Chapter Eleven: Gaining Knowledge
Matt didn't like to think of what he was doing as sulking. The problem was he couldn't really say he was furious or even angry, he understood Butler's reasons, but the situation seemed to call for a more dramatic word than sulking. Three minutes ago Butler had pulled up in front of the Clamendorf Hotel. Matt had been in a hurry to get out of the car but the bodyguard had stopped him.
"This situation may be dangerous Matthew," he had said. "If there is trouble it would be better if I went in alone, no offense to you but you'd probably only get in the way."
The words had hurt but Matt knew they were the truth, he had reluctantly agreed to stay behind as Butler went racing into the hotel. Of course this didn't mean the British boy had to be happy about the situation, he managed to stay in the car for a grand total of perhaps thirty seconds before he finally realized his nerves would not allow him to hold still any longer.
He got out of the car and began to pace in front of the hotel. He hated that he didn't know what was happening. When he had first spoken with Tomoe he had gotten a very bad feeling which was partially confirmed when he found she could speak English, but Butler was taking the situation even more seriously than Matt had expected. He seemed to believe that Artemis was in very immediate danger; obviously there was something more going on here that Matt was unaware of. His mind flashed briefly back to the incident at the airport, could this be another attack on Artemis?
Matt felt like he was going to explode with worry just then but luckily he was distracted by the sound of something cracking under his foot. Looking down he saw what appeared to be a broken watch. He realized after closer examination that it must have been broken very recently, the hands had stopped a mere ten minutes previously and the date it registered was that day.
Matt puzzled over it further, grateful to have something to take his mind off of Artemis for the moment. The watch was a very fine model, it wouldn't have been able to break without extreme force, perhaps one of the guests on the higher floors had accidentally dropped it from the window. That didn't sound right, hotels like this didn't design their windows to open, it would have had to come from somewhere else, maybe the roof.
Suddenly Matt's heart skipped a beat as the truth dawned on him, he was holding Artemis's watch and it had to have fallen from the roof so that had to be where Artemis was. Without a second thought he raced into the hotel and after a quick questioning of a desk clerk hurriedly entered the lift. Who knew if Butler would think to go to the roof in time? Matt knew it was up to him to go after Artemis.
With a ding the lift's doors opened to the hotel's top floor and the English boy came running out, desperately seeking the roof's staircase.
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Artemis repressed the urge to moan as he regained consciousness. He couldn't quite recall what had happened to him yet but he knew he would most likely benefit from taking in his surroundings before his assailant realized he had awoken.
"You can stop pretending," said a voice, "I know you're awake."
Well so much for that plan. Sighing Artemis opened his eyes and looked around. He was still on the hotel's rooftop but he found that he was now securely tied with his hands behind his back. Finally he saw who had spoken to him, of course it was Tomoe.
She was currently doing a quick survey of the rooftop while rummaging in her bag of "birdseed" which seemed to only have a handful of grain in it as it was mostly filled with the basic weaponry and equipment of a standard hitman. She looked at him with a sharp piercing gaze, though it was at a distance Artemis could no longer see any warmth in her eyes. He realized in passing that these eyes must be highly trained to have spotted his consciousness's tell-tale movement from when he had first awoken. She then stood up and walked toward him. She no longer had the timid walk of the girl he had first met, it was now one of determination. He had sinking suspicion he knew exactly what she was determined to do.
Artemis shook his head; it all seemed so obvious now. He had thought that her story was overly dramatic when he had first heard it but she had looked so innocent at the time that he had given her the benefit of the doubt. He really should have known better, an innocent appearance meant nothing, he should have been more thorough in questioning her. Even failing that he should have realized that things weren't as they appeared when he couldn't find any reference to her mother being kidnapped after hacking into the communications of her supposed abductors, Tomoe must have known this hiccup in her story would be questioned, she had been waiting for Artemis to come back to question her. She had even gotten him on the roof of the hotel where his cries wouldn't be heard and he likely wouldn't be able to run away.
Tomoe was now crouched in front of him and staring intently into his eyes, Artemis didn't know what she was thinking about but he knew he should use the opportunity to make her talk to him and see what information he could garner.
