The Ongoing Adventures of Stupendous Girl!

The Mourning After 06 Jul 2008

Kate fidgets uncomfortably in her chair. She’d always hated her visits here, and this time is no different. The chairs were a big part of that, just hard enough to not be comfortable, just small enough to leave you feeling squeezed, but not so bad that you felt any obvious insult at their inadequacy. All calculated, all meant to put you just ever so slightly ill at ease, just like the intentionally poor air circulation in the room, the lack of a window, the slightly off centre and cheap wall panelling.

“So, would you characterize the operation as a success?”

Tafelwein was talking to her. No time to think about the room now.

“A partial one. We don’t know much more about Stupendous Girl!’s identity, although our supposition that she is connected to Henderson is strongly supported. We also now know that our techniques of control work to produce new villains, which could be useful should the need arise. Tanya is still at large, and could be an asset to our organization again at some point. And, of course, we know that the theory behind our new weapons will work on SG!, although some technical hurdles remain as to a sufficient power source.”

“Yes, I am most excited about the weapons. Pity so many police had to be killed on their first true field test. But what is that phrase you North Americans so love? Ah yes, collateral damage.”

Kate shivers a little bit, involuntarily. Even for their field of work, Tafelwein was a cold man, a butcher.

“We can’t forget the other critical finding, that Stupendous Girl! will kill if she has to. That is a most interesting piece of data indeed, interesting and encouraging.”

Tafelwein, as he often did, changes gears on a dime.

“And you say you saw our target talking to John?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he knows anything?”

“It’s possible that he has suspicions, but I think he would have done something about it, spoken to someone, if the suspicions were strong.”

Tafelwein tents his fingers beneath his chin, affecting deep thought while he phrases an order as if it were a question.

“It seems we’re ready for the next phase, don’t you think? And perhaps John should come along? It would be interesting to see how he reacts.”

“Very good. I can have it ready in two weeks.”

“Make it three. We wouldn’t want to rush the poor dears after the unfortunate demise of their friend Maria, now would we?”

“Of course not. Speaking of which, I should be going. The funeral is on now, and I’ve offered to help with food at the gathering afterwards.”

“Yes, go. And make no effort to contact me or this office until our next test is complete. Be sure to see that both our main targets are there.”

With that, Kate stands up abruptly and offers a curt, perfunctory handshake to the man the rest of the workers in this building think of as a regional manager for a German importer of fine cookware.

“Goodbye, Herr Schmidt. I will send you information on next month’s order later.”

Page 1 | Page 2