The Dragon Curve Chapter 5: Interlude 2, an Animorphs + Jurassic Park Crossover fanfic

So, had to edit last chapter a bit. Apparently the ‹› that are used for thought-speech don't show up if you use the normal font or something, hell it's part of why this took a while to upload to FF. Shit looked weird. Should be mostly fixed now, but I'll have to be mindful about that in the future.

Also, I saw Dominion. No spoilers, so my spoiler-free review is: Of all the Jurassic Park/World movies to have come out, "Jurassic World: Dominion" is one of them.

Thank you to all who follow and favorited this story.

Disclaimer: Jurassic Park and all related adaptations are owned by Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Steven Spielberg, and the late Michael Crichton. Animorphs is owned by Schoolastic, K. A Applegate, and Michael Grant. I own neither series, please support official releases.

Iniss 226

"My Visser, we are trying to handle this as best as possible-"

‹Well, I expected to see better results sooner, Iniss 226!› Visser three roared. The Andalite-Controller raised his tail blade and glared at me with all four eyes. ‹Perhaps you'd like to explain how this happened under your watch, hmm?›

We were deep beneath the human town. The cavern was supposed to be well lit and full of activity, with a bustling underground city. The hangars should constantly have ships flying in and out, signs that our forces in orbit were receiving more supplies, and that we were getting more numbers.

Instead, lights were flickering in certain parts of the city. The hidden entrances to our pool were malfunctioning, and communications were down. The systems in the hangars were going haywire, and even the stations for charging Dracon beams were offline.

And that wasn't even the worst of it.

"We have no communications with the pool ships!" one technician cried angrily. The Controller smacked the side of the monitor at his terminal as he worked, "some of the new security systems we were putting in place are down too! And that's not even mentioning the databases-"

‹And what about the databases?!› Visser Three growled.

"W-Well, they're corrupted. Can't access a thing!"

"It's worse than just that!" another technician called out. "Some of our automated systems are offline. We're not getting parts for weapons, for ships, for repairs…" the Controller shook his head and typed something on his terminal, "we can't contact any of the other pools, we can't contact the pool ships in orbit without going up there ourselves-"

"Our records are corrupted too!" the first technician said angrily, "and I'm getting reports that some of our ships are having system malfunctions. Targeting and navigation specifically."

‹How would the ships be having issues?!›

"In order for us to coordinate ships moving around on the planet, we have command towers that help keep up their cloaking devices and navigate on the ground," the second technician told him, holding up his hands as he spoke. "They're disguised with earth skyscrapers, and they have their own pools with them. Right now, there are no commands coming from them, which might risk some of our ships being seen-"

‹I want all ships ordered back here immediately!› Visser Three roared towards a nearby Controller in his entourage, ‹we can't risk them being discovered.›

"Already on it, my Visser!"

‹Can we switch to human devices? Phones or computer networks?›

"The ones we have secured are down," the second technician said sullenly.

‹We can use the one through GammaCorp-›

"It's down!" the Controller responded.

Visser Three bristled at this, ‹Try ACSP-›

"Down!" the Controller repeated.

‹We have a Truck Ship moving out there!› the Andalite-Controller shouted, ‹are you telling me it might be compromised?!›

One technician turned back to his terminal and made a few motions on his keyboard. I could see something pop up on the screen of the monitor, and some holo-screens flashed for a few seconds further away before shorting out. The Technician scrutinized the screen for a second, before letting out a relieved sigh.

"It's…mostly alright. It has the prototype on-board cloaking device, but it still might have been affected by whatever is causing everything here." the Controller shook his head in exasperation, "it's still too early to tell. And we can't get a direct line of communication-"

‹Well get one!› Visser Three said angrily, ‹tell them…› the Andalite-Controller furrowed his brows for a second, then narrowed his main pair of eyes. ‹Tell them to stick to remote locations and keep away from any human areas of habitation.›

"M-My Visser, to do that-"

‹Get it done!› Visser Three hissed, ‹ensure that we can get all our most important systems back online.›

At this, I could actually feel myself going pale. I think Chapman realized it too, because he actually tried to regain control just to look in that direction. I almost let him, seeing as I was just as curious myself.

"Is the Kandrona still up?" I finally asked.

Visser Three actually stiffened at my question and turned his stalk eyes to me in surprise. Evidently, that must have slipped his mind, because he suddenly bolted towards the leading technician with a fierce glare. Fortunately, it seemed the Controller had already gotten on it. A few windows popped up as he typed and clicked, and for once, the holo-screens didn't short out when their displays went up.

I could see all the Kandrona connected to the main pool, as well as many in the smaller pools in the surrounding area. Markers slowly appeared behind them, and while the numbers and lettering glitched out, I could see that they weren't changing status.

"As far as we can tell, they're still on," the technician said with a relieved sigh.

‹Why would the Kandrona be left on?› Visser Three asked in a neutral tone, ‹do we have any idea what caused this? Any leads?›

"Just two days ago, we had a report that the Rogue attacked one of our factories. It was the Defense Contractor that we were using," one of the Visser's entourage told him, "from what we could get from the 'survivors' of the attack, the Rogue didn't steal or destroy anything. He only wanted to get into the server room."

‹What do you mean 'from what you could get'? Were they not forthcoming with information?›

"No, it was just that they expired shortly after we found them," the Controller said flatly, causing even myself to reel back in shock. He slowly shook his head and closed his eyes before speaking once more, "whatever the Rogue morphed, it was venomous. Hork-Bajir are allergic, and Humans certainly weren't immune to its effects. The Hork-Bajir and their Yeerks died, and while the Humans 'survived', if you could call it that, their Yeerks perished."

‹What happened to the Human hosts? If they are alive, we can reinfest them-›

"They were left paralyzed and brain-dead," Visser Three's assistant said tiredly, "effects of the venom, no doubt. The hosts are no longer of use, and will eventually be disposed of."

Yet another thing to catalog about the Rogue's morphs…speaking of which.

'Chapman?'

'Yeah?'

'Would you have an idea whether there could be a…dinosaur that is venomous?'

'Like I said, Inny, they died off tens of millions of years ago. We get their mineralized bones, and even then we might not get more than a few.'

'So you do not know?'

'With how the fossil process works, I don't think anybody would. Venom doesn't fossilize, and even possible evidence that venom could be there isn't enough.'

'So in summation, we still don't know what we're dealing with…'

'Not quite.'

'Oh?'

'Visser Seven is heading his own investigation, right? He'll want to investigate the…uh…victims,' I actually felt Chapman's body shiver at the word, 'which means he'll see the bites they have. They can use the bite patterns to identify the shape of the jaws and teeth. Put it through the fossil record and you've got your culprit.'

'Do the effects of the venom seem familiar to you?' I asked after a few quiet moments, 'I looked through your memories, and I saw something from a biology class you once took in your college-'

'Huh? Oh, the wasps?!' Chapman actually chuckled for a couple of seconds, 'yeah, there are a few species of wasps that can do something similar…I don't think this was an insect morph, though. That venom couldn't affect Humans or Hork-Bajir.'

'I suppose we'll have to work with Visser Seven to identify it then…'

I was brought out of our internal conversation by Visser Three's shouting. The Andalite-Controller was pacing around the control room and shouting in thought-speak at random Controllers. His tail-blade was waving around dangerously as he passed them, and there was a violent look in his secondary pair of eyes.

‹-And I want to know who was heading everything for the past two days!› Visser Three's four eyes narrowed dangerously when no one came forward. ‹Well?! Who was it?!›

"U-Umm, it was me, my Visser!" a voice called out.

He was a Human-Controller, his host was a rather timid looking man wearing glasses. With his slacks and dress-shirt, he met the standard stereotype for 'nerdy IT guy' that Chapman's memories had conjured up. The technician was standing shakily, trying to shrink in place as Visser Three moved closer towards him.

‹You allowed this to happen?!›

"I-I didn't, we just didn't have the proper safeguards in place yet-"

‹You will fix it!› the Andalite-Controller growled, motioning to the technician's terminal. ‹Get to it, now! If I am not surprised with the results, you will be dealt with.›

"I…I can't," the technician whimpered, "t-the system isn't letting anybody in. We can barely even check on anything, I can't-"

*SLISH*

I winced at the flashing blue movement and looked away. Everybody had seen it coming, but it was still always hard to look at. Harder still was listening to the sound of it as it rolled and bounced across the floor.

