Return to the Warehouse

[Leroy]

Leroy was sitting on top of a crane across the street from the warehouse. He was a duck at the moment, so the height was no issue. If he had been human, he probably would have wet himself from being in such a high spot with no net. In any case, he had a good view from up here.

<<Looks a bit different in the daytime, huh?>> Leroy was here with some of his other group members. They decided it would be a good idea to find out what that bug fighter was for that they saw in the warehouse about a week ago. It was kind of risky, and probably illegal, but it seemed necessary. <<So who is going in first?>>

[serena]

Nadia ran, trying not to be seen in her panther morph. She jumped over logs, and crouched under bushes, and then finally got to the warehouse. She peered over the bush she was now crouching under.

<Just a bit,> She told Leroy. She wondered if she should have been in her rainbow snake morph. <Hey, Leroy? Should I morph into my snake morph instead of the panther?> She didn't answer his question, because she wasn't sure if she had capable morphs for that.

[naomi]

Naomi flew above Nadia. She still wasn't used to the fact that her sister was alive. She directed Nadia to jump or crouch all the way through. Even though Nadia seemed to do it fine on her own, she was still concerned.

Then they got there. <I wouldn't know,> Naomi laughed. <Never been here. This is the only morph I have, so I'm not sure if I should go in.>

[Johnny]

"I guess I'll go first, then." Johnny whispered, just loud enough for the Animorphs to hear. He was crouched behind a pair of tall crates and had just finished demorphing. He had used a gecko to get it last time but he had unable to get too close to anything. So he focused on the newest morph in his arsenal.

Two legs jumped out of his chest. Two, multiple segmented legs with tiny claws on them. Then he looked down as his waist began pinching in two. Then his butt suddenly expanded. It grew out and out until it ended with a tapered point. He was never going to impress Naomi while looking like this. The sight of himself almost made him morph back.

Then his eyes splintered as he felt them grow. It seemed like his eyes were breaking up! It looked like watching a wall of TVs. With all of the wring colors. Or at least weird colors. Like looking through a kaleidiscope. Then his tongue vanished and his mouth split in half. He felt his fingers melt together and his bones dissolved. But he didn't fall because a thick exoskeleton was now covering his body.

Then he shrank. Through his distorted eyes, he saw the crates get a lot taller. Sure, he had shrank before. Heck, he had never grown! But he was now way smaller than the gecko. Gravel was looking like boulder to him now. Then wings jutted out of his back. The mind rose and swiftly stole him away. ALERT! ALERT! DANGER! PREY! MOVEMENT!

Johnny was a paper wasp!

[Nate]

Nate sat up top a telephone pole once more as his kestrel morph, which he had used to travel to their destination. It was a different view during the day. He could see it all more clearly, it wasn't ominous, but on the downside, there were more people to be aware of. It would take a lot of stealth.

<<I haven't tried my squirrel morph yet, so I don't know how reliable it will be or if I can control it,>> Nate commented to the others. <<But it would definitely be good for sneaking around the building un-noticed. Should I try?>>

[Leroy]

<<Nate and Nadia, I think you two should use whichever morphs you think would work best for getting inside. I myself think that I will stay a duck.>> Leroy was contemplating morphing a bug, but that was unpleasant. And he also would not be able to keep such good senses.

Besides, from his position on top of the crane he could see that Johnny was morphing into some type of bug. Leroy's vision was not good enough to distinguish what type of bug, but it was definitely something with an exoskeleton. When did he get that morph? Leroy wondered. Not that bugs were hard to come by.

<<Hey Johnny, do you think you would be able to open a door for us or something from the inside?>> Leroy was hoping that this would be easy, but perhaps that was hoping too much.

[Johnny]

NO PREY! MOVEMENT! PREDATOR? TOO FAR AWAY. SAFE. STILL, STAY ALert. Slowly, Johnn retook control over the wasp. The almost mindless predator had swiftly taken over Johnny, but it was easy to regain control in a non-moving enviroment. Johnny tested his legs. He took a step, and twisted his legs up. Great. Then he tried to fly. He hopped into the air, flapped his wings...and fell. This was going to take some getting used to.

Then he remembered to let the wasp tell him how. Like how he had used the eagle to tell him how to fly. Now he was going to have to learn a new method. Slowly, he allowed the wasp to take over, until...buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Flight! Weird, shaky, winding flight, but still flight! Johnny had control over the morph now. He was ready to proceed.

Then he recognized the buzzing in the back of his mind. <<That you Leroy? Okay. Yeah, I can try opening a door. Shouldn't be that hard, right?>>

He activated the wasp's wings and made a beeline (well, waspline) towards the door.

