Hello all! What do you mean, who the hell am I? I know. Over six months. The longest time I've EVER not updated and I am very very sorry. So so sorry it's painful. Really. I've had a very busy last six months! Ahem. Did I mention I was sorry?
TO MY REVIEWERS: Are any of you still there? Do you even remember this fic? Probably not. Ah well, I'll thank you all anyway... Thanks firstly to Rad Bubblegum (my GOD, you must like this fic... you were amazing. And although I was supposed to cower with every one, I really liked getting all your reviews. In the deepest, darkest exam hell, they reminded me of times of freedom and helped keep me sane... so thank you.), amber (sorry about getting the Charmed stuff wrong. I'm not the hugest fan (not to say I don't like it...) and I only saw bits of the episode once a long time ago... though now that you mention it, I do remember the priest dude...), Singing Cat (ah! No! Not the cheese! Please not the cheese!), Bubbly Hooplah (I am honoured by your use of capitals), maria, cookie monster (-munches cookie- 'ank 'oo 'ery much -shower of crumbs-), Sweetdeath04 and Thorney (I emailed you the deleted scene, right? many apologies if I didn't), Maiden of ice (ah, now that would be telling, wouldn't it? ;)), the toaster (you'd better watch your back, missy, cos I'm coming for you if you don't update 'When the worst is yet to come' VERY soon... though I'm hardly one to talk...), Wolfrat, Holly Rox, Ever1, LadyQueenscove, Tie Kerl (I did send it, right?), tonduil, Boogalaga, Blue Yeti (a new shampoo, huh? So THAT'S why you spell so good! ;) Yes, I fear this chapter may be restrained in your eyes... but I was rather uninspired by it, to tell the truth. Ah well. And thank you for the Butler idea, that made it's way in, after a fashion... Ooh, this means I get a new chapter of Life! Woohoo! I knew there was a reason I was writing this fic...), Laughing Dragoness, The Sharpest Thorn (-cackle- dear heart, that's the whole reason for writing this fic, the Root thing!), Hannah, lutefa, elea, Anacalagon, Seadragon, Red Five, mad sam, Captain Amy, Mage Kitty, Lessa3 (but what's a number between friends? ;)), Artemis the Hunter, Dslguy14, Pendragon4, and... -pant- oh no, that's it. Phew, that was bloody long...
Hmm... A/N... Am I doing an A/N... -racks brains- I don't THINK so. Well, if anything was glaringly obviously needing explanation, email/review and I'll give an explanation in an email/review here...
A/N: Ok, so there was one. It's just to say that this chapter has been a pain in the butt to write and therefore it's not the most exciting chapter in all the world. It probably could have been better, but it would also have been another year or so in being better, so it's probably better this way. Well, if you look at it this way, the quicker I get the duller sins over the sooner I can get onto the fun, exciting ones! I've virtually written all of Lust, some of wrath and all of the epilogue in my head as it is... Also, please excuse the weird breaks – fanfic is for some reason deleting all stars and squiggles from uploaded documents. Murder. Throttle.
One more thing, then I'm going to shut up, honest. This chapter is dedicated, primarily to Rad because she has been AMAZING with her reviews these last -blush- six months. Every time I got one I felt intensely guilty and it's probably largely thanks to her that this chapter got done this soon, and not, for example, after I had finished my A-levels in two years... Which brings me to my other dedicatees... secondly, my two darling betas for their betaing and plot helping, and lastly, but most certainly not leastly to everyone in Year 11 who has just done their GCSEs (we did it! woohoo!) or any other big exams this summer. It was hell and we survived. Go us.
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Holly had the presence of mind to wear her helmet as she stepped into Police Plaza the next day. Frond knew, she didn't want a repeat of yesterday's entrance.
She went to straight to Ops, where, naturally, Foaly and Root were waiting for her. Holly hoped there weren't any cameras trained on her as she removed her headgear.
"So? What colour am I today?"
The other two sighed with relief. "Beige." Foaly told her, matter-of-factly. "Barely noticeable." He handed her the contact lenses and the lipstick (now in a natural tone after the reaction it had received when previously presented to her) and proceeded to smear latex on her cheekbones, leaving her to do the rest. Holly was secretly glad. Fond as she was of the centaur, his carrot stained teeth and breath that smelt slightly of boiled cabbage were best avoided at close quarters.
