Panu was not bored, not in the least. From the perspective of the other Ragnarok members, that was exactly the problem.

The dog's head was tilted back. From the speaker under its throat came a high frequency whine. It slammed against every wall, echoed back from every corner, pervaded the entirety of the basement. It lasted for only a split second, but in that time, hands were clapped to ears and well trained guards came a hair's breadth from shooting the thing, just killing it dead, reducing it to so much slag on the ground, no matter what Ambrose would say to them afterwards.

"How loud?" The blonde boy asked, turning to the scientist nearest him. The man, unlike the guards, had opted for wearing heavy headphones the moment he'd seen the list of tests the boy wanted done today.

What? The scienctist mouthed, at which point they both realized their hearing was on mute. The scientist slid his headphones off, and the boy dialed back up his organic volume.

"How loud was that?" He repeated, rubbing at his own ears. Loud enough that it physically hurt, even though he hadn't heard a sound.

"Really damn loud," the scientist reported, reading the decibel level off the screen. "What did you say that was called, again?"

"Method name is crowdDispersalAudio1." The Fin knelt in front of his newly acquired pet, and patted it proudly.

"I know I'm going to regret this, but... out of how many?" The scientist asked, his headphones around his neck.

"Eleven," Panu replied, rubbing his dog's ears. Or where his dog's ears would be, if he was not a sleek perfect creation of metal and wires and code. The captured META bot was a speed scout model, its frame roughly the shape of a sleek black greyhound. The scientists were working on a new shell for him, so he was not so very obviously a police robot. A new shell was okay. It was what was inside that counted.

"Of course it goes up to eleven," the scientist muttered. "I am going to need better headphones for this. Or a sound proof room. And coffee, more coffee. Break time?"

"Okay," the Fin agreed. "Probably I am back later. Today there is someone Mr. Jaa--father wanted me to meet."

To be specific: there was someone that Madeline Brass had decided Panu should meet, when she'd gotten complaints about the noise levels in the secret basement. Trained professionals and ruthless killers should not be calling out sick with headaches. At this rate, there was going to be a breakroom bounty out on the Fin's pet before noon tomorrow. Best to get them both out of the building. Quickly. Before there could be any more sound tests, or, god forbid, a repeat of the pepper spray incident.

All these non-lethal weapon tests were rapidly making Ragnarok's members want to kill something.

So it was that when Hades arrived for his mission, there was a small blonde boy sitting in the briefing room, swinging his legs under the table with a certain contentment. He wore a gray hoodie that was three sizes two big for him, and white headphones, and a little digital tourist camera around his neck, with lens dark and open. His eyes were not looking at anything in particular. Behind him sat META bot serial number SK-011, aka Sköll, aka Best Dog Ever.

Hades stalked towards the briefing room not being in the best of moods. Commander of the army was an all very well and good title, but filling out paperwork was never terribly exciting and as of yet, the army was still being recruited. So in the meantime Hades was on retrieval missions. It was surprising that despite how well funded Rangarok apparently was that they did not yet have sufficient talent in that department but then again it was still in a fledgling stage. Hades skimmed through the briefing notes as he made his way towards the briefing room. It was unnecessary really. The moment Hades heard about the missions he had started his own research. He had put in a good half week of pure research into this and was fairly well prepared. The other guards and employees gave him a wide birth as if sensing that an apex predator.

Arriving at the briefing room to fill out yet another form, Hades picked up the tablet itemizing the materials he had requested. He figured that for the missions he was doing for Rangarok to supply the required materials. It was not as if they seemed to be lacking funding in the least. He checked to see if there was any new intel and checked items off the list. All was well untill he got to the last item. "What is a Panu?" Hades asked himself. He clicked the link. The image was a match to the boy that was currently sitting in the room. Hades had noted him and the META bot on the way in. That the child had his own personal? META bot meant that he either a) had hacked it, which spoke of considreable skill  or b) someone had hacked it and assigned it to him indicating that he was either of some importance or was of valve to someone who was.

Turning to Panu he said. "Please wait here a moment." Then turned and stalked towards the office of Miss Brass. If there were any recording devices in the office of Madeline Brass whoever was on the other end of it would have been privy to an interesting conversation.

