Shortly before noon on Friday, Darius put down the task of repairing the drone for Team Chaos and set about making lunch. Cleo was at school, Joey was at work, Courtney was out patrolling for trouble, Sawyer was with her, and Ned and Ida were sitting in the common room talking about video game ideas.
Since he only had to take care of two people for lunch, he figured some simple sandwiches would suffice. Ida's favourite contained animal meat, but H4NT3R hadn't been out for quite a while, so egg salad (using egg substitute) would have to do. As for Ned, he was usually happy with eating anything.
As he started making the egg salad, he found himself absentmindedly eavesdropping on Ned and Ida.
"That's not what animals look like. If you're aiming for a corrupted sort of creature, it could work, but you need to figure out quadrupedal anatomy before you start doing this stuff in earnest."
"Quadrupedal?"
"Walks on four limbs. Most animals tend towards quadruped. Humans are the weird ones."
"What's it called if you walk on two limbs?"
"Bipedal. Pretty simple really. Don't you know Greek and Latin numbers?"
"What numbers?"
"You kids are hopeless." Ida rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Basically, a lot of our words, especially the scientific ones, come from ancient Latin and Greek, which were spoken by major ancient civilizations. If you want to know more, I'll send you some textbooks."
"That sounds interesting. So what does a feline actually look like?"
"Here." Ida grabbed the tablet and tapped at it quickly, then handed it back to Ned. "I obviously can't get any seriously good footage, but that ought to do as a first reference. Maybe someday I'll send a camera down below and get some pictures and video for you to watch."
"What? Isn't that like a ton of effort? You don't have to go that far for me," Ned replied, suddenly flustered at Ida's nonchalant offer.
"It would be useful information for me too. Get more data on the ecosystems I haven't looked at in a while."
Ned stared at her for a while as Ida took back the tablet and tapped a bit on it.
"Ida, how old are you?" he asked. She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Huh?"
"You act a lot older than you look. I don't think most people know as much as you do either. You act like you know a lot about game development too."
Ida stared at him for a long moment as Darius processed Ned's statements. Finally, Ida replied flatly.
"Seven years old."
Seven? Courtney and the others seemed convinced she was closer to five. Strange. Based on average data as well, Ida was smaller than the average seven-year-old by quite a bit. Her size and physical development was closer to a five or six year old child.
The discrepancy was small enough that he didn't worry about it, though.
"Really?" Ned asked.
"What did you expect me to say? Five hundred?" Ida rolled her eyes as Ned chuckled.
"Right. Sorry. I don't know what I was expecting. But then how do you know so much? And you don't act like a kid at all."
Did she not? Darius wouldn't know. Even in his pre-awakening memories, Ida was the only child he'd ever seen.
"I had to grow up fast," Ida replied coldly. "Now are you going to keep pestering me or are we going to go through the rest of your concepts?"
Ned didn't look happy with her response, but he did go back to showing her what he'd drawn over the last day or so.
Darius carefully finished the egg salad, then sliced some fresh bread he'd made that morning to make the sandwiches. He made lots, figuring that if there were any leftovers, someone else would eat them. Cleo could take them to school with her, or Joey could take them to work. Courtney or Sawyer would probably eat them too.
Ida wasn't impressed with the influx of people in the Underwing, but Darius liked how lively it was. More people were more fun. There was more conversation around the table, and the place felt a lot less empty than it did when it was just him and Ida.
Well, obviously Odin was there too, but he'd never seen him.
Just as noon hit and Darius was plating the sandwiches, Cleo dropped in through a portal.
"Cleo?" Ned asked, glancing up from his tablet. Ida ignored the interruption and started walking for the kitchen.
"Whatever you do, Ned, Ida, Darius, don't leave the Underwing," Cleo said with a few shaky breaths. "I don't know if you heard anything, but things are crazy up in the main city. I'm going to see if I can get Joey in there with Courtney and Sawyer, but I wanted to make sure you three were safe first. I think you should be, but I can't see the Underwing very well and I've been focused on my studies - finals coming up and all that - so I wanted to make sure."
"You have got to be shitting me," Ida sighed, staring up at the ceiling.
"Just stay here, okay?" Cleo said firmly. "I'm going to run support as best I can, so I'll be in my room. Hopefully it doesn't take more than an hour."
Without another word, she disappeared through another portal.
Ned slowly turned on the TV to a news channel, and Darius brought the sandwiches towards the common room. Good thing he'd made something they could eat while watching TV.
It was like watching a movie. All sorts of people ran through the streets, some fleeing and some pursuing. A news commentator advised everyone to stay in their homes, or shelter in place. One camera feed showed ice covering the sidewalk and a few bodies. It looked like Cold Snap was back in action.
Another camera showed Lightning zipping around, taking out one criminal after another while Sawyer protected the civilians. Elsewhere, Achilles and his team were taking on others. Most of the offenders seemed to either have no Miracle, or weren't famous enough for anyone to know their name. By cross-referencing the military database, Darius was able to figure out most of the names, but few were especially recognizable.
"Where's Team Chaos?" Ida asked with a growl. "Cold Snap's up there, but where is everyone else?"
"They've got to be in there somewhere," Ned said, his voice shaking slightly. "Do you think everyone's gonna be okay?"
"No," Ida replied coldly. "There are plenty who are already dead or dying. This is what we call shit hitting the fan. As for the people you're specifically concerned about, I couldn't say one way or the other. Courtney and Sawyer look okay, and I bet Cleo will be doing her best to keep them and Joey out of trouble, but there are no guarantees in war."
"War?" Ned asked, his face draining of colour.
"What else do you call this? They've declared war on society. Even Achilles' Legion isn't necessarily working to protect people anymore." She pointed at the current video footage. Light Master was shooting lasers in a dozen directions, not seeming to care what he hit with them.
War.
Darius knew the definition, but there hadn't been anything of the sort since...
Since Arx was launched to escape it.
The concept felt foreign, like something out of a fiction. And yet if Ida was to be believed, that was what they were seeing.
"It's been boiling for months now," Ida continued, her expression serious. Right now she looked like anything but a child. "This is what I was afraid of. Idiots with power and no discipline, and no one to stop them. They should have all just died in prison. Ferry should have died ages ago. It's your idiotic sensibilities that kept that from happening."
She looked coldly at Darius.
"You made your bed. Are you happy with it?"
He couldn't answer.
