With Tobias back, their success in bypassing the Controller's surveilance perimeter, and their recent successes, even though Jake and his group are very busy, and they don't quite understand the Old Blood's intentions and objectives, the Animorph's morale is high. A few days after the arrival of the rescues, the leading figure amongst the immigrants, James, rises to make an offer as the Animorphs prepare for their first mission.

Probing Call IV

Day 19, Afternoon

((We're back!)) I announced as we entered the first threshold, in no time I passed through the first barrier, entering the gatehouse proper, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias followed suit behind. The other Old Bloods stayed behind to take care of the immigrants and observe the Controller's movement patterns. Marco was smiling wide as yesterday he had finally recieved his morphing clothes. Ellen should be done with making my second pair of morphing underwear today, the day before was spent observing the entire Petrolia Desalination Plant, and after Marco had gotten his morphing clothes, Ellen informed us that she intended to give all of us spares of what we currently had instead of making us full outfits.

"What did you expect? That you can just wear the same thing, every day?" Ellen asked rhetorically. "Just because the morphing power made you superhuman doesn't mean your skin won't get gross when you keep wearing the same clothes!"

"But we don't let ourselves get gross, we wash them!" Rachel protested.

"Exactly! You wash the same thing every day," Ellen said. "Your families will notice, and what if you're caught somewhere else while not wearing any morphing clothes? It's just less questions!"

"But I really think you should focus on getting us all pants," I explained.

"Don't bother arguing with her," Ben chimed in from above, as he worked on the light in the ceiling, dust falling off onto the table from below, a lot of dust. "You're not going to win, especially when she gets like that."

"High five for another mission accomplished!" Rachel said as we walked in to where we left our bags filled with our regular clothes. I reached over and slapped Rachel's hand, then Cassie's, it was a slapfest.

"Whoah, careful there," Tobias said to Rachel as he met her hand swiftly. "Wouldn't want to hit me in the face!"

"You wouldn't feel it anyway," Rachel remarked as we walked past our bag of clothes. Morphing was a pretty tiring thing to do, and considering that we were going to morph again on the way home anyway, we didn't mind walking around in our 'swimsuits' for a little while longer, especially since the Old Bloods really don't pay any attention to it.

((Hey guys,)) Alice said in our heads. ((James is here, and he wishes to meet with you.))

"Well," Rachel said, stretching her bare arms high above her head, hands grasping eachother. "Hope it isn't too urgent."

"James is a very serious person," Tobias said as he opened the door deeper down into the base. "He tries to not waste anyone's time if he can help it."

"How do you know that?" Marco asked.

"Because unlike you, I'm an actual judge of character," Tobias said as the next gate opened. "And if you'd stop making jokes at his expense and approach him with respect, he'd be inclined to reciprocate."

"Hey come on," Marco raised his palms in front of himself in defense. "You know the best comedians touch everything!"

"That kind of humor's pretty tasteless, Marco," I said.

"And he doesn't like it, even if it's true," Cassie pointed out, nervously messing with the waistband of her pants.

"Eh, you do you," Marco shrugged as the stairway finished forming, and we all continued forward.

"What happened to not antagonizing these people?" Rachel said, posturing towards Marco. At which I realized I was staring at Cassie again and looked away.

"There's a line between laughing with someone and laughing at someone," Tobias said seriously. "The latter is what tempts people to put a knife in between your ribs if you poke too much."

"I'll keep that in mind," Marco said.

"You better," Tobias said. "James is a respected figure among this new group, if he wants to do something about you, I'm not sure a few of them wouldn't join in."

"OoooOoOoOoh, I'm scare-AHH!" Marco said before Rachel walked up and put him in an arm lock, walking him down the steps as his bare feet struggled to find the floor. It looked like some strange wrestling match on a TV show, or a beach.

"Wanna keep going?" Rachel said, her eyes closed while wearing the most cheerful smile I've seen on her in a while. "This is pretty fun!"

"Ah, no thanks, I'm good!" Marco said, and Rachel let him down.

"Besides, we may have the bikinis, but we don't have any oil," Marco quipped, rubbing his hands all alongside his torso.

Rachel spun back to face him.

"Marco, that's enough!" I reprimanded.

"Ugh," Rachel growled.

