An Author's Note: While I am a huge fan of Animorphs due to budgetary reasons and because my mom lost interest in the series (we used to read the books together), I kinda stopped collecting the books around the late 40s early 50s and completely and utterly missed reading Visser because I didn't care about Visser 1s life and I hated her at the time (still kinda do). So large swathes of Eva's personality are going to be cribbed from what little bits Marco said about her during his books. I get the impression they were a lot alike and so I just kinda extrapolated from there. So, if she seems off that's the reason. Yeah, I could probably go back and reread the books now that I have the internet but this story, while fun, is kinda low stakes at the moment, if that makes sense. I really doubt anyone that is reading cares about details like that I am having more fun just laying down what I have instead of rereading the back issues of the Animorphs books just to get more slivers of a character. So, we are chalking up any weird behaviors to AU and the fact that she's been freed a bit earlier in the timeline than she would have been before.
Hope yall still enjoy.
Chapter 9
During the Underground
Marco couldn't believe how stupid the others were being.
They had the ultimate weapon just dropped in their laps. Sure, maybe the idea of oatmeal (instant maple and ginger oatmeal) was a little out of the ordinary, but to be fair with aliens you never know. Heck, Ax ate with his hooves normally and he had seen Tanya eat berries that Cassie swore were poisonous to humans. So, the idea of some obscure flavor of oatmeal providing the Yeerks with all the nutrients that they normally got with the Kandrona, while at the same time driving them nuts, wasn't the weirdest thing that Marco had seen. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that everyone else seemed to have a problem with it.
Including his mom.
It was frustrating, even though Marco was still riding the natural joyous high of having his mother returned to him. Sure, she had to spend her time out here in the woods, sharing the space with another alien, but at least this alien was friendly and wasn't trying to take over the world. According to his mom it was more like being at college and having a roommate all over again, except that this time it was out in the middle of the forest at a horror themed campsite underground. But at least she was free. That was the important thing.
Sure, they had to have the Chee use a hologram to make it look like her body had washed up on shore, and sure the cops had wanted his dad to identify the 'body'. At first Marco had been furious and almost regretted the idea in the first place. He didn't want his dad to have to go through losing her all over again and having him look at the holographic mockup of Eva's body had almost tipped him back over the edge. At least it had seemed that way to Marco. His father had come home with that empty, glassy look in his eyes that always made Marco feel just as sad and helpless and he hated it so much. He had almost wanted to tell his dad the truth, but he knew that would only cause more issues down the line. Staying silent had been the hardest thing Marco had ever done, but he did it.
Fortunately, his dad had shaken off the funk by the end of the weekend, and Marco thought that was probably because by that point he had accepted that Eva wasn't coming back. This was like hitting an old wound. Sure, it would hurt and might bleed a little bit, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. Maybe. And it would all be worth it in the end, when the Yeerks were dead and gone and he could have his family completely back. Right now only he and the other Animorphs and Ax and Tanya knew that his mom was alive and well, but as soon as the Yeerks were gone they could tell his dad everything and they would be whole again. That was the only reason he still needed to fight. One of his long-term goals was complete, his mom was free. Now they just needed to make it safe for him and his parents to live as a normal family again.
Which again led him back to this annoying conversation.
Both he and Rachel were on the same side, he thought. They both wanted to use the oatmeal against the Yeerks. Ax kept waffling, talking about how it was wrong, but that the Yeerks weren't going to surrender so they had to win. Which was Marco's point. The Yeerks were evil, no question, so why not use the oatmeal even if it was like an addictive drug to them? Tobias was arguing against it, and Marco just couldn't understand it. Both Cassie and Jake were quiet, and that almost scared Marco. Normally he figured that Cassie would be the one to argue against it the most, but she just seemed tired. Maybe she was. She always tended to moralize, and maybe this was the last straw for her.
The two people Marco didn't have that good a read on were his own mother and Tanya. With the duck it was still sometimes hard for him to read her in general. It was the beak, mostly, but there were also little subtle things that probably meant things to ducks that he could only guess at. Like the times he noticed her feathers sort of ruffling in what he could only guess was agitation. Fear, maybe? Or discomfort? It was hard to say. It was also sort of hard to read her expression through her eyes. He wondered if that was just as hard with other ducks considering they weren't normal duck eyes (and he still really wanted to know the story behind that. He could tell there was something more to this whole part Saurian thing than she was willing to tell them and while he knew at this point, she didn't mean them any harm he really wanted to know). There were times her tone and gestures lined up with what a human would do, and it was a lot better when she was using thought speak. If only because whatever speech impediment she had sort of vanished when she was in morph. Marco suspected it was because thought speak was…well through thoughts. That probably helped.
With his mom it was…strange. She seemed a bit quieter than he remembered. She sometimes would just stare off into space when she thought no one was paying attention. Although she'd snap back readily enough when spoken to it just seemed to Marco that unless she had to actually engage with someone, she just…sort of sat there, staring and being very quiet. Apparently, she did that even more when they weren't around, and it was only her and Tanya in the hideout. Marco could guess why. She had been a prisoner in her own head for years. She had probably gotten used to not being able to occupy her own time and having the freedom to just…sit back and read a book or cook or do any other leisure activity on her own. It was spooky and Marco didn't like it.
They had taken the oatmeal argument to the campground mostly to fill in the adults (Tanya had refused to go with them to the Planet Hollywood on the basis that she had seen and been to enough celebrity showcases because of the Duck's manager and flatly refused to go to any more even as a spectator. Marco also suspected she didn't want to be there in case someone got the aforementioned hockey team on the list. They hadn't, but Marco could understand not wanting to risk it.) and because they did want to involve his mom in the oatmeal talk. She couldn't exactly hang out with them at the barn, and to be fair this location was more convenient for Ax and Tobias as well. And they didn't have to keep a look out for Cassie's parents. By now Tanya had set up not only air filters and had gotten the camp's camera system working and had somehow managed to get the computer up and somehow had stolen the internet. So, they pretty much had everything they could have wanted. Including, for some reason, several tv channels from the U.K., Sweden and freaking Russia. Marco had no idea how Tanya had managed to steal cable from the entire freaking Earth but it was impressive. Now they could catch Doctor Who reruns. Clearly their lives were complete.
By now Rachel had built up an impressive rant about how they couldn't compromise with the Yeerks, and Ax was supporting her claim. Well, if Ax said it then it probably was true. The Andalites knew more about the Yeerks than they did, so surely he'd be right when he said they would never compromise and needed to be forced back to their home planet and confined. But Marco also noticed how, the moment he started talking about permanently imprisoning the Yeerks, that Tanya started to look at the other alien with what Marco could only interpret as growing horror. That was odd. It was only for a few seconds but it was still odd. He would have to keep an eye on that.
"Actually, you're wrong about that." Marco's mom suddenly spoke up. Everyone stared at her. Jake blinked.
"What do you mean?" Jake asked gently. He and Marco had spent years, ever since they were kids, being babysat by either Jake's dad or Marco's mom. When either pair of parents had something to do they would always drop off the other kid to be watched by the other pair. While Jake's parents had sort of distanced themselves from him since his mom's 'death' it was clear to Marco that Jake still had some respect and probably still even liked Marco's mom. It made sense, she was almost like an aunt to Jake.
