Thank you Elllz, mischievous101, and AkumuOokami! Yay, my frist Artemis reviewers!

I WILL NOT stop the story. I HATE when people do that, so don't worry about it :)
And sorry about the cliffhanger. Habit. -_0 might see a few more of those

The next chapter has any explanations, so stick with it and thanks for reading and reviewing

Chapter 2: Surveillance

Holly was pushing her luck but she didn't care. As she wasn't currently working under Section 8's orders, she wasn't allowed clearance. She could try going about things through the proper legal channels and considering how popular she was at the moment it would take maybe a day or two, but no faster than that. Mulch's way was less legal but significantly faster.

"You know, Holly, it isn't good for a Captain to be breaking the law." Mulch dodged his way into a narrow alley that seemed as if it wouldn't be wide enough for the dwarf's midriff. There was a tunnel that he claimed to have made years ago. According to Mulch, Foaly had yet to discover it and he only used it in emergencies. This was definitely an emergency.

The back alleys weren't somewhere Holly would have liked to be, but she wasn't going to wait for the higher-ups to notice what she was doing and wrap her in red tape. Even getting her contacts to join the cause would be difficult. There just wasn't time.

"Complain to me about the logistics of an officer using criminal means when I have time to care." Holly followed behind him. Generally this was not the ideal place she wanted to be with the dwarf, but he knew the backstreets better than she did.

"All right then, Captain." Mulch saluted her with a mocking wink. Holly pushed him forward into the wall ahead of them, although she didn't have the weight to actually hurt him. Mulch shrugged and continued through a pathway that was more pipeline than walkway.

There was a metal grate nailed into the wall behind an old industrial building. Mulch glanced around before prying the sheet away and revealing the tunnel.

"It leads to a magma shoot. It's been inactive for decades. You can use the wings to get to the surface."

"And what will you be doing?" Holly gave Mulch an irritated look.

"Doing things the old fashion way. Unlike you fairies it's simple for a dwarf to get to the surface. Not that we would want to - the sun and all."

Holly nodded before crawling into the hole. The earth was tightly packed and she was certain it wouldn't collapse on top of her.

"Meet me there. I don't have time to wait for you."

Mulch nodded before following her into the tunnel. Foaly would probably detect them now that Mulch wasn't wearing anything to hide from the centaur's supposedly unbeatable technology. The ex-criminal knew he was giving one of his best escape routes away, but hey, it was all in the name of a good cause.

Mulch waited for Holly to get going before digging off in another direction. He knew there was a crevice off to the right, where the rock had previously made tunnelling upward impossible. But now it had crumbled. The space between was tight, but only for a moment. With any luck he'd beat Holly to the surface. With the way she flew those wings though, he doubted it.

Holly crept through the dried out soil, losing her grip every few feet. The tunnel had been made long ago and this far below the surface it was as dried out as Mulch would be if she threw him in the desert. The idea seemed tempting. It took her almost an hour to clear the passage.

"Holly."

Foaly's voice from her helmet startled her. Though she was wearing her suit, she hadn't heard a peep from him.

"What?"

"I've wiped both your traces from the monitors." There was the usual self-satisfaction in the centaur's voice, despite the magnitude of the situation. She couldn't believe that Foaly had found the time to gloat.

"How wonderful. Can I get on with it now?" Holly deployed the wings and took off into the shoot, activating the oxygen vent.

"I wanted you to know that the reason that this shoot was closed down, was that it was falling-"

Just as Foaly was finishing his sentence, a boulder sized chuck of the wall came tumbling down on her and Holly had only seconds to swerve out of the way. The rock grazed her side on the way down.

"-Apart. Be careful Holly. I know you want to get there but there's plenty of time. Don't hurt yourself by rushing. You won't be able to help anyone then."

"I'll be fine." Holly pulled the throttle on her wings and soared at the dark ceiling above her. The night vision in the helmet would allow her see where she was going, as there were no longer any lights linked into the tunnel.

Then her communicator rang. Holly's heart thudded. What was Butler calling her for?

"Hello? What is it?"

"I know this may sound strange Holly, but we need to meet before you help Artemis. His orders."

Holly's eyes widened. How had Artemis told Butler anything if he was in critical condition?

"Can't it wait?"

"I wish it could, but it must be something important or Artemis wouldn't have wanted it. He wants me to meet you in the bathroom at the restaurant across the street from the hospital. As much as I like you, I'm not going into the women's bathroom."

They were wasting precious time on this, but if Artemis had somehow expressed this desire, there had to be a reason for it.

"I'll be there in about six hours."

