33Holly is in BIG trouble...all I can say.
Disclaimer: I do not own Artemis Fowl. If I did, Lost Coloney would have been different! NO MINERVA! GRRR! looks around sheepishly and slinks into a corner
Tyler was fiddling with his pyjama buttons as he walked into the LEP headquarters. Normally, he would have been ecstatic; running around and pointing at all the funny short people, but today he was quiet and nervous. Holly looked down at him,
"You okay?" she asked, "Don't worry, nothing is going to happen to your dad."
Tyler looked at his dad, who was walking in a mesmerised state with his friend behind him, shook his head and remained silent. They entered the LEP and Tyler, momentarily forgetting his situation, looked around in awe.
"Is this where you work?" he asked, staring around and taking in every white wall, every reception desk, every funny little bleeping thing he could see. Holly couldn't help grinning.
"Yeah. Welcome to the underground." She laughed.
They passed the relatively empty corridors, attracting stares and gasps from those who were working late. Boy, would there be rumours tomorrow. They continued until they got to the front door of Root's office.
Holly turned to Trouble, "You knock."
Trouble snorted in amusement and made to knock, but before he could touch the door it opened and Root poked his head out.
"Come in." he said gruffly. Holly, Grub and Trouble immediately filed in, followed by Tyler and the two mesmerised men. Root shut the door behind them loudly, and then sat behind his desk. He rubbed his forehead, and then glanced at Tyler.
"So." He said, "This is the boy who caused us so much trouble."
Holly nodded and gulped, "Yes sir. But may I just point out that it was all my fault in the first place…"
Root held his hand up, "No, I don't want to hear it again Holly. I don't care whose fault it is, you are all accomplices."
He stood up, "I have discussed the matter with the council. They have all agreed to keep this matter under wraps, and have decided to execute the proper mind wipes to the humans."
The others nodded. Holly had expected this, but it didn't mean that her heart wasn't breaking at the thought of never being able to see Tyler again. Root continued.
"This almost destroyed what we have been trying to keep up for centuries." He said, "And although we covered it quickly, it could have easily got out of hand. If one of those photos made it to the paper it could have meant the end of us. And so, as an extra precaution, the council has also asked me to mind-wipe anyone who was involved."
The group stared at Root for a moment, and then it sank in. Holly felt like her world was quietly crashing down around her.
"Hold on!" said Grub in a high-pitched voice, "Does that mean…us?"
"With all due respect Commander." Began Trouble, "We had hardly anything to do with this…"
"I don't care how much you had to do with it." Said Root, "The council wants this under wraps. Everyone who has walked within five metres of this kid gets the wipe. No exceptions."
"But…"
"Didn't you hear me!" Root shouted suddenly, causing Holly to flinch. The room fell silent, and Root surveyed each one of them.
"Now…" he said calmly. "Let's head to the Ops booth. Holly, take Tyler to the council. They want to…" suddenly, Root glanced behind Holly and his face turned red.
"Where's the bloody kid!?" he shouted in alarm.
The others whirled around and Holly gulped as she stared at the open door.
"D'arvit." She murmured.
There was a brief moment of disbelief, and then Root promptly jumped out of his desk and headed to the door.
"Find that kid!" he shouted. "I'll go down and tell Foaly the situation, and then join up with you. Everyone on the squad will be on alert. Now move it!"
The occupants of the room quickly sprinted out, leaving Holly alone with the two men. They blinked at her, and one of them sort of cocked his head to the side.
"Stay here." She told them sternly, and they nodded blankly. Holly sprinted out the door, cursing as she went.
She had never been more embarrassed or frightened in her entire life. This whole thing was spinning out of control, had already spun out hours ago. No, spinning wasn't the word. Spinning was too mild. More like hurtling faster than the speeding bullet which had caused this to happen in the first place.
