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.

30: Alongside You

Sinop, Turkey

Mid-2004

Kids these days, Brad thought to himself in annoyance. They moved too quickly, too well around people, around booths, around cars… keeping tabs on all four of them was like trying to juggle and… and… doing a bloody Salsa at the same time.

"Stop!" he yelled at them breathlessly, naturally to no avail. A pair of the blasted hobbits have already passed from his sight and vanished into the crowds. He kept his eye on the the back of the blue-eyed one's head, though, feeling a strange drive in him that he could not quite comprehend.

You hold the fate of us all, little one…

The words seemed to echo in his head, a strange dream, a familiar stranger. His heart beat faster with the fear of this familiarity than with exertrion, just as it was this voice that bid his feet go faster, made his eyes never leave the prize.

"Stop!" he yelled again, "I'm here to help you!"

Finn Baggins turned a sharp corner, into a quiet alleyway. Brad followed blindly, only to collide with, of all things, a cursed pot that shattered when it impacted with his head. He actually saw the world tilt and his feet fly from the ground as his back hit the hard floor.

The universe seemed to shatter and rush at him, his heart thundered in his ears, and the profoundly sharp ache in his head was promising him unconsciousness shortly.

Four young, earnest-looking faces flushed with excitement and breathless excitement hovered over him. Finn Baggins' blue eyes were boring holes into his face, and Sam Granger warily stared him down. Pip Took had the remnants of a pot in his hands, and he seemed rather proud of himself. The young Brit beside him, Mark, was scowling at him.

"I told you nothing good could have come up from a trip to town," Mark said to him hotly.

"I hated the barge, they don't have much fun there," the other said flippantly.

"Well you're not supposed to be swimming in their work area, right, Pip?" Sam snapped at him.

"Whatever," said Pip, "Anyway we got one of them."

"What if there's more?" Finn asked, looking about them anxiously.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Sam agreed.

"But we have questions," Pip pointed out, "If he's after us, he'll have the answers."

Mark peered at Brad closer. "He's totally out of it, Pip. It might take awhile, um… He's not dying on us, is he?"

Pip pressed his face toward Brad's. "He's alive. Hey. Mister."

"You crazy kids, I'm trying to save your lives," Brad muttered at them, trying to stay awake. The words came out simply as warbled and angry, undoubtedly incomprehensible.

"I think that was a threat on our lives," Pip said, taken slightly aback, "I say, we pick him up and interrogate him."

"With what?" Mark exclaimed, "Look at him, he's built like a rock!"

Pip frowned in thought, and then Brad felt his hands searching his pockets for a wallet. The 'hobbit' frowned.

"No wallet, no anything," Pip said triumphantly, "See? He's totally a bad guy, so in case they get caught, or killed they won't be identified."

"I was trying on some goddamn clothes!" Brad struggled to say, and either the 'hobbits' were born deaf or he didn't sound as if he was making much sense because Mark told Pip Took that the man was telling him to get his hands off the clothes.

"He's kind of well dressed after all," said Sam, "Ain't he?"

Oh for god's sake, Brad prayed, so irritated and frustrated was he, Somebody just knock me out!

"If we want to know some answers," said Pip, "We'd have to ask him ourselves, eh?"

Finn stared at Brad's face, troubled. "I suppose. Besides, we cannot just leave him here, like this."

The heaviest built of the four, Mark and Sam, lifted up Brad between them. The man barely moved, his head was hurting so badly he could scarcely even think of things that aren't bad thoughts.

"What's that in his ear?" Pip asked, pulling the comm. link from Brad and pressing it to his own, hearing a panicked voice crying,

"Brad? Where the hell are you?"

And then another voice, saying "Boromir? Please. Are you there?"

Pip frowned, glancing at Finn. Well. They had a name, at least, which was much more than what they've had to go on these last few days—break-ins, attempted kidnappings, all by masked strangers with secret, misplaced desires. What in the world could they want with a bunch of college kids anyway?

"You think they can hear us?" Pip Took whispered to his companions.

Finn looked at the communication link gravely, and Pip Took handed it to him.

