Chapter One: Spearhead Tactics
~34 Miles off the South American Coast~
In the darkness, multiple lights flashed in all directions. Red ones, green ones, orange ones, there was no shortage of lights. This was a problem. Bullets were flying past, some penetrating the outer hull of the helicopter, as Claws (a much-loved nickname, given to him by his comrades) struggled to keep control of his craft, beeping noises emanated from the control panel in front of him.
'Fuel Pressure Low,' it echoed through the cabin like a death- sentence. To make matters worse, two US Navy Black Hawk 'choppers were on his tail, 'Oh shit' said a soft, teen-aged voice. Claws squirmed uncomfortably in his black jumpsuit; the helmet was playing havoc with his ears. 'I need a way out and I need it quick' he breathed, the computer in front of him calculated his words perfectly and responded moments later; 'There are multiple solutions to this predicament; One, eject from the craft and escape by boat. Two, jettison the outer casing of the XMLmII and go into Aeroplane Mode. Three-' The computer was cut short by airless speech from Claws, 'One! Number one!' he cried, as soon as he had uttered a word, clips either side of him mechanically broke and he fell silently downwards toward the black water of the Atlantic.
As the water broke, Claws took a deep breath and cold water flooded over his body, he was tied to his seat and could do nothing. He gasped uncontrollably, the water subsided moments later and Claws let out his last lungful of air slowly, feeling the warmth return to his skin. He reached out shakily to the controls and began to start up the outboard engines when gulped, looked up and whimpered momentarily. The pockmarked remains of the multi-million dollar helicopter rained down on Claws, burning blue flames and plummeting towards the sea with alarming speed.
~West Cuba, White beach~
The next time Claws saw daylight was two days later, he lay face-down in a mixture of what seemed to be mud and sand, he looked up and coughed, his mouth as dry as the sand all around him.
They shouldn't have sent me on this one he thought, rolling onto his back and looking up at the bright-blue sky through the tinted glass of his helmet, how could they send a kid on a mission like this?? He stood up gingerly, wishing he could take off his helmet and rub his throbbing temples, massage his ear, which had ached since he put on the helmet itself. Looking around, he noticed a patch of trees, which provided ample shade to remove his headgear without suffering much burn from the sun. He made his way, staggering, through the sand and collapsed below a tall banana tree.
Claws slumped against the tree and removed one of the latex gloves and stretched his fingers lovingly in the warm air, letting a small breeze play across his knuckles. He smiled under the helmet, which he ever so slowly pulled from his head, the pressure hissing as the stale, recycled air escaped from the cavity of the helmet.
He looked cute, for an elf. His pale green skin was soft and gentle and his striking hazel eyes bore out from under his low-cut brilliant blonde hair. His ears, though lacking in circulation, were poking out between long strands of hair. This was the newest, most well-trained and youngest member of the Lower Elements Police. This was Anthony Short of LEPrecon, Special Agent for the People.
Being an elf was okay, unless you went above ground. Living in Haven for so long can make your skin adapt to synthetic sunlight. This was Ant's first time above ground and he wasn't enjoying it and it was about to get a lot worse.. A crackle emanated from his helmet, a transmission from home. He plugged his headgear on his skull too fast and folded down one of his ears, which is excruciating for an elf. Commander Root's purple face blinked on-screen, the water had clearly damaged most systems inside the high-tech piece of equipment, including the digital filters. 'SHORT! What ARE you doing?' Root blared. Anthony winced from the noise. 'You are in a populated area, you are late and let me guess, you are UNSHIELDED. Correct?' he demanded. Anthony stammered, 'Y-yes. s-sir. I...I got hurt.. a-and.' Root didn't wait for the rest of the answer, the Commander are lighting up a Fungus Cigar, clearly straining to control his anger. 'Alright, Short. this clearly tells me that the whole family of Shorts up until now are complete wastes of my time..' He said through his teeth and a cloud of billowing cigar smoke, 'My sister is.' Anthony began, remembering all the top-secret LEP files he had read about Artemis Fowl and his sister, Holly, who had done spectacular things to save Haven and the People from certain discovery by the surface- dwelling mud-men. 'She's saved your ass more than once!' he shouted, '..sir..'
