Disclaimer: We interrupt your reading with this BREAKING NEWS: I STILL
don't own Artemis Fowl!! .. ok that was dumb. But I haven't told you ppl
that for a while so why not?
A/N: Hello people. I'm gonna try to be faster at updating this story. Its memorial weekend so that should give me some time. Oooooooo.. This is a toughy. The problem with this chapter is I know little parts that I want to be sure to stick in there but I don't know how I'm gonna lead up to them all. Whatever will I do.? Well I guess that I'll have to make it up as I go. Oh yah, and from now on I'm just gonna reply to certain reviews and questions when I post the next chapter so it will be under the Author's Note (A/N) So if you have a question or something then post it in reviews and I'll answer it (unless your question is something like "how does the story end?" ha! As if I would tell you that! ^_~)
One more thing: go to w w w . g e o c i t i e s . c o m / a r t e m i s f o w l _ i i / T H R . h t m l it's a quick little page I made w/ pictures n stuff for the story.
-LEP HEADQUARTERS; ROOT'S OFFICE-
Commander Julius Root sat at his large cherry wood desk with a stack of papers sitting in front of him. The papers required a signature by the end of the day but Root was in no mood for scrawling his name on a thousand papers at that moment. Instead he just sat there with his head propped up on his hand, puffing on one of his trademark fungus cigars.
"Commander Root, Sir?" said a metallic voice coming from a speaker on his desk.
Julius Root sighed and lazily reached over to press the flashing red button.
"What do you want Grub?" Root asked rather irritably.
"Our squad just arrested a gnome for pick-pocketing an elderly fairy a couple of minutes ago. My boss told me to ask you- do you want us to bring him in to Head Quarters for further questioning or should he be sent to the prison right away, sir?"
"D'arvit, Grub! I am NOT your contact for this kind of information!" Root yelled. Grub pulled the Walky-Talky a couple inches away from his ear.
"Who is your commanding officer?" Root demanded.
"C-Captain J-j-jutes, Commander Root, s-sir."
"Tell him he's fired!!" Root roared and released the button.
The commander placed his face in his hands and massaged his temples.
"I'm getting too old for this job." he muttered. His speaker buzzed again.
"D'ARVIT GRUB! IF THAT'S YOU AGAIN I'LL THROTTLE YOU!"
"It's just me, Sir." Came Trouble Kelp's reply, "My brother being a menace again?"
"Trouble, don't you go taking this the wrong way or anything but if he weren't your brother I'd have kicked him off the team already."
"No offense taken. If it weren't for my Mother I'd have kicked him off myself."
Root grunted in response.
"Sir, I'm calling about your replacement for your 6 o'clock appointment," said Trouble but his voice was accompanied by a heavy amount of static. "We've. he was. convinced.be in-" Trouble's voice was cut off.
"Trouble? KELP! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I REPEAT- CAN YOU HE-" Root fell silent as the lights flickered off. He waited in dead silence until the lights blinked back on once again.
"Sir?" came Trouble's voice from the renewed connection. There were alarms going off in the background now. "I think we've got ourselves a situation here."
"What in the D'arviting name of Frond was THAT?" Root asked rhetorically.
"I believe that was a blackout sir."
"I KNOW WHAT IT WAS!" Root shouted.
"Well its just that you-"
"No time Kelp, I'm calling an emergency meeting."
Trouble's private connection with the commander was cut short only to be replaced with an announcement that could be heard by every LEP officer in Haven.
"I WANT EVERY ONE OF YOU DEAD BEATS AT HEAD QUARTERS NOW! THAT MEANS YOU LEP NUTHEADS!" Came Root's voice. "I REPEAT- MOVE IT!"
LEP all over Haven exchanged worried glances and hit the ignition in their cars, started up their 2005 humming-bird wings or shuffled across the two blocks to HQ as fast as their little feet could carry them.
-LEP HEAD QUARTERS; DEBREIFING ROOM-
Foaly stood at the head of the table with a hundred worried faces staring anxiously at him.
"Get on with it Foaly!" Root ordered.
"Hold your horses Julius, I'm getting to it."
