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Chapter Text

Artemis Fowl walked into the sleek, modern reception of Rossum’s facility in Los Angeles, looking like any young businessman heading to a meeting to talk about investments and stocks. He wore a suit and loafers, both designer and expensive, and he carried himself easily. Artemis Fowl was a man with power and money, and no one would ask twice when he asked to see the manager of human services. The woman at the desk assumed he was a transfer.

“Of course. Let me check with her first,” the receptionist said, smiling. She dialed a phone number and spoke briefly with person - woman - on the other end. Artemis pretended to fiddle with a pen lying haphazardly on the desk as he carefully placed a tiny listening device under the edge of her desk.

“She’s sending someone for you now,” the receptionist said with another smile and a swish of her (dyed) platinum blonde hair. “You can wait over there. We have magazines, if you’d like.”

“Thank you,” Artemis told her, moving to go wait in the alcove she’d indicated. It was done up as neatly as the rest of the lobby, with black leather chairs, high quality fake plants, and marble flooring. And yes, there were magazines, which Artemis neglected. He was certain that the fairies watching through his iris cam were not at all interested in the drivel they contained. So he took a seat and watched the people, hoping maybe one of them might give him a clue as to who knew what really happened here.

It wasn’t long before a young African-American woman with dark hair came out through an elevator whose doors blended seamlessly with the mahogany walls. “Hello, Mr. Fowl. I’m Judith, and I’ll be taking you to Miss DeWitt.”

Artemis looked her in the eye and shook her hand, hoping Foaly got that. Her retina might come in handy, depending on what kind of security the Dollhouse had. He was certain it would be nothing less than the best the humans could get. “Nice to meet you.”

She led him into an elevator, scanned her card, and pressed a button. Artemis noted that none of the buttons were numbered. Obviously, this elevator was meant to conceal. Most of the people who worked for Rossum likely never knew its purpose or where it really went. Artemis wondered if even Judith knew where all the buttons sent it.

They emerged into the spacious office of Adelle DeWitt. However, calling it ‘spacious’ was more of an understatement than a real description. In fact, it was a rather large room for its purpose. The floors were wooden with accent rugs in blues and greens, and furniture on one side to match. The outer wall was completely composed of windows, and Artemis spotted a bar by another door to her office. It was all very subtle, all conveying power by saying nothing at all. This could have been someone’s loft living room, except for the computer desk sitting on a raised area at the far end of the space and the complete lack of any personal effects.

Adelle DeWitt herself sat on one of the couches, and she smiled at him with the same icy smile Artemis himself had used as a child. Artemis felt a chill run up his spine - he had been out of the game for a long time. She would truly be a worthy adversary.

“Hello, Master Fowl,” Adelle said, standing to shake his hand. Artemis looked in her eyes, too. Just in case. Her clearances were likely higher than Judith’s.

She was a pretty woman with short red hair, but the lines around her eyes made her look stern. She knew she was in control. And Artemis would let her stay that way; for now.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss DeWitt. I hear you run quite an operation,” Artemis said, following her back to the couches. A green teapot and two matching cups sat on the table. Earl Grey, from the scent.

Artemis took a seat across from her, and folded his hands. Adelle leaned back on her couch, completely comfortable in this situation.

“The Dollhouse is a rather challenging venture, but I’m certain it’s nothing compared to what you have accomplished,” she replied with a quick smile. “Tea?”

“Yes, please.”

She poured him a cup from the small teapot. Artemis tasted it. Earl Grey, just as he suspected.

“Shall we begin?” she asked, with another cold smile. “Or would you like more information about the services we offer?”

“I believe I am ready to begin. I’ve pieced together quite a bit about your organization through the legends.” Which wasn’t quite true. He’d skimmed the unencrypted files of an FBI agent Foaly had tracked down named Paul Ballard. Ballard had been a bit of a joke, apparently, but much of his information was good. Artemis had gotten the rest of his info from Foaly’s bugs he had hidden around the Internet.

“Well, then, I’m amazed you’re still here. What did you have in mind, Master Fowl? Remember that we deal in fantasy. Anything is possible.” Her confident smile returned.

Artemis had the distinct feeling he was doing business with the Cheshire cat.

“Nothing too spectacular, I’m afraid. I would simply like to have a date for the Fowl Industries annual benefit dinner.”

“Hm.” Adelle grabbed a tablet sitting on the end table on the far side of the couch. “And what qualities would you like? Name, occupation, personality, everything. Whatever you choose, she - I’m presuming you’d prefer a woman, of course, but we have several lovely men as well - will believe it totally and completely for the evening.”

Artemis had already thought this out. “Her name can be whatever you choose it to be. I would prefer she have a PhD in Physics and take her hobby with art history seriously. She will have met me last month at the International Assembly for Astrophysics in Dublin, and I heard she was in the area, so I called her up. She was eager to see me again. I will admit I don’t know her well and we mostly talked about her work on string theory and the transposition of matter. I found her theories interesting.”

“You met her after a lecture and decided to go with her for coffee to discuss the theories presented.” Adelle tapped at her tablet.

“Yes.”

“To explain her young age, she’s going to have completed high school prematurely.”

Artemis nodded.

“Be aware that at some point near the end of the evening, she’s going to disappear. She may not say goodbye before she leaves, but she will try. Her handler will come in to pick her up. Do not try to prevent her from leaving. Do not try to prevent the handler from entering.”

“Of course. But the event is invitation-only.”

“We’ll handle that,” Adelle promised. “Now, do you have any intent to have sex with the Active during the engagement?”

Artemis was slightly stunned by her matter-of-fact delivery. “No.”

“Good. The risk is quite low, then, but you will have a shipping fee to make up the cost.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Adelle tapped a few more times on the tablet. “Your Active will meet you outside Fowl Manor on the day of the dinner. Remember, you are not to reveal to her that she is a doll. This can interfere with the function of the Active architecture.”

“Of course. Any suspicious behavior would not reflect well on the company.”

Adelle DeWitt smiled at that. “I like the way you think, Master Fowl. Now, do you have any preference of Active? I have a catalogue, if you’re interested.”

“What do you suggest, Miss DeWitt?”

“Echo, of course, is our number one Active, but she is...unavailable at the moment. I hope you understand. I do believe Sierra’s free, however. Quite an exotic beauty, if I do say so myself.”

Adelle’s pause set Artemis on edge. What did “unavailable” mean at the Dollhouse? What was Adelle covering for?

“I’ll take Sierra, then.”

“Wonderful.” Adelle tapped again on the tablet before setting it down again. “Now, why did you come to Los Angeles instead of the London Dollhouse? I understand that one is much closer.”

This is the only one we had structural information on, Artemis wanted to say. But he simply smiled and replied, “My father has invited many people with the kind of wealth to afford a doll. I was trying to avoid accidentally presenting a familiar face.”

“Entirely understandable,” Adelle agreed. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, Master Fowl. Is there anything else you need before you go? I understand you have a long flight home.”

“Just one thing. May I use your restroom?” Artemis asked.

“Certainly. It’s the door to the left of the elevator.”

Artemis went in and turned on the lights. He now needed a place for the bug, near the door. Carefully, he ran his fingers around the edge of one of the lights surrounding the mirror. They weren’t screwed on, and he removed the smoked glass, placed the bug inside, and replaced the light. He hoped nothing looked off about it. The bug was a flat piece of microcircuitry about the size of half of a postage stamp. Undetectable to normal bug sweeps, but noticeable if you ran your hand over it. Artemis knew Adelle probably didn’t change her own lightbulbs, and he hoped whoever did was stupid enough to think it was a manufacturing sticker if it was ever discovered. The last thing anyone needed was more fairy technology coming into the Dollhouse’s hands, but Foaly had eventually come to accept that that would be a risk Artemis would have to take. Hopefully, the bug was sensitive enough to hear through the wall.

He took out his phone and quickly texted Holly. “The bugs are placed under the reception desk and in DeWitt’s bathroom. On my way out now.”

Just for effect, Artemis ripped up some toilet paper, threw it in, and flushed. He then washed and dried his hands and left.

Judith emerged again and escorted Artemis out of the office.

---

Artemis waited until he was in the air to call his fairy friends. He’d handed control of the jet over to Butler once he was certain they were out of American airspace. Not that that would stop Rossum from potentially monitoring him, but at least they would have to go a lot farther to track him down.

“Artemis,” Holly said, answering the phone. “How’d it go?”

“Not badly,” Artemis admitted. “They didn’t suspect anything. Did Foaly get everything?”

“Yep,” Holly confirmed. “He’s not happy you didn’t ask to go to the imprinting labs, though.”

Artemis thought for a moment. “It would have been impossible. The Dollhouse is supposed to be unaffiliated with Rossum. Anyway, Adelle has two elevators to her office. One on the ground floor, the other is presumably to the Dollhouse. If she is distracted or incapacitated, we could get in that way.”

“Or we could sneak in underground while her security is down,” Holly suggested. “Foaly found their actual building plans, remember. There’s a sublevel a few stories underground that’s absolutely huge and is cut off from the rest of the power grid. We think that might be where the Dolls are kept.”

“You’re probably right. The security here is tighter than Spiro’s. And Adelle is smarter than your average pimp. She never left me alone, except for letting me use her private bathroom. I saw a security guard in the lobby, but I can’t tell if he was there for her or Rossum general security. I’m presuming Dollhouse affairs are kept separate from other Rossum projects, because that is what I would do.”

“Not so far away that we don’t know they’re connected,” Holly said, and Artemis could hear the smile in her voice.

“No, certainly not, thankfully for us.”

“Well, gotta go. I’ll see you next week when we confirm the plan.”

“Yes. I’ll see you then, Major Short.”

But first, Artemis had to see how these people worked. And what better way than pretending to be a completely legitimate Irish businessman who simply wanted to play pretend for an evening? The exact kind of client the Dollhouse craved. Quiet, introverted, but richer than most of the population combined, with a past chock full of blackmail material.

Artemis opened his laptop. From what he’d been able to gather, the Active Architecture was quite sophisticated. Artemis wasn’t surprised Foaly had found evidence that they’d been using castoff Koboi tech to power the operation.

Artemis had actually known of the Dollhouse’s existence for years. He’d originally thought it was an urban legend until one of his searches about a year ago had led him to some classified documents on an FBI server. Intrigued, he tracked down the author of the discredited reports: Ballard. Artemis had been careful to keep monitoring the files, but they were soon abandoned. Presumably, Paul had been fired. So Artemis checked all network connections to Paul’s account over the past year or so, until he was able to get a lock on Paul’s home computer - which, thankfully for Artemis, was very poorly secured. Some well-placed trojans and clever emails later, he was in.

It was around this time Foaly called him, saying he’d discovered a group of Mud Men who had their hands on some old Koboi tech that had never kicked off. But what was worse, in Foaly’s eyes, was how similar it was to a mind wipe, but also how much worse.

Instead of erasing a memory, you erased a person. You made people believe they were something they weren’t. It was all kinds of sick, and Artemis would rather Sierra not have to be Imprinted for him to discover the reach and effect of their methods. But at least she would not be exploited or come to any harm. Artemis Fowl had sworn that to himself.

After all, he’d written psychology textbooks. If any of her performance was an act, he’d know. God, it felt good to be back in the game. He hadn’t done anything like this in years.

Chapter Text

Three days later, Artemis was waiting at the entrance to Fowl Manor for his date.  The party had already begun, and appetizers were being served.   Where was she? Artemis tapped his foot impatiently.  His parents were expecting her.  The entire operation would be thrown off if Ivy didn’t show.  The Dollhouse had given her that name, and Artemis had trained himself to think of her that way.  If she was being monitored, a slip of the tongue might make someone suspicious.  

Finally, a woman walked up to him.  “Hi, Artemis.”

“Hello, Ivy.  How are you?” It felt strange to be addressing a complete stranger as if they were a friend.

“I’m good.  Thanks for inviting me.  Yourself?”  Ivy appeared to be a young, beautiful woman of Asian descent.  Her hair was blonde, however, and Artemis knew where Adelle’s remark about exotic beauty had come from.  She was wearing a grey dress that was not revealing, but tight enough to hug her curves, and accented it with a blue scarf and a silver ring in the cartilage of her right ear.

“Fine, thank you.  Shall we head inside?”

She laughed.  “Of course.”

They walked into the large entrance hall of Fowl Manor, which had been prepared for a party.  They would have hors devours here, and then dinner in the ballroom, where people would make speeches.  Finally, there would be drinks and time to socialize.  Artemis was almost certain that would be where the evening ended for them.

“How has your research been going?” Artemis asked her.

“Good,” she said, accepting a small tasting plate from a waiter.  Artemis took one himself.  

They walked over to one of the tall tables set up around the room, and began to talk.  First, she told him about her supposed work at a university, and Artemis listened, analyzing in his head.  The science was all sound.  The university in question focused heavily on theoretical physics and their applications.  For a brief moment, Artemis marveled at the detail of her programming.  Every little detail was filled in.

He wondered if any parts of it worked like the fairy mind-wipe, where the brain automatically covered for any missing parts to keep its owner sane.

He told her about his own theories and questioned hers.  She was able to think on the spot easily, and her body language revealed that she wholeheartedly believed what she was saying.  They talked like this for awhile, innocent science conversations, catching up on false memories and the newest physics, as Artemis analyzed.

This was almost certainly above Foaly’s head.  Whatever Koboi had been getting at had been dangerous.  That, or the normal fairy couldn’t understand why it was important or needed, and it tanked as a consumer product.

Or, Artemis thought, she’d sold it with intent to enslave Mud Men one by one.

She was a megalomaniac, it wouldn’t have been out of the realm of possibility.

“Is it just me, or does something smell like food? Ivy asked suddenly, bringing Artemis back to the present.

“I believe they’re going to be serving slamon soon in the ballroom,” Artemis told her.  

“That sounds good.  Your family has excellent taste.  I had no idea Fowl Industries was so widely involved in sustainability and ecological reform, as well as general scientific advancement.  One day, I’d like to see your labs.”

“I’m certain you will,” Artemis replied noncommittally.  

“If you ever come to London, you can see mine too.  Just call me up when you want to drop in,” she offered.  “Our modeling systems are state of the art.  You’d love them.”

“I may think about investing in some of them for my personal labs, actually.”

They walked to the ballroom, where the food was being placed at tables by waiters and waitresses.  Butler was waiting for them near their spots.

“Hello, old friend. How are you enjoying the evening?” Artemis asked him as he and his date sat down.

“Your parents did a wonderful job setting this up,” Butler commented.  “What do you think?”

“It is very nice.”

“And what does this nice young lady think of it?”

Butler knew Ivy was a Doll, but Artemis had not requested he be placed in the Imprint’s false memories.  An oversight, maybe, but they’d both gotten older.  A low-risk conference wouldn’t be the worst thing to let Artemis wander around at by himself.

It wouldn’t even be the most dangerous thing he’d left Artemis alone to do.

Ivy reached diagonally across the table and shook Butler’s hand.  “Ivy Legrier.  The party’s fine, thank you.  Artemis and I met at the Irish National Science Conference last year.  And you are?”

“Butler.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

A blonde waitress practically skated over to them.  Artemis could tell even before she got close, this was Juliet.  She’d volunteered to help instead of attend because “Some of us aren’t all that interested in stock prices, Artemis.”  However, Artemis had not told her Ivy was a Doll.  The reasoning was simple: a test to see how the Imprint would react in a situation where they were a variable.

“Artemis, is that a girlfriend?” she asked with genuine surprise as she set the plates down in an effortlessly showy fashion.  

“I suppose yes, I am a girlfriend,” Ivy said.  

Juliet blinked and turned to Butler.  “Brother, am I dreaming?  Because I’m not sure that this is the same Artemis I saw last time I was here.”

“You were here a year ago, Juliet.  A lot can change in a year,” Butler said.

“Yeah, but I didn’t think a person could change this much!”

Artemis scoffed at her surprise.  “We haven’t known each other long, Juliet.  By all accounts, this is only our second date.”

She raised an eyebrow, but decided not to press him.  Artemis was certain she’d be upset later when she learned Ivy was a Doll.  He’d arranged for Juliet to stay for the heist, although she didn’t know it yet.  Artemis needed her to not be suspicious for this part of the plan.

“Who was that?  A cousin?” Ivy asked.

“Butler’s sister, Juliet.  She just finished a tour with her Mexican wrestling troupe and decided to stop in.”

“Wrestling,” Ivy mused, and glanced at Butler.  “It must run in the family.”

Butler smirked, but said nothing.  

“Butler is not a wrestler,” Artemis explained.  “He is my bodyguard.  The Butlers have been protecting the Fowls for generations.”

The conversations about families continued as they began to eat.  The food was good, as always.  The cooks Artemis’s parents hired for these events were always the best money could buy.  After all, the way to any man’s heart - even a businessman - was through his stomach.  

Ivy’s life story the Dollhouse had given her was unassuming, but interesting.  Her parents had given her up for adoption, and she’d never met them (which perfectly explained why she had no family that resembled her).  However, she’d been adopted young by a family with two kids and had been their shining star.  Everything possible had gone towards her education.  Because of this, she was no longer in touch with her siblings, which handwaved the fact she could not be traced back to anyone.

Artemis had told her pieces about his life too, but edited out the fairies.  It didn’t matter if she was engineered to like him no matter what, and it didn’t matter that she wouldn’t remember afterwards.  Artemis was taking no chances about the information making back to Rossum.

Shortly after they finished eating, the speeches began.  First, Artemis Senior spoke, and then several representatives and important shareholders.  They talked about the importance of ecologically-friendly technology in shaping the future, a new branch of the company that would be investing in space exploration, and their various charity endeavors and contributions to medical research.  Artemis already knew what each speaker was going to say, so he used the opportunity to monitor Ivy.

She actually got bored!  Artemis found it interesting that their interests conflicted like this.  Ideally, someone would want their perfect person to share their likes and dislikes, right?  But perhaps not every last one, Artemis reflected.  That might be boring.  No variation, no conflict.  Ivy was maximized for his enjoyment, and that meant not agreeing with him sometimes.  Fascinating.  Artemis began to wonder how the personalities were generated.  Did a psychologist analyze people and gather data to be added to the personalities?  Or did they do something else?  Were the memories generated on a computer, or some other way - perhaps VR?

Ivy was now writing formulas on a tiny notepad that had been in her purse.  Artemis didn’t mind.  He turned his attention back to the speakers.

They were at the front of the crowd when the guests were invited back to the entrance hall for drinks and an opportunity to network.  Artemis’s mother had just finished a short lecture on global CO2 emissions and new technologies being developed by the departement Artemis used to manage.

He’d left it to work on his own projects.  He didn’t regret it.

“No offense, but thank God that’s over,” Ivy confided when they were back at their table, cocktails in hand.

Artemis smiled.  “I agree.  It’s far more enjoyable to talk than it is to listen.”  He was about to say more when Artemis Senior and Angeline walked over to the table they were standing at.  Artemis gave them a small wave.

“Ivy. Meet my parents, Artemis Senior and Angeline Fowl.”

Ivy shook both of their hands.  “Ivy Legrier.  It’s a pleasure to meet you both.  Artemis has spoken highly of both of you, and I enjoyed your talks earlier.”  Her body language did not hide the lie too well, but that only made her personality appear more genuine.

“Thank you,” Artemis Senior replied.  “Artemis has told us many good things about you as well.”

“He helped me find a flaw in my thesis on antimatter’s effects on proton movement,” she replied sheepishly.  “I thought that merited taking him out to dinner.”

“You’d have to make the first move,” Angeline teased.  “Artemis is far too shy to tell you anything.”

“Mother,” Artemis groaned, embarrassed.  Why he was embarrassed, Artemis wasn’t sure.  It wasn’t like Ivy would remember anything about this night.

Maybe he was actually starting to like her.

“Anyway, we just wanted to say hi.  Feel free to visit any time you’re in the area, we’d love to be able to get to know you better, Ivy,” Angeline said, beaming.  Artemis would never hear the end of it.  She’d been ecstatic since Artemis had told her he would have a date.  Now he’d need to invent a breakup story, because telling her he bought a woman programmed to like him would go over  about as well as a rollercoaster without seatbelts.

“It was nice to meet you too,” Ivy said, waving after them.  The waving attracted a waiter back to their table, and Ivy took a cocktail.  Artemis declined.

