I realise just how long it's been since I updated this, and I'm so sorry. I had exams, then major writers block. On the upside, I got Hunt finished. Huge apologies for making you all wait, and for the lameness of this chapter. There will be action in the next one, when I get around to writing it, I promise.

Confrontation

Artemis opened his eyes to find Trouble Kelp glaring at him from inches away. He backpedalled rapidly.

"Commander, please refrain from doing that in the future."

Trouble ground his teeth, ignoring the urge to punch the pale teen before him.

"Well?" he managed to say between clenched teeth. It was just discernable from a growl. "Did it work?"

Artemis nodded and climbed to his feet.

"She's in a shuttle somewhere, she didn't know where. You were right, she was with Kiernan. She said she'd contact me when she knew where she was."

Butler frowned.

"Can she do that without Number One's help?"

Foaly nodded.

"The magic is part of Holly, it's in her genes. Mud Boy here needed the help because he's human."

Artemis refused to rise to the bait. He knew Foaly was mad at him for kissing Holly and for the Commander's feelings of hurt, but he still counted the centaur as a friend and he didn't want to row if it could be helped. He sighed and rubbed his brow as he spoke; attempting to ignore the death-glares Kelp was sending his way.

"Whilst we're waiting for Holly to get back to us, I suggest we..."

He was cut off by a sudden pain in his head. He groaned and sank to his knees; eyes clenched tightly shut and hands pressed to his temples in an attempt to keep some of his brains inside his cranium.

Artemis

"Holly" he gasped aloud, breaking up the argument as to whether or not to send for paramedics. Trouble stopped refusing to ask for help, and knelt next to the boy. Number One mimicked his position on the other side, one hand on Artemis's forehead. The speech immediately became clearer and marginally less painful.

Where are you?

Dwarf mine. Trouble knows the place. Listen, Arty...

She paused. Artemis's stomach clenched.

Kiernan is coming after you, disguised as me. He can shape shift, and...

We know, Holly Artemis interrupted. We're coming to get you.

Be careful, Arty.

Artemis almost snorted. She was the one who'd been framed, kidnapped and was currently tied up somewhere alone, and she was worried about him?

You too.

Holly severed their contact, and instantly the pain in his head dissipated. He opened his eyes and struggled to his feet. Butler pulled the fairies out of his way and stood by the boy's side, back in overprotective bodyguard mode. He could only protect the boy from physical harm, and from the looks the Commander kept shooting his way, that may be imminent.

"Where is she?" Trouble barked. Artemis took a deep breath, then explained the conversation. Trouble pulled his gun from its holster and ran from the Ops Booth. For a few seconds, nobody moved, stunned by his quick exit, but then there was a whistle of feedback on the intercom and the elf's voice boomed through the speakers, demanding that Retrieval One get to his office now. Foaly winced.

"He has no idea how much that equipment costs. To get it to do that, he must have dragged the mike across the desk. Now I suppose he'll be complaining when he discovers the scratch in the wood..."

He continued to grumble as her pulled up a tracker system and handed Butler and Artemis each an old model LEP locator. Artemis studied it for a second before placing it around his wrist. It was the same model as the one he'd blown up when he'd first encountered Holly. He wondered whether the centaur had dredged up the memory on purpose, then decided that he was being paranoid.

The locator only just fit around Butler's huge wrist. It dug into the flesh, immediately sending pins and needles running through his hand. He sighed and pulled it off, handing it back to Foaly. He'd rather be able to shoot than be able to be found. Foaly grinned sheepishly as he took the device back.

"Sorry about that, Butler. I'm working on a larger model, but I've got to get the Council to pass it first, and they're not too keen on the idea."

"Couldn't you just put an extra length of elastic into it or something?"

Artemis tapped his foot impatiently, breaking up the conversation.

"Why the dwarf mine? Holly said it like there was some significance to the location."

"It's where she arrested her brother the first time. Apparently, he's one for tradition."

Artemis nodded thoughtfully.

"Did Mulch ever work there?"

Foaly shrugged.

"Probably, at some point. Most dwarves in Haven have, if they're over fifty."

Artemis pulled his communicator from his pocket and asked for the number for the Diggums and Day PI firm. Foaly supplied it, then surreptitiously hacked into the line. This conversation he wanted to hear.

Holly opened her eyes and glared at the handcuffs tying her to the door. At least now only one wrist was tied. She looked around for a weapon, any weapon. There were a few chunks of rock nearby, but her arms were not long enough to allow her to reach them. She huffed and examined the cuff again. It was LEP issue, metal. Gone were the days of LEP cuffs with security locks, like at the temple of Artemis. These could only be opened by inserting the code registered to the officer that owned the cuffs. The code was changed weekly. Kiernan had managed to open them, but where had he gotten them from? She typed in her code, but nothing happened. Too obvious.

Earlier, he'd had a gun too – maybe this was from the same owner? A lot of the new LEP sprites now were going through a phase of getting their names engraved onto their weaponry. Apparently, Chix Verbil had started, it, and some of the younger, denser sprites had copied him. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to recall the gun. There was a mark of some sort on the side, an engraving, but she hadn't actually registered what it had said. She opened her eyes, fuming at herself. Even if she had been able to discern the name on the side, it was highly unlikely that she'd know the code. Desperate, she typed in the ones she did know, but none of them worked. She even tried the ones from a week ago, with the same result. She thumped the door and made a sound of pure anger. She was helpless, and she hated it.