"Did you really have to hit me?" Artemis could already feel a nice lump forming where he had been hit.
Tomoe smirked, "I suppose I could have knocked you unconscious a number of less painful ways. The fact of the matter is I just wanted to hit you. You're a very annoying boy Artemis, so condescending. I'd advise you to work on that but you don't have very much time to and I'm sure you'll be worried about other things in that time."
Artemis frowned, the girl's Russian had improved immensely in the past few minutes, her education was obviously several notches above what he'd been led to believe. As for what she had said it only served to confirm what he had already suspected, she intended to kill him. The only reason he could think of that she hadn't yet was that she had questions for him first, probably about who knew where he was, so she could plan her getaway.
Sure enough Tomoe then put her hand to his pulse, looked him in the eyes and began questioning.
"Does anyone know you're here?"
Artemis mentally smacked himself, he hadn't even called Butler to tell him what he was doing. For a genius he was beginning to feel very stupid.
"Not as far as I know," he replied. Although Artemis was very proud of his lying ability he knew it wouldn't stand up to a professional's lie-detecting techniques. Of course he hadn't mentioned the letter he had left behind, someone might have found that by now. It was a slim hope but it was currently one of his best chances for survival since he lacked in knowledge when it came to untying oneself. For now all he could do was keep his would-be assassin talking.
"Who are you working for?" he asked.
Tomoe quirked an eyebrow, "Despite what my previous performance might have had you believe I'm not stupid. I see no reason to tell you that."
"What does it matter if I'm going to be dead soon? You could at least satisfy my curiosity."
The girl smirked and shook her head, "I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to. If my employer chooses not to reveal his identity to me it's not my business to question who he is as long as I get paid. I've never met him in person; he mostly just deals with me through his lackeys Crane and Sparrow."
Artemis's eyes widened, Crane and Sparrow! It all made sense now, they must have been infuriated by their lost status with the theft of The Fairy Thief, apparently enough to want him dead. One of them must have gone after him at the airport and now they had hired a professional assassin. But Tomoe had said that they were just the lackeys, who could be the one in charge of them? As far as he had known Crane and Sparrow worked independently.
While Artemis had been busy thinking about all this Tomoe had gone back to her bag of weaponry. She quickly selected a basic dagger, others might have favored less distinct causes of death but she had a certain fondness for the classics. Besides, it wasn't like the kid was going anywhere.
Suddenly she heard something behind her, it sounded like the door to the roof-top was opening. It had to be the boy's hulking bodyguard. She quickly shifted to a defensive stance. The next thing she knew she had been hit in the face with a shoe.
Matt had wondered what he would do when he got to the roof if Artemis really was in danger. It was already painfully obvious that he would be no help in an actual fight. His only hope would be to use the element of surprise to his advantage and do the unexpected. That was why when he had emerged on to the roof to see Tomoe wielding a knife his first instinct was to rip off his sneaker and throw it at her. He didn't hold still long enough to see if it hit but hurried over to Artemis.
Artemis wanted to ask what on earth Matt was doing there but knew there wasn't time, Tomoe would be after him in an instant. As far as he could see there wasn't enough time for Matt to do anything useful but apparently Matt had other plans. Thanks to his adrenaline rush the English boy was able to pick Artemis up and start running with him.
Tomoe ran after them as they went behind roof's doorway but when she went around the corner they were nowhere to be seen. She quickly looked up just in time to see Matt disappear over the edge of the ladder which led to the top of the roof's entrance.
Matt tried to catch his breath once on elevated ground. He and Artemis were safe for the moment, the only way on to their current platform was the ladder Matt had just gone up. Anyone to climb it after them would be at a defensive disadvantage.
The next step that it occurred to Matt take was trickier. He knew it would be a good idea to untie Artemis but he would have to stay down low to avoid any possible gunshots and stay as close as possible to the ladder to fight off the assassin if she tried to climb up.
"I don't suppose Butler knows you're here?" asked Artemis as the British boy began to untie his feet.
Matt shook his head, "We came to the hotel together but he was already on his way to Tomoe's room when I figured out you had to be on the roof."
