A Fan fiction by: Bella the Dork
Description: Post-Opal Deception. Pre-Lost Colonies. A boy genius, an elf, a dwarf, a pro wrestler and a centaur all walk into a bar... Artemis, Holly and Mulch have been gallivanting around town in an ignorant bliss, but now something evil is coming. Is it a new foe, or one they had thought long defeated?
Genre: Artemis Fowl, Action/Romance
Rated: T, to be safe. There's mild violence and some adult themes.
I didn't realise how many formatting mistakes there were in this... sorry if my crazy paragraphs have been confusing people. I'm going to do my best now to go through and edit it!
PLEASE NOTE: I previously wrote a fanfiction of book four called "Artemis Fowl: The Mastermind' however this was never completed because the real book "The Opal Deception" came out. I'm now writing a story that will hopefully fit in between the 4th and 5th books (hence the title "Somewhere In-Between") but I'm using ideas and excerpts of text from my previous story. Call it recycling if you wish. But I am not a THIEF, as it was my story to begin with.
Please read and review! If you hate my story, TELL ME WHY! If you've been a silent reader, just comment. You don't even have to critique me or anything, just say "I'm reading your story."
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Chapter One: Playing Games
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Artemis Fowl the Second prowled the moonlit courtyard with mild annoyance. He was dressed from head to toe in black and the large blaster felt awkward in his hands. Artemis wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. As much as he hated to admit it, Artemis was quite clumsy, so being stealthy just didn't come easily. The young Irish boy slid behind a potted plant and scanned the area with narrowed eyes. In the beginning he had been very nervous, but now frustration and impatience had taken over his butterflies. He had lost before, but not tonight.
Artemis was going to find his enemies, and he was going to annihilate them.
A quick reflection passed by the fountain in the centre of the courtyard and Artemis spun around, searching for the culprit. There was a low brick wall enclosing the fountain, and if Artemis squinted, he could see a dark shadow lurking just behind. After estimating the best angle, Artemis cocked his blaster and shot a laser bolt at his shadowy target. A short, stout person jumped out from behind the wall and curled into a ball. Artemis frowned. "Missed."
Mulch Diggums stuck his tongue out at Artemis and rolled behind another wall, firing shots at the disgusted boy as he went. Artemis dove back behind the pot plant and countered with shots from his own blaster. Stupid dwarf! Artemis would get his revenge…
"Hey!"
Artemis stopped shooting and looked up to see a slim girl with pointed ears holding two blasters. Holly Short stood high above them on the roof of a nearby building, grinning with a look of triumph which made Artemis' high spirits die. It took a second for Artemis to realise that he was beaten, but he wasn't quick enough to do anything about it. Holly winked at the Irish boy, and then fired both of her blasters in unison. Two thuds were heard as her targets fell to the ground.
"And I am the winner!" Holly yelled her voice victorious. "That's two nights in a row! You guys suck!"
Artemis groaned and pulled off his helmet. Instantly, he was transported back into his living room at Fowl Manor. Beside him, Holly and Mulch both pulled off their virtual reality helmets. Mulch was panting.
"Eurgh. I gotta get in shape." The dwarf groaned and fell back into a pile of cushions.
Holly was tapping the controls. "High scores! I'll put our names in…"
Artemis grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and then returned to the living room. He looked up at the TV and frowned.
HOLLY……………1000
MULCH…………….608
ARTY…………………570
"Arty?" The boy inquired.
Holly winked. "It's cute. I had to do that, 'cause you can only enter up to five letters."
Artemis sighed and sat down on the couch. "Whatever you like."
Mulch groaned. "I'm beat. All this stealing from the rich and giving to the art galleries is wearing me out. Plus all this training…" He groaned again. "It's killin' me.
"But look on the bright side." Holly laughed, "Both you and Artemis are starting to get muscles."
"Maybe Artemis is," replied Mulch sulkily, "But I've still got a lot of extra baggage." He patted his bulging stomach fondly.
Artemis nodded his head. "I feel a lot fitter than I used to be, even though I'm still not really in shape. At least I can run a few metres without passing out."
