Marco (
livestoannoy) wrote in
trans_92010-04-17 08:52 pm
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Marco stared at the gloop of the day.
The gloop stared back.
Man, the food here completely sucked. He was beginning to feel like he was turning into Ax, and the next time he saw a cinnamon bun he'd turn into a raging maniac that would attack anything and everything that got in between him and the bun, all the while screaming, "BUNZAH! BUUUNZAH!"
And since he was still trying to go over how he'd fool Tom in his head - the Yeerk was smart, he needed to be ready - the gloop seemed even more unappealing. Marco didn't think that was possible. How could the very pinnacle of "unappealing" get even more unappealing?
Little did Marco know that the gloop was about to become the least of his problems.
[[ooc: So a thread with Elfangor and/or Loren and (and possibly Ax and Tobias too?) first, then after that's finished I'll start a new one for Tom, okay?]]
The gloop stared back.
Man, the food here completely sucked. He was beginning to feel like he was turning into Ax, and the next time he saw a cinnamon bun he'd turn into a raging maniac that would attack anything and everything that got in between him and the bun, all the while screaming, "BUNZAH! BUUUNZAH!"
And since he was still trying to go over how he'd fool Tom in his head - the Yeerk was smart, he needed to be ready - the gloop seemed even more unappealing. Marco didn't think that was possible. How could the very pinnacle of "unappealing" get even more unappealing?
Little did Marco know that the gloop was about to become the least of his problems.
[[ooc: So a thread with Elfangor and/or Loren and (and possibly Ax and Tobias too?) first, then after that's finished I'll start a new one for Tom, okay?]]
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Marco, do you know someone named Tom Berenson? Has a Yeerk infecting him, Iniss 3 something. Because I think he's looking for you. He pulled a Dracon beam on me. He said he knew you and I think I gave him the idea that you were pretty important in our world because he said he had no idea why he was here then said that he knew you. That's how I figured out something was wrong with him.
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...crap.
Marco didn't reply for a few moments. He just sat there, drumming his fingers next to the gloop. When he finally answered, his voice was ice cold.
So let me get this straight. You run into a guy you think has a Yeerk. And instead of doing the smart thing by keeping your mouth shut, you decide to tell him that you know me and that I'm important?
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Marco sighed, and rubbed his fingers to his temples. This was not good. This could screw up everything. Tell me exactly what you said. Now.
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This wasn't just bad. It was a freaking disaster.
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And with that, Marco got up and left the mess hall, leaving the gloop behind untouched. He needed to think.
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But, eventually he managed to get a semblance of a justification for the things Loren had told Tom. He'd have preferred more time to think - no, actually he would have preferred if it Loren could keep her mouth shut - but it'd have to work.
He come down and demorphed in an out-of-the-way corner, and started wandering the corridors.
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Marco was lying to him.
Well, he'd known from the start it was likely. Another Yeerk telling the entire truth was about as rare as a human spotting a Unicorn.
But how much, and about what? Now that was the real concern. Certain things would be perfectly allowable to lie about, expected, really.
And certain things....
But if Marco wasn't a controller, then how had he known? And if he wasn't a controller, why was he here? She had reacted to Jake's name as well.
Meaning...
Well, he didn't know. Just that it was an important thing to note. A woman who was close to the Andalites knew who Marco was.
He was half tempted to look for Dani, but he didn't know what she would think of him shooting around another crew mate. His hope that was it had been enough to keep the spirit of their agreement, if not exactly the work.
< What are you planning? > The host was quiet, uncertain,and confused.
He didn't respond, almost smiling when he spotted Marco walking in front of him. "Hey, Marco! Wait up!"
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He stopped, and looked at Tom. "Yeah?"
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He turned down an empty corridor, turning over his shoulder look at Marco. This was a conversation that required silence. Unless Marco really wanted some of the thing he was about to say to be public knowledge.
The temptation to call Dani, just to make sure, just to have a little backup was rising rather quickly, but he didn't for the moment.
< Why would you want to get her involved? >
< Because an ally is an ally and I have far too few that I know are unlikely to betray me. >
"Also the amount of aliens...and comic book characters, this just seems so unreal."
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And obviously, the Yeerk was talking about Loren, though Marco couldn't let on that he knew that. But even if he hadn't known about the incident with Loren, Marco would have known something was up just from the fact that Tom had approached him. The Yeerk was cautious. He wouldn't have come to talk to Marco unless he had some kind of agenda.
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< Klingon, it's a Klingon weapon. >
"- Klingon sword. Sound familiar? If Stacy hadn't gotten involved and sent her to the corner, I'm pretty damned sure she would have killed me." The aggravation and tension, normal human levels, of course, was clear in his voice. "If your name was that well known and that dangerous to mention in passing when I'm talking about home you could have warned me. I mean, what did you do, leave her with the check or something? She was pissed. Also had some friends in high places, some rather interesting friends." His eyebrow quirked, one hand on the strap of the backpack. He had learned something vital from the encounter. Stacy would protect him from attack. But he must stay the innocent party. Marco could attack him, the crazy blond woman with the sword could attack him, but so long as he did not offer violence in return, Stacy would keep him from being harmed.
