Hello all. Contrary to popular belief I am not, in fact, dead. Though I'm doing a good impression of it… *looks sheepish yet again* I'm sorry people, but there's a helluva lotta coursework at the moment, and then there's revision for the mid-courses. I have been buried alive, and it is only in moments like this when I manage to claw my way out that I can write, before I get submerged once more. At least I'm on half term at the minute, so the next chapter may get started, if not finished or posted, quite soon. And then, a week later, I'm on study leave for a fortnight, so I may do some writing then. I shall try harder, oh so much harder…
*squeals* OMG, I just remembered… has anyone heard the TEC tape yet? I got it for my sister for her birthday and HOLY FROND are the voices off! Foaly has gone completely chipmunk again, Holly suddenly went a few more tones deeper, Spiro sounds like a cross between Moe from the Simpsons and Ruby Wax *shudders* and Mulch has changed his accent completely! He's now the growly, evil, hard mob-guy with a deep Irish accent! What happened to the… other one??? (I really suck at accent-identification – even in my own damn country!) *mutters furious things about dunbars and chipmunks* And the music!!! They scraped the theme tune completely! It's now this stupid one that sounds like a hyped-up version of the MIB theme. Ugh…
TO MY REVIEWERS: You know what, do you know what? I love you guys. I reaaaally do. Thanks to Sara Begg (when are we seeing you lot again by the way… it's been ages – and stop nagging me, cousin however-many-times-removed of mine), surrealallstar, EvilSpirit (no, there definitely ain't anything between Holly and Root), Fowl-Star (of course I love you forever…), artylover108, qwertyuiop[]mfkna (I'm assuming this is isn't your actually name, just a jumble of letters, but hey, how should I know?) FBSDJFJNB (are you the same person again?) chrysgurl, crazygirly007 (happy birthday for ages ago, by the way, you fourteen-year-old, you) TrisaniSlytherin (rating changed on your advice – and if it helps, I'm writing a humor fic with The Oracle… we just never get round to finishing it…) becca, Tie Kerl, and my 'beloved beta', though I dunno why I'm thanking you as it was another nag. If you would just beta the frelling chapters, I would listen to you, wouldn't I?
A/N: I have used a lot of italics further down in this chapter, so to inform you now, what is happening on the screen is in italics, and what it happening in the 'real' world is not in italics. Obviously, this is just for the large amounts of text, not the stressed words/phrases. And then there are the subconscious thoughts and they're in both. Or at least, next chapter they will be. *looks confused* huh. Yeah, but you'll know what I mean when you get there. I would also like to point out that I am not a psychiatrist, so what happens in Holly's head is my interpretation for the purposes of this fic. I know it's way off, but it fits with the plot.
*****
OUTSIDE THE BALLROOM
As soon as she rounded the corner, Captain Short was forced to her knees, with a gun pressed non-too-gently to the side of her head. The goblins eagerly produced cable ties, tightly binding her wrists behind her back. Holly suppressed a wince as the plastic dug into her skin, threatening to break the surface.
"Are you ready for 'er yet, sir?" one of the creatures grunted into his mic. "Yes sir, she appears to be alone." There was a pause. "Yeah, we'll keep an eye out for the others." Another pause. "N-no sir, not yet." He shrank a little. "Yes sir, right away. Then we'll bring 'er in." He turned to the rest of his team. "Check 'er for weapons."
A scanner bar was swept down her front and back. Holly gritted her teeth. She was starting to wish they would just get on with it and shoot her. But alas, no. Kobalde intended to have some fun with her first.
When at last it was confirmed that the elf had no weaponry she was dragged roughly to her feet, and frog-marched into the ballroom. As an after-thought, the leader of the band pulled a roll of tape from a pocket, and using his teeth, severed a strip from it. Holly thought about resisting this latest offensive, but decided against it. It would only draw unnecessarily on her reserves of strength.
"Well well well." said a voice in front of her, and Captain Short looked up into the eyes of Basil Kobalde. The look of hatred in her gaze almost knocked him back, but he refused to show it. Instead, he forced a triumphant grin to spread across his face. "Nice of you to join us."
For the first time, Holly allowed herself a glance around the space. It was a sorry sight. Most officers and civilians were avoiding her eyes, hands bound behind backs, with an armed goblin soldier positioned over them at regular intervals. Holly could understand their shame. They felt useless; the knowledge that they had been defeated so easily burning holes in their pride. She almost smiled when she saw Captain Kelp, however. The picture of defiance. Catching her look, Trouble grinned and winked at her. At least not everybody had given up.