"If you can hear us," Finn said into the gadget, "We have one of you and we will find out who you are and call the police so if I were you, I'd just leave us alone." As an afterthought, he added a bit nervously, "Please."

And then he tossed the link out on the street.

"Frodo?" Legolas called, instantly recognizing the resonant voice and the quiet, pensive tone, "Frodo, please—" he heard the distinct sound of the toss, and did not doubt their line was now broken.

"Blast," Legolas breathed, closing his eyes in irritation.

"Well," grumbled Goran, "At least they're all together."

"Harding?" Legolas called out, glancing at Goran's laptop, "We have the location of Brad's link. He likely won't be there…"

"I'll retrieve it anyway," Harding replied coolly, "They took him, huh?"

"Yes," Legolas answered.

"They won't hurt him," Harding said confidently.

"I concur," Legolas agreed, finding some in relief in that. "As Goran said. At least they're all together."

They made it just before the Baggins' banquet.

Aragorn's face spread to a quick, wide smile at the sight of Legolas standing at the airport to greet him. The elf's welcome was more hesitant, a wry grin and a bit of a light in his sick-dulled eyes.

'You're late,' he said to the adan in Elvish after they held each other in an embrace and pulled apart to survey the other's face.

'You look terrible,' Aragorn said to him wryly, although he winced inwardly at the barest truth of the statement. The elf's skin was still unnaturally warm, which the adan felt even through their clothes as they embraced. His blue eyes seemed clouded and weary, his skin ashen and dull. He remembered that he looked to the elven prince for direction as Adrian Aarons. They all did, and he had to admit they all made for a rather demanding bunch, a handful for anybody.

Well, he reflected, any prolonged encounter with our group is surely not good for the health, mental or otherwise…

Elrohir stepped forward and scowled at Legolas. "You're here."
The Mirkwood elf just smiled at him jauntily. "That's all right, Boromir made me pay for breaking the word I didn't make to you. He broke the word he didn't make to me, mellon-nin, so stay that temper, you have been avenged."

"Brad has been taken captive by the hobbits, you said when you called," Gandalf said, eyes alight as if he was contemplating laughing.

"Yes," Legolas replied.

The Istari's eyes dimmed a bit as he then asked, "You also said Smeagol and Deagol are here."

"They're supposed to be," answered the Mirkwood elf, "I've seen this data on their files. But… but we've yet to encounter them, or Bilbo, as we have the four young hobbits. I suspect they are all working in the Amazona."

Legolas sighed and looked at the clock poised in one of the airport walls. "We have a little less than two hours to go to Bob Baggins' event at the hotel. Harding's colleagues say he's still in the barge and will board a smaller vessel and dock in the mainland within the hour to go to the hotel. Interpol secured us two tickets to the banquet, I suspect Wormtongue may go as well. I'm contemplating smoking him out, letting the line run long. Let Baggins do the speech, we may learn some things without having to deal with his suspicion, and we'll accost him afterwards and simply watch out for Wormtongue there, like bait. Or, we can play it safe and pick Bob Baggins up the moment he leaves the barge. I suspect we'll encounter more legal troubles that way, especially when those who've arranged the event find their guest of honor has just been kidnapped. What say you?"

"Are the four hobbits coming to the event?" Aragorn asked.

"It is in honor of Finn's uncle after all," said Legolas, "But they may be busy dealing with Boromir. Harding's contacts have spotted four young male Brits dragging along a 'drunken' companion back to the Amazona some hours ago."

"Boromir," Aragorn said, frowning in thought and glancing at the clock Legolas was previously looking at. "What of Smeagol and Deagol?"

"Likely they will come too," said Legolas, "They are colleagues of Bob Baggins."

Aragorn rubbed his chin in thought. "Two tickets to the event, you say?"

"Yes," Legolas replied.

"The only one of us Wormtongue won't recognize is Harding," Aragorn replied, "Maybe Gimli, given the uh… difference… in how he now looks. The rest of us he knows from the past, and from recent events. We will occupy ourselves by other means."

