Chapter 9

Walking in Through the Front Door

Artemis and the group reached the E36 terminal. This terminal was a safety stop for the LEP. There was no way into Haven except by passing through a special inspection by the LEP Inspection Squad. Once they had deemed you legal and hazard-less, it was a straight shot to Haven and to LEP headquarters. To the direct right, there was the Tara Terminal where the bio-bombs were currently en route to the exit and from there all over the world and to certain doom for humanity, but did I mention the granite in between the two places? There was really only about 2 miles of granite separating the two places-Artemis had used a little exaggeration, what he called hyperbole, just to be sure that Mulch would follow his plan.

They were met at the checking booth by Trouble and Grub Kelp. Grub had been assigned to the booth and now was just doing his brother a favor, well Grub never does favors, but Trouble had said that if Grub did not stop his whining and help his friends, Trouble would tell mommy that Grub had forgotten Trouble's birthday. Not a very imposing threat to anyone else, but to the Kelp family, forgetting a birthday was a serious offense. Whatever the story, Grub was reluctantly assisting in this overthrow.

Grub quickly checked off their vehicle as passing the security check, all the while grumbling that Sool would have his job for this.

"Suck it up Grub," advised his brother, "Don't look so down. It's drawing attention to us. Just remember that now, I have nothing to use against you and you can consider your lapse in memory over my birthday 100 percent forgiven." With that, Trouble climbed on board Foaly's ship.

When they were just out of sight of the terminal, Holly pulled the shuttle into a natural groove in the tunnel that nearly completely hid them from view. The Rock Sprites had finally woken up and wouldn't let the crew forget it. They were bouncing off their cages and screeching and hooting. One of the fifteen tried to bite Butler, so there were now fourteen rock sprites all desperately trying to not breath, not move, and definitely try to stay away from the giant.

Foaly bribed them, "Okay, so you all want your freedom and to get away from this big guy?" 14 heads nodded in unison. "Good. Then I suggest you do exactly as I tell you. Extend you rock sliding abilities to Major Kelp here and pull him along with you. You are to reach the Tara terminal by 7:30 p.m., which is precisely 25 minutes from now. Go swiftly and listen to everything the major says. I shall know if you don't! If you do decide to be treacherous, then be forewarned that you're Seeker-sleepers will be used to put you in a permanent sleep. Now go with all speed."

So the rock sprites sunk into the granite pulling a scared looking Trouble with them.

Holly Short started up the engines again a moved the shuttle back into the main part of the tunnel. They had only a little farther to go before Holly was once again parking the shuttle, this time just out of sight of the LEP building.

The group, minus Foaly and Vinyaya, took all back alleyways up to LEP central. Sool's office would be in the middle, the most secure spot. Holly led the way as this was her old workplace. Mulch also had a relatively good layout of the area in his head for his many forced visits to this building..

"All right Foaly," Artemis whispered into his communicator, "Do you have us covered on the cameras?"

"Nope, didn't think I'd bother with that today," came the centaur's sarcastic reply.

"Foaly!" said Holly dangerously, "Now is not the time for playing!"

"Okay, my dear Holly. Don't get you're acorns in a bunch! You're all clear on cameras. I've simply deleted you all from the cameras. No sweat."

The group looked around at each other, nodding their heads as they each silently agreed that if one of them went down, they would be glad to go down beside their friends. Holly then pulled out her Dipper, Butler pulled out his Sig Sauer, Artemis checked the batteries on a gun Foaly had just given him, and Mulch unbuttoned his butt-flap. The tension was nearly palpable.

Holly whispered into her helmet mike, knowing that the rest of the group would be able to hear her through their ear pieces, "What's the plan, Centaur?"

Foaly answered, "Just walk in through the front door."

Holly barked back, "This is no time for your sarcasm Foaly! Seriously, what is the next step?"

"I told you, just walk in the front door. Come on Holly. It's the middle of the night, the few guards on night watch have no weapons, and I'm deleting you off all camera footage. I think it is relatively safe enough to just walk right in the building. After you easily over power the front guards, or go by Artemis' plan and just sneak around them, whichever way you prefer, proceed to Sool's office and save the human race. Make sure you get Sool to monologue a bit about his whole revenge scheme and then...well...bang, bang, no threat."

