Meanwhile, at the Thames River outside the Houses of Parliament
"Alrigh' everyone stop 'ere,"
The crowd of people breathed sighs of relief that they could finally rest their legs and collapsed onto the ground or the nearest bench. They had finally made it to the Thames, the mighty river of which London was built around. Across the street from the crowd, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament stood tall.
"Let's sit down here, Lizzy,"
On the pavement, Lizzy sat down with her mother. Mr and Mrs Perkins sat down on a bench near them, breathing sighs of relief to rest their old limbs from the non-stop walking. Mr Twitches was resting on their laps. Their clothes were dusty and dirty, but they did not care. They had all just escaped with their lives earlier on when that tripod attacked their crowd. It had fired on them and killed a large number of the crowd, but about eighty people, including Lizzy, her mother and Mr and Mrs Perkins, had managed to escape. Where the tripod was now, they had no idea, but they hoped it was far away.
"Oh dear," Rebecca said, holding up the torn remains of a pocket on Lizzy's coat. "We'll have to throw this away when we got home," she said.
"Only if our home is still standing," Lizzy replied.
The fairies had flown the last few hundred feet to give their wings a stretch, but were careful not to fly around for they would waste pixie dust if they did. They gazed around at the buildings surrounding the street they were on. A few houses and office buildings still stood, a partially destroyed blacksmith was on a street corner and, when they looked at the enormous structure nearby, they saw the damage had not been limited to the buildings around it. There were a few gaping holes up and down the front, sides and back of the Big Ben clock tower. A few larger holes were just visible along the sides of the Houses of Parliament and one of the spires was gone. Although they could not see it, the roof was riddled with holes, most of them caused by large pieces of rubble falling from the Big Ben clock tower. The hands on the tower were gone as well; save for a tiny metal hand section of what had been the hour hand. It was hard to imagine that this large building had once been the seat of power for the government of the most powerful country in the world, but now it was a ruin, a shell of It's former self.
"Martians seem to have stopped their will to destroy everything," Rosetta said.
The others nodded in agreement. "Wonder why?" Clank asked.
"They might have decided to leave the city," Silvermist suggested. "I mean, they've been searching it for days and they've probably caught all they can and decided to leave."
"Can't be," Iridessa replied. "After that one that saw us earlier, I wouldn't be surprised if more of them were looking for us now."
"I just hope they don't find us," Vidia piped up. "If we get attacked again like last time, we're all dead."
"Hey guys," Terence said, drawing their looks to him as he was hovering near a tree covered in red weed. "Come over here."
They flew over. "What is it, Terence?" Silvermist asked.
"Look at the weed," he replied; grabbing a piece of it and pulling it off, though this time it came off with barely any problem. The others stared at it with wide eyes. It was not the colour of blood anymore. Now it was more of a faded colour, greyer as if …
Terence pushed his fingers down on the bit of red weed in his hand and it crumbled away into dust, the remnants being blown off his hand by a light wind.
"It's dying." he said.
Whilst the fairies were gazing at the tree and devastation around them and everyone was sitting down to rest, an officer and a few soldiers, the last in the crowd that had survived the attack, who were standing near the wall in which gave people a view of the Thames below, were debating over what to do.
"Where do we go now, sir?" one of the soldiers asked the officer.
"I don't really know at the moment," he replied. "I was expecting other groups of survivors to be here," he sighed. "We'll wait here for a few hours, let the people get some rest, then we'll go across the Thames and try and find any other survivors."
"What if we don't?" another soldier inquired.
"Then I don't know what we're gonna do." the officer said.
Back on the pavement, Lizzy looked up at the Big Ben tower and sighed. She was still worried for her father. She had not seen him for days and was beginning to think she would never see him again.
"Are you okay, Lizzy?" her mother asked her, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"No, mother," Lizzy replied, looking up at her with sad eyes. "I'm worried about father," she said. "What if we never see him again?"
Rebecca gently patted her daughter's shoulder. "Don't worry," she said. "We'll see him again,"
Truth was, she too was uncertain of whether she would see her husband again, but she did not want to admit that in front of her daughter in case she worried her further, but still, she was scared as well. What if they did never see Martin again? What if he was … dead? She could not even begin to imagine how Lizzy would feel if her father was dead.
Iridessa sighed and looked at the others. "Maybe we try and cheer her up," she said. "Or at least comfort her,"
"Not to be rude, Iridessa, but I don't think there's much we can say," Terence told her.
