By the time Butler was summoned, it was well into the evening. The manservant had turned the lights on as he walked in, silently thanking whatever deity was around that the manor generators were still working. Apparently Artemis had switched out the old diesel ones in favor of some experimental design that would be theoretically capable of indefinite electricity generation in the event that Fowl Manor would be cut off from the grid. When Butler had asked his charge if it was nuclear, he had just smiled.
The bodyguard found Nopal, notably outside of her straitjacket, being fawned over by Holly. She was running a hand through the other fairy's long black hair, much to the pixie's delight.
"Arty, I don't know about you, but either your shampoo is magic, or Nopal's hair is just the best."
"Am I silky?" Nopal asked, luxuriating in the attention.
"Are you kidding me? I'd kill to get my hair like this."
Nopal looked at Artemis, eyes wide. He suspected if she could, the pixie would have raised her hands to defend her scalp.
"Is Holly going to kill me and steal my head?" she asked in alarm.
"I somehow doubt it," he said, watching as Butler took a position beside the door, hands folded in front of him. He looked like a vigilant Easter Island statue, only slightly more imposing.
"Hey, Butler," Holly greeted casually. "Whatcha doing all the way over there? You can get closer, you know?"
"I believe I shall remain where I am."
Artemis saw the skepticism peeking out from the stoic exterior. He had learned Butler's emotions to an extent, but it's not as if the man-mountain had ever endeavored to hide anything from his young charge. Now? Artemis got the feeling that his guardian would prefer anything else to allowing his charge to be healing what appeared to be Opal Koboi.
Holly caught the gazes between the two and grimaced in turn. There was always a specter of the entire affair crashing down around her pointy ears. While Butler was indisputably a huge softie, he was also first and foremost, a professional of the highest degree. She wasn't quite sure what could be ultimately done to assuage his concerns. The dampening mood spared only Nopal, who was now counting strands of Holly's auburn hair. She was up to 63,213.
The elf captain tried to jovially dispel the tension, clapping her hands together.
"Alright," she began, a little forced perkiness in her voice, "so I've never done a magical surgery on this scale, but helping muscles develop should probably be something I can do. Maybe also kickstart the organs as well just to make sure they don't fail on us."
"Wait," Artemis broke in. "You've never done this before? I was under the impression magical surgeries required a degree of some sort."
"I've had some first aid training."
"How many hours, pray tell?"
"... four?"
Butler snorted. How many of those hours was Holly awake for was the real question.
"Look, Dr. Mud-man," the captain snapped. "I know magic at the very least, because last I checked, I'm the only one around here with pointy ears—"
"I've got pointy ears," Nopal helpfully chimed in.
"Yes, thank you," Holly said to the beaming pixie before turning back to the unbearably smug mud-boy. "Point being, I'm sure the benefits will outweigh the risks, alright?"
Artemis raised his hands in mock-surrender. He checked behind him, meeting Butler's slight glower before the Eurasian man smoothed it away into a stoic poker face. Artemis rubbed the back of his head in an unusually unprofessional gesture.
I've definitely broken that promise with Butler, haven't I?
Whatever this could be called, it would definitely be filed under the category of "adventure." There was risk here certainly, but he felt that if he didn't at least try healing Nopal, the guilt would gnaw at him from the inside.
"Butler," he tried, "surely this isn't too much of a danger. After all, even if she springs up with her full strength, she is a pixie in a room with three very dangerous people."
"Well, two physically dangerous people, and one cross-the-street-when-you-see-him kind of dangerous person," Holly quipped.
"Charming, thank you for that. Ah, Butler?"
The man-mountain sighed. It sounded like someone threw a sack of rocks into a blender.
"Very well, Artemis. I just ask that you not treat this so frivolously."
Holly and Artemis both nodded. Each one of them felt as if they were being singled out and scolded, which was wrong. Butler definitely meant both of them.
