The Lunatic
By: Andalite Girl
(Authors note: One time I make a reference to heaven, so if you don't believe in heaven please don't send me threatening e-mails. I am warning you right now.)
This takes place 1 year after the events of The Finding.
Prologue
Cassie
"Sir" Lt. Mendiez said. " All units report ready."
We had gotten reports that a meeting of the sharing was here and my troops and I were going to go raid it. " Ok," I said. "Do it on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!"
A helicopter hovered over the building and blared out instructions. " You are surrounded. Come out with your hands up. I repeat. You are surrounded. Come out with your hands up."
We waited a few minutes. There wasn't any movement from the building. " All units go in." I commanded. On que 150 troops busted down the door while 75 troops covered them.
We heard terrible screams from within the building and scattered gunfire. "What's going on in there?" I wondered. Then out of the corner of my eye I caught movement. "It's an ambush!" I yelled.
Over a hundred Hork-Bajir and Andalites seemed to come out of nowhere and started to slaughter my troops. " Fire!" I screamed. Some people pulled out their guns and fired but it didn't make a dent in the numbers.
It was slaughter. An absolute slaughter.
There was no way I could survive unless… I focused on my seagull morph. I had to alert base on what was going on! The screaming and crying around me was unbearable. Red blood was staining the grass a deep scarlet color.
To my horror a Hork-Bajir controller ran up to me and swung his bladed arm for my neck. I was still half-morphed and totally defenseless. There was nothing I could do.
But it didn't hit me. It hit Mendiez who had thrown herself in front of me and saved my life. Her eyes went wide as a blade pierced her back. " Help me," She choked as she tried to reach for my rapidly shrinking hand. " Help me."
There was nothing I could do. I hated myself but I flapped my wings and flew away from the screams of 225 dying men and women. But for the rest of my life her voice echoed in my head. " Help me."
One Month later…
Chapter 1
Tobias
My name is Tobias. I know that you don't know me, but I need you to listen anyway. There is an invasion going on. Believe me, I am the person in charge of the resistance. The invaders are a species of slugs called Yeerks. No, not the small garden slugs that you'll find munching on a cucumber. These slugs are from another planet and they don't eat cucumbers.
The Yeerk has the ability to crawl and slither it's way into a persons ear and wrap around the brain. They don't kill the brain or lay eggs or anything. What they do it much worse. They Yeerks ties into the neurons and synapses and other brain stuff and literally takes over. I mean, the person is completely and utterly under the control of the Yeerk. The Yeerks have done this to many races; Gedds, Taxxons, Almost all the Hork-Bajir, and all the Andalites except for my friend Ax. And right now, they are trying to do it to humans. We call a person who has been taken over Controllers.
So your wondering how I know this stuff aren't you? Well when I was 13… Or was it 14? Anyway some kids I barely knew named Jake, Marco, Cassie, and Rachel and I were taking a stupid shortcut though an old construction site when a Andalite ship (This was before they were enslaved.) landed right in front of us and the dying andalite told us about the Yeerks. Then he gave us a weapon. The power to morph, it's one of the most destructive weapons ever made because anyone who has it can become any animal that they acquired for two hours.
We realized that we were the only hope that humans had so we fought the Yeerks. And after 3 years we stopped the invasion and drove them away from earth. Then we Animorphs kind of lost contact with each other and drifted apart and lived our own lives until ten years later, Jake found out that the Yeerks were back.
But right when we got together again for Yeerk invasion II, disaster struck.
The Yeerks found out who and what we were and before we knew it Jake was a controller and Marco, faced with slavery, chose to take his own life.
The remaining Animorphs and I knew that to have a chance of winning we were going to need another person at least. So we located someone that we knew would not be a controller yet. Tom, an ex-controller, Jake's brother. He was with us when we hijacked the Blade Ship of Visser 3 and landed it on the front lawn of the Whitehorse.
Well, since we did that we have been made honorary Lutinnet Commanders and appointed head of the resistance. For public relation reasons the White House has decided to make this a secret war, one that the public would know nothing about. If we happen to rescue any people from the Yeerks we buy them off telling them that-
" Sir?"
I jolted back to the presence. Sargent Rodgers was in my office briefing me. " I'm sorry Sargent could you repeat that?" I asked.
" We have located a group of at least 50 known controllers in a small city called West Point."
I thought for a second. " Deploy two units and as usual; save as many as you can."
Rodgers nodded " Right away sir." And he walked out.
