not come in two hours, then we will leave for T'usli 9. With or without you."

I didn't buy it at first. But again, she was a Werch. There should have been many opportunities she could have taken. And a lot she said sounded convincing.

"Your call."

Elle shut the windows before she sat back on her bed, looking like it was pointless to ask us all of that.

We waited. But nothing happened.

(What's that about?) I asked.

(Gahilem,) Ax repeated. (It's an Andalite term. It means 'the first light break the horizon'.)

(So at dawn. But all of this sounds fishy to me. A Yeerk giving us a way in? I don't buy it.)

(I agree… But we do not know what a T'usli 9 is,) Ax explained. (We do not even know what the interior is like.)

(Then we can just go in and survey. We've always done that.)

(A Chee could barely enter the perimeter. And with what this Yeerk says being the truth….as disturbing as that sounds,) he mumbled the last part to himself, (If the highest ranks of Yeerks are the only ones that can enter, then we cannot without endangering ourselves.)

(Basically, we'll be going in blind. Then what should we do?)

He thought about it. (I will relay what we've heard to Prince Jake.)

(Yeah. You do that.)

He took off. With the window shut, it was a little hard to hear Elle. So carefully, I went closer to the window.

Elle paced about the room nervously. Then she spoke up.

"Do you think they'll come?"

"Doubtful... But it's worth a try."

"...What now?"

Elle mellowed down with her expressionless face. "You should take a break. Go talk to Liang. Have dinner without me and get some sleep... I'll work out a plan while I eat."

Without me? While I eat? Those were odd lines.

"Ok." She then dug into her backpack and pulled out a handheld compact.

It was smooth-looking with a shiny silver gloss. A teal dimly-glowing circle was engraved on the top.

To anyone, it looked like a normal makeup compact. But I knew better. That compact was very alien-looking. I didn't know what and Ax wasn't here to explain.

Elle opened the compact, its insides softly glowing the same color as its circle. The substance didn't really look like liquid because it flowed up but it wasn't like air as it dropped back down. The motion was actually soothing. Calming.

Her back was to the window so I couldn't see much. Other than she put her hand to her ear and put something dark-colored into the compact before closing it.

It was even weirder when she turned to her window. Looking genuinely worried. As if expecting something to burst into her bedroom.

No, she didn't notice me. Just a coincidence.

She turned away. Elle slipped that compact under a pillow before she went downstairs for dinner.

A/N: Hello everyone and here's Chp 20, making this the 2nd section of my fic finished. We're nearly halfway there!

It might also be a slow burn in some aspects but I did find it difficult to show some things I wanted the Animorphs to witness, whether or not its about Elle, because some parts will be referred later on. That said, onwards will have a lot of moments that not only am I gonna enjoy writing but hopefully you all will enjoy once the story picks up more.

That said, this next patch of chapters will take some time. For the time being, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Cya again!

31/5/21 - First upload.