The Stakeout

[Bruno]

Bruno flitted to the top of the brick wall surrounding the Hemington zoo. He looked around but didn't see anyone in the immediate vicinity. He walked along the wall, letting his tail feathers sag slightly toward the ground on one side.

<<The coast looks clear over here,>> Bruno said plainly. He was trying not to sound nervous.

And he had reason to be nervous. He was morphed into a peacock, breaking into the Hemington Zoo after closing time so that he could watch a talking hyena in order to identify and trail a dangerous alien back to his hideout.

But at least he wasn't alone. <<Everything looking good where you are? Anybody see you?>>

[Charles]

Charles was keeping a lookout from a tree that was close to the wall, since it seemed sort of odd for a raccoon to be sitting on a wall. His eyes were on the lookout for any small animal walking toward the hyena's area because that would be the nothlit they were looking for. This was probably the most boring thing that he had ever done, but this is what the job required him to do.

<<Everything looking good where you are? Anybody see you?>>

<<It all seems good to me. Do you think the hyena was just yanking are chain?>>

This was his main theory about the whole situation because it seemed to him like the only way for a nothlit to have any fun was by messing with people's heads. If this was his intention, then Charles was going to show him an angry rhino.

<<Wait. I see a bird of some kind landing on a rail. Looks like a Scissortail Flycatcher. Do you think that is the enemy nothlit?>>

Charles figured it was as Scissortail Flycatchers were the state bird of Oklahoma, but he didn't know if they traveled this far north or not. It seemed unlikely, but there was always that small possibility that something weird like this could happen.

[Bruno]

Bruno had no idea what a scissortail flycatcher was, but it didn't really matter. <<If you think that it looks suspicious, then keep an eye on it. But let's hope you are wrong, just because it would be hard to follow.>> Bruno continued strutting along the wall, trying to act natural. But then a California Condor landed on the wall about a hundred feet in front of him and Bruno knew something was up.

<<I think we have a problem. We shouldn't have assumed he would come alone. There is a bird in front of me that definitely isn't from around here. Oh, and there's another one.>> He had looked up and spotted an owl circling the hyena exhibit.

How would they know which out of place animal was the right guy? Not that it really mattered. Presumably all of them would go to the same place. But still, knowing which one was in charge could be important in the long run.

<<What is the plan? How are we going to follow them? And how do we know who the leader is?>>

[Charles]

Now that Bruno was talking about it, Charles noticed a lot of out of place animals in the zoo like a chinchilla running across the ground and an anole crawling up the tree he was on. This was going to be more difficult than he originally thought, but his specialty was improvising in situations like this. He just needed a few minutes to think of something that might be helpful in this particular situation.

<<What is the plan? How are we going to follow them? And how do we know who the leader is?>>

This was getting to be a troublesome situation indeed as it appeared that more out of place animals were appearing in the zoo. Charles was always up for a good scrap, but this was not a good one since neither one of them knew who was an enemy and who wasn't. His only idea was to try and jump on one of them to see how the other animals would react.

<<You don't think we have been set up do you?>>

Paranoia was kicking in again as Charles looked around the zoo. This hyena was probably in league with the group the entire time and saw this as his opportunity to get a reward or something by offering these two up as a gift.

<<Bruno, can you tell me if the hyena is still where he was a few minutes ago? I want to make sure that he is double crossing us.>>

[Bruno]

Charles brought up a good point. What if this was all a setup? What if the hyena was telling the truth? What if it was a setup, and he was telling the truth? Bruno glanced into the hyena exhibit, but to be honest, he couldn't tell which hyenas were real and which one was the informant.

<<All the hyenas look the same to me. I don't even know if he was in the enclosure to start with. I could ask him with thought speech, I suppose. But I don't really want to do that if he is really an enemy...>> Bruno, yet again, didn't know what to do. So he just focused on getting closer to the exhibit without drawing attention to himself.

[Charles]

Bruno had the right idea about not asking the hyena anything at this point because if he was a turncoat then it wouldn't do them any good. His eyes looked around at each weird animal and tried to pick out a sign that one of them was definitely a nothlit, but he wasn't sure what he should be looking for. He noticed that the raven was on a post near the hyena exhibit, which seemed a little odd for a bird to move that close to a predator.

