Wow... so long. I guess I owe you guys an apology. I dunno what happened. I especially say sorry to those who were my big reviewers (Rad Gum, etc.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Holly was short of breath. She had run to the Council's room, given an impromptu speech, and had obtained permission to rescue Artemis.

"Happy now, captain?" Root was mildly amused at Holly's actions.

"Yes, sir. Now we have another problem. I need fairy power." Holly said. She wasn't sure what to expect after this request.

"Don't worry. I can get you a small team, Short."

"How small are we talking about, sir?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Artemis knew he was doomed. He was thinking but Spiro had learned. Some sort of machinery was operating very loudly near him. It made meditation impossible, and made Artemis suspect (and rightly so) that it was only used to disrupt his concentration.

He also knew that a plan would not have helped. Short of a meteor hitting the facility that had been set up around him and then leaving him alive, he could not have thought of a way out. And the chances of that are 276,000,000,000 to one against, for those who didn't know.

----------------------------------------------------------

Opal Koboi was a fairy who had gone from upper class snob to successful businessfairy to Howler's Peak. She now reflected on the fact that humans would not crush an entire species because of their "morals". Puh-leaze. Humans were not exactly a moral species. But enslaving the fairies, that was something they could do. And that was good. She knew that everyone had his or her own agenda. But she also knew that she was the only fairy on this side of the war, which was being considered a war, even though the only shots fired were those used to free her.

She would take advantage of the postwar situation, revolt, and have the entire planet for a few centuries. If everything went according to plan. And of course, everything would. She would not need any help from goblins that were really useless. No deranged maniacs would plot betrayal. Spiro was an unknown, but not everything was perfect. The two of them had not really gotten along. Spiro, even though he was head of an electronics corporation, was more of a businessman than he was a technological guy. Opal was smarter and able to provide more and better technology. Calan was a planner, a brilliant tactician. Together they would conquer the world. And then she, Opal Koboi, would dispose of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Bud Diggert was watching a suspicious person cross the street and enter a bank in Seattle, Washington, USA. A few minutes later, the man ran out of the bank carrying a sizable amount of money. He would be found unconscious a few days later in an alley, having no idea what happened and certainly having no stolen money.

Actually, Bud Diggert was a private detective. He worked for himself. He found out about crimes, watched someone commit them...and then robbed them. He was living in an average life, as finding out about crimes before they happened was hard. But it helps when you're a kleptomaniac dwarf on the run from the LEP.

Bud's – or rather Mulch Diggums's, as that was his real name – two day head start from LEPrecon had been put to work most effectively. He was caught when he decided to take Artemis's disc back. And even then he managed to bargain. Basically, he threw the disc as far as he could and ran while the LEP went after it. Idiots, you don't bring in Mulch Diggums with three members of recon, he had always thought when reflecting on that.

-------------------------------------------------------

"Three- three- three fairy team? Sir?" Holly had received this news and realized she would be carried out in a body bag with three. But her chances were better than with one. "Who's on it?"

"Well, you, me, and –"the commander grinned "-Chix Verbil. Don't argue. That's all I got, take it or leave it."

"I'll...take it." Holly groaned. Freeing an important hostage with three fairies was hard, but when one of them was playboy Chix Verbil...

Well, I wanted Mulch to have a bigger role in this chapter but it may be a few more chapters.