Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

triumphantly about him, smiling nastily, his eyes wild and staring. His face was pale and sweaty, and his hands trembled as they hovered near the device.
    "I am Neuman!" he said loudly, his voice cracking with strain. He was breathing heavily. "I am here for Pure Humanity! I am here ... to die for my cause. Everyone stand still! No one move! I have a detonator in my hand, and if anyone gets too close, anyone even threatens me, this device goes off." He glared about him, his breathing slowing as his confidence grew, and he took in the way everyone was listening so raptly to his prepared speech. "This isn't just a bomb; it's a transmutation device. Everyone in the blast radius will be transmuted back into basic particles, into the original protoplasm we all came from.
    Transmutation has always worked both ways." He giggled suddenly. "Try using your regen tech on that!
    With this bomb, dead is dead! But don't worry, all you honorable Members; I'm not here for you. Not necessarily. You sit tight, and don't interfere, and you'll walk out of here alive and intact. I'm here for the King."
    Everyone looked at Douglas, sitting very still on his Throne. "You want me?" he said clearly.
    "Oh yes," said the bomber. "And you're going to sit right there and let me come to you, or I'll detonate right here, and you can watch all these people, and this alien scum, devolve back into sludge. What kind of a King are you, Douglas? Ready to let innocents die on your behalf? Or do you have the guts to sit there and take what's coming to you?"
    "Come to me," Douglas said steadily. "No one will interfere. That is my order."
    The bomber sniggered nastily. "You too, Champion. Deathstalker. Undo your weapons belt. Let them drop to the floor, and kick them away."
    "Do it, Lewis," said Douglas.
    I m a really fast draw," said Lewis, subvocalizing so his voice only sounded on their private comm channel. "There's a really good chance I could take his arm off at the elbow before he can use the detonator."
    "Not a good enough chance," said Douglas, subvocalizing. "We don't know what safeties and backups have been built into that device. Do as he says, for now. Get him close, away from the innocent bystanders, and then maybe you can try something."
    Lewis slowly unbuckled his belt, and let his gun and sword fall to the floor. He kicked them out of reach, and glared at the bomber, who sneered right back at him, unmoved. He marched cockily forward, heading for the King, and all the MPs sat tight and did nothing. The security men looked at each other, and did nothing, torn between their duty to protect the MPs and their duty to protect their King, and frozen in place by the horror of the transmutation device. And while they hesitated, lost for what to do for the best, the bomber came to a halt before the golden Throne on its raised dais. He held up his right hand, so Douglas could see the detonator in his grasp.
    "Dead man's switch," he said clearly. "I let go, and bang!"
    "That thing goes off, you'll go with it," said Lewis.
    "I came here to die!" the bomber said defiantly. "To give my life to the cause of Pure Humanity! The King must die; because he supports the rights of the alien filth who threaten to undermine our Empire.
    The King's death will show we mean to be taken seriously."
    "Oh, we'll take you very seriously," said Lewis. "We'll hunt down the people who sent you, and hang every damned one of them."
    The bomber laughed in the Champion's face. "Transmutation will make my body unrecognizable. Who I am doesn't matter. Who sent me doesn't matter. Only the cause matters! No compromise with Purity!
    Would you like to beg, Douglas? There's time for you to beg, before you die."
    Douglas rose slowly from his Throne. Jesamine moved to stand with him, but he pushed her gently back, out of harm's way, holding the bomber's eyes with his. "You came here for me. Just me. Stand there, and I'll come to you."
    "Yes," said the bomber. "Come to me, Douglas. I've got something for you."
    And while the bomber's attention was fixed on the King, Lewis eased the heavy Deathstalker ring off his finger, wound up and threw it, all in one swift motion. The ring shot through the air, and hit the bomber in his right eye. He howled with pain and shock, caught off guard, and in that short moment while his body struggled to deal with conflicting impulses, Lewis activated the force shield on his arm and threw himself on the bomber. The body-sized energy field appeared just