‹Such insolence! You dare to refuse my orders?!› Visser Three screamed at the now headless body as it fell to the ground. He then motioned for some of his entourage, ‹clean this up! We need this area clean!›

"Yes, my Visser!"

As two Controllers moved to drag the body away, the door to the control room slid open. At that moment, Visser Three's dreadful presence was quickly matched by one no less terrible.

"Ussta, ussta? Jal'yur? I would have thought you could have held off on killing one of them for a little longer," Visser Seven mused as he strode in.

‹What do you want, Halfrek?!› the Andalite-Controller growled, ‹I'm rather busy here, as you can see. I don't have time to-›

"Edriss sent a contact as soon as the issues began," the Shuldidnian-Controller interjected, a smug grin stretching across his face. "After I informed her of everything, she sent aid."

‹Oh? The glorious Visser One decided I was worthy of her assistance?› Visser Three let out a nasal chuckle as he strode towards the other. ‹Spare me the fine details! I know exactly why she's responding. And if you're helping her-›

"I'm working in my own interests, dos wael!" Visser Seven hissed. "Perhaps you forgot what happened to my ship? I can't exactly get it repaired if everything is going haywire!"

Visser Three innocently tilted his head at this, ‹you act as though that was my fault!›

The Shuldidnian-Controller narrowed his eyes in rage. He quickly simmered down, however, and stared at the other blankly.

"I'm not here to get into petty little arguments with you, Esplin," Visser Seven turned towards the entrance to the control room, "you may come in now!"

When the new Controller entered, I could feel Chapman's surprise.

'Is that a KLINGON?!'

'Not quite,' I responded.

Though I could see how he would make the mistake, based on his memories. The one on human television known as 'Worf' looked a bit like that.

It was a slim but tall creature, one that looked rather bird-like. Instead of being completely covered in feathers, however, it had thickly armored plates covering its entire body. Behind its massive brows and sloping dome-like head were dreadlocks of hair-like feathers that trailed down to its shoulders.

With its large clawed hands and feet, and horrible beaked mouth, it might have looked rather violent. But it was an Ongachic-Controller, and the Ongachics were a far-cry from the violent warriors the Klingons were portrayed as.

'They're rather nomadic,' I explained as soon as I finished telling Chapman what the creature was. 'In fact, they're very peaceful. They will often stop at planets and space stations to perform as minstrels.'

'...Are they any good?'

'Ongachic music is highly appreciated throughout the galaxy,' I told him. 'They're also spread out. Because they fled their home world ages ago, they're an entirely spacefaring race.'

'Ah, so you don't have many of them?'

'Indeed. Having an Ongachic host is rare, and is seen as a form of status…obviously not on par with an Andalite host,' I fought back the urge to sneer at Visser Three, 'but it's rather high up. This one must be a technician.'

The Ongachic-Controller asked something in galard, and was motioned towards the main control terminal. Said terminal still had a few sprays of blood coating it, which visibly annoyed the new technician.

"Told to expect this…" the Ongachic grunted as she sat down. "Daspen, just give me a few seconds to handle this."

The technician let out a low, bellowing breath as she ran through the system checks. I felt grateful that she had activated the holo-screens to show us what she was doing, even if I barely understood most of what was being done. But I could understand the errors and corrupted files, and I could see her irritation rise.

"Never seen this before! You think an Andalite did all this? How?"

"We're not quite sure," I responded. "All we know was that it seemed intent on directly targeting our systems."

Eventually, she tried entering commands. Her attempts were met with more and more errors, to the point that she finally seemed fed up. Whatever she did next, it brought up the main interface. Everybody began watching with rapt attention as she put in commands.

"Access main program…"

PERMISSION DENIED

"Access main security…"

PERMISSION DENIED

"Access main program grid!"

PERMISSION DENIED…and…

YOU DIDN'T SAY THE MAGIC WORD!

I blinked at the sight of the words appearing on the screen. The system seemed to just endlessly spew the phrase, causing the terminal to erupt with creaking and clicking noises under the pressure. It slowed down for a bit-

*CLICK*

"Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word! Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word-"

Only for an animated file to pop up suddenly. It was the close-up photograph of some unknown overweight-looking man superimposed over a cartoonish outfit-of Elvis, based on Chapman's memories-constantly spewing that same message and waving his fingers. The image practically swallowed up the entire screen it appeared on, and quickly invaded the holo-screens as well.

"Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word! Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word! Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word!"

'Oh wow! This Andalite has a wonderful sense of humor. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have thought one of my students did this.'

'It is rather juvenile, isn't it?' I felt Chapman's amusement resonate through me, 'that said, I can imagine how Visser Three will react in three…two…'

"Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word! Ah Ah Ah! You didn't say the magic word! Ah Ah Ah-"

*SLIISH*

*CRASH*

'And there it is!' I cheered, 'just as predicted.'

The terminal where the image had first appeared was immediately sliced to pieces, courtesy of the Andalite-Controller's tail-blade. Despite the 'original' being destroyed, the gifs were still spread out across the rest of the terminals and holo-screens. All four of Visser Three's eyes glared at the animations, silently cursing them for mocking him.

"I might have needed that…" the technician growled.

‹How fast will you be able to get the system back on?› Visser Three asked the Ongachic-Controller after several tense seconds of silence.

"At best, it'll take several earth weeks-"

‹SEVERAL EARTH WEEKS?!›

"There are millions of lines of code," the technician grunted. "Even if I bring my team down here, we'll have to go through the lines of code one-by-one to scrub everything."

‹What do you mean 'if' you bring your team down here?›

"Visser One is preparing for the invasion of Leera," the Ongachic-Controller hissed. "She may not be able to spare more than a few technicians here. Especially for something that is very simple to deal with-"

‹Simple? SIMPLE?! Our infrastructure has been crippled, you-›

"And you can easily reverse most of it by restarting the entire system," the technician grunted. "Even the most important sections would only be offline for a few hours, at best. It isn't-"

"The Kandrona is still online!" I interjected. "Even if we restart the system, turning off the Kandrona for more than an hour could be detrimental! We can't risk it-"

‹Can we?› Visser Three asked, a sneer flashing through his stalk eyes as they turned to stare at me. ‹We have more than enough to fill our ranks. A handful expiring because they cannot endure a few measly hours isn't an issue.›

"It's best not to risk it," a member of the Andalite-Controller's entourage stated plainly. "The Council has recently been informed of the Andalite resistance on this world, and they've been paying some attention to their actions. While they may not penalize you for allowing the deaths of those in our pools, they may-"

‹Enough! I get it!› Visser Three shouted. The Andalite-Controller turned his stalk eyes towards the Ongachic-Controller, never taking his main eyes off the mocking cartoon. ‹Do what you can. I'll have my own subordinates assist,› his eyes swiveled over to another Controller and narrowed suspiciously. ‹I will deal with everything pertaining to the Truck Ship myself! You! You will accompany me…›

As Visser Three left the room, the other technicians and the guards let out quiet sighs. I could feel my own shoulders sagging as the tension finally left me. For once, we wouldn't have to worry about the Andalite-Controller going on a warpath.

'And he only killed one guy this time. I think that's a new record. Probably gonna have to reset the "X days without an incident" sign, though.'

'Thank you, Chapman,' I responded flatly as I made to leave. 'We should get back to our post. If we stay too long, your human school's principal will grow suspicious.'

Before we had even gotten a foot out the sliding door to the room, I immediately went ramrod stiff. There was an unnerving feeling deep within me, and I swore I felt something brushing against me in a way that didn't feel right. It wasn't a physical feeling, but it was there. I just knew it.

‹We need to talk,› a duet of voices spoke to me. Visser Seven slowly strode past me, giving me a smile that almost made me shudder. ‹Meet me in my chambers later. Do not tell Esplin and do not keep me waiting…›

Jake

"Okay, so GammaCorp was kind of a bust," I said, "but…we managed something, right?"

We were all standing around in Cassie's barn, which had become our unofficial meeting place. Marco had made a couple of jokes about how we needed a better superhero headquarters, and how the Avengers never had a base this smelly. Cassie had been more than happy to show him just how smelly she could make things for him.

