Second-to-last chapter! The story is almost finished!

dormouse: I don't think anyone likes Tunnel Blues; they're hardly cute and cuddly. Thank you for permission to use the olive quote.

me-obviously: The thing you have to remember, me (wow, that makes it sound as if I'm talking to myself!) is that Berry is a romantic (and, frankly, rather giggly) and Artemis is not in the right frame of mind. (Of course, it's a debatable point whether Artemis is ever in a 'right' frame of mind).

RaevanDawn: I'm updating! Nownownownow! What you see is up to you; Berry says hi!

Chapter 8: Jigsaw Puzzles

Koboi Labs

Mulch was bored. His two guards weren't very talkative: one just gave Mulch a malevolent glare and the other was a dalek, although Mulch now knew that the daleks were nothing more than pixies in big motorised suits. Apparently this dalek was void of any pixie. So there was really no one to talk to. Artemis had been dragged off shortly after Mulch returned to consciousness to be wiped (again). The Mud Boy hadn't given much of a fight; the news that Berry was dead – or soon would be – had apparently sapped all the fight out of him.

There was a sharp rap on the door. The pixie guard grunted and walked over to it. He opened it.

Berry stood just outside. Mulch thought for a moment that she was a ghost but then he scolded himself. Hadn't the LEP thought he was dead until a few weeks ago? Besides, no ghost could have hit the pixie guard between the legs with such force.

Berry smiled wryly as she stepped into the room. 'Mulch,' she said. 'Hello again.'

Mulch raised an eyebrow at her. 'I thought you were dead.'

'Bet you I'm not.'

'Okay, so you're not dead. What are you doing here? Why aren't you escaping?'

Berry crossed over to the dalek. It stood motionless. 'Is anyone in this?' she asked, ignoring Mulch's question.

Mulch shrugged. 'Don't think so. It hasn't made any noise whatsoever.'

Berry nodded. 'Good.' She inserted her fingernails between the domed head and the body and heaved upwards. She had to stand on a table to do so, because the dalek was a lot taller than her. Finally the dalek head was hanging off its hinges and Berry could look into the dark interior.

'For once,' she said, 'I'm glad I'm only ninety-seven centimetres tall.'

Even so, sitting inside the dalek proved to be quite cramped. It was mainly taken up by a large joystick and several buttons.

'What are you doing in there?' Mulch asked curiously.

'I'm going to stop Topaz,' Berry said. 'I am going to arrest her and drag her into custody and give her a fair trial and then everything will be hunky-dory because both Kobois will be under the watchful eye of the LEP.'

'You're that sure she'll be found guilty?'

'Yes.'

There was silence for a few moments while Berry fiddled with the buttons inside the dalek. Eventually she found the one that made it shout 'Exterminate!'

'What am I going to be doing while you save the day?' Mulch said.

'You,' Berry replied, 'are going to be sending a message to Police Plaza, saying that two officers and two civilians are in danger inside Koboi Labs. The password is 'boomerang' to access the LEP message system.'

Mulch nodded. 'Alright. I'll see you later, hopefully.'

'Hopefully,' Berry agreed. 'Could you hold the door open? I think I've got the hand of steering.'

Mulch closed the domed head and opened the door. The dalek turned slowly towards the doorway and moved forward. Mulch snorted when it collided with the wall.

'I'm working on it,' a voice snapped from inside.

Mulch sat back in the Atlantean ambassador's shuttle. He'd sent the message to Police Plaza, asking for assistance, and the only thing to do now was wait and pray. Well, not only wait and pray. There was still quite a lot of food left in the fridge.

He sighed. It was completely against his nature, helping the LEP like this. He was probably going mad.

'Well,' he said aloud, 'if I do go mad, there will be plenty of people to keep me company. Berry, for one.'

He sighed again and upended a bowl of nuts into his mouth. 'Welcome to the club.'

