Author's Note : Hellow people ! Here's chapter 2 ! :)

Before we get started, I want to thank everyone who has followed or favorited the story already, you guys rocks ! And very special thanks to CaptainS10 and Pr. Cumulus for their reviews, you are the sweetests :D

Now on with the story :3 This chapter is way longer than prologue and chapter 1 reunited, but some stuff happens and Artemis finally learns more. Nyeheheh...

Disclaimer : Eoin Colfer is the author of the Artemis Fowl series, therefore I do not own any of its characters. Many elements of this fanfiction (including its title ^^) are also inspired or directly drawn from the 1998 Japanese anime 'Serial Experiments Lain' (GO WATCH IT) even though it is NOT a crossover.

Author's Recommandation : I personally love writing and reading to music. If you're interested, I highly recommand listening to Neon Demon (main theme) by Cliff Martinez, from the eponymous movie by Nicolas Winding Refn (freakin aesthetical masterpiece if you ask me). This piece of music just really fits the mood of the fanfic !

Enjoy your reading ! :)

Database #02 : Zero-Day

ARTEMIS' OFFICE, FOWL MANOR

After a hot shower and a couple sleeping pills, Artemis had eventually managed to get a few hours of restful sleep. Of course, he was eager to finally get back on tracks, but as he felt he was tackling onto one of the biggest challenges he had ever faced, Artemis knew he would better be in his best mental and physical condition.

And so was he now : wearing his signature Armani suit and Gucci moccassins, Artemis sat at his desk, and switched on his computers. He activated Aegis, an IP-adress jammer software of his own design, and logged on to the Internet ; there, he opened a new window, clicked on a few links and directly entered code commands in the search bar. As he was logging on to three different darknet forums, Artemis cracked his knuckles with a soft grin. Here, he was in his element.

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Butler entered the room, a tray in his hands.

'' Here's the light breakfast you ordered. ''

'' Thank you, Butler. You can put it over here. ''

Butler approached, and as he laid the tray on the desk, he couldn't help but stare at his principle with concern. The dim green light of the computer screens exacerbated how pale and sickly Artemis' skin was. The manservant was well aware of his charge's insomnia crises, but Artemis firmly refused medical help, stating he was perfecty able to diagnose and cure himself far better than any doctor in Dublin. It was probably true, but Butler also knew Artemis' tendancy to ignore his body's signals when it came to work overload.

'' Butler, your staring is distracting me. ''

The bodyguard quickly turned his gaze away.

'' Sorry '', he apologized. '' So, you are back on your… deep-web stuff chats ? ''

Artemis didn't turn to answer, eyes locked to the screen, his fingers already slammering the keyboard.

'' It's called darknet, but yes. I'm working on a very interesting problem. ''

'' … may I ask who you are talking to ? ''

Artemis rolled his eyes.

'' Please, Butler. I can take care of myself online. ''

The manservant couldn't help but smile internally.

'' Well, the last time you told me that, I found you corresponding with Edmund Kemper. ''

'' That was five years ago and we only emailed a few times. Plus, it was a very interesting conversation. ''

'' You do know Kemper is a serial killer, right ? ''

Eventually, Artemis turned his head to his protector, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

'' Don't worry, Butler. I will be fine. ''

The manservant smiled, and his young charge turned back to his computer. But as he silently left the room, Butler still couldn't feel reassured.

Lately, it had become more and more difficult for him to reach out to Artemis. Of course, they were still close to each other – more than the strictly professional relationship they were supposed to maintain –, but Butler still felt like their bond wasn't as strong as, somehow, it should have been. He couldn't force Artemis to connect with him, but the bodyguard hoped that his charge knew he could always turn to him if he needed to.

Artemis did knew that, obviously. Butler was what came the closest to a friend for him. On more than one occasion, the manservant had also been a substitute paternal figure, at times when Artemis had found himself unable to cope with the aching feeling of his own loneliness. Especially after his parents had respectively disappeared and fallen into depression.

