The Metahuman Agency: The Superhuman War

Head Games

I don't need no arms around me
And I don't need no drugs to calm me
I have seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I'll need anything at all!

Jacqueline paced through the deck of the ship, the screaming, rage filled tones of Another Brick in the Wall (Part III) pounding in her ears. It set the mood quite nicely. She was frustrated, angry, filled with utter contempt as she looked upon her soldiers, moving quickly about to complete their assigned tasks. It had been a few hours of preparation so far but the leeches that comprised the Skeleton Crew were moving too slow, like a bunch of bloated slugs, for her liking.

I see now what has undermined the Skeleton Crew, She mentally snarled to herself. These leeches. I thought they were well trained but SOMEONE dropped the ball there and badly! These idiots have crawled about like roaches, contributing nothing. Without me, they'd all fall apart. I took me a long time to see it but I can see now how useless they all are. They aren't even fully prepared to go yet, despite several hours of prep time! Fools! Morons! Bastards!

Jacqueline stopped next to a technician's work station, glaring daggers at the man seated behind the computer. The man glanced up at her and visibly paled, before removing his receiver.

"Y-y-yes ma'am?" He choked out. Jacqueline snorted. What a sniveling toad. She entertained the notion of smashing his face through the computer and splattering his brains everywhere. Instead, she just leaned closer and hissed at him:

"Whatever you're doing? Do it faster." With that, she stopped off, leaving the cowering moron at his station. She noticed several faces looking at her, who quickly returned to their work as she stomped past.

Don't think I'll need anything at all
No, don't think I'll need anything at all!

Jacqueline stopped at the center of the bridge, watching sunlight stream in through the massive windows. Her eyes turned to the televisions set up in the corner, reporters droning on and on. The Skeleton Crew now dominated the news cycle. Fear was gripping America, strangling it. They wouldn't be expecting another attack so soon, oh no.

San Francisco. Soon it would burn, soon the city that haunted her, tormented her,would be gone. The metahumans would burn with it. Her enemies would be destroyed. She would be free and ready to start again, stronger than before.

The Skeleton Crew would be rebuilt after San Francisco. Yes indeed. She'd purgethe incompetents after they'd served their purpose one last time. With any luck, most of them would die in the putrid city. But she did want to kill some herself.

Yes, she could see it. Calling them together to offer a congratulation speech. Lower their collective guard with pretty words and a few pats on the back. Then, at the apex of the speech, she'd open fire. Gun them all down like animals. Crush their skulls. Rip them apart. Use what remained of their pathetic corpses as airship fuel.

Then she'd be alone, with her pack of metahuman dogs, ready to build the Skeleton Crew again. She'd do it right this time, better than before. Her genius would see her through, it always did. She'd find actually competent subordinates this time, men and women bred for the tasks at hand, unlike the buffoons that scurried around her now. It was all she could do to avoid slaughtering them all, right here and right now. But no...first...first San Francisco. The metahuman freaks needed to die first, as did the city. It all had to die. All of it. Then she could finally live again. Free of the Agency. Free of Amanda. Free of her father.

No! Don't think I'll need anything at all.
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall.
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall!

"Ma'am'..."A woman's voice ripped her from daydreams. Jacqueline turned, eyes finding a female technician not far away. The woman visibly cringed as she adjusted her headset but pointed, with a trembling finger holding a lit cigarette, at the television monitors. "We're picking up a new signal...its on all the televisions."