When all preparations for the Fowl reunion had been called in, Artemis and Butler continued the necessary preparations for their little trip.
"Artemis, do you think we should bring any fairy weapons?" Butler asked as he stuck throwing knives in his boots.
Artemis smiled; Butler was smarter than he looked. "Of course. A helmet a piece, a blaster, and a baton."
Butler nodded. He knew where to find them.

Mulch wasn't exactly sure where he was going. After the business with Koboi Labs he had spent time in various places in the Lower Elements but after having lived several months in Los Angeles the year before he began to miss the surface. He knew he couldn't go back to back to the U.S. or use his old alias of Lance Digger. He'd made headlines coast to coast by stealing an entire collection of Oscars. But now he was back to the surface again. Where to go? He spent a few weeks in Paris and then he found himself heading in the direction of Ireland. He couldn't resist a stop in one of the best-guarded homes owned by a certain Mud Boy he knew. Now, however, he was on his way to Wales. He knew the Mud Boy and his Man Mountain would be after him.

Holly was at the Police Plaza early the next morning. She needed to talk to Foaly.
"So how long did you know about that goblin yesterday?"
"Oh, he's been working for us about two months. Here, take a look at this monitor."
Holly stepped up and looked. It seemed to be some sort of back alleyway. And sitting on a chair eating Squid Snaps was-
"Aquarius! If he's there, then why isn't Retrieval?"
"Take a look at that alley. Pretty nondescript. We don't know where it is."
"What about the tracer I put on him?"
"The dwarf found it when they were in the chute. Destroyed it."
"I still don't think we should trust a goblin."
"Hey, neither do I, but nobody ever listens to me. Do you recognize any of these guys?" He started typing and soon close up appeared of the dwarf who captured Aquarius and the elf who had been there as well.
Holly grimaced. "I don't know the dwarf but the elf is named Cronus. He was on the crunchball squad when I was in school. Wanted to join the LEP but he had a record of violence, a bad temper, and hanging out with the wrong sort of people. Part of his problem was also always so insecure about his height. Notice he's only 2 feet 6 inches?" The average elf height was 3 feet 1 cm, Holly was just short the one-centimeter.
"The dwarf's name is Peteris. Not the most genial of fellows. He was thrown out of the Brotherhood."

"What about our goblin friend? How did he end up with Cronus and Peteris in the first place?"
"Still working on that."
"Has Root caught Mulch?"
"Not yet. You know Diggums is slippery and Julius has got bigger fish to fry right now, the Ambassador saw the whole scene yesterday from the Ops room."
"Oh."
Foaly checked his moonometer. "Aren't you late for work?"
Holly swore, "D'Arvit!" she exited hoping she could sneak in before Root realized she was late. She made her way as quickly as possible to Root's office. He wouldn't be happy.

Artemis thought over the stash of weapons while eating caviar in the Bentley. As well as the fairy weaponry, Butler had (concealed in various places and weapon holsters) a Sig Sauer, a dart rifle custom designed for an ivory hunter in Africa, Shrike throwing- knife, and a cosh. Of course, Butler didn't need any of these weapons to kill or incapacitate anyone. He knew over a hundred ways to kill people with nothing but his bare hands.
After doing his customary bomb search under and around the car, Butler sat down in the driver's seat. He cast a quick glance at Artemis. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Don't you know? We're going to Tara. E1. You know the place."
Butler knew. He'd already guessed the destination before his question had been answered.
Artemis settled back to work on his plan. How to get his hands on Mulch Diggums...