Memoirs of a RAFian

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER THREE:
The Body-Jacker

"The exuberant ecstasy of seeing with eyes," F1 said quietly, relishing being corporeal. "The unbridled joy of hearing with ears. The unmeasured happiness of being able to smell -- in both senses of the word! The delectable rapture of being able to taste. The unparalleled pleasure of fleshing feeling and touch! The absolute delight of being able to speak! Speak more than a few single-syllable words!!"

It was incredibly odd seeing a seven-year-old kid waxing philosophical like this. And this was actually quite out of the ordinary for this boy. Michelangelo "Mike" Coleman.

"Mikey?" one of his friends, with blue mittens, asked, concerned. He was Leonardo "Leo" Clarke. Behind him stood Raphael "Raph" Paulsen (red mittens), Cody and Neil Jones (both wore gloves), Donatello "Donnie" Gordon (purple mittens), April Fishman (lilac gloves), and Starla Allen (mauve gloves)*. Leo spoke again, "Mikey. Hey, Mikey!!"

F1 apparently did not have access to Mikey's memories, as it did not seem to recognize Mikey's name. Or it could have been so blindly rejoicing in its new sensory ability to have either heard or care about being called.

Leo crossed over to F1, who had Mikey's back turned towards them. It was still revelling in the fact that it finally had a body of its own. Even though it wasn't a body of its own, since it decided to steal if from an innocent boy.

"Mikey, you need --" Leo began as he clapped his right hand on Mikey's shoulder. The body-jacker left Mikey's shoulder and entered Leo's forearm. Mikey looked as if he was coming out a reverie without any idea or inclination of what happened.

Leo's stricken expression quickly transmuted into a pained one. This time it took about a second less for F1's consciousness to assert itself as the dominant consciousness and render Leo's dormant.

F1 blinked Leo's eyes and got its bearings. Then it said, through Leo, while looking at Leo's mittened hands, "Well. That was unexpected."

"Whoa," Mikey said. "I think I may have zoned out."

There was a slight jostling in the group and F1 was bumped out of Leo and into Starla. This time it took nine seconds less time for F1 to assert itself as the dominant consciousness.

"Again, huh?" F1 said, with Starla's voice, as it curled her lips into an evil smile. "This could be fun."

F1 shot Starla's hand out and seized Raph's arm. The body-jacker switched soundlessly between the two, and in just over four and three-fourths minutes was the dominant consciousness in Raph's body.

"Yes!" it crowed, with Raph's voice. "This could be most fun, indeed!"

"What are you talking about --" April said, but F1 switched into her, which shut her up. And, in just under four and a half minutes, April's consciousness was dormant.

"This was what 'he' was talking about, girly," F1 said, with April's mouth, lips, and voice. This seemed funny to it. "And with each body . . ."

April's hand shot out and caught Cody's shoulder, and the body-jacker jumped bodies. And F1 jacked Cody's body. After a bit more than three and a half minutes, F1's consciousness superseded Cody's, which went dormant.

"With each body," F1 sneered in Cody's voice, "it gets easier to gain control."

Cody's elbow found Donnie's gut, which expelled the body-jacker from Cody's elbow into Donnie's gut. With a bit over two and a half minutes, F1 had control over Donnie's body. Complete and total control.

"To control the body," F1 continued from when it was in Cody. He laughed a deep, rather insane laugh. Rather creepy, coming from a seven-year-old.

"What is wrong with --" Neil began. He became the next target and host. Neil's body became totally F1's within a minute and a quarter. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong with him. Everything is so right."

Now Neil laughed rather malevolently.

"That creature was far kinder than I could have ever --"

Then Mrs. Jones had come up behind Neil and place his hand on his shoulder. This time, F1 didn't realize the body change until after it stop speaking. "Kinder than I could have ever imagined. She didn't just give me one body."

Then F1's body-jacker was funneled into Neil's older sister, Augustine, "She gave me them all!!"


*Kind of a hint where the idea for a body-jacker came from. Is it too subtle? Or is it too obvious?

[Dylan]

*I tip my hat to you sir
I am such a dumb@ss

[Cloak]

Ah.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FOUR:
Caterwaul

"What was that all about?" Cloak wondered again.

