trans_9 | The Visitor [Closed]

Kang hadn't decided to run the Drunken Dragon because he was a bartender, or because he wanted to try it. In truth, he'd decided to run it for two reasons: one, it was a piece of home, and he trusted it to very few others, and two, it kept him informed of a good chunk of what was going on aboard Stacy.

The best place to gather information was a tavern, after all. Gossip and news ran as freely as the ale served, due to said ale loosening tongues.

The particular group Marco ran with frequented the tavern rarely, but he'd overheard enough talk to know where the boy was staying. He could have mentioned on the channel post that he wanted to talk to him, but he had a feeling if he had, Marco would have done everything in his power to avoid him. It was better to catch him without warning, so he couldn't weasel out of it.

After a moment of looking at the house and the nearby barn curiously (he couldn't help it after being an engineer for so long), he knocked on the door.

Rachel was a bit surprised to hear someone knocking at their door, but she welcomed it. Maybe it'd be something to do, something to distract her. For all she knew it could be some kind of threat, but she'd deal with that if she had to. She didn't know what to expect.

Rising to her feet, she moved toward the door calmly and confidently, but she was already on guard. At least no real threat would knock right?

She opened the door with caution, ready to defend herself in a heartbeat, but she was derailed when she saw what was standing there. She was used to weird things by now, but this wasn't one of those things she was used to. What the hell was this guy supposed to be?

Bristling, Rachel immediately demanded, "What do you want?"

Kang was a little taken back by the rude demand, but it didn't show beyond a slight rustling of his wings. This girl was obviously a warrior, from the way she carried herself. Keeping his voice calm and polite, and his own face carefully neutral, he asked, "Is Marco here, ma'am?"

The teen stared the creature down, maybe a little surprised at how fluent he was, but not really showing it much. Mostly she was watching for if he made any sort of threatening movements. She wouldn't have much time to morph if it became necessary...

Figured he'd be a friend of Marco's or something. Rachel was still tense, but she nodded, "don't call me 'ma'am'," she muttered, annoyed (she didn't like how it made her sound old), before she turned her head just slightly towards the stairs, and called out.

"Marco!" she shouted, "Someone's here for you."

She wasn't going anywhere.

Marco had been up in the attic doing the very important talk of beating the next level on his alien game boy, when he was greeted by the oh-so-wonderful sound of Rachel yelling at him. Fantastic. "If they're not a hot girl, then I'm not here," he yelled back.

Still, he put down the game boy and started heading down the stairs. He assumed that whoever it was wasn't a thread - if they were, they'd be dead by now.

One eyebrow ridge going up slightly, Kang nodded, "Alright. What would you prefer I call you, then?" Being polite rarely failed him when it came to dealing with human females.

He held back a snort at Marco's response and stayed where he was, crossing his arms over his chest.

Rachel kept a close eye on the weird dragon-like guy in front of her, but she didn't respond, not yet. She may not want to be called 'ma'am,' but she also wasn't willing to give her name to this total stranger. Once she saw through Marco if he could be trusted with that... at least she could trust Marco's paranoia in cases like this.

"Sorry, Marco, but they tend to have standards," she replied loudly, "Now hurry up."

He clambered down the last few stairs, and was about to retort back with what would no doubt be a scathing witty reply - but then he saw Kang.

Marco scowled. Dammit, he did not want to be having this conversation..."What do you want?" he said.

...huh. Despite the initial rudeness, Kang could get to like this girl.

He lifted his head slightly, his voice gaining a serious edge, "I know you didn't forget about the discussion I wanted to have with you. I bet you were hoping I'd forget, though."

Rachel looked back at Marco as he came down the stairs and stopped. She didn't care about the lack of response (though it was a small victory to get the last word), but she didn't care about his change in demeanour when facing their visitor. And she cared about the cryptic and serious conversation they were immediately diving into.

Her look was questioning. He didn't give orders (not to her), but if he needed backup, she was there.

"I don't have to justify anything to you," he snapped.

