A/N: Well, here it is. The second part of the rescue, and also the conclusion to the first part of this story. I had mostly written this before, but decided to completely rewrite it. I had enormous fun doing so, and may have got a little carried away... xD. Regardless, the result is that this is almost nine thousand words (or about twice the length of any of my previous chapters).

I do, however, just quickly want to take a moment to thank everyone who has so far reviewed. Not only is the feedback greatly appreciated, but it really makes my day that people actually enjoy my work. So thank you, kind people of the internet. Don't forget that if you make an account in order review (it's really easy) I can respond to you (you can decide for yourself whether or not that's a good thing xD), but I can't if you don't have account or don't sign in. You'll also be able to follow the story and receive email alerts whenever a new chapter is up if you have an account.

Anyway, I really hope you enjoy :D

-Kio

Chapter 10;

Hotel Polissya, Pripyat, Ukraine

Ladislav Petrov liked to consider himself a difference maker. A key piece in any puzzle he was involved in. While he did have the kind of subtle air of arrogance about him that came from repeated experiences of success, he was nevertheless a rather understated man. People tended to overlook him. It wasn't a mistake they had the chance to make twice.

Ladislav had discovered at an early age that he was a phenomenal marksman, and had therefore transitioned into the life a professional sniper with relative ease. It hadn't taken long for him to realize that working on the other side of law was far more lucrative than toeing the line, and within a few years he had earned a nickname that was infamous throughout the criminal underworld. The Guardian. The best that money could buy. Very few knew of his real identity, but everyone knew that if the Guardian came for you, you wouldn't know anything about until it was far too late. In fact, most of his victims were already dead before they had the chance to realize how much danger they were in. His services were extortionate, but Amber had had little trouble convincing him to assist her. When I'm the most powerful person on the world or under it, she had said, I'll make it worth your while.

Even so, despite his fearsome reputation, it was easy to forget about the role he might play in proceedings, and that was if you knew that he was there in the first place. Artemis Fowl had known no such thing, and therefore had not seen the need to take appropriate precautions.

Ladislav had been entrusted with helping to defend the Energetik, but he had elected to do so in a slightly more unorthodox way than the casual groups of mercenaries that had simply set up shop directly outside their objective or within in. Instead, he had made himself at home in the in Hotel Polissya, a short distance away from the Energetik.

As soon as he had heard the thunder of explosions, he had made his way to the roof and set up. What he had seen had actually quite impressed him – evidently someone was being rather innovative in their attempts to rescue the kidnapped fairy. The helicopter strategy had completely caught the defenses off guard, raining destruction from above. Disorder was king on the ground, but Ladislav wasn't worried. He had brought with him his favorite sniper rifle, a US made Barret M82. It was very loud, very heavy and very effective.

He now lay on his stomach on the rough rooftop, his head adorned with ear defenders and his focus entirely on the huge weapon in front of him. So far, however, he had been rather unfortunate. Naturally, the helicopter pilot was focusing on targeting the Energetik itself, which had the unintended side effect of denying the Ukrainian sniper a clear shot.

He wondered for a moment about what he was witnessing – certainly the attack was effective, but what was the end goal? Leaving the fairy's prison in ruins wouldn't unchain her. Perhaps they simply wanted her dead so she couldn't answer Vladimir's questions? That was pretty standard for any group that operated with secrecy as a high priority, and these fairies seemed to take secrecy very seriously indeed. Still, there were more effective ways of achieving that than a direct air assault. More likely, the entire thing was some kind of elaborate distraction. It would make sense to launch two simultaneous incursions. He briefly considered whether he would be in a good position to interfere with the second part of the plan.

The diminutive Ukrainian shrugged. It wasn't his job to think strategy, it was his job to… what was it Amber had said? "Delete" anyone getting in the way?

His thoughts were cut short, however, when his wait was finally rewarded with a good angle on his target. The helicopter rotated slightly in his direction, targeting a group of guards trying to make their way out of the deathtrap that the Energetik was rapidly becoming.

Ladislav smiled. He could just about make out the pilot through the high-power scope. Even through the darkness it was clear that he was enormous. Taking a deep breath, he lined the figure up in his crosshair. It wasn't a long distance and the night was still, so he had no need to take wind or the bullet drop into account. The easiest shot of his life.

"Sorry big man," he muttered, tightening his finger around the trigger and beginning to squeeze it, ready to fire.

He took a steadying deep breath, and with painstaking care, centered his victim in his crosshairs.

For a split second, the world seemed to hold its breath.

Ladislav pulled the trigger.

Pripyat, Ukraine

All things considered, Butler was actually incredibly lucky. At the very last moment, Foaly had fired their last salvo of rockets. The resultant force adjusted their trajectory. The change was ever so slight, but just enough to matter.

Naturally, the giant Eurasian had no time to react when the huge, fifty-caliber round slammed into the canopy in front of him. The glass may have been reinforced, but it was old and no match for the modern, armor piercing bullet. A wave of cracks erupted from the point of impact, leaving a perfect, circular hole at their center. Blood splattered the entire interior. The bodyguard's shoulder was, for want of a better word, destroyed.