"This was a last minute change."
>"It was .....requested" Both of them knew from whom.
"Plans and arrangements have been made, that will need to be altered so that his safety can  be guaranteed.
>"You will be compensated for any inconvenience."
"Please see that this does not become a common occurrence."
Madeline was about to launch a sharp retort about people following orders when she noticed that Hades hands were resting rather close to a cup of fountain pens. He had not changed his posture since he arrived but she had just noticed it. She belatedly realized that she was arguing with the man who, but a
few days ago, survived and defeated a tactical assault team and a rocket attack with nothing but a tie and a ballpoint pen. He and Ambrose survived with minor injuries. The assault team, those that survived were in the ICU. What that fresh in her mind and recalling that He had recently been given the title commander of the armies, she bit back the vitriolic retort that she had prepared.

"I will take him out of the building and off the premises as requested but he will not accompany me on this mission"
>"But..."
"Unless the boy possesses considerable skills and experience I doubt that our employer would like his
adopted son to be in harms way would you not agree?"
>"But..."
"I will place him in a safe place. If he manages to make that location no longer viable without drawing attention to himself I will consider taking him along during the mission. Consider it a test of sorts. Otherwise he stays in the safe place, agreed?"
>"I...I... very well."

Returning to the briefing room Hades turned respectfully to Panu. "Please follow me." A short car ride later and Panu was deposited into the capable hands of Mrs Rogers. The location was secure, the care was excellent quality and the location was guarded. It was therefore with some considerable surprise that not five minutes after he left the daycare location he received a call from Mrs Rogers.

>"I am terribly sorry Mr Wilson, but I am afraid something has come up and we need to temporarily close the day care."
"Very well Mrs Rogers I will round shortly."

The man who came in was old and tall and bald. He glanced at Panu and Skoll maybe once and then not again, looking at paperwork instead. This is what some adults did with children. Panu was okay with this kind of adult. They usually just wanted him to be quiet, and he was very good at doing that. He put on a playlist in his head: classical music of Scandinavia. Probably he should be listening to his English language audio tracks instead, but they were so boring and stupid and Noel would never knew if he cheated and just made a database with all the words.

...Unless she did. Because psychic.

The Finnish boy put his hands in his hoodie pocket, and stopped swinging his feet so he would not be annoying, and very guiltily did his homework.

Hello, how are you? The tape said.

Hello, how are you? Panu repeated in his head, his mouth moving just a little with the silent words.

I'm fine, thank you. How are you?

What is this?

What is that?

What is a Panu?

The blonde boy startled in his seat. That had not come from his audio track, it had come from his ears. And he had understood it. How was he supposed to reply? He skimmed through the track, finally coming to--

>> "Please wait here a moment."

The man left very quickly, which was another thing that some adults did when asked to work with children.

"A Panu is me," the eight year old said, to an empty room. "I'm fine, thank you. How are you?"

It was very good English, he thought. When he played back his own audio, still it sounded good.

No one cared.

The blonde boy sat in an empty room, and waited for his partner to return.

Let's practice "I like."

I like dogs.

I like listening to music.

The opposite of "I like" is "I don't like." Let's try it.

I don't like cats.

I don't like playing sports.

"I don't like sitting in empty room," Panu said, with only a little Google cheating.

The man was still in the building, and the building had many cameras, so it was easy to see him still. And to hear him. He was talking with Ms. Brass. From the camera angle, he could see her texting under her desk. He startled guiltily when she hit send, and his own phone vibrated. Probably she was telling him to stop eavesdropping.

Are you listening? Her message said.

Yes, he returned. I will stop now, sorry.

Oh no, she sent back, her manicured claws tapping at the screen, do continue.

This is when Panu understood that the tiger secretary liked this new man even less than she liked Jaager. This was a very impressive thing, because her hatred for Jaager was like the hatred people had for crying babies that were not their own. This man must be like a crying baby at an symphony orchestra concert.

Panu watched as the tiger stuttered, which is something she did not do even when blood-covered dragons were being fussy. Also she backed down, which made more sense from Panu's seat, because he knew she was not backing down at all. Instead she was waiting until the man was out of the room, then sending another text.

If he leaves you in a daycare, burn it down.

I do not want to burn a daycare down.

Then do the opposite.

"Opposite" was a word he knew from the audio tracks. The opposite of like was don't like. The opposite of burn down was flood.