"I'll tell you again, Cloak," Goom said, "I don't know."

"I was talking more to myself," Cloak elaborated. "And I do sense a certain kind of evil . . . but that sense is rather furiatingly vague."

"So I gather," Goom said.

"We must gather the other RAFians," Cloak said.

"Yes, this is just vague enough to warrant such!" Goom said, attempting to be funny. It wasn't working.

"There isn't any levity to be gotten from this situation," Cloak said, quite seriously.

"Oh, don't be so morose . . . oh, okay. You're right. Now's not the time." Goom said. "The Mark burned . . . there has to be a reason."

Probably tied into the evil Cloak sensed. He did not say it because he thought it was self-evident. Cloak's thoughts seemed to go everywhere at once and yet nowhere at the same time. He was simply puzzled about everything.

It turned out that the other feline RAFians sensed the same thing that Cloak did. It was a cat thing.

***

A boy whose hair was over-moussed and black, wearing black jeans, red boots, a blue zip-up jacket, and naked hands rolled his shoulders, with an ecstatic smile on his face, his large eyes closed.

"This body is nice," he said, inspecting it. "But I really can do better than a child, I --"

"-- Think."

It blinked new eyes. It had been bounced into a new body without realizing it at first. It was in a dark boy with messy hair with a green headband, brown leather boots with prominent cuffs, blue jeans, short-sleeved white shirt, and a vest with yellow trim. F1 examined this body, too.

"This one isn't that bad, either," F1 said, in the boy's voice, "but, in all honesty, I think that I can --"

"Do better." F1 continued, unaware that it switched bodies when its last body accidentally struck this one in the face with his hand. This one was a spiky-haired blond boy with blue sneakers, blue shorts, and a short-sleeved red shirt. F1 blinked, as she examined this new body. "I really must be --"

"-- More careful." F1 continued, realizing it switched again. He was in the body of another boy, this one a bit on the hefty side. He wore a khaki cap, a khaki shirt with a Boy Scout sash thing (complete with many merit badges), light brown socks, pennyloafers, a red bandanna, and brown shorts. "Whoa. It's really comfortable in this one. Like well-worn shoes."

Then F1 shot out a hand and touched another boy, causing the body-jacker to leap into him. The boy had messy hair, thick brown shoes, white socks, jean shorts, short-sleeved blue shirt, pale gray vest, and a brown satchel. "This one is very nice in a very different --"

"-- Way though." F1 said. Then it blinked, literally with new eyes. He was in a boy with brown hair in a stupid hairdo with blue jeans, red hi-tops, and a red, short-sleeved shirt with some sort of yellow insignia on it. The boy had touched his previous body. "Uh, no."

F1 touched the boy with the satchel again, and got comfortable in his body. "This one will do. At least for the moment."

[Cloak]

Ugh. That "Back Seat Moderating" thread is still rankling me . . . the sheer hypocrisy of it. . . .

Anyway, the new chapter tomorrow may come late.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER FIVE:
On the Scene

Normally, everyone else at RAF might not have taken Cloak's assertions of an evil nearby, in the city, had not the Mark burned. And had this been the first time something like this happened.

But the Marks had burned, and this wasn't the first time that RAF had encountered such a phenomenon of the felines sensing evil.

Cloak, FuBar, Bladeh, Aquilai, and Parker were quickly dispatched (Shadow decided all by herself to tag along) to investigate this occurance.

They stepped into the city (in disguise, of course, they didn't want to start a panic if they didn't have to . . . what? It wasn't stupid! . . . Okay, yes, the populace of the city should be used to this kind of thing by now, considering the events of the past year and beyond, but still). They looked around, disguised as humans (except Parker, who was essentially an enhanced human, and had his armor compartimentalized within a watch -- Walker tech, which Cloak wouldn't go in depth about), with FuBar and Bladeh disguised as pet cats.

"So," Parker said, rubbing the watch apprehensively. He felt naked without his armor. "So, what exactly are we looking for, exactly?"

"Settle down, SPARTAN," Cloak said. He was wearing the ID Mask that projected his usual holographic disguise.

"Well?"

"I don't know. Not exactly."