If the shot had been fired even a fraction of a second earlier, before the rocket salvo, it would have entered his head and killed him instantly. As it was, he was alive. For now.

Butler, of course, knew none of this. All he knew was that he had been fine, and now he wasn't. The pain was instantaneous and spectacular. He was losing a lot of blood. He may be alive, but unless he received immediate medical attention, he wouldn't be for much longer.

As the darkness tugged at the last traces of consciousness, Butler had time for only one thought.

D'Arvit.

The shot thundered around the ghost-town. A sort of unnatural silence descended, spoiled only by the sound of rotors. There was no more gunfire. There were no more explosions. Even the yells and shouts had subsided.

Galadhon watched in horror as the attack helicopter veered wildly off to the side and began spinning out of control. After a few moments, the rapidly rotating aircraft crashed into nearby apartment building. The screech of metal tearing rent the air. Galadhon froze for a moment, willing it not to be true. Without the main distraction, it wouldn't take long for the remaining guards to regroup and figure out what was going on.

Around him the rest of his team was immobilized by similar indecision, waiting for his instructions. Galadhon was torn; continuing to push would be extremely dangerous, but the other choice would be to abandon Holly to die.

He never had the chance to make the decision, however, because at that moment a group of mercenaries noticed that there suddenly seemed to be quite a lot of well-armed and unfriendly-looking fairies near them.

"There!" one shouted. "Open fire!"

Galadhon rolled his eyes and dropped low as the first volley of bullets filled the air around him.

"Weapons free," he said calmly, his helmet mic easily picking up the words and relaying them to the rest of team Storm.

The well-trained soldiers responded immediately. In the blink of an eye they had their weapons up and were returning fire. Brilliant white lasers found their mark with terrifying consistency. After only a few seconds, six of the eight humans were down. They weren't dead, but the fairies had upped the setting on their weapons a little above what was recommended – they weren't taking any chances. Any human that was hit would be out cold for at least twenty-four hours. The remaining two scampered back into their stronghold.

"Threats neutralized," reported a member of the team.

Galadhon gave a grim little smile. "Casualties?"

"Negative."

So they were all alive at least. But there was no escaping the fact that they were well and truly compromised now. It wouldn't be long before every uninjured guard had been made aware of their presence and was ready for them. With no air support, they had no chance in an open fight. There was no other option. They would have to leave Captain Short.

Any last doubts about this conclusion were swiftly banished from Galadhon's head as another thunderous shot rang out and the fairy on his left was almost cut in half. He reacted instantly, diving to the ground.

"Sniper!" he yelled. "Take cover!"

As one Storm scattered, finding whatever shelter available to them. Once they were covered, they froze. No-one moved. The fairies barely dared breath, even though they knew full well that their helmets were entirely sound proofed. After the frantic flurry of activity, the sudden stillness felt strange and alien.

No more shots were heard. Eleven sets of eyes were fixed on the mutilated body of their colleague. Apparently fifty-caliber bullets had little respect for Foaly's auto-armor.

Galadhon considered their new predicament. Hopefully the darkness and the smoke would be their ally – it would be nigh impossible for the sniper to pick them off when they weren't out in the open. With their suits' inbuilt insulation, a thermal scope would be useless.

Finally, someone spoke, shattering the agonizing silence. "What now?" asked a member of Storm. He didn't elaborate – he didn't need to. The voice contained a note of something not normally associated with the seemingly unstoppable fairy strike teams; it contained fear. The speaker was scared.

Galadhon couldn't really blame him. It was all of a sudden very clear that they were a long way from home, deep in extremely hostile territory. They were alone, and very much mortal. None of them were really accustomed to being on the disadvantaged team.

Still the sniper held his peace. There was no evidence of activity on the near side of the Energetik. For now, no-one was trying to kill them, but Galadhon knew it wouldn't last.

"Artemis," he spoke quickly into his mic, doing his best to keep his panic from his tone. "Butler is down. I repeat, the chopper is down. We are trapped by sniper fire. We cannot make it inside."

Artemis swore violently. "You can't just leave her!"

"What do you want us to do?" Galadhon shot back. "We'll be massacred if we approach!"

"OK, OK, let me think." Back at base, Artemis closed his eyes in frustration. He gave himself thirty seconds to contemplate the situation. It didn't look good.

He sighed and broke the radio silence. "Captain, can you and the rest of Storm cause something of a distraction?"

"That's your big plan?" growled the Captain. "Another distraction? Maybe you've forgotten but we already tried that one. You want me to remind you what happened to the person doing the distracting?"

Artemis made an odd sound, almost like a little sob. Galadhon dismissed it – it was probably just interference or something. Besides, when the human spoke again, his voice was not broken; in fact, it contained a steel that hadn't previously been there.

"If you think about it, the plan hasn't entirely failed. Holly is free inside the building. All she needs is cover to make her way out. Please, Captain, give her that cover. Surely, she deserves that at least? You don't have to commit to the fight, just fire some shots and throw some plasma grenades. Make sure they know you're still there and maybe Holly can slip out on her own."

