A/N; I'M BACK, ARTEMIS FOWL FANDOM! After, well, a couple of months? Like, four? D'Arvit...

Here's the honest truth. I'm really, really short on time these days. Updating chaptered fics with complicated plots like this one takes much more time, scrutiny and effort than drabbles, and that's why I've been slow to get these going, but a lot of you decided to guilt-trip me in the comments (not only the comments of my AF fics but also those of my Star Wars ones. Feeling the love!) and right now I'm REALLY guilt-stricken about it...so, yep, you're winning, and I will update KTE soon after this.

Chapters might be short because of the time factor. However, I do hope you enjoy, and please grace me with your comments again!

The Cross Species Battle: Chapter Six: Informats, Guardians

"Either they strongly believe that their involvement will help us, or they strongly want to contribute their involvement to help us," announced Foaly, forcing off the suctions of his V-goggles. He spent a few more seconds cross-examining the information his machine reassured him of, in the form of zig-zagging lines and statements in the ancient Centaurian tongue. It had not been necessary to activate any language filter at all, but knowing that it would serve to irritate Artemis and, more importantly, not get his thunder stolen, in his eyes it had been rather mandatory. "The Mud Girls are telling the truth. My lie-detection device never lies."

"And for what reason couldn't we use the Mesmer?" came Artemis's not-quite-impressed notes. "At least Magic can't be hacked or sabotaged."

Foaly raised a curious eyebrow up at him. "Hacked or sabotaged? I think that Atlantis paranoia is coming back to you, boy."

Artemis involuntarily stiffened at the mention of Atlantis. It had been years now, true, but there was the occasional...not that Foaly knew. Not that Foaly or anyone else besides himself should know.

"Centaur," warned Holly from across the room.

"Okay, okay," relented said centaur, turning to Artemis with a forced apologetic look, but no air of smugness was lost on him. "I assumed the sparks in your...erhm, relationship would mean Holly would tell you these things–" Desired response. The Captain hadn't heard him, but the Mud Boy merely looked extremely disappreciative even if he didn't retort, for the sake of getting his information quick. "But she's currently running empty and Yasuke has things on the beginner's level to do for himself. I don't want more people getting involved. You know how secured information can leak out to human ears because of word of mouth. No, I can't have the rest of HQ knowing that these two are anything but prisoners under interrogation. It will have to stay that way."

"Prisoners?" exclaimed Thunder from the higher platform on which she'd rigidly stood for ten minutes. "Hold on, centaur, we never agreed on anything of that sort!"

"We never started agreeing on anything," Foaly pointed out.

"But we're disagreeing on this now."

"We didn't say you'd actually be prisoners, Mud girl," assured Holly, an elbow on the blaster she'd taken to permanently carry on her person at all times. It made her comfortable under all circumstances, because it was somehow like an old friend who had always been there, a silent pillar of support with the power to annihilate things that stood in her way when necessary. She had carried it for three years now, since the war began; the number of times she had ever stepped outside without it could be counted off on her fingers. "It's just an act you'll have to maintain. Watch out, though; it's going be an act right until the moment you choose to betray us, if that's your intention."

"It is not," Shaadia scowled. Then, catching the not-suitably-menacing expression the elf's face: "Oh wait. You're just trying to intimidate us. See what she's doing, Thunder?"

Holly shrugged. "Make no mistake; it's a very real threat, Mud Girl."

"I will still not be intimidated," amended Shaadia.

Artemis tapped on the desk at which he sat. "So long as the information keeps coming about Commander Zidan and the Battalion, you will have no reason to be. The weapons, Foaly. I would like to see the rebooting process that their technical officers follow."

Foaly merely gave him a look, and said nothing.

Artemis rolled his eyes. "That discussion can wait, Foaly. We first have to establish that they can be trusted, don't we?"

