Chapter 8
Meanwhile, back at the Pond…
Just as the annoying duck's noise had faded into the background of Illicin 195's mind Nosedive paused in his endless rendition of 'the most annoying noise in the universe' to ask: (Hey, so, are you guys plants or something? You get energy from a sun, you have to be plants, right? If I used weedkiller would you get sick?))
((Wait, what?)) Illicin had just enough time to register the slightly disgusting question, and the mental picture in Nosedive's head of a Yeerk shriveling up like paper under the assault of weed killer before a puck thudded against his chest. From the expression Atiuss 304 hadn't meant to launch the annoying black disc at him that hard, but she clearly had briefly lost control of her host again. It had to be from her host because while Mallory didn't like them, she wouldn't truly hurt her friends even when they were hosts, but the point wasn't to hurt Nosedive in so much as the point was to remind the Yeerks that the control they usually had over their hosts just didn't seem to be as powerful with the ducks. Yes, they had kept their cover and yes Atiuss was getting better, but it just seemed like the ducks were constantly surprising them and it was frankly very concerning. Illicin honestly was glad he wasn't the one with Mallory. He had never had to deal with an involuntary host before, and Nosedive was bad enough.
He missed Jason so much. While he enjoyed the hockey playing, it was a fun game, he didn't like the constant dirty tricks the ducks kept playing their Yeerks. Mallory wasn't the only one who could suddenly jerk their hands wrong or twist their feet in a way that made them slip and fall, but she was the one that did it the most often. Illicin was fairly sure that once they had to play professionally once again the ducks would be doing everything they could to disrupt the games. The rest of the Yeerks didn't care, but Illicin wanted to keep doing the things that his host liked to do. A happy host was a cooperative host, but every time Illicin tried to reach out to his host he would be harshly rebuffed. Either that or subjected to the most annoying collection of human songs and entertainment. It was as if his host had taken some sort of master class in being a pest.
Sometimes Illicin would get so fed up with Nosedive he would play back a memory for the duck of the Saurian invasion of his home planet, making sure not to pick out anything too traumatizing, just making sure the duck would shut up for a few minutes. He hated doing it though. Every time the memory would stop Nosedive would come up with some new reason that the Saurians were better than the Yeerks. Ridiculous. The Saurians were far worse than any Yeerk.
((Not really, Sluggo.)) Nosedive spoke up, apparently Illicin had thought that a bit too loudly. ((See, at least with the Saurians I could be along with my own thoughts.))
((You are the one constantly making noise. I should be the one complaining about not being alone with my thoughts!))
((Uh-huh. Yeah. Like I told you before, Slimearino, I'm not trapped here with you. You're stuck in this head with me. And I am never giving you a moments peace.))
Illicin sighed to himself. Were all involuntary hosts so insufferable? He thought they might be. According to the other Yeerks their duck hosts were just as annoying. In the case of Grin…well that host was managing to make a rebellion of doing absolutely nothing but keeping his host out of his thoughts and memories. Illicin hoped they could keep the odd host's ability to keep his Yeerk at bay a secret from Visser Three. He didn't want to see what might happen.
((See, there's the other thing that makes you worse than Saurians, your boss. Ever since I got stuck with you you guys keep talking about how Visser Three is going to kill you, and you can't tell him anything and watch out what you say around the guy. Draggy might be a tyrant with an ego the size of the sun but at least he never hurt or killed his own. Heck, the one time I know he did get rid of an ally he just sent her to limbo. Your boss kills you guys if you say you think the Andalites are humans too loudly.)) Nosedive laughed.
((I…okay, you have a point.)) Illicin admitted.
((And his plans! Please, bro, if half of what you and Wing's Yeerk have been talking about is true then V3 is the dumbest moron that every moroned up a plan, and trust me, I've met some really dumb people with dumb plans. Let me ask you something, whenever you come up with some plan the Andalites always find out and they always show up and your leader just…what, morphs some giant monster from Planet Deathworld and tries to eat them? I mean, at least Draggy tries to distract us. It's happened, what…five times? At least three times the major plan was 'get rid of the ducks to another dimension or space', and at least five times it's been 'distract the ducks with a monster of some kind' and it works, dude. Your leader doesn't even try to trick the Andalites.))
((And you aren't afraid I might suggest this to someone? You just gave me several ideas. You want to risk your scientist like this?))
((Pppft, yeah right. Like V3 is going to listen to you. That's another thing. I might not have been present every time the Saurians said something to each other but you can just tell that the Saurians had no trouble telling their boss what they thought of his plans. Hell, I don't think Wraith ever said anything that wasn't dripping in Sarcasm Sauce. Your boss can't even handle a mild 'Ummm, please sir, maybe you should be less loud. Or stupid. Or come up with an idea that doesn't involve eating people' What is with that, anyway? Why does he have such an obsession with eating people? He's supposed to be a parasite in the body of a prey person, why is he so obsessed with munching his own people. Honestly, bro, that's kinda sick. I mean, you don't see Draggy going: You know what, Chameleon, I want a pot pie. You get the be filling.))
((Did you have a point?))
((Oh! Yeah, my point. My point is that you aren't going to tell V3 anything I might speculate about the Andalites and Tanya. Guess what, Slimes, he won't care. He'll just shout at you, threaten to eat you, then go try to eat the Andalites, who'll dodge him again. Then they'll stop you losers. Again. Just like they always do. You guys are kinda dumb, you know that?))
Illicin didn't really have a retort for that. It was true that their leader was less than ideal. He could, and had, gone through Nosedive's memories of his brother's leadership, and the previous leadership of Canard. Both had seemed much more effective at the task than Visser Three was at his.
((Visser Three is a warrior, not a tactician. The fact that he was assigned this post isn't his fault. He does the best he can.)) Illicin reasoned.
((Yeah, I'm sure.)) Nosedive laughed. ((Face it, you guys are being led by a guy who'd make a Saturday cartoon villain shake his head in disbelief. Trust me, I know Saturday cartoon villains.))
((Your life is practically a dumb human child's show.)) Illicin muttered angrily as he tried to focus on the conversation with Nosedive and the practice, which was still going on even with the host's constant interference. Yeerks could easily converse and occasionally discipline their hosts while doing other things, especially if that thing was something the hosts would normally do. Nosedive's mind provided him with enough information to play hockey just as well as Nosedive himself could, and Illicin didn't really have to consciously decide to do it any more than a human had to decide to breathe. ((I'm not surprised you don't understand. We aren't monsters. We aren't villains. It's the Andalites who are in the wrong, not us.))
((How do you figure?)) Nosedive gave a mental impression of a snort. ((You're the ones taking us as slaves.))
((We are parasites. We didn't ask to evolve this way. What do you want me to do, Nosedive? Spend the rest of my life on my homeworld, trapped in a pool of sludge while you and the Andalites and the Saurians and the humans get to explore your own worlds? See everything that this planet has to offer? The Andalites wouldn't even allow us to have that! They kept us prisoners on our own world so they could fly around and act all high and mighty. They probably wouldn't even have let the humans touch the stars either, if we never showed up the amount of humans that even know about aliens would be restricted to those that know about you and your team. The Andalites may talk about how they're the heroes of the galaxy but they're just prison guards with delusions of grandeur! What do you want, Nosedive? You want us to suffer because your people are being mildly inconvenienced?))
