Oook, posting 3 times in the past 24 hours...sure are lucky we finished it all or else we would be rushing.

WARNING!: Chapter has ADULT REFERENCES that are T rated! 12 and under do NOT read. I warned you already, so dont get mad at me.

And the return of our mean council punching bag: Hilder...can anybody tell me where else CaptainS10 and I have used him?

Everybody in the room immediately froze. Artemis's first move was to grab Holly's arm and pull her back, taking a few steps back himself and pulling her closely to his side. Meanwhile, Root's hand dropped down slightly to his gun. He didn't draw it, simply rested his hand on the handle.

The Council, however, weren't as subtle. Almost all of them immediately upon entering drew several different kinds of weapons, although most of them were simply neutrinos.

One man, one of them without one of the weapons, pushed his way to the front of the bunch and dropped the hood on his robe. It was the head Councilman, Hilder. He spoke in a gruff voice similar to Commander Root's, albeit not the same; his tone was colored with more than just a little hint of evil, something that, even when infuriated, you would never hear in Root's tone.

"I heard you would be here," he said softly, looking at Artemis. "You and the elf both." His gaze dropped down to Holly, then flicked back up to Artemis. "At first, I didn't believe it. You were both supposed to be dead. And then, I saw the evidence.. of both your living, and your killing."

Artemis spoke calmly back to him, despite the situation. "Trouble Kelp deserved what he got," he replied. "After all, he came up and tried to kill us, not the other way around. And as for Holly..." He shrugged. "I had my reasons for keeping her alive. She was such a pretty little thing, always... makes for a nice bedroom toy, don't you think?"

As if to demonstrate, he pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and pulled her closer, bending to kiss her neck. Realizing what he was doing, although not enjoying it, she tilted her head submissively and then, to play it up even more, leaned back into him and clawed lightly at his shirt, as if expecting something more. Artemis merely chuckled, grabbing the elf's hands and pulling them behind her back, then looking back at Hilder with a smirk. "In truth, she wasn't as hard to break as I thought she would be. And once I made her into an obedient little pet... she was much more fun to have around."

Pretty much everybody in the room had to gag at the prospect of what he was suggesting, although not all of them. Holly made a conscious effort not to, considering the role she was supposed to be playing. Hilder just smirked and shook his head as well. Not knowing about the relationship between Artemis and Holly, he didn't realize what Artemis was doing like everybody else did: making it look like Holly was still just the hostage, in case he had to use her to protect himself. He didn't want Hilder to see through his act, and realize that he really wouldn't hurt her; if that happened, then he'd either end up dead, or thrown in a fairy cell to rot the rest of his life.

"Well, I hope you've gotten your fill of her, Fowl," he said, looking at the man directly. "Because it's time for you to go."

"We were about to leave," Artemis admitted. He knew that wasn't what the Councilman meant, but he thought maybe, just maybe, it could work... with no such luck.

Hilder shook his head. "That isn't what I meant, and you know it. You're under arrest, Fowl. By my orders." He nodded towards the human. "Get him."

"Ah ah ah," Artemis said, waggling a finger at the approaching men. He stepped back, pulling Holly with him, then reached one-handed into his pocket and grabbed his knife, snapping it open and pressing it against the tender tip of the elf's pointed ear. "One more step, and I'll hurt her, so help me."

The approaching men immediately froze, looking back at Hilder uncertainly. Hilder shrugged. "She probably would have been killed along with you, anyways," he conceded. "Much better than the alternative. Even if she could stay here in Haven, she wouldn't be wanted- no man would want her, as tainted as she is, especially from a human. And she would be a prisoner, most likely... Oh well. Not the point..." he trailed off.

"Perhaps it may be true, but even so, I can make it much slower and more painful than it would be if you were to kill her." He pressed the knife a little harder against the ridge of her ear, so that just a sliver of blood slipped out. Holly gasped and whimpered, closing her eyes against the sensation, and he chuckled, looking back at the Councilman with a sadistically happy glint in his eyes. "So, make your choice, Councilman," he said, adding a sarcastic strain on the last word, "you can try to press after me again, and then watch me slowly and painfully torture the poor elf to death, with all the innocent people in the room watching... or you can let me go." Even as he finished, he already looked smug.