The look he sent Rachel was one that indicated he was annoyed - but not that he needed backup. Kang wasn't going to just attack.

"You were going to Councilor Elfangor in the hopes that he would bypass the rest of the Council in helping you with your mother," Kang said, a hint of a growl behind his words as he took a step inside the house. "If there is any possible threat on this ship, we need to know so that we can prepare for it in case it becomes a reality, Marco."

The looks that he and the girl were exchanging suggested that they were allies, so he took a gamble, "And I want to know why you lied to me when I asked you if you had any useful skills back in that cave."

Rachel tensed considerably when their 'visitor' made his way into their house. It as just a bit, but it was enough to be a potential threat, even if he seemed more like he was going to just keep lecturing than anything else.

Marco may not have indicated wanting backup, but Rachel was ready.

Stepping back so that she was a bit more out of sight, while the intruder was focused on Marco, hopefully, she remarked, "For once, I'll agree with Marco."

Marco shook his head a little - not for Kang, but for Rachel. Rachel had already drawn enough attention after that incident with Tom - they didn't need her getting on the Council's bad side as well.

"Elfangor is on the Council, remember? I was going to talk to him because out of the lot of you, I know he knows how to deal with Yeerks. And do you really think I'd have stayed human if I'd been able to morph back then? I don't know why, but it wasn't working."

Kang was careful to keep an eye on the girl, in case she was capable of morphing as well. "Yet you didn't think to ask me, when I stopped you, to pass the message to him. If it's a yeerk issue, we know to ask for his advice. You didn't have to tell me how personal it was to you."

He had to admit that Marco did have a point there. Snorting, he quirked one eyebrow ridge slightly, "You still don't inform me you were normally capable of it. Are you trying to hide the fact that you can morph from people?"

Tobias had been in the barn, but he'd seen Kang coming and had fluttered into the house. He didn't like being inside; the hawk got nervous in the tightness. But he perched on the back of a chair close to the others, careful not to cause any talon damage.

< Hello,sir > he'd said, but hadn't spoke up since, because Kang had immediately focused on talking to Rachel and he didn't want to interrupt. He knew it was going to be interesting, given Rachel's personality.

Rachel cast a glare at Marco, for his disapproval. It wasn't like she was going to do anything stupid. She was just watching out for him, after all. But it seemed like their intruder wouldn't be giving her that opportunity anyway. Seemed like he was cautious. She looked to Tobias, feeling glad he was there. He'd be able to react faster than her, and she trusted him to keep things in check if necessary.

But she tensed as she realised what Marco had said. He'd been unable to morph? Why was that? If they could lose their power somehow... no. But why would Marco be in that situation?

"Maybe he was," Rachel replied flippantly to the dragon-guy instead. A hint of challenge in her voice. "I don't think we should have to do anything for you."

Marco glared at Rachel back for a millisecond - hey, he wasn't the one who decided that the best thing to do when waking up in a strange places was to morph bear and start chasing Tom - before turning back to Kang.

"Listen, if you think I was going to trust my mother to you when I don't even know your stance on Yeerks? Then I don't know what reality you're living in, but it's definitely not this one. What if she had been a Controller? You guys are still letting Iniss stay in Tom's head! At least I knew Elfangor would make sure she was freed, not flounder around and say, 'Sure we'll free her, but only later when we've maybe managed to make some other body for the Yeerk.'"

He crossed his arms. "What, are you guys going to make it mandatory for people to declare their abilities now? Please. If I don't need to, I don't see why I should going around telling people information that they could use against me."

It was time for Kang to pull out the sons-of-bitches voice.

"If she was infested, Stacy wouldn't let anybody remove the yeerk anyways. And believe me, we are working as hard as we can to find a solution that doesn't involve sharing a body or taking complete control of another. None of us are comfortable with the idea," he pointed out, barely sparing Tobias a glance. There were more important things at the moment.

