Thanks to...
Slim Shady - for the review :) And also (*shameless-advertising-alert*) if you like pre-book fics, that's pretty much what I write so I'm glad you found me :)
Readergirl99 - You make me smile - lots :)
Anyway.
Don't get too excited. Sadly, I've reverted to the good old shorty-chap.
Bit of bad language. I'm sure you'll survive it.
When he woke up the world was still lurching, but for an entirely different reason.
Butler rolled onto his side and tried to sit up. Which was rather difficult, with his hands tied behind his back and his feet strapped together. He went back to basic training and took in his surroundings. Wherever he was, it was either very dark, or he'd gone blind.
For a second he almost panicked about that possibility, after all the wooden bat had hit him pretty hard on the head. But Butlers didn't panic. He squinted. There was a faint outline above him, he focussed on it closely. It looked like it could be the way in. And hopefully out.
It could be a trapdoor, he reasoned, trying to get a better look with his darkened eyesight, still slightly perturbed by the quality of his vision.
Then a square of light burst into being, searing his perfectly functioning retinas. He closed his eyes quickly, focusing on his hearing, and lunged upwards at the sound of Juliet's yelp.
"Shit! The big ones up already." One pirate swore.
"Just chuck the kids in quick, then."
"They aint got no bindings - they could untie him."
"Yeah right. They're kids, mate." The second man pushed Artemis and Juliet through the trapdoor where they both landed on Butler.
"Hello, you two."
"I can't believe this is happening."
The Major silently agreed with Angeline Fowl's statement. He had been trying his nephew's number for the last hour and a half now, with no response. Little did he know, it was because said mobile was now in the possession of one of the only crew-members left standing after Butler's fighting tactics, who was trying to unlock the device and failing miserably.
After the attack the police had given chase but soon lost the trail. They had taken every detail and were currently searching the area for any leads. The Major was itching to go search for himself, but that would mean leaving the remaining Fowls behind. Alone.
I hope you've found them, he thought to his nephew.
Butler had indeed found Artemis and Juliet. Or rather, they had found him. It really was unbelievably dark in the bowels of the boat.
"Are you ok?" Juliet asked, feeling his face for blood and bruises.
"I'll live Jules, stop fussing." Butler tried not to flinch as she poked at the damage the baseball bat had made to his head. "Are you two ok? Did they hurt you?"
"Neither of us have serious injuries, although Juliet has some bruising to her face." Artemis reported. "And your wounds?"
"Nothing I haven't had before, sir."
"Considering the situation, Butler, I think it would be fair to say we can drop the formalities."
"Yes Artemis."
"Good. Now, we need a plan." Artemis deduced, settling into the lotus position as best he could on the bowed floorboards and putting his mind to work. His bodyguard might be there for the physical violence, but at least he could help with the mental assault.
"Let's get you untied." Juliet set to work on the ropes. A normal twelve-year-old might not be able to undo the professionally done knots but Juliet was trained to escape from almost any bindings holding herself or others captive. It would have been a lot quicker with one of Butler's knives, but they had been confiscated, along with his boots, gun and bullet-proof vest leaving his already ripped shirt completely buttonless.
In less than half-an-hour Butler was rolling his wrists and rubbing the circulation back into his ankles. And they were still stuck in the bottom of a Somalian pirate's stolen yacht floating out to somewhere in the Gulf of Aden.
"Do we have a plan yet, genius-plotter-boy?" Juliet asked as she helped tie a strip of shirt over the shallow stab wound under her brother's arm.
"I have run through our options and, honestly, there are no feasible means of escape. We can presume the trapdoor is locked, therefore, unless we can break through the hull someway and escape before we are swept into the belly of the ship by the influx of water and go down with it..." Artemis didn't bother finishing his sentence. He didn't need to.
"Oh." Juliet put into words what they were all thinking. "Then we just... wait?"
"Then we just wait." Artemis repeated.
"I can't stand this waiting." Angeline wailed.
"There, there. I'm sure it won't be much longer, darling." Artemis took his wife's hands in his own.
"What if they don't find them, Timmy?" she sobbed.
"They will, dear. In fact, I'm sure Butler has found them already." He patted her hand uneasily.
"Then why isn't he answering his phone."
Mr. Fowl glanced at his bodyguard who could offer nothing. "I don't know. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry..." he trailed off, guilt gnawing at him.
Of course the bodyguards should have stopped the kidnapping from ever taking place, he tried to convince himself. But technically it was my fault it was even a possibility.
Now his son was missing. As was and innocent girl. And heavens knew what had happened to Butler. He looked over to The Major who either blanked him or didn't notice. Artemis strongly favoured the first option - his bodyguard noticed everything.
Well, perhaps he deserves to show a little insolence, Mr. Fowl rationalised. When his principal has managed to put both our families in grave danger.
The Major averted his eyes from his charge, not wanting to start any sort of conversation. Especially not one involving who was to blame.
It's my fault, he thought. It's my job to look after this family... and my own.
He felt slightly guilty that the Fowls jumped to mind before his niece and nephew but that was who he was. He gripped his mobile-phone in a giant fist, not that he expected it to spring into life with news of the children's rescue, but he could hardly set about cleaning his gun like he normally would at times of stress, being as they were in a police station.
In an hour or so, the secretary came round offering coffee. None of them accepted it. They had had quite enough of coffee for one night.
The Major kept his eyes on the door, flinching whenever a car passed by outside. Sadly, it did not burst open to reveal the missing people they were waiting for, or even any information on their whereabouts, or otherwise.
After a while, Angeline fell into a fitful sleep on her husband's shoulder. Artemis Senior closed his eyes to the fluorescent glare of the room's lighting and sank into a doze.
The Major sat back in his chair slightly. Watching, always watching. Refusing to fall asleep.
It was going to be a long night.
It was a long night on the boat too.
A few times in the past couple of hours, they all felt horribly seasick in the rolling ocean. Even Butler, who had once weathered a near-hurricane force storm in a stolen dingy off the coast of Scotland.
Being as they were in the holding area, they were also in danger of being crushed by loose cargo, which slid around in the pitch black, hitting into them like invisible force-fields. At one point Butler had an idea and wrenched a plank from one of the crates, using it to jam the trapdoor so that the pirates would be at the least be hindered when they tried to open it.
And then, huddled together in the darkness, they waited.
Butler had faith in his uncle's tracking abilities, but doubted he would be letting the remaining Fowls out of his sight long enough to use them. That left them to rely on the police's talents and the pirate's carelessness to be found. Butler hoped he'd at least managed to leave some blood behind at the port as a clue, but doubted Jace would be daft enough to not notice something like that.
Juliet leant on one side of him, trying not to fall asleep and failing miserably. Artemis was already slumbering, frowning slightly, no doubt plotting away even in his dreams.
Butler leant back against the crate behind them, staring at the increasingly faint outline of the trapdoor with increasingly better night-eyes. Scraping chairs and laughter filtered down slowly from the drunken pirates above. He heard shouts of what they were going to do with the money when Fowl paid up. And what they were going to do with their hostages if he wouldn't.
Pinned between two snoozing children, he quietly swore to protect them both with every last breath in his body. Not that he wouldn't have done already.
Then he waited for dawn. Refusing to sleep.
Sorry - sometimes the story just breaks in shorter parts.
This chapter was a bit of a filler really I suppose.
Anyway, the next one is bigger and more exciting to make up for this.
So bear with me if you want.