Chapter 2:
A Good Plan Would Work.
Artemis sat in a comfortable chair. Inside a pod, next to Juliet. He stared outside, but there wasn't really much to see. Magma flows started to bore him. Then the pilot turned around. The pretty LEPrecon elf had big hazel eyes. They looked straight at Artemis. Wow! Stop! What did he just thought? Pretty? What pretty! Don't be such an idiot! 'Think about goblins, slimy stuff, dwarf gas…' he said to himself, but it was already to late. "We're almost there." Said Holly. "You better wake up Juliet, she looks asleep." And she nodded ad Juliet, indeed asleep. "Juliet, hey, wake up." Said Artemis, and he poked her against her ribs. "Huh? Yeah, oh, what's up? Were there already?" she said confused. Blinking with her eyes to get the sleep out, and she rubbed her eyes."Yeah, we're almost in Haven." Said Holly. She wanted to continue talking but her voice stocked as she saw Juliet's eye widen. "Wha…What's up…?" Said Holly.
"Um… If I were you, I would turn around and STEER!" Juliet voice skipped to a scream, when the pod almost collapsed with the wall of the chute they were flying in.
"D'arvit!" scolded Holly in silence. How could this ever happen to her, one of the best pilots in Haven? Luckily she was able to prevent the pod from actually crashing into the walls, and they flew further, closer to Haven.
"Fwew!" whistled Foaly. "That was near, Holly!" he grinned. This again showed that Holly was one hell of a great pilot.
"Foaly! Good to hear your voice, only Mud-People around is no picnic." He half-smiled. "You saw that? I almost hit the wall! Thanks to Juliet I didn't"
"Good for you, Juliet!" said Foaly. "Well done."
"Is everything okay there?" asked Root to Foaly.
"Yeah, Hol., eh, Captain Short almost collapsed with a wall, Juliet fell asleep but saved their lives, and Artemis just sad there, besides that, it couldn't be better."
Roots eyes narrowed. "Are you sure you're telling me everything, pony friend?" said Root suspicious.
"Yeah, duh, would I ever lie to you, Julius? Said Foaly with accent on the 'you'.
"Do I have to remember you, horse-man, that you already lied to me once today?" growled Root with a red head.
Hey, hey, don't blame Foaly, commander." Said Holly from out of the Pod. "It was my fault." She shook her head a bit sadly. "I'm sorry, but I thought that you might not approve this mission, sir"
"I wouldn't have let you go, of course!" said Root. "You should have discussed this with me. You have disappointed me, captain Short." His head turned from red to purple "If you had discussed this with me, I might have approved this!" but his eyes weren't looking angry. It was concern. The only thing in the eyes of the commander was concern. And afcours they couldn't blame him. After all, Holly was the first female LEP officer ever, and Root had took care for her.
"Were there." Heard Foaly Holly say to Artemis and Juliet.
"Come to the LEP building." Said Foaly.
"Hey! Horse-man!" said Juliet
"Juliet, come on, you'll see Foaly any minute now! No need to use the com system any longer." Said Holly and pulled Juliet with her at het sleeve.
"So," said Foaly to Root "Julius, do we already have a plan?"seeing Root's not knowing face he continued "A plan, because of the Mud-Man..?" Said Foaly
"One: You quit calling me Julius, horsy-boy, or I'll pull those hoofshoes of your…er…hoofs!. And two: No, I don't. You're the genius here! And three: Um… There's no three." He turned from red to purple. And Foaly quickly shut his mouth.
Trouble and wingcomander Vinyaya came in, and a few minutes later Artemis, Holly and…"Hey! Horsy! You've, like, seemed to grown, like, longer then before!" Juliet came in.
'Oh my,' thought Artemis. 'I wished she had never painted her hair blond.'
"Dear Juliet," started Foaly "If you look around a bit, you can see that I'm standing on a platform."
Juliet looked and giggled "Sorry," she said with a grin "I'm blond."
