The Black Jester

"The storm woke sleeping giants, both evil and benevolent. Of the evil already living and breathing inside the city, it spread in aggressiveness and intensity. Both the Central City King and the Gentilly King used the cover of the storm to commit murder and spread mayhem that was assumed by law enforcement to be a side effect of the natural disaster.  

"For those of us witness to, or victims of, this malignant hand of injustice, and for victims of the villainous Kings, a new purpose burned within us. The Kings solidified their reign, their territory, their terror. So, in defense of all that was good and just, I naively seized an opportunity to become a King myself and quickly realized protecting the ultimate good often required committing the ultimate evil. 

"Do my actions violate the Hippocratic Oath I took as a young man and revere to this day? I fight a disease of this city's soul. But am I any better than the cancer that grows here? My intentions were benevolent. They were designed to improve lives, to save lives. I wanted to help innocent people. I wanted to stand up to the sickness that the other Kings were inducing on these poor people. My methods have resulted in death. Destruction. Suffering. Does the end justify the means? Or am I simply an evil man with the delusion of being good?" 

The King's pen pauses. He reads his words, his confession, in an effort to evaluate himself. His heart sinks. He knows he's in too deep to stop now. It's too late for him. He has chosen his path and it is a one-way journey. His thoughts turn to his men. 

"What of my Jesters?" He pens. "I admit, I am as fond of them as if they were my own children. All are remarkable. The Gold's natural leadership. The Red's dedication. The Blue's sense of justice. And the Black's ferocity, despite his internal battle. Remarkable." 

He gazes up and presses the expensive pen against his lips as his body briefly warms with thoughts of his men. His kids. A sobering thought sends a cold chill through his body, chasing away the warmth. 

"Have I lead them into darkness from which they will not return? They're good men, all of them. But this mission is distorting their views of the world. I can see that now. They deliver vengeance and justice at the cost of their empathy and goodness. I fear the day they veer from our task, when human nature rears its ugly head, and they begin to crave violence and power, viewing them as a necessity of life, rather than tools to ensure justice. The signs of this outcome are showing among them. I no longer ask if that day is coming but when my actions will result in a horrific influx of danger and death that will rage upon this city unlike any a monster storm could ever produce." 

He leans back in the soft leather captain's chair that matches his desk. The beautiful furniture set he was so proud to have custom ordered several years ago offers him no comfort now. He stares wide-eyed at the words in his journal. Disturbed by inner rumblings of apprehension and remorse, he shakes his head, silently cursing himself. 

"My God. What have I done?"

CHAPTER ONE: KATRINA 

"Clear!" The young African-American doctor applies the paddles of the defibrillation device to the chest of a teen boy on the table before him. His handsome features are strained and he's oblivious to the bead of sweat that rolls down his forehead and into his eye. A nurse works hurriedly to prepare a breathing tube for insertion into the patient's throat. The temporarily audible pulse of electricity accompanies the steady long beep of the heart rate monitor as it flat lines. Controlled but rushed communication flows between doctors and nurses inside the overwhelmed emergency room.  

Outside the hospital, Hurricane Katrina rages without mercy, destroying buildings and drowning its terrified victims. The hospital lights pulse and flicker despite being on a generator system separate from the city's devastated power grid. The Classical Mozart music playing over the speakers has more of a haunting effect than a soothing one. Walls and windows bang and creak as the beastly wind screeches and howls. The hospital staff struggles desperately to keep up with the increasing number of injured patients pouring in from the catastrophe.