෴WD40෴

෴Hex෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

In Other News

෴෴෴෴෴෴

Several similar-looking women wearing headsets sat in an outward facing circle in the cramped space of a mobile command center surrounded by a wall of screens. They fielded calls and networked between teams with an uncanny speed and precision. Over the course of the evening, the six nearly identical women handled the intelligence and communications needs of every unit in the field.

As the night wound down, all the communication consoles in front of each of them went from fully lit up, to slowly going dark as individual teams wrapped up. Finally, the last members of what was left of the unlucky Delta team signed off. The ladies sighed as one, took off their headsets and shook out their hair in perfect synchronization with each other. They spun their chairs around in unison to face each other and nodded together. One by one they vanished. An instant before the final woman disappeared, a trilling tone from the six consoles rang out.

With a slightly exasperated look, she spun back around and picked up her headset, glancing at the incoming communication info as she did. “Hex One, what can I do for you Wilson?”

She listened to the reply with a pensive pose.

“You’re lucky you caught me. I was just leaving, and you know how long it takes me to get back on site. I can do that. How quickly do you need the report?” She asked.

She listened to the reply, let out a barely audible sigh, and made a small grimace. “I’ll send it over as soon as it's ready.” She ended the call and turned the chair back around. She closed her eyes, and the room was lit by a quick series of five bright flashes.

She opened her eyes to see the other chairs filled. The six women turned around as one, and each began using the communications terminals in front of them.

Hex One scanned national broadcast news outlets.

“In other news, several enhanced human gang battles rocked the south side of Atlanta tonight. The reports are still coming in, but it's estimated that as many as 300 people died as a result of out of control enhanced humans tonight. Our hearts go out to the people of Atlanta. We go live to our reporter on scene..”

-click-

“-nconfirmed sources indicate that Doktor Midnight himself was part of the chaos on the east coast tonight. We’ll update you as we know more, but we believe over 80 lives were lost as a result of several coordinated attacks led by the notorious supervillain himself.”

-click-

“What’s important to remember is that this man, if he really is a man, is a terrorist. Don’t dignify him with terms like supervillain, or vigilante. We have seen him on camera committing murder!”

“But Mr Secretary, isn’t it true that for all the talk, the only actual provable deaths Doctor Midnight has been involved with are other sup- um, other criminals with enhanced abilities that already had a proven record of killing people?”

“No further questions.”

-click-

Hex Two scanned through the local news stations.

“-now return to tonight’s top story. Paramilitary terrorist groups turning our city streets into a war zone.

-click-

“-with us is a local activist for Catalyst control. We’ll hear her views on why, as she says, ‘these abilities are of the devil, and getting them is a mortal sin.’ Then we’ll hear from an opposing view.”

-click

“-ou want to support our holy mission to abolish these clinics of evil, these dens of iniquity masquerading as medical facilities, please use any of the payment methods shown on the screen. My friends in spirit and brother and sisterhood, with your help, we shall prevail against these demons that walk among us.”

-click-

“-seems that anti enhancement sentiment is growing. That is a good thing. Despite government efforts to protect the people from these so called ‘Catalyst treatments’, the number of people willing to consider getting enhanced is growing. We as policy makers have to do more to make people see that this foolish pursuit of superpowers is both morally wrong and against their own interests by any means necessary.

“What do you say to the opponents of this and other similar bills that assert that the government and mainstream media are working hard to downplay the good that enhanced humans have done and engaging in scaremongering to keep people away from doing more with their lives?”

“Any idiot that would even ask that is probably a racist and hates poor people!”

-click-

“LNN reports, hundreds dead as a wave of terror sweeps the city. More details as we have them.”

-click-

“-ith the ‘Man on the street’ report.”

“Hi, I’m Mark Henderson with the man on the street segment. Now that we’ve covered the events that took place in this local industrial park, I’ve taken to the street to find you more answers! With me I’ve got a local gentleman who prefers to go by ‘Gunny’. Gunny, can you tell our viewers what you told me?”

