Chapter 11: A New Plan

The shovel comment had been made as a joke but as Holly and Butler made their way over the ruins of the building, she found it wasn't so much. They really did need something to break up the floor, since the explosion only seemed to have destroyed the walls and ceiling.

She didn't like it, but Holly had to pull out her weapon. She motioned Butler away without a word as she took a step back with him. She wasn't going to be foolish this time. Holly knew that it hadn't really been her fault before. She couldn't have known or guessed the walls were laced with explosives, but she could at least learn from her mistakes. She moved the setting up as high as it could go and aimed for a spot a good fifteen feet in front of her. "Brace yourself."

Butler did as he was told, bending down and going to shield her as well. Holly had a much smaller frame and if there were any radial effects, she would be blown away long before he was.

Holly didn't really like Butler going to protect her but she didn't like waiting anymore either. This was driving her crazy. Most of what was bothering her was Artemis. Stupid, arrogant Artemis. He thought he could do everything on his own. He was always like that, keeping secrets, following his own plan. But she didn't want to see him dead. Artemis could plan but how far in advance? Myles and Beckett were taken and that there showed that even the boy genius didn't know everything.

She used her anger as a guard against her fear as she fired at the ground. She really had been expecting an explosion. She didn't get it.

The floor, as it became obvious it was more than just wood and tile, started to melt under the heat of the beam. She let go of the trigger, going over to the gouge now there. "It's cement." That wasn't too surprising. She'd seen many houses on the surface have a cement foundation.

Butler met her eyes as Holly turned to him. They could just melt their way inside but that would be picked up on by almost any kind of censor that was out there. If there was a way in, it was hidden, and it would take a long time to find. They had two options now and she knew which one she preferred. They had stormed the castle before, with terrifying results. She could try again, hope for something better, or they could get on their hands and knees and try to find a secret entrance that someone who had outsmarted Artemis had hidden.

That didn't leave the decision a hard one to make. Holly aimed her blaster back at the hole, weaving it back and forth so it would be large enough for Butler to enter as well.

In the meantime Foaly was off, stomping his hooves in nervous tension. Holly really knew how to make him worry. Once he had a connection on the inside though, they wouldn't be so helpless. He only hoped that they'd survive until they were able to hook him up.

…

…

Artemis had made himself eat. He did so while he created his new and far more risky plan. He would put his brother in danger to complete this, and he would need to have almost a day to have to have things in place. To set them in motion wouldn't take nearly as long but the thought alone that he was the one making Beckett suffer with him was bothering him more than Artemis thought it could.

It was his fight, not theirs. They were just children still. Artemis had never been a very vengeful person, hate was not productive to the working mind, but if it was the very last thing he did, he was going to make Jon wish he had never met him.

He was very tempted to swat the empty plate away, hoping it and the glass would shatter. That would be letting Jon get to him though. Artemis wasn't that childish and it wasn't time for that yet. He knew he was far from being defeated. He had lost a few battles, but the war was going to be his.

Spiro came in not too much later. There was of course a camera in the room he had Arty situated in. "Are we feeling better now? You do have a deadline to meet so if I were you, which would never happen, I would get up and show me what you're really capable of. I wouldn't even mind another cube. You made it once, I'm sure you could do it again."

"I can't." Artemis spoke with truth behind his words. "It wasn't solely made by me. As with the beetle you know have, I had help in the components. It also took me months."

"You don't have months and I did give you a rather talented assistant. You don't have to make it for me now- you have time. Don't think I'll ever let you leave here. Your brother I will free, after you've made me something I can use, something that people would pay millions to own themselves. I want to rule this world, and I will. I'll have to do it in the shadows for a while, at least until I get a new identity set up with legitimate funding from this experiment. No thanks to you." Spiro took a few steps over to the bed, to the young man there who was going to help his dreams become real where the same child had thrown him back to square one. "You will help me make my empire."

Artemis went to speak when something in his mind made him stop. At first, he wasn't sure what it was. He was very good at speaking to those who thought they knew everything. Some would say it was a great talent of his at how fast he could anger those around him. The words died before he could finish thinking them though, and Artemis had to frown.

Spiro, on the other hand, had a serpent's smile crawl its way across his face. "Are we learning our lesson, Arty? We wouldn't want to have to go back to the chair now, would we?"

Artemis's hand automatically went to his arm, feeling the burned flesh there. It hurt, it had hurt since the first day when the metal had been seared into his skin. His mind didn't need much more than the unconscious reaction to figure out what was wrong.

Spiro laughed as the recognition hit him. "Yes, Arty. You're going to be mine and you are going to do what I say or you will be punished. If you won't do it for your brother, once he is free, I'm sure you will follow me, simply to stop the pain. Any rational person would."

It was sick. Spiro was training him like some type of dog with a shock collar, only a much more painful one.

Spiro took in the last few steps. "Come with me now, Arty, for your brother. I'm sure in the next forty-eight hours you'll make something that I'll really enjoy. You then have a week to make something that even outshines that and your brother can go free."

