Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s been so long

And I’ve been putting out fire

With gasoline

Faye Raught did not consider herself an extravagant woman. But she had come to the conclusion long ago that sometimes a flair for drama was essential in her business. Nothing inspired fear quite in the way that theatrics did.

Above her, the helicopter blades rhythmically droned. Raught couldn’t appreciate their full volume through her earplugs, but she drummed her fingers on her leg in time nonetheless. She imagined that the sound couldn’t be far off from that of the millions of thunderous migrating hooves in the nearby rift valley. If she was a tourist, she would have directed the chopper to turn in that direction, towards the masses of galloping bodies that were still somehow created a less oppressive atmosphere than the one they were currently flying through.

Faye Raught was not a tourist. The helicopter began its descent.

The lava lake below her beckoned almost seductively, like a pool of freshly pulled saltwater taffy. If that taffy had happened to be superheated to over a thousand degrees Celsius. Despite herself, Raught found herself briefly admiring the view.

Then she nodded to the man sitting across from her. Mutely, he bowed his head in confirmation and rose as the helicopter leveled itself at a steady height. Beside her, Raught’s guest squirmed uncomfortably.

She squeezed his shoulder with a startling hardness. “No need for that, friend. We’re here.”

The man took the bag off of the guest’s head with a flourish. As disgruntled as he would be with the observation, Raught thought with some amusement, Cromwell enjoyed the pageantry of these events just as much as she did.

Cromwell thrust the man until he was practically teetering on the edge of the helicopter door, keeping a firm grip on the back of his shirt. Instinctively, the man flinched away from the light and heat radiating from the lake below.

“Please, ma’am, I didn’t mean-! “ His plead collapsed into a whimper as he felt Cromwell’s grip on him loosen ever so slightly.

“They say this place is a gateway to hell,” Raught said over the whir of the chopper, ignoring her guest’s discomfort. “Really, it isn’t hard to see why. Men weren’t made to survive such habitats. Maybe this place is where our ancestor’s entire notion of hell came from.”

She stood up, keeping one hand on the grip above the door. They both were gazing at the fiery crater below, now. “Erta Ale is one of the few volcanoes in the world whose crater holds an eternal lake of lava. You can see why it has a certain appeal for my line of work.”

Tears were falling down the man’s face. “Please, please,” he mouthed more than spoke.

Raught rested her free hand on the guest’s upper back. “I’ll admit, this is disappointing. You always acted like you were the most fearless person in the room, even when it would get you killed.” She considered. “Which, I suppose, doesn’t matter anymore because you ended up getting yourself killed anyway.”

The man shrank back as she leaned closer to him inquiringly. “Tell me, Martin, what did you think was going to happen if you had given the FBI those documents? Did you think you were going to make the Spartoi burn? That you were going to raze us to the ground?”

Raught returned her gaze to the lake of liquid fire. “Fool. We are from the earth. We cannot be burned.” A smile lit her features. “Funny thing is, though, is that you’re no longer one of us.”

She shoved him forward just as Cromwell released his grip.

The fall wasn’t going to be what kill him. Raught had made sure of that.

The screams didn’t last long, but Raught knew from experience that the smell would linger. She gestured tapped the pane of glass separating them from the cockpit, and the helicopter began to ascend.

As she sank back into her seat and pulled the buckle across her chest, Raught’s thoughts were already moving into the future. Now that this was done with, all energy could be devoted to the more important task at hand.

It was time to kidnap a genius.

Chapter Text

London calling to the underworld

Come out of the cupboard, you boys and girls

Alex Rider grimaced up at the sign above him. There was no mistaking it. This was the place. La Princesse du Cygne, it read in its obnoxiously loopy cursive font.

Maybe it was the Brit in him, but Alex already got the sense this place was insufferably pretentious. Which made it a less than ideal spot to pull off some sort of ambush. Then again, maybe that was the whole reason this place had been chosen. Alex wasn’t certain of which, but it was best not to leave things to chance.

The gun in his jacket weighed against his side. Once, the thought of holding the firearm would have repulsed Alex. Now he never went anywhere without it.

There was no use putting this off any longer, though. He was already getting glances from the staff that were sure to only get dirtier the longer he loitered outside of the Michelin-starred restaurant. With a steadying breath, Alex pushed through the doors.

Alex knew for a fact that he was probably making the stupidest decision possible in this scenario. A man you’ve never heard of calls your cell one day, claims to be an Irish noble or something and says he’s got information on the inner workings of the group of people you despise most in the world. Oh, and he won’t give you this information over the phone. You have to go and meet him in a spot of his choosing. Nothing about that was suspicious in the slightest.

And yet despite his brain screaming at him no to, Alex found himself agreeing to meet this stranger.

 He wasn’t sure exactly why that was. Maybe it was the hollowness that Alex had felt slowly filling his soul with each passing day. Before, his purpose had been to stay alive, just stay alive. Now that purpose was gone and had been for years, but there had never been anything substantial to replace it. Go to class. Play football. Go to work. Pretend not to see the missed calls from America. Go to sleep and pray to nothing in particular for 8 hours of blissful oblivion and get just that, if he was lucky. It seemed he’d used up most of his luck years before, though.

Maybe danger was the only thing he could subsist on at this point. The thought was less than comforting, but it was the only explanation Alex could find for why he found himself agreeing to this odd meeting with this Fowl character. If this meeting turned out to be benign and he lived to see the next day, it was probably something he should bring up with his therapist.

None of that mattered now. Alex was here, in this god-awful French restaurant, and there was no turning back at this point.

He approached the hostess stand and cleared his throat lightly. The young woman behind it hadn’t seen him come in and jumped slightly.

“Oh! I mean, hello, sir.” She smiled at him but her eyes were darting around furtively, no doubt trying to discern if a manager had noticed her inattention. “I am so sorry about that. How can I help you?”

Alex shrugged in the universally millennial way to indicate that he didn’t give a shit about the server’s faux pas. “I’m meeting a fr- someone here, I mean. Fowl? At 12:30?”

The hostess hardly glanced at the notepad containing the restaurant’s reservation information. “Oh, yes, right this way.” She thrust a menu into Alex’s hands and beckoned for him to follow.

Alex allowed himself to be led into the depths of La Princesse, noting the dimness of the room and the dark-toned wallpaper. Why fancy places like this always felt the need to deprive people of their sense of sight, Alex could never fathom. The room was lightly populated but just crowded enough so individual conversations couldn’t be picked up over the baseline chatter of the room. Fowl evidently didn’t want their conversation overheard. Alex felt that he himself would prefer that as well, all things considered.

Alex came to a halt as the hostess stopped in her tracks. She pointed to a table in the back corner of the room, where two figures seemed to be engaged in conversation. “Your friend is over there. Enjoy your meal.” With that, she turned on her heels and purposefully headed back to the front of the restaurant.

Alex frowned as he watched her retreat out of the gloom. The restaurant wasn’t that busy. Surely, she could have at least led him all the way to the table.

Paranoid. He was being paranoid. People were weird for all sorts of reasons and most of them weren’t at all related to doing you harm.

Still, Alex thought, brushing his fingers against the hilt of his gun, it would be best not to let his guard down for even a second.

The two figures at the table ceased talking when he approached. Now that Alex could actually see them better, he could tell that they couldn’t have formed a stranger pair. Closest to him sat one of the biggest men Alex had ever seen and considering his early teenage years, that was saying something. He was scanning Alex nonchalantly enough, but there was something behind his gaze that indicated he would not hesitate in the slightest if he had to kill Alex there and then.

Nonplussed, Alex shifted his attention to the other man sitting at the table and found a pair of icy blue eyes staring back into his own. Their owner was a young man about Alex’s age, with raven hair and skin that was almost unhealthily white. His crisp suit made Alex self-conscious of the cheaply made blazer he had decided to wear to the occasion. Attractive, in an analytical sort of way.

Then Alex came to the realization that he had been standing there and staring at this complete stranger for what must have been half a minute. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Um. Hello.” What the hell was wrong with him? He was rarely this awkward, even in these sorts of situations.

Thankfully, the man rose and extended his hand, saving Alex from having to analyze his own sudden lack of poise any longer. “Alex Rider, I take it?” His voice had the same aristocratic Irish tones as the person he had spoken to over the phone.

Alex nodded in affirmation and reciprocated the handshake. “And you’re Fowl?”

The other man sat back down and gestured for Alex to do the same. “Please, call me Artemis. Would you like anything to drink?”

Alex lowered himself into a chair across from Fowl. “I’ll just stick with water, thanks.”

The enormous man took the pitcher at the center of the table and poured its contents into Alex’s glass as he watched. If he didn’t think the possibility was of getting his skull crushed was very real, Alex probably would have made some snarky quip about how he was quite capable of performing simple tasks himself. As it was, though, he turned his attention back to Fowl. “I thought you said we were meeting alone. Who is this?”

 Artemis clasped his hands in front of him. “Butler is my bodyguard and friend.” Surely his name cannot actually be Butler, Alex thought, but Fowl didn’t seem to be joking. “I trust him, probably even more than myself at times. You can be assured of his discretion regarding our conversation and whatever decision you come to.”

Alex shifted and gave the larger man a sideways glance. Butler stared back. Looks like there wasn’t much of a choice in the matter. “Alright.” He changed the subject abruptly, lowering his voice. “When we were on the phone, you said you knew about my history with SCORPIA. How?

Artemis looked faintly amused. “The British government has admirable cybersecurity measures, especially their intelligence agencies, I will admit. But ultimately fallible.”

Alex stared at him. “You want me to believe that you successfully hacked into the MI6 in order to… what? Get my records?”

“The CIA and ASIS as well, although admittedly not to the same extent. Your former occupation has taken you far, it seems.”

 Alex’s jaw tightened. “Occupation is a rather benevolent way of putting it. Maybe they didn’t put this in the files, but I usually didn’t have a choice.”

For a moment, Artemis almost looked sympathetic. “I had gathered as much. For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry that they made you do such things at such a young age. No one deserves that.” He sighed. “Nevertheless, our unfortunate pasts make us who we are. Which comes to the reason I wanted to speak with you today. Have you heard of an organization that calls themselves the Spartoi?”

Alex frowned. “Can’t say I have. Who are they?”

“They are an organized crime group on the rise, so to speak. According to what I’ve managed to find on them, they answer to a single leader, one Faye Raught.” Artemis unlocked his phone with a swipe, the model of which was completely unrecognizable to Alex. “This is the only picture I’ve managed to find of her so far. She rarely makes public appearances, and her digital traces have been extensively scrubbed.” He slid the phone across the table, revealing a grainy image of a woman who could easily be mistaken by a tabloid as Dame Helen Mirren entering a vehicle with darkly tinted windows.

Alex returned the mystery smartphone to its owner. “And what does this have to do with me, exactly?”

Artemis leaned forward. “The interesting thing about the Spartoi is that they’re composed almost entirely of former members of other organized crime groups. It seems to be their trademark, so to speak. The Russian Mafia. The Extinctionists. Snakehead. You name it. But a good bulk of the Spartoi is currently made up of former SCORPIA members.”

Alex felt a chill go down his spine. It wasn’t over. It would never be over.

Artemis laced his fingers together. “I’ll be frank with you, Mr. Rider. You are probably one of the most knowledgeable people living when it comes to these people. That’s why I need your help.”

Alex found his voice. “Why? You seem more than capable of gathering information on your own, as you’ve already demonstrated.” He gestured to the smartphone.

“Files are one thing. Experience is another. I need someone who’s dealt with members of this organization face to face if I’m going to stay ahead of them.”

“And why do you need to do that?” Alex asked bluntly. “What does this even have to do with you? Why do you care?”

Artemis looked pained. “It’s rather complicated. My father and I have had some… less than savory business dealings in the past. We’ve been legitimate for quite some time now, but it seems the Spartoi would still consider me a valuable addition to their organization. They’ve sent me several propositions and have become increasingly incensed that I keep refusing. I’m worried they will soon become a threat to my family if the pattern continues.” The display of smug knowledge that Fowl had been keeping up the entire conversation faded slightly and Alex caught a glimpse at how bone-tired he seemed.

“I fully trust the Butler family with my family’s security, but they cannot be everywhere at once and cover every possibility.” Artemis shook his head and met Alex’s gaze. “That’s why I must be proactive about this. That’s why I need you.”

Alex felt as if he already knew the words even before they came out of Artemis’ mouth.

“I need you to infiltrate the Spartoi and help me take them down from the inside.”

Chapter Text

Why don't they

Do what they say, say what you mean?

Oh baby one thing leads to another

Alex stared at Artemis. The words of his offer still rang in the air.

Then Alex angrily broke the silence. “Are you fucking kidding me? You really want me to go back in there? You said it yourself, you don’t know what these people are really like.”

Artemis didn’t seem disturbed by the volume or profanity of the outburst. “I wouldn’t be asking this of you if I didn’t think the Spartoi were an enormous threat not to just me and my family but humanity as well. As I said, this group is only starting out and they already have the potential to do grievous harm. The threat will only increase if we do nothing about them. Hundreds of thousands of lives could be at stake, if not more.”

Alex leaned back in his chair, scowling. “And you think I’m the only one in the world who can pull this sort of thing off?”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Artemis mused. “There are dozens of people I could have hired for this sort of thing.” He met Alex’s eyes with a certain heaviness. “I assure you that I wouldn’t have dredged up all of this past unpleasantness if I didn’t think there was a good chance that you would be on their hit list sooner or later. Being bested by a child is enough to make a man bitter for a lifetime. I would know.”

And Alex had thoroughly humiliated them on at least three separate occasions. It wouldn’t shock him if there were still former members fuming over that detail. Begrudgingly, Alex banished the hostility from his voice. “Go on.”

Artemis took a sip from his water (all liquid and no ice, Alex noticed) and seemed to be considering his words carefully. “I know about everything SCORPIA took from you. I won’t pretend like I can understand the magnitude of your pain. But wouldn’t you like to prevent the same sorts of things from happening to more innocent people?”

Alex was silent. Ancient explosions reverberated through his mind. He shook his head to clear them, but they persisted, threatening to bring up the images that accompanied them.

When he looked back up, Artemis was studying him. “You don’t have to come to a decision now, of course. But the longer we delay, the more lives are at stake.”

The hostess Alex had encountered earlier reentered the room, catching Alex’s attention. She was leading a group of about ten well-dressed 30-somethings to their reserved table. They were talking and laughing amongst themselves, blissfully unaware of the gravity of the conversation occurring a few tables away. Alex would be lying if he said a part of him didn’t envy them. Maybe that would be him in 10 years, able to have a lighthearted lunch with coworkers without having to worry about past or future trauma.

With the way things were looking now, Alex doubted it was going to happen. But it was a nice thought.

He looked back over at Fowl, whose expression was difficult to read. “I... I need a moment to think it over.”

Artemis nodded. “Of course. I hope you’ll still join us for lunch. The scallops here are one of my mother’s favorites.” He seemed like he wanted to say more for a moment, then decided against it and took another sip of his water.

The hostess was walking back their way. Come to think of it, it was odd that Alex had been seated as long as he had and hadn’t been approached by a single waiter, especially in a fancy place like this. Surely she couldn’t be the only wait staff in the entire establishment.

A wave of unease coursed through his stomach. Something about this was off.

The hostess was absently digging for something in her apron pocket as she closed the space between them. Alex thought it over for a split second and came to a decision. He stood up and stepped into the aisle, blocking her path to the other occupants of the table.

“Mr. Rider, are you-?” Artemis stopped short when Alex held up a had to silence him. Behind him, Alex could hear Butler moving and prayed he wasn’t getting in position to kill him in a single blow.

The hostess took a step to the right to get around him. Alex mirrored her movement.

he frowned up at him, seemingly caught off guard. “Excuse me, sir.”

Alex smiled brightly. “You’re excused.”

She tried to push past him, confusion melting into a scowl. “If you could just-!”

Alex stopped her with a light hand on her shoulder. “That’s not going to happen.”

The hostess seemed momentarily at a loss. It was enough to make Alex second guess himself. Maybe he was a paranoid jackass and harassing this poor woman for no reason at all.

One of the members of the group table coughed.

It was enough to snap her out of it. She pulled the object she had been fishing for out of her apron and thrust it towards Alex’s chest.

Alex barely managed to sidestep the attack before he grabbed her wrist and twisted until she dropped the weapon. A thin stiletto clattered to the ground, its blade sparkling in the dimness of the room.

Someone screamed, and the other patrons began to flee the room. Alex barely noticed, however, as the hostess struggled free and made a lunge for the stiletto. He caught the end of her apron strings and yanked in the opposite direction as hard as he could.

As he had expected, the thin fabric ripped free from the rest of her apron. But it was enough to knock her off course for a couple of seconds and give Alex enough time to kick the stiletto far out of her reach.

Alex pulled his gun out of his jacket and leveled it squarely at the hostess’ face. “Don’t move.”

That was when he realized that none of the recently seated group had evacuated with the rest of the restaurant. In fact, they were all still standing around their table.

Each one had a gun pointed at him.

Shit. Shit. Alex took a small step backward, keeping his eyes trained on the group.

A few of its members stared past him. “Come with us and we’ll spare your friends here,” one called, gesturing to Alex with his gun. He didn’t dare turn around to gauge Fowl’s reaction.

From what Alex could tell, Artemis had been mumbling indiscernibly to Butler in short bursts since the fight had started, to which the larger man had responded in kind. After a moment, Alex heard the sound of two chairs being pushed back.

A couple of the group shifted their aim. The man who had spoken for them before scowled. “Oh no. The big guy makes a move and we start shooting.”

“Of course,” said Artemis evenly. “Would you at least allow me to say farewell to my friend before we leave, though? I have to apologize for pulling him into the middle of this mess.”

The man’s eyes darted back and forth between them, no doubt trying to ascertain how great a threat they would be together. Then he seemed to decide that nearly a dozen guns pointing their direction was enough to stop two young adults from trying to pull anything reckless and huffed. “Make it quick.”

Alex heard slow footsteps behind him until Artemis was next to him, arms raised slightly. Alex tore his gaze away from the group and tried to read Fowl’s face. “The hell are you doing?” he asked. There was a strand of hair curling down on Artemis’ forehead, Alex noticed. Some part of him, probably dazed by the sudden change of pace this meeting had taken, wanted to reach out and fix it.

Artemis smiled ruefully. “I am sorry about all of this trouble, for what it's worth. I hope your future ventures are successful.” He extended a hand to shake.

Alex hesitatingly removed a hand from his gun and shook back, starting a bit when Fowl pulled him ever so slightly closer. “Keep your jaw unclenched,” Artemis breathed. He released before Alex could react and stepped away, turning to the armed group. His smile had taken on a slightly more intimidating note.

“Might I ask you good people a question?” He gave enough time for the Spartoi (at least, Alex was pretty sure at this point that they had to be Spartoi) to look confused before he continued. “Have you heard of Percy Bysshe Shelley? If your secondary education was worth anything at all, you should have at least read some of his work, but I can never make that assumption.”

The presumed leader of the group was growing restless. “Cut the shit and get over here.”

Artemis didn’t move. “Indulge me for a moment, if you would. Shelley has a wonderful poem that often comes to mind in times such as these. It’s called Ozymandias. You may have heard it before.”

Alex himself was vaguely familiar with the poem, but he had no earthly idea what it had to do with the situation at hand. However, Artemis was clearly planning something, so he kept his mouth shut and his jaw loose.

“There’s a certain famous line in it that speaks to the impermanence of all things, reflected in an ironic inscription from the titular pharaoh.” Artemis made a sweeping gesture. “Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

The world before Alex exploded into a cacophony.

What could only be described as a solid wall of sound slammed into him from the center of the room, knocking Alex off of his feet and sending his gun skittering across the floor. The Spartoi members seemed closer to the epicenter of the blast and fared worse, being violently thrown away from him and against the wall behind them. The combination of the force and the impact knocked most of them unconscious and left the rest clutching their ears in a daze. Even Artemis, who obviously knew the explosion was coming, was knocked backward.

Ears ringing, Alex grabbed Artemis by the arm in preparation to haul them both back to their feet. Before he could, though, two large hands grabbed them by the collar and pulled them upright. Butler.

The bodyguard was watching Alex as he retrieved his gun. Its weight in his hand was an uneasy source of comfort through the adrenaline pumping through his veins. “Rider. Take the rear and make sure none of them follow us out. I’ll make sure nobody’s waiting for us at the car.”

Alex nodded in agreement to the plan. Again, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice, but even if he had, he’d probably be making the same call. “Let’s go, then.” The sirens were the only interruption of the tense silence that descended upon them as the exited through the rear of the restaurant. It seemed that the rest of the staff and patrons had fled as far as possible from the scene, and Alex couldn’t blame them. Hopefully, no bystanders ended up being hit by that soundwave.

There was a sudden burst of movement out from behind one of the valet parking spots. Alex turned and leveled his gun, but Butler moved before he could fire. With a surprising swiftness for a man of his age and size, he brought the side of his hand down onto the assailant’s neck. The man crumpled to the ground, motionless. Alex could see the glint of a knife within the folds of his valet uniform

They made it to a black Bentley, unassuming enough but obviously still intended to convey the wealth and status of its owner. It suited him, Alex thought. In any other situation, he would have probably rolled his eyes

Butler seemed to be searching the car for any sort of explosive or tampering, so Alex took it upon himself to make sure nobody got the jump on them. He was focused so intently on the lot around him that he almost pistol-whipped Artemis in surprise when the other man put a hand on his shoulder. “Jesus Christ, dude, it’s a bad idea to startle people in moments like these.”

 Artemis looked a bit frazzled, hair a mess and tie askew, but besides that no worse for wear. “It’s not safe for you here. You need to come with us.” he urged quietly. “You don’t have to make any sort of decision, but if any of them manage to get out they won’t hesitate to hurt you or worse. At the very least, you need to get as far away from here as possible.”

Alex couldn’t argue with that. He would be alone if he stayed here, completely without the assistance of any strange bombs or physical prowess of Butler to back him up. If one of them got a car or managed to figure out what bus he took home, Alex would be fucked. When Butler determined that the car was safe to enter, he took a seat in the back next to Artemis.

Through the tinted window, Alex could see flashing lights down the street. But they were long gone when they arrived, leaving the police to wonder how exactly a dozen gunmen had gotten their eardrums ruptured.

Chapter Text

No one understands but Major Tom sees

Now the light commands, this is my home

I'm coming home

Alex stood on the threshold to his apartment. He never thought he’d be so happy to be greeted by utter silence.

Artemis and Butler were waiting in the Bentley in an unoccupied corner of the garage underneath his complex. Alex had asked for a few minutes alone in his residence to think over his options, and thankfully Artemis had obliged. He agreed with Butler’s caution that they should keep moving in case the Spartoi had started to scour the city for a car of their make and model, but he needed this moment of familiarity if he was going to clear his head.

Not to mention that Alex was going to need his stuff if he was going anywhere.

Entering the apartment, Alex flicked the main light on. Everything seemed to be where he had left it that morning. Hopefully, it meant that the Spartoi from La Princesse hadn’t been able to send any information out to their other members about his identity or whereabouts. They should be safe, for now.

For now. The caveat seemed to rule his life. Every moment of stability since he was 14 had been punctuated by it. No matter where Alex was, no matter what he was doing, things could go south in the blink of an eye.

Alex wouldn’t say he was a big fan of it, this certainty in uncertainty. But it looked like something he wasn’t ever going to escape. For a moment, Alex stood in the middle of the room in silence, staring at the small frames sitting on his mantle. Most of its subjects had been violently killed before their time.

 How many people had had their lives cut short by organizations like SCORPIA, like the Spartoi? How many families had seen their numbers dwindle to almost nothing, just like his own? Was Alex disrespecting their memory by hesitating to avenge them? Or would putting himself in danger yet again make their deaths be in vain?

He wished there was an easy answer.

Alex barely knew Artemis Fowl the Second. From what he could tell, though, beneath the smug intelligence and expensive suit lay something genuine. Fowl seemed to truly care about his family and, from what he could tell, the people whose lives were going to be both directly and indirectly affected by the future actions of this criminal group. Including Alex himself. It was more than he could say about any of his previous employers in the field.

In a weird way, Alex almost felt drawn to him. Like it or not, he was invested in the other man’s wellbeing. If Artemis was taken right now, Alex was certain he’d feel a certain responsibility to help him. But preemptively putting his neck on the line for him? That he was less sure about.

Alex walked forward until the frames on the mantle were just below eye level. The last one on the left caught and held his attention. Alex lifted his arm hesitatingly grab it, then paused in mid-air. The subject, a woman not much older than he was now, was smiling past his shoulder into the distance. His hand dropped into a fist at his side. She was gone, and the people who killed her were trying to do it again.

Losing a loved one was the worst pain imaginable. Alex wouldn’t stand to see it happen to any other families, be it the Fowls or anyone else. Not while there was still something he could do about it.

It didn’t take long for Alex to pack what he needed. When he returned to the Bentley, Artemis and Butler were waiting inside. With a deep breath, Alex opened the door sat down in the back. Artemis was looking at him expectantly.

“I’ll do it.”

Fowl Manor was picturesque this time of year. The lush Irish green of the land seemed to gleam in the sunlight, broken up by the occasional splashes of pink, white, and orange from the impressive flower arrangements Angeline herself had designed.

Artemis sat in ruins he had died in, surrounded by the brilliance of untamed orange roses. The shade, or as near as he could gather, was closest to that of a persimmon. Hexadecimal #EC5800, although that, of course, depended on the lighting and the individual flower.

Artemis had difficulty staying inside on days like this now. It had done little to darken his complexion, as his brothers were happy to constantly inform him, but it was here was where he felt the most whole now. Most alive.

Over the years since his return, Artemis had developed the theory that his current body did not contain all of his soul. When he and his former body had been prematurely separated, his physical form had literally been that of the fairy roses. Being reintroduced into another version of himself didn’t completely erase that fact. He was a part of the roses and the roses were a part of him. That was why he could only truly feel warm under the sunlight, why sometimes the faintest taste of phantom dirt lingered on his tongue.

 Artemis still hadn’t figured out what that exactly made him, humanity-wise.

The sound of the flowers whispering to each other in the breeze pulled him from his introspection. A figure was approaching from the direction of the manor. Alex had finished putting away his things, then.

Artemis had been thoroughly impressed by Rider so far. He was quick on his feet, made sound heat of the moment judgments, and seemed to be able to handle himself just fine when trouble reared its head. The files he’d read had painted a picture of this “teenage super spy” who had managed to save millions of lives and stop countless criminals before he’d turned 16.

 Those files also tended to gloss over the personal prices Alex had paid on those missions. A family member’s death had started the entire affair and a family member’s death had ended it as well. He had been shot, tortured, and nearly killed more times than a combat veteran, and in the end, simply discarded as another piece of broken cannon fodder.

 Artemis felt a pang of guilt for bringing Alex back into this life. He deserved to live peacefully for the rest of his days after the trauma of his early teen years and not have to relive it all at the request of a stranger. We are saving lives and helping families, Artemis reminded himself.

Alex had seemed to understand that as well. It had taken surprisingly little convincing to get him to agree to his proposal. Then again, maybe being ambushed in the middle of lunch did the convincing for him.

Alex stepped onto the ancient stone, hands in his pockets. The sun seemed to just barely glint off of his dirty blond hair, bringing to Artemis’ mind the nimbus traditionally surrounding a classical sun god. Phoebus Apollo, perhaps, or maybe even Helios back before the two were practically synonymous.

It had a greater effect on Artemis than he would like to admit.

Alex cleared his throat, breaking the stillness of the moment. “Um. Butler said I could find you out here.”

Artemis rose from the crumbled section of a wall he had been seated on. “Yes. Forgive me, I needed a few moments alone to collect myself.”

Alex shrugged, placing his hands into his pockets. “I don’t blame you. It’s been an eventful day” He turned and focused his gaze on the orange roses. “These are really beautiful, by the way.”

Artemis moved so they were standing side by side, watching the flowers dance subtly in the wind. “Thank you. They’re, ah, personal favorites of mine.”

Alex gave him a sideways glance, smiling a little. “They’re rather flash. But I’ve gathered that that’s pretty on-brand, huh?’

Artemis let out a small laugh. “I have been told by several people that I have a tendency towards the dramatic.”

Alex snorted. “I get the feeling that’s an understatement. A concussion blast triggered by a line of poetry? I’ll admit, it was a first for me.”

“A sonic blast.” Artemis corrected automatically. “It’s come in handy before, but there’s always the possibility that it could backfire. You behaved phenomenally back there, by the way. I can’t thank you enough.”

Alex shrugged. “Don’t mention it. I’m glad we all got out safely and you didn’t end up locked in some criminal’s basement.” Artemis winced at the remark, but Alex didn’t seem to notice. “Do you… do you know why they want you? Like specifically?”

Artemis sighed wearily. “That’s the question, isn’t it? I wish I could figure it out so I could take as many steps possible to ensure they don’t achieve whatever they’re planning. Sending you in is the best shot I’ve got.”

After a moment of silence, Alex set a hand on his shoulder. Artemis turned to face him, his face betraying his surprise.

“I’ll do my best,” he said solemnly, meeting his eyes.

Artemis managed a smile. “You have my gratitude.”

They stood like that for a moment, framed by the fairy roses and the fading light. Then just as quickly as it came, the spell was gone, and Artemis turned back towards the manor. “We should probably head back soon. Beckett and Juliet should be finished with their broadsword lessons by now, and I’m sure Myles could use a break from genetics-based phylogeny, even if he doesn’t want one. Besides, you should get some rest. We’re leaving for Cardiff in the morning.”

 Alex cleared his throat and turned his gaze away after a half-second. “Uh, yeah. That’s a great idea. We should do that.”

 Silently, they walked back to Fowl Manor together through the softly stirring field.

 Artemis could feel the roses swaying in place long after they had left his sight.

Chapter Text

Break the silence,

 damn the dark

damn the light

The Fowl family turned out to be an interesting collection of characters, to say the least. According to Artemis, it was rare for all members of the family to be present at the manor for more than a few days’ time. Because of the recent threats to their safety, though, they all had been home for a while and were going to be staying there until things were taken care of.

Which meant Alex got to meet each member individually over the course of his evening at Fowl Manor.

Angeline approached him first, smiling welcomingly and asking him how he was after that “business in London.” Alex hadn’t had a true maternal figure since he had left America several years prior, and her dignified warmth sent a pang through him.

“Take care of my son,” Angeline had whispered as she squeezed his arm. “We can’t lose him.” Again, hung in the air unsaid, perturbing Alex. Artemis had implied a troubled past before, but Alex was only now beginning to comprehend the scope of it.

In a weird way, it was almost comforting. They had a lot more in common than it had seemed on the surface. Alex just hoped that whatever Artemis had gotten himself into in his younger years didn’t end up making an already complicated mission harder.

Artemis Fowl the First was reading in an upright chair when Alex entered the room. Despite Alex’s protests, he had insisted on rising to greet him. He seemed older than what Alex figured his age was numerically, and the shift of the pants fabric near his ankles betrayed what seemed to be a prosthetic leg. Still, the senior Fowl was an imposing figure, and Alex couldn’t help but feel intimidated by his firm handshake.

The exchange made Alex feel weirdly self-conscious, like he was meeting a paramour’s parents for the first time. That realization made him feel even weirder, and he pushed the sensation down to deal with later. The fact that Fowl Senior seemed to almost be sizing him up didn’t help matters either. Alex mumbled something vague about needing rest and had evacuated the room quickly. 

It was only a few minutes later when he was ambushed. Alex had just barely processed the small shadow that had crept its way into the corner of his vision before it suddenly increased in velocity and flew at him. Reacting on instinct, Alex grabbed the figure and used its own motion against them, propelling them across the room and onto the ground with a quick movement.

“Dammit!” came a youthful voice. Upon inspection, Alex’s attacker appeared to be a blond boy that couldn’t be any older than ten. He stood himself up and rubbed his elbow, grumbling. “I thought for sure I was going to get you with that one.”

“Beckett, we’ve talked about your mother’s thoughts on swearing in the house.” A muscular blonde woman had appeared in the doorframe behind Alex. She seemed to be a couple of years older than himself, maybe in her early thirties, and bore a passing resemblance to Butler. Her long ponytail was flipped over the front of her shoulder and ended in an ostentatious jade ring. “Also, your approach was super weak. I could have fended that off with a blindfold on.”

Beckett scowled. “That’s why I wasn’t trying to attack you.”

Another boy, this one much more closely resembling Artemis appeared behind the woman. He was smirking, and his hand was outstretched. “Unsurprisingly, I was right. Hand it over.”

Beckett made a rude gesture, drawing an irritated noise from the blonde woman. Then he dug into his pockets as he walked over and pulled out a 10 euro note, which the other boy accepted smugly.

Alex looked back and forth between the pair and wondered if every Fowl had to be dramatic about everything or they’d die. “Did you seriously bet him if he could successfully attack me?”

The mini-Artemis looked offended. “Bet is a rather vulgar word. I just issued him a challenge in which money happens to be given to the winner.”

The blonde woman rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Alex. “Sometimes questioning them only makes things worse.” She smiled and shook his hand with an iron grip. “I’m Juliet Butler. The Jade Princess.” She seemed to be watching him for a moment of sudden recognition, then sighed when he didn’t. “Of course, Artemis brings home a man who doesn’t know anything about wrestling. Of course.”

Before Alex had time to process what she meant by that statement, Juliet released his hand and changed the subject. “You’ve probably figured this out already, but the twin gremlins are Beckett and Myles.”

Alex glanced over at the pair, who seemed to be in the middle of a heated debate over god knows what. “They seem like a handful,” he said, somewhat lamely.

 Juliet laughed. “All the Fowls are handfuls. I’m sure you know that by now.” It was an assessment Alex couldn’t argue with.

She tilted her head and looked him over, absently messing with a stay lock of hair. “So, you’re going with Arty to Cardiff, yeah?” Juliet pursed her lips when he warily nodded. “I wish Do- my brother, I mean- was going with you. It kills him not to be there.”

Alex frowned. “Are you talking about Butler? He isn’t coming?”

Juliet shook her head. “No. But that’s something you’ll have to talk to Artemis about. Speaking of,” She leaned forward, dropping her tone. “I love this family more than anything in this world. If you hurt any one of them or turn against us, by the time my brother and I are finished with you there won’t be enough left to even cremate.” The smile hadn’t left her face.

Alex swallowed as Juliet leaned back away and said over her shoulder lightly. “Boys, time to start winding down. Let’s go.” She glanced back at Alex. “I’d imagine you want some rest too. Sleep well.”

With that, she herded the boys out of the room, having to physically grab Beckett by the collar in order to get him moving.

Alex had then decided that he had enough interactions with the Fowls for one day and Juliet was right, the day’s events were starting to catch up to him. Alex made his way to the room he had set his stuff down in earlier. He was pretty sure it was larger than his entire apartment. God, it must be wonderful to have millions of dollars and an ancestral mansion.

 It was nice to be among a family unit again, though. Alex had left America and the Pleasures of his own accord and had no intention of going back for anything more than a visit. It was a decision he had stuck with for the past eight or so years and hadn’t regretted.

This was different, though. Nobody here looked at him with bottomless pity. No one acted like he was some sort of glass creature that would break if breathed upon. No hushed conversations were suddenly silenced when he walked into the room.

The Fowls were anything but a stereotypical family, but maybe that was why Alex had taken a liking to them even in such a brief time span.

A wave of exhaustion swept over him. It had been a long fucking day, and Alex had the feeling it would be the first of many tiring days to come. It would be wise to stock up on energy while he could. With any luck, he’d be too tired to even dream.

Alex flipped the lights, crawled under the ridiculously high thread count sheets, and let oblivion take him.

 When Alex found Artemis sometime the next morning, he was conducting a phone call in a language he didn’t recognize.

It wasn’t that Alex couldn’t understand the language. It was that he had heard no language like it in his life, and he had heard what would be colloquially called a “metric shit ton” of them. At the same time, though, it was agonizingly familiar, like the name of a forgotten friend lingering on the tip of his tongue. It was as if every language in the world had been jumbled together and inverted, with a few odd Hs thrown into the mix.

Of course, it could be entirely possible that Artemis made up the language himself. That wouldn’t have shocked Alex at this point. What was impressive was that there appeared to be another human being who had been willing to learn this language and hold a conversation with him in it.

Artemis seemed to be reassuring the person on the other end of the line about something, most likely the mission to come. His posture had relaxed slightly, and even the strange dialect couldn’t disguise the fact that he was obviously very close with the person in question.

“You know the more people you talk about this to, the more likely our cover gets blown? And by ours, I mostly mean mine.” Alex commented after Artemis had ended the call.

 “I’m well aware,” Artemis replied, giving him a dry smile. “But this is something I need you to trust me on. My friend can be relied upon to keep things to themselves.” He slid the phone into his back pocket. “Besides, there are much more important things for you to worry about right now.”

Alex raised an eyebrow but didn’t press the issue, as much as it stressed him out to have an unaccounted human variable that could end up getting both of them killed. “Alright.” He laughed a little. “By the way, your brother tried to jump me last night.”

Artemis rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking apologetic. “Yes, Juliet told me as much. I hope he didn’t cause too much of a fuss.”

Alex shrugged. “Nah, it wasn’t a big deal. I would have felt bad if I had accidentally hurt him, though.”

“If he’s been training with Juliet, she hasn’t been going easy on him. I’m sure he’s had worse.” Artemis shook his head. “I am glad that there is a Fowl actively capable of defending themselves, but I do wish he would stop trying to practice on any and all of our guests.”

Alex laughed again. “They definitely seem like a lot to manage.” Something Juliet had mentioned nagged at him. “Is it true that Butler isn’t coming with us?”

Artemis sighed, suddenly looking a great deal wearier. Alex wondered how much he had slept the night before. “As much as it pains me, I think it would be a bad idea. Like it or not, Butler is an extremely noticeable presence that someone is bound to take note of sooner or later. If Butler stays here, anyone monitoring the estate would have more reason to believe that I’m here as well. But mostly I would prefer him to stay and protect my family while we’re gone. I would like to take as few chances with their wellbeing as possible.”

It wasn’t a line of reasoning Alex would argue with no matter how much more at ease a hulking bodyguard would put him. “I don’t blame you. I would probably do the same thing in your shoes.”

Artemis seemed somewhat relieved. “I’m glad you understand.” Then he took a deep breath and shook his head. “Do you have your things together? I would prefer it if we get going as soon as we can.”

Alex nodded and swallowed his doubts, giving him a quick smile.

“Let’s do this thing.”

Chapter Text

The more you live, the faster you will die

Alex stared down at the driver’s license bearing his new identity. Liam Skye, the name in blocky font next to the grainy black and white picture read.

“I sound like a character out of a young adult fantasy novel,” he commented to Artemis, who seemed to be deep in the process of calibrating some sort of scientific instrument on the other side of the room.

He didn’t look up from his work. “Remind me which one of us has the given name Artemis, again?”

Alex snorted and shoved the ID into his wallet. “Fair point.”

They were in a safe house- safe apartment? – in Cardiff that Artemis had managed to obtain through one of his presumably less than savory connections. It had nowhere near the grandeur of Fowl Manor, to be sure, but it was still leagues nicer than the place Alex had been renting back in London.

On the plane ride over, Artemis had explained that his research had suggested to their being some sort of Spartoi base in Cardiff proper, if not their entire headquarters. It had taken a while, but Artemis had managed to trace the initial messages he had received from the organization to the general vicinity. Faye Raught had also been allegedly sighted multiple times in Cardiff as well. Artemis had theorized to him that Raught herself was Welsh, but at the moment that was nothing more than conjecture. It wasn’t much, but it was the most they had to go on at the moment.

Alex’s job now was going to be getting himself recruited by the Spartoi. Artemis had managed to coerce some minor criminals in the area to help set up the initial meeting, but Alex was going to need to talk his way in himself.

It all felt very real all of a sudden. The beast was waiting with its mouth wide open, and here Alex was willingly walking into its maw. The Greeks put themselves in the middle of their enemies as well, he reminded himself, and they ended up winning the war because of it. Alex tried not to think too hard on what he remembered of the fates of many Greek heroes and those around them.

Alex looked back at Artemis and the convoluted machine he was setting up. “What is that?” he asked after a moment, knowing full well that the answer was probably going to be unnecessarily complicated.

This time, Artemis did look up. “This? It’s an advanced thermocycler that I’ve been tinkering with. I’d like to maximize and standardized the purity of the DNA duplicates it produces to create a faster and cleaner next-gen sequencing read. Ideally, it would be implemented as a minimally invasive diagnostic technique in medical settings, but I’m hoping it may have some potential applications in the area of tissue regeneration and replacement as well. Regardless, that lies in the future and relies on the assumption that the EMA responds to advances in the biomedical field in a timely fashion, which is rather uncharacteristic of them.”

Alex nodded a few times in false comprehension at the close of each sentence.  He had never found sesquipedalian tendencies to be particularly endearing before, but here he was. “I understood a string of maybe five of those words if I’m being honest, my dude.”

Maybe it was the novelty of being referred to in such an informal matter or something more subtle Alex couldn’t entirely pick up upon, but Artemis seemed almost amused. “It’s, ah, well…” He trailed off, then gave a small shrug. “It’s a personal project of mine. I’ll need something to do if I’m going to stay in this enclosed space for an unspecified period of time and not revert back to bad habits.”

He jabbed the power button and even with whatever advanced processing it harbored, the machine took an achingly long time to shut down. “Which reminds me. I have some things for you. If I recall correctly, the MI6 would give you, well, gadgets, for lack of a better term, before you went on an assignment, yes?

Alex grinned. He couldn’t help it. This has always been his favorite part of his missions. It was like Christmas morning if all the presents could be creatively used to kill a man. “That’s right. When did you even have time to come up with any?”