((Mildly inconvenienced? Wake up and smell the slime trails, pal. This isn't a mild inconvenience; you're piloting my body and lying to my friends! Every time you go into the comic store and Thrash or Mookie ask how I'm holding up with one of my friends missing and you lie to them every time.))
((Would you rather I say 'sorry, Nosedive isn't here. May I take a message?' You know if your friends figure out about me, I'll have to infest them.)) By now the practice was over, and the other Yeerks were almost wordlessly heading off the ice and towards the temporary Yeerk pool set up in their base.
((No, dude, no, you don't have to infest anyone, you just want to.))
((You would want to as well, if you were a Yeerk.))
As if in some sort of silent revenge Wildwing's Yeerk, Elliym 211, had set up the temporary pool in the gutted and burned remains of Tanya's lab. The place had been cleaned up, a jacuzzi installed in the floor, and several cages for the ducks had been set up. Except for Grin. His Yeerk always fed a day after the others, so the other duck-Controllers and the small squad of Hork-Bajir left behind could keep him subdued. Grin never did anything in his own cage but meditate silently, occasionally saying something cryptic and worrisome about their negative karma. The Hork-Bajir-Controllers fed the night Grin's Yeerk was once he was done with feeding.
((You should show more gratitude for the things I do for you, Nosedive. I could easily claim that worry for your friend has forced you to take leave from your volunteering at the animal shelter, yet we are going there right after I feed. I could easily torment you in your mind far worse than I do right now, but I don't. I make sure you can see your friends, even if I never let you talk to them.))
((Yeah, you're a real sweetheart.))
((I hid the device for you.))
That shut Nosedive up for a good two minutes. Illicin allowed himself a feeling of accomplishment. He had found the scientist's 'omnitool' the day they had cleaned out the burned mess that was once the lab. Illicin could have alerted the others. Could have let them take it to the other Yeerks for analysis, but he didn't. for one thing Nosedive was sure they couldn't crack its secrets, and he was probably right. Duck technology was strange and almost indecipherable, and without Tanya it would be hard to work with. The others knew how to shot their weapons and operate their base, or at least the basics, but for anything more complicated or, worst case scenario, if something broke, the rest of the team didn't have Tanya's experience or her ability. They were stuck hoping that nothing other than the computer broke. There would be no advantage to give the omnitool up, but there might be a way to earn a little of Nosedive's good will. So Illicin hid the device and told no one about it. Showing that he wasn't as dumb as the rest of the ducks seemed to think, Nosedive had told no one about the omnitool now hidden in their room, safe until the day he could hand it back to a hopefully infested Tanya. He was glad he was in this position. Maybe he could give the scientist to one of the saner Yeerks he knew, like Aftran 942 or her pool brother? Surely Aftran wouldn't want to keep the human child host she had now? The duck host bodies weren't going to be doing much fighting anyway, they were just here to endorse the Sharing and play hockey. Surely by the time they found the last duck Aftran would be ready for a change. Or maybe make sure it was her brother, Estril 731, perhaps he would be a better choice. He wasn't afraid of a fight, but he would be a little farther from the action. Being Visser Three's guard was more likely to get him killed needlessly. Illicin would hate to see that.
Either Aftran or Estril would be better company than Merkle. Illicin had found him forcing his host to shoot at the roof pigeons, who by now had decided to flee. Illicin wasn't sure if they had left any eggs behind, but it took the other Yeerks to get Merkle to stop. He said he was doing it to make his host upset and keep Andalites away, and that might be true, but he had seemed a little too gleeful about the entire thing. It didn't help that he wouldn't stop giggling like a creepy human child in a creepy human haunted host film. It was damn unsettling. There was just something very frightening about the entire thing, what made it worse was Nosedive's memory of the actual Duke's personality. But they had managed to get Merkle to stop attacking the wildlife when it was pointed out that humans would find it disturbing and insane and would want to look into Duke's odd behavior even more. Especially with them having to deal with the Grin situation, they didn't need it make it look like Tanya's absence had made Duke go nuts. The current tabloids speculating about the relationships between the ducks was enough. There were plenty of people who now assumed that Tanya and Grin had been in some sort of relationship, a laughable thought in Nosedive's mind. As much as they were all friends their feelings for each other all seemed to be platonic. Nosedive himself saw the entire team as a family, and the idea of romance between those two had been baffling to Nosedive. But the Yeerks didn't need that kind of attention and speculation.
Not with the detective watching them like a hawk.
Illicin sighed once he entered the small temporary Yeerk pool. There were plans in motion to expand more into Anaheim, but they needed a full Kandrona for that. On that day they could carve out a proper pool underneath the Pond and make it their first entrance. It would be nice to have the full facilities that a true pool had. Illicin was third in line, right behind Wildwing and Elliym, who was currently sliding out of the leader's ear and into the pool. There was a small pop and Wildwing attempted to punch the Hork-Bajir next to him in the knee, probably going to crush the big alien's knee and perhaps disable him. Illicin grinned and grabbed Wildwing by the shoulder. The duck's leader jerked and turned, about to punch him, but he hesitated as Illicin gave him the most innocent smile he could. Duck instinct was strong. Even knowing it wasn't truly his brother, Wildwing would never punch Nosedive. Not when he was looking at him with all the brotherly affection and love that Illicin could muster. Wildwing hesitated just enough for the Hork-Bajir to grab him and drag him to a cage.
((You really do fight dirty.)) Nosedive growled.
((I subdued him without him or the Hork-Bajir Controller being hurt. If I hadn't that Hork-Bajir could have damaged him. Now he's just being put in his cage, nothing bad happened.))
((Idiot. Just because someone isn't being physically hurt doesn't mean there isn't harm being done.))
((Oh, don't be ridiculous, of course physical harm is worse than your hurt feelings.)) Illicin knelt down as the two Hork-Bajir not dragging Wildwing to his cage flanked him. He tilted his head and began to detach from Nosedive's brain, feeling the familiar jolt of disappointment as one by one senses left him. Hearing left, now he could no longer listen to music or the conversations of others even the sounds of nature that Nosedive and Jason both liked. Smell left, now he could no longer experience the incredible wide range of scents. From the smells of baking food to the smells of perfume to the smells that other beings just gave off. Even the worst smells were now beyond him. Then, sight. How he missed sight! Hosts had no idea how lucky they were to be born this way! The ability to see, to spot a thing from far away or examine that same thing when you got closer. Picking up something as simple as a rock and being able to feel the rough surface and see all the little imperfections and small, tiny, beautiful things about it. Being able to watch human entertainment and hear them tell stories and to be able to experience this world the way they could. It was wonderful, but leaving it to return to what he truly was, a worthless slug just senselessly floating around a pool of sludge…how could they not see how horrible it was? Why did hosts hate Yeerks so much that they would keep such wonders to themselves, away from the Yeerks?
Selfish.
Arrogant.
Just like Andalites.
