Going straight
That was what Artemis Fowl the second had told himself every evening since his father's return. Time to go straight. Maybe it was time for the Fowls to change paths and save the world. But that wasn't what Artemis wanted. His father had changed in the Artic. Changed for the worse.
Jon Spiro was relaxing in his office when the alarm bells rang out throughout Spiro Industries. Somehow, someone had managed to breach his excessive alarm system to steal one of his new blueprints. Well, no one steals from Spiro and gets away with it. By pressing a button on the intercom, Spiro was able to chat with his bodyguard, Arno Blunt. No individual had ever outwitted anyone in the Blunt family. Some people even compared them to the Butlers!
"Do you read me?" asked Spiro into his two-way speaker. "Blunt, listen to me this instant! THE ALARMS ARE GOING? WHAT SORT OF BODYGUARD ARE YOU?"
The answer is 'an unconscious one'. Blunt was lucky really. Not many people survive dwarf gas and lived to tell the tale. As far as Mulch Diggums could recall, only Butler had ever managed to live through a blast from his noxious gas.
Behind the kleptomaniac dwarf was the evil mastermind and ally to the People, Artemis Fowl the second.
"Why are we here again?" Mulch uttered underneath his husky breath.
"I told you Mulch," Artemis scolded. "We are here to gain a part of my C Cube. Only Spiro Industries has it."
"What is it then?"
"A specific audio device!" Artemis grinned since the first time since he had travelled through miles of underground waste. "Which just happens to be in this room. On this bodyguard in fact. Spiro is more idiotic than he appears. The one device that will bankrupt him and he deliver it to us on a gleaming, 24 carrot gold plate!"
Leaning down over the bodyguard, Artemis snatched the communications device from around Blunt's neck. The infamous Arno Blunt defeated by a dwarf.
Before the despicable duo could retreat, Blunt leapt up from the floor and vigorously shoved Artemis into the brick wall. Before Blunt could witness who had broken through all of his security, Mulch engulfed the bodyguard's giant head with only his mouth. The bodyguard convulsed for a few seconds before crumbling to the floor limply like a skeletal corpse.
"Don't ever," Mulch panted after he had released his captive. "Ask me to help you go on one last mission again!"
Of course, it would only be a matter of weeks before Mulch helped Artemis overcome Spiro once more…