Author's Note : Hellow people ! :-)

A special thank you to Oliman99, Guest and Pr. Cumulus for their reviews on chapter 4 ! You just made my day sunnier :-D Now, as promised, on with the first chapter with our dear fairies :3

Disclaimer : Eoin Colfer is the author of the Artemis Fowl series, therefore I do not own any of its characters. Many elements of this fanfiction (including its title ^^) are also inspired or directly drawn from the 1998 Japanese anime 'Serial Experiments Lain' (GO WATCH IT) even though it is NOT a crossover.

Author's Recommandation : I personally love writing and reading to music. If you're interested, I highly recommand listening to Neon Demon (main theme) by Cliff Martinez, from the eponymous movie by Nicolas Winding Refn (freakin aesthetical masterpiece if you ask me). This piece of music just really fits the mood of the fanfic !

Enjoy your reading ! :)

Database #05 : Error 403 – Access Denied

LEP HEADQUARTERS, HAVEN CITY

When Foaly entered the LEP building in Haven's Police Plaza, the entrance hall was obstructed by a "mild scoffle" (as the official report stated) between a few officers and some members of the sprite gang.

A yellow-haired sprite in a Tinker Bell costume was currently strangling Corporal Grub Kelp on the floor, while another Recon officer was dragged all around the hall, clinging to his flying sprite's ankle as if it was the last slice of tarantula pie at the officers' cafeteria. The sprite in a cheap Peter Pan suit was trying to get rid of his unwanted passenger by throwing him on every piece of wall, floor, ceiling and living being he ran into, all while yelling insults that would make a swear toad blush. As Foaly quickly stepped aside from the ungainly duet dangerously flying over him, Captain Holly Short was rushing towards Grub Kelp's attackant. The Corporal's eyes were starting to squint sideways while his mouth emitted a weak sound – was he saying "Mommy ?".

Holly's boot kicked the floor, and she jumped, her buzzbaton tracing a perfect circular arc in the air, before crashing loudly on Tinker Bell's skull. Mid-jump, the elf turned her head to Foaly and gave him a warm smile.

"Hey pony boy ! How are you ?" she said joyfully.

Foaly laughed. Since their leader Tetrix Gamma had been arrested, the sprite gang had went absolutely crazy, and they gave the LEP quite the hard time, even though they weren't as dangerous as the goblins – they couldn't produce fireballs and had no interest in bloodthirsty rebellions ; actually the gang was more into infiltrating Disneyland parks and robbing mudtourists – hence the costumes. Yet, Captain Holly Short seemed happier than ever, as the raising amount of escaping sprites had subsequently resulted in more surface Reconnaissance missions, and she had also proved herself to be really talented in the art of buzzbaton nose crushing. Rumors said she would soon be promoted Major.

Actually, the only two LEP officers who weren't happy with the sprite gang's uprising were Commander Julius Root – who was never happy about anything but his horrendous fungus cigars – and officer Chix Verbil – who had never been very popular before, but was now completely unable to approach any girl at a dance party. The joys of racial profiling.

All in all, this day started just like any other day at the LEPrecon.

This is what Foaly thought, as he went to his booth and grabbed a carrot in his personal fridge. While he switched on his computers, the centaur was even whistling. Protocol 9 incident had quickly been forgotten, and soon everything had went back to normal.

But little did he knew that this day was going to be nothing like any other day. Two weeks had passed since he had noticed the strange breach in Protocol 9. Two weeks since Artemis had discovered the Wired. The young Fowl had taken his time to plot his revenge and perfect his plan.

Within the spade of two weeks, the noose had been tightening around Foaly's neck, slowly, inexorably. The technological genius didn't see anything coming.

And today, the first step of Artemis Fowl's plan begun.

.

Foaly had been working for about one hour when he started to notice something strange on the plasma screens. He smoldered a yawn, and took a mouthful of coffee beans. He should really get more sleep. Or new glasses, maybe.

But the strange something happened again, and the centaur suddenly turned from being slumped like a bored teenager to straightened in his chair, nose centimeters from the screen, completely awake and focused.

That was definitely not his eyes playing tricks on him. For a brief moment, the data lines of the LEP computer system had… mixed up ? Blinked ?

… Glitched ?

Foaly had never seen a Glitch before. It may come as a surprise, but he hadn't even heard about it. After all, the Glitches were caused by an user investigating someone or someone's devices with the Wired – and for a long time, Foaly had been the only user of the Wired. He had never been Wired-investigated himself before.

