"Short!''
Holly had barely sat a foot inside the faculty that her employer was already barking at her. This day was sure going to be a good one.
"Did he get his coffee this morning?" The red-haired young woman asked the man who was walking down the hall a little in front of her.
"He is on his second one," the man shook his head, clutching his cup which contained the same hot liquid.
"Got a job already, Foaly?" asked Holly, referring to the man by his nickname, which had been a running gag about the man's horse-like teeth.
"Yes; very important case, I must be on my way. See you around, Shorty," that would be a payback for the nickname.
Holly rolled her eyes as Lawrence "Foaly" Harvard ran back to his laboratory.
"SHORT!" though Commander Root's office was all the way down the hall, by the loudness of his voice, Holly could have sworn her superior was standing just behind her.
"Coming!" she shouted to calm her employer down. There was no need to cause him a heart attack. She hurried her pace, marking sure that her uniform sat properly and headed to Commander Julius Root's office.
Normally, Short would have knocked before entering, but the tone of Root's voice told her that formalities meant little now. She therefore entered the office. The room had a certain smell about it, a mixture of coffee and cigars.
"What's the matter, Commander?" Holly went for a straightforward approach; knowing Root, a casual way of starting a conversation would most likely be revoked.
The commander lowered his coffee from his mouth, revealing a frown.
Holly briefly wondered what she could have done to get such a reaction from Root. Sure, she was one of the few female officers working in the agency, and her ways of working were… Not exactly by the book… But she was one of the best! And as far as she could remember, she had done nothing too reckless in the past few days…
"I won't be too long. I lately have been considering the idea of getting you a partner. I judged it best for you to have someone to bring you back on track when you deviate from your missions."
Holly blinked. Deviate from my missions? If I did not "deviate from my missions" so many criminals would be on the loose! "What?" she exclaimed, incredulous. "But, I don't need a partner. I am fine on my own."
"Fine?" Root raised an eyebrow at her. "Your last mission nearly ended up like the Hamburg case, which, if I may remind you, was also caused by the very person standing before me."
"Commander Root–" Holly began.
"No, Short. For your next mission, I will place you under surveillance with Turner Kelp." Turner Kelp, more commonly know around the office as "Trouble" a nickname that mostly went without any explanation.
Holly fought against the urge to let out a desperate sigh. "Please, you must give me a chance!"
"I have already given you –" This time, it was Root's turn to be interrupted by a message on his phone.
"We can argue on this later, Short, I've already got for a mission for you." Then, seeing Holly's expression, Julius Root corrected himself. "I've got a mission for you and Turner."
~MF: INNP~
Author Note: After a lot of planning, funny moments and laugher, Mary and I are proud to give you the very first Mission; Fowl episode. This series, which does resemble a TV-show will be AU, since all characters will be human and the plot lines from the original series doesn't matter, thought facts from the books are used in making this alternate version of the characters. Moreover, as you will notice we are going to have a little scene then some basic disclaimers and then continue the story, much like in a TV-show introduction.
Warning: This episode will contain swears and some violent situations, don't read it unless you are fine with such scenes. This series are meant for older teens!
Disclaimer: Based on characters and plots from the "Artemis Fowl" series created by Eoin Colfer. We don't own them, but we do own this plot and our creativity.
Episode 1:
I Need No Partner
~MF: INNP~
Holly shifted, uncomfortable in her chair. The briefing room seemed too small for her claustrophobic tendencies, especially since her ex-boyfriend was sitting right beside her.
Turner Kelp's eyes, which had a strange shade of purple to them, were deep into the task of getting Holly's hazel ones to look back at him. Trouble, hadn't minded at all, when his superior had voiced the idea of him collaborating with his old girlfriend for whom he pretty obviously still had a spark for.
"Today's target is Artemis Fowl II," Root paced in front of the room, waiting for Foaly to send him more details.
"You mean that whelp who pretends to be a lawyer?" Kelp asked sharply.
It was no secret that Artemis Fowl the Second had been one of the youngest lawyers of history, but it was also known to the agency that he was into criminal affairs.
