**It's been a LONG time since I've updated this. . .what has it been, three
months? I hope people haven't forgotten me . . . STUPID SCHOOL!!!!! I CAN
HARDLY DO ANYTHING!!! AGH! Right now I am FORCING myslelf to stay in this
chair, on the laptop and type this chapter. * gets the chains and chains
myself ***
**I have Writer's Attic right now . . . SO DON'T FLAME ME! PLZZZZZZ!!!!**
**Okay, maybe you can flame me . . .freedom of speech . . . **
**And yes, I am bringing MULCH DIGGUMS into the picture now, but don't think I'm just copying everyone else. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING I was planning to bring him into my story, and maybe it is a bit cliché, but things are much more interesting with Mulch . . .**
**Holly's not the only one who's in for some romance . . . hehe . . ."
**Hehe, I know it gets kind of irrelevant with Root getting tortured and all that, but it was fun.**
**I dunno how long this chapter is gonna be.**
**Enjoy anyway**
**Kree**
Foaly couldn't STAND waiting around until something happened so he decided to amuse himself with his system. Of course, Opal was still at Operations Booth, but he might as well go down and see how badly she was doing with HIS technology. He was still sore at her at what happened five years ago . . .
So he stepped in through the door of Operations Booth and saw her typing and pulling up readings from magic sight tracings. She leaned back in the swivel chair, keeping her eyes on the screen. Foaly tried to sneak up behind her when-
"Foaly, I know you're there. I saw you from the security cameras that were installed. Stop acting like stupid secret spy and get out." Opal sneered.
Foaly made a face behind her back but he walked over to her, his hooves beating on the ground. "I suppose there is no progress?" He snickered.
"Hey, it's not /my/ fault if the stupid fairies don't use their magic. I've been tracking every damn site of magic being used, and there is no HOLLY or ARTEMIS okay?" Opal shouted.
"So? Maybe you've made a mistake! Maybe they were spotted but you just couldn't see them because you're a little fancy pixie!" Foaly taunted.
"WELL MAYBE THEY'RE DAMN DEAD!" Opal yelled at him.
And then, she left him having nothing to remark back . . . again . . . Not only was he just pissed off that she won once again, but that thought never struck him before. What if Holly . . . was dead? What if Artemis had been long dead too? He couldn't imagine Holly, one of his friends who he had been with for the longest time . . . dead? In his mind, there stood a picture of Holly, strong and confident and outgoing and he couldn't imagine her body broken . . .or bloody . . . . and he could hardly imagine the seventeen year old genius dead either.
"Well, now you're silent, aren't you?" Opal sniggered.
Foaly remained silent a little more and then turned to her. "Do you . . . you . . .really think that they could be dead?" He asked softly. "Dammit, why do I have to always act so weird around her?" He screamed in his head.
"Oh . . ." Even a stuck up pixie like herself did have a heart and eventually did figure out what he was thinking. "Well, I meant it as a come back, okay? I really didn't mean it."
"Oh." Foaly still didn't looked that convinced to her.
"Oh come on, you actually didn't believe that, did you?" Opal tried to sound like her regular self. "Don't tell me Mister Genius Centaur believed an eency weency lie like that?" [how the hell do you spell eency weency?]
"Well . . . just a little . . ." Foaly started. "But don't joke about serious matters like that, God, you get me so worked up."
"Ooooh! I get Foaly worked up!" Opal gave a seducing smile. "But /you/ always joke around about /everything/."
"Because /I/ have a legal license to joke, tease, and taunt anyone I want, any time I want, and about anything I want." Foaly grinned. "It's LEP thing."
"If so, that means soon I'll have that license too."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Because /I/ work for LEP now, remember?"
"Oh yes, completely forgot about that." Foaly rolled his eyes. "I still can't over the fact that Ms. Koboi is dirtying her rich delicate fingers by working for LEP."
"LEP work is dirty work?"
"No, but if you work for LEP long enough, you'll get the fun stuff."
Opal turned her head and looked at the monitors. "Hey look! There's ole' Root in the building. Root, Root, a root a toot toot."
"I don't really give a foot." [in this, foot makes the same sound root does but without the "r " *grins*] Foaly grinned.
Opal giggled a little.
