By the time Courtney got back, almost two hours had passed. Ida had gotten up and started playing games on the TV, while Darius watched and Ned scribbled on his tablet.
The game she was playing was some ancient piece of tech Joey had never seen. Ned had nerded out about it a little bit, but everything he said went in one ear and out the other. The graphics looked a bit rough, but Ida seemed to like the game, so Joey didn't say anything about it. The way she and Darius talked about the various games and systems they had, though begged the question.
Was Odin a gamer?
When Courtney got back with Sawyer, though, thoughts of the ancient game system disappeared. Joey pulled the two of them over to the kitchen table, glancing carefully at the others. Ned could listen in, but he looked busy and it didn't directly concern him, so Joey left him be.
"What's up?" Courtney asked when they had all sat down and grabbed a pitcher of water.
Cleo slowly explained everything, and she was surprisingly coherent now that she'd had time to go over it in her head. As she went on, Courtney's brow got more and more furrowed.
Finally, when Cleo had finished, Courtney heaved a sigh.
"This seems like it could be trouble. I haven't noticed anything strange with my Miracle, but if what you say is true..."
"It could short out at any time," Sawyer replied, frowning. "Great. Not only can Odin kill me at any point, the power I got punished for having could disappear too."
"But if this becomes more widespread, it'll make everything easier."
Everyone startled, looking at the floor where the voice had come from. At some point, Ida had abandoned her game and come to stand next to them. The game was paused, still playing music. Darius was standing in the same place he was earlier, but was watching them keenly.
"Please don't tell Odin," Courtney said. "I figure this will only embolden him. He causes enough trouble for us already."
"Isn't this a good thing for him though?" Ida asked. "Miracles are disappearing. That's what he wants."
"But who knows what he'll do with the ones who've lost their Miracles?" Courtney asked, irritated. "Will he still kill Ferry? Maybe he'll kill all of us, since we can't fight back anymore."
"Hey, I'm already dead at his whim," Sawyer grumbled.
"And yet you live," Ida growled.
"Ida, Odin is dangerous. He might be your dad, but he's a danger to society." Courtney stood up and knelt next to Ida, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We can't let him know about this until we have more information."
"You think he hasn't already eavesdropped on your conversation?" Ida asked, glaring at Courtney and pointing to the camera in the corner of the room.
"Shit," Courtney muttered. "We should have moved to Louise's place or something."
"Odin's not as bad as you think, anyway," Ida said, stepping away from Courtney and crossing her arms. "You're all here, alive. He's bargained with you. You really think he'll go back on his word?"
"Adults break promises all the time, Ida," Courtney said softly. "Odin hasn't even shown us his face. How can we trust a man like that?"
"So what? You're going to plot against him? Overthrow him?"
Courtney paused for a while, glancing back at Joey and the others, then sighed.
"If we must."
"And what decides that you must? What criteria do you have for moving against Odin? Who, may I add, has so generously given you a secret base and not blown your heads off for entering the most secure area on Arx?"
"Ida, you don't understand. Whatever he's done for us, he's also worked against us. I don't think we'll ever see eye to eye on anything."
"You'd bite the hand that feeds you?" Ida looked seriously mad now.
"Hell yeah, I would," Sawyer spat. "He's fed me poison, kid."
"He gave you a chance at freedom when no one else would."
"For the low low price of my soul. What a great trade."
"Fine!" Ida shouted, stomping her foot on the floor. "Then fuck you all. See what happens when you mess with things you don't understand!"
Without another word, she ran out, slamming the door behind her.
Darius went to follow her, but Courtney stopped him.
"Darius, please. Can we talk for a bit?"
He paused, then nodded and slowly walked over.
"Ida was angry," he said.
"Yeah, but she's just throwing a tantrum," Courtney said with a sigh. "Though I wonder where she learned language like that."
"What do you need from me?" Darius glanced at the door Ida had run through.
"Darius, you know more about this place than any of us. Where is Odin? Where would he be? We need more information on him."
"I..."
"Please, Darius. For Ida."
"How is this for Ida?"
"She doesn't understand what he's really like. She doesn't understand that the kind of person Odin is will inevitably destroy everyone around him. Even her. I don't care if she's his daughter. I've seen cases where parents abuse and kill their children. Ida's devotion to him has to be some kind of defense mechanism."
"What do you want?" Darius glared at Courtney and she paused, looking down and sighing softly.
"Please tell us what you know about Odin. Even if it seems like a betrayal to you. It's our duty as adults to protect children like Ida. You might be young still, but I'm asking you to help me. I don't want to. But I feel like I'm running out of options. We need to find Team Chaos and stop them, for good, without killing them. I...I can't cross that line."
"Why not let Odin cross it?"
"That would be no different than me crossing it myself! Allowing it to happen would make me complicit. Just...please, Darius."
"Ida said Odin's the one allowing us to live here. Why would I turn on him?"
"Ida is a child, Darius!" Courtney snapped, then immediately shrank back. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled. You're still figuring things out. But no one is infallible. Children especially are impressionable and need good adults to guide them. She probably gets ideas from random dubious videos on the web. Those sources can't be trusted, but if she takes them as truth there's little you can do to change her mind. Odin is probably influencing her negatively too. I promise, I will do everything in my power to protect Ida, but I can't do that if Odin is constantly putting pressure on me."
"Come on, Darius," Sawyer said. "Ida doesn't treat you super well anyway. I bet Odin still thinks you're some kind of disposable bot."
"Ida..." Darius started, then stared at the floor for several minutes. Finally he looked back up.
"So?" Courtney asked.
"I have stricken this data from the security systems. Unless Odin was watching live, he will never see it. That is all I'll do for you for now. I...need to think. Do research on children, perhaps."
"Thank you, Darius," Courtney said with a soft smile. "Whatever you can do to help is appreciated. And I'll try to give you as much time as you need to figure stuff out. I wish I could give you all the time in the world, but time is running out. I just hope you can figure things out before something we can't take back happens."
"Thank you," Darius replied quietly.