"I'll do more than hold one of my horses if he doesn't get a move on!" countered Root, "I'll d'arviting ring his neck!"
"Now, now, Julius; violence never solved anything." Foaly tutted.
"How many times do I have to tell you never to call me Julius, Foaly?" Root roared. "I AM YOUR SUPERIOR OFFICER!"
"Gentlemen," Holly intervened, "We have a serious crisis at hand! This is no time for bickering!"
Root turned away from Foaly, his face the color of a tomato.
"I've got good news and bad news folks," Foaly began. "The good news is that there is nothing for you to worry about- go on with your lives as you normally would. The bad news is that your common house hold appliances such as organic simulators, communicators and entertainment systems are out of order as well as any transportation out of haven for the next month at the most."
There was a sigh of relief all around the room and people got up and left. Root stared blankly at the centaur.
"That's it?" He asked, bewildered. "That's all there is to it?"
"Stay a moment, would you sir?" Foaly said, "And Holly as well if you please."
Root looked suspiciously at Foaly, "What have you got going on now, Foaly?"
Foaly looked at Root gravely and Root decided to hold off on the questions for a while.
Foaly had both palms placed on the table and was looking at Holly and Root with a look of utter seriousness written in his expression.
"I'm going to make this really plain and simple," He said, "We are in big trouble. I thought it was better not to cause a panic."
"Explain." Root ordered.
Foaly stood up straight and began to pace, recalling the events of earlier that day.
"Okay, here's the deal; The lights go out right? They're off for about 5 seconds and then start up again so the most obvious reason for the blackout is that something was using up a lot of power otherwise they emergency power supply would have kicked in. Holly noticed that the loading bar on my computer that monitors the surface world was frozen- when I tried to reboot it from the computer that controls everything within Haven, it remained frozen. It was then that I guessed that we had been time stopped. My suspicions were confirmed when I realized that everything that had any connection to anywhere outside of Haven was frozen."
"So turn it off!" Root interrupted.
"That's just it- I did TRY to turn it off, but it wasn't OUR systems that turned it ON in the first place!"
"What are you saying?" Root asked.
"What I'm saying is that we're stuck."
"Well there has to be someway to turn it off." Holly said.
"There is." Foaly confirmed, "You have to go to the main Time Stop system- the place that we get the juice to perform time stops- and reboot time. The only problem is that its on the other side of the earth."
"D'arvit!" Root said, "Why is it all the way over there? The LEP is the only business that uses it and we're all concentrated beneath Ireland!"
"Its to prevent anyone from tampering with it while we may be in the middle of an important operation."
Holly shrugged, "makes sense."
Root drummed his fingers on the table and stared off into space. The said "So what you're saying is that they only way for us to get out is to turn this thing off. and the only way to turn it off is to get out."
"Basically," Foaly said, "But there's more- There are Time Stop fields being set up all over the surface world as we speak. A couple of them have been Blue Rinsed already. The places that are being targeted seem to be places with a large concentration of Mud Men- like schools, large business buildings and stores. It's obvious that the person who did this knew that we would try to stop them."
Holly shifted in her seat, feeling a little uncomfortable. She knew what they had to do, and, subconsciously they all did. There was only one person who could save them now.
"Sir." Holly finally said reluctantly.
"What is it, Short?" Root demanded.
"We.," Holly gathered herself and sat up straight, "We have to bring him back, sir."
"What are you going on about now, Short?" Root asked, although he knew all to well what Holly would say.
"Artemis Fowl."
"Don't even think it, Short!" Root said, red in the face, "That boy was a threat to our race! We finally got rid of his nuisance 2 years ago and we are NOT bringing him back."
"Begging your pardon, but I don't think we have much choice, Sir." Holly said.
"I agree with Holly," Foaly said, "In fact I've been planning on it."
"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Root said, throwing up his hands.
"We have no choice, Julius, Artemis is the only one to ever have escaped a Time Stop. He's the only one who knows how! And right now that's exactly what we need."
"Ok, but supposing we do decide to bring Fowl back- what then?" Root asked, "There's no way out of here!"