"Watch this," Foaly took control of the computers and began typing some codes in. He opened a folder called "Foaly's Files and then opened up some kind of program. As she saw more come onto the screen, she realized that it was a map of the entire building. "Okay, we won't hurt him /too/ badly." Foaly clicked on a stair case and it began moving backwards like an escalator. As Root slowly began walking up, the escalator brought him down and he landed on the floor on his behind.
"OW!" Root yelled out as he rubbed his side and he tried to stand up.
"Awesome!" Opal grinned. It was fun to see they guy who put you in jail land on his butt.
"Now, let's switch around so me signs . . ." Foaly clicked an icon on the right and every sign in the entire building said something different now. They watched Root as he tried to direct himself through the building using the signs.
"Is he stupid or something? I mean, shouldn't he memorize the way?" Opal asked.
"Well, we always change the way to Operations Booth for uh- er security reasons." Foaly lied.
"Meaning?"
"I like to have fun watching him get lost all the time." Foaly shrugged.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"Not as long as I've been working here, but maybe a couple hundred years?"
"And you don't get bored of it?"
"Me? Never!" Foaly grinned again. "Oh look! He's going through some carpeted areas! We can trip him here!" Foaly typed in some more codes and Opal watched as it showed nearly invisible wire going across the hallways on the screen. They watched Root trip over the wires and watched him fall on his face this time. They broke out into laughter and then Foaly said, "okay, this is my /favorite/ one!" Foaly typed a very long password and they watched as-
"Chickens?" Opal's jaw dropped. "Where did you get those things?"
Foaly shrugged. "I dunno, but they're in the LEP storage and I always use em And then I add a pigeon too."
They watched chickens run across the hall as Root looked back. He looked confused at first, but then, by the look on face, he seemed to be figuring out everything. But then, a look of fear took over. He turned around and watched as a pigeon swooped by and-
SPLAT. [self explanatory]
Opal never remembered giggling this much, even when she was with the completely evil Cudgeon. Foaly laughed warmly too, and he was even nicer to her than ever before. They were still laughing when-
The door opened.
And Root came in.
"FOALY? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Root yelled!
The two looked at him again and the bird crap on his head, and started laughing.
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FINDING HOLLY AND ARTEMIS! NOT GOOFING OFF WITH PRANKS!"
"I'm sorry, sir!" Foaly saluted. "I'll try to be nice next time and find a bird who's bladder is a bit smaller!"
Opal giggled again, and caught Root's strange look. But . . . she saw that Foaly had smiled at her at the precise moment.
~*~*`*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Learning the ropes came easy for Holly, but having to listen to endless amounts of instructions and rules seemed pointless to her. Nevertheless, she had to, and for the first time, she had to use the rules to her advantage and not use the loophole. She sat on the cold prison floor listening to the rules, which was hard enough, but she still couldn't get used to the fact that /Artemis/ was explaining them. She already heard him say them once before, but they had to start over so they could clear their head for new ideas.
"So, as you can apparently see, Cudgeon has grown stronger and more powerful than any other fairy in the universe." Artemis began.
Holly rolled her eyes. She didn't like this charade one bit. "You don't have to state the obvious."
"Sometimes I do to make more clear points in the process of thinking."
"Okay, whatever, just get on with it."
"But . . . he is still a fairy."
"Yeah, so? He's still a fairy. Artemis, you're making it sound like being a fairy is a handicap."
"Well, it kind of is, but not as a dis." Holly could see that Artemis's eyes twinkled with ideas. "After all, you fairies have to always listen to something called . .. the Book?"
Holly had to admit that Artemis had come up with ingenious thinking. She nodded and began with a little more excitement, "so you're saying, that even though Cudgeon the Jerk is almighty powerful he still can't mesmer fairies, when it's game over, it's game over . . ."
"And as long as the fairy is under the human habitat, they are under the human's order." Artemis interrupted. "And . . ." Artemis grinned a little. "We happen to be in an old noble's residence that I am distantly related to. If I order him around . . ."
"Then, ta dum! Fairy in your order! But how are we going to keep him from shutting you up all the time?" She asked.
"Well, that's what we have to plan. And we also have to remember and plan one more thing as well: What is going to be my first question?"
Holly stood up. "Perhaps . . . I could keep Briar a bit busy when he enters the room." She grinned widely.
He eyed her carefully, praying she wouldn't go the seductive way or the violent. "And how will you do that?"
