(Marco, you know what theyre going to do when they catch up to her,) Jake said, low and urgent and just for him.

(Yeah, Jake, I know,) he said, nodding his thickset gorilla head.

(What do you plan to do about this, Marco?) Shara asked, once again speaking just to him. (You have to know that my brother isnt one to show mercy to anyone he thinks is an enemy.)

(I know that, too,) he said, thinking of the way Slade had "handled" those security guards at The Gardens.

(Its your call,) Jake said, and he almost could have been participating in a three-way conversation between him, Shara and Marco himself, but neither of them knew that other was talking; that was funny, really it was.

Standing there, frozen, as Rachel, Ax, and Slade three brutally intense killers when the situation called for it reached the door of the building where his mother, and where Visser One, had taken refuge to work out the little problem theyd set up with the computer, he found he couldnt move; and he couldnt look away.

(Jake? You take the others and morph, all right? I have to go and I dont know.)

(Go,) Jake said kindly. (Well have gills in about a minute. Marco?)

(Yeah?)

(Do whats right,) Jake said firmly. (Forget about what anybody else thinks. Do whats right.)

It figured; Jake was one of those guys that had as easy a time being a hero as they did breathing. That was his answer to everything: do whats right. He always seemed to know what that was, too; another thing that made him a hero.

Marco himself, however; well, he was a comedian. All he knew was what was funny. And what wasnt.

Running for the building where the final battle, the only battle, was about to take place, Marco ripped the door from its hinges, bounded over the broken door, and confronted the sight beyond. It wasnt a hopeful one: his moth- Visser One had managed to get her hands on a Dracon beam, sure, but Slade had his jaws clamped on her forearm and was shaking it hard enough that she barely had any chance of aiming.

(Hold her there for me, Slade,) Rachel said, sounding satisfied. (Ill finish this.)

(Right,) Slade said calmly, raising both forepaws and digging his claws into Viss-his Mo- Visser Ones arm so he could hold her fast.

Rachel bellowed, whether in triumph or in challenge Marco wasnt quite sure, and charged on all-fours. Rearing back up once she had made it into striking-range, Rachel raised her huge, dagger-tipped paw for a swing that would end with Visser Ones his mothers head being torn from her body to fly across the room.

(NO!) he shouted, knuckle-walking farther into the room, but making sure to stay out of range of either an angry bear or a bloodthirsty Tekno-panther.

(Shut it, Marco!) Rachel snapped, not even looking at him, her paw still up in the air.

(I said no! Dont do it!)

(She is a Yeerk Visser,) Ax pointed out calmly.

(Shes the enemy, Marco,) Slade said, not sounding nearly so patient. (She dies. Its that simple.)

(No,) he said, trying to sound more reasonable this time. (Shes my mother.)

It seemed like forever before anyone moved again, well, everyone who wasnt Visser One, anyway. She tried to gouge Slades morphs eyes out with her thumb; Slade batted her hand away with a paw. She ended up with a slashed, bleeding thumb for her trouble.

(Your mothers dead,) Rachel said, as she finally lowered her paw.

(No; I thought she was. This is her. Or it was her. And maybe it will be again someday if; if she lives.)

(Slade, let her go,) Rachel said finally.

(All right,) Slade said, oddly with no hesitation at all.

Unclamping his jaws, Slade pulled his claws free from Visser Ones arm and stepped back a pace.

(Thanks, you two.)

(Marco, she remains a danger to us,) Ax said, not one to be easily convinced of the trustworthiness of a Yeerk.

(Maybe not,) Marco said, pointing to the window. (Look out there.)

Beyond the round, blister-window of the facility, Visser Three in his still-wounded sea serpent morph was circling warily.

(He just saw us spare her life,) Marco continued calmly. (How do you think Visser Three would interpret that?)

(Hell think shes a traitor,) Ax said, instantly grasping the implications of their mercy as Visser Three would see them. (Its what he wants to believe, in any case. And when he reports that we let her live, it will be all the evidence he needs.)