"Aha, I'm getting to that." Foaly said, "You see, when we were Time Stopped, there was one magma shoot left open to us- that's how I've been able to gather some information on the outside- with a flare that was ready to go to the surface world. I believe that with a big enough charge I can get it to momentarily unfreeze and shoot to the surface with enough force to carry a pod. But we only have one shot."
Root thought about this for a moment.
"Well if we can get to the surface world, why bother going to Artemis at all? Why not just go to the other side of the earth where you said this Time Stopping thing is and turning it off?" Root asked.
"First of all, Julius, we wouldn't 'turn it off' we would reboot it. And secondly, the sector where this particular machine is located is not accessible from the surface world. You have to travel underground."
Root rubbed his forehead.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Root said, "but let's go get that boy."
Holly smiled despite herself.
"Short! I want you on that flare in exactly one hour."
"Yessir." Holly said, "I will, sir."
"Foaly, how far is it from the landing site of that shoot to Fowl Manor?"
Foaly trotted over to Root's computer and brought up a screen.
"Appoximately 10 miles."
"I hope you're running hot, Short." Root said turning to Holly, "You're going to need a lot of camouflage."
"Yes, sir." Holly replied, "I think I'll manage just fine."
"No thinking, Short!" Root said, "We have only one shot!"
"Of coarse Sir." Holly corrected herself, "I know I'll manage."
Foaly frowned at the screen monitor.
"I want him back at head quarters for operation: memory return in 3 hours."
"Yessir."
"That may be a problem." came Foaly's voice.
"Really, would you like to tell me about this problem?" Root asked.
"The next time stop is scheduled to open on Fowl Manor in an hour."
-FOWL MANOR-
Juliet Butler hummed a tune as she prepared lunch that Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful day- the sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was the beginning of summer and all the flowers were in full bloom. So, naturally, Juliet was in a very good mood. She was preparing a large Cesar salad, twenty perfectly cut triangular sandwiches- no crust, lemonade made with lemons from the Fowl garden, two cherry pies, croissants with fresh butter, and of coarse, caviar for young Master Fowl. She planned to have a picnic of sorts in the courtyard.
Domovoi Butler hefted the 500lbs weight above his head as though it were merely a kitchen chair. He had regained his city bus physic in the past 2 years and could now run up to a mile without loosing his breath if he paced himself correctly but it was still a far cry from his former state of health. Still, he felt as young as ever but he could take no chances any longer. He knew how it felt to loose everything over night.
Deep blue eyes scanned through the pages of a small notebook containing thousands of formulas, conversions, and notes on medicines and plants. Artemis Fowl sat with one leg crossed over the other on an elaborate garden bench. It was definitely safe to say that he had changed a lot in the past two years. In the beginning he had gone against his parents wishes and done business in the black market several times, but for some reason criminal acts just didn't seem to give him the same satisfaction that it once had. Instead he found that he was attracted to the fantastical and the outdoors. He had also become obsessed with psychology for a few months, certain that he had forgotten something utterly important and determined to unlock hidden memories. However, his efforts were fruitless and eventually he moved on to study botany as plants seemed to be his other calling. After absorbing every bit of information about plants available to him and earning himself an online PHD in botany, he moved on to medicine.
Now, almost a year later he had invented the cure to the common cold, one form of cancer and was on his way to solving the world's disease of the immune system- AIDS by combining his studies. Of coarse he sold his knowledge and medicines but he did it legally and refused several former associates in the black market the information that they had begged him for. He had increased the Fowl account by several millions thus far, bringing in 20% more in the past 10 months than his father had within the entire year. Artemis' fixation was not only beneficial to the Fowl enterprise though. Due to the extensive time he had to spend outside and physical activity he was exposed to with his new preoccupation he had gained some muscle mass and darkened considerably- but not too drastically. True his body was more toned but he remained lanky and it is no lie that his skin was not such a dead white as before albeit not a mocha brown. Rather it was of a golden hue with the glow of life restored to it.
"Arty! Lunchtime!" came Juliet's jaunty voice from the kitchen.
Artemis smiled inwardly. His parents were on a trip to the United States and Juliet had a habit of feeling like she needed to take care of him- even though he was 16 now. He stood up, straightened his black pants and polo shirt and headed off to the kitchen.
