It was early in the morning, and the animorphs were gathered in Cassie's barn. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. An emergency meeting had been called by Erek, their Chee android friend.
"We got Yeerk intel that Visser Three is traveling to Italy to infiltrate one of the most dangerous groups there- the mafia," Erek told them.
"So we're going to Italy?" Rachel asked.
"Yes! I've always wanted to go to Italy- though I prefer for it to be on vacation, not because I need to battle alien slugs, but I'll take what I can get," Marco said.
"Wait," Jake said. "Let Erek finish."
"He's taking a plane and he should be there within a day or so," Erek continued. "The plane is a Yeerk plane- so he can demorph and it won't look suspicious. There's a regular flight going to Italy. It leaves in a few hours. If you want to take the mission and go Italy, you should make up your minds soon."
The animorphs looked at each other.
"But what will we do in Italy? We don't speak the language, we won't have access to European money, we won't have any way to get food-" Cassie began to protest.
She's got a point, Tobias chimed in.
"I don't think you'll be there long," Erek assured them. "Maybe a week at most. The Chee will cover for you."
We can use our morphs to our advantage to feed ourselves, Ax said, answering Cassie's question. Wherever Visser Three goes, we have to go too.
"Let's take a vote," Jake said. "All in favor?"
"Me," Rachel said.
"Me too," Marco added.
I am for this as well, Ax replied.
"And I'm the fourth yes," Jake said. "Tobias, Cassie? If you want to sit this one out, you can."
"I can't sit this out if the rest of you are going," Cassie insisted. "I'm coming too."
I'm with Cassie, Tobias said. I don't think red-tailed hawks live in Italy, but I'm sure I can find somewhere to morph and demorph. Ax is going to need to do the same thing too.
"So it's settled," Jake said. "We're going to Italy."
The animorphs morphed into flies at the airport and snuck into the baggage compartment, where they demorphed and kept morphing back before the two hours were up. It took around twelve hours for their flight to get there, and when they were finally out of the plane's baggage compartment, they demorphed in an empty alleyway. Ax and Tobias morphed their human forms and cautiously, six kids wearing skintight outfits with bare feet crept out of the alleyway.
Meanwhile, Bruno Bucciarati led Giorno Giovanna to the restaurant to meet the rest of his gang. The past day had been crazy for Giorno: he fought Leaky Eye Luca, Bucciarati, and fought the stand Black Sabbath and was initiated into the gang. When Giorno came across the Bucciarati's team, he was a little nervous. What would the others think of him?
When Bucciarati announced his presence, the team straightened to attention. There was Abbachio, Narancia, Fugo, and Mista. Bucciarati had a call he had to take, so he headed out. And Abbachio started in on Giorno.
"Hey, kid, do you like tea?"
Mista and Narancia snickered.
"Go on, drink it," Abbachio continued, pouring him a cup.
"He's not going to do it," Narancia whispered to Mista.
"No one in their right mind would," Mista agreed.
To everyone's disbelief, Giorno did it- seemingly downing the cup that was not filled with tea, but Abbachio's urine.
"What is going on here?" Bruno demanded, having returned to the table.
Giorno answered for them. "Everything's fine," he responded, having used his stand to turn one of his teeth into a jellyfish to absorb the disgusting liquid.
"What's the news, Bucciarati?" Fugo asked.
"Finish eating," Bruno responded. "We have to move out."
He glanced at the restaurant door in time to see six barefoot kids in skintight outfits entering.
"I'm starving," complained the short one.
"Yeah, well, so are all of us, Marco," the tall blonde girl snapped. "You're not special."
"It smells amazing in here," the boy with shaggy blond hair commented.
At that moment, a waiter walked over to them. "Excuse me, kids, but since you don't have shoes, I can't serve you," he informed them.
"We don't have any money, sir," the black girl said respectfully. "And we're really hungry."
"Bucciarati, what are you staring at?" Abbachio asked.
"Those kids, they're foreigners…. probably Americans. They don't have any shoes. That's so weird," Bucciarati said, half to himself.
"If you can't pay, I can't serve you," the waiter was telling the group.
"We could pay you back by doing dishes for a few hours," the boy with short blond hair suggested.
"That wouldn't be allowed. This restaurant is for paying customers only," the waiter replied.
Bucciarati stood up and approached the group. "Pardon me, but if these kids need something to eat, I'd be happy to pay their bill for them," he told the waiter.
"I would let you if that was allowed, but it's against our policy," the waiter told Bruno.
As if on cue, one of the kid's stomachs growled.
"I'll pay you extra if you let them dine here just this once," Bucciarati bribed.
"Alright," the waiter agreed. Turning to the kids, he said, "I'll show you to your table."
"Thank you, sir," the black girl told him.
"Thank you. I am very hungry. Gree," said the sixth kid who hadn't spoken until now.
"No problem. Stay safe," Bucciarati told them.
"We will," the short boy told him.
As the waiter led them away, Bruno returned to his seat.
"What was that about?" asked Narancia.
"I'm paying for their meals. They appear to be poor tourists," Bucciarati replied. "Anyway, we have more important things to worry about….."
The waiter seated the animorphs across the restaurant from the strange black-haired man who had agreed to pay for their meals. With him was a guy with long white hair, two blond guys, a dark-haired kid, and a guy wearing a hat. They were dressed oddly, the animorphs noted.
The waiter took their orders after translating the menu for them. They began to talk as soon as the waiter disappeared.
"We need to find Visser Three," Jake said.
"How? There's so many people here," Cassie said.
"We know his human morph, and we know his human morph has an American accent. But I imagine that he has guards," Tobias said.
"So we look for guys with Dracon beams?" suggested Rachel.
"I guess so. If we knew where some mafia members hung out, we could find him," said Marco.
Jake glanced up and saw that some of the members of the black-haired guy's table were watching them.
"Those guys, they're watching us," observed Ax.
"We probably look suspicious leaning in like this," Tobias mused.
"The fact that we do not have shoes like other humans probably makes us look suspicious. Us," Ax added.
"Now they're whispering among themselves," Marco muttered.
"I wish we could hear what they're saying," Rachel commented.
"Hold on, let me try something," Cassie said. "Since I have a natural gift for morphing, I can try to morph a wolf ear and see if I can hear what they're saying."
"Good idea," Jake said. "Just make sure your ear doesn't go to the top of your head."
Instead of focusing on the whole wolf, Cassie pictured the wolf ear replacing one of her own. It happened quickly and she stopped the morph, covering the ear with her hair so no diners saw it.
"…Have what it takes to be a mafioso," a rough voice was saying.
"We have a mission from the boss," the black-haired man's voice said next. "After we eat we're starting our mission. So hurry up."
"I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying," whined the dark-haired kid.
"They mentioned a boss and one of them said something about the mafia," whispered Cassie. "If we follow them, they might lead us to Visser Three."
She reversed the morph as they had stopped talking.
"Great," Marco said with fake brightness. "More morphing when we're already exhausted!"
The animorphs' food came and they hurriedly ate so they ould catch up with the mafiosos.