Disclaimer: Artemis Fowl and related characters are not mine. They are
works of and are copyrighted to Eoin Colfer.
Scene Four: So similar but so different
"Chix Verbil," whispered Holly in disbelief, her pretty face clouding in shock and disbelief. Those green eyes were unmistakable. How long had it been since they stared at her in a manner that she so detested? It only seemed like this morning that he had been making up excuses to come near her. He had been the same then, the same silly face and "professional" moves on her. His metamorphosis into this, the near legendary thief Mercury, was staggering.
In the moments of Holly's shock, Mercury, no, Chix, in a movement too swift to be tracked with the eye, knocked the Neutrino for her hands and grabbed on her wrist with the other hand. His hands, gauntleted it seemed, sent a strong charge rippling through her body very similar to that of a buzz baton. Holly bit back a scream that threatened to rip out of her throat as her body shook in response to the abuse.
Chix twisted her arm behind her rapidly to ensure her immobility, but he hadn't turned off the electric charge either. Within a minute, if he didn't stop, more than just a few brain cells would get fried.
Holly couldn't hold it in anymore. A scream ripped out of her mouth, agonized and high pitched, "AAAAAAAAAA!" There were voices in her ear, presumably that of Foaly, frantically saying something in her hair, but she couldn't focus on it.
Just when it seemed she could bear it no longer, the charges stopped. It would take the magic more than a minute to heal her. She fell limply to the ground and would have fallen had not the thief's free arm supported her waist. For a few moments, her vision swam and more than ever she nearly blacked out, but she resisted. She couldn't feel anything and was only dimly aware of her helmet being removed and the thump of it as it was thrown away. She protested weakly, strands of her auburn hair hanging limply.
"Tricky little officer, aren't you?" said Mercury in a taunting voice. "No one's managed to see my face or fight with me." He pushed her upright to get a better look at her face. Green eyes stared coldly down at Holly's face. Holly's eyes were closed to stop the dizziness and nausea from overcoming her, but the intensity of Chix's gaze forced them open halfway. Pained hazel eyes stared upward defiantly, prepared to quite possibly be killed. It took her keen eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. Understandably, she could not see all too well, but she saw enough to see something interesting on her assaulter's face.
Chix's expression changed from sadistic to shocked. A strange emotion passed over his face, something close to consternation and pain. Holly wasn't in a good enough condition to tell. "Holly." he muttered. The word escaped his lips as if by accident. He dropped her as if she were a hot brand and backed away, green eyes wide and frightened.
Holly moaned as she slammed once more to the ground. Her limbs trembled as she struggled to pull herself upright. Her breath was erratic but she hissed through her teeth, "Traitor." Her short auburn hair was plastered to her forehead through the sweat. "I . knew.. I knew you were an idiot. but this takes the cake." As usual, when faced with imminent danger, the elf usually let her anger override her fear. Anger was always better than fear.
Chix seemed to have recovered sufficiently for he answered her, "Idiot? Idiot, am I? The LEP haven't caught me. They'll never catch me. I'm better than they are."
The elf's brow furrowed as quick thought flashed inside her mind. He did not know. He didn't know about the trackers. That meant he was unaware of the LEP Rapid Response team that were sure to come in only a minute or two. It didn't matter that the tracker was lost so long as they stayed where they were right now. If she kept him busy for a few more minutes.
"How?" she asked. "How did you change to this.? Why?" Hazel eyes gazed steadily at his new form. "This wasn't the Chix Verbil I knew this morning."
His lips pursed in thought, "Chix.? I know that person.."
Holly's eyes widened, "What are you.?"
He smiled mockingly, "I am a sprite. Obvious, isn't it?" He extended his large wings magnificently and in pride. Typical of a sprite to show off even in the most inappropriate times.
"But Chix. Sprites are not like this. You aren't." she gasped as a small spasm of pain fluttered inside her.
"I am not Chix," he answered harshly. "Sprites are like this. This is the form we're supposed to be."
"Form you're supposed to be?" she repeated. Doubt assailed her mind. This creature was obviously unhinged. She was not even sure if it was Chix anymore. Sprites had a tendency to look a lot alike. Maybe this was a kind of a mutant breed of sprite.
