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Post by Shiro/Efflit on Nov 9, 2011 23:37:05 GMT -5
Goal: Draw out uninfested individuals, preferably animorphs.
Status: Pending.
The plan was simple enough. One of his underlings was currently in the head of a six year old girl, perched precariously atop some rickety scaffolding at the site of a half-constructed building. From their station atop the scaffolding, they were crying and screaming just as a child without a yeerk would be expected to do if they were stuck in the same situation. The idea was that an uninfested person who happened upon the scene would be compelled to come to the girl's aid.
They had already captured two new hosts by doing this, and they had only been at it for an hour. However, they were only consolation prizes. There were easier ways to come by new hosts than by setting up such an elaborate trap. The real prize, should they obtain it, would be so much sweeter.
Animorphs.
The shape-shifting scourge of Seattle. For the last two years they had caused nothing but problems. They had finally become enough of a nuisance that a task force was created in order to eradicate or capture the vigilantes. A task force that Efflit 1431 had been put in charge of. After all, it takes a morpher to catch a morpher.
Shiro's bat ears twitched as the girl's cries rang out into the late afternoon air once again. He was perched under the eave of a church across the street from the trap, watching and waiting. And if need be, he could deliver thought speech messages to his men who were on stand-by within the church.
Come out, come out, wherever you are...
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Post by Rue Fraser on Nov 12, 2011 21:21:22 GMT -5
I haven't saved anyone yet, but I'm gonna try. --
How could anyone not hear that sound?
This was supposed to be just a practice day. Rue planned to use today to get used to using her magpie morph and this whole flying thing. Sure, she had gone in the War Room a couple of times to practice, but when one was using a bird morph, it was better to learn to fly in a big area. She thought she was getting the hang of it too, finding that balance that Ashley had talked about between her instinct and the bird's instinct-- or whatever she had said. That had been, what, days ago? The day she got recruited and Kyle got captured and then a whole bunch of other Animorphs came into the picture.
That just seemed like forever ago. Now, as she was practicing and flying about Seattle with her magpie, she heard it. She heard the girl's screams. Maybe it was part of that maternal instinct that she denied she had, but she heard that child's screams loud and clear. The source was a bit west from her, and down of course. Definitely down. She flew lower and toward the west, looking around. Why would a girl be screaming? The Yeerks had better not be trying to capture children too. She could understand capturing teenagers and adults. But children? Really? That was low.
And there was the source of the screaming. Up on some scaffolding near a not-finished building was a little girl. She couldn't be older than seven or six, and she was on top of that scaffolding screaming. A much more rational person would have asked how the little girl got up there and why she was there, and why no one else had come to get her yet. Rue didn't do those things. She saw that little girl crying and immediately felt the need to do something about it, to get that little girl down.
But how in the hell was she going to do that? It wasn't like she could go up on top of the scaffolding and rescue the girl that way. Both of them would fall that way. No, maybe she'd just demorph and then see what she could do from there. Maybe she could catch the girl? Call for help? If she needed to, if she really needed to, she'd climb up that scaffolding and get the girl. For now, she circled down so she was behind the church across the street, making sure no one could see her as she demorphed. That was just something else she wasn't used to yet, the gross sounds of bones forming, getting bigger, and feathers turning to hair, skin and fingers and all that stuff.
It took her some time to demorph, at least three minutes at least. Her beak formed into a mouth, red hair growing almost magically. Her legs became longer, much longer, and her wings disappeared. Regular human again. When she finished, she walked out from behind the church, looking at the screaming girl. She was an Animorph now. She had to do something.
