AN: Sorry about the long wait. We have a really good excuse for taking so long...
ASN: But we can't think of one right now.
DISCLAIMER: If you haven't figured it out by now....
Chapter 10: Influences
Badeau chuckled to himself as the little nerd scurried out the door. It was really quite predictable. The nerd would claim that the task was impossible, and ask that his budget be raised. Once the amount of money had increased sufficiently, a 'revelation' would strike and the nerd would get back to work.
Of course, after a while that little ploy got old. Threatening to fire them worked just as well and left considerably more money in Badeau's pocket. He turned back to his investigation of one of Europe's slickest criminals. Not one of the Fowls, actually, they appeared to be laying low for a while following Fowl Senior's miraculous escape from the Mafiya. He had his little suspicions about that incident as well.
The inspector grinned to himself as he studied the studio portrait of his daughter displayed prominently on his desk. He knew that his colleagues thought him mad for letting his only child live in the company of very talented criminals. However, she was in the perfect position to make sure that the Fowl family claims of 'going straight' were indeed true. And if she discovered evidence of criminal activity, well...it would indeed be a pleasure to be known as the one who busted the Fowls. Badeau leaned back in his chair with a sigh of pleasure. With the genetic tendency to illegal behavior passed in the Fowl bloodline for generations, it was only a matter of time.
**********
Holly sat on Artemis's bed serenely, watching the Mud Boy out of the corner of one eye. He stayed at the computer, typing away. She huffed to herself and went back to cleaning her wings. As she cleaned, she thought.
She honestly didn't know if he was to be trusted. After all, he was barely 14 and one of the LEP's worst enemies. Could he have changed? Wait, that brought back a faint memory of something he had said earlier...
"Fowl, I have a question."
Small shoulders moved in a silent sigh, then Artemis looked back at her over his shoulder. "Yes, Captain Short?"
"Remember when we were mindwiping you, what you told us?"
He raised an eyebrow. "When I told you that a mindwipe could erase all good influences from my personality? Yes, I remember."
"Well," Holly said, suddenly a little nervous. Did she really want to hear this? "What happened?"
Artemis studied her for a long moment. A very long moment. Then he asked calmly, "Why do you want to know? Do I seem different to you?"
"No." Holly said, a slight smile appearing on her face. "You're just as insufferably annoying as I remember. But, I wanted to know if...if we really had that large a part in your life."
There was a minute of silence, and then Artemis flicked off the computer screen. Then he faced Holly fully. His eyes were full of an emotion Holly couldn't recognize, but it sent shivers down her back.
"After I woke from the sleep you placed us all in, I had one moment of peace. One moment, when I was truly content." The Mud Boy's stare flickered for a moment. "And then, my life was exactly as it was before. All I cared about was money. I felt contempt for my father and his desire to be a legitimate man. My life centered on this phrase: Aurum Est Potestas." Artemis didn't need to translate; he knew Holly understood.
"Gold is Power." she said softly. He nodded.
"It was my motto. And it was my life." Everything was quiet for a moment, and then Artemis seemed to shake himself out of his reverie. "Is that what you wanted to hear, Captain?" he asked, a little angrily.
"What?" Holly blinked at him. "What do you mean?"
"Is that what you wanted to hear? That I am nothing morally right or good when I don't have your influence in my life? Isn't that why you asked?"
"No." Holly protested. Then she ran back over her previous words in her head. "Okay, maybe that's what it sounded like, but honestly, I just wanted to know if..." She stopped.
"If I had that spark of decency when the People weren't around?" the Mud Boy finished.
"No! I wanted to see if Commander Root was right or not. About personalities changing when a large part of their memory was wiped." As soon as Holly finished that sentence, she knew it was the wrong thing to say.
Artemis raised his eyebrow again. "So I was an experiment, then?" All trace of emotion was gone from his voice, but Holly winced all the same.
"No!! I don't know how to explain it; I just wanted to know if we made any difference in your life!" she said in exasperation.
After a tense moment, Artemis nodded and relaxed his stance. "All right, I'll accept that."
He turned back to his computer, leaving Holly to feel as if she had just lost a very important argument. As she opened her mouth to continue talking, Artemis glanced back at her.
And she suddenly recognized the emotion he had held in his eyes earlier.
It was shame.
The elf settled back onto the bed. She wasn't going to push this subject any farther until she thought it through completely.
**********
Artemis turned back to his computer, fuming inwardly. Holly's question had stung a nerve he hadn't known existed. And for the life of him, he had no idea why he had reacted so strongly. He also didn't know why he had told her about his transformation. It wasn't like it was the LEP's business. It was personal.
All in all, Artemis was not in the best of moods.
With a ting, a warning popped up on the screen. It was one he had never seen on his computer before, but one he had doubtlessly caused on many others.
! Security alert. Intruder detected in hard drive. !
The clackety-clack of the keys stopped as he stared at the message. Wordlessly, he clicked for more details as Holly stirred behind him.
"What is it, Fowl?" she asked. He glanced back at her.
"Someone has just hacked into my hard drive." he said coolly.
Holly nodded. "Okaaaaaaayyyy…. And?"
"The odd thing is that the signal is originating from inside the manor." Artemis said, typing furiously again.
"Inside?" Holly echoed. "That's strange. Where could it be coming from?"
Artemis hit the Enter key and stood, striding toward the door.
"Oh, I know exactly where it's coming from."
ASN: Okay, so this was a short chapter, but we thought that we'd emphasize the serious conversation.
AN: Thanks so much for all the reviews and comments.
ASN: Yeah, I really enjoy reading your suggestions. We do take most of them.
AN: Anyway, here are some answers and responses to some of the latest reviews in no particular order.
To the Thorned Rose:
AN: Thanks, we'll fix the euros things. Didn't even think about that. Oops.
To Burgundy:
AN: About adding an A/H twist, I'd do it, but we're already 60 pages into this story, and we can't figure out how to add it without really screwing up the plot.
ASN: What little plot we have anyway.
To HyperCaz:
ASN: Thanks. Yes, we actually do have a plot!
To kris x:
ASN: Thanks for the good comments on the chapter 1 rewrite. I appreciate it, since Lessa didn't think it was necessary...
To Violomana:
AN: That's right, Defea would want to be paid in gold. Thanks for pointing that out. About your other questions, all will be explained...eventually.
To TrinityDay:
AN: Who says Holly's actually telling the truth about why she's at Fowl Manor? Dum dum da dum...
ASN: Dumb.
AN: Well, excuuuuuse me!
To scarletswitchblade:
ASN: Lessa created Defea a long time ago, for the Artemis Fowl story we wrote while we were waiting for The Eternity Code to come out. As far as I know, she made the name up. And I don't pretend to know how her mind works.
AN: Funny.
ASN: Anyway, since this chapter was so short, we should have a new chapter up soon.
AN: As always, thanks to everyone who writes. If you ever want to ask us something in great detail, email me. I'll email you back and try to answer.