Hi. It's really too bad you have to wait to see what Artemis is doing, isn't it? I shall be very curious to see what you guess, if any of you care to. I feel so delightfully wicked, making you wait. But excited too. I'm not so much the complicated simple plan type. It doesn't come to me easily. It took me twenty-eight hours in the car to figure it out.
Anyway, (my friend is publishing this, remember) I think it is something like the 10th of October. If not, forgive me, I'm having to do math in my head on the 24th of Spetember. My birthday is the 13th. Everyone send me a Happy Birthday note is your review so I feel loved.
Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the things I own. The things I own are the things not owned by Colfer. Colfer owns everything except the things I own. The things Colfer own are the things I do not own. :) Try that one, all you people who think you're the next Artemis Fowl.
Trouble glanced back at the shuttle following him. All and all, there were almost thirty officers going. Grant was flying the other shuttle. He just hoped Holly was okay. Foaly was going nuts, trying everything he could to remotely access Sool's computers without success. And with Fowl fighting against the People alongside Sool, they'd need every bit of help they could get.
Thankfully, Foaly had gotten quite a bit of information in the short time he'd been inside Sool's computers. Like maps of the area, and schedules, and where the cameras were, and things like that. Where things were in the building. He wished desperately there was some way to talk with Holly. Any way at all.
Well, actually, she was probably still drugged, so it wasn't like she'd be doing a lot of talking. But it would be nice.
"Hey! Trouble! Wake up man!" Grant cut into his thoughts. "What's the plan of action? We're docking in the emergency tunnel, right? And then what? The men don't know what's going on!"
"Send the ten with wings up on the cliffs, and they can pick people off from above. The other five with you are going to come from the east, along with five of mine. And of course, the rest from the west. I'll take the east side, and you take the west. The guys going up don't need anyone. I picked out pretty good guys. They'll take good care of things."
"Right. I'll tell them that."
Trouble sighed, and turned around, yelling back at the men that five of them were coming from the east side, and the other ten from the west. And they'd better know who, by the time they'd gotten there. Which would be in another two hours. To his relief, someone took charge, asking for volunteers to go on the east, and naming of five, and telling the others they were going west, and that was that, and to shut up.
On, and on they flew. He went into automatic, steering smoothly, and clicking buttons with precision. But he wasn't really there. He was thinking about what Holly'd done. What she'd said.
And he was trying not to think about her precious little body, lying limp and lifeless, covered with blood. Full of bullet holes. He was trying so desperately not to think of that.
An hour passed. And hour an a half. The men started pulling on their blackout suits. With the storm, there might not be any sun, but then again, there might be.
Trouble turned on the radio as they approached the end of the tunnel. "Okay, Grant. There's no actual landing pad here. Make an emergency landing on that shelf, and we'll take it from there. I want everyone to be real quiet when we get out."
He slowed, yelled to the men to brace themselves, and released the grips. They hit with a jolt, shuddered, and then settled. Trouble turned off the engines, and released the seal on the door so the men could climb out. "I want you all to assemble by the exit. Quietly. Divide into your groups. Wait for Vein and me. Make sure you have everything."
One by one, the men swung themselves down, and filed across the shelf, up crude stairs, and spread out on the platform, slowly separating, and becoming three distinct groups.
Grant came up behind him as he dropped to the ground. "Hey Trouble. Any words?"
"I don't know man. I just don't know." Trouble leaned back against the shuttle tiredly, shutting his eyes. "I'm really tired, and I'm even more worried about Holly. If anything were to happen to her— I'd never forgive myself, Grant. Never. I'm just so afraid we'll get there, and Sool will shoot her in front of me, and there'll be nothing I can do to stop him… And she trusts me! I know she does! I just don't know…"
Grant patted him on the shoulder. "It'll be okay, man. She might be hurt, but you can't kill Holly Short. Not even Demon got her. She's always been fine before. You know that."
"Yeah. But what if she's not this time?"
Slowly, Grant turned around, setting his hands on his shoulders, and looking him in the eye. "Then you've got to go on for her, Trouble. You know Holly better than I do. You know what she's like. She's got a drive to protect the People. She wouldn't want you to shut yourself up and cry for her for the rest of your life. Good grief! She's not even dead yet! Do you think she would sympathize with you right now? Get a hold of yourself!"
"You're right." Trouble straightened, and started across the shelf to the stairs. "Come on."
Holly stirred, and opened her eyes with a groan. What was going on, again? Oh.
