The pegasus wallowed in the laboratory even with the lack of the observing monsters. She was immobilized by the mouse writhing in pain on the table in front of her, the animal's midsection pulsating ever more violently. It was like watching somepony having a seizure, unable to help, and completely aware of its suffering. And Fluttershy's connection with animals was intensifying the misery she felt at her cowardice. It continued spasming, vaguely aware of its situation. Fluttershy had felt this way only once before, when she thought she had killed Princess Celestia's beloved pet. She could just... explode. A burst of years of pent up rage, suffering, mistreatment, directed at whoever was unfortunate enough to trigger it.
Butler absentmindedly tapped his heel against the ground as the elevator made its gradual descent. He ran a hand over his suit, seemingly tidying it, but to the trained eye, he was taking account of each potentially lethal weapon shoved in every nook of his suit. The doors slid open, revealing the creature in the exact same position as before, frozen by terror. Its eyes were glued to the lab rat, whom was spasming on the ground. Butler approached the creature, and casually kicked the soon-to-be dead rat across the room, directly into the creature.
Fluttershy squealed in utter terror as the mouse smashed into her face, the swollen abdomen of the creature bursting on impact, splattering a mixture of blood and bile over her snout. The monster that had done that to the poor little thing, and to her, deserved... something worse than she could inflict. But this released her pent-up rage. She leaped at the towering beast before her, and shouted.
"YOU DO NOT. HURT. HELPLESS. ANIMALS!" The pale-yellow creature before Butler shouted, and darted into the closing elevator. He couldn't let it get upstairs, it was potentially dangerous. Butler sprinted after it, but it had unfurled a pair of seemingly weak looking wings, and was flying towards the elevator at a speed it shouldn't have been able to attain. In a single fluid motion, Butler rolled forward, retrieving a throwing knife from his boot, and flinging it directly at the fleeing creature. It sliced through the air, closing on its target. The knife made contact with its tail, nearly impaling in the fleeing creature, when it ground to a halt, miraculously wedged in the elevator doors. The elevator began its ascent, the knife creating a flurry of sparks as it was pushed from the breach.
Artemis absentmindedly tapped his foot as the elevator ascended, expecting a triumphant Butler dragging the creature's hopefully living body behind him. What emerged was not what he expected. The creature flew out of the elevator, and smashed into Artemis. The creature paused momentarily and looked around. It dashed up the stairs, and entered the master bedroom. Artemis pulled himself from the ground, and took account of what had happened. The one perk of being hit head on by the creature was that he got a slightly more detailed view of it. It appeared Equine in appearance, maybe three feet tall at the shoulders. It was a pale-yellow with a light pink... mane? Artemis decided to think of it as a pony, given its size and general body structure. He shifted his attention to himself, and brought a hand to his chest, prodding the area of impact. It was definitely bruised, maybe a fractured rib or two.
He then realized a far more important thought. The creature had retreated into his psychotic mother's bedroom. He pulled himself upright, and darted up the stairs, grabbing a decorative sword from a suit of armor along the stairway. He yanked the oaken double doors open, revealing the creature, once again shivering in a corner, along with a very surprised Juliet.
"Arty, would you mind closing the door behind you?" Angeline Fowl asked, unaware of the being in her bedroom corner. She probably thought it was a hallucination of some sort. Juliet, however, approached Artemis.
"What is... that?" She asked him, a tray of cucumber slices still firmly in her grip.
"Transdimensional visitor. I'll explain later, but I first need to subdue it. It attacked me, and I am unaware of what it did to your brother, seeing as how it escaped him in the lab." He said, and raised the blade awkwardly, charging at the creature. He was entirely prepared to kill it, seeing as how it had assaulted him. The blade began its downward arc, and would've contacted the cowardly creature before him had Juliet not grabbed the collar of his suit and dragged him backwards.
"Juliet, unhand me! What are you doing!?" He shouted, as he struggled to escape her considerably stronger grip.
"Look at it, it's harmless! I don't know what it did to you, but it isn't even standing! It's just curled up in a corner!" She replied, and shoved him back.
"Unhand my son, please. I won't hesitate to hire a new maid." His mother said, still oblivious in her bed, as Butler dashed into the room, firearm drawn.
"Juliet! What are you doing! You're interfering with Artemis' experiment!" He shouted at his sister.
"I'm trying to stop him from murdering a defenseless creature! Look at it!" She replied, and stood in front of the creature. They siblings continued bickering, unaware that the creature was now running out of the room.
"Butler! It's escaping!" Artemis said, his voice barely penetrating the argument. The duo continued quarreling, unaware of all events unfurling around them.
Artemis retrieved the blade from the carpet, and pursued the creature down the stairs, and into the kitchen. The creature was madly searching for an exit, and he approached it, blade held high in front of him, ready to strike.
"Please don't hurt me..." He heard. Where had it come from? The meek, almost inaudible voice sounded extremely close... had the creature just talked? It must have.
"You can talk?" Artemis said, still approaching, but lowering the blade slightly.
"Y-yes." It said, and turned to face him. He approached, it pace slowing ever so slightly, and lowered the blade entirely.
"What's your name?" He gently inquired.
"F-Flubbary.." It responded extremely quietly.
"What?" Artemis said, annoyed.
"F-Fluttershy." It forced out.
"I'm Artemis. I won't hurt you. Just come here..." He said. Fluttershy cautiously approached, head low. The time was right. Artemis swung the lowered blade upwards, and the pony-like creature spread wings and launched itself back, barely avoiding the cold steel. Its wings hit a cutting board, knocking it into the air, a mess of cucumbers and a sharp knife hurtling through the air. Artemis' eyes followed the knife, as it sailed directly towards him. He put up his forearm, and the knife sliced into it, a trail of blood flowing from the wound.
