Fandom 19
[Title] Methods of Enslaving Humanity
[Fandom] Animorphs / The Demon Headmaster
[Rating] G
[Notes/Summary] Lloyd and Harvey are looking for evidence. So are some other people.
Lloyd would have liked to mutter I can't believe we're doing this, but firstly they were meant to be sneaking in without being noticed, and secondly by this point in his life he kind of could believe they were doing this. They always ended up doing this.
The office door was ahead of them. He stopped, listening - Harvey, behind him, almost walked into him - but there was silence except for the hum of the air-conditioning and, from far away, the sound of music and voices from whatever evening seminar the quite-possibly-a-front-for-their-evil-former-headmaster-to-take-over-the-world-summer school was putting on for the weird geniuses, his sister included.
Said sister had a knack for being right about this kind of thing, though. If she thought the Demon Headmaster was at the bottom of this, he was going to turn up sooner or later.
Lloyd breathed out, prodded Harvey in the arm and mouthed Come on. Down the corridor. The office key Dinah had given him was sticky in his hand. At the door. He turned the key, trying not to tremble, every click of the lock horribly loud -
He eased the door open and they crept inside -
And almost tripped over his own feet in horror as he saw the two people at the filing cabinets.
Harvey actually yelped and Lloyd was this close to diving back out into the corridor and running before his mind caught up with his panic and reminded him to stop and think a moment. It wasn't office workers, adults, staring at them in equal shock. It was kids, about the same age as him, two boys. And the way they were looking desperately round for other options was a pretty clear sign they weren't meant to be here any more than he was.
“Okay,” the darker-haired of the two boys said. “I'll get it over with. This isn't what it looks like.”
The other boy gave him the same kind of exasperated look Lloyd remembered giving Ingrid. “Yeah, thanks for that, Marco.”
“All right, fine. It is what it looks like. We're juvenile delinquents, so we snuck in here to cause havoc and commit mindless vandalism, only you've caught us at it, so we're going to run away. That's all. Don't know why you're not stuck in the auditorium with the rest of the superbrains, but -”
“Why are you in cycling shorts?” Harvey blurted out. Lloyd scowled at him, but only partly out of habit. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed both of the other two were in what looked more or less like gymnastics kit. They weren't even wearing shoes.
Marco swallowed. “We're... really agile juvenile delinquents. Look, can you sound the alarm and get it over with so we can move on to the escaping part? 'Cause I don't actually like the bit where we hang around freezing to death in this stupid air-con.”
Lloyd gritted his teeth. They didn't have time for this. “I really don't care why you're here. If you're setting up a prank or something, fine, but we've got our own stuff to sort out. Trust me, we're not sounding any alarms, so why don't you just go ahead and get out of here and we'll pretend we never saw you?”
The two boys glanced at each other, and then the one who wasn't Marco took a deep breath. “Okay, look. If you're enrolled at the centre you must've noticed how things seem kind of... weird. A friend of ours is, and so we said we'd investigate while everyone's busy tonight -”
Of course. It was an entire class full of smart people. Someone else had figured out things weren't right. Harvey was already nodding: “Our sister's there too, she said the same thing. She said pretty much as soon as she got here she knew who must be behind it.”
The other boy's eyes widened. “Wait, you've seen this before? You know?”
“Trust me,” Lloyd said. “We know. We've stopped him from taking over everything before.”
“People acting weird? Like their minds have been taken over?” Harvey added. “Repeating the same sentences like they've been programmed? And being really insistent about getting you to join in with their club or their new craze or something?”
“Right,” Marco said. “It has the Yeerks written all over it.”
“What?” Lloyd said.
“Uh... the Yeerks? Evil mind-controlling aliens? Brain slugs? Taking over humanity? Jake, help me out here.”
“That's... not what we were talking about,” Harvey said.
“What are you talking about, then?”