She couldn't be there any faster. As it was, the shoot she was currently on was for Versailles France. It was the closest and still the fastest way to Ireland, if not a lot of fly time on the surface, for which she would need to shield.

Holly could tell Butler was discouraged by the news. Holly was too. If there had been another way, she would have taken it.

"All right, Holly. I'll meet you there."

Butler broke the connection and Holly prepared for what could be the longest six hours of her life.

Chapter One Restaurant, Dublin Ireland:

It had been exactly six hours and three seconds since Butler's contact with Holly. He glanced up from his watch and tried not to feel so tense. Holly was coming. Artemis was still alive, though he basically had one foot in death's door. There was time.

Butler found himself pacing in front of the mirrors in the men's restroom anyway. He was sure that he was getting a few strange looks form the people entering the washroom, but he didn't focus on that. There was no one he had to protect right now. He wasn't supposed to be a solider anymore. What had happened to the quiet life he and Artemis had agreed on after that last adventure. It was an adventure which Butler hadn't been a part of and one that took Artemis away from him for three years. Though his instincts told him to stake the place out and make sure he wasn't under surveillance, the appeal fell on deaf ears. After all, it was not as if someone would have cameras in the bathroom.

Ten minutes later Holly entered as one of the more curious patrons stared at Butler. Something ran into the man's leg but when he turned back, there was nothing there. He shrugged and made his way back to his seat. He had a date waiting for him.

"Butler, make it quick." Holly unshielded. Her scans had already showed that they were alone.

"Here." Butler handed her a note. "Artemis wrote this. He was only conscious for a few seconds but he said it was important."

Holly looked down at it. The upside-down e told her that the first sentence was written in Danish. It simply said for Butler to meet with her in a bathroom that wasn't in the hospital. The rest was a mess of symbols and boxes that could have been Gnomish. The only problem was that Holly couldn't make heads or tails of it.

"Let me see."

Holly was greeted with a picture of Foaly as several things on her helmet started working. The paper was scanned and download to the centaur's computer instantly.

"This is an easy one. Fowl mixed our language with Hebrew. I can have it decoded in about a twenty seconds. Do you want the message?"

"No, I want to sit here and figure it out for myself while Artemis dies."

Foaly's face fell and Holly let out a low sigh. "Sorry. Please tell me what it says."

"Fowl obviously knew that I'd be one to decipher it. It's addressed to me." Foaly brought up the same page that Artemis' note had been written on, but this time in was in plain Gnomish.

Dear Foaly. Don't let Holly anywhere near this. There's someone watching me. Someone unfriendly. I'm not sure who they are at the moment, but it is a safe assumption that it would be detrimental to all concerned if they were to discover the People. You need to wipe all the camera in the hospital. All of them, if she is going to enter. Tell her to keep herself shielded while outside of the building.

That was it.

And the worst part of it was that Holly noticed that Artemis left out an 's' on the word camera. It wasn't a good sign. Artemis didn't make mistakes like that.

"Why's he so worried about the cameras? It's not like Holly could be picked up on them unless they viewed them frame by frame. The new suits make that even harder."

"I don't know, but if Artemis wrote it, it must be important." Butler crossed his arms, angry at not being made privy to what the note said. His disappointment went unnoticed.

Holly was puzzled about the comment as well. Not only was Artemis dying, but he was more worried about her going in while Foaly wasn't in control of the video feed, than he was about himself. He had also made her meet Butler in the bathroom – a place that couldn't have cameras.

"Maybe he's being paranoid. In either case I'd have to control everything if Holly was going to heal him. It would be ideal if we could get Artemis out of the hospital first."

"There's not much time." Butler couldn't see the centaur's face like Holly could, but he could hear him. "Artemis had been getting worse."

"Again though, you have to take our position into account. We can't mind-wipe all the Mud Men who happen to hear the disturbance. Because it's a hospital, there's a high chance the police will be called in. You have to find some way of getting Fowl out."

"I'll be back." Butler turned to nod his head to Holly. "Meet me in the car."

Then the bodyguard was gone and Holly was left feeling anxious again. The hospital wouldn't release a dying boy. That meant that there would be either bribing or running involved. Holly hoped for the former. Of course, she shouldn't have hoped for either since both options were illegal. It seemed her respect for the law was slipping through her fingers like sand. This was somebody's life. The law shouldn't be important right now, and it wasn't like anyone was being hurt in the process.

She could hear clicking over her head set as Foaly started typing on his computer.

"What are you looking up?"

"If Fowl was that worried about cameras, then he must have suspected someone in that industry was either spying on him or being used to spy on him. If I can track the line, I can find out who it was."