She wouldn't just get the mind wipes. She wouldn't just lose her badge. A human child had just become lost in one of the biggest underground cities in Ireland, and this was not only bad because their cover had been blown. Oh no. Holly could list about a hundred criminals of the underworld who would do anything to get even with the humans…even by killing them.
There was more than just her badge and her memories at stake. If she didn't find Tyler Richardson, his blood would be on her hands.
Tyler, however, didn't know all this when he decided to sneak out of Root's office and go exploring. He just wanted to get out because he didn't like the way Root looked at him. Even though Tyler was actually a little taller than him, the man was still very scary.
As much as he didn't want Holly to be mad, he couldn't stand being in that scary room one more second. So when nobody was looking he edged the door open and slid through the empty corridors (the night shift was in his favour, it seemed) and out onto the quiet night street.
The air outside was stale compared to what he was used to. He coughed a bit, and then decided to sit on the steps and wait for Holly to come and get him.
And that was where a younger (and slightly drunk) Chix Verbil found him.
Chix had only joined the squad recently, and was already showing off his badge to any cute female sprite that happened to come past. As usual, luck wasn't really going his way. There was only so far you could go when you were stuck on traffic duty, and after a particularly unsuccessful night on the town he had decided to drink himself silly on Bulgarian Nectar (an alcoholic beverage which was banned in eighteen different cities for it's tendency to leave its drinkers catatonic) and then began to head home singing a slurred "High Hopes" and trying with all his might to keep his balance. Then he saw little Tyler sitting on the steps and stopped in his tracks.
A Mud Boy in Haven. He must have been hallucinating from the alcohol. He rubbed his eyes, but the little kid was still there.
Hmm…
His foggy mind worked slowly, trying to process this new development. It was still trying to get to grips with it when two female elves wearing particularly short and revealing dresses just happened to walk past and notice the small boy.
"Hello…" one said. "Aww…aren't you a cutie?"
"That's a Mud Boy!" The other shouted. "Don't touch it Sylvia! It might have rabies!"
Tyler looked up at the two women and sunk back against the step. The first one, Sylvia, rolled her eyes.
"Don't be stupid Lili." She scolded, and then grinned at Tyler. "He's just a kid. And he's so adorable!"
Chix stood back and summed up his options. He could always report the kid to the authorities, the LEP was right there…but the ladies loved him.
Which was more important…getting praised or getting laid? Chix chose the obvious choice.
"Ladies!" he cried dramatically, prancing between them. "Don't worry; there is plenty of him to go around."
He draped his arm over Tyler before the little boy had time to wriggle away and grinned triumphantly.
"Who are you?" Tyler asked, surprised. "Where is Holly?"
"I'm a friend of Holly's" Chix lied without even turning to face him, trying to maintain his supposedly cool status with the ladies. The other elf Lili stared at him dubiously, but Sylvia was totally ignoring him and was instead grinning at Tyler.
"Well, you're just a sweetheart!" she cooed, lightly touching his nose with one long and dark red fingernail. "In a hundred years or so I bet all the girls will be lining up to jump into bed with you!"
Tyler didn't actually know what the strange woman meant, but he felt happy with the compliment nonetheless. He scratched his nose and then let out a small sneeze.
Sylvia squealed. "Aww! He sneezed! That is so cute!"
It was now Lili's turn to roll her eyes.
"One sneeze can carry millions of germs directly into your body!" she protested. "A sneeze is not cute. Sneezes are deadly!"
Chix could see that this wasn't getting him anywhere, and so he decided to get them moving a little.
"Let's head home…" he began. "I bet the little man is a bit sleepy. Aren't you?"
Tyler yawned. He was a bit tired. He hadn't really gotten any sleep since Holly and Trouble broke in, and he felt his limbs flop beside him.
"I'll take him!" Sylvia opted enthusiastically, reaching over and gripping Tyler's hand like a vice. Tyler flinched a little but accepted the gesture, gripping her back. Chix nodded and then pointed around the corner.
