"'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything we've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die?"
~ Estranged, Guns N' Roses

POLICE PLAZA, HAVEN

No one found the confident elf who walked into Police Plaza at all suspicious. With a light cotton shirt and an attractive face, he was waved straight through the front checkpoints by Lili Frond. He winked at her as he walked past, causing her heart to jump.It was rare for a clean male elf to come through police plaza, and good-looking ones were even less common. She quickly abandoned her post and followed him, keeping out of view. She waited eagerly behind one of the tall pot plants the council had grudgingly bought for the main lobby.

The room was deserted, which was unusual but not unheard of. Thanks to the long running goblin-dwarf turf war, most officers were currently breaking up the Fireball vs. Food fight in West Haven. Lili peeked between the glossy leaves, observing the handsome stranger curiously. She wondered what he was there for, hoping he was a new cadet. He looked interesting, with his attentive green eyes which showed clear intelligence. Lili couldn't wait any longer.

'Can I help you?' she asked, almost tripping over her own feet. The stranger looked not at all surprised to learn he had been watched.

'Sure,' he grinned. 'I was wondering where the Commander is at the moment?'

'Um...' Lili hesitated. Last time she had seen Trouble he was rushing out with a mobile reconnaissance crew, on the way to West Haven.

'Or is it top secret?' the elf chuckled. He shook her hand. 'I'm with the council, don't worry. '

Lili relaxed. Sure, he looked far younger than most of the old codgers in the council, but no fairy would lie about being in such a high up position. He seemed friendly too. "Commander Kelp is in West Haven at the moment," she informed him with a smile.

'Ah yes,' he nodded. 'Sorry, I'm fairly new to the council, do you think you could possibly direct me to the operations booth?'

Lili pointed down a corridor obligingly. 'Fifth door on the left, do you want me to inform Foaly?'

'No!' the man said abruptly. 'I mean, that's quite alright, thank you'.

'Okay,' replied Lili, but his sharp reply had confused her. She suddenly became on full alert, instincts kicking in. 'May I ask your name?'

'Magnus, Spikkle Magnus.'

She watched attentively as he strode down the corridor and turned to Foaly's operations door. Heart pumping and hands shaking she followed him once more. One of Foaly's techies opened to his knocking.

'And who might you be?' the young techie asked. Spikkle didn't answer the techie, just pushing straight past him. Lili gasped as she saw a gun outline through the material of his shirt. Foaly looked up from a large v-screen, hurriedly removing safety goggles. His eyes narrowed.

'You.'

'At the risk of sounding clichéd, hello Foaly, we meet again.' He turned and pulled out the gun, firing two bursts at Lili's chest. The techie dived for cover, narrowly missing a fatal shot to the head. Lili collapsed on the ground, magic struggling to repair the damage to her heart. She was no academic, but knew it wasn't enough. All that could help her now was a medical warlock, or maybe just a miracle.

OUTSIDE SUPASHAKES FACTORY, INDUSTRIAL HAVEN

STAGE ONE

Artemis and Mulch were dropped off by the undercover police cruiser a block away from Opal's Headquarters so as to not arouse suspicion. It was imperative Artemis was not spotted by the numerous security cameras dotting the Supashakes™ factory. But they had an advantage – security outside the building was minimal. Artemis had anticipated the likes of DNA cannons and pressure sensors, but realised Opal would want to keep the premises as inconspicuous as possible.

The two friends crouched behind an industrial waste bin, concealed from sight. Their plan had to be perfectly executed, and they had managed to retain temporary connections with Foaly through a private network. It wasn't much, only audio, but it would have to do.

'Ok, Fowl, do you know what you're going to do?' buzzed Foaly's horsy voice through the earpieces. 'I can only help you so much, I have no visuals.'

'Yes,' replied Artemis calmly. He knew what he had to do. The modified Neutrino sat comfortably hidden, the weight of it reassuring him. All he had to do was pull the trigger. Then it could all be over. He took a deep breath. 'I'm ready.'

'Mulch?'

'I'm ready too,' Mulch grinned, giving Artemis a glimpse of some very brown-looking teeth.

Next Christmas I shall buy him a toothbrush, Artemis decided. A very large toothbrush.

'Good,' said Foaly, sounding relieved. 'We are running some tests on the Supashakes, by the way. So far it has come up clear, though. No dangerous substances to be found. Are you sure that's what Holly said?'

'Yes,' Artemis snapped.

'So it's either the drink Holly was talking about, or a popular dance move of the 80's,' Mulch joked to blank looks. 'You know, the super-shake? That dance move...Oh, never mind.'

Artemis frowned and ignored Mulch completely, lost in his own thoughts. 'Foaly, can you run a few additional tests? I have a hunch. And you need to ban the sale of the Supashakes.'

'I'll try,' Foaly said, but he sounded doubtful. 'But this is a major company, Artemis. I doubt the council will allow it to be shut down without evidence. I can't see what Opal could be doing. The shakes certainly don't contain any toxins.'

