I'm not even going to make excuses this time. I simply offer this chapter as a peace offering and an apology for being such a lax author. *sob* I'm sorry! But this chapter is quite long, I will have you know…
TO MY REVIEWERS: Thank you a million times to morningstar, Ladeda, Lessa3 (I find the number-assignment so cruel and heartless…*tragic pose*), flamaria13 (may I just say you were amazingly dedicated this indefinitely-long-period-of-time. I felt so very guilty every time you reviewed and the chapter wasn't ready!), Ever (I LOVE Evanescence… so good… *sings* hellooooooo, I'm still here, all that's left of yesterdayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy-heeeeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeee-eeeeeeee-eeeeeeeeee… have you ever tried to sing that on one breath? It's really hard...), Cecile, Mutated Beaver, sweetdeath02, SillyCecile (though you've also reviewed as morningstar… ;)), Ario, EvilSpirit, TeenTypist, Mage Kitty (Amy Lee is cool… and did you know that she designs all the clothes from her videos?), TazMoon, Lynx, Lady of the Loch, SilverButterfly, allie, Pendragon, EMQU, Super Nova, Maiden Genisis, chrysgurl, FictionFan, CG007, Winged Gardian, OceanChild and becca8. *gasps for breath* incredibly long or what. And this chapter is specially dedicated to you lot, 'cos I feel so very guilty about my entire shiteness when it comes to updating.
A/N: (Finally, I thought we'd never get here…) This is the last chapter, then after this there is an epilogue. Watch out for slight slushiness towards the end. I'm sure you'll be able to cope. Enjoy!
*****
Holly reached the double doors a few seconds after Root's elfin form had disappeared past them and slipped through as innocently as she could. The exits were clear now: the civilians had escaped and what officers were left were engaged in combat with the remaining goblins. Captain Short caught a glimpse of Trouble Kelp surrounded by a pile of unconscious reptiles. She allowed herself a fleeting grin before casting her eyes over her shoulder. Sure enough, Kobalde was still following her, and he was getting closer by the second.
The captain dodged through the debris that had been scattered by the flight of the hostages, pausing only to cut her bonds on a particularly sharp piece of glass, and headed towards the small door to her left. Through the noise of the crowd she heard footfalls behind her, before bursting into the corridor and coming face to face with her commander.
Root signalled to her to start down the corridor while he positioned himself behind the slightly open door. Silently, he waited, until the barrel of a pistol poked itself through the opening. He held his breath.
Kobalde surveyed the passage. Apart from Holly's retreating back, it appeared to be empty. He advanced into the space and after another quick look around, began sprinting after the elf before him. Root pushed the door shut and as Kobalde whirled at the sound, yelled "Now Holly!" down the corridor.
Basil faltered for a moment, cursing himself for being led into the trap. However, the sight of two fully trained LEPrecon officers charging towards him from opposite directions soon spurred his mind back into action and drawing his weapon, he ran straight at Captain Short.
Holly didn't slow down. When it came to flyboy grandstanding she was the best. As the two grew closer and closer, Kobalde aimed his gun over his shoulder, letting off stray blasts in the hope one would find its mark – the commander. Root dodged them easily, weaving from side to side, but it slowed him down and Kobalde was fast gaining ground.
Holly and Basil were seconds from impact. Captain Short gritted her teeth and angled her shoulders slightly before she barrelled straight into the other elf's chest, sending them both flying several metres through the air before crashing to the floor. As soon as her head cleared from the force of the impact Holly started groping for Kobalde's hands in the tangle of bodies, trying to keep them off her throat. With a huge heave, Basil rolled her off him and promptly fell on her, crushing the air out of her lungs for the second time in thirty seconds.
Holly's breath was forced from her with a gasp of pain. Commander Root barely spared her a glance as he went straight for the gun Kobalde had dropped with the impact. Seeing this, Basil abandoned Holly and scrabbled across the floor in an attempt to reach it first. Captain Short recklessly caught his foot and held on grimly. Kobalde kicked frantically until his captured limb impacted with something soft and was released as Holly slammed, groaning, into the wall behind her.
Seeing he would never beat Root now, Kobalde struggled to his feet and tripping and stumbling, ran for all he was worth away from the pair and out through the door ahead. Now in possession of the aforementioned firearm, Root fumbled the trigger to life, loosing blasts as accurately as he could, but Basil was long gone by the time his shots came close. Swearing foully, the commander walked back to his officer.