"We already established that," whinnied the centaur indignantly, pointing to his beloved AreULyin22MAX. It was the gadget's official name on record, and guess who? "You can't keep stepping around this issue forever, Artemis, and you can't make it your case just because I refused to work with you. The Nuclear bio-bomb needs to be dismantled and the dynamics behind it can't stay hidden for much longer, so you will consider this your topmost priority if you don't want three million more fairy lives taken when they set it off next!"

Artemis shook his head. "I have checked their weapons log for the next four years and the name doesn't appear even once. It's not of primary importance, centaur, so forgive me if I want your...detection device confirmed."

The centaur in question snorted. "Just come out and say it, Fowl. You're as sick of that research as I am, and you're as far from any result as we all are. The principles behind the Nuclear blue rinse, it's driving you insane but you're not willing to admit that it's beyond even your intellect. It's a waste of resources, Artemis, especially when it's only you and you don't let anyone else in on your precious efforts."

A still silence followed, in which Holly stepped in between them both; and she didn't look very happy. "Centaur, you're the one who pulled out of the research and...No. What the hell, Mud Boy? You were telling me about the new developments and how you were so close to cracking their bio bomb, but now it's not of primary importance? You deliberately keep Foaly out of the research? Am I getting this right?"

Foaly sniggered. "Well, if that little lie was aimed at impressing the Captain, it failed spectacularly."

Artemis shot him a death-glare, but the elf present in the room did not allow a single word to come out of him.

"And here I thought you'd stopped lying to me, Fowl," there was venom in her tone of voice but some degree of actual hurt lined her eyes. It was the venom that was more prominent, though. "Here I thought Foaly was to blame for his lack of contribution, and now you...D'Arvit, Mud Boy, this is not a joke! This isn't a game for you to prove your intellect and this sure as hell isn't the time to get selfish, or want to prove yourself, or...or what? There are lives at stake here, Fowl, millions of lives, and if it ever happens again–"

"The first one was an accident," Artemis's voice was barely audible, but the clarity his words bore was enough to send the whole room into shocked silence. Even Shaadia and Thunder climbed down from the platform they'd enjoyed watching the whole scene from, now listening in with concern, serious.

Artemis struggled to say what he had to say next, but it couldn't be avoided now.

"When they bio-bombed West Aboveground Haven, it was a test run. It was not meant to consume more than a limited radius within the city, because it was never designed to do more damage than that. The nuclear reactor had a very brief running time and was supposed to sustain the blue-rinse for about five seconds, in which it could spread to an area of just three kilometers because it was very much insufficient to last longer. But something happened, something bigger, unforeseen. The blast exceeded its predicted radius and destroyed not only the city, but a dozen smaller settlements around it, taking up a count of more than five million lives, human and fairy in China's Sichuan province."

Holly shook her head. "They...they invented it on accident? That doesn't make any sense, Fowl!"

"Not on accident, no; but they didn't invent it. All they hoped to achieve was something with a blue-rinse effect, and due to not being in possession of magic, their invention was to operate on nuclear energy. Kill every living thing, but leave the buildings intact and the air poisonous; the standing buildings will serve as proof of the attack, the radiation in the air will discourage any new fairy settlers, and this way they planned on attacking fairy settlements only. But something changed in the bomb's blueprints that the Battalion's leaders themselves were unaware of, and the plan backfired greatly when human lives were lost and some of the ally nations declared them permanent enemies. Zidan would have hoped to someday achieve the support and resources of a government; killing off humans as well was definitely not his intention."

Artemis closed his eyes under his friends' questioning glares.

"I didn't lie to you, Holly, about their plans to attack power plants and the like; it's not going to have anything to do with the bio-bomb, but it'll have equally devastating effects on both humans and fairies. The Battalion now considers sponsorship from the governments impossible and aren't afraid that coexisting humans should be affected as well. But why attack power plants when they already have the ultimate weapon?"

Holly crossed her arms. "You tell us."