"Well, we can't leave Lizzy to look like this," she said. She sighed in frustration. "I wish Tinkerbell and the others were with us,"
"Don't we all, sug," Rosetta mumbled under her breath.
Meanwhile, Silvermist, however, was drawn to something else. Over in the blacksmith across the road next to a tall office building, there was a light that was flickering. What was it? Her curiousness drew her over towards the blacksmith. When she reached it, she saw the light was coming from behind a small pile of rubble at the back of the blacksmith, having once been part of the ceiling, but there was a huge hole there now. Silvermist flew over to the pile of rubble, being careful not to be caught by a few ropes, used to hold horses whilst horseshoes were being placed on them, dangling down from the ceiling, and looked over the other side. Oh, it was just a small fire.
"Can't believe I got distracted by a few flames," she said to herself, stifling a laugh.
Just as she was about to fly off, a whirring sound from above drew her attention. Looking up, she saw a huge metallic bulk leaning against the office building next to the blacksmith. Silvermist flew up to the hole and, upon seeing it close up, gasped.
It was another tripod, but it appeared to be down. It was not moving and there were no noises coming from inside it.
"Whoa!" she awed at the large machine, unaware of movement below her. "I've gotta tell the others about this!"
Suddenly, the whirring sound filled her ears again, only this time it was much louder, and became even louder when a metallic tentacle suddenly lunged at her from below. Thankfully, Silvermist saw it and dived out of the way, narrowly avoiding the end of the tentacle. Breathing heavily from shock, she watched the tentacle turn to face her, a small light on the end of it staring directly at her as if it were an eye of a monster.
Then, the officer building began to shake slightly. Silvermist looked at the machine and her eyes widened as it rose up from the building, rubble falling from it and from the enormous hole in the side of the building, though it began to stagger slightly as it rose up on all three legs. For a moment, the tripod, just coming below the top of the roof, stared ahead as if it had forgotten about Silvermist, who stayed rooted to where she was as if she was a flying statue. Then, it looked down, the neon green eyes staring directly at her. The tentacles, which were mostly waving about in mid-air as they had been before, lunged towards her. Silvermist dodged them and flew back into the blacksmith, zooming towards the entrance. Behind her, the tentacles swung through the roof, creating a thundering crashing noise that tore the building in two.
Those on the road outside the Houses of Parliament looked over at the blacksmith to see a cloud of dust be thrown up into the air.
"What the hell was that?" a man asked.
Lizzy, her mother and the fairies got up and looked over at the dust cloud. Just a second later, Silvermist re-joined the group, panting with fear and adrenaline.
"Sil, what's going on?" Iridessa asked her friend.
"A…A tr…tripod," Silvermist breathed. "There's…o-one over…there!"
As soon as she stopped talking, as if on cue, the officer building seemed to explode outwards, rubble being thrown across the road and some hitting the sides of the Houses of Parliament. Another enormous dust cloud was thrown up into the air, but it was soon brushed aside as an enormous machine swept through it.
"Oh my God!" the officer near the riverside gasped.
"And 'ere we are with barely anything to defend ourselves with," one of the soldiers said.
The machine staggered out from the ruins into the road. It was obvious to tell it was weak, but even so, it was still a threat. For a moment, it struggled to stay upright, sparking a bit of hope within the crowd that it would topple, but that little tingle of hope was quickly removed when the tripod regained its footing and looked over at the crowd. The heat ray aimed at the crowd, the lighthouse light activating on the front.
"Everyone take cover!" the officer shouted.
Rebecca grabbed her daughter and ran with her behind the bench, ducking down behind it with Mrs Perkins and Mr Perkins and Mr Twitches. The fairies joined them. Around them, other people began shouting and running for cover. Lizzy closed her eyes and tensed herself for the wave of fire that would sweep out from the tripod onto the crowd.
CRASH! Lizzy, her mother, Mr and Mrs Perkins, Mr Twitches and the fairies looked out from behind the bench to see the heat ray laser collapse onto the ground with loud crash, The tripod staggered for a moment, but quickly regained its footing again and looked down at the now destroyed laser. Fury must have gripped the Martians inside because the machine suddenly advanced, though staggering and almost stumbling several times, towards the crowd, who panicked and quickly fled in all directions. The tripod itself seemed to be radiating with anger like a radiator. If it could not incinerate the humans, then it would capture or crush them all, even if they were the last ones it would claim.
"Quick! Run!" Mr Perkins said as the tripod moved past the bench to attack a group of people running across the road towards the Houses of Parliament.