Holly was struggling to regain a more vertical position when he reached her. Her nose was bleeding, her hair was hopelessly tangled, her dress had a new, longer tear and a bruise was already forming around her right eye. She managed to sit up and lent against the wall for a few seconds, fingers pinching the bridge of her nose in an attempt to stem the blood flow.
Root looked down at her, grinning. "You alright?" Holly confirmed this thickly. "If I didn't know you better I'd say you enjoyed that." He held out his hand, and she gripped his wrist, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet.
Sniffing experimentally, and finding no more blood pouring from the injured facial feature, Holly grinned back. "Good thing you know me better, eh?" She bent over and wiped her face on the bottom of her skirt. "Blood isn't my colour." she explained, straightening. Root resisted the urge to snigger. "OK, I'm ready. Let's go."
She cast a longing glance at the gun her superior held. Catching the look, he shook his head. "No way, Short. Find your own."
*****
Foaly ushered the last civilian through the door and checking there were no more to come, followed the others out. He quickly located a vidphone, rightly suspecting that no one else had yet managed to call for help. He spoke the location into the receiver, the voice recognition system dialling the number for him. A bored sounding gremlin answered the phone.
"This is the LEP emergency line, how can I help?"
"This is Chief Technical Consultant Foaly. We have a situation, repeat, we have a situation. The owner of the manor, one Basil Kobalde has co-ordinated an army of goblins and taken all present LEP officers and civilians hostage. The civilians have now escaped the ballroom, but the officers are still in there fighting the goblins. Kobalde has disappeared, but two officers are after him. We don't have weapons and the injury toll is rising. We need backup immediately, repeat, backup immediately." He hit the 'end call' button and began to run for his life, out of the manor.
The gremlin stared, shocked, at the screen before him. The location of the caller was pulsing gently in the corner of the screen. "D'Arvit!" the fairy finally swore and began punching in a number. "Ops? We have a situation. Yeah, I'm serious. Foaly just called. I'm sending you the file now."
And with that, he also ran for his life. To the nearest Captain.
*****
By the time Captain Short and Commander Root had made it out of the corridor, Kobalde was nowhere to be seen. Both swore furiously, though Holly's obscenities were directed far more explicitly at the escapee in question. Root cast her an amused look before holstering his newly acquired weapon. Holly eyed it jealously. Typical male to hog all the guns.
She folded her arms across her chest and looked up at him questioningly. "So what's the plan, sir? Frond forbid you don't have one."
Root glared at her. "Will it make you feel better if I let you hold the gun for a few moments?"
Holly resisted the urge to nod. "I just meant, sir, that if you will permit me to tell you, I have an idea of where Kobalde will go next."
Root noticed the smooth way she had used his surname, without even a hint of hesitation. Evidently their little punch-up had helped reawaken her professional detachment.
The commander decided to let her cheek slide this once. "Go on then. Unless of course you'd rather wait until he's disappeared on a rather more permanent basis, and then tell me you told me so."
Holly grinned. "Tempting." she admitted. "No, he'll be making his getaway as soon as possible. It's exactly like him to skip town whenever there's trouble. At a guess, I'd say he's heading to his 'getaway vehicle', probably in a car park under the manor."
Root raised an eyebrow. "Getaway vehicle? Don't you think that's a little clichéd?"
Holly shrugged. "If you were fleeing a crime scene with the LEP hot on your heels would you walk or drive?"
"Good point."
"We need to find some stairs, or a lift shaft at the least. He should be held up slightly by the pockets of LEP personnel and civilians he happens across, but it'll be tight."
"Good thinking, Short. I knew there had to be a reason you were in Recon. Let's go."
Grinning, Holly led the way from the antechamber into the large corridor on the right, sliding slyly along the walls to minimise shadows and light distortions. Root followed, gun raised, finger resting on the trigger. At the first intersection, they split up, Holly taking the left fork, Root taking the right. Finding no stairs leading down and a dead-end, Holly turned back the way she had come and suddenly noticed the faint sound of voices coming from Root's end of the passage. She recognised her commander's voice, but couldn't distinguish any of his words.
Soundlessly, she crept towards him, body poised and ready for a fight should she meet one. She turned a corner and saw a sight she hadn't expected to see.
*****
Basil cast a glance over his shoulder, and seeing he was not being pursued, allowed himself a grin. He wiped the blood from his mouth – some his, some Holly's – and ran towards the under-street car park. He hadn't specifically prepared a form of escape in the event his master plan failed, but that wasn't to say he didn't already have three magna-cars lined up for his personal transport. An elf with his kind of money had that kind of thing.