Jason hadn't been like that. The human had been…strange to say the least. Illicin wasn't sure what was different about him, but he was a voluntary host. A man down on his luck who was all alone in the world. A man that couldn't hold a job and could barely get up in the morning to feed his pet snake. A human who found meaning in the Sharing, loved the message and the community and, when he found out about the Yeerks, felt nothing but pity for them. Jason had…something. The humans called it 'being depressed' and being in Jason's head had felt odd. Sometimes the human's thoughts were so foggy and strange, like he felt like nothing mattered and everything was hopeless. It was different from the hopelessness that often gripped involuntary human hosts. This felt like something that would be there regardless of Illicin's presence. So, Illicin had worked to keep his host's spirits up, or at the very least helped him keep functioning until the strange spell was lifted. He had no idea how human minds worked, but he would do his best to help Jason. Jason had volunteered after all. Why not try and make him happy?
Maybe that was why Illicin was having so much trouble with Nosedive. He was used to Jason's mind, and Jason never had to be dominated. Illicin missed Jason. He wondered how his former human was doing…
Maybe he should volunteer to go back to the main pool this week? They needed a few things from the mothership, and on his way he could check in on Jason and Ruby, his corn snake. It would be a nice diversion, and he wouldn't be in any place were the Andalites could corner and trap him. He would be out in public where the humans would notice a sudden attack. It would be fine.
Besides, with the way Nosedive loved animals, surely, he would be interested in meeting Ruby. All the snakes that Nosedive had seen before had been venomous vipers, but Illicin had learned a lot about the friendly harmless corn snake from Jason. They ate small rodents and were not venomous or dangerous. Humans often gave them as pets to children because they were docile snakes and easy to handle. Ruby had been fascinating to watch and fun to hold. They were not slimy creatures at all. Their scales were smooth and very nice to the touch, or at least Illicin thought they were. He may be biased. He liked being able to touch things.
Yes, that was what he would do.
Klegghorn silently watched the ducks going back into the Pond's 'secret' base, cup of coffee cooling in his hand as he watched them with his eyes narrowed. They all looked fine. Maybe that point where Mallory had smacked Nosedive with a puck had been…off, but he was always getting on her case. It could just be frustration, or she was scared for their missing teammate and it was making Mallory extra tense. Just like how the spiritual and pacifistic Grin was apparently dealing with Tanya's kidnapping by secluding himself and refusing to play.
Yeah.
Right.
And Klegghorn was the King of California.
Ever since those feathered menaces had shown up on Earth they had been doing nothing but lie to him. Phil lied to him during that very first interrogation, from day one. Oh sure, the broad strokes of the story were correct, but all it had taken was sending a few of the younger officers to ask some pointed questions to the ducks. Simple questions like 'what's the name of your home planet'. Not Puckworld. Some other word he found impossible to pronounce. 'How long did the Saurians stay on your home world' Apparently it hadn't been the few months that Phil had implied in his story. It had been three years. Little things that didn't jive with Phil's story or the public persona that the ducks put on in front of their fans. Just little things that made Klegghorn very very suspicious. He had remained suspicious of the ducks until the day he and Wildwing had to team up to save their base.
Wildwing was a good guy. They all were good people. If they had been humans, he would have wanted at least half of them in the force. They would have made good cops. But they were lying to him. He understood why. But they were still lying.
And they were lying now.
Normally it would just have bothered him on a professional level. Of course, the ducks would lie to him. Keep him in the dark, but now that Klegghorn knew they had good intentions and did their best to help people he was…more inclined to look the other way.
But this was weird. He thought that Wildwing would have been more eager to work with Klegghorn. Kidnappings were something that cops could handle. He was a detective. If Tanya had been taken by some crazed fan, then Klegghorn had the resources and the ability to investigate. But aside from a simple report and a request to not bother the team Klegghorn had been shut out of any investigation into the disappearance. Even the chief had basically told him to leave the ducks alone for once. Which would have made sense a year ago when he was hounding the ducks for all the chaos they caused, but now? Now that he and Wildwing had come to understanding and made peace?
It made no sense. Unless it was aliens.
It made the most sense. Aliens would be something that the ducks were used to, but they knew that Klegghorn was not. They wouldn't want humans to get involved with that. So, that was probably why they were cutting him off. That was the logical reason for their odd behavior. Maybe the Saurians were back, and they had taken Tanya. That would make the most sense.
Except it didn't. They could have told Klegghorn that, even if they wanted him to keep it close to his chest, they knew that Klegghorn had helped them face the Saurians before. Even if they didn't think he could help in the lizard's weird ship he would still be able to help. At least they would have told that there was nothing he could do because it was an alien thing that he was ill equipped to deal with. But no indication of that. Just the same weird lies. The same weird expressions that looked like the right sad faces that one would normally associate with a missing family member but didn't exactly match the dull expressions in their eyes. The same determined declarations that they would find their friend and free her from her captors, declarations that sounded like they had been rehearsed. Something was just off. It wasn't something that Klegghorn could point to. No real sign, no sudden pod person behavior, at least not overtly, but…it was wrong. Some old detective instinct dating back to the first time some human had found tracks and said to themselves 'what if' was clamoring in the back of Klegghorn's head. Some old primal voice that said, 'this is suspicious, we must investigate, Watson'.
He had already started investigating behind the duck's back. He had tracked down the shop that Tanya frequented, 'lectric Land. A weird sort of place with more modern devices and doohickies that made Klegghorn's head hurt. But he knew that's where she went the most often, when the ducks were doing things other than hockey and crime fighting. It had been a loss. The only thing that the shop workers had led him to was the number of a professor that Tanya knew that had hidden himself on some island and shunned human contact. He wondered if Doctor Hideshimself would even get the voice message Klegghorn left. One would hope that even if you decided to flee from the rest of the world you might be a little concerned for a missing friend. But either the man never checked his messages or just didn't care. And as much as Klegghorn would like to get a warrant and go to the island himself he had a feeling he wasn't going to get much cooperation. Nobody was trying to stall him here at home, but he was getting no help from his precinct. Maybe it was because he spent so much time being suspicious of the ducks. He found himself the boy who cried wolf now. It didn't help that the city cops of the town that Tanya had vanished in were stonewalling him and stonewalling him hard. Normally he would understand that. It was their town, not his. They had a responsibility to it, but again there was just something…off.
Feeling like he was being watched, but not even seeing Phil around, Klegghorn left the Pond and headed back to his car. He wasn't going to get any work done staring down at the ducks with sheer suspicion, hoping one of them would slip up so he could pin down what was going wrong with this entire situation. He may not be able to work on the case in an official way, but he could do it on his off time.
Unfortunately, he didn't have much off time.
Still, he mulled the problem over and over in his mind. The ducks had gone to endorse that weird Sharing organization. The night they had the local school they had been going to had been attacked by an elephant. The Vice Principal of the school's car had been stolen and wrecked and found in the woods miles from the school. Then the ducks came back minus one member and acting just the tiniest bit off. Clearly the Sharing was involved with Tanya's disappearance, but Klegghorn couldn't figure out how. Maybe the lizards were involved, maybe that big ugly one had somehow used this organization and they had taken one of the ducks. But if that were so then why hadn't the ducks saved her that night? Why would they just retreat back to Anaheim instead of storming the Saurian ship and taking their friend back? That was the part that made no sense. Normally the ducks wouldn't let an enemy go through with a plan for so long. It had almost been a month and Tanya was still missing.
