"Get down!" "Down on the ground now!" "I'm not joking, mate!" "Get down!" "That's far enough, citizen." "Who the hell are you?" "The Adjuster, and you're about to be adjusted!" "Let that be a lesson to you fiends." "The streets of old city are no longer safe for your kind." "Where crime's around..." "Oh, I'll be found!" " Let's go." " No, no!" "What in the hell was that?" "Mate, I have no idea." "This is my favorite part." "You know, I'm so pleased that my pain amuses you all." "God, look at the whiplash on that baby!" "Ow!" "Ah..." "I'm checking for broken bones." "Well, if you press any harder, you'll find some." "How does he manage to fly like that without wings?" "I've never seen an abnormal with that ability before." "Yeah, you know, I thought the same thing when my head bounced off the ground." "How's the shoulder?" "Nothing I can't handle." "Not exactly the welcome I had in mind when you volunteered to come aboard." "I'm just sorry the guy we were chasing got away." "He's an Empath trying to break free from the mob." "If he's smart, he'll come to us." "As for your flying man, I'm having Henry look into it." "Keep me posted." "I'm dying for a rematch." "Well, if anyone needs me, I'll be coughing up blood." "Actually, I need you." "Get dressed." "Happened around 8:00." "Guys were digging out a corner when the wall gave way." "They found this." "I called the city inspector right away." "He took one look at it, called you." "So... you guys archaeologists or something?" "Would you mind rounding up the rest of the crew that were here at the time?" "I'd like to speak with them." "Okay, sure, I'll be right back." "Thank you." "Have you seen something like this before?" "No, but whatever it is, it hatched recently." "These look like claw marks." "You think something dug this hole, laid the egg, and then just left it?" "It would've had to have occurred years ago, before the city was built." "It's difficult to imagine something surviving that long." "Not impossible." "The real question is why did it hatch now?" "This room was probably a vacuum before the workers broke through." "Maybe the introduction of air kick-started the process?" "Uh..." "The men are all outside, except Joe." "Joe?" "The backhoe operator, first guy on the scene." "He left, said he wasn't feeling well or something." "Joseph Koster, 38, divorced." "No sign of any abnormal behavior." "I take it you've tried to get in contact with him?" "He's not answering his phone." "He's not at his place, either." "Try putting out word to our contacts." "I already did." "Squid just gave us a tip." "There's some guy matching this description acting very weird on the top floor of Saint Canare place." "Saint Canare?" "That's a condemned building." "Yeah." "I know it's a long shot, but Declan and I figure we ought to check it out." "Absolutely, but be careful." "We have no idea what effect this creature could have had on Mr. Koster." "Any idea what it is, or was?" "The shell membrane would seem to indicate something reptilian, but..." "The amniotic fluid is definitely consistent with that of an insect." "I'll, uh..." "just read the report." "River Banshee, Fire Shrimp." "Word of advice?" "Wear gloves." "Shouldn't you be writing this down or something?" "What for?" "In case you need to fill in for me one day." "Yeah, right..." "Hey." "What's in here?" "I wouldn't do that if I were you." "Why not?" "Whoa!" "Told you." "Uh, that sound generally means you should answer it." "Yeah?" "Hey, it's me." "I need to see you." "I'll call you back." "Everything okay?" "Yeah." "I got to go." "What's a guy like Joe doing in a place like this?" "No idea." "He was definitely here, though." "Hey, Zimmerman..." "You hungry?" "Not anymore." "You've got to be kidding me." "The bloke's chowing down on cats?" "Have you found anything, Henry?" "It looks like your mystery superhero has been busy." "Doing what exactly?" "Everything, it seems... foiling robberies, beating up bad guys, but the best is this." "Look." "What am I looking at?" "It's video of a jumper, taken yesterday." "Here, check it out." " He's jumping!" " Oh, my God!" "Unbelievable." "Yeah, except the guy ended up with four crushed vertebrae from the force of the catch." "Ouch." "Any information on how we can find this flying man?" "Well, so far he's done a really good job of keeping his secret identity secret." "Well, we need to track him down." "For one thing, he's getting in the way of our work, and for another, he keeps this up, and a lot of people are going to get seriously hurt." "I don't know if it helps, but eyewitness reports say he arrives on the scene right away, sometimes before the police." "You think he's got some kind of ESP?" "Oh, Henry..." "W-where, uh..." "Where-where crime is found, I'll be around." "Uh, no." "Wh-where crime is seen, I'll be on the scene." "Where crime is plotted," "I'll be... s-spotted?" "Damn!" "All available units, we have a 10-36 in progress