Mulch yawned. "Well, I'm feeling sleepy. Come on my darling wife, let's go home."
Holly scowled at him. "Remember, Mulch, we're not actually married. And when we're only around Artemis there's no need to call me your wife."
Mulch grinned. "I know. We're posing as a married couple of mud-people so we could rent out that crappy apartment. But it's so fun to call you… sweetie. OUCH!"
Mulch rubbed his arm where Holly had punched him while the elf casually put on her jacket.
"It was fun tonight, Artemis." Holly smiled. "What are you doing tomorrow?"
Artemis frowned. "I have school, remember?"
"Oh, right. Well, we could come over tomorrow night?"
Artemis shook his head. "No, mother and father want to have a family dinner tomorrow night. But they're going to France on Wednesday and they'll be gone for two weeks. Father has a business meeting or something." Artemis smiled his vampire smile. Holly couldn't help grinning back. That smile meant that Artemis had a plan for them to get up to mischief. Artemis continued. "So come over on Thursday morning."
"But Artemis!" Holly said, with mock concern. "You have school on Thursday morning."
Artemis sighed. "Oh dear. Well, I hope I can catch up on all the work."
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Foaly rubbed his eyes tiredly. It just wasn't fun working the night shift when you were all alone. Now, when Holly had been around… that was fun! They had swingy chair races, looked up rude words in the dictionary and danced around to mud-people's 80's music. It had been great…
But now Holly was gone, and Foaly missed her really badly. Of course, he did get to talk to her on the phone quite often. Still, without Holly, the office just didn't seem as bright and happy. And without Commander Root? Foaly shuddered. No one really liked Commander Sool, but they put up with him. Luckily, Sool was on vacation for the next few weeks, and Trouble was the acting Commander. Trouble was doing a damn good job as Commander, and Foaly hoped that the Council would appoint Trouble in the position permanently, though he doubted it would happen.
The centaur clambered off his specially modified swingy chair and trotted over to the coffee machine. It was nearing close to three in the morning and Foaly was ready for bed. But he had almost completed upgrading of the LEP's security system and he didn't want to go home until it was finished. After a few more minutes of entering codes and slurping coffee, the program was completed. All Foaly had to do now was press ENTER, and the system would be working all over the LEP buildings.
Suddenly, the red warning lights were flashing and the alarms were sounding. Foaly tapped furiously on his computer and a warning screen appeared. Haven had been… pinged? No, it was impossible. It had to be a bug. And once Foaly activated the new security system, the warnings would cease.
He hit ENTER.
Nothing happened.
So Haven really had been pinged…
A new email popped up and automatically opened itself. Foaly was about to close the email when he realised it was from an unknown address. The message itself… Foaly's eyes widened as he read, and he quickly picked up the telephone.
The message said… 'We can see you, fairies.'
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Meanwhile, Holly and Mulch were walking down the dark streets to their new apartment. Holly was enjoying the cool evening breeze when she heard Mulch chuckle under his breath.
"What?" she asked, curiously.
Mulch grinned and pointed to a woman in a red dress walking on the opposite side of the road. "That's no lady."
Holly giggled. "No way! How can you tell?"
"Her boobs are lopsided. They're totally fake."
"Mulch!" Holly giggled again. "You're terrible!" Holly's phone began to ring and she answered it.
"Hello?" she grinned when she recognised Foaly's voice. "Foaly! Good timing. You'll never believe it, Mulch and I just walked past a man dressed up as a woman!"
Foaly neighed impatiently on the other end of the phone."I wouldn't be at all surprised if a talking donkey flew past you at the moment. Haven was pinged. We're going into lockdown in thirty seconds."
"You're what?" Holly stopped dead in her tracks, her heart beating hard in her chest. "What happened, Foaly?" Mulch has stopped also, and was watching Holly talk with growing concern.
"Holly, we don't have much time. I only have two clues as to who pinged us. Number one, my computer picked up a signal from Rome, Italy. Number two, they sent us an email."
"What does it say?"
"It says…" Foaly shuddered. "It says 'We can see you, fairies.'"
Holly's blood went cold. "Foaly... What does that mean?"