[Nate]

<<Alright, squirrel it is!>> Nate hovered off of his perch and then dove down towards the ground, behind a nearby bush. Once landed, he began morphing back to his human form, winger becoming hands, talons morphing into his toes, so on and so forth. He shook himself a bit as the last few feathers were sucked into his skin with that obnoxious itch he got every time.

Then, he focused on the squirrel he'd caught a few days earlier, thought about it squirming in his hands and trying to bite him. He started to shrink, down down down, and then sprouted grey fur all over his body. His ears shifted, his nose protruded, and last but not least, the huge bushy tail erupted behind him. He almost laughed, and then the instincts suddenly kicked in.

Run, run, run, stop! He peered around at his surroundings, completely frozen, and then tore up the nearest tree.

[serena]

Nadia nodded her panther head, which probably looked odd. <I will morph into my snake then. This morph is too big for going in.> That said, Nadia focused on her human self and started morphing. Her reddish brown hair came out and her eyes turned to blue. After a couple minutes, Nadia took a deep breath.

Then she refocused on her newly acquired rainbow snake. The first thing to disappear were her legs. She fell, but suppressed a scream as scales started to spread all over her body and her hair disappeared into her head. Then her arms disappeared and finally, her mouth, eyes and nose moved to the spot they were supposed to be in.

<All right, Nate. I'm ready whenever you are.> Though then she saw a squirrel running everywhere. <Nate? That you?>

[Johnny]

Johnny was now on the other side of the door. From his distorted vision, he picked out a button on the side of the wall right next to the door handle. On the outside, there had been some kind of code device to open the door. Inside just had a button to push. Probably because only people they know could get inside. THat's what they think.

Johnny landed rather clumsily on the button. The next part was going to be tough. He had to push the button in. The button was built for a human's strength, not a wasp's. So Johnny spread all six legs, something he was still getting used to, and began buzzing his wings. He flapped them harder and harder and pushed down (or sideways, actually) until he felt the button began to move.

Finally, maybe five minutes later, he felt it give. A blast of wind rushed by him as the door opened outwards. Johnny was sucked away in the temporary vacuum for several seconds until it stopped. He buzzed back inside and called out to everyone. <<Hey peeps! Door's open! Time to part-ay!>>

[Leroy]

As soon as the door opened and Johnny confirmed that it was because of him, Leroy jumped from his perch and headed towards the entrance. It was an amazing experience to leap from the top of a crane and just trust your wings too keep you from crashing into the ground. If Leroy had thought about it, there was no way he could have prompted himself to do such a thing. But luckily he had the duck's mind to help him there, and now that he was flying down towards the doorway, it was exhilarating!

Leroy came to an ungraceful landing just outside the door. He didn't crash, but ducks were not known for their smooth landings on hard ground. He waddled through the door and quickly looked for a hiding spot while he waited for the others to get in.

[Nate]

Nate snapped himself out of the squirrel's brain when he found himself nestled in the crook of a branch way up at the top of the tree. <<Huh?? What the? Oh! Yeah Nadia it's me! Sorry... yikes new morphs...>>

He glanced down at the warehouse in time for the door to open. <<Allllriiiight Johnny! How the hell did you manage that with a tiny morph like that??>> He surveyed the situation. <<Never mind... heeeeere I cooooome!!>> and with that he scurried down the tree trunk and bolted for the open door.

[serena]

Nadia soon heard Nate's voice in her head. <Welcome back, Nate.> She slithered towards their destination. <Have fun in morph?>

<Johnny opened the door? Cool!> Nadia slithered inside and said, <I don't think I've seen anything real different yet. I'll let you guys know.>

[Johnny]

<<Nate, it's called skill. Just skill,>> Johnny said in a false, condenscending tone. Through the warped and twisted compound eyes of the wasp, Johnny saw a huge noodle or something slide into the building and a large object walk in. Then he remembered Nadia's other morph. A snake of some sort. So she was in. And the weird thing must've been Leroy's duck. Now Nate still needed in.

Johnny was gaining control over the wasp's mind and then the door began to shut. He doubted that Nate had enough time to get in so he pushed against the button again. His wings buzzed as hard as possible and his tiny body slowly pushed the button in. The door swung back open.

<<Are we all in?>> he said as he flew away from his perch.

[Leroy]

<<I think we're all in,>> Leroy said as the door closed a second time. <<Oh wait! Wasn't Naomi with us? Or is she being the lookout? That would probably be a smart idea, I suppose.>>

<<I feel kind of vulnerable just sitting out in the open like this,>> Leroy said, changing the subject. <<Should we demorph somewhere and look around? Or maybe just hide as is since we are smaller this way.>> Leroy couldn't make up his mind about anything, it seemed. Whatever the consensus of the group happened to be, Leroy was going to get out of plain sight. He waddled into a space between two large piles of crates. Cozy, he thought to himself.