Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except for Mariana and Lauren...but...erm...well, just read it.

Author's Note: You know, I thought I wouldn't be updating for a while, given my current state of moping about all the work I'll have to do in a couple of days, but instead, I was alerted by my muse, who demanded that I post. Unfortunately, this muse tends to come at night, and so I forget most of what she told me by the time I wake up, shower, eat breakfast, and make it to my computer. So this is what's left, after I've forgotten what I meant to write:


Chapter 8 Desperate Measures

It is a strange thing to see what used to be a bustling place reduced to something resembling a ghost town, though much more technologically advanced. The duty free stores and gift shops lining the shuttle docks are now all empty, their windows torn out and cheap Plexiglas put in their place. When you stare down one of those huge rooms with the baggage carousels unused, you can almost hear the commotion of the past and see the people as they were, two hundred years ago, before it all ended.

It is a strange experience to just get a tourist's look at the abandoned Nice shuttleport, but it is an even more peculiar experience to be imprisoned within it.

Mariana Short was in such a situation, trapped within what looked like a supply closet, armed with only century-old flyers advertising an island resort in the French Mediterranean. Needless to say, they weren't much help.

As Mariana shook herself back into consciousness and studied her surroundings, what she discovered didn't exactly bode well. Her sister's access card and Neutrino were predictably confiscated, along with Mariana's wallet and whatever other junk happened to be ensnared in her jeans' pockets. For some reason, even her lip gloss and keychain were no where to be found. Possibly even more worrying was the fact that her accomplice, Lauren was not in sight either.

Just then, the door burst open, revealing for a fraction of a moment, a surprisingly well-lit headquarters of some kind, before it closed again, a tall gnome having now entered. He aimed a gun of some sort (how was a she supposed to know what kind?) at her and demanded gruffly, "Are you Mariana Short?"

Usually, Mariana makes it a general rule to not speak to anyone who happens to be keeping her under lock-and-key but when a gun is pointed at you, rules tend to change. "Uh-huh," she managed to say.

"Holly Short's sister?"

"Yeah."

While Mariana didn't know it at the time, this was a major win for Ark Sool. By pure luck, his sensors had intercepted and shot down a shuttle that happened to carry the sister of one of his major enemies. Sool couldn't help but let out a delighted cackle. After all, this practically guaranteed that Holly would now attempt to rescue her sister, and the last living member of her immediate family, at all cost, even if it meant a personal risk to herself. And there was no end to the use that would bring him in the near future.


Little did Mariana know, her sister, Artemis Fowl, Juliet Butler, and Mulch Diggums were congregated at the old, caved-in entrance of the Nice shuttleport, just a few feet aboveground. But the news wasn't too encouraging there either.

Holly snatched Mulch's collar, the dread settling in her stomach. "She was on the shuttle, wasn't she?" she demanded. "My sister- did she sneak up here?"

"Yeah," Mulch gasped for air, "Just let me go!"

Holly released the dwarf, running a hand through her auburn curls anxiously. "You don't happen to know anything, do you?"

"Actually, she was the one who came and got me," Mulch recalled. "Mariana, right?"

"Oh, no," Holly groaned. It was exactly as she had suspected. Her sister, though relatively clever for her age, could be incredibly immature sometimes. Holly would never admit it, but perhaps Mariana was every bit as impetuous and reckless as her older sister in her yearning for adventure. And the consequences could be dire, as she had realized and surely, Mariana would, too.

"Um, I hate to be the bearer of more bad news," Foaly interjected, "but Lauren's shuttle was intercepted. I don't know much more than because of Sool's shields but we definitely lost contact with them a few minutes ago and it's probably fair to say that they probably got too close to the shuttleport and got shot down."

"This is serious," Artemis said. "There is definite reason to believe that both Lauren and Mariana may be either dead or imprisoned by Sool. Personally, imprisoned seems more likely, given that they could be use to ransom or to capture us as we attempt a rescue attempt. I'd guess that a direct message will be on its way quite soon."

As if his mere voice held immeasurable power, an email appeared on Holly's screen. She apprehensively opened it— it read, simply:

I have your sister.

You have 24 hours.


Underground, Trouble had assembled the Retrieval team, consisting of many of his best officers, Major Vein, Captain Newt, etc. Unfortunately, it also included his brother, Grub.

