A/N: First off, let me apologise for not updating in a few weeks. I'd love to have to some excuse to give, but I really don't, I was just lazy and wasn't in the mood to write. Sorry. I'm also working on another Artemis Fowl fic right now (which I will only upload once it's completely finished), so some of the time I did manage to find for writing was invested in that. Anyway, the good news is I'm back on the grind and updating this again, and that there's another fic (completely unconnected to this and Winter of Decay) on the way for those of you who enjoy my work.

-Kio

Chapter 6; Forced

Haven City, The Lower Elements

Getting Artemis into Haven had proved more difficult than expected. With the climate among fairies so hostile to humanity, and with large numbers of them convinced that the LEP was lying to them while the Mud People secretly waged war on the People, it was agreed that parading him through the streets of the fairy capital wasn't exactly going to go down well.

There were other issues too. Being seen treating him well would make it look it like they were working with the humans, while pretending he was under arrest would only give credence to the idea that the LEP and humanity was engaged in some kind of hidden conflict.

In the end, they just wrapped him in cam foil and bundled him onto a trolley, using it to carry him through the Tara shuttle port unseen. It wasn't exactly dignified, but the LEP commandos that K'Azir had sent to escort Artemis to Haven had made it clear exactly how much they cared about the Mud Boy's comfort, hinting that he could just as easily be transported unconscious. One of them had even let his hand stray to his neutrino suggestively, as though the barely veiled threat hadn't been plain enough already.

Holly had been ready to launch into an indignant rant about the injustice of it all, and how Artemis shouldn't be treated as less just because he was human, but the youth had acquiesced before she had had the chance, keen not to make things any more complicated than they already were.

It had been easier once they had actually reached Haven. They had been able to dock in an LEP restricted hangar, and from there it hadn't been difficult to get Artemis into a vehicle with blacked out windows without being seen. One of the black-clad commandos was driving – and, judging by his speed and general disregard for safety, seemed to have taken a leaf out of Holly's book – with another riding shotgun, while the other two kept an eye on Artemis in the back. Both kept a hand near their weapons at all times.

Holly tried to ignore them, but after a while she couldn't bring herself to keep her mouth shut anymore.

"Don't think I don't see what you're doing. It's completely unreasonable – Artemis has been a friend to the People for years. He's saved this city more times than I can count. And yet you treat him like an animal."

Artemis turned away from the argument that was sure to follow Holly's words. He understood why the LEP were behaving like this – Holly had explained the worsening situation below ground. He didn't mind the slightly undignified treatment. He would have told the elf to let it go if he thought it would have made any difference.

One of the commandos maintained his silence. The only sign that he had even heard Holly's criticism was the casual moving of his hand a little closer to his neutrino, showing exactly how much he cared what she had to say on the subject.

The other seemed more prepared to engage with the recon captain. He pulled off his helmet, taking care to give Holly a good view of his face. Or, more specifically, what was left of it. A chunk of his jaw was simply… missing. Holly's gasp was audible.

"Like the view, Captain?" he asked cynically, flashing her a grim smile. "I was at Tara. There are some things that not even magic can heal."

Holly averted her gaze. She hadn't been at Tara, but while Galadhon and his fairies had been fighting off Amber's soldiers, she and Artemis had been trying to stop Amber herself. Holly could still remember the insanity in the manic centaur's eyes as she had described the armoured monstrosities she had sent to annihilate anyone unfortunate enough to be at Tara. The Undying, she had called them. Indestructible agents of war, bred for a single purpose: the extermination of Amber's enemies.

"Humans did this to me," continued the scarred fairy. "Took a piece of me with them. So forgive me if I don't have a lot of sympathy for your friend."

Holly looked sharply back to him. "Humans on the orders of a fairy," she corrected.

The commando shrugged. "So you and the Commander say."

Holly opened her mouth to respond, but Artemis got there first. "Leave it, Holly. It's not worth it."

The elf rounded on him. "You're not worth sticking up for?" she demanded.

Artemis sighed. The tiredness in his eyes was obvious. "Let him have his childish prejudices. They don't bother me."

Holly glared daggers him, but didn't push it further. They arrived at Police Plaza a few minutes later, avoiding the crowd amassed outside and delivering Artemis unseen with the use of a rear entrance.

In frosty silence, the four commandos escorted Holly and Artemis to Foaly's Ops booth, where the centaur himself, K'Azir and several other senior LEP officials were waiting for them.

"What's the situation?" asked Holly as soon as they were across the threshold. The assembled fairies all turned to Foaly.