"Yes. The form we sprites are meant to be in," he answered tersely before pouting, "You elves have no idea."
Holly glared at him, "No idea of what?"
He took a step towards her and some of Holly's anger deserted her. "Would you like to find out?" he asked her eagerly. His green eyes regained that feverish, maddened glint. "It would be a shame to kill you. Not when you've come so far." He took another step and knelt down to Holly's broken form. "You would be happy with us, Holly. You would be a daughter to him, like I'm his son."
The elf, by now, was fairly sure that the sprite was deranged. Besides that, there was something else about him that unnerved her. Despite the fact that he said he was not Chix, there were actions all about him that made him so similar. But when his hand came up, as if to caress her face (still like Chix), Holly had had enough. With as much force and vindiction she could muster, she slapped his hand away. Her hand stung from hitting his gauntlets, but she didn't care.
The sprite smiled down at her. "Yes, you would be great at his side." He stood up once more, thankfully for Holly, but he wasn't through yet. His hand delved within his cloak and in the poor light, Holly caught a glimpse of a chest plate of some sort. In a few moments, the sprite withdrew his hand. Upon one palm he cradled reverently something tiny, but he held it as if it were the most precious gem in the world. From his height Holly could not see it.
He used his other hand to do something with whatever it was that was inside his right hand. All the while he muttered, "You'd be happy in this form. More power. This is it." His left hand stilled and from his height, he smiled down at Holly. "I'll change you. make you into what you're meant to be."
"Like hell!" cried Holly, struggling into a sitting position.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" he asked. "You think that I used a buzz baton, didn't you? No, not really. I used my magic. I have strong magic. That magic is stronger than any buzz baton you can make. Try all you like, but your legs aren't moving for a bit."
"Liar," stated Holly with more confidence than she felt, "you have no power. You're a thief. You broke the sacred laws, and you have given up your magic." She kept her eyes fixed on his right hand. She was getting a very bad feeling coming from whatever that was.
Mercury smiled at her, "I don't follow your rules." With that, he began chanting something. It was a language similar to Gnommic, but with a different accent, inflection, and several words entirely foreign to Holly. She waited a moment or two for her Gift of Tongues to kick in, but then she realized with a sickening start that she couldn't understand it still. How could that be?
At the corner of her eye, Holly noted that a circle of red light had begun to glow around her. She gasped and curled up instinctively. This was something entirely new and entirely. unnatural. She could feel it in every pore. This was wrong. Totally wrong. Granted, the sprite had magic, but it was not the magic the fairies used. It was completely wrong and horrifying. She couldn't help it. "Chix!" she screamed at him, "Stop it!"
But the sprite continued on heedless of her cry. His green eyes were focused entirely at the thing on his hand and Holly realized what it was what he was reading from. The fairy bible. It was a fairy bible except that it was unnatural just like the magic it could summon. It was unnatural just as Chix was. From a gap in his fingers, Holly glimpsed the skin of the bible. It was small, matchbox size just like hers, but it's cover was dark, a void of color. It was eerily similar to the color of Chix's wings. The complexion of his skin was just a faded shade of that same horrifying color.
"Chix, stop it! This is wrong! Stop!!! I don't want this! Stop!!" she cried out. The red light was beginning to grow in intensity and she could feel its power surging up all around her. "Please!!" she managed before the red light consumed her completely and her scream rang out.
It was at that moment that the much-awaited LEP team stormed in, guns blazing. One expert shot from Trouble Kelp knocked the fairy bible from Chix's hand. Unlike Holly before, these fairies didn't seem to know it was Chix, or didn't care, and they rained a flood of stunners to the thief whilst expertly avoiding the light that was surrounding Holly, amplifying her tormented screams.
The thief gave a great shout of rage and ducked instinctively. He rolled sideways and picked up his fairy bible. He was forced to move quickly for the shots of the LEP followed him. It seemed that his incantation had drained him of power for he moved sluggishly and he couldn't seem to use his stealth cloak.
"Hands up, criminal!" roared Captain Kelp, holding his left hand up with a clenched fist to halt the shots, "Not unless you wanna get stunned by more than a dozen Neutrinos at the same time!"