"What did he do for us to finally be able to get him?" wondered Holly. The youngster was just too good to even be proven a criminal. He never made mistakes.
"Actually, this situation is… tricky," began Root. "He is not the criminal in this case. He is the victim."
Kelp let out a snort, giving Root a look of disbelief.
"Someone other than the authorities seems to be after him. They even managed to place a bomb in his vehicle as he left court after a case not to long ago. He survived with minor wounds, but his driver was killed."
"You are saying we are to protect a damn criminal?" spat Trouble.
"Find him and protect him, consider arresting him later; if we can get him to confess anything, that is," nodded Commander Root.
Turner Kelp was not too satisfied. He had, some years ago, had a mission that had involved a huge scandal in the financial market; Fowl's work no doubt, but Kelp had never been able to find any proof.
"Our last sources –"
"You mean Foaly," interrupted Short.
Root gave her a look and sighed, "Lawrence attempted to locate Fowl and found out that he is still somewhere in Ireland."
Holly grunted. Somewhere in Ireland, that was such a useful clue.
Her new partner seemed to agree with her. "And that is so helpful."
"That is why I put you two on the case," Root could not bring himself to say the words "my best agents", but he did think it.
Turner was unable to hide a smirk. He knew he was one of the best, after all.
Feeling a little more modest, Holly got straight to business. "What will be in our arsenal?" That was the best part of her job: the weapons.
"Nothing to heavy," replied Root, trying to rub the smiles off of his employee's faces. "Simple hand guns, a GPS, a bullet proof vehicle to bring the boy back in, and of course, costumes for your covers." Wiggling his index finger, Root asked the duo to move from the briefing room to the equipment one.
"The first part of the mission will be held in the center, we will have to track Fowl down and then, go into reconnaissance. Well, you know the drill," explained Julius.
The two agents nodded. Oh, yes, they knew the drill.
"Where do we start?" asked Holly.
"We start by where he did not go," Root winked, trying to hide the fact that Foaly had just sent him this advice.
One whole day, five coffee re-fills and many awkward minutes between Kelp and Short passed… Then, they found a place to start.
~FF: INNP~
Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Queen's University
"This statement is false," began Professor Aaren Jones as he opened a file on his Smart Board. "If it is false, then it means that the statement is true, which actually makes is false. If it is true that my statement is false, then truly, it is not false."
The smartest of the students of the faculty nodded their approval, while others looked painfully confused.
"That is the complexity paradoxes, as well as the subject of the research paper you all will have to study tonight."
Professor Jones pushed his rimless glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose. Closing his large textbook, he asked his pupils to go see their emails in order to get their research papers. He was about to dismiss his class when two people approached the first steps of his room. Jones held his hand up, meaning for the two newcomers to stand by for a few seconds.
"Class dismissed," he said, with a clear and strong British accent.
Making their way through the swarm of students, the two strangers walked to the red-haired professor.
The man in question came down from his small podium to face the pair; a young woman and a slightly older man.
"How can I help you?"
The woman with light blonde hair stepped forward. "My… husband and I recently obtained a great deal of money and were looking to make a donation to this institution," she said.
"For this program, to be precise," added the black-haired man at her side.
"I see…" nodded Jones, looking at the couple over the top of his rimless glasses. "Thought, there is no need to make up a story to gain my trust."
The blonde woman shot a side-glance at her partner. The dark-haired man looked back at her. How had the redhead seen through them?
"Well, there is no need for that masquerade, so you can spare me the pre-rehearsed theatrics," said Aaren, "either you are assassins or you are from the police," he finished in a cold, matter-of-factly tone.
The woman felt the weight of the revolver hidden in her jacket as she pulled out her insignia. Maybe this job was going to be simple after all. The man at her side did the same.
"Artemis Fowl?" He asked the professor in a cold voice.
The redhead smirked despite the fact that he did not exactly appreciate having the name told out loud. "Police officers seem to have more intelligence than I remembered."
"We ask for you to peacefully cooperate, Mister Fowl. I think that you know about the danger you might be into, according to your disguise," said the light-haired young woman.
