Disclaimer~ I don't own anything.
A/N~ Thanks for all the reviews. Tell me what you think about this chapter.
Operations Booth, Haven, Underground
I know that voice, Foaly thought. It belongs to-
"Yes. It's me. Opal Koboi. Well aren't you going to say hello?" she said with a shrill giggle. Foaly turned around. Indeed, it was her. Whether it was the real her or one of her holographic clones, he didn't know.
Foaly couldn't speak. It was impossible. How did she get in? Ever since the last time she had managed to mess up his system he had become, as Holly puts it, more paranoid when it came to security. There was no way that she could have gotten in without knowing all the passwords and codes. The only people that could get in were Holly and Root if they had their security passes. (AN~ that's supposed to be one of those ellipses. It hasn't been working so I don't know if it showed up properly.)
"Fine. Don't say hello. But I'm sure you are wondering how I got in so I'll be kind enough to tell you. I planted camera's in the building and I saw that the only way a person got in hear was to have one of these." She said, dangling a security pass from her finger. "I had this one nicked off of that Captain while she was in my, uh, custody. Yes, that's what we'll call it. My custody. "
Well that explains a lot, Foaly thought. I told Beetroot that we shouldn't have had those stupid passes anyways. Won't he be surprised?
"Are you listening to me? It doesn't matter. But if I were you I would listen up. A few of my minions and I are going to kidnap you." She said with a smirk on her face. "And I know what you're thinking. Yes, this whole thing was a ploy to kidnap you. That idiot jock Captain was just a pawn that I was hoping to kill but I will have other chances. My scheme has worked so far. I got the best officers out of this dump so that nobody will be able to help you. Aren't I just the smartest creature in Haven?" Foaly opened his mouth to retort." That was a rhetorical question you stupid pony."
Without giving Foaly time to insult her, Koboi snapped her fingers and five brutishly built men walked in. The were holding long pieces of rope.
"Tie him up, boys. And bring him back to the van." Koboi commanded as she walked away and the men advanced on Foaly menacingly.
Tunnel, Haven, Underground
Holly was in disbelief. That D'arviting excuse for scum had stolen her security pass. Not to mention kidnapped Foaly. Rage coursed through her veins as she rounded the bend to where the fissure was. She slowed down so that they were just hovering in mid air.
Root had just come about and he was looking rather peaky. "What the hell happened?" he questioned. Artemis opened his mouth to explain to him how many laws Holly had just broken when she shot him a tell-him-and-die look.
"Something hit you on the head and you blacked out but we are here now so lets not dwell in the past." Holly said in a single breath. "Oh, and I have bad news."
"Well what is it, Short?"
"While I was driving here I had my mike on so Foaly and I could communicate. I was about to tune out when I heard a woman's voice in the background." Everyone but Artemis smiled slightly. Holly just rolled her eyes. "It was Opal Koboi or a hologram of herself. She kidnapped Foaly."
Smiles were immediately dropped. "We still need to get into Koboi labs and find a piece of her DNA so that we can find her. Wherever she is that's where we will find Foaly. But I don't know when that fissure is going to open." Holly explained hastily.
"Finally something I can do after that death-defying ride here." Mulch said. Root looked up suspiciously at Holly but didn't say anything.
"Well hurry up, convict. We don't have all day." Root growled.
"Okay, okay. It'll just take me a minute or two. Can you swing the ship around so I can feel the vibrations in the dirt? And please, no stunt work." Holly glared at Mulch but did as he said. Soon Mulch was reaching over towards the wall of dirt. Minutes of anticipation went by as the group waited. And waited. And waited.
"Well?" Root yelled out to Mulch.
"The fissure will open in approximately two and a half minutes. Get ready." He yelled back in response. Mulch climbed back into the shuttle and sat down panting. "It's hot out there." He responded to looks of confusion.
"Alright, Short. Get ready to fly this piece of crap through the fissure." Commander Root said. Holly did a U-turn before anyone could sit down and buckle their seatbelts. Unfortunately, Root flew back from the speed and just happened to collide with his favorite dwarf. They were in the back of the shuttle in the most interesting position that Holly couldn't control herself from suppressed giggles. Trouble and Butler just barely managed to keep down their chuckles. Artemis only cracked a small smile.
"GET OFF OF ME, CONVICT!" Root screeched.
"You're the one on top of me!" Mulch managed to mutter under the Commanders, umm, substantial weight. Root realized this and immediately got off.
"This moment never happened." Root said, embarrassed. It was too bad that Holly had a camera. Oh the blackmail, she thought giddily.
