Salutations, and whatnot. This is turning out pretty well, but not quite as long as Hitting Hard. About… oh, ten pages less. But the next story shall be longer. I promise. And you were promised a hint… (see end)

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the things I own. The things I own are the things not owned by Colfer. Colfer owns everything except the things I own. The things Colfer own are the things I do not own. :) Try that one, all you people who think you're the next Artemis Fowl.

Artemis lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. He would have to have some kind of excuse for his parents. That was the part that worried him. His mother would be hurt by what he was doing. Or what she though he was doing. Crime. And if Sool succeeded, by the way he acted.

But to account for his disappearance. Either way he'd need a reasonable excuse of some kind. Perhaps a project… testing the reaction of attached parties to a disappearance. That would do. But his mother would be hurt, and his father disappointed. Butler he would confide in though. That way at least someone would understand.

Sool was being proven right again. Caring about his parents was trapping him here. Eventually, he might find himself telling them the truth. Dropping all activities to please them.

The door opened, startling him. He sat up quickly, automatically straightening his tie.

"Artemis. Nice to see you too." Sool walked in, seating himself in a chair, a taking a sip from something purple in a flask. "I had myself kidnapped just so I could see you. You ought to be proud."

"Honored, I'm sure." Artemis stood, and crossed the room, seating himself opposite of the commander. He thought of his meeting with Julius just two years ago. Approximately. When he had been the antagonist. Sool reminded him so much of Julius— in a twisted, warped, sick way. Julius had been different. Noble, if red in the face.

"She's proved quite elusive. Holly that is. If her flying was rusty, I'd hate to see what it's like with a little practice. I heard some amazing stories. She's still alive, I assure you, and, unfortunately for my men, roaming the surface. Which means they have to stand sentry duty in the snow storm." Sool leaned back, settling in the chair. "Approximately twenty-two hours."

"Ah. Yes. But of course." Artemis shut his eyes, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair. "May I ask why you did not simply take leave? Having yourself kidnapped is rather drastic, don't you think?"

"Oh, Holly had one of the Council members kidnapped. I couldn't have simply left."

"She had a Council member kidnapped?" Artemis actually permitted himself to look startled for a moment. That didn't sound like Holly, but it certainly made sense.

"The chairman. He went into his office, and never came out. We think she took him through the vents. That's how she stole the pod. But at any rate, we'll find him in time. And I'll make a miracle escape, soon after you've been returned to your home."

"I see," said Artemis thoughtfully. "And you haven't found him anywhere?"

"Nowhere." Sool almost sounded cheerful. "The journos are going crazy. Which is an added bonus to not being there. Someone else has to deal with them. Probably Kelp."

Trouble Kelp was dealing with them. Or trying to. Once Holly had gone, he'd gone back to Haven, on Sool's command. There were more important things going on. Like the fact that Cahartez was missing. Sool didn't think it more important than Holly's capture, personally, but politically, it was. And he had to act politically.

And then, Sool had gone for a well deserved coffee break, and not come back. They'd called him, and gotten a message much like the one they'd gotten on Cahartez.

That left him in charge. And it wasn't the most pleasant of situations right now. He'd had to take the phone off the hook, and the Council members had all demanded that several officers be assigned them for personal protection. There was a huge crowd in the lobby, both of civilians, and journos, and all of them wanted to know what was going on.

The shuttle services were threatening to sue, because there'd been some panic about a dangerous criminal stealing a pod, and assault shuttles and all, and almost no one had shown up for their flights.

Ah yes. And, he was trying to direct several operations of national security. Trying to find Cahartez and Sool, and catch Holly, and find Artemis Fowl. He wanted to find a way to let Holly off, and leave Sool stuck. He didn't like him much anyways. Cahartez wasn't a jerk, he was just another piece of red tape. And Artemis? Artemis could do what he pleased, so long as he didn't get Holly involved in anything dangerous again. Or do something ridiculous, that threatened to throw the People in jeopardy.

