Author: Mirrordance

Title: For Every Evil

Summary: Legolas is a policeman in 2004. His colleagues start to wonder why the 10-yr veteran doesn't age & more trouble ahead after he runs across the Fellowship & some friends in modern incarnations, resurrected along with a new world-threatening peril.

20: Invasion

Imladris,

Vienna, Austria,

Mid-2004

The lights shut over their heads with a sudden snap and a fading whirring a breath before the glass windows burst inwards with the force of the unwelcome new arrivals.

"The hell—" Harding exclaimed, and Legolas took advantage of the moment of surprise and his considerably more superior elvish eyesight. He made a grab for the agent's gun, knocked him on the back of the head and dragged and tossed him into a nearby coat cabinet, just as the intruders rounded about him and Halvor, poised for an attack.

" " "

Brad followed the text message instructions to the letter, and he pulled open the secret door and stepped into the hidden passage with a frown marring his regal face.

"What's all this about?" he asked, "Another stinking game?"

Eowyn closed the door behind him, and the group of five stood in the low, narrow corridor brightened only by the light of Brad's cellphone casting the area in an eerie, dim glow.

"Greene thinks we're being attacked," Emmett replied dryly, "My sister thinks it's a traveling salesman."

"You sister prays it's a traveling salesman," Eowyn piped in good-naturedly.

"So what are we all doing in here?" Brad asked, "That skinny blondie can't take on the world by himself, could he?"
"He likes to think so," Adrian said wryly.

"He makes sense and you know it," Eowyn told them evenly, "Now pipe down. There is no sense in hiding if we are so noisy."

"This is weird," said Brad, "The way I heard this story told, aren't you supposed to be the one with the hot head? Why aren't you rushing off into the fight?"

"I can fight, yes," Eowyn said, "At this time likely better than any of you. The gods know I wish to. But if I stayed down there, none of you louts would go up here, now would you?" she looked at her brother pointedly, "We cannot have that. For the persons in this space much grander things are meant, and much greater evils are yours to vanquish. We cannot let you fall fighting a batch of little lackeys, could we?"

The light from the cellphone died down as it fell to the inacyive mode. Brad did not revive it, and the only light about the secret way was a single line of luminosity from the where the door met the floor.

"Look," Ana breathed, pointing toward the line that vanished as the light was cut off.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Adrian muttered.

" " "

Switzerland

Mid-2004

" " "

They broke into the vacation house of Zander Altman.

There really was no two ways about it, Elladan reflected a bit dryly, they have been demoted from being some amongst the finest races in all of Arda to a clever pack of second-rate criminals…

The Altman holiday cabin was 'rugged' in the very fashionable sense; it was situated atop its own snowy hill overlooking a little sleepy town that came alive in tourist season. It was all glass and wood, and Elrohir reflected with a wince that the cavernous log house must have eaten up a rather sizeable part of the nearby forest… which, although displeasing, was not altogether uncharacteristic of Saruman.

The house was dim, with the dull red of the security cameras dotting the place here and there. Naturally they took care of these first, and cut them off cleanly at the central line. Altman's guards were nothing short of efficient and unfortunately for them, their quick response was expected; a trio of them hurried to check upon the connections, only to be quickly and quietly felled by a wizard's staff, elves who had taken a liking to tranquilizers tipping their slim and intricate crossbows, and an adan who made clever use of his fists.

The old lethal ways are more of a liability these days, Elrohir sighed as he downed the last fellow.

There were more, of course; Altman was a wealthy mogul who's likely made more enemies than friends. But robbed of their eyes and ears, here in the boondocks without reinforcements and only a skeleton crew battling foes who have once crossed blades with different, more voracious species altogether… they did not stand much of a chance.

The group of four— Gandalf, Elladan, Elrohir and Faramir—checked the multitude of rooms that lined the wide halls. They were unsurprisingly empty; Altman was a bachelor, after all, and had much more than he cared to share. An entire wing held but a single room which was assuredly his and assuredly occupied, as the flames from a fireplace within danced and graced the space between the floor and the heavy double doors.

'I'm thinking this is too easy for breaking into the stronghold of Saruman the White,' Elrohir muttered to his brother in their native tongue as the group stood anxiously before the entrance. The twins looked at Gandalf at the same time and in the same manner, seeming more identical than ever.

"Well," Faramir breathed, "We've all gone this far. Across places, across times, across lives… we stand at last before this door."

"Let us see what lies behind it," Gandalf said gravely, and the three other warriors flanked him wordlessly, preparing for any sort of attack.

The wizard pushed the double doors forward.

" " "

Imladris

" " "

Eowyn was profoundly disappointed that they now refused to listen to her, but then again the dissatisfaction was dulled both by her own desire to fight, and the predictability of their actions. If anything, she was actually surprised that they lasted this long without some heroic effort.

Brad, Emmett and Adrian were standing frustrated before the blank dead end that spelled the slim distance between the secret passage and the room from which they entered it. The trio had decided to step out into the battle they perceived was ongoing outside quite some time ago, but for some reason they could not find a knob to open the door.

Anatalia was sitting on the ground beside her, looking at the men wistfully. "They're not going to find it, are they?" she whispered.

