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Before anything else, this story will start with the usual…

Disclaimer: I don't own Artemis Fowl, from the plot up to the characters, though it would be totally awesome if I did.

But, sadly, I don't.

The only thing I own in this story is my OCs and most of the story's plot. Forgive me if there are loads of grammatical errors and such

Well, anyway, on with the story.

juniperfalcon17

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15 minutes…

Everything around them is slowly turning into a complete mayhem. The sirens kept on blaring, mix it with the desperate cries of the innocent civilians being evacuated to safety after being accidentally caught in the mess, accompanied by an occasional tremors and explosions caused by who-knows-what and top it off with an evil mad genius who wants to avenge something that he taught was injustice; it was chaos indeed.

It was clear though, they have fallen into a trap.

It was just supposed to be a simple get together, a social gathering but as it turns out everything was orchestrated to lead them to their deaths. At that moment, all they have to do is to make a simple choice; get out of there and save themselves or figure a way to solve the threat. If they chose to escape, the bomb, without a doubt, will cause the explosion of the vessel itself; leading to an even bigger trouble for the remains of the vessel will crash on a small town below near the coast. If they stay, there will be a 50-50 chance for them to live.

Not much of a decision, right?

13 minutes…

The mind behind all of this is not a human - not an elf, a sprite or a dwarf but a pixie.

No it's not Haven's no.1 paranoid pixie Opal Koboi, though this young evil genius is closely related to her. To his former schoolmates, he was known as the geek of the century. Others see him as a crackpot, a deranged psychopath while some see him as a hopeless case, one fit for a mental asylum. But only a few people knew him for who he really is. But that is not much of a reassuring thought.

Only a handful of people knew his past; he changed his name after all.

He was once known as Beryl Koboi, the not so famous brother of Opal Koboi. When his sister failed to overthrow the LEP and fell into coma, he changed his name to Beryl de Sith. He cleared all of the files concerning him and his past all the while forging all the needed files for his new identity. He lived under that new identity, keeping a low profile on certain matters but involved himself when he sees profit from it. The male pixie became a very influential person in Haven; he was like an undeclared member of the council. Little did the LEP and Haven know this evil genius already has a plan; a plan that is less predictable than his sister's and this situation is one of them.

And this little trap he set up is not even a part of his 'fight for justice' scheme but it is just a simple dry-run, like a small game to see who plays the best.

11 minutes…

For the first time in years, Artemis Fowl II is sweating in difficulty.

In rare situations like this, though he won't admit it, Artemis badly needed Foaly. This was fairy technology after all, plus, knowing that someone is thinking the problem with him can somehow ease the pressure exerted by their limited time and their chaotic situation, even though it may not help much. Unfortunately, for our young Irish genius, all outside communications has been cut off during the last explosion so he was on his own now.

At an early age of nine, Artemis learned how to successfully defuse bombs to entertain himself from perpetual boredom he felt that time. When he discovered the People when he was twelve, Artemis expounded his knowledge on this field out of pure curiosity. He tried defusing fairy type bombs; of course without the knowledge of the LEP and his family as well as his bodyguard. How he learned and at the same time gets all the things he needed in his lessons, nobody knows. Artemis only stopped his 'exercises' when he started working on the C Cube. After all, he wasn't the type of guy to be focusing his brains on explosives and weapons and such.

Unfortunately for Artemis, he didn't have any actual life threatening situations when he was learning how to defuse bombs for the bombs he practiced on never exploded when he didn't successfully defuse it in time, they just beep a couple of times to show his failure.

Now being in that situation, Artemis' heart was beating so fast that if it were possible, it would jump right out of his chest. No one can blame him though, for at that moment, defusing that bomb is the only way to save his life and running away from it is not even an option.

The worst part of it, the evil crackpot managed to chain his foot to the floor when he lost consciousness a few moments ago and he chained him in same room as the bomb.

9 minutes…

Former Captain Holly Short was helping in assisting the civilians safely out of the vessel. Foaly managed to redirect the floating aircraft by means of reprogramming the main board and instead of going directly above the city, the vessel is currently on its way above a sea dozens of miles away from the original target location.

All the LEP has to worry about is how to get far away from the vessel before it explodes.

Honestly, Holly thought, only the most deranged being in the entire planet would invite a large number of fairies and humans and have them all together in one huge gathering.

She remembered one time when she was invited to Artemis' 16th birthday celebration and she even have to lie and tell that she was completing a ritual just to attend the said celebration. Whoever was behind this, he or she is without a doubt is very influential and well trusted.

Of course, the humans are either too crazed out or too stunned to speak or even move. As they huddled at one corner in the main ship, Holly could imagine Foaly readying numerous mind-wiping machines for these humans. Several civilian fairies volunteered to help in assisting the other wounded fairies while the others are simply just sitting, waiting for something to happen.