"Ax, you don't mind if I call you that, right?" Eva looked at Ax who shrugged. Marco snorted in amusement. The Andalite was picking up human habits. "Ax is right when it comes to individuals like Vissers One and Three, and the Council of Thirteen, but your average Yeerk doesn't want the war anymore than we do. Most of them don't say anything because if you do you get…well eliminated, but there are subsections of the Yeerk Empire that would rather have peace."
((Impossible!)) Ax stamped a hoof in irritation. ((There has been no indication of this!))
"Well if they get rid of anyone that objects that would explain that." Cassie was giving Eva a look of dawning hope. "You really think it's possible? Make peace with the Yeerks?"
"Now wait a minute!" Rachel objected. "How! I mean, I said it before, are we just going to give up a million humans! Sacrifice some of them for us!? That's just as wrong!"
"No, that's not what I'm suggesting, but there are other ways." Eva replied. "The Escafil device, for one. Other than just using it to morph, what if a Yeerk was to gain the ability to morph…" She ignored Ax's mental cry of protesting horror. "And instead of using to it fight they instead became a human or a Hork-Bajir permanently. Trap themselves in the form of their choosing and stay that way. The Yeerks don't want bodies because they're evil, they want them because in their natural state they are blind and pretty much deaf and just swim around a pool with nothing to do. They can use computers in their natural state through their palps but it's not a replacement for the real thing. It'd be like, if had to live your entire life in one room and never got to go outside or go to school or even watch tv." She leaned forwards, looking at Jake with a critical eye. "Just imagine that. Try to imagine what kind of life that would be. Just nothing but four bare walls and food. It'd make anyone desperate to escape. That's why the Yeerks seized the opportunity to run when the Andalites gave them space travel. They just had freedom dropped in their laps but were too primitive at the time to imagine any other alternative. Now they consider themselves free they want to keep that, so of course they'd fight for it. With Andalites they know they will never compromise, so why bother?" She looked back to Ax who was shaking in rage. "They think the same thing about your people. That they'd never compromise and that the Andalites would always want to cage them. They don't see any other choice."
((The moment they got that technology they used it to kill Andalite warriors and enslaved other races! How were we to react? They betrayed us, not the other way around!)) Ax's tail twitched and Marco gave him a glare. He wasn't sure he agreed with his mom, but the moment Ax decided to use that tail Marco would have some objections.
"I'm not saying that you're wrong. I'm not even saying that what the Yeerks do now is right. I was watching everything Visser One did. I know how awful they can be. But if we immediately eliminate compromise from the table, then we limit our own options. If there is a way to give the Yeerks what they want, and at the same time freeing everyone from their control, then we should take it. This isn't a cartoon, kids. We aren't the Autobots fighting the Decepticons. In the real world your enemy can be reasoned with, we just have to find the solution that gives everyone something they need."
"So, you were paying attention Saturday mornings?" Marco joked. It was really his only defense at this point. It sort of amused him how she was using his own argument, how this wasn't a comic book or a cartoon show, but in a slightly different way. He could appreciate the irony in that he always used it as an example of how screwed they all were, and here his mom was using it as almost a point of hope. Kinda funny. He only hoped the punchline would be at his expense.
"Yes, and that's one of the reasons we shouldn't go around committing war crimes." Eva said.
Rachel exploded again. "War crimes! What are you talking about! What war crimes?"
This time it was Tanya who answered. "Biological warfare." Her eyes were rolled upwards as she stared at the ceiling. Floor. Whatever. "Using ah…a substance that has that sort of effect of another living organism would be, would probably fall under that. For that matter, how would you even get the Yeerks to eat the stuff?"
"I don't know…break into the Yeerk pool?" Rachel said, and Marco shuddered.
"Oh boy, I already don't like that plan." Marco said.
"How? After the last attack they put in a bunch more security measures. Gleet Bio filters, drones…" Eva listed off and Ax blinked at her.
((Bio filters do complicate matters…)) He mused.
"And how are you going to transport all that oatmeal into the Pool? The only practical way I can see is using her fighter jet to blow our way in and- "Eva started.
"We are not using the Aerowing to attack what sounds like a civilian target." Tanya said with a sudden tense finality "Military base, fine. I'm not attacking civilians."
"Would the Yeerk Pool be a military or a civilian target?" Jake asked.
"From the Yeerk perspective, civilian. Not every Yeerk is out there with a Dracon Beam firing at you. Even Yeerks have low level civilian workers to do maintenance work and janitorial services" Eva said. "Plus, there's the caged humans and Hork-Bajir who would be caught in the crossfire if we attacked the Pool with a fighter jet."
"And all the Yeerk bug fighters would swarm the jet like cockroaches…" Marco mused. He still wasn't sure about compromising with the Yeerks, but then again he didn't want to go back to the Yeerk Pool. He still had nightmares and it sounded like the place was even more heavily guarded now. He could agree with not doing stupid things to get them all killed. "And there would be no other way to get the amount of oatmeal we would need to get in there into the mouths of the Controllers."
"So, what, we just ignore this? We just forget about George Edelman and the oatmeal and everything!" Rachel fumed.
"No. We don't forget." Jake said. "We still might be able to utilize it in the future. Just keep it in mind for later. But for right now I don't see any practical way to use it, regardless of the moral question it just doesn't look like we can use the information at this time."
Rachel let out an enraged noise and marched for the exit of the underground living area, muttering angrily to herself. Marco shrugged as she shoved past him towards the door. He really couldn't argue with Jake's conclusion. "I think we all know what Rachel wants to vote, but I agree with my mom. It just doesn't sound practical."
((Yeah.)) Tobais watched Rachel go with a ruffle of his feathers. ((Same…hey, can someone let me out of here for a bit? Getting a bit uncomfortable with the ceiling.))
Tanya nodded. "Sure, let's go." She headed for the exit and Tobias flapped down to her shoulder to hitch a ride.
((…I must agree with the impractically of the mission.)) Ax said. ((Of course, I will follow whatever Prince Jake wishes, but I must admit the risk is too high. We cannot fight the Yeerks if we are all disintegrated by a Gleet Bio Filter.))
"What is a Gleet Bio Filter anyway?" Jake asked. Marco sighed to himself and mentally prepared himself for another long-winded explanation from their resident space cadet. He wondered if Jake really was interested in the answer to the question or he was just trying to fill space so that Rachel could go get whatever was bugging her out of her system. Or if he was just giving Tobias time to talk her down. Either could be true at this point.
Either way it was going to be a boring thirty minutes or so.
Rachel really wanted to break few things.
She couldn't believe how stupid the rest of them were being. So what if a few Yeerk's died? They were the enemy. They had invaded Earth. No one asked them to come. No one had invited them. They did what all evil people did and took and destroyed and hurt everyone. Why not weed out a few of the disgusting things?
She stormed through the campgrounds, not really caring if anyone saw her. There was really no one out here to see aside from them, so it wasn't like anyone could run across her and get in the range of her anger. All the better. She could probably turn into an elephant out here and get out some of the aggression without having to worry.
