Hello there guys! It's the start of school and we've recently moved into a really large campus in which I got lost a couple of times. Nevertheless, lessons do go on as usual, and I'm starting on Chemistry. And for Chemistry we start with the most basic apparatus in the chem lab: the Bunsen burner. And I've got a lab partner who's addicted to turning on and off the gas tap on the Bunsen burner and my pencil case which is at a risk of catching fire. Well anyways, the next few chapters are going to be pretty slow (unless there are more holidays ahead) and now to stop you waiting in suspense. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave advice on my first crappy piece of work. And now for the disclaimer: Really, if I owned Artemis, I wouldn't be in school worried about my pencil case getting burnt by a lab partner who wants to set the world record for the fastest time to light a Bunsen burner.
Chapter 5: Plan in an hour
Opal's hideout
"Check her vitals. Is Short dead?" Opal demanded. Descant Brill was juggling with a few screens, trying to find the right one. "Checking vitals through camera, Mistress. Hang on a tick." He said.
"Descant, I have told you before that I shall not be spoken to in slang! Please rephrase that," Opal said.
There was a reason why descant let his older brother do most of the things like checking screens and reading signals for Opal, and that was because Descant Brill is unable to do three things. One, remember his mistress's rules. Two, reading screens accurately. The last one was multitasking. And unfortunately for Descant, all three things was needed at the moment as his brother had to go and fix a leakage somewhere in the shuttle.
"Sorry, Miss Koboi. I am checking Captain Short's vitals through the screens." Once done, Descant forgot to speak properly and blurted, "Yep. She's deader'n ever."
"Speak properly, Descant!" Opal screeched.
"Yes, Miss Koboi," Descant said, trying to keep the exasperation from his voice. "Captain Short is dead."
"Hmm," droned Opal. "It seems that I need to devise something to get you morons to speak a language which I actually can comprehend without difficulty."
Maybe it would help if Opal made something to help with reading signals on the screens as, since Descant was multitasking, something he was not so good at, he had read the falcon's vitals instead of Captain Short's. When he happened to glance at the right screen, he realized his major mistake. By that time, Opal had gone on to phrase two of her plan.
Fowl Manor, Dublin, Ireland
Artemis abandoned his study and made his way to the field outside the manor. Instead of Myles and Beckett, there was a yellow bird which Artemis nearly stepped on. It sat there, unmoving, blinking its black eyes. Artemis squatted and flicked his wrist at it. The bird did not respond. "Interesting," Artemis muttered as he scooped the bird up. Its eyes changed color from black to a murderous red and opened its beak. What came out was a haughty laugh. "Opal," Artemis hissed.
"Artemis Fowl," Opal's mocking voice sounded. "We meet again. Not eye to eye, but I was intending we do that sooner, if not later."
"You plan for me to come over anyway," Artemis said as Butler came up behind him, hidden behind a pillar. "So, what's the transport arrangement? Let me guess. Using a Neutrino? A bio-bomb? Goblins coming to get me armed with outlawed lasers?"
"Like I would tell you, but if you must know, no, it's not any of them. Oh, and you're coming to me, not the other way around."
"Myles and Beckett," Butler growled. "Where are they?" He took a step forward and pointed his Sig Sauer at the bird.
"My hostages," Opal said happily, unaffected by Butler's tone of voice, which manages to petrify people and fairies alike. "But they are fine. You can count on aunt Opal, since she is going to take over the world in a matter of time."
Artemis turned to Butler. "Careful, old friend," he said in a low tone. "No sudden movements. This is a sticky situation we find ourselves in, and rash actions would plunge us deeper into the problem." He turned back to the bird. "And your message is?"
"Say that you surrender to me unconditionally and that you will not get outside help. If not, not even the outside world can do anything to your precious brothers. You have an hour to decide. If you disagree to my terms, or agree and try something funny, expect a present from me. A rather bloody present."
"If I do surrender, you will kill them and me anyway," Artemis said drily.
"Humans will all die in the end. I am simply ridding the earth of tiresome Mud People like you." She paused for effect. "Unless your parents come back from their holiday and find that their dear Artemis junior isn't such a good big brother after all and decides to kill you. Not only does he lose them, he killed them. Indirectly, of course. No pair of three-year-old twins can survive in the forest for five days. The police will get a report that three year old Myles and Beckett Fowl have been missing for five days and your parents will be notified."
