0isclaimer: I do not own the rights to Artemis Fowl. All rights go to Eoin Colfer.

Hey, it's me again! (scary music plays in background, maybe a scream or two) Well, here is what might be the highly awaited Chapter Three of (in a big announcer voice) Artemis Fowl and the Encrypted Trouble. Please review.

To APerfectAttidude: Thank you, it is nice to know that I made someone happy!

Chapter 3: Trouble in Paradise

Major Trouble Kelp had a major problem. Two, actually. One was his recently promoted brother, Captain Grub Kelp. The worst captain in the history of Recon. One successful recon and about four near catastrophic encounters with Mud Men. Just another reason why Holly Short should never have left the LEP.

The bigger, less irritating problem was Commander Ark Sool. Ever since he had taken over Police Plaza in it's 'time of confusion', every civilian was singing his praises. The fact that he had caught Opal Koboi and gotten rid of the People's tax nightmare, Holly Short, only was a bonus for the egotistical gnome. As gung-ho of an officer as Trouble was, this year he was greatly looking for his vacation and getting away from Sool. The only thing that would be better was if Sool decided to retire. Glancing around the building of glum looking fairies, he guessed that that still hadn't happened.

Suddenly, Trouble was distracted by a loud and angry shout from across the station. Craning over the low wall, he saw that a crowd had assembled outside the Ops Booth. Had Foaly come back? It was the only possible reason for such a big gathering. Unless…Trouble raced to the crowd, hoping to see what everyone else saw, and burst out laughing at the sight that awaited him.

The mighty Sool was on the ground, glaring angrily at the Ops Booth. On the large plasma screen was an animated Foaly-sim, dancing with a few carrots. As some of the laughter died down, Trouble realized that Foaly was singing as well. Sool struggled to rise, but was held fast by a strange, pink substance, with a consistency to paint. After a moment, Trouble recognized it as Ultra Fastener Glue, patented, of course, by Foaly. It was very popular among the younger guy fairies, and there was more than one occasion at the LEP academy that a fairy was found glued to the flag pole.

"Recognition failed, lalalalala! System shutdown, lalalalaa! Lalalalalaaaaaa!" Foaly-sim belted out. The voice was modified by the computer, and his singing was much better than it would ever be in the real world.

Ripping off his jumpsuit, Commander Ark Sool finally got up from the floor, glaring at all the spectator fairies with an icy stare. In turn, Trouble received the furious gaze, and knew that he was about to be blamed. Sool considered him to have been Root's golden boy, and had purposefully been pushing Trouble harder than anyone else, just to see if he was as good as everyone said. Trouble was passing with flying colors, which seemed to make the commander hate him more.

"Major Kelp, would you like to explain to me what just happened?" Sool inquired. Trouble gulped with realization that this was another test.

"The computer failed to recognize your access code," he replied coolly.

"And?" Great, thought the major. This is one of those questions where there's no right answer. Like when a female gnome asks if a suit makes her look fat. No right answer.

"It did as it was programmed to do when faced with a possible break-in."

"What I meant was, why didn't anyone help me, Golden Boy!" the commander was furious now. Trouble tried to keep his eyes forward, on the gnome's face. He wasn't doing it because it was professional, but because Sool was now just wearing a pair of ratty boxers that looked as if they might give way at any moment.

"Because, uh, sir, everyone knows that a glue with stability like that would just cause all of us to stick to you the moment we touch you. I figured that you didn't want a bunch of LEP officers weighing you down. Was I wrong?"

"No," Sool started, his face getting redder. "Someone clean up this mess and figure out what happened to the computer. I'll be in my office."

"You mean Root's office," Trouble muttered, turning and heading back to his own office, if it could be called that. Due to the amount of space at Police Plaza, Major Kelp shared his office with another major. He knew for a fact that if Holly hadn't left she would be his 'cubby buddy', as the younger fairies said. She was a small elf, by most standards. Instead, Trouble was stuck with sprite. Not a gnome, or elf, a winged sprite. Chix Verbal, to be precise. The only reason the sprite had been promoted to a desk job was the fact that he had failed as a terminal rent-a-cop, and he was grounded from long flight because of a wing injury that he had received while on duty. Sure, he could hover and go small distances, but not what he had been able to do. That had ensured him a job at the LEP for life. If anyone fired Chix he would simply hire a lawyer and blame it on his disability. Any court would rule in his favor.

Trouble sighed, another reason to add to list. He'd have to send a letter to Holly one of these days. That is, if ever he got through all this paper work. Even worse, was the fact that all of it was about the Koboi case. Sool hadn't given it to Trouble out of spite, but because it was such a big case that nearly every desk fairy was covering it. Each LEP officer would have to then testify at Opal's Trial, and had been preparing for four months to ensure that Opal couldn't claim false testimony. The actual trial was in a few more days, and then it would be over. Koboi would be given a nice padded cell at Howler's Peak, and Trouble liked to believe that she would simply rock back and forth, completely harmless.

In actuality, Trouble anxiously awaited the trial day. It meant that Foaly would come back, his two week suspension being up, and that Holly would have to show up and testify, even if it was as a civilian.

