Holly decided to visit Trouble Kelp at LEP's medical facility before she left for chute E4. She and Trouble were pretty tight friends, ever since their days at the Academy. Holly thought it was the least she could do.

Trouble was in worse wear that Foaly made him out to be in. His left arm was crushed, and his left lung collapsed. With the help of the mediwarlocks, however, Captain Kelp was making a speedy recovery.

As soon as Holly entered Trouble's room, a huge smile spread across the injured officer's face. "Holly! Good to see you!"

"Good to see you too, Trubs," Holly replied. She took a quick glance at Trouble's left side, which looked deflated and sorry. "Are you all right?"

Trouble waved Holly's concern away like an irksome fly. "It's a little hard to breathe, but other than that I'm perfectly sound." His pale face brightened even more. "I see you're dressed in Recon garb. Going somewhere up top?"

"Yeah, actually. Root's sending me to finish your Recon."

Trouble's smile faded. "You're not serious, are you?" He sunk back into the pillows. "The commander is actually sending you?"

Holly was confused. "Yeah. Why wouldn't he?"

Trouble's voice softened. "I'm the best Recon officer the LEP has besides the commander himself. And just look at me!" He indicated his left side with his fully functional right hand. "If I hadn't retreated, that thing would've finished me off."

"Sorry? What thing?" Holly asked.

Trouble frowned. "Didn't Foaly tell you? I was tracking a troll."

Holly's eyes narrowed. "I haven't had too much luck with trolls."

"Which is probably why Foaly didn't tell you about it. He probably thought you'd back out as soon as you heard there was a troll involved."

"Hardly. I'm not a coward, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I enjoy the idea. I guess it would be too late to back out now. I've already signed out all of my equipment," Holly added, clicking her tongue.

Trouble shrugged. "Tough luck."

Holly's left eyebrow shot upward. "I need to talk to Foaly when this gets over with."

Trouble's frown was replaced with a grin. "Does this talk involve fists?"

"Probably. Fists and possibly some humiliation. On his part." She stood up and walked to the door. "See you later, Trubs."

"Be safe, Holly."

Holly peeked around the doorframe. "Who do you think you're talking to, Trouble Kelp? I'll come back from this Recon without a scratch, just you wait and see."

Trouble looked dubious. "I'll bet not."

Holly reemerged into the room. "I'll bet you three ounces of gold I'll make it back without so much as a headache."

Trouble held out his right hand for her to shake. "Three ounces of gold it is."

Holly shook his hand, sealing the agreement. "Just you wait and see."

CHUTE E4, CENTRAL GERMANY

The last time Holly Short did a Recon involving a troll, it had been the most disastrous mission she had every done. An entire restaurant in Italy had to be mindwiped because she had run out of magic and became visible to them. It if hadn't been for that blasted troll, she would've never met Artemis Fowl.

Holly scowled as she scurried into the teardrop shaped vessel that was to take her to the surface. No matter how many times she and that arrogant Mud Boy had saved the world together, Artemis Fowl still drove her crazy.

Holly reminisced. The previous troll encounter had depleted her of magic, and Commander Root, in a fit of rage, had ordered her to complete the Ritual, a sacred ceremony of sorts that recharged her for further Recon work. During the Ritual, Artemis Fowl, then a careless criminal mastermind who cared for life about as much as he would a pile of dirt, had discovered and captured her for a gold ransom. Holly was just glad that the teenager had softened up a little and had become good friends with her over the years. Artemis wasn't that bad anymore. Granted, he couldn't resist robbing a bank once in a while, but who wouldn't?

Holly's thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice on her com-link.

"Standard procedure, Holly," Foaly said. "You know what to do."

"Thanks a bunch, Foaly," Holly replied. She fastened her safety harnesses. "By the way, I'm gonna have to talk to you later."

Foaly waved her remark away. "I know what you're going to say, but I have a good reason for putting you on this Recon in the first place."

Holly's eyebrow couldn't possibly go any higher than they did just then. "Let me guess, there was no one else to do the job, right?"

Foaly nodded. "Right."