"Don't worry," she yelled up to the girl, "I'm gonna help you." Not really sure how yet since this was definitely something Rue never did before, but she was working on that. Slowly, she walked toward the scaffolding, trying to think as she went. [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Nov 12, 2011 22:24:20 GMT -5
"I'm doing this with or without your help." Blake sighed, but what he really wanted to do was punch a wall. "Savannah... we don't have any back-up in case something goes wrong." "She might not have the time for us to get back-up." He looked over at his little sister, not for the first time wishing she was a little less of a rebel... unlike himself. Not for the first time wishing that this whole war was just a nightmare and he'd wake up from it. The truth was hard to accept. Still, she had a point. "This isn't like before the war. You can't get everything you want. Not since Mom and Dad..." He stopped, not wanting to say it. The truth was that their family had been well off before this whole mess. They'd come from a relatively wealthy family, but that was what had made them targets. Their parents had been infested, their money used to fund the yeerks takeover. Blake and Savannah had narrowly escaped that fate. Finding the free resistance they were part of had taken time, time in which they'd learned to be tough and to make it on their own. Nothing was perfect, though. The resistance was suffering from... a split. Some wanting to just exist, thinking that if they did nothing they would be left alone. The others, comprised mostly of younger adults and the teens - like Blake and Savannah - wanted to fight back, to be rid of the yeerks. The two factions had split, the siblings joining the one that wished to fight. They were supposed to just be on a supply run this time. A simple supply run that was turning into a rescue mission. "Blake, we need to help her." "No, helping her isn't a necessity and will not help us getting rid of the yeerks." But the look she gave him told him that this was not a case that could be argued. The truth was he wanted to help the child too, but something about this just seemed... wrong. Why was this girl out here? What was she doing up there? It didn't make sense, but his sister lead with her heart and he knew she'd follow through on her threat of acting with or without him. He sighed. "Ok. You stay here in case something goes wrong. Be my back-up. I'll go in and..." She frowned as she interrupted him. "Look, I know you're trying to protect me, and I appreciate it, but..." "Shhh..." He covered her mouth and pulled her into a shadow as a red-haired woman approached the scaffolding the girl was on. They'd been standing across the street from the construction site debating how to help the child - or even whether to help the child. They'd nearly been seen, and since they didn't know who she was it would be best if they weren't seen. "Where did she come from?" Savannah asked, pulling free of her brother's grip. "I don't know..." "Well, she's one more person who can help," Savannah said, starting toward the construction site. "Sh*t." Blake swore and tried to grab her, but it was too late. Once again Savannah to the rescue with no plan what-so-ever. Not knowing what else to do he started after.
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Post by Shiro/Efflit on Nov 13, 2011 15:51:40 GMT -5
Movement.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shiro spotted a human female walking toward the scaffolding. With his bat eyes it was difficult to make out the details about her, but something seemed off. He wasn't sure what, but he could find out as soon as they captured her. <<A young adult female is approaching the bait. Prepare to move out on my mark,>> he said to his men inside the church.
"Don't worry. I'm gonna help you," the girl said. The controller on the scaffolding peeked over the edge, acting as pathetic and scared as they could manage. Efflit would have to remember to ask for that member to be on his team again in the future. Their skills of deception were impressive, even by yeerk standards.
Efflit was about to give the go ahead to his men just as two more people showed up. <<Hold fast. There are two more targets approaching the first. Both young adults. One male, one female.>> Efflit had a feeling that he might want to hear their interactions. If there were more people hiding nearby who might come to their rescue, Efflit would want to know about them.
Even with bat ears Shiro would not be able to reliably hear what they said from three stories up across the street, so he spread his wings and flew toward the scaffolding. He flitted around a bit and found a perch below his still-acting underling. From this vantage point he could finally see what had seemed out of place about the girl from earlier. He couldn't be positive, but was fairly certain about his assessment.
She was wearing a morphing suit.
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Post by Rue Fraser on Dec 14, 2011 1:01:42 GMT -5
Way to be inconspicuous. --
Okay, how was she going to get this kid off of the scaffolding and onto safe ground? It wasn't like Rue could just zap up there, grab the girl, and then zap back down to the ground and leave. She didn't have a morph that could fly up there and bring her down either. Maybe she should have asked Javier for a bird morph that could carry people. Pfft, like she would have ever thought of that. Shoot, she wasn't good with things like this and she knew it. She thought that maybe she should go get one of the leaders. They'd handle this better.
Nah. Besides, this would be a great opportunity to show that she could be an asset to them. She could help the kid get down if they went down the scaffolding together. It'd be dangerous, but that was kind of her only option here. Well, the only one she could see.
