Chapter 4

A/N: If I may speak before the story, I am finding it rather hard to keep in line with the tones of both universes. While both largely deal with children maturing into adults, Artemis's universe does this though a fantastical backdrop of fairies and magic, while the tales of Leviathan are set against the stark fears of war. Plus I still need a beta. I'm considering Holly Marie Fowl. What do you say, girl?

Artemis watched as the boy slowly raised his hands in submission. Later on he would admit, at least to himself, that he always felt far safer with Butler around. There was just something about the Eurasian man that let him sleep easier at night. He knew no one would fight him and win, not even a troll. So there was little need to worry.

So it came as a shock when the boy on him swung his knife into Butlers arm.

Butler grunted in pain and pulled the trigger. The boy was already out of the way, the force of his thrust driving him sideways, off Artemis. Rolling over the assailant tried to find a projectile. Butler twisted and fired again. Something flashed red off the boy and he collapsed.

Artemis pulled himself up to his feet and turned to Butler. "Did you hit him?"

"I was aiming to miss. Holly got him." Butler answered. Indeed, the elf was standing over the unconscious boy trying to pick him. Butler went to the clump of bushes that Juliet was hidden in while Artemis moved to help Holly. Looping his arm around the inert boy Artemis dragged him to the ship and propped him up against the hull before speaking to Holly.

"Very good shooting captain, you've tagged another runner."

Holly looked at Artemis, surprised and not entirely sure of his compliment. "He wasn't much of a target just lying there on the ground. But what's he doing out here anyway? He can't live here and he didn't take a vehicle, those would have shown up on our scans from the flight. Unless he's been here for a while, then they would have cooled down and slipped passed the shuttles detectors. So how did here get here?"

"I can't that now. He is obviously athletic though. He managed to stab Butler. By the way he needs your help with that." Artemis looked over his shoulder and was satisfied to see Holly running off to heal Butler. Kneeling to examine the boy, Artemis was struck by a wave of the familiar. It seemed as though he had seen this boy before, somewhere far away and strange. Artemis shrugged off the feeling and examined the boy proper. Hard muscles composed his shoulders and arms. His hands were calloused from extensive use. An old-fashioned airmen's coat was protecting him, while beneath it a more formal shirt covered him. Artemis lingered on this uniform. The appearance was not unlike that of the British Air-force from the turn of the century albeit slightly differed in particulars. Artemis remembered the voice he had spoken with, a distinctly Scottish lilt underlying the words. This, along with all the rest told him almost everything he needed.

But one question still irked him. What was this boy's name? Moving the coat Artemis checked the soldier's chest for a name. He found this rather quickly, a ledger stitched to his shirt. Dylan Sharp, Artemis read. Then he saw something else. A small badge was pinned to his shirt, red and blue stripes with the picture of a bearded man. This read "for gallantry in the air" though Artemis was less interested in the inscription then the craving. What was Charles Darwin doing on a British badge from the nineteen hundreds?

…

The Deeps maximum security prison, Atlantis trench.

Opal Koboi was a happy pixie. Stuck in cell in the most heavily fortified and policed prison in the fairy world wasn't the most joyful scenario to be stuck in. You couldn't chase your dreams of vengeance if you were watched twenty-four seven by a dozen specially trained guards, backed up by nearly 300 others. It was hard to enjoy the little things in life like murder if you didn't have the freedom to choose your own clothes for yourself. Getting lost in music was out of the question, if it distracted the guards. Good food was in short supply, thanks to hungry inmates and guards. But if you were stuck in the same place, essentially alone for long periods of time, you did with what you had and made the best of it.

So Opal dreamed of the day that she escaped, making her way to the surface, revealing the people to the mud men and stepping over the corpses of Holly Short, Artemis Fowl and Foaly the centaur to do it. And if a few thousand humans and fairies died on the way, well, that was a bonus. She was doing exactly this when the front door to her cell opened. Looking up from the bed she was lounging on Opal was greeted with the sight of a large strangely sweaty pixie looming over her that, in return, seemed to look right through her. Speaking in a halting voice it said; "Opal Koboi you have been charged with several counts of attempted murder and are to be executed".

Opal cocked one rounded ear at the guard, seeming to not comprehend.

"To be executed? The courts haven't ruled that way in centauries." Opal rose and looked down on the shorter pixie, blessing her human pituitary gland all the way. "Who sent you?"

The pixie ignored her, continuing in the same irregular voice; "I am to escort you to the outside of the prison where you will be executed." Turning to exit the guard did not wait for her response, leaving Opal to quietly follow him.