Galadhon considered it. He supposed it was possible that they could do it if they moved out of the sniper's line of fire. He was fairly sure that the shot had come from the hotel to the right, so it was feasible that they could do what Artemis was suggesting if they put a building between them and the sniper. Of course he would relocate, but he would be reluctant to give up his vantage point, and then it would take time for him to install himself elsewhere. They could offer a distraction for maybe five or ten minutes, then they would have to fall back. Hopefully that would be enough for Captain Short.

"Alright, Mud Boy," he said reluctantly. "We'll see what we can do. I'll contact her when her window of opportunity opens. Out."

A part of him couldn't really believe he was actually planning to put his team in harm's way again for a scheme of human design, but in his heart he knew there was really no other choice. Holly Short was a true hero, whatever the Council or Internal Affairs said. If she was going to die, she deserved a hero's death. The last thing she deserved was to die with neither friend nor hope, alone in some God-forsaken, toxic wasteland in Ukraine.

"Alright team, listen up," he began. "Today has not been an easy day, and it's about to get a whole lot harder. But make no mistake, we will endure. We will do our bit to get Captain Short to safety because we do not leave people behind. Understood?"

There was a chorus of affirmatives. The tones varied from slightly afraid to downright terrified, but they all held the determination that was characteristic of the strike teams. The determination that made them so dangerous.

"On my mark, we make a break for that building," ordered Galadhon with as much bravado as he could muster, indicating a desolate structure to his left. Hopefully they would be safe there for the time being and would be able to organize at least something that might help Holly.

Galadhon reached down to his belt and plucked from it a relatively innocent looking cylinder. In reality, it was about as far from innocent as was possible – Galadhon was now holding one of Foaly's latest inventions, the "Advanced Multi-Sensory Stun Device". At least, that's what the centaur called it – it hadn't taken long for the LEP officers that saw what it actually did to nickname it the "Lightning Strike". While the humans had developed crude devices to incapacitate people by attacking their senses, (the most notable being the flashbang, which emitted a bright flash and a loud noise, temporarily rendering enemies blind, deaf and disoriented), the LEP were of course always one step ahead. They had long since used far more advanced weapons of this nature, but while working for Section Eight, Foaly had had access to more money than he had sense and decided that what these devices really needed was more firepower. The result had been the Lightning Strike. It was a small cluster bomb that would scatter fifteen induvial flashbang-type grenades that would then detonate, exploding in a blinding flash of staggering potency. Old sonix grenades had also been beefed up and incorporated. While there were no actual bolts of electricity, the Lightning Strike more than lived up to its name.

The top of the canister was marked with a small red circle; it was here that the elf placed his thumb. He took a breath and pushed, depressing the trigger mechanism. The tiny on-board computer accepted his DNA and authorized activation.

"Five seconds to detonation," said the voice of Lili Frond in his ear. Like most LEP equipment, the grenade was synced to his helmet.

"Thanks, Lili," Galadhon muttered and hurled the device in the general direction of the sniper. It landed a little wide of where he was aiming, but precision was hardly paramount with something like the Lightning Strike.

For a few seconds, the world held its breath.

Again, one of Lili Frond's automated remarks came over the airwaves. "Kaboom."

The effect was instantaneous and stunning. A spectacular eruption of brilliant white light lit up the night and a horrific cacophony reverberated around the ruined buildings, mercilessly attacking the ears of any nearby humans. Naturally, Galadhon and his team were entirely unaffected – their helmets contained in-built sonic sponges that immediately expanded to block out the noise, and their visors were the latest design and automatically filtered out dangerous levels of light. The mystery sniper was not so lucky – even from a distance, the weapon would have incapacitated him for at least a few moments.

"Now!" Galadhon shouted, already on his feet and dashing towards safety. The rest of team Storm were not far behind.

Energetik, Pripyat, Ukraine

For once, Captain Holly Short was actually doing what she had been told. "Hold your position" or "sit tight" was basically just military speak for do nothing, which wasn't something that really appealed to Holly at present. She had spent the previous several days with nothing to occupy her but waiting and fearing, and was not exactly keen on doing it some more. Still, her only other option was to venture out into a hostile area, with no knowledge, weapons or magic, and probably compromise the attempt that was currently being made to rescue her. So she had made herself as comfortable as possible in a corner of the corridor outside her cell, and now sat there with her cam foil close at hand in case she heard any humans coming to check on her.

She was saved from her boredom by a rather unwelcome announcement from her communicator.

"Bad news, Holly," came Artemis voice, sounding distinctly worried. "The situation is not proceeding as planned."

Great, she thought. Apparently the attempt to rescue her was more than capable of being compromised without her assistance.

"What does that mean for me?" she asked cautiously.

Artemis sighed. "It means you're on your own. At least, for the most part. Team Storm will provide something of a distraction, and we will be in position to evacuate you via shuttle if you can make it outside. Unfortunately, that's something you're going to have to figure out on your own."

"D'Arvit. Why is nothing ever easy?" Holly muttered, half joking, half genuinely exasperated that everything seemed to have a real tendency to go wrong for her and Artemis.

Me and Artemis? What exactly is that supposed to mean? She rationalized it a moment later – we are a team. We save the world together. I was thinking of our team as me and Artemis. Perfectly logical. She didn't bother thinking about why people that were usually also part of that team had been suspiciously omitted from her thoughts.