at 820 Orchid." "Three suspects." "Shots fired." "All units, 820 Orchid...." "Right." "Whoa." "Hello." "Who are you?" "My name is Helen Magnus, and we need to talk." "You tricked me." "This is a trap." "Yes, but if you'll just listen..." "I knew sooner or later my activities would attract the wrong kind of people, but you're going to have to do a lot better than that to bring me down!" "Nice shot." "Well... he's kind of hard to miss." "You'll never get away with this." "You think these puny restraints can hold me?" "How's he doing?" "He's still convinced we're super-villains who have kidnapped him to conduct experiments." "What'd you find out?" "Well, his suit looks homemade, but it seems to be some sort of high-grade kevlar-type material." "I had to draw blood from between his fingers." " And?" " See for yourself." "Huh?" "He's not abnormal?" "Not according to his DNA." "But how's that possible?" "I mean, the guy was flying." "I can't explain it, but it does mean that we're going to have to do a far more detailed exam." "Well, that doesn't bode well for our whole "we're not super-villains" case." "Try to avoid the topic of total global domination." "Thanks." "Kate!" " Oof!" "God..." " You have got a lot of nerve calling me out of the blue like that." "I haven't heard from you for months!" "Mom didn't even know where you were." "It's good to see you, too." "When'd you get here?" "Couple days ago." " A couple days?" " Whoa, easy!" "All right, okay." "I-I meant to call." "I just, uh..." "I got tied up." "With what?" "I need a favor." "Oh no..." "No, Tad, I thought you were going to give that up!" "I did!" "I-I've been straight for six months." " Right..." " I swear!" "So, what happened?" "I-I slipped." "I mean, these guys pulled me into a game." "How much?" "It's, uh, it's not the "how much,"" "it's the "who to."" "A guy named Constantin?" "You know him." "Yeah." "Yeah." "Kate, you've got to believe me." "I never meant for any of this to happen." "I met this girl." "We were going to California..." "Oh, save it." "Kate, I..." "I just need to get clear of this." "Please." "Now's my chance." "So..." "Come to face me at last, huh?" "Who are you people, anyway?" "Hydra?" "League of Assassins?" "Circus of Crime?" "I just want to talk to you, Walter." "Huh?" "How did you know my name?" "Your DNA matched some hospital records we had in our database." "Says here you worked as a claims adjuster?" "Yeah, well, that was before." "Now I'm just..." ""The Adjuster."" "Right..." "Right." "Yesterday afternoon you had a run-in with some guys on some motorbikes..." "Who told you that?" "I was one of those guys." "We were trying to catch the guy that you... saved." "Yeah." "That's pretty much why I saved him." "Right, but what you don't realize is that we were actually trying to help him." "See, we're not the bad guys here, Walter, but there are some bad people who are after him." "Why?" "He's an Empath." "Like Psylocke." "From X-Men?" "She was killed by Vargas, and then later resurrected without her tattoo." "Yes, just like Psylocke." "Seriously..." "Who are you guys?" "We'll get to that, but first, why don't you tell me how you got these powers?" "Never." "What are you working on?" "DNA tests on the eggshell didn't yield anything substantive, but when Will told me about the cat remains that he found, it reminded me of an encounter my father had with another abnormal." "Coleanthropus." "It was discovered by U.S. federal troops in 1 892 when they were trying to quell a miners' uprising in Idaho." "What makes you think it is the same abnormal?" "According to reports, the soldiers found an egg inside the mine." "It hatched, and the creature went inside the body of one of the soldiers." "The victim ran away, but shortly thereafter, the others found the carcasses of several small animals." "It says here the creature attacked again the following evening, but its appearance had changed." "It was no longer inside the body of the soldier." "My father suspected that it had evolved to a further stage of its life cycle." "Unfortunately, by the time he got there, the creature was long gone, and most of the survivors had fled." "Not much to go on." "No." "However, all the eyewitnesses spoke of the creature's high-pitched shriek, said it was unlike anything they'd ever heard before." "Perhaps we can use that to our advantage." "You sure this is going to work?" "Absolutely." "We've tapped into the city's terrorism suppression grid." "Your monster makes any noise over 90 decibels, we'll know about it." " Excellent work, Henry." " Thank you." "Now, I've calibrated it to detect high-frequency sounds, so don't go getting too close to any ambulances... or Christina Aguilera." "No worries about that, mate." "Hey, how's it going with super-dude?" "Oh, pretty good." "I've managed to convince him we're not evil, so that's something." "Big guy's checking him out now." "Did he say how he was able to fly?" "Yeah, three