Chapter 3: Siege

At its height, Camelot was the foremost global socioeconomic hub for fairies, wizards, and mundanes; all three factions were not only cognizant of each other but also collaborated closely in various areas, such as metallurgy, science, mathematics, and architecture. For instance, goblins, demon-warlocks, and wizards worked together to develop the foundations of the People's time-stops and the wizards' black wards; Merlin (who was a demon-warlock and human hybrid himself), Viviane (the elf who was otherwise known as the Lady of the Lake), and dwarven King Thorin combined their knowledge and skills to forge King Arthur's fabled weapon, Excalibur. For a while, it appeared that Merlin's dream of integrating the three historically closed and disparate societies would be realized within his own lifetime.

Unfortunately, Morgaine Le Fay and Mordred brought a swift end to that dream. Within a decade, Camelot lay in ruins as the Knights of the Round Table engaged in a civil war that ended with a single survivor (Bedivere), and the mundanes turned against both the wizards and the fairies due to the atrocities that Morgaine Le Fay had committed through her magic. Consequently, as Arthur's death left a power vacuum that only exacerbated the mundanes' civil war, wizards and fairies quietly retreated into the shadows, setting up their own societies away from the mundanes' prying eyes.

The fairies' retreat from mundane society was far more tumultuous than that of the wizards since there was an additional point of contention: whether to retreat underground or not. During the subsequent Great Schism, one group of fairies (the People) chose to completely abandon the surface and set up several colonies below the surface of the Earth while the other (the Surface-Dwellers) stayed on the surface with the wizards.

On one hand, the People retained their autonomy and invested heavily in science and technology until they were centuries ahead of their mundane counterparts; on the other hand, their magical knowledge became heavily diluted over generations. Meanwhile, the Surface-Dwellers, by virtue of their close contact with the wizards, maintained close ties to magic and remained as magically powerful as ever. But, for the most part, they lost their autonomy and were regarded as second-class citizens at best by the wizards.

The elves were one such race among the Surface-Dwellers. Unlike the centaurs, the elves were neither united as a race nor hostile to wizards from the onset. Instead, they were a collective of races, from Wood Elves and Shadow Elves to Water Elves and Stone Elves; only the Earth elves, which previously constituted the largest portion of the elvish race, chose to join the People. Each elvish race had its own culture, laws, and government; for instance, the wood elves possessed a direct democracy given their low population while the shadow and stone elves' political systems were imperial in nature.

Since the Great Schism had left their numbers greatly depleted, the surface-dwelling elves opted to maintain close diplomatic and economic ties with the wizards; this turned out to be their undoing due to their lack of unity. Much like the British East India Company many centuries later, the wizards set up heavily armed trading posts in various elvish territories and aided elvish leaders in their civil wars.

This wasn't as hard as one would imagine since the fall of Camelot and the following Great Schism had completely upended the elvish economy and society; elvish leaders were anxious to ward off civil unrest, so they eagerly distracted the populace through patriotic wars. Of course, these wars were primarily funded through land/trading concessions to wizarding businesses; as elvish numbers rapidly dwindled, wizarding mercenaries also played a more prominent role in these wars.

Ultimately, matters came to a head when the various wizarding mercenaries turned against all of the elves in a stunning coup during the Battle of Plassey; absorbed by their own grueling wars, the various elvish races had long been estranged, so none of their leaders bothered to cross-reference the source of their wizarding mercenaries. Thus, they missed the fact that the wizards' fledgling Ministry of Magic had long since united all of the individual trading posts and mercenary companies under their banner, which in turn led to their complete rout at Plassey.

Consequently, the Ministry of Magic negotiated a harsh treaty with the elvish survivors, whereby they would bind themselves to high-ranking wizarding families in exchange for their continued survival. The binding ritual produced the first house-elves, thereby eliminating the concept of free, surface-dwelling elves for the next millennium.


Much like the surface-dwelling elves, the People's goblins fell hard and fast after the Great Schism and the subsequent relocation underground.

The surface-dwelling goblins fought several vicious wars against wizards; even though they lost most of these campaigns and were generally relegated to an inferior status within wizarding society, the goblins not only managed to maintain and refine their magical knowledge, especially in the demesnes of warding and metallurgy, but also managed to wrangle several concessions from their opponents, such as a monopoly over their banking system. So, on the whole, the surface-dwelling goblins did relatively well for themselves.

