A/N: One last thank you to those who have stuck by me despite my erratic uploading schedule. This is the last chapter of the all-to-short Next Adventure. The chapter is itself fairly short, just long enough to lead into my next story, currently being outlined.

-Two Weeks Later-

Major Holly Short looked at the screen in front of her. Numbers scrolled across the screen, tracking variables in a complex simulation. In a video window, a slim figure walked along a simulated street, in a simulated Haven.

Behind him, several yards back, a figure keeping to the shadows followed.

-Elsewhere-

Artemis walked along, pushing through midday traffic in Haven's market district. As he wandered, he felt as if he was being watched.

-Ops Booth-

Holly pressed a few keys, watching as the shadowy figure moved closer to her prey. All too easy, she thought, before realization hit her, Too easy.

-Elsewhere-

Artemis spun around, pulling a small pistol from the holster hidden by his suit jacket. He fired several shots into a nearby patch of shadow, watching as the attacker, having barely finished shielding, shimmered into view and fell unconscious to the pavement. He looked up, in no particular direction, knowing Holly's sensors would focus on his face. "You're going to have to do better than that," he said, to no one in particular, "He's been following me for blocks."

He had just finished speaking when a random passerby pulled out a buzz baton and touched it to the back of his neck, unactivated.

"I'm behind you," the wielder of the baton said, "So you can stop talking into the cameras."

Holly had been running simulations with Artemis for a week now, preparing him in case someone tried to hurt him again. Lately she had taken to involving herself in the endgame. She hadn't lost yet.

That's when Artemis dissolved.

Holly felt something stick into her back. From behind her, someone spoke.

"Yes, well, if it's you trying to kidnap me, I might just let you." Artemis unshielded, tapping a few button on his communicator, turning off the simulation.

"You cheated!" Holly said with mock surprise, turning to face him, "You hacked my sim!"

"You've been cheating the whole time," Artemis said, feigning hurt to go with her surprise, "Bombs from nowhere; sudden rooftop attackers during sniper training; the elephants, for sure." Artemis was sure Butler had called that one in.

Holly grinned and kissed him before turning towards the door.

"You never know what people will go through to get to the great Artemis Fowl." She emphasized his name, full of exaggeration, "Now come on, you've been stalking through Haven on a hot afternoon for hours, you need a cold shower."

"And you?" Artemis asked, following her.

"I've been watching you stalk through Haven on a hot afternoon for hours, I need a very cold shower."

-Thirty Minutes Later-

Artemis walked out of Police Plaza hand in hand with Holly.

"I never thought I'd be walking with a Mud Man through the streets of Haven without handcuffs being involved." Holly said, looking up at Foaly's holo-sky.

"Perhaps," Artemis said, tilting his head back to look as well, "For once, we can finally have more than a few months between instances of saving the world."

That was when Foaly's sky turned red and in the distance, the blast doors could be seen sliding shut.

As klaxons wailed, Artemis sighed.

"Or, perhaps not."

A/N: The end, for now. Stay tuned for my next story, Artemis Fowl and the Necromancer