Before she started climbing, she heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around, seeing two people run up to her. She didn't know these people. Great, they might be Yeerks and she'd have to run before she nearly got captured again. The problem was that they didn't look like Yeerks. They didn't look evil. They might just be actual human beings that wanted to help this girl, and they could all work as a team. Yeah, that sounded like a possibility. She should probably still be skeptical. Any sudden bad movements, she'd run.
"Uh, don't know who you guys are, but could you help me get her down from there?" she asked. [/font]
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Dec 14, 2011 12:43:14 GMT -5
They'd made it across the street to the construction site, and upon noticing their approach the red-head had turned to face them. This had also given Blake time to get a good look at her outfit. Why anyone was wearing something that was that form fitting? His judgement was either she was attempting to show off or... well, he really had no clue what other purpose there could be to such outfit. Yes, he'd heard of the Animorphs. However he was not aware of the necessity for a morphing suit. Not yet anyways. Rue made a comment about not knowing who they were, and Blake shrugged. "Well, we don't really know who you are either. Welcome to the club." He made no attempt to hide the fact that he was wary of Rue. Savannah glared at him and said, "What my brother meant to say is we'll be glad to help. We'd been debating how to get the girl down ourselves." "Look, I realize you want me to 'play nice,' but the truth is we don't know the first thing about her," Blake said, despite that bickering with his sister didn't really help the girl. "I'd rather be rude to a perfectly nice person than be dead because she's a controller." He started glancing around, watching for any signs of an ambush. Or any signs that a controller had noticed them and was trying to take advantage of three targets being so conveniently distracted. Savannah ignored her brother, who in her opinion was being less than helpful, and kept her gaze on Rue. "Do you have any ideas as to how we could get her down? Aside from the obvious of someone climbing up and then back down with the girl?"
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Post by Shiro/Efflit on Dec 15, 2011 20:29:47 GMT -5
It was obvious that the three people did not all know each other before now. They just happened upon the same scene at the same time. The boy and girl who had approached the one in the morphing suit were brother and sister, and apparently disagreed on some key issues, but other than that it was difficult to learn much more about them. However, it seemed they were all generally distrustful yet willing to work with each other in order to get the child down from the scaffolding.
Efflit's mind raced to try and think of a way he could use that to his advantage. Or maybe he should just bring his men in now and get this over with. Yeah, that would probably be best.
As if anticipating this decision, Efflit's host offered his own input. <<Wouldn't it be wiser to wait a little longer?>> Shiro said. <<Maybe some of their teammates will come to help. If that girl really is one of the animorphs, you could potentially capture more.>>
<<Pitiful, Shiro. Absolutely pitiful.>> Efflit replied. <<You are just trying to stall for time. The longer I wait to call in my men, the greater the chance they see through the ruse.>> Efflit didn't even have to guess at the accuracy of his assessment of Shiro's motives. He could read it in his thoughts.
But Shiro wasn't done trying yet. <<Or... you should at least fly around and make sure there aren't people waiting in the shadows... What if there are reinforcements?>>
<<You do have a good point...>> he said to his host. While Shiro was certainly still trying to stall for time, Efflit could tell that the man truly did think it would be a wise decision as well. Taking this new knowledge into consideration, Efflit used thought speech to send a message to his underlings inside the church. <<Move in for the capture. Take extra care to leave the shoeless one alive.>>
This time it was Efflit's turn to anticipate Shiro. <<You did have a good point, Mr. Shigure. But remember, you need to boil the chicken while the water is hot.>>
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Post by Rue Fraser on Jan 9, 2012 11:59:12 GMT -5
And people wonder why I'm so happy I'm an only child. --
Good news: the two wanted to help and had been thinking of a way to get the little girl down. Bad news: only one of them really did and the other one didn't trust her. It was definitely reasonable to think she was a Controller since anyone could be, but did he really need to, you know, say that out loud? If she really was a Controller, wouldn't she have done something by now? With that sort of comment, she might have pulled out one of those gun things and tried to capture them both. But she wasn't, and she was alone. She didn't like being alone, but she also hated being confined to just a ship.