She continued to scan the room: exit routes; personnel count; casualties. All were heavily guarded; easily over a hundred goblins scattered about the room; the odd cut and bruise here and there, though nothing life-threatening. Yet. These grunts were stupid – there was a slight chance that Root and Foaly would be able to bust their way in, but what then? They certainly did not stand a chance in here.
Kobalde, meanwhile, did not appreciate being ignored. A rough hand reached out to grasp Holly's chin, yanking her head round until it faced him again. Captain Short attempted to bare her teeth in a growl, but was prevented by the tape covering her mouth. Seeing this, her captor ripped it off.
"It's so much more fun when they can talk." he remarked. Holly proceeded to impart the aforementioned snarl. Kobalde grinned maliciously. "Feisty." he muttered. "You're making this very interesting, Holly."
Captain Short was by now starting to feel sick. She hid it with a question. "So what's this all about, Kobalde?" she inquired sarcastically. "It's traditional for the criminal to brag to his hostages of his wonderful plan, and you never were terribly original."
A bitter smile lurked around the corners of his mouth. "You know, you should all consider yourselves privileged to be here," he said, addressing everyone in the ballroom this time. "For this will be the first time I'll ever have revealed my criminal identity. Not that it matters anymore… somehow I don't think the LEP will be after me, not now I have them under my control." He paused theatrically, mentally noting the further droop of the heads at the last statement. Holly did her best to look bored. "You see, I am 'The All-Seeing-Eye'. And from this moment on I hold all of your lives in my hands."
Captain Short rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on." she sneered. "That's old news. We already know you're The Eye. It wasn't exactly hard to find that two and three make five."
She risked a flick of the eyes to the door she knew help would come through. Just keep him talking... her mind whispered to her.
Holly took another breath, mentally steadying herself. "You still haven't - "
"They're not coming to rescue you, Holly." Kobalde interrupted, watching her face carefully. "I've ordered the guards to shoot on site. There's no hope left for you or this pathetic bunch who call themselves officers of the law."
She gritted her teeth and stared him straight in the eye, making sure her face was as expressionless as was elfinly possible. She didn't reply.
Kobalde shrugged. "Fine. Though on second thoughts, it might be interesting to let them see what happens next." He grinned mercilessly. "I have quite a performance planned. And guess what?" He smiled happily. "You're the star!"
Captain Short allowed her nose to wrinkle and her lip to curl. "You are one seriously sick fre - "
She was interrupted by the sudden parting of the double doors behind her, as Commander Root and Foaly burst through the aperture, guns drawn. With reactions she never would have believed possible for a civilian, one of Kobalde's arms encircled her waste, pulling her to his side, while the other drew a nasty looking weapon. The elf moved Holly's restraint higher, squeezing her windpipe to prevent sound escaping, and a cold barrel was pressed to her temple.
"That's far enough," he shouted. "Any closer and I blow her away."
Foaly and Root froze. Holly fought to breathe, pain grating across her trachea. She silently implored her would-be liberators to get on with it, not to worry about her; shoot anyway. Anything to get her out of his death grip.
"Now, put the firearms down, gentlemen, nice and slowly." continued Kobalde. When his orders had been carried out he released Captain Short, and she staggered away, bending slightly as she tried to get her breath back. She dared not go far, however, and stood just out of reach. If only there had been a chair…
Basil kept one eye on her, and the other on the goblins securing the intruders. Once they had been escorted to the side of a room, his full attention swung back to Holly. The LEP captain eyed him warily from a curtain of hair that had fallen over her face, straightening slowly. A purple bruise was already beginning to show on her neck.
"Now then, where were we? Ah yes, our little performance. Oh, don't worry, Holly. It's nothing too physical."
She shuddered, guessing it would be much worse. Dead right, as it happened. "Bring it on." she growled, using the tough-act to hide her fear.
Kobalde laughed. "Oh believe me, I intend to. But first, I think a little explanation is necessary." He turned to the others. "Some of you may be wondering why Captain Short here and myself seem to know each other. The truth is, we're old friends, aren't we Holl?" Captain Short bared her teeth. "We've known each other for years. And Holly has a little secret that I'm sure she wouldn't want me telling you."
Holly couldn't help it. She visibly paled, a shiver coursing spontaneously down her spine. She could already see where this was going, and she did not like it one little bit.
"But we'll come back to that later. Some of you may have realised by now that I am not your straightforward elf. I have special powers, to be dramatic. Or, more precisely, control over minds." His eyes took on a predatory gleam as he scanned the room for a victim. They rested on Chix Verbil who, if possible, had contrived to turn greener than his usual leaf-coloured complexion. "A demonstration, perhaps." He pointed to the terrified private. "You. Up here now."
