After school the next day, when he'd just started to wonder whether or not Empress Rita would call on him again, Tommy ended up hearing from another person entirely.
(There's an empty warehouse close to where you're currently heading,) Tobias said, though he sounded a bit shaken; Tommy made a note to ask about it when he got back into the air. (There are a couple people who look like they're trying to follow you, but you'll be able to lose them once you make it inside the building.)
Nodding, Tommy hurried into the warehouse, stopping for a moment to strip off his outer clothes, hide them in his bag, and hide his bag where he would be able to find it again without the risk of anyone else being able to get to it before he could. Morphing into the bald eagle that he and Rachel had both acquired as he left the duffel bag with his clothes behind, Tommy hopped easily out through the window and caught up to Tobias in the air.
(What's going on?) he asked, once the pair of them had made it back into the air, heading back to wherever it was that Tobias was going to lead him.
(A pair of Hork-Bajir managed to escape from the Yeerks, and the rest of us have been working to keep them from getting captured again,) Tobias said, though there was still something about his tone that let Tommy know that there was still something bothering him.
Still, there would be time to talk to him about that kind of thing later, after the battle it seemed that they would be heading into. The pair of them rode the thermals, following the roads to the edge of Angel Grove, but then in the blink of an eye Tommy found himself and Tobias flying over the woods, closing in on a scattered group of birds of prey.
(You brought Tommy,) Jake said. (That's good.)
(Yeah,) Tobias said, then went on without a pause. (The woods are full of Taxxons, Hork-Bajir, armed human-Controllers, and everything else the Yeerks can throw at us.)
(Yeah, we noticed that,) Jake said, as he and Tobias circled around to take in whatever was happening in the forest underneath them. (They almost marched right into a couple guys fishing in the stream. We managed to scare them off, or they'd be Taxxon meat by now.)
Tommy kept an eye on everything going on underneath them, though he paid at least some attention to what his friends and fellow Animorphs were saying. Particularly when Cassie spoke up.
(Tobias, we've been thinking. You know how you kept ending up in just the right place at just the right time?)
(Or, just the wrong place, depending on how you look at things,) Tobias muttered, not sounding all that pleased with their current situation; Tommy was becoming more and more curious about just why that was, but there was clearly a situation they had to deal with first.
He'd talk to Tobias later, once they'd managed to save those two Hork-Bajir from the Yeerks and their forces.
(We've been thinking that there's some… other power directing you, or kind of… Manipulating you,) Cassie said, sounding worried.
Tommy found himself wondering about that, too; he hadn't heard anything about that, though the fact that he'd been in Angel Grove for a long time likely explained it.
(Yeah, it's definitely someone messing with me,) Tobias said, sounding tired and annoyed, and Tommy found himself wishing that he could comfort his friend. (An old friend of ours. It seems like the Ellimist is trying to save the Hork-Bajir, not that you'll ever get them to admit that.)
(Ax thought it might be the Ellimist,) Cassie said, sounding uncertain.
(Ax also says to watch your butt, Tobias: the Ellimist plays games with people,) Rachel said, sounding angry, but in the controlled sort of way that would help her to get through all of this.
(I'm sorry you ended up having to deal with that,) he said, narrowing his focus so that he only spoke to Tobias.
(Thanks,) Tobias said. (Come on, you guys. I'll take you to meet our two alien friends.)
Following behind Tobias, Tommy paid half a mind to the conversation going on around him, all the while wondering what Empress Rita would make of the Hork-Bajir.
"No more Yeerk here!" the Hork-Bajir with three head-blades – as opposed to the one with only two – growled, scattering Tommy's thoughts even as he landed in a nearby tree. "Free! Or no Jara Hamee! No Ket Halpak! Only free!"
"Free or dead!" the one with two head-blades shouted; Tommy wondered for a moment which name went with which alien.
(I guess we take a chance,) Jake said, somehow making a sound that seemed like a sigh over their thought speak.
Landing with the other six Animorphs, Tommy demorphed alongside them, keeping his eyes on the two Hork-Bajir as he did so. The both of them seemed to be amused, or at least it sounded like they were laughing.