The world or his brother? Artemis could, of course, make something to satisfy that requirement without relying on his plans. It would make it so Beckett would get to eat, but it would put more power in Spiro's hands. If he was able to market it before Artemis had time to fight back…

No. He had a plan and he was going to follow it, regardless of his feelings. He pushed off the bed and stood. He at lest wouldn't make the demands worse than they currently were. He'd put on a show, if only just for Jon.

Spiro's self-righteous smile never left his face. He stood aside and turned, waiting as if for Artemis to stand at his side. The servant of his wasn't far and there wasn't much the scrawny teen could do to him even without the help. Spiro wasn't in the best of shape still, but prison and prescription drugs had kept him fit and far more ready to take on someone a foot shorter and a few dozens pounds less weight on him.

As for Artemis, he wasn't going to give in so easily. He kept a wary eye on Mr. Nero and a good foot or so separating himself from Jon. He stayed there, near defiance in his eyes. He'd comply, but he'd only comply so far. There wasn't much that Jon could do now that he'd sworn no one would enter Beckett's room. Violence against his brother then wasn't a very liable consequence.

"Some fight in you is good. I like you to be more than a brainless fool who only follows my shadow for their own benefit. I just hate the brainless part, so don't push it." Spiro walked out of the room. Artemis followed behind him, feeling strangely like a dog on a leach. The comparison wasn't so far off as far as he was concerned. Spiro was making him his dog.

They made it back to the laboratory and Artemis had to wonder again if what Jon had said earlier was true. Holly and Butler, on their own, were competent enough. She'd rescued him before, on her own. She may have been a fighter more than a planner but there was a difference between his own standpoint and hers. He didn't have anyone to speak to, to plan and bounce ideas off of. She, on the other hand, had Foaly and his dear friend with her.

Spiro waited as they went down the hall. He past several closed doors, all metal and sealed off so he couldn't tell what was behind him. The security that surrounded the lab on the other hand did catch his attention. Spiro hadn't made many improvements in this area, but then again, he hadn't really needed to. Artemis was as good as under lock and key this time, and there seemed to be cameras in every corner of the room.

He was sure there were many he wasn't seeing, as the sterile environment around him had plants as well every few feet.

Spiro typed in a code that Artemis had trouble seeing from his spot behind him. After the door opened and he was shoved it, it was closed behind him, a few words making it inside. "Remember, I want something amazing."

Amazing. Artemis could pull off amazing. The issue was if he could do what he needed in the time he had, and he had to hope no outside factor would destroy what fragile plans he had built up.

….

Holly noticed when her battery was starting to deplete that this wasn't going to happen. She had a hole now, about eight feet down and just wide enough for her, and it kept going still. She lifted her finger from the trigger and flipped her helmet up.

"Foaly, this isn't working." Holly had no idea how deep the concrete went. If she used much more power she wasn't going to have much left from the solar battery inside. She'd let it charge for now but the little progress she made took nearly two hours. "I'd be surprised if they didn't see us coming by the time I actually find anything."

"I don't know," the centaur's voice spoke close to her ear. "A strong explosion will get you where you need to go but I can't say what the consequences would be. Either keep blasting away or find some other way in. I'm not a miracle worker here. I have no eyes. The best information I can give you is that whatever's under there is less than one hundred feet deep. I can see where the signal fades out, but nothing more than that." He stomped around, finding his technology was making him no progress in this situation. "What is keeping my signal out? The mudmen are just not this good. Even Fowl Manor is like an open book."

That was a good point but Holly didn't know how much Artemis was actively trying to fight against Spiro. The most they knew was from Myles and that really wasn't much. The security at the Manor was something Foaly had devoted days to make sure he'd bypassed. They were on day three now and they only just had some idea of something that may or may not be there, all on the words of a three year old and some glitchy signals.

Butler sat, folding his hands in front of him and staring at the hole. "Maybe we should wait. You're right. This attack shouldn't have gone unnoticed if there was security here. There has to be. Spiro doesn't seem the type of man to trust that he's bested his enemies. That means that we're being watched right now. If we sit and wait, someone will come to us."

That was a good point. If someone came, they would know this was where Artemis was being held, or at least that they were close enough to Sprio that he was worried enough to keep an eye on them. Keeping ones enemies close was always a smart move, as long as you were sure you could outwit them.

Holly nodded to Butler. It wouldn't do much but her sweater was inside the car. She could wear it, hopefully just long enough to fool anyone watching them. Right now her ears and more obvious features were hidden under her helmet and suit, as they had been since the moment she arrived. "I'll be right back."

Butler only nodded, keeping small, keen eyes on the world around them. If anyone was going to be coming for them, he wanted to make sure he saw them at the same time they would see him, since there was no chance of him spotting any danger before it was on them with no cover.

Making her way through the rubble once more, Holly made it to the car. She opened the door, grabbing the sweater off the seat and looking around. Oh, that was just great.