Which meant a few things.
Either the Sharing had kidnapped her, with or without the help of the lizards, and threatened her. Maybe the reason the ducks hadn't saved her yet was because the Sharing had some sort of hold on her, perhaps threatening her life if the ducks didn't play ball. It couldn't just be to endorse their little club. There had to be some ulterior motive. Again, that indicated aliens to Klegghorn. If the Sharing were merely a cult or something like that, then there would be no need for secrecy like this. What and why they were here and what they needed the ducks for he didn't know. And why the ducks didn't tell anyone else was a mystery as well. Maybe they couldn't. Maybe the Sharing aliens were watching them and waiting in case the ducks tried to weasel out of whatever they wanted them to do. Maybe if they did tell Klegghorn outright the Sharing aliens would kill Tanya. Or do something else to her. It made the most sense to Klegghorn. Although, again, the fact that the ducks allowed it to go on this long was strange. Surely, they would have found a way to free her by now?
And there was another thing. While Klegghorn wasn't completely familiar with all the ducks abilities, he did remember Phil telling him that Tanya was the tech genius of the team. He had observed the way the ducks behaved and couldn't really refute that. If that was true then why hadn't she found a way to free herself by now? If he had the measure of the ducks right Klegghorn knew that they all had fought as a resistance unit before, so why hadn't Tanya found a way to free herself in this time? He didn't want to play blame the victim, but the ducks had proved throughout the year to be resourceful and capable, and he could remember that she had managed to tap into the tv sets of the local shops before with only that thing she wore on her arm and an old monitor. Why wasn't that true now?
Again, none of it added up to Klegghorn.
He pondered all of this while he did the rest of his job, able to split his attention between his other cases and the problem before him. As much as the ducks annoyed him, he didn't want to see any of them hurt. And while he didn't buy the crazed fan story at all, he did think that Tanya was in danger, and he didn't want to sit idly by.
By the time lunch rolled around, and Klegghorn had bought a sandwich from the local drive through, something occurred to him. The ducks had managed to make contacts and friends other than Phil, and perhaps Klegghorn wasn't the only one that had noticed something off about the ducks. He might not be able to contact Tanya's human friend, but the others had friends as well. Two of which were very close to the mall he was now parked next to. He couldn't stay long, but it was his lunch break. He could do and talk to whoever he wanted to in his free time.
So he put his car in park near the entrance closest to the comic shop and walked in. What were these guys called again? He really couldn't remember. He had interviewed them once about the ducks, but both punks had been very uncooperative with him. Especially the girl with the mohawk. Just like before she glared at him as he walked in, giving off the punk kid attitude he hated. Kids. Great.
He idly checked the clock on the wall. He had twenty minutes. Maybe eighteen depending on how much trouble the kids were going to give him.
"What can I help you with?" The boy punk asked in a carefully neutral tone. It was clear he didn't want Klegghorn here, but he was making an effort to at least put on a decent 'customer service' face.
"I have a few questions regarding the ducks." Klegghorn asked. "I assume Nosedive told you what's going on?"
The boy blinked and then gave the girl a strange look. "Why do you want to know?" He asked.
"Look, I'm not the duck's biggest fan, I'll admit that. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to help when one of them is in trouble. And if Nosedive's told you half the crazy stories Wildwing's told me in the past, you both know that they've let this…situation go on longer than it should. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to know what's up. This isn't an official investigation."
"So, you aren't on the case?" The boy asked, head tilting to one said.
"No officially no. I'm not."
"But you're looking into it anyway?"
"Right."
For a moment the boy and the girl looked at each other then the boy said. "Hey, Mookie, you feeling like a lunch break?"
The girl looked behind them at a door that probably led to the back of the store and shrugged. "Yeah, alright. I'll be back." She got up and, with one more suspicious look at Klegghorn, went to the front door, flipped a closed sign on the door and left. Probably off to the hotdog joint.
For a few more seconds the boy studied Klegghorn then straightened from where he had been leaning on the counter. "Alright man, follow me. I don't know how much this'll help, but if I don't do something about this I'm going to go nuts."
Klegghorn nodded and followed the kid into a back break room behind the counter, a fairly neat one as far as break rooms went. At the very least the kids maintained a clean workspace. Standard table, counter with a coffee machine and a microwave, a fridge and a couch and a few chairs surrounding a table. Nothing too extravagant. Klegghorn stood as the kid went to a backpack on a couch and began to dig through it.
"You can have a seat, I got a lot off stuff in here to show you."
Klegghorn did as he was told as the kid gathered up an impressive amount of papers from the backpack and sat down across from him. He tilted the papers so Klegghorn couldn't see them. The kid sighed.
"Look, kid, I'm not going to arrest you. And I'm not going to tell anyone back at the precinct. This is all off the record." Klegghorn reassured.
"Yeah. Call me Thrash, okay?"
"That your name?" Klegghorn sighed to himself. What was with parents these days?
"That's just what you call me." The kid said as he arranged his papers a bit more. Okay. So he was just making up names for himself like a typical punk. Fine. Whatever. Klegghorn didn't care.
"Fine. Thrash. What do you know?"
In response Thrash threw a collection of papers on the table. Klegghorn studied them, but he didn't have to study long. It was a veritable smorgasbord of flyers and brochures and other propaganda pieces in praise of that blasted Sharing place.
"So, a day before the ducks went down to that creepy town Dive was in here, carrying one of those little trifold brochures and laughing about it. Showed it to us, kept talking about how weird the entire thing was. We all kinda had a laugh about it. Looks really lame, you know? Then he starts to go on about some really weird stuff that Tanya found out about that town." Thrash pulled out another set of papers and placed them next to the Sharing documents. "These newspaper clippings. A hawk that attacks a used car lot. An elephant rampaging around the 'burbs. A tiger, a bear and a gorilla attack a skyscraper. Really weird shit and it always involves animals. So he's telling us how he fully expects them to go there, fight some animal guy, and then come home. We make a few jokes about how this Sharing thing is probably an animal cult, because I've seen shit like Stepford Wives and Invasion of the Body Snatchers and this just screams trouble to me, you know?" Thrash shrugged. "I know it's probably just my comic brain going on overdrive, so I really didn't think much about it at the time."
Klegghorn nodded, not saying anything in case it put off the kids' train of thought.
"Then he comes back, minus Tanya and with this entire bundle of Sharing crap. He's all like, 'It's cool bros, the Sharing's really great. You guys would love it. Hey, would mind helping me pass these out?'" Thrash shook his head. "I'm like 'dude, what happened to Tanya? Where is she?' and he gives me that shit story about a crazy fan. It's bullshit. I know it's bullshit, and you want to know why it's bullshit?"
"Why?"
