Chapter 9:

The Breaker of Worlds

Dawn was breaking over the foothills of Fowl Manor. Half the fairy's had retreated to the shelter of the technical tents. The other half had retreated into the manor, much to the dismay of Artemis. The boy genius was currently sitting in his study, marvelling at the number of events that had happened in such a short amount of time.

Such is my life now, he thought….Perhaps I should go prepare some breakfast. The twins will be waking up soon.

The twins! Artemis had completely forgotten about them! He couldn't have them waking up into a house full of fairies! Artemis rushed to the kitchen. What he needed to do was clear out the area, make breakfast, and somehow figure out how to confine the twins to the kitchen for the rest of the day.

What actually happened was far from what he thought of. When he burst through the kitchens giant door, he found the twins already awake, sitting at the small breakfast nook eating some sort of eggs. What surprised him, though, was Mulch standing on top of a stool, leaning over the stove top cracking eggs into a frying pan.

Myles noticed his big brother standing in the door way. ''G'Morning, Arty!'' he beamed cheerfully. Mulch looked up from his eggs.

''There you are, Mud Boy. Some big brother you are.'' he snorted. ''I walk in here, and I see these two whelps sitting in here, whining about how hungry they are.''

Artemis stared. ''You cooked them their breakfast?''

Mulch was insulted. ''Hey, just because I eat dirt most of the time doesn't mean I can't cook.'' He waved his spatula around at the nook. 'All those years of living on my own did me some good. I make a mean huevos rancheros. Sit down and I'll make you some too. 'Cept if you insult my cooking again, you can expect to find more than a few grains of dirt in there.'' The dwarf returned to his cooking, whistling an ACDC song while he worked.

Artemis slinked into a free chair at the nook. Neither Myles nor Beckett seemed particularly shocked that a hairy dwarf was cooking their breakfast. In fact, they were whispering to each other about what exactly Mulch was. Artemis realized that he was actually quite content right now. Hopefully his friends were feeling as content as he felt right now…

Major Luskar was anything but content. He was having a horrible day so far, or in his case more horrible than usual.

Being the first goblin ever accepted into the LEP was not as bright a position as it sounded. Goblins had never been the most beloved of the Fairy Families; most fairies became nervous just by being in the same room a goblin. The B'wa Kell rebellions had done nothing to improve their image, either. Like most human cities would blame certain ethnic groups, nearly all inner city crime was thought to be the work of goblins simply because of the actions of a few. A recent survey even showed that goblins were the least trusted of all fairy species, even above dwarves.

Because of all this, Luskar had the hardest time of all Retrieval officers. Most witnesses were scared to talk to him. Criminals he'd caught regularly sent him hate mail. Other goblins called him a traitor, and the officers under his command were terrified of him and his reputation. Any time he flashed his badge, he had to wither the stares of people who thought he had stolen it from an actual officer. It was fair to say that he had a thoroughly crappy life.

''Stop focusing on all your stress, fool'' he thought, rubbing his scaly temples. ''You'll end up like Uncle Eilo and get a coronary . Focus on the task at hand.''

The task at hand was the interrogation of the talking troll. Whereas the troll had seemed unable to shut up when attacking them, he was now as silent as a grave, albeit a very large grave. Commander Kelp, Holly, and Luskar had all taken cracks at getting the troll to spill his guts. Butler had tried nearly every interrogation trick Madame Ko had taught him, to no avail. Foaly had tried to use his mind wiping equipment to search the troll's memories; the troll had tried to bite his arm off when he attempted to sedate the beast. Even the MI-5 agent Butler had brought back, Stockard, had tried to crack the troll, much to the displeasure of the Commander. Yet the troll remained tight lipped.

The defeated party sat in the cellar of Fowl Manor, outside the cell that used to hold Holly during the Siege. Trouble was sucking back as much sim coffee as the machine could make. ''I think it's fair to say we're getting nowhere'' he growled.

Holly looked through the window in the door. ''It doesn't make sense. He's got no advantage, no leverage; technically, he's not even a fairy, so he knows that the basic criminal rights don't apply to him. Why does he think holding out will do him any good?''

Butler spoke up. 'It's not ignorance, its confidence. He's trying to fake us out by acting like he's taking defeat gracefully, but look at him. The way he holds himself. He thinks he can get out.''

''He probably does have a way out.'' Everyone looked at Stockard. ''I ran a mission once, back in Iraq. We detained this Al-Qaeda suspect; wrung him out for days, and he gave us nothing. Always seemed like he thought he could get out. Turns out his brother was masquerading as a local soldier on the base we were on. Broke him out, and they stole a whole bunch of weapons.''

A light in Luskar's brain clicked. ''So he's holding out because he's got some sort of plan.'' Trouble nodded. It made sense, in a dangerous way. Everyone realized that if the troll had allowed himself to be caught, that meant who ever sent him had a purpose for him being there. Meaning it was all the more important to find out what he knew.

