Fourth Encounter Of A Fowl Kind

      The amount of criminal activity breaking through over the last twenty-four hours was more than enough to make each Lower Elements Police member wonder why they had ever chosen such an arduous job. Well, that was almost true; there was one exception: Foaly, the technological genius. The centaur loved hectic times for many reasons that included:

He never had to leave the Operations Booth He could annoy Commander Root without as much effort or fear of nasty side-effects, because He could show off all of his equipment that only he could understand and access, and prove that he was the only one who wasn't expendable.

      In spite of his self-loving nature, he was really the nicest scientist the LEP had ever known, as he was by far the least egocentrically based one out there, and he undeniably held a soft spot for the only female member on the force, Holly Short. He was going against Root's orders by staying in direct contact with her when he should have been concentrating on how the outbreak at Howler's Peak had originated in the first place, and if it hadn't been for the three dimensional maps he'd sent to Holly, she would have been burnt to a crisp by one of the escaped convicts. Amazingly, the convict in question had torn a gas line out of a wall and set fire to it without incinerated the whole building, but that was due to fortune rather than intelligence. Holly was beginning to feel drained as she captured goblin after goblin, and the only thing that was keeping her going was the prospect of performing the Ritual that night. It wasn't that she needed to boost her magic funds; it was more so she could escape the confinements of the underground for a while. There was only so long that you could keep an elf addicted to flying away from the skies, and especially when they'd been working almost 24/7 for the last fortnight. It had been six months since she'd laid eyes on the boy who'd caused most of her problems, and in spite of their previous disagreements, she missed the Mud Boy, and at times questioned the necessity of erasing his knowledge of their entire world. He'd proven to be quite a useful ally in the past, and even though no great criminal mastermind had breached their level of security since they'd parted, she missed Artemis Fowl in a manner previously thought to be imaginable in this case. Unbeknownst to all but her, she had secretly coveted a button from one of his designer shirts when they were certifying his manor bore no traces of the People's way of life, and she wore it next to the imprisoned acorn around her neck. It did little more than grant her a few sentimental moments when she had enough time to look at it, which seemed to be more frequently nowadays; Haven was as criminally active as a broken twig.

      "Haven to Holly, are you receiving me?"

      "Huh? Sorry Foaly, what were you saying?"

      "There's a suspicious code blue showing up in the Phoenix Park, Ireland, care to check it out? I assume you have just about enough magic in your system"

      "Yeah, but have you cleared it with the Commander?"

      "Yes, in fact he suggested sending you. I think he knows you're running low. Take a shuttle, there's a flare due at sector Kl-355P in a few minutes, if you hurry you can get that one"

      "Thanks, I greatly appreciate it Foaly"

      "Don't mention it Holly, but your temper's been as long as your name of late, so I figured a careful trip to the surface would act as a self-serving favour. Just don't lose communications this time, okay?"
      "Yeah"

      Holly felt like her problems had been slightly alleviated with this news and raced light-heartedly to the designated terminal. This was specifically to be used by the members of Lower Elements Police due to the angry comments sparking off at other areas when their turn was lost to an officer. Still, it was better for the customers to travel in a different shuttle than the Kelp brothers, where Grub always complained about irrelevant things and acted a hypochondriac whereas Trouble would try and ignore the threats similar to 'I'm telling mommy!' She sped along the magma flare with the stamina and excitement she possessed whenever she caught a high-profile crook or broke up a crime syndicate. Unfortunately, those times had been rare as of late, but she still felt good at the thought of replenishing her magic within the next hour. She exited the shuttle with great anticipation, and since she was feeling extra-sentimental that night, she went to the same place where she'd first met Artemis to perform the Ritual. She was running hot and felt electric as she followed her instructions towards Phoenix Park, hoping that Ireland hadn't polluted itself with a nuclear power plant like so many other foolish countries had. Foaly guided her through to the area that was causing such worry, and she was surprised to see the source was inside a large building.

      She felt instant relief the moment she stepped foot inside the building; in spite of having her shield perfectly activated, she felt nervous at being seen by any of the humans—one more cause for a mind-wipe would easily result in her losing her badge, and that was excluding what her reputation would suffer. The LEP was sexist enough as it was, it would be enough to certify the total ban of female employees in the recon, operations and retrieval departments, bar the secretarial duties. Her hackles rose involuntarily, something was not right about this place—there was something cautioning her not to continue with this mission. Then the source for the code blue (treat with extreme caution) lay behind the door in front of her. She ensured her shield was immaculate before gently flying to the ceiling of the room, certain that it would be safest not to be in the possible collision course of whatever was in the room, and then she saw it.

      Sat upright on his bed and typing at a furious speed at a state-of-the-art laptop on his thighs in a bed of four in the room was none other than the Mud Boy she didn't expect to see—Artemis Fowl the Second. 'D'Arvit!' she swore viciously only she said it aloud and saw the boy looking up the instant he heard it, detecting her in the room. Obviously he couldn't see her, but he still threw a pillow in the general direction of where the sound had been heard; his speed was so unexpected she allowed herself to be hit by it and he was over there in an instant, startling her with his speed. He grasped outwards and his hand curled itself around her hand, almost crushing the Buzz Baton due to the strength he used. Perhaps he no longer needed Butler to do his physical tasks anymore, the suggestion aided by his manservant being aged when she'd healed him after he died. His fingers hit the button that controlled her invisibility and he dropped her when he saw her.

      "Holly!"

      "Art—Mud Boy!"

      "Why are you here?"
      "How did you recognise me so easily? You were mind-wiped!"
      "Not completely, but why the hell are you here?"

      "You were a code blue on our systems"

      "A what?"

      "Reason to worry, and I can see why. What did you do in the last hour?"

      "Nothing! Except…"

      "What?"
      "I was…"

      "SPIT IT OUT"

      "Loading some files I'd stored away before the house search, I figured you wouldn't watch me after this time"

      "Oh no, who'd think of watching the only person who's threatened our existence three times in the last two years?"

      Their heated discussion was interrupted when Artemis' keen ears detected a sound increasing in decibels as whatever it was headed in their direction on the other side of the door, so he flung the pillow back on the bed and soundlessly resumed the position he'd been in before Holly's entrance. The handle to the room creaked loudly and it took millennia for the door to open fully…