I'm sory this chapter is so short, but I've got coursework to do, as well as updating Hunt. Ok, excuses over. Enjoy! Oh, and thanks to everone who's reading and reviewing, it means a lot!

Jailbreak

Foaly paced the Ops booth, wringing his hands. Holly was denying everything (not that he expected her to do otherwise), but she'd convinced Trouble that she was telling the truth. Holly had never been a fantastic liar, and Trouble had always been able to tell when she was bending the truth. He guy had grown up with her; he knew when she was lying to him. So maybe she wasn't lying. Or she didn't know that she was... was it possible? Could she have been mesmerised? He rewound the tape, pausing on the close-up of her face. There was something wrong with the picture (other than the fact that Holly was robbing a jewellery store), but he couldn't quite see what. All he knew was that something wasn't right.

Foaly leaned back, sighing. Was he looking for something that wasn't there? Or was there actually something on this screen that could exonerate Holly? He knew who would probably be able to tell him, but he was loathe to contact Artemis. He still wasn't sure who he blamed for Holly's fall from grace, the elf or the human. Or both. He grunted, and then opened an email link to the surface. Maybe he didn't actually have to talk to the boy...

Artemis was sitting in his study, composing a list of witty retorts to 'girlfriend' cracks. He had a feeling he was going to need them in the near future. He'd gotten smug smiles off his father, and even Butler had smirked at him when he mentioned Holly's name. Juliet had been cooking dinner, humming 'Arty loves Holly' under her breath. At that point, he decided to leave. He wasn't going to win this one.

A pop-up opened at the bottom of his computer screen. 'You have mail' it read. He frowned. It wasn't off Holly; those came up automatically with a glyph and colour coding. Who else would be mailing him? Minerva wasn't talking to him (he wasn't exactly sure why, something to do with skipping a meeting to help Holly), and who else had his email address? He isolated the computer in case the email held a virus, then double clicked the icon. The email was in gnomish, and it took him a second to mentally translate it to English. What he read made his eyes widen.

'Fowl.

Holly has been arrested for theft. Trouble's trying to clear her name, but there's video evidence. I think there could be something wrong with it. Look at it for me; let me know what you think.

Foaly.'

Artemis leaned back in his swivel chair, frowning. Holly, a thief? That sounded wrong for a start. How many times had she yelled at him for his skirmishes with illegality? Her words, from when he'd first met encountered her flowed back to him.

"A thief. You're just a thief."

The scorn in her voice still stung, thought this time it was his conscience rather than his pride that took a knock. No, Holly couldn't be a thief. So what did Foaly mean video evidence? He opened the attachment, and a picture filled the screen. It was a close-up still of Holly's face, or something that closely resembled Holly's face. Foaly was right, there was something not quite right...

Holly stood and paced her cell, trying to figure out who could have framed her, and why. She'd come up with a list for each, but as all she could come up with was 'Opal Koboi' and 'Revenge', they didn't really count as lists. Besides, why would Opal frame her for theft? Murder, yes, she'd already tried that one, but theft wouldn't get her much beyond two or so decades behind bars. Not a very fitting retribution. Besides, Koboi was in prison – she'd better be, anyway. She'd only been recaptured two days earlier.

So that left her with 'Revenge'. But who's? And why; who had she irritated this time? She groaned and leaned against the wall. This wasn't helping anything. Even if she did somehow manage to miraculously figure out who was framing her, no one would believe her. She may be a decorated Recon officer, but she was also the only girl on the force, and the only officer in history to have two simultaneous IA investigations into her conduct. She didn't stand a chance. Even Trouble thought she was guilty!

She wiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands, refusing to cry again. She had to be strong, she couldn't afford to sit there and weep. She had to get out of the cell, had to prove her innocence. But how?

At that moment, her cell door opened and Trouble hurried in, gun cocked. Holly was alert at once.

"Trouble? What's wrong?"

"This whole situation" he growled, eyes on the corridor outside the cell. He spared her a glance.

"Come on, Holly. I'm getting you out of here."

Holly blinked at him, sure she'd misheard.

"What?"

"Hurry up! I don't know how long this corridor is going to stay empty!"

Holly walked to his side; intuition telling her there was more to this situation than there appeared to be. Trouble wouldn't just break her out, no matter what his feelings were for her. He was, first and foremost, a police officer, and he wouldn't do something like this. Something was wrong.

"What's going on?"

Trouble grabbed her arm and towed her out of the cell. He ran up the corridor, pulling her behind him, and it was all she could do to stay on her feet. He ignored her protests (not that she hadn't wanted to get out of the cell, but not like this), heaving her along by the arm. They emerged from the jail area, and were immediately confronted by Chix Verbil. The sprite took in the scene before him, and cleared his throat uncertainly.

"Commander? Isn't she supposed to stay inside the cell?"

Trouble raised the gun barrel and shot him in the chest. He went down in a heap. Holly stared in shock for a second, then fought harder than before, eventually managing to tug her arm free. By this time they were outside, on a deserted street at the back of Police Plaza. Trouble had led her out of the building via a fire exit. He whirled and frowned at her.

"Don't fight me, Holly. I'm doing this to help you."

She glared at him. His eyes held none of their usual warmth, or humour. They were cold, and dark. Dangerous. He took a step towards her. She slapped him.

"Who are you? You're not Trouble, he'd never do this."

The elf before her smiled, and it was nothing like Trouble's smile. It was cold, and calculating, a little like Artemis's grin from a few years back.

"You're right." He whispered, but his voice carried clearly over to Holly. "I'm not Trouble Kelp. Not even close."

"You're the one who framed me." Her voice was cold enough to freeze the Sahara desert. The elf's smile widened and he nodded once.

"You always were smart. What's the matter, Holly, don't you remember me?"

He took a step backwards, into the light of the streetlamp. His outline blurred, and changed. He shrunk a couple of centimetres, his hair got darker and longer, and his skin tone darkened. Holly gasped.

"Kiernan" she breathed. His form solidified, and he stepped forwards again.

"You do recall me after all. I'm flattered."

Holy whirled and ran for the street corner. She had to warn Foaly...

There was a sharp pain between her shoulder blades, and she fell to the floor. Kiernan holstered the stolen handgun, and squatted by her side. He brushed the hair out of her eyes, and checked her pulse. Steady. Good. He needed her alive, for the moment. He scooped her up into his arms, and made his way to the nearest shuttle hangar. It was time to implement the next stage of his plan.

Yes, an OC. I did tell you he was coming. Quite a few of you actually guessed really well about him, but if anyone can tell me how Holly knows him, I'll have to think of a prize to give you. Thanks for sticking with this, and I'll post some longer (and better, hopefully) chapters soon.

Please review, and tell me what you think!

Love you all!