But even though Foaly had no idea what a Glitch was, he was still a technological genius and pretty much a – if not the only… for now – Wired expert. He had also basically crafted the entire LEP security system almost entirely by himself, and he knew perfectly well that the detection of any suspect intrusion in the system would immediately trigger the city's lockdown. Unless, of course, the intrusion was not detected. And Foaly knew there was only one way to be completely undetectable.

Within seconds, he had connected the dots, and for the first time in his one hundred and fifty years of existence, his usual smug expression disappeared completely from his face. His matte complexion slowly turned to milk coffee, and he struggled to do his anti-panic attack breathing exercises.

To no avail.

His hoof kicked the ground so hard that tiny crackles spreaded like a spider web.

" No ! No ! No ! This is not possible ! It is NOT ! " yelled Foaly.

But deep, very deep within his stomach, he knew the truth. Once again, his ego had betrayed him. He had believed he was untouchable, had believed that no mind other than his could ever figure out how to reach and use the Wired. Of course, some other fairies, and even mudmen, had found out about its existence – something like fifty people over the course of two millenaries ; some had even tried to take Foaly's place, to break Protocol 9. But Foaly had always been the only one who knew how to harness the Wired's power. The only one able to pull the strings – he had made sure of that. Or so he thought. The truth was he had been utterly careless. He hadn't seen anything coming, and now, there was someone else.

… But who ?

Foaly bolted out of his chair and started walking around his booth, his right hand mechanically scratching the base of his skull to help him think. Somehow, the gesture soothed him enough so that he could properly think.

Who could that be, provoking the Glitches ? Infiltrating the LEPrecon computer system ?

" Opal Koboi. … no, she's still in the coma. The other morons at the engineering academy : not even an option. The B'wa Kell… by Frond, these goblins don't even know how to count to fifteen, how would they manage to break Protocol 9 ? ", the centaur muttered, eyebrows frowned. " D'Arvit… D'Arvit ! "

Foaly tried his best to think of a Mudman or woman intelligent enough, but nothing came to his mind. There had been this German scientist from the twentieth century, or this Lain girl – an insanely talented hacker, who figured out almost everything. But the scientist was long dead, and Foaly had personally taken care of Lain before she could start to become too dangerous. When you have the Wired and fairy technology, it's so easy to make up a fake report and have a mindwipe set up. Except Foaly had "accidentally" initiated a full long-term mindwipe – the kind of mindwipe that turns your brain into something close to melted frozen yoghurt.

A pity for such a brilliant hacker, but the centaur couldn't afford the risk of Lain eventually stumbling upon the Wired again. Anyway, the Fairy Council didn't really care about that so-called technical mistake – as long as the human is alive when the LEP is done with it, and as long as the procedure is the less costly possible, the Fairy Council is always satisfied.

Foaly headed straight to his fridge, and swallowed three carrots in two bites.

No, definitely. There was no Mudman whatsoever that could possibly be involved.

Unless…

The name bolted in Foaly's mind, and it felt like a sudden Arctic-cold shower. The centaur shook his head, as if it could do anything to keep the hypothesis from being true.

That's impossible, he thought, trying desperately to reassure himself. As always, I'm imagining the worst. But that would be impossible. I've mindwiped him.

A sudden knock on the door made him jump. Commander Root didn't wait for the centaur's approval to enter, and for once, Foaly didn't have any witty comment to welcome him with.

" What in Frond's name is wrong with you, you stupid nag ! ", Julius Root yelled, his face's red complexion truthful to his reputation. " Forgot that one of these microphones on your desk is directly connected to my office ? I'm tired of your galloping around like you're rehearsing a carnival parade ! I can't hear myself think ! "

" You've never really been the thinking type anyway, Julius ", Foaly replied almost automatically.

That was beyond his control. He just couldn't help himself being excruciatingely annoying. One of his innate talents. Unfortunately, Root had never been a fan of Foaly's humor.

" What I'm thinking right now, donkey boy ", the Commander groaned in a very menacing tone, " Is that if your hooves are itching so much, I might lend you my boots. Actually, if you would turn around, I would be very pleased to give you one right now ! VERY VIOLENTLY ! "

Julius exited on this retort, living a trail of fungus cigar smoke behind him.