Meanwhile, the People's goblins suffered a series of setbacks from the very beginning itself. Their greatest supporters, the demon warlocks, chose to move into a separate dimension altogether rather than hide underground like the rest of the People. The remaining races that comprised the People opted to base their society on science; they reasoned that magic had led to the fall of Camelot and the Great Schism, so science would become their magic and would allow them to outpace all other groups, above or below the earth. The goblins disagreed, insisting that the People needed BOTH in order to thrive. As arguments between the two camps became more heated, extremists among the goblins advocated for a magic-only approach; eventually, the goblin race broke out into a civil war over the issue.

Within a decade, the extremists had won; it didn't help that the rest of the People were unwilling to get involved in goblin conflicts, especially since they were hard at work on building Haven (the first underground city), reestablishing ties with Atlantis, and developing new modes of transportation. In fact, the first shuttles were just covered and heavily shielded broomsticks; as time went on, the centaurs were instrumental in replacing the shuttles' magical components with pure electronics, if only because the future generations had completely forgotten how to work with more sensitive, convoluted magics. Over time, the People even began blending the history of Camelot with stories of their earlier wars with humans, so their Book increasingly focused on the negative aspects of humanity and neglected those of the People themselves; this process of self-glorification also meant that the People conveniently forgot about wizards and generally viewed "Mudmen" as an inferior and warlike, albeit far more numerous, species.

But back to the subject of goblins - the extremists were stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, they didn't want to move back to the surface and risk bleeding out their limited numbers in wars with mundanes or wizards; on the other hand, they also didn't want to adopt the rest of the People's exclusive focus on technology, which was increasingly distancing their race as a whole from the People. So, the extremists divided up into gangs and fought for the limited, underdeveloped areas on the outskirts of Haven; much like the pureblood wizards, they practiced intensive in-breeding and clung to tradition, even as the number of available resources for magical learning dried up due to internecine gang warfare. For example, the goblins' equivalent of the Library of Alexandria, which consisted of many of the major magical works that they had produced during the days of Camelot, was burned down during the first major gang conflict.

Furthermore, by the end of the goblin civil wars, most of the survivors not only belonged to the extremist faction but were also generally the youngest, least magically-experienced goblins; the older, more experienced goblins were more likely to be deployed to the front-lines in the hopes that their arcane magics could somehow yield a massive victory. Thus, it was no surprise that by the turn of the century, the underground goblins' knowledge of magic had dwindled to basic fire spells even as their numbers began to explode once again.

It is also worth mentioning that this rapid fall also meant that the rest of the People viewed the goblins with disdain and contempt. Where they had once been renowned as peerless magicians and warriors, the goblins were now seen as petty criminals, the dregs of society. In fact, Haven's first Council established Howler's Peak as a goblin-only prison purely because they felt that goblins were too stupid and aggressive to house in the underwater environs of Atlantean prisons. Whether or not this was true, the Council set a precedent in that the People began seeing the goblins' stupidity as a hereditary defect rather than a product of history.

This would prove to be their undoing.


Gringotts

At first glance, it appeared to be business as usual at the Gringotts branch in Diagon Alley.

There were 7 clerks at the front desks, and the lobby continued to be saturated with defensive enchantments and wards. The goblins at the front desk were as taciturn as usual and focused on getting the wizards out of their hair as quickly as possible.

What none of the wizarding clientele could have known was that the goblin warriors who served as the teeth behind the wards were currently busy elsewhere.

Given Gringotts' well-deserved reputation as a veritable stronghold against thieves, one would have to be mad to try to break in; that said, if one were insane enough, now was definitely the best time to pull off a heist.


Howler's Peak

In the aftermath of the Fowl Affair, massive bank runs had ensued; after all, this was the first time in living memory that humans had kidnapped a fairy and had successfully obtained a huge chunk of gold. Even if war was no longer a possibility by the People's own rules (given that Fowl had outwitted the time-stop), who was to say that other Mud-men would not follow in Fowl's footsteps? The People no longer felt that their gold was safe.

In response, the Council completely overhauled the People's economic structure. There was now a single bank, the Monetary Authority, under the Council's direct control, which housed all of the gold owned by the People. In exchange for bringing in their gold, citizens were awarded the requisite amount of "credits," the new official currency.

While the Council initially contemplated adopting an actual paper currency, Koboi Industries' representatives convinced them otherwise by offering to build the infrastructure for a new digital currency for free. After completing the project in record time, Koboi Industries went above and beyond the call of duty by including an AI that would manipulate liquidity as necessary based on market conditions; a single team in the Monetary Authority would have to initially monitor the AI and train it on a case-by-case basis, but within a few years, it would require little to no organic input.

Of course, amidst this upheaval, the Council had to rework the LEP's priorities. Surface missions had always been risky and expensive, but the Fowl Affair had worsened the People's already-low opinions of Mudmen (magical or otherwise) and fears of a Mudman invasion. As far as the Council and a majority of the People were concerned, now that the economy was finally stabilized once again, it would be best to cut off all contact with humans and the surface altogether. Consequently, the LEP was directed towards collecting any gold still in circulation (against the Monetary Authority's edicts), shutting down dwarven racketeering, and generally maintaining law and order below-ground.

