A24: The Advance

[Duff]

Well I've been flapping my gums about this fic for long enough, and it is finally here! Hope you guys like it!

Inspired by the show '24'. This isn't a crossover and you don't have to watch or like 24 to read/enjoy the fic. It's merely Animorphs in the 24 format; traitors, twists, terrorists, bigger plots and conspiracies all occurring in 24's real-time format. It will comprise of 24 hour long chapters, where everything occurs in real-time. Not jumping from place to place or hour to hour every minute of this day will be action packed and exciting!

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 1:00 P.M. AND 2:00 P.M.

Events Occur in Real Time.

1:00:00 P.M.

Jacob focused on the music blaring from his headphones, trying to focus on the song. He thought back to when he was a kid, when his parents would fight, this was how he escaped from it all. He needed to escape now more than ever, and he silently wished that he could.

“Hey kid!” a stern voice called, sounding almost confused.

Jacob was leaning against the wall of a building; shattered glass lay at his feet. To his right was a window that was smashed in with a brick. It must have set off some kind of alarm. Jacob looked up as three men approached him, all dressed in blue suits. He eyed the guns strapped to each of their waists, and then he eyed the badges worn on their chest.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” one of the security guards asked him. He remained silent.

Another guard reaching up to the radio strapped to his shoulder, “Hey we just got to the break, its just some kid,” he said, eying the window Jacob had broken, “yeah I don’t know what his deal is, we’ll let you know.”

“What’s your name k-“ the third guard began to ask, but before he could finish there was a sound from the forest behind them, and he jerked forward unexpectedly.

The other two guards spun around towards the direction the muffled gunshot  had come from, as their friend toppled forward and collapsed onto the ground. Jacob watched it all as if in slow motion; before either guard to get their guns drawn, several more shots blew out of the forest, striking them precisely in the chest. Blood blew out of their backs, splattering the wall to either side of Jacob. He looked down and saw a red streak across his chest; the blood of the first man.

The man was crawling towards him, wheezing his breaths laboriously and fighting for every inch of the ground. He reached up to Jacob with his radio in hand, “Help,” he managed to groan.

Jacob could only stare at him as three figures stepped out of the cover of the dense forest bushes. He looked up at the man, who was pointing a gun lazily down at the guard. He didn’t have to kill him, Jacob could say so, they didn’t have to do it. BAM BAM Two more shots to the mans back, and he slumped at Jacobs feet.

The man looked up at Jacob with dark eyes, “Good job Jacob.”

“Jacob, wake up,” Raul said, looking at Jacob with a concerned face, “we have to hide the bodies, and find their key cards; we need them to infiltrate the building.”

1:04:50 P.M. Forest

Keen hawk eyes scanned the valley carefully, searching every blade of grass for prey. Tobias had grown accustomed to this daily ritual. It was the life of a hawk; the life he had chosen. His own sacrifice for the war. He tried to focus on his search, but felt it was futile. He had been hunting all morning and had nothing to show for it. He would have to resume later—the others would be getting out of school soon. It was a beautiful day for flying; he could take his time getting there.

Then the slight quiver of a blade of grass drew his eye. That was all he needed. His hawk mind focused, calculating every scenario as he lifted off the soft tree branch and took to the sky. Feeling the light breeze fill his wings, he soared across the field, aiming towards his prey. The furry nose stuck itself out of its burrow, exactly when he had predicted. It sniffed the air as Tobias soared overhead, close, but not too close. Sensing the right moment he dipped downwards for the kill, raking his talons forward as the rabbit hopped out of its hole. He dug them in and immediately began feeding on its warm meat.

Feeling something above him, Tobias looked up defensively from his kill. There were other predators in the forest. What he saw was nowhere near another animal—it wasn’t even of earth. Any other human would have missed the slight distortion in the wind overhead. It may have been invisible, but nothing passed through Tobias’ forest without his knowing it. Tobias tried to lift off, but the downdraft coming from the ship was killing all the wind. He struggled for every inch, keeping his eye on the spot he had seen the distortion, where he knew there must be a cloaked ship. Finally giving up his climb, he landed on a low branch. All evidence of the ship was gone, but he knew it was out there. And based on the direction it had been heading, it was moving deeper into the forest. Was it simply leaving town, choosing this as the best direction to travel? Tobias felt more strongly that this was its destination, something was going on in the forest. Either way, he needed to find the others, quickly.

1:09:02 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Next, we’ll bring you to one of our labs, where we’ll speak to our lead geneticist,” the guide said. She was walking backwards down the hall with a wide, false smile painted across her face.

“Hey, Jen!” Cassie called, speeding up to catch the small girl moving slowly with the crowd of uninterested students. The class was on a field trip at the new biotech laboratory, Biozyme, which apparently was announcing some new breakthrough later in the day.

“Oh, hey, Cassie,” Jen said, looking up from her feet.

“How’s it going?” Cassie asked. She stared carefully into her eyes as they walked down the hall, their tour guide leading them, constantly droning on cheerfully.

“Good,” Jen said.

“You just seem a little preoccupied lately,” Cassie said carefully, then added in a slightly girly voice, “We haven’t talked in like the longest time.”

Cassie hated doing this to friends, but it had become an important part of the war. Unfortunately, if someone was acting weird, it usually meant that they were a Controller. She waited for Jen’s reply, trying to detect any evidence. It was one of her skills, one of the positive things about herself that she had been forced to use against people.

“No, it’s just been a weird time for my family,” Jen said slowly. “My dad hasn’t really been himself lately, always tied up with work, you know how it is.”

“Yeah, I do,” Cassie said, although she wasn’t being completely truthful. Her dad worked from home and always managed to have time for her. However, she knew that wasn’t the case for all parents. Just because he was a little busy didn’t mean he was a Yeerk…did it?

“And may I introduce our lead geneticist on the project,” the tour guide announced, as a round faced middle-aged man came through a doorway, smiling expectantly around at the class, “Dr. Kenneth Walters.”

Cassie looked over at Jen at the announcement of the name. Jen returned the gaze with an awkward smile and a little shrug as if she was silently admitting her embarrassing relation. Jen’s father was average height, wore a few extra pounds around his midsection, and was beginning to bald, but it seemed to suit him well, as he wore a wide smile across his face.

“Hello, class,” he beamed out at them, seeming much more genuine than the tour guide had. “As Ms. Janis has told you, I’m Dr. Walters.”

“Hey, isn’t that Cassie’s friend’s last name?” Jake muttered to Marco, who had not been paying much attention to the man, and had quite clearly not made the connection. Jake looked around and saw Jen standing with Cassie across the room.

“You actually remember her name?” Marco laughed. “I can barely remember my own last name.”

Jake laughed. “Well, who would want to remember a name like-“

“Hey, little bro,” Tom said in a mocking way, coming up behind Jake. “You might want to pay attention. You could learn something.”

“Then why aren’t you listening?” Jake returned automatically, “it seems like you’ve learned a lot less than me.”

Tom laughed and walked back to the edge of the crowd, nudging Jakes shoulder playfully. Jake shoved him back lightheartedly, but as he turned to face the front again, he was stone-faced and livid. Tom and a few other upperclassmen had been assigned to chaperone the field trip. They stood around the group, some combing through the crowd for violations, some just staring into space, as bored as the students were.

“And this new drug,” Dr. Walters continued passionately, treating the class as though they were his board of directors, “will be a cure for virtually all major environmentally based diseases. Using the human genome project, which has been around for-“

“You know,” Marco whispered, looking tentatively over his shoulder for Tom, “this drug sounds pretty good.”

“Yeah,” Jake said, knowing exactly what Marco meant. They had come to realize that anything good that happened around here, might just be too good to be true, “but we can’t check it out now.”
 
1:21:05 P.M. Hork-Bajir Colony

Ark-Telbar moved through the colony quickly, a group of seven Hork-Bajir trailing him. He saw his wife and their child stripping bark from a nearby tree and gazed happily towards them. There were small groups spread throughout the valley, harvesting the bark happily but purposefully. His wife looked up and waved before continuing her work. He would have liked to stop and strip bark with them, but he had something to do. Ark did not understand everything about the fight they were in, but he didn’t have to. He knew that what he and his family had here were good, and that someone wanted to take it away. And he knew that he trusted Toby to keep it safe.

“Toby,” Ark called.
“Hello, Ark,” Toby called, jumping down from a tree to land in front of them.

“Ark found humans,” Ark told her, feeling proud to have delivered the message so well.

“Were they nice humans?” Toby asked patiently.

“No!” another Hork-Bajir from the group chimed in, “bad ones!”
“Captured brothers with them,” Ark explained.
Toby processed the information before turning back to Ark. He was a good soldier, and had gone with Toby on many missions, freeing many of their kind. He was one of the few she could trust to send out alone. “Did they see you Ark?”

“Humans never see Ark!” Ark reported proudly. “Come back to tell Toby!”

“Good,” Toby said. “We have to go back now, and find out who they are.”

“Ark will come,” he said.
Toby knew that this would not be a casual group of controllers. The yeerks would not risk moving Hork-Bajir-Controllers out in the open, even in the forest.

1:25:32 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“I don’t know how good of a time it would be with your head up-“

“Hey, Rachel,” Cassie said, moving through the group towards her. The guy who had been talking to her skulked away angrily.

“Hey,” Rachel huffed, and then seemed to lighten up, shrugging away the apparent confrontation. She was used to it, and hated that it still got her so worked up. “What’s up?”

“Well, I was talking to Jen,” Cassie began carefully. She didn’t want Rachel to overreact, she wasn’t even sure if she was overreacting. “She seems, you know, different.”

“Like, different?” Rachel asked, lowering her voice and looking out for the chaperones, many of whom they knew were members of the Sharing.

“Yeah, and she said her dad was acting differently.”
“So, you think her dad is..?” Rachel asked, implying what she did not want people to overhear.
“Well, that’s him” Cassie said, motioning to Dr. Walters, who had brought out a few large plastic molecule props and was waving them enthusiastically as he supposedly explained what they meant.
“Well he doesn’t seem like one,” Rachel said, but she knew that was a ridiculous statement, nobody seemed like a controller.
“Let’s go to the bathroom,” Cassie said, not wanting to be overheard as they were still closely packed in with the group.

1:28:04 P.M. Forest

The grass crunched under Ax’s hooves as he ran through the meadow, gazing up at the clear afternoon sky. He didn’t normally stare up so much during the day; he saved his homesick stargazing to the night. Lately, he had been confused with his place in this new world. Recently, his shorm, Tobias, had been required to morph into him. Ax was surprised at how powerful an experience it had been for him. He had accepted Tobias’ acquiring of his DNA easier than he would have thought possible. Amazing, how connected he had become with these humans.

Yet, as he began to feel more at home with this world and his new friends, he began to notice more and more the things that were missing. He could never experience these things with these humans.

CRACK

A noise to his right. Ax’s stalk eyes swiveled around as he came to a halt. He had learned to recognize the natural sounds of the forest and he'd disciplined himself not to overreact to the slightest noise. This was different, and as he strained his ears, he began to hear voices. Creeping slowly through the trees, he spotted a small group cutting through the bushes.

“Why the heck are we even here?” one of the men at the back of the group asked. He was tall, muscular and dressed in camouflage. He was also easily the least outstanding member. Along with one other human, seven Hork-Bajir were walking steadily forward, slicing easily through the forest with their many razor sharp blades.

“I’m not going to question him,” the other human said. Ax thought he knew who the man must mean by the way he said ‘him.’ Visser Three, the leader of the Yeerks and murderer of Ax’s brother, Elfangor. “Besides, I’d much rather be down here when-“

A twig snapped under Ax’s hoof as he edged closer. The sound carried to the group, causing several Hork-Bajir to snap their snake-like necks in his direction.

“Ghafrash!”

Ax turned and took off running as all of the Hork-Bajir charged forward, covering the distance to his hiding spot surprisingly fast. Ax had a lead on them, but he knew as he darted through the trees that he could not outrun them forever.

1:35:15 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Hey man, we might not have time to wait to check this place out,” Marco said, catching up to Jake in the middle of the crowd. He had fallen back from the group as they moved into the lobby, with Dr. Walters still leading them. What had stopped him was a strange feeling that they had missed something.

“Dude,” Jake said, looking around to make sure they weren’t being overheard.

“That’s the thing,” Marco explained, although he lowered his voice, “the chaperones, Tom, all his Sharing pals are gone. Something tells me they don’t need all of them to pull the bus around.”

