A/N: Hurrah! A new chapter! It only took, what, six months?

Well, here we go. And I should so be revising but whatever. Also, to the person who submitted Emily's bio - I'm sorry for kind of turning her into a villain, it's no reflection on you. The story needed a villain and that's how it ended up.

Chapter 10

The last few weeks at the OFU had been busy. And painful. And educational, in a twisted kind of way.

Miss Emrys and Miss Maleficant were sitting in Miss Emry's study, reviewing the progress of the students.

'Well, aside from the injuries sustained every time we send them on training-'

'Which are decreasing, technically,' Miss Emrys interjected.

'-they appear to be adjusting quite well,' Miss Maleficant finished. She sat back from the holographic screen, swiping her hand across the graph of injury levels (the slightest possible negative correlation was seen, barely a degree from horizontal). The graph shrank and twisted down into a corner, bringing up a video clip.

'What's this?' Miss Emrys said with curiosity.

'Oh, the… situation. With the students. You remember,' Miss Maleficant said offhandedly. 'I have been keeping tabs on it.'

'Anything new?'

'Not much. I have filed a report on it, on your desk.'

Miss Emrys glanced at her desk briefly. It was, at present, in the buried-under-paper stage of its life cycle. Every few weeks, she would get bored of being nagged and deal with the paper work by throwing it all in the fireplace, leaving the desk to emerge like a butterfly from a chrysalis, ready to become covered in new paper.

'Assume I haven't read it,' she said quickly.

Miss Maleficant gave her a stern look. 'Very well.' She settled herself. 'This report concerns…'

'You're going to give me the exact wording of your report? I mean, that wouldn't surprise me, but… you have it memorised?'

Miss Maleficant just looked at her co-head rather pointedly, and resumed her report.

'This report concerns the students known as Three, minervaartemis and Emily. On the first night of term, minervaartemis and Emily met to discuss an alliance, to control the shipping wars that traditionally take place within an OFU. minervaartemis is the leader of the Anti-Minerva group, known as…' Here there was a somewhat distasteful pause, before she continued, 'the People-Who-Hate-Minerva-Paradiso-Club.' Miss Maleficant gave a slight shudder as she said it. Her tone was so cold that you could have used it to freeze a small sun. 'However, she truly holds allegiance to the Minerva-Artemis shippers. She has gained control of the group with the intent of influencing and controlling its actions.

'Emily, on the other hand, as yet has no ties on her loyalty. Ostensibly, she has no allegiance or ties to any group. However, the girl has managed to cultivate the leaders of several of the groups and has possibly the most power of any member of the student body.

'The meeting appeared to be centred around the possibility of controlling the major players in these groups. It was thought that, if carefully played off against each other, serious harm could be prevented and a careful harmony of conflict created beneficial to those in power. If this power was used carefully, peace between opposing factions could be obtained with ease.'

'And if used carelessly?' Miss Emrys said coolly.

Miss Maleficant met her gaze. 'A great deal of harm could result.'

'And your concern? It is not for carelessness, not from this girl Emily.'

'No,' Miss Maleficant agreed. 'She is canny. I am not worried that she is careless. But in the wrong hands, that degree of control could be very harmful to the student body.'

'And is she the wrong hands?'

'Based on her actions, yes. Despite what she said to minervaartemis, I do not believe that her intent is to create equilibrium. If peace occurs, then there is no use for leaders or gangs. Only when there is an enemy is there power to be had, and power is what she wants.'

'So she will create war.'

'Manipulate it,' Miss Maleficant corrected. 'It is already brewing.'

Miss Emrys nodded. 'Continue.'

'The student known as Three is also involved in this. The night after their first meeting, minervaartemis brought her to meet with Emily, in the hopes that they could use her to control the Artemis Lovers. The plan was to use her as a figurehead in a coup to take power away from Ivy, who would not be open to manipulation, and give it to a more willing catspaw.'

'And?'

'Three disagreed. Vehemently. I believe that there was quite a violent debate, which ended in some property damage, a great deal of noise and all three of them running for their lives from the trollz. I have also been presented with a written request from the Librarians that the three students be given a fine, punishment, and mandatory volunteering in the library for a week to repair the damage caused. Some books and a shelving unit were damaged, and I fear for their safety should they set foot in the library without a member of staff to, ah, supervise.'

