Declaimer: I don't own the Animorphs! Don't rub it in!
Thanks for the reviews people; they were great! This is for you! Enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Annihilator
Tobias POV
I landed on a building's rooftop to get a better view of the Yeerk Transport base without being spotted. It was located inside of a meat-processing plant in the factory district of the city. Any anxiety I felt before was tripled at the sheer number of gun-wielding guards awaiting "Anni," as Marco had pessimistically named it: "Animorph Annihilator."
Leave it to Marco to name give it a name, I thought; although, the name probably fit. At first, Ithought that he was over exaggerating, as usual, but now I wasn't so sure. The Yeerks had put the creature in a large, titanium box, about the size of a trailer. From where I was, I could make out a stencilled warning to humans reading: "CAUTION: BIO-HAZARDOUS MATERIAL. FATAL." I tried to ignore the recent double meaning and continued to watch as they unloaded "Anni" from an armored truck, into the base. The loading dock opened up, and for a split second, I saw a small army of Controllers standing in position. The sight put my feathers on end.
Wow! This...thing must be a huge deal! commented Rachel, watching from across the street in her owl morph. What unnerved me was that even she seemed nervous. We weren't going to fight the monster for another five hours or so, butwe were all freaked out. Time was running out.
Yeah, it must be. I replied, trying to cover my apprehension. Actually watching them bring "Anni" in made the whole situation real.
What do you suppose is the creature's appearance? asked Ax, an esprey about a mile above us. I have yet to learn of a lifeform with such a savage power that the Chee suggest.
Who cares? The real question is, when can we take it down?
In four hours, forty-nine minutes, Earth Time. recited Ax.
That's not what I meant, dude. There was the Rachel we all knew and loved. My hawk heart sped up at the words "love" and "Rachel" in the same sentence, but I ignored that,too. There would be no time for feelings in battle. I gave one last glance at the now closed gate of the plant and took off. A small bit of anxiety slid off as I lifted up into the skies, free and away from the Yeerks. Well, we'd never be free of Yeerks until we'd won the war, which began to seem nearly impossible a long time ago.
Roll call, I called behind me. Survelliance Team Alpha
Aximili, present
This is dumb. grumbled Rachel. I just waited for her to answer correctly. Ugh. Rach--HOLY CRAP! Her exclamation rattled my brain and took me by surprise. I banked to the left, swinging aroun in a tight circle. Now, I was facing the base again, just in time to see Controllers scramble out of the building like tiny black ants. Then an enormous, firey explosion blew through the structure, tossing them forward in different directions. Some of the guards landed with loud shouts, then lay motionless. Some kept going until they hit something, like the wall of the next building. The noise alone could've crushed our heads, when a huge thermal sent us flying backwards. I flapped hard against the winds until I was finally steady again.
JESUS CHRIST! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?! I hollered. D-DID YOU GUYS JUST SEE THAT?! ARE YOU ALL ALRIGHT?! Debris was falling all over the place, and huge chunks of cement and steel were blowing potholes into the street. At ten in the morning, everyone was already at work, so the road was blessedly clear. My heart was going a mile a minute at what I just saw, and from the rapid beats I heard around me, so were my friends'.
"Was there a plan I don't know about?" Rachel panted, demorphing in an alleyway below Ax and me. The owl's feathers were just melting back into her skin, and her eyes were still bird-like, glaring up at us.
I don't have any memory of such a decision. Perhaps I was not informed as well. offered Ax, totally bewildered. However, if this animal's eyes are functioning properly, it seems that the experiment has escaped. I looked aroung on the ground and, sure enough, there was a bunch of Controllers marching here and there, a few barking orders to search the premises. They had lost their weapon of mass destruction. It was on the loose among innocent humans, dangerous, untamed, and probably scared out of its mind. But if one thing was for sure, it wasn't working for Yeerks, so it probably didn't have any real motives to kill. Probably.
"Hey, I see it!" Rachel was bolting out of the alleyway at top speed. She was chasing the monster!
No! Come back! Dammit! I dived down after her, a bullet with feathers. People on the street gasped at me, a red-tailed hawk, darting through the crowd. It was harder to fly at such a low altitude, but I had to get to Rachel before she actually reached the "Annihilator." It was better to let the creature go, it could kill us without all of the Animorphs here to fight.
I flew past shocked faces and whirring cars, weaving and dodging until I caught Rachel corner "Anni" at a dead end. There were no people around except for Rachel and whatever she was looking at. Instead of morphing to grizzly, though, she just stood there, frozen. I perched on a rain gutter higher up, trying not to make any sudden movements.
Rache, what is it? I whispered. I didn't specify whether I was talking about what was stopping her or what she had stopped. I wasn't sure which one I wanted to know the most.
"Are you alright?" she blurted out to someone in the shadows. The huddled form in the darkness flinched responsively and tried to crawl away. Then I noticed that it was on its knees. So it is scared, huh.
It is safe, creature. We will not cause you any harm. Ax landed right next to me, feathers ruffled. It was like we were coaxing an injured animal out of a hole.
Maybe we should bring Cassie out here. I can go get her if Rachel can keep Anni here. I suggested. Something told me that given the enemy a name was a bad idea; it made us too familiar with something that we knew nothing about except that it was lethal. I didn't want to get pounded on like the door that tried to hold it in.
"But what if it tries to kill me? I should be allowed to whale on it at will," stated Rachel, looking upward on instinct. "Anni" took the chance to leap out of the shadows. That's when I got a good look at what it was. it was a...a...a teenage girl! I shook my head, trying to clear any illusions, but it was true. The creature we had been so afraid of, the monster that took twelve soldiers with Dracon beams to knock out, was a pale, dark-eyed, teenage girl! She wasn't even that tall! However, despite her size, she tossed Rachel aside like an old ragdoll.
NO! I yelled. I swooped down towards her throat, talons poised, but only reached empty air. I flapped my wings and pulled up before I smashed into the ground, and realized she was nowhere to be found. That's when Ax called his hawk call and dived at a looming shadow behind me. I turned around, lifted up, ready to fight, and was face-to-face with the Annihilator. She glared at me with her dead, pitch-black eyes. They were slitted and menacing, like a hungry predator. She reached behind her and plucked Ax off her back, as if he were a flea. He struggled in her grasp, and I could see she was inhumanly strong. I had underestimated her without knowing it. She wasn't just a wild monster with no sense; she was smart and agile. She must've caused the explosion on purpose, planning it out.
At that moment, she grabbed me by the neck with her other hand and squeezed. The air was cut off from my lungs and black spots started to appear in my vision. I was going to die, right there and then. That's when the blond-haired fighter launched herself at "Anni", fist connecting with her cheek. Luckily, she loosened her grip on our necks, more out of surprise then anything. Ax and I fell away from her, gasping for air. She staggered backwards, hand to her face. Her pale cheek was red where Rachel punched it and her black eyes were wide in shock. When she took her hand away and looked at us, we tensed up for battle. Imagine our total disbelief when she dropped to her knees, wrapped her hands around her shivering shoulders, and cried like a toddler who just scraped her elbow falling off the swings.