She sipped at her drink and they watched the other guests.  Myles and Beckett had decided to see what the fuss was, at long last, and were peering down the staircase, whispering to each other.  “Are those your brothers?”

Artemis nodded.

“They’re gonna look just like you.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“From my perspective?  Good.  From theirs?  Probably not.  Imagine having to live up to an older brother like you.  Then again, I did the same thing to my adopted siblings, but I was the youngest and not even biologically related to them.”  She pretended to wince.  “Ouch.”

Artemis was only half listening.  His brothers were acting very sneaky.  He suspected they were generating blackmail material with their new smartphones.

Thankfully, Artemis had already installed a bot on the social networks his brothers frequented most that would corrupt the pictures from tonight if they were posted.  Artemis was reasonably certain Myles and Beckett didn’t know how to manipulate photo metadata yet, but once they figured out what Artemis had done...well, that trick wouldn’t work twice.

A man walked up to the table.  He was rather unassuming, and could have been any investor his parents had rewarded with an invitation to the party, but a few things gave him away.  He was carrying a gun, but wasn’t a security officer - Fowl Industries had never hired plainclothes officers for a party before.  It was a touch of honesty, and the company provided themselves on their morals.  Also, his tie had been hastily tied and his cuff links didn’t match.  So his job wasn’t one that normally required him to dress in a nice suit.

Sierra’s handler.

He tapped Ivy on the shoulder.  “Sorry for interrupting, but would you like a treatment?” he asked her.

“Oh, yes, that sounds better than a beer right now,” Ivy said, finishing off her drink.  “See you around, Artemis.  I look forward to having you visit.”  She gave him a quick hug and a small kiss before jogging after her handler.

Once she was gone, Artemis began to walk out of the entrance hall.  Several other guests were already trickling out.  He headed towards the stairs, so he could jot down some observations about the evening in his study before going to bed.

Myles and Beckett almost tackled him as he reached the top.

“You’ve got a girlfriend!  She’s hot!” Beckett hissed as Artemis got close to where they were snooping.

“She’s mine, Beckett,” Artemis said.  “Besides, she’s about ten years too old for you.”

“Yes, but she’s beautiful!  And smart!” Myles said.  “Can I come to the next conference with you?”

“I don’t think Mother would like you missing school.”

“I can’t believe you, of all the hopeless dorks in the world, got a girlfriend,” Beckett marveled.  “Myles, there’s hope for you yet!”

“I was never as hopeless as he was! I at least tried to ask Angela Simmons to the last dance.  You went and egged the Headmaster’s car because no girl would have you!”  Myles turned back to Artemis.  “But the conference would be educational.”

“Not nearly as educational as school,” Artemis said, walking off.

“But I bet we could learn about anatomy,” Beckett whispered after him, leaving the two boys to snicker on the stairs.

Chapter Text

Exactly a week after the party Artemis stood in his study with the crew for his operation.  He was standing in front of a projector screen on one wall, while Foaly watched on a wall-mounted monitor on the opposite side of the room.  The other guests included Butler, Juliet, and Holly.

“Where’s Mulch?” Artemis asked.

“He said he never wants to get mixed up in one of your schemes again,” Holly said, and rolled her eyes.  “He’s, and I quote, ‘retired’.”

‘On the list of people you want on your list to break into an underground facility, a dwarf is pretty high on the list.  Are you sure we can do this, Artemis?” Foaly asked.

“Of course.”  Artemis almost sounded offended by the insinuation.  His plan would have worked better with a dwarf, but it would be fine without one.  It was designed to work so that the objective could be accomplished, should one or two elements be removed by circumstance.

Artemis pulled up Rossum’s main floor plan - at least, the one they released to the public, and began to illustrate the plan as he spoke.  “I will go in first, through the front office, and meet with Adelle for a scheduled appointment - I am going to claim the imprint made very overt, unwanted sexual advances during the party and that it was quite disturbing.  I will try to keep her occupied for an hour or more.  If I can’t, I will be carrying a syringe filled with a combination long-lasting tranquilizer and mild amnesiac - just so much that she’ll remember I was there, but not how the meeting went.”

Artemis held up a small syringe, thinner than a pencil.  He slid it into a small, silver tube that looked like the outer casing of a pen and placed it in his pocket.

“Once I am in, Holly will go in through the grate on the west side of the building.  It’s about a ten foot drop to the bottom of a shaft, where there will be a tunnel into the ventilation system.  From there, you will go to the nearest vent opening and enter into a utility tunnel.  There are cameras here, so stay shielded.  Pick one and put Foaly’s tap on it, then stay shielded as you enter into the Dollhouse’s main compound.  If you encounter anyone, do not engage them.  Observe for any unusual activity and report.  Once Foaly is controlling their security, we can access it and any computers it is linked to.  Foaly will begin a data dump once the link is established.  Once that’s done, and you get the okay, anyone who is operating the technology should be apprehended and the technology taken offline and confiscated.  Use force if necessary, but do not kill them.  Butler will help you move everything later.

“When Holly enters, Butler will pretend to be taking Juliet back from an engagement.  If you are stopped at any point along the way, use force.  You will be going in through the garage a few blocks away.  It is connected to the Dollhouse through a series of underground tunnels.  Use the Omnitool, iris projections, and codable keycard to bypass any barriers presented to you.  Get into the Dollhouse and secure the technology.  Help Holly move it and any hostages out through those same tunnels, and use one of their vehicles to move it all out to the airfield.  I will catch a taxicab and meet you there.  Adelle should be none the wiser as to the heist until Foaly pulls the plug on his worm.”

Artemis smiled proudly at the presentation of his plan.  

“And if everything inevitably goes to hell?” Holly asked.

Artemis’s smile widened.  “Improvise.”

Early the next morning, the group got on the Fowl jet.  Everything was put together, every last worry had been ironed out.  Artemis would use his self defense if threatened by Adelle, and the dose in the syringe was double checked twice.  Holly had gone off to complete the Ritual the previous night, as it had been a full moon, and Juliet was prepared to be a Doll.  

Artemis told his parents he had a business meeting with a technology startup in America.  Technically, he’d only been stretching the truth.  The Dollhouse was an illegal, immoral technology startup in America.  And the meeting with Adelle did have to do with business, or at least the kind of service she’d supposedly provided.

Of course, the twins had seen through that and had begged to come girl-watching with him.  Artemis brushed them off and told them to find their own girlfriends for once.

Obviously, they didn’t know how close they were to the actual mark on that one.  Artemis smiled to himself.  It would be immoral to teach preteens they could rent other people.  Hopefully, by the time they were old enough to have real dates, the Dollhouse would have faded into obscurity.

That evening, Artemis walked into Rossum and went to the same receptionist’s desk and had the same exchange as before, but this time with a young man.

He went over to the same waiting area with the same chairs and bland magazines.  He took out his phone and texted Holly and Butler in Gnommish (in case they were monitoring cellular communications in and out of the building), In position.  Wait 10 minutes, and go in.

Artemis hated being the only member of the group that was blind for this.  The others could wear earpieces and use visual displays.  Artemis was kept in the dark until he needed to sedate Adelle, then he could use the earpiece in his pocket and monitor everything on his phone.  He fidgeted a tad.  Looking annoyed right now was not hard.

Judith met him, same as before.  She smiled, and greeted him.  Once they were in the elevator, she turned to him.  “Back so soon?  Normally clients don’t return so quickly.”

“I was unimpressed with the quality of my service,” Artemis said.

Judith looked a little worried.  She bit her lip.  “Just between you and me, Adelle can’t afford to be making mistakes.  Someone’s head is going to roll, and it ain’t gonna be mine.”  Her smile reappeared as the elevator began to slow.  “Have a good meeting,” she told Artemis as he got off.

Hm.  So the Dollhouse was already under stress.  Artemis wasn’t sure if this was going to make the operation easier or harder.

Once again, Adelle was on the couch.  She looked exhausted, and instead of tea, Adelle was holding a tumbler of rum.  She gestured briefly to the bar.  “Would you like a drink?”

“No, thank you,” Artemis said, taking the seat across from her.  “I believe we have something to talk about.”

“Yes, we do.  How, exactly, was our service inadequate?”  Her eyes were still steely, even under the influence of alcohol.  This meeting was not improving her evening.

“Your Active made unwanted sexual advances during the engagement,” Artemis stated simply.  “She looked like, if you’ll excuse my language, a slut.  My mother is not happy and her behavior did not reflect well on Fowl Industries or myself.”

“I can guarantee you, Master Fowl, that nothing was wrong with the imprint.  The inventory records reveal that the clothing selected for this engagement were appropriate for the situation.”

“Then why was its behavior so inappropriate?  Explain that one, Miss DeWitt.”

Adelle seemed at a loss for words.  “I’ll have my programmer check the imprint and handler records,” she finally said.  “We’ve never had a mix-up of imprints before, but if it will settle your mind...”

“Thank you for checking.  I’d quite like to figure out exactly what the problem is.  If you can ensure it won’t happen again, I’ll brush this incident under the rug and remain a client.”  Artemis gave her his own shark smile.  He had the power now.

Adelle walked over to the phone. Artemis checked his watch.  Two minutes until his friends would go in.  A tap on their phones to help them figure out who the programmer was would be helpful right about now.  

“Hello?  Yes, I’d like you to check Sierra’s imprint records for the job for A. Fowl.”  Adelle paused.  “It was last week.  And her engagement went according to protocol?”

Another pause.  “Hm.  The client is saying otherwise.  Thank you.”

Adelle turned back to Artemis.  “My programmer says everything went according to programmed parameters, but he’ll have his assistant review the footage.”

“Footage?”

Artemis’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket.

Chapter Text

The grate had been welded on recently, and Holly carefully used her Neutrino’s lowest setting to weaken the metal before pulling it off and setting it aside.  She dropped in and unshielded as she went, carefully manipulating her wings to slow her descent.  She landed softly on the concrete floor, and kicked in the lower grate.  She crawled through this one, following Foaly’s guide in her HUD.

“Looks good, Major Short,” Foaly whispered in her headset.

“It had better look good,” she hissed back.  “I thought we were done doing Artemis’s crazy errands.”  

“Artemis aside, we may have a problem.”

“What?”  Foaly was serious.  This couldn’t be good.

“Someone is hiding in DeWitt’s bathroom, and has been since before Artemis got there.”

Holly stopped right before the grate that would allow her to exit the vent.  “D’Arvit, Foaly!  Why didn’t you tell us?”  

“I thought it was DeWitt, or a security person.  But if it was someone she trusted, they would be out by now.  So someone’s hiding in there for a reason, and from the muttering, it may not be a good reason.”

“D’Arvit,” she said again, and used her anger to kick out the grate, which was on a hinge and clattered back down noisily.  Quickly, Holly shielded and went out more quietly, looking around to make sure no one had heard.  Oops.

She walked through the grey concrete halls, watching for guards or maintenance men.  “Foaly, text Artemis.  Text him until he answers.”

Holly turned a corner and found a camera that was not installed under a dome on the ceiling.  She used her wings to fly up silently to its level.  Carefully, Holly removed the casing, and remembered Foaly’s guide to using the tap: make it touch as many things as possible.  So she wrapped it around the largest chunks of wire she could find, and reassembled the machine.

“Bingo,” Foaly said.  “You’re almost there.”

“Thank Frond,” Holly breathed, and walked around more of the endless cinder block maze.  The blue dot in her helmet landed on a door, and Holly pushed it open a sliver and stepped out onto a carpeted catwalk.

The Dollhouse was huge.  It was an atrium-like space, with two sets of stairs leading up to catwalks like the ones she was on, which led to a large, windowed observation room or into another part of the complex.  She could see everything from here.  Holly took a moment to look over the railing.  Young beautiful Mud Men and Women in yoga clothing milled around below.  Some sat on couches like the ones she’d seen on the Iris Cam tapes of Adelle’s office.  Some talked, others had picture books.  A few were standing on a wooden bridge that crossed over a reflecting pool doing tai-chi, all perfectly in sync.

“They’re like androids, Foaly,” Holly said.  

“Seriously creepy,” her friend agreed.  

“We have to get them out.”

“Not our job, Major Short.  We mess with them, we risk getting ourselves exposed.  By taking their tech, we at least limit the damage these people can do.  Artemis can bring in the Mud Police and get the people behind this life in prison.  And we can make all these people forget what they had to go through, and hopefully, they can return to their normal lives.”

“If Artemis survives your idiocy,” Holly shot back.  She began walking toward the lab.  Inside, a blonde man was talking on a phone while an Asian girl with blue streaks in her hair typed at a computer.

She’s probably the programmer, Holly thought.  “Move in,” Foaly advised.  “I’m looping their security footage, and adding in footage from previous days that looks normal, so the loop is less obvious.  Their security guys are gonna have to be geniuses to catch this.”

“Good for you,” Holly muttered absently as she drew her weapon.  She walked toward the lab and prepared to unshield.  The door to the main part was already open, but she didn’t see any unusual tech inside.  There was another door on the inside, but the glass was fogged.  The tech might be in there if it wasn’t somehow hidden in here.

“Topher, I am not going to buy you 50 packets of peanut butter M&Ms,” the programmer was saying.  

“But you totally should.  We’re going to run out really quickly when the apocalypse comes,” the blonde man, who was now eating some heavily preserved meat product, replied.

“I’m certain we’re going to have more to worry about than out M&M stash when the world is ending.  I’ll buy you two packs, but not more.  Eyebrows are going to raise when they find out exactly how much of your budget gets used for snacks.”

“Okay, I was pretty sure the girl was in charge,” Holly said.  “But the guy is the one using her as a gopher.”

“Honestly, I don’t care if he’s in charge or not, I think his reaction is going to be the best if you threaten to shoot him.”

Holly smiled and walked down the stairs to the lower level of the observation deck.  There was a couch and a trampoline down there.  This programmer was even crazier than Foaly.

Holly walked over to him silently and knew she was going to enjoy this.  She placed the gun an inch from his head and turned on the external speakers on her helmet to the lowest volume.  “Stand up and take me to the chair or I’ll shoot you,” Holly threatened.

The blonde guy, Topher, looked around for a few moments, checking to see where the noise was from.  He was quite twitchy, and his fashion sense was quite bad, even for a Mud Man.  Foaly was right, he was probably more amusing than the girl.

“Ivy?” Topher asked, standing up on the couch.  “Did you say anything?”  His voice was a bit thready with fear.

“No,” Ivy said.  “Maybe you just need to sleep for more than four hours a night and eat something not loaded with caffeine.”

“I’m not doing that, and I’m pretty sure I’m not crazy,” Topher muttered to himself.  “Have I heard voices before?  Or maybe I’m still weirded out over Priya...”  He lowered himself back down onto the leather seat he’d been using as a stool.

Holly unshielded and pressed the muzzle to his head.  Her speakers were auto-adjusted to normal volume.

“I said I’d shoot you if you didn’t take me to the chair, Mud Man.  Now go.”  

Topher jumped.  “Holy cosplay!”

“What is it?” Ivy called from her workstation.  “You’d better not be wasting time on YouTube.”

She’d hoped Topher would have walked to the chair, and she would have tied him up and gotten Ivy.  She wanted to avoid wasting magic as much as possible.  Knowing Artemis’s schemes, someone would inevitably need a major healing at least once.  Probably him this time, if that guy in the bathroom wasn’t just content to eavesdrop.  Holly retracted her visor and put a bit of magic into her voice.

“Look into my eyes,” she intoned.

Topher looked up. “Huh?”

“Good.  Now, I want you to walk to the chair.  Go in and close the door after yourself.  Lay on the ground and put your hands behind your head and wait for me.”

He gave her a dopey smile. “You got it.”

“Go.”

He stood up and walked up the stairs to the main part of the lab.  Everything was working.  He walked across the carpet toward the door, but Ivy looked at him, and her eyes narrowed in concern. “Topher?”

Topher didn’t respond.

“Tango isn’t going to come back for another hour.  Her handler called and said the engagement was going to be a bit off schedule this afternoon.  Remember?”

Topher continued to walk to the door.  He was nearly there when Ivy grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to look in his eyes.  She wouldn’t see evidence of the mesmer unless she was looking for it.  Topher just kept trying to move to the door, but Ivy’s grip on his shoulders was firm.

“Okay, you are not going in there right now.  I’m calling Boyd and Adelle.  And if this is all a big prank, then it is NOT funny.  Topher Brink, do you hear me?  If you’re screwing with me, stop it now.”  She sounded scared too.  “Topher?”

Topher broke her grip and she went for the phone.

Butler and Juliet’s walk down the concrete corridors was mostly quiet.  They hadn’t seen a soul.  The hairs on Butler’s neck were standing up.  This wasn’t right.  They should have seen someone by now, unless their security patrols had been diverted...

Juliet was alert, too, Butler could see that.  Her eyes darted about, but she whined about the long walk, pretending to be some selfish bastard’s ditzy sex toy.  Butler didn’t approve of the persona, but she swore people wouldn’t see her coming when she swung her trademark jade ring into their temple and knocked them out.  

After all, what whiny, self-centered airhead would think to use a hair bauble as a weapon?  Especially one whose lingerie matched and was clearly visible under her ever so slightly sheer clothing.

“So, anyway, Ronnie said he was going to be my love forever, and it was gonna be wonderful.  But then I go out with some of my girlfriends, and you know what he’s up to?  Seducing the bartender.  Can you say player?”  

Butler had to admit her New York accent was actually pretty good, and she could roll eyes like no one’s business.

“Watch out.  Two guards are about to go on patrol,” Foaly warned Butler.

“Shhh...” he said, flattening himself to the wall.

“Shhh?  No one actually shuts up when you say that,” she said, but mimicked his motions.

Two men in black security uniforms emerged from an office.  

“Let’s just get this sweep over with,” one grumbled.  They went to turn the corner, and that’s when Butler leapt, grabbing him in a sleeper hold.  Juliet took care of the other one with a swift kick to the stomach, and a spinning back kick to the jaw.  Showy, but then again, showy was her style.  It was what made the Jade Princess one of the best up and coming wrestlers of her day.  Her fans liked the showy.  Her brother did not.

They left them there to snore, and slipped down the hallway.

“You’ll be clear for at least ten more minutes,” Foaly warned them.  “By that point, you’ll reach the next patrol sector, which is right above the Dollhouse.  Take the elevator down as far as it will go, and you’ll be there.”

“Good,” Butler said, and they continued down through the tunnels.  It was boring white and grey concrete, with flickering lights and exposed wires on the ceiling.  There was a garage closer to the Dollhouse, of course, but two suspicious entities right in the proximity of the Dollhouse at the same time?

Something would definitely be up.

Now, something would be going on, but it wouldn’t be suspicious.  Not quite yet.  After all, finding a fairy means they could just claim they were hallucinating and no break-in took place.  Finding two professionally trained humans...well, that was almost certain evidence their business had been infiltrated.

Nothing but grey walls for several minutes, and then Foaly reported they were over the Dollhouse, but they needed to get to the other elevator to actually get inside.  The utility tunnels here were not set up as an efficient escape route or to avoid other tunnels and utility corridors underground.  They were surrounding something - probably the roof of the Dollhouse.  After all, elevators and wires would have to enter and leave it.  Leaving some room up top meant  they would have good space for improvement and expansion.

They walked through the echoing hallways and noticed the lighting improving.  The ceilings were covered with paneling, too.  Rossum had been taking care of this part of the tunnels.

And then something stopped Butler.  Something red glistened on a chrome door handle.  He looked closer, and Juliet whined louder about her treatment taking too long.

It was blood.

Carefully, Butler pulled the door open, avoiding the blood on the handle.

There were three bodies - three guards’ bodies - in the janitor’s closet.  They’d been knifed to death, with cuts across the face, neck, and chest.  Quick, dirty, and messy.  Someone breaking in wouldn’t want to leave much of a mess, unless they were amateurs and more concerned about getting in and out than getting in and out undetected.  But this person knew what they were doing.  This was a signature.

“Foaly, there are three bodies in the janitor’s closet,” Butler reported, while Juliet pretended to freak behind him, in a voice that was entirely too shrill.

“What?”

“Three bodies, all knifed to death, all guards.”

“That must have been the previous patrol.  I was wondering why there was so little movement around here.”

“Any evidence of the killer?”

“Not really.  Move on before you’re caught.  If you’re fast, you can get to the elevator before the next patrol.  And by fast, I mean run like hell.”

