Deathstalker 02 - Deathstalker Rebellion

tunnels, Random and Ruby stood alone in a dimly lit corridor. The fire was gone, and they had fallen back into their own minds again. Smoldering bodies surrounded them for as far as they could see, and the air was thick with the stench of burned meat. They looked at each other, just a man and a woman again. Or so they hoped.
    Their minds had followed along with the flames, and they knew what they had done. Alexander Storm and Specter Alice found them standing together, staring into each other's eyes, as they came stepping carefully over the charred bodies that covered the tunnel floor. They stopped a safe distance away and waited to be noticed. Random and Ruby finally turned to look at them, and Storm had to fight down an impulse to fall back a step. They both looked younger, fiercer, more than human, as though the terrible heat they'd generated had somehow burned away the impurities in them. Looking into their eyes was like looking into the sun.
    "They're all gone," Storm said harshly. "We've started clearing out the tunnels, but it'll take some time. There are a lot of bodies to shift."
    "The survivors took prisoners with them," said Specter Alice. "We don't know who or how many yet. We'll have to sort through the dead first. God knows what the Wolfes will do with their prize. They've never taken captives before."
    "Don't worry," said Random. "We'll get them back." As he spoke the fire slowly
    went out of his eyes until he was just a man again. "Spread the word. When the force Screen goes down for the ceremony tonight, we attack in force. All of us.
    We'll free the clones and the prisoners, disrupt the ceremony, and trash the stardrive assembly lines. All on live holovision. That should make it clear to everyone who really rules here."
    "Jack, that's a hell of a lot easier said than done," said Storm. "The Rejects have tried mass attacks before, but it never worked."
    "They didn't have Ruby and myself to lead them," said Random. "We'll make all the difference. Where's your spirit, Alex? You and I will be right in the forefront, leading the attack. It'll be just like old times."
    "I hope not," said Alexander Storm, meeting Random's eyes unflinchingly. "Dear God, I hope not."
    The ceremony was still two hours away, but Daniel and Stephanie Wolfe were already preparing themselves for the show. The right outfit was so important for such occasions. They were in Stephanie's quarters; Daniel had been having trouble tying his cravat and had come to his sister for help. She shook her head, unsurprised, and pulled the cravat into place with short, controlled tugs.
    Daniel stood patiently as she fussed over the rest of his formal outfit and looked around Stephanie's quarters. More luxuries per square inch than most people saw in a lifetime, but Stephanie still considered her quarters to be particularly spartan and said so loudly on every conceivable occasion. She was, after all, a Wolfe and accustomed to the very best of everything. Daniel felt much the same way, but couldn't be bothered to make a fuss. He had other things on his mind.
    "You know, I shouldn't still be doing things like this for you, Danny," said Stephanie mildly as she stepped back to admire her work for a moment. "I know
    you don't like servants getting this close to you, but Lily is supposed to be looking after you these days. She is your wife, after all."
    "Don't know where she is," said Daniel. "She's never around when she's wanted.
    Not that I give a damn. Her endless prattling drives me crazy. Not a word of sense in her. I sometimes think Dad wished her on me for a joke."
    "I know what you mean," said Stephanie. "Michel's no better. Nice build, but there's nothing between his ears but his appetites. He's always forgetting errands and appointments, and then he has the nerve to sulk when I yell at him.
    He's good enough in bed, but he has all the personality and charisma of a soft boiled egg. We should never have agreed to marry them."
    "No choice. You saw the will; go through with the marriages or be disinherited.
    And we did need the businesses that came with them."
    "We've got their businesses now. There, that's finished. Don't touch your cravat again under any circumstances. Got it? Good. You're quite right, of course. Our respective spouses are about as much use as… Oh, I don't know. Name something really useless."
    "Lily and Michel," said Daniel, and Stephanie had to smile, if only briefly.
    "Right," she said dryly. "I'd divorce mine in a minute