Holly's POV

Holly flew over the Irish countryside, only appreciating the beauty half as much as she usually did when visiting her friend. Usually the rolling green hills, gentle breezes, and overall natural beauty of the country managed to put her in a better mood than she had left Police Plaza in. This time, however, she wasn't making a social call. Artemis appeared to have reverted back to his old ways, albeit while wearing denim jeans.

The elf refused to believe that though. Her friend of many adventures had really changed. He spent almost as much time with his younger brothers as he did refining his latest plan of action for whatever crisis he was trying to manage, whether it be fairy, environmental, or even political (from behind the scenes, of course). Artemis wouldn't kidnap these kids for a ransom like he had with Holly years ago. He had no need for the money, as the Fowl enterprises (now completely legitimate and within the law) were flourishing.

Holly suspected that he had detained them for the same reason she was going to retrieve one: to study and try to unravel the secrets of one of the organisms. She wasn't sure if she even particularly agreed with Foaly's desired course of action, but she was so desperate for this excuse to come aboveground that she wasn't going to turn down the mission. At least she didn't have to worry about shielding or anything of the sort around Artemis.

She forced her mind to leave the subject and simply concentrate and appreciate flying over Ireland. Since she had an aboveground mission, she was going to enjoy it to the fullest extent possible. Within minutes, Fowl Manor loomed into view, the estate looking the same as it always had. Holly still remembered the siege of Fowl Manor with stunning clarity. She winced. That time, she had been the one trapped in the cell.

Touching down on the grounds with a perfectly textbook landing, she retracted the wings into her suit and began to shield. The suit accepted and amplified her vibrations, requiring less magic to be expended on the action. She wasn't shielding to hide herself from Artemis (she knew that there was no hiding from that Mud Boy) but rather to prevent one of the staff that were not aware of their resident's fairy friend from getting a fright upon seeing an armed LEP officer stalking around the grounds. She snuck in via the window in Artemis's study, because she knew that he almost always left it unlocked in the event of a surprise visit. If any thief tried to venture in through the window, a security camera would pick them up and they would be forcefully ejected from the premises. Any thief more dangerous than the average burglar would have countless and more secure ways to enter the Manor anyways.

Extending her wings, Holly flew out of the study and through the entryway. The ceilings were high enough inside the mansion for her to zip through the halls like a hummingbird, and flying was faster and less noticeable than walking anyways.

Plus, flying through the halls was just too good a chance to pass up.

Within seconds Holly had reached the door to her former cell, and the first thing she saw was Butler within the doorway and blocking her view into the room with his massive frame. Artemis was slightly to his right, looking slightly stunned as a tall, skinny girl pushed him aside. That didn't surprise the officer, the boy was a stick who could barely lift up a boxing glove, much less hit anyone with it. Butler reached out a hand to stop her from passing, and that didn't shock her either.

What did surprise her though was the fact that Butler was struggling.

Holly saw a bead of sweat drip down the crown of his shaven head and his hand that had been rock solid before now trembled obviously. The girl couldn't have been that strong to make him exert himself like this, and it didn't even look like she was trying. She was just standing there in puzzlement, glancing back into the room. Sighing, Holly rolled back her shoulders and turned on her shield. She hated to break Butler's concentration on whatever was going on, but she needed to get past him in order to incapacitate the girl. Without hesitation, she ran towards Butler's leg and punched the back of his knee, quickly moving out of the way before his concentration shattered and he stumbled to the ground, unconscious from the exertion. Today was not the day that Captain Holly Short of the LEP was crushed by one of her favorite Mud Men.

The girl looked stunned and made the mistake of looking back at whom Holly could now see was a young girl with short blonde curls. Holly quickly moved forward invisibly and shocked the girl with the lowest setting on her buzz baton, aiming to only knock her out for a few minutes. As she fell to the ground with a muttered expletive, Holly flitted around the room and did the same to all of the other children in the room, feeling a sharp pang of guilt at attacking them without provocation.

When they were all on the ground, Holly turned off her shield and shimmered into visibility, hovering at Artemis's eye level so he wouldn't have to look down at her. He wasn't as short as he had been when she had first met him, and now had almost three feet on her. He groaned, putting his head in one hand and muttering something akin to, "I should've known".

Holly harrumphed and took off her helmet. "Good to see you too, Artemis."

He looked at her, his eyes softening somewhat. "How are you, Holly? It's nice to see you."

She brushed some hair out of her face. "I'm fine, thanks. Wish we could just get together for a cup of sim coffee like normal people, though."

Artemis glanced around the room at the unconscious bird children. "Bit awkward, this. I don't mean them any harm."

