It's half term. Have I written forty-eight new chapters for my wonderful readers? Sorry, but no. My sister's been hogging the computer. Also, I don't think this story will last forty-eight chapters; I haven't got a long enough plot for that, unless I change it to paragraphs instead of chapters… No, bad idea, Fudge. The inner J. K. won't let you.

Anyway, thank you very much, RaevanDawn. Love your name, by the way, very dramatic.

As for the grammar mistakes, Izzie, they are not my fault: my computer's autocorrect is malfunctioning (again).

Chapter 3: Second First Impressions

Fowl Manor

When Holly Short joined the LEP, she expected to be a deliverer of justice, the harbinger of righteousness, and involved in as many high-speed chases as possible.

What she did not expect was to be sitting on the roof of a Mud Boy's home in Ireland with her little sister next to her flicking stones into the drainpipe.

'Stop that,' Captain Short hissed. 'We don't want Fowl to know we're here.'

'Why not?' Berry asked. 'It'll make this whole thing so much easier if we just talk to him…'

'Definitely not, Corporal. Haven't you learnt anything since the Academy?'

'Yup.'

'What then?'

'You can be a real bossy boots, Holls. Lighten up.'

Holly sighed and returned to gazing at the driveway. Fowl's Bentley was in the garage and there was a dry patch on the tarmac to show where it had stood during the afternoon's drizzle. It had been raining a lot in the past few days; Holly was beginning to wonder if this was Ireland or Wales (AN: It's always raining here).

It was not long before Berry started fidgeting. Not for the first time, Holly wondered how her sister had managed to pass the Stealth exam.

'Why don't you do something useful, Corporal?' Holly said eventually.

'All right, Holls.' Berry then started to sing, 'I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, diddlee diddlee…'

'That is not classed as useful, Corporal.'

'Depends on your definition of useful, Cap.'

It was then that the front door to Fowl Manor opened, sending yellow light flooding onto the driveway. A raven-haired youth appeared, looking around inquisitively.

Holly stiffened, then relaxed slightly. She was shielded, and Artemis didn't appear to be wearing anti-shield goggles or anything else along those lines. She was totally invisible.

So why was the Mud Boy looking curiously at the garage roof?

'Fairy,' Artemis said eventually, 'are you going to spend the whole day sitting there?'

Holly's eyes narrowed – so he could see her. She opened her mouth to say something defiant but her reply died in her throat.

Berry had stood up. She flicked her visor up and jumped off the roof, landing neatly before the Irish teen. 'Nice that we finally get to meet properly,' Corporal Short said as she bowed theatrically.

Holly gaped like a goldfish. Berry had understood the mission, hadn't she? So why was she so calmly talking to Artemis as though he were a friend she hadn't seen in a long time?

'Berry Short,' Artemis said after a few moments of silence. 'I would have expected to see your sister if the People have some concern with me.'

'She's here somewhere,' Berry said, 'but I don't know where. We split up to spy on you.'

Artemis raised an eyebrow and said, 'So that wouldn't be her on the garage roof?'

Berry looked up and squinted, as if she really was seeing Holly's shield for the first time. 'Could be,' the younger Short sister said calmly, 'but I'm not sure. I've been asking Foaly to fix the anti-shield filters in this helmet for months…'

'Liar,' the centaur muttered in her ear.

'… and he absolutely refuses to believe that there is something wrong with his equipment. Typical centaur.'

'That does not explain why you weren't shielded yourself,' Artemis said with a slightly accusatory air.

Berry's eyes widened in such a convincing display of innocent surprise even Holly was fooled. 'Oopsie,' Corporal Short said.

'From your reaction, I'd gather that you were not supposed to make contact with me.'

Berry shook her head with such a childish expression she could have fooled anyone into thinking she was a seven year old human child. 'Nah-ah,' she answered. 'Look, but not touch.' She placed her hands behind her back and straightened like a child about to recite a poem. 'Watch Artemis's movements and keep a record of the people he talks to, the places he visits, the things he buys –'

Holly interrupted then to try and stop Berry from telling the Mud Boy anymore about the mission than she already had. She jumped off the roof and unshielded as she landed besides her sister.

'That's enough, Corporal,' the elder Short said.

Berry smiled sheepishly. 'Sorry, sis.'

'Captain Short,' Artemis said gracefully, 'how nice to see you.'

'Don't think I'm here of my own free will,' Holly snarled. 'There are a hundred other things I'd rather be doing.'