Really, he was growing to like this ship. She evened the odds.
Tom was watching Marco intently. Iniss found it interesting. He wanted Marco to be lying. About everything. He wanted it to be a careful shield drawn around his true intentions. Because if he was, it meant Earth and Jake and his family were safe. Or at least that was what the host seemed to think, Iniss wasn't going to protest Tom looking intently for a sign Marco wasn't a controller.
Occasionally the host was useful for something aside from a body to inhabit.
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He directed a suspicious look at Tom. "Why are you mentioning me anyway? You said you were going to avoid contact. That is not what I call discrete."
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He played the name around in his head before continuing. "We talked for awhile before I accidentally said your name. At which point she knew what I was." It was a challenge, and he made no bones about the fact that it was.
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But Marco wouldn't offer up explanations just yet. He wanted to make it looks like this was an explanation he wanted to wriggle his way out of - so he'd make the Yeerk have to press for it.
"There are...some people from our world here," he said, doing his best to look highly uncomfortable. "Not just the Andalites."
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"So there are people who know about the invasion, and people who know about me. And one of them is here and you didn't think it would be prudent to warn me? Are you an idiot or are you just sticking your head in the sand? People who know about the invasion, people who have been infested before, as she stated, and one with close connections to the Andalites, and, to put a cherry on the crap sundae you have handed me she knows you and Jake. If I were Visser Three you would be staring up at your body from your host's disembodied head."
Incompetence he could handle, the yeerk was likely an idiot. But if he was being played....well, that was something completely different.
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"I...look, I might have...not explained everything. I didn't think it was necessary to tell you that the free humans in my time are making more trouble than I had suggested. They don't threaten our hold on Earth, of course, but they are a nuisance." Marco shuffled a little. "My host used to be one of the resistance members. There used to be another resistance member on the ship, but he were from before my host's capture. He had told Loren about the resistance. Jake was...another resistance member."
Marco shuffled his feet a little. "I didn't think you would tell anyone we were from the same world. I thought you would avoid contact and mentioning me. That was...that was my mistake. I'm sorry. It was unacceptable." He draw back a little, making it look like he expected reprisals. But would the Yeerk buy it?
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There were two reactions in response to the mention of Jake.
One was obvious, the yeerk curled his lip contemptuously, confident that the boy he had known, that his host had known, would have been utterly useless for such a thing. If Jake still lived it was because others had taken pity and kept him alive.
Tom's reaction was a little more subtle. Concern fought briefly with pride. He was proud that his brother had fought, proud that he hadn't given in even when the odds shifted. When the humans had lost and the yeerks were obviously winning, Jake had still fought. But worry, worry for the kid brother he had protected as best he could through his entire life. Worried for that innocence being stripped away, for Jake breaking and him not being there to help. < What was he like, Marco, how did he do? Was he ok? Was he scared? Tell me? > Be safe, Jake.
"So there was another Resistance member. But she has been infested before and she has connections to the Andlites and said it was easy enough to figure out that you were from the same world." His voice was level, calm. "And you felt the need to hide this, because you were ashamed of it." His lips pressed into a thin line, as he considered the statement, rolling it around in his head for a moment. "So she knows I am a controller because she has information from the future. Which means Jake and your host found out at some point."
The temptation to call Dani was rising rather quickly, she would be able to tell him for sure.
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"And hiding the fact that you are a Controller in our time was pointless. We control everything. And your efforts during the invasion are well known." Marco figured some ego-stroking couldn't help. The Yeerk had always craved power. He'd lap up being able to hear about how he'd "risen" through the ranks.
Now time to feed the Yeerk some more about how Marco had 'screwed up'. Really, at this rate Marco was going to be a Master of the 'oh I'm so sorry for my epic screw ups, please don't chop off my head' routine. "Capturing the free humans was my responsibility. My success was...less than anticipated."
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"Told her that you were from the same world, of course. I must get you to write me a time line at some point, it sounds fascinating," The dry, sarcastic tone didn't really fit Tom's voice. It was better suited for persuading people to his point of view, but he had long ago learned to work with what he had been given. "But there seems to be no reason at all to bring me into information sharing. If she is, as you said, from the past. Considering that I told her you were from a later time than I was, and she still reacted as though I was a yeerk..." He paused, watching the other. "Well, there is certainly no reasonable explanation for that."
His lips quirked into a half smile. "So, all undercover operatives have had their cover blown, and you can't even infiltrate colony of free humans? Idiot. What incompetent fool put you in charge of that?"
He ran his thumb slowly along the underside of the com-ring, head tilted as he watched the other yeerk. The caution was obvious, the judging...perhaps not so much. There were parts of this story that did not match up, little, irritating things. Much like Jake's sudden fondness for spandex and distrust of his big brother. Things he couldn't nail down to a cause, not exactly. But things that made him pay more attention and try to find the answers.