Artemis considered asking exactly how Matt had figured this out and why he had come to the hotel in the first place but decided that now wasn't the best of times. He shifted to allow Matt to untie his arms and considered their options, they didn't have many. Artemis checked for his cell phone and found his pocket empty. It wasn't a surprise though, he had doubted Tomoe would leave it in his reach. He sighed and thought some more.
"You've done fairly well thus far Matt, thank you. I think it would be best if we remained up here for the time being, I doubt we'd be able to get far without a knife in our backs so to speak if we ran. Hopefully Butler will be able to figure out where we are when he sees that I'm not in Tomoe's room."
Matt was about to respond when he heard Tomoe speak. He was confused at first when he couldn't understand what she was saying but then realized she must be speaking in Russian.
"For god's sake woman," he cried, "this isn't some international relations meeting! Speak in bloody English!"
Artemis shook his head. "She can't, remember? If she could speak in English she would have when she was trying to befriend me…"
Artemis suddenly stopped when Tomoe began to speak again, this time in perfect English.
"I had thought you looked familiar, you're that girl who crashed into me outside the bookshop aren't you?"
Matt colored slightly and looked over the platform's edge at the assassin.
"I'm a boy!" he shouted angrily and hastily backed up when he saw that she was now holding a rather large gun.
Tomoe chuckled, she liked this one he had lots of spunk, too bad he had to die. She positioned her gun in order to fire in a split second if he stuck out his head again.
"I guess you just have delicate features then," she said sweetly. "It's really too bad you had to be Fowl-san's friend, as you've probably guessed you've gotten yourself involved in a life that is quite sinister."
This time Matt had the sense not to stick his head up but couldn't resist a retort. "Where do you get off calling his life sinister? You're the one who's sixteen and killing people!"
At this Tomoe actually laughed and despite the situation it didn't sound maniacal in the slightest. "And where did you find out I was sixteen? In those records of mine Artemis researched? I told him those things could be misleading. I had my age changed when the records were made so he would trust me more. I'm twenty-six."
"You age well," said a voice.
Tomoe quickly swirled around and a human mountain before her. She swore under her breath and unconsciously dropped her gun as Butler began to attack. She had hoped to avoid fighting the bodyguard, he was far stronger and well-trained than her. The only advantage she had was speed, her small size allowed her to move much more quickly.
As the two fought Artemis and Matt cautiously peered over the edge of the platform. Tomoe was doing her best but she clearly had no chance, in a few moments Butler had her in a firm hold. Upon seeing this the two boys climbed down from their vantage point. Artemis straightened his tie and proceeded to take control of the situation.
"You've done a good job Ms. Kagawa, but it ends here," Artemis felt it would now be in poor taste to use the woman's first name, if it was indeed her real name. "I could have Butler kill you several ways right now so I suggest you cooperate."
At this last statement Matt looked shocked, though considering all he had been through that hour it was a miracle that the boy hadn't collapsed. Artemis decided to ignore him for the time being, right now Tomoe the pressing matter.
"Now I'll ask you again," said the boy genius with a slight drawl, "who are you working for? You must have some clue at least, I'm sure you'll agree it's in your best interest to tell me."
Tomoe wriggled a bit in Butler's grip but found that she could still not escape. Finally she turned back to Artemis with a look of loathing in her eyes. "I've only spoken with him once on some sort of video phone but I could only see his eyAAAAAA!"
Suddenly she was screaming in agony. In his shock Butler quickly dropped her and stared in horror as she twitched on the ground.
"It's like she's being electrocuted," he said. Butler had seen bodies react like this in electric chairs. From the way she had been screaming he guessed that she wouldn't be getting up again. Sure enough when he checked her pulse a moment later it had gone completely dead. Tomoe Kagawa would certainly never be troubling them again.
After recovering from his initial shock Artemis performed a quick search on the body. He found a mark at the base of the back of her neck at the location of a nerve cluster that suggested it might have be the origin of the electrical shock. It looked as though there had been a small device attached there but it seemed to have self-destructed since its activation. Someone hadn't wanted to leave any evidence behind.
