They morphed or in Sharas case, finished morphing as they ran, and soon Marco found himself a gorilla running beside a leopard. His gorilla morph wasnt exactly the most aggressive member of the Animorphs weird little zoo, in fact it was almost placid; more interested in finding some fruit and a nice place to lie down than in mixing it up with the Yeerks in the main areas of the facility. The presence of the leopard on his right side made the gorilla in his mind uneasy, though.
But he wasnt just some ordinary, run-of-the-mill gorilla; he was Marco with the body of a gorilla. He wasnt feeling particularly placid, either. Throwing open the door forgetting for that one, crucial moment just what morph he was in hard enough that it tore free from its hinges entirely, Marco and Shara beheld a scene of devastation.
Injured Hork-Bajir were crumpled on the floor; a mutilated, crushed Taxxon was being eaten alive by one of its fellow Taxxons; and everywhere the sounds, and smells, of chaos and carnage. Rachel, a grizzly; Jake, a tiger; Cassie, a wolf; and Slade, a panther, had done some serious damage to the Yeerks forces in the area. But now, the four of them were driven into a corner, almost surrounded by wary but determined Hork-Bajir.
Visser One was striding up to the besieged Animorphs, kicking the Hork-Bajir in her way as she came. The expression on her face as she made her way down the hall was one of apathy, except for when she was trying to rally her troops. Then, as she stared down at them, kicking them to make them get back on their feet, the apathy was replaced with a look of clear contempt.
Visser One already had six Hork-Bajir gathered around her, and more looked ready to come; it wasnt a good situation, not at all.
(Five minutes,) Marco said tersely. (Less, really. Then we have to be in the water.)
(With gills,) Tobias reminded them all; not that they werent all thinking that same thought.
(Okay, lets go save Jake,) he said, with a self-mockingly weary sigh. (That guy. Hes always needing me to come along and save his ass.)
(Ill be surprised if he makes it past puberty,) Shara said, sounding amused.
(Did you just quote The Rock?) he asked, surprised.
(You started it,) she said with a chuckle.
Since there was really nothing he could say to that, and since they were all moving out already, he didnt say anything in response. Not to that anyway.
(At least I can introduce Visser One to my tail!) Ax exclaimed, gleefully charging forward with said appendage held high; it almost looked like he was twitching the blade in anticipation.
(No!) he yelled; then, realizing what he must have sounded like, he backtracked. (I mean, you guys go and help the others. Ill clean up Visser One and her little cronies.)
(Ill back you up,) Shara said; her, he could tolerate. (Better to have someone to watch your back when youre up against someone that dangerous.)
They slammed into the rear of the group of Hork-Bajir following Visser One; too fast for any of the unprepared Controllers to react. Slamming a Hork-Bajir with his fist, a fist the approximate size and weight of a cinderblock, he watched in grim satisfaction as the alien went down. And stayed down.
Another nearby Hork-Bajir, spinning to meet him, swung his wrist blade. He didnt get far; Shara clamped down on his arm and shook it like a dog with a bone. With a silent thanks to her, Marco slammed his fist into the things chest, and watched as it went down just like the other one.
Out of the corner of his eye, even as he watched the rest of the Hork-Bajir pull back hastily, he saw Shara bite the throat of their opponent; something told him that he wouldnt have to worry about that one anymore.
"Kill them, you cowards!" Visser One raged. "Theyre only two Andalites! Kill them!"
One of the Hork-Bajir leaped at him, arms and legs with their complement of deadly blades flashing in the lights. He tried to dodge; he wasnt nearly stupid enough to stand under a falling Hork-Bajir, but gorillas werent exactly built for speed. Leopards, on the other hand; well, that was a different story.
Before the alien Controller could finish his leap, Shara was on him, claws and fangs cutting into his flesh even as her strength pushed him back and away from the main area of the action. Even before Shara let the Hork-Bajirs mangled, brutalized body fall to the floor, Marco was punching one of his compatriots that had foolishly tried to attack while he was alone. That Hork-Bajir was slammed into the ground, and then swiftly finished off by Shara.
Grabbing the necks of two other nearby Hork-Bajir, Marco slammed them into one another and left them to attempt to disentangle themselves. With the greater part of their group laying on the floor, the few remaining ambulatory Hork-Bajir abruptly decided that they had had enough. They ran without even a look back.
"So, Andalites," Visser One said, bereft of her allies at the end. "I see that you are enjoying the use of all these wonderful morphs that Earth has to offer. However, you both must know that your little band will never be able to escape from this place. However, if you both surrender peacefully, then I will allow you to live."
Not a word, Marco, he reminded himself, just to have something to focus on. Not. One. Word. There was nothing he could say to that nothing he could say to her that wouldnt give away the fact that he wasnt who or what she thought he was. If he said one thing, just one, then everything he was keeping in would just spill out; everything he had ever wanted to say since she had disappeared. The mundane and the monumental, the inane and the insightful, and everything in-between.
And then, all of the other Animorphs would die or worse for his carelessness.
(So, what did you have in mind?) Shara asked, coming to stand beside him and then bearing her fangs at Visser One.
(What?) he asked, his train of thought derailed.
(Well, youre the one how always seems to have some sort of plan,) she said reasonably. (Or are you planning to wing it this time?)
"If you kill me, then the both of you will die as well, Andalites," Visser One said, her eyes flickering between him and Shara, but also seeming to flicker with some suppressed emotion.
Or, maybe he was just grasping at straws.
"Ha tu ma el ga su fa to li," was what the new apparition standing next to Visser One actually said, but it sounded entirely different in Marcos head: Dont be fooled, Visser One. Those two are not Andalites.
Spinning in place, even as he glimpsed Shara turning with him to face this new threat, Marco saw the Leeran-Controller that had been with Visser One on the sub. He could have killed it without breaking a sweat, either of them could, but he just stared at Visser One.
They are not Andalites, the Leeran reiterated. They are human. It paused, its backlit, green eyes fixing on Shara. For the most part.
"No, you idiot," Visser One sneered. "The gorilla morph that one of them is using might be distantly related to humans, but the leopard is a member of the feline family. The only way that that creature could even be tangentially related to humans is by the fact that they are both mammals. These are Andalites in morph."
I beg your pardon for disagreeing with you, my Visser, however-
The Leeran stopped talking then, silenced by the simple fact that Marco had just punched the thing right in the mouth. And then, not a few moments after that had happened, a huge, poison-yellow serpent reared up out of the waters of a nearby dock.