Their car spun around suddenly, before turning and driving backwards through the door and into the next dark room. In a flash of artificial lightning, Marco, Cassie, Jake and Slade saw that an old nemesis of theirs was sitting in a car that, by either design or extreme misfortune, was only half a car-length away from them. Captain Torrelli had also brought along as large a force of The Gardens' security as would fit in the car with him.
"Oh, this is so not good," Marco muttered, just loudly enough for Slade to hear him.
"What is with that guy?" Cassie wondered aloud.
"Hey back there, Captain!" the man with the crew-cut shouted. "Are you having fun?" he laughed. "I know I sure am!"
"Airman Jones!" Torrelli shouted right back. "Don't let those kids get away from you!"
"These kids right here?" Jones asked, wondering why his commanding officer sounded so determined. Not that he didn't sound that way normally, but usually not over something as trivial as a bunch of teenagers.
"Yes, I'm talking about those kids!" Torrelli shouted back, just beginning to really get pissed off. "Or at least that girl, and those two black-haired boys!"
"That Torrelli, what a kidder," Cassie said desperately, trying to deflect Airman Jones' sudden interest in her.
"Captain Lance Torrelli has never told a joke in all the time I've known him," Airman Jones stated, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "You kids are going to have to stay with me, at least until the Captain can have a talk with you."
While this conversation had been going on, their car had been banging and jerking its way though the House of Horrors ride. Right now, their car was facing forward, and the remainder of the Animorphs were being shrieked at by a flight of obviously fake ghosts. Jake couldn't help but compare them to his encounters with Starfire, even though there was nothing even remotely similar about talking with someone who had taken awhile to even admit that they were dead, and looking upwards at a low-budget holographic show.
Then, then the ride started to get serious. Either someone had, somehow, managed to design and build six perfect replicas of Hork-Bajir warriors, complete down to the last smallest detail, or there really were a bunch of Yeerks running loose inside the ride. The one thing that tipped the balance in favor of the second option was the fact that Visser Three, head of the Yeerks' forces on Earth, was standing there behind them.
No one who had seen the Visser in his natural form would get away with it; they would either be killed or they would be made into a Controller.
"Okay, now I'm scared," Marco said, once he had caught sight of all the Yeerk soldiers standing ready to attack.
"Where are all the other Animorphs?" Jake asked, wanting to avoid using their names if it was at all possible. There were just too many people around to make a mistake like that. Not to mention the Yeerk presence.
"Right there, look," Cassie said, pointing to another out of place sculpture.
This one was of a seven-foot tall grizzly bear, standing erect and perfectly still. But anyone who took the time to look close enough would be able to tell that this grizzly was breathing. There was a hawk perched on the bear's head. There wasn't enough light for even Slade to make out what color the hawk's tail feathers were, but Cassie felt that she could hazard a guess.
This rather odd scene was complemented by the rattlesnake that had coiled itself around the grizzly's left paw. The paw itself was raised toward the ceiling, giving anyone who looked a good view of the snake. There was something comforting about having Rachel and the others so close by, but Cassie wasn't going to think about it too much. Not with Visser Three and a small army of Hork-Bajir were standing pretty much next to her.
They could probably tell that Rachel and the others were there, or Visser Three could have informed them. That is, if his night-vision wasn't as bad as the Hork-Bajir who stood behind him. Cassie suspected that it wasn't, though, since the Visser was glaring at the morphed Animorphs. He had to know they were there, otherwise he'd have tried to make a move by now.
Cassie was so preoccupied with watching Visser Three, that she almost didn't notice the more mundane aspects of their new surroundings. There were, set in between the Animorphs on Cassie's left, and the Yeerks on her right, a row of obviously foam-rubber tombstones that had been topped with gaudy and really fake-looking green skulls. The skulls even had really, really goofy-looking googly eyes.
"Nya-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Beware! All ye, beware the graveyard ghouls!" yet another hidden loudspeaker chanted.
Cassie couldn't really be concerned by a bunch of silly looking props, not when there were so many Yeerk soldiers standing almost close enough for her to reach out and touch them.
"I really like this part!" Jones said, looking around at what were, as far as he was concerned, only very clever props. "The bear is a nice touch, but those big blade monsters are really cool!"
"This is so going to turn ugly," Marco said, lowly enough that only his friends would hear.
"Do we move out now?" Slade asked Jake, leaning forward so that he didn't have to speak any louder than Marco, and so run the risk of someone hearing him.