Sudden shock and hurt swept through her, and she sank back again. Artemis had betrayed her. Artemis was working with Sool. Artemis was going to destroy the world. Artemis was no longer her friend. He was against her now. And he didn't care anymore. He'd changed for some reason. Something had happened. What, she didn't know. But it had.
Her helmet was gone, as was her suit. And her arm hurt like hell. And she was cold. She wished she'd though to wear something warmer. Not that she had anything warmer. Just halter-tops. That was all. She loved halter-tops. The only girly thing she ever wore. And she wished she was wearing full length jeans, instead of capris. But she only had two pairs, and they were dirty. Along with most everything else.
Slowly, she sat up, and looked around. The cell was small. And cubic. And concrete. It reminded her of her cell at Fowl Manor. A lot. But this time, unfortunately, she had no acorn.
Footsteps outside. Holly tensed, rising to her feet, and shifting her weight uncertainly.
The door unlocked, and opened. Sool stepped in, a smile on his face. "Ah. Miss Short. Ready as ever, aren't you? You're in good shape. Only three days ago you almost died. And now you have a hole in your arm. You're an amazing person, you know."
He held open the door, motioning her along with his dart gun. "Come along. You're wanted elsewhere. But as I was saying; no one else could have possibly discovered me, and my plan. No one else could have possibly made it inside. And you did everything against both sides. Fighting both the law, and the outlawed. I must say—"
"Stop talking," snapped Holly. She pricked her ears, listening intently.
"Ah yes. In case you're wondering, Trouble Kelp is here, fighting with my men outside. But he shall be sufficiently detained. Meanwhile, we shall lock ourselves up in the labs with Artemis. And of course, we shall carry out the bargaining from there."
"For what?"
Sool grinned, nastily. "For what, you ask? Why, for your life, Miss Short. What else?"
Holly shut her mouth, and shuffled on, ignoring his impatient prodding. She needed some kind of plan. Any kind of plan.
Trouble shot down the last man, and ran towards the building without waiting for the men to finish cuffing, tagging, and collecting them. Quickly, he punched in the code Foaly told him to, and ran inside, followed by five of the men.
"The camera!" shouted Foaly eagerly. "Put the emergency wire in the camera, Trouble! There's even a chair there for you!"
For a moment, Trouble hesitated, wanting to go straight to Holly. Then, he ran down the hall, and jumped onto the chair, pulling out the chip and wire, and fumbling with the camera. After an eternity, it was finally attached, and he jumped down again.
"Where are they, pony? Where's Holly?"
Tapping. "In Sool's labs. With Fowl. Just the three of them. And Holly doesn't look so hot."
Foaly fed him an aerial map of the building, with the path to the labs marked out in red, and himself as a little blinking dot. "Hurry up! What are you waiting for?"
Again, he broke into a run, his men following. Down two halls. Take a right. Open the third door on your left. Down the stairs. Open the door. Turn right. Turn right again.
The lab doors were different. They looked like Foaly's doors. And they were sealed. There was no way in.
Trouble swore under his breath, and pounded a fist against the metal. "Do something, Foaly! Holly's in there, you idiot, and she's hurt, and Sool's going to kill her!"
A screen on the wall buzzed, and Sool bowed. "Patience, commander. Have patience."
Holly was tied to the chair beside him with her hands behind her back, kicking and squirming. Sool spun her around, and stood, leaning over her. "If you want her alive, I advise you to wait. I have a gun, and she can't fight back. Can you, Miss Short?"
Her foot connected with his groin, bringing a satisfactory howl of pain. Holly grinned at the camera. "So he says."
Trouble couldn't help it. Even worried about her as he was, he began to laugh. As did the whole of Ops, and the Council in general. Foaly had this on conference camera.
The camera turned off, very abruptly.
Trouble sat down beside the door to wait. Holly could take care of herself. She would be okay.
Artemis leaned over, examining a gun. It was not human, but it had been modified, quite cleverly, to take bullets. And of course, the bullets had been modified as well.
"Like it?" Sool had sufficiently recovered from Holly's attack, and was able to walk with a slight limp. He'd quickly gotten out of Holly's range, and hobbled over to Artemis. "It can kill, and it has three times the rang and five times to power of your guns."
He smiled. "Let me guess. You had these mass produced, and I'm going to: invent them for the humans to use."
"Precisely." Sool seated himself. "Anything else?"
"Do you have anything to drink down here?" Artemis set down the gun, and leaned back, raising an eyebrow.