After the walk to the security room it didn't take long for us to notice him. Gone was his wheelchair, and instead he was using a pair of walking sticks, his legs had grown sturdier than when we saw him day before yesterday. As we came closer to the end of the hall he turned to face us all, and his eyes squinted in annoyance, when I looked next to me I saw that he was giving that look to Marco.

"You're not going to call me 'Wheelie Derby' now, are you?" James asked in quite a voice dripping with acid. "Or does 'Flying Crutchman' suit you speedo and bikini people today?"

Marco stopped dead in his tracks whilst Rachel gave Marco a death glare, her hand place firmly on her hips. And I really wished at that moment that our morphing clothes consisted of little more than glorified underwear.

"And what was I saying, Marco?" Tobias wryly asked. "I tend to forget in moments like these."

"Is this about those jokes? I didn't make the last one," Marco said. "Doesn't seem Dutch enough!"

"Marco," I said, turning to my best friend, crossing my arms over my bare chest. "I told you, that that is in very poor taste, and that you should stop poking fun like that."

"Funny, since when did you disapprove?" James asked.

"I never approved of it," I said.

"Right now's the first I heard that," James said in a voice that had a lot less patience than it did when we first met. "I haven't known you for long, Jake, but I can tell you like going easy, going with the flow and avoiding needless conflict. And you may understand what it means to be part of the resistance, but you don't fully grasp what it means to lead it. At least a part of it."

"Marco mocked me, and us for that matter, and as to what I can guess, you gave him a pass because he's your friend. Well guess what, you might not care about what other people think, but the others? The people you're going to lead? Who trust you with their lives? They care, they care very much, and are going to have to align with your decision making the best they can. That's easy enough, but you're too conflict avoidant."

"Are you saying Jake's a coward?" Rachel started, but James continued.

"You took the easy way out when Marco made fun of me, of us, you didn't attack Marco's actions, do you 9intend for us to actually fight alongside you? You avoided ruffling feathers because, and I'm guessing, you're so afraid of jeopardizing the unity of the group that you avoided attacking your subordinate's flaws to not provoke him at the expense of your future brothers in arms?"

I widened my eyes and stood up straighter, my mouth opened to respond, but nothing came out. I struggled trying to find what to say until I closed my lips.

"Hey, James," Marco walked forward, putting his hand forward, open. "I was trying to be funny, but I think it's clear to me I said some things that were insensitive in the wrong ways, I understand that now. I'm sorry."

James placed one of his walking sticks down to lean on his leg in order to take Marco's hand, grabbing far up his bare arm.

"Apology accepted, just don't do it again," James said, shaking my best friend's hand.

In the meanwhile I was lost in my head, here I stood, with this blong haired crippled but recovering person that I knew for barely more than a day, and he started picking apart my style of leadership. But James, this James didn't needlessly criticize, he zeroed in on a flaw in my own methods that I never noticed.

But now that he did point it out...

((Ugh, the nerve of this guy!)) Rachel said in private thought speech in my head. ((Who does that arrogant jerk think he is?))

((He's another me, Rach,)) I said. ((He's a leader.))

((He's another you?)) Marco asked.

((What are we going to do about it?)) Rachel asked. ((Do we let him join?))

((No,)) I said. ((No. James shouldn't be part of the team, not yet. We need to figure ourselves out first.))

"Thank you for pointing that out, James," I said. "I didn't know that was a problem with my style."

"Anytime," he said.

"However, Alice did say that you wanted to tell us about something," I started, finishing the walk to the table where Ben and Alice were waiting. The chair felt different on my bare back and legs, not uncomfortable, though.

"I wish to take over the rescue of the Old Bloods."

My eyes widened as I looked at him, he was getting better, but he needed two walking sticks and his legs were still shaky.

"By yourself?" I asked.

"Not by myself," James said, shaking his head. "A few others will join. You really should appreciate Tobias, he was doing a four man job all by himself, he's frickin' tough."

"When do you plan on leaving?" Tobias asked. "You're going to have to use my Stratokite to transport them all, and bypass this barrier the others have dealt with."

"It shouldn't be that hard to use," James said before a piece of something fell on his head in a shower of dust and clattered to the floor.

"Ow!" He said, ducking for a brief second before looking up angrily.