"Good afternoon master Fowl," Juliet said teasingly. She pointed at his head, "You have dirt in your hair." She reached up and brushed it out.
Artemis scowled and put his hair back in order. He may have had dirt in his hair since he had been working in the garden for most of the day but he doubted there had been anything in his hair in actuality.
Juliet grinned; badgering Artemis was one of her favorite things to do.
Butler walked into the kitchen then, "What smells so good?"
Juliet raised her eyebrows innocently, "Its probably Artemis, he's been playing in the flowers all day."
Butler chuckled.
"Very funny," Artemis remarked. "But I would hardly consider it to be 'playing' as you call it." Then, feeling a bit self-conscious he held his sleeve up to his nose and inhaled.
"I don't really smell like flowers, do I?"
Juliet laughed enthusiastically, "Don't worry Arty, no flower on Earth could save you."
Artemis rolled his eyes.
"I thought we would have a picnic in the courtyard," Juliet announced, changing the subject, "how does that sound, gentlemen?"
"It sounds different," said Artemis in reply, "but seeing as you have worked so hard in preparing lunch I don't see why we can't."
-FOWL MANOR; COURTYARD-
After finishing their lunch Butler was assisting in clean up, Juliet was wrapping up uneaten food and enjoying the scenery. Artemis was jotting down notes in his plant book.
"What are you working on, Arty?" Juliet inquired.
"I'm plotting world domination." Artemis remarked sarcastically.
"You know Mrs. Fowl doesn't like you to do that." Juliet retorted.
"She'll never know."
"What's your favorite flower, Arty? I do like those bright pink ones."
Artemis looked up and raised an eyebrow, "The Dahlias?"
"Oh I don't know, Artemis. I'm not the one hunched over plant books day in and day out."
Artemis shrugged, "I merely assumed you were talking about the Dahlias since they are the brightest pink in hue of all the flowers I have planted. They're also growing in many places around the Manor as they can grow in many different conditions. One of the places they grow is right outside the kitchen window which would make the odds even higher that you would notice it."
Juliet grinned and nodded, "You're right, they are the ones outside the kitchen window."
"When have I ever been wrong?"
Juliet threw a piece of sandwich at him.
Artemis winced and rubbed at his eye, "Juliet, must you be so immature?" he asked rather chafed. "Now I have mustard or something in my eye."
"Oh you poor thing," Juliet remarked, "Just go wash it out in the bathroom!"
Begrudgingly he got up and stalked off to the bathroom.
Artemis flushed his eye out with water and examined it in the mirror. There didn't seem to be anything in it anymore but it remained irritated. Some crumbs must have got under his eyelid. He continued to splash water in his eye. Looking up again he noticed that his reflection had begun to shake. He frowned; perplexed, but then he began to feel the ground quivering beneath his feet- an earthquake.
Artemis ran into the hall and through the manor towards the front door, he saw Juliet and Butler already out side the threshold, obviously they had come to make sure he was going to get out okay. By this time it was an arduous task just to keep himself on his feet. He was only three feet from the door when the carpet slipped from under his feet sending him tumbling out the door and halfway down the front steps.
His head spinning and disoriented he tried to pick himself up but he found that moving caused him pain. He thought he saw Juliet and Butler being knocked off their feet and landing on the ground, unconscious. A loud cracking sound turned his attention to one of the gargantuan gargoyle statues that adorned the Manor's entrance way. The fictional monster fell from its cement perch and landed on top of Artemis' chest, pinning him to the spot.
Having the wind knocked out of him with no way to suck any back in Artemis' world began to fade into blackness. The only things he knew was the razor sharp pain in his chest and the falling sky.
Can you believe that I wasn't even going to make this one chapter? I was going to make you wait ANOTHER chapter to hear about Artemis! HA! But I decided to be nice to you and merge the two chapters so now you get a long chapter AND Artemis. YAY! If you have any questions or anything you can ask me them now in a review and I will answer them in the next chapter. Has anyone ever heard the song, "Remember Me This Way?" Part of it is on that Casper movie. It's the one that plays at the Halloween ball. Well I thought it would be cool for a song fic but I can't use it if nobody knows what it is so. yah.