Jake began looking around, trying to find his brother. Then Marco saw his face turn into a look of horror. “Holy-“

Marco followed his gaze to the front door, and matched Jakes wide mouthed shock. Half a dozen men with machine guns were rushing into the lobby. The tallest of them moved swiftly to the old security guard, who had only just begun to fumble for his gun, obviously unprepared for such a sudden attack. With one swift arc, the man hit the guard with the butt of his gun, sending him to the ground. There was a high-pitched wail as the alarms were activated. One of the men with guns dove over the desk, tackling the receptionist who had activated the alarm. The whole room had erupted into immediate chaos, unsure where to go, the herd of students pressed even closer together. Fear had crippled them, they were unable to do anything but cower and take cover in the thickening crowd. Marco and Jake tried to push their way out of the mass, knowing their only hope was to get clear of the lobby and try to morph. The crowd was pressing in on them, trapping them.

“Everybody down on the floor!” the tall, bald man shouted at the crowd, firing his gun into the air for good measure. The blast echoed around the room as the screams began to subside.

Marco broke free of the crowd and made to run for the nearest door, but he felt something pulling on him from behind. Jake was crouching low, holding Marco’s shirt firmly. He shook his head with a fixed look on his face and Marco knew he was right. It wouldn’t be that easy to escape. He dropped slowly to his knees with the rest of the crowd, but stayed close to the edge.

“Jacob, secure the front door,” Marco heard one of the men say to an unsure looking kid. He was maybe 5 years older than them.

“If everybody stays put,” the tall man continued, quieter now that he had their attention, but even more menacing now that he was able to fix them with that piercing gaze, “this will be very simple. We will not be here long. If anyone tries to interfere, things will get…complicated.”

Several security guards and receptionists were dragged toward the students and thrown haphazardly into the group. One of the men was now working at the computer while the others formed a makeshift perimeter around the group, covering all the exits. The young one, Jacob, had attached a small device to the front door that blinked sinisterly. Marco could only guess that it was an explosive, ready to block an obvious rescue attempt.

“You know I was actually kind of looking forward to today,” Marco muttered to Jake. “A nice break from school, fun time... I don’t know why I do it to myself.”
The man’s voice boomed through the crowd once again, “Kenneth Walters! Dr. Walters, step forward now!”

1:44:45 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Okay, we need a plan,” Cassie said, pacing quietly in the bathroom. They had heard the gunshots and the shouts, had figured out what was going on.

“Got a plan,” Rachel said, beginning her favorite morph: Grizzly Bear. Yet, even as she did, she knew it wasn’t the right call.

“No, Rachel,” Cassie said. She gave her friend that shocked and saddened face Rachel often saw her wear when she began to show her reckless side.

“Okay, okay,” Rachel said, calming her first instinct to attack. Yet every minute the terrorists, or whatever they were, had in the building, the more prepared they would be for an attack. They needed to do something.

“Check the bathrooms,” said a voice from the lobby. It was loud, Rachel thought, he must have been shouting across the room to someone. Reacting quickly, both Cassie and Rachel jumped into a stall and shut the door.

“Fly,” Rachel hissed, but Cassie had already begun to change.

Focusing on the fly DNA inside her, Rachel began the change as well. She could see Cassie’s lips bulge outward, melting together into a long proboscis tube. With all her talents for morphing, she could do little for this morph. She was able to speed it up considerably, though, and was already about half done as Rachel began to shoot down several feet. As she felt spindly hairs sprout on her back, the bathroom door slammed open. As quietly and quickly as she could on shifting and shrinking legs, Rachel climbed up onto the toilet, just as the man leaned down to peer under the stalls. She caused a soft bump as her shifting mass rolled onto the back of the toilet.

She was about the size of a small dog as the man moved forward, turning towards the first stall, and kicked the door in. Cassie buzzed around above her, <Come on Rachel, you can do this, focus.>

Thud. Another stall kicked in, the man continued forward. Rachel tried to take to the air, unsure if the morph had been completed enough to allow it. She still felt slight shifts going on in her now mostly insect body. The muddy brown boots came to a halt outside their stall. Rachel could hear a little nudge as the man tried to push the door open, then one boot left the ground, and the door swung inwards with a crash. Through compound eyes, Rachel looked up at the man, who looked down at her for a split second, then turned and walked out of the room satisfied.

<Okay,> Rachel said, <that was close. Now let’s figure out what’s going on.>

1:48:57 P.M. Forest

Ax panted as he ran through the trees. He summoned the strength to leap over a fallen tree, and felt his legs ache as he hit the ground again. He had slowed, and he knew he wouldn’t last. The smart thing to do would be to turn and fight rather than waste energy running pointlessly. Coming to this realization, he turned to face the approach of the Hork-Bajir. He came to a stop with an advantage as the lead two came lunging for him. Using his momentum against him, Ax stepped aside, landing a strike with his tail blade as the alien landed behind him. He was not able to subdue the second so quickly and became locked in combat with him.

As he blocked a wrist blade flying at his head with a carefully timed swing of his tail, Ax knew that this was not good. He was giving the others time to catch up, at which point he would be completely outnumbered. He could see several of them swinging through the trees to catch up, but needed to keep his attention on the threat at hand. Blocking a strike before the Hork-Bajir could bring it down, Ax then countered with a downward slice of his blade, dropping his foe to the ground. Five Hork-Bajir now stood around him, each glaring at him and their fallen comrades. They all also aimed Dracon beams squarely at his chest.

Ax raised his head for one final look at the sky before his sure defeat, but was instead greeted by the blinding silhouette of a hawk. The hawk dove downward raking the eyes of the nearest Hork-Bajir. But Tobias hadn’t allowed himself enough space to safely escape as the remaining Hork-Bajir all leveled their beams at him instead. Ax rushed forward, tail raised to help his shorm, but it proved unnecessary. Suddenly, half a dozen creatures descended from the trees above them, landing on top of the remaining enemies.

Hork-Bajir fought Hork-Bajir in a dazzling flash of blades and a spray of blood. Unsure of whom to attack, Ax stood back, watching the aliens fight each other.

<Let Toby handle them, Ax,> Tobias said, perching on a low branch.

<How did you find me?> Ax asked him, relieved Tobias had come to his rescue.

<Ax, did you really expect me to miss a group of six-foot tall, bladed aliens running through the forest?> Tobias joked, <My forest?>

1:58:29 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Rachel and Cassie aren’t here,” Jake said, having finished a slow scan of the group. That was the first thing, account for the team, and they were two down.

“They must have ditched out early,” Marco said, “like I wanted to do.”

Jake ignored Marco’s second comment, but hoped the first part was true. He knew if they were in trouble they would hear the gun shots, and would just have to hope that they could handle themselves. There was something strange going on, Jake thought. Why guns?

“This is completely unlike the Yeerks,” Jake muttered. “It's too public. What are they trying to gain?”

“I have to say, some of these guys don’t really seem like Controllers,” Marco said, staring at the closest armed man. “So, fearless leader, what do we do?”

2:00:00 P.M.

[Phoenix004]

Nice work so far Duff. It's an interesting plot, well written and you seem to have fit in the 24 style pretty well. I look forward to reading more.

[ANna]

Awesome stuff Timmy. Nice to see all that waiting was worth it.
Can't wait for thee next chapter!!

[Qwerty the Charliecorn]

Haha, yes! Super-awesome, dude. Very well done. The writing's all good, you kept it exciting. Everyone's in character.
No criticism, really. It's a little fast-paced, but that's kind of how it's supposed to be, and I think it's fine that way.

So, I'll be waiting for the next chapter. Hopefully this one won't take as long as the last. 

[traycon3]

Ok, read it on ff.n, reviewing here because my comp spazzed and quit running the internet for a minute and I'm lazeh.
So, here goes.
I'm not much of a 24 fan, myself, but this was actually pretty fun. Keep it up. I want to read more. I just don't know which site I'll end up reading it on in the future.

[ANItiger13]

Awesome, Duff. First chapter was worth the wait.

[ANna]

Lol Ken showed me the trailer by the way.

Haha nice...

[ANItiger13]

Yeah, the trailer was pretty cool.

[ANna]

Anymore coming, Tiny Tim?
*hopefullness*

[Duff]

yea, im gonna force myself to write right now, thanks for the kick anna haha, but gah this hour is so lame, i dont want to write it!

and thanks for all the reviews guys! im glad you like it so far!

[V2113]

WOAH!    THIS IS GOOD!

[yrkd88]

By all means, keep going...you're doing a fantastic job^^

[Duff]

Well here it is guys. Sorry it took so long, way too long. I think things will move a little faster from now on. I appreciate all the feedback and comments guys, and based on a few peoples advice, this one is longer than the first, and I’ll try to keep them around this length or longer for the rest of the story.


Previously on A24

Terrorists have taken over the Biozyme building. At Biozyme on a field trip, Cassie, Rachel, Marco and Jake are now in the middle of it. Ax, Tobias and the Hork-Bajir have discovered the presence of a cloaked ship and a group of yeerks in their forest. Cassie and Rachel manage to morph fly before they are discovered, but Jake and Marco aren’t as lucky. With Jake and Marco held prisoner, the Animorphs must find a way to stop this surprising threat from the inside…


THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 2:00 P.M. AND 3:00 P.M.

Events Occur in Real Time

2:00:00 P.M. Forest

<Are you certain the bindings will hold?> Ax asked, eyeing the blades mere inches from the thick bark strips tying the Hork-Bajir down.

Toby and her group had subdued the Hork-Bajir controllers, and quickly produced feet of makeshift rope to tie them up.

“Yes,” Toby said, in her oddly human tone, “unfortunately, we have been forced to tie up many of our kind.”

<Well you’ll be able to free them too,> Tobias said from his perch in a nearby tree.

<We must determine what to do with the Human-controllers as well,> Ax said, looking at the two humans lightly bound next to their much more dangerous Hork-Bajir companions, <I assume they would not be able to stay with the colony.>

“This has never been an issue before,” Toby said, “We will need some time to think about this.”

<We may have another issue,> Ax said, <we must discover why they were in the forest to begin with.>

<When they wake up, we can question them,> Tobias said, <I don’ know how much use it will be though.>

“We must bring them back to the colony,” Toby said, looking around the forest, “it’s not safe here.”

2:05:07 P.M. Biozyme Industries

<There!> Cassie cried, zooming forward crazily, <that’s definitely Jake’s head.>

<How can you tell?> Rachel asked, but she followed the other fly downward anyway.

<I don’t know,> Cassie said, sounding embarrassed, <It just seems like him.>

<Okay well then lets get in there, I’m sick of just flying around waiting to get swatted,> Rachel said, sounding agitated.

The two flies landing on the shoulder were barely noticeable in the crowded room.

<Jake, we’re on your shoulder,> Rachel said, <try not to kill us.>

After waiting a moment, Cassie said, <Jake, can you hear us? Why would he be moving?>

<Maybe he’s around too many people to be talking to a couple of flies,> Rachel suggested.

“Tenril,” a voice called toward them.

“Has everything gone as planned?” another voice asked, coming from the mouth only inches away from where they sat.

“Yes sir,” the other voice reported, “the building is completely locked down.”

“Good, then let’s begin.”

<Cassie, I don’t think this is Jake,> Rachel said, <I think its Tom.>

2:10:03 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“I don’t see Cassie or Rachel,” Jake whispered to Marco after carefully scanning the room again.

“Lucky them,” he responded, “So they’ll come save us right? I mean, you haven’t done anything to piss Cassie off lately have you?”

“I don’t think saving us should be the top priority,” Jake said, “There is definitely something going on here.”

Suddenly, they both registered a sob to their right. Cassie’s friend, Jen, was curled up in silent fits of hysteria while her friend consoled her.

“Is she okay?” Jake asked the friend, trying to look concerned.

“I don’t know,” the friend responded, she looked to be about to break out into tears too.

“We’ll be okay,” Marco reassured, “we’re the hostages, you can’t hurt the hostages, that’s bad guy rule number one.”

Jake hoped they would take comfort in Marco’s comment, but it didn’t help him at all. It only caused a dozen movies to flash through his head where the bad guys had killed the hostages.

“She’s not worried about us,” her friend explained, “her father, they took her father somewhere.”

“The head scientist guy?” Marco asked.