Jake shook his head, and Slade leaned back in his seat. He didn't relax a hair, though, staying alert to all of the threats in this new environment. The darkness would be both an asset and a disadvantage, the tactical part of Slade's mind informed him. One the one hand, the darkness could be used to conceal them while they morphed.
On the other, it could also be used to hide their enemies. This situation was something that would require careful planning and consideration. Sitting in front of Slade, Cassie was also considering something important. It had occurred to her that Visser Three would want to infest only the high-ranking personnel in Area 51. And one of them was sitting in the car right behind them.
There was no time to think about the potential repercussions now; no time to find a way to be subtle about telling the others what she had just figured out. "They'll go for Torrelli!"
The Animorphs' car had turned forward by now, and had also long since passed by the waiting Yeerks and the other Animorphs. The rest of them would have to move quickly if they wanted to have any hope of joining up with their friends before the battle got really ugly. As the remaining Animorphs piled out of the car, nearly running into each other in their haste and just barely avoiding being cut in half as the car they had been seated in slammed its way through a narrow doorway, they could hear an angry yell and a number of surprised screams.
Pouring on more speed, Jake, Cassie, Marco and Slade managed to get back to where the Visser, his platoon of Hork-Bajir, the remaining Animorphs, and Captain Torrelli were all waiting for them. The four of them stayed in the deep shadows that the low lights didn't even touch, since there were still people inside the ride with them. They were just in time to see the six huge Hork-Bajir bound across the distance that had separated them from Torrelli.
It had been him that they had heard yelling, and some of the security guards accompanying him had been the ones who screamed. One of the ones who had just been staring at the advancing Hork-Bajir suddenly snapped out of his apparent mesmerization and pulled out his sidearm. The Hork-Bajir, dim as their night-sight was, managed to see his aggressive movements for what they were.
Their resulting reaction was not a pleasant one, at least as far as the unfortunate security guard was concerned.
"Aaahhhh! Aaaahhhh! Aaaahhhhhh!" Torrelli heard one of the guards scream. He wanted to know why the man had sounded like he was in pain, but there were six weird things in front of him that were demanding his complete attention.
Five of the six Hork-Bajir picked up the five security guards and threw them out into the scenery. Luckily, none of them landed near the four remaining still-human Animorphs. While the Hork-Bajir were pulling Torrelli out of his car, and being very careful not to so much as scratch him with their blades, the Animorphs who had not yet morphed were moving away from the very real carnage about to be unleashed in the House of Horrors ride. Visser Three had more than likely given them explicit instructions and warnings about what would happen to them if Torrelli ended up with even the slightest injury.
At that moment, Rachel came charging out of the shadows she had been hiding in. Roaring fiercely, Rachel flung Ax's rattlesnake morph at the Hork-Bajir nearest to her. Tobias took off, fighting to gain altitude in the still air of the ride, and managed to gain enough momentum to slash the eyes out of the other attacking Hork-Bajir. With two of the Yeerk soldiers out of commission, that only left the four others. And Visser Three, of course.
Even Rachel's most powerful morph couldn't handle Visser Three, in addition to four more Hork-Bajir. But that didn't mean that Rachel wasn't going to at least try. Even through the semi-darkness, Cassie could swear that she saw Rachel grinning with the grizzly's many sharp teeth. Slamming her huge left paw into the head of another Hork-Bajir that had made the mistake of charging at Torrelli's car. The Controller stumbled backwards a step, before collapsing unconscious to the floor.
(The Andalite Bandits! Here!) Visser Three shouted, enraged that things could have gone so wrong so fast. (We don't have time to deal with them now! As much as I would enjoy killing these annoyances, we have more urgent matters to attend to. Bring the human!)
"We all need to morph, right now," Jake said, looking at each of the four Animorphs with him in turn. "The others are going to need our help. Get into the shadows, and start morphing into your combat morphs."
"Right, Jake," Slade nodded. "Will do."
As the other Animorphs all dashed off to different places, well hidden by the shadows and darkness inside the ride, Cassie had already started morphing. As she always did when these kinds of situations came up, Cassie was morphing into a wolf.
"They're going to take the Captain!" Marco hissed urgently, not wanting to call any Yeerk attention to himself, but wanting to warn the others just the same.
"There's nothing we can do about that right now," Jake said practically. "Just keep morphing, we'll do what we can."
