Six: The Opal Deception
"Where is Short?" Opal screeched, for the body lying prone on the laboratory floor was not that of Holly Short, but of a male elf in an LEP Shimmer Suit, clutching a hank of red hair. Klu winced in sympathy for Captain Stonecroft. Being charged with drawing the DNA cannon's fire was probably not his shining moment in the LEPrecon squad. Cannon-fodder, he'd grumbled. "Where is she?"
From Fowl's iris cam he watched a shot fire from directly behind Opal. From Captain Short's helm cam he saw the Neutrino blast strike the pixie in the back and watched her crumple to the floor. Perfect. "I'm right here," Captain Short announced.
"Nicely done," Fowl said. "Now perhaps you could deactivate the DNA cannon, if you please."
"I'm working on it," Short announced, dropping her shield and moving towards the cannon. Klu stared at her through the iris feed; she was quite the sight. Instead of a standard issue Shimmer Suit she was wearing a reflective foil suit. She heaved a sigh as she pulled off the helmet, her brow slick with sweat. "It's hard to move in this thing. It's twice my size."
"I'm afraid they don't manufacture fire suits in elfin measurements." The fire suits had been a stroke of genius. Klu had read the reports on the goblin rebellion so he had appreciated the irony of the LEP using Opal's own trick against her. She had expected to see one thermal reading and they had provided her with that along with a bit of Holly's DNA should Opal choose to use the cannon. She'd fallen for it completely.
Captain Short inspected the cannon's controls for several moments before finally tapping at the keys. There was a slight hum from the weapon and then nothing. Success.
The captain breathed a sigh of relief. "Suspean, we're clear. What about team tw–"
The sound of blasters from the next room was answer enough.
"Artemis, get down!" she shouted, reaching for her weapon and struggling to move in the oversized fire suit.
Klu tore his eyes away to check on Foaly's feed. "Sir, what's happening?"
"We've got another Opal on our hands," Foaly snapped.
"But I thought she was–"
"Forget what we thought! She's here and team two is under fire."
"Did you get that, Captain Short?" Klu said through his team's feed. "The other Opal Koboi is present. Team two is under heavy fire."
Short turned to Fowl. "You stay here with Stonecrop. I'm going to–" She didn't get any further with that thought before the door to the next room was blown off its hinges by Neutrino fire. A jet of lightning it seemed – magic bolts – followed and an LEP officer went flying across the room to thud against the far wall, blue sparks immediately flowing in and around him forming a cocoon of magic. Klu winced. Must be serious.
Short dashed behind one of the laboratory's counters for cover. Klu's stomach, meanwhile, seemed to dash itself against his rib cage as the helmet cam image jolted violently. He groaned and clutched at his belly.
The screen swung wildly again as the captain darted a glance towards the doorway only to see Opal Koboi – the Opal from the past, red sparks fizzing around her fingers. A bolt shot in the direction of the helm cam which was quickly jerked back. Klu's stomach lurched.
Klu checked the iris cam and found Fowl had a visual on Opal. She had paused next to the stunned pixie and blue magic was streaming from her hands. "Wake up, you ninny," she hissed at her future self.
A magic bolt leaped from of her hand as Captain Short took a shot with her Neutrino. The shot went wild but the bolt blew chunks out of the counter behind which Short was ducked. Something must have struck the captain for the feed on her helmet cam spun wildly and came to rest pointed at the ceiling. And at this point Klu's stomach could take no more.
Klu scrabbled for his waste recycling bin and promptly threw up.
When he was finished and he looked up at his screen again, he saw that present Opal was back on her feet, Short was still on the floor, and Fowl had somehow managed to scrabble to her side.
"We need to get out of here," Opal was saying to herself.
"But the cannon–"
"Forget the cannon. Unless you want to go back to Howler's Peak."
"Team two is back on its feet," Foaly said over the channel. "Coming to back you up, Holly."
No sooner had he said it than a pair of LEP officers charged into the room, weapons firing. One of the shots clipped Opal but she fired another bolt and brought part of the ceiling down into the doorway. She staggered to her feet. "Hurry," she hissed to present Opal. "Even I cannot hold them off indefinitely."
As present Opal got up again, past Opal turned towards the Mud Man and the captain who was only now righting herself, judging by the way the image on Klu's screen was swerving. Luckily there was nothing left in Klu's stomach for it to complain about any longer.
Past Opal spun to launch another bolt towards the doorway where the LEP officers were breaking through. The bolt struck... but with less force than the last.
