RaevanDawn: Yup, there's some HA in this chapter. Some more later on too.
Sweetdeath04 and OperaGustus: Thanks
absolute power: Thank you very much.
jeweljade: Ya, but he's changed a lot since then, he's not really as cold. Possibly back then, he wouldn't have had any problems. Also, he never actually shot anyone. It's easier to hold the gun and think you could shoot but when it actually comes down to it, it's harder. But maybe it wouldn't have affected him.
me-obviously: I'm aHA fan too, I wasn't always though, it's kind of a recent thing. I'm working on another Artemis Fowl fic that has more romance in it than this one.
miroku-has-darkness: Ya, I read the fourth book as soon as it came out. I didn't like how he died and I had already had this one written before it came out, so I decided to write it as if the OD didn't happen.
Chapter Twelve: The Fight and a New Partner
"Wait a second. The way I see it, we have two options. We fight and hope we don't get killed or surrender and see the Oaks." Artemis said quietly.
"I'd rather fight them." Holly mumbled but lowered her gun. Artemis had hidden his gun when he had first seen the mercenaries coming and Holly noticed that with a little relief. Three mercs stepped forward to take them and Holly said threatening, "I can walk by myself," When they attempted to grab her arms. Instead, they used their guns to push them forward through the door. Artemis watched as the room's occupants looked over in surprise. There was a dwarf and two elves. The female had been sitting at the desk while the male elf had been watching the camera screens.
"We found these two right outside the door. They had knocked out your two so called capable guards." One of the mercenaries informed Oliver Oak. Clearly the mercenaries were only here for the money and could care less how they spoke to their employer. One removed the helmet on Artemis's head and the other took Holly's.
Oliver smiled. "Really? How unfortunate for them to have gotten so far only to have gotten caught." He walked over to them. "You must be Artemis Fowl. I heard you were down here in Haven. I didn't expect you to pay us a visit."
"Oh, well the opportunity was too good to pass up." Artemis smirked.
Oliver's smile never faltered. "Not one of your smartest decisions, eh? I'll admit that I'm a tad frustrated that you got involved. We could have pulled this off without the LEP ever knowing who or what hit them."
"I'm confident they would have figured it out regardless. You were quite careless you know." Artemis said matter of fact.
"Really? Then would you mind pointing out our mistakes? I thought we did an excellent job concealing everything."
"That would be your first mistake. Overconfidence and underestimating your opponent." Artemis said smugly. He got some satisfaction when he saw annoyance on Oak's face already. Meanwhile, Ivy had stood up and walked over to them. She looked him up and down, never once glancing over at Holly.
"Hmm, not bad looking for a Mud Man. It's a shame you decided to align yourself with the LEP. My husband may not see it, but you would have been perfect on our side. Perhaps you still can." She purred, as she stopped right in front of him. Artemis raised an eyebrow and felt Holly go tense next to him. She was going to have to trust him on this next part as he hadn't mentioned anything to her about this part of the plan. He put on his most charming smile that seemed to have worked on Corporal Frond.
"Well Madame, that certainly is generous of you. Although I'm afraid my services can't be rendered that easily. Bribing usually works though. I will forewarn you that your offer must surpass that of the LEP's." He felt Holly's intense gaze on him but didn't look at her, instead watching Ivy who seemed to be considering it. Her husband looked suspicious.
"You would abandon your LEP friends just like that?"
"Whoever said they were my friends? They said they would pay me to find and stop the culprit."
"So you're not loyal to them." Oliver said doubtfully.
"Mister Oak, I am loyal to only one thing-gold."
"I'm not sure I'd want someone who wouldn't be loyal." Oliver sniffed.
Artemis resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Coming from someone who has hired a bunch of mercenaries, whose only loyalty and care is their money." He said.
