This is the first chapter to the sequel of my first story, Phantoms and Fairies. I don't think I'll finish this one unless something drastic happens, like they release a new Danny Phantom episode (unlikely), or the next Artemis Fowl book comes out. Well, so long, I'm off to write some How to Train Your Dragon stories. among other things.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Artemis Fowl
Of Family and Friends
Chapter 1
It's Col, not call
The Sprite known as Col was only a small-time thief, but he certainly knew how to steal from one's pocket while shielded. It wasn't easy to go unnoticed when your hand, vibrating faster than the eye could see, was thrust into a moving fairie's pocket. Fortunately, he was an expert.
His wings were silent as he pushed his invisible body through the air. This shuttle port was particularly known for its security measures against criminals such as him, though he knew it was all a hoax. The few that had been caught here were found by pure luck. This suited him just fine, as it simply meant the lazy guards would be cocky and ignore the shield-filtered cameras for minutes at a time.
Today he wasn't just going for the contents of the passerby's pockets; he was out for something bigger. Someone from the fairy underground wanted a certain communicator, and they wanted it bad.
And that communicator was less than ten feet away.
He had been trailing the LEP officer for weeks, waiting to catch a glimpse of the device. This was the first day he had seen her with it in plain view, as a small out-of-place lump in one of her hip pockets. He knew for a fact that at least a good dozen thieves must have had the same goal for nearly a month now, and that none had reached it, until today. It was a gamble, but considering the payoff, it was well worth the risks. He had to get it before someone else did.
He reached out with a lightning quick grab just as a passerby conveniently bumped into her opposite arm…
And he had it.
Captain Holly Short was elated, and pissed off. But mostly pissed off.
Elated, because she was finally going to the surface after a one month "vacation" from the LEP (More like a forced retreat, actually) That she had lost off a bet with the new chief of deployment, the slippery little bastard.
After looking over her route this morning, she had discovered that it had been moved at the last minute only 20 miles offshore of Ireland. It was undoubtedly that miserable centaur Foley, daring her to go "check in" on their old friend, Artemis Fowl. The damn paranoid centaur had walked into her office one day to declare that he had finally admitted that Fowl had outwitted his surveillance systems, and he needed a certain LEP officer to go make sure he wasn't up to no good again. As if she hadn't had enough of the boy already.
Holly had flatly refused, despite the chances she knew Foley would pull a stunt like this.
Still, there was a part of her that honestly wanted to see Artemis again. But she tried not to think too much about that, lest she punch the nearest passerby in the face in her irritation.
She had been standing in the middle of the crowded shuttle port for nearly an hour now, waiting for her clearance to get through. Naturally, it had been a gnome that insisted she wait so they could clear up a few backed-up shuttle flights. Gnomes. It was always them. Pixies and the occasional sprite could be annoying behind a shuttle port desk, but gnomes seemed to put it upon themselves to be flat out nuisances, particularly to her.
After a few more minutes, the terminal to her shuttle finally opened. She walked in, and after an unexciting hour flying up the chute, she was finally on the surface. She took a deep breath of the fresh surface air, and put her helmet on. Time to go see an old friend.
Security officer Kark had been watching the cameras for nearly 3 hours. Now, at the end of his shift, all he had to do was set the computer to analyze the tapes. He hit a few select buttons on his computer, then reclined in his chair and prepared to doze the last few minutes of his workday.
His nap was interrupted by a persistent beeping of the computer. He looked up at it, and saw a scene from one of the cameras playing over and over again. It showed a normal crowded shuttle port overlaid with a thermal image, making all the fairie's bodies glow red. In one spot, and empty space showed the telltale thermal shimmer of a shielded fairy behind a waiting LEP officer.
Kark sighed. It was probably just some young sprite on a dare to see how close he could get to an LEP officer's back pocket before getting caught. He absently clicked his keyboard and the large monitor showed a shield filtered version of the tape. Yup, just a sprite moving up to the officer and right back towards the seats, with absolutely no contact with the officer. As usual, there was no criminal willing to try and sneak in under the nose of his shuttleport's airtight security.
"Danny!" Jazz screamed from the Specter Speeder, "Are you done yet? We have to get these samples back to Mom and Dad!"
"Just a minute Jazz! We're having too much fun to quit now!" He yelled back as he and his half-ghost cousin, Danielle, flew around, vaporizing the massive school of ghost fish that had surrounded them.
"Ug." she said to herself. "I'm going home." She turned the speeder around, and flew through the nearby portal. When she flew into the lab, she saw her father holding up his arms in triumph over a large stereo system on his desk.
"Ha! It's finally finished! Jazz my girl, want to hear me rant about my newest gadget?
"Umm… Not really-"
"Of course you do! The Fenton anti ghost ultra sound emits a high pitched noise that will stun any ghost that hears it!" then Danny and Danielle flew out of the ghost portal. "Danny, my boy, do you want to help your old man test his newest gadget?"
"Umm…not really-" the two half ghosts said together.
"Of course you do! Now, listen to this sound and tell me if it hurts!" He said enthusiastically and pushed a button on the machine.
A loud screeching sound filled the room, and all of its occupants covered their ears. "Turn it off!" Jazz screamed.
Danny twisted one of his hands and fired a ghost ray from one finger that hit the power button on the offending contraption.
"Well, I supposed I could have turned the frequency a bit too low…" Jack Fenton said. "But don't worry, I'm not giving up until we fix it! Who's with me?" He turned around, only to find that all three of them had vanished.
"You get what was offered, no more," Said a dark voice from behind the quaint black robe. The voice gave Col the creeps, but the scariest part was how the figure hadn't moved the entire time he was here, as if the slightest movement of his cloak would have the LEP burst in and arrest them both.
Col had tried to act laid back and relaxed, like a true professional, but this dealer's manner had him on the doorstep of some serious jitters. Even though his every instinct told him to leave it at this and go home, he couldn't resist the temptation of a bigger payoff.
"Look, I've never heard of you, and I'm willing to keep it that way, but I just don't think you see the risks I took to get this thing." The thief replied, "I-"
"Very well." The voice said, startling Col. "The gold is in that box over there" he pointed with the slightest turn of his head. "Leave the device, and you may go."
Col peaked around the stationary figure, suspicious of his easy win, and saw a large wooden box on the floor. He slowly walked over and opened the lid, to find himself face to face with the most beautiful pile of gold he had ever seen, quite obviously more than he had bargained for. He closed the lid and tested the boxes weight. It was incredibly heavy, but he could manage. He dragged it over to the black robed figure, and placed the communicator on the ground.
"Hope you enjoy this." Col said, and dragged the box out the door. Once he got out of the ally, he could flag down one of the shadier shuttle taxis, and get home to count his loot.
He never even wondered what the dealer would have done if he had agreed to the original payment. But of course, one will forget a past conversation with ease when they have a pile of gold in their face.
Artemis Fowl was having a busy day, to say the least. After testing the new anti-surveillance systems for Fowl manor, he had written his lecture for the Louisiana institute of psychology and booked a reservation 18 months in advance for a 5-star restaurant in Paris.
And now, it was time to prepare for his visit from Captain Short.
He picked up a phone and pushed the intercom button. "Mother, please come here. I am in the conference room."