Police Plaza

Foaly was beginning to get exasperated. Not only had he trawled through several hours of footage and found no clue as to where Holly and Berry were but he was beginning to suspect that this enemy was smart. Not as clever as himself, of course, but just clever enough to thoroughly annoy the centaur.

For one thing, not once did the camera get a shot of anyone's face. When it was removed from Holly's head a black cloth was draped over it so no one could see who carried it from the unconscious elf to its current location. For another – and this was probably the worst part – someone had found a way to stop the helmet from being tracked. Which was impossible. The tracker wasn't something electronic; it was sprayed onto the helmet. How could you stop paint from working?

Foaly hit the computer screen with the flat of his hand and instantly regretted it. Not only was the plasma screen incredibly hot, but all it did was cause the computer to whine loudly.

'Oh, shush,' Foaly scolded it.

However all that happened was that the computer continued whining on a higher note.

'I am in a bad enough mood already,' the centaur said angrily, 'and you do not want to make it worse.'

The computer stopped whining and the screen went blank. Foaly started; his computers did not usually break down without any apparent reason.

The screen came back into focus again, as if somebody had just flicked a switch. Then it blacked out again.

Foaly leant forward and paused the screen. Then he started moving back, frame by frame, until he eventually got to the shot he needed. When he did so, he chuckled.

It was a cat. Nothing more sinister than a pussycat. It appeared to look curiously at the helmet for several seconds before braving its fear and rubbing itself against the helmet, obviously eager for some petting. When that didn't work, it sat down in front of the helmet and watched it with the eyes of a hunter.

A cat. Not exactly the case breaker. However Foaly could run a scan to see how many people in Haven had silver tabby cats, although that wouldn't really narrow the field. Cats made popular pets and he wasn't even sure if Holly and Berry were in Haven. They could be above ground for all he knew.

Foaly sighed.

Then he noticed something.

Around the tabby's delicate little neck was a dark red leather collar. Dangling from said collar was a small gold disc. Foaly knew that it would be engraved with the necessary information to track the owner. A phone number was hardly enough for a warrant – the cat could just have stumbled in to the building – but it was a lead.

Foaly started clicking through the frames again, willing his heart to stop beating so ferociously. A cat collar would hardly point the way but it might be enough to set him in the right direction. That was all he needed. A direction. He could do the rest. Heaven knew he was smart enough.

A smile played on the centaur's face when he found the frame he needed. It turned just as quickly into an expression of shock and horror.

Topaz Koboi

1 Acorn Avenue

Koboi. Foaly hastily checked that Opal wasn't up to anything, and was relieved to see that she was still asleep in the Argon clinic. In fact, Dr J. Argon was in there with her now, apparently talking to her about the weather or something.

Foaly closed the window and continued to stare at the cat collar.

Topaz Koboi. The first name wasn't familiar to Foaly. There was no question that she was some sort of relation to Opal: Koboi was not a common last name. What sort of relation, though? Aunt? Sister? Opal had no siblings, as far as Foaly knew.

Then again, most people thought Holly was an only child, too.

Foaly hastily surfed the web for the Koboi family tree. It took barely a moment; as said earlier, Koboi was not a common last name.

Ah-ha. Opal Koboi and Topaz Koboi. Topaz was about the same age as Berry. Strange how the two families were quite similar: Holly and Opal, both well known names all through Haven, while Topaz and Berry stood in the background. Both sets of siblings had lost their fathers, although to the Kobois that was because Opal had sent him to an asylum.

How could Topaz Koboi mastermind such an operation, though? To what purpose? Revenge for what had happened to Opal? Then why take Berry? If it really was for revenge, it would have made more sense for Topaz to kidnap Corporal Short and hold her to ransom for Commander Root. Where was Topaz keeping them, though? You'd need somewhere out of the way that no one would think to search, somewhere large and secretive without the hassle of police patrols…

Foaly knew the answer just as a map of Haven appeared on screen with a small red dot pulsing gently on a rectangle marked Koboi Labs.