Artemis sighed, finally bringing himself to meet their eyes. "Quite simply, Captain, because they don't. The nuclear bio-bomb is not their patent. They have no idea how it caused all the damage that it did, and trust me, while they are trying to figure it out just like we are, they don't want to lose the leverage that they gained. That is what our informat was trying to say; they'll keep on utilizing nuclear energy for its destructive properties up until they rediscover their accidental invention- and from that point onwards they can specifically target whoever they want."

"That's absolutely idiotic," Foaly stamped an indignant hoof. "Look, I know that Zidan and his society of maniacs are far from sane, but this means essentially destroying the planet! How are you trusting this information, Artemis? Just think about how utterly ridiculous it is!"

"They believe they've found a way to...undo the effects," muttered Artemis. "It's not wholly believable, Foaly, but it's a lead and one that we cannot ignore for even those reasons. This lead takes priority over cracking the bio-bomb."

"But why take this on your own and keep it to yourself?" demanded Holly. "For Frond's sake, Artemis, do you think the LEP would've done nothing about it if you'd told them earlier?"

"I did; I told you."

"You told me less than half of the story. And what about Foaly? This is the first time he's hearing any of this, and you've been hiding the truth about the bio bomb for...for Frond knows how long!"

"Not very long," Artemis sighed. "Hear me out, Holly. Zidan can't get to know that we know this much, and Zidan is definitely not to know of our mystery informat or of Shaadia and Thunder here."

"You didn't answer the question," growled Holly. "Why. Keep. Foaly. Out of this?"

Artemis averted her gaze for a couple of solid seconds, thinking, contemplating, making up, even, what he was going to say next. "The fewer people aware, the better it was deigned to be. It's a highly risky operation; too much of a risk to be conducted through any of Foaly's connected systems. The Battalion will continue to piggyback on our research, though–"

"Continue to?" exclaimed Foaly.

"–so we will feed them false information and hinder their progress in figuring out the bio bomb. Meanwhile, we will warn the Ally governments and the respective LEP branches of their new strategy and ensure it doesn't take off. The alternative is...too terrible."

"What if this informat is feeding us false information?" snapped Foaly. "So that we're distracted trying to prevent a nuclear explosion here and there while they actually piece together their weapon?"

"Highly unlikely. That would give them a very limited period of time during which we are distracted. No, they plan on carrying out these attacks for as long as it takes for them to piece it together, and that gives them a lot of time."

"Because we're going to be busy dealing with the aftermath," Holly caught on. She pulled out a chair beside him and sat down, forehead creased in weary lines and the skin under he eyes suddenly dark. "D'Arvit, how can the Mud Men be this...this stupid?" She rested her chin on a knuckle and stared blankly into the blue expanse of Foaly's room. "All this for human supremacy? Do they have any idea how many other people or fairies or...or the planet is going to get destroyed in this idiotic scheme of theirs?"

"Ironic, isn't it," murmured Artemis. "That the leader of this human supremacy movement is not even entirely human."

"That's another thing I can't contemplate," remarked Holly absently. "If it was a Mud Man then yes, I can imagine him going these lengths–"

"It's not fair."

Holly looked at him. "What?"

Artemis shook his head, eyes in a tight-knit frown. "It's not fair that only the Mud Men can be perceived as a destructive and bloodthirsty race when your own kind hasn't proven to be any different. Opal Koboi was a product of the People. Leon Abbot was a product of the People, as was Cudgeon and Turnball Root, but simply because of your age-old belief that the People are a peace-loving race, Zidan falls into the category of human?"

Not quite picking up on the gravity of her situation, the elf simply rebuked; "A fairy would never do this to the planet."

After just a split second of contemplative silence, Artemis laughed dryly. He laughed as if there really wasn't something to laugh about. "Really, now? And I suppose we weren't keeping Koboi from doing the very same thing all these years?"

