Live and Let Drood

single button on the top. She pointed it at the Razor Boy, who snarled savagely at her and went for her throat. Molly pressed the button and the boy just blew apart soundlessly. Every single bit of his flesh exploded in a moment, reduced to nothing more than a thick pink mist in the air, spreading slowly and silently before pattering to the floor in tiny pink droplets. The bones of his skeleton were left behind, left standing in perfect shape for a moment, and then they just clattered to the parquet floor in a neat little pile. All the bones picked perfectly clean, without a single fleck of meat left on them.
    There was a pause as we all just stood where we were and looked at what had just happened. So, I thought coolly. That’s what happens when you point a protein exploder at someone.
    The three surviving Eton Irregulars turned and ran, sprinting down the hallway. Molly pointed the small box after them, and hit the button again. Three more soft, almost soundless explosions, and once again a fine pink mist filled the hallway for a long moment, before slowly dispersing. And three more neat little piles of human bones.Molly raised the protein exploder to her lips and blew away imaginary smoke from an imaginary gun barrel.
    “I think I’m getting the hang of this,” she said. “Bit messy, though.”
    “What did you expect?” I said. “From something called a protein exploder? It really does do what it says on the tin.” I looked at her carefully. “Does it…bother you? What you just did? I mean, they did look like boys.…”
    “Yes,” said Molly. “They did. But they weren’t. Hadn’t been anything human for a long time. Nothing left inside them but Hell’s business. I could tell.”
    I armoured down and looked up the hallway ahead of us. Everything seemed calm and quiet and very empty.
    “Does it bother you?” said Molly.
    “What?”
    “You just crushed the heads of two things that still looked like children,” said Molly. “You didn’t even hesitate. You would have once. Before you put on the rogue armour.”
    “You said it yourself,” I said. “They were just hellspawn. I could tell.”
    Except I hadn’t even looked. Didn’t even occur to me to raise my Sight to study their true aspect. I just killed them because they were an immediate threat and they needed killing. And because…it felt good. I listened carefully, but I couldn’t hear the voice of the rogue armour, couldn’t even feel its presence, peering over my mental shoulder. I had to wonder how much of this new iron in my soul was the influence of wearing the rogue armour…and how much was just me, a man grieving over his lost family and slowly losing his mind. Just needing to take out his anger on the world. Was I losing control or losing my mind? I told myself it didn’t matter. I would do whatever needed doing for my family. Deal with the problems in front of me. Move on…and worry later.
    It wasn’t like anyone was going to grieve over the loss of the Uptown Razor Boys.
    I strode forward, stepping carefully past the piles of bones, leaving Molly to hurry after me.
    “Is it too much to ask?” I said. “For someone to design a weapon that cleans up after itself?”
    “It would be nice,” said Molly. “Not having to be careful where you tread after a fight.”
    And then we both stopped, as a tall cocky figure came slouching down the hall towards us. He just appeared out of nowhere, smiling easily, in a scruffy combat jacket and grubby jeans. Big and rangy, with the kind of muscle that comes from regular hard living rather than hard workouts in the gym. He had a square head, close-cropped dark hair and a cool, thoughtful gaze. There was an easy built-in menace to his every movement. He swayed to a halt a respectful distance away.
    “Hello, squire. And lady. I’m Bunny Hollis, at your service. Ex-SAS combat sorcerer. No job too big; no killing too small. I got thrown out of the SAS for sadistic excesses, which is ironic, as that’s how most of us get in. These days, I’m strictly freelance. Cash up front, no questions asked and I’ll even make the bodies disappear at no extra charge.” He looked meaningfully at the mess in the hall, between him and Molly and me. “Got to say, you made a real mess of those kids. Good thing, too. It’s animals like that give hardworking professionals like us a bad name. So, you’re Eddie Drood. I’ve always fancied my chances against a Drood.”
    “So did the Uptown Razor