A/N: Hello people. I'm gonna try to be faster at updating this story. Its memorial weekend so that should give me some time. Oooooooo.. This is a toughy. The problem with this chapter is I know little parts that I want to be sure to stick in there but I don't know how I'm gonna lead up to them all. Whatever will I do.? Well I guess that I'll have to make it up as I go. Oh yah, and from now on I'm just gonna reply to certain reviews and questions when I post the next chapter so it will be under the Author's Note (A/N) So if you have a question or something then post it in reviews and I'll answer it (unless your question is something like "how does the story end?" ha! As if I would tell you that! ^_~)
One more thing: go to w w w . g e o c i t i e s . c o m / a r t e m i s f o w l _ i i / T H R . h t m l it's a quick little page I made w/ pictures n stuff for the story.
-LEP HEADQUARTERS; ROOT'S OFFICE-
Commander Julius Root sat at his large cherry wood desk with a stack of papers sitting in front of him. The papers required a signature by the end of the day but Root was in no mood for scrawling his name on a thousand papers at that moment. Instead he just sat there with his head propped up on his hand, puffing on one of his trademark fungus cigars.
"Commander Root, Sir?" said a metallic voice coming from a speaker on his desk.
Julius Root sighed and lazily reached over to press the flashing red button.
"What do you want Grub?" Root asked rather irritably.
"Our squad just arrested a gnome for pick-pocketing an elderly fairy a couple of minutes ago. My boss told me to ask you- do you want us to bring him in to Head Quarters for further questioning or should he be sent to the prison right away, sir?"
"D'arvit, Grub! I am NOT your contact for this kind of information!" Root yelled. Grub pulled the Walky-Talky a couple inches away from his ear.
"Who is your commanding officer?" Root demanded.
"C-Captain J-j-jutes, Commander Root, s-sir."
"Tell him he's fired!!" Root roared and released the button.
The commander placed his face in his hands and massaged his temples.
"I'm getting too old for this job." he muttered. His speaker buzzed again.
"D'ARVIT GRUB! IF THAT'S YOU AGAIN I'LL THROTTLE YOU!"
"It's just me, Sir." Came Trouble Kelp's reply, "My brother being a menace again?"
"Trouble, don't you go taking this the wrong way or anything but if he weren't your brother I'd have kicked him off the team already."
"No offense taken. If it weren't for my Mother I'd have kicked him off myself."
Root grunted in response.
"Sir, I'm calling about your replacement for your 6 o'clock appointment," said Trouble but his voice was accompanied by a heavy amount of static. "We've. he was. convinced.be in-" Trouble's voice was cut off.
"Trouble? KELP! CAN YOU HEAR ME? I REPEAT- CAN YOU HE-" Root fell silent as the lights flickered off. He waited in dead silence until the lights blinked back on once again.
"Sir?" came Trouble's voice from the renewed connection. There were alarms going off in the background now. "I think we've got ourselves a situation here."
"What in the D'arviting name of Frond was THAT?" Root asked rhetorically.
"I believe that was a blackout sir."
"I KNOW WHAT IT WAS!" Root shouted.
"Well its just that you-"
"No time Kelp, I'm calling an emergency meeting."
Trouble's private connection with the commander was cut short only to be replaced with an announcement that could be heard by every LEP officer in Haven.
"I WANT EVERY ONE OF YOU DEAD BEATS AT HEAD QUARTERS NOW! THAT MEANS YOU LEP NUTHEADS!" Came Root's voice. "I REPEAT- MOVE IT!"
LEP all over Haven exchanged worried glances and hit the ignition in their cars, started up their 2005 humming-bird wings or shuffled across the two blocks to HQ as fast as their little feet could carry them.
-LEP HEAD QUARTERS; DEBREIFING ROOM-
Foaly stood at the head of the table with a hundred worried faces staring anxiously at him.
"Get on with it Foaly!" Root ordered.
"Hold your horses Julius, I'm getting to it."
"I'll do more than hold one of my horses if he doesn't get a move on!" countered Root, "I'll d'arviting ring his neck!"
