Now I've corrected the mistakes in this chapter as well.. :)

About the reviews:

Norbet: Well, I have no idea where Butler is.. :D I'm sorry, I didn't think about it, but well.. maybe Artemis has told him to let him and Mulch talk in private or something.. I don't know.. He might as well be making himself a sandwich or something. Bottomline: He's not in this story, poor guy.. :P

Bloody Dead Rose: I imagine the whole time-travel thing like this (I think I mention it later on in the story, but whatever) : When someone is removed from the past, the time from where they are removed stops, until they return.. So it doesn't matter who she takes with her, because no one in the past will notice.. :) (Yeah, it sounds weird, but let's just call it a poetic licence on my part).
And the "Artemis went too easy" is now also corrected the best of my ability.

Hope you all still enjoy the story.

In this chapter I own Richter and also the young lady, who appears in the end of this chapter, but all the other characters belong to Eoin Colfer.. :)

Chapter 5 -Attacked

Police Plaza –Haven City –Year 2106

"Ok, I'll give you a short briefing," Holly looked at the other people in the conference room. "You are now in the year 2106. The present situation is, that we're threatened, and nothing more than that. Today we got this e-mail." She nodded at Foaly, who opened the e-mail one more time. When they'd all seen it, Artemis raised his hand, very slowly, like he didn't know, if he was doing the right thing. For the first time that Holly could remember, he looked like the young boy he really was.

Holly looked at him. "Yes, Artemis?"

He took a deep breath, and then he started to talk. "I'm sorry to tell you this Commander Short, but… I'm afraid that this is my fault. I…"

"What do you mean? Of course it isn't! You died almost thirty years ago!"

Artemis raised his eyebrows. "Thanks for telling me, but I suppose I could have lived without that particular piece of information. But let me finish speaking. I have, too, been experimenting with traveling in time. By an accident, I sent the minidisk with all the fairy files into the future. I tried to get it back, but I couldn't."

Everybody's eyes were pointed at the boy. No one knew what to say. Commander Root couldn't even find something to yell.

At last, Holly looked up. "We can't be sure, that Mr. Richter has got the information from Artemis' disk. We'll have to find out. I suggest that we call Mr. Richter. Foaly track down the e-mail."

It didn't take Foaly many seconds, to find out where the e-mail came from. He looked at his laptop for a while. "Strange," he said.

Holly walked over to him. "What?"

"I've found his homepage. There's his phone number, e-mail address, everything. But… When I tracked the e-mail, it looked like the signal came… from under the surface."

"What? But he can't be… I mean… How? He can't be down here! Can he?"

"Maybe."

"Let's just try to contact him, and see what happens. Right?"

"Right."

Dominic Richter's face appeared on the screen. The Mud men had finally started to communicate via video.

Richter smiled. "Yes?"

Holly took at step forward, so that she was sure, that he could see her.

"Mr. Richter, right?"

"You're right, little fairy girl. So, are your people ready to cooperate with me?"

"I don't know, because we still don't know what you want."

"Ok, then get me someone to talk to."

"You can talk to me Mr. Richter."

"I meant a man."

Holly seethed of anger. "I repeat Mr. Richter. You can talk to me. I'm the one in charge here. My name is Holly Short, and I'm the Commander of the Lower Elements Police reconnaissance unit. You'll have to keep your man chauvinistic attitude for yourself, and talk to me, or you'll talk to no one."

"Ok, ok. I'll talk to you, Commander Short."

"Good. Then what do you want?"

"What do I want? Hm… What do I want…?"

"We don't have all day Richter. Stop trying to play games with me, and tell me."

"You're a tuff little fairy, Commander. Ok, I just want the total mastery over the Lower Elements."

"What? You can't be serious!"

"Yes I can. And I am. And if you won't give it to me voluntarily, I'll have to take it with power."

Holly tried to think clear. This was impossible. He couldn't mean it. He couldn't do it. She had to make him keep talking, so that she could think. She took a deep breath. "Would you tell me, from where you've come to know about us?"

Richter laughed. A scary, cold laugh. Holly became even more angry. He enjoyed it! He enjoyed her fear, and he enjoyed her anger. She tried to calm down a bit.

"Hm, I guess that it can't ruin anything, to tell you. I was lucky. Some day an old-fashioned minidisk was lying at my desk. It turned out to be filled with information about a secret fairy-people, who lived under the surface of the Earth."

Holly sighed. So it was Artemis' fault. She had just hoped that he'd got the information somewhere else.

She looked at the others. "What now?" She mimed.

They all shook their heads.

"No, Richter. We are not going to let you take control down here. How do you want to do it, anyway?"

"I'll show you, young lady. I'll show you."

He broke the connection.

And just then, after the screen had turned black, they heard it. A deafening explosion, like the one from a bomb.

Grub Kelp rushed into the meeting room two seconds later. His hair was a mess, but for once he didn't seem to care. "Commander Short! We are being attacked!"

Holly looked surprised at him. "Humans?"

"No, it looks like…"

"Like what Grub?!"

"Like fairies, sir."

"How many?"

"I don't know. They keep coming."

Holly grabbed a microphone. "All captains and majors to the conference room! This is an emergency! I repeat: An emergency!"

Holly looked at all the captains. Good, they were all there. Or… No, one was missing. Holly sighed.

"Has anyone seen Captain Root?"

No one said anything.

Holly took the microphone. "Captain Root! Get to the conference room! IMMEDIATELY! This is an emergency, and we're only waiting for you."

Holly sighed again. Always her. Always! Then she noticed Commander Root looking confused at her.

Before she got time to explain, a young woman entered the room. Her long, red hair was taken up in a ponytail.

"Well," Holly said with a sarcastic smile. "Looks like Captain Root has decided to finally join us."

Yeah, that's right! Root's got a daughter, and she's quite a rebel.. Ironic huh? :D

More about that in the next chapter. Please go on reading, and review.