Koboi Labs

Topaz leant back in the Koboi Hoverboy™, a satisfied smile on her delicate pixie features. 'Well done, Donoka,' she purred in a way not unlike her cats. 'You have proven that you are not as dumb as a stinkworm.'

Donoka bowed. 'Thank you, mistress.'

'Your IQ is about two points higher.'

'High praise indeed from you, mistress.'

Topaz smiled again. Gravel gave an amused grunt.

The pixie waved her hand. 'You may leave,' she said, as if this was some sort of great privilege.

Donoka bowed again. 'Thank you, mistress.'

'Take the other guards with you,' Topaz ordered. 'I wish to spend some time alone with my cats to celebrate.'

Donoka nodded obediently and left. A few of the guards glanced at Gravel but when the dwarf did not move they returned their gazes to the floor. The daleks trundled out last.

Topaz clapped her hands together and jumped off the Hoverboy™. 'We did it!' she trilled, spinning delightedly. 'Soon I will have the intelligence of Fowl, the bravery of Short, the determination of Butler… this is the best moment of my life! Even better than when Daddy bought me my first kitty cat doll!'

Topaz knelt on the floor and stroked some of the kittens there. The felines purred, closing their eyes happily.

'Soon it'll be over, darlings,' Topaz said softly to them. 'Soon we can stop the LEP and I'll turn Haven into a sanctuary for you. Why? Because you deserve it, yes you do!'

Gravel raised an eyebrow. Topaz looked up, a flash of annoyance crossing her features.

'Shut up,' she snapped. 'I like cats.'

'Nothing wrong with that,' Gravel admitted. 'I like dirt.'

'Yes,' Topaz retorted, 'but I don't eat cats. I just think they're incredibly sweet.'

As if on cue, one of the kittens mewed softly.

A dalek trundled into the room.

'What now?' Topaz said angrily. 'Didn't I tell you to leave me alone?'

The dalek was silent. Then, 'Exterminate!'

'For goodness' sake!' Topaz shouted. 'Just come out of that thing and tell me what's going on!'

The domed head of the dalek flew open. First a pair of slim hands appeared, then a head of auburn hair, and then…

Berry short grinned. 'Just like that!' she said cheerfully.

Police Plaza

Commander Root surveyed the officers that had been hastily rounded up for this mission. They were a ragtag bunch: three Recon officers, two Retrievals, and several dozen street officers. About three wore the hardened look of what Root mentally nicknamed 'spirit sergeants'; in other words, officers who were artful and cunning and knew enough about Haven streets to not get killed every time they went on the beat.

'All right, men –' he began.

'And women!' came an indignant voice from somewhere near the end of the line.

Root gritted his teeth and turned to look at the speaker. To his surprise it turned out to be a pixie, defiance radiating from the childish features.

'Name, private?' Root sighed.

The pixie ripped off a textbook salute. 'Private Garnet Hart, sir!' she barked.

Root sighed again. 'You wouldn't, by any chance, know Corporal Berry Short, would you?'

Private Hart looked genuinely surprised. 'How do you know, sir?'

'Just a lucky guess. Anyway, as I was saying: we face a very difficult mission. Many of you are all ready familiar with Koboi Labs and Opal Koboi's madness –'

'Apparent madness,' Private Hart hissed just loud enough for everyone to hear.

'All right, apparent madness,' Root conceded. 'Undoubtedly you'll all have heard about Koboi's role in the Goblin Rebellion. Well, now we're facing something else. Still a Koboi, but a very different character indeed. Ladies and gentlemen,' Root said with gusto, 'today we face…'

Here he paused dramatically.

He watched the expressions on the officer's faces. The younger ones showed keen eagerness, the spirit sergeants wore expressions of guarded curiosity. The only one who looked uninterested was Private Hart. Evidently she knew what was coming next and was dreading it.

'… the younger sibling,' Root said.

There were a few gaps. However they were drowned out by Garnet Hart's slight scream and then her sobs as she sank to the floor.