It was not a dark and stormy night.
Quite the opposite actually. The afternoon was warm and sunny. There wasn't a cloud in the sky to obstruct the view of the gentleman sitting in a lawn chair in a well-tended private garden. Like most residents of the retirement home, he was frail, white haired and elderly. However all the warm weather, orange juice and flu shots in the world couldn't improve his deathly pallor, the wheezing that rattled in his chest or the sickly odor that clung to his breath. He was Pestilence after all, born from the delusions of fevered minds, and although his powers were greatly diminished in the modern world, humanity hadn't killed him yet.
Still, he mused, this wasn't a bad way to wait for The End. The food was good and the Kid was doing an excellent job picking up where he left off - poisoning the Earth in all kinds of creative ways, the way he had once poisoned the human body. The Kid was like a son to him - Pestilence Reborn. He remembered with pride the day he had passed down the golden crown that was his sign of office and watched it tarnish in the boy's hands. Yes, the Kid would go far. He had talent.
But sometimes he missed the old crowd. Occasionally he got wind for their doings on the evening news, but in wasn't the same. He did have the address of a dusty old Post Office box they jointly shared in Britain but his attempts to send letters and Christmas cards had been largely unsuccessful. The fine gray powder that mysteriously clung to his correspondence tended to make health and government officials and well as postal employees very, very nervous.
But still, the withered old man mused. There must be a way...
At nine o'clock sharp, Mr. Raven Sable entered his office. Sitting at his pristine desk, he logged on to his sleek black computer and began work for the day.
An email notification caught his eye. It was from an old, retired associate and included pictures of his new home as well as a note urging the Four of them to come round sometime for a drink so they could relive old times. Raven rolled his eyes. Didn't the old fool know the Appointed Day of their gathering would come soon enough? But still, Raven sighed wistfully, it would be nice to get out of the office.
Suddenly his computer saw fit to inform him that an infected file had been downloaded and executed and was currently spreading copies of itself through his computer network like some kind of virus.
A virus.
He should have known.
When next they met, he'd have a few choice words with Mr. White Sr - And he'd be sure to have a word with Junior about all that internet spam!
Characters created by Pratchett and Gaiman. Used without permission.