" Now be quiet, for Frond's sake ! And don't call me Julius ! "

Foaly chuckled, and stood still for a minute. Pestering Commander Root had always been one of his favorite hobbies, and it helped him dedramatize the situation a bit.

It was definitely completely unlikely that the Wired's new user was Artemis Fowl. The human kid was dealt and over with. No, it was certainly a fairy, a fellow scientist with grandeur delusions. Whoever that was, Foaly would find him easily in lesser time than for a dwarf to dig a tunnel from his bed to his refrigerator.

After all, he had given himself administrator rights in the Wired. And that was something the new challenger wouldn't ever be able to take away from him.

Foaly cracked the back of his neck, and sat at his desk. He opened Protocol 9's window, and typed his login and fifty-seven characters password. He waited, for a few seconds, and then the familiar three words appeared on the plasma screen.

– Entering the Wired.

Even after so many times, Foaly still couldn't restrain a satisfied moan when entering the Wired. It just was so beautiful ; so powerful. And yet, so fragile. So easily lost.

He had to protect it. To keep it safe and sound from the malevolent hands that wanted to break it. To take it away.

A yellow counter appeared at the bottom of the screen, and the five minutes countdown immediately began. After he had been turned completely paranoid by the Wired's side effects, Foaly had calculated precisely the maximum amount of time he could navigate without taking any risks for his mental health. Centaurs, as intelligent they were, are also the most mentally fragile fairy creatures.

And Foaly, amongst all, was mentally very, very vulnerable.

Last time he had navigated the Wired uncautiously, eighty years ago, he had almost ended up as megalomaniac and insane as Opal Koboi. He had been forced to reside at Cumulus Asylum for two months, and had gotten away with a simple case of severe paranoia. Nothing uncommon for a centaur. He had barely been out for three hours when the Fairy Council had jumped on him asking for explanations. Since then, the Wired had been classified top secret, and supposedly deleted. Supposedly.

Foaly practised the Wired at least once or twice a month in average, and he had been for about eighty years. While anyone else would have struggled for an entire day, if not a few weeks trying out all the different keywords possibilities, Foaly had all the access codes he needed and knew precisely what he was looking for. It took him about fourty seconds to find a file, amongst the infinity of files contained by the Wired, that he couldn't open with read-only mode.

The centaur had theorized that the Wired had two different modes : read-only and edit. The edit mode is the most powerful ability of the Wired – is it really necessary to explain why, as the concept is quite eloquent by itself ?

At this point, Artemis only knew how to browse the files inside the Wired using the searching engine – simply put, he was using the Wired in read-only mode. As a regular user, Artemis simply couldn't access edit mode ; Foaly had made sure that solely the administrator could. Imagine if this power fell in evil hands, what a catastrophy it would be !

Foaly's idea was simple : supposedly, there was not a single file in the Wired that couldn't be opened with read-only mode, even governmental secrecy documents. If there was such a file, that meant it wasn't Wired-originated, and thus was most certainly the lair of the new user. A virus or an hacking software of some sort, probably.

The centaur enhanced the code lines running his thumb and index on the tactile screen, and frowned, intrigued.

A proxy ? Aw, so sweet.

Foaly didn't even bother cracking his knuckles. He just went for a precise code line, and typed lightly on the keyboard, switching the proxy file from read-only to edit mode, and pressed the Enter key. His smug smile revealed his tombstone-like teeth. Once he would have accessed the proxy's complete code, it would be piece of cake to find everything he needed about this uninvited user. Then, he would delete his account, and ensure that this presomptuous person wouldn't be a danger – ever again. The incident would be dealt with before lunch.

– Error 403 : Access Denied.

Foaly stood dumbfounded for a good three seconds. Then, his cheeks started to blush like an ashamed and capricious child's. But he couldn't admit what just happened. No, he had probably just mistyped his instructions.

The centaur typed again, and sent the command.

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Twat ;-)

Foaly was astonished. As he tried a different formulation, typing furiously, his cheeks turning from soft pink to bright red, he wondered if the new user had somehow managed to imitate Protocol 9's code to try and ridicule him.

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Moron. By the way, I'm not a vulgar imitation of your silly artificial intelligence. That was so easy to break, took me less than a weekend :-)

Foaly could feel his teeth shaking. His cheeks' color could now compete with Commander Root. Something like this had never happened to him before. He was the one making fun of people. Not the other way around, for Frond's sake !