Butler grabbed Juliet’s arm and took off in the direction of the elevator.  He fumbled the recodable key into the other hand, and held it out to the scanner.  An extra second, and he heard voices.  The light went green, and Butler pulled the now-silent Juliet into the elevator and pressed the door close button as quickly as he could.

They were almost fast enough.  The elevator doors closed just as a two-man patrol came around the corner.

“Well, that could make things complicated,” Foaly muttered.  “Don’t worry, I can access their switchboard.  That call won’t get through.”

“Thanks,” Butler panted.  He was too large for effective stealth, but he did well enough when Artemis asked him to break into a building.

A few seconds later, the elevator slowed to a stop and the doors opened.  It was the Dollhouse’s main atrium.  Beautiful people with mindless smiles and empty eyes wandered around in yoga clothing.  They didn’t seem to notice the human hulk or the beautiful wrestler, but the pair certainly noticed them.  They milled about the lower atrium like they were being social, but every motion was manufactured.

“Okay.  That’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and I’ve met Artemis Fowl in vampire mode,” Juliet whispered, the New York diva vanished in the face of this weirdness.

Butler nodded.  He wasn’t one to get freaked out by odd behaviors, but this herd of ghostly children in adult bodies was seriously unnerving.

They began to make their way across the floor, as the Dolls went about their evening business.  Butler saw the Active that had been Ivy holding hands with a male Active.  Others looked at books.  Some talked, but all their conversations sounded the same.

“I went for thirty laps in the pool today.”

“I try to be my best.”

“Are you your best?”

They really were robots, the poor people.

But Butler suddenly found he didn’t care so much about their welfare when he heard static and all hell broke loose.

Chapter Text

Artemis ignored his phone.  Whatever he needed to know, now was not the time.

Adelle could not explain what she’d meant by ‘footage’ because a strange man took that opportunity to step out of the bathroom.  Artemis resisted the urge to jump, and he watched Adelle’s reaction to this development.  Recognition.

“Of course she tapes the engagements.  Adelle knows about everything except how I managed to get in here, right Adelle?”  He was blonde, and his eyes held a spark of madness.  “I’ve been listening to you for the past twenty minutes.  You’re a great liar, Master Fowl.  But not nearly as good as myself, I must say.”

An ex-lover, maybe?  Artemis retreated to the couch to watch how this played out.

The man walked over to Adelle, and put his hands on her shoulders.  Adelle met his eyes unflinchingly, but did not smile.  She did not react at all.  Her face was a mask as he blew air kisses at both her cheeks.

“Now, tell me the truth,” the man said, turning to her and then to Artemis, “do you like the suit?”

“You’re quite the dandy,” Adelle replied dispassionately.  Artemis had seen the same look in the eyes of assassins before they killed their targets.

Artemis decided it was probably better to compliment the intruder than to insult his poor fashion sense.  His shirt did not match his tie.  “Your shirt and tie go quite well together.”

The intruder nodded his appreciation.  “I’ve gone a little brummel.  Took forty people living in my head to figure out it’s better to look good than to feel good.  That’s definitely a piece of advice for you, Artemis.”

Artemis was wearing Armani, and decided not to comment.

“Now, my business here is with Adelle, not with you.  Sorry.  But you can be a part of this.  News of the unexpected death of a client while in a meeting probably would not please the higher-ups, correct?”

Artemis’s blood ran cold, and he hoped his expression was as neutral as Adelle’s.  She sat down next to him, complying with the intimidation.  The man grabbed two glasses and the bottle of bourbon on the bar and brought them over to the the coffee table between the couches.  He topped off Adelle’s glass, and filled tumblers for Artemis and himself.  Artemis ignored his while Adelle and the intruder both drank theirs.

So, he most likely was not planning to poison her.  He needed her alive.  She, the one in control, was his pawn.

“Are you afraid?” the man asked, taking the seat across from them.  Artemis didn’t answer.  He decided the less the man knew (and he knew quite a lot) the more power Artemis could eventually have over him.  His childhood weakness was talking too much.  If the world was truly ironic, his death would come from talking too little.

“I’m scared out of my mind,” Adelle whispered.

“Well, I’ll never be out of my mind, I’ve got so many!  All you could ever do is scare me out of one and into another!”  The intruder laughed and turned to Artemis.  “Some catching up between old friends is allowed, right?  Allow me to introduce myself.  I’m Alpha.  I already know you’re Artemis Fowl the Second, and I hope you’ll excuse my rudeness.”

Artemis shook the hand Alpha was holding out.  “It’s nice to meet you,” he said carefully.  “Adelle, why didn’t you introduce us?  You know how I forget pleasantries like that!”

“I’ve moved beyond wanting to be polite to wanting to survive the night, thank you.  Now, if it’s Echo you want, you may have her.”

“No, I’m not here for Echo.  She’s not ready yet,” Alpha said with a dismissive wave.

Echo...she was the Active that was unavailable.  Was she being saved for Alpha?

“And don’t try to offer me anything else, you don’t have anything I couldn’t just take.”

“Then why are you here?”

Alpha gave her a shifty smile.  Artemis suddenly got the feeling something bad was about to happen.  Alpha reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a disk.  “Sometime, you’ll have to see my holiday pictures.  I know looking at someone’s holiday snaps can be so boring, but you’ll love to know how I spent my summer.”  He set the disc on the end table and stood up.

“I’m sure it will be quite interesting.”

“I’d show you myself, but we have an unexpected audience and I’ve got a performance for you too.”  Alpha was behind them now.   Artemis tensed as he felt someone grip his upper arm tightly.  This was a grip he could not escape, not easily.  He’d never had real combat training, and Alpha was far too strong.  He stood up and was walked over to Adelle, who was held in the same way with his other beefy hand.

“Let’s use the executive elevator, shall we?”

He walked them over to Adelle’s desk, where she retrieved her key card, then to the elevator.  She swiped her card, the reader light went green, and they stepped in.  Artemis’s blood ran cold.  He’d hoped the man would be another distraction, but he hadn’t expected to be a hostage (Artemis had half expected to be killed on sight, seeing as he was useless for anything else than making sure Adelle obeyed).

He needed the syringe.  And the earpiece would be nice.

Carefully, Artemis slid his free hand into his pocket and began disassembling the pen disguise.  The faster he could get this done, the better.  A moment later, he was holding the syringe.  Next time Alpha was distracted, Artemis would get him and run like hell.
No.  He would wait.  Running blind almost certainly meant getting shot by one of Adelle’s people.  No, he would force himself to look for just the right opening.

Hopefully the others had already gotten the chair.

Artemis stepped out into the Dollhouse.  It was...far more hospitable than he’d expected, actually.  Dolls were free to roam, and wore comfortable clothes.  They were even programmed to be social with one another.  Fascinating.  How this had been hidden since the early 2000s, Artemis would never know.  Adelle must have more foresight than almost anyone alive to pull this off.

Alpha noticed Artemis’s surprise.  “Rather nice, isn’t it?  Not what you were imagining, right?”

Artemis did not respond.  Alpha walked them out onto the catwalk.  He could see Butler and Juliet making their way across the floor below.  Adelle noticed them too.  She glared at Alpha, interrogating him with her eyes.  Alpha followed their gaze and inferred what Adelle was trying to ask.

“They’re not mine.  Why would I need them?”

“Then where did they come from?”  Her voice barely masked her anger.

Artemis did not answer.  Adelle glanced about, looking for something else.  “Where is my security?”

“Obviously not here.  Don’t worry, most of Mr. Langton’s men are fine,” Alpha said in a reassuring manner that wouldn’t have reassured anyone, “but the rest of this?  This is news to me.  You’ve lost your touch, Adelle.”  He shoved her violently away from him, and she almost stumbled to the floor. “Go to your men, Adelle.  Tell them there’s gonna be a circus.”  Alpha smiled as he switched his grip to Artemis’ other arm and yanked it out of his pocket, grabbing the syringe.  “It’s no fun if you cheat.  Now, run.”

Artemis took off after Adelle, and Alpha pulled a device out of his pocket.  He whispered a passcode into it, then pressed a button.

The atrium was filled with static, and then it was filled with murder.

Holly wanted to stop the girl, but then something outside the picture window caught her attention.  On the other side of the atrium, almost right above where Butler was standing, Adelle had come out onto the catwalk with Artemis at her side.  As the walked forward, it became obvious that they were being held by a man.  He led them out onto the catwalk, then released both of them.

Her heart plunged as the man took something silver from Artemis.  The syringe.  This was bad.  Artemis had no weapon and physical fighting was not his strong suit.  This would end badly.  But Artemis  towards Adelle as she picked herself up from the floor.

“Listen, Holly...” Foaly started, but there was a noise like static, and the line cut out.  The noise had somehow reset her helmet back to factory settings.  Without Foaly’s programs, the helmet was a useless, anonymous piece of metal, carbon, and plastic.  But the Dolls - the noise hadn’t reset them.  It had turned them into killers.

Holly ran out onto the catwalk and took flight

Chapter Text

Below, Butler and Juliet found themselves being attacked by the mindless Dolls.  Some of the people went after medical staff or handlers.  But most of them went for the invaders right in their midst.  Butler heard his comms go out with the static, and knew something had happened.

“Don’t kill them!” he shouted to Juliet as he slammed a redheaded boy into a short, blonde girl.  “It’s not their fault.”

Juliet nailed a blonde one about her height in the jaw with her jade ring, then swept the legs out from under her.  “It’s kinda hard when they’re killing you!” Someone grabbed her from behind, but she used their weight against them and brought them over her head and slammed them onto a Doll whose knee Butler had just smashed.

Holly used her Neutrino from the air to get two Dolls behind Butler before landing.  “Artemis is up there,” she said.  “Someone broke in when we did.  Looked like they were using him as a hostage, but they released him.  He’s following Adelle.”

“Our comms are out, too,” Butler reported.  That explained why he hadn’t heard about this beforehand.

“He did that.  His device reprogrammed them all into killers.”

“We have to get to Artemis,” Juliet said as she punched the Doll for the fifth time.  They ran up the stairs, Holly covering their backs with her Neutrino.  Artemis was with Adelle and two men near where a hallway met the catwalk.  The two men ran down, clearing the other stairway for Adelle and her client.  They were both trained in combat, and quickly and efficiently dispatched three Dolls that ran for them.  Butler and Juliet ran for them, pushing away any Dolls in their path so Holly could take them down from the air.

“What the hell?” one of the security men shouted.  

“Alpha first, then the others.  We need to get this under control,” the other replied.  But Alpha - presumably the strange man - had disappeared.

Adelle saw her chance and ran.  Artemis followed her.  He grabbed a picture book that had been left on the couch and jabbed an approaching Doll in the stomach, and then he ran faster.  Adelle led him to the medical bay, a small room with all the supplies to do a minor brain surgery, and closed the frosted glass doors.  Another swipe of her card, and they were locked.  A second later, the Dolls began to pound on the doors.  Artemis backed up against the cabinets along the opposite wall.

“Who is Alpha and what does he want?”

“Alpha is an insane killer.  He’s been insane ever since he came to the Dollhouse, and nothing we could do changed that.  Now he’s insane and has 40 people in his head.  Needless to say, it hasn’t helped him any,” Adelle explained.  She paused, then moved closer.  “Now, why are your people here?”

Artemis decided to try one last lie.  “They’re not my people.”

Adelle turn and slapped him.  “Do not lie to me, Master Fowl.  I screen every client personally.”  Her voice was dangerously cold again.  “You will die in an extraordinarily painful manner once this is over.  I can make it easier or harder.  Either way, there is no escape.”

Artemis smiled his shark smile.  “You have something my friends want.  I simply agreed to help them get it.  You see, I do not look favorably on pimps whose fortunes are made off of prostitution, crime, and shame.”

“Then you have a deep misunderstanding about the methods the Dollhouse uses,” Adelle snapped.

The Dolls were tougher than they looked.  Even after they were injured, they didn’t seem to feel pain and would stand right back up.  It reminded Butler of the time he and Juliet fought a horde of angry, mesmerised wrestling fans.

Only the Dolls were tougher, stronger, and there were fewer of them.  

One of the security men had fought his way up the stairs to where the lab was.  He hadn’t come out in a few minutes.  “I’m going up there!” Juliet shouted.

Butler did not respond because he was busy fighting.  Holly was on the ground, in hand to hand combat, and looking for Artemis too.  Juliet wondered if maybe he wasn’t down there, but up here.  She didn’t have the building plans memorized, and one of the things she’d learned under Madame Ko was that there was always a way to disappear.

There was also always a way to reappear wherever you wanted to be.  Seeing as there were no Dolls there...

Juliet took the stairs two at a time.  Thankfully, the door was already open. Juliet pushed it wider.  A woman had been knocked through a computer.  Ivy checked her pulse.  Still alive, still breathing.  She must have looked dead enough to satisfy whatever Doll had gotten up here.  She would, however, have some nasty scars on her forehead.  Nothing cosmetic surgery wouldn’t fix, anyway.

Juliet let her be and walked toward the far room.  Flashes of light appeared through the fogged glass.  Juliet tensed, ready for a fight.  The second they stopped for more than a minute, Juliet crept forward and opened the door.

The intruder, a blonde man in a suit, shoved the man in the chair off.  Juliet caught a glimpse of the guard’s eyes.  They were open and hollow, like a Doll’s, but he didn’t fight.  He just collapsed, and his eyes kept staring.

“What did you do to him?” Juliet demanded.

The intruder shrugged.  “Come on now, a little brain death never hurt anyone.”

Juliet launched herself over the chair at him, but he pushed her back as if she was nothing.  Juliet huffed as the wind got knocked out of her, but she rolled out of the way when another punch came.  She grabbed his ankle and yanked.  The man lost his balance, but caught himself on the chair.  Still, his surprise gave her a moment to get back up.

“You’re so pretty, I thought you were a doll,” the man said as he threw a roundhouse kick.

“Go to hell,” Juliet spat, moving out of range and grabbing his ankle and flipping him over.

“I see you have the mind of one, nonetheless,” the man grumbled.  Juliet pinned him, but he used his size to his advantage and broke the hold before she could finish.  Juliet fell backwards, and the man twisted around.  He had a knife in his hand, and he brought it to her face.

Juliet closed her eyes and screamed as he slashed.  Five quick slices - punishment, not death.  But they would leave nasty scars.  Her closed eyelids didn’t stop tears from escaping and burning her cuts.

Suddenly, she felt the man’s presence fall away from her.  Carefully, Juliet opened her eyes.  A different, younger blonde man with horrid fashion sense was holding up a hardcover manual slightly harder than a phone book.  The intruder was lying on top of her.

“Oh my god, oh my god...” the man was muttering.  His hands were shaking.  Slowly, he lowered the book, but he didn’t stop looking like a deer in the headlights.  “I just brained Alpha.”

Juliet grabbed the bloody knife from where it had fallen.  

“Oh my god...your face.”  

Juliet felt new tears in her eyes.  Could she still perform if she was scarred and ugly?  She held up the knife.  “I’m not sure you want to mess with me right now.”

The man’s eyes widened.  “Oh.  Right.  Let’s get  out of here before he wakes up.  This way.”  The man stood up, and saw the guard’s body.  “Paul!  Hey, man-friend?” he asked as he checked his pulse and looked for a reaction.

“That guy said he was brain dead,” Juliet told him.  “We need to get out of here.”

“Right.”  The man stood up and walked out through the lab, deciding against checking the woman inside the computer monitor.  He merely muttered to himself.  Juliet was beginning to think he wasn’t the sanest person in the world.  

Hopefully, he was sane enough to get them out.

The doors to the medical lab were going to give way soon.  More Dolls had joined the first group, and now there was a proper mob trying to get into the medical bay.  Adelle grabbed a stone candlestick that had been used for decoration by the office’s owner.  Artemis just simply preferred to stay back.

There was a rattle to their left, and Artemis jumped.  There was a door over there, and the knob was being turned.

Adelle hefted her candlestick.  Artemis tensed to run.

The door burst open, and Adelle didn’t swing.  A brown-haired, alert girl in Dolls’ clothing was standing in the hallway.  “How many are in there?”

“And who are you?” Adelle asked, lowering her ‘weapon’.

Artemis moved closer.  She hadn’t attacked, so she probably wasn’t a Doll.  “Can you get us out of here?”

“Come on, Adelle.  The guy’s got the right idea.  Unless you want to die, I suggest you move your ass.  We’ll hug it out later.”  She took off down the hallway, and Adelle and Artemis followed.  Artemis slammed the door behind him, and they sprinted around a curved hallway, which let out where Butler and another guard had been holding down the fort.  Juliet and another one of the Dollhouse staff came down the stairs.  The young man - clearly not a guard - was hefting a heavy book, and he brained another Doll.  “Thanks,” the guard panted.

Artemis was momentarily distracted by Juliet.  She was covered in blood from her face.  It had been slashed - not deeply, but enough that her shirt was stained.  It needed a bandage, badly, but that was not a priority right now.  Butler appeared to be similarly stunned.  “Juliet!”

“I’m not going to die, brother.”

“The bedchambers!” the girl shouted, and they took off down another curved hallway.  This one opened into a large empty room with coffin-like chambers set into the floor.  A pillow was in each setting, and stools sat near each one.  They were most likely for decor, as the Dolls didn’t seem to have any possessions.

Something about this was chilling.  From above, the Dolls would appear to be being stored like vintage toys.  To be a Doll at night would be like being dead.

“He put a virus in the chair with Sierra,” the blonde guy announced.  “He knew we’d wipe everyone.”

“No, he didn’t,” the girl shot back.  “He used the same tone he used to remote-wipe me.”

“But you’re immune,” Adelle said at the same time.

“No, I’m not,” she said with venom.  “I’m like him.  But I’m not him.”

“Aren’t we lucky,” Adelle muttered.

“What are you?” Artemis asked her.  

“I’m Echo.  I’m not a what, I’m a who.”  She sounded irritated.  Clearly not a good question.

“We’re pretty much trapped in here, if you haven’t noticed,” Butler said.

“If you haven’t noticed, we’re not on the same side,” Adelle shot back.  

Holly had seen Juliet’s face and decided that waiting, shielded, for the Mud Men to make their decision in the room before unshielding wasn’t worth it.  They had the tech, everyone could be wiped afterward.

She unshielded, and the blonde man, Topher, jumped back.  “You tried to shoot me!” he said, pointing at her.  “She tried to shoot me!” he said to Adelle

Holly saw the security guard’s hand creep toward his revolver.  “Don’t even think about it,” she told him.  “Juliet, let me see your face.”

Juliet sat down on the stool and tilted her face up.  Holly cupped her cheeks in her hands and called her magic.  Amber sparks ran down her fingertips and across the tears in Juliet’s skin, knitting them together seamlessly.  Holly removed her hands and studied her work, finally stepping back.

“Thanks,” Juliet said.

The Dollhouse employees watched this wordlessly.  Holly glared at them.

“What happened to you?” Butler asked her.

“Went up there to find some dude being shocked in that chair until he was brain dead.  The guy that was doing it was a psychopath.  I tried to take him down, but he got all slash - happy.  That little guy there,” she pointed to Topher, “brained him with a book.  Thanks for that, by the way.”

Topher nodded.

Echo’s wide eyes got wider.  “Wait.  The guy in the chair.  What’d he look like?”

“Brown hair.  He was a security guard, wore the same stuff, he’s wearing,” she gestured to the other guard, “kinda cute, but not my style.”

“Paul,” Echo breathed.

“So he got Ballard,” the other security guard mused.  

“We need to get to my elevator, it’s our best way out,” Adelle said, commanding.  “You,” she pointed at Butler and Holly, “what weapons do you have?”

“My gun, a garrote, and two blades,” Butler listed.  “And your men?”

“A revolver,” the security guard said.  “We’ve got tranq guns upstairs, but...”

“We’re not going to kill them.  This isn’t their fault.”  Holly cut them off.  “I have a stun gun.”

“Wait!” Everyone turned toward the blonde man.  “My remote wipe device.  The one I designed for Harding.  The first prototypes were being built in the manufacturing lab.  That’s not far, right?”  He turned to Holly.  “Don’t worry.  They’ll just revert the Dolls back to their Doll-states.  They don’t hurt them.”

“Go!” Adelle roared.  “Topher, Mr. Langton, take the young lady with you.”

So Holly helped her new allies fight their way down a few more hallways until they reached the lab.  Sciency components were everywhere.  Foaly would have loved this place, if its purpose wasn’t so twisted.  

