I do not own any ideas or characters created by Eoin Colfer
A/N I am glad that you are enjoying my story! I'm having fun writing it! This is a short author's note. OK? OK. On with it!
Chapter 12- A Rescuer Captured
Sool grunted when he saw the men. They definitely looked too rebellious to be professional S.W.A.T. He switched the earpiece back into Foaly's frequency (he had managed to find a frequency away from Foaly's reach.)
"Calm yourself, Short!" he barked before talking once again. "Donkey! Is that the S.W.A.T?"
"No messages, phone calls, or silent alarms have been sent to the S.W.A.T. anywhere in the area, boss," he answered. Sool swore.
"Team one! Go in from bottom to top! Team two, this way!" he barked his commands like any commander should. As much as he hated to admit it, Fowl couldn't be lost to Johnson. He flew to the top of the building and stopped in front of a vent. This is our way in… He put his easily fitting fingers in between the small gaps and began to pull. Trouble and Sotter helped. It was stuck tight.
"Screw this…" Sool backed off and shot the perimeter of the vent with a concentrated blast of his Neutrino. It fell with a clatter. Sool smiled triumphantly and marched in. Trouble and Sotter followed, cursing themselves for not thinking of that. Sotter closed it as not to attract attention. They flew down quickly, and landed on another vent. This one proved easier since they were on the inside. Trouble kicked it open and flew down, grabbed it, and put it back in place once they were all out.
"Damn! We gotta go!" Sotter cursed. The clatter of the vent had probably raised some suspicion from nearby humans. They flew down the hall, shields on, silently. Their earpieces crackled to life.
"We're in," Holly reported.
"Good. Split your team and come up to floor four. Sotter will meet with Diggums and Lenz in floor two. He has instructions," Sool replied gruffly. He briefly explained to Sotter what to do, and then dismissed him.
They met with Holly where instructed.
"Short, Juliet. Trouble, Butler. I'll get Fowl," Sool told them. "We'll catch Johnson later." They split. Sool hurried up the stairs to the fifth floor. From there, he went to door 5,6. Sool looked through the window. Artemis lay there, unconscious. Sool gripped the knob and pushed it down. The door opened. He flew to Artemis to wake him up. Am I going to enjoy this! And with that, Sool slapped him.
Artemis woke up instantly, breathing heavily.
"Ouch…" Artemis touched touch his cheek. It was burning. He saw Sool in front of him. "Not you!" he cried.
"To bad kid! There are armed men here to get you. Let's go." Artemis jumped out of bed and followed the fairy. His head hurt a considerable amount, and he guessed that he had been hurt. They ran down the hallway until guns exploded in front of them. Sool wordlessly raised his Neutrino and fired as a uniformed man ran around the corner.
"Got her/him!" sounded Holly and Trouble together.
"Check on the three dopes! They were supposed to tell me where the men were!" Sool shouted to Holly and Trouble. Artemis continued following Sool down the stairs until they reached Holly and Trouble. Lenz was sprawled unconscious on the floor. Mulch and Sotter were nowhere in sight. Artemis saw that Butler was awake. Juliet wasn't.
"I had a bit of a problem with Juliet," Holly told Artemis to answer his questioning glance. "The men got to her first. I got rid of them, and took Juliet out of there. She'll be asleep for awhile."
The men rounded the corner, weapons raised. One of them cackled triumphantly.
"I am Gordon. You are surrounded. 1/3 of our men have their guns trained on the boy. Tell the fairies to lower their shields or the boy will pay with his life," he said. Holly was first to oblige. Sool hissed in anger, but lowered his shield after Trouble followed suit. "Good. Now you can all die together." Butler grabbed Artemis and Juliet in a flash, and hurtled them around the corner. He then jumped after them, missing gunshots by inches. The fairies flew down at dizzying speed, and pulled up just in time to get some good shots. Gunshots erupted around the corridor.
"Foaly says that your things are on the first floor, in a room beside the register!" Holly shouted. Butler sprinted down the hallway. Trouble tossed him and Artemis a small gun. Artemis gripped the gun and staying near Juliet, he pulled the trigger.
Holly was amazed at how good a fighter Trouble and Sool were. They dipped and dived and fired in weak points. She did the same. She even used magic when it was needed. But it was clear that these men weren't just any reckless thugs. They were trained. She barely dodged a bullet most of the time. Once she had even needed to heal. She dipped, flew up, and fired a shot to a thug's mouth. He fell clutching it painfully. She hurried to another one, dodged a bullet, sent a spark of magic to him, and shot. The magic had made him dizzy and the shot had been unexpected. It hit his crotch quite painfully. One of the men hurried to her, to whack her with the butt of his gun. Sool intercepted with precision, and fired a volley of shots to many open or weaker parts of his suit. Trouble looked like he needed some help, as three men had surrounded him. Holly hurried to aid him in battle, blasting the humans. She dove under one and expected to fire, but a clicking noise joined her ears when she pulled the trigger. Empty reticule. She turned sharply to avoid collision with the wall, but instead met with the tip of Gordon's boot. He kicked without mercy, sending her flying. Trouble hurried to aid her, doing battle with an apparently more trained and protected Gordon. She healed some of her broken ribs, little by little until she was complete. Holly flew up once again and shot Gordon. He was definitely more protected. Johnson's favourite? When all the men were down except for Gordon, he ran. The fairies shot after him, but more men turned the corner.