Jake looked down at Jen again, sobbing in the fetal position, with her hands and face obscured. If he was the head person around here, he would be the one they would start with to get whatever they came here for. Jake didn’t need any movie references to tell him that her dad was definitely in trouble.

“Someone will come,” Jake said emptily, “I’m sure the cops already know what’s going on.”

2:14:18 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“Okay, I understand, yes sir, thank you,” Jonathan Davis finished, staring up at the flustered look of his second in command, Ted Richards.  He was glad to finally put the phone down after just receiving an earful from his boss. He could be quite demanding, and quite threatening at times. “What’s up Ted?”

“We’ve just received word from local that there’s been an attack on Biozyme Industries,” he reported. Ted was a tall, lanky man in his early thirties, but he dressed like Davis’ father; a faded green sweater under a long blue sports jacket.

“Today? Jesus, this has to be about the announcement,” Davis said, pulling himself out of his seat. In contrast, Davis was shorter, and stockier, and still wore the military style hair cut from his years in the navy almost 10 years ago. He pulled a dark grey suit coat off his chair and swung it on as he exited the room. “What do we have?”

“Small group of armed men have apparently taken hostages,” Richards continued, stepping to the side and letting Davis exit the room, “we’ve got a few seconds of surveillance video but apparently at least one of them knows his way around a computer.”

“Any ID matches yet?”

“We’re still working it up but we should have it soon,” he continued as they approached the bullpen, a large collection of stations clustered evenly inside the large, main room.

“Do they know what’s going on?” Davis asked, looking across the room at the team.

“Only a few, I thought that you would want to make the announcement,” Richards said carefully.

“I’m sure they would have much rather heard it from you,” Davis said angrily, sensing the conflict between the two men. Davis had been promoted out of another branch to head this division only a few months ago. He had the feeling that most of the office felt he was under qualified for the job, and most felt that it should have gone to Ted. It sometimes seemed as though they were checking their assignments with him, giving him the unofficial authority.

Ted sighed, not wanted to address the issue. He knew that most of the office trusted him more than Davis, and he knew Davis resented him for it. But there was nothing he could do. He tried to show his support for the head, but that only infuriated him further.

As they came into the large open area of the office, separated into several smaller stations, some of the analysts looked up from their work expectantly. Davis cleared his throat, “Okay people, we’ve just received word of an attack on Biozyme Industries. A team is being sent there now; I need you to work up everything on our end by the time they get there. We need to know what organization we might be dealing with and specifically what they might be after. Most of you know the significance of that building, so let’s see your best work. Your unit directors will give you your individual assignments; I’ll meet with the heads in five minutes. Get to work.”

Turning back to Richards he muttered, “How real is the threat here? I mean could they actually get at this thing?”

“We’ve only brought up a rough outline of the buildings security measures, but it seems like it would be quite safe,” he responded, “Even we don’t know specifically where or how it’s being held, that information is working its way over to us now from Homeland Security.”

“But if they’ve got hostages, then they have the people with access to it, right?”

“Yes, the lead geneticist, a Dr. Kenneth Walters,” Richards said, checking his notes, “would be able to unlock most of the security measures around it.”

2:21:57 P.M. Biozyme Industries
CRACK

Another swift blow to the side of Dr. Walters head sent him spinning to the ground once again. Once again, he was dragged back up to his knees.

“Please,” he mumbled, spit and blood trailing down from his mouth, “I can’t-“

“You can and you will,” a large man leered over him, “the key to your so called miracle cure is here somewhere, and we need you, to bring us to it.”

“But, but why?” Walters pled, “Without the original source we will lose the ability to save millions of lives!”

“That’s not your concern!” the man said, backhanding him across the face again, “let’s just say there are certain people who have a financial interest in it.”

Walters knew what they must mean by this. He had often thought, even marveled, that his cure would be so effective, that it would severely reduce the need for prescription medicine. His work would save people millions of dollars, and cost pharmaceutical companies billions of dollars. Was this why these men were sent?

“Hold out his hand,” the larger man instructed, “on the table.”

Obligingly, the smallest of the three men, gripped his left wrist with shaking hands, and held it firmly on the table. The largest man came back in front of him, now holding a hammer, “All we need are the codes, and if you don’t give them to us someone else will. Why lose a hand over it?”

Walters whimpered slightly, wishing he could look brave, but knowing he probably just looked pathetic, and shook his head. Every thundering boom of the hammer sent wave after wave of unexplainable pain through him. He could feel each one as painfully as the last; feel each of the numerous bones cracking under the pressure of the blows. As a scientific man, he knew just how many bones were in the human hand, and thought that must be why it was so painful. It felt as though every last one of them was breaking with mind splitting ferocity.

“Maybe he’s telling the truth,” the younger man muttered in a shaky voice as Walters collapsed in a heap on the floor, “if the building has locked down-“

“He isn’t,” the largest said harshly, “don’t question my information you little piss ant.”
He paced once in the room huffing, thinking what to do next, “go get one of the kids,” he commanded of the young guy, “we’ll see if he doesn’t mind their hands breaking.”

“Luis, reactivate the elevators, Jacobs coming up,” the man said into a walkie-talkie clipped to his shoulder.

“It will take a few minutes,” a scratchy voice replied.

“Get started then,” the man said, sounding irritated.

Walters gasped for air, his faced pressed against the cold floor, clutching his mangled hand. He had thought they were going to get one of the other scientists, make them crack. Isn’t that what he had claimed he would do? Where were the others?

2:27:19 P.M. Biozyme Industries

Tom’s eyes stared around at the crowd of scared looking scientists huddled in the main room of the locked wing. Tenril 662, the yeerk in Tom’s head, thought about what his success would mean. In twenty-four hours, he would be a sub-visser, on his way off this rock, if everything went right.

“How many do we have?” he asked a balding, yet heavyset man in a suit.

“All of them,” he smiled, “I asked all pertinent personnel to the labs before the lockdown occurred.”

“You are sure there is no way we can be disrupted?” Tom asked him.

“Positive, our security system locks down this entire wing in the event of a threat,” he relished, “and it is powered internally; even the cops won’t be able to shut it down for at least an hour. The so called terrorist raid did exactly what it was supposed to; the building is ours for the next several hours.”

“That will be plenty of time,” Tom smiled. If he was right then the first stage was all but accomplished.

“What about Walters?” the man asked, “he could be a problem if we can’t turn him immediately.”

“Our friends will take care of him,” Tom said, emphasizing the word friends with some contempt. They were the one wild card in the plan, the one thing that could upturn everything he was owed, “let’s begin.”

Tom nodded toward the other members of the sharing that had accompanied him on the “fieldtrip”, and they all began to pull something out of their pocket. The large group of scientists were paying little attention to a group of kids, they were instead talking amongst themselves, wondering what the threat might be, wondering when they would be allowed to leave. The first dracon blasts froze them all in place as half a dozen of the group collapsed onto the ground. Tom laughed to himself as he fired on another man, staring at him like a deer in the headlights. These were supposed to be the smart humans, such a pathetic race.

By the third round, with half of their numbers on the ground, the men began to scatter into adjoining rooms and some just ran for the nearest corner or desk, their most primitive instinct. With skillful precision, the remaining scientists were rounded up and blasted to the ground. None of them managed to put up any kind of defense against the attack.

<Oh my god, how could they? How could they?> Cassie cried.

<They’re yeerks,> Rachel said in disgust.

“Bring them to the portable pool, let’s get them infested as quickly as possible,” Tom said, kicking aside one of the stunned scientists to move through the room.

<They’re alive,> Cassie said, slightly relieved, but knowing that their situation was no better.

<We have to stop them, find a place to morph,> Rachel said.

<Yes, but how? We can’t just fight our way in,> Cassie said.

<The power,> Rachel realized, <Tom said the power is internal, and it’s keeping the cops out. We find a way to cut the power. Cops come in, stop the terrorists and the yeerks.>

2:34:44 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“You,” Jacob said, grabbing one of the students under the arm and dragging her to her feet.

“Jen!” her friend screamed.

“No, please, please,” the girl named Jen pled hysterically. He wanted to let her go, let her just run away. This wasn’t what he could have ever expected. Terrorizing schoolchildren? But if he didn’t take someone back to Raul, then he would be the one tortured.

“Take me,” a tall, brown haired boy said, standing up and staring seriously at Jacob. There was no doubt in his eyes.

“Sit down!” Jacob shouted, tightening his grip on the girls arm and aiming his gun at the boy. He looked around at the group, trying to look authoritative.

“Come on, you don’t want to take her,” the boy said again, a determined calm in his voice, like a hostage negotiator.

“You can’t hurt a girl dude,” a short, Hispanic boy with dark hair said, standing up next to the other boy, “who taught you this terrorist stuff, seriously.”

They were right, he didn’t want to hurt a girl, and he didn’t want to see Raul hurt this one. A kid was bad enough. He didn’t even know why he had chosen this girl. He hadn’t wanted to look any of them in the face and instead just reached out for the closest body. If these two were willing to come, maybe it was better that way.

“Okay, okay!” Jacob shouted, glancing worriedly over at the remaining members of the group, who were watching him intently as they guarded the perimeter of the kids. Would they take this as a sign of weakness on his part? Would they tell Raul? Taking a step back, “you two over here.”

“Both of us? Ugh, fine,” the shorter boy said, moving forward, and turning to his friend, “I mean, with you all the way dude.”

The other boy followed him, keeping his steady gaze carefully on Jacob. When he had moved a few feet away from the huddled mass of kids, Jacob gave Jen a little shove towards the group, “Sit. You two, let’s go.”

He led them back out of the main room to a set of elevators, and instructed them to get inside. He could have sworn they exchanged a look as they moved past him. Almost as if the short one made a motion toward the elevator that the taller shook off with the slightest movement of his head. Jacob edged in a hit the right button with his elbow, keeping his eyes on the two. He and the taller boy stared at each other, sizing the other up as the lift descended. It finally came to a stop and Jacob edged them forward with his gun, into a room just right of the elevator.

“Why did you bring two?” Raul asked as, getting up from the chair he had been waiting in.

Jacob gaped up at him, unsure of what to say, but Ramon came to his aid, “In case we lose one of them, good thinking Jacob.”

Raul considered this for a second, and then nodded his approval toward Jacob, “Go up and help guard with the others.”

Jacob gave one last look at the two boys he had condemned, before turning his back on them.

“Start with this one,” he heard Raul say, as the door swung shut.

He moved once again to the elevator, pushing the button for the lobby. As the door began to shut Jacob could hear an ear-splitting scream of pain come from the room, followed by another booming threat from Raul.

2:40:51 P.M. Hork-Bajir Colony

<Should we not wait for the others?> Ax asked Tobias nervously.

<They’re at some field trip, I don’t think they would be able to sneak off,> Tobias said, <besides, it would be better to find out what these guys are up to and then we can bring it to them when we meet at the barn.>

<Very well,> Ax said, looking apprehensively over at the small hut which held their new prisoners, <how should we proceed?>

<I’m not sure, threaten them I guess,> Tobias said uncomfortably, <I don’t suppose they trained you to do anything like this as an aristh?>

<No,> Ax responded. He was also very uncomfortable with the situation. He had been asked once before to question a yeerk by Jake, and it was a disgusting experience. He had not wished to go through it again, but it had been him who had said they had important information, and now it would have to be him who would get it.

Ax straightened up and marched toward the hut, as Tobias lifted off his perch and followed silently, gliding slowly overhead. When they reached the hut Tobias had to enter awkwardly through the door, cutting his speed and tucking his wings in. With practiced precision, he flared his wings immediately and zoomed upwards toward the roof. Ax followed through the door and gazed around the one, poorly lit room. In a far corner were two Hork-Bajir mumbling helplessly to themselves. They were tied very carefully to the wall. One of them had several vicious looking scars, which by Hork-Bajir’s healing standards, could have been only a few days old.

Lined up on the other side were the half dozen members of the guard, also tied tightly in place. To his relief, Ax found Toby standing over one of them talking in a calm but authoritative voice.

“Why were you in the forest?” Toby asked him.

“Hagrash scum!” the bound Hork-Bajir controller croaked.

“Your host will be able to tell us soon enough, yeerk,” Toby said, “if you tell us now we can end it quickly.”

“Never darkap, never fail visser,” he wheezed again.

“Like I said,” Toby continued, sounded so unlike herself, “one way or another, you will tell us.”

