Chapter 9

Trouble Kelp was parading about in front of Koboi labs, yelling at Foaly through his helmet intercom.

"Foaly! Are you sure this is the right place? It looks deserted."

"No, Commander, I'm not sure. I did tell you that, several times."

"Well, how many other places have you come up with?"

"Ummm.."

Trouble bellowed into the microphone, nearly blowing the speakers in the Ops booth.

"Now you can't even make a list? What are we paying you for? Remind me to dock your budget when I get back."

Foaly winced. Grub nudged the officer next to him.

"I think Trubs is channelling Root."

Unfortunately, the helmet intercom was still on, and his older brother heard Grub's comment. He opened his mouth to yell, but was interrupted by the factory building of the lab behind him exploding. Foaly was the first to break the silence.

"Well, now I'm sure."

"Shut it, centaur. Right, what we're going to do is…Butler? Where are you going?"

The giant manservant had been making for the building. He paused to answer the Commander's question.

"Artemis is in there. And Holly. We have to get them out."

Just then, more of the building fell inwards. Trouble shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Butler, but no one is going in there until I know it's safe. I'm not losing more officers."

Butler drew himself up to his full height. Grub whimpered.

"I'm going in there, Commander. I'm not your officer, you can't stop me."

And with that he ran towards the still collapsing building. Trouble stared after him, then thought the hell with it.

"Split up." he barked. "Go in pairs. Report in every sixty seconds. No one is to be unaccompanied, is that clear? I'll go with Butler."

Retrieval paired off and made their way towards the lab. Finally, just Grub was left partner less. Trouble nodded at him.

"You call the paramedics and wait here for them. Ok?"

Grub nodded. Finally, a job he could actually do. Trouble turned and ran into the lab after Butler.

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The bomb detonated, and Holly threw herself to the floor under a table. If the bomb worked the way Artemis said it would, she was going to need the protection.

She felt the wave of energy coming towards her and closed her eyes. The light hit her, but didn't affect her, just swept over her prone form. She straightened. It had worked!

Above her, the table creaked and collapsed. She moved, but not quick enough. It landed on her left leg, pinning her to the ground.

That was when the ceiling began to cave in.

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Artemis watched Holly roll under the table, saw the light pass over her, and for an instant his heart stopped. She wasn't moving! Had he gone wrong? Then she lifted her head, and he sighed in relief. The Opals, standing on either side of him, were furious.

"What have you done?" they screamed in unison. Artemis smiled his vampire smile.

"I changed the bomb. It only targets non-living things."

In the factory room, the table Holly was under collapsed.

"But that means the whole factory is going to cave in on us!"

"I suggest," smirked Artemis "that you run."

The Opals looked at each other, then turned and ran for the door. Artemis ducked as the mirror smashed, sheltering his head with his arms. When he was more or less certain that no more glass was going to come flying at him, he stood up and peered into the other room. Holly was trapped under the table, and the ceiling above her was caving inwards. He vaulted through the space once occupied by the mirror and heaved at the table pinning her leg to the floor. He pulled, she pushed and the table shifted just enough for Holly to crawl out from under it. Her leg was broken in at least two places, but the magic would sort her out soon enough. For now, they had to focus on staying alive.

The major problem with Artemis's plan was that they were in the cellar of the building. Even with the blast radius being contained, all the floors above them were going to come tumbling down, burying them in rubble. They had to move, and fast.

Artemis grabbed Holly under the arms and dragged her over to the decimated doorway. They cleared the room just in time, the ceiling caving in where they'd been moments before. He propped her against a wall to heal herself. Her entire leg was glowing blue, and her teeth were gritted in pain, but after a few seconds the sparks stopped and she stumbled to his side.

"Thank you." She yelled over the sound of the building caving in around them. "Now shall we leave?"

She didn't wait for him to answer, grabbing his arm and dragging him down the collapsing corridor with her.

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Butler and Trouble headed directly for the centre of the explosion. They ran haphazardly down the disintegrating corridors, dodging as bits of ceiling rained down. After countless dead ends, even Trouble had to admit they were lost. He led Butler back the way he thought they'd come, and ran straight into Holly, knocking her to the floor.

Butler picked them both up and set them down on their feet. Trouble grinned widely.

"Holly! You're Ok!"

"Not for much longer if we don't move!" hollered Artemis. Trouble shook himself.

"Right. Lets go!"

The four of them took off in the direction Holly and Artemis had been going. In the five minutes it took them to escape the clutches of the collapsing building, each of them received numerous cuts and bruises from the flying rubble, and Artemis got hit on the arm by a large chunk of concrete. He grunted as he felt the bone snap, falling into Butler's arms. The manservant picked the boy up and carried him the final dash to safety.

Once outside, both Holly and Trouble set about the task of healing all the groups various wounds. Holly laid her hand on Artemis's arm, breathed 'heal', and watched as the bone knitted itself back together. His main injury taken care of, she hugged him, speaking into his ear.

"Well done, Artemis."

He hugged her back tightly, then whispered to her.

"And you. Thank you, Holly."

She pulled back to look at his face. There was a cut on his cheek, so she ran her finger down it and the mark disappeared. His breath caught.

"What for?"

"For trusting me." he managed to choke out. She smiled. Trouble tapped her on the shoulder, she turned, and Artemis became aware of the fairies surrounding the two of them. Retrieval had all emerged from the building with only minor injuries, and one pair had even managed to capture Present Opal. She was cuffed and in the back of an LEP van before the dust had finished settling on her recently destroyed lab.

Artemis looked around. Where was the other Opal? Had she made it out? His questions were answered when he saw her emerge from the rubble, only mildly injured. She was shaking in fury. Artemis saw her bend down, pick up a handgun - one of Butler's by the look of it, he must have lost it in all the confusion - and aim straight for him. She smiled at him mockingly and pulled the trigger.