"I don't think you realize, either, that we are in a war right now, and that we need every resource available to us. We can't force anyone to tell us what they can or can't do, but we'd have a much better chance at winning if we had an idea of what we had to work with. I'm not saying you should make an announcement to every single damn person on the ship, but at least let those in command know. The only way we are going to stand a chance against the Ohm is if we work together, and that requires a little bit of trust, as difficult as that may be for you to do."

"Oh, we know war alright," he said, with a bitter laugh. "But we don't know if we can trust Stacy. We don't know if we can trust the Daligig. Hell, we don't know if we can trust anyone on the ship, because Stacy seems to think that picking up Yeerks and psychos is a good idea. Really, I'd love to be able to trust that everyone here isn't going to stab me in the back, but that's not a luxury we have. But Elfangor? I know I can trust him. And he's on your bloody council, and he probably knows a lot better than I do what info you actually need, so excuse me for not deciding to go and tell the rest of you what I can do when there's been nothing to suggest that you guys would even need to know.

"I'll trust you to be a leader and to not give completely stupid commands. But don't you dare tell me I should trust blindly trust you, or anyone else on the Council with my mother's safety. Don't you dare."

That laugh, and that tone of voice. Kang knew it, and he was surprised that he'd never seen any hints of this side of Marco.

"Do you really think that everyone else trusts Stacy completely, or the Daligig? I sure as hell don't. I've been screwed over by people claiming to be allies before. But, this council's purpose is to help protect everyone else on this ship, from whatever threats we face. I'm assuming that you voted, when the elections were held; why would you vote for leadership you didn't trust, even a little?" He held back an irritated snort. "And, I think you having the ability to morph is an extremely important thing that we need to know. You have a unique advantage when it comes to gathering intel."

He softened his voice slightly, "I understand. War can make a person paranoid. You have to learn to trust at least some of the people that you are fighting alongside, though, or you're not going to have anyone there to save your tail when things get bad. Trust goes both ways."

Hey, when you spend three years fighting a war that you couldn't let anyone know you even knew about? You got good a keeping cover.

Marco shrugged. "Well duh, why else do you think I voted for Elfangor? But come on, you can't think that everyone who gets voted into office is trustworthy. Dude, have you never heard of corrupt politicians?"

He titled his head, eyes narrowed at Kang. So that was what he was after. "You want spies," he said.

Tobias listened, quiet up until now because he wasn't part of what had happened between Kang and Marco. He understood quite well when the conversation came around to the spies, and was ready to speak up. He felt Marco was right about not trusting politicians. You could rarely trust any of them on Earth. They were always lying about one thing or another.

< I can understand the logic, when you have people like us who can make themselves invisible, as it were. And the need to be be able to trust. I don't trust many people on this ship, either, general populace or council. > It was a natural tendancy, a survival necessity. It wasn't war with the Yeerks anymore, but it was still wise to keep one's guard up as much as possible.

Rachel didn't trust it either. She didn't trust the ship as a whole, and considering she didn't know the majority of the council (or even the crew), yet... she'd rather take care of herself and her own. Take justice into her own hands, maybe. "We have people we can trust." She said flatly. Pain or not, she would back up Marco if he needed it. And Tobias? He was a given. Their entire team was there-- and they had relied on eachother for a long time.

The blonde narrowed her eyes at their 'guest' again, watching him closely. So what, he wanted to use them? Subterfuge wasn't exactly her strong point, but it was definitely Marco's. "So what's your game, exactly?" she snapped, accusation in her tone. She didn't want to waste any more time.

"I knew you'd catch on quick," Kang quirked an eyebrow ridge, grinning a bit. "You're damn right we want spies. We've got plenty of everything else on this ship, but very few that can do what you can, and I doubt none that can do it as well as you. Currently, Elfangor and I, and I assume Aximili and Eva, are the only ones that know you're capable of morphing."

He glanced at Tobias, and then the girl, pointing at them respectively, "You, I know can morph. I'm assuming you can morph, too. And the other girl, with dark skin, and Jake. You all run together."