2:45:13 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“Sir the field team is in position but we can’t set up an entry profile until the full security specs on the Biozyme building are cleared,” Henry Franklin, one of the lead strategists, reported as Davis leaned over his desk, examining the work.

“We put in a request to Homeland a half hour ago, call them and find out what the hell is going on,” Davis said, feeling the pressure of the clock, they needed to be in that building soon. Before it was too late. “Have them set up a preliminary entry package, be ready at a seconds command. We can work up something more in depth when we get it.”
“I’ll give HS a call,” Richards offered from two stations over.

Davis nodded to him and moved across the room to another unit of computers and spoke to the two women standing over one of the stations, “Do we have a profile on these guys yet?”

“It just came through,” one of them reported, showing a screen with several pictures, “this is the one we expect to be the leader. Raul Garza. He’s a merc, but he has ties to a domestic terror group known as High Dawn.”

“Send it over to me I can run known associates,” the other woman said, sliding back into the seat by her station.

“Good,” Davis said, although this new information did not give them any real help, “find out the connection between him and Biozyme, pharmaceuticals, anything related.”

“Boss,” Richards called, rushing over to him, “just got the specs on Biozyme, we have a problem.”

“Go ahead,” said Davis, following Richards over to an empty station as he spoke.

“There’s an entire internal security network that wasn’t in the schematics. The entire building is locked down if the panic button is hit, which it looks like it has been.”

“So they’re trapped in there?”

“Right but-“

“They’re in there with the formula,” Davis finished for him, “and their mission might just be to destroy the thing. How long will it take to shut down?”

“The entire system has an internal generator so cutting the power is out. It could take us upwards of an hour to get through the firewall.”

“Damnit, okay get started on that, but we can’t rely on it, we need another way in,” Davis said. He knew they were running out of time, unless a miracle occurred they would not be getting into that building.

2:49:38 P.M. Biozyme Industries

<Are you sure this is the right way?> Cassie asked, scurrying along.

<Yea, um, pretty sure,> Rachel said doubtfully. She took another sniff with her rat nose, showing her the way, <come on Cassie, if a normal mouse can smell its way through a maze, shouldn’t we be able to?>

<Should I remind you that the only reason we have this morph is that my rat wasn’t able to get through that maze?> Cassie said, but she was beginning to sift through the scents before her now and could definitely smell something foul getting stronger.
They had morphed the rat and climbed up into the vents on the logic that the generator would be giving off some powerful smells. Like a rat following cheese through a maze, they were following the smell of oil and coolant to their prize.

As they reached another junction, the smell grew even stronger as a breeze of hot air blew towards them, <Oh yea, definitely this way.>

The smell began to become even more prominent to their tiny but powerful rat noses. There was no longer a need to sort through a dozen different odors; it was the only smell. Rachel was beginning to feel light headed in the back of the rat’s brain, which was telling her to turn around, sensing danger in the smell. Yet they continued to power forward, moving faster now that the smell had become nearly unbearable. Finally, they reached a large grate exploding with heat. They had undoubtedly located the generator, just on the other side of the grate.

<How do we get through?> Rachel asked, eyeing the tiny slits in the grate with blurry rat vision.

<Oh come on Rachel, you really need to watch animal planet more,> Cassie said, moving forward confidently, <rats can flatten their bodies to squeeze under nearly any crack.>

<You really need to stop watching animal planet,> Rachel said, watching Cassie’s rat body squeeze unnaturally through the hole, <that is gross.>

Trusting her best friend’s knowledge of animals could never be wrong, and hoping that the rats instincts would help guide her through, Rachel forced her way into the crack. She could not have been prepared for how painful it would be. Although she couldn’t think of how it shouldn’t be, but so used to her bones shifting using painless alien technology, she had allowed herself to forget just how painful it should be. As she managed to squeeze about half of her tiny body through the grate, she saw Cassie clear it and tumble to the floor.

MOTION SENSOR ACTIVATED. INTRUDER DETECTED. SECURITY MEASURES ACTIVATED.

A loud robotic voice boomed throughout the room seconds after Cassie had hit the floor.

<Oh no!> Cassie said, already beginning to demorph.

<Not good, we should wooooaaah,> Rachel began as she freed herself and tumbled to the ground, <that was fun, so what are these security meas->

<Rachel, demorph fast!> Cassie shouted, already almost half human, <its pumping gas into the room!>

Rachel began growing as fast as she could, the fur melting away to reveal smooth skin as blonde hair sprouted from the top of the rats head. But it wasn’t happening fast enough. The gas was designed to knock a human out within minutes; it would kill a rat in much less time. Rachel was beginning to lose focus, the blurry pictures in front of her becoming fragmented and distant.

“Rachel, come on! You can do it!” Cassie shouted, fully human now but still changing. She knew maybe the only way to save her friend was to do what they had come to do, and quickly. Quick destruction meant channeling some of Rachel’s power, which was why white fur spread across Cassie’s entire body. She too was beginning to feel the effects of the gas, but the morphing seemed to be temporarily washing away the effects. She was getting bigger, more powerful, less easily knocked out by a simple gas, but she was not becoming invulnerable to it.

She looked down as the muscles began to spread across her body, rippling over her old, puny muscles; doubling, tripling. On the ground was Rachel, sprawled out, immobile, but human. Wasting no time, Cassie reared up on her hind legs and began striking the large engine with all the might her polar bear morph possessed. It would not yield to a single hit, but a few dozen, maybe. BAM BAM BAM, she pounded away at the metal, causing large meaningless dents in it. BAM BAM BAM, she thought of Rachel, and knew she had only minutes left. BAM BAM BAM.

2:55:37 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“That’s enough,” Raul raged, standing up straight again. His hands and face were covered in blood. Jake’s blood, Marco’s blood, Dr. Walters blood; it was impossible to tell. He had gone crazy with rage, pounding senselessly on the three of them, desperate for answers that they could not give.

“Please,” Walters said with difficulty, spitting up blood with every word, “I have nothing, I can tell you nothing.”

“You WILL tell us!” Raul screamed, “You will tell us! Or HE will die!”

Raul grabbed Marco by the collar and with one hand threw him a few feet across the room. He crumpled in a pile on the floor next to the other man.

“Ramon, be prepared to kill him in…five seconds,” Raul said, not taking his eyes off Walters, who was looking imploringly from Marco to Jake to Ramon, seemingly unable to look Raul in the eyes.

Jake knew it was time for drastic action. He could tell almost immediately after being brought into the room. He didn’t need what must have been a half hour of beating to tell him that Walters didn’t have the information that they needed. Maybe Raul knew it too, maybe he was just crazy, maybe desperation had made him snap. The only thing Jake knew was that unless he took action now, they would kill Marco.

“Four…”

From his position on the ground, Jake tested his weight in the crouched position. He would not be able to do much. He had a few cracked ribs for sure; some broken fingers and his eyes were nearly swollen shut.

“Three…”

Staring ahead at his target, he saw Marco propped up underneath him. He was in even worse shape. One leg was broken, as well as an arm, and his face looked like an abstract painting. That Jake was able to register the signal in Marco’s mangled face was a testament to the length of their friendship. The slight shake of his head and a motion over to Raul was unmistakable to Jake.

“Two…” Raul stretched out the number as long as he could, staring daggers at Walters.

Seizing the opportunity, Jake sprung to his feet, ignoring the pain as his body screamed its disapproval. He charged straight for Raul, cutting the distance in half before even catching his attention. But now he was ready, the surprise was over, the attack would not work. Raul grinned as he threw his hands out to throw Jake back to the ground.

Suddenly, the entire room went black. Unable to see, but driven by his momentum, Jake plowed into a suddenly surprised body, sending them both into the wall. He and Raul rolled around the ground, confused and frantic, landing and missing punches sporadically. From across the room Jake could hear another struggle as Marco seemed to be trying to throw his captors hold.

Just as suddenly as the darkness, was the shocking BAM BAM of gunfire. The muzzle blasts shot light across the room but only briefly. Not enough to see what was happened, not enough to see where the two shots had ended up.

2:59:27 P.M. FBI Headquarters

Davis walked down a deserted hallway, away from the hectic energy of the bullpen. It had been a busy hour for him, going non-stop to end this attack and to lead his team. He had not had a moment to himself, which for him in particular could become very problematic. It was highly important that he keep regular updates, especially today. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial, looking over his shoulder to be sure he had moved far enough away from anyone who might overhear him. The call was answered on the second ring.

“This is Gamad Four-Two-Seven,” he said into the phone, “I’m sorry I haven’t reported in sooner.”

3:00:00 P.M.

Well there it is! I hope you liked it! To be honest I thought this chapter was a little boring. (just wait until we get a little later, ho ho) But I hope you guys liked it all the same, and I hope I’ve managed to keep it exciting.

[yrkd88]

Awesome job, Duff! Will be eagerly holding my breath until the next chapter^^

[Nateosaurus]

Pure Awesomeness.

[MySTiC SkyE]

Awesome duff! Can't wait for more.

[ANna]

Awesome Tiny Tim!!!! Oooh. Cliff hanger. Better write more soon.

And not take forever!

[Duff]

Sorry it took so long AGAIN, but thats just the way I am lol Thanks so much for all the comments guys, I'm glad people are actually reading it and putting up with the annoying gaps and maybe even a few of you are enjoying it. And thanks to all the people who dont like it but are pretending to anyway cause you know how easy it is to hurt my feelings. (Kidding, I really love constructive criticism, or just downright hate, whatever boosts my reviews haha)

As you will notice vvv I added a little Previously on A24 thingy, which isnt just cause its what 24 does lol but cause I know nobody wants to go back and read the last hour and things get confusing in between so I thought a little summary might jog your memories so you can enjoy it a little more.

Hope you like it!

Previously on A24

While the terrorists torture Dr. Walters for the location of the source of Biozyme’s new breakthrough, Cassie and Rachel discover that the yeerks are the ones behind the attack. Meanwhile, Davis and Richards, of the FBI, respond to the crisis. Tobias and Ax return to the Hork-Bajir colony and attempt to discover answers to the yeerks presence through the yeerk prisoners. In an attempt to help the FBI, Cassie and Rachel destroy the buildings power supply, just in time to stop Raul, leader of the terrorist group, from killing Marco and Jake. While they fight for their lives, Davis reveals himself as a yeerk…

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 2:00 P.M. AND 3:00 P.M.

Events Occur in Real Time

3:00:00 P.M. Biozyme Industries

In pitch darkness the struggle continued; a confusing mayhem of blows and shouts. Jake struggled to get the man off him as he struck him with fist after fist. They were not as precise as they could have been, but now that he had his hands on him, there was no way to miss. Jake felt another rib crack as the man’s fist connected with his side yet again. The pain was excruciating, even for someone that had felt the pain of limbs being burnt off, of his guts being spilt out. There was something so much more intense about this pain, so much realer.

“Get the gufng!” he heard Marco’s shout from across the room, cut off mid-sentence by the sharp expelling of breath that must mean he was taking as much damage as Jake was.

Suddenly the lights flashed back on, and a resounding BANG filled the newly lit room. Marco was lying on the ground, blood streaming from his face, staring up at the doctor, Walters. He was pressed up against the wall by the slumped body of the other man, with a shocked look on his face. Jakes attacker held him down firmly while he looked around to make sense of the situation. Suddenly, the man slid down onto the ground, revealing the gun held awkwardly in Walters’ good hand. A pool of blood began to form as the man shuddered on the ground, still alive, but barely.

Still not recovered from the shock of what he had done, Walters looked up expectantly at the other three as if to ask “what now?”

The other man grabbed Jake and lifted him to his feet. Wrapping his thick forearm around Jake’s neck, he guarded himself from Walters and the gun, “Drop it or he dies.”

Jake looked from Marco to Walters, both unsure of what to do. With a sudden inspiration, Jake closed his eyes, and focused on the man holding him by the throat. He felt the arm go limp as he acquired his DNA, and he reached up with his own arm to keep the trance going. Jake looked over and saw that Marco had already realized what Jake had done, and was moving forward to his aid. The trance would only last for a few more seconds. Picking up a chair that hadn’t managed to be broken in the fight, Marco swung it high over his head and brought it down on the man, just as Jake stepped aside and the trance broke.

“Dr. Walters,” Jake said, once he was sure the man was unconscious, “you need to trust us; we need your help.”

“What’s the plan, boss man?” Marco asked, leaning against the wall for support as he held his damaged ribs.