"Sorry, Holly," said Artemis, and he sounded like he meant it.

"Not your fault, I suppose," replied Holly.

"I wish there was more I could do," Artemis added, his voice barely above a whisper. Holly furrowed her brow. The human boy sounded troubled – deeply so. She supposed it made sense – his friend was in danger. Of course he was worried. But Holly couldn't shake the sense that there was something more. Artemis sounded almost guilty. He wasn't saying that he was sorry this was happening to me, she realized, he was actually apologizing to me. Why, though?

Before she had a chance to reach any kind of conclusion, however, her thoughts were interrupted by the very person they pertained to.

"Holly, you need to get moving. Storm can only provide a short distraction, so you need to be in position to escape when they begin. I know nothing about your current surroundings, so I won't try to offer any advice; besides, improvising has always been your area of expertise. Good luck and… just please don't die, Holly. Please."

Holly rolled her eyes. "I don't plan to," she said. Her words may have been sardonic, but she hadn't missed the almost pleading note in Artemis's voice as he had said that last bit. It bothered her, but she didn't have time to worry about that now.

She stood up and muted her communicator. The last thing she needed was for the speaker to start blaring out Artemis's voice if she was attempting to be stealthy.

If she was going to make her own way out, the first thing to do was get her bearings as best as she could. Based on the sounds of explosions, I'm underground, but not deep; probably just one floor. The corridor she was in ended in her cell, so she really only had one option in terms of where to go. It wasn't exactly an appealing choice.

"Here goes nothing," she murmured and began creeping in the opposite direction to her cell. She moved cautiously, almost catlike, always listening intently. Humans were rarely subtle unless they knew they had to be in advance – hopefully there would be some kind of sound cue to tip her off if she was approaching any Mud People.

After about a minute of exploring the Energetik's basement, she was no closer to finding a staircase. She had passed by what vaguely resembled a disused movie theater and the remnants of a small gymnasium – which made sense considering Artemis had told her she was being held in what was once a leisure center – but nothing of any actual use.

She was about to curse in frustration, but froze when she heard a noise. A shiver went down her spine when the sound became more distinct. It was unmistakably the sound of footsteps; footsteps that were getting louder with every second. A human was approaching her, and fast.

Holly immediately turned back the way she had come. Her heart was in her throat and voices of fear screamed at her from within her own head, but she ignored them. Right now, there was only space for focus. Focus or die. She stayed as quiet as she could while moving swiftly, hoping to find some kind of safety. She quickly found herself back at the destroyed gym and slipped in through a hole that defiantly wasn't in the original floor plan.

Silently, the elf made her way right into the corner and, after moment of fumbling, had covered herself with her sheet of cam foil. She was entirely invisible to the naked eye.

The footsteps slowed, but continued to come closer. Seconds later, Holly was sure she saw shadows dancing in the dim lighting of the corridor outside the gym.

She held her breath. Whomever that is, they have no idea I'm here. They probably think I've escaped, so hopefully there'll be searching for me on the surface. Not here. That human probably just came here for a smoke or something. Nothing to worry about. There's absolutely no reason for him to even come in here, right? He'll just walk past and I'll slip by him. Simple.

Unfortunately, it seemed the human hadn't got the memo about walking past, and proceeded to do the exact opposite. As he pushed his way through the narrow hole, Holly recognized the man who had come to check on her cell before – what was his name? Ivan? – and that she had been very pleased to see go. The very obviously violent and unstable man, whom she had only succeeded in making angrier. Not good, she thought, not good at all.

Still, he doesn't know where I am. If the cam foil worked once…

"Let's play hide and seek," Ivan called out, sounding for all the world like a happy father suggesting a game with a child. His eyes frantically darted around the room. The insanity in them was obvious.

Still invisible… thought Holly, but she wasn't quite so confident now. Apparently she was right not to be. To her horror, the human drew from his pocket a phone. He raised it to his eye level and tapped the screen a few times.

Holly knew exactly what he was doing, but what she couldn't fathom was why. How does he know? How does he know I used cam foil, or that a camera can see through it?

After a moment of scanning the room through his phone's camera, Ivan's face lit up and his mouth twisted into a sinister smile.

"Found you!" he exclaimed in a sing-song voice, his eyes fixed on exactly where Holly was hiding. "I knew you'd be around here somewhere. It's just as well I'm the one that found you - now I get to have some fun. Let's play a new game. The rules are as follows: I hurt you, you scream. Sound simple enough?"

There was only one thought in Holly's head. Run! Get away from him! But that was option at all. As far as she could tell, the only way into the gym was the hole she had originally come through – what looked as if it was once supposed to be the entrance was completely blocked up with rubble and debris. Additionally, her leg was still partially wounded from where she had been shot and the fit Russian man would have caught up with her in seconds.

Holly flinched as Ivan came ever closer, desperately looking around for something she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing.

Ivan laughed. It was a demonic sound. He grabbed a discarded chair and tossed it to where Holly was cowering. She dodged, just in time, but the cam foil was torn and now lay abandoned. She could be seen clearly by human eyes.