The centaur rolled his eyes and stepped forward, preparing to launch into an explanation of recent events.

"Opal Koboi," he began, pushing a button on a handheld remote. Koboi's file immediately appeared on one of the screens. "Certified genius, mentally unstable, the only person to ever be both public enemy number and two at the same time. Architect of the goblin rebellion and the Zito probe incident."

"We know who Opal is," interrupted Holly. "We're the ones who stopped both those plots, remember?"

Foaly ignored the interruption, continuing his presentation about Koboi. "A short time ago, Opal Koboi from eight years ago travelled to our time. You both already know this, of course, since it was basically your fault. Anyway. Past Opal." He pressed another button, and another appeared on screen, this time pertaining specifically to the second Opal Koboi in their time. "LEP codename Nexus. Disappeared without a trace after dear old Arty here buried her under several tonnes of rock – well done, by the way."

K'Azir picked up the story, deciding that enough time had been wasted on melodramatic explanations of things they all already knew.

"Naturally, Nexus became a high priority target for the LEP. A separate task force was created with the sole intention of tracking her down, but they were unable to locate her. In fact, Nexus proved completely elusive. We have absolutely no idea what she's been doing since she disappeared."

Holly was listening now. She hadn't known they had created an entire task force just to hunt down Opal's past self. And obviously she knew that the maniacal pixie hadn't been caught, but she had assumed the LEP at least had some leads. Apparently, she had been mistaken.

"So what's she done now?" The question came from Artemis.

"In short," said Foaly, his tone more serious now. "She contacted us. Via satellite. She offered us a deal: she gives herself up and we set the Opal from our time free."

Artemis gave an admiring chuckle. "Oh, that's good," he said. "Very good. She's alone in a new time with no way no get home, no allies, no resources and, presumably, no way to achieve any of her objectives. So, what does she do? She turns herself into a bargaining chip."

Several of the rooms occupants gave Artemis odd looks, wondering why he was so keen to give their enemy credit for her actions. Foaly, however, was curious. He motioned for Artemis to carry on.

"It's clever," the boy continued. "Because it's actually a good offer. For both of you. She doesn't want to stay in our time, but she has no way to return to her own. Therefore, she must concede her memories and allow the LEP to send her back. But, understandably, she will never do this while she knows that her future is sure to end in incarceration. And so she offers the LEP a trade they cannot ignore."

There were mutterings around the room. Several astonished expressions were directed at the human youth, Holly's among them.

"Artemis, what in Frond's name are you talking about?" hissed the elf. "We can't release Opal!"

Artemis cleared his throat. "My apologies; I believe I was not clear. Allow me to rephrase. I was not saying you must accept the offer, I was saying you cannot afford to ignore it. The LEP must engage with this offer because it has no other way to contain the significant security risk posed by Koboi. It is not an offer, not really. It is a challenge. She is throwing down a gauntlet."

Even K'Azir was interested now. "Explain, Fowl."

"Opal is aware that you will never willingly release her other self, not even if you could guarantee that she would keep her end of the deal. But she also knows that in giving a location for the trade, she will be giving her own location. The LEP cannot afford to waste that opportunity. I'm sure, Commander, you have already reached the conclusion that your only real option is to accept the trade and attempt a double-cross."

K'Azir gave a reluctant nod. Much as he hated to admit it, the human was right. Opal was offering them a golden opportunity to apprehend her – they couldn't afford to squander it. Just knowing where she would be was more to work with than they had had in months.

"And so, knowing that you will have to go along with her but will attempt to cheat her," concluded Artemis. "She is challenging you. In essence she is saying: this is where I'll be, if you want to come and get me, you have to bring my other self out of the security of prison. If you win, you get both Kobois in custody. If she wins, you get neither. It's a risk you are both forced to take."

There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed the weight of what Artemis was saying. Opal was baiting them in, they all knew she was. And she knew that they knew, and that they would take the bait anyway.

"D'Arvit," swore Holly. "I don't like this. Are you sure we can't just ignore her? I'm not keen on playing her games."

"Sadly, no," said Artemis. "At least, I doubt it. I assume Opal's message came with a threat?"

Foaly nodded. "She promised she would destabilise the People's entire society if we didn't accept."

"It doesn't matter what the threat is," replied Artemis distractedly, already deep in thought. "Unless the LEP can guarantee that she can't carry it out – which it can't – they have to take it seriously. She makes you choose between all the problems she might cause if left to her own spiteful devices, and a chance to finally deal with the Opal Koboi problem once and for all. It's not a hard choice to make."

