Just when it seemed that Tobias was here to stay, he suddenly departed on another mission. The other Old Bloods scattered across the country are in danger whether they realize it or not, which to Tobias is an unacceptable prospect, and after a day spent drawing the routes on which he will collect them on, he says his farewells to his friends. Once Tobias is gone, the rest of the team commits to their preparations for the coming struggle whilst Alice pays a visit to the city life by searching for anomalies. Unfortunately, in the coming days, Tobias will not be the only member of the group running afoul of unforeseen malice.
Threat Acquisition
Day 10, Twilight
Everyone was fully dressed in the clearing just outside the entrance to the sanctuary bunker, the sun was setting, giving the sky a darker shade of blue and turning the clouds a rosy salmon pink. Everyone was gathered outside, Ben sat on a log next to Ellen, while Harry was just sitting at the edge of the clearing, peering outside of the little grove, on the lookout for The Enemy, his near naked emaciated body and its deathly pale skin concealed by a large bush. Alice was standing on one of the trees, in her merlin form, perched on the other side looking out. After the blackout was fixed, Ellen checked the material she was making that Cassie's first set of morphing clothing would be made from, and as it turned out, because Cassie's underwear was actually two articles of clothing, her recieving it would have to be two days, Ellen expressed concern that the blackout had ruined the material she was using to make it by virtue of the machine synthesizing it losing power, but nothing went wrong.
He had planted in the ground what looked like a weather pane you'd find on some country house in the middle of nowhere, it'd look exactly like one at a distance, but there were disks attached at the end of the spokes, and a series of tethers extended from its base, wrapping around Tobias like a harness. The most obvious distance would be the specifically made handle with a two-handed grip. Tobias said it was a flying device he used to travel swiftly across the continent undetected, and Eyelizard was wrapped around his shoulder like some sort of scarf.
Cassie will still need to wait until the day after tomorrow in order to recieve her clothing. I briefly considered pointing out how giving Marco his first set would go quicker, but I realized quickly that it meant depriving the girls of their modesty for even longer.
The rest of us gathered around Tobias, who had a massive backpack strapped on along with the other satchel he usually carried around. Considering all of the bags we carried, it wasn't that strange a look.
"You're really leaving?" Cassie asked, sad.
"Yeah," Tobias said, checking his satchel one last time to make sure everything in in there, including the map where his routes were drawn.
"But you just got here!" I said, remembering that the last time he left he was gone for five years. "You can't just stay for a while, give yourself time to prepare?"
Tobias shook his head, "That's not an option, please keep in mind how quickly you got sick just by drinking tap tainted with anti-morph serum, the other Old Bloods are vulnerable to that, it might even affect some of us worse."
"Do you even know how long you're going to be gone? How much distance you're covering?" Marco asked.
"800 miles, more or less," Tobias explained, his tone restrained, zipping up his satchel and renewing his iron death grip on the flying pane. "Stretching over 17 different locations, which means...a seven day run, not accounting complications in locating them or getting them back of course."
"You'll be taking the cube with you," I pointed out. "What are you going to do if you encounter something nasty that tries to take it?"
"I just won't let them find us," Tobias said, shrugging his shoulders.
"But what if it's one of those walking atrocities, like the one that axed your Dad?" Marco pointed out.
Tobias didn't respond at first, pressing his lips against eachother as he stared Marco dead in the eyes intensely, his expression and tone were as deathly serious as they could possibly be. Suddenly he seemed bigger and darker.
"They're never going to be a problem again, trust me," Tobias said in an icy whisper. "That last one was a freak accident."
All of a sudden a humming sound began emanating from the flying pane, Tobias jumped up off the ground and stayed levitating there a couple feet off the ground, and was slowly rising higher.
"I'm not entirely sure how many I'll be bringing back on this run, it'll be seventeen at minimum. But I will return!"
Tobias had reached the treetops now. The humming intensified and suddenly Tobias began rising much faster, he shot above the treetops, we stood up and walked to look at him as he ascended. His figure had shrunken to that of a dot in the darkened blue sky when he said his last goodbye.