Artemis waved a hand noncommittally. “Most of them were based on prototypes or designs I already had. It wasn’t too much work to tweak them.” He took a shoebox-sized container that was sitting on another counter and slid it across to Alex. “I must admit, I’m only marginally more connected to the current youth culture than MI6 brass, so I do hope these don’t look out of place on our dear friend Liam.”

Alex undid the clasps of the box and lifted the lid with some anticipation. He took in the contents. Inside lay a bracelet made up of rubbery beads, several abstract and colorful vinyl stickers, a stud earring, and a thin golden ring.

“That’s a lot of jewelry,” Alex remarked, glancing back up at their creator.

Fowl had moved so he was standing beside him. “Jewelry is a very natural thing to find on a person of practically any standing. It tends not to raise suspicions even when things go wrong.”

“I guess that makes sense.” They were certainly more elegant than a yo-yo or a CD player as far as subtlety went.

Artemis lifted the bracelet out and handed it to Alex. The beads were all black except for one, which contrasted with the others sharply with its light seafoam. “Each one of these beads can be detached from the parent chain. Doing so arms them, and once armed they can be activated by twisting the turquoise bead. The detached bead will then undergo an internal chemical reaction that will cause it to expand to over 50 times its original size. Ideal for creating diversions or the like, although I’m sure you’ll come up with other imaginative uses in the field.”

 Alex laughed and slid the bracelet onto his left wrist. “That tends to be the pattern. What are the stickers for?”

Artemis flipped them over and fanned them out, revealing a thin layer of circuitry on the backside. “You’ve lived most of your life in the city. I imagine I don’t have to tell you about the prevalence of these things in urban areas.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen a piece of public property without at least one piece of vinyl stuck to it,” Alex confirmed. “Nobody’s going to give another couple a second glance.”

  Artemis gave him a brief smile, seeming to approve of how quickly Alex was catching on. There was an odd tug in Alex’s chest that he willfully ignored. “Precisely. Sticking these up in the area around their headquarters should help me gain access to their system remotely. Even if I can’t get into their more secure files, I would like to at least get an in into their security system and cameras to help keep any investigating you do under wraps.”

“I appreciate it.” Taking the single earring out of its holding, Alex weighed it in its palm. It looked the same as a thousand other cheap earrings sold in piercing shops, but upon closer inspection, something about it seemed slightly off. It wasn’t just that the clip-on gave a remarkably good impression of an actual piercing. It was lighter than he expected, and the clear crystal- cubic zirconium? -didn’t seem to reflect off as much light as it should have.

“This one isn’t anything too advanced,” Artemis’ voice cut through his thoughts. “But it will allow us to communicate in a fairly inconspicuous manner.” He motioned for Alex to clip the stud on, which he obeyed. “There’s a two-way microphone inside of it that becomes activated when you turn the crystal.”

Alex reached up and gave the gem a small twist. A faint hiss of static filled his left ear.

Artemis made a similar motion to one of his cufflinks and brought it to his face. “Can you hear me?”

The voice coming through Alex’s end was surprisingly crisp. “Loud and clear,” he replied. The echo of his own voice radiated from Artemis’ wrist.

Fowl gave a nod of satisfaction and twisted his communicator off. “I’ve developed the speakers so the sound is highly concentrated. Meaning unless someone is standing with their face next to your ear, they shouldn’t be able to hear me. Of course, if you respond, it will still make you appear as if you were talking to yourself, but that’s unavoidable.”

“I’ll do my best to stay aware of my surroundings,” Alex responded wryly, switching the earring back into the off position.

He blinked in surprise when Artemis took ahold of his right hand. Some part of Alex made note of how soft his skin was against his own. His free hand held the golden ring between his thumb and index finger.

“As a lower level member, it’s doubtful that you’d have access to all areas and files that would be useful. The ring should help you get into places you shouldn’t. It acts as both a powerful decryption device and a skeleton key.” Artemis looked down at Alex’s fingers and seemed momentarily distracted. “I, uh, I had to make an educated guess on your ring size. The MI6 didn’t include that in their files, and it somehow failed to naturally come up in conversation. I can resize it if need be.”

Artemis tentatively slid it onto Alex’s index finger. It fit perfectly. Their hands lingered there, together.

After a moment, Alex cracked a grin. “I would normally make a joke about you taking me to lunch before putting a ring on me, but I guess that already happened, huh? So I can’t complain.”

The tips of Artemis’ ears took a noticeable rosy hue. For once, he seemed to be out of well-structured sentences to give in retort. “Oh, um, yes. Quite.”

Laughing, Alex drew his hand away. “It was a joke.” Sort of, a tiny voice in the back of his head added.

 That encouraged him to change the subject before it said anything else.

“All of this shit is pretty amazing, man,” he said, gesturing to the gadgets on and around him. “I know you guys are well off and all, but why don’t you patent this stuff? It seems less complicated and easier to sell than that thing.” He pointed to the hulking machine on the other counter, which finally seemed to have finished its powering off procedure.

The tired look that came over Artemis made him seem nearly a decade older. “It’s… rather complicated. I trust the intent and competency of world governments as much as you do, and the private sector holds too much risk that the wrong person will use something for the wrong reasons. People have gotten hurt because of my creations before and I’m going to do everything in my power to prevent it from happening again.” He glanced away, toying with the cufflink opposite of the one that served as a communicator.

Alex’s brow furrowed slightly. There it was again, this constant need for some sort of atonement. He had picked up on it in earlier conversations with Artemis as well. “You know,” he said tentatively, “You aren’t responsible for the actions of other people.”

Artemis’ jaw clenched as he met Alex’s eyes again. There was a certain coldness in them, less like ice and more like steel.

“Perhaps. But I am responsible for my own.”

Cailean Cromwell was not the largest man Alex had ever seen, but he was certainly one of the most striking. And that was saying something. There seemed to be something about diabolical masterminds that attracted odd characters to serve under them. Mini-bosses, when it came down to it, Alex thought with no small trace of dryness.

The man appraising him fit that description to a T. He was the Hollywood image of a Scottish thane, with flaming red hair that almost reached his waist, even in a low ponytail. His beard was thick but well-groomed, but it failed to make his face look any fuller. The gauntness of his facial features stood in contrast to the tight musculature of the rest of his body. The blue edges of tattoos poked their way out of his dress blazer, both around his wrists and his collar. A dragon claw necklace hung low across his chest on a leather cord.

Artemis’s research had uncovered scant more about her right-hand man than it had about Fay Raught. Whoever had scrubbed the internet of their former lives had done a damned good job of it. The file compiled on Cromwell contained little more than whispers. A brief and bloody stint in special forces. Mysterious vanishings of peers. Dealings with the SNLA. All in all, not the sort of man you wanted to have as your enemy if you aspired to live a long and happy life.

That man was studying Alex now, eyes bottomless pits of dark blue. “Skye, was it?” he intoned in a surprisingly quiet Gaelic accent. Each word was laborious and deliberate.

“That’s right. Sir.” Alex did his best to look both indifferent to the status of the man before him and at the same time willfully subordinate. He needed to be tough enough to hire but not too tough to be seen as a threat. The almost abandoned docks they were meeting on offered no protection from the windchill of the sea, but Alex did his best to ignore it. Now was not the time to be showing weakness.

The woman standing next to Alex spoke up. “He’s the best match to the sort of people you’re looking for that I could find ‘round these parts. I saw him go against five other blokes during a bar fight and come out with barely a scratch. And he knows how to keep himself to himself.” If she was nervous about the double role she was playing, she betrayed none of it in her expression.

Cromwell seemed to be considering. “Julia mentioned you had ties to SCORPIA before they collapsed. Is that true?”

“Yes, uh, sir. I was too young at the time, of course, but my older brother had been a part of the organization for almost 10 years. He had been training me and getting me ready to join at his side for years when…” Alex’s expression tightened. “He was in Egypt when it happened, sir.”

 Cromwell shook his head. “A tragedy.”

 “They never even told us how he died or even gave him back to us. We buried him in an empty coffin.” Alex’s fists were tight, but Liam had long shed his last tears over the incident.

“Never fear. Your brother’s work will not have been in vain. In the end, SCORPIA’s folly shall be our triumph.” Cromwell seemed to have made up his mind. He gave Alex an emotionless smile, just wide enough for him to spot a glint of gold hidden amongst his otherwise perfect teeth. “From the bones of the dragon rise the warriors who will reshape the earth.”

He turned to Julia and gave her a curt nod. She inclined her head respectfully in response. “You did well with this one. We were in need of more couriers.” Turning back to Alex, Cromwell gave him one last heavy look. “Be here at 08:00 tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

An electric chill swept through Alex as he watched the broad form of the other man leaving in the opposite direction from which he came, all at once terrifying and exhilarating.

The real work began now.

Chapter Text

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

“You’ve never even heard of it? I know for a fact you haven’t been living under a rock for the past seven or so years.”

“This might come as a surprise to you, but none of my areas of expertise lie in pop culture. Especially not children’s media.”

They hadn’t lived together for very long yet, but already the banter fell easily from Alex’s lips. “You’re not the sort of man who would fall into the traps of genre. It’s a kid’s show, yeah, but a kid’s show that happens to be a lot better than most adult shows I’ve watched.”

Artemis still looked skeptical. “Is that so?”

“Yes! It’s got horror and mystery tied together by the bonds of family and friendship, what’s not to love?” Alex gestured to the TV screen, where the series page for Gravity Falls was open on Hulu. “You’ve been working on your science thing all day. Take a break and experience the world outside of your head for a bit.”

Artemis’ eyes flickered between his project and Alex’s best imitation of a begging puppy. “…I do like mysteries,” he said begrudgingly. “I suppose I’ll watch a few episodes. Maybe it’ll give me something to talk to Beckett and Miles about that has nothing to do with my physique.”

 Alex gave a fist pump in an exaggerated celebration of his victory as Artemis sat down next to him. The relative darkness of the room wasn’t enough to the hide eye-roll in response.

As it turned out, Artemis quite liked Gravity Falls. Not that he had said as much out loud. But when the theme for the end credits began to play, Artemis didn’t protest when Alex hit the button for the next episode or the next several after that.

“It resonates, in a strange way,” Artemis said unprompted when Alex had paused an episode in order to silence the kettle screaming from the kitchen. He looked almost nostalgic. “Being young and believing in things no one else dares to.”

Truthfully, Alex didn’t know what to make of that exact statement, but he was happy to see that he seemed to be enjoying himself. When he came back in the room with two steaming mugs of tea, Artemis graciously accepted and didn’t seem to notice when Alex sat down just a hair closer to him.

The next episode was one Alex had probably seen at least a dozen times, so he stealthily turned his attention to Artemis’ face. The bright colors from the television danced across his pale face, a touch of a smile appearing every now and then when the show pulled off a particularly clever bit. For once, the other man seemed not older but younger than his age.

Alex wondered when the last time was the Artemis felt like a child, or if he had ever even felt like one in the first place.

After that night, a routine started to fall into place. It took a few days, but eventually, Artemis no longer had to be coaxed away from whatever it was he was working on and would sit down next to Alex before he had even turned the TV on. Alex’s posture gradually relaxed as they spent more time like this. If Artemis had also relaxed, it was nigh imperceptible, but still, he didn’t pull away when their legs ended up touching or when Alex slung his arm over the back of Artemis’ half of the couch.

They got through Gravity Falls in less time than Alex initially thought they would. To his disappointment, Artemis had managed to figure out the most of the major twists of the series before they had finished the first season, because of course he had. But he was pleased to find there were still some minor surprises that the writers had managed to slip past even Artemis.

By then, Alex had developed a considerable watch list of media Artemis wasn’t allowed to die without at least seeing a bit of. They started Brooklyn Nine-Nine next, which swiftly brought to Alex’s attention, to his utter horror, that Artemis didn’t even have a passing knowledge of the Die Hard franchise. The next few evenings were spent remedying this glaring problem. 

Artemis was clearly not as impressed with Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza’s writing as he was with Alex Hirsch’s, but he seemed to get some enjoyment out of the setup of the movie if nothing else. And he mentioned that he was glad he was able to understand a good portion of Juliet’s references now.

Gradually, Artemis began showing Alex the things he liked as well. Before long he found himself discussing the nuances behind David Tennant’s performance as the titular Hamlet compared to those of Ruth Negga, the expert cinematography of Moonlight, and how deeply influential the imagery of Jean Cocteau’s La Belle et la Bête was on all films that followed. He read Richard Siken while Artemis started The Song of Achilles. It was a bizarre but not necessarily unpleasant experience.

In all honesty, Alex enjoyed the process of getting to know the other man better. It had been somewhat of a shock to come in after work one day to find Ziggy Stardust blasting while Artemis typed furiously on his laptop, deep in thought. Now he would be shocked not to return to the dulcet tones Freddie Mercury, Stevie Nicks, or the like. When Alex started sneaking more contemporary music onto a suspiciously unguarded Spotify playlist, Artemis had surprisingly let it be. A strange, warm joy filled Alex’s body the first time he entered the apartment to the apocalyptic musings of NFWMB, and it only grew when Artemis gave him a slightly smug knowing look over his monitor.

“I like his take on religion,” was all that he said, shrugging casually.

Alex was discovering other things too. Like the orange bottle filled with pills he had discovered when venturing into Artemis’ bathroom, trying to find q-tips. He didn’t have to look at the prescription to know they matched the ones currently stashed in his own medicine cabinet, although a quick glance revealed a slightly higher dosage.

WARNING: May cause drowsiness. Use care when operating a vehicle, vessel, or machine. May cause dizziness. Call doctor if you experience mood changes, sadness, depression, or fear. If using NSAIDs and this drug there may be a risk of stomach bleeding.

It wasn’t necessarily a shocking revelation to Alex, but it did put a lot of things into perspective. There were times when Artemis seemed to be consumed by some sort of restless energy but was unable to find an outlet for it. He’d fruitlessly open and close several files on his laptop in rapid succession like he was looking for something that he just was unable to find. He would stare into the middle distance, fingers tapping out some complex rhythm until he seemed to realize what he was doing and forcibly stopped himself. These lapses seemed to frustrate Artemis more than anything, which probably did nothing to improve his emotional state.

Alex understood all too well. The manifestations might be different, sure, but came from the same root, insidiously twisting through both of their minds. Same cake, different flavors, really.

He did what he could to help. Alex had concluded long ago that he was absolute rubbish when it came to feelings, be it his own or someone else’s, so he tended to try for the distraction route. He would ask Artemis questions about some esoteric topic or another and see a spark return to the other man’s eyes as he delved into the details about Le Chatelier's principle or the economic impact of native bees on the annual yield of the North American sunflower crop. Or they would simply share a cup of tea (it turned out both of them had a preference towards black tea, though Alex did enjoy a bit more milk in his own cup) in a silence that would gradually become more comfortable as the time passed.

As it turns out, though, the person who Alex ended up discovering the most about during that time was himself.

It hit him rather suddenly one evening. They were watching Thor: Ragnarök in an attempt on Alex’s part to persuade Artemis to give at least some superhero films a chance. It was all going well, things considered. Artemis seemed somewhat out of it but still enjoying the movie. There was a comfortable space between them, close but not too close. Alex sipped on his Heineken and was pleased with the dull warmth blossoming in his chest.

Artemis had to ruin it all by falling asleep on him.

There was a soft thunk as his head hit Alex’s shoulder. He stiffened automatically, free hand very nearly spasming down to the weapon on his hip. Sudden uninitiated contact still triggered his fight or flight instincts, even now. Then he took a deep breath, counted to three in his head, and turned his attention to Artemis.

At first, Alex couldn’t help but wonder if Artemis had been drugged and they were currently in the middle of an elaborate ambush that wasn’t going to end well for any party involved. Everything in the apartment had seemed the same when he came home, and Artemis had obviously been in all day. Still, things always tended to look normal before they popped off, so to speak. Someone from his new job could have followed him home without him noticing and tampered with the water pipes or the ventilation system or something. After a few tense minutes of scanning the darkened room around them and taking into account his own lack of sudden drowsiness, Alex was forced to conclude that he was being a bit paranoid, even by his standards.

His anxieties were soothed for approximately eight seconds before he turned and looked at Artemis, the sight of whom caused a different kind of nervous energy to bubble up in Alex’s stomach. It was a feeling he had filed away to deal with later until now, but in this moment, he was forced to confront it.

Artemis’ body was relaxed in a way Alex had never witnessed before. His eyes moved behind closed lids as he entered a deeper stage of sleep, causing long, dark lashes to flutter against pale skin. His mouth was slightly ajar, and his breathing was calm and even. For once, Artemis wasn’t strategizing or engineering or fretting over something. He was simply… being.

Alex’s first thought is that he’d never seen anything so beautiful.

His second is Oh, I’m right fucked.

It wasn’t as if Alex had never been attracted to men before. He’d gone on just as many dates with guys as he had girls when he was in college, and even gone a bit further with a few of them. Alex could never commit himself to a serious relationship, though. Having such a trust, such an intimate bond with another human being had simply seemed incapable to him, and eventually, he had given up romance as something that would ever lie in his future. There were things he wasn’t allowed to or was incapable of speaking about, and Alex felt the burden of his scars wasn’t something another person would truly be able to share. The best option for both of them had always been to walk away.

Besides, he knew what happened to the people that got close to him.

Artemis, though… Artemis was different. He was used to danger, planned on it, counted on it even. He had his own past upon his shoulders, and even if neither of them shared the load, having a companion who could understand the weight was almost refreshing. He had a sharp mind, an admittedly dry but still very present sense of humor, and a way of captivating Alex’s attention with ease.

It didn’t help that he was also, in Alex’s opinion, quite good to look at.

All the feelings he had managed to push comfortably down since he met Artemis were bubbling back up in spades, and all the British emotional repression in the world was going to have a hard time to get them back down. This wasn’t something he could ignore any longer.

Alright then. So he had developed feelings for someone who had become a close friend in the middle of an operation to keep said friend safe from a shadowy organization with unknown nefarious schemes. Rather strong feelings, in fact, and ones that didn’t seem like they were going to be leaving anytime soon.

But Artemis… Alex pursed his lips as he surveyed the sleeping figure beside him. It was far more likely than not that Artemis didn’t reciprocate, not like that. Alex didn’t even know if he was into men or anybody, for that matter. And it wasn’t as if Alex blamed him for not wanting to enter a relationship with a man who still lived with the scars of shooting his mirror image in the head. He wouldn’t blame him for immediately cutting all contact with Alex once this whole mess was sorted out. Artemis was a genius billionaire with a loving family and Alex was a former (current?) spy with whose plans for the future mainly involved living through the day.

But damn it all if he didn’t very much wish that were the case.

Grimacing, Alex downed the rest of his drink in one go. He gently removed himself from Artemis, taking care not to wake him in the process. Alex would have thought him to be a lighter sleeper, but he barely stirred when he adjusted his head to rest against the couch and pulled a blanket over him.

This, he thought, burying his head in his hands, is a disaster.

If there was one thing about work, it was that it was, well, work. It didn’t matter if you were in an office stapling a thousand copies of the same dozen or so pages or in a covert warehouse lifting mysterious packages, eventual every menial task would end up becoming a rhythm that one stopped noticing after a while or would simply become numb to. Habituation and all that.

The job itself didn’t provide the distraction from his thoughts Alex so badly needed after the previous night. Fortunately, the whole pretending to be another person and also gather information without being caught aspect of his day tended to take up a good amount of brain space.

He set the box he had been hauling down on the back of the lorry, grimacing at the weight. For all appearances, they looked like perfectly ordinary shipping containers, no different from the thousands of others that passed through the streets of Cardiff every day. The temptation to crack the lid of one open for a quick peek was strong. Alex had his suspicions about their contents from handling them so much. Not illegal arms, he was pretty sure. At least not the big ones. Drugs seemed more likely, or counterfeit currency. He wouldn’t know for sure, though, unless he looked inside.

The sound of labored footsteps behind him ruined any chance Alex would have of confirming his theories. He stepped out of the way and allowed the woman to pass, managing not to flinch when she set her crate down hard enough to make the whole lorry vibrate.

She turned to Alex, wiping the sweat from her brow. Her hair was pulled into a severe bun that somehow managed to retain every possible stay hair, even after several hours of manual labor. Alex was fairly certain her first name was Meredith, although her family name had the tendency to escape him. She was above Alex in the Spartoi rankings, but not enough to get out of hauling duty, as it seemed.

“You coming to the gym with us tonight, Skye?”

Alex fixed a confident smirk upon his face. Liam wasn’t much of a social type, but he enjoyed being around people in the capacity where they could be impressed by him. “Of course. Same time, same place?”

Meredith gave an affirmative nod. “Don’t be late.” She began to walk back into the depths of the warehouse, and Alex fell in step behind her. “Afterwards, though, a couple of us are going to go to Raphael’s and grab some drinks. You’re welcome to join.”

This was always the tricky part. He needed to stay under the radar and prevent any former SCORPIA members or the like from recognizing him, but avoid being so dodgy that it circled back around to raise suspicions.

Alex shrugged noncommittally. Best to keep it flexible and vague so he could go with either option if it became advantageous. “Thanks. I might take you up on that.”

“Brilliant.” Meredith’s hand moved absently to her back pocket. Then she froze in place, eyes wide. Swearing violently, she began patting down the remaining pockets on her clothes. Seeing as three were only three besides the one she already checked, though, it quickly became apparent that her search was fruitless.

Alex stopped, frowning. “You good?”

Meredith scowled. “I’m supposed to give the keys to the lorry driver when he shows up in a few minutes, but I must have left them somewhere in my office. I really don’t have the time for this.”

“I could go grab them for you,” Alex ventured. “If that would be helpful.”

She gave him a considering look but apparently didn’t have the time to think too much about that either. “Yes. You know which one it is?”

“410C, right?”

“That’s right. The keys should be on my desk. If not, this is going to be a shitty day.” Meredith made an impatient gesture with her hand. “Go on now.”

Alex made his way towards the exit before she could think any more about her decision. The empty, hollow feeling of the warehouse transitioned to the muted, cramped one of a run of the mill office building through the connecting hallway. Most packages might get delivered out of the warehouse, but Alex had quickly discovered that most of the real work happened in this squat, nondescript building.

Unfortunately, he had only managed to get himself inside a couple of times since his infiltration. It wasn’t that he lacked the means or the willpower, but simply the fact that the building never seemed abandoned, no matter the hour. This was just the turn Alex needed, though. With any luck, he’d be able to find a discreet entrance or some good spots to hide for when he came back for some more thorough searching.

Meredith’s “office” was little more than a cubicle on the fourth floor, the same as a dozen or so around it. Thankfully, there were only a few more people on the floor with him, and they seemed intent on keeping their AirPods in like their life depended upon it. He bent over, obscuring his face behind the walls of the cubicle. The offending keys sat on a stack of loose papers, and Alex made sure to stuff them in his pocket before he forgot and left without them.

 “Artemis,” he breathed after a pause “Do you copy?”

A moment passed, then a familiar Irish voice spoke crisply into his ear. “I’m here, Alex.”

“Is there anything you want me to do while I’m here?” No doubt Artemis had heard his entire conversation with Meredith. Alex tended to keep the line open in case Artemis picked up on something that he missed. He had no doubt Fowl would keep a running commentary on his entire day if he didn’t think it would distract him from the mission.

Artemis made a noise of consideration on the other end. “I think we have time to try something, but you’re going to have to follow my instructions to the letter.”

Alex let out something that sounded almost like a laugh. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Alex considered himself above average in proficiency with technology, but whatever Artemis had him do once he’d unlocked the computer with his ring was completely beyond him. What mattered, though, was that Artemis had managed to connect to Meredith’s computer remotely and download the entire contents of her hard drive in record time and disconnect without anyone being the wiser. It was all very impressive and in no way decreased the amount of attraction Alex was struggling with.

Approximately three and a half minutes later, Alex was taking the lift down to the ground floor and silently patting himself on the back for finally accomplishing something useful. Then the lift door opened and his blood ran cold. In his ear, he heard Artemis inhale sharply.

It wasn’t the fact that Cromwell was there, looming with his almost skeletal face. Alex had seen him around a few times since he’d started, always silently watching and very rarely interacting with anybody on Alex’s level, to the point where he would nearly fade into the background.

It was the fact that the woman standing in front of him was undisputedly Faye Raught, and she was looking directly into his eyes.

Faye Raught’s eyes were blue, like Artemis’, but where Artemis was a bouquet of forget-me-nots, Raught was the icy Northern Atlantic that swallowed the Titanic. They penetrated his skin like frigid seawater, probing him to the very core.

For a terrifying second, Alex could barely breathe his panic. She knows. Oh my God. She knows who I am and we’re so fucking screwed.

Then Cromwell cleared his throat, and her eyes flickered away from his with something like amusement.

Alex regained this composure to the best of his ability. “Um, right, sorry ma’am. Excuse me.” Keeping his eyes focused on the ground in front of him to avoid accidentally making eye contact again, he hurried out of the lift.

“Mm,” was all she responded, and Alex heard the sound of the pair stepping inside the lift. It seemed to take a lifetime for the doors to close, separating him and the woman who was actively out to abduct Artemis. Even then, though, he found he couldn’t relax.

“Well,” Artemis said breathlessly after a moment. “Looks like we’ve found her.”

Chapter Text

Hush hush, keep it down now, voices carry

Faye Raught stepped through the elevator doors to her office before they had finished opening. She could feel Cromwell follow in suit behind her without even bothering to turn her head to check. It wasn’t like he was going to be anywhere else.

The entire top floor of the building was reserved as Raught’s expansive study. The only way in or out (as far as anybody that currently wasn’t in the room could tell) was the elevator itself, and the mechanism to send it to the top floor was known only to herself and Cromwell. Sure, it was a glaring fire hazard, but that thought didn’t bother Raught much. She had her ways of taking care of things even in the unlikely event she was cut off from the obvious exit.

Her mind kept going back to the young man she had seen coming out of the elevator. Raught didn’t think she’d seen him around the facility before. Normally, this wouldn’t have bothered her, but there was something about him that nagged at the back of her mind.

Maybe it was the distinct feeling that she had met him before despite his unfamiliarity.

Raught sat down at her desk. Cromwell sat across from her, posture the same combination of alert and professional it always was. She clasped her hands in front of her, wracking her brain. If her subconscious was telling her she knew him from somewhere, then the odds were that was the case. She just needed to key in on whatever clue her conscious self had failed to pick up upon.

 “That young man with the earring,” Raught began, correctly assuming that Cromwell knew exactly who she was referring to, “A new hire, yes?”

Cromwell inclined his head in affirmation. “His name is Liam Skye. A SCORPIA legacy, if I remember correctly. A brother in Egypt.”

Raught nodded slowly, musing over the information. As far as she could remember, she had never worked with a Skye in all the years she had associated with SCORPIA. But SCORPIA had been a rather large organization. Its sheer size was one of the factors that had given it the veneer of invulnerability, but it didn’t seem to help the slightest when the organization had finally crumbled. A pity.

Cromwell seemed to anticipate her line of thinking. “His references seemed to check out, but I can look closer. Dig through some old SCORPIA files.”

Faye Raught considered. A few months ago, taking direct action on a gut instinct like this would have been a higher priority. But Fowl was proving himself to be quite a damned nuisance, and Cromwell was too useful to waste wading through the coded files of a dead organization right now. “Have one of the admins do it. We have bigger things to worry about.”

Cromwell bowed his head slightly in affirmation. “I’ll see to it.” He then placed the file he had been carrying onto the desk in front of him, opening it to reveal a crisp stack of impeccably organized papers. Raught had always wondered if he would someday end up investing in color-coded filing tabs or if the entire system would eternally remain perfectly clear in his brain without them. It seemed like today wasn’t the day Cromwell had decided his memory was going to fail him.

He flipped through a few pages, then stopped and looked up at her. “Speaking of, I’ve compiled the latest reports on our surveillance of Fowl Manor.”

Raught grimaced. If it had been good news, she would already know about it. “Go on.”

“We’ve had no confirmed sightings of the target since the failure to apprehend him several weeks ago. This is both in the manor and its grounds as well as outside of it. The rest of the family, however, appears to be residing in the manor at this time. Both of the family’s bodyguards have been spotted on the premises and seem to be on high alert.”

She pursed her lips. “And the manor itself?

“So far, it appears to be virtually impenetrable. The Fowls have had generations upon generations to make sure of that. Our best hope in approaching the manor directly would be a large scale and centralized attack.”

“A weaponized operation of that sort would be highly noticeable. I’ve no doubt Fowl Manor was built to withstand months of siege, and every member of the family would be gone before we even made any decent headway.” Raught shook her head. “No, we need to go about this indirectly. We need to drive them into the open, not further underground. All the better if we end up flushing our genius himself out.”

Raught tapped the power button on her monitor and waited for her lock screen to wink into existence. A high-resolution image of Stonehenge encircled the small popup asking for her passwords. Raught had taken the photo herself and was quite proud of it. After typing in several key phrases and allowing the computer to scan both her thumbs and her retinas, she was scrolling through a cascade of files.

It took a few seconds, but she finally found the one she was looking for. “Fowl was at La Princesse for a reason. I have no doubt he understood how vulnerable leaving the manor left him. But he did it anyway.”

Raught returned her gaze to Cromwell.

“We just need to find out why.”

The taps on his window could have easily been mistaken for the rain.

It would be an easy error to make. Cardiff was yet again living up to its title of the rainiest city in the United Kingdom. The downpour had started midmorning and gave no signs of letting up soon. Just like it had for five out of the last eight days. Almost anyone would have written the sound off as a byproduct of the storm.

Artemis Fowl was not almost anyone. He opened the window.

Holly Short was perched on the windowsill, mechanical wings just coming to a halt on her back. She came through the window in a fluid motion, landing effortlessly on the ground beside him, several feet below.

Artemis smiled as she removed her helmet and ran her fingers through her hair. Holly had taken to cropping it close these days (she did not much appreciate the mudman term “pixie cut”, however, most likely due to knowing quite a few actual pixies), and it suited her nicely. “Good afternoon, Wing Commander.” He shut the window before any more water could get on the floor than that Holly had brought through with her.

Holly snorted and set her dripping wet helmet down on the counter. “Oh, none of that.” Then she moved forward and embraced him tightly. “It’s good to see you, Arty.”

Artemis hugged her back, bending over slightly. “It’s good to see you too, Holly. I’ve missed you.”

Pulling away, Holly looked him up and down. “How have you been? Please tell me you’ve used this time to develop the sleeping and eating habits of an almost normal human being."

Artemis had the decency to look at least somewhat sheepish. “I know precisely how many hours I need-”

Holly snorted, rolling her eyes. “So I take it that’s a no. You know, I had hoped that a roommate your own age was going to help you with that.”

“Alex is anything but a normal human being.”

Something in his expression must have betrayed him because Holly raised a solitary eyebrow. “That so?”

Mercifully, one of his computers chose that moment to make a soft chirp, giving Artemis an excuse to avoid the implication in Holly’s tone and take a seat to attend to the alert instead. It was a notification he had been waiting for, in fact. Using a combination of the files Alex had downloaded from his supervisor’s computer and the strategically placed surveillance stickers, Artemis had been able to make great progress on gaining control of the building’s security systems. If everything went according to his predicted timeframe, Alex should have access to the more heavily secure areas by the end of the afternoon.

His eyes flickered to the monitor directly beside him. It showed live footage from one of the rear loading docks of the main warehouse. Alex was leaning against a wall, absently chatting with a few other workers on their smoke break. Liam himself didn’t smoke, but he was more than happy to take a break from work and accompany those who did.

The sound of Holly hoisting herself onto the desk pulled his attention away from Alex. Her position put her a head taller than Artemis from where he was seated, he couldn’t help but notice, although that wasn’t really that surprising. She was resting her chin in her right hand and studying him contemplatively, though, and Artemis had the somewhat uncomfortable sensation that she was already aware of things he was only beginning to process himself.

Artemis cleared his throat. “How is Lili doing?”

It was weak, as far as distraction attempts went, but it seemed to buy him some time.

If you had told the Holly Short who had recently battled through a demonic dimension and defied the laws of space and time themselves that she was going to one day find herself in a relationship with Lili Frond, she would have most likely laughed in your face. Or perhaps hit your face, depending on her mood at the time.  

But things had changed. Holly had changed. It had been slow going at the beginning, admittedly. But after many long nights and even longer phone conversations, she stumbled upon the realization that her feelings towards the other woman maybe weren’t quite as hostile as she had taken them to be.

That had been a few years ago. Now, the pair was firmly established as the LEP power couple, and Artemis was more than pleased to see her so happy.

“Lili is doing fine. Overworked, if you ask me, but when isn’t the case? By the way, she enjoyed True Grit quite a bit.”

“Not enough westerns have female leads,” Artemis responded absently. “Tell her I can get her the book once this is all over if she wants.”

“I’m sure she’d love that.” There was a look in Holly’s eyes, a kind of fondness Artemis was able to recognize instantly. He wondered if he looked like that when he was thinking about-

Artemis stopped the thought in its tracks. Ok, that was quite enough. He had really been letting his mind get away with all sorts of nonsense lately and it was becoming embarrassing.

Next to him, Holly cleared her throat lightly. Artemis could feel the heat creeping up his ears as he realized he had been staring at the video feed of Alex as he had become lost in thought.

Holly seemed to be suppressing a grin. “So. Alex, huh? He seems nice, at least from what I can tell.”

Artemis groaned. “It’s not like that-”

“Arty. Please. I know you. You might be good at hiding things, but not this.”

Artemis avoided her pointed eye contact and pursed his lips, sitting in silence for a full minute.

Then he sighed and buried his head in his hands. “…Things may be developing slightly differently than I intended them to.”

Artemis was fully aware that it was something of an understatement. He truly never thought he’d end up like this, quietly pining like the protagonist of a Violet Tsirblou novel. But Alex Rider had a way of catching him off guard with that quick smile that made Artemis surprise even himself.

That’s how Alex was. One moment, Artemis would be trapped in his own thoughts, absorbed in his chosen distraction of the day. The next, a softly hummed melody would creep into his consciousness, and he would turn to see Alex half dancing to himself as he rummaged through the refrigerator. Artemis was pretty sure he had no idea he was doing it.

That was the most endearing part, how he could so effortlessly pull Artemis out of his own mind in a way nobody had ever quite been able to do.

And, well, it didn’t hurt that Alex was rather easy to look at. He’d never had so much trouble keeping his eyes off of someone, even when he was a teenager full of raging hormones.

From between his fingers, Artemis could see Holly’s expression soften. “Hey… it’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know. I’m happy for you.”

“I’m not… it’s not…” Artemis made a frustrated noise at his inarticulation. “Now is hardly the time for this! Circumstances are complicated and dangerous enough as it is.”

It was the truth, and what served as a better excuse than the truth?

Yes, he had no desire to place Alex and himself in any further peril. Yes, the middle of a high stakes mission was objectively a terrible time to start a relationship. Yes, there were ultimately far more lives than their own at stake that they both had to worry about.

But there was more to it than that. As much as Artemis wished it, the magic and technology that had brought him back from death itself hadn’t changed the fact that he wasn’t able to look at himself with anything more than guilt and disgust.

True, a combination of medication, therapy, and the passage of time had mitigated the sharpness of the feeling, but Artemis had always heard that wounds from dull knives tended to hurt more.

And Alex, well… It wasn’t just that Artemis felt that he didn’t deserve to be with someone like him, although he didn’t have any illusions about the notion. It was that Alex had fought tooth and nail for every scrap of happiness in his life and Artemis couldn’t think of a single person he cared about that he hadn’t deeply hurt in some way.

Alex didn’t need any more scars. That Artemis knew for certain.

Holly was frowning at him. For a moment, it felt like she was going to call him on it. Sometimes Artemis lamented how well Holly knew him.

But the moment passed, and she gave an exhale that was suspiciously close to a sigh. “Maybe you’re right. But really, though, when would the right time be? There always seems to be something happening to us.”

Holly reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, causing Artemis to look back up at her. “I just don’t want you to regret not acting on this when you had the chance.”

The smile that Artemis managed was hesitant at best. “Mm. There will be time later.” He paused. “…Hopefully.”

“Hopefully,” Holly repeated, squeezing his shoulder.

The silence hung heavy between them for a minute. Then Holly pulled away, laughing a little. “Now come on. You promised you had an ‘upgrade’ to my helmet the last we spoke, and Foaly thinks you’re full of shit.”

At this, Artemis brightened, the self-confidence coming back into his posture. “I’d be happy to show you why he’s incorrect.”

They moved away from the monitors together, the fairy and the human. Maybe though, if Artemis’ attention was focused on more than Alex himself, he would have stayed for a few moments. Or perhaps even longer.

Because if he had looked slightly harder, he would have seen that he wasn’t the only one watching Alex.

Chapter Text

My my

At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender

And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way

Alex’s shift might have technically been over, but it was only now that he actually considered himself to be on the clock.

The office building was virtually empty by now. Sure, it was a hardworking criminal organization, but everybody wanted to go home early on a Friday. With Artemis in control of the security system, Alex was more or less free to work without much fear of being interrupted.

Well, almost all of the security system. The top floor of the building was frustratingly still out of reach, both figuratively and literally. It seemed to be encrypted entirely differently from the rest of the system, and Alex would bet his last dollar that it was Faye Raught’s private enclave. Artemis was still working to find a back door into the separate system from what they currently had access to, so Alex had decided to speed the process up by trying things a bit more his style.

Watching Die Hard the other night had given him an idea.

The up arrow on the elevator panel in front of him turned green with a ding. Alex winced at the noise, but it hadn’t seemed to alert anybody of his presence. He stepped inside, pressing the close doors button but not a button for a specific floor. The doors closed, the elevator remained stationary, and Alex was completely concealed from view.

He let out a small breath he didn’t notice that he had been holding. Up to a certain point, it would be easy to write off his presence in the building or even the elevator, even though technically his work seldom brought him in here at all. But each step into the operation made credible excuses harder and harder.

Alex pressed the button for the 7^th floor with a gloved fingertip. As expected, the button remained unlit and the elevator remained stationary. Well, it was worth a shot.

He removed the ring Artemis had given him from his pocket and pressed it against the 7^th-floor button. Again, nothing happened. Alex moved the ring around the control panel slowly, pressing the button at intermittent intervals, but the elevator stubbornly refused to budge.

Alex grimaced and replaced the ring in his pockets. Plan B it was, then.

He jabbed the button for the 6^th floor. According to Artemis, it was as deserted as the other floors, so nobody should be trying to enter the elevator while he was working in it. For once, Alex thought as he watched the floor indicator above the doors steadily rise, it would be nice for things not to go horribly wrong.

The elevator arrived on the 6^th floor without any fuss, and Alex was quick to press the close doors button before they opened too widely.

“You should be good,” Artemis was saying into his ear, “But I would recommend not taking too long.”

“Mm, yeah, no shit,” Alex muttered, just loud enough for Artemis to hear. There was a soft laugh on the other end, and Alex hoped Artemis couldn’t make out any sort of blush over the video monitor. Damn it all, but he quite enjoyed provoking that laugh.

There was a service hatch on the ceiling of the elevator car. It didn’t seem to be made to be opened from the interior, but it didn’t seem to be particularly sturdy, either. It popped open with relative ease after a few well-placed smacks from his fist. It was a simple matter after that for Alex to pull himself up through the newly created opening and onto the roof of the elevator car. He then carefully replaced the hatch, hoping it still looked the same from the inside.

The doors opening to the 7^th floor were a few feet up, the bottoms of which were about even with Alex’s shoulders. He laced his fingers in the crack between the doors, giving them an experimental tug. They separated a few centimeters, but Alex was unable to pry them open any further before the resistance was too much for him and he was forced to release them.

Alex shook out his arms, swearing under his breath. Then the bracelet on his left wrist caught his eye, and his mind began to whirl. How big had Artemis said those beads got?

Before he had time to second guess his half-formed plan, Alex began removing the turquoise rubber beads from their string and placing them into the crack between the doors, as far up as he could reach. Then he took a step back and braced himself against the opposite side of the elevator shaft. He trusted Artemis, but he had no idea how violent this reaction was going to be and would rather not lose a limb standing too close.

Then Alex gave the remaining black bead a sharp twist.

A few seconds of total silence and stillness passed. Gradually, though, Alex became aware of a faint hissing filling the elevator shaft. The turquoise beads were slowly but surely growing in size. It reminded Alex of those pills that you would drop into a glass of water and would grow into a toy dinosaur or something by the next morning. But whatever polymer Artemis had constructed these from was clearly far stronger, because they were progressively pushing the elevator doors further and further apart and seemed to give no sign of giving out.

When they finished growing, the beads were about the size of a large beachball, maybe two, two and a half feet in diameter. The gap they had created wasn’t enormously wide, but it was wide enough. Alex pulled himself up and into Faye Raught’s office.

“I’m in,” he said, more so to amuse himself than with any hope that Artemis would get the joke.

He switched on the lights, revealing an expansive office space. Floor to ceiling bookshelves lined the walls, and there were several glass display cases symmetrically placed throughout the room. On the far side of the room, a large, ornately carved desk sat, covered by an impressive array of computers, not too dissimilar to Artemis’ setup. A throne-like chair sat behind it, framed by a large window that showed the skyline of Cardiff just starting to light up as the evening progressed.

Alex approached one of the display cases cautiously. It contained a small clay disk, covered in a spiral of runes that he didn’t recognize. There was a small plaque beside it, and Alex leaned in to get a better look.

Phaistos Disc

1850 B.C.E. to 1600 B.C. E.

Phaistos, Crete

Alex frowned and took a quick picture on his phone so they could take a closer look later. He then relayed a brief description to Artemis. Alex had become so accustomed to knowing Artemis had an eye on him at all times in this place that to actually be somewhere where Artemis couldn’t see was a bit disconcerting.

Artemis sounded somewhat troubled on the other end of the line. “I’ll admit, this isn’t what I was expecting. What else does she have?”