Electronic sprinklers were the best kind, and soon all the children were dancing in the sudden rain as all the teachers were grabbing coats and scarves and trying to keep them dry as they herded them to the doors.

"Ms. Brass says next time you make bet with her, you must put money on it." The dripping Fin said to the man who picked him up. He shivered a little in his newly soggy coat, but otherwise stood very straight. He relayed the tiger secretary's message faithfully, because she was more scary to him than this new man was. This is because Panu knew the secretary. Probably the new man would know her much better, soon.

She was not just secretary. She was Nidhoggr of Ragnarok. She did not need to be army general, because already everyone obeyed her orders. Even Jaager.

"I am a Panu," the boy introduced himself. Something which, in all the time in the briefing room and the car ride, the man had neglected to do. Panu was a gentleman, so he did not point this out. He only led by example. "I am make everything blind while you do job, and maybe other things. If you do not want me it is okay, but you should bring me back to headquarters. I have more important things to do than sit with babies."

So apparently the sprinkler system had magically turned on and was refusing to turn off. After pulling up at the day care Hades handed Panu a towel. As they drove away Hades turned to the boy and said "Well done, there is hope for you yet." This could yet turn out to be interesting and the child could become a valuable resource.

>"Ms. Brass says next time you make bet with her, you must put money on it."
Hades smiled. Well the both corners of his mouth gave a slight twitch. "I will remember that, although I recall saying that it would be a test of your abilities. She was not supposed to tell you about it. That could be called cheating."

>"I am a Panu. I am make everything blind while you do job, and maybe other things. If you do not want me it is okay, but you should bring me back to headquarters. I have more important things to do than sit with babies."

Hades turned to look at the boy, "Good to meed you Panu, you may call me Hades. And after what you did at the daycare, to be honest I did not like Mrs Rogers that much anyway so thank you, I am very interested in you coming along, if you still want to that is. When you say make everything blind you mean electronics? In that case let the fun begin." Hmm, 8 year old hacker, who hacked the electronic sprinkler system without a computer. The wheels and gears in Hades head started churning. A slightly diabolical look came into his eyes. With a little guidance there was little limit to the mayhem and trouble that this "Panu" could cause.

He smoothyl accelerated through the traffic, the car purring along. Hades handed Panu a tablet. "Today Panu I have been asked to aquire, lyttävät a few things for Rangarok is that how you say it? My Finnish is rather limited and quite rusty." This was true, Hades had probably not used Finnish for centuries. One tended to forget things like vocabulary and grammar rules after a 100 years or so. Besides he never had time to pick up the language, he was too busy running missions. To be fair there was a world war going on at the time.

"The first item I need to get is stored on a SD card, If I plug that card into a WiFi enabled reader can you get a copy of the data?" He would also download a copy just in case. He paused for a minute, should he teach this child hacker about missions and planning and logistics? would he get bored? What would the consequences be of teaching him and unleashing him on the world? That he decided would be the problem of one Miss Brass. 

"When planning a mission Panu, research is important. On that tablet are the credit card records for the company that currently pitää hallussaan that data. If you look down they installed some vibration sensors that are not connected to any computer, so they cannot be hacked and it would not be good to warn them by cutting the power so we need to think a little .......sivulle?" Hmm he was probably butchering the language. "Tell me Panu, what is on the other side of the wall to that company?" Hades asked as they smoothly swung into a parking lot at a mall. He nodded at the answer he was given. Impressed by the speed with which the boy obtained the answer.

Leading Panu through the mall with the child holding the iPad, they blended in well. Just another father who pamperped his son with electronic gadgets. Also It would make for a good cover, especially which what Hades was going to ask Panu to do. They stopped on a mezzanine floor, overlooking a music shop. "Tell me Panu, I know you are from Finland, what sort of music comes from Finland, is there anything that has very good bass notes?" He pointed at the electronic store. "Panu, I have a challenge for you, do you think you can play loud music from that store, from every speaker for half an hour without anyone being able to switch it off, and nobody knowing it was you?" If he was going to unleash Panu on the world, might as well do it properly. "Also besides making the cameras blind, they do record what the cameras see. Looking at a hallway is so boring, perhaps the security team at this company would like a documentary on the northern lights, or European culture or cooking instead? What do you think?"  Hades almost chuckled as he imagined the face of manager who discovered the theft or the fate of the security team.