Angry and not willing to pause to take the time to morph Rachel strode up to a set of doors leading into a large building and just slammed through them, letting them swing in and slam against the walls with a satisfying sound. Good. She hoped she broke some of Tanya's walls. War crimes! As if! You didn't sit around when someone was attacking your home and family to whine about the people attacking you, you kicked them out and made sure they knew never to mess with you ever again. You made them regret it!
You made them pay.
Rachel paused long enough to look around. It looked like she was in the cafeteria, but it was obvious it was no longer used as a cafeteria. The tables, they looked like wooden picnic tables, had all been overturned and sat on their sides, creating two semicircles on each side of the room. A bit beyond the table barrier on her left side was a short wall leading to a kitchen area, but that area looked mostly untouched. To Rachel's sheer amusement there was a small basket of pucks at the other end of the room next to the opposite set of table barriers and a few hockey sticks. Rachel walked over and picked out one of the pucks. Clearly the weird duck obsession with the game was still there, even if Tanya didn't have access to ice. Part of her wondered if their second alien had figured out a way to ice up the cafeteria floor and would come here after missions to…what? Play by herself? For a moment Rachel had a brief picture of Tanya in her mind, just standing here or skating around all by herself launching pucks at nobody. The anger that had led Rachel here began to cool. Man, that was a depressing picture.
She examined the small black disk in her hand. She had never really been as interested in competitive sports like these, at least not ones played directly against other people. Gymnastics could be competitive, but she never had to directly play against someone else. It was always about how could get the better score, and to be honest she was starting to lose interest in it. It just seemed less and less challenging these days. At one point it had been fun and challenging, even if she knew she wasn't going to make a career out of it, but now even the casual fun it had been was starting to fade. Was that because she was getting older? Maybe.
As Rachel was pondering the puck in her hands she heard someone enter the building, much gentler than she had. Rachel turned and looked over at the very alien she had been thinking about. Tanya looked from Rachel to the puck in her hands and sort of tilted her head. For a few very awkward moments the two of them just sort of stared at each other, neither knowing exactly what to say. It was uncomfortable, and Rachel felt the sudden urge to do or say something, but nothing intelligent came to mind.
"So…" Rachel looked around and looked at the concrete floor. Ah, wait a minute. "So, you can do this without ice, right? Or what?"
"K-kinda." Tanya walked over and took the puck out of Rachel's hand. She pointed to a little switch on the side that Rachel hadn't noticed. "These are special pucks. They can generate a field that…umm…" She paused and considered for a second. "Basically, it makes them able to be used on just about any common surface, like grass or dirt, or in this case concrete, but they'll act like they're on the ice. Had a few spare in the Aerowing." She smiled slightly. "Can't go anywhere without a few in case of an emergency."
"What, an emergency hockey game?" Rachel asked, more bewildered than angry at this point.
"It's…hard to explain." Tanya shrugged at Rachel. "It's…a bit like you humans going to those tall steepled buildings once a week to do…whatever it is you people do in there."
"What, you mean a church?" Rachel asked.
"I guess. The last time we checked on out someone's really old dad came out and accused us of violating…something's sanctity. We figured it was a cultural thing and left it alone."
Rachel blinked. "Ah, that was a church."
Tanya nodded but still was giving Rachel the blank look that Ax normally gave them when odd human rituals came up in conversation. "Like I said, we figured it was something important to human culture but since they were so upset with us we just didn't try to go back…think Grin might have gotten some books on the subject but I never really understood what he was talking about regarding them…something about eating people? Not trying to be insensitive but…it was really weird."
"Eh, don't ask me. My family's Jewish." Rachel laughed and Tanya continued to stare at her. "There's more religions just Christians, those are the ones that go to those churches. You probably met Catholics or Methodists or something."
"…What are those?"
"Christianity has a lot of different sects who believe basically the same thing just different details." Rachel said. Then she frowned and shrugged. "Actually, we sort of believe in the same God but we don't believe that Christ was the Messiah."
"What's a Messiah?"
"It's…complicated. Sorry, I don't know the details." Rachel shrugged. "But how does hockey relate to religion? You guys worship a hockey god?"
"Not really. It's, well now that you've explained it it's less we worship hockey. More that the duck that saved us from the Saurians long ago, the one that owned the Mask, he was a hockey player and the people who helped him were his hockey team. Hockey isn't just a sport it's a way to honor them."
"Ah, so it's more like the Fourth of July?" Rachel asked.
"Yeah, it just happens more than once a year. Hockey games, both professional and amateur, run all the time where we come from. Everyone does it, even if it's in a casual setting. Pretty much from the time my kind can walk we are learning to skate and shoot a puck. You people think we are good, but honestly, I think only Wildwing, Nosedive and Grin would be able to qualify for the professionals on our home. And Grin only because he got special training. The rest of us are only good in comparison to humans." She shrugged.
"Huh, it's really that important to you guys, huh?" Rachel asked, then a thought occurred to her. "Even though you're part, what did you call them, Saurians?" sure, maybe it wasn't time to ask Tanya about it, but Rachel hated to be kept in the dark about anything.
"I'm a duck. I was raised by ducks. I'm not a Saurian." Tanya said with almost emotionless finality, and even though she wasn't Cassie Rachel could detect the tense tone underneath the clipped phrasing.
"So, if your parents were ducks then how- "Rachel started, and Tanya dropped the puck to the ground with a loud clack. It wasn't a throw, but Rachel could see the slight tremor in the alien's hand. Tanya said nothing, but the narrowed glare she was giving Rachel made the teenage human pause for a moment. "Okay, sorry, I'll drop it."
"Do." Tanya bit out, and Rachel looked down at the puck, which was sliding across the floor to her foot. Curious, Rachel nudged it and watched it slide along the concrete floor like was made of ice.
"Huh. Neat." Rachel said, trying to change the subject. Noticing motion out of the corner of her eye she looked up just in time to see Tanya take a hockey stick and point it towards her, handle first. Rachel wondered why they would have a hockey stick here, but maybe it came from the Aerowing. Or they had just piled in a bunch of sports equipment for random serial killer actors to use. Didn't Jason already have a hockey mask anyway?
"Want to try it?" Tanya sked, in an almost challenging way.
"Not really a sport person." Rachel shrugged.
"Hitting a puck isn't a sport. Besides, you keep dragging me to the mall as a human. Can't handle something from my culture?"
Rachel's anger flared and she briefly considered yelling, but then unbidden the mental image of the woman in front of her just sitting here, hitting pucks at nothing with nobody to share her stupid hockey tradition with leaked into Rachel's head like an unwelcome houseguest. Heck, it had taken a near suicidal attack on Visser Three to get Ax to open up, and here their other alien was trying to connect to Rachel with something from her home and Rachel was ready to turn into a bear and force her way out. That wasn't really fair now, was it?
Why not, what could it hurt?
"Alright, fine, how do you work this thing?" Rachel took the stick and sort of twirled it around like she had seen band baton twirlers twirl their sticks, forcing Tanya to duck to avoid getting her beak smacked.
