As always, three cheers for ilex-ferox!


Chapter Two: Friends and Relations

10:57, November 27th, 2013, Mexico City.

Artemis had been right: Holly did love the view. Mexico City sprawled out below her in an ever shifting maze of frenetic neon lights. It reminded her of the time she and Artemis had sat on the balcony watching Kyoto, although it was much less peaceful.

Butler, in that stealthy way of his, had disappeared when they first arrived. Artemis had shown her to her room - bigger than the entire apartment she and Kokoro had shared - and, at her request, directed her to the nearest shower.

"The body wash is surprisingly decent," he said, and left her alone.

Holly had tried every single one of the dozen or so bottles and bars she found in the complimentary basket. She wasn't sure what half of them were supposed to do but they made her feel something approaching alive again so she just let herself enjoy the experience.

Wrapped in a fluffy white towel and smelling like a cut-flower competition, she crossed the bedroom and stood at the window, looking out over the view. She contemplated opening the window and flying out across the city until she collapsed somewhere dark and silent, somewhere she could sleep until she forgot everything.

There was a knock at her door. Holly sighed. There would be no sleep, and certainly no silence, for her just yet.

"Come in," she called. She remembered suddenly that she was only wearing a towel. She shrugged. They were all adults now. Maybe one day they'd even start acting like it.

She heard him pause in the doorway before shutting the door and crossing to her. "Butler says to come and eat. He's made waffles."

"What a wonderful man," said Holly, smiling despite her melancholy mood.

"Yes," Artemis agreed. "He certainly has his moments."

They stood quietly for a moment.

Holly looked up at him from the corner of her eye. He was studying the view with unnecessary concentration.

She wondered if she ought to bring up the elephant in the room. Maybe they should talk about it now, sort it out before the rest of their lives got - as she was sure they would - impossibly complicated. Instead, she leaned on Artemis's arm and watched the lights whizz back and forth below them. It was peaceful right now and she needed a little peace.

Artemis looked down at Holly, at the red of her hair against the white of his shirt sleeve. He pressed his eyes shut briefly - as if to imprint the image of what he had just seen onto his eyelids forever - then looked up and away, towards the lights.


Butler brought her up to speed as she ate, his tone even and calm despite the gruesome events and the fact that every few sentences Artemis would interrupt to add details only he found relevant. Holly nodded along as she chewed, marvelling at Butler's patience. As she listened, she could feel her blood begin to quicken again after so long stagnating behind a desk in Japan.

"Is everything clear?" Artemis asked when Butler was done.

Holly swallowed her mouthful. "Two brothers, Quetzacoatl and Tezcatlipoca, have escaped from a high-security prison cell located in 500 AD. Brutal murders of virgins ensue. Smart money is on Tezcatlipoca because he is a bad-ass who lost a foot during Tailte and replaced it with a chunk of obsidian. Got it."

Artemis frowned. "I'm not sure the severity of the situation has quite sunk in."

"Artemis," Holly waved her fork at him, "there's only so much severity a person can take before severity loses all sense of proportion. These guys are creeps. You'll think up something clever, Butler and I will execute it with unmatchable panache and, after several missteps, we'll bring them to justice. Don't worry so much, Mud Boy, we've got this."

Artemis's frown deepened. Holly put down her fork, a frown of her own beginning to form. Butler watched them through his eyelashes as he pretended to concentrate on his food.

"Artemis, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," the human said briskly. "I just think you're being flippant. Usually violence against women gets you more riled up."

Holly conceded this point with a curt nod. "Yes, alright, I'm being flippant. I'll probably be less so after I've taken a look at the crime scene holos. For now, I'm just glad to be working again. Trying to focus on the positive. Usually you're trying to get me to be more cavalier, not less."

"I just think it's worth bearing in mind that the last time we worked together things didn't go quite to plan."

"Things never go even remotely to plan, Artemis."

"Yes, well, we had a much closer call than usual."

Clarity broke over Holly like a rain cloud. "Don't worry," she said, her voice growing softer. "We'll get through this one."

"I'm not worried," he replied faster than was necessary.

"Of course not," Holly said with heavy skepticism.

Artemis drew himself up to retort but was, as is always the way, interrupted by a sudden banging on the door.

Butler was out of his chair faster than Artemis could turn his head. Holly snatched the closest weapon available – a bread knife – and followed in the bodyguard's wake. Butler, always prepared, already had his Sig trained on the door.

"Oy! I know you're in there! Just open the door already!"

Butler's jaw dropped. "Juliet?" he asked.

"No, it's Britva come for Artemis's head, of course it's me. Now open up before I lose you your security deposit!"

Butler peered through the eyehole and opened the door.

The woman standing, arms akimbo, on the other side of the door was not the girl Holly remembered. Juliet was taller now and nothing but muscle. Her skin had grown darker while her blonde hair grew paler. Only her taste for sparkly clothing remained unchanged.

"Finally!" With no further ado, Juliet stepped across the threshold and threw her arms around her brother's neck.

"Juliet..." Though bemused, Butler returned the embrace. "Juliet, what are you doing here?"

"Visiting my favourite brother, whaddya think?" She stepped back only to turn on Artemis. The Irishman's breath came out in an 'Oof' as she squeezed him. "Both my favourite brothers," she corrected herself and pinched Artemis's cheek with a grin. "You're looking even paler than usua—oh my God!" Juliet had caught sight of Holly. Her eyes grew perfectly round.

Following her line of sight, Artemis and Butler also did a double take, but for very different reasons. Holly stood a good metre and a half tall, her ears rounded, her features narrower.