weeks ago, he was hanging on a friend's yacht off the coast of Africa when they got attacked by pirates called the "Singh Brotherhood."" "In the middle of it all, he got pushed over the side, and he swam to shore, and he found a cave, and in the cave there was this temple, and in the temple there was this ruby called..." "Crimson Gem of Cyttorak." "Yeah." "How'd you know that?" "This guy's good." "What are you talking about?" "For real?" "You never read comic books as a kid?" "Yeah, I mean..." "I was more of a Sherlock Holmes guy." "Why?" "Okay, the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak?" "That's the stone Cain Marko found in "X-Men #12, turned him into Juggernaut." "The Singh Brotherhood is from "The Phantom,"" "and the yacht, well, if you don't know the story of the Green Arrow, then there's no hope for you, pal." "Dude, you got played." "Crap..." "What happened?" "Oh, super-guy was in the scanner." "I turned my back for a second..." " Which way did he go?" " Away?" " Come on." " Okay." "You go to the residences, I'll check the foyer." "Like..." "He couldn't use a door?" "Ugh, you call that tea?" "Declan, it's Will." "Anything?" "No, nothing yet, although there was a faint..." "Stand by." "We got something." "Is that Joe?" "Bloody hell." "All right, fella, out you come." "Take it down!" "Get him!" "Where's the bloody flying man when you need him?" "Well, he's a lot bigger than a man now." "Yeah, the file was right, the creature evolved." "Yeah, if you can call it that." "Good news is Henry's sonic scan worked." "We should be able to track it." " You know..." " What?" "Magnus said that the amniotic residue inside the egg was similar to that of an insect." "Okay..." "Well, we've already seen three stages, the egg, Joe, and that creature that attacked you." "You think there might be a fourth stage." "Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" "I mean, maybe it's looking for a place to cocoon." "Also means it might go quiet on us." "We'll have to work fast." "All right, let's split up and sweep the area." "Signal if you find anything." "Team Two with Will!" "Were you able to transfer the data from Walter's medical scan?" "Yeah, but it's no use." "Walter corrupted it." "Walter?" " "Savage Seven," issue 319." " What?" "Dustin Blake is captured by a group called The Sentinels." "They perform experiments on him." "He wipes their computer clean while he escapes so they can't track him." "I've been trying to recompile the image using raw data, but I don't think we're going to find anything." "Walter wasn't in there for very long." "Well, let's see." "It's right there." "You see?" "That's what I was afraid of." "There's a shadow." " Do you mind?" " Be my guest." "I'm just going to magnify the image." "Well, you can magnify away, Doc, but I don't think you're going to find..." "What the hell is that?" "That is Walter's suit." "Walter's suit is made of bugs?" "Billions of them." "It makes perfect sense." "Walter isn't an abnormal, he's wearing one, and I'll wager it's what's giving him his special abilities." "The bugs?" "Think of them more as a collective rather than individual beings, and yes, I believe they're what's allowing him to fly." "How?" "I'm not sure." "He must be controlling them somehow." "I need to take another look at his bloodwork." "Hey, boys, I've got something for Constantin." "Who wants a sentient fungus?" "This is not what we agreed." "I have to tell you I don't like surprises." "Katie Freelander." "As I live and breathe." "You know why I'm here." "Of course." "Your brother's debt." "What terrible luck he has." "What's this?" "Payment, in full with interest." "A Steno tusk." "I thought they were extinct." "Well, you just got to know where to look, I guess." "That more than covers his debt, so don't try to pretend that it doesn't." "You know, this selfless act of yours is touching, but I don't want your money." "Rumor has it that you have found a comfy place to sleep at the Sanctuary!" "Now, where'd you hear that?" "Around." "Hey, I don't judge." "In fact, it makes you uniquely valuable to me." "What are you talking about?" "I don't mind telling you that the Cabal's demise has opened up quite a few opportunities for me." "There is a huge demand for abnormals out there, a demand I find myself unable to fill." "However, with an ally inside the Sanctuary..." "Whoa, whoa, wait a second, an ally?" "Why not?" "You're just staying there." "You're not with them." "You used my brother to get to me." "We used to be such an incredible team together, you and I." "Don't you remember?" "I am not 21 anymore." "And I'm not a two-bit banger fencing counterfeit junk anymore." "This is real." "I urge you to take it seriously." "Those days are gone, Constantin." "You know, it's a really, really nice offer, but I'm not interested." "Don't contact me again." "No, we've searched the entire area." "Not a trace." "Dammit." "That thing could be