Without waiting for his prey to do anything else, Ivan suddenly accelerated, covering the last of the distance between him and the elf with frightening speed. He dived on her, tackling them both to the ground. Before Holly could react, a brutal punch found her face. Ivan straddled her, a triumphant smile plastered across his features. He raised his fist and hit her again.

"Having fun, tinker bell?" he shouted, drawing back his arm for a third strike. Before he could unleash it, however, another human stepped into the room.

"Oleksandr?" Ivan frowned, momentarily confused. "Weren't you supposed to be guarding this-" he gestured at Holly with disgust "-abomination?"

The newcomer didn't respond, instead opting to simply stare impassively at the scene before him.

Ivan shrugged and returned his attention to the elf trapped beneath him. He drew a nasty looking serrated knife from his belt and flashed Holly a smile.

"I wonder what color fairy insides are," he mused as he prepared to cut her.

Dread wormed its way into every bit of Holly's mind. She had no doubt that this human was insane and would do anything he could to hurt her purely for the joy of it. Perhaps she might have had a chance on another day, but injured and starved she was no match for the crazed Russian. She was entirely at his mercy. I need help! she thought desperately. But who could help her? Storm weren't coming. Artemis had done all he could, but his plan had failed. The human youth wasn't likely to come waltzing in to save the day, and wouldn't have been able to do much even if he was there. Butler? Unlikely. The only people there were Ivan and Oleksandr. Her enemies. Unless…

Could Oleksandr still be under my control? She had no magic left, but she supposed it was possible that he might still be her minion. It was certainly worth a try.

"Oleksandr!" she managed to call, her voice high and panicky. "Stop him!"

Ivan narrowed his eyes and glanced at his comrade, who still hadn't moved. He frowned, slowly piecing together the puzzle.

"You-" he began, but before he could say anything else, Oleksandr raised his rifle and fired a single shot. Ivan's body toppled over, a messy hole in his chest.

Holly didn't move for a few seconds. She was disgusted by the ease with which another life had just been taken, and disgusted by thin film of blood that now covered her. More than anything else, though, she was disgusted by the wave of relief that she herself felt in response to the killing. She couldn't pretend she wasn't glad the man was dead, and she hated that fact.

When Holly finally managed to compose herself, she rounded on Oleksandr. "You didn't have to kill him!"

The Russian shrugged. "You said me to stop him. It was most efficient thing to do."

Holly gaped at him. How could he have such little regard for life? Many fairies pretty much considered humans to be animals and wouldn't have minded so much, but Holly had always hated the idea of killing another living thing, whether it be human, animal or fairy.

She paused to try and collect her thoughts. Now is not the time for righteous indignation! I still have to get out of here. If she was honest with herself, she was actually in a reasonably good position now. At the very least, Oleksandr would know where to find an exit. An idea came to her.

"If I pretend to be your prisoner, could you escort me outside?" she asked tentatively.

The big Russian man cocked his head to one side and considered it for a moment. "Da, I think yes," he said after a little while.

Holly exhaled, once again daring to hope that there was a chance she might soon be free.

Oleksandr moved towards her, holding a short a pair of cable ties. "I have these from before," he explained in his broken English. "For tie you up. If I use now, it will make to look more real."

Holly wasn't exactly keen on giving up the use of her hands, but she had to admit it made sense. She gave Oleksandr a brief but encouraging smile and addressed him in his native language.

"Good idea. And you don't have to speak English, I understand Russian."

The elf presented her wrists, and a moment later they were bound. It certainly looked genuine, but Holly was grateful that Oleksandr hadn't tightened the ties properly.

The human then grabbed Holly's arm and directed her out of the gym. Oleksandr moved swiftly and surely, easily navigating the labyrinth of corridors. Before long they were climbing the stairs that had previously eluded Holly. So far they not run into anyone, but it seemed as if that was bound to change once they reached the ground floor.

Immediately Holly could hear the sound of activity. Footsteps and shouts were easy to make out. Some of the fear that had characterized her last few days returned. From the sounds of things, there was no way that they would be able to leave without running into some people.

"Wait," she instructed Oleksandr. Together they hid at the top of the stairs, waiting for Holly's communicator to vibrate.

It didn't take long.

"Captain Short? Still alive, then. We are commencing our distraction. You have maybe five minutes, then you're on your own. Call us if you make it. Good luck."

Pripyat, Ukraine

All of the remaining members of team Storm had made it to the relative safety they had been aiming for. Now they took a moment to catch their breath.

Galadhon gave them a generous ten seconds to do this before starting to bark orders.

"Alright people, we don't exactly have time to kill here," he said. "Guns up and eyes forward. I'll take point."

Taking point was basically military slang for going first. It meant that you were the first point of contact with any enemies your team encountered. Needless to say, it wasn't a very popular task. Not many people would have described it as "safe". Galadhon could easily have delegated, but he wasn't that kind of Captain. He led by example. Besides, he would need a forward perspective to decide on the best location from which to launch their distraction.

Team Storm followed their Captain out of their refuge and into the street on the other side. It was mercifully abandoned. The fairies stayed low and were careful to keep all angles covered, but they nevertheless made quick progress.

Once they had crept all the way around to the opposite side of the Energetik to where they believed the sniper to be, Galadhon raised his fist, again indicating his troops to stop.