In the process, Recon was downsized significantly, going from several hundred fairies to less than forty. Thanks to Foaly's ACORN project, fairies no longer needed to go above-ground to perform the Ritual and replenish their powers; this allowed the Council to effectively prohibit all fairies from going above-ground, so Recon was reassigned to keeping watch over trolls and guarding shuttle-ports to prevent illegal traffic.

All of this meant that Root would have been out of a job were it discovered that he was using Harry to keep an eye on the surface and had designated Holly and Foaly as the boy's handlers.

Given Recon's severely reduced size, there was no way in hell that Root could have managed to deploy enough forces to handle troll outbreaks, loose cannons, or illicit smugglers; the Council liked to see the effects of its legislation through rose-tinted lenses, so as far as it was concerned, its edict prohibiting all contact with the surface was a resounding success. The reality was that even the LEP's best efforts below-ground couldn't achieve that goal, and it was actually extremely poorly equipped to handle violations at the moment.

Harry was the equalizing factor. Where Root would previously send in an entire Recon team to take down a troll, he sent in Harry instead; where a few LEP operatives or dwarven inmates looking for reduced prison sentences would infiltrate smuggling rings and set them up to fail, he sent in Harry instead. Root couldn't use Recon above-ground as liberally as before, so Harry became his fist, and Holly and Foaly his eyes and ears as they monitored Harry.

Meanwhile, the LEP's "test case," Holly, had completed over 60 missions successfully over the last 5 years, breaking Root's record of 40 missions over an 8-year period. Combined with the fact that Holly had guided Harry to success in all of his missions, normally, Holly would have been a shoe-in for the position of a Major.

Unfortunately, given her central role in the drama that was the Fowl Affair, the Council held her as a scapegoat and tried to fire her; when they were forced to backtrack due to Root's threat to resign, they resigned themselves to butting in from time to time and relegating her to menial or undesirable duties. Case in point - she still wasn't a Major, and to commemorate her 60th successful mission, she had been assigned to guard duty at Howler's Peak.

"Couldn't they have assigned me to Atlantis at least?" Holly mumbled to herself.

Her partner, Chix, smacked his lips dreamily. "Yeah, their sushi is amazing. And you get to see the dolphins and porpoises swimming by - I mean, the views are great! Here, there's just stone walls and a bunch of canyons."

He added slyly, "Speaking of sushi -"

"For the last time, Chix, I'm not interested in dinner."

Chix smirked. Not for the first time, Holly cursed the partner that she'd been assigned; like his fellow sprites, Chix was loud, cocky, and absolutely convinced that all ladies would eventually faint in awe in his presence. Not only did this mean that she had to put up with his constant flirting, but she also had to essentially perform both guard duty and surveillance all by herself.

"Corporal, before you get started again, why don't you make a pass through the corridors while I keep an eye on the cameras? As it is, I've been kind of doing both for the last few hours, so maybe you can start contributing now."

"Sure thing, sweets. Don't worry - by the time I get back, you'll be begging me for a date. The ladies always do."

Holly rolled her eyes. "By the time you get back, it's more likely that I'd have fallen asleep if only to escape your horrible attempts at flirting."

Holly hated guard duty. On one hand, she knew that it was a vital task as she and Chix were effectively the barrier between a prison full of angry goblin criminals and Haven; on the other hand, she literally had nothing to all day other than stare at cameras or patrol the corridors. Occasionally, supply shuttles would malfunction, and she'd have to go out to the canyons and restart them; frankly, that was the most exciting part of the job since it gave her the chance to fly.

Otherwise, there was no adrenaline, no excitement in this job. It couldn't compare to hunting down a fleeing criminal in a high-speed chase through downtown Haven or corralling a loose troll away from the tunnels or shuttle-ports back to its pen.

Although, to be honest, Holly had to admit that she was slightly envious of Harry; not only were his missions surface-based (oh, how she missed flying above-ground and feeling the fresh air buffeting her face), but his missions...well, they were what she had imagined doing when she had first signed up for the LEP. It's what she had begun doing until the entire Fowl Affair.

'At least, I get to live vicariously through him as his handler. Boy, he's grown up a lot in the last few years. He's got solid control over his magic, and with Foaly's help, created a solid suit of armor that integrates both runes and fairy tech to give him an edge in battle.'