Well, the woman asked if she had a plan other than just straight climbing up there and getting the girl. Unfortunately, that was kind of her only idea. Did she look like a girl with a plan? "That's kind of my only idea right now," she told the woman, not proud to admit that. There had to be something else they could do besides climb up. Rue wasn't one for climbing anyway. "I could try and get some backup to help get her down from my... team. Yeah." Right, couldn't tell anyone she was an Animorph now. She didn't know these people either, and even though they didn't seem like Controllers, she needed to be careful.
"Unless you've got another plan. I don't really know."
The Yeerk above them waited for them to make a decision, continuing to cry out and sob. At least one of them needed to make a move sooner or later. Either that, Efflit was going to bring in his men and grab them. Why wasn't he doing that already anyway? They had three people here that were obviously not infested, one of them possibly being an Animorph. Why not just get this over with and grab them? Efflit was probably waiting for something though, waiting to see if more came or whatnot. He was clever like that. [/font]
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Feb 27, 2012 23:41:20 GMT -5
Savannah sighed and glared at her brother. "And if she was a controller that comment would have likely gotten us both captured. Or worse, killed." Blake just seemed stunned by the comment, like he hadn't completely thought that fact through. The expression of shock remained on his face for a moment before it went back to being an emotionless mask. He just kept his eyes out for any signs of a threat and decided to let Savannah and the stranger sort out how to rescue the little girl. "I didn't have any other plans to be honest," Savannah said, letting her attention return to the woman beside them. "Oh... and before things get too out of hand, I'm Savannah, this is Blake. I figure we need something to call each other. Something better than 'Hey you.'" It may not have been any sort of a long-term relationship, but not knowing names just made communication and strategy that much more difficult. She glance up at the child then looked back to the woman. "I'm a decent climber. I might be able to get to her. However, my brother and I have weapons and can fight off controllers if they come. You... well, no offense, but you clearly don't." Then again, Savannah knew nothing of Rue's ability to morph. If she had she might have decided to start climbing, because a leopard was possibly a little more of a threat than a handgun.
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Post by Shiro/Efflit on Mar 1, 2012 16:50:05 GMT -5
When Shiro's sensitive bat ears picked up the sound of the church doors opening and the sound of footsteps that followed, Efflit had his host take wing. The little brown bat wings took him swiftly to where his men were making their way over to the three free humans. <<Four of you circle around to the back of the abandoned building. I don't want any of them escaping through the wreckage. The other four, corral them from the front. All dracon beams on stun.>> Efflit would have had some of his men positioned inside of the building behind the scaffolding ahead of time, but he knew it would have been a likely rout of approach for free humans who were curious.
After issuing his orders, Efflit landed on the street behind his men and began to demorph. The bat's form was handy for moving about quickly and discretely, as well as for listening and communicating with thought speech, but if thing started to go awry, he wanted to remain versatile. Even though he would be weaponless once demorphed, Shiro's military training would make him more than a match for most other unarmed humans. And if need be, he could morph into his elephant seal form. There were few land animals someone could morph that could hope to defeat such a beast.
Before he lost his thought speech abilities, he used them to speak with the free humans, as they surely would have noticed the approaching controllers by now. <<This is Efflit 1431. Surrender peacefully to avoid unnecessary complications. Resist, and you shall despair.>>
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Post by Rue Fraser on Mar 1, 2012 19:21:41 GMT -5
Good move Rue. Real good move. --
So this was Savannah and Blake. Yeah, it was probably better to have something to call them instead of that woman or that guy. "Sounds good," she replied, "You can call me Rue." Good thing about her name was that it was short already, and she would definitely hear it. Call her Ruth, and she'd probably ignore it. She looked back up at the little girl up there, who was probably wondering why the three people on the ground were taking so long to make up their minds about what to do. Poor thing. They'd get her down though, one way or another.
