Love Conquers All

Chapter 8

The trio cautiously entered the building. The moment they stepped foot inside, they heard a surprised gasp and the sound of a door slamming. Encouraged, they crept towards the source of the sound. They came to a door where rustling sounds could be heard on the other side. On the count of three, Trouble threw the door open and the three of them barged inside.

There stood Juniper, in the midst of arming herself with a gun. Human by the clunky appearance of it. She spun around startled, "D'arvit," she swore.

"Give it up Juniper," Artemis said coldly. He took a step towards her, "There's nowhere to run, so tell me, where's Butler?"

Juniper smirked, "Tough words for a mudman, I'm surprised you love birds could deny yourselves long enough to break the spell."

Holly rolled her eyes, "Your spell wasn't tough to break, fake love never lasts."

Juniper seemed genuinely surprised by this, she laughed incredulously, "You mean you haven't figured it out yet?"

Artemis glanced at Holly, "What is she talking about?"

"My love potion doesn't create love, it amplifies pre-existing emotions. And next time you won't be so lucky. Being exposed to it once lowers your defences." Juniper explained and pointed her gun to the side, "Which means that all I need to do is shoot that tank and all I'll have left, is the brute to deal with.

Trouble bristled, "What did you call me?"

Holly glared at her, firing up her wings and changing the setting on her own blaster, "You're bluffing," she spat.

Artemis simply stared at her coolly, "You're delusional, fairy, if you think that you can keep me down with a silly potion. LEP is on the way as we speak, there's nothing you can do now."

Juniper's hand shook, "Are you sure about that?" she asked but there was a hint of hesitation now in her voice.

Artemis took another step forward, "Put down the gun, you don't know what you're doing with that. You shoot that tank and we aren't the only ones going down, you have nowhere to run."

Juniper scowled and raised the gun once more, "Then I'll just shoot you, you wouldn't risk your own life would you?"

"Holly's a pretty good shot."

"I'm faster."

"Are you willing to bet your life on that?"

Juniper finally put her gun down, "Fine, if your own life is worth so little, what about his?" With a snap of her fingers, the door behind them opened and in walked Butler.

Artemis spun around, eyes wide, "Butler? How, what did you do to him?"

Juniper cackled with glee, "The potion wouldn't work obviously, he hated me too much, but a simple mesmer wasn't too difficult, the man's all brawn and no brains."

Holly opened her mouth to protest but Artemis shot her a look and she closed her mouth without saying a word. She returned his look with a confused expression of her own. Butler was not an easy man to mesmer, she knew from experience. What was going on?

"Butler," Juniper sang, "Apprehend them."

Butler stepped up and grabbed Holly's arms, holding them behind her back. "Butler-" Holly began then stopped.

"So you see, resistance is futile!" Juniper said lowering her gun, "Once I get rid of you three, the LEP will be no problem!"

"I'd think twice about that," Trouble said, still not having caught onto the situation. Before anyone could do anything, however, Butler had taken Holly's gun and shot Juniper three times in the chest.

Stunned, she dropped to her knees and screamed as electricity coursed through her body, then she lay still. Trouble stared confused, "What, how did you break out of the mesmer?"

"He was never under the mesmer, were you Butler?" Artemis said smiling.

"Correct, on top of things as always Artemis," Butler said nodding, "I thought it in my best interest to play along until I could escape."

Holly sighed, "Good thing you thought of that Artemis, now what?"

"Now we wait for the LEP," Artemis said walking up to Butler. "Good to have you back, old friend."

"Wait, the LEP are really coming?" Holly asked, "When did you contact them?"

"I didn't, Trouble did, I suggested it to him before we got off the plane," Artemis said smugly.

Trouble scowled, "It was my idea."

"That's what I meant."

Alright, there will probably be just one chapter left after this. It's dragged on for quite a bit as it is. Until next time!