Author's Note: Thank you, thank you for all the pretty reviews! And look, I'm so close to 100 reviews! I've never gotten anywhere near there before, but then again, this is my first chaptered fic.

A bit of news...as you know, this fic has been nominated for the Orion Awards in...three catagories, I believe. And a drabble of mine, Why? was nominated in two catagories and it would be wonderful of you to take a look at that as well. And once again, many, many thanks to Liv.

This chapter has a bit of...erm...I suppose you could call it current events, though it isn't really current. You should all know what I'm talking about, especially if you're older than 12 or live in the U.S. But keep in mind that Artemis is 22 in this story, so it's taking place in 2011. And off we go:

Chapter 10 Out of Time

Glancing up quickly at the setting sun, and checking her watch, Juliet determined the time. "We have about four hours. Til midnight, that is. How dramatic of him to pick midnight."

"Even more dramatic if you consider the day, Juliet," Artemis hinted. "You ought to remember— you've lived in United States all those years."

Within a moment, she replied, a stunned look on her face, "The tenth anniversary tomorrow."

"What anniversary?" Holly was feeling a bit left out.

"The anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center," Artemis explained. "By midnight, you can bet that the world will be mourning— and more importantly, extremely alert in case Al-Qaeda has plotted a comeback. All the major cities in the world will be on high alert, and can you think of a more perfect— or for that matter, more ominous— date for Sool to reveal his ultimate intentions?"

"His ultimate intentions?" her mouth went dry.

"Naturally, the press will be covering the anniversary as well. I expect this attack on Haven is only an appetizer, to show who is truly in charge. But the main course will be sometime tomorrow, when Sool reveals the fairies to the human world."

"But why would he want to do that?" Juliet asked.

"Because he resents us all," it was Holly who answered. "Foaly told me when he was drummed out of the LEP a few years back; he promised that he'd have his revenge. No one took him seriously then, but now it looks like he meant it. He'll probably get paid big bucks from the press for this, too. Not that he needs the money."

"Wait just a sec," Mulch butted in. "How in the world did Arty find out all this? What, did Sool send you a memo?"

"Not exactly," Artemis answered his typical smugness evident. "It was quite obvious once you took a look at when this is all happening. Think of what day Sool made an attempt on our lives?"

Holly racked her brain. "September 9th," she realized. "9-09: the LEP emergency number."

"And then in the files that Sool had, I saw that he had even researched the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11. From there, the reasoning is relatively simple— why not use the same date that plunged the U.S. and Britain into the debacle of the War in Iraq to plunge the entire world into an interspecies war?"

"It's incredible," Holly breathed. "It's almost too brilliant to be Sool's idea."

"Yes, that is the frightening part, isn't it," Artemis nodded. "We seemed to have mis-underestimated him, to use George W. Bush's nonexistent word."

"But he couldn't possibly know that we're on to him," Juliet said. "We've still got the upper hand— we're on the offense."

"And time is of the essence," Artemis agreed. "If we leave immediately, there is still time to foil his plot, providing Trouble Kelp's team is at their assigned positions."

Within a few seconds, Holly had contact on her wrist computer. It still stung to see her ex glaring at her, even if was through several miles, but this was no time for personal grudges. "Are you in position?"

"Yep," Trouble answered, also struggling to keep his emotions in check.

"Okay, then," Holly replied, glancing at Artemis. "'Time is ticking on—'"

"'—so we must be gone'," Artemis finished the words of H.P. Woodman. And indeed, within the minute, the motley group was gone from the Nice hillside.

Trouble Kelp was not particularly happy. First, his mother had insisted that his brother tag along on this mission, and now, he was saddled with Grub as a partner. Actually, having Grub as a partner, for those few unfortunate officers who know, is more like being working with a four-year-old than anything else.

"It's really cold in here, Trubs," was Grub's complaint today. "I'm gonna catch a cold!"

"Grub, it's a retired shuttleport, underground. What did you expect, central heating?" Trouble scoffed as he carefully carved out an entrance from the steel with his Neutrino. It was one of the strategic points that the Fowl boy had specified, where security was the least stringent. That was just another reason for his displeasure; after all, they were taking orders from a mud boy! Just what had the LEP come to?

"But Trubs—"

"It's Commander Kelp while we're on duty!" Trouble reminded his brother for about the fiftieth time today. "And what is it now?"