Savannah said she could probably climb and get the girl since she was a good climber, and her and her brother had weapons to defend themselves. Of course, she also made the point that Rue didn't. Rue frowned. What was she supposed to do then, just stand there and watch these two get the girl and protect her? No freaking way was she going to just let that happen. Besides, she could climb up there so much faster than them. Leopards were made for climbing... weren't they? She wasn't there that day in school when they discussed that. They probably were though.
"Oh hell yes I do," she replied, "I'll climb up there and get her. Just you watch." Determined to impress now, she concentrated on her morph. She hadn't really practiced much with this morph at all, and it was probably dangerous to use. Still, that girl needed to be rescued, and the leopard could get up there the quickest out of the three of them. Slowly, she started changing. Bones cracked as she appeared to crouch down, getting smaller and stronger. Her long legs became shorter and more powerful, ready to make large leaps and bounds. Pale skin changed to tan fur with black rosettes, a long tail growing from her tailbone. Whiskers came out of her cheeks, and her nose became flatter and pink. Her eyes narrowed, yet her vision greatly improved.
In three minutes time, she was a full grown leopard. Unfortunately, she hadn't realized what was happening during those three minutes. Almost as soon as she finished morphing, and was desperately trying to get the leopard under control, she heard the thought-speak in her head. <<What?!>> she thought to herself, and then she turned. Those people weren't there before. They were starting to approach all three of them. Whoever gave them that command wanted them to surrender. Or they'd be killed.
And the little girl was no longer on her perch, but was gone. The leopard felt threatened, and was backing away from the Yeerks. Rue couldn't really control it. She was just as scared as the leopard. Not only that, but she was pissed. Damn everything to hell-- she had let herself get caught along with these two. And they wanted her to surrender?! No way she wanted to do that. Unfortunately, she wasn't exactly ready to jump into combat with these guys. The leopard clearly didn't want to fight, and they had guns. They were armed and could shoot faster than she could run.
It didn't help the fact that all three of them were tricked into this. No, the Yeerks had probably planned everything from the beginning. <<Dammit!>> she yelled in her head. Then, she used her thought speech abilities to talk to Savannah and Blake. <<We've got no choice. They were ready for us.>> The leopard bowed its head, its official form of surrender. This wasn't over yet though. Rue was going to make sure they found a way out of this somehow. [/font]
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Mar 9, 2012 14:18:30 GMT -5
Neither sibling could be sure what surprised them more in that moment. Was it the woman –Rue she’d said her name was – changing form to become a leopard? Or was it when the voice sounded in their heads telling them to surrender. The only thing either could be sure of was that the latter was bad news, very bad. Despite that it was now obvious the three of them were all more than capable of fighting; there was not a high chance of survival if they attempted to take on the number of controllers facing them right now. Blake heard Rue tell them that they had no choice, talking in their heads the same way the other voice had, the one telling them to surrender. His expression turned stormy, and his grip on his gun tightened. He wasn’t going to just give up… but then Savannah tossed her gun down and Rue, still a leopard, bowed her head in surrender. There was no way he could fight his way out of this on his own. To be honest, their best chance of surviving this at all was to give up right now and to find another way out of it after they’d been captured. He knew this, part of him did, but another part was too stubborn to give up. Savannah turned and gave him a look, and he swore under his breath. He knew what the look she was giving him meant. She was pulling the helpless, younger sibling routine, tugging on his heartstrings and acting like she wouldn’t be able to protect herself if he got himself killed now. As much as he knew she was perfectly capable of fighting her own battles, she was his only weakness and she knew it. He couldn’t charge into battle knowing that he might leave her without him to watch her back. And honestly while she could fight she definitely needed someone to do that, or she’d wind up in… another situation like this. That was, if they got out of the current situation. He tossed his gun down and held up his hands, the universal sign of surrender and of being helpless. Savannah did the same. His gaze drifted to Rue for just a moment. If looks could kill, the one he was giving her would have. He wasn’t sure why he was blaming her now. Or was he blaming her? No, he was still suspicious of her, even more so when she was communicating with them in the same method as one of their captors – the one who was probably the leader of the group. Was she in on this whole plan? Had she been as much a part of the trap as the fake child and this set-up? Maybe she was, or maybe not. They’d have time to figure that out along with figuring out how to escape.