Legolas looked at him with a glint of understanding in his eye, "We can do a multituide of things all at once."

"We can have Harding and Gimli in the hotel, listening to the speech and keeping their eyes open for Wormtongue," said Aragorn, "Some of us will discreetly follow Bilbo Baggins from the docks to the event to ensure his safety, some will be on hobbit-watch; maybe infiltrating the Amazona if the four don't leave it to go with Bilbo. The rest will be our eyes and ears, coordinating everyone's efforts from a distance."

"We'll go secure Goran a suit," Harding said, grabbing the despondent hacker's elbow. Goran was a bit irked that he was once again in the company of the overwhelming Interpol agent.

"Our supplies are in our hotel," Legolas said, "We can decide on who goes where bearing what when we get there."

Goran and Harding went shopping as the group cramped the small space of the two linked hotel rooms. Aragorn glanced at the curious group about him, gauging the right assignments to make.

He had a fair number of warriors, to be sure—Eowyn, Faramir, Elladan, Elrohir, Gandalf, Legolas and himself. Emmett wasn't, but then again Aragorn saw firsthand that he could handle himself in a combat situation perfectly well (either because it's Eomer's warrior's instincts emerging, or another handy trick he learned from having been constantly around his bodyguards). Anatalia had no experience whatsoever, and Elladan will flay him alive if she was placed in any danger. Unsurprisingly, the Rivendell elf did not say this expressly, lest the strong-willed woman endangered him with her ire. But he kept tossing these glances Aragorn's way, and the perceptive adan knew precisely what they meant.

Legolas was likely the best skilled of them all, but he was still recovering and should likely be assigned a task that was not as harrowing. The Prince of Mirkwood will unleash that stubborn streak and argue it out, Aragorn predicted, so before he made the assignments he ensured he had some form of believable excuse to assign the prince to a lighter duty.

"I propose Legolas and Anatalia hold the overseer duties," Aragorn said, and the Mirkwood elf predictably turned to him hotly, "You can work the laptop and communication coordinations better than I," reasoned Aragorn, "You're used to doing work like that, and we're going to need someone handy with it, especially since Gimli will be otherwise occupied."

Legolas set his jaws in irritation and said nothing. Though he did seem vastly irritated, he nodded gravely in acceptance of the adan's order. He would be a liability in the field if he made himself a nuisance and persisted.

Easier than I thought it would be, Aragorn decided, One upside to his ills; at least he's too tired to argue…

So the hotel event was to be attended by Goran and Harding, and communications and coordination was handled by Legolas and Anatalia. Two other divisions were to be made, that of who's to protect Bob Baggins and who's to protect the other hobbits.

He split up Elrohir and Elladan. It was a wise choice considering they were roughly the same strength and that might had to be spread around. He assigned Gandalf to Bilbo, and himself to the other four hobbits; they're going to need familiar and particularly reassuring faces that could make them remember, or even just remotely trust. This was why Eowyn and Faramir were assigned to hobbit-watch as well, for the bonds they've shared with the young ones in the past. Emmett was designated to accompany Gandalf and Elrohir to look after Bilbo.

They distributed comm. links all around, and the weapons that Goran and Legolas managed to sneak into Turkey, and those that Brad and Harding acquired.

The group was testing the comm. links when Jimmy Goran appeared by their door looking sharp and imposing in his dark suit.

"Cleans up well, doesn't he?" Harding said a bit proudly, as if the sight was of his doing and very likely, it most certainly was. Goran was very, very cleanly shaved, his hair neat, his suit a perfect fit. Legolas' jaw was on the ground, but his eyes were certainly dancing.

Thank you Harding, the Mirkwood elf thought triumphantly, If Gimli should reclaim his memories, he can tease me about my height but I can certainly give him grief for the loss of his beard…

Aragorn caught Legolas' eye and gave the elf a very dry gaze, as if advising him not to enjoy too much.

Hair grows, mellon-nin, Aragorn thought, You on the other hand, will remain with that height for eternity.

Legolas blinked at him innocently, and the adan's lips quirked knowingly.