But if they had known to kill her at that moment that meant they had to be being watched. Artemis quickly looked around the rooftop and was shortly joined by Butler who had guessed what was going on. There didn't appear to be any surveillance equipment around them but that just meant that someone must have binoculars on one of the more distant roofs. As they didn't have any such equipment themselves it would be pointless to continue searching.
"Shall we get going then Master Artemis?" asked Butler after they had reached their conclusion.
Artemis nodded and looked toward Matt. The poor boy was slumped against the roof's doorway looking rather beside himself. Artemis knew that he had a lot of explaining ahead of him.
"What happened to Tomoe?" Matt asked shakily.
Artemis's heart sank a bit, here began the questioning that would probably end their brief comradeship. "She was electrocuted to death via a remote activated device that was on the back of her neck. We think someone watching us must have activated it when they saw she was going to tell us about her employer."
Matt was silent for a few moments as he absorbed this. "What are we going to do with her now then? Do you plan to just leave her here?"
"That would probably be for the best. We don't know her real name or anything about her, if the authorities connected us with her death it would just lead to a whole mess of scandal that would create more problems than it solved. This way we just need to bribe anyone who may have seen us when her body is found. I know it may seem wrong to you Matt but she was a killer, she was prepared to die like this."
The English boy was quiet again but took Butler's hand to get up and begin numbly walking down the stairs. Artemis supposed he wouldn't be asking anything more until his shock had worn off. During the near-silent ride back to the school the young genius actually started to feel guilty about bringing Matt into the whole situation.
In order to keep absolute silence at bay Butler spent the drive explaining about Matt's earlier encounter with Tomoe and how he had suspected she might be an assassin when he had heard of her unusual linguistic preferences. There had been a female assassin he had heard of who was capable of speaking English but detested doing so and would almost always deal with her clients and victims in Russian or Japanese. There were rumors that Englishmen had killed her family and caused her hatred of the language, only when she had no other option would she speak in English.
Butler finally gave up when the boys went for a solid fifteen minutes without acknowledging a word he said. Luckily they had just arrived outside St. Bartleby's and so the manservant was spared the awkward silence that would have ensued. He escorted the two boys to Artemis's room but then his principle gestured for him to leave. Butler supposed it was for the best, the two would have much to talk about and they deserved some privacy when they did so.
As he went back down the stairs Butler recalled how he had spoken to the front desk after finding Tomoe's room empty. They had told him that a boy had come to them mere minutes ago asking if it was possible to go to the roof. From their description he had known it had to be Matt. He still had no idea how the boy had known to go to the roof to find Artemis but he had knowingly risked his life to do so. Butler only hoped that Artemis could come up with a good cover story for all that had happened, it would be a shame if he lost a friend that devoted to him.
Meanwhile back in his room Artemis was still searching for what he would tell Matt in regards to the day's adventures. On the other side of the room Matt's eyes were boring a hole in the wall, Artemis followed his gaze and saw that the sixteen-year-old was looking at the copy of the Old Woman in the Wood Artemis had gotten for himself. Artemis flinched at this reminder of all that he was hiding from this boy that had so looked up to him.
Artemis was about to speak when Matt turned his head and held something out to him. It was his watch. Artemis took it and saw that it was now completely broken, it must have fallen from the roof when he'd been knocked unconscious. Well, at least that explained how Matt had found him. It had been quite clever deductive reasoning on the English boy's part. Artemis put the watch aside and prepared once again to launch into his story.
"I suppose you have a great many questions now Matt, and I have great deal of explaining to do so I—."
"That's alright Artemis," Matt said interrupting him. "You don't have to explain. There's really only one question I want answered."
Artemis blinked, this was a surprising turn. "And what is that?"
"Would you really have had Butler kill Tomoe?"
The criminal mastermind looked down ruefully. Of course Matt would want to know if he really capable having someone killed. He might have actually done it a one point in his life but the fairies had changed him. He was no longer the cruel twelve-year-old he had once been.
"No I wouldn't. I'm not sure what I would have done, but I wouldn't have had her killed."
Matt smiled slightly with relief and started toward the door. "At least you're not a murderer then."
"Wait," Artemis called out, "Don't you want to know why Tomoe was after me or anything else?"