“We need to let these guys escape.”

3:05:54 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“Where were you?” Richards asked as Davis walked back into the pit, looking shaken. He had seemed more distant lately, more detached from his job. Richards knew that it could just be the work taking a toll on him, it wasn’t an easy job, it happened to everyone eventually. And yet, something made him think otherwise.

“Personal call,” he responded.

“Now?” Richards asked, suspiciously.

Davis gave him a short, almost challenging look and asked, “What have we got?”

“We’re reading that the internal power to the Biozyme building has been cut,” one of the analysts reported from her desk.

“Cut? By who? We don’t have anyone inside,” Davis said, looking confused and almost irritated.

“We don’t know,” the analyst, Dana Washington responded, “but all of their main security protocols have been deactivated. Emergency power is just now coming on.”

“We have to take advantage of this while we can,” Richards said.

“Have the field teams been alerted?” Davis asked.

“Five minutes ago, they are already setting up an entry based on the new information,” Dana said.

“We were just waiting for your word,” Richards said, with another studying look at Davis.

“You’ve got it,” Davis said gruffly, moving over to Dana’s station and activating a control, “Baker, you are a go for entry, I repeat, you are a go for entry.”

“Copy that,” came Baker’s response, “charges set.”

3:09:13 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Alpha team, are you set?” Baker called in his earpiece.

“Roger that Bravo,” responded Daniels, the Alpha team leader. Baker had positioned him to, hopefully, intercept any fleeing targets, and maybe take a few of them by surprise.
He hated going in like this, under prepared, undermanned; they had no clue what they would find on the other side. Baker took a few deep breaths and flipped the safety on his M4 Carbine, getting ready for the fight. He had been using this method to calm his nerves ever since his days in the Army and Special Forces. He had become comfortable and adept at what he did, but the nerves never went away.

“On my mark,” Baker called to all of his men, nodding to the man to his right, who was clutching a detonator firmly, “in three…two…one!”

The door in front of them blew open, clouding the entrance with a thick dust. Three men rushed through the cloud with ballistic shields, Baker was right behind them. Standing over the shield man, he scanned the room with his rifle, looking for a target. There were none.

Inside the large entrance hall crouched a huddled group of kids, a few teachers, and some security guards. He looked expectantly at the security desks, ready for a surprise attack. Then he scanned the frightened crowd, praying the targets hadn’t hidden among them.

“Alpha stand down,” he called into his radio. There was no point in sending them in until he knew where to send them.

A little girl stood up slowly and in a perfectly calm voice shouted over to him, “They left down that hallway!”

His team had already spread throughout the room, making sure every area was clear. He organized them into several teams, leaving some behind to deal with the hostages, and taking the majority to search the rest of the building. He knew there was nowhere the terrorists could escape. They were here somewhere.

3:14:57 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“A little warning would be appreciated sir,” Tom said with a furious tone, emphasizing his hatred in the word “sir”.

“No not yet,” he answered, “I understand that, but if you want this operation to succeed, then you have to allow us to be thorough. Even the slightest-“

Tom held himself back after being cut off yet again. He did not appreciate taking orders from some fool who had won himself into the Visser’s good faith with one bold idea. He had earned his place in this organization, worked his way up from nothing. Tom didn’t care what position this nobody had taken, he knew in the end it would be him who would maintain, who would rise above. So he held himself back, for now.

“Forty-five minutes, if you can manage to buy us that,” he said in a measured tone, “and since we are now confined to the lockdown area, it’s up to you to tie up our loose ends, on the other side. Can you handle that? Good.”

He hung up and moved back into the main area of the panic room. But it wasn’t a panic room anymore; the power had been deactivated, leaving them vulnerable. His small group was still busy dragging the unconscious scientists up to the portable pool, infesting them one by one.

“Revive some of them so they can help you fools,” Tom said angrily, trying to put some of his own urgency into them, “the FBI are in the building, we have half an hour to wrap this up. Now move!”

He watched their pace quicken. A few of them dropped the body they had been dragging and began to slap the faces of those they had already infested, trying to wake them up. Tom almost joined them in their frantic job, but that was not his place. That was grunt work, servant work, and he was a leader, a commander.

3:19:27 P.M. Biozyme Industries

Rachel’s eyes wearily opened to a dark, quiet room. Before she could adjust to the light, she heard a stifled cry of, “Rachel!” and a familiar mat of dark hair blocked her view again.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked as Cassie recovered from the quick hug she had given her and got serious again.

“You’ve been out for almost a half hour,” Cassie told her, standing up.

“What happened with the power? Did we do it?”

“Yea, it’s destroyed,” Cassie said, with the slightest smile crossing her face.

“Destroyed? Really?” Rachel asked, also grinning.

“You aren’t the only one capable of smashing stuff,” Cassie said in a mock-offended tone.

“Oh man! You smashed it? And I missed it?” Rachel laughed.

“We’re still in the locked down area, only across from the generator,” Cassie explained, putting her ear against the door, “nobody has come to check it out yet though.”

“The cops haven’t busted in yet? No SWAT teams? Nothing?” Rachel said, sounding disappointed. That had been the whole point. If they weren’t coming, then it was up to them again. She climbed to her feet, her head still spinning from the effects of the gas.

“Well there is still a hostage situation out there,” Cassie thought out loud, “so maybe whoever is out there doesn’t want to risk them. It makes sense for them to wait.”

“But we can’t wait, we have to do something now,” Rachel said, “even if the cops get in, they won’t know to stop Tom or the scientists; they’ll all look like they’re supposed to be here. They’ll just assume Tom was hiding from the attack.”

From down the hallway, a pair of voices started to move toward them, “It’s probably just some malfunction; you know how these chemical powered generators are.”

“These scientists are supposed to be some of the humans smartest people,” the other laughed, “you’d think they could make a power source that works.”

Rachel and Cassie waited with short breaths as the voices got closer, finally stopping a few feet from their door. They heard the sound of another door swinging open, “What the hell?!”

“Andalites!” the other cried.

“Search the area, they must be close,” one said, and began jogging back the way they had come.

“Where are you going?” the first man asked indignantly.

“I need to get to the ship,” He said, “it has all the attack profiles for the ship in the forest, if they have already infiltrated it, then this whole operation is compromised.”

They had both heard the ominous words the controller had spoken. The was going to be an attack on a ship, in the forest. So there was definitely more to this than just infesting Biozyme. Cassie looked over to Rachel, unsure of what to do. Rachel did not know what to do any more than she did. They had to get away, but there wasn’t time to morph. If he chose to search this room first there was nothing they could do.

“Damn coward,” the remaining controller muttered, “he should fear what they’ll do to him when he brings back this kind of news. Fool.”

Before they could think of anything, before they could even try to hide, he was at the door, turning the handle. They both instinctively grabbed the knob and kept it closed. The controller shouted and pulled harder, knowing he had found them.

“We have to run,” Rachel suggested. She waited for Cassie’s nod of approval and then said, “in three, two, one!”

At one, they both let go of the handle and put all their force into the door, sending the controller flying back into the wall.

3:24:52 P.M. Biozyme Industries

BAM

Another door down, Baker rushed in, scanning the area quickly. It was a halfhearted attempt at this point, but he remained every bit as professional. In the back of his mind, he felt that he would not find them now. They had fooled him somehow, slipped by him. Yet there was still a lot of building to search, so he shrugged the feeling off. They had to be here.

“Baker,” his radio called, “Its Davis. Keep your men clear of zone’s three and four. There are some hazardous chemicals; we’ll have to let hazmat take care of.”

“Could they have escaped through there?” Baker asked.

“No, the only outside access from that zone is the roof,” came Davis’ voice again..

“We’ve got the roof covered,” Baker assured him.

“We’re getting those men out of there now,” he heard Davis call, “keep that area clear until we know the level of contamination.”

“Copy,” Baker said, “we’ll keep you posted.”

“Baker,” another voice buzzed, this time from his earpiece.

“Go ahead.”

“We found Walters,” he reported, “sub-basement C, you better come down here.”

3:29:24 P.M. Biozyme Mines

“How did you find out about this place?” Hondo asked Raul, as they climbed down yet another narrow, rocky slope.

“We didn’t bust up Poindexter for nothing,” Ramon laughed awkwardly.

Ramon and Raul had rushed up a few minutes after the power had suddenly gone out in the building. Leading them deep into the basement, they had found an access tunnel to a mine, almost as though it was hidden.

“Well, did we get what we came for?” Hondo pressed again.

With a look over at Ramon, Raul said sternly, “That is not your concern! Know your place.”

Jacob just hoped that they didn’t have to kill either of the kids before the scientist had agreed to help them. Maybe no one had to die. Maybe they had accomplished their goal with no bloodshed. Jacob wanted to ask Ramon, but he knew better. He and Raul had been acting strange since they had returned.

“So, what is this place? Are you sure it’s safe from the police?” Hondo asked.

“Biozyme built this building over a mine,” Ramon explained, “the source of their so called miracle cure was found down here.”

<This guy sounds suspicious,> Jake said in private thought-speak.

<Just because these two weren’t controllers, doesn’t mean he isn’t,> Marco realized, <I don’t know about this man.>

<We didn’t have time to find out what they were doing back there,> Jake said, trying to convince Marco as well as himself, <this is the only way we can find out what they were really up to.>

<If you say so,> Marco said, as he used Ramon’s strong body to trek slowly down the rocky slope. He felt uncomfortable using the morph, more so than using another human morph. He knew it was their rule, no sentient beings, but it never really bothered him. This one bothered him because the man he had acquired, the body that he was walking in now, was probably dead by now. He had practically died in his hands. <You think if this whole place just caved in right now, we’d land in the yeerk pool?>

<I don’t know Poindexter, what do you think?>

<I’m thinking it’s an underground supermodel spa. I know it’s a long shot, but we’ve seen stranger.>

3:35:02 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“What the hell?” Baker said, looking at the two bodies sprawled out on the floor of the small room. One of them was lying in a pool of blood, while the others appeared unconscious, with a badly cut face. The entire room looked destroyed; one chair in splinters, a table crumpled. The strangest thing about the two men was not the fact that the only apparent threat they had to face was a squat, middle-aged man clutching one severely damaged hand. It was that they were both stripped down to their shorts, with their clothes nowhere to be found.

“He says he did it,” Daniels said, nodding toward the weak looking man sitting on the floor.

“Seriously?” Baker said disbelievingly. This was getting stranger and stranger.

“He’s lost a lot of blood, we should get him up to the medic sir,” Daniels suggested.

“No, I need to talk to him first,” Baker said, rounding on Walters. Suddenly a groan was heard from the other corner of the room, drawing his attention. The remaining terrorist, who Baker now recognized from his profile as Raul Garza, was regaining consciousness, “get Walters upstairs, we’ll talk to him later.”

Daniels assigned one of his men to help the scientist out of the room, and then they both turned on Garza. Even though he was unconscious, he had been handcuffed as a precaution. Although the awkward angle had forced them to handcuff him in front.

“What the hell happened?” Raul asked angrily, “where the hell are they?”

“Your crew?” Baker asked, “that’s what we’re looking to find out from you.”

“No,” Raul coughed, spitting up blood, “the ones who knocked me out! Where the hell are they?”

“You mean Dr. Walters?” Baker asked, confused at his use of the plural. Had there been more than one person? It would definitely make more sense in his mind.

Raul laughed. Maybe he thought Baker’s ignorance of the situation was funny. Maybe he was remembering how Walter’s had stopped him and found it amusing. Maybe there was something else going on, “No,” he chuckled again.

An agent at the door interrupted him, “Agent Baker, call for you.”

“In a minute,” Baker said, not taking his eyes off Raul.

“It’s important,” the agent said awkwardly.

Baker turned to look at him; he was exchanging a glance with Daniels. Baker didn’t know the agent personally; he was in Daniels unit, and was a fairly new transfer. He probably felt weird telling the head of field operations what was and was not important. Daniel seemed to give him a reassuring nod. Anyone who worked with him for long knew that Baker wasn’t very uptight about those kinds of formalities.

“Okay,” he said to the agent, then turned to Daniels, “I’ll be right back, keep him talking.”

“What’s this about?” he asked the agent as they headed for the elevator.

“All they said was that it was urgent,” he explained, pushing the button.