"It means, Holly, that a human has discovered us. And it's bad. Very bad." Foaly continued, speaking hurriedly. "Holly, stick close to Artemis. We're going to need his help. You need to figure out who pinged us, and stop them. Your best bet would be to g-" The phone cut out and the line went dead.
Holly shut the cell phone with shaking hands. "Haven is under lockdown."
"WHAAT!" exclaimed Mulch, "Lockdown? But that means-"
Holly nodded. "We've been discovered by humans. The entire existence of the fairy race is now at stake." Holly felt weak all of a sudden, and sat down on the curb with her head in her hands. They were silent for a few moments when Mulch suddenly spoke.
"Holly, you fool. You left our window open."
Holly looked up and squinted across the street. Their apartment was on the third floor, and sure enough, the window was open. "I didn't leave it open. You're the one who needed some fresh air."
"But I definitely shut it before we left. Remember, I accidentally slammed it shut and you yelled at me."
Holly looked up quickly. "That's right. But if I didn't leave it open, and you didn't leave it open…"
"Then who left it open?" Mulch finished.
The pair looked at each other for a moment, and then sprinted across the street to the front door.
Holly was there first. "It's unlocked. Not a good sign." She bolted inside and began climbing the stairs. Behind her, Mulch was panting. "Someone else from the apartment might have left it open." He wheezed.
Holly seriously doubted it. "Mulch, the Crystal… What if it's been stolen?"
"I knew we should have left it at Artemis' house."
Holly scowled and jumped up a few more stairs. "His parents were home, remember? It was a little tricky to sneak a bloody huge crystal in when they were waiting at the front door."
They had reached the second floor. The charred remains of a door blocked the stairs. "D'arvit!" Holly swore, "Mulch, that's our door!" She jumped over the blackened door and ran up the stairs to the third floor. Sure enough, number 9's door was nowhere to be found and Holly could see that the inside of the apartment did not look pretty. She entered, picking up a lamp on her way in to use as a weapon.
"Who's there?" Holly called, "Get the hell out of our apartment!" She flicked the light switch on, but there didn't seem to be anyone around. Holly walked around the apartment, kicking open doors and cupboards. Mulch followed cautiously behind her. However, after a few minutes it was clear that whoever had been in the apartment had left.
Holly stepped gingerly around their possessions that were strewn all over the floor and made her way towards the faux fireplace. Her stomach was sick. The covering over the fireplace was gone. And so was the Crystal. Holly fell to her knees before the fireplace.
"It's gone." All the months of planning, that stressful night when they had only just managed to steal it… and now it had been stolen from them.
"Someone knew it was here." Stated Mulch matter-of-factly. "Nothing else was taken, and they specifically stole the Crystal. I think-"
"Wait. Shh." Holly was on her knees before the fireplace, and she noticed something out of place. Shuffling forward slightly, she pulled a white piece of folded paper from the debris.
With shaking hands, Holly unfolded the paper and cleared her throat.
"We can see you, fairies." Holly looked at Mulch with horror and then jumped up. "Grab your things. We're not safe here."
"What?" exclaimed Mulch, "What do you mean?"
Holly was running around the room, throwing things into a duffel bag. "Don't argue with me, Mulch. Someone knows we're here, and that someone is the same someone who pinged Haven. We've got to get out of here!"
Mulch obediently started packing while Holly flicked open her cell phone. She speed dialled Artemis.
The Irish boy had been just drifting off to sleep when his phone rang. His hand shot out of bed automatically and answered.
"Hello?" he mumbled tiredly.
"Artemis. We've got a situation. Get Butler, get weapons, and get to our apartment."
Instantly, Artemis was alert. "What happened?"
"We'll explain later, just hurry!" Holly hung up and Artemis quickly jumped out of bed and began dressing.
Meanwhile, Holly and Mulch were running down the stairs to the front door.
"Artemis is on his way." Holly called to Mulch as she grabbed the door handle. She turned, but it wouldn't budge. "What?" She tugged harder, but it wouldn't open. "How can we be locked in?" The elf peered through the glass to see a metal bar locking the door handle in place. Her blood ran cold. "They're still here. They've locked us in." Holly spun around. "Quick, back up the stairs."
