(A/N: So, I'm sure you have seen the other chapter's I've posted... I will no longer be continuing Life Changing, AFFA, or AFSC. I have given those stories to my friend and fellow author, Lukas Turner. But rest assured, Finding Again is still mine!
CaptainShort19, this is for you.
Enjoy!)
For a moment, all anybody could to was sit, stunned. The other LEP officer had wisely taken his leave. Then Cahartez got over his surprise.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Give me a name."
The elf marched up to Cahartez, coming two inches from his face. Cahartez didn't flinch.
"I'll tell you my name after you bring me Opal Koboi." he growled.
"What do you need with her?" Greenwood asked.
The elf turned to face the councilman. "She tried to kill me!" he shouted.
Greenwood shrugged. "You're going to have to be more specific. She tried to kill a lot of people."
The elf grinned nastily. "I'll give you a hint: Chute E37."
Everybody's eyes widened. Holly stood as though in a trance and approached the elf cautiously.
"Is it really...? No, it can't be..." she muttered, as though in a daze.
The elf smiled, his face devoid of anger for the first time since he had stormed into the room. "Hello, Holly."
A glimmer of recognition sparked in Holly's eye. Tears also brimmed there too.
"Commander?" she said.
The elf placed a bloody finger over her lips.
"Call me Julius."
00000
"How?" Holly asked.
The ex-Commander motioned for them to follow him. "Come, and I'll tell you." He turned to the Council members. "I declare this meeting adjourned, or something like that."
0-0- Nearly six years earlier -0-0
"Be well," he said, then an orange flame blossomed in the center of his chest.
Commander Root, instead of being blown to smithereens like he thought he'd be, was hurled upward by the blast, saved no doubt by Foaly's new upgraded suit.
If I make it through this, I'll give that centaur a raise, he thought as he careened upwards.
Commander Root struck the side of the chute a hundred or so meters up, and as he lost consciousness, he could barely make out Holly streaking upward to escape the blast.
00
Commander Root woke up some time later, laying on the rocky floor of Chute E37. A devlishly beautiful face swam into view through the pain.
"Ah, you're awake." said Opal Koboi (for of course it was she). "I'm so glad you survived that. I really didn't know what I was going to do if you didn't."
"D'Arvit," groaned Root. Opal shushed him.
"Hush now," she said in a mockingly motherlike tone. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt now, would we?"
We? The thought flashed through the commander's damaged cranium as the pixie snapped her fingers. Two other pixies appeared in his vision, and Commander Root recognized them as the ones that had been the janitors at the J. Argon health clinic. The Brill brothers. One of them wordlessly stuck a tranquilizer pad on his wrist, and, for the second time in as many hours, Root lost consciousness.
0-0- Present Day -0-0
Holly had tears in her eyes. "Where have you been this whole time?" she asked.
Root grimaced. "A holding cell in Opal's headquarters. Tortured for information for six years."
Artemis snapped his fingers. "So that's what was in that room." he declared.
Root fixed Artemis with a glare. "Yes, Mud Boy. Nice to see you alive. That means Holly did her job."
"She did more than that," Artemis muttered.
"What?"
Artemis turned his head to Holly. "Do you want to tell him, or should I?"
Now something was evident in Commander Root's eyes. Something akin to fear.
Holly sighed. "Yeah, I'll tell him."
"Tell me what?" Root asked, almost nervously. Not many things struck fear into the Commander. Opal Koboi was one of them, and whatever came after the phrase 'Do you want to tell him or should I?' was the other.
"Me and Arty," Holly paused, getting her bearings. "Are... in a relationship. Boyfriend/girlfriend, or something like that."
"Oh Frond," muttered the commander, then passed out.
00000
Commander Root came to some time later, with Artemis and Holly's concerned faces above him. He sat up, groaning.
"You said you two were in a relationship?" He asked.
Holly nodded. "Yes."
Root rubbed his temples with his fingers. "Well, this is... unheard of... but not in any way illegal, so..."
"Would you mind telling that to Greenwood?" Holly asked hopefully.
"Telling him what?"
"What you just said."
Root waved his hand dismissively. "Sure, why not?" He suddenly seemed to notice that he was filthy and grimaced. "Tell you what. I'll go get myself cleaned up, then meet me in an hour in my old office."
Artemis and Holly nodded. "Yes, sir." they said simultaneously.
00000
As soon as Julius Root left the room, Artemis turned to Holly. "Well, that was... unexpected," he said.
"Yeah," agreed Holly, slumping back in her chair. "I wonder how Commander Kelp will react to Commander Root barging into his office, demanding to 'give it back!'"
Artemis chuckled. "We can only wonder."
00000
Commander Grub Kelp was taking lunch break in his office when the were several loud bangs on his door.
"Come in," he called, remote-unlocking the door from his desk. He choked when he saw what was apparently Commander Root storm into his office.
"What the - Commander?"
"That's me," he grunted. "Back from the dead." He strode around the desk and Grub instinctively got up from his chair.
"Back... from the dead?" he asked.
"No." Root barked, sitting in the chair. "I never was dead. Nearly, but not quite."
"Same sense of humor..." Grub muttered to himself. "Where were you?"
"Being held by Koboi." was the short answer. It was all Grub needed.
Commander Root was rummaging through the desk drawers. "You seriously don't have any cigars in here?" he asked. "I'm gone for six years, and somebody cleans out my desk? Preposterous!"
"I... didn't know you knew that word, Commander."
"I didn't. Opal did teach me a few useful things. Like words, and... words."
"Oh. There's a cigar in the bottom left drawer."
Root opened the drawer and plucked the cigar out, sticking it in between his teeth and lighting it.
"That's better," he sighed as the all-too-familiar noxious cloud enveloped his head.
(A/N: Commander Root's alive! What?
Review please!)