She raised an eyebrow. "Which is exactly why you've tranquilized them and put them in my concrete cell."

He bit his lip. "Yes, well. They came to me in the first place looking for the dog, which I'm sure you already knew about. Foaly never seems to miss the chance to embarrass me, at any rate. To the point, however, I only wanted to briefly-"

"Study them, I know." She cut him off. "Foaly sent me to bring one of them back for the same purpose."

Artemis frowned. "That centaur." He paused for a moment. "Well, I can assure you that they won't come quietly. Is it really ethical to just kidnap one and hold them captive for study?"

Holly crossed her arms, holding her helmet in one hand. "I don't know, you tell me."

The genius let a flicker of guilt flash across his face before sighing. "I've apologized numerous times, Captain, can we just pretend that at one point I wasn't a despicable, petulant child and move on with our lives?"

She smiled, never missing the chance to torture him. "Of course, I thought we already had."

He scowled. "Then why do you keep bringing it up?"

This time she raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think? You need to be humbled somehow. Anyway…" She trailed off as she observed the room. "What do we do now, genius?"

"Let us go!" Holly heard a voice that was certainly not Artemis exclaim as something clamped on to her ankle, dragging her down a foot before she took control of the wings again. A small, black dog was steadfastly hanging off of her uniformed leg, his teeth attempting to pierce the uniform. She flicked her eyes up to Artemis, who resignedly grabbed the dog gingerly off of her leg as he grimaced in distaste. It squirmed in his arms as an expression of distaste crossed his features. "Who do you people think you are?" The dog said as it squirmed in the Irish teen's arms.

Artemis's brow furrowed and he ignored the dog as he turned to Holly. "You knew it talked?"

Ignoring a muffled, "I have a name!" from the dog, the hovering officer nodded. "Of course. You didn't before today? It was muttering to itself all around the house. Foaly was having a field day watching it insult you."

There was a sharp yap as the dog squirmed out of Artemis's arms and he looked pointedly at the boy then at Holly. "I hate barking, but sometimes you need to. My name is Total, so stop calling me 'it'. Now let us go or I'll take you both out!"

Wondering if the dog- Total- could do anything more than talk, Holly's moved slightly closer to her gun. "I promise that I won't harm any of you. My supervisor merely wants to run some tests on your friends' blood and physical state. You won't even remember it afterwards." The People deserve their wings again, she thought, refraining from saying it aloud.

Suddenly, her wrist beeped, telling her that she had a communication link pending. Artemis raised an eyebrow, looking pointedly at her helmet. She quickly put it on, opening the com link to Police Plaza with a quick sequence of blinks and facial movements. Foaly's face filled her visor, his enormous plasma screen serving as the backdrop of his image. Something was off though; the centaur didn't look as pompous as usual.

"Foaly, what's wrong?" She said, cutting to the chase. If it was serious, she needed to know as soon as possible.

The technician bit his lip. "It could be nothing, but there's a transport headed your way at high speed. I can't tell if it's armed or not, or who it is."

Her hand quickly moved to grip her Neutrino out of instinct. "D'Arvit. Fairy, I assume?"

The corner of Foaly's mouth twitched. "That's the thing. It's… human, but they shouldn't be this advanced. It's not quite where our technology is, but it's pretty dang close. I definitely detected human parts in its makeup though."

A frown crossed the elf's features. "So you have no idea what we're dealing with whatsoever."

The centaur looked as if he was trying to hold something back. "Well, no… I mean, it's foreign all right, but there has to be something we can deduce. I know they're faster than-"

Holly cut him off. "Just admit you know nothing so we can move on and take action."

He sighed resignedly. "Okay, fine. I have no idea what we're dealing with here or if it's even dangerous, so just… brace yourself, okay? I don't want you, Artemis, or any of those kids getting hurt, you hear me? You and Butler have to protect everyone from whatever's coming."

"How long until it gets here?" She asked, checking the clock on her visor.

"Eight minutes, twenty-two seconds," Foaly said, checking one of his screens. "Get moving to somewhere safe."

She nodded. "Okay. Thanks for the warning." She closed the link with several blinks and removed the helmet. Swallowing, she turned to Artemis, who undoubtedly already had deduced most of what was going on.

"Something's coming," he said, not breaking eye contact.

"Yep."

"Foaly has no idea what it is."

"Yep."

"Likely dangerous."

"Is it ever not dangerous?"

The teen rolled up the sleeves of his button-up shirt, a gesture of informality that Artemis rarely ever demonstrated. He's changed so much since I first met him, Holly thought absentmindedly. Now, he's not afraid to think and get his hands dirty.

