Artemis Fowl: The Last Criminal Plot
Written on February 26th, 2007 by MMKStory Details
(55 votes, average: 3.95 out of 5)
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Chapter 10
The Element of Surprise
Being on the surface made Commander Vinyaya wish for a moment that she had joined recon when she had the chance.
Of course, as soon as she felt raindrops, that feeling began to ebb. Now, with a steady rain shower pouring down onto their heads, Section 8 was not in a good mood. Vinyaya had brought up her very best officers, but even they were a bit jumpy. The only chance they’d ever had of seeing the surface in the past century was if they’d gone on vacation.
Now they were hovering, soaked and shielded, in front of Fowl Manor. Completely ignoring protocol, they had their neutrinos set so high that the mud men would be out for months, weeks if they were lucky. Well, maybe only days for the mountainous one. They all flew higher, out of reach of the big human. He was really the only one they were worried about.
They waited for a few minutes in silence, checking and rechecking their neutrinos, their communications, anything that might distract them.
The door flew open. The fairies raised their weapons. Artemis Fowl stood in the doorway. His icy blue eyes glanced one by one at each fairy, and then he said, “The rain is thick enough that some drops can be seen hitting you. Shielding is useless in this weather.”
Vinyaya herself unshielded, then. “We’re giving you one chance Fowl. Give back my officer.”
“Commander Vinyaya,” said Artemis pleasantly. “I’ve heard so much about you. Surely you’ve heard as much about me. Do you really think I’d go this far only to submit to yet another mind-wipe?”
“You refuse, then?”
“I do.”
“Good.” Vinyaya had been hoping for that. Artemis Fowl did not deserve to walk free. Her officers didn’t need the signal to fire- they’d already been told to wait two seconds for Vinyaya to get out of the way, and then to open fire.
Vinyaya shielded again and flew to the side.
At the moment Vinyaya shielded, Artemis’s eyes narrowed in a look of intense concentration. The LEP began to fire. Artemis raised his hands in front of him as if they could stop the bullets.
Well, as it turned out, they could.
A network of blue sparks began to spread out from Artemis’s hands, filling the doorway. Artemis could barely be seen through it; all Section 8 could see was his arrogant stance, his ever-cold eyes, and his smirk. The neutrino beams headed straight toward the sheet of blue sparks, then vanished on contact.
“Forgot I have magic now, did you?” called Artemis. “I can why fairy stereotypes of humans are so violent; most of my magic seems to be combat related.” His smirk grew bigger. “Fortunately for me.”
“Stop shooting,” Vinyaya ordered tersely over a secure communications channel. Their only hope was for Artemis to lower his magical barrier, and then get a shot in quickly. She didn’t know how long Artemis could hold his defense up, but he had to exhaust his supply of magic sometime.
Vinyaya was irritated with herself; she had forgotten that Artemis had magic. But even if she’d remembered, there was no way to expect this. Every species had a different brand of magic, it was true. Something that correlated to the collective personalities of their species. Like how elves had the strongest healing magic. So it would make sense that Mud Men could use magic to fight. Which brought up a disturbing question: What other sorts of powers was Fowl hiding?
“Listen up, Mud Boy,” she said steadily. “Your magic will only last you so long. I will get my officer back. You’re looking at lifetime in prison. Maybe even Howler’s Peak.”
“And you’re looking at an unathletic, unarmed teenage boy. Perhaps it would be more prudent to watch the heavily armed, angry bodyguard behind you.”
Butler would never forget the look on Commander Vinyaya’s face as she and every other Section 8 officer spun around to face him. He had scared a lot of people in his years as a bodyguard, but Vinyaya’s classic look of shock was pretty much the most amusing he had seen.
“Evening, Commander,” he said pleasantly. He could tell this would be even more fun than taking out Retrieval One had been six years ago. His gun was up and he had taken out Commander Vinyaya and three other officers before any of the fairies started shooting their guns.
Artemis lowered his magical barrier now that none of the fairies were focused on him, and leaned against the doorframe, breathing heavily. Magic was energy, and he was running out of both. Butler was not even close to as fast as he had used to be- and there were simply too many fairies. Once the element of surprise wore off, Butler was doomed.
Artemis concentrated once more, held up his hands, and this time the magical blue shield formed in front of Butler, but leaving a tiny, nearly invisible hole for him to shoot from. Artemis groaned and sank to the ground. His shield would last a minute, at best.