Oliver seemed to be an airhead but his wife seemed to be a little smarter. "Oliver, he already said that as long as we offer more than the LEP, he'll work with us. He's a genius; we have great need of him for when we take over Haven." Ivy said while Oliver considered it this time. Since neither of them were looking at him, Artemis looked over at Holly. She had hardly taken her eyes off him, studying him to see if he was lying or not. As soon as their eyes met, she knew the truth. Artemis quickly looked back to the Oak's. Oliver made his decision.
"Okay, we won't kill you then and we'll work out the costs later. Until then, we don't need you. Rodney, take him and the girl down to join the others for now."
"Wait a minute Oliver. That's Short. I think it would be wise to keep her with us. She may be valuable as well to get the LEP to surrender." Ivy said, finally glancing at Holly. Holly glared at them both and spoke up.
"The LEP won't surrender to you."
"Oh but Captain, Root would do anything to save his precious officers." Ivy said smirking. By then Rodney had come up and grabbed Artemis by the arms. Artemis was surprised by the dwarf's strong grip. He was led out of the room.
Meanwhile, Mulch and Juliet had gotten into the building and were heading down one of the many halls.
"Do they have enough hallways? It's like a maze in here." Juliet complained after passing by a door that she could have sworn she'd seen before. Mulch agreed but stayed silent, concentrating on the map Foaly had given him on the screen in the LEP helmet. After a minute, the centaur's voice came through the helmet and Juliet's earpiece.
"Watch for traps. Fowl and Holly nearly walked right into one."
Mulch gulped. "Fantastic." Five minutes later they reached a staircase going down. "This is it. Come on." He said. Just then a merc guard came around the corner. Juliet saw him first and before the guard could even comprehend that there were intruders, he was knocked unconscious from a kick in the chest. His head hit the wall as he slumped down. Juliet grinned.
"Cool, it works."
Mulch shook his head and went to go down the stairs. Juliet had been dragging the guard to a small closet and suddenly heard a yelp. She turned around just in time to see Mulch sliding down what had been the stair case. It seemed that as soon as he placed his foot on the first step, it had turned into a steep ramp, sending him sliding down the bottom. Juliet heard him crash into the wall.
"Mulch, you okay?"
"Yup, just fine. I only fell down an entire flight of stairs and crashed into a wall head first. Why shouldn't I be okay?"
Juliet watched as the ramp turned back into a staircase. Curious, she tried skipping the first step and went right to the second and was relieved to see that it remained stairs. She reached the bottom to find Mulch standing up and dusting himself. He glared at her.
"How did you do that?" He demanded.
"Oh, I just took every other step down." She said as if it was the most obvious thing. Mulch started mumbling something and then led the way down a smaller hallway. At the end, there was a locked door with another guard, who was soon unconscious as well. Mulch didn't even bother checking him for keys. He picked a hair from his beard and after carefully sticking it into the keyhole, he plucked it. The single hair instantly went stiff, assuming the position of the key. He gently turned the hair and the door opened. He grinned proudly before walking in, Juliet right behind.
There were the thirteen fairies, all tied up along a wall. One of two of them let out an "eep" when they saw Juliet. Mulch looked around and saw Bough sitting closest to the door. The Corporal recognized both of them and looked relieved. Mulch and Juliet set to work untying everyone and while they did so, Mulch explained what was going on outside. Juliet was very tempted to leave Chix tied up when he started flirting with her before she had even gotten to him. She reluctantly let him go but made sure to keep her distance from the sprite, lest she got annoyed enough to try another one of her wrestling moves on him. They led the fairies out of the dungeon and to the staircase. Juliet carefully explained how to get up and almost all of them managed without falling. Only Bough lost count of every other step and ended up sending five of them back down to the bottom. They left him to go up last and he was able to get it right the second time.
Mulch and Juliet led them to the exit of the building. They were almost there so Mulch turned on the connection to Team A. Just as he did so, somebody's voice came through.
"...take him and the girl down to join the others for now." Mulch listened as Ivy told her husband that they need Holly and he frowned.
"Stinker! You lead them all out to the front. I'll be right back." Mulch told her. Juliet seemed to know why he was going.
