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. Currently I was in Cassie's barn, along with Jake, Rachel, and Erek, waiting for Cassie to arrive with Tobias and Ax in tow. Yeah, that's gonna be fun. You're not even the littlest bit excited about seeing Ax again? I ignored my stupid, stupid brain and tried to think about what Erek's big news was. He had probably decoded the disk Tobias found and wanted to wait till we were all here before he revealed the secrets of said disk. That would make sense. It totally was not what was going to happen.

I could tell that just by looking at Erek. See, here's the thing, people do things when they're bored or nervous or something. Jake was currently pacing around the barn like a mad man. Rachel was getting very impatient and was muttering curse words under her breath. I was seeing how many television theme songs I knew by heart (fourteen). But Erek, well Erek was just sitting there, staring into space. For an age-old android, you think he could fake human emotions a little better.

On top of whatever Erek knew about Über-Tom, I was still debating what to say about Jason. Do I just tell my friends that I was visited by a ghost. They'd think I was crazy. I mean, it's not like I name knives or paint clowns or wanted to be a florist or anything, I just see dead people. Oh yeah, that doesn't sound crazy at all. Hey, maybe after all that had happened with the Yeerks, I had gone crazy. I could just see that happening. But then, Jason gave me that ring. That was definitely real.

Cassie took this opportunity to finally show up. With Tobias. And Ax. Well, turns out the blue-boy didn't disappear. Someone finally found him. I'm not really sure if I was happy about that or what. I mean, I didn't want Ax dead, but I really didn't feel like seeing him. Yet there he was. Not dead, which was good. He was also avoiding my eyes. Also good. I think.

Cassie, Tobias and Ax all demorphed to human (actually, Ax and Tobias demorphed and then morphed to human). "Hey, Jake," Tobias said, "Are you aware that your girlfriend has never seen The Matrix?"

"You haven't?" Cassie shook her head. "You need to see it."

"Jake, I don't like Sci-Fi."

Rachel decided to add her two cents, "You really should see it, Cassie. It's very good." Everyone nodded in agreement, including Erek.

Cassie sighed and raised her hands in defeat. "Fine, can we just start the meeting? Tobias has something to say. Something weird that happened?"

This took Tobias off guard, "Oh, are we starting with that? Um, okay. Well, you see, actually I think Ax could explain it better than me. It happened to him after all."

Something happened to Ax? "Well, I had been watching television with Tobias. That's when he showed up." He? "There was some beast before me. I didn't recognize him at all. But he attacked me.

What the hell? Ax paused before continuing. He seemed to be having a little trouble relating his story. "He punched me. His fast went clear through my stomach. I could feel the pain and there was blood everywhere. And then I passed out."

Well, that certainly took everyone off guard. I can honestly say that was not what I expected to hear. Hell, even Erek was stunned. We were all speechless. Well, except for Cassie.

"But you look fine now."

"Well, yeah," Tobias explained. "Because it didn't happen. I mean, I didn't see anything. I saw no beast, no blood, I just saw Ax scream out in pain and collapse on the floor. It was pretty... weird."

"The beast you saw," Jake spoke up, "Was it a tall guy. With four arms, red eyes, three horns?" Ax slowly nodded in shock. "Balthazar." Jake muttered.

"Yes," Ax mumbled. "That was his name. I'm not really sure, but I just seemed to know it. Like I knew him from somewhere. But how did you know?"

"I saw him too." Everyone's eyes turned to Jake. "It... it was in a dream. The same thing. Except, I didn't get attacked. But I saw him and... I just knew who he was."

Damn, and I thought I was crazy. Yeah, I think a little ghost story might not seem so weird after that. 'Cause that... well that was fucked up.

"Um, I saw something too." I added. "Not Balthazar, though. I was doing reconnaissance at the Sharing's club and I saw... someone. They said that they were a ghost."

From the looks on there faces they didn't believe me. "A ghost?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. And I think he was telling the truth. No one else seemed to notice him. Plus when everything was over, he kinda just vanished."

"That's... really weird."