Chix came, barely able to walk on his shaking legs. Holly couldn't help but feel sorry for him. She tried to catch his eye, to smile, to provide any kind of encouragement that would help him, but he pointedly ignored her. Holly sighed inwardly. Pride is a dangerous thing, she thought sadly. I just hope he doesn't get himself killed.
Kobalde was by now starting to resemble a shark with blood lust. "First, let's try orders." He turned to the quaking sprite, cutting his bonds before pointing at Holly. "Strangle her."
Verbil's face registered shock, then horror. He drew himself up to his full height. "Never. I would never hurt a fellow officer."
Their tormentor nodded approvingly. "As I thought. Now let's see how you hold up to mind control."
The sprite suddenly charged at Holly, fingers reaching for her throat. Caught off guard, Captain Short leapt backwards, using the time to formulate a plan. With one hand she caught hold of his left wrist, and with the other, grabbed his shoulder and spun him round so that his back was to her, pinning the trapped arm behind him, effectively preventing him from cutting off her air. Chix gasped in pain, then gave a small spasm as he was released from Kobalde's control. Holly quickly let him go, not wanting to hurt him any more than was necessary.
Chix looked thoroughly spooked. Kobalde waved him away. "Now, back to Holly's little secret. There are several ways I could reveal it to you. I could, of course, tell you myself, but that would be boring. I could simple order her to do it using my mental powers, though physical torture would be more fun." Kobalde reached towards Captain Short, fingers brushing her hair out of her face. The touch sent a shock of electricity burning through Holly's cheek and down her back. She jerked away, a look of disgust playing over her mouth. "No," continued Kobalde "I think by far the best way would be for her to show you what happened. By the means of her memories."
Suddenly, Holly realised exactly what he was doing. This was a last resort if his master plan failed – to ruin her career once and for all, so even if they did escape, the council would find a reason to have her fired. It made her sick, but also filled her with a dread she couldn't quite find words for. The LEP was a huge part of her life now, and she couldn't just let it go. But what other option was there?
The elf before her was speaking again. Holly forced herself to listen.
"Extracting these memories would be an easy task for me… one little trip and I see it all. But that doesn't show you. So what I can do is, with this little gadget," He held up a piece of equipment that looked roughly like the device Foaly and his boys used to translate brainwaves to binary for fine-tune mindwipes. "Which is connected to this screen," He pointed to a large, cinema-sized screen that had just been uncovered on the southern wall. Holly sighed. Great, she thought, just great. I get to spill my guts like some movie premiere. "I can project what I am receiving onto the screen. 'Not too revolutionary', you may think, 'we got a centaur who can do that'."
He grinned at the fuming technician. Foaly evidently didn't appreciate the abuse of his invention.
"But, the thing about the pony's machine is that it reads only what the eye saw and recorded in the memory, so you get it in first person. With mine, it reads the emotive memory as well as the physical one, and as a part of your mind is self-aware, you effectively get third-person viewing. Much more interesting. And only possible in combination with a power like mine." He turned to look at Holly. "So yes, Captain, it will be 'spilling your guts like some movie premiere'."
The LEP officer turned cold inside. "How did you…"
Kobalde smirked. "Read your mind without you sensing me there?" he completed. Holly said nothing, but the agreement was in her eyes. "I hardly even had to penetrate the outer boundaries, let alone the conscious layers of your psyche. When a person is experiencing strong emotions – in your case fear, anger and dread – what they think is magnified and easily picked up by someone with psychic abilities. You were broadcasting like a megaphone."
At a signal from their master, the goblins began to set up the equipment. "But enough of this." Kobalde said impatiently. "Time to stop talking about it." He accepted the electrode pad handed to him by a minion, attaching it to his temple. He grinned at Holly. "Ready?"
Captain Short's stomach dropped into queasy hell. She could feel her mind spinning round and round, looking for somewhere to hide, somewhere to escape to. She most definitely was not ready.
An image crackled into life on the screen. It was the ballroom, as Basil saw it.
"In we go." muttered Kobalde
and the screen turned red, then black as he crashed through the protective walls around Holly's consciousness.
Captain Short's eyes closed in pain, and she gritted her teeth.
An elf with crew-cut red hair spun round in time to see Basil appear before her. They both wore simple white robes.
Basil pinched a fold of the fabric. "The clothes of the mind." he commented.
Holly had frozen in terror, riveted to the spot. Suddenly, she turned and ran, her white-clad form sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as it could. An invisible hand snagged her waist, dragging her back by the midriff. She twisted desperately, trying to escape, but she was powerless.
Basil grinned as she was hauled towards him, waiting until she was about a second away before he released her. This time she flew at him, screaming like a wild animal. With a cold laugh, he struck her across the face. Holly crumpled to the floor immediately, and lay there, unable to move.
The tormented elf collapsed suddenly, falling to her knees as pain exploded through her head.