Holly raised an eyebrow up at him. "So the People have a few bad eggs. But we haven't been at each other's throats since civilization began, and we don't take some kind of sick pleasure in bombing off children and creating wars in different parts of the world that we're jealous of!"

Ouch. That last bit had come off more harshly than intended. She looked up, ready to quickly apologize for the outburst, but her human companion was already regarding her wordlessly.

"And this is all to blame on the fact that we're human, Holly?" His voice was a deadly quiet, and his eyes locked with hers.

"I-I didn't mean–" But something stopped her. Maybe it was the fact his was not a strong argument, or maybe it was a certain painful memory that started to surface out of nowhere. Without sparing another thought as to the consequences of what she was about to say, Holly argued, "Human nature. I've known it too well ever since my mother died."

Foaly cut short a caustic retort before it rolled off Artemis's tongue. "Really, you two, stop it. There are children here in the room and–"

A three-pronged knock on the door inturrupted him mid-sentence. The centaur's immediate reaction was to glare.

"Those are not wooden doors to knock on!" he snapped, using his handheld device to open up an intercom fixed to the door. "This is Foaly."

"Task for Captain Short, sir," came back a distorted robotic voice. "A voluntary recruit. We are informed that Captain Short is to interview any volunteers until Commander Kelp returns to HQ."

Drawing back, Holly closed her eyes in a prolonged sigh. "Another one," she muttered. "Alright, Foaly, keep me posted on this."

She stood up and started heading for the door, not risking another word or glance in the direction of the Mud Man in the room.

Outside the Ops Booth and in the corridor leading onto the elevators, Holly met Corporal Piper, who'd been the one who knocked on Foaly's door to deliver the message, and fell into casual conversation as the lift took off.

"This new recruit, do we know much?"

"He only gave me his name. Loken Quayneth. Haven resident by what it says on his file, but he's been off to the surface many times recently for undefined reasons. Some sort of privilege visa. I don't know, Holly, but there's something...weird about him." Piper shrugged. "Like, different."

Holly raised an eyebrow at the junior officer. "Different?"

The Corporal shook her head. "Just reminded me a lot of Master Fowl."

Holly was about to reply to that, but she stopped herself. It was definitely weird if Piper had been reminded of Artemis; perhaps this volunteer had the same kind of difficult attitude, nose permanently stuck up in the air of undeniable superiority he carried with him. Or maybe he just looked like Fowl.

But then, she chided herself, as they stopped on the fourth floor, Artemis is pretty much one of a kind.

Holly found the volunteer already seated in the same interview room she'd used for Yasuke, back facing the door through which she entered. It was an intimidating kind of room; photographs of retired or long-gone LEP Commanders glared down in silent judgement and medals of various kinds aligned the shelves beneath them, warning the room's occupants that the LEP was a sternly run, serious organization that did not take insubordination well.

The new elf didn't turn to look at her, but she glimpsed her reflection on a slight gleaming surface he seemed to be carrying.

"How did you get that thing in here?"

Loken lifted his blade into the visible spectrum so Holly could confirm her suspicions as to what it was. "Your security systems need a serious upgrade, Captain Short."

Rolling her eyes to heaven, Holly took her place in the other chair and made no attempt mask her scrutiny. Piper hadn't meant this guy resembled Artemis in the physical sense; that much she could see by his dark mahogany hair and brown eyes. But taller than the average elf, maybe, with a physique that suggested he wasn't new to field work. The sword he cradled in his lap was the bit that didn't make sense.

"Why are you signing up?"

Loken met her eyes steadily, and the difference between this volunteer and Yasuke instantly became clear to Holly. Yasuke had been as giddy and cheerful as a pixette on prom night, without the slightest idea as to how LEP recruitment-interviews went. The newcomer, on the other hand, appeared to know too much, though she wasn't about to let him use that to his advantage.

He spoke calmly. "Correct me if I'm mistaken. The LEP is losing its way, and right now it's running around directionless with little or no idea as to what Zidan's forces are up to."