Rounding a corner, he was greeted by the sight of a fully armed LEP team patrolling the area. Skidding, he swerved round and legged it down another corridor. The team didn't even notice. They happened to be looking the other way. Looking at a fat elf in a dinner jacket and a female in a dress sneaking up behind him.
*****
One of the more observant LEP officers levelled his weapon at Holly. "Freeze, elf." he snapped. "Who are you?"
Holly rolled her eyes. Typical. She even worked with this guy. "Do you realise your incompetence could have cost Commander Root here his life?" she asked sternly. The officer gaped. "Had I been armed, he could be dead by now, along with several other members of your team, had I had backup."
The sprite hung his head. "Sorry, Captain Short, sir, I didn't recognise you."
"It's not about recognition, Corporal. It's about doing your job properly."
The unfortunate officer muttered a few more apologies and scurried off to check the surrounding area.
Root was grinning. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were after my job. Did you find anything?"
"Negative, sir." Holly ignored the looks a couple of sprites were giving her. "Just a few bedrooms and stairs going up. Dead end."
"Alright, let's keep going in this direction." He turned to the team. "We need to find the substreet level, and quickly. The perp should be heading there now. Captain Short will brief you on the way."
The squad leader did a double-take. "Captain Short, sir? Are you sure she should be coming? I mean, the dress for a start – "
"She comes." snapped Root. "She's the expert on the perp, we need her to go after him. Any other doubts you may have I suggest you address to her personally." The look on Holly's face complimented this statement perfectly. The corporal shrank back into line.
They continued along the passage. As they went, Holly filled them in on what was already known about Kobalde's criminal personality, careful to avoid talking about how he had actually demonstrated his powers. She was not in the best of moods. Apparently the team had no spare firearms or weapons, and the empty holster at her hip irked her. Captain Holly Short did not like to be unarmed in the face of danger.
After perhaps a minute of searching they found a flight of downward stairs. Holly's shoes clattered noisily in the confined space and she thought longingly of her LEP issue boots. They reached the bottom of the stairs only to find a locked door. One of the officers swore, but Commander Root wasn't so easily put off. He unceremoniously grabbed the buzz baton from an unsuspecting corporal's holster and jammed the end into the swipe-lock. The door was open in a matter of seconds, the mechanism hissing and crackling.
Holly grinned. "Looks like we've found the car park, boys." she muttered, surveying the vast, low-ceilinged room.
*****
Kobalde cut across a four-way intersection, heading for the sounds of goblin voices. The team looked shocked to see him.
"S-sir," one fairy managed to mutter "There are LEP teams in the manor. They're after us."
Basil rolled his eyes. "Of course they are, you mentally challenged simpleton!" And without another word, he snatched the laser from the goblin's fist and hurtled down the steps towards his escape.
*****
Kobalde spun at the sound of a door opening behind him. Seeing him, a full LEP rapid response team, complemented by two elves he recognised as Commander Root and Captain Short brought their weapons up to aim at his chest. All except Holly, who didn't appear to be armed. Well, that was one less complication. With a movement so fast it was hard to see, the fugitive aimed his weapon straight at her.
The officers around Holly froze. She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes. What was it about men that made them always point guns at females? For a while no one moved. Until Holly began to walk towards Kobalde.
"Short, what the hell are you doing?" hissed the commander from somewhere behind her. Then he noticed something. Behind her back, where Basil couldn't see them, Holly was holding a pair of handcuffs.
Kobalde adjusted his aim so that the red laser dot reappeared on her chest. "Come any closer and I'll shoot." he warned.
Holly kept walking. "No you won't." she said quietly. "It would be too easy for me to die like this. Quick. Painless. That's not what you want, and we both know it."
He sneered. "Dead is about my only requirement at the moment. I've caused a nice amount of pain already."
Holly's feet moved steadily forward. "Ah yes, but you're forgetting something. You pull that trigger and you'll be unconscious in nanoseconds." She was barely five metres from him now. "Or you can come quietly right now, and wake up knowing where you are." Four metres. "Either way, it ends here, Baz. There's no way out of it now." Three metres. "End of the line." Two.
Basil's composure was starting to slip. "D'Arvit, Short, do you honestly think I won't shoot? Because believe me, I will and then – "
He stopped as the gun barrel pressed into Holly's chest. Gently, almost tenderly, she reached up and removed the weapon from his slack hand. She looked him defiantly in the eye as she dropped the laser to the floor, and reached for his wrists. Strangely, he found he couldn't resist her. Stepping close she pulled his arms around his back. Kobalde closed his eyes and breathed in her scent, revelling in her close proximity. Holly seemed to do the same before snapping the steel rings together.
