Recollection

Holly flew on, racing towards Fowl Manor. A voice crackled in her ear.

"Holly, aren't you forgetting something?" Asked Foaly in a slight singsong voice.

"Now is not the time, Foaly," she growled.

"In your apparent eagerness to arrive at Fowl manor, perhaps one itsy-bitsy detail has escaped you."

"What is it, Foaly?" she asked not really listening. Mentally she was calculating how long it'd take for Fowl to access the disk and to experience total recall.

"How are you going to get in?" Foaly smirked, in spite of the gravity of the situation.

"D'Arvit." Today was just not her day.

Fairies are not allowed to enter an abode without express permission from its owner. This rule was sacrosanct, and breaking it meant forfeiting your magic powers. Mulch, of course, had lost his mystical 'mumbo jumbo', as he called it, through repeated break-ins.

"I'll think about it when I get there."

"That'll be a novelty, a thinking recon jock," Foaly muttered.

*

Holly hovered a few feet from the ground, thinking desperately.

"Any ideas, Foaly?"

"Oh, so now you're asking my opinion? Now you need my help?"

"Foaly…," she growled, her tone menacing.

"Okay, okay, I'm thinking. Aha!" Foaly said exultantly.

"You've got it?"

"Of course," answered Foaly smugly.

"Just tell me, Foaly," she said irritably. This day was not doing wonders for her mood, she thought darkly.

"See where it says 'deliveries at rear'?"

"Your point being…?"

"As long as you deliver something to Fowl, and enter through the rear, you're clean. Any idea what you're going to deliver to the Mud Boy?"

"Yeah, a swift kick up the-"

"A rock would be sufficient, just wrap it in cam foil for now and dump it somewhere in the manor," said Foaly hastily.

"Okay, Foaly, got that."

Holly paused to pick up a rock and wrapped it in cam foil. There, she thought, as good as invisible. A few droplets of water fell on her helmet.

"D'Arvit," she groaned. Of all the luck…Cam foil was many things, but waterproof was not one of them. Come to think of it, neither was she. The cam foil began to fail in places, revealing complex circuitry and a single rock. She hurried into the manor and flew into an open window.

"I just hope Fowl didn't catch that," she whispered. Though the way her luck was going, he was almost bound to.

*

Fowl had, in fact, caught that. He was in the surveillance room along with Butler, where all the closed circuit cameras were visible to him. He was trying to puzzle out how exactly Mr. Diggums had entered. A strange sight caught his eye. A board of circuits and a single rock floated gently in the air.

"What's that, Butler?" Artemis was perplexed. He was no stranger to puzzling matters, but this was going too far.

Butler was just as stumped as Artemis was. "I don't know, Artemis," he confessed.

Suddenly, on instinct, Artemis said, "Freeze the camera, Butler."

"Excuse me, Artemis?"

Artemis had grown deathly quiet. "Freeze the camera."

Butler, still confused, approached the console and did as he was told.

*

After depositing the rock in the living room, Holly flew to the surveillance room. That's where the Mud boy most probably was, about to check his disk no doubt. She increased the throttle to four and zoomed silently, like a spectre.

*

A familiar face greeted Artemis on the screen. The figure was blurred and indistinct, but it was recognisable all the same. Memories flooded him, but as before, he could not put a finger to them.

"Stay back, human. You don't know what you are dealing with."

"Bring our worlds together could spell disaster for all of us, Artemis!"

"I am not concerned with all of us, only me, and I assure you, Captain Short, I will be fine."

"Don't think I'm getting all chummy or something. It's just when I give my word, I stick to it."

"And I'd thought you'd changed. The commander was right. There's no changing human nature."

"Yes, Artemis, this is goodbye for the last time."

Artemis sank to the ground, groaning. He could not seem to hold on to his thoughts, and only one name sliced through the mire. "Holly…"

*

Holly froze as she heard her name. So she was too late then. She groaned, then unshielded. "So, happy your brilliant plan worked?" she asked acidly.

Artemis was still on the floor. He stared at her, eyes wide.

"Who are you?" Artemis asked, slightly shocked. "Wait, you're… a Captain… A leprechaun, no a member of the LEPrecon…" His eyes were slightly glazed.

Shield now, her brain screamed. Shield now, it's not too late, shield now, shield now…

"You're Holly, aren't you? C-Captain Short…" Artemis continued slowly, is brain whirling frantically, pushing against the barrier in his mind.

Shield now, shield now, come on, girl, shield now… Her brain cried in vain, as she stood there, dumbstruck, still uncomprehending the predicament she was in.

"You… healed my mother. And you… saved my father…"

Shield, damn it! Shield now! Shield, you idiot! Holly was still staring, unable to react to this most unwelcome turn of events.