"Sorry!" Ben called out from above as Rachel sneezed. "I didn't mean to do that!"

"That's okay. I know you didn't," James said, squinting and wincing at the same time. "I already have a good idea of how it works, I read the instruction manual."

So he planned this the entire time? I regarded with a smile.

"You're in," I said to James with a smile, turning to Alice, still seated, afterward. "Take whatever you need, I think Alice has the next route planned out?"

"Indeed I do," she said, nodding. "I'll leave behind the map for when you're ready to go."

"Then I'll take my leave," James said, turning away, hobbling with his walking sticks. "We'll be ready in another two days or so."

"So, as for the mission?" Alice said.

"Total success," I reported. "Eyelizard is in, he's located the source of the anti-morph serum, nobody's noticed him yet, but that can change."

"So," Harry said. "It is time?"

"It is time," I agreed with a smile. "At last, we're going to liberate our water supply!"

"Hear hear for being able to use drinking fountains again!" Marco said, raising his fist.

"Glad that thing is over," Rachel said.

"I wasn't sure how much longer I could get my folks to ignore me bringing drinking bottles everywhere when we go out, even in the city."

"My tools are ready," Alice said.

"And mine as well," Ben responded fromt he rafters above.

"Animorphs," I said. "We're going back to Petrolia."

We crept by the riverbank again, just like last time, only everyone was aprticipating. Cassie, Tobias, Marco, Rachel, Ben, Alice, Ellen, and Harry had joined me by the stony riverbank, we dipped in and morphed the Shimmerscales, and we fooled the Hunter drones just as flawlessly as last time. W returned to our human forms without leaving the river, down the stream where the Hunter patrolled, outside of the Controller's surveilance perimeter and deep in the safety of shade, the only true sign of humans was an abandoned beer bottle sitting upright next to a tree.

We had done it, no turning back now.

With nothing else left to do we morphed into the ever reliable geese and lighted from the water to fly North.

Our bodies shrunk and became strangely stocky, our bones grew hollow and our lips and noses were replaced with flat bills, our feet became webbed, necks extended, and our arms sturdy wings. We power flapped while in the water and took off, our wings just like then, carried us all through the sky, nobody noticed a formation of nine ducks rising fromt he forest. High and higher we flapped upwards, ascending into the blue blue sky amid the clouds, we flapped, and flapped and flapped and flapped, flying over the forest, past the rural areas and boonies, over the mountains. We flew over highways and farmlands and wilderness and coasts for hours. I just kept flapping and no matter what, my body never got tired.

Is this what being God feels like?

Nine of us, nine people against an entire world, an extraterrestrial entity set on the destruction of everything we love all for the sake of world conquest. I don't know where they came from, I don't know how they got here, I don't know what weapons they use, how good they are in a fight, I don't even know what they call themselves.

And I don't know where to attack them first.

But I do know that we can do some serious damage.

((Hey, Jake)) Marco privately thought spoke to me.

((Sup Marco?))

((I think we should try to probe the Old Bloods again,)) Marco said.

((Are you sure?)) I asked.

((We're not doing anything that needs our focus, now's the perfect time.))

((But I can't just repeat what you said day before yesterday!))

((So find out something to ask them about,)) Marco said. ((It could be anything.))

((Yeah, just think of something,)) Rachel said.

Find something to ask them about, but what? I thought to myself. What sort of topic can I go into that I might yield some results?

The Shimmerscale? Lotr? Warlike? ETCS? The Forges?

Wait, I got it!

((Hey, Ben,)) I said. ((I have something I'd like to ask.))

((Ah, okay. Go ahead.))

((A few days ago, you mentioned something called 'Chee,' a type of robot?))

((Not robots,)) Ben said. ((Androids in the same vein as Eyelizard, they served and protected the Pemalites, and they were amazing.))

((Yeah,)) I said. ((They do sound amazing if what you sounded like when you talked about them is any indication. What sorts of abilities did they have?))

((Oh, they had many,)) Ben said wistfully. ((They could carve in microscopically small patterns, program and fuse with machines, make shadowpuppets out of a mid-day sun, and take in foreign objects and integrate them as replacement bodyparts.))

((Whoah,)) Cassie said. ((So they're like frankenstein?))