<<Bruno, I think the raven is the target, so I am going to try and move closer to it. If it flies away, then we can assume that it is a regular animal. If it does anything else, then I'll try to nab it, so cover me.>>

With a little effort, Charles made his way over toward where the raven was. His little raccoon paws were holding a nut that he was going to throw it at the raven. He took aim and let it fly towards the raven with his eyes closed.

<<Did I get it?>>

[Bruno]

Bruno watched carefully as Charles crawled closer to the raven. The raven just sat there, not flying away, but not looking overall suspicious either. But then there was a nut flying through the air and Bruno had to stop himself from asking Charles just what the heck he thought he was doing.

<<No, you didn't,> Bruno replied to Charles's question. The nut hit the post just below the raven. The bird turned and looked at Charles with unnatural ferocity in its eyes. A second later the condor took off from the wall, the scissortail flycatcher left its perch, and the owl circling the hyenas went into a stoop. All were headed in the general direction of the shot-putting raccoon. <<Now run!>>

[Charles]

There were two things that they learned from this little mission. Raccoons were not going to be baseball players, and Charles was going to get mobbed in a few seconds if he didn't move it. Bruno said run, and that is exactly what he planned to do. The only problem was where did he run to. It was not like there were many places to hide in a zoo with several birds chasing you.

<<At least we now know for certain that the birds are in league with each other. Now how do we save me from becoming the meal of the day?>> He raced towards a nearby bench that he figured he could hide under when the scissortail got in his face. Raccoon versus scissortail wasn't a very fair fight because the bird was smaller, but it was only trying to distract him long enough for either the owl or the condor to get their talons into him. Charles was not going to wait that long, so when the little bird got close Charles smacked it with his paw and bolted for under the bench. <<I think we went about this the wrong way.>>

[Bruno]

Bruno hesitated for a moment, frozen on his wall. Should he try and keep his cover, or try to help Charles? Then he spread his wings and launched himself toward the raccoon.

Now, when you look at a peacock many people probably assume it is grouped with the flightless birds. How is something with a tail that long supposed to move through the air? But as it turns out, they can.

And Bruno did! He made a be-line straight for the bench Charles was going for. He quickly passed the enormous condor. There was no way that he would have beaten the owl, but luckily it decided to pull up and try for another pass when his buddy, the scissortail, got swatted into next week.

By the time Charles bolted under the bench, Bruno was right behind him. But Bruno didn't go all the way under. He stopped with just his head underneath and spread out his tail feathers into a fan shape, creating a sort of shield. There was a small ledge behind the bench, and some flower pots on both ends, so now aside from Bruno's rear, they were completely walled in.

<<Yeah, we are definitely doing this the wrong way,>> Bruno finally said. <<But my back has got your back if you want to change back.>> Bruno would never fit his entire human body underneath this bench, But Charles might be able to. Besides, Charles was the only one with a tank for a morph. Hopefully Bruno would be able to stall their attackers long enough though. That is, unless Charles had something else in mind.

[Charles]

Charles figured that he was going to have fight a bird army with this little raccoon morph, but that idea was washed away by the incoming flash of feathers land in front of him. He was glad to see that the tides were going to be turning even if it was in a small amount. <<Well aren't you a sight for raccoon eyes?>>

He took Bruno's idea in and ran with as he slipped out from under the bench and began to demorph. It was time to become something a lot more powerful than a raccoon with even worse eyesight. Back in his human form, Charles had to crouch down in order to keep hidden. Then he focused on his white rhino morph. His skin began to change colors and become thicker as his body grew bulkier. His legs shortened but grew more muscle to them, but at the same time his vision began to weaken.

The rhino morph completed with the two horns that grew out of his newly formed head. Charles felt a new surge of strength that made him want to run, but at the same time a feeling of relaxing in some mud just seemed to come into his head. <<Bruno, hop on my back and direct traffic. I can't really see anything in this morph.>> He snorted just to see what the result would have on their adversaries.

[Bruno]

As Charles demorphed, Bruno blocked him with his feathers as best he could. It wasn't easy. There was a condor and an owl trying to get through. His feathers seemed to stump them for a while, but these were no ordinary birds. They had the minds of yeerks behind them.

Once Charles was human, Bruno probably could have stopped shielding him, but he still didn't want the birds to see him. If they found out Charles's identity, it could make their life a whole lot more difficult later on.

So as Charles grew, Bruno continued to stand there and take the hits. Talons and beaks raked his hind quarters. They pulled out feathers and pushed him around. They were merciless. They probably could have killed him if they weren't expecting a raccoon to jump out and bite their faces off.