BANG BANG

Baker wheeled around as two pistol shots came from the room they had just left. His hand instinctively jerked to his side arm. Un-holstering the weapon, he made his way cautiously back into the room. Daniels stood over Raul, checking the pulse in his neck. Two red stains were slowly growing on Raul’s chest, two precise shots.

“He had a gun, hidden in his ankle,” Daniels said, “I’m sorry, we should have found it. He’s gone.”

3:42:29 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Okay, we’re safe,” Rachel panted, checking the lock on the door again, “time to morph.”

They had run frantically through the hallways, as the man they had tackled managed to find a few other controllers to help with the search for the “Andalite bandits”. Finally feeling safe enough to morph, they both began focusing once again on the fly morph.

“What do you think is going on in the forest?” Cassie asked.

“He said an attack?” Rachel asked, trying to make sense of it, “we need to find Jake and Marco and get to the forest now.”

“We still need to find out what is going on out there, those terrorists might still have them.”

“Wait, I think I hear someone,” Rachel said, only partly fly now.

From outside the door, they heard a slam of a boot and the crack of wood. The door across from them had just been kicked open.

“Demorph, we don’t have time,” Cassie hissed, further along than Rachel but already reversing the process at rapid speed.

Rachel nodded and the scaly fly features began to melt away from her skin. She looked around the room for something she could use as a weapon, anticipating the fight to come.

There came a slam right in front of them, they were at their door. The first kick only splintered the door, on the second, the door crashed open, causing Cassie and Rachel to fall back. Rachel gripped the handle of a broom, ready to use it, while staring up at the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her.

3:45:37 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Right over here Dr. Walters, we’ll have the medic look at those cuts,” the agent said to Walters, but he had no interest in his injuries.

Kenneth Walters scanned the crowd of former hostages. While they all seemed to be unharmed, there was an energy of emotional distress running through the crowd. He noticed none of this. He was not concerned for any of the hostages or for his co-workers. Finally, his eyes fell on the only face he cared for.

“Jenny!” he cried, rushing toward her as fast as his one good leg would allow.

“Dad!” she cried back, rushing to meet him.

“Oh god sweetie, are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked as she buried her face in his shoulder in a tight embrace.

“I was so scared for you, dad,” she cried, “I’m so glad your okay.”

“Me too sweetie,” he said, patting her hair and kissing the top of her head lovingly, “I love you, I love you so much.”

“I love you too Daddy,” she said, and for a moment there was no distance between them. There was no father-daughter, parent-teenager conflict. There was only the love of two people who had almost lost each other, who were just happy, ecstatic to be together again.

“Dr. Walters,” someone interrupted, “we’ll need to debrief you shortly.”

Walters knew that it would not last. He knew that this wasn’t over yet.

3:48:12 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“Damnit!” Davis raged into the phone, “how the hell did we lose them?”

“We’re still unsure at this time,” Baker said from the other end, sounding just as angry, but attempting to display a calm tone.

“And the one lead we had managed to be gunned down right under your nose,” Davis said.

“Yes sir,” Baker responded lamely. He had no retort for this accusation; it was completely true. He could blame Daniels, could blame the agent that had pulled him out of the room, but in the end it was his responsibility, his situation to control.

“What about Walters? Do we know anything from him yet?” Davis asked, somehow already knowing the answer. This mission was turning into a disaster right in front of him. He knew everything hinged on the answers that the field team was able to come up with. He did not want to answer for their mistakes. The questionable shooting of a key suspect was bad enough.

“He’s getting checked by the medic,” Baker explained, “they had roughed him up pretty bad.”

“Well report back when you find something, I want to be the first to know,” Davis said, seeming ready to hang up the call.

“Was that all?” Baker asked, surprised, “what exactly was urgent about the call?”

“Urgent? Who said anything about it being urgent?” Davis asked, sounding confused.

“Never mind,” came Baker’s reply, in a more monotonous tone, “I’ll keep you posted.”

“What’s their status?” Richards asked from over his shoulder as Davis hung up the phone.

“Two dead High Dawn members, including Garza,” Davis said, rubbing his eyes, “and the rest are gone.”

“Gone? How? What about the scientist, Walters, does he know anything?” Richards asked, amazed at the failure.

“We’ll find out soon,” Davis said, “he better give us something, because we just hit a brick wall.”

3:54:43 P.M. Hork-Bajir Colony

<You’re running out of time yeerk!> Ax shouted at the bound Hork-Bajir controller. He used a tone unlike his own, unlike anything he wanted to hear from himself.

<And so are we,> Tobias murmured in private thought-speak from his perch in the rafters of the small hut. It didn’t seem like the kind of structure to have such high rafters, it was almost as though the Hork-Bajir had done it with Tobias in mind, or maybe just out of respect for him.

<I am more than open to alternate methods of obtaining the information,> Ax responded to him, <this technique does not seem to be affective.>

<Bad cop doesn’t work, try good cop,> Tobias suggested, then to clarify his meaning to Ax he added, <its like->

<Ah yes, I know this technique well,> Ax responded, <Agent Fox Mulder has used it many times.>

<What? Oh yea Ax-man, just act like Mulder,> Tobias laughed.

Ax turned his attention back on the prisoners, <the first of you to tell me what I want to know, will be let go, allowed to walk free,> Then he unnecessarily added to Tobias, <I am, of course, being deceitful.>

 One of the human controllers laughed, “A where would a yeerk traitor go to be free? We will die in three days either way, here we die with honor.”

<Yeerks know nothing of honor!> Ax cried, his tail blade twitching.

“The same to you Andalite scum!” the controller responded.

<This isn’t going anywhere,> Tobias said, exasperated, <we should->

From across the room came a gasp and a shudder, but this was not uncommon from the line of Hork-Bajir that had been there when they had arrived. Their yeerks were going through the horribly painful death of kandrona starvation. It wasn’t this sound that turned Tobias’ hawk eyes towards them. It was the faint thud that only he could have picked up, and the slimy writhing slug on the ground that only he could have noticed.

“Help,” the weak voice croaked.

<Ax-man,> Tobias said, staring over at the Hork-Bajir, <This guy just got free.>

“Dep can help,” he said again, his voice getting stronger now.

<Help with what?> Tobias asked as he labored to form the words.

The now free Hork-Bajir gasped again and looked up to Ax, “Dep know what coming! Hear new ship coming! Yeerk stop the ship!”

<A new ship is coming? Not a yeerk ship?> Ax asked, looking up toward Tobias, <when is it coming?>

“Now!” the Hork-Bajir called Dep cried.

3:59:33 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“You,” Baker called down the hall, jogging to catch up with the agent he had flagged down. It was the agent that had pulled him out of the room, moments before their key witness had been shot. With one hand fingering his holstered pistol, Baker approached the man, “who told you to pull me out of that room?”

The agent didn’t appear to be shaken by Baker’s accusations, he just looked up with a blank look and said, “him.”

Baker felt a sharp blow strike his head and everything went dark as he plummeted toward the floor.

“Let’s move,” Daniels said, kneeling down to grab Baker’s feet, “Tenril left one extra yeerk for him.”

“I thought that was meant for Walters,” the controller said, helping Daniels lift the unconscious body.

“He’ll have to wait.”

4:00:00 P.M.

[Nateosaurus]

Awesome chapter yet again Duffy!

It was worth the wait as usual, great job!

[ANItiger13]

Dude, that was awesome! It took forever, but it was awesome.

[MySTiC SkyE]

very awesome!
i cant wait for the next one!

[traycon3]

Enjoyed this chapter! Definately worth the wait! Favorite lines, by far:
"<Bad cop doesn’t work, try good cop,> Tobias suggested, then to clarify his meaning to Ax he added, <its like->

<Ah yes, I know this technique well,> Ax responded, <Agent Fox Mulder has used it many times.>

<What? Oh yea Ax-man, just act like Mulder,> Tobias laughed.

Ax turned his attention back on the prisoners, <the first of you to tell me what I want to know, will be let go, allowed to walk free,> Then he unnecessarily added to Tobias, <I am, of course, being deceitful.>"

Mulder rocks!

[Duff]

Okay! The long awaited hour four is here! What? It hasn't been awaited? You forgot about this fic months ago? Oh...well...that kind of makes sense. BUT jog your memory guy, cause its back! (get it? guy, cause only one person reads this, haha ha ha)

Now I'm back in school, which actually gives me more free time somehow, and the new season of 24 started which constantly motivates me, so maybe things will move a little faster perhaps.

Also, I have modified the last three hours because they weren't quite right at a few places, mostly just minor changes here and there, add a little character. And the opening scene of the story has been completely changed, cause the last one was wicked lame, and this one is only kinda lame.

So...i hope you like it! If you do, let me know please. And if anyone has any advice for me, as evidence from the changes I did already, I'm always looking to improve the story as much as possible, even if it means changing things I've already posted and pissing all of you off

Previously on A24

With the help of Dr. Walters, Jake and Marco subdue Raul and Ramon. The FBI, led by Agent Baker, use the loss of power to raid the Biozyme building. Unfortunately, the terrorists have disappeared with the help of Jake and Marco, who have morphed Raul and Ramon and escaped with the other terrorists in an attempt to find out what they know. Meanwhile, Rachel and Cassie find out that the attack on Biozyme is only the beginning, and that the real attack will take place in the forest. But before they can get away, they are discovered in a restricted zone. The missing scientists remain unaccounted for as the FBI team receives a message from Davis to avoid the wing they are being held in due to hazardous materials. Ax and Tobias’ interrogation finally pays off as they learn that a ship will be landing in the forest soon. As Baker gets to the bottom of the suspicious shooting of the only terrorist captured, he is knocked out and brought to be infested…

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 4:00 P.M. AND 5:00 P.M.

Events Occur in Real Time

4:00:00 P.M. Biozyme Industries


The two girls followed the large, heavily armed man as he crossed through the lobby, leading them out, “Hey Fred.”

“Hey John,” a shorter man said, dressed in a light jumper, no tactical gear. He looked concernedly at Rachel and Cassie, “where did these two come from?”

“Found them in one of the basements, hiding in a closet,” he explained, staring down at them, “I assume you are missing a couple?”

“Four, actually,” he said, and seemed to slump a little bit as he said it, “I’ve been trying to find Baker and let him know.”

“I haven’t been able to reach him or Daniels for the past ten minutes,” the one who had found them, John Ryan, said.

Cassie and Rachel exchanged a look, two more kids missing?

“Who are the two kids?” Rachel asked the two men bluntly.

“We aren’t sure,” said Fred in a soft voice, babying them, “a few of your friends said they saw them being taken away by one of the men, did you see anything?”

“No,” Cassie said, matching his patronizing tone with a fake, innocent voice, “we ran when we heard all the gunshots, we just wanted to get away.”

“I understand,” the man said, with a reassuring smile, “don’t worry, we’ll find your friends.”

4:03:49 P.M. Hork-Bajir Colony

Toby looked over the newly revived Hork-Bajir carefully. He had been through a tough ordeal; the sensation of a yeerk dying in your head was a horrible one. Toby was glad she had never had to experience the horror of being controlled by another; she had been born a free Hork-Bajir of the valley.

“Toby,” a familiar voice called from behind her.

“Yes Ark?” she asked her friend.

“Ark find this with prisoners stuff,” Ark said, holding out a small metal device, almost like a human cellular phone.

Toby took it, and examined it carefully, “Thank you Ark, very good work.”

She did not know what the device was used for, but she could just feel it would be important. Leaving the recently freed Hork-Bajir’s side, she crossed the valley to where Ax and Tobias were talking. She could see the companionship between the two even more evidently now; separate from their human friends.

<Toby,> Tobias’ voice called in her head, when she was still very far from them.

Ax turned to see her too and said, <We must go to find the others. They have to know about the ship that is coming.>

“You can tell them about this too,” Toby said, holding up the device, she had almost reached the spot where Ax stood and Tobias perched on a low branch nearby.

<What is it?> Tobias asked, focusing intensely on the small device in Toby’s hand.

“I was hoping you would know,” Toby said, directly his question at Ax.

Ax held out his delicate Andalite hand for the device and examined it intently.

“We found it with the weapons that we took off of the scout team,” Toby explained.

<It seems as though it is a private communicator,> Ax said, his fingers plugging away rapidly at the devices small display screen. <And there is a tracking beacon.>

<Maybe it’s for the ship,> Tobias guessed, <Maybe they know where it’s going to land.>

Suddenly the device let off several high-pitched beeping sounds, Ax held it at arms length, <I believe we are receiving a communication.>

<They don’t know that we’ve captured their team,> Tobias realized, <Toby, you need to pretend to be one of them, take the call.>

Ax nodded and handed the communicator back to Toby as a voice projected out of it, “Tarim 4-4-6, why haven’t you checked in?”

