Prelude to The Dark Reign.

The room was surprisingly well lit for this type of meeting. Many people thought that the likes of these people met in shady alleyways, or dark, stuffy rooms found in abandoned old warehouses. But this place was far from any dusty old building that had long been forgotten by society. The meeting room resided in a luxurious hotel, populated by only the most financially capable citizens of japan. Every room, every hallway, every nook and crevice of the building was as beautifully cleaned and furnished as though it were a royal castle. The meeting room was almost closer resembling a party or ball room. It’s wide open space permitted hundreds of people to be in attendance at any one time while the side of the room was constantly filled with refreshments of every sort. The variety of food made anyone from any part of the world feel at home, and the drinks that sat nearby were of top quality. Fine wines hundreds of years old, juices freshly squeezed by the finest fruits, and even coffee prepared by a master with high quality ingredients. It was a place that could only be uncomfortable in the sense that the levels of comfort were so very alien to everyone but a lucky few.

And yet, all of the amenities went unused for the most part. The large table that could easily sit twenty only had the furthest end used. Four seats were taken, with an empty fifth chair sitting at the head of the table. The ones that sat in those chairs looked as though they had been plucked randomly from the streets. They looked to be from different backgrounds, ranging from wealthy to rough, and none of them seemed very close in age. Each member sat across from another while another sat next to them. No waiters surrounded them, as they had been asked to leave the room long ago.

The pair on the left consisted of an extremely elderly man. His long white hair was combed and straightened, and looked to be the healthiest part of his entire body. The long hair was draped across his shoulders, which were covered by an expensive looking silk robe, decorated by beautiful designs and threads. His demeanor seemed sickly, as he hunched over in his personalized medical chair. Each piece of equipment worked silently, but steadily. His poor posture was only made to look worse when compared to the one whom sat next to him. Where the old man wore white, the woman next to him wore black. Her own black hair was even longer than the old man’s, but no less taken care of. She sat up straight, idly playing with a glass of juice she seemed to have no intention of drinking. A pair of spectacles sat in front of her eyes, almost hiding them from the others as she continuously stirred the drink in front of her. She paid little attention to the old man, and the healthy color in her skin helped make the sickly individual appear even closer to death. The only thing odd to her appearance was her choice of head wear…upon her head rested a military cap, as black as her own hair.

Across the table from her was another man. He appeared to be another older businessman, his black hair starting to grow threads of silver. The glasses he wore held a much thinner frame than the young woman across from him, but they served only to highlight his sunken, stressed induced features. The dark bags under his eyes and the impatient tapping of his foot suggested he was completely caffeinated and likely sleep deprived. Every few minutes he checked his phone and looked over his shoulder, as if expecting someone to come bursting through the room at any second. The only time he didn’t was when he sent an annoyed glare towards his own seat mate.

Finally, the final member of the group was the only one with any food on his plate. He was easily the tallest of them all, as well as the most physically impressive. His blonde hair and strange eyes helped made him appear completely alien in the group, which had all remained quiet and to themselves. The white shirt he wore looked ready to be torn at the seams as his powerful musculature continued to expand with each movement. He had already scarfed down piles of steak and seasoned eggs since everyone had arrived, some of the juices falling onto his shirt and staining the cloth. He didn’t seem to care. Fruits nuts, all of the drinks from the bar were devoured in an instant! The rinds and bones or whatever were left of his food was callously tossed aside, either on the floor or back onto the messy plate. He didn’t bother using a napkin or cloth, and simply licked whatever remained on his hands away, savoring the flavor before wiping his hands on his pants.

“So! When’s this thing starting, Hiroto?” he said just after belching, much to his seatmate’s annoyance.

“Well Gregor, we WERE waiting for our ever-benevolent leader, but since they apparently decided to skip the meeting THEY called without telling us, I guess we can start now. That is, if you finished eating of course…”

“Are we sure this place is safe? It seems a bit large for what we need. Easy place for someone to place a bug somewhere. The last thing we need is someone recording this.”

“NoT…to w0rRy, mY dear little Hikari…I…Person-ALLy sCanNed the…AreA…No oNe iS…waTChing…or…Listen-ing.” The woman seemed disgusted by the old man’s raspy voice, but kept her look of contempt away from his sight, only moving to adjust her cap at his assurance. Hiroto and Gregor both seemed to take the old man by his word as well, and it would be Hiroto that began the days meeting.

