The Family Name: The Artic Incident

By Elbereth in April

Chapter 5: We're Going In

The shuttle sped down a vast chute, hugging the walls as they searched for a fissure Mulch had assured them would be beneath Koboi Laboratories. It was only 5 yards wide and only appeared when the rock wall cooled down. It was only open for about 3 minutes, when the rock was at its coolest, moments before the next magma flare.

As Mulch had said, "Last time I nearly got crushed and fried. If the rocks don't get you, the magma will."

Nevertheless, they were going to fly through it.

"In this ship?" Holly protested. "It handles like a three-legged rhinoceros!"

"How was I supposed to know?" Root grumbled. "This was supposed to be a routine run. This shuttle has an excellent stereo."

"My father would say, 'Even luxury should be deadly.'" Draco shrugged. "You never know when to believe what he says, though."

Artemis smiled down at his shoes. Malfoy actually was learning to think for himself.

"I like that one," Butler murmured.

They heard the sound of the approaching flare. The fissure began to open up.

"Let's go," Mulch prodded, looking anxious.

"Not enough room yet."

"It'll widen as we go."

Holly gripped the controls tighter. The chasm cracked another few feet. "Hold on." She shoved the thrusters as high as they would go and maneuvered the shuttle into the tunnel.

Draco gave a crooked grin. "This would be perfect for Quidditch training."

"You're crazy, Malfoy."

Holly ignored them and watched her instruments. Despite their headlights, it was nearly impossible to see out the windshield. She watched their laser radar and listened to the sonar, but it was beeping so fast it was almost a continuous whine. Magma was rising behind them. The temperature was increasing. The fissure closed behind them and opened up before them with a noise like thunder in a small tin barrel. It was a desperate race.

Their craft skimmed against the side with a shower of sparks. Holly flipped the shuttle sideways between two shifting plates. An edge clipped the ship's rear.

Draco was laughing. Butler was holding his gun. Mulch had his ears covered. Root had an unlit cigar clamped between his teeth. Draco nudged Fowl with his shoulder. Abruptly, Artemis relaxed and met Malfoy's eyes, amused. His mouth quirked, as he tried not to smile. "You really are crazy, Malfoy."

"When we get back to your manor, I'm taking you joy riding on my broom. You're way too uptight."

Then they were through the plates, spiraling into a cavern toward three enormous titanium rods. "There, the foundation rods," Mulch said.

Holly docked, then looked at Malfoy and smirked. "You're such a flyboy."

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Mulch showed them a diagram he'd made. Apparently dwarves weren't very good artists. Malfoy snickered. "What's that supposed to be?"

"It's one of the foundation rods. The only way now is up."

"Those are solid titanium, sunk in impregnable bedrock," Root growled.

"Only one isn't solid."

Artemis nodded. "You cut corners on this, didn't you, Mulch?"

"My forefathers disemboweled the man who tried to use faulty stone when building our manor," Draco remarked.

"Your forefathers would." Holly rolled her eyes.

"You had to fill that column up with something," Root protested.

"We hooked up the sewage pipes to it for a couple of days so Koboi's scans would come out clean."

"Sewage. . ." They all looked a bit sick.

"It's not anymore. That was 100 years ago, it's just clay now."

Root leaned forward. Mulch stepped back. "You expect us to climb through 20 yards of manure."

"No way," Draco said immediately. "Nothing doing."

The dwarf shrugged. "Stay here forever if you like."

Draco looked at Fowl, who obviously was disgusted and just wishing he were somewhere else. "You couldn't have mentioned this sooner?"

"Let's do it," Holly cut in. "Once the Lower Elements are saved, we can get back to rescuing your father."

Fowl made no reply, so Draco answered. "Ladies and Gryffindor-wannabe's first."

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Mulch began to eat his way up through the tunnel. The others stood well back. Artemis sighed. "He's amazing. What I could do with ten like him. Ft. Knox would be a pushover."

"Do you think he could take Gringott's?"

"Don't even think about it," Root warned them. "Either one of you."

"We'll have to put in some sort of precautions at the manor. . ."

"Good luck. He already broke into mine."

"Yes, well, you keep forgetting my father is a Dark wizard."

Artemis decided he'd really better read up on Dark Arts spells.

Root turned to Butler. "What have you got?"

He drew his Sig Sauer. "This is it. I'll take it since I'm the only one who could lift it. You have the softnose laser."

"You hold on to that, Capt. Short. I'll pick up something on the way."

"But, sir. . ."

"I won't have an officer of mine going unarmed. That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

"So we're going now?"

Butler shook his head, bracing himself for an argument. "No--you two are staying here."

"What?" Draco's eyes crackled with annoyance.

"This is a military operation. . ."