Elrohir was shaking his head in amazement, profoundly impressed. He tossed Harding and Goran their comm. links and they caught it easily.

"It's been tested, handsome," he said, winking at the flustered Jimmy Goran, "You know, you ought to get used to the clever spy garb, eh?"

"Yeah?" Goran grunted as he slipped on the piece, cleverly concealing the slim wire along his hairline at the back of his ear and placing the tiny microphone on his collar. "Testing, Goran, over." Legolas gave him a nod to acknowledge that his signal was being received by the computer, and he turned back to Elrohir. "Why's that?"

Elrohir shrugged, glancing at Harding pointedly. "Opportunities abound in every corner, eh?"

Goran's eyes narrowed in thought, but he said nothing.

"I just got off the phone with car rentals," Ana said suddenly, "We've secured transportation, they're all downstairs."

Gandalf, Elrohir and Emmett rose and headed toward the doors. The wizard looked at the group fondly.

"Tonight, we will become whole," he said to them with a smile.

"Is that a hope or a prophecy, Mithrandir?" Elladan asked.

"We will make it both," the wizard replied, before giving them a nod and leading the way out the the door.

"See you later!" Elrohir said, waving at them as if he was just headed down to the beach.

Legolas watched the blips representing the comm. links of Elrohir, Gandalf and Emmett move along the map he downloaded. Along with the hotel schematics, he also downloaded road maps of Sinop, that he may keep track of where everyone was. They even got the schematics of the Amazona.

He took a deep breath. Naught else to do but get this show on the road. They were as prepared as they could possibly be. He rose to his feet from his position on the floor, and needlessly dusted his clothes out of habit.

He stepped toward Aragorn and gave him a quick hug. In Elvish, he murmured to the adan, 'Heed your own advice to me, brother. Go do as you must, but keep safe. We've only just reclaimed each other. There is much to speak of.'

He felt Aragorn nod against him and they pulled apart, their eyes afire with steely determination. To Elladan, the Mirkwood prince said, "Try and keep each other out of trouble."

"I second that," Anatalia said, staring at the elf she fell in love with. Elladan smiled at her and pressed a slow, indulgent kiss to her forehead before heading toward the door.

"Be safe," Legolas murmured to Eowyn and Faramir, who had their fingers entwined as they walked away together. The second group left the room, which was becoming more and more empty and quiet and heavy with worry and anxiety.

Goran, Anatalia and Legolas stood about each other uncertainly, as the impervious Harding fixed his tie in front of the mirror.

"Don't worry," the Interpol agent said to them distractedly, making Legolas smile a bit. Harding finished with a flourish and stepped toward the door. Goran followed before clasping Legolas' arm in reassurance.

"Arrogant Agent's right," Goran said, "This is going to be a breeze. Just don't mess up my files."

"I'll try," Legolas said wryly, "Be safe, mellon-nin."

Goran smiled at him wistfully, his heart knowing exactly what the strange word meant, just as Harding stopped before the door and turned toward Legolas with a magical, familiar gleam in his eye.

"Long ago," Haldir said to the prince, "we fought and died together. I am proud to fight alongside you once more."

The troublemaker threw the stunned Mirkwood elf a jaunty look before he stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"Are you all right, Legolas?" Anatalia asked her lone companion for the evening, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"In a manner of speaking," he murmured in reply. Legolas took a deep breath and shook his head in mixed dismay and amusement. "He is as subtle as ever."

TO BE CONTINUED…

HEY GUYS!!!

Sorry for the delay. I've just been working so much but I'm halfway through chapter 32. I finished a very long and very exciting (or at least to me as a writer) Chapter 31. lots of revelations there. Look out for that. Please keep the reviews coming if you can—I know we're all busy but they really are encouraging and make me want to work more, work faster, be better. It also helps give a story more direction, because I get more of a feel of those who read my fics, more understanding. But only if you have time! I know how hard-pressed we all are for it after all :) If it hasn't been obvious already, I'm a real harassed student, haha. I'm studying business in college and having a blast, but it's a whole lot of work. Anyway, 'til the next post!!! Thanks for your valuable time :)