"Commander Kelp," Grub pouted, pointing at the laser carving in the shuttleport wall, "Are we actually going to fight now?"

"No, duh, Corporal," Trouble said, rolling his eyes. "That's usually what we do on a mission, isn't it?"

"You mean fight Sool?" Grub's lower lip trembled in fear.

"Nah, probably just his mercenaries," Trouble answered, still concentrating on the path of his laser. At long last, the steel provisional threshold budged and with some difficulty, the commander managed to push the bulky layer of metal aside, revealing a dimly lit hallway.

"Are we seriously going in there?" Grub griped. "It looks even colder than out here."

Trouble sighed, roughly pushing his brother through the roughly-cut portal before entering himself. He carefully pushed the dislodged metal back into its place. No trace, though it probably wouldn't matter as by the time Sool discovered that the LEP were in his little hideaway, it would be far too late. Or at least, that was the plan.

"But Trouble!" Grub whined. "What if we actually have to fight someone?"

"See this, Grub?" Trouble held out his Neutrino 3000. His brother nodded. "This is called a gun. If someone attacks you, all you do is pull this little thing called a trigger with your finger and then they're stunned. Okay?"

"Like this?" Grub took his own Neutrino in hand and fired. Trouble managed to dive out of the way just in time to witness the laser puncture a hole into the wall where he had just stood. So much for no trace.

Trouble would've reprimanded his brother quite harshly for that particular mess-up, if several sentries were not lumbering towards the pair, alerted by having a Neutrino burst burn though a normally solid wall.

Naturally, Grub was petrified, letting out an extraordinarily high-pitched shriek. But Trouble merely widened his stance, and cocked his Neutrino, ready for battle. "So it's on," he muttered beneath his breath, and a wry smile was just barely visible beneath his otherwise stoic expression.

With a single well-aimed burst, Holly managed to render unconscious two of Sool's mercenaries at once. The hired muscle fell to the ground with a nearly seismic thud, or so it seemed to Artemis and Holly who were standing only yards from them.

"Too easy," Holly muttered, struggling to contain her amusement at the idiotically astonished look on the sentries' faces.

"Indeed," Artemis agreed. "This is rather pathetic to be honest, even for Sool. I'd have expected a few surprises by now, but no, nothing unexpected."

"But all the better for us, then," Holly answered, already heading down next corridor. "We're actually doing quite well on time, for once."

"For once," Artemis repeated, his eyes meeting Holly's and held them, frozen in time. It was still strange to see one of his own eyes on her face, he told himself. That must be why he couldn't seem to take his eyes of her as of late. There can't be any other rationale, after all, Artemis reasoned, you've been seeing her quite regularly since you were twelve years old.

"Come on, let's go," Holly said, grabbing his hand, and sending a chill down Artemis's spine that certainly had nothing to do with the weather. But nevertheless, he followed her down the corridor, bypassing a few key-coded doors along the way, courtesy of Foaly. Finally, they arrived at the foot of Sool's private quarters.

"Right," Holly said, taking in the mediocre security measures. "This is where I get some payback."

"Just bring him unconscious," Artemis reminded her. "You've got about fifteen minutes."

"Easy," Holly smirked as she melted a few steel hinges with her Neutrino. Leaving only the bolt to hold the door in place, she pushed on it gently, revealing Sool's quarters within. By Foaly's scans, he was sure to be lurking somewhere inside, unaware of the penetration of his headquarters.

"Don't do anything more than necessary," Artemis reiterated as he headed his own way. "And," he added as an afterthought, "Be careful."

Holly laughed, and mockingly blew a kiss in his direction. "Don't worry. After all, when have I ever taken any risks?"

The sound of a rather bulky gnome sentinel thumping on to the ground, unconscious is rather loud and one might expect a dozen or so of these noises to alert Sool that something major was happening within his very lair. That is, if only Sool had not been paranoid to add extra soundproof panels to the walls of key rooms.

"Two down," Juliet smirked, examining the newly felled sentry with no small satisfaction. It was like wrestling again— back in the ring, taking out some huge, ugly opponent.

Warmed up and ready to dispatch more sentinels, Juliet rounded the corner and would've head down the next corridor, had Major Vein not flung out an arm to stop her.

"What now?" she asked, rather annoyed. If only she could just kick butt and get the hell out of here. But no, there always had to be complications.

"You can't go down there, there are sensors all over the place," Vein said, staring down the length of hallway through his helmet filters.