"What do we need to do to prepare?" He asked. Holly could already see the cogs beginning to turn in his head.
She gripped her Neutrino harder. "Wake up Butler, protect the kids, and hold down the fort. Where's the safest place in the manor?"

"My study," Artemis answered automatically. "We need to all get there as soon as possible."

Holly hovered down to the ground and eyed the dog, who was now quiet and serious. "Try to wake them up. They should be ready to anyways," she said, startling him with her direct communication. Surprisingly, he nodded, somehow comprehending the gravity of the situation and willing to consent to her demands in order to protect his own. "Artemis, get Butler. Tell him to bring all of his guns and anything else he thinks we'll need." The teen complied, moving to his now stirring companion.

Holly touched down next to the blonde girl with the injured wing, the one that seemed to be in charge. She grabbed her shoulder, shaking it firmly but not too vigorously. For all she knew, her wing hadn't been the only thing injured. "Wake up," the officer said as the girl stirred, her eyelids fluttering. She looked up at Holly, eyes automatically narrowing.

"There's no time," the officer said, forcing the girl to sit. "We have to move to safety."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "Why should I trust you?"

Holly checked her wrist. Seven minutes left. "If you don't, I can't protect you. Something's coming and I don't know what, so if you want to protect everyone get them moving and listen to me."

She shakily stood up, retracting her wings and folding them up with a grimace. "I'm just supposed to follow you? This could be a trap."

Holly glanced back, already having moved on to a dark skinned girl who was beginning to wake up slowly. "Well, you know how dangerous I am. Whatever's coming is unknown. You can either trust what you know or gamble with your life. It's up to you."

The girl's gaze hardened. "I don't trust you, but…" She looked around the room. "I have to protect them. But understand, midget, if this turns out to be a trap I will personally kick you and prissy-boy's behinds into next week, you got that?"

The Captain raised an eyebrow. Midget? She let it slide, deciding that the situation was too severe to worry about such trivial things. "Duly noted." The dog had managed to wake up several of the other kids by jumping on their chests, and they were all groggily standing, automatically deferring to the girl, their leader. Holly helped the African-American girl to her feet, pulling her up without allowing her to question her actions.

Looking around, it seemed like everyone, including Butler and Artemis, was ready to move. She nodded at the genius, activating her wings again. "Let's move to the study. Stay close, shut up, and follow me. Butler, I'm sure Artemis told you to bring-"

The manservant nodded. "Everything."

She confirmed with a quick dip of her head. "Everything." She flew past him and out the doorway, glancing back to make sure that everyone was following her with the appropriate sense of urgency. She flicked up the setting on her Neutrino, feeling safer with it ready to fire. She nodded, moving quickly up the stairs. The entire party moved silently and quickly up towards Artemis's study, Butler breaking off and running to grab his weapons stock and a few other things. Holly led the group up to the study, the manservant entering thirty seconds later despite his detour.

The kids, to their credit, had remained silent the entire time and were now huddling together with the girl and a dark haired, solemn boy in front. She turned to Artemis. "Lock it down."

Artemis turned to one of the many computer monitors lining the room, typing furiously. Suddenly, metal plates converged to cover the windows and the door, blocking out all natural light. The artificial lights turned on, and a drawer of provisions slid out from the wall including bottled water, freeze dried meals, and a first aid kit. Artemis punched in several more commands then withdrew his fingers from the keyboard.

Holly whistled. "Not that I'm not thankful for it, but isn't this a bit overkill?"

He touched the tips of his fingers together. "You seem to forget how paranoid I was under the complex."

Holly nodded, not wanting to remember in the first place. She glanced around the room, eyeing Butler who was organizing his weapons and the kids, who were all listening to the leader girl as she explained the situation. Once again, she locked eyes with Artemis, hazel and blue meeting hazel and blue. They both knew that there was nothing to do now but wait.

A/N: This story isn't dead. I'm sorry for not updating it in over a year but I simply lost inspiration and just couldn't write anything good. However, I'm feeling better about it now so hopefully I'll be able to crank out a few more chapters before I get super-busy or lose inspiration again. If you're still reading this after such a ridiculous gap, I just want to say thank you for sticking with this story. I can't even believe that people still care about it, and that was what ultimately was what inspired me to write more of it. Thank you for reading! Reviews and criticisms are always appreciated, but simply reading it is amazing too :)

(Oh, and random tidbit. I just watched all of Soul Eater and am in the process of reading the manga, and somehow my mind thinks made some weird connection between Death the Kid and Artemis. I can't get Kid out of my head when I'm writing for Artemis, haha :P)

~haaschiibrownii