A/N: Oh it's been so long : ) Hope I can still capture the essence of the story 0.0 Enjoy please!

Artemis Fowl: Captive

Chapter Three, Surprise

The morning light washed over Holly and Artemis. A damp smell lingered in the air from the rain the day before and the dew laden grass soaked their feet, ruining Artemis's shoes. He had other things on his mind though, most importantly the fact that they were only a couple minutes away from Tara. Once there he would have much to do. Gears spun in his mind as he thought over all the possible things they would find there, and what they would do if they found nothing. He took a deep calming breath as the hill revealed itself.

"Artemis, stop." He heard Holly whisper; this brought him out of his thoughts and back to the world. He carefully surveyed the area but saw nothing.

"What is it? Nothing's here." He whispered back "Holly?" She ignored him and walked toward an old oak tree. The soft bark of the tree had been crudely carved into a heart and in the heart was written her name. She faintly heard a rustling behind her but it took a moment to turn around, she was transfixed by the carving- it was familiar to her. She had seen this heart before. Slowly she turned around to tell Artemis.

"Artemis, I know who this is…" She began then stopped and covered her mouth in alarm. Artemis was lying on the ground, she worried for a moment that he was dead but she soon noticed that he was still breathing. She barely had enough time to take in the situation when she was hit hard in the back of the neck and knocked out.

Artemis awoke to hard steel room, the only light came from a raw bulb in the ceiling. The earthy smell and cool surroundings hinted that they were underground. Without getting up he rolled over to Holly's side. A trickle of red ran down the back of her white suit but she was alive. He gently rolled her over and patted her face. In return he got a hard kick in the shin and a couple hits from her flailing fists.

"Holly! Holly stop it's me, stop!" Moments later she quit trying to attack him and squinted at his face.

"Oh Artemis, I'm sorry I thought you were…" At that moment she was interrupted by the banging of a door. They both turned around so quickly that they got dizzy. An unusually short pixie stood in the doorway.

"Good morning, sleep well?" The pixie asked cheerily.

"What's going on Slate? I thought you were ok with us." Holly snapped at the pixie who had walked closer to them. He bent down to eye level and pulled a confused Holly into a very wet kiss. She fought him off and slapped him across the face, making him jump up and back a little away from her. Rubbing his cheek he spoke, this time with no cheer.

"Ok with everything? Sure you just broke my heart but I'm fine. Never better. D'arvit Holly we had our chance! We could've been happy. Your obsession with work ruined it. I thought you had a heart but you sure proved me wrong." Artemis was immensely taken off guard- he thought Holly had never dated.

"I did it for your own good. You were clingy Slate- you needed someone who needed you." Holly tried to sympathize, but that was difficult to do with a pixie like Slate.

"Do I look good?" He screamed. Truthfully he didn't.

"Just tell me where we are." Holly rolled her eyes. He could do them no harm. Slate couldn't be the one behind all this. He was never any good with magic.

"You, my love, are in the depths of my latest project. Better than Haven, safer than Atlantis, and more powerful than the human world. Slatetopolis." He said with all seriousness and grandeur. Holly almost laughed at the poor bloke. He couldn't even come up with a decent name for his project. Artemis at this point was feeling quite secure. The fool hadn't even removed their handguns. Slate's back was away from them and he was staring at the wall as if there was something written on it. Quickly, he pulled out his gun and fired two shots strait into his back. The bullets hit the wall in front of him and he looked down. Not a scratch. They went right through as if he were a ghost. In frustration Artemis shot another bullet and replaced the gun. Someone had wired in a computer generation. And a good one at that. He couldn't tell that Slate was just a picture, he looked completely solid. The small pixie laughed and turned around to face them.

"Like it? I had the servants wire it up for me. Oh that reminds me- back to business. Holly, you'll be coming with me for now. We'll need to get you changed. And as for your friend here, I think I'll entertain him. With that the hologram moved to the wall and pressed a series of gnomish numbers on a bright red keypad. The steel wall opened to reveal a screen. Artemis and Holly gaped at what they saw. It looked like live feed from a camera mounted inside of a volcano. To the right of the screen they saw to solid gold thrones, one taller than the other. And after a moment of studying it was clear that the camera was inside a kind of look-out point with all glass windows. It was a large black room that looked out over a red steaming metropolis. Inside this small city they made out some movement but the rest was too pixilated to see.