At the same time, there was a part of Holly that was always terrified for Harry and clucking over him like a mother hen during his missions; the boy was as impulsive as she was, and that was saying something since elves were considered the most impulsive and emotional race among the People. In fact, she had insisted upon becoming his handler after he and his friend, Dobby, (and weren't house-elves a big surprise) single-handedly burned down Malfoy Manor; that way, she could AT LEAST keep an eye on his antics.

'I mean, it's sweet that he wanted to free all the house-elves, but did he have to wait for Malfoy to come back? Couldn't he have disguised himself at least, with his glamours or whatever? Not to mention the WidowMaker - maybe if Malfoy hadn't recognized him, we wouldn't have a magically-enhanced assassin after him. Well, here's to hoping that his latest mission in Istanbul went smoothly.'

Not that it would - Holly had jokingly coined the term, "Potter Effect," to describe the chaos that followed in Harry's wake, even if he wasn't on a mission and was simply visiting a place. Case in point - their first meeting. 'How many magical 8-year-olds would have accidentally teleported to the exact location that a teenage criminal mastermind was lying in wait to kidnap a fairy?' Holly though fondly.

Holly's musings were cut short when one of the screens flickered. 'That's odd.'

"Corporal, report in. Where are you at the moment?"

"Passing through corridor 8, sweets, right by the prison entrance. There's a visitor, Generall N'Zall, wants to see his cousin or something. I'm going to go give him the standard check-up."

"Corporal, I don't see any visitor in the cameras for corridor 8. In fact, I don't see you there either."

"Relax, sweets. The cameras glitch from time to time, it's probably just some interference or something."

Which was total bullshit. Foaly had personally designed the cameras and security measures for Howler's Peak, and from what Holly knew about her centaur friend, he probably conducted regular security checks and updates, so the probability that this was a glitch was less than nil.

"Corporal, draw your weapon. I think that -"

"Would you relax already?! Everything's fine. I mean, it's just -"

BOOM!

Holly was thrown out of her chair and back against the wall; fortunately, her finely honed reflexes allowed her to hit the wall with her feet and push off against it to land on the ground in a crouch, Neutrino-2000 drawn. There was only static on the screen with camera 8's feed.

BOOM!

Camera 7 was down. Holly had rushed out of the room and was punching in the communications code for Foaly.

BOOM!

Camera 6 was down.

"Foaly, Howler's Peak is under attack! Inform the Commander and get some men her ASAP!"

"Wait, what? Did you just say that Howler's Peak -"

BOOM!

Camera 5 was down.

"Just get some men here!" Holly shouted. "We've lost half of the surveillance feeds already, and my partner is down."

"Will do, Holly. Hang in there."

"Do I have a choice?"

BOOM!

Holly sprinted through the corridors.

'Me and my big mouth - I just had to wish for more excitement, didn't I?' Holly thought grimly.

Holly's first priority was to reach corridor 8, assess the situation, and recover Chix. After that, it was to put down the intruders before they could release any prisoners.

'The last thing that I need is to be stuck in a goblin prison with rampaging inmates.'

BOOM!

'And these explosions aren't helping.'

Holly ran down the stairs as fast as she could.

BOOM!

She was surprised to see a group of heavily armed goblins swarming into the corridor 7. Holly instinctively shielded herself before they could see her, and luckily, any goblins staring in her direction only saw a flicker.

She saw the goblins plant charges on each prison door in the corridor; once they stepped back, the leader pulled out a trigger and pressed the button.

BOOM!

A line of flame and electricity arced through each door, which promptly groaned and collapsed.

Holly stared at the sight with a gaping mouth. Goblins were supposed to be...stupid. For Frond's sake, they weren't supposed to be smart enough to operate bombs, much less develop magically-enhanced ones.

And having spent several years working with Harry and Foaly on magically-enhanced armor and weapons, Holly could definitely tell when magic had been combined with weaponry.

If there were any lingering doubts that these weren't the same goblins that she was used to, they were dashed as she continued down to corridor 8. Another group of goblins rushed into the prison, and this time, they hacked through the doors with their swords and axes alone.

They had kicked Chix's body aside, and Holly could see it laying near the metal detector.

Slowly, Holly sidled along the wall and approached the body. 'Just have to retrieve him and get out of here. There are too many of them, especially since most of the inmates should be loose now. I can't take on all of them at once - especially these new guys.'

Unfortunately, Holly's luck ran out at that moment; the lead goblin in corridor 8 stiffened and turned his head. He froze as his eyes raked over Holly's exact position.

"There! She's invisible - do not let her get away!" he roared.

His cohorts roared and rushed towards Holly. Seeing no point in shielding any longer now that her cover was blown, Holly activated her thrusters and leaped above the charging goblins. She back-flipped and landed right next to Chix's body; quickly taking his vitals, she was relieved to see that he was still alive. He had a few mild burns and a moderate concussion.