Holly frowned. Yes, he definitely knew too much. "Zidan?"

"Please, Captain, don't play dumb. It's about time someone put this truth out there; we're losing the war and we're losing badly, and we have no clue how to prevent that from happening. What's more, we've just found out that at the fore of the Battalion is one of our own kind–even if partially, Zidan is a fairy. We've also recently found out that the New World Extinctionists have joined forces with him so their numbers and firepower have expanded drastically. The LEP has done nothing about any of this so far, and...continues to do nothing."

Holly crossed her arms, but didn't let it come off as being particularly happy with this accurate deliverance of facts. "Impressive, Quayneth. You've somehow gotten ahold of a lot of information that we were only aware of very recently. Could I inquire what your source is?"

Loken smiled quaintly. "That I will only reveal if I'm recruited. I don't see how else I will benefit from the LEP knowing."

Holly couldn't hold back a scowl at this. "The fate of the People is at stake here and you're talking about benefits." Right. So that was how the newcomer reminded Corporal Piper of one Artemis Fowl. "Anyway, we're already getting this information. And while you're right about the fact that we haven't taken action, it is going to be done very soon. This interview is over."

Loken did not even get up on her cue.

"You're already getting this information? There are things even your most reliable sources miss out on or hide from you, Captain Short. If you don't wish to be left in the dark whenever something superficial–or very important springs up in future, I would highly recommend a secondary party to provide you with all you want to know."

Already on her way to the stenciled door, Holly froze. He had struck a nerve. Somehow, the other elf had spoken the exact words that she needed to hear. For a brief moment she wondered...but no, how could this outsider possibly know that Artemis had hid pertinent information? Or that Foaly and herself didn't appreciate this latest offense of his?

She finally arrived at a decision. Not that she was happy about it either.

"You're in. But you respond to my call immediately, do you understand? Then you're going to explain everything."

The LEP Headquarters Aboveground was of massive proportions even by human standards; the glass ceiling of the lobby was high and vast and the compound that surrounded the building had in it training set-ups of all kinds. The entire East wing of the main building was a docking bay for shuttles, and the other wings teemed with technical crew, service staff and officers of all rankings, mostly fairy, a handful human, being representatives of Ally governments or the United Nations.

Artemis watched the crowds on the ground floor from his place on the bridge that connected the two internal towers of the building. The bridge was of excellent structure; Butler would not have been able to stand beside him on it if it wasn't.

"Foaly tells me that you're too reliant on our mystery informat," commented Butler in as casual a tone as his gravelly voice could get. "He expects me to advice you on it, I guess, and that's what needs to be done. It is a dangerous thing to rely too much on any source."

A flicker of annoyance crossed the young man's brow. "Foaly is just sulking over the fact that I don't consider his communication system reliable enough."

Butler suddenly sounded intentionally serious. "You didn't tell them some things that they had to know."

Artemis sighed, gaze drifting over to the wide glass roof and the many metal rods that kept it suspended. "And I explained my reasons, old friend. Zidan cannot by any chance get to know that we have a lead, so the only thing I will be putting up in Foaly's system is false trails. Besides, I actually did tell Holly most of it."

The Eurasian raised a thin eyebrow. "Most of it? Artemis, you know that Holly is never satisfied with most of it. Don't think she hasn't noticed that you had a whole private dinner to confess what you had to, but you didn't take that chance and only told her the truth when you were forced to."

Artemis was infinitely glad his bodyguard hadn't referred to the outing as a date. "It was better that fewer people knew."

Butler sighed, placing a huge hand on his charge's shoulder. "Teamwork is just as important, Artemis. Teamwork and trust."

Whatever response Artemis would've had for that was prevented when a female officer came running over to them from the other end of the bridge, a look of absolute urgency on her face.