"We dig in here," he announced. "Pair up and spread out. Find a good position and wait for my command."

All twelve team members had predetermined partners for just such an occasion. Unfortunately, one of those partners was currently lying dead with an obscenely large hole in him. The team member designated "Five" looked very lost as his comrades quickly formed pairs and found cover.

"Five, with me and Two," said Galadhon. "We'll set up here."

Only a minute or two later, the entire team had spread out to occupy a relatively large area. All had their weapons trained on the Energetik.

Galadhon looked around him and, apparently satisfied, contacted Holly.

"Captain Short?" he asked. "Still alive, then. We are commencing our distraction. You have maybe five minutes, then you're on your own. Call us if you make it. Good luck."

The Captain then switched back to his team's channel.

"Open fire. Make it loud, but stay hidden. I don't want anyone else dying today."

Some of the guards that had been cowering inside the Energetik had ventured outside, believing the onslaught to be over after the helicopter had been taken down. As soon as Galadhon had given his orders, a flurry of well-aimed Neutrino charges picked most of them off. The rest dived for cover, shouting for help.

Moments later, at least ten more guards flooded out of the Energetik, taking up positions and returning fire. Apparently the distraction was working. Good luck Holly, Galadhon thought. This is the best chance you'll get.

By this point, the firefight was in full swing. As more human reinforcements arrived it was obvious that they outnumbered the fairies, but Storm had chosen their positions well. In the darkness, advanced technology gave them a big edge – fantastic night-vision filters and sophisticated weapon sights made it easy to pick out enemies. The humans on the other hand, had no such luck. Most were wielding old AK-47s; these were cheap, reliable to a fault, and would annihilate pretty much anything they hit. Unfortunately, hitting the fairies was proving to be no small challenge.

Galadhon sunk a few charges in the general direction a group of humans, causing them to shrink back into cover, before taking the time to carefully line up a shot on a guard spraying wildly in his direction. Once satisfied he squeezed his trigger, letting loose a charge right into the man's chest. He keeled over and didn't get up.

Team Storm's communications were a mess to say the least. Information was being exchanged at a staggering speed. Shorthand was used almost exclusively.

"-new group of hostiles emerging from the left side-"

"-contact, first floor windows-"

"-threat neutralized-"

"-two hostiles pushing us-"

"-tango down-"

"-I'm hit-"

"-Four is down, I repeat, Four is down-"

"-need a medic over here-"

"-requesting suppressing fire, by the truck-"

"-negative, we are pinned down-"

"-threats eliminated by the bench-"

"RPG!"

Galadhon looked up sharply, expertly scanning for the cause of the exclamation. It wasn't hard to find. A rocket corkscrewed from one of the windows towards his team, exploding in a ball of fire.

"Twelve is down! I'm hit too, injured but alive…"

Galadhon swore. "Six through Eleven, focus on the windows! I don't anymore rockets hitting us."

Unfortunately, that left just five fairies to deal with the troops in front of the Energetik. The human force was still being reinforced and was steadily moving towards the fairy positions. Storm wouldn't be able to hold for much longer.

How many men to they have in there?! Galadhon thought exasperatedly.

A couple of plasma grenades were tossed into areas that had a high concentration of hostiles. Results were mixed, but the spectacular purple explosions would put a dent in the confidence of the humans. They also claimed several lives. So what? he thought callously. They aren't exactly using non-lethal weapons, why should we?

Even so, after only another minute, it became clear that Storm's position was untenable. They had already suffered another fatality and two more injuries. Galadhon had to give an order he didn't much like giving.

"Fall back!" he shouted. "Use lightning strikes to cover our exit. Carry the injured. Two and Three, cover the rear with me."

Moments later, two lightning strikes sailed past his head and exploded, taking all the humans out of action for the time being. The respite would be brief, of course, but that didn't make it any less welcome. Galadhon estimated they had about thirty seconds before the majority of the guards regained their senses. It would have to be thirty seconds well spent.

Some members of Storm were already making their way backwards, carrying fallen comrades. Others joined Galadhon in taking the opportunity to stun as many of the staggering guards as possible.

As the humans began recovering, Galadhon gave the Energetik one last look. I hope that was enough, Holly, he thought, before joining the rest of the team making their way to safety. The guards might try and pursue them a short distance, but the fairies could disappear into the overgrowth or any number of abandoned buildings. It wouldn't take long for the Mud Men to give up.

Energetik, Pripyat, Ukraine

"Alright," muttered Holly. "Let's go."

Oleksandr obliged, again grabbing her by the arm and leading her towards what she fervently hoped was the exit. Holly could hear gunfire outside, and even the odd explosion. She winced. I really hope they aren't dying for me out there, she thought morbidly.

Several armed men rushed past Oleksandr and his "prisoner". They offered some very odd looks, but didn't actually challenge the pair. It wasn't their job to ask questions. Besides, on the face of it, it seemed fairly logical. They were under attack, so things were being adjusted; the prisoner was being moved.

Of course, if they actually stopped to consider it, they would quickly realize that it made no sense at all: if the Energetik was under siege, why move the prisoner from the most secure location within it? Why risk moving her at all? Thankfully, everyone seemed far too preoccupied with the siege in question to think too carefully about it.