'She looks great, don't
you think? With that blond hair?' said a voice in Foaly's head.
'Damn, have you gone
bananas?' said another voice.
"Shut…up…"whispered
Foaly, a little to loud.
"Wow, sorry!" said Juliet hurted and she raising an eyebrow.
"N…No… that wasn't ment for you!" grinned Foaly in an oh-my-god-I'm-so-sorry way.
"No time for getting emotional!" said commander Root. "There's work to be done." He glanced around in Ops Booth. "But," he continued "first of al we all need some sleep." He stopped for a second. Then continued again. "I'm going to give you sleeping places, and I don't want ANYONE to complain. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded, and some said something like 'hmm,hmm'. That probably meant 'Yes'. "Okay,"started Root again. "This is what we're going to do. Artemis, you stay at Hollys place." Artemis and Holly paled, and Root allowed him self a little smile. He liked it to see Artemis pale. Paler than he usually was, then. "Juliet, you stay at Foaly's place." Juliet and Foaly also paled, and Root's grin wident. "Wing commander Vinyaya and Trouble have their own houses, and so do I, so that's it for today. Tomorrow, I want you all back, right here, at 05:30 AM. Understood?" again, everyone nodded. "Let's role!"
Foaly probably still had put a little to much of him self. Root used Mud-Man movie-quotes too, since he was a hologram. "Okay, Juliet. It's quite a long trip, relative long, so we should get going now."
Juliet nodded, and followed Foaly.
"We should get going too."said Holly and Artemis nodded, speechless. He never ever inmagined to even said a Foot, in Hollys apartment. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Juliet sat next to Foaly. Being quiet, and just looked at the other traffic. Foaly was wearing that stupid tinfoil-hat again. That centaur-guy was really paranoia. "Why are you, like, always wearing that weird hat?" asked Juliet.
Foaly glanced at her. "It's because people might read my thoughts. Everyone wants to read the thoughts of a genius like me."
"Um… are we almost there?" said Juliet, a bit bored now.
"Yeah, yeah, actually, now you mention it, here it is." Foaly stopped the flying car. On one side there was a huge house. A residence. On the other side was a small house.
"Wich is yours?" said Juliet.
Foaly grinned. "The small one, of cours!" he nodded furiously.
"W…what…?" Damn, they probably had to sleep in the same bedroom then.
Foaly laughed loudly "No, duh, it's the big one! How could we ever go in that small house toghether." He smiled, got a bunch of keys out of his pocket, walked to the big house, and opened the door. "Come in." he said hospitable, and made a slight bow, something like a gentleman would do, for what a centaur can be a gentleman.
Juliet smiled a half-smile, and walked in, like a real gentlewoman, and of course, for what a profesional wrestler can be a gentlewoman.
Foaly grabbed her hand, and kissed it. A smal giggle slipped from Juliets mouth.
"Uhuhmhum." Juliet cleared her troat. "I really would like to go to bed now." She chuckled.
"Oh, yeah," said Foaly. "I'll show you the bathroom, the study and your bedroom. You'll see the rest tomorrow."
"Um…" started Juliet. "Why do I need to see the study? I never study." She grimaced.
"Duh, the tv is there. And you could watch some goblin wrestling!"
"Okay! Sounds good" and with a grin on both of their faces they walked trough that big residence. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first thing Artemis saw, when Holly opened the door that gained access to het apartment, was a wonderfully clean hall that smelled so fresh like there were a thousand little green appels storred somewhere near. "So, this is your apartment?" said Artemis interrested.
"Duh, what else would it be." Grinned Holly. She took of her LEP jacket, and hung it on the coat-hook. She places her gloves on the grid above the coat-hook and her helmet next to it. She kicket out her boots, and pushed them with the back of her feet in a special shoe-case. Then she turned around to Artemis, who was still standing there, speechless. "Everything okay?" said Holly.
