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Post by Rue Fraser on Sept 7, 2011 20:37:03 GMT -5
[September 7] --
"Thank you, have a nice day." That was the fiftieth time she had said that at least. Rue smiled to the customer as they left the store with bags in their hands, holding back a sigh. Cashiering was not her favorite job by any means, but it was so much better than bagging. She was a full-time cashier at this place, working eight hour shifts whenever she could-- which was all the time. It wasn't as if she had a family to go back home to or college to balance. No, she was by herself in that damn apartment with no one to talk to.
Next customer. She put her smile back on. In reality, it was probably better that she had this job where she got to meet new people everyday. Work energized her, even if the customers weren't always friendly and didn't want to talk to her. Some of them did, and that was all that mattered. She just had to keep her mind off of going home to a lonely apartment and--
Shoot. She went back to that train of thought. Fortunately, she had to give the customer their receipt and all that jazz, so that got her brain off of that track for now. Maybe she'd go out tonight. No, probably not a good idea. This place was getting really violent lately. Some parts of town weren't even safe to go into anymore.
She just had to pick a place that had no beach near it, didn't she? [/font]
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Post by Jack Flynn on Sept 7, 2011 21:01:59 GMT -5
Jack normally wouldn't be walking down the street in his normal form. After all, he was famous in Seattle. He could be recognized pretty quickly if he wasn't careful. However, that was part of the idea. He was playing the part of bait at the moment. Kyle was around somewhere on the ground, ready to help him if things got ugly. As for Ashley, she was up in the sky somewhere, keeping an eye on him and the surrounding area. They did this every so often, trying to lure out potential Yeerk kidnappers or followers of The One. They always chose a time where they knew at least someone would have been kidnapped by now, that way they could be led back to them and free them.
Jack didn't mind being the bait for this mission. Though he hated that he couldn't communicate with Ashley or Kyle. They had their earpieces, sure, but they only worked when unmorphed. Kyle and Ashley were morphed, so their earpieces wouldn't be working, he had to rely on their thought-speak. He could still talk to people back on The Sanctuary at least though. They were standing by as well, in case they needed a quick exit.
Jack continued walking down the street, a bit depressed at the state of things. This area used to be pretty nice, it was sad to see so much of it be unsafe to live in now. It was also a reminder of how much more work they had ahead of them. Sure they had been fighting for two years and had made a lot of progress. However, there was a lot that still could be done. However, he couldn't focus on that right now, he needed to be focused on the mission. He continued walking, waiting for any indication of any Yeerks or for Kyle or Ashley to speak up.
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Sept 7, 2011 21:37:29 GMT -5
The labrador looked like a stray. In fact Kyle had even rolled around in the dirt to mess up his fur coat a little bit. Anyone who paid enough attention would realize that he was too well fed to be a stray. He was counting on the concept that people hopefully wouldn't look that closely at him. He was trying to blend in, and at least the dog blended in a little better than he did as a human. Normally they tried to not be noticed. Jack was an exception at the moment. They wanted him to be noticed. They wanted The One or the yeerks to try and take him. When that happened the twins would come to the rescue. If fate was on their side today, they might even save a few people in the process.
<Nothing yet that I’ve seen, Jack. No suspicious characters or anything. A lot of strange smells, but I’m kind of trying to ignore those right now.> Trying being the key word there. The dog’s mind was very interested in those smells. Kyle was having to keep extra focused to not let his thoughts get distracted by them. It was one of the harder parts of morphing, not letting the animal’s instincts get the best of you. He’d made that mistake a lot starting out, but he was more familiar with this morph now. That made things easier.
<Ashley, anything on your end?> His sister was somewhere around, above them, in the form of a raven. She would have a better view of things than Kyle, hers being less blocked by buildings and such. That didn’t say she’d have more to report, though.
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Post by Rue Fraser on Sept 7, 2011 22:11:58 GMT -5
Oh you are so not making me a damsel in distress buddy. --
Yes, end of shift. Yes, she didn't have to close today. Rue was ecstatic for that. Closing the store was a pain in the behind to her. But, tonight she didn't have to. Well, this afternoon. It was a ten to six shift, which meant she was going to run home, make some dinner, and then figure out something else to do. She had a television in her apartment, but she tried to avoid watching that whenever she could. It only came on when she wanted to see the news, but she got enough of that just by talking to her customers.
