The truth about the legacy of our Trevor Stone.
Johnny tore himself away from the sight only by forcing his mind to action; the action of finding Trevor. The action of taking him away from this cursed place.
He turned to hurry away, to escape, but stopped as Director Snowe and two soldiers blocked his path.
Snowe's stoic expression did not change. The man did not flinch — not even a little- as he drove a blade into the Reverend’s gut.
The victim offered a weak gasp unfitting for a man so big and strong. Reverend Johnny’s voice and vengeance once sent the minions of Voggoth running in fear, his machine gun had cut down demonic Wraiths at the polar ice cap and his hands had smashed Viking skulls at Five Armies. He had dispatched dozens-hundreds-of humanity's enemies with energy, confidence, and zeal. Yet he died with barely a sigh, hardly more than a whimper, all with stunned shock carved on his face as if he gazed upon Medusa.
He collapsed to the ground not from the jaws of a monster or the guns of an alien army, but at the hands of a man.
Reverend Johnny’s eyes saw no more.
21. Hostile Takeover
"Now looky here. You making yourself at home and whatnot there, Trevvy?"
I am dreaming.
"Of course you dreamin'. Whatchya thinkin'? You don’t belong over there. So I’m sendin' this here special de-liver-ee straight from me to you. Can you hear me now? Hehe."
Fuck off.
"Ah, now, see, that just ain’t very nice of you considerin' how I’m tryin' to be all easy an shit. I could be bendin' your ear telling you how you gone off the reservation, but I’m figurin' you know that. So the question is, Trevor, have you had enough ass yet? You work off that big piece of pissed-off you’ve been carryin' ‘round? You ready to hop the A-train for home?"
They need me here.
"Need you? Wake up ya’ moron! That ain’t your place to be. I told you ‘bout them rules."
I have power here. I can make a difference. The others can get along without me.
"Ahhh, poor Trevvy been feelin' not wanted and all. Boohoo. But let me tell you somethin'; your pals back home are havin' a rough time, things startin' to go squirrelly."
I don’t want to hear from you any more.
"That won’t do Trev. You ain’t supposed to be there."
I’m stuck here.
"We both know that’s bull poop. Maybe you’re just tryin' to fool yourself. Foolin' yourself into thinking you should help these folks. Foolin' yourself into thinking that lil’ blondie is your lost love. Looks like the same model, don’t she? Tell me Trev, is the ride the same?"
Shut up.
"Now I went to a lot of trouble to show you the way home. But you got to do the work, Trev. You know what to do."
Shut up!
Trevor’s eyes opened to an explosion of brilliant light.
"Hey, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?" Came Nina's voice.
As his eyes adjusted to the morning sun blazing in through one of the few windows, so did his mind. He was in the penthouse- his penthouse-at the top of the skyscraper. He had moved up in the world, in more ways than one.
Jolene Crawford strolled into the bedroom from the adjoining bath with damp hair but otherwise dressed for the day while Nina sat at the end of the bed in a white robe.
It came back to him.
Everything.
"Is he okay?"
Nina answered for Trevor. She did so with a sly smile on her lips. "Yeah, sure. I mean, he’s just got to work on his stamina a bit more."
Jolene pondered, "Hmmm…I don't know. He seemed pretty-"
"Don’t you have somewhere to go?"
Trevor’s harsh tone stopped her mid-sentence. Jolene hovered for a moment then slipped her jacket on.
"Yeah. Sure. I got duty in an hour."
I’m done with you. Leave.
"I guess I’ll see you guys around. It was fun."
Crawford left the bedroom for the front door.
Nina, unfazed by his grumpy manner, asked, "You might want to hit the shower first, the hot water runs out pretty fast around here."
He replied with a wave of his hand that sent her heading for the shower while he stood at the end of the bed and slipped on a pair of slacks. His mind buzzed in circles trying to remember what he had been dreaming about. It felt important.
Trevor took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. It surprised him to realize that despite the long night only his mind seemed groggy. His body felt strong and tense, as if looking for a reason to expend energy. Perhaps he would go to the training facility to work out. Or maybe join Nina in the shower.
"Holy shit!"
The voice came from the main room, accompanied by a series of gasps trying to form a scream.
Trevor scrambled along the short hall and into the living room. Jolene Crawford stood at the open front door staring at something in the hallway. Nina, struggling back into her robe, hurried behind.
He pushed Jolene aside and saw Reverend Johnny's body outside the door slumped against the hallway wall, his gut and upper legs soaked in blood, eyes frozen open.
It took his mind a long second to digest the sight as if the idea of 'dead' and 'Reverend Johnny' were diametrical opposed concepts. When reality finally hit, he turned to Jolene and shouted, "Did you see anyone? Was there anyone here? ANSWER ME!"
She stumbled for words longer than he liked so he shook her shoulders.
"No! No! I just opened the door and he was there! I didn’t see anything!"
Trevor pushed her away and then knelt at Johnny’s corpse, running a hand over his eyes to force the stiff lids shut. Then he squeezed his own eyes tight as a wave of emotions poured in. First came guilt over his series of reckless decisions that eventually led them here. But that guilt drown in a sea of red anger, a much more satisfying emotion because he could focus it outward instead of in.
Nina's voice-a thousand miles away-asked, "What's that?"
Trevor opened his eyes and noticed a blood-stained note on Johnny's lap. He leaned close and read: REMEMBER WHO IS IN CHARGE.
"Trevor…The Committee…oh shit…did they do this?"
Nina’s first guess was also his guess.
"The…the Committee..?" Jolene mumbled.
Trevor stood straight but he did not take his eyes off his friend. His fists clenched.
Remember who is in charge.
Yes. It is time to show them. Time to show them who is in charge.
– A few snowflakes drifted among the buildings of Thebes on a cold but windless morning. The clouds that brought the flurries looked as if they carried a heavy payload of snow to deliver but were not quite ready to give up their cargo. Maybe later. Maybe somewhere farther east.
Despite the flurries and despite temperatures in the teens, the sentries outside of the Operations Center felt fairly comfortable. With little wind, their heavy parka jackets and balaclavas kept them relatively warm.
Whatever calm the improvement in weather bestowed to those guards ran away as two armored attack vehicles bearing Third Legion insignia screeched to a halt opposite their post.
"What is this?" The Captain of the Guard went from annoyed to concerned when he noticed that the rocket launchers were fully armed and pointed at him.
An assault buggy joined the armored trucks and two people jumped out. The Captain of the Guard recognized them. The first, Major Forest of the Third Legion. The second was, well, still somewhat of a mystery. He resembled his old Emperor and rumor had it he had been riding the asses of every soldier over at the Third L. Other rumors — newer rumors- said he had personally overseen the slaughter of yesterday’s Chaktaw invading force.