Marco had shut up about it not long after getting the horse…leavings…well, best not to remember that. At least the smell went away after just two baths, so there was a bright side to that.

"If by something, you mean running over a woman's feet as rats, pissing off Visser Three just enough for him to chase us out of the facility himself, and barely escaping a couple of helicopters?" Rachel tilted her head, a sarcastic grin tugging at her lips. "Yeah, that certainly sounds like 'something'."

"We saved Aaron and his aunt!" Cassie interjected. At Marco's perplexed look, she shrunk back a bit. "R-Right? I mean, Rachel and I saw the Controllers preparing a Yeerk, and when we ran over, the jar crashed to the floor-"

"A-Plus hasn't been in school for a few days," Marco said off-handedly. "My guess? His new Yeerk is getting acclimated to him."

"We don't know that!" Cassie replied firmly.

‹Y'know, I could always check?› Tobias interjected. The two of them turned to find the boy-turned-bird preening himself on a stand further away. He gave them both a tired look and flapped his wings with visible annoyance. ‹I can stick to him for a few days. See if he has to leave for a Sharing meeting. If he passes three days, then maybe you guys can cool it, huh?›

Marco sputtered slightly just as Rachel laughed.

"I'm surprised you didn't think about that." My cousin gave Marco a smug grin.

"If I had remembered, I would have," the boy mumbled before turning to me, "what about the big event at GammaCorp? That's in a couple of weeks, right?"

"You don't think they'll try to take anybody there, do you?" Rachel asked. "Seems a bit too obvious."

"They're inviting a bunch of people, remember? Potential investors, people in rival companies," Marco shrugged, "wonder if they'll give a tour of the building?" He quickly stiffened his posture and straightened the buttons on his shirt before miming the faux cheerful voice of a tour-guide/salesman. "Attention ladies and gentlemen, on your left is the Yeerk-Pool! Don't mind the Hork-Bajir sneaking up behind you, they're just there to maintain your 'cooperation' for the next several minutes."

‹Sounds like the worst tour ever!› Tobias grumbled, ‹I bet they don't even have a gift-shop.›

"And that was probably the main selling point!" Rachel chuckled.

"Come for the gift-shop! Stay for the parasite infesting your brain! All for the low, low price of $9.99!" Marco called out through chuckles.

I let out a small chuckle at this before shaking my head. "The Yeerks will probably want to use the event to network. They'll lure certain people into an out of the way spot, and then infest them." I stood a bit taller as I gave the rest of the Animorphs a firm look. "They'll probably use that as a springboard for taking over other areas. More companies under their control that can be useful, more people under their control that can lead to them getting more hosts. I even heard some of the city council might come."

"That's…bad…" Cassie whimpered, "like, really bad. If they get their hands on just one member of city council-"

"We won't let it come to that!" I responded, "we'll gather information until the event. I'll spy on Tom, someone can spy on Chapman without getting too close-" I gave Rachel a pointed look, "and if we can, find any other Controllers that we know about. Find a way to be in earshot of them, eavesdrop on them. Whatever you can think of."

"I can spy without getting too close!" Rachel said in annoyance.

"Oh yeah, lemme just call up every Controller I know!" Marco said cheerfully, using his index and pinky fingers to mime a phone held to his ear. "Excuse me sir, you wouldn't know what Visser Three is up to with that event thing, would you? Just asking for a friend, ya see?"

‹Obviously we're not just gonna go up to them,› Tobias said, ‹I know a few Controllers. There's this one guy who works at Taco Bell, and a few of Aaron's neighbors. I could probably kill two birds with one stone.›

"I'd prefer no bird-killing be done here!" Cassie chimed in, motioning to some cages that held sick birds her dad was caring for. "I think they've already been through enough."

The boy-turned-hawk rolled his eyes at this. ‹You know what I mean! I can keep an eye on Aaron and make sure he isn't a Controller, while spying on Controllers we know about.›

"It's a good idea…" I mumbled.

"It sounds insane!" Marco said loudly.

"You say that about everything!" Rachel groaned. "You said that about going into GammaCorp to save Aaron and his aunt just the other day! What would you consider 'sane', Marco?"

"Look, there's a difference here," the boy took a deep breath, "Aaron's a cool guy, he's alright. I wouldn't say he's my friend, but Cassie likes talking to him."

"Yeah, so I've been told…" I said a bit stiffly.

"That thing with Tom? Going into Chapman's house? Okay, easy! We could chance those! Going into GammaCorp? Bad idea, we barely got out." Marco tilted his head, a tired expression spreading across his face. "We should…we should stop. But if we can't, we should really try to pace ourselves. Let's try not to go crazy trying to get at them, because we might not be as lucky as we were with the Chapmans."

"We're not going to go straight into their evil lair to steal stuff," I made a motion with my hands. It was a kinda spooky motion reserved for scary stories or mocking somebody for being afraid of flies. "All we'll do is try to keep an ear out. Listen for anything suspicious, see what's happening."

"I guess, if we keep a low profile…" Marco mumbled.

"Let's go for it!" Rachel cheered.

"Just once, I wish we couldn't 'go for it'," the boy groaned.

‹It's not like we really have any better ideas for now,› Tobias piped in.

"Good! We can spend a few days on that, and then we'll meet up at the end of the week," I told them, "maybe earlier if it's urgent. If we can get something, we'll be more prepared when we go to the event."

And for the next few days, it was like that. We left Cassie's barn, Rachel going to her gymnastics class and Marco and I going straight home. Tobias followed me and only circled around my house once before flying into his attic.

For the next few days, we all listened and watched, waiting. We'd hoped Chapman would slip up first, and that would have been better, seeing as he was closer to Visser Three. But for some reason, Chapman seemed more…frustrated than normal.

‹Visser Seven was mentioned,› Tobias had said simply when relaying what Marco had heard.

And that was that. We'd only heard about some of the other Vissers in passing, and we'd maybe seen Visser Seven once, at the construction site. But we'd met no other Vissers besides Visser Three, never fought them like we did him.

Tobias would fly off before we went home, checking on Cassie's friend Aaron, who I still wasn't sure about. The guy had seemed nervous around us, but that could have been the whole 'new kid' jitters that some kids had. Still, he was suspicious-and I wasn't saying that because I liked Cassie, it was just that he was suspicious.

Sometimes, Tobias would say something about the Controllers that lived near Aaron. They were still watching him like a hawk, enough to ignore an actual hawk, even. Tobias took this as meaning he wasn't a Controller.

But you couldn't be sure…you never could.

In the end, it was through Tom that we learned more. And it wasn't what we were hoping, but it was exactly what we needed to hear.

I had just walked inside, ready to toss my backpack and start my homework, maybe get some food to sneak up to Tobias. Speaking of Tobias, I was just about to grab Homer, my dog, to take him out for a walk when I heard his voice.

‹Jake!› the boy-turned-hawk cried out in my head, ‹go near the backyard, but don't let yourself be seen. You're gonna wanna check this out!›

I flinched, but I didn't argue. Tobias was probably outside, meaning he was watching…whatever I had to see. He wouldn't be able to hear me from inside.

When I got into the kitchen, I could clearly see the back door that led to our backyard. The back door was open, but the screen door behind it was closed. I discreetly pulled up the glass behind the screen itself, and then hid near the door.

I could see them. Obviously, it was Tom and a few of his friends. Or at least, that was the cover story, because based on everything I knew, the other high-schoolers there might have been his real friends, but now they were no longer themselves.

Three Controllers, four if you counted Tom. Two girls, one boy. I sorta recognized them.

The boy was some skater kid that I'd seen Tom talking to before…before he had been in the Sharing. They'd say 'hey' to each other in the mornings on their way to school, and the guy seemed pretty cool. He looked like an average guy, with messy dirty-blonde hair and dark eyes. He had a 'gnarly' t-shirt on, with some band design on it, and some shorts and sandals.

The first girl was the one I knew Tom had liked before he joined The Sharing. She was supposed to be some really popular girl, maybe a cheerleader or track nut or something, because she looked the type with her gym outfit. She was a really fit looking girl with golden-blonde and mesmerizing green eyes. She was just objectively pretty.

The second girl, she was different. She looked a little like a goth, though she wasn't really dressed in much black. She was really pale, but in a pretty way, not a creepy one, and her hair was inky black with blue streaks dyed into it.

