AN: Sorry this took so long! I've been busy with school and exams and such. Enjoy! :)


Nathaniel was briefed about the two strange fellows by the gracious and easily flustered hotel manager, Mr Flanagan. He learnt that the boy's name was Artemis Fowl, and the big man was his bodyguard, Butler. "Butler?" Nathaniel repeated. Mr Flanagan simply nodded and could not elaborate further about the bodyguard's name, or indeed about their whole suspicious affairs. He merely informed Nathaniel that Fowl and Butler were in a business trip from Ireland. As for what kind of business that they were involved in, they stated that it was classified. Sighing, Nathaniel said thank you to the manager and asked him to show him the way to the suspects.

Before he went in to the meeting room – which, in this occasion, was also his interrogation room – he had taken a moment to inspect the offending item: a blue-green sphere found in the boy's bag. The sphere was an ancient item with no real value, aside from the mildly amusing spiral pattern that moved magically inside it. Nathaniel suspected a hidden button that could reveal its' true form (perhaps it was a complex supernatural weapon disguised as a harmless globe?) and had instructed Bartimaeus to check it; he found nothing. The djinni declared the item as "utter trash", so Nathaniel left it in Bartimaeus' possession and strode off into the room.

"Good morning," he said pleasantly. The meeting room they were in was large and painted white. A long table was in the center, with twelve chairs surrounding it. The boy and giant sat in one side of the table, staring at Nathaniel with no real interest. He found that deeply offending – he was the government's youngest minister, for crying out loud!

Before he could introduce himself, however, the boy – Fowl – said immediately, "Butler and I are terribly tired and rather thirsty. We've been waiting for at least half an hour for no real cause, and nobody had explained why we are here."

Nathaniel frowned. "You are here because you are caught having a magical artifact in your –"

"Is that not allowed –?"

"Not in places with important magicians about. Tell me, Mr Fowl, have you heard about the Resistance before?"

"No."

"Well, then, you've been living under a rock. The Resistance are a group of youth – much like yourself – that commit petty theft of magical objects to overrule the magicians. Such foolish acts, I must say." He chuckled, emphasizing his opinion on how ridiculous the Resistance was.

"I am not part of them," Artemis said shortly.

"No? Then what are you, Mr Fowl? Surely you don't mean to tell me that you're just an ordinary commoner who found an elemental sphere on the ground and decided to pick it up? Those things are exotic and rare, I understand. Perhaps you saw the pretty little thing glinting in some magician's room and you –"

"I see what you're doing here," Artemis smiled. "You're being the aggressive cop. Everything you said is to confuse and overwhelm me, until I finally cracked and said something I wish I hadn't."

"Well," said Nathaniel, "let's skip to the part where you finally crack, shall we? Who are you?"

"I am Artemis Fowl Junior, son of Artemis Fowl Senior. This is my bodyguard, Butler. But you know all that already."

"Quite right," Nathaniel nodded seriously. "I know your names. What I don't know is who are you exactly. You don't quite strike me as a commoner, what with your attire and the present of your bodyguard –" he made a quotation mark in the air, "– but I find it hard to believe that you are an apprentice, either. What master would let his apprentice wondering around London all by his lonesome except for a ... bodyguard?"

Artemis glanced at Butler. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them at that moment, and Artemis straighten himself up. "Mr –?"

"John Mandrake, Internal Affair Minister."

"Mr Mandrake, I am about to tell you something that is ... impossible, to say the least. Do you think you can believe it?"

Nathaniel raised one eyebrow. This was not what he imagined the interrogation would go at all. He thought Fowl would admitted that he did steal the sphere, and that Butler was his accomplice. They would go to jail, and Nathaniel could return to his coffee at his office. Oh, well. Perhaps this could prove to be more interesting than his dull paperwork. Quietly, he nodded.

"I doubt that very much, Mr Mandrake, but what choice do we have?" Artemis said. "I have been humoring you, you see. I think it is outrageous that you have arrested me because I possess a magical object, simply because magic should not be seen as real. At least, it isn't in my world. And it is also very unlikely that you are a minister – what are you, thirteen, fourteen? – but judging by how different everything else is, perhaps it is common to have such young ministers here.

What I'm trying to say is, Butler and I don't belong in this world. We are transported here magically, it's true, but it is by a kind that actually does magic, never by humans such as yourself. Simply put, we are from two different universe, or dimension, or whatever you wish to call it."

Nathaniel reaction was to stare at Artemis fully for two whole seconds, before laughing. He shook his head and made his was to the door, trying to recall the number of the mental hospital. That is, before his way was blocked by the giant – Butler. "You are not going anywhere," he said dangerously. "We need help."