Jakes Decision

Chapter 9

Avenger

Rachel

We all stood around in Cassies barn. Known to non-animorphs as the "Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic." Cassies parents took in injured wildlife and nursed them back to health, then released them. So we were definitely not alone. But at this late hour, most of the animals were asleep in their cages.

"Now," Jake spoke "We need a controller high enough in the ranks to know where the Kandrona is. What high-ranking controllers do we know?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking. I knew one at least. But I was NOT going to do that mission…as if reading my mind, Marco spoke up.

"Chapman. We're out of time and we need to be sure. He's the only one we can be certain knows where this thing is."

I glared at Marco, then looked at Jake. He actually looked like he was considering it. I gritted my teeth and crossed my arms.

"Absolutely not. I'm not going to put Melissa in that kind of situation. Forget the fact that she could get hurt during the operation, if we kidnap Chapman, the first thing they'll do is infest Melissa. No." I looked to Cassie. She still looked shaken by the fact that we were planning this sort of thing at all. But as soon as she caught my eye she spoke up.

"She's right Jake. Maybe…" She looked sick to her stomache, and her next words were very quiet. "Look, maybe we do have to do this…but I'm not going to be part of any plan that means an innocent girl gets a yeerk in her head."

Marco sighed and glanced at Jake. When Jake shook his head, Marco threw up his hands. "We don't have time for this moralizing Jake. I'm no fan of anyone getting infested either, but we HAVE to do this mission, and Chapman is our only viable target."

Jake seemed to consider this, looked like he was wavering. Till Tobias spoke up.

( Umm…actually, there is one other high ranking controller we know of. I noticed him down in the yeerk pool…the first time. He was with Visser three. They were laughing, he was pushing around all the other controllers around him… )

Everyone turned and stared at Tobias. I was still pretty pissed at him for what he and Jake had done. But right now we had a mission, even better, we had a mission that was life-and-death. My favorite.

"How does that help us Tobias? We don't know where this guy is." Jake said.

( Well… he's Jeff Rogers, the reporter for channel 6. I don't know where he lives…but I'm sure we could find out. )

Jake thought about this for a moment before nodding, as if coming to a conclusion. "Ax, get on the net, find this guys address. We're doing this Tonight, everyone. Go home, do whatever you have to to get out tonight. We'll meet back here in the barn in…" Jake checked his watch. "Three hours. That's 2am. Got it?"

Everyone nodded their agreement. Ax left the barn, heading for his scoop to find the guy. Everyone else headed back home.

I got home and got yelled at by my mom. I made up some story about a sale at the mall and hurried up to my room. Sitting at my desk, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was jazzed, I was pumped. I was Ready. To. Go.

Was that wrong? The thought suddenly struck me. I mean, I was about to go on a mission where I would kidnap and torture another human being. Sure, they had a yeerk slug in their brain, but they would still feel it. Be aware, KNOW what was happening to them. We were about to do something I never thought we were capable of…And the really scary part was, it didn't bother me. Not like you'd think it would. Kidnapping and torture were way wrong on my moral compass. But we had no choice. The mobile Kandrona HAD to be stopped, or the whole human race was in grave danger. If that meant we had to get our hands dirty, so be it. I suddenly realized I was grinning. For a second I stared into the mirror, not knowing who I was looking at. Where had this bloodthirsty maniac come from?

With some effort I whiped the smile off my face. So what if I wasn't exactly all torn up about this, like Cassie. I wasn't a psycho, I just knew what had to be done. And besides, I always felt jazzed before a mission. Especially one that was likely to be very dangerous. I shook my head to clear it and stood up, moving quickly to my bed, I propped a few pillows under the sheets, then leaned out the door and yelled goodnight to my family. I stood in my room and peeled off my nightshirt, revealing my morphing outfit underneath. After that I opened the window, and morphed to Golden Eagle.

Morphing is never logical. It can go one way one day, and another the next. This time, the morph started with my face. I felt a weird squishing sensation as my eyes changed from human to bird. Suddenly, it was like looking at my dresser through a telescope. Tiny details that would have been lost to my human sight jumped right out to my eagle eyes. I felt my lips harden and grow, pushing out from my face, forming into the Golden Eagles killer beak. A beak that was razor sharp and wickedly curved. So much the better for tearing the guts out of my prey…

I could feel my skin itching as a feather pattern drew itself across my entire body. At the same time I was slowly shrinking. The dresser grew tall before me, As big as a billboard. The ground rushed up and slowed, stopping when I was about a foot off the floor. I could feel my feet shifting, stubby pink human toes slowly changing into the sharp, ripping talons of the Eagle. Finally, my arms lengthened out, relatively speaking, and flattened. I could feel the bones as they shifted and rearranged, growing hollow and long. Feathers sprouted all at once all over my body and that was the final change, I was now fully Golden Eagle.

