Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl or any of his associates, so, if you want to sue, all you'll get is...*searches through pockets, frowning*...a moldy Philadelphia Cheesecake wrapper...ten cents in some Korean or German looking money...uh...my English homework from two years ago...*looks under her bed, seeing Artemis Fowl Cast tied up under there*...O.o'...er...and that's about it! ^_^...heh...heh...*holds up pet ferret Svaroki* You can have him, if you want...eh heh...

Summary: In this chapter, our heroes realize that they actually have to get INTO the Police Plaza in order to find Chimaera Blaze. This is hard, so they gotta break out the Kung Fu, just like I promised! But, while we're here, how about a few memories and plot development, eh? Who IS Ivory Stone, and why does she look like Holly? Why does Chimaera hate Butler/Artemis so much? Hmm....plus, we'll be getting a small dosage of that good old-fashioned Artemis and Holly verbal smack-down goodness we all love!

Warning: Darling, romance is great, but, I...find much more satisfaction in watching it fry. If flaming me you try to do...watch your ass, I'll burn you too...

Randomness:

Well, I'm back to just being CH...I just couldn't take being all happy and nice and...blech...anyways...*holds up ferret, Svaroki* This is my ferret. He is also my most evil, nasty, rude thoughts trapped inside a furry bag of fluff. *wiggles him back and forth* Isn't he cute? And what's more, he doesn't talk! Yay!

Svaroki: GET THE HELL OFF ME WOMAN!

EEEK!! You DO talk! I want my money back!

Svaroki: Damn right, chick! You thought you got rid of me, but I'm back! Ha ha! Hahaha! Hahaha haha! Hahaha haha! Muahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah *choke, deep breath*

So...I'm stuck with you? *cocks eyebrow* Um...okay, then you won't mind me calling you....FLUFFLE-UPAGUS!!!!!

Svaroki: *gasp* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Then SHADDUP, Oki-sama...*glances back to reviewers* On to the FIC!

***

En Route to Police Plaza

Artemis's stomach rumbled. He suppressed the urge to hold his stomach. "I'm hungry," he said aloud, without even thinking. He could almost see Holly roll her eyes as she urged to the motorcycle they shared to speed up.

"Stop whining," Holly grumbled, suspiciously eyeing Ember, who was riding at her side. "I'm sure there are people all over and under the world that are hungry."

Artemis sighed, trying desperately to think up a plan to save them all from Chimaera. But it was hard to do without any sleep--and on an empty stomach besides. "Yeah, well," he answered sleepily, "I don't care about them, right now." His impatient teenager side was beginning to show through his cool exterior in his tired state.

"You don't care about much of anything from what I've seen in the past," Holly snarled, daring to glance over her shoulder at him. "In fact," she continued, "I doubt you care about anything at all." For some reason, she had to get this off of her chest.

Artemis was too shocked by this sudden outburst to deny it. "Well, that's simply your opinion, Captain Short. I assure you, I care about many things other than myself. Surely you remember our rescue of my father a few years-- "

"YOUR father," Holly argued. "You would never have cared if he were anyone else's. The whole scenario with Koboi. The Cudgeon incident. MY abduction! From what I've seen, Fowl, every single one of your escapades have been to further yourself and your bank account."

Artemis tried to be silent at this, but couldn't help but make one final, biting remark against the elf captain. "Really? It seems the only one complaining about selfishness and the bringing up of past grudges is YOU, Captain. All I said was that I was hungry. No need to start any wars. But, while we're on the subject, let's talk about YOU. I noticed your added emphasis on your...past experience with me." He paused, perhaps for effect. "It seems to me that the only one worrying about my past is you. Perhaps YOU are the only one who is being...dare I say it...selfish."

Holly was silent, but, instead of urging the argument as Artemis had, she simply switched off her helmet's communicator. Let the Mud-Boy be hungry, she silently fumed.

Mulch and Butler rode ahead. Time was running out, Butler decided. They'd have to hurry. "Are we almost there?" he asked Mulch.

Mulch kept his gaze straight ahead. "About twenty more miles to go," he decided. "It shouldn't take us more than fifteen minutes to get there."