Mercury's only response was to throw a small circular object into their midst. The LEP operatives dodged with ease and ducked for cover. The object exploded in mid air but while the LEP helmets were flash proof, they were not dark proof. Instead of emitting a blinding white flash of light, the bomb exploded into darkness, blacking everybody's vision. Night vision and infrared did nothing to help. Not that it mattered because it was over in a moment or two. But when their vision did clear, begrudgingly it seemed, the thief was gone.
Captain Kelp immediately issued orders for the LEP commandos to fan out and see if they could track down the thief. Some of them were sent to check on Captain Short while they waited for the warlock medics to arrive.
"Trub. eh, Captain," came the hesitant voice of the famous captain's younger brother. Normally, Trouble would have yelled at Grub for referring to him that way again, but the tone his brother employed worried him. "You should see this."
Grub Kelp was standing near the fallen form of Holly Short along with two other officers. There was a strange mist around her, like smoke that didn't seem to want to clear of. It sent shivers down Trouble's spine just staring at the scene. What had that devil done to Holly?
Trouble walked forward, "What is it, Corporal?" He frowned at the way Grub ignored him, and was staring, fascinated, at Holly. "Is Capt. Short all right?" tried Trouble one more time. "Oh for heaven's sake, Corporal, don't ignore me!" He stomped over, exasperated, but was immediately silenced by what he saw. The image left him breathless. The only thing he managed to say was, "D'Arvit." That was when she moved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"Ohh," Holly moaned, rising from her fetal position. Her lungs greedily took in air, as if she had been starving for breath. Her fingers weakly curled into half hearted fists as she struggled to prop herself up. She felt sick as if she had undergone some accident and was now approaching convalescence. Her body felt strangely new to her. Everything seemed wrong. There was an indeterminate mumbling around her, some undercurrent of fear in it. But it was wrong! She knew there were people near her but she couldn't hear them. It was as if someone had put earplugs in her ears, blinds on her eyes, and a blanket over her senses.
"Wh-what hap-happened to me?" she whispered weakly, collapsing to the floor.
"Easy there, Short," said a familiar voice, loud and clear. A small hand patted her back and she jumped in surprise. The small touch felt so strange, oddly familiar and weirdly amplified. But more importantly, why hadn't she known someone was near? Holly was famous for having one of the keenest senses in the force. Nobody snuck up on Holly Short. "Whoa, there. We don't know what happened yet, but help's coming."
"Wh-what?" she asked in consternation. She processed the information, but she couldn't understand it. It was disorienting. What had happened? Her mind tried searching for the memories, but it was too painful. Why was she feeling this way? Why wasn't the magic helping her? Was she drained of it, was she drugged. No, that happened over three years ago. She struggled on her hands and knees, head down on the ground. "Where am I?"
"Sit yourself down, Short," ordered that same familiar voice. "It's me, Trouble."
Trouble? Trouble. why was he here? "Ugh," moaned the elf, collapsing on the ground. There were some more noises somewhere and they were heading in her direction. Her eyes snapped open, but they were fuzzy as if she were near sighted. She drew away from noise hastily, afraid. Afraid? Why was she afraid? What was she afraid of? No. who was she afraid of?
Something rumbled cautiously near her. There were presences hovering near her, and again there were more mutterings. Someone familiar was near and they were talking in hushed voices she could not make out. Why was everyone talking like that?
Some decision finally seemed to be made and someone approached her cautiously. "Captain Holly Short?" asked a hesitant yet kind voice. "My name is Lyco Persicon. I'm a warlock medic. I'm going to check on you all right?"
Holly opened one bleary eye wearily and saw a blurry figure carrying a metal container approached. It was dressed in that familiar comforting blue of the warlock medics. Medics. that seemed like a good idea right about now.
The medic set down the bag beside her and did something. Holly could not be too sure of what, as she was too preoccupied in trying to shut the pain permeating her being. She did try seeing what was going on and was rewarded with her own reflection on the bag the medic was carrying.
The sight caused her to gasp, arching up, to the alarm of the medic. Pain shot through all her senses once more. Her face haunted her mind as she slipped once more from consciousness. Her face it. her face. it was ..