But lately, Artemis had decided that he just shouldn't pay attention to the sting in his heart anymore – he felt as if it had never stopped growing, anyway.

As a matter of fact, it had… but again, he just wouldn't remember. So he did stop paying attention.

And as for Butler, of course Artemis still cared for him ; but he had also decided to keep in mind that his bodyguard was being paid to stay by his side. This way, Artemis didn't feel bad keeping his doubts and fears for himself. And it made things a lot easier.

Anyway, for now, Butler wasn't the one Artemis needed. As polyvalent and talented the manservant was, the « nerd stuff » definitely wasn't one of his strong points. But Artemis had many more allies, informants and associates up his sleeve, especially when it came to cybercriminality.

As he mentioned it himself before, Artemis had obtained the access to Internet at age eight. Having already read twice almost every book in the library – the only ones he hadn't read being the complete works of Marquis de Sade, which his parents had deliberately locked away –, young Artemis had sank into the web like a captive fish finally returned to the sea, absorbing all the information and knowledge he could find.

He had soon found out about online chats and forums, which quickly became like a second home for him. Online, no one knew Artemis' true age. Hiding behind an avatar and a pseudonym, the young Fowl could just be himself, and finally be talked to as an adult. Back then he already had some notions of hacking, enough to be accepted in the restricted circles of the most notorious and prominent hackers in the world. Then, all the things you cannot learn in a book or by yourself, Artemis learned with this community. He learned so quickly that soon, he was the one giving others advices. At age eleven.

After four years, Artemis was on the top five of the most renowned black hats worldwide, under the pseudonym of IBIQ*. He didn't have much left to learn from anyone on the techniques of hacking or malware development, but the world wide web still was a precious wealth of information on various topics – including illegal and uncanny ones, if you know where to look. After his father's disappereance, Artemis had started a very selective list of the most interesting darknet networks : darknets where you can find all kind of information, including government secrecy leaks, and a community of solid hackers – talented, sagacious, and yet creative enough to believe in things the small-minded wouldn't. There, Artemis knew his fellow users were able to pick up the truth from the fiction in all the creepypastas and urban legends blooming online.

If anyone had ever heard of an undetectable virus glitching its way into both digital and physical world, Artemis would definitely find them in the forums selection currently before his eyes.

Artemis grabbed the Earl Grey cup on the tray left by Butler, and took a sip of hot tea. Before going to his most trusted informers, he would make a public announcement. He logged on to the main chatroom of the first darknet, and started typing.

- Cellphone infected by unknown virus : probably used for surveillance purposes, undetectable, leaves no trace except some glitches – IN and OUT of cellphone. PM me if any valuable experience or information about this. _ IBIQ

Artemis lightly pressed the Enter key, and copy-pasted the message on the two other darknets. Now he had that done, he could go directly to his informers ; especially two of them, who went together online as Th3lma and Lou1se.

They were undoubtedly a lot more respectable people than Edmund Kemper, but even though neither of them had ever killed anybody, they were still far from being angels. According to Artemis' assumptions, Th3lma had hacked the Pentagon six times at the very least in the last fifteen years, and was a high-degree complotist obsessed with paranormal phenomenons ; and Lou1se was a mole at the CIA. They had met Artemis three years earlier, on their private anonymous online chat. Lou1se had tried to intimidate him out of their business, until he send them their IP addresses, phones and bank account numbers. Since then, the three had decided it was for the best if they worked together.

Artemis typed a few instructions and passwords on the keyboard, and was soon connected to their private chatroom – they had named it Triangulan**. Artemis was merely logged in for half a second when Th3lma reacted.

- Hey IBIQ ! Long time no see.

Artemis smiled. Indeed, he had been inactive for almost eight months, which felt like forever. The young Fowl realized he was feeling genuinely good, despite having his phone infected by a malicious virus. It was so good to be back in the game.

On another side of the planet, Th3lma continued typing, and brought Artemis straight back to reality.

- Saw your message on the main chatroom. Had wondered when you'd start looking for it.

