Don't forget, still three chapters left.
Chapter Six
It was a viciously gruesome sight. The Veleek tore into David in a whirlwind fury. As the boy threw a gorilla shaped fist into the cloud of death, it was instantly sheared away, leaving him staring blankly at a bloody stump before quickly reforming it. David grew larger as a set of scales emerged to cover his hide, becoming a strange sort of bipedal crocodile. The scales flickered and then turned reflective, like armor. He snapped at the tornado and lost part of his snout for it, howling in agony as he stumbled back, reforming himself into an even larger type of bull. <Arggghh, what is this thing?! What did you do?! You crazy little ****!>
As the Veleek attacked the bull, trying to engulf it while David continued to frantically morph, searching for a form powerful enough to break the tornado, I heard a high pitched scream. "It's okay, Melissa. I sort of know what I'm doing!" I shouted over the noise.
The scream continued as Melissa responded with a shaky yell. "It's not me!" Sure enough, though she was wide eyed in fear and confusion, the scream wasn't coming from her.
I cast a quick glance over and rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up, Marco."
"No!" He shouted back at me. "You're insane! I knew you were insane, but this is INSANELY insane! Did I mention insane!? Where did you find that thing!? I thought it was destroyed!"
"Argue later!" Jake's firm voice rose above our yelling and the vortex of destruction. "Damage control, we can't let the security guards get involved in this. They'll be torn apart. Melissa, Marco, Tobias, keep them out of here!" Marco and Melissa ran to the door while Tobias swooped down between them. I didn't have time to wonder how they were going to accomplish that. Jake gave me a look. "I hope your plan didn't consist entirely of get the Veleek here and let them solve it Godzilla versus Mothra style."
"That's most of it." I admitted before adding quickly. "But it won't work if Mothra bails!" David had already decided he couldn't beat this thing, so he was fighting his way free of its grasp and breaking for the window to escape. He'd gone through several new forms, each one being torn to shreds. Right now he was rapidly morphing what looked like a massive red lion with long patches of blood running down his side. As powerful as the creature was though, it was useless against the Veleek. David obviously realized this, because he ran for the window as soon as he was on all fours once more. As soon as he was in open land, he'd disappear. I had no doubt that whatever form he'd assume could escape if he got free of the closed room. .
Jake yelled for Ax to stop him while starting his own morph quickly. I knew it wouldn't be quick enough. It was up to Ax, who sprang forward on deceptively dainty looking hooves. His tail flashed once, twice, three times! Both of David's front legs were gone, sending him crashing to the floor. He'd be up in a second, but by then it would be too late. The Veleek would have him!
Except it didn't, because the Veleek was suddenly focused on Jake. I realized the problem immediately. David hadn't morphed anything in a few moments and the Veleek had zeroed in on Jake morphing his tiger. I abandoned my own initial attempt to morph and threw myself into the half-morphed Jake. We fell in a sprawling heap while the tornado eradicated the television and desk, as well as part of the wall into the next room over. It was so close that I could feel the blades tear through by my back, drawing long lines of blood.
We hit the floor, crashing into the other wall with a dull thud. We were a jumble of tangled limbs, fighting to get free of each other before the Veleek ripped into us. I braced for the deadly embrace of the swirling blades, but it didn't come. Finally, I managed to roll onto my back. From there I could see Ax standing between David and the window. They both tensed, even as the Veleek came at them. David had fixed his legs and that drew the monster back to him. He had to make a move, but Ax could slow him long enough for the Veleek to get there. However, David had realized he didn't need to go through the window. His legs bunched as he prepared to leap through the hole that the Veleek had created when it crashed into the room.
There wasn't time to morph, or David would be gone. We'd never get him trapped this well again. If he escaped, none of us, or our families, would be safe. David was taking a running start to escape through the hole when I scrambled to my feet. He needed three steps to clear the hole. One step, and I was on my feet. Two steps, and I was hurling my frail human body at the enormous lion. On his third step, as he braced himself to lunge to freedom, I collided into David's side with all my strength. It was like hitting a brick wall, and he barely missed his last step. I grasped for his mane, hauling back hard on it as I threw myself haphazardly onto his back and jerked up and back violently, like a cowboy trying to halt a horse with the reins.
Suddenly I was holding air as David morphed himself around so that his head was facing me. His body was oriented the other way so there was nothing under me except floor, which I I fell to with a crash. Honestly, if he'd finished his escape right then, as Jake fought to pick himself up and with Ax too far away, he would have made it. But I was prone on the floor, and he couldn't resist the target. His head loomed over me even as the Veleek came at him. <Rachel.> He started to gloat. <Your sister-->
I didn't give him the chance. Bracing myself on my back, I kicked up as hard as I could with both feet, colliding with his snout. His head jerked up, straight into the embrace of the whirling cloud that was the Veleek. <Arrgggggghhhhh!!> His scream was beautiful music, until I was hauled straight up with him by the feet, jerked off the floor as the Veleek grabbed me. Each of the millions of tiny creatures that made up the monster swirled around us, slicing easily through my skin. My scream joined his as long gashes cut through my legs, arms, and even through my shoulder straight down to the middle of my back. Life was agony, and nothing existed but the next cut.
