Joey sighed, glancing nervously at Ned behind him. They were at the entrance to Odin's lair, neither one moving to speak their password to get in. It was early in the morning on the promised Friday. Somehow, Joey had gotten the entire day off work even though he'd been scheduled for it last he checked.
"Are we going in?" Ned asked anxiously. He took a step towards the panel next to the door, then jumped back in surprise as a portal opened up in front of him. Cleo poked her head out, looking slightly irritated.
"Hurry up already. I'm the only one here and I can only stare at Darius for so long before I start freaking out about Odin's spyware."
"Sorry," Joey said, trotting towards her. Through the portal, they found themselves back in Odin's common room. Cleo closed the portal once Ned had gotten through, then flopped on a sofa. Darius stood by a door, standing silently at attention. Probably deactivated or something, though it was uncanny to see such a humanlike thing be so still.
Ned glanced around skittishly, then sat not far from her. The sofa itself was a new addition. Odin must have bought it new or something.
"Anyway, the rooms look nice now," Cleo said. "I was in here earlier this week with Lightning."
"Wait, what?" Joey and Ned asked the question in such perfect unison that Cleo laughed at them.
"You two are so in sync."
"You know Lightning?" Ned asked.
"When was she here?" Joey asked, again at the same time as Ned.
"Wait, do you know Lightning?" Ned asked the question again, this time whirling around to face Joey.
"Founding member of the Legion over there," Cleo said with a laugh. "Of course they know each other."
"Not really an 'of course', though," Joey said. "I don't know much of anything about Achilles or anyone else."
"Right," Ned muttered. "I keep forgetting you're also Jumper. The guy with the popcorn bag on his head."
"Why is that the thing everyone remembers?" Joey sighed. "Nothing else. Just that one awful day I had to wear a popcorn bag on my head. I had to wash my hair so many times before I stopped feeling gross."
"Sorry," Ned said sheepishly. "But you haven't done much lately, so I guess that sticks in people's heads."
"Well sorry for having a nearly full-time job," Joey spat, flopping down on the floor near Cleo.
"Don't worry about it," Cleo said with a giggle. "You do help out when you need to. There are enough nutjobs running around in the Legion right now anyway."
"That doesn't make me feel better. Some of those nutjobs are pretty terrifying in their own right."
"Like Hot Rod?"
"And Light Master. Seriously, he's just a kid. Heck, I feel like I'm just a kid. He's unpredictable and I never know when he's going to get himself injured or something."
"I get it," Cleo said. "He's a brat with a hero complex. He thinks he knows better than everyone else, and he thinks he's invincible. I'm waiting for the day when that all comes crashing down. And it might be pretty quick too."
"What do you mean?"
"Hot Rod's dead. Odin got him literally the day they arrested him. The military released the news yesterday, saying he died of smoke inhalation, but I don't know if the Legion will buy it. I bet they're steaming mad about it. No matter what, the military will probably be blamed for it."
"Did you see Odin kill Hot Rod then?"
"No. I came with Lightning to negotiate. She wanted him to stop killing people, starting with Hot Rod. Then he told us that Hot Rod was already dead."
A cold sensation settled in Joey's chest.
"So how did that all go?" Joey asked, looking up at Cleo.
"One sec. Ask Lightning yourself." Cleo pointed behind her and another portal opened up. Within ten seconds, Lightning walked through.
Joey just chuckled wryly. Odin might be right about Cleo being the most terrifying Miracle bearer on Arx. At least she seemed to have settled into her powers well.
"Yo," Lightning said, looking around nervously.
"Hey, Lightning," Joey said with a wave. "Not sure if we've ever met maskless, but I'm Jumper. Or Joey."
"Hey, kid," Lightning replied with a grin. "And hello to the rest of you. I'm Lightning, but you can all call my Courtney."
"And there's the last one," Cleo said, glancing somewhere off to the side. Another portal sprouted up and the other guy who was moving into Odin's lair stumbled through.
"What? Where?" He scrambled around, looking scared out of his mind before he figured out where he was.
"Cleo," Joey sighed.
"Sorry. Figured it'd be faster to portal you here. And with that, everyone's here. Except Odin."
"Could do without him," the guy growled, glancing around nervously. When he caught sight of Darius, he jumped.
"So sorry to be here if you despise me that much." Odin's voice echoed through a speaker on a side table.
"Odin!" The newcomer nearly fell over when Odin spoke. "Don't tell me you're watching us?"