"So you agree?" asked Foaly. Normally, the centaur would never have risked being seen to respect Fowl's opinion, but this was a special case. This was Opal. And if Artemis had demonstrated himself capable of anything over the years, it was defeating Opal Koboi.

"What?" Artemis looked at annoyed at having had his train of thought interrupted. "Oh, you mean do I agree that you should accept the offer? Yes, of course." He tilted his head for a moment, thinking. "It wouldn't even be such a bad thing if the exchange went as planned," he mused.

Foaly, K'Azir and Holly all stared at Artemis in horror. The centaur recovered from his surprise first.

"What?" he spluttered. "You think it wouldn't be so bad if Opal was released on this world?"

Artemis shrugged. "Certainly not ideal, I grant you. However, I would postulate that the trade would remain beneficial. Present Opal is less of a threat than past Opal."

Holly frowned. "Why?"

When Artemis turned to face her, he was wearing his condescending smirk of old. "You have two of the same person in the same timeline and you don't see the problem? It's a miracle the timeline is even still intact. Every second that Opal remains here there is a greater risk of it becoming corrupted. Perhaps it already has, in small ways. And what if something happens to her? What if she dies?"

Foaly, being significantly faster than the room's other occupants, visibly paled.

"Exactly," said Artemis. "You have an enemy who threatens your entire world simply by existing who will stop at nothing to achieve her aims. She has impressive magical powers that present Opal does not, and perhaps most importantly of all, you can't kill her. If present Opal becomes a problem, you can pursue action that would eliminate her once and for all." He ignored Holly's appalled expression. "However, the LEP cannot risk past Opal being hurt. This makes her a far graver threat than her future self."

Everyone else in the room looked distinctly uncomfortable. K'Azir wondered briefly how what he had intended to be a briefing for Holly and Artemis had somehow turned into the Mud Boy lecturing them all. The problem was, his arguments were all sound. As much as he hated to admit it, Artemis was right: they were going to have to accept Opal's offer.

"So what do we do now?" he said grudgingly, bothered by the fact he was asking a human for advice.

Artemis just shrugged. "I presume that she promised to contact you again to hear your response." A quick glance at Foaly's expression told him he was right. He turned back to K'Azir. "What you do, Commander, is wait. When you hear from Opal, you attempt to secure the best possible conditions for the trade, and you begin preparing your double-cross."

There were still several hours before Koboi was expected to contact the LEP again and request an answer to her ultimatum, so Foaly suggested that Artemis have his brain checked. And while the human boy might not have been keen on trusting people he didn't know to attach electrodes to his head and investigate his mind, he had decided it would be worth it if it helped him regain his memories. The world he was discovering was a fascinating one, and he wished dearly that he could remember it.

More than that, though, he wished he could remember his friends. Butler, Juliet, Foaly. His family. Holly.

Now, he found himself holed up in one of Police Plaza's technical laboratories, a whole team of fairies busying themselves attaching electrodes to his head and connecting various expensive looking pieces of equipment. Foaly assured him they were all very qualified, but that didn't stop an apprehensive tremor making its way down his spine as he watched them working. They all kept glancing at him, trying and failing to hide their childish fascination with the fact that a human was in their lab.

Relax, he told himself. Foaly trusts them, and Holly trusts Foaly. And you trust Holly, don't you?

Artemis absently nodded to himself. Yes, he trusted Holly. And if this would help remember her, he would do it. Simple as that. Without him really intending it to, his gaze found the elf, resting on her. She sat in a corner, watching proceedings distractedly, as though lost in thought.

Artemis was suddenly reminded of when he had opened his eyes in that hotel room in Nice to see the elf stood before him. One of the first things he had noticed, before the pointy ears or the gun, was how pretty she was. As he looked at her now, he couldn't help but notice it again.

A thought flashed through him. Extremely pretty, in a dangerous sort of way. Black-widow pretty. Artemis frowned. The thought felt odd, as though it hadn't come from him, and yet it was strangely familiar. Like déjà vu, but more tangible.

Had it come from the strange presence at the back of his mind? No, he realised, it was my thought. Only… only not from today. A memory?

Excited, he looked closer at Holly, concentrating on her, trying to evoke the same experience again. Trying to focus on the thought, to bring it the fore.

The elf caught him looking. She seemed to withdraw from her thoughts, inclining her head towards him and raising a curious eyebrow.

"Something on your mind, Mud Boy?"