“The man who used to be our headmaster. Ages ago.” Lloyd wondered if he was actually dreaming. “He can hypnotise people. He can hypnotise people to do whatever he wants, and he's obsessed with order. It's like he can turn people into robots. We're pretty sure this is his work. I don't know where the aliens came into it.”
“They're everywhere,” Jake said. “It doesn't matter who you are - if they get into your head, then they'll make you one of them. Even if your old principal is involved, it might not even really be him.”
“No, I'm pretty sure it is,” Lloyd said. “I've heard This summer school is a great experience. It's completely changed my life too many times in the last week for it not to be.”
“Dude's got a point,” Marco said to Jake. “Remember? Rachel said she'd noticed everyone reeling off the same line. We thought it might be like a passphrase or something. Secretly means I too have a grey alien slug living in my brain. Good to meet you.”
Jake frowned. “Some people... some people know about the Yeerks. They get talked into - helping voluntarily. They think it'll make life better for them. Or they like the idea of controlling others...”
“Hang on,” Harvey said, nervously. “You're saying the headmaster's teamed up with the mind-controlling aliens?”
“Yeah, quite possibly. I mean, if he's made a bargain then they won't keep their end of it, but they won't have told him that. Or... well... if they've taken him over, they can do whatever he can do. If he's got... hypnotism powers, then the Yeerk in his head could use them.”
Lloyd felt like the floor was collapsing under him. If what these kids were saying was true - and they certainly looked like they meant it, there was no sign of them trying to keep a straight face or making things up to sound cool - then everything was about twenty times worse than he'd thought it ever could be. Typical, he thought. I'm just starting to feel like saving the world from the headmaster is getting normal and then aliens get thrown in there.
“Right,” he said. “Sounds like we're all looking for the same thing. Some evidence. So let's get on with it before someone catches us. Because it sounds like if they do -” Okay, he didn't want to think about it. “So hurry up.”
As they began to search, though, he heard Harvey whisper, “But hang on, though, why aren't you wearing any shoes?”
“We'll explain later,” Jake said.
“Trust us,” Marco said. “It's kind of a long story.”
[Fandom] Animorphs / The Demon Headmaster
[Rating] G
[Notes/Summary] Lloyd and Harvey are looking for evidence. So are some other people.
Lloyd would have liked to mutter I can't believe we're doing this, but firstly they were meant to be sneaking in without being noticed, and secondly by this point in his life he kind of could believe they were doing this. They always ended up doing this.
The office door was ahead of them. He stopped, listening - Harvey, behind him, almost walked into him - but there was silence except for the hum of the air-conditioning and, from far away, the sound of music and voices from whatever evening seminar the quite-possibly-a-front-for-their-evil-former-headmaster-to-take-over-the-world-summer school was putting on for the weird geniuses, his sister included.
Said sister had a knack for being right about this kind of thing, though. If she thought the Demon Headmaster was at the bottom of this, he was going to turn up sooner or later.
Lloyd breathed out, prodded Harvey in the arm and mouthed Come on. Down the corridor. The office key Dinah had given him was sticky in his hand. At the door. He turned the key, trying not to tremble, every click of the lock horribly loud -
He eased the door open and they crept inside -
And almost tripped over his own feet in horror as he saw the two people at the filing cabinets.
Harvey actually yelped and Lloyd was this close to diving back out into the corridor and running before his mind caught up with his panic and reminded him to stop and think a moment. It wasn't office workers, adults, staring at them in equal shock. It was kids, about the same age as him, two boys. And the way they were looking desperately round for other options was a pretty clear sign they weren't meant to be here any more than he was.
“Okay,” the darker-haired of the two boys said. “I'll get it over with. This isn't what it looks like.”
The other boy gave him the same kind of exasperated look Lloyd remembered giving Ingrid. “Yeah, thanks for that, Marco.”