Sool pulled an empty flask, and a small capsule off a ring in his belt. "This will have to do, I'm afraid. At least it's been purified. These are quite ingenious things Fowl. High compressing power. There's a whole lot of water in here."
Artemis nodded and leaned forwards, listening like he'd never heard Julius give him the same lecture.
"There." Sool handed him the flask. "When you're done, take this, and fill it back up again in the sink over there." He set the compressor down on the table, stood up, and crossed to the computers, where he sat down and opened a game of solitary.
Artemis downed the water quickly, and crossed the room, connecting the compressor to the capsule, and turning on the water. When he was done, he filled the flask, and turned back on the water. Quietly, he opened a cabinet, and pulled out a small surgical looking lab knife for cutting wires.
After a moment of though, he washed it, rolled up his sleeve, and made a small slash in his arm. He watched, as the blood trickled down his arm in a steady stream into the compressor. When it was half full, he put a new cleaning cloth over it, and wrapped half a roll of electrician's tape around it. Then, he washed off his arm, and rolled down his sleeve, casually slipping the capsule into his pocket.
Sool turned around from his computer a moment later. "Hey Fowl? Come here and figure out how to open a connection with Foaly at the LEP. I want to talk with them."
Artemis set down the flask and compressor on a counter, and ambled over to the computers, thinking. "Well, he's already got surveillance going." He turned and looked up at one of the cameras. "Put your face on the screen, pony, so we can talk to you."
After a moment, Foaly's face appeared on a screen. "What do you want, Sool? Fowl?"
"I want Kelp and his outfit out of the building. Fowl and I are going to leave at midnight. We're going to take Holly with us. If anyone comes near us, or makes any hostile moves, she's going to die." Sool waved a finger at Foaly. "And you won't be able to play any tricks, pony-boy, because Artemis Fowl has beaten you, and he will beat you again. Together, we will conquer the world, and that is final. So get used to it."
"I'll tell him," said Foaly gloomily, and disappeared.
Trouble listened in silence, face hard, and angry. "There's no way you can open those doors?"
"So what?" Foaly stared at him in bewilderment. "So Holly can be shot?"
"Can you open them, pony?"
"It would take a while. I'd have to do it manually— the code that is, because of the way it's hooked to the computer."
He stood up. "Then start working on it."
"Only if you send one of the men to find my prototype. I don't want anything happening to it."
"Yeah, yeah. In a while. I'm getting something to eat." He glanced around at the men. "Come on. Time to eat. It's going to be a while. Foaly's working on something."
In silence, they walked back to the lounge with him, and sat down at the tables with whatever they could find. Trouble leaned against a couch, sucking on an ice-cream bar, and staring straight ahead. He'd gotten the whole box to himself. It was not the favorite treat of most fairies, and some downright hated it. Besides, it was cold outside, and they wanted something warm to eat. Right now, though, he didn't care what he ate.
Grant came over, interrupting his thoughts, nodded to him, and sat down on the couch. "What's the plan, big man?"
"For what?"
He frowned. "I thought you told Foaly to find out how to unlock the doors. Didn't you? You do have a plan for it, don't you?"
"No," said Trouble shortly.
"Then what do you think you're doing?"
With a flick of his wrist, Trouble sank the stick into the waste basket. "I'm going to give Holly an opportunity. That's all she needs. If she has an opportunity, she can do it. She'll find a way out of the whole thing if she has a way. I know she will."
"What if she doesn't?"
"Then I'll hang myself," said Trouble placidly, and walked away.
Grant hesitated, and then opened a connection with Foaly. "Hey Foaly? Listen to me while you work, man. You really need to hear this. It's serious. Really serious."
"What?" Foaly's tail lashed from side to side in annoyance. "I'm trying to work!"
"If Holly doesn't make it out of there, Trouble's going to kill himself, man. He's obsessed with her. Totally obsessed! His life revolves around her. Say you have a plan to get her out of there… Please!"
"I don't. I thought Trouble did. He's the one who wanted the doors unlocked." Foaly pawed through layers of wires and papers, finally fishing out a carrot, and popping it into his mouth. "There isn't much we can do, but a blue rinse, and that doesn't solve anything either. Of course, first we have to open the doors."
"But Foaly—" Grant gritted his teeth in frustration, and got to his feet. "Whatever."
Trouble was just disappearing around the corner. Grant followed him, wondering what he was going to do. He found him sitting on the floor by the chair, head in hands. "Hey man. Want to talk?"
"No."
Grant lowered himself to the floor opposite of him. "Look. I know you love her. But you can't build your life on her. Once she's gone, so's your life."