I sighed to myself. How many men and woman did I just send to die? In this secret war over 1/3 of the troops I send out don't come back. It was almost harder in this war then the last one. The last time Jake was in charge and none of the good guys got killed. In this war hundreds died every week.
Someone knocked at my door. " Come in." I said.
Rachel walked in. After all these years she still looked like a super model, but under that perfectly applied makeup worry lines had began to surface. This war has been hard on all of us.
I stood up. " Rachel" I said. " What brings you here?" It was an old joke, don't ask.
She didn't smile " I'm worried about Cassie."
" She's hasn't gotten better?" I asked.
" No, in fact she's gotten worse." I could hear the desperation in her voice. " She goes off for days on end, she talks to herself constantly. Tobias, what can we do? I'm afraid that she will do something crazy if we don't act fast-"
Rachel was interrupted by the intercom system. " Lutenits Tobias, Cassie, Rachel, Aximili and Tom are to report to the Secretary of Defense's office immediately."
I stood up and took Rachel's hand. " Don't worry we will think of something, but right now we had better see what's troubling the boss." We walked down a long corridor until we came to a door that had two solders by it. Rachel and I showed them our security cards and we were let in. Tom and Ax, in his human morph, were already inside.
" Do you know what this is about?" Tom asked in a low voice.
I Shrugged " No idea."
We stopped talking then because Cassie entered. She looked like she had not brushed her hair in a week, her eyes were hollow and she seemed to be staring at something that wasn't there. Rachel walked over to her and said something that I couldn't hear. Cassie merely grunted and headed over to the farthest corner of the room.
Just then the Secretary of defense, William Cowen walked in and we all had to stand at attention. " At ease." Cowen said. We sat down in some chairs. " Our intelligence officers have found a large Yeerk pool." Cowen began. " If we can destroy this pool then our victory will be secure. Your orders are to take 300 troops and destroy it."
" Sir!" Ax said. " Humans against Hork-bajir and Andalite Controllers? It would be a massacre." I saw Cassie flinch at that.
Cowen nodded. " That's why I want you to go in first. Use your morphs and find out when that pool will be most venerable." He stood up signaling the end of the discussion. "You will be shipping out at O six-hundred hours. Those are your orders. Good luck and God Speed"
Chapter 2
Tom
We got a really good plane. I mean this thing had 3 bathrooms, separate rooms for each of us to sleep in, state-or-the-art communication systems, and best of all it was fast. Which was really good because I get really airsick.
" Uhhhh." I groaned. " When does this thing stop?"
Assuming that this primitive mode of transport is in any way reliable I would estimate two hours until we land. Ax of course.
Rachel got an evil glint in her eye. " I don't know Ax, it could be longer then that." She said in a worried voice. " If we got caught in a thunderstorm the cross winds would throw the ship up and down, side to side…."
"Oh man!" I reached for a bag and well you know. " I'm going to kill you Rachel." I said when I was finished.
She tossed her hair back " Ha! My grizzly Vs your lion and lets see who wins."
Normally Cassie would have said something to cool us off but she staring into space like we weren't there.
I think that would be unwise. Ax said.
I was about to say something in reply but the airplane decided to enter some turbulence and I had to fight to keep down the last of my lunch. When the stupid thing stopped shaking Tobias said, " We need to think of a plan on how to get in."
" What is there to plan?" I asked. " We go in as our wonderful selves and we listen in on some conversations to find what we need."
" What about Gleet bio filters?" Rachel asked
Ax shook his head. If we went in as humans the bio filters would let us pass. But if we went in as flies…" He didn't need to finish.
Cassie spoke up for the first time in a week. Her voice sounded hollow and she said it like she was reading out of a book or something. " We can't let Cowen send in 300 troops… We have to do this ourselves… We must save as many people as possible." Then she seemed to talk to herself for a second. I though I caught the words 'help me' but I wasn't sure.
" I agree" Tobias said after a few moments of silence. " But we don't know how much the Yeerk Pools might have changed since we've been there last. So I think that once we are inside we might have to improvise a plan."
Suddenly I felt nauseous again. " I need to go lay down." I said as I lurched for my room. When I got there I flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
It hit me right then and there.
I was going down to the Yeerk Pool. The one place where I never wanted to go again and I was going to go down there willingly. There was a time when I didn't mind going to that god-awful place because for a few precious minutes I could move my own hands and legs. I open my mouth and make words come out, even if they were just curses. Until they dragged me to the infestation pier and I became a slave again.