"Let's go!" Trouble shouted. They switched to running instead. Holly and Trouble grabbed Juliet and flew away. Sool followed. Then Artemis. They continued running until they had made some distance and lost them through the maze that was Munich's General Hospital. Artemis had to take a long break to rest.
"Where's Butler?" Holly asked Foaly. Tapping on a keyboard.
"I tapped into the cameras but he doesn't appear anywhere… ah! I got him. Your boy is in the confiscated room. He has his gun… oh God! He's dressing! OK, I turned off that camera. There are some men heading your way!" Foaly shouted. Nice time to tell us… They all turned a corner.
"Stupid donkey…" Sool muttered. Three men passed without notice.
"Okay, he's done. You should try to get to him before Johnson's men do," Foaly commented. From then on, Foaly gave them Butler's location. Finally, they caught up with him. He had his suit back on, gun drawn. Butler handed Artemis his suit. He walked into a room and changed.
"That's better!" Artemis said cheerily as walked out. They continued walking.
"Why are we still here?" Trouble asked to no one in particular.
"We're gonna get Johnson," Sool grunted. At this, everyone quickened his or her pace. Walking came to jogging; jogging came to running (or flying.) when they turned the last corner however, the door was wide open. Everyone swore silently. They hurried to the door.
Three men jumped out in a flurry of gunshots.
"AHHH!" Artemis fell to the floor clutching his arm. Butler shot his gun and managed to get one of their feet. Artemis inspected his wound. The bullet had scraped his arm. Butler quickly moved him to the side along with Juliet again. They engaged in battle and were done in a mere minute. Holly attended to Butler's injured (from the fight) and Trouble to Artemis.
"We're out of here," Sool said. "Let's go."
"What about Mulch and Sotter!" Holly shouted.
"They're lost in action!" Sool challenged. They continued arguing until they began searching for the two missing men.
Sool and Trouble departed. He decided to take a right. Trouble followed.
"So Kelp, you think they're still in the building?" Sool asked Trouble.
"Actually, yes sir," he answered. They continued walking until they saw Mulch spread eagled on the floor. This is obviously a trap. Sool called everyone to meet there. When present, he crept toward him.
As expected, they met resistance. Eight men in exact. The battled and Holly woke Mulch up. He leapt into battle.
"Come out with your hands up!" someone ordered on a voice amplifier from outside. Damn, the cops. The fight got really messy. It was the hardest yet. BOOM BOOM. BAM BAM. They battled on and finished off the men. Only one thing was missing. Holly was gone. They searched for her, and eventually found Sotter in an unconscious state on the ground. Sool used the same strategy he had used with Artemis to wake him up. Now most of them were there.
Mulch couldn't believe that he had allowed Johnson's men to temporarily kidnap him! Oh well… we have to find Holly right now. He was alone with Sool as everyone had split up. Sool shot a blue uniformed man. But that one had been a police officer.
"A human law-person, eh? Pathetic," Sool commented as they walked by him. They continued walking but soon it became harder to get around.
"They're probably gone with her by now," Mulch said miserably.
"I agree. Let's get the hell out of here!" Sool shouted enthusiastically. The dwarf followed grumpily. Something pointy suddenly hit his back, and he blacked out.
Sool heard a thump, but he thought it was just one of Diggums' unusually loud footsteps. He looked behind him. Mulch was gone.
Foaly sat at the computer, switching from window to window.
"Stupid Mud Men," Foaly muttered. "They're supposed to put cameras everywhere! Not just in some places!" Sool's voice crackled into life.
"Diggums is gone! Everyone abort! Out of the building! Now!" Wow. That was unexpected. Holly and Mulch? He checked the cameras again. Finally everyone was visible. They hauled up Butler to the vent. From there, he climbed. Trouble and Lenz carried Artemis up, and the rest flew out.
"You guys better watch out. Police everywhere. A helicopter headed your way, too. Get the cam-foil on and leave!" he told them. He hoped they did as they were told.
An hour later, they arrived, sweaty and tired.
"How much does this mammoth weigh?" asked Lenz, pointing at Butler. Butler snarled and he quieted.
"Soooo… two missing people?" Foaly asked casually.
"Yes unfortunately," Artemis muttered, rubbing his eyes.
"We're going to save them right?" Sotter asked.
"A search for convicts is a waste of time. So we're not!" Sool said, having a hard time not to show his happiness on his face.
But Artemis had different plans.
A/N Hey! Whatcha think about that? Good, eh? I'm just kidding. Tell me what you think, ok? REVIEW!