Okay, first thing I'm going to say is, I'm sorry for not keeping the project up to date the past few months (off-net problems kinda arose). That said, though, I'm not putting this project on hold for any reason whatsoever; instead, I'm going to try and make it come thicker and faster, if I can.
Now, for the next story (yes, I know, the scripts for the last two are not yet finished; give me time, please). I may be bringing this on a little too fast (if so, I have another idea in the background that may be usable), but I think it may be a good time for Jamie and Dr Brand to meet again. However, I am going to slightly change the Alden Brand character slightly (and in a way that is, in a manner, a tip of the hat to a suggestion that was made right at the very beginning of the project).
So, here goes, with the start of this idea:
A shrouded man meets up with a black market trader, who offers him a vial of some kind of liquid; the trader calls it "359", a name the man recognizes. However, when he offers a price, the man says it's too high for him, and suggests a "discount", at which point he pulls a psi-shaped blade and stabs him with it (covering the trader's mouth as he does so, so as to prevent him screaming). The hooded man then takes the vial, and leaves.
A couple of days later, police are surrounding the area where the trader was killed (as it was somewhat out of the way, and not very open), when one detective (coincidentally, the same one that was investigating Zeki's murder) notices the shape of the stab wound. He turns around to a subordinate, and says, "We have a problem."
Ayn knocks on Jamie's door, and Jamie lets her into his house. She hands him a piece of paper, with the psi symbol on it, the same one that was stabbed into the trader's chest. Jamie recognizes it immediately, and Ayn knows it: she was reporting on Zeki's murder when he was having his witness statement taken by the police. She asks him if he knows who it is, and, after making her promise to keep it between them, he tells her: Dr Alden Brand.
In another part of town (a hotel room), Alden enters, and locks the door behind him. He then sits down on the bed, pulls out the vial, and grabs a syringe. He fills the syringe with 359, and then injects it into his arm. After a short while, he starts to convulse painfully and sweat heavily, but eventually this subsides. Raising a hand to the air, he is amazed when a small curl of ice forms in his palm.
Back at Jamie's house, Ayn asks him why he doesn't "do the Human Tank thing" with Alden; Jamie explains that Alden disappeared shortly after he broke into his house to confront him, so the murder is the first time he's heard of his return, and even then, he knows better than to return to his own home. Ayn suggests that, since he wouldn't return to his home, it might be a good place to start looking for hints as to why he's back.
They do break into Alden's house (through the back way), and start searching around his house. Jamie eventually finds Alden's study, and a few folders sitting on his desk, one of which is labelled "Trial 359". He briefly reads through it, noticing the list of patients in the cancer trial Astraea was part of, as well as an addendum talking about something called "Mutagen 359". However their expedition is cut short when a couple of security guards turn up; Jamie notices the security camera blinking in the study, and tells Ayn to run with the file, while he deals with the guards (which he does).
...And that's where the ideas kinda grind to a halt. Eventually I want to have Alden and Jamie come to blows again (and this time, proper blows, with Alden's newfound powers), but I'm not sure 1) how he can use them to get his attention (the idea I had when I first came up with this was that he would use an icicle version of his psi-blade to kill someone, and I think that's the best way to go at the moment); and 2) how he could use his powers to fight him (again, the original idea was to use the metallic psi-knife, but with it being inlaid with magnesium, but how that could be useful is where I get stuck). Additionally, I also want Alden to drop one hell of a revelation on Jamie: that without Alden, the Human Tank ceases to exist, so he can't harm him like he would want to.
This one's probably the roughest plot I've come up with thus far, and may be the most complex too (at least at the moment), but just some additional ideas may be useful (or if you think I am on a good path, just say so). So, fire away, guys.