Fully covered up, Holly slumped into the nearest chair, feeling a sudden wave of fatigue. She had been up half the night worrying about the dratted curse and the lack of sleep was starting to take its toll. She forced herself to concentrate on the commander's voice.
"– Duty, as before. Unfortunately, lying low won't work today, so we're just going to have to hope for the best. You'll remember, I'm sure, that a class from the Academy is visiting the LEP today and they expect a tour of Recon and a talk from one of its officers." He sighed. "I nominated you before the curse, and when I tried to change it, they wouldn't let me. Something about it being bad enough to insist on such a controversial elf who was setting a bad example to the young of today, then to change it when all the arrangements had already been made..." He trailed off with a sharp look at Holly. "Are you listening to me, Captain Short?"
Holly jerked her head up off her chest, blinking in shock. "Yes. Heard every word you said."
Root opened his mouth to rebuke but thought better of it. She wouldn't fight back, and that was what made it fun.
He settled instead for a steely, thoroughly disapproving glare. "The class will arrive in half an hour, so until then, you can plan a route with Foaly and go over the speech he has written for you."
Foaly's face flickered for a second, and Holly almost grinned. She just hoped he could knock off a satisfactory one in the time they had. She was certainly useless at spontaneous public speaking.
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Forty minutes later, and having been dragged from Ops by a furious Commander Root when she hadn't reported to him on time, Holly stood before a class of eager-looking fairies gathered in the Briefing Room and attempted to maintain an air of authority. She fumbled the piece of paper on which Foaly had scribbled 'a few words' (in reality a lengthy essay outlining the importance of reconnaissance officers in a modern police force) from her pocket, blinking hard to get her eyes to focus on the cramped writing. It was evident the centaur spent too much time on a computer, to the point that he seemed to have forgotten how to use a pen.
With the speech finally in front of her, Holly walked backwards until she came into contact with a surface on which she could slump. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Commander Root and Wing-Commander Vinyáyá watching her closely. They both appeared to be waiting for her to make a mistake.
Captain Short cleared her throat, and the room tensed in anticipation. The students were all secretly fascinated and thrilled to meet the legend that was Holly Short, many a break-time having been spent whispering excitedly about the latest scandal. They were itching to ask about Artemis Fowl, the dreaded mud boy they'd come to fear, but they had been expressively forbidden from doing so. Since the mindwipe, Fowl's name was not mentioned around the LEP unless absolutely necessary. Their lieutenant had vaguely hinted it has something to do with moving on, rumours and widespread panic but that was all he would reveal on the matter.
Holly suppressed a yawn as she started to speak. "Good morning, my name is Captain Holly Short and today I will be," She paused to scratch her nose. "talking to you about, erm," She stared blankly at the paper, then seemed to re-find her place. "Oh right, about being in Recon. Recon is one of the most important departments in the LEP, yada yada, without us the whole operation would be sunk, blah blah blah," The fairies seemed to have frozen in shock. Root was trying to hide his dismay, and Vinyáyá was turning a shade of red to rival the commander at his most furious.
Root quickly strode forwards, snatching the page from Holly's fingers as she waved it in an attempt to help her think of the next word.
"Ahem, what she means to say is," He looked down at the last paragraph. "that you are very welcome here, feel free to ask any questions and enjoy your day!"
Shooting an apologetic look at Vinyáyá, he steered Holly out of the room, and marched her down the corridor to the coffee machine. Twenty seconds later he pushed the steaming cup into her hands, ordering her to drink it. Then, with a hissed order to keep herself together he shoved her in the direction of the Briefing Room.
Holly allowed all this to happen in a sleepy daze. Absent-mindedly sipping the scalding liquid, she strolled leisurely back to her 'class' and with a wave of the hand, gestured for them to follow her.
Foaly stepped out of Ops to stand next to the commander as he watched her go. The elf was looking worried, frown lines creasing his brow. The centaur had to agree with him on that. He had a bad feeling about today, in his hooves. And although centaurean hooves have never been proved to possess clairvoyant abilities, one generally trusted them.
