I do not own any characters or ideas created by Eoin Colfer
A/N I thought that would be a good idea to put. Anyhow, I would like to acknowledge Crystalocean and Foreverforgetful (I hope I spelt them right) for the reviews. On with the story then!
Chapter 2- The New Rebels
Commander Sool waited impatiently for his progress report. He was pacing his office and kept an eye on his comlink. Foaly walked in.
"Still pacing, are you? Well, they're almost there. The reason for taking so long is that they stopped at the local shop and bought some good ol' booze" Foaly finished happily. He didn't like anyone Sool had sent in the mission. He couldn't wait to see them busted.
"Who asked YOU donkey boy!" Sool demanded. Foaly shrugged. "I got bored." Sool tried thinking of a reason to shout at Foaly, but couldn't find one.
"Get back to researching on that nest" he grumbled instead. Foaly rolled his eyes.
"I did that two weeks ago! I already gave you all the information there is to know!" Sool shot him a piercing look that meant, GET THE HELL OUT OF MY OFFICE! Foaly left because if he stayed Sool was sure to take the chance and fire him. Back to that stupid nest he thought. It's just a stupid troll nest. Why send a whole team to check out a freakin' nest. Damn that Sool. I wish Julius were still alive…
Holly Short and Mulch Diggums sped through the outskirts of Haven city in a speeder. Mulch was in the back hinging and unhinging his jaw, a habit of his for when he got bored. Holly was at the controls, pushing them to their limits. She needed to get to that troll nest before the LEP team did. She knew about the team thanks to an insider she had been in contact with (coughFoalycough.)
"Mulch, we're almost there. The nest is in visual range" she called over her shoulder.
"Uh-huh" he responded, not really hearing her. Holly parked the speeder in a little cluster of rocks about 100 meters from the nest. They dismounted and walked off to the little hole in the ground. To any passerby, this would look like a small hole, which could be made by anything or anyone. But to Holly and Mulch, this was the entrance to the underground troll nest. A canyon of rocks surrounded it. They knew the whereabouts of it thanks to the insider (coughFoalycough.) Holly and Mulch made their way down the canyon of rocks carefully. When they got to the bottom, they armed themselves. Holly took out her Neutrino 2000 (she had kept one hidden in a secret stash, just in case) and Mulch took out a buzz baton, which Holly had provided. He also pulled out a small gun, which fired concentrated blasts of electricity.
"Where'd you get that?" Holly asked. Mulch smiled widely.
"I like the element of surprise. This is a little souvenir from someone who I came across." Holly shook her head. That Mulch, she thought. "I'll go first, Holly" Mulch said. He slipped through the hole easily. "Whoa" she heard him say. "It's deep." The words echoed. Holly went down next and clamped a hand over Mulch's mouth. She put a finger to her lips to show a sign which he knew too well as, shut up! She meant be quiet when she didn't have the fiery look in her eyes. They proceeded quietly. Holly groaned out loud. Another dead end. Stupid trolls, they both thought. They were going to go back but they heard a noise. A growling kind of noise.
"Troll" Mulch whispered. Holly rounded on him, making the, "SHUT UP!" sign, but it was too late. The troll rounded the corner, red eyes scanning them. It's fur stood up on edge, claws extending to their full length, teeth bared. (A/N please forgive me, but I forgot COMPLETLEY what a troll looks like, so bare with me.)
"Move very slowly…" Holly instructed. They backed up to the wall, the troll following closely. Mulch unhinged his jaw as quickly and quietly as possible and turned his back to Holly and the troll. He ate vigorously, trying to make a tunnel as quickly as possible. The troll sprang on its feet and pounced on Holly. She shot at the troll with the Neutrino to its head from underneath it. This just made it angrier. It's not dead? Holly thought to herself. She ran, trying to make some space. No such luck.
"Holly, come on!" Mulch shouted from inside his 5-meter tunnel. The troll was blocking her way, so she shot at it a bit more. It charged. She dodged. Simple as that. Holly ran for the tunnel and jumped. While in the air, she flipped and aimed at the entrance roof, and pulled the trigger. Rocks and debris fell down on the troll who was trying to get inside too.
"Phew" said Mulch.
"That was a close call," said Holly. They continued, Mulch in the lead and Holly in the rear.