"You will do no such thing," Butler barked. The twins are out of his protecting range and at the mercy of a pixie maniac. "The LEP will see to that."
Opal gave a shriek of laughter which sounded unnatural in the throat of a bird. Butler was sorely tempted to squash the feathered creature under his boot, but it was a valuable source of information at this point of time. "The LEP! You can't rely on them, Mud Boys. Not this time. Maybe you have not noticed that you have no connection to that preening centaur somewhere underground, let alone the LEP."
Artemis decided to check on that later. "But I still have contact with Captain Short," he lied and hoped it was true.
"Holly Short is dead. Mauled to death by the trolls," Opal said, stretching the "o" in the last word.
Fear gripped his heart. Holly? Is it possible that Opal had finally successfully killed Holly? "It could be a trick, Artemis," Butler said softly.
"You heard me. Holly Short is dead. Now you know I do not lie."
"Like you didn't lie to Captain Short about the sweet spot on Commander Root's death device?" Artemis said, maintaining his cool. His head and heart, however, was in turmoil.
"Enough talk," Opal snapped. "Your answer in an hour's time. Oh, and you Butlers are so disposable. Or maybe that's just the female ones." The bird turned to fly off.
Butler whipped out his Sig Sauer and blasted three shots at the bird. It fluttered to the ground with holes in its head, wing and body. The blood gushing out of the wounds stained a portion of the Fowl's driveway. Artemis went across to pick the bird up by the wing while Butler stormed upstairs.
Somewhere in the forests in Dublin
Holly woke up with a splitting headache. She had no recollection of anything just yet so she lay on the ground waiting for her brain to recharge and make sense. She was laying face-down in the dirt so she slowly flipped herself over. She sat up and was dizzy almost immediately, causing her to lie back down again. She turned her head to see a dog on top of her buzz baton. It was dead for sure. The last time I felt this bad was when Artemis drugged me, she thought. Artemis…
I'm worried about Artemis… why?
It took her a while to remember, but she got it in the end. I'm worried about Artemis because there are trolls around Fowl manor. No, not trolls, but mutated animals.
She checked her helmet, which had a large chunk of it torn out, including the nuclear battery. Her helmet, other than protecting her head, was useless. She spotted it near the dog's mouth. So the dog comes round, tackles me, spoils my helmet and accidentally steps on the buzz baton and dies. Wow. She closed her eyes to analyze that but sank into unconscious instead just as the sun was setting, bathing her in a soft orange glow.
Fowl manor
"Juliet!" Butler shouted. He ran past Artemis's study and stopped. He peeked into the study. "Juliet?"
Juliet Butler was indeed on the floor of the study with a plate of sandwiches by her side. The windows were open, but her eyes weren't. "Juliet, can you hear me?" Butler said as he entered the study.
Juliet groaned softly. "Juliet, what happened?" Her eyes flicked open and sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head.
"I was going to give Artemis a snack, considering he didn't have lunch while we were searching for the twins when I heard something over at his table. It was a cat or dog or something in here meddling with the wires. Then it sort of had this red eyes and pounced on me and, uh, yea," she said. "So, what did happen?"
"Opal has successfully crashed all communication devices," Artemis said, appearing at the door of the study. "I should have seen it coming. She sent that bird to negotiate and distract us from what was actually happening in my own study. That was the oldest trick in the book and I can't believe I fell for it."
"What's with the dead bird?" Juliet asked. She pointed at the bird Artemis was holding between his fingers. "Eew, that's gross."
"Ah, yes," Artemis said, straightening up. "I do believe Opal has done something to this bird so as to deliver her message and threat. Hopefully I can figure this out and contact the LEP within an hour. And if not, then Butler," Artemis said, nodding towards the Butler in question, "buy me some time."
Butler nodded but was slightly reluctant. This kind of distraction was not his forte. Juliet sat up and grinned. "You may have picked the wrong Butler for that job. Leave it to me," she said, winking. Butler felt relieved as he was not the one with that responsibility and that Juliet was much better at driving people up the wall. She'll buy Artemis enough time.
Okay! That's chapter 5 for you. Now on to chapter six, which may take a while considering 1) school 2) my other fan fiction which I'm currently drafting. It will absolutely take a while.