St. Petersburg, Russia's infamous 'capital of crime'. Even Butler would normally feel nervous whilst walking through some of the city's more disreputable areas - where normally his sheer size would be a deterrent, here it could be taken as a challenge. Still, things had improved since he had last been here; organised crime had mostly dissolved and been replaced with regular street crime, and attacks driven by poverty or drug addictions were present in all major cities to some extent. And today, as he was now, Butler had no need to be afraid of anything. Theoretically.

It was a good location for a hostage exchange; respectable citizens knew to stay away from the worst areas, the street gangs would stay away from the Mafiya and the rival syndicates were far less of a presence these days. Conversely, it would have been difficult for Artemis, had he not seen through the trap, to set up a base or plan an operation in the heavily populated city. Butler would normally have either asked for weeks to set up a base of operations and survey the area and if this had not been granted, flat-out refused to go through with it. It was technically a nightmare scenario; the number of variables was enormous, any number of things could go wrong. No responsible military commander would even dream of sending a lone soldier to deal with the situation, and Butler understood the difficulty Holly had experienced in letting him go, worse that she didn't have a say in it.

The meet was supposedly planned for midnight, though Butler was ready to begin the operation at 10. No sense in risking it. He leaned against a wall outside the dark narrow street he was supposed to travel down, lighting a cigarette, though not smoking it. He'd had a glimpse of an early grave a few months ago, and didn't fancy seeing it again any time soon. He glanced down the alley, shadowy and impenetrable. Anyone would have been a fool to go down there, under any circumstances. The Russians had barely even bothered to make their true plans hidden it seemed; it wouldn't have taken a genius to see the trap.

He glanced down the alley again, squinting. "Activate Infra-red."

Technically he didn't need to speak aloud, but it felt right somehow. Immediately his vision was overlaid with a heat sensitive array of colours, far more detailed than any army specification NVD's. He could make out at least twenty heat signatures, five at the end of the alley and fifteen in the run-down buildings that overshadowed the alleyway. He smiled and leant against the wall behind him and a reactive-adaptive mesh of cam-foil immediately took on the appearance of the wall behind him, disguising him utterly in the darkness. He turned around, and began to climb up the wall like a lizard, heading for the invitingly broken window where the first target sat, quietly enjoying a smoke whilst watching for the arrival of Artemis Fowl the second.

*****

Artemis checked his watch. 10:15. "Go Holly, go!" Holly rolled her eyes at the urgency in his voice, the military aggression ill-fitting his manner of speech. She shielded, and made her way towards her objective. The useful thing about the cave complex was that it was huge and largely unsecured. As such, it was possible for Foaly to run a scan from a satellite in orbit and find possible entry points into the building. Of course, the Russians were not expecting to be attacked, and in any case, it would be much harder the closer they got to where Opal was being held.

"Holly?" This was Foaly, whispering in her earpiece.

"I'm with you, Foaly. What have you got for me?"

"Pretty standard mission here, Holly. You stealth your way to Opal's cell, mesmerise any guards that may be there and blast open the cell with your neutrino. The only thing is to make sure to be quick. Though Artemis doesn't think the Russians will suspect anything for at least another two hours, they may be planning to get rid of her earlier than they said."

"Why? They've no reason to do so."

"Tell that to Mr. Lovestruck back at base. I'd take my time if I were you."

"I'm a professional you know, Foaly. We can't all be cowboys like you; some of us have got to maintain standards." Her tone was light, and a smile played around her lips. Holly's reputation for rule-breaking was infamous.

"Speaking of standards," he said, and she could practically hear him grinning over the earpiece, "I hope you'll remember that the LEP takes Police brutality very seriously. When you rescue our Pixie friend, I mean."

She grinned in the darkness, the proverbial Cheshire cat. "Of course I will."