"Now, now, Julius; violence never solved anything." Foaly tutted.
"How many times do I have to tell you never to call me Julius, Foaly?" Root roared. "I AM YOUR SUPERIOR OFFICER!"
"Gentlemen," Holly intervened, "We have a serious crisis at hand! This is no time for bickering!"
Root turned away from Foaly, his face the color of a tomato.
"I've got good news and bad news folks," Foaly began. "The good news is that there is nothing for you to worry about- go on with your lives as you normally would. The bad news is that your common house hold appliances such as organic simulators, communicators and entertainment systems are out of order as well as any transportation out of haven for the next month at the most."
There was a sigh of relief all around the room and people got up and left. Root stared blankly at the centaur.
"That's it?" He asked, bewildered. "That's all there is to it?"
"Stay a moment, would you sir?" Foaly said, "And Holly as well if you please."
Root looked suspiciously at Foaly, "What have you got going on now, Foaly?"
Foaly looked at Root gravely and Root decided to hold off on the questions for a while.
Foaly had both palms placed on the table and was looking at Holly and Root with a look of utter seriousness written in his expression.
"I'm going to make this really plain and simple," He said, "We are in big trouble. I thought it was better not to cause a panic."
"Explain." Root ordered.
Foaly stood up straight and began to pace, recalling the events of earlier that day.
"Okay, here's the deal; The lights go out right? They're off for about 5 seconds and then start up again so the most obvious reason for the blackout is that something was using up a lot of power otherwise they emergency power supply would have kicked in. Holly noticed that the loading bar on my computer that monitors the surface world was frozen- when I tried to reboot it from the computer that controls everything within Haven, it remained frozen. It was then that I guessed that we had been time stopped. My suspicions were confirmed when I realized that everything that had any connection to anywhere outside of Haven was frozen."
"So turn it off!" Root interrupted.
"That's just it- I did TRY to turn it off, but it wasn't OUR systems that turned it ON in the first place!"
"What are you saying?" Root asked.
"What I'm saying is that we're stuck."
"Well there has to be someway to turn it off." Holly said.
"There is." Foaly confirmed, "You have to go to the main Time Stop system- the place that we get the juice to perform time stops- and reboot time. The only problem is that its on the other side of the earth."
"D'arvit!" Root said, "Why is it all the way over there? The LEP is the only business that uses it and we're all concentrated beneath Ireland!"
"Its to prevent anyone from tampering with it while we may be in the middle of an important operation."
Holly shrugged, "makes sense."
Root drummed his fingers on the table and stared off into space. The said "So what you're saying is that they only way for us to get out is to turn this thing off. and the only way to turn it off is to get out."
"Basically," Foaly said, "But there's more- There are Time Stop fields being set up all over the surface world as we speak. A couple of them have been Blue Rinsed already. The places that are being targeted seem to be places with a large concentration of Mud Men- like schools, large business buildings and stores. It's obvious that the person who did this knew that we would try to stop them."
Holly shifted in her seat, feeling a little uncomfortable. She knew what they had to do, and, subconsciously they all did. There was only one person who could save them now.
"Sir." Holly finally said reluctantly.
"What is it, Short?" Root demanded.
"We.," Holly gathered herself and sat up straight, "We have to bring him back, sir."
"What are you going on about now, Short?" Root asked, although he knew all to well what Holly would say.
"Artemis Fowl."
"Don't even think it, Short!" Root said, red in the face, "That boy was a threat to our race! We finally got rid of his nuisance 2 years ago and we are NOT bringing him back."
"Begging your pardon, but I don't think we have much choice, Sir." Holly said.
"I agree with Holly," Foaly said, "In fact I've been planning on it."
"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Root said, throwing up his hands.
"We have no choice, Julius, Artemis is the only one to ever have escaped a Time Stop. He's the only one who knows how! And right now that's exactly what we need."
"Ok, but supposing we do decide to bring Fowl back- what then?" Root asked, "There's no way out of here!"
"Aha, I'm getting to that." Foaly said, "You see, when we were Time Stopped, there was one magma shoot left open to us- that's how I've been able to gather some information on the outside- with a flare that was ready to go to the surface world. I believe that with a big enough charge I can get it to momentarily unfreeze and shoot to the surface with enough force to carry a pod. But we only have one shot."