"I don't know Tanya that well. Not like I know Dive, but I do know she's far too smart to be held by some crazy human for a month. Heck, if it was a normal human, she'd have been out of there by that night. They all are crazy tough, physically. Lot more tough than they look. Probably all the hockey they play. Even if she didn't have any tech to babble her way through, she'd still be able to overpower most humans. Hell, they all can." Thrash shook his head. "And it's real weird that she vanished right when they are going to meet with this Sharing group. And then I do a little digging of my own because Dive is giving me the run around, and look what I find." Thrash pulled out a newspaper and put it on the table. It was a tabloid, not a major news site, but it did tell a story about an elephant rampaging through a school parking lot. "You don't think it's weird that they are going there expecting an animal attack, they get attacked by an animal then poof, one of them is gone. Something just doesn't add up, right?"
"No, you're right." Klegghorn said. "I knew about the elephant, but I didn't know about these other attacks. How did you find out? These don't look like newspaper articles."
"Dude, I've got the internet." Thrash chuckled. "Welcome to the 90s, man. I can find anything there. You know what else I've found? A forum post on a mysterious sightings website from a security guard that spotted her."
"Wait, someone saw her?" Klegghorn asked.
"Yep, at an aquarium of all places. With a bunch of kids and a blue horse of some kind. Some security guard saw them, but he could only make out what she looked like from a distance. Thing is, everyone else in that aquarium says it was just a bunch of guards getting drunk and shooting up the place. No one believes the guy who says he saw Tanya there. Then, the post he posted vanishes without a trace. So does the guy's account. Just gets scrubbed from the net. If I hadn't printed it off it'd be gone forever."
Klegghorn gritted his teeth. He didn't like computers but he understood covering tracks, and that sounded like someone covering their tracks to him. "Someone doesn't want Tanya to be found." He said.
"Yah, majorly. So I go down to Creepsville, scope it out. I go to the Sharing people and start asking a few questions of my own. General stuff, if I'm going to have their stuff cluttering up my comic shop I'd like to at least know what they are about. And you know what, some of em are chill. Seem like good kids. Till you meet the upper leaders. You remember what I said about the Stepford Wives…ever seen that movie?"
"Actually, I have. You think they are robots? Robot impersonators?" Klegghorn asked. A year ago the thought was be insane, but now he delt with a world with alien ducks. Anything sci-fi and even fantasy was on the table at this point. He'd accept unicorns and winged horses infesting city hall at this point.
"I don't know man. They don't act obviously strange. Like, they don't suddenly glitch or start walking stiff or start sparking from the necks and they don't suddenly start pointing and screaming like they do in that one Body Snatchers film from the seventies, but they do act just the tiniest bit too happy. Just the tiniest bit too nice. And they all say the same things. Like how much the Sharing can give to you, and how wonderful it all is, and everyone is just a big happy family. It's just a bit to…much, you know?"
Klegghorn nodded. "What do you think is going on?"
"I only have a guess, and I don't know if I'm right. Maybe I've been reading too many comics, but here is what I think. They go down there, right into the hands of some weird maybe cult, and then they come back without a friend. A friend that, from what Dive's always said, is like family to them. They all are like family to each other. They wouldn't leave Tanya there and come back to Anaheim to play hockey if she was in real danger. Not willingly. The Sharing is creepy, possibly a cult. So, the only conclusion I can draw is the Sharing did something to them down there."
"They could be ones who've taken Tanya." Klegghorn decided to express his thought process to the kid. "And be threatening her to keep the ducks in line."
"Yeah, maybe." Thrash said. "But I'm not sure. Like I said, if there was the case I think Tanya is smart enough to outthink them by now. You might be right, but I had a different thought." Thrash frowned. "What if the Sharing didn't get to Tanya, what if it got to the rest of them?"
Klegghorn frowned. "You think the rest of the ducks are…what, under mind control?"
"Maybe. Or the previous robot replacement thought. Or brainwashing or any number of things. But think of it this way. They would never leave her, but they did. Grin wouldn't just lock himself away and mope like Achilles in the Iliad, he'd be right there bustin down doors and tearing apart the place to get to her. He's a pacifist, but that only extends to people. Not that I think the tabloids are right, but because like I said they're family. Wildwing sure as hell wouldn't leave a teammate in danger. No, I think for some reason she's the only one that escaped whatever the Sharing did the rest of them."
"But if she did, why hasn't she shown up yet and rescued the others?" Klegghorn asked.
"Yeah, only thing I can think of is that maybe they did catch her, and whatever brainwashing or mind control they did didn't fully take. Maybe she managed to break loose, but now can't remember them or can't help for some reason. Or, maybe they all got caught and these are just really good robot doubles. All I know is that they aren't acting right, and I think it's more likely the rest of the team has been compromised." Thrash sighed. "Then, there's this new site I fought on the web."
"What site?"
Thrash shook his head. "I found it while I was looking into the town. It's about some sort of weird alien parasite thing. Something called a 'yeerk'. I don't know what it could be, and half the site sounds like the usual weird sci-fi stuff. Bunch of conspiracy nonsense. Kind of the typical stuff you'd see from the Zone 91 has alien tech crowd. But the website claims a lot of the stuff is centered around that same town. Here's another fun fact, I matched the names of the people the site claims are infected by these parasites to the names of some of the Sharing contacts. Some of em match. Not all, but enough to be suspicious…course the site claims that pretty much every local politician in California is a Yeerk, and that sounds like more conspiracy junk to me, but there's enough weird correlation that makes me wonder." Thrash gave Klegghorn a sharp look. "I haven't told Dive any of this. I don't know if it's still really him, or if he's been mind controlled or whatever. I just don't know, and I don't like it, but I really don't know what I can do." Thrash sort of tapped his fingers on the papers he had. "I don't want Dive to know I'm thinking these things. In every movie you see you start to push the robots too hard and you end up a robot, so I want to keep this quiet for now. Until I can figure out something solid."
Klegghorn nodded, slightly impressed with Thrash now. "Good instinct. A lot of this is circumstantial, and this website you're talking about sounds shady. None of this is proof of anything."
It wasn't proof, but everything in the end led back to the Sharing, to the animals, and to that odd town a few hours away. He would have to be subtle about this, be cautious. If the kid was right then the Sharing could take control of Klegghorn as well, and then who would be there to help Tanya and the other ducks?
A quick glance at his watch and Klegghorn grunted. "Look, you're right. Don't tell Nosedive about this. But do me a favor. You find anything else on the internet, especially a sighting of her, let me know. And be careful about what you say about the Sharing."
"No duh, dude." Thrash grinned. "The ducks have helped us plenty of times. Seems fair that we give them a hand now. I'll keep and ear out. Maybe we can get some help from other people the ducks know. We can't be the only ones that have noticed the weirdness…. there's this kid that Mallory knows. Buzz. Some child prodigy that works for the government. He's pretty brilliant himself, and he comes in every now and then to get comics of his own and play the arcade. I'll start feeling him out. Maybe he's noticing something too."
Klegghorn nodded. "I'll be in touch."