Butler quietly wondered how the dwarf had thought up a way to get from the center of the earth up to the surface in less than six hours, but let it slide. This WAS Mulch Diggums they were talking about. Surely he had devised some plan while in jail to get up to the surface in half the time it took the LEP, giving him a sure head start.

"Butler," he heard the voice crackle in his ear. "Tell me about your stepmother. What was her name?" It was Ember, the convict.

Butler took a moment to register the strange request. "I can't remember much about her, actually. You should ask Juliet; she knew her better." He heard Ember sigh in frustration.

"Try to remember," Ember urged him calmly. "Try."

Butler switched off his communicator, frowning to himself.

~

"Don't let her find me..."

He backed away slowly, stumbled over a chair. "Go away...you're not real..."

"Don't let her kill me...please...please..." She reached out to him again. "Don't let her find me..."

He tried her hand then. "Who? Who's trying to kill you?"

The door swung open. There she stood.

"It seems I found you after all, darling..."

~

Butler nearly crashed his bike into the earth walls. He glanced over his shoulder at Ember, who seemed focused intently on riding until she died. Maybe that was all she really wanted. To die.

I was there, he realized, looking ahead, seeing the lights of the Police Plaza and the flames from escaped goblins illuminating his surroundings gradually. Like a beacon for death, he mused grimly. Like the candlelight.

There had been candlelight.

~

"Now, go fetch a candle for your stepmother...the blown-out power must have her worried. You know how terrified she is of the dark..."

He had gone, because it had been his father's request. Why couldn't C. Maria have retrieved it? It was her job. She was the maid, after all.

~

Artemis frowned. Butler must have turned his headset off as well. Why was the whole world suddenly against him? "I need fairy-proof shields," he muttered as he tried to glare a hole into Captain Short's back. He almost grinned at the thought of an over-sized bug-killer zapping little elves and sprites from miles away.

"I heard that," Holly grumbled into the headset. Artemis was so surprised for a minute that he nearly fell off of the bike right then. He couldn't have said that out loud, could he? And even so, did that she had switched her headset back on?

Holly replied for him. "It probably does." Artemis sighed loudly and she continued. "Get some sleep you human idiot. You can't even think straight."

Artemis silently agreed, laying his cheek against her back, against his better judgement. The thought seemed to have a double meaning, but he was much too tired to look for it at the time. His eyes closed, his breathing steadied, and he slept as the group neared the Police Plaza on the fairy- made motorcycles.

~

"Don't let her find me...please...please...don't let her see me...tell her I've died...the baby and I have both...died...I don't know..."

She had cried, of course. They always cry. But he didn't know if it was out of desperation for her child or for herself...or maybe even for him.

"How? Who's looking for you?"

"Darling, are you all right in there? I'm coming in."

He knew it was her. It was C. Maria. He slid under the bed and closed his eyes. What was going on here?

"It seems I've found you after all, darling. Now, come to Mummy."

He had forced himself to watch C. Maria stride across the room. Grab her daughter by the hair. Force her out of bed. He only shut his eyes when the girl fell to the floor in a sickening heap and C. Maria snatched the newborn baby from the bed.

"Ah, she's so beautiful. She won't be weak. She will rise above her mother...her father..." She glared down at the younger woman struggling to get up from the floor. "Her...grandfather..." She hugged the child to her chest, smiling. "I shall name her Ember. She is so beautiful. Like the daughter I never had." "Mother," the younger woman pleaded, "don't take my daughter away from me. They will stop you."

They? They who? He shifted so that he could hear better, careful not to make any sound. He struggled to recall all of his years of basic training.

"You won't live long enough to fully atone for what you've done. I should have seen earlier...now, all I can look forward to is your torment in Hell...burn well, Mother; I hope they leave a light burning for you."

C. Maria smiled cruelly and he recognized it. It was the smile of a woman who knew she was in control. Setting the baby down carefully, she embraced her daughter, slowly squeezing the life from her. Her didn't hear any strangled gasps, any groans that had indicated actual pain. It seemed as if she'd already been dying--C. Mari simply sped up the process.

The older woman laid her daughter on the bed next to her granddaughter. She slowly knelt down to the floor and...

Nothing...

~

Butler shook his head, trying to recall the memory. Nothing. Nothing happened after that.

C. Maria had caught him. She'd let him live. And now, she was back to kill him.

Why?