I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I hadn't thought about that for a long time. No, I hadn't let myself think of that for a long time. Once when I was almost freed; I promised myself that I would not die down there. That if I ever got the chance I would walk out of that place and NEVER go back. But now I was.
******
The plane landed in the cover of darkness so not to arouse any attention. From the airport we were driven to a place about ¼ mile from the Yeerk pool. We trudged around in the forest utterly lost until Tobias morphed into a red tail hawk and showed us the way.
" There it is!" Rachel exulted when we spied the lights to the entrance.
Tobias floated down and demorphed. There is about 5- But at that point his beak became and mouth. " 5 Hork-Bajir at the entrance." He said when he was able. "Ax you had better morph-oh never mind." I guess he forgot that andalite controllers where as common as human controllers nowadays.
So like idiots we walked right up to the entrance like we owned the place. "Halt." A Hork-Bajir said as he ran what looked like a medal detector over us.
It's a hand held Gleet bio filter. Ax said in private thought speak.
The little filter beeped a little beep and a little green light came on. To my relief the Hork-Bajir waved us though. We walked down a long series of dark steps. My heart was beating so hard I thought it would explode from my chest.
I didn't want to be down here. We will get caught and they will drag me down to the infestation pier and force a Yeerk into my ear again. I would cry and scream but the Yeerk would just laugh as it….
Stop it.
Stop. It.
No, I had to keep it together. I couldn't freak out. I couldn't. Finally the stairs gave a sharp left turn and suddenly we ran out of stairs and we were able to get a whole eye full of the Yeerk pool.
It had not changed a bit
The terrible screams was still there, the infestation pier and the unloading pier was still there, and worst of all, the cages full of involuntary hosts was still there. Some where softly weeping, some were staring off into space and some screamed and yelled curses at the controllers as I once did.
" Where's Cassie?" Rachel asked.
I looked around; Cassie was gone. " When's the last time anyone saw her?" I asked.
Tobias said. " I saw her as we where walking to the entrance."
Great. This mission was already screwed and it had not even begun yet.
Tobias sighed. " Ok, we don't know if she came in with us and we can't go searching openly for her so here's what we will do; we go in teams of two and keep our eyes peeled."
Tobias! Ax cried suddenly Prince Jake is here!
My brother? Here? " Where?" I demanded.
In that cage farthest to the left.
I could see Tobias wrestling with conflicting emotions. Should he try to save Cassie or Jake? I decided for him. " I have a plan."
Chapter 3
Jake
Where am I going? I asked.
The Yeerk in me laughed, To the pool my little animorph.
I quickly conjured up a memory of a battle that I had fought against the Yeerks just to piss my Yeerk off. It worked like it always did. But the memories were getting sketchy and faded. That's a good thing, I guess.
When I first got taken I used to have all of these fantasies about getting rescued and joining the fight again, but slowly those hopes were replaced by depression as I realized that the others were not going to rescue me.
That's right. The Yeerk said.
I didn't even feel like struggling as the Yeerk exited my ear and landed with a soft SPOOSH in the pool. Two Hork-Bajir controllers grabbed my arms and lead me to a cage. There were about 6 other humans there. One or two screamed and cried, but most were silent and staring off into space… Except for one little girl about 8 or nine years of age. She seemed to be talking to someone and when I got closer I heard what she was saying. " Don't worry Tony, mommy will find us. Don't cry." I guess Tony was her imaginary friend.
Then a Hork-Bajir and an Andalite came up to our cage and grabbed me. " Isn't it a little early?" I asked snidely " I haven't been here 5 minutes yet." Not that I wanted to go back.
Prince Jake it is us!
I nearly feinted, Ax? I took a good like at the andalite. It was him! And who was the Hork-Bajir? It didn't matter; I was going to be free! They took me behind one of the sheds. Rachel was standing there. "Jake!" she cried and hugged me.
I knew that I was crying, but I didn't care. " Thank you, Thank you." I said over and over again through the tears.
Suddenly I heard a voice behind be. " Hi bro." I turned around to face… Tom! Was he a controller? No, the others were to calm. Then I clicked. " You're an.."
" Animorph," He finished. " Yeah,"
I looked around at the others. They were all grinning like they had planned this all along. But something was wrong. " Where's Cassie?"
The grins were gone off their faces like it was never there. One by one their eyes shifted to Tobias who had demorphed. " We don't know," He said at last. " We lost track of her when we were coming into the pool."
