Archive of Our Own ^beta

I heard the others screaming. Heard isn't quite the right term but there is no other way to explain it. Their screams were simply noises in my head. It didn't even seem real.

Maybe I should back up.

The others who were screaming were Jake, Marco, and Cassie. Marco, the rude, sarcastic kid who got me into this mess. Jake, some delusional jock who thought he was leading an army. And Cassie. 

They were the Animorphs. Along with Ax, Rachel, and Tobias, the hawk.

They were a group of kids who thought they could beat alien invaders. These alien invaders are called Yeerks. They have all of the typical alien things - spaceships, laser beams, weird creatures from out of space. But they weren't even using that to invade because what they truly are was scarier.

They enslave people. 

They took my parents away from me. They destroyed my house. They turn the people you love into strangers. They were able to control an individual. They would steal that person's life. They took away all of that person's choice.  

I had a hard time seeing a difference between the Yeerks and the Animorphs.

None of that mattered anymore.

<We're gonna dieeee!> I yelled in a panic.

<l do not believe the impact will kill us,> Ax said. <l don't believe our mass is sufficient to cause death when we impact.>

<He's right!> Cassie cried. <You can't kill a cockroach by dropping it. Not even from this high.>

<Unless that's water below us,> Marco said. <ln which case we could hit the water and get chomped by some big hungry fish.>

<Should we demorph?> Ax wondered.

<No time,> Jake said. <We'd get bigger, more mass, and then when we hit we'd->

There was a jolt as something hit me. A gigantic talon closed around my body. It was going to crush me!

<That is you guys, right?> Rachel's thought-speak voice asked calmly. She wasn't just chased around by aliens and thrown out of a spaceship. Of course, she was calm. <l mean I figure, cockroaches falling through the air, gotta be you guys.>

<Yeah, you seldom see cockroaches at a thousand feet up,> the hawk, Tobias, said.

The two of them had not been aboard the ship. The rest of us, however, were foolish enough to grab onto the president's helicopter as it was taken. That decision ended up with me, naked, surrounded by aliens, before being chased by said aliens while morphed as a cockroach, almost gassed to death, before falling out the spaceship.

Did I mention this was my first day as an Animorph? 

It was supposed to be just a recon mission. The leaders of the United States, Japan, Russia, Germany, England, and France were meeting in secret. One of those leaders was already controlled by the Yeerks. The rest were targets. We were here just to scope out the situation.

However, the Yeerks decided to steal the helicopter and the big bad, Visser Three, acquired what we thought was the president. All of this happened while we were trying not to die. 

Rachel and Tobias set us down in in a secluded area between sand dunes.

We demorphed in the dunes. Halfway through, I remembered. I still couldn't morph clothes like the others. Just another thing they hadn't bothered to teach me before the first mission.

Luckily, Jake had noticed and said, "Rachel, Cassie. Look the other way."

The others were in an assortment of skintight clothing. Bike shorts, t-shirts, leotards, all in a variety of colors. They looked silly, like a group of superheroes that didn't bother to coordinate. 

But not as silly as I looked and felt. I was naked, trying to cover myself up, in front of a bunch of strangers. I heard Rachel giggle to Cassie. I felt my face flush with humiliation. 

<l'll take care of it,> Tobias said and flapped away.

<l do not understand humans and their strange beliefs when it comes to clothing,> Ax said. He was in his natural form which was jarring. He looked like a blue centaur with a deadly blade at the end of his tail, no mouth, and four eyes, two of them on top of stalks that could rotate all around. <You wear artificial skin and artificial hooves. When it is cold that makes sense. But when it is warm it seems strange. And you get so concerned when some article of clothing is missing or worn in the wrong way.>

"You mean like that time you wore socks on your hands?" Marco asked.

"Or the time you wore underwear on the outside of your pants?" Rachel added, still turned away.

They were joking around. It was as if they didn't even notice how embarrassed I was. They only cared about each other and they couldn't be bothered with the new kid.

"You know, maybe this is funny to you guys," I said. "But it's not all that funny to me. What if someone came along?"

Jake laughed. "Well, David, if they did, I think they'd probably notice the four-eyed, scorpion-tailed, blue, half-deer-looking alien before they worried about you."