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There was a timid knock on the door of Commander Root's office. Standing there was a skinny little gnome, who, if the whiteness of his skin and the way he quivered all over was any kind of indicator, was scared witless. And with good reason, as it turned out. The commander was in a particularly foul mood. One of his officers had become a little impatient with the duty manager at Tara and now they were threatening to file a lawsuit against the LEP for assault, and he was being held personally responsible. It was at times like this when he missed the good old days, when no one bothered with all that legal humdrum. The 'shoot first, ask questions later' days. But now, there was an average of two point three lawyers to each reasonably well off fairy, and if you so much as spoke too loudly to some uppity pixie and her daughter, you'd find yourself in the dock with some ridiculous charge like 'verbal harassment' or something. Root rubbed his eyes. It was a world gone mad.
Forgive me, I seem to have gone off on a tangent about the inadequacy of modern society. Sorry. Anyway, back to the quivering gnome. After his first attempt was ignored, he rapped on the door again, a little harder this time, hoping that maybe the monstrous commander with his legendary temper and face to match wasn't in. No such luck. As he raised his fist for the third time, the door burst open and the aforementioned elf grabbed him by the lapels and hoisted him a good five centimetres off the ground. Toes swinging slightly, the little fairy swallowed.
"Well?" roared the commander. "What is it? I am in the middle of something!"
"It's, erm, Captain, Captain Short, s-sir, she's..." He gathered all his courage together. "Lieutenant, erm, Vein was it? Or-or it could have been... um..."
"Never mind the lieutenant's name! What?"
The gnome licked his lips nervously. "He told me to get you. She – Captain Sh-Short has been, well, he didn't really know, but he thought it could be drugs..."
Root closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, sorely tempted to smash the little fellow's head into the ceiling. "OK." he said through gritted teeth. "Where is she?"
"In her cubicle, sir. Well, at least, it had her name on the door, I don't know if it was her cubicle – "
Root dropped him and strode past, heading for Holly's cubicle. The girl had better be in serious trouble...
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It was only later, when crisis and exposure had been successfully avoided, that the commander found out what had actually happened.
It would seem that, while leading her 'class' of eager little gnomes, elves, gremlins and sprites around the reconnaissance offices, Holly had disappeared for 'just a moment' and when forty-five minutes later, she had still not materialised, one of the brighter members of the class suggested that she might just have forgotten them. What a break-through.
It was another ten minutes before any of them worked up the courage to ask someone for help. In the end, the recently promoted Lieutenant Vein asked them why they were milling around like lost swear toads and they fell over themselves to tell him, pouring out the (in their minds) traumatic episode, all talking at once and being generally unintelligible.
Vein, blessed with infinitely more patience than the commander, listened carefully to the frantic babble, extracted the general meaning and gestured for them to follow as he led the way to the recon cubicles. Quietly, he wondered what Captain Short thought she was doing. Although he didn't know her very well, her spectacular, well, cock-ups, to be blunt, were legendary. But then so too, within the department, anyway, was her determination and skill. She was a good officer, it was just that sometimes she tried too hard to do the right thing. Though how that tied into abandoning this lot was a mystery to the lieutenant.
He knocked on Holly's door and the class fell into an apprehensive silence. When there was no answer, Vein pressed his ear to the door, listening for any sound of the room's occupant. As he leaned against it, it swung open unexpectedly and Vein immediately drew his buzz-baton. This was not right. An open door meant an officer in residence, but there had been no answer to the knock. He signalled for the class to get behind him, then peeked into the room. The only fairy was Short herself, and Vein saw immediately why he hadn't heard her. She was slumped in her chair, head resting on her keyboard, seemingly unconscious. There was an empty coffee cup next to her left hand. Vein's brain immediately connected the two, and he strode into the room, grabbing the cup and peering into it. He took a sniff, but the thick smell of the drink made it impossible to detect anything out of the ordinary.
He turned back to the waiting fairies urgently. "You," He pointed to a meek looking female pixie with a notebook and a pen. "Go get a medic. Tell him Captain Short is unconscious, probably drugged. And you," He inclined his head at the gnome. "Get Commander Root. Move!"
As the two rushed off to do his biding, the lieutenant gripped the unconscious captain's arm, shaking her gently as he tried to rouse her.
"Captain Short, can you hear me? Captain Short. Holly? Holly, can you hear me?" He shook her harder but still there was no response.
A medic skidded into the room, looking out of breath. "What's the situation?" he panted. He pointed at Holly. "This the officer?"
Vein nodded. "This is her. I just found her like this. I've tried to wake her, but I can't. I'd guess her coffee was spiked." He gestured to the cup.
"Do you have any idea how long she's been out?"