'So it's all down to us then.' Artemis brought out the modified neutrino sadly. He knew what he had to do was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. But Holly kept him going. The thought of the Opals trying to harm her made his blood boil. He checked his wristwatch and tried to manage a smile. 'Time to get moving.'

It took Mulch two minutes longer than expected to climb the stone wall of the Supashakes factory, to Artemis's annoyance. Unlike the Chinese shopping mall the walls were made of a porous concrete which was difficult for Mulch's pores to stick to, meaning Mulch had to regularly stop himself toppling. All Artemis could do was watch with concern as the dwarf gripped on for life. After a heart-racing few minutes he reached the top and began checking for cameras. There was only one lone lens panning the roof, easy enough. Mulch kept to its blind spots then stripped two of the wires with his teeth.

It is another little-known fact that dwarf spittle is an excellent conductor of electricity, so good in fact it is commonly used in circuit boards as a natural substitute for metal solder. With this in mind Mulch spat on the exposed wire, effectively short-circuiting the camera unit without setting off the built in klaxon. Mulch quickly moved to a squat metal box, sitting exactly where Artemis had described it. With a thumbs-up to Artemis, they moved on to where all hell and chaos began.

STAGE TWO

Artemis moved briskly, Foaly's voice in his ear.

'You need to find building 128A and 126, they're on either side of the Supashakes factory and completely abandoned. There's a recycle bin near it, and once the fire starts you'll have about twenty minutes to find Holly.'

'Are there any other exits?' Artemis enquired. 'We need to cover absolutely everything.'

'That's all the blueprints show at any rate,' Foaly murmured. Then, 'You.'

'You?' Artemis asked, confused. Suddenly came the sound of gun bursts, then silence, then static. 'Foaly!' Artemis called into the white noise, but there was no response. Now on his own, Artemis located the recycling bin and prepared to rummage through it.

Artemis recoiled at the stench emanating from the bin, drawing up his sleeves with disgust. Grabbing three glass bottles with as little retching as possible, he fed old newspaper and one of his cascade fireworks into each of the bottlenecks, making sure the fuses hung out, ready to be lit. The plan was idiotic, rushed, foolhardy, but their only chance. Artemis looked at his watch and waited for Mulch's signal. He held the first bottle and lit it.

I wish my PE lessons would come back to me, he pondered as he looked at the half-open window. Oh wait, I never actually attended any.

Mulch's signal was a simple thumbs up, but it was all Artemis needed. With an uncharacteristic grunt he hurled it through the window. Or rather, through the window had his aim been any good. Instead the bottle just ricocheted off the window frame, firework landing harmlessly in a puddle at his feet.

'D'Arvit!' Artemis cursed. He only had two more fireworks left, and he had two buildings to do. More carefully this time he aimed the bottle, gritting his teeth in frustration. This time he was successful, lobbing it through the gap to have it shatter on the other side. The fire quickly caught the paper alight, rolling into a fierce blaze as the old wood floorboards fuelled the flame. Artemis quickly moved on to number 126, simply shoving the bottle through the parcel letterbox. Artemis began to panic when nothing happened.

'D'Arvit,' he said for the second time. All the factory warehouses were arranged in a constant string, interconnected by old iron doors. If these doors weren't blocked it would be possible for the Opals to escape elsewhere, and that would be highly detrimental to Artemis's plan. He was almost on the verge of trying to find a new plan when the fire finally caught. With a sigh of relief Artemis went to prepare for stage three.

Minutes earlier
OPAL'S LABORATORY

Both Opals had contented themselves with a game of Swear Toad as the clock crept slowly closer to 6pm. It was a vulgar card game, yes, but it was entertaining and settled any worries of failure.

'D'Arvit' the Opals cursed simultaneously as the lights flickered out and they were settled into darkness.

'Power cut, the imbeciles at maintenance must have screwed it up,' spat Present-Opal.

They both frowned as the sound of smashing glass plagued the street. It was normal for drunken youngsters to be wandering the streets at night and causing havoc, but an odd smell had begun to form in the air. 'It must be the air purifying units,' Past-Opal reasoned. 'The power surge may have blown a fuse.'

Stumbling comically they felt their way to the one-way window overlooking the street. Flames licked across their vision.

'D'Arvit!' Present-Opal swore again. 'The LEP are onto us.'

Now would be a good time to point out the clear differences between the two Opals – whereas both were driven by greed and revenge, the Opal of the present was far more mentally disturbed than the past. Paranoia had developed to the point of complete insanity, and everything hinged on when this would break loose.

'It's just a couple of teenagers,' Past-Opal muttered.

'It's the LEP! They know everything! There are bugs everywhere, they're all over us,' Present-Opal stumbled in the dark frantically as if brushing insects off her clothes, the only thing lighting the room being the flames outside. She suddenly spun, eyes blazing. 'You're with them too!'

Past-Opal recoiled. 'Are you crazy? You are me!'

'You just want all the glory! You're here to steal it! You're not actually Opal Koboi, only I did this. Only I could create a plan this intricate!'

It took a few seconds for Past-Opal to realise what was happening. With a rising sense of fear she realised what it had come to. The few strands of sanity holding Present-Opal's mind together had broken, and the burning building yielded no escape. Except the front door, of course. So Past-Opal made a run for it. It was at this time Artemis' plan came to fruition.