"I, um…" stumbeled Artemis "Uh… yeah. Do I have to take my shoes of too?" he raised an eyebrow. He saw Holly hasitating. Maybe she thought she might not be a good hostess if she said he had to take them of. He grinned at the idea.
Holly's eyes narrowed. "Of couse you have to." She said, totally unexpected by Artemis, who set a few steps back, but still grinning. An I-am-so-dumb-and-I-really-show-it grin.
"Okay." Said Artemis and kicked of his shoes too, still with that ridiculous grin on his sharp pointed face.
"Unless you have sweaty-feet of course." She stick out her tongue and with her elbow she poked in his side.
The stupid grin on Artemis's face wident and almost became handsome, as far a dumb grin can be handsome.
'He's really okay, don't you think, Holly dear?' said a voice in her head.
'Shut up, he's just another stupid Mud-Man.' Started the other ignoring voice.
Holly, giggling, set foot to the living room, with Artemis on her heels. "I want to get something to drink first, then I'll show you were to sleep." She said.
"yes, that's okay. But,er… were's the loo?" said Artemis. He had forgotten fairy's have their loo outside. They think it's really disgusting to have such things inside of you're house.
"It's in my garden" said Holly. The smile she had on her fave had almost faded away, but there was still enough left to give Artemis a little half-smile. Not much, just enough to make the day. Though there wasn't much left, in fact it was getting quite dark outside.
"You live in an apartment, Holly." Said Artemis. "You don't have gardens in an apartment."
"You thought so," said Holly challenging.
"Try me!" winked Artemis. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Next morning, Artemis woke up early. 04:56 to be exactly. He sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He wondered if there would be a shower somewere, so he figured that he could go to Holly's bedroom to ask. In his pale blue pyjamas, that was way to short because it belonged to be Holly, he stepped out of that small bed he was lying in. Still half-asleep, he would only be really awake when he took a good, hot, shower, he set foot to Holly's bedroom. When he came there, after what seemed houres, He knocked on het door but there was no response. Again he knocked, still no answer. He gently opened the door. "Holly?" he whispered. There she was. Lying under one single woollen blanket. Innocent as a child, with her eyes closed. "Holly?" said Artemis again.
"Arty…" whispered Holly, still asleep.
Suddenly Artemis was broad awake. Had she… Did she really… Had she just called him 'Arty'?
"Arty…?" said Holly softly. "Are you there?" She turned on her side, still eyes closed.
Artemis quietly walked to the edge of the bed, and sat down on it. "Yeah, Hol… er, captain Short, I'm here."
Holly gently took his hand "Did you know I always liked you?" She murmurred
Artemis smiled. He knew it, he just knew it! "Yeah…" He said and his hand stroke her hair softly. Her hair smelled sweet like cherry blossom and was smooth, even after sleeping her hair wasn't messed up. He closed his eyes and softly kissed her on her cheek.
'You idiot! You're brain is melting, isn't it? One: why the heck did you need to kiss that fairy? And two: let's hope she didn't notice that!' said an ignoring voice in the back of his head. And that same voice was right, of course, but he didn't care.
"Artemis…?" said Holly slowly. She blinked with her eyes. "What are you doing?" she looked a little confused.
"I…uh…" stammered Artemis. He stammered much since he was in Holly's presence.
"Why are you here?" she sad up, and the blanket fell off. She was wearing a pink tanktop and purple sleeping-shorts. "Was there something you wanted to ask?"
"I,er… yes, um…Where's the shower?" said Artemis with red cheeks.
"You look like you have a fever." Said Holly concerned. She gently put her hand on Artemis cheek, to see if he felt any warmer.
"N…No, I'm okay," grinned Artemis cautious. "I just want to know where the shower is."
Holly's eyes narrowed, like she knew that there was more, but she didn't start an argue, she just stepped out of bed and walked to the landing. Followed by Artemis. After a few seconds she pointed at a door. "There's the shower, go ahead."