Miss Emrys waved a hand. 'Sign off on it and commence next Monday. Damaging books is a level of damage I am not going to contemplate allowing. And ensure that if they meet in the Library again a squad of trollz is nearby to prevent a repeat.'

Miss Maleficant gave a thin-lipped smile. 'I have already taken the liberty of doing so.'

'I'm your co-head, you need to wait for me to sign off on these things!'

'I did,' Miss Maleficant said nonchalantly. 'It was in the stack of documents last week. You raised no objections so I approved all of them.'

Miss Emrys glanced back at the overflowing paper on the desk guiltily. 'I have to start reading those things.'

'It's advisable,' Miss Maleficant agreed.

'Well, carry on. Three disagreed?'

'I have the video footage,' Miss Maleficant said. 'Here.' With a wave of her hand, the holographic display swooped upwards and expanded until the video took up two square metres of space, and began to play at her gesture. Sound came through neatly hidden speakers and the footage itself was crystal clear, despite the darkened library.

'I like these screens,' Miss Emrys commented. 'I'm going to have to take up more posts in technologically advanced canons.'

The shot showed the large "lounge" area of the library, one small section of which was lit up. Miss Maleficant grabbed the image and zoomed in on the lit space, which cleared a moment later to reveal a sharp, movie-quality view.

'Foaly's new security cameras,' she explained. 'They can zoom and magnify a single pixel with Hollywood accuracy.' Or, as the centaur had put it, these things make CSI look like it's still in the Stone Age. Which, you know, it is. Mudman tech is about a thousand years behind the People's, and mine's about a thousand years ahead of that.

In the pool of light, Emily was sitting demurely, her huge eyes examining the room, listening for a sound. Approaching footsteps could be heard and Emily stiffened, then flicked off the light. The doors could be heard to creak open, and the dimly lit scene swivelled and pivoted to show the great doors of the library over Emily's shoulder.

'Movable cams,' Miss Maleficant explained. 'Semi-sentient, too. No more of the just-out-of-shot sneaking about. They detect what's going on and record it, and they immediately self-repair if disabled. And they function in groups of three. The security here is as good as it gets. Do you not listen to the centaur when he explains this stuff?'

'I tune out after a while,' Miss Emrys replied.

On the screen, the huge doors creaked open a hair, and minervaartemis could be seen to sneak in, leading another girl behind her. The doors snapped shut and minervaartemis made her way forward cautiously.

'Emily?' she whispered. 'Are you there?'

The light snapped on again and both girls jumped. Emily grinned and waved them over. The camera pulled back to show the two couches, the lamp, and the three students. Three sat nervously on one couch while minervaartemis sat down next to Emily.

'Hi,' Emily greeted Three. 'You're ArtemisTheThird?'

'Yeah, but call me Three, everyone else does,' Three said with an awkward smile. 'I'm guessing you're Emily.'

'Yup. I don't think we've met, we must not have any classes together.'

'No, I'm sure I've seen you somewhere… there's so many people here, it's difficult to keep track.'

The awkward small talk continued for a little longer, and then-

'So, what am I here for?'

'minervaartemis didn't tell you?' Emily frowned.

'Well, not much. I mean, she said you guys had a plan, but I…' Three trailed off with a shrug.

minervaartemis leaned forwards. 'We have a proposition for you.'

'A proposition.' Three cocked her head. 'Go on.'

'You are currently a member of the Artemis Lovers.' It wasn't a question. 'We feel that your talents are being… wasted.'

'What do you mean?' Three wasn't stupid and it was obvious that she had an idea of where this was going, but she wasn't going to be the one to say it.

Emily smiled at her. 'We feel that, perhaps, a change of leadership is soon to occur. And if someone happened to be in the right place at the right time, she might be able to… benefit.'

'You're talking about a coup,' Three said, her voice hard. 'And you want me to what? Get rid of Ivy?'

'Something like that,' Emily said. 'Not on your own, of course.'

'You aren't even in the group. What's your concern?'

Emily waved a hand. 'At present the… balance of power in the group is troubling us. We are concerned observers, nothing more.'