"Much more intelligent," murmured Aaren Jones, who in reality was only, of course, one of many aliases Artemis Fowl the Second had created for himself. "You are here to take me back to Dublin, are you not?" he asked the woman.
"We are here to get you anywhere safe, no matter where that might be, but yes, Dublin would be a great start," came the reply.
"And if I choose to remain here?" Fowl asked, coldly.
"Then I put you in irons and drag you to the car, while you kick and scream. So you better come," hissed the taller man from beside the woman.
"Charming…"
The girl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'd rather not do that, so if you please…" She pointed to the door.
It was now Fowl's turn to roll his piercing blue eyes. "Very well… Let me pack first, will you?" he asked in a much more polite tone.
"Good," mumbled the man, "Here are the covers; we are old friends of yours and we are inviting you to our wedding anniversary."
Once again, the woman rolled her eyes. Why did they have to play a couple?
"Very well," The young redheaded man went for the door, stopping before walking through, "Where are you parked?" he asked the blonde woman.
"Back of the building, not exactly in sight."
"Expect me there in about five minutes," Fowl said, before leaving them behind, his steps echoing down the hallway.
"Should we follow him?" wondered the man; Turner in disguise.
Holly Short gave him a look. "You think?" she said sarcastically.
"You can do that. I'll go to the car to make sure everything is still in place."
Four minutes, thirteen seconds later, Fowl walked up to the backdoor, where the blonde police officer was waiting for him.
"All set?" she asked.
"Yes, miss…?"
"Short," she whispered. "Did you make all the necessary arrangements for your departure?"
"Of course," Fowl gave her an almost unpleasant smirk.
Holly shook her head. "That is not working on me, Fowl," she half-smiled back at him and led him to the car.
"We will bring you to our base in Dublin and then incorporate you to the protection program," Short told Fowl as she opened the door of the agency's cover black Volvo, which had been modified to be bulletproof.
The youth resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow. He could, after all, open a car door for himself. Nevertheless, he entered and sat down in the backseat.
"Ready for a road trip through Ireland?" asked Turner, taking the driver's seat.
Fowl rolled his eyes. The sooner they got back to Dublin, the sooner he would get rid of these two. Artemis Fowl was not too found of the police. The Fowls were notorious for their mending on the dark side of the law and Artemis the Second was no exception, despite the fact that he had never been in court apart from when he was doing his job as a lawyer.
The vehicle drove away from the massive structure of Queen's University to reach the road.
"The plan for now," began Holly, "is to go by the fastest road that will provide us with a cover, so expect many detours."
Turner sighed, the more detours, the more time he would have to spend with the whelp… Though it would also mean more time with Holly.
"Oh, splendid," murmured Fowl, clearly just as displeased with this as Kelp.
"Hey, I hear one complain coming from either of you, I will force them into my platinum wig," said Holly, giving the guys a chilly, yet humorous look.
"Like it can get worst than a curly red one…" Fowl said.
"Thanks goodness it's just a wig," laughed Turner. "Red is not your colour."
"And black is most definitely not yours," said the young adult.
Holly choked a laugh. "Good one!" she said under her breath.
Turner pushed on the breaks as the circulation light turned red. He couldn't believe that Holly was on the whelp's side.
Fowl gasped from the backseat, the sudden stop had forced the seatbelt into his torso. "Mind your driving!" he half-hissed. "You are supposed to protect me, not kill me!"
"Sorry," Turner gently brushed the accelerator and went on.
~FF: INNP~
"Does anyone need to go to the bathroom?" Asked officer Kelp as he was about to pass by a gas station. They had been enjoying each other's company for about two hours and there was still one more hour of driving to do before they reached Dublin.
The pale Fowl heir rolled his piercing blue eyes. What did this man think his age was? Five? Artemis Fowl II had turned nineteen about two weeks ago.
"You do know we are being followed, don't you?" he pointed out to his "protector's" attention.
Holly looked in the mirror. "The grey car?" she asked, alarmed.
"Yes. And I'd say it's more of a silver car, really," corrected the young man.