Parents may try to be neutral, but always, there will be a certain sibling that they liked best. Trouble knew that Holly's father had always favored her, a fact that Mariana would always be jealous of, and some obscure reason that will perhaps never be understood, Mrs. Kelp preferred Grub. What his mother saw in his spineless younger brother, Trouble would never know but upon his acceptance into the LEP Academy, she had insisted that he keep Grub under his supervision at all times. And so, Grub always got a spot on any team Trouble was on, a fact that the other officers always wondered about. Trouble had always been embarrassed by the way Grub shadowed him but he really didn't have much choice than to obey. She was his mother, after all.

"Trubs!" Grub cried on this instance, struggling to keep up with his brother, who was, naturally, trying to shake him.

"We're on duty, Corporal," Trouble replied curtly. "It's Commander Kelp to you."

"Geez, Trubs," Grub muttered. "Just because Holly dumped you doesn't mean you have to take it out on me."

"What did you say?" Trouble demanded, shoving his brother roughly into the shuttle before he could retaliate. But it was true— ever since Holly had left earlier today, he had been expelling his anger on various people. No wonder why Foaly wouldn't even talk to him anymore.

Trying to clear his muddled head, Trouble rubbed his temples and told himself, forget her. This is an important mission and you need to concentrate on that right now, instead of brooding over a girl. This isn't like you.

But Holly wasn't just any girl— she was the most amazing, brave, talented, beautiful person he had ever known. Her brazen audacity and quick wit had always stunned him even as children, not to mention the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous, in his opinion. But he supposed that that was the root of all the problems between them; he had always been in love with her but she had always been reluctant to even go out with him. It seemed like every time he thought that they were finally on the same page, Holly would spout some excuse about why she couldn't marry him. But even after all those years, he couldn't help but get his hopes up, again and again, only to be crushed.

And then there was the fact that it seemed that every time Holly went off on one of her adventures, she would return like a different person. She would stare off in to the distance, a faint smile on her face, and when asked what she was pondering, she would quickly reply, "Oh, nothing." For some reason, that Mud Boy had some sort of power over her, the way she nearly always took his side even when it was him who had abducted him. For goodness sakes, she even saved his life almost regularly and didn't think a thing of risking her own life in the process. Trouble found himself wondering if Holly would ever do that for him.

Reluctantly turning his mind back to the mission at hand, he ushered the last of his team into the shuttle, and reminded himself, once again, "She doesn't matter. You have a job to do."

And he almost believed it, too. After all, he had gotten quite good at telling himself lies, after all these years of believing that she truly did love him.


The training one generally receives in the LEP Academy usually suffices for the average police career, being rather heavy on the general knowledge. But unfortunately, in truly dangerous situations, the ability to improvise is a skill one should most certainly possess if one wishes to survive such a situation. This sort of thing is even more difficult when this happened to be your first real Recon mission, and your total combat experience amounted to a few hours in a shooting range.

This was the situation that Lauren found herself in as she regained consciousness in a dark cupboard of some sort. Naturally, the door was locked, but it was a relatively old building, so Lauren estimated the mechanism to be a simple code. But the bolts were undoubtedly reinforced steel, so there was no way to unlock it from the inside, short of having a laser weapon.

Thinking of her Neutrino, Lauren's hand immediately wandered to her hip, but of course, even Ark Sool was not that foolish. There was absolutely no weapon of any sort on her person, so the only option would be some sort of scheme to lure Sool into letting her out. Lauren sat cross-legged, finding herself surprising calm in a situation like this. The idea that I'm actually being held hostage just hasn't sunk in yet, she surmised. Neither was the idea that her life was actually in danger.

But Holly's kid sister immediately came to mind. The stupid girl had caused her to do this in the first place, and as livid as she was at Mariana, Lauren knew that she had to somehow escape with the kid in tow. After all, if she had thrown herself headfirst into a thoroughly dangerous business without a thought to the consequences, then she certainly wouldn't be able to extricate herself from it without help.

With absolutely no supplies at hand, Lauren decided that she would have to rely purely on distraction. Hopefully, at some point, she could grab a weapon. After all, if the mud boy's theory was correct, than this place ought to be littered with high-tech armaments and equipment. After all, Sool would've had advice from all of the preeminent scientists in the world.

