Castle 3x24: Knockout
Lockwood: And that was what, your last stand? That's just sad Roy, I'm just gonna kill her anyway.
Montgomery: No, you're not. And he's not. I saw to that. You're done Lockwood...
We both are.
Artemis saw the glint in the sky when nobody else could. It was an impossibly small aberration in the atmosphere, but enough for Artemis to work out that it was about to begin. They would have traced him straight here, to Fowl Manor, right where he wanted them. Sure, he would have been a lot happier if his father hadn't decided to stay, but there was a determination in Artemis Sr. that Artemis hadn't seen for a very long time, and he would most certainly not be able to move him from his position. It did come with a bonus in the shape of a squadron of his father's private military. Artemis had initially planned for the attack with just him and Butler in the residence, but now he had a small army of highly trained soldiers, and the battle would be far more equal.
"What is it?" Butler asked, sensing a change in Artemis.
"They're here. That glint, just over the horizon, is a helicopter. Two actually. Won't take them long now."
"In which case" Artemis Sr. said, holding a compact radio. "Time to get ready. Prepare the surface to air missiles!"
Below them, a row of missiles stood to attention, ready to fire. It was an impressive arsenal, and more than enough to take down two helicopters.
"It won't all be this easy" Artemis said, reading his father's expression. "This is just the beginning of the assault."
"How big is their army anyway?"
"You'd be surprised. Humans and fairies on the whole do not get along, so it's very easy to tell people that fairies exist and that they're a threat to the world as we know it, then watch them all follow you into a battle they don't really know anything about. People will do anything to protect their principles and values. That includes genocide, even if they don't realise that's what they're going to do. I am an exception to this, though I am exceedingly intelligent. Wyatt Munroe is intelligent too, which is why he'll have amassed such a group."
"You keep mentioning that name, Wyatt Munroe, like it should mean something. Who is he?"
"He is a bad man and he must be stopped" Artemis replied. "That's all you need to know."
Artemis waited until the helicopters were closer, more visible to everyone, then gave his father the instruction to prepare to fire. The missiles stood up near vertically, the thrusters ignited...
There was a flash of light. An explosion. The grounds infront of Fowl Manor lit up in an instant, an inferno littered with debris. Artemis looked up just in time for another flash of light, one which illuminated the sky above them before detonating on impact, taking out the rest of the ground to air missiles. In that illumination, Artemis got a glimpse of just what had caused the destruction.
"Oh that is so not fair" He said to nobody in particular. "Why don't I get an orbital strike satellite?"
"What the hell was that?" Artemis Sr. asked, picking himself off the floor.
"Strike satellite. Must have had a compact photon beam array or something similar to cause that kind of damage with that kind of attack."
"They could go straight for the Manor next time, we're open targets."
"They wouldn't" Artemis said. "They need me alive."
But as Artemis talked, he suddenly realised one consequence of their lack of surface to air missiles- the helicopters were still coming at them.
"Everybody down!" Artemis shouted, and then, when nobody reacted. "DOWN!"
Gunfire ripped through the walls of Fowl Manor, shattering the windows. Butler practically jumped on top of Artemis, shielding him from the onslaught. The gunfire was relentless, and coming from all sides, but Artemis had been right about one thing; They needed him alive, and all of the gunfire was too high to hit any of them. This was just to make a scene.
"We need to get to the kitchen" Artemis said. "Draw them towards us. But we need to take out those helicopters too."
"You heard him!" Artemis Sr. shouted, the radio to his unit having been on open communication. "Focus your fire on the two helicopters."
The three of them made their way into the vast kitchen, overturning a large wooden table to act as cover. It was solid oak, and whilst it wasn't impenetrable, it was better than nothing.
"Sir, we have a group of people entering the Manor through the front entrance, but we can't put up a resistance to them and keep the helicopters away."
"Focus on the helicopters and that's an order!"
Artemis could see the men approach the kitchen as they turned into the corridor. They were certainly kitted out for the job, with bullet proof vests and high calibre rifles. But they hadn't quite noticed the group there yet, and kept advancing. Artemis waited until they were about half way down the corridor, then pulled a small trigger from his pocket. When he depressed the button, an entire section of flooring blew out, sending enemy agents flying. Dust and smoke filled the corridor and, in the confusion, this was their chance.
"Open fire!" Artemis Sr. shouted. Butler took point, picking off targets left, right and centre. Artemis Sr. was slightly less adept, but still a good shot. However, they were having fire returned at them now as the group figured out what was going on, and the table could only take so much.
"We need to move soon" Butler said. "The study is behind the kitchen, it's our only escape route."
"That was the plan" Artemis said, his voice almost drowned out by the explosion of sparks above his head as one of the lights blew out. "Prepare to move on my signal, back into the study."
"What are you going to do?" Butler asked.