"Oh, I dunno." She said innocently. "I'll probably strangle him some. Maybe toss him from wall to wall a few. Then maybe I'll kick his-"
"Okay, okay, I get the point, but how exactly are you going to that while avoiding his powers?" He questioned.
"HEY! A TROLL WAS ABOUT TO SQUISH ME JUST BEFORE THIS! YOU THINK I CAN'T HANDLE SOME STUCK UP MALE FAIRY?" She retorted. "And besides, it's probably the best way. While I'm distracting Briar, you'll have more than enough time to give orders." She paused. "My injuries mean nothing to me."
"But they do to me." Artemis replied softly. "There has to be another way."
"Another way for what?" A mocking voice cackled as the prison door swung open. As Artemis saw Briar and Agent Z step into the prison cell, he hoped that they hadn't been spying on them.
"Have you two prisoners been plotting?" Briar snickered. "I do hope that my prisoners will be cooperative and not rebel against me."
"Of course not! What are you thinking? We wouldn't want to stuff you're body with dwarf coal and burn the fires of hell inside while crushing your body against boulders while every bone in your body crumbles to dust." Holly scoffed sarcastically.
Artemis stared at her. Apparently, he had never heard her delightful interest in this kind of graphical descriptions. But he saw that Agent Z and Briar had an uneasy time comprehending this horrendous scene. Artemis took the silence to his advantage, and he searched his head for the right question to ask. "Briar and Agent Z, I want you to shut-" He tried to order quickly, but Agent Z saw that Artemis was speaking. Agent Z pointed a finger to Artemis's mouth a murmured, "shut up" and a beam of power blasted Artemis to the wall with more ropes bounding him in every possible way to stop him from moving . . . or talking.
Briar grabbed Holly and pulled her close. "We will have to discuss your priorities soon . . .very soon, Short." And he pushed her to the floor beside Artemis even as she struggled to punch him. Both started for the door. "Don't even try to defy us, or plot against us, or even think of chances of escape." Briar began. "Because the only way you'll walk out of this cell if you're a servant of yours truly, or if you're walking towards your execution." He slammed the door behind him.
Unlike Opal Koboi, Holly Short did not enjoy Briar Cudgeon's humor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"He-llo I got a reading." Foaly announced as he and Opal typed on the keyboards quickly. Root, Chix, Trouble, Artemis Fowl Senior, and Juliet were crowded around them as they waited impatiently.
"Okay, Foaly and Opal, what is the location?" Root asked as he crossed his arms. Standing up for two hours did not do his legs any good.
"Let's see, border of Ireland, a manor in . . . the countryside of Belfast . . .I'm getting a picture now of the last area of the last magical activity . . . . and . . . it's in a dungeon . . ."
That sent a chill down Trouble spine. Dungeons were not a good sign, especially if Holly was in there. It was hard enough to bare the time when Holly was captured by Fowl and was locked in his dungeon. Trouble looked at the screen. "Holly, please be okay," he mouthed silently.
"Get on with it," Root ordered.
"Hold your horses, Julius, the pictures are coming."
"Why hold my horses when I can kick a donkey?"
"Ha ha, very amusing," Foaly rolled his eyes. "Anyway . . . I see two figures . . . it's Holly and Artemis!" Foaly exclaimed.
Everyone was relieved but Trouble looked at the picture a bit more carefully. He saw Holly, sitting by Artemis's side. There were ropes to the side of them, and some ropes bound his legs and his hands. He watched Holly take them off as Artemis struggled to help. He saw the way Artemis looked at Holly, and immediately, quicker than Holly can pilot a slammer, flames of jealousy flickered in his eyes. He knew it. He could tell it from Artemis's eyes.
Artemis loved Holly.
"Hold on, let me take a look at the manor." Mr. Fowl cut in as he went to the front and stared at the screen. He looked at it for a few moments. "I do believe I know every bit of security in this manor."
"And how would you know that?" Opal asked.
"Because I know this manor very will . . . in fact, it's practically identical to the Fowl Manor. This is the Farl Manor, and the Fowls and the Farls /are/ related but very distantly. But the Farls loved the Fowl Manor, so they decided to have the same one built." Mr. Fowl explained.
"Damn copy cat bastards," Juliet muttered.
Everyone just stared at her.
"So that means, you know every inch of the manor!!! And where all the security is held! This will be easy!" Verbil exclaimed.
