Hello friends and fans! I know Sofie was kind of downer in the last chapter, but I promise you, it's all a part of my master plan. I love that I'm getting all these hits on it, but come on guys and gals! I wanna hear what you think! Leave a comment, review it! Give me some constructive criticism! Everyone was going mad in the first few months I wrote this!

(BTW, if anyone has any opinion on Artemis and Sofie in a position where Artemis replaces Valor, drop me a note!) (Yes, no? Maybe so?)

Comment, review, SUBSRIBE! TheModernChromatic is always cranking out more madness! Don't miss a bit!

Love you all! TheModernChromatic.

About two hours into my spiraling depression, I remember some of my combat tactics to concealing expression. Slowly, I tap into an inner chi I acquired when prepping myself for a fight. I close my eyes calmly and try to forget everything. I am in an oasis of nothingness; a null, void area of the mind. My meditation is disrupted by the door slamming in the kitchen. Against my better judgement, I open my eyes after a few seconds of returning to reality.

Lefty and Rufus stand before me, Mama, and River, each holding onto an arm of a slumped-over, half-concious, bashed-up mess of a person whom I'm pleased to see is supposed to be Valor. Rufus, Lefty's younger (but not smaller, or less muscular) brother, straps a device around his forehead. It's one of my first neurological inventions; a breakthrough for me. I based it's calculations off of brain mass, and then targeted the nervous system, I remember fondly. It's an interrogation device, meant to cause the wearer physical pain in the weakest spot found by the device, in the most painful way possible. Even men like Lefty and Rufus couldn't hold their own against it for much; I made it for efficiency.

Seeing it on Valor's bruised and bloodied face was the equivalent to seeing a favorite weapon that had majorly backfired on you held over flames; (granted, that wouldn't end well if you favored explosives...) there is remorse, and there is vengence. Simon, who'd never had much of a fraternity with Valor anyways, hands me the remote and whispers: "Make him dance."

I stare at the alien device in my hand, look back at Simon, and then to Valor, who seems to now be vaguely aware of what's happening. His eyes flutter open and shut quickly, and he summons the energy to look my in the eye. "Sof..." He begs. I am filled with an overflow of emotion; something well-hidden by years of building a facade to hide behind. I close my eyes and throw the remote to the ground with enough force to break it into pieces. Instead, River catches it before it can break, and I get up and leave. My lab door shuts just as River give the remote a few warming triggers for good measure.

The demon pixie is awake now, and does not seem pleased. "You!" She screeches when she sees me, and she dives for me. I can even rouse myself to laugh as she crashes face-first into her barrier. She lets loose a stream of incoherent language, and I hit my computer (not literally) which, upon picking up the sound waves buisily works on translating it.

"Sorry pup." I say, lifelessly, "But you aren't getting out of there anytime soon. I think a little alone time will do you some good. You just keep yelling in your little language and I'll be back when you decide to cooperate with me." And I open the floor to Artemis's hidden chamber.

"Good evening." Says he in a Transylvanian accent, pulling his jacket up to conceal part of his face.

"I'm letting you go." I say flatly, not bothering to amuse myself with the surprise on his face.

"Now why would you do that, hm? You successfully captured a world-class criminal with a monster bodyguard and a record for getting out of impossible situations, and you captured a criminal pixie wanted by the authorities of more than one species and you're just going to let me go? That doesn't seem in the habit of collectors."

"I'm not a collector. I just wanted to make the world a little better. But now that I see that its inhabitants are too doltish to be helped, I think I'll just watch it burn with everyone else."

Artemis looks at me silently and sits on his mattress. "I heard what you and Calvin or whatever his name were arguing about." He looks doleful.

"It doesn't matter. It just made me realize that even the elites of a species can't be helped. We are what we are."

Artemis looks unamused. He scoots a little to his right and pats the mattress beside him with one hand. "Have a seat." He commands.

"What do I look like, an imbecile? No thanks." And I stand right outside his perimeter.

"What would benefit me from hurting you? No one else knows I'm here, nor could they access the lab with you dead inside it. Even if they could, they couldn't even power up your computer without the passwords, and I'm certain your encriptions far exceed the norm. Therefore, with you dead, I am stuck in the same six-by-six area for the rest of my life, and everything after. Sit."

My shoulders fall as I sigh, and I sit down next to him. He turns to me and looks me right in the eye. I meet his gaze for a second, and then his hand flies to my cheek. He strikes me so quickly, and so suddenly that I can't be bothered to even react until he's giving me a cynical look. I put my hand to my face and feel it growing warmer under my fingers.

"What the hell was that for?" I say softly, stunned.

"For being human. Forgive my need to correct you, but you are genetically altered, are you not?"

"I am, yes, but I'm still mostly human."

"So be everything you are, not what you mostly are. You are a superior being, so act like it. Stop being such a bitch and moping around like a fat maid without anyone to court her. You don't need a human, because you aren't one, so if you would give it a rest..."

"I'm only reacting to what I feel."

"Well you're above what you feel for god's sake! You're sickening me, being so futile-look at me! I'm a prisoner giving my captor a pep talk!"

"Meh." I say weakly, and collapse onto the mattress behind me. Artemis stands.

"Get up before I kick you." He commands, nudging me with his fancy loafers, "Or worse; I'll put my sweaty v-neck in your face. You realize I've been here for over a week and I haven't changed my clothes once?"

Grudgingly, I get up and look at him half-heartedly. "Now what."

"Now, if you're going to let me out, do it, but I can tell you I won't be much help confined in this place."

"Help?"

"Yes, oh brilliant one, help. I am going to help you, whether you like it or not, because, believe it if you will, this world can be changed. And you're just the person to do it."

"I'm still not sure what you mean."

"I mean," Artemis says, "I am going to help you contact The People."