''Excuse me.'' Holly turned around to see the Doctor standing behind her. ''Would it be alright if I had a crack at him?''

Trouble would have objected, on any other day. But today he was tired, running on empty. He waved his hand at the Doctor. ''Go ahead, Mud Man. See if that oversized bran of yours can do anything useful. Foaly, open it up.''

Foaly stepped over and unlocked the cell door. ''Good luck'' he whispered as the Doctor walked past, and he shut the door. The group converged around the video screen, hoping that maybe, just maybe, that strange man might succeed…

The Doctor stared at the troll. It was tied down with octo-bonds to a large leather chair, which Butler had hauled into the cell. The chair itself was encased inside a laser cage. The troll watch the Doctor pull up one of the small stools in the room, and looked right into the man's eyes.

''You know,'' the Doctor said, ''everyone else is all surprised that you can talk.''

The troll said nothing.

The Doctor continued. ''Apparently trolls don't have enough grey matter to recognize his own mother, let alone string a sentence together. Foaly's words, not mine.''

Still nothing.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver. ''So to me, the answer is obvious; someone or thing has augmented your brain. Of course, that alone wouldn't be enough to make you be able to speak, which is why you have that scar on your neck. You've obviously got some sort of mechanical part that acts like a larynx. So my question to you is, how much do you think it will hurt if I turn my super duper sonic screwdriver on to maximum and point it at your voice box?''

The troll said nothing for about a minute, then it did something unexpected: it pulled back its gums and barred its teeth. But it wasn't threatening the Doctor; it was smiling. Not only that, but it started to laugh. A harsh, guttural sound.

''You could do that,'' it finally said. ''But you won't. I know you won't, because my master said you wouldn't.''

Now the Doctor smiled. He was getting somewhere. ''Really? Well, then your master must know quite a bit about me. Tell me, why did you think to come here and threaten these people, Mr….?''

''I am Ghor'' the troll said. ''And I came because my master told me who I would find here.''

''And who, exactly, did you come to find, Ghor?''

Ghor snorted. ''That, I will not say. But my master also said that I would find you here, as well.''

Outside, everyone was crowding around the video screen. So the troll did have a plan. Or at least, who ever sent the troll had a plan.

Inside, the Doctor pressed on. ''It seems your master knows quite a bit about me, Ghor me old mate. Tell me, what did he tell you about me?''

Ghor smiled again, but with much more menace. ''He told me and my brethren the stories of you. The stories that stretch from world to world, that stretch the galaxies. He told us of your legend; the Lonely God, the Oncoming Storm. He told us tales of horror; how you tore down empires, condemned whole planets to destruction, how whole armadas were sent running like frightened children at mere mention of you name.''

Holly couldn't believe her ears. What the hell was this Ghor talking about? Whatever it was, it was clearly having an effect on the Doctor. She noticed that his features were twisting, contorting into pained expressions. He got up off his stool, and made his way to the door.

But Ghor wasn't finished. ''He told us that you were The Breaker of Worlds! He told us of the War, Time Lord! How you raised yourself to God's level, and passed judgement on all you saw! He told us how you stood in the heart of the battle and watched your enemies' civilisation burn! How you condemned your planet to apocalypse! He told us, oh last of the Time Lords, how you wander the Universe, seeking your penance, justification of your act of genocide against your own people!''

KLANG! The Doctor swung the door of the cell hard, blocking out the trolls mocking tone. Everyone turned away from the screen to look at him. Both Butler and Holly were shocked. Until then, they had only seen the Doctor in a perpetual joyful mood. But now, he looked horrible. His brow was scrunched, and his eyes reflected rage. Rage and sadness.

''I think he's ready to talk now'' he said coldly. And with that, he walked strode down the corridor, and ran up the stairs, never looking back.

The group just stood there. For how long, they didn't know. Finally, Foaly broke the silence.

''Please tell me I'm not the only one thinking 'What the hell just happened'?''

Trouble shook his head. ''D'arvit, Foaly. Now do you see why I wanted him wiped? He's going to be trouble later, I just know it.''

Holly was still shocked. ''All that stuff the troll was saying, calling him a… what?''

''Time Lord'' Stockard said. ''I have a feeling our friend is keeping some things from us.''

Butler nodded. He knew something was off about this situation, which was something seeing as his life was mostly unexpected situations nowadays. Still, he felt that something was going to happen soon. His gunshot wound was acting up again, the one the Holly had healed; the one which left him with Kevlar in his chest. He noticed that whenever something bad was going to happen, it started throbbing. Juliet always told him he was being paranoid, but Butler couldn't help but feel uneasy; his wound was throbbing like crazy.