She stepped back. "Basil Kobalde, you are under arrest on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, theft, kidnapping, illegal possession of firearms, blackmail… anything else I've missed out?"
Kobalde's hard shell of composure slid down immediately. "Plenty." he spat.
Holly sensed movement behind her, and stepped to one side to allow the officers access to their criminal. With a look of disgust playing on her lips, she turned away, heading back to the door where Commander Root was waiting.
The older elf clapped a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Nice work, Short. Well done." Holly nodded soundlessly, too drained for words. "Proceed to the temporary base." he continued. "Get yourself checked out by a medic. They've set up by the entrance to this area. Wait for me there." She nodded again, and turned numbly towards the exit. She seemed to be surrounded by some sort of force field that kept her separate from the rest of them. It was almost as though they were in another world.
*****
Foaly was there to greet her when she cleared the control collar. He slung a hairy arm companionably over her shoulders, steering her gently towards the medic van. Holly couldn't help but grin when she saw Captain Trouble Kelp sitting there, a harassed looking warlock fussing over him. When the medic saw her, he groaned.
"Oh no. Not you. I've heard about you. You're the one who's been shot, drowned, frozen to death, killed, brought back to life, magically tortured, mentally tortured… anything else I didn't hear about?"
Holly grinned. "I had a bit of a punch up. Black eye, bleeding nose. Oh, and someone tried to strangle me too."
The medic glared at her. "Remind me to tell Commander Root you need watching more closely."
"Believe me, I know." said the commander's voice from behind them. Holly spun warily, then seeing that the new arrival posed no threat, relaxed again.
"Did you get the little piece of filth, Commander?" asked Trouble with only a slight note of vindictiveness in his tone.
Root shot a look at Holly, who was busy avoiding eye contact. "Yeah. We got him. All thanks to the Captain."
Trouble took the hint from Holly's behaviour and changed the subject. "Are we going to get recovery leave for this?"
Commander Root was prevented from answering by a flustered looking sprite who had just materialised next to his elbow.
"Sir, it's the perp. He says he wants to talk to Captain Short. Something about a child." He glanced suspiciously at Holly. "He's saying he has a right to know what happened to it."
Root turned to Captain Short, who was suddenly looking distinctly unwell. "He may have a point. Legally, if he demands it, as the father he at least has a right to the knowledge."
Holly concentrated on the concrete, gritting her teeth. When she had finally composed herself, she looked up with a new determination in her eyes. "Fine. Where is he?"
"He's refusing to clear the control collar."
"Foaly, Commander, you're with me. There is no way in hell I am talking to him on my own." She glared at them. "Let's go."
*****
As soon as he saw her, Basil tried to start towards her. "Holly, I have a right to know. As the father, I need to know what happened to my child."
Holly was evidently wrestling with her emotions. "Oh, so now you want to know? You wait ten years to find out?"
"Holly, I didn't know about the pregnancy. If I had – "
"You would have done exactly the same. Cut the crap, Kobalde. It's not doing anything for you."
"So will you tell me, or do I have to take Carmen to court?"
Holly shook her head in disgust. "No. I'm warning you though, if you so much as go within fifty metres of her, I will kill you. And not just mentally this time." Kobalde nodded. "Carmen…" Holly stopped, biting her lips, old pain awakened once more. "She didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she wanted to keep the baby, give it away, have an abortion… in the end she didn't have to make the decision." Holly sighed. "She miscarried. The doctors said it would have been a little boy." She sneered in his face. "They also said the emotional stress was a big contributing factor. How does that feel, Kobalde? You caused the death of your own son."
He was speechless for a moment. "I never… oh Frond, Holly, if I'd known…"
Holly couldn't stand to listen to any more of his excuses. Turning on her heel, she stormed back to the medic's van, tears prickling her eyes.
"Holly, please, wait." he called after her. "Holly, there's something I need to tell you…" She was about to turn the corner. "D'Arvit Holly, I think I still have feelings for you."
She froze. Suddenly it all erupted, all the stored hate, all the held-grudges, all the painful memories, swamping her and taking her over completely. She whirled, apocalyptic look on her face.
"You BASTARD!" she screamed, and rushed at him, wishing more than anything to punch him until he was black and blue. "How dare you, you complete and utter bastard?!"
Root saw in her eyes what she wanted to do, and as she sailed past him, grabbed one of her arms. Catching onto the situation, Foaly grabbed her other and dug in his four hooves.
Holly tried to wrench herself free. "Let me go!" she yelled, tugging desperately.
Root held on grimly. "Keep it together, Holly. Don't lose it, not for him. Don't give him the satisfaction."