I felt the Eagles mind bubble up beneath mine. She wanted to bed down. It was night out, and Golden Eagles are definitely day-birds. All she was interested in right then was finding a nice sturdy branch on which to perch and spend the night. But I had different plans. I powered my wings and lifted off, soaring through the window and heading for Cassies barn.

I flapped in through the door and noticed Cassie there already, trying valiantly to get a recalcitrant raccoon to take his meds. I landed on the hay-strewn floor and started to Demorph. ( Hey Cassie. ) I said in thoughtspeak, just before I lost the ability. Just before I completely demorphed, with my eyes still Eagle, I noticed the tracks of tears on Cassie's cheeks. I could tell she'd been crying heavily while we were gone. Speaking of which, there was still almost a half hour before everyone else was supposed to get there. I finished demorphing and slowly walked over to stand behind Cassie.

The raccoon was giving her hell, but I could tell she wasn't even paying attention to the animal in front of her. Like she was just going through the motions to keep her mind off what we were going to do tonight.

I cleared my throat quietly. "Cassie?" She remained silent, pretending to concentrate on the raccoon. I sighed and moved closer, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Cass, at least look at me!"

Her shoulders slumped and she gave up on the raccoon. Slowly she turned around and I could see her eyes were puffy from crying too much. I felt a stab of guilt and something else, shame? This mission was obviously tearing Cassie apart. And here I was, pumped and ready to go. I tried to conceal my excitement with a frown. "Cassie, c'mon girl, you know you can talk to me."

"Oh god Rachel…" She sobbed. Even with my puny human eyes I could see the tears welling up in her eyes again. "What are we doing? What the hell have we become! Do you understand what this mission means? What it will make us?"

"Cassie…" I looked at her, a pained expression on my face. "We don't have time to do this mission the right way. We don't have a choice."

She stepped back, glaring at me. I don't think I've ever seen Cassie so angry. It actually scarred me. A lot more than the mission ahead. I moved back from her. She was shaking, whether from grief or anger I couldn't tell. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks as she glared at me.

"Don't we! So that makes what we're doing alright! Please, PLEASE tell me I'm not the only one who sees how sick and wrong this is! Christ Rachel, we're talking about TORTURE! What the HELL have we become! How are we the good guys still!"

I had never seen Cassie this upset. I was extremely worried. Not just for Cassie, but what she was saying was upsetting me. Suddenly I was angry, very angry. How dare Cassie say these things! Sure, okay, maybe she had a point. But this wasn't an option. We needed to know where that Kandrona was. And we needed to know Yesterday. However we got that information didn't matter. My jaw clenched as I glared back at her.

"Jesus Cass, don't you get it? We HAVE to do this! We're still the good guys damnit! But we have to do what we have to do!"

She looked like I'd just punched her. She was hurt, and shocked. Slowly she turned away from me, jerking her shoulder out from under my hand as she tried to concentrate once again on the raccoon.

"I don't even know you anymore Rachel…How can you do this? How can you live with yourself?" She shook her head slowly. I can't do this Rachel. I can't be a part of this mission. No way."

My voice was cold when I finally spoke. I felt deep resentment towards her. How could she do this? How could she back out of this mission? She was an Animorph, goddamnit!

"Fine Cassie. Fine. Just leave it all up to us…" Her head dropped lower, and I saw her shoulders shudder as she resumed crying. I tightened my jaw, no time for feeling sorry. No time for feeling mad at Cassie. No time for thinking about what we were going to do. Why think about it, when we were going to have to do it, no matter what? I spun on my heel and stormed out of the barn, Just in time to run into Jake just outside the doors. He took one look at my face and frowned.

"Rachel…what happened?"

I growled deep in my throat. "Cassie's decided she gets to sit this one out." I clenched and unclenched my fists. Cassie is my best friend, no doubt, but sometimes she can really get me ticked.

Jake frowned sadly but nodded. "Okay." He said.

I spun around and exploded on him. "What the hell do you mean Okay! She just gets to back out because it might offend her delicate sensibilities!" I barked a laugh "What the fuck, Jake!"

Jake reached out and layed a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down Rachel. Save it for the mission." Slowly my breathing returned to normal. I was still glaring, but at least I could unclench my jaw now.

"Look…" Jake sighed "We can't afford to lose Cassie. And this mission can be done with one less Animorph. So she gets to sit this one out." He held up his hand as I opened my mouth to protest. "Rachel, please, just listen to me. Okay?"

I stared at him…How could he be so cold? So unfair? But still…he was right. I felt my head slowly nod.

"Alright Jake…you know I'll do what needs to be done." I grinned at him in eagerness. But instead of a similar grin, Jake just stared at me, long and hard, like he didn't know me and was trying to figure me out. He frowned a little and walked past me into the barn.

"URGH! What the fuck has gotten into everyone!" I looked up in frustration and saw Marco walking slowly out of the darkness. I nodded to him as he passed. At the same time, I heard a flutter of feathers over my head and knew that Tobias had entered the barn. Ax was sure to follow soon. Steeling myself to deal with Cassie, I turned and entered the barn.