Alex wandered around the displays, feeling very much like he was in a museum looking at an exhibit whose theme was obscured from him. “Um, looks like a lot of artifacts? I can’t tell if they’re reproductions or the real thing, though.” There was one that seemed to be a manuscript that was also in an indecipherable script. Another seemed to be some sort of large gear, and yet another seemed to be the head of an ax that was covered in glyphs as well.

Artemis seemed to be silently musing over the information, so Alex moved over to the bookshelves. He turned his head to the side and began skimming titles, looking for the copies that looked the most well-worn. “The Faerie Faith in Celtic Countries… The Secret Commonwealth… Meeting the Other Crowd… Y Tylwyth Teg.” Alex stumbled over the consonants of the Welsh title. “There also seems to be a couple that are in what looks to me like Vietnamese, but I couldn’t tell you anything about them beyond that. But that’s just these shelves”

The other end of the line was dead silent. It sounded almost as if Artemis had ceased breathing altogether.

“Um, Artemis? Are you alright?” Alex would be lying if he said a note of worry hadn’t crept into his voice.

A few moments passed where Alex could hear nothing but his own heart pounding. Then he heard the sound of Artemis unsteadily inhaling.

“I- I’m fine, thank you. It’s nothing.” His voice seemed to uncharacteristically shake ever so slightly.

Alex opened his mouth to respond, but Artemis changed the subject before he could get a sound out. “Whatever is on her hard drive is far more valuable. Let’s focus on that.”

Alex stored the incident away to ask about later and moved to the desk. “Do you think the ring will be able to get us in?”

“Remotely? No. But you being physically on location should give us an advantage for dealing with the hardware, at the very least. Be careful, though. We don’t want to let her know we were here by triggering any sort of security system.”

Muttering his agreement, Alex tilted the system unit up and placed the most unobtrusive vinyl sticker in his possession on the bottom. Then he replaced it, satisfied it would be a while until it was located. It would serve as a nice backup if none of this yielded any results.

Then Alex pressed his ring against a USB port on the front of the CPU. It must have been transmitting some sort of information to Artemis because he could make out several rapid keystrokes and contemplative noises coming from his earring.

“So, uh, how does it look?”

Artemis’ voice was back to its normal crispness. “I hate to admit it, but I’m actually quite impressed. She could stand to make quite a bit of money patenting her cybersecurity programs. Any world government would be happy to get their hands on something of this level.”

“Do you think you can crack it?”

Artemis hmmed. “It’ll take a moment. Hang on.”

Alex remained where he was, anxiously shifting his weight from foot to foot. After what felt like forever but was probably closer to five minutes, the monitor in front of him gave a promising flicker.

“Almost there,” Artemis said. “Just-” He was interrupted by a faint beeping from what must have been one of his monitors, and he inhaled sharply. His voice was just barely loud enough to hear over the alarm. “Oh, fuck.”

Alex froze. He didn’t think he’d ever heard Artemis swear before. At least not in a language he could understand. “Artemis. Talk to me. What the fuck is that?”

“Motion sensors on the first floor. I’m not positive, but it looks like Raught and Cromwell. You need to get out of there-”

Alex was moving before the Artemis had finished the sentence, jabbing the power button of the computer. It would be ideal to go back down the way he came, but he didn’t trust the elevator mechanism not to crush him when the car reached the eighth floor. No, he was going to need to find another way out.

First things first, though. Leave no trace. He reached the elevator, where the turquoise beads were still bearing the weight of the elevator doors. “Please tell me there’s a way to shrink these things again.”

Artemis inhaled through his teeth. “Technically, yes, but it takes a bit longer. You don’t have time to be waiting around.”

“Fabulous. I’ll try something else, then.” Alex took a step back, then delivered a swift kick to the center of mass of a bead, sending it flying into the shaft. He winced as he heard it clang against the top of the elevator car, but continued to kick and hit the beads out of the space between the doors. He didn’t have long until they entered the car and would be able to hear anything landing on the roof.

The elevators slammed back together with a noise that was a bit too loud for Alex’s taste, but he didn’t linger on it. He scanned the room, looking for a ventilation shaft, a sealed dumbwaiter, anything he could use to slip out of the room unnoticed. But he was coming up blank. There was only one way Alex could go.

And that was out the window.

“It seems there’s an old fire escape on the west side of the building” Artemis was saying, a hint of apprehension in his voice.

Alex had a bad feeling about where this was going, judging on Artemis’ tone. “…And?”

“Ah, well, it stops on the 6^th floor. And the only window on this floor happens to be facing north.”

Alex swore under his breath, but there was no time to launch a protest back at Artemis. Already, he could hear the sound of the elevator’s machinery beginning to move. He flipped off the lights, then raced across the room. In one motion, unlatched the window and pushed it open. A gust of wind rushed in to meet him. The sun had almost completely set, but Alex could still see dark clouds on the horizon. Far below him, the streetlights were starting to come to life.

“Alex?” Artemis’ voice was distant.

“Yeah, Arty?”

“Stay safe. Please.”

Alex swung one leg over the windowsill. “I’ll do my best.”

Then he lifted his other leg over, gingerly closing the window behind him.

Alex just managed to lower himself down completely, his full body weight hanging from his arms, when he heard the ding of the elevator arriving on the 7^th floor. He tightened his grip on the thin sill, waiting for the inevitable commotion that would come from the discovery that someone had broken into the room. Maybe they spotted that the window was unlatched, or maybe he had left something out of place with the computer.

But it never came. All Alex could catch were quick snippets of a muted, yet seemingly casual, conversation.

“-they sure?”

“-an be trust-“

“-look in… I can.”

Alex strained to make out anything that would be useful, but to no avail. Most of his attention was rapidly being siphoned to the increasing strain in his upper body. He couldn’t hang here and listen forever.

There was some sort of pipe attached to the corner of the building to his right. Judging by the direction the sun had been setting when he entered the office and his current position, Alex figured it had to be to the west of him. Which meant the fire escape was just around that corner.

The pipe looked old and like it probably hadn’t been serviced since it was installed. It was immediately apparent that it wouldn’t hold Alex’s weight for very long. But hopefully, it wouldn’t have to.

Gritting his teeth and staunchly trying to ignore the pain creeping down his arms, Alex began to inch himself along the ledge in the direction of the pipe. It was slower going than he would have preferred, but Alex also preferred not to splatter on the pavement, so that made the pace somewhat less agonizing.

After what felt like an eternity, Alex maneuvered himself as close to the pipe as he could possibly could while still maintaining a grip on the window ledge. It wasn’t easy to judge the distance exactly in the shadows of the evening, but it still seemed to be a disconcerting distance away.

Guess there’s only one way to find out, Alex thought with grim humor that weighed all too familiarly on him. He tightened his grip on the ledge with his left hand. Then he reached out towards the pipe with his left hand, leaning into the motion.

For a horrifying second, his flailing fingers only grasped at empty air. His body lurched dizzyingly, and Alex could almost feel the ground rising up to meet him. Vaguely, he heard Artemis make a muffled noise of alarm. Oh, Christ, this was it-

Then Alex’s hand made contact with the rusting pipe. It took a second, but he was able to catch his balance, easing the falling feeling in his stomach but not the pounding of his heart. He let out a nervous, breathy laugh that served to somewhat mitigate his anxiety and help him focus on the task at hand. After all, Alex still had a ways to go before he was safely back on solid ground.

It was easier to transfer his other hand to the pipe now that he had established contact with it. It creaked uncomfortably under his weight, and it was obvious he didn’t have long before the entire thing tumbled to the ground with him still hanging onto it.

Alex shifted around the corner, turning his attention to the fire escape Artemis had mentioned. It wasn’t much more than a narrow balcony attached to a metal staircase, which presumably descended down the length of the building to the ground. Unfortunately, it seemed like Artemis was correct in his assessment of the fire escape only going up to the 6^th floor. There was a sizeable gap between him and the railing of the balcony.

Alex silently vowed to have Artemis make him some sort of grappling device to keep on his person at all times once this was over. He looked at the balcony. Then he made the mistake of looking at the ground and quickly returned his gaze to the fire escape, still below him but much closer. Either way, this was going to hurt. Alex grimaced. Maybe he should have taken his chances with the elevator mechanism after all.

The pipe gave another ominous creak.

It took a moment to process that Artemis was saying something into his ear. Alex cut him off mid-sentence. “If things go south, don’t try to come get me.”

“Hold on, Alex, don’t-” Artemis began, alarmed.

Alex turned the communicator off by nudging his ear into his shoulder. He needed to concentrate.

Focusing on his breathing, Alex adjusted his grip on the pipe. In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. If he got the angle right, he should fall in an arch and land in the balcony. Slam dunk.

In, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four. Out-

Alex jumped.

Falling always seemed to happen in slow motion. Alex was unsure if it was a universal phenomenon or one unique to his experiences. Then again, he did seem to do what he assumed to be a higher than average amount of falling in his life. Either way, one would think the seeming slowed time would be useful in situations, make the window of necessary reaction longer.

In Alex’s opinion, it rarely did jack shit. But thankfully, it didn’t look like he needed it to swing favor in his direction this time anyway.

He managed to grab the railing of the balcony with one hand on the way down. Alex’s whole body jerked painfully as his shoulder suddenly bore the momentum of his falling weight. He swung, slamming into the railing ribs first and knocking the wind out of him.

For a moment, all Alex could do was hang there, gasping, as his nervous system helpfully reminded him that his entire body fucking hurt. But gradually, the air returned to his lungs, and he managed to grasp the railing with his other hand and slowly haul himself over and onto the balcony.

Alex let himself lay on the cold metal of the balcony for a minute, catching his breath and marveling at the fact that yet again he had managed to scrape through. His wrists and ribs hurt like a bitch, and they were only going to feel worse as the adrenaline high faded. There was no doubt he would have some rather intense bruises by the next morning. But he was alive, he was in one piece, and hopefully, he had done enough to help Artemis establish an entryway into Raught’s personal files.

Oh, shit, Artemis. Somewhat sheepishly, Alex reached up and turn his communicator back on, ignoring the protests of his strained shoulder. It crackled to life. “Uh. Hey, Arty.”

“Alex?” Artemis replied immediately. His voice was loud but muffled, almost like he was holding his cufflink communicator too close to his mouth. Alex was not in a frame of mind to examine that more closely. “Are you alright?!”

Alex groaned and propped himself up on his elbows. “A bit sore, but I’ve been worse. Don’t think anything’s broken.”

Artemis was uncharacteristically quiet, and all Alex could hear for a moment was breathing that verged on ragged. Then he swallowed. “That’s good. I don’t know…” He trailed off. Then Artemis seemed to shake himself out of whatever he had fallen into because his voice suddenly sharpened. “Am I mistaken or did you hang up on me?” It sounded very much like Artemis knew full well that he was not in any way mistaken.

Alex winced and laughed a little. “Um, yeah. I did. Sorry. Figured you wouldn’t want to hear me falling to my death if things went wrong.”

“As opposed to just watching it happen over CCTV?” Artemis asked pointedly.

Alex sighed and pulled himself upright. “Look, I’m sorry. Can we have this conversation when I get back?”

Artemis responded with a similar sigh. “Alright. Fine. Please keep me on the line on your way back.”

Shakily, Alex managed to stand up, gripping the very railing that had caused his injuries in order to steady himself. “I will, I will. Don’t worry.” Artemis was probably going to worry anyway, but Alex couldn’t fully blame him. To be honest, it was nice to have someone who knew his situation intimately and cared about his wellbeing. It had been a long time since anybody like that had been in his life.

The stairs of the fire escape seemed to take an hour to walk down. Alex winced with nearly every step, hissing through his teeth to stop himself from making any louder noises of pain. The balcony on the second floor was connected to a ladder instead of another flight of stairs, and the lower half was raised off the ground to prevent anybody from climbing up. Thankfully, it was built to help people climb down, and after a moment of messing with the chains it was attached to, Alex was able to lower it down completely. It was a simple, albeit painful, matter to reach solid ground after that.

He landed in an alleyway between the office building and some other property Alex was pretty sure didn’t belong to the Spartoi, though he could be wrong about that. It reeked of rotting trash, and Alex wondered how often anybody bothered to come to pick it up, if ever.  

The alley seemed to be deserted, much to Alex’s relief. He very much did not feel like trying to make excuses for what exactly he had been doing on a rusty fire escape after hours. Already slightly nauseated from the smell and eager to go home, shower, and pass out for the next eighteen hours, Alex exited the alleyway and made his way to the street.

He glanced back at the building as he walked. Alex couldn’t see Raught’s office from where he was, but he didn’t doubt it was lit up, in sharp contrast to the rest of the darkened building.

A group of Spartoi employees exited the front entrance as he passed. They were chatting amongst themselves, probably on their way to go get drinks after a long week of work. They were office workers, unlike Alex, so he rarely interacted with them, but a few had a passing familiarity. Alex gave them a polite smile and nod, but almost none of them were paying attention enough to return the courtesy.

When his eyes rested on the last woman of the group, though, Alex almost tripped over himself in shock. Their gazes met briefly, and her eyes slid away from his, but not before Alex registered the dull recognition within them. The moment passed, and she walked away with her friends as if nothing had happened.

Something had very much happened, though. Alex’s heart was beating too loud in his ears, and his difficulty breathing had nothing to do with the injury to his ribs.

 She’d recognized him. And not as Liam Skye, low-level Spartoi warehouse worker. She recognized him as Alex Rider, former teenage super spy. He was sure of it.

Because he had recognized her too. Not as a random Spartoi office administrator, but as a nurse, a woman who had dispassionately prepared him for the premature removal of his organs for some billionaire willing to pay for them. The clinic had had direct ties to SCORPIA.

Alex had escaped, of course, and the entire clinic staff had been arrested by the Australian police. He had been sure that would be the end of that. But apparently, her sentencing must have been relatively light, because here she was, spending her days in an office making spreadsheets for another criminal organization.

And she knew him. Of course she did. Alex was the entire reason that particular operation had failed. He was older, true, but he wasn’t completely unrecognizable.

“Artemis,” Alex said in a small voice. “I think I’ve been made.”

Chapter Text

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail

Yes I would, if I only could,

 I surely would

When Alex found him, Artemis was looking at the stars.

Not the actual stars, of course. A combination of being trapped inside an apartment and the light pollution of the city made that physically impossible. But the numerous computer screens, usually full of video feeds, schematics, and code, were now covered in high definition images of the cosmos.

It had been just over 48 hours since Alex had broken into Faye Raught’s office and the events that directly followed. Artemis had immediately found every scrap of information he could on the nurse, of course. It wasn’t hard to locate the conviction by an Australian court of one former RN Charlene Hicks and her subsequent release on parole five years later, but from there she skipped out and the only record got murkier. Whatever she had done in the intervening time, she was part of the Spartoi now, living under the assumed name Eve Kidman. Not that the Spartoi weren’t fully aware of her history. Hell, they probably hired her because of it. But it seemed the Welsh authorities most certainly were not aware that an Australian fugitive was lurking right under their noses.

It was certainly tempting to Alex to just go ahead and tip off the Cardiff police of her whereabouts. But there was no doubt that Raught would immediately go to ground at the slightest hint of police activity around her and all their work over the past weeks would have been for nothing, so he suppressed that urge.

To his surprise and deep suspicion, Alex had failed to hear anything that indicated that his cover had been blown. He hadn’t been scheduled to take any more shifts until Monday, and his phone had remained silent the entire weekend. None of his bosses had called him in to “talk.” No suspicious persons lingered outside the window or came knocking on the door. It was like nothing had ever happened.

The rest Alex was getting over the weekend was supposed to be good for him. And it was true that his ribs were starting to hurt less and his wrist seemed to be on the mend. But Alex still couldn’t sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw the eyes of Nurse Hicks as they flashed with recognition, and the panic would begin to bubble up again until it consumed him. It was the only thing he could think about, day or night. 

Which was what lead Alex to the kitchen at approximately 3:37 am, looking for something to help distract himself.

He hadn’t expected to find Artemis there, looking similarly sleep-deprived. Sure, Fowl kept hours that weren’t what he’d call typical, but Alex honestly hadn’t given it very much thought before now. Somewhat guiltily, he wondered when the last time Artemis had gotten a full night of sleep happened to be. Judging by his expression, it might have been quite some time ago.

“They’re beautiful,” Alex said of a particularly photogenic cloud of dust as he walked up behind Artemis.

Artemis started at the sudden noise, then exhaled when he processed Alex’s presence. “You move rather quietly.”

Alex grinned. “Sorry, force of habit.” He tilted his head. “What are you doing up?”

Artemis’ gaze was focused solidly on the screen. “The same reason as you, presumably. I had difficulty sleeping.”

Alex’s eyes momentarily lingered on Artemis’ face, illuminated by digital starlight. “…Yeah. Same.” He tore himself away and began rummaging through the kitchen cabinets until he found the kettle. Going through the motions of filling it up and placing it on the stove to boil for tea was soothing, in a weird way.

It took Artemis a few seconds to notice that Alex had set a cup of tea down on the desk next to him a few minutes later. He took it with a grateful smile that faltered when he glanced down at its contents.

Alex frowned. “What’s wrong? Did I fuck it up?”

Artemis blinked a few times, then swallowed. “No, it’s… Er… It’s exactly how I take it. How did you…?”

“I’m a spy, remember?” Alex shrugged. “It’s my job to be observant.” He gestured to an empty spot on the desk in front of Artemis. “Mind if I sit?”

“Feel free,” Artemis replied, gaze lingering on him for a moment longer than it probably had to. Alex’s heart gave a painful tug.

He sat and looked back at the screens Artemis had returned his attention to. On them, colorful galaxies swirled and nebulas formed dark and abstract geometries. Alex didn’t need to know anything about the physics behind it to appreciate its beauty. “What’s this? Some project of yours?”

Artemis laughed ruefully. “Maybe someday. But for now, believe it or not, this is purely recreational.”

“Planning on Major Tom-ing it out there?” The question was lighthearted, but there was the slightest of edges to it.

Artemis drummed his fingers on the desk in yet another indecipherable pattern. “…I won’t pretend I haven’t considered it. But there’s too much back here on Earth for me. It would be a waste to throw away all the miracles I’ve been granted when I could be making this world a better place.”

Alex fixed his gaze on a rotating system of binary stars, destined to circle each other until the day they finally touched and were both destroyed. “Well, I’m glad. I’d miss you, for sure.”

He could see Artemis open and close his mouth a fraction out of the corner of his eye. “I… Thank you. That means a lot.”

Silence descended for a few moments as they both watched the universe unfold on the monitor and sipped their tea. Alex suddenly felt small and insignificant in the face of it all. He wondered if Artemis was feeling the same way.

“Is it true what they say?” Alex asked after a moment, breaking the stillness. “That all those stars are already dead by the time their light gets to us?”

Artemis turned partially so they were facing each other, setting his mug down in front of him. “That’s a common misconception, actually. The stars we see are exceedingly far away from us, yes, but their lifespans last much longer than the time needed for the light to reach our eyes. I think the idea stems from the basic human inability to comprehend numbers of such magnitude.” His expression turned almost wistful. “I don’t blame people for wanting to romanticize them as ghosts, despite the inaccuracy of the statement. But the truth is the stars are far more like us than most people realize. We’re all made of the same materials and are all waiting for the moment when those materials go back to where they came from, whether we like it or not. The slow process of becoming a ghost.”

Alex exhaled and set his mug down next to Artemis’, at a loss for words. “…Heavy stuff.”

Artemis gave a small shrug and glanced away. “Yes, well, I’ve given it a great deal of thought.”

Alex studied him closely. There was something there, lingering just beneath the words. Something that Artemis almost kept saying but kept stopping himself. It wasn’t the first time Alex had gotten that feeling that Artemis was alluding to something that lay just beyond his grasp.

He decided to hesitatingly probe further. “You believe in ghosts, then?”

Artemis gave him a brief, almost ironic, smile. “This may come as a surprise to you, but in a way, yes. I do.”

Alex laughed a little. “I’d be lying if I said I expected that, honestly.”

Artemis shrugged. “Yes, well, as I’ve said before, I’m in the habit of believing in things I’m not supposed to. You’d be surprised how far it can take you in life.”

 It was then his turn to study Alex. “What about you? What are your thoughts on spirits?”

Alex shifted. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I feel like I need to figure out the whole religion thing first, and I don’t think I’m anywhere close on that one.”

Artemis smiled again, but it was softer, more genuine. “I get it. Religion is complicated, even after death. I won’t pretend like I know anything more about it than you, despite everything.”

Alex stared, frowning. “‘Even after death?’” he echoed. “What do you mean by that?”

Artemis flinched like he had said something he shouldn’t have, breaking eye contact.  “That’s, ah, complicated. Very much so.”

Alex swallowed. Artemis clearly didn’t want to talk about it. But at the same time, Alex got the feeling that he actually did. But there was something that was stopping him, something that was making him feel like it wasn’t safe to share with Alex. And he got that, really, he did. But he had also spent a good decade unable to express the fullness of his emotions about everything he’d been through to anyone, even his therapist. It had damaged him more than he could even remotely begin to process.

Hesitatingly, Alex reached out and placed his hand on Artemis’ shoulder. Artemis turned to him, surprised.

“Listen,” Alex began, moistening his suddenly dry lips. “I get it. I really do. Talking about this sort of stuff can be… difficult. And I have no idea what it is you’ve been through. But… I understand feeling like you can’t talk to anybody. I’ve been there. I’m the last person who’s going to judge you about anything. You’re safe with me, Arty, and you always will be.”

It took a moment for Alex to realize that Artemis had reached up and placed his hand on top of the one Alex had placed upon his shoulder. He had to stand to match Alex’s height, and their eyes were level. His expression was unreadable, but there was an undeniable tenderness to it. Alex just swallowed again.

“I’m very sorry,” Artemis said softly. “Trust me, if it were up to me, this conversation would be going very differently. But these secrets aren’t mine to share. The lives of many rely on me. I’m sure you understand.”

Alex pursed his lips. “…I do. But that very clearly isn’t making you sleep any better, you can’t deny it. Maybe you could, I don’t know, try a redacted version or something. I’ve certainly done that before.”

Artemis looked away. For a moment, Alex thought he wasn’t going to say anything and was embarrassed about making the suggestion in the first place. If Fowl didn’t want to share something that was clearly extraordinarily personal, who was he to force it to the surface?

Alex was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of Artemis’ voice, uncharacteristically unsteady with emotion. “…What is there to say? I lost both my parents before I was a teenager and I sold my soul to bring them back. It worked, of course, but suppose I’m still in the process of trying to buy it back. The trouble is that no gold seems to be sufficient enough.”

Artemis gestured to Alex, laughing bitterly. “Yet here I am, having dragged yet another innocent person into a mess that I’ve made and putting their lives on the line in the process. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now.”

“Arty…” Alex muttered, voice cracking. He cleared his throat several times in a frustratingly vain attempt to regain composure. “If you think I’m going to just sit here and let you blame yourself for this entire situation we’ve found ourselves in, then for once in your life, you’re dead wrong. Whatever happened in the past, whatever you did or feel like you did, that doesn’t matter. Not to me. What matters is the here and now. There’s an evil organization after your head and I made the choice to help put a stop to them. And I’d make that same choice again even if every person in there belonged to SCORPIA and would recognize me in a heartbeat.”

 He reached out with his free hand and wiped away a tear that had managed to break free and slide partway down Artemis’ cheek, his fingers lingering against bare skin. The moment hung in the air between them, neither one daring to exhale.

Some part of him, definitely not the most rational part, thought fuck it. Before his conscious mind could even process what he was doing, Alex was moving, closing his eyes and the gap between them until their lips met. Alex could feel Artemis’ mouth form a soft O of surprise against his own.

That was the point where Alex’s mind caught up to his body and he realized he had completely, utterly, irreversibly, given himself away. He pulled away, eyes wide and lungs breathless. Artemis was staring at him with what had to be shock, his eyes a mirror of Alex’s own.

“I- I’m- Fuck, I’m- I’m sorry-” Alex stammered. “I didn’t-”

It was that point that Artemis kissed him back.

This time, it only took approximately two seconds for Alex to understand exactly what was happening. But after that brief moment of surprise, he didn’t hesitate any longer. He leaned into the kiss, reciprocating fully. Maybe it was cheesy, maybe it was overplayed, but Alex truly felt that the kiss was better than anything he’d ever imagined. Not that he’d tell anyone just how many times he’d let himself get lost in that particular fantasy.

Artemis’ lips were gentle and his free hand balled up in Alex’s sleep shirt and God, it was nice, this is nice. It suddenly felt like the remaining distance between them was unbearable, and Alex dropped a hand down to Artemis’ waist and pulled him closer. Artemis didn’t protest and leaned into the motion, deepening the kiss.

Eventually, Alex reluctantly came to the decision that they both needed to actually breathe sooner rather than later and made himself pull away. His eyes flickered over Artemis’ face, trying to read the emotion on it and praying he had done the right thing.

As it turned out, Alex didn’t need to guess at Artemis’ thoughts, because he let out a breathless noise that resembled a nervous laugh. “I, um… I’ll admit, this is not where I expected this conversation to go. But, er, I won’t pretend I didn’t enjoy that a great deal.” His cheeks were a fetching shade of pink. Alex was sure his own complexion was similarly flushed.

Alex smiled, feeling a warmth blossoming in his chest. There was something inside of him that felt more alive than it had in years. Or maybe ever. He wanted to say something, to express exactly what it was he was feeling, but it seemed like all of Alex’s words were used up a few minutes ago because all he could get out was “Yeah, that was… Wow.”

Artemis’ smile was… Amused? Fond? But his eyes betrayed a hint of nerves. They were still holding each other close, and Artemis was gripping him like he was falling, or maybe drowning. “You know, I’ve never spent much time around people one might consider to be my peers. I never saw the point of it. I had the collection of people I cared about and that was always enough. If something was missing, I was never going to acknowledge it, much less act upon it. But you’ve made me reconsider quite a few things, Mr. Rider.”

“Which is a long-winded way of saying, I suppose, that I’ve found that I’ve come to care about you a great deal, Alex. And I won’t pretend like all this isn’t new and intimidating to me. But it’s the truth.”

He grimaced suddenly. “This is becoming dangerously close to confessional. I had hoped Catholic school hadn’t had that big of an effect on my psyche.”

Alex laughed. He couldn’t help it. Artemis shot him a look, but there was a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Catholic school, huh? I never would have guessed.”

Artemis rolled his eyes. “Oh, shut it. We had a nice moment going, don’t ruin it.”

Alex was grinning. “I would never.”

Then his expression softened again. “But, uh, going back to what you said. You should know, and maybe you already do, that I feel the same way. I think that’s been the case for a while now. You mean a lot to me.” Probably more than anybody else currently living, his brain added, but Alex kept that particular revelation to himself for the moment. The weight of it would surely serve only to burden Artemis even more.

 Artemis tilted his head, eyes thoughtfully scanning Alex’s face. “Mm. I definitely had spent far too long hoping that was the case, but in all honesty, I never thought we’d be where we are now. But I’m glad we are.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Might I request something of you?” Artemis asked after a moment of loaded silence.

“Anything.” Alex breathed.

The expression across Artemis’ face was suspiciously close to a smirk. “I’d like for you to kiss me again.”

Alex was more than happy to oblige.

Chapter Text

Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down

Alex grimaced as he lifted the last crate out of the truck he had been tasked with unloading. His ribs screamed in protest the entire time. Apparently, one weekend and a couple of ibuprofens weren’t enough to heal injuries obtained from slamming into a metal railing from a story up. Who would have thought?

But there was no chance of him taking the day off to avoid the strenuous work he was sure to face in the warehouse. The last thing he needed was any of his supervisors directing any excess attention towards him.

If Alex was being honest, coming back in after being recognized was something he absolutely dreaded. Still, though, nobody was treating him any differently than they had the week before. It was like he was the only one affected by the events of the previous Friday. Which should be impossible. If he was Nurse Hicks, he would have immediately reported his discovery to Raught, eager for favor or a reward or just pure and simple revenge. But there were no signs that anything of the sort had happened at all.

Far from relieving Alex, it only caused the sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach to grow. Something was happening in the shadows, things he couldn’t even begin to glimpse. He didn’t like it, and he needed to be ready for anything at this point.

It didn’t help that he was bone tired. It had been days since he had last had a full night’s sleep. And last night…

Alex smiled. Well, last night had been worth every single moment of weariness that followed.

He knew Artemis was watching him from somewhere, although Alex could never be sure which particular camera (or cameras) Artemis was focused on at a particular moment. There were too many people around to make any obvious gestures, much less talk over Alex’s earpiece. But Alex liked to think Artemis was adept enough to know just who he was smiling for and why. And maybe even smiling back at him, in the privacy of the apartment. 

“Focus, Skye.”

Alex jumped at the sudden intrusion into his musings and cursed himself silently for getting distracted enough for his pace to noticeably slow. He was putting them both in danger by letting his mind wander like that.  

Meredith was standing behind him, a similarly heavy box in her hands. Somewhat guiltily, Alex realized that he was standing in the middle of the path. He had to remind himself that he was inside a criminal organization and whatever was inside the crate he was holding had the potential to ruin dozens of lives at the very least. He shouldn’t feel guilty for slightly slowing down their operations.

Alex cleared his throat and shifted the box to a slightly less uncomfortable position. “Right, sorry,” he said, picking up his pace again.

He finished carrying the box into the assigned point the warehouse like he was supposed to, with Meredith following close behind. She set her crate down next to his, and when she straightened up, Alex noticed with some discomfort that she seemed to be looking him over closely. Did she suspect him?

“Everything alright, Skye? I’ve never seen you this out of it before. Rough weekend?”

Alex gave an apologetic smile and ran a hand through his hair. “Eh, something like that. Definitely sorer than I’d like to be. But you know how it goes.”

Meredith laughed. “Yeah, I get it. Fall over drinking or something?” She grimaced when he shrugged. “Even then though, you’re lucky. What I would have given to go out drinking over the weekend. Thank God my girlfriend is flexible when it comes to that sort of stuff. I don’t know how she puts up with all of it.”

“Something stopping you from going out?” Alex asked casually, tilting his head.

“I ended up working last-minute both days. Things have been stressful around here lately, with everything that’s going on and all.”

Alex’s heart thudded. “Oh yeah? What do you mean?”

Meredith blinked. “Oh, you haven’t heard yet? Boss is throwing some huge party tomorrow night and decided to make some last-minute changes. We need to have everything prepared as soon as possible. I’m talking some pretty elaborate stuff. Pyrotechnics, lighting, all that jazz. Trying to put everything together on such an extremely short notice has been, well, a lot. But the Boss knows what she’s doing, so I’m more than willing to put in the work.” She snapped her fingers. “Which reminds me. I’m going to put you on server duty that night. We’ve had some schedule changes, so we need as many people as we can get and you’ve proven yourself capable.”

All Alex could do was bow his head in acknowledgment. “Uh, thanks. I’m honored.”

Meredith nodded. “Yeah, no problem. Just don’t mess anything up and make me look bad, okay? I’ll give you the packet of instructions I’m supposed to give once you get off, just be sure to see me before you leave. It’s some sort of masquerade theme, so there are all sorts of specifics you’ll need to follow, but I’m sure you can handle it. The uniform will be provided, but I’ll need your measurements back ASAP. Like, as soon as you physically can. Email me or something, because tomorrow morning will be way too late. Got it?”

“Got it. Will do.” Alex responded, mind still reeling. This was certainly the last thing he had expected when he had come in this morning. What exactly was Raught trying to achieve by throwing some lavish party? It couldn’t be anything good. “I’ll get back to you with those this evening at the latest.”

Meredith clapped his back, making Alex wince. “Good lad. Now come on, those crates aren’t going to unload themselves.”

She was right, and the more he hung around trying to puzzle this thing together, the more attention he was going to draw on to himself. Alex needed to fly under the radar now more than ever.

He followed Meredith back to the truck, apprehension hanging on his every step.

Artemis set down the packet of paper on the counter in front of him. “…I don’t like this,” he said eventually.

“My thoughts exactly,” Alex replied. His frown was a mirror of Artemis’ own. “I mean, some last-minute changes to a party a few days after I get recognized? What are the odds?” He shook his head. “But really, what choice do we have?”

Artemis pressed his lips together. “What we need to do is think this through. Rushing things won’t help anybody. I’ve seen more than enough traps in my day, and this reeks of one.”

“I’m not saying you’re wrong. But we also don’t have very much time.” Alex pointed out. He gestured to the stack of papers. “I already said I would do this, and I’m going to need a damn good reason to pull out now without my boss getting suspicious. And that’s only going to get harder every hour closer it gets to the party.”

Artemis’ eyes followed Alex’s hand down to the packet of instructions his boss had given him. It was held together by a single paper clip that seemed to be struggling to keep everything under control. Artemis could relate.

He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I know. I know. But I don’t like just how many variables are unaccounted for right now. I’m not sending you in blind.”

It wasn’t as if Artemis hadn’t done harder in less time. It wasn’t as if the stakes hadn’t been high or that the people he loved hadn’t been at risk then either. And Artemis was keenly aware that most of the things he’d put himself and others through were because of his own actions. Just like they were now.

But things were different now, too. Artemis liked to think he was a different person after all this time, as much as the unquiet voice in the back of his head said otherwise. The way he felt about Alex, and the way Alex apparently felt about him as well… Maybe it was only natural for Artemis to want to cling to the feeling, protect it, after all the emotional trauma of his life. But right now, Artemis was certain he’d do just about anything to keep Alex from harm.

One thing was sure. They’d come too far to turn back now.

A hand took his. Alex’s. “I won’t be going in blind,” he said gently. “I’ll have you, won’t I?”

A very deep part of Artemis wanted to weep, or maybe scream, at the unfairness of the situation. Instead, he just sighed and opened his eyes. “I can’t do very much from here if somebody decides to shoot you in the head, Alex.”

Alex shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. “It hopefully won’t come to that.”

“Yes, hopefully, but we can’t be sure, can we?”

Alex squeezed his hand. “What about the information on Raught’s computer? Have you been able to glean anything yet?”

Artemis did his best to prevent the exhaustion and frustration from creeping into his voice, but he wasn’t sure that he was completely successful. “So far, I’ve managed to extract very little useful information. A good deal of business ledgers, which is something, but it’s a lot easier to piece things together through actual writing. Unfortunately, the numbers are a lot simpler to decode than the words. Raught seems to use a triple encryption based upon Welsh, which isn’t my strongest language to begin with. Hopefully, I should be able to create a decryption program for this specific code in the next 24 hours or so. Once that’s done, with any luck translation should be comparatively simple.”

Artemis didn’t mention or even allude to that he intended to make use of the fairy gift of tongues for this translation. From his experience, it was far more reliable than any language software he had found or (as he was loathe to admit) developed. Alex would only have questions about this mystery person getting involved and Artemis didn’t have any desire to have this discussion. To be honest, he didn’t entirely trust himself not to let something slip while his guard was down.

Alex inhaled sharply. “So you’re saying we’re going to be cutting it close.”

“Extremely so.” Artemis desperately wanted to pace around the room, to do something to soothe the anxiety that was threatening to strangle him. But Alex’s hand in his own was tethering him both to the spot and to his sanity. Artemis squeezed his hand back, taking a deep breath. The action steeled him, hardening his resolve. He couldn’t fail now. It simply wasn’t an option.

Alex seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he slowly lifted the hand that held Artemis’, pulling him along with him. Alex’s eyes remained trained on Artemis’ as he pressed his lips against the back of his hand and held them there. The breath caught in Artemis’ throat. Their gazes held.

If Artemis had to choose a moment that would last forever, this one would be high on his list. The way Alex’s lips tenderly pressed against his skin, the way his eyes burned with some sort of deep emotion that made his heart race… Artemis could almost forget the danger hanging above their heads. For that extended minute, the world seemed to narrow to just the two of them. He wondered, briefly, if this is what people meant when they talked about Paradise.

The moment couldn’t last forever, of course, no matter how much Artemis might pray for it to. And it didn’t. Slowly, surely, Alex pulled away, lacing their fingers together.

“I meant what I said last night,” Alex said softly. “Believe me, I know the sort of hornet’s nest I’m going to be walking into. For you, though, I’m more than willing to take that kind of risk.”

Artemis would have taken a step back if there had been any room to. “That… that is exactly what scares me.” He was well aware that his voice was barely audible.

Alex’s expression did something complicated. “I- Listen, I understand. I do. But I’m asking you to trust me. Because I believe in you. In us. I believe that we’re going to make it to the other side of this thing and that we’re going to do it together.”

Together. Every good thing Artemis had ever done, everything he’d ever accomplished, was ultimately because of the people who cared about him, no matter how difficult he had made it for them.

As much as Artemis wanted to beg Alex not to put himself back in danger, to sequester himself somewhere safe, he knew Alex wasn’t going to do anything of the sort. Artemis knew he couldn’t complete this operation without Alex in the field, and Alex wasn’t going to live through it without Artemis in his ear to guide him.

Alex was still standing there, waiting for him to say something and looking at him in a way that made Artemis’ chest pang. Like he was the world.

Somehow, Artemis found his voice. “…I trust you. And as much as I don’t like it, I also think that you’re right. We’re not going to get through this in one piece if we don’t do this together. And I don’t think anything I say is going to stop you from going tomorrow evening, so I would much rather help you through it than sit here and do nothing. So I suppose what I’m saying is that I’m with you.”

Ever so slightly, Artemis tightened his grip on Alex’s hand. “I need you to promise, though, that you won’t do anything stupid or reckless that could get you killed in there.”

Alex cracked the smallest of smiles. “I wouldn’t do anything of the sort without consulting you first.” He held up this other hand before Artemis could reply. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

Artemis had a sneaking suspicion that there was more than a small grain of truth to that statement. He raised an eyebrow. “Alex.”

Alex’s expression grew serious. “Alright, fine. I promise that I’ll play it safe tomorrow night.”

He leaned forward and kissed him softly, making Artemis’ mind short out in a manner that was not unpleasant in the slightest. It was a state of peace Artemis could never manage to fully achieve on his own, but somehow Alex was capable of making him feel it without even trying.

Alex pulled away eventually, searching his face. He must have seen something that troubled him because his brow furrowed. “…Are you alright?”

It was a loaded question, but one Artemis was used to dealing with. He cleared his throat and did his best to keep his voice level. “I’m fine. Just apprehensive, I suppose.” Shaking his head, Artemis gently pulled himself away from Alex and began rummaging through the documents Alex had received about the party. “I’ll feel far more comfortable the more prep work we get done. You said it yourself, we don’t have much time.”

Alex stared after him for a moment, then sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Artemis gestured to one of the papers. “Which reminds me, do you know your suit measurements?”

Alex made a face. “Uh, not exactly.” He grinned suddenly. “You want to help me take them?”

“Oh, please.”

“I’m not hearing a no.”

Artemis blushed as Alex’s grin widened. “I will, but only because you obviously do need help and not for any ulterior motives.”

Alex laughed. “Uh-huh. Sure.”

As he followed Alex in an attempt to locate something that could be used as a measuring tape, Artemis did his best to ignore the nerves that still lingered beneath the lighter turn in mood. He couldn’t afford to let anxiety make him sloppy instead of sharp. Not now.

Every moment from this point on was going to have to count.

Chapter Text

I got my best suit and my tie

With a shiny silver dollar on either eye

I hear the chauffeur coming to my door

Says there's room for maybe just one more

Alex stared into the mirror as he straightened out his tie. The man staring back at him was borderline unrecognizable. The meticulously styled hair, the black stylish vest over the black dress shirt, even the slacks, nothing Alex was wearing was anything he would remotely be comfortable in under more typical circumstances. But it was the uniform that was provided to him, and Alex wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to blend in as much as possible with the other staff members at the party.

There were two pieces of his ensemble that Alex had added himself. One was a tie clip, as dark as the rest of the uniform. It was impossible to tell unless it was mere centimeters in front of your face, but it contained a tiny camera transmitting back to Artemis. Somehow Fowl had found time to fashion it from one of his own tie clips while simultaneously creating and running code on three separate monitors. All Artemis had said about it, without taking his eyes from the screens, was that it was easier to keep track of Alex from his own point of view. Alex agreed, despite the lapse in the dress code. But hopefully, with everything going on around him, nobody would question his additional accessory.

The other was his gun, neatly and imperceptibly tucked into his vest. Just in case.

“You look nice,” Artemis said mildly into his ear.

Alex glanced around to make sure nobody in the locker room with him was paying attention, which none of them seemed to be. “You’re probably the only one who thinks so,” he muttered. “But thanks.”

Alex hadn’t physically seen Artemis since that morning. Their goodbye had been painfully short, in part because he didn’t want to worry Artemis any more, but also because Alex was afraid of jinxing the entire operation by making a big deal out of it. A part of him, though, wished they could have spent a few more precious moments together before heading off into the unknown. There was a lingering premonition of doom in the back of Alex’s mind that he just couldn’t shake.

Alex almost wanted Artemis beside him now. Of course, he was more than thankful Artemis was far away from all of this, safely sequestered out of harm’s way (at least, he desperately hoped that was the case). But they were both nervous, and a physical presence, a steadying touch, would probably work wonders to quiet the disquiet in his brain. That was out of the question, though, so Alex had to make do with purely vocal communications as they had for weeks. That felt oddly lacking, now, but it was what they had.

Artemis was right to be apprehensive, of course. This was uncharted territory, in both a figurative and literal sense. And he was probably right not to trust Alex to make any rash decisions, given his track record. But those same rash decisions had saved his life more times than he could count, so Alex had no intention to stop making them anytime soon. It was one of his best skills, in his opinion.

He just had to be sure to apologize afterward.

Taking a deep breath, Alex put on the final piece of the uniform given to him. It was a hyper-realistic skull mask, covering and conforming to the entirety of his face. Only his eyes were visible through their two respective holes. The entire effect was rather disconcerting, Alex thought as he sized up his reflection. He truly looked like a member of the living dead. Which was probably exactly what Raught was going for, although exactly why he wasn’t quite sure. Unless her goal was just to unnerve her guests using her waitstaff.