Scene Four: So similar but so different
"Chix Verbil," whispered Holly in disbelief, her pretty face clouding in shock and disbelief. Those green eyes were unmistakable. How long had it been since they stared at her in a manner that she so detested? It only seemed like this morning that he had been making up excuses to come near her. He had been the same then, the same silly face and "professional" moves on her. His metamorphosis into this, the near legendary thief Mercury, was staggering.
In the moments of Holly's shock, Mercury, no, Chix, in a movement too swift to be tracked with the eye, knocked the Neutrino for her hands and grabbed on her wrist with the other hand. His hands, gauntleted it seemed, sent a strong charge rippling through her body very similar to that of a buzz baton. Holly bit back a scream that threatened to rip out of her throat as her body shook in response to the abuse.
Chix twisted her arm behind her rapidly to ensure her immobility, but he hadn't turned off the electric charge either. Within a minute, if he didn't stop, more than just a few brain cells would get fried.
Holly couldn't hold it in anymore. A scream ripped out of her mouth, agonized and high pitched, "AAAAAAAAAA!" There were voices in her ear, presumably that of Foaly, frantically saying something in her hair, but she couldn't focus on it.
Just when it seemed she could bear it no longer, the charges stopped. It would take the magic more than a minute to heal her. She fell limply to the ground and would have fallen had not the thief's free arm supported her waist. For a few moments, her vision swam and more than ever she nearly blacked out, but she resisted. She couldn't feel anything and was only dimly aware of her helmet being removed and the thump of it as it was thrown away. She protested weakly, strands of her auburn hair hanging limply.
"Tricky little officer, aren't you?" said Mercury in a taunting voice. "No one's managed to see my face or fight with me." He pushed her upright to get a better look at her face. Green eyes stared coldly down at Holly's face. Holly's eyes were closed to stop the dizziness and nausea from overcoming her, but the intensity of Chix's gaze forced them open halfway. Pained hazel eyes stared upward defiantly, prepared to quite possibly be killed. It took her keen eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. Understandably, she could not see all too well, but she saw enough to see something interesting on her assaulter's face.
Chix's expression changed from sadistic to shocked. A strange emotion passed over his face, something close to consternation and pain. Holly wasn't in a good enough condition to tell. "Holly." he muttered. The word escaped his lips as if by accident. He dropped her as if she were a hot brand and backed away, green eyes wide and frightened.
Holly moaned as she slammed once more to the ground. Her limbs trembled as she struggled to pull herself upright. Her breath was erratic but she hissed through her teeth, "Traitor." Her short auburn hair was plastered to her forehead through the sweat. "I . knew.. I knew you were an idiot. but this takes the cake." As usual, when faced with imminent danger, the elf usually let her anger override her fear. Anger was always better than fear.
Chix seemed to have recovered sufficiently for he answered her, "Idiot? Idiot, am I? The LEP haven't caught me. They'll never catch me. I'm better than they are."
The elf's brow furrowed as quick thought flashed inside her mind. He did not know. He didn't know about the trackers. That meant he was unaware of the LEP Rapid Response team that were sure to come in only a minute or two. It didn't matter that the tracker was lost so long as they stayed where they were right now. If she kept him busy for a few more minutes.
"How?" she asked. "How did you change to this.? Why?" Hazel eyes gazed steadily at his new form. "This wasn't the Chix Verbil I knew this morning."
His lips pursed in thought, "Chix.? I know that person.."
Holly's eyes widened, "What are you.?"
He smiled mockingly, "I am a sprite. Obvious, isn't it?" He extended his large wings magnificently and in pride. Typical of a sprite to show off even in the most inappropriate times.
"But Chix. Sprites are not like this. You aren't." she gasped as a small spasm of pain fluttered inside her.
"I am not Chix," he answered harshly. "Sprites are like this. This is the form we're supposed to be."
"Form you're supposed to be?" she repeated. Doubt assailed her mind. This creature was obviously unhinged. She was not even sure if it was Chix anymore. Sprites had a tendency to look a lot alike. Maybe this was a kind of a mutant breed of sprite.