"First, don't do that. It's a hockey stick, not a ninja staff." Tanya gripped the stick as it passed by and guiding the right end down on the ground. "Now, put your hands here and here and…"
It didn't take that long for Rachel to figure the hockey stick out. It also didn't take long for her to start aggressively slamming the puck into the walls, making them bounce and ricochet around the room like little black meteors. She was no where close to hitting them where they actually needed to go but she had to admit making them fly across the room was pretty fun. And Tanya didn't seem to mind the mild amount of damage Rachel was doing. It was almost relaxing, some of the angry tension that Rachel had been feeling since the meeting was being put into slamming pucks around. It was nice, mindless destruction, without the pain and fear that usually accompanied the thrill of battle.
"Hey, what's going on in here?" Rachel sort of jerked around, the latest of her circular projectiles flying to where she turned her head. The door was opening, and she yelled in fear as she saw Jake and Ax trying to make their way inside. Jake yelped and jerked back, but Ax had a totally different reaction. The Andalite's tail lashed forwards and knocked the puck back to them, now on a course to hit Rachel. Before that could happen Tanya sort of shouldered Rachel out of the way and let it hit her instead. The puck bounced off and landed on the ground, spinning on the floor.
"See, this is why I let you two in the path of destruction" Marco poked his head around to smirk at the scene from behind the doorframe. "I know the sounds of a Xena Rampage."
Jake slid in, looking at the former cafeteria with a raised eyebrow and absorbed the scene. "…Well, this is new…you okay, Tanya?"
She coughed and nodded. "Yeah. Not a goalie, but it's not the first time that's happened. Won't be the last."
Ax stepped into the room, trotting over to the puck and poking it with his blade. ((Ah, yes. This is the thing your kind uses to play that horrible ice game, correct?))
"Horrible?" Tanya glared at Ax, and Rachel snorted at her tone. She knew that Ax gave Tanya a lot of attitude, but usually the other alien just seemed to let it slide off. Maybe she didn't see the sense in fighting with a guy who was basically still just a kid, at least not when it came to a little attitude. But calling her game horrible? The look that Tanya was giving Ax was almost as angry as the one she had given Rachel a few minutes ago when she asked about Tanya's parents.
((I cannot see the sense in sliding around on an icy surface just for a few moments of entertainment. It is ridiculous, an entire society built on a simple primitive game that-))
Okay, now he was pissing Rachel off. Okay, so the hockey thing was silly, but it wasn't as if Ax and the Andalite's didn't do weird silly things themselves. And Rachel was getting really sick of this thing that Ax seemed to have against Tanya.
"Hey, Ax!" Rachel shouted.
((I…what?)) Ax blinked his large eyes.
"Think fast!" Rachel bellowed and slammed the puck at Ax again, ignoring Marco dive for the safety behind a table and Jake's shout to stop. It wasn't going to be a problem. She had seen that tail lash out at the speed of light. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen him just deflect it a few seconds earlier.
Ax stamped and swung his tail again, once more deflecting the puck back to Rachel, who didn't spare a second as she hit it back to him. Once again, his tail flashed, sending it back to Rachel, who launched it back even harder and faster. And again, he sent it back to her, and Rachel stopped and glared at the Andalite, grinning madly.
"…I think I need to go visit my mommy again…" Marco said.
"I think I need your mommy now too." Jake agreed.
Ax stared at Rachel, spread his hooves and sort of lazily wagged his tail back and forth like a cat waiting for a mouse.
((I believe the human expression is 'is that all you got, Rachel?'))
"Oh, I haven't even started." She grinned and waved at Jake. "Hey, grab a stick and help me take down the aliens!"
"I've never played hockey…" Jake started, but blinked as suddenly he was being offered a stick by Tanya, who was giving them all a rather satisfied smile.
"She hasn't either, I can give you and Marco a quick run down…"
Jake looked at her, the stick and his demented cousin. He shrugged.
"What the hell, why not?"
It didn't take them long to lure out Tobias from the sky to morph human and join them. Only Cassie steered clear. Rachel wasn't surprised. If Rachel was just unfamiliar with sports Cassie simply hated them.
It was too bad.
It was a fun afternoon. It didn't take long for them all to forget about oatmeal, and the war. At least for a little while.
Jake flew in his falcon morph, still riding a different sort of high from the impromptu hockey lesson, or whatever you wanted to call it. He had forgotten how great playing sports could be, how he could focus on something other than thoughts of the war and the choices he had to make and the planning he had to do. For a second, he didn't have to think about Tom and the oatmeal thing. Honestly, he found himself agreeing with Eva. Using oatmeal probably couldn't lead to anything good. And playing around with the group had been nice. Strange, because they had never just hung out like that, as a group, all at once. Usually if they did they had a mission to do or talk about. Marco and he hung out, and Rachel and Cassie hung out, and Tobias and Ax sort of hung out in the woods, but never all of them at once. It made sense, the Yeerks couldn't see them all in a group and make guesses. He couldn't make Tom suspicious. But out there in the woods, with no one else but the two adults on the team, they could goof of together. It was nice. They should do it more often.
((…what do you guys think about hanging out there with those two more often?" Jake asked.
((Hey, I can't complain.)) Rachel said. ((I nearly got Ax a good one!))
((Yeah, maybe try not to murder our Andalite.)) Tobais chuckled. ((But you know, I think he was having a good time.))
((Yeah, well, he needs to lay off Tanya.)) Rachel said. ((What is his problem, anyway? She's done nothing to make us doubt her and she's taking just as much risk as the rest of us. So what's his deal?))
((I've been thinking about that, and a few other things.)) Cassie said, thoughtfully. ((I think he's frustrated. He's been our only alien member since we met him. Now we have another, and we know how proud he is. He might assume that he has to compete with her, in some way. It probably doesn't help that she's older and knows more than he does. At least when it comes to hard science. He might be afraid she's going to replace him.))
((That's ridiculous, they're both our friends, and it's not like we treat her any differently than we treat him.)) Rachel said.
((Maybe that is part of the problem.)) Cassie said. ((Remember he's a trained warrior, or at least is training to be a warrior. Maybe he feels like she's more of a civilian than he is.))
((None of us are warriors in training or in the military though)) Tobias pointed out. ((Not even like, the ROTC.))
((No, but we all had faced Visser Three before and fought the Yeerks.)) Marco said. ((Maybe that counts to him. Yeah, Tanya fought that Lord Dragonass or whatever he calls himself, but that might not count to Ax.))
((Or it could be something completely different.)) Cassie sighed. ((We keep forgetting that both of them aren't humans. They might not react the same way we do.))
((True.)) Jake said feeling the weight settle back on his shoulders. ((But as long as they can work together it probably doesn't matter. I think we can trust them both to be honest with us.))
There was a long pause, then a mental sigh from Marco. ((Jake, my man. I hate to say this, but that's not totally true, is it?))
((What do you mean, Marco?)) Jake asked.
((Look she saved my mom and I owe her that, but the fact is that…that half Saurian thing? We still don't know anything about that. And we are getting really close to the point where we are going to have to start asking some questions about that and she isn't showing any signs of opening up.)) Marco sort of wobbled in the sky. Even though he was higher than Jake and few feet away, Jake could see his osprey morph clearly.
