The Alliance Archive

Listen you fool!

We all glanced around at each other, not sure who would speak up first. Of course I was the one to break the silence. "So, why are we not on some shuttle thing to get rescue them?" I asked, looking around.

"Them?" Artemis questioned. "What do you mean them?"

"Don't play dumb. We all know that if Opal took Holly, and her and Sanies are working together, then they're probably keeping the two at the same location." I rolled my eyes. Everyone stared at me in a slight shock except Syd, who had a sly smirk. "What?"

"I-I never thought about that." Artemis muttered to himself. My eyebrows shot up.

"What?! How could you not have seen it?! I mean, come on! Sanies must have taken Butler while Opal looked after Holly. But that means that that they have a base, and from what I sorta know about Opal, she'll have workers." Trouble nodded, looking around at the passing crowed.

"Come on." He said as he turned and started walking away. "Let's get back to HQ."

"So." Artemis sighed, resting his elbows on the table, fingertips lightly pressing into each other. "We know that Opal and Sanies are working together. We know that they have Holly and Butler. We know that we need to find out where, and we need to rescue them." Everyone nodded.

"Wait." Jene said, pacing as she talked. "If Opal has both Holly and Butler, then they'll be working together. For all we know, they could already have a plan and are getting out as we speak." Trouble shook his head.

"We have to assume that they are both unaware of each other's presence and unable to escape. One of them might even be injured. Assume the worst. We know that they're not dead. Sanies and Opal want something, and they won't be able to get it with dead hostages." I nodded, trying to keep my mind on the problem.

Talking went on, but my mind wandered. Thinking about nothing. And everything. Why? Why Holly? Why Butler? Why not Artemis, Syd or myself?

Why, Why, "WHY?!" I screamed, standing up. My chair fell over behind me and I stormed out of the room. What is going on? Why does this always happen and what does Sanies want with us and what could we do to stop them? I sat down on a curb outside the HQ with a sigh. "Calm down, Liz. Just chill. Don't let this happen. You can help." I told myself. I looked around, taking deep breathes and reading random posters.

Atlantis. Go to Atlantis. That's it! I rushed back inside to the meeting room. Everyone flinched as I flung the door open and slammed my hands down on the table. "Atlantis. That's where they are and that's where we're going!"

We were sitting in the meeting room, everyone else talking strategies and war-talk, but I was in a corner, playing with a random knife I had found. How could this not go wrong? There were some many possible out-comes that it just wasn't a safe play. I turned my chair so I faced the corner and leaned back, resting my feet on the wall with the chair on two legs. Who is he? I asked myself. Who is Sanies? Even better, who is Lucus? "Lucus Mortes." I whispered to myself, the name familiar on my lips. "Who are you, huh?" I chuckled and glanced behind me. No one was paying attention to me. Great.

I slowly stood and started making my way to the door silently as to not draw attention to myself. Right as I reached the door and started to pull it open, Artemis spoke. "And if Liz won't stop trying to excude herself from this discussion and sneak off, then we're never going to get going." I rolled my eyes, turning but keeping my hand on the door nob.

"What can I possibly do to help with this? If I try to help, I'll just get us all killed. We all know that I rush into things without thinking and Syd is the one who thinks things through. That's how we get along so well." Birch smiled to herself and I walked out without another word. Going into the break room, I snatched some odd named soda from the tiny fridge and took a long drink.

"Liz?" I looked up from the can and raised my eyebrows at Jene. "You okay?" I nodded, taking another small sip. "You're not. Come on and tell your buddy what's up." She smiled, sitting on the counter next to me.

"It's just, Lucus Mortes." I sighed, feeling the necklace around my neck. "And this stupid thing. I mean, come on. F in Gnomish? It must stand for Fowl. Meaning Artemis. And I'm really stuck on who this Lucus Mortes is to me. I've had all these odd memories of him, and how we were really close, but when I think of him, all I feel is hate. And sadness. It's so stupid." Jene nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, as soon as we get Holly and Butler back, we'll figure everything out. We'll all get our old bodies back and live happily ever after." I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

"Yeah, I sometimes, I really wish."