It was then that I realized what had happened. " You should have went after her!" I almost yelled. " Not me! We have to find her!" I took a step and almost fell on my face. I was out of practice being in control of my own body.
Ax steadied me. We don't even know if she went in with us or not. She might be outside.
Tobias said, " We need to get him out of here before they find out he's missing."
"No!" I objected " Cassie-"
But Tobias wasn't listening, " Ax, Tom, take him out. Rachel and I will get Cassie… If she is in here."
Tom grabbed my shoulder. " Come on, you gotta go, your in no shape to continue."
"But-"
Tom started to lead be out with Ax right behind him. They are following Tobias's orders. I thought bitterly. He was the leader now.
" Hey idiots!" Rachel cried. " 8 Hork-Bajir coming this way!"
Chapter 4
Rachel
I rolled my eyes; guys were such morons. While Jake and Tobias were arguing I kept a look out just in case Cassie walked by. I noticed that a lot of controllers were yelling and pointing to the cages. Uh oh. I watched as a whole bunch of Hork-Bajir split into groups of 8 or so. One group started to walk our way.
8 of them and 6 of us, this was going to be fun. " We have trouble," I said turning to the others.
They ignored me. " Come on, you gotta go, your in no shape to continue." Tom said to Jake.
" Heeeellllloooowwww! Controllers coming." I said a little louder.
" But-" Jake objected, still ignoring me.
" Hey idiots!" I cried and they turned around. " 8 Hork-Bajir coming this way!"
"Battle morphs!" Jake and Tobias said at the same time. They looked at each other in surprise for a moment then smiled.
I, however, focused on my grizzly morph. Brown fur sprouted from my arms and legs. My nose and mouth pushed out to become a boxy muzzle. My ears shrank into my skull to reappear a few seconds later at the top of my head. With the appearance of ears my hearing got a whole lot better. I could hear the Hork-Bajir coming. They were close, very close.
Here they come. I warned. I was done morphing a adult grizzly bear, Ax was himself, Tobias was in his old red tail hawk body, Tom was in his lion morph that he loved and Jake was a tiger.
One Hork-Bajir came around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Ax didn't give him a chance to react; he snapped his deadly tail and caught the Hork-Bajir in the neck. The Hork-Bajir gave out a gurgling scream and fell to the ground.
The others, hearing the scream, barreled around the corner and the battle started. I swung my ham-sized paw and hit one of them in the stomach. As my Hork-Bajir fell he swung his tail around and ripped a long gash down my side. Roaring in pain I hit him in the head and… well he wouldn't get up again.
From that point I was on automatic. I really don't remember much except roaring and swinging my paws. The next thing I clearly remember was charging a Hork-Bajir and running him into a shed. I looked up and realized that the battle was done and we had won.
More reinforcements coming! Tobias yelled from above.
Morph to human. Jake commanded. And we can get out of here!
I was ready to agree. I was cut up in more places then I could count. We all started running for the stairs and demorphing at the same time. Luckily it was dark and gloomy or else we would have been seen.
Tobias flew down and demorphed while we watched his back. We went up a different set of stairs that we had come in and entered a large hallway. Smaller corridors branched off here and there. It was like a maze. " Wait!" I said. " What are we going to do about Cowen? If we come back he will send those troops in."
" Troops?" Jake demanded. " Is he on crack?"
" He will not send in those troops if we blow this place up." Tobias said grimly.
Does this place have a self-destruct device? Ax asked.
Jake nodded. " Yeah, just in case it was discovered. I can do it."
Tobias nodded and Jake took off.
I said. " We still need Cassie!"
Tobias fixed his gaze on me and I could see the sorrow and regret in his eyes. " No, Rachel. We can't wait and if Jake does his job right then the whole place will blow in 5 minutes."
I looked at them, disbelieving. " You can't do this!" I screamed. " She has to be in there and I'm going after her!" I turned and ran back into the entrance with my hands over my ears so I couldn't hear them calling me back. But I could not, would not, leave my best friend to die.
" Cassie!" I yelled to the corridors. Every once in awhile I would run past a controller but they assumed that I was one of them on some business. " Cassie!" I screamed again. Why wouldn't she answer? What if, I caught my breath, she wasn't able to answer me?
I don't know why I was so sure that she was in the building. But somehow I just knew beyond any doubt that she wasn't outside. I yelled once more and to my relieve I heard and reply. " I'm here."
I turned down a hall to the left. " Cassie where are you?"
"Over here."