He and his wife ran out from behind the bench towards a group of buildings opposite the Houses of Parliament side with Big Ben. However, as Rebecca, Lizzy, Mr Twitches and the fairies went to follow, the tripod turned its head, its huge neon green eyes looking directly at the bench, directly at those behind it. The machine turned and stomped towards them. Rebecca grabbed her daughter and threw herself and Lizzy to the ground, narrowly missing a swipe from one of the metallic tentacles as it hit the bench, throwing wooden planks through the air like missiles. Mr Twitches ran towards the tree and climbed up it. The fairies flew up to the tree as well.
"Everyone alright?" Terence asked.
They all nodded, breathing heavily from the shock of almost being killed.
A scream from below drew their attention. Rebecca and Lizzy were backing away from the tripod as it moved towards them, lowering down towards them, its tentacles waving menacingly about in mid-air.
"Get behind me, Lizzy," Rebecca said, pulling Lizzy behind her.
"Mother, what are we to do?" Lizzy cried as they back away.
"We'll be okay," Rebecca said calmly to her daughter, though it was obvious they were doomed.
The fairies in the tree above watched all this with horror. "We have to do something!" Rosetta exclaimed.
"How?" Clank asked. "We can't do anything against that tripod,"
Terence looked around for something, anything to use against the machine! There were only a few tiny branches, not much of a sword or axe or anything against the tripod.
"Guys, use these!" he said, pulling them off and throwing them to the others.
"Sticks?" Silvermist said disapprovingly at the piece of wood in her hand. "What use are these gonna be?"
"We have to try and draw it away," Terence told her. "At least long enough for Lizzy and her mother to get to safety,"
The others looked as though he was crazy, but now was not the time. Reluctantly, they all flew down from the tree, wielding their weapons, and began flying around the tentacle, hitting it with their sticks or waving them at it. Their tactic seemed to have worked because the tripod reared back slightly, bringing back the tentacle with it.
"C'mon, Lizzy, now's our chance," Rebecca said, leading her daughter by the hand towards the nearby building. Lizzy watched her friends as they flew around the tentacle, swiping at it with their sticks like Roman soldiers cracking their whips at a lion in the coliseum. The tentacles responded to all this by swinging back at them through the air. The fairies dodged it, though barely.
"Oh, please don't get hurt!" she pleaded.
Terence dived sideways to avoid another swing from the tentacle, narrowly avoiding having his head taken off his shoulders. He flew above the tentacle, looking down at it, and growled quietly to himself. It had worked in getting Lizzy and her mother to safety, but there was no way they could stop this thing through hitting it with sticks. They had to do something! Anything that would bring this thing down!
"Guys, get away from it!" he shouted down to them.
The others flew away from the tentacle and high above the ground, out of reach of the tentacles.
"So what do we do now?" Iridessa asked as the tripod moved away to attack the rest of the crowd scattered further up and down the street.
"There has to be something we can use," Terence replied. "Is there anything like rope or big stones or anything around here?" he asked.
"There's a lot of rope in the blacksmith," Silvermist pointed out. "We can use that,"
The tree shook wildly as one of the tentacles slammed into the trunk, causing Rosetta to scream loudly. The tripod was attacking the tree! They had to act, fast!
"Alright," Terence announced. "Sil, Clank and Iridessa, get the rope, quick. Me, Rosetta and Vidia'll try and keep the tripod from the people."
The three fairies nodded and flew over to the remains of the blacksmith to get the rope. Terence, Vidia and Rosetta flew over towards the tripod, a great, but fragile sense of hope filling them.
"D'you think whatever you have planned will work, Terence?" Rosetta asked him.
"It's better than nothing," he replied.
Across the road, Silvermist, Clank and Iridessa reached the pile of rubble that had been a blacksmith and began searching through the pieces of it.
"Found it!" Iridessa said after a few seconds. She grabbed it and began to pull as hard as she could but the rope was only coming out slowly. "C'mon, guys help me!"
Silvermist and Clank flew over and grabbed the rope and began to pull it out. Gradually, it became looser and very quickly they had pulled out a very long rope. Judging by the length, it was about thirty feet long in all. Usually, they looked smaller when they were made into circle shapes in blacksmiths, but stretched out, they were very long indeed. Now they had to use it.
"That is big," Clank said, looking at the length of the rope with awe in his eyes. He had never seen anything this long before so it was quite amazing.
"It sure it," Silvermist replied. "Okay, we have to get this back to the others quickly," she said.
She, Iridessa and Clank grabbed the end of the rope and flew with it back towards the tree.
