CHAPTER TWO
(D'Arvit)
"Could you go over that again?" Commander Julius Root's voice was soft. Deadly soft.
For once, Foaly had no smartass remark to throw at Root. He had never heard Root speak in quite that tone before. But then, something like this had never happened before.
He cleared his throat. "Uh, a couple of rogue trolls stumbled into vent C8, which was on cooldown after a surface shot, and they managed to make their way to the surface. Unfortunately, that particular vent opens to a Mud Man place called California. To be specific, it opens to, uh, well, Disneyland."
The centaur paused to flinch at the look on Commander Root's face, then he went on. "This happened during Commander Miles' shift. He sent out Captain Short for Recon, and got an experienced Retrieval squad ready. No rookies. Trolls are mean creatures."
"I know that, Foaly. You're rambling. Go on."
"We got the trolls," Foaly said. "But one of them killed a Mud Girl before we returned them to Haven. It didn't eat her. Just - er, gored her with its tusks." He fidgeted, trying to remove the picture from his head.
"D'Arvit," Root whispered. He had a sudden, sickening vision of a blond little Mud Girl in pigtails screaming and weeping hysterically as curved, jagged tusks got drove into her. And the tough, experienced commander had to fight the urge to vomit.
Foaly took a deep breath. "Holly came too late to save the poor girl, but she poured all her magic into making sure everyone who saw the incident slipped into unconsciousness. Then she blasted the trolls into crispy oblivion."
Normally Root would have pointed out that fairies seldom killed other fairies in defense of Mud Men, but right now all he could think about was a blood-soaked child.
Then the centaur said, "More and more Mud Men came into the scene, but soon Holly no longer had enough magic to make sure everyone lost consciousness. Still she tried, and she fainted. A couple of Mud Men took her out of Disneyland just before Retrieval arrived. Commander Miles was apoplectic by then. We had to pull a time stop and do mass memory wipes. Retrieval set it up so that it looked like a ride had gone haywire and the machinery went crazy, killing the little Mud Girl. Then they left."
"Commander Miles' shift ended, and he went home. I think he's going to have a heart attack."
"And this is where I come in." Root swore again. "D'Arvit."
"Yeah. Commander Miles got the troll thing under control. It's up to you to get Holly back. I'm still trying to find the Mud Men who took her. Do you have any idea how many people come to Disneyland everyday?"
~~~~~^~~*~~^~~~~~
"D'Arvit!" Root yelled. "D'Arvit!"
It turned out that the Mud Men who got their hands on Holly were Disneyland staff, but they'd quickly realized that she wasn't in a costume. So they immediately took her to a newspaper office and sold her for a couple thousand, then they went off contented.
"This shouldn't have happened," Foaly muttered. "C8 is a high-risk vent because of where it leads to. The guys guarding it know that." It had only been a few hours since Holly was captured, but Foaly had already gotten to all the fairies involved.
"The guards had gotten roaring drunk the night before in celebration, because one of them found himself a wife," the centaur explained. "Three of them weren't up to coming to work because of the hangover. The only one who did was in the bathroom vomiting when the trolls got into the vent. He got back, saw the marks the trolls had left, alerted authorities, and promptly passed out." Foaly stopped. "Too bad they chose to get drunk at a time when trolls were in the vicinity."
"They'll be severely reprimanded and demoted tomorrow," Root snapped. "Maybe I'll fire them."
Foaly said nothing, but he was in complete agreement.
Root wondered when the story would come out. He wondered what the pictures would look like, plastered all over the world. He hoped Holly had regained consciousness by now. He wanted to pull a time stop over the newspaper office, but it was too prominent, and it was around five, and the office would stay open until midnight. The office would be bustling. The Mud Men would notice if it dropped out of time for a few hours.
They had only gotten away with Disneyland because it wasn't vacation time in America, so few Americans were there. And non-Americans who went to Disneyland generally came early to experience a full day of rides. They were very lucky. No one came to Disneyland during the time stop, but then it was about two-thirty, and the business was slow at the entrance.
Their only chance to pull a time-stop was at dawn, so that they could delete everything. But by then the office would be empty, and Holly would be somewhere else. They certainly wouldn't keep her there alone; she was too valuable. Drained of magic, she couldn't fight anyone, or mesmerize too many people. Not even the LEP and Foaly could pull two time-stops at the same time, one to erase the data at the newspaper office, and the other to rescue Holly from wherever she was. It was imperative that both be done immediately, or else the damage wouldn't be contained.
"D'ARVIT!" Root repeated in a bellow. His face had passed the beet- red shade, it was now an alarming purple color.
"What do we do?" Foaly asked.
Root took a deep breath. He was going to kill the errant guards. He would kill the trolls, but they were already dead.
"Pull a time-stop and erase the data in the newspaper office," he barked. "Then get Artemis Fowl."
Foaly wasn't surprised. He had come to that conclusion the moment he realized the direness of the situation. After all, Artemis was the only human who already knew about the fairies. He was the only one who could help them.
The only question was, would he?
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NOTE: I've only read Artemis Fowl 1 and 2 . . . I've never seen a copy of Eternity Code (do I have that right? Is that the title of Artemis Fowl 3?) in bookstores. I don't think they have it out in our country yet. So if some stuff in my story clashes with things you've learned in Book 3, sorry . . . I don't know any better. :-)
NOTE 2: This probably has a gazillion errors. Sorry again. If you could think of possible suggestions to rectify the errors, instead of pointlessly flaming this, I'd really appreciate it.
