The Bad Guy Wins in This One - Chapter Forty (Alan Killjoy)

“How are the preparations coming along?” Alan asked.

“I would think you’d know the answer to that,” Alistair replied, leaning against the wall casually despite his arm being in a cast. He’d taken his defeat at Krieg’s hands surprisingly well and actually took a liking to their young houseguest, playing him many a game of chess the last few days. Alistair clearly enjoyed his top notch chess skills finally resulting in the occasional victory, even against a child. He’d long ago given up playing against Alan.

Alistair was always one of the more easy going members of Black Rain’s leadership. It was one of the reasons Alan chose him long ago to be his knight for these final days. That and Alistair was extremely loyal. Despite whatever concerns he might express, he trusted Alan with his life. And why shouldn’t he? I helped him learn how to control his power and helped turn him from a community college dropout going nowhere into one of the most powerful men in the world.

“Sometimes it’s still nice to hear it aloud,” Alan said. “It helps me know I’m really here, that it’s really happening, and isn’t just another vision in my head.”

“The preparations were completed an hour ago. Transfer is nearly ready to begin. But…are you sure about this? You already know what I’m going to say, but if you go through with this you’ll be declaring war. The survivors won’t be likely to just forgive you because you say it’ll all turn out all right.”

“I did know, but I appreciate you saying it anyways. However, I did not help found this organization for the purposes of just filling our pockets at the expense of the world. There are two end goals of our organization, and I’ll admit one of them is entirely selfish. But to succeed at either, Black Rain must now do what many good rainstorms should do.”

“And what is that?” Alistair asked.

“Feed the River and wash away the filth,” Alan replied. He and Alistair made their way to the dining room. “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to see all of you here.” The dozen pair of eyes that met him wore expressions that ranged from mild concern to outright hostility. All of the men and women at the table wore expensive finery and not one of them was over the age of thirty-five.

“Why have you summoned us all here?” asked Brian Everheart, ever to the point.

“Well, I believe the pretext was to discuss your concerns with the missions I’ve recently authorized, resulting in the exposure of Black Rain. Of course, all tangible evidence still points to any actions I may have authorized having been conducted by Redarctica’s Grey Snow. In fact, there is nothing other than the word of the would-be assassins themselves that Black Rain even still exists. And those assassins have little more information than already exists about our formerly public persona and members of public record.”

“I believe you’ve already said that much in your communications through Alistair. We’ve noticed you refuse to touch your phone anymore,” said Elizabeth Sterlington, lovely golden curls flowing over her blue sapphire studded gown.

“I find random calls by your lackeys an annoyance. Anyways, I would say you really have nothing to worry about, but that’s not quite true. Because the real reason I brought you all here is that you fit two criteria. The first is that you’re some of the greediest most self-centered people gracing the leadership of our organization. I blame myself for that. I really do, since I needed people as horrible as you to enact my plans. I helped you gain power, I helped you use it to generate wealth, and I helped lead you towards the goal of destroying Sunlight City because I needed it destroyed. But that doesn’t change that you all are petty and shortsighted. Also, of our fellow members who fall into this category, you lot are the easiest to kill.”

“The fuck?” said Sebastian Hardy, hurling a plate at Alan with his mind. Alan stepped aside with ease. So predictable. Alistair raised a hand and the table was surrounded by a shimmering shield of energy. Those who’d come armed drew their weapons and began firing. Alan smirked. None of them were field agents, almost all of them had abilities geared towards planning and administration, not combat. They’d been useful in running the organization, but he only had one more use for them. Alistair squeezed his hands together and everyone at the table fell unconscious.

“Transfer, you ready?” Alan.

“Yes sir,” Transfer said. Her real name was Nara Crow. Her olive skin and green eyes practically glowed as she laid her hands on one fallen Black Rain member after another, sucking the life out of them. “We must act quickly sir.”

“Of course. Kevin Knight should be here any minute now with Lilly’s body. But now that we’ve cleaned away some of the filth, let us adjourn to a more pleasant setting before we make our river flow. Maybe one with a few less dead bodies in it.” Alan was humming as they departed the room. His victory was already assured, but life grew ever sweeter the closer he got to the real thing.