"So? We're wiped from the cameras, aren't we?"

"Yes, Mud Maid," Foaly explained in his typically annoying manner. "But this hallway is especially protected, and even though I have wiped your images from the CCTV cameras, the floor is covered in sensors. And you can imagine how awkward it would be to set off sensors but not show up on the cameras."

"Then what do we do?" Juliet queried, rather confused.

It was Vein's turn to smirk, loading his Neutrino with a piton. "We go Tarzan-style," he explained, shooting the piton through the ceiling.

"And there're no sensors on the ceiling?"

"Sool's no idiot, contrary to popular belief. But he's just a politician; he wouldn't know what you can do with a piton and some skill," Vein replied, as he swung lithely into the air.

Juliet quickly manipulated her own weapon and followed, tugging the cord around her waist. She hung from the ceiling quite comically until she shot a second piton a few yards down the corridor, jerking the first piton from the ceiling as soon as she was safely perched on the second. They moved down the hall in this fashion for quite a while until Foaly broke radio silence.

"There, see that door at the far end of the hall?" he asked. "That's where I'd guess Mariana is."

"How do you know?" Juliet asked curiously as she hoisted herself up the piton cord, careful to not let her feet touch the ground.

"There are only so many living people in this place," Foaly answered, rolling his eyes at Juliet's ignorance. "And only one is locked up. So that's got to be her, but strangely, I can't seem to find Trouble's trainee. She ought to be in here, too."

"Great," Vein muttered. "Now we're on baby-sitting duty."

"Well, she's Holly's sister," interjected Juliet, "Don't you care at all?"

"Are you kidding?" Vein asked. "Did you hear about how she broke up with Trouble? That girl is pure poison, stringing him along like that."

"Holly?" Juliet raised one eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like her at all."

"Nah, he's exaggerating," Foaly explained. "But their break-up was pretty bad. Though, I had to say, Trouble ought to have known better. I did warn him, after all."

"What d'you mean?" Juliet inquired. "What happened?"

"To put it simply, he asked her to marry him and she said no," Foaly replied. "And it wasn't the first time either. But it still pretty harsh, given that anyone would've thought that they were meant for each other."

"Exactly," Vein agreed. "And she dated him for so long, too. What's she waiting for?"

Juliet bit her lip, not wanting to say what she personally suspected. Perhaps she was unreasonable, but she could've sworn that there had been something between Holly and Artemis for ages now. Maybe it was ridiculous to cite such things, but there was that look in Artemis's eyes every time he even mentioned her, and the way Holly had stared at him just hours before.

Fortunately, she was spared from having to divulge her thoughts as the pair had reached the door at the end of the corridor. Juliet propelled herself as low as she possibly could without touching the floor, hanging rather awkwardly by her waist.

"The code's 441313," Foaly told her. "I found that out by hacking into the shuttleport CCTV system. And besides, apparently, that's Sool's birthday."

"He was born in 1313?" Juliet asked skeptically as she clumsily typed in the code. Anything involving the slightest amount of dexterity is difficult when you're suspended from the ceiling.

"Yeah, I know. Old, huh?" Foaly agreed. "Maybe he'll conveniently drop dead of a heart attack or a stroke or something."

Regrettably, that was not to be, at least within the near future, as our heroes would soon discover. At any rate, it was at that precise moment when Juliet's outreached hand touched the doorknob, ready to fling it open, all hell broke loose.

Holly rounded the corner alone, her footsteps slow and cautious. Even though she was shielded, Sool could very well notice her, as fairies are far more attuned to magic than their human counterparts. But this time, perhaps she wanted to be noticed.

She could almost hear Artemis's voice berating her for what she was about to do, but to her, it was necessary. The life of her sister had been at stake today and Holly would do anything to ascertain that Mariana was safe. It had been her dying mother's last wish, after all, and as much as Holly had constantly tried to protect Mariana, her attempts were usually fruitless, given the wild spirit that both girls shared. It was almost enough for Holly to pity the job her mother had. Almost.

She unshielded, her hand resting on her Neutrino, ready for battle at any moment. But there, in the center of the unfurnished room, Sool sat in a large revolving chair, looking utterly unsurprised to see her. That should've been the first clue, if only Holly had not been too occupied with worries of her sister at that particular moment.

"Ah, Miss Short," he said unperturbedly. "So you have come to bargain for your sister at last, though without your friends. May I ask why?"

