Guess what! I don't own the Artemis Fowl characters! Isn't that amazing?! ; )

Fowl Manor, Front Gate

Holly flew into the Fowl driveway and landed unsteadily. She was testing Foaly's latest model of wing design. They prototype still had a few bugs.

The elf decided not to risk another wings malfunction and just walk the rest of the way to the door. This was probably a wise decision, considering the wings had dumped Holly in the ocean twice.

Holly wondered if Artemis' parents and brothers were home. She shrugged and rang the doorbell.

"Holly! You shouldn't be taking chances like that!" Foaly's electronic voice beeped in her ear.

"It's Artemis' house! It doesn't even look like anyone is home. Mr. Fowl always leaves his car out in the drive and it's not there." Holly said, recalling a recent visit.

"I hope we don't have to mind wipe anyone." Foaly muttered gloomily.

Holly turned down the speaker volume on her helmet and waited for the door to be opened.

Fowl Manor, Basement

Nick wasn't a big crier. He never had been. But the "interview" with Artemis had both saddened and embarrassed Nick. This gave him good motive to weep into his mattress. The idea had been to muffle his moans with the bed. It didn't appear to be working.

"I hate you Fowl!" Nick screamed, throwing the nearest and heaviest object at the camera. The object happened to be his wrinkled up, pink jumpsuit. The piece of cloth opened up in mid-air and fluttered harmlessly to the cement floor.

Artemis' Study

Artemis watched as Nick sobbed. The site would normally have amused Artemis. The situation seemed too grim for even a criminal to laugh at.

Artemis glanced up from his monitor as he heard the doorbell ring. That was peculiar. Maybe Juliet had ordered pizza. Artemis hoped it wasn't so. He despised fast food.

After five minutes of no one answering the door Artemis went to open it himself.

He opened it, half expecting to see a pizza delivery boy, half expecting to see the Russian mafia. You never knew who it was at the Fowl house. Unless of course you checked the security camera, which Artemis hadn't bothered to do.

"Holly! You shouldn't be…" Artemis started.

"Taking chances like this, yes I know. I got the lecture from Foaly five minutes ago." Holly interrupted with a roll of her mismatched eyes.

"Maybe you should listen to him." Artemis muttered. He extended his hand into the house.

"You need to invite me in. I just got refilled and I'm not losing my magic now." Holly said dryly.

"I'm sorry. Please come in." Artemis said quickly.

Holly was escorted to Artemis' study. She decided to stand even though a chair was offered. Holly hated human seats, her feet always dangled. And at least if she was standing and Artemis was sitting she could look him the eye.

"So Mud Boy, why did you call me up here? Not that I'm not grateful for some surface time, but I do need probable cause to visit a human dwelling." Holly grinned.

"Well your 'probable cause' for your report can be a fairy citizen in need." Artemis smirked as Holly's face became befuddled and curious, "Yes, I do know that every time you come to see me that you are filling out a progress report. Foaly's system isn't that hard to hack."

"You know what? You are really annoying." Holly giggled.

"I can't help it. Being annoying to police officers is a Fowl family trait." Artemis shrugged, "Now about the citizen in need."

"Artemis, you don't count as a fairy citizen if that's what you're thinking." Holly scolded.

"Of course; this isn't for me. I have recently met a very odd boy." Artemis started.

"Oh, so you've looked in the mirror?" Foaly's voice said from Holly's helmet.

"Very humorous Foaly. I said this meeting wasn't for me and it isn't. The boy is from the United States. I found him on the internet. He happens to be half sprite." Artemis paused to let this news sink in.

"How did that happen? Which parent?" Holly inquired.

"Apparently the boy's mother, who was a sprite, was visiting New York and met the boy's father."

"What do you mean when you say 'was a sprite'?" Foaly asked skeptically.

"The boy's parents were killed in a shuttle accident. He has been living with two criminals named Clyde and Bonnie. They've been making him break into museums and banks." Artemis said quietly.

"And so you picked up this average looking kid from a reform school and found out he was a fairy. Then you call us in to help out." Foaly snorted.

"Basically, but how did you know?" Artemis inquired.

"Your computer isn't that hard to hack either." Neither Holly nor Artemis could see Foaly, but both could imagine the smirk on his face.

"Could we see this boy?" Holly asked, "I'd like to ask him a few questions."

"No, err, he's asleep right now." Artemis bluffed; he didn't want Holly to know that he was keeping Nick in the cell in the basement.

"Well, you surely have his room bugged we could just look at him through a camera. We can question him later." Holly said, growing suspicious.

