"Jack," Court began mildly, as she wiped brains from her face, "if you were worried that zombies were caused by something attacking the brain, something that might be infectious, something that you didn't understand at all, what part of the zombie would you least want to SPLASH ACROSS YOUR CO-WORKERS?"

Court nodded grimly. "We have intelligence about one of those groups. We're not sure if they're crazies or not.

They call themselves 'El Crá¡neo Rojo' -- 'The Red Skull'. And... we think they have zombies."

She sat up to face me, her expression serious. "How can you plan for contingencies, when you can't possibly guess at all the scenarios? Who knows what's out there? Every nation that can manage it will have their own metas there -- and not all of them are friendly to us. Then there's the groups that don't want these talks to happen at all, or the crazies who just want to see their name in the headlines. What if they have a meta up their sleeve?"

Diamond in the Rough

by Lynceus

Lee Crawley had given up on trying to be a hero a long time ago; the world owed him a living, and he intended on taking whatever he wanted. Then he made the mistake of thinking superpowers would make his life easier...

I interrupted her. "Never mind that. The chips. I want them." I needed at least one sample, and I couldn't trust anyone else to destroy the remainder.

She frowned at me. "Now hold on one moment, Miss..."

I sighed, and silently cursed my new form for the thousandth time. Intimidation wasn't in my arsenal anymore, unless you were six years old. If I couldn't intimidate, I had to demonstrate, and that took time and people got hurt. My hand snapped out and grabbed the woman's throat, lifiting her off the ground. "Chips!"

Her hands clutched at her hand on my throat for a few moments, before she pointed frantically back towards the hallway. "Office. Safe." she choked out.

"We were hoping to work out an arrangement where we might occasionally call upon your skills, in a consulting role. We'd benefit from your experience on the street and your impressive metahuman abilities, and in return, you'd get to call upon our resources -- intel, financial, manpower, equipment. The ability to run interference with the law. Plus, of course, we'll pay you. An annual retainer, paid immediately, plus a fee for each job, half in advance."

This is much too sweet a deal. I shook my head slowly, sliding the badge back to her. "I'm sorry. It sounds very interesting, but I've got other things on my mind at the moment. Perhaps in a couple of weeks, we could talk again." I got the feeling Merrick was sincere, but I didn't trust the motives of the people behind her. I stood up, ending the discussion.

"Wait. Before you decide, you should hear what the first two jobs are."

The first one reached out to grab me. I wanted to kill them -- kill somebody -- so badly I could taste it, but I couldn’t afford the luxury. Not yet. I broke his arm and smashed his knee, putting him down with a gratifying scream. The second guy I just tossed over the bar into the wall, hard. He slid down and didn’t move. I slapped Ramon’s knife out of his hand and bent him backwards over the bar, fist bunched in his shirt, my now-broken beer bottle pressed into his cheek. “The bartender touches that gun, you lose the fuckin’ eye, kay? You choose.”

Big Trouble!-5

by Lynceus

I missed Lena terribly; I hadn't realized how much I'd come to rely on her support! Going home to an empty bed didn't sound very promising either, so I decided to stay in space and try to figure out what was wrong with my powers. Try as I might, however, I couldn't seem to make any headway.

And then I got some help from an unexpected source..