"I will have my vengeance. I will," shrieked present Opal, rather petulantly, Klu thought.
"Some criminal mastermind," he mumbled to no one in particular, but the words died on his lips as, watching the feed from Fowl's iris cam, he saw Opal pull something small and shiny from her pocket – a human weapon – a gun – and pull the trigger.
"Artemis!"
The iris cam feed had gone dark. The captain's helm cam swung around. She was shooting at the two Opals as they raced out of the lab, past Opal all but dragging her future self.
"D'Arvit!" They were gone.
And then the screen refocused on Fowl. His face was pale, paler even than usual, like arctic snow, and a flower of red was blossoming on his shirt. Captain Short was already laying her hands on him, preparing to use her magic when Foaly's voice came through the feed.
"Holly, wait."
She froze.
"You need to check for an exit wound. If the bullet's still in there when you heal him..."
"Right," she murmured. Short was breathing quickly now, and Klu watched her tear open Fowl's shirt with trembling hands. There was a bullet wound below his left collar bone. She slid her hand beneath his back and shoulder. "D'Arvit! The bullet's still in there."
Fowl groaned and his eyes flickered open. "Holly..."
Both of Klu's feeds showed separate pairs of mismatched blue and hazel eyes.
"You know what to do," Foaly said. "One quick pulse of magic."
The captain nodded, never looking away from Fowl. "Artemis, I'm going to heal you but the bullet's still in the wound. I'm going to have to force it out with my magic."
"So what you're saying," Fowl said, his voice little more than a hoarse whisper, "is that... this might hurt."
"What a time to develop a sense of humour," she said, but her features were drawn. She pressed her thumbs together, back to back and took a deep breath. "All right. Here goes." Fowl cried out as Captain Short jammed her thumbs into his wound. "There. It's there... Heal," she breathed. Blue sparks shot down her hands, pulsing into the wound. They disappeared into his flesh and she withdrew her fingers. There was a sort of rippling as bone and tissue began to knit back together from the outside in. Fowl yelled once more as a rounded shard of metal was forced out of the wound by the pressure of the rapidly healing tissue. She'd done it. Captain Short's magic had expelled the bullet.
Fowl's body shuddered as his injuries continued to heal, his back arching, teeth chattering. And then he lay quite still.
Short's eyes scanned the spot on his chest where the wound had been. Blood still clung to his skin and soaked his shirt, but when she reached down, there was only smooth skin beneath her fingertips. "Artemis, can you hear me?"
He groaned and moved to sit up. She steadied him as he wavered, still dizzy from the healing. He smiled wanly. "Thank you, Holly. It seems I owe you once again. Or perhaps we're even now. I'm afraid I've lost count."
Captain Short proceeded to throw her arms around the Mud Man. "You need to stop doing things like that. One of these days I won't be able to patch you up so easily."
Fowl groaned. "I'd hardly say that was easy."
She only let him go when the other LEP officers finally made it into the room.
"Okay there, Fowl?" Foaly said over the com channel.
"Yes," the Mud Man replied. "Let's proceed as planned." Captain Short kept a grip on his arm as he got to his feet; he still looked a bit shaky and was a shade paler than normal.
"I can't believe she shot you," Captain Short said, shaking her head. "With a Mud Man weapon."
"It seems she's embraced her new status as a human," Fowl replied. "I must admit that I hadn't anticipated that. Foaly, you were successful?"
"Of course." There was not a little smugness in the centaur's voice. "Records are wiped. We've got all her notes – or at least everything she's keeping onsite. Of course I did leave behind some incriminating evidence. Drika Heveldt's reputation won't be worth much after this."
Fowl nodded and, steadier now on his feet, retrieved the briefcase, which had been dropped during the scuffle. He removed the communicator from it and placed it on the cannon.
Two of the members of Foaly's team were helping Stonecrop to his feet. "Are we set, Foaly?" Captain Short asked.
"Ready when you are."
"Everyone, move out," she ordered. "Here," she added, tossing the cam foil to Fowl. "Cover up."
Moments after they hurried out of the lab, Foaly initiated the self-destruct on the communicator. The blast vibrated through the walls and immediately fire alarms blared to life and Phonetix researchers who hurried towards the emergency stairways. Klu watched the swaying cam feeds as his team and Foaly's hijacked an elevator and returned to the lobby.
He only breathed a sigh of relief when they were out of the building and on their way back to Haven.
