No Master Plan Here (Madness Runs in the Family) by Joel Burdick Page A

Tattoos appeared on her arms all the way down to the backs of her hands and on her chest. Piles of skulls and bones marked her arms, and Anansi could see the hooded head and scythe of a grim reaper on her chest sticking out of her shirt.
                  [Facial recognition: 100% match for Ghost. You have met the target. Have fun!] Kay sent before closing the neural link again. Anansi made a mental note to make it so Kay couldn't do that anymore.
                  Anansi was about to speak when he noticed the cafe had gone silent. He looked around, finding all eyes on him, and muttered a curse under his breath.
                  “Good to meet you, maybe we should go somewhere less full of people that will rather quickly become squealing fans or screaming victims,” Anansi said. He stood and brushed his coattails behind him, using the action to palm a grenade. He pulled Ghost to her feet and looked at the man who wore Zod's costume, who was frantically taking pictures with his phone.
                  “Give me that,” Anansi said, releasing Ghost to snatch the phone. The villain imposter protested until Anansi pulled a cord from the base of his helmet and plugged it into the phone. He spent a second copying the man's information into his memory and erasing the video before tossing it back. “You follow me, you'll regret it,” he growled, the Zod squirming back away from him.
                  Anansi turned back and grabbed Ghost's wrist again. He led her from the cafe, coat billowing behind him. The bell jingled over his head and “Haunted” called after them, as if by instinct, “Feel free to come by again!”
                  Anansi triggered his teleportation rig, disappearing with Ghost in a flash of light, reappearing atop the cafe roof. He spun around to face her, slipped the grenade back into its place on his rig, and glared. It took a moment for him to remember that the mask of his helmet did not transfer his expression. “What the hell was that?”
                  Ghost shrugged and took a sip from her cup. “I figured you didn't realize it was me, so I showed you in a way you can't deny tells you it is. I said I'd be wearing red.”
                  Anansi narrowed his eyes at the woman. She was talking like she thought she had been talking to him when the meeting was set up, and he still hadn't figured out what sort of meeting it was. He sent several angry thoughts across his neural link to Kay.
                  “Let's operate under the assumption that I have no idea what is going on here and that I haven't seen whatever traffic you think we've exchanged,” Anansi began, pulling his emotions under control. He stuck his hands into his coat pockets, letting the tension seep out of him as he started ordering himself. “Why are we meeting? Weapons? Custom order?”
                  “What? No, I responded to your dating profile,” she said. Anansi blinked. “We were going to catch coffee and a movie.” Anansi blinked again. He couldn't find words and was glad that she couldn't see how flabbergasted he was.
                  [Kay, what the hell did you do?!]
                  [Have fun on your date! I have the drones working on the Tar Baby. I think we're making progress!]
                  [Kay!]
                  [We're sorry, the user you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please try again later.]
                  Anansi slapped his hand against the forehead of his helmet. He made a mental note that the facepalm had a bit more effect when he could actually smack his own face as opposed to the face shield. “Sorry about that. Apparently Kay is playing matchmaker and didn't tell me.”
                  “No worries. If it makes you feel better, this still isn't the worst date I've ever been on, by far.” She laughed and shook her