I am sooo sorry people! I've had my English GCSE this summer (winces at memory) plus my Summer Exams. Anyway, thank you to those who are still reading this and have had the patience to wait! Now, on with the story!
You know, I know and Eoin Colfer definitely knows: I do not own Artemis Fowl.
Chapter 15 – In which Ivy's aforementioned sword comes in very useful
Ivy was trying her hardest not to heave up her already threatening breakfast. The car ride was enough, but this? It was just pure evil!
"You exaggerate, my dear child. It is not pure evil, at least we are giving you the chance of survival." Grinned Spiro, when Ivy related this to the two of them, using considerably stronger words than the phrase mentioned above.
The straps were now starting to cut at her sides. Painfully, she tried to flex her fingers, and winced as the knuckles cracked from such a long time without the circulation. Pins and needles shot up and down her arm, making her bite her lip to prevent her from screaming. A phrase from a book she had read years ago came back to her, for fear, blood and scarlet screams…
She didn't know about the screaming and the blood, but, despite her calm state (take in the surroundings, sceptics, wouldn't you be just a little unnerved?) the overriding emotion within her was fear. It was hard enough to try not to cry at that moment in time.
"There is enough nuclear source in this world, Spiro, to power any contraption that you have a fancy to power. Why not use that energy instead of mine?" Spat Ivy, her voice dripping with contempt.
Here, Spiro's face contorted into something that somehow resembled a pained look. However, the months exposed to only prison food had given him an unhealthy look of someone who had permanent indigestion, so it was a hard to get any further pain out of his facial features.
"Your mother refuses to use nuclear power out of ethics. Ethics, can you believe that? Her religion doesn't even exist… in this world, at any rate. And besides, this is the only way that she has to ensure that you will go with her." A twist of the lips seemed to indicate a sneer, but the continuing pained look sort of ruined the desired effect.
"Why would she want to have me there with her? It's not as if she doesn't wish that her daughter had a sweeter temperament, and that I didn't have these powers. Why doesn't she just go back and get another child?" Ivy's voice was bitter. It was no secret from her that her mother was less than satisfied with her attitude.
"If you must know, I'm only taking you there because your father will be expecting you to come with me. If you're not with me, I do not think that he will accept me back either."
Ivy bristled. Her mother had an uncanny insistence on probing her mind at all times. It was hard to hide anything from a mother who wielded her power like an interrogation device, such as the rack or thumbscrews, but it wasn't difficult to believe either. However, over the years, Ivy had developed certain immunity to Melissa's probes.
After all, a girl had to have her secrets – especially from her parents. Her mother could certainly keep secrets from her.
As she set up her iron curtain, as it were, in her mind, she summarised what she needed for now. Time. She still had one more ace in the hole, depending upon whether or not it had already been rumbled. Shoving the thought into an insignificant corner of her mind was difficult; after all, her ace in the hole would involve revealing to her mother that the Vows no longer meant anything to her.
And that would be Melissa's cue to use more direct methods of forcing her daughter into obedience.
Artemis was, in one very inappropriate word to describe a genius, panicking. The communicator was ringing, that much was true. However, the features that greeted him were not the elfin features he had been expecting. In fact, they weren't even welcome to him.
"Ah… Captain Kelp. I trust that you are well…" Artemis felt, for the first time in his life, like punching a wall. One part of him, obviously the rational part, rebuked this want and scorned his desire. The larger majority of him still felt like punching a very hard object.
Root, however, was having some more problems. His face was so red that Artemis started to worry about having a fairy with a burst brain vessel on his hands, and without sufficient resources, there would be small chance of Root actually surviving.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THAT ACORN ON YOUR LAPEL, CORPORAL? GET IT OFF… NOW!" From the confused look on Grub Kelp's face, the ex-commander found the excuse for bellowing out another order, "WHAT ARE YOU STARING FOR? DO YOU EXPECT A SWEAR TOAD TO JUMP OUT OF MY MOUTH? BECAUSE I'M THIS CLOSE TO SAYING SOME WORDS THAT WILL BURN YOUR…"
Here, Root had to break off into a series of coughing, due partly to the extensive yelling he had just done, but mostly because of the gravel Fowl had managed to stuff into his mouth. Artemis cleared his throat, looked into the screen again, and decided against playing with Kelp until he ran to fetch a superior officer. Any superior officer, judging by the now feeble look on his face and the jittering of the screen that conveyed the shaking of a certain elf's hands.