"Well, almost over," a voice interrupted the major's thoughts. He turned to see Chix stretching out his wing joints. "Weird, I can't help but imagine that this'll be the first case that the dwarf testifies for the LEP. " The sprite chuckled at his own joke. He made his face serious, and grinned into the mirror he had insisted on hanging on the office wall. "An' Holly will be back too. I knew she'd come to her senses sooner or later. Probably been dying to see me after so long."

Glancing at Chix, Trouble was surprised to see that the sprite was more or less serious. For a moment he considered whether or not something had gone on between the two, but quickly realized that Holly had probably never dated. Unlike Corporal Frond, who had a tendency to flirt with anything that moved, civilian, criminal or officer. Holly never got emotionally involved with a case, unless it had something to do with Fowl. He didn't blame her. He had only become involved in one case with emotion, and it had involved Fowl. Then again, he had laid his job on the line for Holly as well on that particular case, but Trouble's mind ignored that fact. The only reason he disobeyed orders for the first time in his career and didn't destroy the shuttle that Holly had commandeered was because Fowl and his manservant Butler had been aboard, and he had no jurisdiction to kill Mud Men. Even in his head, it sounded fake. But, it was what he was telling the courts, so he wasn't going to allow his feelings to come up.

Oh well, none of that matters now, Trouble thought. He started filing the papers. In three days, I can throw this blasted pile of paper in the incinerator. It was at that moment, that a ball of flame lobed over the low office wall and set the papers on fire. With a gasp, Trouble grabbed some flame foam and tossed it onto the fire, extinguishing it immediately. A quick glance showed that only the papers immediately on top were damaged. He sighed with relief. Those papers weren't important. While he started to get up to see what had happened, he was knocked down by Chix's wings. After getting up, his face paled at the idea that a goblin had started the fire, and everything that had happened during the Goblin Rebellion came rushing back.

Dashing down the hallway to the doors, he was almost relieved to see only two goblins. An officer was wrestling a pair of Plexiglas vacuum cuffs onto one of the goblins, while another officer idly watched and held on to the second goblin, already secured in cuffs. A sudden feeling of shame came over Trouble as he realized that the two officers were Corporal Frond and his own little brother, Captain Grub Kelp. The two were relieved of their charges, and Trouble went to have a little talk with his brother.

"Hey, Trub. Whoa, that was a close one," his brother said.

"Why didn't you have cuffs on him when you guys came into the Plaza?" Trouble demanded. He was more angry than worried for his brother. Grub Kelp was infamous for making more complaints during his career at Police Plaza than any fairy ever had.

"Trubs, those things gave me a hangnail once! I wasn't going to risk it. Besides, he said he wouldn't do anything." Grub replied. Trouble sighed. Only twenty-two years apart, and yet they were completely different. He was one of the best, and his brother was one of the worst. The best of the family and the worst, crammed into one small life. He was tempted to follow Holly's example and start his own business, but Grub would demand to have a part in it as well.

"Just tell me what happened, Captain."

"Well, Lily and me, we were just walking our rounds when we noticed a firefight was going on, so we went to check it out."

"Without calling for backup?"

"Well, we figured it was no big deal…"

"No big deal! What, are there shoot-outs everyday in Haven?'

"Will you let me finish? Or do I have to tell Mommy?" Grub pouted. Trouble apologized, and Grub continued. "Anyway, we went in and those two were throwing their flame at a little old shopkeeper that had hired somebody to check them out or something. Then Holly and Diggums popped up from behind a table and-"

"Holly was there?" Trouble repeated dumbly.

"Yeah, your girlfriend was there. Can I finish already?" his brother demanded. "Yeah, we watched as they shot it out, then I think Holly got singed in the shoulder and Diggums buzzed 'em with what I think is a stolen buzz baton. Then we took them and Holly gave us this." Grub pulled open his suit, revealing a small folder labeled Evergreen vs. Phlegm & Soot Iosco. From the looks of it, Holy had done a lot of digging on the two.

Trouble felt a nudge from behind. Grub was looking shyly at the ground. "Umm, could Lily and I get credit for that? I mean, we could both kind of use it." It was true, although Grub needed some good credit more than Corporal Frond. Trouble handed it over with a bit of reluctance. Holly had obviously worked hard, but there was really nothing that she could do if she had kept the file. Phlegm and Soot would just walk right out of Police Plaza unless an LEP officer recorded their crimes.

Still, what had Holly gotten herself into? Firefights weren't usually common for private investigators. Maybe to find out more information on the brothers he could visit her…No, Trouble thought. She left and we've got all we need right here.

Back in his office, Trouble packed up for the day and left, focusing his thoughts on Sool glued to the floor. It was a full moon tonight and he was going topside to replenish his magic. The shuttle at E1 Tara was crowded, but Trouble was low and didn't mind. At the surface, he got a pair of wings and decided to find a different hot spot. Five squalling infants was more than enough to convince him on the shuttle that Tara was too busy tonight. When he reached his chosen destination, he plucked an acorn. A sudden sense of foreboding overcame him. He glanced around for any other fairies. He quickly started up his wings again and took off. He'd plant the acorn later. Trouble didn't realize that he was being followed until it was too late.

Okay, sorry that it's a little long. Please tell me what you think. And sorry about the cliffy!