My name is Tom.
I've never been someone who wished my life was more exciting, nor did I ever have a real desire to grow up quickly. I mean, sure, I looked forward to vacations and holidays more than everyday life. And I guessed that I used to look at older kids when I was a lot younger and be envious of all the cool stuff that they could do.
But once I became a teenager, I learned that even though all that "cool stuff" was pretty fun, I also had way more responsibilities than I did when I was, say, five or ten years old. And even though I looked forward to summer vacation more than the school year, I knew that once I grew up, I'd have to go to work all year round, instead of just nine months out of the year.
Being the star player on the basketball team, being popular at school, and having decent grades was enough to make me not want to fake being sick to get out of going to school each morning. Also, I knew that I had a decent family, especially after Jake's best friend Marco suddenly lost his mom to a boating accident. Not to mention that there were plenty of starving kids in the world, so I was pretty lucky to live where I got three meals a day-plus junk food.
I guess what I'm saying is that I didn't need to be told I had it good because I already knew it.
I just didn't realize how much my life would go downhill when Midget and I met Elfangor and he put the fate of saving our planet in the hands of us.
And Marco and Cassie and Rachel and Tobias, of course.
But we were all just teenagers.
Kids, really.
Since then, we've sort of been living a double life. Go to school, do homework, play on the team (me), and waste time at the mall or playing video games. Then, as soon as we get word of a Yeerk plot to increase the speed at which they're making us all slaves, fight like hell until we haven't exactly won, but haven't died either, and maybe did some damage to Visser Three.
Although, the last time, we only got out alive because Visser One-who had somehow taken over Marco's mom's body, so the boating accident must have been a Yeerk plot at the time-really, really, really hates Visser Three. Enough that she would rather let six Animorphs go free and continue to wreak havoc on his plans (kinda) over giving him a legitimate win by killing or infesting us.
Not that we weren't grateful, but honestly? Clearly, sabotaging your political opponent isn't just a human thing.
We were due for some time off from fighting the Yeerks when Jake and I found out about their newest plot.
"They're opening a clinic to infest people," I explained, once we'd met in Cassie's barn. "My dad's been on the phone with other doctors who want to get involved. You know, do pro bono work and all that."
"It doesn't mean that they're all Controllers," Jake put in, "but we think at least some of them are. And it's definitely a Yeerk-run project."
"What you're saying," Marco asked us, "is that they come in for some basic operation their insurance won't pay for, and come out as a host?"
"Most of these people are too poor to have health insurance, but basically, yeah," I agreed. "It's a way to get hosts for thousands of Yeerks a month, once it starts up."
"There's more," Jake added, after glancing at me. "Our governor's going to be one of the first people to go to the clinic. Not that he needs the free care. Just to give it a vote of confidence."
"Like, this isn't just for poor people?" Rachel asked. "I trust the doctors enough to operate on me?"
"Yeah. Basically." I sighed. "What he's not counting on is coming out with a slug in his head. Oh, and he has plans of running for president, which the slug will totally put into high gear. With the upcoming election, we could have an alien in charge of things."
"You think they aren't already?" Cassie asked. "Elfangor said that anyone could be a Controller."
I shrugged. "Maybe I'm being optimistic, but I would like to think that if our president was a Controller, things would be moving even more quickly."
In the end, we decided to firebomb the clinic the next Saturday, which was right before the governor would get his operation. We generally tried to avoid killing humans, and we would certainly make this our priority, but the stakes were too high to make this our highest priority.
The clinic had to go down.
Had it just been the six of us, I still say that we would have been fine. However, a couple of months ago, we kind of added another member to our group.
That was Ax. Technically, Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill, but try saying that ten times fast. Bet you wouldn't even manage one time without messing it up. So, we call him "Ax" and we refer to him as "Ax" between us, and if for some reason we have to bring him up in conversation to someone who may or may not be a Controller (which is essentially all humans except us, and definitely my dad), he's "Max."
He's also "Max" because he has a human morph, a mix of all of our DNA (minus Tobias', on account of him being trapped as a red-tailed hawk), which allows him to go out in public.
Theoretically.
We tried that once, and learned that Ax will eat any food or non-food item in sight, and because he now has a human mouth that he can use for speech (Andalites use thought speech), he likes to play with "mouth sounds" and basically drive everyone crazy.
He's also Elfangor's little brother, although he hasn't spoken much about him, or any of his family, since we met him. I'm of the opinion that it's a mix of homesickness and grief, so I've been trying to cut him some slack.
Even if he did almost get us captured/killed on more than one occasion.
Ax views me as his "prince" because I'm the leader of the group, but I always tell him not to call me that. For one thing, I'm only the leader because I'm the oldest (and most mature, and most handsome, and most humble about my many talents), and also because I want Jake and his friends to take me seriously. Hearing "Prince Tom" might command some respect among his kind, but I've seen Marco fake a coughing fit when he hears it. Even Jake looks kind of embarrassed on my behalf.
So. The seven of us against an alien empire, ready to destroy their new clinic for creating thousands of involuntary Controllers.
What could possibly go wrong?
Author's note:
If you haven't read the first work in this series, it's "My Name Is Tom: The Invasion." Things will make a lot more sense if you read that one first. If you've gotten this far and haven't read the first one and are confused...I'm sorry? I hope you'll give this a reread after you read the first!
There's going to be serious canon divergence in this fic. Granted, I already messed with canon by saving Tom and making him the leader, but that was just the starting point.
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