(Then what?) Jake asked, before anyone else could interject.
(Then, I don't know,) Tobias admitted, sounding slightly annoyed. (I could never see all the way inside.)
(Okay, then here's the plan,) Jake said, taking charge once more. (We all watch until someone orders the Happy Meal with… what was it, again?)
(Extra happy,) Tobias supplied.
(Is it just me, or did the Yeerks develop a sense of humor?) Marco asked.
It was probably a rhetorical question, but in any case no one answered him.
(Once we have our Controller, we all follow them in. No problem.) Then, in a lower tone that didn't seem like it was meant to be heard by anyone else, Jake continued: (Oh yeah, no problem. A little picnic in the Yeerk Pool; I'm sure they'll all buy that.)
(Um, Jake?) Marco said, sounding as amused as he ever did. (You said that last part out loud. We all heard you.)
(Oh,) Jake said, sounding like he would have winced if he'd been in human form. (Sorry.)
(Mr. Inspiration,) she said, laughing softly. (Come on, everyone. Let's-)
(Don't say it!) Marco exclaimed melodramatically.
(Let's do it!) Shara called; Rachel laughed.
(Gah! You and Rachel are conspiring against me, aren't you?) Marco moaned, with his usual over-dramatic theatrics. (I take back every nice thing I've ever said about you, Shara.)
(All right, you three,) Jake cut in, as she and Shara laughed and Marco grumbled. (We've got a job to do, here. Let's try to focus.)
(Right; focusing,) Shara answered easily.
(I'll remember to give you five when we get back to the barn,) she said, making sure that her thought-speak message would only go to Shara.
(I'll keep that in mind, Rachel,) Shara said, as the two of them settled upside-down on the ceiling with the rest of the Animorphs.
Jake suggested that they take turns buzzing above the counter, and since no one else had a better idea of how to handle things, they did it that way. Fortunately, it didn't take very long before a woman came in and ordered the "extra happy" Happy Meal. Dropping off the ceiling, Rachel fell in line with the others as they all tailed her. Not that their formation really resembled a line in any way, since that would have drawn more attention than any of them wanted to deal with, but the principle was the same.
The eight of them followed just a bit behind the Controller as she made her way to the back of the restaurant, through the door and into the kitchen, and finally into the huge, walk-in fridge that was being used as this particular found Yeerk Pool entrance.
(We've gotta get out of here, soon. This cold is slowing me down,) she said, beginning to feel heavy and sluggish as she continued deeper into the fridge behind the Controller they were all following.
(Yes, this body does not seem to be able to regulate its internal temperature,) Ax observed, something in his tone that Rachel couldn't quite place. (What a strange idea. You humans do many unusual things.)
(Ax, I don't think that we're exactly responsible for-)
(Yes, I know,) the Andalite said, quickly cutting her off. (I was attempting to make a joke. A human-style joke.)
(Great,) Marco muttered, sounding like he'd have been rolling his eyes if he could have. (Funny Yeerks, and now a wannabe-funny Andalite.)
The Controller that they had all followed into this place paused, waiting patiently as the back of the walk-in fridge split open in front of her. As the woman began to make her way into the entrance, Rachel felt a sense of relief. At least this part was going to be easy.
The alarm, grating in its shrillness, and accompanied by a computerized voice warning about "unauthorized life-forms", shattered the momentary calmness that Rachel had managed to achieve. She could see the Controller that they had followed looking around, and even with her barely-coherent fly vision, Rachel could see the woman focusing on them.
"Security fanatics," she heard the Controller mutter. "It's just a couple of lousy flies."
The computerized voice returned, this time giving instructions: "Shut your eyes tightly to protect against retinal damage from the Gleet BioFilter."
(The what?) she asked, wondering if anyone else was as confused as she was.
(Get out of here!) Ax shouted suddenly.
(What?) she, Jake, and Cassie all chorused.
(Out! Out! Get out!) Ax had never been someone who yelled; so, considering the circumstances, Rachel figured it would be better to ask questions when she wasn't in the middle of the enemy's territory.
Turning a midair loop that only another fly could have copied, Rachel powered her wings and made her way out of the Yeerk Pool entrance; heading for the small, still-open crack at the back of the refrigerator. Without the slightest hint of warning, the world around her and all of the others exploded with bright, searing, almost blinding light.
