AN: Thankyou so much to those of you who reviewed. I'm guessing my next chapter will take about the same amount of time, but the more reviews I get, the more I feel inspired to write, so please review!

Chapter 2

"Come in Dan." In my entire time of working here, I've never once had to knock. It used to mystify me, but now I'm about 99% sure that he's got the place bugged. Even the best of bosses like to keep tabs on their employees I guess. I stand uncertainly at the door.

"Have a seat." He gestures invitingly to a chair, smiling reassuringly. I sit, still silently. One of the most important rules about being in Hensky's office is let him talk first.

"I saw the look on your face when I said that I was giving you this assignment," he starts in with no preamble, "and I'm sorry, but you're the only one in this company that I really think can handle this, and d@mn it you deserve this Dan. Nobody works as hard as you do, you work overtime to make sure you've got all the facts, you take on any assignment, no complaints, and pull it off, and you make sure everybody knows what's going on with the big boys in politics." He pauses. Palms down in front of him, he leans across the desk, looking me in the eye, unblinking. All the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I start to squirm. "This story though," he continues, a new edge of urgency in his voice. "This is the one that could get you your name in news history." I swallow hard. He's just named my one great wish, and stupid as the rational part of my mind told me it was, I was already tempted.

"This story, it's got government cover-up, genetics research, and weapons technology in the form of a bunch of transgenics that are running all over the country. It's the story of a lifetime." He pauses, studying my face intently. The irony of his last word choice isn't lost on me. Story of a lifetime. Yeah, I guess it is. It'll either be the story that cuts my life short or the story that'll take my life on the highway. It's an intrigue too, from what he said…

"Government cover-up?" The words just penetrated, and he has my full, rapt attention now. He smiles crookedly, leaning back in his chair, all traces of tension gone.

"Glad I've at least got your curiosity now."

"Get to the point, what was all that stuff you said?" The government was involved in making … weapons technology? WTF? That seems even more dark and juicy than most of the stuff I dig up on those b@stards. Hensky pulls out a file from under his desk and pushes it over to me.

"Everything you need to know is in there, but if you don't want to wade through all the formal reports, the short and sweet of it is that the government was doing some heavy stuff back in the 90's, all top secret. That's where all these transgenics come from." He's leaning back in his reclining chair, hands folded casually across his chest, using the same kind of tone that he'd use to explain where mailmen come from to his daughter. I can only stare, prickles in my spine for what he's saying, but deeply impressed by how he manages to say it. He continues, completely oblivious.

"Scientists and some military personnel were assigned to Project Manticore, to design and train 'perfect' soldiers, make sure it stayed hush-hush, and do a bunch of research on the side. Don't know who screwed up, but some their 'perfect soldiers got out when they were kids, then went back and burned the place down 12 years later, let all the others out, and now the country's got hundreds of threats to national security." He shakes his head. "Kinda scary what a bunch of people with loads of brains but no common sense can accomplish when they really put their minds to it." The prickles I my spine seem to have gone en route throughout the rest of my nervous system, but my reporter train of thought kick in pushing everything else back.

"They just 'got out'? Why? Better question, how?" I ask quizzically, a million thoughts racing through my head, studying the story analytically. "A place like that must've had more security than the Pentagon. There's no way any kid would've made a try for something like that." Not unless they had a death-wish anyway. And why would a bunch of…human weapons-systems… turn on their own people? Unless they were made to like killing so much that they didn't care who it was that they were attacking. If there was that little control on them when they were kids…we really had a problem.

"Jeez, Dan haven't you seen the hoverdrone footage they got on one of these things once? Hensky asks me breezily, still perfectly at ease."White's people thought they had one of these things cornered, it fought its way through a bunch of people, then more of em came in out of nowhere and helped it out, they all got away untouched. That's the only time they've caught it on tape, but it happens a lot. They're tough."

"I don't credit much that gets put on t.v. anymore." I comment dryly. "I figured White just put that out to make people believe that they were closer to catching a transgenic, make people think his little agency's actually doing shit. Besides, how would any of the others have known so fast that one of theirs was in trouble? There's no way they could have gotten there that fast."