He got up, and walked down the hall, down the stairs, around the corner, opened a security door, and into the holding cells. The Council members were staying in some of them. They figured they were pretty safe there.

Council member Vinyáya was just coming down the hall. "Well, Kelp, I was just coming to get you. We've decided to name you Active Commander. Temporarily, you understand, though I like you a whole lot better than I ever liked Sool. It'll cut back on a lot of red tape, and just make life easier for all of us. What do you need?"

"Well, actually, I can do it myself now. I'm going to release Foaly, and get him to help." Trouble took the acorns she handed him, and pinned them on with pride.

"He won't. Not for anything. His pride's been injured, and all he's going to do is pout. I talked with him earlier. He didn't say much, but: 'You need me now, don't you? You should have thought of that earlier. Before you arrested me. There wasn't even evidence. You all just hate the pony, don't you?' And that… was about all."

Trouble shook his head, and pulled out an access chip, inserting it into the slot on one of the locked cells.

"No… no… I know you want help, but it's too bad. You should have— oh, hi Trouble. Do you have any carrots?"

Trouble held open the door. "I just got named temporary commander. Sool's been taken too. You're officially free to go. But I do wish you'd stay and help. I'm worried about Holly."

"So am I," said Foaly calmly. He clopped out, holding his hand up, as Vinyáya tried to say something. "No… no.. I know you want help, but it's too bad. You should have thought of that before you let Sool arrest me. Before you hired him, for that matter! I'm only going to help Trouble. And if Sool comes back, I'm officially quitting. My nerves can't take it any more. They just can't. I'm sorry… but no."

Trouble winked at Vinyáya, and followed Foaly upstairs to Ops, where he was assaulted by several techies, who needed help with their computers. Foaly walked around, lording over them all, and loving the feeling of being needed desperately.

Then, he walked into his booth with Trouble, and shut the door. "I talked with Holly right before I was arrested, Trouble, and she told me something you need to know."

"What?"

Foaly sat down, and began to examine his hoofs. "What will you give me?"

"It could be her life, pony! Now tell me!"

"The man behind it all— I mean the one behind her case. And probably why Artemis disappeared. And maybe why she got attacked. Maybe he hired the hit man to take her out, I don't know. You might want to look into it. But that man— is Sool."

Silence filled the booth. Thick, and heavy. Trouble stared at Foaly in horror, things slowly clicking into place, and new questions coming up. "But what for? What was her case? I don't understand—"

"Neither do I. But there's no evidence, yet, and it doesn't sound likely. You'd better start working. Fast. 'Cause that's how things are going to happen." Foaly turned on his computers, and started opening files. "I'm going to go through his computer."

"What should I do?"

"Oh," said Foaly carelessly, "if I were you, I'd call Mulch. He'll probably be able to give you information. And just a hint: he's probably got Cahartez. Cahartez'll be back safe and sound. Holly probably figured that it'd slow down Sool."

Trouble hesitated, and then picked up Foaly's phone. One of them actually. Foaly liked to talk a lot. "What's his number?"

Grumbling, Foaly pulled it up on another computer, and went back to scanning all of Sool's files, and reading through anything that looked hidden or suspicious.

Mulch was starting to get hungry. And, he had to go to the bathroom. He'd drunk everything in his water bottle, so he wouldn't stick to the air duct, and now he had to go. He so had to go.

Finally, it was so bad, that he checked Cahartez, and then went in search of a bathroom, despite Holly's warnings about searches in the ventilation system. On and on he crawled. After about ten minutes, he came to the outside back wall, and began to look for a way he could get to all the lovely restrooms he saw out there. That, unfortunately, were seen by more than one camera, and had a fairly steady stream of visitors.

Something caught his eye. A restroom off by itself. Surrounded by a little wall. It even had it's own little walkway, straight from the building. From all the electric shock wiring and whatnot, it looked like he'd found Foaly's private loo. That, and the fact that the walkway ran right into Ops.