"Mister Fowl?" started the Corporal, and Artemis could note by the shaky nature of the wings behind her back that she did not like the news she was about to deliver; "Foaly called for you. He says there is going to be a Battalion attack on the settlement near the ritual site in Nepal, and...and in twelve hours."

Artemis followed Corporal Silver in the direction of the Ops Booth without another word, Butler striding alongside him with a pace remarkable in comparison to his own. Details and calculated guesses started presenting themselves to his mind as he walked. Foaly hadn't gained access into their battle logs, Shaadia and Thunder had. They were in the weapons distribution division; they were bound to know something about the timing of delivering weapons and the execution of attacks. It was possible that they had traced this to the branch that received a new stock, and that the attack was to be on a ritual site was Foaly's own hypothesis. Still, it was credible. It felt too real. Artemis could only guess the size of the counterattack they were preparing to launch.

Holly was already waiting inside, geared up literally from head to toe. She was just about to put on one of Foaly's most recent helmet designs when Artemis rapped on the door.

"When will fairies in this establishment learn that those doors–" Foaly's face grew serious when Artemis and Butler stepped in. "The Battalion plans on attacking the ritual site at Phewa Lake," he explained gravely. "It's the only fairy settlement site in the vicinity to their branch, so anyway it was bound to happen. Now at least we have a forewarning of twelve hours. Trouble called to tell that he would head straight for the site the moment he gets ahold of a shuttle; by about the same time we'll arrive. We're sending the extended Retrieval One."

Artemis needed no further explanation. The extended Rerieval One was a careful selection of eighty officers meant specifically for dealing with emergencies like this.

Just as Holly shut her visor, Foaly shoved a jumpsuit and a helmet into Artemis's arms.

The human looked up in alarm. "Are you serious?"

"Captain's orders," explained Foaly, the moment Holly strode purposefully out of the room without having heard a thing. Butler watched her go, but when Foaly offered his explanation the bodyguard snapped back to look at him.

"You're sending Artemis into the field?"

Foaly looked about uneasily, wishing his oldest friend hadn't chosen this moment to walk out on him. "Holly...er, specifically instructed it. Said they might need some quick plans on this one."

Butler's death glare only intensified. "He can do that from here."

The centaur raised his palms up defensively. "Don't blame all of this on me, okay? Without Kelp around, Holly's second in charge of Retrieval One. Arguing with her is trivial."

The bodyguard did not drop his deadly look. To Foaly it seemed like he was about to get his neck snapped if he didn't come up with a satisfying solution.

"Why don't you bring this up with her?"

Butler scowled, and he was soon headed out. "I think I will."

Butler found the elfin Captain barking orders at officers working at an excruciatingly slow pace to get the shuttles out of their docking bays. Surprisingly, Holly didn't chose to run away from the threatening creature that was Artemis Fowl's bodyguard, but instead she climbed down from her shuttle and met him face to face.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?"

Holly spared a glance in the direction of the other shuttles; time, time, they were running out of time.

She looked at him again.

"We're going to need someone who can see things and plan very fast. And besides, he's part of my team. I don't leave my people out of things for whatever reason."

Butler was still trying to process this information. "Pardon, your team?"

"The top five of LEP Aboveground got to select their own individual teams for the vital missions. A pre-selected group of people to call on when the need arises, each in the team for their own unique skill. Artemis happens to be a our resident planner."

"He never mentioned that to me," Butler looked both incredulous and furious. "And he never asked if he could poke his neck in the line of fir– hold on. You're not saying...you're not saying he's done this before?"

"What? Of course–" Holly caught herself. She wasn't going to feel guilty if she told the truth. It was thoughts of his reaction that gave her pause. "Of course he's done this before. I thought you knew."

Butler was, for perhaps the first time in his life, at a complete loss for words. Artemis had gone on field missions before? Artemis? Without him? Or worse, without his knowledge?

Madame Ko would kill me for this, forget the fact that I'm retired.