*****

Butler dispatched the last hit-man with a swift jab with his forefingers to the burly man's solar plexus. He reeled over instantly, the impact to the major nervous cluster causing him to vomit and lose consciousness almost instantly. He rose from his combat stance and performed a sweep of the area with his night vision once more before deactivating his camouflage. Mission accomplished. He checked the time: 10:15. Perfect. He radioed through to Artemis:

"Artemis."

The young man's voice sounded tense through Butler's perfectly constructed audio systems. "Butler! Everything going according to plan?"

Butler smiled at the break in his composure. "Of course. Holly - eh, Commander Short has just left?"

At the other end, Artemis smiled. It was strange for both of them to keep up this attitude towards Holly. It was like speaking in a foreign language - he still thought of her as Holly, his friend Holly. He kept having to translate his personal thoughts into this formal speech. He suddenly felt very sad. "Yes, Butler. If all goes according to plan, we should be done in less than an hour." He frowned. "Speaking of which, how are your systems? All fully operational?"

"Everything worked perfectly. It's truly remarkable."

"Hmm." Artemis didn't really want to talk about it. Technically of course he knew that his objections were invalid - it was no different to a life support machine or a prosthetic limb, only made infinitely more efficient, mobile and practical. Put it down to the Uncanny Valley effect, he thought absently.

"Artemis?" Butler interrupted his musing on the arguments in support of that particular behavioural theory. Artemis had a tendency to forget the situation whenever some idea or theory came up in his mind, and the trait had seemed to develop as he had got older, or perhaps as his thoughts had turned away from the hazardous, fast-paced world of criminal schemings.

"Ah, sorry Butler. If you're sure you are finished, you should rendezvous with us immediately."

"Roger that." And he was gone.

Artemis gazed at the mountain. Holly had disappeared inside somewhere, and he caught himself biting his lower lip in anxiety. He was somehow even more anxious now that she had gone in. He chuckled ironically. Not 'somehow', Artemis. Now that Opal and Holly are both in danger, you're doubly worried. Don't try and fool yourself.

He continued to stare intently ahead. Surely nothing could go wrong?

*****

Holly flew silently over the head of a pair of Russians, her new wing design utterly silent. A new prototype. Being Commander did have its perks; though of course it would have been possible to complete the mission without all the latest gizmos. Root surely would have frowned upon his successor's reliance on the "pony's" bag of tricks. Holly smiled as she thought of Root. Though the pain had far from left her memories, she had accepted his passing, and the pain was softer. She felt the same way for her father. It was almost comforting to her that she still felt sadness at her losses. It proved that the people she missed still mattered to her.

Like Artemis?, came the treacherous thought at the back of her head. She sighed deeply. All of her old feelings and emotions were flooding back to her, completely unchecked. It almost didn't matter to her that she was rescuing her mortal enemy for the man who had betrayed her. She was working with Artemis and Butler again, she was out on the surface (well, not right now), and knee-deep in a risky, madcap scheme. She just felt right - comfortable.

It wasn't helping her focus that the mission was proving to be extremely easy. She hadn't even had to ask Foaly for any help yet, though she had had to cut him off over her headset; his constant snide remarks, whilst funny when she had been back at home sulking, were starting to annoy her. Other than that, all she had to do was occasionally slip aside when someone walked along, and follow the big red path on her HUD.

She was coming to the cell now, and there was no-one around. Odd. She was expecting at least to have to mesmerise a few guards, perhaps even stun them and make a break for it. But it was eerily quiet. The door was wide open. Holly felt her heart start to pound in her chest; she felt sick. She doubled her speed, blasting her way through the open doorway, staring around the room, at the empty cell, in disbelief. She felt her head reel, and forced herself to calm down.

"Artemis!"

"Holly?"

"Artemis she's... not here."

There was no reply.

DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!!!!! This chapter is a little short, but I thought it'd be nice to end it there and let it all unfold next time. Thanks to those who reviewed, I really appreciate the appreciation (:P) after all this time I left it stale. New update as soon as I can!