It was odd, working with the Dollhouse against a common enemy.  What they did was so morally deplorable, but they were, after all, humans.  They didn’t care about anyone but themselves.  She just wanted to tear them apart.  Adelle was a cold, manipulative bitch...and Topher seemed scared stiff of her.   No wonder.

“It’s the manufacturing lab, not the it’s-finished lab,” Topher muttered.  “Give me a minute.”  He clicked the last few components into place and screwed a few more parts in.  Mr. Langton watched over his shoulder the whole time.  Topher was even twitchier under that circumstance, if it was possible.

“Done!” Topher held up the small gun.

They ran out to test it.  Topher was out front, and Mr. Langton was clearly Holly’s minder.  Probably making sure she didn’t decide to kill Topher, since she’d already threatened him once.  They saw a pretty Asian Doll bashing another guard into the wall.  Blood stained the spot where his head  had been hitting the wood.  She let him drop, and Topher pointed the gun at her.  The scowl transformed into a sleepy smile.

“Did I fall asleep?” she asked.  

They ran past her, zapping every Doll they saw.  Each one asked if they’d fallen asleep.  It was quite surreal, a killer turning back into an innocent without even blinking.  And they couldn’t remember a thing.  Holly wondered if being Imprinted was like being mesmerized.  It probably was, she concluded, except you could resist a mesmer.  You couldn’t resist a brain overhaul.

Finally, they arrived at Topher’s lab.  Mr. Langton pushed open the door with his gun drawn.  “Alpha’s a person,” he hastily explained to Holly, “a psychopath with a knife fetish.  He’d kill you without a second thought.”

But Alpha wasn’t there.

Ballard’s body lay on the floor, and another person sat cradling his head.  Echo.  She was sobbing.

Holly went and knelt down next to her.  “Hello, Echo.  I’m so sorry.”

Echo looked up at her with tearful eyes.  “Can you fix him?”

“I can try,” Holly decided.  “But the brain is tricky-”
“Do it.”

Echo moved back.  Holly placed her hands on Paul’s shoulder.  His eyes were still open.  This was bad.

But Holly summoned her magic, and sent it coursing into him.  It went through her fingers and traveled up to his head.  His eyes filled with amber sparks, and his body began to jerk as his brain reset itself.  This was similar to what had happened to Butler so many years ago.

He began to yell, and Echo looked like she was torn between watching and intervening.  Holly willed her to stay back, and after a brief moment, she did.

Finally, the sparks faded away, Holly was drained, and she sat back on her heels.  The man’s eyes had closed.  “He’ll be fine, I think,” Holly said to Echo.  “He needs to rest.”

Holly stood up.  Echo looked as tired as Holly felt, but she walked forward and hugged the smaller woman with gratitude written on her face.  “Thank you...”

“Major Short.  Well, Major Holly Short,” Holly said.

“Thank you, Holly.”

Chapter Text

Once Topher had zapped everyone, the Dollhouse went back to normal.  Well, there were still the bloodstains, but they were being taken care of.  And there was still the matter of several security breaches, and the several injured Dolls.

Adelle was not happy.  It was almost midnight, and she stood in her office with Mr. Langton, presiding over them as judge, jury and executioner.  Her mouth was a hard crease, and she paced around the upper area of her office before turning to her captives.  The blinds were drawn.

“You have broken into my House and infiltrated its most essential systems with the intent to destroy me,” Adelle began, her voice not so much a threat as a statement of fact.  And from a woman with the ability to be so cold, this was almost worse.  “Your break-in concealed a larger threat.  Now, you presumably have not dealt with Rossum before.  Let me give you an introduction to our policies on intruders: the Attic or death.  But I am willing to offer you a third option, and deny any knowledge of your presence in the building from my superiors.  You will be allowed to walk free-”

The group gave a collective exhale.  The Dollhouse must have been in deeper than Artemis had suspected.  His conversation with Judith felt like it had taken place lifetimes ago.

“-in exchange for Artemis’s life.”

“What?” Butler asked her in a low voice.  Juliet looked shocked, and Artemis...didn’t know how to feel. He’d faced death before, but never had it been so certain.  Normally, there was an escape, but not today.  And he would have to accept it, or Rossum would have his friends too.  There was no way he could win.

“Artemis will go to the Attic in exchange for your freedom.”  Adelle gave a small smile at this.  “Normally, you would all have gone to the Attic, and any resistance would have gotten you killed.  Unfortunately, Major Short is not a candidate for the Attic, and I believe her people would be unhappy if I killed her.  So, Butler, Miss Butler, and Major Short may go free,” Adelle explained.

“But we helped you save Paul and stop the invasion!” Holly said, and her voice shook.

“Paul is nothing to me,” Adelle said venomously.  “He is merely useful for ensuring Echo’s cooperation.  The invasion could have been handled by my staff.  Honestly, you underestimate me.  There is nothing that goes on in the Dollhouse without my knowledge.  You may have fooled me once, but you will never manage it again.”

“Especially not if you have Artemis,” Holly muttered.  They were going to take Artemis.  She’d already almost lost him so many times. Now, fighting back was certain death.  She couldn’t see a way out of here.

Artemis had chosen to attack the snake in its nest and had gotten eaten alive.

“You can’t do this!” Juliet protested.

“Miss Butler, I am the master of this House.  You’ll find that I can. ”  She turned to Mr. Langton.  “Escort them out of the building and take them back to the airport.  Issue a security report for the humans.  They are to be shot on sight if they are witnessed entering Rossum property again at any location.  Give the reason as attempted intrusion.”

Mr. Langton nodded.  “And Fowl?”

“I’ll take him myself.  Remind Topher that the chair should be prepped for the Attic.”

Mr. Langton walked toward Butler, Juliet, and Holly, gently herding them towards the elevator.  “Come on,” he said gently.  “Nothing you can do.”

“Bye, Artemis,” Juliet said, crying for the second time that night.  She found that all of the will to fight had left her body.

“We’ll get revenge for this,” Holly swore.  “We’ll come back for you, Artemis.  You have my word.”

Butler spoke last, and his quiet voice held the most emotion.  “Goodbye, Artemis.”

“Goodbye, Domovoi,” Artemis whispered back, and then they were gone from the room.

Artemis turned to Adelle, waiting to see what’d she’d do next.  Whatever it was, he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of seeing him scared and weak.  Whatever she was going to do, he was going to take it without showing fear.

Take away some of her fun.

The door closed, and Adelle poured herself a drink from the bar.  She drained the glass, and poured another.

She sat on one of the couches.  “Sit down.”

Artemis did.  “What else do you want?”

“The Attic is worse than every Hell you could imagine.  I’ve heard it described as having a word at the tip of your tongue for every thought you never had.  Once you go in, you never come out.”  She leaned in.  “But it is where Rossum keeps its darkest secrets.  If you can find those secrets and get out, then you can go free too.  Everything about you will be wiped from our system.”  She smiled.  “You’ll be a free man, Master Fowl.”

Artemis decided he would never help her.  It would be his last gift to his friends: to stop Adelle from getting whatever information she needed to advance herself up Rossum’s ranks.  Of course, he said none of this, and Adelle gave him no indication as to what she believed his silence meant.

She took him down her elevator, and walked him over the Atrium.  The Dolls milled about like the events of the past few hours never happened.  Echo was among them, as mindless as could be.  Had she been wiped?

They walked into the imprint room.  Computer monitors lined the walls, and the blonde technician,Topher, watched them and entered in the last bits of data.  Without being prompted, Artemis got in the chair.  
“I’m ready,” Topher announced.  He connected leads to Artemis’s forehead and arms.  

“I’m sorry,” he muttered.  “Thanks for helping us with Alpha and healing Paul.”

Then the chair reclined and the world went dark.

Chapter Text

It was a seamless transition between the worlds.

Artemis’s version of Hell was being forced to watch as his friends suffered.  Only, he was with them, inside Orion.  He could feel the pain in every situation, but he watched as he either made things worse or watched them die.  The solutions to these problems was painfully obvious to him, but no one else, and he had no way to convey this to anyone.  So they always died as Orion shouted “Five!” and was as ineffective as could be.

In a way, this same thing had occurred in the Dollhouse.  Adelle had gotten the upper hand.  Things had gotten out of their control, thanks to Alpha, and Artemis had to watch as Adelle martialed her House into action.  From that point on, she had dictated their destiny.  It was a twisted irony.

In all honesty, he’d been the logical choice to put in the Attic.  He was the leader, the mastermind.  He was also the one who united them all.  Taking him would hurt the most.  

Artemis had been in Orion’s head for years - or at least, that’s what it felt like.  He felt the fears of fours and the security brought by fives.  He fought his warring desire for Holly and his wish that their relationship remain platonic as he watched her throat get slit yet again (solution? Have activated a trip wire earlier in the maze and run backwards.  The man would have been crushed as he ran ahead).  This whole maze, this whole thing - it was most certainly awful.  Adelle had meant it when she’d said there was no way out.  Artemis had tried his best to get everyone out of the maze time and time again, and then the maze changed.

He saw all the solutions, and yet, they all died again.

Over, and over and over and over again.  Variations, but always the same end result as he desperately tried to change the outcome.

He wanted to give in, but he couldn’t give Adelle what she wanted.  There was a chance to escape.  There was always a chance, even if it wasn’t clear.

“Artemis?”

There was a voice in his mental replica of his study that Artemis was trapped in while he watched Orion ruin everything yet again.  The voice was not his.  He hadn’t heard it in ages, hadn’t heard anything unfamiliar in ages.  This was a curiosity.  

He turned his chair away from the screen.  Two figures stood behind him.  One was familiar -  Artemis recognized her as Echo, one of the Dolls at the Dollhouse.  The other was a scruffy - looking man in a leather jacket, whom he had never seen before.

“Echo?  How did you get in here?” Artemis asked.  She was the only other person to have appeared in his mind acting of her own accord.  Actually, no one had shown up at all.  Artemis’s theory that she wasn’t a normal Doll had been confirmed.

“We’re in the Attic,” she said needlessly.

“I know.  Adelle put me in here for breaking into the Dollhouse.  What about you?”

“It’s a long story.”

“And your friend?” Artemis looked towards the unfamiliar man.

He looked at Artemis with something like respect.  “Call me Dominic.”

Artemis shook his hand as Butler got shot in the head on the plasma screen wall behind him.  “Now,” he turned to Echo.  “you’ll answer my question.  How did you get in here?”

“We’re chasing a murderer,” Echo said. “To leave your mind, you have to do whatever you fear most.  We have to get out of here before he finds us.”

And suddenly, it was so clear.  Artemis opened the top drawer of his desk - and like always, there was a letter opener.  He held it carefully, and walked to the plasma screen as Holly was being dismembered and his stupid body yelled things about the number five.

He had to lose any perceived sense of control.  He had to resign himself to fate, to insanity.  To the fact he could lose.  He had to give in to Orion and all of his failures.

It was terrifying, but enticing, like a beautiful frog whose colors meant poison.

He walked over to the screen and dragged the blade across it, destroying the barriers between his sanity, and Orion’s lack of it.  And then, he disappeared.

Artemis appeared alongside Dominic and Echo in a war-torn desert, the next mind.  Gunfire echoed in the air, while soldiers in tan camo fired at what Artemis recognized as Al-Qaeda radicals.  They were in Afghanistan, in the 2000s.  “Let’s go,” Echo said.  They ran for a stone building that looked like it might provide some shelter.  Dust flew up around them, and the noise of gunfire and IEDs was deafening.  

Artemis saw a group of soldiers get mowed down from behind by some sneaky terrorists.  They never saw it coming.  Echo ran over for a second, and disappeared by their bodies.  She returned with two assault rifles and several magazines.  She threw one to Dominic, who caught it with ease and checked it to see if it was loaded.

“Let’s get him,” Dominic growled.

Artemis’s shoes were awful for running in, so he kicked them off and ran barefoot across the hot sand.  Something cut his foot, but they were about ten yards away from the shelter.  A terrorist took a shot at them, and Echo and Dominic returned fire.

The masked face disappeared behind a burnt - out wall, and they kept running

Seven yards.

Five.

Three.

Almost there.

Echo kicked in the door, sending up a cloud of dust.  She fired on one of the room’s two occupants, a man dressed entirely in black.  She paused, and Dominic ran in and shot after him as he escaped.  The other two occupants stood there, utterly stunned.  They were both the same man, but one was wearing tattered robes and the other had on a US Army uniform.  They looked confused.

Echo stepped up to the one in the uniform, and Dominic took the other.  “You’re in the Attic,” Echo told her version of the man.

Dominic repeated this to his copy, but the man just vanished.  Dominic did not look surprised at this.

How long had they been traveling through people’s minds until they found him?

“You need to stop being afraid.  This is all in your mind.”  

The man seemed disoriented.  “I know you.  You’re Echo.”

“You’re in the Attic,” she repeated.

“That explains it,” he said.  The man led them outside, and began to pace.  The alley was deserted.  Echo sat down, but Artemis stayed on his guard.  Getting shot in a war zone was not how he wanted his day to end.  And in his opinion, Echo and Dominic were a bit too casual about their rifles.  Artemis had never liked guns, and he didn’t like how comfortable the two were with theirs.

“How long have you been here?” the man finally asked.

“Feels like years,” Echo admitted.  “But I don’t know.”

The man looked at Artemis.  “What about you?”  

Artemis shrugged.  “I was sent here before Echo.  So, longer, but I don’t know by how much.”

“You haven’t been here nearly as long as I have,” Dominic reassured him.  “Trust me on that one.  We’re after a murderer.  He goes by Arcane.  I’ve been chasing him for God knows how long.”

The man put a new magazine into his own rifle.  “Then we need to go on the offensive and trap him.  Make sure he doesn’t hurt anyone else.”

“We need to stop him before he gets to Priya,” Echo agreed.

“Excuse me?” Artemis asked.  “I know I am not part of the Dollhouse and am simply Adelle’s prisoner, but I’d like to know who you people are.  If this man is as skilled as Dominic makes him sound, then reducing the variables on our end is going to help us.”

The man nodded.  He held out a hand to Artemis.  “Tony Ceccoli.”

Artemis shook it.  “Artemis Fowl the Second.  How did you get here?”

“I exposed Rossum’s hive mind to the fact Adelle DeWitt is trying to take them down,” he said, smiling.  “Echo and Priya went after me, and gave Rossum some hard proof that Adelle was up to something fishy or was losing control.  Priya - I love her.  I’ve always loved her, no matter what they did to my head.  And we can’t let Arcane get to her.”

Artemis nodded.  “And you, Echo?”

“Rossum began developing weapons based off of my mind, and I went to rescue Vic - Tony of my own accord.  I kept secrets from her, and she really did not like that.”

Tony turned to Artemis. “How about you?”

“I broke into Rossum with an intent to steal their technology.  My friends and I would have succeeded if Alpha hadn’t broken in and tried to use me as a hostage.  For our help dealing with Alpha, she agreed to release my friends, but put me in the Attic.  If I get out, I’m free.  I simply wanted to destroy them and their technology.  I see I’m not alone in that goal.”

Dominic sighed.  “I was a mole planted in the Dollhouse by the NSA.  Simple enough.”

“He was the former head of security, and he tried to kill me.  Several times,” Echo clarified.  So there was bad blood between them, but she needed Dominic’s knowledge of the Attic to find her friends - Tony and Priya.  “We’re linked to all the other Dollhouses.  We met a man from the one in Tokyo.”

“If it is a chain of people, then we just have to find the weak link.” Artemis said, and a plan began to come together in his mind.

Artemis stayed in the shadows yet again as Echo and Dominic moved into position and created a trap for Arcane.  This nightmare world was an old, abandoned apartment.  Noise was coming from one of the old bedrooms - the one Priya was supposedly in.  Artemis knew he shouldn’t, but he wondered what the woman’s nightmare would be.

In a morbid way, it was fascinating, learning what these people were so afraid of.  It revealed more about them than any heartfelt conversation.  It was something his younger self might have found fascinating, useful even.  But Artemis was not the boy he once was, and he wanted to destroy it.

Stop Rossum, save all the people they were pimping out.  Save the employees who were too scared to speak out.  Save the people in the Attic who had spoken out.

Echo had told Artemis to stay out of the way, but he wouldn’t.

“Arcane,” Artemis whispered.  “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”  He edged the creaky door open a crack.

The woman inside was Sierra - the Doll he’d had pretend to be his date.  She was making love to a double of Tony, and Artemis looked away, shocked.  He’d thought she’d been doing...something else.  Certainly not that.  The couple didn’t seem to notice him, thankfully.  Voyeurism wasn’t much to Artemis’s tastes.  But out of the blue, a shriek drew Artemis out of his head.

Sierra was now dressed in a hospital gown, and the man on the mattress on the floor was no longer Tony.  He was covered in blood, and looked like a decaying corpse.  He twitched on the ground.

Then Priya crashed into Artemis, running for an exit, any exit.  She was terrified.

“Get me out of here,” she sobbed, her voice rising to hysterical pitches.  “Please, just get me out!”    

Somewhere underneath his new panic, Artemis noted that she had an Australian accent.  The man’s blood was smeared on her face.

The man began to rise from the mattress.  He sat up, and his waxy, bloody lips curved into a smile.  He held up a serrated blade the length of Artemis’s arm.

“Looks like we’ll have a threesome.  Too bad I prefer my men dead.”

Priya screamed again and leaped behind Artemis, almost dragging him back.  Her hands were on his shoulders and shaking.

Artemis turned to face her again.  “Priya, you’re in the Attic.  This is in your head.  You can fight.”  Artemis did his best to keep his voice even.

“I know!” she choked out between sobs.  “Don’t you think I haven’t tried?”

The man was walking towards them.  Artemis blinked, and he was dead again, back on the mattress.  “It’s over,” he breathed, moving to hug the girl, still shaking from fear.

But it wasn’t done. A black form appeared in the center of the room, seemingly out of thin air.  “For you it is,” Arcane said.

“Fuck you,” Priya told him, her voice still shaking.

And then the rope was looped around his neck, and Echo, Tony, and Dominic slammed him through a wall. Artemis grabbed a sculpture, but he didn’t follow Arcane.  He began to slam the man’s corpse until the face was unrecognizable.  Finally, he turned back to Priya.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Artemis took her hand and led her to the new hole in the wall.  A man was in the center of a circle formed by Artemis’s allies.  It must have been Arcane without the mask, but Artemis had not expected the killer to look like he did.  He was wearing a suit, and had crazy brown hair and wild blue eyes.  He looked more broken than he did malicious.

Artemis jumped down to get a closer look, avoiding the guns Echo and Tony still held.

“What have you done?  What have you done?” Arcane shouted as he threw the rope to the ground.

Dominic was just as confused as Artemis, apparently.  “Arcane?”

“Clyde, actually.”  He reached up and scratched his head.  He seemed very nervous about this whole situation.

“We’re in your mind,” Artemis deduced, as if they could ever leave this place.  He stated it like a fact, not a question.

Clyde nodded.

The street outside the alley they’d landed in was complete chaos.  People were lighting buildings on fire, shooting each other, brawling in the streets.  Electronic components were smashed and burned everywhere.  Artemis picked up a wire and examined it.

The world had dissolved into anarchy.

Everything was littered everywhere, junk and bodies were wherever they’d been killed or thrown.

“This is your worst nightmare?” Echo asked.

Clyde shook his head.  “This isn’t a nightmare.  This is far worse.  This is the shape of things to come.”

Artemis raised an eyebrow.  He’d become deluded after all this time living through the fall of civilization.  Naturally, someone who kept living through this fear would believe that his exact delusion was inevitable.

Without any prelude, Echo had Clyde pressed up against a wall with a knife at his throat.  “How did you do that?” he squeaked, stunned but not scared.  Then realization dawned in his eyes.  “You’re aware!”

“Is there any reason we shouldn’t be?” Artemis asked at the same time Dominic asked his question.

“Why do you call yourself Arcane?”

The one asked in a more threatening manner was answered first.  “It sounded badass,” Clyde admitted.  Echo moved the knife a little closer to his Adam’s apple, and fear entered his eyes.  “Wait!  Don’t kill me!  I’m your only chance to take down Rossum!”

Echo stepped back.  She sounded annoyed.  “That’s my line.”