Klegghorn left, now with more things to consider. The Sharing. He had some vacation time coming up. Maybe he needed to take his time off at the next town over…
The Yeerks never traveled alone, not really. Nosedive sort of wondered if the Hork-Bajir ever got tired of being stuffed into the still somewhat damaged Migrator. They probably didn't mind it that much. He couldn't imagine these ugly lizards going out to the beach to get some sun. He might have even felt sorry for the things, but it was hard to separate the lizard from the Yeerk when he almost never got a chance to talk to the things without a Yeerk in either his or the Hork-Bajir's heads.
((I wouldn't feel too badly about it. Hork-Bajir aren't that intelligent. They'd have nothing interesting to say.)) The Yeerk said in reply to Nosedive's thoughts. He did that sometimes, just made a comment about the things that Nosedive was thinking. Nothing that Nosedive thought was really private anymore, but for the most part Illicin kept his own thoughts to himself unless he was feeling something strongly enough that Nosedive could pick up on it. It only happened once or twice, but Nosedive was starting to get a sort of feel for the Yeerk. He wasn't the outright evil monster that a Saurian was, but he still was part of an invading army enslaving the humans and now the ducks. If he thought that his constant talk about how awful being a Yeerk was would sway Nosedive he was barking up the wrong tree.
He was sort of right. Yeerks could apparently make their hosts see and feel things that weren't there, somehow they could tap into the parts of the brain that was responsible for memories and dreams and sort of replay those memories and dreams back for their hosts. According to Illicin many used this to torment their hosts with unhappy memories or old nightmares, but usually Illicin only used Nosedive's memories of the Saurian occupation. It was uncomfortable, but Nosedive knew that there were many other more painful memories that Ilicin could use, but he didn't. Nosedive had a feeling that meant his Yeerk was a bit more sincere in his intentions. He wasn't technically doing this just for laughs, Nosedive was convinced that Illicin believed in the Yeerk's cause. And he was right in one aspect. Illicin had used that Yeerk ability to show Nosedive what it was like to live as a Yeerk. Frankly, Nosedive could see how such an existence was horrible.
That still didn't give the Yeerks the right to enslave people though.
((Again, what would you suggest, Nosedive?)) Illicin asked, sounding tired of the same argument that they had been having for the past month or so.
((I don't know man. You keep talking about what a great friend you were to your previous host. Maybe you're right. Why not find volunteers? Why not only take voluntary hosts? You know, a lot more people who are involuntary now would probably be okay with having a Yeerk if you guys just talked instead of coming down and taking what you want.))
((There would never be enough to go around. You wouldn't have given up your freedom for me.)) Illicin said, his thoughts bitter.
((Dude, you really don't know me that well. Even if you're right, that's not the only solution. You know, instead of chasing Tanya around the woods like you want to do if you just talked to her she'd probably find a way to give you guys what you want without having to enslave anyone.))
((And how do you propose we do that? She can't build us robot bodies; the point is to be able to feel things. Robots don't feel.)) Illicin pointed out.
((I don't know. Maybe she could use Draggy's DNA accelerator. It's only a matter of time before she figures out all the Saurian tech.))
((The Andalites would never allow her to help us.))
((Yeah. I'm sure the Andalites love to keep up an endless war that's been going on for how long, again?))
((At least fifty Earth years…perhaps longer, I'm not sure how to measure time in relation to this planet versus…it doesn't matter…At least two generations of Andalites have grown up and died and the war still goes on.)) Illicin sighed.
((Aren't you sick of it, Slugs? Aren't you all sick of it. You just going to keep fighting the Andalites forever?))
((The Andalites refuse to let us have hosts. I have told you time and time again. We evolved as parasites, not predators like humans and ducks. What else do we do? Is it wrong when you eat fish sticks, or when a human eats a burger?))
((Okay, first off, we aren't really predators. We might eat fish and some species of our world's bugs, but we aren't freakin lions, okay? We eat more vegetables than humans do. And secondly, you guys might be parasites, but you're also reasonably intelligent. I can't blame a tapeworm for doing what it's meant to do, but you aren't a tapeworm man. You're just as intelligent as me. You should know the difference between right and wrong. Slavery is wrong, and this is slavery. You have the ability to think and reason and that means you have the ability to use diplomacy.))
((I do use diplomacy. I use it to convince hurting humans to take on a Yeerk voluntarily. It's how I rose so high in the ranks.)) Illicin couldn't keep the pride out of his thoughts.
((Great, so you're good at tricking venerable people. Congratulations. You're a cult recruiter. Your parents must be so proud.)) Nosedive mentally snorted.
((Why must you take everything I say as something negative.)) Illicin grumbled.
((Oh you know why. You keep blaming the Andalites but it takes two to have a conflict. I don't even know the Andalite's side of the story. You really expect me to believe that they're horrible tyrants when you're the one keeping me prisoner? Come on.))
Illicin didn't have anything else to say to that.
The mental argument had been going on in their head for the past thirty minutes, as the Hork-Bajir drove Illicin and Nosedive in the Migrator to the Yeerk pool, taking the several hours long drive from Anaheim to Slugville. Even without Tanya there to fix the Migrator the little bit of repairs had been done by Duke and his Yeerk. Duke still remembered some of what she had shown him after he had wrecked the Migrator that one time, and since Duke remembered it that meant his demented Yeerk did as well. He couldn't fix it up the same way Tanya could have, but at least it was roadworthy. If they had the Aerowing they could have gotten their sooner, but the Aerowing was staying under the radar and out of the Yeerk's clutches. Good. Nosedive hoped it stayed that way.
There was even less to do during the drive than there would have been if he was free. Not only did he have to deal with the general boredom of a long drive, but he couldn't do anything to get out any of his energy. He had to just sit there while Illicin did all of the looking around, and focusing, and Illicin wasn't as active as Nosedive was. Illicin was content to sit around doing nothing, and it drove Nosedive crazy.
((If you really are bored, I have a solution.))
((I could start singing again.))
((No. Enjoy your last movie night.))
((Oh come on, you-)) And all of a sudden Nosedive was back sitting in the base beneath the Pond, the entire team gathered for movie. All of them, together, even Tanya. The ducks hadn't had another movie night since the Yeerks had them. The Yeerks weren't interested in movie night, except Illicin, who would occasionally watch what could be salvaged of their tapes in their room. It wasn't the same, but at the very least it was something to watch. Still, there were worse things Illicin could have shown Nosedive. Worse memories he could have brought up.
Nosedive couldn't change what happened that night. It was his memory of the event, nothing more, but it was so much more accurate and detailed than simply recalling it. Nosedive wasn't sure how the Yeerk did it, but he could somehow tap into the memories of his host and show everything exactly how it happened from Nosedive's perspective.
So, Dive watched as his past self gently teased Mallory and flopped on the couch, cheerfully volunteering a comedy film, Monty Python, and a couple of 80s era horror films. Duke really wanted to see some Robin Hood movie, and Mallory brought something called Predator. After some spirited voting from the ducks they ended up watching one of Dive's movies (it had been called The Stuff and it managed to baffle everyone.) Predator and the Robin Hood movie.
Future Nosedive settled back into his own brain. Hey, it was better than Illicin's insistence in watching the landscape go by. Honestly, that slug would spend hours just watching the sun rise and set. It would almost be sweet if he wasn't plotting on enslaving Nosedive's people. But at least watching this memory Nosedive could have some time to distract himself with a dumb movie, and the memory of the company of his friends.
