A/N: *looks around sheepishly* . . . Hey guys . . . sorry for the massive wait . . . I don't forget about you guys, and I feel bad for everyone who favourited or followed my stories who hasn't had an update. I try to write when I have the time, but this results in a long time to complete chapters, as my ideas wind up scattered and fragmented. Anyway, here is the chapter, hopefully I get the time to update more often with Christmas coming up.

Chaos had erupted in the plaza. The fairies pulling themselves from the wrecked front steps weren't doing anything yet, merely massing in rows, however the sight of dead friends and coworkers put the bystanders and civilians into a panic.

Inside, things were only slightly better. The front doors had been remotely sealed by Foaly, and non-essential systems were being shut down, the power being shunted to the defenses. There hadn't been a siege on the plaza since the B'wa Kell rebellion, but Foaly had planned to ensure it would never happen again. Meanwhile, all combat-rated personnel from Recon, Retrieval, Traffic, and the Wings were being corralled towards one of three armories (a change Foaly had had implemented during the rebuild to prevent crowding at the Retrieval/Recon armory near the Ops booth) where their respective commanders issued weapons and orders. Trouble, tasked with the largest group, had Holly helping him with the Recon troops, while Commanders Vein and Verres (Wings and Traffic, respectively) dealt with their smaller groups. Artemis and No. 1, meanwhile, corralled the warlocks to be ready to heal or, in a pinch, blast whatever was necessary.

The best laid plans, however, are only as good as the slowest member of the team. Where there should have been empty hallways and orderly firing lines there were people scurrying out of the way in the hallways and green officers shaking in their boots. It was one of these officers, a young pixie from traffic, who accidentally loosed a shot from his high-powered Neutrino snipers rifle. One shot that, against all odds, sank into a weak spot in the concrete near one the cannons inlaid in the underside of the large awning outside the plaza. The unlikely shot continued compounding the bad luck of the poor private, hitting the plasma cache for that cannon, igniting it.

With a flash and a loud explosion, the plasma exploded. Emergency shut-offs prevented the explosion from chaining to the other cannons on the row, however the one caused a small portion of the awning to collapse, crushing a few of the "zombie" fairies standing below it.

With a shower of sparks, the whole assembly of fairies collapsed, magic no longer holding up their broken bones and torn muscles. The pixie responsible looked glad for a second, clearly thinking he had done something well. A rap to the head from the elderly commander Verres' cane a moment later told him otherwise.

-the Ops booth, an hour later-

The atmosphere of the plaza was still one of unease, even after the section of rubble was cordoned off and the various defenders of the plaza returned to their respective jobs. In the Ops booth, Trouble, Holly, Root, Artemis, No. 1, and Foaly assembled to discuss what had happened.

"This is clearly linked to the Commander's recent resurrection," Artemis said, matter of factly, "The theme of bringing fairies back from the dead is clear."

"But why corpses?" Foaly said, one hoof absentmindedly tapping as he thought, "The commander is whole and alive, so why were these fairies clearly, er, not?" He couldn't bring himself to say they were undead, or any variation of that. Foaly was not a fan of the horror genre.

"It's a shame Vinyaya can't be here for this," Holly said, the look on her face showing she was merely thinking out loud, "She loved zombies." The word made Foaly shudder.

Trouble held up his hand for silence, turning face No. 1 and Foaly. "What have you guys been able to find out?" He asked, getting down to business, "Can you find out who did this?"

It was Artemis who answered, turning to pull up the analysis on the Ops screens. "We know how it was done, but not who did it." As he spoke, he pulled up the images of several runes on the screen, as well as some still of what little footage was captured of the berserkers during the occupation of Fowl Manor several months previously. "The magic was similar to the runes used by Turnball, or the control spell for the berserkers, but not quite identical to either. Whatever it was, it didn't focus on the soul of the target, but the body itself. It's quite ingenious magic, but would require either a lot of power, or a lot of concentration. I believe when the explosion occurred, it disrupted the concentration of whoever was controlling the spell, thus ending it."

No. 1 stepped in, continuing the lecture. "The sparks that showered off when they fell were white, which means whoever did this did it in such a way that the magic wouldn't be traced back to a specific blend." The demon stepped back, allowing Foaly to have the floor.

"Clearly whoever did this was testing something," he said, tapping a hoof thoughtfully, "They were trying to see if this would work, that's why they didn't do anything, it was only a systems test."

"A successful one." Artemis mused, "I can bet we'll be seeing more of this in the future, and I don't think it'll be as harmless this event."

With this statement weighing on their minds, the various members of the group split off to continue their work.

Walking back towards his office, Trouble beckoned for Root to follow him. Once they were there, he took a seat.

"I had an idea of how to get you back into the force, and the pandemonium of today has compounded it as a good one." He said, rifling through the papers on his desk, selecting one. "I'm suggesting we split Retrieval and Recon in to two command groups, with you heading Recon. In an emergency, it'll allow for more coordinated movement of resources, we'll be better able to handle the workload of the two branches, and most importantly it'll get you back to work and out of my office."

Root took the paper, a commission for commander of LEPrecon, and considered it. Making up his mind, he took a pen and signed it. Trouble stood and offered his hand.

"Welcome back to the force, Recon Commander Root." He said, shaking hands to make it official.

-Nearby-

A clawed hand crashed into the desk in front of it, its owner cursing aloud.

"There's got to be some way of strengthening the spell!" the voice said, full of frustration, "I can't have every little distraction causing me to lose control. I need more power." The owner of the hand looked at the screen in front of it, where a video of Artemis and No. 1 powering the batteries was playing.

"And I know just where to get it." The owner of the hand let its mouth curl into a sinister grin.

A/N: There we go! A new plot, a mysterious figure with at least one hand and a mouth, and a job for a certain Commander!

References in this work to the works of Kitsune_Heart, who is easiest found over at Archive of our Own. She wrote "The Living Universe" series (along with two other companion universes) which contains the stories "Fowl Ties" and "In Another's Eyes" both of which were referenced in this chapter. I HIGHLY suggest reading her stuff, as it is pure gold.

And as we all know, Gold is Power.