A/N: Yeah, I'm going to finish my other (Incestuous) story. I'm just taking a short break. This is gonna be an interesting story. Yes, I know there's already a MR-AF crossover, and whoever you are, up yours. This was supposed to be the first one, you jackass. XD

Artemis sat back in his computer chair, a quite good idea running through his mind. He was looking at an article about genetic experiments, and six in particular. No specific names were known.

Just another challenge.

"Artemis?"

He turned around and smiled hesitantly at Minerva. "Hello. What is it?"

She glanced at him, then the computer screen, and she grinned. "Are you plotting something?"

He smirked. "Why, yes, I am. Concerning the Flock, as they call themselves."

The blond girl stared at the computer screen for a few moments. "…you hacked into a major company's secret website?"

"No," an irritated voice said from a small transmitter, "I did."

"Foaly," Artemis muttered, "please be quiet. And get Holly up here."

"Well, I can't guarantee anything about the first one, but I'll get Captain Short up there stat. Don't let her kill Minerva."

Said girl blinked. "…what…?"

In the distance, Holly yelled at Foaly. "Shut up, dammit!"

Foaly hurriedly said, "I'll get her up soon as possib— ack!"

"Bye, Arty," Holly said sweetly and slightly mockingly. "I'll see you soon. But, right now, I have a centaur to kill." The transmission ended.

Minerva frowned. "What… just… happened…?"

Shrugging, Artemis said, "You get used to it eventually. Holly is just being herself."

"Uh-huh." Minerva sighed, and said, "Hey, Arty, follow me."

————————————————————————————————————

For some incredibly insane reason, the Voice wanted us to fly to Ireland.

Seriously.

Ireland.

More specifically, a place called Tara.

And, as usual, refused to answer my questions, which ran along: Hey, why do we have to go there?…ANSWER ME!

Stupid Voice.

But, of course, we didn't have anything better to do. So we were to Ireland, on a plane.

Normally, I would hate it, but we were flying first class and there was almost no one else on.

So, really, it was pretty damn cool.

We landed at about three o'clock and flew the rest of the way to Tara. With our wings. It felt good to use them after sitting on that stupid plane…

We sat down by a tree. "All right, guys, we'll just… wait here. Unless the Voice gives me some good info."

Max, you have to leave!

What? You were the one to tell us to come here!

No, it wasn't me!

It was almost completely emotionless. There was slight hysteria in its tone.

What?

"I don't like this," I heard a female voice say, almost inaudibly.

"You came," another girl's voice said with the same volume.

"I didn't know what we were going to do."

A boy's voice, mocking. "Oh, yes you did. You knew, and you came to spend time with your favorite Mud Boy."

"Don't push me!" The first voice whispered, angry.

"Guys," I muttered, "something's up."

They nodded and got ready to fly away, and I spread my wings. But before I could take off, something pierced my neck and I fell down. I could see Fang and Nudge falling down before I went unconscious.

Kinda sucked.

———————————————————————————

When I came to, I was on a bed. A nice, soft bed. Were we in a hotel? I glanced around, and quickly eliminated that possibility. At home? No, Ireland.

I sat up, groaning and rubbing my temples.

"Well, glad to see you're awake."

I glanced over. A short person was sitting there. She had pointed ears, which was weird, and one blue and one hazel eye. "I'm Holly Short," she continued pleasantly.

"You're one of the people from the clearing." I frowned, glaring.

"Ah, yes…" She blushed. "You'll have to excuse Artemis. He likes his crazy little schemes. Although what he plans to do with you, I don't really know."

"What I plan to do," I heard the boy from the clearing's voice say, and I looked at him. He had black hair and one blue eye, one hazel eye, "is shelter you until my contacts can destroy Itex."

Holly snorted. "Contacts? Oh, that's rich. You mean us, right?"

"No," Artemis corrected, "I mean Butler's friends." He flashed a creepy smile at Holly, and she shivered. I did too. That was just…weird. Bone-chilling.

"Who's Butler?" I asked.

"My bodyguard," Artemis said, shrugging. "Probably my first friend, too."

I nodded slowly. "Uh-huh. Who was the other girl that was with you?"

"Minerva Paradizo," Holly muttered, scowling. I got the impression she didn't like this girl… Minerva.

"Where's the rest of my flock?" I asked them.

Holly gulped. I got the impression something was wrong. "You're Max, right? Fang, Nudge, and Iggy are okay… but…"

"Gazzy and Angel. Something's wrong with them."

"Yes," Artemis said, sighing. "We don't know exactly what. I think the sedative reacted badly. The Gasman, as his name is… died overnight. Angel is recovering slightly, but is still running a high fever."

I started hyperventilating. What? One of them… dead?

"We buried him. I figured it would be better if you didn't see the body."

Angel was in that condition too.

Oh, God.

"Take me to Angel."

Artemis eyed me.

"Now, dammit!" I snapped.

He sighed. "All right. But her condition's not good."