"How comforting." Parker retorted.

"We'll know it when we see it," Bladeh said.

"Did that cat just talk?" a bystander asked.

"Nope," Shadow said brightly, as they bypassed the bystander. "We need to hurry and --"

But Cloak was staring at the bystander with narrowed eyes . . . but he couldn't be sure . . . he stopped staring with his eyes, but kept track of the pedestrian with his Earthsight.

"Uncle?"

***

A hairy seaman? Didn't like.

A small Russian boy immigrant? Not really.

A shapely collegian? Not it's type.

A boy with ridiculously tall blonde hair? Comfortable, but not what it really wanted.

An United Postal Service delivery boy? It itched in some rather strange places.

A boy with slicked-back black hair? Felt uncomfortably tight, but in a good way.

A shopping teenage girl? Not quite what it was looking for in a body.

A ten-year-old boy in a white shirt (bisected with a black line), brown slacks and sneakers? Perhaps. It decided it would come back to this body if it could not find better.

A deminiutive burgular? Nah. Too much baggage.

A rail-thin, elderly man? No. Just . . . just no.

A costumed performer? Perhaps one with a less weedy-looking body.

A three-year-old boy? Nah. Just felt weak and squishy.

A skateboarding prepubescent? Nah. Too much risk.

A poncho-wearing woman? No. With that poncho? Seriously?

A muumuu-wearing little girl with a flower in her long raven hair? Hmmm . . . perhaps.

A gas station attendant? No way. No way he had a life it would find comfortable, not with that kind of pay.

A handy man? Hmmm . . . nah.

A businessman? Hmmm . . . it wasn't sure . . . it didn't know if it could live this body. It certainly was comfortable enough, if not a bit bony. Was this body the one? Was --

"Did that cat just talk?" it had to ask.

[Dylan]

Talking cats ? I guess I need to finishing reading the others to before that makes since.

[redtailedsaffa]

Welcome to RAF.

[Cloak]

Yeah, there's a whole species registry thread somewhere. I'd link it -- but I'm lazy right now.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SIX:
Hopalong Little Body-Jacker

As the RAFians bypassed F1, inside the body of the businessman, hurrying away. F1 suddenly found itself inside a rosy-cheeked little boy with light red hair, big anime eyes who wore green slacks, orangish-brown shoes, a knit-cap, and a blue shirt with long yellow sleeves. As the other bodies F1 had inhabited, it did not know anything the rightful proprietor of this body's affliations. He could have been its previous host's son or other relative. But it did not care.

It examined this body and decided that it chafed a little. It wanted out, and its wish was granted when the boy in which it currently resided was jostled by a teenged punk dressed all in black with long greasy hair and spiked wrist bands.

Then it decided that this guy wasn't much better -- and it was inside this boy that a thought occurred to F1. Those four people (and perhaps their pet cats were in on it two), they were . . . they were . . .

"DAH!" F1 cursed, but not inside the punk teen. She was inside a ten-year-old boy with a blockish head in a white sweatshirt with a red short-sleeved shirt over it, khaki slacks, and sneakers. It was a nice body, to be sure, but the switch had interrupted its thoughts. Which was odd, as the body-jacker had switched bodies on F1 without conscious notice from the virus.

"What?" said the boy's companion, but F1 shrugged off the question. It was uncharacteristic of the boy on which it was currently squatting in. The boy's companion -- a simple but egotistical boy with big, expressive, blue eyes and thin lips. "Mack, what's wrong?"

"Shut up," F1 said, through Mack. F1 had no interest with Mack's companion as a possible home. "And go away."

"Mack," Mack's companion said, moving to place his hand on his friend's retreating shoulder, "what's -- oh, you idiot!"

F1 was now "wearing" Mack's companion.

F1 needed a moment's peace to consider! It was harder to concentrate now, for whatever reason. He tried to focus on those four and the two cats. Apparently, Mack's companion often ignored him as Mack treated F1's testiness as somewhat normal and day-to-day.

Those four and the cats . . . there was something about them. And that one . . . the one that stared . . . there was something about that, too. But what was --

"Will --" it said, testily. It now wore a young kindergartener girl with long light red hair in a ponytail and wore a simple pink dress and black dress shoes.