"Oh no. If Artemis is in trouble, I'm going. I need to look out for him."
"Look out for these guys right now." Mulch said and took off down the hall. Juliet growled and considered going after him but decided against it.
Mulch rounded the corner to see Artemis being dragged by a dwarf.
"Really now...how can someone so...small, be so...strong." He grunted, while struggling to get free. "I have money you know. A lot of it. I gave my watch away already...but I have more." The dwarf and Artemis looked over and saw him. Artemis sighed, relieved. "About time you got here."
Mulch realized that the dwarf holding him was familiar. "Rodney?"
"Diggums? What are you doing here?" The dwarf, Rodney, let go of Artemis who was wondering how the two could possibly know each other. But there was no time for that. He would ask later. "You're working for the Oak's or the LEP?"
"The LEP, sort of. You let them hire you?"
"Yeah. Pays good enough. So what are you doing with the LEP? Last time I heard, you were on the run from them."
Artemis had been growing impatient and interrupted before Mulch could reply. "Sorry to put a halt on your reunion, but Mulch, we need to get Holly."
Rodney studied Artemis. "So...you weren't actually going to work for them?"
Artemis waved his hand, dismissing the idea. "Of course not, but I couldn't let them kill me."
"So are the LEP really paying you two then?"
"Nope." Mulch said, with surprisingly no regret, or at least very little. Artemis sighed, exasperated. Without waiting for Mulch, Artemis left, heading back toward the Oak's office. Mulch must have worked something out with Rodney, because they both joined him a second later. He shot a questioning glance at Rodney.
He shrugged. "The only reason I've stayed to work for those two morons is because I managed to get a ton of money from them."
Artemis decided not to comment because just then they had reached the room. He carefully and slowly opened the door and looked in. The room was now empty except for Holly and a single guard. Holly was tied up to a chair.
"Where did they go?" Artemis whispered to Rodney. The dwarf pointed to a door opposite them on the other side of the office. Artemis nodded. "Okay. I have a plan."
Holly had been working on getting rid of her bonds for a few minutes now. The Oaks were due back any second and she wasn't going to just sit there. The rope binding her two wrists was just beginning to loosen when one of the doors opened. She looked over to see that dwarf, Rodney, leading Artemis and Mulch in. The two had their hands behind their backs, so Holly figured that Rodney had caught Diggums and had tied both of them up. The guard walked over to Rodney.
"What's going on?"
"I found another trespasser. Where did Oak go?"
"Not sure, but he should be back any minute for the girl. You going to take those two downstairs?"
Rodney shook his head. "Oak may want to question this one. You can go; I'll wait here and keep an eye on these three." The guard seemed hesitant so Rodney added, "They're all tied up. They aren't going anywhere." The guard seemed to agree because he left the room, closing the door. As soon as the door was closed, Artemis and Mulch removed their hands from behind them, revealing they hadn't been tied up. Holly looked confused as Artemis hurried over to her.
"I thought you said that you were supposed to be protecting me? And yet here I am, having to rescue you." He began untying the rope.
"Don't make me punch you again."
Artemis held his hands up. "No thank you. You've done that more than enough times already. Besides, that would be rather difficult task with your hands tied." He smirked.
"My hands may be but my feet aren't." She reminded him. Artemis narrowed his eyes at her.
"Hey! Hurry up there, won't you?" Mulch said, watching the monitors. Artemis quickly untied her.
"Thanks." She was about to go over to watch the monitors too but stopped for a second. "What was that for? When you told the Oak's that you would go to their side?"
"Oh, that. I figured that they would be expecting us and I didn't want them killing me right away. Although, they weren't supposed to take me to the basement. I didn't tell you because it had to look convincing."
"Well, I didn't know what to think for a minute. I hate how you leave out parts of the plan when telling everyone." She said and knew that he would never change. She walked over to the screens and Artemis followed. Soon, all four were transfixed by the scene playing out on the screen.
