I do not own any characters or ideas created by Eoin Colfer
A/N We're now going to go to someone else's point of view. Guess who? Johnson! Not for the whole chapter, though. Thank you to all of my reviewers!
Chapter 8- The Factory
Damien was on a balcony in his $300,000 suite. It was big and comfy, but he couldn't wait to get back to Canada. But I'm not leaving until that kid is dead. He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Johnson inhaled deeply and thought when he would find Fowl.
"Sir! That kid must have paid the press big time! We're up to $1000 and they still haven't talked!" said Gordon, his second man in charge.
"Is that so? Pay them as much that is needed. We need to find the kid," Johnson replied. Gordon then looked at the floor.
"You know Damien, I think we're wasting our time getting this kid. You barely got away from the cops and from that explosion. We can get caught and all we've ever worked for will go to the ruins," Gordon said quite bravely. Gordon was Johnson's friend, so he decided not to shout.
"The kid simply has to die. I offered him money, he didn't accept. That got me mad. Simple as that." Gordon sighed under his breath. Damien is wasting his time. I bet the press doesn't even know where that kid is.
"Gordon, prepare to go underground. I think we coulduse some more technology," Johnson said.
"Yes sir," Gordon replied.
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Foaly was proudly showingthe grouphis Hydrospeeder 300. He was actually telling them how it worked, but he managed to squeeze in some show off words of his. Artemis was listening intently. That mud boy better not try to steal his ideas. Holly was just learning the basics of what Foaly was saying. She looked around at their group. The group was unusually big this time. But they would need it. By what Artemis had said, and what she had seen, Johnson was ruthless and smart. This combination wasn't good.
"Okay, and that's all I have to say about my incredible Hydrospeeder 300! Everyone get on and I'll contact you through your communicators!" Foaly said quite happily.
"No way, centaur," Trouble said. "You're coming with us." Foaly went white in the face, but five minutes later, he was at the controls of the Hydrospeeder, with a pain in his butt.
"Damn Sool…" he was muttering. "He didn't have to kick that hard." Holly was his copilot. The inside was as interesting as the outside. As much as she hated to admit it, Foaly had actually impressed her with this new speeder of his. The Hydrospeeder was mounted on a truck that had been proved "toxic safe" and they were headed to the swamp. To all of their surprise, more trolls had decided to try to pass the fire. It had died out, as Holly had expected. The survivors had hidden in the buildings again. Sool, which was driving the truck, turned so that the Hydrospeeder faced the swamp. The part of the truck that they were on moved toward the swamp. Finally, they were just barely over the surface. Sool got out of the truck, and jumped on top of the Hydrospeeder. He then entered through the top hatch. Foaly and Holly instantly began to maneuver the submarine down under the swamp.
"This is no swamp," Artemis and Sotter said together.
"What the hell is this, donkey?" Sool asked.
"A cavern… leading to caves apparently," Foaly responded. Foaly moved the Hydrospeeder on, into the cave that the pipe went into.
"These pipes are new," Lenz said. Everyone nodded in agreement. Holly was amazed at the Hydrospeeder 300. To someone that hadn't seen it move it would appear very bulky. But it was strangely maneuverable. They followed the pipe deeper into the cave.
"I see an opening up ahead," said Mulch. They moved through it. The pipe went to the surface. The Hydrospeeder followed. The group finally broke the surface and went to the shore. Foaly turned on all the "security precautions" for the Hydrospeeder 300. Holly studied her surroundings. There wasn't much to see except for a towering factory. It was all black and had very few windows. Some pipes were protruding the top and belching more toxic.
"The abandoned chemical factory?" Foaly said. "Of course!" He then lectured himself about not being stupid ever again. They all quickly debated and decided to go inside and face their enemy. Everyone was armed this time. They walked up to the factory. About 100 meters from the factory, there were metal bands inside the floor all around it.
"This is new. I know about these. They spit huge firewalls at you if you stand on them," Mulch said. "I know from experience." Holly gave him a look and he instantly began to eat the earth and make a tunnel for them.
"This is going to be fun," Artemis said sarcastically, and he went inside the tunnel.
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Johnson was in a speeder specially made for him and his associates. He was speeding toward his factory. Gordon was driving for him. Time to talk to the LEP commander. I think I'm going to need to crank up the toxic for them to listen. Finally, it came into view. But something else came into view. He got binoculars and checked.
"It looks like the LEP found us out. And some other humans know about them. Hurry up! We need to trap them," Johnson said to Gordon. He couldn't wait. Some action at last. "Get the trolls ready."
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"Someone's coming!" Kannel suddenly shouted. They all ducked just as a speeder flew over them.
"Intruders!" shouted an amplified voice that sounded familiar. "Prepare to die!" A battalion of trolls came out of the opening doors behind the owner of the factory. The lights on top of their heads were red. The Artemis recognized the owner.
The problem was, Johnson recognized him, too.
The trolls charged as one, in attack formation.
"Back to the tunnel!" Butler shouted. They scrambled through the tunnel and kept on running. If they fought they would get ripped to shreds. The trolls ran right over the metal bands but nothing happened. Johnson had turned off the fire. The trolls were gaining on them and they were gaining on the Hydrospeeder. They reached it and it took some time for Foaly to open it because of the "security precautions."
"Hurry up!" screamed Holly into his ear. They were jumping inside when the trolls arrived. Lenz, Sool, and Kannel, the last people outside, pulled out Neutrinos. Sool jumped in. Then Lenz barely made it.
"Come on!" Lenz shouted to Kannel.
"Go on without me!" he shouted back. The trolls were now jumping on the Hydrospeeder, looking for something to break. They bashed it with their powerful legs and bit it.
"COME ON!" Lenz shouted again. For an answer, Kannel closed the hatch and jumped off the Hydrospeeder. He then ran into the remainder of the trolls. It was a horrible sight. The trolls pounced on Kannel and bit into him. He feebly tried to shoot at Johnson, but no luck.
"NOOOO!" shouted Lenz. "BROTHER!"
"Brother?" Artemis asked Sool. Sool nodded.
"That's it!" Foaly exclaimed. He put the speeder under the surface, leaving the trolls to drown or to float on the surface. They went through the cave in silence except for Lenz's soft crying. Something flew past them once, but they couldn't identify it. When they got to the end of the cave, an explosion was heard. The thing that had flown past them had been a maneuverable bomb! It had exploded above them so rocks rained down on them. They hit the Hydrospeeder with incredible force. It was pummeled into the wall as they tried to get out of the avalanche of rocks. Foaly and Holly drove past the rocks the best they could. It still hit them horribly, but they were doing better by a considerable amount. They finally broke free. But there were two problems. One, the Hydrospeeder was critically damaged and two, the cave was now closed. Foaly took the submarine to the surface where it automatically shut down because of the damage.
"Damn that Johnson," Foaly said.
"I'll kill that bastard," Lenz said through sobs. Now they all had a reason to want him taken down. The hunt for revenge had started.
A/N I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I know it was short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless! Sorry about killing of Kannel, but I thought I needed to add some spice to it. REVIEW!