"She left us about forty five minutes ago." a small voice piped up from within the crowd. The medic glanced at the group. Great. That was all he needed. A drugged captain and her class. Why couldn't the officers look after themselves for once?
He sighed. "Ok, out the way. Let me have a look at her."
He pulled a small torch from his pack, and leaned Holly back in her chair, turning it to face him. He gripped her eyelash and pulled the lid away from the eye, shining the light through the pupil. It reacted just as it should. But as it did, three things happened.
The first was that Commander Root arrived, his face like thunder and as purple as the beetroot he was named for. He did not look in the best of moods at all, mainly because he wasn't. But also because looking perpetually angry helped to install fear, and therefore obedience in those under you command. Root swore by it. It was a tried and tested method.
The second thing was that, while looking into her hazel eye, the medic had noticed that the hazel was in fact thanks only to the contact lens covering the iris. He moved it aside, and found the coloured area to be in fact... beige? Now, the gremlin had seen some strange things in his time, but beige eyes... it wasn't natural.
However, he was distracted from further meditation on this topic by the subject herself. Holly chose that moment, just when everyone was there, to let out a light snore. However, all the lightness in the world couldn't disguise the fact that it was just that: a snore.
The commander froze, his heart suddenly thumping painfully in his chest. The silence in the room was complete as every fairy there stared at the captain. It was then, with every eyeball on her that Holly chose to wake up. She always had had impeccable timing.
After lazily opening first one eye, then the other, she reached up and stretched, much like a fat tabby cat after it has been solidly parked in the best spot on the sofa for three hours. She yawned, showing a profusity of teeth.
"Why are you all staring at me?" she asked irritably, peering into her coffee cup to see if she could locate a dribble of caffeine. "Haven't you all got jobs to do?"
Before any of the others could put their confused thoughts into words, Root stepped in, a veritable maelstrom of efficiency.
"Nothing to worry about folks, Captain Short was just conducting a field test into, er..." He paused, waiting for inspiration to strike him, and strike him it did. "... delayed narcotics and resistance to them." He spared a second to spear Holly with an acid glare. "Needless to say, she's failed on the last one."
When nobody began to move he began pushing them subtly towards the door. "Come on, the captain's right, you've all got jobs to do, so go and do them before I take the time you're wasting out of your paycheques!"
The room emptied faster than the site of a dwarf fart.
Sighing heavily, Commander Root closed the door firmly behind them and leaned against Holly's desk.
"Short," he said through gritted teeth. "You ever pull a stunt like that again, especially under circumstances such as this, and I swear I won't only transfer you to drain duty, but I'll personally ensure you are posted outside the factory that makes Atlantean Stink Balloons extra stinky. Got it?"
If Holly had had her wits about her, she would have noticed the signs – false calmness, strained neck muscles – and would have taken swift evasive action. However, she barely had half a wit to go around, so she simply shrugged noncommittally and propped her feet up on the desk.
Suddenly, the chair disappeared from under her and she found her back pressed against the wall and Commander Root's nose inches from hers.
"SHORT!" he screamed. "I'VE JUST ABOUT HAD IT WITH YOU! I DON'T CARE IF THE BLOODY CURSE IS MAKING YOU ACT LIKE THIS, IT STOPS NOW! IT'S TIME YOU STARTED FIGHTING BACK! FROND, WOMAN, WHERE'S YOUR SPINE?!"
Holly's eyes widened as the curse temporarily relinquished its grip on her, and she was suddenly very aware of her situation and the cause of it. She wondered for a few seconds why it was that she'd stopped breathing, before realising that it was because she couldn't. Her commander's fingers were too tightly wrapped around her throat.
"Julius!" she managed to gasp, feeling her face start to turn red. "I can't breathe!"
His eyes flickered down to his hand, almost as if he was surprised to find it there and loosened his grip. Holly collapsed to the floor retching and clutching her bruised neck. Root turned away, gripping the edge of the desk and breathing heavily.
He turned slightly, not quite looking at her. "Holly, I'm... sorry, I just – "
"S'quite all right." croaked the elf. "You were provoked and I didn't have the sense to recognise the signs. S'not your fault." She coughed violently. "I'm sure my windpipe will reinflate in just a moment..."
The commander squatted down next to her, concern accidentally crossing his face. "Just breathe. Take deep breaths, that's it, in... out..." Holly spluttered and a look of relief crossed her face. "Keep breathing, Short, don't stop just because – "
The door burst open, cutting him off, and Trouble Kelp fell into the room. He took in the scene and turned red.