Moving through the halls Opal noticed that they seemed to avoid most guards and those they met where staring quietly past her and her escort. Suddenly the leading pixie doubled down into a sprint charging through the halls. Opal had to toss her legs out in wild strides just to stay near him. A patrol of guards turned the corner ahead and gawked at the juggernaut and escapee trailing behind him. Sparks shot off the jumbo pixie and connected with the patrol, freezing them in place. The guard bowled them down, Opal now truly well and lost as to explain how he was managing to cut through the guards. The why of it was easy enough though. "An escape attempt. Ingeniously crafted and executed, all for me. I do hope I get to meet the person who came up with this."

Ignorance is bliss after all.

An electronic door flew open ahead of the duo and revealed an upper level yard, open to the rest of Atlantis. A shuttle floated on the far end of the yard, besieged by guards and inmates. The pixie charged into the fray and vanished under the crush of bodies. Opal froze, suddenly unsure of her next move. The indecision lasted mere seconds as the guard that had led her to the yard began to glow and spark. Opal covered her head as the pixie exploded into a gory mess, stunning several guards and prisoners. Seizing her chance Opal sprinted the last few dozen yards to the shuttle, scrabbling and tripping onto the steps and into the cockpit.

The helmeted pilot didn't spare her a glance, only waiting until she was strapped before gunning the engines. The aircraft hurtled towards the dome, arcing over the skyscrapers to cleanly avoid sentries. Opal noticed that a gleam seemed to run parallel to the ship, almost right on them. A laser flash banished any thought of trailing ships from her mind. The pilot twisted the controls near to their breaking point, steering the ship away from the oncoming roof. A secondary flash was enough to make Opal wish to be back in her cell. If any managed to hit them then the ship wouldn't hold air, let alone water. Suddenly the gleam from earlier appeared again on the starboard of the ship, swinging sideways away from the shuttlecraft and down. Opal managed a good look at it and saw it was an exact duplicate of their shuttle, a hologram meant to lend her and her rescuer some time.

The pair of chasing sentries took the bait, diving for the false shuttle as the real one slowed to tail behind them. The four shuttles raced for the edge of the city, to the site of one of Atlantis's old gates. The gate system had been used for centuries in Atlantis, an easy way for ships to enter and leave quickly. The shuttles charged for it the sentries cutting lose with their engines, while Opal and her savior watched from behind it all. The outer gate opened to admit the shuttles, the second inner gate flying open fast enough to allow the craft through and out into the ocean.

The shuttles hit the water moving at nearly half the speed of sound, punching hard into the open sea beyond. Opal was shoved into her seats straps, almost losing consciousness from turbulence. The Sentry shuttles slowed to accommodate the shift in density, switching to aquatic engines and torpedoes. They didn't get to use them though. Scarcely in the water for longer than one minute when the faux shuttle swung low, exploding in a subdued fashion. The chase shuttles bore off, searching for whatever had caused the detonation of the shuttle. Over the course of hours several more shuttles flew out to assist in the rescue effort, running up and down the crash site, before ultimately giving up and writing it off as a failed escape attempt.

Opal, on the other hand, had been pleasantly surprised when the hologram vanished in the subaquatic explosion. It didn't mean anything for her, aside from the fact that she was now free to plot her revenge. But a niggling thought happened on her as she and her captor slowly flew from the wreckage, a thought she soon put into words.

"So who am I to thank for this daring escape." Sarcasm laced her words like poison.

The pilot swung the chair to face her and removed the helmet, a manic smile plastered on her face. "Why yourselves of course, but mostly me."

Opal smiled at her younger self. So the rumors were true after all. A second Opal Koboi, traveling from the past to change the future.

"Well I believe it's time we get down to business. Don't you?"

…

The captive boy stirred as Artemis look on, seated on the bed on the other side of the cell. The young genius had decided to do some further exploration into the Rip scripture while the prisoner slept. As he had dived back into the text, Artemis discovered that the strange text held more information than simple locations and coordinates. The mystifying text bore all the hallmarks of having been written by an incomprehensible genius, unparalleled in modern time.

But the knowledge went deeper. The pages writings hinted at strange trans-dimensional rifts, accessible to anyone with the right technology. But stranger still, as Artemis dug into the formulas the text provided him, it was becoming increasingly clear that without the technology to access the rifts they could not be opened. And if they were opened by some unfathomable force, then controlled passage between them was impossible, with any transients being lost in random universes, similar to how the time stream worked. In fact the rift between worlds was shockingly similar to the time stream, but seemed an ocean when compared with the stream, which was merely a river.

Which raised the question: how had the boy had arrived in his world, as it was the only one with someone who had only just know learned of the existence of alternate worlds and had arrived at the point of entry barely minutes before. The probabilities were astronomical at best.