"No," Eowyn replied with a pensive smile, "That Legolas. I should have known."

"I'm going to kill him," Brad declared, "This is the second time today that I've been given the run-around."

Breathing harshly with his great and wordless annoyance, Adrian stepped away from the door and raised up his cellphone, using it as a light. The narrow secret hall was long and winding and pitch-black, lined by turns every few meters. It felt old and complicated, and it was most certainly not any route he wished to take.

On any other occasion…

"There is most certainly another way out," Adrian declared, "It's a secret passage, for crying out loud. You get in on one door, you step out another."

"Yes," Eowyn replied, "But you're bound to get lost first."
"They said this was once my home," Adrian said determinedly, "If anyone can find it, I can."

"And you said you're someone else," Ana pointed out.

Adrian stared at her thoughtfully a moment. It was easy to say he was just using whichever argument would be most convenient for him to use at a particular time. But underlying it was a question begging for an answer… begging for a decision. Strange, how it was that he was both literally and figuratively trying to forge a path.

To stay in the dark, or to traverse these strange ways toward a distant light I cannot yet see…

""

"I'm just a normal guy," he had said but days ago and shores away, "I do this normal thing for a living. I don't run around getting blasted at. I never planned on being part of some genetic-modifying conspiracy of some sort. I just… A part of me wants to know what this is all about. And another part…" he shook his head in dismay. "I don't know."

"Understandably so," Legolas murmured reassuringly, "Doctor. You do not know me very well, but I will not plunge you headfirst into any danger I cannot protect you from. I promise. I swear."

""

… But I know it's there, he decided, and the light emanated from a stranger's promise.

""

"We were good friends, once," Legolas had told him, "I'd have given my life for you. I still would."

""

I may not yet fully believe, he thought, in who you say I am. But I know you believe it and I know now that you would truly die for it. For this reason, I find I don't have the heart to disappoint you.

"This way," Adrian said absently, walking past his companions and pushing forward. He did not remember this place, that was certain enough. But he did not want to stay rooted in the dark either. Besides, he had a plan.

" " "

Switzerland

" " "

The man slept like the logs of his lavish cabin and for a nerve-wracking moment, four warriors prepared for the worst stood dumbfounded by the mogul's door awaiting demons to jump from the woodworks.

The fire cackled, and Zander Altman shifted, creating a crisp, clean sound from his multitude of comforters. He really, truly seemed to be sleeping very soundly.

Gandalf's eyes narrowed in irritation and confusion. Setting his jaw, he raised up his staff and smartly rapped it against the door. When this knock was met with no response, he frowned and tried again.

Altman moaned and sat up. He was muttering some curses, and asking his assistant what was so important that it could not wait until he woke. It took him a beat before his eyes settled upon the intruders and he sat up sharply.

"Who are you?" he asked in that melodious voice, long quieted by the ages and once again gracing the winds. Saruman was one of those folk whom Gandalf had always… regretted for, for lack of a better term. There had been so much to offer, so much to do and yet… well, that was a different story altogether. Now, as Faramir had mentioned, across places, across times and across lives, they stood before each other once again.

"I tire of your deceptions, Saruman," Gandalf said mightily, "Rise! Show me your true face, reveal to me your true power. There is no need for games, my old friend. Now the ages have brought here together, and you will cease your evil plans!"

"Who the hell are you?" Altman demanded, craning his neck to look beyond the intruders' shoulders. His eyes were wide, more with anger over the intrusion than actual fear. This was a man who held next to none of it. "Guards!" he bellowed, "Guards!"

"Your lackeys are no match for us," Gandalf informed him, "Your hordes could not stop us then, your lesser band will not succeed this time."

"Are you out of your mind?" Altman exclaimed, reaching for the cell phone that sat on his nightstand. With an almost careless wave of Gandalf's staff/cane, the mobile clattered to the ground and away from Altman's reach.

"No more games," Gandalf snapped, "And no more pretensions," he said, eyes afire in a rapid diminishing of patience, "The ages have come to this, Saruman. Show me your face!"

This time, the wave was directed at the man on the bed. Who did not raise a staff of his own to fight back, or use some kind of weapon or power. He took the force of the wizard's attack head-on, and he collapsed back in bed, out-cold.

The wizard and his three warrior companions frowned in wait. Now this… this they did not expect. Zander Altman remained unmoving, and the cabin was so deathly silent and… and… well, peaceful.

"I think he might have nothing to do with this after all," Elrohir said at last, his voice low either because he was being discreet or he was trying to keep from laughing.

Gandalf cleared his throat. Indeed. What an embarrassing though understandable mistake.

"I think we'd better leave," he declared.

Elladan's cell phone vibrated with a call, and he fished it out of his pocket to find Adrian Aarons on the line.

TO CONTINUED…

Hey guys!!! Thanks for reading and reviewing… you know I am just so stuck on chapter 26 of this fic… sigh… oh well :) I'm working really very hard, and I am very much determined to finish in good time. I suppose I just have to warn you to expect more paced posts :) thanks so much for your time, you guys are absolutely great! :)

Watch out for chapter 21, when our forgetful heroes get a taste of combat :)