Disclaimer: I do not own anything owned by Eoin Colfer or anything to do with the Artemis Fowl books or anything like that. I only own what I own/made up/created/ thought of. Got it?
WARNING: any part of this story from this point forwards (and probably some before it) may contain OOCness. I'm sorry, but I couldn't make it work any other way.
A/N: I am so very grateful. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would get 100 reviews on a story. I know it's not the most anyone has ever got, but it is still a good thing in my mind, so thank you to everybody who reviewed. With no further ado, on with the story.
Chapter Thirteen
'Kelp, you'll be in charge while I'm on this mission. It will be your job to get the teams ready to storm in.'
'Yes sir. Oh, and sir, don't think I forgot about getting you ready to go. You're coming with me while the girls are out getting Holly's stuff.'
Now Julius had understood how Holly had felt when Cynthia had led her out of the room. But he nodded glumly and allowed Trouble to lead him out through the same doors and Cynthia had led Holly out of. Holly walked here! He thought excitedly. Then he realised he becoming obsessive and quickly drove those thoughts from his mind.
It was almost unbearable for Holly being dragged around shops buying clothes. She was shocked by some of the stuff that Cynthia chose for her. It wasn't at all like what Cynthia was wearing.
The worst shock came when Cynthia dragged her into a hair dresser and started giving orders for Holly's hair styling.
'Hi, I need my friend's hair done,' said Cynthia smoothly. Or course, thought Holly, it will be less conspicuous if she is my friend and I'm not just some random LEP officer she's never met before.
'I want it extended to her shoulders and dyed black. It needs to have purple streaks,' she turned to Holly, 'is your hair curly? I can't remember.' (A/N: fairy hair extensions involve making the actual hair longer, i.e. making it grow at an accelerated rate.)
'I dunno, it's never been longer than this.'
The hairdresser was slightly confused. If they were friends they certainly weren't acting like it. Cynthia didn't even know if her supposed "friend's" hair was curly or not.
Cynthia turned back to the hairdresser, 'If it is curly I need it permanently straightened. How long will it take?'
'For all that? About two hours.'
'TWO HOURS!' exploded Holly, 'I WILL NEVER SPEND THAT LONG ON MY HAIR.'
'Yes you will,' snapped Cynthia. The hair dresser was by now thoroughly disbelieving as to their friendship. Cynthia steered Holly into a chair, took out the restraining straps Trouble had given her and with the help of six hairdressers strapped a struggling Holly into a chair so she couldn't move a muscle. Holly gave up fighting when she knew it was useless.
Two hours later they released holly and showed her a mirror. Her hair looked exactly as it did in the picture. She screamed. Literally. Everyone in the room was left holding their ears.
'You look fine Holly,' said Cynthia. Holly noticed how Cynthia used her real name in an attempt to calm her.
Cynthia decided not to try and calm Holly again. Maybe Holly's brother would be better at that. She led Holly silently back to Police Plaza. Holly had her jacket wrapped around her head and was getting some very odd looks from fairies on the street. She didn't care. She wouldn't let anyone see her hair. Cynthia was terribly embarrassed by being associated with Holly at this point but thought she might get floored if she said anything so remained silent. She couldn't even remember why she had agreed to help Trouble on this.
Trouble and Julius were waiting impatiently for the two girls. They both wondered why girls always took so long to get anywhere when it involved fashion. They had arrived back three hours earlier, one reason being that they did not need hair done, the other being that men weren't nearly as picky about their clothing.
They were beginning to get worried about the girls when Cynthia dragged Holly, who, oddly enough, had her hair covered with a jacket, through the door to Julius' office.
'Holly, it can't be that bad,' said Trouble, walking over to her as he spoke.
'Just take the jacket off Holly, we wont laugh at you,' said Julius encouragingly.
Cynthia noticed that Holly seemed to draw strength from the two men in the room. Holly took a deep breath and removed the jacket.
Both men were pleasantly surprised, the hair really suited Holly. It was dead straight and made her look just like any of the young models in the magazines. Julius somehow knew he would never loose Holly to a modelling career.
'It looks good, Tanya,' he told her. He had a feeling she would clobber him if he associated her new hair style with the old Holly.
"Holly looks so lost," thought Trouble. He thought that maybe this would throw her and she would realise that she was actually a girl. He winked at her and put her arm around her. She leaned on him for a brief second then stood up and turned to Cynthia.
'Thanks for everything,' she said.
