A/N: You may have noticed that I have a weird updating schedule. Basically, it's whenever I have time, but it's always quicker if there are new reviews! ;) R&R and thanks for reading. Tell me what you think, because I've been told (by my English teacher's grades) that I'm not a very good writer. Constructive criticism wanted.

Chapter 8

The Below-Ground Situation

Holly, Mulch, and Butler were mystified by this turn of events, however the Irish youth was not. Artemis strode in through the newly opened passage way and made a right at the end of the hallway. He had come to the living room where Rock sprites were bouncing off of furniture and walls alike. Foaly sat in the middle of the chaos with his arms open wide to greet his friends.

Mulch, Holly, and Butler soon followed the boy and came around the corner hearing Artemis say, "Honestly, Foaly. Why go through such trouble with the riddle and all. You could've just had us meet you here. Why did you play this charade?"

Foaly gave a hesitant grin at Holly who looked likely to punch the centaur into the next dimension. His reply was filled with the tension of nervousness, "How else could I really tell who my friends were."

Holly didn't seem so pleased to see the centaur alive and well as one might think she would.

"I defended you," she yelled, "I said you couldn't be behind all this! Explain right now! And shut these guys up!"

She, of course, was implying the Rock Sprites dancing around the room and making a whole lot of extra clatter than there ever had need for.

The centaur hit a button on a control panel on his watch. The rock sprites were instantly knocked out. They lay about the floor, many snoring. Foaly had apparently hit the button that exploded their Seeker Sleeper capsules that marked every captured convict.

"It's time for me to explain to you exactly what's been going on underground: All is not well. The LEP has become too strong! Sool has the fairy people at his feet. If they try to resist, he will have them killed with his own special squad of mercenary fairies, almost all of whom have lost their magic and so have no need to play by the book. Without the codes the book sets, they are able to do just about anything. He even has Goblins working for him. Right now, they are Sool's personal assassins. When he establishes himself as King, which let me inform you that he plans to, he shall use this squad to rage a war on the mud men. He plans to have his forces bio-bomb every major city in the world and kill all those left behind in hand-to-hand combat! This will be the end to humanity!"

Artemis looked pale. Whatever he had guessed Foaly's actions had been about, this certainly was not it.

"But Foaly," asked Artemis, "won't the People resist such a destructive force as this? From my experiences, the People are a peace-loving race."

"Most of the public are unaware of anything that happens in the LEP. There are a few who could raise public awareness, but that's why Sool has a personal assassin squad. I know personally that anyone who opposes Sool finds his fury. His first targets were Council member Vinyaya and myself. That's why I'm here. I had been predicting that Sool would pull something like this so I got my spy in the LEP, Major Trouble Kelp, to discover his exact plans. When Kelp discovered Sool's hit list, I gave Holly the only gun that could get into my control booth and keep power when the virus took effect. I then sent her off to you, Artemis, so that you all would be together when news of my horsenapping, spread to the press by Kelp, reached you. I left a little riddle for you that I knew only Artemis could solve. I also talked these rock sprites into helping me out. After trouble passes, I told them I would set them free to cause mayhem. When the assassin team came, I had everything ready and so activated that virus to disable the assassins' guns. I tried to make sure that you four would be the only ones to be able to find me. That's why I had to go through this 'charade.'"

Holly was stunned, "They tried to assassinate Council Member Vinyaya? Did she survive? Is she okay?"

"Of course I am dear. Foaly sent his little rock sprites to whisk me off as soon as the assasins came." This, of course, was Vinyaya, standing in the doorway from what looked like a side bedroom. She had been there the whole time, but they had been focusing on Foaly and had not noticed.

"Oh Vinyaya!" said Holly rushing over to meet the wise old elf, "I'm so glad to see you're okay! You're the only family I have left!"

"I'm fine my grandchild. No need to go get all emotional over it," said Vinyaya.

Foaly laughed at this. "Emotional?" he said sarcastically, "All elves are emotional creatures by nature." He quit his teasing at Holly's death stare.

"Grandchild?" asked Artemis with interest, "This is something new to my ears. Mother's side I assume. No matter. The plot is still the same. Sool is trying to accomplish a goal that many human tyrants have tried throughout the millenia. However, we at least know the outcome. The tyrants have never succeeded as long as someone has stood against them. We still have a chance. But we need a plan, and I believe it shall be quite an exemplary one if myself and Foaly are allowed to work on it together. Now Foaly, let's talk about what we can do to stop Sool."

Butler and Mulch just took a seat, Butler saying, "Time for the old horsey and the genius boy to earn their keep. I suggest we just get some sleep until they're ready to tell us their plan."