(D'Arvit)
"Could you go over that again?" Commander Julius Root's voice was soft. Deadly soft.
For once, Foaly had no smartass remark to throw at Root. He had never heard Root speak in quite that tone before. But then, something like this had never happened before.
He cleared his throat. "Uh, a couple of rogue trolls stumbled into vent C8, which was on cooldown after a surface shot, and they managed to make their way to the surface. Unfortunately, that particular vent opens to a Mud Man place called California. To be specific, it opens to, uh, well, Disneyland."
The centaur paused to flinch at the look on Commander Root's face, then he went on. "This happened during Commander Miles' shift. He sent out Captain Short for Recon, and got an experienced Retrieval squad ready. No rookies. Trolls are mean creatures."
"I know that, Foaly. You're rambling. Go on."
"We got the trolls," Foaly said. "But one of them killed a Mud Girl before we returned them to Haven. It didn't eat her. Just - er, gored her with its tusks." He fidgeted, trying to remove the picture from his head.
"D'Arvit," Root whispered. He had a sudden, sickening vision of a blond little Mud Girl in pigtails screaming and weeping hysterically as curved, jagged tusks got drove into her. And the tough, experienced commander had to fight the urge to vomit.
Foaly took a deep breath. "Holly came too late to save the poor girl, but she poured all her magic into making sure everyone who saw the incident slipped into unconsciousness. Then she blasted the trolls into crispy oblivion."
Normally Root would have pointed out that fairies seldom killed other fairies in defense of Mud Men, but right now all he could think about was a blood-soaked child.
Then the centaur said, "More and more Mud Men came into the scene, but soon Holly no longer had enough magic to make sure everyone lost consciousness. Still she tried, and she fainted. A couple of Mud Men took her out of Disneyland just before Retrieval arrived. Commander Miles was apoplectic by then. We had to pull a time stop and do mass memory wipes. Retrieval set it up so that it looked like a ride had gone haywire and the machinery went crazy, killing the little Mud Girl. Then they left."
"Commander Miles' shift ended, and he went home. I think he's going to have a heart attack."
"And this is where I come in." Root swore again. "D'Arvit."
"Yeah. Commander Miles got the troll thing under control. It's up to you to get Holly back. I'm still trying to find the Mud Men who took her. Do you have any idea how many people come to Disneyland everyday?"
~~~~~^~~*~~^~~~~~
"D'Arvit!" Root yelled. "D'Arvit!"
It turned out that the Mud Men who got their hands on Holly were Disneyland staff, but they'd quickly realized that she wasn't in a costume. So they immediately took her to a newspaper office and sold her for a couple thousand, then they went off contented.
"This shouldn't have happened," Foaly muttered. "C8 is a high-risk vent because of where it leads to. The guys guarding it know that." It had only been a few hours since Holly was captured, but Foaly had already gotten to all the fairies involved.
"The guards had gotten roaring drunk the night before in celebration, because one of them found himself a wife," the centaur explained. "Three of them weren't up to coming to work because of the hangover. The only one who did was in the bathroom vomiting when the trolls got into the vent. He got back, saw the marks the trolls had left, alerted authorities, and promptly passed out." Foaly stopped. "Too bad they chose to get drunk at a time when trolls were in the vicinity."
"They'll be severely reprimanded and demoted tomorrow," Root snapped. "Maybe I'll fire them."
Foaly said nothing, but he was in complete agreement.
Root wondered when the story would come out. He wondered what the pictures would look like, plastered all over the world. He hoped Holly had regained consciousness by now. He wanted to pull a time stop over the newspaper office, but it was too prominent, and it was around five, and the office would stay open until midnight. The office would be bustling. The Mud Men would notice if it dropped out of time for a few hours.
They had only gotten away with Disneyland because it wasn't vacation time in America, so few Americans were there. And non-Americans who went to Disneyland generally came early to experience a full day of rides. They were very lucky. No one came to Disneyland during the time stop, but then it was about two-thirty, and the business was slow at the entrance.
Their only chance to pull a time-stop was at dawn, so that they could delete everything. But by then the office would be empty, and Holly would be somewhere else. They certainly wouldn't keep her there alone; she was too valuable. Drained of magic, she couldn't fight anyone, or mesmerize too many people. Not even the LEP and Foaly could pull two time-stops at the same time, one to erase the data at the newspaper office, and the other to rescue Holly from wherever she was. It was imperative that both be done immediately, or else the damage wouldn't be contained.
"D'ARVIT!" Root repeated in a bellow. His face had passed the beet- red shade, it was now an alarming purple color.
"What do we do?" Foaly asked.
Root took a deep breath. He was going to kill the errant guards. He would kill the trolls, but they were already dead.
"Pull a time-stop and erase the data in the newspaper office," he barked. "Then get Artemis Fowl."
Foaly wasn't surprised. He had come to that conclusion the moment he realized the direness of the situation. After all, Artemis was the only human who already knew about the fairies. He was the only one who could help them.
The only question was, would he?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: I've only read Artemis Fowl 1 and 2 . . . I've never seen a copy of Eternity Code (do I have that right? Is that the title of Artemis Fowl 3?) in bookstores. I don't think they have it out in our country yet. So if some stuff in my story clashes with things you've learned in Book 3, sorry . . . I don't know any better. :-)
NOTE 2: This probably has a gazillion errors. Sorry again. If you could think of possible suggestions to rectify the errors, instead of pointlessly flaming this, I'd really appreciate it.