"Yes. The form we sprites are meant to be in," he answered tersely before pouting, "You elves have no idea."
Holly glared at him, "No idea of what?"
He took a step towards her and some of Holly's anger deserted her. "Would you like to find out?" he asked her eagerly. His green eyes regained that feverish, maddened glint. "It would be a shame to kill you. Not when you've come so far." He took another step and knelt down to Holly's broken form. "You would be happy with us, Holly. You would be a daughter to him, like I'm his son."
The elf, by now, was fairly sure that the sprite was deranged. Besides that, there was something else about him that unnerved her. Despite the fact that he said he was not Chix, there were actions all about him that made him so similar. But when his hand came up, as if to caress her face (still like Chix), Holly had had enough. With as much force and vindiction she could muster, she slapped his hand away. Her hand stung from hitting his gauntlets, but she didn't care.
The sprite smiled down at her. "Yes, you would be great at his side." He stood up once more, thankfully for Holly, but he wasn't through yet. His hand delved within his cloak and in the poor light, Holly caught a glimpse of a chest plate of some sort. In a few moments, the sprite withdrew his hand. Upon one palm he cradled reverently something tiny, but he held it as if it were the most precious gem in the world. From his height Holly could not see it.
He used his other hand to do something with whatever it was that was inside his right hand. All the while he muttered, "You'd be happy in this form. More power. This is it." His left hand stilled and from his height, he smiled down at Holly. "I'll change you. make you into what you're meant to be."
"Like hell!" cried Holly, struggling into a sitting position.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" he asked. "You think that I used a buzz baton, didn't you? No, not really. I used my magic. I have strong magic. That magic is stronger than any buzz baton you can make. Try all you like, but your legs aren't moving for a bit."
"Liar," stated Holly with more confidence than she felt, "you have no power. You're a thief. You broke the sacred laws, and you have given up your magic." She kept her eyes fixed on his right hand. She was getting a very bad feeling coming from whatever that was.
Mercury smiled at her, "I don't follow your rules." With that, he began chanting something. It was a language similar to Gnommic, but with a different accent, inflection, and several words entirely foreign to Holly. She waited a moment or two for her Gift of Tongues to kick in, but then she realized with a sickening start that she couldn't understand it still. How could that be?
At the corner of her eye, Holly noted that a circle of red light had begun to glow around her. She gasped and curled up instinctively. This was something entirely new and entirely. unnatural. She could feel it in every pore. This was wrong. Totally wrong. Granted, the sprite had magic, but it was not the magic the fairies used. It was completely wrong and horrifying. She couldn't help it. "Chix!" she screamed at him, "Stop it!"
But the sprite continued on heedless of her cry. His green eyes were focused entirely at the thing on his hand and Holly realized what it was what he was reading from. The fairy bible. It was a fairy bible except that it was unnatural just like the magic it could summon. It was unnatural just as Chix was. From a gap in his fingers, Holly glimpsed the skin of the bible. It was small, matchbox size just like hers, but it's cover was dark, a void of color. It was eerily similar to the color of Chix's wings. The complexion of his skin was just a faded shade of that same horrifying color.
"Chix, stop it! This is wrong! Stop!!! I don't want this! Stop!!" she cried out. The red light was beginning to grow in intensity and she could feel its power surging up all around her. "Please!!" she managed before the red light consumed her completely and her scream rang out.
It was at that moment that the much-awaited LEP team stormed in, guns blazing. One expert shot from Trouble Kelp knocked the fairy bible from Chix's hand. Unlike Holly before, these fairies didn't seem to know it was Chix, or didn't care, and they rained a flood of stunners to the thief whilst expertly avoiding the light that was surrounding Holly, amplifying her tormented screams.
The thief gave a great shout of rage and ducked instinctively. He rolled sideways and picked up his fairy bible. He was forced to move quickly for the shots of the LEP followed him. It seemed that his incantation had drained him of power for he moved sluggishly and he couldn't seem to use his stealth cloak.
"Hands up, criminal!" roared Captain Kelp, holding his left hand up with a clenched fist to halt the shots, "Not unless you wanna get stunned by more than a dozen Neutrinos at the same time!"
