Yay! Hello everyone! I'm so sorry about the long wait, I went through a phase where I wasn't actively enjoying writing, I was just updating because people wanted me to. I'm in Italy right now, at my grandparents' house, and I don't have a computer or anything, just a notebook and the best pen in the world (blue; medium; BIC), and so I started on the second half of the chapter (the first half I had written before I left) and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! I'm so excited! I've also got more of the plot figured out. I'll be cautious and say you can probably expect an update within the week? I don't know. I'm going to be visiting a bunch of people for a couple of days, but other than that I think I'll have time... and I certainly have the motivation. There's somewhere between 3-5 chapters left.

First of all, I'd like to thank my friend StopMotion, who prompted me to start the chapter in the first place.

Second of all, I'd like to thank all of my wonderful readers, especially my reviewers, for being so patient.

Third of all, I'd like to apologize to everyone.

More at the end, but for now, enjoy!

Percy was in the lead again. It was a position he was used to, but he still worried—that something would go wrong, that those he was in charge of would get hurt. Also, how well did he actually know Leo? Not very well at all. Yet another problem.

The night was dark, a thin moon only glinted in the sky, but they were making fairly good time to the mansion. They were in the gardens now, and the air was crisp. Percy shivered. Leo didn't seem to be cold, but maybe he had some sort of internal fire or whatever. Gods, that sounded cliché.

"Now, remember," Percy hissed to his companion. "Be polite. And don't burst into flames, that might startle them."

"Yes, sir. Because they're definitely just innocent mortals. Understood, sir."

"Leo," Percy sighed, "Just don't."

"Yes, sir."

They reached the manor and started to search for the tunnel Hazel had made. After a surreptitious look around, Leo made a small flame in his hand, waving it around to look for a darker patch of soil.

"Put it out!" whispered Percy fiercely. Leo did, but the damage had probably already been done Percy reflected, what with his luck. And in the second that the flames had illuminated the surrounding ground, Percy had seen something that stopped his heart in that special way that in a normal person's life only occurs when one realizes that a scene in a horror story is subtly out of place and the hero is standing right under the trap.

The hole was filled up. The dirt was fresh. And the footprints leading up to the hole did not lead back to the mansion.

They lead to right behind where Percy was standing.

It was only years of hard-won experience that kept him from getting banged on the head with a huge gun on the spot. Instead, he dodged quickly and brought his arm up in an automatic self-defense move. It was blocked efficiently by his as-of-yet unidentified assailant, but Percy was just playing for time. He darted away from the form only barely visible in the night and called out to Leo:

"Fire! Now!"

Instead of his usual mocking banter Leo obeyed instantly, and the dark was suddenly pushed back by licking tongues of flame.

A portion of Percy's mind thought overkill, man, but the majority of him was concentrating on his opponent. He was inhumanly tall. His lightning-quick speed, however, greatly belied any hopes or even assumptions Percy might have had about how fast he could move. The son of Poseidon could only just stay ahead of the man's attacks.

Then, in a flash of recognition, Percy realized that his opponent was the butler from before, the massive man who was treated by Artemis Fowl more as a friend than as a servant. And clearly the butler was as deadly a fighter as he was huge, especially if it was indeed him who had abducted Hazel and Frank.

The butler's massive fist caught Percy a glancing blow to the side of his head, and he decided that to hell with secrecy and trying not to harm mortals, this was important. He pulled Riptide out of his pocket and flicked the cap off, slashing the blade at his opponent's right hand, seeking to maim him. The other man darted out of the way, quick as lightning, and brought his gun-holding left arm around again.

Percy just managed to dodge the blow, but the sheer power behind it made him realized that yes, he could win this, but it would cost him a lot in both time and health.

He didn't have to worry about sacrificing either of those, though. Leo had crept behind the butler, having extinguished himself after torching a nearby bush, and had smacked the man on the head as hard as he could with the butt of his new axe. The blow wasn't enough the knock the man out, but it put him slightly off balance, which gave Percy time to hit him on the temple with all the force six years as a demigod son of one of the Big Three had given him.