((They're absurdly strong, and capable of speaking, thinking, and feeling just as you and me,)) Ben said.

((It sounds like you knew them personally,)) Marco asked.

((Yes, I did,)) Ben whispered. ((There wasn't a single one I didn't fall in love with.))

((But you said they were scattered to the winds,)) I said. ((It was ETCS, wasn't it? Was that how they betrayed you?))

Everyone was silent after that, we tensely waited for their answer.

((Yes,)) Ben softly said, his voice becoming more charged with emotion with every word he spoke, with anger, and sadness too. ((Yes. That's exactly what they did. ETCS wanted their aid for some operation, a major battle, the Chee refused, so Torelli destroyed them. They didn't suspect a thing, he only phrased it as a suggestion, but when they refused to be used as weapons he...))

((Ben, it's okay,)) Cassie said.

((Are you sure right now's the best time to say that?)) Harry said.

((Harry, she's fine,)) Ben said. ((But you children, Jake, Cassie, Rachel, and Marco, promise me something.))

((Depends on what it is.))

((Never forgive them,)) Ben said. ((Never forget that this is what ETCS does when they encounter people who don't agree with them, human and non-human alike.))

((But if the Chee are so powerful,)) Rachel said. ((How did ETCS manage to destroy them.))

((Nobody knows,)) Tobias said. ((It's one of the greatest mysteries that aren't resolved.))

((ETCS in those days couldn't take down the Chee down on their own,)) Alice said. ((I suspect that they have something a lot scarier than Andalite technology at their disposal. I tried to find it, but there was no trace of the Chee, much less whatever thing they used to destroy them. Whatever computers hold that data must only be accessible by the highest ranks.))

((And they'll do it to you, too,)) Harry said. ((and nobody will be able to stop it...not even Marco's father.))

((We will stop it,)) Tobias added in a voice of ice. ((I'll leave a mountain of corpses before I let one of them touch you, or anyone else precious to me.))

I felt a chill run down my back, Tobias isn't one to lie about his emotions. I know him well enough, if it came down to that, he meant it, he'll actually kill who knows how many people in order to stop anyone from getting to us.

To protect us.

((Tobias...)) Rachel said, moved.

((Tobias,)) I asked. ((Have you ever killed anyone from ETCS?))

((There are a few instances where I might have,)) Tobias said. ((But if I did, not outside of self-defence, and I was in a situation where I couldn't see them.))

But would we have to? I asked myself. Would we brush up against ETCS the wrong way, and have to kill them. Kill...people?

But what about Their hosts? Aren't they people, too? By fighting in this war, wouldn't I be killing them, as well? They might have an affinity for siezing the bodies of sentient hosts. But by what Elfangor said, none of this changes the fact that the vast majority of the ones I'll be fighting will be controlling humans. But what sort of means do they have to keep a hold over their hosts? Would they be able to break free?

((Jake,)) Cassie started. ((I was thinking...))

((Go ahead,)) I gently said.

((You know, Lotr's already helped us bypass Their barrier, and despite the company he keeps he seems like a sort of nice guy. Do you think he has his sights set on attacking the poison as well?))

((Oh. That wasn't what I thought you'd bring up.))

((And what was that?))

((The subject of how to liberate Their hosts.))

((Oh,)) Cassie said. ((That's a pretty good question, but if Lotr's an Animorph, and wants to be our ally, then wouldn't it be in his best interest to stop the Anti-morph serum from flowing?))

((In his best interest, how?)) Harry asked.

((Alice, do you remember what Lotr said after you asked him what his intentions were?))

((He expected nothing in return,)) Alice said. ((He claimed to do it to build trust.))

((I'm with Harry on this one,)) Rachel said. ((He did that for free, and he wants us to trust him, maybe he's just building favors until he asks us to do something really huge?))

((Makes sense,)) Marco said.

((But that doesn't feel right with the description you gave of him,)) Cassie asked.

((That aside, even if he does want to use us, wouldn't his objective be to make sure we don't get harmed?)) Tobias asked.

((You seem strangely eager to trust this stranger who's riding with someone who's by all rights a literal human animal!)) Marco pointed out.

((Who knows,)) Ben pointed out. ((It's been years since Warlike's roamed free, perhaps he has changed. If only slightly.))

