Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Artemis Fowl. Those go to Eoin Colfer.
Chapter 12:Breaking the Rules
Sisterhood of the Pixies HQ, Haven
Mulch forced himself to suppress a gasp. He failed, but to his pleasure, so did Trouble and Holly. This room was bigger than his old, L.A. penthouse, and that was saying something. Gaudy curtains and fabrics hung throughout the whole room, and tons of couches. The only odd part, was that each daybed had the exact same little table and lamp.
"Something here isn't right," Holly murmured. She started looking around, trying to see past the thick drapes of fabric surrounding the door frame.
"What, my I ask, are you doing in my room?" a falsely sweet voice said from behind her. With an exasperated sigh, Holly saw Amber Brill emerge from behind a pillar. Around the room, a small army of pixies stepped out from behind pillars as well. Holly glared at the other pixies, and smiled.
"You're as vain as your boss, Amber. Filling your room with mirrors? They must be sturdy, if they haven't broken from all the hours you've stared in them," Holly chided. Behind her, she heard a concealed Mulch let out a soft oh, but it was muffled before Amber noticed. She was too busy, withdrawing Holly's Neutrino from her voluminous robes.
"Where are the others? Were you the only one to survive the explosion? You seem to have a habit of surviving when you're supposed to die." Amber raised the gun, and aimed it squarely at Holly's chest. "Before I finally kill you, where is Foaly? And the major?"
"Why do you care? They died along with the others," Holly spat. She expected Opal to wonder about Foaly's demise, but why bother with Trouble? Taking a leap, she asked, "What did Foaly and Major Kelp do to you? Don't tell me this whole affair is for absolute power over the world. It is much too common these days."
Amber scowled, and grabbed a manila file from the couch. She threw it at Holly. "That's why!" she screamed. Inside, were various newspaper clippings and an official LEP police report. She read the first headline, Brill Twins Arrested for Conspiring to Destroy Haven. Another read, Major T. Kelp, Arresting Officer of the Twins, and in the text, Foaly's name appeared numerous times.
"Because of you, because of them, my brothers are rotting in the Atlantis Correctional Facility! They didn't do anything to deserve this!" Amber screamed, all professionalism lost. She was just ranting, and if the gun she was holding worked, Holly would have been worried about the pixie shooting up the place. Instead, she let slip an amused smile.
"Why are you trying to kill us, then? It was Opal Koboi that caused them to be arrested. She paid them to free her, and they almost destroyed Haven and brought Mud Men to our doorstep. Go yell at her," Holly said as calmly as she could. For a moment, she saw Amber's eyes widen, but the look was replaced by dead eyes. The pixie took a step closer to Holly, and she saw that Amber's irises were severely jagged. Things probably looked blurry to her, her vision smeared by too many mesmers. And they were in a small room full of mirrors. Sharp eyes might have caught small movements in the mirror, perhaps two figures slowly sneaking up on Amber, but Amber's dull eyes would assume it was just the poor vision.
"How blind you are Amber. Opal has you wrapped around her little finger. You can't see five feet in front of you," Holly said loudly, hoping that Trouble or Mulch would realize what she meant. A slight shuffling noise on her right answered the question. She slowly turned to her left, and walked towards the pixie. Naturally, Amber started backing up, hopefully right towards where Mulch and Trouble were waiting.
"Are you going to take me on? Alone, with no weapon, whereas I have two?" Amber's voice was low, a raspy whisper. "How heroic, shot down by your own weapon. I'll have to move quickly, or else the rebellion will keep me from using this fine gun. Any last words?"
"A few. A question, in fact," Holly hesitated. They could get Amber now, but if she was knocked out, then there was no way of getting information out of her. "How will the B'wa Kell shut down weapons? All of Opal's tech was wiped from Police Plaza. Foaly made sure of that personally."
"True. But a certain officer, before his untimely demise and betrayal, got the blueprints. He got copies of the prototypes for Foaly's whole computer system. And during the initial installation of her DNA cannons, Opal herself studied the technologies. Foaly wiped everything that was Opal's from his system, but we integrated technologies. Since the failed rebellion, we've been monitoring all the computer records and watching the LEP. Shutting down the system again, too easy." Amber smiled. "And now that Foaly is dead, there is no one that can return power to the LEP. The perfect plan."
"You won't believe how many crazed villains say that. Now!" Holly called. Amber spun around just in time to see Trouble and Mulch leap over the couch at her. She pulled out one of the super-charged buzz batons and for a moment, the two were suspended in the air in a cage of lightening. Then they were thrown across the room by the force of the electricity. The slammed into one of the mirrors, shattering it. Both Mulch and Trouble dived to avoid the shards of glass.
As Mulch staggered up, Amber hit him again. Then, she did the same to Trouble. "Ha, too easy." She turned back to Holly, tossing the baton to the ground. "Like I said, you get the hero's death." And she fired. Nothing happened. In confusion, she looked at the gun.
"Did you break my toy? I'm not too happy," Holly spun, kicking Amber's arm. The Neutrino flew into the air. Amber cradled her hand, and Holly set the gun's setting to six. Amber had set it to ten. She had really meant business. Holly wasn't taking chances this time. The pixie gazed up at her dumbly.
"It won't work--" but that was when the charge sank into her stomach. She skittered across the floor, finally resting against the farthest mirrored wall. He eyes were barely open, but she was still conscious.