That was a lot, but it was only just enough. The man crumpled at Percy and Leo's feet reluctantly, as though trying to hold on to the last shreds of consciousness.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Butler had gone, and Artemis was tiring of commander Kelp's attitude. The LEP officer was contriving to make snide remarks concerning Artemis' past misdeeds at a rate of about three per minute, and was ignoring all of the helpful things he had done since his mostly-reformation. Any subtle attempt Artemis made to either drive him off the subject or remind him of the aforementioned reformation was greeted with a suspicious look and a muttered "you would say that".

"Must we go through this again?" sighed Artemis, exasperated. "I regret kidnapping Holly. I'm sorry about demanding a price for getting you through the Opal mess." That, at least, was a lie. "I realize that I made a serious mistake with the Cube affair. I apologize for my part in the second Opal mess. I regret the trouble my decoys caused the LEP when Butler and I were demon hunting." Another lie. "I don't think I need apologize for killing the last lemur, since I brought it back again. Yes," his voice took on a sarcastic tone, "I'm definitely very sorry for developing a mental illness which almost cost me my sanity but, most importantly, caused you a small amount of paperwork. And about the paperwork it caused you when I lost my memory. Again." He shot Kelp a cross look.

Kelp scowled and muttered something about stupid child geniuses.

"Genii," Artemis corrected him patronizingly. "Now, about these visitors of ours. You said you might have more information concerning them?"

Kelp glared again. "I might," he said at length," But before I tell you I need you to tell me at least a portion of you marvelous hypothesis as to what they are. You can manage that, right?" The Commander's voice was dark with sarcasm.

"I can," said Artemis lightly, shifting in his leather office chair and tapping his nails on the desk. "Although it may sound slightly… preposterous."

Kelp narrowed his eyes. "Really."

"Yes. You see, I am under the impression that they are not, in fact, a type of fairy, but the descendants of some sort of Greek deities." He waited for a reaction, but Kelp's face remained blank, impassive. No surprise. But, perhaps, a tiny smidgeon of grudging respect.

"That… matches my information," he said finally. Artemis raised an eyebrow, and Kelp exhaled, leaning back. "About six months ago, my brother came to me with a young man he claimed to be half god. Greek god," he added at Artemis' questioning glance.

'Well, I was understandably skeptical, especially since there was nothing noticeably divine about the man. I can't remember which god he was supposed to be the son of, something that started with an A, maybe?"

"There are a lot of those," said Artemis wryly.

"Anyway," continued Kelp, "I didn't believe him, even when he said that there were others, ones that had powers beyond belief. The young man wouldn't talk to me though; he acted like Corporal Quagmire did after he was hit on the head by that falling hammer. Catatonic, like."

'Grub went away in a fuss after that. He never mentioned the conversation. And I never saw the supposed demigod again. I haven't thought about it for a while, but this whole affair rung a few bells."

"Interesting.." mused Artemis, his mind reeling.

But before he could say anything, Trouble Kelp was thrown to the ground. In his place now stood a massive, roaring grizzly bear.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Hello again.

So... what was I going to say? Oh, yes.

Okay, my friend StopMotion recommended a book to me called Emperor Mollusk Versus the Sinister Brain. She described it as "Artemis Fowl but with aliens instead of fairies. That's a fair description. I would add on "much better characters than Artemis Fowl". Now, this is just my opinion, but still: I highly recommend it. It's really good. A bit weird, but good.

God... I recently watched Starship, and something in my messed up brain decided that Commander Up was a lot like Commander Root, and now I can't stop imagining Root trying to convince everyone in the LEP that he peepees standing up like a big boy! And Holly as Taz. Does anyone think I should write a one-shot?

Okay... I'm putting a poll on my profile about which of my stories I should work on the most when I finish this one. Please vote.

Thanks to everyone, and sorry!