((Farewell, everyone. Jake, Marco, Rachel, Cassie, seeing you all again was...a light,)) Tobias said before he turned and began flying out of view, before suddenly disappearing as if he was never there to begin with.
It took us a couple of minutes to stop looking up and we looked at eachother.
"So, now what do we do, fearless leader?" Marco asked.
I shook my head.
"Tobias leaving doesn't change anything," I pointed out, unzipping my bag and begining to slide pull off my shoes, prompting the others to begin undressing and placing their outfits into their own bags. "We continue gearing up for the war, get a handle on our morphing power. Alice, Tobias said you're good at observing things, right?"
"Indeed," she confirmed, her, Ben, and Ellen all turned away to preserve our modesty. "Let me guess, scout out for evidence of Them?"
"Right," I said. "We need to know what we're up against. If they put traps in certain parts of the city in some way, or if they've taken over buildings and altered them for whatever reason, then we need to figure out where those places are so that they can't get the drop on us."
"Or get seen in some place that they set up a camera at," Marco commented, already undressed and beginning to morph. "On second thought, we should restrict our morphing to the really isolated places, like the woods. Morphing in public? It's too risky, and we've got to be careful. Really careful. They can be anyone."
((So we don't trust anyone,)) Cassie said, undressed and already very morphed.
((If they find us...)) Rachel said, leaving that terrible idea in the air.
((So just don't let them find us,)) I said. ((We keep our morphing and demorphing restricted to certain areas. We go back to the barn.))
((And from there, the next stop is The Gardens!)) Marco said. ((Just an hour until they close, we gotta break for it!))
((but how would we pay for it?)) Rachel asked. ((I've run out of allowance money for the month!))
((Leave that one to me,)) Ben offered in an unusually satisfied tone of voice, reaching a hand into his front pocket.
"Alright, we made it!" Marco said out of breath as we stopped out at the bike racks. While we handled all of our bikes, Rachel adjusted her top-hat and Marco sprinted straight to the entrance, where the employees sold the tickets and souvenirs.
"Heyo," Marco said, reaching into his pocket and slapping down the hundred dollar bill Ben gave us, covered in sweat. "Zoo Tickets for four, please!"
The man at the window smiled as he took the hundred dollar bill, "You guys are lucky, we were just about to announce closing time."
"Yes!" Marco exclaimed, legs dropping out from underneath him to sit right on the concrete ground just as we caught up.
"We made it," I said to Marco as me and Rachel picked him up. Cassie was with us as well, her presence was the most important. Since it was late in the day, the place was not as crowded as usual, which wasn't optimal, but we could still work with.
Yet again we were just another part of the crowd, we had flown straight back to the barn and then biked to The Zoo. Ben gave us a hundred dollar bill to facilitate our presence here, I walked as normally as I could, given my sweat soaked clothes, Cassie looked the second most fine out of all of us, Marco just staggered like he was going to drop any minute, and Rachel just walked with maximum moxie, completely rocking that top-hat she was wearing, her purse added to the look.
And then there was Alice...I have no flippin clue how she managed to not only turned into an inanimate object, but is sitting on Rachel's head, clenching on her temples like some living headband, and Rachel still manages to rock the look even with a blue dress and nothing else properly colored to match it.
((How. Did you. Do that!)) I finally said to Alice. ((Why? Did you. Do that?))
((Oh, this organism I've turned into only 'looks' like headgear, but I assure you, it is very much alive and 100% DNA based!))
((Why are you so chill about turning into. What is beyond a shadow of a doubt. The only 100 frickin' percent GMO animal on the planet?!)) Marco remarked, sounding like he had genuinely lost his mind in a storm of confusion and outrage.
((Oh, you're funny!)) Alice said, almost laughing. ((Because this is 100% GMO, there's no original animal creature to begin with. Certified fact!))
