I don't own Artemis Fowl or anybody in the series. I'm pretty sure you knew this already.

Fowl Manor Basement

When Nick woke up he was definitely not where he had fallen asleep. The room he found himself in basically looked like a jail cell. All that was in it was a small bed and a camera on the wall. The pillow Nick had been using was actually a wad of clothes with a note pinned to it.

Nick read the note:

Nicholas,

I'm sorry about the room; I saw no other way to ensure that you would not be leaving any time soon. Thank you for your cooperation. It is greatly appreciated.

Artemis Fowl II

Nick crumpled the note up and threw it at the camera.

"So much for freedom!" Nick shouted.

He realized that he was still wearing his ridiculous, pink uniform. Nick decided to dress under the bed so that the camera wouldn't get a good shot of his wings.

It felt good to have fresh air on his wings; cotton must not be good for them. Despite his longing to just fly around the cell, Nick put on the plain, blue t-shirt that had been provided. The jeans were a little too big, but there was a belt.

Once he was done dressing Nick crawled out from under the bed. He took off his running shoe and covered the camera with it.

"That should get him down here." Nick snickered.

He was right; Artemis and Butler came charging into the cell. Both looked annoyed when they saw the shoe.

You might be wondering how Nick was tall enough to reach the camera on the ceiling. Nick had inherited his wings and greenish skin from his mother, but he was part human too. This meant he didn't have pointy ears and he took after his dad in height. I might mention that Nick's father had played a lot of basketball in college. Nick wasn't nearly as short as normal fairies, who were about a meter tall. He surpassed them by almost three feet.

Artemis was agitated with this Nick boy. He couldn't stand it. The bad boy types were so annoying! They always acted so tough; any one could tell that the "bad boy" in Fowl Manor was just a normal teenager. But normal teenagers were quite annoying too.

"Mr. Johnson, why did you place your shoe on the camera?" Artemis asked, rubbing his temple where a headache had just blossomed.

"I want to talk to you, Mr. Fowl." Nick scoffed.

"A suppose this is about the room, is it not?" Artemis sighed.

"Why on earth am I in your basement?!" Nick shouted.

"It was the only room I could think of for a guest such as you."

"Oh? If this is how you treat your guests then I'd hate to see how you treat your enemies!" Nick screeched.

"Do you want me to sedate him Artemis?" Butler asked.

Nick's eyes widened. "Whoa! Don't worry about me! I'll do whatever you want!" He said, quickly deciding that being sedated was not going to get him anywhere fast.

"Hmm, I'm sure you will Mr. Johnson. I would like to have breakfast before we begin," Artemis said dryly.

"You want me to cook? Because I can make really great toast! I'll cook whatever you want!" Nick started pleading.

"No thank you, we had Butler and Juliet for that." Artemis said.

Normally he would have loved to torment this boy, but he only needed a little information from him so Arty found the pleading to be annoying.

"I just want to talk with you. I'm sure you would like to have a few questions answered too."

"Uh, sure. I am kind of hungry. You guys got any waffles?" Nick shrugged.

The trio went upstairs and headed for the kitchen. Juliet was there with breakfast.

"You want eggs Arty?" The young woman asked.

"No thank you, Juliet, I'll have toast I think. Our friend here said something about waffles." Artemis told Juliet, wishing he could keep her from calling him "Arty".

Nick nodded at Juliet and followed his captor to the dining room. Artemis motioned for him to take a seat. Nick did so in the normal teenage fashion. In other words, he flopped into the chair and slouched. Artemis sighed and sat down in his chair.

"Before you ask me anything I would like to ask you something," Artemis began.

"Fire away dude." Nick shrugged.

"How do you know Gnommish?" Artemis asked, in perfect Gnommish.

"Huh? What are you talking about? I don't know what Gnommish is." Nick said, also in Gnommish.

"Oh really? Then how come you've been speaking it this whole time?" Artemis smirked.

"I uh, what did you say? I don't understand that gibberish." Nick said in English.

"I highly doubt that, Mr. Johnson. Now if you would tell me how you know this language we can begin breakfast."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!" Nick's eyes darted about the room, searching for an escape route. The large window looked promising.

Butler immediately blocked the window. Nick stood up and ran to the door. Butler intercepted him and held him by the collar of his t-shirt.

"If I set you down, will you run?" Butler asked in his gravely tone.

Nick avoided the body guard's eyes.

Butler shook him. "Answer boy!"

"No." Nick mumbled.

