A/N: I know, I know, two chapters in twenty-four hours, I must be ill! (actually, I got all the chapters I have wrote beta-ed so all I hafta do is review and post :D ) I hope you all enjoy the treat, there probably will be another tomorrow or the next day. It depends how busy I get. :D Enjoy!

Chapter 18

Marco

I was at home, enjoying a good game of basketball on the tube when the phone rang. I glanced at the clock which was a quarter past eight. I knew then that it was one of four people. The first, my dad saying he was going to be late from work, obviously, as he was supposed to be home about 3 hours ago. The second, Some annoying sales person trying to sell me something before they have to close up shop, not bothering to listen to reason that they are not a. dealing with the man in charge of the bills, phone, household, cable, internet, or whatever else they can think of and b. not caring that I am a minor though I repeat it several times. Third, it could be some hot girl from school calling to profess her undying love to me. Less likely, but ya never know, it could happen. Fourthly, and most likely, it would be Jake or Erek informing me of my evening which will involve screaming in terror, nightmares, and lots of blood and gore. Viva invasion! And my dad thinks he had it bad as a teenager? I crossed over to the phone and answered it.

"Hey Marco, it's Jake." He said, before I got a chance to say hello.

"How do you know it's Marco? I could be the burglar breaking into Marco's house and being nice and leaving phone messages, or I could be Marco's assistant, paid to answer calls because he's too busy being"

"Hey Marco." Jake said again, pointedly. I sighed.

"Hey Jake." I gave up, Jake wasn't in the mood for my humor and I wasn't about to share it with someone who wasn't going to appreciate it.

"Erek called. He had break through on our science project." I paused for a second and felt my mind go blank. Science project! When did we get assigned a Science project! I know I fell asleep during… "He wants us to get together ASAP." Jake stressed. I felt myself relax. Oh, it was only code for Erek has info on Ax and Tobias that will give us nightmares for the rest of our living lives. Good thing we didn't have a science project…maybe I should ask Jake later, just to make sure…?

"Now?" I asked, wondering what kind of horrific news Erek had for us this time.

"Yes. Now. The project is due in two days." Jake stated, and I wasn't sure what the code was for that, but whatever. I'll find out later.

"Yeah, ok, I'll be there." We hung up and I quickly scribbled a note to my dad that I had gone to work on some homework with Jake and I'd be home in time for curfew (yeah right!) and not to wait up for me. I went to my room and shut the door, opened the window and morphed to osprey and flew towards Cassie's barn, an all too familiar route for me. Jake, Cassie, and Erek were already waiting for me.

"So, what's the deal? What kind of nightmares are we gonna have tonight?" I asked after I demorphed.

"Erek?" Jake stated. The three of us watched as Erek changed his hologram to a building unknown to me.

"Tobias and Ax are being kept at the VanDraken testing company. This place has maximum security and labs all over it. Our sources tell us the Visser is planning to inject one of the 'andalite bandits' tonight. We could not find out which one, before anyone asks. The council of thirteen was unhappy with your break in, but pleased at the capture. Though, they are annoyed the Visser did not infest them immediately."

"OK, so we morph bug and we get in? Nothing we haven't done before. Do I care ask what's the problem, judging by everyone's long faces?" I asked.

"Once we morph, then what? Erek said it has Max. security, meaning both human and Yeerk. Where do we re-morph to save Tobias and Ax." Cassie translated. That could be a slight problem.

Erek's hologram changed. It moved into the front doors and into the elevator to the 11th floor of 32. he stepped out and turned to the left. At the end of the hall, a right and another left before stopping at a door. The door opened to reveal an office. "This is the only known room with no cameras or morph detectors where you could morph safely, if no one was currently in it."

"And where are Tobias and Ax held?"

"On the 15th floor." Erek stated. Four floor difference. During that time, we could be killed or worst, captured. Free or dead, we once vowed that with the free hork bajir colony. The simple minds of the hork bajir spoke all that we were standing for. We'd all rather die than be slaves in our own minds. I think most people could agree to that.

"Erek, can the Chee help us in any way?" I asked.

"I cannot provide a hologram to help you sneak past controllers you would potentially harm."

"Even if they would harm us? Look, just get us safely to the 15th floor and we promise not to hurt anyone, deal?" I said. Jake glared at me and turned to Erek.

"Like Marco said. We don't harm them unless they harm us. Get us to the 15th floor, and we'll take it from there." Erek looked uncertain.

"What is going on here!" An angry voice demanded.

We all turned to see Rachel standing in the doorway. Her face was red and her eyes were fiery. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides. I felt a chill going down my spine. I did not like the vicious look in her eyes. It scared me more than any controller could ever do. Note to self, do not hold secret meetings behind Rachel's back.

I know, I know, you all want to know what's happening to Tobias and Ax, but I hafta account for the others ATM, so I'm sorry that they come first…but that's the way the cookie crumbles for this author. Plus I promise another post within 48 hours, so there shouldn't be much complaining ;) though some death threats have been known to motivate me in the past ;) but that usually means there's a huge cliffhanger, so do think about that before you threaten to kill me so I'll post quicker ;) Hope you all enjoyed! (I think I drank too many caffinated beverages at work earlier...It's starting to mess with my mind...)

As always Thanks to: LucreziaNoin86 (hhhmmm, in-ter-esting point…maybe I should re-think MY logic…), rockergurl13 (glad you enjoyed the last one..there's more Cassie chapters coming up in later chapters, so hopefully I don't disappoint), GenesisDragon (thought you'd like that analogy ;) ), Quillian (yes, I'm evil and I acknowledge the fact. I purposely think up plot twists to make my readers hate me even more, but entertain myself never-the-less. :DI know I would hate reading one of my own stories; if I wasn't the author and didn't already know the plot…evil laughter though sometimes knowing the plot can get in the way of enjoying a well written cliffie. glad you enjoyed)