"We beat Riddle--twice!"

"Save your lives for rescuing Mr. Fowl."

Draco opened his mouth, then shut it again and looked at his schoolmate.

"Very well," Artemis conceded. "We'll stay here, unless. . ."

Butler frowned. "Unless what?"

Artemis's smile would have made Mulch choose Howler's Peak over being with the dangerous Mud Boy a moment longer, if it hadn't already been too late. "Unless I have an idea."

The two boys sat on a rock. "They're treating us like children," Draco complained, looking a bit pouty. "We're wizards. They don't seem to understand that."

Artemis nodded, his eyes taking on a far away, planning quality. "Kept us out of the sewage," he responded absently.

Draco watched him. "Still making rescue plans?"

"The situation has changed due to the passage of so much time. They'll be taking him to the drop point. Once they beat us there, our options are limited."

"We should get our own invisibility cloak."

"Aren't they extremely rare?"

"Yes, and extremely expensive. But we do have money." He paused, then asked very hesitantly, "Are you OK?"

Startled, Artemis frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I just--I know how worried you must be." Draco looked away, at the tunnel.

Artemis blinked. Malfoy couldn't actually be concerned, could he? Certainly not. That would mean that he cared, and Malfoy obviously wouldn't care. It wasn't like they were friends or anything. They were enemies--or at least rivals--they just happened to be under truce and allied at the moment. That's all.

Besides, Artemis didn't want to admit to any weaknesses. So he said, "I'm fine," but he knew at once that Malfoy had correctly interpreted this as: If I knew how to experience emotion, I'd be going out of my mind.

D'Arvit. When had Malfoy gotten to be so perceptive?

"We'll do it, you know, Fowl. We'll get him out." Draco hesitantly raised a hand and gave Fowl's upper arm a squeeze, then dropped his hand hastily.

Artemis blinked, then gave him a small, tentative smile. He shouldn't feel better because Malfoy was trying to encourage him. But he did. He wondered why.

Then they heard a voice yelling for help.

"The dwarf."

"What do you think?"

"Maybe we could Accio him."

"What if he's stuck?"

"You're saying we have to go up the tunnel, aren't you?"

Artemis would have been amused if he wasn't dreading the thought himself. "I'm afraid so."

"No alternative?"

"Afraid not."

"Why don't you go and I'll stay here?"

Artemis's voice hardened. "Come on, Malfoy."

They put on helmets to block out the smell. Artemis ignored Malfoy's continued exclamations of "Oh, gross!" and "Oh, this is nasty!"

"All I can say is, Mulch had better be in a lot of pain," Artemis muttered.

When they reached the lab entrance, they found Mulch twitching in pain on the floor. The boys crouched down beside the dwarf. "What's wrong?"

"Blockage in my gut." Mulch's voice shook. "Something too hard to break down."

"So what do we do?" Draco asked.

"Take off my left boot."

The boys looked at each other. Malfoy grinned. "You know him best."

Artemis sighed, but was secretly relieved. He'd been afraid he'd have to do something a lot worse. He peeled the boot off.

"Little toe."

"What about it?"

"Squeeze the joint. Hard."

Draco grabbed Fowl's arm. "Somebody's coming."

A goblin turned the corner and reached for his gun. Draco pulled out his wand. Artemis lifted Mulch's leg higher and squeezed the toe. The resulting explosion knocked the goblin all the way down the corridor.

Mulch got to his feet. "Thanks, kid. I thought I was a goner. Must have been granite, or diamond maybe."

Artemis nodded, unable to reply with words.

Draco blinked, then looked at the dwarf. "That was--" but then he, too, stopped.

"Goblins are dumb," Mulch crowed. "Did you see the look on his face?"

"My father would have you murdered just on general principle."

Artemis shook his head as the dwarf stared at Malfoy. "That goblin. I doubt he was on his own."

"How could you eat a diamond? Don't you know what they're worth?"

Mulch ignored Draco's comments. "No, a whole squadron of goblins just went past. This guy must have been trying to avoid the action. Typical."

Draco managed to drag his thoughts away from diamonds and frowned anxiously. "They're going to need our help," Draco said, frowning anxiously.

Artemis rubbed his temples. "Mulch. You couldn't leave the labs the same way you came in. The flare would have gotten you. So how did you get out?"

Mulch grinned. "Simple, I activated the alarm, then left in the LEP uniform I came in."

Artemis scowled. "There must be another way." He began looking around the passageway. Draco frowned and did the same, but he only saw corridor; what did all this stuff do? What were they looking for? Eventually Artemis climbed up on the hover trolley, tapping one of the overhead conduits that ran the length of the corridor. "This pipe runs along the entire ceiling. What is it?"

"The plasma supply for the DNA cannons."