"They've got a system." Hensky supplies readily, a superior quirk on his mouth. "I don't know how they get word of who's in trouble, but, with a few sparatic exceptions, some of them keep on staying a step ahead, always the same eight. Leader's a guy called Max. Him and his crew sweep in and save the day 9 times out of ten when White's people get a lead. But like I said, it's all in the packet." There's a touch of impatience in his voice now, the signal to get down to business. I pocket my curiosity away for later analysis. One small step for man…

"What do you want me to do?"

"What I need you to do," Hensky continues, well satisfied now that the conversation is under his direction, is find out whether these things are really as bad as White's people say they are. Now, they plow through anybody that gets in their way, so they're potentially dangerous, but so far they haven't killed anybody. That could mean that they don't want to, or it could mean that they're in too much of a hurry to bother, or that they want people to think that they're victims, get the public upper-hand. We don't know."

"And what am I…" he rolls over top of my words, not missing a beat.

"But when you go to the next spot where White's going to go in watch the fight, trail them as far as you can, with the S-15's you'll be able to show the whole country which way their insticts tend towards; whether they actually avoid killing, or whether they start and then think better of it. When you get back, you'll be able to put that footage with all the proof I've gathered on what the government did. It'll give all the answers that White won't give, and it'll be the biggest story in history."

He used that word again. History. The chance to make myself bigger than a second-rate writer, just barely making it. Bigger than what anyone could ever say about me, and the people who were saying it. Temptation beckons to me, calls to me.

Don't even think about it. That hateful lifesaving part of my mind chimes in again. He wants you to follow transgenics. Screw potentially dangerous, you really want to play the odds on whether they'll kill you or not? Not really. Desperately trying to convince myself that this is sense, not cowardice talking, I look up at Hensky, ready to tell him that I can't do this one. His eyes have sharpened on me. For the most part he's an okay guy, but the more he wants story, the edgier he gets. Judging by the tension in his shoulders, he must be ready to kill for this one. Can't really blame him considering everything involved. This story's going to be amazing… I take a breath. I'm not passing up the chance of a lifetime, I'm passing up an invitation to get myself killed.

He must see it in my eyes, he cuts me off, a new edge in his voice.

"I hate to do this to you Dan, but, this isn't optional. You don't do this story, you don't work here anymore."

"Sir…" I stop at a look from him. Eyes of steel stare across at me, unblinking, unbending. He's never done this to anyone before. He's always been understanding and, as a general rule, pretty forgiving when someone decides that their story was too big for them to tackle. It's never occurred to me to turn down a story before, but with other people, he deducts their pay for awile, and gets someone else to do it. But no one else is going to do this one, I realize. The looks on their faces, they must have known he was going to do this, I was an idiot not to.

I can't afford to not have this job, I'm stretched thin as it is. I'd lose my apartment, and the only other place I could go is home. Level-headed, intelligent person that I like to think myself to be, swallowing my pride and going crawling back to my mother…no.

"I'll take it then." Even to my own ears, my voice sounds smaller than usual, but now that I've made my decision, I'm sticking to it. Hensky smiles, relaxed again.

"Glad to hear it. The next lead site is in the packet, and everything you need; the S-15's, supplies, whatever, will be in your office by the time you get back." His reaches out and shakes my hand. "I'm not going to waste any more of your time when you need to be leaving soon. Good Luck Dan." That's the signal to go. I rise to leave, feeling a little light-headed with how fast everything is moving. One more question just occurred to me though. I turn back as I open the door.

"How do you know all this sir? There hasn't been anywhere near that kind of information on the news." His eyes harden a little, and the smile becomes more forced.

"I have my resources. It's nothing you need to be concerned about." I wasn't really expecting much more of an answer. I close the door behind me and head to my office. Need to check and find out there I'm going, and then, I might as well start packing.

AN: Okay, preliminaries are pretty much over, the plot's really going to pick up in the next chapter or two. What do you think?