"Well look who it is!" Wyatt exclaimed as Artemis walked in. "Artemis Fowl, the man of the hour. Welcome to your last stop on planet Earth."
Artemis took a look around. The room was just as sleek as the exterior corridor, but had found space to house a large computer stack, and several large monitors that each displayed a different area of the base. Artemis could already see Butler stuck outside, still banging on the glass divider. He could also see Cable and Masek, stuck together in one room, with Scarlett by herself in another. Further to Artemis' left, there were several consoles that seemed to control the functions of the base. Wyatt was stood in the far-left corner, at the junction between the monitors and the controls.
"Wyatt" Artemis remarked. "You look good for somebody who is supposed to be dead."
"Yes" Wyatt replied. "Apologies for spoiling that for you. I guess you're itching to find out how I pulled that off?"
"No, I'm not" Artemis lied.
"Shame" Wyatt said. "Because I'm going to tell you anyway. You see, as good as Masek is, he was always taught to shoot centre mass. Buy a good enough bullet-proof vest, and you'll be able to manage a few rounds from a standard issue FRA handgun. But, I hear you ask, how did you survive the drop? Well, I had a little help for that too."
Wyatt rolled down the sleeve of his shirt, revealing a small, black disc wired into his wrist.
"Compact teleporter. Can take me anywhere I want, and doesn't need a relay to do it."
Artemis arched an eyebrow. That was new.
"I noticed that" Wyatt smirked. "Somebody has better technology than Artemis Fowl? How could that be? Well, I'm afraid you're simply going to have to accept that, for once, I'm ahead of you."
"It's not your technology, though" Artemis said. "In the same way that this isn't your hideout. It's all too clean for you."
"How very observant" Wyatt said. "You are entirely correct; The teleporter and this base were both passed on by somebody very close to me – somebody you actually know very well yourself: Opal Koboi.
Artemis sighed internally. Even in death, she managed to find a way to make her presence known.
"I got to know Opal very, very well over the course of several years, before you even came onto the scene. Despite having so many differences, we just seemed to click together. You're not the only one that can fall in love with a fairy, Artemis."
"I really hope you appreciate the irony of that statement" Artemis said. Wyatt shrugged.
"Love doesn't have to be rational. I detest fairies and everything they represent; I want every single one of them to perish, as slowly and as painfully as possible. Opal, she managed to find a way around that. Even though we both held different objectives, we never tried to change the other. We were the same side of two different coins, and neither of us tried to flip the other. Of course, after your ceremonial execution of dear Opal, that left me alone with her technology, and her facilities, all at my disposal to enact my life's work. It's so close, I can almost feel it. Can you feel it, Artemis? Change is in the air, and you can't stop it. I just need one more thing – so let's talk business."
Wyatt walked across the room, slowly, taking in each of the screens that adorned the back of the room.
"Almost a full set" He said. "Almost."
Wyatt turned back to Artemis.
"Where is The Obelisk?"
"I don't have it" Artemis replied.
That was definitely not the response Wyatt had been looking for.
"It took me a while to realise why you so badly needed The Obelisk" Artemis continued. "An ancient device created with the sole purpose of rewriting landscapes to help support new life. It was easy enough to work out why the rogue elements inside the LEP wanted to use it, after my short discussion with Markin Rose; Haven sees the LEP as weak and corrupt, unable to stop the rising threat of human interference, and sleepwalks into martial law. The Obelisk would be perfect for converting Haven into the Lower Elements' largest military barracks, ready for a war with the surface. So why would you, a person so against the Lower Elements, want them to build up an army? But then, I remembered that the beauty of The Obelisk is that it is built with the future in mind. It changes so much more than just the surface of a landscape. It would be so easy for somebody like you to hard-code fatal deficiencies into the terraforming effort and hide them below the surface, just waiting. I don't know exactly what you had planned as the instigating event, but whatever it was, it would provoke the people of the Lower Elements into breaking cover and declaring war on humanity. With the Lower Elements now seen as the aggressors, humanity would have no choice but to retaliate, but with the flaws you introduced into the Lower Elements' system I figure that it wouldn't be too much of a fight. You let The People believe they were the creators of their own destruction, which is the final victory. Not just defeat, but guilt wrenching self-destruction."
Wyatt clapped, slowly.
"My god, I knew you were good but that was something else. Got it in one. I wondered if I was going to need to monologue, but you just did it all for me."
"It was almost perfect" Artemis said. "I wouldn't have even known about The Obelisk if we hadn't retrieved it on the surface. I'm guessing somebody, likely whoever was entrusted with the device when you gave it a test run by covering up Ferran Goy's murder, got a little bit careless with the device afterwards?"
"You would be correct again."
Wyatt took a pause.
"Where is The Obelisk?"
"I don't know" Artemis replied, stone faced.
"Come on" Wyatt said. "Do we really have to play these games? You've lost. Tell me where The Obelisk is, and I will let all of your friends go, and give you a quick and painless death. If you don't, then you are going to watch as they all die slowly, one by one. Where is The Obelisk?"
"I don't know" Artemis repeated.
"Fine" Wyatt said, walking over to the nearest console panel, and placing his finger on top of a bright green button. "Suit yourself."