Who: Alfie Tibbits What: Greeting death as an old friend Where: Near Annie's house When: Backdated; June 3, 2039 Rating: High
The decision to join Hellfire was easy. It was anger-driven and impulsive. It felt like the right thing to do. It went completely unquestioned, unchallenged. There were no doubts. Nothing but certainty. Something needed to be done about everything that was happening all around them, and if someone was going to do it, it was going to be Hellfire. Alfie was sure of it. Despite the pleads from his family and friends, despite the tears and yelling, despite promises and deals, Alfie was sure of what he was doing. At least, he had been back then.
Today was different.
A lot had happened since he joined Hellfire. A lot of people had died. Many at his own strong hands. These were people he had seen before on the streets, people he had once considered teachers, mentors, school mates. He had killed them as easy as if he was lighting a match. Naturally. He felt nothing as his hands wrapped around the necks of his victims and squeezed the life out of them. Not pain, not fear, not remorse, only skin and bone and muscle and death. He had convinced himself he was a born killer, that his power was given to him for a reason, and that this was it. His "friends" at Hellfire encouraged this thinking. Of course they did. They needed him. He was their muscle. He was their "Hulk", just a brute whose only task was to grunt and take out the enemies. And never ask questions.
Today was different.
He was sitting just outside their safe house when he heard a few of them talking. It was the same tone they used when they were plotting something. He leaned back a bit to listen in. They seemed to have decided not to include him in this one. If they had, he would already be in there with them listening to their plans. Instead, they were going about it all without him.
"And then we stick Max right in the center here. That should give you a good radius. It'd take out quite a few of them for sure, houses and all."
Alfie's eyebrow quirked. Houses? He stood and made his way slowly over to where the group was congregated listening to the plans. Everyone was listening in so intently that no one heard him approaching. He leaned in to take a look at the map that everyone had their eyes fixed on. It didn't take him long to realize where that was. It was a section of the island where most of the people affiliated with the government lived. Where his sister lived. Alfie's eyes went wide. They were planning to blow up a section of the town with civilians loyal to the government. The thought alone was enough to make him nauseous. It was a good thing he had learned to keep quiet. He knew the price of an outburst now in the middle of a planning meeting, and it was best to do things a different way.
The team was already assembling by the time Alfie convinced the leader of the mission to let him go along with them.
"You need a scout," he said, "someone to go ahead and make sure the coast is clear. You don't wanna get there and have a million cars in the way, right?" He was surprised when his opinions were taken seriously, and he was instructed to run ahead and do just what he said he was going to do. But Alfie had other ideas in mind.
The second he was given the okay, Alfie made his way to the section of town where his sister lived. He used the safe roads to get there, though once, he had to cross into a guarded part of the town just to cut his travel distance in half. He needed to warn Annie. And fast.
The neighborhood where Annie lived was also heavily guarded, but by now, Alfie had learned ways of getting in and out without being detected. Hellfire had taught him that. But it was about the only thing he had learned other than how to be cunning enough to survive within the organization. He only had a few minutes before the others would come, only a few minutes to get his sister and her family to safety. There were others in the neighborhood, but Alfie only cared about her. He wasn't just some brute. He had feelings too, and he had never forgotten about his sister.
When he reached her house, he emerged from the shadows that concealed him the entire way and threw caution to the wind. Everything was going to go to hell in a second anyway. He began screaming her name over and over again, at every window he could find. No one came out, but he could see a light come on at one of the windows. "ANNIE! ANNIE! HELLFIRE IS COMING! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT!"
He wanted to rush in, break down the door, pull them all out and run to safety, but he controlled the fear that wanted to push him into action. Slowly, far slower than he would have liked, he saw her emerge from the house still in her night clothes. "MOVE," he shouted. But it was too late. Hellfire was upon them, setting up their dirty bomb just where they said they would. They had seen him too, had heard him warning Annie. This was it. The moment of truth.
"GO!" he yelled back at Annie before rushing toward the Hellfire band to keep them from going after Annie and her family. He was stronger than all of them, but with some of their powers, they could easily incapacitate him. The only good thing was that no one was expecting Alfie to go rogue. He was always so willing to do what needed to be done, no questions, no doubts, only action. He was able to knock a few of them down, but one of them held him back as Max set himself up in the bomb. He tried to look around to make sure Annie was safe, but he couldn't tell for sure. There was something like electricity running through his veins, the effect of someone's power on him.
And then finally, Max was ready, had lit the bomb. It would all be over in a few seconds. Not even his own strength could save him now.
"ALFIE!"
Absolute terror ran through him. No. She wasn't supposed to be so near that he could hear her. He wanted to scream back to her, to tell her that he still loved her, that no matter what he was going to be okay, that she needed to run and save herself for the sake of Jacen and the children. He wanted to scream so many things, but his throat was closing up as the last few seconds ticked away. And for the first time, he regretted joining Hellfire, regretted putting his family and friends through all of this, wished he could have had a second chance, that things wouldn't have to end this way. He had questions and doubts. Fears. He would never know the love of a woman nor the warmth of a child in his arms. He would never attend birthday parties for his nieces. He would never see the light of another day.
But somehow, knowing that his last act on this planet was done to save his sister gave Alfie an eerie sense of calm. Even as his life flashed before his eyes, he was at peace. Because he wasn't the brute who took orders and didn't ask questions. He was the person who took action and did what was right.