Even Root started to recall Holly Short's 'adventures,' it had all started when Artemis Fowl, twelve-year-old genius, had kidnapped Holly with the purpose of holding her to ransom. Ten metric sons of Fairy gold were lost that day. 'Yes, MISTER Short, but she didn't do it alone, now did she?' he fumed, clouds of smoke drifted around like a shield, 'Now, I want you underside, pronto.. your mission wasn't a complete failure, at least the stolen fairy technology was destroyed..' He paused, bringing up another screen on Claws' helmet screen, a map. 'You, boy, are here.' a red blip appeared on the west coast of Cuba, 'And your nearest chute is... Here..' A red cross appeared on the other side of the country. 'Yessir' he grunted, releasing a catch on his jumpsuit and unfolded a pair of delicate sprite wings, 'I'll be in your office in a few hours, I need to check for wreckage first.' 'No, Short, Foaly has already scanned for the technology, it has completely vanished from scans, evidently destroyed.' Root mumbled and turned off the screen, leaving the small digital map in the corner for Anthony's reference.
Claws had never met Foaly in person, he'd read reports but longed to meet the ingenious yet eccentric Centaur himself. Foaly was the reason why the Elvin city Haven had flourished underground, with the help of Opal Koboi (Research scientist gone mad) they had built Haven into a high-tech paradise. Opal was also the reason for one of Holly's escapades. She had gained the help of an ex-LEP Commander, Cudgeon. Together they engineered a Dwarvish rebellion, which almost collapsed the city of Haven. Opal Koboi had manipulated the Bwa K'ell (The Goblin mafia) and used them to attack the LEP headquarters.
Holly had, this time, teamed up with Artemis and thwarted the uprising, saving Haven from certain doom. Holly was once again, a hero and Artemis was becoming a friend of the People.
Anthony climbed to a height of five-thousand feet, his helmet pressurising again (after strenuous attempts to straighten his ear) and he was using the remnants of his magical power to make his body vibrate faster than the human eye could see, he was shielded, flying and en-route to the nearest Shuttle port back to Haven, what could go wrong?
~34 Miles off the South American Coast~
In the darkness, multiple lights flashed in all directions. Red ones, green ones, orange ones, there was no shortage of lights. This was a problem. Bullets were flying past, some penetrating the outer hull of the helicopter, as Claws (a much-loved nickname, given to him by his comrades) struggled to keep control of his craft, beeping noises emanated from the control panel in front of him.
'Fuel Pressure Low,' it echoed through the cabin like a death- sentence. To make matters worse, two US Navy Black Hawk 'choppers were on his tail, 'Oh shit' said a soft, teen-aged voice. Claws squirmed uncomfortably in his black jumpsuit; the helmet was playing havoc with his ears. 'I need a way out and I need it quick' he breathed, the computer in front of him calculated his words perfectly and responded moments later; 'There are multiple solutions to this predicament; One, eject from the craft and escape by boat. Two, jettison the outer casing of the XMLmII and go into Aeroplane Mode. Three-' The computer was cut short by airless speech from Claws, 'One! Number one!' he cried, as soon as he had uttered a word, clips either side of him mechanically broke and he fell silently downwards toward the black water of the Atlantic.
As the water broke, Claws took a deep breath and cold water flooded over his body, he was tied to his seat and could do nothing. He gasped uncontrollably, the water subsided moments later and Claws let out his last lungful of air slowly, feeling the warmth return to his skin. He reached out shakily to the controls and began to start up the outboard engines when gulped, looked up and whimpered momentarily. The pockmarked remains of the multi-million dollar helicopter rained down on Claws, burning blue flames and plummeting towards the sea with alarming speed.
~West Cuba, White beach~
The next time Claws saw daylight was two days later, he lay face-down in a mixture of what seemed to be mud and sand, he looked up and coughed, his mouth as dry as the sand all around him.
They shouldn't have sent me on this one he thought, rolling onto his back and looking up at the bright-blue sky through the tinted glass of his helmet, how could they send a kid on a mission like this?? He stood up gingerly, wishing he could take off his helmet and rub his throbbing temples, massage his ear, which had ached since he put on the helmet itself. Looking around, he noticed a patch of trees, which provided ample shade to remove his headgear without suffering much burn from the sun. He made his way, staggering, through the sand and collapsed below a tall banana tree.
