Chapter 6

Holly and Artemis were locked in their prison without contact from either of the Opals for more than an hour.

"They're probably catching up." Holly guessed correctly. "So she can best us all the second time around."

"You do know that that won't work, right? Those events have already happened, they can't be changed."

Holly rubbed her temples wearily.

"Don't start Artemis. Just attempting to think about it gives me a headache."

"Alright then, in simple terms. Those things happened to Opal after she went back to her own time. That they happened the way they did means that she must have been mind-wiped in this time."

"So?"

"So, Holly, that means that we win. We get out of here, and put the world to rights again. It means that we can find a way out of here."

"No, Artemis. It means that the LEP beat Opal. She could still kill us."

"That's what I love about you, Holly. You boundless optimism."

She snorted and began pacing the room. Artemis watched her for a few minutes, then walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

"We can get out of this, Holly. I will think of a way."

She looked at him and smiled.

"I know. I trust you, Artemis."

He smiled back at her, guilt twisting his stomach. He didn't deserve her trust, but she gave it anyway. She had forgiven him for lying to her and manipulating her, for using her magic to achieve his own ends, and for kidnapping her. Why? No one deserved that many chances.

The Opals chose that moment to open the door. Both of them were holding guns. Guess where they were pointed.

Past Opal gestured at Artemis with her free hand.

"Out, Mudman. You're coming with me."

Artemis glanced at Holly, then walked out of their cell, Opal's gun pressed to his spine. Holly glared daggers at Present Opal, who was debating whether or not to shoot the elf in front of her.

"Are you not going with them?"

Opal shut the door with a bang.

"No, I'm not. I'm staying right here. You and I are going to have a little chat."

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Opal prodded Artemis down the corridor and into a disused science lab. Lying on a metal table in the middle of the room was a gleaming silver bio bomb. Artemis hesitated, and Opal, correctly interpreting why, huffed and slammed the door behind her.

"Don't worry, Fowl. It's not armed yet, and it won't go off if you touch it."

Artemis looked at the pixie, careful not to met her eyes - he had no wish to be mesmerized into submission.

"What do you want me to do? You could arm this yourself, you don't need me for that."

Opal scowled.

"We want you to alter its workings. Currently, it will kill all life in the set area. That is no good to us at all, not what we want."

Artemis wondered when she was going to come to the point.

"We want you to change it so that it only targets fairies."

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Opal prowled around Holly in a circle. It was irritating as hell, but Holly refrained from turning with the pixie. No need to show her insecurities.

"What do you want, Opal?"

"Simple, my dear Captain. I want revenge. On Fowl, on Foaly, and on you. Everyone who took me down. Previously, I would have added Julius Root to that list, but I already got him, didn't I?"

Holly clenched her fists. Opal grinned at her.

"Don't worry, Captain. You'll be joining your late Commander very shortly. As soon as Fowl has finished changing the bio bomb for us."

Holly had never wanted to hurt someone as badly as she did right now. However, if she did swing for Opal, the pixie would shoot her. Instead, she injected as much venom into her tone as possible.

"Don't bet on it. You've tried to kill me and Artemis before, and it hasn't worked. Artemis is just too smart for you."

Opal reddened at her words and shot Holly in the leg. The Captain grunted in pain and fell to the floor. Opal leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Artemis is altering that bomb right now. He's going to be responsible for the death of every fairy in Haven."

"What about you? No amount of magic can stand against a bio bomb. With none, you're just as dead as the rest of us." Holly spat. Hatred resonated in every syllable. Opal patted her condescendingly on the top of the head.

"It won't affect me, because I'll register as human."

"It won't kill humans?"

"I told you Fowl was changing it."

Opal stood and headed for the door. Holly yelled after her.

"What about your younger self? She's definitely a pixie."

"Yes, but she has the Eternity Stone. Goodbye, Captain."

Opal shut the cell door on Holly's astounded expression.

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Artemis spent the next few hours carefully taking the bomb apart. He didn't know how he was going to change its mechanics, a fact that he was loathe to admit even to himself. He didn't like not knowing things.

"Why do you need me to do this anyway? You're just as clever as I am, I'm sure you could figure it out."

"Shut up and get on with it, Mudman."

"Well, if not you then why not your older self?"

"She's… Turning into a human, combined with the after effects of the coma have left her a few IQ points down. She couldn't do it."

Artemis grinned. That was why she was so bitter - she hated to be outsmarted by a human.

"So why don't you do it? The technology too advanced for you?"

"I told you to shut up!" the pixie snapped. Artemis nodded to himself. Right again. He wondered if he'd ever get tired of always being right.

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Foaly cantered back into the conference room waving a piece of paper.

"Well, it worked. We have a hit."

Everyone in the room looked at him. He sighed, muttering 'unappreciated' under his breath.

"I swabbed Fowl's DNA from the inside of the ring - not as easy as it sounds - and ran it through the scopes. I got a hit in E1 - only very briefly, it looks as though they were using the offshoot tunnels mostly."

Trouble interrupted before the centaur could get too immersed in his own genius.

"So what does this tell us? They could be anywhere - do you know how many tunnels come off E1?"

Foaly shook his head.

"This reading was taken two hours ago, halfway up E1. They're in Haven somewhere, Commander. It's the only place they could be, with that time window."

Troubles eyes lit up.

"We have a search area. Foaly, search for anywhere that Koboi might go - any residences, warehouses, anything. Past and present. And include anything registered to Cudgeon."

He strode to the doorway, yelling for all Retrieval Officers to get to his office now. Foaly sighed.

"Foaly do this, Foaly do that." he muttered, but left. If it could help bring his friends back… hold on a minute. Since when was Fowl his friend?