"And you're sure?" I heard Tom asking.

"I'm pretty sure," the skater guy said, though he sounded nothing like how I remembered him.

He would have used the words 'like' and 'dude' or something else while speaking in a laid-back voice. Instead, his voice sounded robotic, a toneless matter-of-fact way of speaking that most people wouldn't do.

"How do you think he screwed with the system?" the skater-guy asked.

"I'm guessing a computer virus," the goth-girl said tiredly, "how he got it in, I don't know. There was another Andalite attack at that service provider. They morphed a snake and a bird and got in somehow."

"And now everything is FUBAR," the skater-guy said tiredly, "we're supposed to be dealing with security for one of the smaller pools. What if he comes after it?"

"I'm not worried about the Rogue! The Bandits are more organized." Goth-girl gave the other Controller a glare. "If we end up facing them, there's a bigger chance of shit going wrong. The Rogue is more…disjointed. It doesn't have a clear goal when it does things like the Bandits would."

"You know why I'm more worried about the Rogue," Tom said darkly. "Do they know what he morphed into?"

"We know what he probably didn't morph into," the blonde girl said viciously, "so we certainly have it narrowed down. I don't understand why nobody has told the Visser yet-"

"Do you wanna be the one to tell him about it?" the other girl asked flatly. "How do you think he'll react?"

"We're supposed to be working security! If we don't tell them, we'll be stuck fighting monsters from the stone age with no backup knowledge!"

Tom's shout took me off-guard.

What did that mean? Was there something special about the Rogue's morphs?

Tobias had 'maybe' seen the guy once, and he hadn't even recognized what he had morphed into. So what was he using as a morph that had the Controllers so on edge?

I took a deep breath and silently crept back into the living room, then I patted around my chest. I was still wearing my backpack. I must have forgotten to take it off.

I flung it lazily into a spot near the kitchen and started towards the back door from the living room. I grabbed a leash from the kitchen, then I opened the door loudly and walked outside. Tom and the three other Controllers immediately went silent.

"Oh, uh, hey Tom!"

"Hey midget!" he said jokingly, though I could see something deep in his eyes.

I ignored it.

"You know where Homer is? Mom wanted me to walk him when I got home."

"I thought it was my week?" Tom raised a brow in confusion.

"Don't hog my dog," I said, letting out an honest snort. "Hehe, g-get it?"

Tom didn't laugh. Instead, he just turned away from me and let out a whistle.

"Homer! Come here, boy!"

Our golden retriever popped his head out from behind the shed in the backyard. He trotted over to me, but there was something off about how he did it. He eyed all four of the Controllers as he came towards me, growing visibly upset as his gaze swept over Tom.

"Here boy!" I called out as I knelt down towards him. I hooked the leash onto his harness and started to pull him along. "Alright, I'm bringing him out."

"Aww, you're taking the cutie away from us?" the blonde girl pouted.

"Ah, well, Homer needs his walks," I said nervously.

"I was talking to him, not about him," she chuckled, and gave me a very obvious wink.

I went stiff, and I could feel my cheeks heating up.

"Uh, I need my walks too?"

The blonde girl let out a loud laugh at this, "oh my god, cute and funny! He's just like you, Tom!" she walked over to my brother and playfully nudged him in the ribs. "I kinda wish he could join now."

"J-Join what?"

"The Sharing! Duh!" she said cheerfully while motioning to Tom, "this big lug probably talks about it non-stop, I bet. It's really great though."

"Yeah, it is," the skater-guy said.

"We have a lot of fun there," goth-girl giggled.

But from the corner of my eye, I saw their faces. I saw the skater-guy's eye twitch, and his head flinched to the side. Goth-girl's smile fell, it became too stiff, and suddenly it looked like her eyes were starting to tear up.

And then it was gone. They were back to looking 'normal' like nothing had happened. But I knew, I knew those smiles were too fake to be them.

"Haha, yeah, I haven't really given it much thought," I tried to dodge the subject as best as I could, "anyway, I really gotta get this guy some exercise. He's acting a little rowdy."

As if to prove my point, Homer jumped around on his back feet, letting out loud whimpers. In between this, he'd tug at the leash, hoping that I'd get going.

"Yeah, yeah, he's getting rowdy alright," I rolled my eyes and let the dog lead me towards the back gate. "I'll see you in a bit, Tom!"

"Later midget!" I heard him call back.

Only a few minutes after me and Homer had hit the sidewalk, I noticed a bird flying overhead. I didn't say anything right away. I only waited a few more minutes as we trekked further away from my house. The bird soon grew closer.

‹So, they're scared of him.›

"It seems like it," I muttered, just loud enough for Tobias to hear.

‹Jake, this guy…he won. He got one over on them,› the boy-turned-hawk said in awe. ‹We need to find this guy.›

"He's not doing anything different from what we're doing," I said quickly.

‹Jake, when we charged into the Yeerk Pool, we screwed up…› Tobias said, dipping a little mid-flight as he flew over a stretch of trees. ‹I don't even remember whether we saved anybody. And after that, with Chapman's, we didn't even do anything except get our asses kicked.›

I winced at that. I blamed myself for what happened there, regardless of what Rachel said, simply because it was my call. I was the one who asked her to figure out a way to get into Chapman's home.

And we had jack shit to show for it.

"We're getting better," I muttered. "We were never supposed to win. It's all about stalling for time-"

‹Well, we're not exactly doing a good job of stalling,› Tobias said.

"We saved Cassie's friend!" I interjected.

‹We saved his aunt. I still don't know if he's a Controller or not, I haven't checked.›

Shit!

‹So one small win we got over them isn't enough, especially if it failed in the end,› the boy-turned-hawk landed in a nearby tree, one close to the dog park. ‹We're all supposed to be stalling them, but one guy is doing better at it. He might be more prepared, he might have more to work with, who knows. But we need to find him! We need his help.›

I entered the dog park. Thankfully, it was mostly empty today, so I didn't need to worry about the wrong person eavesdropping. I could never be too careful, not with what we all had at stake.

I let out a tired sigh as I let Homer off his leash and sat down on a nearby bench.

"Do we know what he morphed into?" I asked weakly. "Tom and those others mentioned his morphs specifically. Maybe it was something you can't find at the Gardens."

‹That might be a good place to start,› Tobias mused, ‹but where do we start? There's probably a bunch of other zoos nearby, who knows what he has under his belt.›

It was a good point. The Gardens had all sorts of things, but you'd find them at any other major zoo just fine. Tigers, Gorillas, and Elephants. There were very few zoos that didn't have at least two of those things. The Controllers would have mentioned the specific animal, not act dodgy about it, so the thing the "Rogue" was using to fight must have been pretty exotic.

I wondered about what it might have been, even as I half-heartedly played with Homer and threw sticks for him to catch. Even when we eventually went home, the thought of that guy was still burning in my mind. All I could think about during dinner, or while doing homework, was what clues we had on that guy.

I wouldn't find out until the next day, when I went over to Cassie's house. Marco was there with her in the barn, and he was excited for some reason.

Of course, Cassie seemed a bit miffed at him. I didn't know why until-

"I can't believe you snuck into the Gardens," she chastised the brown-skinned boy.

"Come on! You think I can afford the price of admission there? All my money goes towards making sure this," Marco jabbed two thumbs towards himself and gave Cassie a bright smile, "keeps looking good!"

"Really?"

"Aww come on, I'm a total heartbreaker," Marco chuckled before turning to me with puppy-dog eyes. "You think I look good, don't you, Jake?"

"Sure Marco! You look amazing," I said flatly, making my sarcasm known. "You're like, the coolest guy ever, and I love you so much."

"Alright, Alright! I get it!" the boy ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed, "look, it wasn't a total waste to sneak in. Our guy was there!"

I didn't quite catch it at first. Not until Marco rolled his eyes and made a bunch of crazy movements with his hands that I didn't really get. But almost immediately after Cassie's eyes widened, I realized the same thing.

"The 'Rogue Andalite'?" I asked. At Marco's nod, I tilted my head. "You said he was there? How? Was he in morph?"