"He…well…um." Artemis rarely stuttered, but he hadn't prepared a lie and was at a loss for words.

"You didn't." Holly gasped, "Artemis I thought you had changed!"

"What was I supposed to do? Let him roam around? This boy could pick the lock on a normal door and I'm not taking the chance of him flying away!" Artemis said tartly.

"Just let me see him." Holly sighed.

Artemis flipped the switch on one of his security monitors and an image popped up. It wasn't Nick though.

"Artemis?" Holly said.

"Yes?" Artemis said, too shocked to say anything else.

"Why is there a Nike symbol on this screen?"

The two, and Foaly's voice, sprinted down the stairs collecting Butler as they went. When they got to the underground cell Nick was nowhere to be found. There was a shoe on the camera though.

"You lost him?!" Foaly gloated.

"No, you did." Artemis replied calmly.

"And how did we do that?" Foaly snorted.

"Had Holly not rung the doorbell then I would not have been taken away from the monitor. Then Butler and I could have come down here as soon as we saw the shoe. All in all it is the captain's fault." Artemis shrugged.

"It is not my fault! It's your fault for inviting me!" Holly exclaimed.

"How silly of me. Of course it wasn't your fault. It is the LEP's fault for not taking care of an orphaned fairy allowing him to roam around the human world and commit crimes. Therefore causing me to take him back with me to Ireland. And allowing him to escape my custody." Artemis said, crossing his arms.

Holly was about to respond when Butler broke up the fight. "Does it really matter whose fault it is? The important thing is to retrieve the boy and get the information." Butler left the room and began to search the house.

Holly looked at Artemis. Artemis looked at Holly. They both shrugged and followed Butler.

Fowl Manor, Gym

Nick had heard the doorbell being rung and figured somebody would have to answer the door. If the somebody was Artemis or the big bodyguard then it would give Nick a chance to get out of there. He had placed his Nike running shoe over the camera and begun picking the lock.

After Nick had picked the lock, which took about one minute, he tore his shirt, allowing his wings to come out, and flapped them. He flew down the corridor and found stairs. He followed the hallway until he came to a door. The door opened up to a gym. Nick figured he could hang out there for a while.

He looked around and saw weight lifting equipment and treadmills. This place was jock heaven. Nick wasn't really a jock though, so the place made him bored.

After a while he started flying around the gym, figuring the ceiling was high enough. It felt great to be in the air. There was no place he felt happier.

Nick was so happy about being in the air again that he started to do complicated dives and spins. Soon he had forgotten time and everyone in it. It was just him, the ceiling, and an elf. Wait, what?

Five minutes earlier

The gang had searched almost every room in the house. Butler was the first to realize that they had not yet searched the gym. They headed there immediately.

When the trio had opened the door they saw the sprite boy flying in intricate loop-de-loops and summersaults. He was whooping with glee.

Butler looked at Holly. Holly looked at Artemis, who looked back at Holly with a shrug. The elf sighed and opened her unstable wings. Why had Foaly made her test new wings today of all days?

Present time

Nick was surprised to see someone else in the air, but that didn't stop him from having fun. He flew circles around the elf, who was obviously having some trouble controlling her wings. Nick laughed at her and teased her. He was having so much fun that he didn't see Butler pull out his hunting rifle and place a tranquilizer dart in it.

Butler aimed and fired. Nick was spiraling downward faster than a dwarf could tunnel. Holly finally managed to control her wings and snatch Nick out of the air and set him - not very gently - on the ground.

"Are you sure he's a sprite? He is the heaviest thing I've ever had to carry." Holly paused, "Except for maybe Butler. But you were attached to a moon belt."

"I'm quite certain he's a sprite. His flying patterns were too elaborate to be done on fake wings." Artemis said, stooping over to get a closer look at the sprite boy's wings.

"I bet if I had a pair of good wings then I could have done that." Holly grumbled.

"What do we have here?" Artemis muttered as he pulled a piece of metal loose from Nick's extra limbs.

"What? What did you find?" Foaly said, very annoyed that he did not have visuals from the floor. Sometimes staying at the office during a field mission had its disadvantages.

"This is quite interesting; it appears to be a hologram projector of some type." Artemis said, studying the device.

The teenage genius picked at a switch until it moved. The small projector beeped and flashed a blue light. The holographic shape of a female sprite appeared. She began speaking in Gnommish.

"This is a message for my son, Nicholas Johnson. If you aren't him, then I suggest you leave this alone." The small hologram chirped.

Artemis pushed the off switch. "I believe our friend here should listen to this as well." He sighed; waiting was not the teenager's specialty.