Disclaimer: The characters, much of the dialogue, and sadly, even the plot are not mine; they all belong to Eoin Colfer.

Pages: 253 – 267

Chapter 24: Shirking Responsibility

Holly was still mentally sulking when Artemis turned back to the crowd of Extinctionists. He held up a second nu skin bandage before them which had been folded into a point, pretending that it was Holly's "phony" tapered ear.

"It's a fake," he announced. "It came off in my hand."

Holly turned so the camera on her cage would display whatever Artemis had done. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her own head on the back wall screen. Thanks to the nu skin adhesive, it appeared as though her ear had been stretched and the end torn off; Artemis had certainly done a convincing job for such an awkward angle and simultaneously pretending to be doing something entirely different.

The Extinctionists were aroused anew, doubly furious with Kronski now. It didn't matter whether Kronski had deceived them or been deceived – He had still failed them.

Artemis's fist tightened around the skin-colored material as though holding up a trophy, before driving home his attack.

"Is this the man we want to lead us?" he demanded of the crowd. "Has Dr. Kronski displayed sound judgment in this case?"

Artemis threw the bandage down hard with apparent anger, where it fell with a splash in the water pit near one of the dead fish, before he continued, "And supposedly this creature can hypnotize us all. I rather think her mouth is covered so she cannot speak."

Holly had spent the last several hours thinking she would be enormously glad to get the restrictive, itchy strip removed from her mouth, but almost changed her mind when Artemis reached into the cage a second time and tore it off hard with one deft movement.

As much as she knew it was only appropriate for someone pretending to be an Extinctionist to be anything but gentle, the pain was enough to make her eyes water like mad and she couldn't help but send "Pasteur" a poisonous look.

However, now was not the time for that. She knew almost exactly what Artemis wanted from her and as much as she didn't want to, she knew she didn't have much of a choice. And if she had to do it, she supposed she might as well go all out: If these Extinctionists loved drama so much, she would give them plenty.

Using the tears stinging her eyes to add to her look of torment, Holly bowed her head in apparent despair and allowed her face to crumple. Her performance was additionally fueled by the thought of the look on Kronski's face as he realized what was happening.

"I didn't want to do it," she said in tearful, broken tones.

"Do what?" Artemis asked, sounding rather like an interviewer for a documentary. If she had really been in distress, Holly could not help but think that this particular young man would not have been the person to go to.

"Dr. Kronski took me from the orphanage," she said. That should be good. Orphanage stories were always bound to pull at the heartstrings, no matter what species the audience was.

She thought she saw the barest flicker in Artemis's face, something between exasperation and amusement at the cliché, but it was so faint and gone so quickly Holly doubted anyone but she had noticed. They were all too focused on her.

Artemis said nothing and waited for her to continue.

"He told me if I had the implants, then I could live in America," said Holly, the utter load of cock flowing easily now that she was in full swing, feigning a dry sob now and then to add to the effect. "After the operation I changed my mind, but the doctor wouldn't let me go."

"An orphanage. Why, that's bordering on the unbelievable." Artemis's tone had just that hint of what appeared to be skepticism on the surface, but actually came across more as something like curiosity, even fascination. Subtle, but effective in channeling the audience's view, who would also naturally be inclined to be dubious, but just as surely couldn't help but be drawn in.

Although, Holly noticed, the crowd didn't seem as moved by the possibility that a mutilated little girl was sitting in a cage in front of them on the verge of being slaughtered as an animal as they were by the realization Kronski may have lied to them. However, this little charade of hers was still necessary, to make sure all the Extinctionists were completely persuaded the 'fairy' was a sham.

Holly knew what she had to say next, what Artemis had probably been intending from the beginning.

"He said he'd kill me if I told," she said, sounding as though struggling not to break down into tears again. She was really laying it on thick now.

As she had guessed, this was just what Artemis had been wanting. He moved at last to strike the decisive blow.

"He said he'd kill you," said Artemis, voice almost deadly, low and quivering slightly with righteous anger. "And this is the man steering our organization. A man who hunts humans as well as animals." He could almost make them feel the monstrosity of it with his voice alone, just as Kronski had done, only this had the power of logic to reinforce it. Artemis suddenly whirled around to jab a finger at Kronski, like a witness identifying the perpetrator of a crime from the testifier's stand. Now for the final line to wrap up their little production.