((Guys,)) I said. ((There it is.))

[2 Weeks & 6 Days before Jake, Rachel, and Cassie received the morphing power]

Twilight, Soon to Evening

Warlike was resting in the center of the cavern, admiring his handiwork from the spare pallet box hed sat on. The Chee watched what the Antimorph had done with silent disbelief. Lotr walked inside, his mood optimistic, he carried a small pillar shaped capsule in both of his arms.

"Everyone, I'm back, and I got a-WHAT IN CRAYAK'S EYELASHES?!" Lotr immediately reacted to the spectacle of what Warlike had done.

It was erected in the middle of the room, next to the device meant to destroy the light machine, the Chee who had been reduced to just a head and a gutsack was standing stuck in Warlike's Diggger Rod, stuck right on there like a scarecrow. The Chee's gut sack itself was encased inside a small round silver radio that had been cut open so it would be able to encase the gutsack like a bizarre plastic ribcage. Two steel pistons from a car engine had been jammed into the radio, at diagonal angles, and attached to those pistons via chains were two long wooden bed legs, and attached to the end of the 'arms' were two spools of very long coiled up wires with five a set of fingers made from steak knives nailed to them.

"Warlike, what barbarity have you done to that Chee?!"

"I have expedited his independence," Warlike responded.

"He's fine!" Lonos defended the Antimorph. "Our bodies can certain objects into themselvesa and convert them into replacement body parts."

"And THIS?!" Lotr motioned to the Chee-frankenstein scarecrow.

"I sacrificed my Digger Rod in order for his body to convert it into his spine," Warlike said. "The radio, I cut its casing in two in order to provide his innards with protection from the outside world, leaving behind the primitive inner machinery so that his body would be able to use it for whatever end. And I placed those pistons there as a precursor to his shoulders, and once those were in place, I attached those chains with everything attached to them so that in time, they would help form his arms. In order to keep the radio's contents from falling out, I removed the matterial converter and a portion of the inner Chee bone from the D0gbone suit in order to make a sternum, and to aid in the regeneration process."

Lotr's outrage evaporated and he moved in closer to admire Warlike's work, he examined the chee from every angle he could, moving around it in a circle.

"And he's already regenerating! Your work with this Pemalite technology is...amazing."

"It's my greatest skill."

Lotr turned to face Warlike.

"How did you come to know this stuff?"

"Everyone can have their secrets," Warlike said. "If you want to know why I know all of this stuff, then you first: Why are you helping me to exterminate the Andalites? What vendetta do you have against them?"

Lotr stood silent for a few seconds, contemplating his answer.

"The Andalites on Earth must be destroyed," Lotr said. "Their effects on the macro scale of the Controllers, the conflicts they are, and are about to be, involved in, are simply intolerable. If we allow them to continue to exist, then what the Controllers glean from them, and worse, how they'll respond to the both of our parent factions' existence, will mean the end of everything we came from."

Warlike's face began melting, glimpses of hate showing through until he turned away.

"That is a very good thing in my case!" Warlike spat.

"...I wasn't talking about the ones who made you this way," Lotr said. "Those walking atrocities may have created you, but they didn't birth you, or have any hand in the beginning of your existence."

"You're wrong. I have no people of origin."

"I understand," Lotr said sadly, shaking his head. "So, what's your story on how you came to acquire all of this Pemalite Lore?"

Warlike remained silent, still looking away, all of the barely present ticking and humming and buzzing of various electronics rendered all the louder by their silence.

"Wait," Warlike realized, looking at Lotr, or more specifically, the device he came back holding. "That's a Relic you got there in your hands. You never told me you were gonig on a treasure hunt."

"Oh, do you know what this is?" Lotr asked, gently lowering the large metal object gently to the ground. "The person I was helping gave it to me, they were quite eager to part with it. It was way too heavy for them to be lugging around in their injured state."

"So, who was this person you aided?"

"Certainly not someone the Andalites are going to go looking for."

Warlike leaned forward to give a closer look at Lotr's latest haul, placing his hands all over it, he curled his fingers and a short green rod emerged from in between them, tapping the relic gently.

Warlike's eyes widened as he realized the importance of the device in front of him.