'Bull.' Three leaned forwards. 'You want something. I don't know what, but you want something, and Ivy won't give it to you, so now you want to swap her out for someone who will.'

Emily raised an eyebrow. 'Baldly put… but broadly accurate. Ivy is unstable. She will not see sense.'

'And what is sense, pray?'

minervaartemis folded her arms. 'We need to establish a working relationship with the leader of your group. For mutual benefit.'

'Mutual benefit,' Three echoed. 'I know you, you're the leader of the Minerva Haters. And you – you don't have a group, but I've seen you around, talking to everyone. This is about power.'

'Isn't everything?' Emily asked smoothly.

'No!' Three stood up. 'Not everything is about getting something. I will not work with you, with either of you! You plan to turn everyone against each other, isn't that right?'

'An atmosphere of conflict enables-' Emily began, but Three cut her off.

'Enables you to play puppet master, starting wars here and there just because, just for the hell of it, and because if people agreed – if there was no conflict – then there's no place for you, is there?'

'People need leaders in a time of conflict and we are there for them to choose,' Emily snapped. 'This is about free will!'

'It is about manipulation!' Three yelled back.

minervaartemis stood up and stepped forwards, conciliatory. 'I thought that as well, at first. But nobody is forcing them to do anything. Leaders of the groups have no official power. They can just present ideas. And if everyone agrees on those ideas, then the whole group benefits.'

'And so do you two,' Three said angrily. 'The students have no idea, do they? That their so-called friends, comrades, leaders, are conspiring against them!'

Emily stood up sharply. 'Enough,' she said quietly. Three and minervaartemis quietened down.

The student stepped forwards, the lamplight dancing across her face. 'Listen, Three. Are you telling me that you will not let us help you?'

Three snorted. 'Help me? Don't delude yourself. The only one you're helping here is yourself.'

'Then so be it,' Emily said quietly. 'You realise, however, that you cannot say anything about what has happened here?'

'You wish,' Three said, but there was a note of unease in her voice. 'I'm going to tell everyone exactly what you're planning, and then your precious power will be gone. You reckon people need an enemy to stay together? You're right. But that enemy is going to be you.'

Emily's face twisted. minervaartemis began to back away into the shadows. 'I am no ones enemy, Three,' she hissed. 'And I will not allow you to jeopardise the safety of these people, I will not allow you to destroy the peace I will make.'

A flash of fear crossed Three's face. 'You wouldn't kill me. And I'll tell everyone.'

Emily smiled. It wasn't nice. 'No, I won't kill you,' she agreed. 'It would rather draw attention. And besides, I don't want anyone to get hurt.' She hesitated. 'Much.'

There was a clatter outside the doors and the eyes of the three students shot to them. The great doors to the library began to creak open and minervaartemis dived for the light, which shut off and flooded the scene with darkness. The camera panned back to show the door and the three students, all of whom turned and ran in different directions as five trollz and a supervising elf marched through the doors and began to search.

'Who alerted security?' Miss Emrys queried.

'They heard the noise on their patrol. One of the trollz fetched an elf as back up and went to investigate,' Miss Emrys answered. She swiped at the video and folded it down into a tab, pulling up a different one. This one showed the library again, once again in darkness, but it was in an aisle of shelving. The distant sound of the patrol was audible on the feed, but it was at least a few aisles off. Three could be seen sneaking between a pair of shelves from the next aisle over, one hand on the brass rail that kept the books from falling off, stepping carefully. Clearly, her cat-genes had given her enough night vision to see where she was walking, but not enough to be certain of her footing.

Three walked down the centre of the aisle cautiously and quietly, head turning from side to side. Suddenly, another figure ran out of the next aisle over, nearly cannoning into her. From the skull shape, it had to be Emily.

The two girls seemed to struggle for a moment, making only the occasional shuffle and whisper.

'What's happened to the audio?'

'They were trying to keep the noise down. Didn't want to get caught by the patrol.'

'Can we pick anything up?'

Miss Maleficant nodded, tapped the video to pause it, and then waved her fingers in a complicated gesture. 'Audio, magnify, enhance central frequency, plus initiate audio analysis and run subtitles.'

The screen flickered and twisted, then beeped in confirmation. Miss Maleficant poked at the video again, and the footage started running.

