2067
October 23rd, 9:12AM.
Zephyr thought he was slick.
Alister heard him whisper: "Please dad. Give me strength". Finally, something they could never have in common. A solid relationship with one's father.
While for the longest time, Zephyr's Lathe Yundath was the only friend he had, the progenitor of Alister is the one person the assassin never met, never knew, and can only hear in legends.
He keeps thinking about him. It's constant.
#
Alister.
Alister didn't divulge his full name, nor did he feel it was appropriate, not in this predicament.
Alister is a mysterious man. He hides his trauma behind bravado, he hides his insecurities behind slaughter, he hides his inner demons by staying away from others. The strategy's efficiency is debatable. When you base your self-worth on destructive behaviors, finding healthy ways to cope is a task that sounds gargantuan. Alister is a murderer. That is his identity. He spent his whole life pretending to be senseless, careless, emotionless. Alister acts cold-blooded. He's wounded. He mastered the art of running away.
Brooklyn is where Alister was born, south of a massive forest that separates the ruins of Manhattan from that part of Old York.
Since the disbanding of the US, Brooklyn especially has been marked with a curse.
Laws that protected the people were no more. Around 30 years ago, Old York had been rebranded as a paradise for crime, a country that reeked of death; bloodstains on every corner; bodies piled up on the streets. Gang wars on scales that rivaled civil conflicts in other countries were rampant, thanks to the advents of blacksmiths. Deranged anarchists crawled out of their holes to inspect the new world, and they thrived by forcing forges to build devastating weapons. This made it simple for chaos to be the norm. The population was feral: Dealers of many kinds, pimps, stripers, the remains of the mafia, criminals who took to the streets after escaping prison, the list goes on.
Brooklyn morphed into a scrapyard.
You weren't just looking for food in these areas, but also for somebody to get your fix; to rob; to hurt; to abuse; to murder. It's a different world, where the rats spend their lives like nobody's business.
No police force to stop them, no military to control the perpetrators, the first decade since the incident was hell on earth.
In the hell of Old York, by contrast to Brooklyn, resided the town of Vancarther.
This ghost town consisting of roughly a thousand people was the lucky village, blessed with a young man born to face such struggles.
Nathaniel Crow.
A strong man, born a few years after the apocalypse, he unmasked this distasteful new world and was gifted with power, emotional intelligence, foresight, and courage. His wise nature came from his father, a soldier for the once prestigious American army and his mother, someone who struggled all her life to achieve peace. Together they educated their son to become a leader, empathetic and possessing indomitable will.
Even without a proper scholarship, a degree, or an integration with the community, he had the gift of gab and the gift of jab. He connected with many, making alliances very quickly in his teenage years, caring deeply about the people to provide for them as much as he could.
Nathaniel quickly became a shining ray of hope for Vancarther.
Some citizens even installed the title of legend, lost in a sea of fools from a small collective, leader of a pack of wolves hungry for justice, a true king to the people. A lot of criminals tried dispatching of him.
Impossible.
By his early 20s, Nathaniel had become one of the greatest warriors and most protected politicians Old York had ever seen. He rallied thousands upon thousands of supporters from other regions of Old York. He was the closest thing to a president since the fall of the US.
No one could touch him.
His greatest soldiers were at home. Nathaniel trained over 500 students from Vancarther. They were hardened by past experiences that terrified them. They craved for balance in Old York. With that in mind, they cleared Vancarther to bring mercenaries in, they learned how to cook, traveled illegally beyond Old York's borders to bring quality food and drinks from outside, including supplies to support blacksmith families that followed Nathaniel's cause and gave back to the community by setting up programs for the poor.
Eventually, 500 turned into 2000, then 2000 went straight into 6000.
An entire army of activists, prepared for change. A miracle was bestowed upon that man the day he was born. Vancarther became the official capital of Old York and expended to accommodate others. Vancarther was THE safe city of Old York.
That title remains, even today. The rest of Old York, after all that progress, is but a mess of criminals, murderers, and deadly factions. They are waiting for the opportunity to take over Vancarther and have all the power for themselves.