He missed them all. It was true he got to spend time with them unyeerked those times the Yeerks were in the pool, but it was a bit different when you were in a cage instead of out there having fun and spending time with them. Illicin sort of got along with Wing's Yeerk, but they weren't as close as Dive and Wing were. He outright avoided Duke because of Merkle, and to be fair Nosedive couldn't really complain about that. Same with Grin's Yeerk, but in Grin's case it was just that the two Yeerks had nothing in common. Mallory's Yeerk was also stand offish. So while the Yeerks maintained a show of normalcy in private they were all in their own separate spaces doing their own thing. They only met up for public appearances or when they were out on the town. They still also actually patrolled and got into a scuffle with a few of the local crop of Anaheim weirdos, but Dive had a feeling everyone around them knew there was something up with them. It was never anything obvious, but Dive was pretty sure that anyone that really knew them could be able to tell there was something wrong.
Still, now there wasn't much Dive could do. At least not until Tanya found a way to help. It didn't really surprise him she might be having some trouble. If the Andalites were half as stand offish as the Yeerks kept saying they probably were giving her trouble. Plus, she was one duck against an entire empire with only the Aerowing and maybe the power to morph on her side, surrounded by aliens who may or may not be as jerkish as the Yeerks were. That she would succeed in the end Dive had no doubt. That it was taking so long was disappointing, but not something he worried about. She did tend to cut things a bit close. It would be fine.
Besides, he never wanted to admit that Illicin might be right. The Yeerk was convinced that Tanya wouldn't help them, or even if she wanted to that the Andalites would make it impossible for her to help. But Dive had faith in her. Even if the Andalites wouldn't help her she'd find a way. It was just taking longer than it normally would because of the circumstances.
Eventually, after the final scene of Robin Hood, the memory cut off and Nosedive found himself in the Yeerk Pool. He cringed at the place mentally. There were so many cages here, so many involuntary hosts crying and begging and threatening the Yeerks. Some were simply sitting at the bottom of their cages, staring blankly into space. It was so much worse than the Saurian camps. Maybe it was due to the sheer scale of the operation, but most ducks in those camps had never reached the stage of total unresponsiveness that some of the older hosts had here. Maybe it was because the Resistance had been so utterly loud and obvious in its rebellion. The ducks back home knew their kind were fighting out there, somewhere. These hosts didn't have that.
Nosedive watched as his Yeerk steered his body towards the voluntary host section, a place set aside for collaborates of the Yeerk cause. Some of them, Dive knew, were like Illicin's old host, a guy who had apparently been so lonely and depressed that he had accepted the Yeerks. Dive didn't feel like he had any right to judge. He had no idea what went through human heads, and while a few of these humans sitting around casually while their kin were being tortured were probably jerks, that didn't mean all of them were. If he was correct about some of Illicin's memories he could almost see how a person might be okay with a Yeerk. There were many kinds of treason. Some clearly were working with the Yeerks out of general nastiness. Some, however, Dive suspected only did it because of other reasons.
Dive could feel his Yeerk's excitement as he sat down next to a normal, random looking human. The human was staring into space, almost like how the broken involuntary hosts looked. Just staring into space, not responding to anything. Dive could feel Illicin used his beak to smile.
"Hey, Jason. It's me, Illicin. I just came to say hi. See how you were doing."
The human slowly looked at him, then looked down at the ground. "…fine."
Dive could feel Illicin's concern spike. "You alright? How's your new Yeerk treating you?"
"…Ruby is sick. He won't let me take him to the vet. Ruby is going to die."
Illicin's concern clearly spiked again. "Wait…what? Why doesn't your Yeerk take him to the vet?"
"…more important things than my stupid snake."
"Jason…"
((Huh, guess his new Yeerk isn't being half as nice as you were, huh Simeboy?)) Dive taunted. ((That's the thing about slave masters. You can act like you're one of the nice ones, but how many Yeerks treat their hosts like Merkle treats Duke? You and I both know he likes to hurt Duke. He's told me some of the things that freak shows him when we can finally talk to each other without you around. You know just as well as I do that Merkle is a sadist. Look what he tried to do to the pigeons. That wasn't because he thinks they might be Andalites, he just wants to hurt things. You can't control what other Yeerks do to their hosts, not even your former hosts. Look at the guy, does it look like his new slug is treating him well? He can't even be bothered to keep a corn snake alive for his host!))
((Don't…don't distract me.))
((Make me shut up then! That's your only move isn't it? Try to make me shut up! Try to ignore the truth about what you and your kind really are. Keep giving me the 'we're parasites' excuse and ignore the suffering of the human you claimed to like! Go ahead, slave driver. Shut. Me. Up.))
And Illicin did, driving Dive back into a memory of the camps. But it was fine. Because Dive knew that a bit of his words had sunk in. He could tell by the anger that spiked through Illicin as he drove Dive back into a corner of his own mind. He wouldn't be so angry if a bit of Dive's words hadn't sunk home.
By the time Dive resurfaced the Yeerk was turning a key to a door to an apartment complex. He had no idea where they were, but he was pretty sure that this place wasn't in the pool. It was dark, and he could see the blackness of the sky above them and the soft glow of streetlights.
((Okay, we doing drug deals now?)) Dive asked.
((Of course not, Nosedive. We are taking the snake.))
((Umm, excuse me, what?)) Nosedive scoffed.
((I won't let Ruby die. He means so much to Jason. And you always wanted a pet.)) Illicin said.
((Yeah, a dog. Or a cat. Hell, a hamster. But a snake?)) Nosedive shuddered. ((Snakes are lizards.))
((They are reptiles, yes. But you yearn for the company of a half reptile. I don't see a reason for you to object.)) Illicin said.
((Dude she's part Saurian. Like a dinosaur, not a reptile. Don't use slurs on her, okay? You don't have to be an ass.)) Nosedive bristled.
((I am taking the snake regardless of your opinion.)) Illicin said firmly.
((You know what, fine. Cool. Steal the snake. As long as you don't turn my room into Viper's rec room I'm cool.))
((One non venomous snake that eats small rodents is not going to turn you into a snake obsessed lunatic, Nosedive. It's a constrictor anyway. A small one. Harmless.)) Illicin entered the apartment and headed straight for a tank near a television set. The place looked nice, Dive supposed, for a snake. It had a nice big branch in the middle and a few dark places for the snake to hide. The snake was not hiding at the moment. Instead it lay on the branch, looking down at the floor of its tank and looking very very sad. Nosedive wasn't an expert on snakes but the thing looked dull and lethargic to him. Like it was sick. He felt a bit of pity for the poor little thing. Like Illicin, it didn't ask to be born a slimy little snake, and unlike Illicin it didn't have the luxury of higher intelligence to choose how to act. It simply did its snake thing like it was supposed to. It wasn't evil. Not like a Saurian. Not like a Yeerk.
To Nosedive's surprise, Illicin pulled out what looked like a dead mouse from his pocket and opened the tank, holding out the rodent to the snake. Ruby instantly perked up slightly and gave a small strike, biting into the dead rodent and starting to eat. It was a gross sight, but Dive could admit that he was glad the poor thing was getting some food.
