TITLE: "Adventures in Clubbing"

AUTHOR: Doctor Strangelove (strangelove317@hotmail.com)
RATING: PG-13
SPOILERS: Um, I don't know. No particular spoilers. Visser Three is still Visser Three.
FEEDBACK: I'd love it.
DISCLAIMER: K. A. Applegate owns the Animorphs.

"Adventures in Clubbing"

Written by: Doctor Strangelove

My name is Marco. About two and a half weeks ago Jake, the fearless leader of the Animorphs, got sick. So he left his girlfriend in charge. Now, I'm not saying Cassie's a bad leader, but if it were me, I would've left Rachel in charge of all of us. Or just decided that we all take a vacation. That'd be nice.

Anyway, our buddy Erek, the Chee, found out that the Yeerks had some plan to acquire more Controllers. A gay club for teens. So I, with the help of my other buddy Ax, infiltrated. I kissed Ax. We ran into Tom. I kissed Ax again. We danced.

Cassie devised a new plan: I should seduce Tom into letting me in on the Yeerks' secret. Did I mention that a really scrawny guy beat the crap out of a football player at the club? Did I mention that Cassie's plans suck?

So I spent a week or so getting close to Tom. I, being the complete idiot that I am, start to fall for the Yeerk's charms. Oh, right, did I mention I'm bisexual? Something I found out recently. Because I also realized I had fallen in love with Ax.

Now according to Tobias, another buddy (I've got a lot of those), Ax felt the same way. Great! Everything was peaches and cream. I was willing to ignore the whole gay/interspecies thing, because I felt that Ax and I could make something work. I was at least willing to give it a shot. Ax apparently did not feel the same way. He had reasons.

That was two nights ago. I haven't seen him since.

I run into Tom. Deciding that he's really sweet and a lot like Jake (something I really don't want to get into) I spend the night with him. Nothing happened. Pervert. In the morning, yesterday morning in fact, I realized what a mistake that was.

So I go back to the club with Tobias in tow. We break into the back room, alarms go off and I vent some frustration on some handy Hork-Bajir and Taxxons. And Tom.

A blow that should've killed him, I was a gorilla after all, did not. A whole bunch of machinery collapsed on him. Nope, still alive. Not even a scratch. He also kicked mine and Tobias's respective asses. I mean really. That was one of the worst beatings I had ever taken. Tobias and I managed to knock him down long enough to escape. Tobias also picked up a disk or something Tom dropped. Very handy. Hopefully.

So, that's where we are. That was last night. Now, it's a Thursday afternoon at Cassie's barn. There's me, Tobias, Rachel, Cassie, and a newly well Jake. He still kinda looks sick. He knows now. They all do. That story, they know it. Okay, they know I "pretended" to like Tom and they know what happened with him. They don't know about Ax. Not even Tobias. Unless of course, Ax told Bird Boy what happened. Maybe he also explained why it happened. Sorry, I'm a little bitter.

"So," I let it hang there. I didn't have anything to add. I was scared, to tell you the truth. Everything in the last two or however many weeks terrified me.

Jake looked older than I've ever seen him. Partly because of the illness I guess, but I bet a lot of that's from the story. It shook us all. No one wanted Tom dead, not really. But the fact that he lived. The fact that the Yeerks had done something to him. Well, that chilled us all to the bone.

Erek's gonna check out the disk, Tobias offered. Good old Tobias. Always ready to break the silence. He said it was encrypted, it might take him a while. Plus, it's not, you know, a regular floppy disk. Some Yeerk technology. Might clue us in on what they're doing.

There was some more silence. What they were doing? It seemed obvious, to me at least. They were building some army of super strong, invincible warriors. Good plan. Wish we had though of it. Although, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's a robot of Tom and the real one's safe and sound. Maybe.

Everyone just sat in a still silence for a while. No one moved. No one spoke. I'd bet money some of us weren't even breathing. It was scary. So much had happened.

There were so many things going on. Ax, Tom, Jake. All of that. Maybe now that Jake's better, things will run smoother. Maybe.

After all that stuff, after everything, I can't help shake the feeling that this is only the beginning.

Maybe.

To reviewers: I'm taking just a little break from this fic. Just a short one. To plan things out. The next update will be in April. Plus, a note to all readers. The Tom and his mysterious strength and such will all be covered later. Probably in the next chapter or so.
Jinako-Chan: I thought the funeral scene might confuse some people. That was just a flash of Marco's imagination. The only place it happened was in his brain. When the thing fell on Tom, Marco's brain popped that image in his head. Not exactly a recurring dream. Just seeing it from different people's perspective. When "I Am Jake" (the Jake fic I talked about) comes out you'll see what I mean. Ax will be returning although not soon. I mean, in the timeline of the fic it'll probably be the day of this chapter or the next. But I've got other people's POV I'm doing first. Like Tom and Tom's Yeerk and Marco. Or course Marco. Now that "Be Stupid" is over, where will I get my inspiration. Perhaps if "Threads of Fate" has some nummy M/A slash?
Aaren: I'm gonna cover the Oedipus thing later, but not for a while. So don't worry too much about that. It's mostly foreshadowing for later stuff. The Tom's strength thing will be covered. Probably in the next chapter.

Next chapter: "Looking Outside" from Tom's POV. What Tom thinks of everything going on at the club. Plus, some back story on how he became so strong.