Disclaimer: Blah. I don't own Animorphs. Blah blah. Boring...Marco? Yes, I'm looking at you. Come here. Right. Good boy. Stand there. Tell them I don't own Animorphs. What? Yes, you DO want to tell them. I don't care that I'm interrupting your stupid video game! Tell them now, or I'll--I'll--I'll make you fall in love with Jake!

Marco (cowed): Er. She doesn't own Animorphs. NOW can I play my video game?

Me: Yeah. You're cute.

A/N: Now that that bout of disclaimer insanity is over, hello to everyone! And sorry that this is a rather short chapter, but I could be induced to post a longer one next time if I get reviews. (wink, wink.)

Marco

I couldn't believe it! I could not believe it. I leave for a minute to demorph and they lock me out! All of the doors to where Ax and Melissa were being kept were shut and locked. Now what was I going to do? I barely restrained myself from kicking the door, which would have pretty much the dumbest thing I could have done.

Instead, I sank back against it, wondering how I could rescue Ax and Melissa. I needed a diversion. I knew that. But what kind of a diversion? That I didn't know. On the other hand standing around until I got caught by some nosy Hork-Bajir sentry didn't seem like the wisest decision. So I started walking. I didn't have a clue where I was going, but I figured it would be best to look as if I had some sort of destination. I hadn't walked more than ten yards when I saw a door marked, "Weapons" in English, Spanish, something that looked like French, and a couple other languages that didn't look like they were from Earth.

Hmmm… I thought. I could use a weapon or two.

This door, luckily, and pretty surprisingly, wasn't locked. It whooshed open as I stood in front of it, and I went in. Then I stopped in horror.

In the center of the room was a small pool of gray sludge, which I recognized immediately. It wasn't teeming with Yeerks, but I could see at least one in it. Then I saw a cage made out of some kind of metal I didn't recognize. A girl was inside it, and she looked as if she were asleep. I looked at her, and then I had to look again.

I've gone out with some pretty good-looking girls--well, one good-looking girl--well, one girl, that's pretty much it. But she was the most beautiful girl in the school, even if our relationship didn't exactly get off the ground. We went to a concert and I kind of fell asleep, and when I woke up, she was gone. What can I say? I'm not a big fan of classical. Anyway, that's not the point. So, like I said, I've known some pretty good-looking girls. This girl totally blew them all away.

She was pale, but she had this really dark hair, almost black. The lashes from her closed eyes spread over her cheeks, making a striking contrast to her white face. For a second, I just stood there, my mouth hanging open.

Breathe, Marco, I told myself. You don't know what she's like when she's awake. She could be a total airhead. She certainly has the looks.

Not that that's much of an indication, since Rachel has the looks too, and she's not exactly your typical mall-rat airhead. The girl I was looking at stirred in her sleep. I suddenly realized I really didn't want her to see me in my human form. For one thing, it would be unsafe, since she was almost certainly a Controller. For another--and I'm not particularly proud of this--I figured I could impress her a lot more if she didn't know what I looked like. So I faded back into the shadows and started morphing gorilla.

I love gorilla morph. It's probably my favorite, even better than osprey. It just makes me so powerful. I'm a little guy, normally, short, and not too heavily built, either. So when I turn into this huge creature, bigger than the biggest human, with these massive muscles, and even better, the long arms with their pile-driver fists on the end, I get almost drunk with my power. The morphing part of it wasn't all that great this time, though. First, I just shot up, but I didn't get any wider, so I looked like a sort of stretched human silly putty. Then I bulked out, my muscles catching up with the rest of me. Brown fur rippled across my enormous body. My nose and mouth swelled out. Finally, the morph was complete. I was a gorilla.

I approached the cage where the girl was lying.

'Uh…would you like me to rescue you?' I could have kicked myself.

Marco, Marco, Marco, I berated myself. And you call yourself a fast talker.

The girl's eyelids fluttered. Her eyes came fully open, and they were blue. Of course. Couldn't she even have one less-than-exceptional feature? I swallowed hard. Even in my gorilla body, I could feel my heart palpitating. The girl's eyes focused on me and widened. She didn't cry out, but she gave a sort of gasp and pressed herself against the back of the cage.

'It's--it's all right,' I said, trying to think how Ax normally talked and mimic him. 'I'm-I am an Andalite.'

"An Andalite? Of course." She relaxed a little. If I hadn't known, from the fact that she was in a cage, that she wasn't under a Yeerk's control, I would have known then. I saw hope spring into her eyes.

"Did you just offer to rescue me?" she asked timidly, as if she couldn't believe it. Then she went on talking as if I weren't there. "No, that can't be. I've got to be dreaming."

'Um-' NOT UM! Don't say UM, Marco, get a grip on yourself! 'I mean, you're not dreaming. I-Visser Three has kidnapped two of my-companions, and I was trying to rescue them when I found you. Would you like me to-uh-rescue you?'

She scooted to the front of the cage, grasping the bars with her hands, her eyes shocked and almost frightened. "Be rescued? Me? I mean, yes, of course, but I never thought-"

'Great-I mean, wonderful. Now, how do I open this thing?' I'd been mostly talking to myself, but she took it as a question.

"Well, you move the…" she launched into a long and convoluted explanation. I'd completely lost it by the second word; I was too busy staring at her and trying to pretend I wasn't staring.

'Let's do it the easy way,' I said suddenly. I grabbed the bars with my giant gorilla ham fists and tugged. They came apart easily. The girl looked at the opening between them and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I-I've been a Controller for four years, and I didn't think that anyone would ever rescue me."

'I understand. My-' I cut off my sentence right there. I'd been about to say my mother was a Controller, which would definitely have blown my cover. I tried desperately to think up a good lie. 'My friend was once a Controller. He's told me about it. We-we rescued him,' I finished somewhat lamely, forestalling the obvious question.

"Oh," the girl didn't sound disinterested exactly, more like distracted.

'Oh, uh, what's-what is your name?' I asked her.

"Julie," she answered shortly. I could tell she wasn't about to give me her full name. I couldn't blame her. Four years as a Controller is enough to make anyone edgy.

'So, um, shall we go?'

"Where?" Oh. Yeah. Brain, Marco.

'Um, I'm not sure. I need to rescue my-companions.'

"Of course. Do you have a plan?"

'No, I-' It was at that precise moment that my eyes lit on a stack of stuff in the corner-stuff that looked an awful lot like dynamite.

'Wait a minute, maybe I do.'

"What?" She followed my gaze. "You're gonna blow this place up?"

'Well, it would create a diversion,' I replied, still trying to sound as much like Ax as I knew how.

She shrugged and almost smiled. "I'm not saying no. Sounds like a good idea to me. We could escape in one of the Bug-Fighters, with your friends."

She was smart, too! Oh, why me? Why now? I didn't need this kind of distraction.