The camera shifts to an older somewhat ragged looking man dressed in layers of worn warm clothing.

“Well, sure I can. But I can’t take too long about it. The shelter don’t take no one else once they full.”

“Yes, of course, uh, Gunny, so what was it you saw?”

“I was taking a rest over in one of my places where I go to get out of the wind and have a little something to keep me warm. It’s over in that area over there.”

“Can we get a shot of that warehouse district over there that he’s pointing to?”

The camera pans over and zooms in on the distant industrial district where a few fires are still smoldering. The scene shifts to an aerial view looking down at the police and emergency response teams cordoning off the area. Gunny speaks again, and the view shifts back to him.

“So I was in my spot, and I see some vans come in. That ain't normal, but it ain't exactly unusual for this place neither if you know what I’m saying. Anyway, I see these folks in military style gear get out and stage an entry.”

“Now Gunny, can you tell me how you recognized the gear, and that they were planning an entry?”

The man looked at him with an irritated expression.

“Now son, I was kicking in doors and clearing rooms for Uncle Sam before you were shaving. Gear might be a little more high tech now, but I can recognize unit tactics when I see em. And cops do things a whole ‘nother way, so I knew they wasn’t cops. So as I was saying, I was kinda close to where they pulled up, and so I just stayed real still because the last thing I wanted was for them to know I was there. Ain't no one left to miss old Gunny, but I’d just as soon not get a bullet in my face.”

The reporter interrupted him.

“So Gunny, can you tell us what they did?”

The weathered old man looked irritated at the interruption. “I was just getting to that. They blew open the door and went in with flash bangs and some kind of gas grenades. They pulled out some people and tied em up to the curb. Then almost everyone outside went inside and they started carrying stuff out double time.”

The reporter put his hand to his earpiece.

“Thanks Gunny, we appreciate hearing what you saw. Looks like we’re out of time.”

“But wait, I ain't told you the best part!”

The scene returned to the newsroom.

“You heard it here first. More super powered criminals committing deadly acts of mayhem. And now, our correspondent from capitol hill has some news for us.”

-click-

Hex Three checked the online news outlets while Hex four looked at various social media sources.

The other Hex’s collated data and typed. Each working on different portions of the same document to bring it all together with superhuman speed.

Minutes later Hex One picked up the phone again and dialed Wilson.

“It’s done. I have uploaded the report to your site. If you need something else, tell me now. I have things to do.”

All six of them tensed a bit at Wilson’s reply.

Hex Six took the phone from One. “Stop. You know I don’t work for you because I have to. I asked you to let me assist with field operations this time. This is literally the one thing you’ve been trying to get me to do since I signed on. But now you’re saying no. Explain to me why I should do anything extra for you?”

She listened to Wilson’s reply and stiffened further. “You don’t pay me to care. You pay me to do things other people can't do, or to do the jobs of lots of people at once, better, faster, and with total coordination. I’ve done that tonight as always. So, I’ll say again. If you need anything else, let me know. Otherwise, I’ll be heading home.”

She listened to his reply with her jaw clenched as her other selves began disappearing.

“You wish. You can continue to contact me the same way as always. I’ll get that last bit done and include it as an addendum. Good night.”

Hex Six hung up the phone and glanced at Hex One before vanishing.

Hex One shut down the last systems and went to the front of the truck. After a quick look around, she started the engine and drove away.

෴Raz෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

HUD

෴෴෴෴෴෴

When Raz woke again, it was still dark in the lab. His tension headache wound even tighter. Raz found that he could somewhat separate himself from the odd replay happening in his mind. The background noise of his mind wouldn’t stop thinking over every social interaction he’d ever been a part of or even witnessed. He focused, and with some effort, he could tune his own stream of consciousness out enough to think about other things. Like a hook from a song stuck in his head, except it was an ongoing playback of events in his own life. He looked over at the door 3.8 meters away. He glanced up at the 3 meter ceiling height. Raz realized something was off and pulled himself out of the forced memory of a recent night out with Sia. Thinking of his girlfriend didn’t seem odd, but the feeling that things weren’t right persisted and he couldn’t quite pin it down.