((First, we have a lizard that's neither living or machine, a perfect fusion of in-between,)) Marco ranted. ((Then you have the fact that you told me that you created living space jets in order to morph into, and now you're a hat clinging to a girl's head! You guys are just milking this morphing thing dry! Seriously, where can I get some of that? You have to have an Autobot petting zoo out there where you keep and breed the jets you make to morph into! Tell me where it is!))
((Sorry, kiddo,)) Alice apologized. ((We don't have the infrastructure to procure any more of 'that,' but I do assure you if we ever do, you'll have first dibs on the tank morph.))
My mind did a 180, the full brunt of the concept causing me to stopped.
((Tank. Morph?!)) I questioned.
((Uh, guys,)) Cassie interrupted, reaching into her pocket where her key was. ((We're almost here, I don't think we should lose focus now.))
Snapping back out of my shock, I noticed that Cassie had led us over to the Africa area for the exhibits, we were indeed close. I looked to my left and noticed the tiger exhibit, the pit with its metal railing that I had jumped into a few nights earlier. Our path took us right beside it, I peered into the tiger exhibit to see if any of the cats are awake.
I saw a few, they were all mulling about, minding their business, one gave the people looking at them an apathetic look...until it noticed me. We locked eyes, and I saw in that big cat's orange eyes recognition, he knew who I was. I remembered the tiger that had chased me out of the exhibit, climbing the ladder to get to me, I stopped, startled at the revelation.
((Thank you,)) I said to the tiger, and that tiger alone. ((Your strength won't go to waste.))
Some people say that they understand animals, that they can commune with them on a level no one else can, often times they don't, and this leads to them being killed and eaten by the very predators they sought to befriend. Nonetheless I am in that extremely rare category that was literally inside an animal's head, and before I walked away to catch up with the others, I locked The Tiger in a stare, and he in turn returned the respect.
Cassie had reached that "ridge/hill" that separated the Africa exhibits from the asia exhibits, and in that "ridge" was both the reptile room (where a load of amphibians and insects are held as well), the exhibits for the mountain dwelling creatures, and a cleverly placed entrance to an underground tunnel system where the workers who maintain the exhibits move unobstructed by traffic connected to all of the above.
We slipped away from to one of the doors to said tunnel system where Cassie where we stopped in front of the door.
((Clear,)) Top Hat Alice said, to which Cassie unlocked the door and opened it up immediately. We filed in and a second later the door was closed and locked again. ((No cameras, nobody to see.))
((This way,)) Cassie said, and we followed.
((So, what kind of gorillas do you have?)) Marco asked as we turned right.
((Just one, a Western Lowland,)) Cassie clarified. ((His name's Big Bo.))
((Is that like, the strongest?)) Rachel asked, gesturing with her hand.
((I think so,)) Cassie said.
((Don't really care,)) Marco said, smiling wider. ((If this Big bobobo-bo's got hands, I'm morphing into it.))
After a few turns we didn't encounter anyone. This sneaking thing was off to a good start.
Cassie took a deep breath after poking her head into the next intersection and looking left and right like she was crossing the road. She quickly moved forward to the hallway and we followed, she stopped at a big metal door, there was a sign on it that gave away its location: Gorilla Enclave! Sure did have fun naming these rooms, didn't they?
Alice was a good lookout, there were no signs of trouble...however, in hindsight I should've realized that this was in fact the first sign of trouble.
((This is really weird,)) Cassie whispered in our heads, worried. I gave her a concerned glance.
((What's weird?)) Rachel asked, clutching her purse to make sure nothing's wrong with it.
((Where are the workers?)) Cassie asked as she gently opened the door, letting us into a dark room lit only by a couple of lights, it was really obviously night. Big Bo had already checked in for the night and was lying down on a rock, he was still awake enough to regard us with curiosity. ((We should've had to dodge someone by now, but these tunnels are deserted.))
I was concerned, too. It was really wierd that there were no workers, Cassie, who studied the schedules of The Garden's employees and memorized the exact shifts of each one of them, and a facility we should've expected company in, is deserted?