She walked out of the door and pulled off her smock at the same time, a regular white, button-up shirt on underneath with a pair of khaki pants. She hated them. They did not flatter her at all. These were so coming off when she got home, replaced probably with pajama pants or jeans depending on if she decided to stay home tonight. With all of the fighting that was happening, maybe it was a better idea to stay in and have some ice cream or something. Wait, darn, she forgot to get ice cream today. Maybe tomorrow she'd do that.
"Ruth."
She stopped walking, inwardly seething. How many freaking times did she have to tell people to call her Rue? Was it really that hard? They just needed to take the "th" sound off of the end of her name and that was it! Nonetheless, she turned around, recognizing the voice. It was Dave, one of the guys she used to work with as a cashier until he was moved into the meat department. He stood about an inch or two taller than her, give or take since she was wearing her nice shoes, and had brown hair and blue eyes. Didn't really stand out that much to her.
"Call me Rue, Dave," she said, smiling, "What's up?"
"I need you to come with me." That wasn't weird at all. He had this sort of strange look on his face, or so Rue thought. She ignored it for now.
"What'd you catch me do at work now?" she asked in an exasperated voice. "I wasn't chewing gum today, I--"
"I said come with me. We'll talk about it later." He grabbed her forearm and tried to stop walking. She dragged her heels.
"What the hell's your problem?" She raised her voice. Dave wasn't normally like this, was he? He acted fine when she worked with him. What got into him all of a sudden? Where was he even trying to take her? He was having a hard time with that, especially since she was about his height and she knew how to resist stuff like this. Sort of. Key words there.
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Sept 7, 2011 23:07:04 GMT -5
Ashley flew about the city of Seattle on the wings of a raven, keeping an eye on things while the boys were on the ground. She heard her brother’s thought speak, and gave her report. <Nothing at the moment. I can see Jack... and there's a mutt... no, wait, that's Kyle.> She would pay for calling him a mutt later, but she did try to keep things lighter even on a mission. No reason why, when things were calmer like this, that they had to be all serious, doom and gloom like the boys always were about missions. Yes, they were serious business, and when they needed to be serious you wouldn’t find her joking around. However when things were quiet on one of their patrols-of-sorts, like now, she couldn’t help trying to lighten the mood just a little bit. In a sense she kept them all positive. It was important, even if the guys might not ever acknowledge it.
She started to loop back around, not wanting to get too far ahead of the boys, when she spotted something. <Hey guys, I think we’ve got a situation. At the grocery store, on the next street over from where Jack is right now, some guy – tall, brunette – is trying to drag a red-headed girl somewhere. I’d say she doesn’t want to go with him, because she seems to be resisting.>
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Post by Jack Flynn on Sept 7, 2011 23:18:56 GMT -5
Jack continued walking as Kyle reported that he saw nothing. Nothing yet it seemed like. Maybe they would have a quiet day today, though he knew that was wishful thinking. Ashley also reported nothing, and Jack couldn't help but have a small smirk on his face at her calling Kyle a mutt. Though it quickly disappeared. Small mission or not, it was just as important as any other mission and he needed to stay focused. Just because there was no trouble yet, didn't mean there wasn't any. After all they still had a lot of city to cover.
Soon Ashley reported a guy that seemed to be dragging a girl somewhere she didn't want to go. So much for a quiet day. "I'm on it," he said out loud, knowing at least Kyle would be able to hear it. He started to rush over to where Ashley had said the girl was. He happened upon the grocery store quickly, seeing what Ashley had been talking about. It definitely looked like this was something they where going to need to take care of. "Hey!" he called out, getting the guy's attention. "Take a hint, she doesn't want to go with you," He was ready for a fight, one that didn't involve morphing anyway. He had Kyle down here to help with that and it was just one guy right now. There didn't seem to be anyone else around, so there wasn't much to worry about yet. If the guy was a controller as was suspected, he wouldn't pass the opportunity to capture one of Seattle's famous trouble makers.
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Post by Rue Fraser on Sept 8, 2011 8:10:46 GMT -5
Shift of focus. --
"Are you gonna tell me where you're trying to take me?" Rue asked, keeping her voice somewhat loud. She did that for a reason. Maybe someone could come by and stop Dave before he actually got her to stop resisting. That was only a hope though. Part of her remembered how dangerous this part of the city could be. She had gotten the job before it changed into that, and she always felt like she could stay out of trouble. Typical overconfidence, of course. It was obvious that today, Dave was going to take her to some place, not tell her where, and do who knew what.
