Sawyer took a deep breath to steady himself as he walked through the streets. That morning, Darius had given him a plain grey box and Odin had then given him instructions for it.
"Find Team Chaos when they attack today. Place the box somewhere where it will have a clear line of sight, take the top off of it and leave."
This was definitely bad news. He'd also been instructed to wear gloves so he wouldn't leave any fingerprints behind. As for the security cameras, Odin would apparently adjust the footage to protect him. The box wasn't big, only about eight inches long and six in the other dimensions. It was definitely heavy, though. Without his super strength, he might have struggled to lift it.
Whatever was in here was probably a weapon. And it was probably intended to kill someone.
Sawyer didn't want to do it. He didn't want to be linked to this. With the way Courtney and the others acted, they were very against Odin killing anyone. But if Sawyer sabotaged the operation, Odin might just kill him.
Someone would die today. And Sawyer didn't know if he could stomach it being him.
They'd tried to hash out a plan. They'd spent hours coming up with ideas to catch Ferry and keep her caught. Finally, they'd settled on using a cloth soaked in something to knock her out, then keep her drugged and asleep in prison, and said they'd leave the fine details up to Odin.
Odin didn't like that idea. Hence why he'd pulled Sawyer into this side job.
Of course, apparently Odin was also working to come up with something that would satisfy the others. When Sawyer had questioned him, he'd just said he preferred to have several contingencies.
The earpiece he was wearing was connected to Odin, who would tell him where things were happening when they started happening. So far, it had been silent. Hopefully it stayed quiet.
Sawyer ducked into an alley, holding the box close to him. The only reason his hands weren't shaking was because he had to hold the box. The mystery box of death.
Some sort of commotion started happening a ways away. Sawyer's heartbeat accelerated, and he glanced out of the alley, praying that Team Chaos had had enough sense to stay away today.
Alas, his prayers fell on deaf ears.
"It's happening. One block up and one towards the stern. Go."
Odin's voice came in clearly, and Sawyer held back a groan as he started running towards the nonsense. Odin had better damn well make sure nothing bad happened to Sawyer after this. He was putting his neck on the line - as in, Courtney might snap it if she found out.
He wove through the crowd of fleeing bystanders, focusing on nothing more than doing his job. He had one job. If he failed, he was dead.
As he approached the scene, he had to hold the nausea at bay.
Don't think about what you see. Just put the box down and run.
With shaking hands, he did just that. At the side of the railing, where people would be less likely to trip over it and it would still have a good line of sight. Next he just had to pull off the top. Sawyer undid the latch, his fingers shaking, and pulled it back.
Without bothering to look inside, he ran, joining the other fleeing people. It was the tail end of the crowd, but he still managed to get lost, charging down two levels and a few blocks away before he finally collapsed in another alley, gasping for breath and shaking uncontrollably.
Had he killed someone? Had he? Or had Odin?
No, but Odin wouldn't have managed it without him.
So was it his fault?
"You did well." Odin's voice came in softly, like he was trying to comfort Sawyer.
As if he needed anything from that bastard. In a fit of rage, Sawyer ripped out the earpiece and crushed it in his fist.
The box Sawyer had left whirred quietly after it was opened. Among the other noise, nobody really noticed it. The box itself didn't look too threatening. If one had walked past it, they might be forgiven for assuming some deliverer had abandoned it there in their rush to escape.
The whirring quietly continued, and a tube extended up out of it, capped with a small box top that had a cylinder stuck in it. Above the cylinder, a glass circle glimmered, a small red light blinking next to it. The head of the device swiveled around, then angled itself up a bit.
Cold Snap was battling Knight, while Prime took on Shell. Ice was spread out around Cold Snap and Knight, while Prime and Shell fought on mostly stable ground. Ferry was sitting up on a sill behind them, watching with a smile on her face.
The circle pointed towards Ferry, the mechanisms whirring softly until they clicked into a locked position.
A loud pop resounded through the city.
And a spray of blood painted the sidewalk.
"Dammit. I missed."
There had only been one shot in that turret. And it had missed. If Cold Snap hadn't jumped away to avoid Knight's attack, her arms flailing foolishly, the bullet might have hit Ferry. No guarantee of course. There were too many factors for a relatively light turret like that to be 100% accurate without being bolted down.
But still. What luck.
"Damn it all. Not even a fatal shot."
It had hit Cold Snap's arm. Now, according to the security cameras in the area, Ferry had quickly grabbed her two charges and vanished.
"Would be a lot easier if Salmon gave me their location. Don't suppose she'd cough it up, though."
At least that should keep Team Chaos down for a little bit. And if they dared trespass...
Every last one of them would die.
"Guess I've exposed myself again. Why can't the damn military deal with this shit?"
Hand to forehead, the speaker swiveled in a chair.
"Gimme a friggin' break. I'm not supposed to be dealing with this shit. Hopefully I'm lucky and they're stupid enough to go to a hospital. If that happens, I'll just send D4 in."
Sawyer was unstable. He'd even broken an expensive piece of tech. It'd just be better to go with the reliable robot friend.
"Ugh. I'm so tired."
Too many late nights trying to get everything done. Too much screwing up of sleep schedule. Too few sleeping hours. Bodies were so limiting.
"Hell, I'm the one who asked for this though."
With another swivel of the chair, Odin left the room. The turret was one-use, currently sitting uselessly on its side, and the schematics were already in old Arx files for defensive weaponry, so losing it had been part of the plan all along. If only the bullet had had a tracking device or some such in it.
Whatever. That problem could be fixed next time. Hopefully the force wouldn't destroy it.