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Imbecile. Feels good to fail, doesn't it ? :-3

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Dumbass. Isn't the Wired wonderful ? Time to share now, right ? :-D

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Simpleton. Nice try… too bad :-S

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Come on, you failed again ? Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something ? XD

– Error 403 : Access Denied. Is it possible ? Have you finally found someone smarter than you ? :-O

Foaly was crying. His eyes were burning from staring at the plasma screen, but he couldn't look away. He had always been a pacifist, and had never been keen on violence ; but right now, he wanted to find this person and kill them with his bare hands. He was sweating as if he had just ran a marathon. Blood was dripping from his nose to his chin, and a drop fell to his new grey pullover. His time counter indicated eight minutes of navigating the Wired, and the yellow font had turned to an alarming red.

But he couldn't give up. He just couldn't. He kept on trying, using all the hacking techniques he could think of. Nothing worked, and each time, the other user would taunt him more and more.

– Error 403 : Access Denied. This is so sweet, you are just totally unable to accept that you have been outsmarted by a human ! 3

Foaly punched his desk, and screamed in sheer hatred. Blood splattered on his plasma screen.

.

Above ground, in Ireland, Artemis, comfortably installed in his bed, his modified laptop on his knees, smiled nastily.

His dormant virus had worked perfectly. He had obtained Foaly's full administrator rights after the centaur's first attempt at editing his proxy ; but he just loved messing with his nemesis' sanity, and couldn't resist watching him fail again and again.

This is for Lain, Paprika, and all the others that you just crushed without even thinking about it. This is for them.

He was severely nosebleeding and nauseous, but he could feel the centaur was just as well. And Artemis knew who, of the two of them, would be the first one to break.

Eventually, the centaur gave up trying to edit the proxy. A short message came mere seconds after.

– You obnoxious D'Arviting Mud Evil ! Who do you think you are ? I am the Wired's only administrator ! I'll find you. I'll find you, and I'll annihilate you.

.

Foaly's time counter now indicated thirteen minutes. The centaur started to feel dizzy, his vision blurring slowly. Then, the human's answer appeared.

– It's been a long time since you have been released of your administrator rights, under my good care. Find me if you like. My name is Selene, and I am the new Master of the Wired. You can do nothing to stop me ;-)

Then, Foaly's screen went black. Brutally disconnected from the Wired, the centaur collapsed on his booth's floor, his entire body convulsing, eyes revulsed. He had lost consciousness long before his head hit the ground.

.

When Foaly woke up, he was in the LEP infirmary and surrounded by warlocks. Blue magical sparks were hovering around him, penetrating the skin and bones were it had been damaged : his skull and brain. Foaly had just had a major stroke. The high concentration of sparks around his head, and particularly his nose, made the centaur sneeze multiple times. He was still furious, but beneath his anger lied something else. He was terrified.

Foaly realized that if he hadn't been in the middle of the LEP Headquarters, surrounded by officers and highly-trained warlocks, he could very well be dead right now. He could have died.

Once he found himself able to speak, Foaly asked for the only person he could think of that was actually able of helping him. The only person above and below ground he trusted entirely.

He asked for Holly.

.

Since Artemis Fowl's mindwipe, three months ago, Captain Holly Short had invested her entire energy into work. She focused her mind on paperworks and trying not to punch Grub Kelp's face each time he would open his Frond-forsakened mouth ; and on surface duty, she forced herself to stay out of trouble, flying on the safest routes possible. She declined every mission located in Ireland, and made a deal with fellow officers so she was always accompanied when accomplishing the Ritual.

Holly was not scared of danger, or to come across Artemis' path. She feared that she would be happy to see him again.

Commander Root had been delighted by her sudden change of methods, and the rumors about her promotion to come were not unfounded. She was happy, of course ; but everyday, her instinct told her that she would hear about Artemis Fowl again. The thought kept creeping in her dreams, when her mind was wandering at work. In a way, she missed him, even though she couldn't stand him. There was something, deep in the Mudboy's eyes, that made her believe he wasn't as cold-hearted as he seemed to be. And he had made so much progress, since he had first abducted her. Even though he had been mindwiped, these improvements were still there, somewhere. Right ?

Simply put, Holly knew Artemis would come back, sooner or later. She just couldn't figure out if it was good news or not, and in doubt, she decided to ignore it. After all, he had been mindwiped, and they had made sure there was no way out for him.