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"I didn't mention you. The human did. He didn't seem to have any problem with talking to Lauren about his time," Marco scowled, as if this imaginary 'resistance member' was someone he didn't like. Oddly enough, if you take Marco's description of a resistance member from Marco's time who'd been talking to Loren lots you got...Tobias. Except he was still around.
Course, Tom would never find him. Tobias knew how to stay hidden. (And why couldn't Tobias have imprinted a sense of "hey, blurting this information out everywhere is a really stupid idea!" on his mother anyway? Seriously.)
Marco was interested to find that the Yeerk assumed that 'Controller-Marco' had had an infiltration mission. Marco hadn't said he was infiltration anything - and in a world where the Yeerks were in control of everything, they wouldn't need it to the extend they had during the war. The Yeerk must have spent so much time undercover that infiltration was the first thing that always come to mind.
Marco didn't think about the fact that infiltration had been his first response as well, when Tom arrived.
But hey, he could roll with this. One less detail for him to make up. "I...underestimated them. The humans turned out to have at least some degree of competence. I wouldn't have made the same mistake again."
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Nothing rankled him more than being forced to trust another Yeerk at his word. He knew his race well enough to know that he would be betrayed.
< That's if he's a controller and not lying to you. >
Iniss cursed silently. He had been thinking louder than he realized if Tom was picking it up. But he would use the human. < What makes you say that? > It aligned with his own niggling doubts, but occasionally the human was...far too observant.
< He's too Marco. >
<...what? >
< If the invasion has ended and he can't handle an undercover operation with humans, why is he acting like Marco? No one here knows him, he could do exactly like you are and just define Marco by what he wants him to be. > The human was quiet, thoughts falling neatly into place, observations and careful illustrations drawn out. The want for Marco to *not* be a controller was present, Iniss could feel it, and would likely color the human's observations a little. But that didn't stop the host's observations from meshing tightly with his own.
"Everything in your story hinges on one dead resistance member." His voice was soft, thoughtful, eyes never leaving Marco's face. "That seems very convenient." The carefully crafted mask of neutrality slipped over his face, eyes serious and completely withdrawn from the emotional reactions he might have had. If he was a controller, then there was a 50/50 chance he would be betrayed. If he was a human who somehow knew about the yeerks...well, that went up to 99% chance. The risk was high, and this game was as dangerous as the one he had been playing for years in Tom's body. A misstep meant discovery, and possibly death.
Iniss had spent a long time undercover. Being a human, manipulating humans to convince them to become controllers. In a large way, that left him with an understanding of how humans worked. In a world where Yeerks ruled, the only way you would catch a group of resistance fighters was with very careful insertion of a yeerk or a sympathizer. Anything else would see the clever humans vanishing into their complicated world without a trace.
"What, did you think you were dealing with Hork-Bajir? Humans are intelligent, adaptable, and will fight like a cornered beast if you give them no other option. If you were even as intelligent as the host body I currently inhabit you would have understood that. Did you just arrive from the pool and get tossed into an already broken host body? Or are you just that dense? Your mistake is being an idiot, and I'm afraid there is no fixing that." He had no problem admitting that some humans were more intelligent than some yeerks. It was just the rare human that rose to that level...though unfortunately not the rare yeerk that sunk to the depths of idiocy and sub-yeerk behavior.
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So, he just worked on looking abashed and reprimanded, like a good little Yeerk soldier would.
"I...I'm sorry Sub Visser. I promise I won't fail again."
Marco couldn't wait to watch the Yeerk starve.
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He turned away with an annoyed huff, still feeling as though he might be betrayed at any moment. But, well, the trouble with dealing with a yeerk who held all the cards was simply that. Trouble and danger and quite possibly death. It was no new experience.
"Are there more humans I need to worry about that your dead resistance member told?"
argh, damn you LJ notifs...*shakes fist*
Tom should be more worried about human Animorphs who've known about him the whole time.
Marco had done what he needed to - convince the Yeerk that Marco was just some stupid Controller. But he was still inwardly cursing Loren. He'd managed to fix the problem, but the fact this would make convincing the Yeerk to walk into their trap that much harder.
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Damn.
He should speak to Karen and communicate with Dani, and work on forming more connections.
< You're under estimating him. > Tom's voice was quiet.
< I'm over estimating him, hopeless incompetent who will likely only cause me trouble by accident. >
The host dropped it, but he could feel the doubt and hope mingling together.
< Pretending for you? What are you, a host in your first month? 'My family will know, my friends will realize.' Don't be an idiot. >
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The next part was going to be harder now. But even if Marco wasn't able to talk the Yeerk into walking into his own cell, he'd find a way to get him there anyway. Stacy be damned.
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What came after would likely change his opinion of the situation, but for the moment he was confident in his control.
What did he have to fear, after all?