Child of Hades

29. Negotiations (Lié)

"I know you can't see it yet, but one day you could be Hades."

"Why me?"

He seemed oddly comfortable with me being there, even though I was still pointing my gun at him. Even for Chaus-standards, his poker face was impressive. Was it a poker face at all? If he had a tell, I didn't see it.

"There's an algorithm, it determines the most suitable candidates for becoming the future Hades."

I hesitantly took myself a cup and poured tea into it. "Did you expect me to base such an important decision merely on my gut?", he laughed. "You have a lot to learn, really. But I am not in a hurry."

It was Yasmin-tea. I liked it. Despite the circumstances. If I believed what Hades had told me, KM-13 was in more imminent danger than Rutha for now.

"I suppose Rutha could find his place here.", I said, using my best acting. Hades looked amused. No way of knowing if he believed me.

"But there is no point in dismantling a weapon as powerful as KM-13. Not if you could use him."

He poured himself another cup of tea, then he leaned back against the wall behind him. "Convince me.", he said playfully.

I cleared my throat before answering. "KM-13 can hack into any system. Clearing out bank accounts? Not a problem. Hacking into the systems of your rivals to spy on them and change their data according to what you need them to think? Not a problem. Taking down governments? Not difficult. The potential of KM-13 is almost unlimited."

Hades' smile turned into a condescending one. "If he can do all that, why have I never heard of him? And then how could I capture him so easily?"

"Because he has one fatal flaw. His humanity."

Hades' eyes examined me thoroughly. "I don't usually think about humanity as a flaw."

I gave him a confident smile. "For our purposes, it is useful."

He seemed to be pleased with my reasoning. "I could let you go with him."

"But you don't trust me.", I added. 

"Only fools trust.", he agreed.

"But then what do you do?", I asked curiously.

"You should have realized by now.", his expressions were again condescending. "I watch."

I moved my chair, betraying my act, and revealing nervous intuitions. 

"All this time?", I asked. He didn't respond but his confidence indicated grave certainty.

"I would have thought you would be more... tempted.", he said. "Many people would kill their best friend, their son, and their partner to even have a chance to become me."

"Even if I wanted to be Hades, it's not like asking you for it would change your plans for me."

His finger tapped on his cheek, his eyes staring me down coldly. "I probably wouldn't."

I found myself in a different room all of a sudden. He must have hacked my techdevice a while ago, and now he teleported me whenever he wanted to wherever he wanted. I heard voices, mercenaries discussing: "What if we put the remote into his brain? Could that work?"

Three men wearing lab-coats fell to the ground speedily after I burned their bodies with hot plasma. KM-13 was unconscious inside a glass tube, surrounded by an unknown liquid. I walked to their main computer. I knew I would only have one chance to log into it. 

Three techdevices from three dead scientists. I searched their bodies for anything that might help me unlocking their most personal tool. One of them carried a picture of a young woman. A quick search on the dark web helped me identify her as his daughter. Her birthdate converted into the programming language that was most foundational to the techdevice he was using did the trick. Humanity. How is it now a flaw?

I spend the next half an hour hacking into the main computer to figure out everything these people had done to KM-13 and reverse it. Finally, I opened up the glass capsule, releasing my friend from his creepy cage.

He coughed and gasped for air as he fell onto the floor.