"What if she dies?" Trouble shut his eyes. "What if it's my fault?"
"Think what Holly would do. If you died, would she fall apart like that? Would she want you to fall apart like that if she died?"
Trouble exploded. "You don't understand Vein! She doesn't love me! She wouldn't understand anyways!" His voice rose. "Of course she wouldn't fall apart! What do you think?"
"I'm sorry, man. I'm sorry." Grant shook his head, and looked away. "There's nothing I can do. Nothing anyone can do. Nothing you can do. You can't blame yourself."
Trouble snorted. "Well too bad. I do."
Holly sat still, watching Artemis with hurt, and hate in her eyes. How could he be doing this? But there he was, talking with Sool like nothing was happening. Talking calmly about the killing of millions and billions of people like it was everyday amusement.
They were whispering about something or other. Holly pushed away from the conference screen, glad for a chair with wheels on it.
"Go ahead then. An hour, you say?"
Artemis nodded. "Probably the best time. It wouldn't upset any of the other plans, would it?"
"Not at all… not at all." Sool nodded eagerly to the computer. "Change it then."
With the click of a button, Artemis deleted a program from a computer, and opened another, quickly modifying a number, and entering in some kind of new data.
"Why'd you delete my surveillance?"
Artemis shook his head patronizingly. "Because now Foaly can't mess with anything. That is the computers' only connection to what Foaly has access to. These are run on entirely different wires. There's nothing he can access now, and nothing he can do."
"But we don't have surveillance." Sool scowled at Artemis.
"We don't need it." Artemis spun his chair with a smile. "We have Holly, don't we?"
"Ah. Yes. Miss Short. That will do then." He turned too, to look at her. "You moved. You've been listening to us, haven't you?"
Holly didn't answer.
"Not that it matters. You'll die anyway."
"But you promised…" Artemis shook a finger at Sool. "I get her. She's mine."
"Yes, yes, I suppose. Whatever. We'll sort things out once we've won." Sool leaned back in the chair, propping up his feet on the desk, and shutting his eyes with a sigh. "It won't be long."
"No." Artemis looked up suddenly. "How are we getting out of here?"
Sool smiled. "The prototype, of course. Miss Short brought it, and I think I could use it. I had some of my men fetch it while she was asleep. And while you were as well."
He smiled slightly. "Good old sleep. As soon as this is over, Sool, I think I shall sleep for days."
"You'll be entitled to it, Artemis." Sool made himself comfortable, and slid down in the chair. "Wake me up if something happens, or otherwise fifteen minutes before me leave."
"Right." Artemis stood, spinning Holly around, locking her wheels, and putting her out of reach of anything to kick. Then, he began to pace, waiting for Sool to fall asleep.
Finally, he was, and Artemis turned, quickly picking up the gun on the table, and turning his back to the cameras, so all they could see was that he was half hiding it in his jacket, and messing with it.
Foaly scowled at the screen, and groped around for another carrot. "What's he doing?"
No one answered him. There was no one else in the room.
Muttering to himself, he pulled up recordings from earlier, watching curiously as Artemis cut himself, and drained it into the capsule. There had been a reason for that, he was sure, but what it was, he didn't know. And now this. Artemis was up to something.
He watched, as Artemis turned back around, and leaned over Sool, carefully exchanging that gun with the one in his holster. Artemis laid Sool's gun on the counter where the other had been, and began to run his fingers along the joins in the wall.
"What are you doing?" howled Foaly in frustration. Maybe Artemis was tricking all of them. Maybe he was really on their side, and they though he wasn't, and Sool thought he was on his side, and he really wasn't. He wished Holly could see what was going on. It would have made her feel better. She would have known what he was doing.
Suddenly, the wall swung open in front of Artemis. He shook his head in disgust, and so did Foaly. Please, not that pathetic all hinged panel trick. It was so old.
Artemis reached around, turning something with a smile, and then closed it. When he pushed on it again, it did not budge.
Foaly leaned forwards. Artemis had locked it from the inside. What was he planning? Did he know that he was trying to find out the code to the door?
Then, Artemis went to the door, and changed the door code for opening them from the inside. And, he pulled out a C-cube.
Foaly froze. How'd he gotten that? He'd confiscated all the plans! He'd taken Artemis's own cube! There was no way in earth he could be holding that right now! The dismantled cube was still sitting on his other desk! Somehow, though, Artemis had made himself another one. He sighed, shook his head, and sank back, watching Artemis open a program.
