Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

Empire. And; it will do our fellow Paragons good to be among their own kind for once. Let them see they're not unique. Maybe even help some of them get their egos in perspective."
    Several very cutting comments occurred to Lewis, but he kept them to himself. He didn't want to upset Douglas on the eve of his Coronation. Lewis had already spent the best part of an hour testing the Court's security and had only had to raise his voice to half a dozen people and punch out one who really should have known better than to raise his voice to Lewis Deathstalker when he was so very clearly in the wrong. Lewis had also used the Council's security systems to run a trace on exactly where each and every Paragon was, just for his own peace of mind. Most were still in transit, on their way to Logres from the outlying worlds. Even with the new improved stardrive of the H-class ships, the Empire was still a very big place.
    All the Paragons were safe and secure. For now.
    Most Paragons rarely left the worlds they'd been assigned to, but all of them were familiar with Logres.
    All Paragons did a tour of duty there, early in their careers; it was expected of them. If you could handle everything Logres could throw at you, you could survive anything. Logres produced the finest of everything; including villains. No Paragon ever objected to a tour on Logres. It was an honor to defend Humanity's homeworld and a really good chance to get noticed by some of the main media networks.
    The better your recognition, the more you could charge to endorse products. (No Paragons ever defended their own home planet. No one ever actually mentioned the words conflict of interest, but then, some things just didn't need to be said out loud.) Lewis Deathstalker was something of a special case.
    He'd come to Logres from Virimonde and Stayed-even though Logres had its own Paragon in Finn Durandal-because Douglas had taken a liking to the earnest young man with the legendary name.
    So for ten years, Humanity's homeworld had been blessed with the presence of three Paragons, Douglas and Lewis and Finn, and as a result was the safest and most law-abiding place to live in the whole Empire. No one had actually raised the point of what might happen once Douglas retired to become King, but an awful lot of people were thinking about it. Not all of them very nice people.
    "You know, with so many Paragons already in the Parade of the Endless, and more on the way, crime in the city is at an all-time low," said Douglas. "Most of the bad guys are probably hiding under their beds,
    waiting for it all to be over."
    I guess everyone's following the buildup to the Ceremony," said Lewis. "Apparently the official website has already crashed three times from over-subscription."
    "I told them!" said Douglas. "I told them that would happen, but does anyone ever listen to me?" He grinned suddenly. "If nothing else, that should change come tomorrow. What's your website like these days, Lewis? Still got that fan of yours running it for you?"
    Lewis nodded stiffly. "He does a good job. I can't afford to have some big public relations firm come in and run it, like some of the guys do. I'd rather have someone doing it as a labor of love; someone who cares. And some of his graphics are quite sophisticated. For the budget. I log on anonymously now and again, just to keep him honest."
    "With your name you could be the biggest Paragon that ever was," said Douglas. "Even bigger than the Durandal."
    "You know how I feel about the cult of personality. If we start caring too much about being liked, being popular, it's bound to interfere with how we do our job."
    "You have to think about where the money's going to come from when you retire," Douglas insisted.
    "There is a pension, but it's crap. Everyone knows that. A few carefully thought out product endorsements, from the Deathstalker himself, and you'd never have to worry about money ever again."
    "I never worry about money," said Lewis. "I don't have a wife or children to support, and I never found the time to develop any expensive tastes. Besides, I always seem to have more important things to worry about."
    Douglas sighed and gave up. Some people wouldn't recognize common sense if you clubbed them over the head with it. "So," he said brightly. "What present did you bring me? It's Christmas and my Coronation, two special occasions in one, so I'm expecting something really special from you, Lewis.
    Best thing about being King; you get lots of