My concern isn't valid, we can't stop, not when we're so close! I don't know if it's just that we're literally only a few feet away from Marco's battle morph, or if it's a combination of Tobias' leaving again, the fact that the entire city's tap is being poisoned with something that only hurts morphers, that The Controller's base is in our home and they're hunting for us, and the fact that if they're not watching The Zoo, they would be soon?
That Tom is one of Them?
...All of those, it has to be all of those. What the crap? These last few days have been insane! All of that danger that we lived in the same house with and even drank, and none of us even realized!
No matter.
((Rachel, the apple,)) I curtly ordered, she stepped forward, unzipped her purse, and gave Marco a bright red apple before he carefully walked to Big Bo.
((Don't make any sudden moves,)) My girlfriend instructed.
"Hey guy, heard your name was Big Bo," Marco tentatively said as he gave the ape the apple. "I love your movie work in King Kong, and George of The Jungle."
We all were silent as Marco stepped forward and acquired the Big Bo, as the gorilla took the apple and started eating it, Marco slowly placed his palm on the Gorilla's shoulder, it was undisturbed. Then we saw it, The Gorilla's eyes glazed over as the trance swept over him, I looked at Marco's hand, looking for some visual indicator of what was happening.
All of a sudden I was back. Back inside the cabin, surrounding Tobias' crippled father as he gave us the power in that ruined wooden room, right before that accursed fiend attacked and ended his life. In the barn, placing my hand on The Bobcat after reading Tobias' letter, nervous and filled with apprehension but determined to learn my power, when I put my bare hand to The Peregrine Falcon as Cassie fed her jerky, knowing what I was doing, and wishing for the exhileration of flight. The respectful contact between myself and the feathers of The Great Horned Owl whose talons were in a cast, me and Rachel preparing to undertake the ngiht voyage where we acquired the mass to turn into our battle morphs.
Then The Tiger, his great size intimidating in the shadow, his power obvious under the touch of my hand even in the pure dark, my skin wet from emerging out of the moat, foilage sticking to my bare human skin.
Marco blew out a deep breath through his nostrils as he stepped away from Big Bo, just like that, he was done. Marco turned behind, wearing a rueful smile.
((So much for childhood innocence, eh?)) Marco sardonically remarked. ((These next few months are going to hurt.))
((How long do you think this war's going to last?)) Rachel asked as I stepped forward to place my hand on Marco's shoulder.
"Welcome to the team," I said, smiling at him for the first time. "At la-"
((AN ALARM!)) Alice shouted in our heads, Rachel leaned forward and clasped the top hat in her fingers. ((JAKE's VOICE! IT TRIGGERED A SENSOR! WE NEED TO MOVE!))
"Not again!" Marco spat through his teeth as we opened the door and made a mad sprint for the exit.
((Entities detected in the hallway to the right, there are two of humans!)) Alice reported.
((Two humans?)) Rachel challenged as we turned left. ((We can take them.))
((They're too fast!)) Alice said. ((These guys aren't normal humans!))
((Can't risk it!)) I said, almost slamming into the wall. ((We don't know what we're dealing with-))
"Hurry! We've got them trapped!" A sinister voice echoed down the halls, the tone and texture of which sent a chill down my spine.
((Those are not the Zoo Workers...)) Cassie whispered, her voice filled with dread.
((Are they calling in re-?)) Marco asked.
((Clarjiatz! Four more! One approaching from all side tunnels!)) Alice reported.
((That does it!)) I said, skidding to a stop at a hallway close by an intersection, the footsteps growing louder. This is my fault, it was my voice that alerted them to our presence here. ((We have to fight!))
((With what weapons?)) Cassie asked.
((With what else?)) Rachel said, her wisty echoing tone carried with it an icy dead certainty. I looked over to her to see fur begin growing out of her face.
((Too late!)) I said. ((They're here!))
