Lucious Careneli did not like people. In fact he hated them. He hated being around them. He hated hearing them complain. He hated everything about them. But he also found amusement in their presence. He laughed at their worthless emotions and their pointless conversation. But there was one person he hated most out of everyone, and that was Nikolai Farren, the Mayor of his city, New York. Nikolai was hated by most people. He was corrupt and foul. But so was Lucious. That was not why he hated him. He hated him for only one reason; he was richer than Lucious. Lucious didn't like much, but he loved money. Money could buy him solitude... and boats. boats... he loved boats. He was the second richest person in New York City. He hated being second. He was always thinking of ways he could get more money. But the thing about money is that you have to deal with people to get it. Lucious could get other people to get his money for him but he liked to do things himself. And in fact, that's what he was doing now... getting his money.

I wonder how long this one will last. He smiled.
Lucious removed a pocket knife from his jacket and waved the blade around in the air. The man in-front of him shifted uncomfortably.
"You're not going to scare me." Stuttered the man.
"Oh." Grinned Lucious. "What a brave soul."
"Listen, you can't just go around taking peoples money." He responded, pointing an incriminating finger at Lucious's face.
Lucious did not like that.
He grabbed the mans hand and plunged the knife into his arm just below the elbow, taking care not to sever the arteries. He still needed that mans money.
He let out a scream of pain that echoed down the alley. He fell to his knees and clutched his arm.
"Give me the money." Lucious said simply.
The man's mouth opened in a silent scream. Sweat soaked through his shirt and he searched for oxygen, gasping from the shock of the pain.
Lucious walked over to his hunched form and grabbed the mans injured arm and stuck his thumb into the knife wound.
"Give me the money and I'll make this stop." Sneered Lucious.
He removed his thumb for a moment so the man could catch his breath.
"Fi... Fine. I'll tell you where it is. Just please... please stop."
Lucious gave a beaming smile and wiped the bloody knife on the mans jacket.
"It's in a safe in my apartment. The code is 4265."
"Thank you kind sir!" Chimed Lucious.
The man glared at him and slowly stood up.
"Are you ready?" Lucious asked as he cocked his head sideways.
"For what?"
"For this of course!"
With that Lucious plunged the pocket knife into the mans temple. It slid in with little resistance, piercing the oh so important gray matter. The man went limp and fell to the ground, a look of terror on his face.
"Thank you for cooperating." Lucious grinned as he walked away.


Lucious was in a good mood. He retrieved the deceased mans money and returned to his mansion in high spirits.
"Thunk!" The knife sunk into the drywall directly between the eyes of Nikolai Farren.... well a poster of him at least. Lucious wished it was his flesh, but sadly it was just a stress reliever. Or in this case a happiness reliever.
Lucious did not like to be happy for a long time. He never wanted to reach contentment... Where would the fun be in that?
"Thunk!" This one placed itself right on Nikolai's nose, and right where Lucious intended.
He was an expert knife thrower. As well as javelin. He also had picked up archery recently. Almost anything with a blade Lucious could handle with utmost skill.
"Stupid Farren, stupid Farren, I wish I could hit you with my Mclaren." Sung Lucious.
And of course he wasn't lying, he did have Mclaren.
He danced over to his mini-bar singing his tune, and sipped his ice cold scotch.
"I wonder what Farren is up to today?" He said as he picked up the remote to his 80" flat screen TV. He switched it to channel 6; Fox News.
"And that's the way the cookie crumbles... Back to you Ray."
"Thank you Bruce. That was quite the report you had there." Chuckled the news anchor.
Well viewers, you may have heard some chanting just outside your window this afternoon. Gerard Herald... The much "Heralded" activist has been leading a rally through the streets of Manhattan, protesting the new income tax that Mayor Nikolai Farren has recently passed." The news anchor turned his head to the side.
"Here we have Evan live at the protest. To you Evan."
"Thank you Ray. As you can see we actually have managed to pull Gerard aside for a personal interview. Gerard, tell us why you are protesting."
"Well Evan, this protest is not only about the newly passed income tax, but an accumulation of things. We have all repeatedly seen the Mayors lack of integrity, and corrupt decisions. He does not deserve to be in office. He is a crooked insolent person!" The news anchor looked into the camera and cocked his head sideways in a questioning gesture. Gerard took a breath and began yelling with more force into the camera.
"We will not stop until him and his taxes are gone! I would die before I saw him serve another term! I will bring the son of a-"
The camera cut out and returned to the original news anchor.
"Well, sorry about that folks. It seems Gerard feels quite strongly about this."
Lucious launched the remote at the TV.
"I wanted to see the rest of that!" He shouted.
"I like that guy... Anyone who hates Nikolai is my friend."
Then suddenly, Lucious had an idea. An idea that would help him do what he's always wanted to do.
"I think I'll pay Mr. Herald a visit....George!"
His butler responded with lightning speed.
"Yes Mr. Careneli?"
"Get the car ready."
"Right away sir."