"Camera's in the corner. Mic can pick up pretty much anything said in this room. May as well be frank about it."
Everyone glanced at each other anxiously as Odin continued.
"Anyway, I'll assume you're all capable of bringing in your own stuff. Cleo can handle the portals, which should prevent anyone from following you here. If you need any help, ask Darius over there."
"Yes?" Darius said, turning his head towards Odin's voice.
"It's nothing," Odin replied.
"Understood." Darius went back to standing still as a statue.
"He responds to his name, and his language model should be able to understand anything you ask of him. Just be careful with phrases like 'over there' and stuff. He can't always figure out where you're pointing. Anyway, I'll just observe. Introduce yourselves, help each other out, and lunch will be at 12:00 sharp. Our robot friend is very good at punctuality."
Silence fell for several uncomfortable moments before Lightning stretched and laughed nervously.
"What a guy, that Odin," she said. "Anyway, I'm Courtney. You might know me as Lightning of the Legion. I'll be in Room 04."
"Cleo. Clairvoyance and portal Miracles. No, I don't know why I have two, and it's a massive headache. I'll be in Room 03." She rattled off the information like it was some boring thing she'd had to memorize.
"Uh...I'm Joey. I'll be in Room 01 I think." Joey glanced around, then looked at Ned.
"Oh. Ned. I'm Joey's brother. I'll be in Room 02."
That left one more person.
"Sawyer. Room 05 I guess. I'm Odin's lackey or something. Got arrested by Barrier Maiden, then Odin made me a deal. Basically I work for him and he doesn't kill me."
"What do you mean?" Ned asked.
"Odin stuck some kind of device on my heart. At any point he can just stop my heart and kill me if I don't do what he wants." Sawyer glared at them. "Must be nice to just be able to operate on the honour system."
"Sorry," Joey said, glancing down.
"Would it make you feel better if I implanted similar devices in each of them?" Odin's question made everyone jump.
"I thought you left!" Sawyer yelled.
"No. I said I'd observe. Have to make sure you aren't planning on decapitating my dear Darius now, don't I?"
This time Darius didn't respond to his name.
"Why the hell would we do that?" Sawyer spat. "I ain't doing anything to make you think it's time to activate that stupid thing in my chest."
"Whatever. Wanna answer my question?"
"Like hell it'd make me feel better!" Sawyer looked about ready to throw the speaker across the room.
"Very well. Just thought I should make it clear that that's an option."
Silence fell again as Sawyer glowered at the speaker.
"Looks like this'll be an interesting endeavor," Courtney said with a wry chuckle. "At least I've sold my soul to the devil for a good cause." She looked at Joey.
"Cleo told me about Hot Rod," he said. "I'm sorry."
"What's this about Hot Rod?" Sawyer asked, suddenly looking ill. Apparently he hadn't seen the news story yet either.
"He's dead," Odin replied through the speaker.
"Get out and stay out!" Sawyer yelled. This time, he did grab the speaker and nearly hurl it across the room. With a sigh, though, he put it back. It was slightly misshapen from his grip, though.
"Anyway," Courtney said with a sigh, "I couldn't save Hot Rod. But I've secured Odin's promise that no one else has to die except Ferry. If we capture someone, they go to jail and the justice system will deal with them. Odin will only interfere if they escape prison. And he insisted Ferry has to die because there's no way to contain her."
"Then what about Mist?" Joey asked, glancing towards the speaker.
Everyone else waited, but Odin didn't say a word.
"I don't know," Courtney finally sighed. "But I've got my work cut out for me."
Joey looked at the floor for a while, then back up at Courtney.
"Us. We've got our work cut out for us. I'll help if I can."
"You sure?" Courtney asked, looking at him in surprise. "What about your normal life?"
"It's over," Joey said, laughing in defeat. "Soon as Odin caught me it was over. I'll try to maintain my job, but I'll do what I can to help."
"Me too," Sawyer said, glaring at the speaker still. "I'm stuck in this anyway."
"I'm in too," Cleo said. "You're not alone, Lightning." She stuck out her hand, leaving it hovering in the air. Joey caught the hint and put his hand on hers, grinning. Eventually, Sawyer and Courtney followed. Even Ned put his hand in the group.
"I don't know what I can do," Ned said, "but I want to help if I can. Even if it's just keeping the place clean for when you superpowered people get back."
"Thanks guys," Courtney said with a smile.
"Go team!"
With a cheer from Cleo, their hands flew up in the air.