((…yeah, has anyone noticed how she clams up anytime anyone brings up the Saurian thing?)) Rachel said reluctantly. ((I mean, just today before she started to show me how to play hockey we were talking about cultural traditions and she had no issue talking about how important that game is to her people. She gives me plenty of information about how ducks see hockey but as soon as I ask her about Saurians she just shuts me down. Kinda like how she shut us down that first day at the mall. Remember that, Cassie? We were talking about an alias then she suddenly gets all weird and clams up…))
((No, wait.)) Cassie said. ((She didn't just clam up, she clammed up when we started asking questions about her brother and why their parent's gave them similar middle names.))
Jake flapped for a moment. ((She has a brother?))
((Yeah. She didn't talk about him much though.)) Rachel said. ((Soon as we started asking for details she just…wouldn't talk anymore. She's keeping a real lid on Duckworld things.))
((…I've noticed something.)) Marco said. ((You're only half right Rachel. Remember back in the Dry Lands, in Zone 91? We had an entire lecture from her about her home planet's horse creatures, and she never once got weird and shut us down. Seemed fine talking about it. Now, what was different about that conversation as opposed to the others?))
Jake puzzled that for a moment. It was on the tip of his tongue, but Tobais beat him to it.
((It's her parents.)) Tobias said. ((Or at least her family. She shut down at the mall too, with me and Ax. She self-taught herself everything she knows. All that science, and she knows some medicine to, but she never went to college, and she never got a degree and as soon as I started to ask details she shut me down. I didn't ask specifically about her parents or her family, but why wouldn't she go to the duck equivalent of college?))
((Do they just not have college?)) Cassie asked.
((They have some sort of equivalent, because she specifically said she never went to what it is and taught herself.)) Tobias said, his thought speak voice grim.
((Maybe the schools in duckland suck?)) Marco asked.
((Maybe, but take it with everything else?)) Tobais said. ((Rachel, when she shut you down, what were you specifically asking her?))
((…I…I was asking about her parents…)) Rachel said. ((When we were talking about how ducks see hockey I asked her about how Saurians thought and she specifically told me she was raised by ducks and that she's a duck and not a Saurian. But she told us before that she's part Saurian so I figured that one of her parents -has- to be one, right?))
((…guys, I think maybe we should just…you know, leave this alone for now, okay?)) Tobais said. ((I don't think this is any of our business and…it feels kinda gross to just talk about her behind her back like this.))
((Right. Drop it.)) Jake said firmly, but his mind kept spinning. He thought of his home, even with Tom and his Yeerk, Jake still had his parents. He knew how bad Marco had it without his mother, but Jake had always had his loving family to support him. But he knew that Tobias didn't. Tobias had no parents and had been raised by people that didn't care about him. Tobias only talked about his aunt and uncle when he just had to, and almost never brought it up.
Jake had never considered what Tanya's family might be like, even after knowing about the Scaleborn thing. It meant nothing to him, not really. He had no context for it. But now, flying home, he thought that maybe Tanya had more in common with Tobias than just feathers.
Meanwhile, a dimension away…
Ducks were a determined species when you got down it, and despite the sheer destruction wrought by a certain Saurian Overlord almost a year ago, most of the cities had been rebuilt nicely in that time. It helped that the sudden disappearance of the Saurians had left all of their robots behind, robots that could be taken, refitted and reprogramed to fix the mess that they had caused. The duck population barely had to put forth the gruntwork. It had seemed fitting, at the end of the day, that their homes could be rebuilt by the very things that had destroyed them. Aside from a few details the entire city was basically the same now.
Aside from the huge, newly built monument to the strike force that had disappeared along with the Saurians. By now most believed that, while they had succeeded that the entire group had died taking down Dragaunus. The monument itself was simple, a square block of marble with the image of the mask inscribed on all four sides, along with a nice tasteful plaque with the names of the team written on it, with Canard Thunderbeak's name at the top in the most prominent place.
Tilly hated it. It was the ugliest thing she had seen in her life.
She sighed and, with one eye on the crowd, she gently reached behind her with her tail and gave the fryer basket behind her a little wiggle, tossing the meaty bits of fried beetle. The long purple scaled appendage snaked from under her skirt to gently grip the handle while her hands were occupied in holding up her (perfectly normal and frankly not that bad looking, thank you very much), duck head.
It was a slow day. To be fair most days were slow driving around this stupid food van and she had forgotten how much she hated being in crowds. Fortunately, the food van helped give her an escape if she needed. She could pack up at any time and drive off. Or she could just lower the screen to not be around people for a bit.
A small buzz vibrated in her ear and she managed to keep from jerking in startlement. She hissed. "Damn it Charlie, what is it now?"
"Till, relax, just checking in, you look like you want to snap someone in half." The voice of her leader/kinda sibling but not really hissed gently from the communication device in her ear. "Come on, you're supposed to at least want to be there a little bit. You like cooking."
"Yeah, I like cooking for our family, not a bunch of feathered riff raff." Tilly snarled gently. "When are they getting here, shouldn't they have started by now? Fang, are you listening? The hell is going on with your end?"
"Tilly, I've told you time and again, the Brotherhood Formally Known As the Blade lost all of their timekeeping skills when Falcone disappeared." Fang chuckled. "They're late. At least when Falcone was running show they were better organized. Honestly, I'm thinking of branching out in my privateering. They're getting boring."
"Fang, you idiot. Privateering is ships. You aren't chasing pirates, you're doing the cops job for them, not sailing the high seas." Tilly was so distracted dealing with her damn family being stupid she didn't notice her tail whipping back and forth.
"Till, calm down your tail." A voice spoke up from the bed of the van. "You're going to... shit!" Something scrambled down near Tilly's feet and she looked up and blinked.
A small family of ducks had apparently turned up at the truck (where had they come from, had her idiots distracted her that badly?) and were staring at her wildly whipping purple tail. Two parents and a brat. Oh great. The brat was probably going to cry in three, two…
A piercing wail rang through the air as the hatchling begin to loudly weep. One of the parents scooped it up and retreated, the other giving Tilly a disgusted look as he backed away from her truck.
Perfect.
"You know, next time I need a distraction I'll bring you." Fang laughed in her ear.
"Shut up." Tilly snarled as the small family ran to a uniformed cop and began to point frantically at her food truck. "Shut up, I may have to go!"
"You're fine. Just get the paperwork out and act naturally, Tilly. Remember, you're just here selling food. You're trying to make an honest living. They can't take you in for selling street food." Charlie's annoying even tone did nothing to calm Tilly down.
"I said get out of my ear you loudmouthed over dramatic theater kid reject, I need to concentrate!" Tilly hissed as she scrambled to find all the papers she had to sign earlier in the week. "I don't need you giving me stage directions in my ear!"
"Alright. Okay. We'll be here if it goes south."
"It's already going south!"