"Get ready to go." Mulch said quietly. Holly started to rev up the engine. She could see the earth starting to churn near the fissure. Slowly a crack, getting larger and larger by the second, appeared. Then it started to get smaller.
"What's happening?" Holly shouted.
"That's as big as it's going to get. GO!" Mulch yelled. Holly floored the gas and they zoomed through the fissure. The opening closed just as they made it through. Holly turned off the engine.
"Now we can't get out!" she yelled in frustration.
"That's not true, Captain. When we get into Koboi labs there will, undoubtedly, be some form of exit. We will just have to leave this shuttle." Artemis said calmly and rationally.
"And what do you suppose we get back to the Operations Booth on? A magic carpet? Or how about a broom?" Holly retorted, her patience beginning to wan.
"I'm sure there will be some form of transportation we can use to get to the LEP Headquarters."
"You better hope that you're right, Fowl. Because personally I don't want to be stuck for a week in Koboi labs." She snapped in anger. There he went again, acting all superior, Holly thought.
"Let's just stop the arguing. The sooner we start the sooner we get out of here." Butler said. Artemis was shocked. Did Butler just reprimand him? That's preposterous. He wouldn't do that. Even if most of the comment was directed toward Captain Short. He couldn't remember a time when Butler had told him to do something if they weren't in a life-threatening situation. This had to be a first.
"Right. Let's get a move on." Root nodded curtly. The group put on their LEP helmets. Even Butler and Artemis had ones (Foaly had given them their own for now. You never know when they may need them on this little adventure.) Mulch stepped out first and he ran back to the shuttle in glee.
"The path we used last time is still here. This will be a synch." Mulch smiled.
"We have to go through that, again?" Artemis inwardly groaned. It was disgusting the first time. He never wanted to do it again. Ever.
"How did you think we were going to get in this time? Walk on a magical bed of roses?" Holly quirked a questioning eyebrow up while asking him this. Artemis just shot her a cold look and followed Butler out of the shuttle. Holly smirked. She knew that she was starting to get under his skin. Annoying him was her new favorite pastime.
Koboi Labs, Haven, Underground
After what felt similar to an eternity of crawling through revolting muck and sludge they finally made it into Koboi labs. It was barren. Not a single life form could be found in any part of the massive structure, save the rats and mice. Layers of dust and debris lined all surfaces so that it looked like no one had inhabited the place for centuries, when in reality it had only been a few years.
The silence was finally broken when Trouble asked, "Where should we start?"
"I would suppose she spent most of her time in a laboratory of some sort. What with her many inventions she would need a great abundance of time in one. That is where we should start searching around for her DNA." Artemis answered.
"How do we know a hair we may find is hers, and not some other scientists?"
"She's a brunette. So we are looking for a strand of light brown hair. The only other beings that were here during the siege were goblins. The little hair that they do have is green. And if she kept any pet trolls here, their hair is much harder than a pixies hair." Holly said expertly. "Just some information." Mulch looked at her funny but decided it be wise not to mention anything on how weird knowing what creature has what type of hair would be.
"Okay. So does anyone know where a lab is?" Trouble questioned. Holly began pressing numerous colorful buttons on her helmet. "Yeah. There's one on the third floor in the west wing, second door on the right." Now Holly got some very strange looks. "I programmed my helmet to seek for foreign chemicals that would be found in a lab. It shouldn't be all that amazing. It's elementary really."
"Well let's get a move on." Root commanded gruffly.
So the search began as they walked to the designated lab. It didn't take very long to get there. But getting in would be a different story. There looked like there were hundreds of complicated locks keeping them from getting into the lab.
"Go ahead and work your magic, Fowl." Trouble said, still in shock. They had come all this way and it was going to take hours or days, even with Fowls genius helping them, to get in.
Artemis immediately got to work. After he disabled an alarm he started to work on the complicated lock on the doorknob. He touched the knob and jumped back suddenly. His raven-black hair was starting to stand on end.
"The knob has an electric current connecting to it some way. Does anyone have something rubber I can use to grab the handle with?" Holly took off one of her shoes and handed it to him. He looked at her, slightly confused.
"Rubber soles." He nodded in understanding and put the shoe on the knob and twisted. The door opened and the others perked up, ready for anything. Another door. This new door had even more locks on it than the previous one did.
Hours went by and hardly any progress had been made. Everyone was sitting down and leaning against a wall, all but Artemis. He was on his knees working on what he said was the last lock on this door.
"Got it!" he said as he swung the door open in triumph. In front of him now was a human made pistol that shot regular bullets. It was positioned so it pointed directly at his chest. Before anyone could do anything the pistol shot Artemis in the center of his chest.