"Did you even look for anyone else?"

Foaly diverted his gaze from her face and blushed as much as his hairy face would allow him to. "Actually, no. But just looking at you with Verbil and Kelp in traffic kinda made me feel sorry for you, you know. And then that hotshot pixie came along."

Holly growled.

"Well, let's just say that from then on I knew you'd jump up at the opportunity to go up top."

Holly shrugged. "True, true."

"Besides," Foaly added. "You don't wanna go back, do you?"

Holly shook her head vigorously. "No way!"

Foaly grinned smugly. "I didn't think so."

The conversation ended, and Holly took the time admiring the vessel. This must be one of the new ones, she figured. It was much more spacious than those other piles of junk in the shipyard.

As usual, Foaly couldn't resist gloating. "Isn't she a beauty? She only came off the line two weeks ago." Foaly grinned again. "New design and, as you've probably notice, a lot more leg room. You're the first to try her out. "

"Lucky me," Holly remarked under her breath.

Foaly frowned. "I heard that. Drop off in seven, six, five, four, three, two..."

Holly began to take deep, steadying breaths. This was gonna be a bumpy ride.

"...two, one."

Holly's stomach flew upward into her chest as the vessel dropped down into the cathedral wide abyss. She had felt this sensation many times before, and it always gave her a sense of exhilaration, but why did she feel a sense of foreboding?

"Good luck," Foaly said. His voice crackled out of communication altogether.

I'm gonna need it, Holly thought. Her voice was unable to work because of the G forces meeting her as she fell.

The falling motion was suddenly replaced by a lifting motion as the shot of magma from the earth's interior lifted the vessel upward. The heat monitor right in front of Holly beeped as the temperature of the ship rose. In minutes, the magma stream would carry the ship up to the surface, with Holly inside. From there, Holly would complete Trouble Kelp's mission. At least she would try to. A troll is not an easy thing to control.

Holly took a deep breath of unfiltered, natural air. Mud Men did not know how good they had it. On the surface was so beautiful, and the air wasn't artificial. This was the real stuff. Holly gazed upward at the gibbous moon overhead, sighed and patted her Neutrino 2000 reassuringly. Tonight was a night when she would especially need her blaster.

A few minutes passed while Holly pursued the troll on the built-in tracking system in her helmet. Foaly had made the job easy; all she had to do was watch that big red heat signature grow bigger as she drew closer.

Holly's satisfaction of breathing real air was dashed when she smelled a whiff of overwhelming fragrance. The smell was sickeningly sweet, and Holly felt the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"Ugh," she said. She pulled down her breathing mask and took a deep breath of air from the canister on her back. It wasn't natural, but it was better than the stuff she was smelling. Forgetting her mission entirely for a moment, Holly looked into the unruly hedges surrounding the grown-over trail she was flying along. Something was odd about them...

Holly squinted and saw that amongst the hedges were large, magenta flowers. The night had shielded their true color, but once she got closer, she could tell that they were definitely of a purple hue. She had never seen one of the flowers before. They must've been native to Germany. Holly stretched out her hand and picked one of them. The petals were thick and woolen, like a blanket.

Almost without warning, the headache Holly had developed from the sickening scent grew worse, even though she couldn't smell anything. Along with that, she felt weak and tired. She pressed her long, brown fingers against her temples and rubbed them vigorously. In doing so, she dropped the flower and suddenly, the headache almost disappeared entirely. There were slight traces of it, but most of it had gone.

"That's strange," she whispered to herself. She stared suspiciously at the flower she had discarded and shook her head. That flower couldn't have done anything. I'm just imagining things.

Holly patted her Neutrino again and walked onward towards the troll.

The troll in question, as Holly soon discovered, was nothing compared to the troll she had met in Italy. This beastie was an absolute midget. Most trolls were fifteen to twenty feet tall; this one was only about ten or twelve. She also noticed that the troll was slightly injured. A huge bump had arisen on its large forehead and it also walked with a noticeable limp. It looked like Trouble had done most of the work for her.

