TWENTY-THREE: JAKE
6:23 A.M.
Sundays should be days we didn't have to do missions. But we were against the clock. So each of us arrived at Erek's safe house as early as possible.
Tobias and Rachel were the next to arrive. The last one was the Controller who gave us the invitation, Elle.
(She is here,) Ax exclaimed.
(Talk about being persistent. You'd think she'd call it quits,) Marco droned. (Like what we should do right now.)
(And you know as well as I do how bad a Sario Rip can be. Have you forgotten about the dinosaurs?) I reminded him.
(I remember. Rachel and I were nearly eaten,) Tobias exclaimed.
Before Elle arrived, we spread out. Took to the high grounds to look out for any Yeerk friends of her. I was at the tree Tobias perched last night, so I could watch and listen to Elle. The door into the apartment wasn't locked anyway. So she could just walk in.
She was cautious, first from the unlocked door. Then she glanced around the room. As if waiting for us to pounce on her.
"Ok... We're here. Now what?"
"...We wait," Elle said in that deadpan tone.
She took a chair, the same chair we tied her in and positioned it in the centre of the room before sitting comfortably.
Her right foot tapped impatiently as she glanced around. Then she dug through her bag and pulled out a CD-player and a comic book. Turned on the music and placed the headphones over her ears.
Seeing her be...normal was weird to me. Elle did what a normal kid would do on her Sunday afternoon. Even humming to herself the tone "du, du, du, du".
(She's listening to 'Zombie'?) Rachel asked.
(What?) I uttered.
('Zombie'. It's a song from a British rock band. I don't remember the name though.)
(That's fitting for someone who was supposed to be dead,) Marco partly droned and partly mumbled.
We waited. Nobody suspicious came down the street. Elle didn't budge from her seat. She kept turning the pages now and then.
(C'mon and do something already,) Rachel hissed impatiently.
(I do not think she will,) Ax pointed.
(Fine,) I announced and flew to the ground.
(You're really gonna hear her out?) Marco asked.
(Yeah. You guys know what to do.)
We didn't need the whole group to interrogate so I volunteered myself to approach her. I knew they had my back if we were ambushed.
If Elle's Yeerk were to attack, I was already ready. A tiger was big. Intimidating. Stuck in a room with one would make any Controller give up.
Tobias and Ax guided me when and where I could sneak towards the building. On a Sunday morning this early, who would go out and suddenly spy a tiger on the street? We still couldn't take the chance.
I pushed the door wide open with my head. Its opening made a loud sound.
Elle gazed up from her comic.
Her eyes slowly went as wide as dinner plates.
She freaked out. At the sight of a tiger by the front door. But she was so petrified that she couldn't make a peep.
I paced slowly in, every step making Elle climb out of her seat. She was terrified of me-
Suddenly, her left hand clutched her right. She calmed herself down and sat back in the chair. This time, she gazed at me with an apathetic expression.
It was a standoff between me and the Yeerk. I stood my grounds, being as big and scary as a tiger could be. Elle stayed emotionless and unnerved. But she didn't jump for a Dracon Beam.
In fact, she had always been cautious but never provoked. There was a clear difference between her and Visser Three.
Visser Three knew we couldn't win against him. Because he had monstrous morphs that could kill us in one go. He was overly confident. Elle's Yeerk was only a Yeerk who already knew she couldn't win against a tiger. And that didn't frighten her.
That irked me.
She finally spoke. "Took you long enough."
(You're a bold Yeerk. Asking us to meet here.)
"And you're daring yourself to accept my invitation. Don't know if I should applaud you or give you pointers why associating with your enemy is a bad idea."
(What do you want, Yeerk?) I asked.
She put up her palms, a sign she wasn't a threat. "First. I came alone and defenseless. I am only here to offer a compromise."
(We don't compromise with the enemy.)
"Of course. So how about you simply listen?" she proposed. "I've said this before. You and your rogue friends won't be able to survive infiltrating the Tsu'li."
(And you can?)
"If my plan goes well, yes."
I didn't buy it. (You plan to break in?)
She nodded. "I give the device to you and your rogue allies can cease morphing as this human."
Sounded too good to be true.
(Why are you doing this?) I had to ask.
"It is not out of generosity. My intention is to resolve this as discreetly and quickly as possible."
(That can't be the only thing. You have the Bandits. You could be pardoned and nobody will see you as a criminal anymore.
(Prince Jake, it does not work that way,) Ax warned me in a whisper.