Holly breathed heavily as Turner turned into a small road. The sun was about to set. All of the variables suggested that something was bound to happen…
"Better buckle up," Holly said. "This might be a bumpy ride."
Might be. Might be? Fowl frowned. He was starting to regret having left Queen's University.
"Trouble, give me the wheel!" Holly's tone had shifted to worry. "You will have to tell me who, or what is in that car and I am clearly the better driver."
What a suitable nickname, thought Fowl.
"Holly, I don't think it would be safe to switch drivers…" Turner glanced at the side mirrors, which gave Holly plenty of time to crawl out of her seat and grab the steering wheel.
"Go in the back seat, I will handle the rest," she requested with an authoritarian tone.
In the said back seat, Fowl did not seem too comfortable. His pale and slim pianist fingers clenched the leather of the seats. That woman was out of her mind!
Without even deviating from the road, Holly sat down more comfortably in the driver's seat and pushing an awkwardly standing Turner away. The man took place beside the Fowl heir and took out a small digital camera from his pocket.
Zooming on the driver, Turner took a picture. "Holls, there is nothing in that car, it's probably just a coincidence if it's following us," he said after having analyzed the image. "Actually, the only crime this person is currently committing is texting while driving."
Fowl's mind seemed to race. Texting while driving? The silver car was clearly following them. His eyes grew wider. "Drive to the left. Now!"
"Why?" asked Holly, her mind as alert as ever now that she controlling the vehicle. Nevertheless, Holly could not risk questioning what she was told and followed the instruction, speeding to the left.
"That is not a cell phone, it is a technical device made to hack into the electronic mechanisms in a vehicle like this one. Changing directions suddenly will make the signal diverge." Fowl explained. Of course he knew about that mechanism, he had at one point helped in its development.
Holly felt a bead of sweat rolling on her back. The steering wheel was blocked, and so was her rather high speed.
"Guys… We're screwed." Holly tried to turn the wheel, but there was noting to do. They were stuck on the small road at 85 km/h, with a curve coming up.
"No kidding!" Turner unfastened is seat belt. Time to put all if his training into use. "'I'll handle the rest' you said. Yeah, right!" He imitated a girl-like voice as he attempted to open the door. The whole car had been locked.
"Hey! What are you trying to do?" Holly spat, seeing Turner take out his revolver.
"Getting us out of here, of course!"
"You and I will be able to get out, but Fowl certainly does not have the training to do a ninja roll, you fool!"
Her last sentence was lost to the sound of the pistol shattering the side door window. The sound also prevented her from hearing Turner murmur: "What a pity." There was no time for further arguing however, for the front of the car had a rather abrupt meeting with a tree.
The last thing Holly heard was the sound of something cracking. Perhaps it was a window; perhaps it was someone's bones.
~MF: INNP~
"Is everybody alive?" Holly cleared up the fog from her vision. Her head was spinning like the wheels of a speeding car…
Car? Holly did not remember the black Volvo being made of concrete… She patted the cold ground. She was most definitely not in a car.
"Where the hell–?" She clutched her head between her hands. Ouch.
A faint groan came from her right side.
"Mr. Fowl?" Holly glanced over at the source of the sound.
Artemis Fowl was lying on the cold floor, face against the concrete. His real raven-hair was sticking out from underneath the curled red wig. A small pond of blood slowly dripping on the floor, coming from a rather nasty wound centered on the young adult's temple.
Holly crawled towards him.
"Mr. Fowl?" She repeated, fighting the spinning of her own head. She took off her jacket, noticing that she had been disarmed, and placed the fabric against the young man's wound. This caused Fowl to wince slightly. Clearly contact with the injury hurt rather badly… At least he was still alive… Holly sighed. Why were her missions always turning into pure disasters? She was always putting people in danger! She shook her head – a terrible mistake, really – and looked around the cell.
Turner was nowhere to be found.
The cell itself was a small concrete room with one single door and no windows. Chills ran down Holly's spine. This was certainly not good.
"Fowl! Wake up!"
The man didn't move an inch. His rimless glasses were gone, apart from the small glass fragments that were stuck around his eyes.
