Thanks for reading and reviewing, you guys!

To bubbles: Thank you for the review! Iris in the story worries me a bit, as I've never written an OC in my fics before - glad you like her! Hope she turns out all right. :) Message from the beta here: Thank you, bubbles! I agree with you on betas needing more love - we're an unappreciated lot, we are. Huh, think you're the only one who should get the credit, Miss Cendol? :P

Disclaimer: Me owning anything in the Fowl fandom - you no can haz Artemis, Cendol. Colfer owns him, he does.

Chapter 15: Digging In

Haven City

Holly woke up lying on her side, her hands bound behind her back. On the floor. In a shuttle. With an LEP officer standing guard over her.

She raised her head and tried to lever herself up on her elbow, without much success. The officer leaned towards her from the co-pilot's seat and grinned as he watched her struggle to sit up.

'Need help, Captain?' he said, waggling his fingers at her. 'Can't touch female officers, so I've heard. You said so yourself eh?'

'Private Bumble, isn't it?' She gritted her teeth and managed to flip herself onto her back. 'Thanks, I can manage on my own.' She sat up and glared at him.

'I would've given a hand if you'd ask.' The private ran a hand through his rather oily hair and gave a smile that was supposed to look flirty, but it came out looking as though he was trying not to squint.

'Watch it, Private.' She rubbed her wrist on the edge of the other, hoping to melt the plastic with the magical sparks that would heal the welt. D'Arvit, she realized, feeling the sparks snake over her skin uselessly, Perspex. There was no wound, no cut, as the cuffs had no sharp edges to break the skin.

'I'm watching, Holly,' he said, still trying to smile in a charming manner, and utterly failing to achieve anything besides irritating the female captain further.

'Look, Bumble, tell me what's going on and maybe I won't punch your lights out when I get out of these.' She managed to totter up and collapse into the nearest passenger seat. 'Explain this.'

'Orders, Cap.' Bumble wiped his hand on the front of his jumpsuit and pretended to look cowed. 'I'm just doing my duty, Cap. Was told to watch you, Cap, so you won't escape. Not safe out there, Captain Short.' He snorted and laughed meanly. 'You'll be out soon enough, Cap.'

'Who gave the orders?'

'Can't say, Short, can't say,' he said, shaking his head and sighing loudly. 'Top secret. How would I know anyway, being a private and all? I'm just a low ranker.'

'You won't even have a rank when I'm done with you.'

'Oh yes? Not with things going as they are, Captain. Once you're out of here, Holly, you'll be the one without a rank,' he said, narrowing his eyes. 'I, on the other hand, would expect to see some sort of promotion. Yes, a promotion would be in order.'

'Who's doing this, Bumble?' she demanded.

'My lips are sealed, Short. Now sit there and be quiet, or I might have to take measures to – ah – prevent you from escaping.' He took out his buzz baton and twirled it between his fingers. 'In any way I can.'

Ys Street, the Old Quarter, Haven City

'There!' Iris jabbed one of the screens with an inky finger and crowed with delight. 'Got her!'

'You've found Holly?' said Artemis, abandoning his keyboard and hurrying over to Iris. 'Where is she?'

'Here.' Iris pressed a finger on the flashing red dot, leaving an ink blotch on the screen. 'That's the closest match I can get to her signal, since the silly pony didn't let me in through a side door.'

'Where is she, exactly?' he asked. The red dot pulsed urgently on the screen, not moving. Was Holly still conscious? Was she even – no, don't think about that. Concentrate on finding her first.

'Coming…right…up.' Iris pounded the keyboard and gave the hard drive under the table a vicious kick. 'Damn these comps! Running slow running slow running slow – oh come on!'

The screen had frozen, with the red dot a bright spot on the grey map of Haven. Iris gave the monitor a good whack. For luck, she gave the rest of the monitors beside it a thumping with the palms of her hands.

The red dot started pulsing again. Artemis exhaled a breath he had not known he was holding.

'Right, that's somewhere in…eh Frondy – that's the old dwarf mines.' Iris screwed up her eyes and leaned towards the screen. 'Service tunnels were collapsed twenty years ago when the dwarfs packed up and left. You can't get a shuttle to get in there after the access tunnels and roads were sealed up when the mines closed down. So how did she get in there?'

'Do you think…' Artemis swallowed the lump that had risen in throat and tried again. 'Can you check her condition?'

'Nope.' Iris tried a few keys, but nothing happened. 'Hacking into Foaly's system didn't work, and he has the info on all the officers' vital stats. I need to get in there.' She stroked her chin thoughtfully and made a face. 'There is a way though…'

'And what would that be?' he said, as the dot continued to pulse without moving. One second, two seconds, three…

'You're friends with him.' Iris gave him an imp – no, she wasn't an imp – elfxish grin and grabbed his shoulder. 'Get in there and tell him you need his help.'

'I'm supposed to be in Atlantis,' he pointed out. 'The LEP would get me first before I even reach Police Plaza.'

'Er…Fowl? Haven't you heard?'