Holly screamed curses at him, but he wouldn't let go. She was no match for the two of them physically, not in her condition. That didn't stop her trying to reach Kobalde though.
"You BASTARD, you spend all evening trying to kill me, then you tell me that? What is this, your sick plan to get a few years knocked off your prison sentence?"
"Holly, I mean it. I don't know how… but ten years ago… those feelings, they were real. I know it. And now… I tried to tell myself I didn't still love you, tried to convince myself, but it doesn't work for long."
"How can you say that? You do not have feelings for me. You hate me. You ruined my life once, now you're back to do it again! Don't give me crap about real feelings ten years ago. If those feelings were real then why the hell did you leave?"
Basil hung his head. "I'm still not sure. I was terrified of losing you and messing up your life."
Holly stared at him in horror. "Oh, so because you so hated the thought of leaving me and messing up my life you did both?" She started to struggle again. "What do you think I am? Stupid?"
"I wasn't thinking, Holly. I can't explain it. I just know I loved you then, and I can't hide from the fact that I love you now."
Captain Short was weakening. Her emotional control, already building on the remains of its old self, had been smashed once more and tears streamed freely down her cheeks. She kept fighting though.
"No, Kobalde, no, you do not love me. You do not tell me you love me after what you've done to me, what you've done to my best friend. You do not hurt me like this again."
"I'm so sorry. I never meant to break your heart, Holly, you have to kn – "
"Break my heart? Break it? Did you learn nothing from raping my mind? You didn't just break my heart. You shattered it into a million and one pieces, and I've spent the last decade trying to pick them up!"
Basil looked taken aback. "I didn't realise I hurt you that muc – "
"Oh don't flatter yourself. It wasn't you that did, you just cracked it. It was watching Carmen going through living hell, all because of you. Except you can't understand that because you've never cared about someone like that. You don't know what's it's like to care about someone other than yourself!"
"That's not true. I care about you! Why can't you just see that?"
"Because I don't want to!" she screamed, her voice breaking as she struggled weakly against her restraints. Suddenly she fell quiet, slumped between them. Tears were flowing far more freely down her face. "Because I don't want to." she repeated so quietly that Basil had to strain to hear her.
A glimmer of hope shone in his eyes for a second. "So you do still love me then, somehow."
Holly shook her head feebly, but her face spoke more clearly than words.
"Tell me what I can do to make it up to you. You know I'll do it."
She looked away, then brought her eyes up to his for one last time. "Tell me you don't love me. Tell me it's all been a lie, a con to get you out of that little bit of prison time. Tell me you're a lying, cheating bastard, and you hate me."
He looked away. "I can't Holly. It's not true."
A fresh wave of agony broke over her. "Then lie to me!" she almost shouted at him.
They were both silent for a moment. Basil looked sadly at her. "Please, Holly? Why can't we make this work? We would be good together, can't you see that?"
She shook her head, and she could almost visibly be seen collecting her scattered wits. "Ten years, Baz. You had ten years to work it out, and you never did. You've had all the chances you'll ever get or deserve."
Sensing that her wrath had passed, Root and Foaly released her arms. Captain Short turned and walked away, turning the corner out of sight. Kobalde watched her go with a sinking heart, before being bustled into a waiting van.
Holly was having trouble putting one foot in front of the other. Literally. She concentrated on the open doors of the medic station, determined to make it. She very nearly did.
*****
*pant* Finally finished. Blood out of a stone, that was. As you can probably tell. I also thought, for the sake of tradition, I'd have one minor cliffy leaving you hanging on for the epilogue. *snigger*
A few quick notes on cannon-ness: I am fully aware that some of the stuff didn't fully gel. For example, the car park thing, but I didn't have strength to think up a whole new invention. And the OOCness… ack, it's where the story had to go. *looks pitiful* I'm sorry.
Righty ho then, review my sweet angels of insanity, review!!! Ah yes, and there is something else that is very important so listen up. There is an alternative ending to chapter 5, that I wrote when I got a little carried away. Actually hilariously funny. So if you want it, tell me in a review/email me at flyingpurpletreefrog@hotmail.com, and I'll send it to ya! *cheesy grin*
Oh yeah, one last thing. When I post the epilogue, I'm also going to re-post the first ten chapters or so. It's just I was reading them again, and I realised how very many spelling mistakes there were. Nothing will be majorly rewritten, just be improved slightly. I've already started writing the epilogue, so as that will be a lot shorter than the chapters are, and is already about a third done, I will hopefully get it up reasonably soon. My soon though. *blushes* so who knows…
Luv slime xxx