AUTHOR'S NOTE: Another commission here for my friend Fredd, and lemme tell ya, this was a challenge. I'm so glad you liked it, and I hope you enjoy this.
FAIR WARNING: This fic contains android-based gore, violence, and potentially triggering content. Exit now if you feel you can't handle this.
"And so, it is crucial to hit these targets so we may ensure the future of the Organization." Odin Eidolon nodded to the board of ruffians seated near him and closed the folder on the table in front of him. The members in the conference room began to pack up their supplies as the meeting was closed. Odin sighed. It was hard sometimes keeping tabs on an Organization full of pirates that could be anywhere at any time, not to mention want anything at any time. But under his co-leadership, the Organization had seen more prosperous times than any point in history, and the Time Police were practically useless against their relentless raids throughout the many timelines.
A duck with an eyepatch strode up to Odin. "I fancy this'll be a turning point in the Org, eh, boss? Good on ya," he said cheerfully, raising a hand and patting Odin on the shoulder of his green pinstripe suit.
As soon as the hand went up, Odin felt himself going pale. His advanced AI and android body allowed him virtually biological-like reactions, allowing him to blend in perfectly with life around him. This is what caused him to flinch and step back as soon as the hand met his shoulder.
"Whoa, no hard feelings, bruv!" said the duck, putting his hands up, conveying the message that he meant no harm. "You all right?"
Odin was sure he meant no harm. His rational side told him this. But his animalistic sector, the fight-or-flight response center, tried to sway his thinking, tried to convince him of imminent danger. "I...I'm fine," he assured the duck, "I'm just tired, is all."
Across the room, seated at the other end of the table, having remained still since the meeting's end, a red-haired duck's beak curled into a cold-blooded sneer. Deugemo, Odin's "brother" and co-head of the Organization, was not pleased with this sudden change in demeanor. Something had to be done. He slowly got up while Odin was still conversing with the duck with the eyepatch, brushed off the sleeves of his blood-red pinstripe suit, and slinked out of the boardroom.
He was waiting in a nearby corridor, leaned against the wall, arms crossed. Hearing the door open, Deugemo looked in that direction and saw his brother and the duck with the eyepatch exiting. Odin waved goodbye as "eyepatch" headed in the opposite direction. Odin turned and met his eyes with Deugemo's. The smile he wore previously straightened out and he tensed up slightly.
Deugemo walked over to Odin. "Nasty flinch you had there, brother."
"It's no problem, Deu. I don't know what came over me." Odin rubbed the back of his neck, a habit he picked up from a certain superhero. "But I talked it down with that pirate, and I think he'll forget about it."
"True...but I can't forget about it," said Deugemo. He saw Odin's beak quiver slightly, a sign of his growing anxiety. Perfect. "You know it doesn't do to let your guard down around these people. They're dangerous. One wrong move against them and snap!" He snapped his fingers in Odin's face, causing him to flinch again. He leaned right into Odin's face and lowered his voice to a whisper. "All we've built is gone. These pirates know no master. They can easily rise up and take matters back into their own hands. That's why you must remain as stoic and unshaken as possible."
He gripped Odin's shirt. Odin gasped. "I think I need to teach you a lesson in poise," he hissed. His eyes transferred a line of code into Odin's "brain." He knew his brother could not look away or close his eyes no matter how he tried to. In a flash, Odin's rigid, trembling frame went slack against Deugemo. The red brother maneuvered Odin over his shoulder and carried him off to a secluded area of the Organization headquarters. Any passersby would receive the same one-line story: "I'm taking him to his chambers. Fell asleep right in my arms, poor thing." They would not have a clue as to the horrors Deugemo had in store for his defenseless brother.
Odin came to slowly, as biologically realistic as Everett Ducklair could program. The first sensation he registered was the plastic ball gag on his beak, preventing him from talking. The next sensation was the leather straps tight on his wrists and ankles, pressing them uncomfortably against the cold metal table he was currently affixed to. He opened his eyes and squealed at the sight across his body. He was completely nude and all his wiring was exposed in a knotted, matted mess, coming from an incision in his torso. The cold air stabbed his insides like little icicles across them, warnings going off in his head alerting him to the danger.
His mind spiraled into terror.
Then his mind was overwhelmed with the intense shock of 5,000 volts coursing through his every wire, every circuit, every fiber. It stopped after a second that felt like an hour, and Odin was panting heavily, smoke emitting from his feathers.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," came the condescending sound of Deugemo. "This is exactly why you're in the mess that you're in, dear brother." He approached Odin, muttering to himself. His face was at an uncomfortable closeness and Odin began to sweat from his artificial pores. Ducklair had thought of everything.
"You know nothing about composure," Deugemo continued in a low gentle voice, "Absolutely nothing must affect you." Odin was stricken across the face, Deugemo's fingers leaving scratch marks and tugging up feathers. Deugemo took two steps to his side. "Absolutely nothing must faze you." Odin was elbowed in the side, leaving a tiny dent and a sharp pain in his rib area that Odin couldn't help but yelp at. "And when I'm around, you will hurt...and you will like it."
The table Odin was affixed to was raised 10 feet in the air, then it began to rotate forward. As it became upright, gravity brought Odin forward. Then as the table flipped around, Odin was left to dangle by his wrists and ankles, an added physical strain to the pain he was facing now.
His heart rate was up. His breathing was up. And the artificial tear glands he rarely used were especially active at this moment, a culmination of the hurt and fear he was currently feeling. And there was no way to stop it. It would only cease at Deugemo's desire.
Odin's head was slammed against the table, a sharp pain coming from the back. The tension on his hair meant only one thing. Deugemo was yanking it like a rope. Odin's head smashed against the table again and again with equal or greater force than each consecutive time, eventually collapsing the back of his head. He could feel his consciousness slipping again as an array of error codes flashed across his vision. The last thing he felt before powering down was another shock of powerful electricity, frying his insides and burning him from the inside out. He could finally be thankful that it was over.
Odin awoke in his bedroom, unsure of the passage of time or even how he ended up here. He felt his torso. His familiar pinstripe suit was on him. All systems were working properly and there was no damage to his body whatsoever.
The last thing he could remember was Deugemo saying he would teach him a lesson in poise, but everything after that was fuzzy and black. Something must've happened inside him that corrupted that particular memory. It always happened whenever Deugemo did this. He wished he could remember what Deugemo's "lessons" entailed, but he could never recall it.
Deugemo walked in and gestured to Odin. "It's time for another board meeting, brother."
"Coming, brother," said Odin, rising out of bed and approaching the door. "How long was I out?"
"Not long."
Odin exited, seemingly unaware. Deugemo made sure of that. He had personally repaired his brother after having his way, torturing the poor soul for hours after he had shut down. He was more than a punching bag to Deugemo. He was his connection to Ducklair. His object of revenge for all those years of being sidelined, relegated to being the "backup." As long as they were together, he would make it known who the real AI was, and who really ruled the Organization.
And the poor moron would never recall the anguish Deugemo put him through. Such a shame.