And yet, when she heared that Foaly had fainted in his office, and that he wanted to see her, Holly knew, deep inside, what he was going to tell her.

When she entered the centaur's room, he sent all the warlocks away. Holly was shocked to see how weak he was in his moves and voice, even though he wore his usual superior smile.

" Are you okay ? "

The centaur waved his hand in a negligent gesture.

" I would certainly feel better if these warlocks weren't sandbox doctors. I guess it could be worse, but they want to send me to the Argon clinic for one week. You realize that ? One week ? How are you all going to survive without me for so long ? "

Foaly wanted to minimize the severity of the situation. He trusted Holly deeply, and needed her help ; but it was just out of his nature to take things seriously – or at least, look like he was. It was his way of protecting himself – plus, with Holly's tendancy to have very high principles (about ethics, and all these things Foaly knew about but never felt really concerned with), the less she knew about his actual involvement in the Wired, the better.

Holly rolled her eyes at Foaly's statement, and sat next to his couch – his horse legs made it complicated for him to be in a regular bed.

" I'm sure that even if you're in the hospital, you'll manage to keep an eye on us with one of these gadgets you have up your sleeve ", she replied. " Why did you ask to see me, anyway ? I'm warning you, if it's just about complaining, my desk is next to Grub Kelp's and I've heard quite enough to fill five registers of grievances. "

Foaly hesitated. Even though he tried to be as light-hearted as possible, there was no good way to put it that wouldn't sound alarming.

" … We are in trouble. Very, very big trouble. Especially me. "

Holly frowned.

" Could you be a little bit more specific please ? "

" There is… something I discovered some time ago. No one beside me had ever managed to find it and control it. But now… someone has, and I think I know who it is. "

Foaly looked down. It was impossible to deny it anymore. There was only one individual in the world who could be behind this disaster.

" I think Artemis is back. "

Then, Foaly detailed his confrontation with Selene, and explained why and how he had been knocked out unconscious. He didn't tell her that he was supposed to have destroyed the Wired, nor that he was most probably the cause of Artemis' return after he had spied on him, nor did he actually developped what the Wired was exactly, being as vague as he could. But he couldn't hide the fact that a human had hacked into the LEP's computer system in his own booth, and thus knew everything about the fairies' existence.

After Foaly's explanations, Holly stood still, her throat dry, horrified. A human had found out about the fairies, managed to get through Foaly's barriers into his system, and knocked him unconscious, nearly killing him, in his own office in the LEP Headquarters. And Foaly said that this human was Artemis.

Holly shook her head, and exhaled deeply. She didn't want to believe it yet. She couldn't.

" I'll admit that this sounds really bad, but… I don't know, this kind of psychological torture doesn't seem to me like something Artemis would do. Plus, he's quite the narcissist : if it was really him, he would have told you. He wouldn't use a pseudonym. "

" It's called an avatar, Holly ", Foaly persisted. " Come on, Selene is one of the Goddesses of the Lunar Triad, along with Hecate and Artemis. Of course that's him. Who else could that be ? "

" Precisely Foaly ! It is all way too obvious. He's not that… blunt ! "

Foaly raised in the couch, a mean look in the eyes.

" He has been mindwiped three months ago ! He has changed since then. How would you know what he is or what he is not, miss Stockholm syndrom ? You're his therapist ? "

Holly clenched her fists and made sure that in her menacing tone, there was no hint of how Foaly's remark hurt her.

" I'd watch my tongue, if I were you. "

The centaur seemed lost for a second, then fell back on his couch and sighed.

" I'm sorry, Holly. It's just… Sorry. I didn't mean what I said. I know we have mindwiped Artemis, but not knowing about the fairies doesn't make him less intelligent. It's possible he has discovered the Wired without having his memories, and once he was inside, accessed everything. And found us. "

Foaly was very careful not mentioning the Glitches – and especially what caused it. His eyes, reddened by overusing the Wired, watered suddenly, and tears rolled down his cheeks and lost their way in his goatee beard.

He looked so preoccupied, that Holly forgot all about her anger, and hugged him warmly. She had never seen Foaly in such a state.

" It cannot be him, Foaly ", she said softly. " Why wouldn't there be another smartass Mudkid out there ? It's not less probable than him figuring a way to sneak past our vigilance, and get his memories back. "

Foaly shook his head slowly, and brushed his cheeks furiously.

