0500 Hours - LEP Tactics - Fowl Manor, Ireland
After Fowl left me in the basement, I immediately started working on a way to get out. I still had the acorn I needed for the ritual, all I needed was some bare earth so I could return it to the soil. The basement had been freshly laid with a layer of concrete, but it hadn't cured all the way. I used the bed to start breaking a hole in the floor so I could reach soil. It took a Very. Long. Time.
While I was busy trying to get my powers back, Commander Root sent in the Retrieval Squad. These boys are the best in the business, but they've never run up against the likes of Butler. The Squad had their invisibility shields up and, thinking he couldn't see them, they let Butler right into their midst. The criminal Artemis Fowl had rigged up MY helmet on Butler's big old meat head so he was able to see the Squad plain as day. It did not go well for the fairies.
After a Retrieval Squad fails, LEP procedure calls for an immediate time stop. Foaly was able to set up a time stop just before dawn, when the LEP force would have had to retreat to Underground. Commander Root then attempted to make contact with Fowl and figure out what he wanted. Fowl's demands? One ton of 24 carat gold! Good thing the ransom fund is well stocked.