Claws slumped against the tree and removed one of the latex gloves and stretched his fingers lovingly in the warm air, letting a small breeze play across his knuckles. He smiled under the helmet, which he ever so slowly pulled from his head, the pressure hissing as the stale, recycled air escaped from the cavity of the helmet.
He looked cute, for an elf. His pale green skin was soft and gentle and his striking hazel eyes bore out from under his low-cut brilliant blonde hair. His ears, though lacking in circulation, were poking out between long strands of hair. This was the newest, most well-trained and youngest member of the Lower Elements Police. This was Anthony Short of LEPrecon, Special Agent for the People.
Being an elf was okay, unless you went above ground. Living in Haven for so long can make your skin adapt to synthetic sunlight. This was Ant's first time above ground and he wasn't enjoying it and it was about to get a lot worse.. A crackle emanated from his helmet, a transmission from home. He plugged his headgear on his skull too fast and folded down one of his ears, which is excruciating for an elf. Commander Root's purple face blinked on-screen, the water had clearly damaged most systems inside the high-tech piece of equipment, including the digital filters. 'SHORT! What ARE you doing?' Root blared. Anthony winced from the noise. 'You are in a populated area, you are late and let me guess, you are UNSHIELDED. Correct?' he demanded. Anthony stammered, 'Y-yes. s-sir. I...I got hurt.. a-and.' Root didn't wait for the rest of the answer, the Commander are lighting up a Fungus Cigar, clearly straining to control his anger. 'Alright, Short. this clearly tells me that the whole family of Shorts up until now are complete wastes of my time..' He said through his teeth and a cloud of billowing cigar smoke, 'My sister is.' Anthony began, remembering all the top-secret LEP files he had read about Artemis Fowl and his sister, Holly, who had done spectacular things to save Haven and the People from certain discovery by the surface- dwelling mud-men. 'She's saved your ass more than once!' he shouted, '..sir..'
Even Root started to recall Holly Short's 'adventures,' it had all started when Artemis Fowl, twelve-year-old genius, had kidnapped Holly with the purpose of holding her to ransom. Ten metric sons of Fairy gold were lost that day. 'Yes, MISTER Short, but she didn't do it alone, now did she?' he fumed, clouds of smoke drifted around like a shield, 'Now, I want you underside, pronto.. your mission wasn't a complete failure, at least the stolen fairy technology was destroyed..' He paused, bringing up another screen on Claws' helmet screen, a map. 'You, boy, are here.' a red blip appeared on the west coast of Cuba, 'And your nearest chute is... Here..' A red cross appeared on the other side of the country. 'Yessir' he grunted, releasing a catch on his jumpsuit and unfolded a pair of delicate sprite wings, 'I'll be in your office in a few hours, I need to check for wreckage first.' 'No, Short, Foaly has already scanned for the technology, it has completely vanished from scans, evidently destroyed.' Root mumbled and turned off the screen, leaving the small digital map in the corner for Anthony's reference.
Claws had never met Foaly in person, he'd read reports but longed to meet the ingenious yet eccentric Centaur himself. Foaly was the reason why the Elvin city Haven had flourished underground, with the help of Opal Koboi (Research scientist gone mad) they had built Haven into a high-tech paradise. Opal was also the reason for one of Holly's escapades. She had gained the help of an ex-LEP Commander, Cudgeon. Together they engineered a Dwarvish rebellion, which almost collapsed the city of Haven. Opal Koboi had manipulated the Bwa K'ell (The Goblin mafia) and used them to attack the LEP headquarters.
Holly had, this time, teamed up with Artemis and thwarted the uprising, saving Haven from certain doom. Holly was once again, a hero and Artemis was becoming a friend of the People.
Anthony climbed to a height of five-thousand feet, his helmet pressurising again (after strenuous attempts to straighten his ear) and he was using the remnants of his magical power to make his body vibrate faster than the human eye could see, he was shielded, flying and en-route to the nearest Shuttle port back to Haven, what could go wrong?