"-- You --" it continued, now in a different body. It was now another kindergartener girl with short black hair who wore a simple green dress and black dress shoes.

"-- Just --" it continued, now in the last body of the three jostling around. This one was also a kindergartener girl. Only she had blonde pigtails with who wore a simple blue dress and black dress shoes.

"-- Stop --" the black-haired girl said.

"-- Swapping --" the blonde girl said.

"-- Me --" the redhead said.

"-- Around --" the black-haired girl said.

"-- Like --" the redhead said.

"-- This!!" -- the black-haired girl screamed.

"-- I need --" the blonde said.

"-- to --" the redhead said.

"-- concentrate!!" the black-haired screamed.

"Stop it!!" an adult said, separating the three fighting friends. "Stop it right -- well, this is a better."

The adult was now playing host to F1.

"That was really not funny," it said, and the three girls thought that it was referring to them. They quickly and profusely apologized, not even really realizing that they didn't even know what they were fighting.

"I need to get --"

It now wore a boy with thick glasses, purple gloves, black pants, black shoes, and a lab coat. The boy clearly fancied himself a scientist.

"-- To get out of here. To get somewhere that I can think."

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Plausible and Implausible

It managed to get away from the hullabaloo (which did attract the RAFians' attention, and it wasn't ready for a second encounter from them, at least, until it had a better grasp of what they were). It was no longer in the boy-playing-scientist, but inside a teenaged truant.

"Those four," he said, with the boy's mouth, voice, and tongue. "And the cats. There was something about them . . . something. But what?"

The truant jerked as the body-jacker left him and entered into a rather twiggy twelve-year-old boy who shaves his head. The boy's consciousness immediately went dormant, as F1's consciousness easily became the dominant mind. It rolled the boy's shoulders as it adjusted to the newness of this body. It didn't really have to, just chose to.

"What makes them so different from all these?" he said aloud, referring to this and its past hosts. "What makes them so . . . wait a moment . . . ugh."

The body-jacker passed into a police officer.

"Are they truly different? Are they truly . . . special?"

"What?" said the officer's partner.

"Shut up," F1 replied, with the officer's voice, but none of his mannerisms.

"What?" the other officer said, offended. But F1 had abandoned the officer for a passing man with a pointed chin and hooked nose who wore a black cloak and a derby. F1 left the officer to deal with the fallout of its actions -- it didn't care how it turned out.

F1 was glancing at this man's hands as she walked, "driving" his body without any awareness from the rightful consciousness of this body.

"Perhaps," it said, with his voice, "just perhaps . . ."

Then, with a gasp, it was out. Thanks to the body-jacker, it was now inside a drunkard, immediately disliking it, simply for it's inebriated state. It found it absolutely repulsive.

It quickly jumped and jacked the body of round-headed boy with sparse hair (which he covered with a red cap). This boy wore a yellow shirt with a black zigzag around the middle, brown shorts, yellow socks, and brown loafers.

"Good grief," it said, when it had asserted its mental dominance, "that was a horrid body."

Then the body-jacker sent it into a nun, then quickly into little girl with a blue dress with moderate-length black hair thereafter, but it didn't mind this time, as it remembered it's idea.

"Perhaps," it said, with the girl's voice, but the mannerisms of someone significantly older. "Perhaps . . . I already discovered the body to make my permanent home. I must go and find it again."

It turned around, and contorted the girl's face into a pensive, thoughtful look. Then it found itself inside a tall teenager in a basketball jersey. It didn't mind, but twisted the boy's face into one of decisive determination . . . which was transferred to the teen's friends, as F1 body-hopped, deliberately not staying long in each body.

The body-jacker cannot tire out, and bodies can. F1 didn't care to experience that in its deliberation to get back. Or at least, that was its excuse.

From the last basketball player to a boy in a green sweatshirt, brown slacks, and a backward blue baseball cap. From that boy to a bride, to her groom, to a little boy dressed up as Pinocchio, to a stock car driver, to a boy in a black shirt, jean jacket, blue jeans, and baseball cap, to a kid in a yellow shirt, blue short, red shoes and an askew blue cap, to a --

***

"You think what you guys sense has anything thing to do with this?" Shadow asked, quietly.