"No, he-okay, so, you know how zoos do animal shows, and they'll let you pet some of the animals there?" when Cassie and I nodded, Marco continued. "Well, I was at this show with reptiles. They had alligators, lizards, even a few snakes. They had a Black Mamba there, actually."

That made me snort. "Aren't those venomous?"

"It was probably one of the devenomized ones," Cassie said quietly.

"Defanged?" I asked.

"No, devenomized. Defanged isn't permanent, because fangs can grow back. Devenomizing is when you remove the venom sacks. It's normally done by exotic pet owners who want a venomous snake as a pet, but don't want to deal with a venomous snake. It's cruel and wrong. It takes away the snake's ability to get food and defend itself."

"It's a snake! Who's gonna attack a snake?!" Marco cried. "Most people see a snake, they squeal and run. Who's gonna have the balls to take on a snake?!"

"Birds," Cassie said simply, "maybe some mustelids-you know, weasels-hell, even hedgehogs eat snakes."

"Hedgehogs eat snakes?" Marco whispered. "Man, don't fuck with Sonic then."

"So they have devenomized snakes at the Gardens?"

"They have five, all taken from exotic pet owners. Two are Black Mambas, one is an Australian Death Adder, the other is a rattlesnake, I think, and then there's a King Cobra."

"I think one of the Black Mambas was at the reptile show," Marco said. "The zookeepers were saying something about how it was 'skittish' and kids should be gentle with it. They only let one person at a time pet it, and only after they sat down."

"So you said the 'Rogue' was there? Did you-"

"I didn't see who it was," Marco said quickly. "I only heard them talking. He…yeah, it was a he, he was with someone. A woman, I think. I know because I heard them talking."

"What did they say?" Cassie asked.

"Well, the zookeepers were talking about the devenomized snakes. Then I heard a couple of people whispering near me. One was all 'can I acquire one of the snakes?', which made me jump a bit," the other boy shrugged, "because, y'know, I thought 'oh shit, they're talking about morphing'. And just when I was convincing myself they weren't, the woman was all 'I don't see why you can't' and the guy said 'they're devenomed, I'll just end up morphing a devenomized snake'."

"No way…" I breathed out.

So he was there.

We had some sort of lead.

"What else did they say?" I asked quickly.

"Well, the woman said 'is being devenomized part of their DNA?'."

That actually made me blink a bit. One of the small worries I'd had about morphing was that acquiring an injured animal would mean I'd be morphing into an injured animal. Of course, that was why I had been worried about acquiring my falcon first.

I was proven wrong, obviously. The animal's DNA didn't say it was injured, it only said what the animal was supposed to look like, how it was supposed to work, and how it acted. So acquiring an injured falcon wouldn't mean you morphed an injured falcon.

When I voiced my thoughts, Cassie gasped.

"So, the devenomizing doesn't translate to morph. Maybe, if I check for the next reptile show…"

"I'm getting that Cobra!" Marco said cheerfully. "I mean, that could be really useful. And then-"

"You just want to be the 'Cobra Commander', don't you?" I asked tiredly.

"Fool! You have jeopardized my plans!" the other boy cried out in a shrill voice.

"Disregarding that, you said a woman was with him? Did you recognize their voices?"

"Eh…kinda," Marco shrugged.

"Kinda?" I deadpanned.

"Well, they were whispering, so I didn't really hear them well. I had to bolt too, because I saw a security guard walking nearby and-"

"Did you see anybody we'd know go up on stage?" I interjected.

"That was what happened after I ran away, I figured," Marco rolled his eyes, "if you really wanna know, we could maybe break into an office at the Gardens. We'd know who was there that day, cross-reference that with anybody we know from school, and go from there."

"Except we'd have to sift through who is and who isn't a Controller," Cassie mused.

"I didn't say the plan was perfect, just that it was a plan." The other boy held his hands up in defeat.

"It sounds like too much of a risk," I said. "I mean, we probably should get the information. But going around looking for him in school would draw attention."

"Not that it'd be difficult. 'Hey, did you go through that construction site on this date? You did? Okay, cool! By the way, you wouldn't happen to have met a blue alien there and gained the ability to shape-shift, would you?'," Marco made a silly face, then shook his head. "Yeah, face it, we're probably not finding this guy anytime soon."

I let out an annoyed sigh at that. That guy, the 'Rogue Andalite', had made a blow, even a small one, to the Yeerks and their plans. I had thought that maybe he needed us, that he had no idea what he was doing.

That idea seemed pretty laughable now.

"He took down their computer networks," I said quietly, much to Marco's surprise. "I think that busted up a bunch of their major operations."

"Yeah, Tobias told me about it," Cassie hummed as she walked towards another cage. "I think I know how he managed it. Remember how he freed seven people from the Yeerk pool?"

"You think he has them stashed away somewhere?" I asked.

"That's bound to raise some questions," Marco chuckled before clearing his throat. "Why, no officer, those aren't people in my basement. My neighbors must have misheard those weird noises."

"They probably jumped town, and he just knows how to contact them. Y'know, all secret agent style and whatnot," Cassie shrugged, "they probably knew some things from when they were…y-y'know. They told him what they knew, and he ran off that."

"Awesome! We should do that!" the other boy cheered. Marco turned to me with an excited look. "Do we have anything like that?"

"We've got…" I thought for a few seconds, "we've got Tobias stalking Chapman while we're not at school. That's about it."

Marco's expression fell, and he let out a groan. "Man, we suck at this! Maybe we should just quit."

"Shut up, Marco!" Cassie chuckled.

I shook my head at that and turned away. "Still, that guy is still out there. I wonder what he's up to…"

Aaron

‹Jell?!› I cried out in thought-speak, ‹you around?!›

I had promised to check on Jell at the end of every week. I was planning on making good on that promise.

Though maybe he would have been easier to reach if I had gone in Raptor morph. He might have recognized me better.

But flying around over a stretch of woods as an eagle was too good to resist. More the flying part than the eagle part. Let me tell you something. Once you've been up in the air like that, you'll never want to go back.

It was just that amazing.

Aside from that, the Raptor was a psychotic monster that over-analyzed every possible way to kill a living thing. Best to keep it on the back burner unless I needed to kill something.

‹Jell?! Hey, big guy, are you alright?!›

There was a low whistle from nearby below, like a bellow and a chirp put together. With the eagle's eyes, I zoned in easily on the forest floor until I saw it.

A green shape hiding between a few gnarled trees, one that was almost unrecognizable against the bark. Even in the shade, I could see the leathery skin and spikes that adorned it. I would have mistaken him for a tree if he hadn't tilted his head just a bit.

I dove past the trees, then slowed down mid-flight until I landed on a log. From between the trees, the Hork-Bajir slowly and anxiously walked towards me.

‹Yeah, that's me. The bird,› I let out a loud 'eeyow' to punctuate it, ‹I thought I'd check up on you. How you doing?›

"Jell fine," the reptoid said lowly, "Jell…Jell want to talk. Talk important, because Jell not going to be around."

‹I…what do you mean by that?› I asked nervously.

"Jell meet Blue Man!" the Hork-Bajir said happily, "Blue Man tell Jell he know safe place. Tell Jell to go there, wait for Toby. Speak to Jell in head voice."

‹Head Voice? I…oh no!› I felt my wings rising, the eagle's mind picking up on my fear by forcing my body into a threat display. ‹Jell, if you're a Controller-›

"Jell not have Yeerk!" the alien said defensively, holding his bladed limbs up in fear.

‹Prove it!› I growled.

There was only 'Blue Man' I knew of with a 'head voice'. And I wouldn't let him get me or my family-

And then Jell did something that made me want to hurl.

Jell gave me a puzzled look, then lowered one of his arms while staring at the one he still had raised. He tilted the bladed limb around for a bit with a curious expression and then lifted it a bit further.

When he made the quick movement, I was halfway airborne before I got a grip on myself. Jell hadn't attacked me, instead his bladed limb sliced straight into his own head. It had been so fast that I hadn't seen it.

Jell had a huge gash in his head. He walked towards me and lowered his head towards me, then raised his clawed hands towards the gash. I could see the pain on his face as he pulled the wound apart.

I felt like sinking into the ground when I saw it. Black ichor, probably his blood, oozed from the wound. I could see it, I could see right into his brain, and I felt like I might faint from the sight.

