Thursday 22 September 2011

20) Captain Odin

    Once upon a time a cyclops parachuted onto the island of Cyprus during the late evening. He had the normal human body plan, but was just missing an eye. He’d traded it in for something much better, full body sight. He was agent 761, Captain Odin.
    He had landed on the far Eastern limb of the island, as far away from his target as possible without dunking him in the ocean. It’d be the best chance for stealth.
    He unbuckled the parachute and took off into the green fields at a good clip. He glanced at his watch, five minutes behind. He swore. As he ran and dodged between trees he pulled out a football shaped lump of white woolen fluff from his small backpack. He took a small brass key from another pocket, jabbed it into the fluff, and began to wind it up. Within a few moments the ball of fluff had shrunk by several times and warmed up considerably. His winding had hit a snag, he’d been distracted and hadn’t counted how many times he’d wound it. Quickly he pulled out the key and threw the now palm sized blob of wool ahead of him.
    As soon as it left his hands it transformed. Four black metallic legs sprouted from it as it rolled forward through the air and fell. It bounced awkwardly on one of its legs, righted its self, then the legs telescoped out and it stopped cold on the grassy ground.
    Odin stopped right in front of the thing. He took a moment and looked around. The coast was clear. He approached the object and inspected it. Several thin metal rings dangled down from the now cricket ball sized center, head, of the object. His hurried briefing ran through his head. They’d told him what each ring did. He looked a little closer, and yes they were color coded, red, blue, yellow. He knew one was flight mode, one was an all terrain vehicle, and one was the self destruct. No, wait, pulling all three would self destruct.
    He pulled the blue ring. Crunching and wheezing came from the object. Odin took a step back. Its legs snapped together then quickly splayed out into a dozen branches which continued to split. For a moment he was afraid he had broken it. But in a few seconds the transformation completed and he had a personal flying machine. It wasn’t much to look at, gossamer tendrils of metal, more a suggestion of a chair, he thought, than something you could fly in.
    Odin shrugged, put it on over his shoulders and clipped the control ring onto his wrists. He took a practice jump then pulled down hard. The copter’s dragonfly wings whipped out and sputtered into life, they took off into the fragrant dusk.
    Odin recalled the simulator for this mode and deftly maneuvered through the trees tops. After a few minutes he had reached the mountain pass where he was to meet his contact. He said a prayer for the nerds back in special ops who had put together this strange contraption and tried his best to land without ruining it. He skidded on gravel, bent to one knee, and peeled off the copter. He found the brass key and pulled it out and stuck it into the machine. The thing shook, sputtered, pulled its legs in, and was quickly again just a large ball of fluff.
    A horned shadow emerged from behind a large rock. Odin whipped out his service revolver and aimed it at the demon. The creature snapped its fingers and a dim green light appeared next to it.
    Odin recognized the face from his briefing. He said, “Alva Todos, I assume?”
    “Agent 761, or shall I call you by your true name?” The demon looked mostly human. Its horns were actually locks of short curly hair, but its eyes were feline.
    “761 will do fine. Let’s get down to business. I think you have some information for me?” Odin said.
    “Mmm, maybe. Do you have something for me.” Even said.
    With the gun still trained on the demon Odin used his other hand and searched around in his pockets. He found what he was looking for, a crooked piece of wood, a twig really. He pulled it out and showed it off.
    The demon’s eye grew several sizes and seemed to bug out of his skull though he said calmly, “Yes, that’s it, flesh bag.”
    “Oh, Mr. Flesh Bag, if you would be so kind.” Odin made the twig disappear into his fist and pulled back the hammer on his gun.
    Even growled then calmed himself. “What you seek is under a stone bridge three kilometers from here North West by the Top-set hotel.“
    Odin stood still and waited. “What else?”
    “Nothing else human. I’ve gotten you what you want, now give me my prize.” Even said.

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