A minute was all Butler would need. He’d seen his principal fall, and with energy much more like that of his old self he continued to pick off every remaining fairy one by one. It was comical, really. Section 8 just had experience with combat like this. One of the officers fainted. Another completely lost his head and flew into a tree. Soon every fairy was lying on the ground, unconscious.
“Nice work, Butler,” said Artemis weakly. Butler rushed over to his side, checking Artemis’s vitals, dripping rainwater all over him in the process. He would be fine, assuming he got enough rest and didn’t overexert himself for a few hours. Which was a problem, considering the situation.
“What were you thinking, Artemis?” asked Butler in frustration. Now that he knew his principal would be all right, his temper began to fray a bit. “When you said a distraction, I didn’t think you meant you’d distract them in person! I would never have let you-”
“Which is precisely why I didn’t tell you.” Already, Artemis seemed almost back to his usual self. He was looking with displeasure at his wet Armani suit. “Would you mind helping me up?” Butler complied, and Artemis took a few steps experimentally, steadying himself. “I will be fine,” he said in response to Butler’s hand still hovering over him. “I’ll just go look at the monitors upstairs; Minerva will be here any minute. It’s not far, I’ll be perfectly all right,” he said again in response to Butler’s look of protest. Artemis’s affected well being wasn’t fooling anyone. Artemis began to walk slowly towards the staircase, calling behind him, “Gather all the fairy technology you can, and then remove the fairies from the grounds.” Butler knew that further protest would be useless, and turned to walk back into the rain.
***
Butler had been so focused on Artemis that the moment there was no immediate danger coming from the fairies, that he hadn’t checked to make sure that they were all knocked out. It was an elementary mistake, and one the fairies had hoped for. Vinyaya had left a sprite in the bushes, a sniper, just in case the Mud Men managed to overpower Section 8.
Instinctively, Butler had been between Artemis and the open front door throughout their entire conversation. So the sniper had never had any chance at Artemis. But he could still take down Butler. He grinned, already picturing telling the girls back in Haven that he had taken down the Mud Mountain. Hovering a bit in excitement, the sniper carefully took aim, though Butler was a pretty hard target to miss at this range. He fired.
Nothing happened.
It was like it had been when Opal Koboi had sabotaged the LEP weaponry during the B’wa Kell rebellion. His weapon had been working one moment, and the next it was dead. He tried shooting again and again; nothing happened. He kept trying until Butler headed back into the manor, laden with stolen technology, and shut the door behind him.
The sniper threw down his weapon in frustration. It went off, leaving a scorch mark in the grass.
“D’arvit,” he said loudly. Then he picked up his weapon and went to find his fallen comrades.
Author’s Note: Well, I decided to insert an explanation for Vinyaya (not the character Vinyaya, of course, the Vinyaya on the archive) here, to avoid commenting any more on my own story. I am really, really, grateful to Vinyaya for giving me what I think is the first piece of constructive criticism I’ve gotten: that my story should have more humor. I absolutely agree with her. Unfortunately, I can’t really manage it. I mean, I’ve tried to write humor into the story. But it just turns out terrible and not funny at all. That’s why Mulch is the only major character who’s not going to be in this story: I just can’t write dialogue for him. So, in conclusion, I’d like to apologize for this story’s lack of humor.
Also, for anyone who may have noticed, I repeatedly describe Artemis’s eyes as blue, though one should be hazel. But this is my story, and I like Artemis’s eyes to be blue, so I’ve kept them that way. That’s the only thing I’ve intentionally written to be inconsistent with the books.
February 26th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Constructive criticism encouraged, please!
This is the first thing I’ve ever written…
February 27th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Darn. I was so excited to constructively critisize, because I love constructive crtisism, but your story was too brilliant!
I loved it, you write like Eoin Colfer. The story progresses at a perfect pace, and I’m glad you didn’t purposely leave any characters out because of spite or hatred. Usually Minerva or Holly are turned into what is almost the bad guy.
Basically I wish I could crtisize, you are either naturally gifted or are naturally gifted and have a really good beta. Either way I envy you
February 27th, 2007 at 9:46 am
It was AWESOME!!!! even AWESOMER than that story that i gave five outta five for. it’s gonna be hard rating this one.
*awkward silence*
i know!
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000/5
Fully sik rite mor chaptas! rite mor captas!!!!!
