by: Jim Caswell

Derek Morris sat at his computer terminal. Minutes before, he had been partaking in his normal Monday morning ritual: eating a delivered McMuffin while going over the weekend business reports, working on the new software upgrades to be produced by MorTech Industries, cracking into the CIA network database to test his hacking abilities versus their new detection programs, and playing a game of online chess with Steven. A drop of sweat hit his keyboard, even though the temperature controls for the building were set within their normal parameters. He had just moved his bishop to take the black knight when his secretary re-entered his office. He started to look up at her, then remembered the truth and looked back down. Another drop of sweat fell. The janitor, who was doing the fourth emptying of the trash that morning, quickly joined the two of them.

Derek looked up in time to see the two other people in the room spasm slightly before transforming into two people he had never seen before in his life. The woman giggled as she stretched her back, taking on a far more appealing form than her previous 320 pound, 4' 6" frame had allowed. Her companion, no longer a twenty-something Hispanic, did not take the time to enjoy the solidity of his body, but instead began moving toward Morris.

"Derek Morris. You have been chosen to participate in the next stage of human development; to evolve into something more - better - than mankind is capable of." As his hand started to reach toward the computer genius, though, a new voice was heard.

"Actually, Howard, it is you that has been chosen."

Virus and Legend both turned to see an elderly man in a blue suit standing in the doorway. Standing on either side of him were a half dozen office workers, all with a blank expression on their faces, and behind them two sets of unique-looking soldiers. The first set wore black armor of an alien design, while the others appeared to be a crossbreed between men and lizards.

Virus looked far less than pleased. "Legend. We'll come back for him later, after his company has left." The two leather-clad villains looked at each other and concentrated, quickly getting a look of surprise on their faces.

The man in the blue suit smiled. "Those bodies are under my control, Howard." He held up a small silver box, hovering his thumb over the single button. "And now, so are you." His thumb fell, followed quickly by Virus and Legend.

* * * * *

When Howard Moore reopened his eyes, he found himself bound by chains to a chair, the body he had stolen still restraining his mind from leaving. He was not alone, however, as the elderly man stood by the door, this time alone. "I have reactivated your body so that we could have a chance to talk. Better yet, I will talk and you will listen. You are a very elusive man, Howard. After your battle with the Hawk last month, we realized that there was a limited number of targets that would appeal to your recruitment process, so we arranged for operatives to be put in place to wait for you."

"While Wells was a prime target, we didn't think you would be dumb enough to go after an employee of Adams Industries, who are known to be connected to the Champions of Justice. Therefore, Hawkings, Stone, and Morris were at the top of the list."

"Anyway, we replaced their employees with our drones, expecting you to stick with your previous pattern. As we planned, you took over one of our drones. We had you, and your little girlfriend too."

Virus looked a bit confused. "I don't understand. We would have known if we had possessed an artificial life form. There were real minds that we evicted."

"Yes. A simple transplant into one of our drones allowed them to maintain limited mobility and brain activity."

"Then that means …"

The man in blue smiled. "… that we eliminated three buildings full of personnel just to bring you in? Correct. Fortunately, only Morris was able to discover the switch. Hawkings was easier, due to the limited number of people he deals with on a regular basis, but making sure no one learned of the switch was the difficult part. That should show you how important you are to this division."

While Howard Moore was known for being a serial killer of superhumans, the look of shock on his face showed that even he was revolted by the body count.

"So, we will be working together from this point forward. You are now property of this organization..."

"Don't you mean hostage?"

"No. Howard Moore died two years ago from a gunshot wound to the head. The entity known as Virus is a piece of software to be used as I see fit. If it functions without difficulties, it will remain online. If it starts to malfunction, however …" Virus saw the man in blue press the button again.

A few moments later, he awoke once more. "… it will be discarded for a newer edition. Are we clear?" Virus had no choice but to shake his head yes, for now. "Good. We will spend the next couple of months running some tests, make sure that the upgrades we've made to your programming haven't limited your usefulness. Speaking of which," the elderly man pulled out a different remote and pressed its button. Virus, who had prepared himself for the darkness once more, was surprised to feel the chains loosen and fall away. At the same time, the door to the room opened, with three of the armored soldiers escorting Morris and one of the "drones" into the room. "I believe we interrupted you. Please, continue."

Morris screamed as Virus approached and placed his hands on his head.

© Copyright 2004 - James Caswell, Jason Hobbs