Artemis rolled his eyes at the posturing and snapped at him, hoping to get this train back on the rails. “Explain.  Explain how you can do something no one else has managed to achieve.”

“I know things you don’t!”

“Like what?”

“By being Arcane, by killing people - I was taking out Rossum’s mainframe.  Not the person who knows how to access it.  Their actual mainframe.  It’s our brains.  They hook us up, keep us in a fear state to increase processing speed, and use our brains like computer chips.”  Despite the fact two people looked as if they wanted to murder him, and had guns, he sounded slightly enthused by what he had been proposing.

“You tried to kill us!” Tony shouted.

“I was trying to reduce their number of available CPUs!  They’ve got hundreds of us, all hooked up.  The faster that number hits zero, the better.  Freeing people from eternal Hell was a bonus,” he added.  

“And how do you know this is true?” Echo asked.

Clyde didn’t answer right away.  “It was my idea,” he admitted quietly.

Artemis was about to probe further when some men with guns ran towards them from the other end of the alley.  Tony took them down with three practiced shots.  He really was career military - it wasn’t just his nightmare.  “We need shelter!  Now!”

They ran out into the open square.  Here, it was complete chaos.  Guns fired and people scattered like ants.  A man threw a punch at Echo, but she dodged and knocked him down without missing a beat.  Someone screamed.  Artemis didn’t look, but kept running - it was what Butler would have told him to do.  Someone grabbed his sleeve, but he threw a badly-aimed punch and shrugged off his jacket, leaving his assailant with nothing to hit.  

Sierra pushed Artemis down as something something flew through the spot where his head had been.  Behind them, something burst into flames.

Echo launched herself over a barricade formed by the metal husks of burnt-out cars with ease, but Artemis had to run around.  He heard more gunfire and saw two would-be attackers downed by Tony’s gunfire.

Dominic began to fire on them too, and so did Echo.  One got past their line, but Dominic bashed him over the head with the butt of the weapon.

“That way!”

They turned and ran away from the bulk of the chaos and into another dark side street.  Clyde found a set of stairs leading to the subway, and led them down into the tunnels.

If there were people down there, they were dead.  There was no hope if they were trapped, and there was no way any of the trains were still running to take out the idiots that might run onto the rails.

Clyde seemed to move on instinct as he found a small office and led them inside.  Echo and Tony barricaded the door.  One of the walls was shoddily constructed out of plywood.  Artemis hoped no one had noticed the wall or the fact they were down there.  It was the one opening they couldn’t do anything about.

Then Tony sat down next to Sierra and told her his nightmare was that he was trapped in battle, fighting to get home to her.  Artemis already knew Tony was in her dream, but he listened anyway as she explained the second half.  “And then you turned into the rotting corpse of a rapist I killed.”

And then it clicked that Priya was Sierra, the Doll Artemis had used, and his heart dropped.

Artemis immediately regretted his choices, he regretted everything. Rossum had to know about her past - they knew nearly everything else.  So why was she still available for romantic engagements if she had been mistreated before?

At least he hadn’t included a night together in his fantasy.  He’d considered that, to see if the Dolls had actual libido, but the idea was too close to rape for Artemis’s liking.

“Oh, and you - “ Priya called to Artemis.

“Artemis,” he offered.

“Artemis, thanks for hitting him.  I mean, he was dead, and it was all in my head, but thanks.  I’m Priya, by the way.”

“It was no problem.  I generally disapprove of rapists, be they alive or dead.”  He did not mention that he had almost become one.

“Artemis...” Tony mused.  “That’s a girl’s name.”

“Artemis is the name of the hunter.  And that’s what I do: I hunt.  At the moment, Rossum is my target, but I will take the computers for now.”  Tony looked confused by this, and Artemis knew his explanation had been too rushed to understand.

Artemis wasn’t sure whether or not Tony knew about the fairies - really, whether anyone here knew about the true origins of the tech - so he didn’t mention them.  Tony had been the Doll standing with Priya when they’d invaded the Dollhouse, but he’d been in his Doll State.  Artemis decided not to tell them what he knew.  No good sounding insane now.  He needed them to be able to trust each other if they were going to engineer the downfall of Rossum.

Something slammed on the ground, making Artemis jump.  Echo had placed a chair in the center of the room.  She was quite angry.  “Talk!” she commanded.  Clyde needed no persuading to sit down and do as she said.

“I’m one of the -”

“Original founders of Rossum,” Artemis finished.  “I knew the moment you told us the mainframe was your idea.  Your hell is what you realized would happen if development of the technology was allowed to continue unchecked.  You saw what your corporation had created, and you regretted it.”  Artemis explained further at Clyde’s look of shock.  “Clyde Ambrose.  Your name is scattered through many, many documents on Rossum’s internal servers.”
“You hacked Rossum?”

“My friend hacked Rossum,” Artemis corrected.  “For my plan to work, the Dollhouse had to believe I was a legitimate customer.”

Clyde looked impressed.  “And did your friend discover there were two founders?”

Artemis didn’t reply, because he hadn’t known that.  Clyde clearly realized that because he continued his explanation.  “There were two of us.  My best mate from Uni and I discovered the EEC coding used to make the technology work.”

“EEC?” Tony asked.

“Encephalic Coding and Communication.  Anyway - ”

Artemis raised an eyebrow.  “Are you certain you didn’t learn EEC from someone else?”

Clyde shook his head emphatically.  “No.  I developed most of it.  My friend came up with the technology.”

“Did you purchase any of it from a strange supplier?”

Clyde was, once again, surprised at the depth of Artemis’s knowledge.  “We did purchase some of the more specialized parts from a custom computer component firm.”

“That firm was selling you fairy technology.  Illegally.  The EEC is rather unique, which made me wonder if it was truly original, but it was also far too advanced for the technology of the time.  In order to do anything, you would have needed the better fairy components, devices, and software.  Then, once you had them, you began building your own and never switched over to anything else, even after suitable components existed,” Artemis explained.

“I forget the name of the firm, they went out of business shortly before our IPO, and my friend insisted everything about them be wiped from our systems.  That was all I knew.  But are you seriously saying this is all fairies?  I don’t know what you’ve seen here, but we don’t live in a storybook.”  Clyde’s interest turned to dismissive irritation.

Tony and Priya looked like they agreed.

“He’s less crazy than you are,” Echo shot back, but then, she had seen the fairies.  “Go on.”

“My friend had the plans for the technology too.  I had no idea where it should even be applied.  He was sure we were going to make history.  I don’t think he was wrong.”  Clyde looked around, then chuckled at the irony.  

“How did you get here?”

“Early on.  Our first test subject was to be imprinted with my personality.  But we knew it was going to be far too dangerous to give a random person access to everything in my head.  So we modified the imprint a bit, took out the ambition and certain secrets.”

“And you were betrayed,” Echo confirmed.

“Yes.  Clyde 2.0 - that’s what we called my copy - was ordered by my partner to clear out my brain and hook me up as a computer.  That was how that Attic was founded.  I suppose I made history after all - the first human computer.  I’ve been here since 1993.”

That was over twenty years ago.  Twenty years of living through the apocalypse.  Even Artemis had to admit that he would have done anything to shut this place down by that point.  Something exploded outside, but Clyde kept talking.

“My hell has been statistical probability scenarios as to where the technology might lead.  All but 3% end...well, you see.”

In disaster.  In complete and utter failure.  In an apocalypse.  No wonder humans were never meant to have fairy technology.  Even Artemis was only allowed a few bits and pieces.  It was far too advanced for them to control.  

“What might Rossum do if they were planning to take over?” Artemis asked.

Clyde thought for a moment.  “First, they’d install imprinted people in the major world governments.”

“Did that already,’ Echo told him.

Artemis hadn’t known about that.  Rossum had penetrated society farther than he’d assumed.  Not only did they have near-monopolies on medical supplies and research, they also ran underground prostitution businesses for the rich and famous, and now they were on their way to control governments.  To be able to do something like that and continue to remain hidden - it was truly impressive.  The potential for the uses of the technology were seemingly limitless.

“Then they’re on their way.”

“Wait.”  Everyone looked toward Dominic.  Artemis had forgotten he was there, having been so silent.  “Who’s your friend?  What’s his name?”

Clyde looked frustrated.  “That’s one of the things they took from me!  I know he existed, but I don’t know if it was a man or a woman or where I met them.  I know they helped, and that was it.  I can’t remember the faces or names of anyone that might give them away.  I don’t know who gave my friend the illegal technology.  Never mind that Clyde 2.0 is probably in another body by now.”  He clenched his fists in frustration.  For a moment, the room lapsed into silence except for the distant gunfire and explosions.

“And there’s no way out, is there?” Priya said what everyone else was thinking.

“No.”

Artemis thought for a moment.  “My contacts could get deep enough into Rossum’s computers...”

“Your contacts are out there and we are in here,” Tony reminded him.

There was a pause.  “There were rumors among the security personnel in here that someone had seen their face,” Clyde said, standing.  He began to pace.  “But apparently, she was wiped.”

He got progressively more agitated until Echo asked, “Caroline?”

“Yes!” Clyde shouted, pointing at her.  “Caroline!”

There were a thousand Carolines in Los Angeles.  That didn’t lead them anywhere.  But Dolls originally named Caroline - the list would narrow pretty quickly.  They had to send a message to the outside world, see if they could find this person.  Considering Rossum controlled these computers, and Rossum had Caroline...  

“Why does that sound familiar?” Priya asked the silence.

No one answered her for a moment.  Finally, Echo spoke up.  “I’m Caroline.”

Had Echo regained her original personality?  Was that possible?

“Well, that’s who I was before I became a Doll,” she clarified.

“Did you get your memories back?”  Artemis asked.

Echo glared at him.  “ Her memories.  I’m my own person.  And no, I don’t have them.”

A hail of bullets rained through the plywood, and Artemis dropped to the ground.  Tony motioned for them to hide behind a cabinet, and Artemis joined them.

“We need to get out of here,” he whispered.

“There’s no way out!” Clyde said again.  “Your minds are engaged in such a way that even if you were unplugged, your brain would be fried.”  He looked away.  “I’m sorry.”

It was silent, except for the sound of gunfire from outside.  Artemis could not see a way out.  Any message he could send had too high a risk of being misinterpreted and leading to him being unplugged, while staying in here meant he was in hell, leaving Rossum to take over the world.

Was that what they wanted?  A world of Dolls for the rich?

Artemis’s breath caught in his throat as Echo stood up and stepped into the center of the room.  

“Get down!” Tony said through gritted teeth.  He knew what was going to happen next.

But he was too late.  The next few shots went through Echo’s shoulder and stomach.  She gasped in pain and fell to the moldy carpet.  Artemis crawled to a table, and pulled off the tablecloth.  It was futile, but without her help, he wouldn’t have gotten so close to discovering the secret to Rossum’s technology.  And they still needed her to get to the secret founder of Rossum.  She couldn’t die, not yet.  This would all be over if she died.

He crawled back over and began to try to staunch the worst bleeding in her stomach.  Echo groaned and tried to bat him away.  “Stop.  I know a way out,” she whispered.

And Artemis almost did, but she was dying and she was their only hope.  Priya and Tony crawled over to help.

“Oh my god,” Priya whispered.  She was crying.  “Echo, oh my god.”

“Listen.  My loop was watching you get shot as we were escaping from the Attic.  Where our bodies are...I can unplug.”

“How?” Tony asked.  “You’ll die.”

“I will, but the computer disengages when a person flatlines.”

Artemis looked at Clyde. “To avoid potentially corrupting the data?” he asked.

“Correct.”  Clyde stood solemnly in the corner of the room.

“You’re planning to come back from the dead?” Tony was skeptical, Artemis could tell.  He was doubting this plan already.  Too many variables.

“You’ll be there when we flatline, then.” Priya was the only one with even a little hope for this.

“No,” Echo gasped.  “I’m not normal...I can do it.  But I can’t...can’t risk you.”

Artemis interrupted her.  “One of my eyes is elven.  I used to have magic.  I’m a child genius turned criminal mastermind turned philanthropist, and I once overrode a fairy mind wipe, which uses a derivative of the imprinting technology.  I’m not normal either.  If I get out, I’m free to do what I wish - and if I wish to destroy Rossum, so be it.”  He looked Echo straight in the eye.

“We’re special too,” Priya said.

Tony looked at her with sorrow in his eyes.  “Priya,” he reproached.

“I only had Priya and Tony in the other scenario.  And it only worked if I didn’t have to save them.”

“We can save ourselves.  You’ve been inside my mind.  Tony and I are both fighters.  You saw our fears and darkest secrets when you were inside our heads. If you think we’re going to give up now, you’re an utter and absolute idiot.  We’re a team - and teams go together.  We’re all just as weird as you are, and we can do it.”

“What about you?”

“I’m staying,” Dominic answered.  “There are enough people in Hell here.  I’d go, but I have to help them.  Rossum’s using them in the worst possible way.  I have to help shut it down.”

“Clyde?” Artemis asked.  The older man could be a valuable asset, should he choose to risk death to save himself.

“My body is in DC.”

Artemis’s face fell slightly.  “Los Angeles.”

“We’re going to teach them to be aware,” Clyde continued, “and tell them how to face their fears.  We might be unable to unhook, but if we can reduce Rossum’s ability to use them, then it’s worth the trouble.”

“Might be fun,” Dominic agreed.  “I guess I’m glad I didn’t kill you when I had the chance,” he told Echo.  “Send us a signal when you’re ready for us to destroy the mainframe.”

Echo nodded slightly.  She was paler than before, and her breathing was rougher.  “Don’t...get sloppy,” she told him.

And then the light left her eyes, and her chest stopped rising and falling.  Her head lolled to the side.  Artemis felt for a pulse, but there wasn’t one there.  “She’s gone,” he whispered.

Priya nodded.  She was still crying.  “Help me,” she told Tony.

They stood, and joined in a long embrace.  They began to kiss passtionately, before they stopped and simply hugged again.  Priya coughed once or twice, and whispered something to Tony, before he lowered her to the ground.  A deep red spot stood out on her hospital gown.  He’d stabbed her, right through the ribs into the heart.

“Good luck,” Tony told Artemis.  “I’m going up.”

“Leave your knife.”

Chapter Text

Artemis felt pressure on his chest - hard and fast.  Whoever was pressing on him was nearly breaking his ribs.  He drew in a huge breath, and the air was warm and sterile-tasting.  Odd.

The pressing stopped, and Artemis opened his eyes slowly.  He blinked a few times to clear his vision, but it stayed blurry and distorted.

Someone pulled a tube out of his mouth, and Artemis spit out the plastic thing holding it in place.  They peeled back a plastic sheet from over his eyes.  

“Come on.  We need to go,” a familiar voice said.  Echo.

He was in the Attic storage.  Artemis found himself in a skintight white bodysuit that left only his hands, head, and feet exposed.  He was lying in a plastic coffin without a lid that was half-filled with blue gel.  He’d been covered in plastic sheeting.

Something buzzed somewhere, and it took Artemis a second to realize it was the computer.

“Are you okay?” Priya asked from his other side.  She was wearing a matching white bodysuit, as was Echo.

“Fine.”  He sat up.  Everything was working.  Amazing.  The Dollhouse had not ceased to surprise Artemis.  

Priya and Echo helped him down, and although his legs were stiff, they held his weight.  The concrete floor was cold, but Echo didn’t give him any time to adjust before telling him, “We need to get to Tony.”

She led them out into a hallway, where they followed the monotone beep of a heart monitor with a flatline.  Oddly enough, Artemis didn’t see any security.  He also didn’t see any bodies.  They must have a skeleton crew up here.  Enough to monitor the computers and comatose prisoners, and no more.  Fewer people to talk, and if no one was able to escape, why would they need guards?

Of course, no one would talk anyway.  Rossum wouldn’t recruit you if you were stupid.  This whole setup, and what Clyde had told them, was proof of that.  Also the fact that they’d managed to hide the use of fairy technology from the LEP for the past twenty three years.  No one else had pulled that one off, not even Artemis.

A few turns and dimly-lit hallways later, they reached another door.  Echo used a passcard to open it.  None of them had been allowed to keep their personal items, so she had to have stolen it.  This shift was taken care of, apparently.  They wouldn’t be bothered.

Tony was in a room exactly like Artemis’s.  Echo ran in and began chest compressions, while Priya stood by biting her nails.

Less than a minute later, Tony was up and they were running along another hallway when Echo suddenly stopped.  She ran her fingers along the wall, until she found something.  Pulling back a section of plaster, she revealed a ladder built into the wall.  “It goes to the Dollhouse,” she explained, and climbed down.  Priya followed her, and Tony followed Priya.  Artemis was last.  The ladder opened into a utility hallway, which had a door to the main atrium in it.  It was so bizarre, to have been through minds and hells, but to never have left the building.

How long had they been in there anyway?  The Dollhouse looked the same as it had in the brief glimpses Artemis had gotten.  A peek up into the observation deck confirmed Topher was still working there, and his assistant was up and working again.

The Dolls.  Artemis couldn’t recall if any of them looked the same.  They still acted the same, and it was still disturbing.

A guard and Mr. Langton walked over.  Echo looked relieved.  “Paul!”  

“I wasn’t expecting to see you again,” he said.  Artemis could tell he was pleased to see Echo.  And so was Mr. Langton.

“Adelle wants to see you.  She’s calling a meeting of the staff involved in...this.  You know where storage is.  Get cleaned up and meet us at the executive elevator,” he instructed.

And Echo was off, leading them to shelves of clothing outside a hallway.  At the end of the hall, there was a fogged glass door.  She grabbed some from a compartment marked Echo.  Priya and Tony grabbed theirs from boxes marked Sierra and Victor, respectively.  Artemis didn’t grab any, and Echo realized this.  She stepped back, thought for a moment, and grabbed the clothing from the compartment marked Oscar, stuffing them into his arms.

“The shower is in there,” Echo said, “We can do it in shifts.”

“Wait.”  Tony looked slightly worried.  “Is there only one shower?  For guys and girls?”

“Dolls don’t feel sexual attraction.  They don’t care.  Girls are going first.”  Echo and Priya went in.

“This is so weird,” Tony said, breaking the silence.

Artemis nodded in agreement.  “When I was twelve, I hunted fairies to steal their gold.  When I was twelve, I would have scoffed if you told me a major corporation was making custom prostitutes and keeping them in underground lairs.”

Tony winced.  “Hey, I was one of those.  My contract finished before I was put in the Attic.”

Artemis was a bit more surprised than he should have been.  Tony didn’t seem like the kind of person to be easily manipulated.  “Seriously?” was all he could think to ask.

“Seriously.  Five years of my life gone, just like that.”  He snapped his fingers to demonstrate.  “I don’t remember anything during those five years, except for the feeling that someone loves me and I love them.  That would be Priya.  Echo said that I loved her, no matter what personality they shoved into my head.”  He smiled at the thought of loving his girlfriend even when he wasn’t himself.  

“You volunteered for this?”

Tony nodded, becoming more serious again.  “Well, the Dollhouse finds people who will accept no matter what, then makes them an offer.  I fought in Afghanistan for awhile.  They sent me back home after a few months on the front lines, and I developed PTSD so bad I couldn’t leave the house without suffering the most awful flashbacks.  If I saw someone with brown hair, I’d see my buddy getting shot.  If I saw someone in camo or wearing dog tags, I was back in the desert trying not to get my ass handed to me.  I considered killing myself, and that’s when they moved in.  Five years of my life was all they wanted.  I wouldn’t remember it at all.  In return, they would get rid of my  PTSD, give me more money than I could spend in a lifetime, and provide me a way back into the outside world when I was done.  It was too good to be true.  I accepted.”

“But they sent you to the Attic instead of letting you go.”

Tony shook his head.  “They let me go.  Rossum recaptured me using a bunch of my buddies.  They’d signed onto Rossum as some experimental super-soldier program, and Rossum wanted me to complete the set.  They hooked me up to a neural network.  I knew what everyone else was thinking, and they knew what I was thinking.  Orders reached everyone in under a second, no matter how far you were from the leader.  There was no way to launch a sneak attack.  And all I wanted to do was obey.  Then Echo and Priya arrived, and Echo hooked herself up to us, let Rossum know she was sentient, and that Adelle was planning to betray them, and got me out.  We were all punished, because Adelle couldn’t let them think she had any other plan but to do their bidding, or that she was losing control.”  He paused for a moment, clearly thinking.  “And now you have to explain something to me.”