Matt shook his head as he opened the door. "Somehow," he said, "I think I'm better off not knowing."
With that Artemis suddenly found himself alone in his room with a million questions of his own swirling around his head.
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Estella was still blushing when she got back outside but she was soon ready to get back to business. That is until she saw Holly shimmer into view with a grin that would have reminded her of the Cheshire cat were she familiar with human literature.
"I'm glad to see everything worked with you two," said the mischievous elf.
She had been watching them while she was shielded! Estella was angry but just gnashed her teeth began her mental chant again, 'Mission first, revenge later. Mission first, revenge later.'
Mulch who had fallen asleep since Estella left jerked violently awake as the two females got back in the shuttle.
"Finally!" he cried. "I was starting to think you two would never leave. We've got work to do here! While you were inside taking your sweet time I came up with a list of all the places Estella's been lately where we might be able to find out some more. It shouldn't be too hard, there are only five of them."
"How do you know where I've been?" demanded Estella.
"I guess he's been tailing you," said Holly recalling her partner's recent mysterious behavior. "You were being a bit evasive."
Estella grumbled something under her breath but Holly ignored her and took the list from Mulch. "I think we should research these places bit before going to any of them. If Estella's injury was any proof they're probably dangerous."
The other two agreed so it was several days later when they re-grouped and set out again. What they didn't know was this time they were being watched by a rather cruel set of eyes. Once they had driven off the eyes' owner looked away from where they had been to a small screen he was holding. Until recently the screen had been showing video feed and vital statistics of a young woman. But now the vitals were gone and the video came only from the eyes of a corpse.
Ms. Kagawa had failed and had had to be eliminated. Of course at this point the Jalingers might not have even needed her services. The elf chuckled to himself as he put the screen away.
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Author's Note: There, chapter eleven is finally done. As much as I love this story I'm really starting to look forward to finishing it. Maybe then I'll just do a bunch of one-shots and drabbles. Anyway this isn't near being done so I won't waste time thinking about it yet.
As readers of my livejournal now know I HATE action sequences. You may have noticed I avoid them like the plague but this chapter required it and it's only going to get worse. If you don't read my livejournal I suggest you do. It has many interesting (I think) insights into The Charity Case and I like it when people read my rantings.
I am however very pleased with this chapter for several reasons: it throws out important plot points, it joins up Holly and Artemis's timelines (you probably didn't notice but Holly was a few days behind Artemis), it establishes a connection between Tomoe and the Jalingers, and (most importantly) it let's me finally get rid of the ever-irritating Tomoe.
Brief moment of silence for departed assassin.
Did anyone notice in chapter four (strain your memory) that Sparrow was speaking to the assassin in Russian? That was your first clue about Tomoe. Sparrow said it was a guy because she had technologically disguised her voice until she could be sure of who she was working with. Just so you know.
In Other News:
The Hands of Fate and Destiny has given another amazingly long review which I have responded to in my livejournal (again available through my profile page). I wish to openly thank her for all her help.
As for the results to chapter ten's contests it seems that everyone loves Matt and Artemis the best. For those of you who want them to get together in this story they are now having a teary-eyed embrace. The winner of my other contest, the Foaly/Estella one-shot is the wonderful Inkheart. If you wish to read her entry it is on FFN under the title Foaly's Glitch. Please read it, it made me squeal./fangirl. If you have made an entry I may not be aware of please let me know and I will read it and possibly give you a joint first place. I also guarantee it will make me squeal. Don't you want me to squeal?
I have drawn pictures of Matt and Theo. They didn't come out exactly the way I picture them, mostly because I can only do anime style people, but I think you all might find it fun to take a look. I plan to post them on my livejournal soon if I can figure out how. Subliminal message You WILL go to my livejournal. You cannot resist the shameless plugs. End subliminal message.
The Charity Case has now gotten fifty reviews and over one thousand hits. Cries and bows deeply Thank you all so much. I'm now half-way to my goal of one hundred reviews for one story. I couldn't have done this without you my wonderful readers.
Chapter Twelve: I don't know when. I'm taking a few days off and then we'll see how long it will be and how long it will take to write it. Until then good-bye and thank you for any reviews you leave.