>Yes, Surtur is the one who raised him up to his current position - but
>I think he's just let Akio loose, figuring that somebody who hates
>that strongly, and particularly somebody who hates Gryphon's family
>that strongly, is worth having around, regardless of what he does.
>
And or it is the case that Surtur has pulled the pin on the Akio grenade knowing that whatever happens in the long run, Surtur can manipulate it to come out ahead.

>Arguably, this makes Akio a bit dangerous to Surtur, since there's no
>controls outside of "I made you, I can break you," but Surtur is
>probably confident that Akio can't create a power base sufficient to
>be a danger.
>
>It makes me wonder if Surtur knows about the Oriphos project.
>

I'd expect that Akio's danger to Surtur is a lot less than we see here. Then again, I *AM* a member in good standing of the "HE'S UNDER EVERY DARN BED" club, even if I've toned it down in the time since twilight wrapped.

But, as we've seen here, Akio seems to be using our own lack of concern against us. I'd been sort of looking on Akio's works as a joke and was just wondering when he'd get smacked down again myself. It does seem to appear that he's been using his apparent haplessness to lull all of us into a false position, just look at what he pulled off.