"Well, not exactly," Mr. Fowl began. "You see, we may /know/ how the security works, but we can't do anything about it."
"So we have to find a way to break into the house," said Opal. "We'll get to work on it right away," she turned her swivel chair and faced the computers.
"That won't be necessary," Foaly turned her chair around and turned his own, cushioned, comfortable swivel chair and started typing. "I do believe that we have just recently captured Mulch Diggums?"
Opal's, Chix's, Trouble's, and especially Root's eyes widened. "MULCH DIGGUMS?? ARE YOU CRAZY??"
"Geniuses have been known to be called "crazy"," Foaly shrugged. "Besides, what's wrong with this idea? Whenever we've used him, we've always infiltrated."
"IT'S NOT THAT I DON'T CARE ABOUT INFILTRATION!!! IT'S THE FACT THAT HE'LL WANT SOMETHING OUT OF IT!!! AND WHO KNOWS???? HE COULD DEMAND HIS OWN FREEDOM??"
"And what's wrong with that?" Opal grit her teeth, knowing that's what she wanted. "He paid his service in duty, shouldn't he deserve freedom?"
"But he'll go back to stealing!"
"And we'll just re-arrest him if he does. Honestly Julius, I think you just don't want your little rival crime buddy to slip between your hands." Foaly grinned.
"I think we should use Diggums, Commander," Trouble agreed. "The faster we get Holly-Captain Short out of there, the better."
"And Artemis?" Juliet eyed him.
"Yes, and Artemis too," Trouble quickly corrected himself, though he would rather not.
Commander Root sighed. "All right. Opal, you stay here and continue your duties. We're going to head over to the jail."
**Hehe, FINALLY!!!! FINISHED!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! I know that many other people wanted me to finish too . . .**
**Lots of people who reviewed this time! Thank you so much to all!**
**Ti'ana: Thanx! And for the farfetched part . . . **grins** At least you're only seeing /farfetched/ . .**
**Artemis Fowl the Second: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!! Yes, there will be some kind of fight, don't worry with JEALOUSY!!!! And don't forget Chix and . . . .**
**Freaky Girl: I updated! Finally . . .but still thanks again for reviewing about every single chapter! MORE PEOPLE TO LIKE HOLLY!!!!! YAY!**
**Dax'ia Nariko: Thanks for reading!!! You've been supporting me a lot too! Well, there's /kind/ of no cliffhanger in this chapter, but you'll still read it anyway...right? I advise you: holding your breath for three months is not healthy.**
**Hermione Weasley: It will be sad for Trouble. . . .AW..poor trubby . . .. I love my Trouble . . . .Hope you like this chapter!**
**Jiana: **beams and blushes** thanks. ^.^**
**Skye: Yayness for Artemis and Holly!**
**Stardust Firebolt: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it so far**
**Lilyanna: I CONTINUED!!! FINALLY!**
** Sarah, the criminally insane : YAY YAY YAY!!!!! Thank you sooooo much for the information!!!!!! And thanks soooooo much for reviewing too!**
**Trinity Day: Thanks . . . 0.0**
**Arabwel: Yes, I have MOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!!!**
**Anime Fanatic: **blushes** Oh, I don't know about the /best/ Artemis Fowl story . . . . I love another great Artemis Fowl story called "Excavate" and it's extremely intriguing . . .but thanks soooooo much for reviewing! And yayness for adding me to your favorites!**
**Stella Evans: Thanks for reviewing! Mr. Fowl has a fake leg, so he can kick ass. ^.^ As for Holly . . .hey, she's just a likable character.**
**Andrefla: Hope you enjoy this chapter!**
**Angel-Wings76: I posted!!! Yay!!!! And I'm glad that you like my work! Thanks!**
**Butler: Hm..the next chapter is up . . . .NOW!!! YAY!!!! AND NO CLIFFHANGERS!!!! Well . . . . kind of . . .**
**Jackie: Wow, you never knew I loved to write?**
**J Catz: I'm glad that you liked it. ^.^ And I'm glad you liked the last chapter.**
**Jayde: Awwwww . . . .thanks soooooo much. ^.^ You really make an author feel great.**
**Thundermage: I'm glad you enjoyed it so far!! And ACTION ACTION ACTION!!!**
**crazygirl007: I updated!!! YAY!!!!**
**Thanks to everyone who read or reviewed!!!**
**Plz review, once again!**
**Kree**
**I have Writer's Attic right now . . . SO DON'T FLAME ME! PLZZZZZZ!!!!**
**Okay, maybe you can flame me . . .freedom of speech . . . **
**And yes, I am bringing MULCH DIGGUMS into the picture now, but don't think I'm just copying everyone else. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING I was planning to bring him into my story, and maybe it is a bit cliché, but things are much more interesting with Mulch . . .**