Abruptly, the door swung open, interrupting Lauren's thoughts and revealing a rather bulky gnome. He wore reflective sunglasses, consequently thwarting any attempt Lauren might have made at using the mesmer. Using it on fellow fairies may have been strictly forbidden by the Book, but it would've have been worth a try in such an emergency.

But the plan was the important thing, Lauren thought, tearing her eyes away from the gnome. Instead she clutched her abdomen and groaned pitifully, "Let me out! I so need the bathroom!"

The gnome looked like he had no idea what to do, instead opting to stare at the girl as if he had never seen anything like it. Lauren heightened her act, letting out an ear-piercing shriek, and yelled, "I've got to go, unless you want me to puke all over your shoes!"

Somewhat reluctantly, the gnome let her out of the door, forcing her to stand. Lauren felt something cold and metallic jab into her back, immediately sensing that it was a gun. And suddenly, all the fear she had been determinedly repressing flooded to the forefront of her mind. I'm going to die; she thought wildly, her eyes frantically wandering around the room, her heart beating far too fast.

"Walk," the sentry commanded. "If you stop, you know what happens."

Desperately trying to clear the intense emotions from her brain, Lauren concentrated on searching the room. If you don't want to die, keep to the plan, she reminded herself callously. The room beyond was surprisingly bare, Lauren observed as she walked. There was a steel metal table, cluttered with a few gadgets that Lauren didn't recognize, but there, hanging on the wall, were several guns! But as they grew closer to the guns, Lauren realized that they weren't Neutrino weapons at all— they were grey and metallic with a relatively long barrel…human rifles? But that meant that the gun pressed to her back was—

No, don't think about that, her pragmatic side told her. It doesn't matter, just stick to the plan. Lauren breathed deeply, clearing her head of all thoughts except of what her senses told her, right now, right here. Some where to her left, there were sounds of the cries of a girl, somewhat muffled by the thick walls. Mariana, Lauren knew at once. But she was going an entirely different direction, down the long hall in front of them. So, there was only one viable option, only one way she could possibly act. And it wasn't a particularly good one, especially if she wished to stay alive as long as possible. But desperate times called for desperate measures.


All fairies have magic, though some have more than others. Dwarfs didn't have much magic, but they did have several extremely useful physical traits, such as their ability to ingest dirt and…well, you get the idea. This was the method of transportation that Mulch Diggums tended to prefer so he was quite content, despite the dire situation, to be tunneling in the rich soil of Southern France.

He was so content, in fact that he closed his eyes as he tunneled and hummed a bit before the listeners on his mike objected rather rudely, judging by the comments coming in through his earphones. Mulch would've replied equally rudely, if it were not for the wall that he had inadvertently hurtled into.

"Ow," Mulch muttered through a mouthful of dirt. But apart from the throbbing ache in his cranium, the collision was actually quite helpful. Mulch could already hear Artemis's voice in his ear, "That's the shuttleport wall. Now look for a room with vibrations and enter Foaly's microphone."

Dwarf hairs were also quite unique as they could be used to detect certain vibrations, such as the movement of an insect, or in this case, conversation. Foaly, however, would argue that in this case, his especially designed microphone was far more exceptional, as it was so tiny and being fortified with camfoil, even the average insect would not be bothered by its presence on a wall. Conveniently, it also came with its own ultra-quiet laser that would carve a place for it in the wall, a function particularly useful for convert missions. All Mulch had to do was attach the contraption to an optimal spot on the shuttleport wall and the mechanism would do the rest.

The first leg of the job done, Mulch began to tunnel, again. This time, though, he progressed unhurriedly, with his beard hairs pressing against the wall. Surely, even Sool would think to install sensors along the walls, Artemis had guessed and he was correct. Mulch could feel the slight vibrations of those sensors irritating his sensitive beard hairs with every mouthful. Finally, he paused upon a place with very little vibration.

"Definitely no one inside," he assessed. "Probably just one pretty low-tech sensor, by the feel of it."

"That's as good as it's going to get," Artemis told him. "I very much doubt that fairy devices would run out of battery as quickly as Spiro's sensors. Go in, but do so, very carefully."