"Oh, it gets weirder. He warned me of something. He said that something was coming, something worse than the Yeerks. Something we wouldn't be able to fight. But, if we knew who to trust, we could still win. And then he gave me a ring. He said that anyone that follows this guy would be wearing the ring.

The rest of the Animorphs and Erek all stared at me blankly. "Hey, don't look at me like I'm crazy! Ax is the one that's seeing things that aren't there!" Okay, I admit, that was a bit of a cheap shot and Ax really seemed to be hurt by it. Well, too bad. I didn't care. And it was true. Sort of.

Anyway, moving. "So, with all the stuff going on, ghosts and creepy punching people, we might have a little more trouble than just Yeerks."

"Yes," Erek said, standing up and surveying the group, "but right now, we probably should worry about the Yeerks. Myself and some fellow Chee have decoded the disk that Tobias found. It seems you were basically right, the Yeerks are planning on making an army. They made an alliance with a race called the Coo-Hatch, known for their welding abilities. The Coo-Hatch have also developed the strongest steel anyone has ever seen. The Yeerks are infusing it with a host's skeletal structure. That's what made Tom so strong.

"There's more to it, though. The entire surgical process ends up trapping the Yeerk inside that one host. They can never leave. Unfortunately, the Yeerks have found a way to still absorb Kandrona rays. This also means, though, that the process is non-reversible. It's permanent. Which means that Tom-"

"Is trapped." Jake finished glumly.

Erek slowly nodded. "Right. He's trapped."

"Well, is there any other way?" Rachel asked a little frantically. "I mean, is there any way to stop these guys? Stop the Yeerks from making more?"

"Yes. This is an experimental... experiment. If it fails, the Council of Thirteen will abandon the entire idea. And from what we've seen there is a self-destruct sequence. But, the codes seem wrong. It's likely that only Visser Nine, the one behind it all, has the real codes. Visser Nine is also greedy, it seems. From what we can make out, there's another self-destruct sequence, that will be activated upon Visser Nine's death. It will shut down all the hosts that have been infected."

Rachel smiled, "Well, that's good."

"It would be, except Visser Nine's host is Tom." Erek continued. "Which means that the only way to stop this is to get the codes out of him, somehow, or..." Erek left the sentence hanging, but we all knew what he meant. The only other way would be to kill Tom.

"Are you sure," Jake asked, "that that's the only way?"

Erek nodded.

"Okay then. We have to kill Tom."

I can honestly say that none of us were expecting that.

Especially Rachel. "Jake, what?"

"That's the only way, Rachel. You know it is."

"No, I can't stand here and listen to you calmly say that your brother has to die. I don't accept that. There has to be another way."

Jake, who had been mostly calm throughout the entire meeting, including stating that his brother had to be killed, finally exploded. "How, Rachel!? Reason with the Yeerk. It will never happen. Now I wish this wasn't true but-"

"Tom is an innocent person!"

"And the people he kills aren't!? The people that are enslaved by him aren't!? Those Hork-Bajir that you kill aren't? The fight with the Yeerks has had nothing but innocent people being killed. I wish it wasn't so, but this is a war, Rachel. I thought you understood that. A war is about doing what's right, not what's fair. And if that means killing one innocent person, even my own brother, so that God knows how many more can survive and live their lives free from Yeerk control, then there is no contest. Tom has to die."

Rachel calmed down, but Jake was still seething. Then Rachel said it. The one thing we had all been thinking. "Can you kill him?"

Jake didn't answer. After a few moments, thought, he did speak, but he never took his eyes off of Rachel. "Erek, was there anything else?"

"No, Jake."

"Good. This meeting is adjourned." And with that Jake turned and walked out. Rachel shortly followed suit, in the opposite direction of course.

"I hate having to bring the bad news," Erek said, "and I wish there was another way. I'm sorry." And then he left too.

Cassie and I exchanged a look. Neither one of us knew what to do. We had no idea. Cassie gave me one last poignant look before going back inside her house.

