While Artemis made the exchange for Jayjay in return for one hundred thousand euro from Dr. Kronski, he was to be disguised as a leather worker while a decoy was placed in a nearby building posing as Butler as if he were overseeing the exchange. Butler went over to the window and saw what he thought was a new type of missile coming towards the hotel, and Artemis was its target. Artemis then ordered Butler to look after Minerva while Holly flew him, the demons and the bomb out of the building. They then travelled to their meeting place of Taipei 101 in Taiwan, which had unwittingly been Artemis's suggestion due to careful wording. Artemis I was to go to London to talk to the doctors there, and if they shed any light on Angeline's condition, would buy their clinics if need be. So they headed for Sicily and Butler was put in charge of recording the entire scene using a miniature camera in his watch to show to Foaly. After scaring off a couple of teenagers secretly smoking cigarettes in the finger, Butler punched through a wall of mud concealing the tunnel and climbed into it before coming to rest in a bulb-shaped chamber lined with dwarf spittle. Artemis I became strengthened by this and suggested he go to all the alternative practitioners in Europe he had visited to cure his phantom limb pains, and Butler remembered a man back in China he'd met who was a miracle worker with herbs that could be of assistance. He was most upset with the theatre, as it was a bodyguard's nightmare due to all the nooks and crannies a potential assassin could hide in. Butler and Artemis were at Fontanarossa International Airport when this happened and managed to pick up a lucky connection with Air France. Foaly was ready for that, though, and told him they would give him a laser peel to remove dead skin, add gel to his head so any future hair he grew would be coloured, cover the corrupted tissue on his chest with pigment dye and give him a Dewer injection using the donated fat from Mulch's behind. Artemis said their paths never crossed, and both he and Butler hurried off to find him. Butler then walked out just before Sid Commons arrived and told him that Blunt started talking to himself and wanted to confess. Artemis then revealed that he'd picked up some fairy With Artemis back and his parents mesmerized, Butler returned to his bodyguarding duties at Fowl Manor, and apparently took up the role as protector to the new Fowl twins, Myles and Beckett, so he was now guarding all three of the Fowl brothers.
After observing the situation and taking note that over a hundred armed men were present in the shadows, Butler was ordered to shoot Artemis Senior with the cap of a Hydrosion shell half filled with Artemis II's blood to make it seem he had been shot with a bullet and was now dead. Cudgeon raised his arms to protect himself, releasing Artemis in the process, but the Hoverboy became entangled with Cudgeon and he was thrown into a river of active Foaly then reported in that another e-mail had been sent with the ransom demand and location of the drop point, so they had missed their chance to snatch Artemis Senior and now the Mafiya were calling the shots. Just as he was about to kill Juan Soto because Minerva wasn't cooperating, Artemis asked his bodyguard's opinion if he'd go through with it, and the manservant said that in Kong's mind, it was already done. Soon, Foaly had managed to pick up the profiles of the girl and three men, informing Holly and Artemis that they were Minerva Paradizo, an apparent child prodigy, After ordering some surveillance equipment from an informant of his, Butler travelled with Artemis to Tourrettes sur Loup in Southern France where the Once this had been done, Foaly began hacking into the Paradizos security systems and made them believe they were under attack from the COS using ghost images taken from human movies. Butler is a man of honour with a soldier's brain, but underneath the layers of toughness and intimidation he does have a big heart. So Artemis came up with a quick plan and had Foaly patch him through to Kong's mobile phone, pretending to offer N°1 as trade for Minerva's life. After Commons quickly confirmed that Butler was not to go in there, the manservant asked to stick around and Sid went to fetch him a visitor's badge. The two of them awoke later in Fowl Manor. Butler then posed as Franklin Arnott, one of his aliases, and Minerva pretended to be his daughter, Eloise, while he was questioned by the inspector on the scene. After disarming Holly and grabbing her mid-flight, he threw her and N°1 into a barrel of animal fat with hexes mixed in to suppress their magic. He further explained the demons' history and the time tunnel back at Fowl Manor while Butler was preparing dinner before departing for the Massimo Bellini Theatre in Catania, Eastern Sicily.