**Holly's not the only one who's in for some romance . . . hehe . . ."
**Hehe, I know it gets kind of irrelevant with Root getting tortured and all that, but it was fun.**
**I dunno how long this chapter is gonna be.**
**Enjoy anyway**
**Kree**
Foaly couldn't STAND waiting around until something happened so he decided to amuse himself with his system. Of course, Opal was still at Operations Booth, but he might as well go down and see how badly she was doing with HIS technology. He was still sore at her at what happened five years ago . . .
So he stepped in through the door of Operations Booth and saw her typing and pulling up readings from magic sight tracings. She leaned back in the swivel chair, keeping her eyes on the screen. Foaly tried to sneak up behind her when-
"Foaly, I know you're there. I saw you from the security cameras that were installed. Stop acting like stupid secret spy and get out." Opal sneered.
Foaly made a face behind her back but he walked over to her, his hooves beating on the ground. "I suppose there is no progress?" He snickered.
"Hey, it's not /my/ fault if the stupid fairies don't use their magic. I've been tracking every damn site of magic being used, and there is no HOLLY or ARTEMIS okay?" Opal shouted.
"So? Maybe you've made a mistake! Maybe they were spotted but you just couldn't see them because you're a little fancy pixie!" Foaly taunted.
"WELL MAYBE THEY'RE DAMN DEAD!" Opal yelled at him.
And then, she left him having nothing to remark back . . . again . . . Not only was he just pissed off that she won once again, but that thought never struck him before. What if Holly . . . was dead? What if Artemis had been long dead too? He couldn't imagine Holly, one of his friends who he had been with for the longest time . . . dead? In his mind, there stood a picture of Holly, strong and confident and outgoing and he couldn't imagine her body broken . . .or bloody . . . . and he could hardly imagine the seventeen year old genius dead either.
"Well, now you're silent, aren't you?" Opal sniggered.
Foaly remained silent a little more and then turned to her. "Do you . . . you . . .really think that they could be dead?" He asked softly. "Dammit, why do I have to always act so weird around her?" He screamed in his head.
"Oh . . ." Even a stuck up pixie like herself did have a heart and eventually did figure out what he was thinking. "Well, I meant it as a come back, okay? I really didn't mean it."
"Oh." Foaly still didn't looked that convinced to her.
"Oh come on, you actually didn't believe that, did you?" Opal tried to sound like her regular self. "Don't tell me Mister Genius Centaur believed an eency weency lie like that?" [how the hell do you spell eency weency?]
"Well . . . just a little . . ." Foaly started. "But don't joke about serious matters like that, God, you get me so worked up."
"Ooooh! I get Foaly worked up!" Opal gave a seducing smile. "But /you/ always joke around about /everything/."
"Because /I/ have a legal license to joke, tease, and taunt anyone I want, any time I want, and about anything I want." Foaly grinned. "It's LEP thing."
"If so, that means soon I'll have that license too."
"Oh? Why do you say that?"
"Because /I/ work for LEP now, remember?"
"Oh yes, completely forgot about that." Foaly rolled his eyes. "I still can't over the fact that Ms. Koboi is dirtying her rich delicate fingers by working for LEP."
"LEP work is dirty work?"
"No, but if you work for LEP long enough, you'll get the fun stuff."
Opal turned her head and looked at the monitors. "Hey look! There's ole' Root in the building. Root, Root, a root a toot toot."
"I don't really give a foot." [in this, foot makes the same sound root does but without the "r " *grins*] Foaly grinned.
Opal giggled a little.
"Watch this," Foaly took control of the computers and began typing some codes in. He opened a folder called "Foaly's Files and then opened up some kind of program. As she saw more come onto the screen, she realized that it was a map of the entire building. "Okay, we won't hurt him /too/ badly." Foaly clicked on a stair case and it began moving backwards like an escalator. As Root slowly began walking up, the escalator brought him down and he landed on the floor on his behind.