"What I can do to the floor, I can do to the ceiling" Artemis said, but suddenly there was another explosion, an ear piercing sonic boom that went straight through everyone. There was yet another explosion as one of the helicopters tore straight through the wall of Fowl Manor in a fireball, wiping out half of the group advancing down the corridor. Artemis hastily pressed his other trigger, and the entire ceiling came down on top of the helicopter, triggering another explosion.
"Go, now!" Artemis shouted. Butler tossed a couple of grenades into the already blazing inferno, just incase. There was a creak as the rest of the ceiling gave way, burying everything from the kitchen to the front of the Manor. The whole place was coming down.
"We're trapped in the study" Artemis Sr. said, frantically looking around. "There's no way out here."
"The vault" Artemis said, and his father looked shocked.
"Nobody is supposed to know about that."
"Oh please father. I live here and I'm a genius, you really think I wasn't going to know about it. It's the safest place for us to be."
Artemis walked over to the bookcase, where a small stone statue sat in one of the corners. It was nicely decorative, but out of place on a bookshelf. Artemis twisted the head of the statue, and the floor in the middle of the room began to depress. Butler began to usher Artemis down the stairs, but Artemis Sr. didn't follow. Artemis broke free of Butler's grip and went to his father.
"This is my home" Artemis Sr. said. "And this is my problem. I won't let them hurt you because of me."
"I know" Artemis said. Artemis Sr. looked around in surprise.
"You know?"
"It took me a while to figure it out, but I always wondered how they were one step ahead, how they knew about everything. It couldn't have been the FRA, because that came after the attack on Police Plaza. The only thing to do with me that had changed with regards to The People was you. The fact that I had told you. I didn't want to believe it at first, but then I realised that it had to be true, because you wouldn't just take what I said at face value, you would want to research it yourself, to make sure of the facts before knowing what you would do with the information. But knowing about fairies is a dangerous game."
"You're right" Artemis Sr. said shallowly. "I wanted to believe what you were saying. I had even seen Holly with my own eyes but I had to be sure your version of their history was the right version. That's when I found Wyatt Munroe- he never told me his name, but I'm certain we're talking about the same person; He said he also knew about fairies and could tell me more, but everything he told me about them boiled down to how dangerous they were, how they were a threat to humanity and how dangerous it was that you were involved with them. And everything he said, it all rang true to me. The situations you had been in, they would have been avoided if you had not known Holly. He wanted to know everything about your experiences so that he knew how deep you were, but of course now it's obvious he just wanted information for leverage, to know the weak points of the LEP and of Haven. He even used the LEP attack as proof that it was too dangerous for you to be there! I realised too late that he was the dangerous element, but I will not let him harm you to just advance his beliefs. I should have trusted you Artemis, and now you're in danger because of me. So get into the vault and hide yourself, I'll take care of Wyatt or whoever else breaks through."
"You don't have to do this" Artemis said. "Get into the vault, and we can fight them off together. I have a plan."
" This is all my fault. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't make things right. Now go!"
"This is a mistake" Artemis said.
"No" Artemis Sr. replied. "I'm correcting the mistake."
There was no way anybody was coming in through the kitchen, so Artemis Sr. knew they had to be coming in through the wall on the other side. So he waited, and sure enough after just a few minutes, the wall came crashing down and four men emerged. Artemis Sr. took aim, ready to take them all on, even if he was outnumbered. But then he recognised one of the men.
"Maxwell!" He shouted out. "I should have known you'd be here. You always are."
It was safe to say that Maxwell looked less than impressed.
"Why does everybody insist on using my second name?! My name is Corey, use it!"
"Because villains are always referred to by their last names. They sound harsher. You really think people are going to be scared of a guy named Corey?"
"They should be scared of me because I'm pointing a gun in their face."
"You're not scary" Artemis Sr. retorted. "It was always the other one that scared me. But he's not here, is he?"
Maxwell ran his hand through his hair before glaring back to Artemis Sr.
"You're stalling. You know where it is don't you? You can't hide it forever; I know that it's in this room, or above it or under it. But it's here."
"You're going nowhere near Artemis."
"I don't care about Artemis, I care about the Obelisk. But... That must mean Artemis is with the Obelisk. Where is it?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie" Maxwell said, taking a step closer. "You will tell me where the Obelisk is, or I will put a bullet in your liver and you will die very slowly, and in considerable pain."
Artemis Sr. raised his gun to attention, pointed straight at Maxwell.
"I will take you all on if I have to."
Maxwell started to laugh, but it was instantly drowned out by another explosion from behind them. Artemis Sr. took the distraction as his advantage and opened fire on the men. But Maxwell had been right, he was outnumbered, and even though he hit all four, one of them still got off a shot that struck Artemis in the chest, flooring him. Maxwell got up, dusted himself off, then walked over to where Artemis Sr. lay, his gun now pointed at his head.
"I didn't actually need you to tell me" Maxwell said. "I can find everything just fine by myself. But you're finished."
"Maybe I am finished" Artemis Sr. groaned as his hand moved to the snub-nosed revolver he had hidden in his sock. "But then again Maxwell, so are you!"