As Past-Opal ran through the invisible LaserCage which once held Holly Short, her body was – as she had described herself – shredded. In the end it all came back to the time paradox, the impossible nature of time. If Past-Opal were to be killed, how could the Present-Opal exist? And if the Present-Opal didn't exist, how could the past one die? Artemis knew this, knew Present-Opal would eventually try to kill her past self out of greed and confusion. Both Opals were highly ambitious and could not cope with sharing the glory, even with themselves. As a paradox was impossible – it defied the laws of logic – Artemis knew it would snap back on itself, going back to its original state. Within logic it was the only possible solution. Past-Opal would be returned alive to the past with no memory of ever going into the future, leaving Artemis with one less deranged pixie to deal with.

The remaining Opal stared in shock at where her past self had vanished, unable to comprehend what she had just seen. So her mind took the only route it knew.

'It was all an illusion.' She muttered as she made her escape.

STAGE THREE

Dwarves weren't lovers of fire, and Mulch Diggums was no exception to this. Yet he still found himself willingly crawling into a burning building just to save his elfin friend. He had cut off the power feeding the building just seconds before, so all he had as guidance was his beard hair. Which was perfectly sufficient, as it turned out.

Artemis had been reluctant to let Mulch do all the saving, but knew that it was vital for the plan. He was needed outside, and knew Mulch was far more capable than he was when it came to breaking and entering.

Mulch felt his way along corridor after corridor, working his way down the storeys. His beard senses were heightened enough in the dark to know that the top floors were unoccupied – he could feel no footsteps, hear no voices. The air was beginning to become thick and heavy, something which Artemis had reassured Mulch wouldn't happen.

"The building is completely sealed, and any airflow through the ventilation units are filtered," he had said. "The air will remain perfectly clear unless someone opens a door or window."

This didn't make Mulch worried, as he assumed it would have been caused by one of the Opals leaving the front door to meet their fate. It wasn't until he reached the ground floor that he became wary. There were no more noises to be heard at all, not even in the lower levels. Even though he had no way of knowing for sure, Mulch knew the building was empty. A quick scour of the building amidst the smoke showed this to be true, there was no Holly or Opal to be found. When Mulch burst out the front door Artemis tensed and relaxed, then tensed again.

"Where's Opal?" he asked in confusion. "Or Holly?"

"I thought they had left through the front door!" Mulch objected. "The building is completely empty."

"It can't be," Artemis said, almost looking panicked. "It isn't possible, are you absolutely sure? Maybe I should go in there."

"No," Mulch said firmly. "There's no one in there, they must have got out some other way."

"I thought there was a possibility of that happening," Artemis frowned. "Can you follow them?"

Mulch felt the ground tentatively. "Yes, or for some of it anyway," he said warily. "I can't guarantee anything though, there could be a rock bed under the clay."

"It's our only chance for now," sighed Artemis as Mulch happily unbuttoned his bum-flap and dug a shallow hole which he climbed into.

Suddenly the ground shook, making Artemis stumble.

"I didn't do that, I swear!" Mulch protested. "My flatulence still has its limits."

With that Mulch was off before Artemis could say any more. But he didn't need to; Artemis had not forgotten the way Foaly had just simply stopped talking. So he waited, knowing the next step of his plan.

Suddenly a big hand closed over his shoulder.

"Butler," Artemis said. "We have to get to Police Plaza, now."

The ride to Artemis had been rough for Butler, involving lots of coordination by Foaly through the wafer transmitter Artemis had planted in his book. The shuttle pods of course were far too small and cramped, and Foaly had seemed rushed, needing to go back to the operations booth quickly. Another police cruiser had been sent out to drop Butler off, once again too cramped for his large frame. This was the one they travelled back in, Artemis filling Butler in on what had happened.

It took a while for Artemis to notice who was driving - no other than corporal Grub Kelp, who was looking even more nervous than usual. Sweating and shaking, not good signs.

"What is it?" Butler asked. "Grub?"

The vehicle wobbled slightly on the magnetic road, then stopped. Grub turned to face the humans.

"Haven's been taken over," he said. "Shortly after Butler and I left, there was a massive explosion near Police Plaza. They don't know if there are any survivors, people are fleeing the city."

"Foaly's either been taken hostage or killed," Artemis said bluntly. "We have to move now."

"No," Grub trembled. "I'm not going near there. It's a warzone."

"Corporal Kelp, your brother is out there fighting for his people, you should do the same."

"But Mummy said..."

"Please Grub, do it for Haven, for the People."

The elf sighed and the vehicle was moving once more, speeding towards the mass of fighting they once called Haven.

Okay, okay, forgive the song reference at the start. I couldn't resist, I really couldn't :P. And it fitted with the whole Haven being overrun thing...sort of. At least I have more of a plan of where the story's going now, only a few more chapters left, eep!

Sorry about not keeping my promise of updating before Christmas, that's just me, sorry D:

Update soon, read and review please :D Just so I know you're hanging in there ;)