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The entryway to the main area of this floor was guarded by a thick security door and a complicated computerized lock.

Oz’s initial plan had been to secretly bypass it via the ductwork and come down on the other side, but given the events of the afternoon, it was safe to say that “subtle” was now off the table.

Instead, Oz simply used his powers on the wall which supported the door, crumbling it to bits.

Natalie danced through the opening, like she didn’t have a care in the world.

As they arrived at the office door, Oz stepped in front of her and kicked it down, fully expecting there to be a fight on the other side.

“Consortium of Chaos, throw up your hands!” He yelled, bringing his still fully loaded .

45 to bear, preparing to kill anyone stupid enough to take a shot at Natalie.

To his surprise though, the room on the other side of the door was simply a waiting room, which held only one occupant.

Oz frowned in amazement at seeing the solitary man though.

He knew him.

Natalie did too, stopping her dance and straightening. “Hey, I know you!” She snapped her fingers. “You’re that little fake intern fuck-wit!” She snapped her fingers several more times in rapid succession. “What’s your name? Wally? Winston?”

“Wendell.” Oz supplied, not taking his eyes off the man.

The man had recently appeared in the Consortium’s ranks, claiming to have been hired as an intern by Librarian, who was on her honeymoon at the time.

The man had hung out with the Consortium, and gone on a couple of missions while Julian was in charge of things.

He had somehow gotten credit for stopping the Super-Person Resistance Movement, and had then disappeared.

When Marian had returned from her honeymoon, she had informed the group that she had never hired any such person.

So, his identity and motivations were one of the mysteries which most concerned the ranks of the team at the moment. Or, at least the ranks of the team who were sober and sane enough to recognize that it was a problem. The rest of the team had almost certainly forgotten the man even existed.

“Sure, I remember my good buddy Wendell.” Natalie moved away from Oz, flanking the man, just in case he attacked or tried to make a run for it.

The woman instinctively positioned herself to coordinate with Oz and back him up, without needing to plan it.

It was very impressive. “So you were working for the Agletarians?” She made a tsk-ing sound with her tongue. “Say it ain’t so, Wendy.”

To Oz’s surprise, the man started laughing like he found that idea genuinely amusing.

“You think this is about Agletaria?” He let out another sharp bark of laughter.

“Some stupid country that no one has ever heard of and their idiotic vendetta against you?” His voice became more serious, his tone darkening.

“You really have no idea what’s coming, do you?

What you’re up against? It’s so much bigger than anything you and your friends can possibly imagine, little girl. ”

“’Little girl’?” Natalie repeated, then turned to look at Oz. “Why do evil assholes always have to be kinda sexist too? Why can’t they ever just…?”

“But you’re all too preoccupied to see it.

But I’ve seen it.” The man continued, sounding haunted.

“You can’t fight it. Stronger people than you and your friends have tried.

But you can’t escape evolution. You can only serve it.

And if you fail?” His hand moved to quickly pull a gun out of his pocket, then pressed it to his own head.

“Your world is dark but I am a herald of Dawn.” He met her eyes. “ It’s coming .”

BANG.

Wendell’s body slumped to the side.

“Huh.” Natalie said unemotionally. “Kinda takes all the fun out of it when they shoot themselves, doesn’t it?”

Oz stared at the man for a moment longer, then cautiously approached the body. He put two of his gloved fingers to the man’s neck.

“What the hell are you doing?” Natalie asked.

“I’m checking his pulse.” Oz informed her, before discarding his gloves and replacing them with another pair. “I’m making certain he’s really dead.”

“Wow…” Natalie breathed, sounding impressed. “You are so good at this.”

He wasn’t sure if that was sarcastic or not.

“I don’t take chances, and since we know nothing about…”

“No, no,” she cut him off, “completely agree with you. One of the first rules of being a hired lunatic with a gun is that you have to check the bodies.” She paused for a beat. “He really dead?”

Oz shined his pen-light into the man’s eyes, looking for a reaction and finding none. He let the man’s head slump back down. “Yes.” He walked back to stand next to her, changing his gloves again along the way.

“Damn.” Natalie sounded disappointed. “I feel so cheated.” She casually put an extra bullet into Wendell’s corpse. “Okay, I feel a little better now.”

Oz gave her a reproachful frown. “Is that really necessary?”

“Probably not, no.” She shot the man’s body again. “But it’s more entertaining than you’d think.” She did it again.

“Please stop that.”

“Yeah, it’s not as fun unless they’re running away.” She took two steps, then fired into him one more time. “Okay, let’s see what’s behind door number 2…”

She kicked the door down, not even bothering to identify herself before opening fire on the men assembled inside. Two guards were killed before the remains of the door even hit the floor.