The hawk swept back in on the breeze, turned toward us, and dropped a pair of orange swim trunks and a Grateful Dead T-Shirt. Both had price tags still attached. I grabbed them out of the air and ripped the price tags off. I watched the little pieces of paper hit the sand.

<Remind me we have to return those to the Kahuna Beach Shop,> Tobias said.

"You stole them?" Cassie asked.

<No, I borrowed them. Besides, I'm a bird. Birds are not capable of stealing. What are they going to do, arrest me?>

I glanced up at the hawk as I slipped on the shorts. I looked around at the others. Why were these kids risking their life for nothing? Why would they want to die?

"We'll find a way to get the money to the store," Jake said. "We don't want to even start down that path. In an emergency like this, maybe we can grab something. But we have to make it right later. That's the rule."

I pulled the t-shirt over my head and shoved my arm out. I looked ridiculous but at least I was clothed.

"About time," Rachel muttered as she and Cassie turned around. "I've been staring at a dead sand crab." 

"You know, it would be amazing," I said. How did they not see the possibilities? They didn't have to die.

I didn't have to die.

"What would be?" Jake asked.

"Us, with our powers? We could take anything we wanted. We could like morph into cheetahs or whatever, run into some jewelry store, grab the diamonds, and get away at sixty miles an hour. What could anyone do? We'd be outta there. Plus, we'd morph back to humans."

"Let's do that," Marco said dryly. "Right after we figure out how to keep the Yeerks from turning the most powerful leaders in the world into alien-infested zombies. As soon as we're done with that, we start ripping off jewelry stores."

I shot him a look but I realized I went too far. "Hey, I was just kidding... I guess I forgot you're the only one allowed to make jokes, Marco."

"Okay, time to get serious here," Jake interrupted. "They caught us by surprise. Maybe they know that was us scurrying around up there, maybe they don't. But one way or the other, we have to get inside that resort and get busy."

"We have to get past the greatest security in the world just to get into that place," Rachel said. "We have to go by air. But we can't use bird-of-prey morphs. That'd be slightly noticeable."

"No problem," Cassie said. "It's the beach. There's one kind of bird no one can keep off the beach. Seagulls."

"Yeah, well, I don't have a seagull morph," I pointed out. The Animorphs forgot about the new kid again. I was just the weak link to them but I would show them. I would be strong. I didn't need them taking care of me. "But I'll bet I could morph back into golden eagle morph and bring one down."

"Tobias?" Jake yelled up to him. The hawk was circling in the breeze above us. He dropped down closer. "Sorry to keep sending you out for things, but can you get a seagull?"

"Alive?" Cassie added.

<Can I grab a gull? Puh-leeze. Can Michael Jordan hit a three-pointer? They're just rats with wings.>

"Tobias is like really into the whole bird thing, isn't he?" I said as I watched the hawk fly off. It seemed like such a sad existence. No home. No family. Like me.

But worse. He was trapped as an animal. At least I was human.

"Tobias just has some fairly definite opinions about birds," Jake said. "He respects most eagles, owls, and other hawks. Looks down on gulls and pigeons. And he absolutely hates jays, crows, and golden eagles."

I laughed. I couldn't believe what I just heard, "He's like a racist or something, only with birds instead of people."

"All those birds are different species," Cassie said. "Humans are all one species. Not really a very good comparison."

I shrugged, "Whatever."

The others were so quick to defend each other. Even their bad traits. Marco wasn't a jerk, he was just a joker. Tobias wasn't a racist, he was just opinionated. I looked down at the sand and kicked at it with my bare foot. I wasn't one of them. I was just the outsider.

In a few moments, the hawk returned with a squirming seagull in his talons.

<That was actually fun,> Tobias said with a laugh. <Snatched him out of midair while he was diving on some guy's sandwich. And, as much as I so did not want to, I acquired the gull. David's not the only one without a gull morph.>

Cassie took the gull from the hawks' talons and comforted it. Cassie seemed so comfortable around animals. She brought it to me. 

"I'm starting to get this down," I said, pressing one hand against the gull's wing. "Just focus and his DNA is mine."

