Title: Trojan
Genre: Action/Adventure
Spoilers: None really.
AU/Cannon: AU
Author: Seadragon
Dedicated to: The story I wrote, and lost in Europe.
Ship: Not telling!
Slash: None.
Summary: Holly was silent for a moment, thinking. "Oh D'arvit!" She swore, and tapped her mike. "Hello? Hello?! Can anyone hear me?! The team that was sent after the group of goblins, turn back! Turn back! They aren't goblins!" And that was when a second explosion sent flames high into the air all around the city.
Captain Holly Short has had a lot going against her lately. First her entire team is slaughter in front of her. Then everyone back at Headquarters can't stand the sight of her. She's assigned a rookie, and things don't get any better.
But now there is another problem.
Haven is being attacked. By what? They don't know. By who? They don't know. How? They don't know. People are dying every which way she turns, and there is no one who can pull her out of this nightmare.
Or is there?
- - - - -
Chapter 6: Just What Are They Then?
- - - - -
The rushing flames distracted her for a minute, and then her natural reflexes kicked in and she dove to the ground and covered her head. She could only hope Laton would do the same, she couldn't risk raising her head to yell to him. Once again she was thankful for Foaly and his amazing technology. Her LEP jumpsuit and the water suit would take the brunt of the heat from the flames, so that she would be found as a crispy fairy barbeque.
As the flames advanced along the alley, they grew higher and higher. The goblins must have been extremely stupid, even for goblins, to start a fire so close to gas tanks like these. Even though they were fire resistant, and wouldn't be hurt by a normal fire, this wasn't a normal fire, this was an A Level Fire. The extreme heats would melt even the most fire resistant being on, and below, the Earth's surface.
Luckily, Holly was at the opening of Spider Alley, where it met the open space of the main streets. Therefore, the flames wouldn't be concentrated. She still felt the intense heat though, and remembered the first goblin rebellion, four years ago. Then, she had escaped being fried by dumping coolant on her head, but she didn't have that escape this time.
Once the scorching heat had subsided to just burning, Holly opened one eye. The flames had past her, and were burning on all sides. Cars had overturned and buildings were aflame. People were screaming, screaming. Holly slowly got to her feet and stared at the chaos before her with despair. The screams echoed in her mind over and over again. Flames were flashing everywhere, the wail of sirens filled her ears. And then there were footsteps. Running, away, just away.
"Holly?"
Holly spun around and raised her new gun, the Fissure 3.0, cranked to setting two, stun, ready to shoot who ever had come up behind her. Laton raised his hands slowly in a gesture of peace. The same she had given the Italians, five years ago. She lowered the blaster and returned it to its holster.
"Sorry." She said quietly. She looked back into Spider Alley, was that a flicker of movement? "Come on, the others will handle the fires, we have to find the goblins."
"Wouldn't they be dead? I mean, the only reason we survived is these water suits." Laton indicated to the trigger hooked to his belt. "And they don't have them."
"Even so, I want to find those bodies if they're dead, and find out who these rebels are." Holly said grimly, turning her back on the street fires and the panicking civilians. Already emergency forces had arrived and were getting people to safety, they weren't needed here.
She began picking her way through the flames, towards the back of Spider Alley. The bodies of goblins littered the path. Just as she was about to think she was just being paranoid, and nothing back here had moved, she saw the gaping hole in the brick wall at the dead end of the alley. She knew that hadn't been there before, they must have set fire to the alley, blown the hole when the gas tanks were exploding, and escaped before they burnt to death. These bodies here, they would be the ordinary soldiers. She had recognized them for the army they were by the uniforms they wore. She would bet anything that the most important got out first, and they just hadn't been fast enough.
"These aren't goblins."
Holly spun around wildly for the second time in the past five minutes. Laton was crouched beside a fallen goblin, his body charred so badly that he was barely recognizable as a goblin. "What do you mean they aren't goblins? Of course they're goblins. And if they aren't goblins, which I'm not saying they aren't, just what are they then?"
"I don't know, but they aren't goblins." Laton held up the goblin's wrist, where a watch like device was strapped. He undid the straps and let it fall. Immediately, the charred goblin wasn't a goblin anymore.