Root thought about this for a moment.
"Well if we can get to the surface world, why bother going to Artemis at all? Why not just go to the other side of the earth where you said this Time Stopping thing is and turning it off?" Root asked.
"First of all, Julius, we wouldn't 'turn it off' we would reboot it. And secondly, the sector where this particular machine is located is not accessible from the surface world. You have to travel underground."
Root rubbed his forehead.
"I can't believe I'm saying this," Root said, "but let's go get that boy."
Holly smiled despite herself.
"Short! I want you on that flare in exactly one hour."
"Yessir." Holly said, "I will, sir."
"Foaly, how far is it from the landing site of that shoot to Fowl Manor?"
Foaly trotted over to Root's computer and brought up a screen.
"Appoximately 10 miles."
"I hope you're running hot, Short." Root said turning to Holly, "You're going to need a lot of camouflage."
"Yes, sir." Holly replied, "I think I'll manage just fine."
"No thinking, Short!" Root said, "We have only one shot!"
"Of coarse Sir." Holly corrected herself, "I know I'll manage."
Foaly frowned at the screen monitor.
"I want him back at head quarters for operation: memory return in 3 hours."
"Yessir."
"That may be a problem." came Foaly's voice.
"Really, would you like to tell me about this problem?" Root asked.
"The next time stop is scheduled to open on Fowl Manor in an hour."
-FOWL MANOR-
Juliet Butler hummed a tune as she prepared lunch that Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful day- the sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was the beginning of summer and all the flowers were in full bloom. So, naturally, Juliet was in a very good mood. She was preparing a large Cesar salad, twenty perfectly cut triangular sandwiches- no crust, lemonade made with lemons from the Fowl garden, two cherry pies, croissants with fresh butter, and of coarse, caviar for young Master Fowl. She planned to have a picnic of sorts in the courtyard.
Domovoi Butler hefted the 500lbs weight above his head as though it were merely a kitchen chair. He had regained his city bus physic in the past 2 years and could now run up to a mile without loosing his breath if he paced himself correctly but it was still a far cry from his former state of health. Still, he felt as young as ever but he could take no chances any longer. He knew how it felt to loose everything over night.
Deep blue eyes scanned through the pages of a small notebook containing thousands of formulas, conversions, and notes on medicines and plants. Artemis Fowl sat with one leg crossed over the other on an elaborate garden bench. It was definitely safe to say that he had changed a lot in the past two years. In the beginning he had gone against his parents wishes and done business in the black market several times, but for some reason criminal acts just didn't seem to give him the same satisfaction that it once had. Instead he found that he was attracted to the fantastical and the outdoors. He had also become obsessed with psychology for a few months, certain that he had forgotten something utterly important and determined to unlock hidden memories. However, his efforts were fruitless and eventually he moved on to study botany as plants seemed to be his other calling. After absorbing every bit of information about plants available to him and earning himself an online PHD in botany, he moved on to medicine.
Now, almost a year later he had invented the cure to the common cold, one form of cancer and was on his way to solving the world's disease of the immune system- AIDS by combining his studies. Of coarse he sold his knowledge and medicines but he did it legally and refused several former associates in the black market the information that they had begged him for. He had increased the Fowl account by several millions thus far, bringing in 20% more in the past 10 months than his father had within the entire year. Artemis' fixation was not only beneficial to the Fowl enterprise though. Due to the extensive time he had to spend outside and physical activity he was exposed to with his new preoccupation he had gained some muscle mass and darkened considerably- but not too drastically. True his body was more toned but he remained lanky and it is no lie that his skin was not such a dead white as before albeit not a mocha brown. Rather it was of a golden hue with the glow of life restored to it.
"Arty! Lunchtime!" came Juliet's jaunty voice from the kitchen.
Artemis smiled inwardly. His parents were on a trip to the United States and Juliet had a habit of feeling like she needed to take care of him- even though he was 16 now. He stood up, straightened his black pants and polo shirt and headed off to the kitchen.