“What?”

“The fairies.  Honestly, I can tell you’re smart, but you sound insane.”

How much to tell him.  “You seem set on not believing me.”

“I’m just confused.  Fairies are kid’s fantasies.  They’re not real, but you talk about them like they are.  So what are you really talking about?”

Artemis shrugged.  “I am a diplomat between the Lower Elements and the humans, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Tony sighed.  “Pretend I’ll believe you and tell me anyway.”

So Artemis did.  “When I was twelve, I kidnapped a fairy and ransomed her for enough gold to repay the debts my family had accumulated in my father’s absence.  Admittedly, not the best move, but I was desperate.  Social services was beginning to notice that things were falling apart in my father’s absence.  After some...negotiation...the ransom was halved in exchange for saving my mother.  Eventually, I was able to prove myself to be a worthy ally, and they were able to provide valuable assistance when I needed it.  One of them helped me break in.  She was supposed to capture the programmer and take him and the chair.  The LEP wanted him for questioning, but I suspect their head of technology simply wanted to chat with someone who wasn’t constantly trying to hack him.”

“LEP?”

“Lower Elements Police.”

“So, the fairies, assuming they exist, live underground?”

Artemis nodded.  “I’ve been down there.  Humans drove them there before recorded history.  We polluted their land and used their resources until it was too dangerous for us to coexist.”

Tony shook his head.  “I gotta see this myself.”  He smiled to himself.  Artemis had suspected that would be his reaction.  Still disbelief, but at least accepting Artemis as a person.

The girls came out, and Artemis and Tony went in and showered.  They were motion activated, and the water was the perfect temperature.  Dispensers around the edge of the frosted glass placed around the shower area for modesty gave out squirts of shampoo and soap.

It was things like this that made the Dollhouse even more deeply disturbing than it already was.

They came out in the athletic wear pajamas the Dolls wore.  Artemis would have preferred almost anything else.

They walked back out as the Dolls were heading to bed.  The atrium was nearly empty, and their footsteps made barely any noise on the heated floors.  They went up the stairs to the elevator, where Mr. Langton and Paul were waiting.  Mr. Langton swiped his card, and everyone gathered inside.  It was a tight fit, and yet no one spoke.

The doors opened into the office that was now far too familiar for Artemis’s taste.  The last time he’d been here had been when he was sent to the Attic.  He did not want to be here again.

It was the last place he’d seen his friends.

If his plan had worked, he never would have seen this again.

Topher, his assistant, and Adelle were already in the room.  Adelle waited for them to take their places.  Echo stood, while Artemis, Priya, and Tony took the couch Topher’s assistant wasn’t sitting on.  She had bruises on her face, and gauze was taped above her eye.  Topher had a fading bruise on his jaw.  So it mustn’t have been too long after the attack, or perhaps Alpha had tried again.

“What did you learn?” Adelle asked them, skipping the pleasantries Artemis had formerly come to expect from her.

Echo explained about Dominic - she called him Mr. Dominic - and Clyde.  She told them how all the Attics were connected, and how to get out.  She also explained what would happen if Rossum was allowed to continue developing their technology.  For some reason, Topher began to pace more quickly and wring his hands during this part.  Artemis wondered if it was because he knew more than he had ever said.  Artemis, Priya, and Tony contributed from time to time, but it was clear Echo was in charge.

This was her fight, Artemis realized.  For some reason, Echo has invested herself in her entirety to this battle.  She was raging against her creator.  Artemis was a tool.  Adelle was a tool.  Stopping her was not going to happen.  

Adelle took this with about as much visible emotion as one of her blank Dolls.  “I’m rather surprised Master Fowl hasn’t demanded his freedom yet.”

“I am still in a position to help the LEP achieve their objective,” Artemis replied.  “You wish to see Rossum destroyed.  I want to stop development of their technology.  I believe we can help each other, Miss DeWitt.  And besides, if I leave, you may ban me from entering any of Rossum’s property, as you have my friends.  Fowl Industries would find such an action suspicious.  I’m not leaving until the job is done.”

Echo nodded in approval.

“But I would like a phone call after the meeting.”

“Done.”   She turned back to Echo.  “We’re ready to proceed on our end.”

Echo stood up and faced her.  “We’re not.”

“Excuse me?”

“Caroline.  We need Caroline, and like it or not, she’s going to need me.  This is her war we’re fighting.  She might as well see it end.”

“She knows who’s in charge,” Mr. Langton said.  He looked thoughtful.  “The only person to ever be able to identify the man or woman in charge of this whole operation.”

“Or hermaphrodite!” Topher exclaimed.  Artemis was getting the impression Topher was not all that right in the head sometimes.  “You know what we also need to talk about?  How that tech I designed that you,” he pointed to Adelle, and Artemis could tell he was quite bitter about whatever had happened, “handed over to Harding because you liked having a bar - how does that lead to the apocalypse?”

“What did you do?” Artemis demanded.  This was new.  The fairies hadn’t known about major developments, just the chairs and basic stuff.  The apocalypse technology hadn’t even been in a single memo.  He had known that Rossum should not have had the technology in order to protect the fairies, but he hadn’t known that there would be real-world consequences beyond the Dolls.

“I tried to figure out what the heck Harding was up to when he tasked me with creating the remote wipe device.  Honestly, that’s it.  Your little friend messed with my head once.  Please don’t do it again, I like being sane.”  Amazingly, he seemed to be flinching away from Artemis.

Sane may have been a relative term.  But Artemis also had to pity him, just a little.  Topher didn’t seem to be a person that could stand up for himself.

“Even without your help, Harding would have gotten that device, if he really wanted it,” Artemis told him.  “We have to make sure it is never used.”

“That isn’t enough,” Echo argued.  “We need to cut the head off the snake.  Even without the technology, Rossum will continue.”

“I have a contact that can make a virus that will destroy their data and melt down their servers,” Artemis added. “Even if we take out the head, we can’t leave them enough information to rebuild.  Either they reconstruct themselves for the next forty years with a lot of media attention, or they don’t do anything at all.”

“But we also don’t know if Caroline will give us that information.  Echo is truly amazing, but Caroline is a real person, and that is her body.  She may not appreciate Echo using it,” Topher’s assistant added.

“Ivy’s right,” Topher confirmed.  “She might not want to play nice with the house party that is your head, and then what do we do?”

“There is always the fairy mesmer ,” Artemis offered.  “It is a magical means of persuasion.  Caroline will do whatever is asked of her without question.”  Artemis caught Topher’s question before he asked it.  “And yes, it’s what Major Short did to you.  Without knowing what was going on, you had no hope of fighting back.”

“But if we used it, would we get Echo, Caroline, or another personality?” Ivy asked.

Artemis had no answer to that one.

“Pull Caroline from the vault and put Echo in the chair,” Adelle ordered.  “Artemis, you may use my phone.  Dial 9 to get an external line.”  She walked out of the room, followed by Paul and Mr. Langton, presumably to watch the imprint.  Artemis would have to be fast to get down in time.

He walked to Adelle’s desk and tapped Butler’s number into the keypad of the phone.  It rang twice, and then someone picked up.

“Hello?” Artemis hid his happiness at hearing his bodyguard’s voice again.  It had been so long.  Or at least it had seemed that way in the Attic.

“Hello, Butler.  It’s me,” Artemis said.

Artemis heard only silence on the line, and was worried he didn’t believe him.  How long had he been gone?

“You got out?”

“Adelle promised me freedom if I could escape,” Artemis explained.  “So I did.  I also discovered that Rossum’s corruption goes far deeper than purchasing fairy components or selling people like slaves.”

“You need to get out of there.”

“I need to stop them before they destroy the world,” Artemis shot back.  He felt slightly betrayed at Butler’s refusal to cooperate.

“Adelle’s been hiding this place for years.  Who is to say the information she was giving you is false?”

“Because Adelle has no hope,” Artemis said.  “She pretends to be in control, but she is wavering.  It’s been revealed to Rossum that a party within her House seeks to destroy the system.  We broke in and proved her security was completely vulnerable to attack, Alpha got in and out without either of us noticing, and it looks like she’s needed to resort to blackmail to keep her position.  She has nothing to gain by keeping me here where I am able to be discovered as a collaborator by Rossum.”

“And you’re certain this is the game she’s playing?”

“Absolutely.  She just asked if I would be willing to help her destroy Rossum.  I agreed.  Most of the upper level staff in her House are involved, as well as Echo, and two former Dolls, Priya and Tony.”

Butler’s sigh crackled over the line.  “This is very dangerous, Artemis, and I can’t help you.  I’ll be shot on sight if I’m seen on any of their campuses.”

“I know, old friend.  I just need a few things.”  Artemis listed off what he thought he needed after the meeting.  “Send them to the building next door, like you got the address wrong.  Then call Adelle’s office, Foaly should have her number.  She’ll send someone to get it.”

“This is going to take a few days, I think,” Butler said.  “But I’ll see what Foaly and Holly can do.”
“Thank you.”

“You’re playing with fire, Artemis.  Be careful.”

“I will.”

He hung up the phone and headed downstairs, thinking.  Butler was right: this was insane.  But it was what had to happen.  Rossum needed stopped, and if this was going to take a long game, well, Artemis was prepared to play for as long as it took.

Now to see if Caroline would agree.

Chapter Text

Artemis arrived in the imprint room to find Echo getting out of the chair.  Everyone seemed quite tense.

“Caroline?” Artemis asked.  “Did it work?”

“No,” Adelle said pointedly.  “The wedge was gone.”

“Stolen?”

“Maybe,” Ivy said, looking at Echo.

“It wasn’t me, I swear.  Why would I want her in my head trying to kick me out?”

Artemis glanced at Topher.  “Surely you have a backup.”

“We did, but Alpha kinda smashed it.”  He grinned sheepishly.  “Never got around to making another.”

Adelle’s glare, if looks were bullets, would have Topher looking like Swiss cheese.  “Tell me you can restore it.”

“Um, yeah.  Let’s go with that.  Gonna need your help, though, Artemis,” Topher said.  Which really did not inspire confidence in the man at all.  Artemis wondered if the reason Topher was here was the same reason Foaly was with the LEP - Rossum couldn’t hire anyone else with his know-how, and no one else would hire him.

Once everyone left the room, Topher went under his desk and grabbed a shoebox. He set it on top of the transparent surface and took off the top.  “That’s what we’ve got.”

Artemis examined the components.  Several of them were very unique - either fairy or fairy derivatives meant to run ECC.  He shook his head.  “I don’t know ECC.  I’m afraid I won’t be much help.  Foaly and I could probably cobble something workable together, but it might take several months.”

“I think Adelle wants this by the end of the week, not the end of the year.”  Topher scratched his ear nervously.  

“I can identify and work with some of the fairy components.  But the ones that are unique and the standard parts...I just don’t see how you make this work.”

“That’s what the other programmers said when I proposed storing them this way,” he said.  “But it worked better with the modifications I put on the chair too.”

Topher demonstrated various things he had tried, and Artemis offered suggestions.  Somehow, what Topher had done was beginning to make sense.  Artemis began to take over, but soon found himself trapped by the way ECC worked with the hardware.  Everything carried data, and if it wasn’t right...

“Hello dead Echo or Carrie at the prom,” was how Topher described an imprint failure.  “Take that bit out and route the wires around chips 4, 6, and 2.”

They worked for about half a day like that.  Artemis would try something, Topher would shoot it down and tell him why it wasn’t going to work.  Topher would try a few things, and get frustrated and take it out or redo it a different way.  He also would demand snacks from Ivy from time to time.  Unfortunately, the junk stash in Topher’s office wasn’t really to Artemis’s taste.

Topher was about to run another scenario for the millionth time when Artemis stopped him.  “You need advice from someone who’s familiar with the technology.  I’m certain, given time, I could figure this out.  But Adelle isn’t going to want to wait several months to run every possible route and test it for integrity.”

“Okay.  You can hack things, right?  Not stupid things, but like, governments and banks and stuff?”

Artemis was a bit worried about where this would head.  “Yes.”

“Want to help us kidnap the programmer from the DC Dollhouse?”

Artemis and Ivy said, “What?” at the same time.

“I never agreed to kidnap anyone!” Ivy said indignantly from across the room.  “You just want to see your sadistic girlfriend again.”

“She isn’t sadistic!”

Artemis watched the exchange with bemusement.

“She tried to kill Echo.  You wouldn’t stop talking about how you punched her for days.”

Ivy turned to Artemis.  “Bennett Halverson is Caroline’s former best friend who’s the programmer in the DC Dollhouse.  She’s a cold-hearted bitch who’s smarter than Topher Brink, and he thinks that’s sexy.  Please try and shut this stupid plan down.  The last time Harding had a reason to go after our Dollhouse, it was bad enough.”

“Unfortunately, Bennett may be just whom we need.  All my experience with ECC is what I learned over the past few hours.  I can use normal and fairy interfaces, but I don’t feel comfortable attempting to design a neural map interface that, if done incorrectly, will possibly kill the recipient.”  Artemis hated to admit defeat, but there was far too much at stake to risk his making a mistake.

“So, Ghost Chair?” Ivy asked reluctantly.

“Ghost Chair,” Topher agreed.  “You’re gonna love this.  See, after Harding took over our House, we decided that we needed a way to get revenge.  So I figured out a way to transfer imprints between chairs wirelessly.  The issue is, we need into their systems.  Ivy and I wouldn’t be able to get in and place the files undetected.  That’s where you come in.”

A smile played over Artemis’s lips.  “Shouldn’t be too difficult.”  He liked a challenge.  Quickly, he outlined to Topher how Foaly had broken past LA’s own security.  Artemis would hack into his computer, grab some of his custom code (and some he’d stolen from Foaly), then use that to find zero days in their system that could be exploited for file injection.

Ivy directed him to a workstation, and Artemis began.  His own security was watertight, but he knew a back way in.  He’d built it in case his computers were ever seized and he needed to get to and destroy his data quickly.  From there, he took remote control of his system (making sure it was running everything using Gnommish, so Topher didn’t get any ideas), left a message for Foaly in one of the hidden directories the centaur had been showing some interest in recently, and sent the files to Topher’s computer using a secure variable encryption.

He was back in business.  This felt good, to have his fingers clacking on the keys.  To be infiltrating someone who didn’t know it was coming was what he’d loved to do as a child.  Being an adult didn’t stop it from being thrilling.

Topher hadn’t been lying when he’d said Bennett Halverson was smarter than himself.  This was stuff to rival Artemis’s own setup -- and he was guarding himself against the most advanced civilization on Earth.  One day, Artemis would like to see Topher’s security from the outside, just for fun.  He clearly knew a good bit, but was he able to apply it?

Amoral people and machines...Artemis had sworn off trying to pwn anyone other than Foaly, but these people would be good fun to play with once and awhile.

Artemis copied several of Bennett’s files and sent them to his own computer for Foaly.  They were the ones that looked most important and were the most heavily encrypted.  He also stole several imprints and a beta copy of the chair software.

He resisted the urge to do anything else, and put Topher’s file in place.  He also added Foaly’s worm.  Just in case.  It would be inert, and appear to all human means of scanning, as a normal .dll.  But when Foaly activated it, all Hell would break loose.

Just for the fun of it, Artemis copied Topher’s file and sent it over as well.  Best to see what the man who was to blame for the apocalypse was capable of.

A few hours later, Artemis announced he was done.  He then remembered something.

Signing into his email, Artemis wrote a quick message to Holly and his parents, saying he was fine, just that his business engagement in LA was expected to take longer than he’d predicted.

“You’re in,” Artemis said, signing off.

Topher finished plugging another bank of computers into the chair, and popped in a wedge.

Ivy looked at her screen.  “Connection established, they’re ready on their end.  Let’s go.”

Topher took his place at his own workstation, typed in some code, and the chair reclined.  Blue lights lit up around the head rest and the arm rest.  Light-Enabled Data Transfer.  Artemis had been reading about that development in the fairy news recently.  Turns out someone had beaten Foaly to it.

Artemis smiled to himself.

A few minutes, and nothing.

Then, Topher tapped his ever-present Bluetooth headset, and spoke to the person on the other end.  “Is she okay?  Is she still cute?  Don’t you dare hurt her.”

“You already had operatives in DC?” Artemis whispered to Ivy.

“Just in case.  Adelle suspected, because you wanted the technology so badly, you had no idea how it worked.  Turns out, she was right.  Part of the program Topher wrote included signaling Ballard’s phone to tell him the operation was a go.”

“Okay.”  Topher tapped his bluetooth again, and beamed.  “She’s on her way!”

It would be at least a few hours until Bennett arrived, and Artemis could take no more of the hyperactive, anxious Topher, who was insisting on everything being perfect.

So Artemis found his clothing and effects from the night of the break in, and changed back into them.  He felt better in the suit than he did in the athletic clothing, and he went to the cafeteria to have something to eat.  He sat alone with his salad and watched the Dolls go about their business.  

A Doll sat with him.  She was a young woman with long, black hair.  She smiled at him.  “I swam thirty laps today.”

Artemis wasn’t sure how to respond.  “That’s good.”

“I try to be my best.”

This was really unnerving.  “I’m sure you do,” Artemis told her, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible.

“Exercise helps us be our best.”

“It does.”

“I like to swim in the pool.”

“Of course.”

The Doll’s smile disappeared. “Are you sad?”

The question caught Artemis off guard.  “What?”

“No one likes to be sad.  Sierra was sad.  No one here is sad anymore.”

This was too creepy.  Artemis finished eating and brought his empty plate up to the counter. The Doll didn’t seem to mind the fact she was now sitting alone.

Having nowhere else to go, Artemis headed back up to Topher’s office.  He flipped through a textbook on ECC while Topher continued to move about nervously.  Ivy just sat at her desk with a bag of crisps, having resigned herself to not actually caring that much.

Topher walked into the imprint room and closed the door.  Shortly after, voices could be heard from within.  The only thing that could be clearly understood was Topher shouting, “I have some!”  Shapes moved behind the door for a few minutes, but the room didn’t light up like an imprint.  Bennett Halverson must have arrived.

The door from the lab opened, and a woman walked in.  She was wearing a pencil skirt and button up shirt, and she wore her glasses on a chain around her neck.  Her hair and appearance was rather plain, except for the black sling holding her left arm by her side.  She only paused briefly when she spotted the two other people.

Artemis closed the book.

Ivy kept eating chips and writing some sort of report.  

Topher followed her in, looking like an excited puppy.  While Bennett spotted the wedge and went to look, Topher went to his own fridge and grabbed two diet Cokes.  He set one down next to Bennett, and opened one for himself.

“You have assistants,” Bennett observed.  “Why couldn’t they help you?”

Topher smiled sheepishly.  “Artemis is only a hacker, and Ivy’s kind of in training.  She doesn’t get to help with the big stuff yet.”

Ivy didn’t seem to notice the fact she was being patronized.

“You hacked into my systems?”

Artemis smiled.  “Nice to meet you too, Miss Halverson.  Your security had a few gaping flaws.  It wasn’t exactly difficult to move in and out without you noticing.”

The fairy technology also helped, but Artemis didn’t mention that.

“You’ll have to tell me how you got in before they come retrieve me.”  She turned back to the wedge.  Something about Bennett’s lack of real reaction was about as unnerving as the Dolls’.  Sadistic traits were yet to be seen, but Artemis wasn’t certain that she wasn’t a little psychopathic.

“It got destroyed last year,” Topher told her.  “And I’ve been keeping it around as an exercise to see if I can restore it.  Like, like you did with the Hamilton wedge.”

Bennett seemed to pause, and there was a bit of excitement in her voice.  “You heard about that?”

“Of course!  It was legend!” Topher was almost star-struck.  “Thing is, I have no idea how you used the decompression to reconstruct the imprint.”

“Well, the Hamilton wedge was only a 2 to 1 data loss ratio.  This is a 4 to 1.”

“So?”

“It’s exponential.”  She sat down in his chair and began listing off the damages, before pausing.  “Why do you need this one restored?”

“Well, it’s not Stalin or anything.”

Artemis smiled from his spot on the couch.  Ivy had gotten up and left.  Her shift was over.  Artemis decided he wanted to stay.

Bennett suggested a route they hadn’t tried for the autonomic nervous system, and Topher seemed overly glad she dropped the topic.  Artemis knew that once Bennett noticed his guard was down, she’d ask again.