"Off we go!" He cried drunkenly, and the he began walking, Sylvia and Tyler following. Lili hesitated, but then she too hurried off to catch up.
By the time Holly was out of the building, Tyler was already gone.
Chix swore as he tried to find the keys in his pockets. Sylvia was still cooing over Tyler and Lili was watching them both with such a look of disdain that any passer-by would have taken one look at her and run for their lives. Finally, Chix pulled the keys out of his pocket and now attempted the impossibly complicated operation of actually opening the door. After at least eight shots of trying to actually get the key in the hole, he finally managed to push it in and turn it until he heard a sharp click and the door, creaking on its hinges, swung open to reveal a surprisingly messy living room, with dirty clothes littering every square inch of floor. Parts that were not covered with mess revealed a creamy white carpet that had become crusty and stained with age. To make it worse, lying on the desk in the corner was a small gun. Top of the range LEP gear that was.
It didn't really worry Chix at the time.
"Welcome to my dive!" he cried, rushing in and pushing a dirty stack of papers off a large cabinet and then opening it and pulling out two glasses and a bottle of Mud wine.
"Expensive stuff!" he said, holding it up proudly. "Got it from a dealer on the surface…" he winked. "I'm a good cop, but I can play bad cop just as well…why don't you take a seat?"
Both girls ignored the awful pickup line, and instead focused on the disgusting state of the house. Lili grimaced as she noticed a pair of boxers poking out from under the yellowed couch. Even Sylvia tore her eyes away from Tyler and sniffed the air, wrinkling her nose slightly at the stale smell. Chix poured out a couple of drinks and began to take them over, but he accidentally tripped over on a spare paper and both drinks went flying into the air. The was a loud clinking of glass as they collided on the ground and cracked into pieces, splashing wine over Chix and the old carpet. He lay there for a moment, slightly shocked, and then he noticed that his fingers hurt a lot. He quickly looked over and gasped when he saw a deep cut in his finger with a splinter of glass poking out.
"D'arvit!" He cried, non to gentlemanly. He stood up, brushed himself off and looked up, blushing slightly and trying to remain calm.
"Be back in a moment ladies." He declared, and then he rapidly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and cursing rather loudly as he walked to the bathroom.
Sylvia and Lili looked at each other. Lili shook her head.
"I'm not staying any more!" she said. "He creeps me out…" she waved to Sylvia and then tip-toed over the clothes and jumped out the door, leaving Sylvia and Tyler alone.
Tyler, who had only half paid attention to everything, yawned, let go of Sylvia's hand and propped himself on the couch.
"When's Holly coming back?" he murmured sleepily. He half closed his eyes and watched the foggy outline of Sylvia move around slightly.
"She'll be home soon honey." Came the reassuring voice. "Although, I don't think you'll be seeing her anymore."
Tyler frowned through his closed eyelids. "Don't be silly. Why…?"
Suddenly, there was a clicking noise in front of him. Tyler's eyes snapped open and he sat shock still as he stared down the big, black barrel that was positioned between his eyes. The next words spoken were cold and blank, and they filled Tyler with a fear he had only ever felt once before, the night he had been shot.
"Don't worry, Holly will come." Sylvia said, and then she laughed. "Someone has to examine the body."
Holly pushed open the doors and ran out into the cool night air, desperately searching for clues as to where her little Mud Boy had gone.
"Tyler!" she called out, knowing she would get no answer. She raised her voice until she was screaming, calling the name over and over again.
"Tyler!"
"Would you just shut up?" Someone called from the window of a rather dull apartment. "Your doggy will come back soon, okay?"
Holly resisted the urge to go up there with her buzz baton, and instead bit her lip and took a deep breath.
"Have you seen a little boy around here?" she called. She didn't care if she woke up the entire neighbourhood. There was a second or two silence, and then Holly heard a voice behind her.
"Oh, are you Holly?"