Butler set him down in his seat but kept a firm hand on his shoulder. Nick glared at Artemis. Artemis glared back.

"Will you tell me or will I have to mesmerize you again?" Artemis bluffed, knowing he didn't have any magic left.

Nick grumbled something. Butler gripped his shoulder.

"Ow! I'll tell you! Stop squeezing me!" Nick shouted.

Butler grunted and Artemis smiled sinisterly. Nick winced.

"Where were you born?" Artemis started.

"New York. In the suburbs."

"And your parents' names?"

"Clyde and Bonnie." Nick lied.

"I mean your real parents." Artemis told him loftily.

Nick hesitated and Butler squeezed his shoulder.

"Ow! Their names were Travis and Minnie!" Nick sighed as Butler let go of his shoulder.

"Good." Artemis nodded his approval, "Where were they born?"

"Dad was born in New York and Mom…" Nick glanced at Butler, then at the door. Maybe he could make a run for it.

"Don't even think about running Nick." Artemis said as Nick started to run.

This took Butler by surprise, which rarely happened, so he didn't have time to grab Nick. The boy was out the door in a matter of seconds.

"Juliet! Grab him!" Butler called.

Nick had made it to the kitchen. He didn't make it any further. Juliet slammed him into the tiled floor. Nick thought he heard a bone crack. It didn't matter; his magic would take care of that. If he had any left that was. There weren't that many ancient oaks in Maryland.

"I got him Butler!" Juliet called, pinning Nick's arms behind his back.

"Ow!" Nick moaned.

Butler picked him up, tied him up, and sat him in his chair.

"You better behave Nick. They weren't trying to hurt you THIS time." Artemis said casually, "I f you would be so kind as to tell me where your mother was born we could begin breakfast."

"It's in a city you've never heard of." Nick thought he was telling the truth.

"I highly doubt that. I've heard of mot cities on and in earth." Artemis snorted.

Nick opened his mouth to speak but then closed it, realizing what Artemis had said wouldn't make sense to a normal person.

"What are you talking about? There are no cities IN earth." Nick pretended.

"Oh I'm sure you're right. I'm curious though. What would you name a city underground? I think I'd name it Haven." Artemis smiled.

"That's, uh, an interesting choice. May I ask why you'd name it that?" Nick said, nervously pulling at his shirt collar. It seemed to have shrunken around his neck.

"Oh, I don't know. I would call it that because it would be sort of a haven from humanity." Artemis sneered.

"I see. I think I would name it, uh, Nickville." Nick broke into a sweat.

"Enough prattle. Tell me where your mother was born. I'm really quite curious." Artemis said politely.

"Atlanta, Georgia! That's where she was born!" Nick squeaked.

"Are you sure?" Artemis pried.

"Ugh! What is your problem! Why do want to know so much about me?!" Nick screamed.

"Because there is something you're not telling us. And I want to know what it is." Artemis said, quickly changing from sweet to sinister.

"Fine! You want the truth? Well I'll tell you! I'm sick of this little charade! My mom was born in a city called Atlantis! She didn't live there for long because they moved to Haven. She met my dad while she was visiting New York. They got married and had a kid. When I was five they both were killed in a shuttle accident on there was to visit my grandparents. You happy?" Nick exclaimed, slamming his fist into the table. Tears had started building up in his eyes, "I was sick the day they died so I couldn't visit my grandma with them. If the stupid old lady hadn't wanted to see my mom so bad that day they might have stayed home with me. Then there might not have been all the confusion in the tube about my dad being human and they would still be around."

Artemis was silent. When he was ten he thought that he had lost his father. Everyone had. But his father had come back. Artemis couldn't imagine knowing that his parents were never going to come back.

"So your mom wasn't human? I thought as much. I'm sorry for your loss. If you would like Butler to return you to your room for the time being we may talk later." Artemis concluded.

Nick nodded and Butler escorted him to the cell in the basement.

When Butler came back up Artemis was picking at a piece of toast that Juliet had brought in.

"Hmm…" Artemis sighed.

"Would you like me to get your communicator? You should probably call the LEP about this. They probably don't want us to have a fairy running around Fowl Manor." Butler noted.

"I suppose not. Yes, please bring the communicator down here. It is in the safe at the back of my closet." Artemis said quietly. He knew that the LEP should probably be involved but the matter seemed too family-related for the police. Artemis knew that Foaly would have an opinion. And Holly. They all would want to bring Nick down to Haven to question him. There had to be something Artemis could do about that. But what?