Then Jell pressed the wound back together. He held it together for a few seconds until the blood started to coagulate and a scab quickly appeared over the wound.

‹I think that scared the pee out of me…› I said weakly.

"Jell not have Yeerk!" the Hork-Bajir cheered.

‹Yeah, I could see that…› I said, remembering the sight of his brain. Yeah, it certainly didn't have a Yeerk, but I was still a bit wigged out because I had seen his brain. ‹Y-You said you saw a 'Blue Man'? What do you mean by that?›

"Blue Man! Look like small ones! But Blue Man taller than small ones! And he had fuzzy face!"

‹Small ones? Wait…Shuldidnians?› Jell nodded at this, ‹so, you saw a…tall Shuldidnian…with a beard? And he's Blue?›

"No, Blue Man dressed in blue," Jell said happily. "Uh…he also blue."

‹Alright, a tall blue Shuldidnian with a beard, dressed in blue,› I recited.

"Blue Man have lots of smoke around him. Smoke everywhere!"

‹What, did he float too?›

Jell gave me a blank look.

‹Jell, have you been eating any strange plants you've seen around here? Any mushrooms, maybe?›

"Jell only eat from tree. Bark above mislit good eat," the Hork-Bajir rubbed his stomach happily.

‹Right, I'll pretend I understood what that means,› I responded. ‹So, you're really gonna leave?›

"Blue Man tell me safe place."

‹And how are you gonna find it?›

"Blue Man tell Jell how to get there."

‹He's speaking to you right now? What's he saying?›

The alien swayed in place at that, a nervous look spreading across his face as he turned his gaze away from me.

"Blue Man say you can't come."

This 'Blue Man' sounds like an asshole.

‹Did he say specifically that I couldn't come to this safe place? Or that I couldn't come with you?›

"Blue Man say you can't come to safe place…" Jell furrowed his reptilian brows in thought. "Blue Man…confused, when you say 'come with'."

‹Well, if I can't go to this 'safe place', maybe I can guide you there,› I said smugly, flapping my wings as I stepped a bit closer to him. ‹You'll have a bird's-eye view. If I see any Controllers, I can fight them off.›

The Hork-Bajir blinked at this and tilted his head curiously. After a few seconds, he let out a loud chirp.

"Blue Man say that okay. But he say you can't see safe place yet."

‹Then just tell me when we get close to that 'safe place', and we'll…say our goodbyes, I guess…› I shook my head tiredly at the thought of that. ‹If you find a way to contact me, I'll be there when you need me. I promise.›

Jell nodded, then led the way through the forest. I had maybe a little over an hour left in morph anyway, so I could fly overhead to make sure he was safe. I told him when I had to demorph so that he could wait, and then once I was back in eagle morph I'd take to the skies and tell him to get moving again.

All-in-all, not much happened during the impromptu 'hike' that we had. No Controllers, no strange things happening.

Well, strange things didn't happen right away, at least.

At one point, as we got closer to a stretch of mountains, things did get weird. It was like suddenly I couldn't fly straight, and trying to fly in a certain direction suddenly made me confused. I'd momentarily forget why I wanted to go that way, or I'd think it was about time to get back home.

Eventually, I just flew back to the ground. That was when Jell told me we were getting close, and that the 'Blue Man' needed him to go on alone.

I wished I hadn't been in bird morph then. Birds can't cry, birds don't really have any similar emotions. Ironically, their ancestors did, and the Velociraptor would have been begging me to just kidnap Jell so we could keep him safe forever.

But I had to go. I gave him a solemn goodbye and flew off.

My aunt and uncle weren't happy I was out late. Uncle Reese at least seemed understanding about 'teens being teens', and didn't give me too much flak. Aunt Jenna only calmed down after I explained everything in private.

And just like me, she too had questions about this mysterious, floating 'Blue Man' that wasn't Visser Three.

My list of questions only got longer when I woke up that morning. Every morning, before school, I put on gloves so that people don't see my hands. They're supposed to be covered in jagged, ugly scars, but morphing had healed them. So I wanted to keep them hidden, and pretend they were there in case the Controllers I knew of got suspicious.

But the moment I woke up, I saw them. Jagged, ugly red marks running across my fingers from when I had tried to hold the Velociraptor's jaws back with my bare hands. They were there, even though I had long since healed the wounds before they could scar over.

I went into the bathroom, and (being that I'm a teen boy who sleeps with his shirt off) checked my stomach. What had once been mostly unmarred flesh now had a huge, jagged scar running down it from when that sickle-shaped claw had nearly turned my insides into my outsides. It ran parallel to the large burn scar on the right side of my chest, something which I knew I hadn't healed.

The claw scar, the teeth scars. They should have been gone. I should have healed them. So how? How could they suddenly just appear again?

When I stalked into the kitchen and told my aunt, she gave me a confused look.

"What do you mean by that?" Aunt Jenna asked. "You've had those since the Raptor…y'know, since that incident. If they're looking better now, we can call the doctor-"

"Aunt Jenna!" I said firmly, "remember how I can morph?"

"Uh…yeah?"

"And remember how that heals injuries?" I held up my hands. "And how I had morphed before these could become scars? Which means they shouldn't be there!"

Aunt Jenna gave me a blank look for a second, like her mind was a computer in the process of rebooting. Then, her eyes blinked, and it was like a switch had flipped on. Her hand went to her mouth as she let out a gasp and turned away.

"What the…fudge?!" she muttered.

"What's wrong?!" I asked.

"It's like…so, I remember! I remember two different things. I remember you having those," she motioned to my scarred hands, "and then I remember you not having them. But I didn't remember until you told me."

I suddenly felt uneasy about that.

"H-How did-"

"The 'Blue Man'," my aunt said quietly, "maybe he did it. You said when you tried to follow your friend, you kept getting turned around and confused."

I shook in place for a bit before turning around.

"Don't tell anybody else," I said weakly, "about these, that is. There'll be too many questions if they suddenly remember."

"I…yeah, you're right. But…what do we do about the-"

"We do nothing. This is the only time I've been hearing about some magical 'Blue Man', and maybe if we ignore him, he won't show up again," I shook my head, "I'm going to school, I'm gonna act like everything is normal like always. I already have to deal with an alien invasion. I'm not gonna start dealing with floating magical blue people too."

"Life isn't normal anymore Aaron," my aunt said tiredly, "just…be careful today."

"What? It's not like I'm in danger or anything…"

San Diego

Third Person P.O.V

A man walked into a restaurant.

Not the most exciting description of an event, but then, this man was desperately trying to look anything but exciting.

He looked about average, with pale skin and dark brown hair that was hidden under a straw-woven sun hat, and a neutral gaze hidden beneath sunglasses. He wore a light blue button-up shirt that was tucked in simple denim jeans. The odd part out of his 'average guy' ensemble, were anybody to pay attention, were his expensive shoes. The man carried a handbag over his right shoulder and a satchel in his left hand.

The restaurant wasn't full by any means when he walked in, but there were still a good few patrons. The man looked around, eyes scanning even through his tinted lenses as he looked for his contact.

"Hey, Dodgson!"

The man, Dodgson, sighed inwardly and turned to the sound of the voice.

Sitting at a nearby table were three men.

The first one, the man who had called out to him, was somewhat short, with brown skin and dark hair. He wore a t-shirt that had maybe been white, but had turned gray from sweat and dirt. Below that, he wore a pair of camo jeans and combat boots. He was smiling at Dodgson.

Beside him was a pale-skinned man with curly brown hair who wore a somewhat similar outfit. The only difference was that he wore a flannel jacket over his much cleaner shirt. He was currently sipping on a fruity drink very loudly.

The final one was a brown-haired man sat further away from them, wearing a denim jacket over a slightly different outfit. Instead of smiling, he was simply staring at Dodgson with an unnerving gaze.

Dodgson walked over to their table and sat down, an annoyed grimace spreading across his face.

"You shouldn't use my name," he said lowly.

The brown-skinned man snorted, then pointed to the man while looking around at the rest of the patrons in the restaurant.

"Dodgson, Dodgson! We've got Dodgson here!" he held his pointer finger up for a minute, then chuckled when-predictably-no one reacted. "See, nobody cares!"

Dodgson sighed in resignation at this.

"Nice hat," the other man said flatly, before removing it from Dodgson's head. "¿Tratando de parecer un agente secreto?"