By the time Charles told Bruno to act as his eyes, Bruno was in pretty rough shape. But he would manage. He had taken savage beatings before, just never in a different body. Bruno lowered what remained of his tail feathers and let the birds gat their first really good glimpse at the rhinoceros behind. They hesitated for a moment and Bruno took that opportunity to flit up onto Charles's back.

<<Alright, go forward. Where are we headed?>> The obvious answer was "home," but first they would have to ditch the birds.

[Charles]

The rhino was looking for something to charge at, but all the only targets were some measly birds that proved no threat to him. It was in the mood for something bigger and more aggressive, but sadly it was left with nothing of interest. Bruno's question stuck in his mind about where they were headed, but Charles wasn't really sure. He wanted to stomp on one of the birds, so that they could have someone to interrogate.

<<Normally, I would say that this would be a good time to retreat, but I am in the mood for some payback on these little buggers. What about you?>>

He didn't notice if the enemy birds were moving or not, but he figured that they were right in front of him so he began to move forward with his head swishing from side to side. The condor was long gone by the time this occurred, but the other three were slow to react. The owl got smacked into a post, while the raven and the scissortail only got some of their feathers nicked by Charles's horn.

He stopped for a minute to make sure that he didn't accidentally open any of the animal's cages, which would definitely be a little odd for any of them. <<Are there any of the left? I know I hit something, but I am not sure where it went.>>

[Bruno]

<<They veered off when you hit the owl,>> Bruno said, keeping an eye on the sky. Bruno wasn't sure if the owl had just been knocked out, or worse, but if it didn't get back up any time soon then he couldn't care less.

It looked like the three remaining birds were coming back again. In a formation this time. The condor was in front, with the scissortail and the crow just behind it. Since they would have no hope of downing a rhino, Bruno could only assume they were coming for him. If he didn't move, he would be a goner for sure. He couldn't count on them moving to where Charles could get at them again.

But Bruno did move. When the condor was near, Bruno launched himself directly at the oncoming birds. They didn't seem to be expecting it, but the scissortail and the crow were agile enough to doge easily. The condor, not so much.

Bruno and the condor collided. Bruno grabbed one wing in his beak, and the condor responded by grabbing his tail with one foot, stomach with its other, and his shoulder joint with its beak. The two large birds plummeted to the ground and landed hard on the sidewalk.

In a one on one match, the condor would most likely win. But this was not one on one. Bruno had Charles on his team. And it just so happened that they landed right behind him. <<Charles, back up!>> he pleaded.

[Charles]

Charles was glad to see that he had done some damage to the stupid birds that were attacking them, but he felt that there was something that was odd about to happen. This feeling was soon answered as he felt Bruno leave the perch on his back and go somewhere, which was hopefully not home because a rhino was not the best morphs to use to navigate the city.

His ears began to naturally move toward the sounds of birds fighting above him, which wasn't a good sign as that meant Bruno was combating three of them at once. Charles did not know how well peacocks could fight, but he figured that they were not really good in a three on one situation.

A minute later, the sound of something hitting the ground hard behind him got his radar ears attention. Charles was getting the strange feeling that this was going to be one of those moments that would turn the battle in their favor.

<<Charles, back up!>>

This was a weird order to hear, but he didn't argue. As he took a few paces backward, Charles heard the sound of something crunching beneath his back foot. << I didn't step on you, did I?>> Charles didn't know it, but there was one seriously ticked off condor with one less usable wing in his possession at the moment.

[Bruno]

<<Not on anything important anyway,>> Bruno replied. He could hardly believe what had just happened. The condor was too busy flopping around on the ground in agony to attack Bruno any more, so he took this time to get back up on Charles's back. Every once and a while he could hear thought speech moans of agony slip from the condor.

Bruno looked up at the sky for the other two birds. They were still up there, but they didn't seem to want to risk getting too close any more. Not with their heavy hitters out for the count.

<<We should probably get out of here while we still can. Lets go straight, and then left. Try to follow the sidewalk.>> The entrance to the park was to right, but Bruno didn't want to lead Charles to the entrance. A rhino couldn't just go leaving the park. People would notice. They needed to demorph somewhere and get away from the remaining two birds.

Which was why Bruno planned to lead Charles back to the zoo garage they had been in before. It seemed as secure a place as any to demorph and think of an escape plan. But that was if they could make it there.