Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

God's work! He is an abomination! He has to die!" She looked around her, seeking support. "Kill the abomination! The Paragon can't stop us all!"
    "I can stop you," said Emma Steel. She pointed her disrupter at the woman's forehead. "And you'd be surprised how many people I can cut down, if I get annoyed enough."
    The crowd looked at the dead Neumen in the street and began to break up and drift away. They might believe in the principles of Pure Humanity, but they weren't ready to die for them. Not yet, anyway. The would-be rabble rouser glared at Emma one last time, spat at the Ecstatic, then turned and walked away.
    Emma kept her gun trained on the woman's back until she disappeared down a side street, and then she put the gun away and turned back to study the waiting Ecstatic. He was standing right beside her, still smiling. Emma gave him her best glare.
    "What the hell was that all about?"
    "I am Joy," said the Ecstatic. "You must protect me. It is necessary. I know things that matter. I see the Empire that's coming, born in blood and terror. I see legends walking and heroes gone bad. Your aura is really quite magnificent, you know. The Light People swarm around you like moths drawn to a blowtorch. The one you trust most will betray you. It's really very sad, but then most things are . . ."
    "What are you talking about?" said Emma. "Why were those Neumen creeps trying to kill you? The comm channels are full of dead Ecstatics all over the city. What is going on?"
    "We are excommunicated," Joy said patiently. "Our murder has become a blessed act. The Angel says so. Mostly we don't care. Life and death aren't nearly as different as most people think. However, I am different. You may have noticed. I know things. Secrets; past, present, and future. I can't tell you what; others might rip the knowledge from your mind.
    Emma nodded slowly. "All right; that last bit actually made some sense. You'd better come with me. I'll see you're put in protective custody until we can sort this madness out."
    "Alas no," said Joy. "There's nowhere you can put me that they couldn't find me. Neumen walk through walls and under doors now. Only one place safe in this world, for such as me. You must take me there.
    Guard and protect me all the way. Take me to New Hope, Emma Steel. For all our souls' sake."
    "The esper city? The heart and home of the oversoul? What makes you think they'd put themselves on the line to protect you?"
    "Because the mind people still remember what it was like to be hunted."
    Emma couldn't argue with that. She looked around her. She and the Ecstatic were the only people left on the deserted street, but any number of faces were watching from windows. Someone would have called the Church by now. Which meant more Neumen assassins were undoubtedly already on the way.
    And if Joy really did know something that he wasn't supposed to know, something dangerous enough to threaten the new popularity of the Church Militant. . . Emma smiled unpleasantly.
    "All right, Joy, you've got yourself a ride. Get up on the sled behind me. But keep your hands to yourself, and if you get airsick, try and aim most of it over the side. And pray the espers will be as welcoming as you seem to think. No one gets into New Hope without permission."
    "My point exactly," said the Ecstatic.
    Emma grinned despite herself, led him back to her hovering gravity sled, helped him on board, and took off, climbing for the clouds as fast as the engine could take her, to avoid providing a target for rooftop snipers. The sooner she got to New Hope the better. She couldn't have felt more of a target if she'd had a bulls-eye painted on her back.
    The esper city of New Hope, central nexus for the oversoul, was only ten miles or so due north of the Parade of the Endless, but the Neumen did everything they could to prevent Emma and her new friend from getting there. First came the gravity sleds, dozens of them, sweeping down from above, disrupter fire raking Emma's sled from all sides. Emma bucked and weaved, riding the air currents for all they were worth to keep her flight unpredictable. Her sled's force shields flared and coruscated, soaking up the discharging energies, always on the very edge of overloading and collapsing, but somehow still maintaining their integrity. It seemed her passion for upgrading and tinkering was paying off after all.
    Energy bolts seared all around her, shooting in from every side as she threw the sled back and forth, rising and