He looked at the restraint control box sitting 2.6 meters away on the computer equipment. With a start he looked at the air vent on the wall and wondered how big it was. He knew it was approximately 508 mm long by 254 mm tall.

I wonder how big that is in inches.

20"x10"

Raz shook his head to clear the cobwebs. Everything was wrong with this situation but exactly what was new still eluded him.

Just when he was starting to think this was all some kind of mental breakdown in reaction to the stress of being held captive by some kind of murder doctor, the feeling of having his consciousness dragged along for a ride finally came to an end.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a tiny glowing dot that appeared to be blinking. He looked over at the computer equipment and found the light wasn't there. No matter how he turned his head or moved his eyes the dot seemed to sit at the extreme outer edge of his vision. He gave up trying to look at it directly and allowed his eyes to relax. He focussed his awareness onto the dot to try and see what it was.

Chasing the dot didn’t work, but the moment he stopped trying to move his eyes or head and put his awareness on the dot at the edge of his peripheral vision it expanded out into view in front of him. In the darkened room, a barely perceptible overlay expanded to fill in his visual field. He glanced around the room and despite the overlay seeming to show the room slightly lit up, it didn’t appear to be adding any actual light to his vision. The overlay was empty except for a translucent small two tone vertical rectangle. When he looked directly at something in the room, the rectangle moved around, staying perceptible but out of his direct field of vision. He idly noticed that when he looked at flat surfaces like the .91m by 1.5m table that was covered in blood and flesh earlier. Raz suddenly realized what was so odd. Why am I suddenly feeling like I naturally know these sizes and distances? I wonder if I can turn it off?

A small box with a faint red outline expanded into his view and distracted him from the question.

[HUD Error: Inquiry system not ready.]

The box had two small icons in the corners. Raz instinctively knew that one would acknowledge the error and close the box. The other was less clear. Despite an odd feeling of confidence that he could interact with these visuals. He wasn’t sure how he could do that. After trying for several minutes he finally wished it would get out of his view so he could stop looking at it. The error message immediately shrank away into a tiny slightly illuminated panel at the edge of his vision. The box receding from view revealed another similar box right behind it.

[HUD Error: Inquiry system not supported at this level.]

This time Raz could ‘sleep’ the message immediately and watch it shrink away to the same panel as the first. He tried to glance down at the two tone rectangle and watched it skitter away from his direct gaze, staying out of his center of view. After instinctively chasing the image that easily stayed out of his view he wondered how to get it to stay still so he could look at it. Immediately another box appeared.

[HUD Error: Inquiry system not ready.]

Irritated, Raz wanted that error to go away. This box blinked out of existence instead of receding into the panel at the edge of his vision. At the same time he noticed a slight change to the tiny lit panel where the error messages had gone. He wondered what had changed there, and a single window popped up.

[HUD Error: Inquiry system not supported at this level.]

“So closing one instance of an error closes them all?” He muttered to himself. It suddenly reminded Raz of his precarious situation and realized that anything he said or did might be observed. He leaned back and closed his eyes and was relieved to see that the overlay was still there, and easier to see and use without real visual distractions. He focussed on the small rectangle and it immediately popped up in center view. Seen up close, the two toned rectangle was clearly a status bar. He watched it slowly filling in for a moment before wondering what it was for.

[HUD Error: Inquiry system not ready.]

The small lit panel at the side pulsed once. He thought this probably meant that another instance of the second error had just popped up but with that error already set aside; it didn’t intrude on him. He intentionally sent the error to the side, thinking having this error pop up every time a question crossed his mind would get old fast.

