Artemis Fowl: A Call for Help

Chapter 2

Lower Elements: LEP Headquarters
"Captain Short! Get in here right now!" bellowed Commander Root.
Holly froze in the hallway. She turned and walked into the commanders office. The commander was sitting at his desk, his face a deep shade of red.
"Yes commander?" Holly asked.
"Come with me." Root barked, jumping from his chair.
"Yes sir." Holly said following him.
Holly knew that they were going to the Operations Booth. When they got there, many officers were standing around a huge screen on the wall. Foaly sat at his desk, typing rapidly on his old keyboard. On the screen, there was an image of a small figure, that looked like it was covered in some sort of armour. The officers in the room were talking to each other, trying to figure out what it was. Foaly got up, and went to stand in the front of the room.
"Quiet down for a moment!" Foaly yelled over the din.
All the talking ceased within seconds. Everyone wanted to know what the image was of. All eyes in the room turned expectantly to Foaly, waiting for an explanation.
"I'll get right to the point on this one." Foaly said.
"You better pony-boy, cause' if you don't then you're gonna get your budget slashed!" Root yelled, his face almost purple. All the officers in the room laughed.
"Alright, alright. I'll make it quick." Foaly said, wincing. He didn't like budget threats.
"To be honest, we don't really know what this is." Foaly said, shifting nervously.
"What?" Root demanded. "How could you not know what it is? You called the meeting!" Root yelled.
"We do know that it is some type of fairy." Foaly said defensively. "But since you asked, the thing itself isn't the real reason I called the meeting." Foaly said.
"Then what is the reason?" demanded Root.
Foaly took a breath. "Well, this thing, isn't underground. It was seen on the surface."
"What?" Commander Root yelled. "You cannot tell me that there is some unknown type of fairy roaming the surface!"
"Calm down Julius." Foaly said, holding up a hand. "I'm running scans on the image to see what else I can get. We just don't have much to go on."
"Don't call me Julius!" Root thundered. "Do you at least have a location on it?" Root said, surprisingly calm.
"Yep, the last place my cameras picked it up was by chute E1 in Tara, Ireland." Foaly said triumphantly.
"Thank you for finally telling me something useful!" Commander Root exclaimed.
"That's not fair!" Foaly pouted. "You wouldn't even know about it if I hadn't told you."
"Fine." Root barked. "Everyone can go back to what you were doing. Foaly,I expect you bring the results of the scan directly to me."
"Alright Julius." Foaly said grinning.
"Don't call me Julius!" Root yelled, his face bright red. "I won't hesitate to replace you, centaur."
Foaly smirked, well aware that he could not be replaced. After all, he had designed the People's security systems from scratch. Not to mention he had invented the majority of the LEP's weapons and gear.
"Alright, commander."
Foaly went into his media room. The sounds of whirring computers greeted him. Foaly sat down at a desk in front of his laptop and began analyzing the picture of the creature.