I N F E R N O
- Dim Aldebaran -
Chapter Eleven
:i:
The ride on the Lear was smooth; a flawless performance by Holly, who had stubbornly insisted that her piloting skills extended well beyond LEP shuttlepods. Perhaps she was right, but Artemis had no inclination to tell her so.
Fortunately, gloating was not particularly high on Holly's priority list. Upon arrival, she peered into his private cabin and clicked the lights on and off a few times to get his attention. When he glanced up with a reprimand on his lips, she grinned, turned the lights off, and left.
After stumbling over an ottoman, he found his way to the door and went out into the main corridor of the jet. The cockpit appeared to be vacant, but the rear parlor emitted the distinctive sound of chatter.
Entering, Artemis found that Juliet had already donned her gear; all black leather and titanium. She had insisted that she should at least look good while doing dirty work. It wasn't anything terribly flashy, and Artemis had insured that every little aesthetic flourish had a purpose. For example, most of the leather was not real leather at all: rather, a waterproof, fireproof, airtight, stainproof, acid- and base- resistant polymer that had multiple patents on it, and still managed to retain that leather shine. There were also liberally placed titanium studs that doubled as small capsules for the odd object—poisons, explosives, disinfectant, the like.
Artemis considered Juliet's gear his best work in textiles. Asides from the aforementioned features, it also contained modified—and improved—versions of the fairy equipment he had accumulated over the years. There was no longer any need for a throat-patch for audio, for example, since the same audio equipment had been incorporated into the weave of the faux leather polymer of the high collar. Similarly, a separate insertion of the eye-cam was now unneeded, since a thin, mucus-like film could be sprayed into the eye once the helmet was donned. It could not be removed without the antiserum, nor could it be detected by any known sensor: the film consisted of a series of nanobots which could function independently or as a group. They would detect incoming light and transmit it on high-frequency radio waves, encrypted, to Artemis' receiver. A separate cam foil sheet was also unnecessary, since the fabric itself could function as cam foil. A helmet, full retractable into the catsuit, could purify virtually any air with its selectively membranous polymer—rendering bulky, separate filters obsolete. Though perhaps wingless and a little more gaudy than the LEP uniforms, such features made it an extremely useful tool to the Butlers—and to Artemis.
Foaly's latest LEP jumpsuit design mimicked Artemis' in many ways; when questioned, he had insisted that he was entirely unaware of Artemis' model.
There was one further feature worth commenting on: two modes, which Artemis had named 'stealth' and 'social' modes. Stealth was used in virtually every mission; full features, from the small, ovoid helmet to the titanium-reinforced gloves to the thin,
'Social' mode had fewer features, but with it on Juliet could pass as a civilian in a city environment. The helmet retracted, the camfoil played some tricks, and Juliet was wearing black leather boots, tights, a pleated leather skirt and a revealing tank top. Perhaps the civilian would stick out a bit, but gorgeous blondes in revealing tank tops generally do. Black was a common color, and beautiful blondes were really not that rare. It was an easy, transition-free camouflage; all it required was a whispered command.
Alberta's small, rural towns were a far cry from the urban environments social was dsigned for. Even amongst tourists, Juliet would stick out like a model in a leper colony. Though the solution was simple—wearing slacks and a loose shirt—it still required disposal. It was a note of sloppiness that irked Artemis to no end. Camfoil clothes could only do so much.
Juliet grinned at Artemis as he entered. "Can I wear this to my next match?"
"If you can get it by the referees," Artemis replied, taking a seat. "Does anything need adjusting?"
She giggled and opened her mouth to reply. "Well, my bra—"
"Nevermind," Artemis interrupted. He spared a moment to look at Juliet; in her mid-twenties, she was frankly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Juliet had grown out of her green mascara and glitter and into her own: no model could quite imitate that careless beauty that she had developed. Her eyes, large and blue, were framed by naturally dark lashes, and her lips smiled as quickly as they pouted. Her skin was smooth and tanned, and an excited flush was present. Furthermore, her curves were only accentuated by the skintight design of the catsuit, and black was a color that looked very, very good on her.
Somewhere in Artemis' head, a neuron fizzled.
He recovered before Juliet—or worse, Holly—noticed. "Is everyone ready?"
"Everyone but you," Holly noted primly.
Artemis scowled, but the remark was true: he hadn't prepared for the mission in any way but mentally. But then—there was little enough for him to do. He had little exposure in the plan, since once they were inside the Ferguson house, he would simply stay in place and guide Juliet through the mission—and besides, he would be guarded by Butler.
He had already donned his suit; he needed to look snappy for this, even if the security cameras would never catch them in the act. However, certain… items needed to be applied.
He reached for the satchel Butler provided and began withdrawing those 'items': the spray-on mucus eye cam, the cuff link transmitters, the computerized watch…
And when all was done and donned, Juliet looked him over with an appraising eye. "And yet," she began, "you look as dorky as before."
"The correct term is 'sophisticated'," Artemis corrected, standing up. He returned the appraisal: "And you manage to look thoroughly unprepared. I assume you've been discussing the entry plan while I was in my cabin?"