"Nice isn't it? Come along now my sweet." He said and pulled Holly up by the arm. He clasped a device around her neck that was attached to a chain. Artemis was horrified that someone could drag a living being around like a dog. Though he could do nothing. He sat in silence as Holly was led away and the super hologram closed the door behind them.

* **** *

Three hours later

* **** *

Artemis sat with his head lolled against the steel wall, he hadn't been paying attention to the screen- he was too busy trying to figure out an escape. The walls were bolted together, he could most likely get out of the steel room, but he would have no idea what was waiting for him on the other side. He could only hope that Holly would be back soon and could tell him where exactly they were. Perhaps the ceiling would open up to the world above, but they could be at the very bottom of this city, in which case he would have to know where to go to get out. Soon his thoughts were shattered as Holly was tossed onto the ground beside him. Two large trolls had escorted her in, but they didn't look very dangerous. Holly was bruised and trembling. She wore a dark lava-red dress and an ornate golden headdress. She coughed a bit then struggled to sit up. Artemis rushed over to her and helped her lean against the wall. A red mark ran across her neck where the collar had been.

"Holly are you alright? Can you tell me what's going on here?" She struggled to remain calm as she recounted what had happened.

"I don't know what's gotten into Slate, he's powerful Artemis, this is unlike anything I've ever encountered. He's building this city and he wants me to be his queen, it's a slave city. He's surrounded himself in creatures that are completely under his control. Some have collars on but others don't seem to be wearing anything. He didn't want to use the collar on me, he wanted me to follow him of my own will so that's what I did. I didn't want him messing with my mind." She took a second and came back stronger now. She was more like herself. "The only exit is at the top of the city, he uses jet planes to get out. As far as I can tell Haven should be almost directly below us now." Artemis nodded solemnly.

"Are there any weapons that you have access to?" He asked, she thought for a moment before answering.

"None at all. He doesn't even carry them." Artemis still had one more question that troubled him.

"Did he beat you? You're all bruised up." Holly looked down at her arms.

"Oh, this is from those trolls. They're entirely too rough even with the mind control. I'm alright. It's you I'm worried about. He hates you with a passion Artemis, he thinks we're madly in love and I can't get him to believe other wise." Artemis swallowed.

"We'll play his game for awhile, perhaps if you convince him to trust you you can get more information and we can escape."

"Artemis, he's coming to take you away soon. He's going to torture you." Holly was worried, she felt so helpless and angry right now that she had an immense headache.

"I'll be fine, get yourself together Captain. You're going to need to act a little." Holly wrapped Artemis in a tight hug.

"I hope your right about this one Artemis, I'd say I'd kill you if you mess this up but I think Slate will take care of that for me." She laughed a little at her morbid joke. She hadn't been crying but she felt like she might so she scolded herself and sucked it up.

"Now why don't you tell me what you know about Slate." Artemis said.

"He's a psycho path. Never used to be. One time he was gentle and sweet, a little too much of a push-over. Don't hate me from keeping him from you, but we were engaged at one point." Artemis was shocked, Holly had horrid taste in men.

"We were engaged for five years and I couldn't stand it any longer so we broke it off. He always wanted me home more and was showing up at the office and worrying about me on missions- it was so annoying." Artemis nodded knowingly. Behind him the door opened once more. Slate walked in with a wicked grin.

"I do hope you enjoyed the tour Holly, now it's Fowl's turn." He clapped a collar around Artemis's neck and pulled him away. Artemis felt tiny pulses that the collar sent into his spine, the last thing he wanted was mind control- but he doubted he would have a choice in that.

A/N: Alright, I said before that the next chapter would be about Butler and Trouble but I think I lied, I might just have to continue this one… 0.0 I wish I knew what Slate was going to do to Arty! Ahglemuffin!! The next chapter will be very interesting in deed, so stick around! And please review, without your reviews and Liris's threats I would have never written this :)

XoXo Northern Amadeus oXoX