February 27th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Well… um… I feel rather awkward saying this now, so long after putting this up, but I wrote the story. I’m not quite sure now why I felt it necessary to write under a psudonym, I think I went temporarily insane with nervoussness, because I was convinced that it was terrible (thanks for telling me it’s not, BlackOpal and Skaknes). Anyway, today at school, I thought it over and decided that I was being stupid, and decieving people. So, here I am, admitting to writing this…
I just realized you probably don’t know who I am and think I’m insane. Well, for those of you who care, I apologize.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:37 am
I don’t think you’re insane. I’ve done that myself once, except I was right that my Fic was horrible :]
February 28th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
You’re not insane, you’re brilliant. I loved it, you sould write more (and more and more and more!). Good for you. ; )
March 1st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
all ive got 2 say is………………………………………………………………….WOW! love it!!
March 4th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Thanks!
I added Chapters four and five.
Oh, and I changed it to credit me as an author so there’d be no confusion (although I did like the name tripleness… oh, well).
March 4th, 2007 at 7:45 pm
MMK is kind of tripleness, I mean there’s three letters XD
I still love it! I can’t wait for more character development on the bad guys!
March 5th, 2007 at 11:14 am
*falls off chair in exitement* Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! Need to know what happens!!!
Aw. Arty is a typical teenager. Cute. XD *is strangled by Artemis*
But why did he sedate Holly? Argh! Got- to - know - what - happens *gasp, wheeze* *faints*
I thought Juliet had her memories back. Ah well.
March 5th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
*decides to stop writing so that Nicole_Artist dies*
Kidding, of course. But I laughed reading your review.
I don’t think Juliet got her memories back- I mean, when could she have? And I remember reading in TOD that the disk had two folders: one for Artemis and one for Butler. So I don’t think she remembers.
March 6th, 2007 at 2:17 am
It isn’t fair.
I wanted to add this as editor’s choice, but since you’ve written it I can’t. *pouts* Can you not be an editor anymore so we can add this?
It’s still amazing. I still don’t understand why Artemis would do that? *Is confuzzled, in a sad, lonely way*
[/pointless review]
March 6th, 2007 at 3:46 am
Ooh, I should never have owned up. But you might have noticed my IP adress sooner or later.
But now we’re even, because I wanted to put in ‘One Simple Convenience’. Then again, we have ‘Disaster at First Sight’ in there, and Drawingpup’s an editor.
Whatever. Anyway, what this comment was originally going to be was me laughing at you and reveling in your being held in suspense while I know what’s coming. But it’s too long for that now.
March 6th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
cool,artemis IS evil,i knew it!(well i was gussig he had a crush on holly,or the other way around……..)but still,i KNEW it! =),nice story,u should put it on deviantart or something…
March 7th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Ok! Now I’ve read 4 and 5 and liked it but i have to say somthing that really disturbs me.
Since when did artemis have second thoughts? Plus Holly and Artemis are just meant to be friends and there should be no romance between them. I whould actually have Minerva and Artemis go out or even in that story get married but humans and elves should never mix.
Sorry to people who disagee with me this is my OPINION and I will stick with it!
March 22nd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
wow, you right really well and im waiting on breath for your next chapter to come out, as for me IM NEW so hi everbody
March 29th, 2007 at 12:11 am
*at the edge of my seat*
*gasps how could artemis…*
This is really well organized story. I am really enjoying it and hope you write more soon.
April 8th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
When are you gonna update!!! I need to read more!!! Sorry, I’m getting too excited. Really good stuff! Bad evil Arty…teehee. Anyways, I like it, as long as it doesn’t turn into one of those A/H snogging fics, I hate those. They’re like ‘oh, good lil’ story, great plot, ends with half the characters eating face’. Those really piss me off.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:53 am
Those annoy me too. Don’t worry, this is not romance… actually, I can see by the reviews that I’ve already put too much in. I’m a non-shipper, actually.
I’m sorry updating is taking so long- stupid schoolwork…
April 15th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I AGREE WITH RACHAEL!
April 15th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
Rachael, I think that Artemis has been having second thoughts a lot lately. He’s changing, turning good, and his guilty conscience is getting to him a lot lately.
April 18th, 2007 at 1:53 am
I WAS AGREING WITH THE ARTEMIS AND HOLLY ARE ONLY FRIENDS, AND ARTY AND MINNIE (ARTEMIS AND MINERVA, SORRY, SOME PETNAMES THAT I PICKD UP SOMEWHERE)ARE MEANT TO BE!!!!!!!