Juliet whirled on Artemis and her brother. "So let me get this straight: not only do you two sneak into Mexico City without telling me but Artemis has a secret girlfriend?"

Artemis looked up at the ceiling, clearly asking for patience from a divine presence that seemed intent on ignoring him. "It's not like that, Juliet," he said. "Holly is a...a...colleague."

Holly raised an eyebrow.

"A friend," he amended, catching her eye. "She's helping us with our... with something."

Holly raised her other eyebrow.

"Well, technically, we are helping her."

"Right," said Juliet, skepticism plain on her face.

"Speaking of which, just how did you find out we were in Mexico City?" Artemis raised an eyebrow of his own.

Juliet, still ogling Holly, shrugged, clearly unashamed. "I put a tracking chip in Dom's phone and I've hacked immigration to flag any of his aliases coming into Mexico."

Butler looked horrified. "You bugged my phone and I didn't even notice? I really am getting old."

Juliet chuckled. "Don't worry, there's nothing else on it. Or at least there wasn't two years ago."

"Two years?!" Butler pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yep!" But by then Juliet had noticed the remains of their late-night feast and was making a bee-line for the food.

"Juliet—" Artemis began. Juliet talked over him.

"What's the deal this time, boys? Smuggling? Art theft? Tell me."

"It's really not something you—"

"Well, I am, so you can quit whining, Arty, and tell me what's going on. I've got two weeks off and I want to spend it with family. Oh! Wait, don't tell me - it's to do with illegal cloning!"

"No!" Artemis sat down at the island, watching Juliet eat. "Juliet—"

"And don't I know you from somewhere?" Juliet waved her fork at Holly. "You look really familiar. You don't wrestle do you?"

"No," said Holly, a small smile on her lips, "no, I don't wrestle."

Juliet stared at her a moment longer, her mouth puckered in concentration. "Well, don't worry, it'll come to me. I never forget a face."

Holly laughed. "It's hard to remember something you've never seen before."

"Oh, I've seen you before. I know I have. Something about...fairies...are you gay?"

"Juliet—" Artemis began to admonish her but Holly just laughed.

"Sometimes," she said.

Juliet pulled a face. "I haven't slept with you, have I?"

Artemis looked horrified as Holly laughed even harder. "No, don't worry, we've never slept together. You didn't even really like me when—" Holly froze, her eyes widening with fear. She met Artemis's eyes across the island. He shook his head at her, more in resignation than disbelief.

Juliet put her fork down slowly. "I didn't like you when, Captain?" Then she frowned, realising what she'd said."Captain?" she asked, confused. "Guys, what's going on here?"

Artemis looked at Holly. She pulled a face. He raised his eyebrows expectantly. She shrugged, looking sheepish. He sighed and nodded.

Juliet watched this exchange with disbelief. "What are they doing, Dom?"

"I try not to think about it," her brother replied wearily.

"Juliet," Holly said gently, as she and Artemis finally looked away from each other, "this is going to be a bit of a shock—"

Artemis snorted. Holly shot him a dirty look.

"But don't fight the memories, alright?" Holly turned back to Juliet. "It'll all make sense soon, I promise. Just relax. It will make it easier." And then Holly reverted to her usual self.

Juliet's jaw dropped. "Wha-at! She did not just do that! Ohmigod...I—I know you."

Holly nodded. "Yes, you do. You came down into my cell wearing those –"

"Those awful sunglasses," Juliet nodded, chuckling a little. "And then...something big, something dangerous..."

"A troll."

"A troll," Juliet repeated faintly. Her eyes wandered, looking into another time and place. "And a...a...Mulch." She focussed on Holly again. "Mulch was with us when we broke into that American's tower. Where's Mulch?"

Holly smiled. "He's not…well, we're after a serial killer and Mulch isn't really an official LEP agent. He's sort of…on-call. And this isn't really his area of expertise."

"Right, the LEP. Oh, and that loud little man with the rank cigars. What was his name? Root. Got it. Wait," Juliet paused in her recollections, "a serial killer? But why would the LEP be investigating El Destripador?"

Holly frowned. "The Ripper?" she translated.

"Yeah, after, you know, Jack the Ripper. Because it's always girls and they're all cut up and missing their hearts."

"Missing their hearts," Holly echoed.

"Yeah." Juliet looked at the people around her, gauging their expressions of shock. "You're…you're not here for El Destripador, are you?" she asked slowly.

"No," Artemis said. "But the similarities between your Ripper and our murderer are….compelling, to say the least."

Juliet frowned. "Who's your guy been killing if not humans?"

"Young fairies," Holly answered. "Young female fairies have been turning up murdered and, well, missing their hearts, in what were once considered to be places of spiritual power."

Juliet nodded. "Yeah, these girls have all been left in weird places too. Like on old Aztec pyramids or in the middle of intersections or on the tops of buildings and stuff like that. There's been eight so far."

"Eight… and three fairies," Holly mused. "That's eleven. Frond, eleven!"

"Someone's been busy," Butler murmured.

"If it's even the same person," Holly said. "We don't know that it's the same person. These could be completely unrelated." She seemed to be saying this for her own benefit more than anything else. "Eleven!" she muttered under her breath.

But Artemis gave her such a look of disbelief that she relented. "Okay, alright, fine, so that seems unlikely. But what on earth would Tezcatlipoca gain from murdering humans as well as fairies? And why so many?"

"That, my dear Major, is precisely the question," Artemis replied.

Juliet perked up. "Major? Oooh, Holly, you got a promotion?"