"Right, mud boy," Mulch rolled his eyes. As if he needed telling. The dwarf pulled out a small bottle of extremely corrosive liquid— dwarf rock polish, one of his typical tools of the trade. He chose a spot with as little vibration as possible and poured. Even a dwarf's jaws cannot chew through solid metal, but the rock polish devoured the steel and left a rather gaping hole in the wall. It would set off some sensors, of course, but they would just have to hope that Sool had better things to worry about than a diminutive disturbance in a clearly unimportant room.

And by Artemis's reckoning, no doubt he would be, as Holly and Juliet were currently setting off a few of Butler's grenades, in perfect view of the shuttleport entrance. So incredible that even the most diligent megalomaniacs were fooled with the simple distraction of watching the pretty lights.

But what Mulch did not know was that at that particular moment, Sool had another, more pressing (or at least, more violent) disturbance within his fortress.


Now as the time to act, the only moment she could possibly steal, before it was too late. As Lauren and the sentry drew closer to the wall with the guns, she kicked him, aiming for his groin, her movements as sudden and swift as she could manage under the less-than-ideal circumstances. He collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain, and Lauren took this moment to wriggle away from his grasp. The gnome, barely having regained his senses, fired his gun, but the shot flew down the corridor, never hitting the target, the sound of its impact ringing harshly in Lauren's ears. Human bullets; it must be, for no fairy laser gun could possibly make such a hideous sound.

With no time to waste, she snatched a gun from the rack, frantically hoping that it was loaded. The human rifle was much too large for her small hands but she lugged the heavy contraption until it was aimed towards the surprised sentry and fired. The bullet hit its mark, sinking into the gnome's leg, rendering him unconscious with pain, at least for the time being.

Had she killed him? Lauren couldn't even bear to ask the question. The gun still in tow, she sprinted towards the door that surely held Mariana behind it. Knowing that it would only be moments before more sentinels came to investigate the situation, Lauren swiftly scanned the door, seeing the only way to break it. With no small amount of difficulty, she nudged the rifle straight into the bold holding the door shut and fired. Needless to say, this wasn't the smartest thing one could do, especially given the possibility that the bullet could go on to hit the room's occupant, but with no laser weapon in sight, it was the only thing Lauren could think to do.

Apprehensively, she tried the door. It wasn't great shot, but it opened, at least, revealing Mariana cowering on the other side of it. The younger girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Lauren! How did you—?"

"Never mind that for now," Lauren said brusquely, grabbing Mariana's arm. She could already hear the footsteps fast approaching. "Just concentrate on getting out of here!"

But then, Mariana saw her companion's eyes broaden in shock, felt her hand stiffen and release her arm, and heard the thud ring throughout her eardrum as Lauren fell to the ground, blood staining the back of her jumpsuit. Time seem to stretch as Mariana sunk to her knees, stiff with disbelief as she struggled to accept what had just happened. And it was all because of her.

Sparks rushed around the wound, feverishly attempting to mend it, but the damage was too great. Mariana plunged her own hands into the wound, summoning every spark of magic she could possibly muster, but that wasn't much. No doubt the shuttle crash had taken a hefty amount of healing power.

"I'm so sorry, Lauren," Mariana cried, the tears spilling from her eyes like rain from the skies. "This was all my fault."

"Be careful," gasped Lauren, her voice raspy from punctured lungs. Though her small amount of magic was buying her a bit of time, unconsciousness was inevitable. But she just had to make sure that somehow, Holly and Artemis would go in prepared. She managed to croak, "They have human guns. Tell Holly."

With those last words, she collapsed. The dark bloodstains would always linger upon those concrete floors along with the memory of a tragedy.


Author's Note: I just wrote my first real death scene (not counting that guy Moreau). After all, Shannon is right: Lauren is far too much like Holly and she had to go. But don't worry, it's all in the name of the plot…hopefully.

Anyways, despite consistent urgings from my muse, I doubt I'll be posting again any time too soon. But I will try to keep to once a week as usual, though I can't promise anything, given all the things I already promised to do this year. I am nothing short of insane, folks. But the point is, I apologize in advance for the future delays and I can promise that I'm going to finish this fic. Eventually. And I've already got the sequel on my mind...

Thanks again, for putting up with my mediocre writing and I hope you'll all be incredibly kind and review. Think about it: if you do, my next chapter might be better and you won't have to wince every time you see a clear plothole or grammatical error. So it's a win-win situation, right?

Please, please review!

Lily