Literally blinding; Rachel felt her compound eyes melting into unrecognizable, useless slurry as she pushed her tiny body for every last bit of speed she could get out of it. Tumbling through the hot air inside the entrance, she soon found herself back inside the cold air of the walk-in fridge. Though more than a bit worse for wear.
(I'm blind!) she cried, finally realizing the extent of the damage now that she wasn't so purely focused on escaping.
(I think we all are,) Ax said, calm again now that the danger had passed. (We were lucky to just be blinded. A Gleet BioFilter destroys all life forms whose DNA is not entered into the computer controls. Andalite technology, of course. The Yeerks must have stolen the specifications.)
(Ax, are you telling me that this filter thing will kill any living thing except the one they program it for?) Jake demanded, before anyone else could say anything.
(Yes, Prince Jake. I'm sorry to say it, but yes. Everything but that particular human-Controller would be destroyed.)
(Then, we're shut off from the Yeerk Pool,) Tobias said, in the long silence that followed. (They must have this same technology at all of the entrances, now.)
Rachel wasn't particularly upset about being shut out of the Yeerk Pool; it was the stronghold of their main enemy, a hellish place that she hadn't been looking forward to entering again so soon, if at all. Still, the fact that they had been stymied by the Yeerks themselves was almost infuriating to her.
She hated feeling that their enemies – no matter who or what they were – had any kind of advantage over them.
(There must be some other way in,) she said, wishing for a moment that she could grind her teeth in frustration at the helplessness she felt.
(I'd like to know what that would be,) Marco responded.
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence, and then Cassie spoke: (Well… there is one way.)
(I take it back!) Marco exclaimed. (I can tell just from your tone, Cassie: I do not want to know.)
She and Shara shared a laugh, and all of them made their way out of the kitchen, then out of the MacDonald's itself. Since there was no way in hell that they would have been able to make it back to Cassie's barn in fly morph – even without the whole more-than-two-hours-in-morph issue, they'd have probably ended up getting lost on the way – the eight of them landed on the roof, demorphed, and returned to their various bird morphs.
They took off one at a time, with Tobias letting them know when it was safe for each of them to move.
Flying was just as wonderful as ever, but Rachel couldn't quite help the unsettling feeling that always came after having narrowly escaped death. She thought that it must have been a bit worse for Jake and Shara, though, since they had nearly been killed in fly morph once before. Still, not a lot of them were really the type to talk about things like that.
Cassie would probably bring it up later, though.
Soon enough, they had all made it back to Cassie's barn, and seven of them had dove down to land on the floor so they could demorph.
XXX
As she stood back up on her own, human feet, Cassie paused for a moment to watch as the rest of the Animorphs – well, the other six who had been morphed at the time – demorphed from their bird forms. She was going to need their attention when she told them her idea, but for the moment she knew that their focus would be on their morphing.
She knew better than most – even better than some of her fellow Animorphs – the value of patience and focus.
Once all of them – with the obvious exception of Tobias and Ax – were back in their human forms, Cassie stepped forward, clearing her throat to get their attention.
"All right, come on," she said, waving them forward. "I have something to show you guys."
Making her way down the row of cages, Cassie had soon found just the animal that she had been looking for.
"What is that, a rat?" Marco asked, once all six of the still-human Animorphs, and Ax, had gathered around the cage.
(It's a mole,) Tobias said, pausing for a moment in his preening to look down at the creature in the cage.
"Count on Tobias to know his rodents," Marco said, smirking up at the hawk as he returned to his preening. "How do they taste?"
(I've never caught one,) Tobias said matter-of-factly. (They don't come up to the surface very often.)
"That is one ugly creature," Rachel said, and Cassie wondered for a moment at the source of her old friend's discomfort. "And, it looks way too much like a shrew."
"You've morphed a shrew?" Shara asked, tilting her head curiously.
"Yeah; but let's not waste time talking about things like that," Rachel said, just slightly quicker than normal.
Cassie, having remembered just what Rachel had gone through when she had last morphed into a shrew, sent her old friend a sympathetic look over Shara's right shoulder.
