Auth0r's n0te: it has been another year since i updated this. i have really just s0rt 0f l0st interest...

Artemis lay on his bed in his small room at Koboi Labs. It was nothing but a tiny mental chamber with a metal slab extending from the wall serving as a bed. He didn't mind. These were the quarters his mistress felt were suitable for him which means that that is what he would receive. The boy was no longer in uniform. That was safely tucked away behind a panel in the wall that was something akin to a closet. Instead he wore a simple pair of grey cotton pants and a white t-shirt, as was standard for sleepwear.

The ravenette had been trying to sleep for the last few hours, to no avail. Today's events kept playing back through his mind like a movie on repeat. Even so, he had no thoughts about the memories, no questions or concerns, no feelings. It was as though he were witnessing them from outside of himself. Things happened, and he went through them, but it was almost as if they belonged to another. To put it simply: he was completely detached from them. Anything before the procedure felt even more like a foreign entity in his mind.

The one thing he felt anything at all towards were the memories of an auburn haired elf. Each time the memory of her played back there was a slight pang of pain in his heart. For the life of him he could not understand why. That was what was really keeping him up, the mystery of this brief second of stabbing pain in his vascular pump.

What does it matter? She's likely dead. He thought to himself. Yet despite this the memories continue in their infinite playback loop and he continued to experience that pang each time Holly Short appeared.

Opal Koboi sat in her room in front of her vanity mirror, brushing her hair. Her pointed ears shown clearly, protruding through her long straight hair. The eyes that stared back at her from the mirror were troubled, doubtful. The day's events were fresh in her mind.

She had seen how easily Artemis had betrayed his former friend, and it saddened her. They, she, had turned him into a cold unfeeling monster. Yes, that had been the goal, and it had worked, well, too well. It was starting to be something she regretted…

Opal Koboi sat in front of her monitors, smiling viciously at all the sights before her. She considered the day's events and could not be more delighted. Everything was falling into place! Artemis Fowl was her loyal slave, the centaur was detained and at her mercy, and that damn elf was probably dead. At this point there was really nothing that could stop her from getting everything she wants.

Even better, the next phase of her plan had been put into place. Now she just needed to wait for the right moment to activate the protocols Grub had installed. Exactly as planned.

Opal frowned, absently feeling the rounded tip of one of her ears. After fairy civilization was hers to rule the human world would fall. Every last one of them would either submit to her or die. She would make sure of it.

Holly, Butler, N°1, and Juliet followed Mulch through the underground tunnels to Koboi Labs. Mulch took the lead for one reason: to clear a path through collapsed debris. The tunnels had fallen int0 disrepair with the lack of activity in the area.

Not all of the old tunnels had collapsed though and Holly was looking around at them, a bad feeling climbing up her spine. The map in her visor didn't list a few of the tunnels she was seeing. The elf jabbed Butler with her tiny but powerful elbow.

"Hey, big man. I'm not liking the feeling these tunnels are giving me. Some aren't even mapped." She voiced to the man mountain.

He nodded in acknowledgement, "I'm getting the same feeling. Some of these look far too new. Be on your guard."

Immediately their attention turned to a sound up ahead. Mulch was chewing through the dirt and rocks that had collapsed over an opening, but the sound was not coming from him. A moment later the debris exploded out toward the group, knocking them off their feet.

The opening was now clear, and in the path stood a gigantic hulking troll. It let out an enraged roar and charged the group.

LEP headquarters was rarely quiet. This held true for every place except the security office. In a place filled to the brink with police officers a security office did not get much use in the slightest, except when somebody came in to search the lost and found.

That being said, it was obvious that the sleeping security guard did not notice the program installed earlier that was just now booting itself up and running. The computers hummed and whirred and then suddenly, everything went black, all across the city.

and n0w the c0ding issue sh0uld be fixed...