A/N: I don't own Animorphs or its characters. Also, for the record, I don't own K.A. Applegate either. Just to make that clear.

Don't you just love Jamie? Haha.

Chapter 2

All's Fair in War

This couldn't be happening to me. It just couldn't be real. I didn't want to attack my own friend, it just wasn't right! But I knew that if I had to fight him, I would. I wanted to die just as much as I wanted to hurt him. But I also knew I couldn't show any weakness in front of a Yeerk. I tried to get my composure back.

"Alright, what do you want, slug?" I demanded. "To make me a Controller? To get me on your side? Is there anything else you would like me to think up?"

"I want nothing with you, ignorant fool. I know that you work with the Andalite Bandits and we both know that Visser Three wants them. I want you to capture them and bring them to me, so I can take them to Visser Three," he replied, as if he actually expected me to go along with it.

"Uh-huh," I said in a bored voice. "So, let me guess, you get all the credit and then make me into a Controller when you're done with me?" I let out a sardonic laugh and finished my statement with, "Call me crazy, but I'll have to say that the stakes are a little high on that offer."

The Yeerk laughed mockingly at me, making me want to stand my ground even more. I managed to keep a straight face, not showing any emotion, and just frowned at him.

"What's so funny?" I demanded. He laughed again and I couldn't help but deepen my frown, but it was of confusion now.

"You," it replied happily. "Your naiveté, the fact that you're so utterly full of yourself." I narrowed my eyes at him and just managed to hide my scowl.

"I'm not full of myself, slug. You're the arrogant one here, not me. Do you see me as a simple, almost non-existent life form trying to take over the world with a pathetic attempt at controlling innocent human beings and trying -- unsuccessfully, might I add -- to thwart a bunch of people who you don't even know the real species of? For all you know, they might as well be human," I countered, keeping my voice smooth and calm rather than trembling with rage at this pitiful creature. "No, you don't," I said, answering my own question.

He hesitated, and for a second I was almost naïve enough to think that I had won, but no; an arrogant slug like that would never allow it. "In that case, I have another proposal for you, human," it said in Hack's voice.

I almost smirked, but then remembered that he could see me, even though I couldn't. "And what would that be?" What was with him and his species? These monsters always wanted the last word.

"Tell me if you agree to this: you bring me the Andalite Bandits, or you will take their place and become a slave to the Visser once again. But this time, there will be no escape."

I stopped my eyes from widening at the last second as fury pumped through my veins. Me or them? No, I couldn't give them away. I didn't even know who they were! "How about this, slug: no. I won't give them away, even if you do make me a Controller, because even if you tortured me, how can you expect me to give them away just like that?" I took a step forward, knowing the exact location of his voice, exactly where he was standing. "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean that you can take complete control of me, Yeerk. I won't do what you tell me to do, and I wouldn't even if you were in my head. When I was one of you, I fought, and I fought hard. The Yeerk died, remember?" I stepped forward again so that I was right in front of him, and I grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull him forward. I could feel him breathing on me, I could smell his breath, I could almost taste it. I pulled a swiss army knife out of my pocket, flipped the blade out, and put it to his throat. I didn't want to hurt him, but if I had to I would. "You know that I would just do it again. Don't make me do it to you too. Now leave my friend and find another host, you leach."

He was silent for who knows how long, and in that time, I felt his heartbeat through his shirt collar, felt his breath on my face, smelled it, tasted it. His heartbeat was fast and uneven, like he was scared. Then I heard him laugh. He grabbed the knife and pulled it from my hands, and after a lot of confusion, he put me in a Nelson headlock. He held the knife to my throat, pushing it against my skin. I could feel blood trickle down my neck and wanted to turn my head to I could get air, but that was impossible unless I wanted a slit throat as a "just-because" present. So I felt along his elbow for a weak point, a pressure point that would get me out of this mess.

"Now look who has the upper hand," he whispered into my ear. I hid all signs of pain as he dug the knife deeper into my neck and a searing heat shot into me. "One twitch and you could die," he said, "So no funny business. OK pumpkin?" he added lightly.

"No promises," I managed to choke out.

"Well then, I have an idea for a new offer: the Andalite Bandits, you…" He leaned closer to my ear and whispered menacingly, "or your parents."

My eyes widened in terror and rage. "Never!" I screamed, and I stepped on his foot as hard as I could. He loosened his grip in surprise and pain. I pulled his hand away from my neck and pushed my finger into a pressure point on his hand before he could do anything else, so he dropped the knife. I twisted his arm around into an angle it wasn't supposed to go in and I pushed him hard against the wall of the warehouse. I bent his arm at the elbow and put it far up his spine and pushed, so he whimpered in pain. "You touch them, and you're dead. I will find a way to get you out of Hack, but if you leave him before I get to you, then you're still out of luck, because I will hunt you down. And I will KILL you! Do you understand me?" I seethed into his ear.

The Yeerk growled at me. "No. It will take much more than one pathetic bandit to bring down a whole army of us. Did you not realize that if you kill me now, you'll have to kill your little friend too? Or did you miss that fine detail, with your puny, undeveloped mind?"

I grunted loudly in rage as I shoved him against the wall harder, just longing to kill that Yeerk now, before he did anything to my family. I would kill him one day. I swore I would. "Number one rule in battle: never underestimate your opponent. You of all people should know that, yet right now, that's what you're doing. If I could to kill you right now, I wouldn't hesitate. I'm sure my friend would be better off dead than with the likes of you in his head anyway. Am I right, Hack? Yes, I am." I shoved him even harder into the wall and brought his arm up further now. He grunted in pain and I felt him go farther into the wall as if trying to get away from me. "The only thing stopping me right now is the consequences of having killed another human being. I just couldn't live with that guilt," I added sarcastically. The sad truth is that I probably couldn't. "You touch anyone in my family and I swear that I will tear you in shreds, no matter whose body you're in. Got it?"

He didn't answer.

"Got it?!" I yelled into his ear. He winced and tried to struggle away from my grip, but it just hurt him more. "Do you understand?" I demanded again.

"Yes," he squeaked reluctantly, letting that Yeerk pride go for a moment. I let him go when he said that.

"Good." I just hoped he knew I was serious. I hardly ever made threats like that, but when I did, the person I was giving them to usually knew not to mess with me. If he laid one finger on anyone I was even distantly related to, I would kill that Yeerk.

I'm sorry to say that all's fair in war.