A/N~ Review and tell me what you think.
Operations Booth, Haven, Underground
I know that voice, Foaly thought. It belongs to-
"Yes. It's me. Opal Koboi. Well aren't you going to say hello?" she said with a shrill giggle. Foaly turned around. Indeed, it was her. Whether it was the real her or one of her holographic clones, he didn't know.
Foaly couldn't speak. It was impossible. How did she get in? Ever since the last time she had managed to mess up his system he had become, as Holly puts it, more paranoid when it came to security. There was no way that she could have gotten in without knowing all the passwords and codes. The only people that could get in were Holly and Root if they had their security passes. (AN~ that's supposed to be one of those ellipses. It hasn't been working so I don't know if it showed up properly.)
"Fine. Don't say hello. But I'm sure you are wondering how I got in so I'll be kind enough to tell you. I planted camera's in the building and I saw that the only way a person got in hear was to have one of these." She said, dangling a security pass from her finger. "I had this one nicked off of that Captain while she was in my, uh, custody. Yes, that's what we'll call it. My custody. "
Well that explains a lot, Foaly thought. I told Beetroot that we shouldn't have had those stupid passes anyways. Won't he be surprised?
"Are you listening to me? It doesn't matter. But if I were you I would listen up. A few of my minions and I are going to kidnap you." She said with a smirk on her face. "And I know what you're thinking. Yes, this whole thing was a ploy to kidnap you. That idiot jock Captain was just a pawn that I was hoping to kill but I will have other chances. My scheme has worked so far. I got the best officers out of this dump so that nobody will be able to help you. Aren't I just the smartest creature in Haven?" Foaly opened his mouth to retort." That was a rhetorical question you stupid pony."
Without giving Foaly time to insult her, Koboi snapped her fingers and five brutishly built men walked in. The were holding long pieces of rope.
"Tie him up, boys. And bring him back to the van." Koboi commanded as she walked away and the men advanced on Foaly menacingly.
Tunnel, Haven, Underground
Holly was in disbelief. That D'arviting excuse for scum had stolen her security pass. Not to mention kidnapped Foaly. Rage coursed through her veins as she rounded the bend to where the fissure was. She slowed down so that they were just hovering in mid air.
Root had just come about and he was looking rather peaky. "What the hell happened?" he questioned. Artemis opened his mouth to explain to him how many laws Holly had just broken when she shot him a tell-him-and-die look.
"Something hit you on the head and you blacked out but we are here now so lets not dwell in the past." Holly said in a single breath. "Oh, and I have bad news."
"Well what is it, Short?"
"While I was driving here I had my mike on so Foaly and I could communicate. I was about to tune out when I heard a woman's voice in the background." Everyone but Artemis smiled slightly. Holly just rolled her eyes. "It was Opal Koboi or a hologram of herself. She kidnapped Foaly."
Smiles were immediately dropped. "We still need to get into Koboi labs and find a piece of her DNA so that we can find her. Wherever she is that's where we will find Foaly. But I don't know when that fissure is going to open." Holly explained hastily.
"Finally something I can do after that death-defying ride here." Mulch said. Root looked up suspiciously at Holly but didn't say anything.
"Well hurry up, convict. We don't have all day." Root growled.
"Okay, okay. It'll just take me a minute or two. Can you swing the ship around so I can feel the vibrations in the dirt? And please, no stunt work." Holly glared at Mulch but did as he said. Soon Mulch was reaching over towards the wall of dirt. Minutes of anticipation went by as the group waited. And waited. And waited.
"Well?" Root yelled out to Mulch.
"The fissure will open in approximately two and a half minutes. Get ready." He yelled back in response. Mulch climbed back into the shuttle and sat down panting. "It's hot out there." He responded to looks of confusion.
"Alright, Short. Get ready to fly this piece of crap through the fissure." Commander Root said. Holly did a U-turn before anyone could sit down and buckle their seatbelts. Unfortunately, Root flew back from the speed and just happened to collide with his favorite dwarf. They were in the back of the shuttle in the most interesting position that Holly couldn't control herself from suppressed giggles. Trouble and Butler just barely managed to keep down their chuckles. Artemis only cracked a small smile.
"GET OFF OF ME, CONVICT!" Root screeched.
"You're the one on top of me!" Mulch managed to mutter under the Commanders, umm, substantial weight. Root realized this and immediately got off.
"This moment never happened." Root said, embarrassed. It was too bad that Holly had a camera. Oh the blackmail, she thought giddily.
"Get ready to go." Mulch said quietly. Holly started to rev up the engine. She could see the earth starting to churn near the fissure. Slowly a crack, getting larger and larger by the second, appeared. Then it started to get smaller.