Fortunately, her dumb brother let her have the last word and shut his damn beak as the cops approached her van. Both of them looked tense and ready to fight, and a small part of her did understand why. It did sort of make sense. While Tilly's upper body was pretty much all duck, complete with deep purple feathers and normal looking beak without any fangs or oddly colored eyes, her lower half was pure Saurian. From the waist down her feathers thinned until giving way to purple scales of the same coloration, ending in thick Saurian scaled legs and clawed feet. Normally she wore a skirt, long enough to cover most of what was underneath, but the tail was always a problem. It would always whip around when she was agitated or excited. While she did have some control over it sometimes it just grew a mind of its own at the worst possible times. Like now.
Trying desperately to make her smile look not like a grimace, or a threat, Tilly struggled to get her tail to stop twitching its tip in agitation. Stupid extra appendage. "Good afternoon, Officers, how can I serve you?" Ancestors she hoped she didn't sound as fake to their ears as she did to her own.
"What are you doing here, lizard." The younger of the two cops glared at her openly, while his senior partner simply gave Tilly a cold stare. She had a feeling there wasn't going to be a 'good cop' in this scenario.
She sighed and started laying papers down on the counter. "Selling food. Here's the food license." And another paper. "Health inspection papers." And a card. "Drivers license." And the last paper. "Official pardon papers signed by General McMallard himself."
Of course, the older one zeroed in on the last set of papers. He grabbed them and ruffled through them, occasionally looking up at her while his partner openly shoved his head into the truck, and Tilly's personal space, and looked around the van as if expecting to see a platoon of hunter drones crammed in like clowns at a circus. The feathers on her arms ruffled as he got inches from her and a nervous chill ran down her spine. She could practically smell him and it made her skin crawl.
"What did you do that required these?" the older cop asked in an almost reasonable tone.
"Nothing." Tilly said.
"…nothing?" He studied her, looking over at her tail, the same look of disgust flashing over his face as the brat's parent's before him. "What do you mean, nothing?"
"I mean, nothing. I did nothing. I didn't help either side. I. Did. Nothing." Tilly struggled to keep the tail from lashing and possibly hitting the other cop who was practically climbing through her damn window now. Normally she would have offered to let him in but she be damned if she was going to do something for one of them without being asked first.
"So you're not a traitor, just a coward?" Young cop asked.
Tilly shrugged. "Sure." It wasn't worth it, it wasn't worth it…
"Well, I don't see anything wrong with these…" The older cop sighed. "At least not anything obvious…"
"How do we know it hasn't done something to this?" the younger cop waved a hand over the meaty bits. "I mean, this van is awfully clean, why is that?"
"…because I'm selling food." Tilly said very very slowly.
"Lizard's aren't exactly clean…" Young cop finally stuck his head out of the van as Tilly fought down the urge to slap him. Instead she tilted her head towards the ugly monument.
"Not all Scaleborn are the same, if you take a moment to read over those names."
"There are hundreds of you. Only one of you did anything good. Great track record." Young cop sneered. "And a least one of you didn't even have the courtesy to stay out of it or fight for the right side."
She briefly wondered if she would be having this conversation if the Saurians had won instead. Instead, she simply looked at the older cop who was still ruffling through the damn papers as if he expected a sudden discovery to jump out and yell surprise. She said nothing more. It was one of those things she was glad Mercy had taught them from when the clutch were hatchlings. Never say anything more than necessary to a cop. Give them only the information they ask for. Never volunteer. Never show them any fear or hate or anger. They're like wild bieor. Don't give them an excuse to gore you.
"There's really nothing here we can take her in for." Older cop said. "Scaring people isn't a crime." He gave her another cold glance. "But maybe you should clear out. So there aren't anymore misunderstandings."
Yeah, sure 'misunderstandings'. "I'll consider it." She said.
"I highly suggest you do." The cop said. It wasn't a threat, but it was threat adjacent.
Thankfully, though the younger cop still shot her disgusted looks over his shoulder, the two of them left. For a brief moment he scratched the side of his neck, and Tilly caught sight of a patch of thin feathers that just barely covered scarring around his throat. Tilly felt the irritation and anger subside. She sighed.
"You okay?" A random shadow next to her asked.
"Sometimes I forget why they hate us so much, you know?"
"Us? We didn't do anything. We're not Saurians." The shadow shifted slightly to reveal a small figure that barely came up to Tilly's waist. Unlike Tilly this one couldn't be mistaken for anything but a Scaleborn, or perhaps a fully blown Saurian. While she did have a thin covering of fluffy feathers on her back and head, this new Scaleborn was shaped like a mythical wyvern from earth, with a long serpentine head, gigantic (relative to her body), arms that ended in three powerful fingers, with a fourth finger unusually long and thin from which a thick membrane wing grew. Her legs were small and compact, but powerful with thick graspy talons. She was small and a pure white color with glowing red eyes. Despite this she had hidden in the shadows without a sign until she decided to show herself, as if for a brief moment she was a shadow. Her own tail ended in a small brush of feathers.
"I don't know, you can definitely pass, Sarah." Tilly said, managing to smile slightly, a real one this time.
"Pah, nonsense. I'm the pinnacle of high duck society. I have more feathers than a pillow." Sarah ducked low and sort of scuttled until she was directly under the counter.
"A small pillow, maybe. A throw pillow. Or maybe the little tiny pillows that people get for pet beds." Tilly chuckled.
"Again, nonsense." Sarah fluffed her feathers in faux pride. "There is nothing Saurian about me."
"Magic dragon girl says there's nothing Saurian about here, suuuure." Tilly shook her head.
"It's not magic, it's natural talent."
"Tell that to that tiny green jerk with the shapeshifting." Tilly replied.
"I am not convinced that was magic." Sarah said.
"Maybe not." Wasn't the old one the magic one? She thought so. But the fact that Sarah could shift herself into the shadows and vanish from view no matter how bright it was did suggest that some Scaleborn quirks came from their Saurian parentage, not their duck sides. Thankfully the shadow blending was useful. Like for today.
If she hadn't been somewhat expecting it the loud booming noise coming from the direction of the bank would have startled Tilly. She turned her head and looked out the window. Finally. There, across the square on the other side of the monument was the bank, which was now expelling panicking ducks as the sound of laser fire echoed.
"And the riff raff are a go! Get into position, Tilly." Charlie's voice came from the communicator. "Fang, show time!"
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Fang's voice echoed with his annoying, cocky laugh as Tilly jumped into the drivers seat of the food van and gunned it. The van rolled forwards until she was right next to the monument, then she flipped a switch under the van's steering wheel and the thing came to a horrible crashing stop. She flipped a few switches and pushed a few buttons but it appeared like the van had stalled.
"You! Move it, lizard!" The older cop appeared next to Tilly and almost gave her damn heart attack. "There's a break in at the bank!"
"I'm trying, it won't start!" She hollered back as he attempted to reach in and press a few buttons himself. She yelled and held up a random pan lid as few of the firing lasers came a bit to close to his head. "Get out of here and handle that! I'm not the one shooting civilians, that's all you ducks doing!"