"Why didn't you come in this way?"

Mulch snorted. "There's enough charge in every drop of plasma to fry a troll."

"What if the cannons weren't operational?"

"Once the cannons are deactivated, the plasma is just so much radioactive slop."

"Radioactive?"

"I know what a radio is," Draco announced, feeling that he wasn't contributing much to this discussion, and happy to finally know something. "I saw one at Fowl Manor."

"Yes, well. . ."

"Actually, Root reckons the cannons have been turned off."

"Is there a way to tell for certain?"

"We could open the unopenable panel. See this micro keyhole? It takes true talent to pick a lock like this. Fortunately, you have a master with you. . ."

Draco rolled his eyes. "Alohamora." The panel opened. "You people always want to complicate things."

Mulch looked at him, disgruntled.

Inside the pipe, an orange jelly pulsed gently. Occasional sparks roiled in its depths.

"Yep, deactivated."

"What about those sparks?"

"Residual charge. They'd give you a tingle, but nothing serious."

"Right." Artemis strapped his helmet back on.

Mulch blanched. "You're not serious, Mud Whelp? Do you have any idea what will happen if those canons are activated?"

Artemis drew breath to speak, but Draco was faster. "First of all, don't call us Mud Whelps if we're going off to face certain death. Second of all, no, what will happen if the cannons are activated?"

"I should have realized you wouldn't know. . ." Artemis said seriously. "Radioactive means. . . no, never mind. Basically, we'd fry."

"I see. Fowl, are you crazy?"

"You're the one who said we need to help."

"Yes, but. . . this is a very Gryffindoric plan!"

"Malfoy, how do you suggest we get past the small goblin army to our target?"

Draco threw his hands up helplessly. "Some way that won't fry us!"

"The odds are we'll make it through before the cannons are called into use. And this is a very Slytherin plan--it employs stealth, cunning, and determination."

Draco made a frustrated sound and shoved his helmet on.

"Okay," Mulch said. "You've got 30 yards to go and no more than 10 minutes of air in that helmet. Keep the filters closed. The air may get a bit stale after awhile, but it's better than sucking plasma. You can spell yourself out at the other end. Don't use your helmet lights. Halogen could reactivate the plasma."

"Lumos." Draco's wand lit at the tip. Artemis followed suit.

"That'll work." Mulch nodded. "Make sure you get foamed as soon as you can. The antirad canisters are blue. They're everywhere in this facility."

Draco was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

"Anything else?"

"Well, there are the plasma snakes. . ."

The two boys moved slightly closer together. "You're not serious?"

Mulch grinned. "No, I'm not."

Malfoy let out an angry breath and raised his wand. "Serpen. . ."

Artemis grabbed his arm. "You are not summoning a snake to bite Mulch. Get your temper under control and focus."

"He's the one who brought up snakes," Malfoy grumbled.

The dwarf swallowed and took a step back. He smiled weakly and cleared his throat. "Now then, your reach is about one and one-half feet. So calculate for 60 pulls and then get out."

Artemis calculated. "More like 63, I'd say."

"Whatever. In you go." Mulch interlaced his fingers so they could climb up. Artemis went first, stepping onto the dwarf's cupped hands and into the panel. Draco followed. The orange gel coalesced around them, covering them completely.

"This is worse than the mud, Fowl!" Draco snapped via the helmet comlink. "I hate you!"

Artemis felt a strange pang in his chest. "You don't, really," he said in his most neutral tone.

"No, not really. Unless you kick me in the face. Be careful!"

Artemis ignored his feeling of relief and started crawling. "Fine. Now hush, I'm counting."

The plasma sucked at them. A residual spark brushed Artemis's leg, sending sharp pain through his body. He hissed. "A bit of a tingle?!"

"It doesn't hurt as bad as the Cruciatus, Fowl," Malfoy replied dryly.

Artemis wished he could see the other boy's face. The panel was too narrow for him to turn around. "How bad is the Cruciatus?"

"Imagine all your veins on fire and your muscles failing you until you feel like you no longer have conscious control over your body and you can't think except to know that you're not supposed to scream but you have no will left, anyway. Then your body starts twitching and you're writhing on the floor and it's humiliating but you have no will, anyway, and your veins explode and the fire burns your blood and the blood runs all over your body and you can't think but to realize you're screaming after all, and you have no will left, anyway." Draco swallowed and stopped. He hadn't meant to say so much.

Artemis almost lost count. "Did you learn this from your father?" he asked carefully.

There was a pause. "Yes," Malfoy answered finally, in just as neutral a voice. "I did."

To Artemis's surprise, he suddenly had the strong desire to kill Lucius Malfoy. He shoved it down. "We better quit talking. We need to save our air."