I would have died. I had no doubt about that. If I'd been drawn into that beast alone, I'd be dead. But I was just an incidental capture. The Veleek's focus was on David, who was constantly morphing as he screamed and howled. He was a dog and then a man, then a great lizard, then a massive bird with a two thickly muscled club tails. Every form he assumed was torn through in seconds, but his swift changes worked to shelter me just enough that I survived. Survived, but with hundreds, maybe thousands of cuts all over my body. I'd bleed out in minutes, even if the Veleek didn't shred me first. My entire body was on fire, as I nearly tore my throat out in a scream that matched David's.
One thing, and only one thing stopped me from morphing. If I morphed, the creature would focus on me. If that happened, David would escape. So I took the pain. I took the cuts and screamed, my vision so drenched with blood that I couldn't even see. He was morphing over and over again. I could feel the shifts as the Veleek compensated for each form. I was cut again, and again, this time through my forearm straight down to the bone. Nothing existed but agony, and anger. I ignored the first and embraced the latter as I never had before. Even through the pain, even through the terror, I forced myself to reach out. The Veleek tore my pinkie finger away. It was there one second and gone the next, as though it never existed. The only evidence of its passing being the small gushing wound that joined all the other wounds. I was dizzy, losing my mind, but I focused on that anger and reached. My hand caught hold of David's hair, and I hauled myself against him. It took a shattering amount of effort, but I managed to lock my arm around his throat. I had no strength, none at all, and yet I somehow managed to hold on. I clenched tighter against his throat, clinging desperately, as hard as I had ever clung to anything in my life. David, in his panic, couldn't stop me. He couldn't morph away, because he was being assaulted, savaged on every side by the deadly creature that held him in its hellish grip.
Somehow I found my voice, screaming in David's ear. "Try breathing now, you son of a ****!" I tightened my grip on him, praying he'd go for it. He had to go for it. I couldn't hold on. I had to hold on. My grip was failing, but I couldn't fail. I was slipping. He had to take it. He had to take the bait. "Take it!" I screamed, belatedly realizing if he had the slightest idea what I meant, he'd never do it. I was dizzy, losing grip on reality. My vision was gone. Nothing made sense any more. Where was I? What was I doing? Dimly I heard screaming and realized it was my own. I had no thoughts anymore. Nothing existed, except holding to David's throat as he choked.
Then his skin hardened, turning metalic. I was clinging to a robot, who had no need of air. David had morphed the Chee. How it was possible, I had no idea. All I knew was he was suddenly invincible.
Just like I wanted.
Somehow, with a strength that seemed to belong not to me, but to some mythical creature that the others seem to think I am, I managed to scream above the roar of the Veleek. "NOWWWWW!!!"
And then the Veleek was gone, dropping both of us. I fell to the floor in a bloody heap. I could see Belle holding the blue box in her hand. It glowed, its activation drawing the Veleek away, to the ultimate source of morphing energy. Belle ****ed her arm back and threw as hard as she could. The cube sailed up and into the sky. The Veleek was on it an instant later, engulfing the cube before swirling away with it. It disappeared through the atmosphere seconds later. It was free. Visser Three's scientists hadn't gotten around to retraining the creature to bring the morphing energy back yet after they had to scavenge the thing off the bottom of the ocean and practically bring it back to life. They'd given it the hunger for the morphing energy but that was it. With the cube, it could disappear into space, far away from any of this, and never need to return. It had all the energy it would ever need.
Jake was at my side an instant later. "Rachel!" He looked mortified, afraid to touch me. "Rachel you have to morph! Morph something, anything! You have to morph away... you'll heal... come on..."
"Not... yet..." I pushed my head up, every movement pure agony. There was almost nothing left of my morphing outfit. My hair, previously perfectly cut, was nearly sheared off. There wasn't a full inch of skin on me that wasn't bleeding through some cut or gash. But I saw David, and smiled.
Jake followed my gaze and stood. "David..." His fists were clenched.
David looked at his metal hands and then up again. He seemed to smile, but he hadn't figure dout how to use the hologram yet, so he was just a blank faced slightly canine looking robot. "Hey, Jake. Look at this, neat trick huh? Sorry your precious plan didn't work, but--" He cut himself off, lunging forward with his fist raised to deck Jake with the strength of a dozen hork bajir.
The blow never landed. David's fist stopped an inch before Jake's nose. Even David, with his expressionless metal face, looked startled. "Huh?!"
"Sorry, David..." I groaned out and pushed myself up. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how badly it killed me, I was going to be standing for this. "The plan... didn't fail. You can't hurt us. See with all that... uggn... with all that power, you get a real great price. Pacifism. You could rip us apart, but see, you really can't." I managed a laugh, then whimpered in pain before gritting my teeth. "You sick... demented... creep. You can't fight."
The fury rolled off of David in waves, but he wasn't afraid, not yet. "Fine then. I'll just--" He stopped, and if a robot could look confused, he would. "Morph. I can't... why can't I morph!?"
This time the laugh didn't hurt one bit. In fact, it felt pretty good. "That's the Chee programming. You morph, the chee programming knows you'll hurt someone. So it won't let you. This is you, David. This is you for the rest of your life. You'll never hurt anyone again."
I paused, trembling in agony, exhaustion, and utter reckless victory. "You lose."