"Thanks, Holly," said Artemis "I hope I didn't disturb you to much." Totally forgotten that he used to say captain Short.
"Yeah, sure." Yawned Holly, and walked back to her bedroom, trew the door back in it's latch, almost knoking it out the pegs.
Artemis raised an eyebrow, wondering why she had to make such loud noise. He opened the door and the first thing he noticed was the overwelming smell. It was not a bad smell, actually it was fresh, and he only felt good because of that particular smell. He got some towels from a bright white closet, standing in a corner of the almost sparkling bathroom. Carefully he stepped into the shower-cabin. He put on the shower. Warm water flowing over his head, his shoulders, the rest of his body. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-A day earlier-
"Okay folks!" said a short man. He turned his haid to one another and the air-distortion made his half-long, auburn coloured hair sway a little. "You're all supposed to be clever, I already doubt this one, criminal, smart-asses. I'm sure this isn't about you all, but please, do me a favour, and just TRY to pretent that you have a little piece of brain left in those filthy heads of yours and TRY not to break anything, will you?" he stopped for a minute. "Anyone has to say something?" he raised an eyebrow. Suddenly a man, or actually more a boy, raised his hand. "Go ahead, sonny." Said the short guy annoyed.
"Hum-hum." Started the boy uncertain, clearing his troat
"Sonny, please! Don't start that 'hum-hum' crap, will ya? 'Hum-hum' isn't for little boys like you, it's for…BOSSES LIKE ME, YOU UNDERSTAND?" the last sentence came out shouting, making the boy shake of fear. "Continue." He ended, with a deadly smile.
"I…er…"
"Nothing interresting, eh? THAN SHUT UP!" Shouted the short man. "Got it?" he grinned a real mean grin. "Anyone else?" nobody made not even the slightest noice. "No? Than you better start THINKING of something, 'cause a good plan would work! No start coming up with something, and don't bother to come to me unless it might be usefull! Got it? Now GO, GO, GO!" he stepped of the platform that he was on all the time (it made him even shorter) ans stepped right into his ofice, or for what you could call it a 'ofice'.
"Commander, sir!" a slim female centaur came walking in, making a little bow. She had small hazel eyes and dark-brown hair. Her eyebrows were carefully epilated, and coloured black. She had long, faked nailes, in a weird blue colour with little diamonds on them. Her hoofs were wrapped in shoe-like things made from pure satin.
"Yes?" muttered the unknown commander.
"We have made contact with the Humans, sir. The deal is done. We can go to the surface tomorrow. Maybe even today, if you would like that, sir." She let her head hang a little down, as a sign of respect.
"Today, if you don't mind, dear." Said the man. "I don't want to suffer a jet-lag, so prepare the pods and make sure we have enough people with us, just in case." With that the conversation was finished and the centaur could go. "Oh, wait!" said he suddenly. "Yenna, wait a minute, dear. Make sure you take some caviar too, I can't live without that."
"Yes, commander, sir!" she stepped out of the office. "Men of mine, listen up!" she shouted. "We are leaving today, on the commanders orders. Prepare the pods, and mister Cook, there, make sure you take some caviar! Go!" she shook her hand, and with that sign everyone started to walk in several directions, on to the task they knew they had to fullfil. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, were are Short and Fowl staying?" said commander Root. "They should be here already!"Juliet giggled 'They probably don't have the time for anything like this.' She wanted to say, but she didn't.
"What are you giggling?" said Root venomous. He didn't like it when blonde girls were giggling. That usually meant that they knew something he wasn't aware of, even when it happened in frond of his own eyes.
"I… I don't really think they have the time to come her, Julius." A slight laugh slipped from her lips.
"And what do you mean with that?" said Root. His eyes narrowed, totally forgotten that he disliked it when people called him 'Julius'.
Juliet giggled again. "You really got to ask it themselves, Julius, I don't want to tell any details that I know nothing about." It might be her imagination(or rather mine) but she thought for a second that Foaly winked at her. She smiled.