Artemis averted his eyes, shaking his head. "It's nothing," he said, but internally he was cheering. He had remembered something; he was sure of it. And presumably, that meant he could remember more things. He couldn't stop himself from smiling as he stole another glance at Holly. Eventually, he would remember her. He could feel it.

"Ready," called one of the technicians, and Foaly trotted over to Artemis. The youth had an almost comical amount of electrodes attached to his temples and wrists, all running into neural transformers through fibre optic cables.

"Alright, Mud Boy," announced the centaur, raising a pair of sleep goggles. "These will send you to sleep so we can complete scans of your brain. It's not painful, so just try to relax."

Artemis nodded uncertainly, looking to Holly for guidance. He hadn't been told he was going to be knocked out.

Sensing her human friend's trepidation, the elf stepped forward and took the mask from Foaly.

"I'll do that," she said, and began to hook to goggles over Artemis's head. She gave him a reassuring smile. "I'll be here when you wake up, OK?"

Artemis nodded again, this time with more confidence. Holly reached out and pressed a small button on the sleep mask. A combination of hypno-lights in the eyepieces and sedative administered through the seals knocked the human boy out in less than five seconds.

Foaly moved over to the bank of computers connected to Artemis's brain, firing them up. Strings of Gnomish characters immediately started scrolling across the plasma screens. Apparently satisfied that everything was in working order, he dismissed the crew of technicians. Grumbling, the fairies reluctantly filed out.

Holly went to stand beside the centaur. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

"About Artemis?" Foaly shrugged. "Difficult to say. The most obvious cause of his memory loss would be a mindwipe – that's what I'm going to check for first – but that would only create more questions. Namely how and why."

Holly nodded. Especially since Artemis had shown her the note he had found, she had found herself growing surer and surer that the human's memory loss was artificially induced.

"There's something else," Foaly continued. "Your elfin friend on the surface – you said the assassin he described sounded like Natalya. I reasoned that if she was alive, Artemis might be as well, but it's just as easy to reverse engineer that logic."

Holly's realised what he was getting at. Her expression darkened. "You mean that because Artemis managed to survive, she could have done as well?"

The centaur gave an uncomfortable nod. "Obviously, it doesn't necessarily mean she's out there, but we should take the possibility seriously nevertheless."

Holly didn't say anything. The idea that Natalya might be out there somewhere, perhaps planning revenge or even still trying to accomplish Amber's war, was unsettling to say the least. It didn't help that the Russian girl had been at least in part responsible for Holly's significant suffering over the last month and a half. Physical pain, grief, trauma. Natalya had been complicit in all of it.

While Holly brooded, Foaly set to work gathering information about Artemis's mind. The words commencing preliminary scans flashed up on the screen in front of him in Gnomish script.

"Something's bothering me about all of this," announced Holly, breaking the silence.

Foaly gave a flippant laugh. "Just one thing? You're doing better than me, then."

"I'm serious."

The centaur rolled his eyes. "Fine. What is it?"

"The time frame. Somehow, Artemis escapes the Nebula Facility. Somehow, he loses his memories, waking up a month later with no idea who he is."

Foaly started nodding absently, catching on. "So, where did that month go? If he was only mindwiped a few days ago, he must have been somewhere else for the past month. Why wouldn't he contact someone who knew him?"

"Exactly," confirmed Holly. "Unless he wasn't free to."

"You think he was kidnapped?"

Holly shrugged. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

But Foaly was shaking his head. "No," he said. "That doesn't make any sense. Why kidnap him, only to make no demands and then release him a month later with no memories? And the kidnapper would have to have fairy technology to execute a mindwipe. It doesn't make sense."

Before Holly could respond, an alert popped up on the screen. Preliminary scans complete. Foaly rubbed his hands together and started typing furiously. Lines of information flashed by impossibly fast on the screen, far too quickly for Holly to follow. As the centaur worked, a frown slowly began to form on his face.

"No," he muttered. "No, that isn't right. That isn't right at all."

"What is it?" asked Holly urgently, immediately concerned for Artemis.

For a moment, Foaly didn't respond, instead opting to simply stare at the screen in disbelief. After a few insistent prods from Holly, he shook himself out of the trance and turned to her.

"I'm not sure," he said, grimacing. Foaly did not like admitting he didn't know something. "A sentient mind, human or fairy, is a complicated thing. It isn't possible to simply erase memories; all you can do is suppress them. That's what a mindwipe does. Even the Mud People have primitive drugs capable of limited memory suppression."