He crawled as fast as he could towards it, stopping with a jerk, as he realized that he would have to go through Ops to get into it. Maybe no one would be there. No one but Foaly could get in. Yes!

Elated, he crawled on to the vent into Foaly's office. He looked down, and saw to his horror, that Foaly and Trouble Kelp were talking just below. And then his phone rang.

Trouble finished dialing Mulch's number, and waited. No one answered, so he tried Mulch's other number. From somewhere above, beyond the vent, a phone rang.

Both Foaly and he froze.

Trouble took two steps to his left, and looked up. Sure enough. There was a pair of eyes, staring down at him. "Hello, Mulch. Why don't you come down here? It'll save some money on the phone bill. I must say, I'm frightfully curious to know what you're doing."

Slowly, the vent opened, and Mulch jumped down, face screwed up in pain.

"What's the matter?" Foaly started to get off his chair, just in case it was what he thought it was.

"Can I use your restroom?"

"Ah… yeah. Yeah. Hurry up! Go!" Foaly ran to the side door he had installed, opened it, and pushed Mulch out towards the loo. "Quick! And then come back, because we need some stuff for Holly!"

Mulch waddled along as fast as he could, and made it there just in time. And when it's written: just, it means just.

Three minutes and thirty-nine seconds later, he knocked on the door, and Foaly let him back in. "Thanks, pony. I was starting to see a tunnel with bright lights at the end." He looked around anxiously. "Are we safe? What about Sool? Where's he?"

"Gone. Presumably kidnapped. And of course, it's him behind it all. We were just wondering if you could help us at all. I mean, give us some info that might help Holly. She's in danger, as usual. Don't worry about Trouble. He's commander, and he's safe."

"Of course he's safe!" exploded Mulch indignantly. "He's Holly's next best friend."

"Who's her best friend?" asked Foaly with a self-righteous grin.

"Me."

The grin faded. Quickly. "Actually, I was thinking more like—"

"Then stop thinking, pony-boy!" growled Trouble, and plopped down in a chair, motioning Mulch to one. "Have a seat and talk to me. I want to know what that case was she got mixed up with. I want to know more about that hit man. More about what she's doing. More about everything. What about Artemis? And Cahartez, and—"

Mulch grinned, and waved a hand. "Happens every time like this. Law turns to criminal for help."

"Yeah, whatever. Stop gloating."

"The case? Someone was stealing information, and destroying it. The hit man? That was Demon. And I thought you knew that. Holly's looking for Artemis, who Sool kidnapped. He's going to take over the world. Nuke the humans, or something like that. I've got Cahartez, of course. In the vent over the Council room." He paused, eyeing Trouble uncomfortably. "Can I get away with that, if I cooperate?"

"I need evidence." Trouble rubbed his eyes. "Understand, I believe you, but other people will want something cold-hard."

"Which I happen to have," crowed Foaly, almost rising out of his seat into the air, he was so elated. "But of course, no one thinks to ask the genius if he can help, do they?"

"Foaly!" Trouble stood up, grabbing him by the neck. "Tell me. And if it helps, keep thinking about Holly's dead body. Lying somewhere, full of bullets and stabs."

Foaly ducked his head, and pulled up a file on the screen. "Commanders," he muttered. "They're all the same. Julius. Sool. Trouble. Who next, I wonder? All the same. No appreciation for all my hard work, and all the time I spend, and my genius. Nope."

Trouble was already reading through the plan, eyes growing perpetually wider. "Alright, Foaly," he said finally. "Bring your laptop and come on. Mulch, you too. The Council needs to hear about this. And that man Demon? Is there any way I can contact him?"

"Sorry," said Foaly. "We've never arrested him. No tabs on him whatsoever."

Mulch held out his cell phone. "Here. It's ringing."

Trouble clamped the phone to his ear, waiting for someone to pick it up, and followed Mulch and Foaly out of Ops and downstairs to where the Council was sleeping.

"It's three in the morning," growled a voice. "How much?"

"Um… I'm Trouble Kelp, LEP. Sool has disappeared. And Holly's obviously in danger. I wondered if you could help me."