“Well, as this meeting was originally intended, we are here to discuss each member’s productivity…but to be more specific, we are here to inquire about Hikari’s progress in injecting a new revenue stream in the form of a sports organizations. Last we had heard, you dispatched agents into the company in question in order to begin production and distribution.”

The woman leaned back into her chair, finally done fiddling with her drink as the meeting finally began to get underway. “I sent one of my top scientists and her personal crew into the organization a few months ago. Since then, they have created a muscle enhancing drug that ups a subject’s physical output by at least another 20 percent. Already, human experiments have begun, and the product has shown promising results. One competitor has already been injected with the drug…but from what I understand, its addictive properties are still minimal, and her body burned up most of what was given to her.”

“So, your drug is almost useless then? A drug that isn’t addictive isn’t profitable! You were supposed to have this drug line established two months ago! You have already stationed drug lines in similar stations, so why is this so much trouble?! Just get in there and start giving some samples!”

“It’s not that easy, Gregor. It appears that there are a few different deals going on under the table at that place. I have sent multiple agents to ensure progress was indeed made, but a few have gone missing when digging into key individuals.”

“ExCuses…do lIttle to line oUr PoCkets, little Hikari…YoU aRe iN charge of tHe DrUg TraDe…You should…have hAd Control of it…By NoW!”

“Easy for you to say Old Man! All you do is sell weapons to the highest bidder! Weapons you steal or smuggle away for yourself just so your little drones can make the sale for you! It’s easy to talk when you aren’t the one making the concoctions or ensuring your underlings aren’t conspiring behind your back! You sent me to find new turf, and now I’m stuck stepping on someone’s toes.”

Gregor simply laughed as the two began to fight across the table, his broad shoulders shaking like an earthquake while Hiroto seethed in his seat.

“That’s enough! We aren’t interested in whatever you THINK is going on over their Hikari! We want results, and so far, all of us have kept up our ends! Gregor has already found some promising recruits to join our ranks, while I have increased our laundering output by ten percent!”

“My men have already spread my drugs through every sports arena in this godforsaken country! But I struggle with one, and you all throw a complete fit! If you all think it’s so easy, why don’t you try?”

“Hell yeah! I’m all over that shit! What is it, a wrestling place? Fuck, I can load that up with so many of my-“

“STOP! We are trying to remain quiet about this! Before we do anything, we need to make sure to get his permission first. If he was here, it would be a simple ‘yes or no’ type of thing, but…” Hiroto began curse under his breath.

“Well then let me make a proposition for the table here…Specifically to you, Gregor and Hiroto. I would like to try and attempt to hire a few competitors from within the organization. As I said, there are criminals and psychos all lingering within such a place…surely, they must have something they want.”

“And anything can be bought for a price…is that what you are getting at?” Hiroto hated having his personal motto quoted at him. He brought it into this group, yet they always felt so clever throwing it back in his face.

“Exactly. We can hire a few of those psychos to shore up our numbers and spread our influence within the organization, while Gregor sends a few of those recruits our way. When we find out who controls the underbelly of that place, we extend an offer…Join us…or-“

“Oh! Oh! Another white blood situation?! I love it!”

“But the boss still needs to-“

“Since it is simply an agreement between us three, why would he need to know? It is just a venture between us after all…”

“And what…stOps me…from…TeLLing Him?”

“Because you would lose your cut. And besides, if things do go like the White Blood situation, then we are going to need weapons of some sort…”

“KYA HAH HAH! CLEVER GIRL~FINE! MY LIPS ARE SEALED, BUT I'M CHARGING YOU DOUBLE MY NORMAL RATE!”

With that raspy, croaking laughter, Gregor grew a smile that could hardly fit in his face. Meanwhile, Hiroto sat back in his chair, calculating the odds of success and thinking of ways he may benefit from his comrade’s proposal. It would take quite a bit of work, but if they were able to wipe out further competition in the process, then perhaps it would all be worth it. They would have to make their move sooner than later… the faster it was done, the sooner they could reap the rewards.

Hiroto, The Old Man, Hikari, Gregor:

To be continued