Both Grissom Montag and William Paragon were surprised when they were invited to a video conference with the field leader of The Strikeforce. Not as surprised as they would be if it had been Jesus or Marvin Gaye, but very surprised nonetheless.

"You WOT?!" Grissom exclaimed. Hero hadn't said anything yet.

"Uhhhh..." Hero said "I haven't said anything yet."

"Oh." Grissom should have been embarassed. But he wasn't. At least it didn't look like it. "Sorry, mate." He scratched his forehead.

"All right," Hero said, moving around his chair to find a position that didn't make his arse hurt. Damn Merlin liked his seats hard. "I want you to w--."

"You W--"

"Montag..."

"Sorry, go now, mate."

"I want you to work with us in a case" Hero let it all out in one continuous stream of words. At least the worst part was over, he thought.

Grissom sent both his hands flying towards the top of his head so fast that three days later he would regret having done that for no good reason, seeing that the headache still persisted. "You........ WOT?!"

Hero sighed. "You heard me. The Strikeforce needs your help for this mission."

"And what makes you think we're willing to help you, Mr. Mega Bloody Superstar? Your mate Merlin has been on our case since day one..." Grissom folded his arms and sat back. "...'sides, we're a bit busy with a case of our own don 'ere..."

"About Merlin... Things have changed in the past hours."

"Oh, yeah? Pray tell, how have things changed?" Grissom, bit upset as he'd say, talked with a fast pace and an irritated tone. "Thing will never change as long as 'e's still in charge. 'less the bloke's dead, we..." Hero moved his chair to the side, leaving Grissom's screen and revealing what was a few feet behind him, on the other side of Merlin's office "...are not willing to work with scum like you, is that Merlin's corpse?" Grissom asked without changing his tone.

Hero's head entered the screen only to nod gravely and disappear again.

"Huh..." Grissom got closer to the monitor to take a better look. He then typed a sequence of commands, that made the screen zoom in on Merlin. "...huh. William, what do you think?"



"William?" Grissom insisted.

Nothing.

"William, you still there?"

"Oh?" Paragon finally responded. "Oh! Sorry... I forgot I still had this window open. A pop-up from an online casino caught my attention..."

"It's usually the ones with topless models the ones that take mine..." Grissom said with a slight chuckle, for some reason feeling the need to reassure his manhood in a moment like this. Well, Hero was strikingly handsome, after all.

"I'm sure they are," Paragon said. "Now tell me, is that Jack Merlin sitting over there with a bullet hole in his forehead?"

"It seems so..." Grissom said. "What d'you think? I figure you've seen even more corpses than I 'ave..."

"...you're right, and I'd say this is another one," Paragon said with confidence. "Modern technology allows the creation of holograms vivid enough to trick both man and machine, but, setting humbliness aside for a second, I can say that they can't fool m..." Hero moved his chair back to its original place, suddenly popping back into the screen "...GAH!"

"GAH!"

"GAH!"

The three men stood silently for a long moment.

"That was gay..." Grissom finally said.

"Let's never talk about that," Hero added.

"I would appreciate it if you wouldn't," Paragon concluded.

"Getting back on the subject at hand..." Hero started, opening his mouths and filling with lungs with air to prepare himself for one his long speeches, "...as you can see, things have indeed changed around here. Not only is Merlin dead; we have also have found out his real intentions, something I presume you have known for a long time. We found out that he had been incriminating your organization this whole time, making the world believe your team and the Metahuman Brotherhood League were one and the same, and taking credit for your success in the Antartic War... and other places. We found out he also had plans for us: he wanted to pit us against you and then kills us by exploding our satellite after you were no longer a problem. All this we found out by entering Merlin's chambers after finding him dead where you see him."

"If I may ask, who killed Merlin?" Paragon asked.

"Does it matter?" Grissom said. "Cunt's dead, that's all that matters... 'bout time, too..."

"This is where you come in," Hero replied. "We don't know who killed him. We've examined the murder scene with our best men, and we've found nothing. Our only solid lead, so far... is this."



Grissom and Paragon looked at each other.

"Don't tell me..." Grissom said. "The murder I sent your way. Y'got one o' those too, didn't you?"

"Yes," Paragon answered. "And I suppose you were investigating a murder and found one of those, too."

Grissom nodded. He rubbed his neck for a moment, then looked at Hero. "Well, what do we need you for, anyway? Vanguard could crack this case on our own..."

"I agree, both Vanguards together could probably solve the mystery..." Paragon said.

"...or, with Europe, sure, why not, they're not too bad..." Grissom added.

"...however," Paragon continued, "The Strikeforce may have information we need to solve this. The killer could be a 'gamer'... He could have intended us to work together to solve this. I've encountered my share of those in my time. I don't know, Grissom... I think we should consider it."

Grissom didn't look convinced. "Maybe you're right, mate, but still..."

"Well, solving the mystery isn't all that's in for you, in case saving lives doesn't motivate you," Hero said. "Do I need to remind you that we have in our possesion the files that prove that you're not really the MBL?"

"Wait, you found out all that and you didn't tell the UN?!" Grissom asked.

"No, so far all we've done is clear you for travelling around the world for the time being... but we will reveal the rest if you help us." After a pause to let the offer sink in, Hero continued. "I'll leave you alone now. Discuss this with your teams. If you choose to help us, gather your people in the place and time I'm currently faxing you and you'll be teleported to the Station. Strikeforce out."

Montag and Paragon looked at each other.

"Will you come, Grissom?"

"I don't know..." the brit said "...we'll see."