Dave's attention was grabbed, however, by someone else jumping into the fray. His eyes widened, and his grip on Rue relaxed-- it didn't leave, but relaxed. She wasn't as important right now. Everyone knew who this guy was. He was always giving them all sorts of trouble, him and his friends. Where were they now though? It was just him this time, which made his job so much easier. If he could get this one, he'd always get Rue later if someone else didn't already.
"Hint taken," he replied slyly, letting go of her and shoving her aside, "Don't mind if I take you instead." She didn't fall over, but the building she made contact with hurt. She gave a wide-eyed look of surprise over to the guy that just walked in on Dave trying to take her. Did he know what he just got himself involved with? And just where the hell was Dave trying to take them both to? She didn't understand.
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Sept 8, 2011 9:03:40 GMT -5
< I’m supposed to look dirty. It’s more realistic that way. A perfectly clean dog roaming the streets would be strange.> That and this wasn’t really the time for jokes, but Ashley always was serious when it counted. They could probably afford to allow her this one eccentricity. Besides, this was kind of preferable to how things had been during their first few months. They were at least working together and getting along instead of fighting and blaming each other. Of course, he didn’t think long on that. Part because he couldn’t afford to get distracted and part because Ashley reported what appeared to be a struggle, a guy trying to drag a girl somewhere. Classic case of a controller still trying to be somewhat subtle about taking a human… or just some sort of crime, but either way the girl would probably appreciate their assistance.
”I’m on it.” Kyle’s ears perked up when he heard Jack’s voice, and he changed directions to head toward the store as well. Jack would be expecting Kyle to be there as back-up. Not that a lab was much in the way of back-up, but a rhino was not stealthy and both that and Kyle’s jackal morph would have been like neon signs anyways. He’d have drawn as much attention as, if not more attention than, Jack.
They got to the store, Kyle taking a little more time and then not making his presence known once he arrived. He just wandered a little, sniffing at the ground, glancing over toward the scene with Jack, the guy, and the girl. The male, who Kyle was getting fairly certain was a controller, clearly recognized Jack. Kyle was actually somewhat surprised when the girl didn’t seem to, though it was a pleasant surprise. The choice between Jack and the girl seemed to become an obvious one, and the guy pushed the girl away. Kyle kept his attention on Jack and the controller now, not jumping in just yet. If it became clear the guy was outnumbered, there was a possibility he’d try to take the girl and run rather than fight two Animorphs. As much as capturing one, two, or even all of them would be a huge deal, these controllers were not exactly stupid.
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Post by Jack Flynn on Sept 8, 2011 15:04:27 GMT -5
Jack smirked, good the controller was taking the bait. After all who could ignore such a prize? Who could pass up the opportunity to say they had captured one of the leaders of the Animorphs? It sickened Jack a bit that he knew that was what was going on in the Yeerk's mind, but knowing that meant you could stay one step ahead of your enemy. The controller was now focused on him, having shoved the girl away. The girl seemed confused by his presence, which was interesting. Most people knew who he was right away and it was a nice change to see that someone did not.
However, he didn't need to focus on that right now. Right now it was time to focus on the person in front of him. "I'm flattered you feel that way," he taunted at the controller. "But you're not taking anyone today. Or rather you couldn't. You just don't compare to me," Now, Jack wasn't normally the type for bragging or feeling better than another person. However, this was more baiting, trying to get the controller to make a mistake. After all if he was too angry to think straight, that was an advantage for them. "I mean, you're normally what....2 inches long without a host? Seriously, this is no contest," He could tell he was starting to get on the controller's nerves but not quite enough yet. "I mean....I could just stomp on you and you would be gone. You really think you can do anything to "take" me?"
Apparently the controller did, since Jack then heard the words "Human scum," and then rushed him. Looks like he had been successful. The controller attempted to punch him, but that was easily dodged and Jack countered with a punch to the guy's face. He went down pretty hard, though he was still conscious. He then started walking towards the girl. "Hey, you alright?" he asked as he approached. "He won't bother you anymore,"
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Post by Rue Fraser on Sept 8, 2011 15:48:58 GMT -5
I didn't even try to cause trouble this time. What the hell? --
This guy that ran to her rescue, just who was he? He looked really familiar, so much so that she felt like she knew his name. Or maybe that she should, but it wasn't coming to her. She focused on the conversation. He was bragging, saying he didn't compare and-- wait, what? What the heck did that mean? Without a host? What did he even mean by that? Rue just looked at him as if he had two heads. There was something else going on here and she didn't get it.