As Dylan, the boy in question, came to, he began to struggle against the plastic cuff binding him to the bed. Artemis waited patiently as he fought to loosen the strap. Finally tiring Dylan simply glared at Artemis, who smirked back, before speaking.

"I won't tell you anything, you barking Clanker."

Artemis smirked again, enjoying that, after so long, he had the upper hand over someone. Deciding on a local accent and a bad cop persona, Artemis began the process of extrapolating the information of this boy's origin.

"If you believe that we need any further information, then you are sorely mistaken, Mister Sharp. We have all the data we need so as to not necessitate an expedition into the Rip. But a description of the event would be most helpful." Artemis let this sink in for a moment, feeling slightly guilty when Dylan deflated in shock. But it was an excellent question.

"I don't know anything. Just kill me and have done." Dylan replied after a thought.

"You really don't remember anything from your little trip down the rabbit hole."

"No, just kill me. I won't tell you anything."

Artemis switched tactics. "I found this interesting pin on you. Why would Charles Darwin be on an air service medal?" Pulling the badge out for Dylan to see, Artemis waited for an answer. Dylan's quizzical look deepened while he thought before replying.

"Well I'm a barking Darwinist. Isn't that obvious from my voice."

"Yes, and so I'm a Clanker for sounding like a Russian."

"No, you're a Clanker for sounding like you're German. The Russians are Darwinists."

"So the Germans are Clankers, and you fight with the Russians, even though you are British. That would mean that the Austrians are also 'Clankers'."

"Ai they are, hey, you should know that." Dylan, having finally caught on, glared at Artemis. Artemis cocked an eyebrow, before standing to leave.

"I do not expect a description of the time tunnel, only to know why you think that the central powers are called Clankers. And of course, why the British are called 'Darwinists'."

Artemis opened the door, preparing for the next part of the interrogation, before hearing a click behind him. It was a gut wrenchingly repulsive click, as though some part of him had been detached. Before he could get much passed that thought, a boot found the back of his head. Sprawling forward Artemis could only wonder how Dylan had freed himself from the cufflink, shouting out for Butler to help him. Butler himself had been waiting outside the room, in the case that the interrogation went sour. Smoothly turning, Butler back handed Dylan, knocking him out once again.

Artemis reached for a hand to pull him up. As Butler brought his charge to his feet Artemis turned to face the unconscious form of Dylan for the second time that day. "He dislocated him arm to attack me. Surely he knew that you would be outside."

Orion took this moment to speak into Artemis's head again. "Perhaps he thought it was something that he was meant to do. To fight the hopeless battle, the lost cause."

Artemis mentally glared at Orion. Of all times he could have started talking, now was the worst of them. But he did have a point, as much as he ever did. This boy's time was no less romanticized than the rest of the early twentieth century, so it was conceivable that he was simply one of those people. But still, it was disturbing to see someone so gung-ho try to take on Butler. Disturbing thoughts, though, resurrected disturbing memories.

"Butler, if I may ask, does this boy seem familiar to you?"

Butler examined the boy before resting him on the bed. "Yes actually, he does. I noticed this earlier, when he was trying to knife you."

Artemis made a show of rolling his eyes before admitting, "He does seem to bear resemblance to someone I might have known, though I cannot remember meeting anyone of similar description."

"Well, he seems to look a little like you." Slow silence greeted Butler's claim. Until…

"If you were a pirate."

Artemis nodded, choosing to take the opinion at face value instead of arguing and turned to his computer. "I need to reconfigure the ships sensor array. I'll best leave you to it."

Walking back to the front of the ship Artemis wondered about Dylan. They were certainly the same height, and of similar build. His face was alike as well; such as the chin had a comparable bend to it and his ears were nearly as long. But his bodily proportions were different, the shoulders too broad for his own family, legs nearly too long for them to be relatives. His hair was unlike any fowl relative Artemis knew of.

This all added up to nothing of consequence, however. At least at the moment they didn't. Artemis was suddenly aware of a slight noise in his head. Looking inward, he found Orion cackling serenely. "And I suppose you have an answer for our guest's presence, hmm?"

Orion gave the closest thing a mentally projected split personality could to a smile and countered "At least I've figured out some of Mister Sharp's secrets. Have you done the same?"

Artemis's prepared mental response withered on the vine when his computer beeped, the Holly's voice filtered through. "Artemis I have some bad news. Get up to the front of the shuttle. You'll definitely want to see this."

A/N: like I said; Action. I intend to update on a weekly schedule, two chapters before the one I'm working on. So though this is the fourth chapter, I'm already on the sixth. See you next week.