“Why? Because of Benjamin Franklin’s Contract?” Stricken asked as he removed a Post-it from his breast pocket. “This was the message Franks left with Director Stark. I’ve sent a copy of it to each of you.” He could have just read it out loud, but he knew that it would have more gravity if they read it themselves. He couldn’t do Franks’ delivery justice. One of the secretary-functionary-scribes took the hint, brought up the file, and a blown-up picture of the note appeared on the projector. Franks’ tiny square handwriting filled the pink square.

Mr. President. The Contract has been violated. Stricken has copied my design. He has created new versions of me. This is not allowed. They were the ones that attacked the MCB. If you will eliminate these creations and punish Stricken, I will surrender. Failure to act will be seen as collusion on your part. As per The Contract, collusion in this matter is punishable by death. I will kill anyone who aids Stricken. Until The Contract is redeemed, my obligations to the US government are null and void. These are my terms.

—Franks

The President got a really funny look on his face when he got to the punishable by death part, almost like it hurt his feelings. The man got death threats daily, but he rarely got one from somebody actually capable of pulling it off.

The conference room was very quiet. Stricken could not have engineered it better himself. I’m glad you’re such a predictably threatening asshole, Franks.

“He’s accusing you of attacking the MCB?”

“Yes, and apparently doing it with assets that don’t exist yet. I was unaware we had a time machine, Mr. President.” There were a few nervous chuckles. “Franks is delusional. My experts believe that his mental faculties have been deteriorating for years. I personally feel that his entering another dimension and the resulting destruction of the Dread Overlord may have exacerbated the situation.” He brought that particular incident up in front of the Subcommittee for two reasons: Franks had taken it upon himself to invade another universe against orders, and he’d blown up an alien god in the process. If he could pull that off, what was capping the President in comparison?

“There’s nothing to his allegations?” asked a congresswoman.

“Of course not. You’ve seen my reports, so you know that Project Nemesis exists only on paper. I was ordered to keep The Contract sacrosanct, and I’ve done so. He’s fixated on me as his enemy, and fabricated this nonsense as his justification because I’ve been outspoken against his continued employment. If it would please the Subcommittee, you can tour any Task Force facility at your convenience and I can turn over all of our records for audit. I am an open book.”

“We’ll take you up on that,” warned the congresswoman.