With some experimentation, Raz figured out how to access the error messages and put them back, and how to bring up the status bar and send it back down to the corner. He noticed that the status bar hadn’t progressed much since he’d last looked, and wondered how long it would take to complete, and what would happen when it did. While playing with the mental controls, a new message popped up.

[System/Host Integration Error: Upgrade data stream is non-optimized.]

Raz concluded that whatever it meant, it probably wasn’t something he could do anything about. He willed the message closed. Immediately another error popped up.

[System/Host Integration Error: Upgrade data stream corrupted.]

[Sufficient overhead parity data exists.]

That didn’t sound like a good thing. Raz sent that error to the sidebar and a different message box popped up.

[System Host Query: Attempt upgrade datastream restore?]

This message had the two symbols he associated with closing or sending the message to the sidebar, and three other symbols. After a little thought he went with the assumption that two of the symbols were for indicating yes or no. He hoped the third option wasn’t something he needed to know.

[HUD Help: These 4fkfP6I9Q4tions are 0x8ej, clEd9o0770jG, no, and help.]

Dismissing this error caused another message to pop up.

[HUD System Error: Assistance data corrupt, recommend 1FvUe9oC4z]

Raz tried thinking up more questions and brought up several similar messages, but no new information seemed to be available. By closing the other errors and simply wanting the question dialog box to reappear he caused it to pop back up.

[System Host Query: Attempt upgrade datastream restore?]

He thought an emphatic yes at the box and one icon briefly pulsed before the box shrank down to the corner by the status bar. Raz sighed when another message popped up immediately.

[System Host Query: Discard broken datastream fragments?]

He mentally crossed his fingers and thought a ‘yes’ to that dialog box. When that window closed, two status bars were visible. The one that was nearly full was blinking red and not progressing at all as far as he could see. The new one had barely started, and while the animation suggested it was progressing, no visible progress was being made.

Raz made it recede back to the corner and poked around at what he was starting to think of as “The HUD”. It disappointed him to discover that this second process seemed to have disabled almost everything else in the HUD. He managed to turn on a clock feature, but having no correct time reference the clock would only display elapsed time. The slowly incrementing elapsed time was possibly worse than lying in the darkness and trying to relax.

After he turned off the clock, he noticed the second status bar had made some slight progress. He yawned. Within a few minutes, he could feel the boredom and stress catching up with him. His last thoughts before falling into a fitful sleep was to wonder if everyone with a catalyst treatment had this interface, and if not, how those questions were answered by someone without a HUD.

෴Doktor Midnight෴

෴Wilson Meyers෴

෴Darby O'Cellan෴

෴෴෴෴෴෴

The Butcher's Bill

෴෴෴෴෴෴

The man in alternately dull and glossy black armor that included a form-fitting stylized black helmet sat at a polished wooden table opposite the two men in urban camo fatigues. The tension in the room was palpable. Wilson glared at Doktor Midnight for a full thirty seconds before shaking his head and sliding the wrapped bundle of documents across the table. He followed it with a disposable portable data drive.

“Here’s your report. You should know I lost five good people tonight. That’s gonna cost you.” Wilson said. His tight eyes and tense body language said fight or flight, despite his tone being calm and only a certain edge to his tone revealing his anger. “That doesn’t even include the ones that will be out of action for weeks or more while they recover.

Midnight nodded. “I heard. I’m very sorry to hear it. I was onsite as fast as possible where you lost the four.” He nodded to Darby. “I hope the shiny guy is ok. He looked tough and I was in a hurry so I might have tossed him a bit harder than I meant to. Tell him no hard feelings.” He looked back at Wilson. “What happened with the fifth?”

Wilson took in a deep breath and let it out, “Honestly, she got careless. One of our data techs grabbed a system before it was scanned. It's easy to forget that some of these people are crazy enough or paranoid enough to put a bomb in their own servers.” He blinked hard.