The policewoman fought the urge to shake him up, which would only have led to more injuries. Instead, she grabbed his wrist, checking his pulse. The beat against her fingers indicating the younger man's cardiac rhythm was slightly lower than preferred. His skin also felt somewhat cold. "Do me a favour, and don't die. That would be really bad for my career," she whispered, uneasy. She tried as best she could to remove the glass fragments from his wounds and wig. That was the least she could to for now.
Soon enough, a little pile of glass was sitting beside the two of them. Clearly, Fowl bumping into the window had provoked the cracking sound Holly had heard earlier.
With Fowl now in a stable state, Holly leaned against the wall of the cell. She had to figure out where she was, for how long she had been unconscious and most importantly, why wasn't Kelp with them?
Due to the lack of windows, Holly had to refer to a more creative way of answering her questions. The blood on Fowl's wounds was already starting to dry, which meant they had been in the room for less than twelve hours, give or take. Judging by her approximated time frame, she figured that she could be pretty much anywhere in Ireland, alternatively, in the world, if a plane had been involved.
Another groan came from Fowl. He was seemingly regaining consciousness. Looking at Fowl's half opened eyes, Short felt a spark of hope.
Fowl swallowed back another pained groan. "I am not an expert," the young man begun with a pain-filled tone, "But I don't think this is how you protect people."
Despite the slight insult in the boy's voice, Holly smiled. "At least no one's dead," Turner briefly crossed her mind. "I think."
"You… think," Fowl repeated, making a failed attempt at sitting up. "Goodness, my head!"
"Don't move too much, you might have a concussion."
Fowl sat up enough to lean against the wall, Short's jacket under his head.
"Any ideas as far as our location is concerned?" he asked, still craving answers though he was not in the best of conditions.
"No… All of my equipment, including my GPS, was taken."
For a second Fowl frowned, then his expression was replaced with a smirk. "I wonder…" he said softly.
"You have something, don't you?"
The young man nodded, "Hopefully," he said, slowly taking some of the red curls between his fingers, removing the wig and exposing his raven hair. Inside a hidden compartment in the scalp of the wig was a small device.
"Brilliant," whispered Holly in disbelief. She should have thought about that.
Artemis flipped the small device open. The screen was cracked, but still workable. Fowl smirked, he always upgraded the normal store phones, and it had proven to be useful.
"So?" Holly did not really want to pressure the man, but she was eager to know where they were.
Fowl held the phone out to her, his hand shaking slightly. "You'll have to operate it. I am afraid my vision is a little blurry," explained the young adult. Holly took the phone held out to her and looked at the screen.
"That's not a phone!" she exclaimed, seeing all of the features Fowl had incorporated in it. "The complete Library of Congress is downloaded in there?" She had to double check to make sure she was not dreaming, or having a nightmare.
"Yes, but that is… unimportant. Go to the main menu, click on the icon that looks like a planet."
"I know what the GPS option looks like, Fowl," She gave him a long look and clicked on the icon. "And by the way, I also am clever enough to figure out that we are not too deep underground, or that this room is not too protected, because you still have a network."
Fowl gave a chuckle, which turned into a painful gasp. "That is where you are wrong, Miss Short. I did… some… let us say 'modifications' to this device. I would have a network all the way down to Earth's center, if needed."
"Oh great…" Holly rolled her eyes. "Well anyway, we currently are in Wicklow."
"Well, now that the obvious has been stated," Fowl moved, causing another wave of pain to fill his aching cranium. He gave a short gasp of agony. "Maybe we can… proceed in finding a way out?"
"Good luck with that. The room is devoid of windows and there is only one door."
"I am just phrasing a random question now, but have you tried to open this only door?"
Holly's mouth nearly gapped open. She had not even tried to open the door. Slowly but surely, she got up and reached for the door. Of course, there was no handle on it, but perhaps it could be pushed or pulled. Pushing did not work so well, but when Holly took hold of the edge of it to try to pull, a grin formed on her lips. She yanked on the metallic door... Only to reveal another one, this time with a small window at eye-level…
"Damn it!" she spat.
"Problems?"