"You, sir, are worse than the creatures we all despise, and I demand you release this poor girl."

Kronski, meanwhile, had a rather stupid look on his face, like he'd just been hit over the head by a two-by-four.

Holly was satisfied. She'd been right about Artemis's plan. After all, he had had to have a reason for goading Kronski right from the beginning the way he did. At first it had seemed as though he had done it only to further deepen his cover by appearing like any other wealthy, power-hungry Extinctionist, and to provide a believable excuse for why he would want to defend 'the creature,' but surely there could have been less risky ways to accomplish the same objectives.

Ultimately it's primary purpose had been to serve as bait for Kronski, to lure the doctor into making that veiled death threat of saying that Artemis tread on dangerous ground – killing was this man's solution to everything after all – and so effectively plant the idea of what kind of man Kronski was in the minds of the audience early on, making it only natural to accept Artemis's accusations now.

When rational thought seemed to return to Kronski, he looked like he was wondering how to best make his escape.

But then he blinked – A light bulb moment, apparently. The Neutrino, which had been hanging limply from Kronski's thick fingers for quite some time now, was suddenly under scrutiny.

"If the gun is real, then the creature is real," reasoned Kronski, having leveled the weapon directly at Artemis, deciding he would test the weapon's authenticity by seeing if "Mr. Pasteur" dropped dead or not. In the process proving, as far as Holly was concerned, the whole 'man who hunts humans' thing beyond all shadow of a doubt, but the Extinctionists didn't seem unduly bothered about that.

Holly knew she ought to have had a moment of worry then, but this time she felt sure that Artemis would have thought of this. He thought of everything, after all, so she predicted the doctor's final attempt to regain his respect was going to backfire.

And indeed, the Neutrino failed to work. Artemis must have destroyed it from the shuttle, between when Kronski had come to see her earlier some time before the banquet and when the banquet actually started.

"It's broken," cried Kronski in shock.

Artemis's response was to sneer derisively. "You don't say."

One almost had to feel sorry for the doctor. And maybe Holly would, once she was out of this cage and her bonds safely off.

Artemis and Kronski argued a bit back and forth, Kronski still busy being in a daze over what had happened as Artemis worked to convince the doctor to free Holly. So Holly, sensing her acting role was now over, began trying to get a look at the manacles securing her arms to the chair armrests, looking for the keyholes and alternatively trying to decide just how much force it would take and/or what tools would be needed to saw them off if it came to that.

However, the odd sound of cell phones going off made her forget what she was doing. What caught Holly's attention was that it wasn't just one, or even a few. It suddenly sounded like every Extinctionist in the place had a cell phone, and every single one was ringing, all mingling together in a kind of chorus of clashing songs and low-toned buzzing.

Holly looked up. Was this part of Artemis's strategy too?

However, the false Extinctionist looked anxious, a slight frown creasing his brow. Evidently this was an unforeseen turn of events, perhaps even one that could interfere with all the pieces of this plan he had put together so far. Although, Holly had to think that any distraction could only be of help them, like Minerva's scheme at the opera to capture Nº1.

Artemis glanced at his open phone, which was vibrating like many of the others. Almost as soon as he did, the phone, still connected to the laptops, began to play the message being sent to everyone in the room automatically, overriding the cage camera image once again so that the content of the mail, a short video file, was now on the large back wall screen for everyone to see.

Holly watched the screen for a moment. Strangely, it appeared to be a recording of Kronski balancing on one leg like a stork, screaming shrilly. For a moment all she could do was stare blankly, the picture simply too unprecedented for her to form any kind of immediate response. Instead, her eyes moved automatically down to read the text scrolling across the bottom of the screen, a bit of dry, humorous commentary on the episode unfolding above.

Holly noticed what looked like colored liquid flying around the doctor in the image where he stood and realized that this could only be the scene from the leather souk. Who in the world had had time to shoot a video?