Vidia, Rosetta and Terence were now flying around the head of the tripod, hoping that its neon green eyes would be distracted by them. The tripod was being halted, but only for a few seconds before it would advance toward the people again, who began to run out of places to take cover. Soon they would be left out in the open and that would mean almost certain death.
"C'mon, we can do it!" Rosetta exclaimed. "WHOA!" she yelled, ducking to avoid a swipe from a tentacle.
"VIDIA WATCH OUT!" Terence yelled.
Vidia, who was flying near the eye of the tripod, looked behind her to see the tentacle coming towards her.
WHAM! The end of the tripod slammed into her foot with such force that it threw Vidia through the air towards the tree. Pain was flaring up and down her from where the tentacle hit that she felt paralysed to move her wings. She closed her eyes tightly and tensed herself for a head on collision with the tree.
"I'm sorry, Tinkerbell," she muttered to herself, thinking they would be the last words she would ever speak.
But then, just as she was about to hit the tree, two pairs of hands grabbed her and pulled her away, resting her down onto one of the branches. Vidia opened her eyes and gasped who stood over her.
"Fawn! Bobble!" she exclaimed. "You're both okay."
"And by the looks of it, we came just in time." Bobble replied.
A squeak came from nearby and Cheese scuttled across the branch over to Vidia and nuzzled his head against hers. Vidia laughed.
"I'm glad you're all okay," she said, giving Cheese a little rub on the top of his head. "We thought we'd lost all of you."
Fawn and Bobble gave each other sad looks. They knew that one member of their team was no longer with them. Vidia quickly noticed the looks on their faces but before she could answer…
CRASH! The four, along with Mr Twitches who had jumped onto their branch, looked down at the ground to see one of the tentacles of the Martian tripod slam into the ground, narrowly missing Rosetta by just a few millimetres. Iridessa, Silvermist and Clank flew up to the pavement on the other side of the street a few metres from the tripod. Terence and Rosetta flew down to them.
"We found the rope," Iridessa said, holding it up. "It's long enough, I hope."
"It's good," Terence replied. "Now we just have to try and wrap it around the legs of the tripod."
"We'll need more people to help us," Clank said.
"Don't worry, Clanky, we'll help," a familiar voice said and the group looked up to see Vidia flying back towards them with Fawn and Bobble with her.
"Bobble!" the others exclaimed, looks of amazement and upmost happiness on their faces. "Fawn! Your all okay!"
"And ready to help," Vidia said as she, Bobble and Fawn landed and were greeted by tight hugs from their friends. "They saved me and Cheese is sitting up in the tree with Mr Twitches,"
"So what's the plan?" Bobble asked as Clank released him.
"We've got a rope that we can tie around the legs of that tripod," Terence explained. "We have to bring it down before it crushes all of the Humans,"
Bobble and Fawn looked back at the tripod and gulped. "It sounds crazy," Fawn said. "But … I'm with you guys,"
"Same here," Bobble said.
They all smiled. "Thanks guys," Terence said. He placed his hand in the middle of the group. "Faith," he said.
One-by-one the others did the same. "Trust," Rosetta and Silvermist said.
"And Pixie dust," they all chirruped.
This was it. Their plan had to work or they, along with all the Humans here, were dead.
"Let's go," Terence said.
Terence, Bobble and Clank grabbed one end of the rope and flew with it towards the tripod, which was staggering greatly as it moved down the street towards a building where a group of people were hiding, with the girls grabbing the other end of the rope. As they approached it, they flew away from each other, stretching the rope as far as they could. The rope touched the diagonally bent rear leg of the tripod and began to stretch it around the sides of the two front legs, hoping to wrap it around them and then tie it up and hope it would cause the tripod to fall over, but this was easier said than done.
"Stretch it as far as you can!" Terence shouted as loud as he could to the others as they began to stretch the rope around the legs of the machine.
The others nodded and the rope wrapped the legs, the two group meeting at the front.
A few people nearby were amazed by what they were seeing. "Are those fairies doing that?" a man asked.
"It looks like it," a young girl replied.
"How the 'ell, I though' they didn' exist," a teenage boy exclaimed.
"Well, they're 'elping us," a woman said.
The tripod staggered as one of the front legs hit the side of the rope. It reared forward slightly as the leg hit the rope. The fairies moved under the main section, a sense of hope filling them and the humans around them. Some were even praying. The tripod tilted over to the side more, looking as if it was going to fall over. Was it?