"There is another door behind the first one," said Holly, who was clearly sick and tired of being locked up in a cell.
The young man murmured something that could have been interpreted as a "hell".
"I think that the right word would be "help", Fowl…" She rolled her eyes. "I think that we should wait for backup and send a message to the agency."
"Sounds reasonable," Fowl nodded slowly. "But encrypt it. We don't want other people to pick it up."
Holly took the phone from the ground where she had left it and punched in the agencie's emergency number.
]]At the National Park, camping with a friend.[[
That was a little code Lawrence had come up with for the Agency's officers in case of extreme situations. "Camping" meant imprisoned and "friend" simply meant she was not alone in her cell.
"Okay… we're covered for now."
Holly turned to Artemis, just in time to see him slide down the wall, nearly hitting his head again. Fortunately, she arrived in time to prevent the latest from happening.
"Are you all right?"
"I take it that was rhetorical."
"Yes, Madam, they are in the cell…" a deep voice came from the corridor behind the door.
"Three? What do you mean by all three? There were two in the car." Due to the lack of audible reply, it was easy to guess that the man talking was on the phone.
"Do you recognize that voice?" Holly asked. It seemed as if it was his enemies who had abducted them after all.
There came no reply from Fowl, he had not even heard the question. The crash, the cold in the cell and the utter exhaustion had been too much to take in at the same time. Fowl was resting against her shoulder, unconscious.
"Fowl!" She placed a hand over is heart to make sure it was still beating. "This is not the time for your heart to fail!"
Thankfully, Fowl's heart was still beating underneath cold clothes and skin. There was definitely no more time to lose. Holly had to do something to get out of there, or else she might seriously compromise her mission. Doing the first thing that came to her mind, Holly started weeping.
"No!" she said, being overly dramatic. "No! You can't be dead!"
She stopped sobbing for a short moment, listening to any sounds that might come from the hallway. Obviously, the guard who was speaking on the phone was now alarmed. Holly smirked and cried some more, hoping her disguise was still in good shape.
She made sure that Fowl's head was resting on her jacket before running to the door. "Please!" She screamed, "Please! He's dead!"
Short hit on the door with every limb she had. She had carefully changed the tone of her voice, picking a desperate and shallow tone she had once heard from excessively theatrical teenage girls. "I don't want to stay here!" She sobbed.
Through the opened first door and the small window of the second one, Holly saw the shadow of a man.
"What is going on here?" He asked.
Holly stepped fearfully towards the door, pulling it all the way open. She forced some more tears out of her eyes. "He died, you moron!"
"She won't be pleased…" Murmured the man under his breath.
"Let me out of here! I don't want to see him rot forever!" Holly fought against the urge to laugh. That last part had been slightly too dramatic for her likings. "Please," she added more softly, hoping to give the man huge "puppy-eyes".
"Sorry miss. I have very strict orders. No getting out until Madam arrives."
Holly Short buried her face in her palms, then passed a hand through her long blonde wig, as if trying to relax. She got closer to the hole in the door. "Then could you please hand me a tissue?"
The man frowned, searching through his vest's pocket. Holly paid particular attention to him and heard the sound of clicking metal coming form one of his pockets. The man's hand passed thought the hole of the cell to give her a small – and already used – tissue.
Holly's hand on the other side of the door slowly reached for him. Her other hand grabbed the front of the wig and shoved it right in the guard's face to make him lose his sense of orientation and balance.
Holly could not hide a smirk as she pulled the guard's arm, slamming his head right into the metal door.
"That's gonna be worst than a hangover when he wakes up," she mumbled as she tried to hold the man up. Standing on the tip of her toes, Holly reached out in the man's pocket. Roughly feeling some keys in it, she pulled them out, crossing her fingers from them to be the cell's keys. "Good guard," she said as she let him collapse on the floor.
The keys now in hand, Holly only had to find the keyhole from the exterior of the cell. Cursing her height, which was too short for her own good, Holly stretched her arm as far as she could. She was exactly three centimeters from the keyhole when a stab of pain in her shoulder stopped her.