A minute or two later, Holly was greeted by a sight that took her breath away. Outside. She stood on the edge of what was once a swimming pool, on the other side of which were a series of French windows that had long since lost their glass. The view wasn't pretty – in fact it was the opposite; Pripyat was ruined and overgrown – but it represented something she thought she had lost, maybe forever. Freedom.

"Hey, you!" shouted a voice from behind her, shaking her from her thoughts. "What are you doing?"

It took a moment for Holly to realize that the speaker – another guard, but not one she recognized – was addressing Oleksandr. Holly held her breath – would her control over the Russian man stay true? She was so close now…

"Kiril wanted the bitch moved," Oleksandr replied easily, rolling his eyes. "Waste of my time of you ask me, but he says he wants her for leverage. Not that helps any us, mind you," he added, spitting on the ground.

The other man seemed to appreciate this – apparently dislike of Kiril was widespread. He gave them another suspicious look, but eventually shrugged and turned away, appearing to accept the explanation. Or more likely, Holly thought, he's just had a really, really bad night and has decided he doesn't get paid enough to get into a fight about this right now.

"Come on," instructed Oleksandr once the other man had disappeared. He led his prisoner past the swimming pool and through the doors.

After days of pain and imprisonment, Holly finally limped out into fresh air. Her leg hurt, her face was agony, she was covered in blood (not all of which was her own) and she hadn't eaten or slept properly in days. But she was free.

The radiation was even worse out here and the cold was horrific, but in that moment, Holly didn't mind. She simply took pleasure in breathing the fresh, night air. After a few moments, she turned to Oleksandr and raised her wrists.

He nodded, understanding, and drew a knife, cutting her free of her bonds.

Holly looked behind her into the Energetik. No-one was running out after them. This was it. It was over.

She raised her communicator to her lips. "I'm out."

Artemis let out an audible sigh of relief, but Galadhon spoke before the human could say anything.

"Excellent work Captain Short," he said, sounding genuinely relieved. "We have already fallen back. Make your way to any of the abandoned buildings and hide there. If you send us the co-ordinates, we'll come and collect you."

"Actually…" Artemis sounded worried. "Holly, I'm so sorry to ask this of you, but…"

Holly sighed. Perhaps it wasn't over after all. "What is it, Mud Boy?"

"Butler," said Artemis simply. "His helicopter went down, it crashed into one of the old apartment buildings. Please help him."

There was a desperate pleading in Artemis's guilt-ridden voice that Holly had only ever heard two times before. One time was outside a cryogenics institute in London, when he had begged her to heal his bodyguard's fatal bullet wound. The other was outside the Tara shuttle port, eight years in the past, when he had begged her to forgive him.

"Absolutely not," interjected Galadhon. "Butler made a noble sacrifice, but he is surely already dead. I am ordering you not to take unnecessary risks, Captain Short."

Holly scanned the area and quickly identified the helicopter wreckage. The rotors were horribly twisted and body was buckled. It was unlikely that there had been survivors. Unlikely, she thought, but not impossible. Butler has been a friend to the People, and what's more it sounds like I owe him my life. I can't leave him.

"Sorry, Captain, I'm afraid we're the same rank. You don't get to order me around. Meet you behind the apartment complex." She quickly shut off her mic so Galadhon didn't have a chance to respond.

Before heading to the crash site, however, Holly took a moment to fumble around in her pocket. Her lands closed around the illegal sealed acorn unit that Oleksandr had retrieved for her alongside the communicator and the cam foil. Naturally her captors had not realized the power it could represent, and so had not thought to lock it away.

Holding the acorn tightly, she thrust her hand into the nearest patch of dirt. "I return you to the earth, and claim the gift that is my right," she whispered. The effect was instantaneous. Magic rushed up her arm and into filled her up. She wasn't running hot since the full moon had passed a few days ago, but she had restored most of her powers. Immediately sparks began targeting her various injuries. She allowed them to heal her leg and dull the pain from her face, but she saved the rest for Butler.

Feeling a lot better than she had in a while, Holly Short began her jog to the crash site. Oleksandr followed close behind. She made her way into the complex through a hole in the wall and climbed the stairs to the second floor where Butler had crashed.

Her breath caught when she saw the big man slumped in the cockpit. He looked oddly vulnerable, in a way no-one would ever associate with someone as fearsome as Butler. The canopy was covered in a network of spider web cracks, and the entire front of the aircraft was covered in dents. Still, it didn't look too badly damaged – evidently the old and not maintained building hadn't offered as much resistance as one might expect. It was certainly lucky that none of the fuel or payload had exploded on impact.

Blood was everywhere inside the cockpit, but amazingly Butler was still alive. Just. Wasting no time, Holly placed her comparatively tiny hands on his bulk and whispered "heal". Magical blue sparks erupted from her fingertips, intuitively targeting the bodyguard's gravest injuries. After a moment or two, he was entirely enveloped in a cocoon of magic. But then, to Holly's horror, it stopped. My magic is spent, she realized. Butler was far from healed, but he would live - for now. The pair of them still needed medical attention from a warlock as soon as was feasible.