Holly wasn't sure about that, "Foaly! You want us to murder the Commander of the LEP. Can't we just bring him in or something?"

"Sure you can, but I just HATE that gnome! But go ahead, have it you're way and 'bring him in.' That was Artemis' plan anyway." There was no joke in Foaly's voice when he said this, rather disappointment that Holly was choosing to follow Artemis' plan rather than his own "bang, bang, no threat" one.

Holly, meanwhile, shifted her gaze to Artemis' eyes and asked, "Is it really this simple?" She wanted to see his expression to make sure the boy didn't know something that he was neglecting to tell everyone, like cutting off a man's thumb and reattaching it...or something else of the sort.

Artemis considered the question for a moment, then answered, "Yes, it really is that simple. In theory."

"Oh great! In theory! That just means someone going to get hurt through some unexpected mishap." thought Holly, but said nothing aloud.

The group hurried across the open plaza in front of the LEP building. Artemis noticed that the fairies dulled the fake sun and projected holographic stars on the ceiling to signal the change in the time of day. This 'night' phase meant that there were no fairies in the streets to hinder their progress up Police Plaza. They were all at home in their snug little fairy beds.

Unseen by the cameras, the protagonists easy made their way into the unlocked doors of the building. After all, what good was an emergency building if a fairy couldn't get into it in the case of an emergency? It wasn't as though prisoners were kept in the LEP building. They were kept a few hundred yards away in a special and very secure building.

And now back to the people saving the human race who had just got inside the building without a noise. Holly took the lead and motioned for the rest to follow her every few new yards of the hallway. She held her gun at the ready, just in case. There was hardly any need for such precaution as the building was nearly deserted, except for the security booth. Holly approached it like a cat, making herself as low to the ground as possible. She peered into the booth at a corner and saw that it was none other than Chix Verbil on watch as the night shift. The incompetent police officer was nodding in his chair and almost asleep. Holly motioned for the rest of the group to keep low and follow her.

After passing the booth, they had very few problems getting down the hallways to Sool's office. For 'better' security, the LEP had put locked and coded doors every 10 yards in case of a security breach at the main booth. These precautions proved just as obsolete as the booth had, as Artemis seemed to possess an unnatural ability to bypass the electrical system. He could open each door in 10 seconds flat.

The group finally arrived outside Sool's office door. The new commander had had the security updated even more since Foaly's latest records stated. Obviously, Sool wanted to make sure the centaur stayed out.

This was a slight smudge on the otherwise perfect plan concocted by Foaly and Artemis. Holly used her helmet sensors to try to find a way in, but to no avail. Sool's security improvements included a electric pulse that made the sensor's useless...electronic sensors, that is.

Mulch Diggums, however, was anything but electronic. He put his ear to the wall, tapped his finger tips experimentally in different spots, sniffed the wall, and finally licked the wall to taste it. "Mulch was stick licking his lips as he said, "That's some good tasting rock. Diamond coated cinderblock. Probably lead plating behind it too, then a layer of brick, and finally some drywall. It's like that all around the room. I could tell by the vibrations. This room must've cost a fortune to make. Diamond coating is not a cheap process, but it serves a great purpose. My rock polish can't get through the entire wall, and there is nothing more subtle than blowing it up. Sorry, Arty, I can't really help you on this one. It's just that diamond coating that's causing the problems. One layer of it's like five foot thick wall of granite, and the cinderblocks are coated on two sides!"

Artemis, however, was not discouraged. Rather, his brain was sparking with ideas. "Just 10 feet of solid granite right? Well, then there is no need to blow it up. If I remember correctly, Holly's gun is just perfect for this line of work."

Holly had forgotten about her Dipper. Maybe that's why she was not considered a genius and Artemis was. She would never let him know that, of course, and took out her gun, flipping it to its maximum setting.

She aimed at a spot on the wall and then checked in with Foaly, "Centaur? Are we in sync with Trouble and the rock sprites?"

"Perfectly! Fire in the hole!" Foaly could be heard crunching on some celebration carrots.

Holly looked around to the rest of her team then said, "Well, here goes nothing."

A/N: That chapter was probably the shortest in this story so far. Sorry 'bout that. Only a few more chapters left, so review and tell me what you think.