Then, as if the light of day had been blocked out, the rear leg rose up and slammed down onto the back of the stretched rope. With one great crash into the ground, the rope was cut in two. The fairies fell to the ground when they felt the tightness suddenly fall.
"What the…?" Fawn exclaimed. "What just happened?" she asked.
"LOOK OUT!" Silvermist screamed.
The fairies dived out of the way as a tentacle swung across the ground, tearing up the cobbled stones and throwing them through the air like grenades. Dust was thrown into the air above the ground and the fairies quickly scattered as the tripod swung its tentacles mercilessly at them, each one cutting through the air like a knife. One of the tentacles slammed into the tree that Mr Twitches and Cheese were hiding up. The two animals screeched and Mr Twitches grabbed Cheese in his mouth and jumped down from the branch to the ground, landing on his side, but he got up and ran. Behind him the tree came down with an earth shaking THUD. Mr Twitches turned to look at it with relief. Thank God he still had eight lives. Mr Twitches ran over to the building where Lizzy and her mother were hiding with Mr and Mrs Perkins and a few other people.
"Ok, what do we do now?" Silvermist asked.
"The rope's been cut, it's useless," Iridessa said.
"Not really," Bobble said, flying down to the broken half of the rope below them. He grabbed it and flew back to the others and held it up to them. "It's actually more useful now. If we can tie it around two of the legs of the tripod, we can pull it over,"
Hope seemed to return to the group. Yes! It was perfect. It had to work and probably would.
"Which of the legs do we tie it around?" Fawn asked.
Bobble looked at the tripod as it lumbered down the road towards another partially destroyed office building next to the River Thames. Most of the people were hiding in the ruins of it, but mostly on the floors above the ground. The tripod advanced toward them, the tentacles and neon green eyes of the machine fixed on them, ready to capture and destroy them.
"The front two," he said.
"Alright, let's do it," Terence said. "Girls, we'll take this one. Grab the other one,"
They nodded and flew over to the other half of the rope and flew after the boys to the tripod, which was just about fifteen metres from the building. When they reached it, they began flying the ends of it around the bottom of the feet of the tripod just a few feet above the ground and then began trying them. It took a few minutes as the tripod was still moving, but they got there in the end.
"Okay, now we gotta distract it," Terence said.
"Done," Fawn replied.
She flew back over to the tree and began picking up loose sticks and pieces of the branches. When she had a huge arm full, she flew over to the others and began handing them out.
"Not sure if this'll work," she said.
"It has to," Clank replied.
They flew up into the air and began tossing them at the back of the head of the tripod.
"Hey ya big metal tin can!" Rosetta shouted at it. "Over here!"
"Leave those people alone!" Silvermist shouted as well.
The tripod must have heard the shouting and felt the sticks because it turned to look up at them. The Martians piloting it seemed to have snapped because as soon as the machine turned round to face them, it advanced towards them, swinging its tentacles at them. The fairies flew away from the tripod and it charged after them, ignoring the staggering-ness of its legs. This time it was going to finish them! These flying Earth creatures were a nuisance, but now they would pay for going up against it!
"Okay, now!" Terence ordered.
All of a sudden, the fairies flew back down under the tripod, dodging It's attempts to hit them with the tentacles, and grabbed hold of the ropes and began to pull, but the tripod turned around, so fast that the fairies were thrown through the air and landed on the street behind it, and began to advance towards the building again, thinking that the fairies had fled to hide in it. The fairies quickly grabbed hold of the ropes.
"C'mon, pull!" Silvermist exclaimed.
They pulled with all their strength, but were lifted through the air and brought crashing down onto the ground. As they got up, they were launched through the air again. It was hopeless and the fairies knew it, but there was nothing else they could do!
Lizzy watched this from the building with panic in her eyes as she watched her friends fail in their attempts to try and stop or at least slow down the tripod.
"Mother, we have to help!" she said.
"Lizzy, I don't think there's much we can do," her mother replied.
"Yes there is!" Lizzy begged. "The fairies are smaller than us but they're still out there trying to stop the tripod! We can help them!"
Her mother looked at Lizzy and out through the window of the building in front of them. She sighed.
"Lizzy, I don't want you to get hurt," she said. "I don't want to lose you like your father,"
"You won't, mother!" Lizzy reassured her. "Please, we have to go and help them!"
"No, Lizzy, I'm sorry," her mother said to her one final time.
Lizzy looked out the window and watched as the fairies were pulled through the air again and brought crashing to the ground. Hopelessness began to overwhelm her like water on rock. No! they could not just leave the fairies out there and let them die along with the Humans the tripod was targeting! They had to help! They had to!