Taking out her Neutrino, Holly attempted to fire a few shots at the sneering goblins, but nothing happened. 'What the-'

"What's the matter, elf? Gun not working?" a goblin sneered.

Holly tossed the now-useless gun aside, grabbed Chix, and attached him to her harness. Her Moonbelt instantly took some of the weight off her back, so she was able to launch her Double-Dex's thrusters and shoot straight out the entrance.

Just in time too - the recently released inmates and the invading goblin warriors from the other floors all came rushing down the stairs into corridor 8, roaring for elvish blood. They were free at last, and they wanted revenge against their captors. The goblin warriors, on the other hand, were simply relishing the fight and the fact that they had reconnected with their underground brethren after so long.


Holly pushed the throttle to its maximum level, desperately trying to outrun the wave of goblins behind her.

'Who were those guys? The second set of goblins were superficially similar to the ones we've seen before, but they had different weapons and a better command over magic. Could they be from the Wizarding World?'

Holly's musings were cut short as she saw a massive fireball approach her. She swerved and narrowly avoided it. Using her helmet cameras, she zoomed in on the area from which the fireball came and saw a sea of goblins.

"D'Arvit."

The goblins were chanting and combining the sharp rocks of the canyon with wreaths of flame - flames that took on the shapes of chimeras, lions, dragons, and various other animals. At the end of a chant, they punched upwards, and a rock instantly jutted upwards and catapulted the ball of flame and rock into the air - directly towards Holly.

Holly ducked, bobbed, and weaved through the incoming shower. She knew that she had to lose these goblins before she entered the canyons, where the narrow walls would constrict her movements and make her a sitting duck. 'But I can't go any faster on these wings. If only -'

A lightbulb lit in Holly's head; she swerved around yet another incoming missile and ducked behind a rock outcropping near the entrance to the canyon. Given the goblin army's current pace of attack, it wouldn't last long - just long enough for Holly's gambit.

"Dobby!" she shouted.

POP!

"Dobby is here!" the creature squeaked. "How can he helps Missy Holly?"

"Get me out of here, Dobby! Back to Haven!"

Dobby squealed in delight. "Dobby gets to see Haven! Dobby always wanted to see ours city. Missy Holly-"

A blast leveled off half of the outcropping. "NOW, Dobby!" Holly screamed.

Dobby promptly grabbed hold of Holly's arm, and with a "POP!", the trio disappeared.


Haven

POP!

"D'Arvit!" Root swore as Dobby, Holly, and Chix suddenly appeared in the middle of his office.

"Commander, you need to recall the strike team that is being sent to Howler's Peak!" Holly gasped out.

"Captain, what's going on? And who is -"

"There's no time, Commander. We need to call off the strike team and get some medics for Corporal Chix. Hell, call back all LEP officers to Haven - the goblins will be marching here next."

"Goblin army? That's preposterous! They're too divided, and even if somebody managed to unite them, they're too stupid to actually operate powerful weapons."

"These goblins aren't the same as the ones we're used to dealing with, Sir," Holly retorted tersely. "I suspect that they're from the Wizarding World because they're mixing magic with our weapons, and some of them are using enchanted swords and the like. Here's my helmet's video feed, for your convenience."

Holly forwarded the feed to Root, who swore as he saw the armored goblins break out the inmates using special explosives. His eyes widened as he caught the missiles catapulted at Holly by the goblin army in front of Howler's Peak.

"We need to get this to the Council right now."

"Sir, with all due respect, we don't have time for that. We need to act now."

"Captain, much as I would love to act immediately on this information, you know that the LEP's stock with the Council has been declining over the last few years. I don't want us to be dragged through additional hearings or inquiries -"

"Maybe so, Sir. But you saw the video. And you saw how my Neutrino stopped working as the magical concentration increased; our tech's not used to working with that level of magic. My wings only survived because Foaly made a matching set for me and Harry, and his pair had to account for magic. Frankly, we're sitting ducks once the goblins get here."

"Our DNA cannons shouldn't be affected though," Root argued back. "Yeah, the Neutrinos and wings were designed by Koboi Enterprises, but Foaly built those himself. And knowing Foaly, he probably compensated for magical interference."

"Maybe so. But my instincts are buzzing, and I have a bad feeling about this, Sir. We need to evacuate as many civilians as possible in case those cannons don't work; right now, all our begs are in the cannon basket."

Root studied her carefully. Holly was one of his finest officers, and her instincts hadn't led her wrong yet. Thus far, she had handled the situation excellently, getting both herself and her colleague out of a war-zone with minimal damage and bringing back vital intel to HQ.