'My, are fairies that skilled at multi-tasking?'

There was a noise from Berry that could have been a snort of laughter.

Holly's eyes narrowed. 'Stop attempting to be funny, Fowl, it doesn't work.'

'Why the hostility, Captain?' Artemis spread his arms wide, for all the world a wrongly accused teenager. 'I only returned from school this morning, and that is hardly enough time to think up the type of plan that would induce this sort of reaction from you.'

'You know full well that you've been planning this through the school year!'

'Planning what, may I ask?'

There was an uneasy stirring at the back of Holly's mind. 'As if you don't know!'

'No,' the Irish boy said truthfully, 'I honestly don't know what you are talking about.'

Berry looked sideways at her sister. 'I think he's telling the truth, Holls. Not even I can act that well.'

Holly studied Artemis's face and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, Berry was right. Artemis was telling the truth, the e-mail hadn't been his.

If not him, then who? If not him, then why would someone go to all that trouble to bring me here?

Artemis watched Holly as this startling new evidence came to light. There was something endearing about seeing the elf so unsettled.

'What are you looking at?' she snapped when she caught him looking. Artemis transferred his attention to Holly's sister, who was looking around the garden and singing something under her breath. Artemis couldn't make out the words but judging by the way Berry was playing air guitar it was some type of rock music.

The light from the doorway was blocked momentarily as an extremely tall Mad Man in a dark suit stepped outside. 'Artemis, are you okay?' he said in a deep voice.

'I'm fine, old friend,' Artemis said. 'We appear to have some unexpected visitors of elfish persuasion.'

Berry waved. 'Hi.'

Butler studied the two elves. Neither appeared hostile; in fact, the shorter appeared to be singing We Will Rock You.

'Holly!' Butler said. 'I thought I wouldn't be seeing you in a while.'

Holly smiled, and it was only slightly forced. She could fume at Artemis to the end of her days but she found it hard to dislike Butler. 'That was the plan,' Captain Short said, 'but something got in the way.'

'Oh?' Butler leant down slightly to get a better look at the elf. 'What sort of something?'

'Artemis has been set up,' Berry answered. 'Someone wanted the LEP to think that he was, once again, threatening the People.'

Holly shot her sister a furious look but Berry ignored her sibling, instead looking up at Butler with an expression of open honesty.

'Do we have a name for this someone?' Butler asked.

Berry shrugged. 'Not yet. I'll have to go below ground and investigate. I'll ask Foaly to run a search on all fairies who have some sort of grudge against Mud Men: graffiti messages and so on –'

Holly rounded on her sister. 'Who is the captain here?' she hissed dangerously.

Berry saluted obediently. 'I was just anticipating your orders, captain.'

'Well, don't.'

'Okey-dokey, captain.'

Holly nodded, trying to persuade herself that she did actually have command and that Berry was not just a superb actress. 'Good. You and I are going to return to Haven and inform Commander Root of our findings, leaving these two Mud Men with our sincere apologies if we have wasted their time.'

Artemis was examining his nails. 'Oh, you could never waste my time, Captain.'

'Shut up, Fowl.'

Berry smiled half-heartedly at Artemis. 'It seems we're never going to have a decent, lengthy conversation,' she said with an almost forlorn air.

'I doubt a friendship with me is in the best interests of the People anyway.'

Holly had already turned away. She was scanning the skies for anything that she or Berry could possible fly into, although, knowing Berry, she could probably crash into something in even the most desolate of landscapes.

'Come on, Corporal,' Holly said as she activated her wings.

Berry turned to say one last goodbye to Artemis and Butler and as she moved her head she noticed something. There was a glimmer of silver beside a patch of tree that didn't look like it belonged there, it being out of focus. Blurred, even, as if someone had heard of trees and colour but wasn't quite sure of the way they interacted with each other.

Corporal Short moved before her brain had even figured out what was going on.

She knocked Artemis out of the way just as a laser burst came from that strange blurred patch, placing herself in the shooting line. Unconsciousness was immediate.

Holly had drawn her Neutrino and was aiming at the place where the shot had appeared from when she was hit in the back by another laser burst. She fell forward and joined her sister on the ground.

Butler was the next to be knocked out, and finally Artemis. Strange, considering how he was the actual target.

Okay, that's a little shorter than I intended, but the next chapter's probably going to be quite lengthy. I say probably, though, because I'm not actually that sure. There will be cats though, so stop nagging me, Izzie.