"What I don't understand," Graviton said, shrinked to the size of a soda bottle to get a different perspective of the murder scene and try to find the bullet, "is this: if Merlin was taken by surprise by the killer... then why is his room such a big mess? Seems like there was a big fight here..."

"Yes..." Freak said. "In fact, it looks too much like there was a fight here. Look at his desk: torn to pieces. This is just too convenient."

ACK nodded. "I knew Merlin better than any of you... He wouldn't have put up a fight, much less one so big to leave a mess like this. He simply would have 'walked' away..."

"Always the coward..." Hero said.

ACK laughed. "He wasn't a coward, you stupid fuck. That was his M.O.," the japanese said.

"You keep telling yourself that..." Hero replied.

ACK smiled. Hero wasn't one to talk about idealizing dead people. But mentioning his late brother would only make Hero snap at him, ACK thought, so it wouldn't be prudent to bring that up. At least, not yet.

Graviton wasn't paying attention to the conflict between the two, lost in his own thoughts. "So whoever killed Merlin messed up the room to make it seem like a fight?" Graviton asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "Why would anyone do that?"

"Here's what I don't understand..." ACK added. "You say the shooter had to be someone Merlin trusted. Well, Merlin trusted no one. Not the UN, not me... no one. He has no friends. It must have been something else."

The group kept on searching for the bullet.

"This isn't exactly a bullet..." Freak said, "but I think you'll find it interesting."



"Hmmm..." Graviton said, regaining his normal height to take a look at the piece of paper Freak had just carefully removed from the top of a stack of papers. "Could it be a clue of some sort?"

But Hero was more interested in what was under the piece of paper... the stack. Folders marked 'TOP SECRET', 'CONFIDENTIAL', 'EYES ONLY'... 'STRIKEFORCE 3', 'VANGUARD'...

Soon after that, Freak found a .38 bullet, incrusted in one of the walls. They didn't see it before because of the splash of blood that painted that wall, hiding any irregularities.
But Hero paid little attention to that discovery. He was captivated by Merlin's secret documents... his secret plans.

Now he was glad he didn't tell the UN about Merlin's death.