"What?" exploded Demon. "Did she give my number to everybody? What do you want?"

"Do you have any idea where she is, and what she's doing?"

"In the Alps. Northern Italy. Sool has a hideout there. Some camopod there too. He's got the Fowl kid. She's probably trying to get him out of there, before Sool can use him. Yep. She's real slick, my chickadee. Had Mulch kidnap Cahartez, in case you're wondering. And Sool kidnapped himself."

"Ah. Well, we have his original plans, and Mulch is here, so we should be good. And I'm in charge right now, so it's looking up for Holly."

"Yep. Take care of her. Tell her to call me when she gets back."

"Why?" Trouble frowned, walking into the cell where the Council members had assembled, on Foaly's insisting. Not without grumbling and complaining, of course, but they had.

"We need to talk."

"Listen, you back off. You'll get her docked sooner or later. She doesn't need that."

"Real scared, man. She's not going to sleep with me, if you're worried about that. We established that long ago. You take your sweet time playing her. I wish you luck."

Trouble hung up, and seated himself on the concrete floor. "Well, get to the point Foaly, and hurry up."

"Yeah," muttered the treasurer. "Hurry up, pony."

Foaly muttered something about how no one appreciated him and all the hard work he did, and turned on his lap top, glancing over the Council, who were all watching Mulch, as he squirmed behind Trouble.

After a few moments of clearing his throat, Foaly managed to get the room's attention. "In case any of you care, we've only got a few hours until the humans get nuked, and it's blamed on us. Artemis Fowl will be set up as a puppet king, we will be turned into slaves, etc. etc. etc. Just in case any of you care. And who's behind it? Your precious commander. Sool. Yep. And Holly's trying to stop him, and no one cares."

"Prove it," yawned someone.

Foaly waved excitedly at his lap top. "I found this on his computer! The whole big plan! You can read it if you want! He's the biggest criminal in the underworld!"

No one said anything. They just looked at him like he'd finally lost it.

Trouble stood up. "Well, have fun trying to ignore Foaly. I'm taking a team up to Italy to see if I can stop him."

"But Sool was kidnapped," said someone blankly.

"Yeah." Trouble walked to the door. "He had his own men kidnap him, so he could get away. Now, if you want to see Cahartez again, I'd check the vent over the Council room. But right now, I'm really busy. If you want an explanation, speak with the pony."

Holly turned and ran, as fast as she could. Which was pretty fast. But a bullet found her, punching through her back, and destroying all chances of using her right arm and shoulder any time soon. Luckily, it went all the way through, making it a clean hole, that wouldn't have to be cleaned out before it was healed.

But Holly couldn't heal it. She had no more magic left. Demon's attack had totally drained her of everything. She doubted she was capable of the messier.

The shots had alerted the other guards. They were all running in her general direction, guns drawn and ready. Holly ducked behind a rock, clutching at her shoulder, and trying to ignore the spreading cold from the tear in her suit. Hopefully, she hadn't left a trail of blood in the snow. Though if they were careful, they would see her footprints. Hopefully they'd step on them, making them impossible to follow.

With her left hand, she fumbled with her wrist computer, finally opening her wings. Quietly, she rose into the air, keeping close to the face of the cliff. The wind was stronger, the higher she went, it slammed her against the rocks several times, causing even more pain in her shoulder.

The guards were still below her, searching the area. Holly looked down at the building. There was no one there. They were all over here, looking for her. She moved out of hover into fly, and swooped down, landing lightly on the roof above the doorway. Cameras. She checked for those, and any booby traps. There were none. Just a keypad.

A keypad wasn't that bad. She just had to find the right button on her computer.

"Hey. Holly?"

Holly started. "What? Mulch? Don't tell me they found you…"

"I had to go the bathroom. But it's okay. Trouble's commander now, and he let Foaly out. I talked to them, and so did Demon. Foaly's trying to explain things to the Council right now. He found Sool's original plans on his computer. Are you okay?"