I opened a door. The room was some kind of control room because there was a lot of high tech stuff around and lots of consoles. Cassie was on the other side of the room. She was pointing a gun at Jake.
" What are you doing?" I asked.
Cassie shot a look at me. Her face was twisted and sweaty, and her eyes had an insane look in them. " They took Jake and I'm going to set him free." She said in a dangerously calm voice.
" You don't understand Cass." Jake said. " The rescued me."
" Shut up Yeerk!" Cassie screamed. " I'll give you to the count of three to get out of his head."
I considered rushing her, but she was too far away and I had no doubt that she would shoot me if she felt like it.
" One."
" Listen to me Cassie. I'm free!"
" Two"
" Don't do this." I said
"Three." She looked at Jake with her head to the side and whispered "I'm sorry."
BLAM!
A dime sized hole appeared in Jake's chest and he fell across a control panel.
"Nooooooo!" I screamed.
Cassie looked shocked. " Oh my God. What did I just do?" Then to my horror she put the still smoking gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.
I ran over to her. Dead. Both dead.
Suddenly I heard coughing coming from Jake. I rushed over to him and knelt down. " Rachel." He gasped. " It wasn't her fault." Red blood was leaking out of his mouth and he breathing became labored.
" Shhh." I said. " It will be ok, I'll get help."
Jake smiled a hollow smile " No it won't." He went into another coughing spasm. When he was done he said " Red button… Push it… Whole thing will explode… Blow the Yeerks out of this place." He made a strangling sound and his whole body jerked.
Jake was dead.
I heard somone coming down the hall, probably to investigate the gunshots. I swallowed my tears and looked for the red button. It was easy to find, in the upper right hand corner of a consul. I wished Tobias were here so I could say goodbye, but I said it anyway. " I love you Tobias." I pushed the button.
BA-BOOOM!
I was thrown against a wall, the heat was unbearable and I could smell burning flesh and then… I heard a voice and saw a face. It was Marco and he was telling me to follow him. So I did.
Chapter 5
Ax
Rachel come back! I yelled as she ran down the hall in search of Cassie. I didn't know why she was acting this way, chances were that Cassie was outside. We ran down the maze of corridors in search of Rachel but she had disappeared.
" Freeze." Said a voice behind us. We turned to face more then a dozen Hork-Bajir and Andalite controllers holding dracon beams.
The head Andalite grinned evilly in her eyes, Ah, the human bandits and the one free andalite filth. What luck it is that Visser 3 is here today. I'm sure he will love to meet you.
I wanted to knock that arrogant look off her face, but if I so much as twitched I would have been fried from a dozen different directions. With dracon beams still trained on us we where lead out of the pool structure and out side where Visser 3 was waiting.
I felt like I had absorbed glass and nails. My insides were turning. Visser 3 has an andalite body, one of the first to become enslaved. He is completely evil. One time my human friends took me to see a movie called 'Star Wars'. Darth Vader reminded me of that abomination.
Well, well, He said. I've finally caught you. He looked at some Hork-Bajir that was flanking him. Take them to my quarters-
BA-BOOOM!
I heard a huge explosion and the concussion wave hit me and knocked me off my hoofs and into Visser 3.
Andalite filth! He screamed. He tried to use his tail on me, but somone was lying on it.
There was nothing wrong with my tail, however. I got up and pressed my blade against his neck. This is for my brother! I twitched my tail and the Visser's head went flying.
I suddenly became aware of screaming " RACHEL!" I turned my stalk eyes to look. The Yeerk pool was no more then a sunken pile of rubble. Rachel and Jake had been in there.
Controllers milled around aimlessly, completely at a loss what to do. They wouldn't be bothering us. " RACHEL!" Tobias screamed again. He was tearing through some of the rubble looking for her.
I ran up to him. Tobias she's…."
He whirled around. " No she's not! She can't be! She can't be! SHE CAN'T BE!" He sunk to his knees and started sobbing.
I was at a loss what to do. Tobias- He turned and stalked off across the rubble.
" Let him go." Tom said behind me. He had a large gash across his forehead and his eyes were full of tears. " He needs to deal with this alone." Then we walked off to call base for a pick-up.
I looked at the whole scene before me and I cried in my hearts. I cried for Rachel, Tobias, Jake, Cassie and my own enslaved people. But one hope stubbornly stayed in my mind. Cowen had said that if this place were destroyed then victory would be secure.
My adopted people, the humans, were now safe. And maybe someday my own people would be as well.
The End