Chapter 2- Eagle's Eye

Steven was sweating. He gripped the trigger. His perspiration effected Steve's grip on the handle, and thus probably accuracy. The sniper pressed the trigger. M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper fired a series of shots at Artemis. "Miss, miss, hit, he analyzed". "Yes!"

Seeing the bullets with his binoculars, Butler shouted, "The bees are loose!"

The only reply was, "Go for the beehive!"

"Phut. Phut. Phut. " The low volume sound of bullets landing on the ground was barely noticeable, but very to Butler and Artemis.

Grimacing, Butler grabbed a small smoke grenade and launched it at the mountains, blurring both his and the sniper's vision and giving Artemis a chance to escape. Hearing Butler, Artemis launched himself down the mountain with his eyes closed. The G-forces threw him down towards the ground.

The smoke had cleared. It was too late to shoot. The sniper threw his gun down and sighed deeply. The reflection on his scope had given him away. Gripping his sniper rifle, the sniper relocated, in fear of the giant bodyguard attacking him. "Go for the beehive!" Steven kept running that phrase in his head over and over again. Though it was in code, the message wasn't too hard to understand. The attacker shouted into his Blue-Tooth Mic. with a perfect British-English accent, "I've been smoked, but I'm unscathed. Roger get ready for some action down there."

"Aye, Steve. Mountain base ready." Came the reply. Roger was American, but he'd no trouble understanding Steven. Steven and Roger had been good friends, they'd gone to the same college and now, had joined the same organization.

"Hmph." Steve said and started walking.

Steven was a man in his 20's, he had joined the Organisation des Libérateurs, or the Organization of Deliverers. In his case, the organization was a large if not huge band of serial killers. Bound by an unusual religion to kill and send their prey to a second life. The Organisation des Libérateurs, had spied on Artemis Fowl and his family. They'd paid the Russian Mafia close to 1 Million US Bills for information on Artemis Fowl. They had also drugged Billy Kong and beat the big man to squeeze his knowledge of the versatile and adroit teen. Jon Spiro had been kidnapped and questioned as well, following a death blow to the head with a Desert Eagle. In short, seven years of painful interrogation brought the Libérateurs to a conclusion that Artemis was associated to other-worldly creatures. They knew that he'd some type of magic.

Special Colonel Master Seventine Sterbebett had also joined the mission, due to the fact that he'd wanted a taste of magic. Sterbebett was of German origin. Seventine Sterbebett was the leader of the Organisation des Libérateurs. He had studied French as a fourth language in his eighth year of college. Seventine Sterbebett was a holder of several PhDs and was noted for his research on neurology and nuclear weapons. In his studies, he drew more and more stressful, and raving. Soon, Sterbebett turned towards insanity, and craved for knowledge. He fought for it, KILLED for it. Sterbebett was later sent to a prison ward for psychos. But the intellectual man couldn't be kept for long. Sterbebett managed to escape, with the aid of allies from high places. Sterbebett retreated to South Korea after his escape and started an organization. No one knows why Sterbebett chose South Korea, but he did and he managed to make use of it. Along with some Korean allies, he attacked a fort in North Korea. Engaging in battle with North Korea wasn't too smart, however, Sterbebett managed to recruit trained North Korean brutes into his organization. The pack travelled to Europe, where they picked up the name Organisation des Libérateurs.

The trail was rough and extremely rocky. Accompanying the tough road was an occasional rustling, which intimidated Steve, the sniper. He flipped his Palm Pilot and selected the Thermo-Sensor function. His heart raced impatiently, in fear of his death. The Palm Pilot read "LOADING" for about thirty seconds. Then it read, "30 Seconds Too Late." A small animation was playing on the screen of a smiley face sticking his tongue towards Steve. Steve looked around, his Palm Pilot had been hacked, but he still didn't notice the small bug on the magazine of his sniper. He tossed his Palm Pilot and started to run.

Suddenly, a large object burst from behind him and Steve tasted the cold metal of a handgun on his temple. Freezing, Steve panicked. Thoughts rushed through his head. He could hear Death knocking on the door. Gulping, Steve knew of only two possibilities, his life or the mission. It was life or death once again. A tough dilemma each soldier in the organization was trained for. The burly man seemed like he intended to kill.

Taking chances, he said, "What do you want with me."

"Tsk, Tsk, do you not know you manners?" Butler grumbled. In his mind, Butler wanted to shoot. A 9mm bullet would have been a perfect shot, nice, slow and painful. But Butler wasn't the man he was five years ago. Ever since Artemis left his side for three whole years, his recklessness seemed to have perished. Butler was now softer, kinder and more caring. Butler finally had a few friends who weren't simply interested in escape routes, concealed weapons, the modding of weapons and so such.

Tensing up, Steve said, "Speed up." He'd rather die then give up his organization. Many of his friends in the organization were KIA and he wanted to be with them, at rest for once. Steve closed his eyes tightly. Butler noticed a tear drop down his face as he went on. "Go kill me, it's not like I care."

"Rude." Butler said.

Bump. Steve went blank.

"I'll need to get Holly to mind-wipe this unconscious fool." Butler said. "Once again, his soft side had gotten to him. It didn't feel too bad, being soft after all", Butler thought.