In any case, it was obvious this was a ploy to completely annihilate Kronski's career. Annihilate, and stamp any leftover pieces into a pulp, to leave the doctor with not a single follower now or ever. It seemed a bit childish really, but no one could argue it wasn't effective, and Holly had to admit Kronski didn't deserve anything less.

Holly glanced at Artemis. It was a tricky, clever thing. This certainly had to be part of his scheme; perhaps he was feigning surprise because some of the Extinctionists were still watching him. However, he sighed slightly and appeared genuinely troubled, so much so that he seemed a bit distracted from his original purpose.

Holly glanced around them, and soon saw that all the Extinctionists' eyes seemed to be trained either on the screen or on their phones. If there was ever a time to silently take their leave of this horrid place, now was it.

Holly turned back to the tall human in front of her with his well-combed dark hair, and gave him a few seconds to remember her existence. When he didn't, she whispered peevishly, "Artemis, get me out of here."

So much for the "You came/of course I came" scenario.

"Yes, of course," said Artemis, snapping out of it, all business now. "Time to go."

Artemis was ready with some handy hair lock-picks courtesy of Mulch Diggums (another dwarf talent that seemed suspiciously tailor-made by nature for breaking and entering), and in moments he had opened the cage door and unlocked Holly's metal cuffs.

Every part of her body felt sore and stiff, but being free at last worked wonders on the wellbeing of her mind. Despite her hunger, aching limbs, and the general physical weakness of having her body so poorly cared for for over a day, she was ready to fight if she had to. Adrenaline was pumping through her now, giving her a badly-needed energy boost, granting her renewed vitality, at least for the moment.

"Orphanage?" said Artemis, quirking an eyebrow and, as usual, displaying his extraordinary lack of sentimentality or sensitivity given the circumstances. "You don't think that was overdoing it?"

While Holly had to admit she did generally prefer less expression of touchy-feely sentiments, mindless blubbering, effusive displays, etc. if at all possible, in this case she wouldn't have minded seeing a little more relief in his face over the fact that his friend wasn't charred barbecue right now.

"Boo-hoo," Holly replied brusquely, returning his nonchalant attitude with her own pointed lack of special enthusiasm at having been spectacularly rescued from the jaws of death. "Let's just get back to the shuttle."

Holly and Artemis hid behind the cage, looking for an opportunity to escape. However, there was such confusion that for a while they could do little more than watch the scene unfold, especially since the sharpshooters were still keeping watch on the upper level, even if at this point they seemed at a loss as to what they should be doing.

Kronski was at the moment being harassed by the Extinctionists in the crowd as the message continued to play in an endless loop on the enormous back screen. The rabble refused to listen to anything he said, crowding around him and physically pushing and shoving at him. This went on until all of a sudden it seemed that the doctor had finally had enough.

Kronski roughly shoved his way through the group surrounding him and, after saying a few words into a walkie-talkie, the gunmen on the second tier fired a few rounds.

All the bullets shot harmlessly over their heads. But if these were meant to intimidate the crowd into behaving or calming down, it failed abysmally. In fact, the sound of the shots sent such a wave of terror through the mob that soon everything dissolved into chaos.

Kronski had apparently ordered his guards to block the exits as the big, truculent men went around shutting doors and windows with a series of bangs and clatters, standing in front of all possible outlets to further trap the banquet attendees, holding their rifles threateningly.

What Kronski hoped to accomplish, Holly didn't know. Maybe he was trying to teach them a lesson, or maybe he'd just snapped. Either way, the pandemonium was in one sense a blessing as it meant everyone would have completely forgotten their trial fairy and her smooth-talking defense attorney. However, without any clear way out it was also going to make it just as hard for them to escape as the Extinctionists.

At the moment, the Extinctionists were currently flowing toward one of the only openings, where one Extinctionist with some martial arts knowledge he probably ordinarily used for wrestling down big exotic animals had overcome one of Kronski's guards. However, the doorway was so packed with Extinctionists trying to escape that still only a trickle seemed able to get through that way.

"Can you shield?" Artemis wanted to know, eyes still carefully scanning the scene for an opening.

Holly checked. "I'm low on juice," she said after a moment. "I have just about enough for a minute or two. I've been saving it."