"Good afternoon master Fowl," Juliet said teasingly. She pointed at his head, "You have dirt in your hair." She reached up and brushed it out.
Artemis scowled and put his hair back in order. He may have had dirt in his hair since he had been working in the garden for most of the day but he doubted there had been anything in his hair in actuality.
Juliet grinned; badgering Artemis was one of her favorite things to do.
Butler walked into the kitchen then, "What smells so good?"
Juliet raised her eyebrows innocently, "Its probably Artemis, he's been playing in the flowers all day."
Butler chuckled.
"Very funny," Artemis remarked. "But I would hardly consider it to be 'playing' as you call it." Then, feeling a bit self-conscious he held his sleeve up to his nose and inhaled.
"I don't really smell like flowers, do I?"
Juliet laughed enthusiastically, "Don't worry Arty, no flower on Earth could save you."
Artemis rolled his eyes.
"I thought we would have a picnic in the courtyard," Juliet announced, changing the subject, "how does that sound, gentlemen?"
"It sounds different," said Artemis in reply, "but seeing as you have worked so hard in preparing lunch I don't see why we can't."
-FOWL MANOR; COURTYARD-
After finishing their lunch Butler was assisting in clean up, Juliet was wrapping up uneaten food and enjoying the scenery. Artemis was jotting down notes in his plant book.
"What are you working on, Arty?" Juliet inquired.
"I'm plotting world domination." Artemis remarked sarcastically.
"You know Mrs. Fowl doesn't like you to do that." Juliet retorted.
"She'll never know."
"What's your favorite flower, Arty? I do like those bright pink ones."
Artemis looked up and raised an eyebrow, "The Dahlias?"
"Oh I don't know, Artemis. I'm not the one hunched over plant books day in and day out."
Artemis shrugged, "I merely assumed you were talking about the Dahlias since they are the brightest pink in hue of all the flowers I have planted. They're also growing in many places around the Manor as they can grow in many different conditions. One of the places they grow is right outside the kitchen window which would make the odds even higher that you would notice it."
Juliet grinned and nodded, "You're right, they are the ones outside the kitchen window."
"When have I ever been wrong?"
Juliet threw a piece of sandwich at him.
Artemis winced and rubbed at his eye, "Juliet, must you be so immature?" he asked rather chafed. "Now I have mustard or something in my eye."
"Oh you poor thing," Juliet remarked, "Just go wash it out in the bathroom!"
Begrudgingly he got up and stalked off to the bathroom.
Artemis flushed his eye out with water and examined it in the mirror. There didn't seem to be anything in it anymore but it remained irritated. Some crumbs must have got under his eyelid. He continued to splash water in his eye. Looking up again he noticed that his reflection had begun to shake. He frowned; perplexed, but then he began to feel the ground quivering beneath his feet- an earthquake.
Artemis ran into the hall and through the manor towards the front door, he saw Juliet and Butler already out side the threshold, obviously they had come to make sure he was going to get out okay. By this time it was an arduous task just to keep himself on his feet. He was only three feet from the door when the carpet slipped from under his feet sending him tumbling out the door and halfway down the front steps.
His head spinning and disoriented he tried to pick himself up but he found that moving caused him pain. He thought he saw Juliet and Butler being knocked off their feet and landing on the ground, unconscious. A loud cracking sound turned his attention to one of the gargantuan gargoyle statues that adorned the Manor's entrance way. The fictional monster fell from its cement perch and landed on top of Artemis' chest, pinning him to the spot.
Having the wind knocked out of him with no way to suck any back in Artemis' world began to fade into blackness. The only things he knew was the razor sharp pain in his chest and the falling sky.
Can you believe that I wasn't even going to make this one chapter? I was going to make you wait ANOTHER chapter to hear about Artemis! HA! But I decided to be nice to you and merge the two chapters so now you get a long chapter AND Artemis. YAY! If you have any questions or anything you can ask me them now in a review and I will answer them in the next chapter. Has anyone ever heard the song, "Remember Me This Way?" Part of it is on that Casper movie. It's the one that plays at the Halloween ball. Well I thought it would be cool for a song fic but I can't use it if nobody knows what it is so. yah.