The other occupants of the locker room were beginning to file out, all wearing identical false skeletal grins. Alex glanced at the clock above the door. It wouldn’t be long now until guests started arriving. It was time to get into position. After one final once over in the mirror, Alex started to follow his coworkers.

“Good luck,” Artemis said. He sounded a thousand miles away.

“Thanks,” muttered Alex, unsure of what else to say. “See you on the other side.”

He pushed through the doors and out into the party.

Somewhere between an hour and a half and an eternity later, the party was in full swing. The ballroom was packed with people, each one dressed to the nines and wearing a more intricate mask than the next, like they were all trying to one-up each other. The accents and languages swirling in the air were as varied as the people themselves.

It had been roughly a decade since Alex had been to a party anything like this. He hadn’t had a particularly good time then, and that was before he had ended up in a car at the bottom of a lake.

He hoped this night would end a bit better.

As Alex moved through the crowds carrying outlandishly fancy hor d'oeuvres (Was that caviar on a gilded crostino? Alex didn’t think he would ever understand rich people, as much as he had been making out with one over the past 48 hours or so), he was able to get a good look at the partygoers. Between the dim but colorful lighting and the exaggerated masks, the whole thing felt like some sort of Nyquil induced fever dream.

All the while, Alex kept his eye out for Faye Raught or Cailean Cromwell, but neither the Spartoi boss nor her second in command were anywhere to be found. Which was odd, considering they were the hosts of the gala. It didn’t sit right with Alex, but it was also entirely possible they were in costume and he had overlooked them because of it. He cursed whoever it was who decided that masks were a good party theme.

“Heads up,” Artemis murmured after a woman in a sari and a colorful parrot mask took an appetizer off of his tray. Alex’s spine straightened automatically. “I’m almost positive that was Rani Ayyangar. She’s a big name in the Mumbai underworld. Tread carefully.”

Alex glanced back at the woman, but she didn’t seem to be paying him any attention. Still, he moved away from her as nonchalantly as he could muster.

“Anyone else here I should know about?” Alex hissed when he figured he was far enough away.

Artemis made a somewhat troubled noise. “Without facial identification, it’s rather difficult to be absolutely certain, but it seems like most guests are high ranking criminals of some sort. For instance, the man in the snow leopard mask across from you-” Alex’s eyes alighted on the person in question, a thickly built blond man, “-seems to be Ingemar Sundberg, the head of a highly profitable Stockholm extortion racket. The woman in the praying mantis mask-” Alex’s attention shifted to a short woman with roughly chopped dark hair, “-is most likely Ayuzawa Nadeshiko, who runs an international counterfeiting operation. And there’s no mistaking Sergo ‘Viper’ Vinters prowling around as well.” Alex assumed that this was the man with a buzzcut, neck tattoos, and a viper mask. “He’s a Latvian drug lord who got his nickname from the twin daggers he uses for executions, all of which he does himself. And those are just the first few I picked out in eyeshot.”

“Granted, I haven’t met most of these people in person.” Artemis continued, “But most of their reputations precede them. If I were you, I wouldn’t linger around any of them if you don’t have to. Most of them are wanted by a good half dozen countries. If they think you possibly could identify them, they’d make you disappear in an instant.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Alex mumbled, picking up his pace ever so slightly.

His mouth had gone dry. Alex had expected this party to be full of ne’er-do-wells, but Raught’s web reached much further and higher than he had initially thought. But ultimately, the identities of these criminal heads still didn’t answer the most vital question of what Raught was up to with this whole affair in the first place. He had to keep looking.

Not long later, loud laugh drew his attention to a pair talking towards one of the back walls. Alex wandered closer, hoping to pick at least something up from their conversation. The two, a woman and a man, were deep in conversation and hardly seemed to register his approach. The man, thin but short, was wearing a white linen suit and what Alex felt was an excessive amount of gold jewelry. His mask appeared to be in the shape of something doglike- maybe a hyena? If Artemis was here, he would probably have some sort of comment about how hyenas and dogs were much more distantly related than that. But he wasn’t, and Alex honestly didn’t care. The woman wore a simple crimson-colored dress that came down to the floor and vaguely resembled a mermaid. Her mask was the most detailed Alex had seen yet, depicting a snarling red dragon. Around her neck hung a single fang.

It was the fang that caught Alex’s attention and held it. He had seen one like it before, hanging from the neck of Raught’s right-hand man. It could be a coincidence. But it was unlikely.

When the woman spoke, though, any doubt Alex had was gone.

“What a story, Jon. Makes federal prison almost sound fun.” Her voice was clipped, Welsh, and exactly how Alex remembered it in the elevator that day. Faye Raught was here, mere centimeters away. She was close enough that Alex could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. Which he didn’t.

Alex took a few steps away, remaining close enough so he could hear the conversation but not so close he would quickly raise suspicions. Artemis was silent on the other end, and Alex assumed he had pieced together who exactly he was eavesdropping on as well.

The other man (Jon?) was laughing again, but Alex noticed that his hand ever so slightly tightened its grip on his champagne glass. He had some sort of American accent. Chicago, maybe? It had been a while since Alex had been in the States. “Yes, well, I’m happy to have put that chapter of my life behind me, and I’m more than looking forward to our future ventures together.”

Alex could imagine Raught smiling tightly under her mask. “Yes, I feel the same. I’m certain our success will be nothing less than… explosive.” They shook hands briefly, Jon the American with a bit more vigor than Raught. Then she cleared her throat. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some business to take care of. Someone will be in contact with you soon, Jon.”

And like that, she was walking away, moving purposefully through the crowd. Jon the American stared after her for a moment. Then he turned to walk away and almost collided directly into Alex, who had waited half a second before trying to follow Raught. Complete and utter disaster was only avoided by Alex quickly sidestepping out of the way.

“Watch it,” was all Jon the American growled before stalking off.

“Dickhead,” Alex muttered under his breath when he was far enough away. He looked up just in time to see Raught disappear through a door not far from the entrance to the kitchen. Frowning, Alex moved after her.

“I’m not crazy, right? That had to be her.” Alex whispered as he made his way through the mass of masked criminals.

“Oh, most assuredly,” Artemis responded, but he sounded almost distracted.

Alex’s frown deepened. “That American guy talking to her. Did you manage to ID him?”

Artemis was silent for what seemed to be a deliberate half second. “…Yes. I’ve had a few… interactions… with him in the past. He’s a wealthy American businessman with heavy ties to the Antonelli crime family, among other things. He is definitely supposed to be in prison, and it’s troubling that he somehow managed to get out without me hearing about it. It’s even more troubling that he’s here, trying to negotiate some sort of contract with Raught. Once we get through tonight, we’re going to need to look into it more. But I wouldn’t let that distract you right now. He’s the least of our worries at the moment.”

Alex inclined his head in acknowledgment. He was almost to where he saw Raught leaving, and as much as it disturbed him that Raught was associating with someone Artemis had obviously dealt with before, Artemis was right. He couldn’t let himself get hung up on it now or it could very well get him killed.

Alex entered through the kitchen, figuring he could claim to be refilling his tray or something if anybody questioned his presence. As it was, though, the kitchen was bustling with similarly dressed people, and nobody seemed to be paying him any mind as he slipped through the room and out into a back hallway.

In stark contrast to the crowded ballroom in which he had spent most of the night, the hallway Alex now found himself in was eerily silent and empty. His only company was the music from the ballroom filtering in through the vents and through the walls. Raught was nowhere to be seen, but the hallway only went in one direction, ending in a sharp turn to the right. Odds were that she had gone that way.

Cautiously, Alex walked down the abandoned corridor, wincing at every echoed footstep and praying the distant music was loud enough to cover them. It definitely wasn’t loud enough to cover any sort of verbal communication with Artemis, though, so all Alex could do was trust the other man to be taking control of any and all security cameras and preventing anyone from raising any alarms. And Alex did trust Artemis, so he kept walking.

When he got to the turn in the hallway, Alex flattened himself against the rightmost wall, as close as he could get to the corner without actually turning the bend. Then slowly, achingly, he peered around the edge.

Sure enough, Faye Raught was walking down the next corridor, approaching a door with two figures posted outside it. They were dressed the same as Alex, but the large guns in their hands were unmistakable. She stopped in front of the door and appeared to almost be waiting for something.

After a few seconds, it became clear what, or more accurately who, she was waiting for. The doors opened, and Cailean Cromwell stepped through them. He was wearing all black, similar to the servers, but instead of a skeleton, his mask bore the beaked visage of a plague doctor. But his red hair, almost the same shade as Raught’s dress, and distinctive body type made it impossible for it to be anybody else.

Raught and Cromwell stepped away from the guards and seemed to be conferring in low voices about something. Alex strained to make out what they were saying, but from his current distance, he couldn’t hear a thing. Raught was making several gestures, and Cromwell simply bowed his head in deference, muttering a word or two every once and a while.

A few moments passed in the same manner. Then they must have come to an agreement on whatever it was they were discussing because Raught abruptly turned and began to walk in the opposite direction from where Alex had hidden himself. Cromwell followed at her heels. Alex watched as they rounded another corner and out of sight.

After waiting for their footsteps to fade completely, Alex began to count the seconds in his head. Once he reached two minutes without any signs of anybody else approaching or Raught and Cromwell coming back, Alex took a deep breath and stepped out and around the corner.

His posture was casual as he walked toward the guarded door, with his server’s tray tucked beneath one arm. The guards stiffened as he approached, but neither of them automatically raised the alarm, which was good. It gave Alex more time to work with.

“Excuse me, guys,” Alex said apologetically when he stopped in front of the door, putting one guard on each side of him. He gestured to his tray. “I’m supposed to be refilling this in the kitchen, but I think I went through a wrong door and now I’m all turned around. Could you point me in the right direction?” Admittedly, it was difficult to convey emotion when your entire face was covered with a mask, but Alex felt like he was pretty good at the “incompetent but ultimately harmless” act. It had gotten him into places he wasn’t supposed to be and out of places he didn’t want to be more times than he could count.

And luckily, tonight was no exception. The guard on his right made an irritated noise. “You just passed it, idiot.” He turned to point in the direction Alex had come from. “Down that-” As soon as the guard was fully facing away from him, Alex brought down his tray on top of his head. He was out cold in an instant.

The other guard gave a surprised yelp and fumbled for her gun, but Alex was faster. He spun around and caught her upside the head with the same tray. Moments later, both security guards were unconscious, and Alex was admiring how the server’s tray was able to withstand all of that without denting in the slightest.

He dragged them both through the doors, one after the other. It became immediately obvious the room they had been guarding was actually a wide stairwell, which provided a good place to hide the slumbering guards in the form of a hollow storage space underneath the first flight. Their guns Alex stashed in a corner behind one of the doors, safely out of sight of anybody walking by and out of reach if either guard came to. He placed his servers’ tray next to it, figuring he could pick it back up on his way back down.

Once he was done with that task, Alex dusted himself off and took a look around him. Everything indicated that this was just a normal stairwell, meaning whatever it was that was work guarding was most likely on a higher floor.

“Any idea where this goes?” Alex asked, peering upwards.

Artemis took a few seconds to respond. There was a clack of keystrokes. “According to the blueprints, it leads to an upper floor that surrounds the ballroom, then to the roof. But I’m unable to connect to any cameras in either area.”

Alex frowned. “Unable to connect? You mean like you can’t hack in?”

“I mean like it seems that all the cameras are nonfunctional, or possibly even removed completely. Either way, I can’t see anything that isn’t on the main floor. I’m as blind as you are at the moment.”

Alex grimaced. There was a very real possibility he was walking straight into an ambush, and he was sure Artemis was just as aware of that fact as he was. “Focus on Raught’s files, then. I’ll let you know if I need any help while I’m up there.”

“…Fine.” Artemis said with no small reluctance. “Keep me updated. Please.”

“Will do. Over and out.”

With that, Alex swallowed his misgivings and began his ascent.

Artemis watched Alex apprehensively climb out of the corner of his eye as he typed. He was thankful that he had always been a superb multitasker. Most people would balk at the prospect of breaking into and decrypting the files of the head of a criminal organization while simultaneously keeping a loved one safe as they navigated a labyrinth full of monsters. Or at the very least have some sort of panic attack.

Artemis had long since proven that he wasn’t even in the same league as most people, though. That wasn’t to say that there wasn’t any deep-seated anxiety bubbling within him. But Artemis was also good at compartmentalization, and so far, he had managed to keep that anxiety in its proper box and use it as fuel to keep him going. Even though the unexpected recognition from earlier in the night, as unpleasant as it was and as many ugly memories that it triggered, hadn’t broken his composure. There would be time to process that later.

The central monitor gave a soft chirp. It was an anticlimactic noise for a climatic result, but that hardly mattered. The decryption algorithm had finished decoding and translating the last of Raught’s files.

Despite himself, Artemis found that he was smirking. All the weeks of planning and infiltration, all of them lead up to this moment. The secrets of the Spartoi were finally laid bare. All Artemis had to do now was coax them out from the mass of data before him.

Smirk still lingering on his lips, Artemis clicked open the first file.

The door to the second floor was locked electronically, of course, but the ring still on Alex’s finger made quick work of it. Before he opened it, though, he reached into his vest and removed his gun, just in case. Then he nudged the door open with his foot.

The door opened to reveal a dark hallway, but as Alex stepped through the door frame, he must have set off some sort of motion detector, because the lights came rolling on. Alex tensed and tightened his grip on his gun, fully expecting to hear the wail of an alarm, or maybe the beat of footsteps against tile of guards who had alerted to his position. But a second passed, then another, and all Alex heard was the dull buzz of the fluorescent lights above him. It seemed like he was truly alone up here. Or, more disturbingly, he wasn’t, but they simply didn’t care. He hoped it was the first option.

Cautiously, Alex proceeded down the empty hallway.

Artemis focused in on files from the past five days, ever since Alex had broken into Raught’s office and been recognized by the Australian nurse. There was a distinct and troubling possibility that she had recognized Alex a lot earlier than that fateful Friday night, but Artemis filed that away with the anxiety it produced. It was another problem to deal with when the time came.

Most of the files so far were interesting, but not particularly useful to him at the current moment. There were several email exchanges of varying levels of familiarity with several attendees of the party, giving them last-minute invitations to the masquerade. There were also several satellite and drone snapshots of Fowl Manor, which although discomforting, was to be expected. Artemis could at least take solace in the fact that everything seemed to be in order and none of his family members could be seen in the photos.

He clicked through a few more folders until he landed on one bearing the label 0303_secft_lpdc, which had been created about a week ago. Brow furrowing, Artemis opened the folders. He was greeted by a collection of about five or six videos, each only a few minutes long. They were downloaded recently, but they looked like they had been recorded some time prior.

Ignoring the distinctly sinking feeling in his chest, Artemis opened the first video and pressed play.

The hallway circled the perimeter of the ballroom below, and the dull drone of music and conversation was Alex’s only company at the present moment. He ended up walking the entire length of the hall and circling back to where he started by the stairwell without running into anyone or anything out of place. The hall was lined with windowless doors, which of course were all locked when Alex tried them. There were no clues to suggest a specific one had been opened or tampered with recently.

But there had to be something up here or else they wouldn’t have bothered to post guards or even send Cromwell up. And Alex was pretty sure the answers he was searching for lie behind one of the locked doors.

Alex chose a door at random and walked up to it, inspecting it closely. Its lock was analog, which was a pain, but the hinges were on the other side, which was much better news. Maybe he couldn’t use his ring, but he could use brute force.

It took a couple of well-placed kicks, but it wasn’t long before the door yielded to him. Alex waited for a moment to see if anybody from downstairs would come running at the commotion he had surely made, but a half a minute passed and there didn’t seem to be anybody coming. Leaving the door ajar slightly so he would be able to hear if anybody did decide to show up, Alex slid into the unlit room.

The footage was grainy and low quality, especially blown up to full screen on Artemis’ monitor. It was clearly captured by a cheap security camera. But as the video progressed, it became more and more apparent that the location, and more importantly, the people, featured were unmistakable.

On the screen, Alex was loitering on the sidewalk on an urban street. The video skipped ahead, and Alex was inside a building, talking to a woman behind a stand, who he followed offscreen. The video skipped again, and Alex walked into frame in a different room, approaching a table where two familiar figures sat.

Artemis stopped the video abruptly. He knew what happened next.

 Distantly, he was aware that his hands were shaking, but it was as if he were watching his own movements from outside of himself. This shouldn’t be possible. A not small part of himself almost wanted to start counting digits to make sure he was still in touch with reality. But there was no denying what he’d seen.

Pull yourself together, Artemis thought forcefully as he gripped the arm of his chair. Now is not the time to waste precious seconds indulging in neuroses.  

Through willpower or desperation or some combination of the two, Artemis managed to force his mind back into the current moment and away from the spiral it had threatened to drag him into. Without wasting another moment, he activated his cufflink.

“Alex,” Artemis said in a strained tone, “We have a problem.”

As it turned out, the room wasn’t completely dark after all. On the walls all around him, evenly spaced and just below eye level, strange green lights were flickering. They seemed to be electronic, but the darkness concealed whatever mechanism they were a part of. Alex fumbled for the light switch.

He eventually found it, and Alex winced at the sudden brightness when he flipped the lights on. It didn’t take long, though, for his eyes to adjust and he got a better look at the room around him. It seemed to be an ordinary after-hours meeting room, with a long central table covered with upturned chairs. What attracted Alex’s attention, though, were the now revealed devices attached to each wall.

He moved to inspect the one closest to him. It was a simple gray box with two lights on its front. One of them, the green, was intermittently flashing, while the other, the red, remained dark. A few external wires trailed from the top to various other parts of the device. It was relatively small, maybe the size of the average paperback. There were three others, all identical, all around the room.

It took Alex an embarrassingly long time to realize what he was looking at. But when the realization hit, it hit like an eighteen-wheeler.

It was an explosive. All of them were.

Faye Raught didn’t want anybody to leave this party alive.

Artemis’ voice was speaking into his ear, sounding more concerned than Alex ever thought he’d heard him. “Alex. We have a problem.”

Alex took a shaky step backward, a chorus of fucks rattling around in his head. “Yeah. I’ll fucking say. It’s the goddamn Red Wedding up in here.”

“I- What? What are you-?” Artemis suddenly got quiet. Alex assumed that if he hadn’t seen the explosives before, he was seeing them now. “Oh. Oh no.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Alex took another step backward, moistening his suddenly bone-dry lips. “Do you… do you think we could disarm them?”

“One? Maybe. But all, what, four of them? I doubt we have enough time to disable all of them before Raught gets wise and decides to activate them. And that’s if there isn’t some sort of failsafe to trigger them if one of them is disarmed. The only way that would be feasible was if there was some sort of override switch to disable all of them at once.”

 Alex had completely backed out of the room when horrible thought suddenly occurred to him. He glanced down the hallway. All those locked doors, all of them surrounding the ballroom…

He turned on his heels and raced to the next closest locked door. His kicking down the door lacked the stealth and finesse he had employed previously, but Alex was far from caring. The door swung open forcefully, revealing an identical dark room. With identical green flashing lights.

Alex swallowed hard. If two of the upper rooms were rigged to explode, then it stood to reason that all of the second-floor rooms were as well. At this point, it wouldn’t shock him if there were bombs on the roof as well.

A few explosions would probably kill a couple people, but there would still be a decent number of survivors. Over two dozen explosions, though…

The carnage would be unthinkable.

“Alex, are you listening to me?”

With a jolt, Alex realized Artemis had been speaking to him for some time now. “Huh?”

“I said that you need to get out of there while you still can. I found security footage from the attack in La Princesse du Cygne in Raught’s files. Security footage that not only clearly shows you, but shows the both of us together. She knows who you are, Alex. And I’d wager the reason you ended up here tonight is because this is exactly where she wants you to be. In the middle of a death trap.”

There was a lead ball sitting in the pit of Alex’s stomach. He thought he was being proactive, staying ahead of Raught despite being recognized. But he’d been played. She had never lost control over the situation for a second.

Artemis was still talking as Alex placed his gun back in his vest, shoved open the door to the stairwell, and started taking the steps two by two. His voice was muffled, and Alex could picture him pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I thought I erased all evidence that we were ever at that restaurant. But clearly, I overlooked something, or we wouldn’t be here right now.”

It took until he was on the bottom few steps for Alex to fully process something Artemis said earlier. He froze on the spot, foot hanging in the air. “Wait. You said it showed us together?”

“That’s right, but-”

“And they’ve had those recordings for a while, yeah? So the Spartoi have had more than enough time to, say, figure out where I’ve been staying.” Alex cast his mind back over the past few days. He’d tried to be extra vigilant and made sure that nobody was surveilling him or planting any sort of bug on him. At the time he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. But he couldn’t be absolutely certain. Was it possible he had missed something else that should have been obvious?

“…It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. Are you suggesting-”

Alex interrupted him. “You’re in danger, Arty.”

There was the sound of Artemis shifting. “…Not as much danger as you’re in this very moment, Alex.”

“Does it really matter?” Alex gripped the railing tightly. He wanted desperately to run back to the apartment, to protect Artemis. But realistically, what good would he be against an entire team of Spartoi militants? Alex could probably take out a few of them before going down himself, but any more than two or three and he would be completely outnumbered and there would be nothing he could do to stop them from taking Artemis. And he doubted Raught would send only a few operatives to retrieve the prize she had been after for so long.

There had to be another option. If he could find Raught here, at this party… Maybe she could be persuaded to call off an attack with a gun pointed at her face.

And hadn’t Artemis mentioned something about a master override switch for the explosives? If that was anywhere, it would be with Raught.

He’d have to get past Cromwell, of course, and that wouldn’t be easy. But they weren’t joined at the hip; after all, Alex had seen them separated earlier in the night. And it was a lot easier to take one man by surprise than several.

It was risky, without a doubt. But it was a risk Alex was willing to take. He refused to let anybody else he cared about to be taken from him. Not again. Never again.

Alex’s mind was made up. He bounded down the final few steps and began walking, filled with purpose. He was going to put an end to this here and now.

It didn’t take long for Artemis to notice he was walking in a direction that was not towards an exit. It was inevitable, but Alex had been hoping for a few more moments to figure out what exactly he was going to say to him. Because Artemis was definitely not going to be happy with this.

“Alex. Where exactly are you going?”

Alex forced himself not to stop. “I’m going to find Faye Raught.”

Artemis made a sputtering sound. “Excuse me-? Absolutely not.”

“It’s our best shot right now. I need to take it while I can. She’s not going to detonate the place while she’s still inside.” At least Alex was pretty sure she wouldn’t.

There was the sound of a few keystrokes. “We don’t even know that she’s still in the building! I’m not seeing her on any of the camera feeds. We can confront her later. Right now, I need you to get to safety.”

Alex frowned stubbornly. “I’ll leave once I’m certain she’s not here. Don’t you get it? This is our chance. To save you, your family, everyone.”

Artemis’ voice was soft, and it trembled as he spoke. “I refuse to trade your life for that, Alex. I will not let you die for me. Please. Please.” Something in his voice verged on desperation.

A lump was forming in Alex’s throat. He didn’t think it was going to be this difficult. “Artemis. Arty. Do you trust me?”

It was somewhat of a low blow, but Artemis answered without hesitation. “Of course.”

“Then I need you to let me do this.” Alex was almost back to the kitchen now. “Listen, I- I have to go. I’ll contact you when this is over.”

“Alex, don’t you dare-”

“I’m sorry.”

He switched his communicator off.

He hoped that he was making the right decision. And that Artemis would forgive him someday. Wiping his eyes through his mask with the cuffs of his dress shirt, Alex pushed through the doors and into the kitchen.

The catering kitchen, bustling with life when Alex last passed through, was now eerily empty. Which wasn’t a good sign, but he didn’t have time to dwell on that now. He had to find Raught before it was too late.

In contrast, the ballroom was very much the same as it had been when Alex had left it. Partygoers were talking and drinking, the music was blasting, and it was damn near impossible to see anybody that wasn’t in close proximity to him. Even with an outfit as distinctive as Raught’s or Cromwell’s, it was going to be difficult to pick them out from the crowd.

Swearing under his breath, Alex abandoned any pretense of politeness and began to elbow his way through the crowd. His movements elicited more than his fair share of glares and muttered insults, with the occasional more loudly vocalized threat (in English or otherwise) thrown in as well. It was definitely was the wrong crowd to be pissing off, but at the moment, any thought of the consequences of that were far from Alex’s mind.

Flashes of crimson kept catching Alex’s eye, but every time he would push his way to its source, he would find a random attendee dressed as a cardinal or even a poison dart frog. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Raught was here, just out of reach, and he just kept missing her. Or, worse, that he was being toyed with.

Artemis had said that he couldn’t see her. Did that mean Raught had simply gotten herself lost in the crowd or did it mean that she wasn’t in the ballroom at all? The odds of it being the former were increasing by the second, but Alex didn’t want to leave unless he was absolutely certain. The trouble was that he didn’t know if absolute certainty was possible at this point.

Maybe another staff member would know more than he did. Alex craned his head, scanning for one of the multitudes of others dressed exactly like him that had been making the rounds earlier. But as much as Alex looked, he couldn’t seem to find any. They’d gone the way of the kitchen staff and vanished into thin air.

This was wrong. All of it. Alex’s eyes darted around the room, looking desperately for something, anything that would offer him a clue on what was happening and what to do next. But nothing revealed itself to him, leaving Alex lost and stranded in the middle of the ballroom floor.

The music began to fade out, and with it, the lights. The crowd around Alex began to mutter. The only illumination remaining were the beams of light coming from a projector hanging from the ceiling. It was projecting onto a large white screen that was slowly descending from the ceiling, though it currently displayed nothing discernable.

The screen didn’t stay blank for long, though. There was a flicker, and suddenly the several meters tall head of Faye Raught filled the frame. She was still wearing her intricate red dragon mask, but her eyes, icy blue and cold, were clearly visible. The background she was against was dark, and as much as Alex strained to, he couldn’t tell where exactly she was broadcasting from. If this even was live.

“Greetings, everyone,” Raught began. Despite the mask, Alex got the distinct feeling she was smiling. “I’m deeply pleased all of you could make it tonight.”

Wherever she was, it definitely wasn’t in the ballroom. He needed to look elsewhere. While everybody else in the room stared at the screen, Alex started pushing his way to the nearest set of doors.

“I know you all lead busy and eventful lives,” There was a brief titter from the crowd. “So it truly means a lot to me that you’re here right now.”

Alex frowned as he approached the doors. He could have sworn they had been open earlier. He reached out and tugged at the handles, but they wouldn’t budge.

“I just have a few announcements to make,” Raught continued. “But first, I want to honor a special guest in our midst tonight.”

 Alex tried again to open the doors, but they again held firm. His blood ran cold. They were locked.

“Coming to us from London, I’m beyond pleased to welcome MI6’s own covert operations protégé, a Mr. Alex Rider.”

Alex froze in place, body going rigid with shock.

Had he heard her right? Had she really said his name?

The crowd around him muttered amongst itself. Raught spoke over them, her smooth voice displaying only a hint of sharpness. “You might recognize him as the boy singularly responsible for many of SCORPIA’s humiliating incidents and ultimately its untimely dissolution about a decade back.”

Slowly, Alex turned and faced the screen again. It couldn’t be possible, but it almost seemed as if Raught was staring past all the other occupants of the room and directly at him, seeing through all his personas and disguises and into his very soul.

She was still talking. Alex might have still been in a crowded room, but all he could hear was Raught’s voice. That and his own heart frantically beating in his chest.

“As a former SCORPIA member myself, you can understand why I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Truthfully, we were only recently acquainted, so the jury’s still out for me. But I was beyond thrilled that he was able to make it tonight. The festivities simply wouldn’t be the same without him.”

Move. He needed to move, to get out of here in any way possible. But Alex’s feet wouldn’t obey him, and his eyes wouldn’t tear themselves away from the screen.

“But enough of that. It’s time we move on to the main event of the night.”

 Finally, Alex felt his body began to react, but it was like he was moving in slow motion. He took a step forward.

“Many people would say that all of us here tonight, with a few notable exceptions, of course, share a similar profession. And those people would be right, although they would be mistaken in putting us all on the same level. It is more than obvious that some of us clearly stand out from the rest.”

There were a couple of laughs from the crowd, but fewer than before. Raught didn’t seem to notice, or more likely, didn’t care.

“I’ll be the first to admit that the Spartoi are relatively new to the game. But we’re becoming more and more powerful players with each day that passes, and we’re at the verge of making a breakthrough and finally filling the void that was left when SCORPIA disbanded.”

Her eyes narrowed. “All of you, though, seemed to think you were too good to set out on our quest with us when I asked you to join us. And you all would have been valuable, to be sure. But not so valuable that you aren’t disposable to me now. And, most importantly, your assets will be up for grabs with you out of the picture.”

The other people in the room might have thought that Raught was just posturing. Alex knew better. He’d seen upstairs. Before he realized it, he was running, shoving his way across the room while everyone else stared up at Raught. Surely there was some other way out of here. There had to be.

“Some people are big believers in second chances. In my experience, those people are the ones who end up gutted by their own people. The simple truth is that if you’re not with me, you’re against me. This is how we rise from the earth. We take your corpses and we make them into our warriors. But then, of course, we need to make some corpses first.”

It was at this point that more and more people began to catch on with what was happening. A few partygoers made a break for the doors, and, finding them locked, began to panic. Once the rest of the room came to the realization that they were all trapped, the panic started to spread like wildfire. Hardened murderers were shoving each other as they scrambled to find an exit, and slick heads of criminal empires were screaming threats at the screen, Jon the American among them. Raught watched it all in mild amusement. She was enjoying this.

One moment, Alex was running towards the kitchen doors. The next, he was sprawled out on the floor, head spinning and lungs winded. Somebody had knocked him over, but in the chaos, Alex couldn’t even identify the perpetrator. He tried to push his way back up, but the more he struggled, the more the throng of legs around him kicked and trampled him back to the ground.

Alex had the sudden, horrible realization that he was going to die like this, lying on his back and utterly alone, and there was nothing he could do about it. And he had nobody to blame for it but himself.

He could just barely make out Raught’s voice, infuriatingly smug, over the commotion of the crowd. “Hwyl fawr, and enjoy your last few moments of being.”

The screen went dark.

Alex knew he only had seconds left. Somehow, through the rush of people around him, he managed to reach up and switch his communicator back on.

“Arty?” he choked out.

“Alex?! Oh my God-”

“Look, I don’t have a lot of time left.” His vision blurred. “I’m sorry I fucked this all up.”

“Alex, don’t-”

“There’s something I want you to know. That I need you to know. I-”

That was when the building exploded.

Artemis didn’t recognize the noise that left his throat. It didn’t sound like him. It almost didn’t sound human.

He was gripping the sides of the monitor as though he could somehow reach through and pull Alex to safety. Signal lost, the screen brightly told him over the static and through the wetness in his eyes, as if the words weren’t a knife into his heart.

Some part of Artemis, ever clinical and detached, knew that he was going into shock and that he really should do something about that. But he didn’t move. Alex was dead and it was his fault and it didn’t matter.

He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, staring at the static on the screens in front of him, when a loud knock echoed through the apartment. Artemis knew exactly who was at the door without even having to check. He almost laughed. Did they really think he was just going to let them in?

The door was reinforced. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it would take time to break down. Artemis started moving, completely on autopilot, and it wasn’t until he had the drives to his computers in his hands that he realized that he was taking them out. But by then, he knew what he was doing. After sending a quick text Holly, Artemis placed the drives and his phone in the microwave and began to cook them on the highest voltage.

There was a loud boom as whoever was outside of the door started to try and break it down. Artemis hardly spared a glance in the direction, even as the noises increased in frequency and the door began to buckle more and more under the barrage.

As Artemis watched the electronics spark and sizzle as they were bombarded with microwaves, he felt something in him harden. He wiped his eyes. Fine. If Raught wanted him cold and ruthless, he could be cold and ruthless again. But not for her. For Alex. His death wouldn’t go unavenged.

Even if Artemis had to turn back into the very version of himself that he loathed the most.

When Cailean Cromwell finally broke into the apartment, he found Artemis seated at the table, facing him. His fingers were laced together in front of him, and he seemed not in the least bit disturbed by the fact that someone had just forced themselves into the room. Even when he noticed the small bottle and rag- chloroform, really, how original- the smirk playing on his lips didn’t falter.

Their eyes met. Cromwell took a step forward, then another, until he was standing over him.

“Stay back,” Artemis said without faltering. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

The world went dark.

Chapter Text

If I only could, I’d make a deal with God

And I’d get him to swap our places

Alex’s world was pain and fire.

He kept slipping in and out of consciousness to the distant sounds of screams and sirens. Alex’s brain couldn’t process it all, even in his brief moments of lucidity. Everything everywhere was hurting worse than it ever had in his entire life. His skull, his ribs, his legs, every cell in his body seemed to be screaming in unison.

 The heat was oppressive, like he was in a giant oven being baked alive. The temperature would make breathing hard enough of a problem, but every inhale was pure agony. There wasn’t enough oxygen going into his lungs to keep him alive for much longer. Alex briefly and horribly realized that he was probably drowning in his own blood.

He gave a prolonged, shuddering exhale before consigning himself to oblivion yet again.

When Alex awoke next, there was somebody with him.

His eyes were closed, but he could hear them moving around in the rubble next to him, muttering frantically in a language Alex didn’t recognize. He opened his mouth to say something, to beg for help or mercy or to vocalized some other vaguely formed thought in his pain-addled brain. All that managed to escape, though, was a low moan.

Whoever it was evidently noticed because they quieted abruptly and moved closer to him. “Rider?” a feminine voice asked.

All Alex could do was groan again in response.

He could sense the person come to a stop by his side. “Oh, Frond almighty,” she (?) breathed. Then she put a hand on his shoulder. Was it Alex’s delirium, or was her hand impossibly small? “Rider, listen to me. I’m here to help you, but I need you to stay alive long enough for me to do that, ok? Just concentrate on hanging on and I’ll take care of the rest.”

There were distant shouts. The sirens seemed to be growing louder. The woman paused briefly, then started speaking again in quicker and more hushed tones. “I don’t have a lot of time before emergency services get here. I’m going to stabilize you enough so that I can move you. I’ll do the more difficult part once we move to a more secure location.”

What was she talking about? And more importantly, who was she? Alex had expected his mother, or maybe even Jack, to welcome him to the other side, but she obviously was neither of these. And though it was difficult to tell at the moment, she seemed real enough.

Alex tried to force his eyes open. It felt like he was trying to push a train with his bare hands, but eventually, his eyelids struggled upwards enough for him to get a look at the mysterious stranger as she kneeled over him. What he saw, though, failed to make any sense to Alex’s oxygen-deprived brain.

She had dark skin and deep auburn hair, but the part Alex just couldn’t parse was her size. She couldn’t be more than a meter tall. For a moment, Alex thought he was looking at a child. But no, the proportions were all wrong. She seemed to be an adult the size of a child, but even that didn’t seem to be quite right. She wasn’t just a small human. Because small humans didn’t have ears that ended in a sharp point. Or wings on their backs.

If she was an angel, she definitely wasn’t like any Alex had ever pictured. Then again, did it really matter? If she was an angel, though, he wished she would hurry up and put an end to his misery.

She turned and looked at him, and their eyes met. Something stirred in Alex, although it took him a moment to realize why. It was her eyes. One of them was hazel, and while pretty in and of itself, it wasn’t what captured Alex’s attention. It was the other eye that he couldn’t tear his gaze away from.

It was light blue, but not just any shade of light blue. It was a color Alex knew like the back of his hand, a color he’d been gazing at and longing for for weeks.

It was the exact same color as Artemis’ eyes.

“Y-you… you’re-” he managed to gasp before descending into a fit of coughs that wracked his entire body and brought a fresh wave of agony sweeping across him. There was something wet coming up his throat and out of his mouth. Distantly, Alex realized it was blood.

The woman or angel or whatever she was said a variety of words. The only one Alex recognized was fuck. Then she was leaning all the way over him, so close that their faces were almost touching.

“Rider,” she was saying. Her voice was honeyed, and Alex found that he was hanging on her every word. “Just go to sleep now, ok? Just go to sleep.”

Sleep. Sleep would be nice. So nice. Alex hadn’t realized it before she had said it, but he was so very, very tired.

Before he even realized that his eyes were drifting shut, Alex was letting himself slip back into unconsciousness.

In his dream, Alex was running.

He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew he had to get there before it was too late. But it was already too late.

The ground stretched out infinitely in front of him. The harder he ran, the less progress he made, until he was essentially moving in place. That was when he realized he wasn’t running on ground at all, but quicksand. He struggled to pull himself out, but he was already up to his knees in the mire, and he was sinking quickly.  

Someone was lying motionless on solid ground not far in front of him. He waded over, sinking all the while. By the time he got there, he was up to his chest in sand.

It was Artemis. Of course it was. His eyes were closed, and Alex could tell without touching him that his body was cold. No matter how much Alex screamed and cried and pleaded, Artemis remained still and unresponsive.

He was up to his neck in sand now. He struggled to bring his arm to the surface as his mouth slipped below it. His hand desperately grasped for Artemis’. But the moment he touched Artemis’ body, it exploded into a cloud of orange.

It wasn’t fire, though. It was a cloud of orange rose petals.

The last thing Alex saw before he was submerged in the sand completely was them raining down all around him.

Alex awoke in a cold sweat.

He took in several deep gulps of air before he realized that breathing was remarkably easier than it had been before. His ribs didn’t seem to be violently protesting every inhale anymore, and his lungs seemed to be taking in the required amount of oxygen now.

In fact, nothing seemed to be hurting anymore. Alex sat up abruptly, patting himself up and down, trying to find the cuts and scrapes and burns he had felt on himself as he lay among the rubble, but besides his tattered clothing and his missing mask, there seemed to be no evidence that he had been inside of a building when it exploded. His body seemed to be as intact as it had been before the party. Perhaps even more so, because the lingering pain from where his ribs caught the steel railing was also gone.

Alex swallowed as the realization hit him. He was dead. He had to be. What else would explain this?

He slowly looked around. This wasn’t what he imagined the afterlife being like. It seemed like he had been lying on a seat inside of some sort of futuristic ship. It seemed small, almost too small for people to use, but here he was in it anyway. Maybe Charon had upgraded in the modern era and now was flying people over the River Styx, Alex thought grimly.

It didn’t seem like the ship was flying now, though. But there did seem to be a figure in the pilot’s seat. They were leaning over, almost like they were looking at something. Alex could catch snatches of what sounded like a radio playing.

“Worst accident in… Senghenydd and Aberfan… dozens feared… natural gas leak… charity event-”

Alex listened, debating whether or not to call attention to himself. Ultimately, though, that decision was made for him when the figure took notice of him and stood up, switching off the radio in the process.

It was the woman Alex had seen in the rubble of the building. So she hadn’t been a dying hallucination after all. Did that mean she really was some sort of psychopomp?

“I’m glad you’re awake,” she said. Her mismatched eyes were studying him closely. “You had me worried for a while there. How are you feeling?”

Alex opened and closed his mouth several times before he was able to articulate a response. “I… you’re… Are you an angel?”

The woman seemed taken aback. “I- What? No? What are you talking about?”

The words left Alex’s mouth in a rush. “Because I should be dead and I was inches away from dying when I saw you but now all of a sudden I’m here and my wounds are healed and that’s impossible unless I really am dead and you’re some sort of spirit with Artemis’ eye come to take me away-”

The woman stilled at the mention of Artemis’ name. Briefly, her hand flitted up to her blue eye. Then she dropped it, shaking her head. “You’re still alive, Rider. I know because I was the one who healed you.”

 All Alex could do was stare uncomprehendingly. “What?”

The woman sighed and sank into a seat across from Alex. “Where do I even begin…?” She rubbed her temples. “This is going to be a lot to take in at once, but I need you to try and stick with me, ok?”

  Alex nodded mutely.

She took a deep breath. “Ok. So. My name is Holly Short. I’m the Wing Commander of LEPrecon’s Section 8, but that shouldn’t mean anything to you. You’ve probably noticed that I don’t look like a mudman- human, that is. That’s because I’m not. I’m a member of the People.”

Alex blinked. “The People?”

“A fairy. An elf, more specifically.”

“An elf,” Alex echoed in disbelief. “That’s… that’s not possible. Elves aren’t real.”

Holly raised an eyebrow. Then she vanished.

Alex jumped. He looked left and right, but she was nowhere to be seen. Except for a faint haze that lingered in the air, it was like she had never been there in the first place.

Then just as suddenly as she disappeared, Holly reappeared in the seat next to him, giving Alex just as bad a start the second time. Her eyebrow was still quirked. “That seem real enough to you?”

Alex realized that his jaw was hanging open and quickly snapped it shut. The only words his brain could manage in response was a breathless “…Holy shit.”

Holly snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”    

Alex's mind was racing faster than he could up. Alright then, so fairies and elves were real. And they were technologically advanced too, judging by the gun conspicuously hanging from Holly’s hip (which made Alex realized that his own gun was missing, likely blown far from him in the explosion) and the ship they were both inside. Alex had had a lot of shocks in his life, but this definitely the one that had hit him hardest from far beyond left field. Fairies… He could still be hallucinating. Or dreaming. But Alex didn’t think so. He knew his own senses, and the longer he spent in the company of this so-called elf, the more certain he became this was reality, as strange as it may be.

Holly was watching him, expression unreadable. “As I said, this is a lot to take in. Take the time you need to process it all. But I also need to check out your apartment, and I’d prefer that sooner rather than later.”

The apartment… Artemis! Alex jumped to his feet before he realized what he was doing. The movement was too quick, though, and almost immediately Alex felt like he was going to pass out again. He would have taken a hard fall to the floor if Holly hadn’t grabbed his arm, just as quickly, and lent him her support.