"Oh... Am I... I didn't mean... I just heard shouting and..." He trailed off, looking from one to the other, a stunned expression across his handsome face.
Root sprang to his feet immediately. "You're not, I mean, we weren't, I mean... No! Of course not! How could you even... No!" Behind him, Holly stood up shakily, using the wall for support. "We just had a disagree – "
"I'm behind on mission reports again." Holly interrupted, saving him from himself. "Commander Root was reminding me of, er, the serious implications of this, and the importance of keeping the reports up to date."
"Oh, of course." muttered Trouble.
"Well, I have things to be getting on with." The commander was suddenly eager to leave. "Short, don't ever let me see you get behind again, or you'll be suspended." He nodded to Trouble. "Captain Kelp." And with that he swept from the room.
As soon as the door closed, Trouble grabbed Holly's elbow, leading her to her chair, worry etched into every premature line on his face.
"Are you ok, Captain? You know, if you file an official complaint no one will think any the less of – "
"I'm fine!" she snapped, then immediately regretted it. He was just trying to help. "I'm fine, Trouble, honestly. It's just that... well, Commander Root has been very highly strung lately, and, well... I guess I was feeling reckless today." She attempted to smile reassuringly at him. "I picked a bad time to argue back, that's all." She laughed gently, but unfortunately the gesture was wasted as it caused her to hack disturbingly.
Trouble smiled back all the same. "Well... if you're sure... You know we'll support you though, Holly, if ever you do decide – "
"There's nothing to decide! Beetroot's doing his job, and so am I. We're professionals, Trouble. He does what he has to do to keep this operation running smoothly, and so do I. End of story."
He smiled again, though this time it was genuine. "Point taken. I'll drop it and leave you alone, as I'm sure you can't wait to get back to those reports..." He patted her arm and got up to leave. Holly felt she should say something, but he was gone before she could formulate a reply. Even so, she breathed a sigh of relief. Next week couldn't come quick enough.
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The rest of the day passed uneventfully, with the exception of a bruised head obtained by one of the LEP paper-pushers who'd asked Captain Short if she was done with the East Bank Hospital Seizure report, when a stapler had collided with the side of his face. Needless to say, no more paper work was asked of her.
To her credit, Holly had made a valiant effort to stay focused on the reports. She knew they had to be done, had been told to do them and had every intention of complying but the curse was having none of it. By the afternoon, her desk was littered with countless coffee cups (she was always forgetting to take her old one with her) and she'd tried to sleep on just about every surface the room had to offer, including the top of the flat computer screen. She'd also beaten the office solitaire record by three hundred points, a game every bored teenager with a computer knows is fearsomely addictive. It had been a bad day, and all she wanted was for it to end, so she could go to sleep and stop wasting her time being awake and doing nothing.
Holly looked at the clock on the wall opposite her. 4:15 p.m., Haven time. She hadn't looked in ages, and last time it had said 4:12. She needed something to do, a way to fight the curse. With a heavy, melodramatic sigh she heaved herself out of her chair and trudged to the door, opening it wearily and stepping out into the corridor. Walking was such a chore, she had no idea why she'd never noticed it before. At approximately the speed of a tortoise on crutches she shuffled towards the coffee machine, wondering which inconsiderate sod had put it so damn far away. She was horrified to find, upon reaching it a small sign saying 'Out of Order' stuck over the control panel. All that work! For nothing!
If the curse had had it's way, she would have just sat down right there and not bothered to get up until she'd been forcibly removed, but Holly still had a certain willpower to resist the more dramatic effects. Shoulders drooping, feet dragging she forced herself along the corridor and up the stairs, to the machine on the floor above, earning herself a couple of weird looks as she went. It seemed that news of the curse's effects had spread pretty fast. Then again, how often did an officer break into the vault, get drugged, drink the entire contents of the drink vendor and throw things at passing colleagues in one week?
Coffee in hand, Captain Short eyed the steps, preparing herself for the long hike down. It was at that moment that the curse decided to deliver its final punch for the day. Suddenly, Holly's vision swam and blended around her, quickly blackening as she swayed at the top of the steps. She just had time to mutter a cry of surprise before her grip on the cup slackened and she felt her world begin to plummet around her.