"No," she snapped, and dropped off the roof, quickly punching in the code. There were lights, which weren't good for her camouflage. "I got shot. With a human gun. My right arm's done and I have no magic left. Tell Foaly to connect with me again if he can. I need to talk to him."

"Who shot you?"

"One of Sool's men. They're all on patrol. They're all over the place, and they know I'm here." Holly slipped inside, glad for the snow on the floor, because she was covered with it. Still no cameras, much to her relief. No sensors. No anything. Sool must think himself pretty safe.

"Where are you now?"

"Inside the building. They're still looking for me outside." She opened a pocket on her calf, and pulled out a large patch of foil, quickly wrapping it around her shoulder so that no one would see her through the tear. After brushing herself off, she turned down the heat in her suit.

"What do you think you're doing? You'll be trapped in there!" Mulch was shouting. The background hum of voices stopped. He muttered an embarrassed apology, and swore at her. A little more quietly.

"I need to find Artemis. He'll help me." Holly slid along the wall, scanning for traps and cameras and sensors everywhere.

Around the corner was a lounge area of sorts, where a few men were playing cards, and watching monitors. So there were cameras. Holly zoomed in. On one, Sool was sitting in some kind of computer lab, playing solitary. More labs. A hall. Then: Artemis. Lying on a bed, listening to music from his C-cube.

Holly dropped on her stomach, and began to scoot along the floor board, hoping the men stayed put. They did.

Once past them, she stood, and tiptoed on. The screen in her helmet suddenly vibrated, and lit up. She stopped, waiting excitedly. Finally she could talk with Foaly again!

"Hey Holly? I heard you got shot." Foaly peered at her anxiously, and in the background, Holly could see curious Council members. And… it looked like they were all shut up in a holding cell.

"Yeah. Right shoulder. Why are you all in a cell?"

"They think it's safer here. Anyway, Trouble's coming to help, and I briefed him on the guns and men and whatnot." Foaly produced a carrot, and proceeded to munch on it. "I'm going to take the past recordings of what you saw, and feed it to him so he knows what the area looks like. And I'll program your coordinates in, so they can find you faster."

Holly peeked around a corner. There was a camera at the end of the hall, but it was facing the other way, looking down another hall. Probably Artemis's. "Can you do something about the camera? Artemis is down there, I think."

"No problem." He waved a finger at her. "Turn on your wings, and fly up by the camera. Don't let it see you. Take off the back, and look in your left inside pocket. There's a chip in there with three wires."

Holly pulled out the chip, and flew up cautiously, carefully snapping off the back of the camera. "Which wires go where?"

"Wrap the white wire around the black wire. The green one around the green, and the black one around the blue."

Holly did, and put back on the back, waiting.

Keys tapped, and a mouse clicked. "Camera is gone. And I have control of all the others in the building." He turned around. "Hey! Does anyone who doesn't believe me want to see Sool? Sitting a playing solitary, and watching a countdown for the nukes of his?"

The Council in general crowded around Foaly staring over his shoulder at another computer screen.

"Um? Foaly?" Holly scowled at the screen as she stopped in front of Artemis's door. The only room with a heat source. "Can you pull up that artificial thingy you made for Spiro, and feed it to the cameras? And wipe me off the thing? I want to talk to him."

"Just wait… Just wait! You have no appreciation for me, do you?" More tapping. "There you go. Happy now?"

Holly ignored him, and opened the door, slipping inside. On the bed, Artemis did not move. Except for his mouth. "Hello."

She tugged off her helmet, and crossed the room. "What's happening, Artemis? What's going on? You do have a plan, don't you? Snap out of it Artemis! Sit up!"

"I'm quite comfortable where I am, Holly. Of course I have a plan." He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Turn off the camouflage. You look blurry. And I assume Foaly has us covered. And in half in hour, I'm sure I'll be going to the bathroom, won't I?"

Holly scowled. Foaly was crowing in the background, and it was starting to get on her nerves. "What's your plan?"