"Butler," she called out, no fear of any of this being seen or overheard. It wasn't anything that wouldn't have already been captured anyway, by eyes or a camera. "We have a problem."

Butler could just barely hear her. He'd made sure he'd parked far enough away that the vehicle could be used to escape and not caught up in any fire-fights or giant trolls coming down on it. He stood, making his way over to her because he wasn't going to shout across the distance. He stood beside the car that the elf was now sitting in, her helmet off and her eyes closed. He saw right away what caught her attention.

"Myles…"

"Gone," Holly admitted. "D'arvit. Foaly is looking around now but he hasn't picked up on anything within fifty meters."

"Why did we leave him alone?" Butler thought aloud to nobody. Artemis may have been his original charge but the twins had taken over in his place while he had been gone. Even with his return, that hadn't changed anything. Now, with one already missing and Artemis gone as well, he'd let the one person he was responsible for slip right though his fingers.

"I don't think anyone took him." Holly tapped the car. "We had the doors locked. It would have been obvious if they were picked, though I'm sure anyone could have spoken to him from outside and coaxed him out. That, or he walked off on his own." Holly knew how upset the boy must be, but he still was a child, barely a few years of this world.

"We have to go find him."

Holly had no arguments there. They were replacing one rescue mission for another, but there was no way for sure to know where Artemis was and, even if they did, no way to get to him.

"I'll see if I can't find him. I'm faster than you." Holly stripped off the sweater, shielding herself before setting foot outside the car and extending her wings. "I'll come find you the minute I know anything."

Butler nodded but to anyone watching, there was no one there for him to be talking to, so he kept his mouth shut. He had to hope she'd find him. He had already let all of them down- he couldn't do so again.

…

Artemis stared at the computer screen, seeing what he could work with. He had a few files on the program he had invented to go along with the insectoid. He made sure that there were no screen sharing settings and that anyone who tried to view the program working off of another computer saw nothing but static. He would have added in a virus if he hadn't had the suspicious that Jon was the one watching him.

That meant the only ones who could see the screen were the cameras around the room, Travis, and Artemis himself. He kept one of the screens small, near center so his body or the angle was blocking any wandering eye.

He couldn't make sense of what he was seeing though. Absently almost, he took one of his hands away from the keyboard and stared at his own fingertips. Artemis had made a lot of wondrous and equally dangerous inventions of his own. He had though, never once, turned those on himself. Messing with his own being was only asking for trouble, and Artemis rarely felt he needed to change anything that wasn't already in his control. In his own mind, he was perfect. What he lacked in muscle he made up for with Butler.

He was looking at his genetic makeup on the screen though and noticed several things that just did not make sense. His blood type was what concerned him.

Artemis knew his blood type, at least when he'd last seen it under a scope and for all the years before, had been O, RH positive. He was now missing the antigen, it seemed, that had given him positive blood. He wasn't sure how that was even possible and the 'O' on the screen was in red, stating further testing was necessary. It should have been able to scan him perfectly fine.

He would have to deal with this later. Artemis exited the window and went back to his projects. He had to finish this first. Beckett needed him.

…

Holly and Butler had no success. They convened once more at the car, hours later, when both had exhausted all their leads.

"It's not your fault," Holly spoke up before the big man could say anything. She knew how he had to be feeling and right now blaming themselves was the least productive thing they could do.

"I shouldn't have left him alone. He was already taken and we lost him once. This is the third time in only a few days. I was supposed to be protecting him."

"You did. He was in a locked car and it's pretty obvious no one broke in. That whole building blew up. I would have been surprised if you had left him anywhere except the car."

"And what if they predicted that?"

Holly couldn't fight him back there. It was possible that someone was watching them and had taken Myles. He'd been returned once so it was still fair game to take him again if they left the guard down. Someone already had him though, after the airport, so maybe it was more than that. Maybe he was a plant.

"I don't know if we should keep trying to get through the cement. It might be a diversion."

There were a few moments of silence that was only broken by the wind and the sounds of the ocean. Holly was the one that broke it. "I don't think there's much more we can do."

"If it's a diversion, it's at least something. I'm going to stay here." Butler didn't know what Artemis was up to but he knew his charge well over the past few years. He was smart but sometimes those smarts landed him in trouble. As far as talent went, he had enough for most of the continent when it came to brains alone. And smarts couldn't always save him. Artemis needed him. Butler knew it, somehow.

Holly didn't have the same unwavering faith. "I'll be back then. I need to recharge. I shouldn't be gone more than a few hours."

Butler nodded, knowing they would need as much of her magic as they could get. He also knew that now he was forsaking Myles as well. There was just no way to find any of the missing Fowls. "You're not supposed to be helping us, are you? How much longer can I count on you?"

Holly turned, her helmet closing over her face. "As long as you need it. I'm on radio silence right now with HQ. Foaly is routing to me through another line. They won't be happy, but they never are."

Butler smiled as the small form took off, vanishing into the brightening sky. It was nice to have friends to count on. Now if only Artemis could understand that.