April 21st, 2007 at 3:09 am
continue
August 16th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
more more keep adding!!Dont keep me in suspence!!!PLEASE!
August 22nd, 2007 at 8:05 am
I really love the story,I really do. It’s so great. I agree Arty and Holly are friends, but Arty and Minerva are also friends. I want the friend relationship more.
August 22nd, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Thanks for the compliments.
Don’t forget, constructive criticism is more than encouraged.
I finally put up chapter six- sorry it took so long!
September 12th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Chapter seven’s now up. If you read it, please review!
September 17th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I love your plotline. It is so confusing and mysterious, just like Colfer. And it is driving me absolutely bonkers! Honestly!
Constructive criticism: Uhm… write faster? I can’t think of anything, sorry.
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Very good, write more please!!!!
September 28th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
This is a very good story, The plot is so confusing that it reminds me of Colfer’s story writing style. I think that this is really good and that you should keep this up. The only constructive crit I have for you is that you really need to improve the speed of your typing. It would probably be for the best if you hurried up before the whole of fanfiction is on your back screaming for more
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:06 am
i WOULD THINK THAT WOULD BE NICE!!
October 4th, 2007 at 9:48 pm
I think you publish at about the write speed and you are wrong, just because i didn’t comment didn’t mean i didn’t read. You are obviously very talented. I think that you should try to make it a bit more humerous though that would probably improve interest. Adios!
October 6th, 2007 at 5:48 am
This is getting good! Now if they only letted me rate ten……………………………………………………………………………..
October 9th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Fair enough lol, each to her own! But don’t worry, you have a gift. Me? Yeah I can write funny really well, and romance but I can’t write a proper adventure to save myself. It just becomes all sarcastic and stupid and pointless when I try!Another great chapter by the way I am gripped!
October 9th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I am eeating crackers. They r good. This story is better.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
This is really good. You have a real gift with writing.
Oh and Vinyaya. Have you considered writing a funny adventure story.
Make it funny but make them go on an adventure to middle earth or something. That would be really cool.
If you don’t want that idea then I call dibs.
Just tell me if you want it or not.
October 15th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I love TLCP! I’m so glad that you’ve updated.
I’m sorry, I cannot think of constructive criticism for the life of me. I read it twice too.
November 17th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Finish
December 10th, 2007 at 4:05 am
Come on!!! I’ve been waiting forever for the new updates!
December 11th, 2007 at 5:05 am
WHEN WILL THE NEXT ONE COME OUT ALLREADY!?!?!?
December 11th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Hey, be patient. I’ve been working hard. Anymore comments like that and they’ll get deleted.
Hopefully I’ll have up to chapter 12 reposted by Sunday, and then I’ll post chapter 12 itself, which I’ve already written. No guarantees, though.
December 12th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
lurved it! ( btw guys “ and gals ) im kinda new here =) a small intro of yourselves? ( sry, pls dun think i am lame! )
December 13th, 2007 at 3:57 am
Chapters 9+10 have a little bit of error at the top. There’s a part in italics that just repeats itself.
As for the story, I loved it of course.
Constructive criticism…
Uhm…
The fight between Trouble and Vinyaya was resolved rather quickly. But they both have a lot at stake and are reasonable people…
Oh, real constructive crit:
When the bomb went off there wasn’t really enough terrified sadness. There was a lot, but not enough. Trouble seemed just stressed, did he know anybody in that district? Did any of the other officers? That’s a huge portion of their town completely destroyed. Like you said, it was a massacre.
Or maybe Trouble’s just too focused on the Holly situation.
Great job! I hope you update soon!
December 15th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
I really like how you made Artemis back into his evil self, and I’m quite interested to see where this goes. Also, I’m glad Minerva is back. You managed to keep the best parts of her personality without making her annoying. Good job!
I agree with what BlackOpal said about the Trouble/Vinyaya argument. I thought it should have been a bit bigger than that. After all, they are both under extreme stress right now!
I also thought your description of Artemis’ powers was cool, but I think it would be neat if he could do something a bit more..evil than just attack people with them. Like controlling/reading their minds. I’d like to see him with that.
Great story, and keep it up!
