Wyatt walked back towards the monitors, pacing himself so that he could think. He couldn't believe that Artemis purposefully walked into the lair without knowledge of The Obelisk's location, knowing how it would end up for both him and the people he brought with him. The entire meeting had been about The Obelisk. Maybe, Wyatt thought, Artemis believed that having no knowledge would be an advantage, that he would be able to save his friends because killing them to elicit information would have no value. If that was the case, it hadn't exactly worked. Maybe, just maybe, Artemis wasn't as intelligent as he led everyone to believe. Maybe the bravado and confidence masked his true inferiority. Or, maybe Artemis was dead purely because Wyatt had a gun, and he hadn't.

FLASH

Wyatt stopped. He caught the reflection in the monitor, a yellow light that burned just for an instant. He brought his gun back up, steadying his arm just in case, but as he waited, the flash of light didn't return. He was just about to relax, and go back to deciding what to do with the survivors, when something else caught his eye. It wasn't a flash, it was something more sustained – a pair of glowing, yellow orbs, attached to a grinning face.

Wyatt turned around.

Artemis stared back.

"What the fu- H-How?!" Wyatt stuttered, tripping over his words. Artemis took a step forward, and Wyatt almost fell over.
"Surprised?" Artemis asked.
Wyatt couldn't help but fixate on the glowing, yellow eyes, radiating energy into the room. They were so unnatural, like Artemis, stood there with two bullet holes still imprinted into his chest but as alive as ever. Wyatt instinctively went for his gun, but as soon as he brought it up, Artemis struck. The energy poured from Artemis' body, congregating in his fingertips; Artemis lashed out, the energy zapping Wyatt's gun like a bolt of lightning. Overloaded, it exploded in Wyatt's hands; He let out a scream as the blast scorched his fingertips, clutching hold of his hang in agony.
"What the hell are you?" Wyatt asked between breaths, but Artemis didn't answer.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!" Wyatt screamed. He took one more look at Artemis, his shadow framing the pool of blood he had left behind, and went back to the console controls.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Artemis said, calmly.
"Stay back" Wyatt replied. "Or I will kill them all. I will kill them all, and then I will kill you."
"No" Artemis replied. The energy burst from his fingertips again, directed straight at his adversary. It hit Wyatt with force, surrounding him; It began to swirl around him, almost like a rope, then squeezed tight to his body, trapping him like a lasso.

Wyatt let out the most hideous screech.

Smoke began to rise as the energy lasso seared into Wyatt's body. Wyatt continued to cry out as he fought it, his angry, red, water filled eyes defiant as he stared back at Artemis. He brought his arm up, fighting against the pressure, just high enough that he could push down on the teleportation disc wired into him. He gave Artemis one, final, agony laced smirk, before he disappeared into the void.

As soon as Wyatt had disappeared, Artemis crashed backwards against the wall. His head spun like a gyroscope, in every which direction possible. His eyes struggled to find focus, and his body felt like it was running through treacle just to keep functioning. He attempted to close his eyes, but all that achieved was the onset of a pounding headache. Nevertheless, he had just the one thought in his mind – Save everyone. He hauled himself up, and instantly collided with one of the computer panels as his body attempted to regain balance. His vision began to settle down, allowing him to look at the array of monitors in front of him; The people were still stuck, the traps still set. The energy that he had felt before had dissipated now, no longer pushing him forward, but he forced himself to focus. Aligned with a brief knowledge of how Opal liked to put her secret hideouts together, Artemis started to work on freeing the survivors of Wyatt's wrath. After venting the room that contained Masek and Cable, he opened the entrances to both their room, and the one that held Scarlett. He didn't want to release Butler just yet, because he knew the giant bodyguard would just get in the way – out of duty and concern, at least – whilst Artemis worked.
"Think, Artemis" he said to himself, scanning the remaining controls. "Come on, you can do this. THINK."
This was Opal's hideout initially. Wyatt had used Opal's weapons. If Artemis knew Opal, she wouldn't have dangerous weapons like that in use without something to counteract them, just in case they went wrong. She enjoyed self-preservation too much not to have some kind of an antidote. But where would it be?
"ARGH!" Artemis called out, clutching his head as a wave of pain cascaded through. "I did not ask for these after effects."
Artemis continued to scan the room, but nothing was coming of it. Maybe what he was looking for wasn't in this room? But then where? Another wave of pain crashed through Artemis' skull; this time hard enough to send him buckling to the floor. He wanted to give up, to curl into a ball and just let his body go through the motions, but he couldn't. He had to fight. As Artemis' vision came back into focus for the thousandth time, he found himself staring at the ceiling. He continued to stare, his mind attempting to register something he couldn't quite put his finger on, until…

The ceiling.

