Love Conquers All

Chapter 5

The group quickly got back on the plane and set off for their new destination. It didn't take them long to get there and the exact building itself was easy enough to find, it was a small broken down apartment that at first glance appeared abandoned. The real challenge was getting in. "I reckon we can't just waltz in the front door, huh?" Holly murmured, hovering somewhere besides Artemis' head while shielding.

Artemis scoffed, "You think?" He started circling around, "Maybe there's another entrance somewhere. Trouble, circle around the left, Holly and I will go right, we'll meet in the back. If you find anything, just send us a message and we'll go to you while you investigate, it'll save time." He said quietly and headed off without waiting for a reply from either of them.

With an exasperated sigh, Holly followed him and Trouble flew off in the other direction, grumbling discontentedly to himself. It wasn't long before Holly and Artemis came upon a small unmarked door that appeared to be leading into the apartment. 

Holly glanced towards Artemis quizzically then realised he couldn't see her so she cleared her throat to get his attention, "Worth investigating, you think?" She asked quietly.

Artemis approached the door and examined it closely, there was no lock, no sign, no peephole. Plants had grown around the bottom and the frame, showing a lack of use and it was dirty enough that you might not even notice it passing by. "Seems a good of a lead as any," Artemis said, "Send a message to Trouble.

"Done."

Artemis nodded and put a hand on the door. The door swung open with surprisingly little resistance and it opened into a dark dusty room. 

Artemis coughed and blinked, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. A soft whirring sound behind him indicated that Holly had simply turned on the night vision function in her helmet.

She gasped at whatever she saw and instantly regretted it as she broke down coughing from inhaling the heavy dust hanging in the air. "What is it?" Artemis whispered peering into the darkness.

"We have to get out of here," Holly said, between fits of choking but the words had barely left her mouth when the lights flickered to life and the door behind them swung shut. Heavy bars dropped from the ceiling, preventing any means of escape.

The room's only walls were the walls of the apartment and there was no furniture to be seen. Even the floor was bare concrete and the paint was peeling off the walls from lack of care. The only object in the room was a giant throne directly across from them and sat upon it was Juniper.

"So, you actually showed up," Juniper sneered, spreading her arms. "Welcome, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough." She continued, lounging carelessly on the golden chair.

Artemis swore under his breath, "Holly, tell Trouble-"

Juniper cut him off with a sharp laugh, "Don't bother sweetheart, there's no signal in here, I made sure of it."

"What do you want from us?" Holly demanded, finally un-shielding.

"From you two specifically, not much really. But with you out of the way, the LEP will be much easier to take down."

"What did they ever do to you?" Artemis asked, taking a step towards her.

Juniper's eyes became alert and angry, "What did they ever do to me?" She repeated, glaring at him. "I'll tell you what they did to me," she pushed off the chair and lept to her feet, towering over them as she stood with her feet firmly planted on the armrests.

"They made me a disgrace! Said I was crazy, dangerous! They took my life's work and threw it out like trash before imprisoning me with the worst society had to offer." She yelled pointing at them.

Artemis glanced back at Holly and raised an eyebrow questioningly. 

Holly shrugged helplessly but before she could say anything Juniper continued her villainous monologue.

"I would have made us powerful. We could have ruled over the mud folk. We would no longer have to tremble beneath their feet as they forget we ever existed. Yet what do I see now? A fairy working not against the mud men but with them!"

Artemis smirked, "I'll try not to let that hurt my feelings," he said with a laugh, "Now why don't you get down from there before you hurt yourself?"

Juniper paused, momentarily stunned by Artemis' lack of awe at her speech. She quickly regained her composure however and scowled, "Oh don't you worry about me mud boy, I will have my revenge, it's just too bad you two won't be there to see it."

She stomped her foot and the throne began to rise, without thinking, Holly charged at her, perhaps hoping to knock her to the ground but Juniper was ready and deflected Holly, kicking her out of the air. "I don't think so," she taunted as metal bars shot out of the walls directly below her ever-rising platform, effectively trapping Artemis and Holly in a cage.

Artemis scanned the room, searching for some means of escape but found nothing of use as he stood helplessly in the middle of the room.

For a brief second Holly hoped that the chair would continue to rise and squish Juniper against the roof, solving all their problems instantly but unfortunately, the chair stopped it's ascent before that could happen.

Juniper crouched down like a cat and grinned at them, "Oh and one last parting gift," she said waving mockingly as a panel slide open above her. She pushed a button beside her and Artemis heard a hissing sound as small openings appeared on the walls.

"Poisonous gas?" He guessed, only a hint of fear in his voice.

Juniper pretended to look offended, "Who do you take me for? A madwoman? I'm not going to kill you. Think of this as a reward almost, for getting so close to stopping me."

She stood up again and reached up for the opening. "Have fun you two," she said with a wink and pulled herself up and out of the building. The panel slid shut with a final click leaving Holly and Artemis alone in the building.

Holly looked at Artemis and flew to his side, "What do you think is gonna happen?" She asked glancing worriedly at the openings.

"They look like nozzles designed to leak some sort of gas but if it isn't toxic fumes she's sending at us, I can't think of what it might be." He stared at the ground in concentration, "She mentioned a project, do you know what she'd been working on before being captured?"

Holly tugged at her sleeves, agitated, "I can't remember, it could have been anything I-" she suddenly stopped and gasped, "The love potions!" She cried, just as a pink gas began filling the room.

There we go, a much longer chapter to make up for last one's pitiful word count. You can probably see where I'm going with this. This is actually the scene that I've been leading up to for a while now. It was one of the first ones I came up with when I started this fanfiction like two years ago. It only seems like less time on here because I originally started this with no intent to publish it on Wattpad. Hope you're enjoying it so far.