"I know how a mindwipe works, Foaly," said Holly, her patience already wearing thin. "Can you get to the point?"

"You know the basics of how a mindwipe works," corrected the centaur condescendingly. "It's a lot more complicated than you think."

Holly ground her teeth in frustration. "Is that important?"

Foaly sighed. "Yes, actually. Very important. The thing is, the brain is fragile. A mindwipe has a lot of risks attached. Everything in the brain is connected – if you start messing around with one bit, it will have side effects."

"So is Artemis going to experience these… side effects?" said Holly, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"If you blanket wipe someone," Foaly carried on as though Holly hadn't spoken. "And erase all memories in a certain period, then you probably don't really care about those risks. Some brain damage is probable, especially with longer periods of memory. If you delete all of someone's memories, you basically irreparably damage their mind."

Holly visibly paled. "But Artemis can't remember anything… are you saying…?"

Foaly shook his head. "You've spoken to him. Did he seem like someone with brain damage?"

Holly had to admit that he hadn't. Artemis had been his usual infuriatingly genius self when he had been lecturing them about Opal.

"And tell me about his personality," the centaur continued. "Someone's psyche is heavily influenced by their experiences. Remove the memories that shape them, you change who they are. We learnt that ourselves when we mindwiped him after the Spiro incident. Did he seem more or less like the Artemis you remember, or someone entirely different?"

Holly frowned. "He was still very much Artemis, even if he couldn't remember me. A little colder than he was at the end, but definitely Artemis."

"Exactly. And that shouldn't be the case." The centaur indicated the computer next to him. "According to this, his brain shows all the signs of having been fine-tune wiped, meaning that selective memories were suppressed. That's what we did to him ourselves. And yet, he remembers nothing."

"So what does that mean? How can that even be possible?"

Foaly looked as if he was about to admit something he really didn't want to.

"It means that someone has tech that is years – no, decades – ahead of what I have. Somehow – and I have absolutely no idea how – someone has suppressed his memories while leaving his personality and cognitive function untouched."

The furrow in Holly's brow was steadily deepening. It was clear that she was struggling to follow, but Foaly ploughed on regardless.

"The only way I can even think of to do that would be to allow him to keep access his memories, but trick his conscious mind into believing that it can't remember anything. If I had to guess, unconsciously he can still remember all of us, he just doesn't realise it."

"Wait a minute," interjected Holly. "Isn't that a good thing?"

Foaly looked unsure. "Well, it means recall is possible. I was hoping that we could simply reverse whatever was done, but the level of precision required to undo this is insane. A blanket wipe is crude and inexact, like performing an amputation with a hatchet. It works, but it's not pretty, and it's not pleasant for the victim. In contrast, this is like fine brain surgery." He glanced at Holly, the apology written all over his face. "I'm sorry, Holly. We don't have the tools to even attempt something like this."

Holly's mouth was a grim slash. "You said recall was possible."

Foaly sighed. "Technically, yes. But I can't provoke it. Artemis would have to remember on his own, or we would need the person that did this to him. Either way, it doesn't look good."

Holly said nothing for a moment, her eyes steadily growing colder. She made to leave, but Foaly called her back.

"Holly, wait," he said. "There's something else." The elf turned to him slowly. Foaly flinched slightly at her expression. "All that information comes from my preliminary scans. Normally I would be able to directly access the memories if they were there – just like when we wiped him the first time – but for some reason, I'm not able to. I can't explain it. It's almost like his brain is resisting."

Holly shrugged, not interested in something that would probably turn out to be further bad news.

"Artemis was always strong willed," she offered noncommittedly.

Foaly gave a sharp, cynical laugh. "I don't think you follow me, Holly. You can't resist, it doesn't work like that. It's not a matter of mental fortitude, it simply isn't possible."

"So what does it mean?"

The centaur sighed, glancing back at Artemis's unconscious form. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. But something is very wrong here."

Now it was Holly's turn to respond with a humourless laugh. "Tell me something I don't know."

"Just… be careful, alright? I know you're pleased Artemis is alive – aren't we all? – but he's not the same person we remember, not yet. Until he's back to normal, I'm not sure how much I trust him."

A/N: Still getting closer to some massive action and some massive exposition ;)

I studied TEC to try and keep the stuff about mindwipes as canon as possible, but unfortunately Colfer is somewhat inconsistent about them (as with so many things, much to my annoyance) so I did my best while keeping it applicable to the plot I've written. Hope it was okay.

I would love a review if you have a spare moment to share your thoughts :)

-Kio