"Of course," Juliet said flippantly. She clenched her fist and punched the armchair's pillow; even after she withdrew her hand, an indent remained. "It's as overly complicated as it always is."
Artemis snorted in disbelief, exiting the room. Juliet, Holly and Butler followed. "If you had any choice, you would go to the front door, knock, and proceed to beat the living daylights out of whatever unfortunate soul answered."
Juliet shrugged, following. "Nothing wrong with it."
Artemis reached the Lear's door; outside, a brisk Alberta day awaited—and the outskirts of the Ferguson land. "Everything is wrong with it," he replied, checking over his own apparel. "The second person you met would have a gun, and would not be inclined to ask any questions."
Juliet rolled her eyes. "Don't I have a gun, too?"
Artemis turned, and smiled. "Are you will to bet your life that you can fire before he can?"
"'He'?"
Artemis opened the door; the mountain air rushed in, as cool as a cold shower, and just as startling. "Aspyrtus," he replied, and stepped outside.
:i:
The set-up was simple enough; a small, trackless vehicle brought them from the alpine meadow they had landed in to a ridge overlooking Ferguson Manor. From the vantage point, they could trace the long, winding road that ran through the high fir forest, curving with the contours of the mountainside.
Though Ferguson Manor was only in the foothills of the Rockies, those 'hills' would qualify as mountains to any flatlander. The summits were smooth and flawless, all graceful lines and elegant contours. The very forms were grand; when taken as a whole, the sprawling mountainsides were magnificent.
Ferguson Manor was like a wound in the valley bottom; the bright green of the grounds was a scar, and the speck-of-a-Manor was a scab.
Artemis' lip curled. He had expected more than that.
But blueprints never lied; as they began to descend through the forest, they could catch glimpses of the growing Manor through the trees.
"It doesn't look anything like Fowl Manor," Holly observed, slapping a hemlock sapling to the side.
"Of course not," Artemis replied, taken aback. "Fowl Manor is a tenth century castle constructed by—"
Holly made a face. "Spare me the history lesson."
Artemis scowled, bending down to inspect a fungus. "My point is, Ferguson Manor is not a manor in the proper sense. The structure is entirely wood, with only recent additions of sheetrock, insulation, et cetera. One cannot expect it to be nearly the size of a stone castle, nor its match for all aesthetic purposes."
"Fowl Manor always struck me as dull," Juliet cut in. "Old and dull."
Artemis plucked the mushroom; Amanita muscaria. "Your cities are hardly things of beauty."
"But castles are boring." Juliet was balancing on a fallen log, walking down its length. Her silhouette, slim and curving, made stark contrast to the straight lines of the trees. "Cities, on the other hand—"
Holly kicked the log hard enough that it lurched to the side. Juliet, for all her training, lost her balance and fell into some scrub on the other side. "Cities reek, and castles are a waste of time. Let's leave it at that."
Juliet was disinclined to argue, in her present condition. Artemis, however inaccurate her statement was, felt that silence was a preferable state, when compared to tumbling through the underbrush dirtying his immaculate clothes.
:i:
When they reached the edge of the grounds, Artemis halted; the rest of the group followed suit. "Are there any questions before we proceed?"
"Yes," Holly immediately said. "Why am I not doing anything?"
Artemis spared her a withering glance. "You are; if things run afoul, you will fly Juliet to safety."
"That's not what I mean," Holly said crossly, folding her arms across her chest. "You and Juliet—you're getting all the fun in this."
"I don't pay you exorbitant sums of money to risk life and limb," Artemis replied, gesturing towards Juliet. "The only reason why I'm not sipping 1760 in the Lear right now is because someone needs to coordinate all of this from the inside."
She looked squarely at him. "And the only reason I'm not sitting on my derrière in Haven giving Sool Hell is because I think you're going to get yourself killed since you aren't nearly as careful about all this as you ought to be—"
"Have faith in genius," he replied with a laugh. "I'm much more reliable than God." With that, he withdrew a camfoil blanket from his knapsack and threw it over himself; all that remained of Artemis Fowl was a faint shimmer, stirring like a careless wind towards Ferguson Manor.
Juliet grinned, and turned towards Holly. "Duty calls," she said sweetly, fading into the grounds as the camfoil of her catsuit activated.
Butler turned towards Holly. He gave her a reassuring, albeit bone-jarring, pat on the back, and drew his own camfoil blanket over his great body.
They had all faded into the grounds, now: Holly sat on a fallen log, and settled down to wait.
:i:
Now, I know I said that the action would start this chapter, but I decided to split up it up, since this chapter was literally five thousand words when the whole 'break into Ferguson Manor' thing was finished, and after trying to edit this sequence down to three thousand words for the entire morning, I just decided to split the darn thing so I'd have time to get to some beta jobs today too. That means I'll have part two – already written and edited – up later this week. It's hard for me to edit though, since there's shiny action sequences and stuff that I'm terrible at, so this gives me more time to try and edit it anyway.
coughs So. CC much appreciated, and apologies for me not getting Teh Good Stuff here quite yet. :P