"Yes it will," Holly whispered. Mulch was struggling up in the corner closest to the door. Holly went to check on Trouble. Unfortunately, when he had dived to avoid the mirror fragments, he had crashed into a large flower pot. It was solid, but she couldn't say the same for his head. He was awake though.
"You okay?" she asked. It was dumb, since she already knew the answer.
"I've had worse," Trouble lied. He put a hand to the gash on his head. "D'arvit!"
"You'll be fine, we just need a healer." But Trouble was rummaging through his pockets, and to her surprise, he pulled out an acorn. More surprisingly, he gave it to her.
"No, you need it more," Holly said, trying to get him to take it back. He shook his head.
"Women are better healers than men. Before you object," he said, raising a hand to stop Holly, "I'm only saying it because my mother healed grub a million times, and he healed her once. She ended up with a moustache for nearly a year." Holly allowed herself a chuckle.
After a moment, she accepted the acorn. She was about to plant it, when she heard Mulch yell. She turned, just in time to see Amber pulling a hidden buzz baton from under a rug. With a groan, and the last ounce of her strength, Amber fired it straight at Holly. Both were knocked out.
"Mulch, tie her up!" Trouble yelled. Then, he carefully sat Holly up. Her arms were limp, and she couldn't hold the acorn. So, he put his own hand around hers, and lowered them into the pot. Instantly, he felt a surge of magic crawl up his arm, and he saw blue sparks all over his body and Holly. With a jolt, he let go of her hand, and fell to the floor, letting darkness overtake him as the magic did it's work. Holly fell, and he briefly realized that his arm was resting on her waist. She wouldn't like that.
Mulch watched the whole process with amazement. It had been so long since he had magic of his own, and he enjoyed watching it do it's work. It reminded him of the good old days, before he even worried about Julius at every turn.
The sparks on Trouble were basically rushing around a cut on his head that was rapidly shrinking, while the sparks on Holly were healing the general bodily area. He noticed that the major's arm was on Holly, and considered moving it. He doubted Holly would be thrilled by the appearance of an arm around her waist, but he could be wrong. And besides, she had once buzzed his precious posterior, and it had left a small mark. This was his payback.
After making sure that the pixie was truly out cold, he collected some cord intended to hold the drapes in place. The were softer than a dwarf's behind. If Amber should struggle against her bonds, she's be quite comfortable while doing so. As soon as she was secure, he poked around the room. Once a thief always a thief.
The room had very little to offer, but Mulch still got away with a few nice items. Sure, he was on the side of good, but these were Amber's possessions, and she was bad. He could be a Robin Hood of sorts. Take from the rich and give to, well, himself. And if Artemis ever actually read the letter he wrote, he would be stealing a lot more than little tokens.
From behind the couch, a small squeak arose, and Holly stood up quickly, her face burning red. A moment later, Trouble got up with an equally red face. Mulch chuckled.
"About time you got up."
"How long were we out?" Holly asked, careful not to look at Trouble. She embarrassed easily. Trouble was a friend, one of the few LEP officers to have been nice to her when she was on Recon. No need to go about jeopardizing a good friendship.
"Only a minute, give or take," Mulch answered. "Now what do we do?"
"We go to Police Plaza and warn everyone," Trouble said. The group agreed unanimously. Outside the main door, Mulch felt vibrations through his beard.
"I think we might have attracted attention," he said. He scanned the room. "There! A secret door." he walked over and pushed it open. He looked around. "It's empty, and I think it leads right outside."
Without another sound, the trio snuck through the door. Sure enough, there was a row of marble pillars, and a stairway going down. And no one in sight. Holly stepped out onto the lading, but stopped when five figures walked out fro behind the pillars. She recognized three of them as the shuttle port guards.
"You aren't going anywhere," the first girl, which Holly remembered was Kristina, said.
"You two may be the first men to enter Sisterhood," the second said.
"But you won't be the first to leave." It was Brittany standing in the third spot. The other Brittany was at the end of the line.
"You don't look to threatening in those dress things," Mulch chided. The girls studied each other, and nodded.
"You're right dwarf." All five girls had spoken, and they ripped off their kimono dresses, revealing skintight uniforms. Holly was reminded of the suits Foaly had given her and the commander, but these were solid black, except they each had a giant white letter on the front.
"Gods above," Trouble muttered. The uniforms spelled out KOBOI.
"Let me guess, you don't work for Opal? Only Amber?" the girls nodded.
"Then why do you spell out Koboi?" Holly asked.
"Because I'm Kristina, she's Olive, then Brittany, Olivia, and--"
"Wait. Her name is Brittany. Brittany doesn't start with an I," Mulch said, a smug look on his face.
"I'm Itty Britty!" Truly, the pixie was the smallest of the group. Either way, it was too cute for Holly.
"I get K and the first O," she said. "Mulch, you get I."
"Why do I get Itsy Bitsy?" Mulch pouted.
"That's Itty Britty!" the girls yelled at the same time. Then, they charged. Holly jumped into the air, catching Kristina and Olive in the chest. Both were out like a light before they hit the ground.
"K.O.," Holly chuckled. Trouble was also already done fighting. Mulch was toying with the littlest pixie. He was big enough that he had simply grabbed her head and was holding her at an arm's length while she swung at him.
"Mulch," Holly said warningly. He sighed, and knocked the poor girl on the head. As Trouble and Holly raced down the steps, Mulch hung back for a second. Itty Britty was still awake. He leaned down.
"The itsy bitsy spider was washed out you know," and he chased after the others laughing.
Wow, I'm really tired.