Holly bit her lip. It didn't occur to her until just then. This troll was a pushover! How could Trouble Kelp, the best officer in the LEP, get crushed by something as unthreatening as that? Granted, trolls even that size can get angry enough to act irrationally and hurt someone, but Trouble had enough sense to not antagonize a troll.

Foaly had also said that Trouble had run out of magic before the mission was completed. That seemed very unlikely, considering Captain Kelp was always fully charged wherever he went. Something was fishy here.

Nevertheless, she had a Recon to complete. She dismissed her thoughts, hitched her Neutrino 2000 closer to her chest for reassurance, and observed her target, who was lumbering around the countryside stupidly.

Holly took off her breathing mask, activated her wings once more, and flew closer to the limping troll. One stun shot from her Neutrino to the troll's temple would knock it unconscious long enough for a Retrieval squad to bring it down below ground again, where it wouldn't be a threat. She lifted her weapon to eye level and pulled the trigger. It didn't fire.

Holly frowned. "That's strange." She opened the battery hatch to inspect the battery inside. The battery was completely depleted.

"Darn you, Foaly. Check next time before you give me a dead Neutrino."

She holstered her useless weapon and looked once more at the troll. It was slowly continuing onward, its progress slowed by the wounds it had received.

Holly shrugged. "Guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."

Holly's eyes narrowed in concentration as she fingered through her pack for her knife. Two brief swipes at the troll's calves and the blade would cut the ligaments and render the beast incapable of leg movement. Fairly simple, but Holly would have preferred the use of her blaster in this situation.

When the troll came along a small stream and stooped down to take a drink, Holly found her chance and seized it. Using her LEP-training-given stealth, she crept up quietly to the troll, gripping her knife tightly in her hands. She made two swift, but deep, slashes in the troll's hairy calves.

The troll was not expecting it. It released a howl of agony and took a wild swipe, grazing Holly's arm as she threw herself out of the way. The cool, clear water quickly turned a sickening red as the blood from the troll's wounds leaked into the stream.

Holly grimaced. "Disgusting."

She grunted as she stood up, staring at the troll as it writhed around in the water. To her, it looked slightly comical.

She winced slightly, and looked over the graze she had received from the troll's rough hide. "Ouch," she remarked. She focused on the graze, expecting a number of blue sparks to emerge and heal it. But no sparks came.

"What on earth is going on?" Holly mused. She concentrated harder, but still no sparks. She frowned contemplatively. She hadn't run out of magic, had she? No, I did the Ritual only last week. I can't have run out already.

Realizing that her magic would not heal her, she wrapped the graze in a strip of cloth and turned on her com-link.

"Foaly?"

"Bzzz...read you, Cap'n Short. How's it going?"

"Target is immobilized, but not incapacitated. You might want to hurry up getting that Retrieval squad, though." She cast a quick glance at the troll, which was thrashing around in the water and absolutely roaring with pain. "He's causing a lot of ruckus. Sooner or later, the Mud Men will come investigating."

"That wouldn't be good. Not good at all. Okay, I'll send in Frond's team as soon as I can."

"Thanks. Oh, and Foaly..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm gonna have to talk to you when I get back."

Foaly looked slightly angry. "Didn't we already go over this?"

"No. You made a technical mistake."

"Impossible. I'm a genius. I don't make technical mistakes."

"Well, you did."

Foaly looked doubtful. "Like what?"

Holly shook her head. "I'll let Root deal with you." She grinned mischievously. "Short, out."

The last Holly saw of the centaur before her visual buzzed out was of Foaly appearing flustered and scared. What on earth could he possibly have done to get Root mad at him?

Holly laughed slightly. "You made a big mistake, giving me a dead Neutrino. A big mistake."

Disregarding the writhing troll completely (she would leave the rest to Retrieval), Holly made her way back to the E4 chute entrance. As she flew, the sickening smell overtook her again, causing her headache to heighten suddenly.

She grimaced and replaced her breathing mask. That smell almost made her vomit.

"Ugh," she said again. She spiraled upward towards the heavens and flew off into the moonlight.