anywhere now." "Are you sure this is the right sample?" "Absolutely." "Why?" "What's the problem?" "His CPK-3 and creatinine levels are through the roof." "So, what does that mean?" "It means we need to talk to Walter right away." "All available units, we have a 4-1 1 in progress at 1310 Marine, suspect is fleeing." "All available units, please advise." "Right." "What the..." "How did I end up back here?" "You'd be amazed at how much buzz it creates when a guy in a super-suit falls off his balcony." "Before you go knocking another hole in my wall, know this..." "You are free to leave whenever you like." "But you might want to hear what we have to say first." "Your suit's not really a suit, but you knew that already." "What you may not know is that it's actually a parasite, and it appears to be feeding on you." "Your latest test results show the signs of early organ failure." "Your body's shutting down." "No." "You're lying." "This is just another one of your..." "Super-villain tricks." "Really?" "How are you feeling?" "You have any dizziness or shortness of breath?" "Walter, we need to get this suit off you immediately." "But..." "I can't." "Walter, this isn't..." "No!" "You don't understand." "I can't take it off." "I'm telling you, l-I've tried a dozen times." "Nothing works." "It's stuck." "Which means I'm a dead man." "What do you mean "stuck"?" "Stuck." "Glued." "I-lmpossible to remove." "Hold on, so you've been wearing this suit since..." "Since about eight days ago, yes." "Well, how have you managed to, you know..." "Oh, uh, I have no idea." "All I know is I feel lighter after meals." "How did you come by the suit in the first place?" "We need the real story, Walter." "Right, uh..." "Well, as I mentioned before," "I used to work for an insurance company." "By the way, if you guys need any kind of coverage..." "We're good." "Right, uh..." "Well, every year, the company took us on a team-building retreat to this dude ranch in the mountains." "Um, I was leading this team through the forest on a pretty cutthroat game of "Capture The Flag..."" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Guys?" "Guys..." "Oof!" "I must've slipped down into a sinkhole or something, because the next thing I knew," "I woke up in a cave, covered in slime." "The, uh..." "The shorts and gloves I added myself." "Um..." "The chest plate I had from before." "Don't-don't judge." "Uh, when did you get your..." "superpowers?" "That's the beauty." "I already had them." "All I had to do was think "fly,"" "and I popped out of the hole just like that." "Telepathic communication, of course." "The suit's living off you in exchange for giving you these powers." "I soon realized that l-I had speed, super-strength, uh... x-x-ray vision." "It was like my greatest wish come true!" "Well... be careful what you wish for." "We'll help you get it off, Walter." "Yeah..." "We're all ready in here." "All right, here we go." "Walter!" "Hey, did you manage to..." "It's taken care of." "Oh, thank God." "Thank you, thank you..." "This is the last time, do you hear me?" "Totally." "This was a one-time slip, I promise." "You should get out of town." "Take a cab to the bus station." " I don't need money..." " Just take it." "Good luck in Cali." "Kate..." "Thank you, for... for everything." "Thanks." "Yeah." "Hey..." "Don't tell Mom, okay?" "Hey..." "How's Walter doing?" "Uh, he's stable." "How's things going with you?" "Take a look." "They're dead." "I believe so." "I was able to create a toxin that attacks the suit creatures' specific DNA." "Well, that's... good." "Is it?" "I have no idea what kind of impact this will have on Walter." "At minimum, he'll be sick for weeks as he undergoes treatment, and there's no guarantee he'll ever fully recover." "Not to mention we are killing an abnormal who exhibits untold abilities, the likes of which I've never seen before." "Well, we knew that going in." "Yes, but our job is to be smarter, to come up with a brilliant, clever way to save both human and abnormal." "Right, but we don't have time for that." "I mean, this thing is killing Walter." "At least we're saving him." "I wanted it off, not kill it!" "Walter..." "Come on!" "It's my suit!" "You can't do this to me." "You're going to die, Walter!" "Do you realize that?" "I don't care." "Do you realize what this suit has done for me?" "My whole life, I've been scared to do anything, not even hobbies." "Do you realize how many people die each year in renaissance fair re-enactments?" "The statistics would blow you away, but now... thanks to this suit," "I don't even worry about it." "I fly around saving people." "It's pretty incredible." "I realize how exciting it must be, but is it really worth risking your life for?" "You risk your life every day doing what you do." "Look, I may not have a lot of time..." "So l-I want to use it for what I was meant to do, not sit around on the sidelines anymore." "Magnus, it's Henry." "I