Illicin let the snake eat his rodent as he looked around for a small tub near the tank.
((This is his transport tub. We are going to take him with us. I'll hide him so the other Yeerks don't find him, and we'll take him to the vet at the shelter. We will have to make up a story about keeping him under wraps until we 'talk' with your brother. But we won't tell the other Yeerks. They will think the Andalites will use him to get into the Pond and make us get rid of him. I won't let that happen.))
((Dude, how are we going to hide a snake?))
((I will find a way. Once he is in our room it should be easier. Your friends don't go in there anymore.))
((Yeah, because you Yeerks aren't exactly a team. You're just a bunch of evil minions waiting for V3 to lose his mind and go stab crazy on you.))
((I…okay, fine.)) Illicin sighed. ((Just don't tell your friends about him. They will be unable to keep a secret from their Yeerk.))
((Oh, so, you want me to do you a favor?)) Dive laughed.
((If you'd rather end this innocent snake right now. Because that is what will happen. They will destroy him. Is that worth getting me in trouble?)) Illicin asked.
((You know what. No. You're right. I'll keep the secret. But you owe me, buddy.))
((…yes, I suppose I will.)) Illicin agreed as he gently picked up the tiny little snake and put him into his tub. ((I will keep Ruby safe for Jason until he gets a Yeerk that is willing to take care of him properly.))
Nosedive was amused. Illicin was pretty soft hearted for an invader.
As Illicin left the apartment, not moving too fast but trying to get out of there as fast as he could while still looking casual, Nosedive felt a shiver. He was sure they were being watched. Something was eyeing them.
He saw it out of the corner of his eye. As soon as he spotted it Illicin did as well. Illicin turned their head and stared up at a streetlamp. Dive felt a jolt of fear at the pair of giant yellow gold eyes glaring down at them with what Dive imagined was pure hate. It was an owl, though Dive wasn't sure what kind of owl it could be as it sat on the streetlamp in such a way that the light shielded it from view.
((The Andalite Bandits.)) Illicin said. ((Might be an owl, but that's the thing about the Andalites. You never know if the random animal you see is one of them, or a normal animal.)) Nosedive could almost taste his Yeerk's paranoia. He couldn't blame Illicin. There was something bone chilling about the knowledge that anything could be watching them through the eyes of an animal. There were so many animals on Earth that could go anywhere without looking out of place.
It was worse in the dark. He couldn't make out anything but the hate filled eyes of the owl, but the owl could see them, even without the streetlamp pouring its light down on them.
Was that a scraping nose in the alley behind them? Was that a low growl he heard behind them? Was the form that just darted from one shadow to the other the lithe, silent figure of the giant tiger that they both knew was one of the Andalite's favorite battle morphs? Were the scraping noises coming from other animals? Something normal like a raccoon or an opossum watching them from the shadows, or something more powerful. Like another big cat. A dog. Or a wolf. Or the new hyena?
((How much do you want to bet that the new morph is Tanya?)) Nosedive asked. ((Maybe they gave her the morphing power after all. They do have a seventh member now. That could be Tanya. That owl could be her. She could be watching us, ready to rescue me right now. Are you prepared to starve to death, Illicin?))
((Your people aren't killers. You won't even kill your mortal enemies. That hyena tried to end Visser One. It's killed Controllers. You really want your friend to be a murderer?))
((Not murder if it's self-defense.)) Nosedive pointed out. ((But that doesn't answer my question. You prepared for those Andalites all around us to pounce?))
"Tanya." Illicin said, their voice raising to be heard. "I don't know if you're with the Andalites. I don't know if you're here. But if you try and take me, if you try and starve me out of Nosedive, you know the others will come. You Andalites couldn't even keep a pair of dumb Hork-Bajir from dying! You think the rest of the Yeerk empire will stand by and not look for me? Can you really hold me for three days? We both know Andalites are practical. You won't risk it. You barely risked it for the Hork-Bajir. I'm leaving, and you aren't going to stop me. It will be far too inconvenient for you Andalites, won't it?" Illicin laughed. "You won't be able to hide among them for long, Tanya. The Andalites will betray you, eventually. You don't belong with them. When you get tired of the Andalites' arrogance and hypocrisy, you can always surrender to us. I can find you a Yeerk that will treat you well. Especially if you really do have the ability to morph." Illicin apparently reached the duckcycle he had used to get to the apartment. He gently placed Ruby's tub in the side car and swung onto the cycle. The animals, if there really were animals other than the lone owl, didn't move.
"Think about it, Tanya! You can't hide out here forever!" Illicin gunned the bike and sped off. Back to the Migrator, no doubt.
((She won't surrender to you, Slimes.)) Nosedive said. ((If she even heard you. If that really was a group of Andalites back there.))
((We will see, Nosedive. We will see…))
Unknown to either Illicin or Nosedive, Klegghorn watched and heard the duck as he sped away on the duckcycle with narrowed eyes. Gently, he took out a notepad and wrote a few things down. Andalite. Yeerks. Hork-Bajir. Aliens, no doubt about that. Thrash had been right. The ducks had been compromised, and Tanya was the only one free. Why the imposter Nosedive had been talking to an owl though, he wasn't sure.
He watched as the barn owl on the streetlamp turned its head and stared at him. For a moment they locked eyes, and the that old detective instinct in Klegghorn clamored. This thing, bird or no, knew something. It knew something, and it was intelligent. If it could speak, he could ask it questions. Maybe it could speak.
In a second Klegghorn was out of the car and walking towards the owl. He looked up, and unless he was badly mistaken the poor thing looked almost deflated. Sad. Mournful.
Feeling a bit of a fool, Klegghorn cleared his throat. "Tanya?"
The owl spread its wings and flew silently into the night.
A/N: I know it's a bit of a fanfic faux pas to make a character related to a canon one, but I kinda needed Dive's Yeerk to have that connection with certain Yeerks. You Animorph readers will know what is going on.
For my Mighty Ducks readers who might not know, there actually is an entire book about the Yeerks on the internet. 90s internet. It's actually the next book, book 16 'The Warning.' Consider this our take on the Warning, as it happens a bit around and past it.
The one scene that could have changed with Tanya in the Warning would have been when the kids were discussing how to get to the town with the Web Access America building, and they are all thinking things like how to sneak on a plane as flies.
In this case Tanya would just be giving Jake a look until he goes 'Oh right, we have a fighter jet'. And Tanya would be 'yeah, I have a fighter jet'.
Jake: We should use the fighter jet.
Tanya: Good call, Captain.
So, they use the Aerowing and half the book's humor and plot is just gutted like a salmon. But as a side note Tanya gets the same rhino morph that Jake does.
So instead of writing that down and skipping to 17 I decided to pop in and see what the Mighty Duck side characters are going through. Because while you can fool a normal human who doesn't know about the alien stuff, you won't with a group of humans who have seen the Mighty Ducks shenanigans and know very well that there are hostile aliens out there. I just hope I did these characters justice.
Until next time. Back to Animorphs.