“All right, fine. It is what it looks like. We're juvenile delinquents, so we snuck in here to cause havoc and commit mindless vandalism, only you've caught us at it, so we're going to run away. That's all. Don't know why you're not stuck in the auditorium with the rest of the superbrains, but -”
“Why are you in cycling shorts?” Harvey blurted out. Lloyd scowled at him, but only partly out of habit. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed both of the other two were in what looked more or less like gymnastics kit. They weren't even wearing shoes.
Marco swallowed. “We're... really agile juvenile delinquents. Look, can you sound the alarm and get it over with so we can move on to the escaping part? 'Cause I don't actually like the bit where we hang around freezing to death in this stupid air-con.”
Lloyd gritted his teeth. They didn't have time for this. “I really don't care why you're here. If you're setting up a prank or something, fine, but we've got our own stuff to sort out. Trust me, we're not sounding any alarms, so why don't you just go ahead and get out of here and we'll pretend we never saw you?”
The two boys glanced at each other, and then the one who wasn't Marco took a deep breath. “Okay, look. If you're enrolled at the centre you must've noticed how things seem kind of... weird. A friend of ours is, and so we said we'd investigate while everyone's busy tonight -”
Of course. It was an entire class full of smart people. Someone else had figured out things weren't right. Harvey was already nodding: “Our sister's there too, she said the same thing. She said pretty much as soon as she got here she knew who must be behind it.”
The other boy's eyes widened. “Wait, you've seen this before? You know?”
“Trust me,” Lloyd said. “We know. We've stopped him from taking over everything before.”
“People acting weird? Like their minds have been taken over?” Harvey added. “Repeating the same sentences like they've been programmed? And being really insistent about getting you to join in with their club or their new craze or something?”
“Right,” Marco said. “It has the Yeerks written all over it.”
“What?” Lloyd said.
“Uh... the Yeerks? Evil mind-controlling aliens? Brain slugs? Taking over humanity? Jake, help me out here.”
“That's... not what we were talking about,” Harvey said.
“What are you talking about, then?”
“The man who used to be our headmaster. Ages ago.” Lloyd wondered if he was actually dreaming. “He can hypnotise people. He can hypnotise people to do whatever he wants, and he's obsessed with order. It's like he can turn people into robots. We're pretty sure this is his work. I don't know where the aliens came into it.”
“They're everywhere,” Jake said. “It doesn't matter who you are - if they get into your head, then they'll make you one of them. Even if your old principal is involved, it might not even really be him.”
“No, I'm pretty sure it is,” Lloyd said. “I've heard This summer school is a great experience. It's completely changed my life too many times in the last week for it not to be.”
“Dude's got a point,” Marco said to Jake. “Remember? Rachel said she'd noticed everyone reeling off the same line. We thought it might be like a passphrase or something. Secretly means I too have a grey alien slug living in my brain. Good to meet you.”
Jake frowned. “Some people... some people know about the Yeerks. They get talked into - helping voluntarily. They think it'll make life better for them. Or they like the idea of controlling others...”
“Hang on,” Harvey said, nervously. “You're saying the headmaster's teamed up with the mind-controlling aliens?”
“Yeah, quite possibly. I mean, if he's made a bargain then they won't keep their end of it, but they won't have told him that. Or... well... if they've taken him over, they can do whatever he can do. If he's got... hypnotism powers, then the Yeerk in his head could use them.”
Lloyd felt like the floor was collapsing under him. If what these kids were saying was true - and they certainly looked like they meant it, there was no sign of them trying to keep a straight face or making things up to sound cool - then everything was about twenty times worse than he'd thought it ever could be. Typical, he thought. I'm just starting to feel like saving the world from the headmaster is getting normal and then aliens get thrown in there.
“Right,” he said. “Sounds like we're all looking for the same thing. Some evidence. So let's get on with it before someone catches us. Because it sounds like if they do -” Okay, he didn't want to think about it. “So hurry up.”
As they began to search, though, he heard Harvey whisper, “But hang on, though, why aren't you wearing any shoes?”
“We'll explain later,” Jake said.
“Trust us,” Marco said. “It's kind of a long story.”