"OW!" Root yelled out as he rubbed his side and he tried to stand up.
"Awesome!" Opal grinned. It was fun to see they guy who put you in jail land on his butt.
"Now, let's switch around so me signs . . ." Foaly clicked an icon on the right and every sign in the entire building said something different now. They watched Root as he tried to direct himself through the building using the signs.
"Is he stupid or something? I mean, shouldn't he memorize the way?" Opal asked.
"Well, we always change the way to Operations Booth for uh- er security reasons." Foaly lied.
"Meaning?"
"I like to have fun watching him get lost all the time." Foaly shrugged.
"How long have you been doing this?"
"Not as long as I've been working here, but maybe a couple hundred years?"
"And you don't get bored of it?"
"Me? Never!" Foaly grinned again. "Oh look! He's going through some carpeted areas! We can trip him here!" Foaly typed in some more codes and Opal watched as it showed nearly invisible wire going across the hallways on the screen. They watched Root trip over the wires and watched him fall on his face this time. They broke out into laughter and then Foaly said, "okay, this is my /favorite/ one!" Foaly typed a very long password and they watched as-
"Chickens?" Opal's jaw dropped. "Where did you get those things?"
Foaly shrugged. "I dunno, but they're in the LEP storage and I always use em And then I add a pigeon too."
They watched chickens run across the hall as Root looked back. He looked confused at first, but then, by the look on face, he seemed to be figuring out everything. But then, a look of fear took over. He turned around and watched as a pigeon swooped by and-
SPLAT. [self explanatory]
Opal never remembered giggling this much, even when she was with the completely evil Cudgeon. Foaly laughed warmly too, and he was even nicer to her than ever before. They were still laughing when-
The door opened.
And Root came in.
"FOALY? WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Root yelled!
The two looked at him again and the bird crap on his head, and started laughing.
"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FINDING HOLLY AND ARTEMIS! NOT GOOFING OFF WITH PRANKS!"
"I'm sorry, sir!" Foaly saluted. "I'll try to be nice next time and find a bird who's bladder is a bit smaller!"
Opal giggled again, and caught Root's strange look. But . . . she saw that Foaly had smiled at her at the precise moment.
~*~*`*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Learning the ropes came easy for Holly, but having to listen to endless amounts of instructions and rules seemed pointless to her. Nevertheless, she had to, and for the first time, she had to use the rules to her advantage and not use the loophole. She sat on the cold prison floor listening to the rules, which was hard enough, but she still couldn't get used to the fact that /Artemis/ was explaining them. She already heard him say them once before, but they had to start over so they could clear their head for new ideas.
"So, as you can apparently see, Cudgeon has grown stronger and more powerful than any other fairy in the universe." Artemis began.
Holly rolled her eyes. She didn't like this charade one bit. "You don't have to state the obvious."
"Sometimes I do to make more clear points in the process of thinking."
"Okay, whatever, just get on with it."
"But . . . he is still a fairy."
"Yeah, so? He's still a fairy. Artemis, you're making it sound like being a fairy is a handicap."
"Well, it kind of is, but not as a dis." Holly could see that Artemis's eyes twinkled with ideas. "After all, you fairies have to always listen to something called . .. the Book?"
Holly had to admit that Artemis had come up with ingenious thinking. She nodded and began with a little more excitement, "so you're saying, that even though Cudgeon the Jerk is almighty powerful he still can't mesmer fairies, when it's game over, it's game over . . ."
"And as long as the fairy is under the human habitat, they are under the human's order." Artemis interrupted. "And . . ." Artemis grinned a little. "We happen to be in an old noble's residence that I am distantly related to. If I order him around . . ."
"Then, ta dum! Fairy in your order! But how are we going to keep him from shutting you up all the time?" She asked.
"Well, that's what we have to plan. And we also have to remember and plan one more thing as well: What is going to be my first question?"
Holly stood up. "Perhaps . . . I could keep Briar a bit busy when he enters the room." She grinned widely.
He eyed her carefully, praying she wouldn't go the seductive way or the violent. "And how will you do that?"
"Oh, I dunno." She said innocently. "I'll probably strangle him some. Maybe toss him from wall to wall a few. Then maybe I'll kick his-"
"Okay, okay, I get the point, but how exactly are you going to that while avoiding his powers?" He questioned.