Artemis ignored her question. "You got shot. Why aren't they looking for you?"

"They are. Outside." Holly sank back in a chair with a sigh of relief.

"And do the Council know you have Cahartez yet?"

"I don't. Mulch does. He's in the vent." Holly rubbed her hands together to warm her fingers, and looked up. "Enough of that though. We have to stop Sool. The Council knows it's him now, and Trouble is coming with backup to help out. I don't know when he'll be here, but—"

"Three hours," interrupted Foaly. "About three hours."

"Three hours, says Foaly. You do have a plan, don't you Artemis?"

He smiled. But the smile worried her. He lifted his head staring past her. "Yes. I have a plan. Of course I have a plan. Why do you question me Holly? I always have a plan."

Holly rose, coming closer. "What do you mean? What are you hiding, Artemis? What are you not telling me?"

"Nothing," said Artemis, in an injured tone. "Nothing, of course. We're friends, Holly!"

"What's wrong?" Holly stared at him. "There's something you're not telling me, Artemis! What is it? Someone will get hurt if you keep doing this! It always happens!"

"Why do you worry? I've always won, haven't I?"

Foaly was screaming something now. Holly gave up, and looked at him. "What now?"

"There's someone coming! Put on your helmet, turn on the camouflage, and hide!"

Holly jerked on her helmet, and ducked down behind the couch. Foaly had already turned on the camouflage for her. "Lie back down, Artemis! Someone's coming!"

Artemis lay back down, and shut his eyes.

The door opened. "Come on, Artemis. Wake up. I want you down in the labs. I think someone's been messing with my surveillance. I want you to check. Holly's here, somewhere."

The door opened again. "Sir! Someone's been feeding a loop. To the hall camera! We didn't see you come down on the monitor! And I checked the keypad. Someone came in ten minutes ago, but we didn't see anyone. And the guards weren't scheduled to come in for another thirty minutes! Do you think that babe's inside?"

"Yes. I do." He turned around. "Where is she, Fowl?"

Artemis smiled slightly. And to everyone's shock, he sat up, waving a hand towards the couch. "Over there. Behind it."

The guard went scurrying over, drawing his gun. He didn't know anything about Artemis Fowl and Holly. He just knew he wanted to get a bonus pay check, and this was the way to do it.

As Holly found herself being dragged from behind the couch, Foaly began to blab in her ear. "They're working together! The whole thing was a trap to catch you, Holly! Artemis hasn't been forced into this! He's agreed to this! It's probably his idea!"

Artemis sat there. And smiled. And smiled as Sool pointed a gun at the invisible Holly, and commanded her to make herself visible. And smiled as he clamped cuffs onto her. And smiled as she was stuck with a dart. And smiled as the guard dragged her out of the room.

Sool turned to look at him. "Maybe you're stronger than I thought Fowl. Maybe I misjudged you. Maybe I underestimated you. At any rate, I think we ought to get rid of Foaly right now."

Artemis rose. "We have three hours, until Trouble arrives to help. The Council knows, of course, and Foaly's back, as you said. Being the same annoying little pest. I think we shall succeed though. I really think we shall."

He opened the door, and followed Sool down the hallway. "I think we ought to check that camera." He pointed to the one in the corner. "A chair, or a stool, might suffice."

Sool opened a door, and pulled a folding chair out into the hall, positioning it under the camera.

With a shake of his head, Artemis climbed up, and pulled off the back. "Just as I though. Here are Foaly's wires."

The last thing the camera saw, was Sool, looking up with a smile on his face. "You know what, Arty? I'm really starting to like you. You're a hell of a kid. You really are."

Heh heh. Not what you're thinking. Wait and see my master plan. It's quite good.

The hint: This is my beginning. See if you can guess. My applause to the first correct.

In the darkness sat a diamond. The biggest diamond that had ever been. Even in the black, it seemed to glow a deep, treacherous blue. Sinister, and cool. It was waiting. Waiting to be stolen again.

You who do not review: Your evils will condemn you on the day of judgment. :)