AN: Okay, second fanfic :) this is for my friend (1st Female LEPrecon), who had ever annoyed me to write it. This should please her :P The plot of this story came to me when I was doing a History Test and I had finished early. Heh, interesting, no? This story might not progress too quickly, since I'm mainly focusing on my Twilight fanfic. I hear you ask, then why start this one? Like I said, I had written an AF fanfic but I didn't really like the idea. I'm starting this one for my friend. That just shows what a nice person I am :) lol. Anyway, long enough dribble, I'll start the story. I don't think there'll be too much A/H in here, but I'll try :)

Setting: The story is set about two years after OD, even though Root isn't dead and Holly still has her job. Artemis still has his communicator though :)

Disclaimer: Nothing of Arty belongs to me. Nothing except for the plot, extra characters, scenery… I'm sure that doesn't count as too much ;)

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Chapter One

Encounter

On the way to St. Bartleby's

Artemis scowled.

It was a face he was pulling more and more often, ever since his mother had insisted that he spend more time with people his age. Despite his reasons, tricks and overall, trying to avoid the situation, his parents had pushed him into staying at St. Bartleby's for the winter break.

Unfortunately, this move prevented Artemis from any contact with his laptop. He had managed however, to smuggle in his fairy communicator that Holly had given him, disguising it as one of those pointless electronic hand held games he had seen many boys his age playing. Blissfully ignorant Angeline Fowl had been delighted to see that her little Arty was getting in touch with his 'inner child', and happily let Artemis take it along.

At the moment, Artemis was in the backseat of the Bentley, and yes, still scowling. No one was there to see it however. Butler had been commanded by Fowl Senior to stay, and Juliet was to accompany him instead. Butler was less than happy, but he knew that Juliet could now offer him more protection than he himself could.

Juliet was sitting in the front seat, not driving. She too, had an ugly scowl on her pretty face. The driver was a lanky chauffer, and he occasionally sent a cocky grin to his shotgun partner. On the rare occasion that Juliet had acknowledged the hormone filled boy, she glared like him if he was a particularly large insect. Her usually bubbly, enthusiastic and chatty self was replaced by a sulky one. What was she to do in an all boys' school? As much as she liked being Artemis' bodyguard, this was definitely stepping over the line. She continued to sulk.

The boy that was chauffeuring them had been trying to make small talk over the last hour, but his idiotic attempts to make speech was ignored by Artemis ("Nice weather, don't you think?" Artemis had stared out the window, where the rain had been pounding on relentlessly over the past hour). Artemis' new rule was to ignore anyone who didn't know how to say the word 'incapacitated' ("I incapitated him, I did").

The two icy people in the car was enough to drive anyone out of their mind with fear, but since Artemis had demanded that a dark tint window be fitted in between the front and backseat of the car. Juliet, of course, protested, but Artemis had pointed out that it was not sound proof, merely visual proof. This way he just rolled up the window whenever the boy wanted to make small talk with him, doing them both a favor.

For Juliet however, it just decreased the already limited space she could have with avoiding the boy. He had long given up trying to get a response out of her, but for Juliet the closeness of the boy that obviously had no idea was deodorant was, was less than comfortable. The car drive went on in that steely silence that none of the two main occupants were about to break anytime in the near future.

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Police Plaza, Haven

Holly was absentmindedly twirling a pen between her fingers, the long report she was supposed to be writing forgotten. The whirring of nearby machines now faded into the distance, as she stared at her desk lamp. It was new, fluorescent green, and very bright, illuminating her whole office in a sickly green glow. Holly's colours tended to change with her mood. She wasn't feeling particularly sick, but the words green with envy was a phrase she could relate to that day. Not that she'd ever admit it.

Foaly had now registered a new patent, and she had been eager to try it out. It was supposedly a machine that could show a solid hologram; in other words, conjure up something out of thin air. However, of course, Lily Frond just had to use that high pitched whiny voice, flick her stupid long bleached hair and get her way. She had conjured up her own mirror, lipstick, mascara, shampoo, nail polish, blush, foundation and about fifty magazines, when the battery died.

Foaly had been using a battery for the particular thing, because he didn't know if it could work with all power sources. Now he was modifying it so it could be adapted into a nuclear power source. It wouldn't take him more than a day or two, but Holly had really wanted her own stuffed afro dog. She had seen it on one of those Mud Man advertisements, and they were so cute! But no, Lily had to take her time, thinking over the pros and cons of green mascara and blue mascara for about thirty minutes. It was the only time Holy had seen thinking lines crease her brow. How Frond had been able to think that deeply at all with her IQ level was beyond Holly.