“We got held up,” Toby said in Galard, looking up at them.

“Report back to the ship immediately,” the voice said authoritatively, and the connection was cut.

<The location on the device must be the ship they are talking about,> Ax suggested.

<I don’t think we have time to warn the others,> Tobias said to Ax, <we need to get there now.>

4:08:33 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“Then the lights went out, and I managed to grab one of their guns. And I knocked one of them out, but the other one got shot,” Walters explained to the agent.

“You mean you shot him?” the agent corrected.

“Yes,” Walters said, squirming in his seat, “Yes, I killed him.”

This was true; he had shot the man. He had killed him. But he wasn’t being entirely truthful with the officers. He wasn’t going to tell them about the two boys that had helped him, that had trusted him. He wasn’t sure why he was protecting them, why he had helped them escape from the building, or why they even needed to escape. He simply knew, somehow, that he could trust them. They were on the right side of this, whatever this was.

He was sitting on a bench in the lobby, where the FBI had set up a sort of headquarters. He was being questioned by one of the agents about what had happened in the basement, why they had found him lying in a bloody mess with a broken hand and a dead body.

“Did they say anything about what they did with the other scientists?” the agent asked.

“You haven’t found them yet?” Walters asked, bewildered. How had he not asked about them sooner?”

“No,” the agent said, sighing, “we’ve searched nearly the entire building. We need to wait for Hazmat to get her before we can search zones three and four, there was some kind of chemical spill.”

“What?” Walters said, with a shocked expression, “Zone three and four? Are you sure?”

“Yea, why?” the agent asked, looking confused.

“There are no hazardous chemicals in those areas, I guarantee you,” he said, standing up, “that area is designed to be locked down in case of a contamination, or an attack! If my people are in the building, they would all be in there!”

“Jesus,” the agent said, then reached up to his radio, “Are you sure?” he asked Walters, pausing with one hand on the call button, then with a confident nod from Walters he said, “Agent Baker, this is Taylor, zones three and four are clear, there is no contamination, I repeat zones three and four are not contaminated.”

“This is Ryan,” came the reply, “I think Baker is off com, I’ll have Bravo check it out.”

“Copy that,” Agent Taylor said, then turned to Walters, “you need to come with me.”

He led Walters across the room to a row of computers set up on the reception desk, “Set up a line with HQ, he needs to talk to Davis.”

“Yes sir,” the man working the terminal said, looking at Dr. Walters with a curious expression as he keyed in the command, “It’s sending now.”

4:12:03 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“FBI, Richards,” Richards answered, tucking the phone against his ear with his shoulder and continuing to type rapidly.

“Mr. Richards this is Agent Taylor, I have Dr. Walters here with some vital information for Mr. Davis.”

“Hang on a sec Jerry,” Richards said, finally taking his eyes off the computer, and scanned the room.

Davis was working with Dana Washington in the communications unit, “John, we’ve got something for you.”

He looked up at the sound of his name and saw Richards holding up the phone. He left Dana and started crossing the room towards him, “Those satellite images are up already?”

“No, the request is still in, this is something else,” Richards said, “apparently the scientist, Walters, has something. I’ll put it on speaker, go ahead.”

“Hello?” came Walter’s unsure voice.

“This is Director Davis, I’m the head of this branch,” Davis explained, “what have you got for us Dr. Walters?”

“I was told that you avoided zones three and four because of some kind of chemical hazard,” Walters said, trying to sound as professional as possible but knowing that his voice had been shaking ever since the terrorists had grabbed him, “but the way our building is designed makes that completely impossible.”

“Do you know where that information came from?” Richards asked.

“Sir,” Taylor’s voice came in, “I have it from Agent Baker that that information came from your office.”

Davis looked over at Richards, who exchanged his glance, they both knew what that meant. Someone in their office had provided disinformation. Someone was helping the terrorists.

“Search the area immediately!” Davis called.

“Sir I’m getting word from Agent Ryan’s team now, I can connect you,” Taylor said.

4:14:51 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“The doors are jammed, we have set charges and are preparing to enter,” Ryan reported into his communications unit.

“Agent Ryan this is Davis, report in the second you know something,” a voice responded.

“Copy that sir,” he responded, then nodded to one of his team members.

“Charge in three, two, one,” at the one second mark the agent pressed a detonator and several tiny but precisely placed explosives went off a few feet away. The small team immediately rushed through the now wide open door, guns raised, ready to find the terrorists they had thought had eluded them.
 
Instead, what they found were several dozen men and women, all looking terrified at their abrupt and violent entry. Some had fallen and ducked for cover, others held their arms raised high, a common reaction to a man with a gun.

“Where did the men who attacked this building go?” Ryan asked the crowd at large.

“What?” several asked, looking confused and scared.

Ryan was taken aback by their lack of understanding, “This building was the victim of an attack, do you have any information on the attackers?”

“We have been here the whole time,” one of the crowd stepped forward wearily, he spoke in a thick Russian accent, “when the power went out, we lost our communication and the doors were jammed shut. We have been trapped in here for hours.”

4:17:32 P.M. Biozyme Industries

“We need to do something,” Rachel hissed, punching on the seat in front of her restlessly, the kid in the seat in front of her turned around about to say something, but seeing Rachel decided against it.

“Your right, but how do we get out of here?” Cassie asked, looking down to the front of the school bus, where one of the FBI agents was lazily sitting. Their teacher had been so hysterical with trauma that they had not counted on her watching them.

“I don’t know, we could go to the back seats and…” Rachel implied, but she knew it was a bad idea.

“Too risky, someone would definitely see us,” she said, but she figured Rachel already knew that.

“Well,” Rachel said, pulling Cassie up by the arm, and saying quite simply, “we’ll just have to talk our way through it.”

She began to march them to the front of the bus where the guard was staring lazily back toward the building. Before they could reach him, however, he got a call on his radio and replied, “they found them? I’ll be right there.”

He turned to the students, just as Cassie and Rachel sidestepped into an empty bench seat, “Alright kids, if you could all just stay right here, someone will be back in just a second.”

With that, he darted out of the bus and fast-walked back into Biozyme, excited to be done baby-sitting.

"Well that was a freebie," Rachel said, then turned to the girl on the opposite bench and whispered, “Hey, Cassie and I are going to ditch out, can you cover for us?”

Cassie saw that it was Jen; she answered, “You guys are leaving? Now?”

“Yeah,” Rachel added, “we don’t want to be stuck here all day, don’t tell anyone okay?”

“Okay,” Jen said, with a concerned look on her face.

Cassie and Rachel slowly and casually moved to the front of the bus. “Where are you going?” One girl challenged them.

“We’re going to see how Ms. McKay is doing,” Cassie said, “want to come?”

“No way,” the girl said grumpily, slumping back into her seat.

As they peered out of the bus door they saw a handful of people around the entrance to the building, but nobody was paying much attention to the bus. They walked purposefully toward the building until they were out of eyeshot of the bus, and then the cut along a row of cars, staying low, heading for the forest.

“You know they’ll just tell the second someone asks about us,” Cassie said.

“Yeah, but now everyone will just think we skipped,” Rachel said, “and not that we sneaked into the woods to turn into animals and stop an alien attack we know nothing about.”

4:21:17 P.M. Biozyme Mines

“This must be it,” Jake said in Ramon’s husky voice, pointing ahead as a small ray of light.

“And where is this supposed to lead?” a very sweaty and disgruntled Hondo asked. They had been climbing through the rocky underground mines for almost an hour.

“How the hell are we supposed to know?” Marco asked, doing the best to imitate a man he had only known for minutes as a torturer.

“That Walters could have been leading us into a trap!” Hondo cried out, “we could walk through there and be surrounded by cops!”

Jake turned on him, “You think I wouldn’t have taken care of that? Walters is no longer a problem. Now shut it. Let’s move.”
Jacob remained silent through the exchange, concerned about something but he didn’t know what.

Everyone was acting weird.

“These two are acting real strange,” Dominic muttered from behind him.

They finally reached the end of the passageway, there was a small tunnel in front of them. It looked like a supply line, barely big enough for a man, if at all.

Marco looked over at Jake, “Give me a boost?”

<You’re taller now, you should give me a boost,> Jake reminded him in private thought-speak.

<I know,> Marco responded, <I just wanted to hear you say it. Alright, need a boost midget?>

Marco put his hands down around his knees and lifted one of Jakes feet until he found a hold in the rocks and pulled himself out of the hole, “We’re clear.”

Marco looked smugly over at Hondo, “See?”

Hondo just snarled and glared at him as he moved forward to climb through.

4:24:06 P.M. FBI Headquarters

Richards walked swiftly across the room, studying Dana carefully as he approached her. She seemed like someone that could be trusted. She had been with the Bureau almost as long as he had, and there had never been a problem with her. When Davis had been brought in as director, she had been one of the people that had strongly expressed to Richards that he should have gotten the position. She was loyal to him.

“Hey Dana, I need you to do something for me,” he said, leaning over her desk to speak quietly, “I need you to find a call made to Agent Baker from someone in this office.”

“Sure,” she said simply, “do you know when it was?”

“Some time in the last hour and a half,” he said, watching as she brought up the search, “and keep this to yourself.”

“Sure, what’s going on?” she asked, looking up at him.

“We think that there may be someone in the office who helped Garza’s team escape,” he said, looking around again to make sure no one was listening. He saw Davis walking towards them.

“Do we have anything?” he asked, looking between Dana and Richards.

“No,” Richards said, “none of the scientists know anything. The field teams are still sweeping the area but they don’t think they’ll find anything.”

“Alright,” Davis said absentmindedly, he seemed to be deep in thought about something, “I need to talk to you for a second.”

Davis led Richards a few feet away, into a more secluded corner, and spoke in a low voice, “Okay, we both know that something is going on here.”

“Yeah,” Richards responded grimly, “I don’t know how, but they definitely got to someone in the office.”

“Until we know who to trust, this stays between the two of us,” Davis said, keeping his voice low, “I’ll work up everything I can by myself, I want you to keep an eye on everyone down here.”

“You don’t think I’d be more help searching for the mole?”

“No, I need you down here,” Davis said authoritatively, “you haven’t told anyone about the leak yet have you?”

Richards considered telling him about Dana, Davis wouldn’t really have an issue bringing her into the loop. But he knew Davis didn’t trust her like he did, “No.”

“Good, keep it that way,” he said with finality, and turned away back towards his office.

“Ted,” Dana called, walking over to him, “I found the call.”

“And?” he asked hopefully, “can you tell who it is?”

“It’s been scrambled,” she said, “it’ll take at least twenty minutes to get it clear enough to run a voice check.”

“Alright,” Richards said, looking back towards Davis’ office. If he was going to bring this to him, now would be a good time, “once you have something, bring it straight to me.”

4:28:56 P.M. Forest

Tobias caught a thermal and soared upward, getting all the height he could to drop into another steady dive. Ax in his northern harrier morph was a few hundred feet to his right, a little lower in the sky. They were both scanning the forest below, looking for any sign of the ship. They knew this would be difficult, as the ship was sure to be cloaked, but Tobias knew what to look for.

Toby and a small team of Hork-Bajir were following in the trees below, and doing a reasonable job of keeping up. Tobias knew that had he been going as fast as he could he would have easily lost them, but he was always impressed at how well they moved through the forest. There was a certain grace to it, he thought, as he watched one of them far below, reach out, catch a branch and immediately swing to land on another tree. Their movements were fluid and deliberate, a race bred to move through the trees.

Tobias dropped from the thermal and into a dive down towards the tree line, aiming to intercept with Toby, <How are we doing?>

“The locator says 200 feet straight ahead,” Toby called up to him, digging his knee spikes into the bark as he checked the device, which had been strapped to his arm.

Tobias used the momentum from the dive to rise back into the air. He focused on the spot 200 feet away. There was a small clearing where, yesterday, there hadn’t been one.

<There’s definitely something there,> he said to Ax, and worked to get back up to his height.

They picked up speed, pulling away from Toby and his team. Tobias reached the right altitude and aimed himself for the newly made clearing. He was faster than Ax, and had reached the spot before him, perching in a tree with a good view.