Holly whirled around, only to come face to face with an extremely thin woman wearing a very short skirt and a ripped T-shirt. The first word Holly thought of to describe her was not particularly nice, but she didn't say anything.
"How do you know my name?" she asked suspiciously instead.
"Oh, that kid kept talking about you, Taylor or whatever." The woman was flippant and vague with her answer. "Some mother you are, leaving the poor kid out here."
"Where is he?" Holly practically screamed the question in her frenzy to find him. The elf rolled her eyes at her.
"God, chill. We went to this disgusting cop's house. I left before he could pull one of his bogus moves on me…yuk."
"Can you take me there?" asked Holly, jumping up and down with anticipation. The elf eyed her sceptically for a moment, and then held out her hand.
"How much is he worth to you?" she asked. Holly impatiently gripped her arm.
"I can pay you hundreds when we get him back. Just take me to him. Now."
The elf contemplated this move, and then shrugged.
"Fine." She murmured, gesturing for Holly to follow her. "But Lili Frond only accepts cash. And lots of it."
Tyler gulped as he once again stared down the barrel. He tried to move away, but Sylvia pinned him onto the couch until he couldn't move a muscle. Sylvia leaned closer, and Tyler could smell a faint perfume smell mixed with alcohol.
"Why are you doing this?" he sobbed.
"I just want some payback." Sylvia whispered into his ear. Then she kissed him lightly, lips brushing against his cheek and leaving a faint, sticky imprint of lipstick. "I want them to know what it's like to live my live in the dark…"
She cocked the gun and dragged it slowly around his head until it was positioned on the side of his head. The cold barrel left an icy feeling across his forehead, and he could taste his salty tears falling down his face and making his pyjamas all wet.
"Don't worry." Sylvia murmured. "You won't feel a thing…"
BANG!
Tyler screamed. Thankfully for him though, it wasn't the gun that had exploded. The door flung open and Holly burst through, shortly followed by Lili who also screamed when she saw the gun in Sylvia's hand.
"What are you doing?!" she screamed.
"Finishing what I started!" Sylvia exclaimed, standing up and picking Tyler up with her. She turned to Holly. "Move an inch and I'll shoot!"
Holly's face turned white. It was all happening again. Except this time, she was alone and had only one weapon at her disposal, which was useless here. At least last time she had had the advantage of her shield, here if she moved a finger the elf would fire. She was watching her like a hawk, never blinking and constantly pushing the gun into Tyler's head. There was a small movement out of the corner of her eye…
And then, all of a sudden, there was a crash and the elf gasped. Holly blinked as Sylvia toppled to the ground, relinquishing her grip on Tyler and the gun, both of which also fell to the ground. Behind her was Lili, who was shaking violently as she gripped the end of a broken and bloody martini glass and stared down at the unmoving body of her friend.
Amidst all this, there was a creak as the door in the corner slid open, and Chix walked out in a new shirt, with a big smile on his face.
"So ladies…" he began, and then he noticed Holly with Tyler, Lili with the glass and Sylvia knocked out on the floor, and he frowned deeply.
"What happened?" he asked slightly shakily. Holly glared at him.
"You." She gestured to him. "Are under arrest for kidnapping and irresponsible use of a LEP weapon. As of now, you will be detained until further notice. You will remain silent. Got that?"
Chix opened his mouth to say yes, and then thought better of it and instead nodded very quickly. Holly nodded too, and then made her way out the door.
"Carry her out with you." She ordered, showing no sympathy for the elf as she went over to a sobbing Tyler and picked him up, leading him out. Lili followed them without a second thought, until it was only Chix left in the room. He stared down at the woman and groaned.
"D'arvit." He mumbled again, leaning down to pick her up. "Why'd I pick this job?"
Sorry if the ending seemed funny...did it seem funny:S Next chapter, Root gets everything under control and Holly loses Tyler seemingly forever...
Thanks to xamethyst girlx, paradisegurl101 and milly for reviewing!