This man probably worked solo. Panu thought this, because the man did not know how to show respect for staff or secretaries or co-workers. But Panu was a gentleman and a professional, so he took the towel and did not say anything like This is not first time I make building evacuate or This is not first mission for me or I have been doing this as long as I remember or Your towel is stupid and you are stupid and if you think I am baby then you can do mission yourself.

The man maybe assumed that he was young, and young meant inexperienced. Panu tried to keep this in mind and forgive him with each new quip about how there was hope for him yet or this was a test of your abilities or When planning a mission research is important or I have a challenge for you.

Panu was quiet on the car ride. He did not dignify the man's condescending comments with replies. He only sat straight and held still, with all the mature dignity that Hades naturally assumed he did not have. His hands were in his hoodie pocket and his headphones were on the dash to dry and his ears had felt naked, so he had draped the towel over his head instead.

He did say one thing. Because professionals did not let grudges get in the way of mission information.

"Yes, I am do everything with electronics. Data is easy. What do you do, Mr. Hades? Maybe next time we talk in briefing room before mission. This is right name for room, yes? Briefing room? Place where teammates are communicate important information? I am sorry, my English is still not very good. Maybe I am wrong."

At least his English was better than the man's Finnish. Maybe another person Panu could forgive for sounding like nails were scraping a chalkboard on the roof of his mouth, because Finnish. But Finnish could not cure bad manners, only make them sound nicer.

He had to speak again as they passed the target building. This time he was maybe less subtle.

"If you do research than you know what is on other side of wall. If you do not, images are on your tablet. Stills from camera, whole building, interval last five seconds. Folder name is TestsAreForElementaryStudents. Is on desktop."

Probably his headphones were dry enough now. He gave his short hair one last towel rub, then folded it neatly and put it on the back seat, and slipped his headphones on instead.

He tried to forgive his new teammate. He tried. But Panu was Finnish, not Canadian.

>> "Tell me Panu, I know you are from Finland, what sort of music comes from Finland, is there anything that has very good bass notes?"

This was a very good question. Very smart. There were many excellent Finnish composers--

>> "Panu, I have a challenge for you, do you think you can play loud music from that store, from every speaker for half an hour without anyone being able to switch it off, and nobody knowing it was you?"

...None of which the man cared about. The challenge was challenge for five year old, maybe. It was not a challenge for Tuonela's--for Ragnarok's Muninn. Probably it was just the man trying to leave him somewhere again. This was okay, because now that he had aided Ms. Brass in restoring her own honor, he was ready to be left.

>> "Also besides making the cameras blind, they do record what the cameras see."

Left here, left alone, before he was find wall and hit his head against it. Cameras record? Wow. This was amazing fact that technopath had not known.

>> "Looking at a hallway is so boring, perhaps the security team at this company would like a documentary on the northern lights, or European culture or cooking instead? What do you think?"

"Sir," the boy said, standing up so tall he was maybe 132 and a half centimeters. "Here is very good Finnish symphony. Please to listen to it."

The boy plugged his own very good headphones that the man had better take very very good care of into the man's stupid iPad that he had made Panu hold even though Panu did not need it or want it he had many electronics of his own thank you he was technopath and he handed it to the man and he stared at him and he wished he could stare him in the eyes properly like people with sight did because this was so stupid.

But it was not professional to rant in very public mall about best way to commit crime. If the man put the headphones on, he would hear a synthesized voice speaking all of the words Panu very much wanted to say in his own voice.

"I am suffer insults long enough. You are please to stop testing me now, or I am take bus back home and on way compose report about incompetence for Jaager to read. Show documentary is stupid. Is leave evidence like fingerprint. Then police know there is technopath criminal involved. Then they are link to reprogramming of META robots. Then they have case file of two crimes and when I must do other things that I cannot hide it becomes three and four and five and then I am not useful to Jaager because police and city know I am here."

This had happened in Finland, to some extent. Many police stations and corporations that had felt targeted had unplugged their most advanced tech, had gone back to being cave men so that Tuonela's Takala could not touch them. He had been in this country less than six months. It was weird to not be feared, but also very very nice.

