Deathstalker 03 - Deathstalker War

control. Never was. Control words won't work on what we've become. I only went along to be sure of ending up here, right in front of you, just in case Owen and the others didn't make it. Ruby went along with it, once she realized what I was up to."
    Ruby sniffed. "If I'd known it entailed being chained up like an escape artist and kicked around like a rag doll, I'd have thought twice about it."
    "I had to be convincing," said Random. "Besides, you're always telling me how tough you are. I knew you could take it."
    "Well next time, I'll be the one in charge, and you can get chained up, and see how you like it."
    "Kinky," said Random. "Remember, Ruby, it's all for the cause."
    "Stuff the cause. I'm in this for the money, and don't you forget it."
    Random sighed, shook his head, and turned to look at Alexander Storm. The two men who used to be friends stared at each other.
    "I'd been having my suspicions about you for quite a while, Alex," Random said finally. "Little things I was beginning to remember about Cold Rock. Things about you that didn't add up, compared to the man I used to know. I put it down to age at first. We all change as we get older. But I didn't want to believe how much you'd changed, till you used the control words on me. So I went along, to find out who you really were these days. Damn it, Alex; did I really let you down so badly? I never meant for you to be hurt."
    "Oh, you always meant well, Jack," said Storm. "You promised me all kinds of things, but you never delivered. So I went to people who would keep their promises. People I could trust. They looked after me, treated me well. More than you ever did."

    Storm was trembling with anger by the time he finished, almost spitting the words at Random, trying to hurt him, even now. Random sighed, and met Storm's gaze unflinchingly. "You poor bastard. You could have come to me anytime. Told me. We could have worked something out. I would have understood. You were my friend, Alex."
    "You were always so bloody understanding! Saint Jack, the hero and savior of the downtrodden, who had time for everyone but his friends! I got sick of your endless nobility, of having to be the selfless hero again and again, and to hell with the lives we might have made for ourselves. This is all your fault, Jack.
    You made me what I am. You're responsible for everything I've done. And now I'm going to die here, because of you. I know that. But I'll hurt you one last time, before I go."
    He surged forward, a hidden knife suddenly in his hand, heading not for Jack Random, but Ruby Journey. His knife flashed for her throat before Random could even begin to react. But Ruby's hand came up impossibly quickly, slapped the knife aside, and then she punched Storm over the heart with all her strength behind it. Her fist sank in as far as the wrist, right under the sternum. Storm stopped in his charge, as though he'd run into a brick wall. All the color went out of his face, and he crumpled to the floor, just an old man who'd been hurt so badly he couldn't even breathe. The knife fell from his hand as the feeling went out of his fingers. Random was quickly there at his side, but by the time he'd taken Storm gently by the shoulders, the old man was already dead, his heart crushed to a pulp by a single blow. Random stood up and looked at Ruby.
    "He was my friend, for a long time."
    "I know," said Ruby. "That's why I killed him. So you wouldn't have to."

    Random nodded. He couldn't bring himself to thank her, not now. Maybe later.
    "This is all very interesting, not to say sentimental and downright sickening,"
    said Lionstone. "But the game isn't over yet. I still have a few cards left to play. Let's try an obvious one, this time. Guards! A Lordship to whoever brings me the Deathstalker's head!"
    The guards standing in ranks behind the Throne rushed forward as one, their holographic disguises as burning angels falling away to reveal the armored men beneath. The monofilament swords in their hands were real enough, though, power-driven swords with an edge a single molecule thick, capable of cutting through anything. That many men, with that kind of weapon, could have stopped an army in its tracks. So the rebels didn't let the guards reach them. Jenny Psycho gestured, the power units that maintained the monofilament edge suddenly shorted out, and the swords were suddenly just swords again. While the guards were coming to terms with that, Random and Ruby hit them with a rolling wave of