No! Lizzy was not going to stand here and watch her friends fall and be hurt like this. She was going to help them.
Turning, she ran out through the door and across the grass towards them. Mr Twitches and Cheese followed her, also intent on helping out in any way they could.
"LIZZY!" her mother screamed in terror as she suddenly saw her daughter running toward the danger zone. She ran out after her with Mr and Mrs Perkins.
The fairies landed painfully on the ground with another thud. Groaning, Silvermist lifted her head up.
"This is hopeless!" she said to Iridessa, who was in front of her. "We can't stop it!"
"We have to!" Iridessa said. "There has to be a w-"
Suddenly, the rope was lifted up off the ground. The two, along with Fawn, Rosetta and Vidia looked behind them to see Lizzy standing at the end with the rope in her hands.
"I've come to help," she said. Below her Mr Twitches grabbed the rope with his mouth and in front of him, Cheese drove his teeth into the rope and the two began to pull on the rope with all their strength.
Their sense of hoe seemed to have been restored at a greater length. They could do it, and they would do it! They began to pull on the rope as hard as they could, but were lifted through the air and brought down with a thud onto the cobbled path.
"Lizzy! Stop!" Rebecca shouted to her daughter in fear as she and Mr and Mrs Perkins reached her.
Big mistake. Her shouting had attracted the attention of the tripod and the head shot round and stared down at the fairies and the four humans. They all stared wide-eyed up at the machine, fixed to the spot with fear.
At the end of the street, the other members of the crowd hiding in the building were watching all this unfold.
"Oh no! It's gonna capture 'em!" a man said.
"What do we do?" a woman asked.
"We help," another man piped up defiantly.
The tripod lowered down towards the group of Humans. They backed away from the head of the machine, but fell over onto the ground. Rebecca grabbed her daughter and pulled her behind her as the tripod neared them, its tentacles stretching towards them. Vidia shot up in front of the tentacle, but the tentacle knocked her aside to the ground.
"Vidia!" Iridessa exclaimed in panic as she watched her friend fall to the ground, but as she went to fly over to see if she was okay, one of the tentacles wrapped itself around her. She struggled fiercely, but against the metal of this machine, it was nothing. Other tentacles hovered up near her, each one holding the other girls.
The boys looked on helplessly from where they were. There was nothing they could do. The girls had been captured, Lizzy, her mother and Mr and Mrs Perkins were pinned down by the tripod and they themselves could do little to stop the machine.
Then, all of a sudden, they saw the rope they had been holding rise up. Surprised, they turned to see a group of about seven Humans holding the rope and pulling back on it with all their strength.
"Thought ya' could use some help," the man at the front of the group holding the rope said to them.
The fairies nodded and grabbed the rope and began to pull with the Humans as another ten Humans rushed over to the rope and began to pull as hard as they could.
The tripod was almost pulled over as it felt the sudden tugging on its leg and it turned to see the humans pulling at its leg. The tentacles, which released all the girls, shot out towards them, but the humans either ducked or dived out of the way and resumed pulling on the rope. Below, Lizzy began to help the other fairies, including Vidia who had shaken off the pain inflicted on her by the swing from the tentacle, and Cheese and Mr Twitches pull on the rope. Another group of humans rushed over from the building they had been hiding in and began to help. Rebecca and Mr and Mrs Perkins watched all this for a moment before finally giving in and they grabbed the rope and began to pull with all their strength as well.
The tripod felt the tugging on its other leg and looked down at it. Fear must have gripped the Martian pilots as if they were being crushed by an invisible hand upon realising that the humans had lured them into a trap and were trying to pull it over.
"C'mon! We can do it!" a man shouted as he pulled on the rope he was at.
Grunting and pulling as hard as they could, the humans and the fairies and the two animals all pulled as hard as they could, hoping to put as much strain on the legs of the tripod that it would topple to the ground.
The legs of the machine were certainly feeling that strain as the humans pulled harder on the ropes. Although it was noisy with all the grunting and shouting going on below, the noise of the legs being pulled out of their metallic sockets filled the air like a bombshell exploding. The tripod tried to wrestle its way out of the grip of the ropes, but this time it was the one that was trapped, and the humans were not giving up. They pulled harder and harder, their mission to destroy this thing pumping adrenaline through their bodies like a sugar rush.