'Heard what?' he snapped. Time was running out for Holly – how long could she last in an abandoned dwarf mine without help? And there was no way in or out of there –

'I'm supposed to tell you,' said Iris sheepishly. 'See, thing is, Vinyáya has an idea that the LEP's doing this. They're the ones responsible for the murders and everything.'

'And they threatened me and my family too?' said Artemis, his eyebrows threatening to meet his hairline.

'Er…yeah. Kinda messy, isn't it? But…yeah. They started all this – the murders, the riots, your message, so you'd get imprisoned in Atlantis…not a very nice plan, is it?'

'She knew.' Artemis turned to look over his shoulder, at the computers arranged round the room. He craned his neck to look over the row of computers beside to him – there was a table behind the row, with weaponry and equipment in neat piles upon the surface of the table. 'She knew all this was going to happen. Why didn't she stop it?'

'I've been trying to get her to explain for months,' Iris said, rolling her eyes. 'But she doesn't want to say. Lately she's been a bit quiet too, you know, since you came back from Hybras with your girlfriend and those demons…'

But Artemis was not paying attention to Iris. She knew and she didn't stop it, he was thinking, as he walked over to the table with the weaponry. She could have stopped this and she didn't. And now Holly's kidnapped and I – we – don't know how to get to her, or help her. Vinyáya knew all about this and she didn't stop it.

'Hey hey, don't mess with those guns, Arty boy,' said Iris nervously, as he picked up an old Neutrino and flicked through the settings. 'Those can kill; I've seen them in action.'

'Are you the vigilantes who've been helping the LEP?' he said calmly, putting down the Neutrino and picking up another. 'You got the wrong person in Merrick's murder.'

'Yeah…er…Vinyáya's still annoyed about that.' Iris edged towards the door, dragging a swivel chair with her. 'I'd put those guns down if I were you…'

'Are you really who you say you are?' Artemis went on, checking the third gun. He hadn't seen this model before, but the business end looked nasty. Iris ducked behind the chair as he fiddled with the settings.

'I haven't tried to kill you, have I?' she said, backing up against the door in a half-crouch behind the chair. 'Put the damn gun down, Artemis!'

'How can I believe you?' he said, smiling humorlessly as he aimed the gun at the practice dummy at the far end of the room. 'Vinyáya might have brought me here to keep me quiet. And then get rid of me when all this is over.'

'Oh, come on!' Iris called from behind the chair. 'I'm trying to save your girlfriend and you're worried that you've been tricked!'

'I never allow myself to be tricked.'

'Fine, d'you know what? You can stay there and play your stupid arrogant genius act, but I'm not going to care. I'm going to sit in front of the computers here and do what I have to do. You can shoot my brains out, if you like, to protect yourself, but I don't care.' Iris kicked the chair over to the computers and plonked herself down in front of the screen displaying Holly's location. 'Go on, Fowl. Do your worst. I've heard what you can do.'

'I'm not going to,' he said, his smile widening. He put the gun down and left the table. 'Do proceed with your search for Holly.'

'Huh!' Iris tossed her head and pulled about three keyboards towards her. 'Anything for your girlfriend eh, Arty boy?'

'My name,' he said, his hand drifting almost on its own accord back to the table, 'is Artemis.'

Iris caught the look in his eye and nodded quickly. 'Yeah. Artemis. Got it.'

Boulevard of Kings, Haven City

I could have prevented this. Vinyáya leaned against the front of a shop, hand clutching her aching side as she tried to get her breath back. I could have stopped this all from happening, and nobody would be hurt needlessly.

Crowds of Haven residents passed before her, terrified and angry with the recent attacks on their homes and shops just down the road from where she was. They were heading to the nearest stadium or public building they could reach – but not the police station though, because nobody was putting their trust in the police to help them. How could they, when the LEP themselves were the ones who had started this?

But there were also LEP who were trying to clear up the mess…

Like Holly Short. She was only trying to do what's right, and look where that got her.

Vinyáya bent over with her hands on her knees, struggling to get her breath back.

'Commander?' said Iris's voice in her ear. 'I've got Holly Short's location. Should I forward the message over to the rest?'

Vinyáya glanced at the com screen on her wrist and came to a decision.

'I'll get right back to you. Call the others back.'

'But V –'

'Do it, Iris.'

'Yessir.'

Ys Street

Artemis watched silently from a corner as the rest of the group streamed into the room in twos and threes. They were all clad in grey, just as Holly said, but they had weapons with them this time. Mostly older models of Neutrinos or guns he had not seen before in all his years dealing with the fairies. Vinyáya must have pulled a lot of strings to get the equipment.

'This is Bloom,' said Iris, dragging a gnome over. 'He saw Holly knocked out with a dart, and then the LEP medics bundled her off to who knew where. He's – er – what you would call the eyes and ears of this little club.'

'Artemis Fowl?' the gnome said, shaking the boy's hand. 'Glad to meet you. I heard your message.'

'It wasn't me,' he said, as Bloom gave him an appraising look. 'I do wonder if it was an LEP officer though. It seems likely.'

'With things as they are, I have to agree with you.' Bloom gave him a nod and walked away.

'Any updates?' said Vinyáya, bursting through the door with her hair falling out of her bun. 'Iris! Where is Short? Is there any way we can get to her without the LEP knowing?'

