Chapter 16

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Both Mihra and Rtaia had lost alot of blood, so our first priority when we got back was to close up their wounds. Cassie and Donnie soon got to work, with the aid of both Serah and Kristiana. I stayed in the room, providing any extra hands when they needed it.

Once Ithiell had sorted Jake in the cage again, he went to retrieve everyone else. After a while, I could hear some small commotion outside the door, peeking my head out to see everyone pitching in to try and clean up the mess out there. I only hoped some or most of it could be salvaged after what Jake did...

Jake... from what we could see, had tried to tear the girls apart. I didn't see anywhere that wasn't covered in deep scratches or bites. He had truly gone mad... attacking people that had nothing to do with-

My thoughts were interrupted when I realised Donnie and Cassie had finally finished. It had been a grueling few hours.

"How are they?" I asked, getting up and seeing them both laying peacefully it seemed on the beds.

"They should be okay" Cassie wiped her sweaty forehead with her sleeve "Just need to give them a few hours, and watch them. We don't have anyone here that can give them a blood transfusion, which might help, but... well..."

She trailed off, looking sheepish.

"Cassie?"

"Well... I've never had to operate on an alien before, so I don't really know how their bodies work"

"I do" We all jumped as Ithiell came into the room, moving over to the beds and looking down at one then the other.

"Mom?" Serah had been near tears the whole time, and now her lower lip trembled as she looked at him.

"Their bodies should produce new blood cells fairly quickly. Females usually heal faster than us males. But... we should still keep a close eye on them"

"Guessing your blood won't help them?" I asked him, my eyes fixated on Serah. Kristiana was doing the same.

He shook his head "Unfortunately no. Sometimes I think our physiology is idiotic. Too many differences..."

"So there is nothing else we can do" Donnie said finally, looking sadly at the two unconscious females.

"We'll, from what I can see you both did well enough. They should make it through the night at least" His hand rested gently on Rtaia's arm, looking sad suddenly, before seeming to shake himself out of whatever funk he'd gotten himself in.

"Come on, go get cleaned up, and well meet back up in the main room"

We did as he suggested, finding that they had managed to salvage most of the main room. Some things had needed to be fixed, but I think the others had done a good job. Even some computers had survived, and were sitting neatly on the table.

Eventually, we all converged into the main room, collapsing onto the floor into an awkward kind of circle. Looking around at my friends, they all looked exhausted. I took a glance at Jake in the cage, glad he was still out. I half wondered what they'd do with him...

"So... what happened here exactly?" Marco finally said what we were all wondering, eyeing Jake in the cage.

"Well..." Kristiana looked almost scared, sharing a look with Serah, who sighed.

"Mom and Rtaia noticed Jake was stirring, so they thought they'd sedate him again. They opened the cage, and..."

"Jake grabbed Mihra and locked his arm around her neck"

"How the hell did he get free of those chains?" Raph asked, looking from one girl to the other. He looked beyond pissed. Thankfully, the girls were now both used to his outbursts, and neither took it personally.

Kristiana shrugged "I wish I could tell you. But... he had Mihra, and when Rtaia went to stop him-"

"He punched her, then threw mom to the ground and morphed before we could stop him. Then he... then he..." Tears brimmed in Serah's eyes, and before I could blink both Ithiell and Leo were on either side of her, comforting her. She dug her head in Leo's shoulder, and Leo looked to Ithiell.

"He tore strips off both of them. They fought back, but he...well, he..." Kristiana shook her head, and I saw a very concerned Mikey at her side, a hand on her shoulder.

"We...tried...so...hard...to...stop him" Serah got out through sobs "He...was...too strong... he..."

"We threw things, we screamed... he just kept attacking. Then... he tried to get to us, but we got into one of the rooms. Then... he went to leave..."

"And I..." Serah moved to look at us, looking both upset and angry "So I grabbed one of Raph's spare sais he'd left in the hanger... threw it as he opened the doors..."

"Thanks for wrecking the door by the way" Ithiell muttered under his breath, but the girls didn't seem to notice.

"But then he came after us" Kristiana picked up again "I got Mihra and Rtaia into the medical bay as she went after him, but then Serah came screaming back through the door. We locked it... the hinges were starting to break when Jade showed up..."

"The door felt like it was literally about to fall apart... and I... I couldn't think of anything to shift to..." Serah's eyes were now staring at nothing it seemed, fear in her eyes.

"Hey" I got her attention, moving over and putting a hand on her shoulder, watching as she looked blearily up at me.

"Don't worry, you'll get there. I'm just glad I followed my gut instinct and came back when I did"

"I think we're all relieved you did" Robert said, and I felt a hand on my shoulder, looking up to see him smiling down at me.