"You do know what a Werch is, correct? It is the end for a Yeerk. There is no redemption. Bragging to the superiors that I've met the Bandits will be cutting our lives shorter."
(What do you mean?) I asked.
"Ever heard of the human term, 'scapegoat'?"
I kept quiet, which I guess she took it that I, an 'Andalite Bandit' did.
"Any Yeerk who finds out I know you? They will silence me and claim they were the ones who found you. Then they will capture you. If they're that clever."
(That's what you are. A scapegoat.)
She nodded. "All we want to do is survive this war just as much as you do."
It sounded convincing. Elle looked genuine when she said that.
(How are you going to break into a research facility?)
"It's not a research facility. It's a vault," Elle corrected. "Every successful and failed experimental project the Yeerks have created are locked up inside. So that the general populace doesn't know about their existence. Yeerk and human."
"Like Zone 91," she broke out in her normal voice at the same time Marco said privately, (Like Zone 91!)
(Whoa,) he uttered, sounding shocked. (Ok. Can she stop that? It's just creepy.)
(Why did they build a vault under a nuclear plant?) I asked.
"Power demand and heat control. A T'usli's energy usage can easily blackout an entire city if we were to use normal means of energy. Moreover, without cooling from the ocean, a T'usli with that amount of power would basically cook any living being alive."
(So it's a giant microwave,) Rachel pointed.
The more I listened to what a T'usli was or had inside, the more I didn't want to go there.
(Alright. How do you break in?) I asked again.
"You can't. The first layer is fixed with Delta-type Gleet Bio-Filters."
(The highest form of Yeerk security,) Ax added.
"Any animal, even a Yeerk without the correct ID recognition will be evaporated. You also have heat sensors and surveillance cameras at almost every corner, along with a skeleton crew of fifty armed Controllers."
(Is it too late to abandon this mission?) Marco pleaded.
I didn't like the odds either. But I would be lying if that was the worst we've faced.
"Those are the least of your problems."
I take that back. (There's more?)
"The vault itself. It is one enormous Yeerk security machine," Elle explained. "Its interior surfaces can rearrange its topography to infinitely form all sorts of rooms."
(Meaning…)
"It changes. If you're not careful, the T'suli will lock you in forever."
(That explains why Erek and the Chee couldn't break in,) Tobias pointed privately.
(If it's impossible for us to enter, that means you can't either!) I uttered.
She relaxed back in her seat. "Not by usual methods. Just because something is almost impassable, doesn't mean there aren't flaws in the design." She pointed to her bag. "I have everything I need there."
Now of course, I wasn't going to demorph and show that I was human in plain sight. I waited while I privately called Ax to investigate the bag for me. He demorphed and carefully trotted in, taking the bag up to us with his tail.
"Hey-" Ax already shook the bag that everything tumbled right out. Each thud made Elle squirm in a way that something was gonna end up broken.
"Careful!" She leapt forth, catching the camera with her right hand. Instinct almost made me pounce on her just as Ax was about to fire his tail blade but she cared more about her camera than an Andalite and a tiger.
I looked back at the contents and already, I wasn't impressed. (Camera, thermos, box cutter, tape, paint spray...firecrackers, lighter and a thermal blanket?)
(This sounds like a kid's school project,) Marco said privately.
There was one alien thing Ax pulled out. The strange device from the theatre.
(The Kkal-arpova Sapper,) Ax said its complicated name.
(I see. This is what you'll use to break into the vault,) I said.
Elle was so unimpressed by me that her gaze almost bored into me.
(...It's not enough to shut down a T'suli,) Ax explained.
(Ok. Duly noted,) I groaned. (What's in the thermos?)
(If she is breaking in, I would gander it is a liquid form substance Yeerks use for their Bug Fighters. Enough to-)
"It's green tea," Elle cut Ax short. "Humans drink it to improve blood flow and lower cholesterol. It doesn't eat through solid walls."
Ax grimaced as if his suggestion was bad from the start. (Ah. Yes. You are a Werch. You wouldn't have access to dangerous chemicals.)
(You haven't explained what you're gonna do with these...things,) I said.
"Have you ever heard of the human phrase, 'show, don't tell'?" She picked up her stuff, one by one. "I do not know when this little heist will happen so I wouldn't want to waste time explaining when I could be setting up as soon as possible."
(We're also wasting time listening to this Yeerk's harebrained scheme,) Rachel uttered. (Whatever it is!)
(So what was the point of this meeting?) I asked.
She yanked the bag from Ax. Again a Yeerk totally ignoring she had a tail blade aimed at her. "So you Bandits know that I am present. If I have you lot be oblivious, you'll cause a lockdown to happen. Locking all of us in."
