Hellooo. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter ^-^ I really am sorry about the cliff hangers!
I just wanted to say something. Has anyone else heard that the next Artemis Fowl book doesn't come out till summer 2012 ? Grr. I'm not too happy with Eoin Colfer right now. The last book had better be worth the wait :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl.
Chapter 10: Things go downhill
There was silence in the room after the video footage ended. Artemis stayed frozen for at least a minute before Trouble spoke.
"Fowl?" He gave no response.
"Artemis?" Eventually, his head jerked round and he stared uncomprehendingly at the Commander, blood still dripping from his hand.
"What?"
"Are you alright?"
"No."
"Well, pull yourself together." Trouble was not sympathetic. "We are all just as worried about Holly as you are. You know, I blame you for this, mud boy. If you hadn't gone and got yourself kidnapped, none of this would have happened." Artemis ignored him and glared at the screen, which now showed Foaly.
"Get me there." Foaly shook his head.
"I know Opal said she wanted you and you alone, but you can't just waltz in there, you'd be dead in a second. And that would help no one." Artemis exhaled noisily.
"Well then, what do you want me to do?" the centaur sighed, frustrated.
"I don't know. If we send anyone in with you, Opal'll notice, but if we don't, you're pretty much defenceless. We need some sort of plan. You're a self-proclaimed genius. Think of something."
"Like what? Considering the present situation, I don't think I have the time to come up with some sort of elaborate scheme."
Kelp slammed his fist down on the computer in front of him. "There has to be something we can do that isn't suicide!" Artemis ignored him again. He was attempting to empty his mind to think but was having little success. Every thought was centred on the image of his friend having the life sucked out of her. Quelling the panic rising up inside him, he looked up.
"You'll just have to send me in alone. Have Retrieval on standby and hopefully, once she sees me alone, she will drop her guard. They can sneak in after me." Foaly snorted.
"Artemis. That's crap. Opal is at least as clever as you or me. She'll see through that plan in a second."
"I know, but what else can we do?" Artemis turned away and began to deliberate once more. Trouble heaved a sigh.
"Foaly, mud boy's right. He has to go in alone. He's offering, we may as well let him."
"Commander, that's suicide. You can't just let him waltz in there to his death."
"It's his choice. And if it gets Holly back…"
"She'll kill him and then kill her. Its useless."
Suddenly, Artemis looked up, a vampire smile spreading across his pale face.
"Oh, but she won't kill me."
He had a plan.
Two hours later, Artemis Fowl made his way up the stone steps of a secluded flat in Dresden. Foaly had tracked Holly's location to here. He stopped at the door, took a deep breath and pressed the buzzer. The door immediately swung open. Artemis was peering down an empty hallway. He took a step inside and the door crashed shut behind him, Blocking out any sunlight. He carefully negotiated his way down the hall, stepping gingerly over the discarded bottles and newspapers that littered the floor.
This doesn't seem like somewhere Opal would associate herself with. He thought as he walked. She's more melodramatic than this. As though the pixie had heard his thoughts, a section of the wall beside where he was standing suddenly slid upwards, revealing a second corridor. He squinted down it, eyes straining against the gloom. It appeared safe enough, not that appearances really mattered where Opal Koboi was concerned. Disregarding his own well-being, he set off down it. At this point, he was beginning to feel the rush of adrenaline as he walked further and further into the lion's den. This corridor wasn't as long as the first, and after about thirty metres, he came to a dead end. Artemis could barely see a thing. Was there a door in front of him? He reached out with slightly shaking fingers. They brushed against wood. He ran his fingers across the surface, searching for a handle. There! Grasping the handle tightly, Artemis pushed the door open. He was immediately blinded by the intense brightness of the room in which he found himself.
"Fowl. You came. You actually came!" a cold laugh rang through the air. As his vision cleared, Artemis focused on the speaker. It was of course, Opal. She looked extremely pleased with herself. "I take it you received my little home-movie then, mud boy?" he nodded slowly and edged forwards, trying to spot Holly. Opal laughed again. "Stupid human. Do you really think I'd let you near that elf when you could have anything with you?" she advanced on him slowly, igniting an orb of magic in her palm as she walked. "Do not move. If you try anything, I will kill you." Artemis didn't make a sound. He stood silently as the pixie strode closer, coming to a stop directly in front of him. He couldn't afford to make any mistakes here, one wrong move could cost Holly her life.
Opal smiled and lifted her glowing hand. She directed the ball of magic towards Artemis. He reared back a little as it came level with his face, but still refused to move. The magic floated upwards a little, coming to a stop directly in front of his left eye. The blue light swiftly turned to a shade of violet and pulsated angrily.
"Aha. What have we here, Fowl?" she activated the wings that she wore and floated upwards till she was at the same height as the magic. With one finger, she removed the iris cam he had been wearing. "Is this Foaly's attempt to spy on me?" still, he said nothing. She crushed the contact lens between her fingers and directed the ball of magic to move again. It floated slowly down to the ground and disappeared. Opal appeared satisfied.
"So you are hiding nothing else up your sleeve then. Good. Now I can tell you what I want from you."
Artemis snorted. "All you want is to kill me." Opal shook her head.
"Not quite. There is something that I need from you. You will give it to me willingly, and then I will kill you." He frowned.
"Who says I will give it to you?"
"If you do not, Holly Short will die."
"You'll kill her anyway." the pixie sneered.
"Are you wiling to bet her life on it?" he sighed, knowing he was beaten.