The elf ran another hand through Nopal's hair. She cooed, not really understanding or paying attention to the other's banter. Of course, the dip in mood was somewhat noticeable to her, but Nopal figured that if she simply continued smiling, everything would be less somber. So she did.
Holly chuckled a little looking at her, then glanced over to Artemis.
"Yeah, Butler's a worrywart, but y'know," she shrugged, looking serious, "she still might be…" She left the name unspoken. Opal Koboi. Artemis nodded gravely. Holly broke into an impish smile. "But I still want to see her run around, so let's get that out of the way first."
The elf turned to Nopal.
"Alright, I'm going to see if I can't heal your muscles to the point where you can walk. That sound good, Nopal?"
The pixie didn't look like she really understood, but nodded, giving her confused assent anyways. Not being able to move around really wasn't all that much of an impediment to her. Holly checked over her shoulder, making sure Butler was in a good spot—it was hard to notice, but he had a hand on his gun—and looked back at Nopal. Finally, she put her hands over the pixie's chest.
"Here goes nothing," she muttered. "Heal." She expected a flurry of sparks to burst out from her hand into the other fairy's body. Maybe some fireworks, but simple enough. Except, that wasn't quite what happened.
When was it ever simple with Opal?
In one of the singularly most unpleasant feelings she had ever felt in her life, ranking among getting dunked into magical animal fat, she had her magic pulled out of her. Holly felt the magic coalescing into her arm on its way into Nopal. But suddenly, as if it were a putty being sucked through a too-small hole, the entire morass of magic sludge was painfully strained out of her fingertips and swallowed into Nopal's chest. She sucked in her gut, tensing every muscle in her body as her breath failed her for several seconds. Sparks flashed before her eyes, and Holly collapsed.
Several things happened then.
First, Artemis reached out and caught Holly before she went over the edge of the bed. Her skin was clammy and sweaty. He was caught between the elation of cradling her small frame and the nauseous pit of anxious energy of wondering what happened.
The magic that Nopal received from Holly seemed displeased. The pixie's entire form was bucking as a nervous corona of blue light surrounded her. She was shuddering up and down, and her eye's had rolled to the back of her head. Sparks flew and steam billowed out from who knows where. Whatever was happening to her, it looked quite painful.
Lastly, Butler had smoothly drawn his handgun and was squarely aiming at the pixie. Artemis caught the motion and his eyes widened. But should he tell him to stop? What if this was the correct thing to do?
Holly also saw, having much less indecision. She finally managed to take in a shuddering breath, calling out to the bodyguard.
"Wait," she said in between coughs, "I'm fine! I'm fine! It's probably just a side effect of the healing!"
Butler gave her a side eye that didn't look at all convinced, but he managed not to ventilate Nopal's head right then and there. He made no move to holster his gun, however.
Eventually, the trio watched anxiously as the tremors began to subside around Nopal and the light began to fade. Before, the flashing had obscured the small pixie's form, but now that it faded, they could see that some muscle had been put onto Nopal's frame. In addition, the color of her cheeks previously had been an unhealthy ivory pallor, but now looked to have a rosy flush. No one said anything as Nopal's body began to twitch and flail around as her body unconsciously ran a diagnostics check, ensuring that everything was moving.
"I think you punched me in the face when you received a healing like that once," Artemis muttered, fascinated by the effects of the magic.
"Wasn't the healing, Fowl," Holly said, clutching her now pounding head. "I just wanted to punch you in the face."
Artemis nodded. That was fair.
"Nopal's body strikes me as odd," he suddenly said.
"Hm? Why?"
"The musculature is different from the Opal we knew," Artemis observed. "And I believe there are more subtle differences which on the whole preserve her original appearance, but undoubtedly make her more physically fit than before. Look at her legs, they're longer now than they were. Not overly so, but enough to make running much more efficient."
Holly grimaced, seeing the changes he pointed out.
"You don't think Opal enhanced the clone body subtly for her own ego, do you?"
"I wouldn't put it past her."