They were investigating the triplets obvious fight and claims of a bouncing glowing orb.

"Possibly," Cloak said.

"Just 'possibly'?" Parker asked.

"It's not a precise thing," FuBar whispered in such a way that it could be misconstrued as coming from somewhere else.

"But something about it caught your attention," Aquilai observed, addressing Cloak. "What was it?"

"Not here," Cloak said, looking suspiciously around. And he wasn't just using his eyes to look around. "Some place less . . . open."

"Why?" Aquilai asked.

"Reasons," Cloak answered repressively. "And one very plausible one, I'm afraid. . . ."

[redtailedsaffa]

It's almost like the virus is sick. Such irony.

[guitarhero01234]

It examined this body and decided that it chafed a little. It wanted out, and its wish was granted when the boy in which it currently resided was jostled by a teenged punk dressed all in black with long greasy hair and spiked wrist bands.

Then it decided that this guy wasn't much better

Hey, what's wrong with being a punk? 
Also, the Charlie Brown joke left me rolling.

[Cloak]

Hey, the virus is judgemental.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER EIGHT:
An Unseen Flaw

"A body-jacker," Cloak said, once they neared a nearly-deserted alley way.

The RAFians, and Shadow, were taken aback by the abruptness and swiftness of this response.

"A what?" Parker said, recovering first.

"A body-jacker," Cloak repeated. "I have only seen it once before. And never in this Realm."

"So Malice is behind this," Shadow said, astutely.

"But what is a body-jacker?" Bladeh asked.

"An orb -- or at least, an orb-like device -- that allows a consciousness to enter the body of another," Cloak said. "It suspends the rightful mind to the body for as long as the body-jacker is present within the being."

"Where did you see this?" FuBar asked,

"Realm number --"

"Never mind."

"And you think that the evil you guys sensed is -- ?" Aquilai said.

"Yes."

"So, this consciousness -- who or whatever it is -- could be inside of anyone?" Parker said, pretty much assuming the answer.

"Well, only the unMarked," Cloak said. "Our Marks should provide --"

"Hey, watch it!" Parker protested as a child approached him, and seized his hand.

A bright blue flash blinded everyone.

***

-- To a father of twins, to the mother, to one of the six-year-old boys, and, finally, to the other six-year-old twin. It was in this body that F1 spent more time than it had for a while.

With the boy's eyes, it saw the RAFians. It thought about the best way to approach the situation. It didn't stare at the RAFian, which (despite not knowing this) made Cloak not really suspect how close the virus was to them. But F1 didn't know something else that would cost her in the end.

It thought about how to get to the one in the center of the group, the one with the glasses. Perhaps the smaller one could be the way in. No, one of the older males was in the way.

Well, then it would simply use that one as its way to get inside the circle. It didn't think about how it would explain its presence there, as a child. It really didn't need to -- with a touch, it wouldn't be a child anymore.

It would not hesitate any more. It would go. Now.

"Hey! Watch it!" Parker protested as F1 seized his hand with the boy's hands.

Then there was a bright, brillant, blue flash. F1 was not only forbidden from entering and controlling Parker's body, but ejected from the boy's body as well. And, not only that, it was flung far from the scene. It landed with "WONG WONG WONG"-type sound.

It rolled into the shin of a tourist sitting on the ground, disappearing inside. F1 instantly assumed control and mental dominence of the fat, flabby body. It immediately got up and began to walk as far away as it could from the RAFians, now really realizing them as dangerous.

[Cloak]

New book ideas.