"Damn it!" she swore through gritted teeth. She had managed to get her shoulder stuck in the damn hole! "Couldn't you wake up and help me?" She shouted at the unconscious Fowl.
No such luck. Holly's only hope was residing the man's phone, which was on the ground, about three feet and a half away from her.
Being careful not to dislocate her shoulder in the process, Holly stretched out her leg. If she could not reach the keyhole, she would reach the cell phone!
Short let out a faint squeal, then followed by a desperate grunt as her toes brushed the device, pushing it farther away from her. Frustrated, Holly pushed against the wall, not even caring about dislocating her shoulder anymore. She shook her feet in an attempt of sliding her long boot slightly off her feet.
That simple thing ended up being the most successful task she had preformed that day. Things could not always go bad after all.
The boot brushed the phone once again, this time sliding the phone towards Holly. Rolling her hazel eyes, she realized that she could not bend down to take it and therefore shook her boot again until it slid of her foot. Holly gasped in horror as the shoe nearly landed on Fowl's stomach.
"So sorry," she whispered while she wrapped her toes around the phone in order to bring it to her. There was one message on the screen.
]]Sorry, wrong number.[[
'What?' thought Holly, 'How the hell would that–' and then she understood. She had not even stated who she was in her previous message and the Agency did not have Artemis Fowl's number in memory.
]]Wicklow National Park, camping with a friend, took one bear down five minutes ago. –Short.[[ Was what she texted back after letting the rage pour out of her system.
]]Oh! Sorry for the delay. :S[[ Came the reply. Clearly Lawrence was handling the emergency phone today.
]]One injured bird.[[ She added. ]]We're in trouble.[[
]]That's inappropriate, especially at work! Wasn't he your ex?[[
]]Not Trouble! Trouble is missing.[[
]]O.K. No more jokes. Sending you a picnic.[[
Holly rolled her eyes. She hoped that her "picnic" would arrive really, really soon.
~MF: INNP~
Another person in need of a "picnic" had rolled out of a black Volvo mere seconds before the crash and had evaded in the nearby forest.
He had watched helplessly as two individuals got out of the grey car, one of them taking Holly and Fowl, while the other looked through the perimeter. Fortunately, Turner had managed to hide before the second man could notice him. One captured agent was more than enough in this situation.
The only disadvantage in this plan was that while hiding, he had not had the time to look in which direction the enemy car had left. Once he had made sure that the area was clear, Turner had walked back to the Volvo only to find Holly's equipment destroyed on the ground. Turned reached out in his pocket, only to find that his own communicator had been wrecked when he had jumped out of the car.
After hours and hours of painful walking - he had had a bad landing when he had escaped - Turner was still in the same, desolate state. No phone, no car and no clues.
Running a hand through his dark wig, Turner let out a frustrated growl. If it was not for Holly, he could try to go home and forget all about this. Fowl was, after all, a criminal who would most likely end up as a captive anyway.
"Who closes a stupid gas station?" he muttered, angrily. The going to the gas station they had seen before the crash had been his first option, of course, but the doors had been closed for renovations…
Finally, Turner saw a light at the end of the road… A convenience store! 'Please, let there be a goddamn phone in there!'
The man nearly wanted to run towards the small convenience store, but then recalled that a bloody person running towards a convenience store with a gun in his jacket's pocket might not exactly lead to trust.
As he entered the store, Turner swore he heard a "Hallelujah Chorus".
"Excuse me, miss, but may I borrow your phone?" he asked the wide-eyed woman behind the register.
"Yeah, sure..." without asking too many questions, the woman led Turner to the phone, hoping that he would not kill her or attack her.
The man punched in the Agency's emergency number and waited for somebody to answer.
What the hell? Thought Turner as he caught the voicemail.
After the tone, Kelp did the only thing he could do. "Short is gone camping with a friend and two bears in a grey car." Stupid code, he rolled his eyes as he gave his own coordinates and code name before hanging up.
The store woman was wondering no more; this fellow had taken something strong and illegal.
~MF: INNP~
"What's going on?" shouted a new voice from the cell's corridor.