'She's in the dwarf mines off Liquorice Hill, V,' said Iris, steering the older elf to the right screen. 'There, that's her. She hasn't moved since I locked onto her signal. That's half an hour ago.'

'What about the LEP records?' asked Vinyáya, bending over the screen, anxiety in her face. 'Those mines were closed long ago.'

'Yep, exactly. And the access tunnels were blasted and sealed. I checked in the City Hall records. Foaly isn't letting me in anywhere.'

'Which means that we'd have to get there and rescue Holly without knowing what's going on there.' Vinyáya frowned and tugged at the stray locks of hair framing her face. 'This is not good. We need everyone out on the streets – I was thinking that we should get to the outer suburbs and work our way in towards the main areas under attack.'

'We don't have enough people as it is, V,' someone spoke up from the other side of the room. 'We had a hard time just trying to get people out of their streets.'

'Yes, yes, I know that, Rook,' said Vinyáya. She turned to face the room, her expression grave. 'So we have to decide where we have to go first.'

'If I may make a suggestion, Commander?' said Artemis.

'Go on, Fowl.'

'I know someone who would know what to expect in the dwarf mines,' he continued. 'One of the best fairies in the tunneling business, from my experience.'

'And who might that be?'

'Mulch Diggums.'

'Diggums,' said Vinyáya thoughtfully. 'I suppose we could use his help.'

'You can trust Diggums, Commander. I'm sure he wouldn't like to see his ex-PI partner meet an untimely end in a dwarf mine.'

'I trust you, Artemis.' Vinyáya sighed and pointed to Iris. 'But I want you to check on Diggums, all the same.'

'Yessir.'

The rest of the group drifted towards to the part of the room behind in the computers, with Vinyáya in the lead. Muffled conversations could be heard from the weapons table as Vinyáya went over the next plans with the rest while they replenished their supplies or replaced their guns. Artemis caught his name several times, but Vinyáya appeared to have washed her hands of anything to do with him.

'So what do you call yourselves?' he asked Iris instead, as she searched for information on Mulch. 'You can try looking in the LEP criminal records – he was one of their most popular convicts in the past.'

Iris giggled and did as he told her. 'Not bad, this guy. Oh, Vinyáya was all about calling us some mysterious name, like Havenites or the Frond Keepers or something. But my suggestion trumped all of hers.'

'Yeah? What was it?' said Artemis, amused with the cheeky look on Iris's face. It reminded him of a certain elf's when she was spouting off snarky comments.

'I said we should call ourselves…' Iris paused dramatically and held up two fingers in a V. 'V,' she declared in a mock serious tone.

Artemis chuckled at that. 'So you're known as V? And the commander's called the same too?'

'Yep. And our group chant goes like this.' Iris took a deep breath and reeled off with gusto, 'What do we V do? V keep the peace! Why do V do this? V care! What does Haven need? V! And who are V? V are!'

Artemis burst into laughter. It had been a long time since he had laughed this much, and this wasn't the right time for it, but Iris's cheerfulness was catching.

'Eh, you're loosening up now,' said Iris, turning back to the computers. 'Most people here don't get my jokes – they're so boring. They don't even laugh when I tell them the one about Venus and her cup of cocoa.'

That wiped the grin off Artemis's face. 'I haven't heard that one,' he said cautiously.

Then again, not many people made jokes to a certain teenage genius.

'Yeah? You haven't?' Iris shrugged and smirked to herself. 'See, it goes like this: What do you call Venus when she has a cup of chocolate in the nude?'

'Iris,' said Vinyáya, coming up to them and giving the younger fairy's ear a tweak, 'I need to meet Diggums before I get out with the rest. Call him up, quickly.'

'Will do, V.'

'Artemis,' Vinyáya said, pulling him away from the computers and out of Iris's hearing, 'I can only spare one of my officers to go with Diggums if things go according to plan. If they don't…Diggums might have to go on his own. Is your friend willing to risk his life for Holly?'

'He would,' Artemis answered. 'And you don't have to worry, because I'm going with him.'

Vinyáya's face broke into the first genuine smile she had given him since they met. 'I often wondered what she sees in you. Maybe I'd understand it someday. But that would be a stupid thing to do, Fowl. You're not experienced in this, and you might possibly go up against armed LEP officers.'

'I'm willing to try.'

There was a gleam in the boy's blue and hazel eyes that Vinyáya found disconcertingly familiar, particularly in the hazel one.

'You're not going to sit here quietly even if I say no, aren't you, Fowl?' she said.

'You know me too well already,' he replied, bowing his head to hide his smile.

'Call Diggums, Iris,' said the elf, shaking her head. 'Whatever happens in the mines, Fowl, is your responsibility.'

A/N: V for...Vinyáya. No, I wasn't thinking about a certain masked vigilante when I wrote that, although looking back, I think it was the subconscious speaking.

Iris has a fondness for lame jokes, I'm afraid. Her joke about Venus - unlike the Mad Hatter's riddle - actually does have an answer. Hint: It has something to do with Malaysia. And Australia. *ahem* Happy guessing!