"Okay, I got the end" Mulch announced. He ate some more and light went through to them. Mulch jumped out and hinged his jaw again. Holly clambered out after him, just to be met by a spectacular sight.
A huge cavern, lit with electronic lights. In the middle, a giant cylindrical machine, from top to bottom. On one side, a keyboard and a screen- with plans on them. When Holly was leaning in closer to see the plans, Mulch tugged at her sleeve. She turned to face him, quite annoyed at his timing. Mulch pointed around them. Holly followed his finger and her mouth opened widely when she saw what Mulch was so worried about. Trolls. They surrounded them and outnumbered them ten to one. Luckily, the trolls were sleeping. One of them started stirring. He was moving around and opened one eye just a bit. Holly, however, out of sheer terror, gasped.
"Shhhh!" whispered Mulch, but once again, that was enough for the trolls. Holly tried doing the, SHUT THE HELL UP! sign, but it was too late. The trolls opened their eyes instantly, all together, so suddenly that Holly gasped once again. Just then Mulch beckoned to their heads. The trolls had a green glow coming from their heads. Suddenly, the green glow turned abruptly to a red one, and the trolls bared their teeth, extended their claws, and their fur went on end. Holly and Mulch had their backs to each other, Neutrino in Holly's hand and buzz baton/charge gun in Mulch's hands. The trolls attacked. When Holly dodged one, she expected it to crash into the cylindrical machine, but instead it stopped abruptly right before it hit.
"They're being controlled, Mulch!" she shouted over the growling.
"I… know.. get off you stupid… ahhhh!" Mulch managed to respond through the fighting. Holly was surprised they were still alive. She fired and fired but nothing happened. Suddenly, Holly saw jaws and an incredible pain.
"Ahhhhh! Dammit! Stupid son of a…. Ahhh!" Holly continued swearing and cursing. She looked at her left leg and found it smeared in blood. Actually, more like covered in blood than smeared.
"Ahhhh! Bloody…Errr!" Mulch shouted. Holly looked over to him and saw his arm covered in blood. Now they were going to die. Die in a room full of trolls. When the LEP saw them, they would be a bloody mess. BOOM! A bomb exploded overhead and rocks, dirt and debris rained down on them. The LEPrecon team had arrived. They jumped down from their newly created hole and made battle with the trolls. They peppered them with Neutrino 2004 shots. I wish I could have a new gun, thought Holly. Battle raged on, and finally, the team sealed the doorways (which were strangely enough electronic) and finished off the last trolls.
"Get the rebels. Oh no, Lorrington is injured. Get him to the transport, Terron" ordered the leader of the team. Two team members went to Mulch and Holly with electrocuffs in their hands.
"Mulch?" Holly said to him.
"Yeah?" he answered. She beckoned to her utility belt. Mulch followed her finger and nodded. Suddenly, when the officers were about to cuff them, Holly shouted,
"NOW!" Mulch turned his back and closed his eyes firmly. Holly did the same, but she also threw 3 blinding bombs in the air. Her arm screamed in protest, (because she too had been hurt on her arm) but once she had her eyes shut, she used her magic on the wound. She also healed as much of her leg wound as possible. She opened her eyes after a minute or so and found everyone covering their eyes, on the floor. Mulch got up too.
"Wow. Those things really work" he said. Holly activated her wings and, Mulch holding a rope attached to her belt, flew out of the hole the LEP team had made.
They clambered out of the hole about 5 minutes afterwards. They climbed the canyon of rocks again, and saw the LEP transportation. Holly smiled. Mulch did the same. He pulled out a chip from his pocket.
"You sneaky devil! Is that the starter chip!" Holly exclaimed.
"You bet" he replied. Only minutes later, they were in the transport, escaping the LEP for the sixth time. Holly picked up her comlink when it was ringing, but accidentally dropped it when they went over a bump. She stopped the transport and picked it up. Unfortunately, she missed the call but there was a message. The message read- 6667.
"Mulch, isn't 6667 Artemis' code for life or death danger?" Holly asked.
"Uhhh.. hmmm.. yeah, it is. Why?" he asked.
"We need to get to Fowl Manor," she said urgently. And she sped off, faster than ever.
A/N Oh-oh. What's wrong with Artemis? Will Holly get there in time? Find out in- chapter 3! Sorry if there have been some last minute reviews and I didn't mention your name, but thank you to all my reviewers. REVIEW!