Outside the building, the LEP and Butler were at an advantage. So far, only two officers had been injured, and none had died. The mercenary side wasn't doing as well. The LEP were deadly accurate and more and more mercs were falling. Butler had yet to miss and was doing an excellent job of only wounding the mercenaries and not killing them.
Root watched as Juliet managed to lead the thirteen recovered fairies past the mercenaries. Any mercenary that saw them was quickly shot down by either Juliet or the LEP. When they reached the LEP's side, the civilians were immediately taken away from the fighting while the officers suited up and joined the battle. Juliet got her gun and found a spot near Root and Butler.
"Where's Diggums?" Root asked, trying not to worry about the convict.
"He got some message or heard something on the radio and went back for Artemis and Holly." She explained. Butler stiffened but forced himself to keep concentrating on the battle. Artemis will be fine, he told himself. Root also felt worried for Holly's sake and even a little for Mulch, but would never admit that to anyone.
A few minutes later, enough mercenaries had fallen to make the others nervous. A few surrendered while the rest retreated into the building. Root cursed and called Trouble over.
"Kelp, take half and go in through the right side door. Take Juliet with you too. I'll take Butler and the other officers and we'll go through the left door. There's only a few of them left that retreated. I'm leaving twenty here to secure the front and the wounded." Trouble went right to work, gathering officers.
Artemis watched as the mercenaries retreated and the LEP divided in half and entered the building. His helmet was gone but he still had his ear piece.
"Foaly, I need you to remove the loop on the cameras."
"Sure." Two seconds later, Artemis could see what was really going on inside the building. The LEP were cornering the rest of the mercenaries, who were determined to go down fighting. The LEP were using their shields to escape getting shot. Holly ran over and found her gun and helmet.
"Artemis, you stay here. I'm going to go help." She headed for the door and felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked right into deep blue eyes. Artemis knew that there was no point in trying to change her mind, as it was next to impossible. So instead, he only said, "Be careful." Holly opened her mouth to say something but closed it when the words wouldn't come. She fought with her emotions until, not sure what came over her, she leaned up and kissed Artemis on the lips. It only lasted a split second and then she was gone. Artemis stayed still, shocked.
Mulch had been watching the whole thing out of the corner of his eye and grinned when he saw the kiss. He turned away so they wouldn't know he had seen. He wasn't all that surprised. Even if they hadn't seen it, Mulch had noticed Artemis's and Holly's attitudes towards each other. They acted like they never got along, yet there were times that showed otherwise.
Artemis walked back over to the monitors and noticed Rodney's shocked expression and Mulch trying to hide his grin.
"You two didn't see anything." He warned them.
"See what?" Mulch asked innocently.
"I did!" Foaly's voice came through the earpiece, surprising Artemis. He had forgotten about the centaur and the iris cam. The said centaur had nearly fallen out of his chair when it happened. Artemis cheeks turned red and he took out the ear piece. He tried to pry his thoughts away from Holly and the kiss. It was his first one, but he would never reveal that to anyone. One of the monitors caught his attention, bringing him back down to reality. Holly had left to help Root, Mulch and Juliet had succeeded in rescuing the kidnapped fairies, but the Oaks had not been stopped. He hadn't exactly come here with the best plan and was ashamed of himself. Mulch and Rodney weren't looking at him right then, so he took the opportunity and left through the door the Oaks had gone through.
"Diggums!" Foaly hissed.
"What?" Mulch asked, watching the LEP and the mercenaries as if it were some action movie.
"Fowl left."
Mulch turned quickly and sure enough, Artemis was no longer in the room. "Where'd he go? He was here just a second ago." Mulch then saw the open door. "D'Arvit! That Mud Whelp has lost it. All he had to do was wait here in the safe room, away from all the fighting. But no." Mulch complained.
"Where is he going?" Rodney asked.
"I don't know, but Holly's going to kill me. So is Juliet." Mulch gulped. "And Butler." Mulch contemplated what to do. Finally, he growled and headed out the door, Rodney following. They found themselves in another hallway.