Mercury's only response was to throw a small circular object into their midst. The LEP operatives dodged with ease and ducked for cover. The object exploded in mid air but while the LEP helmets were flash proof, they were not dark proof. Instead of emitting a blinding white flash of light, the bomb exploded into darkness, blacking everybody's vision. Night vision and infrared did nothing to help. Not that it mattered because it was over in a moment or two. But when their vision did clear, begrudgingly it seemed, the thief was gone.
Captain Kelp immediately issued orders for the LEP commandos to fan out and see if they could track down the thief. Some of them were sent to check on Captain Short while they waited for the warlock medics to arrive.
"Trub. eh, Captain," came the hesitant voice of the famous captain's younger brother. Normally, Trouble would have yelled at Grub for referring to him that way again, but the tone his brother employed worried him. "You should see this."
Grub Kelp was standing near the fallen form of Holly Short along with two other officers. There was a strange mist around her, like smoke that didn't seem to want to clear of. It sent shivers down Trouble's spine just staring at the scene. What had that devil done to Holly?
Trouble walked forward, "What is it, Corporal?" He frowned at the way Grub ignored him, and was staring, fascinated, at Holly. "Is Capt. Short all right?" tried Trouble one more time. "Oh for heaven's sake, Corporal, don't ignore me!" He stomped over, exasperated, but was immediately silenced by what he saw. The image left him breathless. The only thing he managed to say was, "D'Arvit." That was when she moved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~
"Ohh," Holly moaned, rising from her fetal position. Her lungs greedily took in air, as if she had been starving for breath. Her fingers weakly curled into half hearted fists as she struggled to prop herself up. She felt sick as if she had undergone some accident and was now approaching convalescence. Her body felt strangely new to her. Everything seemed wrong. There was an indeterminate mumbling around her, some undercurrent of fear in it. But it was wrong! She knew there were people near her but she couldn't hear them. It was as if someone had put earplugs in her ears, blinds on her eyes, and a blanket over her senses.
"Wh-what hap-happened to me?" she whispered weakly, collapsing to the floor.
"Easy there, Short," said a familiar voice, loud and clear. A small hand patted her back and she jumped in surprise. The small touch felt so strange, oddly familiar and weirdly amplified. But more importantly, why hadn't she known someone was near? Holly was famous for having one of the keenest senses in the force. Nobody snuck up on Holly Short. "Whoa, there. We don't know what happened yet, but help's coming."
"Wh-what?" she asked in consternation. She processed the information, but she couldn't understand it. It was disorienting. What had happened? Her mind tried searching for the memories, but it was too painful. Why was she feeling this way? Why wasn't the magic helping her? Was she drained of it, was she drugged. No, that happened over three years ago. She struggled on her hands and knees, head down on the ground. "Where am I?"
"Sit yourself down, Short," ordered that same familiar voice. "It's me, Trouble."
Trouble? Trouble. why was he here? "Ugh," moaned the elf, collapsing on the ground. There were some more noises somewhere and they were heading in her direction. Her eyes snapped open, but they were fuzzy as if she were near sighted. She drew away from noise hastily, afraid. Afraid? Why was she afraid? What was she afraid of? No. who was she afraid of?
Something rumbled cautiously near her. There were presences hovering near her, and again there were more mutterings. Someone familiar was near and they were talking in hushed voices she could not make out. Why was everyone talking like that?
Some decision finally seemed to be made and someone approached her cautiously. "Captain Holly Short?" asked a hesitant yet kind voice. "My name is Lyco Persicon. I'm a warlock medic. I'm going to check on you all right?"
Holly opened one bleary eye wearily and saw a blurry figure carrying a metal container approached. It was dressed in that familiar comforting blue of the warlock medics. Medics. that seemed like a good idea right about now.
The medic set down the bag beside her and did something. Holly could not be too sure of what, as she was too preoccupied in trying to shut the pain permeating her being. She did try seeing what was going on and was rewarded with her own reflection on the bag the medic was carrying.
The sight caused her to gasp, arching up, to the alarm of the medic. Pain shot through all her senses once more. Her face haunted her mind as she slipped once more from consciousness. Her face it. her face. it was ..