Holly grunted. I'm stuck in a goddamned door, that's what's going on!
"Ahh!" she moaned in pain as a hand seized hers, bending her fingers backwards.
"That's not very nice, you know, trying to sneak out," said the voice, which belonged to a man who resembled the first guard. "And what have you done to my brother?" The man let go of her hand, taking the cell's keys in the process. "You know what, missy?" He paused, feeling dramatic. "Madam told us not to kill the boy before she arrived. She never said anything about you."
Holly heard the sharp clicking sound of a gun being loaded.
"You seem to cause trouble," laughed the man. "Let's fix that."
Artemis Fowl stirred weakly at the back of the cell. "Interesting fact about my phone," came the boy's faint voice, "If you go to the menu and click the icon that looks like a flashlight –"
"Fowl?" whispered Holly, glancing towards him.
She shook her head. She had to be quick. With the hand that was not stuck in the door, she browsed through the menu of the phone, finding the icon. Her other arm was busy, punching and scratching the guard. Holly clicked the flashlight icon and to her surprise, a laser beam escaped the device.
"Fowl?" She asked with more conviction. What could she possibly do with a laser?
Fowl forced his eyelids to open. The piercing blue eyes moved to the lock, then back to Holly. His pale lips formed two short words: "The. Lock."
Holly aimed the laser at where she hoped the lock was located and with astonishment, the metal melted under the red light.
Then a gun fired once.
Holly stopped breathing, taken aback.
She watched as the guard fell to the ground, the shot had not been lethal, but it would be enough to take him down.
"Short!" barked a strong and deep voice. "Is everything under control?"
Holly took a deep, relieved breath.
"Commander Root…"
The half-melted lock gave up under Holly's weight and the door was pushed open.
"Short? How did you–?" The Commander looked at her curiously.
"It's a long story…" She glanced at half-conscious Artemis on the cell's floor, then back to Root. "Would you mind getting me out of that door?"
~MF: INNP~
Holly shifted uncomfortably in her seat in the briefing room, much like she did when she had first received the "Fowl Mission", only this time, not only was Trouble sitting beside her, but Artemis Fowl II was also present and more than a little displeased with how the last events had turned out for him. Holly could barely keep her eyes off of the heavy bandage that was covering the three stitches on Fowl's temple. She sent him a small apologetic smile.
Fowl met her gaze, though only briefly. The look on his pale face was not one that was about to forgive her, just yet.
"I will expect a full report on this incident for tomorrow morning!" said Root, giving a stern look to his two officers. "And as for you, Mr. Fowl, you will remain under our protection for as long as we will judge it necessary…"
"With all due respect Commander; with my experience with the level of protection your officers can offer I am not sure how safe I will feel," said Fowl.
"Actually," Root took a sip of coffee. "You will be forced to remain under our command. As far as we are concerned, you are an unproven criminal. The least you could do is to defend your cause by proving to us that you are on the right side of the law."
"Commander Root, I am a well-known lawyer, and the last time a checked I was on the right side of the law," replied Fowl, coldly.
This statement made Holly and Turner give him a look that said it all.
"Commander?" Holly began, wanting to get rid of the little voice at the back of her mind. "About that partner thing –"
"Don't you even consider going back to a solo career at the moment!" exclaimed Root.
"But Sir, I can't work with –"
Once again, as though it was starting to become a habit, Root interrupted her. "Oh, but your partner will not be Kelp. He's going to assist you."
Holly's gaze followed the Commander's index until she found the person he was referring too. As much as she would have liked to object and scream at her superior, she could not. Her vocal chords had somehow lost their ability to produce sounds… She only managed to whisper a single word…
"Fowl?"
~FF: INNP~
Credits: That is it, the very first Mission; Fowl episode. Reviews and comments are welcomed. Stay put for the next episode, which will be out soon.
- Made by Mary (Director) & Alva (Script Director).
This series was inspired by:
"Sherlock"
"X-files"
"CSI"
"Chuck"
"Castle"
"Blood Ties"
AND
"Murder, She Wrote"
~FF: INNP~
See You Next Time on…
MISSION; FOWL
