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 Underground eXperts United
 
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 [   Blackstone Rising    ]            [       By Sarlo      ]
 
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 Blackstone Rising
 By Sarlo
 
 The eyes. Everyone is struck by the fire that blazes in
 Nicholas Blackstone's dark eyes. Businessmen see in them a
 beacon guiding them to wealth and glamour. Politicians see a
 torch illuminates their own names. And others see it a flame
 that burned their houses down and left them out on the
 street.
 
 Right now, thoses eyes are looking out towards the
 ocean from Blackstone's Pacific Palisades home, and they do
 not like what they see. A young family of four have made
 themselves comfortable on his private beach: the children
 toss a frisbee while the husband prepares to swim. "I can't
 believe this," says Blackstone. "Don't these people read
 signs? Well, they'll get what's coming to them." This proves
 almost immediately when, seemingly out of nowhere, a shark
 appears and bites the man clean through. Blood fills the
 water, screams fill the air, and Blackstone smiles grimly as
 he sips his Bordeaux. "It's a tough world," he says.
 
 And Nicholas Blackstone may be the toughest denizen of
 that world. For his is - or claims to be - Satan, "The
 embodiment of evil, that whole trip," in his words. As such,
 he has compiled an enviable record as the ultimate hard-
 charging, behind-the-scenes operator, a man always present
 at the biggest deals and the most fashionable parties.
 Indeed, many among the wealthy, powerful, and famous count
 on him as the most valuable friend they have, a seductive
 man in tune with the times to an uncanny degree.
 
 But, like many accomplished people, Blackstone is
 dogged by critics who accuse him, with varying degrees of
 substanation, of letting loose violence, famine, and
 hopelessness around the globe, and find him insensitive to
 the pain he causes.
 
 One such person is Hector Rodriguez, a homeless man who
 defaulted on his ren after being stricken with leukemia.
 Huddled in the doorway of an abandoned building on New Yorks
 unattractive Lower East Side, his purpleish mouth contorting
 with unresoning hate, Rodriguez curses Blackstone, who
 admits to having arranged Rodriguez's fate as part of a
 wager. "Why, Man? That's all I got to Ask, Why?"
 (Blackstones reply has been unchanged since his role in the
 affair was first revealed: "Why did they climb Everest?
 Because it was there.")
 
 Blackstone's work on larger canvases has also come
 under attack - whether the charges can withstand closer
 examination or not. For example, some liberal activists have
 accused him of reciving a profit on every nuclear weapon
 made: in truth, the profit kicks in only if they are used.
 
 He also has been linked to the "Greenhouse Effect", without
 much evidence. "Thats a ridiculous charge," counters
 Blackstone. "I don't even OWN a car. Although I will say
 that, in my opinion, the `Concern-for-Nature' facination has
 gotten out of hand - I can do business now matter WHAT color
 the air is, and I know alot of people who feel the same." It
 is the characteristic response of a blunt man who professes
 to be indifferent to his reputation.
 
 "Hey, I INVENTED Social Darwinism," says a confident,
 serene Blackstone as he opens another bottle of Bordeaux. "I
 never promised there wouldn't be a Down-Side. If I'm such a
 bad guy, why do people keep calling on me?" Yet as he
 continues defending himself, one get the unmistakable
 impression that, behind the bluster, Blackstone may not be
 the unfeeling monster his opponents - with their skillful
 use of the "Satan" tag - have made him out to be. "Okay, so
 an innocent bystander gets hit in the head with a
 ricocheting bullet and is cut down in his youth. I mean, how
 do you think >I< feel? That guy's dead - I have to live with
 the knowlege of his senseless extinction forever. I only
 wish it could be otherwise."
 
 When questioned further, even people like Hector
 Rodriguez are forced to agree. "Maybe I deserve all this,"
 says the homeless man as a passerby spits at him. "I
 remember that I did some dancing on Sunday once. When you
 think about it, he's just doing what he's gotta do."
 
 But it is a Blackstone who is sensitive to the needs
 and concerns of others that his friends and supporters talk
 about warmly. Again and again, they refer to the many people
 he has lifted out of obscurity to the highest positions in
 their feilds, always noting that he asks for nothing
 material in return. These include everyone from Political
 figures - on the right AND left - religious leaders, and an
 enviable string of the world's most beautiful women. (In
 fact, his latest Lady Love, British cabinet minister Rachel
 Ann Simpson, is all three) For these movers and shakers,
 Blackstone's identity as Satan is not enough reason to
 abandon a man who has done so much for them. While they
 admit that he has been guilty of "Overzealousness" and that
 he may have "a cruel streak," they claim on a whole, he has
 been inaccurately portrayed in the media.
 
 "We understand that, as a purely malign presence, he
 makes a good copy," says his current publicist, Mark
 Bergman. "You know, witches being burned on his account, the
 Holocaust, and so forth. But what reporters don't see is
 that these stories really hurt him perosonally. We think
 it's time to tell out side of the story."
 
 Hence a new campaign to court the press. Reporters who
 were once brushed aside or afflicted with boils, are now
 welcomed and told of Blackstone's extensive one-on-one
 philanthropy. "All you have to do is call on him, and he's
 there," says Simpson "Thats what happened to me." Simpson
 was working a London topless bar when she wrote Blackstone a
 letter detailing her plight. "Just a few phone calls later"
 - in his words - she recived simultaneous invitations to
 enter the Episcopalian preisthood AND the Conservitive
 Party, and now, two years later, she sits happily by his
 side in custom-designed Geoffrey Beene vestments. And what
 does she think about Blackstone's habit of discarding
 intamates by causing them to kill themselves? "I think this
 time it'll be different. He's assured me, privately, that
 hes really changed after all these centuries. He realizes
 that the smile on a kid's face after his first Black Mass is
 just as precious as a Million-Dollar deal," says the woman
 insiders think will be the next archbishop of Canterbury.
 
 Blackstone seems uncomfortable hearing statements like
 these. After a pause, he says, "I feel I've ALWAYS been a
 people person. Helping someone attain his or her goals - if
 they truly want them - I think htat's what Nicholas
 Blackstone's all about." But with characteristic reticence,
 he declines to go further. "Talk of motivation makes me
 uneasy. I'd rather be judged on what I do."
 
 Indeed, for all this outward pride in his thick skin,
 Blackstone is a man driven by a fundamental need for
 respect. "For a long time, my treatment at the hands of the
 media was a record of distortion, but I put up with it," he
 says, those dark eyes flashing. "Now, though, the time seems
 right for a change. I'm tired of people blaming me for their
 misfortunes. They should take responsibility for their own
 lives! It doesnt matter if you're poor or crippled or
 starving - if you can't overcome your fear of success, you
 deserve what you get."
 
 Blackstone has never had any such fear. And, as you
 spend more time in his hypnotic presence, the source of his
 impressive can-do achivements becomes obvious. For Nicholas
 Blackstone, alias Satan, life begins with a simple belief:
 have faith in yourself. He has gained access to the halls of
 wealth and accusations from petty-minded detractors who call
 him "the Author of Evil." According to his freinds, the
 greatest evil is that he is misunderstood.
 
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