"This goes in between all the rooms and stuff. It's like having a backup hall or an escape route." Rodney explained.
Mulch nodded. "So which way would the Oaks have gone?"
"My guess is that way." Rodney pointed to the right. "The left dead ends after a few yards. But to go to the right would take us right to where the fighting is. Actually, that's about the last place I want to go right now. I'm still wanted for that bank job all those years ago."
"I had to serve two years for that one. I don't get how they got me but not you."
"Face it Diggums, you may be good at crime, but you're better at getting caught." Rodney smirked.
Mulch snorted. "Anyway, you don't have to go but I do. I've grown kind of fond of the kid. I owe him too. He got me out of a few centuries of prison. As of right now, the LEP have nothing on me. Except for the fact that I returned Artemis's memories, but we made a deal."
"The Mud Boy cleared your record?"
"Yup."
Luckily, Foaly had transferred over to a different connection, so he missed that small piece of information that Mulch so clearly let slip. But the kleptomaniac dwarf paid no attention. Rodney was thinking it over and finally decided it would be in his best interest if he helped the human.
"Okay, come on." Rodney led the way down the hall.
Artemis was almost at the end of the long hallway when he saw Oliver and Ivy Oak up ahead. They were watching their mercenaries through one of the doors. Oliver turned and saw him.
"Fowl! How did you get out?"
Artemis walked up to them casually. "I have my ways. I don't appreciate offering my services to someone, only to get locked up right away, to be saved for later."
"Well, we could use you now. Any bright ideas? My mercenaries are barely holding up against the LEP."
"Oh, I have plenty of ideas, but I'm afraid I won't be sharing them with you. You had your chance and blew it. Like I said before, the LEP have a better offer."
Oliver's eyes glinted furiously and even Ivy turned to glare at him. "Oh really? And just what is this better offer?"
"Friendship." Artemis replied simply.
"Friendship? So you never planned on helping us?"
"Correct, I wouldn't betray the people I care about." Artemis could see that his words had struck a mark in Ivy. She stormed up to him.
"The people you care about? Let me tell you something Fowl. The people you care about killed the person I cared about."
"Your father." Artemis said knowingly.
"Yes, my father. You see, I had just been getting close to him when he was killed. I promised I would take revenge. What I don't understand is, your so called friends mind wiped you. Even after you helped them with the B'wa Kell. So why do you still align yourself with them, knowing that they might do it again?"
Artemis fought to keep a straight face but inside, the remains of the monster he had once been conflicted with the new Artemis. Six years ago, he might have agreed with her. He would have wanted revenge for having his memories taken from him. Now, however, he only felt sorry for Ivy. She took his hesitation as a window of opportunity and jumped at it.
"You see? Even you kidnapped Short to get gold."
"Mrs. Oak, unfortunately, I used to be willing to go to great lengths to achieve my goals, no matter what the cost. Gold was always my top priority, and though I still love gold, I've realized how wrong I was." He said and Ivy snorted in disgust. Artemis decided to go out on a limb. Ivy seemed to be the more sensible of the two Oaks and misguided. "You know, it's not too late for you. The LEP are all here, your mercenaries are beaten...why don't you give up?" Artemis swallowed, not really believing he was going to say this next part. "Even if you somehow were successful in your revenge, what do you plan on doing then? Take over Haven? You're going to kill all the LEP for some mistake your father made?" Artemis struggled to get those words out. It was incredibly too sentimental for him and he was immensely glad that no one else was there to hear him utter such trash. But if he could get out of this without violence, he would try it. Just then he felt someone come up next to him. Drat, he thought, so maybe someone did hear.
After leaving Artemis, Holly had met up with Root who had been glad to see she was okay. Since she had always been pretty good at healing, Root wanted her healing all the officers who were injured. Holly would have much rather have gone and fought with the others, but didn't argue. So she put her magic to use healing officers. Anyone who was injured was taken into a room near the fighting. After she had healed most of everyone in the room, Holly was beginning to run low on magic and was exhausted. She paused for a break and was surprised to hear voices coming from the wall. Frowning, she put her ear up against the wall. Her heart almost stopped as she recognized the voices.