Hidden in another area that was even more shadowed than the one that sheltered Cassie, Slade was focusing on his new panther morph with such intensity that he didn't even hear the conversation that had gone on in front of him. The first thing Slade heard was an ominous grinding sound, but that was more felt than heard, since it was coming from inside of his own body. As Slade focused harder, trying to block out the noise, the changes came faster.
From his crouching position, Slade dropped down to all-fours. The grinding continued unabated, until Slade's human skeleton had been completely remodeled into that of a panther. The major physical changes were complete, then the panther's midnight-black fur spread across Slade's body in a wave. The last things to change were Slade's eyes, going from an intense dark emerald to an intense pale yellow-green.
(I could use some help over here!) Rachel shouted, as she picked up a Hork-Bajir and threw him deep into the scenery.
(We'll be right with you Rachel,) Jake reassured his cousin. (Just give us a little more time.)
(Time's the one thing we always seem to be running out of,) Marco said, as he finished his morph into a gorilla.
The unfortunate Hork-Bajir that Ax had poisoned was starting to stagger, reeling from the effects of the venom in his bloodstream. Unfortunately for the Animorphs, by the time the rest of them were finished morphing and ready to fight, Visser Three and his two remaining Hork-Bajir had managed to escape from their part of the House of Horrors with Captain Torrelli.
And, if all that wasn't enough, there were still people inside the area of the House of Horrors that there Animorphs occupied. Innocent bystanders, as far as any of the Animorphs knew, were still riding by in the same six-seated cars that four of the Animorphs had originally come in on.
"Cool!" one of the few non-military patrons exclaimed, watching as a huge black cat came charging out of the shadows and pounced on one of the big, scary blade monsters that had been attacking the bear. "This part of the ride is excellent! Did you see those big blade monsters? And that big bear? This is so cool!"
This was, as far as the people passing by on the cars knew, just a really good show that The Gardens was putting on for some reason. Little did they know just how much the outcome of this battle could affect them.
"Look over there, it's a werewolf!" the girl was pointing right at Cassie, as the car with her in it passed the other girl by. Luckily for her, Cassie was far enough along with her morph and deep enough in the shadows that she wouldn't be recognized, even by someone who knew her.
Rachel continued to harry the remaining Hork-Bajir who were still standing, roaring and growing in her deep grizzly voice. Tobias was flying around in circles, looking for any of the Hork-Bajir who were still in the area with them. Aximili was likewise looking for more opponents. Cassie looked around at the other Animorphs; Slade had somehow finished morphing before the others and was attacking already, Jake was nearly finished with his tiger morph, and Marco was almost completely a gorilla.
But, no matter how many Hork-Bajir the Animorphs took down, none of that would change the fact that Visser Three had escaped with Captain Torrelli. At that moment, Cassie felt all the wolf's senses 'turn on'. She could now pick up the scent trail that Torrelli and his captors had left. Like any sensible human being, Torrelli had put up a fight, and like any normal human he had lost. Cassie could now smell every dragging step that the Captain had been forced to take.
Following the trail that Torrelli had unintentionally left behind, Cassie made her way deeper into the dark, shadowy parts of the House of Horrors. However, Cassie was not so engrossed in her pursuit that she failed to notice that the remaining Hork-Bajir were retreating.
(Follow them! We can't let them regroup!) Jake exclaimed.
(Right with you, Jake,) Slade said, falling in behind his leader and a bit to the left.
(I am also 'with you', Prince Jake,) Aximili said, also turning and following Jake.
There was an extended ripping-cracking-slamming sound, and then the outer wall of the ride fell away. Beyond the hole were the comparatively bright lights of The Gardens proper. A cursory glance revealed to Cassie, who had arrived before Jake and the others, that Visser Three had sliced the wall open and then had his Hork-Bajir knock it down. To her wolf eyes, after being adapted to the dark for so long, the neon lights were almost painfully bright. But, more important than her discomfort was the fact that Visser Three and five of his six Hork-Bajir were loose in The Gardens.
The sixth, having basically been torn apart by Slade, wasn't going anywhere. Once all of the Animorphs were gathered in front of the hole, Jake led them out into the neon-lit night.
"Help! Someone get me away from these crazy people!"
(Hurry! Get him back to the ship! We can't afford another confrontation with the Andalite Bandits right now!) Visser Three berated his remaining soldiers.
(Follow them!) Jake shouted. (We can't let them get away with the Captain!)
(This is insane!) Marco exclaimed. (Completely insane!)
(Shut up and keep running!) Slade yelled, irritated with Marco's antics.