"Back up?" groaned Mulch.
"Do it!" Holly roared. She bolted up the stairs as fast as her short legs would carry her and headed back into their apartment. She threw the duffel bag out of the window.
"What in Frond's name are you doing?" panted Mulch.
"The fire escape, you moron!" Holly climbed out of the window and perched precariously on the metal balcony. She kicked the emergency ladder and it fell to the ground with a crash. "Climb!" Holly ordered.
"Why me first?" Mulch muttered childishly. Holly pushed him over the balcony in response. The disgruntled dwarf began climbing quickly down the ladder. Holly swung the duffel bag over her shoulder and climbed down after him. All of a sudden, a laser bolt sizzled past Holly's left ear.
"Hurry, Mulch!" The pair jumped off the ladder. "Find cover!" Holly shouted. They ducked down low and ran across the street. More laser bolts were fired, but they dodged them and jumped behind a dumpster. Holly unzipped the duffel bag and pulled out two blasters. She chucked one to Mulch and then peered out from behind the bin.
The ex-Lower-Elements-Police-Officer scanned the dark street with growing fear, but she swallowed and tried to concentrate. A shadow moved on their balcony. Holly aimed the blaster and fired. Someone yelled, and a body dressed in black fell to the street. "Perfect." Holly smirked triumphantly. The dumpster was immediately surrounded by gunfire. "Come on Artemis, where are you?"
"I'm right behind you, actually."
Holly and Mulch jumped and spun around. Artemis and Butler had emerged from the alleyway behind them. Holly could see the Bentley parked in the shadows.
"Nice shot" Artemis acknowledged.
"What took you?" Holly muttered irately.
"We had to get past Mr and Mrs Fowl." Butler put in, scanning the street. He aimed and shot twice. Two thuds could be heard falling to the street. A high-pitched whistle sounded suddenly. On the signal, five people emerged from various hiding places on the street. They had no visible weapons. The lady in red from earlier emerged from an alley on the other side of the road. She smirked at them all and pulled off her blonde wig to reveal a shaven head. Beneath the long red dress were tight black pants and a black shirt. The now, 'he', pulled a gun out of his boot and lit a cigarette. Mulch poked Holly. "Told you he was no lady."
Butler, Artemis, Holly and Mulch all stepped out cautiously from behind their dumpster.
"What do you want?" Holly called boldly to the men dressed in black. The man in the middle, obviously the leader, began to laugh.
"We already have what we want." He replied, voice low and rough. The man pulled out a large blue crystal from the inside pocket of his long black coat. He held the crystal high in the air.
Butler swore. "They've got the Crystal."
"Give it back!" shouted Holly. "It's ours! You have no right to take it."
"Actually," replied the man, "It's ours. You stole it from us, just as we had planned."
The shocked faces of Artemis and the rest made the man laugh. "How rude of me, not introducing myself. I am the bounty hunter, Azrael and I have been hired to kill you. Let me explain from the very beginning. My master holds an immense grudge with you, Artemis Fowl, and has put a very inviting price on your head. A lot of research has been done on you, and this Crystal was specifically set up for you to steal. We know you like to steal things." Azrael laughed again. "But we also know that you have help, Artemis Fowl. Help of the magical kind."
Artemis was frozen in place, shocked out of his mind. Had he unknowingly put the Fairy People in danger again? The boy shook his head to regain his composure. They needed time. The group had been training all holidays and they had developed certain little signals that determined what move they should make. But they needed time… small talk then…
Artemis smiled knowingly. "Azrael. An interesting name."
Azrael nodded his head slightly in return.
The boy went on. "It means, 'Angel of Death', does it not? A fitting name for a bounty hunter."
"I chose it myself." The man replied. He looked at Artemis carefully with a sneer. "I was told that you have a way with words, young Mister Fowl. You think to distract me, but my attention will not be diverted." Azrael sneered again. "I will not play your little games, Mister Fowl."
Artemis' smile did not falter and instead he merely stared coolly at the bounty hunter.