The audio hissed slightly, but the girls voices were now mostly audible. Words flashed across the bottom of the screen as they continued to fight.

'Get off me!' Three hissed. Emily snarled.

'You're telling me to get away? You have ruined my plan-'

'Someone had to, you psycho,' Three whispered hoarsely, pushing her attacker away. 'Leave me alone. We'll both get caught.'

Emily grinned, showing her teeth. 'No we won't.'

'What does that mean?' Three circled her cautiously. 'Listen, we can both get out of this. Just forget about this, let us work together. We can make it out of here.'

Emily tilted her head to one side but didn't stop moving. 'Work together?'

'Yes!' Three looked relieved. 'I don't want to get caught here. I don't know what they do to students who get caught out of dorms but I don't want to find out!'

'Well, you know what they say,' Emily hissed. 'Curiosity killed the cat.'

Three paused. 'I just said I wasn't curious. That… didn't work.'

'Oh, shut up,' Emily whispered. 'It's not easy thinking this stuff up on the fly.'

'It's so much easier to write it,' Three agreed with a note of relief. 'I mean, my characters seem to be able to make up all these clever quips while they're talking to the villain so easily…'

'My point exactly,' Emily said with a gesture. 'Except my characters are usually taunting the hero.'

'So lets go,' Three whispered. 'C'mon. I don't know where minervaartemis is, maybe we can find her or just get out ourselves…'

Emily paused. 'Sorry. Nope.'

'Nope? What do you mean nope?' Three muttered frantically as she checked down the nearby aisles for patrols.

'I can't kill you,' Emily whispered. Three grew still. 'I can't even hurt you badly. But I can get you into so much trouble that you won't see daylight for months, and by then I'll have everyone on my side.'

Three's expression showed open horror. 'Emily, you don't have to do this.'

She paused. 'You're right. I don't.'

Three didn't relax. She knew what that meant. 'You just want to, huh?'

'Pretty much,' Emily shrugged, then grabbed Three by the shoulder. With unexpected strength, she hauled her sideways and threw her into the shelves, making a loud clatter. Most of a shelf of books fell down on her and the wooden shelf splintered as Emily grabbed a nearby ladder and swung it, breaking the wood and sending books flying, covers torn and pages ripped. Three lay crumpled unmoving on the ground, covered in books and splinters, blood running down the side of her face, and Emily dropped the shattered ladder on the floor and stumbled back. 'Sorry,' she whispered, and then she turned and ran quietly down the aisle, her large eyes taking in enough light to let her see.

Moments later, two trollz sprinted down the aisle and noted the damage. One of them – Miss Emrys recognised Folly – clopped forwards on his mismatched hooves and began to examine the fallen student. The other – it looked like Route – turned and sprinted back to the aisle, yelling in a surprisingly loud tone, 'Casualty! Someone get a medic!'

Miss Emrys watched dispassionately, noting that it was lucky for the girl that she'd got two of the more sensible trollz, not to mention one who could talk.

The feed juddered and faded to black. A replay icon faded into view and Miss Maleficant stood up and stepped into the hologram, shrinking the window and pulling down the other tabs.

'Well?' Miss Emrys asked. Miss Maleficant turned and pulled up another window. It was a medical report.

'Miss Three suffered a mild concussion and some head trauma. She was unconscious for approximately 44 hours and, without magic to aid her, would have suffered a three-day coma and some physical damage. With magic, she was fully healed inside two days.'

Miss Emrys frowned. 'This isn't the kind of thing that we can ignore.'

'I do not believe that Emily meant for this to happen, or for Three to be so seriously hurt,' Miss Maleficant said neutrally. 'I think we can safely leave this to bubble.'

Miss Emrys frowned pensively. 'I won't allow students to be permanently hurt or irreparably killed.'

'We'll have the medics on standby and security can be stepped up around the players in this little drama. Beyond that, I think it would be good for them to learn a little practical politics.'

Miss Emrys vacillated for a moment before deciding. 'Fine. But I want you to make sure that we can step in if necessary. And if their schoolwork starts suffering – always assuming it's possible for it to get worse – then I want this stopped.'

Miss Maleficant nodded once and left.