Holly shielded and made her way to the Fowl's vehicle. Luckily she had enough magic to pull this off or it would have taken another few hours that they couldn't afford. The Bentley wasn't hard to find.

Holly decided it was best to sit in the back. It was where Butler was likely to be. The vehicle had tinted windows, so it would be fine to do the healing there if they had to. The main problem was Artemis Fowl senior. He didn't know about the People. He couldn't. Artemis' mother was bad enough. The man would have to remain ignorant of the proceedings.

"Nothing," Foaly exhaled after several minutes. "Whatever leads Fowl might have, they'll have to wait until he wakes up. At which point you'll be out of there and back in Heaven."

"What?" Holly tried to glare at the screen in order to get her feelings across. "I can't leave if someone is out to kill Artemis!"

"It has nothing to do with us, Holly. Even going to the surface was against protocol. This is a matter between mud men. We can't get involved."

"Artemis is my friend, Foaly, your friend. I can't let him be killed. What if I'm not here the next time? What if he really dies?"

"That is not our problem. I know how you're feeling Holly. I feel the same. Trust me. But we can't do whatever we want. If every elf, sprite, and fairy was allowed act how they wished, it would be anarchy. I'm sorry but this time, we have no say in his future."

Holly turned her face away from the projection. She'd stay whether Foaly wanted her to or not. Something big was happening. She knew Artemis wasn't participating in any illegal activities anymore, not after what had happened with his mother. Whoever was after him was someone from his past. Most of those someones included Holly's involvement.

Butler slammed the vehicle door open, carrying Artemis in his arms. The Irish boy was still wearing the white hospital gown. Holly moved over so that the big man could have some room, fading out of sight so no one could see her through the vehicle's open door. Artemis seemed to think it was important that she remain hidden.

The teen looked awful. His panther black hair was plastered across his face with sweat and he his breathing came in short hiccups. In Butler's much larger arms, Artemis seemed smaller then Holly had seen him in years.

Angeline took the driver's seat and looked behind her.

"Hello, Holly."

Holly shimmer into existence and greeted her with a nod of her head, taking the helmet off, as she didn't need it anymore. Artemis had told her, though much interrogation, that his mother had learned of the fairy people after Opal's involvement. Holly had agreed to keep it a secret but it would seem that Foaly would have to know now as well. Artemis's father didn't enter as Angeline started the truck and took off.

Butler answered Holly's questioning look.

"Artemis Fowl senior is staying behind. We told him that he couldn't come with because we were meeting someone who only knew the two of us and wouldn't help if an outsider came along. It took a while to convince him."

Holly nodded, seeing Foaly scanning Artemis with the helmet.

"We have to hurry. He doesn't have much time."

"I know." Butler tightened his hold on his young charge.

"So what happened?" They had the car ride back to Fowl Manor, if Artemis made it, and Holly was curious as to what had led to this.

"I'm not sure. We were walking. Someone shot Artemis in the back before we could reach the manor. I didn't even know he'd been hurt. The perimeter cameras showed nothing or an alarm would have sounded. I don't know how they got so close."

It didn't take a psychologist to hear the anguish in Butler's voice.

"Then." Butler shook his head. "Artemis took off. I don't know what he was trying to do. He didn't get far and I was able to catch up to him. I think he saw something then. I didn't have time to look around and find out what it was when I noticed-"

"-He'd been shot" Holly continued, looked fondly at Artemis. He had grown since she'd last seen him but he was still as thin as a guardrail and even paler now with the blood loss. She placed a hand on his head, stoking his slicked-back hair. Artemis weak. Dying. It was something Holly never thought she'd see, at least not so soon.

Holly stood up to put her hand over Artemis' chest and let a few sparks travel down her fingers. At least she could stabilize his breathing until they reached their destination.

With Angeline's driving, that didn't take long. Butler hurried in with the females in tow. They made their way into the living room, the first room in the house, where Butler placed Artemis gently on the previously stained sofa.

"Move," Holly ordered as Butler and Angeline huddled around the couch. Even though Artemis was alive, healing was tricky. She didn't need Foaly this time. Holly knew that she had to do what she did with Butler and give Artemis all the magic she had.

To do that she needed to make a cut to let the magic enter his body.

"Butler, do you have any razors?" Holly wasn't about to use the Neutrinoagain when she didn't have too. Butler went into the other room and brought out a box cutter. Holly winced. It was as good as a razor but it felt like a less delicate instrument. As if she was cutting into a pig blindly then into a boy.

The first thing she did was rip his gown open, so that she didn't have to undress him completely. Her concentration would be damned if she did that. Holly noticed that in order to get at the wound, she would have to be taller.