"What's happening?" Holly shouted.
"That's as big as it's going to get. GO!" Mulch yelled. Holly floored the gas and they zoomed through the fissure. The opening closed just as they made it through. Holly turned off the engine.
"Now we can't get out!" she yelled in frustration.
"That's not true, Captain. When we get into Koboi labs there will, undoubtedly, be some form of exit. We will just have to leave this shuttle." Artemis said calmly and rationally.
"And what do you suppose we get back to the Operations Booth on? A magic carpet? Or how about a broom?" Holly retorted, her patience beginning to wan.
"I'm sure there will be some form of transportation we can use to get to the LEP Headquarters."
"You better hope that you're right, Fowl. Because personally I don't want to be stuck for a week in Koboi labs." She snapped in anger. There he went again, acting all superior, Holly thought.
"Let's just stop the arguing. The sooner we start the sooner we get out of here." Butler said. Artemis was shocked. Did Butler just reprimand him? That's preposterous. He wouldn't do that. Even if most of the comment was directed toward Captain Short. He couldn't remember a time when Butler had told him to do something if they weren't in a life-threatening situation. This had to be a first.
"Right. Let's get a move on." Root nodded curtly. The group put on their LEP helmets. Even Butler and Artemis had ones (Foaly had given them their own for now. You never know when they may need them on this little adventure.) Mulch stepped out first and he ran back to the shuttle in glee.
"The path we used last time is still here. This will be a synch." Mulch smiled.
"We have to go through that, again?" Artemis inwardly groaned. It was disgusting the first time. He never wanted to do it again. Ever.
"How did you think we were going to get in this time? Walk on a magical bed of roses?" Holly quirked a questioning eyebrow up while asking him this. Artemis just shot her a cold look and followed Butler out of the shuttle. Holly smirked. She knew that she was starting to get under his skin. Annoying him was her new favorite pastime.
Koboi Labs, Haven, Underground
After what felt similar to an eternity of crawling through revolting muck and sludge they finally made it into Koboi labs. It was barren. Not a single life form could be found in any part of the massive structure, save the rats and mice. Layers of dust and debris lined all surfaces so that it looked like no one had inhabited the place for centuries, when in reality it had only been a few years.
The silence was finally broken when Trouble asked, "Where should we start?"
"I would suppose she spent most of her time in a laboratory of some sort. What with her many inventions she would need a great abundance of time in one. That is where we should start searching around for her DNA." Artemis answered.
"How do we know a hair we may find is hers, and not some other scientists?"
"She's a brunette. So we are looking for a strand of light brown hair. The only other beings that were here during the siege were goblins. The little hair that they do have is green. And if she kept any pet trolls here, their hair is much harder than a pixies hair." Holly said expertly. "Just some information." Mulch looked at her funny but decided it be wise not to mention anything on how weird knowing what creature has what type of hair would be.
"Okay. So does anyone know where a lab is?" Trouble questioned. Holly began pressing numerous colorful buttons on her helmet. "Yeah. There's one on the third floor in the west wing, second door on the right." Now Holly got some very strange looks. "I programmed my helmet to seek for foreign chemicals that would be found in a lab. It shouldn't be all that amazing. It's elementary really."
"Well let's get a move on." Root commanded gruffly.
So the search began as they walked to the designated lab. It didn't take very long to get there. But getting in would be a different story. There looked like there were hundreds of complicated locks keeping them from getting into the lab.
"Go ahead and work your magic, Fowl." Trouble said, still in shock. They had come all this way and it was going to take hours or days, even with Fowls genius helping them, to get in.
Artemis immediately got to work. After he disabled an alarm he started to work on the complicated lock on the doorknob. He touched the knob and jumped back suddenly. His raven-black hair was starting to stand on end.
"The knob has an electric current connecting to it some way. Does anyone have something rubber I can use to grab the handle with?" Holly took off one of her shoes and handed it to him. He looked at her, slightly confused.
"Rubber soles." He nodded in understanding and put the shoe on the knob and twisted. The door opened and the others perked up, ready for anything. Another door. This new door had even more locks on it than the previous one did.
Hours went by and hardly any progress had been made. Everyone was sitting down and leaning against a wall, all but Artemis. He was on his knees working on what he said was the last lock on this door.
"Got it!" he said as he swung the door open in triumph. In front of him now was a human made pistol that shot regular bullets. It was positioned so it pointed directly at his chest. Before anyone could do anything the pistol shot Artemis in the center of his chest.
A/N~ Review and tell me what you think.