"D'Arvit! Couldn't that Mud Boy just do as he's told for once?" Holly said to herself as she ran from the room. After checking in each room, she finally found one with a door leading to that hidden hallway. She threw open the door and ran right into Mulch and Rodney.
"Oh, hey Holly." Mulch said, helping her off the floor.
"Mulch! Why did you let him go?" Holly demanded.
"I didn't, he just disappeared. We've been trying to find him."
"Well, I just heard him talking to the Oaks down there." She said, taking off with the two dwarves following. She could hear the voices again, coming up down the hall.
"Holly, wait!"
"Why?"
"Listen."
Holly stopped and the three of them listened as Ivy asked Artemis why he aligned himself wit the LEP. Holly's fists clenched, but she miraculously stayed still. Then she understood what Artemis was doing. He was trying to get her to surrender and Ivy seemed to sound convinced. Oliver was silent and she wondered what he was doing. "Okay, I'm going." She whispered to Mulch. He nodded and him and Rodney followed her. Holly had moved up next to Artemis before anyone took notice of her.
"Actually, if you two were to give it up now, I can guarantee your sentence would be lighter. After all, you have a clean record before this, and none of the fairies you kidnapped were harmed." Holly said and she knew that they almost had Ivy. Oliver had been switching his attention back and forth from the fight to Ivy and Fowl. But when he saw that Ivy was actually considering surrendering, he lost it.
"Ivy, you can't possibly give up now! Think of your father! Think of me, I'm your husband! You would betray me?"
"I'm not betraying you." She snapped. "It's over Oliver. Give it up now before it's too late. We had our chance and we blew it."
Before anyone knew what he was doing, he had grabbed Holly and was dragging her to the door. "Let go of me you creep." She hissed.
"Oh no, you're going to get the LEP to surrender. Root will give up when he sees you're in danger." Oak now held a small knife in his hand that he had grabbed from his pocket. Artemis had been in the process of rushing forward but had to stop suddenly when he saw the knife. Holly kept struggling until it was pushed up against her back. Mulch had also moved forward to help but stopped next to Artemis.
"Mulch, distract him. Do anything to get the knife away from Holly for at least a second." Artemis whispered.
"Anything?"
"Yes, just hurry."
Mulch nodded and casually turned around. Artemis's eyes widened as well as Holly's. Oliver paid no attention to him and Artemis knew it was only a matter of moments before he figured it out and then he may use Holly as a shield.
"Oak, let her go. She hasn't done anything to you."
"On the contrary, she's LEP. One way or another, I will get my revenge. Either the LEP surrender and they die or they refuse and Short dies. And no stupid Mud Boy will stop me."
"I beg to differ." While Oak had been talking, he had unconsciously moved to the side of Holly, focusing his attention only on Artemis. He hadn't even Mulch who had moved off to the side and his back flap had opened. He was now bent over and carefully taking aim. As soon as Artemis said, 'I beg to differ,' Mulch let loose a small but still powerful 'gust of wind.' Oliver saw it at the last second and tried to get out of the way. He only succeeded in moving enough for it to hit him in the arm. The force of it made him spin around. That's when Artemis made his move. He rushed forward and was somehow able to grab the knife. Oliver recovered just as Holly tore away from him. Furious, Oliver charged at Holly, who was nearest to him.
"Artemis, your gun!" Holly shouted. Artemis nearly smacked himself. He had forgotten all about the gun he had hidden. He fumbled with the controls on it and settled on medium blast, hoping it would just stun him. Oak wasn't paying attention to Artemis, instead trying to drag Holly to the door. Apparently he hadn't expected her to put up such a big fight. Holly would have won but Oak grew frustrated wit trying to get her out of there and finally pushed her hard up against the wall.