"You tell me 'SD card' and 'building next door' and 'go make noise' and 'go stop videos.' Maybe this is mission briefing in English. It is first I have heard in this country. When I translate to Finnish, it sounds like confetti ball that has exploded. If you please to tell me real objective, maybe I am use my gift like smart child, instead of like retarded hamster kept as class pet and put in plastic ball to roll around as distraction."

The Finnish boy was maybe a little red in the cheeks, and much less trying to make eye contact now. He shoved his hands in his hoodie pouch and he slumped his shoulders, but he stayed standing tall.

"Thank you for listen. Is all."

At his words Hades first slapped his right fist against his heart, then his right palm. He bowed his head for a moment, a warriors apology.

"My apologies Panu. It has been... a long time since I worked with one so.. unique."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Panu wanted to be treated as a team member, very well, Hades would give him that chance. It would mean potentially trusting Panu with his life, but if even half of what he heard about Panu was accurate, then the risk was worth it to gain such a teammate. That offer would also come with ... responsibilities and consequences.

Without thinking Hades scanned the environment, noting that they were not within earshot of anyone and in a offered a modicum of privacy by a number of plants. He turned to Panu.

"The real objective is to remove obstacles and get advantages, or as some call it asset denial and acquisition."

He took a breath.

"In short there is a conglomeration, a group of companies that have been working against our employer. We suspect they have ties to illegal trade, gangs, mercenaries, weapons and drug smuggling and the like. There is precious little evidence however. They leave very little if any electronic trace, the account and contact details are contained either in a physical book or a standalone chip and reading device. The first step in removing this obstacle is to get that book, it is called the black book."

"I have two options, the first is to ghost in and out, leaving no trace that I was ever there and planting false evidence to arouse suspicion among the ranks, the other option is to sanitize said location and leave no evidence behind. I would prefer the first, but to do that I need a comms specialist, someone to be my digital and electronic eyes and ears, someone to monitor all communications, be the ghost in the machine, ensure that I am not seen and plant false digital evidence. There is limited information on the targets & layouts so I will be trusting you with my life to scout ahead and assist me in avoiding detection. It does not stop there however. Once we have the book, it will contain numbered accounts and contact details, I need someone to monitor phone calls to these contacts and accounts as I can guarantee you that within 24 hours of the black book being stolen, they will communicate to change the passwords and account numbers, methods of contacting allies, passwords and meeting locations. That is what we are ultimately after, the ability to make them turn on each other and make a giant conglomeration tear itself apart while siphoning off their funds and resources."

He paused for another breath, then continued, this was turning into a full on briefing.

"Once this first mission is successful, we have less than a day to hit two more targets to plant a trail of convincing evidence, with the added benefit that it will deprive Faust Pharmaceuticals of a business partner. So, Panu," Hades said turning to look directly at the young Finn. "The black book will remain at this location for another" He looked at his watch "Two hours and fifteen minutes. Are you in or out?" He said extending a hand to Panu. 

Was 'unique' word like 'special', where it sounded good but really wasn't? The little Finn narrowed his eyes, and tilted his phone, and hooked into the mall cameras, and tried to determine from many many angles if the bow was mocking or not. The man's voice sounded sincere but that didn't mean anything, people lied with straight faces and straight voices all the time, especially to children.

Asset denial and acquisition sounded very good, and Panu filed it away into his list of Best English phrases. But still, he was not sure if the man was saying it to tell him their mission, or saying it because it made him sound like a Very Important Man. He reached up to adjust his headphones, but of course his headphones were still with the man. Instead he ended up with his hands held stupid-like next to his head with nowhere to go. He adjusted his hoodie and tried to pretend that that's what he'd meant to do all along.

Still the man was talking. Panu was translating audio on slight lag. He could not do it in real time, so there was no real use listening to the man. Noel would probably say that he should listen for words he knew and at least try to understand, but he didn't feel like it. Not at all. Besides, it was quicker to record and then read file. Organic audio was all real time and stupid.

From Hades' perspective, probably it looked like Panu was fuming throughout his entire speech. But as soon as he finished, from very last word, the expression changed to thoughtful. With whole file translated, now Panu could see that the man had given him real information.

It was not mission for stupid baby. It was mission for technopath partner.

He answered through the headphones, since the man had not yet given them back, and since he did not like talking about things like this in the middle of a mall. It made his skin feel itchy, like everyone was watching them, like there were spiders down his shirt.