• Book DCCLI: "Battling for Lucidity" -- A boy battles against an invading spirit from his body. It doesn't go as he plans, thanks to the inference of a RAFian. . . .
• Book DCCLII: "Swarm Summons" -- A homeless man gains the power to control swarms of manifested bugs.
• Book DCCLIII: "The Hydra Dragon" -- A rogue dragon kills others simply so it can grow other heads. The RAFians must intervene.
• Book DCCLIV: "Brainiac's Back" -- Brainiac returns with a very special ability.
• Book DCCLV: "Crystal Eyes" -- A sorcerer's peculiar necklace grants her some very powerful abilities.
• Book DCCLVI: "Faerie and the Magivampyra" -- Faerie encounters a monster that she had escaped from years before.
• Book DCCLVII: "Wings" -- A metahuman with orange wings seek to grow more.
• Book DCCLVIII: "Empath Mimicry" -- A metahuman who can psychically mimic abilities permanently cross paths with RAFians -- who he considers abominations.
• Book DCCLIX: "The New Phantovore" -- The RAFians must deal with another phantovore -- only, they knew this one before he was a phantovore.
• Book DCCLX: "Demon on Demon Violence" -- A demon and his bride kill demons and take their abilities for the demon's own.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER NINE:
Report on the Runaway

F1 was quick to abandon the tourist body when it could for a blonde teenage heartthrob.  It quickly assumed control and looked around. It had never felt this feeling before. It had never known fear.

Whatever it thought was fear, it was clearly wrong in so many ways. Those four, and their cats . . .

"Ugh."

F1 was now in a conspicuously tall redhead teenager. He was rail thin, lanky, and gangly. This teenager's face immediately contorted into that of fear and anxiety, which was suddenly palpable. F1 was scared . . .

"Ugh!"

F1 was now in a thickset, stout, teenage slacker (who has had many jobs, but slacked off at all of them). This teenager's fact contorted into a fearful and anxious look immediately. It was trying to make its way away from the RAFians, desperate to put some amount of distance.

"How I could --"

"-- Ever think that --" it now wore a teenaged songwriter in a dress.

"-- That ANY of them," it now wore an aspiring actress (who was really a nanny), "much less ONE of --"

"-- Of them could have --" it now wore a blonde fashionista (or whatever they were called). It kept the look of anxiety and worry, which was transferred to each body that the body-jacker translocated it to.

"-- Could have possibly have . . ." it now wore an attractively-thin, be-freckled, pale boy with tightly curled, short black hair.

". . . Possibly have thought . . . " it now wore a thin, dark boy, but it didn't care about the specifics.

". . .  That . . . that they . . . could be 'the one'." it now wore a dark girl with curly hair that was rather unnecessarily opulent.

"Have to get away . . ." it now wore a bulter as it strove to put distance between the RAFians and itself. "Have to get away . . ."

***

"Wait a minute," Parker said, flustered. "What just happened here?"

"The body-jacker," Cloak said, jumping to the only conclusion he had, "it must have tried to inhabit you, Parker."

"What?!" Parker said, with a flat tone that indicated his anger and frustration. Cloak could only imagine how invasive on an intimidate that would have felt. "What do you mean that it tried to inhabit me?!"

Cloak said nothing.

"But why didn't --" FuBar began, then stopped when he glanced around.

"Isn't it obvious?" Shadow asked, earnestly. "It's the Mark. The Mark makes body-jacking RAFians a major no-no."

"Wonderful," Parker said, still feeling dirty somehow.

"The point is," Aquilai said, "that it is now getting away from us. It is putting distance between us and itself, and it was hard enough to find it the first time."

"We didn't actually find it this last time," Bladeh pointed out.

"Details!" Shadow said, exaggeratedly exasperated. "Let's get going!"

Cloak had reservations about allowing Shadow tag along on this one, but he eventually relented.

[Cloak]

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER TEN:
The Obligatory Background Song

As the RAFians searched for the body-jacker, a song played in the background, but only Cloak and Shadow seemed to notice.