Behind the room’s only desk, sat a young man with dark hair. He looked bored, glancing up from his desk like they were bothersome children. “Yes?”

“We’re with the Consortium of Chaos.” Oz informed him, moving so that he could have a clearer line of sight on the man’s hands, just in case he made a move for a weapon. “We’ve come to ask you a few questions.”

Oz glanced around the room, looking for hidden dangers. His eyes fell on the light switch, and he was compelled to flip it on and off eleven times, then turn in a circle .

When he had finished, both Natalie and the man at the desk were staring at him in amazed confusion.

“I have some personal issues.” Oz reminded them, clearing his throat. “But that doesn’t make my questions any less important.”

“Do you always use explosions and…” the man paused to listen to the music now playing through his building’s intercom, “ Hanson to question foreign heads of state?”

“You got a problem with Hanson, motherfucker?” Natalie leveled the gun at his head. “Cause I got no problems with killing you right now, if I hear an answer to that I don’t like. There is only one acceptable response when someone asks you if you like Hanson…”

“Your men tried to kill us the other day.” Oz said simply, ignoring the byplay. “I think this is a proportionate reply.”

Natalie nodded. “You sent your people to kill my people, you had to expect that there’d be a reckoning.

” She paused, her face contorting in a grimace of distaste.

“’A reckoning’?” She repeated. “Christ. I really just said that.” She looked at the man apologetically.

“Sorry, I’m overly dramatic today. Please don’t judge. I’m usually cooler than this.”

“To be fair,” the man corrected, “you sent your people to kill our people first…”

“You know what?” Natalie spread her arms wide. “I just don’t care. I don’t care who started it, I’m here to end it . And then, just for shits and giggles, end you .” She paused for a beat. “Although, now I realize that I have no idea who the fuck you even are.”

The man straightened his uniform. “I am Deputy Minister Vlk.”

“Why does everyone from your country have a name that sounds like the fucking cat walked across the keyboard?”

“ You’re one to talk.” The man rolled his eyes.

Oz frowned, not understanding what that meant.

“My father and General Skrlj make up the new governing council of Agletaria.” The man paused meaningfully. “After you killed the original one. And then their replacements.”

“Wait,” she squinted in theatrical confusion, “those would be the guys who hired people to kill my friends first, right?”

“Yes.” The man nodded nonchalantly. “And killed Killroy, after he killed our scientists. So again, not to sound childish, but you started it.” He rolled his eyes. “I think what…”

“What’d you say?” Natalie straightened, suddenly serious. “What was that about Roy?”

“Don’t look at me ,” the man defended, “I didn’t do it personally, I was ten at the time.”

“Why would a foreign country send assassins to eliminate a retired Cape?” Oz asked, recognizing that this was a deeply personal issue for Natalie and she was within seconds of simply shooting the man. He wanted to ensure they got their answers before that could happen.

“He took something from us.” Vlk answered unemotionally.

“What?”Oz pressed.

The man simply continued glaring at Natalie.

“ What did he take? ” Oz repeated, on the verge of losing his temper.

“A prototype of a very powerful weapon.” Vlk finally answered. “Something we never should have developed.”

Oz took a moment to process that. “Did you recover it from him?”

“No.” Vlk shook his head. “The men we sent were killed before they could.”

He glanced at Natalie for an explanation on that. She leaned closer to him, lowering her voice. “Ronnie killed them.”

Oz nodded, disliking the fact that she’d even had to say Mercygiver’s name. He gestured to the lobby area with his head, not taking his eyes off of the man. “Is that why Wendell was here? Is that what he wanted to talk to you about?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you.” The man shook his head.

“Is this a diplomatic immunity thing?” Natalie asked, prowling towards his desk. “Or is it a thing where you’re under the mistaken impression I won’t get untold amounts of joy from beating it out of you?”

“No, it’s a ‘time’ thing.” Vlk answered flatly, pointing out towards the lobby of his office. “That was my 4 o’clock appointment.”

They both stared at him blankly.

“It’s only 3:45, you dumb bitch!” Vlk pointed at the clock. “I don’t know what he wanted, because I hadn’t heard yet! ”

Natalie processed that for a beat, then broke out laughing.

She continued to chuckle for several moments more, then the laughter stopped unexpectedly and she slammed Vlk’s face into the top of his desk hard enough to crack its glass surface, knocking him out.

Then she did it again, just because she was frustrated.

She let out an aggravated groan, as the other man’s body slumped to the floor.

Oz shook his head sadly, making a mental checklist of all of the paperwork and digital files they’d need to take with them when they left.

Things would have been so much simpler if they’d been able to quietly infiltrate this headquarters and investigate the problem, rather than blowing it up.

Not as fun, granted, but definitely easier.

All told, it really had been a messy, messy afternoon.

…And this song was really beginning to irritate him.