"If you would excuse my over-enthusiastic friend here, I shall be happy to make my wants known to you. Now, here is how everything stands. I need either Detective Holly Short or Major Trouble Kelp. Anyone else, and I will come and hunt you down. Am I understood?" The cold, steely hint in his voice rang true, and a moment later he was facing both of the requested elves.
"Fowl! What are you doing here?" Exclaimed Kelp, his face going almost as red as Root's current facial colour.
"Forget that, Artemis, how did you patch into this intercom? It's on a private line!" Holly was, apparently, fuming, and Artemis could see at once that it was a bad attempt at concealing her embarrassment. His eyes requested inquisitively after their inter-locked fingers.
"Have I interrupted something private?" He asked with a trademark vampire smirk. "I hate to interrupt so rudely, but this is a matter of urgency."
"We're coming over to the surface now, Fowl, and we'll be there in approximately five minutes. Can your life and death situation wait till then?"
"I am not yet certain, but I have it on good witness that Kestrel has been taken hostage, bodily harm unknown, although my intuition tells me that it is more than a little grudge."
"Yes, but can you wait until it is physically possible for us to make it to the surface? Surely you have some patience, Artemis." Holly's eyes were rolling. Obviously the urgency of the situation had not yet hit her.
"Detective Short, one of the only remotely human friends I have is being held prisoner at the hands of Jon Spiro. We've already got a problem about him being a cornered enemy, and that makes him all the more dangerous. We've got to get her out of there!" Emotions were slowly seeping into his voice, startling both of the elves into a sense of urgency. The name 'Spiro', however, was the word that made Holly jump in shock.
"Are you sure? The actual Jon Spiro?" Asked Holly, crossing the small distance to the screen.
Of course, it was at this time that Root came into the picture, shoving Fowl away from the screen, and staring at Holly in an expression of relief, disbelief and anger. Anger being the overruling emotion.
"SHORT! What have I heard about you QUITTING the LEP?"
It was at this moment that Holly decided to stare, yelp, and faint. In that order.
Root was the recipient of two stares, although they were for different purposes. Kelp's stare seemed to be more of disbelief and slight dislike, whilst Fowl's stare was more of a hostile glare than anything else.
"Root, I know that yelling yourself into madness, but please, refrain from doing so until I have explained the situation fully to them." His voice was once again the clipped, cold voice that Root had first heard. It sent shivers down his spine.
"That's better, now, Major, if you would be so kind as to revive Detective Short…" Artemis was really behaving very well. He had stopped himself from both emphasising 'detective' just to annoy Root and from commenting on that the Major did not have to use the kiss of life, seeing as Holly was still, evidently, breathing.
When Holly came back to the world of consciousness again, her eyes were still a little wild at the sight of her ex-Commander staring at her, a little battered up and scarred, but still the same Beetroot, if the bellow and the facial colour was anything to go by.
"C-commander… I…er…erm…how are you?" Kelp started off lamely. Artemis rolled his eyes. Apparently, Major Kelp's grasp of phatic conversation was about as advanced as a toddler's knowledge.
"Before we go into any floods of tears, I would like to remind all present that Ivy is still in danger and that I am quite anxious to get her out of that situation. So unless you really feel like having Butler come at you on my orders, then you had better hurry up."
The lack of emotion in the statement didn't do much for the atmosphere, especially when Artemis ended the link. His icy blue eyes were misting over, and black spots were beginning to eat the edges of his vision. He sat down, and let the darkness consume him.
Ivy was still trying to reach for her sword. Her walls of defence were wearing down, and she was feeling more than a little nauseous now. The leather straps had caused her wrists to start bleeding, and the material burnt on her.
"You may as well give up and go with your mother, kid. It's not as if you've got much of a choice." Smirked Spiro, his teeth gnashing pointlessly on empty air. The habit of chewing cigars into pulps was hard to break.
"Why do you still defy me, Ivy?" Asked Melissa, melancholy dripping from her voice.
"As if you didn't know, Mother. Your idea of my intended life is a brainless, beautiful girl who had your charm and for me to get married pretty rapidly. Somehow, I don't think I fit that description. You consider my powers as a threat to your reputation, and you treat it as if it were a disease when you know full well that it was probably a common power amongst your people…"
Ivy trailed off as her mother shook her head slowly. She was babbling, and she almost hung her head in shame at this ridiculous tactic, but it was the only one still working for her. However, the fact that her mother wasn't simply sitting there and being silent anymore.
