"Seriously?"
Odin glared at the computer, where a military report on Whiplash's escape had just been posted.
Strike two. Or maybe this was strike three.
A quick search confirmed that this was strike two. If he got out of jail one more time, it was time for the bullet. Or the lethal injection if he preferred that.
Really, Ferry seemed to be the issue this time. Footage showed her in the cell just before she took out the camera system.
Ferry had to die. Odin pulled up a few drone blueprints, frowning at them. Which would be best? Not the HUNT3R model. That one was specialized for carrying things. While it did have a gun installed for hunting, it wouldn't do much as a sniper.
None of the drones looked like they suited the current purpose. Which would mean drafting a new blueprint and making a new drone. It had been a while since Odin had done that. The biggest obstacle now would be Darius. For some reason, he was fully on board with the naive kids who wanted everyone to live and insisted that all life was valuable. All life.
Okay, maybe it was more a focus on 'due process' than actual value of life. If they'd been raised back when the death penalty was normal, maybe their thought processes would be different.
It didn't matter though. What mattered was that they were a hindrance to Odin, and Darius was too. As wonderful as it would have been to entrust him with the sniper drone, he'd refuse blatantly. And since Darius had access to all the systems, any attempt to make a new sniper drone would be noticed, and presumably put to a stop when they cried foul.
Ferry was the one exception Odin had negotiated. Even if the kids didn't like it, they had to deal with it.
On top of that, someone had accessed the Underwing files earlier. Anytime that happened, Odin got an alert. No one had opened them for ages. So long Odin couldn't even remember when exactly it had been. The files were with the First Division because they related to the defense and maintenance of the ship, but no one had needed them. There was no need for them to be opened. The General himself probably didn't realize they were there.
Except the General hadn't accessed them. With a bit of digging, Odin figured out that the computer had been hacked. The fingerprint used to access the files had belonged to Jacob Hinton, a.k.a. Whiplash. A USB device had tricked the computer into authorizing a different fingerprint. At least it had recorded said fingerprint, allowing Odin to track it.
Ferry and Whiplash had presumably worked together on it, despite belonging to different teams; therefore, the two teams were probably working together. But to what extent? Were they both gunning for the Underwing? That would be disastrous, in more ways than one.
Odin would be safe, but the same couldn't be said for the rest of the city. Any number of things could be damaged down here, and most of them would have devastating consequences. They didn't necessarily have the materials on hand to immediately repair everything, so HUNT3R would have to go get them. That would take far too long. If the water or electrical systems were damaged, they'd have very limited time before things went irreversibly bad.
With one glance at the security systems, Odin pushed the chair back and grabbed the gun in the desk drawer. The weight was reassuring. With practiced motions, bullets were loaded into it. Aim was taken at a blank wall. Odin's finger remembered exactly where the trigger was and how hard to pull to activate it.
No shots were fired today, of course. But from now on, that gun would be sticking very close to its master's side. If worst came to worst - intruders got past the most secure doors in the city, avoided being killed by the security turrets, and proceeded to the critical systems - Odin had no qualms about using lethal force.
The gun went into the bag around Odin's waist. The normal things in the bag came out to make room for it. Emergency water snacks, the USB sticks for current game projects, the emergency money...
Nothing was more important than the gun. Only the small bottle of water was allowed to take up space with it. The last thing Odin needed was suddenly finding the water supply unreliable and being handicapped by dehydration.
Now just to keep the weapon hidden from Darius. That would be the hardest part.
Twin glared at the computer as he struggled to decipher the files Ferry had brought back. Hopefully Angel was having just as much trouble as he was. Even if they'd gotten past the multiple locks on the files themselves, they were encrypted. What kind of high security was necessary for this?
They'd stumbled on something incredibly big. That was the only explanation.
With a groan, he left the decryption program running as he prepared to go to bed for the night. Pushing himself too hard would just lead to bad decision making.
As Twin left the office, he found Paris waiting for him.
"So?"
"Nothing yet," Twin growled. "Never seen something so secure in my life."
"Any idea how long it'll take?"
"I'll see where the decryption's at in the morning."
"Sounds good. I'm taking Corrosion out tomorrow. We'll make some trouble up Top."
"Oh? That's an unusual venue. Planning on attacking the food production perhaps?"
"Do I look suicidal to you?"
"I wouldn't mind if food suddenly disappeared. It would be interesting to see what people would do once their basic necessities are no longer secured."
"You're kind of sick, Twin. No, I'm not crazy enough to do that. We're just looking for a place that'll take the military a while to get to. Apparently some elementary school's doing a field trip up there so the kids can see what a farm's like."
"How nice. I seem to recall you doing quite well when it comes to children."
"Is that a dig at the last time I took kids hostage? Man Mist screwed that one up for us."
"Relax. I can assure you that Corrosion will be happy to do whatever damage you want."
"I'm sure. I just figured I'd let you know our plans. I'll see you tomorrow."
Without another word, Paris spun and walked down to his room. Twin sighed and glanced after him.
He probably wasn't thinking straight. Destroying the city's one source of food wouldn't do anyone any favours. Then again...
Reducing food production would increase unrest. They didn't have to destroy all the farms - just one would serve their purpose. Eventually, people would realize just how fragile their precious military really was. That would lead to real change.
Twin nodded to himself and walked to his room. Paris wasn't going to be doing any of that tomorrow, but it would be good to stew on the validity of the idea now that he'd thought of it.
Curiousity also blossomed inside him. What would they find in the Underwing files? Just how could they use what was down there for their purposes?
Hopefully morning would have him find out.