"HEY! A TROLL WAS ABOUT TO SQUISH ME JUST BEFORE THIS! YOU THINK I CAN'T HANDLE SOME STUCK UP MALE FAIRY?" She retorted. "And besides, it's probably the best way. While I'm distracting Briar, you'll have more than enough time to give orders." She paused. "My injuries mean nothing to me."
"But they do to me." Artemis replied softly. "There has to be another way."
"Another way for what?" A mocking voice cackled as the prison door swung open. As Artemis saw Briar and Agent Z step into the prison cell, he hoped that they hadn't been spying on them.
"Have you two prisoners been plotting?" Briar snickered. "I do hope that my prisoners will be cooperative and not rebel against me."
"Of course not! What are you thinking? We wouldn't want to stuff you're body with dwarf coal and burn the fires of hell inside while crushing your body against boulders while every bone in your body crumbles to dust." Holly scoffed sarcastically.
Artemis stared at her. Apparently, he had never heard her delightful interest in this kind of graphical descriptions. But he saw that Agent Z and Briar had an uneasy time comprehending this horrendous scene. Artemis took the silence to his advantage, and he searched his head for the right question to ask. "Briar and Agent Z, I want you to shut-" He tried to order quickly, but Agent Z saw that Artemis was speaking. Agent Z pointed a finger to Artemis's mouth a murmured, "shut up" and a beam of power blasted Artemis to the wall with more ropes bounding him in every possible way to stop him from moving . . . or talking.
Briar grabbed Holly and pulled her close. "We will have to discuss your priorities soon . . .very soon, Short." And he pushed her to the floor beside Artemis even as she struggled to punch him. Both started for the door. "Don't even try to defy us, or plot against us, or even think of chances of escape." Briar began. "Because the only way you'll walk out of this cell if you're a servant of yours truly, or if you're walking towards your execution." He slammed the door behind him.
Unlike Opal Koboi, Holly Short did not enjoy Briar Cudgeon's humor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"He-llo I got a reading." Foaly announced as he and Opal typed on the keyboards quickly. Root, Chix, Trouble, Artemis Fowl Senior, and Juliet were crowded around them as they waited impatiently.
"Okay, Foaly and Opal, what is the location?" Root asked as he crossed his arms. Standing up for two hours did not do his legs any good.
"Let's see, border of Ireland, a manor in . . . the countryside of Belfast . . .I'm getting a picture now of the last area of the last magical activity . . . . and . . . it's in a dungeon . . ."
That sent a chill down Trouble spine. Dungeons were not a good sign, especially if Holly was in there. It was hard enough to bare the time when Holly was captured by Fowl and was locked in his dungeon. Trouble looked at the screen. "Holly, please be okay," he mouthed silently.
"Get on with it," Root ordered.
"Hold your horses, Julius, the pictures are coming."
"Why hold my horses when I can kick a donkey?"
"Ha ha, very amusing," Foaly rolled his eyes. "Anyway . . . I see two figures . . . it's Holly and Artemis!" Foaly exclaimed.
Everyone was relieved but Trouble looked at the picture a bit more carefully. He saw Holly, sitting by Artemis's side. There were ropes to the side of them, and some ropes bound his legs and his hands. He watched Holly take them off as Artemis struggled to help. He saw the way Artemis looked at Holly, and immediately, quicker than Holly can pilot a slammer, flames of jealousy flickered in his eyes. He knew it. He could tell it from Artemis's eyes.
Artemis loved Holly.
"Hold on, let me take a look at the manor." Mr. Fowl cut in as he went to the front and stared at the screen. He looked at it for a few moments. "I do believe I know every bit of security in this manor."
"And how would you know that?" Opal asked.
"Because I know this manor very will . . . in fact, it's practically identical to the Fowl Manor. This is the Farl Manor, and the Fowls and the Farls /are/ related but very distantly. But the Farls loved the Fowl Manor, so they decided to have the same one built." Mr. Fowl explained.
"Damn copy cat bastards," Juliet muttered.
Everyone just stared at her.
"So that means, you know every inch of the manor!!! And where all the security is held! This will be easy!" Verbil exclaimed.
"Well, not exactly," Mr. Fowl began. "You see, we may /know/ how the security works, but we can't do anything about it."
