When Courtney and the others got back, Darius quietly beckoned them to the kitchen, just out of earshot of Ned, who was working on animating a sprite. Ida was in her own room, so Darius couldn't see her. The private rooms had no cameras.
"What's up?" Courtney asked, sitting at the counter, glancing at Darius warily. Joey, Cleo and Sawyer were there too, all looking slightly anxious.
"Odin tried to make a move," Darius replied simply. "He booted up a drone and was driving it through the Underwing. I suspect his target was something in the main city."
"What kind of drone?" Courtney asked with a frown.
Her question was valid. Drones were used for a variety of things, such as cleaning spaces that were too small for humans to fit comfortably. If there was a plug in the sewer system, a drone would be sent to fix it.
"A weaponized one. Specifically made for sniping, I think. I can't say what exactly the creator had in mind - some of those drones have been there longer than me - but it was equipped with a pretty solid gun. Complete with bullets designed to pierce through whatever they strike. A good shot would be lethal to a human."
"How long have you been here?" Sawyer asked with a sarcastic laugh.
"I estimate it has been a century or so. I am still sorting through the data and transforming it into memories, but I remember Ida grumbling about the election results of 2546."
"There is no way Ida was around back then," Courtney said with a sigh. "You do realize she's a kindergartener right? Five years ago she was still a baby."
"Strange. Perhaps my records are corrupted." Darius frowned and filed that information away for later analysis.
"Great. Our genius robot has corrupted memories," Sawyer groaned. "And we're still trusting him?"
"Yes," Cleo said firmly. "Now that he has a Miracle and self-awareness, we can all find those discrepancies and correct them."
"But why was Odin activating an attack drone?" Courtney asked, steering them back on track. Everyone dropped the subject of the corrupted data in favour of moving on to more important things.
"I don't know," Darius answered. "Paris and Corrosion were arrested this morning, and I suspect it was a reaction to that. My records indicate, however, that they've been captured less than three times. Your pact should still stand."
"Did he think we wouldn't notice?" Cleo asked with a glare. "I can see everything - well, except the Underwing. You, Odin and Ida are almost impossible to see for some reason."
"That means you've tried?" Sawyer asked with a snort.
"I've kept an eye on everyone. I could even tell you where Team Chaos is hiding out probably."
"Then why haven't you?" Courtney asked, glaring at Cleo.
"Wait, are you spying on us too?" Sawyer asked, basically at the same time Courtney spoke. He looked rather frightened.
"I check on everyone. If something bad happened to you in the future and I could prevent it, wouldn't you want me to?" Cleo replied, glancing at Sawyer before turning to Courtney. "If I break into Team Chaos headquarters, I only see bad things happening. Cold Snap isn't there anymore, but they're armed to the teeth - as best they can be, anyway. If we stormed them, one of us would die. And the military would fare even worse. I wish I could see a way for us to beat them, but everything in the future is really hazy."
"Perhaps I could do something," Darius said. "I can control all of those drones Odin's got stored away. If we sent in one of them, we could perhaps cause damage without risking any human lives. I can make sure to only shoot them in non-vital areas. Cold Snap still hasn't recovered from that bullet to the shoulder after all, and that's a relatively minor gun shot injury."
"Darius, I don't know if I like that risk," Courtney said slowly. "What will Odin do if he manages to wrench control away from you?"
"I can counter hack him," Darius replied. "I can't really explain it, but my thoughts can more or less be transformed into code with little effort. Odin can't perform any input faster than I can think. I just cancel his orders. I could probably even shut him off from the network if I wanted."
"You have that much power?" Sawyer asked in disbelief. "Then could you shut off the kill switch Odin implanted in me?"
"That would be tricky to do without killing you. It's only programmed to electrocute you upon receiving the appropriate signal. We'd have to surgically remove it, which would be harder than implanting it."
"Dammit," Sawyer mumbled with a sigh. Then, his phone buzzed. He took it out and checked it, then went even paler.
"What?" Courtney asked, concern in her voice.
"Odin. Uh, he's listening. And he says that he should kill me right here and right now." Sawyer slowly put his phone on the table with shaking hands and pushed it towards them.
"I can probably prevent him from sending the signal," Darius said, turning his attention to the network. Nothing yet. The computer Odin was using...
With a few quick signals, the wireless was out of commission.
The phone, however, pinged with another text.
"Don't think you'll get away with this, D4R1U5. Your actions will have drastic consequences."
The formal version of his name that existed in the code. He shrugged the threat away. Odin couldn't do anything anymore. Now that Darius was awake and working against him, everything Odin had once relied on was gone.
If he wanted to do anything, he'd have to crawl out of the shadows.
"You can attack the Team Chaos HQ?" Courtney asked again. "And neutralize them without killing or seriously injuring anyone?"
"I can," Darius replied. "And Odin can no longer interfere with us. Anytime he logs on to a computer, I'll shut it down."
Sawyer's phone pinged again.
"You damn idiot. Give me back control of my drone before Ferry gets away. I have no idea how little time I have."
"You won't kill anymore," Darius said firmly, looking at the camera Odin was watching them through.
Another text. He didn't even need to look at the screen. The wireless signal carried all the data.
"Would you kill us all then? If those bastards are left to run amok, they'll destroy the Top and we'll all starve."
"Then we just have to keep them out of the Top. I can do that easily enough."
Some time passed before the last text came in.
"Traitor."
The word meant nothing to Darius. Odin was the problem.
"When do you want to move?" Darius asked, looking at Courtney.
A wireless signal came in, one meant to stop Sawyer's heart. He blocked it quickly, then glanced at the man who'd almost died.
"Firstly, I think we need to extract that implant," Darius said. "I'll prepare and do it in an hour. Sawyer, be ready."
"He just tried to kill me, didn't he?" Sawyer whispered, clenching his shaking fists.
"I'll make sure he can't anymore." Darius walked towards the section he shared with Ida. All the tools he'd need were in there.
Odin's reign of terror was over.