“I suppose tonight won't help out in the paranoia department. The true cost of conflict is always measured in lives lost and futures cut short. I couldn’t have helped her, but I assume people let you know that I honored my end of the agreement from the tactical standpoint.” He glanced over at Darby again.

Darby nodded. “It’s all in the report. It seemed like a lot longer, but the logs show you responded in under 30 seconds from when Hex reached out to you. We,” He paused and swallowed, “we just haven’t run into an enhanced chimera like that before. Thanks for coming so fast.”

Wilson looked sharply at Darby and an understanding seemed to pass between them. Darby leaned back in his chair while Wilson leaned forward.

“You were just as on point at the other site, thanks for keeping my people safe, at least as much as possible.” Wilson grudgingly said. Darby put his hand on Wilson’s leg under the table. Wilson gently but firmly lifted the hand off his leg and set Darby’s hand back on his own leg, patting the hand gently.

Doktor Midnight pretended not to notice this interplay and picked up the package of printed material. “I got the summary your girl sent over, media and politicians are running with the ‘hundreds dead’ line. Any loss of life is regrettable. However, I assume, and correct me if I’m wrong, that your crew cleaned those sites and left no bodies to find, what's the actual body count from your ops?”

Wilson pursed his lips and nodded. “She’s not my girl. Hex is an operator, one of our best assets in the field and pretty much everywhere else we put her to work. But yeah, about that casualty report. It's pretty obvious we’re not the only group you hired last night. Think you could give me a fucking heads up about that next time? That is, if there is a next time.”

“Well, I’m certainly the last one that would twist your arm to accept my money. However, I am not aware of any clause within our agreement that points to or requires exclusivity on my part. Even your exclusivity is only with regards to working only for me during the time I’ve hired you. I’m well aware of how your operation normally brings in its funding. I’ve elected to not become involved in that because what you do isn’t any worse than what many other mercenary units do to stay busy between jobs.” He leaned forward in his chair and fixed the empty-eyed mask at Wilson. “I would like to continue our relationship as is, do let me know if that's not going to work for you.”

He paused and then relaxed back into the office chair. “However, there is no need for you to take any offense to my bringing in other teams. The fact is, last night was a major operation, and no one group stateside could muster the personnel to get it all done by themselves on my timetable. I came to you first, and you’re the largest group I hired. I sent you all the highest probability targets. Wilson, I am quite serious when I say I consider your outfit my go-to group for actions within your operating area. WD-40 is the only group that will be continuing on, now that the first round was unsuccessful. You can make of that what you will.”

Wilson and Darby both nodded slightly, appearing somewhat mollified.

Midnight’s armored fingers turned a page in the reports. “The actual body count?” He prompted.

Wilson indicated the report. “It’s in there, but the short version, my team took out one guard that had a few enhancements and thought he was a world-beater. Transcripts and audio logs are in the data. Guy wouldn’t surrender even when he realized how outgunned he was. Possibly drug user, we didn't test. In any case, he wasn’t tough enough to ignore anti-material armor-piercing rifle fire. My team did try, right up to the point where it put my people at risk.”

Midnight flipped another page. “So the high civilian casualties are just made up like usual?”

Wilson motioned for Darby to field that one. Darby sat forward. “Yes and no. There were no new civilian deaths connected with our operations.”

He rubbed his thumb and forefinger along his chin. “However, and this is something that I suspect you’ll not only want to know, but you might just find to be worth the rather hefty bill. Several of the sites we hit were long abandoned.” Darby said.

Seeing the small nod from their client, Darby continued. “From what Hex and Blink had to say, a number of the sites those other teams hit were also long since abandoned.” Darby’s expression was haunted for a moment and then hardened. “The site we called you to for assistance, thanks again for that help by the way, and oh, Chrome is indeed fine. I’d say thanks to you, but aside from him freezing up, I’m not sure he was the one in danger there, so on my own behalf, thanks for being there.” Darby said.

Wilson frowned a bit at this, but said nothing and looked evenly at the black armored mask before him.