"Yeah," Jake agreed. "Easy after a while. So let's do it. We morph to gulls, we skim on down the beach, and land in the resort. See what we see."

"One big point," Cassie said. "Act like gulls, okay? The humans won't be looking for trouble from seagulls. But the Yeerks will."

We morphed into seagulls. After the first time with the eagle and the horror with the cockroach, this morph seemed like nothing. We took off into the sky.

<"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun!"> Marco sang.

Marco never could shut up for very long.

<Marco, why are you singing?> Rachel asked.

<lt's some old movie on the Movie Channel about Air Force pilots. That was their song. "Off we go, into the wild blue yonder, flying high into the sun.">

<Marco? Why are you still singing when clearly I want you to shut up?>

<"Off we go, into the..." Hey! Whoa! Pizza Hut! The guy down there on the blue beach towel. He's got an entire large pizza!>

With the eagle, there was a calm. Like the eagle knew its power. With the seagull, it was hyper. I kept glancing around at all of the food.

<ls he going to eat all that himself?> I asked. <No way one guy eats a large pizza.>

Other seagulls circled the man. He looked a little nervous. I wanted to dive down and steal some.

<Keep flying,> Jake said. 

I fought with the seagull to continue forward, away from the pizza. 

<Fries!> Rachel cried.

<Okay, now look,>  Jake scolded, <we are about to try and - >

<Oh! Oh! Fried chicken!> Marco said. <Hey, Tobias. If a seagull eats chicken, is that like cannibalism or something?>

<That depends. Extra crispy or regular?>

Despite my brain, or the seagull's brain, wanting to stop and devour everything in sight, we neared our destination. There was a man in a dark-suit near a row of tall trees. He wore dark sunglasses and talked into a handheld radio. It was obvious he was part of the security detail. He wasn't the most dangerous. The dangerous part was the security detail wearing casual clothes on the beach. The ones who weren't obvious.

<Gee, could that guy look any more like Secret Service?> Rachel said with a laugh. <And there's another one just ten feet away.>

<Of course they're Secret Service, > I agreed. <But so are some of the people lying out here on the beach. With something like this, probably half the people on the beach are security.>

I was happy to be able to contribute in some way. Maybe my knowledge in this area would make the Animorphs stop thinking I was a liability.

<And of course you're the big expert because your dad is a spy,> Marco said with a sneer in his voice.

<He's with the National Security Agency, that's right, > I noted. I wasn't going to let Marco take this away from me.

<Yeah? Well now he's with the Yeerk Security Agency,> Marco muttered.

My mind flashed to my parents. To my dad protecting me in the bedroom. My dad with a blade against his throat. My dad holding his bleeding hand. To my dad ordering me found.

My dad, my hero. Gone.

<Shut up, Marco!> Jake snapped. <That was over the line.>

It was a few moments before I heard Marco say, <You're right. I was out of line. Sorry.>

It wasn't a real apology. Marco was a jerk and would always be a jerk. I ignored him. I couldn't have those images of my dad in my head right now. 

We flew around individually to spy on the operations. The security guys paid no attention. There were seagulls everything. There was no reason for them to focus on us. We were invisible to them.

<This is easy,> I said. <What's the big deal?>

<As long as we just want to fly around, no big deal,> Jake agreed. <But we need to get inside some of these buildings. Maybe all these buildings.>

<The question is, where do we begin? And how?> Ax said.

The resort had a dozen or more buildings. The main building was a large, multistory, modern hotel shaped like an "L." There was a lower, two-story portion stuck off to one side. A ballroom or conference room, most likely. Down by the water were the cottages, like individual homes separated from the others by hedges and trees.

The hotel was what one would expect from a five-star resort. Landscaping perfect, golf course, pool with a full bar. There were the two presidential helicopters resting on a grass landing area. Uniformed Marines stood at attention by the doors of the helicopters.