December 25th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Ummm… I thought editors couldn’t get their work in the “Editor’s choice” catagory
December 25th, 2007 at 4:38 am
That’s not true.
She didn’t add it either, I did. It’s my favourite AF story, or at least one of them. MMK worked hard on it too, so I thought it deserved editor’s choice. Her being an editor had nothing to do with it.
Editor’s really shouldn’t add their own stories, but that’s not a rule, that’s just site etiquette.
Still love it and still waiting impatiently!
December 31st, 2007 at 7:34 am
This story is quite interesting. I must say, you do write like Eoin Colfer. I am waiting patiently for you to update. Please update soon because BlackOpal is getting a bit impatient. Thank you for using your time to read this and I wish you a Happy New Year.
January 1st, 2008 at 9:28 pm
You too, HS9. Thanks for the compliment, and for being patient. I am still writing, but it may take a while to actually post. It turns out that my plot sort of self destructs in the next two chapters- I didn’t plan it out as well as I thought I had (basically, I have two plotlines that each work separately, but not together). I have to figure out a way to fix it.
BlackOpal & carino: Thanks for the constructive criticism. I suppose Trouble & Vinyaya’s fight could have gone on a bit longer, but they were both stressed more than angry in the first place, and they are too professional to hold onto a grudge when it’ll interfere with their jobs at such a critical moment. As for there not being enough sadness/terror because of the bio-bomb- you’re right. I’ll probably rewrite it or something, but after I actually finish the story.
And Artemis’s powers- I don’t view either fairy magic or humans as evil. Remember, the powers aren’t meant to be Artemis-specific, they’re just what humans in general would have- the basic fairy magic with a few changes. And don’t forget, you haven’t really seen all that Artemis can do yet.
January 26th, 2008 at 3:39 am
OMG U HAVE TO KEEP UPDATING! Please post an update announcement when you update. I LOVE IT!
February 5th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Are you really Eoin Colfer?I think you are.No one can write a story like this unless that person is Eoin Colfer.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Please update! This has got to be one of the best fanfics ever! I love it! OMG! I think I know…Minerva, Holly, then… IT ALL MAKES SINCE! OMG! YOU ARE COMPARABLE TO THE GENIUS HIMSELF! COLFER RULES! Sorry, I’m hyper…I haven’t read any new books, so reading something like this… I dunno, it’s just SO good I got *hyper*! I should celebrate! *lifts truffle in toast to author* OMG! If I knew where to send it to, I would send you a million booty boxes of truffles!
March 27th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Are you going to update?
March 27th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Yes. Finally, I think I MAY have things sorted out… there’ll be a couple of new chapters on Sunday I think. Maybe earlier.
March 31st, 2008 at 5:31 am
Love it!
April 1st, 2008 at 12:06 am
Finally.
I’m kind of confused. I don’t really understand Artemis’ plan.
Am I supposed to? It’s just been a while so I started semi-lost.
I’ll go reread some more of it.
Anyways, it’s really good. I felt so sad at the end of chapter fifteen.
Juliet was out of character, I think. She may be a loose canon but she always had more control and style than that. She didn’t hit with rage, she was just cool.
And if she did have her memories back she’d feel some empathy for Artemis.
Or maybe not.
It was awesome though.
I can’t wait.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Okay…that was random…so Juliet just walked in and whalloped Artemis?
The LEP would NEVER be that evil!
ROOT! WE WANT YOU BACK!
Holly didn’t get to the interrogations! Aww… Also, Artemis wouldn’t be so…well, he always has a plan for every occasion, doesn’t he? No way would my hero give up so easily!
DIE, BOM!
April 11th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
When will it update again?
Love it , really love it. just… the story and the writing are too brilliant.
it’s sad to see Holly and Artemis like that…
love Arty’s new magic of stopping bullet, cool, Matrix!
but i am a little bit confuse beacuse of not knowing Artemis’s and Holly’s plan, and why Bom do that all…
at all this the best fanfic ever.
keep going please, i can’t wait
May 21st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
I really love this story! Definitely one of the best in the archive. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT so please write as fast as possible without your fingers falling off!
June 21st, 2008 at 9:49 am
Woah!!!
This is BRILLIANT!!!
But why would Artemis do all these things?
I mean, we still don’t know his ulterior motive!!!You HAVE to write more. if this is writer’s block then hurry up and get over it quick!!!
P.S I will seriously DIE if you don’t write more.