“In those abandoned sites we found evidence of a large number of dead. I don’t know what has changed, but there is either someone or multiple someones who have really taken off the gloves in terms of experimentation. We found a lot of catalyst making equipment, some pretty significant stores of fairly varying grades of catalysts, and yeah, hundreds dead isn't a lie, even if it's not exactly true in the context they are presenting it.” Darby shrugged, “I doubt it's possible to put a number on it. The chimera that hit my team wasn't the only one living on human remains. The toughest and most dangerous to be sure, but our teams alone dealt with three chimeras last night. None of them were eating dog food, although one of them had eaten some dogs.”

Midnight sat silently for almost a minute, scanning through the pages and thinking about what he’d been told. “Was every location put to the torch once you were done?”

Darby shifted in his seat uneasily.

Wilson nodded. “With enough extra fuel to ensure that as much as possible of what was done there would be destroyed. You didn’t ask for total evidence destruction though.”

Midnight looked at him impassively, an easy feat in an expressionless helmet. “No, I didn’t ask for that, and it's just fine. If you followed the instructions then it sounds like we don’t have much left to discuss. Unless you have any other questions that is.”

Darby drummed his fingers on the smooth tabletop.

Wilson snapped his fingers. "That reminds me. Speaking of evidence destruction, one of the targets you gave us was already scrubbed. Looks like it was a medical clinic. My intel team thinks it was a legit operation," he shrugged, "But someone wanted that place absolutely sterilized. Made it look like a bomb, but no bomb is that thorough or that hot."

Midnight leaned forward, and looked at his copy of the report, his interest clear. "Was that location number 8 by chance?"

"It was." Wilson nodded.

Midnight shook his head. "Damn. I guess that would have been too easy."

Darby blurted out, “Is it true you’re not a red?”

Midnight sat back in his chair and looked at the two of them for a moment. “Before I answer that, I need to know something, and I need it made clear one way or another. I didn’t miss the implication Mr. Meyers made about ‘if’ there would be further jobs.”

Wilson stiffened at this.

Doktor Midnight continued, “In addition to the support I’ve given you recently and in the past, and the significant pay you receive for my work. WD-40 also has not a single member with a poorly manifested ability, including those who had ability malfunctions when we met. Your team has not one but two individuals who can actually use teleportation safely. I won't belabor the point, but I am reasonably sure I could easily name at least another five of your operators that have a functional ability directly due to my intervention, and of those several of them were not even functional people before I assisted. Is that a fair statement?”

Wilson’s mouth became a tight flat line. “Yes, that's fair to say. But you need to-”

Midnight cut him off. “No. I don’t. I have a lot happening, and would like your help. You have a lot happening, and would like my business, and the literally priceless perks I include. I have no interest in working with people who do not wish to work with or associate with me. We’ve worked together for a while, and I’m sure if you give it some thought you’ll realize that my actions show that personal choice and personal responsibility and accountability are key values of mine. I look around and see a planet filled with people who have no long term survival prospects without the use of the catalysts I released way back when.”

He audibly sighed. “Oh don’t worry, I don’t require that you believe me about that either, but while I don’t require your belief, I do need your willingness to work with me and adhere to my rules and needs while doing so. Either way, your funds have already been sent over via the usual channels. I added some extra to ensure you have additional funds for the families of your lost. I hope it goes without saying that those extra funds are for them.”

Wilson’s brow furrowed, “Thanks for that. I’ll make sure they get it. We also have our own compensation plan for those who are KIA. I’m sure your addition will be welcome. That said, did you have a point? It seemed you were working on one.”

Midnight put his head back and laughed. Darby watched him move and his expression showed his wonder and confusion at how a single piece of solid metal could fluidly move with its wearer.