"Captain," he began cautiously. "I'm going to go ahead and report these findings to the Council. During that time, of course, I trust you and the rest of my officers to keep track of this situation and respond to incoming threats appropriately. Do you understand, Captain?"

"Perfectly," Holly replied with a straight face.

"Good," Root nodded. "I leave you to your devices, Captain. Good luck."


As Root left the office, Holly turned to Dobby.

"Dobby, could you rally the liberated elves' network and get them to teleport as many civilians and officers as possible out of the streets and into the LEP base? If the DNA cannons at Haven's entrance fail, then the plasma doors on base are the only remaining safeguard, so this should be the safest place."

Dobby nodded and popped away.

Holly took a deep breath and opened a communication channel to Foaly in her helmet.

"Holly! Thank Frond you're alive! I saw the whole thing from your helmet feed!"

"Good to see you too, Foaly. Listen, can you send out a message to all of the officers in the field? Summon them back to base?"

"Holly, we should be fine. The DNA cannons -"

"Just in case, Foaly. I've got a hunch about this. Please."


"D'Arvit! What the hell are you?!"

"Me is Blinky! Me is getting yous out of harm's way!"

"Wait a sec-"

Blinky grabbed the bewildered pixie's arm, along with that of her husband and child, and popped away.


"Ah! Get out of my bathroom!"

"Me is Remy! Come with me if yous want to live!"


Harry initially had the bright idea of freeing each and every house-elf in Britain after his success at Malfoy Manor; Dobby had quickly disabused him of that notion, pointing out that the slave bond drove many elves mad if they weren't bound to a wizard. Only a few strong-willed or extremely tortured elves like himself or his peers at Malfoy Manor rejoiced upon being freed.

So, Harry revised his plan; the liberated elves would go through the wizarding world, pinpointing the house-elves that were most open to being emancipated, and once they'd prepared a sufficiently large list, Harry and his elves would go on to free them. In this way, he built up a moderately large network of liberated house-elves and used them to gather information and keep an eye on the wizarding world.

On the side, he studied the particulars of the house-elf slave bond and worked on eliminating it altogether; as a part of his work with the LEP, Harry inevitably ran into many foreign wizards, and he consulted with them on the issue. Fortunately for him, while European wizards were lukewarm at best towards his mission, he received significant help from American wizards, particularly one Rupert Giles in Sunnydale, CA; thanks to that collaboration, he had achieved moderate success thus far as he had managed to eliminate the pain that usually accompanied the severing of ties between master and elf. Now he just had to convince the captive house-elves of that.

At any rate, Harry had made a point of introducing Holly to newly liberated elves as proof that they were once free and deserved to be free once more. Now, these house-elves were repaying the favor by helping Holly and the People in their hour of need.


That aside, while the house-elves were gradually moving Haven's citizens into LEP HQ, Root was arguing with the Council.

"You're missing the point. The goblins are attacking Howler's Peak, and we need to take action now!"

"Commander Root, need I remind you that this information comes from a suspect source. It is simply preposterous to think that goblins could be smart enough to launch such an attack."

"Well, our goblins, sure, but -"

"The Wizarding World has no reason to attack us," Councilor Ark Sool replied dismissively. "We have had no relations with them since we broke off ties during the Fowl Affair, and last we heard, they had plenty of issues to deal with themselves. And surface-world goblins? Please - it's well-known that all fairies retreated below-ground."

"You morons! Didn't you bother collecting information on the magical creatures that wizards deal with? Centaurs, elves, goblins - a lot of them seem to be our surface-world counterparts, so obviously some of us stayed above-ground. So -"

"Commander Root, do not interrupt us again," Councilor Carretez responded sharply. "Our point is that we can't see a motive behind such an attack. Even if the surface-world goblins somehow found out about underground counterparts, why would they try to liberate them now? Especially since their counterparts are in prison? Wouldn't they try to contact us instead and try to get a better idea about the situation first? That's the logical thing to do."

Ark Sool chimed in. "Moreover, how did Captain Short get this information to you so quickly? Howler's Peak is at least an hour away from Haven. Judging by the time, she was here fifteen minutes after the attack began. She's obviously making this up."

"FOR WHAT REASON, YOU MORON!" Root roared.

The group's bickering was abruptly cut off by a now-familiar, "BOOM!".

Vinyaya - the only one who had been silent throughout the discussion - pressed the "Activate" button on the holo-communicator. 'Must have punched in the codes for the sentries already - smart woman. I knew that I could count on her support.'

"Councilor Vinyaya," the sentry saluted, sweating profusely. "We're under attack!" He stepped away from his holo-communicator, and the Council saw a sea of goblins - the same sea as in the video that Root had just shown them.

