AN: I was going to update earlier, really.  But my little brother said he wanted to watch Star Trek, and well…

ASN: Trust me, nothing gets in between Lessa and her Star Trek. 

AN: That's not true!  *Thinks*  Well, actually…

ASN: My point. 

Chapter 28   Dilemmas

The three fairies glanced at Artemis.  Root had a wary expression on his face, Foaly looked thoughtful, and Holly seemed…worried.  After a second, Root turned back to Simone. 

"What happens to Artemis Fowl is none of your concern." he stated formally.  Simone bit her lip. 

"But-but-" 

"Simone," Root snapped, losing the fragile hold on his temper, "This is what we've done for centuries.  You are not a special case; you're facing the same fate as the various others who have met the People.  If they survived the procedure, so will you.  So stop whimpering!" 

The Mud Maid stopped and chose to get angry instead.  "Do you have any idea how many different human rights your 'mindwipe' will infringe upon?  You have no right to be messing around in people's minds!" 

Foaly sighed.  "We've heard that argument many times before and we still have the same answer.  If you Mud Men can ever accept the fact another species is living on Earth, we will gladly expose ourselves and our technology.  But until then, we must have a way of protection."

"But how do you know if humans are ready if you end up mindwiping everyone you see?!" she exclaimed.

"I think you and Kegel are good examples of how ready you are." Holly muttered.

"Kegel?" Simone echoed, temporarily distracted.  "You mean my dad's employee, the guy who kidnapped Defea's delivery boy?"

"Oh!" Holly exclaimed and darted into the front of the shuttle.  "We need to contact Trouble."

"Huh?"  Simone was now confused.  "Trouble?  What trouble?"

"Not what." Root said a little nastily.  "Who."  With that, he joined the others in the cockpit.

"Trouble?" Holly said into the comm system as she keyed for the screen communication.  "Trouble?  Are you there?"

There was a click and a face appeared on the screen.  "Wonderful timing, Holly." the elf answered, grinning.  "I was just going to try and contact you."

"We have our hostage back safely, though Defea got away." Root informed him.  "How about you?"

Trouble motioned off screen, and another elf stuck his head within viewscreen range.  "Hi, everyone." he said a little sulkily.

"Corporal." Holly said formally, and Grub flinched.  After a tense moment, she smiled.  "Good to see you."

Grub relaxed.  "Thank you, Captain."

"We're on our way back, sir." Trouble interrupted.  "We mindwiped Kegel and cleared out any computer files that looked suspicious, so he's not going to be a bother any longer.  Should we drop Juliet off at Fowl Manor on the way?"

"No, bring her along." Root said.  After glancing at Artemis, he sighed.  "You'd better bring Butler as well.  We're going to mindwipe Simone-"

"No, you're not!" the girl protested angrily.  Root glared at her.

"We are going to mindwipe Simone, and then we'll go from there.  Meet us at the Operations Booth whenever you arrive."  Out of the corner of his eyes, Root saw a calculating smirk cross Artemis's face.  "Wait.  Make that the conference room."

"Yes sir." Trouble replied.  "And Mulch?"

The commander's eyes narrowed.  "Bring him as well.  I already regret letting him out of my sight."

"He was fine." Trouble remarked offhandedly.

"I'll believe that when I see it." Root snarled.  "Goodbye, Captain."

Trouble saluted and signed off.  After fuming for a moment, Root turned.  "All right, everyone except the captain out of the cockpit so she can fly.  Behind the yellow line!"

Artemis stepped out of the cockpit calmly, with Foaly following behind.  Simone, however, was determined to be as annoying as possible.  Maybe they'd just dump her off somewhere to be rid of her instead of mindwiping her.

"That Trouble person was sent to rescue Defea's friend, right?  You know, they look a lot alike.  It also sounded like Juliet went with them.  And who is this Mulch?"

Root pointed to the door.  "Move it." he growled.  Simone thought about asking again, but the reddening anger on the commander's face made her stop.  If they did dump her underground to be rid of her, she'd have real problems...

Simone rolled her eyes and walked out into the main shuttle room.

"Hey, Arty." she chirped, watching him settle into a seat.  "Maybe you can answer my questions.  After all, you seem to be pretty buddy-buddy with these guys."