Midnight sat forward and rested his seamless armored forearms on the polished wooden surface. “Yes, yes I did have a point. To put it bluntly, if you wish us to part ways and not work together again, say so now. I won’t be thrilled about that, but you’ve heard my stance on who I want to work with, and if that's not you, just tell me. If you want more work, I’d want to know that as well, because I suspect I’ll have more for you, probably sooner rather than later. But to get to the point I am doing such a bad job with, I will not answer Mr. O’Cellan’s question without knowing if we are currently working together, or formerly working together.” He folded his arms and leaned back in the chair.

Wilson and Darby once again shared a long look, with a lot of eye contact and facial communication making up a silent discussion between them. Finally, they seemed to reach an accord and Darby relaxed into his seat while Wilson turned back to their client.

“You can count on us. We get that you didn’t expect the dangers our people ran into. That doesn’t let you off the hook with them, so your weregild is appropriate. So long as our interests are capable of being aligned, we’ll keep working with you.” Wilson said.

“Alright then. Perhaps a little more trust on my part is warranted.” The metallic armor material flowed like water away from his head revealing a fit man that looked to be in his late fifties. His strong cheekbones and sharp jawline paired well with his salt and pepper stubble and the intense expression on his face. Darby’s eyes widened just slightly at the sight.

He gazed at them evenly with his clear blue eyes, with their shiny red eyes staring back. Both of them looked slightly dumbfounded.

“But, no way. I’ve heard people run down the known abilities you have, and how powerful they are, or at least how powerful we know them to be. How can you not be a red?” Darby stammered out.

Midnight smiled wryly. “A better question might be, what is the treatment I provide that returns reds to a state of humanity?”

Wilson scowled. “Two serious fucking questions. Do you know how much shit we all have to go through because we have these red eyes? We were both… you know what, that doesn't even matter now. Suffice it to say we both lost everything when our eyes went red, and that's how it is for most of my people. I know what they say, but none of my people were crazy psychopaths even before the treatment. Well, I mean, Blink kind of was, but he was before, so he doesn’t count. Now, we’re certainly glad to not be monsters in the making, but if you know some way to hide being a red, then screw money, we want that information as our payment.”

Midnight smiled warmly. “I know this is going to sound hard to believe, but the VIP I had you looking for? The information he has would be useless to anyone else, but once I have him, I should be able to complete the research I’ve been doing for over a decade, and yes, I could do better than help you hide your red eyes. I could cure you of them, leaving your enhancements intact.”

Wilson scoffed. “Sure, and the moon is actually made of cheese. You’re the only person I could imagine saying that and even maybe, kind of, allowing myself to think that it could be true. And even that is only because of what I’ve already seen you do. Even from you, that sounds way too good to be true. The only reasons I’m not just laughing you right out of here is that first off, I can see your baby blues right there. Second, no way do you have less than twenty ranks of abilities in you at a minimum, and no one I’ve ever heard of tested had more than a dozen open slots. So clearly you do know something. But for now, let's leave it at this, you keep paying us when we do jobs for you, and if ever you’re in a position to prove what you just told us, then go for it, just don’t ask us to hold our breath for that one.”

Midnight laughed out loud again. “I can totally understand a healthy skepticism. Once again I do not require your belief, just your willingness to exchange services for money, or, perhaps one day, for other services of similar value.” He looked them both in the eyes. “Can we leave it at that for now?”

Darby and Wilson nodded.

He locked eyes with Wilson, “For what it's worth, it's a lot more than twenty. Ok then, once again, sorry for your losses, now I’ll bid you gentlemen good night.” With that, he vanished with a snapping sound.

The two men were stunned. Wilson spoke first. “What the fuck? Did you know he could teleport? How many damn abilities does that guy have?”

Darby shrugged helplessly.

Wilson shook his head. “Well, in any case, we have a lot of paperwork ahead of us. Let's get started.” He sighed, “Man I wish we could get Hex to do paperwork like this for us.”

Darby nodded and laughed.

Just outside the building, in a carefully cleared and hidden spot, Midnight appeared in a pop of displaced air. He stumbled before taking to the air and disappearing into the dark sky.