Soon, Butler and Mulch were snoring. Vinyaya and Holly were talking quietly in a corner.

"But what about the 48 hour deadline? Won't everything explode in about 30 hours?"

"Hush child. Put your mind to rest. Nothing will happen, I can assure you of that. Foaly just put a timer on his virus to make the LEP sweat a little and to make sure you four got here with all speed. Nothing will happen when it hits zero. The virus was just to knock out their guns so that Sool will have a harder time hurting anyone. Now, for a little girl-to-girl talk. Did you miss him?"

"Who grandma?"

"The little mud boy, of course. Foaly told me he had barely said the words 'Artemis' and 'visit' before you had rushed off to the surface to visit him. That's going through an awful lot of trouble just to take a 'vacation.' That's why I'm asking 'Did you miss him?'"

"I don't know grandma. The boy has a way of making you do stuff you normally wouldn't do, like jump into freezing water to save a man you don't know or cut off some guy's thumb. I guess I just...needed him. That's all."

Vinyaya sat musing for a while. It was obvious that she wanted to say something.

"Say it, grandma. Whatever you're thinking about, just say it," begged Holly when it was past her ability to resist such a curious thing.

"I'm just thinking that a human-fairy relationship has never been an option before. There has never been a human like Artemis Fowl, the infamous Fowl who defeated the LEP and successfully separated a fairy from their gold and even kept his memories of it. There has never before been so much as a friendship between the two species. However, this might be what we need. A creature who's willing to embrace the idea of living together, peacefully. So I say, go for it."

Holly looked away from her grandmother, "I don't know what you are talking about old woman. He's just a boy, and we are nothing alike. There's nothing between us." But her eyes reflected them dancing at Fowl Manor and how happy she had been and then their almost-kiss. Perhaps there was more truth in what her grandma had said than she would admit.

Vinyaya sensed this and snuggled down in a bed to sleep saying, "Maybe, but only your heart can tell. By a fairy's age compared to human age, you're not that much older than the boy. You're still a young fairy at 80, you'll come to see that age plays very little a part after a certain time."

With that, the old elf fell asleep, but Holly was kept up wondering, "Could it be possible? But even if I think it is, does the mud boy share my emotions. It would be foolish to fall in love with a creature that cannot love. But I'm NOT in love! I can't be in love with a mud boy."

In the side room, the two greatest minds on the planet were deep in thought, bouncing ideas off each other and asking different facts and figures in turns.

"How long will your virus last?"

"As long as we need it. There's not a fairy in the LEP that can match my intellect."

"How about the bio-bombs? Are they affected by the virus?"

"No, they have their own electronic systems that contain the solinium radiation. I couldn't deactivate them without their casings melting and solinium flares destroying all of the fairy population."

"Is there a way to deactivate the trigger system?"

"Well, manually you can disconnect it, but that's not really an option as there will be thousands of them. There's just not enough time."

"About how much time do we have?"

"Maybe another day. Two at max. The Bio-bomb transport shuttle is supposed to leave in about 18 hours, coming out of the well-used Tara Port. From there, our hope vanishes as the bio-bombs separate to go to their intended targets."

"Okay, then, the Tara port is our last chance. By my calculations, we can intercept the shuttle in time there. Now, I need to run through some possible plans in my head." And with that Artemis once again closed his eyes a rub his temples, willing the best thoughts possible to pop into his brain.

Half an hour later, they were all sitting in Foaly's personal craft, which gave new meanings to comfort and advanced technology. Artemis had made a new diagram for the crew to better understand the plan he and Foaly had woven together.

"The transport shuttle will leave the underground from the Tara Port," lectured Artemis staring around at the varying degrees of confusion. "We cannot stop each individual bio-bomb, therefore we are left with two options. The first one would be for Foaly to forcibly activate all the bio-bombs at once before they reach their targets in the shuttle port. However, I estimate that a fourth of both the human and fairy populations would be wiped out by the resultant reaction. The only other option we have is to take over the transport shuttle and keep it from reaching its destination. After that, we have to penetrate the LEP headquarters and take out Ark Sool. The only problem I foresee is that Sool will have too many supporters at his side. An army more like. We need to find a way to discredit him and cause the fairy people to revolt against him."

Holly raised her hand like a school fairy and Artemis, very much like a teacher would, asked, "Yes, Holly? Do you have a question?"

Holly scowled at being treated like a child by a child but merely said, "Won't Sool have a back-up plan? If we take over the transport shuttle of Bio-bombs, won't he just send another?"