"This is my battle," she replied tersely. "But it doesn't matter. This is over, Sool. You're done; you might as well give up already. We have you cornered, all your mercenaries have been neutralized, and my sister is leaving with Trouble Kelp's retrieval team as we speak."

"If that is so, then why are you here, presenting yourself so obligingly to me?" Sool raised one eyebrow, still looking perfectly blasé.

"I need to ask you something."

"Fire away," Sool smiled serenely, nodding at the Neutrino blaster at Holly's hip. "Though not literally, I hope."

"Mulch found the files," Holly started, her curiosity overtaking the intuition buzzing at the base of her neck, telling her that something was seriously wrong. No matter, she reassured herself. He has nowhere to go, and I am the one who is armed. There is no danger here. But how wrong she was.

"All those papers," she continued. "So many of them about me, about Artemis. And Mariana getting captured. Why are you doing this, what do you want from me?"

Sool chuckled in the manner of a grandparent explaining a simple matter to their grandchild. "I presume you're remembering how I seemed to have it in for you all those years, leading the charge with those tribunals. But let's not bring up old grudges, Miss Short. That is behind us, all superficial. What is important is the matter at hand.

"Don't you realize, Miss Short, that you and that infuriating Fowl boy were the only people standing between Opal Koboi and her plots for world domination, all these years? If it had not been for you, Haven would be ruled by her, a fact that Vinyaya seems to mention daily. Of course, most of Haven admires you for it, nowadays, though favors change quickly, as we have both discovered.

"But what if you and Fowl were dead?" Sool smirked, clearly savoring the thought. "Then all my great plans would be realized. And yes, I do mean world domination, as I am sure you already suspect. Naturally, I tried it the legal way at first, as did dear Opal, rising through the ranks, slowly gaining power. But people like you, Miss Short, have always stood in my way, your silly principles of decency annihilating my dreams! And after all, your human friend is correct: illegal is much faster and I cannot wait forever.

"And so I learned about you and Artemis Fowl, Miss Short, and gathered more information about you than perhaps any have ever. Why, I suspect that I know you better than even you know yourself! To defeat one's enemy, one must know the enemy. And so I discovered your greatest weaknesses. You are far too impulsive, Miss Short, always acting on your emotions, as you've done today. It is indeed both your best trait and your worst, depending upon the judge; Julius used to call it intuition, but I always knew it was simply recklessness. And Artemis Fowl, as I am sure you I've realized, is far too cocky for his own good. His ego almost spelled the end for his bodyguard Butler and our entire civilization as well, once, as you well remember.

"Now that I have collected this knowledge of you and your accomplices, Miss Short, I know the best, and perhaps, only way to defeat you," he finished. It was only then that Holly realized the great danger she was in.

Holly's reflexes were swift, but Sool's contraption was quicker. With the touch of a single button hidden beneath the armrest of his chair, a reinforced pod enveloped him, just a fraction of a moment before Holly's laser beam managed to reach him. One other thing also rose from the newly excavated floor tiles: a small metal egg featuring a blinking green timer.

"Don't bother running, Miss Short," Sool advised, through his escape pod's mikes. "That is a pre-focused, micro-bio-bomb, improved by Nobel Prize nominated physicist, Steven Moreau. Beautiful, isn't it? I must tell you; this is one issue that Opal was most certainly correct on; self destruct is always a most useful thing to have. And yes, I also learned a great deal from my predecessors."

"This was all a trap, wasn't it?" Holly said, knowing the answer. "You knew what we were going to do. 9-11 was never your plan after all, but just to lure us in, believing we were running out of time. And we fell for it."

"Exactly," Sool's wide smile was still visible through the thick layer of glass and steel encasing him. "Though you are running out of time. Sixty seconds to live, Miss Short."

With those lovely parting words, his pod launched straight through the ceiling, propelling him far enough away from the deadly blast that would ensue in just less than a minute.

Author's Note: Oooh, bad situation, isn't it? And a beautiful cliffhanger, I personally think it's my most suspenseful so far. And see, I told you this thing was far from over...no, this is just a taste of the real action which is still to come. Plus, to the A/H shippers out there, don't worry, it's coming. There will be quite major A/H in the next chapter I think, and peak in the chapter after that, if everything goes according to plan. Though it does seem like my plans change with every chapter...

You know the drill- I just have to ask, or beg, for reviews...So, please take a moment of your life to make an aspiring writer very, very happy?

Until next weekend,

Lily