" You don't understand, Holly. You don't understand how dangerous the Wired is. When I first discovered it, I tried to edit a random file, just to see what would happen. I delayed the creation of the human Internet of fifty years. And that was just an accident. Now, imagine what Artemis would willfully do with the Wired, if he wants to hurt us. "

Holly was frozen, unable to react. When Foaly had told her about "a superpowerful digital-but-not-really-just-digital-it's-more-complicated thingy", she was miles from imagining that sort of things. On the other hand, she was perfectly aware of what a malevolent Artemis was capable of, and the thought made her shiver. But there was no actual proof that it was him – and whoever that person was, it was a human. That alone was disastrous enough. But if it wasn't Artemis, then who was it ? And why attacking Foaly out of everyone else at the LEP ?

Holly stood up, thinking hard.

" Look, we can't figure anything out if we are still doubting. The user said his or her name was Selene, right ? Well, we have the LEP surveillance system. We'll try to find them. If it's just an avatar, as you said, then Selene won't exist in the real world, right ? That would prove it's Artemis. And if it's not him, then I'll have no remorse paying a little visit. With a smile and a big gun. "

Foaly's face lightened a little.

" Well, that's an idea. Let's try it. Go in my booth and get me my tablet, please. "

Holly nodded, and left the infirmary. In the corridors, she tried not to run even if her heart was heavily pounding. She felt torn apart between terror and excitement. She surprised herself wishing the mysterious human was indeed Artemis. She realized that even if he had turned back to his evil manners, she would be happy to see him again. After all, she hadn't punch him in the face for a long time, and these were her favorite memories of the past two years.

" Captain Short, what are you doing here exactly for Frond's sake ? "

Holly jumped, her hand on Foaly's office door, and turned around, her pointy ears dropping in a slightly ashamed manner. Facing her, Commander Root narrowed his eyes, waiting for an answer.

" Foaly asked to see me, Sir ", she eventually replied cautiously. " He wanted me to get him some… carrots from his fridge. "

She mentally slapped herself. She was one of the bests on the field, but she was definitely terrible at improvising. Even as a child she had never been allowed in the school's play, except once – she was playing a silent onion, in the background.

But surprisingly, Root's face untensed, and there was even a slight, very slight hint of worry in his eyes.

" D'Arvit, that donkey ", he said. " I want to punch him every time he speaks, but I honestly don't know what we would do if he wasn't here. He's done so much for us. "

Holly was astonished. Root stood silent for a second, then got back to his senses and shook his head.

" Come on, Short, close your mouth, your amygdals are going to catch a cold. Go get these damn carrots, and get back to work. Just… don't tell him I said that, okay ? He's self-satisfied enough already. "

He heavily patted her shoulder, and headed back to his own office, leaving his officer still unable to believe what had just happened. Commander Root complimenting Foaly, that was definitely a strange day. Fortunately, when she came back to the infirmary with a few carrots and Foaly's tablet, the centaur was too eager to get started to see her trying to hold back a chuckle.

Foaly switched on his tablet, and logged on directly to the LEP system's hard drive.

" First, I'll check Protocol 9's archives ", he muttered in his beard, more to himself than to Holly, " I might find so-called Selene's IP address. If this address even exists, we'll use our satellites and check if there is a real person there at all. "

Holly nodded, and sat next to him, taking a bite out of one of the carrots. She knew she should be going back to her office, but she wouldn't be able to work without knowing what threat they were actually facing.

Foaly found the last Protocol 9's hacker's IP address in seconds. He smiled.

" This is a fake IP. Every self-respecting hacker has at least one. Let's peel the artichoke now. "

" Is that a real phrase or is it a phrase you just made up ? " Holly asked.

" It's a real phrase that I just made up ", he replied innocently.

After his first glimpse of the Wired, Artemis had perfected Aegis and Selene's identity beyond possible – even managing to modify the IP address from when he had first hacked Protocol 9 and only had his usual five layers protection.

Thus, when Foaly, after a good fifteen minutes of slammering the tactile keyboard, had managed to bypass the eighteen passwords and fake IPs, he only found Selene's. He tried "peeling" further, but couldn't find anything. The centaur frowned, visibly disappointed.

" What's wrong ? " Holly yawned moodily.

After she had been watching Foaly working for a quarter hour, his eyes locked on the screen, she was starting to be rather impatient.

