Short Chapter. Named for "Funhouse" by Pink.
Holly flew through the city with determination, her anger clouding her common sense. If she were thinking clearly she may have realized she'd never stopped Opal without the aid of Artemis or her other friends. She had no plan. Holly Short was flying blindly toward the unknown. Fortunately, thoughts started to worm their way into her mind, reasonable thoughts. Thoughts like: Do I really know what I'm doing? What if I'm too late? If Opal can turn Artemis evil then maybe she's done the same to Foaly… and the most important: I need a plan. With this in mind she halted in midair and turned back to apologize to Juliet.
Grub Kelp watched his brother from the evidence office. He was barking orders to some of the recon team and doing his general job of being in charge. Trouble's job was so important he didn't take a second glance at Grub. So much for family.
"Stop moping."
Grub jumped up from his seat and turned to look at Artemis, who'd managed once again to get in without his knowledge.
He scowled at the human teen, "Don't sneak up on me!"
The elf's scowl turned into a look of fear as Artemis was suddenly right in front of him with his hand covering the officer's mouth.
"Keep it down! We have work to do." Artemis whispered angrily.
Grub hurriedly nodded and Artemis moved his hand away.
"The Mistress needs you to upload this program into the security system of this building." The black haired boy said, holding out a jump drive.
The elf took it and asked, "W-what does it do?"
Artemis was silent for a moment, as if debating with himself how much to reveal, then answered, "It'll allow the Mistress to override the security when she needs to."
Grub gulped. He just realized he'd gotten in way over his head, and what's worse is that he wasn't sure if there was a way out anymore.
"Um… I-I'm n-n-not sure if…" grub started to say.
Artemis raised an eyebrow and the elf gulped again.
He stuttered, "If… I d-don't know if I want to do this anymore…"
"Oh?" Artemis asked, "So you want to go back to being nobody? You're happy living in the shadow of your older brother for the rest of your life?"
"Well, I…"
"You want to be nothing? You'll die with the rest of them. Is that what you want? Or do you finally want to prove everybody wrong? Do you want to show Trouble that you can be just as good as he is, even better? Didn't you say you were tired of the ridicule, of getting the short end of the stick?"
With every question Artemis stepped closer the Grub until he was standing over him. The small elf's face was a mix of fear and determination, panic and resentment. Eventually resentment and determination won and he nodded slowly, saying he'd get the job done. Artemis smiled, but there was no warmth in it, and left without another word.
For the last half hour Holly, Butler, Juliet, Mulch, and N°1 were trying to come up with a plan. None of them could find a sound way to go up against two Opals and Artemis.
"What are we going to do?" Juliet asked, starting to get a little frustrated.
Holly sighed and said, "First, we need to find them. After that I guess we'll make it up as we go along."
"But how are we going to find them?" the blond girl asked.
N°1 jumped in, "I could use a locating spell. I just learned a few."
"That could work." Holly said, glad they were finally getting somewhere.