The Lower Elements, Haven City, Police Plaza, Detention Cell 5

When Ryn came to she was in an LEP interrogation room. For some reason, she'd always thought that police interviews would be different than ones on TV, but her older brother Zak had assured her they were accurately represented. And Zak was right, everything from the furniture to setup was exactly as she expected.

Root started off. "Okay, Fowl, start talking."

He and Holly were facing her across a low plastic-topped table. A bright bulk aimed at her face, making her squint.

"Damn your breath smells bad," she muttered. "How's that for talking?"

If Root didn't look irritated already, he was now. "You think this is a game Mud Girl?"

"Hey, you're the one who didn't specify," Ryn retorted, noting her hands were cuffed to the chair. "You want answers? Trying asking an actual question. "

Root made a noise, something like a cross between a groan and a growl. "I don't have time for this. Foaly! Get over here!"

A figure emerged from the shadows. It had two arms, four legs, and a tail, and looked to be holding a pair of plungers.

"Alright, Mud Girl," he said. "Try to relax, and this probably won't hurt much."

Then the figure stuck the plungers onto her face and everything went black.

Foaly ran the images of the goblin and the softnose laser through the Retimager. 193 on the first, 201 on the second.

"Another set of negatives. Sorry, Captain, but the Fowls are innocent. Neither of them have even seen a goblin, much less traded with the B'wa Kell."

They could've mind-wiped them."

Foaly removed the seals from Ryn's eyes. "That's the beauty of this baby. Mindwipes don't work. The Retimager operates on actual physical evidence. You'd have to scrub the retinas."

"Anything on the computer?"

"Plenty," replied Foaly. "But nothing incriminating. Not a single mention of goblins or batteries."

Root scratched his square jaw. "What about the big one? He could have been the go-between."

"Did him already with the Retimager. Nothing. Face it, the LEP have pulled in the wrong Mud Men. Wipe 'em and send 'em home."

Holly nodded. The commander didn't.

"Wait a minute. I'm thinking."

"About what?" asked Holly. "The sooner we get Artemis Fowl's nose out of our business, the better."

"Maybe not. Since they're already here…"

Holly's jaw dropped. "Commander. You don't know the Fowls the way I do. Give either of them half a chance, and they'll be a bigger problem than the goblins."

"Maybe they could help us with our Mud Man problem."

"I have to object, Commander. These humans are not to be trusted."

Root's face would have glowed in the dark.

"Do you think I like this, Captain? Do you think I relish the idea of crawling to these Mud Kids? I do not. I would rather swallow live stink worms than ask Artemis Fowl for help. But someone is powering the B'wa Kell's arms, and I need to find out who. So get with the program, Holly. There's more at stake here than your little vendetta."

Holly bit her tongue. She couldn't oppose the commander, not after all he'd done for her, but asking Artemis Fowl for help was the wrong course of action, whatever the situation. She didn't doubt for a minute that the human would have a solution to their problem, but at what cost?

Root took a deep breath. "Okay, Foaly, bring them around. And them with translators. Speaking Mud Man gives me a headache."

AN: If my art professor was running things, school would start 3 weeks earlier. That way the semester would end at Thanksgiving.
But if one of my classmates were running things, there would be no fall semester. There would only be a spring and summer semester. We would have the winter times off to celebrate these monthly holidays with our families (Labor day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas), without having to balance academics alongside them along with warding off seasonal depression.

I can't tell which idea I like more.

Overall, between end-of-semester projects, all the stuff that needs doing for the holidays, I don't think I'll be able to update again until after Christmas. But I've been doing some re-evaluating of Alex & Ryn's characters and story arcs, hiatus sometimes does that for fanfics. So I think their stories are going to be a lot more interesting than I meant for 2 years ago.

So in the meantime, enjoy the holidays, may you pass all your finals, defend Net Neutrality, and I'll see you guys at Boxing Day!