Dave, on the other hand, was clearly insulted by the comments. What gave the Animorphs the right to act so high and mighty? Were all humans like this, with that disgusting overconfidence? A good chunk of them seemed to be. "Human scum," he muttered, glaring Jack down. He rushed at him. Did it really matter what condition they brought the Animorph away as? In his head, not really. In fact, it would be better if they were. It wasn't as if the Animorphs could really fight outside their animal forms, right?
Wrong. Jack dodged his punches and punched him in the face, sending him to the ground. He hit the ground hard, not losing consciousness. He wasn't about to rush getting up right now though, a bit dizzy. In the meantime, Rue was staying put. It was probably better to not move right now, or Dave might try to go after her or something. The one she didn't know, but felt she should, came over to her and started talking to her. He wasn't going to hurt her. She was going to be fine.
"Yeah, I'm okay," she said, then looked over his shoulder, smiling. It was a black lab! The poor dog must have been a stray. That was a shame since it was such a pretty dog. She couldn't take it home though-- no pets allowed in her apartment. Though, maybe it was this guy's dog. "Hey, is that your dog?" she asked. Of course, she didn't realize how that comment would probably get them in even more trouble.
That seemed to get Dave's attention, who didn't realize that the dog had entered the scene. That was far too coincidental for his liking. That probably meant more than one Animorph was wandering around here. He pulled out his phone, pressing a few buttons before mumbling, "Need back-up. Quickly." GPS coordinates were sent along with that phrase. Back-up would know exactly where to go and what to do.
He pushed himself off the ground, standing up. Back-up was going to take a minute or two to get here, so he needed to decide what he was going to do next. He had no chance of catching the dog if he tried to go after it and it ran, but he had a chance with one of the two. Like he thought earlier, the girl he could get later. The Animorph was no guarantee and a much bigger prize. With that in mind, he lunged after him again.
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Sept 8, 2011 23:08:31 GMT -5
If someone had asked Kyle to make a bet on the fight, he definitely would have chosen Jack. For one, Jack had been doing this sort of thing for the past two years and was still alive. For another, he was starting out by trying to piss the yeerk off. The yeerk could call them ”human scum” all he wanted, it didn’t change the fact that they had successfully done this sort of thing more than once. They had a track record. He had… maybe a broken nose? It was hard to tell where Jack’s fist had connected with the controller’s face, but he was down. Not out, but down.
That was when things took a turn for the worst. Jack asked the girl if she was ok, and she seemed to notice Kyle in the background. She mentioned him, asking if he was Jack’s dog, and the controller seemed to take note of Kyle’s presence. Clearly Animorph plus stray dog equaled too much of a coincidence. He called for back-up, and Kyle decided that it was about time he jump into things. After all, they were about to become more than Jack could handle alone. They had to get the girl out of there and get back The Sanctuary. Live to fight another day, not fight to the death.
<Ashley,> he sent to his sister. <Keep your eyes peeled for more controllers coming our way. We’re going to have to take this guy out and make a run for it. He called for back-up, and I don’t figure we want to run into them. You’ll have to let us know what way they’re coming from.> He’d been keeping an eye on the controller as he tried to get up. He started lunging for Jack, and Kyle growled and lunged too. He latched onto the guy’s arm.
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Post by Jack Flynn on Sept 8, 2011 23:43:28 GMT -5
Jack smiled at the girl. Good, she was okay. She seemed a bit confused, but she was okay and that was the most important thing. Though she then heard her ask about a dog and that was probably not a good thing. After all they had a controller here and tipping him off to the fact that Jack wasn't alone meant that he would feel outnumbered. The troubling part about that was that controllers could get back-up very easily, them not as easily. He then heard the controller howl in pain again. Jack turned around to see Kyle had bitten the guy's arm, it looked like he had been about to attack again. "Wrong move," he told him and punched him in the face again, this time the guy went down. "Stay down,"
He looked over at Kyle now, hoping that the landing wasn't too rough on him. "You alright? I'm guessing he called back-up huh?" he asked Kyle, though he didn't really wait for an answer. He put two fingers against his earpiece. "Eric, can you hear me?" he asked over it. Yes, my equipment is working in top form as always. Typical Eric, always bragging about his machines. Though Jack couldn't exactly complain, these things where a piece of genius. "Gonna need a pick-up, we probably don't have enough time to get back to the bug ship. What's the closest pick-up point?" He waited for a response. Let's see here...head northeast, a couple streets over. It isn't too far, but it might take us a bit to get there Well, at least it wasn't too far away. "Got it. We need to head northeast," he said aloud so Kyle could hear and tell Ashley.