Hilder had to hesitate at that. He couldn't let it happen, and he knew it. For one thing, the elf was innocent, and he knew it. Not to mention the fact there was a room full of civilians that could testify against him if he did; hell, they could even now, if they wanted to. And as much as he knew they all wanted Artemis Fowl dead, nobody truly wanted Holly Short to go down with him. Plus, it wasn't worth loosing his high council seat over.

"Alright," he finally conceded quietly. "You can go. But you must never return to Haven... or else, the life of one lowly elf won't stop me from dragging you off to jail. And I don't care how many civilians are watching."

Artemis tilted his head and nodded, a hint of one of his signature vampire smirks tugging at the edges of his lips. "Of course. I didn't plan to return anyhow."

He pulled the knife away from Holly's ear, and she exhaled inwardly a deep sigh of relief. She didn't dare do it aloud, knowing that they weren't safe yet. Especially her.

Artemis tugged the elf's arm and headed towards the door, and she obediently followed. However, just as they made it past the group of council members and were about to open the Ops door, she heard Root say quietly, "stop."

Artemis turned, about to ask what, when suddenly he dropped, pulling Holly with him. They both realized exactly what Root meant when they watched the beam shoot right over his head and collide with the door. He hadn't been talking to them; he was talking to Hilder, who had taken one of the other members weapons and fired at Artemis just as Root had spoken. If he hadn't turned when he did, Artemis would have taken the shot to the center of the back and died.

Hilder growled, swinging his arm around. It must have been some kind of signal, because as soon as he did, the other members jumped at Artemis and Holly and pulled them apart, two of them getting each one of them and pinning them to opposite walls by their arms. Holly's eyes widened as she watched Hilder level the gun at Artemis's chest again.

She was about to intervene when Root's voice cut in again. "You can't do that, Hilder. Stop."

The councilman swung around and pointed the gun at the commander. "I can do whatever I want to. I'm the chairman, the leader of the group that controls your whole life. You should be grateful to me for doing this. But obviously not. What's wrong with you, Julius? Getting chummy with this human?"

"NO," Root said quickly. "Absolutely not. But you can't kill him. It's illegal."

"How so?"

"He's human. We can't persecute a human."

"He got involved with fairy affairs! He kidnapped one, then murdered another! You really think we should just let that go?"

"I didn't say he didn't do something wrong," snapped Root. "I just said we can't hurt him for it. Fairies cannot get involved with human crimes, or affairs, or anything of the sort! And maybe fairies are involved in some of the crimes, but that doesn't make it legal!"

"Nothing here is legal, Julius!" Hilder growled. "What's one more illegal act anyways?" With that, he shrugged and turned back to Artemis.

"Try the loss of your position as chairman," Root suggested. "The city of Haven sees the injustice that happens in this room, they'll be a revolt. You'll be kicked out of the Council completely by morning, at the very least, if not killed first."

That made Hilder's hand waver slightly, but instead of dropping it, he bluffed, "so? I don't care. Is that really the best you have to throw at me?"

As Hilder spoke, he raised the gun again and cocked it. He was just about to pull the trigger when suddenly he felt something cold press into his back. "Let me make this simpler for you," Root said, clicking the safety off on his own neutrino. "You kill that human, and I'll kill you."

Hilder froze, and Root smirked. "You wouldn't shoot me," Hilder said quietly. "Knock off this ridiculousness and just let me do my job."

"You do your job... and then I'll do mine," Root retorted. "How about you lower the gun, and knock off the foolishness yourself, and then we can all just go our separate ways and forget this ever happened."

"That man is a fugitive!" Hilder snarled, whirling around to face Root.

Root met his stare evenly. "Yeah? Turn around and pull that trigger, and you will be too."

They stared each other down for a minute, then, finally, Hilder gave in. He threw the gun across the room, and it hit the far wall with a resounding crack! Then he whirled back around to look at Artemis and his fellow Councilmen.

"Fine! You win! I'll spare the human this time, but if I ever see his face again..." he trailed off threateningly, but he didn't need to finish his statement for them to know what he meant.

The fairies holding Artemis and Holly dropped them, and instantly Artemis walked over, grabbed Holly by the arm, and dragged her out of the room. With time for only one last grateful, yet sad glance at her commander and her friends, Holly was dragged out of the Ops Booth and they were on their way out of Haven.

Gotta hate Hilder...

Yeah...2 more chapters left! 990 GO!

...I warned you...