And this sea was producing the same missiles as before.

"Activate the DNA cannons. Fire your Neutrinos at them if they get too close to the wall," Sool commanded.

"Yes sir!" the sentry saluted - right before a missile came crashing down with a roar onto the spot where he was standing. The holo-communicator cut off.


Sentry Sorkin wiped away the sweat from his forehead. 'Never seen such a large army before. Aren't goblins supposed to be too stupid to work together? Nah, doesn't matter - the DNA cannons should take care of them.'

He punched "Confirm" when the interface displayed the goblin species and "Activate" to begin firing.

The cannons began rumbling, and their nozzles reoriented themselves so that they were directly facing the goblin horde. Sorkin relaxed as they emanated a high-pitched whine; they were charging and getting ready to roar.

"Get ready - "

PEEW!

A few sparks spat out of the nozzle.

"What?!" Sorkin gasped. "This can't be happening. They're supposed to work!"

The goblin horde drew closer, and their missiles were getting closer to the cannons' control center.

"D'Arvit! Work, dammit! Work!" Sorkin kept punching the "Activate" button, but now, the console was beginning to splutter and hiss in smoke.

"Oh no," Sorkin said with dawning horror. "We're doomed."

Those were his last words as a missile crashed down onto the control center at that moment and completely obliterated it.


"What?" Foaly gasped incredulously. He was monitoring the sentries' helmet feeds and was shocked to see that the DNA cannons had utterly failed.

'But I modified them to account for magical interference. Heck, everything that I design these days has that modification, thanks to Harry. What -'

Foaly froze as he realized, 'The Koboi upgrades. Those patches were applied to all publicly visible weaponry; the only things that didn't get them were Harry and Holly's armor and wings. Everything else..."

Foaly instantly began typing in the codes to open up a communication channel to Root.

Except nothing happened; his screen froze.

Then, everything in his lab shut down abruptly, leaving him the dark.

Alone.

Foaly stumbled blindly towards the door and searched the wall for the emergency-exit lever; he pulled it down but was dismayed to see that the door didn't open.

"Why, Foaly, did you really think that you could just waltz out of here that easily?" Koboi's voice emanated from the speakers.


"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE DNA CANNONS DIDN'T WORK?" Ark Sool roared into the communicator of Root's helmet, which had been helpfully donated to the Council after the sentries' holo-communicator had been destroyed.

"I mean exactly what I said," the sentry replied irritably. "They hissed and whined and spat out a bunch of sparks. At this rate, they're going to be demolished in a few seconds by the missiles. The goblins are damn close to breaching the gates, and we can't hold them back since our weapons don't work either."

He continued, "A bunch of them are just blitzing us with axes - carving us right up, those are. Some of those axes/swords look primitive but are spitting out bolts of energy like our DNA cannons should have. You know what, I'm getting out of here!"

"Negative, soldier, hold your ground! I repeat -"

Root snorted. "He's gone, you fool. Honestly, I can't blame him. We need to relocate as many civilians to LEP HQ as possible. At the very least, we can arm them there and get a temporary respite thanks to the plasma walls."

POP!

Root would never admit it, but he snapped a quick photo of the councilors' faces when Dobby teleported into the room right in front of them.

"Root Sir, we needs to get you to safety," Dobby squeaked. "We is ench-"

"Who are you, foul creature? Root, remove him from our presence at once!" Sool roared.

"Oh shut up, Sool," Vinyaya muttered, rolling her eyes. She held up her tablet, where the news showed pictures of creatures similar to Dobby teleporting Haven's citizens away as goblins began pouring into the city. "He's here to help us."

"How can you just trust this thing? I mean, look at it - it's filthy and -"

Dobby clicked his fingers, and Sool suddenly noticed that no noise was coming out of his mouth.

"Thank you, Dobby," Root said, mouth twitching. "Let's get to HQ then, shall we?"


After disabling the DNA cannons, the goblins hacked through the front-doors within mere minutes; their magically enchanted missiles and weapons easily bypassed Haven's plain metal walls.

As they came pouring through, the goblins that had been imprisoned at Howler's Peak began pillaging and burning up the now-empty buildings on the outskirts of Haven. Goblin gangs that had escaped the LEP's reach joined their efforts, and soon a massive fire was eating its way towards downtown Haven.

Meanwhile, the armored goblins maintained focus and discipline and marched towards LEP HQ. They could sense the trail of house-elf magic leading there, so they followed diligently.

The army came to a halt in front of the plasma doors at LEP HQ.


"HA!" Foaly yelled triumphantly. "They won't be able to get past those since we never applied your upgrades there."

Koboi sighed dramatically. "You're right. Whatever shall we do..."