"Holly!" She slumped down unconscious. Artemis fired the gun, hitting Oak who also went down. Artemis was surprised to find that he had no qualms about shooting Oak when just a short while ago he had felt guilty for shooting that guard. Ivy ran over to check her husband while Artemis rushed over to help Holly. Mulch checked Oak to make sure he was out before going over to Artemis. Holly had a large lump on her head and a few tiny blue sparks were trying to heal it. Mulch frowned.
"She's really low on magic. I think she'll get healed buy may be out for awhile from exhaustion." He explained. Artemis nodded.
"What about Oak?"
"He's out for awhile too. Yu must have hit him pretty hard though." Mulch chuckled.
"I put it on medium."
"He may have lost a few brain cells then."
"I doubt he had that many left to loose." Artemis smiled a little. Just then, the door opened and Root and Butler came in followed by half a dozen officers. Butler ran over and checked Artemis to make sure he had no injuries. "I'm fine Butler." He said, a little impatiently. He was more concerned for Holly. Root sent officers to get Ivy and the still unconscious Oliver.
"Fowl what happened?" Root demanded. Artemis quickly explained the very last few minutes about Oliver trying to drag Holly out the door but instead pushed her up against the wall. He knew that Root wanted to know what happened to Holly mainly. Root sent for the medics for Holly and then Artemis explained Holly's guarantee to Ivy. Root reluctantly agreed. "And who's the other dwarf?" He asked. Rodney was over by Mulch, looking slightly uncomfortable with the LEP all around him. Now that Artemis had time to think, ideas began forming in his head.
Mulch and Rodney had moved off to the side to allow the LEP to take care of the situation. They watched as Artemis said something that surprised the Commander before walking their way. Rodney paled a little as the Commander spoke.
"You're Rodney?" He asked. Rodney nodded. "I should arrest you since you're still a wanted dwarf, but Fowl told me that you were able to convince Ivy Oak to surrender and helped saved Captain Short's life." Root waited for confirmation.
Rodney's eyes widened in surprise, as did Mulch's. Rodney looked up at Artemis who watched him calmly. "Yeah, I guess so." Rodney turned back to Root.
"I'm being way to lenient with you convicts, but I'm willing to forget that one bank incident in light of your help. But if you make one wrong move, I'll forget all about this." Root grumbled.
"Thank you sir." Rodney said in shock.
"Hey, Julius, aren't I going to get a thank you for helping to save you again?" Mulch asked. Root mumbled something inaudible and left. "Your welcome!" Mulch called after him and then turned back to Artemis who was also just about to leave. "So Arty, why did you give up your credit in helping?"
Artemis shrugged. "I don't like being a hero. It'll ruin my reputation. I figured Rodney could use it more than me."
"Oh, thanks." Rodney said surprised. This Fowl kid was full of surprises, that was for sure. "I owe you."
Artemis smiled and Rodney found the smile to be kind of intimidating. "Actually, I was thinking that since your employers will be locked up for a while, that makes you jobless. Am I right in thinking that you share Mulch's talents for breaking and entering?" Rodney found himself grinning.
"Yeah, I taught him everything he knows." Mulch said.
"Then perhaps you would be interested in joining Mulch and myself sometime."
Rodney's eyes widened again. "So instead of fifty-fifty, it'll be split in three?" Mulch asked, realizing it wouldn't be as much money for him. Although, he had plenty of money already, and he enjoyed the thrill and the challenge of stealing things rather than the reward coming from it.
"Yes, I suppose we'll just have to go for bigger and more expensive items, won't we? Rodney, come to my manor in about a week or two. Mulch can tell you where to find it. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check on Holly." Artemis walked away leaving Rodney bewildered. He had never worked with Mud Men before, but something told him he would get along just fine with this one.
"What did I tell? Arty's great." Mulch told his old partner and friend.
"Yeah, how did you two end up working together?"
"Long story. I'll tell you later."
Review please and let me know what you think.