Sweeper Alliance

Sweeper Alliance

The Sweeper Alliance is a fictional group of characters in the manga and anime series Black Cat. They are a group of sweepers, who are similar to bounty hunters and generally work alone. However, when a huge sum of money is offered for the capture of the Apostles of the Stars, these sweepers join together in a team to make sure they will be able to defeat the Apostles. A recurring idea for all the characters in the Sweeper Alliance is the fact that while they superficially seem to be working only for money, their true goal is to help people.




River Zastory


River is, among others, a sweeper interested in capturing Creed. He is trained in the Gerbell Command style, a martial art developed in Talica during a thirty-year war. The Gerbell Command style emphasizes extreme power and speed in the fists, enough to reflect bullets and cause shockwaves to attack at a distance. Among River's abilities, Sonic Fist and Tornado Grenade are fairly relevant. While Sonic Fist allows River to move his fists in a certain direction, which allow him both to defend (By deflecting projectiles such as bullets), or to attack (As he does with Preta Ghoul, by moving the fists so fast that he creates shockwaves in the air), Tornado Grenade allows River to gather a spiral wind mass around his hand/arm, that allows him to create a small version of a tornado, which he uses, for example, to piledrive massive amounts of rock.

River first appears at a local Sweeper Bar that Train and Eve head to (Sven isn't present with them as he's doing his own training to perfect his Vision Eye). After discovering Train's identity, he requests a duel against Train to see if he can beat Train with his fists. He admits defeat after being grazed by one of Train's bullets and seeing his Rail Gun (to which River says even he couldn't deflect) After the boat incident when landing on Clarken Island where all the sweepers get separated, he ends up in the same part of the island with Train, and they both tag against Preta Ghoul and Maro afterwards. River also helps Train in the fight against Shiki, by fending off the giant insect Shiki summons, while Train takes care of Shiki. Train addresses him as "Thunder head", as his hair is shock yellow. Later on in the manga, River also aids Train in the fight against the berserkers (which're presumably members of the Sweeper Alliance): Touma and Mundock. After the battle, he requests Train to head up to beat Creed.River's character is noticeable more of a comic relief role, rather than the serious role in the manga. He first appeared in the sewer. Because he somehow got so lost, he wandered in by accident. In the anime, River's hair is pink instead of blonde. River and the other sweepers do not fight against members of the Apostles, but with Shooting Star soldiers and Tao-wielding nanomachine monsters.

Grin


Grin is the one who decided to form the Sweeper Alliance after Creed Diskenth became wanted. In the manga, he hung around with River until Train and the group appeared. The readers later discover that he is actually Number X, Lin, in disguise, but the Alliance never find out. He does not meet the Alliance after they depart to Clarken Island by boat, as he departs together with Chronos already as a Chrono Number.In the anime, he advertised for the formation of the Sweeper Alliance, and only met River and Train after Sven responded to his ad. Like in the manga, he was later revealed to be Number X of Chronos, but the major difference here is that the Sweeper Alliance do discover this before heading to Clarken Island. Unlike in the manga, he goes together with the sweepers on the boat to Clarken Island.


Kevin McDougall



Kevin McDougall is a sweeper that together with Train, Sven, Eve, River, and other sweepers, forms the Sweeper Alliance. He handles two revolvers, and his looks are those of a cowboy, except with a bit of "urban" style. In the manga, he helps Eve after she battles with Leon by carrying her. He is stabbed by Touma, but manages to survive.

Silphy


Silphy is another one of the sweepers that forms the Sweeper Alliance. Her specialty is body combat. She battles Deek Slasky, but he manages to deliver an attack that continually freezes her until she turns into a complete ice statue. However, while the ice is still spreading through her arm, Sven appears and fights Deek, damaging so that his Chi is not strong enough to maintain the spell, saving Siplhy.The same, except she does not battle Deek, as he doesn't appear, and she is attacked by Preta instead, who Sven fights to save Silphy.



Gallom & Lacdoll



In the attack that Shiki conducts on the boat the sweepers are travelling in, Gallom is brutally killed by Shiki, and so is Lacdoll minutes later, while trying to shoot back at Shiki. The other sweepers escape from the boat right before it explodes, and reach Clarken Island.They're more or less of a comedic duo. Gallom and Lacdoll show no battle prowess and end up running away from the nanomachine monsters. Along with every sweeper they end up alive as well, celebrating the Apostle of the Stars' defeat.



Tōma Fudō



During the final part of the manga Doctor makes both Tōma and Mundock go berserk. Under Doctor's control through nanomachines, Touma tries to attack Eve but Kevin stands in the way and is pierced instead of Eve, and after that they attack Train and River, and eventually Eve takes River's place, and both invent a plan for Eve to destroy the nanomachines that control the two.We see him face off against the Apostle of the Stars, together with the sweepers from the Alliance. However, none of the sweepers reaches the Apostles' castle, so the scene where both him and Mundock are controlled by Doctor does not take place.


Murdock


Murdock is also controlled by Doctor's nanomachines, but after facing off Train and River, they face against Eve and Train, that make them come back to normal through a plan invented by both.He also tries to lend his power against the fight of the Apostle of the Stars, but unfortunately, they get the best of him, and thus he falls unconscious. He then leaves Lin to take care of them. Fortunately, he seems to be all right after the final battle with the Apostle of the Stars.