"It's a lot calmer than a shrew," she said, hoping to make Rachel feel better about what was likely to be their best option. "And, like Tobias said, moles spend almost all of their time underground. They dig tunnels. See how big their front feet are? They're very well-adapted for living in tunnels the way they do."
Marco sighed. "Moleman. You can't even picture a superhero named Moleman. Seriously, what would his superpowers be? Digging?"
"I'm fairly sure that there was a super villain in the Fantastic Four named Moleman," Shara said, nibbling lightly at her lower lip.
"Oh, you're right," Marco said, raising his eyebrows slightly, now seeming a bit more interested in the animal inside the cage.
(Many of your Earth animals are similar to this in shape,) Ax said, before Shara or Marco could say anything more about comics or stuff like that.
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "It's a very successful body-plan: rats, mice, voles, shrews, even squirrels and raccoons to some extent. Your basic, low-slung, four-legged rodent shape."
Rachel was the one to sigh this time, but Cassie doubted that it was for the same reason that Marco had. "So, let me get this straight: you're suggesting that we all morph this mole, and then dig our way down to the Yeerk Pool?"
Shrugging, she offered Rachel a sidelong smile. "Just trying to be helpful."
"It's probably what, fifty feet straight down through the dirt to the very top of the Yeerk Pool?" Rachel said, turning an incredulous stare from the mole in the cage and back to Cassie herself.
(At least,) Tobias said.
"That's a lot of dirt for us to have to deal with," Jake said, shifting his own gaze from the mole all of them had been observing back to the rest of them. "But, I don't know of any other way. If we're going to do this, then we need to get back to the Yeerk Pool."
"Has anyone managed to figure out how we're supposed to get all of the oatmeal we're going to be using for this down to the Yeerk Pool after we've finished digging these mole tunnels of ours?" Rachel asked.
Jake nodded, seeming for a moment as if he had everything under control. "Nope. But, we need to start stocking up. Everyone who can, start bugging your parents to buy instant maple-and-ginger oatmeal. Lots of it. We'll start from there, and then we'll spend our allowances for more."
"Won't that be suspicious?" Shara asked, clearly ignoring the almost disapproving look that Slade shot her for interrupting. "I mean, if you guys all start getting on your parents to buy this oatmeal, and then suddenly it vanishes, and the resistance shows up with the same kind of oatmeal, don't you think someone's going to notice?"
Jake winced, and Marco shook his head. "That's a good point you bring up, Shara, but there's no need for us to go that far, anyway. I do the food shopping at my house. My dad drops me off, hits Target for the kind of things you can't pick up at a grocery store, then picks me up. I can supply the oatmeal."
"Okay, then," Jake said, a slightly unreadable look on his face as his gaze fixed on the mole in the center of their group. "Nothing left to do but acquire this mole, here."
Rachel, standing closer to the cage than any of the others, made a face; Cassie could tell that her old friend wasn't particularly enthusiastic about this particular morph. "Does it bite?"
"I wouldn't think so," she said, with a quick shake of her head. "It usually just eats…" she trailed off, recalling just what the shrew that Rachel had been so badly affected by morphing had eaten. "I mean, I don't think it'll bite you."
"What does it usually eat, Cassie?" Rachel asked a bit sharply, turning back to her.
"Well," she said, knowing that Rachel wouldn't be particularly happy to hear what moles ate, but also knowing that her old friend wanted to know all the same. "It eats what you'd expect an underground animal to eat: it eats worms. Mostly worms," she amended, hoping that Rachel wouldn't ask her anything more.
"Oh, great," Rachel grumbled, turning an annoyed look on the mole that they were all going to acquire.
With a look of resolve that Cassie had often seen on her old friend's face, Rachel stuck her right hand inside the mole's cage and closed her eyes. After that, the others were quick to move in closer to the cage and take their own turns in acquiring the mole. Things got a bit more hectic when Tobias took his turn acquiring the mole; you had to be in your unmorphed form to acquire new morphs, and as strange as it was to think about, Tobias' old hawk morph was his unmorphed form now.
The poor mole had to endure having a red-tailed hawk come swooping down and grabbing him with his talons; Cassie hoped that the scare didn't have an adverse affect on his recovery.