There is a general continuity, but mostly only referring events that happened in previous books that get referenced every now and then.
Well . . . for now. It does get more involved and interconnected, more complex and complicated, in future books, I believe. Remember, I'm outlining Book 452 right now. That's Year 5, and we're still on Year 1 here.
New chapter.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
Pop! Goes the Virus
Sniff,
sniff.
"Smell that?" Cloak said.
"Smell what?" Shadow asked.
"Yeah," FuBar said, in response to Cloak.
"You know what it means, right?"
Bladeh nodded a feline nod, "The consciousness in the body-jacker is scared."
"Scared?" Parker asked. His tone had long lost its bloodthirst.
"It must know," Aquilai said.
"Know what exactly?" Shadow asked.
"Our objective," the Time Lord said, quite seriously. "And our intentions."
"Yes," said a boy with obviously-dyed blond hair. He wore loud parachute pants, red and white hi-tops, a plain pale yellow shirt, and a backwards red ball cap with a yellow brim. His name was Charlie Kelley, and he wore a dour expression. An expression one would expect from an adult, rather than a child. "I'm well aware."
Then another boy, one who wore a long-sleeved shirt with broad horizontal lines on it and gray slacks, bumped him playfully, believing him not to be fundamentally possessed. Charlie's body tensed momentarily as the body-jacker left him for the other boy, Adam Morgan. Adam's playful expression transmuted to a grim one with alarming rapidity. "What have I done? What have I done to warrant such a sentence? I have harmed no one. Everyone is just alive and well as they were when I left them."
"Adam, what are you talking about?" Charlie said, somewhat dazed.
F1 didn't answer him, but continued to address the RAFians. "Do I not have a right to exist? Do I not have a right to be? Do I have no rights whatsoever? Do I --"
Then F1 was transferred from Adam to a girl in a button-dosn blouse, with a heavy parka and red mittens on. Her name was Donna Lewis. F1 continued speaking as if there were no interruption, "-- Have any say in the matter? What about my wants, my needs, my rights?"
But Shadow was picking up on something, "What about the after?"
"The what?" F1 was back inside Charlie now.
"The after," the younger Realm Walker said. "What of the bodies you discard after you tire of them, or after you are done with your ring-around-the bodies schtick?"
"What of them?" it said, dismissively. It was now back in Adam.
"You dismiss them like day-old bread," Shadow said. "Yet you are asking us of
your rights."
"You don't have any right to kill me," it said, now back in Charlie.
"You don't have any to judge me for who and what I am," it said, now wearing Donna.
"I cannot believe that I ever felt sympathy for you," Shadow said, revolted by this creature she found abhorrent. "You don't even
care, do you? Don't even
care if you leave them in a spot worse than when you found them."
"So?" it said, now wearing Adam again. The merry-go-round of bodies was starting to get a little hard to keep track of.
"'So'? '
So'?!" Shadow said, aghast.
But Parker ended the conversation early, by taking the shot when it offered itself. A shot only Parker would be able to make. No one noticed him releasing his armor to cover him. F1 was dead, but Parker took no satisfaction in the kill.
"Parker, you took an awful risk," Cloak said.
"It worked out."
"It was reckless."
"I had the shot. I had the opportunity. I took it." the SPARTAN said, surly. "There was no choice. The body-jacker had to be destroyed. I did what needed to be done, and --"
"And it most certainly
took you long enough," a voice spoke.