“Easy, Rider,” she hissed, tightening her grip. “You’re not operating at 100% yet.”

Alex swayed on the spot dangerously, but he made an attempt to keep moving despite Holly’s vice grip on his arm. “The apartment. I have to get to it right now. There’s somebody I need… that I have to make sure is ok.”

Holly looked away, expression darkening. “…I don’t think he is.”

Alex stopped in place, blood chilled by her tone. “What?”

“Artemis?” She bit her lip. “I haven’t been able to get ahold of him since he sent me your location. And I’ve tried more times than I can count. Given the circumstances, I don’t think he’s choosing not to respond.”

Alex let himself be sat back down as his mind reeled. “I… You know Artemis?” It was far from the most pressing matter, but it was the question that slipped from his lips before all the others.

Holly’s lips twitched like she was recalling some particularly fond memory. “That’s a bit of an understatement, but yeah, I’ve known him since he was twelve. Well, ten, technically, but that’s a long and extremely complicated story. But he’s one of my closest and dearest friends.”

The pieces were falling into place in Alex’s mind. That morning in Fowl Manor, where Artemis was speaking to somebody in an unidentifiable language. The secrets he claimed to be keeping for other people. The past he always danced around but never gave any details about. The cloud of enigma Artemis kept around him, however unwillingly, was slowly beginning to part.

“…This really should surprise me more,” Alex muttered, more to himself than anything.

Holly must have heard him because she gave a short, rueful laugh. “Yeah. That’s Artemis for you.” She shook her head. “Listen, I’m sure you have a million questions for me. And I can tell you the entire story later. But right now, I need to get down there. And if you’re feeling well enough now to be left alone now, I’m going to go.”

She hit some sort of button, and the side doors of the ship opened, letting in the coolness of the night’s breeze. It carried the scent of smoke with it, and Alex could see a plume of it rising on the horizon, lit by the glow of raging flames. He shuddered.

They were high up, perched on the top of a building. And not just any building, Alex realized. Their building. The one that housed the apartment he and Artemis shared.

Holly had wings on her back again. Alex could see now that they were mechanical and could be attached and removed easily. There was a helmet in her hands. She looked like a woman on a mission.

]“Wait,” Alex said, and Holly paused on the threshold. Taking care to take his time this time, Alex rose to his feet. Thankfully, his legs and his brain seemed to be working in tandem again, and he was able to stand without feeling like he was about to topple over. “I’m coming with you.”

Holly hesitated for a moment. Then she grinned briefly, plopped her helmet on her head, and flipped the visor down. “Then let’s get going, mudboy.”

Alex didn’t even have to enter the apartment to know something was wrong.

Even from down the hall, he could tell that the door to the apartment was slightly ajar. Artemis would never have left it open. Not if he had left willingly.

Holly was hovering invisibly somewhere near him. As she was the only one with an actual weapon, she had taken the point position. Alex could feel the air stirred by her wings on his cheek. “I’m not getting any heat signatures from inside,” she whispered, and Alex’s stomach dropped further.

He was too late and he knew it. A part of him had known since he had regained consciousness. Alex almost didn’t want to enter the apartment and see the nightmare that surely awaited him. But kept walking anyway, despite the dread growing in every step. He had to see for himself.

They came to a stop in front of the door (at least, Alex assumed Holly had stopped as well). Now that they were closer, it was obvious that the door had been almost completely broken in with a great deal of force. It was barely hanging on its hinges.

Both of them were silent for a moment, the air heavy with apprehension. They both were fully aware of the implications of what they were looking at.

Then Holly spoke, her voice almost too quiet to hear. “Stay here while I make sure that it’s clear in there. I’ll be right back.” The crack in the door widened ever so slightly as she slipped through it.

It seemed like she was gone for hours, although it couldn’t have been more than a minute, maybe two at the most. Alex held his breath the entire time. Eventually, though, Holly reappeared in the doorframe, fully visible once again. Her expression was unreadable through her visor.

Alex swallowed. “Well?”

Holly shook her head. “There’s nobody here. Artemis or otherwise.”

Alex didn’t wait to hear anything else. He was already in motion, pushing through the door and past Holly until he was inside the apartment.

At first glance, the apartment looked identical to how it had when Alex had left that morning. It felt like a million years ago. The lights were on. The shades were drawn. The furniture was in place. As Alex slowly made his way through the apartment, he couldn’t find any signs of a struggle, or, thank Christ, any blood.

It was cold comfort, though, because by now it was abundantly clear that Holly had been right. Artemis wasn’t here. Alex almost kept expecting him to emerge from somewhere, sipping Earl Grey and talking about string theory and smiling as Alex made some wisecrack about his lack of understanding. But the apartment was deathly silent. And Artemis was gone.

Alex came to a sudden stop when he got to the kitchen. There was something in the microwave. He would have probably never noticed on his own but for the thin plume of smoke rising from underneath the microwave door, like a finger pointing him straight to its contents. Frowning, Alex slowly moved to the microwave and pressed the button to open it.

Inside lay a charred mess. Alex didn’t have the slightest notion of what it consisted of. Gingerly, he reached in and picked up the burned remains. They were still a bit warm to the touch. As he scrutinized them, it slowly began to dawn on Alex what he was looking at. They were scraps of electronic parts. Hard drives, by the look of it, and that cellphone of his own design that Artemis kept with him at all times.

Looking at the warped and cracked screen, Alex felt as broken as the phone itself. Holly had said Artemis had sent her his location, hadn’t she? It must have been the last thing he had done before he stuck it into the microwave and fried it to kingdom come. He obviously knew what was coming for him. But he didn’t run. He didn’t try and save himself. Instead, Artemis had used those precious moments to try and save the life of the man who had failed him in the first place. A man he most likely thought was dead already.

Alex choked back a sob. He was clenching the broken phone so hard that it threatened to crumble into a million pieces in his hand. He wanted to punch something. He wanted to throttle the life from Faye Raught with his bare hands. He wanted to scream until his lungs burned. But he couldn’t do any of those things. Not right now.

Instead, Alex found himself mechanically walking over to the computer desk and sitting in the chair Artemis was always perched in, working on something or other. The monitors were dark and silent. Artemis most likely was sitting here, watching these screens, when he saw Alex blown to pieces.

Holly came up beside him. She had removed her helmet again, and her mouth was in a grim line. “Did you find something?”

In response, Alex silently placed the cellphone on the desk in front of him.

“D’arvit,” Holly said, in the same way one might say fuck. She picked it and flipped it over in her hands a few times. Then she shook her head. “Dammit, Arty…” she muttered.

“Yeah,” was all Alex could manage. He was sure he sounded as miserable as he felt.

Holly gently set the phone back on the desk. She was looking at him almost hesitatingly, like there was something she wanted to say but didn’t know how. “Are… Are you alright?” she finally asked, voice soft.

Alex’s eyes were fixed straight ahead, staring into the blankness of the dead screens. “When I was 15,” he began quietly after a moment, “I was forced to watch the last member of my family die. She was the only real person I had left in the world. She was there because of me. They had taken her because of me. And they strapped me down and they forced me to watch as she drove over a landmine. It was the worst moment of my short, shitty life so far. And it was all a fucking game to them.”

Alex wiped his eyes angrily. “So I know exactly how Artemis must have felt when he watched that ballroom explode with me inside it. How he has to feel now. Because I felt that way for every single day for a decade. I wouldn’t wish that horror on anybody. But he went through it anyway. Because of me. And I’m sure he thinks that I died horribly and that he blames himself for it. I’m sure he’s in agony over it right now and it’s. All. My. Fucking. Fault. And I’d give anything to take his place, to have him be the one here instead of me. But I can’t. I can’t.”

He buried his face in his hands. “I was lost before I met him, you know? I had pulled away from everybody that was left in my life. The family I lived with in America, the friends I made at school, everyone. I was just drifting through life. I had never expected to have a future and I had no idea how to even begin to envision one. But that changed after I met Artemis. Even though I was back in the thick of things again, I started looking forward to waking up in the morning again. I started looking past the next day for once. And after I kissed him and he kissed me I started to think that maybe, just maybe, we could build a future together.”

His voice cracked. “Because I think that I love him. Maybe it’s wrong of me to say at this point. But I do. I really do. And I- I didn’t even get to tell him.”

It was then that Alex stopped fighting the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him and let himself fully break down, weeping into the fabric of his ruined uniform. His shoulders wracked with sobs. At some point, Holly must have reached out and placed a comforting hand on his back, but he didn’t notice until the overplus of emotion ran its course and the tears began to slow. She might have been an almost complete stranger and another species entirely, but the small gesture was comforting nonetheless.

Holly was silent until his sobs began to quell. Then she spoke up. “…He feels the same way about you. Artemis does. I’m positive of it.”

Startled, Alex lifted his head up and looked at her. “Huh?”

“I know Artemis. Probably more than almost anybody else and probably much more than he would like.” She laughed, but there was a mournful twinge to it. “I visited a few times while you were at ‘work.’ I saw it happening. The way he spoke about you, the way he looked at you, how happy you made him just by existing… he’d never acted that way around anybody else before. I don’t think Arty fully realized he was doing it, but I could tell right away how badly he had it. It was sweet, honestly. I know he had almost convinced himself you didn’t reciprocate. I’m glad you got the chance to prove to him otherwise before all… this… happened. I know it’s a cold comfort now. But you deserve to know.”

Alex managed a faint smile. “Thank you. That… that really means a lot.”

“Of course.” Holly squeezed his shoulder. Her expression hardened. “You should also know that I will stop at nothing to make sure that Artemis is safe and that he comes home. I swear it to you.”

The singular pronoun did not go unnoticed. Alex frowned, wiping his face dry with a tattered sleeve. “Wait a second. If you’re going to rescue Artemis, I’m coming with you.”

Holly crossed her arms. “Absolutely not.”

Alex’s frown deepened. “What? Why not?”

“Because 1. You’re a civilian. 2. You’re a mudman. I really shouldn’t even be talking to you right now, and probably wouldn’t if not for the unique position Artemis holds with our people and the debt that we owe him. But it’s already going to be a headache to try and clean up after this regardless. 3. You’re still recovering from being inside a building that exploded. And most importantly 4. Artemis would never forgive me if I put you at risk again right after barely pulled you from the jaws of death, and Frond knows what he would do if something happened to you while trying to save him. It’s not happening.”

Alex made a frustrated noise. “You really just want me to sit here and hope everything turns out ok?”

Holly raised a solitary eyebrow. “More or less.”

Alex pushed the computer chair back and stood up straight. At this height, he towered over her, but Holly didn’t flinch. “Listen. You don’t know Faye Raught and the Spartoi. I do. I’ve been with them for weeks, months now. I know how they work. I know their operations. I’ve talked to these people, hung out with them, gotten to know how their minds function. I’m the best shot you have at finding them and getting through them once you do find them. You need me.”

Alex knew his point had hit home because Holly had several false starts before she finally replied. “I can work around that.”

“Really?” Alex retorted. “Because everything Artemis had on the Spartoi was either on the hard drives that are currently burnt to a crisp in the microwave or in my head. Do you even know what Faye Raught looks like?”

“…No.” Holly admitted reluctantly. “But-”

Alex started to pace around the room. “Look. They think I’m dead. They don’t even know you exist. They’re not going to see us coming. We can get in and rescue Artemis before they even know what hit them.”

“Rider-”

He crossed his arms. “Besides, how are you going to stop me from going after him myself once you leave? I’d be in much more danger alone. You’d be able to ensure my safety much better if you had eyes on me the entire time.” It was an unsavory move, and Alex didn’t feel particularly good about it, but if it was what it took to ensure Artemis’ safety, then it was worth it.

Holly was silent for almost a full moment. Then she groaned. “You’ve been hanging around Artemis far too much.”

Alex stopped pacing. “Is that a yes?”

“It’s a conditional yes.” She marched up until she was standing in front of Alex. “You,” Holly pointedly jabbed his chest. “Will follow my orders at all times no matter what. That includes removing yourself from the situation if I deem it too dangerous. Understand?”

Alex fought the sudden urge to salute. “Yes ma’am.”

“Good.” She shifted. “There’s another thing you should know before you fully agree, though.”

There was something in her tone that made Alex frown. “What is it?”

Holly bit her lip. “…The existence of our people depends on humanity not knowing that we exist. This will probably have to happen if you come with me or not, to be honest, but the more time you spend with me, the more complicated things are going to get. But we’re probably going to have to erase all of your memories regarding me or the People.”

Alex stared. “You… you’re going to wipe my mind?”

“Only of any fairy related memories. Maybe we could swing some sort of exception for you because of your relationship with Artemis, but I wouldn’t count on it. That’s not a decision my people take lightly. So full disclosure. Whatever happens… you probably won’t remember it. Or at least, the real version of events. I don’t know if that affects your decision or not. But it’s something you should keep in mind.”

Alex took a moment to digest this information. He very much didn’t want anybody digging around in his mind and removing things. The very fact that that sort of technology existed was enough to make Alex feel vaguely ill and unsettled. But they weren’t going to erase any of his memories of Artemis or the time they spent together, at least by the sound of it. That was the important part. And if they were going to do it anyway… When it came down to it, Alex would much rather have his memories taken because of a choice he actively made.

“The- the whole mind erasing thing. You’re not going to do that until after we find Artemis, right?” he asked.

Holly blinked. “Of course.”

Alex shook his head. “Then honestly, it really doesn’t matter right now. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather you didn’t fuck with my head, but that’s an issue I’ll deal with when everything’s said and done. Not right now. Right now, I’d rather focus on the task at hand.”

Holly was looking at him with something that bordered on respect. Or maybe that was wishful thinking on Alex’s part. Either way, Holly’s mouth quirked. “We’re in agreement, then.” She stuck out her hand. Alex solemnly reached out and shook it.

“Thank you,” Alex said.

Holly was closer to smiling now. “Just try and not get yourself killed, ok, Rider?” She pulled away, her smile turning into more of a grimace. “Now. First thing’s first. We have to figure out where they’ve taken Artemis. Do you know of any other Spartoi bases where they’ve gone?”

Alex thought back, but as much as he tried, he couldn’t come up with any mentions of another base, or even any allusions to one. “…No. I don’t think so.”

Holly groaned. “Great.” She tapped her chin. “If only we had something on Artemis we could track. Butler once sprayed tracking nanomachines on Artemis’ shoes. Those were useful for a while. But I’m pretty sure he caught on a few years ago and found a way to circumvent them. So we can’t count on that link us to him.”

Link… Link! Something went off in Alex’s brain. “Wait a second,” he said. He reached up and removed his earring as Holly watched him curiously. It didn’t feel right to have it off. Come to think of it, Alex was pretty sure he had kept it on since the day Artemis had given it to him.

He held it out so Holly could see it. “This is part of a two-way communicator Artemis gave me. The other half was in a set of cufflinks Artemis wore. I didn’t see them or the jacket they were attached here, so I think there’s a good chance they were on him when they took him. I’m not sure if it’s still transmitting or even functional, but if it is, do you think we could find a way to track the cufflinks using the earrings?”

Holly’s eyes light up, and she snatched the earring from his palm. “I can’t, but I have a good friend who shouldn’t have a problem with it. I can contact him and I’m sure he can give us the coordinates in a couple of minutes tops.” She shot him a grin. “Nice work, Rider.”

Alex couldn’t help but smile back. “Thanks.”

She whipped out what Alex assumed was a communicator and began typing on it rapidly. “I suggest you go shower and change while we’re waiting, as well as gather anything here you think is important. It’ll make you feel better. And I doubt you want to be storming any fortresses in tatters and unarmed.”

Alex looked down at himself and winced. She was right, he was a mess, and he wasn’t going to function at peak capacity like this. Still, he hesitated. “Will you be alright here?”

Holly glanced up from her communicator briefly. “Of course. I’ve got a few things to take care of anyway. Healing you took a lot out of me, and I’d like to fill up on magic if we’re doing a full assault. And I need to contact a few other people as well. People who care about Artemis or owe him a favor. People who can meet us wherever it is we’re going and help us save him.”

“Like Butler?” The large man would certainly be a huge help on their side. Although Alex hoped he would focus any anger at Artemis being taken at the Spartoi and not at him. And that Artemis would be the one to break the news of their budding relationship to his bodyguard.

Holly nodded. “A few of my people as well. As I said, we’re all deeply indebted to Artemis. I just hope everybody remembers those debts.”

Alex fought the urge to ask for more details and instead opted to awkwardly run a hand through his hair. “Um. Good luck, then.” Holly gave a distracted wave as he retreated to the privacy of his bedroom, then looked back down at her communicator. He shut the door tightly, then removed his phone from where it had been hidden in his nightstand. Somehow it had been missed when the place had been searched, or maybe they simply hadn’t cared about the electronics of a dead man.

Once Alex was in his bathroom and hopefully (although he couldn’t be sure because, well, Alex didn’t know anything about the physical capabilities of elves) out of earshot, he unlocked his phone and began to scroll through his contacts. Artemis wasn’t the only one who had favors owed to him, and they needed all the help they could get. There was no doubt that Holly wouldn’t approve of this plan, but he was willing to risk her ire if it meant a better chance of saving Artemis.

The phone rang twice before the call was picked up. “Hey, this is Alex. Alex Rider.” He took a deep breath. “I need your help.”

Chapter Text

An invitation you can’t decline

Artemis’ heart was pounding when he awoke.

He was certain he had been dreaming, but the moment he opened his eyes, the dream began to slip away from him until it left nothing but the anxiety it had created and a name lingering on his lips. He swallowed it down. The dream hadn’t been a pleasant one, he knew that much. But then again, it had probably been better than his current reality. Almost anything would.

Artemis closed his eyes again and concentrated on his breathing until it was steady and even. Once his heartbeat had calmed back to the resting rate of around 80 bpm, he opened his eyes and began to take in his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was the dull grey of a concrete ceiling. As he sat up, Artemis was able to tell the rest of the room was constructed from the same concrete, except for the solid metal door across from him. The room was small, no bigger than a glorified closet. There were no windows, which wasn’t much of a surprise, and the sole source of illumination came from a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.

Despite the lack of apparent ventilation, the room was cold, and Artemis realized that his jacket was missing. More ominously, his tie, his belt, even his shoelaces appeared to have been taken as well. She had been thorough, Artemis noted grimly. He wasn’t bound, though, which indicated that Raught (probably correctly, as unfortunate as it was) didn’t see him as a physical threat.

Artemis sat against the back wall and leaned his head back until he was gazing at the ceiling again. He wondered how long he had been unconscious. He’d never been, well, skilled, for lack of a better word, at growing any type of facial hair, but judging by the lack of any resemblance of stubble on his chin, it couldn’t have been that long. Certainly not any longer than 24 hours, at the most.

His mind kept drifting back to the events immediately preceding his capture, as much as the rational part of him knew nothing good would come of it. Artemis wondered if Holly had gotten his text. Had she understood its meaning? Its significance? Had she been able to act in time? Could she have saved Alex?

It was doubtful. Even if Alex somehow hadn’t been killed in the blast or the subsequent building collapse… His injuries would have been severe. Everything around him would have been on fire. He would have bled out. Or burned. Or suffocated from the smoke. Or crushed under debris. Or-

Artemis forced himself to abandon that train of thought before he spiraled any further.

The fact remained, though, that the odds of Holly finding Alex before he succumbed to his wounds were beyond unlikely. True, Artemis had faced down long odds before and ultimately come out on the other side victorious. But not this time. Not like this.

He wondered if this was how Achilles had felt when he realized he had sent his lover to his death.

He didn’t want to believe it. But he couldn’t allow himself to get hung up on false hope, either. Realistically, there was only one scenario that would have played out the moment Raught detonated those explosives. It was a harsh truth, but Artemis forced himself to hold it until he accepted it.

Alex was dead and it was his fault.

There would be no soulless clone waiting to revive him. No magical friends armed with technology and sheer willpower fighting to bring him back. No miraculous resurrection. Nothing Artemis had been so undeservedly given when he himself had died. It was cruel and unjust. Alex deserved rebirth far more than Artemis ever did.

Artemis’ soul had gone back to the earth from whence he came and held tight to the living things that were growing in it. He didn’t remember much about his existence after his death, and for the most part, he didn’t try to. Artemis knew that the people who knew what happened to him looked at him with a barely concealed curiosity. Everybody wanted to know what happened after death, but nobody was insensitive enough to ask him.

And he was mostly thankful for it. Artemis didn’t have the answers to his own spiritual questions, much less those of others. But it was lonely sometimes, too.

It had been less lonely with Alex, though.

He wondered where Alex’s soul had gone. Had he traveled on to whatever came after? Or had his spirit also attached itself to this material plane, refusing to let go until his business was finished? Could he be here, now, watching over Artemis?

Artemis didn’t know which option he preferred.

Tears were pricking at the corners of his eyes, and a sob was forcing its way up through his throat. His mouth overwhelmingly tasted of soil. Artemis closed his eyes, grit his teeth, and willed the physical manifestations of his sorrow to subside. If he gave in to his grief now, there would be no coming back. He’d drown in it. And he would be powerless to act against Raught’s machinations.

Raught wanted him broken. And maybe he was. But Artemis wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of letting her see him fall apart.

 And she was watching him right now, without a doubt. There may have been no obvious cameras, but that meant next to nothing. Artemis didn’t believe she would leave him to his own devices for even a second. She wasn’t one to underestimate him. She had proven as much already.

If Opal Koboi could hatch a bloody plot of escape and revenge all while in a self-induced coma and under constant surveillance for eleven months, then goddammit, Artemis could do the same here and now, and do it better at that.

He couldn’t drag the body of Hector around the walls of Troy. But he could raze the city to the ground all the same.

Holly and Butler would be trying to find him, no doubt.  And Artemis didn’t doubt that they eventually would, but it would take time. Time enough for Raught to enact whatever the next phase of her scheme was. He couldn’t count on being rescued before then. It would be too late.

He pushed all thoughts of Alex and Holly and fire and death from his mind. Nobody could save him now but himself.  

 Artemis had to do this alone.

Artemis was pulled from his semi-meditative state by the abrasive screech of poorly oiled hinges as the metal door opened. He winced and opened his eyes. It had been an hour, 23 minutes, and 38 seconds since he had awoken here. It seemed like Raught had finally decided it was time to speak to her prisoner.

Sure enough, the open door revealed two familiar figures. Faye Raught entered first, looking to all the world nothing like a woman who had just brutally murdered several dozen people in cold blood only a few hours before. Cromwell followed close behind, holding a file that was bulging at its seams. They had changed out of their masquerade attire, Raught into a severe black pantsuit and Cromwell into something similarly colored but more tactical nature. Both of them had their signature dragon fang necklaces hanging from their necks.

Artemis watched them with a cool silence, making no move to stand as they entered.

Faye Raught was smiling. “Mr. Artemis Fowl the Second,” she said. “I’ve been waiting a long time to talk to you.”

Artemis shot her a frigid glare but remained silent. If Raught had come expecting to exchange niceties, she had been dead wrong.

Raught continued speaking regardless. “You’re certainly a difficult man to get ahold of. And I’ll admit that it took longer than I would have liked to get to this point. So many wasted man-hours and resources.” Her smile tightened slightly. “But we’re here now, and that’s really what matters, isn’t it? And we have much to discuss now that we’re finally able to speak face to face.”

“I have nothing to discuss with you,” Artemis replied icily. He crossed his arms. “I’m afraid you’ve wasted your time.”

Raught didn’t seem to be put off by his response. In fact, she seemed almost amused. “I’m sure we can change your mind, Mr. Fowl. I’m told I can be rather persuasive.”

“If you believe blowing people up to be a form of persuasion, then I’m sure that’s true,” Artemis said, making no attempt to hide the venom dripping from his voice. “But that’s hardly an art form.”

 The corners of Raught’s mouth twitched. “On the contrary. I figured you of all people would understand the necessity of the dramatic in our business.”

“I fail to understand the necessity of killing innocent people,” Artemis said with disdain.

“Ah, yes. Mr. Rider. I had almost forgotten.” Her dismissal was almost worse than her gloating. “A shame, really. By all accounts, he seemed like a talented young man. But he had already caused the downfall of one seemingly indestructible organization. I couldn’t take any chances. He needed to go with the rest.”

Artemis’ eyes flashed at the mention of Alex. “I would advise against saying another word on the subject.”

Faye Raught gave him a curious look, like she was observing the behavior of some rare creature. “Interesting. I didn’t expect you two to be close, considering the way you were using him.”

“The nature of our relationship is- was none of your business. But I assure you it was formed on entirely mutual terms.” His voice sounded strained, even to himself.

Raught raised her eyebrows. “Really? It was my understanding that Mr. Rider was living a peaceful life far away from the perils of his former career in espionage. That is until he decided to throw all that away for a man he barely knew. That doesn’t sound much like a mutual understanding to me. I don’t know if you blackmailed him or coerced him or relied on an entirely different strategy, but I’ll commend you on your tactics. They seemed to work wonders.”

 Artemis bit back a response. He did not need to prove to this woman anything, he reminded himself. She could believe what she wanted. It didn’t change the truth.

But was she really that wrong? a traitorous voice in the back of Artemis’ head whispered. Had he truly given Alex a choice to join him in this endeavor? Or had he exploited his horrific past and took advantage of his trauma until he felt like he had no other option? It wouldn’t be the first time, the voice reminded him. Artemis dug his nails into his skin and tried in vain to ignore it.

“After all, there was only one of you at that party.” Raught stepped forward, a cruel glint in her eye. She was enjoying herself. “You blame me for his death. But really, who was the one who put him in that situation in the first place? You’re not a stupid man. You must have had at least an inkling of the dangers he was walking into. But you sent him in anyway. If you never contacted him, he would be alive right now, happily living out the rest of his peaceful life. So, tell me, Mr. Fowl, who’s the real killer here?”

The logical side of Artemis was fully aware of what she was doing. This wasn’t his first encounter with this kind of psychological manipulation. He knew she was trying to break him down, destroy whatever he had left so he would go along with whatever she had planned for him. It was textbook.

That didn’t stop Artemis from feeling like there was a knife being slowly twisted into his heart. Or from agreeing with her assessment of him.

But Artemis would be damned if he gave Raught another victory.

He lifted his chin and looked her dead in the eyes. “Go to hell.”

Raught was silent as the words hung in the air. She looked back at Cromwell, their gazes holding for a moment.

Then the stillness broke as Faye Raught began to laugh. Cromwell joined her after a second, their peals echoing loudly throughout the concrete room. Artemis clenched his jaw but refrained from responding.

Their laughter eventually died down, and Raught turned to face Artemis again, the grin lingering on her face. “Ah, Mr. Fowl. You never cease to intrigue me. However-” Her smile faded as she gave a brief nod to Cromwell, who had moved beside her in an anticipatory manner.

 In an instant, the Scotsman closed the distance between them. Before Artemis had a chance to process the turn of events, a steel-toed boot slammed into his abdomen, knocking all the air out of his body. Artemis gasped and doubled over as the unexpected pain shot through him.

As Artemis struggled to regain his breath, he could feel Raught leaning over him. “I do not tolerate insolence. This is your only warning.” Any trace of amusement had vanished from her tone. She straightened up, and Cromwell resumed his normal position at her shoulder.

Artemis slowly forced himself upright again, ignoring the echoes of an Orwell quote that were unhelpfully rattling around the back of his mind. He had been expecting physical violence sooner or later, but the swiftness in her escalation was worrying. But she needed him alive, which put a limit on how far she (or Cromwell acting on her behalf) could go. He tried not to think about the myriad of things that could be done to a person and still technically leave them alive.

Artemis waited until he was sure he could speak without coughing, then looked at Raught with all the dignity he could muster. “Did you come here for a reason?”

Raught blinked, then just as quickly as it had vanished, the smugness returned to her countenance. “Of course. Forgive me for getting distracted.” She clasped her hands in front of her. “Do you know, Mr. Fowl, why I want you to join us so fervently?”

When Artemis refused to indulge her with a response, she continued. “Not for your family’s wealth, or your underworld connections, or even your reputation as one of the smartest people alive. I can find people with those traits elsewhere. You possess something far more valuable than any of those things. Something I’ve searched for my whole life. You, Mr. Fowl, can bring me to the Tylwyth Teg.”

 “…I’m afraid I don’t follow,” Artemis replied smoothly, despite the coil of dread rising within him.

“The Gentry. The Fair Folk. The People. Call them what you will. You, Mr. Fowl, are going to tell me about fairies.”

Artemis gave himself credit for not letting his breath catch. “Fairies? You must be joking,” he scoffed.

Raught smiled like she was indulging a petulant child. It was infuriating.  “I’m being entirely serious. I’m also quite certain you’re aware of that.”

Artemis had had his suspicions ever since Alex had read him the titles Raught kept on her personal bookshelf. He had desperately hoped he had been reading into them incorrectly, that she just happened to be another criminal mastermind with a similar interest in fairy folklore. But her, here, confronting Artemis about it in person… this was the worst-case scenario. Any catch in his breath, any loss of color, even an overly active heartbeat could betray not only Holly and Foaly and Mulch but every single fairy in Haven and Atlantis and all across the globe. Millenia of secrecy depended on him. He couldn’t afford to make a single slip. He had to be perfect.

Artemis painted his trademark vampiric smirk across his face. “If you really want to talk to someone about fairies,” he said lightly, “I would suggest a 6-year-old. Or perhaps a neurologist. I can recommend several excellent practitioners on Harley Street who should be able to help you. I can’t say the same for any 6-year-olds, unfortunately.”

Raught had barely finished gesturing to Cromwell before he stepped forward and slapped Artemis across the face.

Artemis had been bracing himself for it this time, but that didn’t make his cheek sting any less. His mouth was starting to taste less of soil and more of blood. Still, made himself look back up at Raught. “I’m afraid that’s all the advice I have on the subject. If you don’t want it, that’s your own problem.”

Cromwell looked like he wanted to hit Artemis again, but Raught failed to signal him to do so. Instead, she clicked her tongue. “Can I tell you a story, Fowl?”

She had finally dropped the pretense of formality, then. Artemis raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see how I can stop you.”

“When I was a little girl,” she began, “My grandmother would tell me stories about the Tylwyth Teg. She was a very superstitious old woman, always leaving out milk for the fairies at night. The rest of my family blew her off. But I listened to and loved those tales, even more than the average child loves fairy stories. They became my world, my religion. I would always be Queen Mab, you know, whenever my brothers and I would play pretend.” Raught laughed, eyes heavy with nostalgia.

“Then one day, not long after my grandmother passed, everything stopped being pretend. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I spent the witching hour staring out of the window of my attic bedroom. Our house was near a small creek, and as I gazed out, a figure appeared beneath the old oak tree that grew next to the stream. I could see her perfectly in the moonlight. A small woman, impossibly beautiful, with wings sprouting from her back. I knew what she was instantly.”

Artemis could see it clearly in his mind’s eye. A tiny figure, perched between the bend of a river and the trunk of an ancient tree. She was bending over, planting something in the earth, and the moon was glinting off of her stilled wings. The memory was as fresh as if it had happened hours ago.

“Nobody believed me, of course,” Raught continued, “But that hardly mattered. I knew what I saw. And I never forgot it, no matter how old I grew or how much my life changed. Even as a SCORPIA member, traveling the globe, I spent my free time collecting every scrap of folklore and every mysterious artifact I could find. It wasn’t until after I established the Spartoi, however, that I received my first real breakthrough. That’s when I was able to establish contact with one Xuan Nguyen.”

Artemis didn’t think there was a drop of moisture left in his mouth. Nguyen… He could picture him now, sweltering under the sun in that ridiculous attempt to pass as a waiter. Artemis didn’t think he’d spared a single thought for the man since that fateful Ho Chi Minh City day. It was obvious now that had been a mistake.

“I didn’t think much of him at first, but the woman he led me to… I knew without a doubt she was what he said she was. Sure, she wasn’t the beautiful elfin woman of my youth, but she was indisputably inhuman. And indisputably magic.” Raught’s grin widened. “I’m sure you felt the exact same exhilaration I did at that moment. Here was the culmination of a lifetime of searching, huddled up in a tent in the side of the road. But neither of us could rest at that point, could we? There was work to be done.”

“Nguyen had to be silenced, of course. He knew too much already. Once that was taken care of, we transported the old fairy woman back to Wales. Unfortunately, she was of a rather… fragile state and didn’t seem to take well to the change of scenery and the deprivation of her rice wine. She perished not long after she arrived.”

Artemis felt physically ill. Two more lives to weigh on his conscious, then.

“It was… less than ideal, I’ll admit. But we were able to extract much useful information before she passed. Including-” Cromwell produced a small object from the file he was holding, and Raught presented it with a flourish. “This.”

Artemis felt his heart lurch into his throat. He had to fight to keep his face impassive. He would recognize that tiny golden tome anywhere. The things he had done to get his hands on it… Artemis hadn’t ever considered somebody else would pull the same trick. There had Minerva, of course, but those circumstances had been greatly different. And ultimately far less lethal.

“…You murdered two people for what? A child’s book?” Artemis said eventually. If there was any instability his voice, he hoped Raught would contribute it to his contempt for the deed.

Raught’s grin dimmed slightly. “Your little act is growing wearisome. We both know exactly what we’re looking at.” She flipped it open to the first page and began to read in a somewhat theatrical voice. “Carry me often, carry me well/I am your tutor of herb and spell/I am your link to power arcane/Forget me and your magic will wane.”

Raught snapped the book closed. “It took some time to decode, but my post-grad years working on Linear A and Cromwell’s coding prowess helped me eventually crack it. And when I did, I was thrust into the world of my grandmother’s stories. only they were as real as I was. Goblins, trolls, pixies… I was just as enchanted as I had been as a child.”

She handed the book back to Cromwell, smile contorting into a grimace. “However, I soon ran into a problem. I knew everything that book contained about these fairies, but besides the remains of that poor old woman, I had no way to get to them. I was stumped for a while. I felt like I was at the cusp of glory, but I needed to find a way to push myself over the edge.”

Artemis was surprised she hadn’t had the thought to kidnap a fairy as they performed the Ritual. Maybe she thought the logistics would be too complicated, or maybe it simply hadn’t occurred to her. Either way, he wasn’t going to be the one to give her the idea if and when this plan fell through.

She clapped her hands in a resolute gesture. “But then I remembered the story Nguyen told and the old fairy vaguely recalled of the strange child who had visited them years ago. A child who had also been searching for fairies. A child who had also managed to obtain the Book of the People by trading it for the cure of the poison he had given her.”

Artemis forced down the guilt that trickled in with the memory. One sin at a time.

“Immediately I was intrigued. I had heard of the Fowls, of course. Who in our world hadn’t? But I had never given them much thought beyond that, much less connected them to the work I was trying to do. Now, though, I had reason to look. And once I started looking, I couldn’t stop. And the closer I scrutinized, the more details began to spring up that confirmed my growing suspicions. Sightings in different parts of the world within hours of each other. Disappearances for long periods with murky circumstances. Miraculous rescues and recoveries. Even rumors that the real Artemis Fowl II had died some time ago and was replaced by a clone. Things that should have been impossible.”

“As you say,” Artemis replied warily.

Raught tilted her head. “I began to realize, though, that the impossible seemed to be your status quo. And the evidence I compiled gave my theory a compelling argument. Do you know what conclusion I finally reached after all my research?”

Artemis crossed his arms with no small amount of stiffness. “I can hazard a guess. But please, enlighten me.”

Faye Raught met his eyes with her own piercing gaze. “I think that you have had contact with the Fair Folk for over a decade now. Most likely since not long after you copied the old woman’s copy of the Book. I think you have used your fairy connections to do things far beyond the realm of the possible. And I think,” Her lips curled. “That you have been keeping that power from the rest of us.”

Artemis met her gaze levelly but remained silent.

“I believe both you and I are among the select few that have realized the truth: magic is the ultimate source of power. Gold can be stolen. Technology can fail. Weapons can backfire. But magic… Magic is limitless. It warps the face of reality. It is utterly unstoppable. It forces everything to bow down before it. It alone is the key to true power in this world. The fairy people have kept it for themselves for millennia. Except, it seems, for you.” She was watching him closely. “Am I wrong?”

Artemis was silent for a long moment. Then he steepled his fingers. “It seems to me like you have a well-formed opinion and nothing I say or do will change it. I’m not going to waste my time and energy trying to make you understand that you appear to be suffering under some sort of delusion. Even if I did possess whatever powers you believe that I have, I would never assist you in whatever it is you want me to do. Nor would anything you could do convince me to change my mind on that fact. As I said before, you’ve wasted your time.”

Raught’s smile tightened. “How disappointing. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

Artemis eyed her coldly. “Judging by the methods you’ve employed thus far, I doubt that.”

She let out a short, barking laugh. “Perhaps.” Cromwell was handing her something from the folder almost before Raught gestured for it. “But as I said before, I’m sure you can be persuaded to reconsider.”

Artemis recognized the glossy photograph she placed before him instantly. He had stared at the digital version of the exact same image as he had combed through Raught’s decrypted files, however long ago that had been. An aerial shot of Fowl Manor, most likely snapped by a high-flying drone or even a satellite. Anything too low would be noticed and disabled by either the Manor’s own security or one of the Butlers.

 Artemis hadn’t been overly alarmed then. He had been expecting her to monitor his family’s home, after all, and the images weren’t overly threatening. And he had also been worrying about far more pressing things at the time.

But circumstances had changed.

There was an unmistakable gleam in Raught’s eyes. “Recognize it?”

Artemis narrowed his eyes. “I’d rather not play games. If you’re going to threaten me and my family, you might as well do it outright.”

Raught picked the photograph up off the floor and handed it back to Cromwell. Evidently, it had not had the shock factor she had wanted it to. Artemis counted it as a victory, however small. “I prefer not to think of them as threats,” she said. “I prefer to think of them as… strong incentives.”

Artemis made a derisive noise. “How cliché.”

Raught didn’t seem to be bothered. “Maybe so. But if you’re that desperate for threats, Mr. Fowl, I can certainly indulge you.” She leaned forward until she was looming over him. He managed not to flinch. “You will tell me how to acquire fairy magic. Or I will wipe your family off the face of the earth.”

Cromwell tore the picture in half in dramatic punctuation of her point.

Artemis thought that if he dug his nails into his skin any harder, they would begin to bleed. Fowl Manor had a better defense system than most small countries. It would be difficult to penetrate. But not impossible. It had been done before.

And they both knew she wasn’t bluffing.

 “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Artemis asked, unable and unwilling to keep the edge out of his tone. He had to keep her talking. Make her give him every last unpleasant detail. Make her slip and reveal something she didn’t mean to. The more he knew, the better he would be able to stop her from putting her plan into action.

She had already killed one person he loved. Artemis wasn’t going to let it happen again. No matter what it took. No matter what he had to do.

Raught’s smile was dangerous. “Gas leaks cause explosions every day. Why, I heard there was one in Cardiff just the other day that caused a terrible loss of life. It would be a great tragedy if there was another accident so soon afterward, wouldn’t it? I’d imagine that it’s a rather terrible way to go.”

Artemis didn’t need to be told that. “I don’t believe you have the long-range weaponry necessary for such an attack of such magnitude,” he responded sharply.

“Is that something you’d be willing to bet your family’s lives on?” The corners of Raught’s mouth crept closer to her eyes. “Your dearest father, who went through so much just to be with his family again. Your poor, frail, mother. She must be so worried about you right now. Those bright young twins. I’m sure they’re sick of being cooped like this. And, of course, the Butlers. Ever loyal, even unto death.”

She tilted her head. “So many lives. Can you see them all? Can you picture their faces as the flames rise? Can you feel their anguish as they die horribly? Can you see the charred remains of your home? Can you live with yourself in the aftermath?”

The worst part was Artemis could picture it. Every moment. In agonizing, excruciating detail.

His mother, sitting in the garden and reading. His father, walking out to hand her a cold drink. Beckett and Juliet practicing judo in the gym, while Myles half looked on as he worked on his latest project on his laptop. Butler, smiling to himself as he put the finishing touches on his newest culinary creation. All of them unaware as their deaths crept closer and closer.

They wouldn’t see it coming until it was too late. There would be nothing they could do. Fowl Manor would burn and its inhabitants would burn with it.

Artemis realized his breath had gotten caught in his throat. “If you lay a single hand on them,” he choked out, voice low, “No magic in the world will protect you from the hellfire I will rain down upon you. I swear it.”

Raught reached forward and patted his cheek. Artemis jerked away. “I sincerely doubt it.”

Artemis wasn’t prone to violent fantasies. But a part of him very badly wished to punch her in the face in that moment.

Maybe there was a small bit of Orion still lingering in his mind after all.

“You won’t get away with it,” Artemis heard himself saying. “Someone will know. Someone will find you and put an end to all of this.”

Raught laughed. “They may try. We’re deep underground, in a bunker built by a paranoid dictator. Nobody knows this place even exists. Nobody is coming.”

Then after a moment of letting her words hang in the air, Faye Raught straightened back up. The condescension was still heavy on her face. “I’ll give you some time. Let’s say… 24 hours. Think it over. But I will expect an answer at that time. I hope, for your family’s sake, that it’s the right one.”

And that was that. She was going to let him stew over the agony of deaths that had already happened and deaths that were to come. Fine, let her, Artemis thought. The more time he had to think, the better.

She had given him a warning. It was only fair he gave one in turn.

She was turning to leave; Cromwell was already in the process of opening the door. Artemis cleared his throat, causing her to pause. Raught turned halfway back towards him. “Do you have something to say, Mr. Fowl?”

He met her eyes levelly. “You’re a woman well versed in classical mythology. Your choice in organization name indicates as much.”

Raught raised an eyebrow. “That’s correct. What is your point?”

Artemis cocked his head to the side, a trace of a smirk tugging one of the corners of his mouth upward. “I was simply wondering if you knew the myth of Acteon. If not, I suggest you make a study of them. It might serve you well.”

