Chapter 3: Game
I'm really sorry for the delay, I've got malfunctioning devices
-MAY THE 'FOURS' BE WITH YOU~Foaly-
"How many times do I have to tell you Arty, call me Mom. Now come, I will cook our breakfast. Juliet is watching the twins and you are going to help me in the kitchen"
Artemis furrowed his brows.
"But Mom…" he tried to object but his mother will not hear any of it.
"I will not be going to accept any excuses from you, young man. In the kitchen, now."
"Yes mom-" Artemis said in resignation and annoyance, retreating footsteps could be heard in an empty hall. All these happened in front of Artemis's study, and it's only 7:30 in the morning.
It took all the patience and skill of one juvenile genius to complete one task, and that is to wash the vegetable. At first it was mincing, then cutting, but when Artemis held the knife… Angeline knew it was a very bad idea to let her Arty hold any sharp objects, even 5 meters away from the boy.
Too dangerous
"Mom, I'm done. Am I dismissed from my manual labor?" Artemis could not take it anymore. He would rather be chased by a pack of hormone driven Trolls, even subjected in crawling with dwarf's behind right in front of you. At least he could ESCAPE! Sadly, tragedy decided to follow him this time of day.
After Artemis's 'torture', he hid in his study to escape both his brothers and mother. He increased the security and limited the access to this room not just to prevent unwanted company but also to protect his privacy—and Holly – but mostly from unwanted company, thus Artemis activated his isolated security, exclusive only to this very room.
"Had fun Mud Boy?" snickered Holly
"I so posted that in " Foaly then laughed at his fellow genius
Artemis glared on the soon-to-be-dead centaur. "What's on our status in our investigation?"
"Check your e-mail. It's there, including—that"
Artemis's eye twitched.
All throughout the day they discussed on how they were going to tackle their problem, primarily retrieving the missing Fairy tech without any assistance from the People, including the limited assistance from the LEP Techy.
It took them almost three weeks to plan and arrange some 'business', both legitimate and non-legitimate to ensure solid alibis and backup stories. Artemis also arranged a one-month-worth of schedule for his parents' honeymoon to Greece. He also donated anonymously to Myles's and Beckett's elementary school to have a school trip abroad, seemingly coincidental close to his parents' whereabouts. He also donated to his own school to be renovated, both the building to expand and its gardens, thus suspending the classes for one month and to cause for the whole class to relocating to some of the old buildings. But since some of these old buildings were destroyed caused by a small earthquake (Holly rolled her eyes on Artemis while he's testing his Platonic Shifting Prototype); Artemis, through his alias, that a portion of the donation will be funded on the travels in moving the classes to the one of the most prestigious school worldwide, located in Japan. From there, they will hold their school year in that school for the semester—and of course, primarily for their mission, but the school doesn't need to know that.
Foaly asked his fellow genii as to why the complex arrangement of events just to build an alibi. What he did not expected was the cold deathly aura projecting from the child protégé. Artemis's explanation was this:
'Foaly…' Artemis's cold demeanor seems to become visible 'We do not know what we were up against. We know this is an organization, but we do not know as to how large they are. I, for one, know they are extremely dangerous. Butler's instinct and warning to me are enough to push me in my limits to plan and to ensure my safety and my family's safety above all else. We may be on a legitimate business but not all my enemies got the memo. I will enroll to my school in different name, I trust you to ensure my false identity is solid and foolproof, when someone will run on personal reconnaissance on my biography, make them a dead end. During this relocation, Artemis Fowl the Second is with his family in Greece not in Japan…'
Artemis's paranoia is valid when Foaly found some ghost videos on incidents and cases happened not only in Japan, but worldwide.
He and Artemis build a new identity for Artemis, Holly, and Butler.
By the start of June, Finn Broekhart, Isabell Broekhart, and Wynter Broekhart, left for Japan due to temporary relocation of St. Bartleby's School for Young Gentlemen.
-EIB: EVERYBODY IN THE BUILDING~Holly-
June 3; Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Haneda Airport
A family of three, the Broekharts, emerge from the terminal. A boy, a teenager was complaining to someone who looks like his father.
"This is ridiculous, I have already endured sitting on a rock with a pathetic excuse for a chair. I will not going to ride a—" Finn spat in disgust "—Public Train"
Isabell rolled her eyes and punched her 'brother's' rib—or rather his thigh— "Please, we were seated on class A, private lounge on that plane, funded by our generous funder" air quoting the word 'generous', as if to mock —in this case, really mock him specifically.
"Enough, we are on a public setting" reprimanded by their father, Wynter Broekhart, what he meant was someone's watching us
"Public Setting? We are surrounded by Finny's classmates and their respective families" Isabell retorted, who?
"Of course we are in a public setting, there are people behind our group" is that good enough for you?
"Anti-social narcissist" you dwarf's behind
The principal of St. Bartlabey gave their boarding address to each of their representatives—err, guardian—and their individual room designation, including their class schedule.
Finn Broekhart is assigned to the east wing of the building located 50 meters from the school. It was nearly midnight when they arrived at the Japanese Area of Responsibility and landed on Tokyo Haneda Airport by early morning.
When they arrived on their designated address, Butler did his routine security check. Artemis rigged every nooks and crannies with his portable house security system and logged every one of them to his computer. Once everything is set, safe, and sound, Holly and Foaly updated themselves on what was happening on Haven, while Artemis and Butler checked their thin film of nano-fibers imbedded through their person.
This nano-fibers were applied from head to toe via continuous spray. It was a dust-like substance if it was in inactive form. When it comes contact with any surface with body heat—including elf skin—the dust-like particle will arrange themselves into fibers and embeds itself into the ridges on the surface.
It was built on that three-week planning. It was designed to alter fingerprints, prevent hair fall, even blood component DNA. When a needle becomes in contact with the skin with nano-fibers, thin fibers will stretch, arranging themselves on the bevel of the needle. When the blood is being drawn, the DNA and other identifiers are filtered and destroyed, replacing with pre-made DNA sequence, courtesy of Foaly.
This was built by Artemis, but the blueprints came from Foaly, even though it was proposed by the Mudboy. Artemis inserted his 'personal touch', by modifying these fibers to become indestructible, serving like a life vest, in more ways than one. Its basic principle where primarily at force exerted. If the trajectory is at high force due to acceleration such as bullet, the fiber will harden to compensate for the force. The stronger the force exerted, the harder the fiber gets when the force itself is beyond the threshold that were set. It was done to differentiate a speeding sniper bullet from a doctor's needle.
Paranoia will keep you safe, being reminded to Holly not just by the two genii, but also her fellow soldier.
The playing board is set, the pieces are now arranged. A hunter challenges a flock of crows. A series of games and puzzles laid out. Where will the first point will go to? The Hunters…or…the crows?
First game: Hide and Seek
-COWARDS ARE SURVIVORS~Mulch-
A/N
I know, so short and late.
I'm Sorry….
/Is it too late to apologi~ze, Too late~?/
Don't worry, the next chapter will be about Conan and gang.
Thank you for your patience….
Name Trivia: 'Broekhart', 'Isabell', 'Finn', and 'Wynter' came from the book Eion Colfer's Airman. The phrase "Finn, Artemis's best friend" were in the dedication page of Artemis Files.
Please R&R *insert teary eyed baby Arty in diapers*
I'm really thankful for my readers and support :)
The bolding from the start of the chapter is either A/N or 'last scene from the previous chapter'