A/N: Sorry for the sheer amount of time it took to publish this. You can take one of two options: one is that I got swamped with work and homework and used the extra time to put a lot into the story, or two is that I got netflix, procrastinated terribly, and put a lot of extra work into the story.
Due to some rather severe writer's block, it's the shortest chapter since the first, but hopefully you all enjoy it.
Anyway, here it is.
Artemis was groggy when he regained consciousness. As such, he did not immediately recognize his surroundings. It was a place his mind had constructed as place of shelter, where one would observe what was happening from a third party perspective.
Unfortunately, it was also a prison, and it was supposed to be gone.
-Police Plaza-
Foaly was worried. And when Foaly was worried, it showed. What remained of his hair was disheveled, his coat had lost all trace of a shine, and he was jumpy. And when a centaur gets jumpy, that's a lot of jumpy. After knocking over an equipment cart 3 times, he finally decided to sit down in order to stop himself destroying something.
The reason for his worry was what they had found where Artemis had been kidnapped. In the exam room was a smooth river stone with a single rune carved into it. The stone looked harmless enough, but it wasn't what it looked like that mattered, it's what it used to contain. The stone held traces of magic. The magic itself was simple, a shape-shifting spell to make the user look like one of the medical warlocks from the hospital. What was worrying was that this magic was old, and very powerful.
His work was interrupted by Holly and Trouble. Holly hadn't had time to change yet and was still in her civilian clothing. The two looked just as bad as he was, for various reasons. Holly had her obvious reasons, and hadn't so much as sat down since the kidnapping. Trouble was strained because it was his responsibility to keep an eye on Artemis and his neck on line if he was hurt. More importantly if he held the council responsible for said injuries.
"Ok Foaly, no jargon." Trouble started, annoyance clear in his voice, "I've just had to listen to the council subtly threaten to make me disappear in any one of several terrible ways if Artemis complains about so much as a hangnail. And then, after that, it got scary. I rode here with Holly."
He didn't elaborate, but Foaly could guess. Holly could get imaginative when she was mad.
"Here's what we know. Using this stone and ones like it, a demon buck managed to pass for an elf warlock, knock out Artemis, and exfiltrate from the hospital unnoticed. It wasn't until a nurse noticed they were gone and found the stones that we figured it out." Foaly showed them the stone, and the screen displayed an unraveling of the spell.
Holly noticed something immediately. She had minored in magic in college and knew enough from No. 1 about demon magic to understand what was on the screen.
"Foaly, this is advanced. Apart from the demon warlocks there hasn't been magic like this since the battle of Tailte."
"Which is why it's so troubling," Said Foaly, "All three demons with this capability are currently working for the LEP and, frankly, think of No. 1, you, and Artemis as heroes after the Hybras incident. Whatever this is, it's more power than we've ever dealt with."
-Artemis' brain-
Artemis was sitting in his desk chair in what appeared to be his study. There were no computers, however, only a wall sized screen displaying what his body was currently experiencing. Currently it was dark, as he was either unconscious or blindfolded.
He stood up and crossed to the screen. In the past, he had been able to regain control by crawling through the screen, or at least he had tried. Fortunately, he was no longer plagued by the Atlantis Complex, and should be able to make it through without incident.
"I wouldn't try that, it's not exactly nice out there, you're unconscious for a reason." Said a voice from behind him. Artemis recognized the voice immediately. After all, it was his own. "You have been put into an artificial slime cocoon and placed in an imp warping vat."
Orion Fowl, delusional figment of Artemis' broken mind, was sitting at the desk chair. Unlike Artemis, who was almost always was found in a black Armani suit, Orion was dressed in all white, from his silk shirt to his leather shoes, he was as opposite as possible for the same person.
"Why are you here?" Artemis asked, "You're supposed to be nothing more than a bad memory."
Orion chuckled, "As it turns out, the treatment for Atlantis complex is only partially effective, or at least so in our case. While it cured you of the paranoia and split personalities, it didn't entirely remove me." At this point Orion got up and began walking around the room. "Think of me as a manifestation of your conscience. I sit in your head and tell you what you should and shouldn't feel guilty about. I have quite a bit of influence in some areas, actually. Moving to Haven, asking Holly to move in, declaring your love for her, to name a few."
A normal person might have trouble with this, but Artemis wasn't normal. He had dealt with things that would send most people gibbering to the mad house on a disturbingly regular basis. Orion made sense, and he couldn't deny it.
Artemis straightened his tie. "Alright then, when it comes to physical altercations, you're the expert. How do we get out of this one?"
-Police Plaza-
No. 1 examined the rune stone. According to Qwan, a powerful enough spell could be embedded in a smooth river stone. In the various conflicts between humans and fairies leading up to the massive and final battle of Tailte, both sides had used them to great effect, before human strains of magic died out.
"I should look into this, it'd be nice to be able to store a spell for a rainy day." He thought out loud. There was his mistake.
"Oh, well, the man I love is taken hostage by a maniac demon who wants you dead, but it's all okay, because you can use the technique used by the kidnapper for your own gain." came an acidic voice from behind him.
No. 1 had forgotten Holly was in the room with him. She had, understandably, been cross with everybody. She had made No. 1's assistant cry by blaming the whole incident on her.
"Okay, good news then." He said, quickly changing the subject, "This kind of magic leaves a strong signature, and we can trace that back to whoever made it."
"That's great!" and for the first time all day, Holly sounded genuine.
"And bad news." No. 1 subtly put up a magical barrier, just in case, "The magic belongs to Qweffor, who, for the last six months, has been on the moon station. He went up as my relief when I came back for Artemis' funeral."
To No. 1's credit, the magical barrier he put up lasted for several seconds before Holly's hands, attempting to strangle him, shattered it.
-Artemis' brain-
Artemis picked at his suit. This was just a nervous habit as the suit, generated by his mind, was spotless. What he was about to face was going to be difficult.
"Alright, if my theories are right, this should work." he said, trying to reassure himself. His theories were always right. "By re-integrating you into my psyche, I should be able to access your skills, and these little talks should be eliminated."
Together, Artemis and Orion turned to the screen. According to his theory, the reason neither of them could pass through the barrier was because he was not, currently, whole. Apparently his subconscious had decided that head trauma was the perfect time to make him work out the last of his mental break.
The trip through the barrier was surprisingly short. Unfortunately, this meant that in no time at all, he was lying uncomfortably in slime, surrounded by dung.
But now, he had a plan.