Feeling guilty, Holly shoved Artemis over to make room for her to stand over him on the couch. The blood beneath her feet was dry but there was so much of it that Holly couldn't help but imagine the feelings, fear, hurt, love, of Artemis' parents when the Fowl's had learned that their son had been hurt.

Holly leaned over and threw the side of the gown away from her. The new black stitches were next to go. They were near the center of his chest, just to the left. Holly was sure the bullet had broken a few of his ribs but the doctors had taken care of that. Her magic would take care of any damage that they'd missed. After severing the black thread, even with how fresh the stitches were, Holly had to use the box cutter to give her access to his internal injuries. The small healing she had performed in the van had the wound mostly closed.

Angeline gasped and Artemis twitched, letting out a small noise of pain. Holly stopped, realizing that he wasn't under a sedative. As close as he was to death, Artemis was still trying to regain consciousness.

"Shh." Holly swept some of his hair out of his face and Artemis' expression relaxed. She took a deep breath to steady herself and placed her thumbs into the incision.

"Heal."

She could feel her magic spread, sweeping across her in a way that tingled from the inside.

Magic?

Holly had thought Artemis had used up all his magic. He shouldn't have had any left. It made her angry again as she remembered that he'd stolen the magic from her, if not one of the warlocks. She wondered why he had done it, but had never gotten up the nerve to ask him. The magic felt different now. There wasn't much of it but it was tinged with something else. Her own magic, flowing from her, felt different to the residual magic she had felt inside Artemis. They'd been bonded at the time and his pilfered magic had felt like any other fairy's back then.

Time to worry about that later.

Holly didn't need to help hold Artemis down like she had with Butler. Butler's healing had been severe. His heart had to be restarted, whereas Artemis' was still beating. That didn't mean it wasn't violent. Artemis jolted several times where he lay, legs and arms moving rapidly. Though he didn't vocalize, Holly saw Artemis' eyes open as if he were reading a fasted paced book. After a minute the teen settled down, lids closed as if content with what they'd seen.

"Arty?"

Angeline rushed forward and looked Artemis over, searching his chest for any sign of the injury and finding none. When she was sure he was breathing normally, she started kissing him repeatedly.

"Thank you." Butler whispered, stopping Holly's swaying with a firm hand on her shoulder. Though she'd been trying to control it, Holly had really had the wind knocked out of her. Healing was hard. Not only that, but she'd had a long trip and almost no rest the night before. She had a few too many drunken pixies to blame that one on.

"Happy I could help." Holly let herself collapse in a controlled way, coming to sit on the carpeted floor. Her worry from the day took a while to drain away. Artemis was safe.

Angeline stopped fussing over her son and wrapped Holly up in a sudden hug that the fairy wasn't expecting.

"Thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you. I couldn't. Not in a million years could I repay you for what you've done."

Holly smiled tiredly and patted Angeline on the back. "You would have done the same for me."

Angeline nodded as she held tight, not releasing Holly.

"Everything turn out well then?"

Mulch's voice scared them all and Holly raised her eyebrows.

"You certainly got here fast. I was expecting to beat you by a few hours."

Mulch shrugged and Holly couldn't help but smile. The dwarf was worried too. In a male, sentimental kind of way, Mulch went over to Artemis and patted the teen on the shoulder. Holly noticed a few of his beard hairs brushed over the proclaimed child genius, who didn't seem to know when enough was enough. "Arty, you really gotta learn to stay out of trouble."

"Who are you?" Angeline let Holly go slowly, staring at Mulch. She wrinkled her nose. Mulch smelled terrible, even to Holly. She couldn't imagine how bad the dwarf smelled to someone who wasn't used to it. Angeline seemed to be debating over whether she should be welcoming him or chasing him out of her house.

"Mulch Diggums." Mulch took his hand off Artemis and held it out to the teen's mother. "Friend and occasional fairy consultant."

"As well as occasional thief, smuggler, and all around good guy," Holly added with a smile.

Angeline didn't know why Holly had said that last part as if it were a good thing but she shook Mulch's hand anyway.

"So, what have we gotten ourselves into this time?"

"This time?" Artemis's mother said in surprise. Holly winked at the dwarf.

"Officially we weren't here. We aren't supposed to be here. We should be leaving."

Mulch grinned, showing off half a dead cockroach still wriggling between his teeth. "I knew this sounded fun."

...

Sorry, forgot to put this in before. "Chapter One", for those who don't know, IS a restaurant in Dublin. (pretty near the hospital too, though it
was hard to tell with google. It also seems rather high class which is what I was aiming for)

I didn't want people to think I was stupid and couldn't come up with a good name :)