All of a sudden the footsteps came to a stop, and skidding in the hallways on both sides of us were these big men, like college football quarterbacks, but they were running so fast that they needed to put both of their hands in front of themselves. My stomach sank to my feet, there was no way we could've outran these people, we were just outside of the door we came in from, but they weren't out of breath.
"Isn't it a bit late to be out in here?" A blond haired man said as they all walked up to us, slowly. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"
Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Rachel stopped morphing, her fur receding into her human skin.
"I have THIS!" Rachel bit back in defiance as she threw Alice at the perpetrators!
They gasped and scattered away like she had thrown a grenade, but in reality Alice just fluttered to the floor where the feet of the frontmost men in the group were.
((WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!)) Alice demanded.
((I thought you had weapons that could appear in your morphs!)) Rachel said.
Oh no. Catfight.
((I do, but they're not out!))
((Well, why didn't you have them out?))
((WHY did you THROW ME?!))
((I. DON'T. KNOW!))
"They're coming back!" Marco said, the footsteps returning. The big burly men returned and advanced on us, six very physically fit, very big adult men advanced on us in a group.
((Cover your eyes and look away!)) Alice said as they began to approach where she was. She started glowing.
I took Cassie and we both turned away and shielded our faces.
"Nice trick you pulled ther-huh?" The leader of the group said before I assume he noticed Alice glowing on the floor. All ofa sudden rapid footsteps sounded out before a flash of light so bright that it was painful even looking away from it, then a series of thuds occured. I looked back toward them to see steam rising from our pursuers, Rachel ran back, leaning down to pick up Alice from the floor.
((Are they,)) I asked.
((They're alive, their short term memories were purged, but we need to hide!)) Alice said as Rachel put her back on. ((More are on the way! They're coming from that exit, too! Twenty! No, thirty! More!))
Oh crap, oh crap!
((In here!)) Cassie said, walking to a door and opening it to reveal a supply closet.
We all rushed in and immediately started looking for places to hide, Marco began undressing and placing all of his clothes underneath the blue heads of the mops, and we all followed suit after Cassie closed the door. Thank God we got so good at undressing fast.
We all moved to out little positions as Top Hat Alice started glowing to provide light, Marco's mouth was extending into that of a fly, he was crouching next to the giant yellow buckets used to transport poop. Cassie was turning into a bat, morphing noticably faster than us all.
I dropped to all fours and began changing into The Bobcat, the fur grew in and my hands grew bigger, but at the same time I started shrinking, my eyes changing into that of a cat. As I morphed and shrunk I saw the shovels and began awkwardly crawling over there, slinking behind them, pushing the heads forward as I settled into my hiding place.
Can't I shrink any faster? I thought to myself as I turned around just in time to see Cassie complete her transformation into a bat, afterward she flew up and clung to that precious tiny stretch of wall above the door and below the cieling. Alice stopped glowing, returning the room into total darkness.
I prayed for them to not find us as I was in the last stage of finishing my transformation, the door to the maintenance tunnels flew open and a series of rapid footsteps followed.
"What happened?" I heard an angry voice shout from outside the door, I slunk closer to the wall, making sure the shovels didn't protrude as much as possible.
"Looks like the intruders trashed them?" Another Controller sardonically.
"Alive," another voice reported. "Waking them up!"
The first voice demanded what happened spat in anger and disgust, "Andalites!"
"How can you be so sure?"
"These Andalites prefer subtler tactics, they trend towards precision and reducing collatoral damage," the Controller, apparantly the one in charge here, explained as the ones we knocked out were being questioned. "Animorphs on the other hand...You'd know if it was them, those monsters aim for maximum carnage, they hold absolutely nothing back, nothing!"
Animorphs? I questioned. What Animorphs are they talking about? The same ones ETCS are looking for?
"So, where do we look?" One of the voices said as they started opening the door! I closed my eyes to make sure my eyeshine wouldn't give me away.
Please let them not see, please let them not see, please let them not see!