Of course, all these thoughts only registered because she wanted something to sulk at. Nothing had gone her way that week. Root shouted at her regularly now five times a day, and she had been given Chix Verbil as a partner.

I mean, god! She thought to herself, how does a sprite like that live life without crashing into something? So star crossed I wouldn't be surprised to see his eyes grow star shaped.

After stewing in her own thoughts, the intercom squawked out a message, interrupting Holly's battle with her inner rage. She only heard the last few bits of it.

"… through emergencies, so please don't touch it!"

Touch what? She wondered absent mindedly. She brushed it off though, not thinking that it was too much of a big deal. She slid out of her wheelie chair and decided to go to the cafeteria. Food would get her mind off things… She almost smiled at the thought of a chocolate smoothie, or maybe a milkshake.

She reached the door, and it was locked. Frowning, Holly pushed the door again, but it didn't budge. Cursing under her breath, she turned to the snack machine. She pushed a few rusty coins she had found from deep in her pocket, and selected a sandwich. The light didn't even blink. She heard the clattering of her money as it fell into the machine, but nothing came out. She scowled. This was so not her day.

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St. Bartleby's, Ireland

Artemis had refused to get out of the car. It was pretty childish behaviour, but he stepped out unwillingly when Juliet had taken his suitcase out of the boot of the car. The boy chauffeur lingered, but the daggers Juliet was sending him seemed to break through his infatuation. After meekly sliding the car away, she walked along Artemis, their expressions startlingly alike as they approached the school. When h reached the main hall, he was ambushed by a few of the boys he knew from class, who had been attracted from Juliet's more than average appearance. Artemis remembered that one of their names was… Lark?

"So, I never knew Artemis had a sister." The one Artemis thought was called Lark said.

"I'm not his sister." She replied bluntly, walking past them.

"So who are you? I'd remember a face like yours."

Artemis rolled his eyes, but kept walking. If he said anything, it would probably end in physical contact, and he strongly doubted that any of these boys could take Juliet on. He walked on to the computer lab, but Juliet went to dump his things. A lot of the boys trailed after her, but the boy he thought was called Lark followed him.

"What do you want? The girl went that way, if you didn't see." He muttered.

Lark went to sit on the computer besides him, watching Artemis.

"Oh, I saw. Who is she?"

"Go ask her."

Artemis' fingers were flying over her keyboard, so fast they seemed almost blurred. Lark didn't leave though.

"I'm asking you, computer freak."

Artemis didn't answer, his clear blue eyes never moving an inch off the loading screen. It was so slow…

"Hey, nerd, did you hear me?"

"No."

Artemis tapped a few keys, and slipped a disk from his pocket, loading it onto his file.

"Who's the girl?"

"Did you hear me?"

"What?"

Artemis smirked at the boy, who was obviously getting angry.

"I said, go ask her."

"I'm asking you!"

The boy he thought was called Lark's voice rose to a shout, and a head popped in.

"Mark, keep your voice down." The teacher admonished.

Well, I was close, Artemis thought dryly.

The boy mumbled an apology, shot Artemis a filthy look and then walked off. In the company of only himself, Artemis could now do what he couldn't in front of someone else – hack into the school system. It was relatively easy, and in seconds he was waiting for the screen to load again. He stared out into the courtyard, and saw boys flicking stones, punching each other, shouting matches… Artemis almost shook his head in disgust. His parents honestly wanted him to mingle with this?

A small bell indicated that the screen had loaded. Artemis scrolled down to Dr. Po' s name, and clicked on 'Student Files'. Let's see what the quack was writing about him now… After his fairy memories had returned, Po had sensed a distinct change in Artemis. Artemis in return had acted the same as ever: rude, blunt, and still generally always right. After insisting that there was a change in his mood, Po had taken about five pages of notes on every word Artemis spoke.

Artemis clicked on 'Fowl'.

50 megabytes. Wow. That Po sure took his work seriously. Or perhaps he was just a bit paranoid. Artemis scrolled down to the recent months, and saw nothing new scrawled there. One sentence however, made Artemis pause. He stared incredulously at the screen.

Artemis has a mental struggle with himself. He wants to show his more adolescent side but other pressures are pushing him to act oblivious to emotions and others. He must try harder to feel, to let his childish side come out a bit – a lot – more.

