Blessed by Night-Chapter 475: Taking Over Again?

Malachi paced back and forth between two hospital rooms.

His ears worked well enough that he could hear everything that went on in each of them without straining himself. Which was how he knew that Opal was currently in the middle of a heated argument.

Eventually, things quieted down.

The door on the left side of the hall opened first.

A man in a suit stepped out and quietly closed the door behind him.

When the older man saw Malachi standing outside, he seemed just the slightest bit embarrassed.

"She’s a real spitfire that one..."

Malachi leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "Opal is a hard worker, Secretary Simmons. I chose her to be my replacement because of her commitment."

"Be that as it may... this recent attack on her life is concerning in a number of ways... Mirrors of all things." The old man sighed. "We’re going to have to start clearing our buildings of all of them. And get the word out to any important officials who might be targeted... What a nightmare."

"Secretary." Mal said firmly. "She shouldn’t be benched for this."

"It’s a precaution, Mr Saint, not a punishment. Something I spent a great deal of time trying to explain to her just now, and she didn’t seem to get it. I’m hoping you won’t be so shortsighted."

The secretary clasped Malachi on the shoulder and began leading him away from the rooms.

"A few mandatory hours with the shrink and some paid leave is all we’re asking for. Most people would be thrilled to take that offer."

"Opal isn’t really most people."

"Don’t I know it..." Secretary Simmons shivered. "That aside, we still have to take care of her, even if it seems she’s not someone who needs it. We’ll be more than thrilled to have her back once she’s cleared, and the organization won’t fall to pieces without her."

Ideally, Malachi would have liked to say that the secretary was right, but at this current moment, he wasn’t so sure.

The problem wasn’t necessarily that the dark angels might crumble from the inside without Opal’s leadership. The jeopardy lies in their being toppled from the outside.

"In light of everything, I had the hospital clear a meeting room upstairs to hold the briefing here. Before we go up, I need you to tell me... should I take my heart medication before I hear it, or can I afford to wait..?"

"...Might want to double up today, Secretary."

"Fuck..."

-

"....Say that again...?"

Malachi stood in front of a boardroom with his hands in his pockets and a cool look on his face.

"...I’m saying I would expect our relationship with Japan to change sometime in the near future. While they don’t appear to have invested as much into technological advancements as we have, the fact remains that a mutation of unknown origin has spread throughout the island and has endowed an estimated 83 percent of the population with abilities."

"Jesus H Christ..."

A clear, silent panic seized the room full of powerful officials.

The secretary pulled out a bottle of pills from his breast pocket and poured out four of them before tossing them into his mouth with no water.

"...Go on." He gestured.

Malachi told the room of officials about his family’s experiences in Japan, as well as his dealings with the prime minister.

He completely avoided mentioning Shoto or Serana in any of his report, but due to the nature of how integral she was to the story, he could not avoid mentioning Sei and Kenji’s family drama and subsequent hostilities with the nation.

To offset that and take a bit of the focus off his wife, he volunteered information pertaining to himself that he knew was going to shock them even more.

"And... your power has yet to return?"

"It’s as good as gone." Malachi shrugged nonchalantly.

"I can only assume that is somehow the reason for your... metamorphosis?" The speaker of the House gestured to his body.

Malachi looked at his large wings that took up more than just a little bit of the room.

"...A little inconvenient sometimes, but they’re growing on me a bit. I just wish I could shrink them like my wives can.."

"I was more so referring to the act that you look like a custom character in a dating simulation game."

"...Well, yeah. It’s all related." Malachi admitted.

The officials would have laughed if they found anything about this situation remotely funny.

Their most powerful evolved was telling them that he’d had his powers stolen by a 17-year-old foreign assailant who was working under the orders of her power-hungry father.

Luckily, Malachi was just missing one ability, and had multiple to spare. But the fact that the power stolen was random was just far too close a call.

The ability of shadow, much like the power to teleport through mirrors, was undeniably something that should not fall into the hands of malicious individuals. It’s potential for misuse was simply far too great.

If fate had gone the other way, they could have been facing a threat to national security unlike any other.

The head of the CIA put down his coffee mug. "...Effective immediately, you and your family’s goodwill around the world act is on indefinite hiatus. If you want to do good, there are plenty of people that you can help who are in America."

Malachi knew that was coming. Joanne had already told him what to expect beforehand.

He had little to no leeway here. But that didn’t mean he was going to just roll over without getting anything in return.

"...Don’t know if I can promise that. This last incident was unfortunate, but my family likes being needed. We like doing something fulfilling that-"

"I understand your wife is trying to get a school accredited and built. That should keep you them plenty busy, no?" The secretary flipped through a manila folder.

"And so that you won’t be bored, why don’t you fill in for Miss Symone while she is on sabbatical?" The head of the CIA wasn’t offering Malachi so much as he was telling him he was going to step into the roll. Anything to keep him within American borders.

Truthfully, Malachi only wanted the school. He didn’t care about the posting for Opal’s job, and he didn’t want to offend her by taking it either.

"Take some time to think it over. How’s two hours sound?" The secretary leaned back in his chair.

"...It sounds like two hours."

"Perfect, can’t wait to hear what you decide. Moving on..."

Everyone in their room flipped over their briefings to the next page. In it, there was a picture of an old asian woman captured on surveillance.

"...Who’s this?" The head of the CIA asked.

"An alleged seer my family encountered in Japan." Malachi began. "With her dying breath, she prophesied another catastrophe from an inhuman army that is already here. I think we need to start diverting more funds towards protective infrastructure in the near future, because I would bet anything that another apocalypse is coming."

The faces of everyone inside the room went slack.

Secretary Simmons pulled out his pill bottle, poured out another four pills, and tossed them into his mouth.