Azrael smiled evilly. "You thought that you had beaten my master, but he also has help this time. This time, you are the one who is beaten." The bounty hunter pulled a blaster from within his coat and fired directly at Artemis. In an ordinary situation, Artemis would have been dead. But Azrael didn't know who he was dealing with.
In the split second when Azrael's hand was reaching into his coat, the group had sprung into action. Butler was the first to move. The bodyguard grabbed Artemis by the shoulders and threw them both to the ground. As the laser sliced through the air exactly where Artemis had been, Butler rolled to safety behind the dumpster and dragged the surprised boy with him. Meanwhile, Holly Short and Mulch were carrying out a little stunt of their own. As soon as the laser fired, Mulch dropped to his knees and Holly had jumped up onto his shoulders. He threw his blaster up into the air, and Holly deftly caught it. Now with a blaster in each hand, Holly fired shots at the assassins and jumped up into the air, doing a back flip and landing on the dumpster behind her, where she continued shooting. Holly was ordinarily a very good shot, but doing the flip put out her accuracy just slightly. Her bolts clipped three of the assassins on theirs legs and Azrael in the shoulder. When Azrael fell to the ground, the other assassins scattered. Holly shook her head. Pathetic. They clearly weren't able to fight without a leader, giving them directions.
Holly jumped to the ground, her blaster pointed directly at Azrael's head. "Who is your master? Who sent you here?" She pushed the gun into his temple.
"I'm afraid that information is classified." Azrael glared at her, and Holly shuddered. If looks could kill…
"Tell me, or I'll blow your brains out." She pushed the blaster in harder.
"Who my master is, and who I was sent by are two different people." Azrael muttered, "Beware the Dark Lady of the Forest."
"The Dark Lady?" Holly asked, confused, "Who the hell-"
But suddenly Azrael had twisted out of her way. Before Holly could act, a rope was thrown down from the roof above them and he had climbed to safety.
"D'arvit!" shouted Holly, repeatedly firing her blaster at Azrael. She was sure that she hit him in the leg, but he ignored the pain and continued climbing. Within seconds he had disappeared.
And to make matters worse it had started to rain.
Artemis stumbled out from behind the dumpster. "Holly! Are you alright?"
Holly nodded. "I'm fine. But I'm afraid Azrael got away."
Artemis grimaced. "We can deal with that later. I'm just glad that you are safe."
Above them thunder rumbled and lightning flashed. Water was now pouring down in torrents and everyone was getting positively soaked.
Holly groaned. "I had to be wearing this shirt too, right?" Artemis had been trying not to look. Holly's tight blue tank top was sticking to her slim yet shapely form, and it was making Artemis blush slightly with embarrassment.
"Come on," Artemis said, motioning to the Bentley, "We should go home."
"But what about our apartment?" asked Mulch, getting up off the ground and wiping the mud off his pants.
Butler shook his head. "You can't live there anymore. It's too dangerous. At least you'll have protection at Fowl Manor."
"But what about your parents?" inquired Holly, shivering slightly from the cold.
"Actually, it seems that luck is on our side." Artemis replied with a slight smile, "Mother and Father arrived home shortly after you left. But they had to pack their bags and leave again straight away. The date of father's meeting was moved to tomorrow, so they had to catch the plane tonight." Artemis' smile grew." So we've got the house to ourselves, and I needn't go to school tomorrow."
Butler frowned. "I really shouldn't let you skip school, Artemis."
"But it's useless anyway. I don't learn anything, and it simply stresses out my teachers." Artemis explained. "It's better for everyone if I don't go. Plus…" Artemis shuddered. "There's going to be a school dance soon. I will not be attending."
Holly sneezed.
Butler started back to the Bentley. "Come on, we'd better go or else you'll all catch colds." He rubbed his temples. "I'm actually not feeling too well, myself."
Holly sneezed again and Artemis took off his jacket and handed it to her. "Here, put it on."
Holly took the jacket with surprise. "Thankyou." She put it on gratefully, glad for the warmth. "I suppose I'm not used to the cold. Haven is quite hot."
Artemis grinned. "Yes, I'm sure it is. It must be because Haven's surrounded by boiling molten lava."
Holly returned the grin. "Yeah, maybe."