Artemis was on the road to the airport when he received the call, and he was mildly pleased when he pulled out his phone and saw that the caller was his old friend Giovanni Zito. Artemis supposed that the environmentalist had persuaded his wife to persuade him to give the pair of them vast sums of money in order that they might develop some ridiculous and half formed idea for something that would doubtless be forgotten the next week. Still the chance to talk to his wife spread a warm feeling through his chest, and a few years ago he might have worried that anyone could have this much of an effect on him. But Opal still made his heart jump every time he thought of her, like a teenage crush, but at the same time he was comfortable, settled and supremely content, and altogether he rather liked this feeling.
"Hello Giovanni." He spoke cheerfully into the tiny handset, "glad you could take time out of your scheming to break the monotony of my day. I'm surprised you have time to -"
Zito cut him short, his voice panicked and out of breath; "Artemis! Your wife, is she with you?"
A deep, dark feeling cut through Artemis. "No, she isn't. She's not at the house?"
"I just arrived but she's nowhere to be found. Even the lab has been left open!"
Artemis couldn't think straight. He felt like he was sinking; his vision started to darken at the edges and a sick feeling entered his mouth. He realised, with some shock, that he was on the verge of fainting, and shook himself out of it.
"Artemis! I'll wait at the house for you. How soon can you get back to Ireland?"
"Three hours." This was Butler, chipping in. Obviously he could hear all of the conversation, and if Artemis hadn't been so distracted he might have noticed the strangeness of this.
"Three hours... thank-you Giovanni, but it would be best if you got yourself back home. There's no sense in you getting involved in this situation."
Opal Koboi had been kidnapped, and she was not amused. After kicking and screaming for a good five minutes without any sign of stopping, Kamal had ordered that her restraints be increased to more than just a pair of handcuffs. Boris, the largest man, had eagerly offered to do the job, and as the huge Russian sauntered towards her corner with a sadistic and malevolent smile on his fat face, Opal reflected that she had probably made a mistake in kicking him in the genitalia quite so hard. The look in his eyes told her the exact kind of bastard she was dealing with; one who delights in dealing pain and suffering, from having power over others and who would look for any excuse to use excessive force. He had probably joined the mafiya simply to find a profession where his 'interests' could be satisfied, even appreciated.
He drew a large length of rope from somewhere within his greatcoat, and she just had time to reflect that he probably carried it around everywhere before he had grabbed her kicking legs in one hand and flipped her onto her stomach. She was completely unable to resist him, effectively child-sized and with her hands cuffed behind her back, and her choice was to submit or give him an excuse to hurt her. As it was, her large, fragile Pixie head smacked the side of the helicopter and she let out a gasp of pain. The Russian started to quickly bind her legs together, and she could tell straight away he was an expert. He drew the ropes around her calves and thighs, curling the rope around the knees, and continuing in an intricate set of knots that left her unable to move her lower body whatsoever. With the cuffs holding her hand behind her back she was pretty much helpless, but predictably he started to wind another rope around her arms and upper body, before another Russian, young and clean-shaven, threw a pinned grenade at the side of his head, which bounced off and seemed to draw him out of a stupor. Opal shuddered as he withdrew, and was unable to prevent a tear from escaping her huge eyes.
"Boris! You look like a bear slobbering over a child, what the hell is wrong with you? Seriously, you make me sick just to look at you. Leave the girl alone and calm the fuck down!"
"Not yet, Sergei," grinned the huge face in front of her. "She can still talk and annoy us..."
With that he drew a filthy rag from another pocket and grabbed her delicate jaw, attempting to force the disgusting item into her mouth. She clamped her jaw shut, and he immediately slapped her in the face, hard. He didn't look annoyed, but she saw his eyes glitter, daring her, willing her to give him a reason. She trembled with fear and, feeling sick to her core, allowed him to force her mouth open. He shoved the rag in and she retched, but before she could spit it out he forced her jaw shut with his thumb and sealed it with a piece of duct tape. He wrapped more and more of the grey tape around her mouth till all that could be seen were her eyes, gazing at him with fear, and he smiled one last time, patted her gently on the cheek and moved back to his seat further up the 'copter. Opal sank down, utterly defeated. Strong as she might be, she had never been treated this badly in her life, and it was too much for her. She was surrounded by enemies, utterly helpless with almost no chance of escape, and the chance that she would be unharmed was almost zero.
