“You may have killed my savage brethren,” he continued, “but you’re facing the Killer Supreme now, and I’m new and improved.”

“Scapegrace, I’m really tired.”

“I don’t feel pain,” Scapegrace said, ignoring her, “I don’t feel pity and I don’t feel…” He hesitated. “Bad. I won’t feel bad, I mean, about killing you, which is what’s going to happen very, very soon indeed.”

“Do you want to, like, go away and rehearse that a little more?”

“How dare you speak to the Killer Supreme in such a manner!” the middle-aged zombie screeched in a sudden and dramatic fury.

“Listen to me,” she said to them, “you don’t want to be involved in this. Scapegrace, look at what they’ve done to you, for God’s sake. They’ve turned you into a monster.”

“I’ve always been a monster,” Scapegrace told her, “but now, finally, my physical form reflects my inner darkness.”

“You smell terrible.”

“That’s the smell of evil.”

“It’s like rancid meat and bad eggs.”

“Evil,” Scapegrace insisted.

“Where are they holding Tanith and the Professor?” she asked. “You have a chance to help us end this. Maybe we can help you – maybe there’s a cure for…being a zombie.”

“We don’t need a cure,” the other zombie said.

“That’s right,” Scapegrace nodded.

“We’re happy the way we are.”

“Happy with the power,” Scapegrace clarified.

“Very happy, just the two of us, and there’s nothing wrong with us either. It’s very natural in fact. Nothing to be ashamed of—”

“Thrasher,” said Scapegrace, “shut up.”

“Okey-dokey.”

“We are not going to betray our Master,” Scapegrace said. “I joined the Vengeance Brigade for one reason and one—”

“I’m sorry?”

“You’re sorry what?”

“The Vengeance Brigade? That’s what you’re calling it?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“It’s…Nothing. It’s grand. Sanguine called it the Revengers’ Club, that’s all.”

“Club sounds stupid,” Scapegrace said defensively. “Brigade sounds better.”

“Actually,” said Thrasher, “a brigade usually consists of two to five army regiments, so maybe it isn’t really that accurate.”

Scapegrace glowered. “But the Vengeance Regiment doesn’t have the same ring to it.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be accurate either,” Thrasher told him, “seeing as how a regiment is composed of a number of battalions. It could be the Vengeance Battalion, I suppose, but really a battalion usually has around a thousand soldiers in it, and there aren’t a thousand people in your group.”

“How about the Vengeance Squad?” suggested Valkyrie.

“That might work,” Thrasher nodded.

“I prefer Brigade,” Scapegrace snapped. “And now I’ve lost my train of thought.”

“You were about to tell me where Tanith and the Professor are being held,” said Valkyrie.

“No,” Scapegrace said, “I’m pretty sure I was about to start killing you.”

“Don’t even try it.”

“I’ve dreamed about nothing else for the last two years.”