"I want to ask them, but that's a bit difficult when they're not here, isn't it?" said Root suspicious.
"Well," started Juliet
"then you just got to wait, don't you, Julius." finished Foaly
"AND DON'T CALL ME JULIUS!" he suddenly remembert the dislike he had for Julius. Out of the blue. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Holly checked her watch. D'Arvit! Already 05:32 AM! Quickly she jumped out of bed . Shivering of the cold she ran of to the bathroom and trew the door open. "Woops…" What she expected to see was totally different from what she really saw. Instead of seeing a shiny clean bathroom, she saw a boy, or actually a young man. He was standing with his face towards her, just putting a towel on his lower body. "Woops…" she said, again. "I…" Her cheeks turned red.
Artemis raised an eyebrow. "Never seen a male body?" he smiled a you-are-dumb-and-you-show-it-smile. And just stood there, with nothing on but a towel.
Holly grimaced. "Uh…" she stammered
"No?" said Artemis. "Well, there's a first time for everything, trite but true." He took another towel out of the closet and put it on Holly's shoulders who's teeth were really chattering now.
"Th…thanks…" whispered Holly. She held the towel round her shoulders and already became feeling a little warmer. She looked deep into Artemis's sapphire blue eyes, maybe a little to deep, 'cause before she knew it, she pressed her lips on his. Suddenly the coldness had disappeared. He closed his arms around her, and there was nothing left of the bathroom or anything else. Just the two of them.
Artemis had no feelings in his legs, his arms, his head…It just happened all of a sudden. All he could sence was that sudden kiss of Holly. Why? Why did she do this? Not that he really minded, actually it was quite plesant. The only kisses he used to get were from his mother, but those were just family-kisses. This…this was totally different. Could it be something like…like…love?
All of a sudden Holly let go. There they stood. Looking at each other, baffled. Holly giggle. "I…I'm sorry. I don't know what got over me." A dumb grin appeared on her face.
"Um… I really…I don't mind, really, Holly." Laughed Artemis. "But, I think we should get going. Were kind of late, actually."
"Ha, yeah, we…should get going." Said Holly, still grinning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So you have FINALY arrived?" growled hologram Root. He was really mad this time, his head wasn't just purple, no, it was almost black, that dark.
Mulch giggled. "Hey, Stinker! I hadn't noticed you!" Said Juliet, but no one paid attention.
"Um… yes, I…We…er…" stammerd Holly. Her cheeks turned red.
Juliet giggled. "I knew it!" she muttered. Trouble looked at her like he just asked for explanation. Juliet wanted to start telling her suspicious thoughts about Artemis and Holly but Artemis quickly interfered.
"No! No, it's not what you think!" he said hasty. "I, me and,um…Hol… er, captain Short and I…"
'Are you becoming an
idiot?' started the ignoring voice again. 'You kiss that 'thing',
you stammer, can't find you're words. What's happening to you?
Are you abducted byEBE's? If you still remember what those are! Is
this really you? HELP ARTY IS AN ALIEN!'
Of
cours I know what an EBE is! It's an…um…er… Oh, yes it's an
Extrateran Biological Entity. You see, I still know that! Were Artemis returning thoughts.
'No, he's trying to find
a plan. A good plan that would work, to, erm…For no one to find out
about that…Kiss.' Said another voice.
"Er… well, shall we get
to the point? I quess that we're going to need a plan to stop those
people and their shuttle? And to get your bro back in jail?" said
Artemis, not-knowing that he musn't say things about Holly's
brother.
"Your brother?" said Trouble and Vinyaya at once. Trouble trew a vague smile towards Vinyaya wich returned it even more vague.
"Your bro?" said Juliet unbelievebly.
"Your brother?" said Mulch
"Your BROTHER?" said Root.
"YOUR BROTHER?" Shouted Foaly.