Raught stared at him long and hard. Artemis stared back.

Then she gave a short laugh. “I’ll see what I can do, Mr. Fowl. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

Cromwell slammed the door shut behind her.

Chapter Text

I have changed my name so often

I have lost my wife and children

But I have many friends

Holly was on the phone when Alex got out of the shower.

Alex had probably spent more time than necessary and more time than they had standing under that nozzle. But the warm water washing the ash and grime off his skin felt something like a rebirth, and it was a while before Alex could bear to pull himself away. A fresh change of clothes and a gun on his hip and Alex was starting to feel something like a person again. Not wholly, maybe. But feeling like something was better than feeling like nothing.

He wished he had the entire arsenal of the MI6 behind him again, even if they had been in the form of items out of touch bureaucrats thought teenage boys carried with them at all times. All Alex had now was his spare and secondhand handgun, far too little of its associated ammo, a few knives of various sizes and sharpness, and a couple of smoke grenades that were probably past their use-by dates. He stashed what he couldn’t attach to himself into a backpack. It would have to do.

At least until if and when whoever decided to join them showed up.

Which brought him back to Holly. She was pacing through the living room, deep in an animated conversation with somebody over her communicator.

“No, babe, I’m not angry with you,” she was saying, giving Alex a brief nod of acknowledgment as he entered her line of sight. “I’m angry at the situation. Yes, yes, I know. No, I understand. I do. And I appreciate it. But things are going to be a lot harder without their support.”

She was chewing her lip, whether out of anxiety or frustration Alex couldn’t tell. Maybe both. “Please just… Just keep talking to them. Remind them of how much they owe to him. It’ll take a few hours to get there. Maybe they’ll come around in the meantime. Just try. Please. For me.”

Her entire face softened as she listened to the response of the person on the other end. Now that was an expression Alex did recognize. He’d found himself making it on more than one occasion of late. “Thank you. I believe in you. I’ll call you when I land, ok? Uh-huh. I love you too.”

Holly said what Alex presumed was goodbye in her own strange language and hung up. She gave a long, exhausted sigh.

“Who was-?” Alex started to say before Holly threw her communicator as hard as she could at the couch, making him jump. It bounced a few times, making a soft dent in the cushions, before coming to a standstill.

“Fuckers!” she hissed, glaring at where it lay. “Self-absorbed, heartless, ungrateful bastards!” Holly continued to hurl pejoratives in her own language for the next half-minute, seeming to forget that Alex was there.

It wasn’t a good sign that she was this upset. “What’s going on?” he ventured slowly.

Holly picked up the communicator and angrily buckled it back onto her waist. “The Council doesn’t think rescuing Artemis is important enough to devote resources to. Despite the fact that he’s saved their incompetent asses half a dozen times, no, he’s not one of us so he can die for all they care. Even though they know full well that he-!” She made a frustrated noise. “My girlfriend is trying to change their minds, but when it comes down to it, I doubt they’ll actually listen to her. No matter how persuasive she is, they still all look down on her in the end.”

Alex frowned. “Didn’t you say you were a commander of some sort? Don’t you have some sort of sway?”

“Wing Commander. But I’m not there right now, am I?” Holly scowled. “Besides, I’m just one vote. Lili will support me, of course, and Trouble should back me up too. But that’s still not enough to force them to act.”

“Their name is actually Trouble?”

“Focus, please. What I’m saying is that unless there’s some sort of miracle, we won’t have the full force of the calvary behind us.” Holly made an irritated noise. “But really, what else is new?” she muttered, seemingly more to herself than anything. Then she shook her head. “As I said before, I have some personal friends who are willing to lend a hand. So at least we won’t be completely alone.”

More than you know, Alex thought, resisting the urge to glance at his phone. “Speaking of, did your friend manage to trace the signal on Artemis’ cufflinks?” he asked.

Holly nodded grimly. “Yes, thankfully. It seems like they’re moving south across Europe right now. Our best bet is to get into the air and follow the signal while it’s still active. People can meet us there.”

“I’m ready whenever you are, then.”

Holly’s eyes tracked from the gun on his hip, to the bag slung over his shoulder, to the determined look on his face. Something akin to a grin tugged at her lips. She grabbed her helmet from where it rested and plopped it back on her head. “That’s what I like to hear.” Then she hesitated. “…Do whatever you need to do to, uh, make sure the mudpeople police don’t come snooping before we go, though. I’ll meet you upstairs.”

And like that, she vanished into the air again. Alex could only track her movements through the gentle opening and closing of their broken apartment door. Then she was really gone.

Alex sighed deeply. Holly was right. The commotion surrounding the apartment being broken into and Artemis’ kidnapping surely attracted at least some attention from the neighbors. The authorities were probably tied up with the horror that was the explosion at the party. But sooner or later someone would probably end up checking it out.

Alex had a sneaking suspicion that wasn’t her only reason for giving him a moment alone in the apartment, though.

He looked around the place where he had lived over the last couple of months. His life had been forever changed because of the time he spent here. Alex hadn’t entered this place expecting to fall in love. But he had. And nothing on this earth was going to take that from him.  

Alex slowly moved over to the place where he had kissed Artemis for the first time. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost feel the pressure of the other man against his lips. It was a bittersweet feeling.

He didn’t know if he would ever come back to this place. Or if he would even remember it in a few days. Alex didn’t want to have the memories he had made of and in this apartment taken from him. He’d grown fond of it, despite everything. Weirdly, he almost already missed the place. But if that’s what it took to save Artemis, then he could handle the pain of being forced to forget.

“Hang in there.” Alex found himself whispering. He was unsure if he was talking to himself, the empty air of the apartment, or Artemis, wherever he was now, alone and suffering. “I’m going to find you.”

Alex let his eyes close for just a moment as his voice echoed throughout the room. Then he opened his eyes, shouldered his backpack, and made his way to the door with a renewed sense of purpose.

He flipped off the lights and locked the door without looking back.

The roof was empty when Alex got there. For a moment, a jolt of anxiety flew through him. Had Holly left without him after all? He should have known better, he should have-

Then a large, sleek form began to emerge from the haze. Alex realized that it was the outside of the craft he had been flown here inside of. Sure enough, a door near what was presumably the front popped open and Holly poked her head out. “Coming, Rider?”

Alex gave a sigh of relief and broke into a grin. Smithers would kill to get his hands on this kind of technology. He wondered what other tricks fairy tech had up its sleeves. “Coming, coming.”

He moved to enter through the side door he had previously exited through, but Holly gestured to the seat beside her in the cockpit. “Might as well join me up here if you’re going to be conscious for the trip,” she remarked dryly. She had removed her helmet and stashed it in an overhead compartment, so Alex could see her face clearly again.

“You’re not expecting me to copilot, are you?” Alex asked, the apprehension in his voice only half feigned.

Holly snorted. “Not a chance.”

“Good. I can’t even fly the human version of these things.”

Holly glanced at Alex as he climbed in next to her. “Pilot training wasn’t part of your superspy repertoire?”

“Nah. You’d be surprised how little they actually trained me. I got two weeks before my first assignment and that was about it.” Alex said. Then he considered. “Though I did briefly go to space, once, if that counts.”

Holly’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re kidding.”

Alex found what was probably a seatbelt and strapped himself in. “No, really. They sent me up to stop a rich ecoterrorist from dropping an uncompleted space hotel on the Pentagon. Ended up sort of accidentally impaling his main lackey on a floating knife, but hey, at least I managed to disable the bomb. All in another day’s work, I guess.”

Holly made a noise that was somewhere between impressed and disbelieving. “Artemis wasn’t exaggerating when he said that you two have a similar history of insane misadventures. Although I’m pretty sure he’s never been to space for more than a few seconds. At least as far as I know. So I think you’ve actually one-upped him there.”

Alex thought back to the night he and Artemis had first kissed. The profile of Artemis’ face against the colorful swirling stars. The melancholy look in his eyes as he spoke about them. The odd fear in Alex’s chest that he was going to lose him forever to that cold, unfeeling expanse. “…Yeah. I guess I have.”

They both fell silent as Holly activated the engines and the ship roared to life. It was far quieter than any comparable human craft, and the liftoff that followed was smooth and seamless. Alex watched as the city fell away from them. The plume of smoke still billowed in the distance, but it was less severe, and the fires that had illuminated it seemed to have died down. He wondered if anybody had been saved, or if every person attended that party besides himself had been doomed from the moment they walked through the doors. He didn’t think he wanted to know.

“Holly,” Alex said after several minutes of quiet between them. “Could I- Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions? I mean, since you’re probably going to be erasing my mind anyway and all.”

Holly glanced away from the incomprehensibly complicated screen that seemed to be some sort of navigation device. “…Depends on what those questions are,” she said slowly. “What do you want to know?”

“You keep talking about how your people owe Artemis. But why? How did that even happen?” Now that Alex started, he felt the questions spilling out unbidden. “You said you’ve known him since he was what, ten? But how did that even come about? Your people are obviously so secretive, so how did you even meet?”

The corners of Holly’s mouth twitched. “He found us, really. Or rather, he found me. As I said, it’s complicated.” She let out a long exhale. “…If you really want to know, it would be easier for me to start at the beginning. It’s a long story, and ideally, Artemis would be the one telling you this. I don’t want to overstep on his boundaries with you. But I also do think he would want you to know. Are you- are you ok with that?”

Alex smiled weakly. “I asked, didn’t I?”

That coaxed a quick laugh out of Holly. “I guess you did, huh?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Where do I even start? Wait, of course.” She pressed a button on the dashboard and settled into her seat. “Better get comfy, Rider. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a long story.”

When Holly was satisfied that she had Alex’s undivided attention, she began to speak.

“Ho Chi Minh City in the summer,” she began “Sweltering, by anyone’s standards…”

Alex was silent when she finally finished.

He had been expecting a lot. But that had almost been too much for his brain to process at once. The story Holly wove had been incredible. Unbelievable, even. It wasn’t something Alex would buy into if he hadn’t been hearing it all from a literal fairy. And he didn’t think she was lying to him about any of it, as uncomfortable as some portions of the tale seemed to make her.

Alex had journeyed with a young Artemis and Holly through their various misadventures, accompanied by a variety of colorful characters. Some, like Butler and Juliet, were recognizable, but most of the others, like Mulch, the dwarf with a frankly impossible gastric anatomy, and Foaly, the techno-genius centaur, were bizarre and unfamiliar. They traveled across the world, from Siberia to Taiwan, and under it, to the subterranean fairy cities hiding beneath his feet. They were sucked into distant dimensions and thrown through time.

Through it all Alex slowly began to understand. The secrets Artemis kept. The guilt he shouldered. The redemption he sought but at the same time felt he would never deserve.

And the way he had spoken about death.

Alex had listened, dumbfounded and horrified, as Holly quietly told him about how Artemis died. Not heart stopped, walked towards the light, met God, heart restarted half a minute later sort of death that everybody talked about. The kind that should have been permanent. The six feet under, family weeping at a funeral, roses against the headstone sort of death.

Not just any roses, though. Orange ones, growing and creeping around the gravesite and through Alex’s mind.

And Artemis had been dead. For months on end. Cold and lifeless in the earth. All while Alex had gone on living his life, completely and blissfully unaware that the man he was going to one day fall in love with had died to save his own life and the life of every other person on the earth. The realization made Alex want to bury his face in the nearest soft object and scream until he couldn’t anymore.

Holly was right. Artemis had saved billions of lives. They were all in his debt, every last person. But nobody knew. Or cared. Artemis had sacrificed himself and all he had gotten in return was enough guilt to keep him awake at night.

Alex could see the weary look in Artemis’ eyes when he had found him that night, the digital starlight gently reflecting onto his face. He hadn’t understood then. He had just wanted to kiss him until the sadness was gone from those eyes.

He hoped he understood better now. He hoped that if- when, he mentally corrected himself- he saw Artemis again he could talk to him, tell him that he didn’t care about what he had done in the past, only that he was there, right here, right now, alive and breathing. That he had saved Alex’s life at least twice now and that was a debt he could never completely repay.

That he meant more to him than Alex could ever find the words to fully express.

But he’d- they’d- have to rescue him first.

Alex glanced out the window, watching the world fly by underneath him. He had no idea where they were at this point beyond the vague notion of rural Europe. Alex wished he could read the language on Holly’s dashboard (which she had helpfully informed him was called Gnomish). He wished he could send out a few texts with the location of where we were going. He wished they were there already.

He shifted in his seat. It obviously hadn’t been designed with humans of his size in mind. Alex’s legs were starting to cramp from the awkward position he had to hold them in just to fit into space, and the seatback wasn’t high enough to stop his head from flying backward if they came to a sudden halt. But the ship was obviously faster than any human equivalent, and if it got them to Artemis sooner, Alex could live with a little discomfort for a few hours.

Alex couldn’t stop his mind from drifting back to Artemis. The adult Artemis, that is. A thousand questions filtered through his mind, each worse than the one before. Was he alone right now? Was he hurt? Was he being hurt? Did he think that people were coming for him, or had he given up hope? Had Raught already gotten whatever it was she wanted and disposed of him?

Artemis wouldn’t cooperate. Alex was sure of it. Not with her. Not willingly. But Raught was a former SCORPIA member. Alex had experienced many of their favorite torture methods firsthand. He knew too well the depths of pain they were capable of inflicting on the human mind and body. And Raught had already proven she was willing to do anything to achieve her goals.

Alex clenched his fists tightly in an attempt to stop his hands from shaking. He was about to ask Holly something, anything, to keep himself distracted from the myriad of nightmarish scenarios playing on repeat in his head when her posture suddenly stiffened.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked. He winced at how hoarse his voice sounded in his own ears.

Holly leaned forward and hit a few buttons on a screen. “The signal’s stopped moving.”

Alex’s heart sped up. “Do we think that’s where…?”

“I think there’s a good chance of it. I’m zeroing in on the coordinates now.” She squinted. “Looks like… Albania? On the outskirts of a town called Elbasan, according to this. Coordinates 41.178 north, 20.132 east, give or take.”

A country and a town name. Alex could work with that. The coordinates, however, were the real prize. “How long until we get there?”

“An hour, maybe an hour and a half at the very most.”

“Alright. Good to hear.” Alex responded. He waited until Holly was absorbed in typing something out on the screen in front of her. Then, as discreetly as he could, he snuck onto his phone and sent out a few messages with the data he had just received. Alex had no idea if anybody could even get there in time to be of any help. But it was worth a shot.

He slipped his phone back into his pocket. They had an hour to kill, then. An hour to try and keep his mind off what could be happening to Artemis this very moment.

Well, if they were going to wipe his mind anyway, he might as well find out as much as he could. He wasn’t going to get another opportunity to learn about the society that had secretly lived under his feet all his life, after all.

“Holly,” Alex began. “Tell me more about those frogs that only say fuck…”

The soil in Elbasan was drier than Alex had expected. The ship kicked up a cloud of dust as it landed, all but revealing their presence to anyone in the area despite their invisibility. Alex was tense the entire time, half expecting some sort of security measures to trip and blow them out of the air the instant they got low enough.

 But everything was still as they touched down. Nothing stirred as the dust settled. By the looks of it, the whole place was completely abandoned. Which honestly made Alex feel worse than an entire battalion of guards would have. What was Raught playing at?

Technically, they were in a village in the general vicinity of the Albanian city of Elbasan. Alex didn’t know its name. But its inhabitants seemed to have long since deserted it. Whether it was due to some sort of economic collapse or actions on the part of the Spartoi, Alex wasn’t sure. For their sake, he hoped it was the former.

Alex stood as best as he could, trying to work the cricks out of his neck. “You’re sure this is the right spot?” he asked Holly, who flipped off the ship’s engines.

“Has to be,” she said, but she was frowning. “Although…”

Alex’s heart dropped. “What is it?”

“Now that we’re closer to the signal, it looks like there’s something weird about it. The signal is coming from about 500 meters or so southwest of here-” Alex followed her pointing finger “-but according to my scans, there aren’t any buildings in the vicinity. Which can only mean one of two things. One, that Foaly’s calibrations are off, which I highly doubt. Or two-”

“He’s underground.” Alex finished for her as the realization dawned.

Holly nodded grimly. “Pretty deeply too, if the structure’s not being picked up by my surface equipment. Which narrows our options considerably.”

Alex’s hand came to rest on his holster. “Whatever it is, it can’t be completely self-contained. It has to have at least one entrance. Maybe more. We just have to find them.”

“I agree with you. But I think we should take a third option instead of trying to force our way through one of their doors and giving ourselves away in the process.”

“…What do you have in mind?” Alex asked after a moment of hesitation.

Holly took a deep breath. “We wait until Mulch gets here. Then we use him to create our own way in right under their noses. We might be able to grab Artemis and get out before they even notice we’re there.”

“And how long will it be until Mulch gets here?” Alex said, feeling the words constricting around his throat.

“…It might be a bit.”

Alex wasn’t opposed to stealth missions. Usually quite the opposite, in fact. But he was opposed to putting his own welfare above Artemis’.

He thought about the smug look on Raught’s face as she watched the last moments of every person at her deadly party. She enjoys inflicting pain. She lives on it.

As long as Alex was still breathing, he wasn’t going to leave Artemis with that monster a second longer than he had to.

“No.” Alex said.

Holly blinked. “Excuse me?”

Alex crossed his arms. “I said no. I’m not waiting any longer.”

“I seem to remember you promising to follow my orders no matter what, Rider. I believe that was the condition of you even coming with me here.” Holly replied, adopting a similar posture. “Or have you forgotten?”

“No, but I-!” Alex made a frustrated noise. “I can’t just sit here and do nothing while they- while they torture him, Holly! I can’t and I won’t.”

“Do you really think I’m happy with this either?” Holly snapped suddenly. Alex blinked, shocked into silence. She rubbed her temples. “Trust me, I would love more than anything to run in there guns blazing. And if I were younger right now, I probably would. But going at it that way is only going to get us or him killed. Is that what you want?”

“I don’t-”

Holly shot him a pointed look. “Listen, grandiose gestures for love are all well and good, but they won’t stop a bullet from entering your brain. Artemis put a lot into trying to save your life. Do you really want that to be in vain?”

Alex could still see the remains of Artemis’ burnt phone smoldering inside of the microwave. He swallowed. “…No.”

“Then we have to be smart about this. Do what Artemis would do. Which means staying here and waiting for Mulch. Understand?”

Alex desperately wanted to argue it, but deep down, he knew what she was saying was true. Artemis already thought he was dead. He couldn’t prove him right. “…I understand.”

Holly’s brow relaxed. “Good.” She grabbed her helmet. “Now, I’m going to go do an aerial perimeter scan and chat with Lili for a bit while I’m out. If you’re not here when I get back, I will personally find you and render you unconscious for the rest of your time here, and the experience will not be pleasant.”

Alex managed a smile. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll be here.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

She took off, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts.

Holly returned about twenty minutes later, just as Alex was starting to get antsy. She pushed the visor of her helmet up, so Alex could tell she was frowning.

“Did you find anything?” Alex asked cautiously.

Holly pursed her lips. “I believe I’ve found an entrance towards the north side of town, not far from a mining installation. Looks like a normal abandoned building from the outside, but I caught sight of a few thermal signals right beneath the surface. I’d wager that they’re guards.”

“So we know where not to go, then,” Alex said. Her brow was still furrowed, however, and it was setting him on edge. “Is there something else?” he ventured. “Did Lili, I don’t know, say something? Are we getting reinforcements?”

Alex was sure he already knew the answer to that question, but he was proven correct when Holly made a bitter noise. “Lili only confirmed my suspicions. The Council isn’t doing jack shit. But I’d rather not dwell on it or I’ll throw something again. Besides, that’s not what’s bothering me the most right now.”

Alex moistened his lips. “Did you see something else, then?”

“I’m not sure,” Holly said slowly. “I only caught one other heat signature while I was out, but it was different from the others. A single human man, skulking around the western perimeter. I don’t quite know what to make of him.”

It was then that Alex’s phone buzzed almost indistinguishably in his hand. He glanced down. Here, the text message read.

Well, it looked like he couldn’t avoid it any longer.

Alex looked back up at Holly and smiled sheepishly. “So, uh, funny story…”

Holly’s eyes narrowed. “Rider. Alex. What are you talking about?”

He laughed a little. “That man you saw? He might, um, well, sort of, be with me.”

“What.” Holly said flatly.

“I may, well, have requested his help in saving Artemis.” Alex held a hand up quickly before she could start yelling at him, which, judging by her expression, was imminent. “Hear me out!”

There was a dangerous look in her eyes. “Talk quickly, Rider. Who is this man?”

“I’m not 100% sure what alias he’s going under now, but I know him as Ben Daniels. He’s an MI6 Special Operations agent, or at least he was the last time we talked. We’ve dealt with SCORPIA together before. And he’s saved my skin several times. I trust him with my life.”

Holly still looked far too much like she wanted to punch him. “And you didn’t tell me that you contacted him because…?”

Alex crossed his arms. “Look, I’m sorry that I hid it from you, but you wouldn’t have said yes if I asked anyway. I wasn’t even sure if anyone was even going to respond, much less show up here.”

“You’re saying he’s not the only person you talked to?”

“Er, no. But he’s the only person who replied.” Alex said, running a hand through his hair a bit nervously.

“Unbelievable,” Holly muttered.

Alex squared his shoulders. “Listen, I’m sorry that I didn’t say anything earlier, but I’m not sorry that I called him. We need all the help we can get. There’s no good reason not to have him lend a hand if he’s already here. He’d be another advantage over them. Why wouldn’t we take it?”

“What exactly does he know?” Holly asked slowly.

“Just that my, uh, boyfriend was kidnapped by a group of ex-SCORPIA members and I need help rescuing him. I swear to God I never said anything about you or your people. To anybody. And I won’t when I talk to him, I promise.” Alex wasn’t quite sure how he was going to explain a lot of the weirdness of the surrounding circumstances, but he’d cross that bridge if and when he got there.

The corners of Holly’s mouth twitched. “Boyfriend, huh?”

Alex could feel his face heat up. “Um. Well. You know. It’s a fairly persuasive word. Not that we’ve had that conversation yet. Maybe it’s a bit soon, but given the situation, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind-”

Holly listened to him dither in circles for another few seconds before she couldn’t keep a straight face any longer. Her face broke into a grin. “I’m just messing with you, Rider. For the record, I think it’s sweet.”

Alex coughed. “Uh. Thanks.”

She laughed, but soon grew serious again. “…Look, I’m still not thrilled you went behind my back. But I also think it would be stupid of us not to take an advantage when we have one in our laps. Especially if he’s a skilled as you say. After all, Butler’s not going to get here for a while either and we could use a human with his caliber.”

“Does that mean…?” Alex asked hopefully.

“I’m saying we might as well.” Holly gave him a pointed look. “Only if, though, you promise not to mention a word about me or any of the things I’ve told you over the past few hours. I don’t care what you have to tell him for things to make sense, but it can’t be the truth. I’m going to get enough heat as it is for having to mindwipe you without adding anybody else to the mix.”

“That goes without saying,” Alex said sincerely. He shrugged. “Besides, what would I even say to him? That my boyfriend’s fairy friends are helping me out with this one? I doubt he’d find that very convincing.”

Holly gave him a quick grin. “There are a few advantages to not existing.” She snapped her fingers. “You should probably talk to him before the Spartoi find him first. Before I forget,  though, let me give you something before you go.”

Alex watched curiously as she rummaged through what appeared to amount to a glove compartment. She made a triumphant noise and pulled out an object that looked small even in her hands.

“Knew I had a spare lying around here somewhere.” Holly gestured for Alex to hold his hand out and plopped the object into his palm when he obeyed. “It’s an earpiece. Not as sleek or as subtle as that earring you had, but then again, it’s not Artemis’s design. Don’t tell Foaly I said that.”

Alex gingerly lifted the earpiece and placed it in his right ear. It molded itself into the curves like it had been tailor-made for him. It wasn’t the familiar weight of the false diamond on his lobe, but it was impressive nonetheless.

“It should interface with my helmet,” Holly continued, “So we should be able to still communicate while we’re separated. Just in case.”

Alex smiled dryly. “Just in case I say something you don’t want me to?”

Holly returned his grin. “Maybe. Let’s hope we don’t have to find out if this is the model with shock capabilities.”

Alex couldn’t tell if she was joking or not. “Um, yeah. I would prefer not to.”

As Holly was sitting back down in the driver’s seat, Alex took the liberty of shooting off a text, this time openly. Meet me in the main square.

Less than a minute passed before his phone lit up with a new notification.

Be there in two.

Alex didn’t see Ben approaching until he was right on top of him.

He had slipped out of Holly’s ship and into the courtyard of a nearby abandoned building. It was open enough that Alex could still see, but not so open that they would be spotted immediately. It had one too many entrances to be as tactically sound as he would prefer, but he’d have to make do. Alex took up a position in a corner by the door, making sure that he couldn’t be seen from the street but he himself could see out.

He had expected to at least spot him from across the square, but in hindsight, he should have known better. There was no indication that there was another soul around until the moment Alex realized he was no longer alone in the building.

Alex was halfway through pulling his gun out of his holster when a figure emerged from the shadows. “Easy, Cub.”

Alex replaced his gun, unable to fight a grin. “Hey there, Wolf.”

Ben Daniels looked just like he had the last time Alex had seen him. Well, maybe his hair was a bit longer, and there was a hint of stubble on his chin. But his quick, dark eyes, square jaw, ironic half-smile… despite the years, Alex knew him on the spot.

They clasped hands warmly, and Ben pulled him in for a brief embrace. “You’ve grown quite a bit, I see,” he said, clapping him on the back. Alex realized with a start that he now had a few centimeters on his friend. When had that happened?

“I guess so,” Alex said, laughing a little as he pulled away. “Probably one of the reasons they stopped sending me in as a kid.”

Ben snorted. “I’m sure that wasn’t the deciding factor.”

“You’d be surprised,” Alex muttered.

Ben glanced around. “By the way, you really should hole up in a better location, you know. This place has five entrances on the ground floor alone.”

Alex ran a hand through his hair. “Er, yeah. I noticed. But if everything goes well, we shouldn’t be here for much longer.”

He took a good look at Ben. He was dressed in full covert tactical gear, with at least two guns and a knife that Alex could see at first glance. No doubt there were several more in the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. It looked like he had just stepped out of a mission. Which it was entirely possible that he had. “You got here fast.”

Ben shrugged. “Lucky for you, I was working on something not far from here. Was able to get permission to step away for a bit to help you out.”

“I appreciate it,” Alex said genuinely. “Really, you have no idea how much it means to me that you’re here.”

Ben’s smile briefly morphed into something more sincere. “‘Course. Somebody’s gotta look after you, don’t they?”

Alex thought about all the times Ben had put his life at risk to save his own. Of all the Christmas cards he’d sent. Of how of all the people he’d met while employed for the MI6, Ben Daniels was the only one who still regularly checked in to make sure he was doing ok.

Maybe Alex had more family left than he had thought.

Ben coughed a bit self-consciously and shrugged, expression going back to something more guarded. “But don’t thank me yet. Thank me when all of this is over. Which, speaking of, what exactly is all this? You said SCORPIA kidnapped your boyfriend?”

Alex flushed. “A SCORPIA splinter group. They’re called the Spartoi. Not sure if you’ve heard of them. But yeah. More or less. We tracked him to a base underneath this town.”

Ben raised an eyebrow. “We?”

Alex was painfully aware of Holly listening in on them in that very moment. “Um, yeah. About that. I’m working with a couple of other people right now too, but that’s all I can say. Everything about them is strictly confidential. I’m sure you know how it is.”

He half expected to feel a jolt of electricity surge through his earpiece, but Holly either lacked that capability or, preferably, approved of his excuses so far.

Ben exhaled through his nose. “I do. Trust me, I’ve dealt with some shadowy organizations before.” He fixed Alex with a level gaze. “Are you sure whoever these people have your best interests at heart, though? There always seems to be another agenda at play with these behind the scenes style groups, and they could full well be taking advantage of your better impulses. You need to be careful of what you’re playing with here.”

Alex thought about Holly. He’d only known her for a short period, all things considered. But he trusted her. And not just because Artemis did. But because of all the things she had done for him, things she didn’t have to do. Comforting him as he wept. Letting him come along on the rescue mission. Saving his life.

“Call me naïve,” Alex said slowly, “But I trust them. Really, I do.” He shrugged. “Way more than I ever trusted the MI6, anyway.”

“Not saying a lot there,” Ben snorted. “Which reminds me. One of your old pals from headquarters sent you something.”

Alex stared as Ben removed the duffle bag and handed it to him. “Huh?”

Ben shook his head. “Beats me. I was finding a good position on the outskirts of town when a drone came out of nowhere and dropped this in front of me. I got an encrypted message from HQ on my phone saying that I should pass it on to you. I figured you had contacted them as well.” He stopped, suddenly wary. “Is that not the case?”

Alex looked down at the bag in his hands. “No, I did… I just, I don’t know. Wasn’t expecting something like this, I guess. Nobody else responded.”

With a degree of apprehension, Alex unzipped the bag. Sitting at the top was a note that appeared to be torn from a yellow legal pad. Alex picked it up, squinting to make out the words in the dim light.

Sorry I couldn’t make it myself

These aren’t much, but I hope they help

Take care of yourself

-S.

Alex blinked a few times, trying to process the message. Then he slowly grinned as it hit him. Smithers. It had to be. Alex hadn’t realized he was even still working for the MI6 when he had contacted him. But if he was, well, the greater his budget, the more impressive the gadgets. And Smithers had never let him down before.

“Hell yes,” Alex muttered, digging through the bag’s contents as Ben curiously looked on. The first thing he pulled out was a black long-sleeved shirt. It was made of some sort of thin, dry-fit material. Alex flipped it over to find a note on the same paper pinned to the back.

Bulletproof turtleneck

Also great at moisture wicking!

Alex chuckled and draped the shirt over his shoulder. Then he pulled out the next item. It was a sleek analog watch, complete with a leather wrist strap. The clock itself had no markings besides the hour and minute hand, but Alex could just make out two thin buttons opposite each other around the diameter.

Every good spy needs a gadget watch

12 for light

6 for shock

Careful you don’t hit yourself

Alex was reminded of the sonic device Artemis had used to save them both back at the restaurant. Maybe this would let him return the favor. He gingerly strapped the watch onto his wrist, taking care not to jostle any of the aforementioned buttons. It fit perfectly without having to be adjusted. Alex tried not to think too hard on why Smithers had his exact wrist measurements on file.

There was one more item left in the bag. Alex carefully reached in and pulled it out, pulse quickening. It was a sleek handgun, a matte jet black in color, and far nicer than the one currently on his hip. It was in a matching holster, where the note from Smithers was pinned. There were no marks or labels to identify the maker or model, at least that Alex could see. But it must have been something impressive, because Ben gave a low whistle as Alex lifted it up.

This has been a pet project of mine for a while

Completely noise-canceling silencer

Auto-targeting functionality

Built-in biometric scanning

Plus a few other little goodies :)

There’s some specialty ammo in the side pocket of the bag

Use it well

They had never given him a gun before. In fact, they had actively discouraged him from ever wielding one. But this was different. They all were. These weren’t tools for infiltration. They weren’t Game Boys or chewing gun. These were weapons intended for fighting. Apparently, the MI6 (or some part of it, at least) no longer viewed him as a child.

Alex wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about that.

“I’m impressed that they gave you a Taipan 7,” Ben said, pulling Alex out of his thoughts. “The last I heard, there’s only a few in existence and almost none in the field. They’re one of the most highly sought-after weapons in my department, in fact, but we haven’t gotten our hands on any yet.”

“Guess I just have the right friends,” Alex muttered as he attached the holster to his belt and began to transfer the cartridges from the duffel to his own bag.

“So,” Ben said as Alex finished. “What exactly is our plan here?”

Alex considered. “My… associates… and I are going to try to sneak in through a back entrance. But we’re probably going to have to go through a wall sometime. If you could do something to take their attention away, then it would be a lot easier for us to get in undetected.”

“Not a bad idea,” Holly muttered into his ear, breaking her silence. Alex had almost forgotten she was there.

Ben nodded thoughtfully. “So you’re saying you want me to make a bunch of noise on cue to keep their eyes off you?”

“Pretty much.”

Ben grinned and patted his holster. “I think I can handle that. Just let me know where you want me to be and I’m sure I can draw their attention pretty well.”

Alex’s shoulders slumped in relief. “I- Thank you.”

Ben reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “Of course, Cub.” He cleared his throat. “Although… I might be packing a lot of heat, but not enough to last forever. And I’m not exactly here with backup. So what I’m saying is that I can give you a window, but I can’t promise that window will be very long.”

Alex nodded. “That’s fine. If everything goes well, we shouldn’t be in there for long. But I do need as much time as you can give me.”

“I can promise you that.”

“Thank you again,” Alex said. He hesitated, then stepped forward and hugged Ben. A real hug, not just the brief embrace heterosexual men usually used in greeting. The other man stiffened briefly, clearly caught off guard. But then he relaxed into it, wrapping his arms around Alex.

He wondered when Ben had last been hugged. Hell, Alex wondered about the last time he had been hugged before this whole affair.

After a moment, Ben pulled away. He cleared his throat several times before speaking. “’Course. I decided a long time ago that it was my job to look after you whenever I could. As I said, someone has to do it.”

His posture shifted and suddenly he was a soldier again. “Now come on, Cub. Let’s go save your boyfriend.”

Chapter Text

Close enough but not too far

Maybe you know where you are

Fightin' fire with fire

Artemis opened his eyes to the sound of the door hinges squeaking open.

It wasn’t Raught. Of course it wasn’t. There was still a little over 21 hours left of her imposed time limit, after all. Artemis didn’t expect to see her again a second before that time was up. She had said what she wanted to say, wreaked the damage she wanted to wreak. Now she was going to let him stew in it, try to drive him insane with the isolation and the grief and the not knowing. She’d be back when she was sure her victory was at hand.

Artemis didn’t plan to be around when that moment came.

No, the person entering the room wasn’t Faye Raught, but it was a Spartoi member carrying a rather miserable-looking tray of rather miserable-looking food. Raught surely knew as well as he did that he wasn’t going to touch anything she gave him. But this was expected, required, even. It was all a show, and this was another line in the script to check off.

The Spartoi member, a woman in a gray jumpsuit and severe bun, set the tray down in the center of the room without a word. Artemis realized a half-second later, with a bit of a start, that he recognized her. He had seen her almost every day through a computer monitor. She had worked with Alex in the Cardiff warehouse. They had been friendly, even. What was her name? Meredith… Meredith Grant, that was it. 

She seemed different than she had when he had last seen her. Less confident. More… tired. Uncertain. Artemis wondered…

She was turning to leave. If he was going to act, he needed to do it now.

“Pardon me,” Artemis spoke up. “You wouldn’t happen to have any fluoxetine around somewhere, would you? I’m not quite sure when my last dose was, I’m afraid, and withdrawal for these types of medications is never pretty.”

The medication in question in fact had a long enough half-life after a period of chronic use that it shouldn’t be much of an issue for a couple more days at least. But she didn’t need to know that.

Meredith paused. He didn’t think she’d been expecting him to say anything. “Um, no. I don’t think we do. Sorry.”

Artemis sighed. “Ah, well. It was worth a try. Thank you for your time, Ms. Grant.”

“Mm.” She made it to the threshold before she stopped suddenly and whirled around. “Wait. Did you-?

Artemis merely raised his eyebrows. “Hm?”

“Explain yourself. How do you know my name?”

“You don’t know? Or rather, they didn’t tell you?” Artemis tilted his head. “I was… close… with, well, you would know him as Liam Skye. I believe you knew him as well, yes?”

Meredith was eying him warily. “…Yes. I did.”

“His real name was Alex Rider. I don’t know if they’ve told you that, or if they’ve even told you anything at all.” Artemis smiled bitterly. “Maybe it doesn’t matter anymore. But I think he would have wanted to be remembered as who he was, though, and not as who he was pretending to be.”

Meredith looked away. “They told us that he was a spy and a traitor. And that he was executed with the rest.”

“It’s funny how many different ways we have to say that somebody was murdered,” Artemis mused. “Yet none of them really succeed in hiding the truth of the matter, do they? They killed him in cold blood.”

Meredith was pointedly looking anywhere but at Artemis. For a moment, he was afraid he had miscalculated. She had helped plan the party; she had even been the one to invite Alex. Could she really have been in on it all along? But then she began to speak. “…It was a shame,” she said, barely loud enough for Artemis to make out. “I thought he was… I dunno. A good kid. I didn’t understand why…

She trailed off. Then she looked at the door and swallowed hard. “…I shouldn’t be talking to you. They’ll-” she said in a louder voice. “I- I need to go.”

Artemis raised a hand. “Just hear me out, please. I only ask a few moments of your time.”

Meredith’s hand was on the door. “I can’t-”

“You seem like a decent person to me, Meredith Grant. I know this doesn’t sit right with you. You don’t have to pretend like it does.” He leaned forward, speaking quickly. “You got into this business because it paid well, I’m sure, and because it provided a certain stability. There were people you wanted to take care of, a future you wanted to build. You didn’t have to see what was in those boxes you moved, so you didn’t have to think about it. At the end of the day, you could tell yourself you just had a normal, slightly illegal, but ultimately harmless career. Many people do, after all. But you couldn’t deny the reality of the situation any longer after that party, could you? Not with so many people so violently dead. You didn’t mean for people to get hurt, and now you’re afraid things are only going to escalate from here. But you’re also scared of what will happen to you if you try to back out now. Am I wrong?”

Meredith’s eyes were darting around the cell, looking anywhere but directly at him. “I’m- I’m not going to answer that question.”

“Listen to me, Ms. Grant. I won’t lie and act like Faye Raught isn’t an incredibly dangerous person. But if you help me, we can make sure she doesn’t hurt anybody like Alex ever again. You wouldn’t have to live in fear of her anymore. Nobody would.”

“You say that like it’s so simple,” Meredith mumbled.

“It won’t be. But it will be easier with your assistance.” Artemis moistened his lips. “Listen. I know there’s a part of you that blames yourself for what happened. Especially to Alex. Believe me, you’re not the only one. There’s not a second that goes by where I don’t think about the part I played in his death. But sitting here any agonizing over the past is not going to do any good right now. Honoring his memory and taking action to make sure others don’t end up the same way will.”

She was silent. But she wasn’t moving to leave anymore.

Artemis hesitated, then continued in a lower tone. “I- I know you didn’t know him like that. Not like I did. But he left an impact on you, did he not? That seems to be just how he was. He impacted all the lives he touched in one way or another.”

Project much? a not quiet part of his brain - although, really, what parts of his brain were quiet? - commented dryly. But Meredith’s lips were pressed firmly together, like she was trying to stop something from leaping out, and Artemis knew he wasn’t entirely wrong in his line of reasoning.

“You have a girlfriend, don’t you?” Artemis asked abruptly.

She started, eyes growing wide. “How on earth-”

“I hear things,” Artemis said, gesturing vaguely. “But I’m not wrong, am I? What is her name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“…Zari,” Meredith responded after a moment, recovering from her shock and shifting back into wariness.

“Zari. I’m sure you care for her very deeply, don’t you?”

Meredith’s expression softened. For a moment, it was as if Artemis was no longer in the room with her.  “More than anything.” Then she shook her head and looked back at Artemis, expression guarded. “Why are you asking me this? Sounds to me like you already know all the answers.”

“I’m asking this so you understand where I’m coming from.” Artemis met her eyes. “What you feel for Zari is what I felt- feel for Alex.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly in understanding. “…I see.”

“I couldn’t save him,” Artemis said quietly. “But there’s still time for me to save all the other people like him. My family. Zari. You. But I can’t do it alone. I need your help.”

Meredith gazed at him silently for almost a full minute. Then she squeezed her eyes shut like she was bracing for some sort of impact. “What would you have me do?” she rasped.

Artemis felt something dangerously close to hope rise in his chest. “Let me out of here. Direct me to Raught’s base of operations. Then get as far away from here as you possibly can.”

She opened her eyes. “And then what? How do you plan on getting out?”

It was admittedly the weakest point in the plan. There always had to be one. A point where if anything was going to go wrong, it was going to be at that moment. It was a fact he had never particularly found much comfort in, but he’d gotten past it before and he would do it again. All that mattered at the moment was ridding Raught of her ability to destroy everything in her path. Everything that followed was secondary.

“With the amount of destruction, I plan on wreaking, I imagine things will be rather chaotic for a while. I should be able to slip out while they’re not looking.” Artemis responded. It wasn’t nearly as precise as he would like, but it was something to tell her.  

Meredith nodded slowly, deliberating. “…I’ll be back in thirty minutes for the tray. Be ready to go then. You’re going to have to move quickly.”

Artemis exhaled for what felt like the first time in several minutes. “Thank you.”

She jerked her head in acknowledgment. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Artemis painted a smile on his face. “Of course. I’ll be seeing you.”

“Likewise.”

 The echoes of the door slamming shut behind her lingered long after she was gone.

Alex had really been hoping everything Holly had said about Mulch Diggums had been some sort of tasteless joke on her end.

As it turned out, however, that hope had been in vain.

Alex trudged along in a tunnel of the dwarf’s own making, careful to touch the walls as little as physically possible. If it had been made in the way Holly’s stories had indicated that it had- and all signs, unfortunately, pointed to that being the case- then Alex really, really, didn’t want to be sticking his hands anywhere they didn’t have to be.

The temperature had dropped significantly as they had descended, but the turtleneck Smithers had given him did a good enough job in keeping him warm. The only illumination was the occasional softly glowing patch on the ceiling, which, if Alex remembered correctly, was also some form of dwarf secretion. The tunnel was barely large enough for him to stand in, but Alex was thankful that he didn’t have to crawl, at least as of yet. He’d do it, of course, if that’s what it took, but that didn’t mean he had to like it.

