An unexpected amount of intel has fallen into Jake's hands, on top of rumors of a powerful morph capable contender on the horizon, Marco also brings news that The Controllers may be active in their very own hometown. But in light of all that they have discussed, it is decided that the acquisition of battle morphs worthy of the coming violence is their top priority. Meanwhile Tobias travels, gathering what reinforcements he can

Filling the Deck III

Day 6, Afternoon

It was midday in the zoo, everyone was milling about in the warm summer sunlight. Rachel though had one particular destination in mind, the wide grassy enclosure where the elephants are kept. People were close to the Elephants, feeding them, petting them. Rachel was interested in petting the elephants, she walked up and waited her turn. She saw the elephant, the biggest land animal currently alive on Earth.

"Here you go young lady," the employee supervising the interaction between pachyderm and human gave her a couple of bananas.

"Thanks," Rachel said smiling.

"That'll be ten bucks."

Rachel looked at the zoo worker with a betrayed look on her face. The man took a picture with a camera hanging from his neck on a black strap.

The guy laughed, "Just kidding, you go on right ahead."

Jake and Marco awkwardly put their wallets back in their pockets while Cassie shook her head.

"Really, Steve?" Cassie admonished the worker.

Rachel, with the fruit in hand, walked up to and gave them to the elephant. The elephant was a bull, not the biggest in the pen, but they were all big enough. When Rachel gave the elephant the fruit she touched his trunk and focused. The elephant slowed down and relaxed, his trunk stayed there, the two of them locked eyes, and while neither could speak words to each other, an understanding passed between them. It took some time before they could disconnect.

"Thanks," Rachel said, whether she was saying it to the worker, the elephant, or both, who knows?

Then Jake walked forward and acquired the elephant's DNA, the animal reacted just as docile as he did with Rachel.

((Who's going to pull you out when you test morph a Grizzly?)) Jake explained to Rachel before she could ask.

"That went a bit better than I thought it would," Marco said. "Now what's the next part of your plan, Xena? How are you going to get the meat needed to...cook up an African barbeque?"

Rachel gave Marco a sideways stare, smiling knowingly. "I think you already know."

Marco gave Rachel a cautious look. "That's going to be dangerous, if you get caught that'll mean we'll have a lot more trouble than we know how to deal with."

Ten minutes Earlier

"I mean, yes, you can morph an elephant," Cassie said. "But the big question is...how? I'm stumped on this. I have no clue how you'll be able to acquire the mass necessary to morph an elephant."

"I have a will, so I'll find a way," Rachel stubbornly declared, I shook my head in defeat. How is she going to do that?

"I admire your enthusiasm," Marco stated before quietly exploding in a voice dripping with disbelief. "A for effort. There's big boned, then there's packing on the pounds, and then we get to the level of stupid you're trying to achieve! How on Earth are you going to get 7 and a half tons of extra meat to put on your chicken wings?"

"Did you say you needed to get some meat?" I heard a voice call out. I jumped and looked at the source of it. It was a kid from school, big, tall, square chin, blond hair, a major player of the Middle School football team, soon to be high school. Jacob Skridge is a thick skinned guy from what I heard, and not somebody I judged as being able to sneak up on us as well as he just did.

"If you want something to barbeque, you could get some from my place," Jacob offered.

Rachel walked behind the newcomer and looked at Marco. She mouth the words, 'Security breach much?'

"Thanks for the offer, but we're fine," I said as Marco shook his head.

"It's on discount," Jacob said, scratching the back of his head. He sighed and continued, "you see, my family's meat shop isn't doing as well as it should, and it's closing down...today's the last day it'll be able to remain open in fact."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"What?" Rachel said. "Why is that? Your place gets dozens of people every day. You're not short on customers at all, everyone loves your stuff. Why is it closing down?"

"Yeah," Cassie agreed. "I may not like watching the..preperation for that meat, but I've tried some of your family's products, you make really good burgers."

Jacob nodded, a proud smile coming into his eyes. "Yeah, we do. The Skridge Meatshop always held high standards."

A dejected look returned to his face.

"If you want to know why my family's meat shop is closing, our P.O.T.U.S. passed a new tax at the beginning of the year. Every store that sells and prepares raw meat has to give the government a cut now, and apparently that cut consists of too much of my family's money."

"Ah, that's a shame," Marco said. "I'm sorry for your loss, but at least ETCS has more money to work with."

