Artemis followed Wyatt's eyes as he pushed the button. There was no fanfare, no grand, spectacular event, but Wyatt's eyes led Artemis to the very far right-hand screen. He locked on to the images of Masek and Cable, trapped at the end of the corridor, as some kind of gas began to pour in; Not enough for it to obscure them, but enough to know that nothing good was going to come out of it being there. Mere seconds passed before both of the prisoners began to choke up, eyes bulging in their heads, hands grasping for something, anything.
"Nasty stuff, this" Wyatt said. "One of Opal's finer concoctions never to see action. Shall we listen to their final breaths?"
Wyatt walked over, and unclicked the mute button on the screen. Suddenly, the room was filled with the sound of raspy, strained breathing, intertwined with a hideous gurgling noise. Masek was the first to go, his heavy breathing suddenly stopping mid-breath as his body seized up, and he dropped to the floor, descending into the fog. Cable, somehow, held out, clawing at the wall for some kind of purchase. There was one moment, one fleeting moment, where Cable's eyes locked onto the camera. He took one last breath, and stared the camera down.
"ROT IN HELL YOU JACKED UP SON OF A BITCH!"
Cable's breath seemed to catch the back of his throat as he finished, causing him to almost explode into a high-pitched cough-like wail, that ended with him vomiting blood, before he too collapsed into the fog.
"Charming" Wyatt said, placing the monitor back onto mute. "No loss."
Artemis was about to try and find a reply, but something caught his eye. It caught Wyatt's too.
Holly and Cecily had arrived.
"Well, isn't this perfect" Wyatt said, admiring the screen. The two elves had reached the refinery façade, and begun looking around to find a way deeper into the complex. Artemis internally cursed Holly's ability to find her way to him, even when he didn't want her too. He had fully expected her to find that way, but just really wished she hadn't, not after watching Wyatt calmly murder Masek and Cable without so much as a blink.
"Time to make a choice" Wyatt said, almost dancing around the room. "The Obelisk's location, or one of the elves bites the dust. Your decision."
"How many times do I have to tell you that I do not know the location of The Obelisk, before you believe me?" Artemis asked, desperately trying to keep his calm exterior together.
"Well, Artemis" Wyatt replied. "You're almost starting to convince me that you don't have a heart after all. Obelisk? No? So be it."
Wyatt pulled out the monitor looking over Holly and Cecily, who were still looking for a way in, so that it was front and centre. He strode back over to the console, then looked Artemis in the eyes as he slammed his fist down on a different, yet equally green button.
Artemis had been so focussed on Holly, on her wellbeing, that he almost wondered if Wyatt's contraption had backfired when he pushed the button. It was only when Artemis blinked, and his eyes reset their focus on the screen, that he realised Holly had never been Wyatt's target. It was Cecily. Artemis watched on the screen as Holly ran over to the stricken elf, splayed out on the floor, bullet wound in her chest. Yet, despite Holly's best efforts, Cecily seemed to be slipping away from her.
"Bullet wound by itself" Wyatt said, having turned to watch the screen itself, "Is fairly rudimentary. Easy heal. However, if that bullet happened to be laced with a devastating nerve agent, then things get substantially more complicated. Opal actually got to try this one out in the field; Messed a Sprite up for a good 20 minutes before they finally died. Given elfin biology, I'd say Holly's sidekick has about 5 minutes of complete agony before it finishes her off. Not the way I'd want to go, personally."
Wyatt laid back against the console, and locked eyes with Artemis again.
"You're running out of people for me to kill" He said, a smug grin plastered across his face. "Scarlett, Butler, Holly. Not that many options. Don't think that I won't go all the way if I have to."
"Wyatt" Artemis said, with as sincere a voice as he could muster. "It does not matter if you kill everybody here. It does not matter if you torture me until the end of time itself. There is no scenario where you come out of this knowing the location of The Obelisk, because I simply do not know where it is."
As Artemis spoke, something finally – FINALLY – seemed to click in Wyatt's head.
"Oh my god" Wyatt said, involuntarily sliding off the console and back onto his feet. "You genuinely don't know. But how? You wouldn't have just given it to someone and told them to hide it, you know I would get that information out of you. How else could you hide that from yourself? Oh. No, surely not. You mind wiped yourself?!"
Artemis shrugged. Wyatt looked as if he was about to burst.
"You DID!" He exclaimed. Wyatt seemed to think for a moment, before turning away from Artemis. "Of course, if you don't know where The Obelisk is, then I don't really have any use for you any longer."
Wyatt turned back around. In an instant, his right hand had reached into his waistband, pulled out a compact, ceramic handgun, and pointed it directly at Artemis. Artemis' brain barely had time to comprehend the movement before Wyatt pulled the trigger. He didn't even feel it as the two bullets nestled themselves inside his torso, but the momentum caused him to stumble backwards. Unbalanced, and with nothing to grab hold of, he crashed to the floor. Artemis could see, in his peripheral vision, a pool of blood start to form beneath him, a sure sign that at least one of the bullets had not only passed through, but hit something of importance. He attempted to lift his arms, but they felt far too heavy. His whole body felt heavy. He could hear footsteps, as Wyatt walked towards him. Soon, Artemis' vision was filled with the villain, stood over him in triumph.
"Shame" Wyatt said, with almost a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Such a waste of intelligence."
And then, he walked away.