Alex couldn’t shake the feeling that they were in the bowels of some enormous beast, having been swallowed up and cut off from the surface and its sunlight forever. Or maybe that they were descending into the Underworld, trading the land of the living for the land of the damned.

Neither was a sentiment Alex particularly wanted to dwell on.

He spoke up, whispered voice carrying through the narrow caverns surrounding them. “How much further do we have?”

There was the sound of a throat clearing behind him, which Alex prayed wasn’t an indication that something mouth-related was about to happen. “Still a bit of a ways,” Mulch said. “Unluckily for us, this is one of the deeper human bunkers I’ve come across, and that’s saying something.”

Holly’s voice echoed from up ahead. “You deal with human bunkers a lot, Mulch?”

“You’d be surprised. A lot of the rich types that I, uh, liberate of their earthy possessions, they’ll have a bunker somewhere on the property. Worried about the End Times, ‘suppose. Take it from me, they’re usually a waste of time to hit up. The good stuff’s usually hidden elsewhere.”

“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind the next time I do any liberating myself.” Holly remarked dryly.

They lapsed into silence, the only sound being Mulch’s surprisingly tuneful hummed rendition of a song Alex couldn’t quite place. He couldn’t see his watch in the gloom, but he had a feeling they had been down here for a solid chunk of time. Add that to the time it took for Mulch to get there, scout the area out, then build the actual tunnel… minutes upon minutes upon minutes, adding up and chiseling away at what little time they had.

It wasn’t enough. But he didn’t have any choice but to swallow the frustration down and keep walking.

Holly came to a sudden stop in front of him, the bioluminescence just bright enough to keep Alex from colliding with her. “Is this it?” It took a moment for Alex to realize that the darkness in front of her wasn’t from the continued yawning expanse of the tunnel but the abrupt barricade of a concrete wall.

Mulch maneuvered his way around Alex. “That’s the one. From following your little tracker- not real diamond, by the way, Artemis should be ashamed of himself- our friend should be on the other side of this wall.” He looked at Holly. “You’re fortunate in that it seems somewhat weaker than the surrounding area. You can probably break in with two, maybe three concussion blasts. Any more than that and you’ll probably start damaging the insides, and I don’t think any of us want that.”

Alex couldn’t see how this specific patch of concrete was any different than the rest, but he wasn’t going to question Mulch’s assessment. He certainly seemed to be the expert in this situation.

Mulch gave the wall a thoughtful pat, then shook his head. “I’ll let you guys take it from here. I’ll be waiting for my good friend Butler up a bit further up and out of the blast range. If you aren’t back before he gets here, I’ll be sure to send him down your way.” He moved his fingers in a brief, two-fingered salute. “I’d come with you, but, well, you know how it is. There’s a lot of concrete down there. And I can only eat so many people before I stopped being very useful.”

Holly’s snort gave Alex no clear indication of how serious he was being.

“Uh, thank you. For all of your help.” Alex said, somewhat awkwardly.

Mulch shot him an abundantly toothy grin. “Always happy to be of assistance. Just be sure to tell Artemis that my help was instrumental when you get him out.”

“Er, yeah. Sure thing.”

Mulch waved to Holly. “Good luck, Commander. See you on the other side.”

She nodded, almost smiling. “I owe you one.”

Mulch turned, reaching a hand down to the seat of his pants. Alex quickly faced the other way when he realized what was about to happen. There were several odd and severely off-putting noises, then the tunnel was quiet again, leaving just the two of them facing the concrete wall.

“Is that really that much faster than walking back?” Holly muttered, then shook her head and looked over at Alex. “Well. You have the charges, right?”

Alex gestured to his backpack. “Of course.”

She nodded. “Ok then. Ready?”

He shot a brief text to Ben. Showtime, it read. “As I’ll ever be.”

Holly’s face was resolute in the low light. It was the face of a leader. A Commander. “Right. Time to blow this bad boy wide open.”

Artemis hadn’t moved since Meredith had left. But he was more than ready for when she returned.

She wasn’t looking at him when she walked in, which gave him a half-second of self-doubt and all that entailed. But as she bent to pick up the still untouched tray, her eyes briefly flitted to his and she spoke in a low voice. “Take a right from the door. Then go down the hall and take the second to last door on the left into a stairwell. Go two flights down, then follow the hallway until you reach a door on the left with a keypad. The control room is in there.”

Artemis swallowed. This was more than he could have hoped for. “Thank you.”

Meredith’s mouth moved in something that was either a smile or a grimace. “Yeah, well. Don’t fuck it up. For both of us.” She stood up, tray balanced against her hip. “I’m going to pretend to lock the door. I’d appreciate it if you waited a few minutes until after I left until making your exit.”

“Of course.”

Then just like that, Artemis was alone again.

He stood up, wincing as his joints voiced their protest. Artemis was used to spending long hours sitting in one spot, but these weren’t exactly the most comfortable of accommodations. His hands were nearly numb from the cold. He could feel the throb of his cheek where a bruise was starting to form, and no doubt there was a matching one forming on his abdomen as well. Painful, to be sure, but not utterly debilitating. Artemis just hoped he would be fast enough to get from here to the control room before anyone caught on that anything was amiss.

It had been two minutes and thirty seconds since Meredith had left. It was time to go.

The door hinges gave a telltale shriek, despite Artemis’ best efforts to crack it open silently. He winced as the noise echoed through the hallway, but after a few tense moments, it was clear that it had been unheard. Tentatively, Artemis took a step, then another, until he was fully standing outside of the cell.

The hallway was deserted. Unnervingly so, in fact. Artemis didn’t know if Meredith had done something to rid the hall of any other occupants or if had truly been Raught’s design to leave him almost entirely unguarded. Was she really that sure of her victory that she would make such a lapse? Or was this all an attempt to toy with him?

 Artemis pursed his lips. He supposed he would find out soon enough. But there was nothing to do now but move forward.

He turned to the right and began to walk down the hall, mindful of any noise or movement. The hallway was lined with doors identical to the one Artemis had just stepped through. No doubt they opened to identical cells. Artemis wished he had the time to stop and check every one for other prisoners. The thought of leaving anybody here to whatever fate awaited them made him ill. I’ll come back, Artemis promised himself, if only to placate his already troubled conscious. If I get a chance.

Second to last door on the left, Meredith had said. He could see it now. But the hallway ended in another right turn, and the door was entirely visible to anybody in the other hall who happened to glance that direction.

Artemis pressed himself against the wall adjacent to the corner and peered out. It was a move he’d seen Alex pull several times. He certainly lacked Alex’s natural skill and ease in stealth missions such as these, but Artemis hoped he could emulate him well enough to get himself through this ordeal.

There were two Spartoi members towards the opposite end of the hall. They were wearing the same kind of jumpsuits as Meredith and leaning against a pile of boxes almost as tall as the both of them. Across from them, a pushcart stood abandoned. They seemed to be talking, though Artemis couldn’t make out what exactly they were saying.

They were on break, then, though not likely a sanctioned one. Which meant they weren’t on alert, but would still see him if he made a bolt for the door.

He needed a distraction of some kind. Though if the sound of him leaving his cell didn’t draw their attention, he wasn’t sure what would.

Artemis was about to step back away from the corner when there was a sudden hiss of chatter from a handheld transceiver hanging from one of the Spartoi member’s belts. It wasn’t hard to read the irritation in their body language as they raised the transceiver to their ear. Their demeanor changed immediately, though, when they heard the message it was broadcasting. They gestured frantically to their partner, who jolted to attention. They both took off at a jog away from Artemis, leaving their work abandoned.

Well. That was… unexpected. Artemis wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or disconcerted. But he did know that he had no intention of being here if they decided to return. Quickly, he strode towards the door, and after a quick glance inside to make sure he was alone, stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

After a steadying deep breath, Artemis began to descend down the stairwell, taking the steps as fast as he could without falling.

That was when the first explosive hit.

Alex lowered his hands from his ears as the dust around him settled. There was a gaping hole where the concrete of the revealed bunker wall used to be. The reverberations from whatever Ben had hit the compound with were still echoing through the tunnel, raining dirt onto their heads.

They had timed it so their smaller, localized explosion was masked by the larger one, drawing their attention towards the surface and away from anybody slipping through the back door. Or at least, that was the plan. Alex supposed they wouldn’t find out whether or not it had worked until they were inside.

Cautiously, Alex moved to the edge of the opening they’d created. No light was emanating from within and the only sound was the muffled drone of sirens. His heart began to sink. This can’t be right. This can’t be him. If it was, that could only mean-

Alex wouldn’t let himself go that route.

“Artemis?” he called softly and with more emotion than he intended.

No response.

Next to him, Holly had already drawn her gun. Alex mirrored her movement with his own firearm after a moment of hesitation. It was the right idea, he knew, and there could be anything lurking beyond that threshold. But he still didn’t like the idea of the first thing Artemis seeing of his rescuers being a gun to his face.

“It doesn’t look like anybody’s inside,” she said, clearly as discomforted as he was. “We should go in and see what’s going on here.”

Alex bit down on his bottom lip. “Yeah. I’ll take point.”

She nodded and disappeared, no, shielded, again. If he had time to think about it, Alex was sure he would find the amount of new terminology he had acquired in a relatively short period of time overwhelming. As it was, though, all he could do was just try to mentally adjust and try to keep up.

 Alex stepped over the crumbled concrete and into the bunker, knowing Holly was hovering next to him. No new alarms went off, nothing leaped at him out of the gloom. Carefully, he moved through the darkness until he reached the opposite wall. After a brief moment of fumbling, he managed to find a light switch and turn it on.

The light revealed nothing more threatening than shelves and shelves piled high with gray clothing and white sheets. Alex lowered his gun. A linen closet, then? But why did the tracker lead them-

Alex’s heart stopped when he saw it. Oh. Oh.

Neatly folded on a pile of gray uniforms was the suit jacket Artemis had been wearing the night of the party.

“Fuck.” Alex said at the same moment Holly said “D’Arvit.”

Alex holstered his gun, grabbed the jacket, and began to search it over with no small hint of desperation. Maybe he had been mistaken. But his heart sank when he found a lump in the fabric. There, stashed in the breast pocket, were two familiar cufflinks.

Alex’s mouth was bone dry. He reached up and twisted his own earring. “Test,” he rasped.

“Test,” his own voice echoed out of the cufflinks.

Alex didn’t have enough swears in his vocabulary to properly express how he felt at that moment.

Had Raught accounted for this, even? Was it all a cruel joke? Maybe Artemis was really hundreds of miles away by now, and his only hope of rescue had been duped into chasing a red herring. Maybe they had been too late from the very start.  

He heard Holly take a shaky breath behind him. “…We don’t know that this means anything,” she said. “The only thing we can do right now is to keep searching this place.”

She was right. It has become abundantly clear that this wasn’t going to be a simple in-and-out mission. They were on the clock, even now. And if there was even a chance that Artemis was here, Alex wouldn’t rest until he had scoured every nook and cranny.

Alex inhaled and exhaled deeply, clenching the cufflinks tight in his fist. I’m coming for you. Whatever it takes. Then he pocketed the cufflinks and unholstered his gun. “Then let’s go.”

He put his hand on the doorknob. His other hand gripped his gun. “Ready?” Alex whispered.

“Ready,” Holly affirmed from beside him.

Alex pushed open the door and stepped out in a fluid motion, shifting into his familiar tactical stance. The siren was louder now, and the flashing of red alarm lights gave the entire place a distinctly post-apocalyptic feel A few feet away, two Spartoi members jumped, clearly caught off guard. They fumbled for their guns, but he had already taken aim.

Suddenly, though, all Alex could see was a vision of his own face, bloodied and sneering. His heart lurched. No-

Two quick laser shots hit each member squarely in the torso, snapping Alex from his trance. They both immediately dropped like sacks of bricks, unconscious before they hit the ground.

Alex lowered his gun slightly, hoping he looked more impressed than shaky. “Nice shot,” he said, a bit too quickly. Inside, he was kicking himself for the slip. Even if he hadn’t killed another human being since Julius Grief, he had known going in that it was going to come to this. And yet-

 Alex couldn’t afford another freeze-up. Not here. He had to push through it, no matter how painful. No matter how much the past wanted to claim him for its own.

He realized Holly was talking to him. “-you alright, Alex?” she was saying, the concern in her voice evident.

“Fine,” Alex said, sounding unconvincing even to himself.

Holly would have probably pushed the point further if another Spartoi member hadn’t rounded the corner at that very moment.

"What...” The words died on his lips as he processed the image of Alex, gun in hand, standing over the bodies of his comrades.

 Before the man could pull himself together enough to make a move, Alex was on top of him, pinning him against the concrete wall. One hand covered his mouth. The other pressed the barrel of his gun into his ribcage.

“Make any noise,” Alex growled, “And you join your friends over there. Understood?” The man’s eyes flickered to his fallen coworkers. Alex hoped it wasn’t evident they were still breathing. Either way, the man nodded, and Alex cautiously peeled his hand away. “Now tell me where Fowl is and I might just let you walk away from this.”

 The man’s eyes were wide. “I- I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Alex could feel his patience already beginning to wear. He clenched his jaw and pushed the gun a bit harder against his ribs. “Artemis Fowl. The man your leader brought here. What have you done with him? If you’ve hurt him so help me God-”

The man let out a small yelp and raised his arms skywards. “There’s a prisoner of some importance to the boss in one of the cells downstairs. Cell, uh, 314, I think. But that’s all I know, man, honest! They don’t tell me anything-”

Alex cut him off. “How do I get this cell?”

The man gave a relatively clear, if a bit wobbly, set of directions to the compound’s prison block. Alex listened closely, committing every detail to memory. He was sure Holly was doing the same.

Then he smiled tersely. “Thanks for your help, mate.”

He relieved the man of his consciousness with a quick blow to the head with the butt of his pistol.

"Do you think he recognized you?” the disembodied voice of Holly Short asked, somewhere to his right.

“Don’t think so. But I doubt that’ll be the case for everybody we run into.” Alex shrugged. “Although maybe they wouldn’t shoot at me as much if they thought I was some sort of vengeful spirit.”

“I’d prefer not to find out. You got the directions, right? We don’t have a lot of time before they figure out that you’re here.”

As if to punctuate her statement, another one of Ben’s blasts rocked the compound. Alex had no idea what he was using and why he had it readily available, but it was certainly doing the trick if they could feel it all the way down here. Alex just hoped he was well hidden enough that whatever Spartoi that were nearer to the surface wouldn’t return the favor.

Alex cast one last glance back towards the unconscious Spartoi members. They were going to come back this way eventually. Hopefully, Alex thought with a weary sigh, they’ll still be unconscious at that point.

“…Yeah. Let’s go.”

In a stairwell on the other side of the complex, Artemis was doing his best to keep moving.

He had figured that there was going to be a decent number of guards he would have to find a way past. But that had been before the entire base had been placed on red alert by the constant bombardment raining down on them. Already, he could hear shouts coming from both above and below him, and every second the sound of pounding feet seemed to grow louder.

Artemis had no idea who the perpetrator could be. Well, he had ideas, but he didn’t want to indulge in too much hope until he had a better stock of the situation. And he truly didn’t know how either Butler or Holly could have gotten that much firepower in such a relatively short period of time.

And if it really was Holly, would that mean that Alex-

No. Artemis wouldn’t allow himself to give in to grief-stricken fantasies. Not here and not now. Almost any other explanation was more likely than the one he wanted the most.

 So the question remained, then, but that was something he would deal with Later. After he had ripped the fangs straight from Faye Raught’s mouth.

Artemis almost laughed to himself. He had promised Raught a storm of hellfire. Looks like he was keeping that one after all.

He was at the door. There was no telling how many Spartoi lay on the other side. But there was no time to stand and think over his options. Already, he could hear a group of them coming up the flight below him. Any second now they would round the corner and notice that he was painfully out of place and do something about that. He opened the door and slipped through, closing it just in time to hear the rush of feet behind him.

The doorway was deep, which Artemis was thankful of. He let his breath catch as he surveyed the hall from the shadows.

Besides the door he was standing in front of, there were few other doorways to be seen. All of them were shut tight, but none of them had the keypad he was searching for. The hall was sparse, but the same brightly flashing alarm intermittently painting the walls red also produced a collection of odd shadows punctuating them. If he moved fast enough between each door, using the change of lighting and sound to cover him, there was a chance he’d remain unseen. It would take a damn good combination of timing and luck to make it through, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that it was his only option.

The alarm let out three consecutive chirps per cycle, each chirp lasting 1.34 seconds and accompanied by an intense red flash. There was a period of 4.2 seconds of silence between each cycle. If his estimation of his fastest pace and the distance between the doors was correct, he had very little room for error.

Artemis pushed himself deeper into the shadows of the doorframe as a group of the Spartoi marched past him. While they passed him without a second glance, there was only a matter of time before somebody needed to enter the stairwell. Or exit it. He edged out of the doorframe, just enough to get a visual of both sides of the hall. It was clear, but he couldn’t count on it staying that way.

He took a deep breath as the alarm entered its brief period of quiet, counting down in his head. The instant the alarm began again, he made a break for the closest door frame.

Artemis realized he was winded less than halfway through the sprint. His legs were burning, and his shoelace-less shoes weren’t doing his already questionable athleticism any favors. For what was neither the first nor the last time, Artemis wished he had put at least a little more effort into his physicality so moments like these would be slightly less harrowing. Or agonizing.

He made it to the first door, doubled over and internally swearing in every single language that he knew, moments before the alarm paused and reverted the hallway back to the monotonous gray of the concrete. Artemis gave himself a few cycles to catch his breath, though it did very little to stop his heart from pounding almost as loud as the siren. The unpleasant memory of crawling through a tube of radioactive goop kept worming its way into the back of his mind. He banished it as best he could. If he could somehow get through such a trial then, Artemis told himself, then he could get through one now. He had to.

The dashes to the next couple of doorways weren’t any easier than the first one. In fact, they seemed to compound on each other, making each sprint more miserable than the last. The mixture of the lights, noises, pain, and an increasing oxygen deficiency made Artemis half wonder if whatever cosmic force or forces in charge of his soul had decided to send him to some kind of eternal punishment after all.

He followed the hall down for what felt like hours, though it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes based on his own internal counter. Eventually, though, Artemis was able to spot what he came for: a door with an analog keypad positioned over the knob. Even better, a fuse box hung from the wall a few meters down. A Plan began to congeal in his mind.

That was when the door Artemis was currently leaning against opened.

In what Artemis would admit was a rare moment for him, he moved without thinking. The door opened inward, so in the split second before the door opened fully and the room’s occupants were able to see him, Artemis was midway to the haven of shadows that the next closest unoccupied doorframe would provide. It was on the same side, at least, making the distance shorter, but if they looked to their left at that very moment there would be very little to hide his presence from them.

The alarm began its cycle of flashes and beeps the moment the first Spartoi member stepped through the door. The overwhelming visual and auditory stimuli helped mask his last few steps to the safety of the nearest doorframe. Artemis pressed himself into the shadows and prayed.

“Did you hear that?” one of the Spartoi members called moments later.

Artemis could do nothing but hold his breath and stand as still as possible.

“I’m telling you, I can’t hear anything over that blasted siren,” came another voice. “Almost as bad as the actual goddamn explosions.”

A third voice spoke up, drawing out their syllables in a mocking tone. “It was probably just another rat. We know how much Lisette just loves the rats around here.”

“Fuck off, that was one time and you would have reacted the exact same way.” The first voice responded, irritated. “No, I swear I heard footsteps. Like someone was running through the hall.”

There was the sound of someone taking several steps in his direction. Artemis closed his eyes.

The second voice sounded annoyed. “No shit. People have been running by ever since the bombing started. Get your head out of the clouds and let’s go.”

“But I could have sworn-”

“Do you really want to be the one that keeps Cromwell waiting? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

The first voice was silent for a moment. “…Fine,” they said sullenly. “Let’s go, then.”

There was the sound of retreating footsteps and fading voices. When Artemis opened his eyes again, the hallway was deserted once more.

He covered his mouth with his hands and let out the breath he was holding in a strangled noise. That had been too close. He couldn’t afford to linger any longer. He wouldn’t be that lucky again.

Artemis made his way to the fuse box without further incident. It took a moment of finagling with the ancient but ultimately ineffective lock, but he managed to get it open. He scanned the labels. Artemis would admit that his Albanian was rather limited (although there was a definite feeling of satisfaction at having correctly derived his location from Raught’s taunting comments), but fortunately, the language had enough of an Indo-European stem for him to parse the meanings of most of the labels.

He steeled himself. Then he flipped the control room switch.

There was a muffled clamor from behind the door as its occupants were plunged into darkness. It took nearly half a minute for the first member to find the door, open it, and stumble out into the light of the hallway and the continuing siren. Three others followed suit, blinking hard in the sudden brightness.

One of the members turned slightly, noticing Artemis (or at least the vague shape of him) and opening his mouth to give a cry of alarm.

Artemis smiled and flipped the hallway switch.

The darkness and confusion were immediate. He could hear the Spartoi members swearing and stumbling, trying to get to both him and the fuse box and only succeeding at running into each other. The brief flashes of the siren, apparently wired through a different system, only served to keep their eyes from adjusting to the inky darkness that now blanketed the hall.

Artemis didn’t wait for them to happen upon him. Hugging the wall, he took the eleven steps he had estimated necessary before the lights went out to the door. He traced his fingers around the corner until he was certain he was inside the control room.

Then he closed the door behind him.

The whole room seemed to shudder and the emergency lights kicked on a few moments later, giving Artemis better light to work by. It was a quick job to rewire the keypad so it no longer opened the door, as unused to as he was with working with technology of this era. The only way to get in now would be to break down the door, and by the time they did so, Artemis would have already finished what he came to do.

Then he turned to what made the control room the control room. While the rest of the room was clearly Cold War in origin, the computers and their associated hardware had been updated to their modern counterparts. The various monitors formed a semicircle, with a few hanging in rows on the opposite wall as well. Artemis had an uncomfortable memory of being eleven years old again, staring at a similar wall of screens, waiting for the news that never came that his father was coming home.

He sat down at the central-most computer. It had rebooted from the breaker flip and was asking for his login information. Artemis typed in the username and password he had lifted from Raught’s personal computer what felt like years ago. After an agonizingly long moment, the computer chimed and unlocked itself to him. Finally.

Artemis put his fingers on the keyboard and began to systematically dismantle the entire system.

Alex stared at the empty cell in utter dismay.

There was no doubt this was the cell the Spartoi member he’d cornered had meant. The 314 carved into the door indicated as much. But there were no signs of life in the entire block. No signs of Artemis.

He looked around the cell. It was a miserably cold and empty concrete room, barely even large enough to be considered such. There were no traces of blood or violence that Alex could see, but that hardly reassured him. He would prefer it if Artemis had never been in such a desolate place.

That being said, Alex would also prefer Artemis to be a bit easier to find.

"He could have told you the wrong cell number,” Holly was saying, clearly just as troubled.

Alex shook his head slowly. “I guess he could have, but what would be the point in lying? We’d figure it out eventually. Something else has to be going on here.”

He glanced at the door to the cell. It was unlocked now, as it had been when they’d found it. On its own, maybe it didn’t mean anything. But combined with the fact that Artemis might have been kept here…

“Maybe he got out on his own. Artemis did.” Alex didn’t know if the thought filled him with hope or dread.

Holly made a thoughtful noise. “I wouldn’t put it past him. If he really did get out on his own that probably means he’s got some sort of Plan. And we’re going to have to figure out what that Plan is if we’re ever going to find him in this place.”

“And find him before anybody else does,” Alex muttered darkly, and he could almost see Holly wince. They both knew Raught would be less than pleased when she found out her prize had gone AWOL. And she knew the place far better than them.

“So. If you were Artemis and you somehow managed to get out of here, where would you go?” Holly asked. “You first.”

Alex tilted his head thoughtfully, trying to put himself into Artemis’ shoes. “I would go… Probably wherever I could do the most damage. Somewhere I could pull the rug out from underneath Raught and make the walls crumble around her.” Alex shrugged. “So, I don’t know, wherever Raught actually does her dirty work, or the infrastructure that holds it up at least. The heart of this place.”

Holly made a noise in agreement. “More or less what I was thinking. Wherever the controls are, Artemis is probably there trying to tamper with them. Which begs the question, however-”

“-Of where said controls are.” Alex finished.

“Precisely. We can’t just keep running around aimlessly and hoping we stumble upon something.”

Alex pursed his lips. “There has to be someone around who can be persuaded to tell us.”

Holly scoffed “Do you think any of these grunts actually know anything useful?”

“I think it’s worth a shot at least. I think we should-”

The next ten seconds happened in slow motion.

There was a thin whine, then the smell of ozone. It seemed as if all the air had been sucked out to the room in a single instant. Alex started to turn, but before he could move, a ball of blue electricity blasted into the room, directly in his path.

Alex tried to brace himself in the millisecond before it rammed into him. But the blast of electricity didn’t hit him. It hit the small humanoid hovering just up and to the left of him.

With a cry, a now fully visible Holly plummeted to the ground. Alex, moving on instinct, barely managed to dive and catch her before she slammed into the concrete below.

“Holly!” he yelled, horrified, but as he pushed himself upright, it was clear she was out cold. The blue electricity crackled over her skin, stinging Alex where he held her, but he didn’t let go.

Standing in the doorway behind them, a man with red hair and mirrored sunglasses lowered his gun.

“Mr. Rider,” said Cailean Cromwell. “What an unpleasant surprise.”

Chapter Text

If the real thing don’t do the trick

You better make up something quick

Alex glared up at Cromwell, clutching an unconscious Holly Short close.

Cromwell tapped the rim of his glasses. “It would seem that fairy magic is no match for the sheer force of technology. I’m almost disappointed.”

“Bastard,” Alex hissed. “What did you do to her?”

Cromwell regarded the fairy with a dispassionate expression. The man had never been easy for Alex to read, but the sunglasses made him seem altogether alien. “The same thing it did to several of our men. I would say all is fair in this instance.”

His depersonalization raised Alex’s hackles. “You’re a monster.”

Cromwell simply inclined his head. “I think we’re both above name-calling, Mr. Rider.”

Alex grit his teeth. But it seemed like Cromwell wasn’t planning to outright attack him, at least not yet. As gently as he could and hardly daring to take his eyes off him, Alex lowered Holly to the ground. The electricity had stopped sparking on her skin and, Alex thanked God, she was breathing steadily. He could only hope now that the blast hadn’t done any lasting damage that couldn’t be readily seen.

Then Alex stood up and faced Cromwell, hand resting on his holster.

“What do you want?” Alex growled, eyes blazing.

Cromwell made a noise that was almost a laugh. “I seek only to protect our interests. The real question here, Mr. Rider, is what do you want?”

“I want,” Alex snapped. “For you to let Artemis go.”

“Ah, yes. Mr. Fowl. A most uncooperative man.”

Alex forgot how to breathe.

“What,” he rasped after forcing himself to inhale, “Did you do to him?”

Cromwell smiled thinly. “Nothing compared to what will happen when we find him.”

So Artemis had gotten free of his own accord. But the fact was little comfort in comparison to the knowledge of what they would do to Artemis if Alex didn’t get to him first. What they already had done.

“You know, Mr. Rider,” Cromwell continued. “We expected fairy interference, but we didn’t expect you. Why, exactly, did you come here of all places after you survived the party? Why not turn tail and run? That would be the most logical course of action.”

He was plainly curious, but it was a cold, passionless curiosity. It was the objective interest of a scientist cutting open a dead rat.

Alex balled his free hand into a fist. “I already told you. I came here for Artemis. And I don’t intend on leaving without him.”

“I still fail to see your reasoning. The man left you for dead. You have no further obligations to him.”

“He didn’t leave. You took him.” Alex corrected tersely.

“Regardless. He still was the one directly responsible for your near-death.”

“You people were the ones directly responsible for my near-death,” Alex said, scowling. “And before you keep up with your bullshit, you should know that nothing you say is going to turn me against him. You don’t know anything about either of us and you never will. So stop talking and get out of my way. Or I’ll make you move myself.”

Both of Cromwell’s eyebrows raised a hair. “How very interesting. Now, this does change things.” He rolled his shoulders forward in a stretching motion. “I was planning on killing you where you stand. But now I believe you’ll be far more useful to us alive.”

Alex stiffened. “I’ll never cooperate with you.”

Cromwell smiled thinly. “Maybe. But I’m sure he will.”

It hit Alex like a freight train. Oh, God. Oh, God. No. No. The thought of becoming an instrument through which to torture Artemis even further was enough to make him almost physically ill. He knew that pain firsthand. He’d do anything to keep Artemis from having to go through that again.

That wasn’t how their reunion was going to go. Not while Alex still had air in his lungs.

 “Fuck you,” Alex said with the full force of his loathing.

Then he punched Cromwell in the face.

Or rather, Alex moved to punch him in the face. Cromwell sidestepped at the last moment, becoming a blur of motion, and grabbed Alex’s arm at the height of the swing. He then used the momentum to throw Alex against the ground, hard.

Alex gasped as he collided with the floor, but he managed to roll to the side just in time to avoid a kick from one of Cromwell’s heavy boots. He scrambled to his feet, drawing his gun as he did so.

Cromwell was waiting for him, though, and came down on his arms with a swift chop. When Alex’s arms folded from the blow, Cromwell attempted to wretch the gun from his grasp. It probably would have worked if Cromwell hadn’t decided to try and grip Alex by the wrist, reminding him of the piece of technology currently strapped around it.

Alex couldn’t remember which setting the watch was turned to. He just prayed that Smithers hadn’t lost his touch over the years. He slammed his arm backward suddenly, knocking Cromwell’s hand hard enough against his chest to press the activation button on the watch.

Electricity crackled out of the sides of the watch, much in the same way it had out of both Holly and Cromwell’s guns. Cromwell made a noise of both surprise and pain as the shock hit him. He released Alex’s wrist and jerked backward, regrettably not fully stunned but fortunately very much in some amount of pain.

Unfortunately, the jarring motion jostled the gun out of Alex’s grip completely, sending it skittering out the door and into the hallway.

Fucking hell, Alex thought before giving chase. At least he could move this further away from the unconscious Holly.

From a few steps behind him, Alex could hear a familiar faint whine. He barely had time to hit the deck before a blast flew over his head, missing him by mere centimeters. Alex swept his legs backward as he went down, grimacing in satisfaction as he felt himself knock the legs out from underneath the man.

They were both on the ground now. Cromwell’s glasses had been knocked off and his weapon had fallen a few centimeters from his fingers, just out of Alex’s reach. They made eye contact for a moment. Then they both lunged for the gun.

Alex managed to wrap his fingers around the grip first, by some miracle, but his victory was short-lived. Cromwell grabbed him by the shirt, hauling both Alex and the gun closer to his grasp.

Alex lifted the barrel and squeezed the trigger. As he did, though, Cromwell grabbed ahold of Alex’s arm with his other hand and twisted. The shots went wide as Alex cried out in pain. Cromwell twisted harder, and Alex could feel the gun slip from his fingers through the stab of agony.

Cromwell had to release him to make a proper grab for the weapon. Alex’s arm still hurt like hell, but he managed to pull himself together in time to make a desperate kick towards both the gun and the hand currently reaching towards it. He missed Cromwell but ended up landing a solid enough hit to the gun to send it spinning away and well out of the reach of the both of them.

Well, Alex thought grimly, now we’re even.

Cromwell rewarded him for his efforts with a punch square in the face.

The pain was immediate and blinding. Alex didn’t think his nose was broken, but he could feel the blood trickling into his mouth. He had been lucky not to bite any part of his tongue off in the recoil.

Alex jerked back, then responded with two quick blows of his own. One glanced off of his jaw, but the other landed, judging by the sound Cromwell made when his fist connected, straight to the windpipe. He made a few terrible rasping noises, and if the man hadn’t been actively trying to harm both him and the man he loved, Alex would have almost felt bad about it.

Cromwell was angry now. Really angry. Something of his passive disinterest had slipped from his face, and now his expression was dark, edging on murderous. Something in Alex shuddered at the look of it.

He lunged towards Alex with both arms outstretched. Alex brought his arms up to block him, but his defenses were swatted away effortlessly. Before Alex could recover, he felt Cromwell’s hands wrap around his neck and start to squeeze.

Alex struggled valiantly. He slammed his fists into every body part of Cromwell that he could reach. He twisted his arms. He pried at his fingers. All to no avail. Cromwell gripped tighter and tighter until the air no longer entered his body. He was either completely ignoring Alex’s efforts or he was so far gone in his anger that he didn’t even notice them. 

Cromwell lugged himself to his feet, dragging Alex up with him. He felt his feet leave the ground, and dimly Alex realized that Cromwell was a lot stronger than he had taken him for. Alex kicked a few times, but despite his feet definitely making a connection with Cromwell’s body, it was about as useful as kicking a stone wall and expecting it to fall down.

Cromwell slammed him once, twice against the wall, lips twisted in a snarl. Alex tasted blood in his mouth. He’s not going to stop, Alex realized with dawning horror. He’s too far gone to leave me alive and now he’s not going to stop until I’m dead.

His vision was going dark around the edges as Cromwell continued to squeeze. I’m going to die here, Alex thought with a primal, gut-wrenching terror. His mind went to Holly, unconscious and defenseless back in the cell. To Ben Daniels, pinned down somewhere outside of the complex and waiting for a signal that would never come. To Artemis, alone in the complex somewhere, thinking that he was dead.

He’d failed them all.

Alex didn’t have the strength or the oxygen to fight anymore. He felt himself going limp. All he could feel was soul-crushing despair. This was it.

He didn’t think the shadow that fell across them was real at first. It had to be the product of an oxygen-deprived mind, or maybe even the actual grim reaper, come to finally take him to his final rest this time. But the sudden alleviation of pressure against his neck, and the resulting sudden influx of air into his lungs, was very much real.

Alex fell to the ground, gasping the oxygen down greedily. His vision was still cloudy, but the sound of a body being thrown across the room was unmistakable, as well as the pained noise that body made when it landed.

The shadow was resolving itself into the shape of a large human as Alex’s vision cleared. It reached down a hand.

“Are you alright?” Butler asked.

Artemis was slowly carving away at the Spartoi from the inside.

He was thankful, of course, to whoever it was bombarding the fortress from the outside. He didn’t think he would have made it here without their timely distraction. But they stood no real chance of breaking into a complex built to withstand much stronger blasts than these. No, in order to truly make an impact, so to speak, the destruction had to come from within.

Throw the right rocks and the skeletons will kill each other for you.

The long-distance weaponry needed to be taken care of first. It had the greatest lethal potential, both to his family and to the rest of the world. Artemis was unnerved to discover several high-powered missiles and their associated firing devices tucked away in a renovated hangar. It seemed Raught hadn’t been bluffing when she spoke about her firepower.

The software used to control said missiles, however, clearly wasn’t designed to protect against intruders in its own system. It was a relatively simple matter for Artemis to overload the cooling system, causing the missiles and their hardware to go into a hard shutdown, lest they explode while still in the base. Then he rewrote the system so it would be impossible for the missiles to be removed from their lockdown.

Artemis also rerouted the power from the hanger and obliterated anything that slightly resembled a targeting system. Just in case.

Once he was certain there was nothing Raught could do to hurt his family remotely, Artemis began to scour her files for fairy-related content. There was a disquieting amount. Far more than Artemis had accumulated before his first contact with the People, and that was saying something. This was the result of a lifetime of research and study. There were interviews with eyewitnesses, grainy photographs, and several rudimentary translations of the Book. There were even blueprints for technology designed for circumventing fairy magic. They looked chillingly efficient. He hoped none of them had ever ended up being actually produced.

Artemis scrambled those files beyond any hope of recovery.

Satisfied Raught could no longer pursue that line of inquiry, Artemis then moved on to the base itself. The lights were the first to go. The backup generator that supplied the emergency lights was on a separate grid that Artemis couldn’t touch from here, probably out of an abundance of paranoia on the part of the bunker’s previous occupants. The dimness of the secondary lights was a nice combination to the flashing and screeching alarm, though. Artemis then knocked the alarm volume a few levels higher, as an afterthought. He did his best to keep the smirk off of his face, but he didn’t think he would fool anybody if they were actually there in the room with him.

Next, he sent pings to several of the world’s leading international criminal investigation organizations. Interpol or the like would do a much better job at actually bringing in the perpetrators of the Cardiff attack and making sure they didn’t commit any more atrocities than he by himself.

He left out the MI6, though. Artemis didn’t doubt they’d hear about it eventually, but his distaste for Alex’s former employers, even under new management, made him loathe to involve them in this in the slightest. He didn’t know what he’d do if he came face to face with any of those people after all of this. Petty, maybe, but they could live with being the ones left in the dark this time.  

After that, Artemis managed to cut off external communications with relative ease, but communications inside the base posed a larger issue. It seemed like most individual Spartoi members communicated via handheld transceivers and Artemis lacked the hardware to do anything about those at the current moment. He settled for cutting off any and all wireless connections and moved on. Hopefully most would be too overcome by the chaos to come together over the airwaves and coordinate an effective response.

And on he went. He closed and sealed what doors he could remotely access. He turned the air filtration system as cold as it would go and set it blasting. He disabled the water pumping system entirely. Along the way, he rendered every file he could find utterly unsalvageable.

The sound of distant chaos increased in volume as Artemis went on. He took it as a sign it was working.

Artemis clicked open the next folder without paying close attention to the name. Then he stopped in his tracks as its contents filled the screen.

It was everything Faye Raught had collected about Alex Rider.

It was thorough. So very, very thorough. Much more than the single video from the restaurant Artemis had uncovered previously. There were school reports. M16 files. Psychiatrist notes. Check stubs. Hundreds of images and photos, some similarly lifted from security cameras, but also from angles that suggested they had been taken by an active surveillance agent. Several of the dates were disturbingly recent.

Distantly, Artemis realized that he probably needed to inhale sometime soon. Dirt in his mouth and thorns under his tongue and vines under his skin-

He needed to leave. Now. Before the grief that he’d only barely managed to suppress broke through the fragile barriers he’d put up and drowned him right here in front of these accursed computers. Artemis had come too far to lose himself to it now.

It took an almost Herculean effort to force himself to exit out of the file. He took extra care to make sure it was rendered unusable.

Artemis continued to click around until he unearthed a floor plan of the complex. It seemed to be somewhat out of date, but it should be serviceable enough. He scanned it until he found what he was looking for. Ah, there. A small tunnel leading out from the executive suite. The previous owner’s own private evacuation route, he supposed. If Artemis could make it there, he should be able to use it to get to the surface. He could figure things out from there.

He had no idea if his absence had been noted yet or not. But considering the current insanity the base had been plunged into, the odds of him getting through without being noticed had increased significantly.

Artemis just hoped that Meredith Grant had made her exit some time ago.

He wished he had any sort of instrument that could be wielded to physically render any of the computers incapable of functioning. As it was, Artemis settled for wiping the hard drives and setting off on his way.

The hall immediately outside of the control room seemed quiet. Artemis pressed his ear against the door. Nothing.

Artemis braced himself for more desperate and miserable sprinting. Then he took a deep breath and opened the door.

On the other side was the barrel of a gun leveled directly at his face.

“Going somewhere, Fowl?” said the voice of Faye Raught.

Butler helped Alex to his feet and held him steady until he regained his balance.

“Deep breaths. With your diaphragm,” he was saying, not unkindly.

Alex didn’t need to be told that, but he gulped down air until his vision returned to normal. “Thanks,” he gasped, wincing at the pain in his throat. He needed to remember to get that checked out if they got out of here.

When they got out of here, Alex mentally corrected himself.

He wiped the blood off his face with his sleeve. Huh, he thought faintly, it really is moisture-wicking.

Butler nodded once. His expression was solemn. He had angled himself so he could see both Alex and the crumpled heap that was Cromwell down the hall, while still keeping the other end of the hallway in his periphery. Alex couldn’t help but admire his poise. Any doubt he had that the stories Holly had told him were exaggeration was gone.

“Where are Artemis and Holly?” Butler asked without taking his eyes off Cromwell, who was starting to stir.

Alex coughed a few times, which was fire to his esophagus, then shook his head. “He knocked Holly out with some kind of stun gun back in the cell.” Butler’s frown deepened as his eyes flickered to the open door down the way. “As for Artemis, it looks like he got himself out somehow and is somewhere in this labyrinth of a fortress. No doubt causing issues for everybody.”

As if to confirm his assessment, the lights in the hallway went out, plunging them into darkness.  

“That,” said Butler wearily as the emergency lights flickered on, “Sounds about right.”

In the meanwhile, Cromwell had struggled to his feet. “Mr. Butler, I presume.” His tone was level despite the blood that was currently running down his face. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you.”

Butler examined him coldly. “And I, you.”

If Cromwell was intimidated by being on the receiving end of the full force of the bodyguard’s glare, he didn’t show it. “My contacts were very frightened of you. But I’ve fought and killed bearers of the Blue Diamond before. I doubt you will be much different.”

Butler didn’t blink. “I would be happy to rid you of those doubts.”

Alex stashed that one away for future one-liner use.

Butler glanced from Cromwell to the open cell to Alex in rapid succession. Alex could almost see the calculations running in his head. “Rider,” he said slowly, gaze fixed back on Cromwell again. “Are you feeling well enough to keep going?”

Alex nodded. He was sore, to be certain, but he’d had worse on a mission. Hell, he’d had worse in the past few days. “What do you have in mind?”

“I take care of this gentleman here while you find Artemis and make certain he gets out of here in one piece.”

“Are you sure?” Alex asked, the self-consciousness he had been trying to keep at bay starting to creep in. He was painfully aware that he had failed to keep all of his promises -to the Fowls, Butlers, and himself- to protect Artemis from this exact situation. And really, he had done nothing but fail in the meantime. Holly was injured. Cromwell had almost killed him. Artemis was nowhere to be found. Why exactly did Butler have any confidence that he would succeed this time?