Artemis felt a rush of adrenaline in his blood as his heart started to beat faster. He typed furiously, without even looking to the keyboard.

- You saw glitches as well ?

- Nope, not personally. Apparently it's very rare and difficult to notice. From what I know, there are actually some people online who had similar experiences, but most of them gather on another forum. Want the url adress ?

- If you don't mind. Any personal idea when this virus has appeared first or who might have developed it ?

- Don't think it's a virus, actually. Seems to be more complicated than that. Otherwise I don't know.

Artemis frowned. Knowing how Th3lma was keen on paranormal phenomenons, he thought they would be more useful than that. He received the url link, which he opened in a new tab. Meanwhile, Lou1se had joined the conversation.

- Hello IBIQ. Saw your post too, but never experienced what you describe personally either. But I know the CIA is investigating on several hackers, who seem to be working on a secret legendary program of some kind. Maybe it's related to your virus stuff. Can't tell why the CIA is investigating on that, though ; but I don't think it's a governmental thing.

That was a lot more helpful. After a short exchange of courtesies, Artemis logged out of Triangulan and started to go through the first fifty private messages he had received after his public request. He didn't learn much more than what Th3lma and Lou1se had told him ; a few other users sent him the same url that Th3lma did, ten argued that it was a NSA conspiracy, thirty that it wasn't, none had seen any Glitch and the majority admitted that even though they had all heard about experiences similar to Artemis', it remained very mysterious.

There weren't many more solid answers on the second darknet, but on the third, a user called Nova said she had seen a Glitch too. Artemis replied immediately, and wasn't disappointed : Nova's description of the Glitch fitted exactly what he had witnessed himself.

- I was on a business trip, on a plane. I was working on my laptop, and when a stewardess offered me to buy some drinks, and I turned my head back to my computer, the screen was glitching. It was really like pixels readjusting together. I thought I was getting dizzy because of the altitude, but I found a few testimonies on the Net which sounded very similar to what happened to me. The Glitches are a real legend online, but mostly amongst hardcore hackers because it seems like they are the only ones to really see them – or the only ones to really pay enough attention.

Artemis thought back to Th3lma's first words, and he also wondered why he hadn't heard about the Glitches sooner. Nova also sent him the same url, which definitely seemed to be the next mandatory step to learn more. Artemis only had one question left :

- What were you working on when the Glitch happened ?

Nova took a few seconds to reply, during which Artemis managed to finish his tea before it turned completely cold.

- I'm an IT engineer. I was working on a personal project.

Artemis stored the information in the back of his brain. That was actually rather interesting ; it seemed like the Glitches only happened around people who had a strong connexion with computing. Artemis was getting more and more certain that where was someone behind this – wether a single individual or an organization, but his guess went to the first option. He had also been convinced it wasn't just a virus. It was still odd that it happened to him at a time where he wasn't even active online ; but it meant that the person who was behind the Glitches knew him and had surveilled him for a long time – and that this person was probably also connected to the lenses incident.

Artemis took a deep breath. He was definitely getting somewhere. Now was time to see what the url link he had constantly been referred to had to offer.

.

The first thing Artemis noticed when he opened the tab was how few users had logged in the darknet this past month. Merely six persons, including him. Going through the history of the forum, Artemis found there had never been more than ten users registered since it has been created, in 1984. He recognized a few pseudonyms as the best of the best in the elite of the hacking community. The majority of those having retired in the nineties.

Right now, there was only one other user connected, under the pseudo of Paprika. Artemis had never met her, or him, before. Seeing Paprika wasn't reacting to his presence, he decided to introduce himself.

- Hello. I think I have been under surveillance for a while (personal reasons), and this week I have witnessed two Glitches. I first believed my cellphone had been hacked by a virus, but according to my researches it's more complicated than that. I've been told to come here for answers.

It took a while for Paprika to reply. At a certain point, Artemis even though he was being ghosted, or his interlocutor was actually away from the keyboard. But then, the answer came.

- You should go away, IBIQ. Before it's too late.