Foaly raised an eyebrow.  This would prove to be interesting.

Artemis had sat down and leaned back silently.  Now he closed his eyes.  "And why do you want to know?  After all, in a short while, you will remember none of this."

"Well, excuse me for wanting to learn." Simone shot back.  "Maybe you'll just accept your fate, but I'm going to fight it.  At least I'll have answers."  She gave Foaly a nasty glare.

Artemis sighed, then leaned forward.  "Captain Trouble Kelp was sent to retrieve Corporal Grub Kelp from Kegel's Interpol lab."

"Oh?  Same name?  They must be related then."  Suddenly Simone straightened from her relaxed slouch.  "Huh?  Interpol?  He rescued him from Kegel's lab?  In Interpol?"

Artemis nodded placidly.  "Yes.  With Juliet and a dwarf named Mulch, they broke into Interpol's main headquarters."

The girl's eyes widened.  "And how did they get into Interpol without getting caught?  The security is foolproof!"

Artemis patented vampire smile appeared.  "They used the blueprints."

Foaly bit back a laugh as Simone's jaw dropped.  "The blueprints." she echoed.

"Yes."

"And where would they get blueprints for Interpol's building and security systems?!  They aren't something you just wander across on the Internet!"

"I know." Artemis replied, leaning back and steepling his fingers, a smirk sliding onto his face.  "I used the hacking program you left at the manor to get the plans.  It's much safer to use the original blueprints, after all."

Simone couldn't find her voice.  She just stared.  Artemis raised an eyebrow.

"Rather careless of them actually.  They didn't expect their own technology used against them, so it was very easy to hack in."

Simone shrugged off the implied insult.  At last, Artemis Fowl Jr. had slipped up.  "Do you realize that you just admitted to a criminal act to an investigator's daughter?" she said with a feral grin.

Artemis blinked at her.  "You don't have any witnesses who would show up in court.  Besides, I'm fairly certain neither of us will remember." he stated.  Simone frowned, coming back to reality.

"What do you mean, 'neither of us?'" she asked snidely.  "You helped them find me, and Juliet helped them rescue that Grub person.  If anything, you'd think your girl Holly would protest you getting mindwiped."

Foaly stopped wanting to laugh and eyeballed Artemis.  "Your girl?"

Artemis looked unamused.  "Simone is reading too much into Holly's activities.  From her comments when we re-met, I'm fairly certain Captain Short would enjoy seeing me disappear from her life."

"I don't know." Foaly commented.  "It's always a lot more active around here whenever you're involved."  The Mud Boy made no comment.  Simone, however, was searching for a new subject to tease the boy with.  And since this one seemed to annoy him more than any others she had found, she had better take advantage of it while she still could. 

"So, has Holly always fought with Arty?"

"Oh, yeah." Foaly assured her.  "He kidnapped her when he first learned about the fairies, and she held a grudge about that for over a year."

"Uh-huh."  Simone believed that; the veiled look on Artemis's face was enough proof.  "And did she ever slap him?" she asked, rubbing her cheek.  The elf had a pretty strong hand.

"Actually, no." Holly said as she emerged from the cockpit, "I just punch him.  And he deserved all of them.  Now come on, we're here."

Root and Foaly exited the shuttle with haste.  Holly was a good pilot, but she had a taste for acrobatics.  Especially when she had humans on board.

Trouble was just landing his shuttle farther down the hangar.  His passengers disembarked as well, Mulch being the first off.

"Don't even think about trying to sneak off." Root growled, approaching the dwarf at a fast clip.  Mulch turned.

"Of course I won't." he said insolently.  "I'm not a criminal anymore, so I'm not afraid of you.  Besides, you owe me money for services rendered."

Root turned a deep shade of purple, but before he could say anything, Trouble cut him off.

"Sir, it would probably be wise to get the Mud People to the conference room where there's no risk of them being seen."

Root had to acknowledge the wisdom of that suggestion.  A Mud Man in Haven would send the city into a screaming panic.  He didn't even want to think about what would happen with four.