Artemis closed the screen. He did not have a childish side. What was that rubbish about 'a mental struggle'? That Po had lost his mind. He connected his emotional changes to his mental capabilities? That man had really lost his touch. What happened to the 'no respect' theory? Artemis glowered at the computer, wishing he had his laptop. At least his mother didn't sign him up for psychiatrist sessions this semester.

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Police Plaza, Haven

Holly had stridden all the way back to her office, empty handed, and a few coins poorer. Just as she sat back down onto her wheelie chair, the intercom crackled to life again.

"Captain Short, to my office, IMMEDIATELY!"

Holly took in the loud voice of Root, and decided that she was in for another yelling session. Sighing, she slid out of her chair again, tramping into the Commander's office. Root had his feet on his table, face the ordinary shadow of red-turning to purple, and a fungus cigar between his teeth. It seemed just about to fall into two pieces… Holly coughed, and fanned the smoke out of her face. Root acknowledged this by turning on the air purifier on his desk up by two notches. The machine whined.

"Short, pray tell what took you ten minutes to come to my office?"

Holly was about to reply when he continued, going on ahead over her.

"And, pray tell, why did it take a second call to summon you?"

Holly gaped. So that was what the announcement was… ah well. No use crying over spilt milk.

"Well, I wasn't really… listening to the intercom." She muttered, head down.

"Oh, that would make sense."

There was silence for a minute, only the occasional puff of new smoke from Root breaking the silence, and the poor machine that had to deal with the colossal amount of noxious air from Root's cigar, whirring weakly, even though the setting was on high. After a bit, Holly decided to break the silence.

"Um, so what did you want, sir?"

"I want you to go talk to Foaly. He'll fill you in. Tell him to go invent a stronger air purifier too."

"Yes sir." Holly said seriously.

She exited, wondering what that was about. Why would Root call her, take so much time telling her off and then let her go? Holly rolled her eyes as she entered Foaly's lab. The answer to that was a bit obvious. It was because Root was acting like Root. Quick and easy, short and simple. That was Root…

"Ah, Holly."

Holly paused. She was already standing next to Foaly's screen, and the centaur was tapping the keys a bit in a lazy fashion.

"So, what does Root want?"

"Well, there's a new something. Something… odd. There's a new power source in Haven, but we've sent Retrieval and Root himself has gone down to inspect the place. Trouble too… and no one has found anything. Even my scanners just get nothing but static. Zilch."

"If Root can't even find anything then what do you want from me? I'm good, but not that good." Holly joked.

Foaly pulled a face. And a centaur pulling a face is something to see. He pulled up another screen, his thick fingers tapping a complicated password. Holly lost count when she heard his fingers hit the keyboard over fifty times. After half a minute, an info page came up. Holly recognized those blue eyes immediately.

"What are you doing with him?" Her voice was shocked.

"Well, Mud Boy was the only one I could think up that could build something to avoid my sensors and Root's." Foaly admitted. "It's not like it would be the first time…" he grimaced.

Holly grinned, overcoming her shock. "Well, what would it be? The… third time?"

This time Foaly scowled. "Don't push it Holly. Besides, I've been looking at his laptop, but he still keeps all his personal stuff on disk. I want you to go above and nab it for me, see if he's been up to anything suspicious." His teeth widened to a large smile, obviously thinking about Artemis' face if he found out that his laptop had been stolen.

Holly raised her eyebrow. "You think that Artemis would let me take his precious laptop?"

"Of course not, did you think that I was that stupid?" Foaly sounded miffed. "Arty's going on a little boarding school adventure and his laptop's been banned from his 'To Bring' list."

Holly snickered. She couldn't help it. It was funny. Artemis not getting his way… heh… she would've loved to see his face.

"Anyway, are you game?"

"Of course! What did you think?"

"I think that you would just take this opportunity to get yourself into more trouble; the type of trouble that you could only get into with that Mud Boy." Foaly said vaguely, turning back to the screen.

Holly decided not to reply. It would probably be true anyway. Foaly saw that.

"Holly, I don't think that this would be a good time to cross Root. You know how he's like when he's frustrated."

Holly knew what he was like. "Okay, I'll go quietly."

She walked out the door with her fingers crossed.

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AN: There we go, Chapter One done. Not as long as my usual chapters, but I couldn't be bothered adding anything else :P I think it's long enough anyway. Not too much talking on Arty's side, so I'll do more of that next time.

xx Athemia