Deathstalker 02 - Deathstalker Rebellion

do?"
    "Walk forward very slowly and hope I come up with some plan before we get there."
    "It had better be a bloody good one."
    "It will, it will. I'm famous for my plans."
    "You're also famous for getting your ass kicked, and there are a hell of a lot of heavily armed people looking right at us. Could we please walk a little slower?"
    "Ruby, any slower, and we'd be in reverse. Kassar's already looking daggers at us."
    "Oh, gee," said Ruby. "I may wet myself." They reached the low podium set up before the prisoners, bowed to Kassar, and then looked at the two heavy swords standing next to the two chopping blocks. The blocks looked like they'd seen a lot of service. Random looked at the prisoners, who stared back as defiantly as they could. Some of the younger children started to cry, not sure what was going on, but picking up on the charged atmosphere. For a moment that stretched and stretched, there was only the quiet and the tension. Kassar strode over to the podium.
    "What do we do?" hissed Ruby. "Jack, what do we do?" "Proceed with the executions or we'll start with yours!" snapped Kassar, and then he stopped, grabbed Random's hood, and pushed it back to reveal his face. "You!"
    "Me!" said Random, and punched Kassar in the mouth. He grabbed the dazed Cardinal, swung him around, and held him as a shield. There was uproar among the
    watching Church troops. Random smiled into Flynn's camera. "Long live the rebellion!"
    "Oh, nice plan," said Ruby, throwing off her robes and drawing her sword and disrupter. "Really subtle. Couldn't have done better myself."
    The Church troops broke ranks and ran toward the three figures by the podium, closely followed by the security forces. They all had swords in their hands.
    Ruby turned to face them, fire in her eyes. Some of the prisoners managed a ragged cheer. Random looked at his watch.
    Toby Shreck turned to Flynn. "Tell me you're getting this!"
    "I'm getting it, I'm getting it! It's all going out live. Is that who I think it is?"
    "Don't know the woman, but the other's Jack Random all right. I should have known he'd make one of his patented last-minute rescues!"
    "Hate to spoil your scenario, boss, but there's only two of them and hundreds and hundreds of everybody else. Hostage or no hostage, they don't stand a chance."
    "What the hell," said Toby. "It'll make a great show. We are talking major awards here, Flynn… Where the hell did they come from?"
    They were the hundreds upon hundreds of rebels who were boiling up out of concealed openings at the edge of the factory perimeter. Random grinned. Bang on time. While their fellows had been keeping the factory's defenses concentrated on the other side of the factory, the rest had been tunneling like crazy to reach the perimeter before the executions took place. They swarmed across the uneven metal surface, brandishing guns and swords and yelling their savage war cries. The Church and security men reversed direction, forgot all about Random and Ruby and Cardinal Kassar, and braced themselves to meet the rebel forces.

    Disrupters fired, energy beams cutting through the air, blowing people apart in gushers of blood. And then the two forces hammered together, a heaving mass of bodies surging this way and that, and there was room only for sword-to-sword and head-to-head, and the bloody rage of clashing beliefs.
    Ruby looked at Random. "I suppose you're going to say you planned that?"
    Random laughed. "Of course. Though the timing was a bit close. Search Kassar's pockets; see if he's got any keys to the padlocks."
    And that was when Half A Man came striding forward, sweeping men aside, heading straight for Jack Random with a sword in his human hand. Random pushed Kassar away from him, drew his disrupter, and snapped off a shot. Half A Man raised his energy arm to block it, and the energy beam ricocheted harmlessly away into the sky. And so they came together, two men touched and shaped by alien forces, neither of them wholly human anymore. The power of the Madness Maze burned in Random, but even so he was hard-pressed to stay in the fight. Whatever else the aliens had done, they had made Half A Man a formidable fighter. He'd been a warrior longer than Jack Random had been alive, and he never grew tired. Their swords clashed together, neither giving an inch.
    Cardinal Kassar, meanwhile, had come out of his daze, and was fighting head-to-head with Ruby Journey. He'd started with contempt, but was quickly fighting for his life. He