Sparks flew from inside the connection sections attaching the legs to the main section of the machine. Smoke began to pour out of them quickly afterwards and more sparks flew. One of the legs began to bend and the tripods' struggling only made it worse, slowly loosening it from the machine. A small fire on one of the connection sections began to blaze.
The fire seemed to explode out of the interior of the head as the neon green eyes cracked and burst open. At once, the tripod seemed to have lost all control of itself.
"Quick, let go!" a man shouted.
They all let go and backed away from the tripod, watching as it struggled even more to stay upright. Smoke poured out of the eyes of the head, fire raged on the sides of the main sections and it began to stumble towards the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
With a loud metallic grinding sound akin to the roar of a monster, the tripod fell sideways into the bottom of the Big Ben tower, smashing through the wall and driving deep into it. The loss of the foundation at the bottom of the tower caused the steel pilings and columns above to cave in with the now unsupported weight on top of it. Those on the street scattered as fast as their legs would carry them as the clock tower collapsed onto the machine.
As soon as the noise started, it ended, the air thick with dust and smoke, but those on the street could see through to the result of their stand against the machine. Big Ben and part of the side of the Houses of Parliament building were gone, now a huge pile of rubble on the spot where they once stood, though parts of the tripod covering the main body of the tripod, the legs sticking out into the street. Cautiously, and drawn by curiosity to see if the tripod was down, the crowd moved towards it. The soldiers and officers rushed and pushed their way to the front, their rifles aimed at the machine as if expecting it to get up and attack them again.
"Alright, keep everyone back!" the officer ordered.
"Alright, everyone stay back! C'mon now!" the soldiers began saying to the crowd.
"Hey look!" a young boy shouted, pointing at one of the smashed open eyes.
Everyone looked at the front of the machine and saw a long thin silver arm with a clawed hand at the end appear from within the depths of the machine's head. It was shaking slightly and covered with small cuts and tears. A soft hissing/growling/strangled breath noise emanated from inside the head and the body of the Martian dragged itself out of the head. The crowd saw its weak and thin form, its now grey eyes, orangey coloured saliva coming out of its mouth, and the lighter coloured skin, which was now so pale it looked like it was changing from silver to white.
"That thing is creepy!" Iridessa whispered to the others.
"You're telling me," Silvermist whispered back, staring at the creature as it dragged itself out of the head and slumped to the ground on its side.
A young soldier walked towards the Martian, his weapon aimed at it in case it would attack him. The Martian stared up at him as he approached and hissed weakly at him, stopping the soldier about five feet from it. The Martian narrowed its eyes and tried to growl and move towards him, but it was too weak. It's breathing grew more ragged and weaker. Then, with a final glare and a hiss at the soldier, it drew one last breath and slumped backwards onto the ground and moved no more.
The soldier stepped towards the Martian and, gingerly, prodded the creature with the end of his rifle, withdrawing a little to defend himself if it attacked, but the Martian did not. It just laid there. He did again, stopped and waited for a reaction, in which nothing happened, and then prodded the Martian again. Still nothing happened.
"I-It-It's … It's dead!" he whispered. A look of happiness stretched across his face and he turned and announced to the crowd: "It's dead! We've won!"
At once, there was an uproar of cheers and shouts of happiness as the crowd began hugging and shouting and yelling happily and patting each other's backs and such, the euphoria of happiness filling the air. The fairies began hugging each other tightly as well.
"We did it!" Silvermist exclaimed happily.
"It's finally over!" Iridessa shouted.
"We can finally go home!" Rosetta announced with happiness.
Fawn hugged Bobble tightly and for a moment he seemed shocked for her to do this, but after she gave him a smile, which he returned, he shrugged and hugged her tightly.
"We've done it," she said to him as she rested her head against his chest, relief overtaking her.
"Yes," he whispered back. "It's all over now,"
Behind the group of fairies, Lizzy embraced her mother tightly. A tear of happiness trickled down her cheek.
"Oh mother!" Lizzy cried happily. "We can finally go home!"
"Yes, Lizzy," her mother replied a small smile on her face. She was happy, but there was someone missing from all this. "If only your father was here," she said.
Upon hearing this, Lizzy sighed sadly. Yes. If only her father was here. She hugged her mother tightly and she hugged her daughter back. They missed him and they were both asking themselves the question; was he alive? They were both hoping he was, but at the same time, thoughts of the worst case scenario. What if … what if … he was d-dead?
"Lizzy!"
Lizzy looked up a little, as did her mother. "Did you hear that mother?" she asked.
"Yes, I did," she replied.