Hey,
Everyone, listen up!
Your attention, if you please!
We wanna give you a warning,
'Cause we found out this morning
'Bout a dangerous, insidious body-jackin' virus.
If you should anyone say the subject "Stinky Cheese",
Better not go taking your chances,
Under no circumstances,
Should you listen them or else it will . . .
Translate your documents into Swahili!
Make your TV record Twilight, see?
Neuter your pets
And give your laundry static cling!
(Look out!)
It's gonna make your computer screen freeze!
(Look out!)
It'll erase the Easter Eggs off your DVDs!
(Look out!)
It'll erase your hard drive and your backups too,
And the hard drive of anyone associated to you!
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt!
Forward this message out to everybody!
Soon, very soon, it will make all the paint peel off your walls.
It'll make your keyboard all sticky,
Give your Furfrou a hickey,
And invest your cash in stock in EuroDisney!
Then it will tie up your phone making crank long distance calls!
It'll set your clocks back an hour
And start hogging the shower!
So just ignore him now, or else it will . . .
Decide to give you a permanent wedgie,
Legally change your name to Reggie,
Even mess up the pH balance in your pool!
(Look out!)
It's gonna melt your face right off your skull,
(Look out!)
And make your iPod only play Bieber bull,
(Look out!)
And tell you knock-knock jokes while you're trying to sleep,
(Look out!)
And make you physically attracted to sheep!
(Look out!)
It'll steal your identity and your credit cards,
(Look out!)
Buy you a warehouse full of pink leotards,
(Look out!)
Then cause a major Sario Rip in time and space
And leave a bunch of Twinkie wrappers all over the place!
That's right, it's a . . .
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt
Forward this message out to everybody!
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt
Forward this message on to everybody!
Warn all your friends, send this to everybody!
Tell everyone you know, tell everybody now!
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt
Forward this message out to everybody!
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt
Forward this message on to everybody!
Body-jacker alert!
Flee immediately before someone gets hurt
Forward this message on to everybody!
Warn all your friends, send this to everybody!
Tell everyone you know, tell everybody now!
What are you waiting for?
Just hurry up and send this to every RAFian you know!
Hit . . . send . . . right . . . NOW!!

Cloak shrugged it off, while Shadow looked a bit disturbed by the end of the song.

"Do you think it really did all that, Uncle?"

"Possibly," Cloak said, noncommittally.

[redtailedsaffa]

The obligatory background song.

[Cloak]

Yes.

New chapter.
 

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
On the Run

F1 had spent the intervining time resting inside the body of a boy -- Ty Rozelli. It did not know the boy's mannerisms or anything about his life, but only tried the flimsiest, most halfhearted attempts at mimicking them.

Mr. Rozelli was never around, always at work or doing something that pertained to work, so he never noticed. Not really.

Mrs. Rozelli was a homemaker, and was always there for Ty. But even she noticed a certain distancing effect the boy was effecting (which was actually F1's doing, as it did not wish for the body-jacker to take away from Ty so soon). She didn't like it, but instead of assuming that her young son's body had been hijacked (she didn't see the body-jacker pass into her son, after all, and there was no other possible proof), she just believed that her son was growing up. Although she fretted that it was too fast.

F1 mostly kept to Ty's room. F1 was, as she rationalized to herself, resting up. Resting up for a final flight from the RAFians. They were bound to have caught on to its abilities and goal by now. They were bound to come after it.

"It would be too generous to think that they would want to simply capture me," she said aloud, with Ty's voice.

"What's that, Ty, dear?" his mother asked pleasantly. She had been passing his open door with a basket of linen that needed doing.

"Nothing, mom." F1 replied rather more tonelessly and dully than Ty would usually have said it.

His mom seemed hurt by this tone, but hid it well. "Alright then."

She went about her homemaking and housekeeping duties -- which were far more difficult than people usually give them credit for. Just because you ain't collecting a check for it, doesn't mean that it isn't hard work.

"Stupid human," F1 said, referring to the boy's mother, indifferent if she was still within earshot. After all, it would never have to deal with any aftermath that it didn't want to. It could just body-jack someone else and leave the problem behind. Ty wasn't so fortunate in that aspect.

"They'll be wanting to kill me," Ty's mouth and voice said. Then he spied the pool boy had shown up for his job, though it was the middle of winter. Apparently, his mother got real, uh, "lonely", at times.

This was it's out.

***

Getting into wasn't as easy as the virus expected, but getting out of him was far easier.

But F1 would stay put within a single body for longer than two minutes, at most. From the pool boy came the body of a demolitions expert, then a female security guard,  and then into the bodies of various tourists, young and old, until it was sufficiently confident that its trail was cold.

It looked out through the eyes of teenaged brat with black hair and a lanky frame. It hoped that it would not be found inside this disrespectful teenager. Especially when had convinced itself that it was just a swell actor.