And retired he was; after his Principal had died and promptly been brought back to life, Butler had finally decided to call it quits, even if it had taken a lot of persuasion from Artemis. He had settled into a maximum of three months of calm and quietness that he found he enjoyed immensely. Before the existence of the People was somehow made known and the worlds above and below the earth's surface had plunged into a devastating cross-species war. That was when Artemis had sprung back into action; he opened discussions with human governments and created an understanding between the human and fairy worlds, but once the independent supremacy organizations started to rise, he had put a good half of his wealth into bulking up the People's defenses– for that Butler had been proud. Then in the second year of the war came the biggest mistake of his career; letting his charge sign up with LEP Aboveground. But it had been a consultancy job. It was never supposed to be this.

Holly noted the change of composure on his face and decided to smooth things out a little. She patted the giant Eurasian's arm lightly, being unable to reach his shoulder. "It's not like I'm not there to keep him alive," she assured him. "And look, we've survived worse than this with far less backup. Artemis won't even be stepping out of the shuttle; I only plan on calling him if it's absolutely essential."

"He can stay here," argued Butler.

"Foaly's our ground consultant. We need one on the field."

Butler sighed deeply. "You do realize that I'm not going to let this happen, right? Make whatever plans you have without him. Artemis is not leaving this building unless his life depends on it."

The elf raised her visor and met his eyes, expression hard to place. Part of it was exasperation, sure, but part of it was definitely concern. Whether the concern was for his mental unease at sending Artemis on a mission, or for Artemis himself Butler couldn't be sure.

"I'll keep an eye out for him."

The bodyguard still looked ill at ease.

"Artemis isn't cut out for field work, Holly. It's a danger to his life and possibly a greater risk to the lives of others."

"He hasn't been a risk to anyone else so far," Holly pointed out.

"Well, in that case, there's always a first time."

The elf sighed, crossing her arms resignedly, but it didn't look like she was going to give up. Quite the contrary, in fact. For whatever reason it looked like the Captain was adamant on involving his charge in the risk-fraught mission for any price he'd care to name.

Then she stated calmly, "I am going to look after him, Butler. We're going to look after each other, like we have always done in the past against Opal or whoever. And if you remember correctly, you didn't get to be there all the time either, and we made it out just fine."

Any forthcoming remarks from the bodyguard was prevented with the arrival of his charge, now fully donned in LEP Retrieval gear that had been specially modified to suit his height. Butler looked at him disapprovingly; if anything, he'd expected Artemis to have the brains enough not to physically involve himself in an operation like this.

"I'm going to be alright, Butler," he assured him, unfazed. "As I'm sure Captain Short has told you, this isn't my first time."

Butler glared at him darkly. "Pray that it isn't your last."

Holly rolled her eyes. "No harm will befall him, big man, you have my word on that. I'll even strap him to the copilot's seat if you want."

There was something significantly odd about this remark that cut him, but the bodyguard did not ask. He could save it up for later, when Artemis felt like revealing how he had been promoted to copilot's seat over another training course that he had not told anyone about.

Butler gave his charge another long, unimpressed look.

"You will follow Holly's every word," and here the Eurasian's tone sounded more convincing than any mesmer, threateningly so. "And you will not leave the copilot's seat unless you're specifically called for. Also, you will remain in contact with HQ all along the way– I will be listening– and I swear, Artemis, if that contact breaks for just a second, I will head over there myself and grill you for it unless you are in serious danger."

"And you won't tell Mother?" asked Artemis, not sounding too hopeful.

Butler snorted. "In your dreams I won't."

The mud boy sighed, but only nodded in response. He was lucky to get even this deal out of his bodyguard, he knew it. The only reason Butler hadn't geared up and joined them on the mission was the very reason he had been forced into retirement; the Kevlar holding his heart muscles together were starting to wear out, and no one of the eight experts he'd been to had recommended action and/or ammunition.

Holly clapped him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Brighten up, Mud Boy. We only have twelve hours."