"So we have to find a way to break into the house," said Opal. "We'll get to work on it right away," she turned her swivel chair and faced the computers.
"That won't be necessary," Foaly turned her chair around and turned his own, cushioned, comfortable swivel chair and started typing. "I do believe that we have just recently captured Mulch Diggums?"
Opal's, Chix's, Trouble's, and especially Root's eyes widened. "MULCH DIGGUMS?? ARE YOU CRAZY??"
"Geniuses have been known to be called "crazy"," Foaly shrugged. "Besides, what's wrong with this idea? Whenever we've used him, we've always infiltrated."
"IT'S NOT THAT I DON'T CARE ABOUT INFILTRATION!!! IT'S THE FACT THAT HE'LL WANT SOMETHING OUT OF IT!!! AND WHO KNOWS???? HE COULD DEMAND HIS OWN FREEDOM??"
"And what's wrong with that?" Opal grit her teeth, knowing that's what she wanted. "He paid his service in duty, shouldn't he deserve freedom?"
"But he'll go back to stealing!"
"And we'll just re-arrest him if he does. Honestly Julius, I think you just don't want your little rival crime buddy to slip between your hands." Foaly grinned.
"I think we should use Diggums, Commander," Trouble agreed. "The faster we get Holly-Captain Short out of there, the better."
"And Artemis?" Juliet eyed him.
"Yes, and Artemis too," Trouble quickly corrected himself, though he would rather not.
Commander Root sighed. "All right. Opal, you stay here and continue your duties. We're going to head over to the jail."
**Hehe, FINALLY!!!! FINISHED!!! WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!! I know that many other people wanted me to finish too . . .**
**Lots of people who reviewed this time! Thank you so much to all!**
**Ti'ana: Thanx! And for the farfetched part . . . **grins** At least you're only seeing /farfetched/ . .**
**Artemis Fowl the Second: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!! Yes, there will be some kind of fight, don't worry with JEALOUSY!!!! And don't forget Chix and . . . .**
**Freaky Girl: I updated! Finally . . .but still thanks again for reviewing about every single chapter! MORE PEOPLE TO LIKE HOLLY!!!!! YAY!**
**Dax'ia Nariko: Thanks for reading!!! You've been supporting me a lot too! Well, there's /kind/ of no cliffhanger in this chapter, but you'll still read it anyway...right? I advise you: holding your breath for three months is not healthy.**
**Hermione Weasley: It will be sad for Trouble. . . .AW..poor trubby . . .. I love my Trouble . . . .Hope you like this chapter!**
**Jiana: **beams and blushes** thanks. ^.^**
**Skye: Yayness for Artemis and Holly!**
**Stardust Firebolt: Thank you for reviewing! I'm glad you liked it so far**
**Lilyanna: I CONTINUED!!! FINALLY!**
** Sarah, the criminally insane : YAY YAY YAY!!!!! Thank you sooooo much for the information!!!!!! And thanks soooooo much for reviewing too!**
**Trinity Day: Thanks . . . 0.0**
**Arabwel: Yes, I have MOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!!!!!**
**Anime Fanatic: **blushes** Oh, I don't know about the /best/ Artemis Fowl story . . . . I love another great Artemis Fowl story called "Excavate" and it's extremely intriguing . . .but thanks soooooo much for reviewing! And yayness for adding me to your favorites!**
**Stella Evans: Thanks for reviewing! Mr. Fowl has a fake leg, so he can kick ass. ^.^ As for Holly . . .hey, she's just a likable character.**
**Andrefla: Hope you enjoy this chapter!**
**Angel-Wings76: I posted!!! Yay!!!! And I'm glad that you like my work! Thanks!**
**Butler: Hm..the next chapter is up . . . .NOW!!! YAY!!!! AND NO CLIFFHANGERS!!!! Well . . . . kind of . . .**
**Jackie: Wow, you never knew I loved to write?**
**J Catz: I'm glad that you liked it. ^.^ And I'm glad you liked the last chapter.**
**Jayde: Awwwww . . . .thanks soooooo much. ^.^ You really make an author feel great.**
**Thundermage: I'm glad you enjoyed it so far!! And ACTION ACTION ACTION!!!**
**crazygirl007: I updated!!! YAY!!!!**
**Thanks to everyone who read or reviewed!!!**
**Plz review, once again!**
**Kree**