“Hide from electronics is easy,” the boy's synthesized voice replied. “But not technopath way. That is like… is like burglary that sets hand on windowsill with no glove on. Fingerprints everywhere. I can make it look like normal hack. Video loops, or cameras not pointing where they should. Is easy to do this and also scout. I am need to be close to building. Need to get on network, then I am whole-building-scout all at once. Monitor phones is harder. I--”

The synthesized voice hesitated. Panu reached again for headphones that were not on his own ears, and ended up flipping his hood over his head and pulling the cords a little tighter. He wanted to be useful. If he was not useful, he was nothing but skinny child with bad English. He wanted Hades to think he could do everything the man had asked for.

But lying was worse. Lying sometimes got other people hurt, and always got him hurt when people found out. Lying to family was stupid stupid thing to do. Especially on mission.

The Finn shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket, and looked down, even though he couldn't see anymore looking down than anywhere else.

“I cannot monitor phones. Is too many networks, too far. You will need to get other help for this. I am sorry for not be helpful.”

Many he could do it, if he tried. Just because he was afraid of going too far from himself, afraid of the way data on networks was like swimming in river during typhoon and maybe flood waters at any moment are make it too deep to stand, just because he was scared baby didn't mean he couldn't. Maybe he was just not trying hard enough.

But he really really really really did not want to try.

“Sorry,” he repeated. “But once you have accounts, then I can help. A lot. Crack banks is easy, even if encrypted. One or two days, then all funds are ours. Move whenever and wherever. I have much practice with this.”

When the man offered his hand, the little Finn took his own out of his pocket, and shook with great solemnity.

“Thank you for trusting me. I am do everything is possible to. I will not disappoint you.”

He just had one question.

“You say 'trail of evidence.' This is make false suspect, yes? Who are we making blame on?”

Panu seemed to calm down. Hades paused as he digested what panu had said. He cocked his head to one side, just slightly, digesting the information, modifying plans on the fly, creating a working solution. He turned to Panu.

"Good, it is better to have someone who knows their limits and can be honest about them."

He rattled off an IP address starting with the words "dn". It indicated that the source was located on the Dark Web, a part of the internet that was ... non-indexed, meaning that it could not be searched. One either knew exactly where one was going or one would never get there.

"First folder." It was the name of a folder that detailed some of the research that Hades had done, as well as the basic structure of the plan that Hades intended to implement.

Hades intended to lay the blame on Faust Pharmaceuticals, thus removing Jagger Worldwide's main competitor, but that was not all, Hades also intended to expose and blame three other companies. Atlas Investments, Stergon Incorporated and Piper Conglomeration all had funded Faust to varying degrees, but more worrying was that they also engaged in shadow activities, especially against mutants. Hades research had uncovered a lot of evidence to suggest that these three had helped incite mutant incidents, funded (underhandedly) anti-mutant legislation and had Mutant kill squads that included adapted. A number of them even had rather lucrative adapted recruiting head hunters.Hades intended to tie these four, The Four to a colorful variety of criminal activities.

"After you finish, read the second folder."

The second folder contained a very basic sketch of the facility that Hades had been able to get from a janitor. The facility was shaped a little like a spiral, with reception, meeting rooms, and other services one usually finds on the outer arm. As one spiraled closer to the center, more important targets, laboratories, control rooms, armory, server rooms, and at the very center, the vault. The folder also contained ex-filtration plans that Hades had prepared.

Exfill one parking lot 23, Mercedes, Silver,  Wireless key. Flash lights when walk past.
Exfill two parking lot 50, Nissian Skyline, blue, same recognition signal.
Exfill three Parking lot 74, Black & Red Golf GTI.
Exfill four, Loading Docks, container 15, Areal Atom.

Hades waited while Panu digested this information. "If you are still up for it, I need you to hack into their network and tell me what you can get control of. Things like ventilation systems, security cameras, fire alarms, automated doors, Voice over IP (soft phones) would be helpful. Let me know when you are in and I will start. The folder should also have the frequency of my earpiece so you can see and talk to me."

He awaited confirmation from Panu. Almost as an afterthought he said "I can walk through walls and if you see me glowing slightly green, don't touch me, I'm told it is painful." He then stood back and waited for the techno-path.