" I've found an IP address located in Prague ", Foaly replied after adding the IP into the LEP's database and search engine. " … Selene Lilia Novakova, Strahovska street. D'Arvit, this seems legit. "

Holly grimaced. Even if it would be a nightmare to have Artemis involved, it was even more worrying to face a new enemy they knew nothing about. You definitely don't want to have Artemis anywhere else than on your side or out of your business, but at least, they were starting to know him a bit, have an idea of his methods and motivations. A completely new foe coming out of nowhere, with the powers of the Wired to account for…

Holly didn't, but Foaly knew that if that was to happen, they would need all fairy police force below ground, and he would be forced to explain the situation – to Root, and then to the Fairy Council. That would be the end of the centaur's time at the LEP.

And they couldn't afford the risk to loose him.

The elf and the centaur leaned closer to the tablet's plasma screen, as Foaly was manoeuvering one of the LEP's satellites to point it towards Prague. A full realtime map of the city materialized. Foaly zoomed into the image and both him and Holly said "D'Arvit !" when he got to Strahovska street.

The address was real. There was a small building there, and there was light filtering through the curtains of the third floor. Green light. Computer light.

Foaly and Holly exchanged a look.

" If Artemis had suddenly left his home for Czech republic, the LEP surveillance would have noticed it ", Holly said. " So that means Selene is definitely real, and that she's the enemy here. "

Foaly stared at the screen, his hands crossed under his chin, biting his lower lip. He shook his head.

" I don't know. I just can't believe it. "

Holly stood up.

" Whether you believe it or not, we can't just sit back. Whoever this Selene is, she definitely doesn't mean well. We must stop her at once. "

Suddenly, Foaly turned to her and grabbed her shoulders, a pleading expression in his sore eyes.

" Please, Holly… don't tell anyone about the Wired. "

" Foaly, sooner or later Selene is going to strike again, and you won't be the only one she'll be attacking ", said the elf in a soft but firm tone.

" Please, Holly. Not yet. I'm the only one in Haven who knows the Wired's secrets. If the Fairy Council learns about it, that I… didn't tell them about it, I might be exiled. Maybe even sent to Atlantis. And without me, we'll have no chance to win if Selene decides to reveal the People's existence or likewise. Please. Promise me. "

Holly hesitated, but Foaly was right. If they wanted to find out about Selene's motivations and save Haven if need be, they needed the centaur. The elf sighted loudly.

" Alright. I promise. I can always have your butt kicked later. I'll figure out something so me and my buzzbaton can interrogate this Czech girl. "

Foaly looked away.

" What about Artemis ? I'm still not convinced that he's not at least working along with this Selene Mudgirl. "

Holly wanted to roll her eyes, but she shared the same feeling. She stood thinking for a few seconds, then grinned.

" Mulch Diggums. "

Foaly raised an eyebrow.

" What, Mulch Diggums ? He's still in prison, why ? "

" You remember that Lady something's tiara's theft, right ? Well, I've been thinking about it for some time after the mindwipe. They have already worked together before ", Holly explained. " If anyone knows something about Artemis that we don't, well that's Diggums. "

Foaly clapped his hands.

" Well well well ! I guess that while you go have a… muscled conversation with dear Selene, I'll try and get in contact with our favourite dwarf. Even at Argon's clinic, they have WiFi, so that shouldn't be too complicated. Sounds like a plan, right ? "

The elf and the centaur smiled at each other. The situation was far from comforting, and there were so many possibilities for things to go even more sideways. Yet, they were together, they had a plan. They had survived to worse adventures before.

That's what they needed to believe, anyway. If they knew what was really coming, they would probably just surrender. Hoping to save some lives before it was too late.

See, Pr. Cumulus, the clever pony is fine ! ... kind of ^^''

It has been quite difficult actually to write this chapter, I really feel much more at ease writing Artemis, but it was fun nonetheless to write Foaly, Holly and Root ! There's much more comic relieves in this chapter than in the previous ones, I hope you liked it and it doesn't feel weird with the global tone of the story.

Next chapter, we're back with Artemis as he is trying out his new Wired powers... it will be the occasion for an old very tertiary (but quite important nonetheless) human character to make a little comeback... can you guess who it is ? :-P

Another little announcement : next Monday, I'm back to film school ! which means I'll have a lot less time to write as much as I'd want to ; but don't panick ! I have taken a lot of advance on further chapters, so I think I can manage to keep updating once a week.

See you next Wednesday ! Feel very free to review, I'd love it :-)