So far, everything went according to plan.

That was until…

…the news came.

7 minutes…

"I saw a Mud Boy chained in the same room as where the bomb is when we passed by the hall a few minutes ago," Holly heard a civilian fairy say to his companion.

Holly's ears perked up and turned to the civilian's direction.

"A Mud Boy you say?" she asked, her heartbeat faster than usual.

"Yes, black hair. Pale as a bond paper wearing a black suit - "

The female elf never heard the rest of the sentence as she ran off, ignoring the calls of her companions; her heart beating fast.

5 minutes…

It was hopeless; Artemis has already given up and was just waiting for death to come.

He just sat there; reminiscing all his grand adventures as if he is using it to pass out the time.

How will his parents react when they found out the he was dead?

How will Juliet and Holly react?

How would Butler react?

Artemis knows the manservant would never forgive himself if something bad happened to him. Artemis sighed, muttering an apology to his old friend.

At least they are all safe, he thought, Mother, Father, Myles, Beckett, Butler, Juliet, Foaly, Mulch, Holly….

Right then someone burst into the room that nearly made Artemis's soul jump out of its body. He took a quick glance around to look at who ever it was that came in. Standing not far from the door entrance is the one and only Holly Short.

She was panting and fear is visible in her mismatched eyes but did her best to hold her composure. This was no time to show everyone how scared she is with the situation.

"Artemis,"

4 minutes…

"Artemis what are you doing?" Holly shouted in a little panicky way. This boy really knows how call danger

Then her eyes shifted down to his feet. The chain used on him was thick, very thick, she doubt she can snap it off by shooting it with her Neutrino. She quickly looked in her numerous pockets for something useful. Surely, she brought something that would be useful. She was from the LEP after all.

"Holly, get out of here," Artemis instructed or more like shouted the order to her. If he was going to die there is no need for Holly to be dead too.

Holly didn't say a word as she pulled out a laser cutter and began working on the chain.

"Holly," Artemis began but was cut of immediately by Holly's death glare

"Shut up, Mud Boy," she snapped though her voice was slightly trembling, "You're not getting away from me that easy."

All Artemis could do is to stare at her.

Then there was that final clink…the chain fell off from his feet.

"Hurry,"

3 minutes…

Holly practically dragged Artemis thought the numerous hallways and corridors. They reached the deck faster than Holly expected. Trouble already knew whom Holly rescued so he ordered a couple of officers with jetpacks to go there immediately once the elf and the Mud boy were in sight.

"Now or never," Holly muttered as they stood up at the deck's edge.

"Wha - "

"Come on," she said as she aimed her Neutrino towards the sky and pulled the trigger.

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"That's the signal," Trouble shouted

The two LEP officers immediately shot off towards the vessel. The Commander and the other civilians were already out explosion range, with nothing to do but watch and hope that everything will go well; holding their breaths and crossing their fingers.

This is not over yet….

2 minutes…

Holly gave one last look at Artemis; her eyes were full off mixed emotions that Artemis cannot convey in such a small period of time. Then before his brain could process anything else Holly immediately took Artemis by the necktie and gave a short kiss on the lips before tossing him over board.

The two LEP officers sped up and caught him just in time. Holly felt relieved as she stood on the rail watching the two officers took off with Artemis. She was about to fly off when the unexpected happened.

Her wings won't function properly.

"Oh Crap"

1….

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Fire…

Falling Debris…

Smoke...

Then out of that black cloud of smoke, something fell.

Trouble immediately flew off in hopes to catch the fallen creature as the two LEP officers set Artemis down on the deck of the rescue ship.

All Artemis could do is to watch the whole scene from afar. He wants to help. He wants to be the one to catch her, tell her everything was alright, that she is safe. But all he could do is just watch and hope.

An automatic calculation ran through his mind as he watched. Trouble was flying a little too slow for the falling velocity of Holly. There is a 60% probability that he will not catch her at that rate; that made Artemis want to shout 'fly faster' to the commander

Fortunately Foaly voiced out his thoughts.

"Fly faster, Trouble"

The commander did so in pure determination and caught Holly in time.

Relief washed over Artemis as he slowly sat on a nearby box and buried his head in his hands. He looked down at his shoes for a while and it was only then did he notice that a device was attached to one of his shoes.

It was a small cam pod, like the one Opal used at the temple of Artemis, the goddess, years back.

He picked it up and the pod automatically turned on by something or someone.

On it appeared a silhouette of a person.

"Typical, typical, typical," the person said. It was obviously a guy based on the voice.

"Revenge is sweet as it is. I'll be watching your female friend since I've decided to make her my first target before killing you," he said giving a weird chuckle.

"I'll be watching," he said lastly and then the screen went blank, followed by a beeping sound, like a timer.

That's when realization struck and Artemis immediately threw the pod away with all his force and watched as the thing exploded in midair.

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