"Forget it," the lead Controller said. "These ones don't remember anything, typical mindwipe. They're likely already gone, it's better to just pretend this incident never happened.
"B-but, are we seriously not even going to report it?" The one who entered the closet protested, the door creaking as he unintentionally moved its hinges. "There are Andalites within the center of our influence! They've breached our perimeter!"
"And who's going to tell Visser 3 of how we failed to catch them? You know how he punishes failure."
"He doesn't punish failure, he punishes incompetence and political Arn-foolery! Which is exactly what you're doing!" The one holding the door open angrily accused. "You haven't served under him for nearly the amount of time I did. You're going to cause the exact breed of failure-"
CLACK-CLINK! I heard the sound emanate from with the closet and flinched, it was an alien noise but I knew what a weapon sounded like!
"And you know what failure you're going to cause? Organ failure, brain failure, and failure of you to exist," the head honcho said ina soothing voice dripping with icy lead. "So, are you going to keep practicing free speech? Or are you going to enjoy some clearly well-earned leisure time?"
It was a tense moment, we all waited for the standoff's results, will the weapon fire? Won't it, and what will it do to us? Will it startle our morphs into triggering their fight or flight instinct.
BAM! The door shut with the force of a thunderclap, forcing a gust of air into the closet and rattling its contents.
CLACK-CLINK!
"That's what I thought," the Controller said before they began to file out of the room, the clacking of their footsteps audible through the door, my feline hearing caught everything. We waited, absolutely still, waited for some straggler to come through.
((Alright, it's safe,)) Alice reported, and we all got out of our hiding places. The shovels clanked together as I left from behind them, Cassie fluttered down to the floor, and Rachel got out from her secret space underneath a cabinet, in bunny morph. We all started demorphing at the same time, it wasn't a pretty sight, especially for Marco, whose fly parts all starting expanding and turning into the body of a boy at the same time, as I morphed though, the underwear that was made for me appeared on my body again. Casie suddenly hugged me, my skin still furry with receding hair, I hugged her back.
Just as suddenly as she embraced she had detached herself and was leaning down at the mops, behind the pile where our clothes were hidden, and I looked up.
((Yours,)) Rachel commented, swinging my jeans at me so that they slapped against my shoulder, I grabbed them as Marco threw my my shoes, socks still inside them.
Soon afterward we left the Gardens maintenance shaft, nobody saw us exit, our walk outside was far more tense than it was when we entered. We were more observant of our surroundings, and I recognized a few people lingering around that had matching physical descriptions of the people who attacked us. On further examination, we didn't really know which ones were waiting to ambush us.
We left The Gardens and biked home, Rachel at Alice's request, threw her top hat into the woods as we rode back, where she assured us that she could slink away.
We do not know who they are, or where they lurk. We do not know how many are on the loose, but they're numerous enough to endanger the entire world. We cannot trust our roads, our alleyways, the tap water, the lights, or the storefronts. The Police, the Hospitals, The Construction workers, even ETCS is being infiltrated and made to betray the very people they're supposed to serve. We can't trust anyone, anyone but eachother, one single mistake is all it'll take to destroy us. And Visser 3 does not sound like the kind of leader who would slip up.
How are we going to even begin resisting, much less banish these things from the Earth?
Day 13, Twilight
The crowds are very thin in the surrounding city at this time, Alice observed as she walked on the large concrete slab, her purse held in a vice grip. Now that we've established a rhythm, I think we're going to get somewhere. Even without Eyelizard.
She looked exactly like a homeless person, with her worn hoodie, shoes, and faded dress with jeans underneath, however, due to this area being a place that wasn't supposed to be inhabited, and the fact that this would be one of the few good places in the city where the group would be able to morph, this was one of the places that had to be searched for alien presence.
Even with its muddy puddles of unknown depth, its half-finished buildings and deserted construction equipment, the foundations set with steel beams sticking up like dead trees, the half-finished walls and rooves, giant piles of wet dirt, this was a valuable place due to its isolation despite being close to heavy traffic. And pretending to sleep leaning next to a half-finished half collapsed wall, she blended in perfectly.
