HAPPY 2019 EVERYONE! I PROMISE TO TRY AND NOT LEAVE IT ANOTHER 6 MONTHS UNTIL I UPLOAD THE NEXT CHAPTER.
Artemis and Butler waited in the safe room, under the study. It was almost like a bomb shelter, big enough for the whole family and stocked with over a year's worth of supplies. Artemis wasn't planning on being in there for a whole year though. He was slightly surprised that it took their attackers as long as 15 minutes to find the way into the safe room, but eventually the creak and groan of the ceiling signalled that they were coming in. Butler raised his weapon, but Artemis told him to lower it.
"There's too many of them. Besides, we're not in here for a firefight."
"Then what are we in here for?" Butler asked, begrudgingly putting his gun down.
"You'll see" Artemis replied, just as the ceiling lowered down fully, and a swarm of armed men flooded the vault. One man, the tallest one there, stepped forward.
"We have you surrounded. There's nowhere for you to run. You might as well give it up now whilst you're still in control of your own body."
"Is that a threat?" Artemis asked, raising his eyebrows. "Regardless, I don't know who you are. I was hoping for Wyatt Munroe, or even Corey Maxwell would have sufficed. But not you."
"Corey is dead and I am next in command" The man said, unmoving.
"If Corey Maxwell is dead then my father must have got the better of him after all."
"Your father is also dead."
"I deduced that" Artemis said coldly. "The fact you're here and he is not told me as much."
"You will soon join him, but first we need the Obelisk. We know you have it."
"Ah" Artemis said. "About that. You see I knew that you wanted the Obelisk and would be able to trace its radiation signature, and I knew that you wanted me. So I drew you out here, to the one battleground I knew well, so that I would have an advantage you could not break. But I also knew that this plan was not guaranteed to be a 100% success, and I couldn't risk actually taking the Obelisk with me."
"Explain!" The man near shouted, his emotional mask coming undone.
"You all thought you were tracking the Obelisk" Artemis said, pulling a small black tablet out of his back pocket. "But all this time the Obelisk has been nowhere near me. You were following this. That was the whole point of this plan, that I could draw you all here. Because there's one thing you didn't take into account, and that's the fact this vault has so many hiding spots. Hiding spots for one very important person."
The man simply growled at Artemis. "Who?"
"Holly Short."
Without warning, Holly dropped down from the ceiling, a small cylindrical device in her hands.
"Surprise?" She said, then pushed the button. A bright flash of light enveloped the entire room for a split second. Once it was gone, only Artemis and Holly were left standing.
T he first thing Holly did was run up to Artemis and jump on him, wrapping her arms around his neck. He reciprocated the embrace, and the two of them just held it for what eventually became several minutes. Eventually Artemis broke the embrace, if only to wipe the tears out of Holly's eyes.
"It is so very good to see you again Holly" Artemis said. He couldn't help the large smile across his face.
"I've missed you, so much" Holly replied. "I was so worried, with everything that's happened recently, and then I got here and... and... I'm so glad you're OK."
"I'm fine, Holly. But your concern is touching."
"I almost forgot you talked like that, brushing off concern as something extra. It's such a nice feeling to be able to hear your voice again, and not just through a computer screen. It's so much better to have you in person. I'm really sorry Artemis, I'm sorry I made us spend so much time apart."
"You needed space, that is understandable Holly. You have nothing to apologise for."
"I thought I needed space, but I was wrong. What I really needed was you."
"Holly" Artemis sat up. "An event as big as losing your- our- unborn child is going to affect you, perhaps in ways you never thought you could be affected. I am a good guard of my emotions, you are not. That is genetics, not opinion. Whether you think now that it was right or not, at the time you made the decision, it was right, and trying to dissuade you from that course of action would have been pointless. "
Holly sank into Artemis. "I'm so lucky to have you."
"Likewise" Artemis replied. "But now that you are here, we unfortunately have work to do, so that this threat can be stopped and the person responsible for everything stretching back to the attack on Police Plaza can be brought to justice once and for all. Then we can talk properly, about everything."
"OK" Holly said. "I saw Chriton Salt. He saved me from what was apparently an orchestrated attempt on my life during a visit to Haven Maximum Security. He's been listening. He thinks this conspiracy goes all the way to the very top of the LEP, and it's all starting up again."
"That would be because of us. Or rather because of you; I know that you've been looking into the attack on Police Plaza, and I'm certain that you started to get close, and that made you a threat. Equally, we recovered something on the surface that was of importance to them, and they want it back, which is what all of this was about."
"Talking about this quickly" Holly interrupted. "I do hope whatever device you gave me didn't kill them, because Butler is among the people scattered across the floor."
"Merely unconscious. It's a DNA bomb of sorts, targets only 100% human DNA, hence why the two of us weren't affected. They'll be out for about 24 hours, give or take. Anyway, what I was trying to say is that there have been two branches to this attack: The 'human' and the 'fairy'. I think it's about time we bring them both together. But before we do, I have one thing to ask. How was your trip?