Well. I had envisioned three chapters to this. Then four. Now…I think it's going to be six…With thanks to Gumnut-Logic for the read-through.
Belah Gaat. A name he hadn't heard for almost twenty years until Jeff had uttered it yesterday. The opportunity that had presented when he realised how badly injured the eldest Tracy boy was was too good to be true.
He had possessed the Dreamstone for decades, ever since he had burned that infernal monastery to the ground. Unlike the majority of people, Gaat understood about other powers. After all, he had his own powers, courtesy of the same place. He just never thought he would ever have the opportunity to use it. He understood the drawbacks of the power of the stone, and while Gaat would have loved to have many wishes answered, he wasn't prepared to give up anything in return.
It had worked better than he had even imagined. He had thought that everything would stay roughly the same except no International Rescue, but he had been wrong. Waking up in an alternative timeline was a complete surprise.
Finding out he was a legitimate businessman was a shock. Finding out that he was the billionaire and not Jeff was…elating. Finding out that not only was there no International Rescue, there was no Scott Tracy on the scene was the icing on the cake.
This was the best day of his life.
He spent the rest of his day searching through all his records. What had he been up to over the last few years? No way he could have been above board all this time, you couldn't change the core of a person like him.
It didn't take Gaat very long to crack his own code and find all the illegal activity he had going. His legit business was a great cover for the shady mastermind he really was.
He was delighted.
Now it was nearly the end of a most wonderful day, and Belah settled down to find the other players in this. There was only one potential fly in his plans, one other person who knew about the stone, and to make sure his ultimate victory was secure he needed to know where he was.
He needed to find his half-brother Kyrano. Gaat put Belah aside and slipped easily into The Hood, reaching out to all his contacts, desperate to find his brother before his brother found Tracy.
It was the early hours of the morning when he found out he was too late. He screamed and thumped the desk hard. Why didn't anything ever go completely his way? No matter. Tracy and Kyrano were predictable, and he had time to prepare a welcome party.
He sat at the desk, in the top office of what he knew had been Tracy Towers once upon a time, threw his head back and laughed.