AN: Oops. Originally, I put this as another chapter 20. Sorry.
Chapter 21 Juliet and the Boys
Artemis returned to the group without showing one hint of what passed between him and Butler. The bodyguard was quiet and almost sullen.
"Commander, Butler needs transportation back to Fowl Manor. Can you get him there?"
"Hmm." Root stopped tossing delicate computer equipment into the back of the shuttle and thought. "Trouble and the others might be able to drop him off on their way. It shouldn't take too much time off the schedule."
"Is that acceptable?" Artemis asked. Butler sighed deeply and nodded.
"All right, Artemis." The teen nodded as well and went off to inform Trouble of their detour. After he disappeared, Butler seized Root's collar and spun the fairy to face him.
"Ack!" Root gasped as the huge man held him in place about half a foot off the ground and bent down to stare the elf in the eyes. "Uh, what do you need, Butler?"
"Against my better judgment, I am placing Artemis in your care. If he gets hurt, I will insure you are there to explain it to his parents. If he should get killed," and the bodyguard's voice lowered to a menacing rumble, "I will send you after him to keep him company. Do we understand one another?"
Root nodded a little as his face reddened with slight embarrassment. Butler held his gaze for a moment longer, then placed the commander back on the ground. "Good." He turned on his heel and disappeared.
The commander took a long breath. Then he began flinging equipment angrily into the shuttle.
"Hey!!" Foaly gasped as he rounded the corner. "Be careful! Some of that breaks really easily, you know."
"Your budget's big enough; you can afford it." Root grumbled, but he did take a little more care.
"So," Holly said as she rounded the corner, Artemis following, "How're we doing?" She slid a new nuclear battery into her Neutrino and smiled as it clicked satisfactorily. "Arty wants to know if we're ready to go." Artemis frowned only slightly, but Foaly still noticed. As Root went to check over the equipment list with Artemis, the centaur turned to Holly.
"Arty?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't his mother call him that?"
Holly shrugged. "Well, Simone started to, and I guess I just picked up on it."
"Have you been teasing him like that all week?" When Holly smiled, Foaly rolled his eyes. "Are you trying to make him add homicide to his list of crimes?"
The smile grew. "Of course not. I just want to see the great and grand Artemis Fowl Junior snap."
"Make sure he doesn't snap you in half while he does it." he muttered, turning back to his computer tools, but studying Holly out of the corner of his eye.
Holly simply laughed and twirled her Neutrino on her finger. "I'd like to see him try it. The Mud Boy doesn't stand a chance against me."
"Right." Foaly's tone seemed a little sarcastic, but he didn't say anything else, so she didn't pursue it.
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"Well," Trouble said into the comm system, "We're ready to go, Commander. We'll drop off Butler and then head to Kegel's lab."
"All right." Root replied. "Go ahead, Captain. Stay in contact, and stay out of trouble!"
"I don't know about that, sir. After all, it is my name." the elf replied, flipping off the comm before Root could respond.
Juliet settled into the seat beside him. "Trouble's your name?" she asked dubiously. Trouble nodded. "Your mom named you Trouble?"
"Nope. I picked it out." he answered absently as he maneuvered the shuttle into the chute.
"Picked it, huh?" Juliet echoed. After a moment, she tilted her head. "Have you earned it?"
Trouble shot her a frosty glance. "I've been fighting longer than you've been alive. Of course I've earned it."
"Mm-hmm."
Mulch came bounding in. "Hey, Juliet, come talk to your brother here. He's mad, and I don't like the looks I've been getting."
"Righto. Talk to you later, Kelp." She gave a wave and waltzed out of the cockpit. Trouble sighed.
"I don't know if I'll be able to handle her."
Mulch clapped a chummy hand onto the elf's shoulder. "Ah, I handled her just fine. Trust me, she's not as bad as she seems."
Trouble shrugged out from under the hand and gave the dwarf a mock glare. "I know I won't be able to handle you." Mulch gave a dramatic gasp.
"Oh, Trouble! I'm wounded. After all I've done for you, giving you promotions based on my captures."
"Want to add another?" Trouble growled, swiping back his wallet. "Pull that trick again and you'll sleep from here to jail."
"You'd dare assault a citizen?"
"Actually," and an evil smile appeared, "Foaly took the liberty of installing some DNA gas on board coded specifically to dwarves. Just in case we would have some problems."
Mulch pouted. "Foaly did that?"
"Actually, I think it was the commander's idea."
"Figures."
**********
Juliet listened to the conversation half heartedly as she approached Butler. He was sitting quietly in his seat, not moving. He seemed to be thinking hard. In reality, Juliet knew he was brooding.
"Hey, Dom. You okay?" she asked, knowing the answer. Her brother heaved a sigh.
"No. I'm concerned about Artemis."
"You didn't seem too worried when Mister and Mistress Fowl left by themselves. Why is it any different with Artemis?"
Butler's eyes narrowed for a second. "Mister and Mistress Fowl are not officially under my protection. Artemis, however, has been my charge since the day he was born." He stopped speaking.
"But, Dom," Juliet started, sitting beside him, "Has it ever occurred to you that Artemis may want to learn how to take care of himself?"
"He told me he needed to learn, but he doesn't! I'm his bodyguard; I'm supposed to take care of him!"
"But Artemis is older now. He's learned a lot in the past couple years, and it's possible he's old enough to be on his own. You don't have to protect him forever, you know."
Butler gave Juliet a glare that seemed angry, yet wistful at the same time. "I'm a Butler, Juliet. If I don't protect my charge for my entire life, I don't deserve the name." After a moment, he looked away. "If you don't know that, you shouldn't be in this business."
"I'm not in this business!" Juliet snapped back. "I'm just tagging along. After all, I already tried the bodyguard thing and decided it wasn't for me."
"I'm sorry." Butler sat back and sighed again. "I honestly don't know why Artemis left me behind. Yes, I may need to keep his parents off his trail, but he should be finished with his part before then. And not only did he leave me behind, he didn't have you come with him!"
"Um," Mulch called from the front, "I hope I'm not interfering, but we're almost there. Butler, you'd better get what you're gonna take with you."
"Domovoi." Juliet's voice was sharp, brining him back to the conversation. She clearly refused to take any more pouting. "You don't understand Artemis's reasons. They make sense, but they don't seem to be good enough to keep you away, right?" At his nod, she continued. "Then when he gets back, ask him. Don't sit here and sulk. Ask him what his true reasons were, and don't give up until you believe there's nothing else he's hiding."
"You mean I should grill him??"
"If that's what it takes. If you really want the answers that badly, then yes, grill him." She stood and spun on her heel to disappear into the cockpit when she stopped. Her next words sounded a little sad. "But be prepared for an answer you don't want to hear."
With that cryptic comment, she left. Butler carefully began to gather his things. An answer he didn't want to hear…
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AN: *Reading over chapter* You know, this chapter is actually fairly depressing.
ASN: Yep.
AN: And sad.
ASN: Yep.
AN: And you're annoying.
ASN: Y- Hey!!!
AN: Anyway, we've gotten lots of great ideas for the titles so far, ranging from funny to silly to all together whacked out.
ASN: This isn't necessarily a bad thing. So keep sending them in!
AN: And now for the preview.
Defea pulled Simone in front of the viewscreen and beamed at Kegel. "Is this a pleasant surprise?" she asked sweetly.
Kegel's jaw landed somewhere around his ankles. "Ack!!"
"I thought so." The centaur's smile was very smug.
AN: And there you have it. The next chapter should be up soon.