If Holly weren't in some multi-billion dollar manor, she would have turned her head and spat. Genetically modifying a clone of yourself for appearance's sake. Disgusting.
Breaking into their thoughts, Nopal's eyes finally fluttered open. They watched, nobody daring to say a word. Then the pixie sat bolt upright, incredible abdominal muscles being put to work. She was flushed and breathing hard as if she had just run a marathon. Slowly, Nopal raised her hands to her face. Then she cupped her cheeks and smiled a big dumb smile.
"Hehe," she giggled. "Holly, I feel weird."
The tension in the room dropped a notch. Butler still didn't put away his gun, but he lowered it.
"Glad to hear it, Nopal," Holly groaned. "Whewf, just got one hell of a headache. I think I'm going to lie down for a while."
Without saying a word, a suddenly concerned pixie swooped over and plucked Holly out from Artemis's arms. The elf couldn't so much as yelp before surprisingly toned arms swept her up and placed her flat on the bed. She then promptly had the sheets pulled over her and had her head petted. Nopal was strong.
Nopal looked quite proud of herself, humming herself a little tune. Then she noticed the miffed and slack-jawed look on Artemis's face. Holly dug herself out from under the decidedly comfortable sheets and wore a similar expression. The pixie wilted a little bit under the scrutiny.
"Sorry?" she squeaked.
Artemis broke out of the reverie first. He gave Nopal a stern look while simultaneously crawling over to Holly' side, undermining the whole veneer of seriousness. Once he reached the tucked-in elf, he gave her a once-over, ensuring that there was nothing noticeably wrong with her. The genius worried over her, feeling for her pulse. In most situations, Holly would object to being manhandled twice, but since these were Artemis's long, piano fingers, she'd let it slide.
"Are you still injured?"
"It's a headache, Fowl," she said, swatting him away, "go see what Nopal's up to."
Indeed, what Nopal was up to was standing up unassisted. This was fun. The pixie walked along the edge of the bed with the grace of a ballerina and then hopped off of the mattress. Unfortunately, it was all so new, so her coordination was lacking in some areas. Walking she could theoretically figure out from observing, but nobody had really jumped in front of her.
The pixie's delicate forehead made contact with the carpeted floor. Artemis looked over with some concern. Even Butler looked vaguely like he wanted to walk over and help the pixie up. However, with some scrabbling motions, the pixie crawled her way back to her feet. She had a slightly swelling red bump on her forehead and it hurt a little, but that wasn't what was important. What was important was that she could run.
"Arty, Arty," Nopal called excitedly. "Can I run?"
"Theoretically, that is very possible," he drily remarked.
Holly groaned and punched him in the shoulder.
Artemis caught Butler's eye. Was this going to be an issue? The manservant understood the unspoken question and shook his head.
"I can hit a moving target," he graveled.
Artemis saw this as mildly concerning, but Nopal took it as the permission she desperately craved. With a whoop, she began running. And running. The room was large, certainly, but the circuits that Nopal was doing around the bed had Artemis regretting giving her the go-ahead. On one hand, her form was impeccable. It was like watching an Olympic sprinter running at the top of their game. On the other hand, she was pulling such tight circuits around some of the furniture that Artemis knew exactly what was going to happen. He was glad that there were no expensive vases or glassware in this room to break. Eventually, it happened.
Nopal nicked a corner of the bed frame, and her face, tight with the joy and concentration of putting everything into running, broke into confusion. She was suddenly flying in a tangle of limbs, all balance forgotten. This probably was not good, she decided, before slamming into a dresser beside Butler's leg. There was a crash, and then stars in Nopal's vision.
"Frond, what was that, Arty?" Holly asked, eyes closed in an attempt to abate the vicious migraine she was suffering.
"Something that I wish was recorded, Holly," Artemis responded, chuckling to himself.
Butler looked down at the dizzy pile of pixie by his foot and snorted. He could agree with his charge on that.