Lucious arrived at the location where Gerard was protesting and was met my an insurmountable hubbub. He was immediately annoyed and put in a bad mood. He yelled at his butler to stay there and got out of the car, making his way towards the front of the crowd. He found Gerard after a small amount of searching and approached him.
"Come with me!" Lucious yelled at Gerard.
At first Gerard paid no attention to the small Italian man yelling in his face. But Lucious persisted. Finally Gerard turned his head and focused his attention on the annoyance.
"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something!" He yelled sarcastically.
Lucious's face turned grave. He removed a small handgun from his jacket and held it to Gerard's ribs.
"Come with me... Now."
"Whoa whoa, don't get ahead of yourself now." He said as he raised his hands in surrender. Lucious grabbed his shoulder and pushed him forward towards the car.
"Where are you taking me! I'm in the middle of a protest!"
Lucious did not answer.

They reached the car and Lucious nudged him inside.
"Who are you!?" demanded Gerard.
"You don't know who I am?" Lucious looked offended.
"No, obviously not."
That made Lucious even more mad than he already was. He was about to go on a rant but contained himself. That could wait.
"Who I am is not important. All you need to know is that we have a common enemy."
"Well I assume it is the Mayor." Stated Gerard.
"Your assumption is quite correct."
"And why is it you dislike the Mayor." He asked
"I do not only dislike him I loathe him." responded Lucious.
"Well he is you might say a "Bete Noire".
"That is true but I dislike him for other reasons than the common public."
"Which are?" inquired Gerard.
Lucious rose the Barretta in his hand. "That is entirely unimportant."
Gerard took the hint and stayed quiet.
"Where to sir?" Asked the butler.
Lucious looked over to Gerard. "Where is your home?"
"Excuse me?" He said, a tad flabbergasted.
"Your home, where is it?"
"Why would I tell you?"
"Gerard..." Lucious said lowering his arm. "I want to work with you. I am not your enemy."
"Then why do you have a gun pointed at me?!"
"I do not."
Gerard sat for a moment, staring at Lucious.
"Drive towards central park, I will direct you the rest of the way."
"Thank you." Lucious nodded his head. "George."
"On our way sir."





They arrived at Gerard's home, and much to Lucious's surprise it was a very extravagant apartment.
"This is quite nice." commented Lucious
"Thank you." Gerard responded reluctantly.
"Now why is it you wanted to come to my apartment."
"Oh, I just didn't want you knowing where I lived... Yet."
Gerard furrowed his eyebrows questioningly but let the comment go.
"Well then what do you want from me?"
"Simple, we bring Nikolai to his knees... together. You have the publics favor and I, well... I have me." Lucious said, putting a little emphasis on the last word.
"And how are you of use to me?"
"You will find that out soon enough." Lucious responded, a smirk forming on his face.
"Meet me-" Lucious paused for a moment. "Actually never mind, we will do it here."
"Do what?" Questioned Gerard.
"Don't take it personal."
Lucious withdrew his pocket-knife from his jacket and thrust it into Gerard's soft stomach. Gerard keeled over, a look of puzzlement on his face. He clenched his stomach and fell on his side.
"Oh! Don't get any of that on the floor." Lucious instructed.
"Wh- why?" he groaned.
"Just a pawn, nothing more. I really did like you."

Lucious brought the Gerard's body to an alley and threw it in the dumpster. Leaving no evidence of his killer behind.
"And it begins." He grinned.

?

"Riots have broken out in result of Gerard Heralds alleged murder. No evidence has been brought to light but our Mayor Nikolai Farren is the prime suspect." announced the news anchor.
Lucious beamed with satisfaction.
"The Mayor has announced that he will be giving a speech proving his innocence this afternoon at 3:00 pm."
Lucious gave a startled look.
"Well that wasn't in the plan."
He paused for a moment and contemplated with his hand on his chin.
"Actually that will fit quite nicely." he said to himself.
"George!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Could you pull my Mclaren around? I'm going to go for a drive."

?

4 hours later


Agent Saper's bone mic crackled in his ear. A voice he knew to be head agent Monte blared through the mic.
"Agents give me a sit rep."
Saper was team 3 so he waited for the first two teams to go first.
"Team 1 snipers in position."
"Team 2 good to go."
Saper looked at his dead partner next to him then looked back down his scope.
"Team 3 snipers in position."
There was a short pause then Agent Monte's voice cut back in.
"Alright, Sparrow is on the move. Stay sharp."
Saper looked down his scope and saw Mayor Farren exit the building and towards the stage. He immediately picked up the non-service issued walkie-talkie next to him and pressed the talk button.
"Farren is walking to the podium." He whispered.
"Whenever you're ready." responded a voice, a little to happily.
Saper followed the Mayors form with his reticle leading him by a few centimeters. The reticle stopped as Farren reached the podium. Saper took a deep breath, inhaling then exhaling very slowly. Just slow enough to keep the flow of air steadily trickling out. He rose the reticle to meet the Mayor's tiny head then pulled the trigger.



Lucious heard the shot echo through the square, bouncing off buildings then slowly dissipating into nothing. Then he heard the pandemonium. Screams and shouts of confused and frightened civilians. He was to short to see over the crowd but soon enough the pandemonium reached him, and everyone was running for cover. Lucious loved pandemonium. It calmed his nerves and made him happy. He fed off others fear. He smiled as he waltzed towards his Mclaren.
"Vanity vanity, oh the joys you bring."
And with that Lucious walked away, his wallet a little lighter but his spirits a little higher.