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In total, seven people saw her fall, and as she lay still at the foot of the stairs, all bar one of them ran in a different direction for a medic. So much for team effort. Only Commander Root, who had been on his way to discipline one of his junior officers, ran towards her, with the misguided intention to catch her before she slammed into the concrete floor. But unfortunately gravity won the race and Holly landed with a sickening thud after tumbling down at least ten metres of sharp-edged steps.
Dread started to seep into Root's stomach as he took in her motionless form, the blood oozing from the cut on her forehead, the way her arm was twisted under her. Hand trembling slightly, he reached towards her neck, guiltily noticing the purple bruising that was already beginning to show, and pressed his fingers against her jugular. "Please, Frond, let her be alive..." he muttered. Relief swamped him as he felt the blood pushing rhythmically against his fingertips, steady and strong.
"Don't move her!" yelled a voice from behind him as a warlock dashed towards them. "There may be damage to her neck and spinal cord if you do!"
The medic crouched down opposite him. "Where did she fall from? The top?"
Root nodded, watching as a few dim sparks attempted to congregate around the captain's arm. "She must have blacked out at the top, I think. She didn't trip, just sort of toppled over."
Another medic arrived behind them, and groaned. It was the same one from earlier in the day. "Oh good Frond, not her again. She just can't keep herself out of trouble, this one." He paused for breath. "Er, sir, if you wouldn't mind, I need access..."
Root obligingly stepped out of the way. By now a small crowd had begun to gather, enclosing the group in a circle of legs.
The first medic was shining a light into each of Holly's eyes in turn. "She's out cold, but there doesn't seem to be any brain damage, or at least not any that I can tell." He turned to the people watching. "Someone get me a stretcher and a neck support! Now!"
The second medic was holding some sort of scanner over Holly's back. "There doesn't seem to be any damage to the spine or neck, but we need to proceed with caution until we can do a proper scan." He scrolled down the screen with a stylus. "She's fractured her arm though, and she may have mild concussion."
The first medic nodded. "Right. Let's get her to the medical wing, we can do further tests there. I'm not happy about healing that arm until I know exactly what's going on. Can you order a full CAT scan for me, please?"
His colleague nodded. "I'll do it straight away." He pulled a mobile phone from a pocket on his uniform and pushed his way through the crowd, dialling a number as he went.
Two more medics arrived on the scene with the requested equipment, and proceeded to strap the support around the captain's head and neck and roll her gently onto the stretcher.
The most senior medic of all those who had responded to the situation approached Root cautiously. You had to be careful with the Commander. His mood swings were legendary.
"Commander Root, sir, we'll need someone to accompany her to the med wing, to fill out paperwork and so forth. Standard procedure, you understand."
The commander nodded. "Of course. I'll come myself. As her senior officer, I assume there'll be things for me to sign."
The medic plucked up his courage. "Er, there is one more thing sir." He shifted uncomfortably. "The, er, bruises on her neck..."
"Obtained in the line of duty. I doubt very much that Captain Short would ever maintain a relationship with someone with abusive tendencies, if that's what you're implying."
The medic blushed. "No. Of course not. But I feel I have to ask. In the field, some of the women I treat..." He shook his head sadly. "You can only do so much for them, but sometimes a kind word is enough..." He trailed off and rubbed his eyes. "Sorry. Didn't mean to go off on one. Shall we?" And with that he led the commander in the wake of the unconscious captain.
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It was gone midnight by the time the medics finally allowed Holly to go home. After the scans had revealed no serious health defects, her arm had been magically healed, and she'd been generally fussed over for a few hours before she had at last been released, under strict orders to get some sleep, refrain from charging after goblins for the next few days (little do they know, thought Holly) and to steer clear of stairs for a while.
With a weary sigh, Holly pushed open the door to her apartment, chucked her key-card into the general mess that was the kitchen table and collapsed on her futon, feeling the sleep pulling her gently downwards. As a last thought she disentangled herself from the sling they'd given her at the hospital 'just to be safe' and lobbed it across the room. She was asleep within seconds.
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I know. Grab the rotten vegetables and your catapults, I won't resist... I'm sorry. All that waiting for that. I like to think it had some slightly funny moments, but that's just the deluded author's opinion... Anyway, please review, feel free to scream abuse and swear never to read anything of mine ever again, and I'll try to make later chapters better. The next one, gluttony, might be worse (if you can imagine that) but after that, they'll perk up again! Honest! Then you'll feel really sorry for Holly...
slime xxx