The office was dark and menacing. It was suitable for a villain.
Nero looked at Raven.
"Collect Artemis Fowl the Second. It's time he joined the school. He's late enough as it is."
A figure made its way through the grounds. Small bits of stone clattered their way to the dirt. A window was unlatched silently. The light from a computer gave a light blue glow to part of the room. A shadowy figure crept through the window.
A lean figure sat, surrounded by darkness. A respective blue and hazel eye looking at the screen, long fingers tapping away at the keyboard. The digits paused every now and then as the teen thought.
Butler was in the kitchen, creating a midnight snack. This time, it was a bowl of ice cream, leftover cake, and a scone. This monstrosity of sugar and rising cholesterol was covered in chocolate chips, peanut butter, and drizzled with chocolate syrup. It was a rare delicacy, and Butler was going to enjoy it to the fullest. And he would have, if not for a loud sound.
Upstairs, the figure slid around the room, hugging to the walls, and then darted forward.
A shot rang out in Artemis's study.
Butler dropped his spoon on the counter, and bolted up the stairs.
One person in the room was slouched, trying to stand up. The other person in the room was holding a tranquilizer gun. Butler was half way to the study. Fortunately for the the two in the study, the rest of the Fowl family was on vacation in Germany. Butler pulled out his gun as he stalked toward the study doors.
Artemis placed the modified Grach on the table next to his mouse. The gun was a gift from his human friends(which were part of a morally grey syndicate). Artemis tapped a few more keys to finish the length of code.
The woman desperately tried to hold onto consciousness, and then collapsed. Artemis tapped a key to finish and turned the lights in the room up.
Artemis raised an eyebrow, and gave a short (somewhat uncharacteristic) whistle at the unconscious black figure.
IFT (Instinctive Firing Training) twice a week really was helping. Apparently physical training wasn't too bad(and it already had a great result), but he couldn't retract his words about physical activity none the less.
As for the intruder, he would have to tell his few close friends (the executives, Holly, Foaly, and Butler) what happened. He'd bet a large sum of money, that the rest of his friends would 'love' to take care of a whoever it was...if Butler didn't get to the woman first.
Time to do some research on whoever it is. Artemis started going through different channels and contacts, asking what they've heard.
Butler entered the room, ready to fire.
"Butler." Artemis greeted. The man holstered his gun, walking over to unknown figure. Artemis continued, "I knocked her out. She was trying to sneak up on me. Put her in the appropriate accommodations, please."
Butler raised a eyebrow at the woman, having taken off her mask. "If you're looking for information, this woman is an assassin by the name of Raven."
"Wonderful."
"Don't stay up too late Artemis." Butler said, hauling the assassin over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Alright." The teen said, giving a sigh, and somewhat conceding.
Omake:
Breaking open the hive and getting the honey
Hacking H.I.V.E. by himself would be almost impossible (especially if you factor in the A.I), something Artemis would never want to admit. In the form of some hacker allies and friends, several of them managed to slip through a back door.
Files were downloaded into several servers around the world, Q's, Fowl's, Fenwick's, Farisi's, Chernoff's, Fuller's, Saoirse's and a few others. The coding had been changed for many of the H.I.V.E. programs. Due to the large group of talented hackers, H.I.V.E. wouldn't figure out they were hacked for serval days. By that time, the information would be decrypted, analyzed, secured, wiped from all but three main servers connected to no router, honeypot, or onion, and no one would have a clue who did it. Internet anonymity is beautiful.
One day later
"Where is Raven?" "She hasn't returned, sir." 'I was hoping to never have to send out a retrieval team for Raven. But she's too valuable too lose, for the moment."
Two weeks later
Nero clenched his hand into a fist. "What do you MEAN we were hacked?"
