A character's mind is only as big as its creator's. Arty's got a huge mind compared to almost anyone. What makes you think I thought him up? Colfer's the genius.

Artemis loved mornings. He'd always been the type of person to wake up at six or seven in the morning to wander through the manor or watch the sunrise. This also caused Butler to become a morning person. He was so used to waking up just before Artemis that the fairies' schedules didn't bother him in the least. In fact, most of the time, he woke up just before them. None of the other occupants of the Ops Center questioned this, except for maybe Mulch, who didn't wake until absolutely necessary unless it involved food. He was first up then.

Butler took to just staring around the room as he waited for the others to wake up. Holly was usually up second, opting to leave her uncomfortable position on the only chair (the only one other than Foaly's, of course) in the room. Butler took up too much room on the floor for there to be enough room for the elf to sleep there, but Mulch fit just fine… even if he was a little smelly.

As soon as Holly would wake up, she usually left the center for the Break Room to get them breakfast. This morning, though, she woke up gasping and clutching the arms of her makeshift bed so tightly that the knuckles of her deeply tanned hands turned a pale greenish- white. Butler looked at her with concern, but she immediately got control of herself, muttering under her breath.

Foaly then woke with a startled cry as his computer beeped, and a loud voice came over the speakers, "Audio and visual reestablished. Live feed will be back on in five… four… three… two… one…"

The webcam link had come back up. Foaly immediately got to work, keeping it from shorting out again and trying to figure out what had happened.

Foaly rubbed his forehead, "I can't find any traces of bugs, but Opal could have the technology to keep them out of my range. I wouldn't put it past her. Then there's the fact that none of my other cameras work." The live feed showed a dim, vaguely familiar room. Opal wasn't in it, and neither was Artemis, but there were a few little movements in the background. From the hazy focus of the outdated technology, Holly could just make out the fact that the movements seemed mechanical. "This seems to be the one I had installed in Fowl's… sixth chamber. If Opal follows her little pattern, we should be able to expect some activity in about a day."

Holly glared at the screen, the doubt held in her hazel eye hidden behind a calculating blue one. We'll get you, Opal, no matter whose side Fowl is on.

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Mrs. Shea spent most of her time in Artemis's chamber now. She bustled about, fussing over him as he recovered from the chemical reaction of the sedatives. Millie, who had already been spending the majority of her time there, informed her that she was not to enter any but the fourth, for some reason. This piqued Mrs. Shea's curiosity, of course, but she respected the Mud man's privacy. Either that or she was biding her time.

Artemis tried to stay low-key when he was well enough to be around the rest of the prisoners. They had taken quite an interest in the fact that Mrs. Shea didn't seem to despise him anymore. They'd all heard what he'd done. No one understood what had changed her mind. They tried to talk to her about it, but all they got was a, "He's not that bad when you get to know him." In the wonderful world of humans, this little development would've alienated them, but these were fairies. They automatically assumed the mud man had some ulterior motive, which caused them to stalk the secret-keepers in worry. All of this was very amusing to Opal.

The criminal genius was currently laughing with feral glee at the dismantled cameras in front of her. She'd left only one unscathed and attached, though she was only just giving Arty's little friends the chance to see the way they had caused their friend to suffer. She knew from her last experimentation that Artemis couldn't take much more draining. She had resorted to giving him sedatives so that the fairies wouldn't hear his screams. After all that hard work, it would have been a shame to have them think of the mud man as their fellow prisoner. I mean, Koboi thought with a malicious glint in her eye, it's not as if he gets the same treatment.

Yeah… you'll understand all that eventually. I just really needed to get my plot going. ATTENTION: almost all of this goes against what I had originally planned. I don't really know why that merits a warning, but… uh…

Okay, I am so freaking sorry for the long wait that my head hurts just thinking about it. I guess it just took me so long to get back to this that I thought no one would really be interested in it anymore. Then I got a note from an anonymous reviewer by the name of "Reddiamond" on a completely unrelated story that convinced me to get off my lazy seat and update. If you're still here, thanks for being patient with a forgetful, naïve author.

Still not my best apology piece, but I guess I've never actually been good at them… even if I should be by now. I realize it's short, and I know the cliffy sucks. I'm tired and cranky, so you'll live.