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Post by Shiro/Efflit on Mar 13, 2012 1:27:19 GMT -5
When his men gave the all clear, Efflit approached their new prisoners on foot. As he passed his underlings, he motioned for them to hand him one of their dracon beams and he soon had it pointed at the leopard. "You," he said to the controller who had handed him her weapon, "Double check the humans to make sure they aren't keeping any surprises from us."
Efflit then turned his entire attention to the big cat and addressed Rue. "So, you really are an animorph after all. I had suspicions when I saw you were dressed like me, but I couldn't be certain." He slowly circled around her, careful to keep his weapon between them and well aimed. "Would you like to demorph of your own accord, or am I going to have to shoot your legs off one by one first?"
Honestly, Efflit wasn't sure if the animorph really even needed to demorph in order to be infested, since some animals such as horses could technically be made into hosts. However, it would be much less difficult to handle a human than a dangerous animal, and he was certain humans could be infested.
"And if that doesn't work, I could always move on to your friends' limbs over there." He motioned with his head toward the two humans. "Of course, unless they are morphers too, they won't be able to grow anything back. Your choice."
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Post by Rue Fraser on Mar 13, 2012 15:33:25 GMT -5
Yeah yeah I know it's my fault. No need to rub it in. --
Rue wanted to kick herself in the face right now. Why'd she even fall for this Controller's trap? Why did she even try to save that kid? And why the hell did she reveal herself as an Animorph in the open where everyone else could see her? Right, because she wanted to prove that she could do something and that she could help other people. Of course, now she was stuck in the situation of needing to be saved again. No, she could find a way out of this, right? Yeah, she had to be able to. She wasn't stupid-- didn't get the best grades in school, but she wasn't stupid.
And then this Controller guy started talking. Nope, she knew she wasn't going to like him before he even started talking. Then, she got scared. No, no no no no. The last thing she wanted was to get shot. Hell no. She felt the leopard's intimidation and walked back a few steps with it, growling lowly. Her tail was flicking back and forth, and she just wanted to run straight out of there. Being a leopard, she had a shot at making it out, but not a very good one. Not only that, but she got herself and her new buddies into this mess. She had to do something besides run and risk getting shot.
<<Please don't shoot>> she pleaded, knowing it sounded probably more than a little pathetic. <<Don't shoot them, and don't shoot me. I'll demorph for ya, all right?>> Right after she finished saying that to the Controller, she started the process. Bones cracked once more, and long whiskers receded. Tan fur became pale skin, and red hair almost sprouted out of her head. Paws became hands and feet, and the tail all but disappeared. At long last, she hesitantly stood up, now terrified. The guy never said he wasn't going to shoot if she demorphed or not, and the gun was still aimed at her. She had to keep her eyes open though, not show that she was absolutely terrified right now.
"You got me," she told him, putting her hands up in surrender. [/font]
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Apr 8, 2012 21:29:24 GMT -5
One of the controllers started giving Blake a pat-down to make sure he wasn't concealing weapons. Of course, Savannah knew that he would be hiding something somewhere. When they found the hidden handgun in his waistband the controller smacked him, hard, his head snapping sideways with the force. Blake spat out blood - he must have bitten his lip or tongue when he'd been smacked. But he looked back up at the controller with a look of disgust as the gun was tossed onto the ground. He patted Savannah down next, and about this time the controller in charge threatened shooting them to get Rue to shift back. Savannah's lip quivered a little, her own mortality a little more present in her mind than it had been earlier today. She tried her best to remain stoic, but she was having trouble holding it together. She glanced at Blake, and he met her gaze. His expression was only loving, only concern. His eyes told her to stay strong, and she'd do her best. Surprisingly there was no I told you so, look, no anger. He didn't blame her, he only worried about getting them out of this. Once Rue had demorphed and they'd found no weapons on Savannah, they stood there helpless, staring down their captor. "Now what?" Blake asked. The better question was, which side did this guy work for? Was he with the Empire or The One? Because their fate - the options for their fate - depended on which group of yeerks this guy was a part of.
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