Artemis thought Paprika was being quite overdramatic ; but a part of himself couldn't help but shiver. He regained his composure quickly, and replied almost instantly.

- I'm here just for answers.

Again, Paprika seemed to be choosing their words carefully.

- I've heard about you. If only half of what I've been told is true, there's no wonder you eventually came across the Wired. All the bests do. But be warned : at first, we all came here ''just for answers''.

Artemis' fingers were left hovering above the keyboard. For a reason he couldn't explain, he felt stunned.

The Wired.

Artemis had never heard or read about it before, but somehow it felt like he had always knew it existed.

There was something deep, uncanny behind these five letters, that disturbed Artemis to the core. Even as pixels on a computer screen, the word truly emanated an aura of mystery, but there was also something more, something darker. Something Artemis had always craved for, yet it took him a few seconds to put the right word on it.

It was an aura of power.

Artemis' features slowly twisted into his signature vampiric smile. Initially, he just wanted to find his mysterious enemy and make him go through a real hard time ; but there might actually be the opportunity for more. Much more. He could feel it.

- Tell me more about the Wired. Tell me everything.

Once again, Paprika took their time to reply. Artemis grew more and more exasperated every second, but at least it seemed like Paprika had decided to give him more than cryptic and theatrical lines.

- No one knows what the Wired is exactly, we can only make assumptions and theories. Here, we believe it is a network of some kind. It is definitely connected to the Internet but it's… different. Wider. It's way above what Internet will ever be. That could explain why it can affect the real world. Lain – the founder of this darknet – believed that the Wired is even older than Internet.

Artemis' eyes were glimmering from excitement, and with his diaphanous skin almost glowing in the darkness of his office, he looked like a madman's ghost.

- What about the Glitches ? he asked.

- They seem to appear wherever the Wired goes. Like footprints. The only proof of its existence. Lain said the Glitches happened when someone was using the Wired, but it's impossible.

Artemis' eyes narrowed.

- Using the Wired ? How do you access it ?

- That's the big problem. You can't.

Artemis sneered. « You can't » definitely wasn't a part of his vocabulary.

- If it is a network, the information can go both ways.

- There is a supersecurity. Protocol 9. It protects the Wired, actually Protocol 9 is the reason why the Wired is impossible to detect – if it wasn't for the Glitches. It is impossible to pass through Protocol 9. Everyone here has tried to break it. But it broke us.

Artemis wasn't impressed.

- No code is impossible to break, even if it takes eternity. Moreover, if there is a supersecurity, then someone must have encoded it.

- That's also what Lain thought. You have a lot of things in common, I guess. Just so you know, Lain ended up in a psychiatric hospital. She tried so hard to find a way to get to the Wired that she turned crazy. She thought she was the Goddess of the Wired – after all she was the one who had invented the term among our community. Her partner back then has given up, and he refuses to even hear about the Wired anymore. We are the elite of the international hacker community, we ALL tried, and we ALL failed. I tried. I was very lucky I didn't end up insane. The Wired eats your life up once you start to try reaching it. It becomes an addiction.

Artemis was getting seriously tired with Paprika's melodramatic monologues. He didn't care one bit about the insanity threats. Actually, telling Artemis Fowl something is impossible was the best way to make said something his only and ultimate goal.

Though, he wasn't foolish enough to not take her warning seriously. He had heard about Lain, amongst others, and knew she was a great hacker if not the greatest of all. If she had failed to break Protocol 9, as all the nine others who attempted it after her, there must be a reason.

- Why don't you cut out the expositioning lecture now, and explain why Protocol 9 is actually so-called unbreakable ?

It took Paprika a few minutes to reply, but this time probably because they was offended by Artemis' rudeness. Yet, he knew Paprika was certainly way too happy to have someone to mentor to just stop answering him. Indeed, after a good three minutes, Paprika replied.

- First, you have to find Protocol 9. That alone is complicated as hell ; the only way we have found yet is to wait for a Glitch, and use it as a breadcrumb trail to get to the Protocol. But that is just the easy part. I guess you know the best way to break into a program ?