Basil tutted softly, leaning over to inspect his handiwork. "You really shouldn't have done that." he informed her. Holly's only reply was to groan, and turn further onto her side to better hide her face. Basil kicked her in the ribs, sending her spinning onto her back. She let out a small whimper, and lay still once more. "I could have just allowed you to stand by and watch."
Holly's shape suddenly seemed to waver and crack, and in a flash of blue light, the outer shell that had surrounded her exploded into a millions fragments, revealing a smaller, weaker looking Holly.
Captain Short's face seemed to change somehow – as though the façade of bravery and toughness had been stripped away, leaving only the raw emotions of fear, anger and hate.
Basil picked up one of the pieces, looking curiously at it. On the outer surface, an image of Holly's mouth snarled and bared its teeth. "Emotional control." he remarked. "The way we hide what we really feel." He threw the piece to the ground and it shattered into even smaller bits. "And one of the strongest I've ever seen."
Holly glared at him through the hair that now had enough length to flop into her eyes. "Leave me alone." she croaked.
Basil ignored her and walked over to a bank of monitors that had just appeared behind her. "The control centre of the mind." he explained. "From here, everything but subconscious thought is accessable…
Kobalde's mouth split into a grin.
… including memories." He began to type in commands and press buttons. A few seconds later, a small screen popped up, showing the inside of Captain Short's eyelids. Basil selected a file marked 'Memories'.
"Now then, let's see…" He began flicking through them. Holly's life started to play backwards on the screen, leading her out of the ballroom, back to the freezer, then the swimming pool before he stopped. "Memories are stored backwards – the most recent come up first." He began to 'rewind' them faster, so each image flashed on the screen for a mere nanosecond before it was replaced by the next.
Holly's face convulsed in pain, the speed at which her mind was being unravelled terrifying.
The pictures on the screen juddered to a halt, freezing on a scene in a cold concrete cell. An elf in a LEP jump suit sat on a bed, gripping the frame. Holly recognised it as her prison within Fowl Manor, over a year ago.
"A test-run, I think." said Basil's voice. The memory began to play. The image of Holly slowly picked up the bed, and held it for a couple of seconds. The edges of the screen tinted red
and although they did not know why, every fairy in the room knew it meant 'pain'.
Holly slammed the bed into the floor, a cloud of dust rising up, and a sharp chip of concrete impacting with one of her knuckles. The area glowed crimson, then just as fast as it had appeared, the colour faded from the screen. The elf rested for a moment, then hefted the bed again, using all her weight to hurl it into the floor.
The memory stopped, and the black landscape returned. Holly was struggling to sit up, and Basil was selecting a memory further back in her archives. Holly was subconsciously glad that he had decided not to flick through them again. In fact, she was subconsciously quite a lot of things, thinking included. Funny, her subliminal awareness whispered, when someone else is in control of my conscious side, my subconscious one suddenly becomes… self-aware. Interesting.
Basil did not seem to be able to sense her thought process. He was engrossed, dedicated to finding the experience that would humiliate her, degrade her and destroy her career once and for all. He made a triumphant noise, and with great ceremony, pressed a large 'play' button that had just appeared in front of him.
Captain Short gritted her teeth and braced herself for what was to come.
Holly gritted her teeth and braced herself for what was to come.
*****
(I did mean to repeat the last line, by the way). Well then. Guess what happens next chapter! *evil grin* *Jaws music starts to play* cliffy… cliffy… deda… deda… (Yes, I am mad, to answer your unspoken question.)
*holds up palms* Now, ladies and gentlemen, before you flame with terrible wrath, there were reasons for the OOCness, ok, reasons. It was basically just between Ms. H and Mr. B this chapter, and Holly was being seriously messed with, and she may have acted differently in another situation, but for the purposes of this fic, I chose to interpret her reaction like that. I've noticed Baz going a bit weird too, but that's probably just me and the fact that I'm a perfectionist and I know him too well. Metaphorically speaking. Or would it be literately… Awww shucks, I dunno.
Next chapter should be here… before Christmas. I'm going to sack my beta if she doesn't get her act together by next chapter. She's had this for three days, and I got so sick of waiting, I posted it without her. My little sister read through it for me. *sigh* and she says hi. *evil sticky tape waves* *slime whispers* I'm going to kill her someday. She is also called Holly. Along with the other five I know in the 'real' world. *wrings imaginary neck* ARGH! TOO MANY HOLLYS!!
Okey dokey then… REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! *watches review count expectantly* almost at the big one-five-o, come one…
Luv slime xxx – POWER TO THE MUSHROOMS AND THE GREEN AND YELLOW PAINT!! (they were feeling neglected… I ain't mentioned them in ages…)