Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

black smoke billowed across Anne's office. A fire alarm activated, and the piercing sound of the siren seemed very loud in the quiet.
    Lewis walked slowly forwards into Anne's office, through the gap where the door had been. He kicked the buckled door to one side, and advanced steadily on Anne, who was spraying the burning monitor with chemical foam, cursing furiously all the while. Lewis stopped in the center of the office, and watched her do it. His ugly face was set and stern, and his eyes were very cold. Out in the corridors behind him, he could hear people shouting and running. The fire reluctantly subsided under half a ton of chemical
    foam, though smoke still drifted heavily on the air. Anne lowered the fire extinguisher, breathing heavily, and spun round to glare at Lewis.
    "Knock knock," he said calmly.
    "Have you gone crazy, Deathstalker? Have you finally lost it? So help me, if that fire had set off the sprinklers and soaked all my papers, I'd have gutted you with the nearest letter opener! Look what you've done to my office!"
    "Guess whether I give a damn," said Lewis, and something in his flat, cold voice gave Anne pause. In all their years, he'd never spoken to her like that before.
    Lewis heard running feet approaching, and he turned unhurriedly to look out into the corridor. A dozen security men were charging towards Anne's office, all of them armed with swords and guns, though they hadn't drawn them yet. They saw Lewis looking out at them, and skidded to a halt before him. They took in the gap where the door had been, looked past Lewis at the damaged office, and at the fuming Anne, and then they took a good look at Lewis. At his face, and his eyes, and the gun still in his hand, though it wasn't pointing at anyone in particular just yet. Several of the security guards started to back away. Their leader stood his ground, though his mouth had gone very dry. There was danger on the air, they could all feel it; real and imminent. The security leader swallowed hard. He took his job very seriously, but no one was paying him enough to take on the Deathstalker.
    "Is . . . everything all right here? Sir Champion?"
    Lewis looked at him for a long moment, his eyes cold and terribly thoughtful. "Nice reaction time," he said finally. "But you're not needed here. You can go now. Isn't that right, Anne?"
    Anne moved forwards, keeping a cautious distance between herself and the man who had once been her closest friend. There was something about Lewis; something in the calm, steady stance, and the dark, dangerous eyes, and the gun he still hadn't put away or even lowered . . . She suddenly thought that he looked like a man who'd been pushed that little bit too far. Who didn't care about anything anymore, because everything that mattered to him had already been taken away. And since this was Lewis Deathstalker . . . that made him very dangerous indeed. She looked from him to the security people and back again, and Lewis smiled slowly. It didn't touch his eyes, and when he spoke again, his voice was colder and uglier than his face could ever be.
    "What are you going to do, Anne? Swear out a complaint against me? Tell the guards to arrest me?
    Perhaps you think I'll go quietly ... I wouldn't put money on it. I really wouldn't. I'm going to talk to you; one way or the other. Send these guards away, Anne. Old friend. Before I have to do something that I might or might not regret later."
    Two of the security men turned and ran, and the others looked like they wanted to. They were all seconds away from actions that could never be taken back, or made up for later, and everyone there knew it. Lewis's smile widened. Anne stepped quickly forwards, to put herself between Lewis and the security guards.
    "It's all right," she said quickly to the security leader. "Everything's fine. It's all just a misunderstanding.
    There's nothing here for you to worry about. The Deathstalker and I will . . . clear things up. You can return to your stations. Very good reaction time. I'll see you all get commendations. You can go now.
    Oh; and send someone to fix my door, would you? Thank you very much."
    The security men looked at each other, shrugged pretty much in unison, and ostentatiously took their hands away from their weapon belts. They knew they weren't getting the whole story, and probably never would, but they all had enough experience and common sense to let it go. Some things you were better off not knowing; especially when it