She could hear the sounds of distant mayhem through however many walls were now between them and the outside world. That was probably why there hadnt been more people inside these rooms.

(What do you think Rachel morphed?) Tobias asked, as a roar and several muted, concussive thuds echoed back to them. (Elephant or bear?)

(Shed do them both at the same time if she could figure out how,) Marco muttered, sounding wearily annoyed.

Shed already begun demorphing, in the absence of people to see her doing so, and the room was already growing lighter around her as her enhanced vision reasserted itself. She could clearly see Marco and Ax just starting their own demorphs, and as they shed their avian forms, she noticed that Tobias was morphing into a human, while Ax was remaining in his own natural form.

There was probably a reason for that, but as Marco started speaking, she decided that it probably wasnt important.

"You know, sometimes theres just a very fine line between us and the Three Stooges," Marco said, then he turned to look over at her. "Well, Four Stooges, I guess."

(What are stooges?)

Raising an eyebrow, she gestured for Marco to explain; it was bound to be interesting, and shed never been one for slapstick humor. Ax would probably want something more insightful than just "Moe is their leader."

"A stooge is a guy," he looked at her again. "Or a girl. Stupid enough to run around inside a Yeerk stronghold wearing a pair of bike shorts, and accompanied by a Deer-man from outer space, a mouse-eating Bird-boy, and a transforming superhero straight out of Masked Rider. Thats a stooge"

"Kamen Rider," she corrected, smirking.

"Huh?"

"Kamen Rider was the original, created by Shotaro Ishinomori," she said, grinning. "Masked Rider was a knock-off."

Marco opened his mouth, but seemed to have nothing to say. Shaking his head, he gave her a sidelong smirk as if it say, you win this round. Then, becoming serious again, more serious than shed ever seen him, in fact, he lead them out of the darkened room. Ax took up position on the right, and so she fell in on the left.

"I cant believe I lived most of my life with these lame human eyes," Tobias grumbled, from the back of their group. "You people are blind."

"Really?" she asked, turning to look back over her shoulder at him. "Youll have to tell me about that sometime."

"You dont count, oh great and powerful shark-slayer," Marco said, gently elbowing her in the ribs. "And keep your voices down, you two. This place may seem empty right now, but this is still enemy territory."

"Roger that, sir," she whispered back, winking at Marco when he turned a fish-eyed look back on her.

Following him as their group crept out into a brightly-lit hallway, Shara blinked as she almost felt her eyes adjusting. There was none of the mild discomfort that she remembered accompanying this kind of transition back when shed actually been human, and she didnt quite know how to feel about that. On the one hand, it was nice not to have to deal with that kind of thing, but on the other, it was yet another reminder of how far removed she was from her former life.

Maybe not as much of a reminder as that transformation of hers, but hard to ignore all the same.

Marco was looking down at the far end of the hall, likely focused on the same door that she herself had just noticed. There couldnt be any mistaking the fact that, whoever was behind that door, they were an important person of one stripe or another. The golden seal on the door made that fact very plain for anyone to see.

"That way," Marco said decisively. "Ax? If anyone pops out of any of these doors"

He didnt even need to finish his sentence; Ax twirled the bladed tip of his tail, in what almost reminded Shara of one of the limbering-up exercises that Gr- her old karate teacher would recommend. Falling into step on Marcos left again, she bent her legs slightly and continued moving. She wanted to have good leverage, just in case it came down to a fight between her and anyone else who might be left in this area.

Standing back up once they had made it to the end of the hall, without being jumped by anyone, she stood by as Marco started to open the door.

"Come in."

Marco froze at that voice; a voice which didnt sound particularly threatening to her sensibilities it wasnt Darkon, after all but which seemed to have some kind of weird power over him. Or maybe he just knew the speaker, and hadnt ever been expecting to see them again. Especially in a place like this.

"I said come in," the woman reiterated, sounding quietly intense; she would have almost said annoyed, but she didnt get that feeling, oddly enough. "Never make me give an order twice. You wont live to hear me give it a third time."

Now that sounded like something Darkon would say.

Taking Marcos hand, she opened the door and lead him through. He looked like he could use the support, and whoever was on the other side of the door didnt sound like they would be willing to tolerate waiting long enough for him to regain his composure.

There was a large desk in the center of an office large enough to make it seem small, and there was a woman sitting behind that desk. She was dark-haired, and dark-eyed; in a strange way, this new woman reminded Shara of her own mother. But her eyes were different; they were the kind of eyes that Darkon would have, missing only the crimson madness of a fully-realized Radam Teknoman.

Nothing else was missing, though. These were the kind of eyes that could watch worlds and all their people die without blinking, or condemn an entire planet to eternal slavery without a flinch. These were eyes without even the slightest scraps of mercy, morality, or kindness; echoing a soul that held that same lack.

This person, whoever they were, was as dangerous as Darkon; she would treat them just the same.