That day did come, because one evening, Nathaniel Crow vanished.
No one knows what happened. His family, his friends, his most trustworthy men had no clue where or why he left so abruptly.
They knew two things, however.
The first thing they knew was where he was going: To the Bottomless Pit. Nathaniel gave instruction and his position of leader to his assistant in case he wouldn't return. He never returned.
Progress towards a brighter future was put to a halt. The disappearance of Nathanial was a shock to many, and the vicious warlords beyond Vancarther saw the perfect moment to strike. That's when the battle for control truly begun. Although Vancarther is a safe city from the inside, things haven't been the same since.
The second thing they knew was that Nathaniel had an undisclosed child with a woman outside of Vancarther, that had grown in disdain for the preaching of those loyal to his progenitor. That boy lived in Brooklyn.
That son ditched the last name "Crow" for a long time, but it's still in his papers. It's a part of his rebellion, one he lived for over 25 years, his entire life. He always wondered what he would have become if his father gave a shit about him.
Besides, this man is a terrible leader. He secludes himself in his haven, dominating an entire country by himself, only to abandon it to jump inside of a thousand feet hole? Pathetic is what Nathaniel is to his own descendance.
But what if he really cared for his son? What if Nathaniel and his son bonded? What if Nathaniel took care of the boy's mother and was there for his family, just for a few little moments? Everything in the child screamed to be great in his father's eyes. He wanted him to see the potential and prowess of his own son, as he carried the torch to a brighter future. Instead, his father left his mother to rot in the trenches outside of Vancarther, desolate & overwhelmed.
His mother died when the youngster was 6. He learned how to steal food from others already.
At 7, he picked his first weapon and stabbed his first victim.
At 8, he had already 20 people murdered. The devil child was his nickname. He changed his previous name to Alister, for it was not the name he was born with. He long forgot that other name.
At 9, he joined a small gang of other kids with similar backgrounds.
At 13 years old, Alister dragged his gang in some mess, trying to replicate his father's magic out of spite, to prove to Nathaniel that he was worth keeping around, that he was not a failure. They tried to change Brooklyn for the better. His entire gang got killed for it. Only he remained.
At 14, he had dispatched of everyone that harmed and murdered his friends. He became a loner.
At 15 he started picking odd jobs and earned his first pot of gold with a contract that was lucrative. Business started to flourish.
At 17, he killed his very first Vancarther man. He had no sympathy to show for a minion of his father.
He kept going until he hit 22, when he fell face to face with a political powerhouse in Vancarther. That's when his secret identity got revealed for the first time, and people picked up on his antics.
At 23, his first massive contract with up to a few hundred thousand dollars to kill an important man from Japan. He aced it. he even stole this man's katana and has been perfecting the art, buying that same brand of blades illegally since, becoming proficient.
That has been Alister's life.
This list could be far more exhaustive, but his track record is drenched in hatred to the point of it being depressing.
Something did push Alister to jump down there, in the Bottomless Pit. He didn't want to admit it at first, but it was clear as crystal: He wanted to see why his father did it. Why did his father, who had already ascended to the top of the food chain? why did his father, who should have cared about his son, now that he had nothing else to care about? Why did he jump in the abyss when no one ever made it back? What was so important that he had to throw it away? That is what motivated Alister to jump, even when his last victim did the unthinkable. That is also what pushed his curiosity when he realized he was never going to make it out.
That is what's driving Alister after all the nonsense he put himself through. It's not about the poor, it's not about justice for Riley's actions, nor is it about the paycheck.
It was always family business.
And as he marches forward, this family business keeps on pilling up on him. It keeps him going in this dark and twisted direction, but with more uncertainty than ever.
Alister, for the first time in a while, is unsure about himself, about what to do now.
Meeting Zephyr has changed the game.
That boy is a malfunctioning blender of negative feelings packed in one body, just like him. He went through a lot of traumas, just like him. He has a vendetta against the scientist just like him, although personal.
Should he kill that scientist…
Should he let him live after showing his readiness to let go…
Should he kill both Riley and Zephyr…
Should he tell them his last name...?