Jacob flinched and an annoyed look came on his face, but his eyes betrayed his anger. "My family's meat shop, which everyone loves, is closing down. My dad and older siblings are going to lose their jobs. And you respond by telling me that I should feel better because the ETCS gets a bigger paycheck?"

"They defend the entire planet from alien aggression," Rachel bit back. "When the ETs push for more of our land, the ETCS are the ones who push back. They're the ones who fight tooth and nail and bleed gallons of blood to retake every inch of ground they've stolen from us!"

"I have nothing against ETCS, but they're doing perfectly fine. The situation's looking up, the invaders went silent, the Nartec left North America, and LA is being repopulated. That aside, regardless of whether or not they need it, how do we know that extra money's even going to ETCS?" Jacob questioned.

Marco opened his mouth to quip back, but his eyes widened as he processed Jacob's words.

"Those are some very good points," Cassie entered the conversation. "But we really have no way of knowing if that money's going to the defense funds."

"Yeah, that's true," Marco said, scratching the back of his head. "And hey, I really am sorry about your store. If it helps, I'd like to buy a few products today. Are we cool?"

Jacob's face and eyes softened, "Yeah, we're cool. Thanks for understanding. This is the last time I'll have the money to be able to go here for a while. See you later."

And like that he walked away, his blue shirt fading in the crowd.

"Like Marco said," Rachel piped up, quieter than before. "Nothing's stopping me from just acquiring the elephant, right?"

"Yeah," Marco agreed. "Nothing's stopping you. As a matter of fact, let's go on ahead."

Day 5, Evening, 10 P.M.

The sky was pitch black, the city was on the smaller side, it doesn't get enough traffic for the lights to stay on after sundown. The city was also in an area that had been hit hard by Nartec bomb attacks, so no neighboring settlements were able to light up the darkened sky for miles around. The city survived, but is still struggling.

Most of the staff of the hospitals' staff were away for the night, so nobody was expecting the visitor they would receive. That's just the way Tobias prefers it.

It didn't take him long at all to find his next target, but his urgency in his journey was apparent. He hadn't slept since he rallied Ben to his cause, who's on his way to the Bunker now. Maybe he's already there, preparing it for the arrival of the others?

But Tobias knew he has to find his next target quickly. To his disappointment, but not at all surprise, he found her in the hospital's hospice section.

In a dark corner of the room was a bed, and connected to it were monitors of all kinds. The subject was a lady, one who looks much older than she really was, but is still elderly nonetheless. Her room was devoid of memorabilia of any kind, no family left to care for her. She had a book over her chest, held by her bony, wrinkly fingers, the window let moonlight shine in, dimly illuminating the room. Slowly the moonlight grew bright as the window opened, then a shadow grew over it, cast by Tobias as he soundlessly returned to his true form.

He walked over to the old lady, his hard feet silently pressing on the floor. Once he was over her, he closely examined the medical equipment she was attached to, jhis hands encased in black gloves made of an alien material. Once he was done examining her IV dripper bag and diagnosis he shook his head.

Looks like I was right.

Tobias took the IV bag and gently removed it with the care of someone holding a bubble in their fingers. When he put it down on her nightstand he took another bag out of his pocket. He held the bag, which was empty, and connected a tube to it. Tobias took the other end of the tube, and in the dim moonlight he was able to see perfectly. Tobias stuck the tube into his arm, hitting a vein, he watched as the transparent bag filled with his blood. Once a pint was in there Tobias removed the tube and sealed the wound with little effort.

Tobias raised the bag and walked back to the IV dripper.

((If you can hear me, I'm going to give you a transfusion,)) Tobias mentally spoke to the lady in a soft tone. ((Hopefully what I'm about to give you will wake you up. Just giving you a heads up, and letting you know I'm a friend, here goes.))

We're the same blood type, this has to work. Please, please Ellemist, let me not be too late.

He inserted the bag, and watched as his blood ran down the tube into the lady who was in a comatose sleep. Once it was over, Tobias took out a device the size of a baseball and attached it to her arm, and immediately upon connecting with her blood flow a liquid much darker than what should be flowing in her veins began to seep out into a bag at the other end of it.

Tobias put a hologram over the blood bag to make it look exactly like the IV bag he removed. Afterwards Tobias took the true IV bag and retreated to the other side of the room, his footsteps still failing to make any sound a human would hear. He turned with his back to the window and moonlight, sat down on the floor and turned vanished without leaving a clue that he was ever there. The only thing left to do was listen to the beeping of the EKG monitors, and hope for the best.