He spared her a look that would have fried her own feathers off, but he did listen to reason and ducked behind the van, circling around to approach the bank's windows with his own weapon drawn. He made it halfway there when he was cut off by a slim figure carrying two long sticks who leaped through the window, yelling something about 'miscreants'. Tilly didn't have to see inside the bank to know what was going on in there. Fang, her 'brother' using those two sticks he liked as weapons to combat the thieving ways of the gang that had once been the Brotherhood of the Blade, who apparently without either Duke or Falcone had turned to more traditional methods of robbery. Or at least some of them had. Tilly had never really paid attention to Fang's rants about them.
"We really should have curbed Fang's crime fighting enthusiasm a long time." She muttered as she felt Sarah bush by her invisibly.
"To late now, the tights are on and I doubt they are ever coming off." Sarah laughed.
"Ew." Tilly shuddered. Her ears managed to catch small beeps and clicks coming from the base of the monument were Sarah was coiled next to, in broad daylight but out of sight. "How much longer?"
"It's been five seconds and it's really deep in this thing. Damn the ducks, why did they have to construct a monument over the drop site! Why did Lucretia drop it here!"
"To be fair she didn't know they were constructing an ugly square brick here." Charlie said reasonably through the comms. "…ouch, Fang, I think he just gave that big guy a concussion."
"Good, I hope whoever he is bashing over the head chokes on it."
"…chokes on the concussion?"
"You heard me."
"Got it, let's move." The van shook as Sarah climbed in. Tilly gave a sigh of relief and switched the switch to the other side. She turned the wheel of the van and begin to speed off in the opposite direction of the bank. She briefly stopped at a side street as a golden blur jumped from a roof to the back of the van, opened the door and climbed in. She was driving a few seconds later as Charlie grabbed a hand hold hanging from the ceiling and braced himself.
"You're going to have to circle around to the back of the bank, they're shooting at Fang." He said.
"OF course, the thieves are shooting at Fang!"
"No, I mean the cops are shooting at Fang."
"…please tell me the cops are shooting at the thieves as well."
"Ummm…some of them are?"
"Of course…" Tilly sighed and spun the wheel, diving through a side street. "Have I mentioned I hate ducks?"
"You have." Both Charlie and Sarah agreed.
"Have I mentioned how much they all suck?" She griped.
"You have." Replied the peanut gallery.
"Have I mentioned that Fang is an idiot."
"Every day." Sarah rolled her eyes as she spread her wings across the floor of the van and hunched for extra stability.
"Sometimes two or three times a day." Charlie said mildly.
"Good…I'm going to kill those girls when they get back."
"I'm sure by the time you've told me that for another year or two it might begin to stick in." Charlie said with a fond grin.
"Hellooo, ladies." Fang had the biggest smug grin that Tilly had ever seen as he swung his way into the passenger seat of the moving vehicle. Through the window. "Fancy meeting you here."
Tilly made her general objections be known by sharply turning the van and speeding up, throwing the grinning moron back into his seat and nearly sending Charlie back out the rear of the van. The long fangs that gave…well Fang his name glittered at he continued to smile at Tilly. The moron was, aside from the sharp teeth and long saber fangs that poked over the bottom of his beak and next to his chin, was utterly normal aside from his tendency to wear long cloaks and slink around rooftops at night looking for naughty ducks to hit with his sticks.
Tilly loved her family but they were all a bunch of freaks.
"Can we go home now?" She grumped.
"Yes, we can go home now." Charlie said, not bothering to get up from the floor of the van this time.
"Wonderful." Tilly turned the van down yet another street and headed north, carefully following the edge of the traffic laws as she headed out of the stupid duck city.
It wasn't until she was fully out of the city and back into the wilderness that the knot of fear and tension on her chest began to unravel.
For almost a hundred years, Icespire had stood alone. Frozen in time. Not even the Saurians had managed to break the barrier, though they had tried many times. It loomed in the middle of a frozen lake, tall spikes of ice reaching for the sky like sinister blades. A dome of frost of light stood over it like a fishbowl, preventing anything from coming in.
Or leaving.
Mercy had told Charlie and the rest of the clutch the story many times. Icespire had been almost a beacon of hope for the clutch. A lost city that had once teemed with Scaleborn like them. A place, a home that they could have called their own. A place where they didn't have to hide themselves or pretend to be ashamed of what they were. A place where they could finally be safe.
It wasn't entirely true, but it could be, one day. If they could pop that bubble and get in, maybe they could finally have a legacy that didn't make half of his family want to either hide themselves away or mutilate themselves like Amy had…
Speaking of Amy, Charlie turned the data tube that Sarah had extracted from the monument in his claws. Almost a year ago they had gotten word from one of their missing family, and would have picked up the message sooner if the site hadn't been crawling with duck construction workers building that damn thing right on top of it. Charlie had no idea how they missed it. Maybe some sort of encoding on the part of its sender, but thankfully they hadn't found it. Unfortunate it meant it had taken the clutch this long to receive it.
Charlie ducked into the underground lair the clutch had constructed in the ice caves in the cliffs just west of Icespire. The cliffs were on the shore, a short skate away from their ancestral homeland. Close, but out of reach. For now.
Charlie opened the door to Amy's lair and pushed a button next to the door light. The other Scaleborn was messing around with her radio equipment, and as he pushed the button she straightened from whatever she was doing and turned to face him. She reached up and twisted on the circular side of a device that went over her head like a pair of headphones, a pair of headphones with a visor attached over her eyes. She poked a button on one then began to sign at him.
"Did you find it?" She asked, her fingers shaking slightly in excitement as she signed.
He nodded. "Yeah. We got it. Think you can do anything with it?"
She sort of leaned her head back, and he knew she was rolling her eyes at him. "I'll have to take a look at it. I'm not exactly your sister, Ger." She signed.
"I know, I know." He walked over and handed it to her. "Just do your best."
She nodded, grabbed the cylinder from his claws and turned for a computer, leaving the radio she had been toying with for the moment. She pushed the cylinder into a port and typed in a few commands as Charlie struggled to not pace or lash his tail.
As it usually did when he was bored his mind began to wander to his clutch. Every time he saw that thing on Amy's head he felt a stab of rage and hatred. There had been nothing wrong with her at first. She was a perfectly healthy normal woman. But once she had long, feathery ears on her head, ears that just screamed 'oh look, it's not a normal duck feature, must be a Saurian!'. In an effort to 'help' the ducks had surgically removed her ears.
They thought they were helping, he had to remind himself. They hadn't intended for her to get a bad ear infection. They hadn't intended for her go deaf.
He really hoped they hadn't.
Tanya had made the headset for Amy, like she had built the artificial prosthetic legs that Mercy used to this day. The headset translated words and the visor provided captions for Amy in real time. Despite this, and while Amy was grateful for it, they still all learned sign language anyway, just in case. These days Amy hardly bothered to speak at all. No one could really blame her, though she did keep the visor.
"So, we got it decrypted yet?" Tilly strode in, hands full of the leftover meaty bits from the food van. "These things aren't going to go bad, you made me make them, Charlie, you get to help eat em!"
"They're pretty good." Sarah emerged from a shadow. "Very crunchy. Good with that red sauce." She plucked a packet of red sauce between two claws and glooped it over a small paper bowl of meaty bits. She then dipped her entire face into the bits and began to crunch.
Amy snapped her fingers and half turned to the small crowd. "Hush." She signed. "There's a message."