Cromwell was watching the situation with interest, seeming to be waiting for a sign of weakness or an opportunity to strike. “An intriguing proposition. I second Mr. Rider’s sentiment, however. All attempts by either party will ultimately be fruitless.”

Butler didn’t take his eyes off Cromwell, but Alex could have sworn his expression softened. “As much as I disapprove of what the MI6 did to you, the experience did make you a capable young man. Believe me, I would not have left Artemis alone with you for a minute if I didn’t think you were more than able to take care of yourself and him. And the very fact that you’re here right now instead of back in London proves that you care enough to see it through.”

“I… Thank you.” Alex said, swallowing. He was right. If his time as a spy had taught him anything, it was that things never ended when you expected them to. If saving Artemis meant risking going solo, he’d do it.

A small part of Alex did wonder if Butler knew the exact nature of his and Artemis’s current relationship. Either way, now was probably a bad time to bring it up.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Butler said, “I would very much appreciate it if you succeeded getting him out. But you’re better than you think.” He brought his arms up into an unmistakable defensive position. “Now go, before Artemis somehow manages to get himself into even deeper trouble. I trust you can find your way to him?”

Alex set his shoulders in determination. “I’ll figure something out.”

Butler nodded briefly. “And Rider?”

“Sir?”

“If you happen to run into that Raught woman, make her regret the day she ever heard the Fowl name.”

Cromwell laughed at this, a terrible, breathless noise, but Alex smiled grimly. “You can count on it.”

Then he took off down the hallway.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw Cromwell lunge after him. Butler moved faster than Alex thought was possible to stop him. Then he was forced to tear himself away and focus on the path ahead of him.

He did his best to ignore the sounds of fighting behind him. Butler could take care of things. Right now, Alex needed to focus entirely on finding Artemis.

Something on the ground near the bend in the hall caught his attention. It took him a second to realize what it was, but when he did, he nearly smiled. It was his gun, the fancy one Smithers had given him, lying where it had come to rest after being jostled from his grasp.

Alex scooped it up without stopping. Maybe, just maybe, his luck was starting to turn.

Faye Raught forced him back into the room, locking the door behind her.

“What,” she hissed, “have you done?”

All trace of her formal faux-civility had vanished. The vicious dragon Artemis had glimpsed behind her mask had fully awakened now. And it wasn’t pleased in the slightest.

Artemis raised his hands in the way people tended to do when there was a gun pointed at them. “I destroyed it. All of it. Your files, your intel, your weapons, everything you could possibly use as an instrument of destruction,” he said, unable to stop the sharpness from creeping into his voice. “You will not be hurting anybody anytime soon.”

Her eyes flashed. “I would be very careful making such a bold assertion about my ability to inflict pain right now, Fowl.” She took another step towards him. The barrel remained steadily aimed at his head.

Artemis took another step backward, but she had him pinned against the row of computers, and he was quickly losing ground to maneuver. “It’s over. You may as well give it up now. You-”

Raught struck him across the head with the pistol.

The pain was such that Artemis didn’t realize he had been knocked to the ground until his shoulder slammed into the concrete. He scrambled to push himself upright, gasping at the pain shooting through his cheek. When he put his fingers to it, they came away coated in red.

She hadn’t used concussive force, though. She had pulled the blow. Meaning she still needed him to be conscious, for now.

That, or she preferred for him to be awake while she inflicted the pain.

Raught pressed the barrel of the revolver between his eyes. Artemis felt himself involuntarily swallow. “You are intelligent enough,” she said coldly, “to know better than to take that tone with me.”

Artemis pressed his lips into a line and glared up at her silently.

“Now, Fowl, here’s what is going to happen.”

Alex’s feet carried him through the maze of corridors and up and down several flights of stairs. There had to be some sense to the layout, but everything here looked so blasted similar that it was impossible to parse exactly where it is he was even going.

The Spartoi were in chaos. Alex expected to have to sneak or fight his way through a horde of them, but nobody spared him a second glance as he ran by. A group of them had been trying to put out what appeared to be an electrical fire. Another was evacuating from a flooded hallway. Members were yelling at each other, both to be heard over the cacophony of the siren and out of the growing tension that seemed to be spreading faster than the systems failure. Somewhere in the distance, Alex thought he heard gunshots.

Unfortunately, that also meant that Alex’s plan on finding a solitary Spartoi and politely request directions at gunpoint was becoming more and more difficult to pull off by the moment. He grit his teeth in frustration and pushed himself to run faster. So many people were counting on him. There had to be something he could do.

Alex pushed open the door to a stairwell and took the steps down three at a time, vaulting over the railing onto the next flight as soon as he could do so without shattering his legs.

He almost landed on top of her. They both stumbled backward, startled. She had to grab the railing in order to keep herself from falling down the stairs, giving Alex an opening to draw his gun.

“Where-?” he began to ask, then stopped as recognition hit them both at the same time.

“You.” hissed Nurse Hicks, venom dripping from her entire being. Fitting, for a former Snakehead member. She didn’t move to raise her hands, but it also didn’t seem like she was armed. At least not visibly. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “I’m notoriously difficult to kill. Something both of your bosses have had to find out the hard way. Now, tell me where the control room is, and I’ll let you walk away from this.”

Nurse Hicks spat at him. It was nowhere near close enough to hit Alex, but the sentiment was there. “Go fuck yourself.”

Alex held the gun level. “I’m not kidding. Tell me. Now.”

He looked into the eyes of the woman who had helped almost kill him twice. Alex could only see a cold, simmering fury in her returning gaze. He wondered what she saw looking back at her. A man on a mission, maybe. Or maybe just one on the edge of desperation.

Whatever it was, Alex hoped it looked dangerous enough.

Her face twisted with hatred. But she hadn’t gotten this far in her underworld career without a healthy sense of self-preservation. “…Next level down. Last doorway on the left.”

 Alex didn’t have time to question her directions. Right now, it was all he had. He shoved past her and continued down the steps.

“I hope they find you and they fucking gut you.” Nurse Hicks called after him, her voice echoing through the stairwell.

Alex slammed the door behind him, cutting the sound of her off completely.  

Raught grabbed Artemis by the collar and pulled him upward until he was upright again. “You and I,” she said. “Are going to take a walk to my jet. By the time we get there, Cromwell should be done dealing with this little incursion and perhaps even procured a live specimen for study. He will meet us there and together we’re going to go somewhere will no one will ever find you. I can guarantee that.”

Artemis felt his throat constrict. Holly could take care of herself if it really was her out there, but he had seen the blueprints on Raught’s network. If any of them had ever actually been constructed… She would be in grave danger. And that would be even if she had any idea that her opponent had the same intel he had been working with when they first met.

He couldn’t put her through that again. He wouldn’t.

“I already told you,” Artemis said, managing to keep his voice from shaking. “I destroyed everything you had on your network. It’s pointless to continue this fantastical crusade. Quit while you still have time to evade the several international agencies that just received tips about your whereabouts.”

 If he could keep her talking, it might just buy whoever it was enough time to do what they came to do. And give the Spartoi more time to fall apart at the seams.

Raught tightened her grip on his collar. “You forget, Fowl. I just consolidated one of the largest criminal empires this world has ever seen. My power is virtually limitless. This is only the beginning. Nothing in the world can stop me now.”

The door handle began to jiggle violently. Evidently, someone was trying to open it from the outside. There was a soft noise that almost resembled a swear when they realized it was locked.

Raught’s back was to the door, and her attention was too focused on Artemis to notice the intrusion.  He would prefer to keep it that way. So he smiled in her face and raised his voice ever so slightly. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Remember, Caesar, thou art mortal.”

Her expression darkened. “You also forget that I have a much more direct source of intel now. All that came before will be mere child’s play compared to what you’re going to unlock for me soon.”

Alex stared at the locked door with dismay. This was the place, it had to be. Inside, he could hear muffled voices, but as much as Alex strained, he couldn’t make out the speakers or the words they were saying.

 He tried the door again to no avail. It was locked tight.

Alex could try to break the door down, but that would take time, and if the occupants of the room hadn’t been alerted to his presence by now, they certainly would the first time he rammed his shoulder into it. And there was no guarantee that he could even break the damn thing down. It looked annoyingly sturdy.

 Alex’s eyes drifted down to the keypad above the door handle. Maybe he could figure out the passcode. A part of him wished Artemis was in his ear now, trying to tell him the odds of stumbling upon the correct four-digit code in a reasonable time frame. Or that he shouldn’t be assuming the code had only four digits in the first place.

Alex’s eyes drifted further downward and alighted on the ring still sitting on his finger. Or maybe…

Artemis kept his eyes on Raught and away from the door behind her. “You know full well that I will never, under any circumstance, cooperate with you. As I said before, you’re wasting your time.”

Raught’s smile was chilling. “It seems to me that we’ve simply been applying the wrong pressures. I’m certain we’ll be able to change your mind once we teach you the true meaning of pain. Did you really think Mr. Razim’s work on the subject was destroyed with him? In fact, I heard Mr. Rider was rather helpful in that particular area of research-”

Artemis’ eyes flashed dangerously. “Not another word.” He would not stand here and listen to yet another way she had found to profit off of Alex’s suffering.

He wasn’t sure whether the copper taste in his mouth was from his cut or something else entirely.

“You are not giving the orders here, Fowl-”

At that moment, two things happened almost simultaneously.

One was that the door burst open. The other was that Raught fluidly drew a knife and pressed it against Artemis’s throat.

Artemis hardly noticed, because in the doorway was a man he thought he would never see again.

“Alex,” he breathed.

Chapter Text

All that is now
And all that is gone
And all that's to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon

“Artemis,” Alex whispered, half exclamation and half prayer.

At that moment, nothing else existed. There was only Artemis, standing in front of him and looking back at him like a drowning man looks at a lifeboat.

He had certainly been through it since Alex had last seen him. His hair was a mess, and several bruises were blooming on what skin he could see. There was also a nasty-looking gash across one of his cheeks that made Alex’s blood boil to look at. But Artemis was here, in one piece, standing in front of him with the light still in his eyes.

Alex wanted nothing more at that instant than to rush forward and take him in his arms, to kiss him until all the agony they’d been through seemed like a distant dream.

Then the light flickered off the knife against Artemis’s throat and caused the reality of the situation to come crashing back down on him.

Faye Raught was looking back and forth between them, something like understanding dawning on her face. If she was shocked to see him alive, the feeling was overpowered by her current revelations. Alex realized that her other hand held a gun, but it wasn’t trained on him. No doubt she had calculated (correctly, as it were) that the threat to Artemis’s life was enough to stop him dead in his tracks.

“Oh,” she said, a malicious smile spreading across her features “How interesting. How very, very interesting. This certainly puts a new twist on things.”

Fuck.

Alex finally found his voice. “Let him go,” he growled.

Raught blinked slowly. “No, I don’t think I will. I do think, however, that you will put your weapon on the ground right now.”

The knife in her hands was long and curved, altogether wicked-looking and heavily resembling the tooth dangling from her neck. Alex’s eyes flitted from the blade to Raught to Artemis. His eyes were wide. No, they seemed to be saying.

Alex bit the inside of his cheek. He couldn’t show her too much or she’d take even greater advantage of it. “You won’t do it. You need him alive.”

Raught tilted her head. “Is that a risk you really want to take?”

“Alex-” Artemis began to say, but cut himself off with an involuntary hiss as Raught pressed the knife tighter against his throat. A drop of crimson welled up on the tip of the blade. Alex couldn’t tear his eyes away from it.

“Well?” Raught asked.

Alex put his gun on the ground.

Raught was watching him smugly. “See? It isn’t that hard to be cooperative, Rider. It’s a shame it took you this long to learn.”

Alex raised his palms as he straightened back up. Mentally, he was running through his every possible move. He didn’t think she could fight well if he rushed her, but if he was wrong it would mean the death of them both. Any sudden movements could end with her opening Artemis’ throat before he could even react. In fact, most of his options seemed to end in that outcome, and that was far too high a risk to be worth it.

So all Alex could do now was watch and wait for Raught to leave herself open. Most of these people did themselves in, in the end.

Not always without a cost, though.

“What do you want?” Alex asked, trying and failing to keep his voice entirely level.

Raught laughed. “You mean the teenage superspy himself hasn’t figured it out yet? There’s quite a bit Fowl hasn’t told you, you know.”

Alex smiled humorlessly. “I’m sure the same is true for you.”

Her smirk didn’t falter, but her eyes flashed with anger. He’d struck a nerve, it seemed. “That will change soon enough. Especially now that you’re here, Rider.”

The implication was clear enough. Artemis’s eyes had widened slightly, and Alex met them for a brief moment. Don’t do it, he wanted to scream, however useless it would be. Not for me.

“You can’t win this,” Alex opted to say instead. “My friends have seized control of most of the base, and the MI6 will be here any minute now. Surrender now and you’ll live to see another day.”

That was an exaggeration and an outright lie, respectively, but there was no way for her to know that.

Raught snorted. “I should have known you were behind all this,” she said, gesturing to the ceiling with the gun. “But it doesn’t matter if you have the MI6 or an entire fairy battalion. We’ll be long gone by the time they even know where to start looking for us.”

Alex tried to moisten his lips, but his mouth was too dry to make a difference. “And where exactly do you plan on going?” Even if he died here, the communicator in his ear was still transmitting. Maybe Holly was awake by now and could hear if Raught revealed something. Or maybe Butler was listening instead. Or maybe the device was recording constantly.

It wasn’t an eventuality Alex wanted to prepare for, but if it did happen, he’d be damned if he didn’t take her down with him.

Raught’s smile tightened. “Nice try, Rider.” She raised the gun until it was pointed at his head. “But I think you’ll just have to die not knowing.”

“That didn’t work out the first time you tried it. What makes you think this time will be different?”

“Because this time I’ll make sure of it myself.”

Her finger wrapped around the trigger. Alex closed his eyes. He hadn’t seen the look on Artemis’s face the last time he had died. He didn’t want to see it this time either.

“Stop,” said Artemis, voice cracking. “Stop. Please.”

Alex’s eyes shot open in horror. “Arty, no, don’t you dare-”

Raught looked self-satisfied as she lessened the pressure of the knife against his throat, giving Artemis more room to speak without injuring himself. “Oh? Is there something you want to tell me?” she almost purred.

Artemis seemed to steady himself. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

His eyes were fixed on Alex’s. Trust me, he seemed to be saying. Or maybe that’s just what Alex wanted him to say.

Raught smiled but didn’t lower her gun. “That what I thought.”                    

“I’m not finished,” Artemis said stiffly. “I’ll cooperate with you only under the condition that you let A- Mr. Rider go and forget about him completely. No surveillance, no harassment, no attempts on his life. As far as you and your people are concerned, Alex Rider died in that explosion. Do we have a deal?”

“Artemis, please-”

Raught considered him for a long moment. Then she inclined her head. “Deal. I would shake your hand, but you seem to be ill-disposed at the moment.” She turned her attention to Alex. “You heard the man, Rider. Your friend here has given you a free pass. Go on before I change my mind, hm?”

Everyone in the room knew there would be nothing stopping Raught from killing Alex once she had separated them again. Artemis was trying to grant him a head start. Alex didn’t know what he planned to tell her to buy that time, but it wouldn’t be the truth. And when she figured that out-

No. It wasn’t happening. Alex would rather take his chances here than die on the street, knowing Artemis had already or would soon follow.

Alex swallowed. “Can I… Can I say something to him? Before I go?”

Raught raised her eyebrows. She was living for the drama of the scene. There was no way she would refuse. “You have fifteen seconds.”

Alex quickly turned his attention to Artemis. “Do you remember when we first met?"

Artemis smiled weakly, but his eyes were searching his own for meaning. “Of course.”

“I’ll never forget the poem you told me then.”

Artemis’s eyes lit up with immediate understanding. “…Nor will I.”

Alex blinked once. Three. “It really-”

Blink. Two.

 “-showed me the light.”

Blink. One.

Artemis nodded ever so slightly.

Blink. Zero.

Alex screwed his eyes shut and slammed on his watch.

The room erupted in a blinding light. It was like stepping into the sun. Someone gave a yelp of pain. Even with his eyes tightly shut, the rays still felt like they were burning Alex’s retinas. He could only pray Artemis had caught on enough to do the same.

There was the sound of a brief struggle, then something clattering to the ground. Alex lunged to the side before he even had opened his eyes all the way, half expecting to be shot right then and there. But the spots faded from his vision, and he was finally able to get a clear look at the scene in front of him.

Raught was clutching at her eyes with her now empty hand, face scrunched up in agony. Artemis had apparently managed to jerk himself free from Raught’s grasp, making her drop the knife in the process. He was backing away from her as quickly as he could manage, blinking involuntary tears out of his eyes.

Alex would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed and not a little bit enamored at the moment. But that was something to think about later.

He moved forward as swiftly and as quietly as he could manage, taking Artemis’s hand in his when he got close enough. Artemis jolted slightly at the sudden physical contact, then gave his hand a quick squeeze.

Alex was once again overcome with the desire to kiss him right then and there but jerked his head towards the door instead. We need to go now, he mouthed.

Artemis nodded briefly in agreement. Then his eyes flickered to Raught and widened in horror. “A-”

Alex only had time to shove Artemis behind the row of computers before Raught started firing wildly.

The shot slammed into his chest, knocking him to the ground. It felt he had been hit by a sledgehammer. The turtleneck had stopped the bullet but not the momentum, and Alex struggled to find the air that had been knocked out of him and reorient himself to the world around him.

Almost distantly, he heard Artemis scream his name. He couldn’t see him from where he landed, but that hopefully meant he hadn’t been hit as well. There was no guarantee that would last, though.

 Raught said several curses in Welsh. “Shut up, you insufferable brat,” she hissed furiously. “Or so help me God, I’ll kill you next.”

Alex struggled to roll to his side. He still couldn’t see Artemis, but there was Faye Raught, waving the gun in the air. It was only a matter of time before a shot found Artemis. And he didn’t have the benefit of Smither’s design protecting him.

He pushed himself up, still laboring to inhale. He just had to get the gun away from her…

The movement must have caught her eye, though, because she whirled towards him suddenly.

“Rider,” she seethed. “Why must you be so utterly impossible to kill?”

Alex’s lips curled. “’Suppose I’m just lucky.”

“All the luck in the world won’t save you from a bullet to the brain.” Raught snarled.

She aimed the gun at his head. Alex didn’t doubt she wouldn’t miss this time. He tensed, ready to roll out of the way-

A shot rang out. It echoed in the room for a moment, filling the silence.

Faye Raught slowly looked down at the blood blooming on her collar. “Fy duw,” she gasped.

Then her eyes rolled into the black of her head as she collapsed.

Alex whirled around to see Artemis, mirroring his own wide-eyed expression. In his trembling hands was the gun Alex had set on the ground earlier.

 “I didn’t think I would actually hit her,” Artemis said like somebody in shock. Though, granted, he probably was.

Alex couldn’t help a breathy laugh as he pushed himself upright. “It has an auto-aiming function. Top-of-the-line stuff. A gift from an old friend.”

Artemis swallowed and gingerly set the gun down next to the computers. “Ah. That explains a lot.”

Alex slowly took a few steps forward, getting just close enough to kick Raught’s gun away in case she suddenly regained consciousness before retreating to Artemis’s side. “I’d guess you shattered her collarbone. It’ll be painful, but I don’t think a shot like that should kill her outright. At least not until we’ve dropped her off at whatever agency we decide is responsible for her.”

 Artemis nodded once, eyes still trained on her prone form. “That’s… Good. I’ve never actually…” he trailed off, looking somewhat ill.

Alex reached out and put a hand on his cheek, gently turning his gaze away. “You saved my life, Arty.”

Artemis made a small, pained noise that made Alex’s heart hurt just to hear. “What are you talking about? You’re the one who saved me.”

“Artemis,” Alex said softly.

“Alex,” said Artemis in the same tone.

Then they were embracing, kissing like they were never going to see each other again. Which was too disturbingly close to their past and current reality. Alex banished those thoughts from his mind and let himself get lost in the moment, in Artemis’s fingers in his hair and his lips against his own.

Alex might have lifted him off the ground for a few seconds. He couldn’t be certain.

Eventually, they pulled apart, and for the first time in several days, the lopsided smile on Alex’s face wasn’t forced in the slightest. “I’ve missed that.”

“I can’t say I disagree,” Artemis muttered in response. Then he started and pulled away slightly, eyes focused on Alex’s chest. He would have been flattered if Artemis didn’t look so alarmed. “The shot- I thought that- Are you hurt?”

Alex took Artemis’ hand in his own and placed it over his heart. “The cloth’s bulletproof. Another gift. I’m fine. Really,” he added when Artemis still looked worried. “I’ve had worse.”

 Artemis winced. “Mm. Don’t remind me.”

Frowning, Alex reached forward and wiped away a drop of blood that was slowly making its way down Artemis’s cheek. “Besides, you’re the one who’s hurt.”

“It’s hardly more than a scrape. It should heal without issue.”

“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”

“As far as painful events in the past 48 hours go, that was one of the least,” Artemis said quietly.

Alex searched his face for a long moment, then slowly leaned forward and kissed him again. Artemis sighed into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Alex’s neck and pulling him closer. The kiss was gentler this time, less desperate yet no less tender. If he could drown even a bit of both of their pain in this emotion, Alex would keep kissing him until together they were an ocean.

 Alex pulled away and pressed their foreheads together, keeping the distance between them as minimal as possible. “You scared the shit out of me,” he confessed in a rough whisper.

 Artemis’s eyes fluttered open, eyelashes brushing against Alex’s cheeks. “I scared you? Alex, I thought I saw you die.”

Alex swallowed. “Arty, I’m so sorry-”

Artemis gave him an incredulous look. “Don’t apologize. It was not your fault.”

“It wasn’t yours either.”

Artemis silently averted his eyes.

“Artemis,” Alex said, frown deepening, “I mean it.”

Artemis pressed his lips into a tight line. “I was the one who got another innocent person sucked into my own problems yet again and caused them to get hurt because of it. You wouldn’t have even been there-”

“I was there because I chose to be there.” Alex interrupted him. “Trust me, I wouldn’t have even left with you at that restaurant if I didn’t think this was worthwhile, or that you were worth protecting. And you know what? I’m glad I did because my life is better with you in it.”

Artemis looked taken aback. “I highly doubt-”

“You shouldn’t,” Alex said firmly. “It sucked, and I’m sure we’ll both be dealing with the fallout from this whole affair for a while, but it was worth every moment. Even if they take all my memories, I’d do it all again in a heartbeat, because I got to spend this time with you.”

Artemis was silent for a moment. Then he laughed softly. “When we first met, I never would have taken you for a romantic.”

Alex felt himself smile. “You like it.”

Artemis’s expression softened into something hopelessly fond. “Against my better judgment, I’m afraid.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips against Alex’s.

Unfortunately, the moment Alex let his eyes drift closed was the moment the smoke grenade went off.

Alex immediately dropped to the ground, taking Artemis with him and doing his best to break the fall with his body. Visibility was already next to nothing as the acrid smoke filled the room, but as long as he could feel Artemis in his arms, Alex knew he was ok, and that was the most important thing.

He couldn’t see Raught, assuming she was the one who set the smoke grenade off. But at least she couldn’t see them either.

As soon as the smoke began to clear, though, two things were readily apparent.

One was that they were alone in the room.

The other was that the door was ajar.

“Shit,” Alex groaned.

Artemis pushed himself upright, helping Alex do the same. “She couldn’t have gotten far,” he said as he coughed into his sleeve. “Not with that wound. You should be able to catch up to her easily.”

Alex looked from Artemis to the open door, then from the open door back to Artemis. “…Maybe so, but I’m not about to leave you here by yourself.”

“Look, I want her to face justice just as much as you, but there are a lot of angry and confused Spartoi members out there who would love someone to focus their rage on. I would rather that be her than one of us alone.”

Artemis was quiet for a moment, then sighed. “…I suppose that’s our best course of action for the time being. I would prefer not to go back to not knowing if you were safe.”

“Yeah. Same.”

After a second of hesitation, Artemis rested his head on Alex’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Alex felt a pang as he realized just how tired he looked. He gently pulled him closer and put his head on top of Artemis’s.

Alex didn’t know how long they sat like that before there was a delicate cough from the doorway.

“Are we interrupting something?” a familiar voice asked, equal parts amused and relieved.

Alex turned to see Holly Short standing in the doorway, framed by the much larger form of Butler. They both looked fatigued and slightly worse-for-wear than when Alex had seen them last. But they were alive and relatively unharmed, and Alex felt his heart swell with relief. There was never a guarantee everybody would walk away from a mission, but here they were, against the odds.

Artemis was already scrambling to his feet. “Holly! Butler!”

Alex pushed himself to his feet, smiling to himself as he watched Artemis embrace them both. Holly grinned fiercely and wrapped her arms around him. Butler seemed more startled, but then his expression softened ever so slightly and he hugged him back.

Artemis quietly asked Holly something in what Alex assumed Gnommish as he pulled away. Holly glanced briefly at Alex, then answered in the affirmative.

 “Thank you,” Artemis said in English, voice hoarse and expression complicated.

Holly reached up and placed her hand over his injured cheek. “Of course,” she said gently as blue sparks danced along her fingertips.

Alex watched in awe as the wound healed over. He had known Holly had healed him, but he’d been unconscious at the time. Seeing the magic up close was enthralling.

Holly reached up on her toes and ruffled Artemis’s hair, making him smile and Alex’s stomach do an interesting maneuver. Then she turned to Alex. “Butler told me that Cromwell man tried to strangle you. I should probably take a look at your throat before that does any lasting damage.”

“What?” Artemis said, looking alarmed.
            Alex had been hoping to keep that detail under wraps. “Tried being the operative word there,” he said, rolling down the collar of the turtleneck and walking over to Holly. Judging by the expression on Artemis’s face, they had already started to bruise.

Holly clicked her tongue as she examined him. “Bastard,” she mumbled. She motioned for Alex to bend down, then placed a hand on either side of his throat. “This should mostly help things, but I would probably recommend trying not to scream or the like for approximately the next twenty-four hours.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Alex said.

“I would also not recommend talking while I do this,” Holly said pointedly.

Alex shut his mouth and let her work. It was an odd sensation, but the lingering ache in his throat immediately began to let up. If only he’d had a fairy healer with him on all his missions.

When she had finished, Alex turned to Butler, who had been quietly speaking with Artemis. “Speaking of, I’m assuming that if you’re here, then Cromwell…?”

“I would say that he’s happily residing in a cell at the moment, but I doubt he’s very pleased with his current state of consciousness,” Butler responded. “And Raught?”

Alex grimaced. “If you didn’t run into her on your way here, I have no idea. She, uh, managed to get away from us. But she is injured, so I’m not sure how far she could have gone.”

“There is a tunnel in the executive suite that leads to the surface,” Artemis spoke up. “If she was relying on Cromwell to fly them both, then I imagine she would head there instead of the hangar if she has given up on him.” He blinked when everyone turned to look at him. “It was on the blueprints I found. I was going to head there myself, before…” He trailed off, then shook his head. “I doubt she knows we know about it.”

Butler nodded slowly. “I’ll check the area out once I’ve gotten all of you safely to the surface.” He glanced down the hall. “We should get moving. We’re still technically outnumbered here. Rider, you might want to tell your friend on the surface that we’re coming up so we don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“Oh, right.” Alex had almost forgotten about Ben in the chaos. Hopefully, he had come out of all this unscathed.

Took care of things. Got bf. Headed up now. Alex texted quickly.

A few seconds later a thumbs up emoji came in response.

“We’re in the clear,” Alex said, pocketing his phone.

Artemis surprised Alex by taking his hand in his own. “Let’s get out of this wretched place.”

They began to ascend.

Raught stumbled through the passageway.

Damn them. Damn them all. She should have shot Rider the moment that woman had come to her with his identity. She should have broken every one of Fowl’s fingers until he begged for mercy. She should have bombed that damned manor to the ground.

She was losing blood and she knew it, but she still kept walking. This was not how Faye Raught died. Not from a stray bullet shot by an incompetent genius.

This was not her death. This was her rebirth. She would rise again from the ground, stronger and more fearsome than ever before. They would regret ever crossing her. They all would.

She typed in the code to the bay door, breathing heavily. The door was virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding rocks. There was no chance of anybody from the outside finding it. If she could get to one of their vehicles, she was home free.

The door opened and Raught took deep breaths of the fresh air, blinking in the sudden light. Around her, in a semicircle, stood several dark spires, each roughly her height.

She frowned. Those hadn’t been there before.

Then, as her eyes adjusted to the light, the spires resolved themselves into human figures, all but one dressed in tactical gear. All but one pointing their guns at her.

Raught fell to her knees. No, no, this wasn’t possible, she was of the earth, she was to be reborn-

The figure in the middle of the semicircle stepped forward. She was a well-dressed woman with dark hair and an unmistakable air of authority.

“Faye Raught,” said Tulip Jones. “You’re under arrest.”

Artemis never thought he’d be so happy to be aboveground.

Ever since he had been resurrected, being underground for too long had been… uncomfortable. A part of him seemed to need the light and the air in a deep, fundamental way. It had been easy to avoid before, as he knew how long he could stay in Haven without pushing his limits, but this, for obvious reasons, had been different.

Alex stood next to him, shining like a second sun. His brow was furrowed in worry. “Are you alright?”

Artemis gave his hand a quick squeeze. “I’m… fine. Just glad to be out here again.”

Alex grimaced, scrunching up his nose in a way that was difficult not to find endearing. “Yeah. No kidding.”

Artemis would have said more if Butler hadn’t suddenly motioned for them to be quiet. “We’ve got company,” he said in a low voice.

Sure enough, there was a small group of people gathered across the way from their exit. Artemis could make out several dark cars and even a few helicopters. That was quick, he thought. There were no markers to indicate which intergovernmental agency this was, but that was to be expected. He could only hope it wasn’t one either he or Alex had run, ahem, afoul of in recent years.

They appeared to be rounding up Spartoi members, several of which were in handcuffs. Artemis noted with some relief that Cromwell was one of the figures being corralled into a dark van. They knew what they were doing, then, and who their prime targets were. All he could do now was pray that Raught was among them.

 They were out of sight of the group, for now, but he wasn’t certain all of them could make it to Holly’s ship without being spotted. Holly had already shielded, and Artemis could see Butler running the calculations in his head.

Then Alex’s shoulders relaxed. “It’s alright,” he whispered. “I know them.” He released Artemis’s hand and strode forward into full view, with all the confidence of a man who was supposed to be there.

Artemis silently swore in several languages as he exchanged a glance with Butler. Then, by silent agreement, they both followed Alex out into the open.

Artemis wasn’t entirely sure that was an implicit approval of their relationship, but the thought of Butler supporting them made it feel a bit more like he was walking on solid ground again.

“He really is always like this, huh?” Holly mumbled invisibly from his side.

“I’m afraid so,” Artemis responded dryly at the same volume.

Then they were standing on either side of Alex, waiting for him to make the first move.

A sharp-looking woman seemed to notice them first. She started at the sight, then quickly motioned to dismiss the agent talking to her.

It wasn’t until she turned to stride to them that Artemis recognized her. Tulip Jones.

Artemis was stepping in front of Alex before he was fully conscious of what he was doing.

“Arty?” Alex said, confused, just as Butler said in a warning tone “Artemis-”

Jones stopped in front of him. The only sign of her surprise was a slight arch in her eyebrows. “Artemis Fowl the Second, I presume?”

If she thought her intel was going to intimidate him, she was wrong. Artemis would have been warier if she didn’t know who he was. “I don’t remember inviting you or your people.”

Jones didn’t blink. “That’s because you didn’t.”

“Regardless, you are unwelcome here, and I recommend you and your colleges leave immediately.”

There was a hand on his shoulder. “Arty, it’s ok. Really.” Alex said softly. “I’m the one who called them.”

Artemis felt something hollow settle into the pit of his stomach. Alex had brought the people who had willingly put his life at risk time and time again without a second thought back into his life because of him. It would have been touching if it had been something Artemis had ever remotely wanted.

“Alex,” Jones said, tone changing.

“Mrs. Jones,” Alex said expression creeping into something more guarded.

Jones was looking at Alex closely, almost like she was saddened. “You’ve grown.”

Alex’s jaw tightened ever so slightly. “Yes. Children do tend to grow up.”

Jones winced and quickly changed the subject. “I’ll admit, I was surprised when we received your message, but I’m thankful you contacted us. We were able to apprehend the target because of your information.” She nodded towards a helicopter, where Artemis could just make out a familiar silhouette in the back seat.

Well, that was one thing off his mind, at least.

“I’m glad you were able to get her,” Alex said in a neutral tone, “But I didn’t do it for you. I’d also like to mention that you got here too late to actually help me with what I contacted you about.”

Jones at least looked like she was sympathetic. “My apologies. Not all of us were as close as Daniels, and we needed to vet the information. Next time, things will go more smoothly.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Artemis said sharply.

Alex opened his mouth to reply, but something in the near distance caught his attention and made his eyes light up. “Wolf!”

He all but ran over to a well-built man Artemis recognized from the files he’d memorized. Ben Daniels, special operative agent, man who’d saved Alex’s life several times, and one of the few MI6 associated persons who Artemis didn’t outright despise because of the way they had treated Alex. So, he was the one bombarding the compound, then. He supposed that made sense in the grand scheme of things.

Alex and Daniels were talking out of earshot. Artemis turned to Jones, meeting her gaze coldly. “If you take this opportunity to try and draw him back into your organization,” he said in a low voice, “I will personally guarantee that the careers of you or anybody remotely associated with that decision will be brutally and publicly destroyed. And that’s if I’m feeling generous.”

“I second that statement,” Butler rumbled from beside him, and Holly silently squeezed his shoulder. Artemis managed not to smile at that. Thank you, old friends.

To his surprise, Jones just looked tired. “You must think me a monster.”

“I more than think that.”

Jones gave a long sigh. “…We have no intention of renewing our interest in A- Mr. Rider besides the support we already offer him. That is, unless he approaches us again and asks. Until that point, he is free to live his life as he chooses.”

Artemis’s breath caught. Unless he asks. Alex wouldn’t go back to that. Would he? He had taken Artemis’s offer, after all…

“Goodbye, Ms. Jones,” was all Artemis said out loud in response.

She sighed again. “…Take care of him, Mr. Fowl.”

Then she turned and walked away, signaling another agent as she did so. The chopper blades began to spin.

Alex was walking back, Daniels at his side, the two of them chatting easily.

“So, this is the boyfriend?” Daniels asked when they came to a stop in front of them.

Artemis blinked. “Excuse me?” He was certain he was blushing.

Alex had also turned a deep shade of pink. “Erm, yeah. Artemis, this is Ben. Ben, this is Artemis.”

Daniels smiled wryly and extended a hand. “Happy to meet you, and glad to see that Alex managed to get you out in one piece.”

Artemis shook his hand. “Likewise. Thank you for your assistance. I won’t forget it.”

“Of course. Couldn’t have Alex try to take on an entire criminal organization by himself. At least not again.”

Someone hollered something to Daniels from one of the dark-tinted vehicles. Daniels yelled back over his shoulder, then turned back to them, grimacing. “Sorry, I have to get going soon.”

Alex wavered, then moved forward and hugged him. “Thank you for everything, Ben.”

Daniels didn’t hesitate to hug him back. “Take care of yourself, ok? And stay in touch.”

Alex pulled away. “I will.”

Daniels gave Butler a brief nod, then smiled at Artemis. “Treasure what you’ve got, yeah?”

Then he turned, and with a few purposeful steps, disappeared into one of the ominous vehicles.

Something moved out of the corner of Artemis’s eye. He turned and was shocked to see Faye Raught, leaning forward enough to be visible through the front of the helicopter, staring directly at him.

Her eyes burned with a fury Artemis hadn’t seen in a long time. Her lips curled. This isn’t over, she mouthed.

The door to the helicopter slammed shut, banishing her from his sight.

Artemis felt himself involuntarily shudder. She was wrong, he told himself firmly. This is over.

“Are you alright?” Alex asked quietly, just loud enough for him to hear.

Artemis forced the thought of Raught from his mind. She was not worth the headspace she wanted to occupy.

“I think it’s time for us to go home.”

Chapter Text

Why are you so far away, she said

Why won't you ever know that I'm in love with you

That I'm in love with you

Fowl Manor, 24 hours later

Alex stood on the spot where Artemis had died.

Holly was too good of a storyteller. He could picture it all in excruciating detail. The lights, the barrier, Artemis falling to the ground, lifeless…

His soul, clinging to the orange roses.

It broke his heart to know that he had almost lost Artemis before he even met him. Or, rather, did lose him.

Alex squeezed his eyes shut and took a few deep breaths. It was in the past. All of it was. Artemis was alive now and would continue to be alive for a long time. Alex was going to make sure of that.

He opened his eyes to see the object of his thoughts walking through the grass to him. It might have been his imagination, but Alex could have sworn the stalks gently leaned towards Artemis from all directions as he walked. The rays of the setting sun set the orange roses ablaze.

It had been easiest for all of them to fly back to Fowl Manor after they had left Albania. They would pick up their stuff from the apartment in Cardiff soon enough, but all any of them wanted to do at that point was sleep in a bed that offered some semblance of safety, and Artemis’s usual place of residence was the best option. Alex had smiled as Artemis had reunited with his family, hugging Beckett and an (outwardly) reluctant Myles close. His mother received a warm embrace, as did Juliet. His father received a stiff handshake.

Alex had decided he’d reexamine that interaction later and had yelped when Juliet put him in an affectionate headlock. Somehow or another, they had all figured out the relationship between Artemis and him, but thankfully, besides some light teasing from Juliet and some awkward questioning from the twins, they all seemed to be taking it well.

Which brought him back to the present moment.

Artemis was wading up to him through the sea of fire. His expression was unreadable. “I just spoke with Haven’s Council,” he said after Alex helped him onto the stones.

Alex felt himself tense. “And?”

“I managed to convince them that you should keep your memories of this event.”

Alex exhaled. It was good news. Amazing news, even. So why did Artemis look so conflicted? “How did you manage that?”

Artemis grimaced. “It wasn’t easy. We are lucky to have some support on the Council already, and Lili Frond can be quite persuasive when she needs to be. But in the end, I told them if they took your memories, they would have to take mine too.”

Alex stared. “You what?”

Artemis’s lips curved. “As much as I’m sure several members of the Council would be more than happy to get rid of me, they know full well I have thrown off the mind-wipe before and could feasibly do it again for the both of us. I would have us back by the end of the week and cause a great deal of trouble along the way. Much easier for them to keep the status quo with a few minor tweaks than to be publicly humiliated by the same mudman yet again. Not to mention much less paperwork.”

Alex laughed. “You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course.” The smile slid from Artemis's face as he shifted. “Don’t… Don’t feel like this obligates you to continue in any sort of… relationship with me. I will make sure that your mind is your own no matter what you decide to do after this.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex asked, brow furrowing. “Obviously I want to continue what we have, if that’s what you want. Are you kidding me?” He was shocked Artemis would ever think he wouldn’t. Were the depths of his feelings not apparent enough? Or was it… “Is that- is that something you don’t want?”

“Of course it’s something I want,” Artemis said vehemently, then shifted. “It’s just, I…” He shook his head and looked away. “Holly said she told you everything.”

Alex winced. “Oh. Yeah. Sorry. I know that was personal-”

“No, she did the right thing. I had wanted to tell you for a while before… Well. That’s not my point, though.”

“Then what is?”

“My point is that you know what I am,” Artemis said in a pained tone. “And I can understand you wanting nothing to do with me.”

It crashed down on Alex like a meteor. “You think I don’t want you because you’re a clone?”

Artemis pressed his lips together so hard it must have hurt. “I’m saying I would not blame you. I know what you have been through concerning that particular subject.”

Alex was dumbstruck. He felt a pang. Did Artemis really think that was something that could possibly push him away? The very thing that allowed him to be standing here, talking to him right this moment?

Artemis must have misread his silence, because he took a step away, blinking rapidly. “Ah. Well. I- I should get back-” He turned in the direction of the Manor.

That snapped Alex out of it. “Fuck, Artemis, wait-!” He reached out and grabbed his hand before Artemis could move any further away. “Just listen to me, ok?”

Artemis stopped but remained silently faced away from Alex.

Alex took a deep breath. “What you went through… It’s nothing at all like what happened with Grief. Sure, it was traumatic and fucked up as hell, but it wasn’t the same in the slightest. You were dead, Arty. I- I really don’t care what you are. I care that you’re here, right now, in front of me, smart and beautiful and stubborn and alive. That’s what matters.”

 Artemis was quiet for a long moment. “You know every horrible thing I’ve done. I don’t understand why that does not revolt you.”

“Because I’ve done things I think are horrible too,” Alex said. He cut Artemis off when he tried to protest. “You’ve read the files, don’t act like it isn’t true. But we were kids, Artemis, and we were in terrible situations. We’re not the same people we were back then. I care about the you that’s with me right now, in the present, and that’s it. We don’t have to pretend we don’t have baggage, but maybe we can have a future where somebody else helps with the load a bit.”

Artemis slowly turned around, hesitation and fear naked on his face. “Alex…”

Alex gently pulled Artemis into his arms and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “And I’ll stay with you as long as you’ll have me. I swear it.”

Artemis looked up at him, eyes searching. Then he gradually began to smile. “That might be quite a long time.”

Alex placed a hand on his cheek. “The longer the better.”

Artemis laughed breathily and kissed him.

Alex pulled away after a long moment. “What would you say,” he said, “if I told you that I loved you?”

“I would say,” Artemis responded, not taking his eyes off Alex’s, “That I loved you too.”

They kissed until the sun had long since set over the field of orange. The wind had picked up, but it mattered little to the two lovers, nor to the soul-touched flowers.

They were both at peace.