When Cassie left, I turned and started to haul ass. I really didn't want to be alone with Ax and Tobias. But it didn't do any good, because pretty soon Ax was right behind me.

"Marco!" He called and I stopped and turned to face him. "Marco, I wanted to talk to you. I needed to tell you that-"

"Save it." This was it. Everything I had felt since the other night was all coming out now. "Just save it, Ax. You know, just a few weeks ago my life was just fine. Sure it pretty much sucked beyond the telling of it, but I was okay with that. Things made sense. But ever since that Sharing's club, my life has been extremely fucked up, and most of that is because of you. You see, I'm forced to accept that not only am I not as heterosexual as I thought I was, but I have very strong feelings for someone that's not even human. That would be you.

"So, I deal with that. That is a lot of shit to deal with right there. But there's more. See, my other friend, Tobias, you know him, convinces me that you return the feeling. That you really like me. So I figure, what the hell, maybe it could work. Maybe some of the stuff that's bugging me so much could start to make a little sense. Maybe I could find just a sliver of happiness. But no. You see, I go and find you and, pardon the excruciatingly stupid phrase, give my heart to you and you spit it right back in my face.

"You know what, Ax? I'm sure you've got plenty of reasons. Probably some Andalite stuff or plenty of other shit like that. But you know what? I don't care."

"Marco, I-"

"No! Ax. I. Don't. Care."

And I turned and walked off. I know I was cruel and heartless and one mean son of a bitch. And I really don't care.

To reviewers:
Jinako-chan: Cool, birthday update! Neat. Happy Birthday, to you! No exactly hallucinations. Well, you'll see. Is Balthazar Greek? I think it's the name of someone from Romeo and Juliet. To be truthful, I just like the name and I think it sounds like a good villain name. Was there enough slashy tension for you? Well, now they know the plan. And why would you think Jake works for the Big Evil That's A-Comin'? Big Bad Voice won't be around for a very long time. And it doesn't exactly have an ass for you to kick. Let me see, it will not appear anymore in this fic (I think) and after that it will only make one or two guest appearances in the sequels that will follow. You'll see more of this guy when I'm ending this series, and that's at least a year (maybe two) away. Hmm, so Tobias will go evil when he and Rachel get their freak on? Hey, Willow/Anya! That's cool. I like that pairing. Then again, I like Anya with just about anyone. Yeah, Andrew is cool. Heh heh, he wrote breakup sex on the board (Sorry, I've been thinking of that and laughing since Tuesday. I'm just barely getting over randomly shouting "We are as gods!"). Hmm, I'm still not sure if something will happen to Jake's testicles. Well, now that I think about, something already did happen to them in the first fic. ^_~

Alara-Sirinial-Amalon: Um, someone might die. It's certainly a possibility.

stumbeline: Um, the Jake thing will be explained *looks at outline* Holy crap! Um, it's gonna be a long time. Basically, Jake was part of the vision Ax saw.

Myself: This is actually the only fic I respond to reviews. Mostly 'cause I like the people that review. Um, I promise wings next chapter. The name is from Romeo and Juliet and maybe some other places. I just like that name. Yeah, I hate those kinda fics. Wait, I wrote some of those. Oh well, thank anyway. A year? Damn, that's been a while.

Aaren: I'm considering it. Actually, I'm considering when I'm gonna use it. If I don't use it in this fic, it'll show up pretty soon anyway. As for the Jake thing, Jake was part of Ax's hallucination thing.

M: I've seen a few episodes of Six Feet Under and it is awesome. I'll try to incorporate it somehow.

Aqua Rhapsody: Is this one a little better instead of just being there?

Lisa-Ann: Can we compromise? 7.25? I listened to the song and you're right, it is perfect. I might try to fit it in somewhere. Thanks for the song.

Mesia Swords: Thanks, I like that line a lot. What is with people thinking that Jake is going to betray the Animorphs? He would never do that unless he was being controlled by something. Jake's a good guy.

Kewpie: Thanks, a new M/A fan and a Buffy fan! Cool! I hope this chapter was to your liking also.