Helping the Devil

🎶 Clowns to left of me. Jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you. 🎶

The song on the hospital radio summarized my situation with uncanny precision.

My name is Hunnicutt, Hadrian Hawkeye Hunnicutt. And I've been stabbed. My mother and grandmother were worried sick. Waiting at the bedside for the last week. My father was a field surgeon with Her Majesty's armed forces in Iraq. His convoy was met with an ambush en-route to a forward operating base. Good men and women died because of that ambush.

War is truly hell.

Thankfully, I do have some of the memories of the previous owner of this body. Which I suppose is for the best. I hope the soul moves on. Hopefully father and son reunite someplace.

On that cheery note, I have 2 other residents in my head. Konrad Curze. Primarch of the Night Lords. Badass title, no idea what it means. Just going through his memories was horrifying and depressing. Born on a planet with a dying star. Rejected by society. Having to fend for himself. Learning by eating the corpses of his victims. Becoming the biggest monster on the planet! Waging war throughout the galaxy. Planning, as much as his mental condition allowed, to end his own life. The hate and scorn of his brothers. Feeling, inadequate. All the while being haunted by visions of the future. 'Need to get the guy a puppy!' He deserves some happiness in his miserable existence.

And Revan, or Darth Revan. A Force user. I thought 'Awesome a Jedi!' Only to get lectured for a solid day and a half about the Force and why I would be torn apart atom by atom, if I dared call him a Jedi or Darth. Just Lord Revan is fine. His memories were more calm. That only made the highs and lows stand out more. The plots of the Dark Council. The training of both the Jedi and Sith. The galaxy torn apart. The loss of his love. Through it all he remained a bulwark against the darkness of the galaxy, until his end.

Then there's me. An investor, trader, market maker. I worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for 12 years making a few hundred million. I managed my family's money to make sure the dismal minimum wage wouldn't be a problem. My younger siblings had their tuition covered, if they ever needed it. Both of them have full or partial scholarships to in state schools. Get a degree related to financial analysis and/or data sciences, print money. What's the point of being a scientist or some other dumb shit like that? Society places a value on a person based on their wealth. 'The richer you are, the smarter you are.' I know some pretty rich rocks. Then there are people with Ph.Ds who are homeless and marketing dropouts that are millionaires. Fuck the bullshit. Make money. That's the only thing that gives you the right to live.

This body's mother and grandmother were very worried when I didn't wake up for a week. I wasn't unresponsive. Just in shock. According to the doctors. The hospital staff ran tests and procedures to make sure there wasn't something they missed. I'm happy they did so. They found a small metal shard close to my spine, left side lower back. From the knife that stabbed me.

The police were being their usual inefficient selves. Didn't find any clues as to who stabbed me. Despite it happening in London, which has cameras absolutely everywhere. They are also now taking a statement from someone who just woke up after a week.

"No officer, I did not see the person who stabbed me in the back." Seriously?

"I was going from the cricket club to my apartment." Which thankfully my uncle is renting out to me for half price.

"I took a few wickets in the nets, other than that, I don't know why someone would want to hurt me." Richard is a wanker. He doesn't have the balls to do this shit.

"I had my phone, wallet, cricket kit, and keys." Which I wont be seeing again.

The longer the muppet of a plod kept questioning me, the more irritated I became. It got to a point where Konrad had to step in and mentally calm me down. Otherwise we risked being exposing ourselves. Revan was all for turning everyone into a pretzel. Which is weird, based on their memories, I thought it would be the other way around.

Revan: A trial to test your mettle would be nice. Perhaps it is a bit premature to do it now. Regardless, it will happen Hadrian. Perhaps, finding your assailant. Yes. Find your assailant and exact your revenge.

Konrad: Give the child some time. We'll do that tomorrow.

Revan: I was thinking in a week or so.

Konrad: Why so long?

Hadrian: Guys, don't I get a say in this?

Both: ...

Hadrian: OK, good to know. Tomorrow.

I did my best to sit up and eat the porterhouse steak my grandmother snuck in. The hospital food is dreary at best. Wondering how quickly I acclimatized to being Hadrian.

*****

Mazikeen: Do you think he'll be up to it?

Lucifer: Don't know, he was the first soul that I could grasp from the null worlds.

Mazikeen: Then why?

Lucifer: A bit of entertainment. And a reality that does not end with the conquest of a new god. Darkseid is becoming a nuisance. I want it gone.

Mazikeen: Then why those three? Why not just the Night Lord and Revanchist? Why the mortal?

Lucifer: Really Maze? Why a mortal? Look at what they have done with the mere gift of fire. A mere mortal has far more potential, and more importantly, power enough to change Fate.

Mazikeen: The endless will not be happy.

Lucifer: They will keep out of it or I will put their title to the test! Now, where were we?