Nobody's noticing Alice, and though physically inactive, she was far from complacent, the visit to the Zoo proved that They are watching a lot closer than they could've anticipated. They're ready to pounce at a moment's notice with overwhelming numbers at various locations across the city. How ready to act and how swift they were deeply surprised her, and that was something that upset her greatly, motivating her to be even more vigilant. She was looking for everything, signals, out of place heat signatures, imprints, exotic lifesigns, anything that would suggest something on the lead she acquired.
((I still don't see anything,)) Harry said for the fourth time that night. ((Why are we out here, chasing some phantom signal that caused a blip on your scanner a few days ago?))
((It's like smoke,)) Alice explained. ((And smoke leads to fire, and in a landscape as rich in kindling as this place, we shouldn't neglect monitoring this place as an entry point into their stronghold.))
((Persistence and patience are good things to have, but couldn't one of the new kids be doing this?))
((No, this place is too sensitive, and if we discover something critical here in this place, then I don't know how they'd react to it. Whatever it is, an entrance to their stronghold, or something else entirely, I don't think we should sit out and not investigate.))
((I have better things to do,)) Harry said, irritated. ((Like physical therapy! I can use a morphed body fine, but the process of shifting wears me out to the point that I can only change forms once without significant time in between changes. My true form? I can't jog, much less run, I can't jump, I can only stand for around thirty minutes ata time, now, I need to tiptoe to keep from falling down a flight of stairs, and Ellemist help my sense of balance if I ever turn too fast! How can I fight with this level of atrophy?))
Alice stopped her breathing, on the outside nothing changed, but on the inside she knew Harry had a point. Jake and his friends were training their bodies and morphing powers in preparation for fighting in the war, the two of them should've been doing the same, Harry especially was in desperate need of physical training on all fronts.
((You're absolutely ri-)) Alice tried to apologize, but Harry interrupted.
((Movement detected!)) Harry alerted. ((Not human! It's close!))
((How close?)) Alice asked, activating her scanners underneath her eyelids. It wasn't long before she got her answer, a sparking glowing red fire descended to the abandoned construction site, leaving behind a trail of smoke. The flare illuminated the entire area and was blindingly bright.
Fireworks? Alive wondered, however, she knew better than to assume the mundane in a place that trends as hard towards strange as this city does.
When the flair touched the ground it disappeared and in its place a hooded figure stood with both hands holding eachother. He wore a faded hooded poncho that was green with orange symbols of unknown origin on them, his feet were bare, the only thing on them was some sock that only extended to and covered the middle of the foot and the heel, once Alice's nightvision returned, she could see from behind her sunglasses, that his feet were a chocolate brown. He wore a faded tan pair of cargo pants that had all manner of stains on them. Underneath his hood his black hair was long and came down in dreadlockes, he had a smooth face, and with the hood obscuring the majority of his head in shadow, Alice couldn't tell how old the figure was.
When she scanned she found two details that surprised her greatly, one, all of his clothes were morphing clothes, and two, she literally couldn't discern anything else past his outer appearance, other than his glowing radiant purple eyes, locking on her position and moving forward.
((Animorph?)) Harry squaked in astonishment when he saw his eyes, causing the interloper to smile under his hood.
"Greetings," the Animorph asked. "I have a...few words I believe you would be deeply interested in hearing."
((They have voice detectors, you shouldn't be talking with your mouth,)) Alice warned.
"Not in this place, trust me, I checked," he continued walking towards Alice's prone form, his voice carrying a dead certainty that dissuaded people from wishing to play games. The entirety of this man's voice and appearance had a weight to it.
Alice thought for a few seconds before asking her own question.
((Are you one of the 'Animorphs' ETCS is on the hunt for?)) Alice asked. ((If you are, then I refuse to hold any discussions in this city by virtue of how much trouble you're bound to attract just by being here.))
