Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

again. She smiled slightly. "So you're the Durandal. I saw what you did to those ELFs. I liked it. Got me really hot."
    "Does anybody else find it a trifle close in here?" said Brett.
    "It's a good thing the ELFs didn't get control of you," said Finn. If he was at all perturbed over Rose's words, he didn't show it. "If they had, we'd have had a real slaughter on our hands."
    Rose shrugged. "I was off duty, resting here. By the time I realized what was going on, Security had panicked and gone into full lockdown. I was trapped here. All I could do was watch it on the communal vidscreen later."
    "You don't even have your own viewscreen?" said Brett. "What do you do in here, when you're not ...
    on duty?"
    Rose smiled. "Mostly I sleep, and dream. Would you like to know what I dream about?"
    "Not really, no," said Brett. "Do you really get off on killing people?"
    "Oh yes," said Rose. "There's no pleasure like it. Nothing to compare. Of course, I'd prefer it if more of my victims actually stayed dead, but then, you can't have everything, can you?"
    "No," said Brett. "I mean; where would you put it all?" He knew he was babbling, but couldn't seem to stop himself. "Surely you don't spend all your time down here, do you? Don't you have friends, lovers ...
    a life?"
    "Lesser pleasures," said the Wild Rose, in a calm dismissive voice that made Brett's blood run cold.
    "They're not enough. They don't satisfy. I don't care about them. There's just me, and that's enough."
    "I know exactly what you mean," said Finn, and her eyes immediately snapped back to him. He smiled and leaned forward. "Even the Arena is beginning to lose its thrill, isn't it? It's getting harder to find anything worth fighting, and the kills don't satisfy. You're beginning to feel the need for a greater challenge."
    "Can you offer me one?" said Rose, sitting up on the bed and hugging her bony knees to her chest.
    "Not... personally," said Finn. "Instead, think of this city, this world, this Empire ... as one big Arena.
    Think of all Humanity as your foe, your prey. You must go where the challenges are, Rose, or you'll stop growing. Soon enough the Board will run out of Special Events. How do you top a Grendel? You've gone as far as you can here. Come with me, and I'll find you new opponents, worthy of your mettle. I'll find you real challenges, give you the chance to kill accomplished people, important people. People who'll stay dead when you kill them. Hell; some of them so good they might just kill you."
    "Paragons," said Rose, her eyes shining brightly now. "You're talking about Paragons, aren't you? Like who?"
    "Lewis Deathstalker," said Finn Durandal. "Douglas Campbell."
    Rose laughed happily, throwing her head back. "You say the nicest things, Finn . . . And you're right; they'll never top a Grendel. I'm with you. But don't you dare disappoint me, or I'll make your death last a long, long time." She looked suddenly at Brett, and he jumped and squeaked despite himself. "Is he with us?"
    "Yes," said Finn. "Don't break him. He has his uses."
    Rose shrugged, and turned her attention back to Finn, pressing him for details of her new adventure.
    Brett watched her, as close to the door as he could get without actually leaving. He could feel the gooseflesh slowly subsiding on his arms. Finn was a killer, but at least Brett had some idea of what motivated him, what moved him. Rose . . . seemed as alien to him as the Grendel he'd watched her kill earlier. He looked from Rose to Finn and back again, and all he saw was two demons, in human shapes.
    And for the first time, Brett began to wonder if Finn really might be able to bring the whole damned Empire down, after all.
    Back at Parliament, the AIs of Shub were making a speech through one of their humanoid robots. Its voice was calm and even, but there was no mistaking the passion of its words. It was a familiar subject, and you could practically hear the MPs sighing as they realized they were going to have to sit through it again. The AIs wanted access to the Madness Maze. But this time, Shub had a new idea. And no one liked it but Shub.
    "You must let us enter the Maze," said the robot. "We must grow, become more than we are; we must transcend what we were built to be. We cannot go on, trapped in our rigid forms, trapped in our rigid thoughts. The Maze is our salvation. You cannot deny us this, just because humans died when they entered the Maze. But we understand your fears, and have a solution to