"AGH! DAMN YOU!" He shouted, and threw the knife at it. It squealed, and galloped from the room. Artemis hobbled to a first-aid cabinet, clutching his arm, and reluctantly cut his sleeve off from the elbow, revealing an incision reaching the bone. He grunted in pain, and applied a cleansing agent to the wound. The burning from the antibiotic was a sign it was working, and he tightly wove a bandage around his forearm. He flexed his fingers and rotated his wrist, relieved a nerve hadn't been severed. He turned, and marched towards the elevator, when he slipped on a puddle of juice generated by the cucumbers. To add insult to injury, his suit was now thoroughly ruined.
He cursed the fruit, and got up, when he realized something. He had a solution to the single complication from the first live test. Cucumbers contained an abundance of vitamin C, a reducing agent, meaning it doesn't attract bonding electrons. He grabbed the few intact slices, and shoved them in the food processor, pureeing them. He rolled up the sleeve on his uninjured right arm, and smothered it in the puree. He shuddered at his state of cleanliness, and ran to the elevator.
Fluttershy was nearly petrified, pure adrenaline propelling her to the basement. She darted into the fake wall again, and randomly hit one of the glowing sections of it. The front slid shut, and a peaceful hum filled the chamber. The door again opened, and she darted out revealing the basement. She turned to run back into the chamber, but it had already closed.
She approached the device, splattered with gore, and stared at it, examining its function, and how it had... killed the cute little mouse. She was shaken from her trance by a ding, and the door again slid open, Artemis emerging from it. His sleeves were either cut off or rolled up, one arm smothered in some sort of greenish glop, dripping liquid over his hand, the sword firmly gripped in it. A blood-soaked bandage engulfed the other arm.
She had to escape, and the only thing she could think of was the device. She reluctantly reached for it, hoping it wouldn't effect her like it had the mouse.
Artemis immediately dropped the sword when Fluttershy began reaching for the device. He dove forward, attempting to intercept her, and succeeded, his arm blocking her foreleg. A veil of golden light engulfed the pair, and was quickly replaced with a black void, a wooden cottage floor extending from under them, curving up to form walls and a roof, eventually. Artemis was overjoyed. It worked. And so had his theory, for the device dropped to the floor, not attached to either being's flesh. He looked around, noticing a large amount of small creatures peering at him from various nooks, and a small kitchen, a cutting board with a partially eaten cucumber on it. That explained why Fluttershy hadn't been effected earlier. Then something hit him. Literally. A mug shattered over his head, revealing a particularly pissed bunny standing in a cabinet.
Oh dear. Artemis vs.Angel
Without butler
Man I've forgotten how much of an cruel guy Artemis could be. I haven't read these books in forever, I'm remembering why i liked them so much. I've always liked stories where the protagonist is constantly walking the razor edge between good/evil, like a good guy that could so easily become evil but never really does. Although for Artemis it's a bit reversed, he starts out an evil criminal mastermind but becomes something of a good guy when he makes some ... odd friends, if I'm remembering the books correctly.
767652
You remember right. He starts out as the person who would go to any length to get what he wants, and then proceeds to get soften up along the way. I could get into a longer explenation, but I dont quite feel the mood to write a review of it right now, if you understand.
767925
No problem at all, just glad I'm remembering it correctly.
Oh yes! Go FlutterRage!
*reads some more*
Artemis! Don't you dare kill Fluttershy!
*continues reading*
Aaaaaand cue Angel No Holy Hand Grenade to help you here Arty
now for Artemis to face what will be one of his hardest challenges yet... a cute little bunny...(we need an Angel emoticon!)
768005
Monty Pyhton reference. He he.
Quick get Holly and Folly they know what to do!
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Foaly is too paranoid.
776803 He is paranoid but he'll be in Holly's helmet comm thing at the very least. What kind of scientist doesn't wanna see a new dimension?
776940
You're right, they probably would've picked up the disruptions in the time-steam...
Bravo, quite well written and believable. I do indeed wonder how this will turn out. Though I speculate, what would be considered an Artemis victory as opposed to a pony victory? I presume an Artemis victory would be of him attaining an entity with immense power, one worth levying to everyone on earth (or perhaps equestria) under the fowl name. A pony victory on the other hand, I believe would consist of somehow convincing Artemis to let go of the vow he made to himself when his father died and in turn letting them be (ponies using force to purge the human issue would feel quite uncanny, in my opinion.) Or perhaps there will be a villain crossover to act as an impetus for them to join forces, the banter between them would be an excellent time to throw in some clever jokes, yet after the villains would be thwarted (or maybe the bad guys win, BAM didn't see that one coming) will Artemis just decide to be on his way or to take advantage of the established trust? I wonder...
I'm glad to see this story's received such positive feedback. It definitely deserves it. I'm just as eager to see where this goes.
Just an apology to readers of this, I can't really help with the amount of time in between updates. I'm just a procrastinator who can't write fast in the first place.
And I have now started the next chapter. Yup. I loooove procrastination. Don't worry, once I get into it, I write like hell.
This is a good story. The only issue I have is that Artemis deals with being injured rather well. He was in a state of shock when Holly slapped him in the first book because no one had ever hurt him before. Butler always prevented that sort of thing from happening. Nonetheless, you did a good job writing this. You definitely have the right amount of ruthlessness down.
For me this is... quite honestly not what I expected. and not in a good way I'm sorry to say.
Artemis never, and I mean Never, does anything without a plan and fifteen backup plans. He would not attack fluttershy when she is being compliant because it would be counterproductive, he wouldn't be chasing her through the mansion (That's Butler's job), And he certainly would not act up in his mothers presence.