"I can answer this one," Foaly interjected, "The fairy people have a limited supply of bio-bombs. There are only enough for attack, therefore, there is no bio-bomb back-up shipment. I've already taken care of Sool's actual back-up plan-the DNA cannons, set to human of course. But my virus has already rendered those completely useless." Foaly had a look of smugness that wore off quickly into anger when no one jumped to compliment his brilliance.

Vinyaya noticed her old friend's anger and quickly said, "I vote we give Foaly a whole bushel of carrots for his achievements! But I still have a question that needs answering. Artemis, you make taking control of the transport shuttle sound so easy. How are we going to penetrate the ships shields and sensors?"

Artemis gave his most annoying and most vampiric smile, "We are not going to do anything. The rock sprites back there in their cages, still sleeping from the Seeker-Sleeper, are going to do that work. We need to see the situation on hand before I can come up with the rest of the plan. I suggest, however, that we all buckle up. Holly, your goal right now is to finally beat some of those time records in a shuttle you've been dying to break."

"Now, you're speaking my language, Arty!" teased Holly while jumping in the pilot's chair and starting up the engines.

"Only my mother calls me Arty." said Artemis with a frown.

"And Juliet." added Butler.

"Yes, Butler, but I don't argue with Butlers as a general rule. Every time I've seen someone argue with a Butler, that person has ended up dead."

Butler did not argue with this and council member Vinyaya, who had been following the conversation with a smile believing it to be a joke, suddenly stopped smiling and looked scared. She had just realized that they were not joking, not in the least.

Holly took Artemis' words to heart and broke quite a few records. The trip was rather smooth because Foaly had installed the best gyroscopes in his personal craft. They traveled underwater to the Tara fairy harbor.

Inside the harbor, Holly stopped the shuttle for the e rest of the plans. Artemis once again briefed the crew.

"Our crew will separate at terminal E4. That is the terminal in the middle of our two goals. The rock sprites and a passenger we still need to pick up will go to intercept the bio-bomb transport. The second team, which will consist of Butler, Mulch, Holly, and myself will proceed to our target at the LEP Headquarters. Foaly will stay onboard so he can be connected to all of us and relay valuable information and Vinyaya will remain here as well. Everyone, make sure you have your communicators and that they are turned on. Any questions?"

"Who are we picking up?" inquired Holly.

"My spy, Major Trouble Kelp" said Foaly, "He shall be of great assistance to us for getting through the E4 terminal without being noticed."

Mulch was in the back pilfering Foaly's fridge, "I have a question," he shouted in their general direction, "Do all the rock sprites have to go with Kelp? They could really save me from risking my neck."

Artemis gave him a cold stare, "Be that as it may, ALL of the rock sprites are needed in order to get Kelp through the rock molecules. But I suppose it is up to you, Mulch. You can either storm Headquarters with us or you can find a way to chew through 10 miles of solid granite and then capture an entire LEP crew single-handedly. Whichever you prefer, but chose quickly."

"Never mind," said Mulch and turned back to raid the fridge.

"Right then. We shall continue with Foaly's and my plan. This 'overthrow' as some will call it must be perfectly planned in order to catch the LEP with their defenses down. Now, let's be on our way, time is running short. Council member Vinyaya, I believe our good friend Foaly has a plan that involves you. I will let him explain it when the time is right, but I shall forewarn you to make sure you have your speech ready that you were supposed to give yesterday. Good luck everyone."

Foaly had to put in a snide comment, "And I hope nobody breaks a leg, except for Butler, but it better be somebody else's." (A/NYeah, that confused Butler too. Think about it for a half minute more in a literal sense instead of a figurative, then laugh.)

Two hours before the bio-bomb shipment was to reach the Tara Terminal, a short gnome with a uni-brow and hair style frighteningly similar to that of a mullet(hairstyle, I emphasize again, not the fish) entered Commander Sool's office bearing a black protected case. Sool swiveled around in his chair to better see this new arrival.

"Commander Sool," said the gnome in an unfitting squeaky voice, "I have what you ordered sir: a human gun with bullets." He obviously didn't know much about human technology.

"Good job Major Kurt Motasch. What type of gun is this?" asked Sool of his loyal officer.

"I have no clue, sir." See? Clueless henchman.

"Interesting," absentmindedly mused Sool, "Well, as long as it shoots. I won't go unprotected waiting for Foaly to come a di-thrown me. You may leave Major."

Major Motasch backed out of the office as the Commander loaded the gun and shot a round at the wall. It works all right, thought Sool seeing the softball sized hole he had put in the wall. Sool then stuck the gun on the underside of his desk. It would be perfectly accessible in an emergency situation.