Haven: LEP Headquarters

The doors to the operations booth whooshed as they slid open. Captain Holly Short sighed as she walked in and flopped into one of the spare chairs in the room. Foaly rose and eyebrow as he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Rough day?" He asked, spinning around to look at her. Holly groaned in response.

"Traffic duty!" She exclaimed, "I was put on traffic duty!" Foaly looked at her.

"Really. Trouble put you on that? Why?" He asked. Holly groaned again.

"A couple of us drew straws…I lost,"

"Ah,"

"They let anyone fly these days!" Holly continued, "Am I the only person underground who knows how to fly a shuttle!?"

"Holly if everyone underground flew a shuttle like you…God help us all," Foaly said, wincing at just the thought.

"D'arvit Foaly! Do you realize the amount of idiots I had to deal with today!?" Holly asked in frustration, "I swear!"

"Know you know how I feel every day," Foaly commented, who was apparently taking every chance he had to get in an "I'm so underappreciated" comment.

"Whatever! It's over now," She sighed, leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes.

"SHORT!" Troubles voice rang out. Holly's eyes shot open and she sat up straight. Foaly lowered his hands from his ears.

"What'd you do now?" Foaly asked.

"Uh…" Holly answered.

"Is that an 'uh, I don't know' or an 'uh, let me see, there could be many things'?" Holly didn't get a chance to answer because at that moment Commander Trouble Kelp walked into the Operations booth. Ignoring Foaly's "Doesn't anyone knock anymore!?" comment he walked over to Holly. The commander was looking at a sheet of paper in his hand. His face was a mixture of anger and disbelief, quite an impressive accomplishment.

"Short," It was work time so he had to address her formally, even if they were friends, "…" He opened his mouth but no words came out. He was still staring at the sheet of paper he held. Finally she shook his head and blinked several times.

"Is it true that you punched out a driver while you were on duty today?" Holly looked away, embarrassed. Foaly let out a whistle.

"Wow…" Foaly said, looking amused "Was there a street camera nearby, because I want to see that!"

"Can it Foaly!" Trouble demanded. Foaly pouted and turned back to his computers. Trouble turned back to Holly.

"Well?" He asked.

"He was being a jackass!" Holly defended herself.

"That doesn't give you a reason to knock someone out!" Trouble snapped, "You're a Captain of the LEP! You need to act professional,"

"I don't know…" Foaly said. He had somehow hacked into the security cameras feeds of the section Holly was assigned to. There onscreen was Holly cleanly laying out an obviously drunk driver, "That right hook looked pretty professional to me," Trouble sighed as he watched the video. After a minute he turned back to Holly.

"Look Holly, all things aside for now. Are you feeling alright? You seem to be on edge lately. As your commanding officer I need to know if there's something wrong because we can't have stuff like that…" He pointed to the screen, "Happening a lot," Holly looked at him.

"I'm not on edge," She protested.

"Are you kidding!?" Foaly exclaimed, "Any more on edge and you'd be falling off it!" Holly glared at him. Trouble sighed.

"Seriously Holly…Is this about Opal?" He asked. Holly bit her lip. Troubles gaze softened.

"We'll find her, Holly," He said, "So just relax"

"Relax? The most dangerous pixie in the world is loose and I'm stuck here directing shuttles!"

"Look Holly, I know how you must feel," Trouble said sternly, "But that's reason to act so unprofessionally when you're on duty," Holly slumped her shoulders and sighed.

"I… Sorry Trouble," She relented, "It's just…I'm worried. Koboi's deranged, and the people on the top of her hit list are all good friends of mine,"

"Don't forget you're on that list too," Foaly reminded her.

"Yes, thank you Foaly," Holly said sarcastically. Trouble nodded at her.

"I know, and I know it can't be easy. But like I said, we'll find her. I promise," Holly nodded and smiled.

"Thanks Trouble, uh, commander," Trouble smiled and nodded.

"Just make sure on you're next assignment, you don't beat up any civilians," Holly groaned.

"Alright, alright, don't rub it in," Trouble laughed in spite of himself and left. Holly groaned again and flopped back into her chair.

"Uhg…well, at least this day can't get any worse." As soon as she said that Foaly made a big show of flinching and looking around. Holly looked at him tiredly.

"What?" He shrugged.

"Sorry, it's just… You know, usually when someone says that, something blows ups right?...Or it starts raining…" Holly said nothing as she rose from the chair, shaking her head as she headed for the door.

"Yeah, you're not on edge!" Foaly called after her sarcastically as she left the room.

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Artemis sat by his desk, computer up and running. His eyes narrowed as he looked over the many different pages he has open. One of those pages was of the book he had taken pictures of at Stark Industries. The other pages were filled with different things. Some had painting on them, some were filled with other books, and one even had a picture of cave drawings on them. Artemis had gone over them all for the entire day. He needed to confirm if what he thought was true…was actually true. So now, six hours after he had started, he leaned back in his chair.

"Hmm…" He said thoughtfully, "It appears my theory was correct," He said to himself. A second later Butler entered the room, carrying a tray.

"Artemis, here's dinner." The manservant said as he placed the tray on the desk. Artemis merely nodded. Butler looked at him.

"Anything?" He asked. Artemis nodded again.

"Yes, My suspicions were correct," He said. Butler looked at him.

"So…What does that mean?" He asked. Artemis turned and looked out the window.

"It means…we have another 'adventure' on our hands," Butler sighed.

"Artemis…" He said, "Can't we just…let this one pass by?" He said tiredly.

"We could," Artemis said, "But it would be disastrous for the fairies. Our friends…" Artemis clenched his fist.

"I won't let that happen," Butler looked at him strangely. Artemis noticed out of the corner of his eye.

"What?"

"It just…" Butler started, "You don't normally talk like that," Artemis sighed.

"I know…" He said nothing else. After a moment of silence Butler turned towards the door.

"Well…I'll be downstairs if you need me," Artemis nodded. Butler left the room, closing the door behind him. Artemis looked back to his computer screen. After a minute he sighed.

"Well…I guess it's now or never,"

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Authors Note- I know, not a lot was revealed in this chapter. I had to set things up for the next chapter, which I promise you'll like. And some stuff will be explained in the next chapter…maybe…I don't know yet… At the very least…you'll get a sense of things in two chapters time. I promise. Anyway, Review Please!