Artemis replied instantly.

- Find a Zero-Day.

- Exactly. You would assume that any program has at least one Zero-Day vulnerability, right ? A breakthrough which hasn't been found nor corrected by the developers. Well, Protocol 9 does have Zero-Days. The problem is, each time you find the Zero-Day and a breach appears, the code reprograms itself. Like, instantly. You merely have the time to realize you made it, and then it's all gone and you have to restart all over again.

- Now I've told you everything I know, and I've done my best to warn you. I guess I can't stop you. Good luck, IBIQ, but remember this. You don't know what you're dealing with.

Somehow, Paprika's last words sounded familiar. But they logged out before Artemis could get a chance to answer.

The young Fowl closed off the tab, and went to the office's window. He swung the curtains and opened the window in one move. The cold December air hit him, and he shivered. It took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the light, but then he sat on the window's edge, and stared at Fowl Manor's untamed garden, and the Irish ocean below. The sight of nature helped him think.

Breaking Protocol 9 really seemed like hell of a challenge, but that's certainly not how you discourage Artemis Fowl. On the contrary, the possibility of being the first one to ever get to the Wired thrilled him at the highest point. He loved to make History and establish world records. But to make this dream come true, he would need a sackload of determination, and, most of all, a plan.

Artemis frowned, and closed his eyes, forcing himself to inhale and exhale deeply. He reopened his eyes. Protocol 9, even if a supersecurity, was definitely breakable, like any program ever developed. The complexity of it resided in the window of time allowed to the hacker. A short one, to say the least. Impossible to react. Unless…

Artemis smiled nastly. Unless you were prepared for it, and turned the microscopic time slot at your advantage. Indeed, if it's so small your brain barely has the time to process it, then whoever had developed Protocol 9 surely wouldn't notice it. If you manage to find a way to get through the breach, and have a way back, then it certainly wouldn't be fixed. The breach would be a permanent secret passageway.

Now, that was easier said than done, but it was a start. Artemis rose up, eyes in the distance. In order to be able to go both ways through the breach, it was easy for him to define what he needed : a proxy. The question now was how he would get to install his proxy in the Wired, with such little time.

He also had an idea about that. It wasn't perfect, but it was the only one he could find.

His only chance was to have the proxy installer crafted in advance, and ready to be « kicked off » in the Wired as soon as the breach appeared.

Artemis sighed. It was random, to say the least ; even if he made sure the proxy installer autolaunched – for he certainly didn't have any superhuman reflexes to send it himself –, it would surely take a certain numbers of attempts for his proxy installer to make it through Protocol 9. And even after that, he had no way of knowing if the proxy could fit in the Wired's code – what if the Wired wasn't even coded in binary ? – or if he could reach it once the proxy was to the other side. But the more Artemis thought about it, the more he realized it was the only possible option.

Artemis' look was now filled with determination. He texted Butler, asking him for a protein and vitamin-packed menu for lunch.

There was quite an amount of work to do in order to become the best hacker in the world. He should as well apprehend it with a full stomach.

–

* : IBIQ stands for Irish Big IQ.

** : Triangulan is an anagram for Alan Turing.

Heehee. Actually I've had quite the hard time trying to figure out what Artemis' pseudo would be (TheHunter_1991 was a bit too obvious ^^) so... Irish Big IQ happened XD I felt it was narcissistic and yet funny enough for his eight-years-old self. ... it's funny, right ? *prepares herself to be lapidated*

Chapter 3 is ready, but you'll have to wait until next week ! It contains some more ''action'' (even if it's very geeky stuff as in this chapter, so not action as in Mission Impossible type of action) and also some bittersweet scenes between Arty and Angeline ! Foaly also makes a quick appeareance :)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter ! If you have any feedbacks, please review, I'll be very happy to reply to any comments, requests or questions !

Lots of love from my childhood home in South France (are there heat waves around the world where you are as well ? or are we the only ones being slowly cooked in our own sweat ?) ! And see you next week :)