"A neural projection emitter?" Warlike said in wonder. "And not just any of its kind would be this big, this is has to be a part of..."

The Antimorph fell silent, reserving his thoughts for his own head.

"A part of what?"

"Zavezz," Warlike concluded. "Only he would be carrying around something like this!"

Lotr nodded.

"Yep. Zavezz. You know him?"

"A formidable warrior, and cunning," Warlike said. "If we ever fought again, he'd probably kill me."

"So I was right in leaving you behind?"

Warlike's expression soured, he snarled, revealing his sharp teeth.

"Had I known it was him you were going to help, I would've known better than to stay behind. I still owe him. Is he well?"

"Well enough, and I didn't know you two were actually on speaking terms, considering what he did to your kind..."

"He had every right to do that, it was self-defense," Warlike said before beginning to walk away. "Surely you must be blaming him for that massacre as a joke?"

Lotr stared for a few seconds, mouth agape as the creature walked away, "Okay, I definitely soured the mood here. Perhaps going on a hunt would cheer you up?"

Warlike stopped, turning to face Lotr again.

"Andalites?"

"I detected another group of them on the way back, if we go ow, we can catch up to them by nightfall."

"But didn't the Controllers just wipe them out?"

"Not these ones," Lotr said, walking over and grabbing the strange arm gauntlet made of wires off the cave wall. "They managed to escape."

"Not from us," Warlike growled, smiling.

"Exactly, not from us," Lotr said, once he acquired his weapon from the rack he hung it from, he began walking back outside the entrance to the cave.

Day 19

Jacob sat at the chair, tapping his foot in the presence of the few other people in the lounge. The room was dark, lit only by an overhanging light that buzzed as it illuminated the room a whitish green. Jacob, like evereyone else, was resting after a long shift of work.

"Well, why are you just sitting around here?" The strangely plasticky girl said. The girl that Jacob didn't particularly like.

"You know why, I'm not leaving until I talk with Tom."

"I assure you Mr. Skridge," the girl said to the man's face. "He will come and see you."

"You promised me that four days ago! Where is he?" Jacob demanded.

"He can't jsut show up whenever you feel like he should-"

"Taylor, what's going on here?" A voice snapped at the girl as the door deeper into the facility opened, and surely enough, in walked Tom. The entire room's demeanor changed in an instant, except for Taylor's.

"Ah, Tom, you're here, I just wanted to speak with you-" Jacob said, rising from his seat, but immediately he was interrupted by Taylor.

"Mr. Skridge was getting uppity," Taylor said dismissively, tilting her head to the side. "I think he's complaining about the-"

"It seems to me," Tom hissed. "That you're getting in the way of him resolving some issue he has."

"Well, of course," Taylor said conversationally.

Of course?! Jacob's jaw dropped in disbelief and outrage.

"No," Tom said. "Whatever game you're playing with him, it's clearly unwanted, by him or myself. Cease."

"Can't say I can," Taylor said, at which Tom's face grew visibly angry for the first time. "This game's a real favorite o-"

Tom's hand shot forward and slammed right next to Taylor's head, causing her to stop talking and give Tom her full attention.

"Glad to hear you like games," Tom responded with a tone as cold as ice, staring down at the girl in what Jacob guessed was the most terrifying expression imaginable. "And since you're in such a playing mood, do you wish to play my favorite game? I'm absolutely certain you know what it is."

Taylor blinked and stood straight as a nail, Jacob swore he could see in the dim lighting her skin grow a shade paler, and when Tom retracted his arm Taylor briskly walked away back deeper in the facility.

Tom shook his head.

"Ugh, why is she allowed to go anywhere near here?" Tom asked himself.

"Why was Taylor treating me like that?" Jacob asked.

"She likes to play 'jokes' on people," Tom explained in a derisive tone. "And from what I heard, it's just as mean and pointless as ever. So, what's the issue?"

"It's about my first 'task,' Jacob said. "The one that disintegrated before my very eyes."

Tom nodded, "Yeah. That was a pretty strange case for everyone involved."

"Just what was that thing?" Jacob said. "I've seen inside enough human beings to know that that body didn't belong to one."

"You're right," Tom said, nodding as he sat down next to him. "That wasn't a human being. Tell me, have you ever heard of a creature called an 'Animorph?'"