Obviously carrying the enormous human to safety was entirely out of the realm of possibility, but after extensive exertion and some rather colorful language, Holly and Oleksandr did manage to drag Butler's unconscious form out of the cockpit, down the stairs and into the street behind the apartment complex. Normally it was highly inadvisable to move someone in critical condition after a major healing, but they didn't exactly have much choice – as soon as they had regrouped, their opponents would surely come and investigate the crash site. For the same reason, it was crucial that they not hang around. Holly kept an ear out for approaching humans, but thankfully it seemed that no-one was on their way just yet. Perhaps Artemis's various distractions had done more damage than it had at first seemed.

Holly couldn't stop the first genuine smile of the last few days spreading across her face as the fairy shuttle emerged from the darkness and landed next to her. An elf she didn't immediately recognize was revealed when the doors opened.

"Captain Galadhon?" she guessed. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

The fairy in question gave her a disapproving look to make it clear that he didn't approve of her heroics, but nevertheless helped her aboard. It took five LEP officers in total to carry Butler to the shuttle, but eventually everyone was on board.

"What about him?" asked Galadhon, indicating Oleksandr. The human didn't react.

Holly looked at the Russian man. She was torn – there was no doubt that she owed Oleksandr her life, but it wasn't like he had helped her voluntarily. When acting of his volition, he was probably just as evil as any of the others.

In the end, Holly just shrugged. "Stun him and bring him aboard for questioning and mind wiping I suppose."

Galadhon nodded and ordered one of his team to do so. Once the human was loaded, the shuttle took off.

A part of Holly wanted to just collapse into a chair, but she couldn't resist the temptation to look out of the window instead. Surveying the outside world was a simple pleasure that she wouldn't have considered possible mere hours ago. Exhaustion nagged at the edge of her consciousness, but she wasn't out of adrenaline yet. She grabbed a spare helmet and put it on.

"Foaly?" she asked into the helmet mic.

"Holly!" exclaimed the centaur with exceptional warmth, and suddenly Holly felt a lot safer than she had for a long time. "Are you OK?"

"A little worse for wear, but more or less intact," Holly replied, giving a giddy little laugh. Freedom was proving to be rather overpowering. "What did Artemis actually do? What were all those explosions?"

"That Mud Boy always has a trick up his sleeve." Although Holly couldn't see her friend, she could hear from his tone that he was shaking his head in admiration. "Frond only knows how he did it, but somehow he got hold of an old attack helicopter. Butler flew, I manned the weapons. Made a pretty impressive lightshow. Thanks for rescuing him by the way – I don't know what we'd do without the Big Man watching our backs."

Foaly continued babbling, but Holly wasn't listening anymore. She had just caught a glimpse of the front of the Energetik. She simply stared, an expression of shock forming on her face. The first light of dawn had arrived, allowing her to get a clearer picture of the utter devastation that had been wreaked. The fires were mostly out at this point, but their legacy was all too apparent. Burnt out husks of vehicles lay in pieces and blackened rubble was strewn about. Charred corpses were barely recognizable. It was little wonder that no-one had come to investigate the crash site.

"Gods, Foaly, this was you?"

"Hey, what's with the tone of accusation?" Foaly sounded wounded. "I did my job and the plan worked. You're free. What's the problem?"

"Foaly…" she said quietly. "How many people did you kill last night?"

Foaly shrugged, even though the elfin captain couldn't see him. "Do I care? You know what those bastards did. They can all burn as far I'm concerned. Besides, it doesn't really matter either way. As soon as you're clear we're sending in a bio-bomb. We can't afford to have any of those people running around with fairy knowledge."

At that moment Galadhon looked up sharply, and Holly realized that he had been listening to the conversation.

"What do you mean you're going to bio-bomb this place? That wasn't part of the plan."

"Plans change," replied Foaly nonchalantly. "While you lot were gallivanting around, playing heroes, the council decided to have a closer look at what we were actually doing. Let's just say they weren't too happy about it. They ordered us to bio-bomb the entire area once there are no more friendlies there. In fact, most of them were pretty keen on doing it before you guys were out."

Holly was partially angry, partially confused. Eventually curiosity won out over outrage. "Why did they need to take a closer look at what you were doing?"

Foaly laughed without humor. "Holly, come on, what did you think? Artemis Fowl doesn't exactly do things above board, you know?"

All of a sudden, Holly wasn't looking forward to returning to Haven quite as much as she had been before. In her experience, the council had a real talent for making her life incredibly difficult. She wouldn't be surprised if they were already looking for a way to blame the entire fiasco on her.

A/N: So there you have it. Holly is finally free, and that means I get to have her going and being her usual, badass self again soon. She needs to be reunited with Artemis first though, and, well... it might not be the happiest reunion ever. I am certainly not looking forward to writing that conversation D: but then again, it's important to the plot, so I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Just FYI, the using an illegal acorn to complete the ritual not during the full moon (and only partially restoring magic) is actually done by Holly in canon (in the 5th book I believe...?) so I didn't just make that up xD. Also, if anyone knows who Ladislav is inspired by, I will be incredibly impressed.

As ever, please review! I'd love to hear some thoughts on this incredibly long chapter xD

-Kio