He led me through a bunch of halls, which told me this place was really freaking huge, and stopped before one door. He put in a key and opened it, and I rushed in. Angel was laying down on a bed, a blond-haired girl kneeling next to her.

She glanced up at me, brown eyes flickering from me to Artemis. She stood up slowly, and held out her hand in front of me, and I shook it. Then she smiled at Artemis and hugged him quickly as Holly gritted her teeth.

I snickered, earning a glare from Holly and confused looks from Artemis and Minerva. Then I remembered Angel and sobered up immediately, walking over to her side. She was turning in her fevered sleep, her tiny face troubled as she whispered things. Just partial sentences, nothing coherent.

I hugged her quickly, then turned back to glare at Artemis. "I would like to see the rest of my flock. And leave Minerva here."

He nodded, slightly confused, and motioned for me to follow him. I visited Fang, Iggy, and Nudge, explaining things to each of them. Holly stayed protectively close to Artemis the whole time, I noted.

After I'd explained everything to my flock and got them out of bed and dressed, and after taking a looooooooooong shower (hey, what can I say? Too many years on the run. Saw my chance and took it.) Artemis showed me down to the kitchen, where a woman I presumed to be his mother was making food. "Hi," she said, smiling at me. "You have no idea how lucky you are! Little Arty took you in out of the kindness of his heart… he doesn't usually do that kinda stuff." I nodded slightly, and snickered.

"Arty?"

The boy blushed. "It's what she likes to call me," he muttered. "Butler, and my father, sometimes, too."

I sat down at the table. "I'm pretty hungry. And just a warning, we all eat a lot."

———————————————————————————————————————

Artemis watched with mild amusement. One sitting, and the Flock had depleted nearly half their pantry, and it was only two-thirds of them. He sighed. It would only be four if Angel didn't recover. Even then, her brother was gone.

He felt something crash into him and small arms wrap tightly around his neck. "Hey," Holly breathed into his ear.

"What do you want?" He asked quietly, turning quickly to face her. He turned fast enough so that she wouldn't be moved. Of course, he wasn't thinking of the elf's face's proximity to his.

Her lips were barely a millimeter from his, her eyes boring straight into his.

Quite frankly, who could have blamed him for what he did?

Artemis leaned forward, pressing his lips softly to Holly's. After a moment, she kissed back, lips urgently moving with his.

Their mouths opened, and they would have continued, had Max not said, "Hey! Stop that! It's… weird. Gonna make me sick."

Holly sighed and broke the kiss, but stayed in his arms. "Surprisingly," she whispered to the boy genius, "you're a good kisser. A very good one, in fact."

He rolled his eyes, hugging her.

"Seriously!" Max glared at the two from the kitchen. "Stop that. It's really, really, really, reeeeealllllly weird."

One of the Flock called from the kitchen, presumably Nudge. "You just don't like watching it 'cause you wanna do it with Fang!"

She wheeled around, stalking back in. The Mud Boy and elf winced as various, violent noises sounded from the kitchen.

"Max?" A soft, weak voice murmured from the top of the stairs.

Immediately, Max ran out, up the stairs, and hugged Angel tightly. Minerva stood awkwardly behind the two. "She woke up," Minerva muttered, "wanted to see you. I didn't really want to refuse, so I let her…"

"Probably couldn't, anyways," Max said with a slight smile. Artemis started to ask, then remembered the article.

Controls minds.

Right.

"I wouldn't, Max," Angel muttered, yawning quietly, hugging her back. "Minerva's nice. Really nice."

Then her sleepy gaze moved to him. Her eyes widened slightly, and then she let out a scream. She clutched her head, sobbing.

"What did you do to her?" Max glared blackly at Artemis, the rest of her Flock coming out of the kitchen to see Angel.

"Nothing," he said, confusedly.

And then he noticed; Angel's gaze was going past him. He turned, just in time to see… something.

It flickered in and out of existence, like a ghost. Its head was like a praying mantis, with a jaw that was split four ways; middle, sides. Narrow slits for red eyes. Its arms were long blades, which occasionally flickered into human-looking arms, but an ashy grey color, with three fingers. The blade-arms split and opened to approximately a ninety-degree angle, and it let out a screech, then charged for Artemis.

No one could have moved fast enough… except, of course, for Holly, who was preparing to blast the weird bug to Kingdom Come.

But she didn't have to. It stopped in front of him, stared for a moment, cocked its head to the side, and said, in a deep, raspy voice, "Master," and it bowed.

He stared at it, conscious everyone was staring at him.

"Oh my god! Are you really its master? Did you make it co—"

"Nudge, shut up," Max hissed.

"Who, and what, are you?" Artemis asked.

"Master? You do not remember me? I am your friend, your eternal servant. You sent me to topple entire nations before. I am R'Tais, your Nu."

A/N: Whoo. This was, like, nine pages on word or something, with a size sixteen font. Times New Roman. The Nu, or Kanukai, as their full name is, are a fictional race that are going to be in my book. Think Elites in Halo for the jaw.