Dodgson gently pulled the hat back into his hands and laid it on the table in front of him. Without even looking, he slowly pulled the satchel up and placed it on the table, then slid it towards the three men.

"Seven-fifty for the job, and an additional two-fifty for extra expenses. Supplies, containment, ect., you understand."

"Holy shit!" the formerly unnerving brunette sat a little straighter in his seat and stared at the satchel in shock as his companion grabbed it, "all that? For one little-"

"Woooweee!" the brown-skinned man squealed as he hugged the bag close to his chest. "Oh yeah, this'll definitely cover it, mi amigo."

"Another seven-fifty will be deposited into your account upon delivery of the target," Dodgson continued.

"What if the cops catch on?" the curly-haired man asked quietly.

"An extra two-fifty in the event of police interference," Dodgson adjusted his sunglasses and made a curious tilt of his head. "If the target is contained but is being actively searched for, five-hundred to hold them, and another two-fifty to later transport to a secure location. The location will be given to you at a later date in the event that such a thing does occur," the man leaned forward a bit, giving all three of them a small smirk. "We'll be keeping a very close eye just in case things go wrong. All together if things go right it's 1.5 million, 2.5 million if things go wrong-don't take that as incentive to screw it up!"

"Because if things don't go the way they're supposed to, you'll bail?" the unnerving man snorted when Dodgson remained silent. "Figures…"

"Hey, risk and reward, chicos!" their boss said cheerfully, "you can't get anywhere and life without taking a risk. Gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelet, you know?"

The curly-haired man hummed in response, then turned towards Dodgson with a raised brow.

"You wanna order anything?" he said, motioning towards a nearby server.

"I wouldn't want to-"

"Don't sweat it!" The brown-skinned man cut Dodgson off. "Lunch is on me today!¡Celebremos chicos!"

As soon as the server came over, the men placed their orders. While their boss continued to joke and laugh, the two brunettes continued to stare at Dodgson with unreadable gazes. Even after their food had arrived, they still gave him those unnerving looks.

"Are you really sure about this?" the curly-haired man asked nervously, "I mean, we…we haven't done a job like this before. Everybody back at HQ feels…I don't know how to describe it."

"We believe these measures are necessary," Dodgson said firmly.

"I mean, how is this gonna help you pull it off?" the second brunette asked, "what does InGen even have that you'd want?"

Dodgson adjusted his sunglasses and smirked at the three of them.

"Oh, if only you knew…"

Billy

"I spy with my little eye, something that looks…brown."

"Is it wood?" I asked tiredly.

"...Yeah, it's wood," Sarah responded.

I let out an annoyed sigh and stood to my feet.

It had maybe been a few days since we had gotten here.

A few days out of the nearly three weeks of…of freedom.

If you had heard me say that out loud, you'd think I was weird. You'd think me even weirder if I had told you what I-what we-had been freed from.

But then again, the fact that we were all here meant we really weren't all that free. Free people don't have to hide. They don't have to run away scared.

Our new digs were a bunch of cabins on this huge mountain range. The cabins in question were all close to one another, enough that we could go to another with just a short walk. They weren't ridiculously huge, but they were pretty spacious.

Ian had said his family owned a cabin. When he finally fessed up and said that all the cabins were for his family, we had to wonder how they could own all this. Apparently, his extended family shared them all, each cousin, aunt, and grandparent getting their own cabin during their vacations.

When I asked if his family would come here-whether they were with them-he got quiet. Not a dangerous quiet, just a really sad and depressing quiet. He just said his family wasn't really that close anymore, and he was the only Controller in it as far as he knew.

I didn't push it. I could imagine whatever happened with his family was a personal issue, and I knew he wasn't close to some important guy or had a use like other people they took. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time, and he just happened to see a giant lizard monster moving around near a public space.

The world sucks sometimes.

Speaking of Ian, I saw him walking out from the big cabin.

If you aren't sure what I mean, well think of it like a big mess hall/meeting room sorta deal. It's a big cabin in the center of our little mini-hamlet that has a kitchen and a huge dining hall, as well as some beds, a rec room, and all the other assorted amenities that come with. It's where we were storing most of our food and supplies, including the medical supplies we bought from some podunk-town on our way here.

Ian was walking out with a bag of…something. Might have been a snack, maybe it was some medicine, I didn't know which. He was being very shifty about it, so I knew it was something embarrassing.

"Hey, that better not tear into our food stores!" a voice called out, to which said shifty idiot jumped at.

"It's not! It's just something for…" Ian started mumbling as Trip walked over. "Y'know, something to pass the time with."

"I know exactly how you and Amy are passing time, son," the scarred man let out an annoyed sigh, though I could see him holding back chuckles. "You better stay focused, because if you're too busy thinking below the belt, you'll start missing important shit. I don't wanna hear that you two were 'late' because you were busy."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," the teen said tiredly.

"And be safe too," I said, though I wasn't nearly as restrained as Trip was. "Obviously, that's a given. You're boldly coming where no man has before-"

"Snrrk, boldly what?" Sarah chuckled from her spot on the log.

"Best make sure your new discoveries aren't the painful kind. Y'know, the ones that make it burn when you-"

"I get it, shut it! We're being safe, alright!" Ian growled loudly, before stalking off towards his pad.

"Don't forget about that meeting we're having in a few hours!" the scarred man called out to the teen.

"Yeah, I know! We'll be on time!"

"Ugh, how the hell are they even making that work?" Trip grumbled.

"Life…finds a way," I said mystifyingly.

"To annoy the hell outta me," the scarred man muttered before turning to me, "those idiots will figure out that there's more to do around here than each other once they get tired of it."

"Yeah, I doubt they're gonna get tired of it anytime soon…" I turned towards Trip with a curious look, "so, what's today's meeting for, anyway? We have enough gas for the generators, we should have enough food, and we should be well hidden."

"Trust me, it's for something important," the older guy turned away from me curtly and walked away, "I'm grabbin' Hide. I'll find you when it's time to get things started."

A few hours later, we were meeting in the rec room of the big cabin. Sarah and I sat on the ends of a couch, while Ian and Amitela sat cuddling together on a big armchair. Both Trip and Hideo were standing, though Hide was leaning against a nearby wall in exasperation.

Why was he exasperated?

Well…

"You want to fight them?" Sarah asked the scar-faced man.

"Hell yeah!"

Hide immediately walked out of the room. Outside, I could hear him rummaging through a closet.

"What are you doing?!" Trip called out.

"Checking the medical supplies!" Hide called back, "I'm now one-hundred percent sure you're skimming some off the top."

"I'm not on drugs!" the former soldier growled.

"You sure?" Ian asked nervously, "you just said 'hey, y'know those parasitic aliens that want to steal your free will? Let's fight them!'. What part about that doesn't sound like you're on drugs?"

"Didn't A say not to get involved?" Sarah chimed in, "I mean, he said not to fight. We should be hiding-"

"A probably isn't out of middle school yet," Trip snapped back, "I like the kid, hell I owe him my life, but he's just a kid. He can't even legally drive yet."

"A can also transform into any animal he touches," Ian said, rolling his eyes. "And a fucking dinosaur, apparently."

"Velociraptor antirrhopus, three-point-five meters in length, one-point-nine meters tall," I rattled off without thinking, "highly intelligent, probably problem solving. Might have been able to leap up to twenty feet in their air, maybe reached up to sixty miles per hour when running in open space. Sickle-claw was probably for-"

And then I noticed that everybody was looking at me with weird looks. And I had to remind myself that not everybody lived and breathed dinosaurs (sometimes literally…one time, by accident sorta) like I had.

"Sorry, amateur paleontologist," I said nervously. "Kinda got nerdy there for a bit."

"Helps with the picture a bit," Ian chuckled, before turning back to Trip. "See, that middle-schooler can fight them because he can even the playing field. We could barely go up against a Taxxon, let alone a pack of Hork-Bajir."

"We have guns!" Trip said happily. Before anybody could cut him off, he raised a hand to silence us. "I can get more, too. I can have a steady supply of ammunition ready for us if I call in a few favors."

"What? What about-"

"These are old friends from across the country. They're pretty far away from here," the scarred man cut Sarah off. "They wouldn't have been grabbed by them. They can help."