"Sounds like you've been doing a decent job of gathering info without us," Marco said, watching Kang closely. Not that it was particularly difficult to see the six of them and make an educated guess. But had Kang guessed they were a group before, or did he only look into it once he knew Marco could morph?

"And you're wrong about no one else knowing. Unfortunately," Marco sent Rachel a quick glare, still unhappy about the fact that she'd completely blown their cover, "Iniss knows now. Same with Dani, and Nightwing. I'm betting that Sam and Dean know by now too. Plus there's the odd person who's seen when one of us had to morph for a fight. But you'd only want spies that the crew didn't know about if the crew were the ones you wanted dirt on. Who exactly are you wanting spied on here?"

Tobias was happy that Marco replied, and both Marco and Rachel were essentially echoing his feelings. He respected Kang, but he too wondered just what he wanted spied on that he needed morphers for. He wasn't one to go intno anything too easily either, it was simply not safe. He waited for Kang to reply.

Rachel returned Marco's glare in complete earnest. Sure, maybe she'd reacted a little quickly, but how the hell else was she supposed to? She'd thought that the Yeerk could morph, and she'd been told to do the necessary thing...

"Because you're doing a great job at keeping it completely secret, right?" she snapped. In her mind, Marco wasn't exactly helping the undercover thing. Not if there was someone trying to use it, now, because of him. And if he already knew about Tobias...

And she wasn't exactly getting any ideas that the crew should be trusted, from this conversation.

"So what if I-- we can?" she asked, taking on a more defiant pose. "Why should we help you, anyway?"

((ooc: sorry this is crappy and late orz))

...and Marco and the girl confirmed it. His grin growing, Kang tilted his head to one side slightly, "Marco, I was an officer who became the leader of an entire nation. Do you really think I would have had time to run a business on the side, or wanted to? That tavern wasn't mine; it belonged to an old friend. I don't run it here because I like playing bartender. I run it because I don't trust very many others with it, and most importantly, it's the best place to gather information on the entire bloody ship. Ale makes people speak more freely. I still miss bits here and there, though, and it's very annoying when I'm used to having a spy network working for me." And assassins, but best to leave that part out for now.

He shrugged, "No one, yet. Your skills would mostly be used on planet missions instead of on the ship. However, don't you think that we could have prevented some of the things that have happened here if we'd been a little more vigilant, like the bombs and Cassie and Charles's deaths? Stacy can't see everywhere, and unfortunately, she counts some people here as crew that would seek to destroy us."

Sending one last glare at Rachel, Marco resisted the urge to snap he. Oh, he definitely wanted to - he wasn't the one who blew their cover in front of the Yeerk! - but right now, with Kang watching, wasn't the time.

But he definitely resolved to shortchange her bedsheets later.

To Kang, he watched warily. Kang definitely was running his own agenda here, but could this work for them? They couldn't be everywhere either, and right now they were too far out of the loop for Marco's liking. Things like the bombs would catch them by surprise, because they didn't even know that they should be looking the first place. But if they were spying for Kang...he had the resources to know where they needed to focus. But could they trust that his goals lined up with their own?

"We'd have to talk to the others first," Marco said slowly.

Tobias's point of view was much the same as both of the others'. His gaze flicked between Marco and Rachel, but Marco was not dumb enough to start snapping at Rachel, even though Tobias could tell he wanted to say something.

< That's my question as well. > he replied.

After Marco spoke, he said < I agree. I mean, I've spent a bit more time with you than they have, but I'm sticking with the group, naturally.>

Rachel had to admit; it sounded like way too much stuff caught them off guard on the ship. She'd not heard of everything, not yet, but she had heard enough, probably. They weren't in great shape, and it probably merited spying... but she didn't see why they would do that for someone else. If Marco and Tobias knew this guy, though, maybe they'd know how much he could be trusted, or whatever. All Rachel knew was that she'd rather just do it herself, if it had to be done. Take a more hands-on approach.

Still, she nodded. "Sure, fine," she said after a moment. Even if it'd probably be a waste of time to be doing it for someone else.

The Visitor [Closed]

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