Chapter 17: When You're Evil

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So... a bit of background on this chapter...

A few months ago, when I had just started this story, I walked into my living room to hear my younger brother listening to some song. I had never heard it before, and quite frankly, I was a bit worried at first that my brother was listening to something other than his typical... well... crap he calls music. This song intrigued me, and well, I couldn't resist fitting it into this story. I hope you all manage to find the ironies as much as I did. =P

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Diana slowly opened her eyes. She felt sick, and groggy. Worst of all, she couldn't remember what had happened to her to make her feel like this. All she could remember was being in her backyard. But surely that couldn't explain how she had arrived here. The girl glanced around the room she was now in. Beige walls surrounded her, making her feel at home for just a moment. There was nothing in her room, save a small twin bed. From where Diana was sitting, she could see a door to a small bathroom as well. There was a door leading out of the room as well, although this one was barred, and looked like it belonged on a prison cell more than anything. There was no doubt about it; she was definitely not at home.

Diana didn't have to wait long for her questions to be answered. Soon after she had finished looking around her new environment, she noticed a man standing in the doorway. Just on the other side of the large cell-like door. Diana had never seen the overly-tanned man before, so she was definitely intrigued by his sudden appearance.

"Ah, so you are alive," he eventually pointed out.

Diana stared at him questioningly. Why wouldn't she be alive? Her heart was beating, that much she was sure of. The girl decided to take the opportunity to question this man as to why she was there, even if she couldn't remember how she got there in the first place. She approached the door, peering at him between the bars. "Who are you, and what do you want from me?" she demanded.

The man chuckled condescendingly, something that sent chills down Diana's spine. "Carla was right; you certainly are a feisty child to say the least."

Carla? Diana noticed a woman standing several feet away from the man, and she immediately recognized her. Everything came flooding back to her now. A woman had showed up at her house, a fight ensued, and as Diana had attempted to flee, she had felt a pain. The woman must have hit a pressure point in her shoulder, knocking her unconscious, and giving her ample time to get her here, wherever here was. Diana suddenly felt very angry, not only at them, but herself as well.

"You didn't answer my questions," she persisted through clenched teeth. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"The name's Spiro, Jon Spiro. And believe me, I don't want anything from you," the man went on. "I'm more interested in what a... friend of yours can offer."

"So you're using me as bait?" Diana hissed.

The man frowned. "Bait is such a crude word. I would prefer if we thought of it as a business deal."

"Neither exactly sounds pleasant to me," Diana spat. "I want to go home."

Spiro laughed again, something Diana was already getting annoyed with. "You can go home, Diana, after Artemis Fowl gives me what I want."

The girl couldn't resist smacking her forehead out of frustration. "Look buddy. I already told your friend here that I'm not the person you would want to talk to about Artemis. I hardly know him. Seriously, I just met him a few days ago."

Spiro smirked. "And that's where you're wrong, Di. I can call you Di, right?" He didn't pause long enough for Diana to answer. "You're going to give me the leverage I need over Artemis, you're going to be just the person I need to get what I want from him."

Diana thought about it for a moment. What could Artemis have that Spiro wanted so badly? Nothing was adding up in her head, and she felt like she was missing some key pieces to make it add up in the first place. "And what is it that you want from him?" she dared to ask.

Spiro shifted his weight to his other foot. "It's really quite simple really. He has technology that could make my company tons of money." He sighed, rolling his eyes in the process. "We sort of had a... misunderstanding of sorts some years ago, and all I want is the technology he stole from me back. Is that too much to ask?"

Diana wasn't a fool, that was for certain. She knew Spiro wasn't telling her the full story, and that bit irritated her probably more than anything right now. He was hiding something from her, and it was definitely something that could make her switch sides in a heartbeat. "That technology was Artemis' in the first place, wasn't it?" she guessed. When she saw Spiro's face scrunch up, she had her answer. "Then you have no rights to it now! Let me go!"

Spiro moved a little closer to her, a smirk all too apparent on his face. "I can't do that, Di; I've already explained that to you. You're home is this cell for now, and if your precious Arty doesn't give me the C Cube like I'm about to request of him, you're not going to like the outcome for either of you."

Diana felt her eyes tearing up, although she wasn't exactly sure why. She wasn't sure if Artemis was going to fulfill his part of this trade-off, and it was probably that that worried her beyond anything else. "Why are you doing this?" she demanded, trying her hardest to keep her composure.

Spiro didn't answer her, and instead pulled out his mobile phone. He turned away from her as he placed the phone to his ear. Diana had no doubt in her mind who he was calling. She just wished she could actually speak to Artemis herself, even that would be enough to calm her a bit. But she knew Spiro would never let her speak to him. Kidnappers hardly listened to the wishes of their hostages; why would this case be any different?

"Hello, Artemis. I have your friend Diana. You have three days to bring the C Cube to my office, or to put it simply, your friend will suffer the consequences, as will you," Spiro stated rather loudly. He turned back to look at Diana, who at this point was on the verge of tears from all the pressure being thrust upon her friend. "Your time is ticking, so I would get a move on."

Spiro hung up, dropping the phone back into his pocket. "Little Arty has been warned," he announced, as if Diana hadn't seen him make the phone call. "Now all we have to do is wait to see if he'll act upon it."

Diana searched for the right words to use, but none came to her. She wanted to smack Spiro so badly, but the girl knew better than to assault her captors, at least not until later. "Why are you doing this?" she repeated. "What are you gaining out of this? Torturing a teenage girl to get revenge on another teenager who out-smarted you... What is so fun about that?"

Spiro snickered for a moment before kneeling closer to Diana's cell. "You want to know why I'm doing this?" When Diana didn't answer him, he continued. "I do it all because I'm evil," he answered. "And I do it all for free."

Diana couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Her mother was right; there were truly some evil people in this world. Diana just had the misfortune of meeting one of them. The tears flowed from her eyes, unchecked. What else was she supposed to do? There weren't any of the comforts of home here, there was nothing to make her feel better, or calm down. Diana stepped away from the door, moving back over towards the bed, where she took a seat. She rested her head in her hands, unsure of what was going to happen to her from here on out.

From behind her, she heard Spiro add darkly, "Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need."

All hope was lost.

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