"What? Are you saying that my powers are faulty?"
"No, Ivy. What I'm saying is that your power wasn't hereditary. It is given. How else do you think that I knew about the Vows?"
Now this was something new. She opened her mouth to enquire after the meaning of this, when Spiro clapped his hands sharply.
"Okay, Mel. The machine is ready. The girl had better decide what she wants pretty soon, 'cos she's not gonna have a chance in about ten minutes."
Melissa swung around to face Jon, a blissful smile on her face. Forgotten was the explanation owed to her daughter – she was going home.
Holly and Trouble arrived in Chicago three minutes after Holly's small dilemma, Trouble looking more than a little shaken and Holly feeling totally invigorated. Of course, you have to take into account who the typical fly-boy was in the vicinity.
"Commander! You're alive!" Holly was still too much of an LEPrecon officer – she did the customary salute, Kelp following suit. Then she dropped all formality and decorum and hugged her old friend and comrade fiercely, earning a more than obvious jealous glance from Trouble.
Artemis was still groggy after his own state of unconsciousness and not so gentle way of waking up. Opening one's eyes to Root's glowing red face that was filled with concern just wasn't natural!
Seeing that the reunion may have taken some time, he intervened, calling out,
"Piccolo! Have you got the car?" Of course, 'run down cart' was more accurate than car in this case, but it was a mode of transport that did not rely on horsepower, so it was good enough.
Although, when Holly climbed aboard, she cast a worrying glance at the wheels, that looked as if they had been worn down to the smoothest glass sheen. Taking a deep breath, thanking her stars that Mulch wasn't driving, she climbed on.
"Okay, Root, which prison are we headed to?" Artemis asked, before anyone could start a less touchy issue than the matter of Ivy's abduction.
Kelp, who was never that diplomatic, simply asked,
"Are you selfish usually, or is it just because of Ivy that you're acting like this?"
Fowl opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, and fell back into his seat, being silent for the rest of the journey.
Ivy could feel Fowl's movements and another three being's movements towards the building. Smiling, she manoeuvred her hands so that they were touching her hilt, and pulled. The pain was excruciating, and she could hear the audible crack as her elbows dislocated.
Obviously Spiro and Melissa did as well, judging from their winces, and they ran over to their power source. The sword was lying beside the girl now, and the hilt was pointing towards the entrance of the cell. The girl was smiling weakly.
"They're coming."
Fowl sighed. This was almost too easy. The security system was, like all systems, easy to bypass, and the guards hadn't even stood a chance to the Neutrinos' blasts. Root was enough to make the lesser mortals, as it were, to scream and run away.
Although, Pex and Chips just let them through because of the after effects of the mesmerising almost a year ago now. Holly gave Artemis the honour (and humiliation) of saying the magic words. You know what they are.
When they managed to get to the chamber, Artemis suddenly realised that they were walking in with practically no plan whatsoever. This was done on impulse, not strategy or analysis – they were walking in blind.
Fowl decided then and there to seek council with himself afterwards. He needed it, if he was doing something as rash as this for a mere human who he had some kind of sentimental attachment to.
When they entered, Spiro's eyes were drawn immediately to Artemis. Deep inside him, Artemis Junior felt sorry for the balding man. The white washed walls weren't doing his health much good, judging from the unhealthy pallor radiating off him.
"Hey! Artemis, my boy, how are you?" This phatic beginning was nonetheless laced with anger and torment. There wasn't much longer before his sanity would flee; or his life. Depending which one gave out first.
Melissa, however, was screaming at her daughter, quite oblivious to what was happening behind her.
"Why did you do that, you idiot? You are in no condition to fight, and dislocating your elbows wasn't the best course either… your health may not even be guaranteed to survive when you cross over…"
"Madam, I believe you mean if she decides to go with you. She still has ties to this world, whatever you may believe." Artemis uttered taking in his surroundings. Ivy's permanent sword was there on the ground. She had let him use it about twice in his lifetime, but it was enough for him to know its weight.
Before he even felt the slight wind that was Ivy's power, he had already anticipated her move. Crouching down, reaching out, and slicing through the straps was, like the rest of the trip, too easy. Something didn't fit.
And he looked at the machine. And gaped in stupidity.
"Ah."
The C Cube had a twin. And it had been updated.
A/N: Thank you all for being so patient! I appreciate any kind of review, be it constructive criticism or praise! Please REVIEW!
Thanks!
AmethystNox