The muscles in Artemis's face tightened subtly with displeasure. "You are always low on juice," he said, in the sort of disapproving tone one might use if talking to a particularly unreliable employee caught regularly shirking a given responsibility. "Didn't Nº1 fill you up with his signature magic?"

Holly, not appreciating getting chastised for something out of her control, especially when she had just barely avoided being ceremonially executed via pit of fire a few minutes before, replied waspishly, "Maybe if your bodyguard hadn't plugged me with a dart – twice. Maybe if I hadn't had to heal you at Rathdown Park. And maybe if I hadn't been shielding in the souk, trying to find your monkey."

"Lemur," corrected Artemis automatically. Then, in a slightly warmer tone, he added, "At least we saved Jayjay."

Holly was forced to stop her surveying of the area for an escape route and duck for cover as a shower of glass debris from one of the gunshots hit the cage and flew past it.

She turned her eyes momentarily on her partner, surprised. However, still miffed by the 'low on juice' comment, she said a bit snidely, "My goodness, Artemis. You sound like you actually care about an animal. Nice beard, by the way."

Rather than annoyance, a flicker of amusement he tried to suppress passed across the teenager's face. "Thank you." However, he was soon serious again. "Now, do you think you could shield for long enough to disarm those two guards on the kitchen door behind us?"

"Shouldn't be a problem," said Holly, after taking one look over the two massive, troll-like guards standing sentry by the double doors.

Artemis nodded. "Good. Do it quietly. We don't want another bottleneck." For a moment, his blue eyes seemed to bore into hers, not worried exactly, but not the usual inexorable confidence either. "If we do get separated, let's meet somewhere close," he said. "At the souk."

"Okay," she agreed. Holly supposed now wasn't the time to nurse a bad mood over a lack of appreciation, not when things were so dangerous. There would be plenty of time for verbal sparring later. Hopefully.

Holly activated her shield and made to turn away so she could start toward the kitchen. But then she hesitated, her teeth digging into her lower lip. Her eyes moved back to Artemis for a second, and she studied the serious expression on his face. At the moment, his concentration was absolute, thinking all the time about everything, observing every detail of all that was going on around him as ever.

She realized that moments like this were the only times she was really safe from Artemis's piercing gaze, those mismatched eyes that seemed to see everything, even straight into her mind. When she was invisible, she could watch him without worry that he was coming up with some contrived scheme that somehow involved her, or that her expression was giving her thoughts away. Whether she was doubting him, resenting him, impressed by him, or...

For just a moment, Holly was tempted to do something incredibly stupid before they parted ways. She leaned forward just slightly, peering into his face as he turned her way briefly to look toward the kitchen, her own steady inhaling and exhaling loud in her ears despite the high-speed vibration.

But then, instead, she shifted her head slightly to the side and put one invisible hand briefly on the shoulder of his suit-jacket. Hoping he could feel the real gratitude in her tone as she had felt his at Rathdown Park, she breathed the gentle words directly into his ear, "You came for me. Thank you."

Then she was off.

A/N: Not much to say this time (besides the annoying technical notes, of course), I guess, except that this chapter's been kind of fun for me to work on. I need to remind myself to lighten things up more often, eheh. Oh, but on a random note, I wonder if next chapter will put this fanfiction over a hundred thousand words. If not next chapter, then definitely with chapter twenty-six. (: I'm kind of excited about it actually, since there are so few AF fanfictions that are that long.

NOTES: About the nu skin patches thing, there's something from the original TTP that I had some trouble with. When Artemis does that trick, he puts the bandage over Holly's ear to cover up the point obviously, but the other never actually touches Holly's skin if I'm understanding right.

That is, Artemis makes it into a cone to make it appear as though he tore off the tip of her ear. But Artemis and Holly's skin tone isn't anywhere near the same, so wouldn't the cone have taken on Artemis's skin tone, not Holly's? (Then it wouldn't look as though it had come off Holly's ear...) I puzzled about it and how I was going to describe that here, but I couldn't understand the whole unless it was just a minor error, so I just decided to gloss over that part a bit. I admit I might be missing something though...

Thank you so much for reviewing! If you have time, please tell me what you think. (:

Posted 1/31/12