"If Jade had been any later..."

"And then the idiot tried to get killed!" Serah sobbed out loud, suddenly jumping up and grabbing my shirt by the collar and shaking me roughly.

"Whoa, hey-"

"What were you thinking?! Going up against a polar bear with a tiny knife! What-"

"Ser-"

She shook me again, finding she had a strong grip. Leo and Robert both tried to pry her loose, but she kept going.

"And then you went after him on your own! Oh I could kill you!"

"Pleasdon't" I managed to get out through the shaking, before the boys were finally able to dislodge her, Leo taking her wrists gently.

"No one is killing anyone... at least not right now" I saw Ithiell turn to look at Jake, and I think everyone else followed his gaze.

"So... what do we do with him? We can't just leave him" Donnie asked, although I noticed alot of anger was gone from his voice.

"We should drug him again, then put him outside somewhere. That way if he escapes..." Marco trailed off, looking worried.

"Maybe the top of the mountain. Might keep him out of our hair-"

"But what if he breaks out and comes back to try and att-"

"Fixed that problem" Ithiell interrupted Serah, and the two of them shared a look. She looked confused.

"I had a little trouble fixing the door, but now it is there is no way he can get in without one of my devices"

"Well, if we are going to do this, I suggest from now on we leave here in at least twos, with those medical monitors that Donnie made" Leo piped up, sharing a look with his brother "That way if anything happens, we can be out there without hesitation"

"I'll need to hook up the computers again" Donnie glanced over at the blank monitors, looking like he was dreading having to set them all up again.

"For now, we all rest, and I mean all of us" Ithiell looked around our tired group "Jake will be out for a while, and I will sleep in the medical bay to keep an eye on the girls, in case anything happens"

"Ithiell-"

He shook his head at me "No, Jake won't get out of there this time. Even if we wake up and the cage looks empty... no one open it. As well as fixing the door, I've also strengthened that force field. He won't be going anywhere... at least for tonight"

"Yeah, but he's sneaky" I muttered.

"If it's all right with you, I might take the couch out here, just in case" Marco folded his arms as he glared at the unmoving form in the cage.

"Up to you" Ithiell shrugged "Everyone else, get some rest... we'll need to get planning as of tomorrow... no more delays"

"Agreed" Leo looked almost determined, and I noticed Serah had finally buried her face in his chest, unmoving. I half wondered if she was all right, but the rest of me knew Leo would take care of her.

"All right, goodnight everyone"

With that, we all separated and went into our rooms, Marco plopping down on one of the couches and getting settled.

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Surprisingly, I felt I'd slept fairly well that night. No bad dreams, no jerking awake every few minutes...

I think confronting Jake had been the one thing I needed the most. And I think it gave Donnie some relief as well.

We both went through the morning routine as we usually did, with the others bustling around us as we took our hot drinks out to the computer table, where Donnie was going to try and fix the monitors.

"This took a long time before, I don't know how long it'll take now that I've lost half the equipment" He said as he set his coffee down, rubbing his tired eyes.

I turned my attention to the cage, finding Jake was still out. The chains were back around him, but I had a feeling not even Marco cared what happened to him at this point. He'd now tried to kill not only me, but the girls as well.

Speaking of Marco, I found he was still sprawled out on the couch he'd chosen last night, hearing a slight snore still coming from him.

"Just tell me what I can help with" I told Donnie finally as I turned back to him, taking a large sip of my tea.

"Just... be here" He smiled down at me, one hand going to my hair and stroking it gently. I smiled up at him over my mug.

He moved forward, kissing my forehead, before taking a big gulp of his coffee and moving to start fixing the monitors.

We fell into a casual conversation, with Donnie mostly muttering about problems he was facing, and how we were going to re-connect to the Yeerk communications, and I provided the calm and positive support whenever I could.

Ithiell soon came out of the medical bay, with good news about Mihra and Rtaia. They would both be okay, and Rtaia had even regained consciousness for a little while. Mihra was still out, but Ithiell was confident she'd wake up as well. Both were still hurt, but to know that they would recover was a relief for everyone.

Serah went and sat in the medical bay, and Ithiell moved into the kitchen as we started to smell what I hoped was breakfast.

"How you guys doing?" I looked up from what Donnie was doing to see Amanda there, sitting on the edge of the table next to me.

"Still a fair way from being operational" Donnie told her, shuffling around still.

"You'll get there, my love" I put a hand on his arm, and he smiled down at me, before continuing what he was doing.

"Jade" I turned to Amanda, surprised to see her smiling.

"I'm so proud of you"

I blinked. Amanda was-

"I think we're both proud of her" Donnie muttered, not stopping what he was doing.