Artemis had gone almost completely out of control the second he had got back to Fowl Manor. Butler had been forced to physically restrain him for a few seconds by grabbing his wrist before Artemis, taking two long shuddering breaths, managed to calm himself. Picking up the ransom note, Artemis glanced over it quickly and crumpled it with a snarl. It didn't matter what they wanted. If he thought that Opal would be returned unharmed he would pay any ransom but, as he already knew, it was more likely that they would both die, and if he let them have access to his money they would have no reason to keep either of them alive.
Butler watched Artemis, slightly stunned by the rage contorting his features, clouding his judgement. He wanted to tell Artemis to calm down, to think, but how could he do that? He had never seen Artemis like this, and therefore had no idea how he would react. Artemis was usually so in control of his emotions, so whatever was happening to him now must be colossal, and it was far beyond anything Butler could do to stop it.
Suddenly the young man stopped. It was as if every cell in his body had simultaneously frozen in place, before relaxing again. The change in Artemis was dramatic; the mad look in his eyes had been replaced by another and this time it was one that Butler did recognise, one that he did not like. It was something he had hoped never to see again in Artemis. A cold, ruthless expression, impassioned yet utterly determined, and completely merciless. He then sank down to the ground where he stood, taking the meditative position and closed his eyes. Without speaking Butler stayed exactly where he was, knowing that to talk now would only break Artemis's train of thought. Artemis had barely been in meditation for two minutes when he opened his eyes. The same look was still there.
"Butler. Let's go down to the lab. There are some... people I need to call."
Butler hesitated. He could guess which 'people' Artemis was going to ask for help, and he could also guess what their answer would be. But it was no use interrupting Artemis. Doubtless he had already thought of the best course of action to take, and Butler knew that he would only understand it once it had already happened. If ever.
Down in the lab Artemis went to his wife's laptop and punched in her password. Quickly navigating through the unique operating system he opened up a direct link to Haven. First he needed to break into Police Plaza, and luckily Opal had already created a program that emulated her own hacking skills, and as she had already broken into Police Plaza, the program quickly chewed through the security systems. Of course the real difficulty would be getting into Foaly's Tech booth, but again, the program had done this before, and he was quickly able to gain access. Only once he was in did Artemis stop to think. What would be the best way to do this? Ideally he should have Holly and Foaly there, so that if one didn't agree to his request then the other might persuade them. Of course it was highly unlikely that either would even want to speak to him at all, but no matter. He had several plans, and he knew that Fairies were particularly easy to blackmail; far more moral than most humans in places of authority, more trusting and more naive. His wife had been the perfect example of Fairy 'innocence'; if Opal had tried to take over the human world without her technological wonders she would have been utterly destroyed in ten minutes. Fairies lacked that selfishness, that cruelty, and the ability to suppress their moral qualms that came so easily to humans. Quickly he did a check of all personnel in the building and found, to his convenience, that Holly was in Foaly's booth right at that moment. He quickly took control of the cameras and switched on the sound.
"...and face it Holly, he completely betrayed you!" Despite his anxiety Artemis paused, feeling a pang of guilt. They must be talking about him. Did they really still care about him after all these years?
He watched curiously as Holly retorted: "He betrayed the People, Foaly. He let down all of his friends."
"Don't give me that. You know I know you better. Fowl took your friendship and threw it away when he'd had enough. You said yourself you thought you were his only real friend. And more..."
"Shut up." Holly snapped at him, then relented almost immediately. "I'm sorry Foaly. Frond knows it's not your fault. You're right of course... Art- Fowl was one of my best friends. I even thought I could..." She broke off, swallowed loudly and continued, "I even thought I might have... I mean... I lo-"
This had gone too far. Artemis tapped a key and his face appeared on every screen in Foaly's booth. The instant his face appeared Holly snapped out of it. Her first action was to reach instinctively for her weapon, then she relaxed, and her face completely hardened. Any trace of the private emotion she had shown before was immediately wiped away, everything apart from a slight redness around the eyes.
Artemis's own face was a mask of arrogance and confidence. "Good day to you, Commander. I have a favour to ask."
This is just a quick message to say thanks to everyone who has had the patience to keep reading after such a long time without updates. My Uni work really took me over, but I've decided that I need to make time for writing this stuff as it helps me develop as a writer and it's good fun! Therefore I shall hopefully still be updating far more regularly, though perhaps not this regularly...
On another note, I've marked this as T-rated, and perhaps this chapter will show why. However I would like to make it lower just because most people don't change the search parameters and so won't see this. It won't become sexual and probably not any more violent than this, though if it does I shall definitely make this T. Also if you found the middle section of this a little creepy rest assured that it does have a purpose and is not merely gratuitous violence/bondage... trust me ;) Anyway let me know if you think lowering the rating as it stands at the moment would be fine.
As always R&R as I need to feel appreciated!