heard from Declan." "He tracked the Coleanthropus to Kennington Row." "All right." "Think about it." "Please." "Tell me you're at the bus station, Tad." "You should have accepted my offer, Katie." "You son of a bitch." "Where's my brother?" "He's fine... for now." "This is between you and me, Constantin, okay?" "Let him go." "No, it was, until you forced me to bring him back into it." "Seems to be the only way to get your attention." "Now, I'm a fair man, Katie." "You don't want to work with me, that's fine, but there's something that I need from you." "Now, inside that Sanctuary is a very rare species of lizard." "I believe he's called "Steve."" "Now, my client is prepared to pay handsomely for it." "Now, you get me that lizard, and I'll release your brother, debt-free." "I think you'll find that I'm being more than generous." "Katie..." "Fine, but this is going to burn me with them, so I'm going to need a piece of the action." "Plus, I don't transport." "You supply the truck." "Bring Tad and the Steno tusk with you." "I'll call you when it's safe." " Where is it?" " Far end." "I've got a man on each exit, two more keeping watch." "Henry was able to modify these for subsonic action." "Hopefully they'll disorient the creature long enough and we can get the upper hand." "Declan, where are your men?" "I left them here." "Blood." "Uh, guys?" "Bring it down!" "Watch your ears, everyone!" "Spread out!" "Uh, to be honest with you," "I'm still just kind of playing with it." "Okay, you want to try it on me?" "Uh, s-sure, uh..." ""Where evil lurks, that's where I work."" "What, i-it's no good?" "No, it's not bad, it's not bad." "Just..." "A little sing-songy." "Right." "Try something along the lines of, like, "Time to... "" "You know?" "Um..." ""Time to take out the trash."" "Right, right." "You know?" "Or like, uh..." ""Time to put the kids to bed..."" "Henry, come in!" "One sec?" "Yeah, go ahead." "The stunners aren't working!" "We need large containment!" "Okay, I'll get there as soon as I can." "Hey, listen, Walter, man, we're going to have to put you..." "Oh, crap..." "Did we kill it?" "I'm thinking we just pissed it off." "I got it!" "It's coming at you!" "Okay." "Easy, boy..." "Easy, now..." "Take it easy." "What, this thing?" "It doesn't work anyway." "Walter?" "Come on, you fiend!" "Like that?" "Come on!" "Okay, everyone's out, but we don't have much time." "This is more impressive than I imagined." "This isn't a tour." "Keep up." "Oh, my God..." "Will you quit gawking?" "We don't have a lot of time." "You're lucky they all got called out to fight some insecto freak." "Your lizard is over here." "I can't see anything." "Just tap on the glass." "What the..." "Drop it." "Please..." "Unless you want to see your autopsy before you die," "I suggest you get the hell out of here... and spread the word..." "Kate Freelander is not for sale." "Wait, what is this place?" "I got to get you to the bus station." "But h-how did..." "Would you have really done it?" "Would you have killed that guy?" " Absolutely." " Wow." "No one messes with my family." "Tired?" "How 'bout one of these!" "Think he's got a shot?" "Not without help." "Will..." "Yeah." "Hey, what did I miss?" "Oh..." "These things don't work?" "Uh, ish." "Fire!" "Keep firing!" "Magnus... now!" "Go, I've got it!" "Hey, buddy." "We need to get him back to the Sanctuary right away." "I'll take him." " Ooh, boy..." " There we go..." "He's breathing." "Henry's getting the toxin." "We need to get this suit off him right away." " No..." " Walter, we have no choice." "Thank you." "No!" "Wait, please." "Whoa!" "It's leaving." "What the hell just happened?" "I guess I just... wished it off." "I didn't want it to die." "For the first time since I got it," "I truly wanted it off." "I guess it was just granting my wish." "May I?" "Thank you." "I'll miss you, little buddy." "Live long and prosper." "Get him to the infirmary." "Yeah..." "It just did that 'cause of the heat of his hand, right?" "Right?" "Come on..." "Oh, hey." "You asked to see me?" "Yes." "Henry said that when he went to feed the Sorkel tonight, it wasn't hungry." "I wondered if you knew anything about that." "No." "Then I guess you would also have no idea why all the security cameras in the main lab suddenly malfunctioned at exactly 9:14 this evening." "No idea." "I see." "Yeah..." "I've asked Henry to move your things into more permanent quarters." "You what?" "I trust that meets with your agenda?" "Uh... that would be great." "Um, Dr. Magnus?" "Thanks." "Is there a meeting?" "What are you guys doing?" "Walter wrote a comic book." "What?" "Check it out." ""Time to put the kids to bed"?" "No...." "Oh, no." "Oh, no, no, no!" "He totally stole my idea!" "I was going to publish this when things calmed down around here." "I was!" "It's too bad." "It's really good." "Nominated for several awards." "Yeah, and he already sold the movie rights." "That's you." "Aw, man..."