Police Plaza, Lower Elements

Chimaera growled as she crushed the goblin's head. That boy. She should have killed him so long ago. He hadn't been a threat then. But now...now...he was the only one who could tell Ember the truth. But only if he could break her powerful mesmer.

She pouted momentarily. She had messed up then. She could not afford to now. Artemis Fowl would die. His ape would meet an early, but well- deserved, demise as well, but only if necessary. Her granddaughter was so easily confused. So easily persuaded. Perhaps it was time for another breeding.

"Woman."

So many years ago, Chimaera would have flinched at the thought of being called such a thing. But not now. When she was so close to her goal, she could swallow her pride for the moment. "What do you want, lackey?" she mused, glaring at a blank communication screen.

The goblin stepped forward. Had he the guts to approach the woman? "LEP bikes are coming. We think they're coming here."

"Of course they're coming here, stupid," she growled. "They're LEP. This IS the LEP headquarters." She made a steeple with her fingers, pondering. "It's Captain Short and my granddaughter. They are with the humans. They are more resourceful than I thought. I never believed they would make the time limit." She glanced over her shoulder as she twirled momentarily in Commander Root's swivel chair. He wouldn't be using it for a while anyway. "If they get near, kill them."

"All of them?" the goblin asked, already becoming excited. If it was one thing goblins loved to do, they loved to fight for absolutely no reason at all.

She considered. She could handle Artemis Fowl, but it'd be better if she went straight for Ember, instead. Better to get her granddaughter on her side first, in case this entire scheme went up in smoke somehow. Ember would find her on her own. No need to pave a pathway for her.

"All of them."

Lower Elements, Outskirts

Ember looked about, gritting her teeth, before slamming a loose fist smartly against Mulch's skull. "You IDIOT. You said this led to your cell. Your cell INSIDE of LEP Headquarters." She watched as Mulch clutched his head in pain, trying to think up one excuse after another.

Holly climbed off of the bike and grinned as Artemis fell to the ground, instantly jumping to his feet to dust himself off. She looked forward to Butler, who was leaning against his bike thoughtfully, not as out-of-place down here as Artemis was, even though he was wearing a designer suit.

"Ape-man," Ember began, letting her bike fall to the side, watching solemnly as dust gathered around it. She looked up at the manservant and smiled in a way that was almost mischievous. "Are you spotting what I am spotting?" She pointed downhill to the LEP HQ. Goblins were everywhere.

Mulch's face fell instantly. "I guess I'll be leaving..." he winced, backing away from the edge. Ember's hand shot out and grabbed his shirt collar.

"You'll not be deserting me again," she smirked. "Come on, you little moron." She tossed his down the hill and started down after him. Butler followed shortly after.

Artemis glanced to Holly. "I believe I have a plan that will get us out of here more or less alive." She glared at him for a moment, then thought of her comrades inside HQ. "It's not like you can leave me here or anything. Remember what happened last time?"

Boy, did she ever.

"Fine," she sighed, tossing him a blaster. "I hope you remember how to use it."

***

Dammit, no kung-fu. All of that time wasted and no freaking kung-fu. O.o Forgive me, I am but a poor Authoress, I swear I'll make it better! *begs*

Now, wasn't that a rather nice chapter with clean wholesome fun?

Oh, yeah, as if I REALLY meant to make this into a slight-Mary-Sue. Even if it is a little, it won't change the outcome.

I had to mention that the bikes were fairy products. It made it seem more...I dunno...like they'd actually GET to the center of the Earth in under four hours on normal bikes, C'MON PEOPLE! WORK WITH ME. *takes out pencil and sticky pad* Note to self...work on little details in later stories....

By the way, all flames will be used to heat my hot tub. So Nyah!

There, now that's all said and done...^_~ *rubs hands together* Please review....*gets handed another cue card* Please....read....Nameless....Moonshine's.....fics......on......Inu.....Yash a..... *flips it over on back* And...bring...your...OWN....pop....corn....*nods*

NamelessMoonshine: *jumps up in crowd, waving wildly* HI ONEE-CHAN!!!

*looks up*....*waves back feebly*....I wonder if she even knows what that means....*takes out Japanese dictionary, walking away with a sign that says PLEASE REVIEW on back*