Their conversation turned to flirting, and Artemis began to tune them out.  He pretended to be reading again as they leaned in, still apologizing for what happened the last time they met.

“Who’s on that wedge?”

Artemis decided that enough was enough, and if they weren’t making any progress because Bennett was going to demand answers, then she might as well have them.  “Caroline.”  Topher and Bennett turned around.  “Caroline’s on that wedge.”

“Caroline Ferrel?” Bennett demanded.

Topher glared at Artemis.  “Uh...”

“Why the hell would you want to resurrect that bitch?” Bennett said, oddly calm again.

“Look, we just need the wedge-”

Bennett balled her left hand into a fist, stood up, turned around, and socked Topher in the lip.  He fell off his chair.  “You might be new here, Artemis, but let me tell you: Caroline was a terrorist, and the world is better off without her.”  She ran out of the lab and down the stairs.  Artemis followed her, and saw her get intercepted by Ballard and Mr. Langton.  She tried to run away and fight, but they were bigger and stronger, and they had a tranq gun.

She was taken away without a struggle.

“Ow,” Topher moaned from the floor.  “That was not how I expected that to go.  Why’d you say that?”

“I was not under the assumption that they’d parted on bad terms,” Artemis said, walking over to help Topher up.  Topher brushed off his sweater vest and touched his lip.  It was bleeding.

“Yeah, well, next time, don’t say anything.  Also don’t say I got beat up by a one-armed girl, that makes me look really lame.”

“Do you think she’ll work with you again?”

Topher shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

“Don’t worry.  I broke into my first girlfriend’s home and destroyed all her research.”

Topher gave a small smile at that.  “Dude, you screwed up worse than I did.”

“She hasn’t called since,” Artemis agreed.  “You should get some ice for that.”

Topher touched the cut again.  “Yeah.”  He walked out, leaving Artemis alone. It would be a little bit before research could continue again, and he had someone he needed to talk to.

Artemis found Priya in the gym using one of the treadmills.  He hadn’t seen her recently.  She and Tony didn’t have the technical knowledge to help Topher, and they’d not gone up to the lab.

“Hey,” she said.  She’d been running at a pretty good pace, but she slowed the machine to a stop and jumped off.  “What’s up?”

It had been bothering him ever since he met her in the Attic.  Her worst fear was a dead rapist.  Artemis had taken her on a date, which she wouldn’t remember.  Even though he hadn’t done anything, he still felt like he’d violated her somehow.

“Can we talk?  Privately?”

He’d forced her to be in a romantic relationship without her permission, and while she knew she loved Tony.

“Sure.  Is everything all right?”

Artemis didn’t answer her until they were in one of the empty corridors.  After all, the Dolls were asleep in their coffins.  No one would be walking around here.

“I wanted to apologize,” Artemis said.  “I used you for an engagement shortly before I broke in here.”

Priya was quiet.  “What type?”

“Romantic.  You were a dinner date at the company banquet.  Nothing happened.  We just talked.”

She relaxed slightly.  “Better you than someone else.  Thank you.”

“For what?”  Artemis had expected her to be more upset.

“Not using me as a sex toy, simply because I’m a pretty woman.”  There was a lot of bitterness in her tone.

“I was testing Rossum’s ability to build a person that was believable.  It was also the only way we could get into one of the Dollhouse’s central areas for surveillance.  I’m not trying to make excuses, it’s just...”

“You’re making excuses.”

Artemis reddened.  “I suppose I am.”

“Thanks for telling me.  The only other engagements I know for certain I participated in were romantic - very sexual romantic - engagements with the man who drugged me to make me appear as if I was a paranoid schizophrenic.  He didn’t like that I rejected his advances, and had me locked up in here so he could have me no matter what.”  She sounded afraid when she said this, as if somehow, the dead rapist from her dreams could still hurt her.

“Was he the one in your Attic?”

She nodded.  “I can’t wait until Rossum is dead.  I want revenge, and I want to be with Tony.  I don’t want to have to be afraid anymore.  I just want my life back.”

Artemis nodded.  He could never understand fully, but he could try.  “I understand.  I thought it was your right to know.  Rossum just gets worse with everything I learn about them.”

“I wish your friends had succeeded when you broke in the first time.”

Artemis couldn’t agree with her more.  Rossum was a beast, an ugly, corrupted monster, and it needed stopping.  For the first time, Artemis stopped caring only about the technology.  He began to care about the people.  Rossum was a danger to the innocent humans, not just the fairies.  It had to have what it wanted, and it would go to dispicable lengths to get it.  Artemis couldn’t feel anything but loathing for the building he was in now.  They had to get out, and they needed out now.

Artemis couldn’t see himself being upset if Foaly sent along an extra bio-bomb in the supplies.

Artemis killed time for half an hour before wandering back to the atrium.  It was truly amazing how well the Dollhouse was hidden, for its sheer size.

And the fairies had never noticed.  Simply incredible.

He heard shouting from the medical bay.  Topher wasn’t injured that badly, was he?  Artemis began walking toward the fogged glass doors, and he slid one open.

Echo, Topher, Boyd, Ballard, Adelle, and a woman Artemis had never met were standing around the examination table. The woman had short hair and a scarred face, and she was examining the person on the table.

“He said they’re on to us.  They figured out what we were up to,” Echo summarized.  

It took Artemis a moment to recognize the man in the white jumpsuit as Dominic.  His eyes were surrounded by dark circles and his face was pale.  His breathing was ragged.

“What’s going on?” Artemis asked.  

“Mr. Dominic escaped from the Attic.  He said Rossum figured out what he and Clyde were up to.  They’re coming for us,” Mr. Langton said.  “This is going to change our plans.”

“We need to evacuate immediately,” Adelle said.  “Get everyone out.  Each Doll is to be re-imprinted with their original personality.  I’m not leaving a bunch of helpless children to die at the hands of Rossum.  Master Fowl, I suggest you leave and run as fast as you can away from this place. Destroy anything that even remotely implies you have done business with Rossum.  They will be coming for you.”

“Where are we going?” Topher asked.

“Tucson,” was all Adelle said before she walked out.

The woman, the doctor, finished her initial examination.  “He’s going into shock.  We need to get him to a hospital,” she told Mr. Langton.

“That’s not possible,” he replied.  “All our resources are going to the evacuation.”

“He risked everything to tell us!” Echo argued.  “You have to do something.”

“We can put him back in the Attic, or he can die,” Mr. Langton told her.  “We have no other options.  If he’s in the Attic, we might be able to retrieve him later.”

“No,” Artemis and Ballard said at the same time.

“No!” Dominic gasped, grabbing Mr. Langton’s arm.  “I’d rather die.”

“We need him,” Mr. Langton said.  “I’m taking him.”

The doctor brought over a stretcher, and they lifted Dominic on, even as he tried to struggle.  Mr. Langton pushed him out across the floor.

“We can’t put him in there,” Paul said, following Mr. Langton.  “Boyd!”

“It’s his best option,” Echo said.  “We need someone inside the mainframe.”

Artemis nodded.  He hated to agree with her.  She seemed like she hated saying it.  The Attic had been bad enough once.  He couldn’t ever imagine going back there a second time.  But the strategy was sound.  

Sometimes Artemis wished he never had to witness these choices.

Chapter Text

Artemis went back to Topher’s lab when the stream of Dolls entering and leaving had thinned out.  Echo was standing over Bennett, who had returned to the lab.  She was working on the wedge.

“You’re actually going to help us?” Artemis asked her.

“Echo and I have some common interests,” she replied.

A deal.  Interesting.  With the world in shambles, Artemis could only wonder what it entailed.  Perhaps a way to fix her arm.

“Can I lend a hand?” Topher asked her.

“You can lend both.”

Topher happily pulled over a stool and got to work.  Artemis went back to the couch and grabbed the textbook again.  He could keep reading and help if it was needed.  After all, there was nothing else for him to do at this stage.  He might as well be prepared in case he needed to do any ECC coding in the near future.

“Nonlinear transformation for the cognitive functions,” Topher noted dreamily.

Bennett giggled.  “Yes.”

“I like it.”

She giggled again, and grabbed a solder gun.  “Have you got any Dewey pins?”

“Uh, yeah.”  Topher looked around and spotted Artemis.  “Hey, Artemis.  Big box of Dewey pins in the manufacturing lab.  Can you go get them?  Down the hall, to your left.  The box is labeled.”

“Sure.”

It was better than sitting around, that was for sure.  He opened the door, and walked down the dark utility hallway, into the manufacturing lab.  The box was on the first table.  Artemis grabbed it and walked back.

He heard a shot, dropped the box, and started to run back to the lab.  Rossum was here!  Metallic pins clinked and scattered across the floor.

“What happened?” he panted, coming through the doorway.

Topher was standing in the doorway to the imprint room.  Bennett’s head was hanging over the back of her chair, and blood dripped through her hair and onto the floor.  Flecks of scarlet also stained Topher’s face and the nearest computer monitors.

“Are you okay?” Artemis asked.

No response.  Topher stared off into space.  Artemis wasn’t even sure the other man knew he was there.  At least, it didn’t look as if Topher had been shot.  Carefully, Topher put one hand to his face.  He pulled it away to look at the blood smeared on it.  His hands were shaking.

Slowly, he sat down in front of the imprint room.

Artemis had no idea what to do.  Find the others, and leave Topher here?  If the shooter returned, he wouldn’t be able to protect himself in this state.  Or stay with Topher and wait for the others?  But if the shooter returned, Artemis wouldn’t be any good, either.

Turns out, Artemis didn’t need to decide what to do.  Ballard ran up the stairs with his pistol drawn.  Echo and another girl followed close behind him, and they surveyed the scene.

“What happened?” Paul demanded, turning his weapon on Artemis.  

He put his hands up.  “I went to get some supplies from the manufacturing lab.  On my way back, I heard a gun fire. I ran in here and found Bennett like this.  I swear.”  God, today was not the day he wanted to get shot.  Artemis wondered how long it had been since he’d last had a thought like that.  This really wasn’t dissimilar to what he’d done as a child.

“Paul, it was Saunders,” Echo said, pushing past.  Paul lowered the gun and let the other woman into the room, too.  “Rossum got to her.  Probably right after she left this place?”

“Saunders?” Artemis asked.  “Was that the doctor?”

“Yeah,” Echo said.  

“A sleeper?” Paul asked.

“Yeah.”  Echo paused as Adelle appeared at the top of the stairs.  She ignored everything else in the room and ran to Topher.  She began to tell him to focus, that they still needed him.

She almost seemed like a mother to him.

Topher began to mutter nonsense.

Artemis had been right in his initial assessment that Topher wasn’t a fighter.

“She was in love with Boyd.”

“She won’t be anymore,” Paul said, glancing sideways at the other girl, who seemed completely and utterly out of her depths.  She was practically clinging to Paul. Her round eyes were wide, and her mousy brown hair had only been hastily tied into a bun.  Obviously, not a Doll.  Or at least, not in a Doll state.

The lights flickered, and Paul began to raise his gun again.  Artemis was not his target, this time.  

“Topher!” Adelle pleaded.  “Please, we need you.  You have to focus.”

“We can bring her back...”

Artemis was uncomfortably reminded of Orion.

The lights dimmed again, but came back on.  Artemis went to the Imprint chair’s control computer, which was on emergency power.  He used his backdoor again, and opened a livestream to Foaly.  It was desperate enough now.  Without Topher, soon without power, they needed help.  Thankfully, Topher hadn’t been looking too closely in his files before Bennett had died.

The connection was loading far too slowly.  Artemis turned to Adelle.  “Do you have my stuff?”

Adelle nodded.  “It’s in a messenger bag in my office.”

Artemis pointed to the new girl  “Go get it.  Don’t ask questions, don’t open the bag.”

“Um, alright.”

Paul handed her his key, and she ran towards the elevator.

“Artemis, may I ask why in Frond’s name I have to answer a  phone call from the Dollhouse?  Stockholm’s syndrome with these people?  Really?”  Foaly’s voice crackled over the speakers.

“No time to explain,” Artemis snapped.  “Your worm is in place, but inert?”

“Once your operation went completely and totally to heck, I stopped everything,” Foaly confirmed.   “Hey, are there Mud Men back there?”

The lights went out for good, leaving only the blue glow of the computer monitor.

“Artemis?  What’s going on?” Echo called.  She walked in and joined him at the monitor.  “Woah.”

“Hello, weird Mud Girl!  You’re completely and totally insane being in there right now, and you may not even be yourself!  That, or you’re an evil scumbag that needs wiped off the face of the earth!”  Foaly smiled and waved.  His voice had been dripping with disdain

“Ignore him,” Artemis told her.  

“He’s worse than Topher,” she said, utterly amazed.  “And is he a horse?”

“He’s the fairy version of Topher.  A centaur,” Artemis explained, and turned back to the screen.  “Foaly, we need you to watch their cameras.  Every system connected to the main power supply is down.  Tell us where their people are and what you know about the imprinting technology.”

“Got it, Mud Boy.”

“Artemis Fowl, get over here,” Adelle commanded.  He checked to see if Foaly was working, before walking back into the lab.  Paul had laid Bennett on the couch and covered her with a blanket.  “Help Topher get Caroline’s wedge working.  Quickly.”

The girl got back and set the bag by Artemis’s chair.

Artemis did as he was told.  Topher mostly worked by himself, and asked Artemis to help from time to time.  It was quick work.  Bennett had already gotten a good start on it.  They were almost done when Foaly spoke up.  

“You might want to know that the men in black have showed up.”

There was a boom, and Paul pointed his gun out into the atrium.

“Mud Man has the right idea.  They’re all armed.”

“Mud Man?” Paul asked Artemis.

“It’s because we live in mud and not underground.  Technically a racial slur,” Artemis explained absently, slotting a wire into place.  

Paul turned to give Foaly a piece of his mind, and Artemis realized what he’d said.  “Mr. Ballard, please do not disconnect Foaly.  He’s the only eyes we’ve got right now, thanks to the camera taps we placed when we broke into the Dollhouse.”

A look of irritation crossed Adelle’s face.

Before anyone could say anything else, black shapes dropped down from the ceiling on ropes.  They were skillful, and began to move outward in a grid pattern, looking for anyone who might still be around.  It wouldn’t be long until Artemis and his friends were found.

Where were Priya and Tony? Artemis wondered briefly.  Hopefully, they’d escaped.

“We need more than this,” Ballard said, looking at his pistol.  “There’s assault rifles in the handler’s quarters.”

“Go!” Foaly and Adelle said at the same time.

He handed his gun to Echo and ran off.  Artemis grabbed a Neutrino from the bag.  

“How long will this take?” Adelle asked.

“As-”

“Almost done,” Artemis said, cutting Topher off.

“Done,” the other man said, and he snapped the case back on the wedge.

Adelle was pacing.  “Where the hell is security?”

“Out of commission, lady.  These guys are pros,” Foaly said.  “Watch out for the windows.”

Just then, one of the plate glass windows was shattered.  Adelle swore.

“Let’s do this!” Echo shouted.

They ran into the Imprint room and Echo got in the chair.  “Foaly, we need to cut your connection,” Artemis said, moving to the computer.  “When we get out of here, shut them down.  Copy their data to LEP secure servers.  Melt down everything but this machine.  This one will be under LEP control in case anyone returns here.  Understand?”

“Got it, Artemis.”

“I’ll contact you on the communicator as soon as it is safe to do so.  I suggest you get Holly in the room with you.  Be ready.”

Foaly nodded.  “Good luck.”

Artemis returned the computer’s control back to Topher.  He stepped back, and the the other man began the imprint process.  “Go out through the server tunnels,” he said.  “Be safe.”

Artemis shook his head.  “No.  I’m not leaving you here to try anything.  Foaly’s going to destroy everything, and I don’t want you to interfere.  I also have a weapon, and you’ll be invaluable to Rossum if captured.  On the other hand, so will I.”

The others had already left.

“Echo’s technically a weapon.”

“Depending on what Caroline thinks of the roommates in her head, she may not be anymore.”  A man moved to enter the room.  Artemis fired on him, with the setting on the blaster very close to lethal.  His shots were somewhat random, but two lucky ones to the chest took him down.  If nothing else, the light from the gun would have let them know they were here.

Mr. Langton walked in, stepping over the body on the ground.  Artemis lowered the gun.  “Mr. Langton.”

“Artemis, Topher,” he said.  He walked over to Echo and put a hand on her arm.

And then all their plans failed at once.

Foaly was going through Dollhouse files with twisted fascination when he was sent an alert message over his computer telling him someone was trying to access the one system he’d kept open.  He switched over and opened a video chat.  “Hi.”

A Mud Man and Mud Woman stared back at him.  “Who are you?”

“I’m Foaly,” he said, then moved aside so they could see Holly, who was watching from a normal desk chair.  “That’s Holly.  We’re friends of Artemis Fowl.”

The Mud Man looked really confused.  “You’re real?”

Foaly snorted.  “Do I look fake?”

“Kinda.”

Holly jumped in.  “We’re fairies.  Artemis’s friends.  I helped break into the Dollhouse.”

“What happened here?” the Mud Girl asked, looking around.

“Rossum got in and wreaked havoc,” Holly said.  “Show them the tapes,” she told Foaly.

Foaly queued up the tapes he gathered before the Dollhouse was fully infiltrated and played them for the Mud Men.  They watched in horror as their allies were forced to flee.

“Can you play the last part of that again - in the imprint lab - for us and enhance it?” the Mud Man asked.  “Enhance Boyd.  That’s the guy holding Echo’s hand.”

“Your wish is my command,” Foaly replied.  A few more keystrokes, and what they’d asked was done.  Foaly and Holly watched it too, noticing something everyone had missed.

“Oh, gods,” Holly whispered.  Boyd’s affectionate touch to her wrist hid a syringe.  When he stepped back, he tossed it into the trash can.

Obviously, the two Mud Men saw it too.  The girl ran to the trash can and looked inside.  She came back up holding a used syringe.  

“Well, that’s not good.”

“He’s working for Rossum,” the Mud Man said.  

Foaly turned to Holly.  “Try calling the transmitter.”

Holly nodded and began to call it using her wrist computer.  

“Where’d they go?”

Foaly began a search on his computer.  These guys were pushy.  “Tucson!  Headquarters of Rossum.  If you want to take down a troll, might as well nuke its lair.”

The Mud Man looked at the girl.  “Let’s go.”

“Thanks for your help,” the Mud Girl added.

“No problemo.  Go get ‘em.  Also, if you get Artemis out alive, his bodyguard might not kill me, and that would be a bonus.”

Foaly cut the connection before they could respond and got to work on figuring out Tucson.

Chapter Text

They arrived at the Rossum HQ in Tucson in the middle of the next day.  Echo had screamed about being on fire until she’d fallen into a fitful sleep.  They’d all tried to comfort her, but nothing worked.  Caroline had tipped a precarious balance into chaos.  She wouldn’t be giving them any information now.  The car was quiet, and everyone was mourning.

Security was already calling the higher ups as they entered the lobby, so similar to that of the office in LA, but without the marble and oak.  This was all dark metal, beige walls, and waterfalls.  The LA Dollhouse must have developed quite the reputation.  Artemis was almost proud of what he had been up to.  “You’ll want to see this,” the guard said into a walkie talkie.

To her credit, Adelle didn’t react.  

“What do you want?” one asked her.

“I want to see the man in charge?”

“And you are?”
“Adelle DeWitt,” said a voice from by the elevator.  The scarred woman, Saunders, was leaning against the frame.  She was wearing a pantsuit, and smiled like she owned the place.  “We haven’t met, but I’ve heard all about you.”

“She killed Bennett,” Topher whimpered.

“It wasn’t her,” Boyd said, holding his arm so he couldn’t try anything.  “She’s not Claire.”  He turned back to the woman, and his voice hardened.  “What did you do to her?”

She sauntered toward them, a casual swagger in her step.  “I evicted her.  There’s only room for one person in this body, unfortunately for her.  Fortunately for me, I’m stronger than she was.  I’m not big on sentimentality, you see.”  The woman walked closer to Echo and examined her.  “Oh, what a lucky boy I am!  You’ve practically brought her to me tied up with a bow!  You never know how these experiments turn out.  I was surprised to learn how well you were doing.”

“Who the hell are you?” Paul asked her.

She gave him another huge smile.  “You know.”

“Clyde Randolph.”  Artemis practically spat the name.  “One of Rossum’s original founders.”

