Deathstalker

'I know who you are. And it's pronounced Dah-veed, actually.' The Deathstalker's voice was cool and sharp, trying hard for the gravitas he felt his title required.

'As you wish,' said Valentine. 'But I fear you too must learn to come when the underground calls, however they pronounce your name. There's no room down here for the airs and graces we allow ourselves in society. That is, after all. part of the charm of treason. There are no rules here, no required behavior, no one to make us kneel or bow the head.

We are equal here. And all they ask of us is a willingness to fight and if need be die for the cause.'

'Then why are you here, Valentine?' said Kid Death. 'You never cared for any cause save your own continuing self-destruction.'

Valentine took his time turning, and smiled at the Summerlsle. 'Where better to seek death or transformation than in the midst of rebellion? There's only one place on Golgotha more dangerous than the underground, and that's the Arena. And that's always seemed too much like hard work for me. I'm really rather delicate, you know.'

'You have the constitution of an ox,' said Evangeline. 'Your system has to be in top form to put up with all the things you do to it.'

'I know why he's here,' said Kid Death. 'He wants the drug. The esper drug. Trust me, Valentine, if you did get it, you wouldn't like it. You'd find out what everyone really thinks of you.'

Valentine smiled dazzlingly. 'You already know what everyone thinks of you, dear Kit, and it hasn't slowed you down any.'

'I want to know why Hood is allowed to hide his face,' said David. 'We weren't allowed to, even though it meant having to expose our faces in front of brain damage cases like Valentine and Kid Death.'

'How unkind,' murmured Valentine. 'No one appreciates a true artist.'

Kid Death looked steadily at David. 'You really must learn to choose your words more carefully, Deathstalker. You never know when they might be your last.'

David looked at him defiantly. His hand was very near his sword. 'You don't frighten me, Summerlsle.'

'Then he should,' said Evangeline. 'I've seen you both fight, and he'd win. Now if you two have both finished shaking your genitalia at each other, perhaps we could hear Hood answer the question about his anonymity. Personally, I'm all ears.'

Kid Death and David Deathstalker looked at each other, and David looked away first. Valentine studied him thoughtfully. Perhaps the young Deathstalker wasn't as naive as he seemed. The Summerlsle was a psychopath, and everyone knew it. If he were to turn those cold eyes in Valentine's direction, Valentine had every intention of bowing low and backing down. And then possibly dropping a little something lethal in the Summerlsle's drink at some future time. He looked across at Hood as he realized the silence had lengthened and Hood still hadn't answered the question. The man without a face stood very still, the empty interior of his hood as enigmatic as ever.

'I am valuable to the underground and the cyberats,' he said finally. 'They indulge me rather than risk losing what I provide.'

'And what might that be?' said Kit.

'You don't need to know,' said Hood.

'But we insist,' said David.

The two of them moved unhurriedly toward Hood, taking up positions on either side of him so that he couldn't face them both at once. Their hands were very near their swords.

'That's enough!' snapped Mr. Perfect, and everyone turned to look. The esper representative glared at them all impartially. 'We did not summon you here to squabble like children in a playground. We have business to discuss, and the longer we stay here, gathered together in one place, the more danger we put ourselves in.'

'Damn right,' said one of the Stevie Blues. She strode forward to take up a position in the center of the chamber, hands on hips. 'Security would just love to get the drop on us because we were too busy arguing among ourselves to hear them coming. Everyone stops messing about right now, or my sisters and I will start banging heads together. You can call me Stevie One. My sisters are Two and Three. Don't get us mixed up or we'll hit you. We pride ourselves on our individuality.'

There was a general relaxing and moving away by all those present. Stevie One nodded to Mr. Perfect to take over. David sniffed at the three clones.

'Bunch of perverts,' he said quietly to Valentine. 'And they dare call what they have a marriage.'

'Be fair,' said Valentine. 'At least they can be sure what they see in each other. Anyway, at least now we get to know why the elves summoned us here.'

Mr. Perfect glared at him. 'The esper council summoned you, not the elves. They are only a part of the underground. The Stevie Blues do not speak for everyone here.'

Stevie Two sniffed. 'You still come to us when you want something dirty done. Especially if it's risky. And who has a better right to speak than my sisters and I? We're both espers and clones; we understand the pressures of both sides. No one knows more of suffering than we do.'

'Right,' said Stevie Three.

'We will be heard,' said Stevie One. 'Our sister is dead, murdered by the Iron Bitch. We demand a vengeance.'

'I didn't know there were any esper clones left alive,' said David quietly to Evangeline while the espers argued. 'I thought they were all wiped out and further experimentation forbidden.'

'Lots of things are forbidden,' murmured Evangeline. 'But they still happen, if there's profit to be made. As I understand it, the Stevie Blues were a secret military experiment in cloning battle espers. Didn't work out. Most of the subjects died, and the survivors were too powerful. Too uncontrollable, unpredictable. Word about the experiments got out, and the Empress was furious that she hadn't been consulted. Gave the order to close everything down. The Stevie Blues were marked for execution, but they escaped. The elves took them in, gave them a purpose in life and a shape for their revenge. As both espers and clones, they were supposed to be a link between the two undergrounds, but no one seems too sure where their true loyalties lie. Perhaps even they're not sure.'

'Fair enough,' said David. He realized the espers had stopped talking and settled for glaring at each other, so he raised his voice again. 'I still want to know why Hood hides his face.'

'Oh, tell him,' said the dragon. 'Or we'll be here all night.'

'I am highly placed in the Empress' retinue,' said Hood. 'I have her trust, in as much as she trusts anyone. I am not ready to endanger myself by revealing my identity to those who don't need to know. The underground indulges me because I discovered the esper drug. None of us can afford for the Empress to learn about that. They'd get the secret out of me eventually; they always do. My identity remains a secret because it is in all our best interests. Now, as the Stevie Blues have pointed out, we have business to discuss.'

'I said that,' said Mr. Perfect.

'Then get on with it,' said Valentine. 'What exactly is so important that we had to be dragged here at such short notice and at such an ungodly hour?'

'We have a plan,' said Stevie One. 'We elves have placed one of our own in the water purification department. Through him we have unlimited access to the water supply network for the whole of Golgotha. We propose to introduce the esper drug into the water system. I'm told a really small amount, as little as one part per million, would be enough to have an effect on anyone who drank it or even had contact with the affected water. No one would notice its presence until it was far too late. No one knows it exists but us, and unless you knew exactly what you were looking for, the esper drug would just blend in with all the other drugs in the water. It's pumped full of happy drugs and tranquilizers, as it is, to keep the common herd quiet. With millions of espers suddenly appearing overnight, the Empress would have no choice but to recognize espers as full citizens, with full privileges. After all, most of her subjects would be espers, along with most of her own people. Who knows, maybe we'll get really lucky, and she'll get a surprise in her drink, too…'

There was a long pause as everyone took it in turn to look at each other. The Stevie Blues smiled at each other smugly.

'You have got to be joking!' said Evangeline. 'You're crazy!'

'Oh, I don't know,' said Valentine. 'I rather like the sound of it myself.'

'You would,' snapped David. 'Anyone who is anyone drinks offworld bottled water. Only the lower classes drink tap water. And the Empress would rather wipe out every single one of them on this planet than be dictated