Come on, you've defeated Opal three times, survived near-death (and actual death) experiences several times, and you're going to let yourself be defeated by a door? She goaded herself, hoping to fire up her ego enough to find a way out of this. It didn't work. Short of cutting off her own hand, she was staying cuffed to the door. And even if she did have a tool sharp enough to do that, she would never be that desperate.

She sank to her knees and closed her eyes, listening for approaching footsteps to tell her that someone was coming. There was nothing. Well, it had only been a few minutes, and they couldn't all teleport could they? Nope, that was just the bad guys. Great. As if the good guys needed another disadvantage...

Mulch was sitting in his office, feet up on his desk, attempting to ignore the pixie screaming at him. Doodah was yelling at the top of his tiny lungs, purple in the face. He reminded Mulch of Julius, only shorted and cuter.

"That's the third customer this week you've lost us!" the pixie hollered. Mulch held up a hand to halt the tirade. It had no effect whatsoever; if anything Doodah shouted louder.

"We're losing money here, dwarf, all because you are too D'Arvitted picky about who you will and won't work for!"

Mulch stood at this, feeling his own temper rising.

"I won't work for a goblin, pixie! You know we don't get on!"

That was the understatement of the century. Dwarves and goblins hated each other with a passion. Luckily for the partnership, the developing rant was saved from becoming a full-blown argument by the office phone ringing. Mulch picked it up and spoke into the mouthpiece, voice polite.

"Diggums and Day Investigations, how can I help you?"

He blew a kiss at the fuming pixie. Doodah grabbed the nearest pencil and squeezed it until it snapped. Sometimes, he thought that working with the dwarf was more trouble than it was worth.

"Mulch?" Artemis didn't sound sure. After all, he'd never heard the dwarf sound anything other than sarcastic. Mulch sighed.

"What do you want, Fowl? Can you do nothing without me?"

"Apparently not. Did you ever work at the main dwarf mine before it was closed down?"

Mulch shrugged and sat back in his chair, snagging the last bowl of vole curry before Doodah could make off with it. The pixie made a not-very-pleasant gesture at him and left to vent his anger on some hapless fairies vehicle.

"Sure, why? You need me to dig in and steal something? I don't do that anymore, Arty-boy. I'm strictly legal now."

He eyed the stolen merchandise littering the corners of the room, and the illegal smuggled curry he was eating, and decided not to mention them. Every time he paired up with Artemis and Holly, he got left to do the dirty work. He sniggered at that. Dirty work. Digging. Never mind.

"I need you to tell me where the best place is to keep someone isolated."

Mulch narrowed his eyes.

"Why do you want to know that?"

Artemis didn't answer. Mulch thought about it for a few seconds.

"Put Holly on." The dwarf trusted her more than he trusted Artemis – the boy had a way of getting you to do things you really didn't want to do. Also, he hadn't heard from Holly since before the whole Koboi incident, and he wanted to check that she was ok. He'd never admit it, but at some point he'd emotionally bonded with the elfin Captain, and now considered her a friend. He shuddered. He was legal (mostly), and friends with the local police force. If anyone had told him that a decade ago, he'd have laughed in their face.

Artemis didn't answer for a second, and Mulch leaned forward. He knew the human was there, he could hear him breathing.

"What is it, Fowl?"

"Holly's been kidnapped."

"Again?" Mulch asked incredulously. It was becoming a regular occurrence. Fowl had actually started a trend.

"Yes, again" the teen huffed. "We have to get her back. Now, Mulch, will you tell me where she's likely to be?"

Mulch got up from his chair.

"No, Fowl, I won't. There are dozens of places. It'll be quicker if I go in there myself. I'll meet you at the front entrance to the mine in ten minutes."

He hung up without waiting to hear the boy's response and left the office, slamming the door behind him and locking it. If Doodah had forgotten his key again, then he'd just have to wait outside.

Mulch hummed as he walked. Yet again, he had to ride to the rescue of the Captain. He was like the knight in shining armour rescuing the damsel in distress, except that he had no armour, he wasn't a knight, and Holly was more likely to punch him than kiss him for rescuing her. Not that he wanted her to kiss him – he was strictly an own-species kind of dwarf. Still, it would be nice to get something other than abuse. Maybe a thank you?

It then occurred to him that he'd just volunteered himself for a possibly life-threatening task. He groaned aloud, causing a passing gnome to glance at him concernedly. He was really going to have to work on the whole altruism thing he had going. Next thing you knew, he'd be handing out cookies for the girl guides.

I'm not sure if I got Mulch right or not. Come to that, I'm not sure if I got any of them right. Let me know what you think. If you think it needs doing, I'll rewrite this. It's just been forever since I was doing this story. Lame excuse, I know, and totally my own fault.
Skullduck: Too right it's your fault! I've been trying to get her to update for days, but she just sits there and does Maths.
Me: Hey! I have to do that if I want to pass my A-Levels. To all those confused readers out there, Skullduck is my muse. He's also 98% pure evil, and enjoys tormenting me.
Skullduck: *waves* Hi.
Me: For more info on how tortured I am, see my profile.
Skullduck: And review, or I'll come find you! *glares menacingly*
Me: I'd do as he says. He's been in a foul mood lately, and I have the beakmarks to prove it.
Love Liris and Skullduck
xxx