Some of the Howler's Peak goblins had broken off from pillaging and had rejoined the main army; they were supplied with softnose lasers that had been modified magically to fire without recharge. Normally, the plasma walls would be able to absorb the blasts. But what about a near-infinite barrage of laser blasts and magical charges from armored goblins' enchanted weapons?

The firing began.

At first, the plasma retained its healthy, pinkish color - heartening those within LEP HQ. But the continuous barrage of blasts were taking their toll; even though Foaly had taken magical interference into account while constructing the doors, he hadn't anticipated an attack of this intensity.

The walls shook as bolts of lighting combined with plasma bursts collied with the door. The pinkish color became red.


"D'Arvit," Foaly swore.


Holly had an epiphany.

"Everyone," she shouted to the gathered civilians and LEP officers. "Grab a weapon from the armory, and fire directly at the ceiling above the goblins. If we bring it down, maybe we can crush them."

The group complied, and a second barrage promptly ensued. Pieces of rock began falling off the ceiling.

Dobby and his cohorts congregated and directed as much magical energy as possible into their palms. When they could push out no more energy, they pointed upwards towards the target and let go.

A stream of lightning shot out at the rocky ceiling above the goblins, coinciding with the gunfire.

Their efforts were rewarded as the ceiling collapsed - and the barrage from the goblins ceased.

For a few moments.

To their horror, the armored goblins were on their knees - but were holding up the rocks that were about to crush them through persistent chanting and a rush of magic from their bodies.

With a roar of effort, they threw the rocks at the plasma doors.

Which turned blood-red. It was only a matter of minutes now.


"NO!"

Dobby turned to the rest of the liberated house-elves fiercely.

"We must holds them back! Protect our brothers and sisters!"

The other house-elves nodded vigorously, and they began weaving their hands in various shapes. Some of the house-elves broke off and began writing symbols on the ground, infusing them with blood or enunciating certain chants. Holly and the other gathered fairies stared in awe as wafts of blue magic were released into the air and solidified into a shield - right in front of the plasma doors.

The goblins were frustrated and exhausted; they had been so close to breaking through the plasma doors, but they had already expended too much energy in getting this far and in throwing off the rocks. They didn't have enough energy to bypass the house-elves' wards. Who knew that they would be this strong?

The leader grunted, "Retreat".

LEP HQ was safe. For now.


"The house-elves saved our bacon," Root stated bluntly.

Holly nodded in agreement. "Thank you, Dobby," she said warmly.

Dobby shrugged. "We helps our brothers and sisters. You are elves like us. Was the right thing to do."

Root shot a warning glance at Sool, who seemed as though he was going to spout some more insults about Dobby's appearance and how Dobby was not related to Sool at least. Sool swallowed his comments; at moments like this, he remembered why Root was nicknamed "Beetroot" and why he was equally feared and respected within the LEP.

"Somebody must have organized the goblins on the wizarding side. You know, informed them about their underground brethren and then egged them on to go free them," Vinyaya stated thoughtfully.

"And Sool, Carretez, right now, we have more important things to worry about - like surviving - than the LEP's above-ground assets. One of them just saved us right now," she added.

Root nodded stiffly and turned to Holly. "Get in touch with our other asset, and find the culprit."

"Sir, do you think that Fowl -"

"is behind this? He's at the top of my list - has the wizarding and fairy connections and the deviousness. Hell, I'm expecting him to contact us sometime soon with a ransom demand."

"Well, why don't I just go after him directly then? We can contact the asset later."

"Captain, I don't want to take any unnecessary risks during this operation. If Fowl did organize all this, it's best if you had all the tools at your disposal. I don't want my best officer to be ensnared by one of his traps again. That clear?"

"Yes, sir."


"So, where are you going with this, Opal?" Foaly inquired.

"All in due time, donkey-boy. All in due time."


"Foaly, Foaly, can you hear me? Foaly, why aren't you responding? I have some vital information" Harry muttered into his earpiece irritably.

POP!

Harry spun towards the source of the noise, a ball of red energy gathering at his fingertips, ready to stun the threat.

"Harry," Holly said calmly, "we have a situation."

"Wizarding and underground goblins have joined forces and are laying siege to Haven," a voice spoke from the shadows. Holly jumped.

"All right, you need to stop doing that. I mean, I get it's dramatic and all, but seriously - speaking from the shadows makes you seem more like an evil villain than anything. Also, the entire I-can-see-the-future-thing is useful only if you warn people in time. So, like, that would have been helpful an hour ago," Harry grumbled.

"Harry, who's -"

"An ally. My name is Elizabeth, Captain Short. I believe that I can be of assistance to your current mission."