Hideo finally re-entered the room with a curious look on his face as he turned to the former soldier.

"And you're saying we should fight them? How?"

"Deny them resources," Trip responded.

"What can we deny them?" Hide cried out, "they have big ships they use to bring water and air into their pool ships. We can't destroy those with a few shotguns and pistols!"

"Wasn't talking about that," the scar-faced man responded, a smirk spreading across his face. "What's the one thing they want more than anything? The thing they came here for in the first place?"

It took me a few moments to get it. The others seemed to catch on a lot faster, because it was so obvious.

Bodies. The Yeerks wanted hosts.

So deny them hosts.

"You wanna kill people?" I asked in shock.

"Not kill! Free!" Trip said firmly, "we know a few entrances to some of the smaller pools, the ones they need to keep on site for certain places. Y'know, hospitals, big companies, private schools they use as cover. We can go in there with guns blazing and free as many people as we can, then bring them with us."

"And how are we gonna get them here? Hell, if we get past that, how are we gonna keep them all here?" Hideo gave the other man a pointed glare, "we definitely don't have enough room for loads of people."

"We can figure all that out. I haven't planned everything yet," the scar-faced man motioned to all of us, "that's why I set up this meeting. This is our fight, whether you want to be a part of it or not."

"What if we accidentally pick up somebody who was voluntarily a Controller?" I asked.

That actually shut him up for a while. Even if we freed a bunch of people from the Yeerks, there was always a chance that the Yeerks would start secretly placing voluntary Controllers inside cages. It would only take freeing the wrong person to put an end to it all.

I wasn't gonna say I didn't want to fight, because I wanted them to pay.

There's no way to describe what the Yeerks do to you. When a Yeerk enters your head, you're taken away.

You're told that you're nothing, that you're a thing to be owned and thrown away like an old tool. You're forced to watch as the Yeerk takes complete control, and uses your body so naturally that without it in you, you forget how to do it yourself. And you watch as it uses you like a suit, uses you to do things.

You listen and watch as your voice and face are used to lie to somebody. As your hands are used to hurt others, to force them into the same slavery you're trapped in. And even if you scream, beg, and cry, the thing that's taken over will only enjoy it more.

I was used to seduce girls at my college. They had futures; they had plans; they wanted things. They're all trapped now, just like I was. I sometimes cried at the thought that they might hate me, sometimes I even believed it really was my fault they were taken.

I wanted to join in on this. I really did. And I wanted the Yeerks to lose, even if they wouldn't lose much.

But Ian, Sarah, and Hide all had a point.

Sure, Trip could get us guns, but so what? These were advanced aliens that could travel through and fight in space. They had dozens of creatures under their boot. There could be an endless amount of horrors from the deepest corners of the galaxy that we'd never be able to fight.

Let alone the fact that we couldn't morph. And we certainly weren't Andalites. We were humans; we had nothing physically special about us in comparison to the others.

"Um…"

I turned my head when the sole alien in the room piped up. Amitela shrunk a bit when we all turned to stare at her. Ian only patted her on the shoulder and gave her a gentle smile.

"I can tell," she mumbled a bit after a few seconds of silence.

"What do you mean?" I asked the gold-skinned girl.

"I can tell difference," she said a bit louder, "I can tell who wanted Yeerk and who not wanted Yeerk."

"What? Can you…can you read minds?" Trip leaned a bit closer.

"Eh…yes…and no," Amy shook her head, "looking at minds sreenath-dangerous. Others better at it, still have to be careful. Can read kulith instead."

"Ku-what-now?" I asked.

"Kulith, it's a word in her language," Sarah said sarcastically.

"Yeah, what does it mean?" I responded.

"It means feelings," Ian said firmly. "She can read people's emotions."

"And?"

"If I read kulith while they speak, I can tell if they lie," Amitela shrugged, "they feel different when they lie. They can't hide from me."

"So, have you read the emotions of who we catch, and we'll know who is and who isn't a voluntary Controller?" Trip tilted his head in thought. "That could actually work. Alright, we've got that problem solved-"

"You can't actually think we can do this?" Hideo cried out, "this could be dangerous! We could get killed."

"I've heard it all before," the scarred man chuckled, "the difference is, I didn't have a choice back then. Now I do, and I'm still going through with it."

"This is insane!" Hideo shook his head. "Damn it, this is fucking crazy! And I guess I'm fucking crazy too!"

"Oh? You're crazy?" Trip asked the other man. "How so?"

"I can't exactly let you do it by yourself," Hide said firmly. "I don't wanna die, but…it is my fight too. I hate them, and I want them to pay, and I definitely can't sit by and ignore it all."

"Good! Then we're all in on this?" the scar-faced man asked cheerfully.

"Umm…actually…" Sarah sat up a little straighter and leaned towards Trip, "I'm not sure yet. Look, I know that you'll think I'm wrong but…I don't know how to fight or shoot a gun, or anything like that, let alone whether I even want to fight. And I'm scared of them. Every day I have to push away every thought about them, because I'm scared that if I don't, I'll be trapped again. It feels like I'm still running away, and I don't know what to do"

"I…I'm not sure yet either," I said suddenly. When the scarred man's eyes turned to me, I swallowed a lump in my throat. "We're not Hork-Bajir, we're not Andalites-hell, we can't even morph. Maybe there are things we can do that they can't, but that doesn't guarantee that we can actually fight them. I just…I don't know."

Trip stared between the two of us for a few seconds. An unreadable expression spread across his face. He turned to look at Ian for a few seconds, then to Hide, and then he looked away from everybody and seemed to just stare off into space. Then he closed his eyes and nodded.

"No, you're right. I'm jumping the gun again," he muttered so low I could barely hear it, "that was always my problem back then, wasn't it?"

"Uh, Trip?" Ian asked nervously, "you alright?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine…" the scar-faced man shook his head, "I get what you're dealing with-the fear thing. I guess I shouldn't have been so quick to think everybody would be all on board from the get-go." Trip rolled his shoulders and turned to leave. "I'll give you some time to think about it. I won't force you to do this…"

As soon as he left the rec-room, the others started chatting about it, going over the logistics. It was both a matter of 'if' and 'how' we could fight them. They argued about what we could do, how we could do it.

But I only sat there silently, thinking. I gave little input other than an occasional nod, or maybe even just a hum. I couldn't really stay in the conversation.

And over the next few nights, I'd figure out why.

It was always the nightmares. Remembering how I was first taken. I was constantly going back to those moments where the freaky alien slug first entered my head, took control, and started referring to everything about me as his.

My sense of touch, the thing I used to explore the world? The Yeerk said that was theirs now when he first used it.

My eyes, the only windows I had to the world beyond even as I was trapped? They weren't mine anymore, that's what the Yeerk had decided.

I was constantly told that I should have been grateful that he was using me like a suit. That it was his right as the superior species. That my life before was meaningless, and that I was only less worthless than I was before.

I watched all the horrible things done with my body, my voice, and I watched and listened to it all like it was on repeat. I heard the voice of the thing in my nightmares, always the same words he said to try to bend my very soul to his will.

One night I woke up screaming, because I had dreamed that the past few weeks were just that. A dream, and that I had still been trapped, and that the thing was only letting me dream like that because it amused it.

I didn't want to feel that again. And I certainly didn't want it for anybody else either.

Trip had my answer by the end of that week.

And that's a wrap. Onto the reviews.

Chandagnac: Thanks for the review. Oh yeah, the Yeerks are just as much their own worst enemy as the Andalites are. I always thought that was hilarious, and it explained why they weren't invading earth fast enough. And yeah, there will be quite a few Shuldidnian characters later on, as this interlude has implied, but for a few chapters I'm holding off on showing any more than Visser Seven and his personal guard. And of course, I have to point out the Velociraptor/Deinonychus dichotomy in the fic is more nuanced: I figured JP was a sort of alternate universe, one where Velociraptor and Deinonychus have their names switched. It made sense, seeing as all the "Velociraptor" skeletons they found in JP1 and JP3 were found in the US/NA. So essentially, in there the NA genus (our Deinonychus) is named Velociraptor, while the Mongolian genus (our Velociraptor) is named Deinonychus.

As always, lease leave any thoughts, questions, and constructive criticism in your reviews. And thank you for reading.