"Um"

"You haven't been yourself for so long, and even though... we were... I even felt it when we came here" She seemed to hesitate for a moment.

"She's right"

"Donnie!" I scolded, before turning back to Amanda. I went to say something, but she beat me to it.

"Jake really wrecked your mind, after he started going all weird on us... which only got worse the more jealous he got of Donnie. But now... hes..." She indicated to the cage, going to say something else, but this time I interrupted her.

"I had to protect my family. At any cost"

"Not at the cost of your own life, I hope" Donnie muttered, looking over to see he was standing over a monitor, fiddling with something on the back of it.

"Uh...no. But he had to be stopped... I wasn't going to let him hurt Serah, or Kristiana... or..." I bit my lip, looking up at him and finding he had stopped what he was doing, looking at me.

"Or?"

"Or you. He threatened to come after you, and there was no way in hell I'd let him get to you, ever"

"Awwww, that's so sweet" Suddenly I found I was being hugged, gently patting Amanda's arm.

"I can defend myself against... him" The last word he said with disgust, moving his attention back to what he was doing.

"Well I'm not going to take that chance. I don't..." I stopped, feeling Amanda let go of me and turning to look up at her. She read my expression, winking a little and moving to head towards the kitchen, where the others were.

"Don't what?" He asked, still fiddling with the monitor.

I sighed, finally saying "I don't want to loose you, the thought of you laying dead on the floor..."

Before I knew it my head was being lifted, staring into those beautiful green eyes that I loved so dearly, seeing a small smile on his face.

"I will never leave you"

"Good" We shared a sweet kiss, before I pushed him away so he could get back to work. The look in his eyes though... he was now thinking of something else...

"Well, breakfast will be a while. Mikey is in the kitchen with the girls" Ithiell was suddenly there, smiling a little from Donnie to me.

I managed to move just enough so he could get in and soon I was watching the two braniacs work at it, muttering things to each other I couldn't understand.

"Aha!" Ithiell cried in triumph, seeing the monitors all light up again. He and Donnie shared a look, both giggling. They sounded like excited little girls.

"We did it" Donnie looked relieved, going and sitting on the chair next to Ithiell, seeing them both now working on a computer each. Monitors were now flashing madly as I stood behind Donnie, hands on his shoulders.

"So, what next boys?" I asked them, squeezing Donnie's shoulders gently.

"Well, we need to-"

"You all need to get your asses into the dining room" Rachel suddenly appeared in the doorway, a smirk on her face.

"What, why? Is something wrong?" I asked her, glancing over at Jake, who looked to still be unconscious. Couldn't be about-

"Yeah! We're all hungry and tired of waiting for you" She grinned crazily now, seeing Robert now beside her.

"Yeah, come on!"

"Oh? Oh! Breakfast!" It suddenly clicked with me as Ithiell got up, followed by Donnie as we all went into the dining room.

"Foooood!" Mikey giggled, as we all dug in, getting what we wanted.

"No food fights" Leo said as he handed Serah a piece of toast, which she took with a smile.

"Gotcha. Eat food, don't throw it" Marco grabbed some scrambled eggs, looking hungry. I wondered what kind of food they had at the valley...

Surprisingly, the talk around the table turned positive, and there was a few laughs here and there. Even Serah seemed to be in brighter spirits today, cuddling into Leo, who didn't seem to mind the attention.

"Ax!" Tobias cried out as our crazy blue alien, who had morphed into a human to join us, shoved his whole face into the plate he had, trying to eat that way. Him and Marco had to pull him back up, seeing his eyes had turned wide.

"Settle down Ax, we need to save-"

A strange beeping sound got all our attention. We all looked from one to another, wondering if maybe it was someones phone, or-

The beep sounded again, and Ithiell's eyes went wide.

"That's coming from the computers!" Donnie jumped up, knocking his chair over, and in seconds Ithiell had followed him.

The rest of us looked at one another, confused, before following them cautiously.

"It's a Yeerk broadcast! But... we haven't..." Donnie and Ithiell were both at the computers, typing furiously as things flashed across the screen, and then came another beep.

"It's a looped message. It seems to be coming in on only the channels we were monitoring before. But..." Ithiell looked just as confused as Donnie was.

"How? You guys didn't even finish setting-"

"Could be linked through the fighter's system. It's the only way I can... " Ithiell trailed off, and we all went silent again.

"You got it?"'

"No, I... hang on"

"There!"

Suddenly a screen lit up, and my jaw dropped when I saw the face.

"Andalites" Came the voice from the screen, all of us letting out sounds of surprise as the face now came into focus.

It was Visser Three.

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Constructive criticism appreciated!