Artemis ducked behind the barrels around the perimeter, and started to silently curse their luck.

this thing had gone through 4 LEPretrieval squads quicker than his Body guard Butler had incapacitated retrieval one! As holly slid the the barrel directly next to the human child prodigy, Artemis decided it was high time he saw what a bio bomb could do. he knew the council would dislike the idea of a 'Mud boy' calling any shots, let alone using the super weapon of the people, but Holly could certainly testify for him. especially after what happened...

"so, mud boy, any great ideas to take down this tank of a robot?" Holly asked in a almost casual way.

"i do have one, and i think you would of thought of this too... mind me using 'slang' but we NEED to blue rinse this area. think we can get back to field HQ holly?" Artemis shrugged. whatever this thing was, it was quick and had converted- or to use the enemy's term, 'upgraded' not just the humans who had worked in the warehouse that used to store all of blockbuster's stock into lightly armored energy weapon wielding troopers, but also most of recon 2 who had been ordered by troubled (sadly dead after an electric melee attack caught him unawares. holly had grieved for trouble and Artemis shared the sadness. trouble, however untrusting and hostile to Artemis had been a friend) to investigate the area.

after a brief shock crossed her face, Holly face suddenly turned dark and angry.

"yeah, lets take down that D'arvit!" Artemis nodded. he certainly wanted this done with.

the dash to the field base was short and quick, and without interruptions.

"holly, where is-" Foaly, the centaur expert had his usual worry multiplied several times when Holly waved him away. she suddenly turned on one of the techies of foaly's HQ.

"you get an access to the council, inform them we are deploying a Bio-bomb, and to get some doctors over to the main shuttle area. Foaly's gonna need some assistance after he gets though the casing."

"erm, but your not in charge..." the techie's response was quickly shouted down

"JUST DO IT!" Holly shouted into the poor elf's face, making him scarper to the computer.

"holly, is trouble..." foaly, having made the connection, couldn't bring himself to say it.

"yeah, hes gone..." holly held her head in her hands and silently started to cry. Artemis slowly placed his arm around her neck in a sign of sympathy.

"in a few minutes Holly, that thing will be dead, and you will have made sure trouble didn't die in vain... for nothing..." Artemis' speech was touching, even to the other elves.

Holy looked up and smiled. "lets make sure it goes DOWN!" her voice was confident. she, foaly and Artemis walked over to the missile control panel, where foaly started to mess around with a few things, mostly wires.

"there, that should do it!" foaly got up, with a 'normal' look on his face.

"major short..." holly turned to the techie she sent away. "the council say go ahead, they saw everything from the helmets."

Holly smiled, time to end this.

As she pressed the launch command into the console, the 5 foot tall bio bomb, set in its chrome plating, started to ignite its fuel and as the holding struts disconnected from the missile the device sped up into the sky, and as it headed towards the warehouse, the went low, hugging the ground, speeding into the main warehouse area, detonating in a flurry of blue electric sparks. Artemis noticed, thank to the camera on each warhead, that several 'troopers' got caught in the main warehouse area.

every LEP operatives cheered a half hearted cry. several of their kin dead, and their commander to.

"That's only half the job" holly said sadly "lets make sure its dead."

Everyone had been given a 'blackout' suit, a fairy anti-rad suit, and was given a neutrino 4500, even Artemis, who had taken courses in firearms by butler.

They had decided to use the factory entrance and form out from there.

"five down, major. ones a mess though, torso separated from the legs. Must of fallen from the railings."

"alright private. captain vein, take several of retrieval one to the east side, look around. check the south entrance too. the rest are with me. lets see if this abomination isn't in the east and north areas."

Artemis walked slowly with holly, the training from his body guard (now having to endure a forced holiday in a topical island called, would you believe it? , Tropico) and kept checking corners. that thing moved fast, and he wouldn't put it past its abilities to decrease its size so it could ambush from anywhere. holly had the same idea, from the looks of it.

Then the radio crackled into life

"Major, one of the corpses moved, i think they are trying to repair *blaster bolts* CORRECTION, THEY ARE DEFINITELY REPAIRING! GET OUT OF HERE!"

holly paled. the bomb hadn't worked. for the second time, but that was because Artemis wasn't in the blast radius all those years ago. these things had repaired so quickly, like the damage was minor for them. then she heard the sounds of leg pistons.

"THERE IT IS!" this was from Artemis, who had raised his weapon, and like the rest, including holly, had taken cover by the crates.

a time ago, Artemis would of been just taken cover while we fought for him. thought holly as she brought her neutrino the bear.

the metallic humanoid marched around the dark damp corridor's corner, and raised its arm cannon.

the two LEP officers to holly right where taken by a single blast, throwing them against the wall behind them. the second shot hit a box, sending it crashing into Chix Verbal and two other privates.

the neutrino rounds only caused it to suffer light recoil. then it said in its dark, grating voice

"UPGRADE IN PROGRESS..."

the thing then dashed forward, taking out 4 more officers, leaving it to, Holly, Artemis and the unconscious Chix.

Holly rolled pass the machine, as it tried to hit her. somehow, it missed most of its shots. Artemis then primed a plasma charge (of his own design) and chucked it at the back of the machine. the magnetic catch sounded and activated, and as holly ducked to cover and Artemis went prone, the machine exploded, making it crash to the ground, mostly due to its 'death scream'.

"wow, that thing was tougher than a troll!" holly gasped as she got to her feet.

"I have to agree on that. i guess a electromagnetic charged metallic compound, but even i can't even begin imaging how its done." Artemis slowly got up, and brushed his blazer of dirt.

"that really is saying something isn't it, mud boy?" holly smiled the kicked the head of the machine. "THAT was for trouble!"

Artemis placed his hand on her shoulder, looking down on the thing that had killed one of his few friends.

"lets get it back so foaly can get a good look at this thing" Artemis then smiled as holly looked at him. "that and he owns me several thousand euros if he wants these charges to be part of the LEP arsenal!"

Holly smiled. in several ways Artemis fowl the second had changed. in some he hadn't.

Luckily for them...