“Weren’t you in the Attic?” Topher asked.

“Nope.  My other self, poor little idiot, got himself stuck in a loop.  He would never have survived this dog eat dog world.  You need to evolve to move on.  Artemis is a wonderful example, if a bit literal.  Once I heard you were here, I did some research.  Child genius, criminal mastermind.  You had quite a talent for suddenly “coming into” money.”  She did finger quotes before gesturing to Adelle.  “Adelle, come with me.  I’d like a word.  Guards, take the rest to holding.”

Large, musclebound men surrounded Artemis and his team and led them into the bowels of the building until they reached a small, concrete room.  One of the men unlocked it with a key card, and shoved them in before closing the door.

There was a table and chairs bolted to the floor, and a camera in the corner.  A one-way mirror covered one wall.  An interrogation room.  Why would Rossum need one of these?

Boyd immediately went over, took out a small screwdriver, and began to work on the interior locking mechanism.

“Do you think they’ll let us out?” the strange woman asked Paul.  Artemis had no idea why she was coming along.  She took a seat at the table.

“I hope so.”

Artemis still had his bag, however.  He grabbed the communicator.  Holly had already called him several times.  He called her, and switched to Gnommish.  The room was most likely being recorded, and he didn’t want to reveal anything he shouldn’t.

“Hello?”

“Oh, thank god.  We thought they got you,” Holly said, her voice full of relief.

“I had to wait until I was somewhere out of the way before I could call,” Artemis explained.  “We’re in holding.  Caroline and Echo did not mix well.  I’m going to hook up the cameras soon.”

“Good.  Your friends, a guy and a girl, they came through the Dollhouse about an hour ago.  We told them you were going to Tucson.”

Artemis smiled.  “Excellent deduction.  Yes, we are in Tucson.”

“They should be on their way.”

“Everything is going as planned, then.”

There was silence on the other end of the line.  “Boyd’s working for Rossum,” Holly said.  “We went and reviewed the tapes right before we took everything offline.  He injected Echo with something, and that’s probably why she’s crazier than a troll dropped in the middle of New York.”

Artemis nodded, and turned away from the door.  “I see.  Unfortunately, he is in the room with me.  There’s no way to tell the others.  I’m going to pretend I don’t know anything until it is useful to have ‘figured it out’.  Feel free to do anything you wish to any of his personal computers.  Now, I’ve got to go.  Talk to you in a bit.”

“Kick his ass,” Holly said.

Artemis hung up and put the phone back in his bag.  “We’re good to go.”

“What language is that?” the strange woman asked.  “It was very beautiful.”

Artemis smiled.  “Gnommish.  It’s quite rare, but most of my contacts know it.  I wasn’t sure whether or not Rossum had microphones in here.”

“Good thinking,” Paul said.  “Mellie, this is Artemis.  He broke into the Dollhouse to destroy their technology.  Artemis, this is my former neighbor, Mellie.”

Artemis shook her hand.  “Nice to meet you.”  Why was Paul’s former neighbor coming to infiltrate the Dollhouse?

Topher, meanwhile, was standing over Boyd.  “Don’t do that!” he kept saying.

“Topher.  Stop breathing down my neck,” Boyd said with a small smile.  “Go see if Artemis needs any help.”

Topher wandered over.  Artemis handed him the camera wire.  “It’s covered in microconnectors.  Just wrap it around as many wires as you can.”

Topher reached up and weaved it in and out of as many wires as humanly possible.  Artemis watched Boyd.  He pretended to fiddle with the lock mechanism some more, before taking a card out and swiping it.  He slipped the card back into his pocket before anyone else saw.  “Got it,” he said.

“Seriously?” Topher asked.

Boyd ignored him.  “There has to be a weapons cache.  Go find it,” he instructed Ballard.  “Artemis, go with them.  Topher, come with me.  We’re going to find Caroline.  Be careful.  They’ll kill us all if they get the chance.”
They went their separate way, and Artemis got even more anxious.  They had to go back and tail Boyd.  He might be planning to hurt Topher.  Artemis grabbed his recodable key from the bag and followed Boyd and Mellie down the hall.  Artemis spotted a restroom and gestured for them to come in.  

“I have something to tell you.  I know Foaly’s messing with their feeds, but we can’t risk being interrupted.  You too, Mellie.”

They went into the men’s bathroom, which, thankfully, was intended for a single person.  Paul locked the door behind them.  “What is it?”

“Boyd Langton is working for Rossum.  Foaly found evidence he drugged Echo on the footage he seized,” Artemis explained.  “He used a key card to break the lock.  I also still have my bag, which, in any other situation, security would have made me surrender.  He knows I have a gun in there, but he doesn’t think I will use it.”

Paul nodded.  “So what do we do?”

“We have to pretend we don’t know.  Catch him off guard.  You move toward the weapons cache.  Take the recodable card and get lost on purpose.  End up in one of their vital systems room and begin to wreak quiet havoc.  Foaly will do the rest.  I will pretend to have fought you after we found the weapons cache.  You wanted to find their systems, I wanted to report back.  You hit me and we went different ways.”

“You’re going by yourself?” Mellie asked.

Artemis nodded.  “If I look bad, it puts suspicion off of him.  He will relax and start to get reckless.  You will be in less danger if any action is taken against the supposed ‘traitor’.”

“Got it,” Paul said.  “But for your plan to work, I need to hit you.”

Artemis stood still and braced himself.  The punch landed hard on his cheekbone, and Artemis could tell a nice bruise was going to form.  “Sorry about that.”

Artemis smiled.  “It wasn’t like I didn’t ask for it.”  He handed Ballard the key card, and he examined the Gnommish symbols.

Artemis left the restroom first, and called Holly and Foaly, to tell them about the change in plan.  He put on the earpiece in the bag, and stuck the communicator in his pocket.  Foaly guided him through the building, and warned him of oncoming guards.  Artemis only had to almost shoot one person, and that person quickly scampered off when they saw the weapon that would be shooting them wasn’t an ordinary pistol.

“Okay, he’s in there.”

Artemis knocked at the door to the lab several times.  “It’s me,” he shouted through the metal.

Boyd opened it, and Artemis took his chance.  Boyd was a large enough target that Artemis couldn’t miss at that range, and he went down.

Topher stared at him with wide eyes.  He’d been working on something.  “That was Boyd.”

“Boyd is working with Rossum.  We can’t trust him,” Artemis said, and dragged his body into the room.  He was only stunned, and his senses were returning quickly.  Artemis kicked the door shut and grabbed his key card.  He held it up for Topher to see.  “He wasn’t breaking the locks.  He was authorized to enter.”

Artemis heard something click behind his head, and Holly said, “D’Arvit.”

Artemis kept his head down and lowered the Neutrino.  The person holding the gun kicked it away.  

“I have advanced weapons skills,” Clyde, Saunders’s new mind, said.  “Care for me to demonstrate?  The Irishman goes first.”

Echo and Adelle were in the room, as well.  “Boyd’s the founder,” Echo announced, looking at the unconscious form on the floor.  

“I know,” Artemis said.  “Foaly kept the security footage of your imprint.”

Topher looked stunned.  “There is not a way on this earth...” he started.  Pain was in his eyes, and although Artemis had not gotten to know him very well, it was easy to see he’d thought Boyd was his friend.

“It’s true, Mr. Brink,” Adelle said quietly.

“Boyd?” Topher asked.  Everyone ignored him, as Boyd had begun to regain consciousness.  He sat up slowly, then stood, and looked at his handiwork.

“You were going to kill him,” Artemis said.  “Lure him away, distract him, claim he was shot by a guard, then pull the same trick on the rest of us.”

Boyd looked amused at that.  “You really think this, Artemis?  I was under the assumption you were a genius.”

“Well, why bring him here and not just me?  Why pretend you were still working with us when you had what you wanted?” Echo asked.

“You’re here because you have proven yourselves worthy.”

Foaly, who had stayed quiet through this whole thing, snorted in Artemis’s earpiece.

“You killed Bennett.  You were working with Saunders.  You made her,” Topher took a breath before continuing, “kill Bennett.”  His breathing was faster now.  Panic.  Shock.

“Everyone made sacrifices to be here, Topher.  You lost Bennett.  Artemis lost his friends when he didn’t take his chance to rejoin them.  That’s what amazed me about all of you: you would do anything to accomplish your goals.  Adelle, she proved herself more ruthless and dedicated than Rossum itself.  And Echo, she did the most amazing thing of all: she took nothingness and shaped it into personhood.  She is truly a miracle.”  Boyd’s smile said he believed everything he was saying.

“You’re right!” Topher shouted back.  He had a goofy smile on his face, but fire burned in his eyes.  “I’m the Tin Man, she’s the Lion, and you’re the head of the Lollipop Guild - who’s a traitor!”

Artemis turned to Topher.  “He’s wrong about one thing.”

“What?”

Artemis turned to Boyd could see the earpiece.  “My friends never left me.  Your statements are being recorded by the LEP as you speak.  I get out, you get wiped and dropped in Guantanamo Bay with the US under the impression you’re a terrorist.  I’ve seen them do it before.  I don’t think they’ll have trouble doing it again.”

He smiled.  “I see now that I made the wrong decision sending you with Paul.  You are truly one of the most resourceful people I have ever met.  See, I didn’t want you or Paul here.  You, I thought you were a spoiled brat that only pretended to be useful.  Paul, well, I just don’t like him.  Frankly, I never understood why you were so fond of him, Echo.”

Artemis tapped the earpiece and turned on the microphone.  “Foaly, get a message to Paul.  Tell him to watch out,” he said in Gnommish.

“Got it.  He’s in the server room, and it looks like he’s doing my job for me.  I’ve gotten about 76% of their data copied so far, and I’m sending the virus out to every uninfected Dollhouse.  It’s a bit of a race against him and his girlfriend and the AC system.”

“Just get as much as you can.” Artemis said.  “Once everything is backed up, wreak havoc.”

Artemis heard Foaly rub his palms together.  “Oh, I’m gonna enjoy this,” the centaur said.

“What was that?” Boyd asked, his gun wandering in Artemis’s direction.

“Just checking up on my friends.  They’re behind schedule,” Artemis lied.  “Only 15% of your data has been copied.”

“You should be glad to be here,” Boyd continued.  “Now that the technology exists, we can’t predict who will use or abuse it.  And trust me, it will be abused.  But we can choose where we stand and who we side with.  Do you want to be destroyed or the destroyers?”

“You’re spectacularly insane,” Adelle said.

Artemis had to agree, and he’d dealt with Opal Koboi and Turnball Root.  And Orion.  He’d seen insanity.  Now, what would be the best way to deal with that insanity?  Killing him was out of the question, or Clyde/Saunders/whoever she was would shoot him.

“I believed you,” Echo said quietly, her betrayal evident.  “I trusted you.  How could you do this?”

“This wasn’t inevitable, Boyd.  You could have commanded Harding to stop at any time.  You could have sabotaged Topher.  Or better yet, you could have decided enslaving people was going to end badly and not have done it,” Artemis said.  “You’re one of the founders.  You have power.”

“I had to blend in.  I couldn’t go ordering people around,” Boyd said.  “I couldn’t mess with things I wasn’t supposed to know about.  But now I know for certain how we’re going to survive the apocalypse, and it’s all thanks to Echo.  She is the key to everything!”

Echo looked defiant.  “You won’t survive, Boyd.  Given the first chance, I’ll kill you.”

“I don’t doubt that you’ll try.  But your spinal fluid contains proteins that block against the imprints and prevent the sort of neurochemical changes that come with imprinting.  I’m going to use it to vaccinate us against imprints.  Don’t worry, there’s a way to harvest it that won’t kill you.”

“Is this possible?” Adelle whispered.

“In theory,” Artemis admitted.  “Yes.  In practice, it’s horribly cruel and discriminatory.  Where did you get your technology?”  He hoped the sudden change of topic would get him an answer.

Boyd smiled again.  “You haven’t forgotten.  Company called Opal Technologies.  I knew it was odd, but it was what we needed, and it worked.  We weren’t aware it was fairy until you showed up.”

Artemis heard keys clacking on Foaly’s end.  “Opal Technologies.  Short-lived offshoot of Koboi labs that collapsed when Opal took over Koboi Labs.  She must have reused the name to deal with humans.  By the way, their data’s copied.  I had to turn on emergency cooling to keep it going.  Your friends are faster than they look.  Shall I begin wreaking havoc?”

“Do it quietly until I say you’re free to bring everything down around us.”

Boyd turned to Artemis.  “This is going to cause problems if I can’t trust you.  Either talk to your friends in English or stay quiet.”  Boyd turned to the empty part of the lab and shouted.  “Shut it down, whatever you’re doing.”

Foaly laughed in the earpiece.  “He’s almost as crazy as Koboi.  One of these days, I’m gonna rank all the insane bad guys on a chart by level of insanity.”

Boyd brought his gun to Artemis’s head.  “Well, we’ve let Paul go long enough.  Best spare him the disappointment of being forced to survive the apocalypse.  There’s a few words I want you to say, Adelle, and I want you to say them, or Artemis will be shot.  Artemis’s friends, you are going to broadcast them on the PA system all over the building.  If I don’t hear them, well, bye bye.”

“D’Arvit,” Foaly said in the earpiece.  A moment later, his voice came through the speakers:  “Loud and clear, Napoleon.”

Boyd ignored him.   “Now, Adelle, the phrase had something about flowers in a vase.”

Adelle looked slightly perturbed.  “Mellie’s sleeper phrase?”

Boyd cocked the gun.  “Say it,” Artemis pleaded.

Adelle looked down, resigned to it.  “There are three flowers in a vase.  The third flower...is green.”

Her words echoed throughout the building, and Boyd lowered the gun.  The lights went out.

“What did you do?” Boyd yelled to the room.

“Your other friends from the Dollhouse are in the building and headed this way.  I’ve used their voiceprints to create fake radio commands telling them to go everywhere they’re not supposed to be.  They’re stupid and confused, but your friends will have a clear path,” Foaly said.

“They know?” Artemis said, switching to English.

“You betcha.”

Someone called Boyd’s phone, and he talked to them for a minute, before hanging up.  “I have to check on something.  Stay here.”  He walked out of the room through the same exit Clyde had exited through earlier.

There was a moment of silence.  “What does that phrase mean?” Artemis asked Adelle.

“It activates Mellie’s sleeper protocol.  She goes from pretty girl-next-door to ruthless professional killer determined to destroy everyone on sight.”  Adelle looked agonized.  “I need a drink.”

“Don’t we all,” Artemis muttered.  He opened the bag.  No bio-bomb, but there was an EMP.  Artemis set it on the table. Topher recognized it.

“Hey.  What are you doing with that?”

Artemis smiled.  “Building a timer.  Foaly is melting everything down as we speak.  This will destroy and wipe anything programmed that the virus can’t reach.”

Echo walked over and examined it.  “That’s...actually a really good idea.”

“Last resort, in case we can’t recover anything.”  Artemis picked up a wipe gun and several other half-finished things and put them in his bag.  “But we can.  We can do that and destroy everything else.”

Topher grabbed Artemis’s wrist.  “Please don’t.  Destroy it all.”

“If the LEP knows what it is, then they can take care of it.  LEPRecon and Section 8 have the personnel that are trained to gather and contain instances of fairy technology that get into human hands.  I swear I’m not going to use it for anything.”

“It needs to be destroyed.  This...this is the tech that leads to the end of the world.”

Artemis took the technology out of the bag and laid it out of the table.  “I’ll take one thing.”

Topher handed him the gun he’d been working on.  “This one works.  Tell your friend that whenever they’re done with it, it has to be destroyed.”

“Thank you, Topher.”

Topher went back to Adelle.  Artemis retrieved the Neutrino that was still lying where it had been kicked.

The door to the lab opened, and two people were pushed inside.  It shut and Artemis could hear people barricading the other side.

Priya and Tony quickly regained their balance and looked around through the darkness.  “Are you all right?” Adelle asked as they walked over.

“Fine. Your friend showed us the footage from the Dollhouse,” Priya said to Artemis.  “Thanks for setting that up.”

“The fairies were real,” Tony said.  “They were seriously real.  There was a horse man on the computer who enhanced the footage.  And a girl with pointy ears.  You have elves!”  He sounded like he was still in shock.

“Maybe I should have wiped that computer too,” Foaly muttered in the earpiece.

“Shush,” Artemis demanded.  “Not you,” he clarified for Priya and Tony.  He showed them the earpiece.  “Foaly is monitoring this.  He kept the security running in circles so you could get here.”

“He had the lights flickering on to make a path,” Priya said.

“So, what’s the plan?” Tony asked, looking around.  

Everyone looked at Topher.  It was his redemption, after all.

“We destroy everything involved in the production of this technology,” Topher said.  “We destroy the prototypes, the plans, and the machines used to build them.”  He sounded more confident now than Artemis had ever seen him.

“We wipe this tech off the face of the earth,” Echo finished.

“Echo, find Boyd, shut him down,” Artemis told her.  “Take the Neutrino.  Works like your standard pistol, without the reloading.”

Echo nodded, grabbed the gun, and ran out through the other exit.  Artemis turned back to Topher.  “How long should this take?”

“I’m opening up electricity to the heating components of the servers.  They’re being melted down slowly.  If Clyde thinks he, she, it can recover any data, he, she, it is wrong,” Foaly said.  “Really, it all depends on how long you want to live without moi in your ear.”  He paused for a moment.  “You know what?  Things are going majorly wrong with your friends.  I suggest you leave that here and go help.”

Artemis turned to Topher, who was smashing components against the table and generally making a mess.  Artemis set the timer for fifteen minutes and checked the bag again to make sure everything was ready. He threw his bag to Topher, who caught it and looked surprised.

“Take Adelle and go.  The pulse is set.  I have to tell the others,” Artemis lied.  He wanted to do this on his own.  Topher didn’t need to die to prove he was remorseful.  Artemis thought having the guilt to attempt to prototype a known doomsday device was enough.

“We’re not letting you go alone,” Priya said.

“You’ll have to.”  Artemis was adamant.  “I know you said we’re a team in the Attic.  But I have a LEP job to complete, and if IA finds out how much you already know...”

“We understand,” Tony said.

No, Artemis had decided, he would do this himself.

He ran through the hallways with Foaly’s instructions in his ear, and only paused briefly at the blood smeared on a wall.

He hoped it wasn’t one of his people.

Finally, Artemis forced open a metal door and entered another server room.  Dark shapes were scuffling in the dark, and Artemis stepped on something soft.

Oh.  Clyde’s arm.  Artemis stepped on his/her face too.  Something cracked, and he felt a tad bit giddy at his childish revenge.

Boyd and Echo were on the other side of the glass enclosure in the middle of the room.  Artemis did his best to move silently around the edge of the glass behind Boyd.  He had a gun on Paul’s head, and was using him as a human shield because Echo was pointing the Neutrino at him.

“Foaly, restore the power.”  Artemis had seen an opening.  Butler had included something extra in the bag, something Artemis had only seen when he was preparing to hand the bag to Topher.  He knew why it was in there.

The lights came up, and everyone looked around, stunned.

Artemis took the moment to take Boyd by surprise, and jabbed him in the neck with the small syringe.  Boyd dropped the gun, and looked confused.

“You,” he said to Artemis.

Paul took the opportunity to slam Boyd to the ground.  He grabbed the gun, and pointed it at the traitor’s head.  He looked at Echo.

“Do it.”

Artemis put his hands on his ears and turned away.  There was a bang, and it was done.

“Ask your friend if there’s explosives.” Echo instructed Artemis.

“Give me to her and go.  There are explosives,” Foaly said.  “Sayonara.  See you on the flip side.”

“Good luck, Foaly.”

“Tick tock.  Give me to the girl and go before I run out of time.”

Artemis handed Echo the earpiece, and she put it in.  “He wants to talk to you.”

Echo smiled.  “I see.  Thanks Artemis.”

“Good luck,” Artemis repeated.

And then he ran.

Artemis met the rest outside.  Amazingly, Topher, Adelle, Priya, and Tony had managed to evacuate several floors before they left.  Truly amazing people in a horrible place.

“Echo?” he asked.

“She’s coming,” Paul said.  “She’s going to come.”

The bomb went off as Echo sprinted out the front doors.  The Rossum building began to implode on itself.

They watched it fall, finally feeling peace knowing that the end of the world had been averted.