"Corporal, you go first and make sure the corridors are clear." the commander growled.  "Foaly, you go and set up the equipment."  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Simone angrily open her mouth.  Holly jabbed her, and the girl fell into a sulky silence.

After Grub and Foaly had got a decent start, Root motioned for the humans to follow.  Artemis went first, with the Butlers following.  Trouble herded the French girl down the hall and not very gently.  After what Kegel did to his brother, he was feeling none too friendly towards opportunistic humans.

Holly fell into step next to Root.  "Commander, is it really a good idea to mindwipe Artemis again?  After all, it didn't work the first time."

Root sighed.  "It's not up to me anymore.  Now that Fowl has provided all the help he can, and now that Simone is back, the Council has to decide what happens to him."

Holly bit her lip, then persisted.  "He kept me from being hit by a laser.  Surely that counts for something."

Root was tired; which was understandable since none of them had gotten any sleep since Grub was kidnapped.  He was also frustrated since Defea had outsmarted them.  He was also mad at Simone for having cooperated with a centaur with the morals of a three-year-old goblin.  Simply put, he was not in a good mood.

"Captain, I don't know, and I really don't care what happens to the Mud Boy.  The entire race could disappear off the face of the planet, and all I would do is cheer."  He looked closer at his officer.  "You never told me why you were at Fowl Manor in the first place."

Holly cringed, mentally criticizing herself for having brought up the subject.  "Well, sir, it-"  She stopped as they reached the conference room with a small sigh of relief.

Root glared at her.  "This conversation is not over, Captain." he said dangerously, then stomped inside.  Holly followed with another sigh.

Foaly was already setting up the plasma screen for the mindwipe.  Wires were scattered all over the table, and electrodes lay innocently near the screen.  They gave no hint of the deadly damage they could cause.  Simone was standing in a corner, pacing like a caged lion.  An angry caged lion.  Mulch was talking softly to Juliet.  Butler was watching Artemis, who was leaning against a wall, brow furrowed, lost in thought.

Root walked over to Foaly.  "Are you going to do a selective or a blanket wipe?" he asked, ignoring the girl simmering in the corner behind him.  Simone sniffed audibly, then returned to glaring at the equipment littering the room. 

"It's only been three days since she was kidnapped, so a blanket wipe wouldn't do any harm.  It would probably be more effective than a selective wipe too." Foaly said significantly, glancing over at Artemis.

Artemis stared back stonily.

"Do it then." Root said tiredly, then turned to the girl.  She glared at him, with no hint of repentance in her eyes or her sullen posture.  However, she didn't try to fight as Foaly motioned her to a cushioned chair.  The fact that Trouble, Grub, and Root had their lasers out may have had something to do with her cooperation.

"There's no way I can persuade you to let me go."  It was not a question, but a simple statement of fact.  Root shook his head. 

"I am sorry, Simone, but this is what we have to do."  

"I was just trying to survive." the Mud Maid threw out as Foaly swiped her forehead with disinfectant and attached the first electrode.

Holly looked at her almost sadly.  "So are we."

*************

AN: Ahh!  I can't figure out a good way to separate the chapters!  This one is so long!

ASN: I'm certain they aren't complaining. 

AN: But the next chapter is really, really, really short. 

ASN: Hmm.  In case, readers, consider yourselves warned. 

AN: Oh, yes, the next time we update, this will no longer be called Artemis Fowl 4.  It will be Artemis Fowl and the Hostage Situations instead. 

ASN: So if you can't find our story, that's the reason. 

AN: Okay, now that we've nattered sufficiently, time for a preview.

"And that's all you did while we were gone?" Angeline asked, a little suspiciously.  "You didn't go anywhere with the Butlers; you just stayed here?" 

Artemis blinked.  "Mother, do I seem to be the sort of person to go somewhere needlessly?" 

"No," Artemis Sr. said, "You're the sort of person to go wherever you need to be.  Where were you?" 

"What do you mean?" Artemis asked, not betraying his nervousness. 

"We tried to call when our plane arrived.  No one answered the phone.  Missing it once I understand, but after trying three times, we assumed you were out, and decided to stop for dinner.  If you weren't out, why didn't you answer the telephone?"  Angeline did not seem very pleased.