In silence, he walked over to the nearest camera, and held up the screen. It was a recording, the camera approaching the door from the outside. Sool was walking in front. It zoomed in, as he leaned over the keypad, and took in every number. Then, Artemis pulled it away.
He looked at the camera, knowing Foaly was watching him, and said quietly: "Wait until he wakes up, alright? And they are not to shoot at him. I need him alive."
Glasses. Artemis Fowl was wearing glasses. And he had twenty-twenty vision. Suddenly it dawned on Foaly. The glasses were the key. They were the camera, and they had recorded what Artemis had seen. Just like his own contacts.
With a howl of rage, he spun in his chair, and began to kick furiously at the wall. Artemis had stolen his plans somehow! He'd hacked into Foaly's most secret files, and used the contact information to build his glasses! And now he would have to change all his passwords!
Like Artemis knew he was screaming, he smiled, returned the cube to his pocket, and began to pace again.
Foaly hesitated, and finally zoomed in on the countdown. They'd changed it while he was in the loo. They'd sped things up. Twenty minutes until detonation. Only twenty minutes until the world blew up. Why didn't Artemis do something about it?
Because Sool was in the way. He would have to get past Sool. And there was the problem then of the buttons. They were the kind that needed fingerprint recognition, or they'd set off alarms, and refuse to perform their task.
He leaned back in his chair, and pulled up a carton of carrots. For once, security matters could wait. He'd change his passwords after he'd seen the end of this.
For a moment, he felt guilty. Perhaps he should share all this with Council. After all, they'd regretted their actions, and even been so kind as to send him a huge cooler of beetle juice as a present. And even made Trouble the commander. And Trouble wasn't so bad.
With a sigh, he turned on the conference camera in the Council room. "In case any of you are wondering, it turns out that Artemis is double-crossing Sool, or something. It might be interesting, so I'm sending you the live feed."
Conscience happy, he put the feed on his biggest screen, and turned out the lights.
Holly sat there in her chair, staring down dejectedly at the ring. She couldn't reach the locks, or she would have been trying them. But it was no use. Not really. She'd failed.
More than anything else though, she wished she'd told Trouble she loved him. The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. He'd always been such a good friend, and he'd really meant it. It wasn't like it would have been horrible to marry him. Not like Verbil or something.
She was such a fool. It wouldn't have hurt anything. It would have made everyone happier. She hoped desperately that he would be there when Sool shot her. Just so she could tell him she loved him. It would make him so happy. And he deserved it.
Noises behind her. Artemis was telling Sool to wake up.
"Alright… alright. I'm awake." There was a loud creak, as Sool got out of his chair.
Holly took a deep breath, and slid down as far as she could, slowly turning her chair so that she could see what was happening.
Trouble sat down beside the door to the labs, concentrating on the floor in front of him. Foaly'd better hurry up.
"Hey! Trouble!"
"What?" He glanced at the screen in his helmet.
"Listen, I told the other men, and they're coming. Fowl has some kind of plan. He's double-crossing Sool. One thing though. Whatever happens, you must not shoot Sool. Artemis needs him alive for something. Don't mess things up. Don't shoot."
"So we can get in there?"
"Of course," chortled Foaly. "Artemis sent me the code himself. Stand up man, and punch it in."
The other men were coming around the corner now, excitement in their eyes. They were about to see a famous Artemis Fowl/Holly Short victory. First hand, too. A once in a life time experience. Think of all the talk shows they could get on, and all the money…
"No shooting!" snapped Trouble, and turned around, waiting for Foaly to give him the code.
He did. Rather slowly, but it worked. The green light came on, and slowly, slowly, Trouble Kelp parted the doors.
Sool stretched, and checked the clock. "Right. A quarter of an hour. Things got a little out of hand, but everything will go smoothly. Should go smoothly at least."
Artemis nodded. "I double checked everything while you were asleep. Everything's running well. I'd say we're good to leave now."
"About that, Artemis— I—" He stopped short, and then spun, grabbing Holly, and yanking her out of the chair, holding his gun to her head, and using her as a shield.
"Right, Fowl. Smoothly."
Artemis turned towards the door, and stopped short, face uncertain as to how it would arrange itself. Finally, it fell into its customary coolness, and he nodded to the group of officers standing in the doorway. "You do understand, of course, that if any of you moves, Holly will be shot?"
"Yes," spat out Trouble. He didn't quite believe Fowl was with them. Maybe he was double-crossing Sool, but maybe he had plans for himself.
The end. For now. Aren't you angry with me?
You who do not review: Your evils will condemn you on the day of judgment. :)