<Okay, there is definitely some security on this place,> Marco said. <Guys on the roof, guys in the bushes, guys sitting in cars, guys out on the golf course pretending to play golf. It looks like Men in Black around here. These guys all have the same suit.>

<Look! Canine teams!> Jake yelled. I looked down to see two German shepherds sniffing around with their handlers following closely. <Maybe we could morph German shepherds and get in as part of the canine team.> 

Security was checking ever single person or vehicle that came near the hotel. They were in direct contact with each other using earpieces and microphones. I had met many men and women just like these people. They were brave and dedicated. A few kids who could morph into seagulls were not a threat.

<Here's an idea. Let's give up,> Marco said. <This would be totally depressing even if we didn't have to worry about some of these guys being Controllers.>

<Every square inch of this entire place is being watched,> Jake said. <We can't morph or demorph anywhere around it. We need to get inside to learn what we want to learn, but that would mean going insect basically. And the problem with any insect morph is that we'd have to morph the bug way outside the compound, which leaves us traveling a long, long way as spiders or cockroaches or flies. None of which can see well enough to travel those distances without getting lost.>

<Or eaten,> Rachel added.

<You guys could morph fleas and get onto someone who we knew was going inside the compound.> Tobias suggested.

<But fleas are useless for seeing, and they aren't much good at hearing,> Cassie said. <We'd get in, but once inside we'd get nothing. And how would we ever get back out again?>

I listened to the  conversation but I stayed out of it. I didn't know what to do. And I wasn't going to suggest anything where I would have to morph into a cockroach again.

<Are we beat?> Marco asked.

<Maybe. Only we can't be. No matter what the risk, we have to get inside and - AAAAHHHH!> Jake ended with a pained scream.

<Jake, what's happening?> Cassie cried.

<AAAAAHHHH!> Ax screamed now.

<What's going on?> I asked nervously. I looked around for the threat but there was nothing. I felt the familiar panic rise up in my chest. 

<TTAAAAHHHHH!> 

Someone else screamed. My mind was too scared to sort out the voice. All of the screams were so full of pain, there was no difference.

<lt's that guy!> Jake said. <That bald guy! He's doing it!>

I saw the bald man turn his gaze to another seagull. The seagull spasmed in midair, recovered from the pain, and flew away. I wanted to follow that seagull instead of these kids.

<Ax! What is that guy doing? I don't see any weapon.>

<He may... he may be using a very low-power Dracon beam. Possibly hidden on his body, with the sunglasses used as emitters.>

<Are you telling me he can shoot whatever he's looking at?> Jake said. 

<Yes. It will cause intense pain. As you may have noticed.>

<So he's a Controller chasing away the birds. He doesn't kill us because that would be too obvious - dead birds dropping everywhere.>

<Chasing away possible Andalites in morph,> Marco agreed.

The conversation just sounded fuzzy to me. My mind felt like it was fading out. Going grey.

<Oh, man! He's looking at -AAAAAHHHH!> 

I cringed inside at the scream. 

I can't do this, I wanted to scream back.

<Cassie!>

<Oh. Oh, that hurt. Oh man, I'm not kidding here. That was like a full-body dental visit without Novocain.>

<Cassie. Bail. Fly away. That's what a gull would do. But not everyone at once!> Jake added quickly. <We can't move like we know what's happening.>

Was he serious?

<We have to stay here and let that guy zap us?> I demanded. <We should either run or go kick his butt for him!>

I wasn't going to get hurt for no reason for Jake. The others seemed to fine blindly following him but I wasn't an idiot. I wasn't going to let Jake get me killed.

A coldness took over my body and mind as the bald man turned his gaze on me. 

<He's looking at me!> I yelled. <What am I supposed to do?>

<Nothing. Take it. Then you can->

<AAAAAHHHHH!> I screamed as the pain hit me. It was a fire burning my flesh. An electric shock ran through my body. I felt the seagull's body spasm.

It washed over me in a wave. My mind felt numb, reeling from the effects, <Okay, that was a major ouchie! Now can I get out of here?> 

<Yeah, fly,> Jake said. <And by the way, David? Good job.>

<Thanks,> I said. For a moment, it felt good. I had succeeded. I had survived. That 'good job' sounded so familiar as if it could have been coming from my dad. Then my mind cleared and I remembered everything, <Thanks a lot.>

I flew away. 

I wished I could fly away from more than just the bald man.