"Shhhh! You idiots! Er, with all due respect, commander, captain Trouble, Wingcomander, but I really don't want anyone to know this… It actually just slipped my mouth, back at Art, er, Fowl's place." She nodded at Artemis, who was standing there quite helpless.
"So… what's up with that 'unknown' brother of your's?" asked commander Root. His face was just beginnen to get a little less black, and a little more red.
"Well, um… actually, he's my twin brother, and um… Well he's in jail, or, at least he was. For he was a massmurderer. I'm sure everyone of you have seen it on the news… A man had escapped Howlers Peak. On his own. Damien, he was called. Just Damien. But his full name is… Damien Short. And, yes, it means Devil." She stopped to get a some air, and glanced at Artemis.
"Yes," said Foaly "somehow we lost his signal. We also lost various LEP officers during the search. There's still no track of him."
"Holly's brother? I can't believe it." Muttert Trouble
"Shut up, captain Kelp!" said wing commander Vinyaya.
"So, that's really your brother?" said Root. "Unbelievable." He sighed "Well, we have to come up with a plan. If anyone has an idea, I'm all ears."
Suddenly Foaly's laptop began to make a weird noice. "An e-mail! It's from a spy we have above ground. Damien has been seen upground, toghether with a group of other elfs, and a… Centaur? What!" Foaly was really shocked, how could a centaur be involved in all this?
Root grinned "So centaurs aren't all that perfect, are they!"
"Hey, no time for childish fights, let's come up with a plan." Said Juliet. It was the first smart thing she said since they had arrived in Haven.
"Yeah, you're right." Said Foaly "I see that according to the conversations between Short and the other person, it's probably a Human, might be mesmerized, they recorded, they're going into the chute they found, in a week. Maybe a bit more, or maybe less, and Short is going to tell them more. This means that we must make a plan, and fast, otherwise Haven, and the whole fairy folk will be in danger." He stopped for a moment. "And," he continued "Another thing we must not forget… They have over a 1000 people… to fight. Ultimate world ruling. That's what they both want to achieve. A bit melodramatic, I agree, but these are the unfortunate facts. The writher of this story should have come up with something better, don't you think?"
"Yes, I agree." Said Root. "Fowl! You go invent a plan with Foaly! You, Juliet, you go train with Holly, she'll learn you how to use neutrino's and other fairy weapons, and you both, Trouble and Vinyaya, go recrute some capable LEP officers. And, Mulch, you do NOTHING, understood, convict? You are going to need you, and you'll get 160 years off your Howlers Peak-time, nothing more, UNDERSTOOD? Okay, we must be all prepared for this. If it's true what we know then we can't make mistakes. At the end of time, there's no second chance. I trust you all, so I know no one of you will tell anything, or anyone about this mission, this threat. If one of you does tell, I'll make sure you're meat at the end of this whole situation." With this the conversation was over. Time for some serious work. Time for plans. A good one would hopefully work.
Mulch chuckled in silence. 160 years was nothing, but he would escape. Again. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Writers comment: So, this was chapter two. I couldn't find a proper name for it, so I've called it 'A good plan would work' because that's a sentence that comes back a lot of times, as you have read. Um… hope you like it, and want to continue to read this crap. Please say what you think and stuff, you know. Thanks!
-some random thoughts from the characters-
Holly: "Grmbl, I really got to learn how to control myself"Artemis: "She really should do that more often."
Juliet: "Foaly…"Foaly: "Even computers aren't so facinating."
Root: "Couldn't that horse-guy just shut up for a second? I'm absolutly not in a –oh-you're-such-a-genius-and-I-admire-you-so mood."
Trouble: "I hate these conversations, I just want some action!"
Vinyaya: "Let's kick Human butt!"
Mulch: "I can't eait to get in jail again, gnagna"
Unknown commander: "I'm gonna rule the world!"Tall freaky Human: "I'm gonna rule the world!"
Yenna the centaur: "I'm gonna rule the world!"
Other servants: "I'm gonna rule the world!"
Fat man: "I'm gonna rule the world!"