"From who, Tanya or…" Charlie trailed off.
"Turn it on and let's find out." Tilly said.
Amy nodded and pushed a few more buttons. To Charlie's disappointment the face that popped up wasn't his half sister's, but the face of somehow who made the migraine behind his eyes flare up.
Lucrecia Decoy was checking over her shoulder before turning to face the camera. "Hey, Gerhard, and whoever else is with him…I found them." She smiled, self-assured and arrogant as ever. "Dragaunus led me right to them, just like I told Mercy he would." She shook her head. "There's a lot to explain, and I don't have much time. I need to send this before the strike team wiggles out of the trap I set for them or Dragaunus finds out I'm leaking information to you guys. They're in another dimension on a planet called 'earth'. Full of these awkward looking monkey people. The only one I met is really gross, I don't know how they stand to be around it. The ducks have no idea who I am, except Tanya. I had to tie her up a bit…they really have her brainwashed. I don't know what they did, but they're just as awful as Mercy and I thought. Two of these idiots can't keep themselves from hitting on me and the General's little princess is just strutting around like she owns the joint. I tried to talk Tanya down but you know how stubborn she is, Gerhard. But don't worry. Either by tonight they'll no longer be a problem or…well I don't know. If I have to tie her up and bring her back to you kicking and screaming I will. I don't really care what Dragaunus' plans are but he has the dimensional gateway and if I play my cards right I'll be through it by tonight with our sister. But just in case I sent the plans for the thing with this data. I'm going to connect with the portal just long enough to send it through. He won't notice an odd blip on his radar while he's busy gloating about melting Monkey City." She paused and looked behind her again. "I know you probably think I should have talked to them, explained about us. If Canard was here maybe, but…he's gone, Gerhard. I don't know where he is but that mask of his in the hands of some random duck I've never heard of before. Someone called Wildwing. I can't trust him, who knows how he got that mask. Who knows what he might have done to Canard. I don't think that he would have given it up willingly. It doesn't matter. I'll see you in a few days, I hope." The message cut off, leaving a blank screen behind.
Charlie took a deep breath. "So, seeing as how neither her or Tanya have been heard of since, I think we can assume that something with wrong with her plan."
"Oh really?" Sarah sighed. "Something with wrong Lady Paranoia's plans? You must be joking, Ger."
"Do you think Mercy might know more about the strike force?" Amy signed. "Lucy did imply she knew something."
"Knowing her all Mercy would have to say is something like 'I don't like that one duck's dress sense' and she would have blown it into a full blown conspiracy against her." Tilly grumbled. "Not that I don't think that the ducks are keeping Tanya under duress. Seems like something they would do."
"That really sounds like something Canard would do?" Sarah asked.
"Canard isn't there, according to Lucy. Yeah, maybe he fully intended to keep them from harassing her, but if he's gone what to stop them from doing…who knows what?" Tilly argued.
"Practicality." Charlie said. "First, we know that Lucy is unreasonably paranoid about ducks. But we also know that Tanya will bend over backwards to please them. If anyone can navigate dealing with hostile ducks, it's her."
"Yeah, by pulling in and being a doormat." Tilly said.
"She's not a doormat." Amy signed.
"To us, Amy, but we give a damn about her. What would motivate ducks to do the same?" Tilly argued.
"I did speak to Canard about his little plan before he ran off, and Mercy was there." Charlie pointed out. "Canard asked Tanya to go because of what she can do. And while I don't trust any of the rest of them, we know that they are stranded in an alien dimension with a group of…monkey people. And the Saurian Overlord isn't going to send them home with a wave and a smile. They are trapped and the only person who has the ability to get them back is our sister. I know the makeup of the team. Canard took a thief, a very big guy, a goalie and the princess with him. Tanya is the only one in the group who could figure out that portal technology. If they have a prayer of coming back they need her. They aren't going to hurt her."
"You better be right about that Charlie, or monkeys and Saurians aren't the only thing those ducks are going to have to worry about." Tilly cracked her knuckles.
"Amy, you think you can study those dimensional gate plans and punch a hole to Monkey world?" Charlie asked.
"Ger, it's going to take months for me to figure this out." Amy signed. "I told you I'm not your half sister."
"I know, but do the best you can, we just can't sit idly by." Charlie said. "I'm going to contact Mercy, see if she's had another visit from the dear general."
"Gerhard, are you going to tell McMallard about this, I mean…the princess is his kid after all." Sarah asked gently.
Gerhard's eyes narrowed and his gaze drifted to Amy's headset. "Let him stew. What did he ever do for us?"
"I mean, aside from sheltering us for years…" Sarah pointed out but Charlie cut her off.
"He did nothing for us aside from keeping us prisoner for crimes our parents committed! I'm not telling him jack shit!" Charlie's tail lashed back and forth. "He better be grateful that I'm even considering using the gate that Amy is going to make to bring them all back!"
"Wait, you're going to bring them all back, even the creep that might have killed Canard?" Tilly asked.
"Yes, I am. If he did murder Canard that's for the ducks to handle. I don't care about ducks. I care about us. I'm not going to give the ducks an excuse to go after us. We are rescuing all of them, but the moment we bring them back I'm dumping them all in front of McMallard's stoop and he can sort them out! Maybe then he'll stop harassing Mercy!"
"Guys, as much as I love reading all of your duck bitching I need to get to work, so kindly get out of my space." Amy signed at them, her entire body radiating exasperation.
"Right. Sorry Amy." Charlie nodded at the others as they began to pile out, Tilly leaving Amy some of the meaty bits behind as a snack. They began to drift away, each pondering their own thoughts. Except Sarah.
Sarah placed a wing on Charlie's arm. "Ger, you know that Lucy exaggerates, and Tilly is primed to fight ducks. What if they're wrong and ducks aren't being cruel to our sister?"
"It changes nothing, Sarah. If they are just using her or even if they actually care, it makes no difference. We will bring them back either way, but we are not going to leave her with them. Even if they are friendly you saw how the cops treated Tilly. You know that McMallard won't leave Mercy alone. We can't rely on ducks to take care of us." He sighed. "We can't rely on Saurians either, they just made things worse. We have to stand on our own, like our great grandparents did before. Scaleborn need to look out of Scaleborn, no one else."
"There's so few of us, Ger." Sarah pointed out.
"I know, that's why we need to find both of them." Charlie sighed. "I'm leaving no one behind."
No matter what, he wouldn't let his family down again.
A/N: Honestly the Puckword parts were not here at first but in going over my notes I can to the realization that might need to slowly intro these ocs or I'd end up springing them all at the reader in the final arc and that it would be a better idea to show them earlier. It's also meant to give a tiny bit of context to the Scaleborn thing and why Tanya keeps dodging the subject like oncoming traffic.
To be fair to duck as a whole they have a good reason to mistrust the Scaleborn, but the Scaleborn have equal reason to mistrust them right back. It was already a vicious cycle but then Dragaunus came and, to many ducks, confirmed the reason why you shouldn't trust Scaleborn, and certain traitors didn't help with that impression.
There is another big reason for the general mistrust and bias against Scaleborn, but that would be telling.