"ETCS aren't the only faction whose response to me and my associates you need to worry about. The Invasion has taken notice of our actions as well."
"Which invasion?" Alice's human morph asked. "There's a few running around, if you forgot how to count."
"The Invasion, is on high alert" The Purple Eyed Animorph clarified. "They've locked this city down tight, they're observing the traffic of every animal that enters and leaves this city and the few towns next door. If one of your group tries to travel a certain distance beyond the furthest houses as an animal, their drones will monitor said animals in secret for great lengths of time or until they morph...and you see the problem you'll have with this, right?"
Alice looked at The Animorph for the first time since he arrived.
"How do you know this, and who are you?"
"My name is Lotr," The Animorph clarified. "And my agenda is exactly the same as yours. I too, am an enemy of The Parasite, a victim of Their malice, an individual who defied Their control since before I was born, and struggled for the revitalization of my nation every day afterward. I watch them, listen in on their talk, and they, much to my surprise, despite my best efforts, have detected us and are preparing to endure an all-out attack."
"And which of The Nations do you hail from?" Alice asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity. "There's more than one, you know."
((So it's your fault they have this entire town quarantined?)) Harry accused. ((Even if you're telling the truth, the acceptable range for detection spans all the way to-))
((Harry!)) Alice scolded. ((That's enough!))
((-the mountains, and if they did have a perimeter, there's a lot of wild space to slip into and disappear in to keep morphers out!))
Lotr blinked, "So, your base is in the mountains?"
Harry was silent, very likely cursing himself for his bad interjecting.
"Irrelevant, why are you here?" Alice redirected the conversation.
"I'm here to give you a way out, a method of bypassing their surveilance that is both effective and safe, if slightly time intensive," in response to Lotr's suggestion, Harry groaned, but he was unperturbed.
"It's a trick I used to enter this city unnoticed just now, a tactic which holds immense strategic value."
"...and in return?" Alice asked with trepidation.
"Nothing," Lotr said, splaying his hands away from his body to the sides in a non-aggressive gesture. "For this, I want nothing in return. No strings attached, no hidden favors, no false leads, no Howler Flowers."
((But if we're on the same side by default,)) Harry asked. ((Then why would you make such a big deal about not getting anything in return?))
"It's a matter of establishing trust," Lotr explained.
((Right,)) Harry skeptically remarked wih a touch of acid. ((The way we trusted Torelli and Itterrun?))
"Ah, walked right into that one, didn't I? All I am offering is information," Lotr patiently insisted. "And the promise of our future interactions being ones of purely consensual interactions that benefit both parties."
((Besides,)) Lotr privately said in Alice's head. ((Trying to out-guile someone you know is a Master of Shadows is an idiot's tactic.))
Alice reacted with genuine shock, she stood up straight, her sunglasses sliding down her nose crooked.
((But...how do you-?))
"What you choose to do with the information I'm about to give you is entirely up to you," Lotr interrupted Alice. "And you alone. Considering it's you guys, I have faith you're not going to mess this one up."
"And what about your partner?" Alice asked suspiciously. "I've seen what he's done, and is still doing. It's ultimately his fault that we're trapped in a lockdown with no easy way to get out in-morph unnoticed without invisibility. That beast may be intelligent, but at the end of the day he's an animalistic slave bound to turn on you if you provoke him enough, or don't give him enough carrot treatment, whether it's to his creators, or to whatever purpose you've given him. I know you're not acting aimlessly, you have some objective in mind, but what could you possibly need so badly that it would warrant choosing to make Warlike your lackey?! There's a reason we locked him up! And you speak on trust, but for someone trying to establish relations, you're dodgy on specifics."
"Warlike is indeed difficult to work with..." Lotr explained. "However, you don't know him like I have, he is far more independent than you know, he refuses to be a subordinate to anyone anymore. So keep those opinions to yourself if you don't want to provoke him into inflicting grievous bodily harm on you. As for my information, listen close..."