"You should know that when you betray someone, they're going to seek revenge." A masked elf said angrily

"Julius?" she whispered. The figure ripped the mask off and Holly found herself looking at her commander. She felt her eyes fill with tears as she saw the familiar face contorted with rage.

"The explosion..."

"You left me for dead! I was counting on you, but you gave up on me!" Root hissed, "So now, you get to see what I went through!" he gave her a smugly sinister look, "But you aren't going to get lucky like I did."

Tears began to slowly track down Holly's face.

Suddenly, the alarms from the blast doors began to sound, signaling that a flare was coming. "Goodbye Holly, have fun in the flare" he grinned evilly and turned.

"Commander! Please! Don't leave me here!" Holly sobbed

He didn't look back as he walked briskly to the safe side of the closing blast doors. "No! Wait!" Holly called to her old commander "Help me please! Don't leave me!" He had reached the other side of the doors "JULIUS! NO!" He didn't look back. "Please Julius" Holly begged tearfully. He walked away chuckling to himself.

"NO!" Holly cried as the sliding doors closed, and odd ringing sound issued from them...

Holly bolted into a sitting position as the communicator next to her bed let off another ring. The caller ID said 'Foaly URGENT'. Holly scrubbed at the tears on her face as she answered.

"Foaly, why are you calling me in the middle of the night! You were the one who was just saying that you were worried because it seemed like I wasn't getting enough..."

"Sorry, it's really important," Foaly cut her off "the Commander needs to see you immediately in the Ops. Booth" Foaly was breathless and sounded excited

"Foaly, what..?"

"Just come right now!" Foaly said and terminated the link

"What under the Earth?" Holly muttered, jumping up and pulling her clothes on as a knock sounded on the door. She grabbed her keys and opened the door. It was the security guard that she had scared off earlier.

"Miss..." he started

"I'm fine, I don't have any time, so get out of my way" Holly stepped outside and locked the door, cursing hypocritical donkeys, idiot commanders, and over protective security teams under her breath. She turned and rushed in the direction of Police Plaza without looking at the guard again. She hoped he had enough sense not to be there when she came back.

Holly stopped in her tracks as what she had called Foaly came back to her mind. She sighed. Maybe she was thinking too much about him. About Root. She was even starting to act like him. Holly chuckled, at least she wasn't turning purple all the time.

Holly was still lost in her thoughts when she entered Police Plaza. The receptionist didn't try to stop Holly as she hurried past; obviously, he had seen her bad mood earlier and didn't want to risk being in the path of her wrath.

Holly walked up to the door to the Ops. Booth, but the door opened before she got a chance to pound on it.

"FOALY! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? CALLING ME IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!" Holly shouted as the door shut behind her. She heard a gasp but ignored the second person in the room as she walked past him, intent on letting her frustration out on Foaly, "AFTER THAT 'WE'RE WORRIED ABOUT YOU' SPEECH AND EVERYTHING!"

"Holly, you won't mind after I tell you..." Foaly began, gesturing to something behind her

"You said that Sool wanted to see me; tell him that if he wants to see someone, he shouldn't send for them at such a late hour at night, or early hour in the morning!" she looked at her watch, indeed, it was just past midnight.

Foaly smiled happily

"I said that the Commander would want to see you, not Sool." Foaly said quickly, still trying to get her to turn around

Holly took a breath to continue her shouting, but stopped as Foaly's words sunk in, "You mean Sool's been replaced!" She laughed and punched the air in triumph, "Finally! By who?"

"He'll be replaced soon enough"

"You're confusing me. Then what are you talking about?"

Foaly just smiled and pointed in the direction that Holly had heard the gasp when she had entered the room. The other person seemed to get over his startlement and cleared his throat

"me, of course"

Holly whirled around at the familiar voice, her mouth open in astonishment. The figure stepped out of the corner of the room.

Holly fought to keep herself under control.

"you... how…?" Blackness was creeping in at the edges of her vision, and she felt her face grow hot. She knew that if she managed to keep herself from fainting, she would begin to cry. She could only fight off one at a time. She swayed slightly. The elf reached out to steady her, looking worried.

"Are you all right?"

Holly decided that she'd done enough crying lately and gave in to the darkness.

Bwahahahaha... cliffhanger! Sorry, couldn't help myself... So! Now you can go to that little button labeled 'review' that's calling your name. Please? -gets on knees and clasps hands, begging- with sugar on top? It would make my day/night. Oh! and thanks so much to my first reviewers:D