Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

again." He nodded to Finlay. "Next time, son."
    "Anytime, old man," said Finlay.
    Random turned and looked around him. The room was littered with the dead. The walls were running with blood. The only living souls still left in the hall apart from himself and the unconscious Ruby were Evangeline and Finlay, Toby and Flynn, the grieving Daniel… and Elias Gutman. Random nodded to the news team.
    "Keep filming, boys. You're about to witness the death of a genuinely evil man."
    "I've alerted my guards," said Gutman. "They're on their way."
    "Let them come," said Random. "Let them all come. It won't make any difference."
    "Think what you're doing, man," said Gutman urgently. "Don't throw away everything you've achieved, just because you didn't like the conditions on Loki."
    "The corruption's everywhere. All through the Empire. You should know. You're responsible for most of it. You and your kind."
    "You can still be a positive influence. You achieved so much…"
    "I achieved nothing! Nothing's changed. Not really." Random shook his head, no longer smiling. "My fault. I wasn't true to my cause, to myself. All my friends are dead. They died for the cause. If I stop now, they died for nothing."
    "What about Ruby Journey?" said Gutman, gesturing at the still body on the dais.
    "We no longer have anything in common," said Random. "I've nothing left to lose, Elias. The Madness Maze made me very powerful. I think it's time I put that power to some real use, at last. Time to die, Elias."
    "Owen would never have approved of this," said Evangeline, and Random stopped his advance on Gutman to look at her again. She met his cold gaze unflinchingly.
    "Owen Deathstalker gave you a new life, Jack Random. Is this how you repay him, by spitting on everything he ever believed in?"
    "Owen's dead," said Random.
    "Not as long as we still believe in the cause and honor he lived by. You know he would never accept what you've done here. Killing someone just because you can will make you just the kind of person we fought a rebellion to get rid of."
    "Owen's dead," said Random. "The most honorable man I ever knew. The only real hero in the whole damned rebellion. And Gutman's still alive. Doesn't that tell
    you all you need to know about the way things have gone?"
    There was a sudden pounding on both doors at once, as Gutman's guards finally arrived. From the noise they were making, it sounded like there was a hell of a lot of them. Random looked at the doors thoughtfully, and then turned back to face Gutman again, only to find Evangeline had moved to stand between him and his prey. The Unknown Clone was there too, at her side, as always.
    "You'll have to get through us to get to Gutman," said Evangeline steadily. "And I don't think you're ready to go that far yet."
    "Why are you doing this for Gutman?"
    "I'm not. I'm doing it for you."
    "Ah hell," said Random. "There's always another time."
    One of the locked doors was blown in by concentrated disrupter fire. Random ran over to the hall's only window, overlooking a twelve-story drop to the street below. He threw open the window and looked down. It was a long drop onto solid stone, certain death for any man. Random laughed breathlessly, and jumped. It felt like he was floating down, and when his boots slammed against the flagstones, he hardly staggered, his more than human leg muscles absorbing the impact easily. With the blood of many on his hands and on his clothes, the last professional rebel in the Empire ran off down the back streets, disowned by all, a man alone. And Jack Random couldn't have been happier.
    Back in the hall of the dead, Gutman's guards were sweeping quickly through the splintered doors, guns at the ready as they checked for targets. It only took them a moment to realize the killer was gone, and they set about checking the fallen for signs of life. But the piled-up bodies were beyond all help now.
    Random's sword cuts had been as precise as a surgeon's and the power behind his
    blows had been brutal. Someone called for a medic anyway, to check out the few survivors for shock. Evangeline watched it all numbly. She'd always thought of Random as a wild card, but she'd never thought… A loud groan to one side spun her round, to see Ruby Journey slapping aside a guard's helping hand as she lurched to her feet on the dais. She put a hand to her head, grimacing at the pain, but her eyes were already clear and sharp.
    "Damn," she said thickly. "Never saw that one coming." She