JESSIE

I watched with deep satisfaction as the mall cops dragged away the moron I had been wrestling with. It had been a grown man struggling with a teenage girl who was obviously not his daughter. One scream from me and I swear the entire population of mall security came swooping down upon us. They had also unknowingly prevented me from being reinfested, which in turn prevented the yeerks from finding out about the so-called andalite bandits. Which would have been game over for the human race.

Chalk one up for the rent-a-cops.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I said irritably, waving away the people fussing over me. "Go on with your shopping!"

I fought my over to a bench to sit down and think. The bandits, by telling me their secret, had sealed my fate. I could never return to the yeerk pool now. If I went to the pool, Earth would be doomed. Just because I was a voluntary controller didn't mean I was a complete traitor to humanity. I had always thought that I was just one more soldier in the yeerk army, and that I wouldn't make any difference in the long run.

I was obviously wrong. If I didn't want the yeerks to win, I was going to have to either spontaneously contract amnesia, or go along with the bandits. The former seemed highly unlikely, so I was going to have to betray the yeerks and help the bandits. Don't get me wrong, I had no love for the slimy slugs. They had just been the only possibility I had for any adventure at the time. And from what I've seen of the frequency of the bandit's attacks, fighting with them was going to be a major bore.

I was seriously considering just heading to the yeerk pool, turning in the bandits, and returning to the yeerks as a hero, when a big man ran past. His eyes sort of slid over me for a second, then he did a double take.

"There she is!" He yelled, as I leapt to my feet. I whirled around and saw two more of the big men running towards me.

I'm sorry, but the first thought that passed through my head was, Cool. This looked like it might turn into some serious fun.

I starting running in the opposite direction, wincing with every step. The Cassie girl had done a good job on my burns, but not good enough. The big men were gaining rapidly, and the other man was right on top of me.

"Help!" I yelled. Maybe the same ploy would work again. "Help!"

Some security guards snapped their heads around, and the man reached into his pocket and held up a badge. "FBI!" He yelled. "Don't interfere!"

I skidded left and plunged into the crowd. The men plunged through the crowd.

"Move you stupid dapsens!" I bellowed at a group of giggling, stupid, blonde, mall-crawling airheads. They just stood in the way of the escalator, giving me shocked looks, so I had to bowl them over.

"Stop!" The man yelled, as I charged up the escalator. He pounded over the mall-rats I had knocked over and dove at me.

Crunch! He collided with my leg, and I slammed onto a metal step. I felt something warm trickle down my forehead. He was going to pay for that.

WHAM! I brought my other leg slamming into his face. He howled and released my foot, and I scampered to my feet. The other two men weren't that far behind me now.

I rolled off the escalator and quickly scanned the area. It was your standard second floor of a mall. No really big stores to lose these goons in.

I raced towards a jewelry shop, the best I could do. The three men were on my tail.

A crowded mall is not a very good place to be chased and be small at the same time. I was struggling past everyone, while the big men were breaking through the crowd like linebackers and closing in fast.

I felt a hand close around my shoulder. A middle aged lady yelled excited. "I've got her!"

Of course! There were other controllers here besides those three, probably looking for a promotion.

I kicked her hard in the shins, and she stumbled backwards. She grabbed a fistful of my jacket and yanked to regain her balance. The only thing that resulted in was nearly sending both of us over the railing.

We teetered perilously for a moment over empty space, until I pushed away and we toppled backwards onto the floor. Somehow, she still kept a hold of my jacket. Guess she really wanted that promotion.

I snarled and bit deep into her hand. She decided to let go in a hurry, and I ran. There was no way I could make the jewelry store now, and they probably had controllers lurking around inside. Actually, they definitely had controllers posted in there.

See, I had one advantage over my pursuers. I had commanded several escaped host and yeerk recapture missions, at least once before when we were trying to catch Visser one. I knew exactly what was waiting for me.

I was virtually trapped. They would have men posted in every shop, and some more at the bottom of the escalators. They had anticipated and covered almost all my escape routes.

But there's something beautiful about an almost. Between almost all and all is a vast gulf of opportunity.

The three men were getting closer, the controller lady was getting closer, And I was quickly running out of options.

So I decided to take the one path that nobody would have expected. I mean, what kind of idiot would throw themselves over a railing towards the lobby twenty feet below?

A/N: This chapter sounded a lot more like my usual style of writing. The others seem so dull in comparison. Yay and boo, I guess.