"Lizzy!" there it was again. Where was it coming from? The two were not going crazy, they were definitely hearing someone call Lizzy's name, but who?
Then, as Lizzy stood up, she spotted a familiar face coming towards her through the crowd. It was a man with brown hair and dressed in grey trousers and a white top with a green sleeveless jacket over the top. Was it …? Could it be …?
"Lizzy!" the man shouted again when he was close, and Rebecca looked up and gasped. Lizzy felt tears of happiness run down her cheeks and ran forward.
"Father!"
Her mother ran after her. "Martin!"
When Lizzy reached her father, she leapt into his arms and he embraced her tightly, not wanting to let go of her ever again. He was crying happily as well.
"Lizzy!" he said. "I … I'm so happy t-to see you!" he sobbed.
Lizzy buried her face into his neck and sobbed as well. "I-I'm so h-h-happy…y-you're alive, father!" she choked.
Rebecca smiled through her tears when she reached them and Martin looked up at her. He smiled and, holding Lizzy in his arm, stood up and embraced both of them.
"Oh, Rebecca!" he sighed in relief. "I'm so happy to see you both. I thought I had lost the two most important things in my life,"
Rebecca smiled. "I'm very happy you're alive, Martin," she said. "Thank goodness your safe,"
He nodded and embraced his wife and his daughter tightly again.
Below, the fairies smiled at them as their friends' family was finally reunited. Even Vidia was smiling at this. Even though she had been scared of Martin before, now she was glad to see him alive and well. Maybe Tinkerbell was right. He was a-wait.
A sudden realisation struck her and she turned to Fawn and Bobble. Mr Twitches and Cheese ran over to the group.
"Fawn, Bobble," she said. "Where's Tinkerbell?" she asked.
Upon hearing these words, the two gave each other sad looks and Cheese gave a sad squeak, looking down at the ground. The others noticed this.
"What is it?" Terence asked, worry in his voice. "What's happened to her?"
Everyone in the group looked at the two. Bobble looked down at the ground sadly and Fawn rubbed her arm with her hand.
"Um…" she began, quickly trailing off for a moment. "Last night…we were…attacked by a tripod," she explained. "Tinkerbell…she-she drew it away, b-but then…the building she was in…the tripod fell over ad slammed into it and…and she…didn't make it out,"
Wide-eyed looks of disbelief and shock moved from one member of the group to the other. "Y-you mean?" Iridessa said, her voice breaking a little. "No, y-you're wrong! Please tell me your wrong!"
Sadly, it was not to be. Fawn shook her head sadly. "No," she said melancholically.
Before they knew it, the groups' happiness was replaced by sadness. Iridessa burst into tears and collapsed onto her knees, burying her face into her hands, Terence was wiping away tears from his eyes and was embraced tightly by Vidia, who began to silently cry against his chest, Clank hugged Silvermist, tears silently trickling down their faces, Rosetta cried into her hands, Fawn and Bobble embraced tightly, Bobble gently crooning her as he stroked her head as she sobbed. Cheese wiped away a tear from his eye with his paw.
None of them could believe it! Their friend was gone! She was dead.
Behind them, as Lizzy was set down on the ground by her father, she turned to look at the fairies and saw that they were crying. A look of concern spread across her face.
"Fairies … w-what's wrong?" she asked, kneeling down in front of them.
Vidia looked up at her with tear soaked eyes. Lizzy became even more concerned. "Oh, please tell me what's wrong," she said. "What is it?" she asked again.
Lizzy looked at all the other fairies, but it was then she noticed someone was missing. Concerned and little worried, she looked back down at the fairies.
"W-where's Tinkerbell?" she asked.
Vidia did not take her tear soaked eyes away from Lizzy. Even though she could not speak to Lizzy like Humans would, her eyes told Lizzy everything. Lizzy clasped a hand over her mouth. She shook her head, begging for it not to be real, but Vidia nodded slightly.
"Oh!" Lizzy buried her face in her hands and began to sob.
"Lizzy," Martin said as he and Rebecca knelt down next to her. Lizzy embraced him tightly. "What is it, darling?" he asked.
"Tinkerbell," Lizzy sobbed. "S-she's…she's gone!"
Lizzy began to cry and buried her face in his neck. Martin looked at the fairies and up at Rebecca, who placed a hand reassuringly on her daughter's shoulder, and sighed. This…this was a real shock for him. He sighed again, and gently patted his daughter's back.
The whole group was filled with grief over the worst thing they had feared since all of this had begun and even more so when they were all separated.
Tinkerbell was dead.