# # #
Deadguy relaxed on the khaki couch in Jill's office as she searched the Internet for any information about the twins they ran into earlier. Valkadaidan aided the search, using Jill's tablet. "They said that they weren't told about me," DG remarked. "so someone hired these schmucks to pull off this job."
"Someone with a lot of money and a grudge against the rich," Jill noted.
"Doesn't that seem like an oxymoron," he asked.
"Maybe they have issue with commercialism," Valk suggested. "or something against the developers, or the businesses."
"In other words, someone hates someone or something attached to those establishments," Deadguy stated. The other Heroes nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that's going to be a short list.".
"If we can find out who the twins were, we may have a chance of finding out who hired them," Jill explained.
"Easier said than done," Valkadaidan said. "The two are virtually impossible to pin down. There's been several incidents dating all the way back to the Eighties that are connected to these 'Bomber Twins', at least according to conspiracy theorists."
Deadguy straightened up. "Got any of those nut jobs here in New Tao," he asked
"A city like ours is crawling with them,” Valk replied.
"Then let's find one close and ask them a few questions about the Twins," DG suggested.
"Got one," Jill announced. "He's a few blocks down from me. We can walk it.
The three Heroes arrived at the apartment of one Henry Moso. "It's like minus Fifty outside," Deadguy commented to Valkadaidan. "where's your coat?" Jill knocked, ignoring them.
"It's only in the teens," Valk corrected. "My dragon blood keeps me warm, I guess."
"Can I borrow some of that blood," Jill quipped. "I'm positively freezing."
"Hey, it was your idea to walk down here," DG remarked.
Jill knocked again. "Well you could have said something after I suggested it."
"What, and miss you rocking this sexy mud brown parka?"
"Oh shut up." She knocked again, this time with Deadguy knocking as well.
"Henry," DG called out. "We're not the CIA. We just want to have a chat."
The door flew open. Before them stood a short, husky Japanese man. He look to be somewhere in his Forties. He smoothed some hair over his growing bald spot as he breathed heavily. "I know you're not the CIA," he spat out. "They haven't left their van from across the street."
"They actually do that," DG asked. "Thought they gave that up for monitoring everyone's electronic everything."
"Ever since Snowden, they've had to go old school," Henry answered. "Please, come in."
"Topical," Our Hero remarked, looking around at the mess of bookshelves and ancient computers that scattered the cramped one-bedroom apartment. "Yeah, that won't make this story irrelevant in a few years."
"What story," Jill questioned.
"Sparky," he switched subjects" about these Twins."
"When I saw the massive bombing down in Dover, I knew I had to go see for myself," Henry explained. "After using my planned fake-out routes to throw the Eyes off me, I made it just in time to see them appear on top of the ambulance."
"Yeah, we were there," Jill commented.
Henry shyly turned away. "Yes, well, anyway," he stammered. "I was able to get a few photos and run them through my data." He motioned to several scrapbooks on his coffee table.
"CIA keeps swiping your hard drives," Valk asked.
"Scrapbooks can't be hacked," Henry answered. "It takes some time to do, but is very rewarding."
"When was the last time you've been with a woman," Deadguy boldly questioned, examining the day-old casserole sitting out on the stove.
"Deadguy, stop being rude," she commanded, not taking her eyes off Henry. He smiled a bit at that comment. "Now, Mr. Moso, what did you find out about the Twins?"
"Their story is wild," he explained. "Their first attack, if you can call it that, was Chernobyl. At least, that's according to several sources."
"How many are credible," Jill asked.
"Well, you know how it is, everyone says they're credible because they got it from another source that was credible," he explained. He plopped down on his dingy love seat and flipped through a few pages. "They've been all over the world. Germany, Chile, Rwanda. If there was an massive explosion, they've been attached to it."
"Do they have names," Jill asked as Deadguy made his way to the window.
"It's unclear," he answered. "They've only been known as Alpha and Beta, which makes it impossible to find any sort of birth records for them." He grabbed a hardback book from under the scrapbook. "I've detailed a few theories in my book," he said proudly, handing it to Jill.
"Impossible is a very boring word," Our Hero commented, pushing the curtain aside to look out onto the street below. He noticed a plain white van situated across from the window. The door slid open and a few nondescript men stepped out.
"Is there something more important out there than what's in here," Valk asked.
He let the curtain fall back into place. "Nothing important but I think we've got to go."
Henry looked up, worried. "Oh no, not again," he whined.
"Henry, it's been fun," DG said. "but we've got to make it to the closest fire escape. You wouldn't happen to know where that is, would you?"
"Window at the end of the hallway," he said. The Heroes started to leave the apartment. "Wait," Henry called out. " Deadguy, do you know how old you are?"
Our Hero paused. "Not a clue and now's not the time."
"There's evidence of you or someone like you throughout history."
"Fantastic." He started to catch up with the others. "We'll discuss it later." The Heroes hurried down the hall. Valkadaidan slid open the old window, letting a cold blast of winter hit him in the face. Jill eased her way out the best she could wearing a bulky parka. Deadguy was next as he stepped out into the cold. They noticed the nondescript men knock on Henry's door. "He's going to hate us for a while."
"They're not following," Valk observed as he climbed out of the window and closed it. "so they probably won't be asking him about us."
"Can you two hurry it up," Jill yelled from the alley. "I'm freezing again!"
"Grow a thicker epidermis," DG yelled back as the two started climbing down. The three started walking back to the apartment. Jill thumbed through the book she was given.
"Deadguy, you're going to need to look through this for any clues as to the origin of these Twins," she stated, handing the book over to him.
"You heard the lady, Valk," he commented, handing the book over to Valkadaidan.
"Deadguy," he merely said, handing the book back to Our Hero. He tried to pass it back to Jill, but she had already moved to walk in front of them.
"Guh," he remarked, his shoulders slumped.