How could he have missed it?

Easily, evidently. Artemis hadn't even been looking at the ceiling before he had collapsed to the ground. It was right there, staring him in the face. One of the ceiling tiles wasn't like the others; It crooked, at an angle in its setting. It was almost imperceptible to somebody untrained in discovering flaws, but Artemis could see it – it wasn't an original tile, and it looked very much like it could be moved. But how? Artemis couldn't exactly reach it.
"Ohhhh" Artemis sighed, as the idea hit him. He took off one of his shoes, and took aim.

He missed, by quite a considerable margin.

"My motor skills are so uncalibrated" Artemis muttered to himself. He removed his other shoe, and tried again. Direct hit. The panel turned green, and began to descend down to the ground. As the panel reached the floor, it revealed a compact centrifuge attached to its underside – a centrifuge that contained several vials. Artemis dragged himself over to it, and started examining the vials. Like he had suspected, and like he had hoped, the vials contained some kind of antidote to the horrors Opal had created. More than that, the centrifuge also contained a note. Cautiously, Artemis unfolded the piece of paper:

Artemis,

Good luck.

Opal.

Artemis groaned… sort of, but still forced the note into his pocket. He had what he needed now, to have one last shot at saving everyone, so crawled back over to the command consoles, and finally released Butler. Almost instantly, Butler had burst into the room.
"Artemis!" He called out, upon seeing his charge. "What happened?!"
"No time" Artemis replied, hauling himself up. He showed Butler the vials. "We might still be able to save them."
"Save who?"
"Cecily" Artemis replied, his voice straining. "Cable and Masek might be too far gone, but we can try. You need to take these vials to them, at the end of the left-hand corridor as we came in. Fill the syringe, insert it into the base of their skull. I need to get this one to Cecily, who is in the refinery façade."
"Artemis" Butler replied. "You're in no condition to go anywhere."
"No time" Artemis repeated. "Carry me to the end of the corridor, I'll be able to handle the lift back up. We're wasting time down here."
Butler nodded. Time to get out of there.

To Holly, time had lost all meaning. She couldn't count how long she had been holding Cecily in her arms, hoping desperately that she could so something to save her friend. But no matter what she tried, it was to no avail, and Cecily had started deteriorating.
"Keep your eyes open" Holly said, softly. "Come on Cecily, hold on."
"It hurts" Cecily replied, her voice so desperately quiet. "My whole body feels like it is alight."
"Just hold on" Holly replied. "I will think of something."
"You tried" Cecily said, her voice drifting off as her eyelids closed over her eyes. "It's OK."
"No" Holly said, defiantly. "I am not losing you. I am not losing somebody else. Come on Cecily, hold on."
Cecily didn't reply.
"Please don't leave me" Holly cried out, clutching her body close. "Please, Cecily."

WHIRRR

Holly turned her head instinctively, still cradling Cecily, to see the floor next to her disappear. In its place, another section of flooring appeared from below, with none other than Artemis Fowl II stood on top of it. Holly's breath almost stopped halfway as she took a look at him for the first time. There was no other way Holly could describe it to herself, other than he looked like death; His shirt was not only torn down one side, but there were two very large holes in the torso, soaked in blood. The blood ran down the back of the shirt and into the trousers – which were also ripped - like Artemis had been lying in a pool of it. His face wasn't just white, it was like chalk. Yet, at the same time, it was almost translucent, to the point that Holly could see Artemis' capillary system. His face and hair were both so soaked in what Holly assumed to be sweat, that the hair had actually matted to Artemis' forehead. In any other moment, Holly would have let the horror show on her face, but this was not any other moment.
"Cecily…" Was all Holly could manage. Artemis didn't say anything, merely knelt down next to Holly, and brandished a syringe, filled with a straw-coloured liquid. Artemis attempted to aim the needle at Cecily, but his entire body was shaking so much, he couldn't keep it still. Holly took the syringe off him, grabbing hold of his hand in the process. It was red hot.
"Base of the skull" Artemis said, his voice somehow remaining calm. Holly did exactly as Artemis instructed, and inserted the needle into the base of Cecily's skull, then depressed the plunger, watching the liquid disappear as it emptied.

For a few seconds, there was a palpable silence.

*GASP*

Cecily's eyes flew open as she gasped loudly, exhaling all of the air she had trapped in her last breath. Her breathing started up again, and her limbs began to move, all at the same time. Cecily looked up at Holly, and gave a weak smile.
"Wonderful" Artemis said, looking at Cecily with a relieved expression across his face.

The next thing Holly knew, Artemis had collapsed.