"What do you want, Koboi?"
"Brain fluid. Specifically, your brain fluid. I am working on increasing my own intelligence and, to achieve my target IQ. of 500, I will need fluid from the brains of geniuses such as yourself. Your brain is especially important since you have had magic."
"Its genii." Artemis muttered quietly. Opal scowled.
"What? Not it isn't, mud boy. Go look it up. The correct plural form of genius is geniuses. Not genii." She glared at him as though daring him to contradict her before continuing. "You must give up the brain fluid willingly or my experiment will not work. That is why I am holding Captain Short hostage."
Artemis nodded. He could feel his heart speeding up and he knew he didn't have much time. "Very well, do it."
Holly woke in agony. Her whole world seemed to have become pain. Every joint in her body ached and her brain felt like it was too big for her skull. She had never experienced anything like this. For several minutes she lay motionless, trying not to scream out loud. It was as though every nerve ending was on fire. Wait, no. It was as though every nerve ending was frozen. And the ice burned with a ferocity that took her breath away. She couldn't think, she couldn't move, she couldn't even remember her own name. She was helpless.
In her mind, fragments of disjointed memory swirled around her brain in a maelstrom. She couldn't make sense of the images she was seeing. An oak tree by a river bend. A building, big and grand and imposing. A forest that smelt of fear. The moon. A wide expanse of white that she faintly recognised as snow. What was snow? Was it really frozen water? Or was that just a story she had heard when she was younger? More images flashed up. A jet, sitting silently on a runway. A man who was bigger than a mountain. The man looked up at her and smiled, eyes full of apology. More pictures. They were coming faster now.
An Italian restaurant, an acorn, a prison cell, a green train, a submarine, a red cube, an explosion, an ash-ridden island, a blonde haired girl, a demon, a lemur, a cage, blue magic… Too many images. A dark haired human, eyes wide with panic, was calling to her. Though she heard no sound, she could read his lips. He was shouting 'Holly.'
Holly. Was that her name? She couldn't remember. And who was the strange boy? His terror hurt her. It pulled at her heartstrings in a way that only made them burn more. Still the pictures kept on coming. The more her pain grew, the faster and more chaotic they became. A pixie, eyes glinting evilly, grinned down at her. A camera on a stand flashed on.
Holly's eyes flew open. Artemis! Opal was going to get Artemis! She'd videoed her as she lost her magic and blackmailed him into coming after her. Would he come? If he did, he would die. And it would be her fault. Hopefully, he'd have the sense to stay away. Another image rolled into her head unbidden. Artemis sitting on a carpet, eyes slightly moist as, for the first time, he let his guard down and told her that he loved her, that he'd do anything for her.
Holly sat up. Her eyes rolled back a little from the pain, but she now ignored it. Artemis would come after her; there was no doubt about it. How long had she been unconscious for? Was he here already? He had to leave. She attempted to stand, but found that her legs would not support her. Instead, Holly crawled across the tiny room to the door. Each infinitesimal movement caused the fiery ice to crash back down and engulf her once more. praying that it was not locked, She stretched up and grabbed the door handle, twisting it round so that it swung open. She fell through into the white room beyond and lay on the floor for a moment, gasping as she tried to push back the pain.
"Well, well, Fowl. Looks like we have a visitor, doesn't it?" Holly lifted her head and stared ahead blearily. Two fuzzy shapes swam into focus. The smaller figure was Opal. The other was Artemis. He was sitting slumped in a chair, a pair of sucker slugs attached to his temples. He didn't appear to be conscious.
"Koboi." Holly rasped. "What have you done?"
"Nothing. I'm just draining his brain fluids. He'll be dead in a minute so don't bother trying to save him. You just hurry up and die already. I don't know why it's taking so long." Holly took one weak lunge towards the pixie and collapsed on the concrete floor, trembling. She couldn't move any further. Before she sank once more into unconsciousness, she was dimly aware of voices coming from the corridor outside. The last thing she heard from the floor was Opal's screech of anger as a dozen LEP soldiers stormed into the room. Then, the world went black for a second time.
LEPRecon Captain Birch was leading the Retrieval officers in the mission to catch Opal Koboi, and so it was him who gave the order to storm the room. They poured inside and immediately Koboi began firing bolts of magic from her fingertips. The officers ducked and dodged, but at least half of them were knocked out. Luckily, his wingman, Fern, managed to get a plasma bolt into her before she could cause any more damage. The pixie sank to the ground, out cold. Birch straightened up and wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. Phew. That was slightly easier that he'd anticipated. Behind them, Commander Kelp and the rest of the team entered the room. "Good job, men." He pointed at Fern. "That was a good shot, Captain. Get a pair of cuffs on her before she wakes up."
"Yessir." Fern hurried to do the Commander's bidding. The other conscious officers were busy inspecting Holly. Birch looked at Kelp and pointed at the colourless human in the chair. The sucker slugs were slowly detaching themselves from his head, having drained him almost completely dry.
"What about him?" The Commander strode over and felt his neck for a pulse.
"He's still alive, but there's no way we can save him. He'll be gone in five minutes." He shrugged and walked away, leaving the human to die alone.
So yeah. Kind of a depressing end to that chapter. I know that Trouble probably wouldn't really react that indifferently to Artemis dying, but it was the only way for the rest of this story to make sense.
Anyway, don't hate me. There are still some chapters to go, so not all hope is lost. It just depends what mood I'm in when I write them =)
This chapter was pretty different to the others so please review and tell me what you liked or didn't like :D