The man led Joey and Cleo down a series of hallways. After a few steps, he pressed a panel on the wall, which opened soundlessly to reveal a new passage. Emergency lights along the floor were the only lighting here, and he led them in.
This passage had no proper walls; instead, a network of pipes and boxes stood between them and any other passages there might be. As the man walked through the pipes, Joey noticed several smaller branching paths - if they could be called that. Most were too small to walk through properly. The lights on the floor weren't bright enough to let him see the ceiling, but glints of metal hinted that there were more pipes above them.
Silence fell. No more banter between him and Cleo. Worst case scenario, she could probably get them out of there with a portal, but for now the dread at having been found weighed them down.
Or at least, weighed Joey down. Cleo looked around the passages excitedly, frowning and barely refraining from poking the various pipes. She was in her element. It made some sense; this was where the major systems had to be. As a Tech in training, of course she'd be fascinated.
Joey just wished she'd have a tiny bit more situational awareness.
Finally, the man led them through another hidden door into a proper hallway. It even had proper doors on either side going down.
"What's this place?" Cleo asked as the man held open one heavy wooden door for them.
"Conference room," he replied shortly. He motioned for them to go inside, so they did.
It was even more bare bones than Legion HQ had been. A camera stared at them from one corner, and half-rotten wooden boxes sat on the floor. The man locked the door behind them, then pulled a cloth out of his back pocket and spread it on one of the boxes before sitting down.
"Please sit," he said, gesturing to the other boxes. Joey looked at them anxiously. He'd never smelled anything like this before and he didn't know that he trusted the boxes to hold his weight.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Cleo sat down on one and he followed suit.
"Are you the one who killed Scattershot and Phantasma?" Cleo asked, looking at the man firmly.
Way to cut to the chase, Cleo.
"Why do you care?" The man folded his legs and stared at them.
"Because what you did was wrong. Someone needs to do something about it." Cleo looked at him defiantly. Joey did his best to not look like he was going to fall over from the anxiety clawing at his chest.
"How do you know about Meadow Rich? Her death hasn't been released anywhere. No one outside the military should know. Do they have a leak?"
"No - I, uh..." Cleo looked down, suddenly nervous, then glanced back up at the man firmly. "I have a Miracle. Two. One lets me see things that have happened, are happening or will happen."
"You admitted it. That'll make this simple." The man stood.
"What?" Joey asked.
"I heard your entire conversation in the tunnels. Not having to wrestle truths out of you is a point in your favour. I don't have to put a bullet in your head for lying to me."
Cleo's face turned pale. Joey felt the blood draining from his too. This man had been fully prepared to kill them.
"Now, I'll be back. I have another associate I'd like you to meet, but I have to go get him. Stay here and stay out of trouble please. If you don't, I have no qualms about hunting you down and putting a bullet through your brain." He smiled pleasantly, like he hadn't just threatened both their lives, then left. Joey heard the door lock behind him.
Silence fell between him and Cleo for some time before Joey let out a sigh and sank to the floor, pushing the gross box as far from him as he could.
"I take it they're still watching us," Cleo said, glancing up at the camera.
"Probably. Is it just one person?"
"I still can't see anything except weird shadows," Cleo replied with a sigh. She moved onto the floor and scooched next to him.
They sat in silence for a couple moment before she spoke up again.
"I'm really tempted to explore the rest of this place, but not being able to see anything would make portals tricky, and I feel like if we snuck out he really would put a bullet in each of our heads." She looked up at him, desperation written on her face as she let out a dark chuckle.
"Guess we're in this together. Hope Ned doesn't get too mad at me for not telling him about anything before I just died on him."
"He hasn't killed us yet."
"Yet." Joey sighed and they fell into silence again. Not like they could strategize or anything. If they were being watched, their best bet of escape would be either play along and hope, or trust their intuition when the time came to fight their way out. Any plans would be overheard and countered.
It felt like another eternity before the door lock clicked again and the man returned, with another guy in tow.
"Now, I believe introductions are in order. Sawyer Joseph, Joseph Queen and Cleo Yang."
"What is this all about Odin?" Sawyer asked, glaring at the man as he closed the door and locked it again.
"The flies are sneaking into the ointment, so I'm going to incorporate them into it. Simple as that." The man, 'Odin', sat back down on his cloth-covered crate.
"The hell?" Sawyer said, glancing at Joey and Cleo.
"Sawyer Joseph, 25 years old, known as Jumbo for his super strength," Cleo muttered. "Wait didn't you get arrested by Barrier Maiden?" she asked, this time in a normal voice.
"How do you know that?" Sawyer asked, crouching into a fighting stance like he was ready to bruise Cleo.
"She has a clairvoyance Gift," Odin said. "Lets her see things. Not me apparently, which I appreciate."
"Who are you exactly?" Cleo asked, frowning. "You have an ex-convict in your employ, but you killed two others for similar things."
"Olivia Hahn and Meadow Rich were dangers to the city. I'd love to take out a few others, but I have to do it in such a way that doesn't cause public panic."
"You just decide who dies based on who you think is dangerous?" Cleo asked, her eyes hardening. "What if you're wrong? And you just go along with him?" She looked at Sawyer accusingly.
"I have no choice," Sawyer spat. "Odin stuck a doohickey in my heart that will kill me if I ever disobey him."
Joey felt his blood run cold as Cleo asked the question running through both their minds.
"Are you planning to do that to us as well?"
"You haven't been convicted of a crime. I've kept an eye on Jumper, and he's never caused any issues. With the rate at which these psychos with Gifts are multiplying, I may as well expand my roster of Gifted who can challenge them. Your job is to get them somewhere I can eliminate them."
"Eliminate..." Joey whispered, his hands shaking.
"I won't ask you to do anything beyond your abilities. For example, I will never ask for Joseph Queen to do anything on his work days. An income is important for a stable living, and my goal is to stabilize Arx, not destroy it. The last thing I need is you starting to cause trouble because you don't have enough money to survive. And of course, I'll accommodate Ned as well."
Joey's heart almost stopped. How did he know so much? Odin smiled easily as he provided the answer.
"Do you really think I wouldn't look through all records of you two once you were down here? I know your birthday, your address, your family, their addresses and birthdays, your job, your hobbies, your Internet history...I know everything."
"Creepy, isn't he?" Sawyer asked, jabbing a finger in Odin's direction. "Almost like he's got an Internet search function in his head. When I met him in jail, it was almost like he was looking up stuff about me as we were talking."
"So you have clairvoyance too?" Cleo asked.
"No," Odin replied. "As far as any of you are concerned, I'm a normal human."
Normal, huh? Joey couldn't quite believe it. Odin looked too beautiful to be a normal human, like a painter's magnum opus or something. Even his glare and haughty attitude made him look like a work of art.
Not that it mattered.
"Now, I won't ask for your help without compensation of course." Odin stood, then pulled the cloth off of his crate. "Sawyer, I'll give you these benefits as well. May as well. The last thing we need is another incident like the ones with Louise Morris or Courtney Larsen and Lillie Buchanan."
Joey sighed as Odin led them out of the room. Of course he knew about those too. It was just too tiring to keep up with this guy.
What had Cleo gotten him mixed up in?