"You… saved Butler's life. You… gave me this medallion…" Artemis said hesitantly, taking out his medallion.

Will you ruddy shield or not? Just do it! Don't hesitate! Don't wait! Shield! Holly slowly began to turn on her shield.

And Artemis's eyes widened in sudden comprehension. "Save your efforts, Captain Short. It is too late. I remember."

She unshielded and buried her head in her hands. "D'Arvit," she breathed, not for the first time that day. She had revived Artemis memories. If only she had stayed shielded… she had, upon hearing her name, automatically assumed Fowl to have accessed the disk and remembering everything. Or she could have easily reshielded, and Fowl would certainly be suspicious, but hopefully none the wiser. If, if, but it was too late now.

She spared a look at Butler. He, too, recalled.

At least Juliet was still in the dark, she thought. Maybe she could persuade Artemis and Butler to keep it that way. She heard a gasp behind her. Juliet stared, eyes glazed as she, too, experienced total recall. A plate of sandwiches fell to the ground.

"D'Arvit." In her ear, Foaly was laughing as hard as he could.

"This is not funny, Foaly," she growled.

"You… He…" Was all Foaly could gasp as he continued with his hysterical fit.

Behind him, Root finally realised what was going on. "D'Arvit."

*

Artemis had regained his composure. "So nice of you to drop by and visit, Captain," he smirked.

"Shut up, Mud Boy. We had an agreement. How could you break it?" muttered Holly in dark tones.

"You, as did the LEP, had expected it. You all really have no one else to blame. By the way, I expressly forbid you to mesmerise and/ or mind wipe any of us. Hoped I'd forget that, huh?"

Meanwhile, Butler stood with a horrified expression on his face. "Is it true," he said, his countenance pallor white, "that you injected fat from Mulch's bottom into my face?"

"Butler, yes. Artemis, D'Arvit," muttered Holly. She had been hoping Artemis would have forgotten that. While in a person's home, a fairy needed to do exactly what he or she was told by the gracious (or not) host.

Foaly was still laughing.

"If you don't stop your inane fit of giggles, I will personally tear out your voice box and feed it to the stink worms," growled Root ominously.

"You were lucky, Mud Boy. If Mulch hadn't lied to me about you having the disk…" Holly continued

"In fact, Mulch was telling the truth. I had the disk. It just was broken." Artemis removed the remains of the shattered disk from his pocket. Foaly howled with laughter.

"As I recall, donkey boy, this is your fault too. If you hadn't gotten the bright idea of peering into Fowl's diseased mind…" Root glowered. Foaly stopped laughing immediately.

"Now, commander-"

Just then, Artemis's handphone rang.

"Hello? Oh, it's for you, Captain."

Holly listened for a while. "Mulch!" she practically screamed. "I am going to get you!"

Mulch mumbled some more.

"I am going to drag your sorry rear into prison myself!"

Mulch continued talking.

"What do you mean it wasn't illegal? I am going to enjoy watching you rot in Howler's peak! You went against LEP orders! You consorted with public enemy number one!"

"Actually, Holly, it wasn't illegal. Fowl made the request for Mulch to give him the disk while in his own house. Mulch was bound to do it, in spite of whatever we said." Foaly commented.

"Since when did he care about fulfilling promises? Anyway, he's lost his magic already!" Holly screamed again.

"Be as that may, he has a solid backing. We can't touch him," said Root grudgingly. Holly's shoulders sagged. When Commander Root admits that he can't arrest Mulch, it was hopeless.

Artemis cocked an eyebrow. "That sounds like an interesting conversation. Care to let us in on it?"

"Dream on, Mud Boy. You should be grateful I'm not buzzing you with my baton right now." Her expression was like thunder. "Actually, that does seem like a good idea…" her hand strayed to her buzz baton.

"Holly, kindly tell Mulch that I was not amused by his artistic experiments concerning my field access card and my ID," Root said caustically.

Holly passed on the message. "He's giggling right now, Commander."

Root's face turned purple again. "Anyway, all this is besides the point. Holly, I want you to report back to the Police Plaza now. We can worry about this Mud Boy and that fat dwarf later."

"Yessir. Um… am I suspended?"

Root sighed. "As much as I would want to, no. It's not entirely your fault," he said, casting a dirty look at Artemis and Foaly.

"Good bye, everyone. Feel free to spread the news among the People. Artemis Fowl the second is back." Artemis told them.

"So they'll get a decent head start?" muttered Holly, still rather miffed about the way proceedings had turned out.

"Precisely," said Artemis with a grin.

Holly fired up her wings, reshielded and flew back outside the window.