'No problem, any time. But I should probably be going now. Nice meeting you Holly.' Holly glowered at her, and Cynthia decided it was best for her to make an exit. She waved at the male occupants of the room.
With that Cynthia left the room. Soon after Foaly walked into the room. He looked at Holly's hair, looked a little startled for a moment, then told her that it looked good. He wasn't joking. It did look good. Although he wasn't sure if it exactly suited his best friend's personality.
'Now really isn't the time to discuss looks too much,' said Julius, 'let's get this briefing over then we can get into our costumes and get going.'
'OK,' began Foaly, 'I've rented an apartment in your new names and hacked the records so it looks like you two have lived there for eight months. The key code is 9125483. You have your documentation, everything but your everyday ID cards are stored at the apartment. Everything you will need to stay there is stored at the apartment. The extra cloths and sleepwear you brought today are already stored there. You both have one outfit to change into to go and see them soon. And we managed to get wedding clothes in your sizes and transport them there. The gold you will need is in a safe at the bottom of your wardrobe. The code for the safe is 584126. The gold is fake. You two have to remember to act totally obsessed with each other and totally in love. Whatever you do don't forget to call each other by your fake names. I think that you will be tailed and bugged and the such after you leave the place where you book your wedding, they won't want you to get cold feet and run to tell the LEP about their little operation. Julius, whatever you do don't order Holy around, you aren't higher ranked than her in this, remember that,' Julius nodded. 'You will both be implanted with untraceable tracking devices,' several eyebrows were raised, 'I mean they can't be detected but we can track you.'
'Sure.' Like they actually got what he was saying when he spoke technobabble.
'There won't be iris-cams on this mission due to its slightly sensitive nature,' finished Foaly.
Holly was very relieved. At least the LEP wouldn't see her kissing her Commander.
Julius was thinking exactly the same thing, except it involved an officer that he a slight obsession with.
Foaly continued to spout details of the mission for another half hour.
'Well, now that that is settled you should get dressed and go, shouldn't you, Tanya, Jake?'
'Yes,' sighed Julius, at exactly the same moment as Holly replied to Foaly's question in almost a pleading manner.
'No,' she pleaded.
What actually ended up emerging was a kind of 'Nyes.'
They decided to give it another go. Unfortunately they both tried this at the same time.
'Yes,' mumbled Holly in a resigned manner.
Unfortunately at exactly the same time as Julius replied 'No,' while looking at Holly worriedly. She wasn't scared, was she? The Holly he knew wasn't scared of anything.
What emerged this time was a kind of 'Yno,' sound.
Foaly looked from Julius to Holly and started laughing. Even when they both started getting redder and redder and looking at him with murderous looks in their eyes he didn't stop cackling.
"This is hilarious," was, for once, the only thought running through his head.
'Shut it,' yelled Holly, before grabbing her bag and stormed out of the room and towards the female bathrooms.
Behind her Julius did the same thing, except for muttering to Foaly something involving budget's. He also stormed towards the male bathrooms, in case you were wondering.
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A/N: I would again like to thank people for reviewing. I'm not going to let review be the be all and end all of my life or anything, I just like to know that people appreciate what I give my time to write (plus, if you review you get your own snazzy reply at the bottom of the next chapter).
Review Replies:
Nia: Thank you for reviewing. I'm glad you like it.
potter-Dork: Hmm, I suppose so. Not intended as a cliff hanger, just happened to be where the story ended. Thanks.
sergeantstan: it was kind of obvious, looking at it. Hmm, I just noticed that there is one in three of my four stories, and yet I absolutely despise shopping. I swear I do, and I just like making Holly uncomfortable in them I suppose. There will not be a shopping scene in my latest fic.
hidden and forgotten: One thing I would never do is let Holly actually enjoy a shopping scene, that would be just wrong. No, I only write shopping scenes in order to try and see how the little picture of Holly sitting in my mind would react when dragged into a shopping centre against her will. Thanks.
Stiggy: I don't reveal secrets like exactly what happens. Then no one would read it to find out… Never looked. Now I'm going to. If I ever actually get to see that movie. It was on TV once, and I had to study for an exam the next day… grrr. Like I said, if I reveal secrets like that no one would ever read my stories to find out what happens.
-anon-anon-anon-: It was obvious. I admit it. At least it's only purple streaks… I suppose.
wackywildcrazy: This is my only HollyRoot. I might write more in the future, but as yet I have not come up with any ideas. Thanks for saying you like this though. And yes I can decipher that in IM talk. You would be surprised how much time I spend talking to people on MSN. Thanks for reviewing.