He saw that a few dozen trees had been merely blasted away, burnt stumps and charred earth surrounded the ground where a thick forest had once been. In the middle of the desolate clearing sat a bug fighter. The high sun reflected off its black, uncloaked hull. They had found the ship.

4:32:35 P.M. Biozyme Industries

Dr. Walters walked through the room, unsure of what he was looking for. He had been paranoid ever since finding out that the FBI had been given false information from one of their own. He didn’t feel like he could trust anyone. All of the other scientists had been in the lockdown area, and were now being checked out by the FBI teams. He had to be in charge of the building while they weren't able to. He had been willing to sit on the side and trust that the FBI would handle the matter, but he knew now that he couldn't do that.

He knew that he couldn't do nothing, but he still had no clue what to do.

He crossed through the lockdown area, where his people had gone for protection from the attack. Then he saw something unusual, a small rug, which were usually found in the offices, had been placed in the corner of the carpeted floor. It wasn’t exactly a problem, but it just seemed out of place. He poked his head in the office that adjoined with the main room and saw that it was missing its rug.

Walters looked around the room, there were a few agents lazily searching the area, doubting they would find anything. No one was paying attention to Walters. He knelt down and lifted up a portion of the rug. There was nothing immediately strange about the carpet underneath, he had expected maybe someone was sloppily covering up a stain. But he noticed that there were small creases spaced out underneath the rug, as though something very heavy had sat here for a while and left an indentation in the carpet.
Somebody probably just moved some furniture, Walters thought, getting to his feet and feeling foolish.

Then he noticed a small grey stain in the corner, raised off the carpet slightly. It looked like thick sludge, as if someone had melted lead and a few drops had tipped out of the bowl. His scientific curiosity took over and he scrambled to his feet to find a container. He moved into the next room, not wanting to tell the FBI about his discovery. It was probably nothing anyway.

Two doors away was a supply closet, and he slowly entered. He found a Petri dish and a precise knife to scrape off a sample, and took them back into the main room.

“What the hell is he doing in here?” a voice called from the lockdown entrance. Everyone’s heads turned toward Walters.

“Baker, sir,” one of the agents doing the search said awkwardly, “he’s the scientist, the one they found in the basement.”

“I don’t give a damn who he is,” Baker said, looking at Walters, “this area is locked down, get him out of here.”

4:36:22 P.M. Forest

“What the hell are we doing now?” Hondo asked angrily.

“We’re trying to avoid arrest,” Marco snapped, then added to Jake in private thought-speak, <What are we doing man?>

<To be honest I was hoping they would have said something useful by now,> Jake admitted lamely, <we need to sort of steer the conversation in that direction.>

<Okay fearless leader,> Marco said, <steer away.>

“We need to get away and get prepared for the next job,” Jake said, taking a risk.

“We need Tar for that job,” Dominic said.

“I know,” Jake lied, “so let’s chill out for a second, and then we’ll go get it.”

“It?” Hondo snapped, “It? Tar is a guy! What the hell is going on?”

Hondo and Dominic immediately swung their guns up and pointed them at Jake and Marco. Jacob hesitated for a second, silent in the background behind them, and then drew his gun too.

“He meant ‘it’ in the Latin form?” Marco suggested.

“Shut the hell up,” Dominic yelled, “who the hell are you?”

“Okay listen, just calm down,” Jake said, trying to maintain an even tone.

“Let’s just shoot these two,” Hondo said, pulling back the hammer of his rifle in classic movie fashion. It did as good a job of intimidating in real life as it did in the movies.

Without warning, a full-grown wolf had sprung out of the bushes and pounced on Hondo. Jake and Marco dove out of the way, as he shot wildly into the air, falling to the ground with the weight of the wolf on top of him. Dominic raised his gun and took aim at the wolf, but before he could do anything, a flash of brown shot from the sky. Its tough to appreciate just how enormous a Bald Eagle is until one is clawing at your face, flapping its six foot long wings to keep aloft.

<Hey boys,> Rachel said ****ily, <looked like you could use some help.>

“How do you know that’s not us you’re clawing?” Marco shouted as Cassie landed a paw to the side of Hondo’s head, and his screaming subsided.

Jacob was staring from the wolf to the eagle in complete shock, frozen to the spot. Jake circled the tiny battle, heading for Jacob, who still had his gun raised. He had finally gained some control over himself and decided to raise his gun at the wolf. Before he managed to take the shot, Jake was on him, grabbing the gun with one of Raul’s large hands, and sending Jacob flying with one of his shoulders. His head hit a rock and rebounded onto the rough forest floor, leaving him out cold.

<Like a wolf and an eagle couldn’t overhear a conversation,> Cassie said, <especially when you get them so worked up by the time we get here.>

Marco went around and checked the man Rachel had clawed to the ground, “he’s alive; he’s passed out though. Wow, brutal.”

“Thanks guys, but how did you find us?” Jake asked, and began morphing out of Raul’s body.

<We’ll have to explain that one later,> Rachel said, <and so will you guys.>

<We found out about another attack,> Cassie explained, she too was demorphing, <we should find Tobias and Ax.>

4:44:39 P.M. FBI Headquarters

“Sir,” Richards called, flagging down Davis as he moved through the office, “did you have any luck finding the mole?”

“No,” Davis said, sounding frustrated at the fact, “any luck tracking High Dawn?”

“Nothing,” Richards said, sounding more disappointed in himself than frustrated, “Baker checked in a few minutes ago. His team has been searching one of the basements, they weren’t able to get a signal.”

“Did he say anything about the order someone gave him?”

“I didn’t speak to him personally,” Richards said, “and I haven’t been able to reach him since.”

Davis’ pocket let out a vibrating noise and he pulled out his cell phone, “Keep trying,” he said, and continued across the office, pulling open his phone.

“Yes?” he asked.

He looked around to make sure he was out of earshot of Richards and the others, “Are you sure? How?”

“Damnit. No, it must have been Ted Richards.”

“Yes I understand, I’ll take care of it.”

“Ted, I’ve unscrambled that call,” Dana said, nudging Richards back into focus. He had been staring across the room at Davis.

“Play it.”

“Baker, its Davis,” the recording buzzed, “Keep your men clear of zone’s three and four. There are some hazardous chemicals; we’ll have to let hazmat take care of.”

“Jesus,” Richards gasped, staring at the screen, “Davis is the mole?”

Dana looked up with a similar expression of disbelief and saw Richards’ confusion turn into shock.

“He’s gone!” Richards said, looking up at the spot where Davis had been. He picked up the phone and keyed the security number, “This is Ted Richards, I need an immediate lockdown of this building. Find Director Davis and put him into custody immediately!”

Davis rushed down the empty hallway, trying to look casual and resisting the urge to break into a run. He was the director, there was no reason for anyone to question him. Just walk out calmly. As he rounded the corner he saw the guard at the entrance hanging up the phone and a loud beeping filled the air over his head. The alarms had been activated! They had already put out an arrest issue for him.

“Sir,” the guard said, moving from behind the desk as Davis approached, “I can not allow you to leave, please put your hands behind your head-“

“Calm down Tony,” Davis said to the guard, slowing down but still moving closer to him, “what’s going on?”

“Stop there sir!” Tony said, raising his voice a little more and pulling out his gun.

Before he could raise it to aim at Davis, he had rushed forward and grabbed the guards gun arm with one hand. Forcing it to the side he landed an upward blow to the guards nose, and felt the crack. Davis slammed the hand holding the gun against the desk counter and it went flying across the floor. Using both hands he drove Tony forward and slammed him against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

Darting quickly over to where the gun had fallen, he checked the magazine and gripped it comfortably in his left hand. With his right, he pulled out his key card and swiped it to open the door. An error message blinked back in his face from the display. He punched in an override code and the error message continued to blink furiously. Thinking quickly, he planned out a new route and doubled back down the hallway, desperate to escape.

4:52:22 P.M. Forest

<I am not entirely sure that this idea will work,> Ax said, marching in step with the others.

<They called us,> Tobias said, <they expect a group of Hork-Bajir to be coming back right?>

<But what happens when they realize that we are a different group of Hork-Bajir?> Ax said.

“Tarim 4-4-6 reporting,” Toby said into the communicator, playing the part of a yeerk struggling with the difficult Hork-Bajir speech.

“Opening hatch,” came the reply in the same broken Hork-Bajir speech.

Ax looked down at the numerous sets of razor sharp blades coming out of his Hork-Bajir body, readying himself to use them. They didn’t quite have the speed or precision of his tail, but they were still formidable weapons. A small hatch lowered at the bottom of the ship and a Hork-Bajir walked out. He took one look around at the small group of Toby’s and immediately knew he had been tricked.

“Gafrash!” he shouted back into the fighter, but two Hork-Bajir were already on top of him, slicing at his arms and legs.

Ax rushed past them, into the ship. He knew he would have to get to the other passengers before any message could be sent. A taxxon slithered toward him and he downed it with a single slice of his wrist. Messy, but effective. Directly ahead, a second Hork-Bajir was entering in a communication code, ready to transmit. With no time for caution, Ax bull rushed him and slammed him into the computer. The Hork-Bajir reared his legs back and kicked Ax in the chest, sending him flying back. He turned back to the computer to finish the command. Ax managed to stay on his feet and lunged back, slicing at the pilot’s arm with one blade, and swinging him around with the other. The Hork-Bajir made another swing at him, but Ax was ready and dodged it, using the momentum to slam him against the wall of the fighter. He duck a forearm into his back, pinning him into place. His elbow blades were inches from the spine.

<Let him go man,> Tobias said, rushing forward.

Ax did not understand what he meant but backed off the controller anyway. Then he saw the Hork-Bajir outside, he had been wounded severely by Toby and his team, but he was alive. They intended to bring both of these Hork-Bajir back with them, to be tied up with the others in the hut. Ax hadn’t intended to kill him, but he understood the concern the free Hork-Bajir must have shown, and respected Tobias for electing to be the one to say something.

<Did they manage to get any messages out?> Tobias asked.

<It does not appear so,> Ax said, turning toward the computer. He demorphed as he approached it, wanting his nimble Andalite fingers to work the keys, <This fighter would have been too small to carry the group that we captured. It must have another purpose.>

“Does it say what that purpose is?” Toby asked, joining Ax and Tobias in front of the console.

<I will try to find out,> Ax said as his fingers had shrunk and multiplied to their normal form. He felt two pops as his stalk eyes erupted from his head, and his vision doubled. He typed quickly at the keyboard, scanning for all recent commands, <This bug fighter has a modified data sensor.>

<Meaning what?> Tobias asked.

<It has been modified to read and transmit a large amount of energy readings,> he explained, <I’ll try to access the program.>

Suddenly an array of data flooded the screen, temperature, wind speed, sounds, and a dozen other readings. In the center, and the one that seemed most important, was an energy reading, that was steadily increasing.

<This reading indicates another ship, one of a far greater mass and energy potential than this one,> Ax said, and then he looked concerned, <the energy its expending is higher than any ship would need to leave earth atmosphere, or even enter Z-space.>

<What does that mean Ax?> Tobias asked, reading his concerned face.

<It must be preparing to fire some kind of weapon,> Ax said, trying to explain it, <some kind of enormous energy bomb.>

4:58:37 P.M. FBI Headquarters

Davis raced down another hallway, on a lower level now. He had managed to avoid detection so far, but they had to be closing in on him. Finally, he found the exit he had been looking for; an old emergency exit in a blocked off portion of the lower level. He reached out and put his weight into it. The door swung a few inches and then stopped as Davis heard the clatter of a chain on the other side.

The door opening would have surely set off another alarm. He had to hurry. With one foot holding the door open as far as the chain would allow, he leveled the gun at the swinging metal links.

BAM BAM

He felt the chain give way and the door swing open.

“Freeze! Right there!” came a shout from behind him, he turned to see three armed guards, all with their guns drawn and leveled at his chest.

“Place the gun on the ground now!” one of them ordered.

Having no choice but to comply, he dropped the gun to the ground, and kicked it over to them. One of the others rushed over to him and forced him to the ground, pulling a set of handcuffs from a case on his belt. Davis felt the cold concrete pressing against his face as he heard the click of the cuffs enclosing his wrists.

5:00:00 P.M.

[dolphin4077]

As usual I've been a long time lurker, but I've really enjoyed reading your fic.  Thanks for the update.

[Nateosaurus]

Awesome post Duffy, I hope you update SOON lol

good luck.