(Why is she insinuating we'll do that? Shouldn't it be the other way around?) Tobias exclaimed.
(This is a loss cause, man,) Marco said.
I sighed tiredly. This was a bad idea from the start. (This isn't going anywhere. We'll get into the vault our own way.)
She shrugged her shoulders, as if she already knew that was the general response she'd get. "Fine. I've told you the basic layout of the T'suli. I suppose your line of action is to acquire a morph that can slip past twenty layers of high security in a place that is constantly shifting?"
(I...don't know what you mean-)
"It's what you Bandits do every time," Elle remarked sarcastically with that deadpan tone of hers. "We are all ears. How would you break in?"
Geez. This Yeerk. She was more confident that any plan we'd come up would fail. And I already felt doubtful!
(I got nothing. Ax?) I whispered.
(I am sorry, Prince Jake. I do not know either.)
(C'mon. There's gotta be another way we can get inside,) Rachel uttered.
(Let me ask her something.)
Marco was the next to enter the apartment, in his gorilla morph. And Elle gave the face that said we 'Bandits' might as well be indoors instead of coming in one by one.
(You said this T'usli needs a lot of cooling,) Marco said.
"Yes. Did I stagger?" she remarked.
(So that means it has cooling pipes. Are they also connected to the nuclear plant's cooling pipes?)
Elle didn't reply straight away. Like she was thinking. "...Yes. They are. You should be able to bypass all of the Bio-Gleet Filters and surveillance."
(Where do those pipes end up at?)
"The maintenance level. Same floor as storage. That is likely where the battery is locked up."
(What are you going on about, Marco?) Rachel asked privately.
(Hello? Science class? Nuclear plants need a lot of cold water to cool those towers down. And they're linked to a large source of water. We can morph into fishes and swim our way into the T'usli.)
(Wait a minute. You really listen in science class?) I said privately.
(The better question should be how he can act so schmuck with that idea,) Rachel mocked. (What if we end up in the towers and not this Yeerk vault?)
(Easy. Vault is underground, right? Pipes go up to the towers and go down to the T'suli," Marco explained.
(That's...probably the cleverest thing you could think of.)
(Yeah. And that's why we don't need this nutjob here to help us.)
It was a solid plan. Crazy. But solid.
(We won't be needing your help,) I told the Yeerk.
"Excuse me?" Elle spoke in her normal tone, raising an eyebrow. "Your plan is to go through the plant's intake pipe."
(Of course. That's why we won't need your help,) Marco said.
"Isn't that dangerous?" Elle continued. "There was that rumor about the plant too…"
(Rumor?) Cassie repeated.
(I don't remember hearing any rumor,) Marco debated privately.
Elle's body and tone switched back. Composed and calm. "This plan of yours is half-baked to begin with. This will not work."
(It is more promising than accepting help from a deluded Yeerk,) Ax mocked.(This is not about making a recipe.)
"Are you sure you're not the delusional one?" Elle rebuked back, enough to make Ax stomp a hoof. "You will need my help."
(That won't happen. You won't be able to catch up.) Marco then whispered to me, (Should we lock her up here so she doesn't cause us trouble?)
I thought about it. I really did.
(If this was a normal Yeerk,) I replied. (She's in the same spot as we are.)
It took a bit of convincing for Marco but the three of us took our leaves, me being the last. It was odd that Elle let us go without much of a fight. Then again, she must have thought she couldn't against the three of us.
(Sorry about that,) I apologised to everyone once we were safe and out of sight from the apartment. (Can't believe I thought she could help. A Yeerk.)
(It was a decent attempt,) Marco said. (But, hey, we know more about the Tsu'li. Now all we have to do is fly over to the plant and dive into the ocean. Simple.)
(No, it's not,) Cassie interrupted. (We can't use our fish morph.)
A/N: Heyo all, next chapter up and this is kinda more talking and establishing their next plan of action rather than jumping into things that could make it entertaining. Basically, a slow burn chapter and I do hope you still enjoy it.
The next chapter, however, that's gonna be the best one yet. Not only for what's to come but it's thanks to a discussion I had on the Animorphs Facebook page that brought the upcoming gem to life. I can't say more so I'll try to hurry up on the chapters' editing to get that one up!
Also, I kinda had some Stranger Things and Control inspiration for the Yeerk tech I had to come up for this one. Which is cool and something I think Yeerks could create. Or steal. Or a bit of both. Anyhow enjoy this chapter!
27/7/21 - First upload.