In the resulting melee, Diaz was able to unbolt the exit and slip out of the hall. He stood outside for a while.

He had hardly expected it to go so smoothly. People, he realised, were stupid. Fools. Lacking in courage. So much so that none were even brave enough to try and challenge them.

They were cowards in the face of power. And power grew from the barrel of a gun; or, in this new age, from the hands of mutants. Such that just as they cowered in fear before a gun, they also fled from the 'super-human' powers of filthy mutants.

They were the weak. But they were fortunate that for some, cowardice was not the answer to mutant pollution.

The only answer, was force...

Diaz counted himself among the brave, the strong. And he was proud of it.

And he smiled the cold smile of victory as he walked on.

Today... after today, we shall have won...

The first stage of the Plan was now successfully completed. Nothing could go wrong after this.

As he walked, he took out the weapon he had used in the hall. As an afterthought, it might perhaps be best to be rid of it, as a precaution.

Some distance from the hall, he tossed the energy weapon into a garbage can. He did not expect anyone to trace it to him.

But, as he did so, he did not notice the card that fell out of his pocket at the same time; which fluttered to the ground near the trash can. Ignorant of that little fact, Diaz walked on down the street, a slowly retreating figure of triumph.

A crow landed on the spot Diaz had vacated. It examined the trash for scraps of food. Finding none, it hopped down to the ground.

Experimentally, it pecked at the card.

Had it been able to read, it would have read on the card the name of Colonel Juan Miguel Diaz, and logo design bearing the three letters: F.O.H.

F.O.H.: the Friends of Humanity.

Unfortunately, crows do not read. And, finding the card unappetizing, it flew off, leaving the card where it lay.


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