Jack then brought his attention back to the girl. "I'm sorry this going by so fast, but we need to move," he told her, making sure the urgency in his voice was heard. "That guy down there just called for back-up, they'll be here any minute. You ready to get moving? We'll get you somewhere safe, I promise," They didn't have a lot of time left, they had to get moving.
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Post by Rue Fraser on Sept 9, 2011 13:23:21 GMT -5
Just go with it. --
Asking about the dog seemed to be the wrong thing to do. Yeah, that was definitely bad. Rue could only watch as both the dog and the guy that had previously punched Dave in the face went after him again. Dave mostly stayed down this time after that, but that didn't mean things were over. He had said something on the phone before he went to attack again. She didn't need to know what he said to know it wasn't good for her and the guy. Or the dog actually, who he was talking to.
Wait, talking to the dog, normal conversation with a dog. Hold up, now he was talking to someone else, someone she couldn't even see. Pick-up? Not enough time to get to bug ship? Bug ship? What did that even mean? What did all of this mean? Something wasn't right.
Maybe because it wasn't ordinary people who had saved her behind, but the Animorphs of Seattle. It wasn't as if she hadn't heard of them, but seeing them was something else entirely. She should have known. She should have recognized them when she first saw them. That dog wasn't just a dog-- it was a human morphed into one. And the guy that was talking to her right now, the one telling her to get moving, he was an Animorph too. She was getting saved by Animorphs.
"I'm ready," she said. What other choice did she really have here? It was either stay here and get attacked again, especially since Dave did call for back up, or trust these guys and run. With that, she started following the Animorph, moving as fast as she could. What was picking them up even? Where were they going? Too many unknown variables. But, at the very least, part of this was exciting. She got to meet the Animorphs, right? Not in an ideal way, but... yes she could think about that later.
Back-up came, and it was going after all of them fast. At least five people, possibly more, were following them now. Rue didn't dare to look behind her. She didn't have the time to look.
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Post by Ashley Bennett on Sept 9, 2011 15:12:47 GMT -5
Ashley had a bird’s eye view of the goings-on below her. She’d circled back around and landed on the roof of a building across the street for a moment. Of course, that didn’t mean that she could hear the things being said. When Kyle warned her about the call for back-up it was news to her, at least somewhat. She had seen the controller using the radio, but hadn’t heard the words he’d said. She took off when Kyle told her to keep her eyes open, getting higher to get a better view of anyone coming.
<From the South, you’ve got… four or five people coming. It’s hard to get an exact count.> Good news was that they were headed in the opposite direction for meeting Eric. Bad news, a few others that she hadn’t seen yet were coming from a side street. <Crap! There’s a couple coming down that side street!> They spotted Jack, Kyle, and the girl and were soon on their tails. <They’re gaining on you. You’re getting close to the pick-up point, but I don’t see any sign of Eric. You might need to fight or circle back after trying to lose them.> There had to be a way… <Kyle, don’t you dare do what you’re thinking of.> She knew what idea he would come up with. It might work, but it was a big risk, possibly more than it would be worth.
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Post by Kyle Bennett on Sept 9, 2011 15:18:13 GMT -5
Jack punched the controller, and he toppled over again. Kyle let go and trotted over toward Jack. When asked if he was ok, there were two reactions. One was that the dog shook, like he was shaking water off himself. That was more just the dog’s instincts and Kyle not knowing how to stop it. Then there was his thought speech response. <I’m fine, and yes, he called for back-up.>
Before Kyle had even said anything to him, Jack was calling ‘tech-support’ about a pick-up. They could always come back for the bug fighter later. Right now, they might not have time to get back to it, though. Kyle waited for Jack to tell him what to do, and then he relayed the message to Ashley. <Ashley, we need to head northeast a bit to meet Eric for a pick-up. Keep Jack and I in the loop about any possible issues.>
Of course, issues arose. Reinforcements had come from two different directions, and the second set of reinforcements ended up pretty much right on their tails. <Jack, Ashley isn’t seeing any signs of Eric yet, and we’ve got yeerks right behind us, not that you can’t see them. Should I split off and try to lead them away, lose them? I’m fast enough they probably won’t catch me.> Ashley didn’t think he should… but if it was their only option for getting out of here, they had to take the chance.
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