Okay, so this chappie is a bit short too, but my laptop crashed recently, and I lost all my work. I assure you, something BIG will be coming. As soon as I think of it... :D

But, enjoy, and relax, because there's no cliff hanger this time.

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Love you all, TheModernChromatic.

*******

From anyone else's point of view, a venomous look from a pixie as small as Opal Koboi was surprisingly frightening. But of course, Artemis was amused by the little creature's hating glares.

"What big eyes you have, grandma," he chuckled and leaned casually against the wall behind him.

Opal, however was not amused and wordlessly shot Artemis with the same knock-out method she'd used on Sophie. Artemis fell to the ground.

Much struggling and frustration followed, and so did the re-awakening of Artemis.

"So, granny dear, have you found how hard it is for you to open up your mouth and eat me this time?" He retorted, just waking up.

Opal screamed furiously. But still said nothing. She simply glared and growled under her breath. Then, on her little pixie feet, she paced--or rather stomped--about the room, occasionally stopping to bang her tiny fist on something.

"It does you no good to keep her knocked out," Artemis interjected, casually jerking his head towards Sophie, "She's the only key to my 'release'."

Opal gave an infuriated questioning look in silence, and it occurred to Artemis that she couldn't speak. How clever, he thought to the sleeping Sofie, to mute the voice of the enemy.

"Ah, yes. That minor detail. Did I leave that out? Oh, silly human me." Artemis laughed fakely, "Well, it would seem I'm in a bit of a pickle here. There's no getting me out of this invisible box without the key. Level seven containment center, says sleeping princess over there. So, good luck to you without her." He smiled nonchalantly and picked at his nails. Or rather pretended to. How could he ever do such a detrimental thing since he'd retired them of their adventures and gone back to his soft, familiar, pianist-manicure look.

Not bothering with the antidote, Opal kicked at Sofie with her little feet of evil until she awoke and fell from her chair.

*******

It was like waking to a dream, was my first thought. The second was followed by something much more logical. One cannot wake to a dream consisting of slumber. It started with the bright lights of my lab blinding my eyes and was reared with stinging pains in my side. First, I was confused. How could Artemis be hurting me outside of his perimeter? How could anyone else have gotten in without me? Then, through the blinding light, I saw the little angelic face.

At first, I was too stunned to do anything. The little face was so stunning and inhuman I couldn't make sense of it. And then I felt the little foot that went with the little face ram itself into my side. Again.

"Mother of fuck!" I cry out, somewhat involuntarily.

"Hello to you too," says Artemis cheerily.

"Oh shit, who are you?" I back myself into a corner wearily and blindly grab at my desk for something to defend myself with. I settle on the fork with oatmeal and tufts of River-hair on it.

"She won't be able to answer you, loves, she's muted."

For a second, I have no idea what Artemis is talking about, until I remember activating one of my first protocol inventions. It was Valor's fault of course. It prevented any unwanted or threatening conversations, unless programmed otherwise. And it malfunctioned. A LOT.

"Uh..." I shuffle about the room, still wearily holding the fork and watching the little kicking demon. Hesitantly, I shut it off.

And suddenly, I'm being attacked by a small, wriggling, screaming being. In addition to that, I had dropped my fork. Forgetting my endless years of torturous, tedious fight training, I screamed and crawled away, throwing things at the little terror behind me. One of the things to hit her was my portero ray gun, sending her flying to the ceiling lightly.

One thing I hate most in my lab is flies. They're such dirty, disgusting creatures, and they bother me to no end. So, the entire ceiling of my lab is hyper-charged with electricity designed to kill the little beasts and vaporize their bodies. But this too is defective sometimes. Perhaps it was luck that the little pixie wasn't vaporized, or perhaps her mass was too much. Maybe it just didn't hurt pixies. Either way, the little thing hung suspended in midair, unconcious.

I shuddered, and Artemis applauded softly.

I turned on him.

"What on earth are you clapping for?! She almost killed me and you're clapping?!"

"You don't understand," he laughs, "that's Opal Koboi, criminal mastermind of the underworld. And you just outsmarted her."

"I wouldn't say 'outsmarted'. I didn't mean to, it just happened. Besides, I was defending myself."

"Well, either way, I applaud you," and he clapped again.

A few sparks fell from around the pixie where the electricity was still struggling to vaporize her.

"You'd better let her down now," Artemis warns.

"Why's that? I like her much better up there," I say, rubbing my ribs.

"Because," he says, and makes eye contact with me, "If you singe her hair, she will kill you."